Marie Javins's Blog, page 63

Impending Use It or Lose It Vacation Days

You guys, I'm going to Haiti!

I'm not going with an NGO or a church. (Anyway, I'm not religious.) I'm not going as a journalist or a visiting creative. No speeches, no signings, no volunteering, no portfolio reviews.

I'm going as a tourist. Straight-up shameless sightseer. Not even a backpacker. I only have a week, so I'll just have to suck it up and pay what people pay for hotels there instead of seeking out the cheapest place in town.

I read somewhere about art colonies there, confederations of artists creating installations and pieces out of steel drums, paper mache, paintings. That's what I want to see. I know I won't get through much in a week, so I'm going to Cap Haitien, Jacmel, and PAP/Petion-ville.

One of my comics colleagues has in the past been active in teaching filmmaking in Jacmel, but I'm not even hitting her up for contacts, because I'm going to be too busy gawking at stuff and looking for cool art.

I bought the single English-language guidebook out there, plus the Haiti chapter from the Lonely Planet Caribbean book, and these weren't really enough, so I bought the Petit Fute too, and then I had to figure out how to crack the code to be able to copy-paste the French into Google Translate. I've read all kinds of tips on TripAdvisor and the Thorntree, scored my frequent flyer tickets for around Thanksgiving (anyone know what I should do with a five-hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale on Thanksgiving day?), and the one thing I'm puzzled by is how the hell to get any artwork I buy back to Los Angeles. Or at least to Jersey City. (Remember my smashed reverse-glass painting from Tunisia?)

Here are some useful things I've found through all this reading so far:

Guesthouse in Cap-Haitien.
Tours in PAP.
Hotel in Jacmel.

I've been reading up on the pervasive smell of charcoal and moto-taxis. That reminds me of Kampala, but I'm sure it'll be quite different. I'm pretty excited. I know I already went to Tunisia this year, but I need to balance out my day job routine with a bit of excitement once in a while.

Street Art

I went all the way downtown to look at art when I could've just walked up to Oak Street. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Garment District Touring

After the Los Angeles Flower District tour, I headed over to the "Blue Schedule" tour of the Garment District.

The LA Garment District is called the Fashion District, actually. You can take the girl out of New York...

LA Conservancy offers great walking tours throughout the year, mostly in DTLA. But once a year, they cook up something special. Last year was the Koreatown one, and the year before that, I took their Chinatown walking tour. I've been in Los Angeles now for 3.5 years, and I figure I'll stay until I'm out of new things to check out, or until MariesWorldTour 2021 happens.

The Blue Schedule (including three walking tours) started at Santee Court at 10:30 a.m., so I strolled over slowly. I passed a sewing supply shop—hey, I need a zipper foot for my sewing machine! They had hundreds of zipper feet for all kinds of machines, but I don't actually know what my used machine is, in spite of digging around a lot online. There's no brand  marked on it. But I know where the zipper foot store is, and next time I head to that part of the world, I can take a machine foot along for them to match.

Downtown is a mixture of trendy apartments, expensive restaurants, repurposed lofts, Skid Row, wholesale bong shops, and completely different versions of "living on the edge." I could get from the Fashion District to Las Vegas or Tijuana for about twenty bucks on a discount bus. In the spirit of the moment, I went into a bodega and bought a lottery ticket. I didn't know how to do this, so I had to ask the proprieter what I was supposed to do. He had the machine do it for me.

The meeting point at Santee Court consists of old factories renovated into New York-style apartments. Sort of. More like a Disneyland version of New York. There are a few of these high-end lofts floating around in, I dunno, Dumbo, I guess. We were able to go inside one, and also over to some nearby repurposed lofts. I'd love to live downtown in one of these. My favorite would be on 4th and Main where I was when I first hit town, by the Red Line. But getting to work was a hassle. Hollywood, Burbank, and Los Feliz are much easier for getting to my office.

The second tour was of the California Market Center, the New Mart, and the Cooper Design Space, which includes offices for companies like AG and 7 For All Mankind. Of course, none of these were open on weekends, but last Friday of the month, you can go to sample sales in all these buildings. I went to a special sale in California Market Center a few years ago—I got things for five dollars each!

By the time the third tour started, I was really dragging in the 87 degree heat. I ditched early and hopped on the DASH bus back to the Red Line. The day was long but I love these kind of things.

I've uploaded photos here.

Flower Market Tour

I made it to the Los Angeles flower district by 8 in the morning on a Saturday! Even I was surprised I pulled this off. I took a look at renting a car, taking the commuter rail, and finally, I just did the usual bus over the hill to the Red Line.

The occasion was a downtown LA Conservancy tour, which started at the Southern California Flower Market, continued on to the Original Los Angeles Flower Market, and passed by various smaller vendors along the way.

We learned that the former was started by Japanese migrants in the late 1880s, while the latter was formed by Europeans immigrants in the early 1900s. Today, the markets are not so specifically regional, and people from all kinds of backgrounds participate, including many Latinx vendors.

More Fun with Home Repairs

There were two heavy steel covers hanging around my tiny yard back in Jersey City.

One was in the vestibule of the entrance to the downstairs, covering a drain.

The other was over was was either an oil tank alcove or a coal chute, or possibly both at different time in my house's history.

Both of those are now gone, courtesy the same company that did the stoop (Jetco) and the backyard stucco. They reported that the drain under the stoop doesn't actually go anywhere. I can only assume the drain is designed to put water into the soil beneath the stoop, then. I know when I tried to figure it out, I found a pipe full of soil and children's toys. At least now I have a drain cover instead of a big plate that clanks when I step on it.

Pasadena Sunday

There's a big flea market at the Rose Bowl on the second Sunday of every month. I went once with Tracy and a rental car, but that was almost two years ago, so it was time to go again.
I didn't have a rental car this time, but that's actually a good thing as parking is a bit of a hassle outside such a big arena. The shuttle bus stop is near the entrance. 
Here's how to take public transit to the Rose Bowl Flea Market: You get to the Raymond and Holly aka the Memorial Park Gold Line station first. I did this on the 501 bus, which goes from Burbank directly there. Then you catch the Sunday 51 bus directly to the Rose Bowl. Oh, and it's free. Ridiculously easy. I doubt that bus runs on Sundays when there are not events, but on flea days, it runs once or twice an hour.  I walked once around the arena, and then dove into the offshoot, the real "flea-like" part. This is exhausting, though, so eventually I spotted a good and restful distraction, and sat down at the tarot card reader's booth. 
For ten bucks, I got some pleasant conversation and hearty entertainment. I've had my palm read, my cards read, gone to psychics, and had my chart done. I've even had a reading over Skype. I enjoy all of these things immensely, especially when the reader seems to be tailoring the reading to me. Today's reading was extra-fun, because the reader pinned me as working for money right now and seeing a choice down the road between doing so and escaping for the creative. I'd say IT'S LIKE SHE KNEW ME, except isn't this everyone's dream?

The Seventies

Photos my mother posted of me and my sister, from long ago.

Ziggy Goes to Work

Remember Ziggy Fontana? He came by the office today. HE IS THE CUTEST.

Under DTLA

I had heard about this tour of underground DTLA somewhere, but I've forgotten where. I stumbled over it while looking for something else, and I can't even remember what I was looking for.

Explore the city’s “underground” past ranging from famous Prohibition-era murders to the famous speakeasy haunts that the Hollywood elite would frequent.This experience includes a few stops, under the busy streets of Los Angeles, to discover a century-old tunnel and speakeasies, alongside more modern interpretations of the city’s hidden watering holes.
We met outside Cole's, one of the two places claiming to have invented the French Dip sandwich. I've been inside both Cole's and Philippe the Original now, but haven't tried a French Dip at either.

The walking tour headed out from there to the old Hotel Cecil, then to some defunct speakeasies underground. I'm not allowed to say where they were, but you can look at photos here. 

Matter of Public Record

Here is proof I went and gave a talk.