Native Intelligence

Take My Picture Gary Leonard is a regular Thursday feature of LA Observed.

What are we doing with our dishes turned upside down when it's raining money in LA? And note to surfers: you may want to forego those awesome storm-driven waves this week if you don't want to end up with a nasty stomach bug from the crap the rain washed into the ocean.

Is there anyone else you would rather introduce the year's film schedule with some dress and dining options? We didn't think so.

Gary observes paving of the new northbound carpool lane on the San Diego Freeway.

Donna Perlmutter puts out the call to LA Opera and the Philharmonic -- in rare events both. As for Benjamin Millepied's dance project at the Ace Hotel, it "registered weakly if at all."

Don Shirley takes in five local plays, from the savagely funny "Tartuffe" at A Noise Within to a Long Beach production of "The Music Man" and a Civil War-era Passover seder.

Or you can make your headquarters an OMG! building (Platinum), and follow in the footsteps of such leading eco-conscious companies as BP, Exxon, BASF (the world's largest chemical company), McDonald's, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America.

The Olympics are over. Baseball is still a ways off But when Ron Rapoport covered sports for the LA Times, the paper didn't bother going on road trips with the Lakers.

Dwyre was the newly installed sports editor of the Los Angeles Times when he felt he should ask the boss if it was OK to send Jim Murray to cover the British Open. The answer told him all he needed to know about the LAT then.

The talk was billed as "L.A. Stories: Gary Snyder." And it brought a crowd to the LA Public Library late Friday afternoon to hear the grand old man of the Beat generation. But the real showstopper was our own Lewis MacAdams, the poet laureate of the LA River.

Chado is the doyenne of the Southern California skating scene. She started taking lessons at age 7 at the Ice Palace in Westwood, then at the legendary Polar Palace in Hollywood. She became the first Latina to represent the U.S. at the Winter Olympics. (In Sochi, she loved Italian Carolina Kostner.) Since 1969, Chado has taught at the Culver Ice Arena.

Phil Wallace comments on the demise of Chivas USA, the Lakers at the trade deadline, and the Dodgers and Angels in spring training.

William Mitchell was an artist and illustrator and a familiar figure in Downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District.

The last thing you want in your town is terrorism, so the first thing you want is to be prepared.

Sex, basketball and cheerleaders: Two productions that opened over the weekend share these topics. Plus: Nyet on 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.'

The mayor and LA Times architecture and urban design critic Christopher Hawthorne shared their visions for LA in a conversation at Occidental College. It was a valentine to a city that could win our hearts in time.

A new zoo TV channel at Children's Hospital LA is part of the healing process.

Ferrari in love on a warm Valentine's Day.

Take My Picture Gary Leonard appears on Thursdays at LA Observed.

Ry Cooder was at The Echo last night, backing for Juliette Commagere (his daughter-in-law) on the slide guitar. The show was a free event.

Cities are where it's at for action on climate change. LA's sustainability czar just got back from a global summit of cities in Johannesburg. And an Obama task force is coming to LA this week. The message from cities? "Get out of the way." And, oh, yeah, "send money, please."

These are the first LA Observed reviews by Don Shirley, the former theater columnist and reporter for LA Stage Times, the Los Angeles Times, CityBeat and KCRW. His reviews will appear here regularly.

Bruce Lisker has spent much of his life waiting. At 17, accused of murdering his mother, he waited for his trial to begin. Now after 26 years in prison, he is building a married life and still waiting.

Donna Perlmutter on some recent dance and music performances in Los Angeles.

For a zoological veterinarian, the range of patients spans aardvarks to zebras.