Hannah Carter Japanese Garden

Photo Credit: http://hannahcarterjapanesegarden.com/ 

     OVER THE weekend I searched for some beautiful nature in Los Angeles, which is hard to come across in a city made of interweaving freeways and buildings. My search on the internet lead me to the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden located in Bel-Air. The garden's website says, "the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is modeled on the gardens of Kyoto. The beautiful hillside garden was designed by noted Japanese garden designer Nagao Sakurai in 1959 and constructed between 1959 and 1961. It is recognized as one of the finest examples of Japanese gardens in Americas and was donated to the University of California in 1964." I fell in love with this place and the natural beauty before I could see it in person. The pictures I've seen on the internet look like they were actually taken in Japan. There is more green than I thought possible to find in Los Angeles. I could hardly wait to go to this garden and forget what city I was in and maybe even which country I was in.

Photo Credit: http://hannahcarterjapanesegarden.com/ 

      Unfortunately, my internet search of this beautiful work of natural art also led me to the sad discovery that it is now closed to the public and its survival may be threatened. UCLA has decided to sell the garden "citing rising maintenance costs, deferred maintenance, and the lack of attendance due to limited parking" as their reason. UCLA is selling this priceless and iconic garden with no restrictions, so there is a chance it may fall into the hands of someone who will destroy it in order to make a profit. The Los Angeles times has even stated that UCLA has begun removing objects from the garden. The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is possibly the most beautiful garden in Los Angeles, and we as Angelenos have the responsibility to ensure its survival. The following link has several ways, including an online petition, which we can help preserve this unique natural beauty amongst buildings, freeways, and traffic.

Photo Credit: Bluepupae via Flikr

Please visit http://www.hannahcarterjapanesegarden.com/ if interested in signing the petition

-Nastassja Habers

May Day 2012

    TODAY ANGELENOS, will need to give themselves even more extra time to get from point A to point B. Today, May 1st 2012 there will a protest organized by Occupy L.A. The protest is planed "around a “4 Winds” People’s Power Car and Bike Caravan through the urban sprawl of Los Angeles that will culminate in Direct Action in and around the Financial District of downtown LA." According to the May Day website the protest will be, "beginning in the late morning, coming from the North, South, East & West, will be an amalgam of cars and bikes, occupiers and unions, community orgs and organic communities — taking over our streets on routes designed to bring to light to societies ills, past and present, and engaging with residents and workers as we connect the disparate voices, races, classes and nationalities that make up Los Angeles. The caravans will stop at flashpoints along the way. Flash occupations, food giveaways, and other direct actions targeting the foreclosure crisis and police brutality will be undertaken at these flashpoints on our slow, city-paralyzing, carnival-esque descent into the center of the city." What this really means is even more traffic! For those of us who have finals today, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get to school since the traffic may be even more ridiculous than normal due to the wet roads from last night's rain and L.A.'s 99% occupying our roads.

When I was in the art district a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the cloth advertisement with May Day 2012 spelt out in red and green with a heart of the A that reads "Somos 99%." I liked the advertisement, and not knowing what May Day meant I took it down to take home as a souvenir from my trip to city when I ventured out from the South Bay.

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-Nastassja Habers
-Photo Credit: Nastassja Habers

Coordinates: 3819 and 2827 Dunn Drive Culver City

THE LAWRENCE and Martha Joseph Residence and Apartments, also known as the ‘Hobbit Houses’ located right around the corner from Sony Studios at 3819 and 3827 Dunn Drive in Culver City looks more like a scene from a storybook than the average apartment building.

Lawrence Joseph, a former Walt Disney artist, brought a fairytale to life between 1946 and 1970 with these residencies in Culver City. Behind trees and tall blades of grass lies the cottage built in the Storybook Style. Pillars and garage doors made out of tree trunks, cobblestone exterior, and a wood shingled roof sits behind the green swamp inhabited by turtles.

A Conservancy's page on the complex said, "Joseph redesigned an existing single-family residence and added two two-story buildings with multiple units. He also created nautically themed interiors for the three buildings. The apartments feature galley kitchens, vertical-grain boat plank flooring, and built-in furniture with hardware made from boat latches. The interior looks like you are in a combination of a boat and tree house."

Los Angeles is a city built on fantasy, and this becomes even more evident when looking at the Lawrence and Martha Joseph Residence and Apartments. As I stood in front of the buildings I forgot I was in the middle of the city until I turned around and saw the normal street and the normal houses surrounding the fairytale apartments.

-Nastassja Habers

-Photo Credit: Nastassja Habers

Genius Loci: Painting L.A.'s Story

Earth Crew "Undiscovered America" for L.A. Cultural Affairs

Photo Credi: Nastassja Habers - Taken in the Art District

Saigon Dish: The Best in Los Angeles

MY FAVORITE thing about Los Angeles is that it is home to Saigon Dish, arguably the best Vietnamese restaurant with the best prices in Los Angeles. The small restaurant is located in Lawndale off of Hawthorne Boulevard and Manhattan Beach Boulevard. I discovered Saigon Dish when I was fifteen and have been a repeat customer ever since, and is the first restaurant I go to if I have been out of town for a while. However, the delicious food is not the only reason I find my self returning for the high school special, which is not on the menu and is known by few.

The owner John remembers every face and name of his returning customers, even if they’ve only come in once before, and he somehow creates the feeling of eating at a good friend's house and not in a room full of strangers. John will also have a chat with you before asking you for your order, though if you are a repeat customer he probably already knows what you want. The restaurant is decorated in a simple fashion. There is a row of tables on each side of the restaurant and in the middle, tables are pushed together for big parties or when the lunchtime rush arrives. Each table has Sriracha sauce, Brown sauce, and chili paste, and red and white paper placemats with the Chinese zodiac. There are two paintings, one on each wall. Saigon Dish doesn’t need to try very hard to draw in customers like other Vietnamese restaurants that need catchy and comical names like “Pho Sho” or “Pho Ever.” People keep returning because of John’s hospitality (which is hard to find in a restaurant these days) and the inexpensive and tasty food.

Nothing on the eight-page menu is over ten dollars. The most expensive dish is called Com Bo Luc Lac, which is marinated diced cubes of filet mignon, stir-fried onions and rice, and goes for $9.90. But if you know about the high school special, you can get a smaller portion of this plus a small warm bowl of Pho, which is a noodle soup, usually served with thinly sliced beef that cooks in the broth of the soup for under ten dollars! And if you are really hungry you can ask for a bigger sized portion of either the Pho or the beef for a little bit more. Everything on the menu tastes fresh from the Pho to the spring rolls. And usually when you find yourself in a restaurant that offers cheap food they only accept cash, but this little gem accepts cash or plastic. The only flaw I can find with Saigon Dish is that it is closed on Sunday. I have tried plenty of other Pho restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, and even London, but nothing comes close to the taste or atmosphere of Saigon Dish. I recommend all lovers of Pho and Vietnamese food, and those who have never tried it to go check this place out, and I guarantee you will not be disappointed and might find yourself returning on a weekly basis like myself.

-Nastassja Habers

-Photo Credit: Nastassja Habers (I couldn't resist eating some and putting Sriracha sauce all over my food before i snapped a picture.)

Sticking To The Familiar

THERE IS  a popular trend among Angelenos, myself included, to stick to the familiar and refrain from venturing out from their neighborhood. There is so much of Los Angeles that I have never seen, that I have missed out on because I rarely leave the South Bay. Why sit in traffic to go to a restaurant, store, or a park when all these things can be found in my neighborhood. Knowing that what should be a fifteen-minute drive can easily be a thirty-minute or longer drive makes it very hard to find the motivation to go explore Los Angeles. I think if Los Angeles had better public transportation more Angelenos would venture out and explore their city.

The only time I find myself on the other side of LAX is when I am going to school. There have been countless times when I have been driving an LMU student home, or out to lunch, and they have to direct me and tell me which streets are which once I get to them. Saying, “Turn on Washington,” means nothing to me and I would probably go right past Washington. My friends have joked around by saying, “Do you even go to LMU?” because I am like someone who is in L.A. for the first time when I am on that side of airport even though I have been living in Los Angeles for twenty one years. I’m not the only one who sticks to the familiar. I have had friends from LMU come to my neighborhood and they become just as lost. It is common for them to say, “I’ve never really been in this area,” like I say about every other part of L.A.

Mike the Poet touched on this Angeleno trend. Most Angelenos don’t know their own city, but only their neighborhood. Sticking to the familiar and ignoring the unknown is not a new trend in Los Angeles either. I remember in high school I was shocked when I heard a girl ask, “What’s Watts,” as she sat in a classroom twenty minutes away from Watts. I think it is so interesting how little most Angelenos have experienced Los Angeles. There are so many different and iconic places to be experienced, and they should be since L.A. is a city of metamorphosis, always changing, and the old is replaced with the new, but we will never know unless we break the trend and venture out and explore the city we call home.

-Nastassja Habers

-Photo Credit: Natasha Bishop via Flickr

Getting Lost in the Santa Monica Mountains

TUCKED AWAY in the Santa Monica Mountains, off the Murphy Ranch hiking trail, are the remains of an unsuspected history from the 1930’s, a Nazi sympathizer campground. In 1933, Winona and Norman Stephens built the fifty-acre compound to be a self-sustaining Nazi community and a safe haven once America fell to Hitler. The Stephens and their followers believed Los Angeles would be where Hitler would rule the United States and restore order from anarchy. The Stephens and 15,000 other Californians believed in and supported Hitler, and thus there is a piece of deeply disturbing Nazi history attached to the city of Los Angeles, according to historian Randy Young in an article on Huffington Post.

 What seems like a never-ending staircase in between trees and shrubs leads down into the beautiful canyon with an ugly history. Once at the bottom the trail leads to a large building that was once used as a secret base for German spy, Herr Schmidt. The peaceful and tranquil atmosphere of the Santa Monica Mountains is replaced with an eerie feeling once the building comes into focus through the oak and sycamore trees, and Los Angeles’ startling Nazi past becomes real.

Today the base is covered with graffiti inside and out with empty beer cans and trash on the floor as Angeleno youth began using the secret Nazi base as a secret party base. Continuing along the trail there is a rusty red steel structure that has collapsed in several places. This structure too has been spray painted with a mixture of artwork and vulgar phrases across the standing sections of the steel structure.


To leave you have to go to back to the secret base to hike up more stairs. These stairs not only lead you back to your car, it also leads you to the large crumbling stone gate, which was the entrance to the ranch. Ironically, the Nazi sympathizer had the gate designed by prominent African-American architect Paul Revere Williams, also according to Young. The ruins of the Nazi campground are a piece of history hidden in the Santa Monica Mountains that is typically unknown to both Angelenos and tourists.

--Nastassja Habers

--Photo Credit: J.Jakobson, MagicRedShoes (Flickr)

A City of Palm Trees

SINCE THE beginnings of Los Angeles’ history, L.A. was said to be the American Mediterranean, the new Latin shore, a paradise. However, it would have been a tough sell for the original L.A. boosters to advertise Los Angeles as the new Mediterranean paradise with the lack of palm trees, even with the consistently 'perfect' and warm weather.

Although nearly every street in Los Angeles is lined with palm trees, only one species of palm tree, the Washingtonia filifera, is native to California. All other types of palm trees that can be seen lining the L.A. streets are imported, and even the Washingtonia filifera is not native to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles didn’t become a palm tree guarded city until the turn of the twentieth century, with most of the palm tree planting taking place in the 1930’s. On Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena palm trees were planted every hundred feet, and was almost renamed "Street of a Thousand Palms." In Venice, two hundred Washingtonia Robusta palms, or Mexican fan palms, were planted along Washington Boulevard.

In 1931, thousands of palm trees were planted in Los Angeles by the forestry division, which also helped the unemployed find work. The planting project cost $100,000, put around 400 unemployed men to work, and 40,000 palm trees were planted alongside 150 miles of city boulevards spaced forty to fifty feet apart, and many still line the streets of L.A. today.

The iconic palm trees in Los Angeles serve no purpose other than to confirm the original L.A. booster’s claim that L.A. is in fact the new Latin shore and to provide a picturesque paradise of a city. They provide no shade from the constant L.A. sun and provide and no fruit. The imported palm trees serve as a mask for Los Angeles to wear to hide her reality and promote fantasy that can be seen on nearly every street of Los Angeles.

-Nastassja Habers

-Photo Credit: SuperStock

My LA: Conflicted

AFTER SITTING on a long flight the plane finally begins its descent into the Los Angeles International Airport. Depending on the time of day, I look out the window to get a bird’s eye view of a cluster of lights overwhelming the smog of a night sky or a bright sun softened by smog but still able to reflect the houses stacked upon houses in between the interwoven freeways transporting a never ending amount of shiny cars against the backdrop of the Santa Monica mountains. Once upon a time either sight filled me with the joy, and maybe even relief, that I was nearly home. The feeling I get when I look out my window and see Los Angeles below me has changed. The joy is gone. I am not relieved. What I see in these iconic views of LA now is a question – What the heck am I doing back here?

Since the age of fifteen I have been conflicted about Los Angeles. Before all of Los Angeles’ clichés and smog began to taint my love for L.A. the sight of Los Angeles from the air gave me warm butterflies. The city was welcoming me home with open arms. It always felt like I left my heart in Los Angeles, and the instant I looked down from the airplane’s small window, my heart and I were reunited. The terminal had just the right amount of chaos and my home was just around the corner. When I finally made my way outside, the polluted air filled my nose with happiness and good memories. The slight breeze was cooling on my sun kissed skin.

And yet… every year, Angelenos seemed to become more fake and superficial, and more orange from their spray tans. The air seemed to increasingly thicken and the car population must have tripled. I began to think that earthquakes, Santa Ana winds, and fires overshadowed the mild climate. Perhaps the outdoor focus of the beaches, skateboarding, and hanging out was not the height of modern civilization. I became increasingly sure that maturing required experiences beyond Disneyland and In-n-Out. So when I finally turned eighteen, I packed my bags quickly, and the time came for me to break up with Los Angeles and find true love with New York City.

I lasted in New York for a year. I left L.A. to escape the suffocating smog, to never have to sit in traffic again, and to grow as a person without the influence of the bubble which seems to surround, shelter, and protect certain parts of the L.A. scene, and keeps those trapped inside the bubble ignorant and stuck, especially where I grew up in the South Bay. Much to my surprise, after six months had passed I had a longing for Los Angeles, even with all the negativity I attached to the words Los Angeles.

I didn’t even know it was possible to be twenty degrees for six months straight. Whenever I would walk out onto the cold streets of New York, my face immediately hurt. My nose, ears and cheeks felt like they were about to fall off and smash into tiny ice cubes on the dirty ground. I could not keep my body from shivering, even when I would receive strange looks from people passing by. New York’s cold winter weather made me cold towards New York.

The subway system made me miss sitting in traffic because if my commute was going to be stressful and I was going to be late, I’d rather it be my fault, and enjoy the cleanness and privacy of my car, and not because the trains were stopped for twenty minutes with people’s arms and bodies a few inches from my face. New York even had its own layer of smog. New York was grey and gloomy, but when I thought of Los Angeles all I could picture was a warm orange hazy sun shinning over the city.

New Yorkers did not seem any different from those living in Los Angeles, except they had much paler skin and more natural hair, which seemed to make them blander than those in Los Angeles. Also the people in New York could not seem to wrap their heads around my L.A. style and slang. Black was not only the new black it was the only color anybody ever wore, which clashed with my colorful Californian wardrobe. I spoke slower and used words I don’t think they thought people actually used in real conversation. When describing how bomb cupcakes tasted, instead of agreement, the three faces in front of me looked at me in confusion and entertainment, as if I said something hilarious. Then one finally said, “Bomb? As in ‘Da Bomb?’ That’s so 90’s!”

The things I happily left behind in Los Angeles were the things I began to miss the most. I missed my car. I missed the warm sand on the beach and the smell of the Pacific Ocean. I began counting down the days until I would see my friends and family, wear a bikini and sandals, and buy everything at a cheaper price. I was ready to leave New York and get back to where my heart seemed to be, in Los Angeles, so I hoped on a plane headed back to where I came from.

Arriving in Los Angeles from New York, I looked out of my airplane window to see tiny cars driving on the streets and freeways and hundreds of houses surrounding the tall buildings of the city. I felt like I was home again. I felt nostalgic, warm, and appreciative to call Los Angeles my home. This was the last time my bird’s eye view of Los Angeles gave me those feelings.

Los Angeles is the most populated city in California, and the second most populated city in the States under New York City. Over the years there has been a rising trend of people leaving Los Angeles for a place with more opportunities and more to offer. According the California Census Reports of 2008, more than 135,173 people migrated out of California and Los Angeles, however the population remains high due to births and non-Angeleno’s moving to Los Angeles hoping their dreams will come true. However, it seems as if L.A.’s natives are no longer hypnotized by the false promises L.A. continually offers

Eventually Los Angeles began to disappoint me yet again. Living in New York was not all bad, but the growing up in L.A. does not prepare someone for the fact that you can’t have it all. So, L.A. is the city I hate to love. I love it because it is my home, and my style and lingo doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, but I hate it because it can’t keep me satisfied. I continue to look for a new place to call home, but Los Angeles keeps a firm grip on me. Every time I think I found a new place to go, Los Angeles calls me back, telling me “I am your home. This is where you belong.” Now whenever I fly back to Los Angeles and see the city outside the plane’s window, I am saddened with disappointment and a desire for a home that can offer me more than perfect weather, tanned bodies, and celebrity sightings. Instead of seeing beauty below me, I see too much pollution, too many cars, and too much concrete. I am just not sure if that overpowers my love for my home. I guess it’s true that Los Angeles is synonymous with love and disappointment at the same time.

-Nastassja Habers

- Photo credit: Steve Perrin

L.A. "Protects and Preserves" Peace on the Beach

CALIFORNIA HAS been bankrupt for some time now; luckily Los Angeles is here to save the day. As of February 9, 2012 throwing a Frisbee, a football, or even digging a hole deeper than eighteen inches on an L.A. beach could end up costing you up a pretty penny, but thankfully it won’t be a $1000 fine as reported by every news coverage of the new laws. This law is intended to “protect and preserve the peace on public beaches,” as stated in the thirty six page fun killing document.


Throwing a ball of any kind, digging a hole deeper than eighteen inches, disturbing a rock, cussing, producing loud or odd noises, using a tent or structure larger than ten feet by ten feet, holding any group event with more than 50 people without a permit, including a yoga class, and operating a model airplane are all considered a crime on L.A beaches. Luckily these are only considered infractions instead of a misdemeanor. According to the California law, the fine for a first-time infraction will be $100. The second time, it will be $200. And each time after that, the crime of throwing a ball will cost you $500.


Fining people on Los Angeles’ beaches will only be enforced by lifeguards or The Department of Beaches and Harbors’ "peace or code enforcement officers" during the summer season between Memorial Day and Labor Day and will prohibit beach balls, volleyballs, Frisbees, footballs, or in-ocean water polo balls. Only during the off-season are people free to toss, throw, and dig as they please. There is some good news for those who come to the beach looking to do more than just soak up the sun, The Department of Beaches and Harbors will designate special ball-throwing areas or grant permits for a ball game.


This law seems to be a quick and easy way to a lot of money since throwing balls and digging holes are a given at the beach. L.A will make plenty of money from the law, especially when it comes to tourist who may not be aware of the anti-ball throwing and sand digging laws.


This new law is ridiculous. I have been to the beach almost every day for the past twenty years and not once has a football, Frisbee, or a hole deeper than eighteen inches disturbed my time at the beach. This law will change the atmosphere of L.A. beaches from one that is fun, free, and lively. Kids wont be able to try to dig a hole to China or dig a pool big enough for two like I did when I was a kid and adults wont be allowed to do anything other than lay out, swim in the waves, or go surfing or paddle boarding. Adults will however still be allowed to come to the beaches drunk, since that wasn’t added to the list of activities that will disturb the peace on the beach, which makes plenty of sense right? But whatever you do, don't pick up a ball or a shovel on an L.A. beach, or you will not only be committing a crime, you will also apparently disturb the peace.


-Nastassja Habers

Photo Credit: TK

An L.A. Iconic Beach Town and the Sunsets

LOS ANGELES is an iconic city from the Hollywood sign to the pillar of lights at the Los Angeles International Airport. Wilshire boulevard and the Sunset Strip also make Los Angeles an iconic city. However these treasures do not tell me that I am in Los Angeles.

Hermosa Beach is my Los Angeles. It is fifteen minutes south of LAX and is only one mile wide and one mile long. The town has never received the same attention as the towns and beaches of Santa Monica, Venice or Malibu and remains a hidden gem. However as Hermosa Beach evolved over the years it has attracted more and more tourists, typically from surrounding Los Angeles areas.

I grew up in Hermosa and may be a little prejudiced, but the area where Pier Avenue meets the Strand is the center of an iconic beach town. The pier and the strand separate the town from the beach. Walkers, runners, bikers, surfers, skaters, and dogs, can be seen on either the pier, the strand, or the beach, and they are all as friendly as the California Tourist Board says they are. Hermosa embodies the ideal beach lifestyle. The atmosphere of Hermosa Beach is more relaxed and humbled compared to the glitz and glam our associated with the city of Los Angeles. The locals all know each other, including the homeless living under the pier, and people are dressed in Vans, bathing suits, and shirts made by locals.

Like Los Angeles, Hermosa Beach has evolved and morphed over the years. When I was growing up the people of Hermosa Beach took a lot of pride in being local. However, as more outsiders began visiting Hermosa and as my generation of locals grew up, the local pride began to decline, although it can still be seen. Although Hermosa Beach has always been a beach town that loves to party, it has evolved from a more relaxed beach town to a town dedicated to catering to entertainment needs. Local restaurants have closed down as more nightclubs cropped up. Pier Avenue was built for fun and entertainment. There is something going on in Hermosa almost every night, whether it’s going to a bar or a nightclub on the pier or catching a local band or a comedy show at the Comedy and Magic Club on Hermosa Avenue, adjacent to the pier.

For me Hermosa Beach is an escape from the stresses that are interlocked with Los Angeles. It is a much slower lifestyle with the tranquility of the crashing of the waves and the sea air. However, if I were to say that Hermosa is an escape from the notorious L.A. traffic, my neighbor would point out that the limited parking and the city’s propensity for issuing parking tickets any chance they get is a very good substitute. Parking in Hermosa can drive you as crazy as any 405 commute.

L.A. sunsets are iconic and they are breathtaking to watch from the beach with the sound and smell of the ocean. I love walking west on Pier Avenue and onto the beach when the sun is low in the sky and getting ready to fall behind the ocean. The low L.A. sun shines a beautiful orange light on everything and time and problems seem to fade away.


At this time I begin to appreciate the Los Angeles smog as it contributes to make the colors change in the sky. The sunset’s soft pinks are streaked across the clouds, vibrant reds and oranges paint the clear blue sky, and then finally the sky is dark with a handful of stars and airplanes that are mistaken for stars coming in and out of LAX. The sunsets in Los Angeles, especially when by the beach, makes me more appreciative of the natural beauty that can be found, but often goes unnoticed in the large city of Los Angeles. Nothing smooths my day more like my hometown Hermosa Beach and the beautiful sunsets I see everyday there.

-Nastassja Habers

Photo: Hermosa Beach 

Credit: Nastassja Habers