Cast and Crew from The Asylum celebrate during the 15th Anniversary Party at Pacific Park on Monday, November 5, 2012. With 100 films under their belt in just 15 years, The Asylum celebrated their successes at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier.

Executive Chef  from Public Kitchen and Bar, Vartan Abgaryan, serves Poached Oysters with Sea Urchin during the Second annual Localicious 2012 Food & Wine Tasting Event at Annenberg Community Beach House  on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, as part of the Good Food Festival & Conference.

Guests savored the freshest and best of the season with signature dishes prepared by 30 of LA's leading chefs paired with 30 farmers from the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Local wines and craft beers were also served during the event..

Proceeds benefit FamilyFarmed.org, which encourages the production of delicious, healthy and accessible food made as close to home as possible by family farmers.

A panel of Japanese American World War II camp internees discuss their experiences following the performance of the Santa Monica College production of the world premiere, “Heart Mountain” on Sunday, November 4 2012.
           
“Heart Mountain” – a drama that includes dance, music and powerful imagery and tells the story of a family in a World War II Japanese interment camp – runs Nov. 2-11 in the SMC Theatre Arts Studio Stage on the main campus, 1900 Pico Blvd.
            
Speakers included Noboru Kamibayashi of Santa Monica, who was interned at the Manzanar and Tule Lake internment camps in California; Arnold Maeda of Mar Vista (Manzanar), who is active with the group organizing the Venice Japanese American Memorial Marker; Brian Maeda of West Los Angeles (Manzanar), whose 2011 grant was approved by the National Park Service to create a documentary, We Said, No-No; and Joyce Masamitsu of Mission Hills (Poston, Ariz.). In addition, a representative of the Japanese American Citizens League will serve on the panel.
            
Commissioned by Theatre Arts Department Chair Perviz Sawoski, who is also the director and choreographer, “Heart Mountain” takes its name from one of the internment camps set up for the relocation of Japanese and Japanese American citizens in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. More than 100,000 persons of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps in remote areas of the country, including Heart Mountain in Wyoming, which became a center for a draft resistance movement.
            
Although the play follows a fictional family as it struggles to maintain dignity and cohesion in the face of difficult choices of conscience, it was inspired by research that included interviews with former camp internees – including Noboru Kamibayashi – and their relatives as well as other sources. The play also includes dance and movement inspired by Butoh, as well as audio-visual material.
            
The play was written by G. Bruce Smith SMC’s public information officer and an award-winning playwright with production credits in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Minnesota.
            
Show times for “Heart Mountain” are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. in the SMC Theatre Arts Studio Stage. An additional 2 p.m. matinee is added for Saturday, Nov. 10. Tickets are $10 in advance and $13 at the door, with a service charge, and can be purchased by calling (310) 434-4319 or by going to www.smc.edu/eventsinfo. Parking is free on Friday evenings and weekends.

Fourth-grade students from Edison Language Academy perform "Chumba La Cachumba" during the 12th Annual Festival de Otoño and DÌa De Los Muertos on Saturday, November 3, 2012.

Pasión Flamenca dancer Elizabeth Ipiña performs during Edison Language Academy's 12’th Annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration on Saturday, November 3, 2012.

Woodlawn Cemetery's Dias de los Muertos celebration - Images by Fabian Lewkowicz

Highlights from Dias de los Muertos - Day of the Dead celebration at Woodlawn Cemetery on Saturday, November 3, 2012.

Ice Skating Coach, Ashleigh Gia Cahn, 24, skates at the outdoor rink ICE at Santa Monica during opening day on Saturday, November 3, 2012. Once a year, Downtown Santa Monica brings a little skate to the surf and transforms the corner of 5th Street and Arizona Avenue into ICE at Santa Monica, a premier outdoor ice skating rink. Celebrating its 6th Anniversary, the 8,000 square ft. rink by the beach offers residents and visitors a little taste of winter without the bite. A great location for holiday play, ICE at Santa Monica is the perfect place to hang out with friends, family, and loved ones, throw a party in a private event cabana, enjoy a first date, or sign up for skate lessons. Join the fun and visit Downtown Santa Monica this season to experience ICE. The ice skating rink will be open and runs through Martin Luther King Day in January. Admission is $12 (includes skate rental). Hours: Mon-Thurs: 2pm – 10pm, Friday: 2pm – Midnight, Saturday: 10am – Midnight, Sunday: 10am – 10pm.

People walk past a giant fiberglass Kraft Macaroni & Cheese noodle that reads, ”You Know you Love it” at the Santa Monica Pier on Friday, November 2, 2012. The noodle art is part of Kraft’s integrated marketing campaign. It weighs 2,000 pounds and is 20 feet long x 9 feet high x 4.5 feet wide.