Kevin Scanlon

Alicia Estrada

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here.

When an acquaintance delivered Alicia Estrada a message from God in late 2011, it wasn't the first time that a man she hardly knew told her something that would change her life forever.

The first was back in the early '90s, when Estrada was at Cal State Fullerton studying accounting and one of her professors told her to drop out of school. Drop out? "But I'm great at numbers!" she protested.

His message had nothing to do with her aptitude for accounting. He'd noticed that she had a talent for fashion.

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*10 Best Vintage and Second-Hand Boutiques in L.A.

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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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The new pope

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*LACMA and MOCA's Possible Merger: The Internet Reacts
*12 Comedy Acts to Watch in 2013

You know those days when your Twitter feed explodes with the energy of billions of opinionated Internet-surfers? That definitely happened today, as the Vatican officially announced the new pope and the world reacted.

But leave it to a few courageous and witty comedians to turn the history-setting event into material for pithy jokes under or at 140 characters. Here are some of the best:

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Gabrielle Canon

Fabian Debora

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*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week

Fabian Debora stood on the railing of a busy I-5 Freeway, just beyond Hollenbeck Park, watching the cars zoom by. Blood spewed down his mouth and onto his water-soaked shirt -- consequences of the manic escape from his mother's home where she had discovered him doing meth.

Haunted by his children's faces and the hurt he had caused, he fled in shame to this spot, where he planned to end his life. Voices shouted in his head, beckoning him to do what he had come to.

"The voice said, 'You worthless piece of shit, kill yourself,' and it's starting to sound scary and its sounding like a demon...and it's getting louder and louder and I just said 'Ahhhh I don't want to hear this!' I ran across the freeway. First lane, second lane, third lane. There was no turning back."

Debora's story nearly ended that day. It is a story laced with sadness and loss, tragedy and regret. But most of all it is a story about an artist's mission to heal himself, help his community, and bring attention to the forgotten area of Los Angeles -- his home neighborhood, Boyle Heights.

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

Painted doors, 19th Century Iran

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*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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With the Mayan apocalypse upon us, Rob Kutner, a writer for Conan and the author of the book Apocalypse How: Turn the End-Times into the Best of Times!, offers ten tips for survival come Dec. 21:

10. Chemical Warfare Begins Within
Are you currently thinking of injecting, inhaling or surgically implanting any foreign substances to enhance your bra size, batting average or just horrible workday? DO IT NOW. The more inorganic chemicals churning in your body, the more protection you'll have from whatever is going to get blasted into it.

9. Head for the Sex Shop
As has been well-documented (albeit mostly by the Australians) the most powerful leaders of any post-apocalyptic world will be those clad in leather bondage-gear. Get your Fifty Shades of Grey on today, run Bartertown tomorrow.

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Tristan Copeland

Comedy Church Members, from left to right: Carisa Perez-Fuentes, Bridget Barkan, Zack Bass, Bert V. Royal, Pastor Jane Voigts, Daniel Franzese, Stephen Bell, Clay Thomas Black, Karen DiConcetto

Voltaire claimed, "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." He obviously never attended mass at Toluca Lake United Methodist Church. As Los Angeles' first "Comedy Church," this unique religious institution imbues spiritual ideology with a generous does of mirth.

"From what I can tell from the gospels, Jesus had a great sense of humor, and he loved to play with people's expectations of what was appropriate," says Rev. Jane Voigts, founder of the Comedy Church. "I like to think he would appreciate this take on spiritual life, maybe even skip with me down the center aisle. Wouldn't that be a kick?!"

Its with this positivity that Voigts, known as Pastor Jane to her flock, approaches every aspect of life, even impending fiscal collapse. TLUMC needs to raise $60,000 dollars within the next six months or the church will be forced to close its doors. Yet these storm clouds can't blight Pastor Jane's sunshiny optimism.

"We will continue to develop the Comedy Church even if we have to do it elsewhere," she beams.

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Amanda Lewis

As the Torah makes its way through the balcony during Yom Kippur services, a girl puts her iPhone down for a moment.

Congregation Or Ami's Rabbi Paul Kipnes is the type of plugged-in religious leader who peppers his sermons with references to Star Trek and jokes about the NFL's replacement refs. Standing on stage at the Fred Kavli Theater at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza this past Wednesday, with a vibrant purple, gold, green and blue tallit draped over his shoulders and a white yarmulke atop his bald crown, Kipnes opened Yom Kippur morning services by asking the nearly 1,000 Reform Jews in attendance to honor this Day of Atonement, when Jews fast and repent, by turning off their cell phones.

But this prohibition only lasts about forty minutes.

"Because it's the 21st century, you're going to help me with my sermon," Kipnes says, as we transition into the Kedushah prayer ("Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts!"). The congregation's Facebook page and Twitter handle, along with Kipnes' cell phone number, appear on an enormous screen to the right of the stage, along with a request to text, tweet or post an ending to this sentence: "There is holiness when..."

And, one by one, smartphones emerge from purses and suit jacket pockets throughout the theater, casting their unmistakable glow on sidelined paperback copies of Gates of Light, a high-holidays prayer book.

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Courtesy of Muslims Do It Better

Mona Shaikh: sexy extremist

Mona Shaikh is not impressed with the supposed merits of Islamic martyrdom. "Seventy-two virgins? As a reward? Have you ever been with one virgin? [winces] That shit sucks. Can you imagine having to teach 72 of them how to do everything? Guys -- wouldn't you rather have 72 hos?" she asks.

Shaikh is one of a half-dozen or so comedians who performed two Friday nights ago as part of the Levantine Cultural Center's Sultans of Satire comedy show. In its seventh year of semi-regular performances, the show includes a slate of Arab, Persian, South Asian and Turkish comedians. Shaikh, unlike her stagemates that night, was on track to piss some people off -- even a crowd of mostly non-white Muslims in the middle of Ramadan.

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Nanette Gonzales

Rabbi Mark Borovitz in his office at Beit T'Shuvah

It seems like the setup for a corny joke: A rabbi and an ex-con walk into a room. Except here's the punch line: They're one and the same.

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, 60, runs Beit T'Shuvah, a residential treatment center and Jewish congregation in an otherwise nondescript building in an equally average section of Culver City. And though he looks every bit the part now -- he has the gray suit, full beard, glasses, steady eyes, calm voice -- as a teen growing up in a lower-middle-class Jewish home in Cleveland, he didn't necessarily exhibit traits one associates with a rabbinical scholar. More »