Soda Pop Music

One of our favorite L.A. spots is Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. Located on York in Highland Park, Galco’s — once an Italian grocer — remade itself about a decade ago under owner John Nese into a retailer of just about every known and obscure soda in the universe.

Now, local artist Greg Laswell has shot a music video to his song “How the Day Sounds” at Galco’s. Check it out — including a brief appearance by Nese:

How the Day Sounds
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=38653041,t=1,mt=video

Soda Pop Music

One of our favorite L.A. spots is Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. Located on York in Highland Park, Galco’s — once an Italian grocer — remade itself about a decade ago under owner John Nese into a retailer of just about every known and obscure soda in the universe.

Now, local artist Greg Laswell has shot a music video to his song “How the Day Sounds” at Galco’s. Check it out — including a brief appearance by Nese:

How the Day Sounds

Galco Helps Quench Our Thirst

Driving through Highland Park on a burning hot weekend afternoon, we passed by one of our local faves, Galco’s Soda Pop Stop on York. The idea of a cold, obscure soda brought us inside. A few of our selections:

Mr. Q. Cumber: I wanted to like this soda. The idea of a cucumber soda sounded pretty refreshing, especially on a 100 degree day. But Mr. Q. Cumber is hampered by too much sugar. The sweetness may make it more like a real soda than not, but I’m not sure it worked.

Diet Cricket Cola: This one grew on me. I loved the idea of Cricket Cola, which is made with kola nut extract, green tea concentrate and other ingredients. The taste was kind of disappointing — but I blame that on it being diet. I kept chugging it, and it grew on me. Not too sweet, but just right.

Any of you have favorite obscure sodas or Galco’s picks?

Tacos De La York Blvd.

Brand-new neighborhood blog York Blvd. is off and running, covering the whole Northeast Los Angeles world of Highland Park, Glassell Park, Mt. Washington, Eagle Rock, etc. They’re already compiling at least one ambitious list, the area’s Top 10 Street Food Vendors.

At No. 1 is Tacos La Estrella a taco truck found at Ave, 54 and York, as well as a taco shop a 6103 N. Figueroa. They write:

I know the complaints: (spoken in a whiny voice) “La Estrella is the Starbucks of Highland Park with 3 trucks and an actual storefront”, “they use too much rice in their burritos”, and “they don’t have wifi or Nachos Bell Grande”. Still, they serve excellent carne asada and carnitas that require you to have a drink on hand. I’ve eaten with friends at the stand on Fig while other patrons threw up gang signs to passing automobiles, and I’ve stood pigging out at the truck on York while another customer wrote “A’s” on the truck with a finger, accusing them of being “bitches” for closing just before he arrived. My theory is this: Anyone who has been jumped into a gang must have lived in the neighborhood a while. Thus, it stands to reason that they would know where the best tacos are.

Several readers also chime in. Any other spots you’d add to the list?

Maria’s Thursday Three

1. Silversun Degrees Of Separation: Living in L.A., people are bound to have some association with members of the band — I used to work with Nikki at Rhino; she’s super sweet and always wear killer clothes. Also, in the blog-la-sphere, Celia’s cousin is drummer Christopher. Any of you out there who somehow has some association with the band? (P.S. We’ll announce the winner of tix to Saturday’s show at the Wiltern tomorrow.)

2. Ugly Podcast: I listen to the Ugly Betty podcasts (go to iTunes) hosted by Becki Newton (Amanda) and Michael Urie (Mark) weekly and those two are quick-witted, super funny and seem to be extensions of their characters on the show. Every week, they tease the upcoming episode and talk about some inside stuff happening on production. This week’s podcast, for example, features a couple of special guests and they all quickly get into playing like they have callers calling in the show and being stupidly funny.

3. High on Highland Park: On a rare night out a few weeks ago, we finally ventured to check out the Verdugo Bar in Glassell Park (right around the corner from Franklin Avenue HQ) — but sadly they were closed. Not sure if they have re-opened but the Chowhound thread indicates that they may have liquor license issues. We ended up at The York, where they served some stiff top-shelf drinks for $6 a pop– pretty good deal. The vibe was good (hipster, not the Marc Jacobs kind). Quickly checked out Johnnie’s as well– smaller but seems cool. Would definitely go back to these two bars again.

Maria’s Thursday Three

Oinkster burger; Flickr pic by Jeremy Okai.

1. Where’s your favorite place to get a burger in L.A.? For me, the burger at Oinkster is pretty top-notch and what I usually get when we go. My friend Andrea likes to get one at The York. This is not necessarily a best-burger-in-L.A. question but where do you like go for a burger in Los Angeles?

2. Woot.com – Has anyone ordered anything from this site? They offer daily electronic deals on $5 shipping, and the savings are good, really good. The descriptions are a hoot and the customer reviews guide you as you consider a product. I also like the wine and t-shirt deals; I’m most likely to buy a shirt first ($10, free shipping!) if I ever get to one before it’s sold out.

3. I have to post about Top Chef since last night was the season finale: Casey faltered, Dale shined but was spotty and Hung came through perfectly. Last night’s highlight was the sous chef surprise: Rocco DiSpirito (who assisted Hung), Michelle Bernstein (Casey), and Todd English (Dale)– the pairings were exciting to watch. The lowlight was seeing losing contestant Brian at the dining table — I took offense to the fact that he was suddenly on the other side of the table critiquing the dishes. Just a few days ago, he was a contestant, and it seems unfair that he was given a voice at the judges’ table. It would’ve been fine if he was there to observe as a prize perhaps for making it that far on the competition. But shush-it! I did not want to hear what he had to say about the food.

Maria’s Thursday Three

Oinkster burger; Flickr pic by Jeremy Okai.

1. Where’s your favorite place to get a burger in L.A.? For me, the burger at Oinkster is pretty top-notch and what I usually get when we go. My friend Andrea likes to get one at The York. This is not necessarily a best-burger-in-L.A. question but where do you like go for a burger in Los Angeles?

2. Woot.com – Has anyone ordered anything from this site? They offer daily electronic deals on $5 shipping, and the savings are good, really good. The descriptions are a hoot and the customer reviews guide you as you consider a product. I also like the wine and t-shirt deals; I’m most likely to buy a shirt first ($10, free shipping!) if I ever get to one before it’s sold out.

3. I have to post about Top Chef since last night was the season finale: Casey faltered, Dale shined but was spotty and Hung came through perfectly. Last night’s highlight was the sous chef surprise: Rocco DiSpirito (who assisted Hung), Michelle Bernstein (Casey), and Todd English (Dale)– the pairings were exciting to watch. The lowlight was seeing losing contestant Brian at the dining table — I took offense to the fact that he was suddenly on the other side of the table critiquing the dishes. Just a few days ago, he was a contestant, and it seems unfair that he was given a voice at the judges’ table. It would’ve been fine if he was there to observe as a prize perhaps for making it that far on the competition. But shush-it! I did not want to hear what he had to say about the food.

Bargain Movies in Highland Park

(Pic by LAist.)

LAist discovers the Highland 3 Theatre, which showcases recently releases at a bargain basement prices.

Writes the blog:

My friend Dawn recently moved to Highland Park and we quickly discovered that there is a theater on Figueroa near Avenue 56 that has movies for $3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — and not second-run movies either, real, live, first-run movies. In the last month we have gone four or five times and saw “Shrek the Third,” “Evan Almighty,” “Ratatouille” and “Transformers.”

Bargain Movies in Highland Park

(Pic by LAist.)

LAist discovers the Highland 3 Theatre, which showcases recently releases at a bargain basement prices.

Writes the blog:

My friend Dawn recently moved to Highland Park and we quickly discovered that there is a theater on Figueroa near Avenue 56 that has movies for $3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — and not second-run movies either, real, live, first-run movies. In the last month we have gone four or five times and saw “Shrek the Third,” “Evan Almighty,” “Ratatouille” and “Transformers.”