Chris Paine is best known as the director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, a movie about how the car industry and politics nipped the explosive growth of the electric cars in the bud. But Paine is also a nightlife aficionado who loves the Burner scene and has a new environmentally friendly venue, the Marrakesh House, that he uses as an entertaining space. We gave Chris our usual drill-down.

Culver City is suddenly cool. Once just for surround-sound movies or the mall -- or merely something you drove through en route from Beverly Hills to Venice to avoid the freeway -- it now has some of the most exciting new bars, restaurants, and art galleries in Los Angeles. Enter Akasha. Six months ago, the restaurant was opened by chef Akasha Richmond, a woman with a lot experience cooking for fancy vegans and vegetarians and committed to featuring local and organic produce. The menu offers some of the most interesting and well-prepared food of any new place I've been in the months since I moved to LA. But since this is a mixology report, let's down to the libations.