ShopEatSleep

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, purveyors of Mexican and international street food, are launching a taco truck tomorrow. The Border Grill Taco Truck, which will pull from the cooking duo’s Border Grill and Ciudad restaurants, will serve $2 gourmet tacos, green corn tamales and empanadas, among other items. The truck will be parked downtown at 433 S. Spring St. from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Hopefully Feniger will include some menu items from Street; it only makes sense to include street food on a taco truck, doesn’t it? From EaterLA.

Here’s Patina’s official statement regarding its move to the AT&T Center downtown, as first reported by the Los Angeles Times via EaterLA:

“Patina Restaurant Group (PRG) is excited to announce its upcoming move to downtown Los Angeles’ AT&T Center. The long-planned move will occur sometime before the end of 2009. PRG looks forward to its move into 30,000 square feet of new space that includes a central catering kitchen, corporate offices, storage and a future restaurant currently in its initial planning stage. In addition, PRG will provide a Market Café to service the building.“

Just saw this: Roll In, better known as “Buck Fiddy,” the sandwich stand in Westwood Village so-called for its $1.50 subs (though it’s been years since the prices were that low), is no longer. Per Sirinya Explores LA, the stand’s landlords posted an “Abandoned” sign that said the rent was 30 days past due. This is really sad; I went to UCLA, and Buck Fiddy was an institution.

• More at losanjealous via EaterLA

Empty Stores on West Third Street. Photo from WWD.

Women’s Wear Daily has a story on the increasing number of boutique and specialty retail store closings around Los Angeles, with Robertson Boulevard, Melrose Place, Montana Avenue and West Third Street taking the hardest hits. I covered this for the LA Business Journal back in March when more than 30 storefronts were either empty or in the process of closing up shop. Other parts of the city have been affected as well, including Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and a drive down Pico Boulevard between Robertson and La Cienega boulevards yesterday revealed some new empty retail spaces that I hadn’t noticed before.

But not all parts of the city are losing places to shop: Malibu Lumber Yard, the new swanky retail center next to the Malibu Country Mart, just opened last weekend. Good idea or bad idea? Time will tell, but in the meantime, head over to the Lumber Yard for free Crumbs cupcakes on Saturday (April 25). They’re giving out 1,000 freebies starting at 9:00 a.m., per EaterLA.

• More coverage at RackedLA