los-angeles – Page 5 – Observations Along the Road

Mama, mama, forget your pies

Posted onThursday, November 12, 2015Thursday, November 12, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=tombstones If you can’t figure out why this post is named what it is, you’ll have to read to the end. If you get the connection, I’ve just created an earworm. In any case, this post is a requiem for some things that are nearly or dearly departed:

Live Music Venues. Michael Johnathan over at Woodsongs has an elegant piece of the death of the small music venues — in particular, the venues that support folk or local musicians. Why is this happening? As he writes: “Why? The cost of opening, the massive investment people are making to open the doors, is un-recoupable in the current music environment. The world of the arts has changed, my friends. And whenever an arts endeavor launches as a “money enterprise” it is doomed for failure. That sounds anti-capitalistic and I don’t mean it that way. Music venues can thrive, flourish and make a living for many good folks … when it’s done right. My point is the business plans most are using, for the arts, are all wrong.” By the way, the argument he makes also apply to 99 seat theatre — hear that, Equity?
The Lockheed L-1011. Back in the 1970s, there was a war going on between Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed. Boeing had come out with the 747, and was attempting to go against upstarts with 3-engine planes: the Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011. The Lockheed craft was a marvelous craft, but not only did it not succeed, it took down Lockheed’s commercial aircraft business with it. Here’s a detailed analysis of the L-1011 and why it was great… and why it failed.
George Barris. George Barris, car customizer for the studios, died last week. Barris was behind such iconic creations as the Batmobile and the Munstermobile. Most people will remember Barris’ shop in North Hollywood.
US Air, PSA, Reno Air, …. Last week, US Airways died, and with it the history of quite a few airlines. They merged into American, which was also the winner of a number of airlines. Luckily, American is retaining US Airway’s tradition of Heritage Plane Liveries.
LA Railway and Pacific Electric. Here’s an article that links to a cool map of the Historic Routes and Few Remains of Los Angeles’s Massive Streetcar System. Of course, if you want to ride the cars now, you can just go out to Orange Empire Railway Museum.
Betamax. Yes, Sony has finally stopped the production of Betamax. Some of you are going: I thought it was already dead. Others are going, what’s Betamax?
Judah Maccabee. Sadly, he’s been replaced by Santa Claus.

Oh, right, the title of the post. Take a listen:

And They Say Los Angeles Has No History

Posted onWednesday, October 28, 2015Wednesday, October 28, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=los-angeles Many people say that LA has no history, but here are some recent articles touching upon LA history:

Saved from the Wrecking Ball. If you have ever driven down the 5 freeway past Sun Valley (excuse me, 5 past Sun Valley), you’ve seen a set of golden arches in an automobile wrecking yard (and no, they aren’t the golden arches you are thinking of). These golden arches once stood above the car wash and Tiny Naylor’s coffee shop on Laurel Canyon at Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, and look roughly like a trio of gigantic boomerangs. They were built in the early 1960s, and may have been inspired by the “boomerangs” that adorn the Cathedral of Brasilia, designed by Futurist architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1958. They rose 86 feet from ground level through the roof of the car wash and were originally painted white. After the car wash was torn down, they were moved to the Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking (FB) yard. Today, it was announced that the Aadlen Brothers yard is closing. The final day for the 53-year old, 26-acre yard in Sun Valley is New Year’s Eve, and there will be a big sale beforehand. Some pieces, however, are not for sale: they have been donated to the Valley Relics Museum. This includes an early 1930s Helms Bakery twin-coach, an amazing mid-century car that has been modified to look like a shoe, and the aforementioned arches. As I drive to the Colony Theatre in 2016, I’ll miss seeing those arches…
A Different Type of Shipping. If you went to UCLA in the 1980s or before, you’ll remember a little restaurant on Westwood Blvd called Ships. Ships Coffee Shop (FB) was open 24 hours (great for students), had wonderful breakfasts, and had a toaster on every table. There was one in Westwood, one in Culver City and one in West LA. Alison Martino, of Vintage Los Angeles, has a wonderful remembrance of Ships in Los Angeles Magazine. Ships was a model for Googie architecture. The first two Ships (run by Emmett Shipman) (Culver City and Westwood) were designed by Architect Martin Stern, Jr.; the third Ships at La Cienega and Olympic was designed by the architecture firm Armet & Davis. Armet and Davis also designed… you guessed it… the arches just saved at Aadlen Brothers.
A True Ghost Town. I grew up in Westchester, a bedroom suburb just outside of the LA International Airport (LAX). When Westchester started, the airport was nothing. But soon the jets came, and soon the jet noise came — 707s and 727s were noisy. This led to the death of a number of communities: the portion of Westchester S of 92nd Street (we lived on 90th), and the community of Surfridge, on the bluffs you fly over when you take off from LA. I had numerous friends that lived in Surfridge when I was young (among them, Paul Jones, the brother of Anissa Jones from Family Affair). All those families were bought out and relocated by the airport. Luckily, Tres Bohemes has a wonderful look back at Surfridge, and the elite that once lived there, in the days before the Airport and the El Segundo Blue Butterfly. (…tying things back to the Googie theme, Westchester was also the home of the Loyola Theatre which had a wonderful neon sign out front, and the famous Googie Panns Coffee Shop, which is still there and operating)
Three Scoops for 15¢. If you grew up in Los Angeles, you remember Thrifty Drug Store, and you probably remember them for their ice cream, which was (for the longest time) 1 scoop for 5¢. I particularly enjoyed their chocolate chip and rocky road. All that is left of Thrifty is their ice cream brand, which was preserved by Rite Aid when they bought Thrifty in 1996. (coincidentally, the same year that the last Ships closed). Today, news came out that Walgreens is buying Rite-Aid, and the question on every Angelino’s lips was… what will happen to Thrifty ice cream. For now, it’s safe: Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso said Rite Aid products will be available while the drugstore continues to initially operate under its own name and that other decisions on product lines will be made later. Evidently, the question has social media (especially Twitter) in an uproar. (… and, to tie things back to Ships and Aadlen, the Thrifty at La Brea and Rodeo in Baldwin Hills had a 52′ Trilon (which is still standing), similar to the car wash arches)

Chum Locally: Southern California News Chum

Posted onFriday, September 4, 2015Friday, September 4, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=los-angeles This collection of news chum (perhaps the ultimate for this trip, or the penultimate) all relates to Southern California:

Adaptive Reuse of the HeraldEx Building. Whereas other cites let decaying buildings rot, Los Angeles turns them into film sets. When the only real competition to the LA Times — the Los Angeles Herald Examiner — closed down back in 1989 (I still have copies of the last issue), the architectural gem that what the HeraldEx building in downtown (designed by Julia Morgan, the same architect behind Hearst Castle) shut down as well. It has had an active life since then as a filmset — not only serving as a newsroom, but as a prison and number other locals. The site has finally been sold by the Hearst Organization, and is slated to become a mix of creative offices and mixed use, preserving the architectural quality of the building and the ornate lobby.
The 213 Expands. The area code 213 is just a shadows of what it once was. In the early days, it covered all of Southern California. Nowadays, it just covers the downtown core. But no more. The 323 area code is running out of numbers, and with 213 projected to be good until 2050, they are expanding 213 to be an overlay for 323 as well. Me? I’m in 818, although when I was much younger I was in 213 (but that area is now 310).
Are They Building It With an Allen Wrench? The first Ikea in Southern California was in Burbank. We’re in there regularly; it is across the street from the Colony Theatre and their restaurant makes a great grab for dinner before the show. But that Ikea is a dead furniture store walking. Construction workers have been issued their hex nut wrenches, and America’s largest Ikea is being assembled a miles way in Burbank. The new 456,000-square-foot store will be twice as big as the original 242,000-square-foot location built in 1990 located about a mile down San Fernando Road from the new site near the 5 freeway.
The Worm Capital of the World. When you think of Compton, what comes to mind? The recent “Out of Compton” movie? How about the worm capital of the world? Compton is home to Rainbow Mealworms, one of the largest suppliers of mealworms. Worms and crickets are being touted as “the next sustainable protein source“, although it may not be as eco friendly as is being touted. The LA Times has an article on the growing use of edible insects, and Rainbow Mealworm’s part in it.

ETA: Some sad news:

The End of the Line. Allied Model Trains used to be a great store on the Westside, with not only trains but loads of books on train history. Around 1990, it moved to Culver City, in a building that was modeled after Union Station downtown. In 2007, the long-time owner sold the business and moved it down the street (the Union Station-model becoming a Samys Camera). Business continued to dwindle, and in July, Allied Model Trains (now owned by The Whistle Stop in Pasadena) closed its doors for good. There was going to be an auction of the remaining stock. Now that’s on hold, as a fire last night damaged the store and stock. After 69 years, there is no longer a train store on the westside.

I Don’t Have a Good Feeling About This

Posted onTuesday, September 1, 2015Tuesday, September 1, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=theatre2 Continuing the process of cleaning out the accumulated links, as themed link three-sets form like hurricanes in the Central Pacific…. This collection all relates to upcoming theatre productions that don’t leave me with a good anticipatory feeling:

Jordanian Adaptation of Oliver!. Lionel Bart’s musical, Oliver!, is a well known adaptation of Charles Dicken’s “Oliver Twist“. One of the more problematic features of Oliver Twist (a story I happen to like) is the potentially antisemitic portray of Fagin, the old man who runs the gang of thieves. The musical version made a distinct attempt to tone down the antisemitism (especially when it came to Broadway — if you contrast the original version from the West End). So naturally, hearing that this show will be done in an Arab country — an area where antisemitism isn’t only common but encouraged — doesn’t bode well. Adding to the fear is the following note from the article: “Working with a local community center in the Jordanian capital, the story has been updated to a modern Arab city.” Let’s see: Lovable Jewish merchants running a gang of thieves in a modern Arab city. What could possibly go wrong?
K-Pop Adaption of In The Heights. Lin Manual Miranda’s musical In The Heights, was a hit when it reached Broadway in 2008. It brought a hispanic flavor to inner-city hip-hop with a language that theatre hasn’t seen before. Theatremania is reporting that the show is soon to open in Seoul Korea, with some footage already available. The musical will play the Blue Square Samsung Card Hall in Hannam-dong beginning September 4, with a cast led by several K-pop stars including Key of SHINee and Jang Dong-woo of INFINITE sharing the role of Usnavi. Mixing K-Pop stars and hip-hop. What could possibly go wrong?
I Can’t Hear You. There are loads and loads of shows planning to open on Broadway., from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s School of Rock to a musical version of American Psycho. But the mind boggles when it hears about another production planning for the Great White Way: The SpongeBox SquarePants Musical. Yup, and no, this isn’t a kids theatre show. Nickelodeon will make its Broadway debut as a producer on the musical, with a score provided by a mixture of classic and contemporary rockers. The full list of composers was announced Aug. 31: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of the band Aerosmith, Tony winner Cyndi Lauper, They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, and T.I., with an additional song by David Bowie and additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. The plot is as follows: “The end is near. Only one sponge can save the day. But he’s going to need help from some of the greatest songwriters in rock and pop music history.” Again, what could possibly go wrong?

P.S.: I can’t resist adding a non-theatre item that also strikes fear in my heart. In Los Angeles, Metrolink has indicated they are purchasing some state-of-the-art locomotives to replace their well worn engines. These Tier 4 locomotives are powerful, fuel-efficient vehicles designed to slash potentially harmful releases of nitrogen oxide and fine particles of diesel exhaust. They also have never been used in passenger service — and heavy service — before. Metrolink officials say the Tier 4 engines have up to 1,700 more horsepower, use less fuel, have longer service lives and are more reliable than rebuilt engines. However, Paul Dyson, president of the Rail Passenger Assn. of California, was concerned the new engines could have “plenty of teething problems” as they go into service, as they are so new they don’t have any service history for passenger use. Some Tier 4 engines are being tested for freight service at Union Pacific Corp. and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., two of the nation’s largest carriers. Lena Kent, a spokesperson for BNSF, said the railroad’s prototypes have “experienced operating issues,” but she declined to elaborate.

Here’s where I get worried. McCarthy, Metrolink’s deputy chief, disagreed with Dyson, saying all Tier 4 components have been tested successfully. “We are not concerned,” he added. “It’s a tried-and-true locomotive.” This reminds me of the High Assurance Brake Job; in particular, the process people. They may never have done a brake job before, but: “Well, no, but we’ve done other mechanic-type work before, and our processes are designed to be adaptable to all situations. We’ve got processes for making sure bolts and stuff are loosened and then tightened later. We’ve got processes to check that we don’t have left over parts when we’re done with the job. We got processes for…”

They’ve never run the locomotive in passenger service before, but all the components have been tested successfully. What could possibly go wrong?

P.P.S.: If you haven’t read the High Assurance Brake Job, you really must. It’s a classic (PDF).

On The Move: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Posted onMonday, August 31, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=travel Continuing to clear out the links… here’s a collection of news chum all being related by the theme of travel or travelling:

Planes. Here’s an interesting article on the Hawaiian Safety Video. We saw this (twice) as we came out here: the use of the tropical locations and the employees (and their cute children) in regular clothes having fun just drew your attention to it. I found it quite well made.
Trains. When you see the logo of a transit system, you rarely thinks: why did they design it that way. Here’s an article exploring that question: Why the LA Metro logo has a notch in it. It was the outgrowth of a conscious design effort to Make Metro Cool. It has even won awards. But it is not alone: London has a conscious effort to design its Underground, including a focus on fonts.
Automobiles. Here are a list of 11 features found on older automobiles that you rarely find today. I still miss a number of these, including the vent windows. I don’t miss the cranks or the gas fillers under the rear license.

Saturday News Chum Stew: Theatre Etiquette, Water, Fat, Cybersecurity, and Science

Posted onSaturday, August 1, 2015Saturday, August 1, 2015Authorcahwyguy

Observation Stew It’s Saturday, and it’s been a busy couple of weeks. Time to clean out the accumulated links. Before I do, however, here’s a reminder link: If you are a Windows user and comtemplating upgrading to Windows 10, you should read my summary post about why I’m waiting, and what I want to remember when I finally do. On to the stew:

Theatre Etiquette. Every since Patti LuPone went into the audience and grabbed a cell phone, how to behave in the theatre has been in the news. In fact, Ms. LuPone has posted an interesting article on her five rules of theatre etiquette — all of which I agree with. There’s also been an interesting article on the prevalence of smart phones in the theatre, which raises the question of why you come to the theatre anyway. The debate goes on and on. Lastly, and I don’t have an article on this one, there’s been a growing discussion on whether Ms. LuPone was right or wrong in what she did: that is, should an actor confront a patron who is using a cell phone? A growing number of people are pointing out that doing that is not the job of the actor — it is the job of the house manager or management-on-site. The actor should pass the word to management to get the situation corrected. I agree with this. P.S.: Just remember this: you are much safer going to live theatre than you are going to a movie (unless you’re an actor). The last time there was an active shooter in a live theatre was 1865. What? Too soon?
Let The Sun Shine In. Back in the 1980s, when I saw Ain’t Misbehavin’, I saw it at the Aquarius Theatre. The building, now Nicolodeon Studios, has a truly fascinating history.
A Birthday Song. You’ve probably wondered about my “list of birthday songs“. That started because I got tired of the traditional “Happy Birthday to You”. Additionally, there was always the question of copyright. It appears the battle is still going on, and it is starting to look like it may not be copyrighted after all. Then again, the copyright might still be there. It’s up to a judge to decide now.
Psychology and the Drought. The drought in California has brought to light some interesting psychology. For the longest times, utilities out here have offered rebates to switch to low-flow toilets and to rip out lawns. The former hasn’t been successful, but recently, the latter has been overly successful. The why is what is interesting: Ripping out your lawn is visible, and we like to keep up with the Joneses. In other words: even though ripping out a lawn saves less water than replacing your toilet, it is a visible advertisement to your neighbors that you are doing something about the drought. They don’t see your toilet or your washing machine. Appearance is everything.
Fat Heads / Fat on the Mind. A few fat related articles. First, have you ever wondered what “fat” taste likes. No, get your mind out of the gutter, I mean the food fat. It turns out fat is a sixth basic taste, up there with sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. In fact, humans may be programmed to like fats and dislike fatty acids. Next are two articles related to which fat is the best to cook with. The answer is: it depends on what you’re doing with the fat. Speaking of sweet fat, here’s a list of 14 LA area ice cream parlors everyone should try.
Nigerian Spammers. We’re working on getting the program together for ACSAC, and I’m pleased to announce that our conference dinner will feature a performance of The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam. But Nigerian spammers are doing things much worse. In particular, they are buying exploit kits to defraud Asian businesses. To carry out the scam, the group often uses the Microsoft Word Intruder exploit kit. The kit can be used to create malicious Word documents that are then sent over email. If opened, the victim’s computer will be infected with a keylogger.The group buys the tools from experienced malicious software coders, paying for remote access tools, keyloggers and exploit kits.
Android Attacks. If you have an Android phone, hopefully by now you’ve heard of Stagefright, an attack on Android phones that involved sending a crafted MMS text message that can trigger remote code execution. You don’t even have to open the message; the attack occurs as part of downloading the message. Until a fix comes across, you should go into your text application and disable automatic downloading of MMS messages. Oh, and Motorola has announced the new Moto X and Moto G phones.
Science Podcasts. Lastly, here’s an article with a list of good science podcasts, although they did leave off my favorite, Quirks and Quarks from the CBC. Some of them look interesting, but I’m getting pretty backed up on podcasts. Certainly Radiolab and Gastropod sound good, but there’s only so much commuting I can do.

Saturday News Chum: Lastpass, Food Waste, Celiacs, Music, and Sons

Posted onSaturday, June 20, 2015Saturday, June 20, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=lougrant It’s Saturday, and that means it is time to clear out the links. These are articles I found interesting during the week, but either didn’t have the time or the inclination to write about then:

The Lastpass Hack. One of the big security items last week was the hack of Password Manager “Lastpass” (which happens to be the password manager I use and recommend). There was word about how hashed Master Passwords may have been leaked, as well as password reminders. But as usual, Lastpass provided the best explanation on why and whether you should worry, and showed why people still don’t understand risk — In response to the question “Was my master password exposed?”, their response was:
“No, LastPass never has access to your master password. We use encryption and hashing algorithms of the highest standard to protect user data. We hash both the username and master password on the user’s computer with 5,000 rounds of PBKDF2-SHA256, a password strengthening algorithm. That creates a key, on which we perform another round of hashing, to generate the master password authentication hash. That is sent to the LastPass server so that we can perform an authentication check as the user is logging in. We then take that value, and use a salt (a random string per user) and do another 100,000 rounds of hashing, and compare that to what is in our database. In layman’s terms: Cracking our algorithms is extremely difficult, even for the strongest of computers.” In other words, what may have been exposed was a deep one-way hash of an already deeply one-way hashed password. You’re really only at risk if they could guess your password, and that comes from a dumb password reminder. Still, they recommended changing your master password. I did so, and I changed it in the few other places I use it (none of which are web accessble; it is for similar non-web application vaults).
Going to Waste. We are an incredibly wasteful country. Two articles from NPR on that subject. The first deals with a grocery chain in Northern California, that has decided to sell “ugly produce” that would otherwise go to waste at deeply discounted prices. The second deals with a landfill of lettuce — salad tossed because it might not make it to market in time. In this time of drought, and considering the amount of water that goes into growing and raising food, we should work hard to make sure that all food, ugly or not, is put to good use. We have loads of families in need that could benefit from just-in-time delivery of fresh, but ugly, vegetables and similar food products.
The Celiac Cry. I’ve been pressing this point for a while, but this article expresses it really well: why the gluten free fad dieters are a bad thing for Celiacs. People think they know GF, but don’t do complete checking and poison those for home it really makes a difference.
Buying Music Is For Old People. This article really saddened me. It posited the notion that only old people buy music these days. The “younger generation” wants more and more variety, and they can get that by streaming their music from music services anywhere anytime. Of course, this is like AM radio of old, but we won’t tell them. The problem is that streaming doesn’t work everywhere, doesn’t cover all audiences, and tends to cost money (both subscriptions and data). It also puts what you listen to in the hands of the streaming services. No thank you. I’ll keep owning my music, making copies of my digital music as backups, and listening to it whenever and whereever I can.
Architecture in the West. Two architectural articles. The first deals with interesting undiscovered architecture in Tucson. The second deals with another product of the 50s to go away: first it was drive-ins, not it is bowling alleys. There aren’t many left in the valley; Mission Hills Bowl is now gone. Bowlers will miss it.
Sons!. My first live theatre that I saw on stage was the LACLO’s production of The Rothschilds, which I still love to this day. This week news came out that a revamped version is in the works.

Saturday News Chum

Posted onSaturday, June 13, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=observations It’s Saturday, and that means it’s time to clean out the accumulated links. As I’ve got about an hour before I jump into the Fringe, let’s get going:

Saving a Dying Jewish Language. No, I don’t mean Yiddish. I mean Ladino. Here’s a neat article on how a Turkish newspaper is working to save Ladino.
Kill the Lawn One of the big pushes here is LA is to get rid of the lawn. But what is really involved? Here’s a first-person account of an adventure in grass removal.
Just Keep Building. Here’s an interesting article of local interest: 188 more homes are planned for Porter Ranch.
I’ll Have it On Ice. If you know me, you know I primarily drink two things: water, and iced tea. Here’s an article about how iced tea became a thing.
Just Cram It In. Airlines are a great example of an organization that doesn’t fully think out their problems… or perhaps they do. They want more revenue. So they institute check in bag charges. As a result, people start carrying on more, slowing boarding and not leaving enough space. Their proposal: make the carry-on bags smaller. This will force people to pay for checked luggage (which is what they wanted in the first place).
Don’t Put It In The Fridge. A really interesting article on what fruit you should refrigerate and what fruit you shouldn’t.
Travel Tips. One last piece from the Times: Why you should carry two wallets when you travel abroad.
Pen-is Envy. Get your mind out of the gutter: it is pronounced pen-iss, for I’m envious of this: Levenger’s L-Tech 3.0 Stealth, a serious fountain pen.
I’m Free. I’m Free. No, I’m not. Lastly, Twitter will be lifting the 140 character limit (yay), but for messages, not tweets (boo)