Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today’s ride was yet another tour of Hollywood and the Sunset Strip, and then a little jaunt up into the hills.

I met Gene at the park at 8:00 and we set out. We took Orange Grove west and then went down through the arroyo, past the stables in South Pasadena. The road there is kind of rough, and I always seem to end up losing my water bottle on the bumps there. But after I went back and picked it up, we went up the little hill and got on York Ave for the trip across Highland Park.

Heading south on Eagle Rock Blvd, we took a right on Fletcher and took that across the L.A. River and into Silver Lake. Then we crossed the Shakespeare Bridge and then turned south to Prospect Ave, which merges into Hollywood Blvd. Riding down Hollywood Blvd in the morning is always a somewhat surreal experience. The street crazies are all still asleep in the doorways, so it’s quite a bit different from how it is later in the day.

A bit west of La Brea, we turned south and took Hawthorn Ave to where it ended, and then went down to Sunset Blvd for the last bit out to the Strip. We passed a car lot that specialized in old Cadillacs. We also passed the Laugh Factory. Back in 1990, I took a class at UCLA Extension called “How to perform stand-up comedy”, and we had our ‘mid-term exam’ at the Laugh Factory. That was an interesting experience.

Continuing on, we got to the famous Sunset Strip. We rode for just a bit there and then decided to try an experiment on one of the side streets. We took a right on Miller Drive. But it was not ‘Miller Time’. It was 15% grade time. Yikes. We took that up for a while until it wound down to Queens Road, where we took a left. Then the road got steep. I had to say ‘uncle’ and shift there. It felt like close to 20%. But it brought us up to Hollywood Blvd, where we took a left.

Continuing on up Hollywood Blvd, we passed a house that had a waterfall over the driveway. Then we merged into Sunset Plaza and took that the rest of the way to the top of the hill. We stopped for a bit to take in the view, but there wasn’t much of a view today, since it was still kind of foggy. Then we went over the crest and down the other side into Laurel Canyon.

At Wonderland, we took a left and then headed up Laurel Pass Road and then Allenwood. On the way up I picked up a real-estate flyer for a ‘Dramatic private gated mini-estate’. $1,995,000. Yow. The house was pretty, though.

We came out on Mulholland Drive at the top of Fryman Canyon at the little park. We stopped for water and then headed back east down the spine of the Hollywood Hills. At the bottom in Cahuenga Pass we took some little side streets to come out on Barham Blvd. A right turn there took us down the hill to Burbank.

At the bottom of the hill, we headed east into Griffith Park. We rode all the way through the park and out the other side, passing the Mulholland Fountain at Los Feliz. Then we kept going back to Fletcher.

Turning left on Fletcher, we headed back across the river and into Atwater Village. Then on up into Highland Park. We took a little side trip to ride along the Gold Line tracks where they go down the middle of the street. Then we took Ave 60 across the arroyo and got on Monterey Road for the trip across South Pasadena and San Marino.

The last part of the ride was up Sierra Madre Blvd back into Pasadena and back to the park where we had started.

It was a nice ride, even with the 20% grade part.

53 miles.
cycling

I saw this in the L.A. Weekly today, and it’s just too good to not mention:

The Mr. Fish cartoon about the State of the Union Address

I don’t usually write much about work here, but today was a momentous day. It was the most excitement I’ve had since the last M6 earthquake.

My project is the Earthquake Notification System. This is a system for automatic email notification of worldwide earthquakes. We’ve had public mailing lists for earthquake notification since about 2000, but they were ‘one size fits all’ in that people could choose only to get either M4 or M3 events, and they had a choice of Southern California, Northern California, or the whole world. This new system is the first time subscribers can pick their own custom geographic boundaries and notification thresholds.

This all started a bit over two years ago as my pet project. People have been asking for something like this for years, but it’s only recently that I figured out how to do it. So for the past two years, it’s been my little office pet. Every so often, I would trot it out and show it to people. They would suggest some more features they’d like to see, and then I’d put it away.

But about a year ago, the people at the National Earthquake Information Center took an interest in it. And it went from being a pet project to being a real project. They even got some web designers to help it look pretty. And today it went public. Yikes. There’s even a link to it off the front page of the Earthquake Hazards Program web site.

It’s kind of fun seeing something I invented being used by lots of people. At the same time, it’s kind of scary, since if it fails, I’m the one who will look stupid.

Have I mentioned recently that I really like my job?

Lucinda just lost her first top tooth today. It’s been loose for a long time, and she had Mommy pull it just after dinner.

Today’s adventure was one that Cathy found. An afternoon with the Jumbo Shrimp Circus Academy. This was a three-hour session for the whole family, to teach basic circus skills.

At the start, they had us to a few group exercises for basic human interaction skills. Then we started out. The first was balancing a peacock feather. It’s not all that hard to do, but it does require a bit of focus. The people who got good at it were encouraged to try balancing it on their nose, or to try tossing and catching it while keeping it balanced.

Next was the spinning plate. They passed out plates and sticks for everyone, and we all had a go at it. The trick was to get it started. Once it was spinning, it was easy. But the people who mastered getting it spinning then had to try to balance the stick on their finger, palm, or nose, which wasn’t so easy. The room was filled with the sound of falling plates hitting the floor.

After a short snack break, we tried some new things. There was a tightwire, juggling balls, the diabolo and devil sticks. Cathy and Lucinda both did the tightwire, and I tried to learn basic juggling. Sadly, it’s not the sort of thing one can pick up in five minutes, or even a half-hour. I made some progress, but I’ll have to practice more. Lucinda did some more plate-spinning, and Cathy tried her hand at the diabolo and devil sticks.

The last part of the class involved some balancing and building a basic human pyramid. Cathy and Lucinda did some of the two-person balancing, and I got picked for the base of the first pyramid.

At the end, they opened up all the activities for anyone who wanted to try something again. I had to try the tightwire, since my father had made a tightwire when I was a kid. He strung it up between two trees and we used to practice walking on it. But the last time I walked on it was 1971, when I was 11 years old. So I was a bit rusty. The wire this time was a bit more wobbly than I remember, but that may be because I’m a bit bigger and heavier. Still, it was interesting to try it again.

This was a fun afternoon activity and Lucinda liked it a lot. We had been planning on having a circus theme for her birthday party this year, so this fit in well. We also bought some clown noses, plates, and juggling balls while we were there, so now we have activities for her party. So overall, it was a fun afternoon.

Also, we have this year’s obligatory ‘cute couple’ picture. Cathy and I were wearing sort-of-matching shirts today, so we had to get a picture.

Route map and photo locations

Today’s club ride was up Big Tujunga Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. Most people don’t realize just how close Los Angeles is to actual wilderness, and it’s a nice place to ride.

The ride started from Descanso Gardens in La Cañada, but I started out meeting Gene, Philippe and Rick at Victory Park. We headed west and up the hill to get to the ride start.

When we got there, we got our route slips and and we all headed out up Foothill Blvd through La Crescenta. I tried to take another picture of the “Poo Ping” restaurant sign, but the sun was at the wrong angle, so it didn’t come out.

We took a right on Tujunga Canyon Blvd and headed up the hill. At Hillrose, Gene and I took a little side trip up a steep hill to see Elliott’s house from “E.T.”. The view from up there was pretty spectacular.

Coming back down, we got back on the route and took Mt. Gleason Road north a bit and then got onto Big Tujunga Canyon Road. This was where we left the Los Angeles city limits and headed up into the mountains.

We couldn’t do this ride last year because a section of the road had washed out during the winter rains. So today we got to see the washed-out road and the little temporary detour they’d built around it.

Because of our little side trip, the rest of the group was now ahead of us. The group was pretty strung-out from riding up an 11-mile hill, and we caught up to several of them on the way up.

At one point, the road went across the canyon on a high bridge, which was quite spectacular. A bit above that, I stopped at an overlook to see the dam that was built in 1931 for flood control.

Continuing on up the canyon, we finally came out on the Angeles Forest Highway, where we turned right. The route slip said that this was ‘the top’, but it sure felt like we were still going uphill for the next four miles to the Angeles Crest Highway and Clear Creek Ranger Station.

When we got to the Ranger Station, we stopped for water. Then we headed down the Crest Highway, back to civilization. The road down was 10 miles, all downhill. Ordinarily, this would be cause for great rejoicing, but it was cold. So it was not an unalloyed pleasure.

At the bottom of the hill, Gene and I took a left on Foothill and headed back to Pasadena. We passed JPL and then took Woodbury east and then some small streets back to the park.

It was a fun ride. And when I got home, I realized that I had done the whole thing without shifting even once. It was 39×17 the whole way.

52 miles.
cycling

Last night we had some intense Santa Ana winds here. The house was creaking, the dogs were whimpering, and the power went out. So Cathy had to spend the night with our scared six-year-old, and I got to spend the night with two shivering dogs.

This morning, I went outside to survey the damage. Our street is a mess, but it was mostly just branches. Only one complete tree fell down on our block. The power came on at about 7:30 this morning. And I still rode my bike to work today. It was actually pretty amazing how fast I got there, riding with a 50-mph tailwind.

Last night, we had a rare evening out. We dropped Lucinda off with Aunt Maggi and then headed over to Hollywood to see Varla Jean Merman’s new show, “I’m Not Paying For This!”.

We first went to dinner at the French Market Place in West Hollywood. We had a nice dinner and browsed a bit at our favorite gay gift shop, Dorothy’s Surrender. Then we headed over to the Renberg Theater at the L.A. Gay Center.

“I’m Not Paying For This!” is Varla’s new show, and it’s her tribute to the Seven Deadly Sins. She had a song for each, and it was very entertaining.

According to Varla, Lust leads to “guilt, a fractured tailbone, and a soiled clown suit”.

Varla also displayed a new talent, playing the theme from “Star Trek” on the theremin.

At the end of the show, she did one encore, singing “Girl With a Pearl Necklace” and also her “Schoolhouse Rock” medley.

Afterwards, we bought her new CD and she signed it for us. Overall, it was a very fun evening.

Her show runs through February 5.

Route map and photo locations

Today’s ride was a tour of the west Los Angeles oil patch. It’s a little-known fact that most of Los Angeles from downtown out to Century City lies on top of an oil field. In the 1920s, the area near the La Brea Tar Pits was a forest of oil derricks. But years ago, the Los Angeles city council mandated that oil wells in the city have to be hidden. So they are disguised behind walls and inside fake buildings. And today Gene and I went to see just a few of them.

Starting at Victory Park in Pasadena, we rode down Sierra Madre Blvd to Huntington Drive. Then we turned right and headed towards downtown L.A. We turned on Mission and then on North Main St to get into downtown proper. Then we took Spring St past the homeless camp and City Hall down to Olympic Blvd.

It was a chilly morning, and I had suited up appropriately, even to the point of putting paper bags over my shoes. Who needs high-priced cycling-shoe-covers when a paper bag can do the trick? Besides, we can send pictures to the Weekly World News and tell them that we’ve found “Bagfoot”.

Turning right on Olympic, we headed out of downtown and into Koreatown. This is one of the special things about L.A. We can feel like world travelers, even on a simple bike ride. One shopping center had signs almost exclusively in Korean. The only exception was a big sign for “Porno Mania”. I tried to take a picture, but sadly, the lighting was wrong and we were too far away.

We took Olympic all the way out to just past Doheny, where we turned south to Pico Blvd and our first sightseeing stop. It was a pair of fake buildings, one which looked like a church, and the other that looked like a bank. But neither one had signs or a front door. There was just a small sign for Breitburn Energy on the side doors, some mechanical noises, and the smell of petroleum.

Heading back up to Olympic, we entered Beverly Hills. And at the edge of town we came to the second oil well. This one is inside a decorated tower just behind the playing field at Beverly Hills High School. The tower used to be just plain gray, but it’s been painted with flowers now.

From there, we went north on Spaulding to Charleville, and then east a bit to Crescent, which we took north past Wilshire to Foothill Rd and Burton Way. We took a left on Robertson and then a right on Alden to get to Cedars Sinai Hospital. That was where we saw the intersection of George Burns Rd and Gracie Allen Way.

Next, we stopped at the Beverly Center mall, between La Cienega and San Vicente. There is an oil field there, in a little crescent-shaped patch of land between the mall and San Vicente. It’s behind a wall, and we had to go up the parking garage ramp on the mall to see inside.

A left on 3rd St got us heading east again. At Fairfax, we stopped at the Ross Dress For Less store. This is the store that exploded back in 1985. Methane gas from the oil field had seeped up into the store. The explosion blew out the windows and for a time there were flaming cracks in the parking lot. Now the store has been repaired, and there is a vent pipe in the parking lot to safely release the methane.

We turned left on Stanley Ave and headed up into Hollywood. I stopped for a photo-op at the Villa Stanley retirement home. I always take pictures of things that have my name on them. Then we crossed over Melrose Ave and then went west two blocks to get to Genesee Ave, which we took north some more.

At Santa Monica Blvd, we stopped to look at the “Porn Walk of Fame” in front of the former Pussycat Theater. We saw the hand and foot prints of Harry Reems, Georgina Spelvin, John Holmes, and Marilyn Chambers. I took pictures and put them in my Random Photos Gallery. Then we continued on up Genesee to Hollywood Blvd.

Crossing Hollywood Blvd, we went up Nichols Canyon Road, and it was suddenly much quieter. This is one of my favorite roads up the Hollywood Hills, and it was also recently repaved, so it was a very nice climb all the way up to Woodrow Wilson Drive and Mulholland Highway.

Turning right on Mulholland, we rode down into Cahuenga Pass, stopping briefly for water at the Hollywood Bowl overlook. Then we turned on the bridge over the freeway and got on Cahuenga Blvd for one short block. Then we turned off onto some small residential streets to get around the hill and come out on Barham Blvd.

From there, we went down the hill into Burbank and turned on Forest Lawn Drive to get to Griffith Park. Then we took Zoo Drive past the Live Steamers and Travel Town to Riverside Drive.

From there, it was the standard route home across Glendale, Eagle Rock, and Pasadena.

56 miles.
cycling

Since everyone else seems to talk about TV shows from time to time, here’s mine.

I don’t watch much TV. Hardly any, in fact. This probably due more to lack of time than to snobbishness, but I have to admit to not being interested in most of it.

But I do see a lot of filming around town, and today they were filming for “Numb3rs” on campus. Caltech gets used a lot as a location, and if you know the campus, you’ll see it a lot.

The funny thing is, when they’re filming, it usually just looks like a bunch of people standing around. Very little visible action goes on. Still, it’s interesting to see this sort of thing, particularly when a location gets dressed up as something completely different.

Addendum: They were still doing it today so I added some more pictures.