InvisibleLA will be providing more frequent posting including Local cafe reviews (contact us for more information) and Live content – in regards to Los Angeles. Here are a few topic ideas you may want us to let you know about. Like the writers guild strike…..Hot spots for travel…Things to do free in LA. Tourist spots with pictures like Graumans Chinese theater. Or Vine and Sunset with the stars with the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Venice Beach – Santa Monica Beach, Pinks, Tommys Burgers. Pictures of outside the studios like Paramont(LA) and Sony(Culver City) and CBS studios on 3rd and Fairfax. A pic of the Hollywood sign(can be seen from in front of my house) to a pic of the Pantages theater.

Ok, Linda is just on her way out the door to Farmers Market behind CBS Studios. Let her see what she can pull up. She knows about 3 restaurants at Farmers Market. Farmers Market is a tourist attraction for its history(has been around since late 1920’s). Its behind CBS studios and right across the street from the Screen Writers Guild/Union where the strikes has been taking place. And the movie the “Black Dahlia” was about a murder that took place across the street in the 40’s.

So give her about 24 hours and let her pull something up for you.

Olvera Street dates back as early as 1877. The street is named after Augustin Olvera. The first LA County Judge. He also owned a house at the end of the street as well. Within the street is the Avila Adobe House(built 1818) which still stands. Francisco Avila was one of LA’s first mayors. You may visit the Avila Adobe, roughly between the hours of 10AM – 4PM. Admission is free. Olvera Street also housed many Olympians during the 1932 which was hosted in Los Angeles. Many famous and important people would visit or frequent the street. Such as: Ronald Reagan, Charlie Chaplin, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, Selma Hayak, Penelope Cruz, Ceasar Chavez, Oscar de La Hoya as well as many others.

In between touring the street and the Avila Adobe you can find some restaurants and sidewalk cafes to eat at. Many of the plates range between $4.00 – $15.00. You may be so lucky to hear live Mexican Folk to Mariachi music. Each group has anywhere between one to five singing and playing accordias and acoustical guitars.

At the end of Olvera Street is the plaza. One may be entertained by Aztec dancers and Peruvian music. During Cinco de Mayo(May 5th) there is always a festival that last 3 days. With pinatas, food, Mariachi music and more. The Plaza also has another festival Mid September in remembrace of Mexicos Independance from Spain, You may also find one of many other Olvera Street festivals. Anything from the Blessing of the Animals, Dia de Los Muetros(day of the dead is around Halloween), to the Annual celebration of the founding of Los Angeles(In 2008 it will be 226 years old). And the mural of the Blessing of the Animals was done by an Angeleno by the name of Leo Politi. The mural can be found on the Biscailuz Building in El Pueblo which is at the end of Olvera Street, across the street from the plaza. Politi was an artist as well as an author.

The ice skating rink has been our destination for the last few years over the holidays. Usually, we’ve gone at night and during the week, so it hasn’t been too crowded, but this year, we made Jan. 1 our skating day…take a look and see what happened.

So, “skate wars” was a real problem for us, Dakota and I could only stand the pain for about 25 minutes before we wimped out and ran back to our comfy shoes, I honestly don’t remember the skates being that uncomfortable in previous years. It’s still worth the trip, though, I would HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you go at night when it’s all sparkly and magical and there aren’t as many people on the ice.

Here’s a link for the hours for the Pershing Square Downtown on Ice, which will stay open until January 15th, so make a date!

Here’s a blurb from the website:

Tis the season to chill out under the sun and stars at the Southland’s largest holiday outdoor ice skating rink LA DOWNTOWN ON ICE, gliding into its ninth spectacular season November 16, 2006 through January 15, 2007 at Pershing Square (532 South Olive) made possible by sponsorship from the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, LA Kings and Council member Jan Perry (9th District). As the Rockefeller Center of the west, the vast outdoor ice oasis lies nestled downtown in the heart of the city among the towering skyscrapers and historical landmarks, easily accessible by car or Metro stop. The conveniently located facility unites an estimated 500,000 spectators and 200,000 skating enthusiasts for unique, healthy and safe, seasonal recreation in what LA Parent Magazine and City Search hail as the number one family attraction for the holidays.Open seven days a week (including holidays), admission is only $6 per skating session, plus $2 skate rental.
A partnership with allows riders to receive a $1 skating session discount by showing a coupon available on Metro lines. The convenient stop at Pershing Square Station makes getting there easy.
Call 213/ 847-4970 or toll free 1-888-LA-PARKS (527-2757) And if you want a date skating lesson with Clark Thompson, here’s the link to the Simi Valley ice arenaAnd if you want a skating lesson with Clark Thompson, here’s the link to the Simi Valley ice arena. Have fun, and let me know how it goes!

see you on the freeway

The Pershing Square Ice Rink is open every day from Nov. 15, 2007 to Jan. 21, 2008. Admission is $6 and skate rental is $2.

Pershing Square Ice Rink
532 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 624-4289

The French Crepe Company has a website where one can view the menu and the price range. Be sure to click the Farmers Market location. There are many crepes to try. But I like to order the Beef Stroganoff Crepe. I love the tender beef pieces and mushrooms in the cream sauce. To the side of the crepe is an arugla salad with a dijon salad dressing(they have other dressing as well to choose from). Each plate will run one between $8.00 and $10.00. The other plate I like to order is the L’Opera crepes. L’Opera consists of two scrambled eggs with swiss cheese, avocado, onions and tomatoes. L’Opera crepe also comes with a side order of the arugala salad. For the cold and breezy Los Angeles days, I recommend their Soupe A’l’oignon Gratinee. French Onion Soup – a toasted baguette slice is placed in the bottom of a clay pot. Than beef broth and caramelized onions is poured over the bread. Placed on top is a heaping mound of Swiss Gruyere is than placed under a broiler to melt. The soup is roughly about $6.00. I also like to order their sparkling french lemonade to go with most of my crepe orders.

LA KINGS DOWNTOWN ON ICE, celebrating its 11th
spectacular season at Pershing Square, (532 South Olive, LA), open everyday November 20, 2008 through January 19, 2009.

The 11th installment of the Pershing Square Ice Skating Rink continues through Monday, January 19, 2009. There is plenty of time remaining to skate and take advantage of the activities at the L.A. Kings Downtown on Ice rink in Pershing Square. With a low admission price of only $6 (+skate rental $2), it’s a fun thing to do without spending lots of money.

Pershing Square Downtown on Ice, which will stay open until January 19th, so make a date! It’s still worth the trip, though, I would HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you go at night when it’s all sparkly and magical and there aren’t as many people on the ice.

Free L.A. Kings Youth Hockey Clinics Ages 14 and under with advance registration Register Now!

The Pershing Square Ice Rink is open every day from Nov. 20, 2008 to Jan 19, 2008. Admission is $6 and skate rental is $2.

Centrally located in the heart of the City of Angels, the facility is easily accessible by car, bus or rail. Rewarding commuters, a collaboration with Metro allows mass transit riders to receive a $1 skating session discount by showing a coupon available for downloading via the Destinations Discounts webpage at www.metro.net. The convenient stop at Pershing Square Station makes getting there easy. Underground discount parking is available with validation.

Pershing Square Ice Rink
532 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 624-4289
TOLLFREE: 1-888-LA-PARKS (527-2757) or visit www.laparks.org and click on Pershing Square

THREE WEEK HOLIDAY SCHEDULE – 2008-2009 Season
Friday, December 19, 2008 through Sunday, January 11, 2009
Monday – Sunday 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
NOTE: CHRISTMAS DAY – PUBLIC SKATING HOURS ARE 12:00 NOON to 10:00 PM

SKATING SESSION TIMES – 2008-2009 Season
Monday, January 12, 2009 through Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday – Thursday 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Friday – Sunday 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
NOTE: MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY (JAN 19) – PUBLIC SKATING HOURS ARE 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM

Nintendo has sold more than 6 million Wii systems and wii sales are now outstripping PS3 and the Xbox 360. It seems that everyone loves the wii. Even 4 year olds enjoying playing it.

MP3tunes has just announced custom technology for Wii, plus more music for New Year’s. If you were lucky enough to get a new Nintendo Wii for Christmas you now can play all your digital music through the video game with new technology from MP3tunes. Wii owners can now use the device’s controller to wirelessly stream their personal music collections from their
own Music Lockers.

MP3tunes is offering free playlists to sideload to the Music Locker for immediate access on the Wii and other devices. “To demonstrate how simple it is to add playlists to a Locker, we’ve created, in partnership with CDBaby, a terrific New Year’s Eve music set for our customers,” commented Emily Richards, President of MP3tunes. “With just one click, this New
Year’s playlist is sideloaded to your Music Locker for access on dozens of devices — with no listening limits.” Sideload the playlist to your MP3tunes Locker at http://www.mp3tunes.com/ .

It is 2008 and the year of the rat. And the world is gearing up for this wonderful celebration of life and family. All the way from Los Angeles, to China, Vietnam, Korea, San Fransico. and to New York City.

Lately we have been going to the celebrations in Los Angeles due to travel and convience because of where we live. Chinatown businesses in Los Angeles pretty much closes down 1 – 3 days prior to the celebration to adhere to some of the New Years traditions. So roughly from Thursday and Friday of February 7th to the 8th many of the business will be closed. And the celebrations pick up on the morning of February 9th.

Chinatown in Los Angeles has a parade on February 9th, 2008. Get your seat early. There will be huge crowds. At times exceeding over 100,000 people plus. Be sure when the dragons pass you during the parade that they pass directly in front of you. You will be more blessed with luck during the year. And for the children, be mindful, and respect your parents and other adults and wish them a happy and prosperous New Year. There are many red envelopes to be had. The children will find money in the envelopes. Usually one will find anywhere between a nickel up to no more than $4.00. You are considered real lucky if you receive an envelope with $8.00(for its homophone for “wealth”). Sometimes they will find chocolate coins in the envelopes as well.

Prior to the parade you may want to enjoy some of the traditional Chinese and Vietnamese styled restaurants with more of the authentic foods. Not really much of the American-Asian fusion food one would eat outside such enclaved cities. All are wonderful in taste and variety. I always enjoy the traditional bowl of Vietnamese soup called Pho’. One of the many pho’ restaurants I frequent is on Broadway by the name of Pho’ 79. Order the simpliest soup called Pho’ Tai. It is pretty much a steak and noodle soup dish. One may top the soup with bean sprout, basil, hoisen sauce, nuc mum(fish sauce) and a green chile or two.

You may want to do a walking tour of the many shops that have great deals on textiles, art, clothing, toys and food at reasonable prices. You may also be surprised of the many Asian and American galleries spotted throughout Chinatown. It is also rumored that a few Hollywood stars have bought lofts in the area as well. I hear that Quentin Tarantino may be one of them. You know the producer/director/writer of such films as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and From Dusk to Dawn.

If you are unsure what Chinese Zodiac(Horoscope) you fall under, you may find out your animal sign here. Your sign will come every 12 years. If you would like to know more about the legend of the 12 signs, you may read more about it at Chinese Zodiac Page.

You may also find these great hot dogs being served in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood(The Aladdin Hotel). Or if you are ever in the mood to gamble in Los Angeles. Than you can find some Pinks Hot Dogs at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, California, right across the street from the Forum where the Los Angeles Lakers use to play before moving to the Staples center. Pink’s Hot Dogs are also served at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park, Los Angeles(down the hill from Griffith Observatory).

The hours for the Pinks Hot Dog stand are almost around the clock. Open anywhere between 16 – 18 hours a day. It opens daily at 9:30 am and closes between 2 and 3:00 am. On top of that if you visit Pink’s you can have another chance to see a slew of celebrities. Especially since it is in close proximity of Paramont Studios. Such celebs that have been to enjoy the tasty hot dogs are: Celine Dion, Billy Dee Willaims(loved him as Apollo in the Rocky movies and Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars movies), Bruce Willis, Snoop Dog, Bobby Flay, Tyra Banks, Alec Baldwin, Rosie O’Donnell, Aerosmith(loved Steven Tylers daughter – Liv Tyler in “The Lord of the Rings”). And yes, even the great Martha Stewart was found buying and taking a few bites of these delicious hot dogs.

The hot dogs are thee best dogs one could ever possibly have. One can view Pinks menu. I usually spend anywhere from $5.00 – $8.00. My usual is just a hot dog with mustard straight up, side of sauerkraut with Orange Crush and a bag of chips. I do get adventurous and get the spicy Chicago Polish Dog – mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and no chili. My all time fav though is the Bacon Chili Cheese dog.

Really, Really trust me. Pink’s Hot Dogs are worth it. I know I said you can get them at Planet Hollywood in Vegas, Hollywood Park Casino or the Greek Theater. But for the ultimate experience stop at Pink’s Hot Dog Stand on Melrose and La Brea.

The hours are generally 12 PM to 8 PM and closed Wednesday and all major holidays. LACMA is located on Wilshire Blvd on Museum Row. The admission is $12 for adults, children 17 years and under free. One adult can get in free with their child 17 years and under if the child signs up for NEXGEN. After 5 PM anyone can get in for free. As well as on certain holdays that fall on a Monday are free admission.

I have gone after 5 pm on a few ocassions and found that the museum was not as crowded as in the mid afternoons. I am able to enjoy the massive art collection with little pressure to rush from room to room. I love the costume and textiles exhibit. Viewing textiles from the east to seeing the fashion from the French Court of Louis XIV. I also love the American West paintings of Bierdstat to Gifford and Morgan. I also love the photography section as well as The Pavillion which hosts the Japanese collection. One may view the majestic and awesome size of the Samurai suits.

There are also several other museums within LACMA such as The Pavillion which hosts a collection of Japanese Art. There is the Bing Center as well. I usually see modern art in this section. There are also a few garden sections to stroll through when you need some fresh air and a break from indoors.

LACMA also has a library that is open to the public by appointment only. They have over 175,000 books, periodocals and journals.

There are several other museums close by to LACMA. Such as the Peterson Automotive and La Brea Tar Pits Museums. Both museums are family friendly just like LACMA. If anything you can make an entire day out of visiting Museum Row. There is a giant park located between LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits.

If you are hungry you may bring a picnic to the park or choose to eat at the cafe’. I would also recommend for those who want a more casual restuarant and that would be Marie Calanders that is one block east of LACMA.