Snow Day!

Kids!

There’s snow here! The first real snow of the year fell on The Damp Dog Lodge yesterday and I missed it.

I’m not complaining. It has to be cold for snow to fall and stick, and I’m not fully acclimatized to that just yet. Besides, the L.A. Auto Show beckoned. That and my sister’s invitation to check out her nearly completely renovated house…

Extra dumbness kept me from taking happy snaps of the place to show off her work. I figured, “they have a lot of pictures of the progression, why should I duplicate their effort?” Why? Because I don’t have copies here to share with y’all.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Okay, I’ll just paint a word picture (oh, here we go… – ed). Think turn-of-the-century Victorian sanitary combined with mid-century angular and a heaping helping of neo-futurist/deconstructed streamliner cum Popular Science chic. Becoming clear now? What, no? I guess you’ll have to wait for the pictures then.

The auto show was everything you’d expect, or nearly everything. Not a lot of “booth bettys” but rather, professional exhibition assistants who highlighted product features from slowly rotating podiums straight from their respective scripts: “…and that signature, bold crosshair grille? That’s all Dodge…” “Just look at that distinctive grille, like a shark, that practically screams Camaro…” “This concept completes the picture with Jeep’s legendary signature seven slot grille…” etc. ad infinitum. Whoopee. Just build them and get back to us in 2008, okay? Fine. Agreed.

Dinner on Olvera Street, back to the house for a little sitting around and catching up. We all decided to turn in early (who knew that a car show could take so much out of you, or was it that such a big meal laid us low?). I got the couch which is fully a foot and a half shorter than I am. Eighteen inches. Friends, I’m far too young to have developed a Dowager’s Hump, but there it is. I’m slouched over like your Grandma and I can’t get up. I’ll bring the air mattress on the next trip, and there’ll certainly be another.

Why? Because their Highland Park environs have a lot to offer for anybody who’s looking for renovation ideas. Riding around, you can see everything from perfectly restored bungalows, to businesses with gold lions on the roof, to people hanging their underwear to dry on the security bars on their front windows. Architecture from Googie to Google (you knew that was coming) is there, often next door to each other.

I’m sure there’s something I’ve missed, like the ice on the road home, or the scene at the Chevron in Banning, but that’ll have to wait (or be ignored) for another time. Good night.

Your pal,

bob