June 13, 2005
Venice beach
As we count down the weeks to departure, I find myself wanting to restart this blog so I can post some of the pictures I've continued taking of this surreal landscape. And soon enough we'll be intentionally visiting places for the last time (or in some cases, the first and last time). I'd like to have a record of that. I hope you would too.
Back in February, we went to the Venice boardwalk, which is a paved path rather than a true boardwalk. Here are my six favorite images from that day.
Muscle Beach is a big tourist attraction, a workout room right out in the open. I've always wondered why anyone would want to lift weights with a crowd watching. Oh yes, the tourists like to ogle. This was a quieter moment at the zoo. Just one animal in the cage. A beautiful one, at that.
So many pocket-sized storefronts along the boardwalk. So many eerie images. I want to go back to capture more. Probably won't have time...
The ghost of Jim Morrison looms large over his old haunts.
This man is an icon. He's ALWAYS there, with his turban and his skates and his guitar. He's so ubiquitous, he was painted into R. Cronk's famous Venus of Venice mural (officially now called "Venice Reconstituted"). (Here's another view of the mural, a bit larger.)
An architectural whimsey, very Venice.
Venice on the move.
Venice is many things. The boardwalk is only part of that jigsaw. And a few pictures hardly do it justice. But what else do I have?
October 22, 2004
May 22, 2004
May 18, 2004
May 17, 2004
May 16, 2004
May 14, 2004
May 12, 2004
May 03, 2004
April 29, 2004
April 28, 2004
April 25, 2004
April 23, 2004
April 20, 2004
April 13, 2004
clown ballerina
Neither all that original nor all that artsy of me but one of LA's icons and so I post it here. Besides, I like the clown.
At the corner of Rose and Main in Venice if you ever want to see for yourself. Of course, you could always just look in any tourist guidebook.
April 11, 2004
April 10, 2004
April 07, 2004
alienation?
I'm back. With an odd one. (Taken at King's Head restaurant in Santa Monica. I recommend the fish 'n chips.)
March 23, 2004
March 22, 2004
March 19, 2004
March 15, 2004
March 12, 2004
March 11, 2004
March 10, 2004
March 08, 2004
March 07, 2004
March 05, 2004
places to go, pigeons to see
The playground's sole inhabitants after it rains.
March 04, 2004
March 03, 2004
still driving in the rain
Time to build an ark? Or maybe we have one already. A car ark.
I still like the rain, though. So does the thirsty ground.
Another picture up for yesterday.
March 01, 2004
February 27, 2004
February 26, 2004
February 24, 2004
February 23, 2004
February 22, 2004
February 20, 2004
February 19, 2004
February 10, 2004
February 07, 2004
February 03, 2004
February 02, 2004
February 01, 2004
January 31, 2004
unexpected whimsy
This clock hangs on the side of a nice but fairly traditional office building. The hands of the clock have children dangling from them. Hanging on for dear life? Swinging with great joy? Depends on your mood that day as you drive past.
(At the corner of Melrose and La Cienega in West Hollywood.)
January 29, 2004
January 28, 2004
January 25, 2004
January 24, 2004
January 17, 2004
lost lamb
An unusual Nativity scene (taken at the Venice Boat Parade last month).
January 15, 2004
January 12, 2004
January 06, 2004
hurry
Dim sum cart (and carter) at Ocean Star in Monterey Park.
December 17, 2003
December 16, 2003
November 22, 2003
Beverly Hills is burning
(two pictures below)
Yes, we do have autumn here. It just comes late and appears only in isolated pockets.
November 21, 2003
outside
Posted in honor of Photo Friday's current challenge, gathering.
November 20, 2003
November 19, 2003
November 18, 2003
November 16, 2003
November 15, 2003
November 13, 2003
November 08, 2003
November 06, 2003
October 23, 2003
October 20, 2003
October 19, 2003
October 18, 2003
suspended foot
Interesting, the things people do unconsciously.
Taken at the post office while waiting on line.
October 16, 2003
going to the dogs
Another image from last week's circus of a recall election.
October 14, 2003
October 11, 2003
October 07, 2003
October 06, 2003
October 05, 2003
café morning
One of my hangouts while Damian's in school.
Check out my newest site, postscript. I have a greater need for new words online than I thought. This scratches that itch.
October 04, 2003
October 03, 2003
September 30, 2003
September 27, 2003
September 25, 2003
force of nature
I found this picture as I was going through my CD archives. I was driving home with Damian one afternoon last January and we came across this on the eastern edge of Beverly Hills. The apartment building was incinerated. No casualties, thankfully. It was in the paper the next day. (I thought my picture was better.)
September 24, 2003
September 23, 2003
fly by
Taken at Redondo Beach a week and a half ago. I'm back in real time now.
September 02, 2003
alien spaceship
The first of my trip pictures: in the corridor at the LAX terminal.
August 27, 2003
August 24, 2003
August 19, 2003
summertime
On the Santa Monica Pier. (Everything I've posted the past few days is from the Pier, but this one is from the amusement park side of things.)
This is one of those pictures I don't know if anyone will like besides me, it's so chaotic. Which is what I like.
August 17, 2003
August 16, 2003
August 15, 2003
August 14, 2003
August 12, 2003
August 10, 2003
August 08, 2003
August 07, 2003
August 04, 2003
July 29, 2003
into the whale's mouth
Just part of Disneyland's surreal landscape.
July 28, 2003
July 26, 2003
there's something about swans
They imbue a sense of tranquility. Water does that too. Lakes, streams, ponds, oceans. Lapping, splashing, rippling water.
July 23, 2003
July 22, 2003
July 21, 2003
July 19, 2003
memorial in Santa Monica
A week or two ago a small plane dove into a smallish apartment building in the Fairfax district just a few blocks from where we lived for seven years, demolishing the building and killing some of its residents. We still live within walking distance. We drove past there on our way home the day after the crash. The street was cordoned off, police patrolled the area.
This past Wednesday an elderly man lost control of his car and drove full speed into the crowded Santa Monica farmer's market, killing several people and injuring many more. Before we discovered the Sunday Hollywood market, we used to attend the Wednesday one in Santa Monica. It's the best in the city. Many farmers have booths at both markets. I recognize faces and names from the news stories of vendors in shock. We'll go to the market tomorrow morning. I wonder what we'll see in their faces.
Small tragedies, you could say, but so very close to home.
Last night I happened to be in Santa Monica, walking on the Third Street Promenade on my way to hear my college classmate Merin Wexler read from her (very good) collection of short stories. A clump of people stood and watched dancers. Another clump stood and listened to live jazz. Another clump stood silently, acknowledging an impromptu memorial that has grown daily since Wednesday. I took some pictures on my way to the reading, more on the way back.
This is my way of standing witness.
July 17, 2003
Santa Monica sunset
After a heated internal debate ("Yes I can!" "No, ugh, don't!" "Nya-nya, I wanna and I will!"), I decided to put this shot up even though it edges a tad close to a generically pretty sunset shot. But I love the tornado cloud effect and it memorializes our lovely Saturday evening.
July 16, 2003
July 14, 2003
July 13, 2003
July 11, 2003
sad car
What I want to know is: how do you have to feel to scrawl this on your car? And leave it there for all to see?
July 10, 2003
July 08, 2003
July 06, 2003
June 30, 2003
June 28, 2003
June 26, 2003
June 25, 2003
trust me
We do.
(Baby tuna sashimi in ponzu sauce at Sushi Nozawa. Sublime.)
June 24, 2003
shadow monster
At the Natural History Museum, an almost intimate space. You enter into a sort of relationship with the dinosaurs and their bones.
June 23, 2003
June 22, 2003
dare I eat a peach?
Maybe it's just a residual city-kid mindset, but I still marvel at the idea that you can grow a peach tree in your back yard. (Not mine, incidentally; this tree is in my cousin's yard. So full of peaches it became hard to pick them all before they dropped to the ground and became mulch.)
June 18, 2003
June 17, 2003
June 16, 2003
June 14, 2003
June 12, 2003
The Russians
Our neighborhood sometimes reminds me of a turn of the (last) century Russian village. The park a block away is always filled with old Russian men playing cards and dominos all day and into the night. The women sit on park benches and gossip or just... well... sit.
In case it wasn't obvious, yes, I tweaked this image to better capture the old fashioned feeling.
June 11, 2003
June 10, 2003
June 09, 2003
June 08, 2003
June 06, 2003
June 04, 2003
June 03, 2003
spring in LA
When we moved here, I thought California was without seasons. But February came and the streets were drenched with a heavy scent. It smelled like someone had spent the evenings careening around the city tossing glass bottles of cheap perfume out the car window. That was night blooming jasmine.
And then came April and the trees turned purple. Entire streets in Beverly Hills lined with them, but everywhere you see these stately trees with their ferny leaves and their vivid lavender petals. It was a revelation. Everyone knows about the cherry blossoms in Washington DC. Who ever heard of the jacaranda in Los Angeles?
May 30, 2003
May 27, 2003
May 26, 2003
May 24, 2003
May 22, 2003
May 21, 2003
May 19, 2003
May 16, 2003
May 14, 2003
May 12, 2003
May 09, 2003
May 08, 2003
May 07, 2003
dog child
This entry is for the Photo Friday theme: small.
May 06, 2003
May 04, 2003
May 03, 2003
May 02, 2003
at the Grand Luxe
The Grand Luxe Cafe is new to LA, an import from Las Vegas. Its roots are showing. Cavernous interior, baroque design elements that should clash but somehow don't, and a long wait. It takes itself a little too seriously.
Then again, maybe it fits right in here.
The number of people waiting in the foyer would fill another restaurant.
Down the Spanish-influenced hallway into the Italianate ballroom -- I mean main room.
The ghost busboy.
The waiter with his white kerchief (well, okay, napkin). Right pocket means I Surrender.
There is nevertheless something oddly lovely about the place.
And the food's not bad.
April 30, 2003
April 28, 2003
April 26, 2003
April 24, 2003
April 22, 2003
April 21, 2003
at Barney's
I'm important, can't you see?
Three blind men and one small boy.