A Badger in LaLa Land Part Four - True Crime

Our time in LA was uneventful.  It's such a big sprawling place that I can't even say whether or not it is a city that "works" in the sense of an ordered, well run place.  Of course there were occasional glimpses of the seamy side of things.  What you've read about homeless encampments being wide spread is entirely true.  Semi permanent villages of tents and plywood are found under a lot of bridges and freeways.  I left those sites alone in my photo journalism....these are people with problems and I have no reason to pry into their affairs.  But we did run into a couple of "crime scenes" in our strolling about.

Most of the homeless encampments seem to be officially ignored.  But once we ran across this:

You can see the outlines of a couple of shopping carts under these tightly wrapped tarps.  And the tape....

Not far away we peered through a chain link fence and saw a broken open suitcase; things scattered all over the place.

Something happened here.  We could see several different Bibles, lots of Covid masks, at least two different passports, and a large sized bra.  I was very tempted to retrieve the passports - those seem like they should not be circulating in the wild - but was not about to scale a fence in the attempt.

A Badger in LaLa Land Part Three - Odd Times in China Town

Our LA people had business near China Town.  As it involved puppets and fine art I don't have space to even attempt an explanation.  But lets have a look at a few oddities along the way.

Here's the light rail station for China Town.  Our local guide by the way said not to bother with paying fares, LA is just happy you are not driving a fume spewing vehicle and contributing to traffic and parking congestion.  The theory went untested by Officialdom...

China Town was pretty quiet mid day on a Saturday.  Most of the shops that were open were selling the expected trinkets.  But this one, alas for our story, was closed.

Peeking in from the right side of the picture you can see a list of things that can be treated with herbs.  Or foot manipulations.  Or whatever that Chinese script actually says.

Remarkably once you get through the rest of the list, all the way from "More Sweat of Hands and Feet" through "Chicken Breast" and "Penis Shrink Inside" you hit the catch all at the bottom.  "Unusual Disease For Men's Women's and Children".  

Here's another enigma:

No Confetti Poppers.  I guess California really has become the No Fun State.  

Some laws appear to be winked at.  Here is a line up of copyright infringement kiddie rides.  Nary a tot to be seen in this baked landscape, and I don't know as how the dollar spent for a bit of mild jostling would be much value for entertainment.

Ah, but one of them was high octane Nightmare Fuel.....

Hi there kid!!!

A Badger in LaLa Land Part Two

You see a lot of "incidental art" in LA.  Things spray painted onto the sidewalk, stickers and scribbles on objects.  I suppose as a form of expression it is more practical in a place where snow and ice don't coat everything for a third of the year.  For whatever insights into the West Coast World here are some images:

This seems a bit judgmental.

There is a very active Dog Culture in this part of LA.  Seen in person this was clearly the face of a whiskery mutt....but seeing it from a different angle here I'm wondering about some double meaning?

Well this seems a bit pessimistic.

So does this.  An image snapped appropriately in a shadowed part of the sidewalk.  Shade was hard to come by on our visit.  It reached 97 degrees one day. 

From the same band.  Now this is just getting ridiculous.  Still, if you want to be glum and unhappy I guess you can go right ahead.

Nope.  This goes too far.  On behalf of America's Dairy Land I pronounce Anathema on this sentiment!

 

A Badger in LaLa Land - Part One

My first trip to LA in something like 55 years.  But we now have "people" there and a visit was in order.  Expect an array of strangeness over the next series of posts.

It started with our first air travel since Covid kicked in.  On the front end we arrived at the airport, noted that our flight was delayed several hours, and sprinted to an earlier one just boarding.  We were able to quickly rebook onto it and were the last people through the door before they locked it down.  Flying out of Minneapolis with snow coming down we really did feel as if we'd had a lucky escape.

The flight home was a bit less dramatic.  We think.  When we landed there was a woman behind us talking loudly on the phone to her mother about how the kid in the seat next to her was running a fever, had a headache and she didn't know if he could stand up to walk off the plane.  Yikes.

But in between we saw LA, or at least one corner of it, in all its Non Midwest glory.

Weird ads:

 

Weird plants:

And the best taco I ever have or likely ever will eat.....

Villas Tacos was until recently run out of a house near where our "people" live.  They now set up on York Avenue.  You'll wait an hour to get your tacos.  Well worth it.  We took them into an adjacent bar and ordered beer to go with them.  I seldom if ever do "food posts" but this was something special.  I wanted to weep.  Tears of joy...and tears of sadness.  The best taco I have ever eaten and at my age, likely the best I ever shall.  Henceforth all Mexican food will taste of ashes and regret.

 Villas Tacos

Opportunities

Opportunity.  It is a pleasant word,  one that speaks to possibilities.  But what is its origin?

Well it is actually something of a nautical term.  Like so much of our language it goes way back to Latin.  Specifically to the phrase: ob portum veniens.  Ob means "in front of, or towards".  The front of a coin for instance is called the obverse.  Something that is obvious is right in front of you.  Portum means just that, a port.  And veniens refers to the wind.  Taken together it means "the wind that sends you right into port".

A nice sentiment before travels.  Wish me fair winds and a safe port.

Big Stick

Is there any truer expression of happiness than a frisky dog who has found a Big Stick?

Well, for Puppy Hank true happieness only comes when you try to take the Big Stick away from him!

Robot Barf

I don't know how many people are actually interested in a "look under the hood" at a robotics competition, but there are some odd and interesting things to be seen there.  FIRST events always have a box somewhere with things that fall off robots in matches.  At a recent event it had this title:

I was in busy mode and did not have the opportunity, or decent lighting, to do a full "archaeologist's" view of the contents.  But you can bet that this bit of Robot Detritus could tell a tale.....