Month: May 2012

Saving for College

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

As I’ve written about before, our daughter will be going to UC Berkeley in the fall. This, of course, means we’ll be paying for college for a few years. So, in addition to our daughter working on the scholarship side, I’ve been doing a bit of work on the expense reduction side. I’m pleased to report it is bearing fruit:

  • We have a HARP refinance in process. This will take our interest rate down from 5.125% to 3.875%. This will be a fair chunk of change each month.
  • We just changed auto insurers. We had been with AAA, and they wanted $2765 for 6 months. Other quotes we were getting were equally outrageous: eSurance was $2988, Safeco was $2666, Liberty Mutual (with the UCLA Alumni discount!) was $4135.60, and Progressive was $5,530. However, GEICO was much less — $1690, plus about $400 to add umbrella liability coverage.
  • The County Assessor sent us some mixed news: our housing value has gone down (the bad), but the good is they reassessed us at the lower value, meaning our property taxes will go down

We’re still looking into some other avenues to reduce monthly costs, plus our food and fuel costs will assuredly go down once the teen is esconced up at Berkeley.

Music: American Idiot (Green Day): Jesus Of Suburbia / City Of The Damned / I Don’t Care / Dearly Beloved / Tales Of Another Broken Home
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Assessing the Ahmanson 2012-2013 Season

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The Ahmanson Theatre has just announced their 2012-2013 season, so I guess I should comment on the season offerings:

  • “Seminar” (Oct. 10-Nov. 18). A transfer of the Broadway production of Teresa Rebeck’s comedy about a group of young novelists who are criticized and sedued by a bullying editor. Stars Jeff Goldblum. I hadn’t heard of this before; I’m not sure I’m that interested. Probably not ticketing.
  • “Anything Goes” (Nov. 27-Jan. 6) the touring version of the current Broadway production. This one will star Rachel York in the role of Reno Sweeney.I’ve only see Anything Goes once before–it was the first production we saw at Cabillo Music Theatre. Good music, and the production should be good. Will probably ticket.
  • “Backbeat” (Jan. 16-Feb. 24). This is a new musical in development about how the Beatles became the Beatles. The musical focuses on Stuart Sutcliffe, the so-called “fifth” Beatle who died in 1962. The show ran in Glasgow, Scotland, and in London recently and is scheduled to open in Toronto in July… and will supposedly transfer to Broadway from the Ahmanson. The score features the rock classics such as “Money,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Twist and Shout,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Please Mr. Postman,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music” and more. This is potentially interesting. Will probably ticket.
  • “End of the Rainbow” (March 12-April 21). Peter Quilter’s play with music charting the final days of singer Judy Garland. In the show, concert sequences are meshed with private-life scenes involving Garland, her husband and her accompanist. The L.A. premiere will again star two-time Olivier Award winner and current Tony Award nominee Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland. Tony Award winner Terry Johnson will again direct. This has gotten good reviews in the New York run. Will probably ticket.
  • “Fela!” (April 25-May 5, 2013). The 2010 Tony Award-nominated Best Musical biography of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti. Bill T. Jones directs and choreographs. It has a book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones, music and lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, additional lyrics by Jim Lewis, additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean, and was conceived by Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis and Stephen Hendel. This was just at the Ahmanson in December 2011 as the replacement for “Funny Girl!”. I saw it then; I have no desire to see it again.
  • “The Scottsboro Boys” (May 21-June 30, 2013). The provocative musical about a grim chapter in American justice. In the Depression, a group of African-American teenagers were jailed for a crime they did not commit. The musical satire — with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb and book by David Thompson — is offered in the form the defunct theatrical convention of the minstrel show. This had a short life on Broadway, and is currently in a revised staging in San Diego–and I was annoyed I couldn’t get down to see it. Definately will ticket.

In general, a so-so season. The only show I’m really excited about is “Scottsboro Boys”, with the “Anything Goes” revival as a runner up. The tours coming into the Pantages were also so-so,  with the only excitement being “The Book of Mormon”, “Catch Me if You Can”, and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. … that reminds me, however… I must see if I can get “Follies” tickets for this weekend, and it’s about time to go to the box office to get “Book of Mormon” tickets.

Music: The Wiz (1977 Original Broadway Cast): The Feeling We Once Had

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March/April/May Changes to California Highways

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A bit delayed, but I’m finally getting around to another update. Again, I’m using Amaya, although I have Blue Griffon standing by if I need it. The blog is also progressing well, so I do encourage everyone to follow it. As always, you can keep up to date on the latest headlines related to California Highways by friending the California Highways Facebook group. I’ve set it up to get the regular Metro.Net headline posting, and I regularly highlight any highway related articles I find on the net. It is also your place to share news about California Highways, and I pick up that news from there for these updates.

On to the update… Entries for the following routes were updated based on my reading of the papers (which are posted to California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum and misc.transport.road, but didn’t find any updates there. This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research(1), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or Usenet) from Anneliese Ågren(2), Michael Ballard(3), Andrew Leung(4), David Markowitz(5), Oscar Voss(6), Tom & Millie(7)]: Route 1(1,2),Route 4(1,3), I-5(1), Pre-1964 Route 7(1), Route 7(6), I-8(1), I-10(1), Route 12(1), Route 17(2), Route 20(1), Route 24(1), Route 39(1), Route 46(3), Route 47(1), US 50(1), Route 65(3), Route 66(4), Route 68(5), I-80(1), Route 91(1), Route 99(1,3), US-101(1), Route 103(1), Route 111(6), Route 121(1), Route 160(1), Route 190(1), I-210(1), Route 237(1), I-405(1), I-580(1),I-605(1), I-710(1), I-880(1), Siskiyou County Route A12(7).

Added the book Where the Road Begins: The Saga of Big Sur’s Pioneer Families by Peter Gray Scott to the recommended reading list, based on a recommendation from Anneliese Ågren. Also added a link to Pacific Electric and the Growth of the San Fernando Valley, which I picked up recently and has wonderful information and pictures of the San Fernando Valley.

Updated some information on the theft of mission bells along El Camino Real in Ventura.

Alexis Tate provided some reports of broken links on one of the links pages. As a reminder, if you ever discover a broken link on any page, please report it to me so I can correct it or remove it. In other link changes, Bridget Summers submitted DistractedDrivingHelp, which is an omnibus site that collects a number of resources to help in the fight against distracted driving. Given the importance of that fight, I added it to the Other Links page, and included links to the sites on distracted driving from the AAA Foundation and the California Highway Patrol. The students at Pinewood Elementary School also submitted a link for the history page–they found a good site with the history of the transcontinental railroad. As a reminder: I always welcome link updates or link suggestions, but I don’t just link to help people advertise. Links must be highway related, and I review every link I add. Note that “highway related” does not mean “travel related”.

Based on information provided by Charlie McCoy, added information on Classified Landscaped Freeways. A Classified Landscaped Freeway is a section of freeway with planting that meets the criteria of the Outdoor Advertising Regulations. It is used in the control and regulation of Outdoor Advertising Displays. A full list of such freeways may be found here, supposedly there are regular additions that can be found here. Classified Lanscaped information was added to the following routes: Route 1, Route 2, Route 4, I-5, I-8, I-10, Route 12, Route 13, Route 14, I-15,Route 17, Route 20, Route 22, Route 23, Route 24, Route 29, Route 30, Route 33,Route 37, I-40, Route 41, Route 44, Route 47, Route 49, US 50, Route 51, Route 52, Route 54, Route 55, Route 56, Route 57, Route 58, Route 60, Route 65, Route 67, Route 68, Route 71, Route 73, Route 78, I-80, Route 84, Route 85, Route 86, Route 87, Route 90, Route 91, Route 92, Route 94, Route 99, US 101, I-105, I-110, Route 113, Route 118, Route 120, Route 125, Route 126, Route 134, Route 135, Route 154, Route 160, Route 163, Route 168, Route 170, Route 178, Route 180, Route 198, US 199, I-205, I-210, I-215, Route 217, Route 237, Route 238, Route 241, Route 242, Route 244, Route 259, Route 260, Route 261, Route 275,I-280, Route 299, Route 330, I-380, I-405, I-580, I-605, I-680, I-710, I-780, I-805, I-880, Route 905, I-980.

Checked the Calnexus page, but I don’t think they are updating the exit number lists anymore.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page. Noted the passage of the following item:

  • AB 610 (Solorio) Vehicles: specialized license plates: Veterinary Medical Board: pilot program.
    Under existing law, the Department of Motor Vehicles issues environmental and other specialized license plates. The issuance of some of those license plates is subject to additional fees. Existing law prohibits the department from establishing a specialized license plate program for a state agency until the department has received not less than 7,500 applications for the plates within 12 months after the date of the department’s approval of the agency’s initial application to sponsor a specialized license plate program. This bill would authorize the Veterinary Medical Board to contact the department by June 30, 2012, and indicate its intent to undertake collection of additional applications and fees or deposits for an additional period of 12 months in order to obtain the minimum 7,500 applications for a special license plate the board is seeking to sponsor pursuant to existing law. The bill would make this provision inoperative on July 1, 2013, and would repeal this provision on January 1, 2014.
    Chaptered April 26, 2012. Statute Chapter 9.

I was also amused by the title of SJR 27, the “Are You Dense Day”. Alas, it wasn’t what I was hoping for, instead being focused on Breast Cancer density testing (not that such testing is a bad thing; rather, I was hoping for a day where we could go around to people saying, “What? Are you dense?!?”.

Noted that one of the CTC items below identified that portions of former US 99W (that are neither Route 99 nor I-5) may still be in the state highway system. This is best seen starting around Williams, CA, where there is a road roughly parallel to I-5 that appears to be called “Old Hwy 99W”, “County Road 99W”, “Highway 99W” (as in Williams, CA), “99W Highway”, “State Highway 99W”, and “Road 99W”. The latter designation is co-signed with Tehama County Route A8 north of San Benito Avenue near Red Bluff, CA. It is unclear if these portions have postmiles. Information on this was added to the “SUFFIXED” section of the Route 99 entry.

I checked the CTC Liaison page for the results of the February, March, April, and May meetings. The following items were of interest (note that the results from the May meeting were not yet posted):

Read More …

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A Trailer Park Worth Visiting

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Great American Trailer Park MusicalMost of the time, when you see trailer parks, you don’t stop in. You drive on past, oblivious to the goings-on inside. We’ll I’ve got a trailer park that is worth visiting–“Armadillo Acres”, in Starke FL. Now, to make your life a little easier, you can find “Armadillo Acres” in old-town Newhall, right next to a Mexican restaurant.

Perhaps I should explain. “Armadillo Acres” is the fictional setting for “The Great American Trailer Park Musical“, on-stage at REP East Playhouse in Newhall until June 16. In presenting this show, the REP has transformed itself into a trailer park: Pabst Blue Ribbon, tacky accents, tacky dress, and tacky demeanor. It has done this to support a show that itself it tacky, but is also incredibly funny, well performed, and a delight to watch. This show is a hoot–a load of fun performed as only REP can do it.

“The Great American Trailer Park Musical” (book by Betsy Kelso, with music and lyrics by David Nehls) can be enjoyed on two levels. On the top (or should I say “over the top”), it is a celebration of all things Trailer Park and “White Trash”: from the Trailer Park culture itself, with its pregnancy and messy relationships and borderline incest and tackyness, to how that culture is portrayed on television, advertising, QVC, and such. But deeper inside, GATPM is a love story–a story about a couple whose relationship has persevered for over 20 years, and the relationships of those around them with the men in their life. Of course, they don’t quite present it in those words, and the relationships (especially if you’ve seen Jerry Springer or Sally Jesse) may not be what you expect.

At its heart, GATPM is the story of Jeannie Garstecki (Kristen Heitman) and Norbert Garstecki (Jeremiah Lowder): two high school sweethearts (the math nerd (she) and the football jock (he)) who have been together 20 years. After a traumatic incident at the beauty salon, Jeannie became agoraphobic, and hasn’t set foot outside of her trailer for almost 20 years. It is their anniversary, and she has promised Norbert she’ll go outside and he can take her somewhere special–the Ice Capades! This basic story is introduced to us (and carried on throughout the show) by the trailer park equivalent of a greek chorus: the trailer park owner, Betty Burnside (Leslie Berra)–a tall, well-worn gal who has seen everything, especially in this park; “Lin” (Lori D’itri)–short for Linoleum, whose husband is on death row in the Florida Penitentiary; and “Pickles” (Beth Ann Sweezer)–a young woman who wants a baby so bad she has continual hysterical pregnancies. Into this mix is thrown Pippi (Shannon Bouknight), a stripper on the run from her psychotic boyfriend Duke (Luke Barnett). Pippi moves into the trailer park to hide, and Norbert has a wife who has been unavailable for 20 years. You can figure out the rest. Let’s just say that the story plays out with humor both small and large, amplified by stereotypical “white trash” behaviors, and magnified by the hilarious videos projects on screens on the side and the clever music and lyrics.

All of the performances in this production were excellent and each actor has their moment to shine. I walked out of this production going: these guys were perfect–they could sing, they could act, and most importantly, they were having fun on stage and conveying that fun to the audience. There are a few performances and moments I want to highlight. The first is Beth Ann Sweezer as “Pickles”. Sweezer has a smile and a bubbly personality that light up the stage, and was just a joy to watch in every scene she was in. Your eyes were drawn to her as a result (and not just because of the pregnancy belly), and she made the show fun. She also had great comic timing, which was especially demonstrated in her scenes as Tina from Oklahoma City. The second highlight to me was Kristen Heitman. Initially, she didn’t fit my image of Jeannie, but she won me over with her perkiness–and more importantly, her singing voice. She truly shined in numbers such as “Owner of My Heart”, “Panic”, “But He’s Mine”, and particularly “Flushed Down The Pipes” (which had the most hilarious accompanying video I’ve seen in ages). The third highlight was Shannon Bouknight as Pippi. Again, she was having fun with her role (and especially that pole dance!), but man, could this young woman sing. This was highlighted in many of the numbers with Jeannie (such as “But He’s Mine” and “Panic”). Lastly, as Norbert, Jeremiah Lowder, exhibited a gentle charm that was infectious.

The show was directed by Mark Kaplan, who did a wonderful job of bringing out the inner “white trash” of his actors, and making the production come across as natural and fun. Choreography was by Stephen Bailey and was effective for the REP space. Vocal direction was by Leslie Berra. The music was prerecorded (the REP doesn’t really have space for an orchestra, let alone an onstage band), and was not credited in the program.

The production aspects of the show equaled the acting quality. Much credit goes to the regular REP team. Jeff Hyde was back with a spectacular set design that put four trailers on the small stage, utilizing a turntable and other tricks to also provide inside views of the two of them. Art Direction (which likely means helping Jeff with the numerous design and props) were the REP artistic directors, Ovington Michael Owston and Mikee Schwinn. These three transformed the entire REP facility and did a great job of setting the stage. As an aside: this is one thing I love about the REP–the show isn’t just on the stage… for they transform their lobby and bar into a parallel area whose them echoes what is on the stage. The costumes (by Claudia Alexopoulos) and wigs (by Jennifer Alexopoulos) were period-appropriate and (especially for the wigs) appropriately tacky. The sound design by Steven “Nanook” Burkholder was a step above his normal work, with on-actor mics (something one rarely sees at the REP) and appropriate sound effects. The videos (by Jeremiah Lowder and Mikee Schwinn) were period-perfect clips from advertising and TV shows, and augmented the action perfectly. The lighting by Tim Christianson was effective and unobtrusive, and did a great job of setting the scene. Vicki Lightner was stage manager, assisted by Christina Gonzalez.

“The Great American Trailer Park Musical” continues through June 16 at the REP. Tickets are available through the REP Online Box Office. Go see it; you’ll have a wonderful time, and never look at trailer parks the same. Following Trailer Park at the REP are the two shows in the more mature “81 series”: “The Laramie Project” (running July 13-July 28) and “Playdates” (running August 17-September 1).

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: May will end with the production of “Seussical” at Nobel Middle School. I wanted to see “Follies” at the Ahmanson, but that doesn’t look like it will work out. June is more open, but does feature both “Addams Family” and “Million Dollar Quartet” at the Pantages, as well as the Palisades High School mega-picnic and the Wilshire Blvd Temple Camps 60th Anniversary. July features “The Savannah Disputation” at the Colony, “The Laramie Project” at REP East, and “Meet Me In St. Louis” at Cabrillo. August is more open, but will bring “Memphis” at the Pantages and “Playdates” at REP East.  As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Greatest Hits I & II (Linda Ronstadt): Desparado

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Friday News Chum: Birthdays, Roses, Motel 6, Junk Food, Made in America, and Carmageddon II delayed

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Well, it’s Friday at lunch, and you know what that means… time to clear out the accumulated links. This week, they are all across the board.

  • Happy Birthday To You. I’m sure by now you’re aware of my tradition of birthday songs. I used to post these on LiveJournal, but LJ has begun to lose its audience, so I now post them on Facebook*. So naturally I was interested when someone posted a heat chart showing the distribution of birth dates. Most birthdays are clustered in the summer months (Jul-Sep, with a little overlap in Jun). This gives us an idea what people are doing come October and November. People also seem to avoid giving birth on major holidays (look at the anomalous coolness of July 4, December 25, and Thanksgiving… but seem to want to give birth on Valentine’s Day and just before the end of the calendar year (nothing like a little tax deduction).
    *: If you’re an LJ reader and still want an LJ song, please let me know. Also, if you are a reader of this blog and haven’t friended me on FB, please do so. Please drop me a message so I know you’re doing this as a blog reader.
  • Whose Garden Was This. At our previous house, I had a large collection of different varieties of roses. I would plant them in January or February as bare-root roses. I’ve been meaning to do this at our current house, but the last time I went to Lowes, they had an extremely poor selection. Here’s part of the reason: roses are fading away in popularity. People are buying fewer roses, and fewer growers are producing new varieties or maintaining old variety. This is sad. Having a bush of lovely fragrant hybrid roses is a delight to the senses.
  • I’m Changing My Name To Chrysler. The movement of corporations and brands is something that fascinates me–it has going back to the debacle of the NBC “N”. So I read with interest that Motel 6 has moved from Accord to Hilton’s owner, Blackstone. I wonder if that means Motel 6 might connect to the Hilton reservation line, accord Hilton Honor points, etc. Could be interesting–I don’t think Hilton has a real budget brand. In other news, NBC is looking to push Microsoft out of the online version of MSNBC (they are already out of the TV network).
  • Don’t Slay That Potato. A couple of food related articles. First, echoing the fact that “gluten-free” is the current in-fad (not that I’m complaining), Frito-Lay is joining the bandwagon in getting its snacks certified as gluten-free. It is important to remember that Gluten-Free .NE. healthy be default (just as Kosher .NE. healthy). Does it really serve society to have more gluten-free junk food? Speaking of junk food, a congressman has introduced a bill that removes pizza as a vegetable. In understanding this issue, it is important to realize that “pizza is a vegetable” is as meaningless a phrase as “Obamacare”. Pizza is not a vegetable: the real debate was whether a serving of pizza had sufficient vegetable material to count as a serving of vegetable. It’s like asking if spinach pasta is a serving of vegetables. The debate raises an interesting question: does eating tomatoes count as eating vegetables, and how much concentrated tomatoes (which is what tomato paste is) constitutes a serving. Further, what makes pizza bad as a food is not the tomatoes or even the crust — it is the fat that comes with the cheese and pepperoni. But we neglect educating the public on these facts, preferring the sound-bite of “pizza is a vegetable”.
  • Made in America. Stupid debates (such as the one about pizza) seem to be made in America. We’ve certainly seen the dumbing down of America; this is demonstrated by the speeches that Congress gives. So is there anything good made in America? The answer, of course, is yes–as demonstrated by this list of 10 products still made in America.
  • Take Me For a Ride in Your Car Car. Two transportation articles. First, it looks like Carmageddon II will be delayed. As you may recall, Carmageddon was when the entire I-405 was shut down in the Sepulveda Pass to demolish the southern half of the Mulholland Bridge. Part II was planned for June, but that looks to be delayed. Why? According to the article, “Workers have encountered dozens of unexpected utility lines that need to be removed or relocated from the area, he said. Retaining walls must be rebuilt because of manufacturing defects. Additionally, a $300 million lawsuit – filed last year by a Bel Air landowner – forced Metro to move a freeway on-ramp near the Getty Museum 150 feet to the west.The lawsuit, which claimed a planned, nearby golf course would be negatively impacted by the widening, was dismissed last month, it but still necessitated the construction changes. And then there’s the FBI. The agency works out of a building at 1100 Wilshire Boulevard, near the construction site. Government officials are demanding Metro workers go through security clearance before working on the sensitive FBI lines.” That last part is fascinating to me, as a security guy. Of course, when Carmageddon II happens, people will need to ride Metro. Guess what? They are going to have to buy TAP cards (the reusable card costs $1 on top of the fare) — gates will be locked, and there will be no more paper tickets.

Lastly, as a reminder to me: There are some interesting musicals previewing at the NoHo Arts Center.

Music: Ramblin’ Boy (Tom Paxton): Harper

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Graduation Day

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

I’m taking today as a vacation day because of a very special thing happening this evening: my daughter is graduating from Van Nuys High School. I’ve seen this little girl grow and blossom into a delightful young woman. She’s still a little girl in some ways (and she’ll always be my little girl), and she’s still a typical teenager, but more and more she’s showing maturity and drive that will do her well.

Today is the culmination of 13 years of hard work within the public school system of LA Unified. Starting from kindergarten days at Lassen Elementary, through Vintage MST Magnet, Nobel Middle School, and now Van Nuys High School, she’s achieved. Some years were harder than others (3rd grade was particularly bad), and some courses were harder than others. There have been ups and downs, but she had demonstrated that she enjoys hard work, much as she complains about it. She has also demonstrated a strong loyalty and love for her friends.

I thank the teachers that have been positive influences over the years. As much as LA Unified gets maligned, there are some wonderful teachers and staff members out there. I thank the friends that have been here for her–both her friends and our friends. I especially thank the two women who are not here to see her graduate but influenced her life immensely: Lauren Uroff and Karen Denise Pratt Holmes. We know you are watching this evening, just as we know her grandfathers are watching and smiling.

When I graduated from high school back in 1977, my father wrote in my yearbook the following quote from his mother: “Not failure, but low aim is crime.” Erin has always aimed high and worked hard. Not everything worked out the way she wanted, but the universe has ways of compensating and moving her to the right places. We saw this as her focus shifted from technical lighting to a love of history and the effort that was Academic Decathalon. We’re seeing it as she goes off to college: for all her plans to go to a private college (notably Reed or Wash U St. Louis), she’s ending up at UC Berkeley… which is possibly the best choice for her in terms of the student diversity (which she loves), academic diversity (which she eats up), and the complete unique funkiness that is the city of Berkeley.

This summer we’ll pack her up and she’ll move to Northern California, where I’m sure she’ll be welcomed by our friends in the area, and more importantly, will make tons and tons of new friends in what I’m sure will be another life-changing experience. I have confidence that she’ll exceed beyond our wildest dreams.

Music: Rooms: A Rock Romance (2009 Original Off-Broadway Cast): My Choice

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Escape the Traffic — Pimping the Vanpool

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Vanpooling has been heavily on my mind of late, which leads to the obvious lunchtime plug: Do you commute from the North San Fernando Valley to El Segundo every day? Want to escape the grind? Join our vanpool! Ask me how!

Seriously, the RIF combined with some other factors has reduced our ridership, and we need new riders. So if you know people that commute from the valley to El Segundo every day, with a work schedule of roughly 7am to 330pm, have them contact me.

I’m highlighting this (of course) because of an article I discovered in my lunchtime reading. INRIX has released their new traffic scorecard, and guess what the #1 most congested stretch of freeway is?

“Los Angeles: A 13-mile stretch of the San Diego Fwy/I-405 NB from I-105/Imperial Hwy interchange through the Getty Center Dr. exit that takes 33 minutes on average, with 20 minutes of delay.”

I drive the van on that stretch every day on our way home. We have our tricks, but from Santa Monica northbound, it is a long.  Of course, we can’t forget the #7 item:

” Los Angeles: An eight-mile stretch of I-405 SB (San Diego Fwy) from Nordhoff St. to Mulholland Dr. that takes 22 minutes on average, with 14 minutes of delay.”

We drive that every morning, although the van can use the carpool lane. So if you want to avoid having to drive those stretches, come join our van and sleep instead (or listen to scintillating podcasts). You can contact me for information.

Curious about where else is congested? #2 is in NYC (a 16-mile stretch of the Long Island Expy/I-495 EB from the Maurice Ave. exit to Minneola Ave./Willis Ave. exit); #3 is in LA (a 15-mile stretch of the Santa Monica Fwy/I-10 EB from CA-1/Lincoln Blvd. exit to Alameda St.); #4 is in NYC (an intense three-mile stretch of I-678 NB (Van Wyck Expy) from Belt Pkwy to Main St.), and #5 is in LA (a 17.5-mile stretch of I-5 SB (Santa Ana/Golden St Fwys) from E. Caesar Chavez Ave to Valley View Ave.). Pittsburgh has one entry at #9, and San Francisco as one at #10 (CA-4 EB (California Delta Hwy) from Bailey Rd to Somersville Rd.). Overall, the worst traffic cities are Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Bridgeport.

Of course, I do have other traffic/automated related stuff for you. For example, did you know that Ford Corporation mortgaged their iconic blue oval logo during their recent bankrupcy? They did, and they just won it back. Prefer riding your bike? Here are 25 awesome and unusual bike racks. Prefer public transportation? How about a map of bus and streetcar lines in Los Angeles… from 1934!

 

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Historical Oddities

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

By now, you’ve probably realized I love history and historical oddities. Here are a few historical items saved during lunchtime reading:

 

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