Mar 28, 2005
There's an ongoing discussion inside the peace movement as to the wisdom of calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Many believe in the slogan "Bring the troops home now!" They say that as long as the occupation forces of the United States remain in that brutalized and war-torn country there can be no hope of peace and an end to the slaughter and misery of the Iraqi people. That the U.S. presence is the very reason for the continuing violence and that the situation cannot get any worse than it's been or is now. Others believe demands should be made for rapid handover of security to the United Nations or a regional grouping of Mideastern nations and that, once in place, the United States should then immediately withdraw its troops. This would, they say, prevent chaos and, perhaps even civil war that could ensue if the U.S. just withdrew without further precautions.
What do you think? Brooklyn Parents For Peace will be holding a forum on Wednesday, April 6th at 8pm to discuss this question more fully. The meeting will be held at St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights. For more information and transportation check the organizations website.
The forum will feature speakers from various endeavors, including: Anthony Arnove, an author, journalist, and activist based in Brooklyn, edited Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War (South End Press) and Terrorism and War, a collection of interviews with Howard Zinn (Seven Stories Press). With Howard Zinn he co-edited Voices of a People's History of the United States (Seven Stories Press). His work has appeared in publications here and abroad.
Carolyn Eisenberg, Co-Chair of Brooklyn Parents for Peace, is Professor of U.S. Foreign Policy at Hofstra University.
Erik Gustafson, a veteran of the Gulf War, is founder and Executive Director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), an organization dedicated to promoting policies that improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis. A recognized expert on Iraq and U.S. policy, he testifies at congressional briefings and policy forums and delivers lectures across North America.
Alex Ryabov, a Brooklyn marine who served during the invasion of Iraq, is co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
This should be an interesting discussion. If you're in Brooklyn, make an effort to be there.
The Brooklyn Parents For peace flyer. By clicking on the image above you can download this and print it out for distribution to friends and family (and, still better, to non-friends and others who might not necessarily agree with you).
Mar 24, 2005
Another depressing week of news that should make all of us stop and think about where our country is headed. The Terri Schiavo affair: The extremists, in and out of government, are on the offensive, inserting themselves, their extreme politics and their excessive religiosity into, what is and ought to be, the ultimate personal matter. This unwarranted intervention, despite the very lengthy judicial process that finally, after years, reached a conclusion where such disagreements ought to be decided -- in the courts.
The perfidy of that corrupt hypocrite, DeLay, urging on his supporters and taking the Congress with him, is outdone only by the stunning silence and betrayal of the overwhelming majority of the so-called opposition party. Where are the Democrats? That's the question to which we ought to be demanding an answer. How much longer do we have to wait for them to stand up and be counted as our democracy is torn asunder?
I've written a letter to Senators Schumer and Clinton and I urge readers of this Blog to do the same. Take a few minutes, as the least we can do, to let the Democratic party leadership know how the rank and file view their inacation and silence.
Here's the letter I wrote, followed by a March 24th column by Richard Cohen in the Washington Post
.....My Letter Follows.....
The Honorable Hilary Rodham Clinton United States Senate476 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-3203
March 24, 2005
Senator Clinton:
Perhaps you have already seen the attached column by Richard Cohen in the Washington Post on March 24th. I found it very disturbing but, unfortunately, it reinforced my consternation concerning the increasingly opportunistic and, ultimately, self-defeating positions staked out by yourself and other Democratic leaders in Congress. With the exception of a handful of Democrats (and some Republicans, to their credit) the Democratic party was nowhere to be found when the extremists, led by DeLay, inserted themselves, unconstitutionally, into the Terri Schiavo affair. How much longer will you and your Democratic colleagues wait, on the sidelines, as the extreme right (now ensconced in the leadership of the Republican party, as well as in the highest seats of government) takes this country down the perilous path to dictatorship and beyond? As the column concludes, one thing you can say about Delay - he stands up, and fights, for what he believes even if it's "unpopular" (polls have shown Americans overwhelmingly opposed to the right-wingers actions in Congress). The same certainly cannot be said for the pathetic group of politicians who go by the once-proud name of Democrat. History will record your silence as the tragedy and betrayal that I believe it to be.Senator Clinton - stop worrying about your polls and your votes. Start worrying about our liberties, our Constitution, our democracy which are so imperiled. Strong, vocal and timely leadership against the Bush agenda is the urgent order of the day. Sincerely,Matthew Weinstein
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WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE FOLLOWS:
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Where Are the Democrats?
By Richard Cohen
Thursday, March 24, 2005; Page A19
Rep. Tom DeLay is called "The Hammer." He is a man of fierce beliefs who has long confused politics with war -- religious war at that. At one time he would have been labeled an "extremist," the sort of politician whom reporters seek out for colorful, wacko quotes. But now he is in the GOP mainstream where, among other things, he has bludgeoned the Democratic Party into pathetic meekness. On the Terri Schiavo debate, the party went AWOL.By late Sunday, when the debate had reached the House of Representatives, Barney Frank stood almost alone in opposing the bill. Cliches suffered. Here was an openly gay Democrat, the Massachusetts liberal of all Massachusetts liberals, defending the Founding Fathers, federalism and the American tradition of keeping the government's nose out of a family's business.It was a bravura performance and one could only have wished that it had been matched by John Kerry or Hillary Clinton-- or any of the other Democrats who are being mentioned as presidential candidates. Most of them seemed to be cowering in some bunker, calling their consultants and pollsters, asking what they should do and how they should do it. Please, have a memo on the desk by morning.You could call this a misreading of public sentiment, and it is that, for sure. When the instant pollsters reported on their instant polls, it turned out that by lopsided majorities the public was appalled at what Congress had done. By a margin of 63 percent to 28 percent, an ABC News poll said Americans supported the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. An even larger majority -- 70 percent -- opposed Congress getting into the act. And for some reason, 67 percent of those polled said Congress was more interested in scoring political points than in Terry Schiavo's fate. As they say in the red states, amen to that.Given those numbers, it would be reasonable to conclude that Republicans-- the congressional leadership and, of course, the White House -- went barking up the wrong political tree. No doubt. What's more, it's not even clear that the GOP solidified its base. Conservative Christians were probably gratified, but many political conservatives were appalled. These are the people who cherish tradition and hold the Constitution dear. When Congress -- without a committee hearing or much real debate -- pushed the Schiavo matter from Florida court jurisdiction, where it had been decided, to a federal one, you could almost hear conservatives gasp. This, after all, is what they had been lambasting liberals about for years.But for me the real loser was the Democratic Party. It showed that it's almost totally without leadership. If there is a national figure (other than Frank) who stood up and took on the GOP in this matter, his -- or her -- name does not come to mind. In the Senate, oddly enough, it was Virginia's John Warner who pointed out that he opposed the bill -- and he's a Republican, for goodness' sake. The Democrats were nowhere.It's not hard to understand why. A vote against the bill would almost certainly be used by some future campaign as a vote in favor of putting Schiavo to death. In a quick TV spot, that sort of stuff can do real damage. At the same time, a fair number of Democrats who were appalled by the bill were reluctant to put their colleagues on the spot. It might have been okay for Ted Kennedy or John Kerry to oppose the bill -- they come from Massachusetts, after all -- but it could be a different story for some Democrat whose state is not quite so blue. Out of consideration for the imperiled, some tongues were clearly held. Still, it seemed that the party's highest principle was to have almost none at all.Once again, it was a Republican -- Christopher Shays of Connecticut -- who got it right. "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy," he said. Bingo! It is DeLay and the Christian right that set the agenda for the Republican Party and, therefore, for Congress. It is DeLay, whose religious zealotry prompted him to leap all sorts of constitutional barriers and go court-shopping, who, have no doubt about it, would reshape this country in his religious image.Say what you will about DeLay, he is not afraid to state his beliefs and fight for them. Say what you will about the Democrats, they are. That's why DeLay's called "The Hammer." What would you call the Democrats? Never mind. When they're ready, they'll call you.===========================
END OF WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE
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.... and end of this post. Thanks, -Matt
Mar 19, 2005
Today marks the second anniversary of George Bush's invasion of Iraq, a war based on lies and vast distortions. A war which has taken the lives of 1,500 American soldiers, grievously wounded tens of thousands more and destroyed the homes, towns, livelihoods and lives of unknown numbers of innocent Iraqi civilians. The latest lie given to justify this criminal enterprise is that our military forces are helping to spread democracy. Proof of this, says Bush, is the election held a month ago under the barrels of U.S. guns. But the dictator Hussein, was, once upon a time, our man. We supported him. We armed him. We financed him. Just as we have with countless other tyrants in the past and in the present today. The purpose? To make the region safe for U.S. style democracy. Used this way, the word "democracy" is nothing more than code. The real purpose of U.S. intervention is to make the world safe for U.S. corporations to do their dirty work and extract maximum profits. After all, it is no secret that Iraq sits on top of world's second largest oil reserves. Second after that other bastion of "democracy" and friend, (thus far), of American interests , Saudi Arabia.
Some 700-plus cities and towns around our country are the site this weekend of protests against Bush's war. Last year, on the first anniversary of the invastion, people in about 300 cities and towns took part. The explosive doubling in locations for anti-war activity is clear evidence that increasing numbers of Americans are beginning to understand the true nature of this war and are rejecting it. They are repulsed by an Administration and Congress that are cutting taxes for the wealthiest at the same time they are spending billions and billions on an illegal war; that are cutting taxes for the richest Americans while they cut services for those least able to afford it. Eighty-two billion dolars for the war and no money to be found for schools and health care. In their search for ever-increasing oil profits they will tear up and despoil every little last inch of pristine and natural land in Alaska in order to take the oil from beneath that soil.
Every American should be rising up in anger at the sight of such bankrupt morality and greed of those in power today. The only reason this has not come to pass is the complete control of the media by the corporate elite that Bush serves so well. Thus, while other people around the world shake their fists in anger at the arrogance and aggression of the Bush Administration, our people are blinded by the endless lies fed to them by the media. Lies which are used to cover the true nature of the extremists who have usurped power in Washington and the evil deeds on which they have embarked. But lies cannot fly forever. Eventually, the truth will out. The day will come when the majority of Americans will stand up and say no to this war, just as they did some 30 or so years ago during the Vietnam war. They will still the hand of Bush and his cronies and turn our country around from the path of war and destruction that it is headed down today.
......
We joined Brooklyn Parents For Peace, our local peace and justice organization. They had called on local residents to meet at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade at 10:30 a.m. From there, to march down the Fulton Street shopping street to the military recruiting center on Flatbush Avenue near Schermerhorn Street.
It was a relatively small group that was standing around as we arrived with our upstairs neighbors, Paul and Rock. But spirits were high and as we stood there, more and more people arrived. We would be carrying mock coffins, draped with American and Iraqi flags. This, to symbolize the needless deaths of so many young Americans, mostly poor and working class, sent to kill so many innocent Iraqis in a country that had never been a threat to our country and that had no connection, whatsoever, to the terror attacks of September 11th.
Brooklynites gather at the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights at the foot of Montague Street.
A spirited group of hundreds of Brooklynites, marching up Montague Street.
A flag-draped coffin is carried as we mourn the needless lives lost.
Flyers were handed to Saturday shoppers.
Most people were friendly and supported the marchers as they passed.
Demanding peace. Streaming down Montague Street.
When we marchers reached Flatbush Avenue, the police shepherded us into the omnipresent barricades across the street from the recruiting station. In line with the Republican mayor's icy attitude toward peace demonstrators there were an enormous number of cops present, despite the obviously peaceful demeanor of the demonstrators. Many wondered why so many police. Was this just more intimidation of legitimate protest? If so, it didn't work. Songs were sung, joyously and chants were shouted: "Money for jobs, not for war. Bring the troops home now!" And then, one by one, people would ascend a platform and solemnly read the names of those Americans and Iraqis who had lost their lives in this most obscene of wars.
Hundreds gathered on Flatbush Avenue, across from the Armed Forces Recruiting Center.
Singing and playing for peace - Congressional candidate Chris Owens and his kids.
Stop the lying. Stop the killing.
Solemnly reading the names of the dead.
Why so many dead? For what? Who profits? More and more people want to know.
Mar 18, 2005
Once upon a time, we were younger. That sounds comical, but living near the park as we do now is a deja vu of an another time (before children) when we lived in an apartment on Hawthorne Street. We would walk almost daily to Prospect Park, just a few blocks away and while away the hours, hanging with friends, playing with our dogs, just breathing in the natural beauty that lay on our doorstep.
And so, today, we went for a long walk in Prospect Park on what was a beautiful, almost early spring day. Spring doesn't arrive officially for two more days but the temperature is hovering just under 50, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and that marvelous scent of spring is in the air.
We decided to follow the path that follows Long Meadow, a vast and beautiful field running south from Grand Army Plaza at the north end of the park. During warm months, this place is teeming with people, sitting and lying, playing ball or just playing. Now, despite the warming trend, it was mostly empty. It's still a weekday at the end of winter so people are not in their park mode yet.
At one point the path cuts across the meadow from west to east and then heads south again. We found ourself at the entrance to a gated section of the park with a sign announcing that we were about to enter The Ravine. The gate was open and we entered a quiet and peaceful vale. The Ravine is the source of the water that flows and fills the various ponds, creeks and, finally, the lake at the south end of the lake. When the park was built by Olmstead and Vaux in the 1870's, part of the construction included wells and a reservoir to supply the water for the streams and ponds that would give parkgoers an appearance of natural beauty despite their manmade origins.
We followed the path to its end and found ourselves in a place that we knew so well from many years ago. The Nethermead is another of the park's meadows and it's where we would park ourselves while our two dogs would enjoy the run of the lawn and the surrounding hills. Next to the Nethermead is the lovely and peaceful Lullwater, a serpentine stream that connects the Pools, two small ponds just above the Ravine, to the Lake at the south end of the park. On occasion, and much to our consternation, the dogs would jump into the water to cool off in the heat of summer.
A lot of improvements have been made to the park after the terrible deterioration of the 1970's when the city's economy plummeted. The Boathouse has been totally renovated and is a spectacular gleaming white neo-classical building, sitting astride the Lullwater. We passed over Lullwater bridge and then realized that we were at the site of the famous, 133-year old Camperdown Elm, an old friend of ours from the 1970's. We were so happy to see that it was still there, after all these years, and still alive. It was planted in 1872 next to the Boat House and is considered the outstanding specimen tree in all of Prospect Park.
The 133 year old Camperdown Elm.
Prospect Park's most famous tree, born in 1872.
We left the Nethermead and Boathouse area via the Cleft Ridge tunnel. Now we were in the Music Grove. Here, in the late 19th century and into the early 20th, outdoor concerts were performed. It's hard to imagine how grand and elegant this must have been. Various musical societies competed and statues of famous composers adorn this garden, given as gifts to the "city of Brooklyn" (Brooklyn was its own city until incorporated into New York in 1898).
A detail from the entrance wall to Music grove.
Amadeus (and Stacey).
Here's old Ludvig. " Presented to the City Of Brooklyn in 1894 by United German Singers of the City."
A few steps down from the Music Grove is a beautiful plaza surrounded by giant London Plane trees. Here was a statue of Abraham Lincoln with two plaques: "USA" on the back, "USN", on the front. No other explanation. We wondered why and how and what the Navy designation meant on this particular statue of the great president.
Here's Abe with a U.S. Navy plaque and no other explanation.
We walked back north and to the exit at Grand Army Plaza. We passed the Carousel, the old Lefferts homestead and the zoo. As we neared the exit, we stopped to admire dozens and dozens of newly-bloomed crocuses and snow bells that had survived the last few snowfalls and bitterly cold weather. This was the affirmation that spring, indeed, had arrived.
You light up my life....early crocuses above Long Meadow.
Mar 16, 2005
A favorite bike ride of mine, now that I'm situated in Prospect Heights, is to strike out for Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, two neighborhoods that adjoin each other, lying just south of Brooklyn Heights, about 2 miles straight west of my locale. It's an easy ride, through tree-lined streets with beautiful Brooklyn brownstones. First, I cross busy Flatbush Avenue, then travel downhill through Park Slope - it's a long decline so I hardly have to pedal, gravity doing most of the work. The flip side of that is the heavy cycling coming back up the other way.
Park Slope is so named because it lies, adjacent to Prospect Park, on the downward sloping side of the terminal morraine, the final resting place of the immense mass of boulders and debris pushed south by the glaciers during the last ice age some 17,000 years ago. Part of this morraine forms a long, continuous ridge that runs through New Jersey, Staten island and then Brooklyn and out to Long Island.
At the bottom of the Slope lies the much-abused Gowanus Canal, a sometime fetid and filthy waterway the leads inland from New York Bay and is still used by barges to deliver fuel oil and other stuff to Brooklyn depots that line its bank. For years, many have looked to the canal as a potential Venice of Brooklyn. Today, the canal is cleaner than it used to be and might one day be a place to dine, shop, stroll and reside. But as of now it is still lined with fuel tanks and mostly decrepit buildings of a bygone industrial past.
Map of Brooklyn showing the location of the Gowanus Canal.
Close-up detail map of the Gowanus Canal.
The canal presents a problem for traffic (and bicycles) travelling west. There are few crossings and two of five are one-way eastbound. So I head to the north end (the Gowanus ends at Butler Street) to clear the canal and reach my destination of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. These are charming, old neighborhoods which used to be predominantly Italian-American. Today, lots of young people have moved into these neighborhoods, making them a bit more diverse. These communities are just a few subway stops from Manhattan and they, like so many of Brooklyn's river rim locales, have been gentrified. That means new shops and lots of great new restaurants. It also means higher rents, displacement of long-standing mom and pop shops as well as poorer residents who can no longer afford to live there.
I had lunch at one of my favorite spots: Cafe Luluc, which is on Smith Street - the area's hot, new restaurant row.
Cafe Luluc on Smith Street. Great salads, sandwiches and burgers. Cash only.
Most of the bridges crossing the Gowanus Canal are nondescript, city bridges. But one stands out - the Carroll Street bridge.And I usually take that as my bike route back. Painted a brilliant blue and paved with wide, wooden planks, it was built in 1889 and is the oldest known American bridge of the retractile type. In plain language: this rare and unusual bridge rolls back (i.e. retracts) on to the shore on steel rails, pulled by cables from a mechanism on the west bank. This allows ships to pass through on their way up the canal. It is one of the oldest bridges in New York city and one of only four such rolling bridges in the country.
Looking up the Gowanus Canal from the Carroll Street bridge.
The cables and rails used to roll the bridge on to the shore.
Quaint sign from which, seemingly, drivers feel they are exempt.
Reinforcing cables on the Carroll Street bridge.
Will the Gowanus be transformed into Brooklyn's Venice someday?
This was a nice bike ride - just a few miles back and forth on a late winter day. It's still cooler than average and with a light wind whipping off the water felt even chillier. Still, there's a certain wonderful whiff of something that I noticed today. It feels like Spring is in the air and just around the corner. That's good! I've had enough of winter. I'm ready.
Mar 15, 2005
A day after I got back from L.A., I took my bike out and went for a ride downtown. I had to visit Commerce Bank which has immodestly installed itself in a very conspicuous way at the corner of Court Street and Montague Street, across from Brooklyn Borough Hall. I've been there on business many times but this was the first time I noticed a bronze plaque on the side of the building.
The present bank notwithstanding, this building, at 215 Montague Street, was the scene of a historic event in the history of Brooklyn and Baseball. For it was at this location that the Brooklyn Dodgers maintained their offices and where, on August 8, 1945, Jackie Robinson signed an agreement with that team that broke the Jim Crow color line. Baseball, finally, belonged to all the people.
A plaque memorializing a historic event for Brooklyn and the country.
.....
We've discovered a lovely little grocery not more than a mile from our place on the corner of Vanderbilt and DeKalb Avenues in Fort Greene, a recurring destination as that site also contains a great restaurant, Ici and a nice cafe, Tillie's. Plus this little shop, L'Epicerie. The owners, who are French, sell a strange assortment of foodstuffs in their tiny market. Everything from Australian lamb, organic greens, bread from Blue Ribbon bakery and chocolate from Jacques Torres. Because it's a specialty store the prices are tres chic, but we find it hard to resist the excellent baguettes, French olives and cheeses and some wonderful pates.
L'epicerie on Vanderbilt and Dekalb Avenues......This coming weekend is the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. A terrible disaster for our country and the world, it is an illegal war that was justified with fabrications and lies. Now, 1500 American lives and countless thousands of Iraqi lives later, it continues without an end in sight. Bush is now demanding that the servile and corrupt Congress give him and the Halliburtons another 82 billion dollars so he can continue the outrage. This, while the defecit grows, attacks on working people continue with plans to privatize Social Security, jobs get shipped abroard where profits are greater, health care reaches crisis proportions and the school system disintegrates.From March 18th to the 20th, millions of Americans will protest the war. In Fayetville, North Carolina, military families and veterans have called for demonstrations against the occupation. Thousands will converge on that location. And in 574 towns and cities around the country, Americans will be standing up to demand and end to the war and that the troops be brought home now - safe and alive. Incidentally, you can help send off the New York contingent to the Fayetville protest. Just show up at UNION SQUARE on Friday, March 18th at 6:30 pm. To participate in the broad and growing anti-war movement just click here to visit United For Peace And Justice, which is coordinating the nation-wide days of protest.
Look for events in your location.In Brooklyn, local groups, under the banner of Brooklyn Parents For Peace and Peace Action, are gathering at 10:30 am on Saturday, March 19th at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade at the foot of Montague Street. From there we will march to the armed forces recruiting station on Flatbush Avenue.
Please join in wherever you can and add your voice to the millions demanding peace. In the end, it will be up to the American people, not Congress, to put an end to this shameful war. The whole world is watching.
Be part of the great peace march this weekend.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
After meeting Mildred on Tuesday, we went back to the hotel, rested a bit, picked up Lynn and Mike and drove to a hip Indian restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in the Griffith Park neighborhood, not far from Downtown. I had read a few good reviews of Tantra so we decided to give it a try.
Matt was meeting us again but without Maya this time.
Our last night in L.A. at Tantra Indian restaurant.
This was not East 6th Street (Manhattan's Indian restaurant row) Indian, but upscale and hip with higher prices and smaller portions. We loved it anyway! Cuban Mojitos (in an Indian restaurant) were ordered. Samosas with spinach and tofu stuffing, sweet and sour potato salad, blackened chicken and other fusion creations came out as inspired and delicious starters and the entrees were equally exciting. Highly recommended: Tantra, 3705 Sunset Boulevard, at Edgecliffe Drive (323-663-TANTRA). Try it.
.......
Wednesday was our very last day in L.A. Our flight was a late 8 o'clock red eye on Jet Blue at the Long Beach airport, south of the city. Lynn had to work, but Mike took some hours off (he can sometime makes his own hours) to join us for lunch. Matty had been telling us that we couldn't leave town without hitting another institution: Phillipe The Original.
This place was located Downtown, just on the fringe of Chinatown, on the corner of Alameda and Ord Streets. It was established in 1908 and is one of those places that are unique to themselves and the city in which they're located. Brooklyn might have it's Nathan's Famous in Coney Island or a Mrs. Sthal's Knishes in Brighton Beach. Los Angeles has it's Phillipe's, which is famous for, and claims to be the originator of, The Original French-dipped sandwich.
Phillipe's The Original on Ord and Alameda
How to describe it to you? Sawdust on the floors. A long counter with order takers serving you (they're called "carvers" in Phillipese). Short French rolls, dipped in gravy, with your choice of meat: pork, roast beef, turkey, lamb or ham. Long, communal tables to which you take your eats and where you rub elbows with the rest of L.A. - very democratic. Great pickles, hard-boiled eggs that have been marinated in beet juice (interesting), pig's feet (didn't try that one), soups and more. But the draw are the sandwiches and, we all agreed, they were very good and inexpensive, to boot!
People line up at a long counter where the "carver" takes your order.
Long lines - waiting to be served.
Sawdust on the floor.
Enjoying the french dipped sandwiches at Phillipe.
After lunch, the four of us, under Matty's guidance, drove up to Griffith Park, said to be the largest urban park in the country. Matt refers to it as fog "that burns off every day." I, the other Matt, calls it smog and we never saw it burn off the week that we were there. Most Angelinos swear that the air quality is much better than it used to be. They say the smog/fog used to be a sick, brownish color. Now it's just thick and white. But I wondered if there are ever any days with crisp, bright blue skies with long distance views of the hills and the ocean. Matt says yes, all the time. Our trip missed the torrential rains with which southern California has been suffering the last few months. But with the return of mild weather and sunny days, we still didn't get any of those bright, clear days that one would want with all this natural beauty to rest one's eyes on.
On the way to Griffith Park, Matt took us to a favorite haunt of his. Reminds him of home.
Mike looks out on L.A. but the view was obscured by a persistent smog.
The view of the Hollywood sign from the Observatory atop Griffith Park.
Our trip was memorable. For me, a first-time visitor, I felt like I had gotten a grip, albeit an introductory one, to the feel and day-to-day life in Los Angeles. It is huge and sprawling and impossible, in one week and maybe in many weeks, to breathe it all in and digest it. But we had seen a lot, felt the pulse, appreciated the laid-back L.A. lifestyle which moves more slowly and with much more patience than that of New York. We met old family that we hadn't known before, hung with a dear, old friend of mine who had moved west decades ago, got to spend some good quality time with our son and his girlfriend, Lynn, visited a lot of famous L.A. spots and hotspots and just had a very nice time. We'll be back.
.....
A postscript: Antonio Villaraigosa, the preferred candidates of liberals and progressives, won the primary. He will still have to face the incumbent, James K. Hahn, in May in a runoff, but this was good news. Nobody will be able to solve the very serious problems that Los Angeles and othe big American cities are suffering without massive aid from the Federal government - something that is not in the cards with the current gang in power in Washington DC. But at least there will be a Mayor who cares about people and their problems perhaps a bit more than the others who were running and, in that sense, I felt a bit of elation for this great city we had just visited.
The primary for mayor was won by Villaraigosa despite the headline on the left.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Monday night, after our bike ride and after a little recuperative nap back at the hotel, we met my cousins again (couldn't get enough of them) at a Mexican restaurant in the Echo Park section, just west of the center city. I was getting the hang of the city now and its various neighborhoods and could, with the help of Mapquest, get about anywhere without a hitch.
As in New York, I prefer the streets to the highway. And it's not about getting somewhere quick (which is not very easy in L.A. anyway, what with the jammed freeways). It's about seeing neighborhoods, which is my favorite preoccupation when travelling. How else to really know a city? The beauty part of L.A? Like it's east coast counterpart, Los Angeles has neighborhoods in spades and they vary widely. But colorful and diverse for sure and that's the impression of L.A. that I will take back home with me.
The restaurant, Barrigan's (pronounce it with a Spanish accent: barrrr - ee - GAN') was very good, inexpensive. I had cocido, which I've never heard of before, a bathtub-sized bowl of chicken soup filled with corn (on the cob), carrots, cilantro, beef ribs. ¡Marivillosa! Lynn and Mike were tired and stay home so Stacey and I joined Carol, Susan, Muriel and Ken at the restaurant. After dinner, we sat around the long oval table and talked the night away until the restaurant closed and we were embarrassed into finally leaving. By the way, most restaurants close around 11 in L.A. For the most part, this is not a late-night city like New York.
.....
The next day, Tuesday, the kids had to get back to work, so Stacey, nursing a cold, and I just took took it easy. We started the day with a visit to an old Los Angeles institution, The Original Pantry. It's now owned by former Mayor, the Replublican power-broker, Richard J. Riordan. The place is a no-frills, breakfast and lunch diner-style restaurant where the local politicos hold court on any given day. It's a cash only, good and honest breakfast joint that's famous for quantity rather than quality.
Politicians and power brokers start their day here on Figueroa and Ninth.
Old trolleys on the wall at the Original Pantry.
The Original Pantry - an L.A. institution since 1924.
After breakfast, Stacey and I drove up Sunset Boulevard form one end to the other. We took detours to see the estates above the Strip in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. But first I made a detour to retrace part of our bike trip where I had neglected to take some photos. This was Rossmore Street, a north-south road that had some stunning, old deco apartments and houses along its path.
Beautiful old apartments on Rossmore Street in Hollywood.
Entrance to the El Royale apartments on Rossmore.
One after another, old gems on Rossmore.
Just grand! Who built these? When were they built? Who lived there over the years?
Our next stop was to take a look at ultra-posh Rodeo Drive. The northern end of it is residential and is lined with lovely houses (again) and spectacular old trees. South of Santa Monica Boulevard is the famous shopping-land of the rich and famous. I found this dull and unexciting (and unaffordable for the "rest" of us). Mostly a collection of flagship showoff stores for the famous names in uber-fashion. Beautifully presented. Boring.
Fabulous trees line the residential section of Rodeo Drive.
Stacey, admiring the homes on Rodeo.
We were racing the clock now. We were to meet my cousins' mom, Mildred at her home on Fairfax at 5 o'clock. It was already 4:30 and we were in Santa Monica to take one last look at its beach, ocean walk, pier and pedestrianized 3rd street mall. We would have to contend with rush hour traffic to make it back to Mildred's place. So we stuck a couple of quarters in the parking meter and set off on foot for a 15 minute go-round which left us wanting more of Santa Monica. We'd have to save it for the next trip out west.
The beautiful walk on the Pacific at Santa Monica.
The Georgian Hotel on the shore in Santa Monica.
Thrown out on the mean streets. Here is Bush's Compassionate Conservatism in real life.
Despite the traffic we reached Miltdre's place just a few minutes after five. Muriel and her mom greeted us at the door of this senior residence. Mildred was thrilled to meet us and were we to meet her. As I wrote earlier, Maxie (my dad's first cousin and close boyhood buddy) and Mildred moved to California in 1949 and then the families lost touch. We've only recently rediscovered each other. But Mildred was enthusiastic and eager to know all about us and the rest of our family. I dutifully filled her in and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her and finally meeting this woman of whom I had heard so much albeit through the filter of great distances and many years.
Matt and Mildred - we'd never met before but it felt like old times.
Muriel, Stacey and Mildred ... New found family.
