Now that we live in a city that actually has an established Chinatown, we decided to trek on down to Chinatown Los Angeles to see this year’s Lunar New Year celebration. If you’re in LA, Chinatown can be easily accessed through the LA Metro gold line rail which stops right in the edge of Chinatown. Along with the usual hole-in-the-wall restaurants, mini labyrinth malls, toy shops & bake shops there were dance shows, booths, food trucks as well as a dancing dragon. We were able to follow the dragon as it stopped by each business asking for a donation which in turn will give blessing to the business for a good year. You can find more pictures of our visit here.

Finally, we got off our laurels & headed to the streets of Los Angeles to see what the underground scene is like. Our first stop since moving to LA was the Sub Level Halloween party located in a discreet part of downtown Los Angeles. We met up with an old friend, Jose, head of Fresco Gear & got down to the skills of Doc Martin, John Tejada, Alix Alvarez & Joe Bickle. We look forward to catching more of Fresco’s parties in LA & you can get more info about their parties here. For the rest of the pictures of the Sub Level Halloween party, please click here.

The park party. We’ve been to a few in Dallas. And this was our first park party in Los Angeles. Sunset LA park party at Woodley Park had it bumping from the early afternoon to dusk. Located in Van Nuys, California, though it’s confusing for us because people still say it’s in LA. Woodley Park is a beautiful green belt hidden off the 405 Freeway. We met up with John Hund & friends to spend the afternoon grooving to the likes of DJs GALEN, J-BIRD, SOLAR, John Tejada, Jeniluv & Matthew Derham. For the rest of the pictures of this park party, please click here.

Before we continue with this update, let’s make it clear that we loathe most of McDonalds food. I say most because the fries are like crack to us. However, the food gives us tummy aches & the sodas are overly sweet. So why are we posting about McDonalds? Because it’s definitely a major part of American Popular culture & as Asian immigrants, we’re fascinated by it. Is it because of the eerily look of Ronald McDonald? Is it the fact that it’s on almost every corner in the US? We honestly couldn’t tell ya but after we heard about the first McDonalds owned by Richard & Maurice McDonald still exists in San Bernardino, California, we had to swing by. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there but we managed to snap a shot. Now, Ray Kroc would like you to believe the first McDonalds is in Des Plaines, Illinois or something like that but that’s after he bought the company from the McDonald brothers. The San Bernardino spot originally opened as a BBQ stand in 1940 then became a burger spot in 1948.
We then found out that there was an oldest running McDonalds in Downey, California that had a museum & has been open since 1953. We managed to capture a few photos there. It’s the second restaurant franchised by the McDonald brothers, prior to the involvement of Ray Kroc & it still has the two original 30-foot (9.1 m) “Golden arches” and a 60-foot (18 m) animated neon “Speedee” sign.

Here’s a great music video from our friends in Dallas, Poor Vida recording artists MC Astro & Leo J bring the hipstep movement to you with the release of MC Astro’s second music video from the album I’m Not You, ‘Slow Ya Roll.” Taking a look at this video & seeing old pics of MC Astro & Leo J has us remembering all the good old times at the Green Elephant bar in Dallas. We miss you guys out there but we’re enjoying it here in LA. So take a peek at this video & check out more from Poor Vida on their website here.

Southern California is known for Hollywood, celebrities, gangs, surfing, Disneyland & so on but not many people realize that it’s also the birthplace for many of America’s fast food restaurants. McDonalds opened in San Bernardino, Carl’s Jr in Anaheim & Wienerschnitzel in Wilmington. Wienerschnitzel expanded to Texas 10 years ago & Texans didn’t welcome it as many of them have long gone. The only one we’re aware of that’s still opened is in Allen, Tx. Out here in California, there’s a Wienerschnitzel at every corner so we decided to stop by the first one opened in 1961. Located on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Wilmington, we got chili dogs, fries & a drink and yes, it tasted like it was made in 1961. But it’s a guilty pleasure; cheap & available so we find ourselves chomping down a few from time to time. Plus, you can snag 5 chili dogs for about $5 & take it with ya to the beach for a ghetto picnic. On our way to Der Wienerschnitzel we snapped a photo of VIP Records in the Eastside of Long Beach (LBC) on the PCH. VIP Records is most well known for being the back drop of LBC alumn Snoop Dogg.

We were up in the Hollywood area last week on August 17th for some business & stopped by Hollywood & Highland Center to waste time & people watch. On our way there, we passed by some street art from Thierry Guetta, known by most as Mr. Brainwash (“MBW”). Now, if you don’t know who he is or who his friend Banksy is or know little of street art for that matter, then you should definitely check out Exit Through The Gift Shop. You can rent it or stream it on Netflix. We highly recommend so & you can decide yourself if it’s a hoax or authentic. Either way, it’s an entertaining piece on street art, the media & the art world. After a few photos of MBW’s work, we reached the Hollywood & Highland shopping center & stopped in Starbucks for couple of Fraps. Now, this place is the epitome of tourist traps with Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Disney’s El Capitan Theater, Kodak Theater, Hard Rock Cafe, Hooters & so on. So we got our drinks & did a quick walk around maneuvering between gift shops, costumed characters begging for change & lost tourists. Out of all of that, a half naked African-American holding fake snakes standing on a stool had us giggling. And not so much that it’s a strange thing to see but that people just walked right by without a second glance. You can also see the pictures on our gallery here.

Okay, if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve probably noticed quite a few posts about Disneyland in California. Last year, we came through the LA area twice & visited Disneyland both times with cousins & nephews & during those two visits we noticed our family had season passes that came with food & souvenir discounts. Our first thought was of course, who’d go to Disneyland that often? Let alone a year long pass? Next thing we know, a year passed & we’ve moved to the LA area with no jobs but we’re with our family plus the option of paying for the Disneyland annual pass in monthly payments lured us in. We can waste time there while job hunting. Now, on to an evening event at Disney California Adventures that had us smiling like nerds in a comic shop. DCA is a 10-year-old, second theme park added to Disneyland that also includes a separate park ticket price. An annual pass gets you access to both & if you don’t have that, you can get a park hopper pass. Anyways, DCA’s Hollywood section of the park has a digital screen clock countdown to the “opening of the GRID.” A must see if you’re a fan of the TRON films. At about 6pm, a DJ starts spinning, you have people gussied up in TRON outfits dancing, bright glowing lights, a makeshift bar in the middle of the street serving drinks called “Digitinis” (at a hefty price mind you), TRON light cycle races projected across the buildings & a laser light show by Laser Man. You can catch him twice during the evening, shooting lasers out of his hands to the tune of Daft Punk remixed. Our first thought when we first experienced this was “huh? Disney rave?”, “teeny boppers shuffling?” & “I need another TRON drink.” But it was fun. Once we let go of paying attention to the too young to be ravers or soon to be ravers & saw families dancing & grooving, we had a blast. If dancing out in the streets isn’t your thing, there’s even a replica Flynn’s arcade with old 80s games including TRON & Space Paranoids (from the TRON films). The DJs rotate daily & when we do decide to hit ElecTRONica we go on Friday nights to catch DJ GiangStar (whom we love for her choice of tracks). More pictures can be found in our gallery section here.

Last week, we had a blast working at local LA record label Architects + Heroes. For our lunch breaks we’ve ventured into Swingers, Canter’s & Jerry’s Deli & along the way were able to find some of Mr. Brainwash’s works. A pretty fun week for us considering we’ve been low on the radar busily job hunting since moving out to the LA area. Of course, since we’re huge cinefiles & fans of the HBO show Entourage, having lunch at Canter’s & Jerry’s had us a little giddy. We were making jokes about aspiring screenwriters & actors as we were people watching waiting for our meals. On our way home to Long Beach, we decided to make a quick stop on Friday to Randy’s Donuts, used as a backdrop in many films & tv shows. Most recently, it was Iron Man’s snack stop in Iron Man 2.

It’s been a while since we’ve made an update & we’re still getting on our feet out here in the Los Angeles area. We’ve begun to know our way around our new home in Long Beach, or as locals call it, the LBC. We’re still adjusting to the LA traffic & have found out all the traffic jokes are true. You will find yourself in a traffic jam at 10pm on a Saturday night out here. On to some great news, the Lek Brothers are joining forces with Architects & Heroes record label & Agentes Consulting. This partnership will open up new opportunities for us to network & continue expanding our photography experiences. This will be an excellent doorway to new music, artists & musicians. So stay tuned, there’ll be parties hosted by us & attended by us. This will definitely get us back on our feet & taking LA head on.