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Tags: Cirque du Soleil / Circus / Santa Monica Pier / Santa Monica Travel / → All Tags

Koozin' It Up In Santa Monica: The Kooza Cirque Du Soleil Show

While VegasChatter is all a-tizzy about the new Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil show that is set to hit The Strip next month, the folks in Los Angeles are getting a chance to experience Kooza in their own backyard at the Santa Monica Pier.

Kooza is the story of a little boy who's trying to find his place in the world. Called The Innocent, he's guided by The Trickster who shows him all sorts of things in the world of Kooza from a bumbling king and his clown sycophants to a loudmouth pickpocket, pretty female contortionists, jugglers, dancers, tightrope walkers (and cyclists) and tumblers extraordinaire.

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Tags: Pizza / Santa Monica Travel / Pizza Shops / → All Tags

NY & C Gives The 'Good Pizza on the West Coast' Thing a Try

It's hard to find a quality slice of pizza in Los Angeles and in fact, most shops here just try to emulate a New York or Chicago-style pizza. The attempts are appreciated by East Coasters like ourselves but of course, it's just never the same. The biggest stand-out so far has been Joe's Pizza, just off the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, which is an outpost of the famous Joe's Pizza on Bleeker Street.

However, a new pizza joint has opened, also in Santa Monica, on Wilshire Boulevard and it's decided to split its offerings between New York and Chicago style pizza. NY & C even splits its physical space between Chicago and New York. One wall is devoted to NYC photos and memorabilia and the other is for Chicago.

There's deep dish Chicago-style pizza and specialty pizzas like the Navy Pier (green peppers, tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms) and the Windy City with four types of meat (sausage, pepperoni, salami, sliced beef), mushrooms and extra cheese. There's another pizza with meatballs, mushrooms, tomatoes and green peppers that's called The Sears Tower. Um. Do you mean the Willis Tower.

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Tags: Celeb Travel / Santa Monica Restaurants / Cafes / Food / → All Tags

Marcia Cross Pops Into Santa Monica's Huckleberry Cafe

A while back our favorite quick Chinese place, Pick-Up Styx, closed down in Santa Monica on bustling Wilshire Boulevard. But what eventually replaced the joint was a cute little cafe that serves cute little pastries and desserts and cute little cafe specialty items like soups and gourmet sandwiches. The place even has a cute backstory as the two chefs behind the cafe actually met and fell in love while working at the Rustic Canyon restaurant just a few blocks away. All of this of course means the place has a cute name too--Huckleberry Cafe.

The space is appropriately cafe-sized--not too big, not too small--with plenty of indoor seating and a few tables outside as well. Cutesy names and pastries aside, the restaurant's interior space is done up in modern simplicity--blond wood counters and tables and white ceramic dishware and blackboards high on the wall are filled up with the menu options.

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Tags: Santa Monica Pier / Santa Monica Travel / Food / Restaurants / → All Tags

Santa Monica's Lobster Turns 10, The Pier Celebrates Its Centennial

The (lobster) claws come out at the tenth anniversary of a Santa Monica Pier institution

Santa Monica Pier is the heart of the oceanside city's kinetic life force. Amid a flurry of tourists milling toward the neon-lit ferris wheel, shirtless muscle men on bikes, and street performers competing for spare change, The Lobster offers some refuge, not to mention amazing seafood and 180 degree views of the Pacific Ocean.

The pier institution celebrated the tenth anniversary of its reopening on Monday evening with a private VIP reception, drawing a mixed crowd of older locals and young, energetic foodies who clamored straight for the surf 'n' turf spread. Tables overflowed with an assortment of the menu's best: fresh oysters, mini crab cakes, filet mignon, lobster (natch) and seared tuna.

Complimentary wine and cocktails were also circulating as guests toasted ten years of business at the historic locale. If you're in the area and in search of a more upscale—but still relaxed—alternative to other grab-and-go eateries lining the shore, The Lobster is a good bet.

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Tags: Television Travel / Reality TV / Santa Monica Travel / Shopping-in-SoCal / → All Tags

Santa Monica's Fred Segal To Get Its Own Reality Show

Nearly a year ago we spoke of our love for Fred Segal Santa Monica, a posh, celeb-frequented, overpriced boutique with cutesy department names like Flair, Fun and Emphatic.

Back then, we mentioned that we preferred this boutique over its West Hollywood counterpart largely because it was close to the beach, free of D-list celebrities holding their appointments with the paparazzi and with more manageable parking. We'd like to take all of that back now that we've learned the store has just announced its own reality show on Bravo.

The show will focus on the oft-stressed and competitive sales team as they cater to well-to-do customers who demand the latest in clothes, shoes, accessories and beauty products.

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Tags: Sneak Previews / Seth Rogen / Anna Faris / Jody Hill / Movies / Movie Theaters / Hollywood Travel / → All Tags

Seth Rogen and Anna Faris Talk Mall Cops at the Aero Theater

One of the obvious perks of visiting Los Angeles, aside from breathing the same smoggy air as your fave celebrities, is taking advantage of Hollywood industry events like sneak previews of films. We're not talking red carpet movie premieres. We're talking about movie screenings for real movie buffs, not reporters from Us Weekly.

The Aero Theater on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica is a small, one-screen theater that's a far cry from the glitzy, high-tech ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood but yet every week you will find big name directors and actors attending screenings of both new and old movies.

Best of all, these events are usually so low-pro that you can almost always score tickets. Unless someone like Seth Rogen is involved. We bought our tickets nearly two weeks ago to this special Q and A session with the funnyman, as well as Anna Faris and writer/director Jody Hill about their upcoming movie, Observe and Report. (It opens Friday.) But soon after that, the show was sold-out.

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Tags: Santa Monica Pier / Attraction / Animals / → All Tags

Ferris Wheels, Burgers, and Mischievous Octopi at the Santa Monica Pier

For years the Santa Monica Pier was the place where locals got drugs and tourists got robbed (technically locals also got robbed too but that screws up the balance of the sentence).

It's always been a recognizable part of LA history: opened in 1909, emerged as an iconic landmark featured in TV and film, became a celebrated beatnik destination, and so on. It's just it hasn't always been a safe recognizable part of LA history. In the past few years, though, gentrification has slowly worked its wonderful magic. Today it's brimming with activity and people-watching potential, populated by this weird mix of beach rats, hipsters, and tourists.

The pier has a permanent bevy of restaurants, shops, and amusements plus a bunch of rotating shows and events - dance lessons, high school recitals, and circus performances. For instance next month they're putting on Sideshow at the Pier, "an eclectic and fast-paced show featuring jugglers, fire-eaters, tap dancers, singers, clowns, puppeteers, mimes and comedy teams."

An outing can easily consume a lackadaisical afternoon. It's a pier with a gigantic Ferris wheel on a Southern California beach framed by a crystal blue sky. Tough to screw that up.

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Tags: Aquariums / Wild Animal Travel / Octopuses / → All Tags

Cephalopods Gone Wild: Crafty Octopus Causes Flood in Santa Monica

Prepare to welcome your new octopus overlords. Workers at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium are mopping up after a curious female California two-spotted octopus loosened a valve in its tank on Thursday, releasing at least 200 gallons (757 liters) of seawater onto the brand new floor. National Geographic reports that such behavior is typical among octopuses, due to their unique combination of strength, dexterity, curiosity, and intelligence. In other words, be very afraid.

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Tags: Where Is / Tom Brady / Gisele Bundchen / Celeb Travel / Celeb Weddings / Churches / Santa Monica Travel / → All Tags

The Church Where Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen Got Married?

To "All the single ladies"...who thought Tom Brady was going to break up with Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, we have some bad news. He did put a ring on it but it wasn't your finger.

Nope. Tom and Gisele, after much speculation and gossip, got married at the St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Calif. yesterday, Us Weekly reports.

The bride, 28, donned a form-fitting ivory lace strapless gown with a trumpet skirt, scalloped edges, long train and a floor-length veil with attached handmade satin roses and attached satin headband, all by Dolce & Gabbana. Her three dogs also wore matching Dolce & Gabbana floral lace collars.

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Tags: Table Crashing / Restaurants / Santa Monica Hotels / Food Travel / → All Tags

FIG at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel

FIG bars, it's what's for dessert.

One of Santa Monica’s most famous landmarks is the 128-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree that sits in the driveway to the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, so it’s no wonder that the hotel’s new restaurant is named FIG.

Around 90 percent of Chef Ray Garcia's menu is locally and organically sourced, and the dishes will change according to season. If you have any doubts about that, just check out the calendar of crops at the bottom of the menu to see what will be “coming soon” to a plate near you.

There are even “food scouts” who apparently are scouring the local farmer’s markets and nearby ranches for the raw ingredients for Chef Garcia’s menus, which he says are “nothing experimental or overworked. Just pure, flavorful ingredients expertly prepared and delivered to your table.” He must have picked up that philosophy while working at Thomas Keller's famous French Laundry in Napa.

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Tags: Table Crashing / Santa Monica Pier / Restaurants / → All Tags

Table Crashing: The Lobster at the Santa Monica Pier

Without a doubt, heading to the Santa Monica Pier is one of the top tourist attractions in Santa Monica. Made famous in countless films, the pier was originally built in 1909 which is defined as the pre-historic age for Los Angeles.

It's considered the final stop along Route 66, as anyone who saw the movie Forest Gump knows, and it houses a historic carousel ride, a ferris wheel *, a small aquarium, carnival games, tourist trap souvenir shops, a pub and a few restaurants.

Now, dining on the pier is not something we would ever do unless it was like on a triple dog dare or something, but if we had to dine in the vicinity of the pier the only place to do so is The Lobster.

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Tags: Shopping / Shopping-in-SoCal / Fred Segal / → All Tags

Shopping in SoCal: Fred Segal Santa Monica

If you're a regular reader of the weekly trashy tabloids (not that we are or anything), then the name Fred Segal should be very familiar to you. It's the trendy store where celebrities are always spotted buying new clothes, catching a bite to eat and staging some convenient photo ops.

Now, there are actually two Fred Segal stores--one on Melrose Avenue where most of the paparazzi camp out--and the more low-key one in Santa Monica on Broadway, just off the Third Street Promenade.

This is the Fred Segal that we prefer. Why? Well it's close to the beach, it's bigger (which means more merchandise) and the parking is way more manageable.

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