Joe Donnelly

Iko, Iko! A Crawdad in Silver Lake

Joe Donnelly
My dog, Willa, and I spotted it as we set out on our morning walk. The thing was ambling slowly, but with an air of determination, across the sidewalk. At first I thought it was something abominable — a giant insect, a tarantula or some other thing that crawls out......

Joe Donnelly Meets the New Boss, Mike Lacey

Joe Donnelly
Not long ago, while purchasing a ticket for an art-house matinee of The Squid and the Whale (good stuff, by the way), I noticed that the demographically desirable, mildly boho-looking young clerk was reading the L.A. Weekly (all the way out there in Pasadena!). I asked him if he liked......

Bay Watchers

Joe Donnelly
The time may come when I just can no longer handle the crowded waves of my favorite surf break on the Manhattan Beach–El Segundo border, known as El Porto, but sometimes called El Potty because of the nearby sewage treatment plant. (An oil refinery and power plant also grace the......

You Only Go Around Once

Joe Donnelly
My dad visited me in Los Angeles several years ago. It was early summer, could have been right around Father’s Day, and he loved it here — the weather, the cars, the girls, the style, the smarts, the energy, my friends, my future wife. My dad was like a barracuda,......

Sk8er Girl in Z-Boy Land

Joe Donnelly
Photo by Kevin ScanlonCatherine Hardwicke grew up poor on a farm in South Texas near the Mexico border, and, well, Christmas took some improvising on her dad’s part. “He grew carrots, right,” Hardwicke says in a slow, quiet drawl that betrays her roots despite the Hollywood makeover and the trim,......

Straight Man in West Hollywood

Joe Donnelly
The whole thing happened so fast, fueled as it was by the kind of mania that comes with being near the end of some kind of run that could only end in disaster, or a song. Before I knew what it was I was doing, I had everything I owned......
(function(r, d, u) { var s = d.createElement(r); s.async = true; s.setAttribute('data-cfasync', false); u += '&cb=' + Date.now() + Math.random(); s.src = u; var n = d.getElementsByTagName(r)[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); })('script', document, '//engine.laweekly.com/?221982862');

Leaving Home

Joe Donnelly
Illustration by Mr. Fish Count me among those who woke up on November 3 and thought: secession! My turn toward the idea that California should secede from the Union was based on some bedrock logic that my father used to admonish me with as he suspiciously eyed my derelict teenage......

The Malloy Brothers Conspiracy

Joe Donnelly
The hills are there in front of us, the sun behind, and he’s getting smaller and smaller, framed by the burnishing light, the water, the sand, the hills. I remember for a moment how much beauty is still left in this world. And now here’s my wave, lifting me gently......

Beyond the Barbecue

Joe Donnelly
Photo by Mark Hunter Let’s have a party!” she says. “Sure,” I say back. How could I not when my wife looks up at me with those big, baby-blue eyes? And what’s the big deal? We’ll dial up a few friends and I’ll do my usual Master and Commander of......

Here’s What Happened, Sweetheart

Joe Donnelly
Photo by Ted Soqui THOMAS HADEN CHURCH STRIDES into the lovely but tragically second-rate Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel as might his character Jack Lopate in Alexander Payne’s wonderful new movie, Sideways — which is to say, with the bouncy step of a former jock, an eager handshake......