Absolut Vodka

Swedish House Mafia - L.A. State Historic Park - 3/8/13

Swedish House Mafia L.A. State Historic Park 3/8/13 Better than: Just...anything. Most other things. Anyone who thought that chilly temperates and some rain might deter the rave kids from raving full throttle at the Swedish House Mafia show last night underestimates the heartiness of rave kids an ... More >>

10 Haunted (Maybe) Los Angeles Restaurants and Bars for Celebrating Halloween

Masked monsters -- or actors -- may be screaming and grunting for our attention at theme park-style events around town this Halloween, but there are plenty of places in Los Angeles for a trip into the city's past. Back in the days when "trunk murders" caught the public imagination and it was easy t ... More >>

Serious Drinking: Stop the Vodka Insanity

It's time to say it: Flavored vodka is a threat to our cultural existence. It's bad enough that vodka branding has devolved into an almost brazen mash-up of borrowed imagery, aspirational memes poached from music (Chopin), art (Van Gogh), clouds (Cirrus), ice (Iceberg), sky (Skyy), geometry, weird ... More >>

Where to Eat on Cinco de Mayo in Los Angeles: Food, Drink, Party

Every year, we read articles revealing the true origins of Cinco de Mayo. Nope, not Mexican Independence Day, which happens September 16. Cinco de Mayo commemorates a minor battle in the state of Puebla in 1862 where an army of mostly Mexican Indians won against Napoleon III's French troops. The hol ... More >>

Karlsson's New Batch 2008 Vodka: $80 Worth Of Potatoes In Sip-able Form

Swedish spirits company Karlsson's has released a new vodka, Karlsson's Batch 2008, a small batch potato vodka from Börje Karlsson (he of Absolut notoriety) that promises to deliver the terroir subtleties and single vintage potato notoriety of a top wine. The buzz -- literally -- here is in a singl ... More >>

RuPaul's Drag Race 4 Queens Start Their Engines in WeHo

The fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race sashays back onto the LOGO Network on Monday, but this week, the queens from the show (past and present) descended upon -- where else? -- West Hollywood for flamboyant carousing as only an elite clan of glamazon cross-dressers could. The official premiere par ... More >>

Cocktail Chat With Fig's Richard Horne: A Proper Bloody Mary, Straws Fraggle Rock

jgarbeeRichard Horne Behind The Bar At Fig​We've already mentioned Richard Horne, the man behind our Best Bloody Mary in L.A. top pick. But what we didn't tell you about the Fig Santa Monica bartender, who has been shaking there from day one, is that he has a thing for straws. Really good stra ... More >>

Cocktailian Audrey Saunders Mixes Drinks at Spare Room Tonight

Modern mixology's pioneer Audrey Saunders has returned to Los Angeles. And after leaving La Brea's The Tar Pit after a short two months early last year, getting married, teaching seminars at prestigious cocktail events like the Manhattan Cocktail Classic and winning the 2011 Tales of the Cocktail aw ... More >>

Top 10 Pool Party Hotel Restaurants: Welcome to Summertime in L.A.

Jeff KirshbaumSmall plates from Gordon Ramsay's kitchen at The London WeHo's pool​ Despite the June gloom, summer is officially here and that means Los Angeles hotels go a bit Vegas when hosting poolside parties. Although people don't always go into the pool (and there's no European-style sunb ... More >>

Food Truck in New York Begins Selling Alcohol: Start Spreading the News

Photo via DNAinfo.​For once we're going to concede that New York is ahead of the game. Manhattan news outlet DNAinfo reports that Pera's Turkish Taco truck began serving alcohol today alongside its street fare. Pera's is the first food truck with a liquor license in the city.

Glass Distilled: Moonshine, Or Great Vodka? Don't Get Telluride's Brad MacKenzie Started

homedistiller.orgCopper Is Usually Your Top Of The Line Beauty These Days, Even At Home​In the distilling world, vodka makers like Telluride Vodka's Brad MacKenzie often prefer column stills. In a nutshell, column stills (exactly what they sound like -- tall rather than squat) tend to make you ... More >>

Nightranger: Lash and Learn

Last Night: Dinner with Grant Achatz, Courses 1-8

Guzzle & NoshGrant Achatz lectures about his cooking techniques.​ Frozen and chewy. Hot and cold. Chef Grant Achatz is a master of surprise when it comes to the juxtaposition of unexpected flavors, textures and scents. At his acclaimed Chicago restaurant Alinea, it's nearly always omakase, a ... More >>

Last Night: Dinner with Grant Achatz, Dessert

After eight surreal courses and their equally inventive cocktails, I wasn't sure how, or even if, chef Grant Achatz could top himself with dessert. It turns out the dessert was his pièce de résistance, the most elaborate and interactive dish of the evening -- and the most fun since we got to wat ... More >>

Beer Lobby Gives $10,000 To 'No' On Proposition 19 Pot Legalization

Beer​Update: We got an email from Tom McCormick of the California Small Brewers Association -- they're the ones who make good beers. He says, whoa, we got nothing to do with this effort to beat Prop. 19. Text of the email appear at the end, after the jump. A political action committee of the ... More >>

L.A. Sales Tax Tied For Highest in Country With Chicago; 5 Reasons L.A. Is Cooler Than Windy City

That's the black angel of death, which goes along with taxes​ Los Angeles has the highest sales tax in the country -- 9.75 percent, tied with a bunch of other California cities, plus Chicago, according to a survey by CCH, a tax and accounting firm. No one likes taxes, but sales taxes are the ... More >>

Happy Hour: DISH Restaurant's Bar & Lounge

DISHthe bar at DISH restaurant​ The Place: DISH restaurant, 734 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada; (818) 790-5355. The Hours: Monday-Friday 3-6 p.m. The Deals: Beer and wine by the glass and well liquor cocktails are half off, as are all appetizers.

Morton's Puts a Laker Cocktail on the Menu The Recipe

Morton'sLaker cocktail​If you're the sort of person who will be watching the NBA finals out in a public venue, you may have your seat at ESPN Zone -- conveniently located a few blocks away from the Staples Center -- reserved and waiting. You may already be sitting at your favorite sports bar, ... More >>

Cruisin' for a Boozin'

10 L.A. bars worth diving into

Some Like it Hot: A Round-Up of L.A.'s Spiciest Cocktails A Jalapeño Martini Recipe

How do you like your cocktail? Straight-up, salty, sweet? How about mouth-burning, butt-kicking spicy? If it's heat you crave, L.A.'s latest cocktail craze - all things jalapeño - is for you. Mixologists from Santa Monica to downtown to the Valley are turning to the Mexican-grown chili to add a kic ... More >>

America's Top Bartender Is Now Tending Bar At the Edison

The EdisonBartender Joe Brooke​America's Top Bartender will now be mixing his Absolut cocktails at The Edison. The downtown bar named Joe Brooke their new director of spirits, replacing Aidan Demarest, who left the post for the as-yet-unopened First & Hope. Other than winning America's Top Bar ... More >>

ASKA of Moonrats Collaborates With Flea, Nick Zinner For Spike Jonze Short

ASKA shuns the sweets aisle.​Scrappy music blog TwentyFourBit provides this bit of L.A. arts synchronicity. Spike Jonze has got a new 30-minute short circulating in the current Sundance lineup, and the trailer features an original song written by Aska Matsumiya who, as ASKA, has an EP due out ... More >>

'Twas the punch before Christmas Competition: The Search For The World's Best Punch

How giant bowls filled with liquor ever fell out of favor is beyond me. A bottomless pool of cocktail disguised as "punch" is a drinker's dream: undulating waves of spirit swirling around a block of ice, a frisson of Champagne mingled with a sweetener, the plunk of a ladle, slosh of the liquid... I ... More >>

AFI Fest 2009: What if Movies Were Free?

A changing film world — and hard times — means comp tickets

Top Bartender Reality Show Casting Call Tomorrow: Give It Your Best On the Rocks

The casting call for contestants for season two of the Absolut vodka and LX.TV/NBC reality series "On the Rocks: The Search for America's Top Bartender" is being held tomorrow at Seven Grand. The winner will head to Las Vegas with seven other regional finalists to battle it out with an ice pick for ... More >>

Steve Lopez Sends a Message to Car-Insurance and Billboard Giants

Consumer Watchdog.org​In his L.A. Times column today, Steve Lopez rails against Mercury Insurance and billboard giant CBS Outdoor. The two companies have been in the news lately because the insurance company pressured CBS into taking down an anti-Mercury ad paid for by Consumer Watchdog. On August ... More >>

Among the VuQopolitans: Turning Filipino Moonshine Into Premium Vodka

At the launch party, they were dancing in the movie-set street

Ready for His Retouch: David Yow Adjusts the Picture as He Prepares for the Jesus Lizard Reunion

The singer hadn't seen original drummer Mac McNeilly for 12 years: "We hugged for, like, three minutes and just giggled."

Black President Before Obama’s Time

Also, Pretty Ugly Club, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and more

Hustle and Flow

Destination burlesque; nobodies, wait here; birthday cake and jam

LAFF 2008: Red Rum! Red Room!

I'm taking the day off from the festival today due to other business (L.A. Press Club Awards and L.A. Film Critics Association stuff, all in one day), so to tide you over before I talk about BAGHEAD and X-CROSS (maybe by tomorrow morn, if you're lucky), I have a couple photos of the Target Red Roo ... More >>

SXSW Day 1-My Morning Jacket Prove That They May Be Invincible and Britt Daniel is Everywhere

If you do a Google Image search for "Austin" this is one of the first things that pops up. Two girls at the 1998 Austin Corvette Day. Granted, this probably has nothing at all to do with SXSW--yet judging by my first impressions of this place, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if by the end ... More >>

Vodka, Vampires & Vikings

What's to do in Los Angeles this week

Melancholy Baby

The Black Dahlia as cocktail

Gotta Ham It to Ya

Edited by Kateri Butler

Fetus Don't Fail Me Now

Edited by Kateri Butler

I Fiori Delle Mille Ed Ottanta Minuti

Edited by Kateri Butler

Truth and Daring

Reconstructing Laurie Anderson

Winter Restaurants 2002

Part 3

Art & Commerce

At an intersection near you

Pot Parlor Tricks

Letters

Dancing for the DNC

Things to do in L.A. when you’re delegating (or not)

Absolut Art Guise

1,000 coats of paint — at the intersection of Crescent Heights and commerce

Vintage Voodoo

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins rises from the grave

Mope Springs Eternal

Galleria

Tim Hawkinson, Charles LaBelle, John Divola, Tim Ebner, Shirley Tse, more

Absolut Hot and Absolut Not

The L.A. International Biennial Invitational . . . whatever

The Master Class

Foreign filmmakers invade the Egyptian.

Monsieur Naturel (page 2)

R. Crumb in France