marionettes.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the opening weekend of Bob Baker Marionette Theater's "Halloween Hoop-de-Doo," and it was a delight! It's been on my LA Bucket List for awhile now, especially since I heard the theater was in financial trouble and could be closing soon.

The theater is down in Echo Park, tucked under the 101, almost to downtown. I was surprised to see a Toluca Street in this neck of the woods.



The show was super cute, and I was really impressed with the skill of the puppeteers. Not that I'm a great judge of puppeteering skills, but it was clear it really takes a lot to coordinate and move with the marionettes.

The audience was mostly 3-5-year-olds with their parents and aging Echo Park hipsters. Beards and elaborate tattoos were de rigeur. I'll let you draw your own parallels here.

But I really enjoyed myself. The songs were adorable, many of the puppets were breathtaking, and a few of the numbers were somewhat scary. Not to me (I swear), but judging from the screams in the audience, they were terrifying for your average four-year-old.

An audience favorite was certainly this Dream Girls-esque number performed to the 70's disco hit "The Twilight Zone." But I would say most of the acts took you way back to a pre-Disney time when this was the kind of thing the kids came out for. And after the show--ice cream cups for everyone!

Afterwards, I wandered across the street and discovered the Vista Hermosa Park. How cool to find such an idyllic spot just outside of downtown.



For lunch, I headed over to Mid City and La Otra Taqueria Escuela. Back when I used to be a hip young Silverlaker, I loved to go to Malo. It was far from the most authentic Mexican in LA, but it was so rich and decadent--with those thick, deep-fried tortilla chips and tacos filled with potatoes and ground beef and pickles.

Well, the menu at is pretty much the same thing, and it didn't appeal to me as much. Not many vegetarian options. I had a good salad and the langostino tacos. Everything was fine, but I'm sorry to say that langostino--you are pretty much the poor man's lobster. One cool thing about is Escuela is the ceiling covered in shoes.

When I told a friend at work about this place, she informed me that she had just been to Malo and they are now serving vegan menudo! Not much gets me back over to Silverlake these days, but that just might an excuse to go.