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  • Stop Scrolling and Start Digging at Central Library

    world's largest pop up book in the rotunda at Los Angeles Richard J. Riordan Central Library (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Luceros y Penumbras: The World’s Largest Pop-Up Book in the Rotunda at Central Library (Pic: Liz O.)

    “I’m going to show you something cool,” I say to my husband while leading him to the back of a room on the bottom level of Central Library. “And, by cool, I mean super dorky.”

    I love browsing through old stuff. It’s not a nostalgia thing. I don’t long for the past. I just like to make connections between what was and what is. It’s how my DJ brain works. Like, a significant moment in my evolution as a music nerd came in my late teens, when I stopped thinking of ‘60s soul as my parents’ music and realized it was the basis for most of what I liked. Every song builds on what came before it. DJing is just figuring out how it all fits together. 

    Movies are similar. Like, the other night I just happened to catch I Want to Live! on TCM. Susan Hayward plays a woman found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in the 1950s. It’s a terrific movie – Hayward won an Oscar for her performance – and, in the midst of it, I thought, OMG, this is Female Trouble! Divine as Dawn Davenport was totally channeling Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham! 

    This is cultural literacy, something that’s lost when you’re served media via a corporation’s algorithm. You think you’re learning something because your feed is overloaded with variations of the same “How New Order Made ‘Blue Monday’” video, but you aren’t. You’re just parroting AI-generated summaries of Wikipedia entries. If you want to be really culturally literate, you need to get out into the world and figure things out for yourself. That’s why I love thrift stores and record shops, museums and libraries. Particularly, I love Central Library. 

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  • The Best Ice Blended in L.A.

    The best ice blended capuccino in Los Angeles at Placita Cafe (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    The ice blended cappuccino at Placita Cafe in L.A. (Pic: Liz O.)

    The ice blended cappuccino at Placita Cafe is the best brainfreeze-inducing drink I have ever sipped. It’s a caffeinated dessert, with a rolled wafer cookie popping out of the mountain of cinnamon-dusted whipped cream that tops it. Crucially, it’s properly blended, so you get the appropriate balance of textures and flavors all the way down to the bottom of the plastic cup. 

    I’ve tried a lot of ice blendeds, including the made-for-the-algorithm variety that influencers and self-proclaimed foodies seem to love. What I’ve learned, though, is that the prettier an ice blended is, the worse it tastes. In fact, a few of those more photogenic ice blendeds have given me COVID anosmia flashbacks. Why is this so blah? I’ve wondered before realizing that all the flavor was in the first slurp, y’know,  the one that influencers take as they mug for the camera, right before they push the drink aside and reach for the next freebie. With the Placita Cafe ice blended, though, the cinnamon hits my nose before I put the straw up to my mouth. In each sip, I feel the icy, creamy and liquid textures intermingle and taste the milk and espresso base.

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  • Dia de los Muertos Has Started at Gloria Molina Grand Park and Olvera Street

    "Estamos Unidos" by LADWP- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Altar at Gloria Molina Grand Park depicts skeletons at a family dining table with one empty seat with a sign that reads "This Seat Is Reserved for Those We Lost in ICE Detentions and all immigrants lost in la frontera" (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    “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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  • 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. October 18, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    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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  • Disco, Italo and House at Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions, 7/20/25

    View from the stage at Gloria Molina Grand Park's Sunday Sessions on July 20, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    View from the stage at Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions on July 20, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

    Gloria Molina Grand Park’s Sunday Sessions is a highlight of summer in L.A. It’s a series of free, all ages, dance party picnics right in the middle of downtown, inside the park that sits between the Music Center and City Hall. At the event on July 20, my friend, Maurice de la Falaise curated a lineup of DJs to celebrate the roots of house music, and I got to DJ alongside Loopdropkid and Clifton Weaver, with KG Superstar MCing the afternoon. It was a ton of fun.

    For my own set, I played mostly disco and Italo, with a lot of edits to kind of stress that connection between disco and house. In the first set, which started at about 3 p.m., I dropped Horse Meat Disco and Phenomenal Handclap Band’s track “Sanctuary,” which you probably heard a lot if you went to my nights back at The Lash right after the pandemic, because the lyrics are relevant to the moment. The second set, which was from 5:15 – 6 p.m., took a house turn towards the end because the crowd seemed up for it, so I dropped in two of my favorite tracks from the past handful of years “Cissy” from Natasha Kitty Katt, which pulls vocals from the Cissy Houston song “Think It Over,” and Kerri Chandler’s remix of Gabriels “Love and Hate in a Different Time.”  Set list is below.

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  • When the Sound of L.A. Is Dodgers Baseball

    Dodgers fans gathered in Gloria Molina Grand Park across from City Hall in downtown Los Angeles for the 2024 World Series Victory Parade (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    The scene at Gloria Molina Grand Park for the Dodgers World Series victory parade on Friday, November 1, 2024 (Pic: Liz O.)

    After Mayor Bass speaks and the Dodgers continue down the parade route, blue and white confetti rains across the mass of fans gathered in front of two giant TV screens at Gloria Molina Grand Park. The voice of the late, great Vin Scully rises over the cheers from the fans, sounding as if it was a broadcast from the beyond, before the DJ drops in “It Was a Good Day.” The crowd sings along with the Ice Cube jam, filling in when the DJ scratches out the less family-friendly lyrics, although I doubt anyone here would complain about the content of the song. Thirty some-odd years later, everyone in L.A. knows that Kim can do it all night.

    An estimated 250,000 people  turned up in downtown Los Angeles for the Dodgers World Series victory parade on Friday morning. My husband and I were amongst them. The park was already pretty packed when we arrived at about 10 a.m. We were able to get close enough to see the buses moving beyond the trees at the edge of the park, but the people on those buses were hardly visible. Those jumbo screens came in handy. Still, I’m listening more than I’m watching. 

    For the past week, I’ve been following the siren call of the World Series, a sound so captivating that sucks you deeper and deeper into the game until, suddenly, all of your timelines, both online and IRL, are Dodger blue. 

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  • Digging for Heat at On the Record Vinyl Fair

    The Music Center in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, May 4, 2024 for On the Record Vinyl Fair (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    On the Record Vinyl Fair at The Music Center on May 4, 2024 (Pic: Liz O.)

    Salt Box Records has never steered me wrong. So, when I saw a 7” with a tag on cover the sleeve that read “Italo-style Spanish synth pop,” I grabbed it. I had never heard of the band Tango?— or, at least, in that moment, I thought that I hadn’t heard them— and the song title “Breve Síntesis de los Huecos,” sounded completely unfamiliar to me. I bought it strictly because that descriptive tag, written in Sharpie by an actual human, said, “Listen to me, Liz” in a way that algorithmic suggestions never do. 

    Later on, I would realize that I had previously heard Tango?, who were based in Barcelona and active in the mid-1980s. They had a self-titled song that was included on the stellar compilation, Ritmo Fantasía: Balearic Spanish Synth-Pop, Boogie and House. The two songs couldn’t be more different, though. “Tango?,” the song, is a slow groovy piece suited for pool parties and bars where they serve tapas on shady, outdoor patios. “Breve Síntesis de los Huecos” should have accompanied a montage in an ‘80s movie. It’s a vibe.

    But, back to the record shopping. 

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  • Breakfast at Philippe’s Is an Affordable Way to Start the Day

    breakfast at Philippe's with a cup of coffee and a donut. Photo: Liz Ohanesian
    At Philippe’s, you can get a cup of coffee for 46 cents and a donut for $1. (Pic: Liz O.)

    I grew up in a family full of staunch Angelenos who love to dispense advice on crucial subjects like rush hour short cuts and where to get a good meal. When it comes to the latter, one of the best pieces of advice I heard from multiple family members was, “Get breakfast at Philippe’s.” 

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  • L.A. Music Events: September 15 – September 21, 2023

    Taleen Kali Residency Harvard & Stone Los Angeles September 20, 2023 with DJ Liz O.

    This coming week, I’ll be joining Taleen Kali’s residency at Harvard & Stone for a special DJ set before, after and in between the bands. More info on that below the jump. Plus, I’ve included a handful of other L.A. music events, including clubs, concerts and record fairs that are on my radar for the week. Keep reading and mark your calendars. 

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  • Weekend Recap: Echo Park Rising, Plus Dancing, Records and Trains

    Nolune live at Echo Park Rising outside of Bar Henry, September 9, 2023 Photo by Liz Ohanesian
    Nolune live outside of Bar Henry for Echo Park Rising

    For one baffling moment, the thought of walking the 1.2 mile stretch of Sunset Blvd. between Spacedust and Bar Henry for Echo Park Rising on Saturday afternoon sounded doable. I quickly came to my senses and vetoed that option, though, on account of it being somewhere around 90 degrees, per the weather app on my phone. Plus, the list of things I wanted to do that day was out of control. So, instead, I stuck around Bar Henry long enough to see Nolune, Micah Preite and Datamaps play fantastic sets on the sidewalk as traffic whizzed past us. 

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