The Flavor of Los Angeles

It felt good to leave the cold windy rains of Surf City. Too many of the residents e I find over-nourished, under-educated , and racist. A bus driver on Saturday saw a truck with two American flags, but instead of red, white and blue the colors were red, white and black. a couple of months ago, I saw a Hitler look alike while checking out of Von's on Atlantic and Magnolia
   On an early Monday, I boarded the almost empty #33 for Buena Park and La Palma. I desperately needed a change of scenery and cleaner air, or Los Angeles. It took about forty minutes, and to my left I saw the rides of Knott's Berry farms. It only took about five minutes to be picked up by the L.A. 460 Metro Bus that picked me up on La Palma. 
    Those who have read my blog know that taking the Long Beach Blue Line is not for the frail and old - and now since the line is being refitted, I refuse to sit with the dirt, grime and intolerable behavior of patrons who ride in from Long Beach. During this remodeling, they can ride for free.  That is why I find myself now taking a circular route to downtown Los Angeles
    Like a serpent, the bus skirted the towns of La Mirada, and Norwalk, sticking mainly to Firestone and Imperial before reaching the large Transit Center where many Patrons descended and connected with the Green Line. Many passengers boarded here and I found many were laborers or workers who exhibited proper behavior.
    After a five minute break, the bus departed but this time meandered on the 105 freeway and stuck to a bus lane. It paralleled the route of the Green Line. The Green Line connected with the Blue and and the L.A. airport shuttle and finally Redondo Beach. I have been on this line and felt intimidated by many passengers who climb aboard with bikes, carts, and trash bags. Not all, but many exhibit behavior that is so obnoxious, that I can't print it since this computer will break down.

So Far So Good.  I was smart enough not to drink any Green Tea, and my bladder felt fine halfway to Los Angeles. Several girls were dolling up their fine faces while others amused themselves with their smart phones. Not quite eighty, I wished to witness the changing of the scenery as my able and kind bus drive said good-by to the 105 and hello to the Harbor Freeway.
   The bus traveled in a special bus lane that stopped on Manchester to pick up a few passenegers before carrying on to its last leg and getting off on Expo and Flower. Two wished to get to the Expo line for Santa Monica but I wished to go all the way to Figueroa and Fifth Street
    "Thank you  again and have a great day." The  bus driver was all smiles and showed an overabundance of compassion for here charges. and it didn't hurt that she spoke and understood English.
    My town, L.A , was waking up. The cold winds from the ocean circled the tall buildings. It was a clear blue day. A biker almost hit me, but the sound and the color of the city exited me. My steps were fast and sure as I avoided some construction and now headed to Hope Street and Walked North to the South Wing of the Central Library
    Now inside the library I hurried to the bathroom on the First Floor and waited for a homeless chap to finish brushing his teeth before taking the elevator to the fourth and lowest floor to order a Herald and Express micro films of December of 1939.
     As soon as I placed the film and turned on the machine my mind went into orbit  A Neo-Nazi leader was  convicted do to the fine torts of  Tom Dewey who would run for president and Russian had invaded Finland...But what caught my eye was a touchdown catch by Jackie Robinson
thrown by Kenny Washington. U.C.L.A after beating the Cougars now hoped to get into the 1940 Rose Bowl...'
    After spending a couple of hours glued to the films, and re energizing my depleted body with Panda Express on the first floor. I took my body back to Hope. Hooked to a long silver cover a food truck caught my eye. I began to dance to the Mariachi music as several people were buying a nine dollar Mexican combo.
    "Ho much for the doggies."
     "Six dollars,: was his the replay of the well dressed and spoken owner as his sidekick grilled more meat and veggies on his skillet. A l;ady across from me waited for her eight dollar taco I could see that this vendor did all right. I began o walk towards Seventh and the Metro Station I heard somebodies feet behind me.
     "The lady over there has bought you a hot dog...Do you wish everything on it?"
      'You got it," while I turned and hitched up my pants to appear not a slouch.
     Now I have tasted hot dogs before but this one was like a bolt out of the sky. I cradled the bun as if there was a new baby inside and chewed each succulent bite. A homeless man came towards me and as if the kind lady told me that one good turn deserves another, I told the man carrying a book with a loud limp t stop .
     "Can I buy you a dog?"
      "Yes sir. Thanks..bad luck every since Katrina in New Orleans...Live at a shelter down the street..Where is the unemployment office?
      I gave a ten to the lunch truck man and he returned a fiver to me. I told the man I would pray for him as the last piece of hot dog I finally digested
 
 
 
 

a visit to the wax museum

The sun was out, and how, on President's Day. After a nice brunch at Whole Foods, I took the 29 bus to Mel's stop, on Main. I made one stop at Panda to get some grub for my brother Mel. It was going on One O'clock.
   I needed a stop so I parked myself in front of the Five Points Senior Apartments. Crazy Helen had thrown me out over one year ago, perhaps because she had been implicated in the theft of my brother's car. I felt great that Mel was still alive and the last thread to my past and parents. I also hoped that Mel had been to the dentist to remove his infected teeth. I call the long winding Sea Cliff the Bates Motel. I believe that is the motel in the movie Psycho.
   After I signed  sanitized my hands, and placed a mask over my face, I walked to station four in the back of what I call the Wax Museum. Several patrons sat in the halls as I made my way to his room, 135 B. Mel was sitting in bed and tray sat on a stand.
   "That you George...Glad you made it..." Mel is legally blind due to a mistake by a Vietnamese eye doctor who treated him for Glaucoma ten years ago.
   "Got you Panda Mel...ah"
    "George, you eat my lunch and bring the Orange Chicken over here..."
  In front of Mel's bed is a walker with his closet behind that. He has a patio that looks out into an empty courtyard. I placed his tray of Sheppard's Pie on top of his drawers. I gave him a fork and directed it to the meal.  Mel had lost a lot of weight. His unruly hair did not bother me, but it was his hollow face on top of a quivering jaw.
   "Mel, I see that your teeth are still there..." Mel was in some discomfort and I knew better than to go to staff but I did. The social worker's door was open. I knew better than to speak to a was manikin, and as usual Social Worker Chris laughed and left. She told me that Mel had refused to go to the dentist which i knew was a lie.
    "George, I refused to go to the skin doctor and not the dentist...George is there any food left?
     "Chucks friend brought me a Tri-tip steak...His friends are wonderful to me.
  After lunch, I told him to get his walker and follow me. Mel could barely see now. I wonderedif he had been to his eye doctor for shots or as the nurse in station four told me, only the doctor can schedule an appointment. This time, Mel could barely walk. Was he getting enough food?  I had told Amber at rehab in the basement that Mel needed his teeth taken care of. Unlike Christy they listened to me. Mel wished to walk some more but the assistant wished to change his diaper and I was getting madder by the minute. I told Mel good by and knew I needed about one hour sun.
    That night I took two blood pressure pills and had trouble negotiating the day that followed. Mel's doctor during these events is a Mr. Joseph Nasser, a governor of the Huntington Beach Hospital on Beach.




Nuts and Bolts for today: Make sure to get the health and legal rights turned over to you if you too need to take a loved one to one of these Wax Museums.

 

Love on the #29 bus.

Needed a few quarters for the bus. My Access card entitles me to bus rides for one quarter. I picked up the #33 a few  blocks from my apartment and rode with the Boat People to Endinger. I crossed the street and entered the Green Market. I just can's live without apples and oranges each day. It cost four and change for the three apples, two oranges, a tomato and a large ginger root. At Ralph's the cost would have cost double  ( The Boat People survived and re-re-rooted in Westminster after the Vietnamese War.) 
   I crossed the street for the number 70 out of Santa Ana that would take me to Whole Foods for my brunch. I sat down on the outside bench and rearranged my veggies and fruit inside my nap sack. Then...a ..I heard a voice...A lady spoke to me from under the bus canape. 
   "Sir, something is loose in the back of your pants." 
    "ah...ah.." I looked and discovered a piece of toilet paper that covered the back pocket. 
    "Thank you...You know at my age you can't be too sure."
   I had the usual at Whole Foods, various greens, artichoke hearts, fig leaves and almond chips. I placed $5.98 cents worth inside the green little box, folded it, and took it to the check out line. Leisurely, I took my time and read some football stuff while I downed the rabbit food bolstered with three, exactly three slices of beacon. 
   Beside the south facing window, my table faced the window. The hot sun felt too good as I got ready for the day at the downtown library. At ten, I packed up and walked to the Stark bus stop. It felt so good to walk with the sun following me. 
   It took over thirty minutes for the 29 bus but who cared. The sun was making love to me. I got on with a toothless lady and a many holding a sports bag. I sat back and enjoyed the view. I still get excited when on a bus. At about Garfield a young girl wearing a colorful sweater and long tinted hair under a cotton scarf not only got on, but sat across from me. 
    Now I have never seen an actual angel but she looked like one. Her head owned large dimpled cheeks with a permanent smile. Her dark eyes said, "take me." Now there was something about her that made me become bashful. I placed back on my sun glasses. 
     Do I know her...where have I seen her before... The bus now made a right on P.C.H. She remained on the bus while I pulled the rip cord.  My stop on First was coming up. She also pulled the the cord that tell the bus driver to stop at the next bus stop. 
     "Might...ah might your name be ah Ana..?" 
      "Yes." She looked right into my eyes with a charm I had never seen before 
      "You look so much happier and are still appealing. 
       Her smile told me that she might be still available. She got off and removed her bike from the rack while I made my way down Orange and the Main Street Library 




   Nuts and Bolts for today: Like the Hurts commercial, I let them do the driving while I fall in love with the scenery 

Li'll Nell at Roxbury Park

Li'll Nell grabbed my little finger as we walked to Roxbury Park. . It was a clear cold sunny day in Beverly Hills. This time, I did not need to bend down for her to grab my little finger. She had just turned two and was at the eight percentile of her age group. As always she disdains the stroller and demands to walk.
   Karen, her mother, would pick her up later from the park. For the first time in a week. the rain took a day off. A bit cold, it felt good to have my God Daughter holding on...in fact it seemed to provide me with new found energy. Li'll Nell was born a few miles from here, at Kaiser Permanente on La Cienega on the last day of January. She has a radiant smile and long dark brown hair. Everybody raves at the deep brown long eye brows. We crossed a street and entered the Roxbury Senior Center. I needed to return a book called the  The Crazy Two's.
    She dislodged my hand an ran after a squirrel that scampered up a fir tree and then set her eyes on the sand box area close to the metered parking lot. Bit first L'll Nell pointed to her shoe. I removed her gold colored shoes and she eagerly began to play in the sand with the toys she received for her second birthday. 
     Yes it was cold but the hot sun made me remove my sweat shirt. Nell began to talk to her toys as she built them shelter with the sand. The full hot sun must have done wonders for her and my mood. She ignored me for several minutes while she engaged a young kid who shared his water bucket with her. 
     Many years ago, my two daughters played at Roxbury Park. In fact, my Dad watched with glee as his grandson took soccer lessons and played in a junior league. It seemed like yesterday that I was pushing them on the swings. It was then I heard a familiar noise. It was the sound of an ice cream truck. 
    Pictures of various ice cream bars were painted on the side of the truck. I picked her up and she pointed to the yellow Popsicle. The kind driver threw in a bottled water with the yellow Popsicle and fudge bar that I ordered  
    She grabbed the treat with two hands after I had pinched out an opening. We returned to the sand box bench. A vision of me waiting for the Good Humor truck came into view. I was only about five years old when Mom had given me a dime for an ice cream. We were living on Holt and Airdrome in West L.A. 
     At exactly four o'clock I heard the welcome song to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  I walked across the empty street and the white truck stopped for me. 
     "Hi George...Let me get what you want. Here is your chocolate chip ice cream cup." I took the cup and sat down on our front porch  I opened the lip of the cup and sampled the treat using a small flat wooden spoon....and then..."
     "Papa, want to go back to the sand." She handed me the wrapping and stick and stuck her feet back into the cold sand box Just then I felt a knock on my back. It was Karen, who came just in time as Nell began to get fussy, and of course needed a nap and nourishment. 

Nuts and Bolts for Today:  Life is all bout holding hands, or if a bit little, fingers. You need to rry it sometimes 

My Trip to U.S.C.

Exhausted but happy to have made it to downtown without taking the  . te No longer this year cam I take the Long Beach Blue Line to Los Angeles, since it is being scuttled for a better one.  Yet those who chose to fix the train might have done better to fix the behavior of many of its riders who who jump on and off the tram to Los Angeles without paying. 
   On Wednesday, I took a different line. The #460 Metro took me downtown with only one glitz. I picked it up on La Palms after connecting from the #33. It took one hour and everything went perfect as the longer bus circled Alondra, Artesia, Norwalk and made touched on Firestone now and then.
    A tall black middle aged drunk came on board at the Norwalk Transit Center. He cussed and hollered for the next twenty minutes. The smell of alcoholic fumes made me want to change my seat but there was none available. Instead I looked at our white washed mountains. Every time the train headed in an easterly direction, I could almost touch the white snow cones.
     The 460 marched on through the commercial zone. Tracks and trucks competed for space as the 460 jumped on the Five and ran along its own Harbor Freeway lane until it got to San Pedro Street. We passed Staples and its host of stores and made a right on Figueroa on to Sixth Street where I got off.
    So bitterly cold, my head felt separated from its body. Icicles hit my head as I made my way down Hope to the Central Library. The elevator took me down to floor four. Several homeless were exiting the bathroom. I ordered a microfilm and returned to the elevator. It is regrettable that many black have no home and that the cops react to fast - but any fool can see why.
    After a Panda lunch this bear made it out of hibernation to look at microfilms of 1937. Yes this is what I just love to do - research the Trojans in the thirties. I had enough energy left to to take the Expo Blue Line to U.S.C. Unlike the Long Beach line I felt safe.
     My sponsor at the U.S.C. library pulled two year books out of their safe and I looked over the pictures before I walked across the campus to the Wilson Building. On the fourth floor I walked to the Daily Trojan that opened at four o'clock.
     I met Jonathon who gave me the papers E mail He seemed a bit reluctant but I was adamant this U.S.C. Paper wrote about my Schindler Story and the great teams of the thirties. Amby Schindler will turn 102 on April 21st and it is necessary to promote the book. He gave me the paper's e mail at multimedia.daily trojan@gmail.com.
  U.S.C is a city within a city. Everyone is smiling, studying and in their own time zone. I returned to the Expo blue that made its way to La Cienega where I departed to take the 705 Vernon Bus to the Pico seven.
   
   
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A Bull Shit Super Bowl

I didn't know the shape my brothers Mel would be since his Super Bowl Team, the Rams, never showed up.
   The 29 A bus took  me to the Main Street Exit.  From there, I walked to the street mall and the dollar store. I sorely needed paper towels and a white collar cleanser. But first I would buy my Brother Mel's favorite dinner, a Panda Express Orange Chicken with Chow Men and rice. It felt good to chat with my now happy Brother, who has been given a new chapter in his life.
    For those new to my Blog, the Florida Sea Cliff Health Center is located two miles from downtown between Main and Garfield. Florida Street is known for senior living refuge as several apartments house old people like me.
    After I signed in at the Crow's Next, I waked up the corridor to the third hallway and made a left at Nurses Station Number Four. Outside Mel's Suite 135 I saw a body. On Closer inspection, it was Mel's roommate. He lay on a hospital tram bed and didn't recognize me. It was Bed one's occupant less one hundred pounds.
     Mel was lying in bed two. With nothing to do, he just lays there during the day. I set down my nap sack and umbrella and pulled out a poker chair.
      "Hey Mel, brought you a Panda Express..."
      "That you George,..just what  I wanted...Needed it after that Bull Shit Super Bowl...Give me a minute, just had a hot chocolate and stomach is a bit unsettled."
       Without a struggle, Mel sat up. His hair was unkempt but he smiled
       "That game hat game really depressed me. That Gurney must have been injured And those commercials. Every time out there were many bull shit commercials."
        Mel grabbed a fork and began to shovel the Chinese food into his palate  He smiled.
       "Just what I need...Did the Dodgers make any trades?'
        "Not yet  What have..." 
       Two nurses came into the room and attached bed one to a lift. They settled him in and he asked one to feed him His breathing was heavy and too fast. I knew that he would  be going to the Super Bowl in Heaven with God as his catcher.
        "Aren't these nurses cute?"
         "We look like you one exclaimed."
        "George my teeth are still giving me trouble, they hurt all the time and a dentist told me that they would be pulled soon."
         I went to the Desk Jockey in station four.
         "Can you tell me if Mel is scheduled for a tooth extraction. and does he no longer have a case worker?
         'His insurance does not provide for a case worker...Need to talk to social worker....Been here three years so know what I am doing.
          "Can I see his charts to see what he is being treated for?
     I returned to Mel's room. He needed me to move the last tidbits to the center He had good coordination and his vision was good.
           "Thanks a lot. Still walking and will get a shower on Tuesday. (More to Come.)
           "We are not ready to be transparent, so says the Wax Museum on Florida Street which is located in the Twilight Zone 


       
         "


     
 

Power Outage in Surf City

It felt good to have cashed my retirement check at Wall Mart. Equity management requires my rent to be paid within three days, and that with a money order or cashier check. Our New Governor was correct, Surf City needs more housing, and much more. Restrains must be placed on the apartment owners or managers who  have the option not providing you with a new lease.
   I live at the Beach Wood Apartments on Magnolia and Garfield. at least my $1,700 apartment provides a roof over my head. As evidenced by the lease, Equity Management is aware of the mildew and has made sure that the resident is responsible for any or all of the smell.  I am also aware that with Global Warming, it is a matter of time when the poison will exacerbate my already tinged lungs, so soon I will depart.
   Surf City suffered through a perfect storm the past Saturday. At least the Lift took me to the Warner Avenue Synagogue. It felt great to pray and sing the hymns sung by my forefathers a long time ago. The threat of rain made many hesitant to take the long walk to the Synagogue, as a heavy downpour in the afternoon would make them wet on the return trip home. Jews are forbidden to walk on the Sabbath.  I arrived at the Synagogue at nine o'clock, after drinking a coffee at Starbucks
   The Kiddish was ample, what with herring, salmon, olives, salad, beans and cake to relax my stomach. With extra wine, I forgot about  the windy cold windy rain.  I didn't need to squeeze through to place food on my plate.
    My Access lift was to come at 1:30. I put my beanie over my head and a cap over it. I picked up my golf  umbrella and hear the voice of Joshua.
     "You are the only smart one. We need to wait for the heavy downpour to end. Have a good day George."

Outside the Warner River had overflowed its banks. Too bad I had not worn galoshes. . I broad Jumped across the river and soaked my left tennis shoe, but made it to CVS.  My lift driver was supposed to pick me up between one thirty and two. I stood by the overhang of the drug store and prayed that the lift would come, or plan two would be put in place.
   It came and it felt good that I had survived the Perfect Storm .The Turkish driver spoke about the problems that Turkey has today and the Ottoman Empire many years ago. He spoke perfect English as well as three other languages. He parked beside the curb and I lifted myself outside.
   "Careful George, a live wire is over there!"
   I paid no attention to him. I felt tired and needed to nap. I turned the electric wall heater on did not hear any hissing sound. Ha, the radio lights are off. The lights did not answer when I flipped the switch. The manager was not inside her office as she is supposed to. Instead a note said, Lines down and Power if off everywhere - have a good day.
   Now that was Bull Shit.Somebody in this establishment should have remained there. After all we needed to pay our rent. With puddles everywhere, I jumped and crisscrossed the courtyards and made it back to my apartment. I new that my Bronchial Asthma would be exacerbated since my Heppa filter would not work
   It was too early to go to bed so I took a walk outside and saw three trucks working on the lines It downed on me. Jerk, across the street lies Home Depot. Get a flashlight. I did. Edison tied the shoelaces by nine thirty but by that time, i had forgotten as I was deep into reading a book with my new friend, a hand held flashlight.