Talbott Electric

One of our lamps stopped working.

We stuck it in the garage and figured we'd do something about it sooner or later.

Then another lamp stopped working.

John knows how to fix a socket but it turns out these things were not normal. They were newfangled. They cost many bucks, on sale, warranty long gone.

I know what to do! Buy new lamps!

(or)

stop by Talbott Electric and find out if the lamps can be fixed.

Talbott is the place on Washington Blvd. with the vintage neon sign. (I'll post a photo of that sign one of these days.) They've been a Pasadena institution since 1924. Besides fixing lamps they offer complete electrical services. In the store, they also have some charming Craftsman-type fixtures. None of that Lamps Plus homogeneity.

The display cases inside the front door are my favorite part. They're loaded with strange antique fixtures, switches and oddments. Note "nurses room" and "nurses closet" on the typed sheet. Time travel.

Despite their oldfangled collection, Talbott fixed my newfangled lamps for less than 5% of what it would have cost to buy new ones.

Commute, 8

We're heading east on Silverlake Blvd. in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, approaching the corner of Reservoir St. This mural is on the back of what I think is still Tom's Burgers. Tom's is on a corner-shaped spit because really, where Silverlake meets Reservoir it also meets Parkman Avenue which, if we turn left on it, takes us behind ourselves to Sunset Blvd, under which we've just driven.

I love that sentence, even if you don't.

I didn't find out the name of the artist, but I did find Jubilee.


Update:
Thanks to Adele for discovering the name of the artist: Dcypher CBS. 

Shroom

This is a mushroom.

A mushroom.

It's in my neighbor's yard. I tried to give you some perspective by putting my keys next to it. You can hardly see them in the grass, but the grass itself gives scale.

My neighbor told me I am welcome to come by with some butter and a pan to sautee this monster. I think not.


Zen Monday #200 contest:

We have a tie for first place!

Jean Spitzer and Pasadena Adjacent are the winners, with Frank Zgonc in second place, taking home our beautiful Pasadena City Hall key chain.
Now, for that very competitive first prize, we can either have a run-off, or I might have a way to work this out. I have a secret other prize. I'll contact the winners to find out if they want it, and I'll let you know.

Later:

Ladies and gentlemen, in the Zen Monday #200 contest:

We had a tie, as you read above. And we have prizes for both winners. The lovely and talented Jean Spitzer will receive (I want you to picture Carol Merrill if you're old enough) a stylish, navy blue Lowepro EXS 160 Photo/Video bag and adjustable camera strap!

(Yay! clap clap clap applause!)

Pasadena Adjacent, also lovely and talented (I attract 'em), has agreed to accept the alternate first prize, two free passes to the Huntington Library and Gardens!

(clap clap Woohoo! whistle clap)

Being as PA is local, I hoped that might work out. Whew! Who thought there would be a tie? Obviously, I didn't.

The runner-up, your friend and mine, Frank Zgonc, aka Frazgo Fraz (speaking of lovely and talented) will receive a lovely City of Pasadena square chrome key chain.

Let's hear it for our wonderful winners!

View

I dropped my friend off at Accurate Autoworks on Hill Street (she loves these guys) and took a "U" through the garage. I took this picture through the windshield, which apparently I need to clean before I do any more behind-the-wheel photography.

Across Hill Street is the empty lot of what used to be Pasadena Ford. Nothing much has changed there in the last three years.


See the poll at top left? Please vote for your favorite comment from yesterday from among the nominees below. Feel free to vote whether you made a comment yesterday or not, whether you've been here before or not, whether you understand why we're voting or not...

The nominees are:

Jean Spitzer:
It followed me home. Can I keep it?

Pasadena Adjacent:
Segway "as is"
Manufacturer Recommendation SPF 40

Susan Campisi
In a spark of creative genius driven by a low budget, John decides to save production costs on "Strong Love" by using the mower as film reel. Petrea is recruited as PA (production assistant, not Pasadena Adjacent of course). 

Frank Zgonc
No harmful CO2 emission unless the operator ate beans the day before ;)

Clifford Beshers
My! What big reels you have, Grandma!


You have until midnight tonight to vote. I'll announce the winners tomorrow. Probably not first thing, I doubt I'll stay up 'til midnight.

Zen Monday: #200

Zen Monday #200! I can hardly believe it.

Zen Monday is the day you write about the photo and I don't. And today is special.

Because prizes!

The winner will receive a Lowepro EXS 160 Photo/Video bag (navy blue) and adjustable camera strap. The runner-up will receive a lovely City of Pasadena square chrome key chain.

Anyone can win and there are no criteria. You can comment as many times as you like. I think you can vote as many times as you like, too, though I'm not sure how the polling thing works. I'll put that up tonight.

Because of how the poll thingy is set up, we'll have to whittle it down to a few candidates and enter their names for voting. By the end of today we ought to have some front-runners. If you have opinions about who they should be, please say so. Let your voice be heard, otherwise I'll pick the finalists myself.

Tomorrow you will get to vote for your favorite comment today, and it can be your favorite for any reason whatsoever. I can't think of any rules, really, except have fun.

Thank you for visiting Pasadena Daily Photo. I'm always so glad when you do.

Serene Sunday

I was going to say I hope you have a serene Sunday planned. But that's presumptuous of me, isn't it? Maybe that's not what you want. Maybe you're heading out to the NASCAR races or off to fly a jet. Perhaps you're participating in a rodeo today or you'll be entering your first boxing match, and serenity is the last thing you need.

Have at it, I say. I'll be sitting it out.

Please do come back tomorrow, if you survive. To commemorate Zen Monday #200, there will be prizes. For whatever.

Arthur Everywhere

I like how Margaret Finnegan has been including her blog readers in the creation and promotion of her wonderful novel, The Goddess Lounge. We'll do some fun stuff like that here, too, when the time comes.

In my novel Camelot & Vine, a Hollywood actress with a penchant for dishonesty loses her job, her married boyfriend and perhaps a modicum of sanity at the approach of her 40th birthday--though she's never told anyone her real age, not even the IRS. She has a romantic fantasy about King Arthur, so in a fit of pique (or panic) she flies to England to take a vacation and visit Arthurian sites. When a car accident sends her flying into the night, she lands in the sixth century and accidentally saves King Arthur's life.

It's not exactly what she'd planned for her vacation. Arthur is not the handsome romancer she'd imagined. The Dark Ages are dangerous. And dark.

The king's helmet, by the way, looks nothing like this one. And this blog is not about my novel, it's about Pasadena. So what does all this have to do with Mr. Teeth here?

Maybe it's because I've got knights on the brain, but I find stuff like this everywhere. There's a suit of armor in a barber shop in Altadena. Another one stands outside Pink Plum Antiques in Pasadena, and a half suit perches at an auto mechanic shop at Orange Grove and Lincoln. Over in Studio City, the Psychic Eye Book Shop has long been guarded by armored sentries. Knights--not to mention castles, swords, shields and all things medieval--advertise all kinds of businesses. We love these things because they appeal to our romantic side.

What that has to do with Mr. Teeth (and Margaret Finnegan) is this: I'm collecting pictures for my website and blog. Please let me know what you see in and around Pasadena and I'll head out to photograph it for the blog. Or if you'd like to send in a photo, please do. I'll post it on the website and give you credit.

There was no historical person named King Arthur, though he's probably based on a real person or persons (historians debate this). Whoever he was (or whoever they were) predates the medieval period by a few hundred years. That means my king is a Dark Ages guy, post-Roman and before the British kings (the first being the eighth century king Offa). When so few people in Britain knew how to write, little is left to us but the archaeological record.

Although he probably would have dressed more like a Roman soldier, it's fun to imagine Arthur stomping through the forests of ancient Britain wearing a scary-looking helmet, wielding Excalibur and making the world right.

Our Elderly Toddler

Today marks the end of nine years of our life with Boz. Better yet: the beginning of ten. It's not his birthday, as far as I know, but I think of it that way. It's the anniversary of the day he came to us, when he was already about five years old.

That's not quite right. He didn't come to us. We plucked him out of Boxer Rescue and took him home. He had no say in the matter. He was scared, maybe even terrified. He didn't know who we were or what our house was or what we wanted him to do, but at least we were nice and the house was bigger than the cage and we gave him a soft bed. The food was also pretty good. He could have done without the bath, but that was a deal-breaker.

From the beginning he took the attitude of "Please don't kill me. Whatever you require, I will attempt to obey." He was and still is easy to train. We've never had to do anything but ask. (I've said this before: you can teach an old dog new tricks.) He walks off leash, stays on the front porch unsupervised, and has recently learned to "show me" when I need him to communicate what he wants. He never barks, though I wish he would. He has, or had, a beautiful bark. He might have lost that part of his voice in an illness a few years back. We haven't heard it since then. Like people, dogs go through stuff that changes them.

I'll stop here. We all love our pets and, like parents, we can go on and on about them. I love him more than I can say.

Boz is about fourteen now. I hope he will stay with us long enough to enrich our lives at least another year.


Another dog needs a home. I've posted about Coco on my Facebook page. If Coco's not for you, a variety of pooches await at your nearby animal shelter, wanting only to be your love bucket.

Commute, 7

Last week Karin asked to see where I work. (Her exact words were, "Can we see the innards?") So this isn't really commuting. It's being there.

There are several rooms at Bell Sound Studios. This is Studio B. Sound engineer Aaron sits at the console. Aaron's moved to Australia since I took the photo; now I work with Alfredo. Behind where the engineer sits is an area with a sofa and a desk for the client (should the client wish to attend the recording session). Through the door at the left of the picture is the booth, where I stand at the microphone to record. I almost never sit when I record. Something about staying on my feet keeps my vocal energy up. I need that, because the commercials I record are upbeat.

Each week I record voice-overs for Stater Bros. Markets. If you're local, you know about Stater Bros. In case you're not from around here, I'll tell you: Stater Bros. is a chain of grocery stores here in Southern California. They're located mostly in the Inland Empire and Orange County. The nearest store to Pasadena is in Santa Clarita--that's a bit of a drive. One has to cross a mountain or two to get there. I've made the drive and I'm glad I have, because I found that what I advertise (high quality at low prices) is actually the case. (When John and I picked up a deli lunch there before visiting Vasquez Rocks, we were goggle-eyed at what we got for our ten bucks.)

Actors perform in commercials all the time. It's part of what we do. When I get up to the microphone, nothing makes me more enthusiastic than touting a business I actually feel good about. I only wish they had a store in Pasadena.

Transit of Venus

John and I wanted to view the transit of Venus yesterday. We had missed it in 2004 and there's not going to be another one until 2117. (Why isn't it regular? I don't know why. Go ask an astronomer. This town is lousy with astronomers.)

When Venus transits the sun you can almost see it with the naked eye, except as we all know you're not supposed to look at the sun. John and I were trying to remember how as kids we had made solar eclipse viewers. We agreed that cardboard boxes were the main component. John said you had to cut a hole somewhere in the box. I thought there was tin foil involved but couldn't remember in what capacity. And sticks. Weren't there sticks? You propped your box on sticks and angled it toward the sun, and you laid on your stomach on the grass and looked into the box. Am I close?

Just in time, the Facebook invitation appeared. Susan Kitchens would be holding a Transit of Venus Viewing at Peck Road Park in El Monte--with her telescope--her specially outfitted telescope--through which we could look at the sun.

It was just as thrilling as I'd hoped it would be to watch through Susan's telescope as the small, black spot appeared at the edge of the large, yellow spot. Venus took its sweet time and crossed the sun like a round, black ship sailing a round ocean of fire inside the round lens. Then Susan pulled out the solar viewing glasses and I put them on.

You can't see a thing with those glasses on until you look up, directly at the sun.

I have never looked directly at the sun before, not for more than a fraction of a second. Through those little scientific miracles I watched the event itself, breathless, with not even a telescope to separate me from it.

Venus, the sun, the sky, the air, the ground, me.

Mental Oz

You know those things that you had all along, but didn't see them until you smacked your ruby-slippered heels together and said, "there's no place like my brain"? I find these things when I take a different route, or take the usual route at a different time of day.

These old steps were a result of the latter. I often walk down this street with Boz in the late afternoon, but this time it was a morning walk. The steps appeared like magic. I had never seen them before. They're about four blocks from my house.

Does this ever happen to you? I don't know whether that's good or bad. Bad would mean I'm woefully unobservant. Good would mean I can allow for pleasant surprises.

Zen Monday: #199

Today: Zen. Thanks for commenting.

It's Zen Monday #199. That means next week we'll hit a milestone (ouch!) and that requires prizes.

In keeping with tradition, there will be no criteria. You can vote for whoever you want to vote for. The winner will receive a Lowepro EXS 160 Photo/Video bag (navy blue) and adjustable camera strap. The runner-up will receive a lovely City of Pasadena square chrome key chain. I'll add a poll here so everyone can vote. We may have to wait until Tuesday to do the voting, once all the comments are in. I haven't figured that part out yet.

That's next week. I hope you'll comment today and come back with your Zen brain next week for the non-competition.

Weekend Indulgence

What did you do last night?

Obviously, I had my nails done.


Dream Spa Massage
Dian Nails

Aura

The atrium outside the Huntington Hospital's Braun Auditorium is not pink. But I was there to learn about "The Mysteries of Migraine" so it seemed appropriate to mess with the visuals.

Last night, the Huntington Medical Research Institute (HMRI) hosted a presentation/reception/wine and cheese thingy (red wine, which a lot of migraineurs can't drink, but their spouses can). I went because I wanted to learn what I could.

Actually, I went because I want to get off of these drugs. If learning will help, I'll do that. If driving backwards down Colorado Blvd. will help I'll do that, too.

Little is known about migraines, yet there's enough to say about them that we could talk about them for weeks. Among other things I learned last night, one of the most surprising is that very little research is being done into this disease suffered by 30 million Americans. But aren't we lucky? Of the very few facilities in the United States studying migraine, one of them is right here in Pasadena.

And last night's wine and cheese was all about recruiting migraine sufferers to volunteer for research.

Hmm. They have to extract spinal fluid. You know--a spinal tap. Our host Larry Wilson, Public Editor of the Pasadena Star-News and a migraineur, said that when these specialists tapped his spine he "didn't feel a thing."

I have a very low threshold of pain.

Do you think I signed up?

Theme Day: Tranquility

I thought about the Huntington Gardens. I thought about my back porch. I even thought about my bed but a mockingbird has recently occupied our tree, so at the moment that doesn't fit the bill.

Nope. For tranquility I like to get above it all.

Our area has countless hiking trails. I don't have a favorite; each has its own merits. Some cross trickling streams in secret valleys. Some ramble along access roads hidden in the hills. Some soar atop the mountains above town, leaving you open to the sky. This time of year one wants shade, so unless you're an early riser, the Altadena Crest Trail between Eaton Canyon and Zane Grey Terrace is best saved for autumn. It's a decent stretch, sparsely traveled, and just the place to locate your tranquility when it gets lost.

Today's the first of the month, when participating City Daily Photo bloggers post variations on a theme. June's theme is "tranquility." Click here to view thumbnails for today's participants and visit somewhere you've always wanted to go.

CDP is now 1466 blogs strong, worldwide. Our newest member is Sorrento Daily Photo in Sorrento, Italy. Stop by and say hello!

Commute, 6

This alley in Hollywood runs north and south, between and parallel to Highland and Citrus Avenues. I've just turned north from Willoughby. I believe the address of the big, white building in the background is 1025 N. Highland, at the corner of Highland and Romaine. It houses film industry-type of businesses, including a film archive company.

Surrounding us in the alley are the backsides of recording studios, dubbing companies, photo labs and such. Some of the buildings, like the big one in the background, date to the 1920's. Filmmakers and recording artists have been coming through here since Hollywood's beginnings, getting the work done.

I like these buildings and their day-to-day workings of Hollywood. There's not much glamour here (though it passes through from time to time), but there is history.

Signs

These signs adorn the Pasadena Furniture Company on Rosemead, south of the 210 freeway. I've posted at least one photo of this building before. (Where are these photos? Who knows? I didn't categorize them under "signs," "shopping" or "Pasadena Furniture Company" so it's anybody's guess.) I like the juxtaposition of signs here: old, newer, and so-new-it's-temporary. Plus the street sign.

The proprietor told us the building was once a dry cleaner's, probably built in the 1920's. Then, before Pasadena Furniture Company took it over, there was another furniture store in there. It's interesting inside, with a not-too-high warehouse ceiling.

Thank you all for your photo uploading advice yesterday. I deleted about 100 duplicates from Picasa (I have no idea why they were there, but hey, I had no idea I was using Picasa) and voila! A new picture. I hope I don't have to delete 100 pictures every day.

Deja Brew

Here's a fine kettle of caffeine (and more awnings for Susan):

I'm such a pro that although I've been blogging daily since 1/1/08 I didn't know until yesterday that Blogger saves my photos to Picasa. Sometimes it saves four or five copies, and now my Picasa album is so full I can't upload new photos to it. (I deleted about 40 photos, but that didn't help.)

Until I figure it out (or make the long-threatened move to Wordpress), here's a photo I posted January 15th, 2008 (my fifteenth day of blogging). I took the shot at Il Capo Restaurant on Green Street. Malbec Argentine restaurant occupies the location now.

Have you experienced this Picasa problem? Did you buy more space? Move to Wordpress? Delete old photos? I'd be grateful to hear your suggestions.

Zen Monday: #198

It's Zen Memorial Monday, so I'm not going to say anything about the photo. I'll leave that up to you.

It strikes me that in a couple of weeks, together we will have achieved our 200th Zen Monday. There will be prizes. More about that next week. For now, please say your piece/peas/peace in the comments.

Snore

Graduation party took over the block last night. The Pasadena Police cleared out a huge crowd in mere minutes. Excellent work.

I hope you have a tranquil Sunday. I'll be sleeping in.