Hmm, How Would I Improve Hyperion Bridge

BIKE PATH ACCESS AND EARTHQUAKE-PROOFING might be nice. But how about the ability for pedestrians to cross the bridge without wading through inches of garbage and broken glass? Surely the bridge improvement budget will afford a broom. Glendale-Hyperion Bridge-Viaduct System [Flickr] Hyperion Bridge Improvement Project [AV News Blog] UPDATE! A few weeks later the trash was bagged up. The bags sat by the side of Glendale Blvd. for a while, maybe a week, but now they're gone.

Serial Number 37029

ON RIVERSIDE DRIVE near Atwater Village, February 6, 2007. More at LAPDonline.org and LAPD blog. UPDATE: The Riverside Drive traffic light being installed nearby at the time of the accident is now operating.

Must Have Crossed in the Mail

FROM THIS MORNING'S latimes.com:

From this morning's disney.com:

Way to give that last-minute push.

From the 'It's Got To Be An Act' Department

A budding Rolling Stone "journalist" whines: "Tony Toni Tone lied to me. They told a young girl that 'It Never Rains in Southern California.'" Tony Toni Tone? If Albert Hammond had a grave, he'd be the one rolling. RELATED: Hear new tracks from the next generation of Hammonds. Rock Insider and Cause=Time post new songs by Albert Hammond Jr., he of The Strokes fame. (Even more embarrassing for above journo.)

Atwater Chatter - Midwinter Heat Wave Edition

casitas_ave001, originally uploaded by Luis Lopez.

This afternoon I felt the temperature suddenly rise. Like the LA River had belched hot air. Yum! Let's taste some other neighborhood noise. Big Surprise: 91 percent of people surveyed by Friends of Atwater Village agree with Friends of Atwater Village that they don't care for the proposed 90-unit Casitas Avenue housing project. Downside: Architectural firm Patterns is no longer designing the 90-unit Casitas Avenue housing project. Downside II: So Casitas Avenue will look like this a while longer. Art Opening: Dan Wooster paints "life in the present moment," opens at J. Ferrari Gallery Feb. 10. Opening Books: Kids books for a quarter? Atwater Village Branch Library sale, Feb. 10. Deliciosa: Try a dosa at India Sweets & Spices.

LA Times Eyes Atwater Village

Our sliver in northeast Los Angeles gets a whole page to itself in yesterday's LA Times West Magazine. Covered: Jill's Paint, 3534 Larga Ave. - "Has Home Depot and its ilk trounced" Fantasy bungalows, 3636-3742 Brunswick Ave. - "Built in the 1920s by real estate agent Barney B. Kenoffel, who was believed to have been inspired by silent-film sets and sensational newspaper reports about the discovery of King Tut's tomb" Club Tee Gee, 3210 Glendale Blvd. - "Popular hangout celebrated its 60th anniversary with a soiree attended by Councilmen Tom LaBonge and Eric Garcetti" Tacos Villa Corona, 3185 Glendale Blvd. - Named for the burritos the owner's mother made for her father Los Feliz Municipal Golf Course - "Favorite of struggling actors after it was featured in the indie hit 'Swingers'" Los Feliz Cafe, 3207 Los Feliz Blvd.- "Often-packed greasy spoon" Not covered: LA Times' own darling bistro, Canele, 3219 Glendale Blvd., which the paper raves about here, here and here. All Eyes on Atwater Village [LA Times West Magazine]

Super Bowl Sunday in a City That's OK Without It

Subtitled: Third Bar's a Charm We hail from Colorado, home of the two-time Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. In Colorado, even if you don't care about sports, you care about professional football. You especially care about championship games. (With or without John Elway.) And on game day, you care to park your car safely away from flammable material. But now we live in Los Angeles - a great city, to be sure, but not one that bothers much with the NFL. Oscar Night clears grocery shelves, but what would Super Bowl Sunday bring? We ventured downtown, on advice of Thrillist, to see what was what. The plan: park at Metro Rail, ride downtown, and gulp beer and fried food under giant screens at Trifecta. Not so fast, said the Avenue 26 park-n-ride. We don't take your fancy plastic. Cash only, bub. Back to your car. Forget saving the planet. Hope you saved enough for parking downtown. Oh no you don't, repeated Trifecta. Without reservations there's a 30-minute wait and a $50 minimum per person. Or you can stand behind the people standing at the bar. Quipped a clever hostess: "Way to plan ahead." Good luck here too, smirked Grand Avenue Sports Bar. "Maybe someone will share a table with you." Venturing on from these sellouts, we noticed an unusual attribute both joints had in common: quiet. No one was yelling at the TV. No one was color commentating from their beers. We heard the game and the occasional clinking glass. Not much else. (How... respectful?) One final attempt to salvage Super Bowl Sunday led us to Casey's Irish Pub & Grille. Table for two, facing the screen, no waiting, no minimum. Happy hour prices with $3 Guinness and decent pub food. Reminded us of My Brother's Bar, a favorite from Denver. Only quieter.

Nominee for Least Valuable Holiday

Who cares if there might be six more weeks of winter when Ground Hog Day looks like this? Besides, no self-respecting LA ground hog would take a meeting before 10am.

Delicious (But Oily) Review

Atwater Village's re-opened Canele (3219 Glendale Blvd.) gets slicked up by the Potatomato blog: "On a Friday night, it's completely full..." "Good hang out spot for the local hipsters..." "Light (but oily) pasta..." "I enjoyed the plate very much... "Though every bite is mouthful of oil... "Everything is soaked in oil..." "Amount of oil they use ... is a bit scary."

Before and After: Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct

Bike path would be nice. But how about making the Glendale-Hyperion viaduct and bridge system more earthquake proof? The city of Los Angeles is required to recruit public suggestions. First chance: Feb. 8, 7:00pm, Glenfeliz Elementary School, 3955 Glenfeliz Blvd. Initial Study PDF [City of LA] Viaduct Improvement Project [Friends of AV] Glendale-Hyperion Bridge-Viaduct Photos [Flickr]

Judging a Phone Book By Its Cover

With barely a thud this week my new AT&T phone book arrived. Moving from a city that jams dozens of suburbs into a single metro-area encyclopedia, I was excited to see this slender volume in my new hometown. One handy book with only listings from Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Atwater Village? Count me in. As a resident of northeastern Los Angeles, I fully intended to use it. (Next time my computer was off, of course.) Then I opened the phone book. Inside is a different story. And a different geography. The listings, the maps and the ads are all for northwestern Los Angeles. Under Birds & Bird Supplies (p. 55) for example, you don't find Pampered Birds on Glendale. But you do see Omar's Exotic Birds on Santa Monica. (Omar's, by the way, is not on Santa Monica any more. And it has a new phone number.) So thanks anyway (new!) AT&T for all the fascinating information about West Hollywood and environs. But I'll just keep my computer on.