History Explored In Hidden Courtyards, Winding Alleys, Secret Temples & Bargain Treasures
Posted: 03/27/2009 02:45:36 PM PDT

2009 is the Year of the Ox, and since you don’t really know what that means, it’s time to get right with a little Chinese culture, my friend.

Explore your hidden dragon and venture to Downtown L.A to find the local pulse of Chinese and Chinese-American culture.

What do we know of Chinatown? Well, it’s where our parents would take us as a kid, trying to convince us and our easily impressed siblings that we were on “vacation.” We do remember, however, being amazed at the Eastern architecture, and in awe of the hustle-and-bustle amid all the shops. Now that we’re grown up, we see that despite Chinatown’s touristy facade, there is a microcosm of history and actual culture residing there, which adds to the diversity of LA.

The Chinatown we all know wasn’t always what–or where–it is today. Chinatown used to reside where downtown’s monument to Art Deco architecture and the golden age of railway travel, Union Station, now lives. For several years, Chinese-American owned businesses were displaced, having to be evicted to make room for this new city project. It wasn’t until seven years later that Chinatown would find a new home.

Present-day Chinatown has been a hub of Chinese culture since 1938, offering treasures such as markets, temples, Chinese herbal medicine shops, restaurants, businesses and, of course, the magnificent bazaars. While Downtown L.A. has recently experienced a boom in nightlife thanks to the bars of Cedd Moses (Seven Grand, Broadway Bar, Golden Gopher), Chinatown offers one of our personal favorite watering holes, The Mountain Bar. Located on Gin Ling Way, The Mountain Bar clearly cuts a swath of its own, with its ample-sized floorspace, swanky decor, and dimly-lit ambiance. As such, Chinatown has now broadened its appeal, so that there’s a reason to venture out there once the sun goes down.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I know how to get there, but what do I do once I’m there?” Well, you’re in luck! The Chinatown Business Improvement District offers what they call The Undiscovered Chinatown Tour. For $20, you will be guided along paths and alleyways as a tour guide tells you the ins-and-outs of Chinatown.

Offered every first Saturday of the month, the tour goes from 10:30AM to 1PM. Make sure to RSVP, as group space is limited.

If the economy has got you down and you can’t afford to go anywhere, let alone take a “vacation,” why not explore what Downtown L.A., has to offer? It’s culture in your own backyard, y’all!

The Undiscovered Chinatown Tour
For Exact Location and Reservations
Call (213) 680-0243
10:30AM-1PM
$20

With A New Album Out, Morrissey Returns For This Year’s Coachella
Posted: 03/24/2009 03:40:32 PM PDT

Earlier this year, you may have heard a throng of self-brooding Morrissey fans rejoice. Well, for only a minute. After all, Morrissey fans can’t be explicitly joyous for too long.

With the release of his ninth solo album, Years of Refusal, the Moz dropped a mercurial batch of tunes filled with self-doubting, longing, angst, cynicism…and hope. Yep, pretty much brandishing the ol’ tried and true trademark Morrissey sound.

The Morrissey that’s digestible by everyone — moody modsters, jocks, Brit-pop aficionados, hipsters, casual pop fans, etc. — has never been more present than in the album’s first single, “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris.” With this song he proclaims: “In the absence of your love, and in the absence of human touch, I have decided that I’m throwing my arms around; around Paris because only stone and steel accept my love.”

Years of Refusal, his first album in three years, also brings back a fuller band sound that had been missing from his last few efforts. The guitars are rich and the percussion packs power; The Pied Piper of Gloom and Doom, with his yearning vocals, shows that his voice is as strong as it has ever been. “Mama Lay Yourself on the Riverbed” reminds us that Morrissey is at his best when he’s most vulnerable (“Life is nothing much to lose. It’s just so lonely here without you.”).

Fans of the Moz will have a chance to hear his new melodramatic jams at this year’s Coachella on April 17th. Morrissey was around when Coachella first kicked off in 1999, playing along with Beck, The Chemical Brothers, Tool, Pavement, and Rage Against the Machine. There is no other place outside of England that Morrissey is more cherished and loved than he is in Southern California, where he has a burgeoning Latino fan base. You can catch a free documentary, showing at Space 15 Twenty tonight, that explains this curious phenomenon.

As Morrissey pines in “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell” (“One day goodbye will be farewell. So wrap me while we still have the time.”), it’s best to catch him perform before he decides to hang up his Converse and let his pompadour down. Have no doubt, Years of Refusal shows that Morrissey is still relevant.