I applaud the New World's audacity to appropriate the names of Old World places. New York, New York. Paris, Texas. Venice, California. Generally these impostors bear little resemblance to the originals. The two Venices at least have one thing in common: they are both overrun by tourists and sightseers.
There are many beaches along the coast of greater Los Angeles, and they all have their own unique identities. Venice Beach is the freaky one. The is where out of town tourists go to see LA-la Land as advertised. Most of L.A. is disappointingly normal, but not Venice Beach.
I go to Whole Foods every once in a while. Not often, because who can afford that? Not me that's who. But every once in a while I go. There is a wealth of inspiration in there. For example, Whole Foods has a wide range of fruit juices you won't find in your local grocery store. Hence the inspiration.
This time I give you:
Sonic Screwdriver
Ingredients
A glass large enough to hold 2 cups (16 oz) of liquid 1 oz mint infused vodka* 1 oz ginger liquor Sant Cruz Organic Mango Orange Juice fresh mint leaves ice
Place ice in glass. Add liquor. Pour in Mango Orange juice. Stir. Garnish with mint.
It won't even feel alcoholic, but resist the urge to up the alcohol, because it'll kick you in the face, and won't even apologize for it afterwards. Now, excuse me while I munch on my organic raw goat milk feta cheese.
*What do you mean, you don't have mint infused vodka? What's wrong with you?
We are having a heat wave here in LA. In The Valley the temperatures went up to 95ºF (35ºC). So I feel it appropriate to post some some summer themed vernacular photography.
Despite of hating to sleep with the AC on, I like summer. I like the hot sun bleaching out the landscape.
I like going on local road trips in summer time - taking the long way down to the coast. I take windy little roads that land me far north of the popular beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu.
I don't care a whole lot about the beach itself. The Ocean is an alien thing to me; it smells funny and it's frigging cold. Thanks to the giant clockwise current of the North Atlantic the waters along the West Coast are always frigid. I guess I should be thankful for that, because with warm currents LA would probably be hot and humid like Florida.
Temperatures are supposed to go back down to very manageable low 80's by midweek. At least that's what my phone is telling me, and my phone rarely lies, though occasionally has an alternative interpretation of reality. Existential stuff.
There is a flea market at the Pasadena City College at every first Sunday of the month. This July it falls on the fourth.
Thanks to my recently acquired, and perturbing habit of waking up early, even on weekends, I got out there at a reasonably early hour. There are a lot of things you can find at a flea market - like old cash registers.
Art,
and more art.
Assorted members...
...of the Animal...
...kingdom.
You can also procure kicking boots.
Also, tin boxes having to do with boots. I bought this box. I don't need it, but I liked it instantly, and I can put things into it. What things, I'm not sure yet.
I Also bought this old portable Remington typewriter. It's sexy, isn't it? For forty bucks it was a steal. I have a thing for old typewriters. My father used to have one - it was old even back then. It wasn't exactly like this, but in the same family.
LA is a great place to find old signs, shop window decorations, and old things in general.
Not that hundreds of years of European kind of old, but makes you think of black and white television old.
The great thing about them is that they are not trying for a retro look, they just are what they are.
This place sits in the semi-industrial wasteland bordering Burbank/Glendale. As I was taking pictures a man came - I think he might have been the proprietor - and asked me why I was photographing the store. I told him because it had character. He got it.
I'm now officially collecting old signs. Pasadena and Altadena have a bunch of them, and I'll have to drive over just for that.
I give you two kinds of tacky. I found them both in LA. The first kind in front of a furniture store catering to whites and Hispanics with a taste for the gaudy. The second one in an Asian store.
The figure in the foreground might be some sort of pirate - with a black wig.The background is some religious painting, I wouldn't what. I love the juxtaposition.
Hurray for stereotypes!
There is no true kitch display without angels.
Asians do it with fish.Check out those piggies too!
Dude!
Golden cauliflower? It doesn't get better than that.
I was going to write a diatribe about how Tim Burton's take on Alice in Wonderland is like a Wet Fart, but I'm too tired, and not bitchy enough to go there right now. So I'm just going to say that if you were considering watching it: don't. Rent the 1951 Disney version instead. It's one of Disney's best. Get yourself a pie too, while you're at it.
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