Area
Newsletter
August
20 17
Westside
Community News Palisades shopping area will bring back Bay Theatre
Transit plans being developed in Culver City
While shopping centers built and operated by developer Rick Caruso often incorporate a movie theater into their design, when the Palisades Village project opens for business, it will also resuscitate a long-gone classic theater. The Bay Theatre in Pacific Palisades was closed in 1978, after 30 years of operation, but will return in the coming months, giving new generations the opportunity to enjoy a neighborhood movie theater. The new Bay Theatre will feature five screening rooms, each with 40-50 leather seats, reserved seating, and call buttons for food and drink service. Despite the modern amenities, the developers will endeavor to recreate the original classic marquee sign. Similar to Caruso’s The Grove at Farmer’s Market and Americana at Brand, the Palisades Village project will be based around a walkable retail neighborhood model, but will retain more of a Main Street aesthetic. The development will span 116,000 square feet on Swarthmore Avenue, and is expected to be completed by summer 2018.
In the years following the completion of the Expo Line, various projects have sprung up on the westside, taking advantage of close proximity to mass transit. However, officials from Culver City have also found that construction of the Expo Line also exasperated existing traffic flow issues, leading them to seek out ways to incorporate transit into their general plan. Among the options that are being explored are modifying key intersections to reduce traffic along Washington Blvd., the road most effected by the Expo Line. This plan would likely include the addition of bike lanes and would encourage further development in the area. The City is also exploring a transportation demand management plan similar to the one in place in Santa Monica, owning up to Culver City’s position as a city where the number of employees greatly outnumber the number of residents.
Community News New apartment complex planned for West LA
A recent report from the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority indicates that the Expo Line has reached an average daily ridership of 64,000 people,
The neighborhood near Pico Blvd. and the 10 freeway will soon be home to a new, expansive apartment complex. Located at 11423 Gateway Blvd., the building will stand five stories high and contain 129 residential apartments, primarily studio and onebedroom units. The space is currently occupied by a dry cleaner, restaurant, and auto shop. The new project would also include 5,000 square feet of commercial space. No timeline has been announced for the project.
a goal they hoped to reach by 2030. The Expo Line extension to Downtown Santa Monica was opened in May 2016 and was seeing record numbers of riders before reaching its first anniversary. The early popularity initially resulted in overcrowded and late trains in Santa Monica, but LA Metro responded by ordering an increased number of cars, allowing the Expo Line growth to continue. Ironically, ridership on Metro buses is down overall, following a nationwide trend in cities that expand light rail without revamping their bus lines.
Expo Line ridership goals ahead of schedule
Restaurant
Spotlight
Osteria Venice West
Kato
Flower Child
5 Dudley Avenue Venice
11925 Santa Monica Boulevard West LA
332 2nd Street Santa Monica
Osteria Venice West is a casual Italian restaurant located in a landmark building in the heart of Venice Beach. The restaurant features an open kitchen designed to be a social gathering place where guests can enjoy rustic Italian cuisine and regional wines. Chef Luigi Fineo, who has an extensive resume cooking at several high-end restaurants including Bouchon and the French Laundry, is the head at OVW. Here you can find pizzas in the $15 range, as well as a variety of Italian shared plates and housemade pastas. What should you get? The ricotta and blood orange is a fun appetizer. Hours for OVW run 5 – 10 p.m. every night but Monday, and you can currently make reservations on OpenTable.
This pan-Japanese and Taiwanese restaurant hovering near the border of West LA and Santa Monica is bringing refined modern dishes to the area. The new restaurant specializes in a seafood-tasting menu and relies on local produce and fresh seafood. Owner Jonathan Yao creates some of the most beautiful dishes inside the small space. He has worked up a five course-tasting menu that runs just $49. Aside from that, pork belly rice can be purchased for $8, but that’s about it. For now, Kato is open from 5:30 – 10 p.m. most nights during the week. That expands to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Flower Child promises to serve healthy food for a happy world. The healthy Santa Monica eatery knows their farmers and their families. All their proteins are raised naturally, without additives. The fast-casual restaurant caters to all dietary needs. Here you can choose from plentiful protein bowls, salads, whole grain wraps and more. The Flower Child Santa Monica is the chain’s first California branch and is located only a few blocks from the beach. Flower Child is open daily from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.
SIGHTS & SOUNDS in LOS ANGELES
Natural History Museum
Norton Simon Museum
LACMA
900 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90007
411 W Colorado Blvd Pasadena, CA 91105
5905 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90036
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
Butterfly Pavilion March 19 - September 4, 2017
Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California April 7 - September 25, 2017
Japanese Painting: A Walk in Nature May 13 - September 10, 2017
The Butterfly Pavilion is a seasonal exhibit that showcases hundreds of butterflies and the natural environs where they thrive. Among the butterflies at the museum are subtropical species such as the malachite and the grey cracker, as well as native butterflies such as monarchs, mourning cloaks, and buckeyes. Timed tickets are required for admission to the Butterfly Pavilion, and are available for advance purchase on the NHM website.
Galka Scheyer was an influential art dealer of the first half of the 20th century, responsible for introducing many to the art of Lyonel Feininger, Alexei Jawlensky, Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky. This exhibit represents a selection of Scheyer’s personal collection that also includes pieces by László Moholy-Nagy, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera.
In contrast with a western tradition that often depicts nature as a force to be feared or conquered, the pieces featured in this exhibit often depict the natural world as a place of tranquility. This exhibition includes 24 paintings created by Japanese artists of the 16th to 20th centuries, including work from the Maruyama, Rinpa, and Literati schools.
RodeoRE.com