Winner of more Tony Awards® than any theatre outside of Manhattan, the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum re-opens its doors to the public on Sept. 14, 2008 after a yearlong $30 million renovation with the premiere of “The House of Blue Leaves.” The distinctive circular theatre located at the Music Center in Downtown has received a much-needed updating of its technical capabilities and audience amenities. Inside the auditorium, the unique intimacy of the Taper will be retained, with upgrades such as new, more comfortable seats, upholstery, carpeting, and sleek and elegant new railings along the aisles. The acoustics of the theatre will also be improved to allow theatregoers to hear the spoken word better, and a new air conditioning system will provide quieter and more even air distribution. The theatre’s lobby will more than double in size and the lobby bar will be more accommodating. The 1,350 square-foot lower lobby will also offer comfortable, casual seating with two large banquettes, on either end of the lobby, and additional adjacent seating.
www.centertheatregroup.org/theatres/mtf

Pack your sleeping bag and running shoes, the Nike+ Human Race takes place tonight at the Los Angeles Memorial coliseum. The 10k race featuring 12,000 runners starts at 8:31:08 p.m. Why the late start? LA is just one of 25 global cities hosting the event. As the final leg of the global marathon, Los Angeles will send off runners after the race to the anthems of Kanye West and Common.

Jerry O’Connell, Brian Austin Green and Tiffani Amber Thiessen, among many others, will be participating. In addition, Nike athletes Lisa Leslie, Brandi Chastain, DeLisha Milton, Khadevis Robinson and Sarah Reinertsen will also be in attendance. American Idol judge, Randy Jackson, will be the host of the night.

http://inside.nike.com/blogs/humanrace-en_US_LOSANGELES

The $30 million, 30,000-square foot, four-story GRAMMY Museum will open in Los Angeles this coming December to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of The Recording Academy. The museum is expected to attract 300,000 visitors annually. Entering the building on the fourth floor, guests will walk through a tunnel featuring life-sized figures ranging from Usher to Faith Hill to Frank Sinatra. A sound-sensory experience will lead visitors to an 18-foot table where they can explore 130 forms of music and how their histories connect. Exhibits will also feature a behind-the-scenes look at the art and technology of the recording process as well as the GRAMMY legacy. The museum will also feature interactive exhibits and an intimate 200-seat theater that will screen films, host lectures and present live performances and interviews.

The opening of the GRAMMY Museum also marks the culmination of the second phase of construction at L.A. LIVE in Downtown. L.A. LIVE is Downtown’s 27-acre entertainment, sports and residential district, anchored by NOKIA Theatre, STAPLES Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In December, the district will be home to new restaurants, Club NOKIA, the legendary Conga Room and Lucky Strike Bowling Center. New restaurant openings include Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar; Katsuya, the ultra-hip sushi and robata bar; the Yard House restaurant and brew pub; New York-based Rosa Mexicano fine dining; ESPN Zone Restaurant and sports bar; a new Wolfgang Puck eatery at NOKIA Plaza; plus a Starbucks, a New Zealand Natural Ice Cream shop and a quick-service restaurant.

www.grammymusuem.org
www.lalive.com
www.discoverLosAngeles.com

discoverLosAngeles.com is featuring a fall 2008 lineup of all the new art exhibitions in Los Angeles, including:

The Art of War: American Posters from World War I and World War II
Norton Simon Museum
Sept. 5, 2008–Jan. 26, 2009

The Norton Simon presents selected works from its extensive collection of 20th century war posters, some of which have never been on view. Featuring well-known works such as “I Want You for U.S. Army,” the iconic image of Uncle Sam pointing an ominous finger at the viewer, the exhibition displays a range of artistic techniques as propaganda that were integral to the war effort during that time period.

Also at the Norton Simon, Johannes Vermeer’s A Lady Writing will be on loan from November 7 to February 2. It’s a rare opportunity to see the work, and will be the only Vermeer on display on the West Coast.

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Oct. 26, 2008–March 1, 2009

When Annie Leibovitz, Man Ray, Imogen Cunningham and other renowned photographers come together in the first major exhibition of the celebrated magazine’s archive, people will start talking. The much-anticipated exhibition at LACMA culls from Vanity Fair’s long history of prints and reveals the interplay between celebrity and photography — and how it has changed in the last century.

Positioned in the heart of Universal CityWalk Hollywood’s restaurant- and shopping-lined strip in the San Fernando Valley, you can find yourself skydiving in front of the masses. The setting is a tunnel, as opposed to the open skies, so no need to pack a parachute. However, the experience is quite similar.

The wind tunnel reaches wind speeds that exceed typical skydiving air speed (120 mph) though the difference being you’re never at risk of falling thousands of feet to your death.

Countless celebrities are flocking to CityWalk for probably their first time. In a recent GQ article, Robert Downey Jr. wouldn’t have conducted the interview, had the journalist not been willing to meet him at iFLY. It’s just one of those places, in my personal opinion, that keeps you coming back for more. You kind of get addicted to see what your body is capable of doing under extreme wind pressure. The slightest hand movement can turn you 360 degrees, and the way you position your body will either allow you to float high in the tunnel or drop like a pencil through the air.

Click here for pricing, as it varies depending on individual flights and groups.

iFLY Hollywood
Universal Studios City Walk
Hollywood - Universal City, CA 91608
tel: (818) 985-4359

*Located right off Metro’s Red Line at Universal City, take the Universal Studios Hollywood tram up to CityWalk for the most convenient, green, cost-effective form of transit to/from iFLY.

www.iflyhollywood.com

What may seem like a trolley from the graphic displayed on the pdf flyer (seen here), is in actuality a bus. So beware, when waiting at one of the three stops along the route. Also be mindful of the fact that this “trolley” is often times full and might skip a stop if capacity has been reached. This means, get your butt to Union Station or Sunset/Figueroa. The Marion stop is the one that is sometimes skipped. Nonetheless, this transit system is a blessing and everyone who rides the bus agrees.

Shuttle service operates for the remainder of the season starting 90 minutes before game time and concluding 60 minutes after the game ends.

Pickup/drop-off locations:

Union Station Plaza - the loading and unloading point is at the front of the Metropolitan Water Building. A shuttle will leave Union Station approximately every 10 minutes.

Figueroa Street - with a connection to MTA Lines 2, 4, 55, and 60; Metro Limited Lines 302, 304 and 355; Metro Rapid Line 704; and DASH Lincoln Heights/Chinatown service.

Marion Avenue - with a connection to MTA Lines 2 and 4 arriving from the west.

* The shuttles drop passengers off inside Dodger Stadium behind behind Center Field, and run the same route in reverse after the game.

For more information, call 323-224-1507.

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/la/ballpark/dodger_trolley.jsp

Not only were Dodger fans treated to a stellar bottom of the 9th walk-off home run on Sunday afternoon, they also may have been seated next to star Director, Producer, Writer, Actor — Rob Reiner. I saw him on the way to the Club level on the 1st base line. What a sighting! Gotta love LA sports.

28th Annual Sunset Junction Street Festival
When: August 23–24
Where: Sunset Boulevard (between Hyperion and Fountain)
What: Celebrating and advocating diversity, the Sunset Junction Street Festival was originally organized to bring together the communities of Silver Lake, Echo Park and Loz Feliz. These days, the street fair provides an avenue for some 40-plus nonprofit agencies to reach out to the community. It also features live bands, a host of food stands and merchandise booths.
Scoop: Bands start playing at noon on both days and go into the night, with Broken Social Scene and Isaac Hayes generating much of the buzz. Tickets: $12–$15; children under 12 and senior citizens over 65 enter free. www.sunsetjunction.org.

The 2009 World Baseball Classic Semi-Final and Final games will be held at Dodger Stadium from March 21-23, 2009.

“It is fitting that Dodger Stadium, the site of many celebrated events, has been selected to host the Semi-Finals and Final of the 2009 World Baseball Classic,” said Bob Dupuy, Major League Baseball’s president and chief operating officer. “Los Angeles is one of the most international cities in the world and the Dodgers have always been on the forefront of baseball’s development as a global game.”

As in 2006, Tokyo Dome and Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, will again host first-round games. In 2009, those venues will be joined for the first time by the Rogers Centre in Toronto and Foro Sol Stadium in Mexico City.

2006 was the first time that all Major League players were allowed to represent their native lands in an international baseball tournament. The baseball competition in the Summer Olympics, which is slated for Beijing next month, includes non-25-man roster MLB players only.

Pool A: China, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea, beginning on March 5 in Tokyo Dome, where the A’s and Red Sox opened the regular season in the spring.

Pool B: Australia, Cuba, Mexico and South Africa from March 8-12 in Mexico City.

Pool C: Canada, Italy, the U.S. and Venezuela from March 8-12 in Toronto.

Pool D: Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico March 7-11 in Puerto Rico.

Bracketology: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/news/wbc_09/brackets.jsp

Posted by Anonymous from Playa del Rey, CA:

“Nothing calls for a night of absolute intoxication like an epic 2 hour journey home with the usual cast of characters, unique to LA’s public transit system, after a week of work that left my spirit dejected. Not even the sight of a poor motherless child could’ve made me feel less sorry for myself. I’d seen better days, but opening that bottle of whiskey last Friday changed the outlook on my entire weekend, and after a third cocktail I was out the door and on my way to the club. $50 dollars in the hole and only 6 hours later… (or was it 8? I don’t know, someone told me i fell asleep at the bar) I woke up on an air mattress with breakfast on my mind and dinner from the night before smeared all over my shirt.

I had hit rock bottom; and for some reason I was okay with that. In fact, I even had a good laugh about it all. Who cares if I acted like a complete fool at one of LA’s most pretentious clubs in front of LA’s most superficial crowd. It takes a man of strong core values to not give a damn. At some point you’ve got to lose all shame to learn what it’s dignity really feels like. After regaining orientation I straightened myself up and had me an egg sandwhich, and then barfed again.”