Tonight is the night of the first No Bad Days IRL event, a book launch party for Ifrah F. Ahmed. We’ll have complimentary snacks and refreshments from the book, prepared by the Chef Kuda of Flavors from Afar. Stop by for an organic bev or some convo.
Got stories, tips, or people you’d like to see featured in this newsletter? Email me at nobaddaysinla@proton.me.
Who moves to Venice Beach, basically right off the boardwalk, only to complain about the noise? The Venice Karen—who also happens to be the president of the Venice Neighborhood Council. He built a multi-million dollar behind the historic Hinano Cafe and now he won’t stop filing complaints about the traffic and the noise. Now, anonymous do-gooders are posting Wanted posters with his face on them all over the neighborhood.
What the hell is going on in Santa Monica? Every day there’s some doom and gloom headline about the beach city. Surely a Taco Bell Cantina isn’t replacing the Britannia Pub? Their lease ends on July 31, and they’ll be open month-to-month until the Cantina moves in. The commenters are very upset.
Another one bites the dust: Echo Park’s La Fe Bar is closing down. Their last day is April 26, and they’re promising a big good-bye party.
LAX is allegedly going to start running its People Mover (without people) this Monday. I’ll believe it when I see it!
Saudia Arabia is pouring millions of dollars into Hollywood. “If you say no to the Saudis and take money from UAE or Qatar, or from Peter Thiel, is that better? I’m not so sure,” says Bryan Fogel, who made the 2020 documentary The Dissident. “We don’t live in an ideal world. I don’t think we will ever see real justice for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but there is a lot of positive change coming out of Saudi now. You always have to move forward.”
This guy turned his Montrose home into “an 11-room immersive experience featuring a Drag-In Diner Theater, Disneyland Archive Room and nostalgic sensory elements.” The Golden Girls fan and Disney adult, Brandon Shahniani, calls it ’Naynay’s World Expo
People have mixed feelings about the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA. Says one visitor, "You know, the Eiffel Tower was this horrible, ugly thing when it was put in, and now it's one of the most beautiful things in the world.”
Los Feliz didn’t need another grocery store when Lazy Acres Natural Market opened its sixth California location on the corner of Franklin*1 and Western, right across the street from Immaculate Heart. Though not quite technically in Los Feliz, it’s close enough to pose a challenge to the neighborhood’s other grocers—Lassen’s, Albertson’s, Ralph’s, and Jon’s—not to mention the handful of small Thai and Armenian markets, which offer produce at a significant discount, that also sit on the wealthy neighborhood’s borders.
That didn’t stop the Santa Monica-based organic grocer, acquired by Bristol Farms in 2005 (which explains the presence of “The Cookie” in its stores, an Bristol Farms bakery item, which has its own obsessive fanbase) from becoming very popular, very quick. In the few short years since it first opened its doors, Lazy Acres has acquired a cult-like following—even among celebrities. Angelina Jolie, Colin Farrell, Troye Sivan, among many, many others have been seen strolling through the bright aisles.
If I mention to the common person, however, that I live around the corner from there, I get one of two reactions: “I LOVE Lazy Acres” or “I don’t what that is.”
“Lazy Acres was expertly concocted in a board room to be a perfect mix of the beloved co-ops and health food stores from time gone by aaaaand a whole foods,” Vanessa Anderson, aka the Grocery Goblin, texts me. “it scratches the itch of juice, of sprouts, of almond butter machine, but you can also get the conventional stuff in one shop (except don’t even think about buying paper towels, very high threadcount and price to match). it’s also clean and gigantic.”
Anderson is a professed hater, but that leaves her in the minority—at least, among the people I’ve talked to. “I’m a Lazy Acres fanatic,” Brandon Veloria, the proprietor of vintage clothing store James Veloria (whose Chinatown LA outpost closed last year), texts me from New York. “It’s basically why I moved to LA for 2.5 years.”
Last year, their brand even staged a photo shoot at the grocery for their collaboration with vintage activewear brand Rummage Stretch.
“In NY we’re hauling heavy groceries on the train praying the handles don’t break,” Brandon later writes to me over email. “But in LA it feels like something fun and easy. I wanted to shoot something that conveyed the fantasy LA fantasy of an easy breezy life.”
Lazy Acres furnishes that fantasy. The produce is stacked in appealing configurations, the fruit ripe and unblemished, the greens vibrant and lush, glittering with dew drops. The well-provisioned vitamin section promises a healthy, lengthy life, glowing skin, a robust gut biome, restful sleep—the kind of life you’d have if you had it altogether. The prices are expensive—but not Erewhon-expensive, making its small luxuries slightly more accessible and justifiable for the person with a budget.
“I try to focus on items I wouldn’t get at the usual grocery store. This is also how I justify the price. Lying to yourself is okay if you walked to buy nondairy yogurt,” says writer Hannah Benson, of Baby Dancer who lives in the neighborhood, and runs into her friends and neighbors there frequently. She’s also a frequent visitor of the hot bar—she was one of many people who mentioned, by name, the Mary’s chicken coconut chicken tenders.
“I live and die by [the] tenders,” says screenwriter and former resident of the neighborhood Hayley Barnes. “I believe you can buy them in the prepared foods section, but I’d argue they only truly ‘hit’ when taken directly from the hot bar. They also aren’t always available, which adds to the mystique and power.”
The Grocery Goblin would disagree. “do not talk to me about that hot bar!!!!” Vanessa texted me. “it is not good!!! whole foods hot bar is better than that!!!! the idea that one cannot get a co-op hot food bar plate in East LA is like, horrible!! Have we forgotten our roots?! is the source family legacy like dead?!”
The people, she says, simply yearn for a co-op. “The east side needs a co-op, it’s completely insane that we don’t have one,” says Anderson. “I know it’s challenging. But i grew up going to a co-op, i shopped at one in college, they make your life better lol, that model allows for the grocery to be something it’s supposed to be, a real community center.”
Maybe the feel-good vibes in there are capable of scrambling your sense of taste and reality. (Though I would love to point Vanessa to the poke bar, which is my not-so-quiet obsession.) The place is just precisely engineered to make you feel good, from the envirotokens conferred to those who bring their own bags to the eerily cheerful personnel.
“All of the cashiers are very nice and weird in a comforting way, and the supplement dept workers are attentive and knowledgeable,” says Sophia Louise Sambrano, a student and teacher who lives in the neighborhood. “Health food stores are for weirdos and I am happy for any of that to be retained in any capacity.”
“The lighting is so flattering to everyone in there, says Ben Haist, an illustrator who lives in the neighborhood. “Virtually 80% of the people in there—they’re the hottest person you’ve ever seen. I think it’s hot in a low-key way that you don’t get [at] an Erewhon.”
When I asked how walking into Lazy Acres makes her feel, screenwriter Hayley, who now lives in Eagle Rock, said, “Surveilled and illicit but also excited. Like a kid putting something in her mom’s shopping cart that she knows she shouldn’t.”
“It once convinced me that a guy I was seeing could maybe be my guy after he bought me organic cranberry juice there when I got a UTI,” says Hannah. “In Lazy Acres you can believe anything.”
TOMORROW: Head to West Adams for Midcity Mercado and enjoy micheladas and matchas, eat food from local vendors, and dance to a couple DJ sets. RSVP here.
TOMORROW: Astralab is getting evicted from their space, so you may wanna attend as many events there as possible before their landlord shuts them down (Petition, GoFundME). Tomorrow, they’re hosting the Hayat Pop-up Lounge, which will include live music by oud players, bites from Hayat Cafe, and a hookah lounge. Tickets here.
TOMORROW: Head to Lauren Halsey’s sister dreamer sculpture park for the TEEN SCRAP GODS, “a one-of-a-kind fashion show featuring the rising generation of young fashion designers.” RSVP here.
SUNDAY: Attend the LA Skate Market, a “cultural emporium for skater-owned brands and creatives” that will feature food, music, art and skate. RSVP here.
A previous version of this newsletter read “Fountain” which is incorrect.
HARD agree that we need a real co-op on the Eastside. As a former resident of Berkeley and Park Slope, I’m pining for some good old fashioned bulk bins!
Re: Lazy Acres building a following quickly—my friend lived in the neighborhood when it opened ,and they were mailing out CRAZY coupons for locals the first month (as in, “a free dozen eggs, no minimum purchase required” crazy), so I suspect that was a pretty successful strategy for getting people through the doors.