sun break!

i wish the glorious sun would heighten my mood right now.  this morning i woke up to the most disgusting cat fart ever.  it was horrible!  plus fatty was just sitting there purring like he didn't do anything.  but i know better.  plus it was 4:15 in the morning. for chrissake, who does that??? anyway, today is not faring well at all.  i am thinking thoughts of the long weekend ahead and drinking a lot of water today. 

over the weekend i hung out of powell's in the pearl room because there's hardly ever anyone up there. plus it's where the good stuff is.  after about three hundred years of weaving my way around annoying christmas shoppers and screaming children i made it upstairs and found the best thing evar.  taschen has a new book out called los angeles, portrait of a city. 

i'm really obsessed with this city i am from because it is a magical place. some people hate it with the same amount of passion i have for loving it.  it's okay.  but one thing i love about los angeles is the history behind it.  i think it's really intriguing to see the pictures of the land that los angeles used to be and then see what is currently on the land.  literally, the development of that city has occured most prominently within the last one hundred years.  barely even one hundred years.  beverly hills wasn't even really around until the 20's.  it's so crazy how much development, deterioration, crime and history has been built up in this short time.

 there are quite a few books on the subject of los angeles and its history in picture form and they are always different. i never see the same perspectives or pictures.  this book is the shit.  there are also a lot of photos by one of my favorites cc pierce.  he's cool.  it's like four inches thick and has a bazillion photos.  one picture that was totally crazy to me was undeveloped laurel canyon which is now thick with homes and pavement.  and even the site where graumans is now.  there used to be a little tiny shack that sold oranges or something.  it was insane!  i need to get that book because it's the most comprehensive i've ever seen of the city and has a lot of great stories in it (english, french and german!). 

there are also a lot of things in the book that i wish still existed.  like d.w. griffith's epic set of intolerance at hollywood and sunset, the googie architecture, oh and the natural landscape.

one of the old school drive ins that dotted the city back in the day. 

making a film in downtown during the heyday of hollywood. 

the old hollywoodland sign.  what's great about this picture is the absence of the concrete valley in the background. 

speaking of l.a. ... it is a sad day today also cuz i learned the root down at the little temple is no more after last thursday.  what a bumout.  i loved going to that when i would be back home.  hopefully it is just a hiatus.  the rootdown began twelve years ago and was always destined to be the best.  r.i.p. dj dusk.