From Superior Market to Sycamore Grove, Virtual Mannequin Man is on a Romp

There are many reasons why Highland Park’s Superior Market is an unlikely setting for an animation short about a mannequin, but at least one reason why it’s the perfect locale: The Eastside is hot—and it’s been a while since L.A.’s cultural center of gravity has been shifting inexorably to its predominantly Latinized neighborhoods.

In a new 102-second animation film titled “Late For Meeting,” a mannequin prances briefly in an aisle of Superior Market, exits the 53-year-old Googie-style historic landmark with two paper grocery bags, and then flops frantically down a residential street and a park.

After romps in front of a massage parlor and a 99 Cents-type “Dream Mart” on Division Street in Cypress Park, the figure is shown riding on a flipped-over 1990s BMW sedan on Figueroa Street in that mural-beautified section of the neighborhood facing Sycamore Grove Park.

The point of it all? The brain behind the film, animation artist and director David Lewandowski, explains it as follows to Eastsider L.A., which ran the story this past Saturday (the lower-case film titles are intentional):

“late for meeting is a companion piece to the 2011 short film entitled “going to the store,” which featured a silly, disjointed journey through Sunset park in the traditions of dadaism and surreal humor in film. The unnamed man has somehow reached East Los Angeles, now travelling through the areas of Highland Park, Glendale, Cypress Park and Eagle Rock, California.”

Click here to watch the film, which has reportedly got more than 1 million hits since it was posted on YouTube Friday.