Did you feel it? You may or may not have! A magnitude 4.74.4 earthquake rocked our world this morning at 6:25 a.m., centered in Westwood Encino, the largest quake felt in Southern California since the 1994 Northridge2008 Chino Hills temblor.

The Militant was in his Compound, sleeping in his bed, and woke up at around 6-something a.m., realizing he'd slept through the night with the lights on and having forgotten to brush his teeth. So he brushed, shut the lights off, and went back to sleep, lying there as the morning sun was lighting up the sky, when he felt a brief but definitely noticeable shaking, which lasted but a few seconds.

The Militant, instinctively ready to waken up his trusted portable computing center (a.k.a. his lappytop) and scour Twitter for the initial magnitude and epicenter location, stopped himself short for a brief while before tweeting, "The Militant felt that." See, we've had a bunch of sub-4.0 quakes over the past few years, and The Militant hadn't even felt a single one. But he felt he could say more about today's tremor.

Then he realized today was St. Paddy's Day and quickly thought of any witty connections with the quake. Quake. Shake. Shamrock. YES!!!!  Consider it The Luck of The Irish (even though The Militant may or may not have any Celtic heritage of any percentage), but in the span of all but four minutes after el temblorito, he decided to tweet thus:

LOS ANGELES -- YOU CAN CALL THAT ONE A "SHAMROCK SHAKE."#StPatricksDay#Earthquake#YesTheMilitantFeltIt
— Militant Angeleno (@militantangleno) March 17, 2014

And the rest was history. #ShamrockShake it was. Top O'The Mornin' To You!

Though the day was mostly associated with KTLA's Chris Schauble and Megan Henderson ducking and covering (as every Los Angeles area native is taught in school -- one of the few things the LAUSD actually teaches you), media outlets everywhere went with the #ShamrockShake moniker for this morning's seismic event. Even KABC's most excellent Marc Brown mentioned not only the #ShamrockShake, but credited The Militant by name on the air!

Whoever named it the #ShamrockShake wins Twitter. You may now collect your prize.
— Marc Brown (@ABC7Marc) March 17, 2014

@militantangleno Not sure, but if I do i will give you the credit. Well-played, militant.
— Marc Brown (@ABC7Marc) March 17, 2014

It was aired on the 5 p.m. Eyewitness News newscast, which The Militant unfortunately missed, but others bore witness to the historic mention:

@militantangleno@ABC7 I believe the exact wording was "a twitter user who goes by the name of Militant Angeleno..." coined the term.
— Ted Rogers (@bikinginla) March 18, 2014

The Militant made his mark on society today. The world will never be the same. He also didn't feel any of the subsequent aftershocks. A 4.4. ain't no big deal, but he did feel that one. The Militant normally jokes that "No earthquake under a 5.0 is worth mentioning," but he may or may not have to lower that threshold. Where were you when you felt today's #ShamrockShake?

Remember this bloke?

Just 11 days after the Shamrock Shake rattled Southern Cali, we got an even bigger seismic muffin tonight: A magnitude 5.45.1 quake centered in La Habra, in northern Orange County, happening at 9:09 p.m. (too bad it wasn't centered in the Inland Empire).

The Militant was in his Compound, listening to the Dodgers vs. Angels Freeway Series exhibition game at The Stadium over the radio (because the damn games are all on cable now...), when he felt a soft shaking sensation in The Compound, which kinda lasted a lot longer than the Shamrock Shake.

Not sooner did he consult Twitter for the quake info was The Militant confronted with tweets asking for his personal christening of tonight's quake. Okay, let's see. La Habra...uh...umm...March 28...uhhh...

Damn, he knew this would happen.

Welp, it took all of 15 minutes, but he finally came up with a nom de tremblement:

Okay, The Militant has a name. This one is for all you horse race fans: THE LA HABRA SHAKES. http://t.co/Y2VSaGwGCc#earthquake
— Militant Angeleno (@militantangleno) March 29, 2014

Yeah, okay, it's nowhere near as witty as the #ShamrockShake, The Militant admits, and the "La Habra Stakes" reference will go over more people's heads, but, dude, he ain't got much to work with!

No one was hurt during this quake, but there was moderate damage in the La Habra/Brea/Fullerton area, including a water main burst and a rockslide in Carbon Canyon.

Again, The Militant did not feel any of the aftershocks, nor did he feel the 3.6 foreshock earlier in the evening at 8:03 p.m.

The cool thing though, was that there was a baseball game going on, and all of Los Angeles (well, those privileged enough to afford Time Warner Cable, that is) were blessed to listen to Vin Scully's first-ever (in all of his 56 years in Los Angeles) earthquake play-by-play:


Tonight's final score:
Los Angeles  5
Los Angeles de Anaheim  4
La Habra  5.1

The classic shot of The Huell at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve greets visitors to Chapman University's new Huell Howser Exhibit, now open to the public.

No figure has been an influence and inspiration to The Militant Angeleno more than the late, great Huell Howser, a man who needs no introduction to readers of This Here Blog (and if he needed to be introduced, you probably shouldn't be reading This Here Blog). The untimely passing of the legend early last year kind of left The Militant literally dumbfounded, perhaps even to the point where he sort of stopped blogging. He was all set to go to Howser's unofficial official memorial at Griffith Observatory in January 2013, even going so far as to discover a Greek Theatre-to-Observatory hiking route to circumvent the clusterfuggin parking situation that day, but after learning that The Humble Huell Himself did not want a public memorial, The Militant wanted to honor his wishes. He since learned it was a nice event, though part of it became The Tom La Bonge show. But The Militant digresses...

On Saturday, Chapman University, the sole recipient of The Huell's archives (Well, at least the non-Videolog/Visiting... material, which remains KCET property) opened their new Huell Howser exhibit at their Leatherby Library building called, "That's Amazing! Thirty Years of Huell Howser and California's Gold"with a daylong event of the same name. The event attracted several thousand Huell devotees of all ages (the majority being over 50 though...) which also featured people who have been featured on some of his shows. The Triple-A was a major spinor of the event and gave away Cali maps with locations of California's Gold episodes.

The line for the Huell Howser exhibit was pretty damn long.

The main attraction was the exhibit, which has a long-ass line that queued around the building with a wait of almost an hour.  Sure, anyone can go to this exhibit Tuesdays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with hardly any line, but dammit, The Militant don't go to Orange County that much, so he might as well stay in line!

It felt much like going to a Disneyland ride, which was just a few miles away (Guess this is what the O.C. is all about...). Once in the door, he heard the familiar Tennessee drawl of The Huell fill the room, almost as if he was there (or maybe an animatronic Huell greeting visitors before reciting The Gettysburg Address, no, wait...). But it was just a video screen showing a montage of The Huell (Even Huell had a montage).

Word.

Interactive stuff.

The master video tapes. Worth their weight in...wait for it... California's Gold.

Once inside, groups were led down a rather mundane-looking staircase to the basement level, and finally into the poppy-colored room, which had a California map on the floor with every Cali's AU episode's locale labeled accordingly. The exhibit followed Huell's life from childhood (his family dog was called "Hey Boy") to his early years in his native Volunteer State to the start of his KCET programs and CaliGold. There were also artifacts like a video camera, his desk, a case with mementos either from the show and given to him, as well as another room which had his personal book library, his shirt, and a room wherein all of his California's Gold (and associated shows - remember, Videolog and Visiting... ain't included) master tapes are stored. People can possibly view them eventually, albeit with archives staff approval. The archive staff person said they're real protective of The Huell's public image and didn't want anyone to see anything that was...un-amazing (hypothetically speaking, say, if The Huell cussed out someone on camera or something like that).

Huell Howser's editing desk. The rack of manila folders contained potential show topics at the time of his retirement in late 2012...shows that were never made!

A display case featuring various Huell Howser mementos.

The archives room (note his shirt in the back).

The other major attraction to the Chapman University event was the screening of the new documentary, A Golden State of Mind: The Storytelling Genius of Huell Howser, a 50-minute glimpse into his life and worth ethic, which begins with his early Tennessee days, follows his career to New York and Los Angeles, and features interviews with California's Gold production staff, subjects and The Huell Himself. Even a 2012 FunnyOrDie.com Huell Howser parody is featured. The end of the documentary talks of his demise in January 2013 and one of his last shows, a 2012 California's Gold episode focusing on Jacaranda trees, which many found symbolic and introspective with regards to his condition at the time.

You can see the exhibit any time now, but if you missed the documentary screening, don't worry, Chapman plans to screen it again later this year and perhaps make a DVD out of it, with a possible airing on KCET sometime in the future.

Whether you're watching Huell's shows via Chapman's online video archive, at the university exhibit itself, or on good ol' KCET, it's easy to feel as if Huell Howser is immortal. And in a way, he is now, living on for all eternity through his numerous shows. But there were shows he never got to shoot, places he'd yet to discover, and even in the 15 months since he left us, new people, places and things worth discovering.  Huell can never be replaced (though The Militant once confessed to one day being his successor), but it's the mission of The Militant, and many others out there, to fill in the void, however little we can.

And what would The Huell say to us today? Well, assuming The Militant were in fictional San Dimas and traveled in time via a funky phone booth outside of the Circle-K, going back in time to pluck Huell Howser from the not-so-distant past, he would probably say, "Be amazing to each other."

This dude's shirt says it all.

Welcome to La Habra, home of...uh, La Habrans?

After attending the Huell Howser Day festivities at Chapman University on Saturday, The Militant, along with one of his operatives, decided to head up the 57 to La Habra and survey some damage from the previous night's La Habra Shakes quake-o-rama.

After exiting Imperial Highway and heading west (no, his operative was not a big nasty redhead), we looked intently for some earthquake damage. Perhaps some broken glass, perhaps a fallen masonry wall, anything to report to you, the blog-reading public!

The Militant drove and drove...hmm. Nothing.

We turned north on Beach Boulevard. The Militant spotted a cracked window at the True Value Hardware store on Beach Blvd and Lambert Road. Hmmm, maybe....

This may or may not be earthquake damage. No, really.

The "X"-shaped crack had some vinyl tape on the top two extremities. The tape looked clean and therefore relatively new, but its relationship to the earthquake cannot be determined for sure.

We drove on east on Whittier Blvd, discovering La Habra (of all places, right?) has an El Cholo Spanish Cafe, but NOT discovering any quake damage. We went into a residential neighborhood to see if there were any downed walls...nada.

We turned west on La Habra Blvd (we spotted two glass company trucks parked in a liquor store parking lot -- perhaps done with their installation), and back south on Beach. Right after leaving the La Habra city border at Hillsborough Drive, we spot some yellow police tape along the sidewalk just half a block south and...lo and behold...EUREKA!

We found damage! Woot!

At last, confirmed earthquake damage! This masonry wall fell over out into the sidewalk. And since people out in this part of town don't even bother to walk, you can rest assured that no one was hurt.

So there you go, we did not come up empty-handed after all! Yes, there was some damage from the #LaHabraShakes, but it wasn't very obvious. The town largely looked as if nothing happened. For those of you who did sustain damage, The Militant hopes it's manageable and all repairs are relatively easy and affordable.

If any of you spotted any quake damage, please share with The Militant in the comments or via email or Twitter!

On Monday, The Militant joined about 55 people and five hipsters on a tour of the new 2014 season renovations at Dodger Stadium, as well as a glimpse of things most fans, especially the disadvantaged ones who can only afford tickets in the upper tiers (i.e. The Militant), don't get to see.

Now, The Militant has toured the stadium before (which included a foodie conversation with Andre Ethier and seeing Mr. Scully's back), and last year The Militant got to post about the 2013 stadium renovations -- the first permanent stamp on the facilities since Our New Guggenheim Overlords took over (The Militant will not use this post to gripe about the whole Time Warner Cable debacle, and the team's disappearance from many (non-cable-privileged) households, though he just did, indirectly).

This Janet is also in control. She gave us an awesome tour of the new Stadium improvements.

But this year, there were new goodies in store, and who better than to show it than Janet Marie Smith,  the Dodgers' Senior Vice President of Planning and Development. In case you're not familiar with her name, she's been a longtime sports executive with a background in architecture and urban planning. As an architectural consultant, she was responsible for the much-emulated retro ballpark design at Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. She also oversaw the conversion of the 1996 Olympic Stadium in Atlanta to Turner Field. So, she definitely knows her stuff.

She talked about changing the look and function of the Dodger Stadium grounds while at the same time keeping the design faithful to the early 1960s design, namely claiming some of the parking lot blacktop space to expand the stadium perimeter. The first part of that was achieved last year, with  the Reserve Level plazas, created to establish the clear separation of stadium grounds and parking lot, and provide more people/activity space, as well as to establish unique landmarks for each level and area (because of that, did you know that Dodger Stadium was the 7th most Instagrammed site in the entire world in 2013?).

Let's look at the numerous photos that took The Militant a long-ass time to resize and upload, shall we?

Gotta love the signage on this one.

Smith consulted with Peter O'Malley and discovered an unused late-'50s design for stadium signage.  These signs faithfully employ not just the look, but the materials as well.

Da-da-da-DA-da-DAAA...CHARGE! Juicing up is frowned upon for players, but perfectly welcome for your mobile devices. These charging stations are found just outside the Reserve Level.

Ever wanted to know what the Dugout Club looks like? Here ya go. The field level is right above.

Deep below Field, near the Dugout Club entrance, is all 40 of the Dodgers' Gold Glove awards on display.

On the opposite side, the team's 1981 World Series trophy (the '88 trophy is getting polished).

Kershaw's Cy.

The Press Interview room. Everyone got to play Donnie for a few secs.

Deep below the 3rd base-side Field Level stands is a corridor...

...THE BAT-ROOM!

Pump You Up: The Weight Training Room!

Look out Jamba and Robek's -- The Dodgers have their own smoothies! Found in the Weight Training Room

Matt Kemp knows this room pretty well.

We found the stash.

At the end of the corridor, we end up in the land of Wilson and Jansen. Above the new bar that overlooks the bullpen. Get it? Some Sanrio surprises at the Stadium. The new plaza outside of the Right Field Pavilion. If you liked it, then you should've... Los Angeles has yet another eatery called "Tommy's." Lasorda was asked to pick the bobble head that would get the life-sized treatment outside his restaurant. He picked the Hall Of Fame one. The visitor's bullpen. There's also a bar overlooking this one too. Excellent idea, huh? The pedestrian walkway at the Sunset Gate got new striping and lighting. It's also meant as an entrance for bicycles (they assume people will be walking and not riding their bikes up the hill...)

The Militant is hungry for a Dodger Dog now. Even more, he's hungry for some baseball. He may or may not be there on Opening Day on Friday, but he's definitely ready for the season! Go Dodgers!

Click here to open the actual interactive map, because the new Google Maps suck ass.

Yes, friends, it's an exciting week for Los Angeles. Dodger baseball season returns to The Stadium on Friday, and this Sunday, CicLAvia season begins!

This time, the route returns to IronicIconic Wilshire Boulevard, a route first used in June of last year. The Militant already wrote one of this legendary Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour posts for that one, but he felt it was time for a minor update.

So after much more Militant research, he adds six additional points of interest to the tour, and even slightly updates some of the other points as well.

You know you totally want to eat this up, so here it is, Los Angeles!

1. One Wilshire Building/Wilshire Bookend Palm Trees
1966
624 S. Grand Ave, Downtown

Built during the first wave of modern skyscrapers following the repeal of Los Angeles' building height limit laws, this building, designed by architectural rockstars Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (who also went on to craft Chicago's Sears Tower, among many others) stood for most of its life as the address of legal and financial institutions. After a renovation in 1992, this building is now the location of CoreSite, a major data colocation center, which carries the primary Internet connections for Los Angeles (without this building, you can't read this!)

Take note of the row of palm trees, planted here in the 1970s: They are meant to evoke the end of Wilshire Boulevard, as on the opposite end, at Santa Monica's Ocean Avenue, 16 miles from here, you will also find a row of palm trees.

2. Wilshire Grand Center
2017
Wilshire and Figueroa (SW corner), Downtown

This big-ass hole in the ground used to be the Wilshire Grand Hotel, formerly (in reverse chronological order) the Omni Hotel, Los Angeles Hilton, Statler Hilton and Statler Hotel.

On this site will rise the new Wilshire Grand Center, Los Angeles' (and the West's -- suck on it, Transbay Tower SF!) tallest building at 73 stories and 1,100 feet (kinda sorta, there's a spire, you see...). It will also be Los Angeles' only modern skyscraper without a flat roof. It will house Wilshire Grand Hotel 2.0 and a bunch of shops and condos.

The building will also have a "sky lobby" up at the top and will be the first skyscraper anywhere to sport a mohawk.

The current construction site is the location of "The Big Pour" - which lasted from February 15 -16, where 21,200 cubic yards (81 million pounds) of concrete were continuously poured - earning it a Guinness World Record for that feat.

3. L.A. Prime Matter Sculpture
1991
Wilshire and Figueroa (NW corner), Downtown

Wilshire is full of awesome-looking public art. Here's one relatively-recent sculpture right at the northwest corner of Wilshire and Figueroa. Designed by the late Venice-based artist Eric Orr, who had a penchant for utilizing elemental themes in his art, L.A. Prime Matter features twin 32-foot bronze columns that feature water sliding down its faces, and during random moments, FIRE emanates from the middle channels of the columns! The effect is total bad-ass, and its bad-assnes is magnified at night.

Hopefully participants in a bad-ass event like CicLAvia would get an opportunity to see the pyrotechnics!

4. Urban Chew
2013
North side of Wilshire Bridge over 110 Fwy

The Militant just discovered this peculiar public art installation by artist Matthew Kasmirofsky while witnessing the Big Pour. About 160 pieces of gum, made of either actual gum pieces or latex rubber, were placed here in an art piece described by the artist as "a commentary on contemporary consumerist culture," especially how things are easily and carelessly discarded after a short time. Kasmirofsky has done similar public art installations in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Montreal and Stockholm.


5. Site of George Shatto Residence/Good Samaritan Hospital
1891
Wilshire Blvd and Lucas Ave, Downtown

Before it was named Wilshire Boulevard, it was once called Orange Street, and on the corner of Orange and Lucas was a Queen Anne-style mansion belonging to George Shatto, a real estate developer who first developed Catalina Island and the city of Avalon. If you read the Epic CicLAvia Tour 4.0 post, his name is brought up as one of the famous Angelenos buried (in a rather ornate pyramid) at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery.

But check this out! Take a look at the picture above, and pay close attention to the masonry wall going uphill that fronts Lucas Avenue. Now, on CicLAvia Sunday, look at the exact same spot, on the northwest corner of the intersection. The house is gone, but the original wall still remains!

Good Samaritan Hospital, which was founded in 1885 and moved to the current site in 1911, is also the birthplace of many native Angelenos, including mayor Eric Garcetti.

6. Site Of "Redbeard" Pirate Lynching
1879
1675 Wilshire Blvd, Westlake

In 1878 a man known as Cochran "Redbeard" O'Connor, a self-described "pirate," sailed into San Pedro Harbor and arrived into Los Angeles via railroad. He went on a notorious public rampage described, by the old Los Angeles Herald as, "Six months of public drunkenness, vulgarity, and lewd and lascivious behavior, which cannot be fully described in the pages of this publication." Other historical accounts of O'Connor purport he engaged in public displays of urination, indecent exposure, masturbation and groping. Police attempted to arrest him several times, but he somehow eluded them. Finally, on March 27, 1879, he was found attempting to defecate on the front yard of a mansion on Orange Street, when an angry mob chased him down. He was hung by a sycamore tree that stood near where the Home Depot stands today. According to a later Los Angeles Herald article, His boat in San Pedro Harbor was burned and sunken. O'Connor was buried in an unmarked grave at Evergreen Cemetery.

7. Los Angeles Teachers (a.k.a. 'Stand And Deliver') Mural
1997
Wilshire and Alvarado, Westlake

Art imitates life imitating art imitating life in this mural by popular Salvadoreño American muralist Hector Ponce depicting actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed Garfield High School math teacher Jaime Escalante in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, standing next to the real-life Escalante, and delivering a mural that's part-Hollywood, part-Los Angeles, part-Latino pride, part Eastside pride and if the Internet were as accessible back in 1988 as it is today, would make one epic photo meme. And it's painted behind the 1926 Westlake Theatre, which is slated for renovation into a community-baed performance arts venue sometime soon. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Stand and Deliver by having the ganas to stop by.

8. Gen. Harrison Gray Otis Statue
1920
Wilshire Blvd and Park View Ave, MacArthur Park

Gen. Otis is perhaps the most visible statue at the park, which predates MacArthur's WWII service. This general served in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars, and also fought as a Union soldier in the Civil War. But in Los Angeles, he is most known for being the founder, owner and publisher of the Los Angeles Times. So why is he here? His Wilshire Blvd mansion, called The Bivouac, was located across the street, was later donated to Los Angeles County and became the original campus of Otis Art Institute. It's thought that his statue is pointing to the site of the Elks Lodge, but he's probably just pointing to his old house. 


9. Bryson Apartment Building
1913
2701 Wilshire Blvd, MacArthur Park

This 10-story Beaux Arts apartment building, built 100 years ago, was the 20th century precursor to today's fancy modern 21-century high-rise residential developments. Built by developer Hugh W. Bryson, it was built in a part of Los Angeles that was known at the time as "the west side" (let's not open that can of worms right now, okay?). It was one of Los Angeles' most luxurious apartment buildings, and had a large neon sign at the roof (characteristic of these kinds of developments back then). Several Raymond Chandler books reference The Bryson. The 110,000 square-foot building is also part of the National Register of Historic Places and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

10. LaFayette Park
1899
Wilshire Blvd and LaFayette Park Place, LaFayette Park

Clara Shatto, the widow of George Shatto (remember him?) donated 35 acres of her land to the City of Los Angeles in 1899, which was once oil wells and tar pits. Her late husband wanted it turned into a city park, and so it became Sunset Park, which existed for 19 years before the locals wanted it renamed to honor the 18th-century Frenchman who was a hero in both the American and French revolutions. Gotta give LaFayette park some props for living so long in the shadow of its more famous neighbor, MacArthur (Westlake) Park.

11. Bullocks Wilshire/Southwestern Law School
1929
3050 Wilshire Blvd

Perhaps one of the most iconic examples of Art-Deco architecture in Los Angeles, this former Bullocks Department Store was designed with a tower to resemble a New York-style skyscraper in then-unabashedly low-rise Los Angeles. It was the epitome of shopping in style in its heyday, with its own rear parking lot and other auto-centric amenities. It ultimately fell victim to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and was closed down the next year. In 1994, the nearby Southwestern School of Law bought the building and incorporated it into its campus, restoring much of the Roaring 1920s Art Deco aesthetics.

12. Shatto Place
c. 1880s
Wilshire Blvd and Shatto Pl, Koreatown

Gee, we can't get seem to get away from that George Shatto guy, can we? George and Clara owned a plot of land here on this street, which was once home to some of the most beautiful mansions in Los Angeles at the time. Although Clara sold the land in 1904, George stipulated that all properties on the street maintain the character of the exquisite homes there, which was challenged several times until the late 1920s, when the homes started to be demolished in favor of more modern commercial development.

13. Brotherhood Mansion Site
1898
3183 Wilshire Blvd, Koreatown

The first automobile in Los Angeles took to the streets in 1897 and Delbert J. Walford, businessman and early automobile enthusiast, (and one of the first Angelenos to own a car), created the Most Benevolent Brotherhood of the Horseless Carriage (a.k.a. "The Brotherhood"), perhaps Los Angeles' first-ever car club. Members would offer repairs to stranded motorists, free of charge, hold Saturday afternoon salons to educate the public about the automobile, and offer driving classes for a very small fee. Some though, considered the organization to be a cult-like group, where members lived inside the mansion, maintaining strict standards on uniform dress and hats. In 1903, the group published a 106-page, eerily prophetic utopian (autopian?) manifesto, The Automobile For A Most Glorious California, envisioning a network of "automobile super-roadways" spanning several lanes wide, the creation of "automobile gardens" built around cities and communities oriented towards the car, developed far from the urban core. They also shunned and criticized the use of streetcars, bicycles and long-distance pedestrian travel. Now here comes the strange part: In August 1909, Walford and all of the members who were have known to have lived in the mansion vanished without a trace, leaving all material valuables (aside from their automobiles) behind. Their whereabouts were never found and the mansion was razed in 1917. Ironically, the site is home to the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station.

14. "The Vermont" Highrise Apartment Development
2014
Wilshire Blvd and Vermont Ave., Koreatown

What's with the construction? It's a 30- and 25- story highrise mixed-use apartment development called "The Vermont" by J.H. Snyder Co. which is slated to open sometime this year. It's Metro-accessible, but who the hell can afford the rents for this place?

15. Consulate Row
Various locations along Wilshire Blvd between Vermont and Crenshaw

Some 62 countries have consular offices in the Los Angeles area and 41 of them have addresses on Wilshire Boulevard. Proximity to various foreign financial institutions on Wilshire, as well as nearby Hancock Park, where many consul-generals have traditionally resided, are the main reasons for such a high concentration of consulates on this stretch of Wilshire. The consulate offices for Bangladesh, Bolivia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, South Korea, Nicaragua, Peru, The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan are all located on Wilshire between Vermont and Crenshaw. Many of them display their national flags in front of their respective office buildings. How many can you spot during CicLAvia?

16. Gaylord Apartments
1924
3355 Wilshire Blvd

Though the building's prominent neon sign has been source of many a snicker by immature junior high school kids, this building represents some serious history. It was named after Wilshire Boulevard's namesake, Henry Gaylord Wilshire, who was known as a wealthy real estate developer and outspoken socialist (Does that make sense?), who donated a 35-acre strip of barley fields to the City of Los Angeles on the condition that it would be free from railroads or trucking.

The building itself is a 13-story Italian Renaissance-style apartment building that actor John Barrymore (a.k.a. Drew's grandpa) and then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon once called home.

17. Brown Derby Site
1926
3427 and 3377 Wilshire Blvd

The now-defunct "The Brown Derby" local chain of restaurants were synonymous with Hollywood glitz and glamour. The Wilshire Boulevard location was the first of four (the others were in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Los Feliz). In close proximity to The Ambassador Hotel and its Cocoanut Grove swing/jazz club, this was the original hipster joint back in the day, only back then the hipsters were actually cool and looked good. In 1937 the building was moved across the street and closed in 1975. In 1980, a shopping center was built on the site and the iconic dome structure was incorporated into the shopping center that exists today. It's situated on the third floor, above The Boiling Crab seafood restaurant. It's something to ponder on while you wait 90 minutes for your table.

Note that the pictures for #13 and #14 connect vertically - that's the Gaylord Apartments behind the Brown Derby!

18. Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park/Ambassador Hotel Site
2010
Wilshire Blvd between Catalina Street and Mariposa Avenue

The Militant wrote a post in 2010 about this unique public space dedicated to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated just yards away at the Ambassador Hotel, which was demolished in 2005 and where the LAUSD's sprawling and costly  RFK Community Schools campus now stands. There's Kennedy quotes on public art installations and benches for you to chill on. There's also speakers playing recordings of some of the jazz music that was performed at the hotel's famed Cocoanut Grove swing and jazz club.

On April 18-19, the school campus will host the first-ever K-Town Night Market with food, vendors and live entertainment.

19. Site of DeBeers Paradise Flower Garden
1897
Wilshire Blvd and Normandie Avenue, Koreatown

Everyone knows that The Bird of Paradise is Los Angeles' official flower, but how did it become so popular? South African trade importer and horticulturist Wouter DeBeers, who built the DeBeers mansion and gardens in Garvanza, bought a plot of land on Wilshire Boulevard at Normandie Avenue in 1896 in hope of building a second home closer to the city. Having discovered he lacked the funds for constriction, and not wanting his land to remain vacant, imported several Bird of Paradise plants from his native Durban and grew an exotic plant garden on the plot, called "Paradise Flower Garden." Visitors were amazed at the orange bird-like flowers that seemed to flourish with little watering. DeBeers later sold seedlings and eventually became profitable enough to finance construction of his mansion, which he eventually built in 1905. The residence and legendary garden were eventually razed in 1919. The popularity of the flower in Los Angeles was largely credited to DeBeers.

20. Wiltern Theatre/Pellissier Building
1931
Wilshire Blvd and Western Avenue (duh...), Koreatown

The 12-story structure, designed by Stiles O. Clements, is Los Angeles' emerald-green temple to all that is Art Deco. Originally operating as the "Warner Theatre" (Specifically the Western Avenue location of Warner Bros. chain of movie theaters; The Warner Theatre in San Pedro is another example), The Wiltern (named so since 1935) has seen many cycles of decay and rebirth, most recently in the 1980s, when preservationists renovated the theatre to a performing arts venue. The contemporary Wiltern Theatre has been operating since 1985.

21. The Last House On Wilshire
1918
4016 Wilshire Blvd, Hancock Park

Wilshire Boulevard was once a prestigious address for many a prominent Angeleno, from General Otis to, yep, George Shatto (don't worry, this is probably the last Shatto reference in this post). But after the 1920s, Wilshire became undeniably commercial and even the most dignified free-standing household succumbed to the wrecking ball.

Except this one, standing (quite nicely) on 4016 Wilshire, just yards west of Wilton Place. Built in 1918, this six bedroom, three bathroom, 3300 square-foot single-family home is literally the last of its kind on Wilshire. The earliest recorded owner, John and Katherine Neeland (circa 1921), of Canada, sold it in 1925 to Elmer & Clara Neville. The Neville family trust still owns the house to this day. If you owned the last house on the street, you'd hang on to it, right?

22. Crenshaw Tar Pits
Discovered 1902
Wilshire and Crenshaw boulevards, Hancock Park

Everyone knows about the world-famous tar pits of La Brea just down the street, but did you know there's a (much smaller) tar deposit by Wilshire and Crenshaw? Look around towards the back end of the parking lot on the southwest corner and you'll find less than a dozen tar puddles and seeps peeking through the pavement.


23. Rimpau Blvd/Rancho Las Cienegas
1823-1920s
South of Wilshire Blvd between Norton Avenue and La Cienega Boulevard, Hancock Park

You may or may not notice that all of the streets south of Wilshire from Norton Avenue to just past the Fairfax Avenue terminus of the CicLAvia route run in a diagonal fashion, akin to the way Downtown Los Angeles streets run. Why? This was once part of the old Rancho Las Cienegas Spanish land grant, which was given in 1823 to Francisco Avila, once mayor of Spanish-era Los Angeles. In 1866, the land was divided among his four children, one of whom was his daughter Francisca, who married a German dude named Theodore Rimpau...Does that name sound familiar? Yep, it's the namesake of Rimpau Blvd. The last remaining rancho land was eventually sold and subdivided by Theodore and Francisca's sons in the 1920s.

24. E. Clem Wilson Building (aka Samsung Building)
1929
Wilshire Blvd and La Brea Ave, Miracle Mile

At 191 feet, it was once the tallest commercial building in Los Angeles (honoring the height-limit restrictions at the time). Built during the first wave of commercial migration from Downtown Los Angeles, this structure originally housed legal and medical offices belonging to Jewish professionals, and was part of the genesis of the Jewish community in this area (centered on Fairfax Avenue). The building once featured a large mast on top to serve dirigible blimps(!) but is most famous for the massive 4-sided neon advertisements installed on the crown in the 1960s: First,  Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance, then Asahi Beer and now Samsung Electronics.


25. The Los Angeles "Hair District"
c. 1970s
Wilshire Blvd between Cloverdale and Burnside avenues.

The Militant wrote about this interesting little business corridor five years ago, noting an unusually high concentration of wig, weave and human hair retailers along this part of Wilshire.

26. The Desmond's Department Store Building
1928
5500 Wilshire Blvd

This is the building that started it all, the archetype that led to many miracles on this mile of Wilshire Boulevard. The Wilshire location of Desmond's Department Store was the first high-end department store on Wilshire, and the retail development anywhere to sport a rear parking lot, and a main entrance that faced the back, rather than the street, as well as large circular display windows to attract motorists.

The 10-story building will soon be adaptively-reused into 175 (luxury, The Militant can assume...) apartments which will open sometime next year.

27. A.W. Ross Monument
1956
5700 Wilshire Blvd (Wilshire Blvd and Curson Ave)

"A. W. Ross, founder and developer of the Miracle Mile. Vision to see, wisdom to know, courage to do."

The story goes: Real estate developer A.W. Ross bought an 18-acre stretch of property along Wilshire Blvd in 1921 for $54,000 and in less than a decade's time, turned that stretch of dirt road, oil fields and farmland into Los Angeles' bougiest stretch of retail, which boomed -- of all times -- during The Great Depression. You can call that a miracle.

Ross was considered an innovator in his day; he brought large-scale, ritzy retail developments to his district, all with rear parking lots, and all made to be visible at 30 miles per hour. Left-turn lanes and synchronized traffic signals were credited to Ross.  Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architecture flourished thanks to Ross' development.

In 1956, this bronze bust was placed on this landscaped traffic island to honor the man who brought the "town" out of Downtown and stretched it out like Laffy Taffy.

But little else is known about A.W. Ross (no, he was not affiliated with the Ross Dress For Less stores). Where did he come from? What was his real estate dealings before the his purchase of Wilshire? What did "A.W." stand for, anyway?

28. Some Hairy Elephants In Some Oily Lake
16,000 B.C.
5801 Wilshire Blvd, Miracle Mile

You may or may not know about this place, built in 1976, and if you don't, there's really no hope for you.

George Allan Hancock, who owned the Rancho La Brea Oil Company, donated a large plot of land to the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, who dug the area for Ice Age-era fossils. In 1965, the "Art" part of the LACMHSA (pronounced, "Lakum-Hissa") outgrew Exposition Park and the County gave it its own digs at the western end of the Rancho La Brea site.

29. The Berlin Wall
2009
5900 Wilshire Blvd, Miracle Mile

You already know Wilshire Boulevard is full of local history, but it's also home of world history. An art installation from The Wende Museum called The Wall Project features ten actual sections of the Berlin Wall brought here for the 20th anniversary of its fall (Note to Millennials: Google "Fall of the Berlin Wall," it was a pretty big deal in world history back in the day) and decorated by several famous artists. As you may or may not know, Berlin is one of Los Angeles' 25 Sister Cities.

30. May Company Building/LACMA
1939
6067 Wilshire Blvd, Miracle Mile

Many people know the May Company Building - today part of the LACMA campus, and tomorrow the new home of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum - as a Streamline Moderne department store. But did you know it was instrumental in moving Los Angeles' Jewish community from The Eastside and Downtown to Fairfax Avenue?

It all began in 1881 when Asher Hamburger, a well-respected Jewish merchant, opened his People's Store on Main Street in Downtown. The business grew and moved in 1911 to a much larger building on 8th and Broadway and was then known as A. Hamburger and Sons Co until 1923, when the company merged with the Missouri-baed May Company. The new operation, formally known as May Company California, was largely run by the Hamburger family and enjoyed much support and patronage by the local Jewish community.

The opening of the aforementioned E. Clem Wilson Building attracted Jewish professionals farther west. In 1935, there were four synagogues along the Fairfax corridor. In the years following the 1939 opening of May Company's new flagship store on Wilshire and Fairfax, the Jewish population boomed, the number of synagogues tripled by 1945. Post-War growth continued the population boom along Fairfax.

Enjoy your CicLAvia and STAY MILITANT!

Last November, The Militant came out with a list of the origins of the 88 incorporated cities of Los Angeles County, satisfying the curiosities of transplants, immigrants and natives alike, many of whom take such place names for granted.

That post literally made history of its own, becoming the most-read Militant Angeleno blog post of all time, garnering (to date), just a couple hundred views shy of 10,000 (the #2 most-read post only has a little more than half of those stats).

This time, The Militant takes on the land on the other side of The Orange Curtain. Home to famous theme parks, an agricultural heritage, a major league baseball team with a geographical identity crisis, and lots of suburban sprawl, The County Known As Orange also gave the world Richard Nixon (Yorba Linda), Michelle Pfeiffer (Santa Ana), No Doubt (Anaheim), Tiger Woods (Cypress) and the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar (Fullerton).

More recently (like really, really recently), Orange County became the home of the Huell Howser archives and a certain earthquake you might have felt a few days ago.

Like its larger neighbor to the north, which, before 1889, it was once a part of (finalized in 1951 when the county split from the 213 area code), Orange County's cities were named after town founders, saints, Mexican ranchos, topography, marine mammals and oil byproducts. English, Spanish, Invented Spanish, Latin and German contributed to the names of the incorporated burgs of Oh-See.

So after much Militant research, here it is, the etymology of Orange county's 34 cities, in alphabetical order:

Aliso Viejo– Invented Spanish for its native Sycamore trees (Los Alisos) and its proximity to Mission Viejo.

Anaheim– Founded in 1857 by 50 German American settlers of Bavarian heritage from San Francisco. They called the area “Annaheim” (Home of Anna, with “Anna” referring to the Santa Ana River).

Brea– Spanish for “Tar.” A merger of the former towns of Olinda and Randolph, which were located on the Brea-Olinda Oil Field, where tar was abundant.

Buena Park– Invented Spanish for “Good Park,” refers to a green area near today’s Artesia and Beach boulevards that was known by locals as “Plaza Buena.”

Costa Mesa– Formerly "Harper," was renamed in 1920 to the Spanish name for “Coastal tableland,” referring to its location and topography.

Cypress– Formerly "Watertown," and later "Dairy City, "was named after the original Cypress Elementary School. The school planted a row of cypress trees to protect itself from the Santa Ana Winds.

Dana Point– Named after author Richard Henry Dana, Jr, who wrote a book in 1840 called Two Years Before The Mast, which was set in the area. He described it as “The only romantic spot on the coast.”

Fountain Valley– Formerly "Talbert," was re-named in 1957 after the local artesian wells in the area created by the high underground water table.

Fullerton– Named after land developer George H. Fullerton, who was affiliated with the Santa Fe Railway, and was instrumental in bringing the railroad to the area.

Garden Grove– Named in 1874 by early settler and founding father Alonzo Cook, who held a vision of how he wanted the young village, located on an open plain, to look like.

Huntington Beach– Formerly "Pacific City," it was named in 1909 after the Huntington Beach Company, a real estate firm owned by Henry Huntington, who also founded the Pacific Electric Railway.

Irvine– Named after James Irvine, an Irish immigrant who owned much of the land the city now stands on.

La Habra– From Mexican-era Rancho La Habra (mountain pass), which traversed the Puente Hills. See the Los Angeles County list for its cross-county counterpart, La Habra Heights.

La Palma– Formerly "Dairyland," named after La Palma (Spanish for ‘the palm”) Blvd.

Laguna Beach– Derived from early town post office named “Lagona” (misspelled Spanish after the local wetlands, or lagoon), was later changed to “Laguna Beach.”

Laguna Hills -" Laguna" + these little mountain things called "Hills."

Laguna Niguel– "Laguna" + "Niguel," which was the name of an indigenous Acjachemen (a.k.a. Juaneño) village located in the area, along Aliso Creek.

Laguna Woods– "Laguna" + "Woods," for the bushy chaparral area in the hills, and since "Laguna Hills" was already taken. Formerly named "Leisure World." Consider it an upgrade.

Lake Forest– Formerly called "El Toro," was named after the pair of manmade lakes and the forest of Eucalyptus trees in the area.

Los Alamitos– Named after Rancho Los Alamitos - Spanish for “Little Cottonwoods,” after the clusters of cottonwood trees noticed by early Spanish settlers.

Mission Viejo– Invented Spanish for “Old Mission” (correct Spanish is "Vieja Mision") – a reference to nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Newport Beach– Named in 1870 by landowners James Irvine, Robert Irvine and James McFadden, who agreed to name the newport in the area where the steamship The Vaquero unloaded, “Newport” (duh).

Orange– Formerly "Richland," was re-named in 1875 due to another Richland in Orange County. Was named after the first consistently successful crop to grow in the area after years of trial and error (the rest is history).

Placentia– Named by city founders after the latin word for “Pleasant.”

Rancho Santa Margarita– Named after St. Margaret, an early Christian martyr from Antioch (no, not that one).

San Clemente– Named after offshore San Clemente Island, which was named by Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, who first arrived on the island on November 23, the feast day of St. Clement, the 4th pope.

San Juan Capistrano– Named after the Mission San Juan Capistrano, which was named after St. John of Capistrano, a 14th-century Italian priest.

Santa Ana–In the early 1770s, Fr. Junipero Serra called the area “Vallejo de Santa Ana” (Valley of St. Anne). St. Anne, the mother of Mary, and Jesus’ grandma, is the patron saint of expectant mothers.

Seal Beach– Originally named "Anaheim Landing" and later re-named, "Bay City," it was re-named again (due to conflicting with Bay City in northern California), this time after the California Sea Lions that were a familiar sight along the coast.

Stanton– Named after Seal Beach founder and land developer Philip Stanton, who agreed to take on this town's sewage utilities after a number of landowners opposed dedicating some of their land for a sewage plant.

Tustin– Named after town founder Columbus Tustin, a carriage maker from northern California.

Villa Park– Formerly Mountain View, the town was forced to change its name in due to conflicting with the city of Mountain View in northern California (man, these Orange County city founders sure lack originality...). You can't lose with invented Spanish around here.

Westminster– Founded as a Presbyterian temperance colony in 1870, was named after the Westminster Assembly of 1643, which created the basic tenets of the Presbyterian Church.

Yorba Linda– Named after Bernardo Yorba, early 19th-century Mexican-era grantee of Rancho Cañon de Santa Ana, upon where the modern Yorba Linda stands.  The town was named in 1907 after landowner the Janns Company combined “Yorba” with “Linda” (Spanish for “beautiful”).

The Militant loves memes. In fact, if he wasn't a Militant, he'd be making memes all day long (So, uh, it's actually good her turned out to be a Militant). He also loves the Los Angeles Dodgers, so much that his life generally revolves around the baseball season (he mostly languishes during the off-season) and is super-stoked about today's home opener at the (newly-renovated) Stadium, which he may or may not attend.

But there's one dark cloud that hangs over Dodgertown, and that's the whole television thing [cue ominous thunder].

As you may or may not know, Time Warner Cable's SportsNet LA channel has the exclusive rights to all Dodger games, which they paid the team $8.35 billion two years ago to do. So, you cannot watch Dodger games unless you have Time Warner Cable (except those of you out in Bako who subscribe to Bright House Cable, perhaps the only good thing about living in Bakersfield). No more games on Fox Sports West. No more games on KCAL 9. Ergo, not only are those of us cable-disadvantaged folks (e.g. the low-income population and intellectual types who would rather read books or go online than watch cable TV -- and The Militant qualifies as both) assed-out, but so are those who have cable and satellite service that's not TWC.

The contract lasts for 25 years. So, no new TV deal until...the 2039 season (The Militant, as well as all Dodger fans, TWC-advantaged or not, sincerely hopes the team wins at least a couple of World Series titles by then). Sucks, huh?

Yes, this season's Dodgers tagline is "Live. Breathe. Blue." But Time Warner Cable took away all the oxygen.

The only other options for the cable-disadvantaged are:

1) AM 570 Radio. Remember, you need to be listening to an actual radio (you know, that little box thing with speakers, or that thing in the center panel of your car's dashboard), and not the online stream, which is blocked due to MLB licensing restrictions. Which is fine, since we can still listen to Vin Scully (for the first three innings at least...), and we can listen to Dodger Talk with Kevin Kennedy and David Vasseigh. But then we also have to deal with the endless 1-877-KARS-4-KIDS and California Earthquake Authority (it was not cool) commercials. Ack!

2) Undocumented Internet Streams. The Militant was able to watch the Dodgers games in Sydney thanks to an undocumented internet stream of ESPN's UK feed. You can try undocumented streams like Wiziwig and Strikeout.co. The Militant didn't tell you anything.

3) Go To An Actual Damn Game. Of course, that is the ideal. Considering the TV debacle, maybe it's the reason why the Dodgers have already sold 3 million tickets before the home opener.

Yeah, there will be the rare dog bones thrown at us when the games are on ESPN or Fox's Game Of The Week, and we will inevitably chomp on them like emaciated hounds. And if when the Dodgers go to Teh World Series, everyone will be happy again for more than one reason.

To protest this, The Militant has decided to, well...he can't boycott the Dodgers since things aren't as bad as when McYouKnowWho ran the team. So, he decided to combine his love of Dodgers and love of Internet Memes and create the Doger Meme.

You've heard of the Doge Meme, right? Well, from this point on, until the TV thing is resolved, The Militant Angeleno will no longer refer to his favorite baseball team by their properly-spelled name. He will now call them The Los Angeles Dogers (pronounced, "doe-jurz" - and note, no second "d," which stands for, "Damnit, The Militant can't watch his favorite baseball team's games on TV anymore"). This goes for both This Here Blog as well as Twitter and Facebook.

PLEASE DO THE SAME IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MILITANT (Or else he'll just look like some illiterate fool who can't spell the team's name correctly).

The Militant can't wait to go to Doger Stadium and eat his first Doger Dog. LET'S GO DOGERS! 

Use them hashtags: #dogers  #ineedmydogers

The Militant's favorite day is April Fool's Day. Yes, it was six days ago already, but hear The Militant out. He loves not only the prank aspect of the day, but how the normal can become suddenly abnormal, just for the day. But in this age of Teh Interwebz, though there's a plethora of April Fool's gags to be found online, we're often let in on the prank before we even get a chance to get pranked. And that's kind of sad.

In the past, The Militant has done stuff like turn This Here Blog temporarily into "TheExtremistNew Yorker," or revealed his identity, or revealed his identity again (on video), or posed as an Angels fan in social media during last year's Dogers Opening Day (yeah, that one was kinda lame).

This year, he was at a loss as to what to do for his April Fool's gag. Revealing his identity? Been there, done that. Re-doing his page as another site? Too much work.

He found his answer when he saw someone tweet the link from his Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour post from last June, which was the same route as today's CicLAvia. These posts get a whole lot of interest...so why not update the post with some fake historical facts?

Yes, parts of The Militant's Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour 5.01 post were not real.

Take note of the date of posting -- April 1, 2014. Of course, by the end of the day, many pranks were explained, but The Militant kept quiet about this one. Of course, there's no rule that says you have to give away the prank by the time it's April 2...

Mind you, the entire post was not fake. He added six more points of interest to his updated post, but only one of them was real. In case you couldn't tell, here were the fake points of interest:

4. Urban Chew
2013
North side of Wilshire Bridge over 110 Fwy

The Militant just discovered this peculiar public art installation by artist Matthew Kasmirofsky while witnessing the Big Pour. About 160 pieces of gum, made of either actual gum pieces or latex rubber, were placed here in an art piece described by the artist as "a commentary on contemporary consumerist culture," especially how things are easily and carelessly discarded after a short time. Kasmirofsky has done similar public art installations in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Montreal and Stockholm.

The Militant totally made this up. There may or may not be pieces of gum on the north side of the Wilshire bridge over the 110, but it's NOT a public art installation. But who knows, it might be someday!

6. Site Of "Redbeard" Pirate Lynching
1879
1675 Wilshire Blvd, Westlake

In 1878 a man known as Cochran "Redbeard" O'Connor, a self-described "pirate," sailed into San Pedro Harbor and arrived into Los Angeles via railroad. He went on a notorious public rampage described, by the old Los Angeles Herald as, "Six months of public drunkenness, vulgarity, and lewd and lascivious behavior, which cannot be fully described in the pages of this publication." Other historical accounts of O'Connor purport he engaged in public displays of urination, indecent exposure, masturbation and groping. Police attempted to arrest him several times, but he somehow eluded them. Finally, on March 27, 1879, he was found attempting to defecate on the front yard of a mansion on Orange Street, when an angry mob chased him down. He was hung by a sycamore tree that stood near where the Home Depot stands today. According to a later Los Angeles Herald article, His boat in San Pedro Harbor was burned and sunken. O'Connor was buried in an unmarked grave at Evergreen Cemetery.

This would probably be the most outlandish fake point of interest, he for sure would have thought someone would have called his bluff on it, but no one did! But could you imagine a nasty pirate running around 1870s Los Angeles? He couldn't even imagine a nasty pirate running around 1970s Los Angeles. Or maybe he could. At any rate, maybe they should have a life-sized figure of Redbeard at The Redwood Bar & Grill in Downtown. Uh, with clothes on.

13. Brotherhood Mansion Site
1898
3183 Wilshire Blvd, Koreatown

The first automobile in Los Angeles took to the streets in 1897 and Delbert J. Walford, businessman and early automobile enthusiast, (and one of the first Angelenos to own a car), created the Most Benevolent Brotherhood of the Horseless Carriage (a.k.a. "The Brotherhood"), perhaps Los Angeles' first-ever car club. Members would offer repairs to stranded motorists, free of charge, hold Saturday afternoon salons to educate the public about the automobile, and offer driving classes for a very small fee. Some though, considered the organization to be a cult-like group, where members lived inside the mansion, maintaining strict standards on uniform dress and hats. In 1903, the group published a 106-page, eerily prophetic utopian (autopian?) manifesto, The Automobile For A Most Glorious California, envisioning a network of "automobile super-roadways" spanning several lanes wide, the creation of "automobile gardens" built around cities and communities oriented towards the car, developed far from the urban core. They also shunned and criticized the use of streetcars, bicycles and long-distance pedestrian travel. Now here comes the strange part: In August 1909, Walford and all of the members who were have known to have lived in the mansion vanished without a trace, leaving all material valuables (aside from their automobiles) behind. Their whereabouts were never found and the mansion was razed in 1917. Ironically, the site is home to the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station.

Though it's true the first auto rolled in Los Angeles in 1897, there was no Delbert J. Walford, nor was there any Most Benevolent Brotherhood of the Horseless Carriage anywhere. He just made that up.
But everyone likes their conspiracy theories, so some cult-like organization behind the propagation of the automobile in Los Angeles might sound plausible to many. The irony of the Wilshire/Vermont station location just made the crazy story even sweeter.

Militant readers Audrey Dalton and questhaven posted in the comments that they couldn't find anything about "The Brotherhood" (no one can, lol...) The Militant got a little nervous, so he just told them that he;d get his books out of storage and give more information by Monday. And this was your "more information!" Bahaha!

19. Site of DeBeers Paradise Flower Garden
1897
Wilshire Blvd and Normandie Avenue, Koreatown

Everyone knows that The Bird of Paradise is Los Angeles' official flower, but how did it become so popular? South African trade importer and horticulturist Wouter DeBeers, who built the DeBeers mansion and gardens in Garvanza, bought a plot of land on Wilshire Boulevard at Normandie Avenue in 1896 in hope of building a second home closer to the city. Having discovered he lacked the funds for constriction, and not wanting his land to remain vacant, imported several Bird of Paradise plants from his native Durban and grew an exotic plant garden on the plot, called "Paradise Flower Garden." Visitors were amazed at the orange bird-like flowers that seemed to flourish with little watering. DeBeers later sold seedlings and eventually became profitable enough to finance construction of his mansion, which he eventually built in 1905. The residence and legendary garden were eventually razed in 1919. The popularity of the flower in Los Angeles was largely credited to DeBeers.

No Wouter DeBeers, and no Paradise Flower Garden. The real story of the Bird of Paradise was that it was introduced to California circa 1853 by a Colonel Warren from Sacramento. But it wasn't until a century later, in 1952, a plant and seed company owner lobbied the City Council to make it official.

22. Crenshaw Tar Pits
Discovered 1902
Wilshire and Crenshaw boulevards, Hancock Park

Everyone knows about the world-famous tar pits of La Brea just down the street, but did you know there's a (much smaller) tar deposit by Wilshire and Crenshaw? Look around towards the back end of the parking lot on the southwest corner and you'll find less than a dozen tar puddles and seeps peeking through the pavement.

The Militant laughs just thinking about this one. How many of you actually bothered to check for tar seeps by Wilshire and Crenshaw? Well, it might be hard to right now due to the Metro Purple Line construction staging area that's there right now. This sounds like one of those Howseresque "Man, I never knew this" Los Angeles places that we all love. The Salt Lake Oil Field, where Arthur Gilmore first discovered oil and the Hancock family found tar deposits on their Rancho La Brea property, is a bit west of here, just west of La Bra Avenue in fact. So, no tar here at all, LOL...

The Berlin Wall entry is the only real new entry. He knew about it for a while but neglected to add it to the original Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour post from last year.

YOU JUST GOT PUNK'D, LOS ANGELES!

Happy April, fools! But The Militant hopes you had an awesome CicLAvia today anyways.

There's lots of new things at Doger Stadium this season, but one of them just sort of randomly appeared during the recent series with the hated Giants. Apparently the Dogersmay or may not have a mascot. The team describes it as a "Unique Performance Character (UPC)." Okaaaay then.

The Uunique Performance Character apparently resembles a happy little fellow with a big smile, has a heart lodged in his mouth, and styles his hair with Viagra. But it most likely depicts one of those giant bobble heads outside of Reserve Level. Like The Militant, no one really knows its name, but at least The Militant can go under the nom de guerre, "The Militant Angeleno."

Since the Dogers have not named this Unique Performance Character, The Militant will call him, "Bob L. Hedd."

Speaking of mascots, y'allz remember this guy from the 2013 postseason (feels so long ago...) that the stadium security staff just couldn't, um, bear?


But who needs a UPC or a Bob L. Hedd when we have The Militant's unofficial official Doger mascot, Doger Doge?

The last Wherehouse,- ever, is closing down on April 25.

The Militant, in his younger days as Lil'Mil and The Mili-Teen, loved to go to the record store to buy records and tapes, and later CDs, from his favorite unspecified artists. Even as a Lil'Mil, he'd try to get his parents to stop by the local Wherehouse on the way back to the Family Compound while driving through town. This became more common as soon as Ma and Pa Militant would go there more frequently to rent movies on Beta and VHS videotape.

The Wherehouse started out in 1972 and was a small regional chain around the West, along with other stores like Music Plus, Musicland (later Sam Goody), Licorice Pizza, and the revered Tower Records. The Militant knows all of this historical stuff totally dates him, but hey, what can you do.

The last surviving Wherehouse store is on 17542 Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance, at the corner of Artesia Blvd, and it is closing its doors for good on Friday, April 25.

So that must mean...CLOSING SALE!

Stuff was cheap but horribly disorganized. But if you're down for the hunt, go for it!

Yes, there's a sale, everything must go. New CDs are 50% off, used are from 60-90% off, also half off of DVDs.

The Militant was there this past Saturday for Record Store Day, and what better way to bid adios to a local institution than to get a bunch of stuff for cheap.

Well, it wasn't as easy as that. The CD racks were generally disorganized, with genre, much less alphabetical order, adhered to. And it was kind of slim pickins. It was a little frustrating to see CDs The Militant already owned there in the racks. Worst of all, the store was blasting a Ke$ha album, which made staying inside the store an extremely arduous experience. Still, he made off with three unspecified CDs, the total cost of which cost less than a new one bought elsewhere. Score!

If you have the time, and not much money, head on down there to Torrance to help clean out the store. It's the best way to bid farewell not only to an old institution, but an era.

Today was the 75th birthday of Los Angeles Union Station, and Metro, the station's current owner, threw a massive celebration there in the form of an early National Train Day event.

Like previous NTD events, there were entertainment stages, the classic Fred Harvey Restaurant space was opened up, a model train layout was on display, and people got to climb inside real ones.  This time around, we were given a glimpse of the station's future, in the form of wayfinding signs, interactive touchscreen displays, a photographic exhibit, and overall cleaning up and renovation of the station's original fixtures.

Known as "The Last Of The Great Train Stations" built in the United States, Union Station was not only the culmination of points west, but the great national rail travel era, which would soon give way to the airplane in the decades to come. The station was originally built in 1939 as a shared facility for the three major western railroads that served it: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, as before then, each railroad had their own station in the vicinity (all surrounding the Los Angeles River, incidentally).

Today, the station is no longer shared by three private railroads, but by three public transportation agencies: Metro, Metrolink and Amtrak, and after the "dark ages" of the 1970s and 1980s, the station experienced a revival in the early '90s when Metrolink and the Metro Red Line began serving the station.

Here's some pics from Saturday's 75th anniversary celebration:

Chuggington, the cheap substitute for Thomas. But iz cool.

This swing band played in the Harvey House restaurant space and brought it, 1939 style!

People dressed up in '30s-'40s cosplay. And they looked sharp.  Can we please bring this look back? If hipsters wore this instead, they would be hated less.

A big oversized iPad installed in the terminal now gives information about Union Station.

People waited in long lines to walk through the classic old-school passenger cars!

And here's an old-school MTA bus! Wonder if it accepts TAP cards...

THE MILITANT WANTS TO RIDE THIS TRAIN RIGHT NOW.

A Look Back At The 50th Anniversary

But this wasn't the first anniversary party for the classic Mission Revival/Streamline Moderne railroad terminal. Twenty-five years ago, the station, then owned by a company called Catellus, threw a golden anniversary bash on the weekend of May 6-7, 1989 to celebrate 50 years of service.

And The Militant was there!

Well, technically, it was the Mili-Teen, the younger version of The Militant, who hadn't quite earned his camo yet, but his interest, curiosity and pride for his hometown were nonetheless burgeoning even back then.

It was a similar event as today, but unlike today, the tracks weren't as active as are now. Back in the '80s, you'd have a handful of Amtrak trains roll in and out, and that was it for the day. On the positive side, and maybe because of the lack of activity on the platform tracks, it enabled the three railroads associated with Union Station's history to put some classic and modern trains on display.

The Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific all brought in some old-school steam streamliner diesel engines for public display, and some of them were set up where people can even walk inside! The steam locomotives were especially impressive, their whistles blew as loud as ships, probably echoing all over Downtown Los Angeles at the time.

One train display, though, changed The Mili-Teen's life. He had already known about the Metro Rail subway already being dug below the station, which has been under construction since 1986. But he knew its opening would be, like, eons away, sometime in the next decade.

But at the front of Union Station, he saw a 15-foot-long mockup of what looked like a rail vehicle. It was white with black trim, and blue stripes. It said "Los Angeles" on the front, but it looked nothing like the Metro Rail subway cars he'd seen in renderings.

He approached the information table and was pleasantly surprised to discover this was another rail line being built in town, that it would go to Long Beach, and best of all, it would open within next year!

It blew The Mili-Teen's mind.

The pamphlet called it "The Los Angeles-Long Beach Rail Transit Project." He saw the future. The world hadn't yet experienced the power of the phenomenon known as "Hammer Time," (though the MC wasn't totally unknown at the time). He knew people would be riding this thing before the subway opened. He then set himself on a quest to learn more about it...and the rest is history.

For The Mili-Teen, the 50th anniversary celebration of Union Station was a life-changing moment. He was able to experience both the past and the future on that day.

The Militant is proud to share some pictures from The Militant Archives:

This may or may not be a picture of the Mili-Teen!

There were some old school streamliner locomotives on display!

Even better - there were some old-school steam locomotives on display too! Don't call it a "choo-choo," the whistles sounded like steamships!

A glimpse of the future: The Mili-Teen had his first encounter with the Metro Blue Line at this event!

Here's film footage of Union Station's 50th anniversary in 1989 filmed by K. Rutherford:

Welcome to the Cypress Village Tunnel!

Los Angeles' subway tunnels have become known for their public art -- but there's another kind of tunnel in town that's known for its artistic installations as well.

The City of Los Angeles has some 100 pedestrian tunnels, which were initially built in the 1920s near elementary schools, as a way for schoolchildren to safely cross the street and avoid the dangers of automobiles and streetcars (sort of like the 20th century version of Safe Routes To School). Since the 1960s, though, these tunnels have become magnets for crime, tagging, public urination, garbage dumping, drug deals, and any other thing parents wouldn't want their kids to get near, so many of them got locked up for good, only to become oversized trash pits and general urban blight. Some were filled in and removed altogether.

In the Northeast Los Angeles community of Cypress Park, local Yancey Quinones, owner of nearby Antigua Coffee House on the corner,  worked with then-councilman Ed Reyes and the City's Public Works department to convert one of these abandoned pedestrian underpasses, located on the corner of north Figueroa and Loreto streets, into a public art gallery, known as the Cypress Village Tunnel Art Walk. The tunnel is the focus of monthly Art Walk events, which take place on the 2nd Saturday of each month.

A block party on Saturday to celebrate the tunnel's 1st birthday as an art space.

This past Saturday, Loreto Street was closed down for a mini-street fair to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the opening of the tunnel. There was music, poetry, an arts and crafts fair, and an overall Eastside-centric good time.

The Militant also got to go into the tunnel for the first time, and was fascinated by not just the temporary art on exhibit by local artists, but by the permanent art painted on its walls (the western end even has an homage to the Los Angeles River culvert cats!). The cubbyholes where the light fixtures go into are also part of the exhibit, used to not only hold lighting, but other art pieces.

But the most impressive thing about the tunnel is (aside from the noticeable absence of urine or any other offending odors) the comforting quiet, despite the cars, trucks and buses speeding along Figueroa Street just a few feet above you. That, and being with others who are not just enjoying the art but the odd serenity of the tunnel space. Something certainly never felt in such a utilitarian structure before.

The tunnel has also inspired other pedestrian tunnels in the city to be converted into art spaces, such as one in El Sereno. Man, the Eastside has got it goin' on!

Volunteers continue to decorate the tunnel

If you want to experience the Cypress Village Tunnel yourself, check out the next art walk event on Saturday, June 14 (the second Saturday of the month), from 6 to 10 p.m. The tunnel floods during rainstorms, so art walk events are usually cancelled in the event of rain (We're in a drought right now, so we wouldn't have to worry about that for a while, heh...).

The Militant just loves these kinds of transformative projects, done by the community and for the community. Does your neighborhood have a tunnel that can serve this kind of purpose?

This may or may not be the actual Stanley Cup.

Mondays are usually full of suck, but not today! For it was only on the opposite end of this past weekend that our Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers to win the 2014 Stanley Cup - not only their second franchise title, but their second in the past three years. Thus, it was time for another parade. Much like last time around, it went down Figueroa Street from 5th to Chick Hearn Court and culminated in a large indoor ceremony open to some extremely lucky Kings fans who had tickets to the event.

Click to watch the 2014 Stanley Cup Championship Parade in its entirety!
The parade itself was very brief, less than 5 minutes long, but it was a perfect day in the city -- happy people celebrating and congregating on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, most of whom took transit here (Kings fans, since their team started playing at Staples Center in 1999, have always been great at taking transit to their games, unlike their Lakers counterparts, who still insist on filling parking lots and not representing nearly as much as the Silver & Black ones on the subway). After it was over, it was time for Kings fans and Downtown workers alike to have lunch in DTLA, it was a great day for the DTLA economy as well. Best of all, no one caused any trouble, both today and on Friday night.

It looks like the Lakers' younger brother has taken the crown (no pun intended) as Los Angeles' newest sports dynasty. With a young team and a coach who actually knows how to win titles (we're looking at you, any coach who's last name isn't Sutter), we can expect a few more of these in the near future.

Savor it, Kings fans, because it's a big f'in day.

Interactive Map! Click on green points to view hotspots, or click on entire map for larger view.
Yes, friends, it's CicLAvia time again. And you know what that means -- time for The Militant to dedicate hours upon hours upon hours of his previous Militant schedule to research and write an extensive guide to places you may or may not want to check out along the CicLAvia route.
Last time around, in April, we had an identical route to a previous tour, and The Militant got a break from composing a new guide (although he did add a handful of fake locales to punk y'allz for April Fools Day). 
This time, no tomfoolery, just some great history and a few recommended places to eat. This tour goes to Echo Park for the first time, and also delves deeper into The Eastside. As in The Real Eastside. The local media has blown up recently on potential gentrification brought on by CicLAvia, but The Militant's advice to the true Eastsiders: Stay proud and stay involved, and you'll have nothing to worry about. The Militant walked down East Cesar E. Chavez avenue in Boyle Heights earlier this week for his Militant research and found out there's way too much sabor on the streets that can ever truly be erased. Sure, there might be some pockets of hipsterage here and there, but the overall character of the neighborhood is too strong to destroy. But as you can see, the neighborhood has changed over the years, and this tour is meant to recognize the Eastside's past, particularly its Chicano, Jewish and Japanese heritage.
This time around, The Militant offers 40 (count 'em) FORTY places of interest! A new record! As usual, we start out from the east and work our way west. That's how our city was built and so The Militant is sticking to it.  If you start from Echo Park, you can work your way backwards from #27. An if you pay attention, you'll notice that the easternmost and westernmost points have a little something in common (besides a pretty lake in the middle of a park)...
So there it is folks, take it:

1.Belvedere Community Regional Park1950sCivic Center Drive, East Los Angeles
CicLAvia begins here in East Los Angeles' civic center, which is a slight misnomer since East Los is not an incorporated city, but the "civic center" consists of several county administrative offices serving East Los. Adjacent is a beautiful park area with a picturesque lake that many call "East Los Angeles Civic Center Park," though it's actually the southern part of Belvedere Park, which is mostly located north of the 60 Freeway. Do enjoy the park, but always remember: DO NOT FEED OR MOLEST THE DUCKS!  The park was actually whole at one time, but was divided into two in the early 1960s when the Pomona Freeway was built. Freeways dividing parks. Remember that when you get to the opposite end...
2. Eugene Obregon American Legion Post 80419546415 Cesar E. Chavez Ave, East Los Angeles
Few things are so quintessentially small-town American as the Legion Hall, and East Los has one of its own...making it a quintessential American small town. American Legion Halls function as venues for community events, and also meeting places for American Legion Post organizations, made up of veterans groups. Post 804 was named after PFC Eugene A. Obregon, a local Mexican American soldier who served in the Korean War and was killed in combat in Seoul, Korea at the age of 19 while saving the life of a fellow Marine. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and the Los Angeles native's name figures big around the Eastside and elsewhere in Southern California. A nearby park in East Los was named after him, as was an elementary school in Pico Rivera, a monument in Downtown's Pershing Square, a freeway interchange (The East Los Angeles interchange was named after him), and even a ship. 

3.Raspados Zacatecas1990s422 N. Ford Blvd, East Los Angeles
You have been warned: The weather forecast for Sunday in East Los is 94 degrees. Fortunately, you're never far from a place that sells raspados. And fortunately, less than a block from the CicLAvia route is one of the best raspados joints in town, Raspados Zacatecas (or Zacatecas Raspados, however you read the signage). This place was praised by The Militant back in 2007 as the reigning raspados representative of his Ethnic Iced Desert Quest series (which, BTW also includes a stop in Little Tokyo for you CicLAvians). The Militant will undoubtedly stop by here on Sunday, and if you choose to as well, you may or may not run into him there. And if you're able to recognize him there...free raspados on The Militant!

4. Anthony Quinn LibraryDedicated 19823965 Cesar E. Chavez Ave, East Los Angeles
Part of the Los Angeles County Public Library system (remember, it's East Los east of Indiana), the former Belvedere Branch  of the County's Public Library was renamed after the Oscar-winning actor, who starred in films like Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia and Viva Zapata! Quinn, born in Chihuahua, Mexico to an Irish/Mexican father and Aztec Mexican mother, both of whom fought in the Mexican Revolution with Pancho Villa, spent his childhood in Texas, East Los and Echo Park. The library was built on the site of his childhood home. Not only does the library bear the actor's name, but it is also home of some 2,000 mementos and artifacts donated by the late actor in 1987, making part of it a virtual museum for Anthony Quinn fans. Next year will mark the centennial of Quinn's birth, so look out for some special events there.

5. Mexican American Veterans Memorials1947Intersection of Cesar E Chavez Ave, Lorena St and Brooklyn Pl, Boyle Heights
There's something about war memorial monuments that just add something to a city. Right here on the Los Angeles - East Los Angeles border at the "Cinco Puntos" (Five Points) corner are a pair of memorial monuments dedicated to Mexican Americans who gave their lives serving this country. The memorial on the south side of the street was vandalized in the Fall of 2012 when thieves removed and stole some of the plaques, presumably for scrap metal value. But in May 2013, California Assembly Speaker John Perez replaced the missing plaques. These memorials are quite the poignant scenes each May and November during Memorial and Veterans days, respectively.

6. Evergreen Cemetery1877204 N. Evergreen Ave, Boyle Heights
Over 300,000 Angelenos are laid to rest in this 67-acre cemetery -- one of Los Angeles' oldest. The interred are a microcosm of the city itself: people of all  races are buried here, as are the rich and influential (including former Los Angeles mayors and people named Van Nuys, Lankershim and Hollenbeck) to the impoverished. The cemetery also includes recently-reinterred remains of 19th-century Chinese immigrants that were discovered while construction crews dug the Metro Gold Line tunnels nearby. Due to the current drought and lack of upkeep, the cemetery hasn't lived up to its name lately, but taking a stroll through the grounds here can offer a unique history lesson.
7. East Side AvenueBetween Evergreen Ave. and Fresno St., Boyle Heights
This street doesn’t run to Echo Park, Silver Lake or Los Feliz. Just sayin’.

8. Manuel’s El Tepeyac Cafe1955812 N. Evergreen Ave, Boyle Heights
This institution founded by the late, great Manuel Rojas and certified shrine to the burrito absolutely needs no introduction, other than to remind you that it's but a short 3-minute ride from the CicLAvia route. Hollenbeck, anyone?

9. Candelas Guitars19482724 Cesar E. Chavez Ave, Boyle Heights
Run by three generations of the Delgado Family, this handmade guitar shop has made instruments for musicians such as Andres Segovia, Jose Feliciano, Los Lobos, Charo and Ozomatli. This was the little Eastside handmade guitar shop featured on a 1995 episode of Visiting…with Huell Howser. So if you play classical, flamenco or mariachi guitar, you already know this place is amazing.

10.  Little Tokyo East1920s1st Street, centered near Mott Street, Boyle Heights
The historically multicultural Boyle Heights was also home to a large Japanese American community prior to World War II, during which they were taken away to live in faraway internment camps for the duration of the war. After the war,  with their old neighborhoods changed, most of them moved elsewhere. But some returned to Boyle Heights and today by riding just a couple blocks south on Mott Street, you can still see remaining traces of the community, along East 1st Street between Soto and Evergreen, including Rissho Korei-kai Buddhist Church, Tenrikyo Church, Konko Church of Los Angeles, Tenri Judo Dojo, Nanka Printing, Haru Florist, Tenno Sushi and Otomisan Restaurant.

11. Original Site of Canter’s Deli1931-19732323 Cesar E. Chavez Ave (Brooklyn Ave), Boyle Heights 
You may or may not be familiar with the local institution on Fairfax Avenue, which boasts “Since 1931.” That’s not entirely true. In 1931 brothers Ben, Max and Harry Canter opened their first delicatessen here on what was then Brooklyn Avenue near Soto Street. Following the post-war migration of Los Angeles’ Jewish community to the Westside, Ben Canter opened a new location on Fairfax Avenue, and in 1953 it moved down the street to the present location. The original Boyle Heights Canter’s closed in 1973.

12.Breed Street Shul1923247 N. Breed St., Boyle Heights
This Orthodox Jewish synagogue, formally known as Congregation Talmud Torah and originally established in 1915, was the heart of what was once the largest Jewish neighborhood in the Western U.S. The current structure was built in 1923 to accommodate a growing congregation, In 1948, the Israeli flag was raised in Los Angeles for the first time here. Having been vacant and fallen to vandalism and disrepair since the 1980s, it is slowly undergoing a restoration process. It remains one of the most well-known landmarks of Boyle Heights' Jewish community, which left the neighborhood after the late 1940s.

13. Original Site of Mount Sinai Clinic1941-1955207 N. Breed St, Boyle Heights
This building on the corner of Breed Street and Michigan Avenue was originally the Mount Sinai Breed Street Outpatient Clinic, meant to serve the neighborhood’s large Jewish population.  In 1955 the clinic moved to a location near Beverly Hills, and in 1961 it merged with Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in East Hollywood to become Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Today, the building is the offices for L.A. Family Housing.
14. Hollenbeck Youth Center19762015 E. First St., Boyle Heights
Established as a partnership between local businesses and the LAPD to provide activities and opportunities for local youth as a response to local riots and student protests in the early ‘70s, this youth center has benefitted many kids from The Barrio, notably a local boy named Oscar de la Hoya, who first trained at the center’s boxing gym as a youth before winning an Olympic Gold Medal in 1992. 

Well well well, it's CicLAvia time again.Just when we thought we'd have to wait until Spring...BOOM! Here comes another one. Which is all right with The Militant.

Now, originally, The Militant was going to stop doing these tour guides because like only 20 people really read them. Yeah, they really, really like them, but if only 20 people will benefit from it, he might as well just send them a CC:'ed email.

But The Militant didn't want to leave South Los Angeles behind. There's a history to this place too, a very rich one, and by skipping this, many CicLAvians would be oblivious to it. Alas, he did this for the good of the community.

So for the 20 of you who really dig this, enjoy. The Militant will now get some sleep now after working on this all night.



Central Avenue Corridor

If you squint, you can see some of the illumination columns from the Los Angeles Marathon lights (Taken from atop the La Cienega Metro Expo Line station parking garage).

So yeah, The Militant is a sucker for epic things in Los Angeles: Epic sunsets, epic space shuttle parades, epic CicLAvia tours, you know the deal. Naturally, when he found out earlier in the week that Asics America would be sponsoring a special by-the-mile illumination of the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon route on Friday night to celebrate its 30th Anniversary, he was down like James Brown for this, and even almost forgave Fr*nk McC**rt for running the Marathon (...almost).

We haven't seen anything quite like this. Not even for New Year's Eve, not even for the '84 Olympics. So this was pretty epic indeed.

The Militant instinctively knew that the usual vantage points -- Griffith Observatory, Runyon Canyon, the Getty Center, etc. would be crowded as hell, not to mention the usual parking snafus you'd expect from such a gathering. So being near the Crenshaw area at the time, he made a dash to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook...where a Culver City police car was blocking the entrance.

Okay then. Plan B. Head to the Metro Expo Line's La Cienega park & ride station, and view the lights from the roof of the parking garage. So here goes:

Okay, that was subtle. It didn't quite look like this:

But we sure fell for it, huh? Actually, the rendering looks like each block was being illuminated, rather than each mile, and the actual time the lights went on was an hour or so after dusk.

But if he looked real hard, he could make out the lights, shooting up straight into the partly-cloudy nighttime summer winter sky. It just didn't turn out so well on his Militant Spyphone.

He wanted to see these lights up close so he headed east on the 10 towards Downtown, and made his way though Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park. The next light column was at Sunset and Silver Lake Boulevard, easily visible along the road ahead:


It wasn't a single Klieg light, but a quartet of Syncrolite SXL 7,000-watt Xenon skylight fixtures at each mile marker, plus the start and end of the Marathon route.

The Militant headed west along Sunset and then Hollywood Boulevard, but was shocked to find the nearest light turned off. He asked the attendant what was up, and he told The Militant, "They're doing something..."

Oookay.

But a few patient minutes later, four blue-white columns of light beamed up from atop the rented Enterprise flatbed truck, several thousand feet into the sky, where spots of light dotted the sky like an impromptu constellation above the City of Angels. The lights were so bright from the ground that dust and flying insects were automatically illuminated directly above the truck. The Militant was solo tempted to make shadow puppets.

It was incidental macro-sized public art (eat your heart out, Christo). Though it wasn't as impressive as the rendering -- admittedly more light into an already light-polluted environment isn't really going to be that outstanding -- it held a beauty on its own. You can trace the Marathon route in the sky, somewhat. From a distance, you can see what a mile looks like. For those who were attracted to the lights, it was a moment of community, of a shared experience, of beauty.


It might be cool to do this again. Maybe with brighter LEDs. Maybe with a more sustainable means of power than 27 diesel power generators. Maybe Metro can do this on the night of July 14 with light columns emanating from all 80 Metro Rail stations to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our modern rail transit system (no, maybe they should do this).

[Hey yo, Militant, not bad for your first blog post in three months...that didn't hurt, did it? Now let's try this again sometime soon, okay?]

Wow, its it reallyCicLAvia time again? It was just three and a half months since the last one, and The Militant can still remember that like it was yesterday. Now it's 2015 and we're in for -- count em -- four CicLAvia events this year: The Valley (March 22); Pasadena (May 31); Culver City/Venice (August 9) and the classic Heart of Los Angeles route (TBD October).

For The Militant, this not only means fun for an entire Sunday, but a lot of Militant Research and hard work preparing another one of his Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour guide posts. With three all-new tour guides to research and compose this year, he's got his work cut out for him,

This time around, we get to explore the 818 for the very first time in car-free mode, going along the Lankershim and Ventura boulevard corridors, with the Metro Red Line Universal City/Studio City (ugh, redundant and slashy) station's park-and-ride lot as a junction point and an activity hub.

Now, The Militant did not grow up in the Valley per se, but he did have countless experiences in the SFV, and when it came to composing this guide, he just sat down, looked at a map, and pointed out some places that either meant something historically or personally. Eventually, he came up with 20 of them. It only took one on-site route visit to confirm things, and without any further a due, The Militant Angeleno presents you his Militant guide to the XIIth CicLAvia, or the 9th unique routing. ENJOY!

(As consistent with previous Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour maps, this routing starts from the east and works its way westward).


1. Historic Lankershim Depot
1893
5351 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood

Metro Orange Line riders might wonder exactly what is this mysterious wooden building shrouded behind a fence and banners. Alas, it's one of the oldest surviving buildings in the San Fernando Valley. Built in 1893 as the Toluca Depot by the Southern Pacific Railroad along what was then the railway line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it fielded both passengers and freight -- namely San Fernando Valley produce, such as peaches and oranges -- for a number of years. In 1911, the building was moved 50 feet to make room for the new Pacific Electric Railway, and the station served both the Southern Pacific and Pacific Electric until the last Red Car ran in 1952. Six years later, the Southern Pacific passenger trains stopped using the tracks and the station was repurposed as a lumber company's loading dock for freight cars. The line was abandoned in 1993, but soon after the new Los Angeles county Metropolitan Transportation Authority (a.k.a. MTA, now Metro), purchased the property as part of a construction staging area for the North Hollywood subway station. When the station opened in 2000, the transit agency announced a commitment to eventually restore the station, already a Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument. Last October, Metro completed a $3.6 million renovation of the building, and even repainted it with the original colors the Southern Pacific built it with. The exact use of the station has yet to be decided, but it may or may not become a multi-use cafe, community space and Metro Customer Service Center.

2. Firefighter Thomas G. Taylor Monument
2001
5300 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood

In the early morning hours of January 28, 1981, a fire broke out at what was then Cugee's Coffee Shop. While members of Los Angeles Fire Department Truck No. 60 were cutting a hole in the roof of the building, it collapsed, killing Apparatus Operator Thomas G. Taylor, a seven-year veteran of the LAFD.

The fire was later discovered to be an arson fire, planned by the restaurant's owners to collect insurance, and paid Van Nuys barber Mario Catanio $2,500 to burn their restaurant down. The owners were each given 10-year prison sentences but Catanio was sentenced to 25 years to life. He was denied parole in 2012.

When the current building was erected in 2001, a bronze memorial plaque for Taylor was placed on the corner of the building where Lankershim intersects with Weddington St. It was covered by The Militant in a blog post on North Hollywood in 2010.



This dilapidated clapboard bungalow, considered "The Mother House of North Hollywood," on Weddington Street, nearly a block east of the CicLAvia route, has a long and storied history.

In 1889, a farmer from Storm Lake, Iowa named Wilson Weddington visited his sister, who lived in the San Fernando Valley, and fell in love with the place. So much, that he not only moved his own family here, but he dismantled his house and had it shipped by train to what was then known as Toluca.

Weddington, considered one of the founders of North Hollywood, had the house re-assembled in 1891 adjacent to a barley field. It was renovated in 1904, and later moved to make room for the El Portal Theatre. The building was moved three times down the same street, eventually resting in its current location, where it has been standing since 1924.

The building, a Los Angeles City Historic-Cultural Monument, is in a state of limbo. There are plans to eventually restore it, but the question is where. There have been offers to move it to Highland Park's Heritage Square, but many North Hollywood residents, including one of Weddington's descendants, want to see it remain in the neighborhood.

4. El Portal Theatre
1926
11206 Weddington St, North Hollywood

Before there was a "NoHo Arts District," there was the El Portal. 

Opened October 5, 1926 as a 1.346-seat Vaudeville venue and silent movie cinema run by Fox West Coast Theatres, and later, as part of the National General and Mann cinema companies, featured those moving pictures that talk. The theatre and its iconic (well, for NoHo folks, at least) Art Deco facade was designed by architect Lewis A. Smith, who also fashioned the Vista Theatre in East Hollywood and Highland Park's Highland Theatre. It screened films until closing in the 1980s. In 1994, it was a victim of the Northridge Earthquake and was rehabbed in the late 1990s, re-opening in 2000 as part of a re-development renaissance along Lankershim created with the opening of the Metro Red Line station, which in turn sparked the neighborhood's re-branding as the "No-Ho Arts District." What comes around, goes around.

Today it operates as three theaters featuring mostly independent plays, dance productions and musicals, and it was also the recipient of the carpeting from its organ donor, the late Schubert Theatre in Century City.


5. Amelia Earhart Statue
1971
Magnolia Blvd & Tujunga Ave, North Hollywood

The twentieth-century female aviation pioneer and feminist icon had several ties to the North Hollywood (and adjacent) area: In 1935 Earheart moved to a house in nearby Toluca Lake -- her last residence (or at least, her last known residence...). A number of the planes she flew in her famed flights were designed and built by Lockheed in nearby Burbank. 

In 1971, a steel and fiberglass statue, sculpted by Ernest Shelton, was placed on this corner of Magnolia and Tujunga at the edge of North Hollywood Recreation Center. Just a few yards north on Tujunga, the Los Angeles Public Library's North Hollywood Regional Branch was renamed the "North Hollywood Amelia M Earhart Regional Branch Library" in 1981. In 2002, the statue was temporarily removed for renovation, and it returned in 2003, this time rebuilt in bronze.


6. NoHo Gateway
2009
Lankershim Blvd & Huston St

Love it or hate it, it's there, and it welcomes all to the NoHo Arts District. A project of the now-defunct Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, the quirky, $800,000 NoHo Gateway was built in July 2009 and designed by artist Peter Shire, known for his equally-quirky-but-not-nearly-as-controversial art sculptures in the landscaped (former Pacific Electric) median of Santa Monica Boulevard in WeHo. This was also covered by The Militant in his 2010 blog post on NoHo. 

What does the Militant think of it? Well it's, um, you know...but people will get used to it eventually (a Facebook page called "Tear Down the NoHo Gateway" has not had any activity for the past three years, so maybe it's a sign that people are warming up to this thing...). Such is art.

7. Pacific Electric Right of Way
1911 (abandoned 1952)
Vineland Ave between the 101 Freeway and Chandler Blvd

The CicLAvia route cuts through the bewildering six-way intersection of Lankershim Blvd, Vineland Ave and Camarillo St. But look down through Vineland -- see that landscaped median? If you know your Los Angeles history, you know what that means. Like Leimert Blvd from the last CicLAvia, this, too, is an abandoned streetcar right-of-way. Vineland Avenue carried Pacific Electric Red Cars between the SFV and Downtown Los Angeles. From the other side of the hill, the Red Cars cut through the Cahuenga Pass (now the 101 freeway) and turned north on Vineland, where they once went all the way to San Fernando, Canoga Park or Van Nuys, all except the Van Nuys line closed down in 1938, with the final line closing in 1952. Just south of Chandler Blvd, the line through Vineland curved west (the diagonal wall at the Big Lots store on Vineland and Chandler is a vestigial remnant of this line) to join Chandler, where trains passed through the historic Lankershim Depot.

8. Pacific Electric Substation
1911
Vineland Ave & Riverside Drive

This white building which bears the signage, "The Howard Colonial" is also a vestigial remnant of the Pacific Electric's San Fernando Valley line through Vineland Ave. It served as one of the PE's electric power substations (Number 30 to be exact) that supplied power to the overhead lines that gave juice to the Red Cars that ran past it.

9. St. Charles Borromeo Church
1937 (old building)/ 1959 (current building)
10800 Moorpark St, North Hollywood

This Spanish Colonial-style church designed by Alhambra-based architect J. Earl Trudeau, who also designed Roman Catholic parishes in Culver City, South Los Angeles and Alhambra, has attracted famous parishioners such as actor Bob Hope -- who lived in nearby Toluca Lake and had his funeral here in 2003 (the corner of Lankershim and Moorpark was designated by the City as "Bob and Dolores Hope Square"). Directly west of the main church is the parish hall, which was built in 1937 and previously served as the original church structure. The architecture of the old church was based on the parish's namesake, the 1771 Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo in Carmel.

10. Los Angeles River Access
c. 1940s
near Lankershim Blvd & the Los Angeles River

Have you ever seen service trucks drive on the Los Angeles River? How did they do that? Did they really drive all the way from Downtown? Well, no. from this bridge over the River, you can spot access ramps on both the north and south sides of the river; the one on the north side is accessible via a gated lot at the end of Agua Vista Street. Of course, anyone caught doing a RiverLAvia on Sunday , or any day, would be fined $1000.

On that note, how many of you are willing to bail out The Militant? (YOLO...)

11. New NBC Studios
2014
Lankershim Blvd and Muddy Waters Drive, Universal City

Though NBC and Burbank have become inseparable, their corporate relationship with Universal (and Later Comcast) has moved them west, and onto the Universal backlot. In February 2014, TV station KNBC 4 , KVEA Telemundo 52 and the NBC News West Coast Bureau moved into a new state-of-the-art digital facility along the Los Angeles River. The old NBC studios in Burbank is now an independent rental studio facility called The Burbank Studios. This is also a big year for its Universal parent/partner; Universal City celebrated its 100th birthday this past Sunday. Give Fritz Coleman a bi ol' shout-out if you see him this Sunday.


12. Campo de Cahuenga
1847
3919 Lankershim Blvd, Studio City

Yes, this adobe abode was the location where Lt. Col John C. Fremont and General Andres Pico signed the Treaty of Cahuenga in 1847, formally ending the frequent skirmishes between the U.S. and Mexico, and eventually paving the way for California to become an independent nation, and eventually a U.S. state. It all began here, people. Those northern Cali folks beta recognize! You'll have to go inside to experience more of the history, and if you want more, go to the Metro Red Line platform at the Universal City/Studio City station next door and read the art that adorns the station. Also, the actual table where the treaty was signed is on display at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park as part of their Becoming Los Angeles exhibit, which The Militant wrote about in 2013.


13. "The Oasis" Native Plant Garden
2009
Ventura Blvd between Eureka and Arch drives, Studio City

This pleasant California native plant garden was a streetscape and pocket park project by the Studio City Beautification Association done in 2009. Located literally where the Santa Monica Mountains meet Ventura Boulevard, it gives pedestrians a chance to connect with the natural indigenous habitat of the mountain range. With a dirt "hiking" path subbing for the sidewalk here, one can see California Golden Poppies, Matilija Poppies, Purple Sage, California Lilac and purple Verbenas. And since we've experienced an early Spring this year, many of them are already in bloom.

14. Brady Bunch House
1959
11222 Dilling St, Studio City

Here's the story
Of a house named Brady
It's just a few blocks from the CicLAvia route
Go up Tujunga, turn right on Dilling
And see what it's all about...

No doubt you've seen this house numerous times on TV Land or in local syndication or (if you're old enough) on primetime on ABC from 1969 to 1974. It was selected by "The Brady Bunch" creator Sherwood Schwartz in 1969 to represent "California living,""a place that an architect would live in" and "not too affluent, but not too blue-collar either."

But though the television show had that famous iconic staircase, the real house on 11222 Dilling Street is only a single-story, split-level abode. The show's crew placed a fake window under the facade's A-frame during location shooting to depict a second level.

Here's an interesting tidbit about the Brady Bunch house: You already know about the history of the Weddington House. But did you know there's a direct connection between the two famous Valley houses? The Brady Bunch house was designed and built by Luther B. Carson (who, like Mike Brady was an architect) in 1959 on a then-empty lot after the construction of the Ventura Freeway forced them to move from their previous home nearby. He was already deceased by the time the house was selected by Schwartz for the TV show. His widow, Louise Weddington Carson (who died in 1994) was Wilson Weddington's great-granddaughter.

15. VETura Boulevard
Ventura Blvd between Colfax and Radford avenues

Did you know that this two-block stretch of Ventura Boulevard has the highest concentration of veterinary hospitals/clinics in the entire City of Los Angeles? Well, neither did The Militant until he recently surveyed the CicLAvia route. In this section of Ventura between Colfax and Radford avenues alone, there are five veterinary facilities: Parker Pet Hosptial, Veterinary Medical Center, Animal Emergency Centre, Studio City Animal Hospital and Tully & LaBounty Pet Clinic.

The Militant used to take his beloved K-9 unit (may his or her soul rest in peace) to one of those hospitals. Like Sunset Blvd's Guitar Row or Wilshire Blvd's Hair District, it's one of the many unofficial specialty retail districts of Los Angeles that makes this city so unique. And because there's so many pet health care facilities on this block, The Militant has thusly given this part of the street the moniker, "VETura Boulevard" (come to think of it, a famous cinematic pet detective had the name "Ace Ventura." Coincidence?).

16. Mack Senett Studio Site/CBS Studio Center
1928
4024 Radford Ave, Studio City

Do you know why Studio City is called "Studio City?" Because it's close to Universal Studios, right?
BZZZZT! WRONG! (That's Universal City...) It's because of this place.

Back in the '90s (er, the 1890s, that is), this area was called Laurelwood. With farming wrapping up by the end of the 19th century, it became a hotspot for real estate at the turn of the 20th. Mack Sennett, who already built Los Angeles' first movie studio in what is now Echo Park in 1912, decided to build a second, 20-acre studio on the banks of the Los Angeles River in this location in 1928. He sold the studio due to bankruptcy in 1933 to Mascot Pictures, changing hands over the decades to Monogram Pictures and Republic Pictures until the latter's demise in 1958. Then CBS started leasing, and later purchased the facility, and in the early 1960s it became the location where the network's own produced series were filmed. The classic TV shows "Gilligan's Island,""Gunsmoke,""My Three Sons" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" were all filmed on that lot. In fact, the large parking garage on the right before Radford meets the Los Angeles River was the site of the Gilligan's Island lagoon. Today, the studio is also the home of local television stations KCBS 2 and KCAL 9.

17. Los Angeles River Greenway Park
2004
Los Angeles River between Whitsett and Radford avenues

Yeah, so the Los Angeles River in the Valley isn't as scenic and green as what you see down by Griffith Park and Frogtown (except for this section, which is a few more miles upstream). But at least this picturesque greenbelt and walking path, which opened in 2004, is still much more pleasant and scenic than the other Los Angeles River crossing by Lankershim. If CicLAvia gets too crowded, you might want to use this route as an alternate. If you can't get enough of the river, you can re-join the greenbelt west of Coldwater Canyon, where a similar path runs west to Fulton Avenue. In the near future, a linkage path will connect the two linear river parks between Coldwater Canyon and Whitsett.

18. LAFD Fire Station 78
1943/2008
4041 Whitsett Ave, Studio City

Gentrification and hipsterization might be causing more segregation in our communities, but there was a time in our City' history when segregation in certain City institutions was the law.

Remember the story of the African American Firefighter Museum on Central Avenue from previous CicLAvias? Well, here's the sequel to the story.

For much of LAFD's history, only two fire stations, No. 14 and No. 30 (now the museum), were the only fire stations that allowed African American firefighters. a series of events in the 1950s raised issues of racial integration in the LAFD and in 1955, two black firefighters and six white firefighters (who supported integration) were re-assigned to replace the all-white staff at this fire station on Whitsett Avenue, and it became the very first racially integrated fire station in the LAFD. It was not without controversy, of course -- many community members protested and used the new firefighters' unfamiliarity with the local streets and topography (they came from other parts of the city) as one reason for opposing the re-assignment. Eventually, in September 1956, all Los Angeles Fire Department stations were racially integrated.

Although, this was not the original building of LAFD Fire Station No. 78; this was a new facility that was built in 2008. But you can still visit the original location along the CicLAvia route (adjacent to the Sportsmen's Lodge), which was on 4230 Coldwater Canyon Ave, just north of the 76 gas station.

19. Original Jerry’s Famous Deli
1978
12655 Ventura Blvd, Studio City

This was the very location where Jerry Seidman and business partner Isaac Starkman started their deli-food empire of celebrity clientele, 700-item menus and very mediocre, overpriced food. It's been said that an already-famous Andy Kaufman worked here as a busboy in the late '70s. In 2001, a fire damaged the restaurant, which was closed until it reopened to its currently-remodeled format in 2003. But if you want the Militant's advice, if you're hungry for a pastrami sandwich or cheese blintzes during CicLAvia, skip the long waits at this overrated joint and head a few blocks east to Art's Delicatessen on 12224 Ventura instead.

20. Sportsmen’s Lodge

So there it is, take it. Happy CicLAvia this Sunday, and if you see The Militant on the streets, raise your fist for him!

 Interactive Map! Click on green points to view hotspots, or click on entire map for larger view.

It's now time for the second CicLAvia of 2015, which means it's time to start posting again (He may or may not rename this blog, "Epic CicLAvia Tour Guides" eventually).

When The Militant first learned about the minuscule 3.5-mile route for the 13th-ever CicLAvia (and the 10th unique routing, hence the version number), he was kinda bummed. But after doing some Militant research, he found out that Pasadena has lots to offer in terms of history and interesting locations. The last CicLAvia tour only had 20 locations, yet was twice as long!

This is also the first-ever CicLAvia located entirely outside of the City of Los Angeles. The Militant initially decided to defer this to The Militant Pasadenan, but he recently learned that ol' MP moved to Sonoma County in 2009, and no one else has taken up the title since. So, according to Militancy Code, The Militant Angeleno would have to assume MP's duties by default (Ugh, so much responsibilities...). Which reminds The Militant that Long Beach's Beach Streets ciclovia event happens next Sunday. The Militant Long Beacher hasn't returned any of The Militant Angeleno's emails or texts. F'ing flake. Come on, man.

(As consistent with previous Epic Militant CicLAvia Tour maps, this routing starts from the east and works its way westward). Without further delay, let's go!

1. Pasadena City College
1570 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1924

What does actor Nick Nolte, director John Singleton, Worf from Star Trek, the original Superman and Jimmy Olson, math teacher con ganasJaime Escalante, singer Kenny Loggins, all of the original members of Van Halen, the late Coach Jerry Tarkanian, the great Jackie Robinson (who later transferred to UCLA) and Lakers great Michael Cooper have in common?

They all attended Pasadena City College. This school, established in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College, later shared the campus with the original Pasadena High School from 1928 to 1960. In 1954, the college merged with nearby John Muir College and formally changed its name to its current moniker.

The college markets itself as the "#1 Associate Degree for Transfer," meaning, you probably won't stay long here anyway. But they sure have a pretty campus though.

Despite its long list of noble alumni, the school has also produced some dark characters, such as Robert F. Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Sirhan and Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps.

2.Old Highway Marker
1320 Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1906

On the grass parkway in front of the McDonald's drive thru on Colorado and Hill stands a cryptic stone marker which reads:

(11)
220\222
F.B

It may or may not be a tombstone. Which makes it look even creepy. What do the numbers mean? What does "FB" mean? Did they predict Facebook or something?

Actually, it was the gravesite of the a laborer identified as #11, and he was the 220th of 222 people to die while constructing Colorado Boulevard. The "FB" may to may not be his initials...

...Okay, just kidding. It was actually a stone highway marker placed near there by Los Angeles County in 1906 -- before the road was paved. It turns out in those days, highway signs were made of stone instead of sheet metal. The "11" meant that it was 11 miles until the next highway marker, which was at the old Los Angeles County Courthouse (where Grand Park now stands in front of Los Angeles City Hall). The "220\222" were the block numbers as designated by the county's road surveying system. And the "F.B" stood for "Foothill Boulevard," which the street was originally named. In 1926, that route was designated as part of US Route 66. It is the oldest stone marker in Pasadena, and the sole surviving one of three such markers. The marker was originally placed 25 feet to the west -- where the driveway is, and was moved to the present location in 1994.

For some bonus added history, check out the faded lettering of the wall facing the McD's parking lot. It's from the old Foothill Motors Lincoln-Mercury dealership that existed from 1947 to the late 1980s.

Tweet a selfie with the marker during CicLAvia with the hashtag #EpicCicLAviaTour!

3. Howard Motor Company Building
1285 E. Colorado Blvd
1927

Located in what was considered Pasadena's automobile dealership row (see the Foothill Motors faded wall across the street), Conveniently located along Route 66, this Spanish Colonial Revival building with cherrychurroChurrigueresque (like North Hollywood's St. Charles Borromeo church from the last CicLAvia) ornamentation was an attractive showroom for the Howard Motor Company, and later Bush-Morgan Motors from the 1930s to the 1950s. It is currently vacant (want to open a Churrigueresque Churro shop?), but was last used as an auto showroom as recently as the 1990s.

4. Crown City Bank Entrance
1176 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1906

The same year the mysterious highway marker was placed down the street, Crown City Bank opened up its main branch here on what is now the Pasadena Coin and Stamp Company. If you're into philately or numismatics, you'll probably be into what's inside. But if not, do observe the 109 year-old tile mosaic entrance. Over the years the building has also hosted a car dealership, a glass and mirror shop, a refrigerator store, and a men's clothing store. Yet the "Crown City Bank" entrance has remained untouched.

What is "Crown City" exactly? Why, it's Pasadena's official nickname.

And while you're here, drop by across the street to the Militant-Approved Book Alley bookstore! A great selection of local history titles!

Tweet a selfie at the Vroman's Courtyard with the hashtag #EpicCicLAviaTour!

11. Arcade Lane
696 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1927

Across the street from Vroman's, and having stood there two years before the bookstore moved into the block, is the second "arcade" building on the CicLAvia route.

This picturesque building, an award-winning design by Pasadena architects Sylvanus Marston and Garrett Van Pelt, was built as a replica of a marketplace in Budapest, Hungary. It once was the location of the second-ever Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf store. The picture on the left depicts the building in the 1930s.

12. Pasadena Presbyterian Church
585 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1908/1976

Despite Pasadena's ethnic-kinda-sounding name (we went over its origin before), it was pretty much founded by a bunch of WASP-folk from Indiana, and the influence of Midwestern American culture still looms large, from the Tournament of Roses organization to the general vibe of the city.

From the city's founding in the 1880s to the 1920s was when the city's large Protestant churches were built along the Colorado Boulevard corridor. The Pasadena Presbyterian Church, whose congregation dates back to 1875 when it was located on Orange Grove and California street, had built two houses of worship before this one was built in 1908.

The church (as in the organization) was also heavily influential in the city's culture: It broadcasted its KPPC (hence the call letters) AM and FM radio stations from 1924 to 1971 which featured religious programming as well as more secular news, talk and music shows (including the first radio home of The Dr. Demento Show (!) in 1970).

The main sanctuary building was damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake (the other original church buildings on the campus still remain), and a new one was built in 1976. It features an Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ which was rescued from the original 1908 sanctuary.

13. First United Methodist Church of Pasadena
500 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
1923

This congregation dates back to the original 1872 settlers from Indiana, who originally built the church in two previous locations (the second of which was damaged in a tornado (!) in December 1891). After outgrowing its previous buildings, the church moved to its present location in 1923 and built its current English Gothic-style sanctuary, which was designed by architect Thomas P. Barber. It also includes a 1930 Skinner pipe organ.

14. Site of KROQ Broadcast Studio
117 S. Los Robles Ave, Pasadena
1976

Remember KROQ? No, not that lame ass station that's on right now, the good KROQ. As in The ROQ of the '80s? Dude...Rodney on the ROQ? Jed The Fish? The Poorman? Richard MF'in Blade?!

If you do, then...dude, you're old!

The station once broadcasted here, in Pasadena (the station still says "Pasadena/Los Angeles" due to how it's FCC license is registered). But KROQ was, like, totally Pasadena. The station itself had its origins in the old KPPC (remember, the Presbyterian Church down on Colorado?) FM, which broadcasted on the 106.7 frequency. In 1969, KPPC FM moved out of the church (literally and figuratively) due to a change in ownership and in 1973 after another ownership transfer, it became KROQ-FM - "The ROQ of Los Angeles."

KROQ moved to this Los Robles location in 1976, which coincided with the emerging sound of punk rock and new wave music bubbling out of the local underground. Deejay Rodney Bingenheimer broke many local acts such as The Runaways and The Go-Gos, as well as East Coast acts like The Ramones, Blondie and The Talking Heads. KROQ was the tastemaker of the 1980s, and many of the decade's stars came down to the Los Robles studios for interviews. A local venue called Perkin's Palace on Raymond Avenue (more on this later) also hosted many punk and new wave acts, and Pasadena became the totally happening place.

KROQ moved to Burbank in 1987, and after new wave's last hurrah in Pasadena (Depeche Mode's 101 Concert at The Rose Bowl on June 18, 1988), the city was never quite the same again.

15. Pasadena Civic Auditorium
330 E. Green St, Pasadena
1931

Just south of the CicLAvia route, across from Paseo Colorado (formerly the Plaza Pasadena mall) is this stately hall designed by architects George Edwin Bergstrom, Cyril Bennett and Fitch Haskell, this 3,029-seat venue was the home of the Emmy Awards from 1977 to 1997. The 1983 NBC Motown 25 special, was taped here, which means, yes, Michael Jackson's moonwalk was performed to a worldwide audience in this here building.