I love this building, I'm not sure if it qualifies as Googie or not. I just know it's very cool and I can't help smiling every time I drive past. It's the Fleetwood Center pink Cadillac at 19611 Ventura Blvd in Tarzana.
It is looking very in the pink these days, just how we like it! The classics never go out of style.
Ye old Captian Ed's has gotten into the Halloween spirit with this giant pumpkin with a glowing Smoke Guy. Their unique pumpkin floats against a spooky green and blue sky. It's painted on their window at the Van Nuys shoppe.
They're an olde Valley fixture, since 1967 at 6704 Van Nuys Blvd. They also wish you a Happy Stoney Halloween. I hear the kid who works on Sundays gives the best bargains.
I get a lot of forwarded jokes. This is still making the rounds a week later. I thought I'd share it with my readers who aren't lucky enough to get dozens of forwarded jokes each day.
I can't imagine the rat-faced Dick of Lehman doing anything like that. Besides, Mr. Fuld got his entitlement money already.
They're all entitled, didn't you know?
Anybody got a photo of Bush playing the fiddle? Why hasn't anyone been fired? Bush defends bailout....
As you know, several State Historic Parks in Los Angeles are on the governators chopping block. One of them is my favorite: Los Encinos State Historic Park which I have written about here.
This is a little patch of heaven right on Ventura Blvd. near Balboa in the heart of Encino.
On Sunday, October 19th 2000 they are having a Western themed Stagecoach Day at the park where you can dress up with the kids and learn about the park, listen to live bands, and see a real live stagecoach arrive off the Historic El Camino Real (Ventura Blvd.) It sounds like a lot of fun!
We need Huell Howser to cover this!
Here's their flier:
Los Encinos State Historic Park invites you to out biggest event of the year. Journey back with us to 1858 as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of scheduled transcontinental stagecoach service to California.
Sunday, October 19th 2008. 10 AM to 4 PM
Los Encinos State Historic Park
16756 Moorpark St., Encino CA 91436-1068
We will have two live bands, Victorian dancing, children's activities, a blacksmith, a telegraph office and a real stagecoach with horses.
The stagecoach will begin the day at Campo de Cahuenga in Universal City, then travel under its own power down Ventura Blvd to Los Encinos (arriving around mid-day) and then continue the journey on to the Leonis Adobe in Calabasas.
Be there with us at Los Encinos to welcome its arrival and to show your support for our State Parks in these troubled times.
Admission is free. If you feel so inclined, come in your old west finery to join in the fun!
Go to the Los Encinos Website.
I am always looking for excuses to drive by or through the Sepulveda Dam Recreation area.
If you've driven down Balboa lately you'll notice quite a bit of construction going on in the upper corner near Balboa and Victory.
The Army Corps of Engineers is working on 'habitat restoration and enhancement' of Bull Creek in the Sepulveda Basin.
They are going to build a new island in that corner of the Park and have Bull Creek meander around the island on its way to the LA River. There will be bridges and nature kiosks along the way.
Last month the area you see was choked with Evil, Invasive Arundo, or OBnoxious Giant Reeds. Now it's clean and they have begun to dig the creek channel. The photo is from the bridge looking north to Victory Blvd. Great clouds that day, n'est pas?
The real creek is diverted and spills out just before the bridge on your way into the park. Another smaller channel above the creek feeds water from Balboa Lake, which gets its' water from the Tillman Reclamation Plant.
The new area should be attractive to the wildlife already living in the basin. Here's an egret near the water, behind the trees there is a sliver of blue from Balboa Lake. I think he's waiting for fish, but I wasn't able to score an interview. I was both exited to see him and horrified to see such a majestic creature standing in a creepy concrete basin with 'runoff'.
Here is a description of the work and where additional water will come from to feed Bull Creek from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board notes:
Enhancement: Urban runoff conveyed by Bull Creek has deposited trash and debris within the channel. The channel contains invasive species such as giant reed and castor bean. Enhancement will include removal of trash, debris, and invasive species followed by revegetation with native riparian species such as mulefat and willows. Flow to the 2,400-foot-long reach of Bull Creek (which currently consists of nuisance flow) and the 1,200-foot-long, oxbow, engineered channel would be augmented by water from Balboa Lake which would be gravity fed through a 1,200-foot-long, 12-inch diameter water supply line. Discharge of the water from Balboa Lake would occur at the northern end of the 2,400-foot-long reach of Bull Creek into a 20-foot by 100-foot concrete pool.
Here is a Map Link from the Army Corps:
The LAWQCB memo talks about the bridges but my governmentspeak is a little rusty. Can anyone explain what this paragraph means?
Construction of four single-span pedestrian bridges at various locations throughout the project area which would entail the construction of eight abutments located outside of waters of the United States.
Does that mean the bridges go from the island and reach International Waters offshore? Or does that mean bridges are going to be pre-fabricated by a non-US company? Or is this a typo?
For more info on the Sepulveda Wildlife Basin in general visit SepulvedaBasinWildlife.org.
If you are (or want to be) a 'stakeholder' visit the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council.
There is a large bank of pink flowering cherry trees on the western edge of this project. I can't wait to see how it looks in spring with all the pink reflecting off the water.
