Starting with the election. It was a bit odd to be at the other end of the country as the election results came in. I was so used to waiting up for the left coast results to come in and out here it seemed like it was all over before I even got home. (Of course, that could have just been the candidate....) It felt great to watch Obama in Grant Park. (And am still jealous of Nikki for actually being there!)
The downside of the election was Proposition 8 (repealing the right of same sex marriages). Truly, I could not believe it passed. Still can't. I just don't understand how people can hold such hate within themselves.
This is one of my favorite responses, thanks to Julia (be aware that parents may want to preview this before letting their kids watch):
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
(Go to the funnyordie.com website & check out Ron Howard's Obama endorsement short.)And then the city started to burn. Yet again, another event that is different up close. While it was too far away to smell or 
see it where I'm staying (photo was taken in North Hollywood), it was all still rather shocking. Especially the wildfires that spontaneously began one Saturday morning & burned most of the day, with news reports of people fleeing their homes as the fires "jumped" over freeways to their area. And unlike many of the fire reports I remember hearing over the years, this one was not destroying luxury homes but trailer parks. Perhaps I found it more devastating because I feel these people, like many of the Katrina victims will now be lost. And I suppose there's also the shift from having thought of fires as methodical events that could be controlled to something random, fast moving and....well, almost like it has the randomness of a serial killer. (And I am the one who hates anthropomorphism.)
But on to something pleasant. LA, and especially the area I'm staying in has a lot of street art.
On Sunset, near Silverlake Blvd.
see it where I'm staying (photo was taken in North Hollywood), it was all still rather shocking. Especially the wildfires that spontaneously began one Saturday morning & burned most of the day, with news reports of people fleeing their homes as the fires "jumped" over freeways to their area. And unlike many of the fire reports I remember hearing over the years, this one was not destroying luxury homes but trailer parks. Perhaps I found it more devastating because I feel these people, like many of the Katrina victims will now be lost. And I suppose there's also the shift from having thought of fires as methodical events that could be controlled to something random, fast moving and....well, almost like it has the randomness of a serial killer. (And I am the one who hates anthropomorphism.)But on to something pleasant. LA, and especially the area I'm staying in has a lot of street art.
On Sunset, near Silverlake Blvd.
Somewhere on Sunset in EchoPark.
(where I spent 5 hours one Saturday waiting to get a limited edition, signed "Obama Hope" print.....for Julia. Yes, she does owe me!)
Also in my wanderings (okay, not so much wandering...really I was going to Target & decided to walk the 7 blocks instead of waiting for the bus) I found the building to the right. With so many random things in LA having big histories (like the steps near my house), and I was tempted to try to get inside, but I thought a six foot tall blonde climbing a fence might draw suspision, even on Santa Monica. So I googled it. (http://www.scottymoore.net/studio_radiorecorders.html) Elvis made history here and now it's shuttered up.
As I've done for the past....5 (?) years, I went to the very excellent feast hosted by l.e.n. & jeff in Logan Square.
I got an amazing flight/hotel deal, and ended up at the Hard Rock. They didn't quite rock my world, but I did stay on the Cheap Trick floor which amused me as that was the second concert I ever went to. (Bun E. Carlos was one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to play the drums.)
Another of the highlights of the trip....well, other than the glogg.......
was the audio walking tour I did through Oak Park of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. I thought it was a great tour, including notes about the prevailing architecture of the times (Victorian & Stick style) so you could see how disarming Wright's buildings truly were. I was motivated to do the tour mostly by a long standing admiration for Wright's architecture (something I share with my parents) but also because of a book I had recently read for book club, "Loving Frank." It is a fictionalized version of the true story of the affair that Wright had with the wife of one of his clients, Mamah Cheney (pronounced "maymaaa", for those keeping score). She eventually divorced her husband and the two of them ran off together, and he eventually built Taliesian in Wisconsin for the two of them to live in together. Wright never divorced his wife because his wife wouldn't grant him a divorce and so Frank & Mamah lived "without the benefit of marriage" until Mamah's tragic end. (A servant went berserk, burning the house to the ground & killing Mamah, her two children and several of the workers with an axe.)
On the gates of Subliminal Projects' store.
(where I spent 5 hours one Saturday waiting to get a limited edition, signed "Obama Hope" print.....for Julia. Yes, she does owe me!)
And then there's Thanksgiving.
As I've done for the past....5 (?) years, I went to the very excellent feast hosted by l.e.n. & jeff in Logan Square.
Even in White Sox country they rock the Old Style with true flair
I got an amazing flight/hotel deal, and ended up at the Hard Rock. They didn't quite rock my world, but I did stay on the Cheap Trick floor which amused me as that was the second concert I ever went to. (Bun E. Carlos was one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to play the drums.)
Another of the highlights of the trip....well, other than the glogg.......
was the audio walking tour I did through Oak Park of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. I thought it was a great tour, including notes about the prevailing architecture of the times (Victorian & Stick style) so you could see how disarming Wright's buildings truly were. I was motivated to do the tour mostly by a long standing admiration for Wright's architecture (something I share with my parents) but also because of a book I had recently read for book club, "Loving Frank." It is a fictionalized version of the true story of the affair that Wright had with the wife of one of his clients, Mamah Cheney (pronounced "maymaaa", for those keeping score). She eventually divorced her husband and the two of them ran off together, and he eventually built Taliesian in Wisconsin for the two of them to live in together. Wright never divorced his wife because his wife wouldn't grant him a divorce and so Frank & Mamah lived "without the benefit of marriage" until Mamah's tragic end. (A servant went berserk, burning the house to the ground & killing Mamah, her two children and several of the workers with an axe.)So, of COURSE I had to go see the house that was the beginning of it all.
And somehow I have yet to mention Clifton's Cafeteria. It is hard to describe, I think you have to experience it. The short explanation is that it's, as the name suggests, a cafeteria. But it's a cafeteria with a grotto & a prayer "house" that patrons can use for 10 minutes at a time. (Needless to say, I did not go into the prayer house for fear of the extracurricular activities that may have been going on.....) But, actually, Clifton's is very cool & has done some really great work with the homeless, especially during the depression. (http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com/home.html) Jeff was actually the one whot introduced me to this establishment & if anyone comes to visit, I'll take you there.
Oh, the highly amusing thing about T'giving in Chicago was that I hadn't packed a winter coat to take to LA. For once, I was happy it didn't snow.
It was 79 degrees today.
Oh, the highly amusing thing about T'giving in Chicago was that I hadn't packed a winter coat to take to LA. For once, I was happy it didn't snow.
It was 79 degrees today.
