daily musings about the oddities of san pedro, california.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
So, It Begins...
Now that I've witnessed the first shockingly massive illegal fireworks display of the season, Summer is officially here. Last night around 8 someone set off a massive display, from the looks of it, somewhere in the Bandini Canyon area, After about 5 minutes of disturbingly professional looking fireworks, a tower of smoke was visible for about 30 minutes.
the denizens of San Pedro love 'em some fireworks, don't they? when we were looking for a place in Point Fermin years ago it was winter, and we thought, "oh man, this place is heaven...no one around, fog, sea lions, this is perfect!"
then summer rolled around and every weekend was like a Riyadh street fair on the last night of Ramadan. july 4th --- forget it. i've never seen so many people in one small area doing their best to burn down an entire neighborhood. during the daylight hours it was like a drunken street corner woodstock, and the minute the sun hit the horizon the shelling began.
never seen anything quite like it. two liter bottles full of who-knows-what kind of unstable, dangerous explosives were going off on the front lawn, bottle rockets, roman candles and Chinese silkworm missiles were landing on the roof. that the night didn't end in entire blocks going up in flames still amazes and puzzles me.
the fireworks keep going all summer, and into the fall. Lakers win? blow some shit up. Lakers lose? eh, blow some shit up anyway. tuesday? let's blow some shit up! i guess it's too wet during one or two months of winter, but as soon as june hits...
And of course, you can't forget those "extreme celebrators" out there that shoot guns in the air at any conceivable opportunity. It scares the carp out of me that they actually have to put up bilingual bus bench and billboard advertising to inform people that shooting projectiles straight up in the air is not a brilliant idea, nor a legal one.
I'm presuming that you are referring to the Bandini Canyon area. I'm not sure. I don't know anything about the history of the name. The interesting thing about that area is that some of it is unincorporated land, and various city zoning ordinances don't apply, and you don't get to vote in municipal elections. It is part of the county, though, so you are still playing by their rules.
...oh, the commentor was referring to John Fante's "wait until spring, Bandini."
Arturo Bandini was the hero of a few Fante books. Bukowski cited Fante as an influence. and if you read Fante, you can see that he did indeed have an enormous impact on Bukowski's style.
I think so. I'm talkign about that area just below Bandini Street School. Is that La Rambla. I've never been absolutely sure what the boundaries on that area are.
9 Comments:
the denizens of San Pedro love 'em some fireworks, don't they? when we were looking for a place in Point Fermin years ago it was winter, and we thought, "oh man, this place is heaven...no one around, fog, sea lions, this is perfect!"
then summer rolled around and every weekend was like a Riyadh street fair on the last night of Ramadan. july 4th --- forget it. i've never seen so many people in one small area doing their best to burn down an entire neighborhood. during the daylight hours it was like a drunken street corner woodstock, and the minute the sun hit the horizon the shelling began.
never seen anything quite like it. two liter bottles full of who-knows-what kind of unstable, dangerous explosives were going off on the front lawn, bottle rockets, roman candles and Chinese silkworm missiles were landing on the roof. that the night didn't end in entire blocks going up in flames still amazes and puzzles me.
the fireworks keep going all summer, and into the fall. Lakers win? blow some shit up. Lakers lose? eh, blow some shit up anyway. tuesday? let's blow some shit up! i guess it's too wet during one or two months of winter, but as soon as june hits...
And of course, you can't forget those "extreme celebrators" out there that shoot guns in the air at any conceivable opportunity. It scares the carp out of me that they actually have to put up bilingual bus bench and billboard advertising to inform people that shooting projectiles straight up in the air is not a brilliant idea, nor a legal one.
im unfamilliar with the area. which came first, arturo or the canyon?
I'm presuming that you are referring to the Bandini Canyon area. I'm not sure. I don't know anything about the history of the name. The interesting thing about that area is that some of it is unincorporated land, and various city zoning ordinances don't apply, and you don't get to vote in municipal elections. It is part of the county, though, so you are still playing by their rules.
the canyon (and street) came first. San Pedro hasn't yet named anything after the literary types that haunt the place.
...oh, the commentor was referring to John Fante's "wait until spring, Bandini."
Arturo Bandini was the hero of a few Fante books. Bukowski cited Fante as an influence. and if you read Fante, you can see that he did indeed have an enormous impact on Bukowski's style.
Are you talking about La Rambla?
I think so. I'm talkign about that area just below Bandini Street School. Is that La Rambla. I've never been absolutely sure what the boundaries on that area are.
by the way, turns out Bandini was Mrs. Gaffey's family name. so there you go.
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