viewfromaloft

Stanley Cup with a View From The Ritz

 @JWLALIVE, @LALIVE and @staplescenterla are chatting up an appearance of the Stanley Cup like giddy co-workers.  It was on the helipad of Ritz-Carlton LA, briefly part of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline.

Saturday Street Art: Easter Island Heads and Elephants.

Street artist Damon Martin is using the Arts District to showcase another of his "Razzle Dazzle" style mural, this time to raise awareness on the need to protect elephants against the illegal ivory trade. The mural is also a small street party on behalf of IFAW presented by Kent Twitchell, The Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, Art Share, LADAD, and celebrity hosted by Kristin Bauer (pictured being pictured).  The piece will become part of the L.A. Civic Art Collection, says the press release.

The mural will be watched over by a paper mache Easter Island head another downtown drive-by installation by Wild Life, the undisclosed collaborater of  Calder Greenwood. (ADD SatNight: The Los Angeles Times was with the two when they did the surfer in the L.A. River, and anyone who has read this blog for a long time will see the leak exposing "Wild Life." [LAT]

Both projects are in Joel Bloom Square (East 3rd, Traction, and Rose).

 

Instagram photos after the jump.

Los Angeles Film Festival Micro-Survival Guide

 

By Helen Ly

While I don’t expect Woody Allen had any problem when he came opening night to introduce his ensemble roma-romantic comedy “To Rome With Love,” or Steve Carell during last night’s premiere of his apocalypse comedy “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” navigating the Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF)  at LA LIVE can be daunting for those not used to a film festival crowd.

But it is worth it. At last year’s festival, the neo noir "Drive" was a highlight that matched its press release promise. Then there was the documentary gem “The Bully Project” entering the festival with no distributor, but made an impact throughout the year. That is the Indie feel you get attending screenings, and somehow fits downtown so well. (Even though foreign and East Coast filmmakers still wish the event was held in Santa Monica).

Hey, being Indie-esque doesn’t mean a day at the beach.

Hat-Tip to A Kings Fan Who Remembered Two Scouts

 

Photo: dkrasne

It's not always about everyone remembering tragedy with speeches and programming. Sometimes one person's simple gesture can be a poetic and powerful reminder. NYC based Kings fan @dkrasne does it with a cap.

The L.A. Kings' first Stanley Cup in franchise history meant a lot to many long-suffering fans that feared they might never see the team raise the Cup before they die.

But there were some that weren't so lucky. Two in particular: Garnet "Ace" Bailey and Mark Lawrence Bavis, L.A. Kings scouts who were aboard United Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

More at Yahoo and HockeyWilderness.

 

 

@dkrasne

Downtown Vid Pick: "Handsome Coffee Roasters"

 

The Apple Sisters have this nifty swingin' segment for Arts District based "Handsome Coffee Roasters." Below, a photo of three magic bean men by me.

Photo: Ed Fuentes / viewfromaloft

Raised in Boyle Heights, Traveler of Solar Systems. Bradbury was 91.

 

I introduced myself to Ray Bradbury when he attended a downtown film festival. I wanted to ask him one question. What does downtown Los Angeles need? He gave me a big broad smile, then leaned to say: "A monorail!"

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He loved Clifton's Cafeteria. Maybe he would have been the one to explain the neon light found flickering behind the wall for 77 years.

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“When I was born in 1920,” he told the New York Times Magazine in 2000, “the auto was only 20 years old. Radio didn't exist. TV didn't exist. I was born at just the right time to write about all of these things.”

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Photo by Jonathan Alcorn, who writes: "I had the privilege to meet Mr Ray Bradbury twice for portrait sessions, before we shot the photos he wanted to sit on his sofa and chat, the second time for over an hour. What a memorable experience it was for me."

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[LA Times]