Tag Archives: Griffith Park

Dear Diary:

What does go on in the mind of a 67-year-old American gay man? Read on for dear diary excerpts and fun asides. (Not always a downer, though I do use the diary to work out problems, probably like most people do!) (It’s the week of January 1, though I include the last part of December here.)

Tuesday, December 20

I’m pleased the LA Times printed my contribution to the memorials for P-22. Honestly have to say I will feel safer hiking in Griffith now and feel more at ease to go off the paved roads, which I’ve consciously been sticking to for the last decade or so.

There are some rocky heights (like, for instance, top of the Bronson trail) that I like but haven’t been to in really a long time, but which now would seem safer without a mountain lion in the park.

Wednesday, December 21

Some days are harder than others to get started. This is one of those mornings.

It’s the anniversary of Dad’s death four years ago. Maybe that’s why, though I don’t feel like it’s keeping me from writing, maybe that’s the reason I didn’t sleep so well? And the result of that is foggy brain that resists working.

Misty morning (like my head) in Valley Village on my walk.

Thursday, December 22

I haven’t decorated at all for Xmas yet. I did take the box of trimmings out of the closet and set it on the floor. I may have even opened it up, but I didn’t take anything out. Thinking I might do that this afternoon – it’s three days till Christmas, and I’d keep up lights/ornaments until January 2, then immediately put all that crap away. I think the holiday season goes on too long. I’d like a machine where I could be transported from the evening of Thankgiving to the morning of January 2 each year, and not have to experience the end of November and the entire month of December—that is, unless I was in a place where summer occurs in that month, say Rio de Janeiro or Australia. On a gay beach. Mexico’s Pacific Coast also qualifies.

This was Xmas in LA this year – roaring fire and open screen door.
I’m not very fond of the holidays, to be honest.

Friday, December 23

There’s not much motivation this morning. December 23, palpable closeness to the actual dates of real holidays. I’ve had the audacity to have thoughts of taking the entire next week off, conveniently as the holidays fall into the actual week structure more than usual with Christmas and New Year’s both falling on Sundays.

My note commenting on Charles Blow‘s column.

So you already pretty much know that out in the real world NOTHING will get done next week Monday through Friday and EVERYONE will be on vacation or holiday and so WHAT IS THE POINT in TRYING? And why not just rest up, look back and evaluate the year, plan for the next, and so on?

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Which I don’t want to do. I had a terrible time sleeping last night. I’m pretty sure I had a reaction to the vaccines I got yesterday – the pneumonia vaccine and the shingles vaccine (which was only the first of two). The reaction was body aches plus headache, as well as soreness on both shoulders.

I woke up in the middle of the night, worried about that, and about mortality, really. Worried about my fluctuating blood pressure numbers, other things.

My friend Chris and I walking along the cliff in Palisades Park.

Like the old saying, doesn’t help at all to borrow trouble. And indeed, we are all mortal. If I live 20 more years, I’d be almost 88. If I lived 25 more years, I’d be almost 93, as old as Aunt Joan when she died. Let’s see, 25 years ago was 1998, the year I moved to San Francisco and started working at Dolby. That, to me, seems like yesterday! It doesn’t really seem that much of any time has passed since then.

That’s kind of scary. Really – should I live to be 92 going on 93, will I look back at 67 going on 68 as if it was yesterday? Probably.

My writing: Maybe I’ve forgotten how. It all just seems so awkward and bad. I guess that’s why there’s this thing called Editing.

Friday, January 6, 2023

I slept great last night. So great, in fact, that my Fitbit score is 85 – equal to the highest I’ve ever received (I’ve received this score several times) but the time I spend asleep (according to the Fitbit) is 7 hours 15 minutes, which is nothing short of miraculous.

Not always a curmudgeon! I liked this decoration in my neighborhood. Love will decide all.

And that’s Dear Diary (week of January 1) for this time.

P-22, We’ve Got a Lot in Common

Normally I don’t think of myself as kindred spirit to wildlife. But perhaps, especially this day after Earth Day, I should. Especially in regards to mountain lion P-22, we’ve got a lot in common.

People who know me realize I spend a lot of time in Griffith Park, and have for decades. One of the largest urban parks in the United States, it’s also mountainous and provides Angelenos with a wide variety of hiking options.

I do a good amount of my cardio there.

The Aging Bachelors of Griffith Park

So it’s no surprise to find out there’s another aging bachelor who’s roaming that expanse, except that he’s a cougar, a puma, a mountain lion!

Of course, I’ve known about P-22 for years. In fact, I wrote my city councilperson when I first heard of the big cat making his home in my park. I thought it was irresponsible that the city would allow this alpha predator wild animal to roam a public park. A park that was full of people day and night.

What kinds of havoc could P-22 be responsible for? This is a copy of my email from August 14, 2012:

Dear Councilmember Krekorian:

It was with great dismay that I read in today’s LA Times about the mountain lion that has been allowed to remain wild in Griffith Park.

I hike in Griffith Park, usually alone, usually about once a week and have since the 1980s. I do not believe this animal poses no danger to children, families, bicyclists and other hikers like myself.

While I’m all for protecting species, it’s one thing to protect habitat and quite another to allow a dangerous wild animal to live free in a park in the middle of a city of 4 million.

I urge that the City do whatever it is necessary to relocate this animal to a more appropriate wild environment.

So the good councilmember ignored my letter (never got a response either time I’ve emailed this unhelpful civil servant. The other letter was about speeders on Chandler Blvd. and the danger they present to pedestrians and cyclists).

P-22 has Turned Out to be a Reclusive Bachelor Indeed

The truth is that in the subsequent almost 10 years that P-22 had been calling Griffith Park home, I’ve never read of any untoward encounters he’s had with humans.

The blogger in Griffith Park last summer

I’ve never seen the cat. Which is not surprising since they are mainly nocturnal (I don’t ever hike at night) and take great pains not to be seen anyway. I hike only on wide trails or actual roads, to minimize any chance of running into him.

For a while I’d pick up a rock or a stick or something that could serve as a weapon just in case. I came to believe this was unnecessary, as P-22 seems to have had a good upbringing.

By that I mean he doesn’t consider humans to be food. Otherwise, we’d have plenty of evidence in a quite grisly form. So, kudos to P-1 and P-whoever was P-22’s mom.

Will P-22 finally leave the park to find a mate or will he live out his life there? I suspect the latter, and it makes me a little sad. I don’t have any plans to stop my own roaming in the park, partnered or not. I guess for now we’re just part of that distinguished gentlemen’s club that knows many of the secrets of Griffith Park.

See, P-22, we’ve got a lot in common.

It’s National “Take a Walk in the Park Day”

Monday, March 30 is National “Take a Walk in the Park Day.” This year, it has an added significance. For most of us in the U.S. and indeed, around the world, walking in the park is one of the few activities open to us in the time of coronavirus quarantines.

In my novel “Benefits,” Ben Schmidt and his crew make good use of Golden Gate, Buena Vista and Jack Early Parks — for walks, yes, as well as other things. Like cruising. Like surveillance. Or just for taking in the view.

In my already solitary writerly life, taking walks is one of my constants. Often, they are in a park here in Los Angeles. Could be Griffith, which is giant, or North Hollywood Park, closer to where I live. Also l love to walk/hike in Fryman Canyon, which is part of a string of mountain parks here.

I’ve included a little gallery of park walks from here as well as recent travels. Hope you enjoy — and make sure to get out and Take a Walk in the Park! Wash your hands and stay six feet from other humanoids!

The blogger in Griffith Park
Mississippi River Levee in New Orleans
Audubon Park in New Orleans
Mission Dolores Park in SF
Mission Dolores Park in SF
Blogger in Griffith Park
Fryman Canyon Trail (LA)
View from Fryman Canyon Trail, LA
Oak Leaf Trail, Milwaukee
Herman A. Zeunert Park, Cedarburg, WI
Washington Park, Chicago
Blogger’s sister and brother, Herman A. Zeunert Park, Cedarburg, WI
Blogger in Jack Early Park, SF
Buena Vista Park, SF
Blogger in Griffith Park
Historical photo of blogger baring midriff in a park overlooking SF

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The Forest Dark – 1984 Olympic Bench in Griffith Park

Someone dropped this off under some foliage on a hilly road in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. It’s a bench from the 1984 Summer Olympics – you can tell by looking at the emblematic star and the Olympic rings on the side of the bench. (See closeup below.)

I used this real-life location for the introduction and first scene with my character Louis Ronald Reagan White in my novel “The Forest Dark,” coming this May.

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Perspective: Koreatown slayings, meningitis deaths – remember them all

Just wanted to update this today (9/23/21), about 8.5 years after I published the original story, which was really about how white privilege dictates what we see around societal violence and other misfortunes (such as illness) – though I didn’t have that language then, even though I recognized the operative theory. Over the past week, much has been made of “missing white woman” syndrome in the case of murdered Gabby Petito. And it’s not just white women, it’s also white men – who, as victims, are covered more than people of other races/backgrounds. This quite from a story today in CNN.com by Holly Thomas:

“Perhaps one of the most painful reasons stories about pretty young White women seem to capture the public imagination so completely is the subconscious prejudice that bad things aren’t “meant” to happen to privileged people. Safety is one of the aspirational perks of having an apparently perfect life. Well-off White people can generally assume that when they call the police, law enforcement will automatically be on their side and want to help them. But this level of support is far from a universal given, and far too often a function of racial privilege.”

Again, I want to emphasize that what happened to Sam and Bret are tragedies, and they deserve to be covered as much as anyone who experiences a similar crime or misfortune. But I do wonder if these stories would have been written at all if they both weren’t white and privileged.

Original Post about Sam Michel and Bret Shaad

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I was touched by this Sam Michel murder story, which I saw just by accident in The Los Angeles Times over the weekend. I was struck by a couple of things beyond the mere horror – and maybe the complacency by which we accept such things as the hazard of living in the big, bad city.

First of all, it was the location of the murder, the Sir Francis Drake apartments on Serrano in Koreatown. This building is managed/owned by the Swel Group, and I’ve looked at many of their properties when searching for K-town apartments both in 2011 and also again very recently. The Sir Francis Drake is an amazing, beautiful building — hands down, it had the largest and probably nicest studios of any building in the Swel Group list. I almost moved into the building in summer of 2011 but found a larger (and cheaper) apartment elsewhere.

My quite recent inquiries into vacancies there were not responded to – don’t know if it had anything to do with this notoriety or not, but I was blissfully unaware of the murder.

The other thing that struck me about this sad story was Sam Michel’s love of Griffith Park, something I share and have since I was in my 20s. So that could’ve been me many years ago, or so many people I’ve known who come to L.A. to create their artistic life.

Our family recently lost someone about Sam’s age to a violent death (suicide, not murder) so I know somewhat of what this family is going through. I also hope someone with information comes forward to collect the newly-upped reward ($100,000) and that the person who did this gets caught.

One of the early reports of this murder in the Times also says that there’ve been 35 murders in Koreatown since 2007. I wonder how many of those have gone unsolved?

Interesting that this particular death, this unsolved murder is the one that’s focused on – and why is that, as there are so many unsolved murders in the city? Certainly his family is not going to let the matter drop, and they shouldn’t. But there’s also a facility with social media and press access that comes with education and class.

Continue reading →

50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best Effing City in America

Griffith Park view of the Hollywood Sign

50 Reasons Los Angeles Is the Best Effing City in America

Today, a reprint of (LA Weekly’s) 50 true and sometimes humorous reasons why the city is just the best.

It doesn’t hurt that the high temperature forecast for today, January 1, is 82 degrees (not the norm, but hey…).

Enjoy the list! What would you add to the list if you could? And, Happy 2012 to everyone, Angeleno or not.

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Shine

Griffith Park, Bronson Canyon area

I did my usual Thanksgiving Day hike yesterday. This time it was in Bronson Canyon in L.A. I caught the tail end of a cloud front making its way across the L.A. basin with the sun coming out just as I neared the top of the climb to the road on the ridge. (That glint in the distance is the sun reflecting off the Pacific Ocean.) What you can’t see from this angle is that the sun’s rays are directly illuminating the Hollywood sign!

But of course. Thank you, C.B.

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More Land to Become Part of Griffith Park (hopefully!)

Here’s a link to a story about some land near the Hollywood sign which was privately owned. It’s being purchased by a group which intends to make it part of the park, as opposed to more mega-mansion homesites. A piece of good news!

From a hike in the park

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From the hill, looking out

Here’s a couple of Iphone pix from a dusk hike I did up Commonwealth to Vista del Valle. On a weeknight… those opportunities are fewer now with fall and receding daylight. I believe this part of the park has changed drastically over the last 10 years, not just from the devastating fire in 2007 but also from the lack of water for the past several years. It’s still a beautiful place, however.

Downtown LA with setting sun reflected in a skyscraper

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I-5 and part of downtown from Griffith Park

This pic IS NOT my house, but I'm decluttering this morning.

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After I’m done with that I’m going for a hike in Griffith Park.