Janitors Protest In Century City

I was walking out of Fox Plaza for my afternoon constitutional and lunchgrab and I thought something was out of whack. There were three cones outside 3 of the 4 main doors to the building. There was a cop car parked in front with it's lights on and just down the street, there was a SUV parked on the sidewalk. Traffic was stopped ahead for no discernible reason with traffic cops belligerently directing traffic Some odd things. I thought nothing more of it.

Then, walking back from the mall, with salad in hand, before me stretched what seemed like thousands and thousands of red-shirted janitors and janitor allies marching in front of the Century Plaza (proudly flying some southern state's confederate bars/stars flag in front), in front of the new super expensive condo tower going up ($25 million for the penthouse apparently) and circling good ol' Fox Plaza.

What's a bleeding liberal to do but to sympathize, take a few pics and agree:

Si, Se Puede.

Tomorrow's May Day rallies, I think, are going to be huge.

Happy Birthday L.A. City Hall

From the long-lost and now Facebook-arisen L.A.City Nerd, comes this message to other L.A. city nerds:

City Hall was dedicated April 26, 1928 at 10am. That makes City Hall, the 3rd such building to bear the moniker, 80 years, 2 days, 14 hours and 37 minutes old as of the posting of this message.

Become a friend the L.A. City Nerd because you can never have too many friends, right?

Los Angeles in the Spring

Yeah, near 100 degrees on Saturday. How best to take advantage of it? Martini, Los Angeles Short Story collection focused on Noir and sunset next to a pool. Kinda makes you forget about the world's troubles just for a little bit.

Artwater

The second annual Artwater in Atwater Village was great fun. It was bustling and hot in the afternoon and bustling and much cooler in the evening. In fact, compared to the first year, there was actually quite a lot of activity in the evening and it was fun. Kudos to the planners!

1974 Dance Party

As one commenter over at FranklinAve noted, this may be the best thing you'll ever see on the interwebs...complete with spots featuring a very young Farrah, Neet hair removal and the beauty of a full size Pontiac.

Watch it now.

Funny

File under: Somethings write themselves.

Dodger Stadium

I went to my first regular season game of the year a couple of Sundays ago and, though the hometown bums (little known fact, L.A. reporters were encouraged not to call the Dodgers "dem bums" once they moved from Brooklyn in order to encourage fandom. it worked) lost to the Padres, we had a nice day in the shade of the beautiful ballpark on a very warm Sunday in spring.

The ballpark was as spectacular as ever, however, the walkways/ramparts/whatever-you-call-its that you walk around the stadium through were all gussied up. In fact, each of the concession stands -- even the much talked about addition of Canter's -- had a really spiffy mid century modern gloss.

Unfortunately, this clearly lead to a massive increase in price. Also, since I haven't been much of a beer drinker since college and would always prefer a glass (or ten) of wine (so, sue me), there is now only one location in the field level (unless you belong to the special clubs on either side of home) that you can buy an alcoholic beverage other than beer. Yeah, it's a bar. And, a glass of wine is...

wait for it...

still wait...
$12 mofo 50 a glass.

WTF

Spirit drinks are only something like $8. What gives?

I'll still go, of course, but I think I'll bring in my own special vintage from home.

Here are some pics of the park, anyway.

Funny

Go Viral

Glengary Glenn Ross

Sales ain't easy.

Brewster Rockit

His comic world has been rocked by photoshop and it's kinda funny. Start here.

Elevators

File under: I think I'll take the stairs.

Mike Marmer

Dodgers Sunday

Can't wait to be sitting in aisle 1...again. Tickets have been inthe family since 1962. yeah.

Odd

Via Will Campbell.

The Phrase That Pays

One in a series...well, today, two...

1. You can tie a bow on it, it's still a piece of shit.

and

2. Dogs barked and the caravan moved forward.

Martin Luther King

It's a little late, but I've been meaning to post this. Wonder where would we be if he had not been killed.

The Militant Angeleno

What gives? Has he been kidnapped? The site has been commandeered by a rude New Yorker.