Los Angeles Archives

Autry National Center – Los Angeles

Posted by Rick on October 21, 2012 in Pictures, Travel 0 Comment

Autry National Center

While I’m not as big of a fan of this man as some people are, being born well after the popularity of Westerns was dying down, I would be remiss in acknowledging the contributions Gene Autry made to American Culture.

Not knowing a lot about him, I visited the Autry National Center, located in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park across from the Los Angeles Zoo in early October 2012. Unfortunately being a combination art, history and television museum, many exhibits had “no photography,” signs, OR the light was so bad that the pictures turned out bad.

Gene himself is sitting in the courtyard strumming his guitar while his horse, Champion, looks on.

The museum is filled with artifacts such as this, a real stage coach. The sign says that the varnish used on this stage coach turned black over the years, prompting many to believe it had been in a fire at one point. It was a staple in many local parades through the past decades, until it became too rickety. Restoration experts started to strip the varnish away as the first step to restoring it, and to their surprise found that it was actually ornately painted.

Of course no Western History Museum would be complete without a cactus or two around.

Over all I enjoyed this museum. From the temporary exhibits about 20th Century Women Designers and Hopi Indian Art to the exhibits of famous TV Western Costumes and general Western History exhibits, it was quite informative. I’m willing to bet if I grew up on a bit more of those old Westerns, that I would have died and gone to heaven over the costumes and props.

Venice, Los Angeles, California Travel Pictures

Posted by Rick on October 21, 2012 in Pictures, Travel, Wallpaper 0 Comment

Venice, Los Angeles, California

While a ways away from the rest of Los Angeles tourist areas, Venice is rapidly becoming one of my favorite destinations. There are several decent hotels near Marina Del Rey, including ones that have a great view of the marina and Mother’s Beach.

A few blocks away on Washington Blvd are dozens of great restaurants. Many of which are open early for breakfast/brunch, and don’t close until last call. I have yet to find a bad meal along this street.

Walking west, Washington Crosses the famed Venice Canals, which are a wildlife preserve

Continue even further west, and you come to the Venice Fishing Pier. While not as “cool” as the Santa Monica Pier with it’s amusement park over the water, I think it’s a much nicer pier just to look at the water, watch the surfers, or go fishing.

If you’re up for the walk, the Santa Monica Pier is a ways up the beach path. You’ll walk by muscle beach and a large area of vendors selling beach towels, t-shirts and other touristy geared stuff, all while admiring the nice houses that face the ocean. Some with whimsical touches such as a 12 inch by 18 inch piece of fake grass with a sign “World’s smallest yard” posted under it.

Taking a Trip to Texas

Posted by Rick on April 5, 2010 in History, Misc, Observances 0 Comment

Taking a Trip to Texas

As of Friday, April 9th, 2010 I shall be on the road to Langtry Texas for a family reunion of sorts. I’m not 100% sure of the family connection of most people attending will be, but I’m very much looking forward to the trip itself.

I’ve been on two long trips like this before, once from Portland through BC to Edmonton Calgary then back down around through Yellowstone and then to Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and home up I-5. The other trip was a straight shot from Fort Wayne Indiana to Portland.

This trip will be from Portland, east along I-84 all the way to Twin Falls, Idaho. I’ll head south towards to Salt Lake City, Utah and then cut south east through the mountains and Colorado. I’ll hit Albuquerque, New Mexico (being 100% sure to take that left turn,) then stop in Roswell New Mexico for a bit of UFO Tourism. Afterwards I’m taking another detour to San Antonio, Texas to visit the Alamo and “world famous” River Walk and most likely some famous Texas Barbecue. And hopefully at the end of a week, end up in Del Rio, Texas which is the nearest city of size near Langtry.

The return trip will head west to Phoenix, Arizona. At that point we’ll see how the weather is. I’ll either head north to Las Vegas from there, or go further west and pick of Los Angeles and travel the I-5 corridor again if there is too much snow around the Lake Tahoe area.

To keep costs down, the vehicle of choice is a 1984 Class A Winnebago. I just took it on a 100 mile short trip to get a feel for driving it, it’s got a new CB radio with access to the NOAA weather channels, and road maps of everywhere I need to be.

I’ll be camping at Truck Stops and Walmarts, or if desperate, actual real campgrounds.

Other points of interest I’m hoping to see are the ghost town of Lime Oregon, historic Union Oregon (I stayed in the restored hotel about ten years ago and enjoyed it a lot,) and if I’m not running too far behind, Arches National Park in Utah. Plus whatever other sites I might happen to see along the way. Hopefully I’ll be able to get lots of pictures and be able to upload them.

I’ll have my computer, and my list of RSS job feeds so I can keep job searching when I stop. In the off chance I do get a job interview and have to be back soon, I’ll be able to park the motor home, fly home to go to the interview then go back and continue my travels. Since I haven’t had an actual face to face interview in over two months, despite sending out at least a dozen resumes a week, I don’t see that being a problem though.

Overall, I’m excited about this adventure. I’ll really looking forward to it and hope to have a great time despite the roughly 4500 miles in two weeks I’ll be driving all together.

Battlestar Galactica 1980

Posted by Rick on March 25, 2010 in Analysis, Observances 0 Comment

Battlestar Galactica 1980

Currently available on Hulu.com is Galactica 1980. The premise is pretty simple, the “rag tag fleet” of the Original Series finally made it to Earth. But the Cylons have followed the humans to Earth.

So the poor old Galactica is caught between Earth and the Cylon forces. Commander Adama is of course torn, on one hand it’s obvious that Earth’s technology is far below that of the Twelve Colonies. On the other hand, “computer projections” (AKA recycled and chopped footage from the first episode of the first show) Cylon attacks on Earth show Los Angeles being “devastated.” Or rather, a few cars being thrown into the air, a couple of very small explosions, and some laser strafing that doesn’t even hit anything.

In the third or fourth scene Troy and Dillion (who are the main characters) are discussing how the United States of America “sounds like a fun place,” as they’re flying into Earth’s Atmosphere. Unfortunately they’re tracked by NORAD or it’s far more secret and shadowy 80’s Television version. Two F-16’s are launched to intercept and destroy the unidentified air craft. In a torturously boring dogfight where the Vypers dodge a tiny bit, the F-16s launch a single missile, and the Vypers go invisible into the clouds. The F-16 pilots throw out a bit more patriotic talk and then we cut to the next scene.

As the show progresses, US radar technology continues to see the Cylons and Vypers. But the Cylons have new technology too, including Cylons that look just like humans. This plot point is used again in the new Battlestar Galactica which somehow managed to run more episodes total then both the original series and the 1980 series put together. This ups the ante for the Colonials, as they must protect the Earth from the Cylons, yet are torn in trying to make Earth their new home.

I fear to spoil the plot, or, what little plot there actually is. But suffice to say Galactica 1980 is the quintessential early 80’s show. The Afros on White Guys. The overt American Patriotism. The cheesy acting, cheesy low budget TV special effects. Multiple bit actors hoping to make it big time yet again, including Robert Reed of “the dad” on Brady Bunch fame. The fact that George Takei (Commander Sulu on Star Trek) happens to be doing Sharp TV commercials during the breaks just adds to the surrealism of the entire show.

Keeping in mind that the show is now thirty years old and saw little to no popularity in it’s day, yet it actually holds up pretty well. The cheesy moments are appropriately cheesy. The acting is the typical semi-dramatic 80’s. The plot, is thinner and more cobbled together then a Rube Goldberg machine. The fight scenes are lousy. The special effects are “special.”

In this single show, everything that is the 80’s is glorified and still laughable. Discard Galactica 1980 if you wish, but keep in mind that it’s shows like this that gave us what we watch today.