Words and Symbols
Topic: Oddities
Words: On the back of a Walk, Don't Walk signal on Melrose Avenue, a band slapped their sticker - Sounds Like Disaster. If this reflects their attitude - rebels expressing just how awful this world really is and what the authentic response should be - fine. It's punk rock tradition. If it's an admission of their skill level, that's another matter.
You have to assume the name was carefully chosen, not the result of using this random band name generator - each time you refresh the page you get new names you can call your post-punk beyond-new-wave band. It just produced Order of The Movable Dog, and A Fistful of Mice, and Venomous Furniture, and Stack of Noises, and Invisible Bone. Other bands may be cheating.
In any event, this is the Los Angeles alternative music scene in one image. 
Symbols: A trashcan across the street. You don't even need the words.
Just Posters
Topic: Insider Stuff
Posters for sale in the window of Melrose Music, 7714 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles
The first is of the old icons, the second of the new one - 
Jay Stakelon on Melrose Music here -
Amid Melrose Avenue's many DJ shops, this oasis caters to indie rockers and headbangers alike.
The Scene - Rock and roll might not be dead, but it's sure hard to find among the beat-heavy, vinyl-centric DJ shops on Melrose Avenue. Enter Melrose Music, which eschews electronic beats and hip-hop for a strong collection of new and used punk, metal and indie rock.
The Goods - Everything from Pennywise's frat-ified punk rock to old-school hard-core essentials from Minor Threat and Gorilla Biscuit to The Get Up Kids and Weezer for the cardigan-and-Converse set. Metal also gets preferential treatment, with an impressive assortment of death metal for those who find Pantera and Biohazard too sedate. Grab a cold drink from the fridge in the front of the store while browsing the DVDs and videos, and check out posters suitable for dorm room or den.
Visit, if that's your thing.
Melrose Bicycle
Topic: Color Studies
Parked in an alley behind Melrose Avenue, Friday, August 18, a bicycle - 
One Shot
Topic: Botanical Studies
Hibiscus in the shadows, Rosewood Avenue at Alfred, just off La Cienega Boulevard, West Los Angeles, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, late afternoon. 
A California Bird
Topic: Oddities
The 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbirds are the "Classic Birds" - the "Little Birds." This is a 1955 Thunderbird from the first year of production, parked on North La Cienega in front of the very pink, retro, Trashy Lingerie store. It all comes together.
A bit of history - The car was shown at the first postwar Detroit Auto Show on February 20, 1954. The first production car came off the line on September 9, 1954. It went on sale on October 22, 1954, as a 1955 model, and sold briskly; 3,500 orders were placed in the first ten days of sale. Ford had only projected building 10,000; eventual 1955 sales were 16,155.
As standard, the 1955 Thunderbird included a removable fiberglass top; a fabric convertible top was an option, although commonly specified. The only engine option was a 292 Y-block V8. The exhausts exited through twin "bullets" above the rear bumper, as was the fashion.
The next year they added the spare wheel mounted outside, Continental-style, and the exhausts were moved to the ends of the bumper. To improve rear-quarter visibility with the removable hardtop in place "porthole" windows were made available as a no-cost option. The hardtop here seems to be from that year.
These cars are important out here. Click here to see the 1955 Ford Thunderbird formerly owned by Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys - restored from the frame up in 1991, with the hood autographed by the Beach Boys. She really did have fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy took the T-Bird away. Click here to see the restored white 1955 Thunderbird from American Graffiti (1973) - the one Suzanne Somers in a non-speaking part drove here and there in the distance, mysteriously, being the ultimate unobtainable California blond, the platonic ideal of the California Girl. The Beach Boys sang about such girls.
There was no amazing California blond anywhere near this one, Tuesday, August 15, mid-afternoon.
Found on the web - promotional material from 1955 -
