Parking and traffic violations will cost more...much more

When state and local governments are flush with cash then we are considered decent drivers but when they have a massive budget deficit then we are considered bad drivers that need to be punished more rigorously from the pocketbook.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-traffic-fines29-2010jan29,0,7367714.story?track=rss

The "Boy" is back in town

After a 30+ year hiatus from the City of Pasadena, Bob’s Big Boy has returned to the North Lake shopping district on Del Mar and Lake. This Bob has taken up residence at the former location of the Baja Fresh restaurant and certainly won't be confused with the flagship Bob’s '49 in Toluca Lake California. If you are looking for a return to that Southern California car hop culture of the 50’s, 60's and 70’s, then this wont do it for you. It does have the famous fiberglass Big Boy statue, the red and white checkered motif throughout the restaurant and the famous hamburgers with the thousand island dressing but not much else. Although the staff was very friendly, it reminded me of a kiosk in the mall and I am sure if it does not do well it will certainly disappear overnight and be replaced with a Pinkberry, a Verizon store or one of those discount book stores where you can get a big picture book on Gardening or the history of Trains for $3.98. If you want that vintage Bob’s Big Boy experience then you will have to venture to Toluca Lake or to the city of Downey, which is south off the Golden State Freeway. For anyone who does not like to travel past Echo Park for fear of going beyond the hip neighborhood zone, just pretend you are en route to Disneyland and make a detour and visit Downey which is a cool and interesting suburb loaded with fast food history and Rock n' Roll history. The oldest standing McDonald's and the first Taco Bell are in Downey. It was also the home of the independent music label Downey Records which signed such surf acts as The Chantays (Pipeline) and The Rumblers. The Carpenters, The Blasters, Metallica and Billy Zoom from X have all called Downey their home and I am sure they have all had a Bob’s Big Boy hamburger at one point….well maybe not Karen Carpenter.

Greg Miller's Gloves

A chance encounter, a lifetime of appreciation. In 1985 I drove a motorcycle while attending Cal Poly Pomona. After a commute on a cold November day, I was complaining to a classmate that my hands were numb from the drive to class. His name was Greg Miller, was originally from Ohio and had a cool gravely rock star voice. He mentioned he was selling his motorcycle and would not need his sheepskin lined motorcycle gloves and offered to give them to me. He delivered the gloves to class during Thanksgiving week and I was very appreciative of this thoughtfulness. On Thanksgiving day, Greg had not received any offers on his motorcycle so he used it to transport himself to a Thanksgiving celebration close by. On route to his destination, Greg was struck by a car and badly injured. He did not return to class that Monday as we got the news of his accident and a few days later his badly mangled leg was amputated. Shortly before Christmas, a few of us went to visit him at the home where he was recovering. We met him in the garage as he was lighting up a cigarette while leaning up against his crutches, one leg clearly missing. He greeted us and spoke candidly of the incident but his condition did not seem to bother him at all. I never saw Greg again, but his courage made a lasting impression on me to this day as our lives can instantly change from one minute to the next. I still have those gloves today and use them on cold winter mornings to keep my hands warm on the train platform and on my daily dog walks at 6am. While riding the Gold Line train a few years ago I cringed when I realized I had lost one of the gloves. It must have fallen out of my coat pocket back at the platform. I immediately got off at the next station and headed back to the location where I boarded. I was relieved when I saw the glove on the floor right were I had been standing. Greg, wherever you are I hope you are having a wonderful life.

Swan Song for the Rocky Horror at the Rialto

Rialto Theatre - South Pasadena, CA

Last night marked the final midnight screening of the cult favorite, Rocky Horror Picture show at the 85 year old historic Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena. Cult members of this show will have to find another venue to thorw toilet paper, rice, hot dogs, playing cards, or shoot their water pistols at Janet, Brad and Frank N, Further while dancing to the Time Warp in the aisles. The film opened at the UA Theatre in Westwood on September 26, 1975 and the subsequent cult following did not begin until the film began its midnight run at the Waverly Theatre in New York on April 1, 1976. My one and only experience of this cult classic was at a theatre on the east Sunset Strip in 1981. I had a great time as I recall and my only regret was not having my camera….. The Time Warp marches on but out of South Pasadena…for now.

The Gorgeous Los Angeles River

Los Angeles River from Main Street, near the San Antonio Winery - Jan 2010

Los Angeles River from the Cesar Chavez Street Bridge - Jan 2010

There is nothing more gorgeous than watching the Los Angeles River in full flow after a rainstorm. For a great read, check out the book, The Los Angeles River by Blake Gumprecht. This will give you the fanastic history of early Los Angeles, the Zanja Madre and the evolution of the LA River.

Driving in Los Angeles Rain Storms

Los Angeles Storm
photo courtesy of twitchietai

I love Los Angeles and Southern California. I have been here my whole life and have never strayed from it even during the rough times of riots, earthquakes and recessions, so when I hear someone bad mouth the people, the culture and the city it makes my blood boil. Last night at the Vons in South Pasadena, a woman in front of me was talking with another shopper as she blurted out “its irritating that people in Los Angeles don’t know how to drive in the rain”. Well, I almost lost it

Compared to the big cities on the East coast, Los Angeles is relatively just a teenager. The City of Angels really did not start to bust open until after the war. I agree that it is not an easy task commuting everyday or trying to get through the 110 freeway when Dodger Stadium, The Staples Center, the Nokia, the Galen and the Sports Arena are all in full swing. I don’t think that 100+ years ago, city officials and planners would have dreamed that our little pueblo with its Zanja Madre (mother ditch) and it’s small unpaved roads would someday be shared by millions of people driving millions of cars through miles of endless suburbs. It indeed did happen and it is a monster task trying to fix the traffic and congestion issues during tough economic times especially while millions of us still need to use the roads and highways everyday to get to work, school, the unemployment office or a 7:05pm Dodger game, but little by little we are making progress and I am proud of that fact. If you grew up here in Los Angeles you probably started driving at an early age. In 1979 the driving age was 16 and I have now been driving for 30 years through El Niño’s, flooding, riots, hail, heat waves, Santa Ana winds, earthquakes, freak tornado like conditions, decade long construction projects, firestorms, and through that soiled queen size mattress sitting in the fast lane of the 405 North. Rain is water, water is “mucho” powerful. It has swallowed up streets, and entire neighborhoods, brought down mountainsides, wiped out cities and continents (well, if you believe the legend of Atlantis), so respect the rain and use caution when driving in it.

So to the woman at Vons I say to you…… We here in Los Angeles have years of experience driving in the rain, it is you Madam who probably just moved here, have rarely driven a car, let alone driven in the rain, and probably has caused one too many sig alerts while zooming down the freeway in your Lexus, chatting away on the cell phone without any idea that there are a few millions cars in front of you and behind you, and that your off ramp is coming up in about 50 feet or so…..whoops you just missed it.

2010 The Year We Make Contact

Blind Date 2010 a Space Odyssey - The Year We Make Contact.

Tonight is the first blind date of the new year 2010. Hopefully I wont break the personal record I set in this category last year.

White Baby Grand Piano

Baby Grand Piano - Beverly Hills, CA 2010.

Have you ever had a landmark on a road trip that marks how close you are to your destination ? Perhaps it is something as big as the Disneyland Matterhorn off in the distance of the Golden State Freeway or the big cats painted in the storm drains of the LA River that marks how close to the LA Zoo you are, or the rows of windmills on the way to Palm Springs. For about 17 years now, on the way to visit family in the big metropolis of the west side, I have traveled down Olympic Blvd. Around the 9600 block of Olympic on the south side, a fantastic white baby grand piano in the window of a second story 1920’s era apartment complex has been the 5 minute mark to reach my destination. So unique is this piano, that the details of the apartment complex have never come into view. A couple of months ago I was making my weekly trip to the west side , when much to my disappointment that piano was gone from the window. At first as I drove by I thought perhaps I somehow was focusing on the wrong apartment complex or perhaps the owners had moved the piano for the holidays. After a couple of months now, the piano is gone. An icon off in distance much like the Griffith Observatory is no longer there to mark my trip. Perhaps the owners moved, passed away and that white baby grand piano has changed hands to a new living room, placed in front of a new large window somewhere for a whole new generation of travelers to enjoy.

Rent Control Blues

Ocean Park Bath House - Ocean Park Santa Monica, CA 1905

In 1997 I was second on a long list to get a rent controlled apartment at 5th and Montana in Santa Monica, 5 blocks from the beach. Two bedrooms, second story front unit above the carports with no one living underneath me and close to everything I would ever need. The price……$699 a month. The wife of the married couple first on the list did not want to take the apartment because sadly the previous tenant had committed suicide in it. I was next on the list so I started to pack for my move out to the Beach. At the last moment, the husband pleaded with his wife to take the apartment and they did, reluctantly so. I ended up moving to Pasadena and sweltering away in the heat of the San Gabriel Valley for 10 years and the rest is rent control history.

Going Green way before Going Green

Going Green way before Going Green - Los Angeles, CA 1968

An elderly woman I knew in Los Feliz in the early 1980’s had an electric car just like this one parked in her garage for years. From what I understand, she was environmentally conscious even back then and purchased the car in the late 1960s for $3,000. When I met her she was well into her 90s and did not drive the car so it just remained parked in the garage gathering dust. She was gracious enough to allow me to keep my motorcycle in her backyard for a couple of years as strict family rules did not allow motorcycles at my own home. During this time I would keep late hours coming home from places like the Palace (The Avalon today) or the Seven Seas Nightclubs and she would never complain about the noise from the cycle entering her driveway at 3am. Her name was Helen Cummings and she lived alone and played cards with her friends at her immaculate home on Ambrose Ave. She came from a very well to do family in Los Feliz that developed the Cummings Estate Laughlin Park off of Los Feliz Blvd where people like Cecil B. DeMille once called home. Helen passed away around 1987 at the age of 101. I don’t know what became of her electric car, but today there is one parked in front of a duplex on Rowena Ave in Los Feliz. When I drive down Rowena today, I think of Helen zooming down the street in that little car to meet her friends for a game of cards.