Militant Angeleno

Happy 110th, Angels Flight!

2011-12-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today is not only the final day of 2011, but 110 years ago today, Col. J.W. Eddy gave us our beloved Angels Flight funicular railway, which has survived countless ups and downs through the years - literally.

Unfortunately, it wasn't even given a Centennial celebration in 2001 since it suffered a tragic accident in February of that year.

So today, to honor its century-plus-a-decade birthday, the Shortest Railway In The World is offering prices like it was 1901. So instead of a quarter -- You get to ride for a penny!

Interesting, since, when you adjust for inflation, one cent back in 1901 is worth about 27 cents today. But who cares? You get to use up your pennies!

For most of Angels Flight's history, the fare was five cents. According to an article in the Pacific Electric Railway Journal, written in 1958:

"Shortly after the service officially opened on December 31, 1901..."Tickets were cheap and it soon became labeled as 'The 1-cent Line' because of the penny service. It competed with nobody, except for theunlikely pedestrian who tried to save a penny by hiking up the 207 steps along the Third Street tunnel.

Increased operating costs eventually forced Col. Eddy to consider and then finally raise the fare to 5 cents."

Today, though, the railway will also be selling up to 1,000 commemorative tickets for a dollar. All you collectors in da house!

This year was also a special one for Angels Flight -- in true Hollywood fashion, the funicular played a cameo role in the current movie, The Muppets (A film that happened to be written by a couple of Los Angeles natives and was surprisingly militant in nature at times).

Last year, The Militant earned the dubious distinction of being the last Angels Flight rider of 2010, the year it finally returned to service after the 2001 accident. He may or may not repeat that feat this year!

In any case, the railway is open today until 10 p.m., so bring some pennies and wish Sinai and Olivet a happy 110th!

Pictures of the 110th Anniversary:

A father and son enjoy the flight up.

The annual Angels Flight bulletin.

City Hall with the Lindbergh Beacon FTW!

The Militant got his ticket!

A Balian Points Of Light

2011-12-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you still trying to get your Holiday Spirit on, get on up to Altadena. It's not only home to the famous Christmas Tree Lane on Santa Rosa Avenue, but it's also home of one of the biggest light displays in town.

The famous Balian mansion on Mendocino Lane near Allen Avenue, has been lighting up their house every Christmastime since 1955. The Armenian American family built an empire out of selling ice cream in 1949 and today is the largest supplier of ice cream to the LAUSD and other school districts (those of you who went to LAUSD schools know what's up).

The Militant would have linked to their website in the above paragraph, but...they don't have one.

The Militant checked it out recently and was floored. Yeah, it's bright, but surprisingly not as tacky as you'd think (seriously, there have been some real awful ones around town). It's also an equal-opportunity Christmas display, with religious figures of The Nativity, Three Wise Men and angels on one side, and secular wintery figures of Santa Claus, snowmen and sleighs on the other. Naturally, it's a tourist attraction - The Militant counted about two dozen people, mostly families, posing for pictures or taking videos.

It's relatively easy to get to - just take Allen Avenue north, keep going, keep going, keep going...after you pass New York Drive and the school on the right side, make a right on Mendocino. YOU CAN'T MISS IT, LOL. It's also transit-accesible - take the (M) Gold Line to the Sierra Madre Villa Station, and take Metro Local 264 (why you can't take a single bus from the Allen Station (the 686 stops there, but only takes you to New York Dr.)...that's Metro Logic). You can ride your bike, of course, from the Allen Station.

A Nativity scene with the Three Wise Men...

...and just a couple yards away, another set of Three Wise Men. That's gonna be awkward when they arrive.

Jolly Old St. Nick appears to be setting a brush fire!

Families pose for pictures at Altadena's biggest tourist attraction.

SGV Week: The San Gabriel Valley, Defined

2011-11-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

Ever since The Militant first announced San Gabriel Valley Week, more than a few of you asked him to define the San Gabriel Valley's boundaries. Defining regional boundaries is not new for The Militant, as he successfully settled the Eastside/Westside geographical dichotomy by defining Los Angeles' center back in 2008, so he figured he'd take on the SGV.

Now, although The Militant doesn't reveal much about himself, here's what he can reveal from his SGV cred: The Militant has unspecified relatives and family friends from the SGV, and has been visiting those unspecified areas of the valley since the mid-1970s. Some of his best operatives have lived and grew up there. All of the cars the Militant has owned have been purchased from unspecified dealerships in the SGV, and his current automobile was bought at an unspecified dealership in Monrovia (he was smart enough to take the Gold Line and the Metro Local bus there, of course). He also may or may not have maintained employment in the 626 at some point in the past or present. So although he's neither born nor bred there, he feels he has earned considerable Essgeevee cred...(Did he reveal too much there?)

So here 'tis:

[Click on map to enlarge!]

Now, ~~Webster's Dictionary~~ dictionary.com defines a "Valley" as "An elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains, especially one following the course of a stream."

So lessee...The San Gabriel Valley is an area surrounded by the San Gabriel Mountains to the north, the San Rafael Hills to the west, the Puente and Brea hills to the south and the 57 Freeway to the east. Interesting how the San Gabriel River/605 Freeway nicely slice the valley in half. The 10 Freeway is the valley's equator. Therefore, the geographic center of the SGV is the 10/605 interchange.

Now...here come the little details: The San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo form an opening known as the Whittier Narrows between the Monterey Hills to the west and the Puente Hills to the east, and encompass other cities that don't perfectly fit the valley bowl (and the 626 area code) such as Montebello and Whittier. But they are undoubtedly linked to the rest of the SGV through the Narrows, so they are part of the SGV. South of Whittier are the Gateway Cities or Mid-Cities which buffer Los Angeles and Orange counties. The Militant considers the southern limit of that part of the SGV as more or less Whittier Boulevard.

The other area of question is towards the northeast of the SGV: Cities such as San Dimas, LaVerne, Pomona and Claremont. Are they SGV or Inland Empire?

The Militant considers them...neither. They are not in the SGV since they are in the 909 area code and not the 626. But they aren't really IE, since they are still Los Angeles County. They are in their own region: The Pomona Valley.

So The Militant's short definition of the SGV goes as such: The entire 626 area code region, plus the geographically-connected cities of Montebello and Whittier. Howzat?!

SGV Week: Made In The San Gabriel Valley

2011-11-15T02:04:00.001-08:00

Hot and sprawling, you wouldn't think anything of any value could come from a place like the San Gabriel Valley, but think again, it's actually given birth to many people and things, some of which you'd never guess originated here.

For instance, the whole concept of college football "bowl" games started on New Year's Day 1902 in Pasadena with the inaugural "Tournament East-West Football Game" -- eventually renamed "The Rose Bowl" 21 years later. And erryone else be bitin' afta dat.

Speaking of bites, being heavily influenced by Route 66, the postwar car culture and associated suburbanism, a number of well-known food chains were born here in the SGV. By far the most famous is Baldwin Park's In-N-Out Burger, established in 1948. Also started that year was a Temple City donut shop owned by Verne Winchell -- Winchell's Donut House. Supermarket entrepreneur Joe Coulombe started the first Trader Joe's market on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena in 1967, and on the other side of town six years later, Chinese immigrants Andrew Cheng, his wife Peggy and his father Ming Tsai opened Panda Inn on Foothill Blvd, spawning the Panda Express chain.

But perhaps the biggest contribution the SGV gave to the food world was the cheeseburger. Yes, the food that LOLcats everywhere crave was invented in Pasadena by 16-year old cook Lionel Sternberger who worked at his father's now-defunct restaurant The Rite Spot on 1500 W. Colorado in the mid 1920s and "experimentally dropped a slab of American cheese on a sizzling hamburger."

A couple legendary toys were introduced to the world in the SGV -- in the 1950s, the then-San Gabriel-based Wham-O Manufacturing Company gave us the frisbee and the hula hoop (Though both had origins from other times and places, the plastic toy versions we know and love were 100% SGV product).

Even everyone's most beloved little green slab of clay, Gumby, is an SGV native. He was created in the early 1950s by recent USC film school grad Art Clokey and his wife Ruth in their Covina home. GUMBY!!! GUMBY, DAMNIT!!!

Other famous San Gabriel Valley natives inclue World War II General George S. Patton (San Gabriel), former New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson (Pasadena) and cooking legend Julia Child (Pasadena).

The SGV's biggest contribution to music is Pasadena's own Van Halen (none of its members were SGV natives, but the band itself originated here), formed in 1972 as "Mammoth" and renamed to VH two years later. The Black Eyed Peas' singer Fergie (Hacienda Heights), the late scatting '90s Euro-house singer Scatman John (El Monte) and "Toy Soldiers" singer Martika (Whittier) also all hail from the SGV.

Remember this guy? Straight Outta Whittier.

Two major Oscar-winning actors were also born in the San Gabriel Valley: Sally Field (Pasadena) and Tim Robbins (West Covina).

A number of TV child stars also came from the SGV: Punky Brewster's Soleil Moon Frye (Glendora), Family Ties' Tina Yothers (Whittier) and even Steve Urkel himself, Jaleel White (Pasadena).

Being full of recreation areas, the SGV also spawned a number of professional athletes -- most notably former UCLA Bruins and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman (West Covina), former Yankees and A's (and current Rockies) slugger Jason Giambi (West Covina) and Phillies second baseman Chase Utley (Pasadena). but the SGV-born athlete The Militant is most partial to is none other than former Dodger Nomar Garciaparra (Whittier). Oh yeah, he played on some Boston team too.

Yes, great things can and do emerge from that vast flatland surrounded by the San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Rafael, Monterey, Puente, Brea and Pomona hills. SGV, you definitely can has cheezburger.

SGV Week: The Militant Is On A Mission

2011-11-14T11:27:00.001-08:00

The Militant wanted to start off San Gabriel Valley Week with a post on the eastern glen's namesake and cradle of civili...er...Western civilization - Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, located in its eponymous city.

It was founded on September 8, 1771 - a full decade before the City of Los Angeles was founded.

But what most people aren't aware of, is that the stately mission, which has withstood centuries of earthquakes, and has flown under the flags of four nations, isn't even the original San Gabriel Mission.

The mission is actually the San Gabriel Mission 2.0.

History is a sticky thing. Though the founding of the 21 missions of Alta California were credited to one Fr. Junipero Serra, the actual on-site founders of the San Gabriel Mission were padres Padro Cambon and Angel Somera. And it wasn't even planned to be in the San Gabriel Valley -- the original location was along the Rio de los Temblores, now known as the Santa Ana River. Yes folks, the SGV could have been located in the OC...

But they founded the O.G. San Gabriel Mission some 20 miles northwest along another river - the Rio Hondo, which, at least in that location, still flows in its natural state.

The new transplants moved into the neighborhood next to the native Tongva villages of Shevaangna and Isanthcogna (you do know your Na's by now, right?), where they reaped the benefits of the riparian environment and grew crops. Newly-founded missions didn't yet comprise of a large stone church and neighboring adobe buildings -- they resembled forts with temporary wooden structures.

In 1776, a large flash flood oveflowed the banks of the Rio Hondo and flooded their compound. So the padres packed up and moved five miles to the northwest, a good distance from another river - the San Gabriel River - yet close enough to access it. The mission building that we see today wasn't built until the early 1790s.

The O.G. mission site, known as "Mission Vieja" (no, not Mission Viejo) is long gone, but a little-known monument stands on its site -- on a mini-park on the corner of San Gabriel Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue, right at the edge of Montebello. It's a simple landscaped corner with a familiar El Camino Real bell and a stone marker which reads:

Take note of some of the names, especially "Walter P. Temple." We'll get to that name later in San Gabriel Valley Week!

The marker was dedicated in 1921 to mark the sesquicentennial of the founding of the mission. Pictured right is a photo of the dedication ceremony. The site is also a California Historical Landmark (#158). It's easy to miss, and it's nearly impossible to park there, though there's a dirt clearing just past the Montebello City Limit sign on Lincoln Avenue that could fit a car. Of course, the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area is full of awesome bike trails, and you can ride all over the place, and visit the nearby Bosque del Rio Hondo park just across San Gabriel Blvd, or ride on the Whittier Narrows Dam about a mile to the south along the Class 1 bike path. Score one for bikes in the SGV!

The San Gabriel Valley, built on history, seems to celebrate it, as well as the vast natural expanse of the Whittier Narrows area. There may or may not be more of this...stay tuned!

On 11/11/11, This Militant Goes To 11

2011-11-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Gotta love being on the front end of the millennium. Some people say we're living in End Times, but in terms of dates, we're living in fun times. Two years, two months and two days ago, The Militant gave a big-up to the 99 Cents Only Stores on 9/9/09. On 10/10/10, The Militant joined tens of thousands at the inaugural CicLAvia.

So today, on 11/11/11, out of the four million people in Los Angeles, The Militant Angeleno was the only one who thought of no more appropriate place to be on that magic second than...1111 11th Street.

Of course, there's a West 11th Street and an East 11th Street, as well as an 11th Street down in San Pedro. Well 'Pedro is a long-ass bike ride, and West 11th Street? Though a major sports venue and entertainment center are located there, the 1100th block actually doesn't exist anymore, thanks to a legendary sports announcer.

So it left one solitary choice - 1111 East 11th Street, just off of Central Avenue. The Militant was in this area not too long ago, for last month's CicLAvia, but this place looked much different on a weekday.

The entire block is occupied by car stereo shops, as well as DJ/lighting stores. The area sounds like a mashup cacophony of rap and reggaeton music pumping out of demo speakers and fresh installs while, cars and trucks back in and out of shop driveways and day laborers hail every car that passes by in hopes of scoring a car stereo installation gig.

The Militant has come across unexpected retail areas of Los Angeles before, such as The Hair District on Wilshire Boulevard, but this is a new one...call it the Car Stereo District, Bass City or BOOMtown.

But on 11:11:11 a.m., on Friday, 11/11/11, The Militant spent the once-in-a-millennium moment here, on front of Sam's Music, on 1111 E. 11th Street:

And one of the store's employees had the most "WTF are you doing?!" look on his face.

So, Angelenos, now you know where to get your boomin' system...on the 1100th block of East 11th Street. Where every day during business hours, the retailers on that block turn it up...to 11.

Happy 11/11/11, Everyone!

A.M. Los Angeles

2011-11-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Militant is, most of the time, a night owl. With 4:00 a.m. posts and tweets a fairly common occurrence, it leaves one to wonder whether The Militant gets any shut-eye at all, or just does it later than everyone else.

Though The Militant had a recent experience with The Exotic World Of The Morning, he decided to kick it up a notch. On Saturday morning, The Militant, having slept unnaturally early on Friday night and waking up at 5:00 a.m., decided to take advantage of a clear-sky morning following the possibility of San Gabriel Mountain snowfall overnight. He's seen the breathtaking glow of dawn's early light on the mountains before, and did not want to miss this show. And besides, with Pacific Standard Time (no, not that one) coming up on Sunday, Saturday's 7:17 a.m. sunrise would be the latest-hour and final PDT solar curtain call of 2011.

Other Angelenos staked out their own sunrise promontories around town, such as the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, but The Militant wanted more of an elevation advantage. So with the faint yellow glow already taking over the eastern sky, he drove up Vermont Avenue to the Griffith Park Observatory, which has had a free, unobstructed view of Los Angeles sunrises for the past 76 years.

The view was already breathtaking. The familiar blue-purple-orange-yellow gradient of our sunsets was present, only in the opposite side of the sky. The Downtown skyline and the lights of the city, flickering like still-lit candles, looked just as sultry:

Bundled in his winter wear, The Militant wasn't alone. A cadre of joggers, many of whom spoke in Korean, along with a handful of tripod-armed photographers, were already there.

A few brave spandex-clad cyclists arrive, having just conquered the 1,134-foot high climb up the south slope of Mt. Hollywood.

"The thing with cycling, is that you're either overdressed or underdressed [for the weather]" said one of the cyclists, as he hobbled off his bike in his clip shoes.

The eastern sky looked too obscured by the tail end of the storm clouds that have just vacated Los Angeles, but just then a tiny sliver of bright orange peeped from the Chino Hills horizon:

And then it appeared...

The Militant gazed in wonder at his city below him. It's a vantage point he's seen hundreds of times, yet only rarely under these conditions. He used a pair of binoculars to pick out spots in the distance: Barnsdall Park, Catalina Island, airplanes taking off from LAX, the sight of a tanker ship moored off of Manhattan Beach, a Japan Airlines 747 on its landing approach. The city looked as fierce and majestic as a lion, yet at this hour, it hasn't even begun to roar.

In no time, The Sun turned from an orange disk teetering on the horizon into the blinding sphere we're more accustomed to experiencing. But Los Angeles still looked amazingly lovely at this hour, such as this view of Hollywood and The Westside:

Oh the simple pleasures that we are afforded here. If you're a nighttime person, The Militant strongly recommends you shift your sleep schedule at least a couple times a year to enjoy the dawn. In a City popular for rising stars, it's well worth watching the one that's 93 million miles away.

Dia de los Muertos 2011: The Militant Visits The Dead at Inglewood Park Cemetery

2011-11-02T04:02:00.000-07:00

Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of The Dead. No, not the Grateful Dead, but it is a day where people show their gratefulness for their deceased loved ones. And though it's a holiday practiced by the Mexican community, here in multicultural Los Angeles, it's starting to grow into more than just a Mexican thang.

Last year, The Militant paid homage to some great Angelenos by visiting their gravesites at Culver city's Holy Cross Cemetery. Earlier this week, The Militant paid a visit to Inglewood Park Cemetery, just a few miles south.

At a sprawling 340 acres nestled between Centinela Park in the north and The (formerly Fabulous) Forum to the south, Inglewood Park Cemetery was founded back in 1905 by a group of businessmen who saw the need for memorial park space in the the Centinela Valley area (The City of Inglewood wasn't incorporated until three years later). The first people laid to rest there were the original settlers of that area and other places in the South Bay. There was once a Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car line along Florence Avenue (now part of the proposed Metro Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line) which ran special funeral cars to the cemetery.

Inglewood Park also boasts having the most interments of any cemetery in Southern California, so it's quite a significant and historic resting place for many in the Southland.

A number of Los Angeles mayors have their final resting place here, beginning with John Bryson, who held a short mayoral term in 1888-1889. The controversial Frank L. Shaw, who was elected in 1933 and was the first American city mayor ever recalled from office five years later (due to police misconduct and corrupt mishandling of city funds), is buried here, as is his popular reformist successor, Fletcher Bowron, mayor from 1938 to 1953.

But the most recent, and most famous Los Angeles mayor, interred here is Tom Bradley, mayor from 1973 to 1993, the City's first African American mayor and the civic leader who gave us a skyline, a subway, an Olympics and the internationally diverse metropolis we know today.

Other elected officials resting here are U.S. Congressman Julian Dixon, whose efforts to federally-fund our Metro Rail system got his name immortalized at the 7th Street/Metro Center station. Also, County Supervisor and local political patriarch Kenneth Hahn (whose name is also immortalized in a Metro Station, for creating the Blue Line) is buried here.

Another famous African American who shaped Los Angeles and is buried at Inglewood Park is architect Paul Revere Williams, who designed The LAX Theme Building, The MLK General Hospital in Willowbrook, Hollywood's Hotel Knickerbocker and several stars' homes during his noteworthy career.

Several figures in the music world are buried here at Inglewood Park, most notably Ray Charles, who is buried in the large Mausoleum of the Golden West (under his full name, Ray Charles Robinson). Unlike Mayor Bradley, who rests just a few feet from the entrance of his mausoleum, the legendary blues and soul singer (and former Baldwin Hills resident) is interred deep within several halls from the entrance. Yes, the Militant walked through dimly-lit mausoleum corridors -- alone -- just to bring you a picture of his resting place (note the music treble clef in his name plate and the coins resting at the base).

Songstress Ella Fitzgerald is another music legend laid to rest here, but The Militant was unable to locate her tomb.

There's another person from the entertainment world buried here, but you'd never know by looking at his name.

The name "William B. Thomas" ~~may or~~ may not be familiar to you, but his most famous character would make it all clear. For he was "Buckwheat," the character that Thomas, a native Angeleno, played for several years as a child actor in Hal Roach's Our Gang (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) film shorts from the 1930s-1940s. The most well-known of the black characters on that show, the racial integration - and equal treatment - of the cast back then was groundbreaking. Roach was inspired to create Our Gang after seeing an integrated group of kids play together in the Echo Park area. Only in Los Angeles! Although, Thomas' WWII credentials on his epitaph are inaccurate: Though he did serve in the U.S. Army, he was only 14 when World War II ended. He did serve during the Korean War era though.

Lastly, The Militant brings you two famous Angeleno attorneys who are eternally tied together in many ways at Inglewood Park:

Lawyer Johnnie Cochran, most famous for being the lead attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, and has represented everyone from former Black Panther Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt to 1992 Riots beating victim Reginald Denny, rests in the Manchester Garden Mausoleum in the southern side of the cemetery. And on the eastern side of the park forever rests his "Dream Team" defense partner...

Robert Kardashian, a native Angeleno attorney, businessman and patriarch of...well...you know.

Speaking of which, unlike the tombs of the former mayor, the famous architect, the legendary musician and his Simpson trial partner...there are no flowers on his grave. Gee, with all those rich and famous kids of his, you'd think they'd even bother to remember their dad? You know, the guy who provided them with their wealthy lifestyle and the family name they wear like a brand? America tries to keep up with The Kardashians, but The Kardashians apparently don't bother to keep up with remembering their own father.

But this mysterious, anonymous Angeleno blogger did, as with the other legendary Angelenos who are laid to rest here at Inglewood Park Cemetery. So take a moment today to honor, in whatever way you wish, the Angelenos, whether rich or poor, famous or personally known, who have contributed in any way to your life in this city and love for this city and are no longer with us. Have a great Dia de los Muertos, y'allz.

Vlogstyle Episode 10: Happy Hollyween!

2011-11-01T04:18:00.001-07:00

The Militant doesn't show himself in public very much, but he did take the (M) Red Line to Hollywood on Halloween Night to join the thousands who walk the boulevard annually (sans silly-string). Although the LAPD's foot traffic management is kinda wonky, it's a place for costume-wearing pedestrians to see and be seen. Enjoy another Militant Angeleno Vlogstyle video!

Muertomania!

2011-10-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

The Militant just loves stumbling into cool random events around Los Angeles. Right when the Militant was done with his research mission on Sunday in the SGV for his upcoming SGV Week series (as selected by you, the readers!) , while on his way back to The Militant Compound, he passed by a banner right before the Los Angeles River bridge on North Main Street in Lincoln Heights that read "Muertomania" and a gathering of several people in a canopy-lined parking lot.

Hmm...instinctively, he decided to do a U-turn.

Some pretty badass Dia de los Muertos-themed art at Muertomania!

He didn't regret it. It's a small Dia de los Muertos-themed festival at the Solidarity Ink print shop and gallery featuring holiday-themed arts, crafts, food and lucha libre matches! (You gotta love the Dia de los Muertos/Wrestlemania portmanteau moniker...) It's a total local Eastside event, small but apparently very well-organized with lots of stuff going on. MILITANT APPROVED! Definitely check it out if you can today - it's on until 10 p.m., do if you're reading this on Sunday afternoon, get on over there!

Muertomania
Sunday, October 30, 12-10 p.m.
Solidarity Ink
1749 North Main St.
Lincoln Heights

Pose with these life-sized luchador figures!

Mr. La Cucaracha himself, Lalo Alcaraz in the house! Ask him to sign some of his artwork!

Coming In November: San Gabriel Valley Week!

2011-10-25T00:50:00.000-07:00

The Militant Angeleno, who brought you Long Beach Week earlier this Summer and Native ~~Week~~ Month back in early September-early October, decided to bring it to the people to decide the theme of his next topical "Week" series.

Offering a choice between The San Fernando Valley, The San Gabriel Valley, The Westside, The Eastside (the real one, not "that" Eastside), South Los Angeles, The South Bay and The Inland Empire, The Militant put it to an online poll on This Here Blog from October 11 to October 24.

Welp, The People Have Spoken. San Gabriel Valley has led the poll results from the get-go and never faced a real contest. Of course, some of you out there who are either longtime SGV residents or SGV natives voted enthusiastically, as are some who just wanted to see an 'SGV Week.'

The SFV and The Westside were tied for runner-up, and South Los Angeles and The Inland Empire both drew for the bronze medal. The Eastside and The South Bay also were neck-and-neck for a distant fourth place.

So there you go, it's official now. Look for The Militant Angeleno's San Gabriel Valley Week sometime this November (after The Militant does some additional militant research and plans his fact-finding missions accordingly)!

THANKS FOR VOTING!

A couple things before we move ahead: The Militant's SGV Week series will not be all about the following:

- Pasadena. The Militant digs The 'Dena and all, but there's so much more to the SGV than Pasadena. Unfortunately, that's as far as Metro Rail goes in the SGV, so there's gonna be some Metrolink trips racked up soon (Maybe a good chance to try out their new bike cars).

- Chinese Food. Again, The Militant loves him some dimsum, boba joints, tofutarian and Szechuan, but Chinese Food in the SGV has been done. The Militant is all about uncharted territory and the road less traveled, aite?!

To be perfectly honest, Though The Militant knows a few interesting things about the SGV, he obviously doesn't know it as well as the city of Los Angeles proper. But he's totally down for the adventure and will undoubtedly learn a thing or two about the SGV as y'allz will. Soooo, if any of you SGV operatives want to drop some tips or recommendations off to The Militant, he may or may not welcome them! So send them via email to militantangeleno@gmail.com!

FOGSHADOWS!

2011-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Click on picture to crumulently embiggen.

Being a city that faces a western sea, let's face it, Los Angeles has some pretty kick-ass sunsets, something those (L)East Coast people don't have a chance to see.

As for the morning, The Militant is not really an early morning person, so the dawn is a rare event for him. But Mr. Sun can put on an entrance show round These Here Parts. The Militant was in Downtown Los Angeles this morning, driving through the thick fog, when he couldn't help but notice the Sun making its presence in the eastern sky, apparently burning a hole through the fog and casting unique shadows in the DTLA skyline. Like WHOA!!! The Militant had to pull over and check it out for himself!

He parked on Wilshire (hey, it's Sunday, free parking...) and walked around to Beaudry Avenue to take a look at the skyline from across the 110. It turns out he wasn't the only one taking pictures (pictured left).

A rare and awesome sight indeed! If this thick fog keeps up, The Militant may or may not wake up earlier to catch this wonderful a.m. phenomenon!

Here's some more pics, since it did happen:

The 53-story Figueroa at Wilshire building in fogshadows! (Click to enlarge)

The 52-story City National Bank building looks kinda glorious this Sunday morning. TESTIFY, BROTHAH! (Click to ginormify)

CNB's twin. the Paul Hastings (gotta be in italics!) building bathes in the light. (Click and make big)

The 45-story KPMG (no, not a TV or radio station) tower casts a fogshadow. (Click!)

Up on Bunker Hill, the Grand Avenue Quartet (Wells Fargo Plaza, One California Plaza, Two California Plaza and the KPMG Tower) play a symphony of shadows and light in the fog. (Click to supersize)

Vlogstyle Episode 09: The Militant Votes For 'Pedro!

2011-10-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since The Militant brought you a Vlogstyle adventure! This time, he spent last Saturday exploring the unique sights of San Pedro! Enjoy the sights of the port community, set to a very San Pedro soundtrack from The Minutemen, Ambrosia, Skwish Kricket and Art Pepper.

#OccupyArtWalk

2011-10-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

Two years after The Militant first visited the Downtown Los Angeles ArtWalk, he decided to take advantage of the very warm ~~Summer~~ Autumn evening on Thursday night to visit some food tru...er...art galleries. Yeah, that's it.

On his Red Line ride downtown, he eavesdropped on a conversation between a woman and a young cyclist, who was apparently just released from the hospital wearing a splint on his right arm. Apparently he was riding with some friends in Griffith Park and hit a car that stopped suddenly in front of him. His injuries apparently were limited to his arm, but his bike was bent to an unrideable condition. Please tell your motorist friends to be more aware on the streets (and get off that f'ing cellphone)!

His first, er, gallery stop was the Waffles de Liege gallery, where he purchased a delectable...sculpture for $7 created with a grid-baked pastry and painted with frozen flavored milk cream medium.

Okay, okay, The Militant did check out some actual art. One of the Militant's fave galleries, Crewest, was closed by the time he passed by, but he walked into various unspecified galleries on Main Street. Just next to the Pacific Electric Lofts Building, there was some commotion on the sidewalk and a sign-spinner bearing an arrow placard, reading, "HIPPOS!"

Sure enough, behind the glass entrance doors on 632 Main Street, there they were...

Click to watch the video of the ArtWalk hippos!

Okay, so it was an esoteric performance art piece, with a quartet of people wearing hippopotamus masks over shirts, ties and slacks, confined to a room with a bed, an adding machine and oscilloscope, cables and toilet paper, among other items. It was so absurd it was awesome. ArtWalk needs more performance art like this!

The Spring Arcade building was fully lit inside and was a kickin' bazaar of art, clothing and artisanal (art- is-anal?) food. But The Militant was most blown away by the Angelesque photoillustrations of native Angeleno artist Mitch Reiter (pictured left). MILITANT APPROVED!

A few minutes later, on Spring Street, the sight of hundreds of people matching down the street and the chanting of, "Who's Streets? Our Streets!" grabbed the attention of many. It was the #OccupyLA protestors who came down from City Hall! A bunch of ArtWalkers joined them as well, down Spring to 7th then back up Main again. LAPD officers on foot, car and bike followed close behind, but allowed them to continue as long as they remained on the sidewalk. In all, just like the daily City Hall sit-in, the #OccupyArtWalk march was pretty chill. Hey, demonstration is an artform in itself!

The Militant stayed with the marchers up until the LAPD Administration Building, where he just decided to chill in the great public lawn plaza, while snapping pics of City Hall, The Times Building and the DTLA skyline before hopping back on the last Red Line ride out of Downtown. It almost felt like being in a town square in a different city. Are we there yet? Almost.

Secrets Of The Metro: A Gratuitous Plug For The Blue Line

2011-10-13T02:07:00.000-07:00

Our 21-year-old light rail leg known as the (M) Blue Line is quite a workhorse. Shuttling riders daily from Downtown Los Angeles to Downtown Long Beach and back, it carries everyone from white collar commuters to homeless people, from seniors to infants. Though the Westside-based anti-rail publication known as the LA Weekly has given the Blue Line a bad rap, 90,000 commuters daily can't be wrong.

On a recent Blue Line ride, the Militant, a bit fatigued after biking several miles around Long Beach, plopped his ass down on one of the side-facing seats and saw one rider chat away on his iPhone, looking a bit worried. The train, just leaving Long Beach wasn't yet full of riders on this particular evening, so the iPhone-chatting rider lifted up the retractable three-seat bench (meant to be folded to accommodate wheelchair riders) on the right front side of the car and plugged his phone charger into a single power socket located in the wall underneath the seats to keep his iPhone juiced up.

The Militant, being a veteran Blue Line rider since 1990 and previously thinking he knew everything there was to know about the Blue Line, hung his mouth open in disbelief.

Of course, back in the early '90s, the people who could afford cell phones didn't ride public transit anyway, and the only portable items that riders used back then were portable Discman players and Nintendo Game Boys. If the power started to falter during that Color Me Badd CD or challenging Tetris round, one could buy a set of AA batteries from the various illegal vendors roaming the train.

Twenty years later, we live in a world of iPods, iPhones, iPads and iCouldnameahundredotherportableelectronicdevices. We need our juice and are useless without it. Being mostly above-ground, Blue Line riders can read their RSS feeds, update their Facebook statuses or read up on the latest Tweets to pass the time on their up-to-an-hour-long commute.

But there it was, a working plug (well two, one on each end of the car) in every Blue Line car.

Being that the cars were made in the late '80s-early '90s, their use obviously wasn't for portable electronic devices but for cleaning and maintenance. When the cars go back into the North Long Beach Yard along the 710 every night, they get cleaned up. The plug was intended for maintenance workers to plug in vacuum cleaners, steam cleaners or various test machinery. They may or may not actually use them.

What makes the Japanese-built Blue Line cars extra special is that they're the only Metro Rail cars that have 'em: The Italian-built Red Line or latest-generation Gold Line cars don't have them, and the German-made Green Line/early Gold Line/eventual Expo Line cars lack them as well. Chalk it up as Japanese ingenuity, or just the simple fact that Japan has a compatible power voltage as the US does.

So now that the "secret" is out, feel free to plug in and charge up...But PLEASE do The Militant (and each other) a favor and LEARN TO SHARE. We certainly don't want anyone stabbing each other because of this!

Ride And Go Cic(LAvia)

2011-10-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well oh well, wasn't that another great CicLAvia Sunday? Certainly the next few days will bear witness to countless blog posts, Flickr pics, YouTube videos (timelapse or otherwise) and the overall coming-down-from-that-CicLAvia-high feeling, at least until next Spring.

This time around, the route got extended some two and a half miles. The Militant, of course, fired off another Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour post, which you all may or may not have read (or downloaded). But on the route, we saw the first diversions from the classic east-west route that has been around for a year.

The corner of Central Avenue and 14th Street was alive for all of Sunday's all-but-too-short five hours of CicLAvianess. The African American Firefighter Museum set the stage (both literally and figuratively) for the new southern terminus of the event, with live bands playing funk, hip-hop and reggae music.

The museum itself was open for exhibition and tacos, tortas and aguas frescas were hawked just outside the building.

It was a celebration of South Los Angeles, which finally got a chance to represent in this citywide open streets celebration. The Militant could get nitpicky and point out that we weren't actually in South Los Angeles, as we were still a good few blocks north of the 10 Freeway, But if South Los Angeles is the contemporary PC term for South Central Los Angeles, and we were on South Central Avenue, then by that equational technicality alone, one can argue that, yes, we were in South Los Angeles.

But that was actually beside the point. One of the emcees onstage said on the microphone that this was a "Historic day for South Los Angeles" by co-hosting CicLAvia for the first time. All this being said while a DJ played Ice Cube's Isley Brothers-sampled laid back hood anthem "Today Was A Good Day." Folks, that was a powerful moment - people were proud of their community and were showing off that pride to visitors, perhaps for the first time. A pack of gleaming chrome lowrider bicycles - as ubiquitous to South Los Angeles and the Eastside as fixies are to "The Center" of town - was proudly being paraded about by Southside locals.

Even the local corporate presence represented. The nautical-themed Coca Cola building (pictured left) surprisingly yielded to common sense and had its marketing troops hand out free Coke and Powerade samples to CicLAvia participants - a smart and logical move on this warm fall day. CicLAvia wasn't some pesky event that inconvenienced their employees, but became something they actively got to be a part of.

On the downside, whether it was out of unfamiliarity, fear, or the fact that very few two-wheeled CicLAvia guests actually knew how to navigate the makeshift roundabout established at 7th and Spring, but there were far fewer people headed south than going on the classic route. Granted, there were long stretches of nothingness, like the industrial dead zone between The Fashion District and the Piñata Distrist by Central and Olympic.

So maybe the new southern spur doesn't have anything as picturesque (ship-like soft drink factory aside) as The view from the 4th Street Bridge or City Hall or the LAPD building with the City Hall reflection on it, but CicLAvia is meant to have us discover our city, and discovery awaits. At the Southside terminus there was an organization called ParTour that encouraged participants to sign up with their mobile phones and photoblog/tweet places along the CicLAvia route in South Los Angeles to advocate extending the route farther south. Only problem, aside from the Coke building and the firefighter museum, there wasn't much of a CicLAvia route in South Los Angeles as of yet...also some of the instructions were confusing. Nonetheless, The Militant wholeheartedly supports their efforts in extending the route, hopefully to historic Central Avenue (live jazz along the route please?) and even down to the Watts Towers. Let's face it, the CicLAvia folks and the City are able to give us this much during a budget crisis. Just think of what is possible when we no longer have a budget shortfall? A SFV CicLAvia is already being planned for next year (Which means another Epic Militant CicLAvia tour is forthcoming...).

As for the northern spur...uhh...The Militant unfortunately didn't even have time to get to that! CAN WE HAS LONGER CICLAVIA HOURS? KTHXBAI.

See or not see you on the streets on April 15, 2012 when we get to do this all again!

The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour 2.0!!

2011-10-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

For the NEW locations of interest in the North and South Spurs on the CicLAvia route, please skip down to #28!

View The Militant Angeleno's CicLAvia Tour! in a larger map
Note: Though The Militant likes to view the route from west to east for some reason, he has listed these sites from East to West, as some of the sites are related and make a little more sense when going that direction.

It's baaaack! After unfortunately cancelling its July 10 event, CicLAvia returns with a vengeance, bigger than ever! Instead of just seven miles, there's now 10 miles of route for your biking/walking/jogging/rollerblading/wheelchairing/razorscootering/skateboaring pleasure! And with that, The Militant has updated his award-winning Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour to include the new routes! So here is the tour, in its entirety. If you've read through the old tour, just skip ahead to #28!

Classic CicLAvia Route (Boyle Heights to East Hollywood)

1. Hollenbeck Park
1892
4th and St. Louis streets, Boyle Heights

John Edward Hollenbeck was a rich dude in the late 19^th century who founded the First National Bank of Los Angeles (more on this later) and purchased parcels of land in Downtown, the San Gabriel Valley and the Eastside, where he made his home. Hollenbeck was also credited with the creation of what is now called Exposition Park. His sister married his friend, James George Bell, who founded...Yep, you guessed it! After Hollenbeck's death in 1885, his widow, Elizabeth, donated a 21-acre parcel of land, which was essentially their front yard, to the City. One of the Los Angeles’ oldest parks, it was established in 1892 and continues to function today.

2. Hollenbeck Palms (Site of the Hollenbeck Residence)
1896
573 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights

Take a quick detour from the CicLAvia route on 4th street and head down Boyle Ave a block and a half south.

On the site of this retirement facility, which directly dates back to the Hollenbecks' involvement, John and Elizabeth Hollenbeck made their home. The original Hollenbeck residence had a room built for the care of John's elderly father. After John's death, Elizabeth donated land she owned across the street (since visually separated from Boyle Ave in the 1950s due to construction of the 5 Freeway) for Hollenbeck Park and, in another act of philanthropy, created the Hollenbeck Home for The Aged on her property in 1896, offering free board and care for the residents for the rest of their lives. After Elizabeth's death in 1918, the Hollenbeck Trust operated the elderly home (modernized in 1985), and continue to run it today.

3. Metro Division 20 subway car yard and site of old Santa Fe LaGrande Station
1992 / 1893
320 S. Santa Fe Ave (visible from the 4th Street Viaduct), Arts District

Take a break from riding/walking/skateboarding/pogo-sticking/etc. and take a glance off the north side of the bridge from the west bank of the River. This facility is where the 104 Italian-built subway cars of the Metro Red and Purple line cars are stored, repaired, serviced and cleaned. This was also the temporary storage and repair site of the Angels Flight railway cars after the fateful 2001 accident. The Militant actually visited this facility back in May 1992.

The subway cars are also serviced on the site of the old Santa Fe Railway La Grande Station (hence the name of the street) that was on Santa Fe and 2nd. Built in 1893, it was precisely where midwestern transplants arrived in Los Angeles after paying their $1 train ticket from Chicago. In 1933, the landmark dome was damaged by the Long Beach Earthquake and subsequently removed. In 1939, it was rendered obsolete by the opening of the new Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal a few blocks north.

4. Site of Quaker Dairy, Original Little Tokyo Restaurant
1890
304 E. 1st St., Little Tokyo

On the southeast corner of 1st and San Pedro streets once stood the Quaker Dairy, a restaurant started on this site in 1890 by Sanshichi Akita, an immigrant from Japan. Though preceded five years earlier by another restaurant on First St (location unknown), this is the oldest traceable location of a Little Tokyo business. By the end of the 19th century, there were over 16 Japanese-owned restaurants in this stretch of 1st Street, creating what we know as Little Tokyo.

5. Los Angeles Sister Cities Monument
Circa late 1980s
1st and Main streets, Downtown

On the northeast corner of 1st and Main streets stands a pole bearing signs (in the "Blue Blade" style, no less) for every one of Los Angeles' 25 Sister Cities, each pointing towards their location. The signs range from Lusaka, Zambia (the farthest sister city, 10,017 miles) to Vancouver, Canada (the nearest, 1,081 miles) and everywhere in between. Nagoya, Japan is Los Angeles' oldest sister city (1959); Yerevan, Armenia is the newest (2007). Los Angeles, an Olympic host city (1932, 1984) also has that in common with sister cities Athens (1896, 2004), Berlin (1936), Mexico City (1968) and Vancouver (2010). Okay, the Militant is just filling up this paragraph with mindless trivia.

6. New Los Angeles City "Chevy Logo" Street Signs
2009
Various locations along 1st Street, Downtown

Speaking of Blue Blades, and since you're on 1st Street, don't forget to see Los Angeles' new street signs! Featuring a reflective background and typeface, the City Seal and shaped like the Chevrolet logo, these were the subject of The Militant's now-legendary recent post on Los Angeles street signs. Now you can see them for yourself!

7. Los Angeles Police Administration Building
2009
100 W. 1st St, Downtown

Having opened less than two years ago, there's nothing really historic about this building, but do stop and take a picture of City Hall's reflection from the facade's glass panel. It's like, the thing to do.

8. Old State Office Building Foundation
1931 (Demolished 1971)
1st and Spring streets, Downtown

Ever wonder about that park-like area across the street from City Hall, and why there appears to be a foundation but no building? It was once the site of the State Office Building (pictured left, looking north on Spring), which was built in 1931. Forty years later, the 6.4 Sylmar Earthquake rendered it unsafe, and it was demolished. The land was once an openly-accessible parkspace; the Militant remembers going to a demonstration there as a child (Oh this Militant stuff sure started early...)

9. Site of the Wilcox Building, First National Bank
1896
2nd and Spring streets, Downtown

Remember Mr. Hollenbeck? He be makin' serious bank! Oh wait, he literally did. As was mentioned, he founded a bank called the First National Bank of Los Angeles, which made its original home here on the southeast corner of 2nd and Spring in what once stood the Wilcox Building. Check this out: First National Bank merged with the Farmers and Merchants Bank to become the Security-First National Bank, which became Security Pacific National Bank (1967), and was eventually purchased by Bank of America in the 199os.

10. Site of Hollenbeck Hotel
1884
2nd and Spring streets, Downtown

Man, this Hollenbeck dude got around! We're not quite through with him yet. Directly across Spring Street from the bank (on what is now a parking lot) stood the Hollenbeck Hotel, a pretty swanky, bougie inn back in the day. He owned not just the hotel, the entire block the hotel stood on (He sooo money!). As more hotels were being built in Downtown, this one eventually lost ground to its competitors and was demolished in 1933.

11. Site of Original Ralphs Supermarket
1873
6th and Spring streets, Downtown

Before the Hotel Hayward building was built in 1905, George A. Ralphs (see, that's why there's no apostrophe) and his brother Walter B. started the Ralphs Bros. Grocers on the southwest corner of 6th and Spring. Their company still continues to this day, and in 2007, the company that started in DTLA returned to the area after some 50 years.

12. St. Vincent Court
1868
St. Vincent Ct and 7th Street, Downtown

You'd hardly knew it was there, but this alley nestled between Broadway and Hill (blink and you'll miss it!), with its decorative brick pavement and European decor, seemingly belongs to another world. Originally the site of a Catholic college that was the predecessor of today's Loyola Marymount University, today it's a unique food court featuring Armenian and Middle Eastern eateries. The Militant calls it, "Littler Armenia." Check out this Militant Angeleno post on St. Vincent Court from 2008 for more info!

13. Wilshire Grand Hotel
1952
7th and Figueroa streets, Downtown

What we see today as the Wilshire Grand Hotel is the latest in a long lineage of hotels that operated from that building. Originally built as the Los Angeles Statler Hotel (one of a dozen nationwide in that chain) in 1952, it became the Statler Hilton, then the Los Angeles Hilton, then the Omni Los Angeles Hotel, and finally the Wilshire Grand. Take a good look at this hotel, though - the hotel's owner, Korean Air Lines, plans to demolish it and put up a big-ass hotel with crazy-ass LED advertisements on the building in the next few years.

14. City View Lofts/Young's Market Company Building
1924
1610 w. 7th St., Pico-Union

Ever wondered what's the deal with this 4-story Italian Renaissance-style building? It was built in 1924 as a liquor warehouse and original headquarters for Young's Market Company, which still operates today as the largest liquor distributor in the West. This building features actual marble columns and a decorative frieze made of terra cotta. The company, in the roaring, pre-depression 1920s, just felt like it. The building was looted and burned in the 1992 Riots and was rehabbed in 1997 to become the City View lofts. The building is in the National Register of Historic Places.

15. Gen. Douglas MacArthur Monument
1955
Southeast corner of MacArthur Park, Westlake

It's sort of strange how a monument to the park's namesake seems almost invisible (Gen John Pershing, MacArthur's WWI counterpart, could totally identify). In fact, most people don't know it's even there, but on the southeast shore of the lake is a dormant memorial fountain featuring a statue of the WWII general overlooking a model of the Pacific theatre (no, not that one) where he led allied forces to eventual victory. It was designed and built in 1955 by Roger Noble Burnham, who previously sculpted the Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus and taught at the Otis Art School, formerly located nearby.

16. Gen. Harrison Gray Otis Statue
1920
Northeast corner of Wilshire and Park View, Westlake

Gen. Otis is perhaps the most visible statue at the park, which predates MacArthur's WWII service. This general served in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars, and also fought as a Union soldier in the Civil War. But in Los Angeles, he is most known for being the founder, owner and publisher of the Los Angeles Times.

So why is he here? His Wilshire Blvd mansion, called The Bivouac, was located across the street, was later donated to Los Angeles County and became the original campus of Otis Art Institute. It's thought that his statue is pointing to the site of the Elks Lodge, but he's probably just pointing to his old house.

17. Nob Hill Towers/Old Nob Hill
c. Early 1900s
Ocean View Ave. and Carondelet St., Westlake

18. Can You Really See The Ocean?
Present Day
Ocean View Ave. and Park View St., Westlake

Allow yourself to veer off the CicLAvia route for a bit - From 6th St, head north on Coronado St for a few yards and make a right on Ocean View Ave to view a couple places covered in the Militant's January 2011 blog post on ritzy old Westlake.

On Ocean View and Carondelet, you'll find the Nob Hill Towers, the last vestige of what used to be known as Los Angeles' "Nob Hill." Bike up another block to Park View St, and if the sky is clear, look to the south and see if you can see the sea. On a clear day, you can see Catalina Island, for sure. If all else fails, you can still see the park, lol.

19. Formerly-Proposed Site of the Music Center
1950 (never built)
6th and Hoover streets, Westlake

Believe it or not, in 1950 there was a plan afloat to build a music and fine arts performance facility in Los Angeles...but not in Downtown. This proposal, complete with a concert hall, a theater, a man-made lake and several levels of underground car parking, was to have it located along 6th Street between Hoover Street and Lafayette Park Place. Sounds like a certain county supervisor at the time might have lived in the neighborhood. The Militant is soooo glad this didn't materialize. Some things were just never meant to be.

20. Occidental Parkway
c. 1920s
Occidental Blvd between Hoover and Beverly, Westlake

Also covered in the Militant's post on old Westlake is Occidental Parkway, which is actually part of the City's park system. The palm-lined street with a median will take you northward to Beverly Blvd (If you're down for an Original Tommy's burger, head east on Beverly for a few blocks).

21. Visible Yellow Car Trolley Tracks (6th Street)
c. 1910s
6th Street and Commonwealth Ave

Look carefully through the paving in the middle of the street (west side of the intersection); you might just see a pair of 3 1/2-foot wide trolley tracks, once used by the 3 Line of the Los Angeles Railway's Yellow Cars. This line ran from east of Downtown to Larchmont Village and was abandoned in the late 1940s.

22. Location of Sacatela Creek
pre-1930
4th Street between Vermont Ave and Shatto Pl, Koreatown

Sacatela Creek was a natural stream that ran from the Franklin Hills south to what is now Koreatown and on to Ballona Creek The Militant wrote all about it back in April 2008 and it's one of his greatest posts ever. When you ride along 4th Street near Shatto Recreation Center, you are crossing what was once Sacatela Creek (which is actually buried in a drain pipe under the street).

23. Korean Philadelphia Presbyterian Church/Sinai Temple
1924
407 S. New Hampshire Ave, Koreatown

You've probably heard of people converting from Judaism to Christianity, but did you know buildings can, too? This building right at the route's turn at 4th and New Hampshire was established in 1924 by the Sinai Temple Conservative Jewish Congregation, which moved from here in 1960 to its current synagogue on Wilshire Blvd and Beverly Glen in Westwood. Look closely and you'll still see the Jewish imagery in the church's facade.

24. Little Bangladesh
2010
3rd Street between New Hampshire and Alexandria, Little Bangladesh

Check it out, you're now in Los Angeles' newest designated community!

25. Godzilla Monument at Frank Del Olmo Elementary School
2006
100 N. New Hampshire Ave, Koreatown

Wait, what? Godzilla monument? At the front entrance of the school (named after the late Los Angeles Times columnist and editor), there's a plaque memorializing the location as the former site of Visual Drama studios, where in the mid-1950s the Japanese Gojira films were adapted for American audiences using Raymond Burr and other American actors. The result was 1956's Godzilla, King of the Monsters! The plaque credits this site as the birthplace of the American Godzilla films and pop culture phenomena.

26. Visible Yellow Car Trolley Tracks (Heliotrope Drive)
c. 1915
Heliotrope Drive and Rosewood Avenue, Ambassador Hill

The Los Angeles Railway Yellow Car trolleys used to run through here; one line, called the H line, actually ran through Heliotrope Drive where the CicLAvia route runs. Today there is a community garden,which stands on what used to be the trolley's private right-of-way. ~~Look at the ground towards the entrance to the garden - you can still see remnants of partially-buried tracks!~~ Unfortunately, the street and sidewalk were repaved in 2010. Damn you, urban renewal! But the entire length of the community garden going all the way south to Beverly was the trolley's right-of-way. The Militant wrote about this site in a September, 2007 post. The H line continued to Downtown Los Angeles and ended at 63rd and Wall streets in South Los Angeles. The H line was abandoned on August 3. 1947.

27. Ukrainian Culture Center/Jensen's Melrose Theatre
1924
4315 Melrose Ave, East Hollywood

The Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles opened in 1961 to serve what was then a strong ethnic enclave - a Ukrainian church stands just four blocks east. Today it is a popular venue for quinceañeras. The Grammy-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire played a "secret" show here in February 2011, prior to picking up their award. This building was built in 1924 as "Jensen's Melrose Theatre" (one of a series of entertainment centers built by the Jensen brothers, whom also built one on Sunset Blvd in Echo Park), built for what was then an upper-class neighborhood located next to what was then UCLA (University of California, Southern Extension, now the Los Angeles City College campus). It was one of the last silent movie theatres built in the country, and operated until 1959. Take a look at the top of the facade -- the original name of the building is etched in concrete!

New CicLAvia Route (North and South Spurs)

New for 10/9/2011, CicLAvia adds some two and a half more miles of route, and The Militant has a few more spots of interest to add! So here goes!

Chinatown Branch Route

28. Italian Hall
1908
622 1/2 North Main Street, Downtown

This 103-year old building is the oldest vestige of what was once Los Angeles' Little Italy neighborhood. Built as a cultural center to serve the ethnic community, which has been present in the city since the 1820s, today, the well-restored structure, part of the El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monument (a historical tour destination unto itself), is the site of Los Angeles' Italian American Museum, which will display artifacts and exhibits from the Little Italy district and the contributions of Italian Angelenos.

29. The Plaza
1825
You Can't Miss It

Los Angeles has (long exhale) often been criticized for not having a "center," The Militant countered with both an ancient center and a regional center. But The Plaza, for nearly two centuries (longer than any one of us has been here, right?), functioned as the undisputed Center of Los Angeles. Forever standing in the shadow of its tourist-heavy younger cousin Olvera Street (which you've all been to, so The Militant isn't adding it to his Epic CicLAvia Tour), The Plaza was really Los Angeles' own town square.

What's historic is not the hexagonal, wrought-iron bandstand (known as the Kiosko) -- that was built in the late 1940s as part of an urban renewal project for the El Pueblo district -- but the circular space itself, which was built in 1825 and actually functioned part-time as Los Angeles' first-ever sporting venue (bullfights were staged there in the 1800s). This was actually the third location of The Plaza. It was first established at the time of Los Angeles' founding 230 years ago, but much closer to The River. Flooding in the 1810s forced The Plaza to re-locate twice to higher ground. Hey, the third time's the charm...

30. Site of Los Angeles' French Quarter
c. 1830s-1960s
Aliso Street and Arcadia Street, Downtown

In addition to an Italian community, beleive it or non, Los Angeles had a French ethnic enclave, called The French Quarter. Before today's Hollywood Freeway trench and nearby parking lots was a bustling community of Franco-American businesses and institutions. When Frenchman Jean-Louis Vignes bought up land on the Yangna village site a few blocks east on Aliso Street, he essentially became the anchor of our French community. In 1912, businessman Marius Taix opened the Champ D'Or Hotel on Commercial Street and then opened his namesake restaurant in the same building in 1927. But the most famous constibution to our French Quarter was Philippe Mathieu's restaurant, which opened in various locations in the area. In 1918, his restaurant on 246 Aliso Street gave birth to The French Dip sandwich. But urban development (and cultural assimilation by the community) destroyed the French Quarter. In 1951, Philippe's moved a few blocks north to their present location on Alameda Street due to Hollywood Freeway construction, and Monsieur Taix's restaurant moved a decade later to Echo Park.

31. Triforium
1975
Main and Temple Streets, Downtown

This $925,000 light-and-sound public art sculpture was designed by artist Joseph Young in the mid '70s as "a tribute to the unfinished, kaleidoscopic nature of Los Angeles." Intended to be Los Angeles' own iconic answer to the Eiffel Tower or The Statue of Liberty, it was also originally planned to be equipped with motion sensors and skyward-aiming laser beams. Budget constraints put a stop to that. Despite its shortcomings, it was the world's first public sculpture to integrate light and sound by use of a computer, something us 21st century types take for granted every day (cough LA Live cough).

The Triforium's lights are on daily from 6-8 a.m. and from 5-7 p.m. (6-8 p.m. PDT).

Though it's somewhat dated in its '70s-impression-of-the-future asesthetic (But hey, so is Star Wars), all it really needs to be hip to today's standards (it's already got its own Facebook page) is an iPod interface. Cultural Affairs Department, are you listening?

If continuing on to South Los Angeles, please refer to sites 5 to 11 above, then:

South Los Angeles Branch Route

32. The I.N. Van Nuys Building

1911
210 W. 7th St (at Spring), Downtown

A 100-year old, 11-story Classical-style building built by banker and landowner Isaac Newton Van Nuys (who owned much of the San Fernando Valley, including his eponymous community). Designated as a Historic Cultural Landmark (#898) in 2007, what was once Los Angeles' most expensive office building ($1.25 million in 1911 dollars) was converted to senior housing. Do check out its unique parking structure, at 719-721 S. Spring St.

33. Great Republic Life Insurance Building
1927
756 S. Spring St., Downtown

The Militant just loves old buildings with their names imprinted on their front and ornate bas-relief designs in the upper financial floors. This 13-story Beaux Arts style building is one of those, home to the Great Republic Life Insurance company, built right before the Great Dperession. This and many other financial institutions up and down Spring Street were part of the "Wall Street of the West." And since this is 2011, think of CicLAvia as #OccupyWallStreetOfTheWest. Today, it's home to the Great Republic Lofts.

34. National City Bank Building
1924
810 S. Spring St., Downtown

Another fine example of 1920s Beaux Arts architecture is the National City Bank (not to be confused with the City National Bank) Building. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. Today, it's home to the National City Tower Lofts.

35. ANJAC Fanshion Buildings
Built various years in the 20th Century
Various Locations along Broadway, Spring and Santee Streets, Downtown

The ANJAC Fashion Buildings (you'll see a whole bunch of 'em) are a collection of older buildings re-purposed for use as rented showroom, warehouse or manufacturing spaces for the local clothing industry. They're all owned by Steve Needleman, who also owns the nearby Orpheum Theatre. One of the ANJAC buildings on nearby Broadway was the site of an historic 3-week garment worker's strike in 1933 that put Chicano organized labor on the map.

36. Spring/Main Junctionc 1890s
Spring and Main Streets at 9th Street, Downtown

This very Manhattanesque portion of Downtown Los Angeles might not be The Great White Way, but it did serve as a junction point for both the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway trolleys back in the day. The triangular park in the middle, recently ornamented with public art once served as a passenger platform for the streetcars. The building at the very tip of the corner, just north of it was once the local Anheuser Busch brewing company headquarters. More historical pics here, here, here and here.

37. Harris Newmark Building

1925

127 E. 9th St., Downtown

This 12-story building was at one time the tallest building in Los Angeles, built in honor of Harris Newmark, an early Los Angeles leader, businessman, landowner and philathropist. He helped to found the city of Montebello and helped shape Los Angeles' Jewish community through his leadership and charitable giving. It was once home to Sam's Deli, a local eatery institution that operated from 1963 to 2003. In the '90s, the building was carefully restored using the original blueprints. It now functions today as The New Mart (get it?)

38. Security Pacific Bank(!)

c 1990s or 2000s
9th and Cecilia streets, Downtown

Now here's a sight that longtime Angelenos haven't seen in a long time - the interlocking "S" logo of Security Pacific National Bank. Once upon a time, there were actually large banks founded and headquartered in Los Angeles. Security Pacific, a major bank whose heritage dates back to 1868 was swallowed up by the big, evil Bank of America in 1992. The Militant discovered recently that this apparent vestige of days gone by is actually more recent, as a new but unrelated Security Pacific began in 2005 and went out of business just three years later (the bank space in this building is vacant and currently available for lease). Judging by the condition of the sign, this may or may not be the case.

39. Dude, Where's My 9th Street?
1928
9th Street-Olympic Blvd at Ceres Ave.

Chalk this one up, along with the two San Vicente Boulevards, as one of the great street mysteries of Los Angeles. While heading east on 9th Street, the thoroughfare inexplicably becomes Olympic Boulevard, only to vanish into oblivion. Olympic, on the other hand, resurfaces west of San Julian and heads all the way Santa Monica's 5th Street. The Militant is only announcing this as a public service just so you won't think anyone was f'ing with your mind as you head east on 9th.

40. Central Market

c 1930s
1227 E. Olympic Blvd, Downtown

This wholesale market operated in partial competition to the much larger wholesale market just a few blocks east, but it's in a supplementary role nowadays as a wholesale meat and poultry facility.

41. Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market

1918, expanded in 1986
Central and Olympic Blvd, Downtown

Anyone who says Los Angeles, or even Downtown Los Angeles, isn't a 24-hour city, has obviously never been here. From about 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. (the action begins at 4 a.m. and ends before 10 a.m.), trucks roll up to unload fresh-from-the-farm produce in bulk for purchase. This market is mostly for supermarkets, distributors and restaurants, but anyone can purchase at the vendors here (you just have to take home a big-ass crate of apples rather than just a couple pounds). The Grand Central Market performed this role all but briefly before it was maxed out, and a new produce market, on 7th and Central was built closer to the railroad tracks in 1918. In 1986, the facility was expanded to what you see today. Check out this YouTube video of how the market looked like in 1963!

42. Yellow Car Tracks

c. early 1900s
12th Street at Central Avenue, Downtown

Look at the cracks and crevices in the street, just east of the crosswalk: TRACK! These tracks carried the Yellow Cars of the Los Angeles Railway's 2 Line, which ran from South Central through Downtown to the City Terrace area in The Eastside. Look carefully and you can see the old school inlaid brickwork in between the tracks! And unlike #26 above, the tracks are verified to be there!

I'M ON A BOAT! (Sorta...)

43. Coca Cola Building

1936
1334 S. Central Ave, Downtown

Coca-Cola has been locally bottled in Los Angeles since 1895, with about five different locations in the Downtown area throughout history. But this is by far the most recognizable. A ship-like design by Robert Derrah (who also crafted Hollywood's likewise-nautical-flavored Crossroads Of The World) makes this one of Los Angeles' most unique buildings. Hey, you think they'll be handing out free Cokes to CicLAvia participants on Sunday? (Pttth, doubt it...)

44. African American Firefighter Museum (Fire Station 30)

1913, 1997
1401 S. Central Ave, Downtown

Originally built as LAFD fire station 30, it was one of two "Blacks Only" stations between 1924 and 1955, when the fire department was integrated and the station de-commissioned. In 1997 the building was converted into a museum to celebrate the contributions of African Americans in the LAFD and to highlight the long and painful struggle to integration and racial equality. The LAFD of today has a black Fire Chief, which would never have been possible without the struggles, stories and service of the people recognized at this museum. Definitely check it out.

Whoa, that's a lot of history and interesting sites for just 2 1/2 miles! But do enjoy this, appreciate Los Angeles more and have a great time at CicLAvia on Sunday!

To download and print a copy of this tour guide or send to your unspecified tablet computing device to take with you on your ride on Sunday, please click here! (Go to File -> Print (PDF) in the Google Docs window)

Native Month: In Puvungna, The End Is The Beginning

2011-10-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

On an unspecified day in September, The Militant hopped on the (M) Blue Line, got off at the Pacific Coast Highway station and rode his bike some four and a half miles east to an area near Bellflower Boulevard and Atherton Street, on the west end of the Cal State Long Beach campus.

Energized by his militant zeal for Los Angeles history, and his newfound obsession with Tongva culture, The Militant, after reading about it for quite some time, wanted to see it for himself, with his own eyes.

The place was the site of the Tongva village of Puvungna, known to their people as more than a village, but a sacred place.

In the 1990s, plans by the university to develop the land into a fast food-laden shopping plaza (a smack in the face on sooooo many levels), drew the ire of the Tongva community.

It was, or at least was close to, the place where ancient Tongva belief taught them the world began.

As it went, their creator god, Quaoar (CalTech scientists were nice enough to name an outer solar system planetoid after him), danced and sang to create a sky god and an earth goddess, which danced and sang together to create the sun and moon gods. Then they all sang together and created everything else. All life began at Puvungna. It was also the birthplace of a Christ/Buddha/Moses/Muhammad- like prophet named Chungichnish, who taught his people the ways of the universe. Furthermore, Puvungna was also the site of an ancient burial ground.

The fight to preserve the land apparently was successful, at least thus far -- the university president at the time promised not to exploit their land - a 39-acre field next to a parking lot consisting of some 40-or-so trees and native plants and grasses.

The Militant arrived there on his bike, and was instantly in awe of the natural landscape that lay before him, even despite the constant roar of traffic and the occasional Long Beach Airport-bound metal bird.

The sight of a ceremonial kutumut pole, greeted The Militant. The was definitely the place he was looking for:

Upon close inspection, pictures of people's ancestors hung from strings attached to the pole, and a stately white sage grew from the ground:

A smaller one nearby had seashells on the ground:

Just to be sure, instead of rolling his bike on the hallowed ground, he chose to carry it, and rested it against a tree.

When The Militant was younger, his family took a day trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano. After having a picnic in a nearby park, when it came time to leave, one of the doors of the family car mysteriously had the inability to close shut. Every attempt to close it failed. This perplexed everyone, until the Militant's mother said, "Excuse me!" in her native language to whatever spirits may be present. After that, the problem door finally was able to be closed normally...[Cue X-Files music here].

Because of that experience. though The Militant doesn't personally subscribe to Tongva spiritual beliefs, he is definitely respectful of them, even to the point of telling whatever spirits might reside there to excuse him, that he was there to cause no harm or disrespect, and is only there for the sake of knowledge, and, most importantly to impart that knowledge to others, so that they may learn of the Tongva (The Militant is quite sure the ancient Tongva spirits might have a hard time understanding the concept of blogs and Tweets, so a general explanation was in order).

The Militant was quite sure his pardon request went heeded. He was able to observe the grounds undisturbed, and also felt a comforting sense of protection.

Even without a connection to Tongva culture, any undeveloped parcel of land in Southern California is a priceless gem; it serves as a virtual time machine. You can build a Burger King anywhere else.You can even demolish it and build a restaurant that looks identical to the original. But you can never replicate the natural landscape to the same degree.

There is a reason and rhyme to everything. Perhaps it's no coincidence at all that, like Kuruvungna Springs in West Los Angeles, this precious vestige of Tongva culture also exists on the campus of an educational institution. That it's an obvious sign that us 21st Century Angelenos need to be schooled by the Tongva. Many of us are guilty of disregarding or eradicating local history, and the history of the Tongva is the ultimate local history lesson. Buzzwords like "sustainability" and "eco-friendliness" weren't buzzwords for the Tongva, they were their lifestyle.

The Militant may or may not be destined to impart the history of the Tongva people to the blogosphere, but what is important is that you, after learning of it yourself, impart your new-found knowledge to others, and them to others (Insert your favorite '70s TV shampoo commercial reference here).

So perhaps it's fitting to end The Militant's Native Month series here. The Militant ends his story at the place where the Tongva believed their own story began. And The Militant sincerely hopes that at the end of this particular Native Month adventure, that your own appreciation for the real natives of this land begins.

Stay Militant, always.

Native Month: Let's Learn Some Tongva!

2011-10-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, over 224 languages are spoken in Los Angeles. So why not learn a little of the very first language spoken here?

The Tongva's language is considered by linguists to be of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock, the speakers of which spoke languages and dialects in an area that stretched from what is now Utah to Central Mexico.

But like most indigenous languages in North America, Tongva, was a purely oral tongue, there was no alphabet or written word, and thus no historical transcription the way, say, Greek, Latin, Chinese or Arabic was documented.

During Spanish colonization, they were forced to speak in Spanish, during the Mexican era, much of them adopted Spanish names and surnames, and assimilated into Mexican culture. And when the Red, White and Green flag ceded to the Red, White and Blue flag round these here parts, the poor folks had to adapt to yet another language and culture.

For much of the time since the 1780s, Tongva people spoke their language in clandestine settings.
The last fluent Tongva speaker was believed to have died in the 1970s. Fortunately a few linguistic scholars in the 19th century sat down with some Tongva folk and documented their vocabulary. Today, Tongva descendants have attempted since the 1990s to reconstruct their ancient mother tongue, using words found in songs and common expressions.

The Militant is by no means a linguistics expert. He even has a little trouble speaking the native language(s) of his parents from their unspecified home country. But in doing his militant research on the Tongva the past several weeks, he's noted down some words for all 'yall. So enjoy.

Note: Again, Tongva was not a written language, to any transcription of words into our characters of Roman origin are strictly phonetic in nature. Also, the Tongva nation, though sharing a common culture, displayed inevitable variations in pronunciation from village to village, which were largely independent of each other.

So here goes:

akara'apu'an - quail's plume
ahhoovaredoot - spiritual/medicine shaman
atochgna - funeral pyre
erow - fox
hunar - bear
joat - snowy mountain
ke-hi'e - acorn feast
kiche - house
kunasgna - cemetery, burial ground
kusirok - ashes, bones of the dead
kutumut - ceremonial pole to honor the dead
kwar - acorn meal
na - place
nachochan - how are you? / greeting
pako - enter
par - water
shev-ve - acorn
te'at - boat
tobikhar - settler
topa - above
toro - below
tova'at - pine nut
tumia'r - village chief
tuxu - old woman
we-ch - acorn mush
we't - oak
ya - poison oak
yitokahor - earthquake
yovarekam - ceremonial shaman

And here's the numbers:

pugu - one
vehe - two
pahi - three
vatcha - four
mahar - five
pavahe - six
vatchakabya - seven
veheshvatcha - eight
maharkabya - nine
vehesmahar - ten
pukuhurura - eleven
vehehurura - twelve

The Militant has yet to find out if there's a Tongva word for "militant," "unspecified" or the phrase, "May or may not," but he'll keep looking...

Native Month: The Water Still Flows In Kuruvungna

2011-10-03T02:58:00.000-07:00

(Yes, it's October already, but seeing as Native Month started on September 5, he's still got the 30-day period to round out, so...let's continue...)

Los Angeles is often described as a "horizontal city," but The Militant actually sees it as a vertical one. No, not necessarily vertical as in high-rise structures, but vertical as in the stacked layers of various histories (Of course, only a militant Angeleno can see them...).

Take for instance University High School, the grade 9-12 campus in West Los Angeles which, since 1924 has produced alums such as Jeff Bridges, Judy Garland, Danny Elfman, Randy Newman, members of The Doors and Tone Loc. So it may or may not be fitting that the man who, in 1989, extolled the virtues of the Wild Thing, walked from classroom to classroom in the presence of a wild spring.

Har har har.

For it is here on the Uni High campus that a series of natural springs churn out some 25,000 gallons of water daily (the city of Santa Monica once used it as a municipal water source), and have been since the Tongva.

One of the springs is smack dab in the middle of campus. The Militant visited Uni High recently during the afterschool hours and there it was:

While kids practiced soccer and parents stood watch just a few yards away, The Militant reached out his hand to touch the water. Supposedly it's clean enough to drink (The Militant wasn't that thirsty though...). It cascades down a man-made channel, parts of which are littered with snack food wrappers, and then descend into a drain, where it, along with H2O from the nearby Lost Creeks Of UCLA, empty into the Sepulveda Channel and into Ballona Creek.

The other spring is located towards in another part of campus. The Militant, having never stepped foot in this school before, had no idea where it was. But instinctively, he walked eastward, then south, then approached a tree-covered area with a staircase leading down into a parking lot. He kept walking....and then saw this through a fence...

It was a Tongva kiche. He gasped in awe. Did the ancient Tongva spirits lead him there? Was it just his native Angeleno instincts? No one knows for sure, but The Militant was in the Tongva village of Kuruvungna ("The place where we are under the sun.").
The other spring, regarded as a sacred site by today's Tongva descendants, percolates from a small lagoon, surrounded by native riparian trees and plants. The 1769 Portola Expedition stopped by here, and Father Juan Crespi documented the experience (before he started a chain of doughnut restaurants known as Crespi Kreme). The Militant obviously couldn't get to it at this time (and didn't wanna piss off the Tongva spirits by breaking in).

The site isn't that secret, though. It is a designated historic cultural monument by The City after all. And there was an annual Tongva Festival that just happened this past weekend, which The Militant may or may have missed (ARRRRGH! DAMNIT!!!).
The site, on the southeast corner of campus, on Barrington, just north of Ohio Avenue, is open on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. where the Gabrielino/Tongva Springs Foundation conducts free tours of the site and opens its small museum on an onsite LAUSD bungalow structure.
As The Militant left the school, he searched the campus for any sort of visual sign acknowledging its Tongva connections. Lessee, there was an Obama mural and a generic "tree of knowledge"-type mural, but nothing Tongvaesque or even anything referencing that active natural water source there. How sad, but not surprising, given the LAUSD's penchant for destroying history over actually teaching it. History - much less local history - doesn't count in standardized tests anyway, so why even bother, right?

The Militant bothers. But more remarkably, the water from these springs still bother to flow.

Native Month: The Secret Life Of Local Plants (Part 2)

2011-09-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

In his last post, The Militant introduced you to the wonderful world of California native plants. But where can these fantastic flora be found? They're not as rare as you think they are! One day, an operative took The Militant for a walk around the neighborhood and pointed out various native plants growing in people's front yards. It was like another world opened up to him.

But instead of The Militant pointing out where his neighborhood is (and thusly blowing part of his cover), here are some places around Los Angeles and the Southland where you can be in the presence of native plants -- and true to Militant fashion, they're all 100% free to visit!

Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery & Gardens, Sun Valley - Theodore Payne (or T-Payne for short...ay) was an Englishman in the late 19th century who was so fascinated with California native plants, he moved here, only to discover that agricultural development in Southern California was depleting the land of its native vegetation. So, as part Luther Burbank, part Johnny Appleseed, he dedicated his life to preserving native plants, even going up into the hills and fields to collect seeds. T-Payne created native plant displays in Exposition Park, Cal Tech and Descanso Gardens and owned nurseries in Downtown and in Atwater (before it became a "Village," yo). T-Payne retired and died in the early 1960s, but The Theodore Payne Foundation was formed to carry on his work. In Sun Valley, the nonprofit operates a nursery where one can buy numerous varieties of potted natives and a living native plant environment growing in the hillside (you can even just drop by and have a picnic -- there's even tables there). They also conduct classes and native garden tours. They should be the first place to check out if you want to learn about native plants!

Real talk from T-Payne.

Vista Hermosa Natural Park, Downtown - The Militant covered its opening back in '08, revealing a new place to get a killer Downtown skyline view. But this 10.5-acre plot of land, originally intended to be part of the LAUSD's beleaguered (isn't that being redundant?) Belmont Learning Center complex features the scent of sage and other native varieties. It's run by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for the specific purpose of re-introducing native plant environments in urban Los Angeles.

Angels Knoll Park, Downtown - Speaking of DTLA, this mini-park, directly adjacent to Angels Flight Railway, is a virtual mini-version of Vista Hermosa, with fragrant Cleveland Sage bushes growing abundantly, as well as decorative native succulent plants (Of course, the pleasant sage aroma was likely intended to help mask the smell of the local homeless people's urine...)

Griffith Park - Toyon, chamise, sage and other chaparaal plants grow here in the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. Hop on any of the 4.310-acre park's hiking trails and you'll see them. In some cases, they've been growing there just as they have in the days of the Tongva.

Bernard Field Station, Claremont - This 86-acre wildlife peserve along Foothill Blvd on the campus of The Claremont Colleges exists for both conservation and study, with both wild and human-planted native growth in a coastal sage scrub environment. As a bonus, native birds, reptiles, insects and wild mammals can be seen roaming the grounds.

'Cause native wetlands have a way with B-A-L-L-O-N-A...

Ballona Wetlands, Playa Del Rey - Even before he learned about Tongva culture, The Militant was downright outraged at Steve Soboroff's Playa Vista development taking over our last vestige of natural wetland in Los Angeles (apparently bad ideas aren't foreign to him...). Having biked the adjacent Ballona Creek bike path for nearly two decades, The Militant couldn't help but try to mentally block out all modern development and imagine taking a look back in time. Eventually, he did learn that this was the Tongva village of Saangna, which also included a large ancient sacred burial ground which was discovered during Playa Vista excavation.

Others have recently listed traits and criteria on being a true Angeleno -- well, The Militant believes that you can't be a true Angeleno without visiting the Ballona Wetlands and appreciating the (relatively) untouched serenity that have lasted for centuries. Developments can always be built elsewhere, but the wetlands are irreplaceable. May this land be disturbed no more!

Native Month: The Secret Life Of Local Plants (Part 1)

2011-09-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles might frequently be dismissed as a "desert," but that's not actually accurate. The Militant believes people who tend to use that term are usually transplants want to secretly push a negative image of emptiness, of lifelessness, that there was nothing here to begin with, and therefore this place means nothing.

The truth is, Los Angeles is in a Mediterranean climate zone that is shared by only a handful of places in the world: Southwestern Australia, Southwestern South Africa, the central coast of Chile and the coast regions of the Mediterranean Sea. Is Cannes, France also considered an "empty, lifeless desert?"

The other truth is, before colonization, all of California was a lush paradise filled with an amazing biodiversity. In an example of life imitating art, The Spaniards named this part of the world after a paradside-like island of the same name fron a 16th century novel called Las Sergas de Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.

Many of the indigenous plants are gone, either supplanted by introduced species from other parts of the globe or outright torn out by human development. But in our remaining wetlands, meadows and hillsides, they prosper. And thanks to contemporary issues like water conservation and ecological sustainability, California native plants are making a comeback in our parks and frontyards.

The Militant consulted one of his operatives, who started a few native plant gardens in his neighborhood and got a crash course in this whole native plant business. Needless to say, he can't wait to start a native plant garden in his compound!

Nearly all of our native flora are drought-tolerant since their growth cycles are compatible with our dry, rainy and blooming seasons (see, we do have seasons after all). They need no fertilizer since they know the soil. They also prosper by growing roots deep enough into the soil where moisture or a water source is always present. And best of all, they are a source of food, shade and shelter for some of our native insects and animals, being a foundation for our native ecosystem.

The plants in this post are but a sampling of the many varieties of So Cal indigenous flora and is by no means a comprehensive guide. But they are common and/or interesting enough for you to take notice when you spot them.

Native Plants

White Sage - This was perhaps the most important native plant to the Tongva and neighboring tribes. Its leaves are burned as incense for ceremonial uses, which is why white hippie/new age types like to rape and pillage the plant in the wild and sell for a profit as smudge sticks (capitalism, yaaaaay). They also provide high medicinal value (usually drunken as a tea), curing everything from coughs to colds to stomach aches. The greenish-grey leaves give off a strong, distinct scent when rubbed. In the Spring, tall flower stalks come from seemingly out of nowhere and bloom, making it a favorite nectar source for bees -- it's also known in its Latin scientific name as "bee sage."

Cleveland Sage - Named after plant collector Daniel Cleveland, this sage (pictured at top of the post), popular with butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as California quails who seek shelter in its bushes, has an etremely pleasent, minty scent from its small green leaves (rub your fingers on one and take a sniff...ahhh). Its purplish-blue flowers bloom from orb-like stalks in the Spring and Summer. Got bedbugs (you know those bloodsucking parasites that East Coast people bring with them)? Take a bunch of Cleveland sage leaves and sprinkle them around your beddings. The sweet scent you smell is downright overpowering for them little critters, and they are naturally repelled by it. NATIVES FTW!

Toyon - This hillside bush with dark, leathery green leaves and spiny edges are common sights in chaparral environments like the Santa Monica Mountains. If you hike Runyon Canyon or Griffith Park, you can't miss them. In the winter, they sprout berries (edible, but not very tasty, unless you're a deer or a bird) and resemble a holly. In fact, the toyon is also called the California Holly, and was the origin of the 9-letter name given to a famous landmark sign, the entertainment industry and an entire community that was built over the Tongva village of Cahugna. For more toyonic talk, check out The Militant's post from Christmas of last year.

Chamise - One of the most common chaparaal (the term "chaps" refers to the sturdy pants one must wear when navigating through the typically spiny plants in that environment) flora, this plant is also highly flammable during fire season due to its resin content. But like all natives, it adapts well to its conditions. In fact, fire is a part of its life cycle and not only germinates following a conflagration, but releases its own toxins into the soil to prevent competitor plants from growing on its turf. This plant is straight up gangsta!

Manzanita - Not just a street in Silver Lake, but a type of plant of varying sizes known for its twisty branches, reddish hard wood trunks, bright floral blooms and berries that resemble tiny apples (hence its name in Español). The Tongva resourcefully used its leaves as toothbrushes, made cider from the berries and tea from its bark to cure stomach maladies. They also used its wood to make utensils and tools. Butterflies and hummingbirds can't get enough of their flowers.

Desert Agave - This succulent plant that's grows primarily in the deser region can also be found in the Los Angeles area, in the more drier corners. This spiny plant lives for about 10-20 years and only flowers once in its lifetime, and then dies. But throughout its lifespan, agave "pups" will spring up from the ground, seemingly multiplying itself. Although agave is associated with tequila, this isn't the same variety that produces the booze (it's possible though, but not very commonplace). But the Tongva and the neighboring Cahuilla tribe used it for food, rops, utensils, weapons, soap and medicine.

Native Trees

Oak - The Coast Live Oak and the Scrub Oak most common varieties 'round these here parts. These trees were (and still are, relatively speaking), still numerous in the region, enough that places like Encino (Español for oak) and Thousand Oaks were named after the trees. The trees also grow acorns, popular not just with our native squirrels, but with the Tongva, who used them in multiple food uses. Aside from eating the acorn nuts, they also ground them and made them into flour, which was made into baked goods.

California Fan Palm - Palm trees are a Los Angeles icon no doubt, and developers and city planners were eager to plant them Like All Over The Freaking Place back in the 1920s-1940s. About half a dozen types of palms can be found locally, but only one is actually native: The California Fan Palm. It's actualy native environ is the lower desert region, where they grow in groves next to water sources. Places like Twentynine Palms and Palm Springs were named after these trees, but a few could be found in the Tongva nation. The Tongva's neighbors to the east, the Cahuillas (a.k.a. The Iviatim), used the fruit of the palms for food and flour, and used the leaves for sandals, baskets and roofing material.

California Sycamore - This hardwood tree is known to grow near rivers, streams and foothills. It's also a deciduous tree, which means its green leaves turn orange in the fall (You East Coast people who constantly bitch about us "not having seasons" should cream in your pants just for that). Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood and Aliso Street in Downtown were named after the tree. And of course, our stately local sycamore was revered by the Tongva, most especially in center of the village of Yangna, especially one 400-year old specimen which you may or may not have heard of before.

If anything, The Militant noticed that our native plants share much in common with its native people: Deep roots, low maintenance and thrive best in this climate!

Having trouble spotting native plants? The Militant will show you where to find them in his next post!

Number 22 Gets His 20th

2011-09-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Militant was there on Tuesday night to witness the first Dodger pitcher to get his 20th win since 1990. Back then, Clayton Kershaw was still in diapers. He's also the first Dodgers pitcher since 1946 to defeat the Giants five times in one season, and defeated two-time CyYoung winner Tim "Timmmeehhh" Lincecum in four out of four matches.

And speaking of Cy Young.... :)

You all should know that you can't spell "CLAYTON" without "CY."

The pwner of the San Francisco Giants, Clayton Kershaw.

It was also UCLA cap night, and the Militant may or may not have worn his. Despite being at the game (the turnout on Tuesday was actually fairly decent, judging by the slowness of the Dodger Stadium Express bus...), The Militant will let you all know that he still made good on his McCourt Boycott: He bought his Field Level tickets from a seller near Azucsagna who got an in with a sponsored ticket source, and got them for $15 each(!). The Militant also did not buy any food at The Stadium and took the Dodger Stadium Express bus. So Tuesday night's game by the numbers: Dodgers 2, Giants 1, Kershaw, 20-5 and Frank McCourt gets $0.00 from The Militant's wallet!

Das right...

U Can't Miss This - The Lyrical Map Of Los Angeles (Stop...Hammer Time!)

2011-09-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last week, The Militant stealthily slipped into Westwood's Hammer Museum to attend a cartographical conversation by Los Angeles In Maps author Glen Creason and artist J. Michael Walker, best known for his All The Saints In The City Of Angels artwork based on saintly city street names.

The artist took his geographical themed creations to another level by creating "City in Mind: a Lyrical Map of the Concept of Los Angeles" a 23-foot long colored pencil-on-butcher paper illustration of a Los Angeles map highlighted by quotes and drawings of literary and lyrical figures through the ages, centered on various written perspectives of Los Angeles.

Everyone from Fr. Juan Crespi to Raymond Chandler to Joan Didion to Octavio Paz to Charles Bukowski to Jonathan Gold to Tupac Shakur gets quoted here, in a horizontal swath cutting from The Eastside to The Westside, which, incidentally, was direction the City proper expanded.

The illustration, which the artist contends, "still isn't quite finished yet" (there's a good amount of empty real estate and some more quotes to add), involved months of his own literary research, but only took days to draw.

Obviously something like this is MILITANT APPROVED! You must check this thing out! The Militant commands you!

The map is on display until Sunday, October 9 (which is also a CicLAvia Day) as part of the Eastside-based Libros Schmibros' temporary Westwood bookstore, located in the lobby of the Hammer, also until 10/9. There are also a number of interesting lectures that Los Angeles geeks like The Militant and some of you reading this may or may be interested in, so check their site for the full schedule of events. The temporary bookstore is FREE to visit and does not require museum admission.

Will Rogers said it right, even back then.

The Militant hates Westwood traffic with a passion, but fortunately, Metro's Rapid Line 720 stop is right outside the Hammer's front door, so save yourself a headache or two and load up that TAP card!

Native Month: El Aliso - The Ancient Center Of Los Angeles

2011-09-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

Kissing like a bandit, stealing time,
underneath the sycamore tree...

Much has been said about Los Angeles "not having a center." Back in 2008, while singlehandedly settling the whole Westside vs. so-called Eastside geographical dichotomy, The Militant did come to the conclusion that Los Angeles indeed has a center.

Many of you know that Los Angeles started out as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de la Reina de los Angeles del Rio Porciuncula. That pueblo was founded on the site of a Tongva village called Yangna, or Place of the Poison Oak (That oak is Poiiiisonnnnn!). Some of you are already aware of Yangna, though a few people out there have the concept all messed up.

At the center of Yangna was a large, six-story sycamore tree that the Pobladores called "El Aliso." But to the native villagers of Yangna, it was no ordinary tree. It was a sacred site where chiefs of neaby villages would convene.

Over time, as the settlement grew, the Tongva were kicked out and their once-great village reduced to parcel property. In the 1830s, the land was bought by a Frenchman named Jean Louis Vignes, who used part of it as a vineyard. Name sounds familiar? You may or may not have been on the street that bears his name.

Here's a pic of the actual El Aliso tree
(note the "Philadelphia" in the lower right corner for the brewery)
Much thanks and props to militant reader Natalie Manarino for sending this to The Militant!

In 1892s, the tree was unceremoniously cut down for firewood to make more room for the Philadelphia brewery (damn those East Coasters...) which eventually became the Maier Brewing Company, and later Brew 102. The tree, which survived floods and droughts, was documented to have about 400 annual rings on it - when Columbus arrived from Europe, this tree was but a seed in the ground.

The early City planners were nice enough to name a street after the sacred Sycamore. The exact location of the tree was found to be in the Alameda on/off ramp for the 101 Freeway, just south of the train platforms of Union Station:

Next time you drive on the 101, ride on the (M) Gold Line on the overpass bridge or even visit that nearby strip club, take a moment to pay your respects to the Tongva people who once lived for millenia in the village of Yangna - The Los Angeles before Los Angeles.

Native Month: Wild Wild Life

2011-09-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

Animals like this Brush Rabbit are only found
on the West Coast. Represent!

One night, as The Militant took out the trash at his secret compound he saw it...just...staring at him.

The Militant, only rarely having seen it at his compound, simply blurted to the grey procyon:

"Dude, you're a raccoon!"

It just kind of stood there, with a "WTF?" look on its face, then deflty turned away.

Today on The Militant Angeleno's Native Week,after indroducing to you the native people and their villages, The Militant will talk about some the native animal life in the Los Angeles area.

Interestingly, despite heavy urbanization and development, most of the native animal species of this region are still around and can easily be seen, climbing on trees, scurrying on the grass, flying in the skies, prowling through the hillsides, and wading on the local waters. The Militant notes that in the past 230 years, the inhabitants of Los Angeles have actually done a better job preserving its native animals than its native people.

Although it is quite obvious that decades of developing the human environment have greatly compromised the habitats of these animals, either pushing them farther away or unintentionally pulling them closer.

Now, there are many animal species that are native to our area, and the Militant could even start another blog to talk about them all (he won't), but this list is a good primer. Birds are too numerous, but fortunately, public art comes to the rescue in this case. So the Militant will just limit the scope to land mammals you may or may not see on a daily basis.

Coyotes are probably the most popular animal of legend in the Southwestern U.S. A natural predator, they are naturally feared. But in actuality, most of the time, they actually fear humans, especially since development and sprawl have invaded their habitat. And with that, interactions between coyotes and humans and their domesticated animals have increased. Recent unfortunate human and pet encounters with coyotes have caused Orange County's Laguna Woods to make it legal to shoot them, but like The Red Hot Chili Peppers once said, True Men Don't Kill Coyotes.

The Mule Deer can be seen in hillsides. Straight up vegetarians, they have been a problem for some folks as these critters prey on garden plants. People can deer-proof their gardens via fencing or establishing plants and shrubs that deer aren't ~~fawn'd~~ fond of eating.

Mountain Lions, or more specifically, the North American Cougar (the Militant will refrain from making predictable older single women jokes, at least for now). But like the other kinds of cougars, the wildlife version is commonly feared (Okay, can't resist that one). Though there have been notable incients of mountain lion attacks, the animal is also normally afraid of humans, though will attack when provoked. Still, humans cause far more harm to mountain lions than the opposite. Just days ago, a mountain lion was struck by a car while crossing the 405 in the Carmageddon Pass.

Opossums - You see these critters all over the city, especially in backyards, making nasty hissing sounds (usually when they're afraid). People fear them because they are thought to carry rabies, but dem 'possums actually have a high level of immunity against rabies. The only marsupials found in North America, they're also omnivores that eat plants, berries, snails, snakes, rodents and even roadkill. Unfortunately, due to their slow velocity they themselves frequently become roadkill. Still they like to be left alone and it's best to keep your trash bins secure from them.

Rabbits were so numerous in the Southland, that an entire valley in southeastern Ventura County was named after them. As The Militant mentioned on Monday, the Tongva hunted rabbits for dinner. Two native species are common in the region: The Desert Cottontail, living in drier environs, and the smaller Brush Rabbit, which inhabits our local chapparal vegetation.

Raccoons, like opossums, are onivorous continental scavengers that fancy our trash cans. There have been incidents of them little masked marauders ravaging our local neighborhoods. Same as opossums, best to leave them alone and keep your trash bins secure from them. Unlike opossums, these dudes have attitude. Not just in The Militant's aforementioned encounter, but the fact that they can bite you and even have the ability to turn doorknobs.

Skunks are very common in hillside communities, especially noted for their stank, which can be smelled several freeway exits away. The Militant could easily recall the time he dropped on a Los Feliz-based operative off home one early morning and witnessed a Striped Skunk take a morning jog down the sidewalk on Hollywood Blvd. The Western Spotted Skunk is another native species that's common in these here parts. If you see one, try not to startle them. And if you get sprayed, run down to the store and get thee some baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to neutralize the stank and wash it off.

Squirrels are common in our backyards and parks, but the most visible one, the Eastern Fox Squirrel is not native. It was introduced by Civil and Spanish American war veterans around 1904 who stayed at the Sawtelle Veteran's Home. They brought them in as pets from Tennessee and soon got introduced to the wild. The native squirrels though are the California Ground Squirrel and the Western Grey Squirrel (mostly found in the foothill and mountain areas)

Despite being a large City, Los Angeles has its own animal kingdom. Again, they were here before we were so if ever there were another reason for discouraging suburban sprawl (other than traffic, long commutes, air pollution, obesity, real boring culture and Claim Jumpers), it would be to lay off their gang turf. Because these four-legged OGs don't mess around.

Native Month: Know Your "Na!"

2011-09-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's first installment of Native Week gave you a profile of the Real Los Angeles Natives - The Tongva Native American tribe. Today, The Militant will show you where they lived.

We now know Los Angeles (the region) as a bustling ~~metropolis~~ megalopolis of some 15 million people - larger than the population of nations like Ecuador, Guatemala or Cambodia (!) And rightfully so -- this was a nation.

The Tongva was also surrounded by other nations - the Chumash (Ventura and Santa Barbara counties), the Tataviam (North San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita Valley), the Cahulla (eastern Inland Empire) and the Payomkuishum (North San Diego County).

Take a look at the names and locations of Tongva villages, superimposed over a map of today's Los Angeles (Map updated 9/16/2011):

(Click on map to crumulently embiggen!)

This map was done with much Militant research, but it is no means comprehensive. There were more villages, whose names escaped documented hustory. Some of the locations are generalized and not precise.

Of course, the Tongva nation wasn't nearly as populous - it only had somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people.

By looking at the map, you would notice a few things. First, the densities of the villages. Unlike modern Los Angeles, which has its development and poulation centered around Downtown Los Angeles and the area slightly to the west of it, the villages were largely located along the rivers (from west to east on the map: Ballona Creek (which once connected with the Los Angeles River during certain seasons), The Los Angeles River, The San Gabriel River and The Santa Ana River). There were also large swaths of nothingness, mainly because, there were no natural resources (water source, farmable/huntable land) to take advantage of.The Tongva, being a seafaring people, also lived along the coast (Yes indeed, they before anyone else knew the value of beachfront property). There are also a large accumulation of villages (exact locations estimated only) clustered around the San Fernando and San Gabriel areas - of course, those are where the Spanish settlers established the Missions.

Second, though most of these names sound strange and exotic, some of them sound very familiar, and rightfully so -- their present-day names were Hispanicized versions of the original Tongva village name. Places like Cahugna (Cahuenga), Topagna (Topanga), Tuyunga (Tujunga), Azucsagna (Azusa) and Kukamogna (Rancho Cucamonga).

Lastly, most of them end with the letters "-na" or "-gna" (That was too weird sounding for the Spaniards, so they pronounced it "-nga"). That suffix meant, "place." These days, people ask you, "Where you from?" or "Where you stay?" The Militant asks, "Where's your na?"

Can you spot your neighborhood or city on the map?

Here's a list of Tongva villages (their name meanings if known) and their present-day locations (List updated 9/16/2011):

Achois – San Fernando
Ahaugna - North Long Beach, near Los Angeles River
Ahwaagna – Long Beach (Downtown/coast)
Akuuragna - Pasadena-San Marino
Ajaarvongna - Puente Hills
Amupungna - Compton
Apachiagna - Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles
Ashawagna - Chatsworth
Atavsangna - West Hills
Atavayagna - Palos Verdes
Awigna - La Puente
Alyeupkigna – Santa Anita
Azucsagna (“Place of the grandmother”) – Azusa
Cahugna (“Place of the hill”) – Hollywood/Studio City
Chokishgna – Bellflower
Chowigna – Palos Verdes
Cucamogna – Rancho Cucamonga
Engvangna – Redondo Beach/Torrance
Guaspita – Westchester bluffs (LMU campus)
Hahamongna – Glendale/Pasadena
Homhoangna - Colton
Houtgna – Monterey Park/South San Gabriel
Huachongna - Culver City
Hutukgna - Anaheim
Huutngna - Watts/Willowbrook
Isantkagna - Mission Viejo
Isanthcogna – San Gabriel
Joatngna - Mt. Baldy area
Juyubit – San Gabriel, along the river
Kenyaangna - Newport Beach
Kinkipar - San Clemente Island
Komiikrangna - Malibu Canyon
Kowagna – San Fernando
Kuruvugna – West Los Angeles
Lukupangna – Huntington Beach/Costa Mesa
Masaugna – San Pedro
Maugna – Los Feliz
Momwahomomutngna - San Dimas
Moniikangna - Palos Verdes
Motuucheyngna - Seal Beach
Moyogna – Newport Beach
Muuhungna - Sylmar
Nacaugna – Downey
Okowvinjha – San Fernando
Ongoovangna - Redondo Beach
Ongobehangna - Malibu area
Pahav – Corona (southeast)
Pasbengna - Santa Ana
Pasinogna – Chino Hills
Paxauxa - Norco
Peruksngna - City of Industry
Pimocagna ("Place of the running water") – Pacoima
Pimugna – Santa Catalina Island
Pubugna – Long Beach (Alamitos/CSULB campus)
Puntitavjatngna - Pasadena
Pwingkuipar (“Full of Water”) – Playa Del Rey/Westchester
Quapa - Encino
Saangna – Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey
Sawayagna – San Fernando
Sehatgna – Whittier Narrows
Sheshiikuanungna - San Marino
Shiishongna - Corona
Shwaagna – Harbor City/Wilmington/Lomita
Sibagna – San Gabriel
Sisitcanogna – Northeast Pasadena
Siutcangna - Sherman Oaks
Sonagna - Downtown Los Angeles
Suangna – Cerritos
Tajauta - Willowbrook
Tibagna - North Long Beach/Lakewood
Toibigna - Pomona
Topagna (“The place above”) – Topanga
Torojoatngna - Claremont
Totongna - Northridge
Tovimongna - Coastal Palos Verdes
Toviseagna – San Gabriel
Tuyugna ("Place of the mountain range") – Tujunga
Wajijangna - Chino Hills
Watsngna - Fontana
Weningna - Covina
Wenot (“River”) – Los Angeles, along the river
Wikangna - Verdugo Hills
Yangna (“Place of the poison oak”) – Downtown Los Angeles

Do you know your Na?

Native Month: We Are A Part Of The Tongva Nation

2011-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

This ~~week~~ month, to celebrate 230 years of Los Angeles, the Militant will help you understand the Los Angeles before September 4, 1781 - the indigenous people, animals, plants and even the literal ground we walk/drive/bike/take transit/skate on. Lots of militant research went into this folks, so the Militant would not only appreciate your reads, but passing the links on to others so that they may learn as well. With a better understanding of the Los Angeles before Los Angeles, we can be better and smarter Angelenos. So welcome to The Militant's second weeklong topical series -- NATIVE ~~WEEK!~~ MONTH!

Nachochan?!*

From the get-go The Militant firmly and blatantly established and identified himself as a Native Angeleno -- meaning someone who was born and raised in this City. Ever a defender of his fellow natives...

But us (Contemporary) Natives are relative transplants themselves compared to the real natives of Los Angeles. Like us (Contemporary) Natives, the Indigenous Natives were derided, considered culturally inferior and largely treated as though they never really existed by their respective invaders.

Yesterday, we celebrated the 230th anniversary of the founding of The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen Of The Angels of The River of The Little Portion. But history being multi-layered, multi-faceted and most of all, of multi-perspectives, September 4, 1781 also marked the end of an entire nation, a culture, a way of life.

That nation, that culture, that way of life was the Tongva.

They weren't even given the benefit of self-identity. Most history books refer to them as "Gabrielinos," the name given to them by the Spanish settlers, referencing the San Gabriel Archangel Mission. But they called themselves Tongva.

The Militant doesn't claim to be an expert on Tongva or Native American culture (already he has revealed that his parents were immigrants of an unspecified third world country, so that kinda assumes he doesn't have Tongva blood (that he knows of, at least...)). But he has done hours upon hours of militant research, so that you will have a better understanding of who the Real Los Angeles Natives were.

To understand the Tongva people, one must throw out most of the preconceptions we have of Native Americans. The Tongva didn't live in teepees, wear moccassins or beat on drums.

The Tongva, which meant, "People of the earth and ocean," were considered by historians to be pretty advanced and civil among the 60-plus Native American tribes of California. They were only one of two tribes (the other was the neighboring Chumash, a related coastal tribe that inhabited today's Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties) who built seafaring boats, called a te'aat. The Tongva built their craft out of wood planks and tule reed (a native marsh plant that also gave origin to the name of Tulare, CA) and waterproofed with tar (The Tongva knew of many places where to find this). They used boats not just for fishing, but for transportation - to visit villages in the eight islands offshore that we now know as the Channel Islands.

They lived in large dome-like huts called kiches (pictured, right) made of willow and tule reeds. They were multi-family dwellings, housing up to some 40-50 people. They all had a single entrance, plus a hole at the roof of the dome to allow for smoke ventilation when food was cooked in the center.

Like many Native American tribes, the villages, which were scattered all across the Southland, from the San Fernando Valley down to southern Orange County, were led by chiefs, who succeeded by heredity, like monarchs. They also devised a dispute resolution system where disputes between two village chiefs were settled by having a third-party chief intervene, and his verdict became the final word on the matter. Guilty parties were fined in the form of food or animal skins.

They were considered to be thoughtful, rational and unlike many other tribes, never let inter-tribal issues escalate into killings. Robbery was an unknown concept in the tribe and murder extremely rare (There was a death sentence for the rare occasions those things did happen). An attack on a single family was considered an attack on the entire tribe. Also, if a man was caught cheating on another man's wife, then the other man took the first man's wife.

The Tongva created art, in the form of weaving baskets and making sand paintings. Their music was performed on flutes, rattles and vocal melodies or chants, which was played during wardances, celebrations or religious rituals.

They had their own religion and even built houses of worship - a circular enclsure made of wooden stakes and willow twigs. They prayed to a Supreme Being, in the form of victory thanksgiving, vengeance requests and honoring the souls of dead relatives. In their creation belief, animals were created first, then man, then woman. Then the Supreme Being went to a heaven where he receives the souls of all who died. And unlike some other Native American tribes, the Tongva did not believe in the concept of bad or evil spirits.

They revered certain animals - the dolphin, which they believed to be an intelligent being created to guard the world from harm. They respected owls, which they never killed. They believed the sight of a crow was a warning that a stranger was approaching. They never hunted whales, though whenever a dead whale washed ashore (considered a blessing), the Tongva would cook its meat and blubber and used its bones to make tools or structure frames. They did eat rabbits and other birds, which were hunted with a two-foot long curved flat stick.

The Tongva were also thought to be dominant in that when they made contact with other tribes or foreign cultures, they were the more influential ones. With nearly all Tongva wiped out by the Spanish, Mexicans and Americans, that might not have been the case in the overall picture, but the Tongva people still left their mark on today's Southern California.

For one, the trade routes they established were recognized and continued by all of the colonizing cultures that followed. The Ramona Parkway (now the San Bernardino Freeway) started out as a trade route, as did the Cahuenga Parkway (now the Hollywood Freeway).

Signal Hill, which the Militant visited in his Long Beach Week series back in June, was named so because of the smoke signals emanating from its peak to communicate with villagers across the water in Pimugna (Catalina Island).

There were an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Tongva living in Southern California prior to the arrival of Spanish missionaries and settlers. Most of them died of foreign diseases introduced by the Spanish, and treatment by the Mexicans and Americans wasn't any better. A few hundred people today do claim Tongva blood and keep their cultural traditions alive, although the tribe is not currently recognized by the U.S. Government, which is why there is no Tongva Reservation anywhere.

Another matter is that today's Tongva is fraught with intra-tribal infighting -- one side aims to build a Tongva gaming casino (they'e eyed Long Beach, Inglewood and Garden Grove as possible sites), while the other side wants nothing of it. The Militant doesn't yet have an opinion either way on the casino issue, but he definitely thinks they deserve to be federally recognized once they work out their differences (Maybe get a third party to help mediate...).

This is by no means a comprehensive profile of the Tongva. If any experts of Native American cultures or better yet, Tongva descendants want to correct and chime in, The Militant welcomes your comments wholeheartedly. The Militant also wishes to make no absolute moral judgment on the genocide of our indigenous peoples, nor desire to revise history - if the Tongva nation were never disturbed, there would obviously never have been a Los Angeles (and therefore no Militant Angeleno), and certainly nearly none of us would be here today. But he does wish that everything could have been handled much better, and that the Tongva should have been still numerous and intact enough to contribute to Los Angeles' unrivalled tapestry of cultural diversity.The Militant simply wants the inhabitants of 21st Century Los Angeles - (Contemporary) Natives, Immigrants and Transplants alike - to learn about the most forgotten of forgotten histories. And to make a blatant reference to a certain unspecified online rival, the most hidden of hidden Angelenos.

The entire Spanish/Mexican/Californian/American histories of this City - combined - spanned for a mere 230 years. But Tongva history is believed to have lasted some 10,000 years. If a hardcore Contemporary Native bows down and gives massive respect to the Tongva, then it must mean the most recent, arrogant, self-entitled, fresh-off-the-Greyhound transplant needs to bow down to several masters. It's only right to respect and understand those who walked the land many more miles than you yourself did. So let's all give long-overdue props to the Real Los Angeles natives - The Tongva.

* Translation: "Whatup?!" in Tongva.

Go Los Angeles, It's Yo Birthday...The Militant's Annual Tribute On Our City's 230th

2011-09-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Spotted in back of a minivan in San Pedro this past April.
Classic!

Yes, today marks the 230th year since the founding of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de la Reina de los Angeles del Rio Porciuncula. Of course, if you're a frequent reader of The Militant's blog, you would have known this already (as well as the full name).

This being a decade year, The Militant is reminded of the time back in 1981 when Los Angeles was celebrating its big 200th. The City was amping up for rhe Olympics coming up three years later, and our beloved Dodgers were red hot that season, and were weeks away from winning their fourth World Series championship in this town.

Like the nation's own Bicentennial just five years prior, everyone seemed to know what was going on. It was heavily promoted with its own logo (pictured above) and its own slogan: "LA'S The PLAce!" Mayor Tom Bradley kicked off numerous festivities around town that week, and even back then Lil'Mil ordered his parents to take the family to Olvera Street on September 4 to bask in the festivities. He just remembered a lot of people there and traditional Mexican dance performances. Legend has it that the idea of resurrecting the then-mothballed Angel's Flight Railway in a new location was started during one of the bicentennial celebration events. Took 15 years, but it happened.

Time passes by so quickly, and if you're a native, or at least a longtime resident, it's easy to take everything that's happened since then for granted. We've had great times and dark times. But stop for a second to look back and realize how much we've grown, not just in material development, but on a human scale. And not just in quantitative population figures, but how much more today than 30 years ago, we are more atune into our communities, into identifying them. Back then, you were either from "LA" or "The Valley" or "Orange County" or elsewhere. Back then, there were only two area codes most people need be concerned with: 213 and 714. 714 was Orange County, of course (though it was also 213 until 1951). 213 was everything else.

If you were to enter a time machine or wormhole and visited 1981, certainly you'd be deemed mentally insane if you boasted about riding on subways or bicycles around town, eating fusion food out of food trucks that you'd follow using your mobile phone. Or the fact that you went to Downtown for a party, a gallery opening, sporting event, or - gasp - to go home (Of course, Doc Brown will tell you not to do that in the first place, so as to not disturb the space-time continuum, but hypothertically speaking, of course...). Of course, if you're a hipster, you'll be able to visually blend in...lol.

Lastly, take a look at this Bicentennial Postcard for the most obvious visual change. Makes you wonder if a skyline as sparse as that was worth putting on a postcard in the first place.

Dude, you can see Long Beach from here.

Happy 230th Birthday to The Militant's lovely hometown! The Militant is forver proud to be your native son and product. There's so much The Militant knows about you, yet still so much more he learns about you every day.

Dining In The 'Dena: Chefs Center's Friday Food Fair

2011-09-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

No doubt food trucks have re-defined the local food scene with their mobile munchies. But not everyone can run a food truck -- there's gas and mechanical costs to add to the overhead. One of The Militant's operatives was considering buying a truck for his food/catering business but was instantly turned off by the exhorbitant cost of purchasing the actual vehicle...Yet there is a burgeoning scene of "artisan" chefs who want to provide the same types of unique menus found in foodtruckland.

Some of them can be found at our local weekly farmer's markets. The Militant certainly has his favorites, and makes them part of his FM shopping ritual.

Another place is a unique weekly event at a unique sort of place in Pasadena. The Chefs Center of California, located on San Gabriel and Colorado, is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides facilities for start-up chefs trying to make their mark in the local food scene. Every Friday night (hey, that's like, tonight) is their outdoor Friday Food Fair and Artisanal (art is anal?) Marketplace event, which attracts an ethnically and generationally diverse crowd of mostly SGV locals who want to sample some great grub
.
The event is free, save for the price of food, which is purchased from each vendor. It's basically like a farmer's market, but with food stands only. Yes, there are about half a dozen food trucks, most of them SGV-based like the Rosemead-based Slammin' Sliders, but the real attraction here are the food vendors, who set up tables in the parking lot and hawk their wares.

The Militant checked out the scene last week (it changes slightly every week, but most of the vendors are there weekly) and sampled some Brazilian meat pastries and Yucca fries (pictured right) from Caju Catering. He couldn't get enough of their mildly-spicy sauce, which goes well with everything they serve (you can ask for refills).

Other vendors served everything from Mediterranean dishes to gourmet mac and cheese. There's also a large number of baked dessert vendors representing, like The Goodie Girls cupcakes (which will be opening up a brick-and-mortar store in Glendale by the end of the month) and Mondo's Morsels, who sells a cookie called the Midnight Bliss, consisting of chocolate and cabernet (yes, as in the wine) that blew The Militant's mind.

Though the food is described as "gourmet" and "artisanal," the prices aren't like way out there or anything. Most items go for less than $5 each. Best of all, just about all of the non-truck vendors offer free samples of their treats, so you can check 'em all out.

You can dine both outdoors and indoors, inside the Chefs Center facility, and it's a total unpretentious, laid-back local SGV kinda vibe there.

The Friday Food Fair at Chefs Center of California is on every Friday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. and lasts until mid-October (you got another month to enjoy this, so don't sleep!). Chef's Center of California is at 45 N. San Gabriel Blvd, just north of Colorado. Street parking is plentiful and free in that part of Pasadena, and, Militantly speaking, the (M) Gold Line Sierra Madre Villa station is just a mile east of there (a short bike ride or a hop on the Metro Local 181 bus).

So check it out tonight! You may or may not find The Militant there!

A Monumental Ode To The Beach Boys in Hawthorne

2011-09-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Militant was in the Hawthorne area one day, not very far from the Crenshaw (M) Green Line station, when he saw a sign along 120th Street pointing to a "Beach Boys Monument."

But it was there, sandwiched in a little residential block between the 105 Freeway and Hawthorne Municipal Airport, that a curious red brick mantel-like landmark (dedicated in 2005) on the corner of Kornblum Avenue and 119th Street bears homage to its most famous native musical sons.

The inscription describes that on Labor Day weekend of 1961 (that's 50 years ago this weekend!) the brothers Carl, Dennis and Brian (no, not that one, stupid Giants fan) Wilson, along with their cousin, Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, got together on this site - the location of what was once the Wilson family home - to record a demo tape of their debut song "Surfin," giving birth to a group called The Pendletones, who eventually renamed themselves The Beach Boys.

The Wilson family household at 3701 W. 119th Street no longer stands there -- it was razed in the 1980s to build the Century Freeway (You could literally create another city if you put together all the homes, businesses and institutions that were cleared away to make the freeways...Militant sigh).

The group, as you all know, went on to make 36 Top 40 hits and get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The Beach Boys are our Beatles, they defined a sound and style that was uniquely Los Angeles, uniquely Southern California. And they did so much more beyond the surfing boy imagery (Apparently the late Dennis Wilson was the only member of the band who actually rode the waves...).

Here's The Militant's favorite Beach Boys song of all time...Appropo? O_o

So on this Labor Day weekend, don't just do the same old same old late-summer ritual like you do every year, recognize the half century of our boys from Hawthorne -- do like Randy Newman says and crank up the Beach Boys, don't let the music stop. And if you're in the area, stop by The Beach Boys monument in Hawthorne...you can even take the (M) Green Line there.

Oh hey, remember this one? East Coast meets West Coast!!!

A River Ran Through It: In Search Of The Lost Rivers Of UCLA

2011-08-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Militant Angeleno, as you may or may not know, is fond of retracing the lost waterways of Los Angeles. In April of 2008, he won several awards (okay, he didn't win any, but his blog sure got a lot of hits) on discovering Sacatela Creek, which ran from Los Feliz to Koreatown. A couple months later, he found Arroyo de los Jardines, which runs from Hollywood down to Mid-City, some of it still visible. He thought there weren't any more rivers to retrace...until now.

(Cue dramatic epic theme music...)

School may not be starting up for another few weeks at UCLA, but you're about to get your first Militant History 101 lesson (and you don't even have to be a registered student to learn!).

Whether you're an incoming freshman, a senior about to graduate next Spring, working on your master's or Ph.D, there's a lot you may know, but what you Bruins may not know is what lies under the very ground you walk on.

When UCLA ditched its original campus on Vermont Avenue (now Los Angeles City College) in the late 1920s for a much larger space, originally called the "Beverly Site," it left the bustle of the city for a quiet, serene meadow land near the foothills of Santa Monica Mountains.

The first freshman class at UCLA arrived to a campus of all but five buildings - the landmark Royce Hall being one of them - and a terrain of streams, creeks and arroyos.

Wait, what?

Yes, rivers once ran in Bruin Land. But where did they go?

There were four waterways that ran through the UCLA campus - all north from the Santa Monica Mountains down south eventually towards Ballona Creek - just like the other two rivers that The Militant retraced. There was (from west to east) the West Arroyo, Foothill Stream, Stone Canyon Creek and East Arroyo.

View Lost Rivers of UCLA in a larger map

West Arroyo ran through where the student housing complexes now stand. Foothill Stream ran just west of Drake Stadium.

As for the East Arroyo, it was once the most prominent geological feature of the campus (seen towards the right of the above picture), a sunken ravine that somehow resembled a moat protecting the virtual castles of higher education. In fact, the main entrance to campus was once a bridge that went over the East Arroyo:

And here's what it looks like today (Royce Hall at the left is reference):

The arroyo was filled in in 1947 to make way for Dickson Court and more campus buildings, such as Schoenberg Hall.

So what happened to the bridge? Oh, it's still there. See the low wall running across the middle of the picture above? That's the bridge!

Yes, it's still recognized by the State of California as a functioning bridge, complete with weight limit restrictions (pictured left, ya rly) and periodic seismic inspections.

As for Stone Canyon Creek, it's still very much a creek, starting up in the Santa Monica Mountains, running down parallel to its emponymous road, making its presence in the front yards of more than a few Bel-Air homes.

On the UCLA campus, The Militant is proud to say, the creek still runs - albeit for just a little bit. Found sandwiched between Sunset Boulevard and the Anderson School of Management and hidden behind a layer of trees, lo and behold...you can still see the last vestige of the rivers of UCLA:

For even in the Summertime, the water still flows, just as it always has been, even before the university arrived here. Come see it for yourself sometime!

And then, just like that, the waters unceremoniously enter a storm drain (pictured right), never to reflect light again, at least until it gets dumped into a concrete channel just south of Westwood en route to Ballona Creek.

Fortunately, there are proposals to "daylight" Stone Canyon Creek on the UCLA campus, although it's quite a challenge (funding notwithstanding). A website makes a call for volunteers to help restore the creek, although it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2007.

Class dismissed. You will be quizzed next week. Professor Militan Tan-Geleno will be available after class in his office for any questions.

In the meantime, The Militant seeks his next lost river adventure!

Militant props to the L.A. Creek Freak and UCLA alum Loteria Chicana for providing a couple leads towards the research of this blog post!

Conan's (Street) Sign Of The Times

2011-07-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

The Mayor's office has responded to talk show host Conan O'Brien's request to have his own eponymous Los Angeles City Street. And lookie lookie, it also features one o' dem new-fangled Chevy logo/UFO street signs that The Militant talked about in great detail a few months ago.

The gist of the video response is that Coco needs to prove his worth to the City by giving back in some form or another. Though The Miltant has had his criticisms of Villaraigosa through the years (most of them non-transportation-related though), The Militant is 100% in agreement that the Boston-area native-via-NYC transplant has to sow, and not just reap, in this urban farmland of Los Angeles.

The Militant may or may not be a Conan fan of course, but the "giving back" mandate should apply to everyone in the entertainment industry. Do we not have a huge divide between the money-grubbing entertainment industry and the countless urban needs in this City? Imagine if all the entertainment companies would "prove their worth" in this City (other than sponsoring the annual AIDS Walk Los Angeles, which seems to be the sole token example of community support the entertainment industry really does).

Furthermore, when the Angelenos listed their litany of community give-backs in the Mayor's video, The Militant couldn't help but realize that he's already done most of these things already.

The Militant has been living in Los Angeles longer than Conan O'Brien obviously, but his blog (4 years) has long outlasted the talk show host's 15-month stint here (7 months at NBC, 8 months at TBS).

So where's Militant Angeleno Street? RECOGNIZE!

Vermont Square: A Literal Oasis In South Los Angeles

2011-07-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

On Monday, July 18, the very day the Los Angeles Public Library restored Monday hours (thanks to Measure L) after a budget crisis-related 11-month service cut, The Militant decided to pay a visit to a branch.

He could have gone to his local branch(es), but then that would have given away too much. So he went to a significant branch library, located in South Los Angeles. He chose the Vermont Square Branch.

The first thing about this library is its location: Nestled three blocks west of its eponymous avenue and just south of Vernon Ave, this quaint green space surrounded by Budlong Avenue and 47th and 48th streets is not what many expect to see in South Los Angeles (Of course, as you may or may not know, The Militant is all into that). One of the last vestiges of a formerly ritzy neighborhood (now where has The Militant heard that before?), aside from the old early 20th-century craftsman homes in this neighborhood is this pristine green space, Vermont Square Park, populated with tall, mature trees.

Aside from the occasional blare of car stereo hip-hop music and one person riding around the neighborhood in an overly noisy motocross bike, it was a peaceful, quiet scene, with neighborhood folks sitting on camping chairs in the grass, socializing, and teenagers walking up to the library's front entrance.

The other remarkable fact about this library is its history: Vermont Square is the oldest continuously-operating branch in the LAPL system, and the first branch library on City-owned property. Back in the day, most of the City's libraries operated out of leased facilities, including the LAPL's first outpost, the Benjamin Franklin Branch in Boyle Heights. Even the Central Library operated for 54 years before finding a permanent home on 5th and Flower.

But Vermont Square's history is even more fascinating than that. It was the first of six LAPL branches funded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who financed the construction of numerious libraries in not just the US, but around the world. Only two other Carnegie-built branches remain in operation today - the Cahuenga Branch in East Hollywood and the Lincoln Heights branch.

On this first Monday of service in 11 months, there were easily over 30 library patrons reading, studying or using the facility's computers. Apparently word of the long-awaited Monday reopenings traveled fast.

So here's to 6.4 million books, 1.3 million cardholders and 72 branches of the Los Angeles Public Library system on this day! Don't forget to visit your local, or any other historically significant branch, especially on a Monday!

"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the free public library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office nor wealth receives the slightest consideration." -- Andrew Carnegie

In Woodland Hills, The Real Grove Grows

2011-07-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

The Militant took advantage of the free (M) Red and Orange line rides on CarmaChameleon Saturday to do some Militant exploration in the San Fernando Valley.

It wasn't a very long bike ride from the Orange Line Pierce College station, through the bike path, down Corbin Avenue and down a few blocks south of Ventura Boulevard to see it.

The Militant took a virtual trip back into time to pay a visit to Bothwell Ranch, the last commercial orange grove in The Valley.

As you may or may not know, around the same time Los Angeles hosted its first Olympic games, the San Fernando Valley was a huge agricultural area, boasting over 15,000 acres of commercially-farmed citrus groves. Now, almost 80 years later, all but 14 acres remain in a quiet, affluent part of Woodland Hills, just a few blocks east of Taft High School.

Located along Oakdale Avenue, Bothwell Ranch is home to some 2,000 Valencia orange trees, which are mostly cordoned off, although premature green oranges can be found hanging outside the rusty wire fence. Most of the grove is visible along Collier Street, which runs along the southern end of the property (You'll also find this school across Collier from the grove, which will give you your LOL for the day).

As CalTrans workers hammered away at half of a concrete bridge less than six miles to the southeast, only the sound of birds, the breeze and occasional dogs can be heard here. Listen close, and the whoosh of light traffic along the nearby 101 can be heard, albeit faintly.

It's almost as if The Militant really did go back in time. Come to think of it, this sign on a telephone pole in front of the property (pictured left) not only contains a "Bell System" logo, but a local 213 number for The Valley.

Most of the orange trees have recently been harvested, as July is their harvest month, though a number of them towards the eastern end still bear fruit that will probably be picked soon. Valencia oranges are usually farmed for orange juice.

The agricultural era in the SFV ended mainly due to rising water costs (Oranges need lots of H2O) and poswar suburban development.

Although this is the last commercially-farmed orange grove in the SFV, there are other smaller groves in the area, mainly for educational and non-profit use: The city-owned Orcutt Ranch (12 acres), Cal State Northridge (8 acres) and Bishop Alemany High School (1.5 acres). The map below shows you where to find all of them:

View Remaining Orange Groves in the San Fernando Valley in a larger map

Bothwell Ranch is still family-run, headed by Ann Bothwell, the 93-year old family matriarch. Her late husband, Lindley, once owned a company that owned orange groves across Southern California. The grove is also home to Lindley's rare classic car collection, 75 in all, which includes a 1913 Peugeot race car. Her grandchildren maintain the trees and cars today.

When an operative who works in the area tipped off the location to The Militant a few months ago, he was overcome with delight. We are well familiar with vestiges of our local history being eaten away, but orange you glad that there are still some folks who preserve some of it for us today?

Carmageddon It On This Weekend

2011-07-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. Carmageddon. CarmagAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHH ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!

[hyperventilating]

Look, [catches breath] this weekend's closure of part of the 405 Freeway is all everyone has been talking about this month, and the Militant is honestly kinda sick of it. Sick of the blowing out of proportion, sick of the Westside/Valley-centricness of it all, sick of the autocentricness of it all, sick of everything.

The Militant takes pride in covering things you won't hear about in the mainstream media or in other blogs, so a part of The Militant thinks it's not even worth talking about this. After all, many have already said what The Militant wants to say about this issue.

But here it is anyway, mainly because every issue that "Carmageddon" addresses is something The Militant has long addressed with his own militant lifestyle, and because of that, he is pretty much 100% immune to any of the feared snafus that the prognosticators are forecasting. Haven't you learned already?

• First off, The Militant strongly believes that this "Carmageddon" thing, like Los Angeles itself, cannot be defined by one particular incident or phenomena. It will be greatly changing. There will be some clogged traffic here, and free-flowing traffic there (which...is...pretty...much...like...any...other...day) but, because of that constant change, The Militant, long in favor ot replacing popular buzzwords with his own, will from here on call "Carmageddon," CarmaChameleon.

• You transplants and youngins obviously don't know your history, but in 1984, when we hosted our second Olympics here in Los Angeles (how many of you from other states come from a place that hosted the Summer Games more than once? The Militant thought so), the games, which lasted not just two days, but two weeks, and not just one location, but 28, was originally thought to be an '80s CarmaChameleon of its own (Just substitute all those Honda CR-Vs and Toyota Priuses with VW Vanagons and Datsuns). Of course, back in the '80s, "CarmaChameleon" was real popular, so people probably wouldn't have thought of it as a bad thing.

And it wasn't.

Thanks to staggered work schedules, people taking vacations, alternate surface street routes, additional RTD bus service and state-of-the-art (at the time) traffic management, we actually had pretty free-flowing traffic, as well as the most finacially-successful Olympic games evar. A younger teenage Militant still has very fond memories of that time in this City...

• Do you really need to drive on the 405 along the Sepulveda Pass? The Militant drives on that thing like 2-3, maybe four times a year tops. The last time he was on it was like August of 2010...11 months ago. Get over yourselves.

• You May or May Not Know that Metro has FREE service on the Red and Purple subway lines, the Orange busway line and a number of Local and Rapid bus lines this weekend. And Metrolink and Amtrak have additional trains (Though not free though, booo...) where they usually don't have any during the weekend. Even if you don't live in the Valley or the Westside, this is a perfect opportunity to take the train or ride a bus somewhere. To shop, to eat, to drink, to party, to socialize, to worship, to hang, or to discover more of your city. You read this blog, right? Ever wanted to visit some of the places The Militant has been to? Well, get to it!

• Speaking of discovery, why not walk or bike around your own neighborhood? The Militant offers you a challenge: Discover FIVE things about your neighborhood that you never knew existed before. List them in the Comments of this post when you're done. And if you give the Militant some lame-ass answer like, "I can't walk around my neighborhood cuz there's nothing here" then The Militant will smack you upside the head, because you're too lazy-ass to try. GET TO IT!

• It's truly a shame that over 10 miles of the 11-mile closure route will go to waste. No SuperCicLAvia? No freeway parties on the 405? Unfortunately Adam-12 will frown on that, citing "safety" concerns (sooo, it's much more dangerous without cars than it is with?). Imagine if the State of California charged everyone $20 and got them to sign a liability waiver instead. Our state budget deficit would be wiped out by lunchtime Monday. Tellin ya...

• If you do stay home, do spend your weekend reading The Militant Angeleno's blog post archive! There's quite a bit he's written in the past four years that's still relevant today. There is even a secret code embedded in the posts that will reveal his real name. Crack the code and you may or may not find out who he is!

• Really, this weekend ain't gonna be all that bad. The worse jam that will happen will be no worse than what happens any other day. It's like the freeway version of Y2K, and you know how all that turned out. And even though there will be another 405 closure next year, The Militant can't wait until Tuesday when no one will ever speak of CarmaChameleon again.

Oh why not...

A Stadium Issue That's Impossible To Dodge

2011-07-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

The biggest Dodger story of the week aside from Kemp, Kershaw and Ethier's All-Star appearance in the 5-1 NL win was news (or speculation) that the Dodgers may or may not move to a new stadium in Downtown Los Angeles. After Tweeting about the 30-year injustice of the Dodgers not hosting an All-Star game, The Militant joked that we'll have one -- at the proposed Farmer's Field. But in reality, that might not be that far off after all.

Whether the proposed NFL stadium will yield a fruitful Autumn harvest of a football franchise in Los Angeles remains to be seen. But the proposed site or adjacent land may very well be the Dodgers' third Los Angeles home.

Naturally and understandably, True Blue fans will balk at the idea, citing nostalgia, sentimentality and that killer view of the San Gabriels. But this warants serious discussion. We may or may not like this idea, but it may very well be an inevitability.

Dodger fans have long complained about the lack of dedicated mass transit options to The Stadium, the lack of nearby pre- and post- game hangouts, fans not showing up until the 4th inning, exponentially increasing costs of stadium parking, fans leaving after the 7th inning to beat traffic and the infamous hour-long queue out of the parking lot after the end of the game for those of us who do stay until the end of the game (i.e. The REAL Dodger fans).

And add to that Dodger Despot Frank McCourt's proposed scheme to retain ownership of The Stadium and parking lot in the event he does sell the actual franchise.

A new Downtown stadium may very well get rid of those problems forever.

There are other benefits as well: A mega-sports corridor along Figueroa from MLK to Olympic may very well be the kicker in Los Angeles being awarded a third Summer Games. The classic "L.A. is too spread out" whine of the transplant may very well lose more of its meaning. It would also strengthen the desire for non-Metro Rail served communities and areas to get linked up to the system.

The Militant will be the first to tell you that it's hard to picture The Dodgers play any place else. The same mound where Koufax fastballed was the same one Valenzuela K'ed from and is the same one that Kershaw throws today. Four of the Dodgers' five titles in Los Angeles (which, the Militant should point out, is still fivefold more than the one title the hated Frisco Giants loooove to boast about) were fought and won on Chavez Ravine's turf. The Militant can go on, and so could you.

But Los Angeles sports fans have done it before. Laker fans once thought a move from their longtime home court at The (Fabulous Great Western) Forum was inconcievable, but the past 12 seasons have shown us that Figueroa Street is just as FTW as Prairie Avenue, and aside from a couple exhibition games For Old Time's Sake, the Purple & Gold faithful have never looked back.

The Dodgers, who only have two years' seniority over the Lakers in this City, can do the same. The game, the team spirit, the history and tradition of any sports franchise is larger than any building it happens to play in.

The Brooklyn Dodgers moved five times during their first life out east. That never stopped the fans there from suporting their team, did it? And speaking of which, the team got its name from its fans dodging trolleys near its then-home venue of Eastern Park, which was located in between two streetcar lines.

With the (M) Blue (how appropo) and Expo Lines all running along nearby Flower Street, not to mention an additional streetcar system proposed for DTLA, our Los Angeles Trolley Dodgers can finally live up to their name again (which is more than the Lakers can do, unless it's flash flood season).

Love It And Levitt

2011-07-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Like many Angelenos, The Militant likes to go out and enjoy a good concert once in a while. On Sunday he had a chance to do just that by hopping on the (M) Gold Line, getting off at the Memorial Park station and walking all but a few yards to the Levitt Pavilion Pasadena. What may or may not look like an ordinary bandshell in a park is actually one of our best local treasures - its annual Summer concert series.

Did The Militant mention that the concert was FREE?!
The Levitt Pavilion has been rockin' since 2002 as one of a network of Levitt Pavilions across the country, in Connecticut, Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, all dedicated to bringing free quality music events to the masses.

But us Angelenos are downright spoiled, since we have not just one, but two Levitt Pavilions in the area. As The Militant reported back in 2007, the bandshell at MacArthur Park joined the Levitt family and has been rockin' since then as our area's second Levitt Pavilion. Seriously, we're the only metropolitan area in the country to have two of them. And, like its older sister in Pasadena, it's also Metro Rail-accessible.

Though The Militant had been to The Levitt Pasadena before, covering that town's Make Music Pasadena event, this past Sunday evening was the first time The Militant caught one of their Summer concert shows. He saw a performance by a 7-member band called Freshlyground from Cape Town, South Africa. They got international attention last year by collaborating with pop singer Shakira on this song for the 2010 World Cup (no, there's no vuvuzela player in the band). The singer was a woman that probably stood about 4' 10" but she had a voice bigger than the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. The band played a mix of world music, pop and soul, that got everyone dancing.

South Africa, a place that has a similar Mediterranean climate as Los Angeles, as you may or may not know, is a country that existed for years under the government-enforced racial segregation system of apartheid, which ended in the 1990s and soon elected former political prisoner (some would call him a militant in his own right) Nelson Mandela as president. So how awesome was it to see this integrated, post-apartheid band from South Africa play in front of a few thousand Southern Californians that look like the total opposite of what apartheid stood for? And for those of you who continually say Los Angeles is a "segregated" city (And you only say that because everyone in your Podunk hometown looks alike), y'all don't know shit, seriously.

Speaking of bucking stereotypes, The Militant has always heard the transplanted ignoranti whine that "L.A. crowds are dead/jaded/etc at concerts." O RLY? The whole park was dancing around by the end of the show (pictured right). Explain that, fool! No, don't explain. Just get out of The Militant's face before he smacks you upside the head!

If you're looking for something to do during this weekend's Carma~~geddon~~Chameleon, then go pack a picnic basket, leave the car at home and check out a free concert at either one of our Levitt Pavilions. Or, you can go Downtown and watch one at Grand Performances. See? Awesome free concerts...this town is full of 'em.

The 2011 Low-Dose Festival In Echo Park

2011-07-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

OMG! THE LOTUS PLANTS HAVE FINALLY RETURNED TO ECHO PARK LAKE!!!!

Pysch. :(

Los Angeles has many cultural festivals, but The Militant is particularly fond of The Lotus Festival, for several reasons. First of all, he's been going to it ever since he was a Lil' Mil, it symbolically marks the middle of the year and most of all, its attendees reflect the total diversity of all that is Los Angeles.
Recently, the ups-and-downs of the Festival almost seem to be a direct reflection of the City government's financial health.

And of course, The Militant Angeleno has been covering The Lotus Festival every single year.

So here we go with the 2011 edition...

Right after The Militant arrived in Echo Park on Saturday, the whole thing was summed up in two words: SCALED DOWN.

Hey, the bird vendor exhibit was really popular though.

Though no one's boycotting The Lotus Festival, like nearby Dodger Stadium, crowds were visibly smaller. Not as packed, and the Festival grounds were a lot more compact. Even the entertainment wasn't as loud as it usually is.

The food court was sorely lacking in variety. You had like eight Thai food stands, four Mexican food stands and one Korean BBQ stand (Guess where The Militant ate at...nothing against Thai or Mexican food, he loves them too, but give us some more choices, sheesh!), and that was it. Gone were those crazy USC students selling Okinawan dangos. The Vietnames banh mi was more like banh M.I.A. And likewise for anyone looking for Indian, Hawaiian, Filipino or Chinese food...you were out of luck this year.

The two most fun events of the Festival - The Saturday night fireworks display and the traditional Dragon Boat Race - were absent from the Festival for the second year in a row, for obvious budget reasons.

Even though the Festival is no longer exclusively run by the City's Department of Recreation and Parks, the Lotus Festival Inc. nonprofit that operates it now isn't exactly oozing with money either. The fireworks display, normally performed by a Rialto-based pyrotechnics company, costs over ten thousand dollars to produce.

The Dragon Boat Race, a benefit event raising scholarship money, run by participating local businesses, nonprofits and offices of elected officials, using privately-owned boats, is also a victim of the budget crisis. According to one operative, the City's Rec and Parks Department charges the boat race organizers $4,000 just to use the Echo Park lake's jetty, and an additional $2,000 to tranport the boats out of storage.

Sure the City needs some extra cash, but will $6,000 in revenue really make a difference in the $336 million budget deficit? And why all that money just to use the dang jetty, when the lake will be shut down on Tuesday for a 21-month rehab project anyway (more on this next week)?

Speaking of which, this will be the last Lotus Festival until at 2013 or 2014. The organizers have previously toyed with the idea of moving the Festival to either Lincoln Park or nearby MacArthur Park, but have decided it's best to just go into hiatus again and stay put.

Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. is your last chance to enjoy the Lotus Fest (and Echo Park Lake itself) for quite a while. This year, the featured culture is Thailand, and on Sunday only they will have a muay thai kickboxing ring set up in the park (According to another operative, it's not the same ring as the one at the Songkran Thai New Year festival). So get your kicks while they last.

Lotus Fest, The Militant will miss ya, but do come back strong.

For The Win(ners)

2011-07-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Look, even though the Dodgers are in last place, and even though there's a planned protest on Saturday to voice fan displeasure with the McCourt regime (The Militant is 100% for the Deportation of Frank McCourt, but he's also 100% against that rich Dallas dude owning our beloved Boys in Blue, so The Militant's support for the protest is mixed), there's nothing like taking in a Dodger game in the Summertime.

Yes, The Militant is actively boycotting The Dodgers, but he will still attend a game if he can get away with free tickets, using the Dodger Stadium Express bus and eating off-site, resulting in a net of $0.00 for The McCourt regime.

A few months ago, The Militant attended an unspecified organization's fundraiser event, and successfully bid on four Dodgers Loge level tickets in its silent auction. Since the Dodgers donated the tickets to this organization, and the Militant's money went to the organization instead of the McCourt regime, these were, in effect, "free tickets."

The Militant was wondering which of his operatives to take to the game, but had another idea.

After four years of Militancy, he's often wondered what kind of people read his blog and follow his tweets. A number of people are pretty dedicated and hard core MA blog readers, so he wanted to find a way to reward them somehow.

So, he e-mailed a random sampling of MA readers (if you didn't get an e-mail from The Militant, worry not, you may or may not get a chance later on) and randomly selected three qualifying respondents to win a prize: A chance to attend Friday's Dodgers vs. Padres game with The Militant Angeleno.

Wait, what?!?!

The Militant's identity was revealed at last?

Well, it may or may not have. Seriously. His true identity was never revealed to the three unspecified winners, but he did appear unmasked, sort of.

After meeting at an unspecified Downtown landmark eatery, we took the bus to The Stadium, and like clockwork, arrived right at The Militant's proper game deadline: The singing of The National Anthem.

The Militant won't reveal much details but he will say that he and the three winners, each of whom hail from different backgrounds and live in different parts of town, all had an awesome time, each partaking in some awesome conversation. The Militant got to know more about these folks, whom he never had the chance to meet in his other life, and they got to know more about The Militant (well, all he is allowed to reveal...). A bunch of cool, down-to-Earth, real people.

So all y'all who say Angelenos are superficial, self-centered, rude, stupid and any other pejorative pinned on the people from this great city, you need to sit down with a knife and fork and dine on a piping-hot, fresh-from-the-oven shit pie. You need to go on Twitter, follow @TheShitTruck and eat today's special. you need to search on Yelp for the word "shit" and...okay, you get the picture.

As for the game, it was almost secondary, but the 8th and 9th innings were all that mattered: Furcal's RBI single, Javy Guerra's cliffhanger save and the Dodgers' second shutout win in a row, beating the San Diego team 1-0. The evening couldn't have been better.

But it was: After Randy Newman's victory song, the four of us went down to the outfield, and situated ourselves right smack dab in the middle of Andre Ethier's workplace, on the very same sacred grass field where so many Dodger memories were made, where we saw a 15-minute low-altitude (as to not disturb the neighbors as much) fireworks display (as if we all didn't get our fill on Monday).

The awesome conversations continued on the bus back to Union Station, where, upon arrival, The Militant led them to a spot on Vignes Street and pointed to a location not far from there, where he gave them an exclusive Militant tour of a significant historical location (He'll tell the rest of you readers all about it later on). After that, they all went their separate ways, and The Militant went back underground, both literally and figuratively.

The Militant has long lurked in the shadows, but it was very exciting to step out, albeit for just a little bit. This was an experiment in expanding Angeleno militancy on a more social level. After all, other sites shouldn't have a monopoly on social events, and The Militant has been doing his thing longer than they have.
Of course, such gatherings would have to be controlled. No doubt his enemies will inevitably try to infiltrate such events for the sole sake of exposing his identity. So The Militant will remain ever-cautious about these things.

But ultimately, his little experiment validated what's really the best thing about Los Angeles: Its people. And The Militant will continue to explore more of that asset...masked or unmasked.

So keep reading, replying, Tweeting, Facebook commenting and e-mailing...You may or may not have a chance to meet The Militant someday!

Stepping down into the sacred Dodger Stadium outfield!

The lights go out...

Make 'em go Ah! Ah! Ah!

Okay kids, enough of this planking business.

A Century Of Burbank

2011-07-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

One hundred years ago today, the City of Burbank was incorporated. So in honor of this momentous occasion, The Militant would like to dedicate today's post to Los Angeles County's 15th largest pueblo and "A City Built By People, Pride and Progress."

Contrary to popular belief, Burbank wasn't named after famed California botanist Luther Burbank, nor did its moniker come from -- according to one of its longtime stakeholders, KNBC's Fritz Coleman -- "A Burger King and a bank."

Like other Los Angeles county cities like Long Beach, its origins come from land ownership from former ranchos. Dr. David Burbank was a dentist and sheepherder who bought nearly 10,000 acres of land from Rancho San Rafael (now Downtown Burbank) and Rancho Providencia (now the Media District). Since then, the little town grew up, thanks in large part to the entertainment industry (The studios of Warner Brothers and NBC moved there from Hollywood; Walt Disney and now recently KCET from Los Feliz) and the aerospace industry (Lockheed and Northrop were founded here and many of their legendary aircraft were made in Burbank).

Although you may or may not live in Burbank, it's been a part of your life. Surely, you've had a burger or a chili size at Bob's Big Boy, caught a flight at Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (instead of LAX), had your first taste of self-assembled particle board Swedish furniture (not to mention Swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice) at IKEA or had your wedding reception (or at least got punch monkey drunk at someone else's) up in the hills at The Castaway.

Yes, that's Tim Burton (second right, holding the paper).

But did you know that Burbank was home to the first monorail in the United States? It also gave the world the genius of film director and native son Tim Burton (Um, the Militant would like to list some other notable Burbank firsts and achievements, but he can't think of any more...). But check out some awesome historic Burbank photos on this site.

In 1911, Burbank boasted a population of 500, now it's over 103,000. To celebrate the big centennial, tonight from 5 to 10 p.m., there will be a Big-Ass Party Of The Century in Downtown Burbank around the City Hall area (on Olive and 3rd) featuring fireworks, an airplane parade, and more, so check it out!

Are you from Burbank? Grew up there? Do you or did you live there? Have any Burbank memories you'd like to share? Post in the comments!

Wheel Be Right Back

2011-07-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

When The Militant found out nearly a month ago that Downtown's legendary Angels Flight Railway was suddenly shut down due to deteriorating wheel flanges (they're the part of the wheels that run inside the rails, not on top of them), he took a deep sigh and thought, "Here we go again."

Though Angels Flight 1.0 was dismantled an unspecified number of years before The Militant was born, he was definitely in da house for the opening of Angels Flight 2.0 on February 24, 1996. After the tragic accident of 2001, he was one of the first people back on the funicular in March of last year when Angels Flight 3.0 (okay, really, more like a v 2.5 upgrade) finally ran again. The Militant even made (trivial) history as the very last Angels Flight rider of 2010!

The Militant was ready for a long-ass downtime filled with lots of red tape. He's heard it all before. After all, when Angels Flight 1.0 was dismantled in 1969, the City originally promised to bring it back "In about two years." Shhyeah, right. He was all ready to draft a post meant for oh...sometime in September beyotching when Angels Flight will finally be ready.

But lo and behold, version 2.51 of the firmware update was announced on Tuesday. The new wheels, costing $40,000 (likely installed by funicular ninjas in the dead of night), were now in place and The Militant felt obliged to visit his old friends yet again.

The old wheels (June 2011)

The new wheels. installed by ninjas (July 2011)
Wait, did they forget to put on the brake? O_o

From the moment he got out of the (M) Red Line Pershing Square station on Hill Street and saw the little orange cars go up and down the incline, a The Militant wore a smile bigger than Los Angeles County. It's back.

And of course he had to take a ride.

Still wearing that big smile, he stepped into Olivet (Remember folks, Sinai is the car towards the north, Olivet towards the south), and after the buzzing sound heralding the 109-year old funicular's ascent, the ringing shriek of the brand-spankin' new wheels, the classic creaking of wood and, of course, the characteristic rumble. Ah, it's so nice to hear those sounds again.

The Militant lingered for a bit on the California Plaza end, listening to background music play as the Grand Performances crew set up for their next show. But he was there to watch his old funicular friends do their job - one that's inevitably filled with ups and downs - and this time not take it for granted.

Welcome back, old friends.

The Militant Eats Up An East Coast Transplant Alive

2011-06-28T03:55:00.000-07:00

If you've been a longtime reader of The Militant Angeleno, you already know how The Militant feels about transplants. Especially the ones from the East Coast. Especially the ones from NYC.

Lately, Hollywood has been abuzz lately with the arrival of one of its newest NY transplants, a hot dog stand called Papa Yaking. Very interesting. He's heard of Papa Cristo's, and even Beard Papa's, but a Papa Yaking is not something that sounds very pleasant, especially to eat.

Oh wait...The Militant has just been informed that the place isn't called Papa Yaking, but PAPAYA KING. The Militant's bad.

Apparently the story here was that was originally a tropical drink stand started in Manhattan in 1932 that eventually sold hot dogs. Hot dogs and papaya drinks, eh? Of course, this town is famous for a local restaurant chain that makes chicken and waffles, so who are we to laugh? Anyway, Papaya King prides itself on being "The Best Hot Dog in NYC", or on a national level, perhaps the second most famous weiner from The Empire State (BADA-BING!). Papaya King is such a revered local institution in NY, very much akin to how The Original Tommy's or In-N-Out is celebrated here.

Of course, now we have a Papaya King on Wilcox and Hollywood, and the nearest In-N-Out to NYC is still a couple thousand miles away. Nyah.

The Militant skipped the long lines during its opening week last month and decided to see what all the hype was all about.

First off, the Militant rode his bike there and there was no place nearby to conveniently lock it, so he brought it inside the already-cramped store. But they were totally cool with The Militant bringing in his bike into the place so he had to give his props for that.

After browsing the menu wall for several minutes, he decided on "The 1932" (#5) combo - a hotdog with sauerkraut, NY onions or relish (he had the first two and paid a quarter extra), a medium drink (he chose the papaya drink of course) and a cup of seasoned curly fries.

The hot dog was good. It wasn't horrible. In fact he did enjoy it. But it wasn't anything special or unique, just a well-made basic hot dog. But he did enjoy the most unique aspect of Papaya King: the tropical drinks. The papaya drink was good. In fact, he ordered another - just the drink, this time a large mango drink.

On one of the walls, written in big-ass lettering is, "WE'RE 100% NATURAL BUT WE THINK WE'LL FIT IN L.A. JUST FINE." Oh was that supposed to be funny? The Militant forgot to laugh. Hah hah hah.

Offensive.

Um, yeah. Very offensive. But funny they mention "natural," since as good as those tropical drinks are, they come from not a blender, but from one of those constantly-churning daquiri-type machines. How natural are those tropical drinks? The Militant shrugs. Maybe they come in pre-mixed canisters shipped over from NYC. Or maybe they're partly in powdered form from a box. Who knows. He will tell you that if you want a real natural tropical fruit drink, just walk a couple blocks east on Hollywood Boulevard and hop on into The Juices Fountain - a real Hollywood institution - and they'll actually put real fruit in the blenders right before your very eyes. Absolutely no frontin'.Yeah, go ahead and make jokes how Hollywood is "fake" and "artificial," but when we do natural, like a hike in Griffith Park, we don't f around.

The Militant will be fair here, Papaya King is a pretty good meal for a pretty good deal. The #5 combo only cost The Militant $6 and some change. Not bad at all. If you're in the area, it's worth going to, especially after a concert or a night in the clubs. This place is open until 3 a.m. (the original NYC location closes at 2 a.m. in comparison), which is really awesome for a Hollywood eatery that's not a Thai restaurant.

But is it worth going out of your way for? No. Was it worth waiting in the long lines during opening week? Haha, nope. The Militant was glad to be only the third person in line when he arrived. Of course, for all you NY transplants, Papaya King probably functions as some sort of homesick therapy clinic of sorts, unless you're willing to bitch and moan that "It's not the same as back home" once you took your first bite. The Militant can't help you there.

But now that Papaya King has arrived, it might as well be a good neighbor to all the other hot dogs in town. So how does it size up? Is it better than a Pink's? Naaah. Going to the little stand on La Brea is a local ritual, and usually you'll get something considerably-sized after waiting in line for so long. Better than Carney's? Yeah, right. Better than an Oki Dog? Don't make The Militant laugh. Better than a Dodger Dog? If it's a grilled one at the Stadium, then no. Better than a sidewalk cart bacon-wrapped dog? Are you kidding? (Papaya King is is healthier by far though). Better than Der Weinerschnitzel or a month-old 7-Eleven cooking-for-a-month dog? Aw hell yes.

Honestly, if you're craving for a hot dog and a tropical drink in Hollywood, The Militant will recommend a dog from Pink's and a smoothie from The Juices Fountain. Of course, the problem is that those two venerable Hollywood food stands are a little over two miles apart, the former has a long line and the latter closes at 5 p.m. Papaya King does offer the convenience of both in one place though. So there you go.

So, welcome to Los Angeles, Papaya King. Just be polite, don't be afraid to be a part of the community, respect the locals, don't whine and no one gets hurt.

Long Beach Week: King Of The (Signal) Hill

2011-06-26T22:15:00.001-07:00

Well friends, Long Beach Week! has now come to an end. The Militant thought he'd close off this series by choosing a Long Beach location that's not even in The LBC proper (Gasp! But it's still in the 562 though...) That place is the 365-foot-high promontory overlooking the area called Signal Hill. Many of you may or may not know the place as its own city, but it's an actual hill.

Like Long Beach itself, it's got an interesting history and is very easy to get to. The name derives not from the communications towers situated at its peak, but from the Tongva -- the indigenous people of the Los Angeles area -- who used this sentinel to deliver smoke signals to their friends across the water in Pimug-na (a.k.a. Catalina Island).

More recently, in the 1920s, oil was discovered on Signal Hill, as it was part of the Long Beach Oil Field which produced 20 percent of the entire US oil supply that decade. Oil derricks once covered the hill so much, it was nicknamed, "Porcupine Hill."

After oil production slowed down (oil pumps still operate on the hill), it became the bougie district for the LBC, with a bunch of rich folks homes being built there.

But despite the upper income element, the place is very much publicly accessible.

After The Militant's Cambodia Town adventure, it was a simple matter of riding the Long Beach Transit Line 21 bus up Cherry Avenue, where he got off at Skyline Drive and took a not-that-strenuous uphill hike (Though the hill is 365 feet high, the bus will already take you halfway there) up the street to Hilltop Park, a wonderful public space dedicated not just to a killer view, but to the historic legacy of the hill.

In the middle of the part is an art installation that looks like an artificial blue palm tree, but actually symbolizes both the rising column of smoke from the Tongva and the rising gushes of oil from the black gold era. Other elements of the art installation tell the history of Signal Hill.

Although the view was apparently killed by the overcast clouds on this particular day, one can still get a killer view. Couples hung out to watch the sunset together. A photographer was taking snapshots of his modeling client. A Cambodian American couple were taking wedding engagement photos, dressed in traditional Khmer attire.A Latino family was sharing a meal on a picnic table. Others walked dogs or jogged on the Panorama Promenade paved path that runs along the northern edge of the hill, right under some rich people's houses.

From there, one can get a clear view of airplanes taking off and landing below at Long Beach Airport (pictured right). Cal State Long Beach was easily visible below. A little farther, and one can see buildings in Orange County.

Returning back to Hilltop Park, both Downtown Long Beach and the Long Beach Harbor are in full view. Heck, you can even see Los Angeles Harbor and the Vincent Thomas Bridge. As well as Carson and Wilmington towards the west, where the fierce power of the Southland's oil refineries rage on with wafting veils of stem, smoke and plumes of fire. Look north, just beyond the Compton courthouse building, right through the low clouds and you can see the faint outline of Downtown Los Angeles.

But perhaps the best part of Signal Hill? You can see each and every location The Militant covered in the Long Beach Week! series. Check it:

How many of the Seven Long Beach Buildings You Should Know About can you spot here?

Here's the Pacific Electric bridge on Orange and Hill!

Signal Hill is no longer Porcupine Hill, but you can definitely still see oil pumps still at work (And isn't that the Walter Pyramid there down below?)

As the sun set, The Militant marched back down the hill and took a short walk to Willow Street, where he boarded the Long Beach Transit Line 102 bus back to Long Beach Boulevard where he got on the (M) Blue Line train back to Los Angeles. It was a nice couple of days spent in Long Beach doing militant research for this blog series. He truly felt like a tourist in his own home land. Surely there were more adventures he could have written about and places to go...maybe he'll do Long Beach Week, Part Deux! But maybe The Militant hopes you make your own trip down the Blue Line, retrace some of his steps and go on your own Militant adventures in The LBC.

The Militant will leave you with an interactive Google Map on all the locations featured in The Militant Angeleno's Long Beach Week!

View Militant Angeleno's Long Beach Week! in a larger map

Long Beach Week: A Truck Stop Cafe, 24 Hours A Day

2011-06-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, an out-of-town friend of The Militant came for a visit (Yes, the Militant can have friends from other cities, just as long as they don't diss this one!). She had a list of places to visit while here, so we wasted no time. After picking her up from the airport and dropping her luggage off at her hotel, which was somewhere around Torrance (somehow the online reservation made her believe Torrance was a lot closer to Los Angeles than it really is...), we parked at the (M) Blue Line Wardlow station to head up to Downtown Los Angeles to catch a Lakers game.

Part of this was to not deal with the driving up and down the 110, and Lakers game parking. The other part was to show her we really do have a rail transit system in Los Angeles.

After the game (which the Lakers won, woo-hoo), we rode the train back to Long Beach and, back in The Militant's car, searched for a place to eat. It was already past 11 p.m., and late night eats in the LBC, unlike Hollywood or Koreatown, were slim pickins.
After circling up and down Long Beach Boulevard, there were few choices available. As this was a visitor from out of town, national chain restaurants were a no-no. And even the venerable Long Beach Roscoe's was nearing closing time.

What, to do, what to do?

The Militant pulled out his unspecified smartphone and entered, "24 HOUR RESTAURANT LONG BEACH"

And one of the first results to appear was...The 24-Hour Cafe.

Sometimes the best answer is the most obvious one.

This cafe wasn't in Downtown nor the Belmont Shore area but in a relatively desolate area of West Long Beach - an industrial area just north of the Long Beach Harbor, on the northwest corner of Anaheim Street and Santa Fe Avenue.

In a part of Long Beach more populated by cargo containers, oil refinery tanks and industrial buildings than people, drive by and you'll probably miss it. But the cafe's proximity to the 100-year old harbor is actually its greatest unique asset. After all, the port is a round-the-clock operation and the cafe serves it appropriately. A port-area family-owned institution since 1954, 24-Hour Cafe has served port-bound truckers not just food but amenities such as a lounge, a game room, a pool table and hot shower facilities.

The Militant and his out-of-town friend had a nice meal (for the price), at really affordable prices (pictured left). The cuisine is largely American diner food, with some Mexican dishes. The staff was cool and the waitress was even able to tell The Militant how long the establishment has been running (she herself having been working at the cafe since the late 1960s). Ask any Denny's staff how long their company has been running and you're guaranteed to get a blank stare.

There was only one or two other customers besides The Militant and his visiting friend. Chats of gossip while a TV screen airing CNN were the only sounds in the place at this hour, save for the occasional passing truck along Anaheim Street. Even The Militant's visiting friend got the whole port culture. Usually places like this would be located farther inland, such as along The I-5 past The Grapevine. But this is located towards the destination (or the origin) of a trucker's route. They are likely less tired, less weary. It's certainly an aspect of Long Beach life that doesn't get highlighted very much.

One their way out, The Militant rummaged towards the back of the restaurant, his eyes heading towards every sign of truck driver culture. One such thing was a bulletin board near the bathrooms. One flier reminded drivers that idling for more than five minutes was against state law (pictured right).

It was true Militant serendipity that he found this place. Now, the question of where to eat late at night the next time he's in the Long Beach/Wilmington area has already been answered. This place is definitely Militant-Approved. Good, affordable food, no 'tude and the place just oozes being local. And did The Militant mention they also have Wi-Fi? Definitely worth a return trip!

STAY MILITANT, 24-HOUR CAFE MASCOT COWBOY!

Long Beach Week: Exclusively LB - DTLB's New Exclusive Bike Lanes

2011-06-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

After The Militant rode his bike from the old Pacific Electric bridge, biked a short-but-sweet path in northern Long Beach and discovered a bit of LB history in Willmore City, he continued a bit south to Downtown Long Beach to check out this city's brand new exclusive bicycle lanes, which opened in April.

Not far from Willmore City, he joined the lanes at 3rd and Pacific to see what they were all about.

For those of you unfamiliar with LB's new bikegasmic thoroughfare, it's a bike lane, but not just any ordinary bike lane! Picture a bike lane where you are physically protected by moving vehicles. Picture a bike lane where you don't have to worry about motorists opening their doors in your way (The Militant almost had a couple of those encounters). Picture a bike lane where you have your own traffic signals. No need to picture it, you can actually bike it!

Here's a map:

View Long Beach Exclusive Bike Lanes! in a larger map

There is no formal start or end, just jump in! It's basically a circular two-mile route on two one-way streets - 3rd (westbound) and Broadway (eastbound), between Magnolia on the west and Alamitos on the east. The lane is at the leftmost side of the street, protected by a short curb or raised barrier on the street. Cars can par on the street, but they are well to the right of the bicycle lane, with ample room between cyclists and the length of an open car door, eliminating that dreaded "door zone." As the street is one way, so is the bike lane, no need to watch out for cyclists going in the other direction!

The first thing he noticed besides the seemingly Montana-wide space for cyclists, were the green areas. In areas where the bile lane crosses vehicle traffic in any way, the bike lane is painted green, to aid in visibility. This is most pronounced on all driveways (pictured right). The Militant only encountered about a couple of cars in the green zone, and we all had no problem recognizing each other.

The westbound lane came to an end around here, so The Militant navigated around some road construction one block to the south, to Broadway, where he was about to head eastbound this time.

The next thing The Militant noticed were the concrete planters placed in the area between the car lanes and the bike lane. Not just for aesthetics, but also to give a protective buffer to protect cyclists and parked automobiles alike.

Then came the badass traffic signals. For bikes only (pictured left). At one intersection, The Militant had stopped his bike at a red light. But after the cross traffic cleared, the Bike Signal went green even before the standard signals for cars, to give cyclists a few seconds to either re-mount or begin pedaling. OMG this is so freaking badass!

The Militant will admit there were moments where he nearly missed the signal. It is relatively small and easy to miss if you're not accustomed to them. But not every crossing has these. In intersections with large thoroughfares, such as Pacific Avenue and Long Beach Bolevard - both wide streets with light rail track in the middle - there is no exclusive Bike Signal. Cyclists must use the standard traffic lights.

Likewise, in those instances, there is a left turn lane for autos. The bike lane sort of zig-zags with this left turn lane (pictured right), and another green zone comes up, letting cars about to turn left know they're crossing the bike lane. Again, The Militant had no problems with cars here (though most people have already gotten off of work, so traffic was already tapering down).

He continued east until just across from LB's Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, the exclusive bike lane was no more. No sign that it was ending...just the harsh reality that after the next intersection your utopian cycling wet dream was all of a sudden over. So The Militant hung a brief north on Olive Avenue to head west again.

As he noticed the parked cars to the right of him, he also noticed that the parking meters were still in their usual places (pictured left). But this time, they were numbered. The corresponding parking pace number is painted on the street, so motorists who park there would have to walk across the bike path to reach the appropriate meter. Very practical, since parking meters do not have to be moved. Also, when in the vicinity of the Long Beach US Post Office, there were mailboxes conveniently placed in between the bike lane and the car lanes. Extra convenient (though they should have had at least one mailbox face the bike lane...).

Just as soon as The Militant was about to break a sweat, the bike lane ended (pictured right). (Awwww...) But no fear, there's more to come! It looks like this is just the first phase of a larger exclusive bike lane system (Yaaaaayyy!)

So is this the future? Will we see this in Los Angeles too (Shhheeah, maybe in The Year 3000...)? As cool as this is, you really need a wide one-way thoroughfare to make this happen, and not every place has the luxury of this kind of space. And even for cyclists, it's a weird new paradigm: As The Militant left, he caught a young family on bikes (one of them with a small child in a bikeseat) riding west along 3rd St...on the sidewalk! So even for the LB locals, this thing needs not only some getting used to but a public outreach awareness program - for motorists and cyclists alike.

Long Beach has been a very bike-friendly city for decades now. From the Bikestation built in the 1990s to today's exclusive lanes, who knows what the future will bring? Well, as long as it's not those silly bike licenses they had...
Ride Militant, Long Beach!

Long Beach Week: Khmer Down To Cambodia Town

2011-06-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Militant Angeleno has long been a supporter and admirer of Los Angeles' designated ethnic neighborhoods - from Chinatown to Little Tokyo to Little Ethiopia to Little Armenia to Historic Filipinotown to Little Bangladesh to Koreatown (Little Ethiopia, don't worry, The Militant will show some love for ya soon!). As it turns out, Long Beach has one of its own -- Cambodia Town, and one of the reasons for The Militant to put on his Long Beach Week! was to go check it out.

Like Los Angeles, Long Beach is a pretty diverse community itself. After all, its motto is "The International City."

Long Beach is home of the largest Cambodian population in the United States, many of whom came here in the late 1970s as refugees escaping the genocide brought on by the tyrannical rule of the Khmer Rouge party. Nearly four years ago, on July 3, 2007, the Long Beach City Council officially designated a one-mile stretch of Anaheim Street between Atlantic and Junipero avenues as "Cambodia Town."

Unlike the designated ethnic communities in Los Angeles, there is no sign welcoming one to "Cambodia Town," but the sight of Khmer script (pictured right), murals (pictured above) and the presence of markets, restaurants, mechanic shops, jewelry stores, money remittance offices and video stores (many of them referencing places in Cambodia) were abundant.

After The Militant got off his Blue Line train at Anaheim Station, it was a simple matter of walking eastward on that street to explore.

His first stop was Kim Long Market (pictured left), just a couple blocks east of Long Beach Boulevard. It was a colorful, bustling supermarket which had the requisite produce, meat, fish, snakes, canned goods and small to-go food section typical of many ethnic markets.

Though it was a Cambodian market and most of the clientele were Khmer-speaking, the products were pan-Asian in nature: Items were imported from Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Japan and other countries, though hardly any from Cambodia.

But the Cambodian community doesn't exist in a vacuum. Long Beach is home to people from those above ethnicities after all, and likewise the country of Cambodia itself is influenced by its Asian neighbors.

In many ways, Cambodia Town is similar to its cousin 25 miles to the north, Los Angeles' Thai Town: Both encompass a single commercial street, both feature large, successful New Year festivals in April. Of course, Thais and Cambodians share many similarities -- similar basic customs, a related language/alphabet and Theravada Buddhism.

The food is similar. In fact, most Cambodia Town restaurants advertise themselves as "Thai-Cambodian Cuisine." Generally speaking, Cambodian food is the slightly-less spicy relative of Thai cuisine.

Speaking of which, all this walking has gotten The Militant kinda hungry...

The Militant found his food stop after a mile of walking: Siem Reap Restaurant, on Anaheim at Rose Ave. It had gotten a great reputation on Yelp, so The Militant figures it wouldn't be a bad choice at all.

The restaurant (named after the Cambodian city and province where the famous Angkor Wat ruins are located) was spacious and not very busy on this Thursday afternoon. A video screen playing a DVD of live Cambodian music and comedy performances was playing in the background. The Militant went on to order the amok trey, a seasoned fish and vegetable stew cooked inside a coconut, and a jackfruit shake. After telling the waitress it was his first time sampling Cambodian cuisine, he was also hooked up with a free pork and chicken soup and a small sample of sach ko angh - a beef skewer with papaya salad. It was all real good, and The Militant hopes to come back here again with some of his operatives!

Determined to walk the entire span of Cambodia Town (not to mention to walk off his lunch), he continued farther down Anaheim until Junipero Avenue, the easternmost end of the community. There stood the United Cambodian Community center (pictured left), a large building designed after traditional Khmer architecture.

On the windows of many of the businesses were many of the same posters promoting community events, like concerts, dance parties, fundraisers and even movie premieres, such as one that happened this week for the film, Rice Field Of Dreams, a documentary on the first Cambodian national baseball team (hey, they seem to bleed blue too).

The Militant had a great time exploring Cambodia Town, he hopes to return here again. You, too should Khmer and visit this place. Just take the (M) Blue Line down to Anaheim Station, and walk or bike east until Junipero Avenue (just a few blocks past Cherry Avenue). Or, you can take the Long Beach Transit lines 45 or 46 bus (Fare is $1.25).

Long Beach Week: Take Me Down To Willmore City... (The Obligatory LB History Lesson Post)

2011-06-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

When we last left The Militant Angeleno, after appreciating Long Beach's most notable structures, he journeyed to The International City via Blue Line and bicycle to survey a unique concrete bridge, under which Pacific Electric Red Cars ran up until over 60 years ago. As he left, he had a brief encounter with that city's bike infrastructure, and found himself deciding whether to head back to Los Angeles, or continue his Militant mission in The LBC...

Dude, it's freaking Long Beach Week! Of course he kept riding!

He could have taken the Blue Line going south, but he decided to keep riding along Long Beach Blvd, just to experience what it was like to ride in this town. He experienced creatively-designed bicycle racks on the sidewalks, some shaped like pizzas, ice cream cones or cupcakes, some designed like stick figures on a bike. He headed west on Anaheim Street and turned due south just before reaching the Los Angeles River.

Without knowing anything about it, he noticed that the street signs looked different here -- this time, blue on white, with "Willmore City Historic District" emblazoned on the post-side end of the signs.

Willmore City?!? (Get the rope...)

Now, for those of you coming to read The Militant's blog for Long Beach Week! (Yes, the exclamation is part of the title) expecting to get some sort of history lesson on the place, today is your lucky day.

Aite, so here's LB history in a nutshell: Like most of So Cal, Long Beach's history traces back to the old Spanish rancho land grant system. Two ranchos - Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos, encompass today's Long Beach. Both were owned by soldier Manuel Nieto in 1784. In 1843, the former was sold after the death of Nieto's daughter to Massachusetts cattleman Jonathan Temple (who later served on the first American-era Los Angeles City Council and was the namesake of Temple Street). In 1866, Temple sold the the land to rancher Llewellyn Bixby, whose family (the Bixby Knolls neighborhood in northern Long Beach was named after them) developed the general area.

Oh yeah, in case anyone is wondering whether RLC is related to today's Cerritos, it definitely is. The northeastern corner of RLC eventually became the city of Dairy Valley, which re-named itself "Cerritos" ("little hills" in Español) in 1967.

In 1882, some 4,000 acres of the RLC was sold to developer William Willmore, who established a town called "Willmore City' (egotistical, much?) in an area towards the coast.

That year, Willmore City boasted the first-ever rail transit system in Los Angeles county, known as the American Colony Railway (pictured left), which ran three miles from Willmore City to the town of Wilmington to the west. The train, originally powered by an actual horse pulling cars on a wooden track (talk about old school!) was colloquially called "The GOP Railroad." No, not a railway for Republicans, but rather, because the train was prone to breaking the wooden track so often, passengers would have to Get Out and Push(!)

In 1888, Willmore City residents renamed the city "Long Beach." Was it named after New York state's Long Beach (BTW, the Militant visited there once, and it's rather pathetic)? Some dude named "Long?" Nope. The place literally had a long, wide beach. End of story.

In 1902, the Pacific Electric Railway arrived, and things boomed from there. For the next eight years, Long Beach was like the fastest growing city in the entire nation.

Today the LBC's birth name lives on as a historic preservation residential district just northwest of the downtown area. It sports quaint, wide, tree-lined streets, late 19th-early 20th century architecture and a seven-acre green space called Drake Park. The Militant found a Mayberryesque small town ambiance there (though the demographics are much more diverse), and even biked in the middle of the street for a considerable distance before encountering another car on the road. It's a pretty chill place.

So there you go. Long Beach's history is relatively new; by the time "Long Beach" existed, there was already an El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula in existence for some 107 years. In some respect, Willmore City is Long Beach's equivalent to Los Angeles' El Pueblo (though LB's version of the Avila Adobe would have to be the Rancho Los Cerritos adobe (where Jonathan Temple and later, Llewellyn Bixby's brother Jotham lived) some four miles to the north.
If you want to visit Willmore City for yourself and get a feel for Old School Strong Beach, it's rather easy. Just ride the (M) Blue Line to Long Beach, get off at the Pacific station, and walk or bike anywhere to the north and west. If you reach Anaheim Street or the Los Angeles River, you've gone too far.

Long Beach Week: Under Tha Bridg-izzle

2011-06-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

The wonder of Los Angeles - and Southern California as a whole -- is that even an experienced militant like The Militant Angeleno himself, who has studied and researched more Los Angeles area history than anyone cares to know, will still get stumped and learn something new.

Take for instance his ~~penchant~~ obsession for researching Pacific Electric Railway relics. He thought he' seen it all, until he perused this video on teh YouTubez which identified one of the main locations for this classic Snoop Dogg vide-izzle:

(Feel free to play and listen to while reading...dude, it's MF'ing Snoop after all...)

What appears to be a sunken trench and an underpass is a curious-looking concrete bridge supporting Orange Ave. and East Hill Street in Long Beach, just near the Signal Hill border. That sunken trench was once the Pacific Electric Railway's Newport-Balboa Line, which branched some 22 miles from the Long Beach trunk line from where today's Willow (M) Blue Line station currently stands all the way down the coast to Balboa Island in Orange County. The 40-mile trip from Downtown Los Angeles to Newport Beach was traversed in 70 minutes. The line ran from 1904 to 1950. Unlike other bridges that cross over former PE right-of-ways (like this one in Mid-City Los Angeles on Venice Blvd), this bridge carried an entire intersection, a virtual anomaly when it comes to bridges, especially old ones.

So naturally, The Militant had to go check it out for himself.

On Thursday of last week, The Militant took his trusty bike on the (M) Blue Line and rode down to Willow, and rode due east on that street for a couple miles, turning south on Orange. Lo and behold, there it was:
It's a strange kind of bridge, meant not just to cross the tracks but to allow cars to negotiate the topography from the flatlands of the south to the more elevated region to the north.

The heavily-weathered and tagged builder's plate, located at the start of the E. Hill St. approach, reads:

GEO. E. BARTLETT
CONSTRUCTOR
LONG BEACH
1932

The Militant headed down towards the bottom of the nearly 80-year-old structure, in an alleyway of sorts to peer into what used to be. Protected by a chain link fence, it looked like what an abandoned rail right of way looked like -- the usual juxtaposition of modern urban graffiti and architecture from decades long gone:
The tracks ran lengthwise, and the concrete-block wall in the left half of the photo was a more recent addition. Beyond the wall, the tracks went northwest towards the Willow junction. Towards the right, the tracks continued on to Newport Beach. Unfortunately the bridge structure is devoid of any remnants from the Pacific Electric era, such as trolley wire infrastructure, track, rail spikes or signals (it's been some 60 years since the last train ran through here, after all...).

The right-of-way trench would often resemble a makeshift creek during rainy seasons and would be overgrown with not just weeds but riparian plantlife. Locals used to call it "the swamp" and even recall catching frogs there (or would those be called "Froggs?").

Nowadays, part of the right-of-way has been paved over, and relegated to quasi-industrial uses like junkyards or public storage facilities. However, a great deal of the former trackage towards Newport Beach from this end still looks barren.

Seventy minutes from Downtown Los Angeles to Newport Beach...with stops? Granted, there was hardly anything in between the stops back then, mainly oil fields, farms and wetlands. But it's a wonder why this precious right-of-way was never considered to be used for future transit proposals (The reason why is because it was not owned by the PE's property successor, the Southern Pacific Railroad, as properties like the Exposition right-of-way were).

The future of the old Newport right-of-way was discovered during The Militant's visit. Heading back towards the Blue Line after his Militant mission, he happened upon a short (50-foot) bike path, which led him across Hill to a sharrowed Lemon Avenue, which led to a newly-built park containing an exclusive Class I bike path (pictured left). WOW! Long Beach is AWESOME! The Militant can just ride this back to the Blue Line! So he rode and ro...oh.
Long Beyotch, you f'ing cocktease.

All was not lost though. The craftsman-like pedestals on the bike path end structure are exactly the same as the pedestal in the above picture of the under-the-bridge shot. So apparently what The Militant rode on is just the start of what would be a longer bike path, which may or may not take over the entire right-of-way. If the Militant can't ride a train to Newport Beach, then riding his bike from Long Beach is the next best thing.

Forced to ride in the street, he headed due west on 23rd Street and soon found some of these on the way...bike route signage (pictured right). Hmm. So he followed them and soon found himself back on Long Beach Blvd, just south of the Willow Station. Hmmm. Should The Militant hop on the train back to Los Angeles, or continue biking?

To Be Continued... :)