Your Inner 16-Year-Old Wants To Ride The Secret Gravity Hill Of Pasadena

The more I learn about Pasadena, the more I'm convinced it's secretly just the set of an Eerie Indiana-type TV show. There is, quite simply, a gobsmacking amount of vaguely spooky shit going on up there.

There's the infamous Suicide Bridge, which is actually quite fun to go strolling on (and judging by the name, even more fun to go jumping off.) Suicide Bridge is apparently right down the street from an abandoned insane asylum, which probably came in very handy when Reagan decided to let all the mental patients loose on the streets in the 80s. There's the ruins of the White City Resort perched in the mountains above, its tennis courts scorched by fire, swimming pool now a cauldron of dirt and dead leaves. There's the Haunted Forest below, with its secret trails leading to claustrophobic tunnels and caves. (A hiker made a video of his Haunted Forest exploration, complete with helpful tips like "Do not go into this cave on your left; a man lives in there and he does not like to be disturbed."

My favorite amongst these eerie treasures is the Gravity Hill. Situated on a winding mountain street in Altadena, it's a section of road wherein a driver can put their car in neutral and then start traveling "up" the hill. Science tells us it's just an optical illusion, but I prefer to approach this with a "teach the controversy" mindframe and say that the forces pushing your car up that hill could just as easily be the ghosts of children killed in a spectacular schoolbus accident. (Science, after all, is just its own form of faith.)

Remember in high school, when you'd first gotten your drivers license, and your heart would flood with giddiness just at the prospect of going aimlessly exploring in your car? Gravity Hill will take you back to that space in your mind, free of charge.*

*The ghost-kids may request a 10% tip for pushing your car up the hill.

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• WHAT: Pasadena's Gravity Hill
  
• WHERE: Directions are here
• WHEN: The neighborhood frowns on loitering, but do your thing
  
• $$$: Free
  

You Had This Coming: HIPSTER HOLOCAUST Premiere Party

Last year, your intrepidLA writers decided they'd had enough of the "daily grind" that goes along with running a website (i.e. drinking rotgut wine to dull the pain, dodging phone calls from concerned loved ones, not being able to afford bedsheets) and came up with an escape plan: we were going to make a brilliant short film that would swiftly catapult us into careers as directors and producers, and leave behind this blogging bullshit for the birds. Hollywood was calling us, by our correct names (unlike what happens to us during sex) and who were we to ignore the call? We immediately launched a Kickstarter campaign and dove into making our future happen.

Anyway, it's 12 months later and we're still pretty much in the same place we were last year, but on the bright side... we got our movie made! And we're holding the premiere screening at the beginning of next month! And you're invited! Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves, for the hilarious, unholy horror that is HIPSTER HOLOCAUST is about to be unleashed upon you.

A short film done 80's grindhouse-style, HH tells the story of a deranged nerd who exacts unfathomable vengeance on his hipster-infested Silverlake neighborhood. Like a slasher flick starring the population of the Coachella parking lot, or a mash-up of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and FALLING DOWN, you're in for a two-and-half minute blast of gore, laughs, and wish-fulfillment.

Craft beer, wine, and appetizers (courtesy of Chef PandaBear) will be served, although we recommend watching the movie on an empty stomach. There will be a Q&A with the filmmakers afterward, so you can ask questions like "Jesus, why?" Come out, mingle, sip, and support your local hipster-killers.

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• WHAT:  Premiere party for Hipster Holocaust
• WHERE: Location TBA -- RSVP on Facebook for info
• WHEN: Thursday, May 3rd at 8:30 PM
• $$$: Free

We Are All Bill Murray

Outside of the fact that he's been in some of the most beloved movies of the past 30 years, I have a theory on why everyone has a soft spot for Bill Murray: he's a reflection of our country. Stay with me here. He started off playing guys who were elegantly confident, breezily arrogant, jerks who could afford to act like jerks -- and then, as the 21st century rolled around, he morphed into something worn-down, sad-eyed, resigned to the twilight. (If you really want to beat this metaphor to death, you could say his involvement in two Garfield movies is like America electing George W. Bush twice in a row, but let's not do that.)

Now through November 26th at Gallery 1988, you can come up with some similarly deep Murrary-related thoughts of your own at Please Post Bills, a pop-art show displaying over 100 pieces (paint, print, sculpture) of the iconic actor in his various forms. Wanna see him as a ghostbusting pulp-novel hero? They've got that. Wanna see Lost In Translation re-done as an 80's album cover? They've got that too.

(Yes, there is even a Garfield-related piece. USA! USA!)

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•WHAT: A pop-art show dedicated to Bill Murry
•WHERE: Gallery 1988 -- 7020 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA
•WHEN: Now through November 26th, open Wed-Sun, 11-6
•$$$: Free

The Best Free Date Spot On The Eastside

Highland Park does not get a lot of love. It doesn't quite have the cozy neighborhood feel of Los Feliz, or the funky-artsy vibe of Echo Park, or the cool-kid-on-the-rise sensibility of Eagle Rock. Also, the last time I was there, I saw a shirtless guy with blood cascading down his face trying to smash open one of those water-dispenser machines in front of a liquor store.

I haven't made this sound like a very good date spot, have I?

That's because I haven't talked about Mt. Washington -- the winding, arboretum-like oasis that towers over the eastside. A few notable Angelenos -- Mayor Villaraigosa, Gerard Way, and anti-Zooey-Deschanel activist/possessor-of-too-many-consonants Patt Morrisson -- make their home there. Up on top, there's the Self-Realization Fellowship, a former hotel turned meditation center that's open to the public. Trust me on this: find someone cute, drive up and have a picnic. There are gardens to stroll through, jetliner views of downtown, and a soundtrack of silence and trickling waterfalls. There's also a gorgeous stairwalk around the hills, although you'll have to pick up a copy of Charles Flemming's indispensable Secret Stairs guide to get directions. (That book is going to be best ten bucks you'll spend all year.)

Get up there. Highland Park deserves your love.

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•WHAT: A lovely picnic spot and stairhike on Mt. Washington

•WHERE: The Self-Realization Fellowship -- 3880 San Rafael Ave LA 90065

•WHEN: Fellowship open Tues-Fri 9-5, Saturday 11-5

•$$$: Free

'Shade' On The Shore

When I think about Shade, the once-a-month "day party" created by Porter Tinsley and DivaDanielle, a few indelible images spring to mind. I see a park bathed in pastoral summer light, where a couple hundred people gather on picnic blankets around a makeshift DJ booth and a grass dance floor. I see revelers of all ages getting their groove on, neon-clad girls hula-hooping and Vibram-shoe-wearing dudes practicing parkour vaults up the stone park wall. I see full-grown adults playing with a giant Jenga set, focused with the kind of intensity usually seen in air-traffic controllers. Silk-rope acrobats lithely descending from trees. Dogs lounging. Little kids scampering. Me drunkenly attempting to do a front-flip down the slide of a bounce-house and somehow getting my shoe stuck in the ceiling. Ah, memories.

You've got a chance to create a few of those images yourself this weekend -- because on Saturday at Zuma Beach, the girls are throwing Get Lucky, a Shade-goes-to-the-shore party. It's going to be 8 hours of dancing in the sand and playing in the surf, with beats courtesy of Todd Spero, Jacques The Ripper (check out "Pushing Magnets", his funky breaks set from Lightning In A Bottle) and of course, the Shade ladies themselves. You'll be hard pressed to find a better collection of reasons to live in LA within the space of one afternoon.

(Note: Zuma Beach cops are alcohol nazis and will be checking containers for booze, so leave the hooch in the car. And be sure to carpool, because parking fills up quick!)

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•WHAT: Shade goes to the beach for Get Lucky

•WHERE: Zuma Beach, tower 2 - 30050 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, 90265 

•WHEN: Saturday July 9th, 1 PM - 9 PM

•$$$: FREE!!!