The Driving Thread

Yes, lots of deaths on 287, I'll never forget the Wyoming 8, killed by an asshole drunk driver. I would hesitate driving it in the winter. And at least much of the Wyoming part is now 4-laned, divided highway. Not enough passing lanes in the Colorado portion. Wyo 130 west out of Laramie toward Centennial and Saratoga is pretty too, past Medicine Bow Peak.

 

Drove to 1650 Echo Park Avenue to look at the apartment building my mom was born into in 1943.

It's so close to Dodger Stadium.

This pic is where Montana Street T's off at Echo Park Avenue.



After, I walked across the street to check out the offerings at Valerie Tea House & Bakery.

On the way I passed a sweet turquoise (or aqua) rolling avatar of our national something something ...



The offerings at Valerie were super tasty. Might go back for the egg salad.



Excellent but greasy Moroccan chicken hand pie. Really liked the Basque cheesecake.

All the photos on the way to Echo Park and on the way home: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gACVZMCMB7YQfDWY8

My mom moved after a few years and did most of her growing up in Burbank.

I was really hoping the radio would play Echo and the Bunnymen while I stuffed my pie hole on Echo Park Avenue.

But a truck with Missouri plates parked in front of me just before I left.

I think that's a sign that the Chiefs will roll past the Bills. C'mon, what are the odds? Missouri plates in Echo Park? At this exact moment?

 

As for between Laramie and Fort Collins, stick with I-25 the moment winter bites down. While it's exasperating that I-25 gets shut down during inclement weather, it's usually a sign that the secondary rural roads are a poor idea.

As for Wyoming, the first time I put a vehicle tire on it, it had road barrels so narrowly spaced that anything much wider than my vehicle at the time - no sane person's idea of a tank - wouldn't have fit between them. No problem with the upkeep of Wyoming's roads, which was good given how many truckers were rolling along I-80 and I-25. The trucks and wind farms helped break up the monotony.

 

Released 38 years ago this week.

 

Solid nod to the Rabbit Boys, one of my favo(u)rites. But alas nope, this was the Echo stuff I grew up with.

 

"Teacher of glorious stories to tell?
Man of gold, or stores to sell?
Lover to a gentle belle?
Maybe a camel; A seashell.
What mightn't've been a life where it mightn't've ended well?"​

Out of the gym parking lot I made a right onto San Vicente Boulevard.

Another quick right onto Venice Boulevard.

Thought about driving 35 miles up the coast to Malibu to eat lunch at Neptune's Net.

What ended up happening is that I drove Venice Boulevard all the way to the end at Pacific Avenue.

On the other side of the light was Venice Beach and it was an easy sell to myself. I'm a boy of the Pacific Ocean.

Found parking on Mildred Street a block away and walked toward the Venice Carnival of Human Behavior. It'd been a few years.

One of my favorite episodes of Lou Grant is when Animal stumbles upon a dead photographer at Venice Beach, and then finds her stash of photography of all that's Venice.

It's a pretty emotional episode.

Venice Beach didn't disappoint today.

The Carnival was in full effect.

In moments like these I feel like Natalie Merchant ...

Have I been blind have I been lost
Inside myself and my own mind
Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?​

I took alotta photos and videos today to and fro Venice Beach, and of course, there, of the Carnival: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DDN2fDo1SJmckHyt7

On the way home, back on Venice Boulevard, I noticed snowcapped peaks in the far distance.

And a black chick on a bus stop bench flipped me a double peace sign.



And a woman begged for cash in the middle of the street.

Only now did I notice the street sign behind her -- Dufresne. I watched Shawshank Redemption last night. Still a masterpiece.



I gave her 5 bucks. She told God to bless me. I drove away toward the sun and the snow.

And then this came on the radio again. It's a few years old but I've only recently heard for the first time. It's intoxicating and I love it.

And it was still playing when I finally shot the snowcapped peaks ahead.



Maybe next time for Neptune's Net.

 

I thought I was going to drive PCH up into the guts of Malibu to eat lunch at Neptune's Net.

I was on my way too on another cloudless and sunny 70 degree afternoon.

Just start up, Songbird, and you'll get there. Just start driving there.

But it happened again, that fucking thing that gets me all the fucking time after I've started something ... indecision.

And wouldn't you know the indecision gripped me hard enough to cause me to turn around at the part of the drive where you either go all the way or you don't.

I wasn't going to Neptune's Net today. Indecision kicked my ass again.

So I flipped a bitch and started the drive back to somewhere.



And then I passed the red sportster again ...



... and flipped another bitch and parked and took a few photos of the red sportster with the 10x zoom.

Can you imagine driving THAT babygirl up and down Pacific Coast Highway?

Que SERROT SERROT
let's go for a ride, baby

A whole lotta sex has been had in that car, or at least tried to be had. If only that sportster could talk.

I started walking toward Malibu's version of a shopping center and noticed a pot shop and a pizza joint.

Passed the pot shop and went straight for the pizza joint.



Ordered a coupla slices and salad and house-made tiramisu.

Coupla things: D'Amore's imports its flour and cheese from Naples Italy. Water too. That's what Joe the owner said. He showed me the bags of flour.









All those bags, Joe said, will last about a week.

Joe walked me up to the roof so that I could eat like a king overlooking the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

I was the only person on the rooftop.

30 seconds later, a mom and her 3 kids walked out of the elevator. All of a sudden the rooftop was hoppin'.

Sometimes I wonder if the indecision that paralyzes me so many times is really something else.

The short version is this: Mom and her daughter and two sons sat at their table.

I was busy taking a few photos of my slices against the backdrop of the cloudless blue sky and the ocean et cetera et cetera when I heard Mom say this to her daughter:

"The next time you tell them you're from Pepperdine and you get a discount. Every time."

Pepperdine University.

There's no Jim Valvano -- Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up -- without the Pepperdine game when the Waves crashed down on themselves in OT.

Mom pulled out a few photo albums.

I looked up to see Mom and daughter were taking selfies while one son ate a slice of pizza and his little brother nursed a fat rainbow popsicle.



Something so wonderful about what's going on in that photo.

Maybe that's what my indecisions are really about most of the time, making sure I see these moments.

I mostly tuned out Mom and her children and went to work on my slices and salad and tiramisu.

The slices were magnificent and I'm not just saying that as some exercise is foodie romanticism.

The crust was crunchy, but not too crunchy. Portnoy would jizz over this crust.

The sauce was tangy. The cheese -- from Italy -- was great as were the meats and the veggies and olives and shrooms.

The only pizza I ate in France 3 weeks ago was dog shit. These 2 slices at D'Amore's were world class.

The salad was fresh and fantastic. I've never had better tiramisu.



While I didn't really pay attentioni to Mom and kids bond over family photos and memories, I looked over every few moments.

A piece of me was jealous. I never experienced this kind of bonding with my mom, or dad; but I'm not crying over spilled milk.

10-15 minutes later, Mom and Daughter and Sons got up and headed for the stairwell. I wondered if the kids appreciated this moment of moments in real time ... gorging on pizza and pop and popsicles ... listening to and laughing with Mom as she shared intimate stories behind old family photos, like this one at Mommy and Daddy's wedding, and this one of Grampa ... on a glorious sunny afternoon ... on the roof of a pizza joint in Malibu ... overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

It was time for me to hit the road too.

Hey, there's that pretty red sportster again! Click. Click.

Here's all of today's photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CLsChedDvkZk2giEA



Que SERROT SERROT
Indecision for me will be.

 

The composition of the photo with the family in the background is simply outstanding.

Pepperoni, onions, sausage, mushrooms, black olives.

Oh, the photo composition is pretty good, too.

 

Pizza on roof with Pacific in background; man that’s nice. Great story too.

 

There is a lot to be said for Malibu, except when it catches on fire.
I went to high school with the Malibu kids so I had many friends there.
Another friend, who is one year older, I followed him in Journalism through high school and junior college. He went to Pepperdine and tried to convince me to go there, too. I was juggling Pepperdine and USC. I really wanted to go to USC. Finally, I did get accepted to USC. I told my friend: every weekend of my senior year in high school, I was going to Malibu to a party. I couldn't imagine driving Pacific Coast Highway every day TO GO TO SCHOOL.

 

As a fan of old cars, I ache every time I visit the West Coast. Once I even bought a car in Los Angeles and drove it home to its final exile in Wisconsin.

 

As a guy who drove a fully restored '66 Stang Conv. as my daily driver for over 5 yrs, old cars are cool to drive occasionally but there is simply no substitute for the tech advances in combustion/handling/safety. Its like night and day.