Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today’s bike club ride is one we haven’t done since 2014. In the Palms section of west L.A., there is an apartment building called “Crapi Apartments”. It’s a real place. The first time I saw a photo of it, I thought it was a Photoshop gag, but it’s real. So we went to see it today. It was a relatively long ride for us, but it’s quite flat. The day started out cold-ish. It was cold enough that when I saw a shopping bag full of takeout container trash, I tore one side off the bag and stuffed under my jersey. And then I wasn’t cold any more. And by the time we were headed home, it was pretty warm, so it was a good day for riding.

52 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

It’s the Sunday before Christmas, which means it’s time for the Christmas-themed ride. The main theme is “It’s a Wonderful Life”, with a visit to James Stewart at Forest Lawn in Glendale, and then passing by the Martini family home in the movie, which was the only scene that was shot on location. And along the way, we also passed by the house used as Clark Griswold’s boss, Frank Shirley’s house in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. We also saw that there are still a few of the signs from the “Word on the Street” art project up in parks in Glendale.

The day started out cold, but it warmed up fast, and it turned into a very nice day.

37 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

Today’s bike ride was a visit to Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel. This is the park with the sea monsters playground. And after that, we rode to Whittier Narrows, where there are some more sea monster sculptures made by the same artist. The ones at Whittier Narrows are mostly decorative, while the ones at Vincent Lugo have slides and other play elements built in.

41 miles.

Route map and elevation profile