Caroline Ryder on LA life, journalism, and Silver Lake

about the traffic in Los Angeles, it says something that local officials warned motorists about a temporary roadwork closure on the 405 last year by calling it Carmageddon. Angelenos took the hint, and this weekend, they're expected to steer clear of the latest 405 closure, named, of course, Carmageddon 2. That's how it is in L.A., a snarl of overstuffed freeways and commuters who keep their cool, except when they don't. KPCC's Stephen Cuevas has this profile of a punk rocker whose music expresses the insanity of L.A. traffic while extolling the virtues of public transit. Couple of things you need to know about Eddie Solis. He lives in L.A., loves the band Kiss, and does not own a car. Being someone who's from L.A., born and raised, and, you know, having a few cars in my past, I saw the city much differently, through a different perspective, through the eyes of a bus rider. Come on, just all the way to the back. Line 18. Just steps from the front door of his home, across the street from a tortilla factory in L.A.'s Boyle Heights neighborhood, Solis catches a bus that connects him with the city's subway, and the commuter train he catches to his day job at an indie record label in Hollywood. It just opened me up to, like, little neighborhoods, galleries, clubs, bars, just everything. Just seeing what's out there, little pockets of the city. Solis's journeys aboard L.A. bus, buses, and subway cars, informs a lot of the material on The New Los Angeles Part 1, Through the Eyes of a Bus Rider, the latest release by the singer-guitarist band It's Casual. The New Los Angeles No one has learned much In Solis's vision of a new Los Angeles, people abandon their cars, climb aboard public transit, and rediscover their communities. One song, that stoles the virtues of the L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Agency's E-ZPass, and the urban underbelly it introduces to the rider. And that's, like, a nod and homage to, you know, the people who know what you can even go cheaper, and really beat the system, and really steer away from spending money on gas and oil profits and all that. It's all it takes for me to witness racial tension, for me to witness illegal aliens, and to see what's going on in the world. It's not to paint a negative picture, it's just my perspective of what is seen. E-ZPass! E-ZPass! E-ZPass! E-ZPass! E-ZPass! Off the bus and back on the street, we make our way past a jazz saxophonist playing for pocket change, and down a long escalator to catch a train. So, where are we now? We're at the Red Line Station, the Pershing Square Station in downtown L.A. And what's our train number? And what's our train number? We're going to go downstairs another tier, and in about five minutes we're going to get on the Red Line going northbound. Okay, let's go. The Metro Red Line snakes from North Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles. It's the train that inspired its casuals signature tune, and spawned a viral internet video. It was partly filmed late at night on a moving train, as it hurtles from station to station. Solis thrashes away on his guitar and barks the lyrics, which celebrate the Red Line and call out the congested freeways that coil around Los Angeles. This is a Metro Red Line train to North Hollywood. The 210, the 605, the freeways are not so nice. The I-5, the 210, the freeways are not so nice. The thread that comes out of the record that ties everyone together is just like, be alive, don't be a victim of having a car. The 210, the red line, the Metro Red Line, the 210, the 605, the freeways are not so nice. The I-5, the I-10, the freeways are not so nice. The red line, the red line. An MTA spokesman said he couldn't comment on Eddie Solis' furious pro-Metro message, but the red line video was a hit at the offices of Move LA. Eddie's done a good job. Thank you, Eddie. It's the public transportation network. Thank you, Eddie. It's the public transportation advocacy group headed by former Santa Monica mayor Denny Zane. He liked the juxtaposition of Solis blissfully riding LA public transit in one scene with scenes of the band raging against those notorious freeway jams. Eddie is all frantic when he talks about highways and so mellow when he's like grooving on a skateboard and on the bus and on the red line. There's a metaphor for the transformation, you know, from the, oh my God, I just got to get out of the traffic to, hey, this is cool. I can mellow out. Or you can blast the tune like too many people as you claw your way across Los Angeles by car, bus or skateboard. Los Angeles There's too many people I want them to go away Even though it may take some time Too many people could also be a motto for its campaign. And it's not just casual. Over the years, the band whittled itself down to a power duo of Solis and a rotating cast of drummers. So you may think the burly bearded punk rocker just can't get along with freeways, with people or his native LA. Not true. I love it. I love everything about it. I've traveled throughout the US many times and I could never look forward enough to coming back. The weather, the different cultures, the landscape. I was just like, you know what? Now I know why everyone moves to LA. I'm just like, I'm just going to go to LA. Solis will bring the love and the volume. During a Red Line mini tour next month, its casual will play a different venue within walking distance of several Red Line metro stops from Union Station to West Hollywood. For the California Report, I'm Stephen Cuevas. I was my driver last night and I'm going to be your host for this week's edition of KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. And that's the California Report, a production of KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. Our director this week is Nina Thorson. Ciel Muller is our technical producer. We had additional engineering from Danny Bringer and Howard Gelman. Thanks to Hank Hadley at KCBX. Our online team includes Lisa Pickoff-White, David Marks and Don Clyde. Our interns are Katherine Borgeson and Rachel Johnson. Our elections editor with production help from Tina Lauberberg. We had editing support from Paul Rogers. Victoria Malione is our associate senior producer. Ingrid Becker is our senior producer. The news director is Bruce Kuhn. I'm Rachel Miro. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. This is the California Report. Funds for the California Report are provided by the James Irvine Foundation, expanding opportunity for the people of California and supporting the California Report since its premiere in 1995. And the California Endowment, health happens in schools, at CalEndow.org. And Chevron, investing in renewables, strengthening communities and creating jobs. More information at Chevron.com. The 210, the 605, the freeways are not so nice. The US 05 are not so nice. The I-5, the 210, the freeways are not so nice. The 101, the 405, the freeways are not so nice. The I-5, the I-10, the freeways are not so nice. The 210, the 605, the freeways are not so nice. I-5, the I-10, the freeways are not so nice. The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line Between 10 to 6 or 5 The freeways are not so nice The I-5, the I-10 The freeways are not so nice The 101, the 405 The freeways are not so nice The 605, the 101 The 101, the 101 The I-10, the 210 The 605, the 101 The 405, the I-10 The freeways are not so nice The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line The red line Welcome to Los Angeles Nista episode 117. I am the show creator, producer, and host Edward Solis. Tonight is a Silver Lake episode. And our in-studio guest is Caroline Ryder. How are you, Caroline? What's up, Edward? A lot. 117th episode here. We've all been working hard, really excited to dig into it. You have a lot of experience in your professional life, you know, journalist, and involved in a lot of books as well. Before we get into your professional world, I want to speak about your backstory. You came to L.A. in 2004 from London. That's right, yeah. So basically, I met a gentleman, an American gentleman in London, and we became friends. And he invited me to do a road trip across America. So we started on the East Coast and made our way through the entire United States pretty much. I loved it. Fell in love with New Orleans and kind of wanted to stay there. And then he said, no, no, no, we need to get back to L.A. That's where he had been living. And I got to L.A. And then I really fell in love with L.A. And I just knew I had to stay. I didn't have a visa. I didn't have a plan. I didn't know a soul. And all I had was my writing experience in London and some entertainment experience. I'd worked at MTV and some record labels. And I'd been working at local newspapers, learning how to write, and then bigger newspapers. And I just really... I was embraced by L.A. And everything fell into place. I had some really whacked out experiences, weird Craigslist jobs. And then everything sort of started changing when I started working with Shepard Fairey, who had just started his magazine, Swindle. Wow. And that brought about a lot of opportunities and enabled me to connect with this incredible creative community in L.A. At the same time, I was starting to write for the L.A. Weekly. Right. So those two things really opened up the city to me and made me feel like I was a part of it. Very well done. When you were at MTV, that was back in London? Yeah. What did you do there? I was a production management intern. And I was there for six months. They were actually paid internships, if I recall. I think I got paid 150 pounds a week. And I really thought I could live off that and pay rent. And I didn't work out. Yeah, I didn't work out that way. But I had some... I had some really fun experiences with some great bands that were coming in. I remember Chris Cornell came in one time and I was just dying. And the Charlatans came in. All these cool... It was like 2000, 2001. And I was just completely starstruck most of the time. Wow. So I have this theory that people that are not from Los Angeles, such as yourself, when you come here, the geography... And the weather doesn't let you down. But the people do. Does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, it's tough because like I said, yeah, the geography, it's a beautiful... Beautiful place. I think a lot of people don't realize how beautiful it is until they start living here, you know, with Griffith Park and then the ocean. All the Pacific Ocean up in the middle of the coast. And the desert's really not too far away. But it can take time to find your sort of friends in LA because people are here generally for a reason. And they're driven and focused in their ambition. And also just the geography of the lay of the land can make it hard to just have those random interactions that make life in other cities a little more, at least, you know, filled with humanity. I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I suppose. And that's why I've made... I posted on my Facebook page today that I felt lonely. Right. And I was like, okay, well, I'm sure there's some insight we could get. We'll get to that. I mean, that's a true feeling. And you expressed your feeling. Yeah. I was kind of embarrassed because I think because I am British and have the stiff upper lip thing, I don't necessarily like to share that kind of emotion publicly. And, you know, I just don't really believe in TMI on Facebook. Right. But I just, yeah, I definitely was having a tough time of it. And I thought, well, I mean, I just wanted to express it. And it was amazing how many people responded. I think I have like 90 comments and counting from people either being supportive or sort of expressing a similar sentiment, sentiment about being here in L.A. and feeling lonely. I believe that there's a true aura that facilitates a certain type of loneliness that travels through the city. And people from all walks of life experience it because it's such a big city. A lot of people are here to focus on their career and are driven and are, you know, have a see a finish line and are trying to get to it. And you connect with all these people in these professional circles. Or artistic circles or any kind of circle. Before you know it, your reach is so far. And it's so easy to feel lonely. You know, so it's kind of an emotional thing. It could be very emotional because like, wow, like why do I feel lonely? I know all these people. It's because I think it's a process of constant sort of accrual. You're constantly accumulating friends and experiences and contacts and connections. And connections. And, and. Everyone is interesting and fascinating. And when you're in a city where everyone generally has something really interesting going on, you can kind of get lost in that. And everything becomes about what's next. And you have to work really hard to maintain friendships. That's what I found. You can't be lazy. And that's, I think, you know, I'm trying to own my own loneliness or my experience of it in the last few days at least. Because it's not a. It's not a constant feeling, but it's there. I'm trying to own it because maybe I'm not doing enough work. And I'm not, you know, I'm caught up in that cycle of meeting new people and, and working and hustling. And, and then you come home and you're like, huh, what, what did I, what did I really do today that feels real? And I think that's, that's the thing with LA. Like what is real and what isn't. And that's what makes it magical. You can get. Caught up in what isn't real. Right. With that and the beautiful landscape, the geography, all it's pretty, it's a pretty magical place. It's really magical. I would never, I would never entirely diss LA at all, but you've got to be a survivor. Right. Now let's talk about the first writing job you had in LA. Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. Well, the first, technically the first writing job I had was. It was a Craigslist gig that enabled me to get a visa. Wow. Yeah, it was really cool. And it was with this wonderful gentleman called Jeff Hall, who I'm still friends with. And it was a great supporter and a father figure. And he had a bunch of magazines on the West side in Bel Air and Brentwood. He was a publisher? He was a publisher. Oh, wow. Yeah. And he really liked my English accent. And he pretty much hired me on the basis of my accent. I was hopelessly under experienced, under qualified for the job, which was, he made me the editor of five magazines. I was 26 or 27. And I just started making it up as I went along, which I found to this day tends to work out. You learn as you go. You just do. You just dive in at the deep end. That's what everyone does. So I was having. a great time on the west side of LA meeting all these kind of west sidey people like Phyllis Diller. Phyllis Diller? Yeah, I went to her house and she played her piano to me. She gave me some underwear. She was really cool. She gave you underwear? Her underwear? Yeah, she did. I still have it. And then I met the mayor of LA, Richard Reardon, and he also played the piano for me and was a real character. And Carl Molden, who was the Oscar winning actor from On the Waterfront and these real legends and titans who had been working in Hollywood for a long time but still had this strong sense of community. The last of the Mohicans. The last of the west side Mohicans. Yeah, the Bel-Airs, the Beverly Hills. For real. It was a trip becoming immersed in that community, but because I came from this sort of I always had an interest in cutting edge underground arts, culture, film, music, you know. Unconventional work, right? More unconventional. Unconventional work. I mean, yeah, I just found myself wanting to become more involved with that world before I sort of settled into my old age in the west side, you know. I had a friend who was working with Shepard Fairey and Shepard was DJing at the Avalon in Hollywood and his DJ name was DJ Diabetic. And my friend said, you know, I'll introduce you to Shepard and he had this magazine, Swindle, and I went up to Shepard and told him that I wanted to write for his magazine and he sort of looked me in the eyes and said, can you write? And I said, yes, I can. And it really went from there. My first piece for Swindle was a big long form piece, a long feature about terrorist murals in Northern Ireland, in Belfast. And I really just dove straight in and got on the phone with some terrorists and made this piece and got some really, really cool photography and it ended up being the cover of the cover story for the next issue of Swindle. So that was really my first, the first piece that I felt connected to and proud of. And it all sort of snowballed from there. Now was Swindle monthly, quarterly? What was the deal with it? Swindle started out monthly, I believe. Oh no, it was quarterly. It was beautiful. They are collector's items now. They were beautifully designed. It was before Shepard had become involved with the Obama campaign. It was 2005 or 2004 or 5 when it started and he just brought together a lot of really wonderful artists, graphic designers and writers and just had everyone just give it their best shot and there was a really high production value. There were beautiful screen prints that came out. Nice stock paper. Gorgeous. I mean, if you can get your hands on some copies of Swindle, then you should because unfortunately it stopped being published when everything sort of went down the tubes when the recession hit. The economy. The economy. The economy made me do it. So the that was pretty much a year where you planted your feet in Los Angeles with professional writing. Yeah. I mean, the Bel Air guy. Now what was his umbrella called? It was called the Brentwood Media Group or West Side Today. I mean, it's just surreal looking back on it and I love it and one day I will write about that period of my life because I was fresh off the boat. I did not have a clue what was going on. FOB, dude. FOB. Seriously. So there was five publications that catered to different geographies. It was the Santa Monica Sun, the Bel Air View, the Brentwood News, the Beverly Hills 90210 and something else. And I remember it was hilarious because I was living in a pretty shitty apartment in Hollywood, which I loved because it was my first place by myself. And you liked it. I loved it. And so it would have these sort of really really fancy PR companies wanting to deliver product and champagne or whatever the hell. For the story you did, right? For the story or for, you know, just to so I could test their, you know, thousand dollar face cream or whatever. And they'd usually have it sort of biked over and or messengered in the car, you know, and the messengers would always look totally confused when they pulled up to this sort of very modest apartment building in the middle of Hollywood and I came down like, hey, what's up? You know? Yeah. You're like, huh? Well, so bougie. I mean, these people are, you know, are delivering their thousand dollar face cream so you could talk about it. Oh, hell yeah. In those magazines. Yeah, they were. And I always did a good job. I didn't mind writing for a bougie readership. That's totally fine. And that's part of L.A. You know, it's people here have taste for the finer things in life and I do too, you know. Sure. Quality of life. Nothing wrong with it. For sure. But like I say, you know, I just had this hunger and this passion for, you know, something else and I was very lucky to have met Shepard and the whole crew, the people in Swindle and Roger Gassman was the editor and he is, you know, to this day someone who I admire and respect and but really I'd say my writing chops and I've started to feel part of the L.A. writing community with my relationship with the L.A. Weekly. Sure. Which started my first story with them was in 2005 when they sent me to a historical reenactment in Long Beach where people sort of get dressed up in medieval costumes and do their thing and I happened to find stumble upon this guy who used to play bass in Wasp and he was wearing this gigantic, he was a winged hussar and winged hussars were these sort of warriors that would go out with giant angel wings to scare off the enemy and it was one of the trippiest things ever. I was like, so you were in Wasp but now you're a winged hussar. Let's talk. So that was my first article for the L.A. Weekly. That's great. Yeah, and Joe Donnelly was the editor there, the deputy editor at the time and I feel like I came in right when the L.A. Weekly was still able to devote a lot of real estate to longer form stories and there was more of a culture as was the case with all journalism. There was more of a culture of writing. There were more pages. People were reading. It was before the internet and blogging started and I was one of the first bloggers for the L.A. Weekly with their fashion blog, The Style Council. Right, right. Which was fun too. And you also, you did stuff for New York Magazine. Yeah, later in my career they, yeah, how did that happen? They just started writing me and inviting me to go to the fanciest parties in L.A. and I said, okay, I'll go. You know, like, oh, do you want to go to Harvey Weinstein's Oscars party? Okay. You know, so I would do stuff like that and you know, I don't know if I'm the best person in the world to do that kind of stuff just because I'm actually kind of shy and really bad at small talk. And I would just sort of wander around and be like, where's the champagne? And the last time I went to the HBO Emmy party, I think it was, and I brought a friend with me who knows everything about sort of celebrities and TV and entertainment and she really helped me out. She's my partner in crime for all those kinds of things now. Oh, really? That's cool. It's a duality. You gotta have, you know, that's reinforcement. I'm a writer. I'm in my head and I need someone who sort of keeps up with all the gossip to just inform me. So, some of the stories that stuck out was you know, the work you did, the interview you did with Tenacious D. Mmm, that was fun. That seemed like it would have been a lot of fun. Was that like a pretty memorable experience in your journalism life? There's so many memorable experiences but what I loved about that one was that they really just are Tenacious D. There's no, you know, they really, Jack Black really is Jack Black and my mind's blanking. What's the other guy called? We can do this. Trevor. Let's call him Trevor. Kyle Gass. Yeah, that's it. Why don't you get Trevor? Well, I don't follow Tenacious D much. Yeah, this was a couple years ago and they were just brilliant and hilarious and I met them at their rehearsal studio and we were riffing off of, you name it, you know, we were riffing off of, you name it, you know, we were talking about Jack Black's sort of closeted bisexuality. We were talking about Sabbath and the death of rock and how they're trying to revive it and how they had a huge penis on their stage for their for the tour that they were about to be doing. I don't know if you saw it. It was just like a huge cock and balls that sort of rises up. It was Rise of the Phoenix or something. Let's back up really quick. I had a question. So this, the Jack Black bisexuality, I had no idea that that even existed. I can't. Was it a rumor or was it? I think it was a rumor that we created within that interview. Those are the most magical ones when you just sort of. Oh, when you create a rumor. And someone is totally game for it. Yeah, I think, I mean, if we pull it up online, maybe we can refer to it and I can shout out, you know, pull out the exact the conversation as it went. But it was let me just say, I was just, it was one of the most entertaining experiences I've ever had as a journalist. For sure. I highly recommend it. To all journalists. To talk to Tenacious D. That's great. Now, how was the Snoop Dogg experience? That seemed like it was memorable and has a lot of finesse. Oh my God. Yeah, it was really funny. I felt like I manifested that because I just, I've always loved Snoop and and then I heard that he was playing Coachella and I was like, God, I gotta meet Snoop. I'm gonna make this happen. And I'm like, I'm gonna make this happen. And I really just wanted to manifest some kind of audience with Snoop and I ended up at a party during Coachella week in Palm Springs. It was Jeremy Scott's party and I just missed Snoop. And I was like, damn, I know, I'm so close. And then I got a call from a British magazine called Dazed and Confused saying we're gonna put Snoop on our cover. We want you to do the interview. And I was like, fuck yeah. That was, I have never, I don't, I don't think I've ever smoked a blunt in an interview before and I did with Snoop because one has to. I mean, if he offers, you gonna say no? No, you don't say no. But, you know, I knew I was, I'm a lightweight, you know, and I knew that I would be compromising my my ability to maintain a sane thread through the interview. If I were to partake of you know, the green pleasures that were being offered to me, but like you say, you don't say no. When Snoop is rolling up a fresh one for you, you go, cool. So that was the highest I've ever been in any interview. And I gotta tell you, it went amazing. I think if I hadn't have been high, then it wouldn't have worked as well because we just were vibing on this weird trippy level for me, at least. And I think the interview turned out pretty good. So you were really happy with the final product. I was stoked. And my, I did have to sit in my car for an hour afterwards because I was too stoned to drive. And bear in mind, I maybe had like three tokes on this blunt and Snoop was smoking throughout the entire afternoon. It was like, yeah, it was just like a fog machine in his trailer. I couldn't even believe it. Literally like a fog machine. Yeah. He really takes his Rastafarianism very seriously. He smokes the sacred herb on the regular. And yeah, I couldn't keep up. He's got endurance. That's what it is. He said the one, yeah, he said in the interview that the one man who was outsmoked the Snoop, Willie Nelson. Wow. They had a smoke off and they did. Apparently, Willie just busted out all his like weird smoke and paraffin and all kinds of like vaporizers, pipes and whatever and whatnot. And Snoop said that after, you know. He smoked Snoop under the table. Yeah, he had to wave the white flag. He was like, sorry, Willie, you win. I'll take the silver. But that's how gangster Willie is. Willie is gangster. Yeah. He really is. Anyone can outsmoke Rastafarian Snoop Lion. Yeah. And he's like 25, 30 years older than him. Yeah, I know. 30 years older than him. Yeah. Hats off to Willie Nelson. So let's talk about some of the books you've been involved in and the back story. Kicking Up Dirt. Kicking Up Dirt was my first book collaboration. I'd written an article, a very small article for Paper magazine about a promising young motocross racer called Ashley Feilek. And what's really special about her is that she is deaf and mute. And she's five foot one. And she is a badass on a motorcycle. She just kicks so much ass. She is the gold, X Games gold medalist. And she's, you know, the top racer in America. And when I heard about her story, I was just really inspired. And I, at the same time, had been introduced to a literary agent in New York, William Morris. And he said, you know, do you have any ideas for anything that you think would make a good book? And I said, well, you know, this deaf girl who rides motorcycles and is a badass. And he said, cool, write a proposal. So I wrote a proposal. And two weeks later, it sold to a major publisher, to Harper Collins. And I was like, oh, shit, now I have to write it. Now, girl be living in Florida, deaf and mute on a motorcycle. I'm in LA. I know nothing about motorcycles. I'm in LA. I know nothing about motorcycles. Right. Except that I admire her deeply. So it was an extremely challenging job. And it was only with the help of her mother and father that I was able to get enough information to put together in a book because Ashley, she's all about riding the motorcycles. And we weren't able to communicate because she, you know, she doesn't speak. Right. But we put this book together and it was, it did good. And about two or three months ago, I got a call from the agent again saying that they're turning the book into a movie. Sony Pictures is turning it into a film, which is really big news and really exciting. It's the same production company. It's the same team that made Soul Surfer. It's the same team that made Soul Surfer. It's the same team that made Soul Surfer. It's the same team that made Soul Surfer. The movie about the surfer girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark. Right. So that's super exciting. So look out for that on the big screen. That's great news. Coming up soon. Yeah. So has that gone into production yet? I believe they're still working on the script and they'll start principal photography soon. And we don't know who's going to play Ashley yet, but there's a few rumors floating around. We'll see. Very well done. And Dirty Rocker Boys. Okay. So Dirty Rocker Boys. Dirty Rocker Boys is the memoir of Bobby Brown who was married to Janie Lane. From Warrant. From Warrant. And I was connected with Bobby by my agent who is also her agent. Oh. And we were introduced and we just really hit it off. She is great. She's a badass and she's an amazing storyteller. And we decided to put this book proposal together. And it sold to a major publisher to Simon and Schuster. And the book came out in November and it has a lot of great stories in it. You know, it's not, I like to think that there's a lot of heart and soul in it. It's not just some sort of gossipy, hair metal, trashy memoir. I mean, she is, she's someone who had to sort of be very resilient to survive the Sunset Strip. So there's great stories in there. I mean, there's fun. There's candy. There's stories about her going on dates with Kevin Costner and there's stories about Leonardo DiCaprio's dick, which, you know, I'm sorry, but that's what all the press was in. All the press that came out with the book were really obsessed with the Leo's dick chapter. So that was, especially now he's such a hot item in the media. So they focused on that. Yes. And this is Titanic. You have to read the book. But there, aside from all that kind of fun gossipy stuff, there was some really sort of revelatory, sensitive information about Janie Lane. And I think a lot of his fans had wondered and felt sad about his decline. And obviously we know that he passed away in sort of sad circumstances. And, you know, motel room from alcohol poisoning, which was a tragedy because he was such a talented man and had a lot of heart and soul. And Bobby was, you know, really brave to go very deep with that. And I'm really proud of the book. And she was wonderful to work with. What was her past history? I mean, was she a model of some sort or had any kind of work published? I wasn't too clear on that. Yeah. So Crown was a model in Baton Rouge in Louisiana where she grew up. And then she started entering beauty pageants and she became Miss, I think she was crowned Miss Louisiana. And then she entered Miss Teen America. And she was noticed by agents there because she always had this sort of, she was the full package. You know, she was beautiful. But she had this sparky personality. Yeah. And she had this personality that really came across. And after appearing on Miss Teen America, I believe she won bronze or place. She didn't win, but she did. She did good. She got calls from agents in LA and went out there and immediately just found herself at the heart of the whole Hollywood scene and the Sunset Strip and hanging out with all the guys and all the bands and best friends with Slash. But Gwen saw Gwen doing her career and saw Gwen doing her career and saw Gwen doing her and then Warrant hired her to appear in the video to Cherry Pie. And that's really what kind of set off both their careers. So Bobby Brown became known as the Cherry Pie Girl because it was MTV era. There was no internet. There was no internet. People were honing in on MTV to get that video. Totally. It was on heavy rotation on MTV and she became a star and also Warrant became a sort of a mainstream crossover, like metal, hair metal band. Right. And that was, you know, I mean, you arrived after that time. So when you were in London, did you ever, did that scene ever interest you at all? I mean, you were aware of it, but did you like that kind of stuff? I did. Yeah. I always, I mean, I started out really loving Def Leppard, I have to say. Same here. I thought Def Leppard. Def Leppard were a great band. And I remember being really stoked when I, this is one of those great only in LA stories. It was my 27th birthday and I was sad and alone. And then I got a call from a friend of mine. He said, girl, I just made friends with one of Def Leppard's wives at the Shadow Marmont. We're going to see them perform tonight. And we're going to a party at Def Leppard's house. First of all, I was like, what? So I was really excited. That was my ultimate. Def Leppard dream come true. But yeah, no, I loved Guns N' Roses. I loved Motley Crue. I got into Rat a little later on. Out of the Cellar is a great record. It's a great record. I actually, I worked pretty closely with Steven Pearcy. Did you? I did. Yeah, I wrote the book proposal that sold and was turned into his, and then another writer took over the writing of the actual manuscript. But Steven and I worked on the book proposal that eventually became the book that's now out. He has his memoir that's out. Oh, awesome. So yeah, I loved all that. I loved all that. Yeah, so when you were talking to Bobby, you kind of had like an attachment to that scene, right? I mean, you knew you were very well versed in Warrant and Guns N' Roses and Poison and Def Leppard. Yeah. I think so. I think so. And especially, you know, I was a, I have done a lot of fashion writing and I'm really interested in just aesthetics in general. And you got to just hand it to those guys, you know, the hair metal kids. Like they just went all out. I have a book at home called Hair Metal and it's a photo book. And I mean, it's just unbelievable how they looked. They were like these peacocks on the Sunset Strip and they were just so unbelievable. You can only imagine what it must've been like in, you know, 1984, 85 when all those... There's no hashtags. No hashtags. No selfies. No, it was just a lot of STDs and a lot of nasty behavior up and down the strip. Yeah, constantly. And it would just stay there. It would just go back and forth all night. Up and down, yeah. Yeah, and it was just like, okay. And then so there was like no like open-ended flow. It just stay there all... All night. And then like public transportation sucked back in the day. So people wouldn't be down to take that because it was so bad at that time. So how would they get around on their motorcycles, I guess? I think they just walked the strip. They walked the strip. Yeah, well, Bobbi Brown talked about in her memoir and Dirty Rocker Boys, she talks about seeing that for the first time when she arrived in LA as a model with her mom and they were trying to figure out where she was going to live and which agency she was going to sign. And she saw all these guys wearing all this makeup and wearing these tight pants and spandex and she's like, oh my God, they're all so cute. And her mom was like, are you out of your mind? She's like, you'll get it one day. I don't think her mom ever got it. So what I want you to articulate is when you're working on a book, like the one we're talking about. What's the... What's the... What's the work that goes into it? I mean, before it sees the light of day, I mean, the book proposal, the, you know, being cohesive with the source. Tell me about it. I mean, like, how long does it take to see it on the shelf? It takes a long time. First of all, the proposal is about 40 pages and you have to really sell it. So you have to normally write a sample chapter or excerpts of chapters. You have to have... Samples. Yeah. You have to have a chapter outline. You have to have a kick-ass sort of opening anecdote that's going to really grab the publishers by the balls and just be like, whoa, they have to, you know, they're going to want to publish this because it's so cool. And then there's, you know, you have to do some sort of market research and figure out like who's going to be reading this and all of that. What's the demographic? Who's going to buy it? What's the ceiling? Exactly. Yeah. Once it sells and you get a deal, you normally get around six months to complete the first draft of the book. And everyone, every book's different. Everyone works in a different way. But normally, if it's a memoir, for example, you'll sit down and do interviews according to the chapter outline. So you'll go ahead and do like a couple hours at a time and then you'll transcribe that and you'll put it together. And then I guess the art of it comes in making it flow. And creating a narrative that you can't just tell everyone, you know, someone's life story from beginning to end in chronological order. You have to like, figure out what's important, what's interesting, how to tell those stories, how to sort of be truthful, and also be entertaining at the same time, because this is nonfiction. So you know, there can be gray areas. Sometimes people will, I guess, elaborate and so on. But it's not always the case. It's not always the case. You can't just like, write and so on and jazz things up or whatever. But you know, I prefer to keep everything real and just make, you know, real life is more interesting than anything you could imagine. Can't go wrong with it, right? Yeah, especially with someone like Bobby Brown, who's had a truly interesting, remarkable life. I mean, if only you could see what had gone, the things that we couldn't print and the things that we couldn't publish. I thought that didn't make it in the book. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of legal reason. There is actually there was one major thing that, you know, if you read the reviews on Amazon, people are like, oh, my God, who did it? You know, and, you know, that's something for Bobby and her family, too. There's there's a little bit of a whodunit in the book, which I won't ruin for you. But it's something that happened to Janie that sort of explains why he was so troubled. So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that can't make it into the book. But everything that's in there is true and and hopefully entertaining. So we're going to take our first music break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk about Los Angeles and Caroline's favorite places. The 117th episode of Los Angeles Nisa is brought to you by Amoeba Music, Llamascota Bakery, El Cholo Restaurant, Death Wish Skateboards, Baker Skateboards, Santa Cruz Skateboards. And we will be right back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You should be here, it's so surreal The touch just allows you to feel To know that you are here The streets are paved with gold Someone asks you Call my name Call my name Call my name Alright guitar solo guitar solo Call my name Call my name guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo It's naked. guitar solo guitar solo Over before it began And all remains the same Victims on display So many so afraid Had to heal in the flames Oh, oh, oh When sand turned into glass, yeah The mirror on the wall A penny for your thoughts All the blood on the ground As red as cinnamon Shadows mixed with the night I start to grin and think about All of the freaks who ate deliverance And still some cast to the spell of something dead Hey Had to heal in the flames When sand turned into glass, yes it did The mirror on the wall A penny for your thoughts a penny for your thoughts over before it began still remains the same yes it does the victims on display so many so afraid all the blood on the ground as red as cinnamon shadows mixed with the clouds I start to grin and think about all of the freaks awake deliverance and still some dance to the smell of something dead hey yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah be be be be be be guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo It's a cold night for dogs The dogs joke on their parking When they see alligator persons in the parking lot It's a cold night for alligators With men turning to them in the night It's a cold night for alligators It's a cold night for their might It's a cold night for dogs Hiding behind the trees with moss Forever hear the swampers screaming They're forever at loss It's a cold night for alligators In the blender It's a cold night for alligators A perfect monster has no end But beware guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo It's been too long It's been too long It's been too long Oh baby I need your burnin' man now I need your burnin' man now I need your burnin' man now I need your burnin' man now I need your burnin' man now I need your burnin' man now I first moved to Silver Lake, I think it was 2008 I'd been living in Echo Park in a really cute house with my then boyfriend and then he and I split up and I moved into a craftsman house on Golden Gate Avenue right in the heart of Sunset Junction and it was, you know, it was thriving I mean, it's crazy now people complain that it's very overpriced it certainly is, I have friends who remember when you could rent a a boxcar bungalow for like four or five hundred dollars a month in Silver Lake sure and now, you know, it's unthinkable people are asking for $13,000 $1250 for a studio apartment $1250, $1300, yeah yeah, and it's just it's become one of those one of those sort of hot neighborhoods but I still love it and everyone's sort of hanging on in there by the skin of their teeth and trying to figure out how to pay their extra rent literally, right? yeah I love to visit there I mean, I love to go to a vacation vacation I love to go to a music store and, you know, when I'm coming from the Boyle Heights area I just take the line 18 bus over the bridge and then I take that to 5th and Broadway and jump on the number 2 or 4 and it drops me off literally right in front of vacation so I always visit Silver Lake Car Free and I was really intrigued by the conversation that we had during our break and I mentioned a place called Crew C-R-U, which is a raw foods and vegan restaurant I love going there I'm not going to go there I'm not going to go there I'm not going to go there I'm not vegan but I just love their food and you had a special story can you tell it? I mean, that's where you were given your dog yeah, literally can you tell that story? yeah, it's one of my many Silver Lake stories Crew, I believe, is now R.I.P. sadly I believe it's going to they're turning it into like a new Vietnamese place but back in, I think it was 06 I was having dinner at Crew with my good friend, a journalist called Steffi Nelson she and I were both writing for the LA Weekly blogging for the LA Weekly and not really knowing what the hell we were doing because blogging had just been invented as far as we were concerned and we were sitting there in this we both noticed at the same time this really cute looking white poodle just sort of walking down the road by himself with like a piece of string sort of tied to his collar and we sort of poked our heads out and then we saw this guy who looked like he was homeless pick up the dog and we were like, okay and sat down and continued with our meal and then about 15 minutes later another homeless guy came in holding the dog saying that he had basically stolen it from his friend because he didn't think that his friend was a good daddy to this dog because his friend was always drunk he told you that? yeah and he noticed that we had sort of shown an interest in the dog and he said, you know I think you should take the dog and he put the dog on my lap and I was just like what the hell is going on and he said, look I'll be back in five you just let me know what you want to do and during that five minutes interval I took the dog to the restroom with me and I sat and we looked at each other and I was like, alright let's do it so the guy came back I said, I'm going to keep the dog and then I got in my car and the dog is looking at me sitting on the passenger seat and I was like, well, your dog I guess that means you need food so we went to 7-Eleven and I got some food it was late, you know and there was a guy in there who I remember he had like a grill and like a mesh like a wife beater and he came up and he was like, oh my god I'm going to keep the dog I'm going to keep the dog and he was being a real gentleman saying, you know, how he would like to take me and my dog out on a date one day and he gave me his card that was printed on like really flimsy paper and on the card it said International Romeo and I was like, cool I got in the car I was like, that's your name Romeo so you named him Romeo so Romeo became my best friend and about two or three years into our friendship unfortunately he suffered a herniated disc and the result was paralysis in his hind legs and he was unable to walk and this is really where the conversation swings back around to Silver Lake and the amazing people who live there because one of my favorite spots in Silver Lake is Mornings Nights Cafe which is a great alternative to Intelligentsia and the lady who runs the place is called Julie and I would go in there every single day with Romeo and when he became disabled you know, it was around the same time that I had lost my job and the recession and etc, etc and she went ahead and bought him a set of wheels a wheelchair you can actually get wheelchairs for dogs who are paralyzed and it really it was a sight to behold you know, me and Romeo Right. kind of like scooting around the neighborhood in Silver Lake and I'm eternally grateful to the generosity of Julie and also a couple other business owners in the neighborhood who there was one place the dog grooming place across from Mornings Nights Cafe that they fell in love with Romeo and really felt for him and offered him free grooming for life Wow. Yeah. And so, you know, I think Silver Lake has a reputation for being this kind of hipster hot spot and certainly gentrified certainly you can buy sort of boutique-y gifts there and etc, etc Clothing and Yeah. And that's all cool. I have no problem with high design that's fine by me but there's also a really great grassroots community that, you know, they're all still there. Right. So it appears that even though it has this stigma there's also a a sense of a real community that's installed there and people are warm and they care by one another. Yeah. I think that's the thing about LA. If you if you let them if you sort of look beyond your sort of whatever your career goals might be or the people that you meet that sort of make sense to your long-term vision or how to make money or be a success if you look beyond that you can make connections that are very meaningful and long-lasting and there's a lot of kindness and a lot of there are a lot of good people in LA. We just have to remind ourselves of that. It's really easy especially living in those sort of popular neighborhoods. It's really easy to get caught up in just making the scene or, you know. Being the king of the scene or the queen of the scene. Yeah. You know. It's crazy now. Sunset Junction on a I live about two minutes from Sunset Junction and two minutes walk. I have I'm ashamed to say I'm ashamed to say I'm ashamed to say I'm ashamed to say I'm ashamed to say I'm ashamed to say I'm driven from my place to Cafe Stella once. I'm sorry, Eddie. I know that's I'm in trouble. But it's crazy now on a Saturday. It's like it reminds me of Camden Town which is a neighborhood I spent a lot of time in in London. Does it really? When I was growing up. Yeah. The first newspaper I wrote for was in Camden and in Islington. So I know what you know a popular sort of touristy neighborhood that has like this sort of the roots I mean the roots of Silver Lake go I mean I'm probably going to get yelled at by someone who actually knows the roots of Silver Lake but I know that there was a it was a gay lesbian community and a Latino community and then sort of all the poor artists moved in and made it sort of this sort of 90s scene that you know the Brian Jonestown masco were hanging out and Spaceland opened. Spaceland. Foo Fighters played there and it was all over. Did you go? Yeah. Back in the day it was like 90 I want to say 95? Okay. 96? Yeah. 95, 96, 97 maybe? It was all over? Well no No I mean I mean yeah Oh it was all over and that like it just got crazy? Well I mean yeah I remember you know I remember getting to LA Weekly and it was like wow the Foo Fighters are going to play there. Right. I was able to get in and you know that's when things were changing. You know Eggzine had her shop Pull My Daisy and all that. Oh yeah. That was Eggzine's store? It's still there. I think so yeah. Yeah. Yeah I'm pretty sure. And and you know the Foo Fighters played Spaceland and things just snowballed. Spaceland was happening but it wasn't like going off. But it seems like when the Foo Fighters played there it just changed. You know. It sort of got put on the map. On the map. And then all these indie bands started playing there. Yeah you know I mean I feel like people who don't even live in the United States have heard of Silver Lake. Absolutely. Which is you know a very interesting state of affairs for any neighborhood. Yeah. So the coffee shop that you mentioned that helped Romeo. Yes. Was called what again? Mornings Nights Cafe. Mornings Nights. So that's a mom and pop business. So that's you know special. Let's talk about what you like to get there. Oh well they have wonderful salads. They really do. They have like avocado salads with like they really pile it on so you look at the sprouts and you can have chicken and you can just get a gigantic super delicious organic salad there. They also have great coffee. It's it's just a wonderful place. The food is high quality. The coffee is great. And there are there's seating outside. It's a great place to go when the Silver Lake Farmers Market is happening because it's right in front. That's awesome. So you can see every Saturday right? Yeah. Every Saturday and I believe every Tuesday evening as well they have a farmers market there. So it's just it's a wonderful little spot and like I say Intelligentsia is definitely a little pricier. It's a little bit of a scene in its own right and that's fine. I prefer to go to Mornings Nights. It just feels a little more relaxed and you can get great food there too. Oh cool. Yeah. I mean yeah Intelligentsia I like the product. Pretty expensive for coffee. It's expensive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you have the money it's expensive. It's like I'm paying this much for coffee. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. What about bookstores? Bookstores. Anywhere that you visited in Silver Lake that you went to go buy books or I'm sure? I have if I'm looking for books I'll head into Los Feliz and I'll go to Skylight because that is one of the greatest bookstores in Los Angeles. I don't really buy books in Silver Lake but I do love Vacation Vinyl which you already name checked if only because you can go in there and chit chat to the guys Mark and George and I remember they you know I asked them if they had a pentagram record we just heard some pentagram and they pointed out this super rare like first edition something or other that they have for you know a hundred dollars or something. Right. And I'm like but you can just hang out there it's that traditional cool independent record store that you know they just those places keep the community alive. Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's where I get my music fix and they have like a one dollar two dollar vinyl bin as well. That's cool. So that's fun. Yeah. Yeah. Now what about other food in Silver Lake? Is there anything else that you're fond of and actually go try out? Oh yeah. There's tons of great food in Silver Lake. You're kind of spoiled for choice. If I'm going for something like a a cafe kind of a lunch kind of situation I'll probably go to Casbah which is a like a French Moroccan themed venue that has outdoor seating and they have this amazing mint tea with you know real mint leaves and it's delicious and they have a wide range of salads. Again I always get the hearts of palm salad. And they have amazing sort of French pastries and baked goods as well. If you're in a ice creamy or gelato mood Sure. There's patso gelato which is knocks your socks off. Oh yeah. I love it. They make it they make it fresh and they make it in house and I remember I think it was it was a moment that can only be described as orgasmic when I tried their banana gelato. I still remember you know I still remember I saw stars it was gorgeous and I still you know like I just troll their Facebook page to see when's the banana gelato coming back. Oh so it's like limited time sometimes. Oh yeah they do it like you know it'll be one day and they'll post on their Facebook page we got some banana gelato. Yeah. So that place is definitely a favorite. And then I love going to Cafe Stella because it's like it's almost like a it's own universe. Or like a galaxy where you have like the main restaurant which has an outdoor area where you can see all kinds of like random hipster celebrities and it's really funny like Doogie Howser like whatever. He's a hipster celebrity right? In my world. Yes. What about Punky Brewster? Is she a hipster celebrity? Oh my God. I would die if I saw Punky Brewster anywhere. Would you flip? I would flip. I would flirt probably with her. With her. Yeah. But yeah, you can always it's good for sort of stupid like people watching and which I'm a big fan of. And then you have like this sort of sceney kind of it's called Bar Stella which is like this newer front bar that has like a little outdoor area for the smokers and and they they have their own separate thing going on there and it's really popular. People hang out there a lot and they have a bouncer and a doorman and all that kind of stuff and and my favorite part of that whole complex though is the little wine bar at the back of Cafe Stella that not many people even know about. Oh really? And FYI the same glass of wine will cost you less at this bar compared to the bar in the front bar which is like the sort of the fancy popular place. So the back bar is where it's at in my opinion the bartender knows you're not there. His name is smaller I know his name yeah Vincent he's out of this world. That's one of my my little favorite places to go and unwind. That's a fun fact right there. That's a Caroline Ryder fun fact. It really is. It's kind of there's privileged information that I'm sharing with your esteemed listenership. Absolutely. Now what about like you know you have a dog or no you don't have a dog come on. Well Romeo had to move to Alabama because because so caring for special needs animals and she adopted him. So I no longer have a dog but I lust after other people's dogs. I'm such a dog person. So a question I want to ask was was there any routes that you had where you took them for walks? Was there dog parks? Anything like that or parks? Yeah we would for sure go to the Silver Lake Dog Park and you know everyone would have fun and get their hump on and you know get their fight on and then fight or hump and then there would be blood and then you'd be like a god and then everyone you know no I'm kidding. That was that was a cool spot but there's something really fun just about taking a dog into the Silver Lake Hills and just wandering aimlessly and letting them sniff around. I mean they just love it. They're skunks. Intuitively right? Oh yeah. Just let him let the dog lead the way and see what happens and that I've kind of stumbled upon some of the most fun sort of things! Interesting tucked away little little places just by letting the dog take me on the walk. It's amazing when you're whether you're car free or not and you decide to take a walk what you find in Los Angeles in between the buildings. Oh there's a lot. Yeah. A lot. And because it's such a car culture it's You miss it all. It's neglect. Well that's the fun thing about LA if you're someone who sort of thrives on discovering things or like finding things that you're you know you can call your own or plant your little flag in and be like guess what this is the coolest taco stand that you've never heard of. You know. You've never heard of. Yeah. Right. Because nobody nobody walks as much as they should around LA. Yeah. You can find a lot if you're on foot with a doggy. You know I have a question. This is off the Silver Lake subject. Okay. Are you a sports fan? Do you follow baseball? Basketball? Anything like that? Are you a fan of any of those sports? I passionately don't follow sports. Um. You've been. I'm vaguely aware of things like when the Super Bowl's happening. I'll be like oh cool does this mean we get to watch Madonna do something on TV or whatever. Yeah or Prince. Um. Yeah. No I've never been I'm from England. I have no understanding of American football. Um. I have been to see a Dodgers game. That was really fun. Did you have fun? I had tons of fun. And did you enjoy the game? I didn't quite understand what was going on but the pretzels were great. And I believe The environment. The environment was fun. You know you can feel the passion and the singing. Isn't it beautiful to be on that hill? Yeah absolutely. You know I feel like it's remiss of me to not um become more involved with uh the local sport the local sporting scene and you know I wish that LA had its own football team. It doesn't have one does it? No. It's very strange. No. It makes no sense. Very strange. I don't like it. Well you know I'm not a football fan. You're not. Okay. So personally it doesn't affect me but it affects most people. It does. It affects me and I'm and I hate it all. Tell me how it affects you. Um I feel like Los Angeles is a great city and every great city should have its own team that throws a ball around and wear shoulder pads at the same time. I think it's an important thing for a city. Otherwise it doesn't feel like a real city and LA is clearly a real city. Yeah and you know before there was LA Live it didn't feel like there was a downtown at all. That's right. It was really weird back in the day. Yeah. I had a professor um at USC who claimed his name was Professor Todd Boyd who refers to himself as the notorious PhD and he taught um blaxploitation uh blaxploitation class for me but he claimed to have been one of the early sort of um um populators of of downtown when it was really fucking scary. You know I mean even like I remember um I have a friend a good friend called Liz McGrath who's an artist and her and her husband had this loft before downtown lofts were like lofty and really expensive. And livable and nice. Yeah no they built they had to build that stuff out themselves and they would have all these stories about how like you couldn't park your car anywhere because people homeless people would break into it and like poo in it and like that happened to them a lot. I mean no not to diss homeless people but I guess everyone needs to poo. So. Sure. And yeah sometimes you're just going to pick the nearest car but you want some privacy. Exactly. Right? Yeah. And yeah it's interesting I mean there's there's less pooing these days. There's less pooing and more walking of dogs. More walking of dogs. Possibly in strollers. Double twin dogs like the Doubleman twins. What do you think of the new Ace Hotel downtown? Oh it's great. Yeah. It's great. It's great. I peeped in and saw the venue and all that stuff. That's right. Spiritualize played last weekend. It was in three nights? Yeah. Something like that. Is that something? Something. Yeah. That's great. I heard that the the venue is beautiful. Right. They've restored it very nicely. I went for brunch there a couple days ago a couple weeks ago I mean and and there was one thing that you shouldn't get and I can't remember what it is but they have a rooftop that is really kind of fun. It's kind of a little hang zone. And there's a tiny pool that I don't know why they even bothered but the views are great and it's a fun it's a fun place to hang out. Nice. You know back in like the 80s and early 90s mid 90s late 90s you come to downtown at 6 o'clock when like you know everyone closed the offices there was no one around. It was like a ghost town. And like all the crackheads would come out. Yeah. And just walk and you know zombie it up together. I miss the crackheads. You miss the zombies. You know I actually literally had a Night of the Living Dead experience once going to a party in downtown in um it was just off Skid Row we're kind of close to where we are right now and um it was in an old abandoned fire station and I believe that some of Ghostbusters was filmed there. Oh okay. I don't know if this is ringing any bells for you but it was like a really randomly awesome after hours party and I think Devendra Banhart was DJing and this was like 2006 and um and um and uh Rose Apodaca who was a a local fixture a fashion journalist was there taking pictures and I think I ended up in me and my roommate ended up in Paper Magazine um but which sounds really kind of hip and fancy but I I kid you not when we parked the walk from the car to the party was the most terrifying thing ever there were there were people walking towards us with their arms outstretched slowly with kind of glazed expressions on their faces like they wanted to eat us and um I was just like oh my god we gotta run so we ran you ran we ran yeah live to tell the tale wow but yeah I mean that's how it was growing up you know in Angeleno there was you know you'd come to the LA Sports Arena to see the Clippers or if you want to go to the Forum for a concert or see the Lakers you have to drive far to the LAX basically and it's like well we're nowhere downtown we're in by Englewood it's just so weird you know and any time you went through downtown like it was just always vacant nothing happening on weekends you go to a Dodger game you know you go through downtown and then you go up Sunset and it was like no activity and finally when they installed LA Live it was like okay there's Staples Center there's Nokia Theater Club Nokia Congo Room all these other places and then there's public transportation right like that makes it accessible to get there easy and cheap uh huh you know and then all these places started popping up and these little dive bars that have bands some dive bars that you know don't have bands right some good Mexican places La Cita that had like that's like a Mexican restaurant that had a cool like music scene like cool dance night and a music scene and they would have yeah Mexican you know they would have like I think serve like shrimp cocktails and and have a they have a bar you know and it's right across the street from the Pershing Square station on the red line and what's cool about that is La Cita is located on Hill and it's right next door or a few doors down from Grand Central Market which is a very well known food hall that was established in 1918 and that has gone under a lot of renovation they have a whole new crew there the business development Chris Farber Kevin West who's a culinary consultant and they're all installing all these relevant vendors now so all the food that they have there it's very new relevant and it's meeting a demand for instance they have a place called Downtown L.A. Cheese I've heard of it DTLA Cheese right? uh huh absolutely is it good? fantastic they make sandwiches they have you know different portions of cheese available different genres of cheese but also I love cheese genres yeah oh my god I'm so excited right now and the cool thing about it is there's a nice back story to the people who own it the two girls who own it they're the granddaughters of the Altadena Dairy family no way which is a big Southern California you know staple for dairy so they stayed they stayed true to their family their family business yeah they were on here and they explained their story and it was really really admirable and fun I have to check it out yeah I've heard wonderful things about Grand Central Market and um I went to a hair salon in downtown called Golden Grand and uh the girls there are really cool and it's in this building um where there's there's a little man in a wheelchair who kind of like is the the uh the lift operator and it's very lynchian and you get in and he's kind of grumpy and just amazing and then it's fun though right yeah I love it you know where else in LA are you gonna have this and it's this old sort of creaky elevator that takes you up to the the salon anyway by a little old man by this little creepy old man who's adorable at the same time but you really don't want to mess with him because he'll like cast some kind of a spell for sure um and uh when I got finished with you know getting my hair did I came out and I said I'm gonna walk around and it was on 7th and Grand and um there's just so much in downtown I feel like people who are not spending time there at this moment in time are missing it yeah there's I mean I know I'm not definitely not the first person in the world to say this but really downtown the renaissance of downtown is something LA should be very proud of I mean especially let's hope that they really retain the um the beautiful art deco buildings and the vintage character of uh so many of those old buildings I think the Ace has done a great job I even think the Urban Outfitters has done a good job um yes I mean I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think gentrification hipsterification whatever you want to call it gotta try it's a fine line but I I like the way downtown feels if only it was just a little less crazy expensive because it's it's become extremely unaffordable it's really expensive right now to live here in a nice place uh huh not cheap it's not cheap it's that New York style living I guess exactly but the food is phenomenal um one of the I believe the top rated restaurant in America um Alma is in downtown LA um so there's like there's fine dining and then you have like the really cool little sort of hole in the wall places as well and everything and like that's what reminds me of you know certain neighborhoods in London or New York like that just have that magic and you can have an experience just from walking from A to B right and it's yeah so much and so little uh geography uh cool thing is too while while there's all this being installed and there's also um it seems like the city and more people are preserving the history when it comes to like the architecture they're reopening more hotels they're you know like you said they're restoring the original essence you know and with the current public transportation system like the red line and the blue line making it easy and cheap I just think it's fun to come experience it because you can get off on any stop and you get off on Civic Center and you're like okay there's Dizzy Concert Hall there's the Redwood there's Grand Park how about Grand Park have you seen that uh uh there's a huge park in the middle of downtown two levels bless downtown yeah bless downtown yeah there's even a Starbucks there so so it's God bless Starbucks yeah dumb Starbucks um I don't mind Starbucks I love Starbucks people hate on Starbucks I'm like I love it Starbucks has saved me many a time I get the iced cappuccino I highly recommend it I highly recommend it my drink is the Venti iced coffee unsweetened with no room zero calories we are so LA right now that is very LA zero calories should we talk about the price of kale kale by the pound you know you know I heard an NPR piece on kale oh my god I was like are you kidding me I love that that's great but it's like come on a whole feature on kale yeah they should be sort of piping it gently through all stores in LA I think people in LA are very concerned about kale at all times we're gonna take our last music break and so you got some more fabulous tunes to play and when we come back we'll chat a little more and talk to Caroline Ryder in the 117th episode of Los Angeles Nista and we're gonna hear some tunes thank you take it away! be doing be doing! I can barely see the stone You left me all alone He's gonna punch me in the head He's gonna punch me till I'm dead Down by the sea In the ruins He's gonna hit me in the head Tonight He's gonna be alive We're walking days Inside your heart You see a message Growing there Like tangling air Where I love the best With such a dream You're in the fruits And probably Is the branches bare So I don't want to stop When it comes to you You've moved your eyes And all the things you do And I'm falling for your lips I've lost my hope You know you're not me Okay And we've known We've known To hurt both And more For something That you know That I can't do But Without this time Yeah, we fell asleep Under a spell We watched the shore And I I Well, it's in this list of family ways That it will be That it will be So I won't stop when it comes to you The sly eyes and all the stinging lips And the warm lips And lost composure Growing up in a case In which nobody knew To my very own The world was under me And I just can't go on With all this time Yeah, you wanna be a thief And be free You wanna be a thief You wanna be a thief You wanna be free From me So I won't stop when it comes to you The blood and bones And the tears and all You know I don't like You know I don't like But be be be But be be be But be be be Welcome back to Los Angeles Nisa episode 117. This episode is brought to you by Two Felon Skate Shop in Whittier, 6740 in Whittier, California. And one of our latest sponsors, a tarot card reader from Santa Fe, New Mexico. You find her on Facebook. You have to track her down. And her name is Airdream. E-I-R-E-D-R-E-A-M, Spath, S-P-A-E-T-H. The best in the United States. But she's an Angeleno at heart. Contact her direct. And, you know, she's not so rigid. She'll intuitively give you a tear as far as the kind of service she'll give you. So she's awesome. And welcome back to the 117th episode. In studio guest, Caroline Ryder. What did we hear? We just heard a song called Pale Moon by Wyman Miles, who is a San Francisco-based musician who is on the Sacred Bones label. And he rocks. We also heard Shredder by a band called Jeff the Brotherhood. Oh, I love Jeff the Brotherhood. Uh-huh. We heard some Pentagram, Last Days Here, which you should for sure get the record and watch the amazing documentary about Bobby. Bobby. Bobby, yeah. We also listened to a song called She Plays Yo-Yo With My Mind by Sunny and the Sunsets. Another SF-based band. But, um, sorry. You know, I wanted to make them all Silver Lake bands. There's plenty to choose from, but this is what we ended up with. But we do have Elliot Smith, Distorted Reality is now necessary, something or other. Um, it's a long song title, but of course, Elliot Smith is, for me, forever associated with Los Angeles. I mean, he was in Portland as well, um, and elsewhere. But this was from his, uh, his, I believe, posthumously released album, From a Basement on a Hill, which was recorded in Echo Park, I believe. Um, we had a great song called It's a Cold Night for Alligators by, the one and only Rocky Erickson. And, um, you should watch the documentary about Rocky Erickson that was made by an L.A.-based documentarian. Um, and, uh, it's called You're Gonna Miss Me. And it was really fascinating. And then a song called Over Before It Began by a band called Waxy, Out of the Desert, very close to my heart. And, um, and then the entrance band, started off the show with This House is Not a Motel, an amazing L.A. band. Very well done. Um, eclectic-tasted music, as always. You know, I wanted to, uh, before we go, uh, just ask you, Mexican food in Los Angeles. You like it? Um, I, anyone who doesn't like Mexican food in Los Angeles has got some kind of a psychological problem. And this is coming from my friend from London, Caroline Ryder. Oh, yeah. I love that. I love that. Oh, no, it's, it's... You got problems, man. You got serious issues. You have childhood trauma that you're still dealing with. You're not into what's happening with Mexican food in L.A. Yeah, it's the real, it's, it's amazing. It's delicious. It's everywhere. It's, uh, the ingredients are phenomenal. The guacamole is incredible. The salsa is forever. Margaritas. Oh, hello. Let's get some. All that good stuff, right? Yeah. A big fan of, um, El Compadre is one of my favorite spots. Love it. Yeah, up in Echo Park and there's one in Hollywood, too. Well, thank you for that, uh, Mexican food curriculum. We're grateful. And this, that wraps up the 117th episode of Los Angeles Nista. Caroline Ryder, let's give your website, your blog. It is www.carolineryder.com. R-Y-D-E-R. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.