I am a sucker for a fabulous cover.  I love to wander the magazine racks at newsstands and just ponder the imagery and typography of the magazines, whether they are American or foreign, about fashion or design or even writing, targeted to men or women.....I just love the idea, the smell, the feeling of a good magazine.

Recently, I have discovered two new (to me) amazing magazines.

Monster Children
Monster Children is written in Australia, but certainly lends itself to the LA sensibility.  It comes in a horizontal format and is dense with imagery.  The pages have a heavy and printed feel to them.  The subject matter is often about artists, skateboarders, musicians, but the layout is unique and the typography very dynamic, graphic and outrageous.  The first issue I saw was guest edited by Mike D of the Beastie Boys, and he fit right into the pages.  Although the magazine is horizontal, the editors also use a lot of sideways type both throwing off the reader and drawing you in.  The Table of Contents are consistent across issues, and there always seems to be at least one semi-nude image of a beautiful model, yet the use of typography is strong and dynamic, with color bars, hidden letters, and lots of scale change.  I haven’t read many of the articles in Monster Children, but I immediately subscribed, and I love flipping through the pages.

Uppercase
Uppercase is a Canadian magazine dedicated to creativity and design, and often type.  I first heard about the Magazine on Twitter, as their posts are often playful and the images sucked me in.  The magazine is quarterly, and the twitter posts keep me excited to see the next issue, despite having to wait 3 months. The first issue I received was all about hand made type, and the layout was gorgeous.  I was particularly drawn to all of the pattern work - on the cover, on each feature, on the table of contents - always delicate but always dynamic.  Uppercase is an independent magazine, and seems to have a well of unique and creative articles and illustrations.  This magazine will forever be on my coffee table.

I haven’t spent much time in Downtown LA, but I have always wanted the excuse to go.  As any Angeleno knows, you need a really good excuse to get out of your neighborhood and drive the 45 minutes (12 miles) to get downtown.  My previous excursions to downtown had been to see the Disney Theater and jury duty, so I was looking for another adventure.  I had read about the Grand Central Market, and it reminded me of New York’s Grand Central Market and the Chelsea Market, so I grabbed a few friends, and we made an afternoon of it.

Sadly, it did not live up to the hype.  The Market did have some great restaurants - not sure if you can call a market stall that.  We decided to give Egg Slut a try, and we waited in the 15 minute line while people watching (it happened to be Halloween, so the watching was worth it).  We thankfully scored three seats at the counter, and our sandwiches of egg and cheese on a buttery brioche were definitely worth the wait.  We checked out the deli, the ice cream store, and the Thai stall, and they all looked amazing, but that was the extent of the market.

The actual market stalls were rather depressing - the fruit looked old and bruised, and the cheap prices almost too high.  We could easily score better goods at any local farmer’s market.  The stand with spices and mixed nuts seemed appealing from afar, but the goods too looked like they had been sitting there for ages.

The Market is also deep in downtown, and the streets are not welcoming. Even after living in NYC for 20 years, I didn’t feel safe on these streets at 1pm in the afternoon on a weekday.  While their are plenty of pedestrians and cars, and lots of movement, the streets still had a dark and eerie feeling, almost ominous.  This was not the LA of the movies, or of my home.

I will go back to the market, and I will try another market stall, but I’ll wait until they revitalize more of downtown.  Maybe next time I’ll try the Last Bookstore, and immerse myself in the scent of used books and listen to an author read samples on the scratchy microphone - that would definitely be an excuse for the drive.