LA Life Photographer Lorraine Devon Wilke’s cover photo and story, “Angel City”, reminds us of the sweeping gorgeousness of LA and its skies. LA Life Tasting Tomato, Molly Cheek, has an endearing restaurant column this week in “Tastes of LA”. The crème dele crème of LA Fashion LA Life Fashion Stylist, Felicia Arlin, returns with her special brand of LA Style Stories. The indomitable LA Life Poetess, Lady Penelope, shares her latest wickedly witty sonnet in Sonnets from Suburbia. Super fab Theatre Maven, Laura Foti Cohen, has a new Theatre Buzz column. And LA events abound, Tomatoes!

Angel City: Cover Photo and Story.

Whatever form they make take, I do believe angels reside here. I chose “Angel City” for this week’s newsletter cover photo because it elicited a sigh of awe from me. So perfectly captured by our LA Life Photogrpaher Lorraine Devon Wilke. Be sure to check out Lorraine Devon Wilke’s marvelous photos on her webpage and browse her entire website as it reveals the vast tapestry of Lorraine’s amazing talents.

Like nuances of a personality or facets of a gem, every city has its angles, aspects, and points of interest that can offer up sometimes starkly different perspectives. You can drive from neighborhood to neighborhood in this vast, spread-out burg and never run out of new visuals, diverse themes and urban stylings. You can turn toward the ocean and watch planes depart from LAX, look north toward the rolling Hollywood Hills; swoop over those hills and you’re in the Valley. A pivot east brings stunning views of the San Gabriel Mountains, which, after the wild rains of recent weeks, are currently snow-covered, making a dramatic backdrop for downtown LA. Then you can actually get out amongst those mountains, traveling east towards Alta Dena and Pasadena to get yourself on the trail up Eaton Canyon. From there, you can look back and downtown suddenly looks a bit like Emerald City springing up on the Yellow Brick Road horizon… which is why I call this photo of big sky and tiny skyscrapers, “Angel City.”   

Tastes of LA: Lucky Bird, Gorilla Pies, Shake Shack & The Albright

Not only does our LA Life Tasting Tomato give us 4 mouthwatering restaurant nods in this week’s Tastes of LA, but Molly Cheek warms our heart with tales from her Easy Food from Restaurant Heavy Weights Culinary Tour experiences taken and enjoyed with her beloved nephew, Levi. READ MORE.

Sonnets from Suburbia

LA Life Poetess Lady Penelope bemoans her cats’ unruly behavior and is thinking about  switching to dogs in “Tough Kitty”. And guess who has a brand spanking new book out? Penny Peyser (Lady Penelope) and she has outdone herself with “Sonnets from Suburbia: Romance Dance”. It’s masterful, brilliant and an easy and deliciously entertaining ride that you will adore, Tomatoes.  Remember if you haven’t already, don’t forget to order a copy of Penny Peyser’s first brilliant book, “Sonnets from Suburbia: More Candles Than Cake” to add to your collection. And you can always find out more about Lady Penelope on her website.  WATCH THE LATEST SONNET

LA Style Stories

LA Style Story “Modern Equestrian” from LA Life Fashion Stylist Felicia Arlin explains how an equestrian look can be modernized and remain oh so classy and classic. In “A La Carte”, Felicia advises that you have a commonality of color when mixing patterns and more. Fabulous looks and tips! Thanks Felicia!  Remember I only highlight a snippet of Felicia’s amazing cur8edme posts so be sure to follow her on Instagram.  And she is the most amazingly insightful guide for helping you to find the right and most flattering style for you.  Just sayin’, Tomatoes.  GET THE DETAILS.

Theatre Buzz: Beloved Young Adult Novel Transfers to Stage

Playwright Isaac Gómez visualized the novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez, not as a movie, but as a play which just so happens to be currently running at the Greenway Court Theatre through March 3rd. In her inspiring Theatre Buzz column, our LA Life Theatre Maven Laura Foti Cohen interviews Isaac Gomez about the journey he took in transforming the novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter into a successful stage play. GET THE DETAILS.

February 17. Prosperity Market

You can celebrate Black History Month with The Prosperity Market, a very special mobile farmer’s market and black owned businesses advocate, at the Natural History Museum.  The Nature Gardens at NHM is the perfect location to host an afternoon celebrating Black farmers, chefs and entrepreneurs. Sounds like yummy fun and there’s shopping, Tomatoes.

Not only will there be fresh farmers market goodies and deliciously prepared foods you’ll find handcrafted artisan goods, cooking demonstrations, a kid’s corner, a Sound Bath and more.  The Prosperity Market was founded 3 years ago by Carmen, a Hollywood makeup artist, and Kara, a fashion designer.  The Prosperity Market grew out of their desire to create economic impact in their communities. Carmen and Kara believe the first step in addressing any systemic constraints is to strengthen our economy, and what better way to do so than with the very thing everyone needs for health and survival? Food! Check them out, Gals!

Through February 19.  Pan African Film + Arts Festival

There are only a few days left to attend a giant among film festivals, Tomatoes. The critically acclaimed Pan African Film + Arts Festival is the largest Black film fest in US and the quintessential global celebration of Pan-African cultures featuring filmmakers, artists, and unique craftspeople from over 40 countries and six continents in Los Angeles annually. Wow!

It is PAFF’s goal to present and showcase the broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes. They believe film and art can lead to better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times. This festival is a great opportunity to see all that at work…right here in our own great city, Tomatoes.

February 20. Rage, She Wrote

Yep, Tomatoes! Aloud’s Winter Season has started, and the next new Aloud Book Event from the Library Foundation of Los Angeles is Rage She Wrote at the Mark Taper Auditorium.  It will be a fascinating and in-depth discussion, featuring exemplary women artists and thinkers, pulling back the curtain on the controversial subject of “female fury”.

The evening will be hosted by Kristina Wong (award-winning performance artist, comedian and writer) with guests Soraya Chemaly (prolific writer and cultural critic), Maya Jupiter (music television host and producer), Nina Menkes (cinematic pioneer and independent filmmaker), Ivy Pochoda (author of the acclaimed novels Wonder Valley, Visitation Street, These Women and Sing her Down) and Susan Straight (best-selling author of Mecca, Highwire Moon, A Million Nightingales and In the Country of Women). Just a reminder that ALOUD events have been around for 19 years and, in that time, they have hosted over 1,000 free lectures, readings, performances & discussions by award-winning writers, artists, historians, poets and journalists. Definitely cause for celebration.

Feb 24-25. African American Festival

The African American Festival is back at the awesome Aquarium of the Pacific for its 22^nd year!  It should be tons of fun, Tomatoes, with the festivities featuring music, dance, storytelling, awards presentations and historical displays.  It’s all yours for the price of a general admission ticket Gals.

What a wonderful place to hang this weekend. The Aquarium will be announcing and celebrating the recipients of its 2024 African American Scholar Program. Reservations to the Aquarium are required on weekends and holidays, so hop to it Gals.

February 28.  Ingelore Screening

The film screening of Ingelore (2009), presented by the Skirball in partnership with Deaf Theatre West and the Holocaust Museum LA, is a mesmerizing documentary that tells the inspiring story of Ingelore Herz Honigstein and how she lived as an outcast in Nazi Germany as a Jew and a Deaf woman.  The film is a loving portrait of an indefatigable women and was made by Ingelore’s Academy Award winning son Frank Stiefel.

Ingelore appeared in over thirty international film festivals, winning a number of Audience and Critics prizes and was honored by the International Documentary Association and The Museum of Modern Art. It was later acquired by HBO. This is a unique opportunity to see the film and interact with the filmmaker and the guest panelists during the Q & A afterwards.  It is a Skirball Public Program and it is free.

Feb 24. The Real Black Dahlia Crime Tour

If you love murder mysteries, this might be right up your alley. The Black Dahlia Murder occurred in 1947 and remains the most compelling unsolved crime in Los Angeles. Who was the victim, Elizabeth Short? The Real Black Dahlia Crime Tour, hosted by Esotouric, seeks to answer that question by visiting iconic locations associated with her. So intriguing, Tomatoes!

The 56-seat coach class bus tour will take you from the hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), to the newspaper offices and the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and concludes at the site where her bisected body was found in Leimert Park and with a little known suspect who lived nearby.

February 29. The New Suburbia Presentation

A heads up, Tomatoes. The book signing presentation of The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles after 1945 ,from LA based historian and author Becky Nicolaides, has limited seating at The Pasadena Museum of History so reserve your seat ASAP. The title says it all and it sounds utterly fascinating!

The book presents a wide-ranging portrait of suburban life that contrasts with the outdated portrayals by Hollywood, pundits, and the media. It draws from an extensive dataset derived from in-depth case studies across four diverse communities, including previously unpublished oral histories and interviews.

Starting March 1.  First Fridays

Yay! The annual seasonal series, First Fridays is returning to The Natural History Museum (NHM) with First Fridays: From Feelings to Pheromones. They will be exploring the creature dating game and other mating habits humans share with the animal kingdom. The first session is all about animal love, Ladies.

And let’s not forget the live performances, food trucks, signature cocktails, topical discussions and so much more. Dr. Yewande Pearse will be the expert moderator. She is a neuroscientist, public speaker, and science communicator with twenty years of research experience in various facets of Neuroscience at leading institutions such as the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College London and The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA. Dr. Pearse has collaborated with a diverse array of organizations, including the Sundance Film Festival, Headspace, The Natural History Museum, California Science Center, Female Collective, TEDMED, DEEM Journal, Grow Magazine, Dublab Radio, and NTS Radio. Wow! And if you are an NHM member, it’s FREE, Tomatoes!