You know what they say about Century City, besides everything being so nice and pretty. No, not the thing about all the people looking the same either. It’s that they are screwed in the Apple Store department. They have to drive all the way to Santa Monica or West Hollywood for their Apple fix, and darling, that just won’t do. Luckily for them, this is all in the past. This weekend a Century City Apple Store opened it’s doors and started spreading the Mac love. That’s right folks, it just got a little less lame over there.

The homeless guys who hang around the wholesale toy district downtown have got a crazy parking meter scam going. I’ve been over there a few times in the past week or so in the quest for cubes and have encountered it every time. Basically it’s like this - they figured out how the meters register the coins and fashioned little plastic sticks that they can slide down the coin slot and rack up time - then they jam the slot so you can’t put any change in it. When you park they rush you and explain that if you want to park in that spot you need to give them the change you would have put in the meter and they will then rig it for you so you have time, if you don’t pay them, they won’t use their magic meter sticks and you’ll get a ticket. There’s probably 20 different guys doing this all day on the several blocks north of 3rd and west of Alameda, specifically on Boyd and Wall streets. I got the feeling they’ve been doing this unchallenged for a while because they were telling me the scam before asking how long I was going to be there or if I was a cop (which they did, but after they’d already given me a hour credit).

The karma of this came back and kicked me in the ass an hour later when I got a $45 ticket at 2:58 in Culver City for parking in a “street cleaning - no parking noon - 3PM” zone. Ugh.

This year’s “KXLU FUNDRAZOR SHOW 2005″ is happening on Saturday June 4th, 2005 @ 7:00 pm @ The Knitting Factory, Hollywood (in all 3 rooms). It’ll only cost you $15 to see all 15 bands and all money goes to benefiting KXLU 88.9 FM (LA’s only TRUE indie station). Bands playing live will be Her Space Holiday, The Mean Reds, Year Future, Wires On Fire, Rolling Blackouts, Pigeon John, Ariel Pink, My Barbarian, Child Pornography, Watch Me Burn, This Song Is a Mess But So Am I, My Little Red Toe and more special guests! Should be a great show cuz you know the kid from The Mean Reds will prolly pull his penis out plus it’s for a really good cause. You can also donate money to KXLU here. And you can always listen online at kxlu.com. Awwww yeah.

The old 360 building at Sunset + Vine is on fire. (I work in the building across the street.)

It’s a toxic smell and I think they are evacuating us pre-emptively since it looks like they’re closing down Sunset.

Update: We weren’t evacuated but because the fumes were being pumped through the infamous air-conditioner and many people were complaining about burning eyes, noses and throats, they had to cut the A/C. Our group got the OK to leave early. By the time I left the building, the fire was out. Kudos for LAFD for being so quick to respond. My co-workers who sit in the corner offices closest to the fire said that they as soon as they saw smoke and pondered calling 911, they already saw a chopper above and saw a fire engine responding.)

Pictures forthcoming below taken by me from inside my building. ::David Kurtz’s pictures from the roof here:: ::Story and photos from NBC4:: ::Official LAFD blog post::

@ 4:01:14 pm

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Sunday night was the fifth annual Bowling For Scholars charity event at the Palos Verdes Bowl in Torrance.

Disappointments aside with its organization, it was well worth the effort that I spent in bringing friends to bowl with me. I didn’t hear any complaints from them either, but that was probably because they were too busy gawking at the pornstars who were in attendance, such as Belladonna, Avy Scott, Mari Possa, and Naudia.

More NSFW (not safe for work) photos here.

(Yikes, leave it to me to follow up a great and touching Memorial Day post by Will with this one!)

UPDATE: Photo links updated.

From atop some hill I don’t know the name of in Griffith Park, The Man and I spotted this large plume of smoke this afternoon around 3:30 PM.

Does anyone know anything about this? Or was it just the end result of some fireworks?

Yesterday we took a trip over to Ameoba for some new music. Also on the list were a few things from Bed, Bath & Beyond, so we headed across the street. We usually have a bit of lunch at the Baja Fresh but decided we weren’t really in the mood, so we were pleased to find a little place around the corner, just next to The Shops at Schwabs called Zen Zoo. There we ordered some steamed potstickers and summer rolls - perfect light fare for a Sunday afternoon.

After ordering we checked out their second floor and found a wonderful little lounge area that would be great for pre or post Arclight gathering.

On the menu was also a bit of upscale boba fare. They called them Zodiac ZenFusion, which were tea blends (served iced) with soy creamer (all are vegan) for your Chinese Zodiac sign.

The Man ordered the Dragon which was simply green (and I mean it was green) tea and mint while I opted for one of their other items, a barley latte, which is espresso style barley done as a latte. It was kind of like a chai, only more roasty tasty. My only caution is to order them unsweetened. The Man’s Dragon was much too sweet for him, though my barley latte was very drinkable (though I’d prefer it unsweetened too). see bad photo of menu here

It’s been awhile since I last posted a trek, but while waiting for the June gloom (May gray?) to burn off before going over to Westwood to pay my annual respects at the Los Angeles National Cemetery this Memorial Day, I figured I’d brag about the hike my fiancee and I made to Trail Canyon Falls in the Angeles National Forest above Sunland/Tujunga.

We’d first heard about Trail Canyon Trail via a feature on area waterfalls that I read in the Outdoors section of the L.A. Times a couple weeks back, and set out yesterday morning in search of the dramatic 50-foot curtain falls featured in the cover photo. The dirt road off Big Tujunga Canyon Road to the trailhead is easy to miss and we did by miles, but after doubling back we found roadside signage indicating its proximity. In a few more minutes we were parked, loaded up and heading out.

For being just a two-mile trek to the falls from the trailhead, this hike offers a wonderful variety of terrain and scenery. From several shady rock hops across Trail Canyon Creek beneath the tree canopy, to the marvelous vistas found after the climb up out of the canyon, there’s something for everyone out here. And the marvelous falls is a must-see highlight that’s defintely worth the trip ó even if the bottom of the falls is accessible only via a semi-steep scramble down an overgrown singletrack, that splits off to the right.

Directions and other details after the jump. A closer pic I got of the falls can be found here on the Blogging.la Flickr photo pool (or click the image at right for a larger view).
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The details on the Griffith Park first have been posted on the LAFD News & Information Blog:

“On Sunday, May 29, 2005 at 5:34 PM PDT, twenty-one Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, three LAFD Helicopters, one LAFD Brush Patrol, two LAFD Rescue Ambulances, one EMS District Captain, six LAFD Battalion Officer Command Teams and two Handcrews from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, all under the direction of LAFD Assistant Chief Michael Fulmis responded to a Major Emergency Brush Fire east of the picnic areas adjacent to the Wilson-Harding Golf Complex in Griffith Park.”