A green light for urban adventures

Kristin GORE has spent three decades as captive audience to the patron saint of climate protection, dad Al Gore Jr. Clearly it rubbed off. Gore’s first film, “Arctic Tale,” a narrative documentary she co-wrote with husband Paul Cusack on polar animals imperiled by global warming, was released Aug. 15. She’s also days away from delivering the screenplay adaptation of her first novel, “Sammy’s Hill,” to Columbia Pictures, and a couple of chapters into her third novel. Gore, 30, and her husband live in an energy-efficient turn-of-the-century Craftsman on the eastern tip of Historic West Adams, which is why summer weekends are often spent downtown.

Secret sushi club

On Friday nights I celebrate a little and splurge on sushi at R23 downtown. I fantasize about buying one of their Frank Gehry chairs, but I think they should be cheaper -- they’re cardboard! -- or that I should be able to make one. The bill can add up, but I love the atmosphere. You’re in this warehouse wasteland in the middle of the night, and you feel like you’re in a secret sushi club and need a password to get in.

I generally end up at Bar 107. They have free popcorn and the photo booth is fun. We have lots of photos on our fridge. I like the tongue-in-cheek décor and that Derby Dolls [L.A.’s original women’s quad-skate roller derby league] come here. You always hear interesting stories.

An urban hike

One of our favorite things to do on Saturday morning is a downtown hike. We start at the Rose Garden at USC and end up at the fountain outside Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We mainly go along Broadway because we love all the old theaters: the Orpheum, the Million Dollar and the Los Angeles. So many of them are rundown. It’s just some guy selling electronics in the front, but if you ask him you can look behind his little wall into this amazing old movie palace.

It’s a long walk, four hours, and we make lots of stops. The Bradbury Building, I love the architecture. Then right next door is “the O.J. Knife Shop” (Ross Cutlery). My husband bought me pepper spray there, but no favorite weekend involves pepper spray. We stop at Grand Central Market for lunch.

At some point on the weekend we end up at downtown Ralphs. Oh, a very exciting topic for me: the first supermarket in the neighborhood, which finally opened last month! We rode our bikes there right when it opened. (For my birthday my husband bought me a beach cruiser, which is sort of funny, to ride 14 miles inland.) The green options are pretty good. People get freaked that they can’t do everything right [environmentally], then throw up their hands and do nothing. You don’t have to be perfect; there are little things you can do. That’s an obtainable goal: Strive for the good.

Dockweiler fun

My brother (Albert), my sister (Sarah) and friends go to Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey on Sunday. It’s this really cool strip with pits where you can build a bonfire in the sand. We go late afternoon and barbecue on the beach as the sun sets. We bring our own silverware instead of using plastic. I’m not eaten up by guilt, but if there is a better way to do something then I try to do it. Also, beach barbecues are cheap! I have less noble reasons for why we do what we do too.