You may have seen the anti-abortion billboards up around town targeting African-American women, which call black children an "endangered species" and have a link to anti-choice group toomanyaborted.com. Now, the OC Weekly reports that signs with the same message are cropping up in LA, only this time the targeted audience is Latinos.
Anti-Abortion Billboards Target Latinas
Why The Tildes Left Los Angeleños
Forget the debate between Angelino and Angeleno. KCET says they're both not quite right, and that Angeleño is the original and most correct moniker for SoCalisters. Until the 1860s Los Angeles residents, both Latino and Anglo, reportedly spoke Spanish and "presumably (if it ever came up in conversation), they called themselves Angeleños, because that's the usual form of the noun."
LAist Film Calendar: Recent Spanish & Revolutionary Mexican Cinema
This weekend, the Egyptian hosts Spanish thespians Luis Tosar, Antonio de la Torre and Eduardo Noriega, as well as director Emilio Aragon, as part of its 16th annual Recent Spanish Cinema series. Thursday, Tosar opens the series with Even the Rain, Spain's official Oscar submission. The film follows the fight against privatization of water in Bolivia, blurring fact and fiction by cutting footage of real protests within its story. It's preceded by Voltereta, a coming-of-age short set in 1985 Brooklyn. Cell 211 locked down the Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars), with eight victories including Best Film and Best Actor for Tosar. De la Torre leads the U.S. premiere of Lope and the L.A. premiere of Fat People. Noriega accompanies another L.A. premiere, For The Good of Others. Aragon appears alongside his film Paper Birds.
dineLA: Rivera
It's a shame that not every diner can sit down with Rivera's John Sedlar and listen to him tell the stories of his dishes while they dine. Sedlar is a gifted storyteller in person, however the power of myth, history, and culture are also embedded in every bite of the beautiful food he has on the menu at his popular and welcoming downtown restaurant.
Twitter en Español: LACMA the First Museum to Offer Bilingual Tweets
We're a city of many languages, but so often our icons of art and culture communicate in English-only. Now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is reaching out to their Spanish-speaking (and reading) visitors and members by providing Twitter posts en Español, making them--as far as they or we know--the first museum to do so, according to their blog, Unframed.
Your Weekly LAist Film Calendar
Now that the summer blockbuster season's in gear, it's time to counter-program with an influx of festivals! The Israel Film Festival runs through the 18th at Laemmle's Fallbrook in West Hills & the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. Highlights include Lost Islands, which cleaned kibbutz at the Israeli box office last year and won four Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars); The Seven Days, another Ophir powerhouse; and audience favorite & Oscar nominee Waltz With Bashir. Rather than feature one-off screenings of a multitude of films, the festival has a smaller slate (30 films) but more dedicated screening times; a nice touch for patrons with less flexible schedules.
Metro Gold Line or Linea de Oro? Metro Board Approves Both
How silly can things get? Yesterday instead of choosing either or, the Metro Board approved both names for the new Gold Line portion due to open this summer. Take your pick: Edward R. Roybal Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension or la Linea de Oro, Edward R. Roybal. At some point in the future, they will decide what to call the Expo Line, which hasn't officially been named yet. Some would like it to be called the Rose Line. Anyway, this definitely caused some heated debate in yesterday's comment section.
2009 in Radio: 2 Stations go Spanish, 1 goes Top 40--What Next?
Indie 103.1 went Spanish. 97.1 FM went Top 40. And last week Michael Schneider broke the news that "Movin 93.9" KMVN-FM will also flip to a Spanish format. Back in 2006 when 93.9 was KZLA, the country's biggest radio station, the owner decided to change it "to target young women with a new rhythmic format" and with Rick Dees manning the morning show, notes Schneider. "The switch, however, was a big bust. Listeners rejected the station -- which eventually dropped current songs and focused on more of an adult contemporary approach." Now that failed and come April 14th, Grupo Radio Centro will take control. As Pop & Hiss blogger Autumn Brown says, "the mausoleum for L.A. radio stations is getting awfully crowded this year."
Manchego: New Spanish Tapas Restaurant in Santa Monica
What no one is telling you is that there's a new Spanish tapas restaurant that just opened in Santa Monica. Actually Manchego has been around for about four months but it seems the only people talking about it online are Yelpers and even they are reluctant to sing its praises. We're guessing it's because they want to keep it to themselves. With only about 13 tables in this small eatery, $5 tapas, and BYOB with no corkage fee, who can blame them?
LAist Movie Review: Before The Fall
When the sign reads ‘Alt Cinema’, you have to step into the theatre knowing that whatever you’re about to see is gonna be a real crapshoot. Often times without the shooting. But every once in a while, mixed in with the kabuki juggling animated dragon silent films and anything by Uwe Bolle, you start to realize that Alternative Cinema doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Villaraigosa Records New Spanish Radio Ad Against Prop 8
Latin Gossip translated it: “The Prop 8 campaign has knowingly targeted the Latino community with shameful and deceitful advertising. Proposition 8 is about discrimination, not education. It’s disgraceful to use children to try to take away people’s civil rights. Proposition 8 attacks all California families, including our Latino families. I am confident that once our community understands the discrimination behind Prop 8 they will join me and vote No." (h/t Sausage Factory)
Cocktail Quickies: Next Door Tapas Lounge
Next Door Tapas is a swanky and intimate little lounge in Studio City, perfect for a weekend or late evening bite -- just don't plan on being there before 6pm. Despite the 5pm opening that's advertised on most review websites, we showed up at 5:30 only to find half-dressed tables and an unready staff. The wine menu was quick to arrive once we were seated, however, and we found the lounge to be a relaxing environment for a romantic rendezvous (well, up until the large party of cougars showed up, but whatevs).

