Iconic L.A. at Hidden L.A.

LYNN Garrett meant to mention that she had been running a contest over at Hidden L.A. -- the Facebook Page -- that focused on Iconic Los Angeles. You can can navigate over here for a look.

"Iconic" is a tricky word as it does mean many things to many people -- and run it through L.A.'s meat grinder and well, you get, a "creative" spin on the word. Lots of people did try to pick places (or people) who float in our consciousness as L.A. brick and mortar.

I'm one who tends to gravitate toward "sense of place" because,  even with L.A.'s crazy rate of "modernization" and gentrification, the iconic place has a better chance of outliving the "iconic" "celebutant"of the moment.

One place that made Garrett's finalist list was this: the pocket park slipped in a hidden nook in downtown Los Angeles, its close-up, if you recall, was  featured in the film 500 Days of Summer.

-- L.G.

Hidden Los Angeles Comes to "Telling L.A.'s Story"

I'M MOST excited to confirm that  our guest this week for our final class will  be W. Lynn Garrett who runs the website and Facebook page, Hidden Los Angeles, an online space dedicated to "going beneath the surface", an attempt to unravel the various stubborn stereotypes of Los Angeles.  It is a fitting way to close the semester,  as Garrett has been dedicated to writing a deeper story via interacting with her online community.

She's created an evocative virtual neighborhood -- one that in many ways is as lively, celebratory -- and sometimes contentious -- as the city is itself.  Angelenos have strong opinions about what their city was, is and should be and so, consequently, Garrett has often been among other things -- mediator, therapist and good old fashioned booster.  Daily she offers up a mix of quizzes, videos, mini-histories contests and between all of that frequently throws out topics for conversation across the L.A.' s virtual basin.  Since the site's inception, her motto has been, "Look Deeper" -- because, as we all now know, it's a full time job going head-to-head with these overriding myths that have come to stand as written in stone definitions for Los Angeles.

Take a spin around the site and its Facebook incarnation too to see what Garrett's got going this week.

Come prepared to ask her some questions about how she juggles this huge task and how she keeps all the information fresh or what signifies *her* L.A. She's delightful. You'll enjoy her.

--  L.G.
(image via hidden los angeles)