Garth Trinidad

* Host of “Chocolate City” on KCRW-FM (89.9) and the monthly club Kneedeep in the Countdown beginning tonight at the El Rey.

Appetite Building: An ideal weekend starts on Friday morning, when I’d go horseback riding at dawn at a black-owned stable-ranch in the San Bernardino Mountains. Then I’d go to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, preferably the one on Pico and La Brea, and eat my favorite meal--the buckwheat pancakes and scrambled eggs with cheese and onions, grits and a sunrise--a mix of orange juice and lemonade.

Art Time: I’d spend the afternoon in Leimert Park and walk around the art galleries and shops, see people I know. I’m an artist--graduated from Otis College of Art and Design--and I teach art part time, so I like to see what’s going on at the Leimert Park Fine Art Gallery. Then I’d catch an early dinner at the Elephant Walk, on Degnan Boulevard. It’s a classy joint. I took my girlfriend there on our first date and we had this dessert called Mount Kilimanjaro, a mountain of strawberries and ice cream.

Down Time: Saturday I try to spend meditating and praying. That night I’d shoot over to Vidiots and rent “Shaft” and “Superfly,” two of the greatest movies from the blaxploitation era.

Ocean Appreciation: I live in View Park, outside the Crenshaw district, and there are fried fish places all around, so on Sunday I get fish and hush puppies. I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at Leo Carrillo State Beach. I love the openness and the rocks and the caves mixed with the long shoreline. You can block everything out but the sky, and it looks like you’re just floating.

Work and Play: Monday, I’d spend all day record shopping. It’s research, but it’s also a form of tension relief. There’s something calm but intense about a DJ hunting for records. I’ve spent four or five hours at Aron’s, at the end of which my neck hurt and my fingers were really dirty. I’ll also go to Fat Beats on North Vermont, Rhino Records on Westwood, Beat Nonstop on Melrose and check Penny Lane and Moby Disc for deals and trade-ins.