I’m guilty of more than a few.  You?  I particularly like the dig about moving to the West Side…a place I barely know as there is simply no easy way to get there from where I live and there is never any parking.  There, I said it.

This from the official LA Fire web site:

A Red Flag Condition has been issued for Los Angeles City.
Red Flag Restricted Parking will be in effect from

From
Sunday, January 8, 2012 08:00 AM
to
Monday, January 9, 2012 08:00 AM
or
until further notice.

For details by neighborhood who is in restricted parking areas for red flag days check the LAFD Web HERE.

If you want to sign up for email notice of these check the LAFD Web HERE.

gift bags for the neighbors all loaded and ready for delivery

Over the course of the last week or so we’ve given you ideas for Holiday giving.  These represented a variety of ways to give to charities and causes near and dear to us.

A list of those ways to give back a little of yourself to L.A.:

• FixNation
• Foothill Unity Center
• Cri-Help Treatment Centers
• Occupy L.A.
• Five Acres 
• The Library
• Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
• Chihuahua Rescue

Of course it is never too late to chime in with you own ideas for giving back to the community in the comments here.

It is what it is and this spokesperson at least gives a cohesive reason why the parade should be disrupted.  Although I don’t agree with it in its entirety, something has gone horribly wrong where this once largely free event is now costing us a fortune to even view the floats after the fact at Victory Park.  Hell, even some of the floats charge “Volunteers” for the privilege of helping to decorate.  If they disrupt I fear they stand more to lose more potential followers than they can gain. Is this being naughty or nice is up for debate.

5 acres logo

Five Acres is a child services organization in Altadena that specializes in helping abused kids.  It started in 1888 as an orphanage for Los Angeles County and today has grown to include full service to families where child abuse and neglect is an issue.  They have been creamed with the loss of government and private grants as the economy has tanked yet the kids needs has not changed.  They are in need of financial assistance now more than ever.

I apologize for the late notice but they are in need of help with their “Holidays and Family Angels” program.  They have a deadline of today to help if you can.  What they need is volunteers to adopt a family of 2-10 members and provide them with Holiday gifts.  If you can spare the extra right now this is a great way to bring a little joy to the season for a family.  More information can be had on this program by contacting Danielle Barr at 626-798-6793 ext 2250 or emailing her at dbarr@5acres.org

For more information visit their web. Other contact information on the group: Five Acres – The Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society of Los Angeles County,760 W Mountain View St.Altadena,CA 91001, (626) 798-6793

Serving families in need in the SGV is the Foothill Unity Center.  They are in need of more help than ever due to the ever increasing demands on them as a resource for families in distress.  Over Thanksgiving they served over 2,000 families up from some 1,600 a year ago.  Things aren’t getting better and they need all the help they can get for this Holiday Season.

They have a nifty page on what they need right now to get ready for Christmas.  They need food items.  They need gifts for kids.  They need to have volunteers to help with the distribution.  That is 3 ways to help them out, not including the constant need for cash donations.

If you have someone on your list that has everything, consider making a gift to the Foothill Unity Center in their name this Holiday Season.

For more complete information on the Foothill Unity Center visit their web site.

Monrovia Center: 415 W. Chestnut Ave., Monrovia 91016 Phone: (626) 358-3486 / Fax: (626) 358-8224 Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm Monday through Friday.

Pasadena Center: 191 N. Oak Ave., Pasadena 91107 Phone: (626) 584-7420 / Fax: (626) 584-7422 Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm Monday through Friday.

Christmas in full swing in my 'hood

Over the next several days the writers here at Blogging.LA will be sharing with you ideas to help those in need in the Los Angeles Area.  We will cover a variety of ways to help from charities to causes that we hold near to our hearts.  And giving doesn’t have to be monetary, it can be your labors, your gifts in kind even raiding your pantry to help others out.  You don’t have to be religious either, much of what we share will strike a cord at least with your humanist and spiritual side.

Of course, feel free to jump in on the comments with your favorite charity or cause that needs a little extra help this time of year…include links where possible so others can help if they are so inclined.

screen grab with the announcement no Fesitval of Lights

Busy looking for things to do different than the Hastings Ranch or Christmas Tree Lane displays to take the out-of-towners to this year I decided to look for the details on the Festival of Lights.  Imagine my surprise to learn that an infrastructure project has it cancelled for this year. More details on the cancellation HERE.  With Griffith Park out of the picture am on the hunt for something equally grand…ideas anyone?

Heater Meal heating

The power going out in some ways turned out to be a nice little lesson on survival after the “Big One”.  In my corner of the SGV trees didn’t just break apart they were uprooted with giant rootballs leaving craters behind.  All that flying and falling trees made for numerous power lines down and power out for me for two-and-a-half days.  The clean up was all outside instead of inside, but still took plenty of man power to get things back in order, not unlike the aftermath of Northridge.

Once it became apparent that it would be days instead of hours before power was restored my neighbors and I got the brilliant idea to cook up all the perisables in our fridges and have a giant “candlelight potluck” party on the first night.  Chilly as it was in the house it was fun just talking with the neighbors, commiserating on the lack of power and just feasting and enjoying all the wine. Read the rest of this entry →

8 years ago today the very first post went up here at blogging.la.  I for one have had a ton of fun and some interesting adventures courtesy this blog.  We’ve done a lot from the inane parking tard posts, to series to contests to Classic Eats and the Donut Summit.  We’ve blogged from the heart  covering everything from Downtown to the fringes of the suburbs and everything in between.   A lot of L.A. has been documented on this blog.  What has been your favorite post here?

Oinkster Pastrami with Fries and Garlic Aioli

The Oinkster in Eagle Rock was our stop for dinner last night after the Auto Show. I learned about this place from my neighbor who gets around the city even more than I do. I was impressed.

Not being shy about hurling superlatives let me tell you that the “Oinkster Pastrami” was just about the best, scratch that, The Best pastrami sandwich I have ever had.  It is your classic corned beef that is hand pickled and roasted there.  It is the perfect blend of spice to slow cooked beef flavor without being too salty to enjoy.  It is on a french roll with sauteed onions, melty Gruyere cheese and red cabbage slaw.

Even the fries aren’t standard fast food fries. They are billed as Belgian Fries” and are double dipped for a nice crunch.  They are served with a nice garlic aioli…nice because yes you taste the garlic but its not so strong that it kills your taste buds for anything else. Read the rest of this entry →

Cadillac ELR formerly known as the Converj coming to us soon.

Wednesday I got to meet up with GM exec Jim Federico, Executive Director of Engineering, Electric Vehicles at the L.A. Auto Show. I got to ask some of my own questions as well as those you readers posed as part of the ticket contest I was able to run. It was an interesting visit, certainly a lot of information with some answers as well. Where to start with the questions and answers is my big dilemma.

Al Pavangkanan posed the question regarding new battery technology. Jim couldn’t give specifics of what they have in store but did say that they are working with the battery suppliers to develop new technologies that will give us more power for the size compared to what we have now. The problem all the manufacturers have run into is that there isn’t a rush to develop batteries as there isn’t really a market demand for them yet in quantities to offset their costs. Those costs affect what we pay for an EV now, but as demand increases, production increases there will be more incentive to develop new battery technology and help lower costs.  Read the rest of this entry →

The good folks at the L.A. Auto Show hooked me up with a Family 4 pack of tickets…that’s admission for 4 to this years show that will run November 18-27 at the Convention Center.  You’ll need to read the whole post in order to get to the details on what to do to win.

I’m really jazzed that the L.A. Auto Show has invited me back for Press Days this year which is this Wednesday and Thursday.  There is so much going on with some 50 premieres set for those days.  Add in the Green Car of the Year award and the press days driving of the green cars there is much to do and tell about. Read the rest of this entry →

File this under found on road alive.  A Redondo Beach man bought the car new in 1964 and had it for 20 years before he sold it. His sons went upon the quest to find the car and return it to him. The quest led across the country where they finally found the car on a lot in Canada. They bought it and returned it to him as a gift.

In the land that rust forgot what old car from your past would you like to have back?  For me its a mixed bag but the one I regret selling the most that I’d love to have back is my old ’72 Centurion which took us on many a road trip to the beach and shows all over the L.A. area.

Its hard to pick out what is “normal”  Hollywood Blvd weirdness vs regular stuff on Halloween.  A few more in costumes and begging to be photographed videoed for free is probably the only difference. Its sort of Halloween Light compared to the insanity that is WeHo but it is subway easy and still festive enough.  His original blog post HERE.