A GRAND NEW NYE CELEBRATION IN LOS ANGELES

The new Grand Park downtown will host a free New Year’s Eve celebration with performances, art installations, and large-scale animated projections this year. The four block long park is located between City Hall and the Music Center. For families that don't want to stay up until midnight, there will be a live feed of the Times Square Ball Drop at 9pm. 

3-D PROJECTIONS (covering 22 floors on City Hall) / PHOTO BOOTH & PROJECTIONS (create a memory and share your wish for the New Year 100ft above Grand Park) / FACE PAINTING (join the tribe of LA with Tribal Markers) / ART INSTALLATIONS BY Charles Baker, Geoff McFetridge and Mike Murphy / HOSTED BY Azul 213* Amaral / Sisanie (KIIS – FM) / FOOD TRUCKS OPEN  (Street Kitchen, Lobos Truck, The Schmuck Truck, No Jodas Kitchen, Hurricane Kitchen, Mangia Ristorante on Wheels, India Jones, Grilled Cheese Truck, The Surfer Taco, Crepe’n Around, Berlin Famous Sausage, Kabob Express,Firehouse Chefs, Cousins Maine Lobster, Paradise Cookies, Ela Brew, Sweet E’s Bake Shop) / CASH BAR (no outside alcohol permitted in the Park, last call at 11:30PM) / STARBUCKS OPEN.

Go Metro - rides will be free 9pm - 2am and there will be service all night. Take the Red Line to the Grand Park/Civic Center station.

MORE INFORMATION: grandparkla.org

Eyestrology - By Cici Psy-Chic

Capricorn 12/22/13-01/20/14

Happy birthday to these celebrity December Capricorns: Jordin Sparks (12/22), Eddie Vedder (12/23), Ryan Seacrest (12/24), Annie Lennox (12/25), Jared Leto (12/26), Hayley Williams (12/27), Stan Lee (12/28), Jude Law (12/29), Tiger Woods (12/30), Anthony Hopkins (12/31)

Celebrity January Capricorns: Verne Mini-Me Troyer (1/1), Tia Carrere (1/2), Mel Gibson (1/3), Michael Stipe (1/4), Bradley Cooper (1/5), Rowan Atkinson (1/6), Nicolas Cage (1/7), R. Kelly (1/8), Kate Middleton (1/9), Pat Benatar (1/10), Mary J. Blige (1/11), Howard Stern (1/12), Orlando Bloom (1/13), LL Cool J (1/14), Armando Perez (1/15), Kate Moss (1/16), Betty White (1/17), Jason Segel (1/18), Dolly Parton (1/19), Edwin Buzz Aldrin (1/20)

This month will be extremely social for most signs but it also means our dealing with crowds, traffic and strangers during the holiday season. Remember everyone is trying to get somewhere too. We should exercise good manners and civility to keep things moving along merry and bright. It's a season for goodwill towards men so take this spirit out wherever you go. Engage but also be willing to acquiesce to others. New Year's brings a sense of unity and reflection. Instead of concentrating on what you want to do, consider just how much was done in 2013.

Read the full scope for Capricorn and other signs...

Richard Niederberg’s 54-Year Perfect Attendance to the L.A. Holiday Celebration

54 years is long enough to call anything a tradition. Just ask entertainment attorney Richard Niederberg, a longtime Studio City resident and Chair of Cultural Affairs for the Neighborhood Council on his spotless record of having attended every Holiday Celebration since the age of six. While he may not have set out to start a tradition when he first rode the bus by himself in 1959 to the LA Sports Arena (where the show was originally held), over time he simply kept going, witnessing the major changes along the way such as the move to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, advances in technology and the show's original twelve hour duration brought down to three. 

A fixture at the Holiday Celebration, Niederberg is a sort of talisman for the producers. His familiar face can be seen sitting in the second row directly behind the stage manager...

INSIDE, OUTSIDE, UNDERGROUND ART ON THE EASTSIDE by Andrea Kirk

The Cypress Village Tunnel in Highland Park, one of many pedestrian underpasses throughout the L.A. area that were deemed dangerous decades ago by the city and so locked up for decades, has a new life thanks to some creative community effort. It has become an underground art gallery. I went to see this public art space as it was preparing for this Saturday's opening reception for a new exhibition featuring Shepard Fairey posters along with other art lining the walls of the 100 foot long tunnel and was greeted by Luna George (the project manager) and SEL(one of the artists) who were busy preparing the new exhibit.

'TIS THE SEASON TO TWINKLE

This time of the year is alight with all that is twinkly and bright. Here are a few of our favorite places to go and bask in all that glorious glow from Downtown L.A. to Orange County and from socal harbors and marinas to parks and other public spaces. 

DOWNTOWN L.A. - Union Station to South Park.

El Pueblo & Olvera Street are always colorful and festive places to go. At this time of the year you'll find Las Posadas and fun shopping on Olvera Street. Go Metro to Union Station and walk across the street to El Pueblo...

THE HOLIDAYS GLITTER AT LOCAL MARINAS AND HARBORS

From Ventura to Orange County the coastal waters are glowing with holiday spirit during the month of December. Most harbors and marinas have a decked out holiday boat parade on one of the weekends during the month. Newport Beach takes the parade to another level that lasts for 5 nights. Many of the harbors also offer boat tours of the decorated homes and boats throughout the month or you can go there and hoof it around the area. On parade nights you'll want to go early to find a good spot to view from the shore. 

Details and dates...

CAN BAKING CURE DEPRESSION?

Local bakers and artists will donate baked goods and holiday gifts to raise money and awareness about mental health. Proceeds go to the St. Joseph Center in Venice, CA and NAMI Westside, the Los Angeles chapter. 

Bakers – many who use baking to manage their own mental illness and joy – find creative ways to visually represent what it means to them.

The Depressed Cake Shop is a pop-up bakery selling gray-color themed cakes and baked goods that powerfully demonstrate the effects of depression. Pops of color remind us that mental illness is a cloud that can lift with the proper treatment, increased conversation and understanding. 

Proceeds from each shop directly benefit a mental health charity. The phenomenon swept England and made its Los Angles debut in August. It has also popped up in Houston, Seattle, Glasgow, Bangalore, India and Montreal.

The Holiday Edition will sell cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, whole cakes, macaroons and other surprises.

6 to 9 PM – Friday, December 13
10 AM until the last cake is sold – Saturday, December 14

The Depressed Cake Shop Los Angeles at the St. Joseph Center:
204 Hampton Drive Venice, CA 90291 - Corner of Hampton and Ashland / One block east of Main Street

For more information, please visit: www.depressedcakeshop.com.

Annual Venice Boat Parade Saturday Dec. 7th

The parade starts at 6pm just north of the Albee Rd Bridge, there are public areas at the start and down the parade route for a ways and across the water are restaurants.

The parade continues down the Intracoastal waterway and out the jetty as far as land on the south side. There is viewing on both sides of the jetties in this area.There is also a restaurant to the east on the Venice side, and if you come by boat there are plenty of spots along the way to drop anchor.

As it goes down the Intracoastal the next large area for public viewing is on both sides of the Intracoastal which is known as the Venetian Waterway Trail.

www.venicechristmasboatparade.com

Four Clowns Jr. Proves Clowning Around is Cool - by M.R. Hunter

There's been an explosion of children's theater in Los Angeles the last couple of years. Live shows geared for younger audiences, costume-encouraged fairy hunts and theater productions labeled "family-friendly" are proving to be as successful if not more as the avant-garde scene. Kids are now being tapped as the new demographic in an art form that is reinventing itself. The challenge then is to create children's theater that doesn't play down to its knee high audience member, but to inspire, inform, entertain and provide a safe and imaginative environment.

Artistic director of Four Clowns, Jeremy Aluma, is intent on clowning around and playing up to younger audiences with his company's children's theater branch, Four Clowns Jr.. It's already been a fantastic journey for Aluma as he studied Clown first at Cal State University in Long Beach and later with David Bridel. It was in Bridel's class, Aluma found the inspiration to create the hit show "Four Clowns" which premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and went on to play at Sacred Fools and other venues. Being a clown is no funny business for Aluma who takes clowning seriously and has created a vital new company with a variety of adult shows receiving critical and popular acclaim both locally and across the country.

The Velaslavasay Panorama in December: Les Soviets Plus L’Électricité & Bread + Puppet

Sunday 8 December 2013, 6:30pm, The Velaslavasay Panorama

FilmForum LA Presents Nicolas Rey's 15mm 1999 Film Les Soviets Plus l'Électricité

Wandering through Russia as if through someone else's house. A cintetrip from Russia to Magadan, a city of deportation. Based on excerpts from Rey's acoustic diary, documentary footage, and autobiographical insights, the roving reporter searches for imaginary roots and their historical implications.

This presentation is part of a touring exhibition of critically acclaimed French experimental filmmaker Nicolas Rey, with 10 other universities and media centers in the United States, supported in part by a grant from Cine2000, a program of FACE. Nicolas Rey will appear in person for this Los Angeles premiere.

To Reserve Tickets
For More Information
    

Universal CityWalk Tree Lighting/Tamar Braxton Concert--12/5

Singer, songwriter, producer and star of the hit TV show "Braxton Family Values" and "Tamar & Vince," Tamar Braxton will join with Santa Clause and kids from L.A .Family Housing to illuminate Universal CityWalk's towering Christmas tree to mark the start of the spirited holiday season.
 
Ms. Braxton will kick off the festivities with a free performance of songs from her album "Love and War" and her holiday album, "Winter Loversland."
 
Following the tree lighting and performance, Tamar Braxton will meet fans and signs copies of CDs at "5 Tower." (Open to first 200 guests who purchase a CD.)
 
Throughout CityWalk's holiday festivities, "5 Towers" will have free concerts, and hourly snowfall at Santa's Snow Zone, where guests can take photos with Kris Kringle aboard his giant sleigh. Event dates are Nov. 29 to Dec. 31, 2013. More info. at www.CityWalkHollywood.com.
 
"5 Towers" on CityWalk is located in front of the Cinemas.
100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608
 
Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 5:30 p.m.

Free Winter Concert Series for the holidays at Pershing Square. New deejays Friday nights

It's time for "glide in" music at the Downtown on Ice holiday skating rink.  The stage is adjacent to the ice rink that is now open everyday through January 20^th at Pershing Square.

"Spinning" without skates, deejays Cody Nadeau and Cameron Trowbridge of BRKLYN will host Club Nights every Friday in December from 8:00pm to 11:00pm with an electronica groove. (http://soundcloud.com/brklynmusic)

Framed by towering skyscrapers and  historic landmarks, this spacious rink is certainly the most beautiful in the city. This season there is no doubt a rink close to wherever you live, but this is worth going to just to absorb the atmosphere. You can get there easily without the traffic and parking  hassels - go Metro to the Pershing Square Red Line Station.