Here is my 1 Second Everyday for February 2023. Runs about 1 minute. Enjoy.
Archive for the ‘California’ category
1SE for February 2023
February 28, 2023Ocean View
April 3, 2022Today is Sunday and as usual we go to church at Ocean View Baptist Church. This is a post not about the church but about the view. It’s been pretty much overcast this week.
On a good day, one can see the mountains. Not today. One can barely see the harbor. If you look carefully, you can see ships anchored out side the harbor waiting to be unloaded.
I have been told by a friend that works at the port, that the Port of Los Angeles had been parking the ships out of sight from the shore to make it look like the backup is easing.
California Wildfires
September 10, 2020
Click here to get Wildfire APP. It’s free.
As many of you know, my wife and I live in California. California is on fire. This is one of the worst fire seasons ever. The fires are leading the National news almost every night. It will be some time (if ever) before we see any significant rains, Pray for rain.
That being said, we are safe. We live in an area south of Los Angeles called San Pedro. Look at the fire map that I’ve posted. You don’t see San Pedro on that map, but it is just south of LA.
Mr. Iglesias
June 18, 2020
So we started watching a comedy series called “Mr. Iglesias” on Netflix last night. This is a comedy series about a high school teacher who is working with gifted but misfit students at a high school in Long Beach, CA.
The series stars Gabriel Iglesias who is a stand up comic who portrays a high school teacher. I think he teaches history, but I’m not quite sure. We binge watched three episodes last night. The series just started its second season this week.
Supposedly, Iglesias is a super star standup comic. So apparently he is also known as Fluffy. Hmmm. Why have I never heard of him? Iglesias’ costumes are always shorts, a polo shirt and a hat (Google calls it either a “flat” hat of a “newsboy” hat). Back in the day, I tried my hand at teaching middle and high school math. If I had come to work dressed like him, I would have been fired on the spot. Click here for his Wiki entry. Click here for his personal web site.
Season 1 has ten episodes and season 2 has twelve episodes. I am not sure I will be managing to make it through all 22 episodes. Meh. Can’t see myself spending the time to grind through all the episodes.
Laurel Canyon
June 14, 2020
So we heard about a new documentary the other day titled “Laurel Canyon” on Epix. Epix is a streaming tv channel that is connected to cable tv services. ie. You need to be a cable customer to get Epix.
Laurel Canyon is located north of Hollywood along Laurel Canyon Blvd. in the Hollywood Hills. It is a nice secluded area with lots of trees and greenery.
First, I had never heard of the streaming channel called “Epix”. So I had to see if our Roku box could get it. It does, though it took some doing to get it enabled.
“Laurel Canyon” is a two-part documentary about a neighborhood in Los Angeles of the same name. Laurel Canyon is located just north of Hollywood off of Laurel Canyon Blvd.. It happens to be an area where several recording artists took up residence in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Here is a map:
Episode 1 covers the bands “The Doors”, “Crosby Stills and Nash”, Joni Mitchell, “The Birds”, “Buffalo Springfield”, Frank Zappa (Mothers of invention), “The Monkees”,etc. I loved the music.
Episode 2 adds stories about Jackson Brown, The Eagles and more. It talks about how the various bands grew to be major stars such that they could no longer perform at Hollywood venues like The Troubador or Whiskey-a-Go Go. Too many fans.
Then the show talks about the eventual decline of the groups. First came the death of Jim Morrison in 1971 in Paris (cause unknown), then the death of Mama Cass Eliot in 1974 (due to heart failure). Of course, heavy heroin use didn’t help much.
I’ve got my playlist on my iPhone set for the next month. Such a short time but a huge amount of music.
Today
January 9, 2020Well. Paula working at Assistance League today and I didn’t have anything to do. I didn’t feel like hanging out at home all day, so I decided to go out and do something.
First, a stop at the local Starbuck’s for an iced coffee. Brought my iPad. Finished work on previous blog post then did a couple of crossword puzzles. NY Times puzzle was nasty. Once that was done, I headed out.
I decided to take a ride down to South Shores to see the view. Would I be able to see Catalina Island. I could but just barely. Not the clearest day in a while.
I drove south on Western. All clogged up with construction work. Turned right on 25th Street and headed for Rancho Palos Verdes. Paula’s Mom once had a condo down here back when I first met her with a view of Catalina (when one could see it.)
I continued until I reached the famous Wayfarer’s Chapel I took a few pictures. The sun wasn’t at an optimum angle, but took a few pictures.
One of the things that the Wayfarer Chapel is famous for are glam Hollywood weddings. The one wedding that comes to mind is Jane Mansfield/Mickey Hargitay in 1958. Takes some time to visit all of the Jane Mansfield memorabilia. Man, she was hot. Click here for some of the pictures
So, I was done with the Wayfarer. Headed back whence I came and stopped at one of the pullouts to stop and enjoy the view of the Trump Golf course.
Highway to Heaven (or???)
November 22, 2019So I read that Mass is changing its exit numbering from the extent sequential numbering to mileage based numbering. So for instance, I90 (the MA Pike) would change from exits 1 in the west to exit 140-something in the East. Other highways would be renumbered similarly over the next few years. They say this is being ordered by the fed’s. That will undoubtedly cause widespread mayhem.
So that made me think, what kind of mayhem would that cause in Los Angeles? Luckily, I don’t have to commute on a daily basis on the LA freeways. But renumbering would be crazy.
So I thought I would give my east coast friends a test. Match the freeway number with its commonly used name. Some of the freeway names are a no brainer, some are a bit obscure. I had to look them up. No fair for west coast peeps. No using Google. [I’ll publish the answers in a couple of days, or you can google it]
- I-405
- I-10
- I-5
- I-710
- I-605
- Rt 60
- Rt 2
- I-215
- Rt 91
- I-105
- I-10
- Rt 101
- I-110
- Harbor
- Hollywood
- San Diego
- Gardena
- Santa Monica
- Glenn Anderson
- Santa Ana
- San Gabriel
- Pomona
- Glendale
- Golden State
- Escondido
- Long Beach
Web Sites
November 19, 2019Today I discovered two new websites (well, new to me). First one is theavocadola. Think of it as an LA version of theonion, Satire for Los Angeles.
The second one is LAist.com This is a news web site that focuses on Los Angeles.
If you live on the west coast, you might like these two web sites. If not, well maybe you will still be amused.
Long Beach Symphony
November 17, 2019Last night we had the pleasure of attending the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra at the Long Beach Center for the Performing Arts. We had been given tickets by a friend of Paula’s. What a pleasure. We had seats in 3rd row of the orchestra section.
The performance consisted of pieces by French composers. The symphony was directed by Eckert Preu. Mr. Preu appeared about an hour before the concert (I’m told that he usually does this) to talk about the music.
The performance consisted of:
- Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy
- Intermezzo from Notre Dame by Franz Schmidt
- La Chausseur maudit by Cesar Fanck
Intermission, then
- Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op. 78 (Organ Symphony) by Camille Saint-Saens
So the opening piece was quite light and airy. It kind of gets you comfortable in your seat before the heavy hitters come along.
“Le Chausseeur maudit” means “the Accursed Hunter”. It takes you along on the adventure of a wild hunter in the woods. The story begins about a hunter who would rather hunt on a Sunday morning than sit in the pews in a church.
The four sections of the work are:
- Peaceful Sunday Landscape
- The Hunt
- The Curse
- The Demon’s Chase
Then we had the intermission where we get to calm our nerves over a glass of wine. Then he started on Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony. So called because the fourth and last movement has a pipe organ added to the mix. I told Paula to expect that the theme will be rattling around in your brain. The finale was strong and loud. I wanted to shout out, “Crank it up”. Indeed, Paula told me that she had the theme rattling around in her head.
And finally, I have included an organ recital of the last movement of the Organ Symphony. Play it on a speaker and crank up the volume. Enjoy.
Wild Fire Update
October 31, 2019Time for an update for all our East Coast friends.
We arrived back home in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon. The drive southbound through the Central Valley was very smoky. Visibility was about 1/4 mile or less.
I have screen grabbed two maps of So. Cal from the Wildfire App to show where the active fires are as of today (Thursday 10/31).
The little red dots indicate where the active fires as of today. We live in San Pedro which is down near Long Beach. No fires really close to us.
Wild fires get named kind of like hurricanes. The names usually denote something about the origin of the fire.
The big ones around here are the “Getty” fire which is near the Getty Center in West Los Angeles. The other big one is the “Easy” fire in Simi Valley, so named because it started on Easy Street.
Simi Valley is the home to the Reagan Library. You know that they’re not going to let that one burn.
The third fire is the “Riverside” fire that is in Riverside County east of Los Angeles.
And finally, don’t forget to download the Wild Fire App. It’s free.
calherewecome 