Overdog

The Expendables

2011-07-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Taken from my car window along Beverly Blvd. near Western Avenue in Los Angeles, July, 2010.

Fire Station 31

2010-12-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Castle Green had its annual Christmas open house. (That's Castle Green in the background.) Bellis, Hiker and I tried to go but it was so crowded we opted out. Me + crowds = ugh. Apparently, Hiker and Bellis feel the same way.

We wandered the Old Town Pasadena alleys and took pictures. Old Town has great alleys that harbor secrets even now. We'd just come out of an alley parallel to Fair Oaks Avenue when a fire truck turned in. Within moments, a nice fireman walked toward us and asked if we were lost. "We're just exploring," we told him. So he invited us to explore Fire Station 31.

Fire Station 31, at 135 S. Fair Oaks in Pasadena, has a little museum with a collection of antique fire helmets, tools and other paraphernalia. They also house two original bells from the old fire station on Dayton Avenue, one bell from the building's interior and one from the exterior. But the the centerpiece of the place is this beautiful fire engine, the first motorized fire engine west of the Mississippi, manufactured in 1909 by Seagrave, who still make fire trucks today...

...though the detailing is a little different now.

I'll let you visit Fire Station 31 to see all the little details. The Hiker tells the story differently but it's all true, even the part about her being taller.

L-R: That's me, then Firefighter/paramedic Captain Myron Cooper, the Altadena Hiker, Bellis and firefighter/EMT Carlos Delgado who helped the Captain show us around. Carlos even slid down the pole for us (he was too fast for my camera to catch him). He and Captain Cooper said they're always happy to have visitors, unless of course they have to go fight a fire. But more often than not they don't, so stop in. You want to hope Captain Cooper is there because he's so knowledgeable about the history of the Pasadena Fire Department. Many thanks to them both! We had a great time. And thanks to Daniel Nausha for taking this picture.

Bellis and I decided to get a cup of coffee but Hiker begged off and we said goodbye. As Bellis and I strolled north on Fair Oaks, we heard sirens. Could our timing really be that good?

Sure enough, it was the guys from Station 31.

The turned the corner to head east on Green Street.

The sirens stopped after about a block.

Could it be? That's where Castle Green is.

Look Out

2010-09-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

This wasps' nest is as big as your head. Bigger.

Traveler

2010-09-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

Balboa Island, California

2010-08-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

There's a sunny beach.

If you find it too crowded...

...you can get on a boat and go...

...for a sail.

Okay, maybe it's crowded in the water, too.

Are they seals or sea lions?

Maybe that boat was too crowded for this guy.

Room for everyone.

Just Enough Chefs

2010-06-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

the sugary dome of our fair City Hall

In what's to become an annual event, the Pasadena Museum of History will hold a 124th birthday party for our city this Saturday, June 12th (click the link for details). The birthday cake will be fashioned like the top of City Hall. I got to see the cake in progress where 14 student pastry chefs, under the guidance of Chef Joshua Orlando and Chef Instructor Alicia Boada, are creating it at Le Cordon Bleu's Pasadena west campus.

Student pastry chefs Rosetta Heung and Stacey Choi match colors for the cake's layers.

Andrea Bramall and Jonathan Whitney place tiny, tasty tiles on the dome.

How many cakes have you made that require a production schedule?

Flowers, garlands, and all the elegant architectural details you know of Pasadena's City Hall will be meticulously reproduced on the cake. If you can't make it to the party Saturday, check with Le Cordon Bleu school. You might be able to see the decorative part in their lobby for some time to come.

Student pastry chefs Jeanne Nelson, Berlin Mercado and Tracy Latimer remove a protective sheet from the cake's layers.

Tracy places a stencil.

Looks like this layer's going to be round. That's Crystal Mazzarella with the knife.

Find more information and another shot of these fabulous women at Pasadena Daily Photo.

Glendale's Grand Central Airport

2010-02-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

You may have already known this, but until Vanda took me there on a photo safari I didn't even know it existed: the first official airport of the Los Angeles area was Glendale's Grand Central Airport.

The windows and doors have been boarded up, but one of the coolest things about it is it's still there.

Closed and in need of repair, but still there.

It was built in the 1920s and still bears many of its art deco details.

There's plenty of web info and lots of great old pictures. Go here and click on Glendale Airport/Grand Central Air Terminal.

The blimp that flew by while we were there advertised "tickets to fly!"

Go ahead and read the links. It's a pretty sure bet Amelia Earhart walked these halls.

Amir Sadeghi

2010-02-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

One of my Facebook friends, Iranian photographer Amir Sadeghi, was arrested yesterday at the office of Farhang-e-Ashti newspaper, his place of work, for having published images of the security clampdown on protesters last December 27th.

His Facebook page is gone. His family doesn't know where the authorities have taken him.

Amir has worked for website Tehran24 and blogs at TehranLive.org, which today appears to have been co-opted by authorities. The photos and sentiments posted there now are not Amir's.

This is not the first time Amir has been imprisoned for posting photographs of demonstrations. When protesters first burst onto the streets of Tehran last June, Amir was there to record his country's history. But it seems his government doesn't want its actions documented.

Amir's friends have created a Facebook group in hopes of helping to Free Amir Sadeghi. I've joined; you can, too. It's clear the Iranian authorities are web savvy; they use Twitter and Facebook to monitor their own people.

If I were living in Iran right now I don't know if I'd be brave enough to do what Amir and those other journalists did. But I know the world needs these heroes.

Most of us don't live in Iran. From where we sit we can be brave enough to stand up to the authorities. We can show solidarity for Amir and the other (so far) 65 journalists in Iranianian prisons. We can show solidarity with the Iranian people in their stand for freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of self-determination.

Smoke

2009-08-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when the radio announcer said there was a brush fire burning "in the hills above JPL," I lost a breath. I walk Boz in the wild lands near the Jet Propulsion lab.

Losing a breath is appropriate. Pasadena is once again situated between two brush fires, one in Glendora (the Morris Fire) and one above La Canada Flintridge (the Station Fire). It smells like a camp fire around here. If we didn't have to breathe it in and out all day I'd almost call it pleasant.
Today I went to the Devil's Gate Dam to get a photo of the fire over La Canada Flintridge. Readers of Pasadena Daily Photo might remember another glimpse of the mountain here. That's the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) on the lower right, obviously not threatened by the fire. The winds are moving in the opposite direction. Good news, sorta. That smoke is going away from us but the Glendora smoke is heading here as I type.

I drove over to La Canada Flintridge and up into the hills to get a better look. (The air is worse over there.) The best place I could find in the time I had was on a neighborhood street below the hilltop, under some wires that were buzzing and crackling. I don't know if it had anything to do with the fire. Maybe, maybe not. I could also hear the water-dropping aircraft but I couldn't always see them.

Wait. Let's zoom in on that shot. You still might have to click on it to see.
Sure enough. A helicopter. Seems awfully small to be fighting such a big battle.

The aircraft left to get more water. While they were gone the smoke shifted and billowed. It's beautiful, really. It was hard to tear myself away--from a safe distance, that is.

John took this one on the way home from work. The view is from a corner a little less than a mile from our house. The fire is, I would guess, a good twenty miles away.
Bless those firemen. They are crazy and brave.

Update: the Station Fire subsequently grew to historic proportions and I continued to blog about it on Pasadena Daily Photo.

On the Trail Of...

2009-06-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

If you've been following along on Pasadena Daily Photo you know about the al fresco art exhibit I attended last weekend at Oak Grove Park. The exhibit, called "On the Trail Of," was sponsored by NewTown and funded by grants from Pasadena Art Alliance, the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. A few more shots:

Above, one of Three Untitled Framing Devices by John O'Brien and Cielo Pessione, "placed in relationship to where an interesting panorama could be framed." I found that you could frame the panorama with the device, or you could frame the device against the the panorama. Each device was mounted atop a base etched with a quotation. This one, by Annie Dillard, said, "Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you."

Below, Richard Newton's Seek no evil - Fear no evil - Be no evil echoed the Tarot by interpreting three of the cards in a traditional deck. I found them all striking, but Fear no evil was especially spooky when viewed from the high path in the misty woods.

Neil Fenn's Watershed Temporary Aesthetic Improvement Program entailed the "wrapping of large numbers of rocks in blue translucent plastic paper" alluding to, among other things, "the purposes and functions of a watershed." If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the meticulous work that went into creating this, with "water" trickling down from the hilltop.

Many thanks to Barbara Ellis for the photo above. (You may remember Barbara; she was good enough to lead me/us on a tour of Caltech for Pasadena Daily Photo in March.) The picture is of one of six works entitled Ponds, by Toti O'Brien. "In plain view and sheltered from casual view, ceramic boats suggest journeys, real and imagined, liberating and confounding, chosen and serendipitous." I would also add, enchanting. They were small and hard to find, even with our map of the works. I saw four before I had to go. Barbara stayed to go back over the path and find the rest. Below you see how easy they were to miss, and how much they were worth looking for.

Blurry Women

2009-06-03T08:20:00.001-07:00

There's a reason this photo is blurry but you can't blame me, because I didn't take it.

Art Night Extras

2009-03-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

A few photos from Art Night, March 2009. Other images are here and here.

First stop was the Armory Center for the Arts.

A CBS2 camera crew was at the Armory Center. The artwork is by Gifford Myers. (Inspiration for this shot, Eric Tenin, Paris Daily Photo.)

Contemplating the photographs of David Scharf at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

Also at the PMCA, Seismic Sea by Ned Kahn, an interactive piece. The description on the card beside it encouraged people to step on its base or tap it, to create "the interplay of water, light and shadow."

I didn't have my tripod with me, so unfortunately my night shots from Sidestreet didn't work. But do check them out.

The Getty

2009-02-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

I recently visited the Getty Museum. The art is wonderful, of course, but for me the architecture is the highlight. Some folks complain that Los Angeles doesn't have decent architecture. It's true you won't find a magnificent historic building on every block in LA, like you will in Paris or London. And some parts of LA are so ugly as to be soul-killing. But we do have great architectural works here. One of them is the Getty Museum.

Architect Richard Meier created a remarkable complex. My favorite thing about it is how the eye is directed. The whole place is about views: up a flight of stairs, around a sinuous bend, across a panoramic garden. Even the tram ride that carries you from the parking lot to the hilltop center is engineered to surprise the eye.

Looking south.

Lines of sight.

Moonrise.

A fixed gaze.

Visit the art, but don't miss the building.

Crystal Cove

2009-01-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

John and I skipped town for a couple of days over New Year's. We visited a place many people never see: the Crystal Cove Beach Cottages in Orange County, California.

At Crystal Cove the beach is pristine. The Cottages themselves are a historic district. The surrounding area is overcrowded, overbuilt, sadly spoiled California coastline so I won't show you that part.
A stretch of MacArthur Avenue heading into Corona Del Mar.

It's not easy to reserve a cottage at Crystal Cove. Rentals open up something like six months in advance and fill up in about five minutes. After that you might find a cancellation if you're lucky, but you have to think ahead. We were of the "lucky" variety. We received our stay as a gift from some very generous friends.
The view from our balcony to the southeast.

The view from our balcony to the northwest.

A few things you may notice from these shots: One, fog. Two, no crowds. The beach isn't private, it's a state park. But it was cold, and the cove isn't easy to get to. (More on that in a minute.)

You might also notice that our view looked over some shabby rooftops. Those cottages are unoccupied and awaiting renovation. The Cove has quite a story behind it, which I can't begin to tell in a short post. Briefly, the state bought the Cove a while back to save it from developers. That's good, otherwise it would look like the rest of the cheek-by-jowl pseudo-Spanish Lego that surrounds it. Some cottages have been fixed up, some haven't. Money is needed to complete the work. More on that here.

Boo Radley's beach house.

Some of the beach colony is a ghost town. On a foggy day it looks positively sad. But Crystal Cove has a sweet quality. The people who work there are dedicated to preserving it. And we liked breakfast at the casual Beachcomber restaurant. It was pricey but delicious, with good service. For dinner we went into Corona del Mar for a great meal at a more elegant place called Oysters. It was our Christmas gift from John's parents. For less than what we'd have paid at the Beachcomber we got a delicious meal including drinks, and a superb black truffle and edamame bruschetta. (Seriously. I'd never heard of it before either.)

The Beachcomber Restaurant.

Many of the cabins have kitchenettes so you can bring your own food. But they get away with charging a premium at the Beachcomber because they have a captive crowd. Remember I said it's not easy to get to Crystal Cove? In summer it's no big deal. But in winter, you may not want to bundle up and walk up the path away from the colony, through the tunnel, up the hill and across the windy parking lot all the way on the other side of Pacific Coast Highway. It's no big deal for the kids, but the retirees probably don't relish it. Or women walking alone. (Even though the cottage rental office furnishes flashlights.)

The tunnel.

Then again, you might be at Crystal Cove to escape the crowds you run into in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Corona Del Mar. It might be worth it to you to stay in the Cove for all your meals, where for a brief time you can forget there's a world out there.

Some gift, eh?

Greetings from GinaB

2008-12-24T08:26:00.001-08:00

Holiday greetings to friends of Pasadena Daily Photo from GinaB! Here she is with husband Yayo and their rowdy wards, Samson, Canela and Hamlet. Happy New Year, too!

Santa Paula Stroll

2008-11-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

John and I took a trip to Santa Paula a couple of weeks ago. We love to get in the car and wander for a day into the small towns nearby. It's not hard to get out of Los Angeles and find something sweet.

Originally a Chumash Indian village, Santa Paula is now the Citrus Capital of the World.

The town seems to be doing well, but I like this empty store shot.
We made the mistake of eating in Fillmore. Don't do that. Eat in Santa Paula. There are a few good choices. Antique shops, too. It's an easy drive from Los Angeles, and a nice place to stroll the streets and feel like you live in a small town for a day.

Hollywood Woman

2008-10-09T22:16:00.001-07:00

Rain

2008-10-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

Passing by Warner Bros. in Burbank on a late September day.
Rain.
Not much, but when you live here you take what you can get.
When it was over my car was filthy! (Of course my car was filthy before it started...)

Devil's Gate Dam

2008-09-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

These photos show some of the inner workings of the Devil's Gate Dam at Hahamongna Watershed Park in Pasadena, California. I don't know what they are, I just thought they looked interesting. These photos are overflow from a post at Pasadena Daily Photo.

Below is a broader view of the dam. To give you an idea of scale, click on the photo and enlarge it. You can see streetlights on top of the dam. The greenery is full-sized trees.

I took the photos above by shoving my camera inside the workings of the vertical grate at the bottom center of the dam.

Bastille Day Eve with the SoCal PDP Fan Pod

2008-07-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

Southern California fans of Paris Daily Photo celebrated Bastille Day at Lilly's French Cafe in Venice. We'd have gone to Perris, but it's too far from L.A.

Here we are early in the evening, when we first met and before the ice was broken. Seated, you see Tall Gary, Pont Girl and my husband, John. Standing: that's Carrie on the left and me on the right.

Wow, what a difference after a Kir Royale and a meal, huh? What a wacky bunch! Actually we had a great time discussing our mutual interests in France and its history and culture, plus our work, our travels and the other things that make up good conversation. We talked a lot about Paris Daily Photo, the unique and wonderful blog that brought us together, and all the unique and wonderful people we've met there—especially Eric Tenin, the master of ceremonies.

This is "Eric the Escargot." He didn't make it through the meal. Too tasty. You know we're big fans.

5 Questions

2008-07-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Aaron Proctor has this nifty column in Pasadena Weekly, and he was kind enough to feature me this week. Thank you, Aaron!

Altadena Mountain Rescue Rappelling Sequence

2008-07-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

These members of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team were training a new recruit at the Devil's Gate Dam the other day. This photo sequence is of her first rappel (ever!) . More information at Pasadena Daily Photo.

Pasadena Police Classic Car Show

2008-06-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

The Pasadena Police 2008 Classic Car Show was held on Colorado Blvd. Sunday, June 15th (Fathers Day).

Gee, I just want a look at that Datsun 2000...

Nice line-up.

Paul says this is the car he drives around town every day. He and his car will appear on the June 30th episode of "101 Cars You Must Drive" on cable TV's Speed Channel. Paul says his car is the star of the "not sexy" segment.

Ah. There's the Datsun.

Elegant Entropy

2008-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

South Pasadena's Rialto Theatre, on the National Register of Historic Places. A few shots:

The marquee.

These stairs are on the south side of the building.

Detail of the stairs.

This yellow door is at the foot of the rusty stairs.

Cinema 21 Extras

2008-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

A window at Cinema 21.

Cinema 21 at 845 Washington Blvd., a little the worse for wear. You can see where someone ran into the near corner. The window bars are iron, so I'd say the vehicle was big, and going fast.

The lobby.

Under the marquee.

Vandals have been busy.

From the back, you can see where the apartments were in relation to the cinema.

Reminds me of an old tenement. I guess that's exactly what it was.

At street level, cold air flows from the windows, even on a hot day.

Pasadena's Iraq War 5 Year Anniversary Vigil

2008-03-19T22:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday's vigil was heartening, to say the least. I met and photographed a lot of great people. The turnout was terrific, and the support from the traffic (honk!!!) was spectacular.

P.J. the positive!

A well-spoken patriot.

Jaunty tie clasp.

A veteran of the first Iraq war shows up for peace.

Teach your children well.

Pasadena Daily Photo

2008-01-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm actually blogging now, just not here. Please check out Pasadena Daily Photo, brand spankin' new on January 1, 2008. Give me a few months to figure out the camera before you get too harsh, but you can go ahead and be tough on my grammar and spelling.

2007-05-31T22:11:00.001-07:00

My website's live now. Please check it out. The link is at the left and also in my profile. With that live, and with Miss Snark retired, I may not come around here all that much. But you never know.

Howdy

2007-05-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

I'm glad you stopped by. In case you wonder why I haven't posted much, or why this blog even exists, the truth is I had to sign up for an account so I could comment on Miss Snark's blog. (See link at left.) Now that Miss Snark has closed down her blog (woe!), I probably won't keep this much longer. Not sure what to do.

I didn't have to add posts here, but I wanted to try it so I put up a couple of things. My website will be up soon, and I'll direct folks there when it's ready. For now, I have a book to write, and if I start actually blogging, that's never gonna happen.

Cut it out

2007-04-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I spent most of today in a video edit session. It strikes me that I can apply it to writing:

"Cut that, it doesn't move the piece forward."
"Cut that, it doesn't work with this."
"Cut that, it's too slow."
"Cut that, it's boring."

Et cetera.

It wore me out. That applies, too.

Act As If

2007-03-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

I write a humor column for actors called Act As If. It's part of the Actors Ink e-zine (see the top link over to the left) at NowCasting.com. Check it out. Once a month I try to come up with something witty to say about the business of acting. If I can't think of anything witty I do an interview, or I profile someone in the business, and hope they'll be witty for me.

Boz #1

2007-03-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a blogger and this isn't really a post. This is practice. So Boz is as good a place to start as any.

I'll just mention that Boz is my little love, all 75 pounds of him. He's the pig-boy, the pudge bucket, the poodleoodle. Of course we don't use cuteness with him because he's way too tough and dangerous for such silliness.