This Scion xB (which I like to call a “Hong Kong taxicab” for no real reason) sports a sticker on its back window that proclaims “illest.” What caught my eye is the sticker’s font and color scheme. It looks a hell of a lot like the right side of the logo for the Titleist (pronounced “tightlist” or “title-ist”) golf equipment company.
Big news for West Side burger afficionados: Santa Monica’s beloved construct-your-own burger eatery (is “burgery” a word?) The Counter is opening a new location in the Marina. The new Counter is tucked away at the end of the Waterside Marina del Rey shops, near the corner of Admiralty Way and Fiji Way (and believe me, my duty to serve our loyal readers with useful information barely eked out a win over my selfish desire to keep this location ”undisclosed,” Cheney style).
According to the guy pictured on the ladder out front, The Counter opens this Monday. I peered inside, and the place looks to be all set up, with the staff holding a meeting on those trademark metal chairs.
Perhaps The Counter’s expansion to the Marina will shorten the wait at their Santa Monica location. Or maybe, like L.A.’s roadways, when they build more, more inevitably will come.
UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Chennessey, The Emirates flight will land at 9:20am on one of the south runways and depart LAX at approximately 11:00am for a tour of the LA skies, land at 12:30 then sleep over, departing tomorrow at 8am for NY.
Tomorrow (August 5) Emirates Airlines will be landing it’s Airbus A380 on one of the two south runways at LAX. I’ve heard conflicting landing times. Someone at the airport offices told me 9am, the woman at the Emirates 800 # told me 1pm. This makes planning a viewing trip rather tricky! If anyone knows more precise info, please comment.In case you don’t see the plane tomorrow, don’t worry.Qantas will be making regular A380 flights from LAX to Sydney and Melbourne starting in October, so the bubbleheaded behemoth will soon be a regular feature in Los Angeles. Emirates will begin direct flights from LAX to Dubai in October as well, but using their new Boeing 777s. (Flight time only 16.5 hours!)To see video of the Airbus that landed in Los Angeles in March 2007, fly through the break. (more…)
Just a few hundred yards away from the pandemonium that is Venice Beach on a sunny summer Sunday, the Venice Canals are a sea of tranquility. Aside from the obvious stunning visuals, what strikes me is the sound. It’s quiet. Instead of city traffic noise, you hear gurgling water, wind chimes, birds, some animals, a few muffled human voices. You rarely encounter more than a dozen people even if you wind your way through the entire canal system.
It finally happened last night. The moment I’ve been dreaming about for so long. I finally saw my first McCain bumper sticker out here. I’ve been searching for one for months, really. The plan was to keep a rough count in my head of the ratio of Obama stickers and signs to McCain ones, to get an idea of the two candidates’ respective support among local voters. Only, I gave up on the effort many weeks ago, after losing count of the number of Obama messages and seeing zero for McCain.
This isn’t a poll, just an informal survey. Did you go or are you going on a vacation this summer? Or are you doing an L.A. area ”staycation?” If you’re taking a vacation, is it the type of vacation you took in years past? Are your plans affected by economic circumstances?
This summer, I’m staying put. I guess I fall into the “staycation” category. However, I’m still a relative newb to California, and one reason why I moved to an area near the beach is that it feels like a resort. Indeed, it is a destination resort for many people. So I might have stayed here this summer no matter what.
Nevertheless, the economy is lurking back there somewhere. So is my perception of the hassle of traveling at the moment, whether it be the security lines in the airports, or gasoline prices and traffic.
I’ve heard it said that the best days owning a boat are the day it’s bought and the day it’s sold. I’m banking that there are some pretty comparable days in between, and so is the owner of this hopefully seaworthy vessel that he’s trying to unload for the lowlow of $2,500 in the not sea-adjacent but apparently hot boat sales zone of Venice Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. Yes, you’re irony meters are pegging for a reason: Knot For Sail is, indeed, For Sale (click to triplify).
The sign in front of the Mishkon Tephilo synagogue on Main Street in Venice reads “Worry Globally, Pray Locally.” Maybe comedian Richard Lewis is a member?
Chal Pivik has an excellent writeup on the all-night Glow event that took place last Saturday night on and around the Santa Monica Pier. I was there too, along with what looked to be at least 10,000 people, and I agree with Chal’s assessments. I took some pictures, and hopefully Chal won’t mind if I post them here to add to his description of the event.
Glow, the inaugural edition scattered last night on and around the Santa Monica Pier of an art/performance art rave-ish carnival that succeeded and failed on various levels, initially seemed kind of lame but I went with a group of friends, and this new guy I’m seeing and like a lot, so I managed to have a blast anyway. We smoked some pot before hand, and during, which certainly helped us appreciate the silly, pointless emptiness of it all. When we arrived, around midnight, just as we were approaching the pier, we heard a man who was leaving say very loudly to his friend, “I am SO GLAD to be out of there!” Turns out he was a prophet– who knew?
In spite of the seeming immaturity of it all, there was an especially good musician playing and singing just south of the pier– an Argentinian guy, I was told, who made his beat up guitar sound like three instruments. Propelled by three percussionists, his gentle, lilting voice snaked through the rhythms as swaying-hipped dancers wearing huge undulating and diaphonous fabric wings shimmied with animal grace like delicately mating birds. It was mesmerizing and the best thing we witnessed. (more…)
