Spread between both the Geffen Contemporary building and the museum’s main Grand Avenue location, the exhibit is not only a comprehensive show-and-tell for Los Angeles’ cultural contributions, but also for MOCA itself.

The tour series — dubbed “Forgotten Los Angeles” — has provided curiosity-seekers with enriching exposés of neighborhoods such as Leimert Park, Boyle Heights and Eagle Rock for the last three summers.

“It’s an experiment in meaning,” Ellen Warkentine said to the crowd before a workshop performance of Act 1 of LOLPERA, her opera based on the LOLcats Internet meme. “It’s about seeking truth in places where no truth can be found.” Then — with nothing but a stripper pole for set design — a group of [...]

Since 2006, the Echo Curio Curiosity Shop and Art Gallery has hosted experimental all-ages shows in its living room-sized storefront on a popular Echo Park strip of Sunset Boulevard. But earlier this month, the privately owned community space known for its support of the freaky, demented and avant-garde side of Eastside culture was unceremoniously shut [...]

Northeast Los Angeles is a community-defining term unknown to many native Angelenos. South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles  and “the Westside” have all become common area identifiers, but Northeast Los Angeles remains an abyss in the minds of many locals even though it encompasses some of the oldest and most culturally flourishing parts of the [...]

The welcome signs posted at entrances to Santa Monica State Beach host a list of rules that must be observed while enjoying Los Angeles’ most beloved sandy stretch: No temporary enclosures, no percussion instruments, no audio devices after 10 p.m., no loitering under the pier. These are just a few of the many laws the [...]

If cities were alcoholic beverages, Los Angeles would be a mix of vodka and Red Bull — a potent dose of liquor hidden beneath the sugary-sweet sheen of a counterintuitive energy boost. San Diego, just a few hours south, would be defined by its main boozy creation, one rooted in a working-class ethic that has [...]

From the early days of film to the most reckless days of punk, Los Angeles has always been a hub for creative innovation. Our historical distance from European thought and our physical distance from older cities like New York has allowed Los Angeles to be used as a petri dish for all kinds of experimentation. [...]

It took 17 hours to drive to Portland, Ore., but only five minutes of walking around the Peter W. Stott Center to realize that print media is not dead — it’s just hiding.