carmageddon hits los angeles (not)

Several months ago we learned the 405 was going to be closed down from the 101 to the 10 – about 10 miles – for an entire weekend in July (7 p.m. July 15 to 5 a.m. July 18) in order to tear down the south half of the Sepulveda overpass bridge. The panic began. Angelenos were asked to either stay home or go somewhere else for the weekend. Stay out of your cars and don’t go anywhere near the 405… or any of the alternate routes. Just stay off the freeways, please.

Yeah, right. They were talking to Angelenos. One person per car, always going somewhere. Angelenos love their cars.They pack the freeways at all hours. They eat, drink, call friends, put their makeup on, read reports… you name it, they do it in their cars, not at home.

The freeway to be shut down for the weekend is the busiest, most congested freeway in the United States, possibly the world. Day or night. It’s the main freeway traveled to get to LAX. It goes through the west side of Los Angeles (think Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood). It’s the main artery to the BEACHES! What in the world would Angelenos do????

Well… The alternate freeways were very light even before the 405 was shut down and they stayed light all day Saturday. The good folks of Los Angeles LISTENED and heeded the advice. The traffic on all roads in the Los Angeles area were the lightest they’d been in years.

Angelenos partied at home, had barbeques in their backyards, shopped at local stores and ate at local restaurants. They met and talked to their neighbors.

Sunday morning dawned and the demolition of the bridge was almost finished. That was amazing. The freeway reopened at 11:30 a.m., almost a full day ahead of schedule. Unbelievable. The construction company really came through. So did the people of Los Angeles; they have every reason to be very proud of themselves. The Mayor of Los Angeles was ecstatic. Thanks to some great public relations work, carmageddon never happened. The word was spread early with constant reminders. The press ran with it and got the word out. Personally, I never would have thought it possible. Now, it has to be done all over again 11 months from now when they demolish the north half of the bridge. I believe it will once again go very smoothly.

Randy Newman sang about his love of L.A. and I think today most everyone in Southern California just might be singing along.

four aces

If you watch NCIS, among thousands of other TV shows, movies and commercials, you might recognize this place:

The Four Aces set is one of many filming spots out here in our desert, one of the interesting things that makes it worth putting up with sand, wind, too much heat, too much cold, flash floods and living on a major fault line.

a geocoin goes to angel stadium

A while back I posted a geocoin’s day at Dodger Stadium and, if you remember, the little guy wanted to go to major league baseball stadiums all across the United States. This past Wednesday he got to go to Angel Stadium.

I must say he was just as excited about visiting Angel Stadium as he was on his Dodger Stadium visit. These photos prove it:

First the little guy tried on the Angel ball cap; he’s just a wee bit too small to wear a size 649 1/2 cap.

Then he decided to sit on an Angel ball statue and sun himself (it was a beautiful day):

Then he saw Mickey Mouse and all bets were off… he was all over Mickey:

on his chest

on his nose

and on his hand

About this time he spotted the Angels car and he wouldn’t stop whining until we took him over to have his photo taken with it:

We had a great time with the little guy and we’re going to miss him when we drop him off in San Francisco.

hermosa beach

I had the flu Halloween weekend (not very bad, thank goodness), Mr WS has been sick for over a week (a cold) and this past weekend I came down with a cold. Nothing’s been posted for over a week and a half because I just haven’t felt like it and, besides, we haven’t done anything or been anywhere. So, I decided I’d dig into some photos from my old website to share.

The beach cities are our favorite places to visit, so how about some photos of Hermosa Beach? Manhattan and Redondo beaches can wait for another day. These photos are anywhere from a couple to several years old so the quality isn’t that great, but I figure ANY photo of a beachy area is good.

First of all, the Hermosa Beach strand. Ahhh, can't you just feel the warm sunshine and smell the fresh ocean air?

It seems there are always people on the strand and many take their dogs along with them.

 

Volleyball is a big sport on the beach.

 

A typical beach side street.

Hermosa Beach Pier

What's Southern California without palm trees?

 

 

 

 

palm trees

Just about everywhere you look in Southern California there are palm trees of all shapes and sizes. To me, California (at least So Cal) wouldn’t be California without palm trees and over the years I’ve taken lots of photos of them, so I decided post a few here.

Fire!

Southern California is on fire. Again. It’s October, after all, and October is fire season in Southern California. It’s extremely dry and windy and just one tiny spark can cause major destruction. We had planned to go to Los Angeles yesterday, but instead we stayed glued to the TV watching the fire reports from several areas around L.A.

To all the people affected by the fires… our hearts go out to you. To all the exceedingly brave firefighters… you do an incredible job and are so appreciated. To the police officers… thank you for your protection and help. To the animal rescue people… thank you for taking care of the four-footed babies that are so frightened and have no idea what’s going on. To the Red Cross… the comfort and shelter you provide is a great service that is much needed.

It’s horrible to watch as houses and cars go up in smoke. It’s scary to watch so much land burn (tens of thousands of acres so far), not knowing which way the fire will go next. One fire jumped the 210 freeway and continued spreading in yet another area. Another fire was going east, west, east, north, south, west… constantly changing direction. How do you fight that? Voluntary evacuations become mandatory as neighborhoods are threatened… sometimes residents have only minutes to get out. What do you take? Some people living in the fire danger areas have evacuation plans in place. They keep their important records in an easy-to-grab-on-the-way-out place so all they have to worry about is family, pets and photos. Others have no plan. Some people leave immediately, realizing the danger they’re in; others stay and fight. With a garden hose. Doesn’t do much good, but they feel they need to at least try to save their home. What would we do in such a situation? We have no idea. We could say we’d do this or that, but when it came right down to it, there’s no telling what we’d do. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out.