Angels Flight - Downtown LA

A quaint pair of rail-cars provide transport up the steep incline from the Grand Central Markets on Hill Street to California Plaza on Bunker Hill.

If you have already read the novel "Angels Flight" by Michael Connelly you'll enjoy the ride a whole lot more. Quoting from the backcover of the book: "An activist attorney is killed in a cute little L.A. trolley called Angels Flight, far from Harry Bosch's Hollywood turf. But the case is so explosive - and the dead man's enemies inside the L.A.P.D. are so numerous - that it falls to Harry to solve it. Now the streets are superheating......"





Michael Connelly provides an excellent description through the eyes of Harry Bosch:
"Bosch had ridden the inclined railroad as a kid and had studied how it worked. He still remembered. The two matching cars were counterbalanced. When one went up the side-by-side tracks the other went down, and vice versa. They passed each other at the mid-point. He remembered riding on Angels Flight long before Bunker Hill had been reborn as a slick business center of glass and marble towers, classy condominiums and apartments, museums, and fountains referred to as water gardens. Back then the hill had been a place of once-grand Victorian homes turned into tired-looking rooming houses. Harry and his mother had taken Angels Flight up the hill to look for a place to live." page 11.

Smurf Watch - Los Angeles

In late July, warning signs on the front of the LA Times newspaper and on the sides of the Big Blue Buses of Santa Monica advertised the arrival of mischievous smurfs to LA cinemas.

Santa Monica Place took the hype further by being home to this monstrously large smurf.

I haven't seen the 3-D movie yet, but I did fall victim to the advertising efforts and bought some really cute figurines and soft-toy smurfs from a toy shop in downtown LA - in the Macy's building - to take home as gifts.

Catalina Island - Casino Building

The Catalina Casino building is not a casino, it is an entertainment center that dates back to 1929. Through the 1930s and 1940s the Casino Ballroom was a favorite venue for many of the Big Bands.

The Casino Art Gallery, Avalon Theatre, and Catalina Island Museum are also located in the Casino Building.

This glorious Catalina icon is as tall as a 12-story building.

Catalina Island Day Trip - California

The boat ride from Marina Del Rey to Saint Catalina Island takes about 2 hours. Depending on the weather, it can be a rough voyage. But the beauty and majesty of the sea-life you may encounter on the journey is worth taking the chance of motion sickness. On a clear day in early August we saw scores of dolphins and a couple of enormous blue whales.

Once you arrive on the island, you can kick back and relax on the beach, snorkel, scuba dive, rent a boat, rent a golf cart, or take a tour.

When you get hungry there are lots of cafes, pubs and restaurants to choose from.

Catalina day-trippers from Marina Del Rey have to be ready to leave the island by 5 pm

Venice, Italy - views from the Grand Canal

Take in the sights on your way to your hotel along the Grand Canal. These are some of the buildings we saw from the vaperatto.

Venice, Italy - San Marco in summertime

Take a vaperatto to San Marco from the Santa Lucia railway station. There are two San Marco stops: Vallaresso and San Zaccaria. Either one will do. Enjoy the wonderful aquatic, urban and cultural scenes as you motor down the Grand Canal.

Venice, Italy - a city of boats

Venice is a city of waterways. The best way to get around is on foot or by boat.

Urban Flood, Brisbane 2011

These photos were taken in New Farm, Brisbane, soon after the river peaked this week. New Farm Park, New Farm floating walkway, the City Cat Terminal, Welsby Street, parts of Sydney Street and Brunswick Street and the Merthyr Shopping Village are all damaged by flood waters and/or storm water flows. Merthyr Bowls Club, despite its river frontage, was untouched.


City Cat Terminal, New Farm. Tops of the City Bike hitching posts in the foreground.

Lots of debris, hurtled downstream. A yacht smashed into the City Cat Terminal

New Farm Park, looking toward the Powerhouse

The Bowls Club. Water fully covered the walkway from here to Sydney Street City Cat Terminal

Floating Walkway. Two large sections broke away and floated downstream. Tugs rounded them up to avoid massive damage to bridges and other property.

Floating Walkway near the New Farm cliffs

Howard's Wharves, the site of proposed new development

Looking across to a submerged Holman Street Ferry Stop.

Many people were shocked by the storm water back flows (from river to shop or backyard or road). The car park in the basement of Merthyr Village is at sea level so the storm water pipes filled it quickly. As a result, most of the shops are still without power.


Looking toward the Fish and Chip Shop on the corner of Sydney Street and Brunswick Street. The road entrance (underwater) to New Farm Park is on the right. From here down, Sydney Street was awash.

New Farm Park entrance

Welsby Street, New Farm