Heritage on Homer

At the base of the hill is Heritage Square, that many know about but always seem to forget about. This local gem has almost 10 structures on the little plot of land hugging the Arroyo and the 110. The houses are like living stories from another time in Los Angeles.



Over the next several Thursdays, Heritage Square (3800 Homer St) will be having FREE concert nights. They open the doors at 5pm, music usually starts around 6pm, and you continue dancing until sundown. The staff, with many volunteers, are always super nice, work hard, and share good shows with our community. So get out of that traffic and stop on by to support them!


This Thursday eat free samples from Papa Pollo and listen to the classic sounds of the Mariachi Divas. Perfect music to watch the sun down down on a lost era. I'm hoping for a reggae band will play there one of these years! More info, go to the source: heritagesquare.org


Morgan Heritage "Down By the River"
Traffic "Traffic Magic"

A Better City

I agree with a neon sign under the Spring St. bridge awhile back.



Especially after hearing about a bike riders and a local gang clash on outskirts of Montecito Heights over the weekend. Seems bottles were thrown at the passing riders which turned to yelling and more throwing of objects and then a girl gets pushed off her bike and then shovels start swinging and just all out ugly mayhem. One guy was shot but he has survived so far.

No matter who was wrong, both sides could have squashed this beef before it escalated to that. Man it didn't even need to start. Too much stupid macho tough guy skinkeye posturing.

So sad. Our lovely neighborhood!


Funkadelic "Super Stupid"
Brand Nubian "Punks Jump Up"

For Rent Take Two

The old Chinese Herbs place down on the only commercial corner is back on the market. Must have been a 6 month lease to whoever snagged it. In January and out July.



Shortly after the For Rent sign came down, a white room divider went up in the window. Never saw a new store sign go up and never saw anyone coming or going whenever I drove or walked by. Then a few ceramic pots appeared. Then a couple more. A new empty pot would show up in the window every week or so. Strange.



Then a cat showed up and would always be in the window. Think he must have rented it out for awhile. Why not, let the local coyotes harass some other cat. He stocked the room with wet catfood and mice. Living the high life. Six months of bliss.




But seriously...
The rent is cheap.
The location is good.
The sketch factor is high.
Go make something good out of it.



People Under the Stairs "The Cat"
John Lee Hooker "House Rent Blues"

Reeds

Through the reeds. Dusk and dawn. Deb's Park. A true natural treasure in a big concrete city.



Beck "Debra"
DJ Day "Four Hills"

Peahen

Yes! Finally got a snap of the elusive peahen I've read so much about. Heard it used to live on Pagoda Pl. and now lives all over the hill. Some people hate it, some people love it. How can you not love such a cool beautiful creature?


The J.B's "Pass the Peas"
Herbie Hancock "Bring Down The Birds"

Find it

Hope you all find a good place to relax this week!


The Velvet Underground "Some Kinda Love"
Talking Heads "Love for Sale"

Reminder

All those beautiful green lush hills have long turned to beautiful brown sticks. The temperatures are heating up and everyone needs to do their part to clear dead brush.

Above are two examples of what happens when you put off clearing brush too long, the hills turn black!



The B-52's "Bushfire"
Manson Family "The Fires are Burning"

Three Times

Someone is a Ween fan up in the hills.


Ween "Up on the Hill"
Ween "Booze Me Up and Get Me High"

Hangers

Love these two lonely houses on the hill. The view looking up at them is much better than from the front.

Double stories. Double balconies. Double hangers.


Jackie Mittoo "Hang 'Em High"
The Evens "Shelter Two"

Core

The yummy Arroyo Seco last month. Beautiful and gross all at the same time.

The thrashed sign someone tossed off the 110 says it all. DO NOT ENTER. WRONG WAY. And then if that isn't enough to deter you, the graff next to it says you need to be CORE if you even touch it.



The Cramps "Goo Goo Muck"
Artifacts "Wrong Side of the Tracks"

Equals Happiness

Hello there! How do you do? Random "mural" on Broadway close to Chinatown on the outskirts of Lincoln Heights. At first glance it seemed very odd and then it kinda grows on you. You can't not help but like it.

And it's been up for a good 2 weeks so even the taggers must enjoy it. Tagger approved.




Daniel Johnston "Hi How Are You?
The Jamaicans "Peace and Love"

Fennset

Please excuse the depressing posts lately.

Let's get back to the spectacular sunsets. The golden country hues. Dirt roads and Downtown. And why this hill is the best in LA.



Sonic Youth "Beauty Lies In The Eye"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"

Lovely Weekend Part Three

Didn't even notice this until Monday. Cowardly taggers even hit an innocent van. Just 'cause it was there. Same green paint. Same weak scrawling.

Umphrey's McGee "Get in the Van"
36 Mafia "Weak Ass Bitch"

Lovely Weekend Part Two

What an ugly way to wake up on a holiday morning. Big, gross, angry, no style, lame graffiti all over lower Montecito Dr. Not even worth showing it in color. As I drove farther up Montecito Dr. there was even more on some walls that don't usually get tagged. A couple of local residents were already painting over the graffiti. Big thanks to them and to anyone who regularly paints out the graffiti on the hill!


Vinyl "Gross Polluter"
X "Degenerate Boy"

Lovely Weekend Part One

On a weekend where everyone should be bbq'ing with family and friends and remembering our fallen soldiers who fought for us, came a rash of angry ugly graffiti.

This poor house's garage on Griffin got it again Friday night. Just a couple days after they finally painted the garage door all nice again from the last tagging (see the Montyheights February '09 posts). Same Highland Park gang. Same garage hit as last time. Gizmo's fault.





So, as everyone knows, the local gang needs to "retaliate". Dboy and Wacko say to Gizmo "I see your green spray paint and I'll use my black spray paint. Take that!"




DJ D-Nice Mixtape "The Wackness"
The White Stripes "The Same Boy You've Always Known"

Mic Check

Sidewalk curb off of Bernice Pl.



Dumpster off of Via Marisol




Someone's copying someone 'round town.

Beastie Boys "The Biz vs. The Nuge"
Derrick Morgan "The Great Musical Battle"

Home

Lovely hill view through the pine trees around the lake.

Kids running around. Locals fishing. People walking dogs. Large families out for a hike. Folks out running and mountain biking. No exercising with makeup on. No pretention. No Runyon Canyon attitude.

Lovely Montecito Heights.


Delroy Wilson "You Bend My Love"
Wu-Tang Clan "Treez"

Dirty

Saw this junkyard driveway and wondered. Was it just a cleaning of the house or a moving day? Either way, it didn't take very long for the vultures to sniff it out. As a couple days later I saw the house again and, yep, a big tag went up and junk was sprawled out even more.



No big deal, you just buff it out, stuff some trashcans and stack your heap up a little better.



Now, we can all learn from this. Just clean yo crap right.



Sonic Youth "Junkie's Promise"
B-52's "Dance This Mess Around"

Mota Sundaze

As most know, the annual Museums of the Arroyo Seco is this weekend on Sunday. You can get into 6 wonderful historical spots along the Arroyo Seco for free from 10-4pm. It is their 20th anniversary so go support it and check out more info here: www.museumsofthearroyo.com

And it is strange, and very funny, that they continue to call this "MOTA day". Is there no one on the committee that knows what mota is slang for? In Spanish even! No one raised their hand and said maybe we should call it MOTAS day (S for Seco) or something else?

Or maybe they do know.


The Offspring "Mota"
Buck Washington "Save the Roach for Me"

Tubbing

On these nice chilly foggy nights, it would be nice to soak in a warm hot tub. Maybe one under a tree. And with a great view.


U-Roy "King Tubby's On The Scene"
Roy Shirley "Warming Up The Scene"

Unfree

First is was Lumer that needed to be freed. Now it is JxP that needs to be freed.

Call me crazy, but for some reason I think only Lumer should be free.


Sonic Youth "Jams Run Free"
White Stripes "The Same Boy You've Always Known"

Waste

Well that didn't take long.

The Rodriguez Market mural had been restored and cleaned up for almost 2 weeks before some scum uglied it up. Looking at the tags it looks like the Highland Park gang tagged it up and then the Aves had to scrawl over it.

They even defaced the bald eagles, and they look pissed about it. Fuckin' respect your hood. Damn.


Paquita La Del Barrio "Pierdeme El Respeto"
ABX "Punk Your Mind"

Wheels

Who ya picking for the raddest bus on the hill? I am leaning towards the greenish bus just because of the cool dog that would watch over it. Although the brownish one would probably run smoother.

I would love to take either one for a trip up the coast. Stopping and surfing. Parking and hiking. Pulling over and camping. Up into Oregon. Thru Washington. Keep going into Canada. Then all the way back down and continue into Baja. That'd be the vida.






Bob Dylan "Drifter's Escape"
Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys "Life's Highway"

Locally

Found this Montecito Heights art online. Thought, hey, that house looks familiar. Squinted to read the artist name in the corner and looked her up. A plein air artist. Cool stuff.

I think her art rendition of this house and the hill looks better than a similar photograph I took recently. Nice work!

Looks like she has a local show coming up in a few weeks too. Go support local artists!

Mary-Austin Klein
Solo show “Collective Amnesia”
Paintings of Urban Los Angeles

May 17 - June 14, 2008
Metro Gallery
1835 Hyperion Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-2787



Jeff Tweedy "California Stars"
Outkast "Da Art of Storytellin', Pt. 1"

Glide

Was tramping down an old dirt road overlooking the city when I saw this huge shadow fly by. Looked up to see this engineless glider swooping and floating in a pretty stiff wind. And whoever was flying it had some good skills which made it that much more fun to watch.



So I sat there and enjoyed the show for a bit. After awhile, I continued on and finally saw the pilot as he was just landing the plane. Surprising to see how big the plane was, as it seemed to be at least a six foot plus wingspan.



The glider used the wind to turn and duck and dive similar to the cool redtailed hawks we have around here. Now they are the real stars at flying. After seeing one the other day, that hawk showed me how to ride the air proper. That glider has nothing on natural skills.




Digable Planets "Flyin' High in the Brooklyn Sky"
The Mohawks "Pepsi"

Obvious

Some of the nice, unique, every house is different green tree vibe on the hill. Wait a second, somethin's out of place.


Minor Threat "Out of Step"
The Replacements "Anywhere's Better Than Here"

Market

One of the few Montecito Heights stores. And the best. Good people. Good weekend tortas and tamales. Good local feel. And a mural that got tagged again finally. It seems every year or so they repaint the mural. I just don't understand the dude or kid that would tag a neighborhood mural. Go tag a clean wall if you really need to let it out.

Anyways, the first pic is from late February and the second pic is from the other day. The owners took the time to meticulously paint out the kook tagging and draw in the new lines and color. Looks cool. Go Rodriguez!


Sixto Rodriguez "Sugar Man"
Built to Spill "Nowhere Nothing Fuckup"

Ya out!

Cool car 'round this hill. Comes close to the rad ice cream truck on Paige.

Got me thinkin' how some Dodger fans need to be '86'd. Opening day stabbings. Big brawls on Sunset Blvd. Some people go only to start it up. Like old school Audio Two said... "Stop scheming, and looking hard."

Oh well, anyway, great win by the Dodgers tonight! Keep it goin'! (By the way, go out to your local vantage point on the hill and watch the fireworks about 15 minutes after the last pitch.)


Camera Obscura "Eighties Fan"
Wu-Tang "Crooklyn Dodgers"

Suit n' Tie

Best office in all of LA can be found down a country dirt road.

Once we reupholster the chair and varnish the desk you'll be all set. Sturdy brick legs on the table. 360 degree window view of the city. Just bring a long extension cord if you need a computer.


Fatlip & T-Love "Genius At Work"
Belle and Sebastian "Step Into My Office, Baby"

Free Lumer

Don't know who Lumer is but I agree!!!


KRS-One "Free Mumia"
Biz Markie & Redman "Freestyle"