Since I arrived in Los Angeles, and to my lovely Fairfax District, I have noticed a gesture toward block-by-block neighborhood autonomy. It is apparently the perogative of each residential block to decide whether it wishes to be a “bump street” or a “hump street”. There is nuance to this decision; for although there is no distinction in the physical form of the traffic regulation elements, the semantic distinction is dizzy with moral and aesthetic nuance.
Those of us on hump streets scoff at the crude vulgarity of the bumpsters. Sure they can regulate traffic speeds, but they just lack the refined tastes, the cultural cache of speed humps. One gets a sense of mismatch about them, something like when some Hollywood poseur on Melrose wanders onto West Hollywood’s stylish Melrose Avenue, and looks so garishly out of place. (more…)
This year’s Venice Eco-Fest, held at Windward Ave. and Ocean Front Walk on Venice Beach, presented attendees with an impressive array of options. You could arrange to equip your home with solar power, purchase clothing made from bamboo, receive a massage, listen to a Zappa-like band on the solar-powered stage, check out electric bicycles and motorcycles, eat sustainable food, and even sign up with the Green Party. Or, you could do what a lot of Venice Beach visitors like to do on a beautiful summer day: just soak it all in. Plenty of pics after the jump
If that title means nothing to you, read thesetwo posts for the background. There have been ongoing investigations and more and more questions from city officials about this, and over on WSBS Alex has been documenting each step of the way. In his newest post, he discusses how it seems LAPD superiors are defending reports by officers without looking into them at all which, when the initial reports are full of problems doesn’t help LAPD relations with, well, anyone.
Is it possible that a Commander and a Captain have been hoodwinked by a prejudiced officer? I think that it is. More and more as I attend these hearings I get the sense that the officers are dispatched to City Hall to report on incidents they have no prior knowledge of. It seems to be LAPD policy that these officers defend LAPD’s actions at any cost, sacrificing their personal integrity for that of the LAPD, so that LAPD can remain independent. In essence, they’re fed to the wolves.
The specific detail covered in his post is testimony from Captain Allen claiming that after reading the report he was sure the Hummer involved in the accident had plates. Cyclists involved have argued since the beginning that the lack of plates on the vehicle is what initially set things off after the driver hit a cyclists and witnesses weren’t able to get a plate number so decided to try to keep it there until police arrived. Photos from the incident, taken by witnesses confirm the lack of plates on the Hummer at the time.
At the Echoplex this Sunday, indie bands are playing for a great cause. Cat-ch (har har har) this huge show with dozens of bands, art, and giveaways–and you can help save cute little (or big) kitties, doggies, even bunnies.
In keeping with the fact that this bumper sticker was found on a Prius, we might expect the moral being conveyed is that one brings about death by unsafely talking on a cell phone while driving. Of course, with Obama’s admirable push for increased fuel efficiency in automobiles, hybrid cars will probably no longer carry quite the ethical cache they have for the last few years (heck, some American car maker might actually, finally, start making the damn things).
I prefer just to read the sticker as indicating that the driver on board is in a conversation with death (aren’t we all). Sort of Max von Sydow leaving the set of The Seventh Seal and heading on up to a goth party in Hollywood.
One might deduce from the “Fly the friendly skies” license plate frame above the “United Will Stand” bumpersticker that this transplanted Coloradan might be an enthusiastic employee of that airline. From the handwritten black-and-blue demand marring the trunk one could also reasonably establish that what passes for humorous to some is crassly moronic to others. Welcome to Los Angeles, douchebag. What a shame you feel compelled to make the streets far less friendlier than the skies you want me to fly.
This is a bigger upset than if the Magic had beaten the Lakers: last Friday, the California Coastal Commission ignored its own staff recommendation and the will of Venice voters by overwhelmingly denying the request by the City of Los Angeles to create “overnight parking districts” (”OPDs”) on several Venice streets that would have prohibited unpermitted vehicles during the wee hours.
Here is the video of the 4-hour Commission hearing (click on the June 11 link and forward to 40:00). Because the proposed OPDs are in the “coastal zone,” the City needed a Coastal Development Permit from the Commission to establish the OPDs. However, the Commission was limited to considering whether the OPDs would hinder public beach access. Nevertheless, the hearing, which featured scores of Venice residents speaking for a couple of minutes each, quickly turned into an emotional debate about homelessness, gentrification, and rich versus poor.
I don’t know what it is about June and the city’s Bureau of Street Services. Maybe this is the month its designated spellchecker goes on vacation, but it was this time last year when I found this awesome typo painted large and in charge on 4th Street just west of Highland.
And yesterday biking home from work past a HiFiTown block cordoned off for some slurry coating of its street, I encountered this transposed chuckler:
This year’s 
The event, called “
This is a bigger upset than if the Magic had beaten the Lakers: last Friday, the California Coastal Commission ignored its 
