The Wiener Factory Is No More

It was a nice overcast day, so I spent the better part of the morning driving around The Valley, listening to The Prairie Home Companion and hunting down things to photograph. The Wiener Factory (rip) is on Ventura Boulevard. I first spotted it while driving to the Sherman Oaks Arclight.
This Mexican themed mural is on small street, a block from Sherman Way.

I've been thinking of getting a GPS adapter for my camera. That way I could tag my photos with the exact location. Maybe I'll get it for myself for Christmas.

Little Green House

I went out photographing, just within walking distance on Sunday morning. I've noticed this cute little green house years ago. Earlier this summer it was up for sale, for too much, not that it mattered. Now it's standing empty. Out of curiosity I looked it up on Redfin and PropertyShark.

It's 1,033 sqft, sitting on a 5,804 sqft lot. It sold in 1989 for $220,000 and again in 2001 for the exact same amount. Then in 2006 it sold for $540,000. It seems to have foreclosed in August this year. It confounds me that people honestly found nothing unusual about the value of a house in a not so special neighborhood going up 245% in five short years.



Across the street used to be a yellow house, but it's gone now, replaced by an apartment building of nondescript color. I took a few pictures before it was gone, but my best shot was not of the house but the backyard.

Grave Signs

I've been without internet since the start of the weekend. I have no idea why, since Earthlink's tech support is as useful as suntan lotion in a snowstorm. So I went out and took some pictures between rain showers.

I was first nonplussed till I figured out that "grave marker" is just the pastel term for tombstone. I think if the sign said "tombstones" I would find it less surreal. The house sits in burbank on the corner where Victory and Burbank Boulvards meet, across from Costco.

It inspired me to write a little poem, something a rarely do, since it's not my strength.

Let us mark your grave,
And the time you'll take
To get there.

Mish-Mash

The Big Chill

I shot these pictures a few weeks ago, South of the Glendale part of San Fernando Road. I'm not sure what that area is called. There is a huge Levitz furniture store there that closed recently. Now it's just a big white building and a huge empty parking lot. There are a row of small furniture stores right next though.

Behind them, there is a bit of an abandoned railroad with overgrown grass.

I walked down to the end where I found what seemed to be a homeless person's encampment.

It could have been a pile of rags or someone sleeping. I stopped and turned around. I figured it's rude to walk into somebody's bedroom, even if it's outdoors.

I have not been out photographing the past few weeks. I've been fighting a cold and obsessing over the economy. I spent the weekends drinking chamomile tea, and scouring the web trying to figure out which financial analyst is right and how much I should be worrying.

The weather has turned, the nice gloominess offers a welcome break from the relentlessly blaring sun. I should go out tomorrow and take advantage of this light. Unless if it's raining.

Obsession

obsession |əbˈse sh ən|
noun
the state of being obsessed with someone or something : she cared for him with a devotion bordering on obsession.
• an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind : he was in the grip of an obsession he was powerless to resist.

King of "Sun Vally", Take 2

Monster!

Valley Photos - May 25, 2008

More Photos of the Valley.

California

More Urban Landscapes

I went out photographing today. It was bad time for it really: bright midday sun, harsh shadows. I snagged a couple ok shots anyway. There is the movie prop/antique store on a little street off Chandler. It does not fit with my landscape project, but it is there, so I took some photos. Thanks to the light and polarizing filter I got this somewhat odd image. I have yet been able to decide whether I like it.

Old House

This empty, abandoned house used to stand on the corner of Vineland and Kittridge. It had a surprisingly large piece of land around it, maybe as a throwback to earlier era of the neighborhood. Someone once told me that the area used to be all orange groves in the old days. The property was all fenced around, but there was a convenient hole on the fence. I was eyeing the place for weeks, and when I saw the For Sale sign put up I decided to get a move on. One afternoon I climbed through the fence to take some pictures. The house was smallish and rather quaint. There was a boarded up gazebo in the back, and another building, tool shed or garage maybe. Behind it I found an old work bench. There was graffiti on most walls.

Just a few weeks after I took the pictures, the house mysteriously burned down. I climbed through the fence again. The roof of the house was gone and part of the front wall too. I could see a white fire place in what must have once been the living room. However the pine trees and the big old weeping willows were still standing, barely touched by the fire. A few weeks later all of it - house, gazebo, trees - were bulldozed down. They were supposed to build a big apartment building on the spot, but the lot is still vacant.

The Valley

Finally gentrification has crept into The Valley, hit North Hollywood and started spreading. The whole neighborhood is a curious mixture of dilapidated old commercial buildings, furious new development, graffiti, and out of whack real estate prices.