Last Saturday I was lucky enough to attend the Miracle Mile Art Walk. The Art Walk is a full-on tour of the galleries on La Brea and Beverly Boulevard complete with talks by featured artists and free shuttle rides by the Holly Trolley. If this isn’t enough to convince you to join in the fun, a bouquet of balloons marks off each participating gallery. How can you say no to that?

In addition to being a fascinating preview of the emotional and spiritual complexity David Chase would later achieve with The Sopranos, the 1990’s television series Northern Exposure also offers a glimpse into what it would feel like to turn 30. As Northern Exposure’s principal character Joel turns 30, he realizes that the things that once distinguished him as a medical prodigy are now simply ‘expected’ of him. He also lugs a canoe around a pristine forest, and bitches to a shaman-in-training who dines with Peter Bogdanovich. Ripped from the headlines, I know.

Maybe you haven’t heard (though judging by the throng of people cruising along Gallery Row November 12th, you probably have), but downtown L.A. is the place to be the second Thursday of every month. On this ever-so-special night, galleries are open later for people to peruse the latest exhibits and just generally get their culture on.

No matter what your artistic taste or preference, there was something for everyone to enjoy on Saturday, November 14th and Sunday, November 15th at the Santa Monica Fine Arts Studios. Once a year the studio opens its doors to the public for an open exhibit and silent auction, and this year Forth was lucky enough to be there and take part in the action.

It’s been a while since I’ve lost my mind in Venice Beach, but even longer since I had ridden along the entirety of the bike-path. Six years, to be exact. Back in those days, I was crashing at my brother’s boardwalk pad — a glaringly pink building in the dirty heart of it all. We were writing a screenplay about getting lost in Italy that never came to fruition – like so many other hopes and dreams before and since.