I Heart LA: Five Steps to Knowing Your City Better Than Your Friends Do

By Kimberly Faith Waid

Kimberly, a writer for Metromix, gave us her top picks for things to do in Los Angeles before she moved to NYC.

Outdoor Movies
One of the biggest perks to being an Angelino is LA’s temperate climate. It comes as no surprise that a few good folks decided to screen movies outdoors. Cinespia hosts movies from The Exorcist to McCabe and Mrs. Miller at the legendary Hollywood Forever Cemetery. After donating ten bucks (parking is five) lug your picnic gear along the gothic scenic trail. Recommendation: get there early.

If cemeteries wig you out, then go downtown for Devil’s Night Drive In which mostly screens films of the eighties from Big to Goonies. You can party from your car (I suggest backing in and sitting in the back) or you can park on the Astroturf up front. It may not be like our parents knew it, but you still get sound on an FM transmitter, and girls on roller-skates will serve you nachos if you flash your lights.

Free Wine, Art & Eye Candy
The second Thursday of every month is the Downtown Art Walk, where a myriad of art galleries and museums show their finest artwork whilst offering patrons free wine and cheese. Maps and a full participating gallery listing are all online. They even have a shuttle named The Hippodrome so the ladies can wear heels and hide their inability to walk a straight line. You’ll get your cultural fix, and you’ll also get an excuse to end the night with nachos from Pete’s and a cold beer from Bar 107.

A Bus Ride Not Suitable for Grandma (unless she carries a flask)
The last time I rode a bus it was a Greyhound, and it was snowing heavily. The bus driver claimed he was too sleepy so he wouldn’t turn the heat on. There I was: shaking in my shoes while my smelly neighbor’s head crashed on my shoulder. I thought that I’d never want to ride a bus again. But then I found Esotouric. Their drivers are funny, brainy, and eager to show you the old stomping grounds of Charles Bukowski or John Fante. Murder mystery aficionados will get their fix in The Black Dahlia bus tour. These tours are sure to satisfy both your inner nerd and rebel.

Trannies, Burlesque & Wrestling
Lucha Va Voom is one of my favorite LA insider events. Lucha is the only place where in one night, you can spend time with a masked man of superhero strength, a pasties adorned burlesque dancer, a midget dressed as a chicken, and an ambisexual hula hooper. Come in good spirits or the ear splitting, pants ripping, bodice busting action won’t be as exciting as it’s intended to be. Housed in the Mayan, Lucha is so thrilling that it will be painful when it’s your turn to get beers and you have to miss a mere five minutes of the show. Don’t be surprised if on the way out, you see patrons collapsed in a ball of sweat from hollering.

Listening to a Stranger’s Middle School Journal
No matter where you’re from, you probably spent your middle school years passing notes, signing yearbooks, and staying up late with friends dishing on your latest burning love. Mortified, a monthly show, allows the very brave to dig out their old journals and read them to an audience who is laughing with them and AT them. Highlighted in the This American Life series on NPR (listen on the Best of This American Life – 2006), Mortified will make you laugh and cringe as you relate to and gasp at others’ romantic catastrophes.

Here are a few other places Kimberly enjoys with giddy fanfare:

All Star Lanes
http://losangeles.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/karaoke_bar/all-star-lanes-eagle-rock/38433/content

Melrose Trading Post http://losangeles.metromix.com/style/accessories/melrose-trading-post-hollywood/101884/content

Barnsdall Art Park
http://losangeles.metromix.com/events/recreation_facilities/barnsdall-art-park-hollyhock-east-hollywood/95273/content

Time to Write Tuesday--Free Writing Prompt

Here's a fun prompt: Make a list of things that you find in the forest or in the ocean. Pick your favorite off of your list and add a sensory detail to it. Now spend 10 minutes comparing some part of your life to the forest or ocean item (ex. my life is like a spastic squirrel).

I just returned from the Grand Canyon, Sedona and the Coconino National Forest, so here's a couple pictures from those places.

If you are yearning for a regular summer writing practice or you have a novel, screenplay, or writing project you've always wanted to complete, Aaron Henne's terrific So You Want To Be A Writer and Finishing School classes start next week. Call 323-333-2954 or email marilyn@writingpad.com to sign up!

Time To Write Tuesday - Free Writing Prompt

Those Ziploc baggies filled with Amish Friendship Bread starter sourdough are making the rounds again.  That takes me back to the 70's, when my Mom was always making super yummy Herman Coffee Cake with that stuff. Which brings me to your FREE writing prompt for this Time To Write Tuesday!

What was the best food that Mom (or Dad) used to make for you?  What was the worst? Make a list of the tastiest and/or most cringe worthy.  Pick one and write it out!  

Write for 10 minutes over lunch or tonight while you are waiting for the pizza delivery guy. 

If that leaves your pen hungry, there is more homemade inspiration at Writing Pad this summer! We only have a few spots left for Aaron Henne's Finishing School (with an all new format!) and Tim Grierson's personal essay workshop series, So You Want to Go to Harvard: Inside the Personal Essay. Adel will be whipping up some amazing gourmet dishes such as polenta with truffled onion relish and baked apples with caramel sauce, just like mom used to make! 

Weekly Writing Prompt: Happy Hump Day!

Here's a writing prompt to help you get through this rainy Wednesday! Make a list of four to five foods that you love that others find strange or low brow (mine are Slim Jims, Twizzlers, KFC coleslaw, Cheez Whiz--yes it's true). Pick one and write for 10 minutes!

And, if you are craving more concentrated writing inspiration, check out Writing Pad's summer writing classes! There are just a couple of spots left in Tim Grierson's "Spice Up Your Settings Pt II"and Aaron Henne's "So You Want To Be A Writer" class. We will serve you tasty gourmet food like tuffled mac and cheese and blackberry crumble with home-made ginger ice-cream, not Cheez Whiz! :)

Movies and Crazy Good Writing

By Marilyn Friedman and Noah PohlThe Writing Pad Movie Club class series gives me an excuse to invite cool peeps over to Writing Pad for some socializing and gourmet indulgence. Movie watching always helps me relax and escape after a hard day at work. But movies have a lot to teach us in terms of storytelling techniques. An artfully crafted movie can also remind me of all the great story material I have in the well-stocked pantry of my mind, especially when my brain is feeling blank.

We are very lucky to have the renowned film critic/freelance writer, Tim Grierson (pictured below), as the teacher for our Movie Club classes.

Check out these links to see some of Tim’s latest film reviews:

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-04-09/calendar/the-outsiders

http://www.screendaily.com/monsters-vs-aliens/4043683.article

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-03-18/film/super-capers-is-dumb-parody-for-next-generation-geeks/

Below is a sample of what Noah Pohl wrote in our last Movie Club class: “From Crazy Love to Crazy Good Writing.” We watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and then Tim led some fab writing exercises and did a mini-craft lecture to help us to write our own love stories. Take one of the next Movie Club classes, “Spice Up Your Settings Pt. I and Pt II,” and you too will be inspired to write something as amazing. We'll be watching Metropolitan and Little Children. We'll learn to use setting to enhance our stories, characters and conflict, and feasting on decadent brunch tasting plates like the homemade croissants and waffles made by our talented chef, Adel.

“Every time someone mentions the brand, Hello Kitty, I am crushed. I remember how excited she got when she told me that she’d decorated her bathroom with Hello Kitty -- and that she thought I should too. I refused.

Listening to In Rainbows hurt for about eight months. The black mini fridge that smelled like ass and rotted, seeping onions until I scrubbed it clean and gave it to her, is now sitting in her room, forever, or until she sells it on Craigslist. BMW cars make me turn my head. If I see a bright green jacket, a black turtleneck, hoop earrings, or peach vodka, I get pangs in my stomach.

I will forever associate Michael Phelps winning the gold medals with cuddling on her lumpy, creaky bed. The turquoise lingerie she had. The smell of her neck. The magnets from New York on her fridge.

The way she angrily compared her co-workers to pieces of fruit: one was a pear. Now, I can't eat pears. I'm wrecked whenever I think of any of these things.”

Writing Prompt: Make a list of five very intense emotional moments that you associate with significant relationships from your past. Add a sensory detail (smell, taste, touch, sound, sight) to each moment. Pick your favorite and write about it for ten minutes.

Writing Pad Nature Walk

By Amy Robinson

Sunday, April 19th was a perfect day to mix my loves of hiking, writing, and eating at the Writing Pad Nature Walk class. At 10 a.m., a merry band of ten Writing Pad students gathered at Temescal Canyon Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades, an oasis of nature in our bustling city.


Marilyn, ever the gourmet food pusher, handed out delicious, freshly baked carrot/coconut muffins whipped up by Adel Aschenbrener, Writing Pad’s culinary genius. The muffins were a good energy boost for the two mile round trip hike in front of us. As the sun climbed, so did we. I told the group to keep all of their senses open; to pay attention to the sights, sounds, smells and touches of nature around us. I noticed the sweet scent of cedar rising from the trees, and I felt the sun’s heat sear my shoulders. Several fat lizards popped out into our path, offering themselves as fodder for future journal entries.


Pausing for a breath about ¾ of a mile in, our little party of explorers could see the Long Beach Peninsula through a crack between hills. It was a clear and gorgeous day, but it was the hottest April 19th in the past 35 years. We were all red-faced and sweaty.

Just when our quads and glutes started to burn, we reached our destination: the tiny waterfall and creek bed in the mountainside. Ready for a rest, we all perched on some rocks and wrote again. The water burbled, the shade dappled and small creek flies tried to take refuge up my nose. It was a very peaceful scene of 10 writers bent over journals, letting their imaginations meander over hill and dale of the Santa Monica mountain range.


After we completed our hike, we spread out picnic blankets under sweet shade in a quiet corner of the lower park. We feasted on Adel’s amazing, flavorful quinoa and kale salad and a scrumptious assortment of local and organic cheeses from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills (including creamy goat cheese from a Paso Robles farm packed in its own bamboo cheese skirt (held by Marilyn below) and a nutty, mild Petit Basque from France).

We sipped on some Moroccan Vanilla iced tea and wrapped up the class with Adel’s killer brownies and one last free-write. One of my writing prompts was to invent a natural phenomena, give it a name, and describe how it occurs. Although Writing Pad confidentiality rules do not allow me to reveal the hilarious and fantastic stories that our class participants wrote, I will tell you that I wrote about a special wind that magically removed cellulite (picture a group of naked women standing on the beach, waiting for a storm to smooth thighs and bellies). Marilyn wrote about a penis rainstorm in the finance department of the large media corporation that she works at.

Everyone left the class rested from a healthy jaunt in nature and a brief respite from the noises and stresses of city life. I can’t wait for our next adventure hike (and more of Adel’s brownies)!

For other fun and productive short classes check out Writing Pad's One Night Stands/One Day Classes. The food is always yummy, and you'll get a lot of writing done.

Writing Prompt: If you controlled the weather, what would you do? Start by making a list of 10 natural phenomena (rain, wind, hail, etc.). Then add your own special touch to your favorite 2 phenomena--invent something special that happens when it rains, hails, etc. (ex. a special wind that removes cellulite, a rainstorm of penises). Give it a your natural phenomena a name, and describe how it occurs. Write for 10 minutes!

So Cal Writer's Conference: Notes from "Triple G"

By Sophia Kercher

It is 8 a.m. on Saturday at the San Diego Crowne Plaza. The only time I’m ever up this early on the weekend is if I have a handsome cuddle-buddy next to me, but today I have a hot date with the Southern California Writer’s Conference (SCWC). I am here partially for an artist’s vacation, partially for self-development and partially to promote Writing Pad.

I throw on my oversized LA sunglasses and my Writing Pad tee. Add a cream colored silk scarf for extra flair and lend a hand to Marilyn. After passing out triple ginger mini-biscotti to fellow scribes at the Writing Pad table, I’m ready to hit the publishing short fiction seminar.

At this conference, I talk with other cool writers, agents and editors. I learn about the challenges of the publishing world in panels and seminars. Conference directors Michael Steven Gregory (with beard, below) Wes Albers (with glasses, below) and keep the weekend friendly and palatable, making the daunting idea of getting published seem very doable. The teddy bear sweet Albers, a cop who writes crime novels, and Gregory, a screenwriter who knows how to both party hardy and throw a conference, encourage mingling and fun. The seminars are intimate and informative.

As the weekend continues I fall in love with writing, over and over again. It is Valentine's Day Weekend after all. My heart becomes full as I complete a poem in Ed Decker’s “Poetry Cram” class. Ed is a bad ass poet/bartender and columnist for San Diego City Beat. He pushes us to consider poetry from different angles and squash the sap in our verse. Things nearly get romantic at 11 p.m. where Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days, leads a “Rogue Writing Workshop.” At the workshop, I get terrific feedback on my fiction from Judy and the ladies in the picture below. We feel alive by sharing our words and make a plan to meet again outside the conference.

And what would a hot date be without nerves? My palms start sweating in the magazine writing workshop where the easy-on-the-eyes Troy Johnson (Senior Editor of Rivera Magazine) leads an encouraging seminar, his dark eyes twinkling. My new Santa Monica bud Linda is also taken. At the end of Troy’s class, she goes up to him and says, “You are just delicious!”

SCWC continues to surprise me. Over nibbles of my 10th triple ginger biscotti of the weekend, I also meet a cute T-shirt maker/novelist named Michael (below) who has just moved to San Gabriel. Marilyn calls him “San Gabriel” every time he stops by the Writing Pad table so he gives both of us rapper names to equal his. Marilyn is christened “Biscotti” for her cookie-pushing ways, and I become the eyebrow-raising “Triple G” (that’s for Triple Ginger! Don’t get any ideas now).

So will we be back in the fall for date number two, a Los Angeles version of this conference? Yes, indeed. As Marilyn says, “The conference is super professional, an amazing deal for the moolah and chock full of Pu Pu platter goodness. Why would any writer or person aspiring to be published not want to go? It's so much fun and so productive!"

Join Writing Pad at the Southern California Writer’s Conference on September 25-27 located at the Crown Plaza Irvine! For more info., go to www.writersconference.com/. Word is the Los Angeles conference is much bigger than its San Diego counterpart. All Writing Pad students will get a special discount.

Tip: We recommend staying at the hotel, the conference is located in Irvine. After a day of knock-out workshops and read/critiques that go past midnight, you’ll want to either sink into a pillow, a couple glasses of wine, or both.