July 2005

I just posted up my story about the Zocalo Sponsored talk at the Dorothy Chandler Music Hall [here](http://www.laist.com/archives/2005/07/28/is_california_governable.php#more) on [LAist](http://www.laist.com/).

A few months ago I received an email from flickr poster [No Name No. 5](http://www.flickr.com/photos/no5/) asking permission to use [this photo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/eecue/4094524/) of Penelope's eye in an art project. After consulting with Penelope we agreed to let him do it and [here is what he created](http://www.flickr.com/photos/no5/28845545/)! Cool deal!

Ok so I am glad to see that network solutions are offering cheaper domain registration than $40 a year, but as I was checking out their new pricing, I saw a terrified helmeted dog who seems to be riding a skateboard with a jet turbine attached to the back with some rope. Beneath the ad was a link enticing readers to "[Read My Blog. Click Here](http://www.rapidrocco.com/pages/1/index.htm)" and when I did click there I was taken to a marketing travesty consisting of one part typing dog and one part blog. Rapid Rocco the Rocket Dog is quite possibly the most annoying web based advertising campaign I have ever seen.

Once a year hackers, crackers, geaks, freaks, drunks and gun toting maniacs get together in Las Vegas for the security convention known as [DEFCON](http://defcon.org/). Although the con has many speakers and events in the past I have gone to eat, drink and be merry in LV and this year will be no exception as thoughts of Nobu, Bellagio Buffet and [Habeñero Rum](http://23b.org/gallery/fleas_habanero_rum_dc13) dance through my head. [23b.org](http://23b.org/) (which I host / am a member of) is a great spot to find [photos](http://23b.org/gallery) from the con both past and present. If you're going, I'll see you there!

Penelope just pointed out to me the top downtown blog from LA Downtown News was Eric Richardson's [blogdowntown](http://blogdowntown.com/) and in the write-up they mentioned our Downtown Jogging (Urban Jog?) idea as one of the topic on his blog... cool! We are still planning on doing this, we are just very busy, this weekend we are going to DEFCON and then in the next few weeks I am taking an advanced rope rescue class on the weekends. Penelope is just finishing her internship and when she is done and when I am less busy we will create the flyers and put them up around Downtown. If you are interested in jogging along with us send me an email and let me know what time / day is good for you: urbanjog [at] eecue [dot] com.

[This edition in the series of scans](http://lavoice.org/article932.html) from the 1906 electric coach tour guide entitled *Los Angeles From an "Auto"* takes us deeper into the Old Chinese Quarter and then to the original heart of the city, when it was just a tiny Spanish pueblo. This portion of the book is less of an advertisement for the hotels of Downtown and more of a glimpse into the unique history of the City of Angels. In case you missed them, the first three sections can be found here: [Part 1](http://lavoice.org/article896.html), [Part 2](http://lavoice.org/article900.html) and [Part 3](http://lavoice.org/article912.html). Check out the [google map](http://eecue.com/laautomap-index.html) which shows the locations of the buildings shown in the guide along with a few (soon to me many) photos of the buildings as they exist today. The engravings from this section will be posted soon thanks to the historical address finding wizardry of [Eric Richardson](http://ericrichardson.com/), who has already helped find several of the addresses for the map. **UPDATE** The story has been [boingboinged](http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/25/1906_autoguide_to_la.html)~~[oops they said 1909 instead of 1906]~~ fixed... thanks Cory! Looks like it has also been picked up on [blogging.la](http://blogging.la/archives/2005/07/old_book_meets.phtml) and [gridskipper](http://www.gridskipper.com/travel/los-angeles/please-patronize-the-celestials-114191.php)

When I came back from my training in San Bernardino this weekend I was turning left on to 5th street off of Los Angeles and I heard singing, a very loud and beautiful rendition of *Amazing Grace* echoed off the buildings and to my surprise was emanating from a group of about 40 people who, to me looked like Quakers or Amish folks . They were dressed all in black suits except for their white shirts and they were wearing wide, straight brimmed black hats. It was very surreal and not something I am used to seeing on the street here in Downtown.

Google maps just got even better as they have added a feature called Hybrid that combines street maps with sat footage! Check out the new feature on any Google map, like my [Historical Cultural Monuments](http://eecue.com/hcm-index.html) map. I am really tired from a long day of Search and Rescue training. I will write more about it soon. **UPDATE** I have updated to LA from an Auto maps and the HCM maps to use the new hybrid maps. The new type isn't documented yet, but it is pretty obvious: setMapType(G\_HYBRID\_TYPE);

Ok I just got an email from the [Grand Performances](http://www.grandperformances.org/) group that puts on free concerts at the California Plaza... and next Thursday starting at 8pm the Shaolin Monks will be demonstrating kung-fu techniques! The info is not on their website, but here is the pertinent info from the email:

A friend of mine who lives in the mountains near Big Bear just had hail the size of marbles. He said his neighbor's windows were broken. Crazy weather for July, but this year, almost the wettest on record ever, has been generally strange when it comes to the weather department. I especially enjoyed the [wildflowers](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1168-1-mojave_flora_and_fauna.html) in the desert that was more like a [paradise](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1149-1-mojave_flowers.html) after the torrential rain that fell this year.

Penelope and I went to the Carson IKEA last night and picked up most of what we've been needing for our loft. We picked up 2 more Roger chairs for our dining room table, bringing the total up to four. We also scored an 72" Expedit, the ultimate bookshelf. We were going to buy a couch, but we couldn't find any we really liked, so instead we bought two Poang chairs and ottomans. Everything we bought matches our kitchen wood which IKEA calls black-brown and the fabric is a gray microfiber that feels like suede but is actually polyester. To top it all off we picked up some new lamps, picture frames and coasters. It was a good haul, and soon we will be ready for our loft-warming party! Did I mention I just finished putting it all together? It took me about 4 hours to do everything, and as usual there was a problem with one item, the Expedit had 2 holes that the pegs went all the way in to, but it wasn't a structurally important connection so I don't think it will matter.

This is just a partial update. I am going to make it look less boxy when I have some free time, hopefully tonight.

My photos and extremely short review can be found [here](http://www.laist.com/archives/2005/07/19/createfixate_photography_2005.php#more) on [LAist](http://www.laist.com).

I want to thank [Eric Richardson](http://blog.ericrichardson.com/) for taking the time to research the locations from my LA From an Auto scans that I don't know the addresses of. Eric has access to the ProQuest database and has been really helpful in finding where business used to be located a hundred years ago. Thanks!

I use iPhoto to upload photos to my website using Gallery Remote. I don't actually run gallery on my site, but I like the way the gallery remote works so when I programmed my website I included the GalleryRemote protocol which is nice because I can use any of the third party Gallery Remote programs out there. I really don't like iPhoto because it is way to slow to handle the 200 photos I take every time I go out shooting. I have been using Adobe CS 2 Bridge for the initial sorting and then when I have about 20 photos I like, I transfer them over to iPhoto and upload them using the remote. The Gallery Remote can be a little buggy some times and today it crashed iPhoto while it was pulling down a list of my albums. When I reopened iPhoto all my photos and settings where gone, joy! When I quit iPhoto asked if I wanted to use my old settings, which I did and then when I reopened it everything was OK. That was a close one!

I have posted the [third part of my scan](http://lavoice.org/article912.html)s of the 1906 electric coach tour program guide: *Los Angeles From an "Auto"* over on [LA Voice](http://lavoice.org/). I am a bit embarrassed to admit that the first two portions were painstakingly converted from photo to text manually by yours truly; I have stepped into the modern age and used an OCR program to aid in the task. I added the new photos on the [google map](http://eecue.com/laautomap-index.html). I spent some time today updating the [HCM google-mashup](http://eecue.com/hcm-index.html) and enabling it to search by either zipcode and distance or name, address and monument number. Just a note of warning, if you increase the distance searched by too much you will end up with a google map that contains hundreds of points which, in Safari at least, ends up dogging your system. Eventually I'd like the system to get the location of the current view and show the HCMs that exist on that map. Tonight I am going to add the rest of the locations from LA and possible the ones from Long Beach if I feel so inclined. **UPDATE** I have reimported the database of LA HCMs and this time I changed to code to work with ranges and multiple addresses for the most part and I also imported ALL the regions of LA. I am currently geocoding all the information once again so it may be a few hours before it is all on there. I also added a link to the flick tags for each map point... thanks to the folks in the [LA Historical Cultural Monuments Group](http://www.flickr.com/groups/lamonuments/)!

Boy am I tired from a long day of training... but hey that won't stop me from going to Create:Fixate for a couple hours and taking some photos! **UPDATE** Create:Fixate was packed with hipster art folks, beautiful photography and strong drinks. I will upload the photos tomorrow and post a review consisting of more than 100 words, but it won't be on here... look out for it on LAist and some more of LA From an Auto on LAvoice.org. I have more training tomorrow, and more training next weekend, then DEFCON, then 2 more weekends of training, but after that I will be eligible to be Technical Rescue instructor for SAR, I haven't really ever taught before, but I think I will enjoy it. G'night!

Just read [this post](http://blogdowntown.com/blog/1944) from [Eric](http://blog.ericrichardson.com/) on [blogdowntown](http://blogdowntown.com/) about his little journey through downtown today... He took a [kick ass photo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericrichardson/26256785/) of the sunset, the sun was really big and orange today. He went to the Music Center for [Dance Downtown](http://musiccenter.org/dancedowntown.html) and got his dance on... looks like he had a good time.

I wrote a story about the Downtown Art Walk and posted it [here](http://www.laist.com/archives/2005/07/15/july_downtown_art_walk.php#more) on [LAist](http://www.laist.com/). Here are the [photos](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1213-1-july_downtown_art_walk.html) from the story. [Eric Richardson](http://blog.ericrichardson.com/) posted about the walk as well... he had some [nice things to say](http://blogdowntown.com/blog/1943) about my photography (thanks) and I kept showing up at different galleries where Eric had just left. A few people whom I met on the art walk have been reading the *LA From an "Auto"* [[part 1](http://lavoice.org/article896.html) : [part 2](http://lavoice.org/article900.html)] series I have been posting and [Bert Green](http://www.bgfa.us/) was forwarded a photo of the [Edison Buliding](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23879-Headquarters_of_the_Edison_Electric_Comp.html) by Eric, which he said he has always wanted to buy, but didn't know anything about the actual building, not that the photo gave much information.

They're filming a movie across the street from my loft, I was watching the production drones scurrying about on the roof of the Hotel Alexandria. The yellow signs say Romco which to me sounds like a play on the infomercial master Ronco, but IMDB turns up nothing. I wonder what [Celia's](http://5thandspring.blogspot.com/) take is on all the action in her building, I'm sure it's nothing new to her. I remember when I was younger, there used to be a crapload of raves at the Alexandria, and I also recall speaking to my Aunt at one point, mentioning I was heading to a rave in downtown at the Alex, and she told me about when she was young they used to party there in the splendidly decorated ballrooms which are now used solely as music video and movie backdrops.

Tomorrow is the start of a 2 weekend course I am taking for Search and Rescue called Technical Rescue Basics Course. I have read through the course material and none of it is new to me, but I am sure I will learn something from the course. I am bringing all 3 duffel bags of my SAR gear with me because there are always call outs during trainings; some sort of strange Murphy's Law deal. This weekend is all classroom time and next weekend is the field training which should be fun.

So I've been playing more with google maps API and have created a page that lists all the [Historical Cultural Monuments in Downtown Los Angeles](http://eecue.com/hcm-index.html) and a few surrounding neighborhoods. This phase is pretty buggy and due to the raw addresses from the HCM database being nonstandard, some of the addresses are ranges. I will have to hack my code up a bit to fix the range listings... also the [geocoder](http://geocoder.us) I am using doesn't have every address in it, so it is not very precise. The geocoding is still going so not all 600 of the locations are on the map yet, but there are still many points so be careful it may tax your system to view this page. Next I just have to integrate photos and descriptions! [If you have a slow computer try [this search for "broadway"](http://eecue.com/hcm.php?hcm_address=broadway)] People [seem](http://incadenza.typepad.com/the_scope/2005/07/los_angeles_his.html) to be [enjoying](http://blogdowntown.com/blog/1942) what I have started here. Tonight I hope to work on some custom icons and the xml-rpc.

If you are in the Downtown area tomorrow, make sure you get out on the street and check out the [Art Walk](http://downtownartwalk.com/)... I missed it last month when we first moved in, but this time I'm going to go to every gallery I can, plus take photos and write about it. Thanks for the [reminder](http://blogdowntown.com/blog/1940) Eric.

I just read [this post](http://lacowboy.blogspot.com/2005/07/major-media-scandal-1906-book-on-la.html) over on [LA Cowboy](http://lacowboy.blogspot.com) about the [engraving I posted](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23851-Hotel_Alexandria___Los_Angeles_from_an_A.html) of the Hotel Alexandria. I didn't even notice, but it is obviously not a real photo and is actually the architect's drawing... the [real thing](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23876-Hotel_Alexandria.html) is much smaller.

Is now online over at [LA Voice](http://lavoice.org/)... [check it out](http://lavoice.org/article900.html)! The new buildings are now located on the [google map](http://eecue.com/laautomap-index.html). I will spend even more time tomorrow photographing buildings and this time I will shoot the parking lots where there were once buildings.

Yesterday I posted the [first few pages](http://lavoice.org/article896.html) from a book I am scanning on [LAvoice.org](http://lavoice.org/article896.html) and last night, as recommended by Mack Reed, I finished a Google Maps API mashup showing the buildings from the scans so far... check it out [here](http://eecue.com/laautomap-index.html).

So last night Penelope and I walked the whole 3 blocks to the [Golden Gopher](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23869-a_golden_gopher_lamp.html) to meet some blogging people from the interweb. We missed the free sushi, which was proven to exist here, but we were there in time for a few stiff drinks. We met and photographed [Sean Bonner](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23868-Uccellina_from_abirdsnest_net__husband_and_Sean_Bonner.html), [Mack Reed](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23867-Penelope_and_Mack_Reed_from_LAvoice_org.html), [Uccellina](http://abirdsnest.net) and her husband and the [losanjealous crew](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23870-folks_from_losanjealous.html). Uccellina's husband whose name currently escapes me just got a job in the animation department at Disney (in the magicians hat). Penelope and Uccellina talked the whole time about weddings, but I'm pretty sure she didn't [feign interest](http://abirdsnest.net/index.php/2005/07/12/if-geek-were-a-verb/)!

Apple just updated Tiger to 10.4.2! Cool a bunch of [bug fixes](http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301722) in this one. **UPDATE:** Since I ran the update Safari has already crashed once and has just stopped loading pages twice.

I have begun posting a series or scanned engravings and text from *Los Angeles From an "Auto"*, which is an old tourist guide to LA from 1906. The tours took place atop motorized electric coaches and stopped at all the Downtown Hotels. After each installment I plan to follow up with a current photo of the buildings that are mentioned. Here is the [first in the series](http://lavoice.org/article896.html) on [LAvoice.org](http://lavoice.org/), the current photos are coming soon.

I had no idea you could get a map of [Downtown LA surface street traffic](http://trafficinfo.lacity.org/html/downtown_la.html) in real time... Cool!

Penelope and I just got back from another jog, this time we drove up good ol' Glendale Blvd (the 2) to Griffith Park and jogged along the horse trail. We thought this would be a nice scenic run, which it was, but the scenery involved was the freeway, a trash dump and a golf course. The terrain was sandy dirt which is probably great for horses, but it wasn't the best running surface. I think in the future we will run in Downtown and Echo Park and if we go back to Griffith we will start our jog at the north end of the park. Penelope and I are going to finish up the Weekly Communal Jog in Downtown flyer tonight so keep an eye out for it around town.

When I was in Japan several years ago I made it a point to try many different types of Japanese food and one of them I haven't had since I was there is [Okonomiyaki](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-69-1-okonomiyaki.html). Oko is a sort of like a savory crepe but thick with the filling infused into the pancake. As you can see here it starts off as a [bowl of raw eggs, oil, noodles, flour](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-7121-seafood_okonomiyaki_ingredients.html) and veggies with meat, seafood or tofu and it ends up being a giant delicious pancake that you can then cover with [japanese mayo, unagi sauce and bonito](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-7122-okonomiyaki_ready_to_eat_with_mayo__unagi_sauce_and_bonito.html)... mmmm bonito. The fun part about it is that you get to [cook it yourself](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-7120-okonomiyaki_cooking_on_the_grill.html) on the [table](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-7118-okonomiyaki_grill_ready_to_go.html) in front of you somewhat like shabu shabu. The whole reason I am writing about oko is [this flickr photo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickcoutts/25243032/) and I found a place in greater LA (Torrance) called [Tombo](http://www.japaneserestaurantinfo.com/tombo/) that serves the greasy delicious fare. Google led me to Epinions which had [a review from 2001](http://www.epinions.com/content_973447300) so I gave the number a call and a nice lady answered and she told me yes, they did still serve okonomiyaki, just not on Mondays which is the day they are closed. Photos and review coming soon!

[](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-images-23823-echo_park_and_the_lotus_fetival.html)Penelope and I had a great time at the Lotus Festival this weekend. I took [some photos](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1207-1-lotus_festival_2005.html) and wrote a short article that should be popping up on [LAist](http://laist.com/) some time today. In short the food was good, the weather was great and the people were out in force. If you have never been to the Lotus Festival, I recommend you mark your calendar now for next year! **UPDATE: Here is [the post](http://www.laist.com/archives/2005/07/11/lotus_festival.php) on LAist**

Penelope is a runner. She ran cross country in college on a scholarship. She is one tuff cookie. I ran a bit in Jr. High and High School, and until recently I hadn't run more than a block in about 10 years. Penelope has been taking me jogging, we started when I was living in Fullerton on the horse trails and we made it about 15 minutes and then I was exahuseted and had to walk the rest of the way. We have been steadily increasing the runs and now as of today we are up to 40 minutes without a break. Today we did a run in the city and we started at the lofts, went straight up 6th street into the civic center, through a maze of stairs which belong to the parking lot across from the disney concert hall and the up the stairs of the concert hall, through the garden and up on to the chandler catwalk (beautiful view from there!). We then wove through some buildings and then back down to the loft. It was a good run and I feel great now! Penelope had a wonderful idea to organize a semi-weekly jog through downtown for the residents of our loft. We're going to make some flyers tonight and put them up throughout the building. Posts about our return trip to the zoo and the Lotus Festival coming soon...

[](http://eecue.com/images.php?images_id=23840)All the fan mail and positive feedback that meter maids receive on a daily basis obviously inspired the city of LA to install the new parking meters in front of my building on 6th street. I hope nobody tells the city about the wily homeless meter hackers who poke the no-armed bandits and cajole them to give you time without actually placing change into their slots. No wonder Joe's successor is one of the wealthiest people in the city [that is pure speculation on account of nearly every freaking parking lot in Downtown being owned by Joe's]

This weekend I visited the zoo and I [wrote about it](http://www.laist.com/archives/2005/07/07/la_zoo_and_the_baby_lemur.php#more) on [LAist](http://laist.com).

I have just launched my new drum'n'bass booking agency, [Granular Music](http://granularmusic.com/). My [roster](http://granularmusic.com/artists-index.html) is not yet complete, but so far I have nearly every OG jungle DJ from LA. The site will have more information soon including: bios, photos, mixes, booking calendar, online booking negotiation, booking contracts and more! The main point of granular is to help our local DJs get exposure around the US and the World. Just in case you were wondering, all our artists are nonexclusive so if you already have a deal worked out you can choose to go directly with that artist or whatnot.

[Hexodus](http://hexod.us/a/2005/07/los_angeles_cit.html) posted about this new LA blog feed aggregator called [losangeles.cityfeeds.com](http://losangeles.cityfeeds.com/). This is a one stop shop for news on LA related blogs.

Here are the Drum'n'bass events in LA that I have photographed in the last few months. I don't normally post about them on this site... that is what [junglescene.com](http://junglescene.com/articles/) is for! Here are the latest [music galleries](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-824-1-music.html) * [DJ Lee @ Respect](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1205-1-dj_lee_at_respect.html) * [DJ SS @ Soundwavez](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1203-1-dj_ss_at_soundwavez.html) * [JoS @ Respect](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1202-1-jos_respect.html) * [Muse 51](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1201-1-muse_51.html) * [Electric Daisy Carnival 2005](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1200-1-edc_2005.html) * [Silver @ Respect](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1195-1-silver_at_respect.html) * [Phear @ Soundwavez](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1192-1-phear_at_soundwavez.html) * [DBridge @ Respect](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1188-1-dbridge_at_respect.html) * [Mampi Swift @ Adrenaline](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1187-1-mampi_swift_at_adrenaline.html) * [Junglist Platoon @ Soundwavez](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1186-1-jp_at_soundwavez.html) * [Stareyes @ Metric](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1182-1-stareyes_at_metric.html) * [Science Night @ Respect](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1180-1-science_at_respect.html) * [Herbin @ Soundwavez](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1179-1-herbin_at_soundwavez.html) * [Deacon and R.A.W. @ Soundwavez](http://eecue.com/images_archive/eecue-album-1175-1-deacon_raw_soundwavez.html) Enjoy!

The view from our loft constantly inspires me to take long exposure photos at night. A few days ago after Soundwavez, I clicked my camera onto its tripod and grabbed my remote and shot a few exposures ranging from a few seconds to about a minute. I also shot the first photo that I have taken of the inside of our loft. I love my EOS 20D! I just need some more lenses... right now I have the Canon EF-S 17-85 and the Canon 100mm USM Macro. I want to buy a TS-E and maybe a 300mm telephoto.

So I am trying to send some of my photos to a group on Flickr and I'm getting an error in safari. AJAX rocks 100x more than Flash, but please test your code in the common browsers! [**UPDATE**] Wow that was quick! They fixed it, thanks guys.

In the last few days there have been extremely loud, earth shaking explosions that have rattled our lofts at early hours in the morning. At first I though it was something real blowing up, but I waited for the sounds of fire engines and police cars racing to the scene of the crime, yet there was no sign of an emergency response. Penelope and I have surmised that the sounds we were feeling and hearing were part of a Hollywood production being shot somewhere near our loft. Hopefully they will wrap soon!