Category Archives: Personal Interest

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

WeHo 30th Anniversary Readings, Part 3

I just realized that I forgot to post the actual text of my WeHo memory! The photo of it blown up to poster size will not do, as I don’t imagine everyone has a magnifying glass.

So, here it is. It’s reality, not fiction, so perhaps not as exciting as it would be if I embellished. I erred on the side of truth as I remember it. Text below photo.

My memory of WeHo birthday

MY FIRST BIRTHDAY IN LOS ANGELES/WEHO

I moved to Los Angeles in January 1981, back when there were no computers, no Internet or mobile phones, or any other recent innovations like marriage equality, gay community centers, or the ability to serve openly in the armed forces.

I’d packed everything into a rental car. I didn’t have much, but I did have two crucial items for my new life in L.A.: my bicycle, and my Damron Gay Guide.

Every day was adventure, learning the city and doing my work at the university. But I hadn’t made friends yet, and I didn’t know how to navigate the overwhelming gay community.

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I lived in Echo Park and was carless. I rode the bus, so the main gay districts of Silver Lake and West Hollywood were either a semi-short ride or an excruciatingly long ride away.

I’d ventured into West Hollywood once to get my bike fixed. Old Pacific Red Car tracks were still visible on Santa Monica; those storied outdoor burger shacks still open everywhere. Hot, shirtless hustlers, channeling classic surferboy looks, “hitchhiked” along the Boulevard.

I got the bike repaired and fled!

But my birthday arrived in March and I was 26 and I wanted to do something. I’d never been to Beverly Hills, so I told myself I wanted to see Rodeo Drive—why, I have no idea, it was just a place I’d heard of.

I would ride my bike. It’s 10 miles. A straight route all the way down Sunset, then a quick turn down Rodeo.

That was to be my birthday celebration. I rode out there by myself on a dark Saturday night. Once I got there, all that greeted me were closed, if glittery stores. A few pedestrians were out; certainly not many: no cake shop was around to assist.

To say this was anticlimactic is an understatement. I was lying to myself. I didn’t want to see Beverly Hills; I didn’t care about that. I wanted to see what was always there for me in West Hollywood, and I knew this land of desire was just blocks away.

I’d copied the WeHo pages from Damron’s and brought them with me just in case. There was a place called the Blue Parrot (where Revolver is today). It sounded tropical; I’d had a fantastic gay time in Key West a year before this so I figured this might be a theme.

I tethered the bike to a pole in front. I went into the crowded, boisterous bar and the smiling, flair-juggling bartender made me my first ever West Hollywood birthday drink. I don’t remember what it was and I didn’t stay too long—I had to ride home.

I got the sense that I belonged in this place where gay bars fronted main streets and had picture windows looking out—and which also looked in. Although it took more time and more experience, that for me was the seed to loving this spot where one could hope to live a gay life free and authentic. — Jim Arnold

WeHo 30th Anniversary Readings, Part 2

My memory of WeHo birthday

Jim Arnold

David LeBarron

Hank Henderson

Steven Reigns

Philip Littell

Victor Yates

Victor Vazquez

Schaeffer Nelson

From the West Hollywood 30th Anniversary Celebration in Plummer Park June 27, 2015: Memoirs and readings at Fiesta Hall. Some pictures for you! I wrote about my first birthday alone in L.A./West Hollywood. Bittersweet, that’s what it was. Things did get better. But not for a long time.

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The Gay Pride Parade Day Post 2015

Harry Wright and James Teel

James Teel and Jim Arnold (blogger)

Love is Great in Great Britain!

Yes, I’m not sure what the Men’s Health Foundation is either, but I’m down

Native influences

James and Harry

Butts on the Boulevard

That moment.

Oh hi there.

Balloons.

there’s more people taking pictures!

One angry unicorn.

Getting younger and younger every year!

Flesh is good, yes?

Nothing says WeHo like spandex and an old California friar.

Do you detect a bit of weariness in my title? I was going to add the word “obligatory,” but decided against it. I realized I hadn’t been to the parade in a couple of years, not since 2013, so I went to it this year.

It’s become even more corporate if that’s possible — many contingents representing companies who want gay dollars and want to show their “gay” loyalties or whatever — and I suppose that’s good. This was not always the case, not even close.

But then I do think of how evil most of these companies are, in other ways: Bank of America, Disney, Comcast, Southern California Edison – almost like a rogues gallery of evil bastards: Disney, shipping jobs out of country; BofA, complicit in the bankster and mortgage meltdown of 2008; Comcast, everybody’s most favorite gouging cable/internet company. So I’m not so sure about all of that.

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Caveat: I did miss about the first 45 minutes of so of the parade, so perhaps all the politically correct floats, etc., went by before that. So, they used to ignore us or work actively against us, now they just want our money. I guess that’s progress.

But seriously, I still go because we can. Because we’re lucky enough to live in a place that has this, whatever its myriad faults may be. We can work on those. We’re not being thrown in jail or thrown off buildings because of who we love. We’ve come a very long way in a very short time, and I know I can’t let my (occasional) curmudgeon-leaning self throw cold water on all this wonder.

So Happy Pride, everyone! And here are the pix. I tried to get some beefcake for you, results are mixed.

Ranked: The Most Bike-Friendly States in the US

House of Pies’ East Side Cousin

Top-ranked Washington scored a 66.2. Guess which state placed last?

Source: Ranked: The Most Bike-Friendly States in the US | WIRED

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Interesting article and chart. Looks like we’re #8 (California) and getting better, we were #9 last year. Nice to see the west coast and the western states represented really well here. Certainly I notice this bicycle infrastructure development on a local basis — L.A. is doing some great things, from more lanes to public transport options that include bikes, to the plethora of events now – CicLAvias, Critical Mass, etc.

I also see more and more people taking their bikes on the subway and on the bus racks. Love to see this taking place – we have almost the perfect environment for biking as a way of life.

He Died on Hill 346

It’s hard for me not to have “Suicide is Painless” (the theme to MASH) going on in the background as I write this. Yesterday I found some information on my uncle, my mother’s brother Dick Lee, who has always been, at least for all of my 60 years and more, an MIA from the Korea War. It was always like an open wound for her, I believe. She died several years ago, having long been the last survivor of her nuclear family.

Yesterday was Memorial Day. I found The Korean War Project online, which has a database of casualties from that war, and a lot more information — such as what battle these soldiers were fighting when they were killed or taken prisoner or MIA-ed. So now I know where he died, and found this place on a Google Map.

It’s a place called Chorwon, North Korea. It’s close to the border, it’s close to Pyongyang (the capital of that country). The google camera car doesn’t go to North Korea, so you can’t really spy on the street scenes there.

DickLee

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This is where it is:

Chorwon

I know my mother gave the government a DNA sample years ago as negotiations continue for North Korea to return the remains of all U.S. soldiers lost there. Hard to believe, but this continues all these years later. There’s not been a match for Dick Lee yet.

Five Humble Suggestions for Yoga Teachers

not me but I look just like this when doing yoga.

So just a short rant today, on things that annoy me in yoga class. Really, I love it, I just joined a local studio as a member, making a long term commitment to yoga practice. But what would I be if not a whiner? You know better. So, yoga instructors, here are five suggestions for you:

don’t make us buddy up and do partner poses. Really, nobody likes that. Well, maybe some extroverts do, but I’ve never met anyone who just couldn’t wait to do this.
Do not teach the class from the back of the room, when all your students are facing the opposite direction! Please know that not everyone can hear you and there are many students who need to have the visual of the pose.
Please use the English (or whatever the local language is) word for the pose rather than only the Sanskrit version! Since all the pose terms basically end with -asana, they all sound alike to the class (well, to most of us). Honestly when you do that (use only the Sanskrit) you’re just showing off.
We’ll agree to Om, but don’t make us sing a yoga song. Not everyone is into the chanting or signed up for this, and again, we don’t know the words.
Finally, end the yoga class on time. Really. There’s probably a room full of annoyed yogis standing outside the studio with their mats in hand, while your students are still inside blissed out on their backs.

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Wealth Inequality Graph — As the Middle Class Disappears

I wanted to post this on my own blog. If you haven’t watched it, do; it’s astounding the discrepancy between rich and poor in this country, and just how many of us have literally practically nothing.
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If that doesn’t make you feel bad enough, here’s a link to Mike Hiltzik’s piece today in the L.A. Times, “Why the Middle Class is Doing Even Worse Than You Think.” Basic takeaway is that middle class wages have remained about the same, adjusted for inflation, since about 1980. The gains have all gone to the – you guessed it — 1% you just saw in that YouTube video.

The Recent Pretty Pictures Post

I did something to my back. Not quite sure what, and here I am thinking that yoga would make that type of thing a thing of the past. Apparently, not so. So I’m not really feeling up to posting much of a prose post, but kids, I have pictures. Just some recent shots from my life, for your pleasure. I’ll try to caption intelligently so you know what these things represent.

Scarab stained glass at the antique store (where I work part time)

I love this tiny little house in Palm Springs. Isn’t it perfect?

Huge homes visible from the Rainforest Trail in Studio City. I was spying on the 1 percent.

Waiting for the Orange Line Bus at North Hollywood Depot.

Front yard memorial for Leonard Nimoy.

Cute little dog on the subway! A real pro.

Flowers and potatoes at the Farmers Market Sunday mornings.

Saw this painted on the sidewalk in East Hollywood. Yes, Killer Disco!

Jason Jenn at a Homocentric reading.

Rich Villegas at a Homocentric Reading

CicLAvia in the Valley

The Blogger at CicLAvia in the valley, outside of OCH’s.

The donut stand on Magnolia and Keystone in Burbank. That’s my bike, but the guy is someone else.

The guy with the Donkey Head Sombrero. Doesn’t everybody have one?

Roses from a hike on Sunday. So pink! Love them.

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The Mansionization of L.A.

I hate riding past this intersection (Radford and Landale, Studio City, CA) every Sunday on my way to the Farmers Market because I have to see this:

I’m sure the neighbors must love it, these monstrosities going up next door blotting out the sun and the stars and the view of the hills and what have you. It’s not just the one white house, towering over the cute little homes across the street, but now another one is going up alongside it, seemingly the same ginormous size.

This is a very cute, nice post-war neighborhood with small tract-size or what you might call ranch homes, probably very few of them bigger than 2500 square feet at the original construction. More and more you see these insanely huge new houses, or sometimes just horrid additions to original homes, which look so totally out of place in this neighborhood.

I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t like this. Here’s a piece from Curbed on what’s being done to stop these awful things from going up — or at least slow them down.

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L.A.’s Mobility Plan Draft

Bikes Take Over – well, at least this one day.

Wanted to get this posted, even though it’s draft form and requires clicking on the Curbed LA link as well as their link to the plan itself.

It’s massive, but well worth taking a look at. I believe plans of this sort, while arguably a wish list of lots of things that won’t get done, or won’t get done right away, are still the key to livability here in the Los Angeles region.

As a cyclist, my focus is first on that part of the plan, followed by the public transportation (train and bus) plans. While I haven’t looked at the entire Mobility Plan yet, one statistic that jumped out was that bicycle commuting has increased over 50% in the ten year period from 2000 – 2010.

It’s the perfect place to bicycle – great weather, practically every day it’s an option, and the landscape is something like 85% flat. We just have to make it safe for everyone – the cyclists, the pedestrians, and the drivers in their cars.

A lot of the plan is aspirational like the Curbed piece says. Something to shoot for. I’d like to live in the city that’s described here.

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