Arts Recommendations from The Mirror Cube

A site dedicated to music, film and artistic happenings, as recommended by an array of working artists

Perhaps no one knows the music, film and art scenes better than those within them. Communities form and flourish, and engage other active creators. Highly collaborative art leads to highly connected scenes with an escalated awareness of what’s working and what’s good. That’s the idea behind The Mirror Cube, a new website that documents and promotes independent art events based upon the recommendation of artists …

California Rail Breaks Ground

The California high-speed bullet train that would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles will finally break ground this week after years of delays. While the estimated $68 billion project is still shrouded in uncertainty, and many of the legal and financial pieces of the massive undertaking are still being assembled, the project will soon begin construction on its first 29 miles in order to meet …

Biochemist to Barista: The New Scoops

Jack Benchakul's journey from science to specialty coffee, which he now serves up in LA's Chinatown

by Chérmelle D. Edwards Nearly three years ago, biochemist Jack Benchakul switched professions and became a barista. Applying science to the craft of specialty coffee, he’s popped up in in at least 10 Los Angeles locations since then. Under the helm of Cognoscenti Coffee, a Culver City coffee shop whose newest outpost is at Scoops in Chinatown, he’s now moonlighting in its 500-square-foot space, on …