The rest of the CA portion of this trip will probably be confined to the Central Valley. Hopefully, I’ll get to the Bay Area this Fall. Lots of good old stuff to shoot along this corridor. I must have 60 things to shoot in Fresno alone. I must have been to these towns when I was a kid but I don’t remember any of it.

Here’s a nicely done advertising mural in Fresno:

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Lots of agriculture in these parts. I’ve been passing lots of vineyards and orange groves with sweet-smelling blossums. This bar in Lindsay had nice tile & glass and a painted sign:

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Across the street was this building with boarded-up windows concealed with artwork:

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This painted sign is from Fresno where I’ll be spending a good chunk of time this morning:

The day started off dreary and then turned to rain. I’ve had what feels like 20 straight days of perfect weather so I really can’t complain. Still, a lot of photos came out pretty marginal. Here are a couple fun signs from Pismo Beach where you can see the rain streaks:

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I can’t remember the name of these flowers but we had a yellow version in my yard when I was growing up. They pretty much grow like weeds in Southern California. What I like about them is how they close up at night to stay warm. Seems awfully smart and animal-like to me.

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The dogs got to see lots of wildlife today: ostriches, buffalo, longhorn cattle, goats, etc. But what really sent them into a tizzy was this colt or filly at the Madonna Inn. The youngster, probably only a couple weeks old, was running laps and acting like an idiot. But my dogs were acting even more idiotic. Nik does what I call pogo-ing (bouncing up and down as far as he can without hitting the roof) and barking like mad. The rest of the family always chimes in, too, and Gremlin hits decibels that will make your ears bleed. I didn’t manage to get a shot of the young horse running but he’s here at the center of this photo:

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These cute statues are at the Splash Cafe in San Luis Obispo. I assume they are clam people? The two shots are of the one on the ground, the other is on the roof.

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The rain finally subsided during a torturously long trek from the coast across the mountains to the Central Valley. I got to Fresno late afternoon and then headed up another mountain to visit my mother in Lake Isabella. I hadn’t seen her in over ten years so it was great to finally get together.

or that my high school (Buena High) had Mid-Century details:

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Inside that auditorium was a cosmic lamp fixture that must’ve been there when I was there. Of course, we only ever entered from the side and I probably never even saw the building’s legs or this thing:

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I do remember the “Orange Peel” (not sure if it’s still called that) — I guess named for its abstract shape in back. This is where they did big school announcements and the stage from which we graduated. It’s in the center of the school on a big patch of grass on the “Quad” (although I never really saw what was so quad about it). The Peel wasn’t painted these bright colors back then.

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Ventura also has this mid-century library which I spent a lot of time in during my youth. The photo doesn’t show it well but there are freestanding letters in front. The color was a lighter blue back then. I’m glad they haven’t messed with the facade.

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Perhaps the oldest business in town (1900s?) was Peirano’s, across the street from the Mission on Main Street. It was still a market when I left in 1980 but, alas, is a restaurant now. I just wish they had kept their name off the original brick glass. Main Street is still an interesting mix of new businesses and thrift stores.

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In addition to the Ventura stuff, I went way out of the way to see Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village — a place I had always wanted to see and heard a lot about growing up. It has nearly been destroyed a few times and is truly a special place that deserves some true funding and restoration. Among the bottle houses, pathways and other interesting stuff were these pretty plants, succulents known as “hen and chicks”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hens_and_chicks

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By the time I got to Santa Barbara, it was already getting dark but I think I managed to get the shots I need so I can move further northward tomorrow. In contrast to all the wealth and beauty of Santa Barbara was this “double decker” bus that sure appears to be from a different era:

I really cranked today to finish up the L.A. stuff. I can’t believe what I accomplished in the past few days. The rest of the trip will seem laid-back after this. No more mega cities with zillions of stops per hour. It may be less exciting, but I won’t miss the traffic. I really have to really trim things from my itinerary now. Only about ten days left and about half that time will be spent on the interstates hauling it back to New York.

The dogs were prisoners most of the day as Mama was an absolute maniac and there were few places to cut them loose. Poor Nik and Grem were driven crazy by the smells and sights of the ocean as we drove up Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu to Oxnard. I will make it up to them tomorrow somehow.

Just another Streamline Moderne building on the Miracle Mile:

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And just another gorgeous apartment building in Hollywood:

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Perhaps the most famous of all story book houses (the Spadena House in Beverly Hills):

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A mid-century detail that’s probably not long for this world. This was originally a waterfall with multi-colored glass pieces. It was originally a bank, now a church, and there is talk of demo-ing the place for something bigger & better.

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I haven’t seen these bushes in a couple decades. At least I know what this one is! Bottle brush, for obvious reasons:

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There’s really not much weird about “Hollyweird” anymore — but at least I found this place on Melrose (technically in L.A.). The Max Azria clothes store features an art installation of tree branches shaped to look like curly hair:

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Here’s a pair of nice rusty signs in Beverlywood:

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I love all the product paintings in L.A. I don’t remember them back home.

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And lastly, I have to include a Sunset Blvd. billboard. This one’s pretty sexist but I do love the giant bra add-ons anyway:

I think I set my own new personal record in the past two days, taking more than 400 photos for the website. I took Saturday night off from Flickr/the blog to visit an aunt and her husband that I hadn’t seen in over 20 years. Then, I was too wiped out from insane amounts of city driving and getting stuff up at Flickr last night to put together anything coherent here. So, well rested!, let me get this thing done while the sun is making its way up high enough to not make orange-y photos.

The dogs have been making do with abandoned lots as there haven’t been any dog parks in the heart of the city and I haven’t wanted to sacrifice valuable shooting time trekking back and forth to Laurel Canyon. As soon as we finish L.A. County (today I hope!), I promise them some good long running.

I’ve got tons of blog-worthy photos — where to begin? How about some buildings? One of the things I research and seek out on my roadtrips is storybook homes. You know, the Hansel & Gretel-y buildings with curvy roofs and details meant to make them look old. There’s a great book about them here:
http://www.amazon.com/Storybook-Style-Americas-Whimsical-Twenties/dp/0670893854/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

and there are tons of them in L.A. that I’m not going to get to on this trip. I’m resisting starting a new section at my website. I’ve got all the topics I can handle already. So I don’t really know what will become of these photos. Here are a couple from a neat little courtyard in/near Glendale:

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Another thing I seek out to shoot are Egyptian Revival buildings. So far I’ve resisted creating a section at my website for them, too. Their photos are just sitting on my hard drive for now. Here’s an example of an apartment building in Hollywood:

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Here’s another striking building from Hollywood. I know I have a little info in my notes somewhere but don’t have the time to dig it up right now. Maybe someone else can help me identify this house while I’m off shooting:

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Here’s a beautiful old building — but what’s with the shrubs?

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And here are a couple modern buildings. Actually, I’m not sure of the age on this one. It appears to be contemporary but it could be “tarted up” midcentury:

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And this one is much more impressive in person. Yes, that’s no optical illusion — the painted sides of the buildings are really shaped that way.

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Here are a couple more flowering trees that I can’t identify:

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The flowers on this beauty have yellow centers:

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I’ve seen this in a few cities on my trip: groups of novices on Segways. I remember seeing a group of senior citizens on them in — was it Tucson? How come you never seen experienced, fast-moving people on them? Actually, I did see a police force on them — was it in San Diego?

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Gremlin finds L.A. endlessly fascinating. The rest of the gang waits for her to bark at the “important stuff” and then get up to check things out.

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A pit stop in downtown L.A. — the place was actually called Famima which I found appropriate since I was famished. I believe they are a Japanese company expanding to the U.S. (http://www.famima-usa.com/) so they have lots of interesting Japanese items. I had to sample some of the ice creams. Sorry, in my haste to photo and get back to the van before getting a ticket, the upper right item is upside down.

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The root beer was nothing special and I didn’t care too much for the eggy things. I had hoped they would have yellow yolks. But they were just vanilla ice cream in a kind of chewy coating. The other goodie was better: like vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone — only shaped differently:

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I miss seeing these newsstands in Hollywood. In NYC, we just have the little street corner kiosks. But these are much more impressive — some of the ones in downtown Hollywood are what seems like a block long. Do they exist anywhere outside of L.A.?

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This cute guy, in Glendale I think, was on the roof of an Italian restaurant:

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I wash shooting an old Mobil gas station (the super rare drum type) and the owner had a lot of these vehicles around. He serenaded me with some kind of crazy political, religious, incoherent song as I took my photos:

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I went to shoot another old gas station and a wall made of bottles (which I never did find) in/near Echo Park. There were scary, I mean SCARY, steep hills that had me peeing my pants. I’m glad Sparkle had her brakes done recently. I recommend avoiding Baxter Street at all costs. It might not look so bad in this photo (sorry about the buggy windshield) but really, it was really a white-knuckler.

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Lots of incredible painted wall murals in L.A. — here are a couple examples:

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OK, so these guys are not “high art” but I still liked them:

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Time for some signs — far from original condition:

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I’m not sure how old this cute guy in L.A. is. He’s at a comic book store:

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And lastly, this impressive sign in the making. I thought they only used vinyl computer-generated signs on big buildings like this now. But from the scaffolding and paint-by-numbers style markings on the wall, it appears they are painting the whole thing:

I was all over the Valley today, desperately trying to finish that section out. Still a couple hours left for tomorrow though. And then finally onto the meatier parts of L.A. which will take me considerable time: Downtown & south of there, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Westchester. Then I’ll do what I can further north for a couple days. But it’s now official: no chance for northern CA and I’ll have to prioritize the stuff for the long haul home.

I took the dogs to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park today. Huge amount of space for running. Although there is no swimming, this was certainly one of the nicer & biggest parks I’ve seen. I read that there are often celebrities there with their dogs — but I didn’t notice anybody. Not that I would as I really don’t go to movies or watch dramas on TV.

I’m going to keep it short tonight as I’m really beat from staying up extra late last night catching up from my night off. I may get together with some long-lost relatives tomorrow night which might make for a Flickr & Blog-less evening.

On with the photos! This department store had some interesting Mayan and/or Aztec decorations:

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Later in the day, I encountered another interesting building with Mayan and geometric patterns:

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This amusing sign with a giant paper airplane is located near the Van Nuys Airport:

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This midcentury Wells Fargo Bank office tower is giant compared to its surrounding buildings. It’s nothing that special otherwise except that there is a huge faded mural on this one side:

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An lastly, an old school stamp shop might just be a personal turn-on. I used to make and sell rubber stamps with a girlfriend for about three years. We had a little business called Detailed Rubber Stamps and did wholesale and retail. I worked my butt off in a dark basement making the stamps in a vulcanizer and cutting/sanding the wooden mounts. Since we were into producing offbeat stuff rather than teddy bears, we barely broke even. Most stamps these days are made cheaply out of photopolymer (plastic) rather than rubber. Stores like this are definitely a vanishing breed:

I had a nice visit last night with a college friend that I haven’t seen in over ten years. So now, trying to catch up, I’ve put a mess of photos over at Flickr and it’s time to double-up here. Last I posted, I had taken a tumble and luckily did not break the camera. I, on the other hand, have been hobbling around ever since.

I took the dogs to the Culver City Dog Park yesterday:
http://www.culvercitydogpark.org/main/001_home.cfm

and to the Westminster Off-Leash Dog Park today:
http://www.venicedogpark.org/

Not as much fun as the beach but they’re still geting good running in. They’ve also had non-doggie park romps as well. But I think they’re really getting the hang of this lifestyle. They have started not getting up each time I open the car door to take a picture. They’re all pretty sleep deprived at this point.

So let’s get to the pictures. Forgive me for not including cities for most of these. I do have them buried in my notes somewhere if you want to know where they are. Let’s start with some signs. Here’s a neat plastic globe:

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I assume this is the Sacramento State Capitol Building on this sign — although they are all pretty generic aren’t they? And why bring it up in Los Angeles?

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A couple Mexican sterotype signs;

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This sweet one is over the entrance to a bar called “The Joker”:

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I love this building-as-sign. Pretty nice artwork, no?

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Here’s a nice little neon detail on an otherwise now plastic sign:

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There are lots of these hamburger stands around L.A. with busy signage:

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Here are a couple mid-century details from two different buildings:

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Another mystifying shrub — this one with giant drooping trumpet flowers. Anybody know what this one is called?

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It was kind of depressing to see all the changes and new development in my beloved Santa Monica & Venice. Here’s an example of what’s happened to Zucky’s — a coffee shop that had been in Santa Monica forever. Now a bank but they incorporated the pylon sign and stonework as a tribute. It’s almost more painful to me — kind of like a taxidermied animal:

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There really is a car culture in Los Angeles. They drive FAST here. In fact, I witnessed a hit-and-run accident today on the Pacific Coast Highway. It seems 3/4 of the cars on the road were built for speed. In Calabasas, it seemed you could buy any high-priced sports car you might dream of owning. Here’s a photo from the Lamborghini lot:

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Here’s an interesting building that I went to see though it doesn’t fit within the confines of my website. The Samitaur (“Stealth”) Building is from 1993. There is another building next door (my 3rd photo here, the window shot) that is still under construction (same architect I think). Here’s some more about the Samitaur Building:
http://www.architectureweek.com/2000/1011/design_1-1.html

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Lastly for the night, here’s an eye-catching display in Venice:

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.

I must’ve been through more than a dozen cities today. Bellflower, Artesia, Lakewood, Hawaiian Gardens, Paramount…are the ones that come to mind. Finally, made it to Long Beach which took about half the day. A great off-leash doggie beach in Belmont Shore was a great way to end the day for all of us. Grem disappeared down the beach for quite awhile and I was just about to panic when I saw a black dot on the horizon flying towards us. The Pacific was warm enough today for Nik to get a lot of swimming in. He’d been tortured all day by the salty smell and views of the beach. I think he’s starting to understand “later, buddy, not now”. Grippie has mastered the art of sleeping in a sitting position:

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I think these bushes might be what I’ve been smelling the past couple days. I want to say azaleas but I don’t think that’s it. They’re more like cherry trees but in bush form. Can anyone identify them?

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I saw more summer flowers today including these white roses. I understand it’s freezing back home in NYC.

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Some other “plant life” caught my eye today: palm tree-shaped cell phone towers. They sure beat the plain old white ones we have back home — but they always give me a chuckle:

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This one was more natural underneath the metal sheathing but they had to run a bunch of wires up the trunk for some reason:

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This Art Deco building must have been so serene before all the pizza shop signage. Sheesh, couldn’t they come up with something just a little more respectful? I love the way the little ballie sits on the point.

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Somehow this pharmacy sign got adapted to “P” something from the Rx. But the building is now empty so who knows what will happen to it next:

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I’d love to know the history of this Long Beach sign:

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This sign hangs above the Tidy Dog Self-Serve Dog Wash in Long Beach. I don’t know if the place used to be a laundromat or if this sign was recently installed in a humorous retro sort of way.

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Lastly, this giant baby was standing in front of the Long Beach Museum of Art. He really creeped me out. I had to Google him tonight. I’m still not clear about his significance but here are some additional photos of the “Child”:
http://www.lbma.org/child.html

Another wonderful and productive day. Only problem is, I had some trouble getting on-line tonight and now it’s after midnight. So let’s get right to it!

The dogs got a nice run in Pasadena this morning at the Alice Frost Kennedy Off-Leash Dog Park. It was already hot by the time we got there so I kept bringing them back to the hose & fountain to keep them wet. With the heat, I’m even more motivated to get stuff done and get to the coast. I’ve basically been working from east to west in the L.A. area. It’s hard to come up with any more reasonable way to do it as the area is really just one big sprawl. I have literally been jogging back and forth to the van now when taking photos to try to maximize the number of stops per day. With all the sitting behind the wheel, it’s probably a good idea to get a little exercise. People must think I’m either nuts or up to something.

Early in the day in Pasadena, I found a nice little old canopy gas station. I had to admire the wonderful little Mini Coopers and MGs as well. My very first car was an MG Midget and I loved that thing. When it got total-ed in an accident (hit from behind), I begged my parents for another one. Fun little cars but very expensive since they constantly need repairs and parts from England. I finally moved on to reliable and economical VW Bugs and vans.

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I’m not sure if this place in Pasadena was ever part of a chain. The building didn’t look familiar or the shapes of the sign. But it had one of those lovely cheese hole sleeves like Denny’s did:

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I’ve seen photos of this sign with the ballies all up on top. Made me sad to see it this way:

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A cute sign at Chroni’s Hot Dogs:

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A fun one from East L.A.:

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I don’t know if this was always a liquor store or if it was ever a burger joint:

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A lovely Art Deco building suffers a humiliating adaptation. Still kind of amusing though.

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I wonder why know one thought to do this before. Or maybe they have but I’ve never seen it:

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And you can never have enough arrows:

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And lastly, a variant on the “Scary Chef” statue (http://flickr.com/groups/itug/) that I haven’t seen before. And just what is he holding? Candlestick holders? Weird wine glasses?