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Map of the Napa Valley - All Wineries

An interactive Napa wineries map: pure genius: Map of the Napa Valley - All Wineries.

Take the Art Train - San Francisco Bay Guardian

LA and subways seems incongruous, but the fact is the tube runs in Tinsletown now. Four Metro Rail lines cross Los Angeles, calling at city high points.

assengers to stations decked in culture and flair.

Thanks to LA's ambitious Metro Art program, passengers arrive to stations elaborately enhanced my artworks: mobiles, sculptures, mosaics, video art, murals and station-wide installations.

In this San Francisco Bay Guardian piece Take the Art Train I circumnavigated LA sans auto and set out to explore Metro Rail and Metro Art.

I found not just a sweetly efficient transport system, but a strengthened grasp of and admiration for the greater LA basin artists.

Beth Kohn on Lava Beds, San Francisco Bay Guardian

We've yet to see Lava Beds National Monument, though I've eyeballed it on the atlas on trips to Quincy, Lassan National Park and Mt. Shasta. Twice Mai and I tried for northeasternmost California. Once, it snowed. The second we found out we were pregnant.

Writer Beth Kohn explore Lave Beds unique lava tubes and poignant settings as one of the penultimate battlegrounds of the Indians Wart in Labywrinths and Lava Tubes in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Travelers Tales: the World is a Kitchen

Kimchi 김치
Originally uploaded by Nagyman.

kimchi
Living in Korea, kimchi was the staple. Back stateside, the cravings panged. First I bought it, then I made it, to make Mr. Cho proud.

Food and travel are deliciously intertwined, and cooking is a great way to get immersed into a culture. I learned it making kimchi in my Fort Mason backyard, and love to reconnect with true tales of food cultural immersion.

The World is a Kitchen, the new Travelers Tales anthology, bridges cuisine and culture in 37 stories from writers around the world. With an extensive directory and fab accompanying website, the book speaks to its growing community.

San Francisco Zine Festival 2006

Fine Print Revisited: Way back in 1994-95 I worked at a small- & independent-press distributorship down in Austin, TX; Fine Print Distributors, long R.I.P.

I still pine for the days we'd pull down a new pallet with the latest Temp Slave, Hate, or Punk Planet aboard. Many hours spent soaking up information from far-flung outposts, valuable stuff in those final months before Mosaic upended the forklift.

King of all? Factsheet Five, the Sears Catalog guide to the small & alternative publishing world, reviewing hundreds of titles on all subjects, many available for price of postage or fair trade.

Back in the days of DIY innocence before the web leveled economies of scale and relandscaped publishing, the 'zine scene was the way for indie media voices to get word out. It was the punk rock parallel to big journalism, niche creators of content unbeholdened to corporate interests, typed at temp jobs and stapled by fellow travelers with Kinkos gigs.

Nostalgic? Shit yeah, for zines had little if any monetary prospects, so the scene was pure.

But the problem with nostalgia is it implies something is over, when in fact, 2006, its becoming the year that 'zines came back.

No surprise, really: the publishing platform that usurped zinemaking has evolved into the mainstream itself, so a natural reaction would be for indie print publishing to return, price inefficiencies and all.

Two great indicators. First, the return of the San Francisco Zine Fest, held this weekend, Sept 9-10 2006, at CELLspace. A two-day conference of indie & underground publishers, the show offers workshops, film screenings and opportunities to connect with nearly 1,000 like-minded creatives and creators. Bonus: costs our favorite price - free!

And in news that warms our media dork hearts, 2006 also sees after an 8-year hiatus the return of Factsheet 5. Plans are for FS5 to continue covering the small & alternative/independent zine and media world, branching into other publishing platforms including radio, blogs and DVDs. Currently they're ramping up their editorial staff, and are wide-open to contributors, so if you've got an itch for this, start scratching.

What's next? The Meat Puppets reuniting to tour?

What's On: San Francisco Arts & Culture Sept 2006

  Golden Gate Bridge Sunset 
  Originally uploaded by mattiasgrillet.

This week we're starting a new feature here at Outwester: monthly roundups of San Francisco's varied Arts and Culture scene.

The city, justifiably famous for its range of arts offerings, remains as progressive, independent and adventurous as always. You'll find heaps of info on what's on at SF Station, to whom we bow humbly and offer mad props and that hyperlink.

We'll aim to highlight some choice morsels that grab our eyes, which we'll focus on lesser-known trends and events that may be flying under the mainstream media. Each month we'll profile several cool happenings, any of which we'll give the Outwester guarantee of good stuff. Here goes:

Snap Your Hands Say Yeah: Never know what a walk down mid-Market will reveal. Today we came upon Fingersnaps, a self-proclaimed DJ and Arts Collective that offers 8-hour DJ training workshops. Cueing, beat mixing, equipment tips, audio engineering -- all are covered in lessons adaptable to beginners or advanced DJs. One on one consultations, all gear provided (though you may wish to bring your own CDs.

With opportunities in audio/video amplifying throughout the media world, all boosts to your skill sets and terminology bases are more than welcomed. Impress HR at your next potential gig with you offline creativity.

Start Your...Installations?: Art and autos converge on the Bay Area Sept 14-17 for ArtCar Fest 06, the 10th annual California road rally/pilgrimedge for the most American of mobile public art forms. Elaborate sculptures-slash-canvasses on wheels, ArtCars are exactly that: cars recrafted as mobile artworks.

If you've never seen an ArtCar parade, head to Amoeba Music on Haight Street, Thursday at 11am (or Amoeba on Telegraph in Berkeley around 5) for the Amoeba to Amoeba Caravan, winding its way across the bay. Or check the Pyramid Brewery Kick-Off Party, the staging point for the first evening's festivities. For the full weekend calendar, click here.

  The Illustrated Car 
  Originally uploaded by schmeebis.

Bikes, Birds & Madelline Kahn as the Bride: Just in time for September, San Francisco's best weather month, Film Night in the Park has a winning schedule for winning evenings, convening in shared public spaces.

On Saturday, Sept 9, Hitchcock's The Birds takes flight at Union Square. Saturday Sept 23 signals The Bicycle Thief in Washington Square Park (don't hate them cause it's spelled wrong.) Wear black or white for Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein ("that's fran-ken-steen"), screening on Saturday, Oct 7 at Dolores Park.

More films are screening at sites around Marin County. For photos of past events, check here.

Downtown LA's Comeback

  Rooftop blue 
  Originally uploaded by Divwerf.

Once an urban blight, Downtown LA is now red-hot. Home to top restaurants, hotels and art centers, it's become a Hollywood success story: as A-list neighborhood.

Jay Cooke covers Downtown LA's ascendent mix for the May 2006 Business Traveler Magazine.

He traverses mixed-use neighborhoods, canvassing Chinatown galleres, the American Apparel home factory, the LA basin's last winery and the Downtown Standard Hotel rooftop bar.

A travel writer and change journalist, Jay Cooke covers California and the West for VIA, the San Francisco Examiner and the San-Francisco Bay Guardian, among others. He profiled socially responsible businesses in San Francisco for Business Traveler in September 2004.

And They're Off at Hollywood Park

   
  Originally uploaded by ibison4.

ON A RECENT Friday night in Los Angeles, we followed our friend Mindi to the races. Someone she knew had bet big on Giacomo, California's 50-to-1 long shot who snatched the Kentucky Derby in May.

They were  celebrating at Hollywood Park racetrack's venerable (and pricey) Turf Club. Jesse and I tagged along and hung with the trackside minions.

In a city renowned for its barriers, the track proved a grand equalizer. In the cheap seats, we found a gathering as diverse and eccentric as LA itself: migrant workers, multiethnic families, slumming young hotties, crusty old dudes with mustard on their pants.

Mindy found Vince Vaughn. who's hot.

Full story: And They're Off!  in the San Francisco Bay-Guardian Being There section.