A single light

A single light in an empty parking lot. What could feel lonelier?

One of my favorite walls (see this post) has an eery feeling late at night.

From my roof

I just thought it would be fun to see a different side of Downey. From my roof. I guess this is how the perched birds see our suburbia.

Space available

One of the common things to be seen around Downey is the space available signs. Leasing empty buildings is a hard business, I imagine. I have so many ideas of what I would do if I had the money to lease one of those buildings. An art gallery, a non-profit organization, an old bookstore with my loft upstairs...

Spring fever?

It's spring time and I love the fact that the days seem so much longer because it doesn't get dark until 7:30.

Wandering around Downey Landing tonight, I noticed quite a few people out enjoying the longer days too; eating late dinners and snacks outside by the food court area.  

Christopher's knights

Not far from where I grew up, there's a building with a big banner saying "Knights of Columbus BINGO Tuesday nights." I don't remember ever seeing a different banner, or ever seeing any people there. The building is totally nondescript—but I did like their weather vane.

So I was curious. What are the Knights? It turns out that the Knights are the world's largest Catholic service organization. Named after Christopher Columbus, the Knights were founded in 1882 to provide for widows and orphans. Famous Knights include John F. Kennedy, Vince Lombardi, and Babe Ruth. In 2009, the Knights gave more than $151 million directly to charity and performed over 69 million man hours in volunteer service.

There must be something going on in that building!

Mt. Baldy

For a final picture from the top (or in this case, the 4th floor) of the Embassy Suites Hotel, I want to show you Mt. Baldy to the northeast. At 10,068 feet (3,069 meters), it is the highest point in Los Angeles and the tallest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Until our hot spell last week, Mt. Baldy (or Mount San Antonio, as it's really called) was thoroughly covered with snow. Now, you can see the mountain starting to show through. Still, we'll continue to see snow there for another month or so.

There's a family-owned ski resort up there. At about an hour and a half away, it's our closest ski resort. The next closest (and more popular) ski area is another hour to the east.

Rooster on a hen house

I know, I'm back to yard art. I just can't seem to resist it. I have shared yard art from this house before. I find their yard fun and just a little bit funky. The front yard has a quirky character that I love.

Smog check

I have a couple more pictures I want to show you of the views from the Embassy Suites Hotel, one for today and one for next week. Today's picture isn't very exciting, but it illustrates one of the problems that is synonymous with Los Angeles—smog.

Smog was an issue in this area long before cars arrived. The name given to this area by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans translates to "the valley of smoke" because of the smog from native campfires.

Part of the problem is that the smog has nowhere to go and very little rain to wash it away. Los Angeles lies in a basin, surrounded by the ocean on one side and mountains on the other sides. These mountains, along with a variety of other geographic and weather conditions, hold our smog in.

You'll notice that the higher you look, the bluer the sky is. On a day like today, with relatively mild smog, you don't even realize the smog is there until you see it in the distance.