BrianHimes.com » Los Angeles

Obama Causes a Little Traffic in LA

Brian — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:32:18 +0000

So, President Obama visited Los Angeles this week and people seem to be in an uproar because of the traffic issues caused by his motorcade.

Now, I understand hating traffic. And anything that makes it worse is truly annoying. But really, what’s with all the backlash at the President for visiting?

You should be honored when the President visits your town, whether you like him or not. I would bet that all the bad press regarding the traffic has less to do with the traffic than it has to do with people wanting to bad mouth the President. You’re entitled to your opinion, but let’s call it what it is and not hide our dissatisfaction under the guise of complaining about the traffic he caused. Ok?

And if you truly are enraged about the traffic, there are plenty of other issues that should concern you. Here are a few:

Bad public transportation

Inadequate funding for expansion of public transportation

Old, neglected, inadequate freeway systems

Inadequate funding for freeway expansion

Inadequate funding for freeway maintenance

Urban sprawl

Commuters

Too many cars

Bad drivers

I think you get the idea. Let’s grow up and stop playing dumb political games.

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File This Under “Duh!”

Brian — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:26:50 +0000

You can file this under “Duh!” Last Summer’s Sinkholes and Street Geysers Explaind.

Now, did anyone really believe the DWP when they fed us the line about the cause not being the water rationing? Way to go USC for studying the situation and calling DWP out.

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Space Issues

Brian — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Maybe I just have personal space issues, but is it normal for some random person to sit in the booth with you when you’re eating your lunch?

I was sitting in a booth at Subway eating my regular 6-inch tuna on Italian Herb and Cheese bread when a teenager came and sat down in my booth today. Apparently, he was too tired to stand in the line, that’s what I overheard him tell his friends. The experience was a little odd and I was a little perturbed that someone would just come and sit in my booth, but it got me thinking. Why do I need a whole booth to myself anyway? Wouldn’t society be better off if we could sit in booths with strangers and be perfectly content?

LAX Noise Complaint System

Brian — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:22:00 +0000

This sounds really cool. According to NBC Los Angeles "Users can access the system at www.lawa.org by clicking on the "Noise Management" link on the left hand side of the page." Now, it's too bad the service wont work for Burbank. I'd be logging complaints all the time, although that might not be fair since I live so close to the airport.

Sales Tax Increase

Brian — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Happy Sales Tax Increase Day! Today in Los Angeles County the sales tax increases to 9.75%. Yes, that does seem incredibly high.

There's an article over at the Daily News about the increase if you want to read more.

Car Chases Galore

Brian — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Did you watch the Bentley car chase last night? I watched about an hour of it, from 11pm to 12am. Initially I was trying to watch the news to see the story of the car chase through Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, but I never got to see the coverage on that because I was sucked into the Bentley chase. I don't know why, but car chases are always interesting to me. And, the added excitement of the possible celebrity status of the Bentley's driver kept me interested even longer than I normally would have been. What's wrong with me? And, what was going on last night that lead to two car chases?

Seismic Tests and a Tunnel Freeway?

Brian — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Caltrans has begun seismic drilling tests in Alhambra to see if a tunnel under South Pasadena, and Pasadena would be a plausible solution to extending the 710 from Alhambra to the 210 in Pasadena.

It's an interesting idea, building a tunnel, to complete the freeway, but I'm not sure I'd really like driving in a 4.5 mile tunnel underneath Pasadena. Not that I'll really have a reason to anyway, but it's just a little scary. I guess the test will tell us if it's safe or not.

Tragic

Brian — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:47:00 +0000

Erin and I learned this morning that a friend of ours lost her father in the tragic train accident last night. Please send up your prayers for her family and the families of all of those who were lost or injured in the Chatsworth train accidnet.

Two Local Events

Brian — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:42:00 +0000

Two upcoming local events that might be cool:

National Night Out in LA: August 5th
Netflix Live On Location: August 9th

A BBQ Journey

Brian — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Monday night a good friend and I set out on a journey for bbq that was not, in any way, intended to be a journey. While discussing dinner options early in the day it was decided that we’d try out one of the many local bbq restaurants in the area. My friend being a Texan, and connoisseur of things bbq, has yet to find a restaurant to meet his bbq expectations and we were hoping that we might strike gold with a local establishment we had talked of visiting for months. That place was The Swinging Door Texas BBQ.

Around 7pm we met at my house and leisurely headed on over to The Swinging Door. Visions of smoked meat and sauce filled my mind during the 5 minute drive and by the time we arrived I was ready to chow down. Unfortunately, The Swinging Door wasn’t ready for us. They were closed. There was a sign on the door, which explained that they were closed for a system upgrade. From the looks of things they had been closed for a while. Mail was piling up on the floor just inside the front door, and there was no sign of recent activity.

It was obvious that we were not going to be eating there so we jumped in the car and decided to try for another bbq joint. Driving by memory we headed south looking for another restaurant for our bbq fix. And after driving the wrong way on Magnolia Blvd for a couple miles we found Kansas City BBQ, a place we had read about in a local coupon magazine called “The Clipper.” Oddly enough that place was also closed. They too, like The Swinging Door, had a sign posted in their window. It detailed that they were closed for repairs on their smoker, a vital tool for any true bbq spot.

Discouraged but not yet broken, we climbed back into the car in search of a location we had seen on Moorpark St. After a bit of driving we determined that the actual place we were in search of had been transformed into a Bar and Grill, but with the help of good ole Google we found Uncle Andre’s BBQ, which was of course, you guessed it, closed. If I recall correctly they didn’t have an explanation for their closure. It was probably just too late in the day.

Defeated, broken, and starved, we decided to give up on our search for a new bbq joint and headed to an old familiar Burbank restaurant: Ribs USA. As usual the atmosphere was great, the service decent and the food tasty. I had a combo with pulled pork, rib tips, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and corn bread. Everything was great, and the pulled pork was particularly tasty and tender that night. My friend had beef ribs, bbq chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and corn bread. It was a monstrous amount of food.

Now, while it wasn’t exactly what we were seeking in our long, drawn-out journey, Ribs USA came to the rescue. A word of advice, if you’re in search of bbq in L.A. make sure you call ahead. Odds are your restaurant of choice will be closed for one reason or another.

The Swinging Door Texas BBQ

11018 Vanowen St
North Hollywood, CA 91606

(818) 763-8996‎

(818) 475-5216‎ – Fax

Kansas City BBQ

10863 Magnolia Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601

(818) 754-0030

‎

Uncle Andre’s BBQ

11715 Moorpark St
Studio City, CA 91604

(818) 763-8414

‎

Ribs USA

2711 W Olive Ave
Burbank, CA 91505

(818) 841-8872