The mere release of “Popular Problems,” two days after Leonard Cohen’s 80th birthday last month, is remarkable in and of itself. (How many 80-year-old sex symbols and style icons are there?) But it also caps a decade in which Cohen conquered troubling neuroses and fears to mount worldwide tours that were invocations, convocations and spiritual […]

“On the Way to the Patriotic War,” artists V. Vinogradov, Y. Nikolaev; postcard. Photos courtesy of the Blavatnik Archive Foundation “On the Way to the Patriotic War,” artists V. Vinogradov, Y. Nikolaev; postcard. Photos courtesy of the Blavatnik Archive Foundation At the University of Southern California (USC), in the lobby of the Doheny Library, a […]

Judy Fiskin’s video “I’ll Remember Mama” is a witty, complex story of the artist’s relationship with her mother. Photo courtesy of Judy Fiskin In keeping with summer being the season for superhero sequels, the Hammer Museum is presenting “Made in L.A. 2014,” its second biennial selection of contemporary artists working in Los Angeles. Organized by […]

A giant risk is being taken with The Wallis — as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills is being called, and for which the 1934 Beverly Hills Post Office on Santa Monica Boulevard, between Canon and Crescent drives, has been rehabbed to pristine beauty. The former post office building holds […]

TOLDJA! UPDATE; DYLAN GUITAR SELLS FOR $965,000 MORE THAN PREVIOUS RECORD-HOLDER CLAPTON TO ANONYMOUS BUYER Bob Dylan playing the guitar. Image Courtesy of The Estate of David Gahr/Getty Images The guitar stood on a stand in a small conference room in corporate offices in Beverly Hills. A black Fender Stratocaster with a white body plate, […]

Posted: 11/04/2013 4:32 pm Etgar Keret, with his collections The Nimrod Flip-Out and the recently published Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, reinvigorated the short story (and the short, short story). The author, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Zoetrope and on This American Life, recently spent a day in Los Angles, at […]

The groundbreaking journalist taught me one of life’s most important lessons: You never have to be afraid to be yourself June 17, 2013 Recent months have seen a resurgence in all things George Plimpton (journalist and founding editor of The Paris Review), with the release of a documentary, “Plimpton!” as well as the paperback edition […]

A scene from the documentary film, “The Strength to Tell.” A black-and-white film shows a trial being called to session. In less than a second, it’s obvious this is the trial of Adolf Eichmann, in Jerusalem in April 1961, with Eichmann in the bulletproof glass booth. We watch as a witness takes the stand. We […]

How do we understand the impact of climate change and natural disasters on people and architecture, and how does humanity learn from our mistakes and try to prepare for potential future cataclysms? That is ostensibly the agenda of “Sink or Swim: Designing for a Sea Change,” an exhibition opening Dec. 13 at the Annenberg Space […]

  Moshe Safdie’s new Guerin Pavillion at the Skirball Cultural Center offers a light-filled natural setting for conferences and gatherings. Photo by Timothy Hursley                       The Skirball Cultural Center, which stands at the crest of Sepulveda and Mulholland just west of the 405 Freeway, was […]