There was no shortage of tiki-themed events in Orange County on Saturday. For those who hovered about the Garden Grove area, there was the Original Tiki Marketplace; and for those who gravitated towards Santa Ana, there was first the Tiki Island Expo, a marketplace with live music at Original Mike’s, and then Escape to Tiki […]
Calendar
Long Beach’s Busker Fest to Wrap Up 10 Year Anniversary Celebration
Set your ears to Long Beach, where Busker Fest will be taking place in just a few days. This charming music festival will conclude the season-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of the city’s Summer and Music (SAM) festival, which this year also included: Bicycle Drive-In, FKA720, and Twisted at the Pike. SAM, produced by […]
Baja Bop, a Rockabilly Weekender Cruise, to Set Sail From the Port of Long Beach
Rockabilly fans of the world….do you hear that sound? It’s tequila calling from the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar aboard the Baja Bop musical cruise sailing southbound for Ensenada this October. Titans from the retro roots music genre are going south of the border, down Mexico way, and they’ll be serenading fans aboard the high seas […]
After Two Decades of Collecting Artifacts from Disneyland, Agent Richard Kraft is Ready to ‘Let It Go’
“This was on the side of the Disneyland Hotel in the 1960s,” explains Mike Van Eaton, owner of the Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks. He gestures to a giant, red neon illuminated letter “D” that stands “12 times the size of God”– to borrow a phrase from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. What […]
Epic Beauty Reigns at Love Long Beach
Peace on Earth and good will toward mankind still exist; you just have to look in the right places. While many people’s lives are dominated by the dark realities of the Information Age, other people make it their goal to promote and celebrate the spirit of the continuing Age of Aquarius. This weekend, in Long […]
Cazzette Pops In To Talk New Record and Festivals at Kaskade’s Sun Soaked Dance Party
The second annual Sun Soaked music festival crashed upon the shores of Alamitos Beach in the LBC last weekend. Kaskade, the Grammy nominated DJ, hand picked a lineup of diverse EDM acts as the city saw a huge turnout, doubling ticket sales from the year prior. The blistering sun did little to stop the sell […]
Five Orange County Haunts That Kickstarted Steve Martin’s Career
Steve Martin and Disneyland both arrived in Orange County in the same year: 1955. And the transitioning county–then shifting from rural agrarian farm country to the idyllic travel poster for suburban sprawl–has never been the same. As Orange County grew, so too did the theme park and Martin’s career. The A-list actor, author, comedian, magician, […]
14 Bars Where You Should Watch the 2018 World Cup
The hardest thing about watching the World Cup this year won’t be that the U.S. didn’t make the cut. No, the hardest thing will be deciding on the perfect place to drink at 8 am during the early matches. Once you’ve decided that, then you gotta figure out how many times you can use the, […]
This Week in Clean Beaches: Hands Across the Sand, Eelgrass Beds, Kids Ocean Day
They held hands on the beach in February, and they will again on Saturday. No, this is not a reference to lovey-dovey couples out for strolls on the sand but demonstrators who prefer clean-energy solutions to dirty-fuel excavation and distribution fouling coastal Orange County and elsewhere. For instance, Saturday marks the three-year anniversary of […]
The Evolution Of Coachella’s Campgrounds
It’s Saturday, May 1, 2004, and the desert heat is comparable to Dante’s eighth ring of hell. But the Pixies, Kraftwerk, Hieroglyphics, LCD Soundsystem, (old school) Black Keys and Living Legends played day one of Coachella, so it almost doesn’t matter. Radiohead closed out the main stage leaving those who witnessed the magic in […]
Coachella Sets The Standard Of Security In High Risk Festival Environment
It’s 90 degrees, and you’re waiting in line, except it’s more of a swarm of sweaty people herding toward the entrance, trying to get into Coachella. The wind stirs up dust, which blows in your eyes, sticks to your skin and coats your hair. A person passes out in line because of the heat. The […]
Party for Leonora Carrington This Friday at Makara Center for the Arts
We are all invited to a birthday party for artist and writer extraordinaire Leonora Carrington, but an RSVP is required for the free event. Hosted by SanTana’s Makara Center for the Arts, the celebration will have two special guests: the surrealist’s son and grandson. Leonora Carrington‘s art and writing can’t get enough celebration as far […]
Snow Dumps Make North Lake Tahoe’s Northstar a Worthy Spring Skiing Spot
Today doesn’t feel like the second day of spring, but imagine how they feel up in North Lake Tahoe. Another March Miracle dropped 7 feet of new snow on area ski resorts March 1-3, another 4.5 feet as of last Friday and several more feet at the higher elevations from the storm we Southlanders are […]
See How the Other Half Swings at New Club Champion Golf Fitters in Newport Beach
Yours truly got to see how the other guys’ foursome lives at a golf club fitting session last week at the new Club Champion studio in Newport Beach. You can check out the operation yourself Thursday evening, when Club Champion hosts a combination grand opening and benefit for the nonprofit Folds of Honor, which provides educational […]
Dan Savage’s Hump! Film Fest Returns to Long Beach
For years, decades even, ocweekly.com and the back pages of our dead-tree edition have featured the sex-and-relationship-advice column Savage Love. Think ¡Ask a Mexican!, only with more fluids from naughty bits. (Dan Savage and Gustavo Arellano even swapped columns once.) Savage, an openly gay father and husband, as well as editorial director of Seattle’s savage […]
Pat Harris Tells OC Democrats Tonight Why He’s Better Than Dianne Feinstein
A Democrat gunning for the U.S. Senate seat held by a leader of his own party speaks in Laguna Niguel Monday night. Pat Harris, an author, criminal defense and civil rights attorney and one of six Democrats challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), is scheduled to pull his “eco” bus up to Faith Episcopal Church, 27801 […]
2018 Lewbowski Fest Will Roll into Fountain Bowl Again
Raise a White Russian and toast the return of the Lewbowski Fest to Fountain Valley this May. Twenty years of The Big Lebowski in the City of Angels will be celebrated May 25 at Lebowski Fest LA, which packs into the Wiltern a screening of the 1998 Coen Brothers’ stoner classic, music by the Kyle […]
OC (and Beyond) Valentine’s Lineup 2018!
Somewhere between the cost of flowers, scoring prix-fixe reservations and standing in line at Victoria’s Secret, we realized February 14 was not made for those trying to spend less. Or is it? This is not your typical Valentine’s lineup. We’re going above and beyond to give you a list of alternative couples (and maybe […]
NAMM Ushers In The Future of Music (And Gear So Good It’s Invisible)
For those who have never been to a NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show, it is an epic trade show for the music industry. Picture a university-sized Mecca for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors wanting to expand their business, as well as a place where musicians can get up on the latest toys. Naturally, tourists […]
True 2 Crue
In the world of ’80s hair metal bands, Motley Crue were the living embodiment of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, typical for VH1’s Behind The Music fodder, but one thing is true: they did produce great music. Which explains the longevity of their mainstream popularity to this day, and fans can still enjoy their […]
Charles Phoenix: Long Beachland
Enthusiastic public historian Charles Phoenix is the reigning king of kitsch—and googie, Americana and anything else you want to file under “the way we was”—and if it ended up looking beautiful in a Southern California snapshot taken anytime between say 1951 and 1969, then Phoenix probably has the original Kodachrome slide filed in his archive. […]
