Mauer's Thorough Piece On Allen Rumors

I'm leaving for Thailand Friday and I've got to let go of some of this compulsive blogging, but I did mention the Hopfinger/Coyne article in the Press the other day. It was first. But Rich Mauer's piece in today's ADN is a much more solid and informative report. Mauer did find a Fed who could say that they had asked the APD to drop the investigation.

[US Attorney Frank] Russo acknowledged "there were allegations along the lines of his (Allen's) involvement with Bambi Tyree," but said he asked Vandegriff to suspend the Allen investigation for purely practical reasons: The Boehm case was complex, with dozens of witnesses, and Boehm himself had a high-powered, three-attorney defense team that fought at every opportunity. Nearly 1,000 documents were filed, and that was in a case that never went to trial.

"We said, 'Hey, why don't we put this aside until later. We have enough to focus on,' " Russo said. That was his only concern, he said.

I realize that people's sexual behavior is an ever surprising revelation and that we should never dismiss things as impossible (how long did people not believe stories about priests?), but if I had to bet, I'd put my money on the story that says Allen was Tyree's friend and he felt obligated to watch over Tyree's kids after Tyree died. That's consistent with with the man I saw testify in the Kott and Kohring trials.

I could be wrong here, but I think this story line isn't going anywhere. But the article is important in that it fills in a lot of gaps that people were filling in with all sorts of speculation.

10 Below

I was all ready to run early this morning. The sun wasn't over the mountain yet, but it was light. But I foolishly checked the thermometer. And the storm door was covered in ice crystals. Maybe if it gets up to five I might go run. After three days in a row in LA, I'm itching to be out moving again.

[The details are better if you click on the picture.]

The Noodle Shop is now Yak and Yeti

[UPDATE June 2012:  Yak and Yeti now has a satellite fast food like place in the REI/Title Wave Mall. The Spenard store is still open too.]

The Spenard building that housed the old Korean Noodle Shop, a wonderful place to go, that closed a year or two ago now hosts Yak and Yeti, a new Himalayan restaurant that the ADN has already reviewed. Last night some of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer in Anchorage met there for dinner. It's been nicely redecorated, the service was cordial, and the food good. We were warned to get there early (5pm). Good advice because by 6pm there were ten or 15 people waiting to be seated. Since we were taking up that much room ourselves, we left a little earlier than we would have.

Evening Sky Out of LA

A couple of views out the window before it got dark Friday.

Mom's January flowers

LA may have looked so ungreen when I flew in because it is ...January and lots of the trees are pretty naked. One forgets that about LA because there are so many other trees and bushes that don't lose their leaves. here's a sample or what's blooming in my mother's yard right now

Eating Indian and Bosnian in LA

I've meshed two pictures of my mom at Pradeep's Indian restaurant in a two story strip mall on Washington near Marina Del Rey. It was nice to sit out in the sun, though even with the glass shield, the breeze was a little chilly by the end of lunch. That was Wednesday.

Friday, on the way to the airport, we went to a Bosnian restaurant in another strip mall, this time on Overland near Pico. I'd found it on a blog that highlights good, interesting, little restaurants in LA.




I don't recall ever eating at a Bosnian restaurant call Aroma and it wasn't until last night at SeaTac with eating with my daughter and telling her about the Bosnian immigrant picture I'd posted that I began to wonder whether my brain had perked up at "Bosnian" because of the picture and description I'd read and posted. Any way, it was very good. And we were snuggled into a little corner with nice warming sun as a group of men nearby had a very animated conversation in what I assumed was one of Bosnia's languages. I had the Burek, sort of like a calzone made of phylo dough. Mine had spinach inside. I took one to go for my daughter.



And this doesn't really fit anywhere better than it does here. But at the 99¢ Store, they've kept all the prices at 99¢. But now instead of a dozen eggs for 99¢, you get half a dozen according to my mom.

Venice Beach Spiritual Center

This center is free. Well, if you drive you have to pay to park. But for walkers and bikers there's no charge.

This is one of the places I go in the world to remind me who I am and to get reconnected with the earth. Along this strip of California beach I learned the rhythms of the ocean and spent much of my childhood and young adulthood. The power of the these waves has as much hold on me as the mountains and forests of Alaska.

Run to Venice Beach

Just about two miles from my mom's house is Venice Beach. So here's the halfway point of my run down Rose to the beach. It's early Friday morning so all the hustle and bustle of Venice Beach - the booths, the bikes and skaters, not yet there. The rest are pictures as I complete the return trip.






This funky old neighborhood right up against one of the world great beaches - lots of sand, good surf - is still a mix of all kinds of income groups. The buildings are still mostly old. I think this neighborhood shows the positive effects of Prop 13 which froze property taxes back in 1977. While the freeze seems to have hurt infrastructure, the University, and other public programs and caused real disparity issues between people who have lived in their homes a long time and newer buyers, here it seems to have allowed people of modest means to stay in their homes while the value of their coastal property soared. If they hadn't had the freeze, many of the people here would not have been able to afford the proerty taxes as land values so close to the beach went way up.








The values have tempted a lot of people to sell and there are lots of fixed up places and totally torn down and rebuilt places. And Main Street has become a pricy shopping spot.







But the people I pass are not wealthy people by a long shot. But they do live near the beach which is a spiritual wealth. Many beach communities have no place for the people who live here and that, I think, is a positive by product of Prop. 13. I was running and I didn't feel right taking pictures of the many colorful looking folks, so you'll just have to imagine.


This new condo sign caught my eye. I'm 90% sure this is where the Pioneer Bakery used to be. There was agreat little shop that sold wonderful bread here at reasonable prices, but it was a small part of the bakery that used baked bread for the whole Pioneer Bread Company and it always smelled good here. This should be called the Pioneer Condos and they should have a little bakery - including the aroma of fresh bread - on the grounds.

[UPDATE Feb. 2012:  Here are the condos, four years later, finally getting built.

 Not sure what happened to these photos, I'll have to see if I can find them.  If not I'll delete them.]






A lot of places have just been spiffed up like this one, but the building is still relatively modest by Southern California beach standards.



Now I'm passed Lincoln and nod to this lady caring for her garden as I did the last two days and whenever I'm visiting my mom.






This whole area was swamp when I was growing up here. Just small dirt hills, among wetlands with opportunities limited only by our imaginations. In fact, Rose didn't go through then. Now it's a public golf course - certainly much better than more houses - and relatively ordinary people play golf here.




And now I'm close to Walgrove and almost home. I love the smell of the eucalyptus trees here. I've got a little bowl of leaves at home that I can sniff whenever I need a quick trip to LA.

LA was definitely warmer than here

The sun IS shining and it is above 0 F (it's 6). Let me catch up on some of the LA pictures. Flying in on Tuesday - lots of puffy white clouds but otherwise crystal clear. Here's the Pacific just off LA as we turn in to swoop over the city.









The land is covered with whipped cream clouds. A bit of beach shows through the clouds.







I was struck by how little green I could see. It was all roofs and streets from the air. Except for a couple of parks or golf courses or cemetaries.

Tree Cutting - Another Perspective

When my family moved into this house in the late 1950s, I was taller than the tree (foreground on the right of the picture with the white tape.) Now the trees make a canopy over the street and wreak havoc with the sidewalks and the driveways. The roots cause the sidewalks to lurch up in strange ways.





My parents have paid for the driveway and sidewalks to be repaired a number of times.. When the city asked my mom recently if she would give permission to have it removed, she said yes. She doesn't walk on the sidewalk any more because she's afraid of falling. Here you can see the newest bulge - it hasn't been that long since my mom had to pay for the old sidewalk to be repaired. It had sharper upthrusts and big cracks.


I have mixed feelings about this. The street has been transformed from a barren new subdivision into a tree covered oasis. But my mom's tree does seem to lean way over into the street. I suspect it makes sense to take out a few trees at a time and plant new ones that won't have quite the root problems. Let them grow, and slowly replace them all gradually. That would keep the flavor of the street, and allow for a gradual change over time. We'll see. This is the only street in the subdivision that I know of to have this particular kind of tree.





But when I came back from my run, I saw there was a sign on the tree. I guess the execution is not yet a done deal. The neighbors may have a say. (Apparently one other neighbor also agreed to have their tree cut down.)