Category Archives: Personal Interest

things that interest me in the off- and on-hours

Space Shuttle Endeavour Comes to L.A.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TV5TaOFU_cw[/youtube]

sometimes, it pays to live in a big town where big things happen (and sometimes fly over you. . . like the Space Shuttle Endeavour). Yes, I’m sad that trees were cut down to allow the shuttle to travel from the airport to its final resting place at the museum. But you know what, trees do grow back – although not the same trees. Oh well, you can’t have everything, not all the of the time.

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30 Shocking and Unexpected Google Street View Photos!

30 Shocking and Unexpected Google Street View Photos 

That tiger took my parking space.

You’ve probably seen this. But then again, maybe not. It’s a collection of some pretty amazing and for me, truly frightening images caught from those google maps cams.

Most of them look like they’re not from the U.S., though some must be – like the one which includes a rare U.S. mailbox.
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I’m worried about that baby crawling around outside the Gucci with no adult in sight; I’m worried about the several men (but you notice never women) with pistols and rifles. I’m cheered by the audacity of the animals, from the magnificent animal with the antlers (what is it, an elk? reindeer?) to the poor doggie stuck in the fence, to the horse that’s beating up the ghost of Ted Kennedy, and yes to the tiger that’s in what looks like a strip mall parking lot. WTF? I mean, please, somebody, explain that to me. Where are tigers walking the streets? Please warn me, cause I don’t want to go there. I have enough issues with the mountain lion in my favorite park.

 

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Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea opens in El Sereno

Old friend Steve Boland recently opened his coffeehouse — Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea in El Sereno — and we paid him a visit one recent hot, lazy afternoon!

Somewhat far afield from the Valley Village (equivalent to a journey to West L.A., but going in the other direction) but startlingly easy to get to and find. Holy Grounds is at 5371 Alhambra Avenue in El Sereno (sandwiched between South Pas and Cal State LA, sorta), for me a pretty quick drive from the Mission Road exit on I-5.

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As you can see by the menu, Holy Grounds dispenses its blessings with a wide variety of coffees and teas. I did try their signature drink, the cafe de olla, which was delicious. Carlin also made me a fantastic latte – my usual coffee drink of choice. The shop features pastry items from Homeboy Bakery and they also make smoothies for these hot, late summer afternoons.

Take a look at the patio pictures – what a cool, beautiful place to spend some time, either daydreaming, talking with friends or working on that novel or script (WiFi, but of course). There was a nice breeze back there and the fountain seemed to cool everything off perfectly.

This coffeehouse is a great addition to the eastside repertoire of placesnottobemissed. Go out and say hi. I know I’ll be back!

PS: Steve said that starting next week, after Labor Day, they’ll be open till 9 every night.

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Griffith Park has a mountain lion and his name is P-22

My name, friend, is P-22

Not a very memorable name. I guess the “P” stands for puma, which is one of the things you can call him, as well as a cougar or a mountain lion.

In other words, a large (adult human-sized) feline predator with really big teeth that can run way faster than you ever hoped you could. P-22. The Puma in the Park. 


And, now, he tweets: @P22MountainLion. Of course he does, this is Hollywood, in fact, his range includes the side of the mountain the Hollywood sign itself sits on. Sample (actually, I think it’s the first tweet): It’s pretty simple really. I’ve always wanted to use a telescope. 

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! (ref for non-Angelenos: there’s a big famous Observatory in the Park)

A Sunday morning hike in Griffith Park

The news of P-22’s residence has kind of thrown me into a quandary. You see, Griffith Park has been a place I’ve gone to for respite from the city for over 30 years now. I’ve seen it through its crazy gay cruising days, its fires, my 10-K and marathon trainings, lots of bicycling and lately more leisurely hiking activity as befits a man with graying hair.
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Sometimes – and recently – we’re reminded of nefarious things going on in the huge park. Maybe it’s just me, but the idea of some quite evil murderer dropping off a severed head in the bushes is not in the same league as the thought of every step inside the park being stalked by a wild predator.

The powers that be (read link article from KPCC, also there’s a few Los Angeles Times stories) insist that mountain lions try to avoid people and will stay away from us. Besides, they’re nocturnal, and there’s few people in the park after dark – which is wise, because there are no lights in the hills and there’s lots of coyotes wandering around. Now there’s just another reason to avoid it after dark.

I suppose I will continue to go on my hikes. I will probably buy some pepper spray and take my pocket knife with me, because, well, you never know. I used to do quite a bit of hiking up Mt. San Jacinto above Palm Springs, and there were Mountain Lion signs all over the place. I asked the Rangers if it was anything to worry about and they said no. “We know they’re here, but in all my INSERT HUGE NUMBER HERE years working up here I’ve never seen one.

“Just stay on the trails.”

Right-o.

Other links: Cougar Info, LAist story on P-22 

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Just a few words on America’s crumbling infrastructure . . .

[youtube]http://youtu.be/U4CtltBrGyA[/youtube]

I know that infrastructure refers to much more than just train tracks and stations — however, that’s the most recent infrastructure I’ve had the opportunity to take a good look at.

Media is from recent train trip: Crumbling infrastructure all over, but I particularly noticed it in a few areas specific to train tracks, train stations and bridges. I’d have to say that most – but not all – of the train stations east of the Mississippi, from Toledo to Albany, were in some need of major overhauling. One thing I did notice were that the platforms and canopies (see pix and video clip – which I believe is Rochester, New York) are all the same vintage. To my uneducated eye, they look like they were likely built in the 1930s or 40s.

They all seem to be falling apart at the same rate.

One of the most embarrassing stations of all was Union Station in Washington, D.C., which has the same deal with the crumbling platforms. Luckily, they just announced an upgrade is on the way.  Imagine you’re a businessperson from Europe on your first trip to D.C. from New York and this is your first impression of our nation’s capital? Kind of pathetic, compared to what you’re used to seeing in Western Europe or Asia.


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For me, the most disappointing of all was Houston, Texas, which is the nation’s 4th largest city, right there behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The Amtrak station in Houston is a garbage-strewn wasteland of one crumbling platform stuck under a freeway. Again, I wonder if Houston’s city fathers and mothers really want that to be the first impression visitors get of their fine town when they roll in on the train?

My point with the post is not to vilify certain cities or regions (sorry Houston and Ohio) but to just point out what’s probably obvious to anybody anywhere in America these days: Yes, our infrastructure is crumbling, and falling behind the rest of the world. We have people who need jobs who could rebuild it; we have money available at the lowest interest rates in decades to finance it.

Why isn’t anyone in our government doing anything about this? Well, for one, I know the Republicans pretty much hate the trains. At least their candidate says he’d pull funding from Amtrak if elected. Yet the trains were full. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Not to be completely gloomy, there were some bright spots: NOLA’s completing a new light rail line, Los Angeles just opened a new light rail line, there were well kept up small town stations in places like Tuscaloosa and Meridian. And, there’s a new intermodal station in Milwaukee.

 

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A Gay Man’s Guide to Dating After 50 — an AARP take!

photo: AARP

Dear friends, I realize I haven’t posted in a week! I guess it was the post-Amtrak depression or something. Having to do the laundry. Exchanging the Midwest and East and South’s heatwave for the one finally arriving in California. . . but . . . I am back.

And —

Honestly, I don’t think much about gay dating. Or, really, any kind of dating. Specifically, for me, I guess that would be one middle-aged gay man looking for another middle-aged gay man (or perhaps, being more creative, looking for some inter-generational spice, which I’ve certainly done).


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Maybe I’ve already achieved tip #5 in Dave Singleton‘s list in AARP’s “The Gay Man’s Guide to Dating after 50,” which is “realizing you can be single and happy.” But before we get into that, can we please just be gobsmacked that such a story even exists on something like the AARP website? OK, kids, we have come a really long way! If you’re like me (over 50) you probably also get an insane amount of junk mail from AARP. Well, this story makes me like the organization just a little bit more.

It also allows me to put in a plug for a book that I use as a guide post to these years – “Golden Men: The Power of Gay Midlife,” by Harold Kooden, Ph.D., and Charles Flowers — who I’ve met now that he’s moved to Los Angeles. If you have any questions or concerns about navigating those years — and who doesn’t, cause, let’s face it guys, the role models we would’ve had are largely dead and gone — they’re addressed in here. The book also provides a guided writing format for those interested in doing their own searching (loved that part!).

Anyway, back to dating. I do believe it was in this book where I read something along the lines of “it’s the shrewd older gay man who cruises on his own turf.” (quotes mine) By that, I took it to mean that instead of doing things like going to bars where the lovely twentysomethings, thirtysomethings, all hang out and impress each other, perhaps invite a suitor or a group of friends to your home, where you can show off those unique gifts of time – your cooking prowess, cultivated taste in music, thoughts on current events and literature, etc. – we all have these no matter what they are – that show off the man inside.

Thoughts? Do you date? What, exactly, is a date?

 

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Amtrak Pass #4: NOLA and Sunset Limited back to Los Angeles

Video, as well. Scroll down.

My final visit on this month-long trip with the train was to see my sister Kate and brother-in-law Dave Maleckar in New Orleans. It was a pretty quiet week – didn’t do too much, as I’ve been in NOLA a number of times and have pretty much maxed out the usual tourist sites – with the exception of seeing a plantation, which we did do.

The Laura Plantation is out on the River Road and a very interesting example of a Creole business plantation. An excellent tour, heavy on the history of Louisiana including the part before the USA got the Louisiana purchase, finally explaining to me what Creole really means. Highly recommended if you go down there and want to see one of the old places.

Other than that, just hung out and did a lot of walking around my sister’s neighborhood of Uptown (see photos, video) and visited with them. It’s been a very hard year for all, hard to believe it’s already 8 months since their daughter’s death (Alma Maleckar Bear). It was great to see them, as well as Alma’s husband David Bear. I took the Sunset Limited home to L.A.

And now, for the pros and cons of the train pass and Amtrak travel:

PROS

  • economical way to go: my 30-day pass cost $649.
  • Very relaxed way to travel – there’s no TSA. You don’t have to disrobe at the train station and there’s no groping. They actually do have food on the train (though you buy it, and it’s not cheap). There’s no traffic jams getting to an Amtrak station.
  • On time departures: every train I took left on time.
  • Clean and well-stocked restrooms: No train restroom I was in ever ran out of TP, soap, or towels, so unlike, for instance, the horrid and bitter end of a cross country flight where the restrooms resemble the final night of a decadent county fair.
  • Diversity: Face to face with your fellow man, any race, any age, any size and disposition. For a writer this is like filling up a dry well.
  • Helpful phone reservations: I had great experiences talking to actual booking agents on Amtrak, and it was speedy.
  • You see fascinating parts of cities and the countryside you would never see if you were driving (and, if you were driving, you should have your eyes on the road anyway!)

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Amtrak Pass #3: New York and the Crescent Train to New Orleans


Had a great time in New York seeing friends (including Neil Greenberg, see photo!) and my aunt, though was only there for a couple of days which is too short.

The Amtrak Crescent goes from New York to New Orleans in about 30 hours. Major stops included Philadelphia, Wilmington, Washington, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans – plus a ton of smaller cities. Talk to me sometime about kids on trains, though! Earplugs, a great invention! I will say, though, this train was on time and had the best climate-controlled environment so far on my 30-day pass (read: it was not freezing on this train. Yay!)
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Enjoy the pix and the video – which includes clips from D.C. which include the Washington Monument, Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham (which those of you who know the “Ghost Hunters” shows will recognize) and pulling into Birmingham station itself. I liked that there was a truck parked there labeled “Dixie.” Indeed, I’ve arrived in Dixie. I’ll be here in New Orleans till Friday – more pix and videos coming.

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Amtrak Pass #2: Milwaukee to Cleveland, also Hudson River Line


Arrived in Cleveland on the Lake Shore Limited early morning last Saturday, July 14 – there was an hour delay because of a vehicle “stuck on the tracks.” This wasn’t mentioned to us or announced until after we were once again underway – which I find really irritating. Yes, there were some passengers sleeping – but probably an equal number wide awake and wondering what the hell was going on.

I did get to sleep a bit once we got to Dan and (my sister) Julia’s home. Later, Dan and I went to the Cleveland Westside Market with their five-year-old, Billy Hess. Dan bought tons of stuff, including pierogis and sweets and fresh peanut butter, which I have now with me on the train!
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The next day I met Ed Kimble from L.A. at the Moca Coffee place on Clifton Boulevard and we went browsing at some of the gay places in Cleveland – which, I believe, are in Lakewood, Ohio. After that, I went bike riding to the ice cream store with the Hess kids. Later, Dan and Julia and I went to dinner at Zocalo, which is on the East 4th Street strip of restaurants and bars in DT Cleveland.

Monday afternoon we went to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where we took in the planetarium show and some exhibits. Finally, Dan made the exhausted crew his pierogis for dinner!

It was a wonderful visit in Cleveland. Now I’m in NYC seeing friends and family till Friday. Stay tuned for more!

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Milwaukee Views

Hard to believe my ten days here in Milwaukee visiting family is just about over, in fact, will be over at about 5 p.m. when I get on the Chicago train. Later this evening I’ll transfer to the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited which gets to Cleveland around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Egad!

What’s in this post: pix of the Santiago Calatrava Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Center (the exterior) which now defines Milwaukee’s lakefront area. Also, took some video of the harbor from the Oak Leaf Trail (the bikepath) as well as near the Water Tower at North Avenue, where an old house of ours is for sale on Terrace Avenue. Sorry for the wind distortion on the Milwaukee Harbor clip. Also, I meant to say that the Hoan Bridge needs to be fixed or replaced, not the South Side of town!


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These are beautiful summer days full of sunshine. It’s what I’m used to in California, but very unusual for Wisconsin which is now suffering from “severe drought.” I hope it rains soon!



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