MASTER on duty: Frank Goya working on a bonsai. He will be giving a talk in the Pacific Palisades on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Lloyd Garver) WESTSIDE — For my birthday a few years ago my wife surprised me by giving me an odd looking shrub. She couldn’t have been more excited, but I have been. She explained that the weird bush was the... Read more →

DOWNTOWN — Exciting suburb. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? Well it isn’t, according to real estate blog Movoto.com, which named Santa Monica the fifth most exciting suburb in America. The bustling Third Street Promenade, with its combination of restaurants, retail and street performers, helped Santa Monica make the list of... Read more →

Earlier this week, we received an SOS text from a friend. She asked us to check out a picture she uploaded to Facebook. “What’s the big deal?” we wondered. Evidently, a guy she met on there, and whom she’s been talking to for the past couple of weeks, asked her if all she had were “glamorous party pictures” of... Read more →

Dear Life Matters, I am experiencing some really difficult times with my loved one. She has been my partner for almost a decade now and I love her dearly. Most of the time things are good, but when I need some space or I have to leave her for some time, she goes into a rage and it’s as if she has a totally different personality! I am... Read more →

Anton Chekhov reportedly said, “If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, if must fire in the last.” The same might be said about golf clubs. In Timothy McNeil’s “The Twilight of Schlomo,” now having its world premiere at The Elephant Space in Hollywood, there is indeed a set of golf clubs stuffed into a black... Read more →

This weekend, Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC) sets up shop at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hangar, with a worldwide roundup and locally focused selection of 70 galleries featuring artists who are defining what’s happening in art right now. When Director Tim Fleming and I chatted by phone recently, he pointed out the fair is... Read more →

HIP TAKE: Artist Luke Haynes with one of his creations, a quilt featuring the faces of rappers Jay Z and Kanye West. (Brad Farwell www.bradfarwell.com) PALISADES PARK  — The first artist in residence at 1450 Ocean epitomizes the new cultural center’s current metamorphosis. Luke Haynes’ sees his work, which includes portraits of... Read more →

(L-R) Finalists Tayon Blockmon, Geanna Grammatico, Gabriela Hernandez and Aemoni Harris pose with Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica board member Bill Dawson (center). Hernandez won Youth of the Year. (Fabian Lewkowicz FabianLewkowicz.com) The Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica named its Youth of the Year over the weekend, sending... Read more →

You deserve a break to day. Sound familiar? The 1970s slogan for McDonald’s was giving then stay-at-home moms permission for a break from cooking for their family. Originally, eating out at restaurants was reserved for special occasions. Sure there was the café for the occasional breakfast or roadside meal, but most meals were prepared and... Read more →

(From left) Annie Grace, Melody Grove (Prudencia), Paul McCole, Alasdair Macrae, David McKay performing on instruments for The National Theatre of Scotland’s 'The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart.' (Photo courtesy Ben Gibbs) Though there’s nary a kilt in sight, we have two Scottish companies in town: The National Theatre of Scotland... Read more →