Parking Tard in a Red Zone.

My phone sorta rang off the hook on this one.  I’m a neighborhood watch captain and everyone was in a tizzy over this one. Why?  Well my little neighborhood has ample street parking yet this tard opted to park in the red zone…for hours.

Will drivers ever learn to obey the parking zones or is it simply an issue of they are more important than the law?

Here it comes again, Westsiders needing access to the 405 freeway are screwed as it will be closed that weekend again on a 10 mile stretch.  Actually, the folks in the valley will be inconvenienced the worst if they need to trek over The Hill that day.  KTLA ran the full story which you can read HERE.  Their story has cute quotes from Yaroslavsky and Villaraigosa on what to do.  My thought is do like last time, make babies and create a nice little baby boom of sorts 9 months from now.

The video is by Whittier student Kimberly Schiazza.  It was entered in the Bridgestone Teen Drive Smart video contest. The contest entailed them making a PSA on distracted driving.  She made it to the finals, its up to the votes to determine if she get’s the 25K prize.

The video is simply titled “Save a Life” and is in the top 10 of those submitted.  You can vote HERE.  (More on the contest HERE). Voting ends July 23 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The top three videos will be announced August 1 on Teens Drive Smart.

8 hour parking limit at Monrovia Park and Ride

Recently I’ve had reason to pop into the Park and Ride lot at Myrtle and Duarte road in Monrovia.  I noticed all over the place signs with a parking limit of 8 hours, yet the average person using the lot needs more than that to cover his commute into the city from there and his work day.  Fortunately I didn’t see any of our local “parking police” in the lot and am glad they weren’t as I’d suspect most there are over that artificially low limit that doesn’t take into consideration commute time and length of a work day that includes a lunch break.

I wonder how the lot hours will change  once the Gold Line station opens in a few years and more commuters will be using the lot to get into work in LA or even Pasadena?

For one I’m glad it appears they don’t enforce the  8 hour limit there.

Pic by me with the trusty old cell phone, embiggens with a click.

Smell ya later

Ever since I saw this plumbing truck with its slogan “The Smell Good Plumber!” driving in the Culver City area, I’ve wanted to snap a photo of it. Finally, I had my chance the other day as I ended up behind the truck while we were stopped at a red a light. I guess that’s the plumbing equivalent of camping out for a new iPhone, and thus I call it good marketing!

Smell ya up close

You won't know if you're coming or going

Last summer’s blockbuster “Carmageddon“ was such a smash hit, we’re bringing you the sequel. That’s right, fasten your seat belts for the ride of your lives. On June 22, “Carmageddon II: The Rampocalypse“ comes to a 405 near you. In a world where L.A. area road construction causes widespread panic, “Carmageddon II” will blow your doors off!

We’ll destroy and then rebuild all the Wilshire Blvd. ramps connecting to the 405! We’ll take a year to do it! We’ll have Ramp Jam 2012, and it’s all in 3-D!

Get your tickets now!

One of our area's vintage cars, spotted in Santa Monica

One of my pleasures of living in the relatively dry SoCal climate is our thriving classic car culture. Part of that culture will be on display this Saturday, as downtown Culver City hosts its “Crusing Back to the 50s“ car show right out on Culver and Washington Blvds. from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. I was there four years ago, and it was loads of fun.

In addition to a selection of over 400 classic cars, expect to see some of the world’s most famous tv show custom cars and their creator, George Barris (Batmobile, Munster Koach, etc.). There will be food, music, and car-related merchandise on hand as well. Oh, and did I mention that admission to the show is free?

I’ve lived in the Hollywood Hills for a while now. Used to be that navigating around the hills was a breeze, slow and easy, like a drive on a country road. Seriously, it was cool.
Not anymore. It’s turned into a crazy, frenetic, traffic-filled, tourist-stopping-in-the-middle-of-the-road-to-take-pictures mess.
In Beachwood Canyon especially. On the overlook up on Mulholland between the obnoxious tour buses, rental cars and hordes of people taking pictures, you take your life in your hands going around the bend. Forget parking laws, people stop suddenly in the street and jump out of their cars blocking traffic, which is a nightmare anyway on the narrow twists and turns. If you ask them kindly to move their car (it is, after all, stopped on a highway on a curve and a true scary traffic hazard) you usually get the finger and some shouting!
Relief may be in sight though.
After many meetings with Councilman Tom LaBonge, and assorted other corporate entities, Google has agreed not to include directions to the area for Hollywood sign seekers anymore. More importantly, most of the major GPS makers (Garmin most specifically) have agreed not to put it in the GPS units that go into rental cars out of LAX and Burbank airport.
It will be interesting to see in this age of people not looking on maps if this helps.
Now, if we could just find a way to eliminate the tour buses. Which are illegal and not supposed to drive (weight limits) on these streets!
Hello traffic control: Want to write some easy tickets? Just hang up there on any sunny day and wait! Tour bus after illegal tour bus will be stop as will lots of illegally parked cars!

As seen on the southbound 101 approaching Woodland Hills Saturday (click to enlargify), all I can say is I have no idea what’s going on here. All I know is that last pair in the trailer looks like they’re holding hands and simultaneously hitchhiking, but who am I to judge?

Pair of Ford Focus at the Petersen Museum.

This promises to be an interesting event this coming Saturday on the steps of City Hall in Pasadena.  The folks at Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and the city of Pasadena are sponsoring the fair and it is free and open to everyone.

The EV Fair will feature a number of vehicles for test drives and on static display. As of now I have confirmed that a Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Toyota Prius Plug-In and CODA will be available for attendees to experience at the event. (Unfortunately Ford dealerships have not quite received the all-electric Focus so the dealers will not be participating. They are, however, working with Ford to provide a Focus EV for the event).   UPDATE 3/29 Ford will have a new Focus EV at the event.   They will also have a number of electric vehicle charging equipment providers at the event displaying products and providing information on home installation). Read the rest of this entry →

Five Guys El Segundo, open at night

I’m a big fan of Five Guys burgers and fries, but rarely make the trip down to Carson. So it was a nice surprise at about 9:30 the other night, after a day of negotiations down in the South Bay, to be driving up Sepulveda Blvd. just short of LAX and to see the red and white Five Guys sign on the east side of the road. A quick maneuver into the parking lot, and more luck as Five Guys was open until 10 p.m. I saw, I scarfed. It’s in an office park-nice little shopping plaza with a courtyard and outdoor tables.

Five Guys also has other locations, and planned locations, in and around the Los Angeles area. Of these, the El Segundo outlet may be the most dangerous for me. The In-N-Out Burger just on the other side of LAX may have better views, but I’m partial to Five Guys’ food.

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 →

MINI Coupe: all fun, no mess

Like many Los Angeles area folks, I’m crazy about cars. Fortunately, I’m able to incorporate my love into my work, and covered the L.A. Auto Show on Press Day 1 yesterday. Unfortunately, my day was ruled as much by the cars on the roads outside than by the shiny new models inside the Convention Center.

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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.

Pair of Chevy Volts at 2011 Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica

Santa Monica is a Ground Zero for hybrid, electric, and other alternative fuel vehicles in the U.S. It’s nearly impossible to open your eyes while there and not notice at least a Prius or two. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the flagship event for this Sunday‘s National Plug-In Day will be a gathering and parade of electric and plug-in vehicles in Santa Monica.

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