Just Above Sunset Archives

January 4, 2004 Photography

Note: These are digital photographs I snapped using a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom (telephoto). Feel free to use them as you will. If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. Note: These are thumbnail previews. To see a full-size high-resolution version of a particular photograph click on the "thumbnail" image. You will see the full image in a separate window.

The New Year in Hollywood

No one knows what this year may bring so the existential blank billboard on Sunset Boulevard is perhaps there as a reminder of this, and as an homage to John Locke.
It's across the street from the strange, round green building with reflective glass and no signs of any kind indicating what goes on in there. Very mysterious.
Dennis Woodruff still drives around Hollywood in his self-promotion van, hoping one day someone will cast him for some sort of part in some sort of film. Hasn't happening in the twenty years or more. Here he's parked on Melrose Avenue.
And also down on Melrose the one-tenth scale King Kong still hangs onto the side of the miniature Empire State Building at New York, New York - but really here in Hollywood.

But there are lemons in the trees and the usual January blooms.

Such is mid-winter in Los Angeles.

________________________

From the home page of the last issue:

Although the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherima) is among the most traditional symbols of the Christmas season,it was cultivated by the Aztecs of Mexico long before the introduction of Christianity to the Western Hemisphere. These plants were highly prized by Kings Netzahualcyotl and Montezuma, but because of climatic restrictions could not be grown in their capital, which is now Mexico City.

Perhaps the first religious connotations were placed on poinsettias during the seventeenth century. Because of its brilliant color and holiday blooming time Franciscan priests, near Taxco, began to use the flower in the Fiesta of Santa Pesebre, a nativity procession.

Poinsettias were first introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Robert Poinsett. While serving as the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, he had occasion to visit Taxco and found the plants growing on adjacent hillsides. Poinsett, a botanist of great ability, had some plants sent to his home in Greenville, South Carolina.

After supplying his own greenhouses, Poinsett also distributed plants to various botanical gardens and to some horticultural friends, including John Bartram of Philadelphia. Bartram, in turn, supplied the plant to Robert Buist, a nurseryman, who first sold the plant as Euphorbia poinsettia. The botanical name had already been given by a German taxonomist in 1833 as Euphorbia pulcherima. The poinsettia, however, has remained the accepted name in English speaking countries.


				Just Above Sunset Archives *January 4, 2004 Photography*



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		Note: These are digital photographs I snapped using a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom (telephoto). Feel free to use them as you will. If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. Note: These are thumbnail previews. To see a full-size high-resolution version of a particular photograph click on the "thumbnail" image. You will see the full image in a separate window.



		The New Year in Hollywood No one knows what this year may bring so the existential blank billboard on Sunset Boulevard is perhaps there as a reminder of this, and as an homage to John Locke. It's across the street from the strange, round green building with reflective glass and no signs of any kind indicating what goes on in there. Very mysterious. Dennis Woodruff still drives around Hollywood in his self-promotion van, hoping one day someone will cast him for some sort of part in some sort of film. Hasn't happening in the twenty years or more. Here he's parked on Melrose Avenue. And also down on Melrose the one-tenth scale King Kong still hangs onto the side of the miniature Empire State Building at New York, New York - but really here in Hollywood. But there are lemons in the trees and the usual January blooms. Such is mid-winter in Los Angeles. ________________________ From the home page of the last issue: Although the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherima) is among the most traditional symbols of the Christmas season,it was cultivated by the Aztecs of Mexico long before the introduction of Christianity to the Western Hemisphere. These plants were highly prized by Kings Netzahualcyotl and Montezuma, but because of climatic restrictions could not be grown in their capital, which is now Mexico City. Perhaps the first religious connotations were placed on poinsettias during the seventeenth century. Because of its brilliant color and holiday blooming time Franciscan priests, near Taxco, began to use the flower in the Fiesta of Santa Pesebre, a nativity procession. Poinsettias were first introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Robert Poinsett. While serving as the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, he had occasion to visit Taxco and found the plants growing on adjacent hillsides. Poinsett, a botanist of great ability, had some plants sent to his home in Greenville, South Carolina. After supplying his own greenhouses, Poinsett also distributed plants to various botanical gardens and to some horticultural friends, including John Bartram of Philadelphia. Bartram, in turn, supplied the plant to Robert Buist, a nurseryman, who first sold the plant as Euphorbia poinsettia. The botanical name had already been given by a German taxonomist in 1833 as Euphorbia pulcherima. The poinsettia, however, has remained the accepted name in English speaking countries.