Private Property Rights and Art Attacked by NIMBY Cranks and City Bureaucrats

In America, you certainly have the right to decorate your home any way you want, but apparently not in Valley Village.

Ten North Hollywood High students were commissioned to paint a Graffiti Art mural on a homeowner’s private fence. But the City came out and fined her, and is now forcing her to paint over it. This despite other murals in the area being allowed.

Certainly someone with a lot of time on their hands complained.  Supporters are appealing to Paul Krekorian and hope you will too.

Read more at NoHo Arts District.com

Stephen Box Food Truck Festival

CD4 Council Candidate Stephen Box held a food truck festival in the NoHo Arts District Sunday.  Food truck operators are generally supporting Box as incumbent Tom LaBonge has been essentially hostile towards the popular businesses.  A number of locals turned out to meet with Box and sample fare from a variety of trucks.

The candidate spreads his message.

 More pics after the jump

There Are a Million Stories in NoHo...

Pauline Williams

And I had the chance to catch a few of them at Hollywood Stories, produced and hosted by writer/comedian Pauline Williams, at the hip Amsterdam Cafe right here in Downtown NoHo.

Williams, a native of the Hoosier state, has an extensive resume as a comic, writer, author, musician, singer, journalist, poet - you name it - Pauline has done it.

Hollywood Stories showcases writers with interesting and great stories to tell.  When I attended this week on the bill were Williams, actor and author Peter Coca and comedian Mel Kohl.

Peter Coca at Hollywood Stories

Williams regaled the audience with a cornucopia of adroitly composed and brilliantly rhythmic poetry and short stories, some touching on tales of lost or unrequited love.  Coca performed a brilliantly delivered piece that was way beyond this reviewer's ability to truly critique but seemed to combine elements of Lenny Bruce and Dr. Seuss.  Rounding out the bill was Kohl with a humorous riff on the self-indulgent absurdity that is, Starbucks.

The Amsterdam Cafe itself is really quite the facility - reminscient of the NoHo BoHo coffee house scene those of us active locally in the 90s may remember but with a more modern elegance.  Tasty food and beverages compliment hookah smoking and a lovely even larger than the main room zen patio definitely beckons me to hang out there on a warm spring evening soon.

Check out Hollywood Stories, every Wednesday at 7:30 PM at the Amsterdam Cafe, 10905 Magnolia Boulevard in NoHo.

" New Beginnings " 2010 NoHoGallery L.A.

NoHo Gallery L.A.
2010

New Beginnings

December 11, 2010 Opening

Re-enactment of treaty signing shows pivotal event in California

Campo de Cahuenga Historical Memorial





re-enactment that commemorated Jan. 13, 1847,
when Gen. Andres Pico and Lt. Col. John C. Fremont
signed a treaty that ended hostilities between the American
forces and Californians who lived under Mexican rule

CAMPO de CAHUENGA Historic Treaty 2008
A Community Film By
Louis Elovitz

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

NoHo Supermarket Site Becomes Yet Another Gym

Apparently we were very wrong.

The news we are getting is that the former HOWS space in NoHo has been leased by a gym.  We had heard that Gold's Gym had previously pulled permits; the news I am hearing now is that the site will be the latest branch of 24 Hour Fitness.

Considering that no less than four membership based gyms operate within a two - three block radius of the site one wonders why the need for a grocery store was not met.

As it stands, the broker handling the sale, Eric Reuveni, made a statement that most of the residents "do not know how to cook." Thus, HOWS or any other grocery store isn't right for the area.

Unbelievable.

A Market Comes to NoHo?

Fresh on the heels of news that HOWS, the former occupant of the grocery store space at NoHo Commons, is closing all but one of the rest of it's stores and essentially going out of a business as a chain, comes very reliable information that next week the announcement will come that a new food retailer plans to open in the space.

Could it be Henry's Farmers Market?

We had heard earlier this year rumors that Henry's was coming to the location.  But Joe B. from Mayor Sam said that permits had been pulled to build a Gold's Gym there.  However today we have learned from sources that principles involved in the transaction have confirmed a market is coming and that the name will be announced next week.

Henry's, a chain with roots going back before World War II, operates 35 locations in Southern California with a retro-themed, natural foods approach similar to Whole Foods but at a lower price point.  Indeed Henry's had actually been owned by Whole Foods before it was aquired by a subsidiary of Smart and Final in  2007.

With a new market moving in and the demise of the HOWS' chain it's sweet justice for a community who was blamed for killing its best chance at an upscale type grocery store.  Looks like it wasn't our fault after all.

Let's hope they re-open the wine room, too!  Glass of pinot grigio please!

... HOWS does WORSE after leaving NOHO ...

HOWS Shutting Down All

But 1 of Remaining Stores [laist.com]

JUST A NOHO
MEMORY ...

It's a tough time to be running an upscale grocery

chain in Los Angeles. Economic troubles have pushed

the operators of HOWS to shut down all but one of their stores,

reports the LA Times. The flagship Granada Hills location

is selling off their stock, Torrance has been sold off,

Malibu is gearing up to shut down, and

North Hollywood closed months ago

(and is still vacant). MIKE HIGBY STORY !

Only the Pasadena location will remain in operation.

[laist.com]

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

' we've got blisters on our fingers '

Griffith Park Holiday Light Festival

will

not

be

taking

place

here is what you will miss ...

official info:
"Griffith Park Holiday Light Festival Takes a Year Off
For the 2010 holiday season, the Griffith Park Holiday Light Festival
will not be taking place. It is taking a holiday, as a major water
infrastructure project is under construction on Crystal Springs Drive.
We wish everyone a very happy holiday season."

... Almost to NoHo ...

BARHAM over the
PACIFIC ELECTRIC,
not the 101 Freeway


































Looking West in both photos of Red Cars
coming from North Hollywood to L.A.
Universal up on the right roadway on the sides.

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

Food Truck Happy Hour Kicks Off at Skinny's!

The idea is this. A popular local watering hole opens its doors for after work hours and invites some of the great local LA food trucks to park right out front allowing folks to order up their favorite meal and bring it into the bar. This is a great thing for NoHo and Skinny's Lounge is serving it up.

Monday, October 25th was the kick-off and official "ribbon cutting" with participants from the local Chamber on hand to welcome Skinny's and the food trucks to our hood. Among the trucks participating were Lardon, The Munchie Machine, Cafe con Leche and Papa's Tapas.

According to the folks at Skinny's there will be at least one truck outside each evening with live music inside. Let's hope it draws more people to NoHo!

Here are a few photos of the event:

Universal City-North Hollywood Chamber President Jack Witt joins his team and the Skinny's team to cut the ceremonial ribbon

Food trucks lined up outside Skinny's

The Munchie Machine was a favorite.

Folks checking out the Lardon (bacon) truck.

Skinny's Lounge, the host of it all.

No Shave and Haircut -but Two Bits

25¢ RELIEF !














I grew up in North Hollywood, that's NoHo to you hip people,
walking or biking to the park to give out checkers and balls
receiving free swimming pool tickets.
Other times spending the hot Valley afternoons in the wonderful library,
which had no air conditioning nor restrooms
and computers were not yet -dewey decimal.
The Fire Station for excitement and
Thrifty Drug on Lankershim for 5¢ ice cream cones.
And of course the El Portal Theater was the coldest for movies,
like Godzilla or War of the Worlds,
where we lined up so early we could go into 'free' movies put on
by various religious organizations -theology before science fiction.

Now I bring this all up because those were the few places to,
well let's say, relax or relieve one's self.

TODAY THE FUTURE -subway & busways
all air conditioned as is the computer stocked library,
many restaurants and theaters, and to top it off ...

















AUTOMATIC 25¢ RESTROOMS on the corner!

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆
... in the background of the top photo
is the Pacific Electric North Hollywood Station
as it is today awaiting restoration ...
... in the bottom photo is where a Safeway Market
was for many years the one story building
used throughout the nation ...

METRO WAS A MARKET ... ...

... SAFEWAY then PEP BOYS
now REDLINE STATION













































Pacific Electric RED CAR AT NORTH HOLLYWOOD STATION
This 1952 photo looks toward Lankershim where you can see
the SAFEWAY building, the archetecture used throughout the USA.
It became a Pep Boys before the
Redline construction of the current subway station.
[ click on photo to enlarge ]

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

JP Myers A Blog: The Long Hot Summer

JP Myers A Blog: The Long Hot Summer

The ORANGE BUSWAY LOOKED RED ...

... North Hollywood Station
Pacific Electric Railway















1952
[ click on photo to enlarge ]

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

olddtime NoHo memories

... are you old enough
to remember this ?






















gone are the days ...


∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

SEE THE 8th WONDER OF SUNLAND TUJUNGA ...

The WATERMELOMATIC














Sunland Tujunga WATERMELON FESTIVAL
at Sunland Park August 2010
food games rides and free WATERMELON
this year using resident invention the WaterMelomatic
creating wonderful cool slices right to your hand.
For those seeking knowledge this festival occurs every year
at this time in Sunland Tujunga

CHANDLER BOULEVARD WORKOUT

The Railroad Right of Way east to west in the
San Fernando Valley has been Chandler Blvd.
I know the RED CAR rode it's rails and I myself
remember freight trains moving though it.

Gone are the RED CARS, gone are the freight trains.
Hello METRO Subway Station. Now, going to the west
is the Orange Line, a concrete busway
with futuristic vehicles.+


buses old
and new




Buswise, I remember sitting on noisy hot tin can buses,
that was when I was young, in the 1950's.

Don't get me wrong, I loved those buses,
and the RED CARS that still were running
from Downtown to Long Beach.




pacific electric red car




Going towards Burbank this Railway Right of Way
has been turned into a community event.
Families walking, skaters, bicyclers, dogs...

NOHO ART WALKWAY

A Bike and Pedestrian Way
from Vineland east to Clyborn
at the Burbank city line.





NoHo




















Many of the warehouses and
businesses that line the tracks in Noho have various art
painted on the building sides that used to face the tracks,
and they now line this new community walk/bikeway.















(click to enlarge pics)

∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

WILL IT STAY, OR WILL IT GO ...

SING THAT CLASH TUNE IN YOUR HEAD



as you
watch your
recent
to be
history





Our VALLEY PLAZA going soon,
with economics a little later,
though sooner than we think.



∆ KNOW NOHO ∆

METRO REDLINE FUN NoHo to L.A.

• 3 BALLADEERS on the SUBWAY


A fun trip to Union Station with entertainment