Learn CPR and/or first aid

I was first taught CPR in Boy Scouts back in the early 80s. I was re-certified a couple years later when I took a life guarding class and again once more in college. Then this week, my wife and I signed up for a CPR/First AID course at the local Red Cross. It's a pretty quick and painless course (two nights for much less than the indicated four hours each on their web site). But it's worthwhile if only to reveal how medieval what I learned back in the 80s is nowadays. Especially in this era of cell phones and 911 when it's just not necessary to do that much primary care. (And it's worth noting that it's not legal issues that dictate light care of injured people by civilians: Good Samaritan laws protect, well, good samaritans from being sued.) I am curious about what the current Boy Scout first aid instruction looks like nowadays.

Slow down, police radar ahead!

This is what the sign of the guy sitting in the median of San Vicente said. And my only reaction is, why? Personally, I want people to be afraid of getting hit by a speed trap on San Vicente. It's the street on which I live, and I hate worrying about getting hit by some speeder when I'm crossing at 4th Street. Plus, the money from the traffic tickets will help fund Santa Monica's city government.

My theories as for why someone might do this:

• They're lying. There is no radar trap. It's just a way to trick people into actually driving slowly.
  
• They're libertarians and/or anarchists who hate the idea of money going into city government coffers.
  
• They're stupid and they think this is actually a good idea.
  

NP: "Mary Patrick Kavanaugh," Writers on Writing
WC: 73,512. ECD: 2 Sep 2009.

The Streets of Santa Monica (in Alphabetical Order) Copeland Court

I have a new favorite street in Santa Monica. Google Maps was rather confusing about this street, making it appear as if Copeland Court consisted of two parallel streets, an alley between them. It turns out, however that things are rather different.

Copeland Court, is, in fact, a sidewalk, beautiful and tree-lined. The houses that line it are largely craftsman-style cottages with verdant lawns and fenced yards.

Although there are some occasional bits of architectural modernity.

and even some multi-family residences.

I found this yard rather charming:

NP: "Tower of Song," Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man.
WC: 72,489, ECD: 7 Sep 2009.

The Streets of Santa Monica (in alphabetical order) Colorado Avenue

Colorado begins its life at Centinela, changing from Idaho on the L.A. side of the street. It's a residential area, lined with Eucalyptus trees as it begins.

Nestled among the old craftsman cottages and newer apartment buildings is the Santa Monica Bahá'í center. I know only a little about Bahá'ism, but my general sense of it, in SAT analogy format is Christianity:Unitarianism::Islam:Bahá'ism.It's a generally pretty liberal faith, focusing on unity and peacefulness, although probably a bit more focused on doctrines than most Unitarians.

The Bahá'ís aren't the only people with a religious community along Colorado Avenue. There's also the Westside Christian fellowship who have taken over an older industrial building for their purposes.

Did you know that there's a mobile home community in Santa Monica?

Apparently, there were plans for there to no longer be this community, although the time table was extended. It appears that the redevelopment plans are still in the works, but have not yet led to the beginnings of evictions yet.

Past the mobile home park, we continue to see more light industrial buildings, with a fair number of for lease signs up. The transition to office space is marked by the Evergreen Community School, with some surrealistic poetry by young children hanging from the tree outside the school.

The offices here are home to a number of media giants, including MTV, Universal Music, Lionsgate films etc. Two of the largest mixed-tenant complexes are the Water Gardens, which look cool from space, but pretty nice from ground level as well. Of course, the work environment doesn't necessarily call out to the casual passerby, but there are a surprising variety of dining options within the complex. Given that I was walking through on the evening of Memorial Day, it was a bit of a surprise to see people walking and reading in the courtyard.

On the other side of Colorado lies the Yahoo Center, which has a less thrilling center courtyard area, but had even more activity including this mysterious group of fan dancers.

Walking a bit further down, I discover that the Santa Monica Collection is not the only company providing large soulless apartment buildings in the bay city.

This building is available for lease. The sign didn't indicate whether the furniture and boxes were included, or if they'd fix the broken windows through which I shot the picture.

St Anne's Catholic Church and Shrine was founded as a mission of St Monica's parish in 1908 (St Monica's was founded in 1886). It includes a K-8 school and is an "and shrine" because Father Hawes, the founding pastor of St Monica's who was responsible for the opening of St Anne's, brought back relics of St Anne in 1913 which have been kept at the parish ever since. Unlike St Monica, which is an amazingly white Catholic church, St Anne's is a significantly Latino parish, with 3 of its 7 weekend masses in Spanish and a weekly citizenship class.

As we proceed down Colorado, we come to a new district which is geared largely to building/remodeling businesses, but also features a cement factory and a plastics formulator and dealer, as well as assorted glass, flagstone, electrical etc. companies. There are still the occasional creative businesses mixed in, including PB&J which I looked up and turned out to be a production company for reality TV.

I know nothing about Tulip Cafe, but liked this graffiti-style mural on its side wall.

I'm a sucker for models.

According to Google, this building either houses a moving company or a tech consulting company. It doesn't look big enough to hold both.

And here's a classic looking electrical switching station.

The Big Blue Bus people are building a new central garage and maintenance facility.

Fritto Misto is one of my favorite Santa Monica restaurants. I recommend getting the pasta special. You'll get a large salad and a moderate sized serving of pasta. Perfectly proportioned and both delicious and nutritious and at a good price as well. It always surprises me that the restaurant is not crowded when I've been there.

Further down the street is Angel's Attic, a museum of dolls and dollhouses in a restored Queen Anne Victorian home (one of two remaining in Santa Monica according to the museum's web site).

This Midas store is in an attractive 1920s building.

This sign over the Sears Automotive store is a great bit of 1950s typography. The building has been bought by the City of Santa Monica for a future transit depot for the Expo Line terminus (and perhaps also eventually the purple line).

Colorado Avenue ends at the Santa Monica pier, itself worthy of a day's visit and post-visit blogging, perhaps some other day.

NP: "Sahara," Justin Adams and Juldeh Camera, Tell No Lies.
WC: 72,229. ECD: 5 Sep 2009.

The Streets of Santa Monica (in Alphabetical Order) Clover Street and Cloverfield Boulevard

Clover Street

Santa Monica has a number of place names with clover in the name, two streets plus Clover Park. This is likely because of the original name of Santa Monica Airport, Clover Field.

And there is, in fact, a tiny amount of clover to justify the names.

Clover Street is a tiny street which runs along an edge of the airport which is little more than an alley for much of its extent, but does offer some nice views of the airport maintenance yard.

Cloverfield Boulevard

Cloverfield begins as a residential street at Ocean Park Blvd. Mature trees line the street, giving a clear sense of an established neighborhood.

But even established neighborhoods are vulnerable to McMansionization.

At Pico, we pass by Virginia Park and then enter the Pico neighborhood which is home to a number of older apartment buildings.

Across the 10, we get to a more commercial area, home to a gas station with topiary animals.

It took me a while to figure it out, but that's a topiary pegasus, an appropriate symbol for a Mobil station.

We also see the Ocean Park Community Center which provides services to the area poor, homeless, mentally ill and battered women and children.

A bit further north, we see the Water Garden.

And the local DMV offices which are currently closed for renovation (but is reopening on Monday).

NP: "Loco Wit the Cake," Ace Hood & Shife, Loco Wit the Cake - Single of the Week
WC: 71,956. ECD: 5 Sep 2009.

The Streets of Santa Monica (in Alphabetical Order) Chelsea Avenue and Chelsea Place

Chelsea Avenue
Chelsea Avenue is one of the few named north-south streets mingled with the numbered streets of Santa Monica. It's also notable for being one of the few streets without sidewalks on both sides of the street.

Chelsea passes by Douglas Park, named for aviation pioneer Donald Douglas and located on the site of one of the Douglas Aviation assembly plants. It's now home to tennis courts, lawn bowling courts and an especially nice water feature.

On the Sunday that I walked through, the park was filled with families and young adults enjoying the weather, but the lawn bowling area was empty.

Across Wilshire, the neighborhood turns from single family homes into mostly apartment buildings, although I did find this interesting house nestled in amongst the apartment buildings.

Chelsea Place

Chelsea Place is a short cul de sac extending from near the southern reach of Chelsea Avenue.

It's a mix of apartment buildings and a handful of older single family homes from a day before the neighborhood became quite so densely populated.

NP: "Want You Back," The Mighty Underdogs, Definitive Jux Free Amazon Sampler
WC: 71,130, ECD: 26 August 2009.

The Streets of Santa Monica (in Alphabetical Order) Centinela Avenue

Centinela forms the eastern border of Santa Monica, beginning at Montana Avenue, just south of the Brentwood Country Club, tracing the side of Franklin Hill. This first stretch of Centinela is a beautiful tree-lined stretch of road with funky houses ensconced on the side of the hill.

Even the east side of the road belongs to Santa Monica at this point, as evidenced by Santa Monica garbage cans in front of the houses there. The houses on the east side are below street level, with, in one case, a beautiful, but unphotographable grassy yard.

On the west side, the hill gives homes a bit of character and the sense of being placed in the wilderness.

Once we get away from Franklin Hill, then we get to the more ordinary, like a McMansion whose owner is a little too fond of store-bought sculpture.

Once we cross Wilshire, there's an interesting twist to the street. Apparently the border between Santa Monica and Los Angeles is actually the sidewalk and not the street as evidenced by the street signs on the west side of Centinela.

One resident shows off their business selling astroturf via a putting green in their front yard.

Eventually the street turns industrial and boring for a while. There is a nice view of the future right of way for the Expo Line to Santa Monica.

And a bit of under-the-freeway parking when we pass under the 10.

A once-vibrant community turned eyesore.

I thought this building was empty until I looked closer and saw some signs of habitation. It turns out that the property management company looks very sternly upon any indication that people live in the building being visible from the outside (as the building manager told me when he saw me wandering the front lawn concrete.

This apartment complex, on the other hand, manages to feel like it's in the midst of a forest.

Santa Monica's stretch of Centinela ends at the airport. I hope to walk the other side of the fence when I get to the Ds (Donald Douglas Loop).

NP: "NPR: 06-29-2009 Most E-Mailed Stories"
WC: 70,855. ECD: 10 Sep 2009.