Cold

With a flat spell and then rain, I had only surfed once since Christmas break.  Went back in today and was greeted by water that was very, very, very cold.  It was literally painful to feet and hands that weren't covered by the wetsuit.  I am almost tempted to dig out the booties but really am not a fan.  Anyway after 10 minutes or so I grew accustomed and actually there were some nice waves, but...  I don't even think 54-56 is accurate.  It was COLD!

Cell Phone Not Needed

See, you don't need a cell phone when hiking.  There are plenty of pay phones to use.

I saw this phone booth on the Grotto hike trail described yesterday.  I haven't seen an actual enclosed booth like this in a very long time.  Was trying to figure it out and decided there must be no cell reception up there, hence the need for a pay phone.

Some things never change, of course.  The phone book had been stolen.

Bone Dry

Well, not bone dry, but pretty close.  I was hoping for some rushing waterfalls after the recent rains, but no such luck.  It takes many rainstorms to make the waterfalls flow. Especially the ones under Sandstone Peak along the Grotto Trail.

Even when it's dry, this is a great area for hiking, and on a weekday in January, nobody else is there.  The rocks look like something out of a western movie set.

At the bottom of the trail is a very rocky area which is great to climb through when the water is running.  Since the water was low I didn't bother, but stopped at this shady area to turn around.

The whole area is part of Circle X Ranch, which at one point was I suppose a ranch.  I also heard it was a Boy Scout Camp, and later on a drive-to campground.  It is now a hike-in only spot and very natural.  The visitor center features what I assume is one of the old original buildings.

Next time I want to hike up to Sandstone Peak, where I guess you can see into the Valley and the ocean.

This Tree is Done

For awhile I was posting many pictures of this tree with its quite bright leaves.  It is finally finished for the season.   Which is good because in a couple months it will be green.

Saab Wave

I recently was given a 1989 Saab, similar to the one above.  It was one of our family's cars growing up, but nobody was really using it, so I paid the registration and transfer fees, had it smogged, and now I have a quirky old car.

Today I was driving the Saab and I saw another old Saab coming my way.  I felt that I should probably wave at the guy, since we were both driving old Saabs.  I did a very subtle wave, which was really just raising a finger off the wheel.

The guy very quickly and enthusiastically waved back.

I then thought, maybe this is something people in old Saabs do.  They wave at each other.

A little googling revealed that is exactly the case.   So.....I will now start waving at Saabs.  But only the old ones.

http://www.saabsunited.com/2009/08/do-you-do-the-saab-wave.html

Waterfall Anticipation

Waterfalls in Los Angeles do exist.  Not all the time, but sometimes there are quite a few pretty nice ones.  The best season for them is about to occur: February through May. Some years, for instance 2011, waterfalls are plentiful and it's hard to find time to visit them all.  Other years, for instance 2012, all the waterfalls are dry.  Hiking to a waterfall is about 10 times more interesting than just hiking.

We've already had a number of rainstorms this year, but you have to reach a certain tipping point before the waterfalls really take off.  Above is Escondido Falls in Malibu which requires quite a bit of water to look great.

This weekend some more rain will fall; hopefully it will yield enough to make for some great hiking.

Eye of the Tiger

A guitar student wanted to learn this song.  How would a 9 year old know a song from 1982?  Turns out it was featured in Glee.

This meant of course I had to dig out the old 45.  This was actually my brother's, but nobody else in the family wants records so I have all of them now (including some original 1964 Beatles stuff - cool!)

Anyway you should watch the video of this if you want a good laugh.

Long Flat Spell

Honey Contest

VS.....

A while ago I was in Oak Glen, which is a little mountain town north of San Bernardino known for locally grown apples.

They also sell things like raw honey.  Turns out most honey you buy is actually not honey, as it has had the pollen removed.  I am not sure why they do that, but there must be some reason.

They sold some honey there that still had the waxcomb in it, and came from Georgia.  It tasted quite good, so this inspired me to visit Surfas and buy some unusual honey.  I bought one jar from France, and one from Malibu.

I then held a honey tasting contest, and the overwhelming winner was surprisingly the local Malibu honey.

In the interim, I was at Bay Cities one day and saw some Tuscany honey.  This honey was amazing, and rekindled my interest in honey.

So.....this brings us to round two.  I have two kinds of honey.  The current victorious honey from Malibu, and the new contender, some honey from Chile.  (The Italian honey will also participate.)

Stay tuned for the exciting results....

Stylish Surfer

I don't know if you've ever ordered anything from Brooks Brothers, but if you have, most likely you are bombarded with emails on an almost daily basis imploring you to take part in their latest sale.  I don't mind this at all as I like Brooks Brothers clothes and like spending less money.

Today though I received an extra treat in my inbox aside from the chance to simultaneously save and be well-clad.   That extra treat being unintentional humor.

The ad above features a guy allegedly going surfing.  Wanting to do it right, he apparently had his hair done just prior to leaving home.  It's definitely smart to look good while you wait for the first wave (after which your hair will be of course....wet.)

Following this, he put on an immaculate white fisherman's sweater, followed by some white semi-dressy pants.  This is a guy who puts style before, say, worrying about getting dirty beach sand on his clothes.  Either that or he wanted to be "rebellious" like a surfer, so he is flaunting the "no white after Labor Day" rule.

Even more rebellious was his decision to carry his board with the wax side facing his body.  Nope, he's not concerned at all about smearing surf wax on his fabulous duds. Maybe he has a closet full of pristine white fisherman sweaters at his beach cottage or something.

I guess he is planning to put his wetsuit on at the water's edge or something....

Manny's Guitar Shop

A few years back, somebody gave me a bunch of picks from Manny's Guitar Shop in NYC.  I had heard about Manny's even as a kid, but did not really know much about it, other than it was famous.  But I thought it was neat to have these picks from a famous place, so I tried not to lose them.

I eventually did lose all of them, though.

So on my last trip to NY, I decided to visit Manny's and get some more.

Turns out Manny's went out of business three or four years ago!  Googling revealed all kinds of celebrity mournings and last-time visits, but the shop was no more.

This is apparently what it looked like:

As luck would have it, though, I actually found one of those Manny's picks, the one pictured above.  (Interestingly, I see how scratched up picks get by looking at this photo.) So now I really have to make sure I don't lose it.

Fuzzy Pix from NYC

Best Pizza in NY?

This is a pretty controversial topic, and I definitely have not sampled every pizza in NY, but definitely top 10 is to be found in the most unlikely spot: Penn Station.  Not near it, but INSIDE it.

Rose Pizza is next to a whole bunch of other grungy Penn Station fast food outlets, the kind one would normally avoid.  However, the pizza at Rose Pizza is actually good.  Very good.

I don't know if it looks good here, but it is.  It's good enough to actually go inside Penn Station even if you aren't catching a train.

What they get right is the sauce.  Both in terms of taste and amount.

Of course the atmosphere and ambience is 100 percent Penn Station.  They do serve you very very very fast.

So if you are ever in NY, stop off here and have a slice.  

The Story of the Gold Panner

This is the story of the gold panner.

He stands at the corner of San Vicente and Crescent Heights.  The picture above is from yesterday.

Once upon a time, there was a very large movie theater in this area, a movie palace.  It was called the Carthay Circle Theater.

It was a theater shaped like a circle, at least inside, hence the name.  Over time, the neighborhood became known as "Carthay Circle," even though there is no circle there.

Both the interior and exterior had quite a bit of western / pioneer themed decoration, including the gold panner you see above:

The interior:

A newspaper clipping listing the Carthay.  You can see in the listing to the right many of the neighborhood theaters from this time are gone, but quite a few are still around.  For example The El Rey is a concert theater, the Nuart still shows movies, the Culver shows plays, and the Fine Arts awaits a buyer.)

The theater was sadly demolished in 1969 and replaced by a rather non-descript office park.

Some of the statues and ornaments found their way to people's front yards.  The gold panner was placed in a tiny patch of grass where San Vicente and Crescent Heights intersect.

One morning in 2008, it was discovered the gold panner was gone!

A scrap metal yard had recently bought him from two guys who'd walked in.  The scrap metal yard was suspicious and called police, who tracked down the two guys who had sold the panner to the scrapyard.  They were put under surveillance, and were observed stealing other items, including two bronze giraffes from a Beverly Hills front yard!

They were arrested, but sadly the miner had been chopped in half by the thieves.

Luckily he was put back together and placed back at the intersection.

Here he is at the beginning of his life, in 1928, with the sculptor who made him looking on:

In an odd side note, the Carthay Circle Theater was actually recreated.....at an amusement park.  It currently stands inside California Adventure.  This is because Disney first premiered Snow White at the Carthay.  However.....there is no actual theater inside the amusement park replica.  It houses a restaurant.

Snow

New York snowstorm....

Wow......snow.

Wow.....more snow.

Cliched New Year's Resolution Probably Doomed to Failure

One thing I envisioned when I left teaching was having long stretches of time to read, play guitar, learn piano, take courses....  It's not quite ended up that way!

The thing about reading, or anything, is that if you make the time for it, it will happen. So....I am going to try and devote one solid hour per day for reading that is unrelated to tutoring or school.

I will start with the above book that I was given for Christmas.  All I know about it is that it is about waves......