I got through what seemed like hundreds of stops today: Torrance, Carson, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gardena, Hawthorne, Compton, Lynwood, South Gate… But sitting down with my calendar and the stacks of things ahead of me, it looks like Northern CA is going to get short shrift for this trip. Tomorrow should be fun and interesting for me as it will include my old stomping grounds: Venice, Santa Monica, West L.A., etc. I’m very curious to see how much it’s changed as I haven’t been back there in over ten years.

No beach for the doggies today which was disappointing for them — esp. since we kept driving by them. I’ll have to make it up to them tomorrow. They had to make do with abandoned lots — not very glamorous but wore them out enough to get through the day. I’ve never seen Fixie and Nik snoozing together — both of them are pretty uptight. But I guess this trip is breaking down some boundaries:

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I took a nasty tumble today — luckily on a nice wide median rather than while crossing a busy street! I guess I was looking at my subject matter and didn’t see the little bump in the concrete. I can usually stay upright when I stumble but this one was bad and all I could think about was don’t – break – the – camera! One of those episodes where time stands still. I went down hard on my right knee (now pretty swollen), scraped up my left palm, and tore up my right elbow. The camera was in my right hand and I watched and heard a big thunk as the UV filter lens ring hit the ground. I immediately checked to see if the camera was okay — and everything looked and functioned perfectly fine. Whew, that was a close one. I will be much more careful. The rest of the day as I would run across lanes of moving traffic (hey, I’m from New York – we don’t wait for lights!), I’d chant to myself: “pick – up – your – feet!”

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More plant identification is needed. Another lovely flowering shrub that I don’t remember seeing before:

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A very unusual-looking flowering tree:

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A nice old bank entrance in San Pedro:

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A perplexing sign in Hawthorne — I’m glad I wasn’t going that direction! I couldn’t figure out if the letters were meant to represent street names or if they were graffiti:

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I’d never seen a mid-century Swiss cheese wall before:

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A fading but flickering neon sign in San Pedro:

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A fun one from Harbor City:

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I really thought I’d bump into more old KFC buckets and Norge Balls on this trip. So far, not much luck. This one was broken but I had to stop anyway:

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And just next door was this cute oldie:

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Lastly, this odd McDonald’s sign. I’ve never seen one like this before. I was looking for a Lucky Boy Hamburger Stand and found a modern McDonald’s at the address. I snapped this photo out the window anyway (sorry about the quality). Maybe it was made in a more retro-y style to appease the folks that were grieving the loss of Lucky Boy? Or maybe McDonald’s is experimenting with some new signage?

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Tomorrow night, I’m going to take a night off for good behavior. Actually, I’m going to get together with a pal from college days and I know I won’t have an ounce of energy left for Flickr-ing or blogging. So don’t worry that I’m laying dead in a road someplace. I promise to have an extra dose of photos for you Thursday night.