The Adventures of Downtown Oliver Brown

The Adventures of Downtown Oliver Brown is a semi-fictional tale of Downtown nightlife written by Stan Lerner.

Forty-year-old Oliver Brown, a talented and critically acclaimed writer, just did not find the success he deserved in Hollywood. It made financial sense to move Downtown and no lack of good bars and restaurants eased the pain.

Stan Lerner is an award winning-author whose diverse credits include the novel “Stan Lerner’s Criminal,” the novella “In Development,” and the children’s book “Stanley The Elephant.” He's lived in Downtown Los Angeles for the last thirteen years.

Be sure to check back each week to see where Oliver's latest adventures have taken him.

Oliver Does Dishes At Fleming's

By Stan Lerner — February 05, 2009 — 1 Comment

Starbucks, Starbucks, Starbucks, just let me get to Starbucks and have a coffee before … ring ring ring. Before you ring, I said to my iPhone, not out loud, as it rang the old school ring I had it set to.

“Oliver, it’s Lee.” Mr. Lee, my Korean accountant who takes my permanent state of financial crisis far more seriously than I myself am capable of—because there is no longer such a thing as debtor’s prison. — Continued Inside...


Oliver's South Park Story

By Stan Lerner — January 26, 2009
3 Comments

I strolled to Starbucks at 11th and Grand contemplating for some reason how much the world had changed since my youth, which this day, two days subsequent to my forty-fourth birthday seemed like a lifetime ago. My phone rang just as I eyed the girls sitting around the park next to FIDM. So young...


Oliver Spends an Evening at Rivera and Yard House

By Stan Lerner — January 20, 2009
4 Comments

Life seemed momentarily back to normal as I sat at Starbucks surrounded by Gay David, not to be confused with Dave The Jew from Vegas, Eric Everhard, my friend the porn star, Eric the blogger, whom to the best of my knowledge doesn’t even watch porn, and Andy The Printer, otherwise known as Andy from Colombia—one of my favorite countries due to its agricultural...


Oliver's First Reading for 2009

By Stan Lerner — January 13, 2009

When April first suggested the blindfold I simply thought she had something kinky in mind, but little did I know that she really meant that she had a surprise for me.


Finally an Encore for Oliver

By Stan Lerner — January 04, 2009
2 Comments

After being turned away at Encore by an Asian security guard, even though we had a perfectly legitimate appointment at the spa, (and because I was hallucinating, as was Dave The Jew -- I must insist you read my previous blog “No Encore For Oliver” as even now it is too painful to delve back into that part of my seriously damaged gray matter) at Dave The Jew’s...


No Encore for Oliver

By Stan Lerner — December 28, 2008

“Whooooo Shiiiiiiit!!! Look what the cat done dragged into Vegas!!!!” screamed the large, handsome, cowboy looking fellow that had come to greet us at the airport. I staggered off of Stan Peters’ Gulfstream V and watched as the cowboy fellow lifted Stan off of the floor in a hug that would have crushed a hearty grizzly, no doubt. Hopefully you’ve read the last...


Oliver Visits a Whiskey Bar

By Stan Lerner — December 18, 2008
2 Comments

I don’t really vibe with Seven Grand, too many people, too many guys, and a college hipster feel around the pool tables that I didn’t even like in my college years. Those would be the three years at UCLA before I dropped out for no reason. But Seven's Grand's where I ended up. I sat in the front booth, the only spot that frankly doesn’t feel like a sausage...


Oliver and the Final Beam

By Stan Lerner — December 11, 2008
9 Comments

“Oliver, the NSA tells me that you’re not writing at your usual Starbucks. Is everything okay?” asked President Elect Obama. “I’m fine. I’ve just been writing a lot about L.A. Live so I’ve been working out of the Starbucks over there. I like to totally immerse myself in my subject matter.” “Yeah, I thought that might be the case. The piece about the architecture...


Oliver Lights a Tree

By Stan Lerner — December 07, 2008
9 Comments

When you’re Downtown Oliver Brown, not much fazes you. But waking up with my hot nineteen-year-old girlfriend’s MOTHER naked in my bed did actually give me what felt like a flutter in my chest followed by considerable shortness of breath. I would have been completely distraught but for the fact that my girlfriend Misha’s mother is the former supermodel Paullina...


Oliver Encounters a Critic

By Stan Lerner — December 06, 2008
2 Comments

I stopped by Starbuck 11th and Grand with every intention of walking over to the new Starbucks at LA Live. But as a member of the Downtown community, I did feel obligated to at least say hi to my all my friends—wouldn’t want my absence to be a cause for concern. Well, I’m sitting with David, the realtor, and Victor, the owner of Hard Eight clothing, sharing a...