Another eyeball check-up for Nik in Culver City gave me the excuse to pack in some more L.A. area shooting. We were all over the place — the Valley, West L.A., L.A. itself, and east of it. Tomorrow, will be more L.A. area & some Orange County.
Nik’s eyeball report is mixed — but nothing terrible. A new medication for high pressure in his dead eye — and continued optimism that sight might return in the good eye if that darned opaque lens would just detach already. The boy has been living with about 5% of this sign for years but happy as a clam. Watching him run & retrieve you’d never know it. Anyhow, it looks like there’s no end to these eyeball appointments so I’ll just continue maximizing the time and gas money to shoot more L.A. & O.C. stuff every couple of months.
Let’s start with Valley Village and the striking Valley Ambassador Apartments:
with dingbat lighting along the side of the building:
Also in Valley Village — a storybook-style post office:
Sou’s Shoe Repair in Burbank:
And one of today’s highlights — a visit to the San Fernando Valley Relics museum which just opened a few weeks ago. There’s all sorts of ephemera and vintage photos. But with a tight schedule, I went straight for the signs. There are some fun statues, too. Here’s Alvin from Alvin & the Chipmunks. Yes, there were statues of Theodore & Simon, as well. About five feet tall:
A couple of Bob’s Big Boy items. This Bob looks a little mopey though — not the usual face or grin. An early model or a knock-off?:
A pre-1990 Pep Boys statue (that’s when they did away with Manny’s cigar):
And now for some signs… There are a few more photos from the museum over at my Flickr account tonight as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
The Dimples sign is from Burbank:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25006582@N06/8633213209/
The Outrigger sign from Sun Valley must be a recent acquisition. I just shot it in November of last year. I hope Tommy got the other sign, too:
The Tiffany Theatre sign came from West Hollywood:
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/08/tiffany_theatre_sign_will.php
One of two Nudie Cadillacs at the museum. Here’s some info about the cars & the man himself:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/automobiles/04AUTO.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
More about the museum here:
http://www.valleyrelics.org/about.html
On to Pomona. Love the faux curls on the sides of the sign, the big holes in the side of the building, and the recessed facade:
This photo was supposed to be posted to tonight’s Flickr batch — but I forgot it. So here tis — Gomer Jones Studebaker from 1947:
And on to Hollywood where I ran out of daylight thanks to massive traffic jams for the Day of the Dead celebration at the Forever Cemetery.
This is one of the rarer (and scarier) Santa statues. I’ve only seen or known of two of them: one in Pasadena and another in Lynwood — both gone. I don’t know if this guy is from either place. And he probably won’t be around long either. He’s at one of those outdoor junk dealer places. More Santa statues at my website if you want to get in the mood for the impending season:
http://www.agilitynut.com/giants/santas.html
A sampling of tomorrow’s photos coming your way in the next blog post on Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, more photos for you over at Flickr from today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/
dj & the dogs
RoadArch.com companion 