UnHip LA

Hey, if you’re in need of a really really cheap staycation, I got this from a mailing list I’m on:

"The Travelzoo Newsdesk has found this outstanding offer from
the L.A. Dodgers:

LOS ANGELES–JUNE 30, 2008– The L.A. Dodgers have slashed
ticket prices for games against the Atlanta Braves and
Florida Marlins to $3. Wow!

Tickets for games on July 7-13 are:
- Reserve seats … $3 (Reg. $16)
- Lower Reserve seats … $6 (Reg. $20)
- Infield Reserve seats … $9 (Reg. $28)
- Field seats … $18 (Reg. $50)

To book and for more information, click the link below.
IMPORTANT: You must manually enter "TZOOJULY" in the
Promotions and Special Offers field after selecting your
game date from the pull-down menu.
http://www.travelzoo.com/Newsflash.asp?429281  "

Play Ball!

 

I wish I lived in Chicago so that I could go to the free Saturday Millenium Park Workouts, June 7 to September 27.  The schedule sounds so fun:  Yoga - 8 am, Pilates - 9 am, Dance - 10 am, Tai Chi -7 am, and Kids and Family workouts at 11 am.  Just click this link to see the great pictures of happy Chicagoans working out in their fabulous Millenium Park.  Pictured above.  This is what L.A. needs - one big happy family workout.

The Dance workouts feature different styles of dance: hip hop, salsa, modern, and in September, it’s four Saturdays of the Chicago Bollywood Explosion with Shamila Khetarpal.  There are also workouts called Body Combat, Kung Fu Hustle, and Get Moving with Ronald McDonald.  Way to do some public programming Chicago! 

Wouldn’t you like to workout in front of this thingy?   Frank Gehry of L.A.’s Disney Concet Hall designed this outdoor concert hall in Millenium Park. 

 

(Source: Flickr) 

Click here for another post on Millennium Park with pictures.

I visited the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library and Gardens this weekend.  OMG, it is so heavenly - a huge lake with bridges, a cafe, ducks, pavillions, outdoor seating, poetry, art….  It really is grand and a great escape. Taking a few walking laps around the Chinese Garden will be my new exercise routine.  Forget LAFitness, go to the Huntington! 

Membership is $100 for the year and includes lots of specials such as night time strolls around the Huntington (they usually close at 4:30 pm) and invitations to art openings. Also with a membership, I can stroll around the gardens at my leisure instead of feeling rushed to cover the grounds in a few hours because I can just come back the next day.

I will be posting pictures soon.  Come back and see the leaf-shaped windows, really purdy!  When I get my membership, I can take one person with me for freesies.  The Chinese Garden is my new favorite place in the SGV.  The Crowell Public Library in San Marino is also really great (it’s a library that looks like a resort spa).  Both places have a huge list of Asian donors.  My hairdresser told me that the Ritz Cartlon was bought by some Chinese investors, paying $150 million in cash (a good journalist would fact check all this, but right now I am short on time).  Anyhow, these three significant Chinese moves really show the large, wealthy Chinese presence in the upper SGV. 

UPDATE:
Beautiful pictures from the Gardens press office:   http://www.huntington.org/Information/ChineseGardenPressKit.htm 

I went back to the Chinese Garden today 4-26-08.  The day was murderously hot and miserable.  The gardens were beautiful but the weather and crowds just made me very cross. The pond water looked murky. I did have fun winding around the Japanese Garden’s narrow little paths and walking through the bamboo forests. I want to visit the gardens when no one else is there, but that would involve me becoming a higher priced member - they get to enter at 8 am.  I cannot wait till the members’ only evening strolls this summer.  Yes, unhipla has become an elitist.  I want my Members’ Only jacket.  I just find the Huntington Library and Gardens so peaceful; it’s like a little retreat.  If only it wasn’t the SGV summer of hell heat.  I shall try again next weekend.  My goal is to know every inch of that place and find the neat nooks and crannies.

Can you believe it’s $20 to go in on the weekend and $15 on the weekdays?  That’s nuts! 

 

 

 

This Friday, September 28, the Music Center will host a free Bhangra dance night with DJ Sandeep Kumar and lessons by Achinta of the Blue13 Dance company. How fun!  What is Bhangra?  It’s a folk dance and music form from Punjab that has been fused with hip hop moves and featured in many Bollywood movies.

Bhangra dance is also a great adult P.E. activity, so this will be adult P.E. idea #3!  You can take classes with the Blue School.  Or get the Bollywood Workout DVD. I’ve had lots of fun with my DVD but know it’s nowhere near what Aishwarya or Bipasha do in the movies. Well, you gotta start somewhere! 

Bhangra Dance Downtown 
Friday, Sept. 28, 6:30 pm - 10 pm.
The Music Center
135 North Grand Ave., between Temple & 1st
Los Angeles, CA

P.S.  I was just told a secret place for free parking downtown near the Music Center.  If you want to know, leave a comment and I will get back to you.  It’s super secret….   

(Photo credit) 

*** UDPATE ***  We went to this and it was great fun!  We learned moves called "alligator, Indian airlines, turn the door knob, pat the dough….."  So much fun!  I definitely would take a class with the Blue School if I were in the ‘hood.  The great thing about Bhangra - you can totally be doing it wrong but you won’t look that off.  It’s an aerobics workout without the annoying counting of reps thing. Just dance and have fun. When the instructor Achinta separated us into two groups who faced each other, it was like a dance-off, showdown, Michael Jackson style.  My first time doing that, and I would love to do it again.

P.E. for Adults, entry #2:  Table Tennis in the SGV

Ever feel like a game of badminton or table tennis at 4am?  Well, there’s a place for you. It’s the San Gabriel Valley Badminton Club on Telstar in El Monte.  Open 24 hours a day, with bad-ass looking coaches, this center is for both serious and recreational players.  For non-members, it costs $7 for all-day play (you can leave and come back); however if you want to reserve a court, it costs $20 an hour per group.  The place is open 24 hours a day for members and for non-members closes at midnight (opens 9 am). 

I’ve been here twice and have almost thrown my shoulder out both times.  My friends had fun though.  AND there is also access to ping pong tables, which is included in the $7 entry fee, or just pay $5 for ping pong.  So if you’re really jonesing for some pong action, you can drive yourself over here. They have vending machines too. 

San Gabriel Valley Badminton Club
9255 Telstar Ave.,
El Monte, CA  91731
Phone: (626) 307-4650
FAX: (626) 284-9105 
www.sgvbc.net 

I’m going to try to identify fun, unhip ways to exercise in the SGV.
Here’s #1:  Free Ping Pong in Alhambra at Almansor Park.  You supply your own paddles and balls.  They’ve got four tables and nets.  Their fall schedule is table tennis daily from 6 - 9 pm, except on Wednesdays, and on the weekends from 12 - 9 pm. 

Almansor Park
800 S. Almansor Ave., Alhambra
(626) 570-5081
Website 

Please comment with P.E. suggestions if you have any, thanks!  I will post about dodgeball later.