Category Archives: Southern California Stuff

musings on LA, Palm Springs, and other parts of SoCal

Los Angeles Pride June 2012

So, L.A. Pride celebrations were over the weekend, and I have multimedia presentations for you, dear reader. Makes it much easier on me today with having to come up with something intelligible to write about it all, but let me just say this:

I’m glad I went. In recent years, I haven’t always gone, no matter what city it was (L.A, Palm Springs, San Francisco, NY. . .) because . . . why? Because it seems tired, I hated rainbows, I hate crowds, what’s the point if you’re not 25, etc. You know, the usual cranky blah-blahdy claptrap. But then I had to remember what it was like being gay in the late 60s and 70s when I grew up, and where I grew up, where there was nothing like a Gay Pride Parade or anything remotely approximating this at all. So I realized how lucky we are to have this, and how it is really special, no matter how imperfect it is. This year, I needed to show I was a part of it, no matter how small that really is.

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So here’s some video I shot (with the still camera which has a video function, not too bad for a blog) and then some stills of friends, some of the parade, some other stuff. I hope you enjoy. It was great fun and I’m so glad I went.

And in the video: what you’re seeing: Semi-naked boys on a float, Drag Queen Cheerleaders, Molly Ringwald (the grand marshal-ess of the parade) dressed as a Greek Goddess with guys in togas. In short, just what you’d expect to see. Oh, and for those not in L.A., the cool red building in the background is part of the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

Yes, Virginia, it’s Easy and Cheap to take Public Transportation from the Valley to Long Beach

View Larger Map

Last Thursday, I had a lunch date with my friend and colleague Krys Grondorf, down at a place in Belmont Shore (Open Sesame) which is near where she lives. Time not being an issue, I decided to take the train options we have in Los Angeles to get to Long Beach, and document that trip for you here on the blog.

The trip involved two buses and two trains. It’s a distance of about 40 miles or so, according to calculations. I live in Valley Village, about a mile from the end of the Red Line Subway in North Hollywood. So I took the Orange Line (an express bus line that operates like a train, dedicated roadway with few stops) the one stop from Laurel Canyon to the North Hollywood Station.

From there, I took the Red Line Subway through Universal City, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Koreatown, etc. and got off at 7th Street/Metro Center, where I transferred to the Blue Line light rail.

The Blue Line runs mainly directly south after going east along Washington for a short distance just south of downtown L.A. It follows the previous right-of-way of the famous Pacific Electric Railway (red cars) which was dismantled after WW II – and then rebuilt in the 90s. I got off at the Long Beach Transit Mall, the end of the line, a couple of blocks from the ocean. I still had to take a bus, probably about 2 miles, to Belmont Shore. It was Passport Bus A or D, which I picked up around the corner from the Transit Mall.

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Trip Time: about 2 hours each way

Cost: Each leg of the metro cost $1.50, debited from my TAP card. So that part of the trip cost $9.00, round trip. The bus in Long Beach was $1.25 each way, so the total cost of this trip was $11.50. According to the Trip Planner function on the Metro Website, the driving cost (round trip) would be $41.56 (which doesn’t include any parking fees that might be added). And actually, I think I could have used some kind of transfer for the Long Beach bus — but I didn’t know how to do that, so it would have been less than that $11.50.

So, it’s definitely doable. Would I do it every day? Hell, no. I did get a lot of reading done, and I did all my email and calls on the smart phone on the Blue Line. The nicest thing was the zero stress, and seeing parts of the city I don’t ever get a chance to see when driving. Oh, and there was a hooker on the Blue Line coming back, which was entertaining in its own way.

First, let me apologize about the crappy video below. I’m still learning how to use the smart phone video app, and the worst part about it is in bright daylight you can’t really see the image on the screen, so you’re pretty much shooting blind. Sorry about the last shot in Long Beach, I must’ve turned the camera off before I thought I did, and heaven knows why I turned the phone upside down. Ooops.

Politicians can’t control the price of gas . . .

Gonna do some driving over the weekend? Well, prepare to fork over the bucks at the gas station. Just so you know, politicians – whether they be Democrats or Republicans or anything else, really – don’t have much sway over the price of gas, at least in the short term.
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Why? It’s a global market, who knew? It’s complicated, who knew? It’s true, it must be, ’cause Fox News says so. This is actually a very accurate report, which has lots of good suggestions, including building out mass transit and using bicycles. Watch and learn!

Remembering the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

photo by waltarrrr

April 29 — the day the 1992 Los Angeles Riots began, and what I remember, or what I think I remember. I discovered earlier today that April 29 is also the birthday of the late film director Fred Zinnemann, who made the film “Julia” in 1977.

That film, one of my favorites (which starred Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards and Maximilian Schell), is based on a short story called “Pentimento” by playwright Lillian Hellman. The word pentimento means “an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting.”

In that movie it refers to the unreliability of memory. Those Rodney King riots happened now 20 years ago, but I’d like to think that what I remember about that time is accurate.

I was on vacation in Hawaii the morning of the 29^th, not happy that I had to return to L.A. that afternoon. Specifically, I was in Kihei, Maui. My best friend and sometimes partner Jeff King had been killed in a car accident the month before, and this was my first time getting away from all that in a real, physical sense.

I had to go to work the next morning and this was a flight that would get to Los Angeles late, around 11 p.m. As we stood in line waiting to board (this was very pre-9/11, way before TSA) I heard somebody say something like “they let those cops off. They’re already rioting in L.A.”

I took this as misinformed bravado. There were many younger people on this plane; perhaps it was still spring break in places, I don’t know. I mean, how could any jury let the cops off, we had all seen the videotape. It was just unthinkable.

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I did notice a quite messy but still quite attractive straight couple in the line. Both extremely blond and tan and I thought to myself, those two are high. Hanging on to each other for dear life, obviously very much in love or lust, the type you might tell to please get a room.

Get a room they did. In fact, they barricaded themselves in one of the two toilets reserved for the hoi polloi. It may have been the case that there were only two bathrooms on the entire plane, and they were using one for their mile-high club activities. Don’t forget that 1992 was long before the internet or common cell phone usage. I don’t recall getting any other L.A. Riot information on the flight back; the attendants were incensed at this couple and trying to break into this bathroom for what seemed like hours.

The couple never did come out, to my knowledge. Continue reading →

Enjoying Los Angeles Arts and Culture Without a Car

La Cienega/Jefferson Station on the Expo Line

Step-by-step intrux on how to: How to Enjoy L.A. Arts and Culture Without a Car.

Thoroughly enjoyed this enlightening and entertaining story by Alissa Walker in the L.A. Weekly blog. It’s really a blog post about a book, Car Free Los Angeles and Southern California, by Nathan Landau, a transit planner.

Walker, who navigates L.A. every day car free, writes about Landau’s ideas as how they work for a skeptical resident as well as someone visiting or a casual tourist. Both authors emphasize how Los Angeles public transportation has and is being improved, seemingly on a monthly basis — for instance, this week (on Saturday, April 28) the Expo Line light rail opens. Not only will this be the first light rail link to the west side in 50 years, it will also take one to museums in Exposition Park and some nice restaurants in Culver City.

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I recently had the opportunity to show my brother and his family some sights of L.A. in one day – and we did make use of the Red Line subway for part of the trip. Sightseeing Goal: Staples Center. We didn’t need to park downtown, and we didn’t need to get on the Hollywood Freeway. That in itself, I’m sure, lowered my blood pressure a few points. Continue reading →

What’s that whistling noise I hear?

Woman killed by cannonball in eastern San Diego County

Uh, just when you’re about to turn out the lights and get to sleep . . .

I guess I should not laugh at this. Although it does make me want to re-open Darwin Award nominations. (not for this poor lady, but for her husband)

Here in California, we’re suitably afraid of things like a giant Earthquake, horrendous fire, massive car pileups, etc. Cannonballs crashing through our mobile homes (and you know it just had to be a trailer) — not so much.

Begs the question, just what was her husband and his friend doing after midnight fooling around with a, well I don’t know, a fracking CANNON in the front yard? Seriously, are these people living in their own permanent renaissance faire?

She probably told him to get rid of the damn thing, and he agreed. Perhaps it was the last hurrah.

Very sad. So no laughing.

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The Guy Suing Fox Searchlight For A Crappy Internship . . .

The Guy Suing Fox Searchlight For A Crappy Internship Shares His Advice For Future Interns

UPDATE 6/12/13: Looks like Alex et. al. won! At least this round. Congrats – JJA

Well, Alex Footman, welcome to the real world! I’m not surprised by your treatment and am happy to see you’re doing something about it. Blacklist to come? Bet on it! But then, you sound to me like the kind of individual who will find a way to get things done regardless.

So I say go for it. Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general is not known for treating employees – paid or not – with any kind of kid gloves or other niceties. It is a shame though, when you are led into believing you’re going to be doing one thing, and make a contribution, then all you get are gofer tasks that don’t help you learn anything about the business you want to join. Except, perhaps, that it takes advantage of its celebrity allure, as if that in itself would be a giant perk, validating working for nothing.

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It was telling that Fox Searchlight immediately blamed the production company. “Not our fault – no never!” Somebody got to check off an item on their to-do list.

Now you probably know what Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky and others take in their coffee. Or maybe it’s chai. Whatever. Not exactly something you can pump up your resume with.

I hope your lawsuit and the publicity it gets convinces other abused interns, in any industry, to take the matter up.

Gay Bar Rejection!

Oh yes. I got a kick out of this, even if I am a little late for Valentine’s Day! I do suppose the experience of rejection is similar no matter what one’s orientation might be, but I, of course, am more familiar with the gay brand of rejection.

Sadly, this doesn’t happen much anymore because I don’t ~~have enough energy~~ go out much anymore! But if I did… also don’t drink and don’t smoke, though I did enjoy Robbie Joe Banfitch’s tutorial vicariously – it’s true, imbibing and smoking something does dull this pain of rejection.

From where I sit at 50+, it’s hard to believe somebody who looks like Robbie gets rejected much at all – so if it happens to him, is there any hope for the rest of us? They might as well tack up a sign over the door which reads “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.”

Oh, and Robbie Joe: 1) Welcome to East Hollywood, and 2) that shirt really wasn’t too tight. In fact, just leave the shirt off altogether. If you want.

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Personal car-sharing: yep, that’s right, not everyone needs to OWN a car

should I, could I, rent out this baby?

Personal car-sharing is a new twist on auto rentals

Click on the link above to read about the newest twist in car sharing – apps that allow the average person to “share” their vehicle by renting it out.

The brainchild of a guy who noticed how much of the time zillions of vehicles are just parked, not in use, not doing anything, sites like Getaround, Wheelz, JustShareIt, RelayRides and others allow the enterprising person (yourself, maybe? me, maybe?) to either rent or rent out a car.

This is brilliant, it reminds me of the old idea of the fugitive “hiding in plain sight” – only this time, it’s our consumerist mindset that’s hiding. We were conditioned to believe that we ALL needed to own these things, that otherwise it would just be too difficult to get around, do things, to live, etc. (And believe me it was planned conditioning – there was/is no innate “need” to have things like cars.)

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Hollywood dreams: Nicholas McCarthy, coming true

Nicholas McCarthy, photo by Jay L. Clendenin

Hollywood dream of filmmaker Nicholas McCarthy is stop and go.

I loved this story of Nick McCarthy, as told by Kurt Streeter here in the Times. The same story of the “countless dreamers,” like so many of the people I know and interact with each day, like myself.

I’ve even been to this Atwater coffeehouse (Kaldi); a photographer friend had a showing there. I’ve also been there to write, though this particular space was too claustrophobic for me.

About an early film of Nick’s: “McCarthy’s film was a mystery about a group of friends dealing with death. When it was done, he rented a theater and invited a small group to view it. Yet as he watched, he realized he’d made a flop. He took the film home, tucked it inside a box, and never played it again.”

He took the film home, tucked it inside a box, and never played it again. Continue reading →