blogdowntown: Everyday Living

Opera Paints Looks to Help Make the Arts District More Colorful

By Eric Richardson with Ed Fuentes — June 17, 2008
2 Comments

|Photo Gallery| Tucked away among warehouses on the southern edge of the Arts District, Opera Paints isn’t in the typical location where one would look to open a retail store. Owners Michael Kahn and Maureen Barten started the business eight years ago as a wholesaler, partnering with Di Donato, an Italian manufacturer, to produce and distribute a line of environmentally...

Historic Downtown BID Renewal Approved

By Eric Richardson — June 17, 2008

Congratulations are in order to Russell Brown and the Historic Downtown Business Improvement District, who this morning received city council unanimous approval on the BID’s renewal. In order to be formed or renewed, BIDs must receive signatures from the property owners that would be paying over half of the BID’s assessment. Normally, that’...

Californians Wanted for Downtown "Staycations"

By Eric Richardson — June 12, 2008
4 Comments

The Downtown Center BID kicked off a marketing campaign today that hopes to sell the idea of a Downtown getaway to those who live in California. The close-by stays are called “staycations,” a silly term for a concept that has become more appealing given the high price of gas.

Election Day

By Eric Richardson — June 12, 2008
15 Comments

It’s election day for the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, with polls open from 2pm - 8pm at the Los Angeles Theatre (615 S. Broadway). Anyone who lives, works, or does much of anything else Downtown is a stakeholder and eligible to stop in and cast their vote. 59 candidates are running for 28 seats on the council’s Board of Directors. ...

Finals Shows Potential of LA Live

By Ed Fuentes — June 11, 2008
7 Comments

|Photo Gallery| Last night’s gathering at the Redwood Bar & Grill was an enjoyable evening, with a Lakers win mixed with blog talk and discussion of all things Downtown. With additional HDTV screens newly installed and house speakers pumping in the game play-by-play, the Redwood is a definite place to put on your list of where to watch a game. Watching a game on TV...

With Lakers Down 0-2, It's Time to Rally

By Ed Fuentes — June 09, 2008
2 Comments

The Lakers are down 0-2 to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, but Tuesday night the games move to L.A. Those of us Downtown without a ticket will be huddled around television screens to see if the purple and gold can stage a comeback. Those interested in watching the game with blogdowntown’ers should come by the Redwood Bar & Grill. The Redwood...

Dwelling on an Urban Future

By Ed Fuentes — June 09, 2008
1 Comment

|Photo Gallery| Overlooking the floor of the Los Angeles Convention center on Saturday, Dwell magazine President and Publisher Michela O’Connor Abrams, who was raised in Silver Lake, talked about it had been her dream to bring a “Dwell On Design” Expo to Los Angeles. While landscaped and furnished full-scale pre-fab structures were getting the buzz at the weekend...

Meet-Up for Game 2

By Ed Fuentes — June 08, 2008

Tonight, Eric and I will be watching Game 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtic at Green Bamboohe Chinese Restaurant and Sports Bar location in Little Tokyo (How L.A. is that?). Of course, everyone who reads blogdowntown is invited to join as we root Kobe and crew to a split in the NBA finals. Boston won game 1, and it’s clear the rivalry is...

Downtown This Weekend? Follow the Balloons

By Eric Richardson — June 07, 2008
6 Comments

Downtown and looking for something to do this weekend? Just follow the balloons. The Downtown LA Open House is in full swing, running both today and tomorrow. It’s just one of the events Downtown this weekend. Take the time to stop by the Info Center and Showcase on the upper level at 7+Fig, with dozens of booths and plenty of giveaways. This is the first...

Firefighters Bring Downtown Together for a Good Cause

By Ed Fuentes — June 05, 2008
2 Comments

|Photo Gallery| Heroes spent the day preparing for competition by wearing special uniforms before showing off their skills and their honed team work. There were flags waving, horns blowing, and score was being kept. Lakers and Celtics? No. That’s just a game. Thursday at Hope for Firefighters it was LAFD engine companies who showed Downtown how they could come together by...