Word of Mouth: West Adams, Los Angeles

This neighborhood has a rich history and a focus on the future, thanks to innovative uses of space and community-minded initiatives

In South Los Angeles, West Adams—one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city—spans from Culver City to Downtown. Historic homes built in a dizzying array of styles from Georgian Revival to Alpine Craftsman, Queen Anne and Dutch Colonial line the streets. The Glen Lukens Home and Studio (designed by mid-century modernist Raphael Soriano for ceramicist Glen Lukens) has been painstakingly preserved by its new owner. …

Listen Up

Clever art-punk, reflective solo singles and more music from this week

MUNYA: Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins Cover) Singer-songwriter and producer MUNYA (aka Josie Boivin) has released two lovely tracks from her upcoming debut album, Voyage to Mars, and now the French-Canadian songstress delivers an unexpected but sublime cover of the 1995 Smashing Pumpkins song, “Tonight, Tonight.” The original—with its soaring 30-piece string section—lends itself to MUNYA’s folk-tinged synth-pop, but the two renditions are vastly different. The dreamy …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Mold art, flying motorcycles, anthropomorphic canines and more from around the web

Lizzo Traces Twerking’s Black History + How it Became a Spiritual Practice In her first TED Talk, three-time Grammy-winner Lizzo traces the history of twerking to a West African dance called mapouka, traditionally performed by women to celebrate joy, marriage or as religious worship. When it was transported to American by Black women during the transatlantic slave trade, its ties to Black culture were erased …