Michelle Shocked

“I write about cities the way some gals write about lovers,” says Dallas-born Shocked, 45, who wrote perhaps the only love song to Pico Boulevard, her main drag. The Grammy winner’s rootsy sound encompasses country, folk, blues and now gospel on her latest album, “ToHeavenURide.” She performs tonight at Santa Monica’s Temple Bar.

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IT TAKES A VILLAGE My neighborhood is called Mid-City but it’s more commonly known as Koreatown. I like it because it’s diverse and under the radar, an undiscovered gem. Everywhere I’ve lived before you walked places and knew your neighbors. Weekends are my way of making L.A. [feel like] a village. MUSIC TO THEIR EARS Friday, me and my sweetheart spend time at Record Surplus on Pico. He loves early rhythm and blues, and I’m working on a doo-wop project. We might take a walk in Queen Anne Park, then go to Kate Mantilini for split pea soup with their great sourdough bread. SIMPLE PLEASURES We’d start Saturday at Maria’s Cafe, a really cool diner in a classic bowling alley on Venice and San Vicente. [My telling you] might ruin it, but people will thank me. I have the oatmeal because I’m on this diet Gloria Swanson was on, from a psychic nutritionist who’s 92! Later I’d go swimming at E.G. Roberts pool on Pico and Rimpau. It’s free with a library card. WISHFUL THINKING We’d follow that with coffee at Peet’s on Larchmont Boulevard, which has the ambience of village life. We always visit the house with a wishing well on 2nd Street. It belonged to the woman who voiced [Disney’s] Snow White. FOOD FOR THE SOUL Saturday night we’d check out the galleries in Culver City. We love Billy Shire Fine Arts. For dinner we’d go to Wilson, which belongs to [Beach Boy] Dennis Wilson’s son. The food is fabulous. Sunday I sing in the choir at West Angeles Church of God in Christ on Crenshaw -- it has the best choir in the city. It’s not unusual for Stevie Wonder to pull out his harmonica. When my sister saw me in the choir she said, “Michelle, you look like a grain of rice in a bag of chocolate chips.”

-- Vicki Jo Radovsky

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