As part of the Boaty Weekender cruise, I got to spend eight hours in Cagliari, Sardinia. From the get-go, my partner, Una, had expressed her wish to spend her day at Poetto, Cagliari's main beach. To be honest, I thought that eight hours at the beach sounded a bit dull -- especially having come all the way … Continue reading Where Fools Fear to Tread — A Snapshot of Cagliari
In August I went on my first cruise, Belle & Sebastian's Boaty Weekender. I'd never been on a cruise before. I was, at best, ambivalent about cruises. On the one hand, I have something an anthropological curiosity which in the past has compelled me to check out renaissance faires, Civil War reenactments, a Star Trek convention, … Continue reading Where Fools Fear to Tread — Cruising the Mediterranean aboard the Boaty Weekender
Last week, the Los Angeles Times published a piece by Frank Shyong about the imminent closure and relocation of two of Chinatown's last remaining Chinese markets. On the same day, Jared Cohee published a piece about Holland International Market in Bellflower for Eat the World LA. Both got me thinking a bit about the role international markets serve. … Continue reading No Enclave — Los Angeles’s International Markets
For more than three decades, the Happy Foot/Sad Food sign has loomed over the intersection of Benton Way and Sunset Boulevard. Although designed as an advertisement for Sunset Foot Clinic, it became a symbol of the Mideast Los Angeles hinterland between Silver Lake and Echo Park. The Happy Foot/Sad Foot Sign reminds me a bit … Continue reading Art in the Streets — The Happy Foot/Sad Foot (1986-2019)
In recent years, I've had a lot of requests for printable version of "my map." I've made hundreds of maps but since the digital map I made of Los Angeles County has been viewed over a million times, I have to assume that that's the one most people are talking about. Of course, people who … Continue reading Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography — Map Merchandise
Lately, there's been a surprising amount of talk about dedicated bus lanes and busways in Los Angeles. Metro is currently moving forward with three Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects: the North SFV BRT, the NoHo to Pasadena BRT, and the Vermont BRT. In 2017, Metro created a short, dedicated bus lane along Sunset Boulevard for the Dodger … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Get on the Rapid Bus
The other day I got around to exploring the North Orange County suburb of La Habra. I was joined on the adventure by my friend, Matt, who'd long ago mentioned that should I ever get around to visiting La Habra, he'd like to come along. I like to think that La Habra's motto, "a caring … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold — Exploring La Habra
Los Angeles was at one time home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan and contributions of Japanese-Angelenos to history and culture are many. It was in Los Angeles that Hollywood created the first Asian-American film star. It was also in Los Angeles that a legal challenge in the Supreme Court re-shaped immigration … Continue reading Pan-Asian Metropolis — Japanese Los Angeles
There've recently been a couple of articles in the Los Angeles Times about the various state of local mass transit that have got me thinking. Mehmet Baker's "Metro is hemorrhaging riders. It needs to stop studying obvious fixes and start acting" appeared on Sunday, was good but many of the complaints voiced were the sort … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — So Why Are Our Train Stations So Crap?
On 25 March, music critic Ken Tucker reviewed the new solo album by Robert Forster on the NPR program, Fresh Air. In the review, Tucker said, "Along with his fellow songwriter Grant McLellan, Forster led the Go-Betweens starting in the 1990s." In one sentence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic managed to get a couple of things completely … Continue reading After the Go-Betweens — the Solo Albums of Grant McClennan and Robert Forster
