Culture
The Rarest and Weirdest Finds at ‘Rare Books L.A.’
From the first 40 unscratched lottery tickets in California holding potential 1980s fortune to the original "Anarchist Cookbook" pulled from a garage of spiritual texts, this year's fair was a cabinet of curiosities.
L.A.’s Kink Pros Are Paying Their Bills and Letting Loose with Leashes, Fire, and Blood
Things get pretty messy in L.A. after sunset. Nonbinary nightlife performer La Frida Lokah said, “The audience wants to watch you explore yourself. It’s the ‘I want to see you watching me, watching you.’” Rubber Bunny, a Latina latex specialist and mother of one said, “ … this isn't something that we're getting white washed out of.”
Why Are My Favorite Punk Bands Playing a Trump Supporter’s Festival? Why I’m Boycotting ‘Punk in the Park’
The 'Punk in the Park' ethical dilemma: When punk's anti-establishment spirit funds a Trump supporter amid a Trump-sponsored ICE siege of Los Angeles and terrorizing of immigrant Brown communities.
L.A. TACO Mix Series: Bianca Oblivion
The latest installment of the L.A. TACO Mix Series comes from Bianca Oblivion, a DJ, producer, and cultural organizer who has become one of Los Angeles’ most visible links between the L.A. underground and the global club circuit.
A Whittier Paradise for Vintage Cookware Nerds
There are antique shops all over Whittier, but as far as anyone can tell, this is the only vintage kitchen supply shop in Los Angeles County.
Revisiting the Urban (L.A.) Dystopia of SE7EN, 30 Years Later
The classic neo-noir psychological horror thriller "SE7EN" wasn't filmed in New York or a nameless city—it was shot in a dystopian version of 1990s downtown L.A. Here's how they hid the sun and palm trees to create a masterpiece.
The Complicated Relationship Between Chicano Identity and Mexican Cultural Appropriation
Not all Chicanos appropriate Mexican Culture, but they're more at risk of slipping into it. Beyond the social media apology lies a deeper betrayal: how the journey of huaraches and mezcal from symbols of poverty to luxury items reveals our own community's internalized anti-Indigeneity.
Let There Be GWAR: The ‘Scumdogs of the Universe’ Invade Beyond The Streets for Massive Career Retrospective
40 years' worth of costumes and props, tour flyers, posters, comics, original illustrations, group photos, intergalactic phalluses and more at L.A.'s showcase of immersive exhibits.
‘Music Is Beyond Politics:’ Q&A With Li Saumet and Alberto Montenegro of ASTROPICAL
"We need good people and musicians just have to be unique and be true to themselves," says singer Li Saumet. "Not the best, not perfect, but simply be who they are so that music can continue to create the impact it engenders."
With Film Production Down, Is the Sun Setting on the Hollywood Dream?
In the past five years, the whirlwind effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2008 and 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes, the advent of AI, and productions filming outside of California and the greater U.S. have meant that the glamorous “Hollywood” industry has become more of an ideal rather than a physical setting.
