Jaak Treiman
In this abbreviated, holiday issue I offer some Internet sites unrelated to your daily work but sites that you and your family may find useful outside the office. While almost all L.A. points of interest have their own website and often send regular newsletters, the sites I have listed offer a broader picture of where to go, what to do and the history of Los Angeles. The sites are not listed in order of preference.
This site offers weekly, outdoor activity newsletters for northern and southern California. It is one of my favorites. It reminds me of outdoor activities that I had forgotten about and often highlights outdoor activities I wasn’t aware of. Most of the time it appears that the newsletter’s author has actually visited the recommended sites. In other words, I have found it to be more reliable than some other information sources.
This is a free, weekly alternative newspaper that is owned by the same organization that owns New York’s Village Voice. Notwithstanding changes in ownership and a cut back and reorganization of its staff LA Weekly is still an excellent source of information about the Los Angeles music, arts, film, theater and concert scene. It also offers occasional award winning investigative reports. I think their newsletters offer broader coverage of L.A.’s cultural happenings than the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles Conservancy “seeks to preserve and revitalize historic places throughout Los Angeles County.” It is also the premier Los Angeles organization for conducting tours of significant locations including downtown’s Broadway Historic Theater and Commercial districts, Union Station, Angelino Heights and many more. The Conservancy concentrate more on structural aesthetics rather than historic happenings but even if you don’t know the difference between Art Nouveau and Beaux Arts architecture you may well find their website and newsletter of interest.
I am ambivalent about this site and its daily newsletter. The news it provides is a distillation. Sometimes the newsletters are trashy or filled with old news. Then, just as I’m about to cancel, they offer a news flash or point of information that grabs my attention. I continue to receive their newsletters even while frequently hitting my “delete” key.
A slick website and newsletter published by the California Travel & Tourism Commission that has yet to find anything negative about any place they recommend. However, it is great at providing an overview of places to see and things to do in California. The site pays considerable attention to southern California.
As far as I know there is only one person behind Hidden Los Angeles and she does an amazing job. Hidden Los Angeles has a website but for the greatest value go to her Facebook page. You will find tidbits of current and historic information about Los Angeles that will be of inestimable help in filling conversation gaps at all the public events we will be attending next year.
The website is nothing more than a place to sign up for the For Your Art newsletter – a newsletter that highlights Los Angeles art events. It often features events that aren’t covered elsewhere.
Community Arts Resources (CARS)
A private company that, quoting from their website, “designs, installs and oversees festivals and other events for the likes of the City of Santa Monica, the Getty, CicLAvia, Metro, Disney Theme Parks, the Natural History Museum, and the California Endowment; consults for city governments, private developers, and nonprofits on the uses of public and private space for cultural and artistic purposes; arranges artist-in-residence programs at local schools; books cutting-edge performers for celebrated concert series; and develops unique marketing, outreach and engagement strategies for cultural organizations, community groups and planning and design projects. “ Their newsletter highlights their ongoing work, some of which I find very interesting.
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Jaak Treiman is author of A Diplomatic Guide to Los Angeles: Discovering its Sites and Character. He is also the Honorary Consul for Estonia and a member of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. This blog is written in his personal capacity for members of the Los Angeles Consular Corps and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Estonian government or foreign ministry or the views of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. He can be reached at jaaktreiman@gmail.com.