Category: Adventures in L.A.

Benetton, Bathbombs and the Glendale Galleria

Rows of bathbombs at Lush in the Glendale Galleria (Pic: Liz O.)

Anyone who tells you that malls are dead hasn’t been to the the Glendale Galleria. At 4 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon in early 2026, the scene looks as it might have at the same time of day some thirty years prior. Kids outnumber adults, with the high school crowd ambling past Journeys and Banana Republic in pairs and trios, while the few grown-ups alternate between sifting through sales racks at JC Penney and gossiping over Coffee Bean.

Glendale Galleria opened in 1976 and served as a beacon of LA mall culture through the earliest years of the new millennium. It’s where Panda Express became a fast food staple and where the first Disney Store appeared. For the past two decades, though, the Galleria’s reputation has been overshadowed by the neighboring Americana at Brand, Rick Caruso’s exercise in hyperrealism that looks like a cross between Disneyland’s Main Street and the Las Vegas Strip. The Americana has a trolley *and* a fountain show, plus a bunch of stores that only the Kardashian Klass can afford. It’s LA at its most aspirational. Glendale Galleria has Hot Dog on a Stick and Vans. This is LA at its most real.
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February 16, 2026
How I Learned to Like Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier, January 2026 (Pic: Liz O.)

We’re walking back to the Metro station from the Santa Monica Pier and a news broadcast catches my ear. “A patent for AirPods that can read your brainwaves,” the voice says. I’m pretty sure that’s an old story, but it still prompts me to look to the side, where I see a cell phone strapped to a large speaker that’s propped up in a wheelchair. Standing next to the wheelchair is the person who I assume wants us all to know that Big Tech is out to read our minds. I think there’s a manifesto printed on the back of the person’s t-shirt, but I’m too far away to read it.
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January 19, 2026
See the Midcentury Art and Design of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman at Craft Contemporary

Garden, designed by Evelyn Ackerman in 1962, made by Toyo Rug Company in Osaka for ERA Industrias at Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles (Pic: Liz O.)

The first piece that caught my eye inside Craft Contemporary was a rug. Really, it was a wall hanging— I can’t imagine anyone allowing feet to come in contact with it— but it was handhooked with the kind of thick wool yarn that you would imagine carpeting midcentury homes. Garden, designed by Evelyn Ackerman and produced by Toyo Rug Company in Osaka, Japan back in 1962, is art you want to touch. In it, a garden scene rises from a plush, sunny background where two children with cheery faces pick flowers and play with birds. It’s charming in the way that’s similar to Mary Blair’s It’s a Small World style, but it’s also tactile. Pictures don’t do it justice and, while you can’t actually touch museum pieces, you can lean in close to see how the yarn is hooked and sheared to create dimension and add textured details like windblown hair. You should see Garden, and so many other pieces Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman, in person and you can in the exhibition Material Curiosity By Design, which opened at Craft Contemporary in November and runs through May 10.
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January 13, 2026
My First Protest of 2026 (Probably Won’t Be the Last)

A crowd protests against Trump’s strike on Venezuela on a rainy Saturday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles. (Pic: Liz O.)

The most smartly dressed protester at Pershing Square on Saturday afternoon was the person in a Tyrannosaurus Rex suit, an inflatable blue number with a red pattern winding down the back. I can only imagine that this person emerged from the protest much less drenched than the rest of us. Umbrellas, hoodies and hats were only somewhat useful as the rain grew heavier through the afternoon. In the end, it took hours in front of the heater to mostly-dry the wide legs of my black jeans. But, the minor inconvenience was worth it to be part of the crowd chanting “No war on Venezuela.”
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January 5, 2026
Purity Ring Builds a Better World On Stage at The Novo

Purity Ring at The Novo 11/12/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

A few songs into their set on Wednesday night, Megan James of Purity Ring thanked the crowd for masking up. She talked about a world where we are “caretakers of the land we live on,” where there are no prisons or genocide. “It starts at home with material care for others,” she told the crowd, “like wearing a mask. No one is going to save us. We care for each other. We keep each other safe. Free Palestine.”

The night began with security passing out masks near the entrance to The Novo It ended with guards near the photo pit handing out water bottles to people in the crowd, something I have never seen happen at a show before this one. All of this connects to Purity Ring’s new, self-titled concept album, which was released in September. Inspired by RPGs like Nier Automata and Final Fantasy X, the album is itself a soundtrack for an imagined game, wherein the characters’ quest is to built a better world.
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November 13, 2025
Mariachi El Bronx Introduces New Songs to Fans at L.A. Bar La Cita

Mariachi El Bronx on stage at La Cita, 11/08/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

Matt Caughthran didn’t need to remind the crowd inside La Cita to show their enthusiasm. even if Mariachi El Bronx were filming for a new music video inside the sold out, Saturday night show. This crowd, packed close to the narrow stage inside the downtown Los Angeles bar, was already hyped. And “Bandoleros,” from the forthcoming album, Mariachi El Bronx IV, is a jam with a cumbia rhythm that automatically gets people dancing.
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November 10, 2025
Dia de los Muertos Has Started at Gloria Molina Grand Park and Olvera Street

“Estamos Unidos” by LADWP- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (Pic: Liz O.)

“Viento,” the Caifanes song, plays as a mild, downtown wind blows the papel picado hanging above Dia de los Muertos altars at Gloria Molina Grand Park. There’s a sizable crowd milling about on Sunday afternoon, investigating the details of the large, often elaborately decorated altars, or ofrendas, that local artists and community groups have made for the exhibition, which runs through November 2.

There are a lot of Dia de los Muertos events happening in Los Angeles between now and next weekend (check L.A. Taco for a comprehensive list). I try to always check out the ones at Grand Park and Olvera Street, which are walking distance from each other.
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October 27, 2025
The “Crotch Bump” and Other Dodgers Moments on View in Billy Kheel and Pat Riot Art Show at Eastern Projects

Billy Kheel captures the Kiké Hernandez and Gavin Lux crotch bump in felt at Eastern Projects in Chinatown. (Pic: Liz O.)

It’s the first day of the World Series and while the Dodgers are in Toronto to face the Blue Jays, fans in L.A. can check out Dodger art just downhill from the stadium. Doubleplay, a joint show from L.A.-based artists Billy Kheel and Pat Riot, opened earlier this month at Eastern Projects in Chinatown and it’s on view at the gallery through November 22.
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October 24, 2025
Halloween Shopping Near Downtown L.A.? Head to the Piñata District

Halloween shopping? Maybe head down to the Piñata District (Pic: Liz O.)

Right now, if you head to the Piñata District, you might come face to face with oversized jack-o-lanterns, menacing scarecrows and grinning witches. The small strip of Olympic, roughly between the Fashion District and the produce markets, is decked out for Halloween with piñatas that range from creepy-cute to gruesome. There are characters you’ll recognize from bedtime stories, horror films and, maybe, some of your nightmares. There is also a bounty of Halloween decorations and candy. Lots of candy. And gum too. So much that I could feel myself turn into a hybrid of Augustus Gloop and Violet Beauregarde as I rummaged through rows of chocolates and lollipops and other sweet treats. This tends to happen anytime I’m in the Piñata District. It’s hands down my favorite place in L.A. to stock up on candy and, if you’re getting ready for Halloween, and are near downtown, I suggest hitting up the Piñata District.

Back in August, LAist reported that the Piñata District had been “pummeled” by the ICE raids that have dogged Los Angeles since the start of the summer, with one store reporting a 90% drop in sales and another noting that even price cuts weren’t bringing in customers. One of the reasons cited in the story is that people just aren’t having parties right now. But, with Halloween right around the corner, there’s a really good opportunity to support the Piñata District. You’ll be shopping in a way that’s budget-friendly for you while also helping out local businesses that have been impacted by the Trump administration’s cruel and absurd whims, rather than feeding more money into mega-corporations.
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October 21, 2025
Why I Went to the No Kings Rally in Downtown Los Angeles, 10/18/25

A balloon of Donald Trump as a scowling, oversized orange baby in a diaper floats over the crowd at No Kings events in downtown Los Angeles on 10/18/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

Right in front of Los Angeles City Hall, a massive inflatable Trump, scowling, raccoon-eyed and decked out in a diaper, hovered over the crowd. “Dump Trump” read the sign just below the inflatable, a caricature of the former reality TV star as an Oompa Loompa positioned like a turd hanging from the big orange baby’s bottom. Not too far from there was an old, worn couch tagged with “JD Vance was here.”

In the crowd, there was a zooful of people dressed in inflatable animal costumes, hippos, bears, chickens and, of course, frogs, amongst them. People hoisted signs loaded with dick jokes and memes. But, it wasn’t all comedy. “If there’s money for a parade? Then there’s money for Medicaid,” read a sign posted on a trashcan. Refuse Fascism set up an installation with photos of those who have been disappeared.
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October 19, 2025