Franklin Avenue: November 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Where to Help Out This Thanksgiving

The Rundown puts together a list of spots to volunteer this Thanksgiving:

Absentee Assistance: Midnight Mission
Bring donations of canned goods and sundries (especially toilet paper). All donations go into kits given to each family on Thanksgiving day.
Donations accepted M-Sat 9a-5p. 601 S. San Pedro St. For more specific shortages, call the volunteer hotline at (213-624-9258 x1288).

Karaoke and Cobbler: Downtown Women's Center
Volunteer your conversation, crafting supplies, and your amazing karaoke skills at the DWC’s traditional Thanksgiving feast. Take the early shift to help prepare dinner, or show up later to help with dessert and entertainment.
Thu 7a-2p. 325 S. Los Angeles St., Downtown. (213-680-0600 x207). Call to sign up.

Special Delivery: Meals on Wheels West
Spend your holiday on the open road as a volunteer deliveryman taking turkey to seniors and disabled folks who can’t make it out for a meal of their own.
Thu all day. (310-394-7558). Routes vary from Santa Monica to Topanga; call to sign up.

Thanksgiving Tithes: Food on Foot
There's a $100 tax-deductible admission fee for each volunteer, but don't balk. Your donation goes not just to Thanksgiving dinner but continues a 661-week streak of feeding the homeless.
Thu 2-5p. 1625 N. Schrader Blvd. (310-442-0088).

Los Feliz Cancels Its Holiday Festival, But Atwater Village Carries On

One of our favorite neighborhood holiday events, the annual Los Feliz holiday festival, has been canceled this year.

According to the Los Feliz Business Improvement District, the festival was scrapped because the group is "re-evaluating our festivals and fairs." But it also came down to money: The city's no longer waiving its fees, and "street closures are expensive."

(Flickr pic by Jory.)

Good news now: The 17th annual Atwater Village Tree Lighting Ceremony is still on.

Event takes place this Thursday, December 4, 2008 starting at 6:30 p.m. Details:

The tree lighting ceremony will be accompanied by a Holiday Festival in the Wells Fargo parking lot at 3250 Glendale Blvd. The evening’s program will include children’s choirs from local schools, the world premiere of a new locally produced song, a fashion show featuring local merchants and citizens, a short film about the Atwater neighborhood, and traditional Christmas harmonies by the Tam O’Shanter Singers. Santa Claus is scheduled to arrive on a Los Angeles Fire Department fire truck, heralding the lighting of the tree at approximately 7:30 p.m.

Also this year: The Old Bank District Holiday party takes place 6 p.m. to midnight on Dec. 6. It's free. Details:

- Main Stage presented by Little Radio with live performances from The Like, Whispertown 2000, The Afternoons, Restaurant, and special guest headliner performing from 6 pm - 12 am.

- An outdoor Beer and Wine Garden on 4th St., with seating for partygoers to enjoy the lights and entertainment.

- Harlem Place Alley will be transformed into an intimate Jazz Bar with performances by Pablo Calogero and band, hosted by Pete’s Café & Bar.

- Comme des Garçons, Blends, Orange 22, and Fremont Apparel, as well as other neighborhood retailers including those on Main St. like Banquette, Blossom, Raw Materials and others, will be offering specials and discounts for holiday shoppers.

- An Art Bazaar will be hosted in the historic Farmers and Merchants Bank, featuring the work of over 30 local artists. The Bazaar will be cash only and all work will be $200 and under.

L.A.'s New Hampshire and Vermont Mystery: Partially Solved

Last week, I asked why New Hampshire Ave. is to the west of Vermont Ave. in L.A., when up in New England, Vermont is the one on the west.

Bob Timmermann, who earlier this year spoke about Sepulveda Blvd. at the Central Library, did some digging:

From my half-assed sleuthing at the Central Library, the reason why Vermont Ave and New Hampshire Ave in L.A. are backwards in relation to the states is due to the fact that the streets weren't named at the same time.

Vermont is a very old street in L.A. terms. It first shows up in 1866. New Hampshire wasn't built and named until 1887, when it was part of one of the developments that sprung up in Southern California during Real Estate Boom I.

Next year at the Central Library, I plan to follow up on my Sepulveda trip with a journey down Western Avenue. Unlike Sepulveda, this should have slightly better scenery and fewer trucks.

Thanks Bob!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

GREAT LOS ANGELES WALK 2008: 18.3 Miles Later, We Did It!

And you thought we were all crazy! We did it, we hiked 18.3 miles from Union Station to the ocean on a beautiful Southern California Saturday.

For the third annual Great Los Angeles Walk, I chose the longest course yet. And yet we attracted the biggest crowd yet too.

Approximately 150 of us (some say more, some say less, several of us settled at the 150 estimate) gathered early in the day (some had been up super early, parking in Santa Monica and then taking the bus out east) for the event. We started at Union Station at 9 in the morning, and after a quick detour through Olvera Street, made it on to Cesar Chavez Blvd. From there, Cesar Chavez quickly turned into Sunset, and we hiked on, through Echo Park, past Dodger Stadium and on to Silver Lake.

At Sunset Junction, we peeled off onto the start of Santa Monica Blvd. We continued, onward past the Hollywood Freeway (and the former Hollywood Star Lanes site, RIP), and into Hollywood. We scored some free water from the Jackson Hewitt tax prep company, walked past Hollywood Forever cemetery, and into West Hollywood. Groups broke for lunch at several Weho spots... and many of us reconvened right at the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills border at 2 p.m.

From there, we walked the dirt sidewalk of Bev Hills (apparently they're resurfacing the bike path) and made it to the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire (home to the first walk in 2006!). Several of us walked into the old Trader Vic's restaurant at the Beverly Hilton, where an auction was taking place -- the famed Pickford estate. Furniture, clothes, photos... some reasonably priced (including a menu from a 1930 William Randolph Hearst dinner!). Onward, we passed by Century City and the Mormon temple... and then under the 405, and soon, as we hit Santa Monica, we began to feel the cool ocean breeze.

Santa Monica is always a snap, as the numbered streets help count down to the finish line.

Here's the crazy part: Some walkers sprinted so fast, they got to the finish by 3:15 (I worry that they didn't get a real sense of the route, having sped by so fast!) The bulk of us, including me, got to the end between 5 and 5:30 -- still faster than last year, when we walked 2.5 miles less, yet got there at the same time. (We were pacing around 20 minutes a mile -- check out my Great LA Walk Twitter feed to see.)

A handful of walkers did it right: They got to the end at around 6:30, having taken their time to explore sites along the way. Whatever the pace, most made it to the Britannia Pub after all to toast their feat. And rest their feet.

I've uploaded a ton of photos at our Flickr group site: www.flickr.com/groups/greatlawalk. If you were on the walk, feel free to add your pics to the group as well!

And please send me the web addresses to your blog posts and photo collections, we'll post all the links here, for easy access.

PHOTO STREAMS:

:: Check out the Franklin Avenue shots here.

:: Anthony's got some great shots here.

:: The Atwater Village Newbies' shots here, and blog post here.

:: Scott Lowe of Tropico Station fame has some pics here, and a post on the day here.

:: Will Campbell's shots here.

:: Pamela "Meekorouse" put her pics here.

:: Jeremy Miles ("Beautiful Freaks") took these shots. He blogs about the adventure here.

:: Sean "Ztainment"'s shots are here.

:: El Daybeh's shots are here.

:: Follow Raul's pics here. He also recaps the day at his blog here. Raul's crew also gets points for being most creative -- re-enacting the number for each mile marker (above, they do "8"s for mile 8 -- Martel).

:: Sha in LA's shots are here.

:: Melanie's pics are here.

:: See Todd's shots here. Todd has his blog recap here. He definitely took full advantage of modern technology with the walk!

:: David Johnson's shots can be found here.

::LA_OC_Foodie has put his pics here.

:: Abby Phoenix has posted her pics here.

:: Pics here by Miss Martini.

:: Three-time Walker WALT! has his pics here.

:: Caroline on Crack's pics are here, and her blog post here.

:: Scott's shots are here. These are some of Maria's faves; Scott has a good eye of details that a lot of us missed!

:: Justin Canada's pics are here.

:: Joni, the Accidental Yogist, has her recap here.

:: Frenchy But Chic's blog post is here.

Now, some of my shots from this year's event: