There is nothing cookie-cutter or corporate about Caravan Book Store on Grand Avenue downtown. ”Avant Garde, First Edition, Poetry,” the window declares in big gold letters.
As a kid, bookseller Leonard Bernstein swept the floors of his parents’ shop when it was located a block away on what was then called “bookseller’s row”. He’s been continuing the tradition ever since. Caravan is marking the start of …

Every day, the best-selling writer Max Brooks drives from his home in Venice to work in the attic of his father Mel’s place in Santa Monica.  It’s a way to check in on his famous dad–and the garden lovingly planted by his late mother, the actress Anne Bancroft.
It seems Ms. Bancroft, in addition to being a beautiful movie star, loved getting her hands in …

For decades, Monica Potts called a tent on the corner of 5th and Crocker on Skid Row home.  Today, she works across the street, at a place called LAMP, where she counsels others to help get off the street.
How did this nearly 50 year old woman finally conquer mental illness, drug addiction, and homelessness?  Force of will, medication, and counseling, she says — lots …

With a major retrospective opening on Sunday at LACMA, and a gallery show just up the street from the museum unveiling special works he created for its new, grand space, the Los Angeles born light artist James Turrell is busy. Still, our Hunter Drohojowska-Philp scored an interview with him, and today, we met for an immersive Art Talk.
You can hear Hunter’s interview with James …

In LA County alone, there are 35,000 youth who have more urgent concerns besides iPhones, cars, and dating.  They’re foster kids, struggling to transcend neglectful and abusive homes, and then to survive in a system which turns them out to fend for themselves at age 18.
Recently, I visited the offices of the Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency to meet a group of kids …

What do you do with the rest of your life when you’ve become a TV star and an icon for a generation at age 23?  Tabitha Soren and MTV news were to the 90s Presidential campaigns what Twitter was to Obama.  After running around covering President Clinton, she married a superstar writer (Michael Lewis), won a prestigious journalism fellowship at Stanford (the Knight), and had three …

The legendary trumpeter Herb Alpert is best known for his Tijuana Brass.  But all the while he’s been making music, he’s also been making fine art.
Tomorrow night, you can see a sampling of his paintings and sculptures on display at the Robert Berman Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica.
Coincidentally, you can walk around the corner (be careful!) to Olympic Boulevard and see three …

It was with mixed emotion that we saw the enormous art and performance space mowed down to make way for the Expo Line. On the one hand, who wouldn’t support more mass transit, especially in our gridlocked part of the world? On the other, more mass transit meant the end of this dynamic space that had showcased so many for 20 years. This is what …

Who says southern California has no history?
On the sprawling campus of Santa Monica High School are two hidden gems: first, the 1937 Barnum Hall, a 1200-seat theater done in “streamline moderne” style.  This is not your typical high school assembly hall.  It predates the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium that will soon be mothballed, and in fact, before that ill-fated structure was built, Barnum Hall …

Only a month ago, the Museum of Contemporary Art was in the headlines as the target of a possible takeover by LACMA.  The situation sounded dire: Without being rescued by another institution, could MOCA stay afloat?
Now, there’s a new mega-show about to open across two of MOCA’s facilities, the announcement of $75 million recently tucked into the troubled museum’s coffers by new board members. …

The Lake Street community center is a lovely oasis carved into a tired looking neighborhood just west of Downtown, one of those great surprises hidden in LA.
Inside the center on the basketball court was a rehearsal by the cast of the latest production by Theater by the Blind, one of the few theatrical troupes in the country where all the actors have low-vision.
The actors used mats …

Screenplay, novel, poem? Anyone who writes, or has aspirations to, has likely read or at least heard of Natalie Goldberg.
Her book, Writing Down the Bones, is a classic. Since it was published 25 years ago, Goldberg’s been inspiring writers in person, too, at workshops and writing retreats. And now, a new book summarizes what you’d learn and experience at one of them.
The essence of …

The very name “Angela Davis” conjures up images of sixties radicalism.  But as time passes, the specifics of her story begin to fade.
Fired from UCLA for being a communist, she later became one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted criminals–for a crime she didn’t commit.
The trial that ensued made her a celebrated political prisoner of her day.
A new documentary, produced by Jay-Z, Will Smith …

The idea sounded simple enough: to feed the attendees of a festival with locally produced food. The people behind Uber Lebenskunst in Berlin took that very seriously, amassing their larder starting 15 months ahead of the festival date.
Meaning: They grew the sunflowers and reaped the seeds in order to make the oil.  Grew the rosehips to make the wine and then the vinegar. Ewes …

I never thought of pricey jewelry as art, but rather something movie stars wear when they sashay on red carpets. Then, I stopped by a preview of the spring auction at Christie’s at their offices in Beverly Hills, and got enlightened. The 300 pieces that are up for grabs are expected to fetch $30 million, and are coveted for their artistry as much as …

We’ve been eagerly following the Hunger Cycle, a series of nine plays to be commissioned and produced by Cornerstone Theater over six years—all in the service of shining a spotlight on some of the great food issues of our day: Hunger, and food equality.
Now, the latest installment is up, performed on the campus of schools that houses the Cocoanut Grove Theater (you know, where the Ambassador …

Counterculture actor/director Dennis Hopper, who died three years ago after a struggle with cancer, spent decades trying to write the story of his life.  He was likely too busy living it to finish.
Biographer Tom Folsom’s done the job in three years.
Folsom stopped by KCRW to talk about his newly released book, Hopper: Chasing the American Dream.  (With him was his wife, Lily Koppel, who’ll …

Fans of KCRW’s Bookworm host Michael Silverblatt will be excited to learn that now they can see him talk about books as well as hear him. Silverblatt plays a bit part in “Bob’s New Suit,” a film that opens in the LA area tonight.
The sympathetic role of the “Reader” was written just for Silverblatt by writer/director Alan Howard.
Howard is making his directorial debut at …

I didn’t go to artist Cathy Opie’s house explicitly to see the bunnies, but before I got to talk to her about what did lure me over to West Adams, I got a tour of this extension of her existence. Her partner, Julie Burleigh, has, over the last five years, converted an eyesore abandoned lot down the block from their house into a community …

The city of Santa Monica has been awarded a million-dollar grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to develop an index for well-being.  (You can read about the other winners of the “Mayors Challenge” in this NY Times story.)
Santa Monica has produced a slick promotional video for the effort (shot on the Big Blue Bus, buses being indicators of happiness because they help you avert the unhappiness of commuting.) While it incorrectly claims …