Wood floors, corner windows, and a fancy water filtration system

Tucked into Van Nuys’s historic district, this two-bedroom house built in 1940 has 21st century updates that include drought-tolerant landscaping and reverse osmosis water system.

Inside, the living room and dining area’s corner windows light up the space. Wood floors run throughout the two communal rooms and the kitchen, which is open to dining area.

A large, rock-covered fireplace makes a statement in the master bedroom, where a sliding glass door opens to a patio. There are only 1.5 bathrooms, but the full bath is decked out with “ an oversized shower” with two shower heads.

Measuring 1,550 square feet, the house sits on a nearly 6,000-square-foot lot with a spa and a covered patio with water misters (perfect for those hot Valley summers). A one-car garage has also been converted into a “special workshop” space.

Public records show the house last sold in 2013 for $465,000. Now, it’s listed for $585,000.

• 14155 Lemay Street [Regina Davanzo/Podley Properties]

Bold vintage floors and a pink laundry room

It’s the first time on the market in over three decades for this Eagle Rock midcentury home—and all of its cool vintage details are very well-preserved.

Large picture windows help the living room look downright expansive, while the kitchen is a blast from the past. Its cabinets look original, and there’s fun, patterned flooring that is likely linoleum. The kitchen has plenty of counter and cabinet space, and appears to get a good amount of sunlight.

Exciting flooring appears again in the family room, which holds a bar and fireplace.

Built in 1950, the house holds three bedrooms and almost two full bathrooms, which feature timelessly cool tile in minty green and pastel pink.

There’s also a large dedicated laundry room, painted bubblegum pink. (Were 1950s washers and dryers the size of old computers? This laundry room suggests yes.)

A terraced backyard overlooks the hills and treetops that line the surrounding streets.

Located about a half mile away from the Eagle Rock Trader Joe’s, the house is listed for $799,000.

• 4912 Neola Place [Kathy Seuylemezian/Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage]
• 4912 Neola Place Los Angeles CA [Estately]

There’s a new way to take in the Tomorrowland skyline at Disneyland park, from a unique point of view! To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Space Mountain at Disneyland Resort, a new lounge experience will debut in Tomorrowland on May 26.

The new Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge Experience features retro décor and desserts—both sweet and savory, as well as both hot and cold non-alcoholic beverages. The lounge area will be open to guests from 8-10 p.m. If a fireworks spectacular is scheduled, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse right from your seat.

Your interstellar snack box will include:

• Mickey Cloud Cake: Cream-filled sponge cake
• Chocolate Eclipse: Cream-filled chocolate cake drenched in chocolate
• Coconut Comet: Coconut-strawberry iced sponge cake filled with cream
• Planetary Pie: Mini cherry-filled pie
• Moon Rocks: Boursin herbed cheese, cream cheese, shredded cheddar and jack cheese, chives, pimentos, bacon

Cost is $45 for ages 3 and older, tax included. Reservations are now open, and can be booked by visiting Disneyland.com/dining or by calling 714-781-DINE.

The 1920s-era home is also on Glendale’s historic registry

This quaint cottage in Glendale’s Glenoaks Canyon will no doubt look familiar to fans of HBO’s Westworld. Built in the late 1920s, the French Country-style residence played a significant role in the multilayered sci-fi series as home to an android version of the Westworld theme park creator’s childhood family.

Known in real life as the Crowell-Saylor House, and listed on Glendale’s historic register, the cottage has just hit the market for only the third time since 1929. Although the five-bedroom, four-bath home appears frozen-in-time on the outside, its interior has been significantly updated.

Happily, there are many original details still in evidence, including extensive woodwork, steel casement windows, built-ins, crown moldings, several fireplaces, and period tile and fixtures in at least one bathroom.

The .41-acre property also contains a bar/sunroom, separate guest house, and mature ash, oak, and liquid amber trees. Asking price for the Mills Act-qualified residence is $1.94 million.

• 2766 E Glenoaks Blvd [Estately]
• Sector 17 Cottage [Westworld Wiki]

A fenced-in patio and hardwood floors

Just north of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, this fantastic condo in a midcentury building is spacious and bright. The 1,200-square-foot unit has a large living room and dining area that are connected via sizable sliding glass doors to a fenced-in patio.

The galley-style kitchen features checkerboard floors and a pass-through window that’s been purposed as bar seating for two.

The two bedrooms are carpeted (dig your toes into that pile!) while the two bathrooms—one of them attached to the master bedroom—have a cool, pastel palette.

Bonus: The complex has a pool.

Last sold in 2002 for $289,000, according to public records, the condo is now listed for $625,000, with $363 in monthly HOA dues.

• 1200 Flores #106 [Ian Rhodes/Keller Williams Realty Los Feliz]

The station is proving to be a rich source of fossils

Crews at work on the first phase of the Purple Line extension have uncovered more prehistoric fossils dating back to the ice age.

As The Source reports, paleontologists supervising excavation of the future Wilshire/La Brea subway station have identified bones that once belonged to an ancient camel and either a mastodon or mammoth.

Past work on both the Red and Purple Line subway routes has already yielded a trove of artifacts from Los Angeles’s prehistoric past. Most recently, workers stumbled upon a collection of ancient elephant bones, also discovered at the Wilshire/La Brea site.

Even the under-construction Crenshaw/LAX Line, which will run underground through Leimert Park, has proven to be a solid source of geologic relics. Last year, workers found an ancient bison bone beneath the future Martin Luther King Jr. station.

Paleontologists with Cogstone Resource Management have taken the latest fossil’s to the company’s Riverside lab for further analysis, but they’ll eventually be donated to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

• Bones belonging to ancient camel and mammoth or mastodon — found during work on Purple Line Extension [The Source]
• Metro unearths ancient elephant fossils below Wilshire Boulevard [Curbed LA]
• Peer Into the Purple Line's Fossil-Filled Exploratory Shaft [Curbed LA]
• Metro Digs Up Ancient Bison Bone Below Leimert Park [Curbed LA]

That’s the median sale price in LA County

Welcome to Curbed Comparisons, where we explore what you can rent or buy for a certain dollar amount in various LA 'hoods. We've found five homes and condos within $10,000 of today’s price: $525,000. That just so happens to be the median sale price in LA County, so these homes ought to be fairly representative of the options available to average homebuyers.

↑ Here’s a recent flip in 2016 Curbed Cup winner Leimert Park. The 1920s bungalow has two bedrooms and one bath, with 984 square feet of floor space. The sellers purchased the house in September, and since then they’ve given the place a fresh paint job, updated the kitchen and bathroom, and refinished the hardwood floors. Asking price is $529,000.

↑ This 780-square-foot home in Eagle Rock has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a roomy living area and tiled entry way. Built on a 2,500-square-foot lot, there isn’t room for all that much else, though a detached single car garage offers potential for use as an office or workshop. Asking price is $519,000.

↑ A newly constructed home within LA city limits for under $530,000? Yep, it’s a thing—just a little far from the city center in harbor-adjacent Wilmington. The four-bedroom residence isn’t terribly exciting from a design perspective, but it’s got 1,957 square feet of living space, an attached two-car garage, and a backyard. Asking price is $529,000.

↑ Not interested in the demands of single family homeownership? How about this one-bedroom condo in Little Tokyo? It’s got 836 square feet of living space, a modern kitchen, and a small balcony overlooking the building’s tranquil central garden. HOA dues of $345 per month help to cover amenities including a gym, sauna, and two parking spaces. Asking price is $525,000.

↑ This four-bedroom home in Panorama City was built in 1949 and some recent-looking renovations have really brought out its midcentury vibe. The 1,404-square-foot house has two bathrooms and some grassy outdoor space accessible from several different rooms, including the updated kitchen. Asking price is $529,000.

• Curbed Comparisons [Curbed LA]

Midcentury mixed with some earthy touches

This three-bedroom house at the eastern edge of Beachwood Canyon was built around 1961, and as can be seen from the outside, it has some of the hallmarks associated with the era, especially its walls of glass.

Inside, there is a groovy, earthy bohemian feel. How is there not a single macrame wall hanging in here?

The living room features a brick, wood-burning fireplace and expansive floor-to-ceiling windows that, like many of the windows in the house, have a soothing view of the nearby hillsides.

In the kitchen, there are butcher block counter tops, an enormous sink, and plenty of windows. The color of the wood is perfectly complemented by the red clay color of the floor tiles in the room.

The master bedroom features double doors that offer direct access to the yard.

Gated and set back off the street, the house is private and ringed by landscaping. There’s a concrete patio set up for dining, and a few other outdoor nooks set up for lounging and enjoying the view.

Last sold in 2012 for $927,500, public records show, it’s now listed for $1.399 million.

• 5945 1/2 Graciosa Drive [Sotheby’s]

Columns, chandeliers, and a 16th century staircase

Looking to make a real statement with your next real estate purchase? May we humbly submit this brightly-colored chateau in the Hollywood Hills for your consideration. Constructed in 1995, the 3,006-square-foot residence features neon blue shutters lining the exterior walls, and even less subdued design features on the interior.

Per the listing, the French Renaissance-inspired residence includes showy features like a 16th century marble staircase (apparently borrowed from an abbey in Spain), a 17th century fireplace, 19th century floors, and an 18th century Baccarat chandelier. There are also expansive murals, painted ceilings, and a different color scheme in nearly every room.

Other curiosities include stone columns, a wine cellar, a library (which appears to be outfitted with dummy books that disguise a pair of double doors), and a kitchen dumbwaiter.

The home is located just off Mulholland Drive northwest of the entrance to Runyon Canyon Park. Fortress-like enough to have been nicknamed “La Bastide” (French for either a country house or a walled town), the four-bedroom home makes the most of a relatively small 5,034-square-foot lot. The grounds also include a two-car garage, swimming pool, and pergola-shaded pool deck.

On and off the market for the past couple years, the house is now asking $5.25 million.

• 7398 Pyramid Place [Darrell Wallace | John Aaroe Group]

The article Places: L’Hôtel Marrakech, Morocco first appeared on This Is Glamorous.

The best happy hour deals around

Spring has officially sprung, which means there's no better time to sneak out a little early for a stop at one great happy hour or another in Los Angeles. All over the city, bars and restaurants are offering steeply discounted options for full-on dining, grazing with friends, or just grabbing a beer solo on the way home.

Luckily there's no shortage of great alternatives for happy hour dining and drinking right in your very own neighborhood, from glamorous Koreatown newcomers to laid back Santa Monica wine bars. Here now are the best places to slip in for an early evening (or all night long) happy hour bite.

“If Steve Buscemi were a museum, he’d be the Petersen.” 

The Petersen Automotive Museum won an architecture award this week, and instead of letting it have this moment, we’re going to have some fun.

If you’ve never been to the museum, you’ve undoubtedly noticed its fearless facade on Wilshire Boulevard, glowing red and wrapped in steel ribbons. It’s been likened to the Guy Fieri and Michael Bay of buildings.

In October, Los Angeles-based writer and stand-up comedian Alex Mesrobian roasted the Petersen at a live comedy show dissing some of the worst buildings in Los Angeles—and won. His pithy one-liners were scathing. Below are 10 of our favorites.

The exterior design is horrendous. It’s so ugly. If Steve Buscemi were a museum, he’d be the Petersen.

The structure is basically a silver and red plop. This is what it would look like if the Terminator had a period.

It has this weird red/orange glow. It looks like a giant, radioactive Donald Trump toupee.

This building is so harmful to your health, a cigarette looked at it the other day and lost 11 minutes of its life.

The remodeled Petersen is just a year old. And just like a one-year-old: it’s sloppy, unbalanced, and should’ve been aborted months ago.

It’s located in the Mid-Wilshire district in an area known as the Miracle Mile. The only miracle is that anybody comes within a mile of this place.

This building is so annoying. If the Petersen Museum were a genre of music it’d be reggaeton.

It’s almost as if they received an MRI of Charlie Sheen’s head, and they were like, “Let’s make that.”

This building is so ugly King Kong wouldn’t climb it.

The structure houses cars, which is ironic considering you should drive as far away from it as possible.

The China Pavilion is one of my favorite places to unwind and relax at Epcot. The serene landscapes, tranquil ponds, intricate architecture, and soothing music create an environment that’s so calming and immersive you feel as though you’ve been completely transported from Central Florida.

These elaborate details obviously make this a beautiful place to take photos, so I’m excited to share that Disney PhotoPass Service is now offering a new way for you to take home a remarkable keepsake of your visit into our “Forbidden City.”

Every evening beginning at 7:30 p.m. (weather permitting), a Disney PhotoPass photographer stationed at the China Pavilion will offer this special prop that you can include in your photos!

You can purchase photos taken with this prop individually or receive unlimited digital downloads of all your vacation photos from Disney PhotoPass Service by purchasing Memory Maker before, during or after your visit to Walt Disney World Resort.

Memory Maker includes photos taken during the Memory Maker window and linked to the Memory Maker guest’s Disney account. A MagicBand is required to receive certain attraction photos and other digital content. Photos and other digital content will expire pursuant to the expiration policy. Valid theme park admission required for certain photo locations. Memory Maker is subject to Memory Maker terms and, if applicable, Family & Friends terms. Not responsible for missing, lost or damaged photos.

Alvin Cailan’s breakfast concept just pulled back the curtain

Breakfast brand Eggslut’s third local expansion — this one into Glendale, across the street from the Americana — has been a long time coming. Among the first concepts to announce itself along redone Brand Boulevard, the restaurant has been far and away the last to come to life. In fact, just until the past couple of days, you couldn’t even see inside because of a tall construction barrier.

Now the facade has been peeled back, and word from folks inside is that Eggslut will start serving softly as of this coming Thursday. Staff is being trained up and some rounds of mock service are going down in the space right next to Shake Shack, so you know they’re close.

Farley Elliott

The Glendale expansion should help to continue to ease lines at the massively popular original stall at Grand Central Market. A previously opened outlet in Venice has done much the same, and the company’s far-flung expansion into the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas is a beast unto itself. If all goes well, expect to start chowing down on those delicious egg sandwiches by Thursday.

Eggslut Glendale
252 S. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA

Eater Video: Eggslut's Amazing Breakfast Sandwich

The Big Oaks Lodge hosted bikers, boxers, and ‘Beverly Hills 90210’

The Big Oaks Lodge is tucked nearly five miles into the Angeles National Forest, a bar-restaurant-retreat that’s served as an oasis for bikers, boxers, and the Hollywood elite for almost a century. Now Big Oaks looks to write a new chapter in its already varied history.

The Big Oaks Lodge has just hit the market, asking $449,000. The property’s 3,000 square feet of space includes a bar with a complete kitchen, a patio kitchen with grill and pizza oven, and three rental units on site. The buyer would also acquire the lodge’s Type 47 liquor license and catering license.

Built in the 1920s as a rest stop for traveling stagecoaches, Big Oaks Lodge was a favorite of famed gangster “Pretty Boy” Floyd, actor W.C Fields, and Hollywood’s original power couple, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

By the 1980s, things were a little rough and tumble at the Big Oaks Lodge. Afternoons were all about boxers and bikers, with motorcyclists guzzling brews at the bar, watching aspiring fighters train outside. No bouncers were needed, according to the bartender at the time, as he had a loaded shotgun and a German shepherd named Dukers to ward off trouble. Motorcycles would gradually disappear from the parking lot as the day waned, replaced with the cars of diners in search of classic American cooking.

For the next few decades, Big Oaks Lodge would continue to serve its biker and diner clientele, with the occasional film and TV shoot (Beverly Hills 90210, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) adding a bit of Hollywood.

In late October 2016, a six-month road closure squeezed the lodge’s business. Just one week in, owner Diana White told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, “The situation is dire.” It appears the dramatic decrease in traffic may have finally done it in.

• 33101 Bouquet Canyon Rd [LoopNet]
• BIKER BAR TO THE CHAMPIONS : In a Leafy Glade, Men of Iron Fists Find Quiet Haven [LA Times]
• Road closure means big loss for Big Oaks Lodge [Santa Clarita Valley Signal]

New housing is set to replace the neighborhood eyesore

Pillarhenge—the remains of an unfinished recession-era housing development that went belly up—has been a thorn in the side of Eagle Rock residents for nine years now.

But today brings good news for the Pillarhenge haters.

Eastsider LA reports that new housing is headed to the lot. Plans have been filed with the city to construct a 26-unit mixed use development on the site, with 24 market rate units and two units of very low income housing.

After a mixed use project planned for the site was abandoned in 2008, the remains of that development drew the ire of residents and inspired a Facebook group dedicated to removing the blight.

Hopes were lifted in early 2016 when the site found a buyer for $1.9 million, but no word emerged on the fate of Pillarhenge for the rest of the year.

Google Maps

Project renderings and a timeline for construction for newly proposed housing complex have not been made available yet, but for now it appears Pillarhenge is headed for the history books.

• Eagle Rockers Hate Neighborhood Landmark "Pillarhenge" [Curbed LA]
• New Eagle Rock housing proposed for “Pillarhenge” [Eastsider LA]
• Eagle Rock’s “Pillarhenge” finds a buyer [Eastsider LA]

Two bedrooms, a new kitchen, and a backyard

This Spanish-style bungalow in East Hollywood is returning to the market looking spiffier than it did one year ago, when it was last for sale.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom was scooped up for $440,004 last spring. The owner has reinvigorated the property by installing a new fence and landscaping, applying fresh coats of paint, and redoing the kitchen with new cabinets, marble counters, appliances, and turquoise vinyl floors.

Google Maps

But in the living room, dining room, and bedrooms, the original oak hardwood floors and built-ins are still intact, and they bring the charm.

Outside, there’s a verdant lawn and a new wood deck, plus a detached single car garage.

Built in 1920, the home, which measures 1,132 square feet, is now listed for $697,653.

• 1312 North Harvard Boulevard [Toma Barseghian / Keller Williams]

Must an office desk lunch be sad? No; of course not. We’ve spent years debunking this nasty fiction, roaming across the country showing companies far and near just how happy a desk lunch can be if made with love.

Someone's encroaching on our turf, though. She goes by “Little Ye in the Office,” and, as of January of this year, she’s a sensation on YouTube, her videos circulating across Chinese social network Weibo. She's amassed a truckload of followers ever since: 298,000 and counting.

Her videos hew to a similar narrative pattern: They usually begin with shots of office drones droning away at computers, silent and heads-down, before Little Ye gets to work. She scrounges around the office for any supplies she can find and turn into makeshift cooking tools, from clothes irons to Pepsi cans; computer casings become pancake friers. She preps noodles atop bunsen burners, prepping literal feasts, and her coworkers go on with their days as if nothing’s happening.

Impressive, no? Really thought we had this Not Sad Desk Lunch thing down. Ugh. We’ve got to start upping our game.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally ran in March 2017. We're republishing it today because it's Friday and we want you to have a good day.

March 1, 2017

This A/A- list very smart model lost her cool when a pap kept taunting her about her Oscar dress and how the Goopster had worn it five years earlier.

Karlie Kloss

For only 480 square feet

A price of $539,000 for 480 square feet is not a bargain by any reasonable measure. But finding a single family home at that price in Los Feliz is increasingly rare, even if the pad is tiny. And that’s what we have here at 1747 North New Hampshire Avenue.

At least the darling bungalow, built in 1921, requires no fixing up. It’s lathered in white paint and decked out in subway tiles, glossy countertops, and on-trend light fixtures. It holds one bedroom and one bathroom in an open floor plan that also fits a kitchen, small living room, and dining area with pitched ceilings.

There’s no back yard, but there is fenced-in font yard with gravel and concrete pavers and enough room for a sitting area.

What it lacks in space, it makes up for in location. It’s walking distance to shops, restaurants, and bars on Hillhurst and Vermont avenues, as well as to Griffith Park and Barnsdall Park.

• 1747 North New Hampshire Avenue [L. Aiesha Bailey | Barbano Realty, Inc.]

Let’s all live vicariously through these perfect pups

With the warm and sunny weather, it feels like spring is already here. Thanks to a bunch of rain this winter, wildflowers are popping up everywhere from Griffith Park in Los Feliz to Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Baldwin Hills, and hillsides are ridiculously verdant where once they were sad and brown.

If the sunshine, 70-degree temperatures, and colorful flora aren’t enough of a reason to get outside and into the city’s gorgeous parks, perhaps the final push can come from seeing happy dogs meeting friends, sniffing things, and panting heavily with the satisfaction that only a brisk hike can bring.

Whether off leash or on, in a designated area or not, adorable dogs always play a role in the backdrop of any city park. We’ve rounded up 18 of the best pictures of dogs across the area taking advantage of these public resources and of LA’s famously wonderful climate. Enjoy!

1. A puggle in Griffith Park, just east of the tennis courts by the Greek Theatre.

2. This terrier named Chelsea is getting her paws muddy in Ernest E. Debs Park.

3. This Doodle is focused on the road ahead in Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

4. Over in Runyon Canyon, Elvis the Chihuahua and his buddy Clarence are working off all the treats they ate at last weekend.

5. This little dog looks like he’s going to get blown away in Ascot Hills Park.

6. This Pitbull pup named Lillie is hoofin’ it through Elysian Park.

7. This little mutt did not expect scary turtles in the pond at Ernest E. Debs park.

8. Who among us has not felt this way at the end of a Runyon Canyon hike?

9. This older pooch is catching some rays at Lake Balboa Park.

10. This Doodle named Charcoal is quenching his thirst at Grand Park.

11. This pack at Wildwood Canyon Park looks pretty ruff.

12. This Boston Terrier, obviously a seasoned hiker, looks a little pooped at Will Rogers State Historic Park.

13. This Shiba Inu in Franklin Canyon Park is going to win this staring contest.

14. This Shihtzu is really thinking about taking the whole bench for himself.

15. These puppy pals at Angels Gate Park have all the fluff of an 80s hair band.

16. This Chocolate Lab is camouflaged with the rocks at Portuguese Bend Reserve.

17. Obi Wan Kenobi the Pug is the star of an independent film shooting on location at the Echo Park Lake.

18. This spotted little pup named Pepper is taking a break from skateboarding to chill on the lawn at Barnsdall Park.

Try the grey stuff at Red Rose Taverne, it’s delicious

Beauty and the Beast season is upon us ahead of the upcoming live-action remake of the Disney classic. With it comes a new themed restaurant inside Disneyland Park in Anaheim called Red Rose Taverne, a takeover of Fantasyland’s Village Haus Restaurant inside the Magic Kingdom.

The enchanted pop-up runs indefinitely, yet the initial response was nothing short of insane, with multi-hour lines to enter when it opened this past weekend and such demand for plastic cups with red roses in them that they remain sold out.

Since the space is temporary, any princess-y decor is mostly intended to hide away any evidence of its past life as a Pinocchio-themed eatery, utilizing curtains to cover up set piece and stained glass artwork to pay homage to the fairy tale. There’s scattered imagery of Ms. Potts, Chip, Gaston, and Belle, but any mention of the forthcoming big-budget film — which is already deep into a month-long international promotional tour — is eerily missing, focusing instead on the animated imagery from the 1990s film.

Lest you think this is a bombastic ploy to remind us to buy our movie tickets ASAP, it’s truly an under-the-radar homage. Save for the lengthy line, there’s no indication that something special is going on, let alone that it’s promotional.

Eater stopped in to try some of the more popular — and bizarre — items on Red Rose Taverne’s menu, where, magically, a poutine pizza and the world’s most lazily named dessert wound up being less weird than an anthropomorphized talking candlestick. Don’t just take the dishes’ word for it:

Slow-Cooked Beef Poutine, $10.99

Instead of blending together as a gravy-soaked hangover cure, this one falls somewhere between poutine and a kind of “x-treme” nachos. The waffle fries are straight from the freezer, but the tender, flavorful beef and its gravy are excellent, while the herbed cheese curds are a welcomed surprise, especially as a flavor you rarely taste at Disney parks. It was the worst thing we tasted, but still nowhere near bad. It’s just that a bucket of wet fries seems less like an $11 entree and more like something you’d make when you’re high.

Poutine Flatbread $9.49

It doesn’t look good, it shouldn’t taste good, and yet I could not stop eating it. Between the garlic aioli, herb oil, gravy, cheese curds, french fries and, well, pizza, this dish is more complicated than the reality of LeFou and Gaston’s relationship yet holds up better than Belle on her first day in the castle. The beef poutine was a better vehicle for the meat but this baby’s crowning achievement are the cheese curds, which, when fully melted and mixed with the aioli, come through as crazy-creamy as a tricked out white pizza. The ironic lowlight of this whole concoction? The twice-cooked fries, which are too tough to gnaw through easily. It’s as heavy as a theme park pizza can get, so consider taking a walk before potentially hurling among the stars in more ways than one on Space Mountain.

Beast’s Burger, $13.49

Gruyere is a weird choice because it’s more difficult to melt — and doesn’t here, due to a quick-service kitchen setup — but the mix of horseradish aioli, caramelized onions and those delicious little morsels of slow-cooked beef atop a ⅓ pound Angus patty is an aggressive choice that demands respect. The ciabatta bun is the only stinker, getting got so soggy that holding the concoction felt like a wet double-decker s’more, but unlike the godforsaken Star Wars-themed black bun burger of yesteryear, this one is so legit.

Even better? All of Red Rose Taverne’s sandwiches come with “pommes frites”, which are far from a French retitling of any crunchy little twigs. These are the much-adored parmesan and herb-coated fries that, until now, were only available at Cafe Orleans in New Orleans Square, a letting you grab one of Disneyland’s best bites on the cheap and easy.

Enchanted Cauli-Flower Sandwich, $10.99

I’m not sure what about this is French — the tempura-battered haricot vert? — but there’s no way to eat this veggie sandwich without unhinging your jaw like a true American. Still, the curried cauliflower is such a smart and special touch for such a beef-slathered menu, and a bite of those fried green beans slathered in the spicy lime aioli is perfection, with a surprising amount of zing. We’ll bet no one would be itching to leave Beast’s castle if the object-inhabiting servants could cook up flavor profiles like this.

Grey Stuff Gateau, $5.49

This is what you came for, and damn, Lumiere was right: it’s freaking unbelievable. Avoid its shortbread base all together and dive into the white chocolate mousse-covered, raspberry-centered red velvet cake for a mix of the most decadent flavors you’ll find in Disneyland. Park food can often hit the sweet notes hard, but this dessert shows restraint in its flavors, elevating it beyond the sugar-sapped treats and dense chocolate cakes. Speaking of, there’s another cute rose-shaped dessert on the menu but don’t play yourself. You came all this way for the Beauty & The Beast experience, and you are ordering this dish. Who cares if it’s named after a color and a vague noun! It’s a must.

Red Rose Taverne
Disneyland Park
Anaheim, CA

• The Eater Guide to Surviving Disneyworld [E]
• The 38 Essential Disney Dishes and Restaurants [E]

Walls of windows and views across the hills

Well look what we have here: It’s one of Richard Neutra’s gravity-defying stilt houses newly arrived on the market. The influential modernist built a row of 20 such homes in 1966, near the end of his life.

Overlooking Beverly Glen Boulevard, the homes are suspended over a hillside in Sherman Oaks, supported mainly by a few long poles extending from the terrain below. The precarious-looking design was meant to incorporate the houses into the existing environment without extensively reshaping the landscape through excessive grading. So far, as the LA Times noted in 1998, the homes have survived at least two nearby earthquakes without incident.

This particular two-bedroom home features stunning floor-to-ceiling windows that provide panoramic views across the surrounding hills. A wide deck accessed from the living area and master bedroom also capitalizes on the stellar views.

Other features include updated bathrooms, built-in shelving and a walk-in closet in the second bedroom, and an open living room and dining area with hardwood floors and a large stone fireplace.

The 1,800-square-foot home is situated on a half-acre lot that includes a detached deck and front garden, as well as a two vehicle carport with a wooden gate. Asking price is $1.349 million.

• 3737 Oakfield Drive [Carol Huston | Huston Group LA]

The Burger King Station is no longer an option

Metro is retreating from its plan to sell naming rights to its subway stations and bus stops, reports the Los Angeles Times. The policy, approved in December, was thrown out Thursday over concerns that refusing certain sponsorships could leave Metro open to lawsuits.

The transit agency had planned not to enter into deals with companies selling booze, electronic cigarettes, and weapons. It also wanted to exclude businesses with a history of unethical behavior, as well as political and religious organizations, says the Times.

There’s a legal precedent for public agencies excluding alcohol and tobacco companies from deals like these, because those products are considered a public health risk, Assistant County Counsel Charles Safer told the Metro Board of Directors in January.

But Safer also told the board that choosing not to be sponsored by a group “because you don’t like their politics, or that type of reason” could potentially conflict with the 14th Amendment. That amendment “requires that states guarantee equal protection of the laws to all people,” says the Times.

“As it turns out, we can’t really pick and choose,” County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl told the Times. Kuehl, who strongly opposed the plan, expressed concern that Metro wouldn’t be able to refuse sponsorship from a company with a history of discrimination or predatory business practices. “We couldn’t say no even based on the history of the corporation,” she said.

Beyond the potential for stations with unsavory names, the naming rights plan could potentially make it harder to navigate LA’s transit system. Talking to KPCC in December, Los Angeles City Councilmember and member of Metro’s Board of Directors Mike Bonin called the program “crazy,” and asked, “Is the Expo/Bundy stop gonna be the Burger King stop?”

Even though the plan has been halted for now, it’s not totally off the table. Metro spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas told the Times she, “hasn’t ruled out pursuing the policy again in the future, although the board raised ‘valid concerns.’”

Tonilas’s department had proposed the naming rights plan as a way to help Metro raise funding in the long-term. Though LA County recently passed Measure M, a permanent half-cent sales tax increase that will generate funds for Metro projects, Tonilas told the Times that ad revenue is an important funding source because it is free from the spending restrictions that are imposed on sales tax revenue.

• Transit officials backtrack on controversial policy to sell naming rights for Metro stations [LA Times]
• Metro will allow corporate sponsors to buy naming rights to its stations [Curbed LA]

Wanderlust Creamery is already a popular name in dessert circles

Here comes some more specialty ice cream for greater Los Angeles, with news that Valley option Wanderlust Creamery will head into Atwater Village this month.

The massively popular Tarzana shop is expanding into a space right on Glendale Boulevard, and has plans to be up and running by the end of the month. Owner Adrienne Borlongan, who holds a food science degree from Cal State Northridge and was formerly a head bartender under the SBE Hospitality group, is behind the project. The shop will not only feature signature flavors like a vegan sticky rice and mango option, but will also offer coffee and tea.

The new location should put further pressure on the Eastside to support so much quality ice cream, with other recent entrants including Magpies Softserve and McConnell’s in Los Feliz. Luckily Wanderlust has a large homegrown following, so the expansion into new digs should be a seamless one.

Wanderlust Creamery
3134 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Karl Lagerfeld has decided to talk about money and insult Meryl Streep.

In an interview with fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily, the outspoken designer claimed that Streep backed out from wearing a customized Chanel dress to the Oscars this weekend because the luxury fashion house would not pay her to wear it.

In typical Lagerfeld fashion he lamented, “A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?”

Streep has since denied the designer’s claim, with her management issuing a statement to The Hollywood Reporter saying it is against her personal ethics to accept payment for wearing gowns to red carpet events.

The comment comes after the outspoken designer was candid with his thoughts on the actress.

Lagerfeld told the reporter a dress was to be created for Streep for the Oscars ceremony this weekend where Streep is up for the best actress gong for Florence Foster Jenkins.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Chanel was commissioned to customize a grey silk gown for Streep from Lagerfeld’s latest couture collection.

Lagerfeld had started to sketch the dress when a phone came in from Streep’s people who reportedly said, “Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us.”

Paying celebrities to wear their pieces, Lagerfeld noted, is against Chanel’s policy. They do, however, gift dresses with Lagerfeld noting “After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros, we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it].

“We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay.”

This isn’t the case for other fashion houses. In 2015 Isabel Wilkinson, a senior editor at The Cut interviewed celebrity stylists including Brad Goreski, Jessica Paster and Brandon Maxwell on the not often spoken about financial arrangements between celebrities and fashion.

Stylists are the ones who help fashion brands get their clothes onto celebrities and it’s not small change. According to Paster, stylists receive between US$30,000 to $50,000 for these deals, and actresses can receive up to $250,000.

“The whole point of an actress having a stylist is so you can make more money, or more people want to hire you, or the brand that you’re wearing is making more money because it’s driving sales.

“It’s all wrapped up in money — it’s Hollywood — we’re not at church,” he said.