Frank Lloyd Wright's Sturges House - Brentwood, CA

This is the only house Wright built in Southern California that is part of the Usonian design. Almost all the homes in LA County, apart from the Pearce House in Duarte and Oboler House in Malibu, are built in the textile block style of The Biltmore in Arizona. The house was built in 1939. It is also featured on the cover of Frank Lloyd Wright The Houses which I own and is a lovely book. There is a bad dog on the roof of this house who barks at you while you take pictures.

441 Skyewiay Road, Los Angeles, CA 90049

My Poor Car

I was recently hired by these girls to shoot some internet specs they are doing. To be honest I don’t quite know what it is. I actually got this gig responding to a Craig’s List post of all things, Popped my Craig’s List cherry but that whole situation is a story in itself. They live down the street from me on Laurel Canyon and they told me to be at their place by 4:30, but rescheduled about 3 other times until 5:30 was the time to be there.

At 5:30 I parked my car on Laurel Canyon. Got buzzed in and was walking up the stairs when I heard - BAM - CRASH - SKID - BAM! - It sounded horrible. I turned and saw a woman behind me run towards the gate I just walked through, I briskly followed her, my sick fuck impulse kicked in wondering what kind of horrible accident I was going to see. As I exited the gate I observed a Mercedes, about 10 feet from where I parked (I parked 10 feet from a fire hydrant), that had skipped over the curb and hit the hydrant to the point where it was nearly touching the ground. I then looked over my car which looked silent and peaceful but then immediate worry came over me as I said out loud to myself, “I hope to god she didn’t hit my car.” During this entire time the front right tire that had smashed in the hydrant was spinning like a tire stuck in the mud. When I reached my car the reality became clear. The back wheel of the car was bent into the car - scraped - the wheel itself and the side of the car, dented and bent - tire flat. As I was looking at this the woman approached.

She was elderly, spoke broken English. As I was thinking of what to say to her she said:

“I need you help me leave”
“What?!”
“Can you help me… get out?”
“Wait. No, no. You hit my car. Do you see what you did here?”
“That? Oh no. Not me”
“Are you kidding. I just parked here literally 2 minutes ago. Are you going to try to tell me you didn’t do this.”
“That. I don’t know that. I didn’t do that. I got hit over here. I need to leave.”
“No. You aren’t leaving. I need your information.”
“I will give you my information if you help me leave”

At this point I show her over to her car and explain to her that it is not moving. I called the girls to tell them what happened. They rushed down with camera in hand and started to film the whole thing. I kept trying to exchange information with her but she was fairly senile and/or was unable to understand me. She kept telling me her daughter was coming. She claims three different cars driving by are her daughter. One of the cars parks, a woman gets out with a child and walks toward us, the woman says, “This is my daughter.” Then the woman passes us by. Her inability to see or know who her daughter is reflects her ability to see parked cars and fire hydrants. During this waiting period one of the girls called the cops because she said she knew someone that worked at the Studio City Police Dept. He wasn’t on duty that evening. The police said if it wasn’t blocking a major intersection they weren’t coming. She then told them that a fire hydrant had been knocked over. Eh. Glad our taxes dollars are at work, this woman should be paying for this but now we will.

Finally the real daughter comes and we clear it up. Except for two things which is the moral of the story. I am going to attack two things here. Family and Elderly driving. One of the girls explains to the daughter about how she thought 3 other people were her, even when they were right in front of her, and as a concerned citizen she might want to consider her ability to drive. The daughter replied that no she is a good driver, she has been driving for 45 years. I guess that’s why she was in the situation she was in. After what happened at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market when an old man, after feeling the scene of a minor accident mistook his accelerator for a brake and killed over 10 people having a nice day getting some fruit. I believe strongly that the drivers test needs to be reinstated at a certain age and that people need to take more of a responsibility to ensure that people passed their prime are not behind a wheel. She couldn’t see if someone with a child was you or not but her vision is good enough to drive?

Then as I was showing the daughter the damage I took her aside to explain to her that she was trying leave. Oh no she wasn’t doing that. I tried to explain again but she wouldn’t even hear it. I think the idea of family being close should not be about denying and in the face of logic. I would be behind anyone in my family but not to the point where I am defending for the sake of blood. One should look at the situation at hand and judge by that. Sure she doesn’t know me but is it impossible to admit that she probably isn’t in the best state of her life to be driving a car? It is irresponsible for her to defend her when she is putting people in danger.

I recently got a bike for $50. Guess I will be bike boy for a little while. Lucky me. Now I am going to get hit by some old lady on my bike.

Stomp the Yard #1. Three Horsemen Mount.

Let's just say for the sake of argument that I am a total film snob. That I have no understanding of what appeals to certain demographics, and that I am completely out of touch with the youth of today. Let's also make the argument that film can and should be entertainment - that all types of films need to exist so one has the ability to make comparative analysis. It's why Democrats need Republicans' and vice versa. Without a balance we would not have the ability to cultivate taste or interest. Use information to judge right from wrong.

This is all fine and dandy. But Stomp the Yard being NUMBER FUCKING 1! I get it, people don't care if something is good, they want simple entertainment. I am guessing it was all teenage kids. Okay. But 22 fucking million dollars for You Got Served (also #1 when it came out but at least it was for 9.8 million) at a Truth (eyes rolling into the back of my head) University for dance battles?! There are reasons why this is so amazing and it comes down where we are at in our society. It is harder to claim naivety in our age of information, yet even when we are presented with information we are also in a time "rich with knowledge yet weak in action".

Yet, studios still pander. They were scared shitless of releasing Borat. Unsure that the cheap and mostly Internet motivated promotional campaign wouldn't reach the lowest common denominator they scaled back the amount of theatres they were planning on releasing Borat in, having no faith in what was easily one of the best movies of the year which ended up also being one of the biggest hits of the year.

On the opposite end of this spectrum Mike Judge's (Beavis and Butthead, Office Space) Idiocracy was literally given no advertising campaign (have you even heard of it?) and dumped off with no knowledge in a few select cites and ended up making about $436,000. Most critics found this a bit perplexing as the film was considered not only very funny, but at least better than most films that get released. If it were given a proper release people might have seen it. You might say to yourself, but Office Space was such a huge hit, everyone has seen that, why would they shit-can his new movie? Was it a hit? You probably saw it on DVD or TV because Office Space took in $10.8 million dollars on its entire theatrical run. Stomp the Yard made 2 times that it's first weekend? How does this happen? I'm not sure. I made a little list for comparative analysis to give you an idea of why it is so striking that this film made the money that it did. These are not opening weekend numbers but the money these films made in their entire theatrical run.

Fight Club - $37,023,395 (cost $64 million)
Shawshank Redemption - $28,341,469
Usual Suspects - $23,272,306
Adaptation - $22,245,861
Punch Drunk Love - $17,791,031
I Heart Huckabees - $12,784,713
Office Space - $10,824,921
American History X - $6,712,241
Swingers - $4,505,922
Requiem For a Dream - $3,609,278
Donnie Darko - $727,883

I am picking these films, with the possible exception of I Heart Huckabees (that poor overlooked gem), because these films have huge followings. People love these films and talk about them all the time, but judging by these numbers no one saw them. Why is this? I can say I went and saw a good portion of these in the theater except for Swingers, Office Space, and Darko. I saw some of them multiple times in the theater. Maybe you did too? That's why we are horrible, annoying snobs. Whether that is the case the bottom 4 listed above combined don't even add up to the weekend box office of Stomp the Yard. REALLY? How can this be?

It is because studios rely on your ignorance and want you to see what they push on you. Sometimes films are so bad even the dimwitted people they are targeting don't go, but they essentially choose what you see and it is no longer an excuse. The reason why all those films above have been seen by so many and are now huge hits is because of DVD. That is when it becomes your choice, it is no longer about what is being marketed to you, it now comes down to what you might think is good. The few people that saw the movie in the theater tell everyone for months how good a movie is and it just spreads. It doesn't do this in the theater, except in freak instances like the Blair Witch Project or Little Miss Sunshine, because generally there isn't enough time to create that momentum. It must be generated prior to the release and once it's out it better do good fast or have some insane word of mouth or it's going to get killed.

So why am I equating the success of Stomp the Yard to the Apocalypse? First it's the firey image of orange clouds engulfing Truth University in the poster above. Which is probably heat generated from the "hot" dance moves. Secondly, and more importantly, it is because we have choice now. The act of downloading music has made MTV so obsolete that they no longer even play videos, yet, the shows they play (Next, Laguana Beach, the new show with the lie detector, even The Real World is now about party happy morons who hop on the drunk fuck truck the moment they meet (remember when it was an issue show?)) are about as base as it gets and cater to the feebleminded. People, like myself, or others, who view these shows because we feel superior to them, can't blame anyone but ourselves for watching them. The most obvious point is ignoring the loss of our basic rights as Americans and the blatant fiasco that has emerged in Iraq, yet people read about Beyonce brushing her teeth or Orlando Bloom walking his dog. I understand diversion, most people work hard and have very tough lives, they want nothing more to escape, but to the extent that we give Nicole Richie a platform while a huge portion of the country struggles to get by?


Read the paper, or online, see what is coming out that you might like, trust yourself, and be mad that they don't believe that you will "get" something. Studios, PR people, the Media are constantly undermining our ability to be intelligent discerning individuals when the market is dictated by our choices. If it bothers you that the movies above get killed, don't kill them. They end up making money on DVD, but you don't think Stomp the Yard will take in double what it made in the theater? It will. It is money that you are spending, you are giving consent to say, "Yes I want to see more of this kind of film, you can do market research and predict exactly what you think I am going to see and you will probably be right." Or you can help create a market, which exists here on the Internet, in which everything is on an even playing field and is chosen based on what you are interested in.

Olive Manor Motel - Burbank, CA

New does not mean better. It does when the improvements are obvious or structural. Style takes time to recognize. Classics are defined by age, style is judged by being a passing fad or lasting impression. I am writing and posting these pictures of the Olive Manor Motel in Burbank right now, mainly because of what happened recently with Johnie's Broiler. The Olive Manor, and it's connecting restaurant Frank's, apart from the sign, is one of the best preserved buildings of it's types. Seemingly untouched, even having the old American Express signs on the outside (seen above), the hotel has such charm and character. Well had. It seems as though this is another victim of remodeling. I don't have any pictures (remember my camera broke) and I don't know what they are doing to it, but it seems as though they are removing all the signature details from the building including the orange folded plate awnings. There are run of the mill hotels and motels everywhere, why is it that the only one with character feels the need to fit in with the boring crowd.

Now I doubt the place was doing very well but that had more to do with general up keep and I think they are taking steps in the wrong direction. The Motel would be more successful if it utilized it's design (a boutique motel?) and used the modernism to attract a clientele interested in design and it would set itself apart from the rest of the blah motels in the area or even outside the area.

If they are doing positive rennovations that I just can't see now then I apologize but when I drove by I could hardly look at it and it seems to be far from the case. I keep getting broken hearted by these kinds of things, which means I need to get more involved, but I am doing something now by at least writing about it but we should all try to take the next step.

Johnie's Broiler - A Sad Update

A little while back I made a small post (mainly because my picture wasn't all that good) of Johnie's Broiler in Downey, CA. The building was one of the last surviving, if not the last surviving, examples of old Drive-In Restaurants in Southern California. But as reported by Curbed LA and Roadside Peek (pictures of the demolition and history can be seen here), the building was being demolished at 3:30 in the morning without permits and the owner claims to have no knowledge of the demolition. I was out there only about a few months back on the way to a job in Orange County and it was a bustling car dealership so it's impossible to remove all the cars in the lot and then feign ignorance. It's sad to see it go but they stopped them before the sign was bulldozed which is better than nothing.

New Arcade Fire Song "Black Mirror"

The website is a little confusing. Once you click the link below go to Win which should be on the left hand side. You will see something that looks like an egg drop. Click it. It's a marshmallow. Give it to the chicken man and he will roast it. Now that I have wasted your time click where it says "Win's Scrapbook" and click Black Mirror at the next page. My feeling is eh. Great production, great sound, average song. Sounds like a bigger version of the more average songs of Funeral or the S/T E.P. But you can judge yerself.

Black Mirror by The Arcade Fire

Delays, Apologies, and Musings

It's been awhile since I have put anything up and it is because the reason you may or may not have presumed; The Holidays. Yes. Now that the holidays are over I hope to return to The Itinerant with a new veracity that may not have been found before. Now the site has had (at date of print) roughly 561 visitors. 100 of those probably being me, viewing the blog after I make a post, checking on comments, or just being a loser. That being said some of you are reading this thing, well maybe, but you are reading it like phantoms. Maybe you just go to look at the pictures, maybe you actually read the content. To be honest I don't really know what you are doing. If you don't comment I don't really know how anything is being taken, is it even interesting or engaging you? I can only draw the conclusion that the post aren't all that interesting (I am working on that) or you just want to passively look. I thank all of you who show enough interest to visit, now I am inviting you to take the next step.

Some upcoming post will be a nice diversion from the typical fare. There will be two short stories written by yours truly that I will debut (yeah okay) here. I have a large "Bowling Vernacular" post that will be typical of the content but should be fairly fun. I did however break my baby (camera). I don't know how. It seems to function in every way but take photos. All of the photos on the site that I have taken have been taken by a small camera that my friend's mom gave to him in New York, he wasn't paying attention to when she gave it to him and it ended up in my suitcase back in LA. A year later while in the car with him and another friend he picked up the camera and said "What's this piece of crap." I laughed inside my head. The camera uses advantix film and is about as simple as it comes but it takes photos in 4 x 7 which gives it a sort of widescreen quality.

Okay. Boring information. I will be posting soon, probably tonight and I hope you have been enjoying The Itinerant.