We ring out August with our most cinematic episode yet! Sure, it’s only our second episode of “The Voice of Los Feliz” podcast, but that doesn’t make our claim untrue. Join “podcast royalty” Phil Leirness, along with his trusty announcer Marc Hershon and his brilliant musical director Jon Lawlor, and let them take you on a journey to Alcove, to a rooftop high above Los Feliz Village, and to an office in Burbank overlooking Warner Bros. In the process, you will become much better acquainted with three Los Feliz stalwarts …

Brian Morrison isn’t only a brilliant filmmaker and the mastermind behind the “Free Blockbuster” craze (sweeping the planet like a runaway freight train), he also works tirelessly to make Los Feliz a great place to live.

(photo by Larry Underhill)

Your intrepid host, Phil Leirness, went to the same Cupertino, California, High School (Monta Vista - Go, Matadors!) as Los Feliz Improvement Association President Debra Matlock. They also both studied film and television at UCLA (Go, Bruins!). Now they collaborate on “Viva Los Feliz” a series of shows celebrating our historic neighborhood. The next of these shows will take place at the Autry’s Wells Fargo Theatre on October 30 and the theme will be “Haunted Los Feliz”.

Last, but certainly not least, the man known by generations of local movie lovers as the “Epic Manager” of the Vista Theater (and the Los Feliz 3) has been nothing less than the “host” of the neighborhood and a cultural ambassador to the art of cinema. His “origin” story (childhood in Guatemala) and his first exposure to the Vista, are tales you will never forget. They are beautiful, funny, and inspiring, just like Victor Martinez himself.

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