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

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

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... :)

Long Beach Week: Seven LB Buildings You Should Know About

This week, the Militant Angeleno will be featuring the town 20 miles to the south, for no other reason than because he feels like it. Known for a big boat, an aquarium, Snoop Dogg and the harbor, it also has many other unique qualities to it and its own history. The Militant's Long Beach Week will by no means be comprehensive, and you probably won't be some Longbeachologist by next week, but living basically in the shadow of Los Angeles for its entire history, its time to at least give Long Beach some props. So to The 562, this one's for you.

The Militant has spent an unspecified number of days conducting Militant research in The LBC, and will also pay some additional visits this week, all for you, the reader, for the sole purpose of militant knowledge. So let's start with some landmark structures. Here's seven buildings you should be familiar with in Strong Beach:

1. World Trade Center (1989)

Long Beach's tallest building, located at the far west end of the city's financial district may not have the legendary status of its deceased New Yorker cousins, but it is part of the same family. Speaking of its famous relative, the 30-story building was designed to visually resemble twin towers when viewed from an angle, with the reflective vertical glass column acting as the space between.

True to its era, it more closely resembles its taller local relatives in Downtown Los Angeles and in Century City, with its glass skin elements and its 45-degree axis off the street grid.


2. International Tower (1967)
Downtown condos might be a relatively new phenomenon in Los Angeles, but Long Beach, perhaps the sole So Cal city to boast an oceanfront skyline, has been rocking condos for decades. Prior to the LBC WTC, this was the tallest building in town.

The tower's name, whether intentionally or coincidentally, coincides with Long Beach's official motto: "The International City."

The cylindrical structure, a familiar sight during the annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, was designed by the late prestressed concrete pioneer T.Y. Lin, who also designed SF's Moscone Convention Center.

3. Villa Riviera (1929)

LB's most visual historic structure has quite a history of its own. When built, the 17-story French/Tudor Gothic building was the second-tallest building in Southern California, after Los Angeles City Hall. It was the most well-known survivor of the 6.4-magnitude 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, the aftermath of which which created earthquake codes in Southern California.

Movie star Norma Talmadge once owned the building in the 1930s, and lived in its penthouse.

The apartment building also served as living quarters for visiting U.S. Navy officers during World War II, which used the tower at the top of the building as a lookout for enemy ships.

In 1952, Villa Riviera was the venue for the first-ever Miss Universe pageant.

In 1991 it joined its neighbors and went condo. At over 80 years old, it still holds residences today.

4. Farmers & Merchants Bank Building (1923)
This 10-story building is historically significant in Long Beach as the first skyscraper in the city. Built in an Italian Renaissance style with Greek and Roman elements, it represented its tenant institution well as a major catalyst in the economic growth of the city of Long Beach.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, famed "Pure Rock" station KNAC 105.5 broadcast from the top floor of the Farmers & Merchants building.

The 104-year old bank, not affiliated with the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Los Angeles, still operates today, with branches around Long Beach, South Bay and Orange County.

5. Walter Pyramid (1994)
On the more modern side, this 5,000-seat indoor sports venue, on the campus of California State University, Long Beach, is the home to the school's 49ers basketball and volleyball programs.

The Walter Pyramid, one of only three "mathematically true" pyramid buildings in the United States (The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas and Memphis' Pyramid Arena being the other two).

Originally known as the Long Beach Pyramid, the building changed its name thanks to Dr. Mike and Arline Walter, who donated $2.1 million to the school.

6. Long Beach Cruise Terminal (a.k.a. The Dome Formerly Known To Have Housed The Spruce Goose) (1983)
Believe it or not, Long Beach is home of the world's largest existing geodesic dome. This structure, located next door to some famous boat in Long Beach Harbor, was built in 1983 to house Howard Hughes' ginormous Spruce Goose airplane, which was built here in Los Angeles and flew in LB harbor, albeit briefly, on November 2, 1947. The dome's designer, Don Richter, was an associate of R. Buckminster Fuller, the main jefe when it came to geodesic domes.

After a proposal to build a maritime-based Disney theme park on the site fell through, LB let loose the Spruce Goose in 1992, and it now resides in the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. The dome is currently used as an oversized Carnival cruise ship terminal.


7. Occidental Oil Islands (1964)

Aside from the harbor, oil was the primary economic generator in the Long Beach area in the 20th century, with many places in the LBC and neighboring Signal Hill still sporting oil pumps. Underneath the Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors lie the Wilmington Oil Field, and in the eastern portion of it, four man-made islands, decorated with palm trees and towers make it appear from a distance as some sort of resort (they were designed by the same Walt Disney Imagineers who designed Tomorrowland), but all of them actually house some pretty nasty-looking oil drilling infrastructure.

Built in 1964, the islands were named after late NASA astronauts: Grissom, White, Chafee and Freeman -- the first three dedicated to those who perished during the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission, the latter who died in a training flight.

The oil islands, originally established by Texaco, Humble, Union, Mobil and Shell oil companies are currently operated by Occidental Petroleum.

(Who's Afraid Of) The Art Of Transportation

The Militant celebrated four years of blogging with a nice bike ride on Thursday around Downtown Los Angeles. He felt inspired.

Transportation -- of any and every kind -- is perhaps the most consistent visual motif in Los Angeles. From bikes on the streets to bus lines on the boulevards to cars on the freeway to trains underground to airplanes overhead, we're all about coming from somewhere and going somewhere, with several million reasons, feelings and stories interspersed with every block, exit, stop or station we encounter. Transportation inspires us to react -- whether we cuss, relax, pedal harder, Tweet, blog or even create art.

Donwtown Los Angeles art gallery Crewest, which specializes in modern urban art, is currently exhibiting "The Art Of Transportation," featuring the works of over 30 artists, all depicting visual art on or inspired by various transportation vehicles: from trains to planes to automobiles (buses, bikes, trucks and freeway infrastructure are well-represented too).

Many of the pieces are works of graffiti artists who do pieces on railroad freight cars, some of which are photographs of their pieces. But a few of them have put their pieces on model railroad cars, which are part of the exhibit as well.

One of the artists, Benny Boggs, who goes by the graffiti name "Diar," has a few pieces displayed on G- and HO-scale boxcars (pictured left). What makes his story remarkable was that he was paralyzed from the neck-down in a car accident in 2008, but that didn't let him stop his desire to create. Since then, he's done paintings and model train graffiti pieces -- painted with a brush guided by his mouth.

Aside from a couple paintings and models of graff'd-out NYC subway cars, this exhibit is undeniably Los Angeles, with the familiar local images of miniature freeway signs as a canvas, photos of Metro Rail trains, local freight railroads, even a painting of an old-school RTD bus (That's Metro's predecessor agency for all you newly transplanteds). Best of all, most of the artists are native Angelenos/Southern Californians, so they ain't frontin'!

In case you don't know, this exhibit is MILITANT-APPROVED and y'all should check this out before it closes down on June 26. Crewest is a little east of Gallery Row, around the corner from Blossom Vietnamese restaurant on Main. It's a 4 1/2 block walk from the (M) Pershing Square station. Or you can just bike in -- they were even cool with The Militant bringing his bike inside!

Militant "4" Life: The First Four Years of Militancy!

The Militant hasn't been that active on teh blogz lately, but he just wanted to take a little time out of his day to say that four years ago today, The Militant Angeleno blog began.

Normally every year on this date, the Militant does something interesting, or at least reflects on the past few years of Militancy in the City of Angels.

Four years is not exactly an eternity, but it is a considerable amount of time. If the Militant were an elected official, he would have served one full term. Are you more militant than you were four years ago?

Part of his inactivity is attributed to the fact that part of his job has already been done. The number of blogs and website out there in the local scene are much more in touch, more aware and more proud of the city they represent, and the number of bloggers and blog posts that represent the Uninformed-Los Angeles-hating-yet-you-still-live-here-WTF perspective are kind of rare these days.

And that's not just tooting his own horn. The site blogging.la has of late been doing a series highlighting its contemporaries in the local blog scene, entitled, Blogging (in) LA. About a month ago, writer Sean Bonner (Whom the Militant doesn't know personally, but has definitely been on quite a few group bike rides in the past...shhhh :)), wrote a touching paean to the Militant Angeleno's blog. Bonner went on to share his experience as a decade-long transplant to Los Angeles, but one that has learned to love, appreciate and defend his city (unlike most other transplants...). That meant a lot for The Militant to hear!

The quote of quotes read, "There is no question countless people in LA know more about their own city because of [his] efforts." The Militant won't put up a "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner up on some ship in San Pedro harbor, but it definitely validates the reason why The Militant exists.

The Militant has definitely been a presence on Twitter (follow him if you haven't already!) and it's much easier to do, so in this day an age, he's more than just a mere blogger but a FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH! He's even contemplating getting into Tumblr or something -- not to supplant the MA blog -- but to supplement it. He's even thought of doing his own podcast (locally-born/bred bands/artists, take heed!)

As The Militant alluded to at the beginning of the post, life has gotten in the way of blogging (but his real-life persona is no less militant, he will assure you). Sometimes life is too important to live than to write about.

But The Militant is by no means done, there are more journeys and issues to discuss. He has a list of them ready to go. Some of them take lots of time to research (much like his popular Sacatela Creek and Los Angeles Street Signs posts). Also, the next CicLAvia on October 9 will present an expanded route, which means an updated Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour!

If the Militant is starting out his "second term," then he wants to hear from his "constituents." No, not just "Nice post," but what you think The Militant has been doing right, has been doing wrong, places and issues you would like to see. Of course, The Militant doesn't answer to anyone and does whatever he feels like, but he does want to hear about something that will make him think, or at least inspire him. So, don't be afraid to comment on this post, email him or shoot him a Twitter message.

So here's to another FOUR MORE (unspecified number of) YEARS! STAY MILITANT!

Garden Grove Strawberry Festival: Your Mileage May Berry

Last weekend, The Militant headed up Highway 1 to Ventura County and had a berry good time at the California Strawberry Festival in Oxnard. In short, it was a celebration of all things strawberry, with everything from strawberry beer to strawberry nachos, plus an arts and crafts bazaar, rides for the kids, a neato shuttle bus service and the exotic sight of rural farmland just a couple miles away.

The Militant soon caught wind of another Strawberry Festival, this time somewhat closer to home, in Orange County - the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, going on this Memorial Day weekend.

As good as the Oxnard festival was, the Garden Grove has a lot going for it: 53 years of tradition, four days of fest (Friday-Monday) going as late as 10 p.m., and the best admission price of all: FREE. The Militant never had a chance to check this one out before, so on Saturday, he got his ass down the 5 (Well, more like down the 5, the 605, the 405 and the 22) to check it out.

Unlike the Oxnard fest, this isn't sequestered in a relatively inaccessible part of town: This is the heart of Garden Grove, in its Civic Center, at the triangle-shaped Euclid Park, surrounded by its city hall, library, community center, high school, a community college and a few churches - meaning parking is near and free.

Unfortunately for The Militant, that's where its advantages end.

Upon first glance, the crowd looked the same, though replace the Dodger gear in Oxnard with Angels apparel and switch the VC baby boomers with OC teenagers.

The Militant was so looking forward to eclectic strawberry-themed foods, but pretty much all they really had were strawberry shortcakes, funnel cake and smoothies (which was more of a watery, pink drink than the awesome thick red slush at Oxnard). There was a lot of action though, but more in the way of carnival rides and the usual crafts and marketing items booths.

In general, the "Garden Grove Strawberry Festival" is just a regular carnival that happens to have a strawberry theme.

The Militant did have, in addition to the smoothie, a "Strawberry Royale" (Is that a strawberry quarter pounder in France?) - pictured right, which is more or less a strawberry shortcake, albeit with strawberry bread. And that pretty much was it.

Sorry, no strawberry beer or strawberry margaritas here. Remember, this is Orange County.

Actually there were slightly more: One booth had strawberry crepes (though it was nothing more than a standard nutella crepe with two berries added), another had strawberry cheesecake (again, regular cheesecake with a couple strawberrys put on top). Still, it lacked the strawber-riety the Oxnard festival had.

The food prices were higher ($4 for the watery smoothie vs. $2.50 for the awesome Oxnard smoothie) but to be fair, the Garden Grove festival was free and all proceeds (over $100,000 worth) go to various charities, nonprofits, scholarships, school and youth organizations in the area. Nothing here was unreasonably overpriced (except for the one booth that sold baskets and flats of strawberries -- at twice the Oxnard price). Worst of all, The Militant didn't see any off-site (or even on-site) strawberry stands. Boooo!

As for the entertainment, for some reason the Garden Grove fest's organizers placed the main band stage several hundred feet away from the rest of the action. The Oxnard fest's stages were much more closer and actually felt like a part of the festival. And furthermore, though both strawberry festivals had old school R&B-ish cover bands, the quality of music was much better in Oxnard (Guess it really is true that Ventura County is the 4th biggest music area in the US).

Now don't get The Militant wrong -- if you're looking for something fun to do with the family on Memorial Day weekend, by all means come to the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. The kids will have fun on the rides, but don't expect to get all "Berry'd Out."

The Militant will stop short of saying this event is a fail. It is, after all, a community-run, community-sustaining event with over a half-century of tradition. Admission and parking are free so, it's no ripoff by any means. But who ever knew that semi-rural Ventura County would be a much more happening place than the suburban (and thus relatively more dense) Orange County?

The Garden Grove Strawberry Festival continues Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Memorial Day Monday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

In honor of the 2011 Garden Grove Strawberry Festival's theme, "Celebrates The Sweet Sounds Of Comedy" (What is that, Engrish or something?), here's some more pics The Militant took:

DEAR ORANGE COUNTY KOREANS: PLEASE STOP WATERING DOWN YOUR CULTURE.

Parents, think twice about a festival that allows your kids to "ride Michael Jackson."
(Actually this ride was so-named because it was one of the original rides
from MJ's Neverland Ranch)

Unlike the real thing, you can't search for the "Double Rainbow" here.

The one redeeming quality of having all these carnival rides was that
The Militant can just wave around his Militant Cam and take pictures like this...

...and this.

The Militant's Response to 'Some Guidelines On How To Be A True Angeleno'

As if in a flash, the Militant's Facebooks and Twitters blew up with people forwarding the link to Los Angeles Times columnist Hector Tobar's entry today, entitled, "Some guidelines on how to be a true Angeleno."

First off, this blog post is not about hateration. In fact, Tobar (pictured left) is one of The Militant's favorite Times columnists. And The Militant pretty much agrees with what Tobar is saying in the column. Although, The Militant may or may not be tickled that the mainstream media is finally talking about the things that yours truly has been writing about for years. But hey, even though the Hector Tobar isn't the Militant Angeleno, he certainly is the closest thing to it down there at Times Mirror Square.

This post is not so much a rebuttal to Tobar's column, but more of an addendum to the conversation. And damnit, this kind of subject matter is The Militant's virtual gang turf. So he's gotta represent!

So let's do this:

1. Don't fawn over celebrities.
True dat. The Militant never learned it in school (they don't really teach you anything that pertains to the real world at the LAUSD), but somehow he's instinctively learned not to be starstruck. First of all, it's sort of understood that one needs to respect celebs' privacy. The other matter is, when The Militant actually sees celebs on the street or at the supermarket, he isn't quite sure it's them. You'd feel like a total ass and a half if what you thought was a celebrity turned out to be Just Someone Who Happens To Look Like Them...or worse - an actual wannabe who is hoping you'd fall into their trap.

There is one exception, and that is celebrities who you truly, totally, admire. The Militant met an unspecified celebrity randomly once while shopping at an unspecified store. He was shaking in his boots. But he got his composure together and, in a casual manner, approached the unspecified star during an opportune moment after the salesperson left that unspecified celeb alone. But there were no autograph or photograph (well, this was the days before everyone had digital cameras and smartphones) requests. The Militant just wanted to have a brief conversation with the unnamed famous person, shake their hand and tell them how influential that person has been to him. Done and done and done, and it was one of The Militant's greatest experiences.

2. Use your turn signals.
Word. You paid for your car, right? So get your freaking money's worth. Use the turn signals.

3. Barbecue, garden, enjoy the outdoors
Definitely. Barbecue? Check. Garden? That's not The Militant's thing, but one of The Militant's operatives keeps preaching the gospel of California native plants. The Militant is gradually learning about them (if only for the historical perspective), so he may or may not cover this subject later. But this Militant Angeleno will not drive 20 miles just to go for a walk. He can walk, bike or Metro there. It's part of the adventure. You can, however drive just an hour away and be in the mountains, or on a farm. Because we can do that here.

4. Be cool with ethnic diversity.
Be cool? This is part of the Militant's freaking life! He lives ethnic diversity. If diversity is some foreign concept you have to learn how to merely "be cool" with, The Militant does not want to waste his time on your podunk n00b Why-Is-There-No-Cheese-In-My-Taco ass. Next!

(Although people do ask the Militant in person, "What are you?" He chooses to have lots of fun with that...)

5. Know your shortcuts.
If you use your GPS for anything other than locating a house on an obscure sidestreet or finding the nearest applicable ATM, you need to be slapped. The Militant has the Thomas Guide memorized. BOTH VERSIONS.

6. Appreciate Vin Scully.
The bigger Militant issue is more like, how can one actually appreciate a Dodger game when it's not called by Vinny? And, when the time comes where Scully retires or meets The Great Dodger In The Sky (later than sooner! later than sooner!)...Will AI technology be advanced enough to replicate the legendary announcer's voice, diction, prose and idiosyncracies?

7. Acknowledge and respect local traditions.
Yeah. And this includes spelling Silver Lake as two words, and knowing that "The Eastside" is east of the Los Angeles River, damnit.

8. Don't ever say: "L.A. doesn't have any seasons."
Because, as you might have been noticing lately, we can go through all four seasons in the span of a week or two.

9. Don't wear your civic pride on your sleeve.
Okay, this is the only one where The Militant vehemently disagrees on. The Militant will dissect Tobar's explanation:

Your typical Boston or Seattle resident can get pretty snippety about how great his city is. A real Angeleno, however, is too world-wise to claim his city is perfect.

Yes, we all know about the snippety transplant. But does civic pride always have to mean one's city is perfect? Of course not, and shame on you Tobar for assuming that. Of course a transplant, as proud as they are, wearing their stupid little Yankees cap around this town may not admit openly that their hometown is perfect, but the fact that they live here is an unspoken admission of its imperfectness. After all, if it were perfect, they would still be living there.

But what is wrong with having civic pride? The Militant has long believed this is something we need to change. Don't let yourself be drowned out by the civic pride of the transplanted on YOUR TURF. That is an insult to you. Stand up! REPRESENT!

We know ours is a flawed paradise. We recognize and complain about its faults, but we still wouldn't live anywhere else.

Is any place free from flaws, really? Even the most Liveable Cities According To Forbes Or The Economist Or Mercer's has their own problems and issues. But you don't know about them because you don't live there.

But recognizing and complaining and complaining about faults shouldn't just be the end of the game. You can get involved, you can do something about it. The Militant is, why aren't you?

10. Define it your own way.
Yeah, it's called http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com. BOO-YA!

Guess there are Angelenos, and True Angelenos. But then there are Militant Angelenos.

California Strawberry Festival: A Berry Good Time

Okay, it's Spring and what to do...within a few miles radius of The Militant Compound is the Silver Lake Jubilee, but from his experience during last year's inaugural event, it was just a bunch of awful hipster bands, redeemed only by a large collection of food trucks. Besides, by the definition of the word "jubilee," isn't the next one supposed to be in 2060 instead of this weekend?

So f dat. The Militant decided to leave the bike at the compound and head on up the coast and to Oxnard (which you all should know by now is one of the great music capitals of America), where the annual California Strawberry Festival is also on this weekend.

Deciding to drive up the coast (No Metrolink Ventura County service on weekends, sorry to say) turned out to be a nice decision; The Militant opted to take PCH straight up from Santa Monica through Malibu and on to Ventura County, where the ocean view alone struck up a swelling of California pride in the Militant.

Arriving in Oxnard around an hour later, he decided to take advantage of the festival's free shuttle bus service, from five park-n-ride locations around Oxnard feeding into the festival grounds at that city's College Park. It was surprisingly convenient, coming from the Centerpoint Mall parking lot, where the Militant only had to wait but one minute before the shuttle bus (a re-commissioned school bus actually, but 'tis cool) arrived. Sweet!

For those who haven't been, this festival is about anything and everything fragaria ananassa. There's all sorts of strawberry-related food and drink, strawberry-themed rides and an arts and crafts bazaar which may or may not be strawberry-related. There's also a bunch of local cover bands that perform (guess that whole music city thing was no joke after all...) on a few stages.

The Militant had been to the Strawberry Festival before, back in 2004. While it was a great fete in honor of the area's top agricultural crop, he also not-so-fondly remembered dusty parking lots, muddy grassy fields and long-ass lines for food.

Severn years later, things were different -- in the good way. The park had been remodeled somewhat since last time and the configuration of the festival had changed and grown. Most of all, there were two food court areas instead of just one, and the lines were considerably shorter (although the Militant got there quite late in the day, with only but an hour and 20 minutes to enjoy the festival).

With but 80 minutes to enjoy this thing, there was no time to spare! Right upon entry, he tried the reasonably-priced $2.50 strawberry smoothie, which really hit the spot. After navigating the arts & crafts section, he tried a glass of strawberry beer ($10, reeeeeeal subtle, folks...but hey you get a nice souvenir glass). Then came the popular build-your-own strawberry shortcake pavilion ($5 for all the strawberries, strawberry jelly, pound cake and whipped cream you can cram in a bowl). By then The Militant was almost all berry'd out. The strawberry pizza and strawberry nachos would have to wait until next year (relax, they're both dessert-type foods with only a slight resemblance to their namesakes).

Though there were strawberry vendors onsite at the festival, the Militant went out into the nearby Oxnard farmlands to get the real deals. He was even recognized by the vendors of one of the certified farmer's markets he frequents regularly, who set up a stand at their farm. They even gave him a discount after he bought two flats of strawberries (he can be rather hardcore with these things...)

With the sun setting over the agricultural wonderland that is Oxnard, The Militant headed back to Los Angeles via the 101 and made it back to The Compound in around an hour. He had almost forgotten that the large metropolis of Los Angeles is only an hour away from farming areas; a slight reminder of Los Angeles' past and how fortunate we are to be relatively close to places that are decidedly non-urban, if we choose to get away from the concrete and asphalt of our environment, if only for a few hours.

The California Strawberry Festival continues Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission is $12. Parking is $10 so you should really take advantage of that shuttle. If you missed this one, fear not, for there is another strawberry festival next weekend (Friday-Monday), this time in Garden Grove.

Snapshot: Can You Say LAWSUIT?

The Militant sure hopes the operator of this food truck has a good legal team (Berendo St and Beverly Blvd, Koreatown).

Dreams Of Field

At approximately 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, The Militant received a voice mail from one of his operatives:

"Hey [name withheld], call me up, I got a ticket to the game today..."

The Militant knew he was talking about the Dodger game, which was a 12:10 p.m. "businessman's special" match against the Chicago Cubs. He had a few militant and extramilitant activities to do that day, but he is also all about spontaneity. So a call to the operative yielded further information.

"Dude, one of my friends got us VIP field level seats, I got an extra one. You down?"

Hmmmmmm....The Militant thought hard about this one. Although he attended Opening Day, he does want to honor his "Deport McCourt" quasi-boycott, just like nearly every other Dodger fan these days...but Field Level seats? For free? That adds to the ethical conundru....

Wait, this is a free Field Level ticket -- Okay, he was down.

After hopping on a (M) Red Line train and meeting with the operative at an undisclosed location in Chinatown, he carpooled with the operative and two of the operative's friends to The Stadium. Normally, those involved in a carpool would have to fork over a percentage of the $15 parking cost, but the person driving showed a VIP parking pass, so nothing out-of-pocket for us so far!

Upon arriving at the mostly-empty stadium (even the annual UCLA-USC games here seem to get more people...) he was also on the look out for the Dodgertown Police State, with tons of uniformed LAPD officers standing guard to avoid another Bryan Stow incident. Yes, they were present, but it wasn't like we were in Soviet Russia or anything like that.

Then we took our seats. DAYUMN.

The Militant, more accustomed to sitting in Infield Reserve, occasionally Top Deck, and once in a while Loge when he wants to spoil himself, isn't used to Field Level. He only sat in Field two or three times before, but not this close. He was three rows behind the actual field. Had he knew he would have been this close, he would have brought a glove. Seriously, because this was potential foul territory.

The vantage point of the game was radically different here. It was actually a little harder to follow, since you're nearly at level with the field, and don't have the full view of the diamond below you. Line drives towards the left field side are hard to discern, as with any base calls at third. However, double plays were awesome from here. James Loney becomes your homeboy by default. Davey Freaking Lopes was like standing right on front of you.

To add to the situation, this was a different game altogether. Most of all the team wore their baby-blue Kansas City Royals Brooklyn Dodgers (circa 1940s) throwback uniforms. And because it was a "throwback" game, the Cubs also wore their own retro threads. Likewise, the contemporary rock/hip-hop/reggaeton/merengue at-bat music was nixed altogether to simulate an old-school baseball experience. Even the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" performances were done as instrumentals courtesy of Nancy Bea Hefley.

The game was pretty lame anyway; Andre Streak-ier was not in the lineup, Jay Gibbons batted in the three-hole (Whaaat?) and former-former-Dodger Dioner Navarro (and not The Pride of Norwalk, Rod Barajas) was behind the plate. It's as if they planned on losing the game. On top of that there was this freaking annoying Cubs fan in the row in front of us. Arrrrrgh!

But what mitigated all that was The Prime Ticket Club. Our fancy-schmancy tickets (From a business associate of a friend of the Militant's operative) entitled us to access the exclusive bar/buffet area towards the end of the Field Level, where we could treat ourselves - for free - to a salad bar, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, hot wings, roast beef, pasta and Dodger Dogs. There was also a full-service bar (not free though) and free fountain drinks, coffee and soft-serve frozen yogurt. Like whoah. You show your ticket on the first visit, they stamp a "?" on your inner left wrist, and you've gained AYCE status for the rest of the game (Sitting in the 90-degree heat, though, left The Militant sunbaked, and multiple trips for soft serve frozen yogurt were made).

It was the free grub alone that made a 5-1 loss to the Cubs not that bad. Can you imagine if every fan in the stadium had this luxury? Stadium violence would be rendered nonexistent (Unless you're talking about a food fight...). Perhaps the team should just spend the money they're forking over for all that overkill police protection on subsidizing the stadium food (Got that, Mr. Schieffer?).

But the best part of Wednesday's game was that The Militant and the others in his group didn't have to pay a cent for the tickets, for parking nor for food. Nada. Zip. $0.00. The Militant got to take in a Dodger game and not a single cent went to the McCourt Regime! Bahahaha! Up yours, Frankie boy!