Summer is Coming, But Spring in Venice is a Vibe
Venice Beach always vibes with its own chaotic, kaleidoscopic, and artistic energy. But the onset of spring and the later setting sun bring a fresh jolt to the ever-eclectic neighborhood, and a slew of events slated for this week are a reminder that summer is coming for locals and visitors alike. The Venice Heritage Museum, with its vintage photographs, postcards, videos and other artifacts celebrating the neighborhood's long and vibrant history of music and skateboarding, is an absolute delight. And it's free. Tonight, the museum hosts its Fourth Fridays, a nod to Abbott Kinney's monthly First Fridays food truck extravaganza. On May 10, the museum is hosting a fundraiser dubbed Venice Vibrations that will help keep this neighborhood treasure alive hosted by renowned jazz journalist and KCRW personality LeRoy Downs with performances by two iconic bands with deep Venice roots: Venice and Cosmic Vibrations, along with DJ sets. The $50 ticket price (in advance, $65 at the door) is well worth it just for the chance to win a raffle prize which include: a top hat signed by Slash from Guns N' Roses; a limited-edition print by Venice artist Muck Rock, a painting by Venice artist MB Boissonnault, a photograph by Rod Bradley, and a necklace from LFrank Jewelry.
On Saturday night, the founders of Venice Insider Pass, a perk program for residents, are having a locals event, think neighborhood block party, only "it's a full blown Venice love fest for the community," says founder Jennie Kissin. The event will be held on the back patio at the iconic Venice watering hole Roosterfish from 6 to 8 p.m. A ticket gets you a complimentary cocktail and a plethora of tasty bites from favorite local restaurants, like Gjusta Grocer, Ggiata; Salt & Straw, Fiorelli Pizza, Sweetfin; Breakaway Cafe and others along with music, and a chance to win a VIP bag with goodies from beloved nabe retailers. "It's a little taste of Venice and a whole lot of love," Kissin says.
Saturday night will also mark opening night for "Fostered" at the Pacific Resident Theatre on Venice Boulevard. The play, about a chaotic family dealing with the pending election in 2016, was written by Chaya Doswell and is directed by Andy Weyman and stars Weyman's wife Terry Davis. The play's opening is especially cathartic for the couple, along with several of the cast members, who lost everything in the January wildfires that tore through miles upon miles of the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, killing 30 and destroying nearly 10,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles County. Weyman said he was determined to bring Fostered to the stage, partly because of the devastation he and so many others suffered. "The trauma of losing our home in the Palisades fire is lodged in my bones," he told Los Angeles. "I realize I'll never forget what happened. It's been like the death of a loved one. I must learn to live with it. I'm one of many, experiencing the same feelings of sadness and loss. Sleepless nights. Not eating right. How to move forward? Laugh." Fostered is guaranteed to bring those laughs, he said.
On Wednesday, Gran Blanco will host its vaunted Jazz Series, the brainchild of Travis Cornell, which turns this Venice hotspot on Windward Avenue into a clubby New York-style cocktail bar. With its fabulous mixologists and tasty bites, it's a great way to spend a Wednesday night. Of course, there is no lack of entertainment on the Boardwalk chocked with artists and vendors and even a breakdancing crew. In Italy, the country that inspired Venice and its canals and artistry, the term that might apply to the boardwalk is qualsiasi cosa, or anything and everything. One of our favorite artists is Darick Breland who decorates the end of Westminster Avenue daily with hand-scrawled messages of hope and a brightly-colored hopscotch that bring the nonstop smiles from the throngs of passersby, old and young alike.
Summer is coming indeed.
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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
A Black reimagining of ‘The Great Gatsby' spotlights a hidden L.A. history
In 2022, Kyra Davis Lurie heard a story on KCRW's 'Curbed Los Angeles' about the residents of South L.A.'s West Adams Heights, nicknamed Sugar Hill after a community of wealthy Black Harlemites. Learning about the sumptuous soirees Academy Award-winning actor Hattie McDaniel hosted in her Sugar Hill mansion, Lurie realized there was a hidden Black history waiting for her to unearth. But how she created the enthralling historical novel 'The Great Mann' is a story that owes as much to Lurie's ability to reinvent herself as it does to F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby,' the iconic 20th century critique of the American dream, which provided a touchstone for the novel. Lurie, 52, grew up in Santa Cruz, far from the neighborhood where McDaniel, Louise Beavers, Ethel Waters and other striving Black actors and business pioneers depicted in 'The Great Mann' lived. While she visited family regularly in L.A., Lurie stayed up north, where she penned the light-hearted 2005 book 'Sex, Murder and a Double Latte.' She quickly followed it with two more mysteries. Encouraged by her success, Lurie struck out for L.A. to pursue her dream of getting into a TV writers room. The 2007 writers' strike deferred that goal, so Lurie pivoted to write three erotic novels which, she reveals, were 'critiques of capitalism wrapped in a romance novel.' By the time she heard about Sugar Hill and its famous inhabitants, Lurie was ready to take on a more nuanced challenge. But many literary agents weren't receptive to her change of genre. 'It was as if Marlon James had gone from writing comic books to 'A [Brief] History of Seven Killings,'' she says, name-checking the famous Jamaican writer and his Man Booker Prize-winning novel. But as Lurie continued researching the neighborhood and its history, she knew she had to tell its story, even if using 'The Great Gatsby' as her North Star proved problematic. 'I'm a huge Fitzgerald fan,' Lurie says, 'even though there was a line in that book that always bothered me.' She's referring to Nick Carraway's reference to 'two bucks and a girl' upon seeing three wealthy Black people passing by in a white-chauffeured limousine. 'While it was probably used to get a laugh in 1925, it was demeaning,' Lurie says of the scene. 'In the wake of the Red Summer of 1919 [when a record number of race riots and lynchings of Black Americans occurred in the U.S.] and the destruction of Black Wall Street in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, Fitzgerald's language says a lot about America's cultural climate at the time.' Was it subversive to use Fitzerald's most famous novel to frame the story of a vibrant Black enclave whose prosperity rivaled that of Jay Gatsby and his ilk? Absolutely, Lurie says, adding, 'Through a Black reimagining of 'The Great Gatsby,' I tried to marry a family's story with a little-known part of L.A. history.' The family story is told through the lens of Charlie Trammell III, a World War II veteran emotionally scarred by the violence he witnessed on the battlefield and at home in Jim Crow Virginia. Charlie arrives in L.A. looking for a fresh start and to reconnect with his cousin Margie, with whom he shares pivotal childhood experiences. But Margie, who now goes by the more exotic Marguerite, has shaken off the past and married Terrance Lewis, a vice president at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. The Lewises live with their son in Sugar Hill, along with McDaniel, Beavers and Norman O. Houston, the real-life co-founder and president of Golden State Mutual. Soon Charlie is swept into the world of L.A.'s wealthy Black elite, a mix of real Angelenos like John and Vada Somerville, pioneering Black dentists and founders of Central Avenue's famed Dunbar Hotel; singers-actors Waters and Lena Horne; and fictional characters including James Mann, the mysterious Black businessman recently arrived in Sugar Hill who hosts lavish parties unlike anything Charlie's ever seen: 'The air is flavored with flowery perfumes and earthy cigars. All around me diamonds glitter from brown earlobes, gold watches flash against brown wrists. The only things white are the walls.' Mann befriends Charlie, treating the recently discharged veteran to his first hand-tailored suit and fine wine, but soon embroils him in his quest to reunite with Marguerite, the love of his life since the two met some 10 years before when they both lived in the South. Like Fitzgerald's classic juxtaposition of West Egg and East Egg in 'Gatsby,' 'The Great Mann' is about new money versus old — interlopers like Mann and the entertainers versus businesspeople like Houston and the Somervilles. But Lurie 'tried not to invent flaws' in her historical figures by doing her homework, sourcing accounts in Black newspapers, biographies and even letters between Houston and NAACP leader Walter White to depict these frictions. 'The Great Mann' is also about people reinventing themselves amid the realities and contradictions of the time. Like Black actors who played maids but employed Black 'help' in real life. Or the controversy over the stereotypically demeaning roles Black actors depicted. Chief among them was Delilah Johnson, the subservient Black maid portrayed by Beavers in the 1934 film 'Imitation of Life.' It's a debate that's introduced in 'The Great Mann' when Marguerite and Terrance tell Charlie that Beavers' home, where he will be staying and which is much grander than theirs, is paid for 'with Black shame.' Also addressed in the novel are touchier subjects like White's advocacy for the lighter-skinned Horne to get roles over her darker-skinned colleagues like McDaniel or Beavers. But the engine that fires up the plot of 'The Great Mann,' and which sets it apart from 'Gatsby,' is the battle Black creatives and business owners faced to hold onto their properties. A clause placed in thousands of L.A. property deeds in 1902 restricted housing covenants at the time West Adams Heights and many other L.A. County communities were developed, prohibiting homes from being sold to anyone 'other than the white or Caucasian race.' But some white sellers sold property to Black buyers anyway, who then had to fight white groups — like the West Adams Heights Improvement Assn. — to prevent eviction from their own homes. To say how Sugar Hill's Black residents fared in court would spoil the enjoyment of this suspenseful tale, which has put Lurie on a new path in writing historical fiction. She has another project percolating, but for now, she's just grateful to have found her niche. 'It's been a journey,' she says of the twists and turns of her writing life, 'but writing about historical Black lives feels like home to me, what I was meant to do.' Lurie will be discussing 'The Great Mann' at Vroman's Bookstore at 7 p.m. June 10; Diesel, a Bookstore at 6:30 p.m. June 11; and Chevalier's Books at 6:30 p.m. June 19.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
First Fridays event moves indoors due to storms
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — This week's First Fridays event in Youngstown is moving indoors due to the threat of storms. 'Chalk the Walk' will now be held at Penguin City Brewing with plenty of space for artists to show off their skills. Over 25 artists are signed up, with room for walk-ins too. It starts Friday at 5 p.m. at Penguin City. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Los Angeles Times
28-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. Theatre Works, citadel of audio drama, keeps adapting to changing times
The golden age of radio drama is a memory shared by a dwindling few. But the flame has been kept alive in Britain by BBC Radio, in Ireland on RTÉ and in America by L.A. Theatre Works. LATW celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. The company, founded by Susan Albert Loewenberg and seven other women in 1974 during the heyday of the liberation movements, was formed with a strong social conscience. A main focus of the early years was on programs that brought artists into prisons. By the 1980s, Artists in Prison (the company's original name) had become L.A. Theatre Works and was building a reputation for its professional theater productions of classic and contemporary works. A group of prominent actors approached Loewenberg with the idea of forming a classical repertory company. And with these founding members (Ed Asner, René Auberjonois, Robert Foxworth and Marsha Mason among them), LATW transitioned again, this time from conventional theatrical presentations to audio recordings of plays. 'The idea was to form this repertory company and be like the Mark Taper Forum,' Loewenberg recalled. 'For various reasons, it didn't happen. The first big project we did was to record Sinclair Lewis' novel 'Babbitt.' Ed Asner played Babbitt. And it was done like a theater production in the sense that every time there was a character, the role was played by an actor. So we did the whole book and it was a huge success.' 'Babbitt' was recorded at KCRW in Santa Monica in 1987. KCRW founder Ruth Seymour, an early champion, broadcast the recording in serial and marathon formats. 'And then National Public Radio got in touch, and they aired it all over the country,' Loewenberg continued. 'And the whole thing took off and the company solidified around that success. We did many plays with KCRW. We recorded Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible,' which still remains our No. 1 bestseller.' (The titles, Loewenberg explained, 'were originally sold as cassettes, then CDs, then digital downloads, and now both as digital downloads and through LATW's streaming subscription service.') I wasn't in L.A. during the glory days of KCRW Playhouse. I was introduced to the work of the company through the radio program 'The Play's the Thing,' which I would listen to on Saturday nights on KPCC-FM, usually when driving home from the theater. Transfixed by the voices of actors giving life to drama I had stumbled upon on the freeway, I would try to guess the title before an announcer would break in with the information. Curious about the work of a local company that was drawing top-flight actors to ambitious plays, I attended a few offerings in the company's performance series at UCLA's James Bridges Theater, where the programs were recorded before a loyal audience. I liked what I heard, but it struck me that LATW was operating in an adjacent field, complementary but separate. As a theater critic surfeited with plays, radio dramas worked best for me as an unplanned diversion in my car. But listening has never been easier. Technology has transformed audio broadcasting into an on-demand experience. LATW streams its radio show and launched its own podcast in 2017. The podcast series, Loewenberg clarified in an email, 'has allowed LATW to reach a wider and more diverse audience because of the way it's distributed.' Different platforms reach different sectors. 'Audiences have their preferences as to the way they look for content,' she elaborated. 'All these various platforms — radio broadcast, free streaming services like SoundCloud, podcast platforms like Apple, Amazon, iHeart, etc. — have their own audiences. We distribute to over 100 podcast platforms, each with its own constituency.' New competitors have also unexpectedly arose. Audible, the audiobook and podcast service that's a subsidiary of Amazon, has notably entered the theatrical space, commissioning new works from playwrights and presenting productions at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty are starring in the U.S. premiere of 'Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes' at the Minetta Lane Theatre. The play by Hannah Moscovitch, which is alternating with Jen Silverman's 'Creditors,' a new take on Strindberg's drama starring Liev Schreiber, represents a unique collaboration between Audible and Together, a company launched by Jackman and the prolific, award-winning producer Sonia Friedman to create new models of intimate and accessible theater. 'I would say they were inspired by us,' Loewenberg said when asked whether she sees Audible as an inspiration or a threat. 'We distribute through Audible and still do, and then they decided they wanted to do plays themselves. And they've done so. They do so many things. I think they realize that recording plays is a lot more expensive and a lot less profitable than recording one person reading a book.' Currently, LATW's program airs weekly on KPFK 90.7 in Southern California and on station affiliates serving over 50 markets nationwide. But the heart and soul of the operation is the archive of play recordings, which Loewenberg, still the company's indefatigable producing director, said is nearing 600 titles. A recently launched monthly subscription service now offers full-range access to a catalog that includes Broadway titles, world classics and docudramas and social justice plays. The extensive collection is a tremendous resource for libraries and schools, as well as for industry professionals and play-lovers. Before I went to New York in April for my annual Broadway spring marathon, I listened to LATW's recording of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' to prepare for my encounter with 'John Proctor Is the Villain,' a play by Kimberly Belflower that's in conversation with Miller's classic. I haven't seen a production of 'The Crucible' since Ivo van Hove's deconstruction on Broadway in 2016, which is probably the last time I read the play. While sitting down with my copy of the drama, I found LATW's recording online and followed along with the text as a sterling cast thunderously performed Miller's allegory of a paranoid America that had lost its way during the communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era. LATW has had access to what is arguably the greatest acting pool in the world. Annette Bening, Nathan Lane, George Clooney, Chris Rock, Amy Irving, Alan Alda, Alfred Molina, Jimmy Smits, Matthew Rhys and Charlayne Woodard are just some of the luminaries who have lent their voices to the LATW airwaves. The glittering cast of 'The Crucible,' which included Stacy Keach, Hector Elizondo and Richard Dreyfuss, would be difficult for even a major Broadway revival to match. 'Many of the actors we work with are known by the public for their movie or TV roles, but their background is in theater,' managing director Vicki Pearlson said on a Zoom call with Loewenberg. 'They work with us because they love theater and our format allows them the opportunity to work on plays in a very compact amount of time.' When LATW presents live recordings, the commitment for performers is about a week. For studio recordings, the actors are needed for just three or four days, although the entire process from pre- to post-production takes around three to four months. 'So actors who have very busy schedules can do this thing they love, knowing that the work is going out to the world and will reach new generations of students,' Pearlson said. 'We've worked with more than 2,000 actors over the years and we're obviously adding to our family of artists all the time.' Bringing a stage play to an audio medium requires adjustments. 'The actors have to learn how to do this,' Pearlson said. 'Susan always used to say, 'Half the volume, twice the intensity' at the mic. Of course, we set the environment by the sound design, but it's very much about engaging the story through the dialogue of the play.' Loewenberg said she often would tell actors: 'OK, you're smiling here, but if the smile is not in your voice, I don't know you're smiling.' LATW has never lacked ambition. At one point, the group had extended its live shows to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston. Carving such an independent path in the theater is a Herculean challenge, but the secret of longevity has been the company's adaptability. 'We've had to adapt to many changes,' Loewenberg said. 'And sometimes challenges turned into really positive enhancements.' (A new emergency has just arrived with the Trump administration's decision to cut NEA grants, as my colleague Jessica Gelt recently reported.) When a radio station stopped broadcasting, another stepped into the breach. Live recordings, put on pause during the pandemic, haven't yet restarted. But audiences have been engaged through a panoply of digital programs and new outreach endeavors, such as the play club program with libraries that Loewenberg said she plans to introduce throughout the country. Education is an integral part of LATW's mission. This commitment is clear in the enthusiasm with which Loewenberg reels off canonical titles (by Shakespeare, Jane Austen and John Steinbeck). She is equally ardent when talking about specialized initiatives, such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation-sponsored Relativity Series of science-themed plays. Database tools for higher education make it possible to search the archives for plays dealing with specific thematic topics, making it more useful for instruction across disciplines. 'As a nonprofit organization, LATW's purpose is to expand access and to introduce both the general public and students to theater,' Pearlson added in an email follow-up. 'Much of our programming is available for free through radio broadcasts, streaming, podcasts, public libraries, and the distribution of recordings and educational materials to secondary schools across the country. So those who support us by purchasing titles are not just enjoying the best of theater but are helping us bring it to people who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the full range of works our library offers.' When asked to name personal highlights of LATW, Loewenberg mentioned her experience of taking the docudrama 'Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers' to China when President Obama and China's President Xi Jinping happened to be holding a bilateral meeting in California. Pearlson joyfully recalled the sight of Neil Simon laughing in the audience during a live recording of his play 'Broadway Bound.' In the divergence of these answers lies the company's extraordinary legacy. Art should delight and instruct, the Roman poet Horace asserted. LATW has taken an auditory approach to this challenge. But the ultimate destination of the work, like that of any long-enduring theater company, has always been the hearts and minds of the audience.
