WORDS SCI-Arc’s spring lecture series on design and architecture kicks off tonight with Jeffrey Kipnis, professor of architectural design and theory at Ohio State University. Kipnis will discuss “happy,” “zany” and other important political trends in architecture. So the title of his lecture -- *@$#*!#!! -- does make sense. Kind of. 7 pm // W. M. Keck Lecture Hall SCI-Arc, 960 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles // Free. MORE WORDS David Frum is a former......

ART PARTY Gallery W13's Rebirth of Green/Pre-New Year’s Eve Art Party "will be a celebration of healthy living with nature and a tribute to the resurgence of all things organic. The focus of the evening will be all things creative -- art, film, furniture, music and food -- presented with organic and green flair." The night includes a film screening of Black Gold, a live Latin Jazz/World Beat DJ, and featured artists include Nurha De......

Sneaking into my seat in the Skirball Center’s small auditorium, I look around to notice that I may be the youngest person in the audience by about thirty years, with the exception of a painfully bored looking teen two rows back. “The truth,” the emcee is saying in a rich British accent as he introduces the show, “can be inconvenient.” Applause breaks through from the crowd at his tie-in to pop culture. He’s introducing The......

If you see a litter and pack of puppies and dogs walking around Pershing Square tonight, it's a Downtown Dog Walk. Maybe you're downtown right now with your dog... Go, go, go! Speaking of non-humans, the state is considering a special path for animals on the Skirball Center Drive bridge. Environmentalists cheer, residents complain it's a waste of transportation funds. On that note of big spending, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez is still not......

It's been a FleetBank tradition since 1998, as mentioned by our sister site Bostonist, but Bank of America has brought its annual "Museums on Us" promotion to Cali for the first time. Throughout the month of May, you'll be able to get into many Southland museums for free by showing your B of A ATM, check, or credit card, or MBNA credit card. So for once, the card that typically drains your bank account......

Bonjour Tristesse As part of its ongoing Saul Bass mini-tribute, the Skirball Center will screen Bonjour Tristesse, a drama directed by Otto Preminger that stars David Niven as a suave playboy-turned-father and Jean Seberg as his pixie-ish daughter. Their dissolute existence of tromping across Europe from nightclub to cocktail party to casino is upended when Niven falls for the hopelessly upright Deborah Kerr. I also highly recommend the mildly smutty book by Françoise Sagan on......

On Mulholland between Skirball Center Drive and North Casiano Rd. at the side of the road in the dirt, sits The Aranitas family taco truck. Yes, that's right, Bel Air has a taco truck too. Among the Skirball and Getty museums, it feels unlikely to find a taco truck parked here at this thoroughfare between the Valley and the Basin. But with nearly 4,000 taco trucks in LA County*, it's all about location. And......

Last night I had a dream I was walking on an empty freeway with a martini in one hand and a beedog in the other. Bathrobe clad with a cigarette dangling from my mouth like Valley of the Dolls meets The Color of Money, I flag down Mr. T, who is speeding by on a tractor while singing “Private Eyes,” by Hall and Oates. We exchange knock-knock jokes and arrive at an oceanfront condo......

MONDAY: Never The Girl Next Door Gretchen Mol plays Bettie Page in the upcoming movie, The Notorious Bettie Page that opens April 14. Join Mol and director Mary Harron at Reel Talk with Stephen Farber at the Wadsworth Theatre in Brentwood. Tuesday: Decruited “We [in show business] are experts in the field of rejection.” It began in L.A. when Annabelle Gurwitch collected stories from comedian friends to produce an event called Fired. Now, it’s......

WEDNESDAY • Team Sleep is at the El Rey tonight with Idiot Pilot and Scene Index at 7 PM. Tickets are $16. • Wendy & Lisa and Doyle Bramhall II perform tonight at Largo. Dinner reservations are booked solid, so show up early to get a seat. Doors open at 8 PM. • As part of the "Once Upon a Time in Italy" exhibit opening this weekend, AFI at Arclight presents Sergio Leone's masterpiece,......

• At Spaceland, Palo Alto will be performing with Hayes and Aeon Spoke. Doors open at 9 PM. • At 4 PM, Blonde Redhead will be performing at a free in-store appearance at Amoeba Records. • Following that, see Blonde Redhead opening for Interpol at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. Doors open at 8 PM and tickets are $30. • Also courtesy of The Fold, Tangier has Inara George, Jesca Hoop and Kate Earl beginning......

• Tonight at the Skirball Center, WritersBloc presents a conversation with writers Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and Daniel Handler, the mysterious figure known as Lemony Snickett. The event begins at 7:30 PM; tickets are $20, and you can make reservations here. Photo by Jeff Geissler, AP.......