From A Visit To

a "traditional market".  Pigs' heads, halved, de-boned and cooked.  Reminded me of my first visit to L.A.'s Grand Central Market all those years ago, back when it was actually a market, not just a bunch of gentrified eateries like it became, and *Flip Wilson ran a juice stand there.  It's where I first saw sheep's heads at a Mexican butcher shop.  They were cut in half too, but they were raw skulls, just with the skin off.  It was fairly shocking because the eyeballs were still in the skulls.

*Legendary comedian known as television's "first black superstar", Clearow "Flip" Wilson

was absolutely huge in the early 70's.  AND he owned a juice stand in downtown L.A.

Another One From The Archives II

Can't believe I never posted this one!  Of all the things I miss about Southern California, hummingbirds stand out as one of the most memorable ones (there aren't any in Korea).

I used to live on the sixth floor of a building in the very heart of downtown Los Angeles.  A unit below had a projecting balcony, and the renter there had filled it with potted plants, and I was often treated to the sight of hummingbirds crowding the flowers.  I know, hummingbirds over downtown L.A. traffic?  Hard to imagine, but true.

Clouds Cascading Down On A Highrise

Maybe tall buildings attract cloudfalls, like lightning rods attract lightning strikes?

Which reminds me -- one night some years ago, when I was still living in downtown L.A., a heavy rainstorm happened to rage over the city, with lots of thunder and lightning, and naturally I wanted to go out in the cool, wet night air and experience the rare thrill of a rainstorm in SoCal.  Only, instead of going down to the street below, I chose to go up on the roof and walk around taking in the view of the city.  I had my umbrella of course, but after a couple minutes of enjoying the wonderful sight of nighttime L.A. with all the bright lights in the rain, it suddenly occurred to me -- here I was, slowly walking around on the roof of a 12-story building in the midst of an electrical storm, carrying an umbrella with metal ribs over my head!

I ducked back inside, and fast.

September 27, 2017

Unusually intense iridescence over downtown L.A.  On the drive home from work, eight years ago.

A Recent Jaunt To An Exhibition Of Pulitzer-Winning Photographs

inspired this documentary-style look back to March 2018.  I was still living in downtown L.A., and this anti-gun protest passed right under my 6th-floor window.  It was probably the biggest, densest, most massive crowd I have ever seen in person.

Reminiscing

Another moon shot from my L.A. days.

A Forgotten Gem

Saturday, June 10, 2017 in downtown Los Angeles.  I was driving home from Echo Park in the artsy Silverlake district after a leisurely stroll and photo session around the lake.  I was almost home when I was greeted by the sight of these nude bicycle riders down what I had long come to think of as the "back street" (although it was hardly that, since the road cut through the heart of downtown).  It may have been some kind of charity event, I don't really know, but anyway it was unusual enough that I pulled over and took a few precious shots for posterity before they passed out of sight.  The guy in the detail shot noticed me grinning and flashed a "V for victory" sign.  I held out a "thumbs up" in return.  Was all this against some misdemeanor regulation?  Of course not -- there was even a cop directing traffic to make sure the riders were safe.  I just wished there had been more women riders.

Wistful

Every so often, I get into this mood where I reflect over my past life as an Angeleno and contemplate whether or not I made the right decision after all in moving back to Korea after a lifetime lived in Los Angeles.  For the second time in my life I'm a foreigner in a new country -- except in this case I'm back in my native land -- which has changed beyond recognition.

This shot was taken from the second story window of a slightly dive-y joint called "L.A. Taco", run by guys who also used to live in L.A.  The food isn't the best I've ever had, and the all-day drizzle already had me in a broody state of mind, but I guess you gotta cut the owners some slack -- after all, they're Koreans making Mexican street food that they learned about in America.

Views From The 6th and 12th Floors

One from the window of my old loft in downtown Los Angeles, and another from the roof of the building.  It was situated just about square in the middle between the ritzy postmodern combined-use buildings to the west, the mission district/aka skid row to the east, the imposing government buildings to the north and the industrial warehouses to the south.  The building was 12 stories, almost a century old, and it was largely favored by the hip younger set that was sort of faux-yuppy, sort of maybe not.  There weren't enough parking spaces down in the basement to accommodate all the tenants' cars, so there was no assigned parking;  instead there were valets whose job it was to juggle the cars around as spaces became available as residents went out and came in.  But anyway, living right across Hill Street from Pershing Square (formerly notorious as a gay hangout), I was used to seeing considerable spillover population from skid row, which was just some blocks away.

And it's true, once you step far enough away -- or as I like to call it, "taking the God's-eye point of view" -- what at first looked like ugly tragedy turns out to be a beautiful dramedy.

Related Post:  2 Views

UFO Over La Cienega Blvd., L.A.

I'd forgotten about this one.  From January, 2019.

It occurs to me that I've caught quite a few UFOs on camera over the years.  Are there many people who have had multiple encounters like me?  Perhaps I've been a member of an exclusive club all this time without realizing it..?!

Russian Orthodox Church Near Hollywood

I miss L.A.  I think I'll go back some day.

2 Views

Of downtown Los Angeles at night, from the roof of my building.

Funny

Maybe I do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time dwelling on the afterlife -- and especially Hell -- but this is a lighthearted one.

Sometimes, the streetscape of downtown Los Angeles seen against the dawning horizon

seems to channel Hell as envisioned by Hieronymus Bosch.

I guess there are those who would say that L.A. traffic IS hell.

It's Raining

5th & BROADWAY, FROM MY 6th FLOOR WINDOW -- JUST NOW

Probably doesn't sound like much to most people, but in Los Angeles this is a fairly rare thing.  It rained most of the day today, and it's still raining now at 11:37 PM.

And I so LOVE the rain!

Location, Location, Location

I was driving home yesterevening in some pretty unusual weather -- hot yet cloudy through most of the day, partly dry and partly humid -- when I noticed, some distance ahead, what looked like extremely localized pockets of rain. The sinking sun was selectively lighting up the clouds in the northwestern sky and making the precipitation stand out. The rest of the sky was mostly clear, though. Odd.

When rain fell from a clear sky I understand people in parts of the western world used to say the Devil was beating his wife, and the rain was her tears.

I recently learned that in Korea, people used to say of the same phenomenon that somewhere a magical creature, the fabled nine-tailed fox of folklore, must be crying. How do I know? I've been watching the K-drama My Girlfriend, the Nine-Tailed Fox (내여자친구는 구미호) -- a fantasy about a likable slacker dude who acquires a beautiful girlfriend, unaware that she is in reality a 500-year old magic fox. With nine tails. Which she keeps hidden when in human form.

On the show, whenever she feels sad and cries (mostly due to the guy's thoughtless behavior -- it seems that, despite being so old and powerful, she's an amateur when it comes to the emotional complexities of life as a human), it begins to rain, no matter that the sky was perfectly clear a moment before.

Anyway, as I neared the glowing columns, some drops of rain did hit the windshield, so I guess I was right about the localized rain. But as I continued driving along the 101 freeway and neared the Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral (which occupies a commanding position overlooking the freeway), I noticed something which quite stood out, and made me stare:

O.K., I didn't exactly break out in a cold sweat, but really, with its elongate shape it was pretty striking -- it almost looked like a soaring lick of flame in the sky. And not only that, with a little imagination you can see a standing female figure there, clad in a robe/veil (burqa?^), above (or standing/riding on) whatever the other thing is (which looks to me like a dove!). There is even a faint hint of a nimbus behind 'her' head. And considering the proximity of the cathedral, I daresay there are people who would not hesitate to say that, that column of floating water droplets/fox tears/mystical flame, was actually the sign of a 'presence' hovering over the cathedral. I love it!