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H’wood by helo
Some showbiz hopefuls arrive by bus and others by helicopter.
Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins
Through February 12th at the Geffen Playhouse
Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins
After the best Los Angeles tour you can imagine it is now time to sit down in a comfortable theater and see a real movie star treading the boards and recreating a character you love. Two-time Tony and Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner sizzles as Molly Ivins, the brassy Texan reporter whose liberal journalism skyrocketed her to the national stage. This acclaimed show captures the redheaded reporter’s indomitable character by weaving personal anecdotes with her colorful take on national politics.
Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles
310.208.5454
Fly Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease
Be a daring thrillseeker on the flying trapeze. You wonder if you have tried all the things to do in Los Angeles, well I doubt you have swayed from a thin bar suspended over a safety net. At Rich Gaona’s Trapeze Workshop you can enjoy a single lesson or train to join the circus (or, more likely in Hollywood, perform in a movie about the circus). It’s fun, it’s athletic, it’s exciting. No experience is necessary and you can start any time. Learn from the best. Richie Gaona is a 4th generation circus performer and truly knows his trade. He has trained athletes and actors as well as regular folks interested in doing something a little bit out of the ordinary. That could be you. Give it a whirl, or rather, a swing.
Gaonas Trapeze Workshop
5702 Lubao Avenue, Woodland Hills
(818) 710-8191
richiegaona.com
We Love Lucy
Relive a live taping of I Love Lucy
You just drove past Lucille Ball’s Beverly Hills home on your Hollywood tour so what is more perfect than spending the evening in a studio audience enjoying a “live” recreation of the taping of two I Love Lucy television episodes. With an affable host and four extremely talented actors perfectly recreating the original characters (Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel, as if you need reminding) you get to participate in a full evening of music and hilarity. The original television show remains in syndication 60 years after its debut, and though the Desilu studio is no more there are still reminders of those days in Hollywood and Culver City you might have seen in any number of star tours in Hollywood.
If you’re an I Love Lucy fan, this is your moment. The two original episodes, “The Benefit” and “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined,” are a hoot, but so are the hilarious commercial breaks, the Lucy trivia contest and the surprising variety of musical and dance numbers.
Through February 26th
Greenway Court Theatre
544 N. Fairfax Avenue
800-595-4tix
ilovelucylive.com
Pacific Standard Time – Spend Hours at the Getty
Backyards in Diamond Bar and Other Oddities
In 1980, Joe Deal photographed backyards in Diamond Bar. The images, all black-and-white and clinical, make suburbia seem absolutely absurd. Among his strangest is a photo of a swimming pool–shaped island of perfectly green grass, empty but surrounded by lawn furniture, cacti and other brush arranged in dirt. It’s on view in the Getty’s “In Focus” show along with about two dozen other silver gelatin prints that examine SoCal from the ’50s until 1980. The show feels like an Errol Morris documentary — skeptical but almost eagerly so, and all strung together with understated, dry humor.
The Getty Museum is just one of the many southern California museums and galleries participating in Pacific Standard Time. If you just flew over this incredible structure overlooking the Los Angeles basin during one of your Los Angeles helicopter tours then you should make it a point to visit the museum and see what they have inside.
Pacific Standard Time is a collaboration of numerous southern California museums and galleries curating exhibits to celebrate the vision and history of California artists.
1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood
through May 6
getty.edu
Comedy Birth – No Pushing Required
January 19th, 8:00 p.m. (and every other Thursday after that) at the Comedy Central Stage in Santa Monica see Jill Solloway and her crazy friends, frenemies and complete strangers bring to the stage brand new, untried and untested, raw comedy. It is a Frankenstein’s laboratory of funniness and you get to see it being created. And best of all — it’s FREE!
Comedy Central Stage
6539 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323-960-5519
The Genius of James Brown
The Grammy Museum, downtown at L.A. Live, has dozens of objects on display belonging to the Godfather of Soul in an exhibit entitled “Say It Loud: The Genius of James Brown.” Housed in downtown’s upscale L.A Live mall, this multistory museum doesn’t appear to be very rock & roll on the surface, but it does boast an interesting variety of permanent and traveling exhibits. While the focus is largely on mainstream figures in rock, pop, R&B, country and jazz, the venue also hosts regular performances in which celebrity musicians perform a few tunes and discuss their craft with an audience Q&A. The museum is suitable for all ages. Make a visit to the Grammy Museum a part of your “things to do in Los Angeles” checklist.
Grammy Museum
800 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-765-6800
Secret Stairway to Heaven (Shhhh!)
Los Angeles is famous for its gym culture. But if you’re intimidated by all the hard bods at Gold’s — or if you just want to take the jogging path less traveled — the city’s network of historic staircases is an ideal way to stay fit.
Not going anywhere but enjoying the walk
City planners originally installed the public staircases in the 1920s as direct routes for hillside residents to get down to urban areas and transit lines. They fell out of use once the motor car came along, but the stairs still serve as direct paths into stately L.A. neighborhoods unseen by many Angelenos. Stairstreets they are called. Great ways to work up an appetite before chowing down in a neighborhood cafe. When you are looking for things to do in Hollywood you should find the nearest stairway going up. Who says Los Angeles isn’t a walkable city?
Hollywood’s Own Wilshire Boulevard Temple
Established in 1862, Congregation B’nai B’rith is the oldest reform synagogue in Los Angeles. Its home is the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a striking, stately structure on the edge of what’s now a congested stretch in Koreatown. Built in 1929, the temple was designed by A.M. Edelman, son of the congregation’s first rabbi, Abraham Edelman. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, the temple was the go-to place of worship for scores of movie-industry professionals who wanted to assimilate into American culture without sacrificing their Jewish identity. The building’s enormous Byzantine revival-style dome was funded by Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg, while Louis B. Mayer donated funds for the temple’s art glass windows. Carl Laemmle donated spice box chandeliers, and the temple’s biblical murals were commissioned by Jack, Harry and Albert Warner, aka the Warner Bros. The Wilshire Boulevard Temple is in the midst of an ambitious $150 million overhaul, but with such a dazzling history, its future looks just as bright as its starry past. Places of worship and cemeteries are popular sightseeing themes when you create your own best Los Angeles tour.
3663 Wilshire Boulevard, Koreatown
(213) 388-2401
wilshireboulevardtemple.org
The Straight on Skinny’s
Skinny’s Lounge is everything you’d want in a NoHo nightspot — equal parts cool, slick, comfortable and dark, like, say, a Hollywood bar/lounge, except, being over the hill, just a bit more laid-back. There’s comfortably plush seating; dark, earthy, off-reddish tones in the décor; and an interesting L-shaped configuration with an ample curved bar and an outstanding, classic-lounge-y recessed and curtained stage area where live acts include Metalachi (heavy metal/mariachi fusion), Polesque (artistic pole-dancing revue) and Lookin’ for Trouble (classic blues). The dance floor gets pumpin’, especially on weekend DJ nights, when dance-oriented disc spinners take over, and midweek nights have witnessed live rock & roll karaoke, with a crack cover band accompanying daring would-be lead vocalists. Drinks are praised and reasonably priced, special group reservations (parties/events) are welcome, and food trucks often park outside. Oh, and they feature “reverse happy hours” with $2 off drinks from midnight until close! What better way to finish a busy day visiting Los Angeles and taking a Hollywood tour.
4923 Lankershim Boulevard, N. Hollywood
(818) 763-6581
skinnyslounge.com