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WEEKEND: Dave Cuatt

Graphic Guru Golfs, Eats French Dips, and Rebels

Published: Thursday, December 4, 2008

Updated: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 00:06

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Charles Digal

Dave Cuatt explores Los Angeles for his weekend.

If you've ever lost your eyes momentarily to the paintings, stencils and stickers that cover the walls of the T building, you've proabably come face to face with Dave Cuatt, digital imaging assistant professor. In true "Where's Waldo" fashion, his stencil likeness is plastered all over the upstairs and downstairs halls. On the weekend, the actual article putters around the city and decries a very curious restriction at the Rose Bowl. 1. --Arroyo Seco Golf Course, South Pasadena

Fridays start at around 2 p.m.. I might go with the guys to the driving range in South Pas. It's fun to whack at a bucket, particularly on the left side of the range, where ground squirrels run out to look at what's landed in their domain.

2. Penny Lane, Pasadena

VideothŠque, South Pasdena

But Friday is the end of a long week-there's a lot to be said for renting a video or two and just vegetating. Penny Lane on South Lake Avenue has a pretty good selection, but they still don't have City Lights. Maybe they never will-it's like a grocer with no eggs.VideothŠque on Mission Boulevard in South Pas has everything.


3. Sunset and Wilshire, Los Angeles

Saturdays are the best. There's a pull to the west side of Los Angeles. I've taken the old Yamaha on surface streets all-a-way to the beach-I get a feeling for the neighborhoods that way, and without the fear of sudden and painful freeway death. I can smell who just cut their lawn, what pool needs cleaning, where the good breakfasts are cooking.

4. Echo Park, Los Angeles

Last weekend I did some improvised photography in Echo Park. There's a great little coffee shop there where I listened to these three guys playing banjos and fiddles. Just your quirky Echo Park-types.

5. Music Box Steps, Silverlake

Now, some people go to Rome or Mecca or Graceland, but there's a spot just off Sunset that has a beam of light on it direct from Heaven. At least four times yearly I make the pilgrimage to the "Music Box Steps," where Laurel & Hardy repeatedly tried to move a piano to the top a hundred-mile flight of stairs.

6. MacArthur Park, Los Angeles

Last winter I went to MacArthur Park and left a cake out in the rain. ("I'll never have that recipe again...") Way out in Bevery Hills is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It's on Wilshire, and there's often interesting (and free) exhibits in the lobby and gallery.

7. Phillipe's, Los Angeles

Coming back towards Pasa, why not stop in at Philippe's? It is a bit overpriced for just wet sandwiches, but too groovy to miss. I hear there's a stadium up on the hill where baseball is played, but I've been boycotting since the parking fees went up.

8. Bed, Pasadena

Rosebowl, Pasadena

Sundays, it's great to stay in bed and read the LA Times. And the Courier, of course. Maybe a bit of O'Henry. Any Sunday morning is a good time to walk around the Rose Bowl. (I perambulate in a clockwise direction, even though it's considered illegal by the City of Pasadena-oh, the thrill of rebellion. Civil disobedience. Walk clockwise? Yes, we can. The city has hung up a half zillion of signs to educate the public on proper walking technique.) Well, going around the Bowl, everyone has their own particular gait, the sky is different every time, and those super-tall golf nets hung off of pillars have the monumental look of a 21st century Stonehenge.

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