Love Angeles

Is it terrible of me to be covering a Lomo event with digital photographs?

Well, considering I still have undeveloped film from 2003, I think practicality overrules anything else.

Lomography knows how to throw a party, and both analog and digital parties were there to represent and document the Los Angeles store opening, complete with tamales, tacos, and a mariachi band.

The massive L.A.-centric LomoWall

Spotted some downtown L.A. photos

Metro cruisin' downtown

All the toy cameras you could ever want

And all the tamales you could want

Don't forget the taco stand outside

Mariachi Band

Lomography published two of my photos in the Horizon book that I am proudly holding up:

Published!

6th Street between Spring & Main, 2003

Attention toy camera lovers -

purveyor of quirky film cameras Lomography is opening their Los Angeles store location tonight! Photography has been a long-time love of mine, especially of the film sort. Here are some of my own snaps taken on the Lomo LC-A. These were shot downtown circa 2003 – not too long of a time ago, but look how much downtown has changed! It’s practically a vintage time.

Spring Street near 6th, 2003

This was shot from the entrance of what is now an SB Tower – I was working for the City of LA at the time, and the 600 building was were my office was. Across the street is Hotel Hayward.

Pacific Southwest Bank, now another SB property

And a couple black & whites from the same camera:

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2003

Were you someone that was NOT at the LA Street Food Fest?

It goes without saying that the festival was a smashing success. It looked like everyone and their momma knew about it and decided to make their way downtown on Saturday. This was the line I found myself falling in when I walked over to LACS just before 11am:

Long ass line? Only a part of it

Little did I know that this was only a fraction of the line – it snaked back out to the parking lot and then around the corner. (Twitter friend @ZenDental snapped a great aerial shot of the entire line – yes, you needed a bird’s eye view to truly comprehend the mass)

Around the corner...

...and heading back out to the street

So I stood in the line for about 10 minutes, before I realized, hey, don’t I have immediate access to most of these trucks almost every day of the week? And then proceeded to walk to Bottega Louie for brunch.

I am mildly disappointed that I didn’t get to attend, but like I said, I’m local to the food truck scene, unlike many of the suburbanites who trekked from as far as the Inland Empire to attend. I also would have been more than mildly disappointed if I were one of the ones who were turned away at 3pm.

BF still managed to snap some shots of the trucks inside. Ludo Lefebvre’s Ludo Bites truck, wish I tried that fried chicken….

The limited time Ludo Bites truck

Either way, glad to see that it was a successful event that shows how serious Angelenos are about their food trucks.

Bottega Louie is my favorite restaurant in downtown regardless – it’s never a sad thing to end up there. These shots at Louie are a combination of both Saturday brunch and Valentine’s Day lunch. Yes, we went twice in a row! Two meals there were probably WAY less than what anyone spent for Valentine’s Day dinner. Believe that.

French toast

Berry Lemonade

Sweets on display

More pink, red, and hearts

Love the packaging on Moet Champagne

Louie's famous macarons

These were my favorite macarons when they first opened almost a year ago, but they have changed their formula a number of times. I now find them too gummy and hard for my tastes. Still good though.

BF bought me one!

BF also got me the Ann Taylor silk camp shirt that was in the Lucky Mag Feb 2010 issue – 40% off this President’s Day weekend too. I know, I can’t believe I shopped at Ann Taylor too.

Street food. (LA Center) Studios. Saturday.

All the food trucks you could ever want will be at LACS this weekend for the LA Street Food Fest. Pretty cool spot for such an event, if you ask me. Not only do they shoot and produce movies and shows here (Mad Men, anyone? Also noticed it was the site of the proposal scene in I Love You, Man), but they throw the baddest parties. And their views of the city are amazing. If you’re an old follower of my blog(s), you may recall I was entertaining ideas of moving my studio here. Not so entertaining when I found out how much rent was though…

Foo Fighters at the Fallout 3 Party, LA Center Studios, 2007

Anyway, come down to City West tomorrow with an empty stomach. There are over 30 trucks listed to come, and you know you’ll want to try them all. My personal fave is the ever-popular Grilled Cheese Truck (cheesy mac, I love you).

Cheesy Mac & Tots from the Grilled Cheese Truck

The Metropolitan Water District

Downtown got their heart on for a good cause, and I put on a few of my finest heart-adorned pieces to help celebrate last Thursday.

I love me a good Valentine’s Day, if only because I get to wear as much red, pink, and overall girliness as my heart desires.

Bank of America Building

Viktor & Rolf for H&M Black Trench

Though this designer collab was practically made for me, I never got a single piece from the Viktor & Rolf for H&M collection, and until recently still lamented over this fact. Hell, even the boyfriend snapped up the pleated grey shirt. After much online scouring, I won the black trench on eBay last fall, and then bought the tights from someone on Flickr. The trench has heart-shaped buckles on the belt and wrists, and the tights are dotted with little hearts (and snag like nobody’s business).

You can’t see them, but I am also wearing heart-shaped gold hoop earrings that I got custom made on Etsy. Hearts galore, my friends. H-E-A-R-T-S galore.

Viktor & Rolf for H&M Heart Print Tights

Ernst & Young Plaza

Garland Building

Found this one on accident – they decided to place their little red heart in the back, only visible from an apartment parking lot

Union Station / Metropolitan Water District

Union Station all red-lit, and the Metropolitan Water District actually blacked out sections of their windows to perfectly outline the heart’s angles and rounded edges

More of Philip Lumbang’s street art (posted previously about here) at the Standard – so glad that his work is becoming a recognizable part of the downtown landscape

Metropolitan Water District

Bank of America Building

The blog has been devoid of fresh content lately because I’ve been more or less a depressed hermit for the past few months.

Since my birthday in November, it’s been a downhill mess of small business owner trials (will add minority business to that for dramatic effect), illnesses, etc. But enough negative talk. Things are finally turning around and I’m finally coming out of my bear cave. One of my 2010 goals is meet new Angelenos, especially of the creative sort. If you’re one of them, I’d like to meet you! BF and I have been exchanging ideas of getting a community of sorts together soon, so I’ll keep you updated on that.

January plusses in the middle of all the minuses:

Getting out and about after a month of being sick in bed, Silverlake Flea Market

Idea-making at Urth Caffe

OK, just lattes at Urth Caffe in general

My furry, funny face

Okonomiyaki nights with the BF

Wearing brown, blue and grey altogether, and then getting street snapped for it

(Ruffian for Anthropologie Flocked Chiffon Blouse, Urban Outfitters cardigan, F21 shorts, F21 ombre scarf, F21 tights, Joie Veronica Mary Janes)

They say first love never dies.

And while I’ve had an amazing time designing and animating for TV shows, movies, and music videos (and have even appeared in some of them), I’m happy to say that I am finally returning to my first love of designing for print and branding with Thought Provocative.

To kick things off with this new venture of ours, we’re hosting a branding giveaway for new and/or small businesses in need of a logo / identity. Local DTLA businesses are what we are mainly hoping to attract, but businesses from anywhere are more than welcome to apply – restaurants, music labels, non-profits, food trucks, fashion designers, etc., that means you. See the website for more info!

2009 was not one of my better years, but it did have its moments, and I have to thank this blog for giving me some incentive to explore this city of mine. Here are a few shots from last year that never got their time here:

Downtown from the Griffith Observatory

Meeting artist Drew Struzan at Gallery Nucleus

First Fridays at Natural History Museum

Laker Parade

Shopping at the Fairfax Flea Market

Walking along the Emeryville marina, where I lived briefly in college (you can see foggy San Francisco across the Bay)

And then across the Bay, just outside of my favorite restaurant in the city, Slanted Door, overlooking the Bay Bridge

Union Station

Mexican Independence Day, Olvera Street

Red Bull Soap Box Race

L.A. Opera Costume Sale – I know, I’m totally sad I didn’t get this piece either

The Cornfield

“The forest” nearby University of Washington – my affinity for the Pacific Northwest can be measured by how GREEN this photo is

Images from style.com

One of my favorite collections this fall accessories-wise was Louis Vuitton. I know many ladies turned their attentions towards the bunny ears (note the Olsens‘ lace version) but not me – I gravitated toward the shiny, fat chain linked necklaces, reminiscent of paper chain garlands I made in kindergarten.

Image from Just Jared

Leighton Meester wore one on the cover of her Christmas single and she can do no wrong in my book.

Then I spotted on Douceur Vivre’s blog – one of the fashionable gals I spotted and snapped at the Phillip Lim event – her relaxed version inspired by this $250(!!!!) Anthro number. Hers looks so much better right? I haven’t crafted anything in awhile, and this required nothing more than ribbon and glue – I am terrible at the sewing machine and while I love to knit and crochet, I am impatient when it comes to following patterns and can’t deal with the meticulous reparations that come after the many mistakes I make – so I thought, let’s give it a go.

Here’s my version in a heavy metallic gold. It was pretty easy to make, even working on the fly. It was also well-received among friends at the holiday parties – one of my gal pals mentioned I looked like a present. I was going to make some crass joke about BF and I not exchanging gifts this year and at least he had me to unwrap (that would nonetheless lead BF to make an even more crass follow-up joke), but I didn’t.

Where to: Downtown Art Walk tonight! 4th & Main is all holiday’ed out, and the weather is nice and brisk, so it should make for a nice outing.

To wear: I’m feeling a Rag & Bone Fall 2009 -esque outfit for tonight. I love the streamlined, utilitarian practicality of their style that still comes off as stylish and even sexy. Rachel Comey Cap, Rag & Bone Lovat Jacket, Rag & Bone Kilt Skirt, Rag & Bone Superfine Henley, Frye Engineer 12R Boots

Don’t forget to check out the Luminosity Exhibit at the Continental Gallery, featuring the illuminated sculptures by Sean Sobczak.