In Los Angeles, a town smitten with dogs, the four-legged friends are enjoying ever-expanding privileges. In addition to doggie yoga classes, doggie spas, doggie bakeries, and doggie birthday parties, dogs in Los Angeles are now surfing, dancing, and partying alongside their owners. They also recently won the right to dine alongside their human guardians on fenced-in restaurant patios. Read more about the trend, and how it reflects the character of Los Angeles, in an essay I wrote that appears in this month’s issue of Open Skies, the in-flight magazine of Emirates Airlines. Woof!

I’m one of the writers/editors for The Purple Passport to Los Angeles, a new eBook guide to my home port of LA. It’s organized by neighborhood to help readers get oriented in the LA sprawl and includes hip, handpicked venues from the Westside to the Eastside. Whether your LA pleasure is celebrity sighting, beachcombing, dance clubbing, art spotting, nature trolling, movie going, or fine dining, the guide has you covered. Helpful maps and must-knows about transportation, seasonal highlights, and local culture are also included. It’s available for download through the Amazon Kindle Store for Kindle readers and Kindle apps for Android/iPhone, so you can slip it in your bag as you take a “Red Carpet Ride”!

“Flamenco is a fragile art. It exists on the verges of society, just as the Gypsies once existed in the same way.” So opens the recently completed documentary “Kumpania” by Katina Dunn, a story of the passionate dancers, singers, musicians, and producers who pursue flamenco in Los Angeles as a labor of love and often struggle to find an audience.

But the gripping film, as well as last weekend’s Los Angeles International Flamenco Festival, are bringing this talented community out of the shadows. In fact, LA is emerging as one of the powerful satellites of flamenco around the world. Read more in my article in the Los Angeles Times!

Pictured: flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo and his bandmates, who I got to see at the festival last weekend! Vale!