One of L.A.’s First Bloggers Hits The Decade Mark

(Flickr pic by AAJA-LA).

That’s Darleene Powells along with me, at the recent AAJA panel she organized on the intersection of journalism and blogging — a subject Darleene (who now works at KCBS/KCAL on their web team) has quite a bit of personal experience with.

As noted by Blogging.la, Darleene has been a part of the blogosphere (not to mention the Blog-LA-Sphere) for ten years now. A decade of continuous blogging — very few bloggers can claim that. (And here we felt so special at Franklin Avenue because we finally hit the 5 year mark last month!)

Here, she tells Blogging.la how she got started — in an age when no one had ever even uttered the word “blog”:

10 years ago, I was checking out the cool websites of all these other people and thinking to myself, I want one! So I literally began the blog as a way to learn HTML and how to build a website. I had no platform (Blogger debuted a year after I began blogging, I think I read on Wikipedia) — all I had was a free Geocities account and HTML Goodies, where I learned the basics. You should have seen the silly, animated gifs I employed…

Congrats, Darleene!

One of L.A.’s First Bloggers Hits The Decade Mark

(Flickr pic by AAJA-LA).

That’s Darleene Powells along with me, at the recent AAJA panel she organized on the intersection of journalism and blogging — a subject Darleene (who now works at KCBS/KCAL on their web team) has quite a bit of personal experience with.

As noted by Blogging.la, Darleene has been a part of the blogosphere (not to mention the Blog-LA-Sphere) for ten years now. A decade of continuous blogging — very few bloggers can claim that. (And here we felt so special at Franklin Avenue because we finally hit the 5 year mark last month!)

Here, she tells Blogging.la how she got started — in an age when no one had ever even uttered the word “blog”:

10 years ago, I was checking out the cool websites of all these other people and thinking to myself, I want one! So I literally began the blog as a way to learn HTML and how to build a website. I had no platform (Blogger debuted a year after I began blogging, I think I read on Wikipedia) — all I had was a free Geocities account and HTML Goodies, where I learned the basics. You should have seen the silly, animated gifs I employed…

Congrats, Darleene!

Action In The Blog-LA-Sphere: Racked LA Comes to Town, New Social Site, and Metblogs Revamps

Tasha from the Blackburn and Sweetzer blog has been tapped to run Racked LA, the Los Angeles outpost of the New York-based retail, shopping and fashion site.

Racked LA, which comes from the Curbed/Eater folks, launches in April.

Much like the Blog-LA-Sphere group on Facebook, the new LA Bloggers social network hopes to organize Angeleno bloggers all in one spot. (That typo in the banner is killing me, though.)

Metroblogging has shortened its name and unveiled a sleek makeover — check out the L.A. site. As part of the change, they’ve officially retired the Blogging.la name, a holdover from the blog’s late 2003 beginnings. It’s now la.metblogs.com.

But they’ll always be Blogging.la to me!

Party Like It’s Super Tuesday

(Flickr pic by Chuck T.)

Thanks to LAist for throwing its first ever blogger party on Tuesday night. Turnout was great; not only did I get to meet some bloggers I only knew in print, but I finally got to check out downtown’s Seven Grand whiskey bar.

(Flickr pic by Chuck T.)

Among those L.A. bloggers in attendance: LAist editor Zach Behrens; former LAist editor and Negro Please blogger Jason Toney; Sha in LA‘s Shannon Simonds; Sean and Pamela Rouse; LA Cowboy Brady Westwater; LA Times pressman Ed Padgett, and others.

Zach said he planned to throw other LAist bashes in the future, including an election night blow-out. Jason explained why he dropped out of the blogging world: Not only was he increasingly busy, but he was starting to get recognized in his every day life at spots like Target — and it was quite freaky. Shannon’s gearing up for her birthday walk this weekend down James M. Wood; Sean and Pamela just celebrated one year downtown and have become immersed in that world. I also got to meet both Brady and Ed for the first time; both had nice things to say about Franklin Avenue. I asked Ed about the photo new Tribune honcho Sam Zell sent to his blog: Apparently Ed and his colleagues recently introduced the ear tug as a new way of yelling out “f-you!” without actually saying it… Zell, a fan of salty language, caught wind of the new Pressmen lingo and sent the pic. Ed says he plans to meet Zell this week when the boss visits his plant.

As for Seven Grand itself… nice spot on the second floor of an older Los Angeles building, and it takes advantage of that old, urban feel. LAist was offering free cocktails to anyone with an “I Voted” sticker, and I ordered one from the specialty menu… only to discover those menu items weren’t covered. But I had to try the “Los Angeles” — how could I not? — and wasn’t disappointed. This delicious concoction consisted of Jim Beam Black Label bourbon, some vermouth, sugar syrup, nutmeg and more. I spread the word, and I think I convinced Shannon and fellow L.A. nut Eric Lynxwiler to try it out.

Were you there? Did I miss you?

Party Like It’s Super Tuesday

(Flickr pic by Chuck T.)

Thanks to LAist for throwing its first ever blogger party on Tuesday night. Turnout was great; not only did I get to meet some bloggers I only knew in print, but I finally got to check out downtown’s Seven Grand whiskey bar.

(Flickr pic by Chuck T.)

Among those L.A. bloggers in attendance: LAist editor Zach Behrens; former LAist editor and Negro Please blogger Jason Toney; Sha in LA‘s Shannon Simonds; Sean and Pamela Rouse; LA Cowboy Brady Westwater; LA Times pressman Ed Padgett, and others.

Zach said he planned to throw other LAist bashes in the future, including an election night blow-out. Jason explained why he dropped out of the blogging world: Not only was he increasingly busy, but he was starting to get recognized in his every day life at spots like Target — and it was quite freaky. Shannon’s gearing up for her birthday walk this weekend down James M. Wood; Sean and Pamela just celebrated one year downtown and have become immersed in that world. I also got to meet both Brady and Ed for the first time; both had nice things to say about Franklin Avenue. I asked Ed about the photo new Tribune honcho Sam Zell sent to his blog: Apparently Ed and his colleagues recently introduced the ear tug as a new way of yelling out “f-you!” without actually saying it… Zell, a fan of salty language, caught wind of the new Pressmen lingo and sent the pic. Ed says he plans to meet Zell this week when the boss visits his plant.

As for Seven Grand itself… nice spot on the second floor of an older Los Angeles building, and it takes advantage of that old, urban feel. LAist was offering free cocktails to anyone with an “I Voted” sticker, and I ordered one from the specialty menu… only to discover those menu items weren’t covered. But I had to try the “Los Angeles” — how could I not? — and wasn’t disappointed. This delicious concoction consisted of Jim Beam Black Label bourbon, some vermouth, sugar syrup, nutmeg and more. I spread the word, and I think I convinced Shannon and fellow L.A. nut Eric Lynxwiler to try it out.

Were you there? Did I miss you?

What’s Better Than Democracy? Democracy Plus Free Drink.

LAist is throwing a Super Tuesday party, and we’re all invited.

Here’s the key part: They’re handing out free drinks to the first 75 people who show up with their “I Voted” sticker. So don’t throw that thing away, wear it proudly, then hit downtown’s Seven Grand between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Feb. 5 for a drink. It’ll be nice to see the Blog-LA-Sphere, live and in person.

Seven Grand
515 W 7th St
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Maria’s Thursday Three

1. Goldfish Love: When feeling sick and achy all over, Goldfish pretzels have a way of making me better. They’re the equivalent of soda crackers, I suppose, but Goldfish pretzels are the better way to go. Combine them with cheddar cheese sticks (toddler food, I know).

2. Raul’s Blog Love: Raul has been counting down his ten favorite songs for 2007. He’s turned me on to the group the National (where have I been?)– at #3 right now, I can’t wait to see what his choice is for #1.

[Mike notes: Apparently Maria hasn't listened to my 2004 Choice Cuts compilation!]

3. iShuffle Love: Collectively, we have an iPod classic, a nano and a shuffle — but my weapon of choice when going to the gym is the shuffle. I just clip this invention the size of a matchbook to my shirt while struggling on the elliptical machine, my very own mixed tape in a teeny tiny silver rectangle.

B-Side, Back in the Blog-LA-Sphere

Ben Mandelker helped launch the mighty TVgasm website (and popularized the term “Chenbot” — which I just saw used in Entertainment Weekly — to describe “Big Brother” host Julie Chen). Now, he’s back in the Blog-LA-Sphere, this time with a new blog made up of his musings about living in L.A.

Ben’s B-Side Blog, which launched last month, was also meant as a creative outlet to do some writing, now that the writers strike has put his scriptwriting on hold.

“I had abstained because after leaving TVgasm, I really wanted to focus on screenwriting,” Ben emails. ” I did that, and things started to heat up on that front, but with the strike, obviously, everything ground to a halt. Nevertheless, I’ve totally gotten sucked back into blogging, but it’s definitely a new experience this time around.”

He launched with several already-classic posts: Click here to read about the guy at the gym who decided to use B-side’s towel.

And this one details his recent experience in the not-so-friendly skies.

The Bloggest Loser: Los Angeles

I jumped on a scale the other day. And quickly jumped off.

It was frightening. I’d reached a weight I’d never seen in my life.

When I moved to L.A. straight outta college in 1996, I was a svelte 155 (that’s what it still says on my California drivers license, ha!). A few years later, all those business lunches and industry parties had taken their toll, and I moved into the low 160s range.

And there I remained. Until 2004, when Blogger Toddler was born — and my gym-going days came to a halt. In more recent times, I’ve been in the 175 range, and accepting of my growing gut.

But now that I’ve smashed the 180 barrier (too many desserts, not enough exercise), I finally have the wakeup call I’ve needed. I finally rejoined the neighborhood Bally’s (their latest “come back to us” plea offered $199 for two years, I figured I oughta) and now I’m gonna have to do some serious diet adjustment as well.

Well, that’s the plan. Along with thousands of other resolution-minded folk in the New Year.

Will I succeed? Doubtful. But I figured I might at least try harder if I had to report my progress here at Franklin Avenue. Hence “The Bloggest Loser.”

Any of you out there in the Blog-LA-Sphere interested in joining me? We’ll report everyone’s progress every Saturday. And don’t worry, no embarrassing “before and after” pics. Email us at franklin_avenue@yahoo.com if you want to join in. Send in your current weight and your desired weight (I’d be happy to get back down to 165). We’ll hold our first virtual weigh-in on Saturday, Jan. 12.

(Logo via BloggestLoser.Blogsome.com, which tried its own version in 2006.)

Holiday Shopping, Downtown Style

(Flickr pic by DaveofCali.)

Still have a lot of holiday shopping, but wanna avoid the mall? Angelenic puts together a list of downtown businesses you oughta check out.

Some recommendations:

Jewelry District: Unofficially framed by 5th , Olive, Broadway 8th, Downtown LA’s Jewelry District is the largest in the United States. With over 3,000 jewelry-related businesses making their homes in former movie palaces and department stores, the bustling neighborhood is a draw for all Southern Californians.

The most well-known jewelry mart in Downtown — as well as one of the largest in the world — is the St. Vincent Jewelry Center (7th between Hill and Broadway) in the former Bullock’s Department Store. This massive block-long complex alone houses over 500 merchants. If you’re buying her a diamond, you’ll find the best deals along these blocks.

Flower District: Thinking of adding some Christmas cheer to your loft? Wreaths and poinsettias abound in the Flower District. This growing sub-district is centered along Wall Street between 7th and 8th, but you’ll find that it has expanded to many of the surrounding blocks.

The larger markets have restricted hours for non-industry types and are closed on Sundays in December, however, smaller shops are generally open to the public. The Flower District’s massive wholesaler pavilion, the L.A. Flower Market — another “World’s Largest” for Downtown — has an admission price of $1 or $2 depending on the day.

Metropolis Books: A book is a gift that can last a lifetime. Though Downtown hasn’t had a major bookstore for a few years now, Metropolis Books (440 S. Main Street) offers a great selection of bestsellers and non-fiction titles.

El Maestro Bike Shop: El Maestro on Main Street is a great bike shop that’s been Downtown for over five years.

Right around now is the time I start seriously thinking about getting gift cards for everyone and just being done with it.