Apparently Barney’s was on the agenda this morning over at the Office of Zoning Administration. (So much about ZONING going on these days! ZOMG!)

Did crotchety Westwood property-owning NIMBYs come out and voice concerns about BB’s becoming yet ANOTHER place for students to purchase alcoholic beverages since the repeal of prohibition? Did UCLA dudes and dudettes counter them by coming out in force to state their case for having a nice place where they can get loaded AND eat alcohol-absorbing pancakes? We eagerly await the outcome.

Amusingly, one of the zone rules on the books for this spot that Barney’s wants to nix is the rule that no alcohol be served without a food purchase. It seems they are anticipating that people will want to go there and just drink. Another interesting tidbit from the notice is that the upstairs mezzanine apparently will only accommodate 14 people. Seems kind of low. Wonder how that will wind up actually working out in practice.
 

Exclusive: A Chat With The Doors And A Stroll to Barney’s Beanery on Jim Morrison’s 65th Birthday
Jim Morrison’s 65th Birthday Party Presented by KLOS 95.5 FM Starring Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Barney’s Beanery, December 8, 2008

Olympic Gold Medalist and ten-time World Champion Fighter Oscar de la Hoya officially cut the ribbon on the Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo Charter High School in Boyle Heights today, the first public high school built in Boyle Heights in 80 years. The school is situated at the location of de la Hoya’s former boxing gym. Big congrats and thanks to Oscar; full press release and more photos by Nicholas Alan Cope after the jump.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA CELEBRATES OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING OF OSCAR DE LA HOYA ÁNIMO CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL

De La Hoya Hosts Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Officially Marking the Grand Opening of his Namesake High School in Boyle Heights, California

(LOS ANGELES) – October 29, 2008 – Green Dot Public Schools, the largest charter school organization in Los Angeles, together with Ten-Time World Champion fighter in six weight divisions, Olympic Gold Medalist and the pride of East Los Angeles, Oscar de la Hoya, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today, officially opening De La Hoya’s namesake school, Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo Charter High School in Boyle Heights, California. Councilmen Jose Huizar and several hundred community members attended the celebration.

The school was originally formed in 2003 with a donation of $1 million dollars by De La Hoya along with an additional $3.5 million dollar donation by De La Hoya in 2008 to support Green Dot and its efforts to transform education in Los Angeles. Until now, classes were taking place in a temporary site while construction was completed.

The Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo Charter High School, built at the former site of De La Hoya’s Boxing Gym, was designed by TFO Architecture and built by Howard S. Wright Constructors. It is the first public high school to be built in Boyle Heights in 80 years and will be home to 550 students in grades 9-12. The four-story school is 51,281 square feet covering 0.8 acres of land and includes a rooftop deck, 25 classrooms, two computer labs, four science labs, a covered parking garage and a boxing gym. The school has several green features including high efficiency mechanical and electrical equipment, natural lighting and low emission paint and flooring.

“This school has been a dream in the making since 2000 after the great success and popularity of the Oscar de la Hoya Learning Center that opened in 1998,” said Oscar de la Hoya. “Providing our children a high-quality education and a safe environment is the best gift we can give them. Every student in the world should have access to a free, high-quality public education that prepares them for life. I encourage more people from the private and public sectors to take a more active role in education reform.”

De La Hoya, whose foundation is dedicated to helping underprivileged families in East Los Angeles, has been actively involved with his namesake school since its inception in 2003 and has delivered the commencement speech twice. De La Hoya is a strong believer in supporting the community and often visited the temporary school to encourage the students to study hard and dream big.

“Oscar de la Hoya has been an incredible partner and true believer in the Green Dot mission,” said Steve Barr, Founder of Green Dot Public Schools. “He continues to be a hero and a great role model for all the students who have graduated and are yet to graduate from Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo Charter High School.”

Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School has graduated 322 students in the past three years and 72% were accepted into four-year universities. The school was ranked 53rd among America’s Best 100 High Schools by the U.S. News and World Report in December 2008 and was named a California Distinguished School in 2009. The school has a 96% attendance rate on a daily basis and has won several academic competitions when competing against schools with much higher income levels.

“Finally, we have a new beautiful campus,” said Oscar de la Hoya Ánimo Charter High School Principal, Dr. Harris Luu. “We will forever be thankful for Oscar’s contribution and his continued commitment to supporting public education.”

The success of the Green Dot schools, whose students score on average 113 points higher than Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) high schools on the state of California’s Academic Performance Index, is credited to the “Six Tenets” school model. The “Six Tenets of High Performing Public Schools” calls for schools to: 1) be safer and no larger than 500 students each; 2) implement a college preparatory curriculum for all students; 3) empower principals, teachers, parents and students to own all key decisions related to budgets, curriculum and hiring; 4) add more dollars to classrooms and significantly increase teacher pay; 5) value and support parent participation; 6) stay open later for community use.

By implementing this model, Green Dot has produced incredible results, helping students close the achievement gap, graduate from high school and attend four-year colleges.”

Photos by Nicholas Alan Cope.

Just a month ago, the Lofts at Cherokee Studios, a 12-unit Pugh + Scarpa-designed building launched its official web site, floorplans and all. Now the building, built on the site of the old Cherokee Studios (where Sinatra and Bowie recorded), has launched its blog and announced it’s creating a “Platinum Showcase.” Developer REthink has partnered with four architects to each create a loft that will pay homage to the musicians who recorded on that site. Rogerio Carvalheiro will design a loft that honors David Bowie, interior designers Kristin Casey and Rick Rifle will design for Frank Sinatra, Lori Dennis & Brook Casey will pay tribute to Alice Cooper, and Jennifer Siegel’s Office of Mobile Design and Sandra Sharma are designing a penthouse suite in homage to 30 Seconds to Mars. Wait, huh? How did 30 Seconds to Mars sneak in there with Sinatra, Bowie and Cooper?

Beatles producer George Martin once called Cherokee Studios the best recording studio in America. The recording alumni list published by the studio itself reads like a who’s who of late 20th century music…Devo, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Who…with all those guys waiting in the wings, why exactly in hell the 30 Secs To Mars Hot Topic-suffused Penthouse design again, guys? Has Jared Leto already signed on to purchase the goddamned thing? We understand they helped raise some money for Habitat – and no fooling, that’s great – but seriously, the penthouse alongside Sinatra? User poll time! This is your chance to passively tell owner Bruce Robb and designers Jennifer Siegel and Sandra Sharma, by way of a random pointless music blog poll, which artist you’d really like to see that Legendary Cherokee Studios penthouse paying tribute to come October. Don’t snooze.

Have fun gang, and if you add choices, please try to stick with artists that are confirmed to have recorded at Cherokee Studios.

» Lofts at Cherokee Studios Launches Blog, Musical Showcase (Curbed) (graphic via)

Beloved sub sandwich shack, Roll Inn Sandwich, frequently affectionately referred to by UCLA undergrads as “Buck Fiddy” for its one-time $1.50 (pre-tax) sandwiches was found dead today on Gayley Avenue in Westwood Village, a “For Lease” sign hanging it its window.

As a reliable late night purveyor of alcohol-sopping subs to stumbling drunkards emerging from nearby Maloney’s after last call, the Roll Inn maintained a foothold in the area even as their prices gradually crept upwards from the 12-bit offerings of their glory days. It upgraded its exterior facade to a White Stripesy candy cane theme, added catering service, and expanded its menu, adding even a bulgogi beef sub. They even installed some of those needles you put on the roof to deter pigeons from landing and shitting you. Even with these improvements, its ramshackle shack sprit was in its bones, kind of like a girl that loses a lot of weight but you can still sort of see the fat girl in them.

For a local business that has hung on in the historically difficult retail climate of Westwood Village for upwards of a decade, the passing may come as a shock. Pending an autopsy, the precise date and cause of its demise was not known.

However, with the present glut of sub shops in the Village, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Darwinism eliminated the weakest of the pack.

At the south end, multinational conglomerates Quiznos and Subway dual to the death over for the Wilshire corridor M-F 9-5 worker bees’ lunchtime $5.

Socko’s Subs, nearest Roll Inn geographically, has has emerged to endear itself to the area in its couple of years of operation with its late hours, home delivery and relatively affordable prices, even if their workers are annoyingly loud when greeting you when you walk in and call you patronizing things like “Boss” and “Chief”.

The newest sub comer to the area, Jersey Mike’s Subs, stirs up a bit of suspicion, as an East Coast chain making their first foray into L.A. city limits. Under a charade of carefully set designed faux deli authenticity–hanging sausages, meat slicers as props, orders scribbled on old school pads–Jersey Mike’s has been schilling overpriced subs in the Trader Joe’s complex since late last year. Whether they are in it for the long haul remains to be seen.

Thankfully, Sandbags (admittedly more of a sandwich shop than a sub shop) and Sepi’s hang on as institutions of the Village, the latter of which is distinguished from the pack by beer, which it has. With any justice, they and not the corporate outlets will reap the benefits of the Roll Inn’s abscence, if any are to be had.

WHY IT IS NOTEWORTHY
Stinkaz (can I get informal here?) is themed as a truck stop, and it “soft opened” (hold – how does a bar “soft open” again? Further, isn’t liquor by definition “hard” ? .. ) last Thursday. Stinkahs has mounted skunk asses on the walls. The asses spray mist on your head while you drink. Stinkezs also has a CB apparatus and a terribly loud truck horn (warning). Apparently Stinkuz also has Stinkers Ale (or similar) but they were out when we visited last Monday. Stinkers is brought to you by the man behind Bigfoot Lodge, Little Cave and Saints and Sinners. You know…theme bars. Stinkers has also been Thrillisted, Eaten and Metromixed in the last week or two so I will be brief.

WHAT I AM WATCHING WHILE I AM WRITING THIS
The Replacements on HBOHD featuring Keanu Reeves, Pat Summerall and Gene Holy Jesus Would You Look At That Juicy Mustache Hackman. Exactly how in the Christ do movies like this get made!? More pressing, why am I all of 70 minutes deep?

WHAT STINKERS GETS RIGHT ABOUT TRUCK STOPS
Hair metal songs and shiny metal walls.

WHAT STINKERS GETS WRONG ABOUT TRUCK STOPS
Missing: Adjacent coffee shop, hookers in the parking lot, mysterious day-old chimichangas under heat lamps, automotive supplies, dirty magazines, acrid coffee, confederate flags, random lids splattered with old soft drink syrup, grime, showers, pork rinds, condoms, a vast array of mini-thins and an overall filthy, charged vibe that something violent or pornographic will happen at any moment. At Stinkers, you just feel that some hipster is about to get really drunk and leave. Still, the point is that it’s a bar, so they’ve pretty much got things where they should be.

HISTORY OF THE LOCATION
This space, near the corner of Sunset and Silver Lake, previously housed Johnny’s Bar, which had no hard liquor license so you had to buy beer, wine, or cocktails made from Soju. I visited Johnny’s once, looked around and said, “Decent place, why is nobody here?” and then forgot the moment ever existed.

Prior to Johnny’s Bar, this joint was called __________ . That is to say, it had the requisite cocktail sign. It was dumpy, the jukebox was incredibly loud (think Norteño), and there were many dirty jackets and cowboy hats. In this regard, the nameless bar actually captured the vibe of a truck stop way better than Stinkers ever will, because Stinkers is polished and you just know that 80% of its clients have never seen B.J. and the Bear. Back to topic: I stumbled into the nameless bar one evening sometime around 2000, following a gig at Silverlake Lounge. An old man in a crumpled cowboy hat bought me a Corona. He did not win my affections, probably because I am straight, but we had a nice chat just the same. And then I forgot the moment ever existed.

VERDICT
All things considered, it is good to have another hard liquor provider in this area. The hipster-choked Lounge can lighten up here and hopefully take itself less seriously. And if you really need that authentic creepy truck stop vibe, just wander over to Tom’s Burgers Beef San Drive-Thru or LA Chinese Food for a breather; both are easily accessible and will deliver in filthy spades.

POSTSCRIPT
Keanu just won the game and they’re playing the Wallflowers’ cover of “Heroes”. Hackman just dodged the Gatorade! SOMETIMES, THINGS WORK OUT IN THE END. Remember that this weekend.

KOWBOYZ’D
» “Kowboyz” Finally Blessed With Merciful Razing

Temple Bar shuts its door end of September, further bolstering Santa Monica’s longstanding general disapproval of quality live music. Whether or not all of the acts previously booked on the west side will continue to crowd Little Temple (Silverlake; same owners) remains to be seen.

TEMPLE BAR: THE FINAL OFFERINGS
» The Soul of John Black Mon 9/29
» Farewell party w/Seneca; hosted by Carlos Niño (Dublab; KPFK Spaceways radio, Build an Ark, etc) with “Very Special Guests” Tues 9/30

» Myspace: The Soul of John Black
» Myspace: Fill The Heart Shaped Cup (Carlos Niño; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson)

A   P H O T O   E S S A Y   B Y   L O S A N J E A L O U S   R Y A N

Harvey, hungrier than shit Thursday afternoon, ignores logical boundaries and charges the neighboring vines bordering Angels Flight

Oh, Harvey. Such a card!

Concerned the goats are not receiving proper nutrients from the matted, trash-infused, malt-liquor-and-piss-soaked grass underneath Angels Flight, an unidentified woman offers a healthy alternative: one carrot for some 100 goats

Above: Goats.

Trueheart 6150 in a pensive moment

Above: Two bull moose have been brought in to quickly clear the shrubs adjacent to the water court. Watch yourself up there!

P R E V I O U S L Y
» Goats Eat Hell Out of Angels Flight Roughage; Make “Those Goat Sounds”

The sign itself is modest, muted behind tinted glass, belying the certain impact the contents of its message are soon to reak upon a neighborhood and retail district. It is a simple banner, somewhere between the sort you might make at Kinko’s for a birthday party and one you might hang over an aircraft carrier deck to celebrate the victorious end of the Iraq war, bearing four words in happy fonts that simultaneously elicit giddy anticipation from prospective shoppers while striking the fear of God into the very hearts of Westwood Village food and drug retailers: Trader. Joe’s. Coming. Soon.

After long being rumoured and finally confirmed earlier this year, the UCLA area outpost of the cult grocer inches towards becoming a reality. It is situated pleasingly away from the overtrafficed Westwood Blvd drag. Slowly taking form in the ground-level space of the god-awful butter-yellow Brobdingnagian Palazzo complex (“Southern California’s most luxurious rental community!”) at the T-insection of Glendon and Le Conte Avenues, the nascent TJ’s corner space looks to boast an almost luxurious amount of square footage, compared to their typical location’s cozy confines. In a twist from the usual charm of their tight parking lot clusterfucks, this one looks to have no dedicated lot at all, instead sharing an underground garage with the apartment building. Crucially, it remains to be seen if the lot will validate for TJ’s customers.

Keep it tuned here for continuous updates on the Trader Joe’s as it nears its grand opening. Suffice to say, the evil reign of Whole Foods over the Westwood area is sure to suffer a severe blow, if not crumble altogether.

A Trader Joe’s Primer for Manhattanites

• Coffee & Coffee (& Coffee)
• Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee
• Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee, & Coffee & Coffee
• Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Coffee
• Just Fucking Coffee
• Sears
• AutoZone
• 1 and 2
• 1, 2 and 3
• All of the above
• None of the above

While you were busy not giving a shit, The Gig (7302 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90046) quietly (assumed) folded its doors some time ago. Last updated in December, the venue’s online calendar shows the dreaded tell-tale smattering of “TBA” slots in those final days, with the last confirmed rock act listed being Shaka Buku. Congrats, Shaka Buku! You may yet in fact become the last band in history to have erroneously believed that playing a gig at the venerable surprisingly longstanding Melrose hellhole loosely, if not longingly, dubbed “The Gig” could potentially further your career in some capacity.

We blame you not for failing to notice the venue’s closure (it took us six months). Hell, Wikipedia lists the last time in history anybody gave a shit about something taking place at The Gig as being March 10, 1988. (Let’s be fair, the aforementioned passage requires citation and the club has only been around since 1998 or so.) The venue’s official myspace page is unfortunately of little help at present, advising that “front patio” renovations should be completed prior to March 2008. (Is that what’s going on inside there?)

All snarkiness aside, the closure is bound to have a negative impact on the local music scene and, broader, the city at large, as bands who were previously booked no questions asked just bring some friends at The Gig diligently and painfully find the booking policies considerably more rigid at competing clubs and, as a result, the respective band members become severely embittered, directly translating into poor attitudes at day jobs, ultimately translating into somebody getting short-shrifted out of an espresso shot by a pissed-off member of Shaka Buku behind the counter over at Starbucks Hollywood. After the jump, our recommendation for the new Melrose public facing.

» What is a Locksmith Shack?
» Where might I find a Locksmith Shack?
» Locksmith Shacks: Are they dangerous?

Coachella Prince-inclusive poster watching. I’m in the thick of it, man. I’m waist deep in that shit. When Prince was first announced we had the gaping hole. Next, we had the hole shored up with a loaded Prince symbol pointing at the Johnson. Today, the third official Prince-inclusive Coachella poster spotted over at Coachella.com has all three headliners right up there at the top, where they belong. But wait! What’s this? Prince gets his unpronouncable-in-any-tongue symbol, Roger gets a “Dark Side of the Moon” preface, yet Jack gets diddly-squat above his name? I’m Jack Johnson, I’m laid back, no preface needed? Say it isn’t so. I would like to see a tiny pair of reversed white cartoon flip-flops above the name, please. That, or “Playing His Hit Songs from the Curious George Soundtrack” would look mighty fine up top as well. Your choice and you still have time to squeeze out one more poster before Friday, guys. Let’s do this. (BONUS TIP: Jack goes to the left. The other two headliners rotate to the right and then you have all three headliners actually under their respective performance dates…)

» DEVELOPING: Coachella Poster-Makers Shore Up Gaping Hole
» Coachella Website Unveils New Lineup Poster With Prince, Gaping Hole

My thanks to Sung, whose eagle eye found today’s iteration

Your Centaur closeup after the jump. (Four arrows!)


*Centaur is life-sized. The “horse half” portion of the traditional “half man, half horse” beast spotted on the roof of this Westminster complex is a rare emaciated miniature pony varietal. Also: Somehow this asshole has 10-pack abs.

OLDEN TIMES: THE PRE-CENTAUR YEARS
» Photo Op: The Dungeons and Dragons House