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PODCAST

The Voice of Los Feliz

An audio journey exploring the history, happenings, colorful characters and rich stories and experiences that make the neighborhood of Los Feliz the beating heart of Los Angeles. philleirness.substack.com

history

All Episodes

26:29

The Fighting 8th!

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2026/01/04

The Los Feliz Improvement Association has been working for more than a century to build a better Los Feliz. One of the ways they did this in 2025 was by sponsoring a porch as part of Porchfest L.A., which took place the first weekend in November. Originally held in Ithaca, New York, in 2007, Porchfest music festivals began as a way for community members to put the spotlight on local musicians by providing porches where they could perform. Longtime Los Feliz resident Hélène Udy brought Porchfest to

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86:06

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 14

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/12/26

Welcome! This episode is coming your way the day after Christmas (Boxing Day!). HOWEVER, it was supposed to come your way the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday)! We won’t get into whose fault this one month delay is (spoiler: it IS host Phil Leirness’ fault). All we ask is that as you hit “play”, you close your eyes and pretend it’s the day after Thanksgiving!(Photo by Fernando A. Funes)Fernando A. Funes is not a resident of Los Feliz. In fact, he lives in Orange County. Still, the amount of

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26:23

Fear as a Force Multiplier

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/11/25

This is an essay I had hoped to finish in time for Halloween, as that seemed quite an appropriate release date given the topic. Nevertheless, finishing it tonight, the 24th of November 2025, my final night of 56 seems even more appropriate. I have been considering the topic of fear and the difference between bravery and courage for most of the year. So, sharing what I have learned feels like an important ritual before I begin to celebrate my 57th trip around the sun.Whenever I host a stage show, the

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114:42

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 13

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/10/30

Welcome! We hope you will join host Phil Leirness, announcer Marc Hershon and musical director Jon Lawlor for an epic and spooky good episode all about community building! (Photo by Larry Underhill)Siobhan Burke has a passion for building as both an architect and a designer, and she is devoted to her community, having served for several years on the neighborhood council. Phil interviews her about such topics as the Hyperion Street Safety Coalition, the 99 Neighborhoods Network, the L.A. 2028 Olympic

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14:25

It’s Intermission Time, Folks!

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/10/10

(Lance Alspaugh and Lily Leirness at the Autry Museum of the American West prior to “Viva Los Feliz: Hidden Gems” on 31 July 2024; Photo by Larry Underhill)After the glorious blue sky and sunshine made yesterday feel more like a Sunday in spring than one in October, this Monday morning in Los Feliz felt positively gloomy. This was befitting the news that the great Lance Alspaugh, the longtime owner of Vintage Cinemas, including the beloved Vista Theatre and its no less important sibling, the Los

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107:36

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 12

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/09/20

This month’s episode offers up a lot of storytelling, multiple live events, improv comedy, music, heartfelt vulnerability and several beloved Los Feliz landmarks!The recent Los Feliz Writer’s Festival was a huge success. Phil interviews Steve Benaquist, the host of the festival’s “Voices of Los Feliz” event in the “rooftop studio” on Vermont. Then, Phil heads over to Little Dom’s to interview life coach, actress and storyteller Alionka Polanco, who participated in “Voices of Los Feliz”. During their

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87:38

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 11

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/08/21

This month’s episode features local writers, a preview of the first ever Los Feliz Writers Festival and explores a mysterious “staircase to nowhere” as well as a breathtaking view of the Griffith Observatory where no such view should exist! D.W. Socha is a screenwriter who has recently published her first novel. She has also been a stalwart fixture of Los Feliz ever since heeding the clarion call of the House of Pies! Phil gets together with her on the “Staircase to Nowhere” to discuss all of this,

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22:00

Getting to the Bottom of Things

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/07/30

During the 1976 film Murder by Death (a loving sendup of classic detective fiction whodunits scripted by Neil Simon), the character of Dick Charleston (played by David Niven) goes into the bathroom and when he comes out, he finds that the entire house has changed in very odd ways. This becomes a bit of a running gag, where people return to entirely different rooms than the ones they left moments prior. I found myself living this aspect of Murder by Death two weeks ago while in the gastrointestinal

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108:17

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 10

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/07/21

The action on this month’s epic episode surrounds two events: a Los Feliz Business Improvement District mixer (at Messhall Kitchen) and the opening of the 28th City of Los Angeles Independent Master Artist Project at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery!(photo by Larry Underhill)Local icon and current president of the Los Feliz Busineness Improvement District (aka the Los Feliz BID) Dora Herrera gets the ball rolling, telling host Phil Leirness how she is dealing with the grief over the death of her

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35:36

Monologues & Eulogies

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/07/07

Can an essay save lives? If so, I hope this one does just that. In a previous essay entitled Fire Walk with Me, I wrote about the late, great Norman Lloyd, who died at 106 during the pandemic. It was at his memorial where I first met and spoke with longtime TCM host Ben Mankiewicz. A couple months back, Ben was the speaker at a Wednesday meeting of The Los Angeles Breakfast Club. At one point during the morning, he and I compared notes on our takeaways from that memorial of almost fours years ago,

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103:11

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 9

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/06/22

After a bit of a hiatus, we are back with an epic installment just in time to kick of summer in style!The festivities begin with a brief recap of this week’s “Viva Los Feliz: A More Perfect Union”. Then, Phil sits down with Neighborhood Council District B representative Olsen Ebright to get better acquainted, and to discuss community involvement, journalism and dating apps!Next up, Phil gets together with District A representative (and true daughter of Los Feliz) Devin Homsey to celebrate the return

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23:45

Brick and Mortar

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/05/04

If I have ever heard a sound worse than my cat howling for food in the pre-dawn hours while I was experiencing a madness-inducing degree of jet lag, I can’t recall it. Under normal circumstances, I would tell anyone who asked that my three least favorite sounds of my lifetime were my parents fighting, my cat coughing, and my wife crying in another room. Given the state I was in after returning from three weeks in Europe, however, the vocalization of my feline friend’s crepuscular yearnings were

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66:15

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 8

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/04/17

The arts, culture, food and politics … There’s something for everyone in this month’s show! The festivities begin with part two of host Phil Leirness’ conversation with local icon Tony Fanara, the proprietor of Palermo Italian Restaurant on Vermont Avenue (Palermo celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year). Phil and Tony discuss the American Dream, Tony’s favorite foods, and Tony’s run for Governor of California! The first annual Los Feliz Film Fest takes place at the end of April. Phil sits down

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73:13

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 7

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/03/07

March is here and there is a whole lot to celebrate in Los Feliz!The one and only Democracy of Ham an’ Eggs, The Los Angeles Breakfast Club turns 100 this month. Host Phil Leirness commemorates the milestone by heading over to Friendship Auditorium on Riverside Drive for chats with club technical director Eric Kurland (the founder and director of 3-D Space) and club President Mickey Corcoran. Phil also treats you to 100 years of Breakfast Club audio in a little more than eleven minutes!After

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75:08

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 6

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/02/03

From the death of “Mama Yuca’s” to the Southern California fires, the end of 2024 and the start of 2025 brought no shortage of sadness locally. The Voice of Los Feliz returns with this brand new episode to help get February off to a good start …(Socorro Herrera at “Viva Los Feliz: Hidden Gems”; photo by Larry Underhill)Join host Phil Leirness, announcer Marc Hershon, and musical director Jon Lawlor as they take you from Franklin Hills to the Vista Theatre, from Friendship Auditorium to the

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19:28

Out with the old and in with the … New?

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/01/17

What is the moratorium on wishing people a “Happy New Year”? Of course, in the wake of the past week in Los Angeles, anyone greeting their fellow Angelenos with a hearty, “Happy New Year!” would be rightly met with something less than amusement. Still, by January 5th, it already felt somewhat ridiculous to greet people that way. Sure, I was still writing “2003” on my checks, but what I started to do that day, and continued into this past week, until fire changed everything, was to ask people if they

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28:40

The Most Beautiful City on Earth

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2025/01/02

A couple days before my wife, Lily, and I bid Los Angeles farewell for the duration of 2024, I visited my old stomping grounds of UCLA. Some part of me knew such a visit would be good for my soul. In fact, weeks prior, I had written the four letters (U-C-L-A) in red ink on our wall calendar. Never mind that we are more than thirty years since the onset of desktop computers becoming ubiquitous and twenty years since the widespread usage of smartphones. We are and always have been a decidedly

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21:57

Gratitude

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2024/12/20

Greetings from Modesto, California where later today I am picking up my sister’s cremated remains. This past week, I received a letter addressed to my sister. It began:Dear Leslie Denise Leirness,We have reviewed your eligibility for health coverage.Your Medi-Cal will end the last day of 12/2024 because:We received notification of the death of Leslie Denise Leirness.In other words, “Hi, because you’re dead, we will no longer be insuring you.” The letter goes on to say, “Also, for your information,

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71:52

The Voice of Los Feliz (podcast) Episode 5

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2024/12/06

Happy Holidays, everybody!(photo courtesy of the Travel Town Museum Foundation)On this month’s festive audio stocking stuffer, host Phil Leirness, aided by trusty announcer Marc Hershon and musical director Jon Lawlor, will take you to the House of Pies …(art work by Dean Haglund)Tiger Schenkman returns with an audio postcard all about the history and personal importance of the Los Feliz landmark with the spinning sign. Then, Phil goes inside the House of Pies to interview the longtime musical

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25:28

Ghost Stories

The Voice of Los Feliz ·

2024/11/26

My sister died during the morning of Friday the 8th of November. She was in hospice. She stopped breathing. She slipped away peacefully. Since that time, I have been struggling. It is not my first trip round the dance floor with grief, however. In fact, with my mother dying this very month in 2019, and my father dying in June of 2020, grief has been positively dominating my dance card during much of these past five years.I will have thoughts to share about my dance partner in the coming weeks. For

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32 results

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