Stan’s Obligatory Blog

A few months ago, I read about how an artist was planning on having some 3,000 plastic spheres painted with flowers, fish, birds, and so forth, and then was going to float them all on the lake in MacArthur Park. I made a note that we should go see this when it was done, and this was the weekend. This is our first art tour bike ride since we went to see “Urban Light” back in May.

We rode down Huntington Drive into downtown L.A., and then down Spring St through downtown, and then Flower down to Adams, near USC. On the way out on Adams, there is a place with some sharp humps in the pavement, and Carla’s pedal hit the peak of one of them. This knocked her foot out of the pedal, and it snapped off one of the little stops that hold the spring-loaded back of the pedal. We were able to lever it back into place well enough to continue the ride, but that was today’s installment of the long-running series, “I’ve never seen one of these break before“.

We stopped for bagels at Noah’s in Larchmont. After that, we headed back toward downtown, taking 7th St in, since it goes right by the park. When we got to the park, we stopped off to have a look at the balls floating on the lake.

The route home went through Echo Park and Silverlake, and then home by way of York Blvd and South Pasadena. It was kind of hot at the end, but a pleasant ride.

43 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

Today’s bike club ride was a visit to Spoke Bicycle Cafe, on the L.A. River in Frogtown. We’ve been down that way before to visit The Frog Spot last summer.

We started out from Victory Park and headed west. And we didn’t get too far before GT got a flat right in front of the Gamble House. (The Gamble House is a landmark in Pasadena, and it also was Doc Brown’s house in 1955 in the “Back to the Future” movies)

We rode across Eagle Rock and Glendale all the way into Burbank. Then we turned west to go on the Chandler Bikeway. We took a short side trip to see the desert tortoises along the way. Then we headed south to pick up the L.A. River bike trail, which took us all the way to Frogtown and Spoke.

It was pretty hot today, and we pretty much all wanted cold drinks and maybe some small snacks. But Spoke was nice. It was a good place to stop along the river trail, and I think we’ll go back there again. I got a big iced tea, and after I finished that, they gave me another cup of ice to put in my water bottle for the ride back to Pasadena.

We started out up Figueroa, and then turned off at Avenue 43 to get on the Arroyo Seco bike trail. We’ve been on part of that before, but this was the first time we rode the entire length of it. And it was pretty nice. At the end, it let us out into South Pasadena, and at that point, our group kind of broke up. It was very hot, and everyone just wanted to head for home, and only a few of us live near the park where we start. So in the end, it was just a few of us who went all the way back to Victory Park. But it was a nice ride.

43 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

Back in May, Carla and I rode to Monrovia for the dedication of the Metro Operations Campus. And today was the first of the dedications of the new stations that they are finishing up on the Foothill Extension of the Metro Gold Line. Since I’m not going to be able to make the other ones, I made a point to ride out to Duarte for this one.

It was very hot today, but the ride out there is only about 10 miles, so it’s not bad, even in the heat. They had a short stretch of Duarte Road closed for the event. There were tents set up for shade, and the dignitaries were making their speeches. The station itself looks like it’s basically complete, although they had it roped off. They had a train parked there, which I guess means that the track from Pasadena to Duarte is passable by train now.

They had a table set up to tell the story of the artwork in the station. Every Metro station has some sort of art in it. The art at the Duarte station has steel pillars with carved limestone at the top. The carvings are supposed to evoke something of the history of the area near the San Gabriel River. Or at least that’s what they told me. In contrast, I passed the Arcadia station on the way out there, and it had a big peacock on it. That seemed appropriate, since Arcadia is known for its large collection of feral peafowl.

They had some cakes there, but I didn’t want to stay out there in the heat until they served them. I did manage to bum some ice from the caterers, so I filled my water bottle with ice and had cold water for part of the ride home.

21 miles.

This Sunday’s bike club ride was a visit to the Donut Hole in La Puente. Along with the Idle Hour cafe, the giant tamale, and other odd sights we’ve gone to see over the years, it’s a prime example of programmatic architecture. And we haven’t been to see the donut in a while.

On the way there, we stopped by the new Metro Rail station under construction in Arcadia. It looks like it’s almost done, and they’re having an official dedication for it in two weeks. A little farther south, we noticed one intersection that had big, round skid marks right in the middle. Apparently, we were not the only ones thinking of big donuts recently. We went by the replica of the original In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park. And then we got to the big donut. There was a line of cars back out to the street. This is they busiest we’ve ever seen them on a Sunday morning. Maybe this means the economy is picking up or something. It’s never been that busy when we visited before.

Continuing on, we made a big loop through West Covina and back to Irwindale. We passed the Huy Fong Foods hot sauce factory there. We rode into Santa Fe Dam and up the bike path to Duarte, and then back on Royal Oaks to Monrovia. We found Merengue, and it has finally reopened in their new location. The last time we looked in on them, they weren’t quite ready to open yet. I got an empanada, Carla got a Refugee, and all was right with the world.

When we got ready to leave Merengue, I discovered that I’d gotten a flat. It’s been a while since I got into the Flat Tire Gallery.

Even with the flat tire, it was a good ride.

43 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

I recently read that the building that was the world’s first Taco Bell is going to probably be torn down soon. I looked it up, and it’s in Downey, not far from the old Johnie’s Broiler that we visited recently. Between that and the oldest operating McDonald’s in Downey, there’s a lot of fast-food history there.

We rode straight down Del Mar through San Gabriel, and then when we got to Whittier Narrows, we turned down Rosemead and took that all the way to Downey. We passed the old McDonald’s and then turned on 5th St. That took us past the apartment buildings The Carpenters owned. Then, when we got to downtown Downey, we stopped for coffee and snacks at 3rd St Coffee.

After the snack stop, we continued west for a bit, and then south to Firestone Blvd. We went a couple of streets beyond Firestone, turned right, and came back out on Firestone through a sidewalk at the end of a cul-de-sac. That brought us out right by the former Taco Bell. The building, as well as the building next to it, and their parking lot were all fenced off. I had to hold the camera up over the fence to see anything. It looks like the preservationists may not have succeeded, since the site looked like it was ready to knock down. I guess we will have to stop by again in the future and see.

Continuing south for a bit, we came out by the Rio Hondo. We got on the Rio Hondo bike trail and took that all the way back to Whittier Narrows. Then we took Walnut Grove back home. It was a pleasant ride.

40 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

A few years ago, I took a ride to Hollywood to do a Ramones tour. One of the stops on that tour was at Guitar Center on Sunset to see the Ramones’ handprints in the concrete in front of the store. I recently realized that the Rock Walk has a lot more than just the Ramones on it. In particular, I saw that the Funk Brothers are on it. So I thought this would be a good piece of sightseeing for the Sunday morning bike club ride.

We rode out there by our regular route through South Pasadena and Highland Park. After we crossed the L.A. River, we made a quick stop to see the Snow White Cottages. We’ve been by there a hundred times, but never made the half-block side trip to see them.

Once we got into Hollywood, we rode the length of Hollywood Boulevard down to the Chinese Theater. Then we turned off and headed down to Sunset and Guitar Center. Sadly, Guitar Center doesn’t open until 11 on Sundays, so we could only look at the handprints through the screen that they close at night. Still, it’s quite a collection.

From there, we rode down to Larchmont Village to Noah’s Bagels. I took a walk a couple doors down the street to Salt and Straw just to see what they had there. It looked and smelled good, but 10AM is just a little early for ice cream for me.

The route home was our regular route up Benton Way through Silver Lake. I’d read recently that they were draining the Silver Lake reservoir, but when we went by it, it still had quite a bit of water in it.

At the end, we went through Eagle Rock and up the Colorado hill to get back to Pasadena. It was a nice ride.

40 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

George Ellery Hale was an astronomer and one of the founders of Caltech. And I read recently that his old observatory, where he studied the Sun, was still standing, and only a few blocks from campus. So, one day when I was climbing the stairs at Millikan Library, I took a look out the window from the 9th floor, and I could see the dome peeking up through the trees a short distance away. So today, I went for a short bike ride to go see it.

It had been pretty easy to spot from up in the air, but it was a bit harder to find from the ground. The property it is on had been sold a long time ago, and a large house had been built there. So I had to cruise around the neighborhood, looking down all the driveways, before I saw it. It was at the far end of a very long driveway, and jut the top of the dome was above the trees.

Since I’d gone to see his observatory, I took a short side trip to Caltech to see bust of Hale on campus, and also to see the giant chunk of ice that is always present on the liquid nitrogen storage over by Physical Plant and the loading dock. And on the way home, I stopped for a photo of the funky palm tree. I pass it every day riding to and from the office, but I don’t usually stop to look at it.

It’s July 4th weekend, and once again, they closed Glendora Mountain Road to cars. So, like we have for the past several years, the Sunday Morning Ride went there to enjoy riding the quiet eight-mile climb up Glendora Mountain.

The ride out there was pretty routine. And when we got to the turnoff, we rode the mile or so up to the closed gate, lifted our bikes over, and headed up the mountain. Along the way, we passed some guys hiking up with their skateboards. And then, a little farther up, we were passed by three guys on skateboards who were coming down the mountain fast. We also saw many, many other bike riders who had the same idea we had and had come to ride the fabled mountain road.

It was cool and overcast, which made for a pleasant ride. Up near the top, we came out above the marine layer, and we had blue sky and sunshine for the last mile or two of the climb. Still, it was a far cry from the time we rode there when it was over 100 degrees. And four years later, we still talk about how good the oranges we had that day were. But today was basically a perfect day for riding.

I’d brought along my little GPS unit, so I finally know just how long that hill is. According to the data, it’s about nine miles and 2,400 vertical feet from the turnoff at the bottom to the top of the hill. That works out to about a 6% grade, which is pretty consistent all the way up.

On the way back, we were going to try to go to Merengue in Monrovia. I’d read that they had a new location, and we were able to find it, but it wasn’t open. They had a sign in the window saying that they were going to be conducting interviews this coming week to hire staff to run the place, so that implies that they will be open again soon. In the meantime, we went up to the Coffee Bean at Foothill Blvd and had snacks there. Then we headed home by the most direct route. That was where Jim got a flat. But despite that, it was a pleasant ride.

55 miles.

Route map and elevation profile

Yesterday, I read about how some unknown artists had popped up a little Japanese-style tea house on an old concrete pad on top of one of the peaks in Griffith Park. Apparently, it was done on the sly in one night, and from the pictures I saw, it looked like it was very nicely done. Since it was unclear how long it would be there, I figured it was something we should go see immediately. Fortunately, Morgan and Jason from my office were up for it, and we headed over there this afternoon.

The instructions on how to find it from Modern Hiker were for starting out from the observatory, but parking there is always a problem, and coming from Pasadena, it’s just easier to start from the other side of the park, by the Old Zoo. We headed up the trail just like we did back in March, when we went to Mt Hollywood to see the marathon lights. When we got to the part of the trail that goes around just below Taco Peak, we looked up, and the tea house was there. Just a short distance up the trail, we came to the spot and saw it close up. There were quite a few people there to see it. I guess everyone had the same reaction to hearing about it.

The artists had left pencils and little wooden chips to write wishes for Los Angeles on, but all the wood chips had been used. We went inside to see them all hung on the pegs and read what people had written. It was all very nicely done. The construction of the house was first-rate, and it really looked like it belonged there. It’s unclear what will happen to it, but at least we got to see it when it was still fresh.

It kind of reminded me of Amir’s Garden, which is another place in the park that was built by one man with a vision. So on the way down, we took a route to go through there. It was nicely cool and shady there, as the garden is irrigated with what I can only assume is reclaimed water. But it was very nice there. Then we took a very steep trail down the end of the ridge to get back to the trail that would bring us back to our starting point. It was a good little afternoon adventure.

Route map and elevation profile

Whenever police misconduct is in the news, the story of Rodney King comes up. He was really the first high-profile case of the modern era where police doing bad things were caught on video. At the time, that was a first, but now, we’re seeing it over and over, and it’s shining a light on something that the police really don’t want people to see. Because of that, and the L.A. riots in 1992, Rodney King became an icon. I’m sure he never wanted to be a household name. After that, he lived his life in a fishbowl, which must have been very unpleasant. Still, the ordeal he went through led to some positive changes for society.

I recently found out that, after several years of being unmarked, Rodney King has a proper headstone. So today’s ride was to go see it, and to remember the reluctant icon.

It was a good day for riding, and we had a pretty big group this time. Apparently, Father’s Day is a big occasion at Forest Lawn, and the place was packed. When we got there, we rode all the way to the back. It’s about a mile from the front gate to the back section where Rodney King is buried. His new marker is nice, and it’s kind of fitting that it features the one line he’s remembered for. In all his time in the media spotlight, he never said much. Maybe he didn’t want to say anything, and maybe nobody ever asked him what he thought. But there is still the one line he is remembered for, and apparently, most people remember it wrong. I looked up on Youtube and found the video clip, and he did in fact say, “Can we all get along”. So there it is. Like the headline on an obituary, to have one’s entire life summed up in one line.

Continuing on, we stopped for snacks at Priscilla’s. Then we headed home, across Glendale. GT’s friend Lura got a flat, so I doubled back for a quick picture for the Flat Tire Gallery. Then we rode up Verdugo and home through La Cañada. It was a nice ride.

45 miles.

Route map and elevation profile