Before

Mt. Wilson Trail

I was going to make Mt. Wilson Trail the next group hike.  Very glad I did not because I forgot how STEEP it is.  This is the picture I took of the map at the trail's start.

It is a pretty interesting trail, though, so let's hear the story.

Firstly, this trail was created by Gabrielino Indians (originally called Tongva Indians) hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago.

A fellow named Wilson was looking for lumber, and developed and expanded this trail in his quest for it.   This Wilson was actually the second mayor of Los Angeles, which at the time had about 1500 people.

Halfway up he built a "halfway" house which was a sort of rest stop.  At this spot was a very old oak tree.  It's still there, and is now 500 years old.  I think this may be it:

When the hiking craze (circa 1900) began, this became a resort that people hiked to, complete with tennis courts, a restaurant....  The stop was then known as Old Orchard Camp, because a number of fruit trees were planted there.

Note this is from an old book.  The dance pavilion definitely does not "still exist today." In fact the picture above this (that I took) shows the rock foundations, which are all that remains.  The campground fell out of favor in the second World War once Angeles Crest was built and it was easier to just drive up the mountain.  I think the 500 year old oak is visible on the right, I am not sure.

But getting back to 1900, around this time, a race began, the second oldest trail race in the country.  (The oldest is Dipsea in Marin.)  This race follows the insanely steep trail up to this halfway point, which is 3.5 miles up.   You then have to touch the 500 year old oak, then run back down.

Even hiking this trail, you feel you will slip on the sandy surface.  I cannot imagine running down it.

However, people were even running up and down it the day I visited.

The race is still held today.  Here are a couple pictures:

Of course they hold it in May so it will be hot on the shadeless trail!

Here are some people further up the trail.  This was just after the big fire a few years back.

These days the trail chaparral has grown back, and much was never touched by the fire.   There is often great foliage along the trail, and in the springtime, waterfalls.  This trip I saw some foliage, but it was a little early.

If you're hiking it for the first time, just getting to this spot, First Water, is hard.  This is 1.5 miles up.  It's called First Water because it's the first spot where you'll cross the stream.

If you keep hiking the trail, you get all the way to Mt. Wilson, where there is often snow. You have to devote the entire day, and be prepared to shift from 70 degree weather to 40 or 50 degree weather.  I've never done this but will someday.

When you finish, you can get some ravioli and chicken at Lizzie's Trail Inn at the base of the trail.  That is, if you have a time machine.  It's no longer a restaurant, but a museum.

The small town feel of Sierra Madre is evident with these avocados being sold on the honor system.

To finish off, here are the winners of the first trail race in 1908.

Freshly Installed Palm Trees

Did Not Make It Far

My quest to not know who won the election did not make it far.  At 9pm, I accidentally typed a "y" into the search bar, Yahoo News came up, and I saw the winner....

Election Challenge

Never a fan of the Superbowl, one year I noticed that a month had gone by and I still did not really know who had won the Superbowl, nor who the two teams were.

From then on, it became a personal contest to see how long I could go without knowing who had won the Superbowl.

One year I went an entire year - essentially never finding out.

Of course, this was pre-internet, and today you can simply be pumping gas and be bombarded by some kind of unwanted news from a tiny monitor.  Just checking your email is dangerous.

This year, I am of course dreading election coverage.  Just tell me who won tomorrow, thanks.

So I've decided to see how long I can go before I know who the next president is.

Of course, I may be tempted to watch the Colbert Report tonight, but......

The Last Bookstore

So here is the last bookstore.  It's in downtown LA near Pershing Square.

Inside they are very creative with their displays.

There are a large number of used books - I think almost all used.

This is a kind of tunnel made out of books.

Some of the books in the tunnel.

Some of the books upstairs are organized by color.  There are red, white, and yellow sections too.  The subjects, authors, and titles are all mixed - but the colors are all the same.

The Last Record Store

Aron's, Platterpuss, Rhino, Penny Lane, Second Chance Vinyl, Bleeker Bob's, House of Records, Moby Disc, Tower, Poo-Bah, Rockaway, and Record Surplus.

These were the places to pick up used records back in the day.  You used to be able to drive around town on a Saturday afternoon and scoop up all kinds of records for $1.98 each.

Of that list, only the last three remain.  Of course, the best store of all time, Amoeba, was added to the mix about 10 years ago.

What's happened since then is kind of odd.  99 percent of the population would never play a record, or even a CD.  But the 1 percent that likes records has decided they are valuable, and thus a good quality copy of a vintage record is no longer $1.98, but $20 or even more.

But it's still fun to go around and scoop up records.  They still sound warmer than any mp3 or flac you're going to buy, you get the sleeve and the artwork, and of course the pride of ownership.   You just have to be more selective since it's going to cost you.

I was driving down Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica and noticed that Record Surplus, long a fixture on Pico, had moved!   I recognized this graphic of an exalted guy playing records from the old shop:

For years, they had the "last record store" tagline, and it actually came close (before Amoeba) to them actually being the last one.  They were never the best spot (they had a lot of worn down records and lacked the quality selection of Rhino or Poo-Bah) but they had turntables and it was easy to park.   Plus it was kind of massive in there.

Well the new Record Surplus is much, much smaller.  It's cool it's still there, but kind of depressing that it's so diminished.

I did, though, pick out three pretty good LPs, and they were less than I would have paid at Amoeba.  A Prince record (too risque a cover to put on here), a Duke Ellington album, and a Buddy Holly record.

All three sounded great - especially the Prince record which had amazing fidelity and appeared to be hardly played.