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  31. <title>Inside The Station House: March 2, 2024</title>
  32. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2024/03/03/inside-the-station-house-march-2-2024/</link>
  33. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  34. <pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:13:26 +0000</pubDate>
  35. <category><![CDATA[landmarks]]></category>
  36. <category><![CDATA[los angeles]]></category>
  37. <category><![CDATA[machines]]></category>
  38. <category><![CDATA[mass transit]]></category>
  39. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11764</guid>
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  49. <title>A Cup That Sums Things Up</title>
  50. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2024/03/01/a-cup-that-sums-things-up/</link>
  51. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  52. <pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2024 23:21:49 +0000</pubDate>
  53. <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
  54. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11757</guid>
  55.  
  56. <description><![CDATA[This cup belonged to my daughter. It was part of a &#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; set that included a matching plate, bowl, fork, knife and spoon given her as a gift when she a few years old. I can&#8217;t remember what for, if it was her birthday or Christmas. I can&#8217;t remember exactly when, sometime in &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2024/03/01/a-cup-that-sums-things-up/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "A Cup That Sums Things Up"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  57. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  58. <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="480" height="640" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_7092-rotated.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11758" style="width:302px;height:auto" srcset="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_7092-rotated.jpg 480w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_7092-225x300.jpg 225w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /></figure>
  59.  
  60.  
  61.  
  62. <p>This cup belonged to my daughter. It was part of a &#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; set that included a matching plate, bowl, fork, knife and spoon given her as a gift when she a few years old. I can&#8217;t remember what for, if it was her birthday or Christmas. I can&#8217;t remember exactly when, sometime in the early 1990s. I&#8217;ve kept it all this time.</p>
  63.  
  64.  
  65.  
  66. <p>Couldn&#8217;t keep her. She&#8217;s going to be 35 this year. Whoa: She&#8217;s 10 years old than I was when she was born. I haven&#8217;t seen her for going on eight years. The last communication was around the holidays. She was living out in San Bernardino and I texted her to let her know I had some Christmas gifts for Aiden. Aiden is her son, thus my grandson. I think at the time he was about the same age as Kate was when I got her that cup.</p>
  67.  
  68.  
  69.  
  70. <p>She texted back that she was coming to visit her mom in the valley. I asked her if she could swing by on the way, but she found that inconvenient. I texted back that I found her lack of convenience lacking in consideration. And off she went on a text tirade, making it plain how little I rated in her book, holidays or any time.</p>
  71.  
  72.  
  73.  
  74. <p>Bridge burned, I texted her back &#8220;I hear you loud and clear,&#8221; and that was that. Seriously: I immediately deleted her phone from my contacts and promptly brought Aiden&#8217;s gifts &#8212; nothing major, several Lego sets &#8212; to my company&#8217;s potluck party and gift exchange where they ended up in the grateful possession of our receptionist who said her five-year-old would love them. Sad that that was more fulfilling than giving them to my grandson, but telling.</p>
  75.  
  76.  
  77.  
  78. <p>Lest you get the impression that Kate and I in our respective triggers combined in the spur of that upset moment to push a perfectly healthy father-daughter relationship off an infinity cliff, that is most definitely not the case. In many ways we were destined for the estrangement that has since endured. I&#8217;ll spare you the gory details of a long-form timeline, but her mother and I split in January 1990 when Kate was four months old and since that liberation spent every opportunity both to deny me my parental rights and to poison Kate against me. In 1993, after putting up with my ex&#8217;s bullshit of picking and choosing when I could see Kate &#8212; and always in her joyless presence &#8212; I finally had my day in family court and won, so to speak, if you call a father being awarded alternating weekends and two-weeks every summer, winning. But from there I did my best against a stacked deck and forces aligned against me &#8212; borne of an inate desire to be a father that was not the abandoning deadbeat mine had been. Picking her up on Fridays, having her back on Sundays, in that short time between I tried my best to be both a good person, a good friend and a good parent. I succeeded. Mostly.</p>
  79.  
  80.  
  81.  
  82. <p>Which finally brings us back to the cup, which I have kept all these years 30-odd years because it symbolizes so much about Kate and me. See, in the picture above, it looks intact though well worn. But if I filled it with a liquid the leaky reality would quickly be revealed. Look at the video and you&#8217;ll see close-up the myriadcracks, which resulted from a shameful episode where I was not a good person, a good friend or a good parent.</p>
  83.  
  84.  
  85.  
  86. <figure class="wp-block-video aligncenter"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_7090-2.mov"></video></figure>
  87.  
  88.  
  89.  
  90. <p>It was bedtime. Beginning in 1995 I lived in  a one-bedroom apartment in Encino. This was probably a year or so after I&#8217;d moved in. Kate slept on the sofabed in the living room. As was part of the ritual, I would tuck her in with an array of stuffed animals and a sippy cup of apple juice on the side table next to the bed. Only this time she asked if she could have her juice in her Little Mermaid cup. I agreed but I asked her to be very careful so as not to spill it. I read her a story, got a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said goodnight.</p>
  91.  
  92.  
  93.  
  94. <p>Not more than a few minutes later from my bed, I heard a clunk and a gasp and rolled my eyes knowing she spilled it, knocked it off the endtable and the juice went all over the carpeting. I tromped in angry and glaring, picked the cup up from the floor and hurled it &#8212; I didn&#8217;t mean too so hard &#8212; into the dining room where it hit a table leg and shattered spectacularly, pieces everywhere. It was the last thing I should&#8217;ve done. I turned back to Kate who curled up on the bed looked so tiny beneath me and I saw the tears welling up in her eyes, yet instead of kneeling down beside her and apologizing, I stormed off to the kitchen for the paper towels and cleaner and to mask my embarassment and stormed back, where I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed at the stain furiously for several minutes until my arms ached, after which I sat back stared into her frightened eyes and only then tried to minimize the damage by calling myself a poopy doofus for getting so mad. That got the eyes to soften. Then I stood up, turned my back and told her to give my butt a whomp for being such a big blue meany. She didn&#8217;t so I pushed my hip out further and told her to go on. She landed a tap and giggled and I wondered aloud if that was a butt whomp or if a butterfly had landed on me. The second one was harder and the laugh louder. I urged her to deliver one more and the third was a solid hit to which I howled in mock pain and then smothered her in a hug and kissed to the top of her head. Then I got her some fresh juice in her sippy cup told her I loved her and that I&#8217;d see her in the morning.</p>
  95.  
  96.  
  97.  
  98. <p>But my work wasn&#8217;t done. It became immensely important to me to return that cup to her in one piece and have it for her the next morning, not under any pretense that it never was broken, but rather both as an act of penance and one of healing. Waiting about 30 minutes,  I tiptoed past her into the dining room with a flashlight and searched every inch for any shards, slivers, chunks and pieces of her now disintegrated cup. Once I was pretty confident I had them all, I returned to my bedroom with some glue and for the next hour or so put the cup back together. Did a pretty good job, too, if I do say so myself.</p>
  99.  
  100.  
  101.  
  102. <p>When I woke up the next morning I set it on the end table next to her sippy cup with a Post-It note on which I&#8217;d drawn a heart then I went into the kitchen to start her usual breakfast of mini-pancakes, bacon and eggs. She soon appeared at the kitchen with the cup in her tiny hands and asked to have something to drink in it. I told her that even though I had put it back together it would leak if we poured anything into it. She nodded and climbed up onto a dining room chair. At breakfast I told her how sorry I was to have gotten so angry. I promised her it wouldn&#8217;t happen again. It never did.</p>
  103.  
  104.  
  105.  
  106. <p>Time passed and we had great times and experiences, it was a joy to watch her grow from a child to a young lady, but eventually I had to make the very difficult decision to remove myself from Kate&#8217;s life &#8212; for both mine and her well-being. Kate was increasingly being pressured by her mom to make me the bad guy. So much so that an incident in the year 2000 foretold a frustrating future.</p>
  107.  
  108.  
  109.  
  110. <p>Kate and I were at a park kicking a ball back and forth until Kate started being a bit of a butthead and was kicking  it far from where I wasn&#8217;t. After the fourth time and third warning to stop I simply quit putting up with it, got the ball told her it was time to go home and walked back to my truck. She didn&#8217;t follow, instead going and hiding in one of the bathrooms until I came back and found her. That was exaggerated into a complaint of child abandonment made to the Department of Children and Family Services and a couple weeks later I found myself interrogated by a social worker to determine if a crime had been committed. When I confronted Kate&#8217;s mom she didn&#8217;t deny making the call, but when I asked why didn&#8217;t she call me first and find out what had actually happened, she said she wasn&#8217;t interested in that.</p>
  111.  
  112.  
  113.  
  114. <p>I saw that such attacks were only going to continue and get worse both to my potential detriment and to Kate&#8217;s so I elected to retire from what had become an unwinnable battle. It was unfair for us to be deprived of each other, but to me it was more unfair to leave Kate in a position where she was stuck having a mother so jealous and possessive who&#8217;d get upset if Kate told her what fun she&#8217;d had with me so instead to keep her mom happy she&#8217;d manufacture tales.</p>
  115.  
  116.  
  117.  
  118. <p>Kate tried that with me several times, confessing to me that her mom locked in her room without food or left her home alone for days. The difference was that instead of feeding off that negativity and running with it for selfish nefarious purposes I would say to Kate let&#8217;s call your mom and see what she has to say about that. It was funny &#8212; and sad &#8212; to watch her backpedal so fast. It didn&#8217;t take long for Kate to figure out she didn&#8217;t have to play that wretched game with me. Too bad she was forced to keep playing it with her mom.</p>
  119.  
  120.  
  121.  
  122. <p>Nine years passed punctuated with occasional email exchanges consisting of me holding out an olive branch and being interested in reconnecting together and her flaming back with amazingly angry, insulting and appropriately teenaged responses, until we finally reconnected in 2010 and agreed to meet for lunch. It went better than I&#8217;d expected and we began a series of informal get-togethers and hang-outs that graduated to invites to school performances and even her high school graduation. I even gifted her with my wife&#8217;s old car and taught her how to operate a manual transmission. It was a period of greater communication and connection through which I got a deeper perspective of what her life was like and the troubles she endured growing up and she got insight into what I went through and the decisions I made. We seemed to be succeeding at breaking down the barriers between us and instead building a platform of trust upon which to grow the relationship we were never allowed to culivate.</p>
  123.  
  124.  
  125.  
  126. <p>Seemed to be.</p>
  127.  
  128.  
  129.  
  130. <p>Then came the bombshell blindside announcement via email that she had given birth to Aiden (fathered I later learned by some young punk who was almost immediately eliminated from Kate&#8217;s or his child&#8217;s life), and I was brought back down a couple steps on the reality ladder that I was still well outside the circle of those she felt warranted that type of inclsuion in her life. In the interest of continuing to move forward together I kept any grumblings about that mum and I saw her and Aiden a few times in the ensuing years, staying connected mainly via email, texts and social media.</p>
  131.  
  132.  
  133.  
  134. <p>Just prior to the last time we&#8217;d texted I made the mistake of loaning Kate a couple hundred dollars, I think she needed it for school costs, but who knows. I called it a mistake because amounts that small to family members &#8212; especially those who don&#8217;t really give a damn about you &#8212; are better off just being given. That way there&#8217;s no repayment plan for them to inevitably fail to make, which is what happened in Kate&#8217;s case. I mention that minor monetary matter because I have no doubt it factored into how easily I deleted Kate from my life when she showed herself to be someone for who detouring for a dad visit at Christmas was too much bother. See, I&#8217;m just petty and vindictive enough to have been tapping out &#8220;I read you loud and clear&#8221; while thinking something along the lines of &#8220;Wait, you won&#8217;t repay my loan AND won&#8217;t make time to come get Christmas gifts from your father for his grandson!?&#8221;</p>
  135.  
  136.  
  137.  
  138. <p>Before this spirals down into more pettiness, let me rise up and circle back to the cup that I see as a righteous symbol of indefatigable hope.  I keep it still not because it represents a past episode of momentary failure, but because it now represents a future that could include my daughter in my life. In short, that which is dashed against a dining room table leg can be reassembled. That which is broken can be repaired. Be it a cup or a relationship.</p>
  139.  
  140.  
  141.  
  142. <p>For Kate&#8217;s entire life, I have endeavored to be a part of it and I continue to be open to being her partner in it. Even when she has slammed the door hardest and angriest against me, or I against her, I never lock it. It is always there ready to be opened. But the knock on it has to come from her. The turning hand on the knob must be Kate&#8217;s. The point is not if she will ever do it. The point is the opportunity will be there for as long as I am here. </p>
  143. ]]></content:encoded>
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  145.  
  146. </item>
  147. <item>
  148. <title>February 25, 2024: Kayaking Death Valley&#8217;s Badwater Basin aka &#8220;Lake Manly&#8221;</title>
  149. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2024/02/28/february-25-2024-kayaking-death-valleys-badwater-basin-aka-lake-manly/</link>
  150. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  151. <pubDate>Wed, 28 Feb 2024 23:20:55 +0000</pubDate>
  152. <category><![CDATA[adventure]]></category>
  153. <category><![CDATA[awesome]]></category>
  154. <category><![CDATA[daytrip]]></category>
  155. <category><![CDATA[Defining Moments]]></category>
  156. <category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
  157. <category><![CDATA[Adventure]]></category>
  158. <category><![CDATA[Bucket List]]></category>
  159. <category><![CDATA[Death Valley]]></category>
  160. <category><![CDATA[Kayaking]]></category>
  161. <category><![CDATA[Lake Manly]]></category>
  162. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11755</guid>
  163.  
  164. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  165. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  166. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  167. <iframe title="February 25, 2024: Kayaking Death Valley&#039;s Badwater Basin aka &quot;Lake Manly&quot;" width="950" height="534" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kE8sd5SgylU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  168. </div></figure>
  169. ]]></content:encoded>
  170. </item>
  171. <item>
  172. <title>Inside Angels Flight Station House: The Morning &#8220;Shiftkicker&#8221; and More&#8230;</title>
  173. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2024/01/21/inside-angels-flight-station-house-the-morning-shiftkicker-and-more/</link>
  174. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  175. <pubDate>Sun, 21 Jan 2024 15:24:07 +0000</pubDate>
  176. <category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
  177. <category><![CDATA[landmarks]]></category>
  178. <category><![CDATA[los angeles]]></category>
  179. <category><![CDATA[mass transit]]></category>
  180. <category><![CDATA[nostalgia]]></category>
  181. <category><![CDATA[slice of life]]></category>
  182. <category><![CDATA[work]]></category>
  183. <category><![CDATA[angels flight]]></category>
  184. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11749</guid>
  185.  
  186. <description><![CDATA[At or near their outsets, I usually like to get my shifts at Angels Flight energized up and into cruise control with a musical selection that I&#8217;ve dubbed the &#8220;morning shiftkicker,&#8221; and sometimes I record it. In this case there is that rather unique musical selection (starts with my intro at about the 14:00 mark &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2024/01/21/inside-angels-flight-station-house-the-morning-shiftkicker-and-more/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Inside Angels Flight Station House: The Morning &#8220;Shiftkicker&#8221; and More&#8230;"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  187. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  188. <p>At or near their outsets, I usually like to get my shifts at Angels Flight energized up and into cruise control with a musical selection that I&#8217;ve dubbed the &#8220;morning shiftkicker,&#8221; and sometimes I record it.</p>
  189.  
  190.  
  191.  
  192. <p>In this case there is that rather unique musical selection (starts with my intro at about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAzQseXYimU&amp;t=840s">14:00</a> mark for you skippers; far from my usual rousing classical or rock composition) and more, initially involving some of my first passengers of the day, including a family who upon arrival mentioned the son was doing a Boy Scout project involving the historic railway.</p>
  193.  
  194.  
  195.  
  196. <p>Of course that was enough to get me going imparting shards of its background. I think they all appreciated the information &#8212; I know I certainly enjoyed providing it.</p>
  197.  
  198.  
  199.  
  200. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  201. <iframe title="Inside Angels Flight Station House: The Morning &quot;Shiftkicker&quot; and More..." width="950" height="534" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AAzQseXYimU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  202. </div></figure>
  203. ]]></content:encoded>
  204. </item>
  205. <item>
  206. <title>Come Ride With Me: New Year&#8217;s Day 2024</title>
  207. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2024/01/02/come-ride-with-me-new-years-day-2024/</link>
  208. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  209. <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
  210. <category><![CDATA[biking]]></category>
  211. <category><![CDATA[bicycling]]></category>
  212. <category><![CDATA[New Year's Day]]></category>
  213. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11744</guid>
  214.  
  215. <description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m never so much interested in staying up late in an increasingly inebriated state to celebrate the end of an old annum so much as I am interested in getting up and out fresh at the dawn of the new one to get it off to a right and proper start. It&#8217;s a perfect day &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2024/01/02/come-ride-with-me-new-years-day-2024/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Come Ride With Me: New Year&#8217;s Day 2024"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  216. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  217. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  218. <iframe title="Come Ride With Me: New Year&#039;s Day 2024" width="950" height="713" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a2OiGOn6UR0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  219. </div></figure>
  220.  
  221.  
  222.  
  223. <p>I&#8217;m never so much interested in staying up late in an increasingly inebriated state to celebrate the end of an old annum so much as I am interested in getting up and out fresh at the dawn of the new one to get it off to a right and proper start.</p>
  224.  
  225.  
  226.  
  227. <p>It&#8217;s a perfect day for a bike ride, especially given the beautiful weather coupled with how peaceful and wide open the Los Angeles I&#8217;m pedaling through is as the majority of its residents are either still sleeping or trying to shake off hangovers rather than seizing the day. </p>
  228.  
  229.  
  230.  
  231. <p>Today&#8217;s two-hour and 25.6 mile route starts at about 7AM and is sweetly soundtracked by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP9H5LR5ilO0pjD8c-JwUKQ">@ClassicalKUSC</a>&#8216;s &#8220;Great Escape&#8221; stream as I pedal from Silver Lake to Los Feliz Village and up into Griffith Park then down the other side to the Los Angeles River downstream along the Glendale Narrows section through Elysian Valley and Frogtown to the end of the bike path, then to downtown via Chinatown before coming back home to Silver Lake via Echo Park.</p>
  232.  
  233.  
  234.  
  235. <p>Whether you come along with me for a little bit or the whole ride, thanks for watching.</p>
  236.  
  237.  
  238.  
  239. <p></p>
  240.  
  241.  
  242.  
  243. <p>For your skip-around pleasure I&#8217;ve approximately time-marked various locations, areas, encounters and incidents below:</p>
  244.  
  245.  
  246.  
  247. <p>Sunset Boulevard &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=180s">03:00</a><br>Los Feliz Village &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=460s">07:40</a><br>Griffith Park &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=930s">15:30</a><br>Vista del Valle Trailhead &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=1135s">18:55</a><br>Cedar Grove &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=1305s">21:45</a><br>Helipad &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=1590s">26:30</a><br>Hawk Encounter: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=1870s">31:10</a><br>Wife Texts Me &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=1915s">31:55</a><br>Coyote Encounter: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=2325s">38:45</a><br>Intersection of Vista del Valle and Mt. Hollywood Drive &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=2740s">45:40</a><br>Jack &#8216;O Lantern Mosaic Tile &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=2910s">48:30</a><br>Gray Squirrel Encounter &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=3010s">50:10</a><br>Down the &#8220;Roller Coaster&#8221; &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=3410s">56:50</a><br>Passing Traveltown &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=3510s">58:30</a><br>Los Angeles River &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=3720s">1:02:00</a> <br>Stop To Change Camera Battery &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=4160s">1:09:20</a><br>Colorado Boulevard Tunnel &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=4190s">1:09:50</a><br>Baum Bicycle Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=4485s">1:14:45</a><br>Elysian Valley/Frogtown&#8211; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=4680s">1:18:00</a><br>Beautiful Flowering Wall &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5360s">1:29:20</a><br>Passing Lincoln Heights Jail &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5530s">1:32:10</a><br>Crossing Buena Vista Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5640s">1:34:00</a><br>Slaloming North Broadway &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5725s">1:35:25</a><br>Chinatown &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5780s">1:36:20</a><br>Downtown &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=5925s">1:38:45</a><br>2nd Street Tunnel &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=6075s">1:41:15</a><br>Favorite Tunnel Street Art &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=6170s">1:42:50</a><br>Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard through Echo Park &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=6520s">1:48:40</a><br>Slaloming Sunset Boulevard &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2OiGOn6UR0&amp;t=6925s">1:55:25</a></p>
  248.  
  249.  
  250.  
  251. <p>Garmin Route Map Link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmo3b1BxRE9TaTVJRW1hdmE5bHpaQ1Rob3BmUXxBQ3Jtc0tsNG96UDBqZkNJNGdDdUFLdm1BbEJKNTlQWUgtd1ZEQUNURTFJV2cyRkZzVDUwOXQ2MnEyaTV6TDQyck5kNnVscThveElCX3Y4NWk4ZmNSWm12eHBJazNtQTNYYlFoRE1zT3lWVjZwblFGNWoxMjJ4QQ&amp;q=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F4nhxbbjk&amp;v=a2OiGOn6UR0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">http://tinyurl.com/4nhxbbjk</a></p>
  252. ]]></content:encoded>
  253. </item>
  254. <item>
  255. <title>Cryin&#8217; O&#8217;Neal</title>
  256. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2023/12/09/cryin-oneal/</link>
  257. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  258. <pubDate>Sat, 09 Dec 2023 16:43:20 +0000</pubDate>
  259. <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
  260. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11740</guid>
  261.  
  262. <description><![CDATA[With news of his passing, here is my Ryan O&#8217;Neal story. In early 1982 I was a senior in high school and a stock clerk at the glorious long-gone Hunters Books on Rodeo Drive. I worked in the basement with a merry band of misfits young and not-so. We called it the dungeon, lovingly. Celebrity &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2023/12/09/cryin-oneal/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Cryin&#8217; O&#8217;Neal"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  263. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  264. <p></p>
  265.  
  266.  
  267.  
  268. <p>With news of his passing, here is my Ryan O&#8217;Neal story. </p>
  269.  
  270.  
  271.  
  272. <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-large"><img decoding="async" width="550" height="550" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-09-at-08-25-09-Will-Campbell-@saturdaystationagent-•-Instagram-photos-and-videos-550x550.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11741"/></figure>
  273.  
  274.  
  275.  
  276. <p>In early 1982 I was a senior in high school and a stock clerk at the glorious long-gone Hunters Books on Rodeo Drive. I worked in the basement with a merry band of misfits young and not-so. We called it the dungeon, lovingly. Celebrity visits were relatively common given the store&#8217;s location, and when word got down to the dungeon that Farrah Fawcett was on the main floor, we dropped whatever we were doing and had bounded up the spiral metal staircase in a matter of seconds.</p>
  277.  
  278.  
  279.  
  280. <p>Like something out of a cartoon we piled up and peaked around the side of the door frame and indeed, there she was at the register, radiant and magnificent. The most beautiful woman in my world. She noticed us and let go with one of those million megawatt smiles. </p>
  281.  
  282.  
  283.  
  284. <p>The fellow she was with wasn&#8217;t anywhere near as pleased. In fact, he was downright angry. Glared at us as if we had no right. When his piercing gaze didn&#8217;t send us scurrying, he called out &#8220;Get a good look fellas, that&#8217;s as close as you&#8217;re gonna get.&#8221; That drew a disapproving glance from Farrah that wiped away her smile. </p>
  285.  
  286.  
  287.  
  288. <p>&#8220;What an asshole,&#8221; I said under my breath but apparently not far deep enough. </p>
  289.  
  290.  
  291.  
  292. <p>&#8220;What? What did you say, punk?&#8221;</p>
  293.  
  294.  
  295.  
  296. <p>&#8220;I said &#8211;.&#8221; Before I could finish the sentence, the dungeon master &#8212; I mean our supervisor, Barry &#8212; had yanked me away from the door and pushed me back toward the stairs, telling us all to quit harassing the customers and to get back to work. Reluctantly I went followed by the others with O&#8217;Neal going on loudly about how I&#8217;d better get out of his sight or he&#8217;d kick my ass.</p>
  297.  
  298.  
  299.  
  300. <p>Imagine being a grown-ass man that possessive of a treasure as to be so spontaneously jealous of an 18-year-old punk and his crew just wanting to behold her.</p>
  301.  
  302.  
  303.  
  304. <p>Rest in peace, Ryan O&#8217;Neal. We were both right: that was as close as I would get to Farrah. And you were an asshole.</p>
  305. ]]></content:encoded>
  306. </item>
  307. <item>
  308. <title>18 Bridges Ride</title>
  309. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2023/11/27/18-bridges-ride/</link>
  310. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  311. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Nov 2023 19:01:34 +0000</pubDate>
  312. <category><![CDATA[biking]]></category>
  313. <category><![CDATA[downtown]]></category>
  314. <category><![CDATA[landmarks]]></category>
  315. <category><![CDATA[los angeles]]></category>
  316. <category><![CDATA[ramblings]]></category>
  317. <category><![CDATA[urban exploration]]></category>
  318. <category><![CDATA[bicycling]]></category>
  319. <category><![CDATA[bridges]]></category>
  320. <category><![CDATA[los angeles river]]></category>
  321. <category><![CDATA[merrill butler]]></category>
  322. <category><![CDATA[Thanksgiving Day]]></category>
  323. <category><![CDATA[urban cycling]]></category>
  324. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11730</guid>
  325.  
  326. <description><![CDATA[While not an annual tradition, past Thanksgiving Days going back to the early 1990s have found me out and about on long bike rides, and this holiday proved to be the next and rather epic one to add to that list. Going on a near two hour and forty-five minute, 32-mile tour beginning at daybreak &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2023/11/27/18-bridges-ride/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "18 Bridges Ride"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  327. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  328. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  329. <iframe title="18 Bridges Ride" width="950" height="713" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rwzpn0F35cg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  330. </div></figure>
  331.  
  332.  
  333.  
  334. <p>While not an annual tradition, past Thanksgiving Days going back to the early 1990s have found me out and about on long bike rides, and this holiday proved to be the next and rather epic one to add to that list.</p>
  335.  
  336.  
  337.  
  338. <p>Going on a near two hour and forty-five minute, 32-mile tour beginning at daybreak Thanksgiving Day, my ride crossed 18 bridges big and small over the Los Angeles River from Atwater Village to the north, to the industrial area around Washington Boulevard to the south &#8212; most of which were designed and built in the early 1900s by a hero of mine &#8212; largely unsung: Los Angeles City Engineer Merrill Butler.</p>
  339.  
  340.  
  341.  
  342. <p>The source material for this ride was something I dubbed the &#8220;10 Bridges&#8221; group ride and first organized back in the mid-2000s when I was a far more involved and enthusiastic member of Los Angeles&#8217; bike &#8220;community.&#8221; That ride typically started at the south end, and finished at the North Broadway Viaduct above Chinatown. Researching the bridges&#8217; histories led me to discover Butler was behind the designs of most of them.</p>
  343.  
  344.  
  345.  
  346. <p>After my interest and involvement with the at-large bike community waned (I think the last group ride I led was in 2013) brought on by a disenchantment as well as a conversion to a bike commuter logging 6,000-plus miles yearly, that was followed by a prolonged period through the 20-teens which also saw my bike mileage dwindle to near zero due to how easily pedaling would aggravate a nagging sciatic nerve condition that had developed. In the midst of all that was the years-long closure/demolition/rebuild of the old 6th Street Viaduct so during that time there were only nine bridges.</p>
  347.  
  348.  
  349.  
  350. <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="388" height="687" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11734" style="width:221px;height:auto" srcset="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-1.jpg 388w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-1-169x300.jpg 169w" sizes="(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" /></figure>
  351.  
  352.  
  353.  
  354. <p>Then in April of 2019 came the game-changing purchase of my first ebike and with it a less sciatic trouble and a resurgence both in bike commuting and recreational riding, the latter most recently re-energized with the fabulous recent ArroyoFest 2023. Fast forward to last week and as I was staring down the long holiday weekend, I rather impulsively charted out a north-to-south route vith the Gmaps Pedometer website (image at right; link: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/44pky35e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://tinyurl.com/44pky35e</a>).</p>
  355.  
  356.  
  357.  
  358. <p>Only this time around in addition to the original ten bridges I incorporated the three newest bridge over the river: the the North Atwater Ped/Bike/Equestrian bridge, the Red Car Ped/Bike bridge, the historic Sunnynook Ped Bridge, and the one-year-old Taylor Yard Ped/Bike Bridge in Frogtown. If you&#8217;re doing your math, that&#8217;s only sixteen bridges. The other two I decided to include during the ride itself, at the outset of which I first rolled over Merrill Butler&#8217;s Sunset Boulevard Bridge over Silver Lake Boulevard, and at the south end of the LA River Bikepath I begrudgingly added the Riverside/Figueroa Ped/Bike Bridge. It&#8217;s neither historic nor a Merrill Butler creation, but it does span the river so I couldn&#8217;t leave it out.</p>
  359.  
  360.  
  361.  
  362. <p>Lastly, because sound recording on my body-worn GoPro sucks, I went to the extra trouble of mic&#8217;ing up with a secondary audio device &#8212; the better not only to hear the accompanying classical music soundtrack as provided by KUSC&#8217;s app through my backpack strapped bluetooth speaker, but also any vocal ramblings  I felt compelled to make along the way. Of course, in putting together this video that then involved the painstaking manual effort of syncing up the secondary audio tracks to the video tracks, but it came out well enough to make that additional toil worthwhile.</p>
  363.  
  364.  
  365.  
  366. <p>The ride itself? Well, it was glorious. Though there ain&#8217;t nothing like the real thing. if you watch any of the video I hope you&#8217;ll be able to tell how wonderful it was to be out in the quiet calm of a Los Angeles on such a beautiful Thanksgiving Day morning.</p>
  367.  
  368.  
  369.  
  370. <div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/aniroute.mp4"></video></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
  371. <p>An animation of the entire route is at left. Below, I&#8217;ve time-marked the bridge arrivals/crossings chronologically (as well as a few bonus locations) for yer skip-ahead pleasure. Clicking on the times should hopefully open the video up in a new browser tab at that specified time):</p>
  372.  
  373.  
  374.  
  375. <p>1. Sunset Boulevard Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=180s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">3:00</a><br>2. Glendale-Hyperion Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=705s">11:</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=705s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">45</a><br>3. North Atwater (Kretz) Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=1225s">20:</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=1225s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">25</a><br>4. Sunnynook Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=1490s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">24:50</a><br>5. Red Car Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=1830s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">30:30</a><br>6. Fletcher Avenue Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=2180s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">36:20</a><br>7. Taylor Yard Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=3200s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">53:20</a><br>8. Riverside Drive Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=3480s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">58:00</a><br>9. North Broadway (Buena Vista) Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=3770s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:02:50</a><br>10. Spring Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=4285s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:11:25</a><br>11. Main Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=4430s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:13:50</a><br>12. Cesar E. Chavez (Macy Street) Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=4915s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:21:55</a><br>13. 1st Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=5050s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:24:10</a><br>14. 4th Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=5315s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:28:35</a><br>15. 6th Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=5580s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:33:00</a><br>16. 7th Street Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=6005s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:40:05</a><br>17. Olympic Boulevard Viaduct &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=6390s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:46:30</a><br>18. Washington Boulevard Bridge &#8212; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=6710s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:51:50</a></p>
  376.  
  377.  
  378.  
  379. <p>Bonus:<br>Merrill Butler Tribute (read from James Ricci&#8217;s LA Times column): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=6820s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1:53:40</a><br>Dumpster of Good Fortune: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=8110s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2:15:10</a><br>Intersection with the annual Turkey Trot Run: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=8640s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2:24:00</a><br>2nd Street Tunnel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwzpn0F35cg&amp;t=8745s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2:25:45</a></p>
  380. </div></div>
  381.  
  382.  
  383.  
  384. <p></p>
  385. ]]></content:encoded>
  386. <enclosure url="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/aniroute.mp4" length="942675" type="video/mp4" />
  387.  
  388. </item>
  389. <item>
  390. <title>Frank/Lloyd Wride</title>
  391. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2023/11/06/frank-lloyd-wride/</link>
  392. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  393. <pubDate>Mon, 06 Nov 2023 20:08:53 +0000</pubDate>
  394. <category><![CDATA[biking]]></category>
  395. <category><![CDATA[landmarks]]></category>
  396. <category><![CDATA[los angeles]]></category>
  397. <category><![CDATA[Bicycles]]></category>
  398. <category><![CDATA[Frank Lloyd Wright]]></category>
  399. <category><![CDATA[Lloyd Wright]]></category>
  400. <category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>
  401. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11717</guid>
  402.  
  403. <description><![CDATA[Well Sunday&#8217;s rather hastily thrown together &#8220;Frank/Lloyd Wride&#8221; was a definite joy (although I&#8217;m kicking myself for not packing a spare memory card as my cam&#8217;s filled up immediately upon arrival to Ennis House, the second to last stop, thus preventing a start-to-finish video). All-in it involved a 26.5 mile, 3-hour tour, the first third &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2023/11/06/frank-lloyd-wride/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Frank/Lloyd Wride"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  404. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  405. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  406. <iframe title="Frank/Lloyd Wride" width="950" height="534" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2kty9l-02Xs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  407. </div></figure>
  408.  
  409.  
  410.  
  411. <p>Well Sunday&#8217;s rather hastily thrown together &#8220;Frank/Lloyd Wride&#8221; was a definite joy (although I&#8217;m kicking myself for not packing a spare memory card as my cam&#8217;s filled up immediately upon arrival to Ennis House, the second to last stop, thus preventing a start-to-finish video).</p>
  412.  
  413.  
  414.  
  415. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="550" height="287" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-550x287.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11724" style="aspect-ratio:1.916376306620209;width:841px;height:auto" srcset="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-550x287.jpg 550w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route-300x157.jpg 300w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/route.jpg 598w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" /></figure>
  416.  
  417.  
  418.  
  419. <p>All-in it involved a 26.5 mile, 3-hour tour, the first third or so of which consisted of me biking from Silver Lake to Beverly Hills. Over all, the ride involved visits to seven landmark structures built by Frank Lloyd Wright or his son Lloyd Wright. There are plenty more done around L.A. by Lloyd Wright, but I wanted to stick to the more renowned ones. Thanks to Instagrammer @etandoesla for the tip about the Lloyd Wright property on Ogden. And since they were near to my route across Hollywood between Freeman House and Sowden House, I went ahead and made bonus stops both on North Ivar Avenue first at the residence where Nathanael West wrote one of my favorite novels, &#8220;Day of the Locust,&#8221; (h/t Kim and Richard of @esotouric) and second up the block at the real life Alto Nido apartments that was the fictional residence of William Holden&#8217;s doomed writer in &#8220;Sunset Boulevard.&#8221;</p>
  420.  
  421.  
  422.  
  423. <p>Locations visited and time-marked: </p>
  424.  
  425.  
  426.  
  427. <p>1. 46:27 &#8211; Anderton Court, FLW (Rodeo Dr)<br>2. 1:00:21 &#8211; Studio &amp; Residence, LW (Doheny Dr)<br>3. 1:17:14 &#8211; Storer House, FLW (Hollywood Bl)<br>4. 1:23:21 &#8211; Bollman House, LW (Ogden Dr)<br>5. 1:35:01 &#8211; Freeman House, FLW (Glencoe Wy)<br>6. 1:46:38 &#8211; Nathanael West residence (Ivar Av)<br>7. 1:49:45 &#8211; Alto Nido apartment (Ivar Av)<br>8. 2:00:08 &#8211; Sowden House, LW (Franklin Av)<br>9. 2:16:43 &#8211; Ennis House, FLW (Glendower Av) <br>10.  Hollyhock House, FLW (Barnsdall Pk; not shown due to camera shutdown)</p>
  428.  
  429.  
  430.  
  431. <p>Instead, here&#8217;s this brief video I made of the east side of Hollyhock House upon my arrival from Ennis House:</p>
  432.  
  433.  
  434.  
  435. <figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_6133.mov"></video></figure>
  436.  
  437.  
  438.  
  439. <p> </p>
  440.  
  441.  
  442.  
  443. <p>I took a mess of photos as well. Link to Flickr Photo Album: <a href=" https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB2dWt"> https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB2dWt</a></p>
  444.  
  445.  
  446.  
  447. <p>Notes:</p>
  448.  
  449.  
  450.  
  451. <ul>
  452. <li>I was horribly disgusted to see the state of Freeman House, allowed to deteriorate under the ownership of USC for years, who, reportedly sold the landmark last year  (the idea USC made some sort of profit from their failed stewardship is grating). The buyer was Richard Weintraub, owner of Weintraub Real Estate Group who&#8217;s supposedly committed to restoring the home per preservation guidelines, but apparently has done nothing since or yet. Dude&#8217;s got a LOT of work to do and even more side-eye to face.</li>
  453. </ul>
  454.  
  455.  
  456.  
  457. <ul>
  458. <li>I was very pleasantly surprised to find no foliage blocking Bollman House and Sowden House. The most recent Google images show greenery seriously impeding views of the facades , but as shown in my video and stills they have been removed.</li>
  459. </ul>
  460.  
  461.  
  462.  
  463. <p>I could not have asked for a better or more wonderful day to roll more than a marathon&#8217;s distance around Los Angeles in search of historic architecture. If you&#8217;re a diehard and watch the whooooooole video you&#8217;ll see me poach a roll under the &#8220;Levitated Mass&#8221; boulder at LACMA, as well as cuss out one idiot pulling out of a driveway directly in front of me on Yucca Street in Hollywood, and another right hooking me from Vermont onto Los Feliz. No matter how spectacular the morning, unfortunately a bike ride is just not complete without incidents like that.</p>
  464. ]]></content:encoded>
  465. <enclosure url="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_6133.mov" length="13294377" type="video/quicktime" />
  466.  
  467. </item>
  468. <item>
  469. <title>Dumbf*ck Is I</title>
  470. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2023/09/11/dumbfck-is-i/</link>
  471. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  472. <pubDate>Mon, 11 Sep 2023 20:57:13 +0000</pubDate>
  473. <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
  474. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11707</guid>
  475.  
  476. <description><![CDATA[As an urban cyclist who documents his rides (and shares the negatives or positives experienced in their course), any credibility and integrity I hope to possess would be nonexistent if all I did was call out the fails against me and didn&#8217;t share the ones I commit &#8212; even if they are equal parts embarrassing &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2023/09/11/dumbfck-is-i/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Dumbf*ck Is I"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  477. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  478. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  479. <iframe title="(1of3) Morning Bike Commute 2023.09.11" width="950" height="534" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-OfGDHmLK7Q?start=575&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  480. </div></figure>
  481.  
  482.  
  483.  
  484. <p>As an urban cyclist who documents his rides (and shares the negatives or positives experienced in their course), any credibility and integrity I hope to possess would be nonexistent if all I did was call out the fails against me and didn&#8217;t share the ones I commit &#8212; even if they are equal parts embarrassing and frightening. </p>
  485.  
  486.  
  487.  
  488. <p>Case in point, this morning coming south along the sidewalk on Westmoreland between Wilshire Boulevard and 7th Street and entering the intersection at 7th Street at about the 9:40 point of the above-embedded video segment. It&#8217;s a crossing I&#8217;ve made without incident or brainfart hundreds. I&#8217;m simply not one to launch myself into cross traffic at signal controlled intersections without first being sure I had the right of way, yet in the video as you can see with the green light on 7th and the solid red Don&#8217;t Walk indicator facing me on the corner across the street, I most decidedly and completely did NOT.</p>
  489.  
  490.  
  491.  
  492. <p>Westmoreland/7th is not your usual intersection in that immediately north of 7th is part of the Southwestern Law School campus that is gated and permanently closed to vehicular traffic, thus only walk/don&#8217;twalk lights are installed for southbound pedestrians, not actual traffic signals. I&#8217;ve attempted to find the reason behind my fail and all I can come up with is that I effed up &#8212; and that&#8217;s a bit terrifying because it could&#8217;ve been so much worse than me slowing to avoid the eastbound vehicle in front of me. Consider this: if there had been a westbound vehicle at the same time beyond the left edge of the video&#8217;s frame, I would&#8217;ve been broadsided.</p>
  493.  
  494.  
  495.  
  496. <p>Whoa. I mean, seriously.</p>
  497.  
  498.  
  499.  
  500. <p>To compound my idiocy the driver of that eastbound vehicle pulled over and stopped at the opposite corner allowing me the opportunity to roll over to berate him for what I fully believed was his violation. He responded to my outrage with curious indifference. And if anything my willingness to confront is evidence I sincerely believed he was in the wrong. When something&#8217;s my fault or responsibility I&#8217;m not that type of jerk who&#8217;ll try to put it off on someone else.</p>
  501.  
  502.  
  503.  
  504. <p>My tirade was brief, interrupted by the arrival of the driver of the pick-up parked at the curb on the opposite side of Westmoreland (the black one with its lights on) who apparently witnessed the whole thing because he made a right onto 7th and pulled up alongside me to my left, vociferously defending the driver and calling me out. When I insisted I had the right of way I believe his words driving off were something like: &#8220;No you didn&#8217;t, you dumbfuck!&#8221;</p>
  505.  
  506.  
  507.  
  508. <p>Huh.</p>
  509.  
  510.  
  511.  
  512. <p>Could he have been right? Did I somehow see the 7th street green light and transpose it as mine? That would be very odd, because as I said I&#8217;ve traversed this intersection hundreds of times and nothing like that previously happened. I rolled the rest of the way to work in doubt and concern, double- and triple-checking every green light I encountered and hoping to be vindicated by a review of my camera&#8217;s footage.</p>
  513.  
  514.  
  515.  
  516. <p> Alas and instead, it&#8217;s entirely and shamefully true: I was indeed a dumbfuck &#8212; and a very lucky one who could&#8217;ve sustained far greater injury than just a bruised ego from a hurled insult. I pride myself on my defensive biking and have a pretty dang good safety record to show for it. If there&#8217;s a personal lesson to be learned it&#8217;s to ramp-up the care I take riding even higher and understanding that letting your guard down or your complaceny up can have embarrassing consequences at best or more painful ones at worst. And if there&#8217;s a moral to this story it&#8217;s that even when mistakes get made always be willing to take ownership of them.</p>
  517. ]]></content:encoded>
  518. </item>
  519. <item>
  520. <title>Four On The Fourth</title>
  521. <link>http://www.wildbell.com/2023/07/05/four-on-the-fourth/</link>
  522. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Will]]></dc:creator>
  523. <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jul 2023 20:27:22 +0000</pubDate>
  524. <category><![CDATA[animals]]></category>
  525. <category><![CDATA[cats]]></category>
  526. <category><![CDATA[rescue]]></category>
  527. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wildbell.com/?p=11697</guid>
  528.  
  529. <description><![CDATA[Independence Day fell on a Tuesday this year awkwardly making for a holiday untethered to either end of the weekend and instead isolated and surrounded by work days. To complicate matters it&#8217;s a day spent worried about our stressed-out doggos and dreading the mostly sleepless night to come when greater Los Angeles turns into a &#8230; <p class="link-more"><a href="http://www.wildbell.com/2023/07/05/four-on-the-fourth/" class="more-link">Read more<span class="screen-reader-text"> "Four On The Fourth"</span></a></p>]]></description>
  530. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  531. <div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:auto 44%"><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
  532. <p>Independence Day fell on a Tuesday this year awkwardly making for a holiday untethered to either end of the weekend and instead isolated and surrounded by work days. To complicate matters it&#8217;s a day spent worried about our stressed-out doggos and dreading the mostly sleepless night to come when greater Los Angeles turns into a veritable war zone of illegal pyrotechnics and heavy explosions, ranging from pops to house-shaking booms.</p>
  533.  
  534.  
  535.  
  536. <p>The day started out quiet as most do, with Susan and I walking the dogs. But it was on the homestretch when we passed this small pet carrier across the street and down the block from our house. I just knew it wasn&#8217;t empty, I only hoped whatever was inside wasn&#8217;t sick, dead or wild.</p>
  537.  
  538.  
  539.  
  540. <p>I picked it up by its handle and instantly felt the weight of something within. Thankfully it wasn&#8217;t dead and it </p>
  541. </div><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="550" height="733" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-550x733.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11698 size-full" srcset="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-550x733.jpg 550w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-225x300.jpg 225w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-768x1024.jpg 768w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-2000x2667.jpg 2000w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-600x800.jpg 600w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-1200x1600.jpg 1200w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5199-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" /></figure></div>
  542.  
  543.  
  544.  
  545. <div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-top"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="550" height="413" src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-550x413.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11700 size-full" srcset="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-550x413.jpg 550w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-300x225.jpg 300w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-768x576.jpg 768w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-600x450.jpg 600w, http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5200-1200x900.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
  546. <p>wasn&#8217;t a skunk. But it was four sleepy kittens two black and two gray &#8212; a couple of them sporting some sort of collars. Awakened by the crate&#8217;s movement and huddled together against the cold morning they blinked up at me with a plaintiff weak mew or two. How long they were out there and who put them there were two questions I asked myself. The last question I knew the answer to: they&#8217;d been dumped.</p>
  547.  
  548.  
  549.  
  550. <p>I try not to judge people capable of such actions. I&#8217;m not always successful, but I can recognize and give credit that they didn&#8217;t do something far worse like drown them or toss them in a dumpster. And I try to give them the benefit of the doubt as to their reasons and choices. My record&#8217;s spotty on that point, too. But without fail I hope they wince often at deep stabs of regret  whenever they think back on their ability to discard living things like trash for someone else to pick up.</p>
  551.  
  552.  
  553.  
  554. <p>Susan and I were the someone elses this time. </p>
  555.  
  556.  
  557.  
  558. <p>Next stop: home.  </p>
  559. </div></div>
  560.  
  561.  
  562.  
  563. <p>We got them inside and upstairs to the spare bedroom and situated in a larger crate, and after cursory exams served them up some food and water, the former of which they gobbled up &#8212; which was a welcome sign that they&#8217;d made it into the weaning stage. Other good signs were that they were all bright, alert, responsive; clear-eyed, and energetic with no visible injuries or apparent conditions save for some fleas. Plus they&#8217;d clearly been habituated to humans. Someone had cared for them, at least until they couldn&#8217;t.</p>
  564.  
  565.  
  566.  
  567. <figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-5202.mov"></video></figure>
  568.  
  569.  
  570.  
  571. <p> I added a litter box inside the crate and was overjoyed to see they knew what to do with it and a short while later we relocated them out of the crate into the spare bathroom where they would have a bit more room to romp. I even set up a Kitten Cam to monitor them.</p>
  572.  
  573.  
  574.  
  575. <figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/1688574081972.mp4"></video></figure>
  576.  
  577.  
  578.  
  579. <p>Here they are above settling in for a nap after dinner last night. They handled all the firework noise pretty well, unlike me. And below this morning another promising development: a couple even came to the gate to give Hazel a sniff. Sweet.</p>
  580.  
  581.  
  582.  
  583. <figure class="wp-block-video"><video controls src="http://www.wildbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/1688570204433.mp4"></video></figure>
  584.  
  585.  
  586.  
  587. <p>Best of all (and quick before we get too attached &#8212; too late!) I found an organization that will see to it they get the best care and furever homes. I&#8217;ll be taking them there tomorrow.</p>
  588.  
  589.  
  590.  
  591. <p>Independence Day turned into Dependents Day for us and in honor of the holiday I named them in no particular order (or with regard to sex): Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison.</p>
  592. ]]></content:encoded>
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