Culturally Shallow

Past Wednesday, I went to Blue Velvet at The Flat. I enjoyed my dining and the scenery there, and the experience there was memorable in more ways than one.

I love this dress! I passed by H&M last night and of course I had to go in and take a look. Go below the fold to see what else I bought last night! Read the rest of this entry »

Last night my friend came to Highland Park to visit little ol’ me. It’s not very often that my 310 friends come to visit me, so I decided to play host and showed her around a little bit what I love about Northeast LA. First, we stopped by York. York, in my opinion, is the best gastropub in LA. As I was still nursing a hangover from the night before, I decided to take it easy and order some Gingerale even though the various Craftsmen beer on draft from behind the bar were begging me to have a sip. Over the course of the evening, Read the rest of this entry »

We went to the official launch party of Site LA earlier this week in Silver Lake. What is Site LA, you ask? According to their website:

The way I see it, Quiksilver has been losing market share in the Eastside hipster artsy crowd for a long time now. In an attempt to revamp their image for the upcoming new women’s line, they decided to sponsor four local up-and-coming female artists and give them their own exhibition space right in the heart of hipster-land, Silver Lake. Uh huh. I don’t know if this will work out the way Quiksilver plans out to, though. I think in a nutshell, the furnishing of Site LA basically sums up their level of effort in understanding their demographics: the Eames bookshelves and George Nelson Bubble Lamps from Modernica are a nice touch, however, you can tell that the lamps were just shoddily hung by folks who have no pride in their trade and probably don’t understand their value. The Eames bookshelf is basically used as a divider between the basin and the exhibition area. Don’t get me wrong, I adore mid-century modern furniture, and these are one of the most iconic mid-century modern furniture there is out there. In fact, the Eames bookshelves and the Bubble Lamps are what I have at home, bought from the last Modernica warehouse sale. It feels like Quiksilver is spending money on the whole project without really understanding the lifestyle of the people they are trying to target, thus missing the mark. Nonetheless, if the four struggling artists will be able to get some help to launch their career, I suppose it’s not all for naught. I didn’t really see much artwork at the event, and it’s basically impossible to appreciate the little that they have on display anyway with the crowd there. I will come back on a different day to take a second look.

It’s funny how free beer and food draw the hipster crowd out. Case in point:

Site LA
2522 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 1pm to 6pm
http://sitela.org

Past Thursday night, me and some buddies dropped by the (in)famous Grilled Cheese Thursdays at Campanile. Finally! I’ve heard so much about the joint, it’s about time I went int and tried it out for myself! Before going in, I’ve been advised that I should get the Classic Grilled Cheese ($14) with marinated onion and whole grain mustard ($1 extra). I also shared a bottle of 25.4 oz of Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA ($11) that they pair the Grilled Cheese sandwich with. Was the sandwich worth $15? Possibly. It was very good, but I have to try out Meltdown in Culver City before I decide if I will go back for another Grilled Cheese Sandwich night at Campanile. I’ve also heard good things about Mozzarella Mondays at Jar.

They also have other sandwiches available. This is their Grilled Beef sandwich, which according to my friend Christian, is a “fancy Fatburger” ($18).

Dig in, Christian!

Campanile
624 S La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA, 90036
(323) 938-1447
http://www.campanilerestaurant.com/