The Day Before Easter

God Bless Our Barrio (Echo Park)

Virgin of Guadalupe (Boyle Hts.)

You Might Not Want To Read This

"...They started talking to this man and at first he was talking “I’m just a taxicab driver, I did nothing.” He claims he’d never try to hurt US soldiers that he picked up the wrong people. Then he stopped talking. They turned the lights out and slammed the door and left him there while they went down to cell #4. This man had been so fucked that when they grabbed his foot through the cell bars he began screaming and crying. After praying to Allah he moans a constant short Ah, Ah every few seconds for the rest of the night. I don’t know what they did to this guy. The first one remained handcuffed for maybe 1 ½-2 hours until he started yelling for Allah. So they went back in and handcuffed him to the top bunk on either side of the bed while he stood on the side. He was there for a little over an hour when he started yelling again for Allah. Not many people know this shit goes on. The only reason I want to be there is to get the pictures and prove that the US is not what they think. But I don’t know if I can take it mentally. What if that was me in their shoes. These people will be our future terrorist. Kelly, its awful and you know how fucked I am in the head. Both sides of me think its wrong. I thought I could handle anything. I was wrong."

-Sabrina Harman
an M.P.at Abu Ghraib
(New Yorker March 23, 2008)

Nighttime In The Switching Yard

Plant A Seed

Now's the time to buy some Sugar Snap Peas (with edible pods!), let them germinate for a couple of days and then put them an inch under ground. Believe it or not, within a week, signs of green life will shortly burst forth.

Shrine

Night of the Three Don'ts:

1. Don't let the fan vents on your computer get clogged with pet hair;
2. Don't forget the wheatgrass juice;
3. Don't presume that mysterious charges won't appear on your cell phone bill.

Quote of the Night:

"Is is. Isn't isn't."

Lonely Pony

Street Art (Not Mine)

More Jake, More Nina

Jake Giving Thanks For Money & Cigarettes

I wish there was a way I could mash up this picture of Jake with this song by Nina Simone. To my mind, they kind of go together.

A Message From My Neighbor

Last night I came home to find the above message from Evelyn, my eighty-five year old neighbor advising me as to her daughter's current medical condition. Together they share a small apartment in my building with Evelyn the live-in nurse. It may seem cruel to post a message like this but for the past several years I've been listening to her melodramatic updates ("The doctor says she won't make it to Christmas") as to the seriousness of her daughter's many ailments and lately I've grown skeptical. Like other people here, I've run errands for them, lent them small sums of money and offered countless, if meaningless, words of encouragement.

But I've also begun to see more erratic behavior from the daughter as she shuffles through the courtyard in her flannel nightgown with her ever-present flyswatter and smoking her cigarillos ("doctors orders"). Lately she's begun to stand totally still on the landing lost in what I'm guessing is an opiated haze.

The low point occurred earlier this week when the daughter collapsed outside their door. Not surprisingly, Evelyn screamed bloody murder. I dragged her daughter inside but although she was trying to talk, for the most part she seemed merely oblivious to her situation. Later I tried to talk with Evelyn about the possibility that painkillers are a big part of her daughter's problem but she wasn't listening.

In other words, I wish them the best but I've begun to detach myself from their lives.

Truck

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Truck And Fourth St. Bridge

Spider!

Recipe of the Night:
Avocado Cream Soup with Shrimp
1 box Trader Joe's Vegetable Broth (32 oz.)
1 box Trader Joe's Number Guacamole (16 oz.)
1 bottle TJ’s Heavy Cream (16 oz.)
¼C Pale Dry Sherry (optional)
1t Salt; ½t Pepper
1 bag Trader Joe's Cooked Salad Shrimp (16 oz.), thawed

1) In a saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, and when the stock is simmering, stir in the guacamole & heavy cream. Add the sherry (optional), salt, pepper.
2) To serve the soup hot, add the shrimp & cook until shrimp are heated through.
3) To serve the soup cold, refrigerate the soup and then add the thawed shrimp just before serving.
4) Garnish with a dollop of sour cream

Quote of the Night:
Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

Henry Miller

Video of the Night:

Lightning Hopkins

WGA Strike *Is* Over

"...'If they get paid, we get paid.' This contract makes that a reality. It's the best deal this Guild has bargained for in 30 years after the most successful strike this Guild has waged in 35 years. It was arguably the most successful strike in the American labor movement in a decade..."

Patric Verone
President of WGA

Rusted Paint

If you'd like to do me a favor, please go here and vote for my "Mother Father" photo. Thanks.

Election Day (L.A. City Hall)

"Anyone who thinks the Democrats are a lock to win in November has somehow forgotten about Karl Rove, the right-wing radio network, the hanging chads of 2000, the Swift boat debacle, the intimidation of black voters in Florida, the long lines of Democratic voters standing forlornly in Ohio, and so on."

Bob Herbert
New York Times
February 2, 2008

Man On A Dark Street

[click to enlarge]

Bill

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your leg?"
"Car Crash. Gangrene."

Pablo From Rosemead

In The Park

No Photos Today

This time last night I was in Chinatown. If you're outside of L.A. you might not know that unlike San Francisco and New York, LA's Chinatown is pretty much a dead zone in the evening. I turned up a especially dark street that feeds into Alameda and came across a man lying face down in the middle of the street.

Right or wrong, I briefly considered taking a couple of photos ('cause that's what I do) but if this guy was just drunk and not dead it was only a matter of time until a car comes up over him.

As I asked him "You need help?" I was instantly making eye contact with a fully conscious man nodding his head vigorously. I hauled him up and half-dragged him to the sidewalk. He was a very old Asian man bleeding from either the mouth or nose. He didn't want help, he didn't even want me to make a phone call. Without saying too much more he shuffled off. I followed him for another two or three blocks and then saw him wobble and fall again.

This time he was relatively unhurt but we were still in a dark part of town. Phillippes Restaurant was just a block or two away; that became my goal. Some of my questions he wouldn't answer but he did say his name was Mr. Wong and he needed to take the bus to Alhambra and even told me the name of the assisted living center that he stayed at. A police car drove past and I waved for them to come over but they kept on going. At this point he is just doggedly shuffling down the street which I took to mean "I'll be all right if I can just get to the bus that will take me home."

I'm not sure what to do. Mr. Wong is clear that he doesn't want any medical attention which at this point would mean endless hours at County General - on a Friday night no less. So I just keep on walking with him to the bus stop, hoping the worst had past.

We get to the bus stop. It's surprisingly crowded but the benches are empty. He goes to sit on the bench but again topples over, this time hard and fast. Every available cell phone comes out and, thankfully, a VA nurse steps up as Mr. Wong is bleeding badly from the mouth.

Eventually an ambulance showed and they took Mr. Wong away. Today I called the assisted living center in Alhambra and he indeed was a resident there and they had been contacted by County General where he is still being held.

At this point I'm thinking I should have called 911 when I first found him. On the other hand, if he had walked off while I waited for the ambulance he would have been completely out of eyesight at the point of his second fall.

Acme Warehouse (East L.A.)

Tattooed Hands

Painted Mattress On An Echo Park Dumpster

"Fearless" (In An Empty Showroom)

Smiling Woman (One Hand Missing)

Night in L.A.

Warehouse (East L.A.)

East L.A. - Christmas Eve 2007

December 24, 2007: Jury Duty

Tomorrow, on what was to be the first day of my Christmas vacation, I will be deep in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, south of the 10, as part o f the jury pool for the Superior Court of California. I hope they don't ask me about my opinion of attorneys. Or maybe I hope that's exactly what they ask me.

Afternoon Update: First the Good News: It being Christmas Eve, the number of trials to be heard will be drastically reduced from 20 to 30 to three (3!).

If in the future your presence at 1945 Hill St. is requested, you're probably looking at a short, possibly one day misdemeanor trial. You'll get a brief, not exactly canned speech from a judge about your civic duty, a ten minute video outlining the process (which just about everyone ignores) followed by an open-ended amount of waiting in a room that is not as nice as what you find in an airport but serviceable.

Now the Better News: Without anyone being quizzed by a single attorney, we're dismissed at 12:05.

Bail Bonds

Wilshire

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"The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does."

- Allen Ginsberg

Woman Ordering Food

Iglesia Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles.

Tucked off to the side of Our Lady Queen of Angels church is the above mission adjacent to Olvera Street. Together they seem to form a hub of immigration services, first-of-the-month baptisms, AIDS quilts (when was the last time you saw an AIDS quilt?) and a memorial to neighborhood soldiers who have died on Iraq. Neither the church or the mission are to be confused with the bombastic Our Lady of The Angels cathedral up the road on Temple.

Mural ( Hand, Heart and Eyes)

Statue

Speaks No English Whatsoever...

...but was very grateful for a half dozen Chesterfields.

[click to enlarge]

The Kid Gets Back Up

Quote of the Night:

Lester (to McNulty) - "Life", you know what that is, Jimmy? That's the shit that happens while you're waiting for the moments that never come."

("The Wire", Season 3)

Meal of the Night - Red beans and rice

Ringtone of the Night - this

Mr. Mark

As near as I could understand, Mr. Mark is an aspiring cartoonist working on a strip that involves "Mr. Mark", a homeless cartoonist.

David

In the Seventies, he was an art student. After we talked, he showed me his drawings. "They're about redemption."

Writers Guild Strike is Kicking Ass

I'm not exactly objective about the Writers Guild strike but the writers have put out some tremendous videos. And it really is about corporate greed.

Fairfax High School

Desk In A Cage

Foggy Jogger

Tired Man Reads His Bible

From my several visits to "Our Lady Queen of Angeles/La Placita" I knew this gentleman reads only the Bible while constantly shaking his cup for donations. Noticing that he was now on The Book of Job, I asked him what he thought of Job's hard life. He shook off any comparison to his current state of affairs to that of Job's. "Job was a righteous man, a righteous man."

Flowers And Cigarettes In Silverlake

Alley In West Hollywood

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Pan Pacific Park

Late Night At The Getty

Union Collision

Being Rich

Being rich is ordering so many books from Amazon (new, half price and, unbelievably, one cent plus shipping) that when you come home after an endless week of work, not knowing which book it'll be while Bill Evans plays on Napster, eating Trader Joes sausage and potatoes while "The Godfather" (muted) plays on Bravo with The New Yorker still unopened &, at some point, after a night of photography, somewhere, [Los Angeles under a nearly full moon], something from Netflix.

House (West L.A.)

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