Home Movie Day arrives in LA ... Mark Peel dispenses food wisdom ... Santa Clarita: cuisine destination? ... Athol Fugard's new play, "The Train Driver" ... Arthur Fiedler throws parsley, Mark Peel is surprised ...
Ed Rosenthal, real estate broker, survives six days in the Mojave, tells his story
When the heat wave hit, many of us assumed the worst when we heard Ed Rosenthal, who brokered the transfer of Clifton's Cafeteria just a few days before, was lost in the Mojave after starting out on a hike. He held a news conference Tuesday at Clifton's to tell his story; here's the sound from that conference.
Rosenthal is helping raise funds for search and rescue as a way of paying them back for saving his life. E-mail edrosenthalsurvivor(@)gmail.com for information.
Santa Clarita: A Gastronomic Mecca?
For the next installment in Off-Ramp's ongoing EAT LA collaboration, writer Jean T. Barrett tells John about an unexpected (and upcoming) foodie destination: Santa Clarita. Click through for info on all of the restaurants and where to find them!
Egg Plantation
24415 Walnut St.
Santa Clarita
(661) 255-8222
eggplantation.com
Serves 101 different omelettes and serves breakfast all day until 2 PM. Eye-openingly good coffee from local roaster Newhall Coffee Roasters.
Thelma’s Morning Café
22876 Copper Hill Dr.
Santa Clarita
(661) 263-8283
Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The “pop” of this mom-and-pop operation, Luis Diaz, was a chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois on Main in Santa Monica for more than 20 years. Best bets: eggs Benedict and French toast for breakfast, burgers for lunch or dinner, and an array of Asian-style appetizers such as pot stickers and spare rib tips in hoisin sauce (in other words, Chinois-style apps without the Chinois-style price tag).
Rattler’s Bar B Que
26495 Golden Valley Rd.
Santa Clarita
(661) 251-4195
rattlersbbq.com
Rattler’s is a Santa Clarita institution; it opened in 1988 and recently moved to a new shopping center in Canyon Country. The baby back ribs are tender and meaty; the “famous shredded onions” are freshly cooked, crisp and flavorful. The free garlic rolls are legendary, but don’t fill up on them.
Maru Sushi
24250 Town Center Dr.
Santa Clarita
(661) 290-2595
maruvalencia.com
Located in the open-air section of the Westfield Valencia Town Center shopping mall, Maru is a little gem, serving connoisseur-level sushi, Japanese cuisine and a full menu of market-fresh California cuisine based on ingredients from the Santa Monica Farmers Market, where chef-owner Jason Park shops weekly. For a treat, sit at the sushi bar and let the chefs serve you omakase-style.
Santa Clarita has gone mad for wine bars; the city currently boasts five and counting (a sixth, Roman Holiday, is scheduled to open later this year). In general, the by-the-glass selections tend not to be as adventuresome as you might find in Los Angeles, but there are some interesting bottles to share. Check out:
All Corked Up
26340 Diamond Place
Santa Clarita
(661) 799-7979
allcorkedup.com
Tucked away in an unprepossessing industrial park near the center of Santa Clarita (thank heavens for GPS), All Corked Up is a wine bar, wine storage facility and wine shop under one roof. Frequent special events make this a mecca for local wine lovers.
Valencia Wine Co.
24300 Town Center Dr.
Santa Clarita
(661) 254-9300
valenciawine.com
One of several wine bars located in and around the Westfield Valencia Town Center, Valencia Wine Co. offers a wide selection by the bottle, so it’s a good spot to meet friends after a hard afternoon slogging through the mall.
Wine 661
24268 Valencia Blvd.
Santa Clarita
(661) 288-2980
wine661.com
An intimate wine bar in the Whole Foods shopping plaza, 661 offers many hard-to-find California labels (Flowers pinot noir, Turley zinfandel) as well as a limited selection of cheeses and appetizers. Behind the bar is a nitrogen wine storage/serving unit to keep opened bottles fresh.
Lastly, Santa Clarita (Newhall specifically) is home to one of the last of an endangered species: the cookbook store.
Cookbooks Plus
24267 Main St.
Santa Clarita
(661) 296-4455
cookbooksplus.com
Los Angeles has lost several cookbook stores in recent years, but Cookbooks Plus lives on in Old Town Newhall. An inventory of 17,000 new and mostly used cookbooks, plus sections on crafts, gardening and home design, makes this a magnet for cooks and cookbook addicts. Time your visit for 3 to 7 pm on a Thursday afternoon and browse the produce at the weekly Old Town Newhall Farmers Market which takes place on the store’s doorstep.
[Photo by Chevy111 via Wikimedia Commons]
In-depth with Russell Morash, the father of This Old House, Victory Garden, French Chef with Julia Child
Look at the cornucopia of (some very good) cooking and home improvement shows on cable tv. Rachel Ray, Flip This House ... I'd argue they owe a huge debt to one man who led the way, who proved that people enjoy watching and learning. WGBH's Russell Morash was the founding producer and director of The French Chef with Julia Child, and the creator of Victory Garden, This Old House, and The New Yankee Workshop.
With This Old House in LA remodeling a home in Silverlake, it seemed the perfect time for Off-Ramp host John Rabe to call Morash at his home in Massachusetts to find out how and why these landmark shows happened.
This is the long (30+ minute) version of John's interview with Morash.
Russell Morash bio, from the This Old House website:
Providing home enthusiasts nationwide with award-winning programming, Russell Morash has been called the father of "how-to" and "know-how" television. As the founder of This Old House in 1979, he introduced the premier home improvement television series to America and continues to inspire a legion of homeowners who never knew they could do it themselves.
While Russ stepped down as executive producer and director of This Old House and its addition Ask This Old House in 2004, he was not content to retire completely from television. Today he still serves as executive producer and director of The New Yankee Workshop, now in its 18th season, which features the craftsmanship of host Norm Abram.
"Who could have imagined that the home improvement television idea would develop into an entire industry," says Russ. "But given the fact that a person's home is likely his or her most valuable asset, it may explain why so many viewers still depend on This Old House."
Russ, whose forebears were carpenters and shipwrights, conceived the idea of This Old House in 1976 while remodeling his own home. The first 13-week This Old House series, featuring the renovation of a Victorian home in the Dorchester area of Boston, set a new ratings record for WGBH when it was broadcast locally in 1979. The series aired nationally on PBS the following season and quickly became a perennial favorite.
Prior to tackling home renovation, in 1963 Russ teamed up with a budding cookbook author with an unmistakable accent and a marvelous sense of humor to create The French Chef with Julia Child. For the next 30 years Russ and Julia created a number of cooking classics for television, which continue to represent the gold standard of that genre.
In 1975, Russ teamed with Jim Crockett to begin Crockett's Victory Garden, later The Victory Garden, a televised gardening adventure which continued for 30 years until Russ hung up his trowel in 2003. The WGBH program continues to be seen on PBS.
Along the way, Russ has accumulated 14 national Emmy Awards, including 11 for "Outstanding Director of a Service Show." He currently ranks 12th on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences list of Top 100 Daytime Emmy Award winners.
Russ is a "fellow" of the National Association of Garden Writers and has been honored with the prestigious George Robert White Medal for 2005 by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
A native of Lexington, Massachusetts, Russ trained as a theater director at Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1957. He joined the WGBH staff that same year, and in 1958, was made a producer/director—a hands-on role he has never relinquished.
Russ lives with his wife, Marian, formerly known as The Victory Garden's "Chef Marian," in an 1851 farmhouse they restored 30 years ago and plan to tackle again when they find the time. The Morashes have two daughters and five beloved and exceptional grandchildren.
Athol Fugard tells Off-Ramp about his new play, "The Train Driver"
Previews start Friday, October 8, and the official opening is Saturday, October 16 for Athol Fugard's newest play, "The Train Driver," at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood. Fugard, who splits his time between the San Diego area and South Africa, has won an Oscar, Obie, and Tony. He writes about apartheid, and is the first white South African playwright to collaborate with black actors.
Fugard spoke with Off-Ramp's John Rabe; here's the long version of their conversation.
Press Release from The Fountain Theatre:
LOS ANGELES, CA - September 17, 2010 - The Fountain Theatre continues its ongoing, award-winning relationship with Athol Fugard with the U.S. premiere of the master playwright's newest play. Stephen Sachs directs Morlan Higgins and Adolphus Ward in The Train Driver, opening on October 16. Low-priced previews begin October 8.
A traumatized train driver is tormented by a nightmare that has shattered his life - until he is awakened by an extraordinary stranger. A mesmerizing, transforming and deeply personal journey into the human soul, Fugard calls The Train Driver, "The most important play I've ever written."
Nearly a decade ago, Fugard saw a small item in the newspaper about a black South African mother who grabbed her three children and pulled them onto the railroad tracks in front of an oncoming train. The story haunted him, and he began making journal entries in his writer's notebook.
"I had an appointment with this story," he says. "The minute I read it I knew I was going to have to deal with it in one way or another. I wrestled with it for years, not realizing at first that the story I would write was not hers - that what I would deal with was the man in the train. His reality was the one I could enter into. This play is my truth and reconciliation. It deals with my own inherent blindness and guilt as a white South African."
"It's an awakening," explains director Stephen Sachs. "Until the moment of the accident, this white train driver was on a narrow track, looking only at the rails in front of him. His train's path goes through the pondoks (shacks) and he doesn’t look at them or see the misery around him, until one day this woman steps in front of his train and his eyes are opened. The light I hope audiences see in this play is that awakening is possible; it happens, even in the darkest night."
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, actor and director whose scripts have earned countless accolades, including the Academy Award, Obie Award, and Tony Award. The first white South African playwright to collaborate with black actors and workers, Fugard writes of the frustrations of life in contemporary South Africa and of overcoming the psychological barriers created by apartheid. Some of his works, such as Blood Knot, were initially banned in South Africa. Widely acclaimed around the world, his plays include Boesman and Lena (Obie Award, Best Foreign Play), Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (Tony Award, Best Play), A Lesson from Aloes (New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Best Play), the semiautobiographical Master Harold...and the Boys (Writers Guild Award, Outstanding Achievement) and The Road to Mecca (New York Drama Critics Circle Citation, Best Foreign Play, London Evening Standard Award, Best Play). In his first two post-apartheid plays, Valley Song (1995) and The Captain's Tiger (1998), Fugard addressed more personal concerns, but in Sorrows and Rejoicings (2001) he focused on the complex racial dynamics of South Africa's new era. In 2005 his novel, Tsotsi (1980), was adapted for the screen, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The Fountain Theatre's special relationship with Fugard began when co-founder/co-artistic director Stephen Sachs directed the L.A. premiere of Fugard's The Road to Mecca in 2000. Fugard was so impressed that he offered the company world premiere rights to an as-yet-unwritten new work. When Sachs directed the world premiere of Exits and Entrances in 2004, it received recognition for Best Production and Best Director from both the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (garnering a total of five awards) and the Ovations (receiving a total of three awards). Mr. Sachs went on to direct acclaimed regional productions of Exits and Entrances around the country, an Off-Broadway production at Primary Stages, and the UK premiere at the 2007 International Edinburgh Festival. The American premiere of Mr. Fugard's Victory at the Fountain in 2008, also directed by Stephen Sachs, was the recipient of two LADCC awards and four LA Weekly nominations, and was named "Best of 2008" by the Los Angeles Times. For the program of Victory, Athol Fugard wrote that he "considers The Fountain Theatre his artistic home in the United States." Victory was followed, last season, by the West Coast premiere of Coming Home, also directed by Sachs.
Morlan Higgins (Roelf) most recently appeared in the world premiere of Forgiveness at the Black Dahlia Theatre and in King Lear at Antaeus Co. He won the LA Weekly award for his performance in Shining City at The Fountain. Other credits: Exits and Entrances, After the Fall, Victory, Boys in the Band (all at The Fountain Theatre); Dealing with Clair, Water Children, Mad Forest, The Birthday Party (The Matrix Theatre Company); Dylan (Skylight Theatre); Equus (Pasadena Playhouse), A Skull in Connemara (Theatre Tribe), Hughie (Eugene O’Neill Foundation at Tao House); and numerous other plays on local stages. Morlan has received multiple Ovation, LADCC, LA Weekly, Back Stage Garland, Drama-Logue, and Ticketholders Awards. He was nominated for the Lucille Lortell Off-Broadway Actor of the Year Award for his performance in Exits and Entrances at Primary Stages in NYC. He was nominated for a Carbonell Award for E and E at Florida Stage and received a New Jersey Tony for E and E at New Jersey Rep. He is also the recipient of Santa Barbara Indie Awards for Hughie and Victory at SBT.
Adolphus Ward (Simon) is a recipient of a 2006 LA Weekly award, a 2008 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award, and, most recently, a 2009 NAACP award. At the Fountain Theatre, he has been seen as Bynum in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Solly Two Kings in Gem of the Ocean, and as Oupa Jonkers in Athol Fugard's Coming Home. Other roles include Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy and Jorgenson in Other People's Money.Adolphus isdedicatinghis performances to his long time friend, Ben Bradley.
Stephen Sachs' other directing credits include last season's Shining City (named to the Best Productions of 2009 list by both the Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly, and winner of an LA Weekly award for Revival Production of the Year); his own adaptation Miss Julie Freedom Summer (from Strindberg's Miss Julie); the world premiere of his own stage adaptation of Stephen Mitchell's version of Gilgamesh (Theatre @ Boston Court); the inaugural production at the Getty Villa in Malibu, a new translation of Euripides' Hippolytos starring Linda Purl. Arthur Miller gave Sachs exclusive permission to direct his rarely seen After The Fall (three L.A. Ovation awards). Mr. Sachs has won numerous awards for directing such plays as the Los Angeles premiere of Fugard's The Road to Mecca; West Coast premiere ofString of Pearls; his own original play Sweet Nothing in My Ear (now a Hallmark Hall of Fame film); L.A. premiere of Steven Dietz'sLonely Planet(starring Philip Anglim); The Seagull (starring Salome Jens, Philip Baker Hall, Bud Cort); the 20th Anniversary production of The Boys In The Band; and the West Coast premiere of Romulus Linney's Unchanging Love.
Housed in a charming two-story complex in Hollywood, California, The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a nurturing, creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists.
The Train Driveropens on Saturday, October 16, with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays @ 8 pm and Sundays @ 2 pm through December 12. Previews are scheduled on Friday, October 8; Saturday, October 9; Thursday, October 14; and Friday, October 15, all at 8 pm; and on Sunday, October 10 at 2 pm. Tickets are $25 on Thursdays and Fridays and $30 on Saturdays and Sundays, except opening night (October 16), which is $35 and previews which are $15. On Thursdays and Fridays only, students with ID are $18 and seniors are $23.
The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles. Secure, on-site parking is available for $5.00. The Fountain Theatre is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.
Arthur Fiedler throws parsley; Mark Peel is surprised
Mark Peel, restaurateur and Off-Ramp contributor, talks with Off-Ramp host John Rabe about decorative and edible parsley.
Our story starts with a Rabe Family legend about Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler and his distaste of parsley. I'm on his page on that one, and also his distaste of musical elitism, as described in his 1979 New York Times obit:
"He was aware that many critics and members of the classical-music public shared the other conductors' disdain for what he was doing. He called them "culture vultures" and "snobs," and returned their contempt."
Click on the link (over there) for the full story.
Talking Native Plants at the Theodore Payne Foundation
If you're thinking about starting your garden up once and for all, Fall is the perfect time.
...And if you're looking to go native, there's no better place to do it than at the Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery, they just turned 50 this year and they're getting ready for their annual native plant sale. Off-Ramp's Kevin Ferguson talked with the Payne's Special Projects Coordinator Lili Singer about what native plants look best, which invasive plants are the most nefarious and why Southern California's most iconic piece of flora isn't Californian at all.
Home Movie Day
Have any old home movies lying around? Wondering what's on them? On Saturday, October 16 you can finally have a look.
It's called Home Movie Day and it's taking place in both Echo Park and Culver City. The public is welcome to bring over their home movies--almost any format will do--and have them projected onto the big screen. And if you don't have any films, it's free to come and you can see what other people have left in their closets all these years. Off-Ramps Kevin Ferguson talked with festival organizers Brian Drischell and Sean Savage. You can go to the Home Movie Day website for show times and directions.
Panic in Pocket Park!
John Rabe and roving city critic Sam Hall Kaplan enjoy a pocket park in downtown Los Angeles. It's Hill Street between 3d and 4th (SEE INSIDE FOR VIDEO)