Last weekend I went to multiple Halloween parties (including one at the home of Leo and Tim, who I promised I’d mention by name) and saw La Bola Negra at the Americana. It’s been a while since I’ve been a) so tired after a weekend and b) so moved by a movie. I’d recommend both. Today’s issue is especially jam-packed with goods and gossip — if you haven’t upgraded your subscription, now might be the time.

In today’s issue: the big new tenant confirmed for Silver Lake’s old 99 Cent Store, El Sereno Locals aren’t sold on Canyon Coffee’s arrival, Nithya’s east side Halloween circuit, the How Long Gone boys are having a party on Thursday, an antiques store closes after 32 years, a comedian examines her history of cheating onstage in Atwater Village, tomorrow’s Kanye West runway show on Beverly Boulevard, can’t-miss events this week at Dada and Triste, Guitarricadelafuente’s east side favorites, the unexpected face in attendance at El Condor’s closing night, and an almost entirely purple house from 1888.

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It’s an Equinox! It’s a Laurel Supply! It’s….the [confirmed] tenant for the old 99 Cent Store in Silver Lake.

For the better part of a year, neighbors (and Redditors) have speculated feverishly about what might replace the former 99 Cent Store in Sunset Junction. Could it be a private members’ club? A satellite location of West Hollywood’s Erewhon-esque Laurel Supply? Lots of people were convinced it would become the east side’s first Equinox, though the space never seemed quite big enough for that (for what it’s worth, I do think there’s a gap in the market for a high-end gym in the neighborhood).

For a long time, as the building languished on the market, the most accurate answer was….nothing yet. This week, though, the building’s sign switched to LEASED and the biggest new tenant to arrive in Sunset Junction over the past several years has (finally) been revealed.

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In today’s issue: neighbors speak out on the possible closure of Ye Rustic Inn, a big-name operator is taking over the MidEast Tacos storefront, Nithya Raman uses clips from You Can See Everything to clown Karen Bass, Emily Dawn Long’s Echo Park store has an official name, part of the LAX people mover exploded, Phoebe Bridgers opens a store in South Pasadena, the new LA28 spectacle czar, an Elizabeth Holmes lookalike competition, Little Fish takes it back to 2007, and two houses for the price of one in Elysian Heights.

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Can a “circle of hope” (and Nithya Raman) save Ye Rustic Inn?

On Tuesday, the staff at Los Feliz’s beloved Ye Rustic Inn published an Instagram post that immediately sent shockwaves around town — the bar’s outdoor seating area is “scheduled to be removed on Monday,” and the entire establishment could be shutting down in December thanks to an expiring lease and a landlord who has, thus far, been unwilling to negotiate a new one. After more than five decades in the neighborhood (it opened in 1971, and current owner Susan Wood took over in 1999), the future of the east side’s favorite dive bar is suddenly, and unexpectedly, in jeopardy.

Comments on the post ranged from the expected (“i’ll kms and move away I swear”) to the risqué (“i lost my virginity at ye rustic”) and included pleas from the actor Hamish Linklater, A24’s unscripted czar Jonathan Hausfater, and the team at Goldburger. Many recounted major life events celebrated, significant others met, and losses mourned at the bar; others appealed to Quentin Tarantino and benevolent billionaires for assistance. Given her landlord’s alleged refusal to engage in lease renewal discussions, Susan decided to host a public “circle of hope” outside the bar last night. A community gathering was, she told the several hundred onlookers gathered on the front patio and spilling into the parking lot, the only thing she could think to do. “We all have different ideas of what religion is, but we can all come together” she told the crowd. “Two days ago I asked for guidance, I sent out a few emails, and this is what happened.”

Susan’s son, Alaska Lynch — “our next proprietor, if our landlord sees fit” — sang, played the accordion, and introduced a series of speakers (including regulars and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman) who spoke to Ye Rustic’s significance in the community. Staff members passed out free shots and passing drivers honked in solidarity. I was moved, and I hope Ye Rustic and their landlord can find some common ground. Here’s what a few of the evening’s speakers had to say:

“LA is amazing and will always be amazing. I’ve moved away and come back, but in my early years in Los Angeles … money was tight. Some holidays I couldn’t go home. So I’d come here, and Thanksgiving would be happening, and I couldn’t afford a meal. But they’d tell me, ‘You sit down, and you have your Thanksgiving meal.’ And then they’d get me wasted. … I didn’t have any money, but I came here to see friends, I came here to be with my community. Yeah, it’s a bar, but the people love you and they keep you coming back.” - A regular

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In today’s issue: the Rag is throwing a party with Huron Station, Big Chief (and it’s controversial signage) bites the dust in Silver Lake, Bjarke Ingels is designing the Tenants-replacing apartments, the LA Taco drama continues, several D line stations are closed, LAUSD’s $20k-a-month abandoned building, a cake competition inspired by John Lautner, an actual Lautner hits the market, and the biggest living room the east side has (maybe) ever seen.

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We’re throwing a party (with a play) at Huron Station Playhouse.

Over the past few months, I’ve been telling everyone willing to listen that I’d love to a) see more live theatre in Los Angeles and b) host another party for Rag readers. Well, the universe was paying attention, because we’re about to do both. In honor of Huron Station Playhouse’s first-ever fully-staged play, Lungs, debuting at the buzzy venue this week, its Tony-winning founder Alden Ehrenreich and I decided to celebrate with a Rag-sponsored show and afterparty.

Here’s how it’s going to work: Rag night at Huron will be Friday, 11/6. Starting right now, readers are able to purchase VIP tickets (usually $75) to that night’s performance for just $36. We’ll catch the play, Alden will moderate a talkback with cast members Zoe Lister-Jones and Ashley Zukerman, and then we’ll all head out to the courtyard for drinks, music, meet-cutes, and s’mores. It’s not a singles event, but….it could function as one if you’re single. The night starts at 8pm (doors are at 7) and ends whenever it ends.

Tickets are going fast, so snag yours now if you want to join. Use this link, book a general admission ticket, and use the code “eastsiderag10” for 10% off that price. All GA tickets booked with the code will be added to the Rag’s VIP block for the show. It’ll be a fun night with fun people, a great way to catch some live theatre in LA, and a rare chance to let loose in a decommissioned trolley substation. See you all next Friday.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• From the tip line — the controversial Big Chief dispensary on Silver Lake Boulevard has permanently closed. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so many messages about the closure of a retail store (and certainly not so many actively celebrating a business’s demise). Big Chief had the biggest, ugliest, most jarring sign that has ever graced its otherwise low-key stretch of Silver Lake Boulevard, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I’m genuinely curious whether the signage had a material impact on the dispensary’s business. Though the store is closed, the sign remains (for now).

• Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, famed for his work on New York skyscrapers, Google’s Mountain View campus, and distinctive buildings across Europe, is designing the Tenants of the Trees-replacing apartment building on Hyperion. The blocky proposed building will include 28 apartments and 2,200 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. As multiple sources have previously indicated, this project is likely about two years away at minimum. That said, I’m glad we’re getting something slightly more interesting than another architecturally bankrupt five-over-one with lime green paneling on the exterior (you know who you are).

• LA Taco allegedly fired its star reporter Memo Torres over a romantic relationship with California state senator Sasha Renée Pérez. Per LA Material, Torres’s relationship with Pérez might’ve crossed ethical lines — sources claim Torres allowed Pérez to improperly influence his reporting and, most damningly, even write portions of his articles. After LA Taco (which initially received significant blowback for the firing) published its account of the dismissal on Saturday, Torres took to Substack yesterday to deny allegations of wrongdoing and offer his side of the story. Something tells me the mudslinging isn’t over here.

• From the tip line — dozens of new street trees were planted along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park this week. This is the kind of news that makes me think everything is, in fact, going to be okay. There are too many empty tree wells on LA’s sidewalks, but there are people working to change that. I’ll be doing a longer feature on this subject (with assistance from those with boots on the ground) soon.

  

• There’s a big wine fair in Frogtown this Sunday, 11/01. More or Less West is bringing more than 40 producers and 200 wines to the Corner Room (2411 Forney Street) for an afternoon of tastings, food, and music. The festivities run from 1-10pm, and a ticket ($50) gets you pours from every event participant. Snag one here.

• Just five months after the D line opened for business, three stations are shutting down for a week’s worth of repairs. And this is the kind of news that makes me roll my eyes. Let me repeat: the D line is literally only five. months. old.

• If you needed another sign that movie theaters are definitively back, Amelia Dimoldenberg will screen the final season of her viral YouTube series Chicken Shop Date on the big screen. The one-night-only event is only at select theaters in London and Paris (for now), but it joins the recently retrofitted Alex Theatre in Glendale, a just-announced Heated Rivalry theatrical run, and the eagerly anticipated revival of Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome on an increasingly long list of reasons to be bullish about the long-term health of the theatrical experience.

• Ben’s Bagels is hiring baristas, bakers, line cooks, and FOH team members in Atwater Village. The new bagel shop from married couple Ben Berger and Sadie Newman (and designed by the firm behind Seco) is aiming to debut imminently.

• You can look at the (almost full) moon, listen to poetry, and hang out in David Horwitz’s Terremoto-designed garden tonight, 10/27. It’s not on the east side (it’s in Arlington Heights) but the garden is awesome and so are the evening’s special guests. The program starts at 7pm at 1911 7th Avenue. Don’t forget a layer.

• LAUSD is paying more than $20,000 a month to secure a campus that hasn’t been utilized in five years. The $34mm Miramar campus, on the border of Westlake and downtown LA, closed in 2021 — less than a decade after it was completed — and it’s now filled with graffiti, puddles, and water damage. Plans to install a charter school in the space have been repeatedly foiled thanks to an unpaid $8mm construction loan, so for now…LAUSD will continue footing the bill.

• You could have a ballroom-sized living room (and a massive project on your hands) if you buy this 1926 Spanish-style estate in Los Feliz. The living room has 28-foot ceilings and looks like it could house a regulation-size sports court or the greatest party you’ve ever thrown. There are original wrought-iron gates, an elaborately tiled entrance hall, and lots of rooms that need a complete gut. Here’s hoping someone with great taste, near-infinite resources, and lots of patience buys this one.

• A never-before-sold Lautner just hit the market atop Micheltorena Street in Silver Lake. The 1955 house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and knockout views from its (slightly precarious-looking) hilltop perch. If you buy this one, you can rest easy knowing thousands of Angelenos will be horrendously, interminably jealous of you.

• And if you can’t afford the Lautner itself, FORT:LA is challenging local bakers to design a cake inspired by the “adventurous spirit of John Lautner’s architecture.” Proposals for the competition must be submitted by tomorrow, 10/28. Those chosen to compete will be given $200 to bring their vision to life, and the finished cakes will be displayed at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre on 11/14. Fun!

In today’s issue: Kyle Buchanan discusses his new podcast, Reggie Watts is hosting an estate sale in Silver Lake, Wi Spa debuts punch cards, Kanye West is plotting a fashion show, Little Fish is looking for investors, a Monday night funeral service for El Condor, Jyan Isaac gets an opening date, a vintage dealer rented a dunk tank, Justin Herbert’s haul at the Los Feliz Gelson’s, and a rare Rudolf Schindler-designed apartment up for grabs in Silver Lake.

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KYLE BUCHANAN talks going solo, becoming “a persona,” and loving Los Angeles.

When it comes to interviewing movie stars, few journalists have done it for as long — and with as much success — as Kyle Buchanan. Over eight years at the New York Times (and another near-decade at Vulture before that), Buchanan has interviewed everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Ariana Grande, Greta Gerwig to Sofia Coppola, George Clooney to Zendaya. He’s grabbed beers with Jennifer Lawrence, hiked the Hollywood Hills with Austin Butler, and lounged at the Chateau with….well, everyone. As the Los Angeles-based Hollywood and awards correspondent for the Times, he occupied one of the most coveted (and….stable) perches in cultural journalism.

But at the end of August, Buchanan filed his final piece for the Times (a sit-down with Los Javis, the much-discussed La Bola Negra filmmakers) and left it all behind to bet on himself: this week, he steps in front of the camera for the first time with the debut of the twice-weekly, independently-financed video podcast The Kyle Buchanan Show. I caught up with the diehard Angeleno — and longtime Atwater Village resident — to hear more about his on-camera aspirations, his Kirsten Dunst dreams, and his thoughts on the state of the entertainment industry at large.

First of all, congratulations. You’ve spent most of your career at major media organizations, and I’m curious what it’s been like building something outside of that scaffolding.

I would say more than anything, it’s exciting. When this idea first started to germinate there was a feeling of risk and anxiety, because it’s not a great time in traditional print entertainment journalism. I would be leaving one of the only secure jobs at one of the only secure places. But honestly, even though there’s risk involved, it feels like it would’ve been more of a risk to stay.

When you’re at a place like the Times, you’re operating in accordance with a style guide and certain organizational directives. You don’t have total control over your output. Going into the podcast, did you have a clear vision of what you wanted to do?

There are some things I had an incredibly clear idea about. One was the look of the set, which is this red restaurant booth and white tablecloth. It’s LA iconography — you know, Musso & Frank’s, the Smokehouse — but also when a movie takes place in LA, it almost always has some sort of scene like that. La La Land, LA Confidential, Chinatown. It felt like a great way to tie the show to this city. We have a really cinematic look.

How does the presence of a camera and a set affect the story you’re able to tell about your subject?

I’m still sensing that out. One of the things I was really curious about — and the jury’s still out on this one — is how different it is to interview somebody on camera than it is off-camera. When I was profiling someone for the Times, I’d spend a few hours, a day, maybe even a second day with them. And the hope is that, at a certain point, they forget they’re being interviewed. I was able to get to a level of candor in those circumstances that I worried I wouldn’t be able to get on camera. But then I remembered, for most of these people, their job is to be on camera. They come alive on camera. I’m the novice. And I do feel like I’m having a pretty similar interview to the kind I would be having in print.

There’s been a lot of conversation about how the kind of long-form profile you made your name writing is something of a dying breed. How do you feel about that?

I’m conflicted about it, honestly. Zach Baron, who I think is one of the best profile writers in the game, he’s doing a great job with his podcast. At the same time, when he interviewed Tom Cruise, I wanted nothing more than to read the written profile version of that, because I wanted to know what he thought about Cruise stonewalling him for essentially the entire interview. The pivot towards video podcasting essentially means that the viewer is a co-author of the profile now, and to a certain extent, the journalist is leaving the conversation. The conclusions about what this person is like, how they behave when they’re not acting, et cetera, are not necessarily going to be pointed out by the journalist in the same way.

Do you feel a sense of responsibility to ask your guests tough questions?

I never don’t want to ask tough questions. If I’m devoting an hour of time to someone, I’m not necessarily bringing them on because I expect or desire a combative time. But that said, if we’re telling the full picture of a life or career, then I want to be able to tell that full picture in a way that feels sensitive. There’s a place for sunny daytime TV interviews, but I want to get a sense of how a person really operates. It’s not all sunshine and roses.

A year from now, what kind of niche do you hope The Kyle Buchanan Show has carved out for itself?

There are a lot of podcasts about Hollywood, but very few that feel like they’re speaking about Hollywood from Hollywood’s own perspective. So I think that if you live here — if you live in LA or are a part of Hollywood — it’s going to be a podcast that feels like the conversations you’re actually having. It’s twice a week, Tuesday is the panel and Friday is the profile [with a celebrity guest]. For the panel, I’ll always be joined by two or three people in the industry. The opportunity to pose a question and put Rian Johnson, Karyn Kusama, and James Gray on a panel to talk it out, that’s really interesting to me.

It sounds like you’d position yourself somewhere between a Matt Belloni-type business podcast and a more general interest celebrity interview show.

It’s completely adjacent to and rubbing shoulders with Matt Belloni’s podcast. I love Matt, and I’ve been on that show a few times, but Matt is less interested in the art and the people who make it than he is in the business side of things. I’m much more the reverse.

You now have to be “the talent” in a way you never really had to before. How are you thinking about that particular challenge?

It’s a very different experience and one I’m still coming to terms with. I really enjoyed the way I moved through the world before. This show is one of those things that makes you wonder Am I becoming a persona? But ultimately, I can’t help but be me. I’m going to be as swept up in the conversations as I normally would be. All I can hope for is that it doesn’t affect my ability to be the observer I still hope to be when it comes to the places I go and the people I talk to.

You’re launching a show about Hollywood in a decidedly tumultuous moment for the industry. How are you feeling about the future of entertainment? Are you optimistic?

Everything is in such disarray that the only way to make sense of it is to talk to other people about it. There are really positive moments, like the Obsession box office, and there are a lot of moments of panic and confusion. We’re all trying to figure it out together. There aren’t any easy answers. But I love Los Angeles. I grew up in Southern California, and I was born at the Kaiser Permanente right by Akbar. There’s so much to talk about in this city, and it’s not just about evaluating the end result. It’s also about how you get there.

Taking it back to this week’s episode, what makes Inde Navarrette the perfect first guest?

Honestly, I think she’s somebody we don’t know much about and all want to know more about. There’s a curiosity about Is this a fluke? or Is this a major actress who will be with us for a while? She speaks really thoughtfully, and she really impressed me.

Who are your dream guests moving forward?

My ideal show is a Valentine’s Day show with Amy Madigan and Ed Harris, or Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance, or Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. And we’d talk about a Hollywood marriage and how you make that work, because it’s not easy.

And finally, your top three places on the east side are…

I’m immediately going to favor places that I go to write, so Figaro and El Compadre are definitely there. And then Akbar, obviously. For our launch month, they let me put a mix CD on the jukebox.

Is REGGIE WATTS having….an estate sale in Silver Lake this weekend?

Yesterday afternoon, a longtime reader sent me the link to an estate sale set for tomorrow, 10/24 and Sunday, 10/25 in Silver Lake. The photos, at first glance, reflected a fairly run-of-the-mill midcentury house in Los Angeles. But upon closer look, it became increasingly clear that the house in question was….the home of comedian and musician Reggie Watts.

The photos of the living room and kitchen match this Dwell feature, and some of the items up for grabs — including furniture, kitchenware, electronics, a treadmill, lots of recording equipment, and at least a dozen PlayStation controllers — are literally labeled “Reggie Watts.”

I’m very curious why an ostensibly successful entertainer would be getting rid of seemingly everything he owns (I’m guessing it could have something to do with this), but if you want to tour Reggie’s house and snag an item or two, you can peruse the catalog and reserve your spot here.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• As work continues on its $100mm+ expansion project in downtown LA, the Broad will take 164 works from its permanent collection to Paris. In the largest-ever exhibition of Eli and Edythe Broad’s legendary collection outside of Los Angeles, the Broad’s art will take over the Fondation Louis Vuitton from 4/21 through 8/30. Though the DTLA museum will never fully close during construction, only the first level will be accessible for much of next year. When it reopens ahead of the 2028 Olympics, it’ll have 70% more gallery space than it opened with in 2015.

• Per Lauren Sherman, Kanye West is planning to stage a Yeezy fashion show at his long-gestating store on Beverly Boulevard. The Rag first reported on Kanye’s store (at one point, at least, a collaboration with Dov Charney) almost exactly a year ago. Though a significant investment has been made in the space, it still hasn’t opened. As Lauren wondered in yesterday’s Line Sheet, “who would want to attend or work on this?

• Healing Force, Pasadena’s most underrated record store and music venue, is hoping to take over the Beastie Boys’ old studio in Atwater Village. The existing location is just a little too quiet to run a successful music venue (“No offense if anybody lives here,” owner Austin Manuel told LAist after referring to his location as a “dead corner”). The old G-Son Studios is also about three times larger than Healing Force’s current spot. Manuel needs to raise about $25,000 to make the move happen; you can donate to his GoFundMe here if you’re inclined.

• From the tip line — in response to Tuesday’s letter, sources report we’re “minimum two years out” from demolition at Tenants of the Trees. Until then, the bar is almost certain to keep operating because — duh — “it’s a moneymaker.”

• This Saturday, vintage dealer Destijl is throwing a blowout one-year anniversary carnival with games, vendors, live music, and….a dunk tank. There’ll be drinks by Silverlake Wine, pizza from Triple Beam, and “all kinds of everything,” according to the store. They’re calling the event, from 3-10pm on Saturday at 2023 Riverside Drive, “a bona fide neighborhood happening.” I’m into it, see you there?

• And on Monday, Mackandgold is throwing a funeral service for El Condor. She’ll be singing ballads to honor the restaurant’s 12-year run. Doors are at 7pm at 3701 Sunset Boulevard, and guests should wear black. A friend recently told me his ideal summer weekend in Los Angeles includes a day at the beach followed immediately by a margarita at El Condor. RIP to that.

• Four decades after debuting in a Silver Lake strip mall, Porto’s is expanding to the Inland Empire. The 50,000-square-foot outpost in Ontario will be the bakery’s seventh location in Southern California (the Silver Lake address that started it all is long gone, having closed when Porto’s moved to Glendale in 1982).

• From the tip line — the long-delayed Jyan Isaac Bread location in Silver Lake will finally open on 11/2. It replaces the beloved Say Cheese, which closed in April 2025 after 53 years in business, and joins a flagship in Santa Monica. It’s owned by Jyan Isaac Horwitz, the son of American Beauty bigwig Bruce Horwitz.

• Little Fish’s in-progress Echo Park restaurant is delayed (and looking for investors). “Turns out historic buildings have a lot of stories, and most of them are hiding behind the walls.” (If you’re not caught up, Little Fish is taking over the old Sage space on the ground floor of the Jensen’s building, just a block from their longtime window at Dada Market). If you’re curious about investing in the restaurant, email info@littlefishla.com.

• Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was spotted buying flowers and Miller Lite at the Gelson’s in Los Feliz. Just the essentials, I guess. Not necessarily the neighborhood I’d expect an NFL player to frequent, but I’m into it.

• There’s now a calendar featuring (almost) all the dogs of Beachwood Canyon. It comes in two sizes, and you can preorder it now. If you’re a Beachwood resident with stage parent ambitions, you can submit your dog for inclusion through 10/31.

• Wi Spa just debuted punch cards for regulars. It’s about time. Ten visits and your eleventh is free. I still think they should waive the fee if you’re getting a treatment.

• This 1937 Colonial Revival in Los Feliz is being marketed as an “estate,” which I don’t totally buy, but it’s still very good. I love an old house that hasn’t been messed with, and this one is almost fully untouched. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a pool, and a sunroom. If I wrote this letter from that paneled library, I’d be a whole new person. (And for what it’s worth, Ome Dezin is currently renovating the house next door.)

• And here’s your chance to rent a Schindler-designed apartment in Silver Lake. The one-bedroom unit is part of Schindler’s (locally) legendary Manola Court, and it has sweeping views, thoughtful upgrades, and a garden designed by Terremoto.

I’ve already heard about multiple dates resulting from Friday’s east side singles roundup, so this is your one and only reminder to DM anyone you’re interested in if you haven’t thrown your hat in the ring.

In today’s issue: Tenants of the Trees might (actually) be shutting down, the new owner of Cole’s French Dip wants it to feel like an illegitimate child, Lady White’s renovation, your chance to land Kyle Buchanan’s old NYT beat, Homeboy Industries is making LA28 merch, the influential political race no one is talking about, yet another new coffee shop in Silver Lake, and an 1888 mansion once occupied by the cofounder of the LA Times.

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From the tip line — the end (finally, maybe) appears to be nigh for Tenants of the Trees.

After more than a decade as LA’s most talked-about bar — a run that included a litany of drugging and date rape allegations, an AI-generated Spencer Pratt endorsement, a recurring role on Rachel Sennott’s I Love LA, and an unexpected resurgence after Charli XCX rented it out for her birthday party at the height of Brat summer — the often-reviled yet usually-packed Tenants of the Trees might finally be closing its doors in Silver Lake.

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In today’s issue: a roundup of the east side’s most eligible singles, confirmation of a major Rag restaurant scoop, the Spectrum truck-swallowing Los Feliz sinkhole, Rhett Baruch debuts a new gallery in Koreatown, Melrose Hill’s newest media darling, Ètra’s (offsite) three-course dinner for $39, LA’s big night of magazine launch parties, a legendary recording studio sells, Mouthwash is hiring in Chinatown, and a hillside house accessed by outdoor elevator and elevated walkway.

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​EAST SIDE SINGLES VOL. VI

It’s been a few months since we last did a singles roundup. For those of you who’ve subscribed in the interim, the concept is simple: each person featured here was nominated by a fellow reader, lives somewhere on the east side, and does not currently have a significant other. If someone catches your attention, DM them via the Instagram account linked below their photo.

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The weekend was organized by Chris Black and Lissie Chappell to celebrate the recent launch of the Cooper, Charleston’s first (and only) waterfront hotel. I had a great time finding beach fossils and hitting the honky tonk with , , , , , , Alex Delany, , and — as Lauren said in Monday’s Line Sheet — so many more “cute people I follow on Instagram.” Watching crowdsource opinions on inseam length and pant break preferences felt like getting a peek into a mad genius’s brain. We had dinner at Merci, went dancing at Burns Alley, and I’m still thinking about a Paul Gorka painting I didn’t buy (but still might) at Super Saturday. I want to go back in the spring.

In today’s issue: Amanda Lee Koe tackles the “strange, underrated intimacy of LA sidewalks,” a (long-overdue) before-and-after in Angelino Heights, Audrey Hobert loves Deetjen’s, another Los Feliz restaurant bites the dust, the Skyduster team gets a national spotlight, thoughts on Karen Bass’s “vacant to vibrant” campaign, a costume designer needs immediate work, the can’t-miss new play in Hollywood, I Love LA shooting updates, construction is underway at Little Fish, Skylight’s new spot in Eagle Rock is delayed, and a modernist Silver Lake rental designed by a Gregory Ain disciple.

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This might be the best (and most overdue) residential before-and-after I’ve seen in a while.

And it isn’t even done yet. According to several neighbors, the house at 1325 Carroll Avenue has been in a state of visible disrepair for decades. Scaffolding has covered the street-facing facade for years despite an utter lack of construction activity. (Though neighbors referred to the home as “abandoned,” someone was allegedly living in the house the whole time.)

That all changed in June, when a longtime resident of the block — who also restored and flipped the house at 1340 Carroll earlier this year — paid an even $1mm for the house and quickly set about fixing it up. The facade has been completely restored, and neighbors report work is continuing on the interior. I’m curious to see what this one will ultimately list for when it’s finished.

I’m thinking it’ll ask around $2.695mm, but DM me your guesses. I’ll send whoever gets closest without going over an impossible-to-buy (for now) Eastside Rag hat.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• Amanda Lee Koe traversed the east side to photograph “the strange, underrated intimacy of LA sidewalks.” I loved this piece, the photos are great, and it’s the kind of thing the LA Times should be doing more of (the Image section has been pulling conspicuously outsize weight for the paper recently). As always, it’s interesting to read a relatively recent transplant’s thoughts on the city’s culture and social scene. Los Angeles “isn’t New York or Singapore,” Koe writes, “and increasingly I don’t need it to be.” Also, there’s apparently a guy from MIT working to “improve walking experiences in LA” leading up to the Olympics. Capri Club, Café Triste, LaSorted’s, Walt’s, Tondo, and Seco are name-checked; Zach Jarrett, Francesco Allegro, Pete St. Peter, and Abe Campillo are quoted.

• Audrey Hobert shot the just-released music video for “Phoebe” at Deetjens in Big Sur. Deetjens has become the go-to Big Sur destination for a certain type of fashion- and culture-adjacent clientele — no less than nine east side-based Deetjens superfans texted me when the video dropped. The cliffside hotel property has no cell service, and that is, of course, the point. Extra points if you book one of the rooms with a shared hallway bathroom.

• From the tip line — I Love LA was spotted filming “in Griffith Park south of the Greek Theater” on Monday. Per our tipster: “I asked a guy and it was his first day, he thought maybe I Love LA was a fake stand-in name. I said ‘Oh yeah, no, there’s an HBO show called that.’” If anyone on HBO’s PR team is reading — I know some of you are — let’s chat. I have some entirely unsolicited (but fun) ideas.

• Karen Bass’s new “Vacant to Vibrant” campaign for downtown LA is genuinely a good idea….but is it too little, too late? The program aims to install artists and makers in some of downtown’s many (many) vacant storefronts. In success, it’ll activate DTLA streetscapes, draw pedestrians, and — in time — attract real tenants back downtown. But miracles aside, it’s probably too late to remake Bass’s flop energy ahead of the election next month. Nithya is still way ahead in the polls.

• Costume designer (and friend of the Rag) Jordy Scheinberg needs to work 12 union hours by 10/24 in order to get her health insurance back. If you’re a producer, director, or costume designer….now you know who to call. Unfortunately, Jordy’s not alone — I’ve been seeing a lot of similar posts recently.

• A water main break flooded Hoover Street and caused temporary street closures in Silver Lake yesterday. If you were wondering why there was a quasi-river outside of Cafecito Organico for a moment yesterday morning, this would be why.

• Middlebrow’s podcast guests have been hitting recently. Last week, Brian Park and Dan Rosen had The Holes playwright (and Echo Park-based friend of the Rag) Max Friedlich, who made an argument in favor of perverted thoughts. Today they have none other than Jeff Koons, which is the conversation I never knew I needed.

• In a shock to absolutely no one, Civico 2064 is closing its two-year-old restaurant on Hillhurst. The ill-fated eatery was an offshoot of a long-standing restaurant in San Diego, and one only had to walk by at dinnertime to know it was…not doing well. As its predecessor in the space, the similarly short-lived Dal Milanese, also learned, it just wasn’t the right concept or presentation for the location (too corporate-leaning to be homey, not polished enough to be fancy). I’m curious to see who arrives at 2064 Hillhurst next — it’s an undeniably great location for someone with the chops (and desire) to do something special. Civico’s last day in the space will be Sunday, 10/25. If you go, let me know how it is….

• Carissa Gallo shot Kyle MacLachlan for Port Magazine. Locals doing cool things.

• Skyduster Beer is the latest local business to appear in a national ad campaign. Jonny Marler and Nick Smith’s increasingly ubiquitous LA-based beer brand got the opportunity to show off its new downtown sports bar (a beer garden in Sunset Junction is joining the fray soon) in a new ad for payment processing giant Square. I’ve written about the trend of local businesses starring in national ad campaigns several times before (remember Café Tropical for Airbnb, Tacos Delta for Amex, and Peacekeeper Projects for Soft Services?). It’s an effective and hyper-targeted way to reach audiences — arguably more needle-moving than celebrity placements — and Skyduster’s new collab is another indicator that the strategy isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

• I’m looking forward to seeing Georgia Ford’s Hotel Play at the New Theater Hollywood. “Guests are encouraged to: Draw the curtains. Lock the door. Smoke in bed. Practice in the mirror. Make false promises.” You should really read the whole advert. Ford’s show is set for a limited run of seven shows between 11/5 and 11/14 and stars a stacked roster of favorites including Joe Apollonio, Tyler Goulden, Jessie-Ann Kohlman, and Lindsey Normington. Tickets are $35 ($19 if you’re under 26) and there aren’t many available — snag some here while you can.

• If you’re looking for some live performance a little sooner, Liza Babin and Ashna Yakoob are hosting a Halloween-themed comedy show in one of Angelino Heights’s famed Victorian mansions this Friday, 10/16. Featuring Kylie Vincent, Eliza Dillon, Reshma Meister, John Norris, and the Same Great Taste ninesome. Tickets are almost sold out for this one, so act fast if you want in.

• From the tip line — construction is officially underway at Little Fish’s new full-scale corner restaurant in Echo Park. The opening date has not yet been announced, but it does look like the erstwhile Sage space might be getting split into two separate storefronts (either that or Little Fish is putting some walls up).

• The opening date for Skylight’s new outpost in Eagle Rock has been delayed. Originally set to debut “this fall,” general manager Mary Williams says the store is now hoping to open sometime in January.

• If you loved All Fours (or her legendary garden transplantation project with Juan), Miranda July is hiring a part-time intern in Echo Park. Hours for the gig are limited to “after 5pm,” so you might be in for some late nights. But you’d probably walk away with some great stories and connections, so….maybe worth it?

• Also in Eagle Rock, this 1923 Craftsman — on the market for the first time ever — has tons of original details, great views and light, and a guest suite with its own entrance. There are five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sunroom, and a massive backyard. Not much has been messed with (though I’d get rid of that fireplace mantel) and just a light cosmetic touch could make this place very special.

• And for $5,750 a month, this two-bedroom Silver Lake rental was designed by modernist architect James H. Garrott, a disciple of Gregory Ain. Perched in the Moreno Highlands, the immaculately preserved house has a big open living and dining room, a green-tiled kitchen, a general treehouse vibe, and a big back patio.

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In today’s issue: a $150 cash payment to entertain your neighbors, the big name rumored to take over El Condor, Remi Wolf throws a party at the Los Feliz Car Wash, studio lot valuations are tanking, the coffee shop with a $13.79 yogurt cup, a free concert tonight at the LA River, Skylight is hiring booksellers, the great condo debate, Ravine Club signage, Tyler Matthew Oyer interviews Thom Browne, a perfect cottage in Highland Park, and the rental listing with a random man in the photos.

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Do you know your neighbors? ESTEBAN ARELLANO will pay you $150 to meet them.

It’s no secret that the east side has changed profoundly over the past few decades — and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Newcomers share fences with longtime residents, streetscapes look different from year to year, and the pace of change can create communities that feel slightly fractured. Echo Park-based creative director Esteban Arellano wants to change that. Through his studio, Utopias, Arellano has proposed an interesting solution to the growing social divide in “neighborhoods reshaped by capital and turnover:” he’s offering east siders cold, hard cash to host their neighbors.

This fall, Arellano will offer an initial cohort of ten east siders $150 each to host a social event for their immediate neighbors. Recipients of grants from Utopias’ Block Party Fund can gather residents of their block in any format they choose: per Arellano, it could be “a dinner, a porch hang, a park picnic, a block party, whatever fits.”

The wager here is that “fun is the cheapest, fastest foundation for trust” — if east siders take advantage of opportunities to engage in activities with their neighbors, Arellano assumes, they’ll feel more connected to their community, more willing to contribute to their shared environment, and more inclined to stay in their neighborhoods over the long term.

If you’re interested in snagging some cash for a party with your neighbors, you can apply for the Block Party Fund’s first round of grants here. And even if you don’t get selected this time around, it might still be fun to introduce yourself to your neighbors?

SCOOP: Could Silver Lake’s most talked-about bar be taking over the El Condor corner?

Last week, a few readers texted me that the iconic Sunset Junction corner long home to El Condor — closing on 10/31 after 12 years in the neighborhood — might soon become home to one of Silver Lake’s most talked-about food and beverage operators. I was skeptical, mostly because many people have expressed interest in the El Condor space, but it’s starting to look like there might be some truth to the rumors.

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In today’s issue: a conversation with the founders of this week’s Rich & Successful Film Festival, the president wants Iran to “take out” Los Angeles, Couplet Coffee’s Blank Street-style expansion, Ally Walsh in the Wall Street Journal, Seco debuts cocktails, a criminal investigation at the Lineage warehouse, Jeremy O. Harris vs. Vanity Fair, Bruce’s monthlong residency, filming at Echo Park Lake, and an $849k two-bedroom in Highland Park.

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“It’s always counterculture until it’s not.” Inside the rise of LA’s Rich & Successful Film Festival.

In just five years, armed with little more than a shoestring budget and a love of movies, east side friends Noah Morse, Nir Liebenthal, Jeremy Roth-Rose, Dylan Trupiano, and Page Brady have built the cheekily-named Rich & Successful Film Festival into a much-needed showcase for short films, a can’t-miss annual community event, and an increasingly valuable launchpad for LA-based filmmakers. What was once a “very DIY” one-night event is now a five-day, multi-venue extravaganza across the east side.

This year’s edition, which kicks off today and runs through Saturday, 10/10, features screenings at the Los Feliz 3, a marquee showcase at the Egyptian Theater, a night of readings in collaboration with Essays in Echo Park, industry roundtables in Los Feliz, and a blowout party at Chinatown’s Grand Star Jazz Club. You can check out the full schedule (and snag tickets) here.

I caught up with Noah and Page to learn more about the festival, its increasingly important place in a rapidly evolving entertainment landscape, and what to expect from this year’s 19 films.

Let’s start with a quick overview of the festival. You’re in your fifth year now, but how did it all start?

Noah: Yeah, we started five years ago. It was me and our cofounders, Nir Liebenthal, Jeremy Roth-Rose, and Dylan Trupiano. We had [made] a short film and we didn’t really know what to do with it. We didn’t know how to navigate the landscape. It was Covid, we were all 23 or 24 years old, and we were just like, Let’s try to put something together on our own. It was very DIY — we paid out of pocket to rent a theater and took submissions via a Google form we plastered around town on a QR code. We curated a good enough selection of short films and screened them, and it was kind of a right place, right time moment. People were just coming out of Covid and excited to do things in groups, and we filled the theater. We were like, Huh, maybe there’s something here.

The second year, Page joined us and we were a bit more buttoned-up. We had a little bit of money to put towards it, and that’s when we really found our thesis. It was like, We’re LA-based, we’re going to program LA-based filmmakers, we’re going to be really curatorial, and we’re going to focus on quality over quantity.

Page: We all work in entertainment in some capacity, and I think there was a frustration we all shared about the festival landscape, in that most festivals aren’t focused on shorts. The attention is almost always on features. But shorts take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and short filmmakers want to have their work meaningfully showcased. I think our festival fills that gap — we’ve created a really special place for shorts.

Tell me a bit about the programming at this year’s edition.

Noah: We have a really awesome lineup. Each year we’re like, We can never top this lineup and then every year it’s like…We did it. We have 16 shorts in our big screening at the Egyptian, and this year we also have three features. We wanted to showcase features that are super run-and-gun and low-budget and focus on LA-based filmmakers who are making their first jump from shorts into features. For the shorts, we have documentary shorts and narrative shorts, genre shorts and drama shorts and animated shorts. We want it to feel balanced and layered. There’s a little bit of everything.

Page: This year’s shorts seem to have an overarching theme of alienation or unease, which is cool because it’s very reflective of the general cultural anxiety.

Noah: Last year our program was pretty horny, and this year we came away from our programming meeting like…There’s something very wrong with everyone right now.

How are you making those programming decisions? There are a lot of talented filmmakers in LA, but there are only so many slots at a festival.

Noah: Everyone on our programming team is very open to letting whatever comes into our submission pool wash over them, and the best stuff rises to the top. Our process is extremely democratic and balanced, and I like to tell people it’s kind of nepotism-proof. It really is a merit-based process. We have a lot of friends who submit to us and we often have to reject them. Not because their movies are bad, sometimes it’s just that they don’t quite fit with the rest of the programming.

Page: Yeah, it’s like fitting puzzle pieces together. There are so many things we love that just don’t fit because maybe we already have something that fills a similar space. We try to create something that feels very cohesive and whole.

You mentioned your focus on LA-based filmmakers, but there’s a broader industry conversation right now about the dearth of projects actually filming in LA. What are you hearing from the filmmakers you work with on that front?

Noah: We’re all actively in the industry, and Page works as an executive by day. So we’re all very aware of the omnipresent energy and anxiety that has taken over. But the people we work with are resilient, and right now there are a lot of people trying to circumvent the gatekeeping elements that traditionally come along with making a movie in Hollywood. People work around obstacles and they keep making stuff. And I think we’re creating a spirit that makes people feel like, Hey, things are getting made, things are possible. We want to create some inspiration for the young filmmaker who just moved to LA, who’s in the audience, who maybe heard about us on Instagram, to feel like Oh, I can actually do this and I don’t need the approval of some larger entity.

So you see the festival as something of a counter to the prevailing narrative in Hollywood right now.

Noah: I mean, it’s always counterculture until it’s not, right? At some point you’re accepted, and then all of a sudden you become part of the culture. It really starts with the name — it’s tongue-in-cheek and kind of stupid, and people didn’t take it seriously at first. But then, you know, they come and they go, Oh, this is a real thing.

Page: Yeah, one of the reasons we’ve been motivated to keep doing this is because we’ve gotten really warm feedback from filmmakers. Like, There’s nothing like this in LA, thank you guys for doing this and We’ve been looking for something like this. Even though LA is the hub of entertainment, it can sometimes feel like there aren’t meaningful spaces for people who aren’t yet at a certain level in the Hollywood system.

We touched on this to some extent, but what do you hope someone who comes to the festival walks away feeling or thinking?

Noah: Number one, we hope to create an energy that feels welcoming, inclusive, and fosters an environment in which people are down to have a genuine conversation. We want to bring good, like-minded people together and create a sense of community, which can be hard these days. And we hope people walk away with a renewed excitement and joy about filmmaking. Even though the industry can be hard and confusing, it felt like people walked away last year being like, This is sick, people are making cool things, stuff is happening and big things are possible. There’s so much talent and possibility around us, and we want to highlight that.

Finally, how do you see the festival growing into the future?

Noah: As of this year, we’re officially a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so we’re really focusing on the expansion of our community programming and educational offerings. I want people to think we’re cool, but I don’t want people to think we’re too cool for school. For me, anything with a feeling of inaccessibility is really frustrating, and I don’t want people to feel like they can’t be a part of this. Being a part of it doesn’t necessarily mean having a film in the festival — it’s also an environment for people to let their hair down, have a good time, and maybe learn something. And now that we’re officially a public good, we have to sustain ourselves with grant funding and the support of the public. So it’s about making good on our commitments, really listening to our audience, and creating a space people want to come back to year after year.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• While speaking at a rally in Nebraska, the president of the United States suggested Iran “take out” Los Angeles. This one is so incomprehensible I’m just going to include the full quote: “Let them take out Los Angeles; let them take out San Diego. That’s — this is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.” California lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are unsurprisingly irate. Gavin Newsom spoke out, Nithya Raman called the president’s words “reckless, dangerous, and unhinged,” and Karen Bass said “it would really be helpful to our city if you would apologize.” I don’t think that last one’s happening.

• Almost two full weeks after I told you Madonna bought the Cecil B. DeMille estate in Laughlin Park, other news outlets are picking up the story. The purchase marks a long-awaited return to Los Feliz for Madonna — she previously owned a Wallace Neff-designed home in the neighborhood in the ’90s. In the interim, she owned two architecturally significant homes in Beverly Hills….and an architecturally bankrupt estate in Hidden Hills (formerly owned by the Weeknd).

• Couplet Coffee is taking over the former Bread Lounge location in the Arts District. Couplet might be the fastest-growing chain of cafés in LA — just a year and a half after the longtime pop-up’s first permanent location debuted in Historic Filipinotown, the erstwhile Bread Lounge becomes the coffee shop’s sixth outpost (the others are in Hollywood, DTLA, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica).

• From the tip line — NBC’s Rockford Files reboot is filming at Echo Park Lake today.

  

• The Lineage cold-storage facility in Boyle Heights was searched by investigators as part of a criminal probe. The much-discussed fire at the warehouse took about a week to fully extinguish in June, and in the months since the neighborhood has been plagued by foul smells, rodents, and insects as a result of rotting food at the facility. Lineage, the warehouse’s owner, has missed several cleanup deadlines; today, the LA Times spotted officials from both the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office conducting a search as part of a broader (as yet unannounced) investigation.

• Jeremy O. Harris slammed Vogue and Vanity Fair for consistently platforming tech titans. Jeremy’s argument wasn’t that the Condé Nast titles shouldn’t cover people like Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos — he thinks they should — but rather that there’s a difference between covering the billionaire class and dedicating multi-page photo spreads (not to mention covers) to them. As Jeremy sees it, the photos confer a certain social legitimacy upon and affirm the often undeserved self-perception of oligarchs. Judging by the comments on Diet Prada’s post, a lot of people agree with Jeremy (Tricia Benitez Beanum, the owner of Melrose Hill’s Pop Up Home, called it “the great dumbing down of journalism, art, and culture”), and the dustup becomes yet another recent example of a Condé publication appearing surprisingly out of step with the culture (see: John Galliano at the Met Gala and robots at Vogue World). Whether you agree with Jeremy or not, Mark’s claim that “tech bros [and] the newly-rich of today are not interested in social climbing…they don’t care” is an insane take and couldn’t be further from the truth.

• Canyon Coffee co-founder Ally Walsh landed a profile in the Wall Street Journal. If you’ve ever wanted to tour Ally’s Mount Washington home, look inside her (very organized) fridge, or learn how she perfected Canyon’s almond butter toast, this might be the article for you. Shoutouts are given to Bub & Grandma’s, McCall’s, Cookbook, and Canyon’s soon-to-debut location in El Sereno. The most interesting detail: Canyon’s new-ish location in Brooklyn processes “roughly one order per minute during business hours.” Wild.

• The annual Emmys ceremony will continue to air live from the Peacock Theater in downtown LA…but it’ll be on Prime Video now. The TV Academy’s just-announced six-year deal with Amazon is worth a reported $15mm a year and ends a 31-year “wheel deal,” in which the Emmys rotated between ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox each year. Unlike the wheel deal, which covered only domestic rights, Amazon will broadcast the Emmys worldwide. Interestingly, next year’s Emmys will be the first ceremony since the the show’s inception in 1949 not to air on a broadcast network.

• From the tip line — a cocktail program is coming to Seco in the next few weeks. This update, along with the recent rollout of cocktails at hotspots like Ètra and Barra Santos, makes me think the years-long cultural chokehold natural wine bars have had on socializing might actually be…..over?

• Someone broke into Good Friend on Virgil this morning. Apparently just to steal….some merch. The t-shirts are good, but are they that good? Here’s the video.

• Bruce is popping up at Bar Bandini every weekend in October. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (until hopefully I don’t need to say it anymore) — Bruce consistently serves some of the best meals in LA, and they need to have a permanent location. If you’re a landlord, snag Brittany before someone else does.

• After more than a year on the market — and five separate price reductions — Aaron Paul finally sold his Spanish Colonial Revival estate in Los Feliz. Originally asking $9.995mm in July 2025, the 1922 mansion was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements, featured in Architectural Digest twice over the years, and has been home to a murderers’ row of celebrity owners: before Paul, it was home to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Curry, Noah Wyle, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and Jim Parsons. It finally sold this morning for $7.495mm, about $2.5mm less than Paul wanted (but still $500,000 more than he paid in 2019).

• And here’s a great two-bedroom cottage in Highland Park for $849k. The 1922 bungalow has original details, no offensive updates, and great light. There’s also a nice back deck and a finished attic space that could function as a third bedroom.

In today’s issue: a tour of Theo Chapman’s Lincoln Heights loft, a DTLA hotel just opened 12 years after it was completed, the Silver Lake Rec Center is reopening on Sundays, two new bagel shops, hundreds of new traffic cameras roll out, Miley Cyrus’s connection to Hotel Lucile’s hallway art, the Shann Shann mystery gets even stranger, Scout Zabinski and Magna are hosting an event with Sqirl, and the age of the $4mm house in Glendale is upon us.

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Introducing…east side HOUSE TOURS.

The east side is brimming with fascinating homes, from Architectural Digest-level estates to midcentury masterpieces to the disheveled apartments of creative geniuses. Not everything is going to be in AD, but everything can be in the Rag. To that end, today marks the first edition of a new recurring house tour series. It’s a down-to-earth, intentionally lo-fi (all photos are shot on an iPhone), and equal-opportunity look at how your friends and neighbors actually live.

We have a bunch of fun tours lined up, and I’ll be taking submissions more widely as House Tours gets off the ground. Whether you pay $1,800 a month or have a $1.8mm mortgage, this series could be for you. If you think you or a friend should be featured in an upcoming issue, DM me.

HOUSE TOUR 01: THEO CHAPMAN’s live/work loft in Lincoln Heights.

We’re kicking things off today at the Lincoln Heights home of Theo Chapman. He has one of the more unique LA apartments I’ve ever seen — a one-bedroom live/work unit with 30-foot ceilings, a ballroom-sized living space, and a balcony accessible by a garage door. It’s perched on a high floor of a 1925 loft building with views of the surrounding neighborhood, multiple spaces for creative work, and an open staircase jammed with art books. Here’s the tour……plus Theo’s thoughts on his home and how much he pays to live there.

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In today’s issue: an LA Design Week/end preview, a chance to nominate your hottest friends for East Side Singles, Silver Lake’s most mysterious restaurant might be dead on arrival, the $450mm studio complex plowing ahead in Hollywood, Ètra (finally) gets its liquor license, Nithya Raman is a microdrama star, Cortado snags a permanent spot in Silver Lake, an inside look at Canyon Coffee’s El Sereno café, Perfectly Imperfect levels up, Magna is hiring, and a can’t-miss old house in Glendale.

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Here’s what you should hit at the third annual LA Design Week/end.

This year marks the third annual edition of LA Design Weekend — though the 2026 event has been ever-so-slightly renamed LA Design Week/end to reflect its newly-expanded five-day schedule — and the Holland Denvir- and Meghan McNeer-founded confab is returning bigger in all ways. More than 140 designers are participating, some of LA’s most interesting spaces will be open to the public, and almost all of it is happening on the east side.

As I told Holland and Meghan yesterday, the scale and breadth of LADW’s programming just three years in is beyond impressive. It’s also an undeniable celebration of LA, the city’s you can do anything attitude, and the many talented creatives who live and work here. The full schedule for this year’s LA Design Week/end is here, but below are a few stops you shouldn’t miss:

Waka Waka at Billings — I’m a huge fan of Shin Okuda and his work, and this could be a great opportunity to acquire one of his pieces. Billings is hosting a special installation of one-off Waka Waka pieces, all of which will be available for viewing on Friday and auctioned off on Saturday. Maybe I’ll get a desk to write this letter on? Friday, 10/2 from 5-8pm in the Arts District.

RAD Fest Rodeo — The RAD team is once again opening the doors of their fabrication studio for a day-long party with live music, food, and…a mechanical bull. Saturday, 10/3 from 12-5pm in Frogtown.

Rhythm of the Night at Small Green Door — I’d never been to Small Green Door before yesterday, and I was blown away. The Boyle Heights complex is worth a visit even when it isn’t being programmed. It’s a sprawling collection of restored warehouses occupying nearly a full city block and housing several distinct artists’ studios, plus a group currently dedicated to 3D-printing dinosaur bones for major museums. This weekend, the facility is home to After the Tide, an open call show curated by Nadia Khagani and Rose Zhang, plus a full-blown party with drinks, flash tattoos, and six different DJ sets. Saturday, 10/3 from 8pm-2am in Boyle Heights.

Peter Shire’s studio — Opportunities to tour the legendary sculptor and ceramicist Peter Shire’s Echo Park Avenue studio are rare and always worth taking advantage of. Sunday, 10/4 from 10am-3pm in Echo Park.

Our Joy is Resistance at Alabaster — Another of LADW’s open call shows, this one is curated by Sarah Al-Qatou. Our Joy is Resistance features the work of many neighborhood artists, some of whom you probably know. (Rio Asch Phoenix has two pieces on view, both of which I loved.) The gallery is open all weekend, but there’s a party on Sunday with food, drinks, and a listening session by the team at SALA. Sunday, 10/4 from 10am-3pm in Historic Filipinotown.

Nominate your friends (or…yourself?) for the next East Side Singles roundup.

As I previewed on Instagram earlier this week, the East Side Singles roundup is officially returning to the Rag very (very) soon. If you want to throw your hat in the ring or nominate an eligible friend, DM me or reply to this email.

Guys in particular rarely volunteer themselves, so if there’s a cute dude from the gym, a barista you’ve been crushing on, or a friendship you’ve been wanting to take to the next level, now is the time to send me his name. I reach out to all nominees directly and no one will know who nominated them, so you have nothing to lose….and everything to gain ❤️

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• Real estate developer David Simon is betting his new $450mm studio complex can buck industry trends and lure production back to Los Angeles. Simon’s Echelon Studios project, currently in the late stages of construction on the site of a former Sears on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, will feature five soundstages, production offices, a fully-functioning mill, screening rooms, and multiple cafés. Unlike most studio lots, which sprawl across large swaths of land, Echelon is being built vertically on an urban lot, with stacked spaces “connected by ramps, stairways, and elevators.” Per architect Andrew Wright, the project’s design team had to fit what would normally occupy ten acres on five. Echelon is an undoubtedly cool project, and I’m hoping it works. (Simon appears bullish despite recent production struggles — in addition to forging ahead on Echelon, he’s also planning a $600mm renovation of the historic Television Center nearby.)

• From the tip line — Shann Shann has reportedly closed in Sunset Junction, barely a month after opening. The Bar Moruno-replacing Taiwanese restaurant always seemed a little….off. The whole thing was mysterious, the branding didn’t make any sense for the neighborhood, and the restaurant had zero social media presence. Shann Shann’s (very orange) exterior signage has already been removed from its Sunset Boulevard-facing facade. I’m curious what the closure means — if anything — for Shann Shann’s sister restaurant, Bobo Thai, which is, for now at least, still operating in the space next door.

• Microdramas are all the rage in Hollywood, and Nithya Raman is now using them to appeal to young voters. Thirty-one-year-old microdrama director (and former Nithya canvasser) Ryan Wagner first shot a few “campy and extremely wonky” microdramas for the campaign during the primaries, “pairing soap opera plotlines with detailed discussions of Raman’s positions on public transit, tenant protections, and rent stabilization.” They were some of the campaign’s best-performing assets and effectively captured the attention of a hard-to-reach young demographic, so Raman’s camp is now spending about $15,000 to produce new microdramas ahead of the November runoff against Karen Bass. They’re being shot in Chatsworth by Wagner’s team, and — yes — Nithya is “acting” in them.

• After months of rumors, you can officially order a cocktail at Ètra. I’ve always said the only thing that could make Ètra — already a truly great neighborhood watering hole — better would be a martini or a Negroni. Now, at long last, they’re both happening (along with whatever else you might want). Also, the number of people who sent me this news makes me think people will be very excited about it.

• El Sereno Social Club got a sneak peek at Canyon Coffee’s new location in the neighborhood. As I said when I scooped this one, El Sereno is a smart move for Canyon. The new space, as expected, looks very similar to the Echo Park flagship.

• Disney laid off “around 300” employees in its latest round of staff cuts. This time around, the affected roles were mostly in the company’s HR and tech divisions, though the Burbank-based creative org has endured several rounds of layoffs over the past year. This week’s cuts, part of new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s focus on “reducing costs across the enterprise,” were (sadly) widely expected.

• Karolyn Pho’s fan-favorite cooking Substack, Home Cook, is back after a two-month hiatus. Sometimes I look at Karolyn and her husband, Jason Stewart, and think….what can’t they do? The Glendale-based duo is kind of good at everything.

• Former pop-up Cortado is opening a standalone café in Silver Lake. After launching with a residency at the erstwhile Bar Siesta (now Bar Besito), Cortado is taking a permanent spot right around the corner on Silver Lake Drive. Teaser signage is up, and the Jhon Mejia-owned shop’s impending debut sets up a (low-stakes) competition with Lamill just steps away. More details to come on Friday…

• Perfectly Imperfect launched its first-ever cover story today. Phoebe Bridgers interviewed Lance Oppenheim, and the photos are by Sinna Nasseri. It looks amazing. I’m always inspired by Tyler Bainbridge — he’s developed and maintained such a specific voice as he’s grown the world of Perfectly Imperfect — and it’s exciting to see an independent publication roll out the kind of full-fledged multimedia feature that, for a long time, only deeper-pocketed legacy institutions could achieve. This is the kind of project that makes me genuinely excited about the state of independent media (and, selfishly, about the possibilities for the Rag).

• Tijuanero by Tijuanazo, the long-in-the-works taqueria in Echo Park’s legendary Los Burritos space, quietly opened last week. The famed Tijuana-based outfit’s signature adobada is already drawing (well-deserved) lines to Echo Park Avenue. It’s Tijuanazo’s second stateside location, joining one in San Diego.

• Superiority Burger’s Brooks Headley is moving to Los Angeles and opening a culinary concept called Food Court, per Caper. Food Court debuts on 10/5, but further details — including its location — have yet to be announced. Stay tuned….

• If you haven’t booked a trip to New York to see Max Friedlich and Hannah Getts’s sold-out (and much-discussed) play The Holes, you still can — it just got extended. After talking to the Rag about the play, the Echo Park-based couple has been featured in everything from Interview to Vogue to GQ, and the play was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The audience has been verifiably star-studded. Book a flight and snag tickets for the extension here while you still can.

• Magna is hiring a freelance events assistant. Judging by the events Magna has hosted, you’d get to do cool things and meet cool people. DM Taylor for details.

• Here’s a great 1930s three-bedroom in Glendale’s underrated Glenoaks Canyon. The staging furniture isn’t doing this place any favors, but the Deco bones are good. There’s a fireplace in the living room, original wood floors, and a sunroom-style family room with beamed ceilings. There’s also a 400-year-old oak tree in the (huge) backyard, plus a detached two-room studio space for creative endeavors.

• And in Glassell Park, here’s a charming four-bedroom asking less than $1mm. Only one dollar less, but….it’s still less. This one’s a probate sale subject to court confirmation, but it’s a 1940s traditional with great light, original details (including phenomenal windows in the living room), and hillside views. The lower level is accessible from the outside and has its own kitchenette, meaning you could — theoretically — use it as an income-producing unit below your home.

In today’s issue: Madonna makes a major material purchase in Los Feliz, Wilde’s closes its daytime window, the Win~Dow has rats, Ome Dezin is hiring in Silver Lake, Nithya establishes a double-digit lead, Europeans weigh in on what east siders should eat and drink in Paris and Copenhagen, new stores are opening in Silver Lake and Melrose Hill, the potentially lifesaving entertainment bill, Justin Bieber plays a surprise show at MacArthur Park, and a can’t-miss house for sale in Highland Park.

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It’s a terrible, no good, very bad week for windows (and The Win~Dow) in LA.

On Tuesday, the always-jammed Silver Lake location of The Win~Dow was shuttered by the health inspector after a “rodent infestation” was discovered at the Sunset Junction restaurant. The official posting by the Department of Public Health cited the aforementioned rodent problem as well as a separate “vermin infestation,” so maybe there were two unwanted species living in the burger joint? The restaurant’s management took a slightly vaguer tack, announcing it was merely closed temporarily for “maintenance.”

Despite all the social media chatter, it appears the rodent fiasco at The Win~Dow was short-lived — as of sending this email, the health department notices are gone and the restaurant is back open for business. Whatever the case, I ordered from Burgers Never Say Die last night.

As if that weren’t enough window-related news for the week, yesterday the team at Wilde’s announced that the restaurant will be permanently shuttering its daytime café window on 10/3. The news comes a few weeks after Wilde’s nixed indoor dining during the day as a last-ditch attempt to preserve café service, and reflects the unfortunate reality that the financials for the café program “just didn’t work.”

This one’s a bummer — the Wilde’s café was a great place to hang out — but the good news is that the dinner program is here to stay (and the restaurant is now offering brunch service on Saturdays and Sundays). Per a statement by the team, “Numbers are boring and have candidly never really been a priority” at Wilde’s. Unfortunately, that’s probably why the food and the dining experience at the restaurant are both so good.

SCOOP: A certain Material Girl just closed on a big new house in Los Feliz.

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In today’s issue: S.P.A’s Courtney Wittich files a special guest report from the grand opening of the Hotel Lucile, two longtime Los Feliz restaurants bite the dust, California Dirt opens its first retail location in Echo Park, exterior signage is up at Emily Dawn Long’s store, Jess Hannah is hiring, multi-family property values are plummeting, Rory’s Place is popping up at Canyon, musicians are doubling down on local events, Marc Maron comes out of retirement for an event at Stories, and two can’t-miss investment properties.

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S.P.A.’s Courtney Wittich on Hotel Lucile’s “scene-y and sweaty” grand opening.

Though I was away for the much-anticipated grand opening of Silver Lake’s Hotel Lucile after more than five years of development and construction, I got lots of messages from readers who did make the Thursday night event. One person said the space “feels like [the developers] ran out of money.” Another argued it was “nice” but the design “doesn’t quite fit the neighborhood.” According to several attendees, Miley Cyrus made a brief appearance. Unsurprisingly, almost no one who went wanted to comment on the record.

Luckily for us, COURTNEY WITTICH isn’t most people. The writer and PR consultant — you’re likely familiar with her cult-favorite newsletter, S.P.A. — was on the ground at the Hotel Lucile opening and wrote a recap exclusively for the Rag. Here are her thoughts:

If the complete lack of parking across Silver Lake was any indication, Hotel Lucile’s long-awaited opening party had arrived. The former church, under renovation for five years (with a moving-target opening date over the last twelve months), was finally here. Inside, the bones that first-wave Eastside Rag readers should remember from the odds-and-ends yard sales held onsite remain.

Stained glass and cavernous ceilings are now joined by a towering bar and eclectic Angeleno art for sale (some meant to reference the recent fires), all destined to frame many a future wedding reception and brand dinner. The nooks and crannies hold the most intrigue: tucked-away booths, private patios and courtyards, the old organ loft-turned-meeting space looking down onto the restaurant, Sous Sous.

As for the party itself: scene-y and sweaty, yet somehow I didn’t run into anyone I actually knew. So much for being a recovering fashion publicist. I guess my people are in New York. The cocktails probably should’ve been batched, though I appreciated the almost ceremonial amount of time one bartender put into shaking my non-alcoholic margarita.

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In today’s issue: a conversation with Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello of Hacks, Found Oyster gets a new dining room, the billionaire owner of the LA Times is (shocker) against a billionaire’s tax, an update on Silver Lake’s most obvious abandoned lot, Burrito King returns to Echo Park, lawsuits are piling up at the Lucas Museum, a new Skylar Hughes exhibition in Highland Park, the food situation on the set of The Odyssey, and a two-bedroom in Elysian Heights for “just” $699k.

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Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello are getting over a breakup.

If eras are defined by their iconic comedies, the 2020s ushered in the reign of Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello. The partners in work and life (they married in 2021 and share a four-year-old son) met in an improv class at UCB, broke out on Broad City, and together with their longtime partner, Jen Statsky, created the decade-defining (and award-hoovering) HBO Max comedy Hacks, which wrapped its fifth and final season in May. The show, starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder as a legendary comedian and her much-younger writing partner, established Paul and Lucia as generational voices, made filming in Los Angeles cool again, and is nominated for a record-breaking 24 trophies at this weekend’s Emmys.

When they’re not working (which is…not that often), Paul and Lucia live in Los Feliz, eat at All Time, hit flea markets and estate sales, and occasionally visit Lady Gaga’s facialist (more on that below). After a quick break over the summer, they’re already working on their next thing.

Last week, I met them at Alcove — chosen because it was a Hacks filming location — to discuss creating in Los Angeles, the practical implications of becoming successful, life after Hacks, and their favorite east side spots.

First of all, congratulations on five seasons…and Emmys on Emmys on Emmys. What have you two been up to since the show ended?

Paul: We did take a long vacation. And we’ve been in an extended press cycle, so we’re still talking about the show. In a way it hasn’t really ended, which is great because we’ll be going through major withdrawal.

Lucia: It’s nice to still be talking about it, because usually at this time of the year we’d be about to shoot. We’d be talking to Pat [Regan] and figuring out the music right now. It’s weird to be pulled out of something that was your life for so long. It’s liberating, because it gives you time to look up and look around, but it’s weird for your nervous system.

Does that feeling make you want to dive straight into the next thing or take a second to breathe?

Both: Both. [Laughs]

Paul: We want to occupy our brains with something else but also…we could definitely slip into leisure. But it’s good to keep your hands busy. And it’s our addiction, so we do talk about the next thing every day.

Lucia: We were just with Jen and talking about it for three hours. It feels very much like a breakup. We just broke up with a soulmate, and the only true way to get over it is to start dating someone else. But because we’re not over it yet, we’re not quite ready to start again. It’s a little bit of a limbo.

Do you feel a certain pressure to deliver on the next thing, given the way Hacks was received?

Paul: We probably will when it’s coming out. Right now, no. It’s more a time of exciting potential energy. When it’s like, Oh shit, it’s about to air and the reviews will break this week, that’s when it’ll…

Lucia: That will be hell.

I have to imagine that your lives have changed in every single way in the half-decade you’ve been doing Hacks, both personally and professionally. In a practical sense, how is life different now than it was when you started? What are you thinking about now that you weren’t thinking about then?

Paul: You know what’s weird? Life is so different in every single way, and yet I don’t feel any different. I feel more tired, but I don’t really feel different.

Lucia: I think I wish that I felt happier. I was always like Once that thing happens, I’ll be happier, but I’m literally exactly where I was before. Things still make me happy and things still piss me off. I read something years ago about how people who lose a limb return to the same level of happiness they were at [before losing a limb] within a year, and I feel like it’s the same with this process. Before Hacks there was also this idea of aspiration, and wanting to have a project that connected with people. That urge is in some ways satiated, but not enough to feel like….

Paul: I mean, you want to keep doing it.

Lucia: Exactly.

Paul: I do feel more relaxed about it now. When you’re trying to make a living in comedy, you’re so hungry and it’s scary. You’re stressed all the time. It’s all about, Can I actually support myself? Now that we’ve supported ourselves, I’m more relaxed in the work, but it doesn’t make me any less hungry to do it. You want to keep doing it. It’s a drug.

Lucia: I think we’ve tried to remain pretty surrounded by the people we’ve always known. We still feel very much connected to the comedy community.

Paul: Not me, I cleaned house. I’m at the Bird Streets Club, I’m getting papped…

You’re wearing Emily Dawn Long on the press tour…

Paul: And she followed me back, so I’m feeling pretty good.

Was there a specific moment that felt like the pinnacle of your careers thus far?

Paul: There were a lot of little moments. The first time we saw Jean and Hannah do their chemistry read, we were like, This is good. The first time I got to do a scene with Meg [Stalter], we were like, This element of the show is going to work. At the very beginning, when people started seeing the show and tweeting about season one, we were like, Wow, people are finding it and watching it. And this is such a random moment, but in the second episode of season one, there’s a helicopter that picks Deborah up in the desert. Lucia directed that episode and there was a real helicopter that landed in the desert, and that was a really cool moment of feeling like, Wow, we actually get to do this.

As you think about the next thing, what excites you?

Paul: Jen, Lucia, and I were very harmonious in the making of [Hacks]. And I think what we’re realizing is that it was because we cared about the story so much. There was very little ego because it was always, What’s best for the story? The thing we’re focusing on now is finding something that feels personal — a story that we connect with enough that we can sacrifice in the way we have to to do it well.

Lucia: It takes up so much of your brain and body and soul when you’re doing it in the way that we like to do it. I think other people are able to clock in and out in a way, but that’s just not how we work.

Paul: We ache in a way that is completely self-imposed.

Have you started to zero in on what that right thing might be?

Paul: We do know the very next thing. We’re developing a limited that’s a bit of a tone shift. It’s about a relationship, and it’s based on a true story. But we’re also talking about what the next ongoing thing might be.

You both appear onscreen in Hacks, to different extents…

Lucia: Thank you for noticing that.

…is that something you want to continue to do?

Paul: I mean, I certainly do.

Lucia: You know what, I’ll put this out into the ether — I want to play a politician. I think I’d be good on a TV show or a movie as an AOC-type. I’d love to be on The Diplomat. That’s really what I see for myself.

Paul: Lucia started as a writer and performer way before directing. I always say she’s a great director and an even better performer.

You’re writers and performers, but you have many other creative interests. Paul, you talked at length about estate sales on How Long Gone, and you’re both very into fashion and music. How do you describe yourselves?

Paul: I think I identify as a comedian.

Lucia: Yeah, I think “comedian” is the origin, but it is true that the other interests — art, music, whatever — that we tend to incorporate into our work aren’t often associated with comedians. We spend a lot of time on the music for Hacks, and even on the art that goes into the show. Most of the art on Deborah Vance’s walls is by artists we personally admire. Not to be a culture vulture, but I think [our work] is all about what inspires us.

You met each other in New York, and you now live and work in LA. How is the creative process different here, if at all?

Lucia: I’ll just say that I was never able to support myself as a comedian or writer in New York. It wasn’t until I came to LA that I was able to get things going in a way that felt workable for me. I know this isn’t everyone’s experience, but for me LA is more creator-friendly than New York.

Paul: There are a lot of great comedy venues in New York, but [when we came to LA] we started making digital shorts and it was easier to find the people who wanted to be making film here. We were able to find a community of people who were all just eager to make stuff. Also, lugging equipment on the subway is so hard. We did that a lot. It’s a lot easier to throw it in a car.

Now that you have a corporate infrastructure behind you, do you feel like it’s important to produce your work here in LA?

Paul: Yes, absolutely. We had an LA crew all five seasons and we were so proud to shoot here.

Lucia: When we went to Vegas we brought our LA crew with us. It’s very important to us that we employ people locally. And also, now that we have a kid, we want to raise our kid here. We want to be home in time for dinner. Those things are real.

Paul: It was always a little sad when people would be like, Oh, you’re so lucky to shoot in LA.

What needs to change?

Lucia: Locally, it’s all about better tax incentives and reducing the excessive fees. And then in terms of people taking productions to other countries, it just comes down to the lack of Medicaid for all. It’s literally about health insurance.

You’re partners both professionally and romantically. Was there a conversation about how that would work when you were starting out?

Lucia: Definitely. Many, some might say. [Laughs]

Paul: We still have them via our lawyer. In the beginning, when we were writing together without a third, we would break the scenes together and have an outline, and then we would write the scene separately at the same time. Then we’d take what we liked from each version and create what was essentially a third draft.

Lucia: It’s not always easy, of course. But part of what drew us to each other is that we both just thought the other person was smart and funny. It’s a very intertwined experience for us, and I still think he’s the funniest person. It’s also easier to think about the work when we’re not interpersonally in turmoil. I think if we had a fraught relationship you’d see it [reflected in] the work.

In season four of Hacks, Ava [Hannah Einbinder] moves into the Americana. Have you ever lived there or considered living there?

Paul: We haven’t had the privilege yet. I like the idea of it being a fantasy destination. I used to live a block north of Washington Square Park, and it…no, that’s not true, it was always magical to walk through. So maybe the Americana would keep its magic.

Do any of the show’s LA shooting locations stand out in your mind?

Paul: We shot on the Universal stages from seasons two through five, and there was something really nice about that being our anchor. TV City was really cool, just because it’s so iconic. One of the places we really loved shooting was Deborah’s LA house.

Lucia: The pink one.

Paul: It was in Altadena, and it burned down in the fires. It had been in, like, a hundred movies. It was in a Charlie Chaplin movie. At one point we told the owners, If you ever want to sell, we really love this house. It was so sad to lose it.

What’s your advice for young creatives trying to break out right now?

Paul: I do think finding your people is so huge, whether that’s finding a writing group or going and taking classes somewhere. So much has changed about the way things are made, but other people will still help make your work better.

Lucia: That said, I wouldn’t get discouraged if you don’t find your people right away. That can be very alienating. One of the things all the people who succeed have in common is an unbelievable work ethic and an unbelievable output. Obviously the more shots you take on goal the more get in, but also when you do something over and over and over again, the work gets better. I totally understand having day jobs and being exhausted, that’s real. But the people who make it are the people who push through.

Is there anything Hollywood is missing right now?

Paul: More late-night dining.

What’s worth going west of La Brea for?

Both: Joomee Song.

Paul: I’m not gatekeeping because she’s already booked and busy. She can’t, you know? She’s sorry, but she can’t. She’s not for you. She does facial massage, and it’s really amazing. We did an homage to [the Lady Gaga documentary Five Foot Two] in the ninth episode of season five, when Deborah is getting ready for her show at MSG. Joomee does a facial massage on Deborah before her show, just like she does on Gaga in the doc. We asked her to appear as herself, and she was up for it.

And your top three spots on the east side are…

Paul: Number one is All Time.

Lucia: We’ve been getting really into Go Get ’Em Tiger. Oh, and the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. It’s the best, that is community. And my last shoutout is the peanut butter and jelly at the Trails Café. They’ve had the same peanut butter and jelly for years. They make their own nut butter. It’s a mix of three different nuts, and they make it there.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• Found Oyster debuted a new dining room (and a new cocktail menu) in East Hollywood. The space looks great, and the recent resurgence of Cypress Park’s Barra Santos — another Last Word Hospitality property — after a similar renovation and cocktail rollout makes me think the crowds at Found could be getting significantly bigger for the foreseeable future. Congratulations to Ari and team. (Also, gentle reminder that you can almost always head over to Ari’s other restaurant, Queen’s in Highland Park, if there are no tables at Found.)

• Just as the Lucas Museum (finally) opens in Exposition Park, its electrical contractor is suing over unpaid bills. J.E. Snyder Electric is seeking $1.9mm in damages from the museum, claiming the museum’s leadership and general contractors “actively promoted, contracted, and labeled the construction as a ‘private, non-profit development’ to bypass the rigorous administrative, registration, and bonding mandates of the California Public Contract Code, Civil Code, and Labor Code.” Snyder Electric is the latest of four contractors currently suing the museum, claiming the organization’s location on state-owned land (secured via a $30 annual lease agreement) disqualifies it as a private organization. Regardless of who’s in the right, the last thing this museum needs right now — after years of ongoing delays — is a public relations headache. Will George end up settling just to make the whole thing go away?

• “What is that abandoned lot doing at the corner of Sunset and Descanso?” Turns out the owners of an in-progress car wash did a bunch of unpermitted work, got caught by the city, and had to tear it all down and redo it. The good news is that things are back on track; the car wash, dubbed &Friends, is properly permitted; and — barring any more delays — it’ll be opening soon. The video linked above has been shared 428 times as of sending this email, which is probably more press than any one car wash has ever gotten. Good way to make lemonade out of lemons.

• If you’ve ever wondered what the food on the set of The Odyssey was like, Counteroffer’s Marie Nguyen has the answer. She interviewed Christopher Nolan’s boom op, Douglas Shamburger, for yesterday’s issue, and it was fantastic.

• Echo Park’s legendary Burrito King is reopening under new ownership. There was initially a Venezuelan spot lined up to take over the lease at Sunset and Alvarado, but that appears to have fallen through. Instead, a new owner identified only as “Yanina” is reviving Burrito King itself, which was open for nearly 60 years before closing in July. If the conversation around Burrito King’s closure is anything to go on, people are going to be excited about its revival.

• The LA Times editorial board spoke out against California’s proposed “billionaire tax.” The LAT lacks a traditional opinion staff, so one has to wonder whether this messaging came directly from the paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong. Based on Soon-Shiong’s current net worth of about $10.3bn, there are roughly 515 million reasons why he’d be against the proposed one-time 5% tax.

• Chiso, the Japanese takeout spot that took over the old Little Fish window in Echo Park, is no more. Owned by chef and music producer Kiki Kudo, Chiso debuted in the front window of Dada Market in May and was initially framed as a pop-up that could go permanent in success. Alas, business never quite caught on the way it did at Little Fish and the restaurant shuttered on 8/30. Instead of renting the window to another third-party operator, Dada is rolling out its own takeout concept, “drawing inspiration from Latin flavors and California cuisine.”

• The New Yorker is debuting a five-part investigative podcast exploring a mind-blowing Los Angeles surrogacy scandal. Hosted by New Yorker staff writer Ava Kofman, the first episode of “The Journey” releases next Tuesday, 9/15.

• If you’re a theater fan, you can now become a member at Cypress Park’s Huron Station Playhouse. Membership at Alden Ehrenreich’s growing east side hub for the performing arts affords you advance ticket access, behind-the-scenes opportunities, and invites to Huron Station’s special events. The venue will next stage Duncan Macmillan’s play Lungs from 10/29-11/29.

• LA-based artist Skylar Hughes is debuting a new exhibition of paintings at La Loma Projects in Highland Park this weekend. “Lost Mind in the Tall Grass” debuts this Saturday, 9/12 with an array of Hughes’s paintings and collages. There’s a reception at the gallery (6516 N. Figueroa Street, Unit A) from 5-8pm on Saturday, and if you can’t make it this weekend the exhibition runs through 10/17.

• Shona Sanzgiri profiled Silver Lake skateboarder Jerry Hsu for SSENSE. This is a great article….and also makes me wish the Rag had a photo budget.

• For some east siders, a leashed cat is the new leashed dog. Friend of the Rag Hayden Freedman, who features prominently in this article alongside Zephyr, is one of them. If you’ve been to the reservoir recently (where there are many leashed cats, in addition to the occasional pony), news of this trend won’t surprise you in the slightest.

• Here’s your chance to snag a two-bedroom cottage in Elysian Heights for $699k. It’s petite at 832 square feet, it only has one bathroom, and it has definitely seen better days, but I’d kill to be the one restoring this place. A ton of original details remain in the 1912 house, it has great views, and it’s situated on a huge street-to-street lot. If anyone wants to partner on a renovation, you know where to find me.

• And here’s a cool mid-century on what’s arguably the best street in Eagle Rock. It’s a big two bedroom with original built-ins and stained glass, separate living and family rooms, a vintage kitchen, and a great backyard for entertaining. You’d also gain ownership of several massive trees, which might be the ultimate luxury.

In today’s issue: a Brentwood-style country mart is in the works for the east side, Wilde’s makes a political endorsement, the Gay Guy Night at Taix team is back with a new venture, Audrey Hobert shot her Interview profile in Glendale, proteinmaxxers are squeezing LA’s fast-casual restaurants, a Lincoln Heights theater becomes a coffee shop, Zach Baron’s interview show, the Ggiata boys are throwing a block party, Dolly Parton loved El Chavo, and two houses for less than $1mm in Echo Park.

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Toto, we’re not in Brentwood (or Malibu, or Montecito) anymore.

A few months ago, I was chatting with a real estate observer who expressed surprise that there isn’t a “country mart”-style concept (of the Brentwood or Malibu variety) anywhere on the broader east side. Surely, this person surmised, there are plenty of people on this side of town who’d appreciate a town square-style place to grab a bite, shop a little, and — more than anything else — hang out in a communal green space?

Though there are many reasons that kind of development hasn’t historically existed on this side of town (and no, the Americana doesn’t count), east side demographics are rapidly evolving. And now, ready or not, the east side’s country mart era is upon us.

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In today’s issue: Max Friedlich and Hannah Getts talk The Holes (and LA theater), Jumbo’s Clown Room is temporarily closed, a cheat sheet for Echo Park Rising, Wake and Late rolled out an AI-generated ad campaign, an Elysian Heights power outage, Madonna is house hunting in Los Feliz, Silver Lake’s huge spiders, a literary reading at a lingerie store, a coffee shop’s product collab, and a midcentury fixer in Glendale.

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Max Friedlich and Hannah Getts talk “The Holes,” LA’s theater scene, and making live theatre bankable.

Over the past few years, thanks in part to a few key players, the LA theater scene has gained momentum. Alden Ehrenreich bought a former electrical substation in Cypress Park and launched Huron Station Playhouse. Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff’s 49-seat New Theater Hollywood has been staging attention-grabbing experimental plays with unmatched consistency since its debut in 2024. LA Dance Project has “the coolest fucking theater.”

And Echo Park-based playwright Max Friedlich, along with his producing (and romantic) partner Hannah Getts, is behind two of the most buzzworthy new works of the last half-decade.

Though Max and Hannah’s first work — the much-lauded Job, which transferred to Broadway in 2024 — and their new project, The Holes, both originated in New York, the couple is firmly based in LA, where they live, work, and (if all goes according to plan) hope to produce theater in the not-too-distant future. I called them this week to discuss The Holes, working together as a couple, the challenge of creating profitable shows, and the prospect of making theater in LA. Below is our conversation, edited lightly for clarity and conciseness.

First of all, tell me about The Holes. The plot has been kept pretty secret, but I’ve heard it’s wild.

Max: I started working on this play when I was in eighth grade, so I was 14. I had been a really insecure kid and my mom got me into theater through LARPing, which led to regular theater. And when I was in eighth grade I was given an assignment to write a Christmas play — to write about Christmas in the vein of A Christmas Carol. I wrote a very, very, very early version of what this play is, and my wonderful English teacher, Mr. Byrne, called me into his office and told me I should try to be a playwright. He also told me he needed to tell my parents what I was writing about, because it was a little bit of a wellness concern. The play itself really stems from being raised in the most gentrified neighborhood on earth [the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan] and [explores] what it means to be from a place, what obligation we owe the places we’re from.

Hannah: We do want to protect some of the spoilers.

Max: Yeah. It’s also about male friendship and how men — particularly straight men — relate to each other and don’t relate to each other, and the extent to which men will go to not appear weak.

As an artist who happens to be a straight man, do you feel an obligation to address that topic?

Max: I don’t feel an obligation to do anything. There are several things in my life that if I were to write about, I’d feel a sense of responsibility. But I think when you’re from the normative or the dominant group, you often don’t have to examine your gender, your sexuality, your race, or your class to the same extent that people who are historically marginalized do. So it’s twofold — it’s an interest of mine, and it’s an effort to progress past some of the more regressive parts of being a straight white guy.

I’m curious how you’re thinking about The Holes in the context of your previous work, Job, which was so well received and went to Broadway. That obviously creates a lot of opportunity for your next thing, but do you feel the pressure of that success as well?

Max: Yes and no. I mean, I had been bringing people lattes and salads a couple months prior to Job starting. I felt a lot of pressure then — it was like, This is my chance to get out of being an anonymous Hollywood assistant. I haven’t lost the degree of sleep that I did on Job. I think the pressure that I feel now is honestly just, How do we continue to invite the people who changed our lives, how do we let young people who see theater know that this is for them. The audience is who we care about the most. I feel an obligation as someone from a DIY kind of pedagogy to honor how lucky we are, to honor the people who made TikToks about Job. Those kids changed my life and I want to keep making stuff that makes them feel seen.

Hannah, producing theater is not your main gig. You’re moonlighting on top of a full-time TV development job. How do you find the balance?

Hannah: It’s really challenging, I’m not going to lie. You have to carve out as much time as you can on nights and weekends, it’s not for the faint of heart. I was in New York for the weekend and flew back [Sunday night] so I could be at work on Monday morning. But what I will say — and this is cheesy, but I think you can relate — is that it doesn’t feel like work when I’m working on The Holes. I’m exhausted, I didn’t have a weekend, and I’ve been working every day since last month, but getting to create our work together just feels so meant to be. It’s all about time management. I don’t really see friends right now.

How is working together as a couple different from the jobs you do separately?

Max: It’s a dream. Fundamentally, I write from a place of feeling misunderstood, or feeling unseen, even though my life is full of people who I think really understand me. Hannah understands me, and her ability to maneuver the work in such a way that I say what I’m trying to say is exhilarating. There was definitely a love-at-first-sight element [to our relationship]. She’s the smartest executive or producer I’ve ever talked to.

Hannah: There’s this sort of equal playing field in our dynamic that I think is really useful to the work, because I will challenge Max and Michael [our third collaborator]. I can be more blunt with Max than I can be in other working relationships. We met through work initially, before we became romantic partners, and I think that really established the dynamic and the bond. There’s so much inherent trust in knowing we want to move toward the same artistic place and goal.

Max: Especially on the writer’s side, where there’s an image of an executive or producer being someone who’s almost adversarial to the work. This is not some wife guy being like, She’s always right, but I genuinely approach our work thinking Hannah is smarter than me. And knowing that she’s right at least 90% of the time allows, in a really practical sense, a lot of things to happen faster.

I’m curious about the experience of creating theater while living in LA. Does the creative process feel different here than it does in other cities?

Max: I think there’s a lot less stimuli, at least in our lives in Los Angeles, which allows me to focus in a different way. New York is in my bones, I lived 28 of my 32 years there. But I think a problem with the New York theater scene — and I mean no shade by this — is that you see people hit a point where they’re creating for their 45 friends who see a lot of theater. They’re not thinking broadly. There’s a lot of ink spilled about the ability of theater to transform hearts and minds, but a lot of theater is catered to what theater artists perceive as a specific New York audience. One thing I really appreciate about LA is the mindset of like, How do we make this interesting? How do we get this thing in front of as many people as possible? LA has helped us always have one toe in a more populous mindset.

Hannah: I also think being deep in the Hollywood film and TV side of things has helped us navigate the commercial independent theater scene. Producing an independent play is basically like producing an indie film — it’s an independent project [for which] you raise money from independent investors. You hire a team, you get together in a physical space, and you produce the work. The difference is that it’s eight shows a week over a certain period of time, not a film shoot and festivals. We have access to outdoor space and live healthier lives in LA, but the LA mindset has also allowed us to connect those professional dots.

Would you ever produce a show here?

Max: I would love to. I really believe in LA as a great theater city. The community doesn’t feel quite as cohesive, but there’s so much theater in LA and a lot of it is great. We see a lot of theater in LA. Very dear friends of ours run New Theater Hollywood — shoutout Calla and Max — and they’re producing some really interesting work. What Alden is trying to do [at Huron Station] is really great, and they gave us their space to do some internal development work we wanted to do on The Holes earlier this summer. It’s so much cheaper to produce in LA, and there’s less of the small town-ness of New York sometimes.

Hannah: We would love to. I think it requires a little more institutional help to make something in LA. It weirdly feels like a taller mountain to climb than doing it in New York. But the answer is yes. We need to keep theater alive in LA. We went to that play at the LA Dance Project — that’s the coolest fucking theater. It’s the nicest space ever. And as Max always says, LA loves lines. It’s an event-based city, and people will go and line up [for something that feels interesting].

For The Holes specifically, what does success look like?

Max: You can get kind of lost in the sauce with theater, where it’s like, I would really love a good Sarah Holdren review or a New York Times Critic’s Pick or to be nominated for an Obie Award. All of that would be lovely, but I do really want to grow with our investors and have a lasting relationship with them and prove that this weird work can be commercially viable. I really do want to make our money back. So much of theater producing borders on criminality to me — you’re getting nice people to invest in something that you know at the end of the day is not going to make money. It’s a testament to Hannah and our producing team that they’ve created a budget that’s lean and mean enough that we can go to investors and feel really good about our chances of making some money.

Hannah: I completely agree. For one, feeling proud of and getting to stand behind our work is a dream. And secondly, [the goal is] proving out a successful model for this type of art. It was certainly much easier to raise the money this time around, but we still had to push. Every time you stage something it’s a risk. Our investors are people who believe in us, which is genuinely moving, and I would love to create and cultivate that community for future productions.

And lastly, your top three spots on the east side are…

Max: I would love to say Valerie, because it’s in our neighborhood and it holds it the fuck down. It has a real communal, neighborhood feel.

Hannah: I’m going to say Aunt Yvette’s. It’s some of the best food we’ve ever had in LA. I think about that beef dish quite a lot.

Max: And then New Theater Hollywood. I think what they’re doing is so cool, and I’m in awe of their go-getter nature. It’s such a hard thing to do what they do, day in and day out, and they did what I thought was impossible to do at this point in American history, which is start a scene. They just really give a fuck, and I think what they do is incredible.

🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• Jumbo’s Clown Room is temporarily closed while they “take care of a few things behind the scenes.” This makes me nervous (there’s no word on what the “few things” might be) but according to an Instagram story posted this afternoon, the club is hoping to reopen this weekend. Fingers crossed.

• Customers are less than thrilled about Wake and Late’s new AI-generated commercials. The downtown LA burrito destination has cultivated a loyal following over the last eight years — and expanded with locations in Pasadena and Hollywood — but some of those regulars are rolling their eyes hard at the (slightly confusing) AI ads the shop has been rolling out on Instagram. Commenters called the ads “bullshit” and a “bummer.” “My brother in christ your burritos are $25,” one person complained. “You can afford to shoot a real commercial.”

• A widespread power outage in Elysian Heights caused the temporary closure of businesses along Echo Park Avenue this week. Valerie, Canyon, Glowing Juices, and more were all shuttered for more than 24 hours, and many businesses were forced to dispose of a significant amount of spoiled merchandise. The owners of the Chocolate Dispensary raced to acquire a generator as thousands of dollars’ worth of chocolate bars melted on the shelves (they got one in time to avoid the worst of the damage). Several traffic lights were dark for almost a full day, and residents of at least one newer apartment building were stuck inside their homes until the key fob-controlled locking system came back online.

• Madonna is reportedly interested in buying Angelina Jolie’s Los Feliz house. According to the California Post, the pop icon toured the Laughlin Park estate virtually as she considers a return to LA. She’d join a deep roster of notables in the gated community and be the third major name to own the home in question (after Jolie and its original owner, Cecil B. DeMille). Madonna sold her last LA house — way out in Hidden Hills — three years ago, and though she’s never been a Los Feliz resident, she did own the historic Castillo del Lago above Hollywood in the ‘90s.

• From the tip line — following the recent closure of Boojums, Highland Park-based plant store Leaf and Spine will be opening a second location on Echo Park Avenue. It’ll be the third plant-centric retailer in the space most people still associate with the Cactus Store.

• There are a bunch of big spiders in residence at the Silver Lake Reservoir right now. And the Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy would like you to know that they’re both harmless and helping to keep the mosquito population under control.

• Echo Park Rising is this weekend, and there are a lot of events happening along Sunset Boulevard. Echo Park Rising is the kind of neighborhood event that makes it hard not to love LA, so you should go if you’re able. This link has the best event rundown I’ve seen, and it’s also worth checking out for all the posters.

• Olivia Rodrigo will be interviewed by director Cameron Crowe at downtown LA’s Grammy Museum on Tuesday, 9/1. This is only the latest in a series of intimate events Rodrigo has hosted in LA in recent months — this one celebrates a new exhibit at the museum dedicated to the music video for “The Cure.” It’s a fun way to engage with fans on a human level, and I think we’ll start to see more artists doing one-off events like this. Tickets for the Tuesday conversation went on sale to American Express members this morning, you can try your luck here.

• Angelino Heights’ much-discussed backyard coffee shop, Granada, is launching a design collaboration with local lighting and interiors brand Ceramicah. Dropping in conjunction with next month’s LA Design Weekend, the collection will consist of “a limited series of cast aluminum fixtures made from hand-thrown forms.” Pricing details for the collaboration haven’t been announced, but if Ceramicah’s current collections are any indicator, these will be splurge pieces.

• Speaking of Angelino Heights, neighborhood-based author Rachel Kushner did an online reading for Heavy Traffic.

• Like everyone else, Cookbook is embracing tradwife culture. The boutique grocery store is slinging Hannah Neeleman’s Ballerina Farm ice cream all day today — but only at the Larchmont location. I would’ve love to know why they decided not to do it in Echo Park or Highland Park (though I have a pretty good idea).

• Eloise Moran is partnering with Feeld to host a literary reading at an Echo Park lingerie store tonight, 8/28. It’s happening from 6-8pm at Le Boudoir, and the readings will explore themes of “modern dating, fantasy, and finding our way back to wanting.” There’ll be drinks and an opportunity to share your own stories, if you so choose. RSVP here.

• This three-bedroom house in Historic Filipinotown is asking half of what it would cost on the other side of the 101. The 1,300-square-foot single-family house (asking $879k) has high ceilings, concrete floors, and a minimalist kitchen. There’s a landscaped rear garden, and it’s a short walk from neighborhood staples like Woon and Doubting Thomas.

• And here’s a fun midcentury fixer in Glendale’s Chevy Chase Canyon. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and sits on the single largest lot currently available for sale in Glendale. There’s a floating spiral staircase, uniquely patterned brick floors, a huge back deck overlooking the hills, and the wildest conversation pit I’ve ever seen. If you’re willing to tackle a project, there’s an opportunity to add a lot of value here.

Have a great weekend, everyone <3

In today’s issue: Emily Dawn Long is working on a store in Echo Park, another backyard coffee shop debuts in Elysian Heights, Kyle Buchanan’s new gig, a brutal Silver Lake-based Instagram account, UTA’s “bummer summer,” a new Italian restaurant coming to Silver Lake, a wild house in South Pasadena, the legal loophole wreaking havoc in Highland Park, and is Tenants of the Trees really getting torn down?

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SCOOP: Emily Dawn Long is about to remake the LA retail scene (alongside two siblings from Kansas City).

Though she’s been designing her namesake label since 2019 (after a brief stint as a stylist for Amber Heard and her then-boyfriend, Elon Musk), Emily Dawn Long’s business has taken off in a big way over the past few years. In 2024, she told the New York Times, “I had $34 in my main bank account.” Now, her clothes and accessories can be seen on everyone from Kendrick Lamar and Brad Pitt to Hailey Bieber and Ayo Edebiri. Pedro Pascal and the east side’s very own Paul W. Downs (and also…a good half of your friends) have been spotted wearing her viral Spoiled Boys shirt this summer, and in June, she was one of ten emerging designers named a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist.

Now, several sources confirm the increasingly ubiquitous New York-based designer is teaming up with Kansas City’s most interesting multi-brand retailer (yes, really) to design an all-new store in Echo Park.

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In today’s issue: clues point to a creative agency taking over Los Candiles, Miranda July rehomes her decades-old plants, $1.2mm in “beautification funds” for the east side, Karen Bass compared street vendors to homeless encampments, an “aperitivo garden” is coming to Bar di Bello, Charles Melton explores Eagle Rock, the greatest sketch show in LA hits the Elysian, a Woon pop-up, Puck partners with the Los Feliz 3, and a house in Mount Washington for under $1mm.

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The writing might be on the (literal) wall at Los Candiles.

I haven’t been able to pin down exactly what’s going on — sources close to the venue have been uncharacteristically tight-lipped, telling me only that there’s an “announcement coming soon” — but there appears to be a changing of the guard in the works at Los Candiles.

The cult-favorite Cypress Park nightclub, locally-owned since its debut in 1979 and famous for its light-up dance floor, topless dancers, and drag shows, has been strangely shuttered for the past several weeks. People close to the club initially claimed a car had crashed into the building’s front doors, requiring a temporary closure for repairs, but…I’m starting to wonder if that’s the whole truth.

A few days ago, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control posted a legally-required public notice of an application for ownership change at the venue, and neighbors (unsurprisingly) freaked out. Several emailed and DMed me, and a few had already done their own research. Per the notice, the entity applying for the ownership change is a limited-liability corporation called VT LCNC LLC, registered to a commercial building at 3149 Verdugo Road in Glassell Park.

A little digging reveals that the other LLC registered to that address is an entity directly tied to Acronym, a self-described “creative firm for ambitious brands who refuse to play it safe.” Acronym chief Vartan Tchekmedyian and his 80 or so employees (also headquartered on Verdugo) are undoubtedly legit, with a roster of clients including Netflix, Adobe, McDonald’s, Gatorade, Google, and Figma. But professional bona fides notwithstanding….what does a creative agency want with a nightclub?

That part’s a little murky. Though Acronym’s involvement in the future of Los Candiles seems clear (or, at the very least, Vartan’s does), no one I talked to seems to know what he and his team have planned for the space. Will they be running the club without changes? Could it be a “new experiential event pop-up space,” as one neighbor posited? For the record, I hope not. It’s not like Los Candiles is a secret — the Rag hosted an event there in April, and Logan Lerman and Analuisa Corrigan recently threw the afterparty for their wedding there — but I can’t help but feel like some things are better left un-messed with (and un-branded). I’ll keep you all posted as I hear more.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• Miranda July and her longtime gardener, Juan, painstakingly cleared the 23-year-old garden at her Silver Lake studio and rehomed the plants. When Miranda decided to move on from her Berkeley Avenue space after more than two decades, she planned to make sure Juan — who’s worked on the property since before she moved in — was kept on by the next tenant. But then her landlord (incomprehensibly) informed her he’d be clearing the decades-in-the-making garden for something “easier to maintain.” Instead of letting a bulldozer do the work, she and Juan uprooted all the plants and threw a party to redistribute them to neighbors, which is…incredible. She’s also paying Juan through the next year. And her landlord is, no offense, an idiot.

• If you’re looking for something to do tonight, Matt Belloni is introducing a special screening of Election at the Los Feliz 3. I rewatched Election a few months ago and it really holds up. You can snag a ticket for the 10pm screening here ($10 for members of the American Cinematheque, $15 for everyone else).

• City council approved $2mm in aid and “beautification funds” for Eunisses Hernandez’s Council District 1. The district, which encompasses a large swath of the east side including but not limited to Echo Park, Highland Park, Mount Washington, Glassell Park, and Lincoln Heights, will receive $500,000 for food assistance, $300,000 for emergency rental aid, and a total of about $1.24mm for neighborhood-wide beautification efforts spearheaded by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and the Koreatown Youth and Community Center.

• In his latest profile for Vulture, friend of the Rag Charles Melton took a tour of Eagle Rock. He and writer Molly Lambert stopped by Cindy’s (a great under-the-radar spot because it’s never as full as you think it’ll be) and Vidiots.

• LA28 has officially sold more than 6mm tickets to the 2028 LA Olympics. If you’re one of the many (many) Angelenos who’ve tried to snag passes but come up empty handed, you’ll have another shot next year, when LA28 opens sales for about 4.5mm remaining tickets. Yes — there will ultimately be more than 10mm tickets sold to the LA Olympics. If you live near a venue, now might be a good time to start thinking about renting out your house.

• Construction is underway on a 30-seat “aperitivo garden” in front of Bar di Bello. You’ll now be able to grab drinks alfresco in the courtyard of the Sweetgreen brothers’ Sunset Row development. The restaurant still lacks signage of any kind, so outdoor seating will be the first street-facing indicator that it actually exists. As I’ve said before, the drinks at Bar di Bello are great, the space (designed, like several other spots in Sunset Row, by 22RE) feels expensive, and the food is…fine. I’d be curious to know how Bar di Bello’s business has shifted — if at all — in the months since Café Stella returned to Sunset.

  • And even though people grumble about the food, the east side’s young celebrities are...clearly still going. I think this is where the restaurant’s clubhouse feel and photo-blocking curtains really pull their weight.

• The funniest sketch show in LA is returning for its once-a-year hurrah tomorrow, 8/22. Last year’s edition of Night Shift, held in an Eagle Rock event space, was the funniest night of sketch comedy I’ve experienced in a long time. The troupe is upgrading to a real theater — the Elysian — this year, and bringing back almost all of the same cast (plus a few newcomers). Lukas Cox and Kezie Nwachukwu direct, with Liza Babin, Dani Lyle, Sila Puhl, Madi Hart, James Werner, Damya Gurley, Trace Guzman, Jack Greenberg, John Rosenbluth, and Kezie filling out the cast. Tickets are going fast, snag one here before they’re gone.

• Mayor Karen Bass and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman have very different opinions on the Paramount / Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Mayor Bass urged Attorney General Rob Bonta to reach a settlement with Paramount and suggested the merger will ultimately benefit LA’s creative community. The WGA had some strong words in response — as did Nithya, who called the merger “a bad deal for entertainment workers and a bad deal for Los Angeles.”

• Separately, Mayor Bass took time in Wednesday’s mayoral debate to compare LA’s legendary street vendors to homeless encampments. “I do not believe that you should have a food vendor in front of a restaurant, period,” she said, claiming that the presence of street vendors “discourages people from going in [to restaurants], just like you shouldn’t have encampments in front of restaurants or in front of schools.” I’m no political consultant, but picking a fight with the neighborhood taco truck seems like a truly terrible way to win over the populace.

• Non-annoying business podcast Odd Lots is hosting a live show in East Hollywood next month. Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway — fresh off of interviewing east side tinned fish mogul (and friend of the Rag) Becca Millstein — are bringing their show to the Vermont Hollywood on 9/17. Silver Lake-based media titans Taylor Lorenz and Hayes Davenport will be the guests. You can snag tickets here.

• Woon will be popping up at Altadena’s Good Neighbor Bar every Sunday for the next six weeks. What could be better than Sunday night woks on the patio? The residency kicks off this Sunday, 8/23 and runs weekly through 9/27.

• This two-bedroom cottage in Silver Lake has the best front yard tree of any house in Los Angeles. Probably. Regardless, it’s the kind of tree children’s books are written about. (Per the listing, it’s a Moreton Bay Fig.) The pint-sized house is pretty great, too, packing two bedrooms, one bathroom, and sweeping hillside views into just 883 square feet. And it’s all a short (but steep) walk from everything down on Sunset.

• And here’s a two-bedroom midcentury in Mount Washington for less than $1mm. This one also clocks in at under 900 square feet, but it feels bigger than that thanks to huge windows, great light, and wide open views. There’s a living room with flagstone floors and a fireplace, two good-sized bedrooms, and a yard that’s both larger and flatter than you’d expect for a house in the hills. This place will go quickly, act fast if you’re interested.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I’ll see you next week <3

In today’s issue: the clues pointing to a full food menu at Canyon, renderings drop for Echo Park’s new sports bar, the major real estate player buying up El Sereno, literary agents are hitting up the Silver Lake Reading Club, a check-in on the coffee shop in the works for Franklin Village, dog drama at the reservoir, Eagle Rock’s Lauren Sherman is the most feared woman in fashion, Two Rose’s slices-only last hurrah, Nylon’s deep dive on All Time, and a can’t-miss Silver Lake architectural.

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🏠 Do you (or someone you know) have a great house or apartment you want to show off?

DM me. I’m working on a fun new feature and I’d love to talk to you. If you’ve always admired your friend’s place, or your neighbor’s place, or the apartment you once went to with that guy you still think about, DM me about that, too. If you’re not on Instagram, or you’re on a cleanse, you can just reply to this email.

Is Canyon Coffee about to debut...a real food menu?

It’s no secret that Canyon Coffee has never had a full kitchen — though the Echo Park café churns out avocado toast all day long, the most advanced piece of equipment in its closet-sized back-of-house is a toaster oven. The setup has kept Canyon’s offerings focused (beverages, pre-made pastries, and toast) and….occasionally forced evening pop-up tenants (Wilde’s and Bruce among them) to get creative with hot plates. But if recent job postings are to be believed, that could all be changing.

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This season of Chad is weird, heartfelt, and fun — co-creator and star Glen Powell compared the new episodes to a Safdie brothers film — and I think Michael Waldron and Adam Fasullo are building something special at Anomaly. The energy at Vidiots reflected that, and I’m excited to see what they do next.

Tonight I’m headed to Café Stella and El Prado; tomorrow I’ll be at Barra Santos and the Rose Bowl.

In today’s issue: Pierce Abernathy on why LA has the best food, a 10-year-old label opens its first retail location in Silver Lake, I Love LA is filming in Echo Park, food is (still) rotting in Boyle Heights, S.P.A is hosting a group sauna session in Tujunga, you could get $600 to ditch your car for five weeks, the How Long Gone boys launch an awards show, competing accounts of the local cinema resurgence, and a great house in Montecito Heights.

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Pierce Abernathy thinks LA’s the superior food city.

Over the past few years, few food world personalities have captured the public’s attention quite like Pierce Abernathy. Since coming to prominence in the pandemic era, the former BuzzFeed employee and media strategist has developed a cultish following predicated as much on his unique position in the culture as it is on his cooking content. There aren’t many food world figures who’ve been profiled in the New York Times, walked the runway for Gucci, and almost single-handedly created a prevailing male archetype. Now, after more than half a decade on the internet, he’s taking his influence to the presses — he’ll release his first cookbook, Every Leaf, Every Stem, on 8/18.

Though Pierce lives in New York, he’ll be in LA on 8/27 for a one-night-only dinner at Stir Crazy. Earlier this week, we hopped on a call to discuss his career beginnings, his concerted pivot from fashion, the challenge of making a print product, and his favorite spots in LA.

Hello hello! How are you, how’s the east coast?

I’m good, I’m actually up in Hudson. I’m here for my friend’s thirty-first birthday. For some reason thirty-one is a special year and he’s doing a three-day birthday celebration. But it was a good excuse to go upstate.

Have you always been in New York?

I came here after college, so from like 2016 on. I’m from Kentucky, and I went back for a year and a half during the pandemic. But other than that I’ve been in New York. Are you from LA?

No, I’m actually from Pennsylvania.

Oh, cool. My mom’s from Williamsport.

I’m curious — you had several full-time jobs out of college. You worked in video production, you worked as a strategist. Was the transition to food and social media an intentional thing or a complete accident?

This might be a long answer. I feel really lucky because the jobs I had after college — I use all the skills I learned at those jobs today. I always wanted to work in food, and BuzzFeed was the second job I got out of college. That was a weird time, but what I liked so much about working there was that the role of video producer was developing recipes, shooting recipes, editing recipes, cooking on camera. It was really fun even though the food was atrocious. It was the 2016 era of food porn — we’d do anything that involved a buzzword. And then I ended up working in a restaurant for a bit because I was so interested in the food part. I kind of thought I’d leave New York and work at a restaurant in another city because New York was so expensive. But then I broke my foot and ended up doing freelance video editing and working as a strategist for an influencer agency. I’d be the person sending emails to creators being like, Do you want to work with Patrón? Which was great because as soon as I started doing stuff on my own, I knew how to negotiate those deals. I don’t need an agent.

Was there a specific moment that pushed you into creating your own content?

The biggest catalyst to being vulnerable on the internet was the pandemic and moving back to Kentucky. For me, there was this clear separation between being a line cook or a chef at a restaurant and creating food media. There was a lot of ego around that. I kind of thought I had to pay my dues as a line cook and do that whole thing before I could ever have the authority to show my cooking in a public way. But when the pandemic hit, that separation became more fluid. And at that point, I thought I was done with New York. I was living in Kentucky with my parents, cooking them dinner every night, and I had literally nothing to lose. Those people in New York were never going to see me again.

Obviously, a physical book is a very different beast than digital media. You’re not aiming for virality in the same way, and it’s not iterative — you’re creating a concrete final product. Was that a challenge?

I think [when it comes to a cookbook] everyone wants to put something out that their peers will be proud of, or that the people they admire would want to put on their coffee table. I was thinking up all these different routes for my pitch, and they were all terrible. So ultimately I was like, I think I just have to dive deeper into what’s already working. There’s also something weird and scary about a book in that the timeline is so extended — for mine, it was three years from signing with the publisher to the book coming out. And it’s a physical thing, it’s going to live forever. So you want it to feel like something that’ll last forever. It can’t be trendy, the design has to be right. Ultimately, I hope it’s something that maybe allows me to connect with people I haven’t been able to connect with through social media.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned working in food media?

That everyone can have a story and a POV, and everyone can approach cooking in such a different way. You can have someone who’s really interested in generational cooking from a specific culture, or someone like me who’s really interested in the microbiome of the ingredients, who’s interested in the science behind it. And no one’s ever going to make the same thing twice, even if it’s the same recipe. There’s an inherent newness to food that gets me really excited. I’m someone who grew up really into fads — I’d be into skateboarding for a year, then I’d be obsessed with rock climbing — and I remember being worried that that was going to carry over into my career. Like, maybe I’d do video stuff for a year and then want to go be a painter. But I think the newness of food is what’s kept me interested and excited for so long.

Conversely, what’s the most annoying thing about the food world?

It can be a lot of talking to people who already agree with you and connecting with people you’re already interested in. Sometimes there’s a lot of critiquing in a way that’s not the most valuable. And then just the food porn of it all. I started doing food videos on Instagram right when Reels dropped, and now we’re six years from that and so much of the food content on Instagram feels like AI slop. There’s no unique POV, it’s just like, How do we go viral?

Do you see yourself as a journalist?

No, I don’t. I want my audience to be interested in the things that I geek out over. There are things that I do that maybe feel a little more journalistic, but it’s always just, you know, being excited about broccoli or being excited about regenerative farming.

You’re known for being a clotheshorse. How have you balanced the food and fashion elements of your career?

Food and fashion are both very much a part of the culture, and I think — consciously or subconsciously — I saw an opportunity to be more in the zeitgeist through being involved in fashion. It’s been interesting, but I feel like I’m separating myself from it a bit. The fashion world is kind of an all in or all out game. I love clothes and I love being involved, and it’s been fun to hijack some dollars to do cool things, but I don’t like cooking fashion parties at all. It’s such a bummer, and so much food is wasted. They expect steak and potatoes, and it’s like…Why did you hire me? I’m not going to cook steak and potatoes.

Fashion people are intimidating.

Yeah.

Tell me about the dinner coming up at Stir Crazy.

I’ve known Macklin for quite a while now and I’m super jazzed. The last thing I wanted to do [for a book tour] was sit in a bookstore and talk to someone. I want to have fun, and I want to work with restaurants and bars and people I look up to. I love Macklin’s cooking, and I love Stir Crazy’s style and approach. They’re going to do mains inspired by recipes in the book, and I’m going to be doing all the desserts and hanging out.

You’ll have some down time here in LA in the middle of the tour. What’s your favorite thing about LA?

Well, for one, the produce is a hell of a lot cheaper than it is in New York. Even at the farmer’s market, it’s crazy. You can also go two hours in any direction and be in the craziest nature. It’s so beautiful and vast and insane. And my other take, which I’m not sure is that original, is that LA is a better food city, New York is a better restaurant city.

Elaborate…

In LA, you can be like I’m just going to eat tacos this week and have the best tacos of your life. Or you can be like I’m just going to eat Thai food and have the best Thai food. You can get all of the best food possible, and the ingredients coming in are clearly better. But that doesn’t mean the dining experiences are always incredible. If you want a nice, fine-dining, martini night out, New York is the place to do it.

Finally, your top three spots on the east side are…

There’s this Armenian place in Glendale called Zhengyalov Hatz, and they only serve one thing. It’s basically an herb-stuffed flatbread — they stuff it with ten to twelve different greens and herbs and cook it. It’s so delicious. I love to go to Sapp Coffee Shop. And then the vibe at The Prince is sick. It’s iconic and so unique, and it feels like old LA. You really feel like you’ve been transported into a different world.

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🍽️ And now for some table scraps…

• RC Outdoor Supply’s first brick-and-mortar retail location debuts tomorrow, 8/15 in Silver Lake. Twenty-seven-year-old Reese Cooper’s cult-favorite brand celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and now you’ll be able to shop the goods in person. It’s in the Sweetgreen brothers’ Sunset Row development, in a storefront previously occupied by Malin & Goetz. WWD announced the opening as an “exclusive” this morning, but you heard it first in the Rag last week.

• Lineage Logistics will (unsurprisingly) miss today’s city-imposed deadline for food waste removal at its burned-out Boyle Heights warehouse. Per company reps, Lineage believes it has until next Friday to clear out all the rotting, stinking, rodent- and insect-attracting waste. Sure. I’m not sure any other company has gone from obscurity to infamy (and, frankly, near-universal loathing) in such a short amount of time.

• From the tip line — I Love LA is filming at an apartment on Laveta Terrace in Echo Park today. No word on which cast members are onsite or what scenes are being filmed.

• If you have any intel on the identity of the Reservoir Horse Girl, you know where to find me. The people really (really) want to know. I think we can find her.

• LA Metro will pay you $600 to ditch your car (for five weeks). Up to 2,000 LA households will be given the chance to earn $600 for keeping their car parked. If you’re a multiple-vehicle household, you just need to leave one car in the driveway; if you only have one, you’ll need to go totally carless. Could be a good time to carpool or test out your public transit options in advance of the Olympics?

• Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder will perform live and in character as Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels at the Fonda Theatre tonight. The 7:30pm show is unfortunately already sold out, but the live staging, titled “Deborah Vance: Friends & Enemies Live!,” represents the first (and likely last) time the Emmy-winning Hacks stars will appear as their characters in public.

• S.P.A. is hosting a summer bathing club at Descanso Garden Spa in Tujunga on Monday, 8/17. It’s part hang, part coworking session, part soak and sweat, and it’s all happening from 5pm-late at 7226 Foothill Boulevard. Go hang out with Courtney, it’ll be fun.

• Everything about Neon is cool...except for the fact that its new office is in Santa Monica. An executive at another influential media outfit recently told me that his company had been planning on a move to Beverly Hills...until he realized almost every single one of his employees lived east of the 101. The company in question chose to settle further east, employees love it, and it’s becoming an extremely desirable place to work. I’m always surprised by how many companies in LA aren’t going where the talent is, and I think we’re due for a correction. (Location aside, Neon’s office is really nice.)

• Will the LAX people mover ever open? According to officials, the long-awaited Skylink train is “99% done.” Last I heard, it was completely finished and undergoing tests, so who knows what the truth is. Whatever the case, the heavily-scrutinized project is barreling towards multiple bond-related deadlines and could soon be at risk of default. And LAXit — or a really good friend, or an Uber Black — will be your only way out of LAX for at least a little while longer.

• Jason Stewart might be the king of Glendale, but he’s hosting an awards show (with Chris Black) in New York. We’ll forgive him, because building a real-world event around a podcast — no matter how popular — is very difficult and extremely impressive. I’m looking forward to the Goneies, produced by Talkhouse and taking place on 9/15. Will Karolyn be dressing the VIPs?

• The Hollywood Reporter ran a story on the resurgence of LA’s independent cinemas.

• And Eater…also ran a story on the resurgence of LA’s independent cinemas. I’m not trying to sound snarky here — the fact that Angelenos are so excited about seeing movies (and care so deeply about the moviegoing experience) is awesome.

• Here’s a great three-bedroom cottage in Montecito Heights for just under $1.2mm. It has a charming shingled exterior, a beadboard kitchen, and sweeping views from its hillside perch. There’s also a multi-level deck and a studio with a separate entrance. Someone could be very happy here.

• I’ve always loved the units at the Los Feliz Towers, and this is a good one. It’s on the second floor, so it doesn’t have the panoramic views of the upper levels, but I actually like the feeling of being in the trees. It has one legal bedroom, but there’s a flex space that could function as a second, and some good furniture could make this place genuinely cool.

Have a great weekend, everyone <3