Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Route slip

Today’s ride was the “Kenneth Village” route through Glendale, with a stop a Paradise Bakery. It was a fairly nice day, but a bit chilly by SoCal standards.

We started off headed up to La Cañada. On the way, Doug got a flat. This marks Doug’s third consecutive appearance in the Flat Tire Gallery.

After fixing the flat, we continued on up the hill, and then down Hospital Hill, and the long downhill into Glendale. Then we took Mountain and Kenneth across Glendale to Paradise. I had my usual two chocolate éclairs. They have the best éclairs there.

Next, we rode over into Griffith Park, which was where we saw the woman on roller skis. That’s something you just don’t see every day here. Then through the park and past the Mulholland Fountain, left on Fletcher, and home by way of Eagle Rock and South Pasadena.

By the time we got back, the sun had finally started warming things up. But even with the chill, it was a fun ride.

46 miles.
cycling

Tonight is Art Night in Pasadena. And there was a group doing a bike ride around to visit all the museums. So, in the interest of getting out of the house and having some fun, I put the light on my bike and headed over there.

The group met in the courtyard at One Colorado. It was a pretty big group. We started out riding to the Norton Simon Museum, which I’d never been to before. We had about 30 minutes there before going on to the Pasadena History Museum. The exhibit there was about the history of the purse. A bit odd, but very entertaining. Then, on to the Armory Center for the Arts. The collection there was more to my liking, with lots of very strange pieces, and some that were outright disturbing.

There was a short interlude at the main Pasadena Public Library. They had coffee and snacks there. A very nice woman I’d met on the ride bought me a chocolate-chip cookie there, which was very sweet. Both the woman and the cookie, that is.

Next and last was a double at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and the Pacific Asia Museum. The PMCA was very nice, and had a lot of interesting pieces. Also, I got a nice picture of Pasadena City Hall off the roof there. And that was the rest of our evening. By the time we all trooped over to the Asia Museum, it was 10:00 and they were shutting the doors.

Still, it was a very fun time.

Route slip

The Sunday ride for this week was my route up to the Hollywood sign, coming back by way of Toluca Lake and La Cañada. The time change had some of us a little sleepy starting out, but it turned into a perfect spring day.

We rode out through Eagle Rock and down to the L.A. river, crossing over into Silver Lake. Then we went across the Shakespeare Bridge and down Franklin Ave. At Beachwood, we turned right up the hill and headed for the sign. Just after the Hollywoodland gate, we turned left, and that was where the real climbing began. The road up the hill there is very steep and rough. At the top, we went right on Mulholland to get to the dead end right below the sign. There are large signs telling us that hiking up to the sign is prohibited. But there is an obviously well-worn trail that begins right behind those signs. We stopped to take in the view and take some pictures. Then we headed back down Mulholland, down to the Lake Hollywood reservoir. From there, there was another steep climb up and over the hill to get to Barham Blvd. Then down into Burbank, and our snack stop at Priscilla’s.

Coming home, we rode straight across Glendale and then up Verdugo to Hospital Hill. Then down the other side through La Cañada and back into Pasadena. Finally, we took Mendocino back across Altadena and then back to the park. The actual route was about 44 miles, and I rode out to Sierra Madre and back again, just to enjoy the sunshine some more.

50 miles.
cycling

Today’s bike ride was the regular Toluca Lake route. Straight out across Eagle Rock and Glendale to a snack stop at Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake. Then home by way of Griffith Park and Atwater Village. It was a nice day for riding.

The ride out was pretty uneventful. We saw one abandoned couch in Eagle Rock, pushed up against the retaining wall for the 134 freeway. We stopped for snacks at Priscilla’s. Then we started back. The route back went past the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn, so a few of us stopped off to do some celebrity grave sightseeing. The main attraction this time was Andy Gibb, who, sadly was not “Stayin’ Alive“. We also saw Jack Webb, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, Freddie Prinze, Walter Lantz, and Forrest Tucker. Pictures are in the Graves Gallery.

On the way back through Highland Park, we saw Chicken Boy. Then we crossed into South Pasadena, where Doug got a flat.

When we got back to the park, I had 46 miles, so I rode out to Sierra Madre and back, just to get to a nice, round 50. It was a fun ride.

50 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was a Carpenters theme route. We rode to Downey to see the “Close to You” and “Only Just Begun” apartments, and also to see their old house, which was pictured on the cover of their 1973 album, “Now and Then“.

We rode straight south down through San Gabriel and then on Rosemead Blvd down to Downey. We stopped off at the oldest operating McDonald’s at the corner of Lakewood and Florence. Then we rode over to see the two apartment buildings that Karen and Richard Carpenter bought and named for their first two hit songs. Then we rode back across Downey to see their old house on a cul-de-sac right near the 5 freeway. There was an article about the house in the L.A. Times a couple of weeks ago, since the owner is trying to get a permit to tear it down and build a new McMansion on the lot. Apparently, there’s a lot of that going on in that area.

On the way home, we tried to stop off to see Dennis the Menace Park in Downey, but the entrance was not on Lakewood Blvd, and it was not obvious from peering through the fence how to get to the entrance. So that photo-op will have to wait for another day.

When we got back to Rosemead, we saw the ‘Welcome to Rosemead’ sign, with the slogan, “Where city pride is justified.” And, I guess, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

By the time we got back to the park, it was a very nice day. So I rode a bit more, just to enjoy the sunshine.

46 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was the Crown City Trainer, which is another way of saying that it’s a ride that doesn’t really go anywhere in particular, but it does go up and down some hills.

It was cold, overcast, and misting a little this morning. But I still wanted to go riding. We met at the park down the street from my house, so that was easy. And the ride itself was very pleasant. I took them on a short detour to see the weird house I discovered. But aside from that, it was a pretty unremarkable ride.

At the end, it was getting colder, so we all just headed for home.

31 miles.
cycling

Last Monday when we were on the way home from playing in the snow, I saw a mailbox with hot-rod flames on Padua Ave in Claremont. I have a small collection of photos of mailboxes like this. Now, I could have just stopped the car and taken a picture of it then, but I thought, “where’s the fun in that?” It didn’t seem very sporting. I thought it would be much more fun to get the bike club and ride out there from Pasadena to take the photo. So that’s what we did today.

The ride out was pretty straightforward, and it was a bit of a slog, since we had a headwind all the way. When we got to Claremont, we stopped for a snack at a little bakery by the Laemmle theater there. Then we took a winding tour across the campus of the Claremont Colleges, before heading up the hill on Mills Ave.

A short distance up the hill, we turned and rode over to Padua Ave, where I found the mailbox and photographed it. Then we turned around and started for home.

The ride back was everything that the ride out wasn’t. There was a nice tailwind, and a good bit of it was downhill, so we really enjoyed it. Even when Doug got a flat in Glendora, we still remained in good spirits. So overall, it was a very fun little ride.

58 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was the classic Toluca Lake ride.

We rode through San Marino and South Pasadena, and then across Highland Park. That was where we were chased for a couple of blocks by a tiny little chihuahua. Then up the L.A. River bike path to Griffith Park. Along the way, we saw the island in the river where we saw the elaborate homeless camp a couple of years ago. We also saw that the burned hillsides from last year’s fire were turning green again. When we got to the end of the bike path, we rode west past Forest Lawn and Warner Bros to get to Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake. We had bagels and such there today. Sadly, they ran out of orange juice. Their orange juice is fresh-squeezed and quite good.

From there, we took Riverside back into Burbank. That was where we passed the General Motors Training Center. As we were going by, I noticed a couple of fuel-cell cars parked behind the building, so I stopped to have a look and get a picture. Then we rode across Glendale with a short detour just to see the new bakery that we’re going to try next week.

Finally, we headed up Hospital Hill and then home through La Cañada. It was a very nice day, and a very nice ride.

45 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was the “Mid-valley trainer“. This is another of those rambling rides that just goes all around to get to nowhere in particular. But that was just fine for today. I needed to get home a little early anyway.

A small group of us started off faster than the rest, and we just did the whole route without stopping. And when we got back to the park in Arcadia, it was still pretty early. I didn’t need to be home until noon, so Doug and I rode around some more just for fun. And it was a perfect day for riding. So overall, it was a pretty good experience.

48 miles.
cycling

Today’s ride was out to Claremont for a bagel at 42nd St Bagels in the Claremont Village.

We had a good-sized group starting out, but it quickly split into a fast group and not-quite-as-fast group. We headed straight east, with a short jog north on the Santa Fe Dam bike path.

In Glendora, I noticed the historical marker for the Chance Building, so I had a quick look.

When we got to Claremont, we stopped at the bagel place and sat down. It was chilly sitting there, so we didn’t stay for too long. That was where we noticed the Verbal Building, so I figured that was worth a picture.

On the way back, we took Gladstone St most of the way. We had a headwind on the way back, but the 1% downgrade on Gladstone made up for it, and we still went very fast. Just before the street ended back at Santa Fe Dam was where I saw the odd bit of guerilla artwork on a street light box.

It was a pretty nice ride overall.

60 miles.
cycling