It's pronounced "Fronkensteen."

Hi. Remember me?

We started this blog back in ye olden days with the purpose of spotlighting the odd, strange and marvelous things that you see every day in and around San Pedro. After a while it sort of morphed into something else completely, a kind of neighborhood watch/politico thing that was far removed from the original purpose of the joint.

Nothing wrong with that, but the people who originally posted here drifted off and new voices stepped in taking it even further afield, so we decided to turn out the lights and send everyone home.

The old posts will remain, because there's a lot of cool stuff here, but we'll have to ask those of you who enjoy what the blog became to branch off and start something new. We'll leave LIFE ON THE EDGE here in its web2.0 time capsule and remember it fondly.

Peace and love, San Pedro. Peace and love.

Come on in, the water's fine!

Led by none other than John Olguin himself, this year's Polar Bears swim went off with nary a hitch. Olguin kicked off the event with the "Grunion Dance," a tribute to San Pedro's grunion, which nest every year at Cabrillo Beach.

Here are some snapshots from the event, and a 30-second video clip for those of you not willing to brave the water:

An Oral History

If you haven't yet taken a look, the Port of Los Angeles just finished a magnificent project in conjunction with its Centennial Celebration. It's called "An Oral History". What it is, is a video archive of one or two minute excerpts from interviews with more than 100 people, posted on the Port's website for the public.

Some of the people interviewed include current and former politicians, restaurant owners, longshoremen, port police, as well as some of the port's staff. It's a really fantastic gift for local history buffs, journalists, and ordinary citizens who are interested in learning more about the Port's history, San Pedro, and the Harbor Area. The whole thing has a very Ken Burns feel to it. I would highly recommend people set aside 30 minutes and listen to some of the excerpts, like one from Joan Milke Flores on the pronounciation of Pedro.

An Oral History

Turtles at Cabrillo Beach?

From a story in today's More San Pedro about Harbor Division preparing for New Year's Eve:

The division gets some unusual calls on New Year's Eve, as well. Sgt. Tom Hamilton responded to a call about a "sea monster" one year.
"We received a radio call and the comments were `see the sea monster at Cabrillo Beach,"' Hamilton recalled.
He and another officer responded to the call and found a young couple at the Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse. The couple had been getting, as Hamilton put it, "amorous" on a blanket on the beach when the blanket lifted up and started moving.
"When we looked at the blanket, we discovered this huge sea turtle had laid its eggs in the sand under the blanket," Hamilton said.
They resolved the situation with the young couple, but then had to explain the sea monster to the rest of the LAPD divisions, who can all hear each other's radio calls.
"They were all curious," Hamilton laughed. [link]

It's really too bad the reporter from More didn't get the rest of the story, or did and didn't print it. What happened to the turtle? Did the police notify anyone at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium? What became of the turtle's eggs? What year was it? What does "resolved" mean? Did they get a ticket? Were they arrested?

Hello? McFly? Anybody Home?

PMA Wants to Eliminate Hoot Shift?

Just saw this in this morning's Breeze. So for those of us who aren't either ILWU or work in the port in other capacities, could someone give some clarity on the role of the Hoot Shift, any kind of perspective on a switch to two 10 hour shifts, etc... The only thing I know is that I have friends who do 10 hour shifts and they love them, since they get more days off, but I don't know how applicable that situation is here.

The PMA PR folks say this is about efficiency, not about the overpayment of folks for what's basically a half-shift, but that's a little (or a lot) too convenient for my taste.

Saturday at Angels Gate

A couple of things are going down at Angels Gate this weekend. Here's the details

Martin Bax, Editor of AMBIT, Reading at Angels Gate Cultural Center with Special Guests

Martin Bax, the editor of Ambit, one of Britain's leading literary journals will be treating us to some history of Ambit, reading his own work and hosting some American poets published in his magazine. They include Robert Sward, Fred Voss, Joan Jobe Smith, Tricia Cherin, Geoff Nicholson and Steve de France.

The reading is at 2PM in the Center's main gallery, upstairs.

Belmont Shores Model Railroad Club Open House

If you love railroads, minatures or toys, this is for you. Their setup is amazing and every one of these micro-engineers is an amazing fellow to talk to. They're building is right up past the Center's galleries. It's all day long, and I think they sell hot dogs.

Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council Election

In the Cultural Center's Building H, from 10 AM - 2 PM. Link to a .pdf of the official list of candidates here.

Danelo Billboard Lives On?

Has anyone besides me been weirdly surprised by the fact that the Mario Danelo Billboard is now on Sepulveda, over by the mini-golf course? I was driving by the other day, and I did a major double take.

Wind!

Love that wind! It's a 100% Pedro day out here above the point. Windows shaking, dust flying, whitecaps as far as one can see. Great weather indeed! I hope everyone is enjoying it.

Apparently the huge waves and winds might have had something to do with a fun day for 150 kids out on the schooner American Pride, too.

1st Thursday Stuff & Free Plays at Angels Gate

So the Chamber's been trying to put some life back into 1st Thursday, so I'm back to saying that it may be worth checking out. They fired the individual who was running the disaster of a "street fair" and efforts are being made to pull the event back from the cliff that it was heading over.

I'm really not sure what's going on elsewhere, but husband of AGCC Studio Artist Phoebe Nickell, Lowell Nickell, Studio Artist Ailene Shibata and former Studio Artist Paul Carmichael have an opening at The Loft. I've been a huge, huge fan of Paul Carmichael's work for years and years and he rarely shows, so this is a great chance to see it. Lowell Nickel had a beautiful diptych in this year's On Site at the Gate and Ailene Shibata is back in the swing of painting after recovering from a nasty back injury.

Up at Angels Gate, we're hosting 2 performances this 1st Thursday, at 6:30 & 8:30 PM. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks wrote a play a day for a year, and we're presenting seven of them (they're short, they only take about 1 hour to perform) this Thursday in Building H. These plays are being performed all over the country, but we can enjoy them right in our own backyard. It's free, and if you're planning on going downtown for 1st Thursday, you can check out the 6:30 show before you make your way down there.

Someone's shooting out my streetlights?

So this morning, my roommate points out to me that all of the streetlights on my block, and then a whole bunch on the cross street closest to my house are busted. Not in a "not working" kind of way, but in a someone blew out the glass cover and the streets (and at least one of my neighbor's cars) are covered in shattered glass. Of course, I called the LAPD, and they couldn't give two shits about whether or not someone in my already sketchy neighborhood was up to no good.

Horseshoes at Sunken City

Someone recently mentioned in passing that there had been a secret horseshoe pitch at Sunken City until the Department of Recreation and Parks took it out... Anyone know anything about this?

Wow! Holy Public Outcry, Batman!

Noticed this courtesy of The Aesthetic. There is an article in the Breeze about a homeowner in RHE going to jail for not properly permitting his home improvements. Well, the article has 527 comments going right now. Fun reading.

UPDATE - the amount of comments has spawned a meta-article, about the commentary itself. Welcome to media 2.0, folks. The meta-article has 59 of its own comments.

Monday blurbs

Pacific Avenue will soon find itself lined with trees. According to a story that is no longer on the Breeze website, the corridor will be planted with more than 100 trees. While I'm generally in favor of more trees being planted around town, I'm not sure this is the right way to go about it. Maintenance can be costly, and given the sporadic nature of the city's cleanup crews, it's likely they might make a mess rather than provide aesthetically pleasing views.

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The Welcome Park is coming along nicely. At the last Central meeting, when Hahn's representatives announced it would be open by labor day, the person next to me muttered, "Where's everybody going to park?" That is a really good question. Now that Pedro's entrance is semi-complete, can we get CalTrans (which has jurisdiction of the street from the freeway to 9th Street) to fix Gaffey for pete's sake? Hahn recently stated that the city may take jurisdiction of the street, and that the bridge might even be removed!

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Random Lengths reporter Art Vinsel recently indicated that designs for the controversial fence/wall for Point Fermin and Sunken City are going to be displayed and comments will be taken at some upcoming public meetings. According to Frank O'Brien, they will be shown at a meeting of the Point Fermin Resident's Association in September (most likely Sept. 8 at Point Fermin Community Center) where comments will be taken. "The overall goal is to provide both safety and security and to do it in a way that's appropriate for the site," said O'Brien.

Bukday

I'm not with it anymore. I thought we were done eulogizing Buk years ago. A man dies, you pour out your 40 oz in his name, and you move on. I love Bukowski, but the idea of him as a celebrity, eternally worshiped by thin skinned hipsters just bothers me.

Anyways. The guys at Esotouric have put together a series of events, starting today and going through Sunday, that they've named Bukday, in honor of his birthday week. Click the link for info about the tours.

Some of My Favourite Local Public Art

Well, not exactly public, because it's inside of the H. Salt Fish and Chips on Western, but it's a basically publicly accessible place. I have no idea on the surreal story behind the super-weird "fish as odd characters" mural, but I've always loved it. Thanks to Phill for taking the photos

Acres of Books Under Development Pressure

I'm crossing the bridge on this one, since I know many of us consider the rickety stacks at acres of books to be holy ground. Acres has always been that place where I can rely on to find that obscure sci-fi paperback that's beyond out of print.

Apparently the City of Long Beach is angling to employ eminent domain to force Acres to get the hell out of the way of Broadway Block, a still vaguely designed development that would supposedly feature some serious art assets (studios, galleries, etc...). The District Weekly has the full story and I'd suggest it as reading for everyone - now that most of the abandoned or barren properties in Downtown Pedro have been snapped up and developed, it's only a matter of time before the words "Eminent Domain" echo from the rooftops in San Pedro. There's already been light talk about onsolidating lots to create a "superblock" where development can occur in a big way and unimpeded by say, pesky landowners and their tenants.

Props to curbed.la for pointing this out.

Hal Fishman, RIP

I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of one of LA's most recognizable newspeople, Hal Fishman. His distinctive voice and delivery made him more than an ordinary local news anchor, he's always been a part of the spirit of Los Angeles that I love.

San Pedro Mechanics?

I have come to the conclusion that my mechanic, which does good work, is a complete ripoff. The place I've been going to is on Pacific, and is a family run place. I do not believe in going to dealerships, because they will always find a way to charge top dollar. But after a recent oil change that cost me $40, I have come to my senses.

So, I am taking suggestions from people in the neighborhood who might know other places to go. Let's hear your stories, good and bad, about mechanics in San Pedro. I know we've all got them.

What You are Doing this Weekend

I'm up in San Francisco this weekend so I don't get to do any of this stuff. So I'm counting on some of our loyal readers to do it for me.

Friday night, August 3, there's a 3-D triple feature at the Warner Grand. Only one movie, It Came from Outer Space, is a full length, but they're giving you free cardboard glasses with mismatched lenses, so that's a fair deal in my book. $10 for regular folks and $5 for seniors and students. Movie starts at 8PM.

Saturday night, enjoy the atmosphere at Harold's while you catch the Jack Brewer Reunion Band. Show starts at 8PM.

8-9 No Name Band featuring Craig Ibarra, Vinnie Vegas, Rawl, Kevin and Don Don.
9-10 Jack Brewer Reunion Band
10-11 The Chuck Dukowski SEXtet
11-12 Female Troubles (Italy)
12-1 Ketman (Boston)

Or if you love punk, but are too old for the bar scene, you can go down to Raid Projects (at the Brewery, Downtown LA) and see the exhibition Gift for the Screamers, an exhibition by Craig Leonard and Jenny Lens. The Screamers were the best band to ever take stage in Los Angeles, the purest, punkest thing that ever was. Don't know if they ever played Pedro, but their influence was and continues to be felt in our little punk burg. Reception is 4-7 PM at Raid Projects, up through August 25.

Sunday, it's back to the Warner for The Outsiders, which is your chance, possibly your only chance to see "Soul Man" C. Thomas Howell in a good movie. Tickets are $5. Movie starts at 2 pm, so you can check out the Sunday street fair before you go in. Buy some decent produce and put your Wusthof to work!

Bunch of News

Palos Vedres Urban Village has changed hands

Apparently a Beverly Hills based firm, Omninet Capital, bought the 2.4 acre site in June, and are taking over the project from San Pedran Gary Dwight. Janice Hahn is "shocked" by the change. Read about it in the Breeze.

Mojo to be Repaired

More like re-invented, is what it sounds like. So it's been broken for months (I told you so!), and the company that programmed the robotic arm component went bankrupt, so they're replacing the whole arm (who's paying for this?) to make it work again. I thought I saw it working once, but it was just a bag lady standing in the right spot, where the broken arm points to. Read about it in the Breeze.

Eastview Looks Gift Horse in the Mouth

I'm puzzled by this as well. Eastview Little League (a private sporting organization) has been offered long term use of a piece of public land, but they'd rather blow their money on improving Knoll Hill for what is supposed to be a brief, 3 year residency? If they're expecting sympathy again in 2011 when it's time to remove them from Knoll Hill, I don't think they're going to get it. Read about it in the Breeze.

LA Traffic Count Method Broken

Of interest to Ponte Vista traffic dislikers. Apparently the way the city calculates traffic created by new developments is based off of a multi city model that may have no real connection to the local reality. Your tax dollars at work! So I think for now the best estimate of traffic impact from developments is probably our collective local gut. Read about it in the Times.

Wilmington Raid Nets 43 Arrests

A little follow up on the raid on the East Side Pain Bloods set in Wilmington yesterday. Total arrests is 43, and there are property improvement lawsuits and even the seizure of the Catalina Motel to go along with the arrests.

An aside - "Officials called Tuesday's sweep an unprecedented example of financially strapped local and federal agencies working together, sharing intelligence and pooling their resources to combat the region's vast gang problem."

A brief rant - Financially strapped? What planet are these guys living on. There's no department more flush with cash, and almost totally unaccountable for its ridiculous legal expenses than the LAPD. The Department of Cultural Affairs has a $10 million budget and you guys have $2 billion to play with, you don't even know what strapped looks like.

Read about it in the Times.