Bianca Lapin

The Servideo brothers, who helped organized the event, outside the bar

When I was 16 years old, about a week or two after the planes crashed into the twin towers in 2001, I went to a Red Sox game with my father and my little brother. My father refused to give the tickets away, even though the Sox weren't playing well and fear was high.

On Yawkey Way, the famous street outside of Fenway Park, I watched Massholes in Nomar jerseys, chomping down Italian sausages and washing them down with wicked cold beers. It just seemed so easy, then, for a man wearing a vest filled with explosives to blow us all to smithereens. That day, I had never seen Fenway so empty or heard such a small amount of cursing. During the third inning, my father got up to go to the bathroom, and he whispered to me: "If anything happens, run with your brother onto the field. Everyone will be running the opposite direction."

Last Monday, when the bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, it was the realization of a terror I had expected, really, since 2002. But this time, I was so far away from my hometown in Worcester County, living in Los Angeles. And I wanted to know how Bostonians were dealing with the recent events. I wanted to feel a part of my community. And I wanted to know if anything has changed.

So on Sunday, I went down to Sonny McLean's Irish Pub -- a Boston bar -- in Santa Monica for the Rally for Boston. It was a party. When I walked into the bar, it was as if I had been transported back to the East Coast: The Sox game was on almost every television, a band was leading the bar through Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline, and the bartenders were passing out beers and shots of whiskey as if it was the end of prohibition.

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Orly Minazad

Ardalan Mofid sings the Persian National Anthem on Skid Row

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*What's It Like to Go to an Open Mic Night...on Skid Row?

Here's something you don't see every day in downtown L.A.'s depleted Skid Row: an extravagant and colorful panorama of fruits, flowers, candles, spices and sweets surrounding a mirror and an abundance of goldfish; in other words, the traditional haft sin altar symbolizing the values of life and creation according to Persian tradition.

Standing as security next to this opulence is 58-year-old Sly. He's been homeless for three years following his release from prison, and is currently living and working at the Midnight Mission, the organization that provides services for the denizens of Skid Row. He plays on the Mission's basketball team, rocks open mic night and volunteers.

On Friday, the Midnight Mission and the local Iranian community united on 6th and San Pedro for its second annual Nowruz, Persian New Year, celebration. Many Iranian immigrants empathize with the sense of displacement and loss felt by the Skid Row homeless since at some point, having exchanged a life of persecution for the freedom of the States, they were bereft not only of their home and possessions but also their identity. For decades now they have worked hard and succeeded in shedding their immigrant label to become contributing members of American society. The Persian New Year presented the perfection opportunity to give back to a society that so graciously welcomed them.

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Gabrielle Canon

Volunteer Ken Perry accompanies performers

It is midday last Thursday and Georgia Berkovich is rushing to ready the Day Room of the Midnight Mission, where she works as the community relations manager. L.A. musician Ken Perry tunes a guitar before accompanying a man wearing a reflective vest, as he sings "Dead or Alive" to a room-full of empty blue plastic chairs. "That's my shit right there," a man in a beanie mutters as he passes through the room.

A few more people trickle in through a door that opens to an outside patio. There, brightly colored tents, sleeping bags and tarps contrast the dark clouds hanging over the downtown Los Angeles high-rise horizon. With heat lamps blazing, this warmed courtyard provides refuge for homeless people who reside on Skid Row.

The event planned for the day is an open mic and participants are free to perform just about anything. Most decide on music, while some showcase their poetic or comedic talents.

Berkovich says it is one of the Mission's most popular events. It calls on this community to be both entertainer and entertained. "I also try to get the staff to perform so it is not 'us' and 'them,' it is just 'us,'" she says gesturing in a circular motion.

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Eva Recinos

Denim Refinery's new boutique lets you go old school for a new look.

In a city where the fashion seasons change more obviously than the weather seasons, trendiness reigns supreme. And while that state of affairs inspires Angelenos to flock to shops in search of the latest, most fashionable clothing, fashion maven Janet Sung saw inspiration in a different place -- our closets.

The creative mind behind Denim Refinery, an online store and denim customization site, Sung transforms her customers' outdated denim into something hip and fresh. On the site, visitors can choose from "refinements" such as Dipped (which gives certain parts of your clothing item a lighter look), Wax (which turns denim into a leather-like material) or Paint (which lends your denim an artsy look). Up for more than a year, the site continues to send customers' denim to a Long Beach factory before returning the transformed item to owners around the world.

"It's basically taking the middle man out of the whole manufacturing process and opening up a resource that was only available to manufacturers, to individuals," she explains.

Sung also created Shop DR, a portion of the site that lets customers choose from already-customized jackets and jeans with brand names like Levi's. Now, loads of denim and Sung's fashion sense come to downtown in a boutique open to the public.

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Eva Recinos

Cleopatra gets a makeover with a butterfly belly tattoo, characteristic of Mexican culture

Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Cinderella. Venus.

None of these cultural icons escape the humorous, thoughtful hand of artist Linda Vallejo for her show "Make 'Em All Mexican" at George Lawson Gallery. Opening this past Saturday, the exhibition gives recognizable images a funny twist as Vallejo has turned the characters' skin tan, often adding tattoos.

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World 8 lets you find an epic item for your gaming lover

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*10 Things to Do in L.A. on Valentine's Day for People Who Hate Valentine's Day
*Top 10 Bars With the Hottest Women in L.A.
*10 Bars Most Likely to Get You Laid in L.A.

"You always buy me the same shit."

If you haven't heard that before, consider yourself amongst the lucky lovers whose significant others keep their thoughts to themselves. That one year your girlfriend ooh-ed and aww-ed over the flowers and cleverly-packaged chocolates you gave her? She might have been faking it.

And even if your babe likes getting classic gifts for Valentine's day, it couldn't hurt you to maybe think outside the box when it comes to cute trinkets. Especially if you're looking to conquer a new beau. It's like a wise man once said: the more creative you are, the higher your chances of getting laid. Or something like that.

So hop in your love mobile and hit up Los Angeles' more cooky shopping spots for gifts that will make your Valentine's Day less lame.

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Megan Friend

Wertz Brothers Antique Mart on Lincoln Blvd

Imagine a microcosm of western civilization's material culture jumbled together and beautifully stockpiled into a 20,000 square-foot warehouse. Imagine all the stuff you grew up with: all the randomness, all the things you never thought you'd see again, all the memories, all the emotions, all the traditions, all the bizarre trends of your youth, all of the fleeting fixations of your past and all the collectable fascinations of your present. Trinkets, tea sets, toasters, paintings, porcelains, books, nets, vintage textiles and so much more.

This is the experience of visiting the Wertz Brothers Antique Mart in Santa Monica, which will sadly close its doors tomorrow, Feb. 1, to make room for other business developments at the location.

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Collection of Miriam Kove, New York (on display at Fowler Museum, UCLA)

Painted doors, 19th Century Iran

See also:
*How Shahs of Sunset Gets L.A. Iranians All Wrong. And It's Just Bad
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A.

Though Jews and Iran have had their differences, it might be surprising to learn that the history of Jews in Iran is as old and rich as Hugh Hefner.

That 2,700-year history was recognized and honored this weekend at a conference held at UCLA's Fowler Museum in conjunction with its "Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews" exhibition.

David Yerushalmi, professor of Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, articulated, in a jet-lagged stupor no less (he had arrived just a couple of days ago from Israel), an introduction to Iranian Jewish culture, dating back to the 16th century, and moving forward to the Pahlavi dynasty, from 1925 until 1979, when these exiled city dwellers went from being "an oppressed and marginalized community, to an enterprising, active and powerful section of broader Iranian society."

From the original 80,000 Jews living in Iran, about 25,000 have remained. The others are in Los Angeles, New York and Israel.

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From Alex Berg

In a city where no one walks, hundreds of volunteers took to the hilly streets of Silver Lake this past week in search of Tesla, a 25-pound Terrier/Poodle mix, who bolted from her home in search of her owner, Alex Berg, just before New Years Eve. Berg, the artistic director of the L.A. branch of the Upright Citizen's Brigade, one of the top comedy theaters in the city, was in Connecticut for the holidays when Tesla went missing. Upon hearing of her flight, he immediately emailed friends and created a Craigslist post, but it was the hashtag #FindTesla going viral on Twitter that mobilized comedians and dog lovers alike to aid in the search to find Tesla.

"A few friends came up with the #FindTesla idea," said Berg over email Friday when the search was still ongoing. "Former students of mine who'd met Tess when I'd brought her to class started tweeting about it, then performers at the theater, then total strangers who don't know me or her. Without them, the search for Tesla would probably be me sitting around in my underwear being depressed. Now, underwear-clad depression is just one part of a multi-faceted scheme to get her back."

Upon returning home, Berg transformed his Silver Lake apartment into #FindTesla Headquarters. Real-time maps were used to document confirmed Tesla sightings and more than 100 local volunteers, many of whom had never met Tesla or Berg, were organized into teams to maximize their ground coverage and potential impact. The word continued to spread as #FindTesla was tweeted out by celebs such as Gillian Jacobs, Rich Eisen, Jeff Garlin, Ryan Adams, Taran Killam and Jerry Ferrara (aka Turtle from Entourage). #FindTesla was even mentioned on radio station KOST, with the Dido song "Thank You" dedicated to their cause.

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Jon Haynes Photography

I'm just going to have one more beer and I'll still be good to drive, right?

Car culture was the last element I embraced in my new life as an Angeleno. The first few months I lived here, filling my gas tank made me physically ill. The cost! The fossil fuels! The hours spent in traffic! I may have cried about it once or twice, alone in my sad sublet behind one of Silver Lake's six thousand hair salons.

Three years later, I relish surface-street shortcut strategies just as much as I once relished plotting how best to escape my high school's Bronx campus to sneak down to IHOP during assemblies, and I crave Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne on my morning commute just as much as I once craved a novel or a newspaper.

And yet I still cannot stomach the casual ubiquity of drunk driving in this city. I see it every weekend among friends, acquaintances and strangers. The stammering insistence that you are cogent. The shrug showing you believe there is no alternative. The sloppy slip into the driver's seat.

Over a thousand Angelenos got DUIs the week of July 4th. Seriously, Los Angeles. We need to talk. Why must you weave a dangerous game of Russian roulette along the freeways and boulevards every weekend?

I have a few theories.

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