| AS PART OF our helicopter tour last weekend, the pilot did a loop around the famous (or, depending on your point of view, infamous) intersection and mall known as Hollywood & Highland. While this corner arguably houses the ugliest building in Los Angeles, on this day it was hopping. In fact, for viewing hordes of humanity from a helicopter, Hollywood & Highland rivaled even the beaches and Santa Monica Pier. Enjoy my 24-photo Flickr set. |
 HERE'S A TANGENTIAL way of getting into the Pinkberry frozen yogurt craze. (Even if it's a year too late.) The Atwater Village location of Cold Stone Creamery is for sale and the owner promises a "soft serve treat" called Tartberry - coming soon. From the sale listing:Cold Stone Creamery Franchise For Sale |
| MEMORIAL DAY NEWS as reported by CityWatch: "Councilman Tom LaBonge and fellow Angelinos [sic] honored the nation's veterans by noting the American flags raised along the landmark Hyperion Bridge... LaBonge allocated about $2,000 for the installation of 30 flags along the historic bridge through revenue generated by advertising on transit benches and kiosks in the Fourth Council District. The flags will fly in commemoration of the Fourth of July and September 11th and will remain in place until September 28, 2008." |
| WE FLEW PAST Santa Monica Pier on our Los Angeles helicopter tour this weekend. We can only assume that this big white ferris wheel is the new one, to be unveiled tomorrow night, and not the old one, purchased on eBay for $132,400. |
YESTERDAY'S HELICOPTER tour started and ended at Whiteman Airport, the tiny LA County-owned airstrip at the north end of the San Fernando Valley. Along the way, and for purposes of organizing some 800 photographs, we covered 9 legs, more or less counter-clockwise:
Photos are being sifted, sorted and shared - soon. |
| IT WAS AN anniversary gift from Mrs. Newbie, a perfect way for us to celebrate our new hometown. In just 40 minutes this afternoon, in ideal sight-seeing weather, I snapped some 800 photographs. The better ones will be posted here. Stay tuned. |
| SOMETIME YESTERDAY the switches were flipped, the signs updated. All 5 gas stations in Atwater Village crossed the $4 per gallon threshold, with the always overpriced Gas Mart on Glendale Blvd. topping off the competition at $4.15/gallon for regular unleaded. (The Arco station on Los Feliz Blvd. posts $4.03, but that doesn't include the 45-cent fee for paying with plastic. Let's call it $4.08.) Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone! |
PREPARE TO GET hungry, no matter what time of day, when you read Eric Stone's account of his taco-truck adventure earlier this month. His seventh, and unplanned, stop: the off-the-hook taco stand on Fletcher Drive in what he calls Silver Lake, but is known in these parts as Atwater Village.
"...Along the way we had to pass my favorite taco cart in Christa and my neighborhood (Silverlake) - the al pastor wheel at Fletcher and Larga, across from the U-Haul. It wasn't in us to simply drive by. So we finished off the night there, with excellent al pastor and what might be my favorite salsa roja in town - a bit thinner than most, but with a good, solid bite and a nice tickle of vinegar."
 ON HER PROFILE for National Public Radio, Day to Day reporter Alex Cohen admits to being a resident of a particular sliver of northeast Los Angeles:What was perhaps her bravest local report came from the "All You Can Eat" seats at Dodger Stadium.She lives in the LA neighborhood of Atwater Village with her husband Rich and their two dogs Buddy and Bosco. |
| BUT TOO NOISY to sleep with them open. What was going on at 4:00 this morning? A ghetto bird circled the neighborhood about 30 times. It looked like the helicopter spotlight was shining near the Glendale-Hyperion bridge. |
| SAVE YOURSELF the haul to Van Nuys, stroller pushers, because Babies "R" Us is opening soon between Toys "R" Us and Costco in Atwater Village. It's a good thing, too, because I think I saw an empty parking space there a few weekends ago. |
