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I love reading the crime blotter in local papers, and today the Los Feliz Ledger outshines them all. (sorry but link is to last month’s issue)

Folks, I’m not making this up – is it just me or is it only in Silver Lake that the robbers would be sure to take the money AND the candles too?

The Ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier has been sold on eBay to a real estate investor from Oklahoma City. Oh, and the wheel is located in something called Pacific Park. Did anyone know that was the real name for the amusement park on the Pier?
more after the parachute jump

Knowing that I used to work at Sunset & Vine (some people still think I work there), I got several messages from people warning me about a large fire currently happening in the vicinity at Hollywood & Vine (google maps link is approximate; 6263 W Hollywood Blvd doesn’t currently come up on Google Maps).

Please be careful if you are traveling through the Hollywood area this morning…

The LAFD Alerts are as follows:

*Greater Alarm Fire* 6263 W. Hollywood Bl.; TG 593-F4; FS 27, 1 story commercial w/ heavy smoke & fire. No add’l info @ this time.; Ch:7,12,14 @5:31 AM -d’Lisa Davies###

*UPDATE: 6263 W. Hollywood Bl.* 115 Firefighters or 23 companies assigned to fire. Traffic being diverted between Argyle & Ivar (east / west), Yucca & Selma (north / south). – d’Lisa Davies###

According to NBC4.tv:

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles firefighters are battling a major blaze inside a restaurant bar at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood.

The flames broke out early Wednesday in a building being renovated at the famous Los Angeles intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, in the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard. KNBC reported that the building is the location of the Basque nightclub. Los Angeles city fire officials said the restaurant/bar where the fire broke out was unoccupied.The fire was called in at about 5:30 a.m; 4-foot flames could be seen shooting through the roof at 6 a.m. A plume of smoke could be seen for miles. KNBC’s Robert Kovacik said firefighters expected to be battling flames until at least 8:30 a.m.

See images courtesy of NBC4 here or video from CBS2 here

UPDATE: Buses are being diverted; Hollywood & Vine Metro stop is currently closed open. Expect traffic to be affected for the rest of the morning.

UPDATE @ 8am: KNOCKDOWN!

*UPDATE: 6263 W. Hollywood Bl.* Knockdown time 0758, approx. 2 hrs, 27 min. No reports of injury @ this time. – d’Lisa Davies###

ASIDE: This is the second major fire in that vicinity this week. Did you know that just a few blocks south of Hollywood and Vine, Off-Vine caught fire during dinner time this past Sunday? They are now closed until further notice.

Good news for people who hate fans, air conditioning, traffic lights, and electricity in general:

The state’s power grid operator California Independent System Operator said the likelihood of going to a Stage 3 power emergency is 10 percent compared to 3 percent last year. In Stage 3 emergencies, power is cut to certain customers to prevent collapse of the power system. [NBC San Diego]

On the bright side, these brown outs always give everyone a taste of what post-earthquake life could be like. They also add to the immediate need and practicality of having a fully stocked “earthquake kit” with candles, flashlights, water, etc.

UPDATE 4:25PM The evacuation zone has expanded again.  This time into Pasadena east of Michillinda affecting those residents on Skycrest and Park Vista Drive.  The evacuation for those streets in Sierra Madre EAST of Camarillo Street to Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia has been lifted and those residents may return home. 

————-

Since my initial posts a lot has happened and there is some good news out there.  As of about an hour ago the evacuation zone has been expanded.

My friend Kate whom I mentioned in my update late Saturday did in fact wind up having her godson Phillip at her house for the night as he lacked ID to enter the voluntary evacuation area.   A few hours later his Mom Debbie and the rest of the clan wound up at Kate’s home here in Monrovia to ride out the fire. 

Kate and Debbie have been watching the fire from the Eaton Canyon Dam where they can safely observe the fire and see the helicopters refilling at Eaton Canyon Dam.  They have placed a few frantic calls to me when the fire started expanding rapidly and moving downhill around 11AM and again around 2PM.  They are able to report from their vantage point that no homes had been lost yet.

Their request…looky loos stay out of Sierra Madre so fire crews can get in and out as well as help get the newer evacuees out.  Please.

The best blog for most current first hand info is a toss up.  Foothill Cities Blog comments have a lot of first hand information going out.  Crime Scene Blog has experienced reporters keeping very current information posted as well.  Also, Sierra Madre.net has been updating information constantly for the community.

Tom Leveque with the Arcadia PD, put up a short note on the APOA Blog.  He has left comments that many of the foothill communities are lending police support to help prevent problems in the community not unlike was done in Monrovia when our gang war erupted. 

Blogger 91204 was evacuated from his home early this morning and is unble to blog further.

It looks like the common name being referred to now that the fire has shifted around is the Chantry Flats Fire.  It continues to threaten some 100-350 homes in Sierra Madre.  There are areas of mandatory and voluntary evacuations in Sierra Madre.  Containment is reported to be less than 5%.  The local TV stations all have their own stories on the fire up this morning. 

The Sierra Madre Blog by “91204″ will be the one to watch as he is literally blocks away from the fire. 

Photo courtesy of “auntialias” and used with her permission, follow her blog 2020hindsight for details on the fire as well.  Her photo was taken from Huntington Oaks center in Monrovia about 5 miles SSE from the fire.

More on the fire and a few personal accounts after the jump Read the rest of this entry →

The city of Sierra Madre has listed Mandatory and Voluntary evacuations HERE.on its city web site.

 ”91204” who writes the Sierra Madre Blog has some photos on his blog HERE.

This picture and those after the jump are from my friend Shane Nichols and used with his permission.  He was in a North Eastern neighborhood in Sierra Madre just before sunset.  He does report no homes were lost in the area he was watching.  The photos of course are used with his permission.  I also have some pictures from earlier in the day on FLICKR. Read the rest of this entry →

8:30PM Some comments and information from TheFCBlog on the fire. 

1. Mt. Wilson Trail Resident Says:
   April 26th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

   I am directly across the canyon from where the fire has come over the ridge from the road. It is now 7PM and we have been watching since around 4. It is MUCh farther over the ridge now. We hear sirens in the canyon area below us and just heard that a voluntary evacuation of the canyon has started. The choppers and fixed wings are still dropping but the fire just keeps popping back up.

2. x Says:
   April 26th, 2008 at 7:39 pm sunrise hill is voluntary evacuation. the police are still getting hikers down from chantry!
3. me Says:
   April 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm Camillo voluntary evacuation at about7:45
4. x Says:
   April 26th, 2008 at 8:06 pm 3 hail marys an our father and glory be to the helicopter pilots. if you live up there try and get the people off the streets that are looking. it sounds l;ike they are blocking fire and police
5. William Says:
   April 26th, 2008 at 8:21 pm I looks so much worse when night falls. LA County said it would take a couple of days to contain. We’re lucky. Low wind.

And a quick pic and post from 91204 at the Sierra Madre Blog

7:30 PM Update.  Fire shifted and moving towards homes in Sierra Madre.  My friend Shane called me from the fire line.  He grew up in Arcadia and was up there with friends.  He just called.  He advised that he is a “few blocks west” of Santa Anita Avenue in Sierra Madre ”with his good camera” and will get some pics.  He said that there has been a flare up and the fire is straight up a hill some 300-400 feet from homes.  As I type this I hear multiple sirens from the Monrovia Fire Dept, presumably heading that way. 

7:20PM Update NBC 4 reported that there were 80-100 boy scouts in the area that are sequestered and will be escorted down in a few hours when the fire blocking one of their exits is under control.  (NBC has no link on their site)  KCBS has a short report  and video.  No homes threatened.  Smokey and ashy here in outer monrovia…and damn I washed and waxed my wifes car this morning. 

The fire is east of the Chantry Flats area of the San Gabriel Mountains according to LA County Fire and Arcadia Fire officers I spoke with.   The fire is approx 2-3 miles north of the city limits from the top of Santa Anita Avenue.  There are two small subdivisions near the end of Santa Anita Avenue and those homes are not threatened.  With the wind blowing more or less north and east away from the community the fire officers I spoke with advised they did not think there would be any immediate threats to homes. 

The could not answer what the cause might have been.  Total burned one guess given to me was maybe 20-25 acres.

LA County Fire, US Forest Service Fire, Arcadia Fire and Sierra Madre Fire have units at the scene.  There are also at least 2 helicopters dropping water.  Pasadena PD and Sierra Madre PD were there helping Arcadia PD with traffic and crowd control.

Arriving on the scene it could have been a neighborhood block party.  Neighbors talking about the last big fire in that general area right after Christmas 1999.   One neighbor opined that the fire had been going since late morning and that there were fire trucks up and down the street all morning and with no sense of urgency.  There were discussion plans if they were required to evacuate but they did not feel a sense of urgency as the fire was still relatively small.

Another neighbor told me that the fire really started smoking heavy and they could see flames come up over the ridge and climb the mountain.

I got a call from my neighbor Shane who saw the smoke and headed up there around 4PM (I was headed out by then).  He said that around 4:30 – 4:45PM the fire seemed to erupt and start spreading faster with our “sun downer” winds.  The smoke is much more visible from my house about 5 miles away and it is definitely drifting more east right now.  More photos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →

I was just heading out to get some dinner when I noticed this smoke from a fire billowing up from the general area of Santa Anita Canyon north of Arcadia.  That area last burned 12/26/99 if memor serves correct.

I’m heading that general direction shortly and will update with more information and photos.

With the temp at the house at an uncomfortable 101 I hope this is not the official start of Fire Season.

So I haven’t picked up a Weekly in months, not so much because it sucks or anything but because the newsweekly recyclers hit the stacks near my house before I can even grab one. (It’s a huge racket in the paper biz–one delivery guy drops off his papers, then grabs everyone else’s & recycles them for cash, ’cause, well, he’s broke.) But a little bird just notified me this is the fourth straight Weekly without Tom Tomorrow, Kaz, Lynda Barry, Tony Millionaire or Carol Lay. Wot? Srsly? Is this true?

Said birdie also was annoyed that the comics seem to have been cut, while “Nightranger” stayed. I have to admit a weakness for Nightranger, because I love prognosticating new fashion trends (sorry). However I certainly see less social merit in ‘Ranger than in the cartoons, which were politically subversive & great social commentary. Losing them & keeping Nightranger’s socially myopic navel-gazing with its blank-glazed ironic-haired clubbers idiotequeing in rainbow sherbet-colored lights (not Lina’s fault, it’s her gig and she does it well, with a good eye & good writing–it’s just that a “society” beat is, by its nature, lacking much content) is disconcertingly symbolic of changes that seem to be happening not just at the Weekly, but throughout much of the “free” press, and, of course, to bring my argument narrowly close to grandiosity, our culture itself.

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. Taco trucks eliminated in LA?!

While the new law that requires the trucks to move every hour may result in an exciting scavenger-hunt style city rampage for those who enjoy the thrill of the chase, I tell you, THIS SHALL NOT STAND.

“Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has pased new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.

Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose.

Let’s send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. Go to SaveOurTacoTrucks.org to sign the petition!”

Petition?!? This requires more than a petition. This requires riots in the streets! Class issues, race issues, personal freedoms (shouldn’t I be able to eat on the razor’s edge of tepid mystery meat if I effing want to?) and issues about the diversity of foodstuffs in this city figure into this argument. Please pass the word: a petition isn’t enough. This requires serious media scrutiny & public outrage. Besides, without taco trucks, 1/3 of all LA-based blog subject matter is immediately wiped from the slate!

Here’s a story that should convince everyone that the internet isn’t a secure place to do your banking or release any sort of personal information:

John Schiefer, a Los Angeles “computer security expert” at 3G Communications, pled guilty today of “accessing protected computers to conduct fraud, disclosing illegally intercepted electronic communications, wire fraud and bank fraud.” The 26 year old man used spyware to collect hundreds of thousands of internet user’s login and passwords for assorted sites, including Paypal, and would make unauthorized purchases. Schiefer also distributed the personal information to other hackers.

Schiefer was also signed a contract with a Dutch internet advertising company for the express purpose of infecting the company’s client’s computers with “bots” that were used to copy and send personal data back to Schiefer and his associates. [via]

A MySpace page found doing a search of his name found a user named “Acid” aged 27 living in Los Angeles. The profile includes  “the hacker’s creed,” along with this notation: “And remember. I did it for the luls.”

Sentencing is scheduled for August 20th, and could be up to 60 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine. As a victim of identity theft, and knowing full well the amount of time it takes to clear this sort of thing up, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cumulative damages and time spent by all of Schiefer’s victims hasn’t been much more.

[additional source: KNBC]

In a couple years, several hundred ma-jillions of dollars in cost overruns and ten-thousands of man-hours the Battle of the Expo Line will be won and the derelict median that bisects National Boulevard immediately west of Ballona Creek will be sporting some serious light-railitude.

But for now in its raw unfinishedness it is home to the saddest thing ever, namely this shrine to Miles that I found yesterday afternoon coming off the creek’s bikeway, erected I can only presume by the guardians of their lost feline friend (click to triplify):

Screen legend Charlton Heston passed away at his Coldwater Canyon on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 84.

Its hard to know what this iconic figure will be best remembered for – parting the Red Sea as Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” growling, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” in “Planet of the Apes,” chariot racing in “Ben-Hur,” or possibly as a life-long vocal advocate, and President, of the National Rifle Association.

Politically, while Heston is recognized for his pro-gun and conservative views, prior to the 1980s he was anti-war, anti-gun, and active in the civil rights movement. In 1960 he campaigned for John F. Kennedy and three years later marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. Shortly after Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Heston supported the Gun Control Act of 1968.

By the 1980s, Heston opposed affirmative action, supported gun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican. He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. [Wikipedia]

Among his final screen roles was in a cameo in the Tim Burton 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes,” where he repeated his final line from the original,”Damn them! Damn them all to hell!” [IMdB]

Sadly, his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine is apparently inaccessible due to construction. However, his handprints can still be touched at the Chinese.

Photo of his signature and prints at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre by Legendary Classic, used under Creative Commons.

Strange item that just arrived from LAFD alerts:

Bank teller states hand burning after touching $100 bill

Update, 1:54pm:

Two females, 41 & 39, were transported to Northridge Hosp in stable cond.  Washington Mutual security and the Haz Mat companies will continue the investigation.

Location is the WaMu at 10370 N. Mason Av,  in Chatsworth.