Results tagged “holidays”

The upcoming holidays are about giving, and for many of us that means both giving gifts to our loved ones and to those in need. One way to help out in both areas comes via Chicago-based retailer CB2, who opened up a branch of their home decor store in a segment of the onetime Virgin Megastore space at 8000 Sunset this April.

Does anyone else hear the overwhelming sounds of silence? Where once elipticals whirred and treadmills whizzed, now there are only crickets. From Santa Monica to Echo Park, aerobics studios are feeling a chill wind blow. It seems, friends, as though no one can afford their gym membership anymore. But an empty wallet is no excuse for clogged arteries, and in fact, exercise will get your mind off depressing stuff like that pesky recession. Here are some ways you can keep your resolution to get in shape without breaking the (already broken) bank.

       

Here at LAist, we all hope you are enjoying your holiday season! Just for fun, here's a throwback to a fews weeks ago when SantaCon took over the streets, previously covered here and here. Cheers!

The U.S. economy is in the tank. We all know that. But what we didn’t know is that somewhere along the line it became the norm for companies to become Scrooge-like by issuing pink slips, layoff notices, or holding reorganizations, reshuffling, restructurings, downsizings, rightsizings, RIFs (reduction in force, dontcha know) – the week or two before the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s holidays.

'Tis the season, fellow Americans, to make sweet, sweet love. According to McClatchy, more people are doing the horizontal mambo around the holidays than at any other time of the year. More condoms are sold, and on the flip side, more babies are made. But don't worry about sin or anything. If this is your idea of a Christmas-y good time, you're in good company: "according to Gabriele Doblhammer of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. Heavy Christmas-New Year's sex 'is characteristic of all Christian cultures in which it has been evaluated.'"

Looking for a little holiday cheer in the frantic last days of frenzied mall crowds, last-minute shopping and party hopping? Well, today is your lucky day. Christmas in a cocktail glass at the following bars and even a little recipe to try at your holiday party!

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah and was observed accordingly by Jews all over Los Angeles by the lighting of the first of eight candles on the menorah. But the "Festival of Lights" this year might be casting a greenish glow on its observers as the move to make the ancient holiday more "eco-friendly" takes motion.

The Southern Californian Auto Club would like to remind all of us that 'tis the season for us to be stupid, particularly when it comes to locking ourselves out of our cars. During December the Club deals with more locked out members than any other time of the year. In fact, according to their press release, in December of 2007 "the Auto Club answered 76,346 calls for help by its members for keys locked in vehicles at shopping malls, retail centers, grocery stores and other locations." The busiest locked-out days fell on the weekend before Christmas--you know, right when you're at the peak of frazzled, desperately trying to get everything done and every errand run.

Can't be hassled with slaving over an oven to make treats for all those holiday parties you're gonna hit up? L.A. has many wonderful dessert shops to save the day. Take your pick. Will it be cute peppermint cupcakes, a personalized gingerbread house or how's about a Yule log cake?

If the warm fuzzy feeling of buying a child in need a toy is not enough, some local bars are giving you more reasons to buy toys and donate canned goods this holiday season.

One way to avoid being out in the rain today: Stand in line at your local post office with everyone else. Today just happens to be the busiest mailing day of the year, as folks flock to their favorite USPS outpost to send off cards and packages in hopes they'll reach their destinations in time for the holidays. According to cbs2.com, "about 1.5 billion cards, letters and packages are expected to be processed today alone, which is nearly double the average daily volume of traffic." Your letter carrier will experience their heaviest load of the year come Wednesday. Headed to the Post Office today? If you've got a favorite one that's less crowded than most (I do, and I'm not telling you which one!) maybe you'd best go the Scrooge route and keep it to yourself. Happy mailing!

       

Sunday's annual Hollywood Santa Parade wasn't that well attended. The LA Times was correct to be skeptical about this year's show: "The parade almost died because of declining attendance, a lack of TV syndication money and a dearth of stars. We'll see how many people show up tonight." One TV news report said 10,000 people attended. That's nearly 40,000 less than last year, albeit 5,000 less than in 2006.

She appears in the pretaped version of today's Christmas Tree lighting in New York City's Rockefellar Center, but will Britney Spears appear tomorrow for Los Angeles? That's what the rumors, heard within LA Live and around town, point to.

RED LINE PUB CRAWL: As you heard on LAist earlier, the MTA is running the Red Line until 3 am on the weekends until the end of the year. So do the safe thing this party season by staying off the roads when imbibing as many toddies as you want. There’s public transportation to the rescue. Now tonight’s organized Red Line pub crawl will begin at 8 pm at Traxx in Union Station and then make the trip around 9 to Hollywood’s Cahuenga corridor.

One of our goals this year is to not be shopping and wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. But that means one has to now start thinking of what to buy and where to shop. So here's one good place to start: the art gallery Ghettogloss has announced the Silver Lake Art Craft & Vintage flea market that begins on November 15 and runs on Saturday and Sundays through December 21.

After passing out of the transportation committee last week, the motion to extend Metro Red Line service to 3:00 a.m. Thursday through Saturday nights from November 1st to January 3rd will be considered by City Council today. Because Metro doesn't have the funding for the expanded service, the "service would be supported in part by private sponsorhips," the motion states.

Sometimes, what happens around San Francisco applies to Los Angeles. Editor Brock Keeling catches this sign of the times with some humor:

What was just a St. Patty's Day bar fight that included a pool cue knocking one man unconscious has turned into a murder incident. As of yesterday, the Monday afternoon fight in a bar in Orange County's city of Cypress left Steven Keith Toole, 45, in critical condition and on life support. As of yesterday morning, he was pronounced dead police announced today.

It's 8:30 a.m. and by the count on this list, at least five Irish bars are open right now: Brennan's Pub, Casey's Irish Bar and Grille, Clancy's, O'Brien's Irish Pub, Patrick Molloys and Tom Bergin's Tavern. Whoops, make that six (derrr, the morning O'Doul's is already kicking in).

RocknRollDating.com is the creation of Eagle Rock resident and music industry veteran, Daniel House. He has created the free online dating site with music as the coming-together concept. Put in your favorite bands and concerts, your preferred genres and the normal dating profile stats such as heights, sex, etc. and go find your mate based on the tunes you share in common. Or maybe you'll find someone who will let you experience new music.

Back in 2004, two Harvard graduates decided to make a dating website with the vision that dating should be free. Since then, OkCupid.com has gained 525,000 active users (meaning active within the last 8 weeks), climbing their way up to the top of the online dating empire, possibly freaking out Match.com, which has an estimated 1.3 million users. In Los Angeles alone, OkCupid has 54,000 registers users (including Tom from MySpace... maybe that's him, maybe not) with about 10,000 to 15,000 who are active within a 50-mile radius of downtown.

Got a sweetheart with a sweet tooth? Valentine's Day is just around the corner and candy is everywhere. I'm not into those heart-shaped boxes full of chocolates nor do I think my boyfriend would want to receive one of those from me - but everyone likes candy, right? It's a fun gift and can be surprisingly meaningful if you put some thought into it.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has announced a Red Flag Parking Day that will begin tomorrow morning at "08:00 AM to Wednesday, January 2, 2008 08:00 AM or until further notice."

Apparently I am the only one who hasn't finished her holiday shopping. I went to my three prime people watching spots this weekend, and they were dead. Here I am, armed with camera, bills for parking, extra batteries, a ton of memory cards, a notepad and my walking shoes, and I show up and no one's around. I felt so abandoned.

SNL + Darlene Love + Claymation="Christmastime for the Jews."

I know a lot of people who have the very best intentions of getting their holiday shopping done e-a-r-l-y every year who wind up failing miserably at making good on their noble plans. Some, like an estimated 40% of Americans, in fact, get wise to the internets and do their shopping online--but even that takes some advance planning. Earlier this week, if you'd forgotten to shop, or had that typical "oh, Christmas isn't for days and days! I've got plenty of time!" thought pass through your mind, you could have still gotten it in under the wire on the web. But with shipping times, and the clock ticking, I feel I must make mention of a scary fact: Christmas is in four days!

You know it's Christmas season in LA when the owners of Youngwood Court (an estate that pays homage to ivory off Third Street near Hancock Park) dress up their 12 David statues in Santa hats. This year, a huge 2008 sign also adorns the front lawn, which is covered in a layer of faux snow. A stylin' Santa and Mrs. Claus seem to be riding in a comfy sleigh, too.

Ahhh, Christmas, carols fill the air along with the aroma of baking cookies. hearts are filled with joy, and Santa sends out obscene mail to good little girls and boys. Here are some stories of holidays gone bad, including some from holidays past. Ho ho ho!!!

Author of nasty letters from Santa sought

Continue reading "Blue Christmases"

Holidays have you indulging a little more than usual? Just in time for those New Year resolutions and post-holiday diets, the Wii Fit is expected to be released in North America in January. Released earlier this month in Japan, Wii Fit sold over a quarter million units in the first week. The game was designed for families to exercise with activities like stretching, yoga, step aerobics, push ups, jogging and much more. The additional system to the Wii console uses a pressure-sensitive platform called the Balance Board which players stand on, hop or press against. The platform can measure an individual's weight, body mass index and tracks the information to show your results over time. The Nintendo site states that activities focus more towards working out the "core," emphasizing slower, controlled motions.