We went in to Los Angeles yesterday to meet Jeff's Aunt and Cousin. While we were there we wandered in to a hip new-ish ice cream place called Salt and Straw. Great ice cream, very crowded, stylish crowd. Give it a try if there is one near you but do it quick - they're franchising the heck out of it and it will soon go by way of Hagen-Dazs. Try the artichoke. It's a lot better than it sounds.

This one is an area about 6 blocks from Skid Row. It's gentrifying very rapidly (warehouse buildings to lofts) and is now referred to as the "Arts District". We did some work there 10 years ago and at that time it was not a place I'd take my family. Now it's a cool place to hang out.

I noticed these stencils painted on the sidewalk - something I have never seen before. Do they have them in other cities? I asked about them in one of the boutiques we went in to and the guy with the dreds and the all black outfit told me that he really didn't know who puts them there but he thinks they are probably artists of various sorts or maybe they are there only to start conversations. He thought for a minute then pointed out that they had done exactly that, and in that one way, at least, they have been successful. I liked that explanation.

I took pictures of them like an idiot tourist, which was OK because that is what I was. When we got home I started searching the various images on the net and found most of them. A few of them are music acts, one is an artist. One is a high end sex club that costs $75K to join. One of them is a clothing line featuring $250 sweatshirts, and on that site they are advertising for "influencers" to wear their clothes and talk about them on line. A couple of them are simple social commentary. The Campbells soup can refers to a controversy over the fact Campbells uses flavorings in their vegetable soups that contain animal byproducts.

We'll be going back and I may start a whole album of them.

I've seen them here in NYC too. Some are promotional, some humorous, some just social commentary.

I googled SNCTM.
Gwyneth and Sex