Archive for December 14th, 2012

The last dive bar.

Friday, December 14th, 2012

There’s an interesting article in today’s LAT about the King Eddy Saloon. The King Eddy opened in 1933 and was a favorite bar for folks like John Fante,  James M. Cain, and Charles Bukowski. When it first opened, it was in a commercial district that has since evolved into Skid Row.

The bar itself, shaped in a square, commands the center of the room, with cracked vinyl banquettes lining the perimeter. A glassed-in smoking space is set off to the side. Behind the bar is a tiny fluorescent-lighted kitchen where prepackaged burgers, pizza and sandwiches are heated in a microwave. A beer and burrito would set a person back only $4.

($4 beer and burritos? On a busy night, this place must smell like a mustard gas attack.)

The property that the King Eddy sits on has changed ownership. The new owners (the “Acme Bar Group”) plan to remodel the bar. The current “regulars” are convinced that the remodel is going to push them out – no more $4 beer and burritos – in favor of a more “yuppie” crowd.

Which may very well be true. I don’t live in LA, so I’m not sure I can comment with authority. It’s worth noting that the King Eddy is located in a residential hotel, that there are more residential hotels in the area, and that “a moratorium prohibits the conversion of residential hotels in the area to upscale housing until 2063”. So it isn’t like this area is going to become gentrified any time in the near future. It does seem to me that a “yuppie” bar on Skid Row is going to be a hard sell.

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Art, damn it, art! watch (#33 in a series).

Friday, December 14th, 2012

Atlanta has this thing called “Living Walls”, which the NYT describes as “an annual gathering of street artists from around the world who paint on walls and buildings”.

Some of these paintings are in “blighted” areas; the theory seems to be that these paintings will make things look a little nicer.

But it has also prompted an outcry. Some residents have raised concerns that too much of Atlanta has become a canvas, and some find the works disturbing or offensive.

The punchline?

One mural depicting a nude woman was taken down in September after residents called it pornographic. On Tuesday, Georgia Department of Transportation workers painted over another mural — of an alligator-headed man with a serpentine tail — that neighbors said confused them and was possibly demonic.

But this had nothing to do with “artistic value”, according to the DoT: rather, they claim that the artist didn’t have the proper permits for public art. (Other “Living Walls” paintings are on private property; the NYT doesn’t make this clear, but it looks like the alligator mural was painted along the side of a road.)

And:

The mural of the woman was done by an Argentine painter, Hyuro, and the alligator painting was by a French painter, Pierre Roti. Mr. Roti, who traveled to Atlanta on his own budget and spent 11 days on the mural, said he found the reaction confusing. He intended the mural as an allegory about the brutality of capitalism, not a statement on religion or demons.

“an allegory about the brutality of capitalism”. By the way, “Living Walls” sponsors include “a prominent law firm, the Museum of Design Atlanta and the W Hotel”.

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