New Year's Eve

If you're planning on going out in L.A. on New Year's Eve, plans just got better and safer. Now, instead of extending free public transit by maybe an hour, the city is doing the right and the smart thing, and extending it through the night for free. So, kids, go out, get shitfaced and don't drive. Take metro. It's free and it might just safe your life or somebody elses.

Happy Christmas Continued

Oh, and then, there's this holly jolly Hollywood Xmas tale.

Happy Christmas

It's Christmas Eve in Atwater Village, the Santa Ana's are blowing hard and the modest residents of Atwater (all working class and middle class and brilliantly diverse) have gone to no small trouble to deck their halls. So, without further ado (and before we lose power due to the ferocious wind), here are a few snapshots from the night before Christmas.



For more photos from Christmas Eve, visit my Flickr set! Happy Christmas

Los Angeles After the Rain

Nothing scrubs L.A. clean like the 3 days of rain we had last week (not to mention the Santa Anas blowing through tonight. Here are a couple fairly spectacular sunset shots from my new office (Yes, I look forward to Sunset every day. Every single day.)

Burrito King

The Militant Angeleno has a food blog now and, until he kicks me out of it, I'm a contributor to his food blog, Mess Hall. Check out my first post.

Atwater Village Wine Bar

At last, the wine shop/wine bar has been named. Welcome 55 Degrees to the neighborhood. Let's hope she opens soon, as mama is thirsty.

Beautiful Pre-Christmas Day in L.A.

Take note of these cameraphone grabs of a festive tree next to the soon to be emptied Silver Lake Resevoir and Sunset Blvd., looking east, also in Silverlake. Click to make ginormous.

Now, that's a toilet!

Sometimes, contextual advertising is a blessing! Click to magnify!



And

The Republicans...

Are hilarious!

Flaunt it, Honey.

Flaunt it.

The Gayest Thing I've Ever Seen

Undoubtedly.

Bea Arthur, Sally Struthers, Charlotte Rae and katharine Helmond

Proof that some people have too much time on their hands and we should be thankful they do.

"When people tell you who they are -- believe them."

"Oprah Winfrey once said that the best advice she ever got in her life was from Maya Angelou, who said: "When people tell you who they are -- believe them."

I've gotten good mileage from this advice over the years. Being raised fundie, you spend a lot of your life being told to believe someone else's preposterous interpretation of events over your own lying eyes. Growing up this way really twists your reality lenses; and those of us who come out of it as adults spend a lot of time and energy learning to see and interpret the world clearly again. Angelou's quote is one of the mantras that gave me permission to trust my own observations of what people were saying and doing, knock off the false hopes and wishful thinking, accept this information as literal truth, and rely on it as an accurate indicator about how they were likely to behave in the future. It's knowledge that was acquired late, but has since kept me out of an amazing amount of trouble."

Read the whole thing. It speaks not to just politics but to life.

Erick Burdette...

is the coolest cat in rock n roll!

Designing Women

God, this show was good in its heyday. And this is one of my favorite scenes ever.

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church

Well, they've got issues. Ok, more than issues. These are the folks that protest outside funerals for gay people with picket signs that read "God hates fags". Well, Rich over at FourFour expertly explains the situation and, well, that gang should probably just hang 'em up. But they probably won't.

065658 06 00A

065658 06 00A
Originally uploaded by dboo.

Great look at a once pastoral Los Angeles not too long ago!

You're Gonna Love Me

Bubbles give me hope for humanity.

12 Days of Christmas

Repuglican style. This is so funny, it hurts.

Happy Post #800

To me!

Tilting at Windmills

Reading these comments on defamer about this satire of the AMPTP website gives me hope in my often dark adulthood, to badly paraphrase Rosie O'Donnell to Barbra Streisand (yeah, that gay). If Jonathan Swift were alive today, he'd be an avid defamer reader.

File Under "Beans Don't Burn on the Grill" Category

I moved offices again and have now left the barren wasteland that is West Olympic and Bundy for the bounty that is Century City. Even more so, I somehow have snared a corner office on a very high floor that overlooks L.A. south to Long Beach (especially today, a very breezy clear Monday) and west over the ocean (and the now setting sun).

Holy effin shit! This most likely will be the best office view that I will ever have as a worker bee. It actually makes it exciting to come in. It is that good.

I hope that the corporate bees don't yank it from me for bigger fish -- yoink! -- but, at least for now, it's mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Behold.

Support Writers

Mortgage Issues?

President Bush offers hope.

eCommerce

Sometimes things don't work out as planned.

Highway to Heaven?

And I thought "brownsville revival" was a circuit party. And don't even get me started on feeling the presence of God...

Mel Tolkin

Mel Tolkin, a renowned writer of Sid Caeser's shows and All in the Family -- he won the Humanitas Award for writing the episode in which Edith was raped -- has passed away. He was a kind and exceptional man and he will be missed.

Mel, send your best to Michael, Stan, Art, Arnie -- the list is too long to continue.

Los Angeles Subway Plan

Everybody and their mother has a detailed plan on how the subway in Los Angeles should grow. This guy has a good new one.

Global Warming?

What Global Warming?!

Lake Dolores

From my sister, I received this post from the Retroland SoCal list...

-------
Where on earth is (was?) Lake Dolores?

When I was a kid in the '70's I used to see TV commercials all the time about buying property to build your dream retirement home on in "beautiful Lake Dolores". The ad's had images of people boating and water skiing on a lake somewhere. The ad's ran for years so plenty of people must've bought property. But I've never been able to find anything about Lake Dolores on any map or by Googling. Nobody seems to have ever heard of it.

You folks here must remember those commercials. DO ANY OF YOU KNOW WHERE LAKE DOLORES IS OR WAS????
------

Being a native, I somehow cannot remember this at all. I think I must have blocked it from my memory as my parents were obviously smart enough to keep me away from an obviously dangerous waterpark (but obviously also truly amazing park).

It sounds totally irresponsible, but, man, would I have loved it.

Pico and Sepulveda

Everybody knows I LOVE L.A. and some have heard of L.A.'S MY LADY, but this song, found on the L.A. Stories post about the Great L.A. Walk is sensational. According to its description on YouTube, it's by Felix Figueroa and His Orchestra, from the cult film, Forbidden Zone. Who knew?!

The Great L.A. Walk

Franklin Avenue arranged and organized the second annual Great L.A. Walk and they tackled one of the best and least famous boulevards, Pico, from Downtown to the Ocean. Unfortunately, I couldn't make this one, but here are some great snapshots that really showcase the breadth of Pico and L.A.

Congratulations Walkers!

Brenda Dickson Parody

Reporters Suck

But at least some are asking the tough questions. Too bad's it's just Wonkette, but we get whatever we can.

L.A. Times BuildingFor Sale

Given that even with a 10,000 person strong peace march going by it on Oct. 27th and they couldn't cover it locally, I still think it would be sad if the Times building was sold, as L.A.Observed notes. That said, maybe the deal for the Herald Examiner Building falls through and the Times could move there. That would be ironic and just.

Ragtime

Thanks to my friend Tom, I have this great clip from the original Broadway production of Ragtime. What makes the story of this great American story better is the great American and Canadian financial shenanigans that went on behind the production. Anyway, enjoy.

I Love the Internets Reason #647

The Writers Guild Strike

Well, this just about hits the nail on the head.

Atwater Village News

I haven't had much time for constitutionals in the neighborhood lately, but, today, I was able to stroll much of the length of our little main street, Glendale Boulevard...and I'm happy to report, things are jumping. At least dancing.

There's now Belly Dancing classes on the northwest end, right next to the Pounder Gallery. And, of course, over in the middle of the boulevard is the beat house, where the door always seems to be open and 27 ladies seem to be getting their respective grooves on. Good for them and good for Atwater Village.

Near the Beat House in an old brick storefront that's been covered for some time is going to be the new restaurant from the man who brought L.A. "Soy House" and it's going to be named "Viet", a noodle house. The room is very minimalist with long communal wood tables. I can't wait til it opens.(The man in the pic below is the owner, who, not coincidentally, is named "Viet".)


About a block and a half north on the same side of the street, there is a new clothing store going in and it looks like it promises to cater to the hipster in all of us.


And, then, one final note, it looks like the new wine bar/store --next to the new Starbucks -- that is scheduled to open Monday, ain't gonna open Monday. Looks like they have way too much more to do to get it ready to be open, but quien sabe, right?

Black & White + Pink Eye = Hilarity

It's Business Time

Norman Mailer

Rest in Peace.

The Writers Guild Strike

My mom is in the union. My stepfather was in the union. I have friends in the union --both extremely successful and not as much. This strike is for fighting for what's right. It's not for the wealthy to become wealthier. Rather it's so that the people who do the actual work get their fair share of the pie. For a long time in this country, unions have been attacked, but they are now rebounding.

From Digby:

"Unions and the solidarity it promotes are an important key to a progressive America, whether it's the Writers Guild or the UAW or the janitors or the health care workers. They promote a strong and stable middle class --- and help us see ourselves as one people with common interests."


Digby has more on why this is important and what you can do.

Meyer Yahr RIP

My sister just reminded me that it was 15 years ago today that my dear grandfather passed away. It feels like a lot longer and not long at all. Born in Austria, he escaped pogroms with his family and came through Ellis Island, where he spent time in the hospital because of weak lungs. As a young person, he moved to Pittsburgh, married my now late grandmother, Dorothy, had three lovely children and eventually moved to Los Angeles. He'd be tickled by Joe Torre's hiring on the week of his anniverary. Poppy Meyer was a kind man and is deeply missed.

House Passes Anti-Gay Discrimination Bill

Huzzah. If it passes the Senate, though, Bush said he'd veto it. Not only is Bush a war criminal, a war profiteer, the worst president ever, but he's in favor of discrimination. Hecukuva job, America!

JC Penny Catalogue

What if you were working in your attic and found a 2-inch thick JC Penny catalogue from 1977? You'd thumb through it. Yeah, you know you would. And, behold the treasures within!

Ann Coulter Sucks Ass

Episcopal Hater

"Representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted overwhelmingly Friday to approve constitutional amendments that are the first step in leaving the national church in a widening rift over homosexuality and interpretation of Scripture."
Come on, QUEER AS FOLK was set in Pittsburgh. Here's hoping the people of this diocese speak up for equality and freedom. Sheesh.

Happy Halloween

It's a little late, but I've needed time to recover. I traveled into West Hollywood this Halloween for the first time in years and I was not disappointed. I took the 14 Metro Bus down Santa Monica from Silverlake -- it was having mechanical difficulties, was packed to the rafters by people in costumes and included cheers and shot-taking throughout the ride. In short, very memorable. Still, as it literally inched along due to a massive Halloween traffic jam coming into WeHo, I got out at Vine and hoofed it the rest of the way. It was a great time in a great city. Now, without further delay, pics of the strange trip.



















See more pics from the festivities at my flickr.

Happy Blovember

Hope you had a good Halloween.

Forget the Red Sox

The Tigers Win! The Tigers Win!

A Great Paragraph

Gets noticed.

Los Angeles Anti-War Rally

Between 15,000 and 20,000 showed up in downtown L.A. to march down historic Broadway to a rally just beside Los Angeles City Hall on Sunday to protest the illegal war in Iraq.It felt good to be among the people who know that the only way out is to speak out. That said, what's really needed at this point is civil disobedience. Anything less is not working. Here are some pics...














Many more photos here.