Pitching on LSD
Weekend America, March 30, 2008

Allegations of performance-enhancing drug use have stained professional baseball in the last few years. But using drugs to get an edge is nothing new to the sport. Many players routinely took amphetamines before games. Joe DiMaggio was rumored to have drank 10 cups of coffee before suiting up. Today we’re going to hear from one of the more eccentric icons of baseball: Dock Ellis. Pitching primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s, Ellis was an unusual player, an intimidating, cerebral presence on the field.

He once won 13 games in a row. And he led the 1971 Pirates to a World Series title. But Ellis, now 63, might just be remembered for one of the strangest accomplishments in the history of sports.

Hear the Story >>

Fast, Cheap and Under Control: The rise of Forever 21 and Downtown's wholesale economy
New Angeles, December, 2007

It's hard to keep count of the lawsuits piling up against cheap chic retailer Forever 21. The cases numbered more than 20 in October, when menswear label Trovata joined Anna Sui, Harajuku Lovers – Gwen Stefani's line – and Diane von Furstenberg Studio in filing an intellectual property suit against the Downtown Los Angeles company. Forever 21, they claim, stole their prints, logos, patterns, favorite colors and lunch money to boot. OK, not the lunch money. Forever 21 then sells the knock-offs at prices so low, they befuddle even the most thrifty chain store shopper.

Some of the arguments are pretty convincing. The yellow, printed von Furstenberg smock dress, an item in question under the Manhattan-based clothier's lawsuit, looks identical to the one sold for less than a tenth of the price at Forever 21. Less convincing is that Anthropologie and Bebe, who themselves copy high-end designers as a matter of course, also have lawsuits pending against the chain. >>

Fresh Turns One: Atwater Village's Canelé reaches for greatness
New Angeles, November, 2007

It surprises my friends, who know me as an avid cook, when I tell them that prior to my mid-twenties I never cooked; I heated. My meals were made up of unholy quantities of canned, packaged and preserved “stuff.” But after moving to Paris for a spell at 26, I had an awakening. I tasted actual food: real, fresh, flavorful and simple food. It was neither packaged nor trucked-in from distant parts. I found succulent produce, creamy dairy, choice cuts of meat and fish, not at a fancy organic food store, but fairly cheaply at any corner grocery or, better yet, at the daily markets.

Besides turning me into a gourmand – that’s French for can’t-stop-eating – all these delicious ingredients took away my fear of cooking. Starting out with vine-ripened tomatoes, curiously flavorful cheese, warm, fresh, baked bread and just-picked herbs, I’d have to make a lot of wrong turns to end up with a bad meal.

Dinner at Atwater Village’s Canelé operates on this same principle. Chef and co-owner Corina Weibel serves dishes made from produce she buys at local farmers’ markets that day or a day before. Her meats come only from trusted ranchers and fishmongers. That uncompromising taste is evident. The simple mixed-green salad teems with subtle flavors. The peach cobbler bursts with fruit, but is plenty sweet and rich. The heirloom tomatoes are at peak ripeness. >>

Au Revoir, Provence: Bastide reopens with international flavor and deco design
New Angeles, October, 2007

A fall breeze wafted through the olive trees at 8475 Melrose Place. A small assemblage of diners sipped champagne in the front garden. The summer heat was three days over, and the restaurant Bastide four days open.

This Melrose house-turned-restaurant has been empty for well over a year while owner Joe Pytka figured out how he would reinvent Los Angeles’ only four-star restaurant. What was once French to the point of defiance – even a California wine was too juvenile – is now an internationalists’ delight. New chef Walter Manzke presents a superb menu, with both playful avant garde dishes and sturdy French classics. >>

Suspicion at the Dog Park
Weekend America, May 19, 2007

Recently, "Weekend America's" Neille Ilel learned something disturbing about a regular at the dog park near her: he was on the state sex offender registry. Dog parks, especially in the sprawl of California, are one of the last places where people from very different backgrounds, who aren't connected in the usual ways -- work, kids, a love of organic vegetables -- actually hang out and talk. She brings us a story of community and fear.