Latin America

LACMA's Reinstallation of Its Latin American Art Galleries, Explained

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week Born in Mexico City, Ilona Katzew came to L.A. 13 years ago to assume a role at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as an associate curator of Latin American art. At the time, Latin American art was a component of a larger museum department that al ... More >>

Q & A With USC Professor Sarah Portnoy: On Latino Food in L.A

We all eat for pleasure. Some of us also eat in pursuit of academic knowledge. "Food studies" is a burgeoning field where scholars consider food a potent tool for illuminating a vast range of topics and issues. Among L.A. colleges and universities, you'll find classes on "Animal Ethics," "Restaurant ... More >>

IACP 2013 Food Writing Award Finalists Announced

The IACP, which would be the International Association of Culinary Professionals and not the International Association of Chiefs of Police -- yes, that's an old joke now, but you try googling IACP and see what you get -- announced their 2013 award finalists this morning for four of their prestigious ... More >>

Is the Maya Doomsday Theory Offensive?

This card was meant to be funny. But is it offensive to blame today's turmoil on the Maya people? As your Facebook feed might have reminded you, the 2012 doomsday countdown is upon us. And while most people consider the idea of the world actually ending on December 21 to be nothing more than a mark ... More >>

Did Mitt Romney Go Brownface in Attempt to Woo Latino Voters?

If you thought Mitt Romney's week couldn't get any worse, it just did. The blog Democratic Underground seems to have called it first: The Republican candidate appears to have gotten darker in only a day's time. Fine, you say, he has property on the beach right here in Southern California. It happen ... More >>

La Cava de Marcelo, The Only Cheese Cellar in Latin American Open to the Public, is in Nearby Baja Wine Country

See also: Anthony Bourdain's Baja Episode of No Reservations Will Make You Want to Cross the Border Immediately. See also: 'Stick a Fork in It' column Tijuana Sí!. The promise of wine country that's "like Tuscany" right in our own backyard of Baja is enough to have many of us running for the borde ... More >>

Obama's Latino Problem Might Have Just Been Solved by This Hipster T-Shirt

You're young and Latino. And, frankly, you're on the fence about this Obama guy. After all, he promised immigration reform and only recently started to deliver after continuing George W. Bush's militaristic build-up of security along the border. And by "only recently" we mean that he planned to rel ... More >>

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is One Meandering Interview

See also: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Is a Real Bastard Our music feature this week focuses on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, a giant of the progressive rock and post-hardcore scenes who seemingly wants nothing to do with them. The mastermind behind Mars Volta and At the Drive-In tries to tell us he's not a musi ... More >>

Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List

Yeah, yeah, we know. The top 20 greatest musicians of all time, in any genre. Where do we get off? Well, we'll tell you where we get off -- at Accuracy Station. Our team of writers listened to thousands and thousands of hours of music for this list, digging deep into the annals of history and explor ... More >>

Los Angeles Fails to Rank as Drinking Hot Spot: What Gives?

We sometimes relish the salty sting of L.A.'s poor-performing ways when it comes to city rankings that range from traffic to penis size. We can take it. But we have to call b.s. on this particular list. The Daily Beast's latest "America's Drunkest Cities" roundup, just published, does not even p ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews L.A. Weekly Pancake Breakfast

Why Do Musicians Hate America? The 5 Worst Songs With "American" in the Title

​Oh, United States Of America. We love you, we really do. Hell, we live here, so we kind of have to. We show our love through the composition of endless tributes to the land, the people and the country itself. Clarification: we do this by shamelessly co-opting the entire continental Western He ... More >>

Best Food Blog: Street Gourmet LA

Arnold's Love Child: In Defense of Schwarzenegger

​Here we are, on the Western cliff of this great democratic experiment we call America, where diversity, technology and new liberties (medical marijuana, for example), keep us on the utter edge of human evolution. And we're obsessed with ... a guy who had sex with the Guatemalan help. Sure, ... More >>

UCLA Professor: Cash From L.A. ($20 Million Per Year) Makes Up Half the Economy in One Part of El Salvador

From your wallet to El Salvador​You know all those stacks you drop on yardwork, Pico Union ethnic food and the live-in nanny? Bet you were feeling pretty good about doing your part to stimulate the local economy, or whatever. But there's a good chance your fat Los Angeles dime is instead goin ... More >>

El Machete Real

Ice T and His Fellow "Law and Order" Icons Immortalized in Pop Art Show

SPECIAL VALENTINE UNIT, Brandon Bird (digitally-colored ink drawings, 2006)​ Young pop artist Brandon Bird has obsessed over the strange phenomenon that is Law & Order for years. The ubiquitous basic cable franchise is probably more universally recognized in the US (and the rest of the world-- ... More >>

After 15 Years in Peruvian Prison, US. Citizen Wishes To Become Pastry Chef

Izquierdo/AP/APLori Berenson in 2001​Lori Berenson, a U.S. citizen, was sent to prison in Peru 15 years ago for aiding a leftist revolutionary group during a contentious time in the country's history. After serving three quarters of her 20 year sentence, she has been released on probation. Now ... More >>

BEFORE YOU BUY THAT LONDON BRIDGE PIPE-CLEANER SCULPTURE …

Casa Comadres Secret Supper Club: Somewhere in NE Los Angeles, Grilled Octopus & Tamarind Mojitos

Photo credit: Sascha PaladinoSecret supper table​"It started out as a tamarind mojito," explains Apryl Lundsten. "But tamarind makes kind of a heavy juice, like apple." Prototypes were mixed, found wanting, and discarded. Minutes before people arrived, the final mix came together. It incorpora ... More >>

Non-Mexican Latinos: Hold de Mayo

"La Adelita" painting by Angel MartinYou thought Columbus Day has a bad rep among non-Anglos -- the Associated Press reports that non-Mexican Latinos increasingly bristle at Cinco de Mayo celebrations that honor Mexico's 1862 battlefield victory over French forces. "Our kids go to this school system ... More >>

Generation n: Monthly Party Automatico Cultivates a Spanglish Underground

DJ/promoter Ané didn't have high expectations for the night. It was the Saturday following Christmas, typically a dead weekend for nightclubs in a place where everyone seems to be from some other city, and the aftermath of a storm caused the temperature to drop below 40 degrees, something that co ... More >>

AIDS Conference Take 2: Introduction to Hijra

* Image above, hijras in Chennai, India, by Maciej Dakowicz. I took my first full tour of the Global Village at the AIDS Conference here in Mexico City on Tuesday and truly found myself in a "global" community: Activists and organizers and artists from all corners of the world were manning booth ... More >>

Hot Week for Latin Lovers

Latin Jazz Festival 2008 at the Greek, plus spicy fare at Catalina, Jazz Bakery

The Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog: So Good It's Illegal

Jailed for selling L.A.'s famed "heart attack" dogs, licensed street vendors are fighting back

¡Ask a Mexican! Dead Reckoning

Fun With Air

What to do in Los Angeles this week

Independence Day in Gaza Park

Oh, Danny Boy

Breaking Bonaduce – again

Over the Hills and Far Away

The Mars Volta’s burden of dreams

The Passion of the Cash

Da Vinci Cannes the world

Theater Reviews

For the week of March 31 - April 6

Juxtaposed

The personal and the political

New to the List

Chicken Madness

Quiet Americans

British writer J.G. Farrell and America's missing novels of Empire

Protest: Rat Trap

The Hired Hand

The Hired Hand

Alejandro Iñárritu revs up the boss’s BMW

Letters

More Is More

The Rough Guide to Nicaragua

Demons on Broadway

Miracles. Exorcism. Catholic-bashing. Going for broke in the Universal Church.

Naked in Quebec

Why the three-day trade summit will fail

Uneasy Rests the Crown

Road Warrior

Squinting at the Future

Playa Vista is the Westside's housing of tomorrow

Latin Beat

The Los Angeles Latino Film Festival throws a party

Hall of Fame

A Perfect Day for Banana Pizza

Brazilian food - and soccer - in Culver City