Stupid In San Pedro

I was idling next to this joker on Gaffey & 1st this morning. Not that I give a crap for the sanctity of Bad Boys Bail Bonds' logo, but come on, why steal a crappy logo when you could easily draw one just as lame. And since I'm sure lots of people see Dad's logo and think bail bonds, did Dad imagine that this would be a real confidence booster for potential customers?

San Pedro Welcomes Lesbian Golfers!

Okay, we know they're not all lesbians, but I love reinforcing sexist stereotypes at the expense of marginalised and opressed populations, for the sake of a good post title.

Well, it's finally here, the grand re-re-opening of what is now the Trump National Golf Course, aka Ocean Trails, aka the Zuckerman family's contribution to native habitat destruction in the name of yuppie values. If there was ever a two-bit, shoddily golf course that wasn't needed (there are three of these "wastes of space" on the Peninsula alone), this is it. This is a lesson in turd polishing, that yes, you can polish a turd, and if the polisher is Donald Trump, you might just fool someone into thinking the turd has value.

Well, don't think that little old San Pedro wasn't invited to the party by our big brothers in Palos Verdes. We get to play parking lot! There was a lot of hullaballo about this back when the Breeze covered it and Random Lengths covered their coverage. Much of the local furor and fuss revolved around a creative conspiracy theory involving building parking lots on areas that the community wants as green space and then keeping them permanently as part of the Bridge to Breakwater development. Turns out they were just going to use our existing assets as their parking lot, so we were just getting shat on, not built into a toilet and shat in. In other words, free luxury cars to the bolder car theives in San Pedro this weekend. Sharpen your coat hangers and jimmys, boys!

But wait now, the official webpage for the Office Depot Championship currently doesn't list San Pedro as a place to park. Is this an oversight, a change in plans, or a sign that they failed to attract audience to this event (crosses fingers) and don't need to bother us with their excess of luxury automobiles? Anyways, keep an eye out for lost yuppies and women in comfortable shoes this weekend.

Oh, and what's missing from this picture? If you guessed nature, then you get a goddamn gold star.

More Harbor Commission & Bridge to Breakwater Meetings

Well, it's less than 48 hours away from the next Harbor Comission meeting, the second for Mayor Tony's new picks, and less than 72 hours away from the next scoping meeting for the Bridge to Breakwater Project. Looks like the Harbor Comission agenda is pretty dry, but given that the meeting is at 6PM and local, maybe you can bring the fun. The scoping meeting, hopefully will be a good show for those who go. I won't be at either (schedule says no, otherwise I'd be there), so someone show up and do a couple **cough** bullshit **coughs** for me.

Lately both the Times and the Breeze have been writing about the Ports role in wetlands preservation and expansion, and how most of it doesn't even happen in our county, let alone the City of Los Angeles. Mayor Sam built a soapbox for this earlier in the week and Noel and some anonymous folks chimed in.

Meeting Info

Harbor Comission Meeting
Thusday, September 29 @ Liberty Hill Plaza, 6 PM

Bridge to Breakwater Scoping Meeting #2
Friday, September 30 @ the Ports O' Call Restaurant, 6 PM

Gutter Sounds

As we all know, San Pedrans, especially the natives, will put the town name on anything. I don't know if this CD got scuttled accidentally or purposefully, but I can't help but wonder what sounds were on it that merited the label.

A Perspective on Gentrification

The plaque at right is part of a larger work, created by artist Craig C. Stone, as a commentary on gentrification that was taking place in the early 80's in Washington D.C. Although we aren't at the point where poor people are being forced from their homes to make way for luxury housing, I thought it serves pretty well as a reminder of the damage that poor development can cause to a community.

Currently Craig's work is on view at the El Camino College Art Gallery.

Hoon Kwak Sculpture at Angels Gate

Hoon Kwak, an Angels Gate Cultural Center Studio Artist has generously donated one of his major works to the Center. Hoon's work, will be featured on a permanent basis in the sculpture garden we would like to develop on site.

In the coming days he will arrange all nine components of the sculpture into a temporary configuration, until a suitable spot is prepared for the sculpture's permanent arrangement.

That Crazy Gator!

Well, I figured it's time we checked in with Reggie again. Looks like the two biggest news stories of all time, Hurricane Katrina and Reggie the Gator, mated to produce Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn, the latest in a line of Crocodile Dundee-ettes looking to cage the stealthy saurian. T-Bone, a Hurricane Katrina refugee, made his way to the Harbor Area, where our very own Janice Hahn presented him as our newest saviour. But the fairytale capture of Reggie by T-Bone was not to be, as he himself was wrangled by red tape and his own words, and was taken off the gig. Further rearding Reggie's capture, the Gatorland team quit the job, supposedly due to Janice and T-Bone.

This whole situation reminds me of how strange the attention of the publicand the city is. Back when I started working for Angels Gate in 2001, jackasses used to drop off hungry, angry pitbulls in the park all of the time. Loose, badly trained pitbulls (or any other agressive breed of dog. I've always had a soft spot for the feisty guys myself) are way more dangerous to humans than any gator in Harbor Lake ever will be. It would take days to even get animal control up here. Maybe what Angels Gate park needs is a loose tiger or something, to make the city finally starttaking care of the site up here?

Oh! And Reggie's baby photos are now posted on his blog.

Real Estate Sticker Shock

So how much does it cost to live on the bluff overlooking Cabrillo these days? I was conversing with an artist friend of mine who has to sell her home to finance her and her husband's retirement after United Airlines razed his pension. Well, they are looking to sell at $2.5 million. In Pedro. I'm not sure if that's a record for our little burg, but it's definitely a sign of the times.

Showdown at Scoping Meeting Number 1 (cue Good, Bad and Ugly music)

I wasn't able to attend the meeting last night, but luckily others have, and we've got some observations and reports from various community members floating around.

Christiana Dominguez shotgunned her observations and inputs at blogging.la and at her own site, Phoblographer. Apparently the pro-business community views the vocal parts of the community as "The Opposition."

I Might Be Giant, frequent Life on the Edge commentor, had much to say in his comments in yesterday's news thread, including ahis perspective on Christiana's comments at the meeting. He's calling out the "Silent Majority" strategy being pushed by pro-massive-development advocates as Nixonian, and I'm in his camp on that perspective.

Mayor Sam's Mayor Frank, gathered posts and links, It wouldn't suprise me to see some Noel Park perspective in the thread there before the day is out.

Next Scoping Meeting - September 29 at the Ports O' Call Restaurant, 6-8:30 PM. I've got a competing meeting I have to be at, so I won't be at that one either, so I'd appreciate all the reports I can get, regardless of anyone's angles or agendas.

Katie Stubblefield @ Walled City

I'm hosting an solo exhibition for Lick, an experimental body of work by Katie Stubblefield, opening this weekend. All of the pieces in this show are made primarily from sugars and salts, on aluminum panels. This is amazing work, by an artist who's work deserves all of the eyeballs it can get.

Reception: Satuday, September 17, 2005, 7-10 PM - homebrew will be on tap
come on down - More info here

Maybe Scuttling is What the Cool Kids Are Doing?

I am somehow reminded of our recent boat scuttling incident when I think about the trashed car I discovered behind Walled City this morning. Someone had stripped the interior, smashed out the side windows and all the lights and otherwise had a shenanagan in this dust covered car. Was it stolen or was it "scuttled" by its owner? Who knows.

Punk at Harold's Tonite!

Yup, no cover, no kids, and all the booze your little tummy can handle!

Bands are:
TOYS THAT KILL
MEGAHURTZ (the fleps brothers)
LIPSTICK PICKUPS
FOXY AUTOPSY

September 16
@ Harold's Place
(19th & Pacific)
More Info: 310.832.5503
21 & Up / Full Bar.
9:00 PM Start.

Props to the Rise and the Fall crew for the heads up

For All the Croatians in the House

As everyone in town should know, San Pedro is home to the largest Croatian community in the United States. So it's fitting that those of us who live on the edge, should appreciate what's going on back in one of our many old countries, even if we aren't Croatian ourselves.

What's going on back home? Reality TV featuring sheep. No, not pathetic celebs or dumb as doorknobs college students sheep, actual, "I make my own sweater, thank you" sheep.

The News from Pedro

So... What's been going on in or about our little burg lately.

Well, first they caught Reggie's smaller buddy, then someone (Reggie him/herself, perhaps? If an alligator can have a blatantly commercial blog, then why can't it operate a telephone and fake people out?) hoaxed his capture, and then the ever vigilant, gator watchin' media went 180, so, he's still on the lam, and possibly in line for a future job in the school mascot industry.

A dude apparently tried to scuttle his own boat in the harbor. 37 feet of raw stupid.

The lights went out, causing grown men's balls to retreat back into their loins at the fear of imaginary terrorism. Locally, the Conocco-Phillips refinery vented raw apocalypse. What did we breathe on Monday? Who knows!

The Harbor comission meeting was packed. I'll tell you one thing about the Harbor Area . people here give a shit, even if we are all crazy. Mayor Sam weighs in here, and Noel Park gives comment.

And on the deveopment front:

The YMCA got the green light on it's expansion. Hey La Rambla-ites and Young Christians! Let's see you guys get neighborly. Personally, I'm a YMCA member and think that having community facilities right in the heart of neighborhoods that use them is great.

In other development news, the IBEW is doing some picketing to make sure that the electrical at the Centre Street Lofts (funny, I don't remember Center having a n "re" in it...) gets done right by the right guys for the job.

No new Bridge to Breakwater news yet (scoping meeting tonight at 6, FYI @POC restaurant), but blogging.la contributor, San Pedro native and bridge lighting enthusiast Christiana Dominguez piped up on the issue:

After years of waiting, trying for, and dreaming of a major waterfront redevelopment, it seems that San Pedrans might finally be getting what they want. At least, what most of us want.

Unfortunately, most of us are the strong, silent type.

The project, Bridge to Breakwater, will reunite Angelenos with their waterfront - giving us miles of strolling and jogging paths, planned, sensible retail and restaurant development, and tax revenue.

Is This All a Part of America's Regression to the Dark Ages?

With New Orleans returning to the stone age (I actually saw a photo of a man washing his clothes on a rock on the riverside yesterday), America's mental regression to the pre theory-of-evolution-is-obvious days and President Og's new might makes right version of foreign policy, I've finally gotten the evidence I need to support my assertation that the next Dark Age is right around the corner. Seems like there are two gators in Harbor Lake. And to quote the astronauts landing on a unfamiliar Earth in Planet of the Apes, upon finding a small plant: "Where there is one, there is another, and another, and another..."

Will ancient dinosaurians be walking the streets of Pedro next? Is the inability of an entire City Department and a pack of goofily dressed, Crocodile Dundee, wannabees to catch a single gator in a confined space more evidence that society as a whole is on the verge of collapse?

Note to self: stockpile guns, water, canned food...

Disney Penetrates Downtown

Ahh, the point men of San Pedro's future overlords are prodding around in our urban jungle. Less than 2 months after moving into his studio behind AVF Process Controls, local artist and all around good guy Aaron White was given the boot? Why? Because his landlord suddenly took a dislike to his bohemian lifestlye?

No, instead Disney bought the building, for nefarious purposes, no doubt. I don't see a Disney Store in our future (except at the 2,700,000 square foot retail delusion that's been proposed, where there will likely be two Disney Stores, one at either end, in case you don't feel like walking.), as the location isn't right for it. It's probably just for offices for cruise ship business.

I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, it's evidence that Disney intends to continue to expand their presence at the Los Angeles side of the port, which is good for taxes, businesses and all that. On the other hand, Disney is right behind Coca-Cola in my list of non-tobacco related companies that I loathe.

And so far, I'm counting Aaron as the 1st casualty in the oncoming gentrification. He's keeping a studio in Pedro, but the next casualty might not have the love and cajones to stick around when they get the boot.

More Bridge to Breakwater News

From the Daily Breeze

A thought that's been on my mind, from time to time - Doug Epperhart and Noel Park must be mandatory for all speed dialers at the Breeze office. Whenever the Breeze needs a quote from a San Pedran, they often go for convenience over depth (not that that isn't standard practice at most newspapers). That being said Doug and Noel are great, hard working community representatives and we are better off for their efforts.

Also it looks like there's gonna be "Public Meetings for the Content of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR)" coming up. With that kind of snazzy name, you know folks will turn out in droves.

CEQA Scoping Meetings (hosted by POLA)
Sept 15 & 29 at the Ports O' Call Restaurant, 6-8:30 PM

CEQU/NEPA Scoping Meetings (hosted by POLA and USACE)
Thursday, October 11, 2005 at the Los Angeles Harbor Hotel, aka the Sheraton, 6-8:30 PM

More information on these lampshade wearin' shindigs here and here .

Rise and the Fall Release Party Tonight

Somehow Harold's Place has become the place to see and hear punk in San Pedro. Issue 5 of Rise and the Fall, Craig Ibarra's zine covering the harbor area punk scene is being released tonight and The Lipstick Pickups, The Red Onions, Drinkers Purgatory and The Shudders (from San Jose) will be spreading the tunes around. It's free, so you can spend your clams on sweet, sweet booze instead of a shitty hand stamp.

Harold's Place (for the foreigners) - 1908 S. Pacific Ave

1st Thursday Tonite!

I'll make this short.

Walled City is on vacation! I get to walk around and see what's up tonight.

My mysterious neighbor gallery has what looks like some poster graffiti coming in, as of last night.

Ray Carofano's is the place to be! Gallery 478 at 478 7th Street. Nature Nurture solo show by Scott Bae, in the house. Or hiz-ouse, for the Oakland readers.

And if rumors I heard were correct, Sarah Signorovitch, kid sister of old chum James Signorovitch is having an opening at the new design studio on 7th street in the former architect's office.

See you in the streets.

Early morning stereo shopping

I had to remove a car stereo this morning before I left for work. So at around 5:20 a.m. I was sprawled across the passenger seat of a Honda Accord, banging on the mount to rip it out of the dashboard. What was kind of interesting was that people were walking by with their dogs, jogging by, driving by, but no one said a word or even stopped to look.

I was fully expecting the cops to swoop down on me while I was in there, but I worked on, unmolested. I'm hoping the neighbors all recognized my legs hanging out the door and weren't just oblivious to (or petrified by) knuckleheads stripping useful items out of the cars on the block...