Beverly Hills Outing

My mom had a dentist appointment in Beverly Hills. We found a parking place right in front of the building and went up with her.









We left her as she was getting into the chair. She's walking better each day, but it still hurts sitting down and getting up.




















Then we went walking around the block.





























And then down into a residential neighborhood. This cactus was in a little buffer park between Santa Monica Blvd. and the houses.










The rose was in someone's yard.















Home security is a booming business here.


















The street was lined with magnolia trees.











These looked like plumeria trees with fat trunks. Not sure what they were, but I liked the whole effect.

























We wandered back part way down an alley just to see what things looked like from the back door.








This house wall was much more interesting from the alley side than from the street side.







We picked up my mom and walked a couple shops down to the Camden House which turned out to have great Iranian food.









We assumed eating in downtown Beverly Hills would be very pricey. My lunch was $9.



Lunch would have been perfect except for this woman who used the restaurant as her office and spent most of lunch working out classroom arrangements for a French professor - who apparently was negotiating on the other side in her car - in a voice so loud that it was hard for us to talk. She had no shame whatsoever. WLA College, find some office space for your employees.




My mom said that if you have your handicapped sticker you didn't have to worry about putting money in the meter. She certainly qualifies for the sticker, but I still put money in. But she persuaded me not to put in more for lunch. I noticed all the cars that were there for a long time, including this one, had handicapped stickers and no money in the meters.

Tina Delgado is Alive! Alive! and Other Local LA Times Stories

If you were a kid in LA in the late 50's and early 60's you can hear in your head "Tina Delgado is Alive! Alive!" It was played over and over in between top 40 hits. I certainly could hear it as I read "Talking big and talking back on AM radio" which gives a little history of AM rock stations in LA.

Over at KHJ, the mantra of the "Real Don Steele" was a recorded woman's voice that cried, "Tina Delgado is alive, alive!" The mysterious Steele died in 1997, never having divulged its meaning.

[UPDATE Feb 3, 2011 - when I first posted this I couldn't find any audio for this, but I continue to get hits from people looking for "Tina Delgado is Alive Alive" so I thought I'd check again. There's one TDIAA at the beginning, but hang on for the end to hear the real thing.]



[UPDATE, Aug. 1, 2011:  A reader emailed this link to a KHJ blog with a Tina Delgado is Alive button and another version of the audio.  Thanks GB.]


Another story should resonate with Alaskans. It's about Sunset Beach, a community of 1,200 people resisting being gobbled up by nearby Huntington Beach.

Told by Orange County officials that they will have to become part of Huntington Beach, residents are resisting. They want to keep their distance from the city of nearly 200,000 they've branded a "behemoth" and form their own government.

"Most people want to be left alone and keep the identity of a place that's off the radar," said Conan Moats, 35, a high school history teacher. "People live here because they don't want hype."

Ruben Vives writes about the opening of a new skateboard park on the beach at Venice where skateboarding - at least fancy skateboarding - began:

Set on the beach, the 16,000-square-foot park near Windward Avenue and Ocean Front Walk offers a splendid view of the ocean. It also contains ramps, steps, rails and bowls that resemble the empty swimming pools where many of the Z-Boys -- Venice's hometown Zephyr skateboard team -- reinvented skateboarding in the Santa Monica and Venice areas in the 1970s.

The $3.4-million skate park was paid for by the sale of surplus city property in Venice and development fees, and did not draw from the general fund. It will be named after legendary Z-Boy skater Dennis "Polar Bear" Agnew, who died about five years ago, said Ger-I Lewis, the skate park coordinator and executive director of the Venice Surf and Skateboard Assn.

Among the park's features, city engineer Gary Lee Moore touted the "Deep Pool."

"It's 9 feet deep. It has no rails for you to use to get out," he said. "Once you're in, you have to skate your way out."

It's not far, so maybe I can post some pictures of it while we're here.

Both Turkish-Americans and Armenian-Americans are both protesting against the establishment of diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia. This came to a head, locally in LA, when Armenia's President was in town Sunday.

Upset over an agreement that would establish diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey and reopen their common borders, members of the Los Angeles Armenian community plan to rally in Beverly Hills today.

Organizers of the demonstration say they will call on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to refrain from signing protocols with Turkey that they believe would threaten Armenia's interests and security. . .


"Turkey is giving too much and getting too little in return," said Ergun Kirlikovali, West Coast director of the Assembly of Turkish American Assns.

Some believe the Turkish government is selling out Azerbaijan by reconciling with Armenia before the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has been settled. Others fear Turkey might be forced to give back land.

And Gov. Schwartzenegger says environmentalism and economic development can go hand-in-hand:

"When I came into office there was this kind of belief that you can only protect the environment or the economy, you have to choose between one or the other," the governor said at an event staged to accept $26.5 million in federal clean air grants. He dismissed the argument bluntly: "We don't have to accept that."

Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman, though, disagrees:

"I reject environmental policies that do little for the environment and wreak havoc on California's economic future," she told delegates at the party convention, where her fliers featured bright blue sky and green grass. "You know what? Liberal environmentalists may not like jobs or people, but California needs both."

"Palin in Australia"

The email I got from my son was titled "Palin in Australia." This comes via Andrew Sullivan's blog at the Atlantic. It says this is a Senator Collins from the Australian Parliament. Don't have a mouthful of anything when you watch this.

How is this different from piracy?

Pirates take control of a ship on the seas, strip it of its valuables, then abandon it, leaving its crew, passengers, and owners to survive as best as they can. How is the story below (from the NY Times) any different? There's a company instead of a ship.

For most of the 133 years since its founding in a small city in Wisconsin, the Simmons Bedding Company enjoyed an illustrious history.

Presidents have slumbered on its mattresses aboard Air Force One. Dignitaries have slept on them in the Lincoln Bedroom.

But now it is filing for bankruptcy after being boarded and looted by pirates dressed as members of an investment firm.

The owners (investors) and crew (employees) are left holding the empty mattress.

For many of the company’s investors, the sale will be a disaster. Its bondholders alone stand to lose more than $575 million. The company’s downfall has also devastated employees like Noble Rogers, who worked for 22 years at Simmons, most of that time at a factory outside Atlanta. He is one of 1,000 employees — more than one-quarter of the work force — laid off last year.

And the pirates sail off fat and happy.

But Thomas H. Lee Partners of Boston has not only escaped unscathed, it has made a profit. The investment firm, which bought Simmons in 2003, has pocketed around $77 million in profit, even as the company’s fortunes have declined. THL collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in the form of special dividends. It also paid itself millions more in fees, first for buying the company, then for helping run it. Last year, the firm even gave itself a small raise.

Wall Street investment banks also cashed in. They collected millions for helping to arrange the takeovers and for selling the bonds that made those deals possible. All told, the various private equity owners have made around $750 million in profits from Simmons over the years.

How so many people could make so much money on a company that has been driven into bankruptcy is a tale of these financial times and an example of a growing phenomenon in corporate America.

I'd call this modern corporate piracy. You can read the whole story at the NY Times.


Or you can contact one of these people who work for Thomas H Lee Partners. There's often (not always though) more than one side to the story.

THL has fostered a culture of partnership and teamwork through its 30+ year history. THL has one of the largest complements of senior partners in the buyout business, emphasizing a hands-on approach to investing. THL benefits significantly from the cumulative experience and knowledge resident in this team and believes it has unmatched continuity and depth of experience among these professionals.

Todd M. Abbrecht Richard J. Bressler Charles A. Brizius Margaret W. Covell Anthony J. DiNovi Thomas M. Hagerty David V. Harkins Charles P. Holden Scott L. Jaeckel Seth W. Lawry John D. McClellan Soren L. Oberg Joseph F. Pesce Scott A. Schoen Scott M. Sperling George R. Taylor Kent R. Weldon Gregory A. White Shari H. Wolkon Beverly Berman Joshua M. Nelson Vivek Sharma James C. Carlisle Daniel G. Jones Ganesh B. Rao Jeff T. Swenson J. Lucas Wimer Alex J. Alexandrov Joshua D. Bresler Hobart A. Cook Alexandra L. DeLaite Laura A. Grattan Douglas H. Vandenberg

Michael Beregovsky Kemper P. Diehl David T. Jackson Anil Kumar Brittni E. Levinson Andrew R. Mayer Megan B. Melican Katherine A. Regner Emma C. Somers Justina J. Wang

Unfortunately, the links don't give you their individual contact information. Here's the contact information the THL website offers:

100 Federal Street
Boston, MA 02110
Phone:	617/227-1050
Fax:	617/227-3514

Media Contacts:
Matt Benson/Robin Weinberg
Phone:	415/618-8750/212/687-8080
Email:	mbenson@sardverb.com/rweinberg@sardverb.com

Sophisticated Spam

I got the following email just now. It is from someone I know, at least the name is. And the email address was very similar to his. But Phil wouldn't be in England right now plus there are a few English errors. Besides, Phil would never put a table into an email. But it's slicker than coming from someone I don't know. But does it mean someone is stealing his email? Or my email? Or someone's email?

Subject: Help Me Please!!! From: "Philip Munger" Date: Mon, October 5, 2009 8:59 am To: undisclosed-recipients:; Priority: Normal Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | Download this as a file | View Message details | Report as Spam

Hello, How are you doing? hope all is well with you and i pray this email finds you in good health, i am sorry that i didn’t inform you about my traveling to England for a Seminar. I need a financial favor from you because i misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept i will like you to assist me with a loan urgently. I will need the sum of $2,800 to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home. I will appreciate whatever you can afford to help me with, i’ll pay you back as soon as i return. Kindly let me know if you can be of help? So that i can send you the details to use when sending the money through western union. Your reply will be greatly appreciated. Phil

[Update 4pm Anchorage Time:

All,

As you figured out, my gmail and blog were briefly hijacked this morning. Whoever did it also destroyed my gmail address book and contacts, but did not erase my gmails sent or received on that account, so the address book can be rebuilt. I've changed the password and added a new level of security. It does appear that my gmail account is not receiving incoming mail at this time, though, and the scammer deleted all information on the exchange that led up to the
password being compromised.

Thanks to all who alerted me by email, phone calls and texts. I was happily surprised at how quickly google was able to help get things back to what I hope will be normal.

Phil Munger]

A Funeral

I tend to write obscurely, if at all, about family. They shouldn't have to fear they will show up here. But going to a funeral is bound to provoke feelings and I think they are legitimate here. When I got married, I became the brother-in-law of Sylvia's daughter and so I came into Sylvia's sphere. There are certain people who make everyone they come into contact with feel like they are very special people. Sylvia was one of those people. She was always interested in what we were doing, always making sure I wasn't hungry, and offering to share something from her garden. She listened so that you talked. Whenever we came to LA we were always very busy, but Sylvia was one of the few people we always tried to visit. And I got an hour with her and Mose when I was here in June.

I'm sure there are lots of funerals where at least a few people are thinking "good riddance." But I doubt anyone felt that way about Sylvia. She was 94 when she died Tuesday. No one's complaining her life was too short. She served with the Red Cross in Africa during World War II and had two masters degrees and was a psychiatric social worker by profession. She touched many, many people's lives. She also was fortunate to travel the world. We were fortunate to be able to receive her and Mose when we were on sabbatical in Hong Kong and also a couple of times in Anchorage. J and I stayed at her house when our son was born and our newly bought house was being cleaned up and repainted. When we had several cars in a row stolen while I was a grad student, she gave us her old dodge dart to use. We have so many good memories. She had a good, long life and a number of people spoke about her this afternoon.


After the service in the chapel, there was a brief graveside service. Everyone was instructed to get into their cars. We asked if we couldn't walk and were pointed to a tent less than a quarter mile away. I know there was one gentleman there today whose 100th birthday is in January who really did need a ride to the graveside. (Though I did whisper to his wife that she couldn't sit in the chairs because they were reserved for the elderly and she immediately jumped up and said, oh I can't sit here then.) But it seems in these days of growing environmental awareness, the Memorial Park could encourage most people to walk.


We got to the grave in about 4 minutes, well ahead of the cars. A wind picked up and it was almost chilly. The service was very short.

J and our niece and I also went to visit the graves of J's parents (our niece's grandparents) and my brother and others there.




And then we went to a reception at a very nearby hotel. At the last funeral I was at among this generation - my mother-in-law's - we returned to someone's house and had food that everyone had prepared. But that was over ten years ago. People have aged and all of my generation live out of town. And so the gathering was at a hotel and all the normal home cooked food was replaced with institutional food. But the company was good and people we hadn't seen for a while and others in Sylvia's sphere that we sort of knew and certainly had heard of became real as we reconnected.

And I was inspired by all the remembrances of Sylvia to try to live my life as fully and as generously as possible.

Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Actually, there are several Farmers' Markets in Santa Monica. This is one we can walk to from my mom's place.

These prickly pears were growing on the wall of a house we
passed on the way to the market.

We went to the Saturday Market at Virginia Avenue
park at Cloverfield and Pico.

I bought half a dozen vegie-jalapeno tamales. Mmmmmm.

The juice was soooo good.

You can double click on the picture to see all the details. For all the environmental consciousness, there were sure a lot of big cars in the parking lot and I don't recall seeing a bike rack. But I'm sure I just needed to look harder. (I know Ropi what you're thinking - more on where the garbage goes.)

Yes, they're potatoes.

This is the underside of the orchid flower, but this 'mask' caught my eye.

Walking home with our bounty.

As you may have guessed, we got my mom's internet working again. J and M, the wifi info is under the router.

Brian the WLA Bike Guy

When we walked home from the Farmers' Market Saturday morning, we passed this garage with bikes. Brian, it turns out, is an out of work carpenter who told us that he's always worked on bikes. With the economy so bad, he's now getting old bikes, fixing them up and selling them. Since we'd been thinking about getting some bikes to use while in LA, we looked around.
Here's his office. He checks various sources for bikes and then gets them back into shape. J rode her 'new' bike home. He was still working on the one I chose.








I told Brian I had a blog and got his ok to post this. This is one veteran's way of eating during a recession. And it's a great service for people looking for a reasonably priced bike AND it's great for recycling. (Pun intended.)

In the water at Venice Beach

We parked about ten blocks from the beach where there was free on street parking and enjoyed the walk down Rose Avenue to the beach. Unfortunately, we don't have bikes here, it would have been an easy bike ride, but we didn't have time to walk all the way from my mom's and back. Having grown up here, I took this beach for granted. But how many big cities have a natural sand beach like this with fair to great surf right in the city? (OK, now someone is going to say that no, the ship the sand in, but the beach is way to wide to do that.) But coming down for a visit from Anchorage, I always see it with different eyes. This is the view from the parking lot at the end of Rose at Venice Beach.
And this is from where we parked our towels.



J took her time getting into the water. It does feel chilly when you first go in, but your body quickly adjusts and it feels great. The easiest - and hardest - way to go in is to just run in a dive when it gets deep enough or white water from a wave is coming at you. It's cold fast, but then you are in.

Here's J all the way in. There were a bunch of sea birds out beyond her having some sort of party.

When J got out it was my turn. The surf wasn't too big, but I was able to catch three quick waves and ride them in. Heaven.




But I had an appointment with the eye doctor so we reluctantly tore ourselves away and walked back to the car. This is the parking lot at Venice Beach along the boardwalk. Not sure why they call it that since there are no boards and I don't remember there being boards.



Table top shops are set up in both directions.