October 23, 2015


Visit our Halloween & Fall Festivities Event Guide for all of this season's spooktacular events like (and the list below is just the tip of the jack o' lantern candle):
  • Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns at Descanso Gardens and Santa Anita through the end of the month. We thought this looked like a good bet, so Eye Spy LA went last weekend and we were not disappointed. This isn't a scary event but it is dark and spooktacular fun for the entire family.
  • Ride the Pumpkin Train at the Railway Museum in Perris.
  • Saturday head to a Haunted Hoedown in the Silverlake area for an afternoon Halloween festival.
  • This weekend and next weekend head to the westside for fun and games at the LA Harvest Festivals.
  • Old Pasadena will offer frightful fun at their Halloween Celebrations both this weekend and next with pumpkin decorating, trick or treating and other activities.
  • Frightful fun is waiting for you at the annual Trick or Treat Festival and Halloween Hearse Show in Orange County on Sunday.
Prepare to be scared check out our annual Halloween Horrors Survival Guide for some of the frightful places we've been and lived to tell about.

OTHER FUN STUFF:
  • Grand Ave Arts: All Access Showcase - your chance for free samples of the world class arts and cultural offerings available in the area including some behind the scenes tours.
  • Every Angeleno Counts 5k and festival Saturday features a run/walk, arts, crafts and Homegirl tacos.
  • Spend Saturday at RecFest 2015 learning about all the fun stuff there is to do in the Santa Monica Mountains at Paramount Ranch.
  • Outdoor Vintage Markets on Sunday: Topanga Vintage Market at Pierce College, The Torrance Antique Street Faire and the Downtown Modernism Market.

Smoke and Mirrors Halloween
HALLOWEEN TICKET GIVEAWAY: Enter to win one of 5 pairs of tickets on Halloween weekend to see the hit magical show "Smoke and Mirrors" reopening at the Odyssey Theatre. Winners choice for either the Friday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m., Saturday Oct 31 for the kid-friendly 2 p.m. matinee or spooky 8 p.m. show. Smoke and Mirrors is a heartfelt drama featuring mind-bending magic, fantastical illusions and dazzling special effects. Created by and starring noted actor Albie Selznick (Castle, Gray's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Dexter) and magician (a lifetime member of Hollywood's Magic Castle), the hit show has was named "Critic's Choice" in the Los Angeles Times and a "GO!" in the LA Weekly. The spellbinding, semi-autobiographical coming of age story follows a boy who uses magic to escape reality after his father's death. Interweaving magic, humor and audience participation, themes of love, loss and facing fears are explored in this stylized production. Drop your name in the black top hat to win at eyespylareviews@gmail.com



WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO?
  • If you enjoy a day in the park you should check out the PARKS PAGE for special events and programs.
  • Visit the MUSEUM PAGE for special events at local museums.
  • Art buffs visit the ART PAGE for all kinds of art events and gallery openings.
  • Watch the FILM PAGE for classic and unusual film screenings.
  • You'll always find ways to tickle your funny bone on our COMEDY PAGE.
  • Use the TOUR PAGE as your guide to exploring our great city.
 
There is SO MUCH more of course on the EYE SPY LA CALENDAR.
 
PLAN AHEAD: Don't be disappointed. Many of the events we feature in our newsletter are small, unique and unusual - and often sold out by the time you read this. Eyespyla.com is updated daily go there anytime to explore and find out what's coming up so you don't miss out.  October and Halloween is in full swing.  You'll find a wide range spooky events on our annual Halloween Guide page that is updated daily.

SAVE $$$: Visit the Eye Spy LA DISCOUNT page for special discounts on local events and activities.

Have a wonderful weekend!
  
 

'Awake and Sing!': Still Going Strong by M.R. Hunter


  Awake and Sing!
 
It has been 80 years since the Group Theatre premiered Clifford Odets' first full-length play, 'Awake and Sing!,' a family drama set in a Bronx apartment during the Great Depression. The critical success in 1935 bolstered both the playwright and the company's reputation for creating socially conscious, character driven works under the then nouveau Stanislavski method of acting. Although the Group Theatre lasted only a decade and later Odets would eventually stand trial at the HCUA (House Committee on Un-American Activities) for joining the Communist party, tarnishing his standing among Hollywood's elite, (many of these former members of the Group Theatre), Odets' 'Awake and Sing!' has remained in the repertoire of great American plays.

In Los Angeles, another milestone has passed, and with it, a revival of not only Odets' gripping tragicomedy, but of director Elina de Santos and many of the original cast members themselves in the 20th anniversary of the smash hit production at the Odyssey. From this original staging two artists stood out, cementing their own reputations in L.A.: de Santos and Marilyn Fox, esteemed actress and Artistic Director of Pacific Coast Repertory in Venice. It seems for anyone with the right vision and chutzpah, Odets, (buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale), is a career-maker all these years later...



 

Disneyland Double Exposed, 1961 by Charles Phoenix


  Disneyland Double 
 
Dapper Day is my faaave day of the year to experience Disneyland. It's the day everybody dresses up in their beautiful best and struts their stuff in the original Magic Kingdom and California Adventure!
 
Sleeping Beauty's Castle is slightly double exposed on the House of the Future. Its medieval meets mid-century! Medievalism and modernism have never been so close. For a mere, but marvelous ten years, between 1957 and 1967, Disneyland's legendary all-plastic House of the Future was just outside of Tomorrowland, perched on a pedestal, steps from the castle. They both represent fairy tales - one speaks of the future and the other of the past.
 
But who is supposed to be posing for this pic? Is it the twins wearing matching puffed-sleeved-pinafore party dresses over white bobby socks and black patent leather? Or is it the woman who wears sensible yet stylish shoes and her two followers, whose stride seems clearly interrupted?...

 

 

Eyestrology: Happy Birthday Libra by Cici Psy-Chic


Frotune Teller For the month of 9/23/15-10/23/15

Happy birthday to these celebrity October Librans: Julie Andrews (10/1), Sting (10/2), Gwen Stefani (10/3), Russell Simmons (10/4), Kate Winslet (10/5), Amy Jo Johnson (10/6), Simon Cowell (10/7), Bruno Mars (10/8), Tyler James Williams (10/9), Mario Lopez (10/10), Emily Deschanel (10/11), Hugh Jackman (10/12), Ashanti (10/13), Usher (10/14), Tito Jackson (10/15), John Mayer (10/16), Eminem (10/17), Zac Efron (10/18), Floyd Mayweather Sr. (10/19), Snoop Dogg (10/20), Kim Kardashian (10/21), Christopher Lloyd (10/22), Ryan Reynolds (10/23)

Mercury is almost out of retrograde, but don't celebrate too much just yet. This is still an excellent period for us to be pragmatic in our choices. Make sure to have as much information as possible before committing to anything through Oct. 9. Avoid any legal entanglements. We should be aware of our emotions and how we respond to others. Our feelings can guide us to what we most desire or what we no longer need. Pay attention to communications, and ask questions if anything is unclear. We should remain vigilant about our mercurial mood swings.

  


ABOUT EYE SPY LA
 

Eye Spy LA has been the online Local's Guide to L.A. since 2003. Content is written, edited and maintained by locals and focuses on local and nearby events and the local creative community.

 

Editorial policy: Eye Spy LA editorials are stories written about places, entertainment and events that we go to. The opinions are those of our editorial staff and the writer of the piece. Calendar listings are ads posted by the people producing events and activities in the local area. Each week we pick and recommend events and other things to do based on our experience or sometimes because they look particularly unusual, unique or in some other way interesting. We do not recommend them based on any fees they may or may not have paid us for advertising.

 

You'll always find the latest events & activities plus commentary about where we've been at eyespyLA.com - updated daily. 

 

Andrea Kirk, publisher (editor@eyespyLA.com)

 

Eye Spy L.A. EYE SPY LA CONTRIBUTORS:

 

M.R. Hunter - editorial and reviews

Mark Share - reviews

Kelly Hargraves - dance and reviews

Leena Deneroff - food adventures

Charles Phoenix - retro slide of the week