A Visit to the Bad Jew

A Visit to the Bad Jew

The Bad Jew, a popup deli in Los Angeles, takes that takes the old adage “do one thing and do it well” and elevates it to art.

The pastrami sandwich is a staple of Jewish delis all across the world. But The Bad Jew, a popup restaurant from Rebecca King that’s really taken off in Los Angeles, stands apart from every one of them.

Unlike other delis, which make pastrami from cuts of beef, The Bad Jew’s pastrami is made from pork. After dry-brining pork shoulder for 10 days, King then smokes that cut of meat to perfection. The result of this process is a juicy, flavorful pastrami variant she calls porkstrami, and it just so happens to be the perfect meat to build a sandwich or two around.

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The First Utility Pole in Los Angeles

The First Utility Pole in Los Angeles

Everything has to start somewhere. And this site, location of the first utility pole in Los Angeles, marks the beginnings of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.

Way back on March 30, 1916, the very first utility pole in Los Angeles was installed on the corner of Figueroa (then called Pasadena Avenue) and Piedmont Streets by the Bureau of Power and Light, the entity that would eventually become the Department of Water & Power.

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Burrito King, Sunset Boulevard

Burrito King, Sunset Boulevard

When Los Angeles balladeer Warren Zevon recommends a burrito joint, you’d do well to pay attention.

Back in the day, I had an office across the street from this unassuming little restaurant with a cute, crowned burro mascot at the corner of Sunset & Alvarado. Often, when I was feeling peckish, I’d brave the traffic on Mohawk Bend and dash across the street for a quick bite. I’ve visited the place many times.

And so did quintessential Los Angeles balladeer Warren Zevon. One of his trips to Burrito King was featured in Wonderland, a 1977 documentary about the Los Angeles music scene produced by Dutch public broadcasting. In it, we see Zevon invite the film crew out for “some of the finest Mexican-American food in Southern California.”

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The Center of Los Angeles

The Center of Los Angeles

Whether it’s a Tootsie Pop, gravity, or consciousness, everything has a center — even the City of Los Angeles. This mystical location is known as Edwards’ Point, and it’s an easy place to visit.

Humans love to find the center of geographic locations. However the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS), the the branch of the government responsible for mapping the country, doesn’t recognize “geographic centers” or provide a methodology for pinpointing them. But that doesn’t keep determined cartographers from employing unorthodox techniques to plant their flags.

The Center of Los Angeles is marked thanks to the inventiveness and geographic expertise of one Allen E. Edwards, former employee of the the USGS and past guide in Franklin Canyon Park. To ascertain the center point of Los Angeles, Edwards envisioned the city as a plane, found the balance point, and declared this spot as the city’s center.

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