The New Face of the Hotel Figueroa
Elegant and airy, lit by natural skylights and chandeliers, warmed by wood paneling, plush seating and a central fireplace, and decorated with contemporary art, books and rare objets: This quietly luxe first impression of the renovated Hotel Figueroa was not what the real estate developer Bradley Hall had in mind when the property came on... More
Global Citizen Phillip Lim
Twenty years ago, Phillip Lim was a talented up-and-comer, designing clothes for the label Development out a downtown L.A. studio where the door was secured with a padlock and the streets were virtually uninhabited. With no restaurants nearby, Lim used to drive over to Zip Sushi, an Izakaya spot five minutes away in the Arts... More
Gangsta Gardener Ron Finley
In South Los Angeles, the term “gangsta” isn’t typically associated with flowers, fruit trees, or fertile bins of compost, but one day it will be, if Ron Finley has his way. For the self-named “Gangsta Gardener,” planting an edible garden is an act of resistance and empowerment, not to mention a smart financial move. “Growing... More
Maripol: Polaroids From The Underground
In 1974, a book called The Faith of Graffiti, featuring photographs by Jon Naar and an essay by Norman Mailer about a new art form rising from the streets and subways of New York City, found its way into the hands of a student at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France, named Marie-Paule. A seminal... More
Frogtown: A Creative Hub Blossoms Along the L.A. River
Turn onto the wrong street from Riverside Drive and you might never find it. You’ll hit the 2 or the 5 freeway, or maybe wind up at a side entrance to Home Depot. But once you do enter this neighborhood of single-family homes and low industrial buildings, nestled along the curving, soft-bottom section of the... More
Aaron Moulton: Invoking the Hierophant
“When people discover Alejandro Jodoroswky, there’s like a before-and-after kind of thing,” said curator Aaron Moulton, smoking a cigarette on the deck of his home in LA’s Mount Washington neighborhood, where he lives with his wife Mette and their two children. It was The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky’s 1973 cult classic film, that introduced Moulton to the filmmaker,... More
Desert Storm: Art in Joshua Tree and the Coachella Valley
The drive from Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage isn’t what you’d describe as scenic: The landscape shifts from explosively verdant flora and palm tree colonnades to tan stucco boxes, asphalt, and scrub. But Neville Wakefield, the artistic director of the Desert X biennial, opening February 25 and on view through April, wasn’t necessarily looking for... More
Exploring The Wild Unknown With Kim Krans
As Kim Krans sees it, the “deep psyche” is always trying to tell us things, and tarot is just one way to tune in and listen. A Portland, Oregon-based artist, Krans is best known as the creator of the Wild Unknown tarot deck, which began as a self-published project for herself and her community and... More
A Bodhi Tree Grows in Los Angeles
Since the dawn of the 20th century, before the first movie studio staked its claim in the Southern California sun, Los Angeles has been a haven for alternative spiritual practices. With the arrival of the Theosophical Society in Hollywood in the 1910s, a procession of Hindu gurus including Paramahansa Yogananda soon followed. Yogananda compared L.A.... More
Planet Queen: Lita Albuquerque On Art and The Cosmos
Throughout a four-plus decade career, the Malibu-based artist Lita Albuquerque has engaged in an ongoing, epic dialogue between earth and sky—from early desert installations like Spine of the Earth (1980), a “terrestrial painting” invoking the four directions on a dry lakebed in the Mojave; to Sol Star (1996), which mapped the constellations over the Pyramids... More
The Rise of Guru Jagat, Kundalini Yoga’s New Star (Rest in Peace, 9/02/21)
To anyone who has walked into a Los Angeles yoga studio, the scene this Wednesday morning would be familiar: white walls hung with Tibetan silk tapestries that depict various incarnations of the Buddha; leafy plants and sparkling geodes dotting the corners of the room; shoji screens that mask a busy city street; a shiny wood... More
The Witching Hour: The Occult In An Age When There Are No Secrets
IN 1692, BARKING LIKE A DOG, pretending to fly, or erupting in a spasmodic fit was seemingly enough to get a teenage girl in Salem, Massachusetts, branded a witch and hanged, as depicted in Stacy Schiff’s new book, The Witches. Today there are an estimated one million practicing pagans — a term that includes self-identified... More
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