March 14th - third annual "Nowruz" at the Midnight Mission

The Midnight Mission proudly announces its third annual Nowruz at The Midnight—a special street celebration to toast life and revive the spirit during this festive time of renewal— taking place on Friday, March 14th, from 3pm to 6pm at The Midnight on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles. Last year’s event saw over 2,500 meals served, more than 140 volunteers and 3,000 articles of clothing distributed. This year, the title sponsor will be California-based brand SKECHERS USA, Inc., which is renowned for their diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children.

Southern California Iranian Americans are giving back with a traditional Iranian street fair including live entertainment and meal service as well as traditional gift-giving. Hundreds of volunteers, celebrities and local leaders plan to participate. Steeped in history, Nowruz is a 3,000 year-old holiday and an annual celebration that marks the beginning of the Iranian New Year for people of all faiths. In the same spirit, through its life-saving and life-changing programs and initiatives, the Midnight Mission has been a source of revival and renewal for the homeless population of Los Angeles for the past century.  For more information visit their website.  

Next up at Barnsdall: Silverlake Wine scotch tasting and an intimate conversation with Manfred Müller

An intimate conversation with German born artist Manfred Müller, and a scotch tasting curated by Silverlake Wine coming soon to Barnsdall Art Park in Los Feliz

Friday, February 28th, 5:30 to 7pm

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 4800 Hollywood Blvd, Los Feliz

Showcasing recent works by German artist Manfred Müller, this multi-media exhibition features a wide-range of wall and floor-bound sculptures, site-specific installations, prints, drawings, and photo-based works. It is accompanied by a 160-page illustrated catalog. This exhibition is sponsored in part by The Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, The Ray and Wyn Richie Evans Foundation, and the General Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Free to Barnsdall Art Park Foundation Members, General Admission $40 

For more information you can also visit the Barnsdall website @ http://www.barnsdall.org/

Los Feliz and Griffith Park - Home to Puma P-22

Did you know that Los Angeles has 390 public parks and 15, 710 acres of parkland? One of the area’s most popular and well known parks is Griffith Park, which, at over 4,000 acres, is the nation’s largest urban municipal park. By comparison, New York City’s Central Park is only 843 acres in size.

While Griffith Park gets 10 million visitors annually, who like to play golf and tennis, attend concerts at the Greek Theater, or hike its many trails, there is one particular park “visitor” that has captured L.A.’s attention: “P-22.”

P-22 is a puma, or mountain lion, who somehow wandered over to Griffith Park from the Santa Monica Mountains, and now calls the park home. He had to get across the busy 101 and 405 freeways to get to Griffith Park.

Don’t worry—you probably won’t see P-22 in person if you visit. Some wildlife researchers have seen him, but then again they were on the hunt to find him. As the 22nd mountain lion that Santa Monica Mountains National Park Service biologists have found, he got the name Puma 22, or P-22.

P-22 has become somewhat of a cult celebrity in L.A., with his own Twitter account(s) of all things!

At night, P-22 eats mule deer, raccoon and coyote to stay alive. During the day, he rests among dense vegetation, elusive to park guests. So far, he’s happily at home in Griffith Park. As the only mountain lion in the park, he has no competition for food.

How do people know P-22 really exists? A remote camera set up for a wildlife survey caught the puma’s face in 2012. Later that year, scientists set a humane trap with cameras to be able to see the lion in person. After the lion received a sedative from a blow dart, scientists attached a collar that would allow them to track the whereabouts of P-22. That’s how scientists know specifically what P-22 eats—researchers are able to track the animal and go to places where he killed his prey.

P-22 is a relatively young mountain lion, and it’s most likely he’ll leave the park and head east to the Santa Monica Mountains to find a mate when he gets older.