Category Archives: SoCal

SoCal

The Inland Empire

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The LA Times ran a story yesterday about the LA dream moving east into the Inland Empire.

The region, often seen as a manufacturing and transportation hub, with less-expensive homes for those willing to commute to Los Angeles and Orange counties, is rapidly moving beyond its blue-collar roots into a more urbane future.

Increasingly, Western Riverside and San Bernardino counties are featuring the type of upscale houses, stores and entertainment long found in Los Angeles and other coastal enclaves. White-collar professionals such as Entner are finding attractive jobs there, no longer commuting westward. Tall office buildings are sprouting, along with more $1-million-plus homes.

I’ve had several family members move from East LA to the IE, but I still make fun of the place… especially when I see a rooster wandering around a Union 76 gas station off of Euclid Avenue in Ontario.

Celebrity, Entertainment, LA, Radio, SoCal

More Dicky

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The past week or so has found many of us here making several posts about Dickey Barrett and his abrupt replacement on the Mighty Morning Show. Needless to say I’m not psyched about it. Yesterday the LA Weekly chimed in on the subject and pours more gasoline on the “this is messed up” fire:

Barrett says that he was prepared to take his firing quietly, but that Girocco’s statement to Hits forced his hand. Last Friday, his publicist released a typo-riddled statement in which Barrett makes a number of strong accusations, including — ouch! — that he was scolded for complaining on-air about a Morrissey single. Barrett says he was told to “say the time and call letters till your [sic] blue in the face,” and he also tells the Weekly that Indie forced him to use a playlist in recent months (a rule not applied to some other celeb DJs at Indie).

Most troubling, he accuses Indie of de facto censorship at the hands of Steele and Girocco. Barrett says the two demanded approval for all his guests, and fired him the same day he held an “unauthorized” pro-choice discussion on his show with a South Dakota radio host. (“Dawn Girocco [is] Dick Cheney, Steele is George Bush,” says Barrett in the release.)

Further complicating matters, no one at Indie will discuss the matter, including Girocco, beyond the usual “we wish him the best of luck” formalities.

Maybe it’s just me, but Michael Steele’s email reply saying “If you need to find a new choice in mornings, that’s cool. Do what you need to do, we did” doesn’t quite come across as “best of luck formalities” to me.

LA, SoCal

Ditto – Props to LA

Over on the LAFD News & Information Brian Humphrey has a post about some of the great things going on in LA with blogs and public works. He writes…

“… a number of City of Los Angeles employees are now using blogs to spread the official word of their agency’s endeavors.

As recently highlighted by tech savvy Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, the roster of ‘LA City Bloggers’ has recently expanded.

Along with offerings by the Council President and Los Angeles Fire Department, the City blogscape now includes the Department of Recreation and Parks as well as the Department of Animal Services.

We thank Council President Garcetti for his kind words regarding LAFD’s sophomoric effort, and express our admiration for his website, which offers Muni-Bloggers¬© a superb template for incorporating the timely content and syndication features of a blog within an official government web page.”

Sophomoric nothing – what’s going on in LA with these blogs is nothing short of a revolution and one that needs to be constantly applauded. Communication like this is a perfect example of the power of blogs to keep people informed and bring them together – something that has traditionally been lacking in local politics/services. What’s even better is that people are noticing and following in their footsteps. I think we’re going to see a lot more of this in the coming year, both here in LA and in other cities that are taking note. Watching this all happen right on our doorstep is pretty fantastic and exciting. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

SoCal

Funny Like a House on Fire

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I’m not sure what to make of this post card that came in the mail. As a homeowner we get A LOT of mail from realtors about the market, homes available and of course solitications to sell our home. (Not gonna happen.)

This one make me think of that series of TBS promos where people phone into a call center and relate their experience to find out if it’s actually funny. I’m not sure if this brilliantly edgy, too far out there, ineffective or just plain poor taste. Maybe someone can help me out.

http://blogging.la/archives/images/2006/03/bla-motivatedseller01-thumb.jpg

The reverse side after the jump.
Continue reading Funny Like a House on Fire →

SoCal

Follow Ups: Ferrari & Pinched Legs

In an effort to help everyone with a little closure, here are some updates on some recent stories we’ve blogged about:

A Million Little Pieces – the neverending, ever-twisting tale of the shattered Ferrari Enzo:

LA Times: Another Turn in the Ferrari Saga (you really have to see the photo of Yosef Maiwandi and his badge!)

(see original posts here and the first follow up here.)

These two legs were meant for walking – the story of the amputee who had her prosthetic leg(s) stolen for the second time.

They’ve been returned.

LA, SoCal, West Side

Loving LA (kind of)

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I feel the same way as this missed craigslist connection.

I was in love with you the moment I saw you. I remember vividly driving down PCH and seeing you out of the passenger window of the car, the way you looked at me, I knew that eventually we would somehow be together. Read on.

I remember my own fond post-work liasion with the above described. I had put my bikini on under my motorcycle gear and was commuting home from my Valley job on my motorcycle. The sun was setting, the air was moist and warm in my open face screen. I pulled over, pulled off the leathers and ran to splash and play in the orangepink light.

SoCal

Rising gas prices… and I don’t mean the kind that goes in your car…

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I remember the “good ol’ days” when the bill from The Gas Company was like $3 a month. (Oops, maybe I shouldn’t date myself by admitting that.)

I just got our last gas bill (living in LA, we do not use the heater… our gas furnace is not even lit!) and it was a whopping $40.96. We don’t cook (use the oven/stove), save for boiling an occasional pot of water for ramen. We do, however, have a gas washer/dryer… and of course, use hot water to shower. But that’s it, and hot water and clean clothes are necessities in my book.

Now, I don’t know what people in other places (places that are actually cold) pay for gas, but I know what I used to pay for gas as recently as a few months ago.

I’ll cite the amounts of my last year’s worth of gas bills (dates based on the month of the meter reading):

Feb 2006 $40.96
Jan 2006 $39.51
Dec 2005 $22.51
Nov 2005 $18.63
Oct 2005 $16.21
Sep 2005 $13.77
Aug 2005 $12.98
…
Feb 2005 $24.52

The major difference seems to be the baseline rate as my gas usage has only slightly increased since the same time last year. In Feb 2005, the baseline rate per therm was $0.87579; in Feb 2006, it’s $1.17692… a 35% increase in rate since last year! But of course an increase in this rate also increases the public purpose surcharge, as well.

The bottom line is that my gas bill has shot up more than 67% from the same billing cycle from one year ago.

What’s up with that?!