Category Archives: Los Angeles

July 31, 2025 · 23:31

Forever Home – July 31st

I moved to Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley (or just “The Valley”) almost 40 years ago, and I’ve lived almost 35 of those 40 years in two houses that are within a mile of each other. I know those areas and streets like the back of my hand, and that’s a long, long time. Today I drove away.

I understand that I’ll be back, occasionally, infrequently, as the desire and requirements arise to visit the office or to visit old friends or collect mail from the PO Box that we’ve had for 35+ years (and still have). But on a daily basis, going to one of those two houses? Nope, today was it. The last of all of the “stuff” is out and at the new Forever Home.

You know, if I didn’t have almost 70 years of accumulated CRAP stored, you could almost fit two cars in there!

In an almost perfectly orchestrated “LA Moment” as I was stuck in horrible, dragging, pathetically slow traffic on the freeway, I was listening to “JACK-FM” on the radio. I used to listen to it all the time, but it’s been years now since I’ve tuned it in since I almost always am listening instead to SiriusXM satellite radio. But the moving vans have only AM or FM, so JACK was the best option. Then, Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” comes on and I’ve got it cranked to the max. I’ve got the windows rolled up and I’m on the freeway at a standstill so who could it be bothering? 😇Suddenly, as we get to the first chorus, where the countdown comes in, I see the guy in front of me in a covertible Mercedes hold up his arm and in perfect synchronicity, stick up his fingers “FOUR!” “THREE!” “TWO!” “ONE!” “Earth below us / Drifting, falling…” I was doing it too (of course!) but quickly rolled down the window and stuck my arm out for the second chorus. It was perfect!

About 45 minutes later, while I was still stuck in traffic in a 15′ boat anchor somewhere around Pasadena, we got treated to Genesis’ “In The Air Tonight.” Still on incredibly loud. I’m guessing that my drop-top Mercedes friend was halfway to Las Vegas by that point, but I want to believe (nay, I HAVE TO BELIEVE) that we were still kindred spirits at the 3:40 solo drum break, pounding on our respective steering wheels like brothers from different mothers.

It was an LA sortof thing. Adios!

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Filed under Forever Home, Los Angeles, Photography

June 21, 2025 · 19:56

The Final Play

Tonight we’re back at the Ahmanson Theater, probably for the final time for a while.

This is the last performance in this year’s program, and with the anticipated move to a Forever Home up in Hesperia or Apple Valley, we are not planning on renewing our subscription. If there’s something we absolutely HAVE to see, we can get tickets for a single performance and drive down to the big city for a weekend. (Ditto of course for hockey games, football games, baseball games, concerts, plays at the Pantages, etc.)

The Music Center here is about 2-3 blocks from City Hall and the areas where the ICE protests were earlier in the month. To no one’s surprise, despite the grotesque, horrible, and bald-faced lies being spewed by Faux News and ICE and the lower-than-whale-shit chucklefuck in the White House and all of his evil cult minions, LA did not burn down, there isn’t chaos and warfare in the streets, and the streets are not full of bodies. It was boring, except for the traffic getting into valet parking due to all three theaters being live tonight, along with the Disney Concert Hall across the street.

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe – I peeked at the news and it’s getting insane out there. Literally.

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography, Politics

May 31, 2025 · 20:00

Some Whacked Out Danish Prince Dude

Our final performance at the Mark Taper Forum this year (one more at the Ahmanson next month):

To recap, “Green Day’s American Idiot” was wonderful and “Fake It Until You Make It” was…not.

This is a “bold new reimagining” and so on, but Gina Torres is in it as Gertrude, so I’m along for the ride. “Depictions of blood and violence, themes of suicide, substance abuse, strong language, simulated sex acts, and nudity.” What’s not to love?!

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography

May 25, 2025 · 23:41

501′ Overhead

FAA regulations say that over a populated area if you’re not landing or taking off you need to be at least 500 feet high. We had an LAPD helicopter the other day “orbiting” over a spot about two blocks away (never did figure out what the fuss was about) which meant for about 15 minutes, we had him coming back around right overhead every 60 seconds or so. As low as he could get, so, probably about 501 feet overhead.

Here in our neck of the woods in the big city, between fires, crimes, accidents, rescues, and other emergencies, this happens three or four times a year. There are, of course, areas of the city where this happens three or four times a day. Here, not so much. (That’s a good thing!) How often does it happen elsewhere? In Springfield, Vermont in the 1970’s I don’t think I saw a single helicopter anywhere in five years. Your experience is somewhere between those two extremes.

But it’s a good excuse for me to grab the camera and go look at our personal air show.

Sorry about all of the spots – they’re from dust on the sensor of a decades-plus-old camera. Normally I clean up images I post here using Photoshop, but I just realized that I haven’t re-installed it on this new computer after I got it in March. Another task to add to the punch list for finishing up the install.

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Filed under Flying, Los Angeles, Photography

May 19, 2025 · 23:50

Cosmic Rays

Late this afternoon I was struck by a really neat idea that I wanted to ponder and develop a bit and then share with everyone here tonight.

Unfortunately, a billion years ago (give or take) a batch of gamma rays got emitted from the event horizon of a black hole somewhere on the far side of the Andromeda Galaxy, travelled through the cosmos, and then some time in the intervening five or six hours this afternoon they smashed through the handful of neurons that were holding that thought, and it’s GONE! (That might also explain some of the drooling…) The sense of how Ăźber cool the idea was is still there, but no trace of the idea.

Oh, well. Maybe a backup neuron will kick in and the thought will return. If so, you’ll be the second to know.

In the meantime, have a couple more cool pictures from a couple of Saturdays ago when we were at the Ahmanson.

Behold the intersection of Temple and Grand. Behind us to the left is the Ahmanson, and stretching off behind us to the behind-right are the Mark Taper Forum, the Music Center Plaza (which, you’ll remember, was full of a gala this night), the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and across 1st Street, the Disney Concert Hall, and across 2nd Street, the Broad Museum. But diagonally across the intersection is this giant tan, sandstone-ish structure, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Time it correctly and get a day when the May Gray or June Gloom clouds are still offshore and you can see the almost full moon rising.

Not a bad spot to sit and eat the sandwiches you’ve brought for the pre-play dinner.

And for those who might still be spouting the right-wing bullshit about what a hellhole California is – I suggest a long walk off of a short pier.

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Filed under Astronomy, Los Angeles, Photography

May 11, 2025 · 23:56

Valet Musings

At the Ahmanson last night, dealing with the huge crowds for the Gold House Gala there, we used the valet parking. This is also a considerably easier arrangement for The Long Suffering Wife.

The play, “Life of Pi,” was very good, and the staging and animation of the animal characters was astonishing. We enjoyed ourselves.

When the play was over, the Gala was also letting out. Valet parking had quite the lineup waiting for cars to be delivered. While I expected to wait 20-30 minutes (or more) we only waited maybe ten minutes.

Two observations:

  1. In the long line of limos, Mercedes, Jaguars, BMW’s, and six-figure luxury cars of every description, it was a joy to see our little Hissy, our Honda Fit, pop up. She brought some much needed humility and real world class to the chaos.
  2. It was amazing how long some cars sat there waiting for their owners to pick them up. You turn in your ticket and then wait, so presumably if they show up with your vehicle, you’ve been there for a few minutes or more and are looking for your car so you can leave. Apparently not for the hoity and the toity amongst us. In particular, while waiting for Hissy, a Jaguar pulled up at the curb right in front of us (three lanes of cars moving through) and the valet driver shouted and honked and ran around asking folks to check their tickets for at least five minutes. Meanwhile, one of the three lanes is completely blocked. Suddenly this couple sitting on the benches right next to us startles to their feet and recognizes their car, not three feet away from them. REALLY??!! And then when they walk over and open the doors, NOW they see some friends and stand there blocking the sidewalk (and continue to block 1/3 of the valet lanes) while they schmooze. Really REALLY??!!! The entitlement and cluelessness was AWESOME! Or they were too drunk to recognize their own car and were now going to go get on the LA Freeways at 22:30. Or both.

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Filed under Entertainment, Freakin' Idiots!, Los Angeles, Photography

May 10, 2025 · 19:58

Ahmanson vs Gala

Back at the Ahmanson. I’ve heard of this production but know almost nothing about it. Should be fun!

Outside it’s busy. “Gold House” is having their gala and they’ve taken over the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the entire plaza between the theaters. Traffic and parking have been affected in turn.

Big money, apparently. Megan Thee Stallion is apparently their GOH tonight (we didn’t see her).

Rich or poor, it’s good to have boatloads of money! Or so I’ve heard.

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Filed under Entertainment, Los Angeles, Photography

April 27, 2025 · 23:42

Metro

When I needed to get to the USC campus south of downtown Los Angeles yesterday for the LA Times Festival of Books, I expected traffic to be nightmarish, parking to be limited and expensive, and the entire experience of getting there and then getting home by car to be an ordeal. I also knew that I could take the LA Metro system of subways and light rail to get right to the door for about $5 with many fewer hassles. It was a no brainer.

Most people, even those here in LA, even MANY of those who have lived in LA for decades, don’t know how easy or extensive Metro is. Here’s to hoping that work being done preparing for the upcoming Summer Olympics in three years (if they don’t pull them for another foreign city due to our current government) will educate folks and spread the word.

Metro here consists of subways, light rail, dedicated bus routes, and regular street buses. It’s not perfect (getting to LAX is tough, for example, but they’re working on that) and it’s usually slower than taking your own car (although there are days…) but it’s worth having a TAP card with $20 or so loaded on it in your wallet, just in case.

In theory, I could have picked up any one of about three different bus lines within a mile or so of my house. From there I would have transferred to the Orange Line dedicated bus lane which goes to the North Hollywood transit center. There I could have gotten on the Red (B) line subway, transferred to the Expo (E) line light rail, and gotten off right at the front gate to the USC campus. Depending on the timing of the transfers, it would have taken maybe 2:30. (Driving there myself with no traffic would be about 0:40 with zero traffic, and about 1:30 yesterday morning.)

Instead, I drove to the Universal Studios station (one stop down the line from North Hollywood, but there’s a big parking lot there and it’s fast & easy to get to), and got on the Red (B) line there. Total time from my door to meeting my daughter near the Tommy Trojan statue was 2:05.

Descending into the Earth from the parking lot at the Universal Studios station.

Making sure I had funds on the TAP card I carry around.

Going down to the train tracks. On the right, headed north one more stop to the North Hollywood transit center, on the left, headed south to Hollywood and then to Union Station, where in theory I could catch an Amtrak train to go as far as I wanted.

Artwork everywhere. I’ve been on the subway in London, New York, Washington, Prague, Kyoto, Seoul, and Shanghai – the LA subways are as good or better than any in terms of functionality, safety, and cleanliness.

Transferring to the Expo line at 7th/Metro Center station. From here, it’s four stops to USC. Easy peasy.

If you’re coming to visit LA and you’re going to be going all over doing sightseeing and visiting friends and folks, sure, maybe a rental car is easier, as long as you’re comfortable driving the LA freeways. (Which, while legendary for the stress levels and traffic, aren’t REALLY any worse than Chicago, New York, Boston, Dallas, or any other large American city.) But if you’re staying in LA (and not, say, down in Orange County by Disneyland, where the LA Metro system doesn’t connect well) and just want to get to a few popular places (downtown, Hollywood, Santa Monica, the beach) you might just want to check out if Metro will work for you.

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography, Travel

April 26, 2025 · 22:35

2025 LA Times Festival Of Books

After a long, stressful week, what I want more than anything is to sleep in late and then do nothing except sit on my butt, with maybe a nap or two thrown in for good measure. Which is why I got up at 7:00 AM this morning, got dressed warmly (it was cold and rainy) and headed out for a day of “adventure.”

A couple of subway rides later (NO WAY I was going to try to mess with traffic and parking at a huge event in a crowded part of town when the Metro dropped me off at the front gates!) I was at the entrance to the USC campus for the first time in my 50+ years here. I’ve been across the street to the Coliseum a few times, and to the Science Museum down the street, but never actually on campus.

Nice place I guess, big bucks and an attitude to match at every turn, but at least the rain had stopped by the time our first event was over.

The occasion was the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which I’ve wanted to attend for years. The crowds and size are a bit daunting, easily 100,000+ per day there, maybe as many as twice that or more, but the USC campus is a big place, so it never got too awful. Lots of food trucks and a ton of booths and vendors – I didn’t get any books, knick knacks, shirts, or anything else, but next time I might not be so lucky. Next time I might come with a wish list of books that I need to pick up, but then I’ll have to carry them around and lug them on the subway…

The first panel we saw was moderated by Wil Wheaton, with favorite author John Scalzi, and new-to-me author TJ Klune. Talking about how to write speculative fiction in our bizarre political and social era. Excellent discussion. Baseline assumption as stated by Scalzi, “FASCISM FUCKING SUCKS!” No argument here!

Our second panel was the main reason that I got off my ass and made it to the event this year. Writer Chuck Wendig was there, the first time I’ve ever been able to see him live.

This panel was moderated by Ivy Pochoda, with Danielle Trussoni and Nikki Erlick also participating. It was about “magical objects” being used in their speculative fiction or horror novels. Another excellent panel, and I’ll need to be picking up some of the books from Ms. Trussoni and Mrs. Erlick to see what they were talking about, their novels sound fascinating.

(Photo: Michi Willett)

So, a good day of adventuring! Off my ass, out of my comfort zone, out doing interesting and stimulating things, and meeting up with Wonderful Daughter Two for the day. And I got all of my steps in for the day, and then some. Even my watch is happy!

Tomorrow I’ll sleep in late and then do nothing except sit on my butt, with maybe a nap or two thrown in for good measure. Maybe.

 

 

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Filed under Entertainment, Family, Los Angeles, Paul, Photography, Writing

March 22, 2025 · 21:42

Bling

One of the standard assumptions about Los Angeles (from folks who have never actually been here) is based on reality. That is, “There is NO SUCH THING as ‘too much’ garish, gaudy, or over the top stunt to attract attention. There is NO SUCH THING as ‘too much bling.”

Yes, this appears to be a Tesla Model S that’s got a wrap or paint job making it a gigantic rainbow iridescent thing, looking like some sort of  wrapped birthday present for a bar mitzvah or three-year-old’s birthday party.

This thing was parked next to a major street (Topanga Boulevard) instead of up by the stores (the better to be seen by everyone!) and it’s a blurry, full digital zoom picture because it was a block away and I’m blase enough to not bother to drive up that direction just to get a better picture. I’ve been in LA a long, long time now.

Anything for attention in LA! Which turns out to be a self-fulfilling requirement, since Angelenos have seen just about everything and we’re hard to impress.

Good luck, Rainbow Dude(ette?)!

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Filed under Los Angeles, Photography