Today's walk report: 081313

My first car...

Before I get to that I'd like to mention I did over 10 miles on the bike shortly before leaving for my walk. I was trying to get everything done so I could relax and watch the Dodgers vs the Mets and that is top of the 3rd right now. I want to get this done and watch the game for a change.

This is what I looked like after the bike. I actually considered going out the door without changing my shirt. I didn't. I drank a 1/2 liter of water, changed my shirt, gave my ever aware of what's going on cat, Lucy, a treat and was gone. The walk felt GREAT after the bike too.

However, I was no longer, rainforest fresh.

On to the walk...

I've been past this house probably a few dozen times of late but this is the first time I've seen this car. In fact, it's the first time I've seen one of these in years. This is a 1970 or 1971 Volvo 1800E and outwardly it looks to be a great shape. The blue CA license plate indicates that the owner has had this car for quite awhile since that issue plate was introduced in 1970 and discontinued in 1982. 'Could have an original owner here.

I originally fell in love with this car in the early 60's with the P1800 and later the 1800S being the cars Roger Moore drove in the television series, The Saint. Yeah, I was just a little kid but there was a Volvo connection in the family with my mom driving a Volvo 544 (B18 engine) at the time.

Roger Moore as The Saint. I believe this is an 1800S.

I did not get my 1800E until the early 80s. I was a late bloomer to the driving experience. It's a long story in one way but also, more briefly, through college and into the end of the 70s, I didn't really need a car.

Here's my Volvo, parked right at the top of the hill on the campus I walk on weekend walk days, or whenever school is out. The car had a B20-E engine with manual transmission, 4-speed with an "automatic overdrive" and Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection. It was a peppy little ride. It also had wonderful legroom for its 6' 5" driver. With the front seat back I could sleep in it and I did, many times.

I also drew the 1800E for shits and giggles and to practice drawing in Adobe Illustrator in 2008. I think I draw better now and this reminds me I should find another nice project to practice again.

After spending a bunch of money on my 1800E, getting it all shiny and running well which included a major engine overhaul, it was a joy to drive for several years. I loved driving the local canyons to the pacific coast. Summers were a little rough with no A/C but I just opened everything. The sunroof messed up the lines some but it helped with the ventilation.

Anyway, a little reminiscing after seeing that car today... hmmm, I wonder if it's for sale???

Today's walk report: 052113 (sort of)

Once upon a time...

I mentioned in my "introductory" post some of the evolution of the walk report, it transitioning to this blog, etc. The walk report was just a title for something I've been doing in some form or another for years and that's reporting both interesting and not so interesting things I observed on my daily constitutional. I've carried a camera with me for the most part since at least 1999 when I bought a Polaroid not even 1 megapixel digital camera for less than $100. However, the walk as a regular thing, probably didn't get in full swing until late 2000.

Looking back...

I usually started from here, although at times would drive somewhere nearby because I had a destination, a purpose, that would make the journey far too long. This is the apartment complex I lived in for nearly 14 years in the beautiful neighborhood of Windsor Square in Los Angeles. The red dot marks the location of my apartment. It was ALMOST far enough away from the swimming pool.

However, I walked this neighborhood for close to 7 years prior to those 14 when I lived in this house nearby. It just wasn't part of a habitual exercise plan. Hey! There's my son probably rushing off to his new job... Oh wait... I just had that conversation with him on the phone, moments ago. Yeah, he's in college now and has a first "real" job coming up tomorrow. Where did the time go? The 70 rose bushes I nursed back to life when we 1st moved in, front of the house there, are all gone now too.

We had a little deli/restaurant/Italian market on this street for years. Larchmont is a throwback street to the old studio days in early Hollywood. Laurel and Hardy films along with the Keystone Cops, etc. were shot on and near Larchmont Blvd.

There's the shop now and LOOK! It's that kid again! Yes, his name is Alessio. It was cute when he was 4-5 and told people he was the owner. 7-8, not so cute anymore.  I had already gone on to do new things when the place was sold in the late 90s. I did, however, sneak there one night before the new owners fully took over and grabbed that hanging sign for my boy. A lot of people in the hood knew me from the shop. Alessio's got to be pretty popular. Toward my end there I was counting over 200 in store transactions, mostly lunch, plus catering to the studios, etc. We also would cater special events at times exceeding 1,000 people. I learned a lot on that gig.

Frequent cleb customers were, Vincent Schiavelli, James Remar, Vince Vaughn, Adam Goldberg, Alexis Arquette, Joanna Cassidy (always right at closing for a piece of fresh buffalo mozzarella), George Takei, Fran Drescher, a bunch of Star Trek: Voyager people and early on some of the Frasier cast. Plus a bunch of people I can't think of right now.

Happy Days house 1974-1984

One of the more famous houses in the hood. This was the Happy Days house. Anybody hearing Rock Around The Clock in their head right now?

A little creepier, at least for some (Happy Days was pretty creepy for me)... The house used for the films Willard and also Ben. These were films about a rats used for revenge and other disturbing stuff.

Willard (1977) & Ben (1972) house.

There were several other famous homes in the old hood too. The Dorothy Chandler home would be one. I don't know about the people named in that article but someone living in this house turned their sprinklers on me once. I had stopped on first step off the sidewalk to take a pebble out of my shoe and BAM. But here's the deal, it was a stream across the steps seen here from both directions. I later heard some story about how how they didn't like lookie-loos or some bullshit. I flipped off the camera. In fact I think I did that a few times walking by.

Houses being used for filming for both television and feature film was common. Almost too common. There were times I'd have to detour off my regular route and find as much as 1 mile to make up elsewhere at time because of filming. However that's rare because most of the time nothing is happening with hours of prep going into minutes of actual shooting. This shot was taken during an episode of the TV series, Monk in 2003. The woman standing near the foreground tree is in the backside driveway of the Los Angeles Mayor's home.

Filming the TV show Monk. Scenes like this can freak you out at 1st coming home from work.

Around 2006 I was trying to become better at drawing stuff on my computer and was also making a decision about buying Adobe Illustrator CS2 or CS3. I think I ended up buying CS3 in 2007. I also had an idea for a children's book at the time. That's part of the reason for the orange cat which bears some resemblance to my cat, Lucy. In fact I used a photo of Lucy's fur for the texture of the cat drawing. The last 2 houses were drawn with AI the first 2 were done with Adobe Imagestyler. I think I'm the only person who ever bought that.

Houses I drew.

Here's what the last house really looks like... Unfortunately I took the photo the day the lawn was prepped and fertilized in the fall. Quite some time after I drew this I printed a 4"x6" copy and put it in the owners mailbox. It had my contact information on it. I never heard back. I guess they weren't impressed.

There was also the official home of the Los Angeles Mayor which was unoccupied between 1993 and 2005, during the terms for mayors Richard Riordan and James Hahn. Hahn's successor, mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has been using the house since 2005 with some intervening marital complications. I had also started an AI drawing of the Getty House in 2008. When I was taking reference photos from the sidewalk one day the mayor, one of his daughters and a police officer were out jogging. He asked me what I was taking pictures for and was fine with my answer (again 1st amendment--please police departments get your heads around the 1st amendment.) The cop who was struggling with the jog however stopped to take my card. I never went too far with the drawing. However, one of my photos is posted for the Wikipedia entry on the house itself. Mayor Thomas Bradley lived their the longest, from 1977 to 1993. I used to see mayor Bradley on Larchmont with infrequently during his declining years. I'm not sure where he was living once he left office but I'll assume he was nearby. I had a lot of respect for Tom Bradley from the time I was in Jr. High.

The Getty House, official residence of the mayor of Los Angeles.

 Dogs... I had several dog friends over the years. Some of whom actively looked forward to my arrival everyday.

(The next two posts are supposed to be videos but apparently there's an issue loading videos on Blogger.com right now and the Google Blogger team says they're working on it... since May 8th.  Anyway, I put in images as placeholders for now.Yikes!)

These two were probably my favorites. We certainly had the longest relationship. He always would try to get me to reach in for whatever we were playing with but I never had that degree of trust. If I ever get the video up you'll see he ultimately gives back the slimy rubber bone so we can continue our game of fetch.

Later on these two showed up on the other end of the same street... Dino and Dinah, I think. Both of these houses are mansions--again, if I can ever get the videos up you'll see.

Then there was Bailey. He often liked to stop with no intention to move on. His owner who was a rather slender woman about my age, would have a very difficult time trying to deal with this. Turns out she was a highly respected ENT surgeon specializing, I believe, in pediatrics and was probably a very busy person. I helped Bailey along a few times and also corralled him once after he had slipped off his leash. He's actually on a leash in this picture but I removed it for the portrait and because I can.

I was going to show some of the old hood during Halloween decorations but the video thing kind of screwed me up. Windsor Square went ALL OUT for Halloween so maybe later once Blogger gets their act together. Yes, I did walk today and it was pretty down and dirty, no action so maybe this post was a good idea after all. I hope somebody enjoyed it. These were fond memories and I miss my old neighborhood.