It was a double-whammy this morning in terms of drive-bys of company vehicles sporting somewhat dubious business names. First came the van on Fletcher near Riverside plastered with Fussy Painting. I’ve seen these guys around the Silver Lake area before and I don’t know if it’s some latent dyslexia but every time I’ve spotted them I involuntarily swap the first letters of the company’s moniker and do a spit take wondering if Pussy Fainting is a condition suffered by certain breeds of feline, or something far, far more personal. And private.

Stuck in traffic north on the 5 Freeway a minute or two later, I then found myself passing a fume-belching, tanker truck whose rear end was lettered large with CARRS WASTE OIL. Spelling error aside I agreed with what I thought was a fair environmental statement, albeit one posted in a rather ironic location — until it dawned on me the statement itself was ironic: Carrs Waste Oil is a disposal service based in Inglewood.

After reading this article on the LAT website I assumed the old building I now live in had been retrofit during its renovation, but I wanted to make sure so I emailed Louise who works in the rental office and she forwarded the question on to the folks in charge of construction for The KOR Group and here is what Colin Fisher had to say:

Both 121 and 560 were both completely seismically retrofitted as part of the new construction work and brought up to current seismic code.

The buildings the article is concerned with are non-retrofitted buildings, such as 121 and 560 before we did our retrofit.

In that article John Martin, head of one of LA’s biggest structural engineering firms, talks about exactly what we did to retrofit the building, which is building a shear wall to strengthen against lateral forces imposed by earthquakes.

You can most easily see the new shear walls (the most visible part of the retrofit) in the North Unit in 560 along the west wall. You can also see a major shear wall in front of Taisei’s office onsite in the 560 retail space. All of the 121 shear walls have been painted over, so they’re not readily visible as ‘different’ from non-structural walls.

Now, as to how big of an earthquake it would take to reduce the building to rubble. The building is actually designed specifically so that it won’t catastrophically fail. In other words, if there is a massive earthquake and part of the building fails, the rest won’t come tumbling down.

The best way to visually see that is to look at post-Northridge Earthquake photographs. You’ll see buildings that are partially collapsed where a column failed and part of the building collapsed, but the rest of the building stayed up.

The Northride Earthquake was a 6.7 and I don’t remember any buildings failing catastrophically.

And here is what Blair Besten added:

We were required to retrofit when we bought the building in 2001. This
construction was completed this year. The giant, concrete walls you see
(some in center and some opposing) are constructed for this purpose. Look
in the retail spaces if you want to see them in their unpainted, plain gray
concrete state. Louise, if you sit at your desk you are facing one that was
painted.

I have no idea what magnitude we could withstand, but I imagine if it’s too
high up on the Richter scale we will be visiting the same place in the sky
as the rest of the City. At least we can rest knowing ours is the newest
retrofit, and therefore one of the safest places to be in that event.

As anyone who lives in Los Angeles knows, trees are terrible awful things that we as a city have the G-d given right duty to cut down, smash up, tear out and burn down. And if I may say so, it is about fucking time that our city hall has taken the great initiative to reduce the horrid oxygen producing scourge that are trees which have scarred the great park of Griffith for so many years. Not only has the park experience been lessened over the years by the unchecked breeding of these rooted vermin, but a dearth of pavement has prevented both the young and old from feeling the great comfort only tarmac can bring to the human stride.

If you think that is bad, did you know that Griffith park doesn’t even have a single aerial tramway, I mean what kind of a podunk backwater hick town park doesn’t have a gondola to speed its visitors happily hither and yon throughout the park attractions. Would you believe it if I told you that to get the best view from the highest point in the park you actually have to hike up a hiking trail, what kind of sick twisted planner would build a mountain you have to hike up to get to the top?

And let’s talk about congestion, Penelope and I visited the park on a busy 4th of July weekend where we found a huge line of people waiting for the zoo, the parking lot nearly full and there was no problem with congestion or traffic thanks to the many entrances the park currently has, but that is no reason that the roads all shouldn’t be widened, structures moved and roundabouts to be created to ease the nonexistent traffic problem.

One of the worst problems that plagues Griffith park along with most of Los Angeles is the glut of free parking that currently exists, but thankfully the forward thinkers at City Hall have figured out how to avoid this by building parking structures where there are now parking lots and installing “parking management systems” as not to miss out on this important revenue generator known as paid parking.

….

All sarcasm aside, the parks planning people at city hall have collectively thrown a big fat rock of crack into their pipes and smoked it and if we don’t do something about it our city’s treasure will be radically altered and not in a good way. You can help by reading the 194 page Griffith Park Master Plan (which is still a working document as evidenced by the Lorem Ipsum intro) which can be found here, contacting the mayor, and signing the petition which can be found on the Save Griffith Park website. [Thanks to LAVoice.org and hexod.us for the tips and sarcastic inspiration]

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been working on a side project for awhile now and I guess it’s time to officially let the cat out of the bag. Kernspiracy is community-building project I’m developing for (mostly L.A.-based) designers and creative professionals. Los Angeles is a tough place to be a designer, and it’s often easy to feel like you’re out there all on your own. It’s hella demoralizing. Kernspiracy is intended to address this issue by creating a forum for people to ask for advice, feedback and support from their creative peers.

To start, I’ll be holding monthly get togethers where designers and other creatives can come out to meet one another as well as trade ideas and critiques. The first of these will be on Wednesday, November 2nd at Barbara’s at the Brewery (in the Brewery Arts Complex). If you’re a designer, please come and bring a question, a design you’d like some feedback on or just a business card. If you know a designer, please invite them to do the same. At the very least, we can all have drinks together and complain about Quark.

In addition, I’ve developed a corresponding e-mail discussion list to allow folks to interact between throwdowns, and to facilitate faster response times for more pressing concerns. The list info page can be found at here. You can also subscribe by sending an e-mail to kernspiracy-request [at] tokyofarm.com with “subscribe” (no quotes) in the subject or body.

If you known anybody that might be interested I would appreciate it if you could help spread the word. Community building is all about participation (an incredible obstacle in this city), so the more people the better. Click on the thumb to the right for full size goodness.

A couple of weekends ago, my brother-in-law, my dog, and I were out hiking some pretty good-sized hills. We had just reached the top of one particularly steep one when we found, as pictured in this photo (click for larger), a treadmill.

Now, I will not offer conjecture as to why someone would go to the trouble of dumping a treadmill in the middle of nowhere (why not ‘dump’ it at Goodwill or wherever?), but to go to the trouble of lugging a not-light piece of exercise equipment up a big hill seems to indicate a deep-seated, pathological hatred of the device. It’s not like there was a parking lot at the bottom of the hill, either — the nearest road is at least a half-hour away. This took some doing, in other words.

Of course, the owner could have driven their 4×4 up here and dumped the thing, but I prefer the notion of someone so disgusted with their exercise program or the treadmill itself that they dragged it up into the hills to be rid of it.

I’m always trying new taste sensations, mixing flavors you might not usually think to mix. My favorite flavor mash-up is Hot Tamales and Junior Mints. Get refrigerated Junior Mints if you can. Place a couple mints in one cheek and Hot Tamales in the other. Slowly roll the Hot Tamale between your teeth until the spicy cinnamon starts to heat up your month. Then move your tongue over to the Junior Mint side, where the chocolate has been melting and bring it to the center of your mouth where you can blend the smooth chocolate creaminess with the gelatin cinnamon sweet. Swallow, rinse, repeat.

As former Dodger manager Jim Tracy has apparently now found his new home with the Pirates, rumor has it that a Mystery Candidate being looked at as replacement might just be a familiar face to Dodger fans:

This post referenced a Chicago Tribune snippet (behind a stupid login): ‘Don’t be surprised if Rangers pitching coach Orel Hershiser emerges as a serious candidate to replace Tracy in Los Angeles, where Tommy Lasorda still has influence.’

Now that would be interesting. With last night’s Yankee loss down in Anaheim, I was wondering if Joe Torre would be interested in the job, since his current arrangement might be ‘disappearing’ soon. ;)

Via The L.A. Times:

Joss Whedon wasn’t looking to make a political statement. He just wanted to make a movie. In Los Angeles. Because he lives in Los Angeles.

But by filming his sci-fi feature film debut, “Serenity,” in town, he found himself something of a local hero, one of a growing number of people who are fighting to keep Hollywood in Hollywood. Essentially it required deconstructing every part of the process ó casting, crew, locations, lighting, wardrobe, props, production design, technology, special effects ó to find efficiencies that would make a $39-million movie look and feel like $100 million. …

Whedon, who has spent much of his career shooting television in L.A. (one episode of “Buffy” was shot in England when the plot shifted the storyline there), hadn’t given the issue of runaway production much thought until he found himself suddenly being congratulated for taking a stand.

“There were no groupies,” he says, “which was disappointing. But I did hear from a lot of people. I realized that we are in a state of crisis and that this is something people feel very passionately about.”

The fact that Hollywood is known as the moviemaking capital of the world, yet much of the actual “making” is taking place out of the city, let alone state, or even country, is rather ironic, don’t you think?

First off, I swear I have not blognapped my esteemed fellow contributors and tied them up in the basement. Seriously, I don’t know where the hell they all went and didn’t invite me, but I’m not purposefully bogarting the boards. It just so happens I did shit this weekend and feel like sharing it.

Anyway, last shout out I want to give is to the venerable Fosselman’s Ice Cream Company in Alhambra. Yeah, I know… I know: absolutely everybody has heard of or has been to the venerable 81-year-old parlor, but today just happens to have been my very first visit to the place. Why so long? Couldn’t really tell ya, but I had a hankering for some of their stuff that wouldn’t be denied ó especially since I found on their website that the time for pumpkin ice cream was here. But instead of going cone, I went malt ó specifically a pumpkin ice cream malt with a chopped banana thrown into the mix. Damn! Thick and rich and malty the way a malt should be, it was so good I kept on going right through a brain freeze so bad my ears started bleeding.

Paid my second visit this afternoon bringing my wife Susan for her first visit to the cornfield at the Not A Cornfield Project between Chinatown and Lincoln Heights. Beyond getting hassled by The Man (actually it was just a rent-a-theman) for checking out the apparently off-limits pomegranate trees at the far northern end of the property, and getting pissed off that my digicam’s batteries decided to fade, there was still good fun to be had. I caved into the urge to charge off the path and headlong deep into the narrow rows of 10-foot high, ear-laden cornstalks (not recommended for any clautrophobes), and by the time we’d done a lap around the amazing maize, the weekly drum circle had gotten underway within the “eye” of the corn and we grooved to the communal rhythms emanating there for awhile.

People can debate all they want about the project’s artistic relevance, and it’s all just blahblahblah. To me, it’s brought living photosynthesizing beauty to previous deadspace, and its uniqueness is drawing people together who wouldn’t otherwise ever set their parking brake in that part of town. And the cool juxtaposition of acres of corn waving against the backdrop of downtown’s skyline make it a place that should be seen ó especially before the harvest starts at the end of the month.

I almost forgot to post about the Create:Fixate Art Show / Party taking place tonight on the mezzanine of the Spring Arts Towers. If you make it in the next 15 minutes it is free before 7pm, otherwise it will run you $10. There will be live music, DJs and a bar. See you there.

Via NBC 4:

Traffic officers will begin directing rush hour traffic at 38 of the city’s most heavily congested intersections, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Friday.

About 50 officers will attempt to control traffic, assist pedestrians, assess the waiting time for traffic signals and maintain order at intersections from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, Villaraigosa said.

About half the intersections are reportedly in the San Fernando Valley. …

The city’s Department of Transportation conducted a seven-month pilot project at 40 intersections and found that delays were reduced by 20 percent when an officer was present.

The pilot project also showed that for every $1 invested in sending a traffic officer to a busy intersection, the average motorist saved $4 in travel costs.

I find it interesting that technology has apparently failed in keeping traffic moving (sensors in the road, et al), so the fallback option is now being called upon to help reduce these traffic jams.

Last night came what was clearly a direct mail promotional piece wrapped up in the clothing of a fancy invitation “to view a private collection rarely assembled in one place.”

I’m not sure what bulk mailing list I ended up on to be labeled among “a very select group of individuals” but eye-rolling and head-shaking didn’t stop me from looking inside to find I’m being considered a sucker for Cadillac’s 2005 Drive Summit scheduled to take place at the end of this month at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine.

From the invite:

“We’ll transform this dramatic venue into your personal proving ground with a collection of the world’s most desired luxury performance vehicles. You’ll have a rare opportunity to slide behind the wheel and perform head-to-head tests of BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, and the new Cadillac vehicles. And as our guest, you’ll also enjoy elegant hors d’oeuvres along with a gift to take home. We hope you’ll join us and exhibit your appreciation of automotive masterpieces — hands-on.”

Sure, it’s just one big targeted test-drive, and I’m so not in the market for a new car — certainly not any they’ll be pushing. But I can’t help but get revved up at the thought of tearing up and around the runways of an old airbase doing timed-accleration runs, high-speed braking, competitive driving, and avoidance manuevers. The latter probably from sales reps.

Found a full-page ad placed in today’s L.A. Times by the Humane Society asking “Why Won’t Trader Joe’s Give An Inch?” in the grocery chain’s practice of selling eggs from caged chickens confined in areas “so small that each hen has less space that a sheet of letter-size paper.”

Pointing to other market chains such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats that have adopted corporate policies against selling eggs from caged hens, the Humane Society is calling on TJ’s customers to take action to get it to embrace an exclusively cage-free egg stance.

On the Trader Joes website CEO Dan Bane calls such a demand “unreasonable” and defends his company’s “commitment to choice and value” in offering its customers cage-free as well as “conventional” eggs, citing costs and customer demand:

“Our cage-free eggs, however, cost more than conventional eggs, roughly 40 percent more in fact. That’s because it’s a simple supply and demand equation. Of the 3 billion cartons (dozens) of eggs produced in the United States each year, 95 percent are conventional versus the 5 percent that are cage-free.

While we certainly respect and appreciate the value of cage-free eggs, many of our customers choose conventional eggs in order to get an attractive price on this everyday basic. Therefore, we at Trader Joe’s will not alter our selection – or raise our prices – based on the assumption of others about our customers’ preferences.”

Just back from covering Hurricane Rita, Bryan Frank barely got a chance to catch his breath before hitting the streets on his next assignment — smaller in scope, but nevertheless still fascinating. A James-Ellroy-novel kind of fascinating:

So anyway, a torso is found in a dumpster. I saw the footage that couldn’t be shown on air of it being pulled out of the dumpster and that was interesting, but not as interesting as where the dumpster was located….It was found inside a maintenance yard for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The yard is secure, barbed wire is mounted along the top of the fence that surrounds it and video security cameras are positioned on the rooftop.

I wanna know what happens next, of course, since I’m a James Ellroy fan, but I’m also a Bryan Frank fan. Here’s an example of why. At the end of the day, it isn’t about the titillation, the scandal, the horror, or the celebrity. It isn’t about the image on the TV screen, either. It’s about the eye behind the camera, the human who is looking at the scene for all of us:

Every day I face the possibility of being assigned a case that might be difficult to handle emotionally. I deal with these things with a professional attitude and I just try to get the job done.

Don’t let him kid you. He doesn’t just try to get the job done. He gets it done well.