Tag Archives: Los Angeles

20

May 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

CHINATOWN.

#food, #Los Angeles

Chinatown is probably the most misunderstood borough of Los Angeles. Established in 1938, the neighborhood has played home to iconic Jack Nicholson scenes and classic skateboarding ads, hipster hangouts and the city’s better dim sum, but unlike other underappreciated corners of downtown that have been gradually getting their shine over the years, Chinatown maintains the mystery.

That’s all about to see a dramatic shake-up with Chego moving in, another Roy Choi restaurant that is as popular with the foodies as it is with the locals. Heralded by Los Angeles Magazine’s cover as Chef of the Year and voted best new chef of 2010 by Food & Wine, Roy’s probably a name you’ve familiarized yourself with – he owns a few other spots: A-Frame, Sunny Spot – but is probably most celebrated for creating KogiBBQ, which not only kicked off the Korean taco craze but more importantly, ignited the nationwide food truck phenomenon.

Roy is a good friend of The Hundreds – I think our success and brand notoriety runs parallel in more ways than one. I know the Internet played a huge part in getting KogiBBQ off the ground as it did with us. And Roy is all about producing quality product behind strategic branding, all the while educating his customer and paying respects to the surrounding community.

Which is why he invited us down – downtown to Chinatown – to not only get a taste of Chego, but also the vibrant and culturally lush expanse of the community:

Like I said, we’re in Chinatown.

Hoan Kiem’s only got a couple things on the menu, but that’s how you know they do it well!

Pho 79 is historically a cornerstone of Chinatown. New owners, new name, new sign. Well, sorta:

Yang Chow is where you’ll usually find us. I’d say it’s the best Chinese food in Los Angeles proper (not including SGV or Monterey Park). The slippery shrimpin’ is big pimpin’:

Chef Lupe of Hop Woo. Roy calls him the Iron Chef of Chinatown:

He takes us into the vault. P.S. I used to be vegan:

Chef Lupe hooks it up. On the strength:

Lived here forever and had no idea to stop by the Phoenix Bakery for the best almond cookies:

Ginseng in the membrane:

…and we loop back to Chego. So Chego used to reside over on my side of town in West Los Angeles, but Roy uprooted the rice-bowl restaurant and planted it here in Chinatown. Seems like it’s never not been here though, which was Roy’s intent.

I didn’t know this but apparently Flickr played an instrumental role in Roy’s and Kogi BBQ’s success, so the film camera hangs at the foot of Chego as a tribute:

Thanks, Roy!

video by Zach Marshall
by bobbyhundreds

17

May 2013

Posted by editor

EGG SL*T

#faces, #food, #Friends, #Los Angeles

If every morning were an eggslut morning, my cholesterol and I would be at odds. But every now and then (especially on Mondays through Fridays) (and definitely on the weekends), it’s important to treat yourself to the fluffiest, gooiest, yolkiest, eggiest sandwich in all of Los Angeles. If you’re offended by the name, that’s too bad. Head chef Alvin and his business partner Jeffrey, however, probably won’t be losing sleep at night (Not more than they already do, considering they’re up crackin’ eggshells before dawn).

Since they hit the streets in 2011, they’ve been protested and heckled by squeamish folks who don’t find their subversive promotion amusing. Buuuuut that’s their loss. This is the ultimate gourmet-breakfast-dispensed-from-a-truck experience, and it’s worth the wait. When I asked Alvin to tell me the sluttiest thing about eggslut, he replied “The whore hours. I don’t think any trucks are up getting ready at 3am like we are.”

For cheesy updates (see what I did there?), eggslut hours and locations, follow them on twitter, and be sure to check our blog next week for the video interview with eggslut co-founders, Alvin and Jeffrey.

words by Jane Helpern
photos by Zach Marshall

16

May 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

DARK DAYS :: IN THE STUDIO WITH PHOTOGRAPHER AMANDA DEMME

#Friends, #Los Angeles

Inspiration is everywhere. And inspiration is everyone.

Whenever I get asked that question in interviews – “Where do you find inspiration?” – I always have trouble with it. Inspiration isn’t something you necessarily go out there and seek; if you’re prone to it, and open, it always finds you. And for me, it resides most viscerally and shines the utmost brilliance within people. I’ve been inspired by parking lot attendants to world-class artists, 3-year-olds to rockstar chefs. And then I’m totally inspired by photographers like Amanda Demme.

In this life, she’s a photographer and a mother, and widow of famed director Ted Demme. But in the several existences prior, she was a music supervisor (Garden State, Mean Girls), a manager (Cypress Hill, House of Pain, DJ AM), club impresario (Teddy’s, Tropicana), director, graphic designer… Demme is a woman of many hats. (No, really, as in she also makes hats).

One of which she wears today. It’s broad and masculine, and the brim swoops far and low like a shade tree casting the rest of Amanda Demme in obscurity. She prefers that nowadays – the mystery and the cloaked intrigue. She did enough of the publicity tour in one of those previous lives, the Hollywood life.

I’m not sure if she was always like this, but she seems to cling onto the past, particularly a history that was never necessarily hers. Demme’s just drawn to old things, artifacts, and preserved decay. Her studio is not so much a museum as a frozen excerpt of a sad and distant time. It also seeps into her work, the subjects lost and forlorn, imbued with this dank and heavy tone. I tell Amanda that I just can’t see her work as photography, but rather a sort of painting. She’s not documenting as much as creating a situation and an emotion. She’s framing that window into the subject’s life, but she also puts that person in that situation and fabricates their impression. From a club doorgirl in the past to a photographing storyteller in the present, I remark that it’s as if she’s playing God.

“No,” she flatly denies. ”I’m more like the Devil.”

Amanda Demme didn’t pick up a camera until three years ago. In that time, she has found love and a new life in it. And become quite remarkably good, recognized, and respected for her photography. Her solo exhibition is currently on display at the Obsolete Gallery in Venice.

by bobbyhundreds
video by Zach Marshall

15

May 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

GOOD BURGER.

#food, #Los Angeles

Back at The Oinkster for lunch, remember the last time we were here?

Gross, Horndog.

by bobbyhundreds

08

May 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

KAZ COMPANIONS.

#Los Angeles

When it comes to dining out, Los Angeles is all about image and showmanship and Top Chef-ery and exclusivity, so the fact that Kaz Oyama’s Totoraku reigns as the hardest restaurant to get into in the city is kinda mindblowing – and hilarious. Because Totoraku is flat on image. No website or social media, they won’t pick up the phone, even the sign outside is wrong. Something about a deli on the awning?

The first time you hear of Totoraku, it starts as a cloudy myth, an urban legend. ”Have you heard of this secret restaurant?” “Apparently you can’t get in unless you’re friends with the owner.” ”If he likes you, he handwrites his numbers on a card and discreetly passes it to you at the end of the night.”

All of these rumors actually turn out to be true.

Chef Kaz opened this restaurant under the Pico Teriyaki House name years ago, but it failed fast. Instead of giving up, he threw all his quail eggs in one basket and went big on an idea that theoretically shouldn’t succeed in the States. The idea of Totoraku is to create a restaurant experience not unlike the geisha houses of Japan, where invitations rule over reservations, and hospitality competes with the delicacy. While the rest of L.A. restauranteurs are chasing celebrities and overdressing the venue, Totoraku is the unassuming underground clubhouse for every A-lister and superstar chef.

It’s true, the only way to eat here is to be Kaz’s friend and be specially invited by him. And the only way to build a relationship with the chef is by accompanying one of Kaz’s approved guests (we were all co-signed by our attorney Brent *THANKS BRENT*), and working your wiles. Except there’s no science to impressing this guy, really. Custom is every guest brings the nicest bottle of wine they can afford. Kaz is a big wine guy, but he’s had it all. Said one patron brought him 3 different years of Screaming Eagle once (if you know, you know) to wow him. He then referred to the show-off as “this stupid guy.”

Although people stay for the chef’s showmanship and banter, they come for the food. Los Angeles Magazine doesn’t call him the Zen Master of Beef for nothing. Kaz serves kaiseki style (multiple-course meal), a mix of raw meats and yakiniku (grilling at the table). There were some things I ate last night that I’ve never been afforded the opportunity to taste in my life (and probably won’t ever again outside of Totoraku).

Like this dish. Okay, see that bowl that’s no larger than a lemon? That particular meat comes from a special area of the cow’s neck. That amount of beef took 2 cows to make.

The carpaccio:

This was my favorite entree, which is a beef tartare topped with a quail egg and mixed with pear. I noticed a lot of Korean crossover in our selections, and this dish is akin to yukhue.

The rest of the night was yakiniku: tongue, short rib, short rib, and more short rib. Sprinked with green onion and dipped in the house sweet sauce, the meat was buttery, not overwhelmed with marinade but ripe with the inherent taste, it really doesn’t get better than this.

But of course, the most memorable part of the entire experience was time shared with the Chef. He book-ended our evening by regaling us with stories of the best sushi he’s ever had in Japan and why Jiro’s all media and PR. For Chef Kaz Oyama, it comes down to hospitality. The community and the friendships. Why be a dick?? Like all great brands who really get it and are here to last a lifetime, Totoraku understands that it all starts with, and comes back to, the people.

We watched an entire table full of guests next to us get shut down for the “card,” these were dudes spending $40,000 on a single wine bottle. As the chef walked us out, he knighted Jon Hundreds as his new “friend.” Jon, the guy who barely spoke a word to the chef the whole time, got up 11 times to smoke outside, and hated raw beef. Until tonight.

by bobbyhundreds

05

May 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

ROCK AROUND THE BLOCK.

#fairfax, #Friends, #Los Angeles

In 2013, L.A.’s Streetwear community continues to evolve and diversify. You still got the veteran players anchoring the foundation and then you got the next generations capitalizing on the road the pioneers paved. Speaking of cornerstones, you got Brooklyn Projects on Melrose. This was where The Hundreds found its footing, and for almost every Streetwear brand trying to enter the Los Angeles market, you gotta run it by Dom first.

Trends in, trends out, yet some of us are here for the long haul. Dom Deluca aka DOM BOMB is one of the city’s street kingpins. Show some respect to the man who’s been here, done that, and will still be holding it down for Streetwear long after your Fairfax receipts fade.

DISCLAIMER: Before all you rumormongers soil your skinny jeans, WE DID NOT MAKE THIS T-SHIRT.

Brooklyn Projects did. The Pantera lyrics-inspired shirt is a commentary on what’s going on in our world. Is it a diss? An homage? Either way, that “N” is ripped from our logo. I guess a couple of the brands targeted by Dom’s tee have been making a big stink about it, which is hilarious to me. First of all, the trend IS “dead” in more ways than one. The Streetwear that we all knew and fondly remember is a thing of the past; there’s an entire new generation that doesn’t know who 90% of the names on this list are, or care. Streetwear is as saturated and blown-out as ever – will the strong survive? Interesting to see how it’ll all pan out…

Secondly, if you’re even remotely involved in the Streetwear industry, you can’t take yourself so seriously. We’re not changing the world here, we’re printing t-shirts. You’re really not that cool, bro. Like Barbara Kruger just told Complex, we’re all just “a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers.” She’s absolutely right.

Dom’s Nike SB is almost here. We were the first to report it back in November. He promised me two purr!

And it’s not an afternoon at BP without cameos. Charlie from Anthrax, fresh off the Golden Gods Awards.

And the best of ’90s skateboarding in one frame: Pat Rumney, Vinny Ponte, Dom the F Bomb, Alphonzo Rawls, Kareem Campbell, and Chad Fernandez out back skating the ramp:

Ben and I made our way over to the new Peas & Carrots shop to say hey to the homies before the leave on tour with Casey:

Charlie!

Since Opening Day, P&C S.S. has been attracting the hot buzz in town. If you live here or visiting, check it out — this is an accurate sample of where global Streetwear is headed.

Tried & True is just right around the corner from us on Fairfax:

And welcome our newest neighbor, YOUth (by the homies at JBC (Just Be Cool)) ! Doors just opened. Love and SUPPORT:

Fairfax has changed.

by bobbyhundreds

08

March 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

BREAK THE MOLD.

#Friends, #Los Angeles

The other afternoon, I stopped by my friend Florian’s new surf shop in Mar Vista on the West side of Los Angeles. Shaper Supply Co. isn’t a typical surf store, however, it’s a surfcraft shop in the spirit of maker culture. A workstyle boutique peddling all necessities to shape customized boards, Shaper Supply also houses two bays for patrons to rent and whittle raw foam boards. Florian also offers classes on shaping, instructing first-timers, veteran artists, pro surfers to people who’ve never surfed at all, in a matter of hours. I guess the big thing right now in surf – well, I guess all subcultures – is the personalized DIY practice of making your own… and Florian is the personification of that. He followed his dream by building the shop with his own two hands. And now he helps others to do the same.

by bobbyhundreds

28

February 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

AUTO EROTIC.

#Los Angeles

California has the best car culture in the world and a few blocks down from our home in the Fairfax district is the Petersen Automotive Museum. No mythical gold DeLorean today, but they did have the Tim Burton Batmobile out, so I couldn’t complain.

by bobbyhundreds

23

February 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY.

#Friends, #Los Angeles

Sometimes God smiles upon us and turns the weather up right as the weekend cracks. If you could feel this California sun.. man, I love L.A. Guisados is just the cherry on top.

Eddie Huang had a great episode here with Roy Choi. Madeline Stowe is at Guisados weekly. She dissed me, but that’s ok. She’s Madeline Stowe. Ray Mate of Mighty Healthy and Jon Buscemi of Gourmet are Vegas’d out and ready for some homemade corn tortillas.

I know it can look kinda crazy, but these tacos are on another level.

Tacos so good, they make you feel like this.

Back at the office, look who’s back from New York! Well, just for the weekend. Switch of Everything You Love to Hate. Definitely miss this dude.

Later on in the afternoon, a few of us hit LUNCH BEERS! at Villains downtown, the monthly excuse to ditch work and get hammered on a weekday. Nick Waterhouse (you remember when we interviewed Nick Waterhouse) and Jamie Strong of Innovative Leisure (and of LUNCH BEERS!) greeted me at the door.

Ran into a lot of good people – Dame MSK, and Stephen Harrington, who was DJing.

It’s Oscars weekend here in Los Angeles, and that means a mini art fair to bait and lure all the rich famous people in town with chubby wallets. Lots of good stuff going on last night, the Wes Lang show at the Chateau, Nick Van Woert at OHWOW, and Michael (LAMJC) on the right, had his book release for ALLGONE at the Sonos space. Along with Poon (CLOT), we finished Friday off at Chez Andre in the Standard, sharing a booth with the Daft Punk dudes, and me talking to Andre’s manager about how awesome TB2 and Project 6 were. Good night/good morning.

by bobbyhundreds

02

February 2013

Posted by BOBBYHUNDREDS

PAGE BY PAGE.

#events, #Los Angeles

If you’re in the Los Angeles area this weekend, pay a visit to the LA Art Book Fair at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary – a gathering of the world’s best independent book boutiques, publishing houses, authors, and the like inside a warehouse gallery space. For the street/skate-specific readers, you’ll probably wanna pick up Jerry Hsu’s new book (The Killing Season) and definitely catch the Larry Clark corner with an impressive display of the filmmaker’s vintage Fuct t-shirts. Open only until Sunday afternoon, so make it happen!

This was my favorite part of the entire show, and it’s Larry Clark’s words… Here are the excerpts from his essay about how incredible skate graphics and t-shirts USED to be — I didn’t wanna give you everything — To read it in its entirety, visit the MOCA in person.