So that’s how it happened. (click to embiggen–you can just barely see the 2nd street sign in the back of each photo)

Artist and writer J. Michael Walker, whose giant art endeavor “All the Saints of the City of Angels” (NOT the Motley Crue album) first started out with a tiny show in Highland Park’s Avenue 50 Studio, and then before I knew it he was showing at the Autry Museum. His realistic and mystical depictions of each of the saints associated with every “St.” street in the city are haunting, beautiful and steeped in local legend as well as the original stories of the individual saints. Honestly, this was a project I’d always wanted to do but I’d never really fleshed out the idea, so when I saw his work it was this shock of recognition & appreciation.

And now his catalogue/nonfiction work that goes along with the project has been nominated for the nonfiction book of the year award by the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association! The awards are voted on only by indie booksellers. He’s one of five finalists.

Word up to our boy J. Michael, and to all the other awesome local finalists. You are literary rock stars. No matter who wins, hats off to you all!

Grim news in yesterday’s NY Times about the US death toll in the war in Afghanistan surpassing the 500 mark brought to mind the fact that California has the highest casualty count of any state in the country for the Iraq War.

According to icasualties.org, the Golden State currently has 443 deaths and 3201 wounded in the Iraq War. Los Angeles County accounted for 125 deaths in Iraq.

California being the most populous state in the country would account for it being the state leading in the number of casulaties. It generally follows that the most populous states have the highest casualty rates: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois.

Confirmed deaths in the Iraq War for the nation currently stand at 4,134. Numbers for the wounded exceed 29,000.

Icasualties.org puts the current number of US deaths in Afghanistan at 569, but no breakdown by state was available on the site.

Icasualties.org is a donor supported independent site that compiles information on casualties based upon reports from the US Dept. of Defense, the US Central Command, the Multi-National Force in Iraq and the British Ministry of Defense.

My fatalities count for Los Angeles County is based upon icasualties.org’s city breakdown for California cross referenced with naco.org’s cities and places list for LA County.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published an article about the surge in bicycle commuters in the city. It’s a fine article and for those who haven’t read it, it’s about bicycle commuters. And how there’s a surge. But what’s cool about the article, aside from the spellbinding photo of bike repair in action, is they included the LA Metro map for cyclists in the article. I did not know this map existed. Check it out here.

Confusing? I should say so. Look at all those squiggly lines! But don’t fret. I’ll take a moment to help disambigu-fy things for you. Soon, you’ll be zipping around the city as if it were the back of your hand. Check out the legend after the jump.

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Being vegan in any place on the planet Los Angeles, I get asked a lot where to find good vegan food in and around the town. Of course I’ve got my list of favorite stops, and so does everyone else. It’s high time someone started compiling those lists into one big resource, and Steve Cvar is apparently the person to do that. He dropped me a line yesterday about this Google Map he’s putting together with names and locations of vegan and vegetarian locations across the city and notes that it’s open so anyone can add to it. He’s off to a great start already, but I know I’ve got some things to add to it. Maybe you do as well?

“One of the first projects I worked on was to get a signalized crosswalk at that intersection,” says Erika Gallo. “We collected hundreds of signatures and our success were the crosswalk signs. We knew we needed more but were never able to be promised more than the signs.” Now it seems as though that crosswalk may be removed entirely.

I’m on a few community e-mail lists for Northeast LA & noted this post. I think it’s important to know about. What I’m not clear on is the reason for removing this crosswalk. I have called the DOT only to land on hold forever. Perhaps someone will have better luck than I. Google maps with street view has an excellent image of this intersection and the crosswalk itself.

Here’s the post from local businesswoman Erika Gallo:

Good morning friends and neighbors,
Most of you know me or recognize my name. I want to give you a bit of background on this intersection. As you know, my family has owned Sloan’s Dry Cleaners at that intersection for over 30 years. Over these years we’ve seen countless people cross that street and nearly be hit by cars that won’t stop. In my time spent working at our business I’ve seen four people hit by oncoming traffic. I particularly remember one young man who I saw thrown up in the air and land flat on the floor…

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Triple digits expected this weekend in Sprawlsville. From Simi Valley to Studio City, this could be a rather unfortunate choice of weekend to have your first outdoor gay wedding. Lucky for us, the Daily News has provided a handy interactive map where readers can post the current temperature, so you can order that last-minute snow cone cart for the reception.

Fabulous! Happy nuptials!

I just about freaked out when my friend Bonnie pointed me to the brand spankin’ new eBoy poster in which they boil Los Angeles down to a handful of representative pixels of awesomeness. I love it and can’t order one quick enough. They are online, and for sale now from the eBoy shop if you want one too. Also, of course, feel free to clickify that image to the right for an enlargeabled version.

My friend Evan at Hot Knives pointed this out to me: in light of the recent legislation that could potentially punish taco truck owners with jail time if they linger in one location too long, tonight’s been dubbed Taco Truck Night. The organizers at saveourtacotrucks.org hold forth thusly:

“As mentioned in The Los Angeles Times, to celebrate this year’s May Day we’re announcing Taco Truck Night. Take your family, your friends, or anybody else who loves tacos. Go out, get some carne asada or al pastor and support your local hard working taco vendor.

While you’re there be sure to hand out some posters and tell your fellow Angelenos what’s happening to our beloved Taco Trucks. We’re looking to raise awareness in the community as well as provide a nice cash infusion to the hard working men and women who labor into the early hours to keep our bellies full.

Below [click here for map] are some suggestions for taco trucks throughout the greater Los Angeles area. This list is by no means exclusive so strike out and explore a little. Know a great truck? List it on our petition. You can also try the venerable Great Taco Hunt for more suggestions.

Aaron and I will be stuffing our faces with Asada and Carnitas at the La Estrella on York and Ave 54 around 8 PM. Hope to see some of you there!”

I heard a discussion of this on indie103.1 this morning, and they mentioned how the brick-and-mortar restaurant lobby may be behind much of the legislation push. What do you guys think? Should the landed restaurants get a break in the form of this legislation? Or are you of the mind that “if they served better tacos, we’d go to their restaurants, but they don’t, so we’re going to the trucks.”…?

On my way home from work this afternoon, this fine specimen of an Impala pulled up next to me in the left-hand turn lane. I was eastbound on Imperial Highway at the intersection of Avalon Boulevard.

The green was the perfect shade of tennis ball felt, and the white details made me want to put on a headband and grab my racket.

click to embiggen, taken with the camera iphone