A Century Of Burbank

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!

The Militant to Target: YOU SUCK!

Anyone here shop at Target Stores? Hey, the Militant seems to like that store...up until now. Low prices, stuff is easy to find, relatively good selection, and even that cute TV commercial with the two college freshman dormmate girls dancing around to some catchy dancehall tune, why not? And though the proliferation of Target stores in Southern California has gone seemingly out of control, and contributing to the generic chain store homogenization of the area, well at least using less gas (or no gas at all) in traveling to a conveniently-close Target store must make sense.

On Saturday night, the Militant went to the Target "Greatland" store in Burbank to make about $300 in unspecified purchases. When he asked one of the electronics department dudes to open up the case so he can get a relatively pricey item, the electronics dude asked him, "Would you like to save 10% on your purchase?"

"Um, okay...how?" asked the Miltant.

"All you have to do is sign up for a Target Card," he said.

"Um, no thanks," replied the Militant, not at all interested in adding any sort of line of credit. With the way the financial situation is going in this country, having your money float around in credit isn't such a smart move. And besides, the Militant hates using credit cards, except for emergency situations. Instead, he prefers to make purchases using his bank's ATM/Check Card, which doesn't involve bills or interest rates - it just deducts it from the existing money he has in his checking account (BTW, if any of you people use your bank's ATM'/Check Cards, ALWAYS select "Credit" rather than "ATM" or "Debit." That way the purchase will not incur any ATM or point of purchase fees). The Militant avoids credit like the plague, instead opting to save money up to a certain amount before he makes the actual purchase (gee, what a concept...).

The electrnics dude just set the item in the cash register clerk's conveyor belt, and the Militant, without having to give the electronics dude an answer, soon dealt with the clerk.

She asked him if he would like to sign up for the Target card.

"No thanks, I don't need any other credit card," the Militant firmly replied, as he swiped his ATM/Check Card in the card swiper terminal. The little screen gave him the PIN number prompt, and at that point he selected the "CREDIT" button. He then used the little plastic stylus to write his signature (more like a horribly-pixelated scribble) on the touchscreen, which almost always never resembles his actual pen-written signature.

Then it happened.

The clerk's computer terminal said, "CARD NOT AUTHORIZED. ENTER LAST 4 DIGITS." So she manually entered the last four numbers of the Militant's trusty ATM/Check Card.

"CARD NOT AUTHORIZED."

WTF? Now wait a minute, he didn't have a problem using the card in the past few days. In fact, he just made an ATM withdrawal the previous day. And he didn't make any online purchases registered to another country, as what happened the last time his bank put a protective hold on his card's activity.

The Militant then re-swiped his card, selected "CREDIT," attempted to scribble his horribly-pixellated signature, and then the "LAST 4 DIGITS" prompt came back.

"Would you like to sign up for the Target Card? You can complete your purchase and save 10%. You can just pay it off."

The Militant again politely declined.

"You're pre-approved..."

Oh not not the "pre-approved" bullshiat again. Pre-approved the Militant's ass. How do they even know what his name is? The ATM/Check Card was "declined," after all.

The Militant just decided to cancel the entire order and walked out of that store, empty handed (yes, he did remember to get his card back).

On Sunday, the Militant went to a different store and purchased the same higher-priced electronic item there. No credit card BS, the card was accepted as normal.

The nerve.

Look, as a consumer you are supposed to have the right to not only choose what you want to buy, but how you want to pay for it. You can use your ATM card, a debit card, an ATM/check card, a store card, a credit card, a gift card or something called cash, which is actual, tangible money.

Rigging the cash register terminal to refuse other forms of payment is downright fraudulent (it could have been worse, the Militant could have actually been charged for those items (twice!). They've even gone so low as to decline gift cards! After swiping them more than once, but a quick check to his bank's online service revealed that no purchase had been made after all...phew!). Target clearly does not care about customer choice, and fools their customers to believe there is a problem with their credit/debit cards, and forces their customers to sign up for some lame store card, and even worse, more credit/interest fees to worry about.

Oh yes, the Militant is fully aware that the store forces its sales staff to push these card signups to customers. And it seems like they're really hurting for more card signups. But again, you have a right as a consumer to accept or decline it.

The Militant will not shop at Target anymore, which is too bad, since he likes what they have. But doing stupid-ass tricks to get you to sign up for something you don't really want is a major turn-off. The Militant urges his readers to NOT shop there anymore, and if you must, then ONLY pay in cash. Target sucks!

Driving Smart and Disposing S.A.F.E.

Do not adjust your set (monitor?), the Militant's recent adventure around town did not involve a bicycle, bus or rail vehicle.

Yes, the Militant drove around town.

But of course, when the Militant drives, he drives efficiently, planning trips accordingly so as to waste as little gas, money and time as possible.

The Militant headed out on Saturday morning to Burbank, where two of his Valley-based operatives, who had been in a relationship for several years, finally tied the knot in a nice ceremony. So the Militant had to put his camouflage fatigues away for the day and don a sharp suit - which he bought at the Fashion District a couple years ago - for the occasion. You just had to see it (of course, you probably can't). The reception took place in Downtown Los Angeles, so the Militant took care of a few errands while en route.

First was downtown Burbank, where the Militant parked on the street and made a quick automatic withdrawal of his Militant funds. The Militant also realized he hadn't yet bought the wedding present yet, but never fear, he was able to walk to a nearby store where he was able to purchase the present. All of this convenience saved him the task of driving to separate places, hunting for parking at those destinations and stopping and starting his car several times.

Next, the Militant made a quick trip to a City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation S.A.F.E. (Solvents, Automotive, Flammables, Electronics) Disposal center (pictured right). Say what? See, several days ago the Militant's cathode ray tube-equipped home television set - purchased in the late 1980s - passed away. After it was subsequently replaced with a brand-spanking-new LCD HD television set (HD TV is like, wow...), instead of leaving the deceased television on his curb (like many people do) and further adding to the blight in his neighborhood, he dropped it off at a S.A.F.E. center where they happily accept old electronics and toxic materials for proper disposal or possible recycling. If you are a Los Angeles city resident, please dispose of your old broken crap or motor oil here, and tell your friends about it. This particular center, located right at the Los Angeles-Glendale city border across the 5 freeway from Griffith Park, serves the Hollywood and Northeast Los Angeles areas, and is accessible from the Edenhurst Ave "exit" off of the 5 Freeway Colorado Blvd. on/off ramp. And yes, this meant that, due to the carefully-planned trip, the Militant drove to his friends' wedding with a dead television in the backseat. But hey - the Militant is always prepared...or at least most of the time.

So after the S.A.F.E. center visit, it was direct to Downtown via the 5 and 110. The newlyweds had their wedding reception at, of all places, the Music Center, which sports a few banquet halls within its structure. Even during a few hours of dancing, drinking and celebrating the beginning of the bride and groom's new life together, the Militant got to spend a couple minutes to enjoy the view of the Civic Center from five stories up (pictured left). The Grand Avenue redevelopment project intends to put a large public park in that area, stretching from the Music Center to City Hall. The Militant had to leave the ceremony a little early to make a work assignment in the Jefferson Park area, which he got to on time via the 110 and the 10.

Planning your car trips carefully saves you from much hassle - even though you're still on the road, by efficient planning of automobile trips, it saves you from being on the road when you really didn't need to be.