The Driving Thread

Phoenix, which is really just L.A. East in many ways, has co-opted the "The" in front of freeways. I remember taking trips up and down the 101 and over the 202 when I lived that way.

 

That’s the best immigration item I’ve ever seen!! Soooo true.

As for downtown, you should’ve seen that area 8th and Figueroa in 2000s,deader than dead. My client helped build those apt s and hotel around LA Live.

 

NOOOO keep it here!!!,

 

Avoid the 110 -- the Harbor Freeway -- if at all possible. It goes from, uh, the harbor toward downtown L.A. and fans out to ... everywhere. Oh, and because it goes from, uh, the harbor, you will usually see between 1 and 1,000 18-wheelers and they will all be going the same place you're going.

 

Nothing, not in LA, not anywhere, is worse than the 405, all day, everyday. nearly 2 hrs from Orange County to the Valley (north of downtown) at 930 PM, to go 30 miles (if that.)

 

Sat down at a Mexican/burger joint called Erick in the shadow of the Los Angeles Coliseum, which I walked around to take photos and think about Trojan football throughout my lifetime.

While walking back toward my car I saw this worker in a Steelerized work helmet. Asked if he thought Big Ben is coming back and he said probably not but what a great rub with him.

I asked if he wanted to hear my prediction about the Steelers' quarterback for the next 3 seasons: Aaron Rodgers. He said, "You really think so? I'm going to tell my wife that." He said something else but a car passed and I couldn't hear.

Well, the bacon cheeseburger is just about ready. More later.

 

SJ.com is one of the original blogs of the Internet. Been around 20+ years.

Once again decided to make a left onto Venice after gym time and let the energy (or spirits) (or both) guide the way.

Got to Crenshaw soon enough.

If I made a left I'd be driving toward Gus's Fried Chicken.

So I made a right onto Crenshaw and started driving into a super gritty part of L.A.

Got some gas, turned on the radio to a new "rock" station in L.A., the only station that comes in because someone in Trenton stole my antenna in 2012 and I haven't replaced it and haven't bought a new tape adapter to play CD's.

Nirvana was playing on the radio. They were such a thing. As close to The Doors as there's ever been or will be? I took stock of the moment. Shitty part of L.A. Wandering aimlessly, again. Sometimes I'm as dead as Kurt.

Phish, which just might be the modern Doors, put it perfectly with the lyric I change the landscape as I pass, meandering from sand to glass ...

I flipped a U into a shopping center of sorts. This sign for POBOYS reminded me of posters here who love them a good po boy, which isn't a sub or grinder. Or is it?



Asked the phone which way to the Los Angeles Coliseum. It said to take Obama Boulevard.



Obama Boulevard becomes Exposition Boulevard. The phone said to take a right onto Bill Robertson Lane and that my destination will be on the left.

Bill Robertson Lane was super quiet, barely any traffic, other than construction crews.

And here I was at the place where USC plays football.

I've been inside once, the day Bo Jackson got his football career ended. I was on the Raiders sideline when it happened.

But I've never been inside the Coliseum to watch the USC Trojans play football. I don't know why either.

I don't live and die with USC football like I used to.

I do expect a national championship every season, undefeated, and lots of 65-7 wins.

Anything less is a lost season. Not sure Lincoln Riley truly understands this expectation.

Took photos of the immaculate artwork on the west walls. JFK. MLK. Marcus Allen. Not sure who the woman is next to a city worker smoking a cigarette.



My first favorite Trojan was Rodney Peete.

Decided to park near King Boulevard and wander around the Coliseum.

Walked east on King to one of the main parking entrances to the Coliseum and took whatever photo-ops presented themselves.

Banners highlighting iconic wins in USC history hang around the Coliseum.

It was built 99 years ago in 1923 and looks every bit its age. Old, decrepit, tired, like Biden.



I have my own mental banners ...

The day USC beat the shit out of Switzer, Jamelle, and the Sooners.

The day USC beat the shit out of Troy Aikman and the Bruins.

The greatest 2-minute drill in football history courtesy of freshman Todd Marinovich, without one of his cleats.

The moment was so immense that Ronald Reagan called the locker room as the Trojans went nuts on the Palouse.

Per the previous post upthread, I wonder if the construction guy in the Steelers hard hat remembered to tell his wife about my prediction of Aaron Rodgers wearing black and gold.

And why not? Peyton left his legacy team and won a Super Bowl in Denver. Brady left his legacy team and won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. I don't think Rodgers ends his career in Green Bay.

After the impromptu chat with Hard Hat Guy, I was back at my car.

Made a right on King Boulevard to head back toward the west part of town to eat lunch.

But something stopped me, not indecision, and I made a right turn on a residential street, made a right onto Browning Street, and found myself at Vermont Avenue.

Made a right onto Vermont and drove till something caught my eye.



Was a time in the late '80s into the '90s when Manual Arts was a hoops superpower in L.A. @ChrisLong can attest.

I was hungry but indecision was getting in the way. This happens all the time.

I pulled into a dirty shopping center to eat Chinese then changed my mind soon as I turned the engine off.

Made a right onto Vermont again and saw an Asian man eating a banana at the bus stop at Vernon Avenue.

Made a left turn onto Vernon and drove until another dirty center with Chinese food, donuts, a laundromat, water shop, and a burger joint called Erick.

Walked in to see that Erick is a hybrid with burgers and Mexican food and gumball machines and arcade games. The only thing missing was a few flies. The place could really use a spring cleaning. But I was going to eat a burger here. This was the right decision.



Ordered a cheeseburger combo with my first ever strawberry Fanta.

No lechuga, I told the counter girl.

The counter girl said No lettuce.

Derp on me.

Asked for bacon too but didn't dare say that in Spanish. Como se dice bacon en Español?

The burger was excellent. The fries were excellent. The strawberry Fanta was surprisingly good.



It was time to drive home. Saw lots of signs, including this one, for all the 49ers fans here ...




Other photos include a guy shaving his nose at a red light: https://photos.app.goo.gl/A5U6FD6WuXM9vYEy7

As I took that photo, Nirvana was playing on the radio again.

https://youtu.be/lRJNRGnDqwc

 

Love these photo essays, SB ... keep 'em coming.

I also like the sign in the place you stopped for lunch: Fried chicken, $11 (half a chicken). It would cost our man @JakeandElwood $88 to eat there. Plus whatever the Coke would cost ...

 

A fried hamburger made to order (w grilled onions) is the best.

LA is immense; keep the wandering a coming. If you try hard enough, I’m sure you’ll find Saul in the next strip mall off Santa Monica Blvd. east of Hollywood .

 

The last basketball star I remember at Manual Arts was Dwayne Polee, who L.A. City Player of the Year in 1981.
(From Wiki: Polee, a 6'5" swingman, was the 1981 Los Angeles City Section Player of the Year at Manual Arts.[3] He turned in perhaps the greatest individual performance in City championship game history when he scored 43 points in Manual Arts' 82-69 victory over Crenshaw High School at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in front of 14,123, the largest crowd in city history.[4]).

He went to UNLV then transferred to Pepperdine and was WCC player of the year. His last college game was awful. He was something like 2 for 13 from the floor and the Waves lost a heartbreaker to Maryland and Len Bias. That was the second-t0-last game for Bias, who lost to Auburn two days later and lost to cocaine soon after that.