ha ha ha haaaaaaaa ha

caught this woodpecker hammering away on a branch the other day at griffith park. can you see him?

sorry this is posted so late today. i had the am/pm mixed up on the post date and time.

november theme day: books

this is a shot of the three floors of fuller seminary's library taken at night. even after classes are done for the day, there are people in here browsing the library's more than 500,000 books. if you've driven along union street lately, you've noticed the massive new addition being built for our new library on campus.


178 other people participating in today's theme day. check them out!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

pasadena gold company

continuing with my weekly neon theme (see the "open" sign in the window?), this company on green street tells it like it is. i find it interesting that the sign is silver in color, and also seems to be peeling a little bit... doesn't make me have too much faith in the quality of gold that is sold there. but some of you in pasadena-land might be able to tell me otherwise!

if you are dressing up as a pirate tonight, this may be the place to find your buried treasure. happy halloween everyone!

photo request #14: old fashioned gas pumps on green st.

lucky clare, she gets her second photo request granted in the same week. these old time gas pumps may look familiar if you are a visitor over at pasadena daily photo. petrea has featured these before.

keep those photo requests coming!

4:47

i love this old clock - how some of the numbers are tilted, and others aren't. really cool...

more for you seinfeld fans

this seemingly innocent picture from santa monica pier is actually a piece of tv history. several episodes of seinfeld featured either george or jerry contemplating life at this very location. and you thought the show was based in new york! i've included some proof below...




these screen shots were all taken from the episode entitled "the invitations". if you have time to kill today, you can watch the scene at 6:05 of this clip.

photo request #13: glass elevator from c&tcf

my friend clare scott requested a photo of the top of a building at the corner of madison and colorado that she claimed looked like the glass elevator from charlie and the chocolate factory. i was skeptical until the other day, when i found it! you've seen the trio apartment building before on this blog, but the building right next to is it what clare was thinking of. doesn't that look exactly like your visions of the great glass elevator?


back to how i found it... i was shopping at trader joe's the other day and spotted clare's elevator from the top of the parking garage. as you can see from this photo, even though it was way across town knew exactly what she meant. my zoom didn't capture it well enough, so i took off and headed toward the building. i quickly realized that you can't see it when you get really close, and it is hard to get a good shot from far away. i ended up using the above photo to capture the building and a bit of its surroundings.

and for those with a sharp eye, in the parking garage shot, you can see the bell tower that has also been featured on this blog.

from the comments - docker over at mixed meters has some more great pictures of this very building.

a taste of my casseroll

finally a picture of the new bike. it arrived with fenders on, but because of our climate down here they were taken off right away. taking her out for a ride to the donut man today. should be fun! appropriately this picture of the "salsa casseroll" was taken in the kitchen.

thanks once again to those who supported ben's bicycle quest!

spoils of the summer

multicolored heirloom tomatoes along side the tomato classic. image from the saturday farmers market at pasadena high school.

unlit neon

there is a lot going on in this picture and i'm not really sure that i can explain it. enough said.

kind of a funny story...

a few weeks ago at the farmers market i was somewhat surprised to see tents set up in support of the two presidential candidates. what do politics have to do with getting freshly grown food? maybe some of you could fill me in.

anyway, as you can see from this photo taken close to the end of the farmers market's open hours, one booth was still very active - making every attempt to convince those willing to listen (obama), while the other was being taken down prematurely (mccain).

i commented that mccain must be conceding the pasadena farmers market, but no one at his stand seemed to find that very humorous.

double double (animal style*) with fries and a chocolate shake

i promised a little while ago that i'd show you what i ordered at in-n-out the other night. well, here it is! making me hungry just looking at it.

today is their 60th anniversary. congrats on reaching that milestone and becoming a california icon.

*animal style is part of the not-so-secret, secret menu choices.

pasadena high school football

i'm not sure how you pay attention to the game or your coach when you have this view for a backdrop.

library from another angle...

not the first picture of our beloved library that i've posted, but definitely a different angle than you've seen before. it still strikes me as one of this city's most striking architectural pieces.

afternoon at the rose bowl

yesterday we took in our first game at one of pasadena's great landmarks. we got our tickets free through a promotion with the pasadena star news, which was pretty cool. not only is it a national historic landmark, but it has also been host to five super bowls, the 1984 summer olympics, and the world cup of soccer.

oh, and ucla actually won the game! imagine that.

goodbye, to an old friend.

with the joy of finding the right new bicycle also came the bittersweet feeling that i was going to have to say goodbye to the old one. in the 3 years that i owned this steel beauty, i went through 3 chains, two rear cassettes, 4 sets of tires, and logged close to 5000 miles.

although the bicycle still fit me just fine, i had just about outgrown its entry level components. it was good to find a new home for it this week - hard to let it go, but happy to know that it will provide someone else many more miles of fun.

for those wanting pictures of my new ride, be patient. it is on it's way to california as we speak. thanks once again for those who supported ben's bicycle quest!

for those bike nerds out there, here are the original specs.

friday night lights

this is the last image from a series that started on monday following the pasadena art walk.

lights are strung up at the paseo shopping plaza throughout the year, but this art night banner was added for the weekend event.

okay, this is kind of a weak friday neon post, but i was struggling to fit it into my theme for the week.

third stop: norton simon museum

today's post is part of a series of images from pasadena's art walk night that happened last friday. for more details, check out the post on monday.

our last stop was the norton simon museum. a pretty fantastic museum that was open free to the public. i'd never been, although i've posted about it before. i agree with my wife that it may be the best museum in pasadena, if not all of l.a. county.

one final photo tomorrow.

stop two: one colorado for the wish trees

today's post is part of a week long theme. see monday's post for more details.

second stop of art night was at one colorado for yoko ono's wish tree project.

details...


"an art installation that consists of 21 living crape myrtle trees installed amongst the cafe tables and chairs in the courtyard of one colorado. visitors are invited to write their wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on the tree branches."


my favorite wish was one that said "i hope the trees don't ever hang wishes on us"

art walk: first stop

today's post is part of a week long theme. see monday's post for more details.

our art walk tour began at city hall. we went to check out the music there and get our maps. it was a good place to start, and the atmosphere was nice. the music was interesting to say the least. a brief bio from the website:

"la ballena de jonas" from tijuana, b.c., mexico. this eclectic group of young musicians will perform original music with a european accent of the east, of the parisian tango, mixed with tones of the middle east and jewish culture."

photo request #12: the same thing posted from several perspectives

my good friend debbie asked if i had ever considered doing a series of the same subject from several different perspectives. i liked that idea, and although this probably isn't quite what she had in mind, i'm going to feature pasadena's art night for the next 5 days. the same event, 5 different photos, all on the same night. i hope you enjoy!

hanging out at muscle beach

the 'rents are in town for a week, so we took them out to the coast to see the pacific. they decided that they wanted to try and fit in, and thus began to simultaneously climb a rope and embarrass their fully grown son. my parents are great.

in-n-out

what if we just pretend that today is friday, and i didn't forget about my weekly theme yesterday. okay? a no-brainer post, i can't believe this fine establishment hasn't been featured on this blog to date. i'll post a picture of what i ate in an upcoming feature.

i like how the moon snuck into this picture.

for those wanting a full review of art night, i plan to give it plenty of attention in this coming week.

pasadena city college

our local community college is one thing that is lacking from this photoblog. i never seem to catch it from the correct angle or something. i'm not sure what to make of this image either, the tree and sign post are out of place or something. i'm going to keep trying until i get it right!

more green street love

this building just screams french quarter, new orleans. doesn't it? i caught these gentlemen in the act of painting the railing and trim.

the green house

not sure why i've never noticed this house before. it is just off of a road that i ride my bike on quite often. maybe it's because it does such a good job blending into the landscape.

for those in the neighborhood wanting to go see it, you can get this view from the prospect blvd bridge that goes over seco st.

hanging out with a few friends...

since moving to southern california i've made a few high profile friends. on saturday i hung out with a few of them. very nice people, all of them. i'm just sad that none of them offered to buy me my new bike, and thus donations are still being accepted (see right side of the blog).

full details about my visit with the cast of tv's funniest sitcom can be found right here.

there's a long line of cars and they're trying to break free

i debated using this one for this month's theme day, but i think i like my palm trees with clouds more. this was taken from the los robles overpass looking down on the 210. almost the same location where this image was taken.

bonus points for those readers who know where the title of this post comes from.

how sweep it is!

the dodgers won their third straight game last night, eliminating the chicago cubs from the postseason (their 100th straight season without winning the world series). i was privileged enough to be in attendance, although as you can see from this image, my seats were pretty high up. it was one of the most amazing games i've ever witnessed live. the atmosphere was electric and the fans were hanging on every pitch, twirling their giveaway white dodger towels at every chance. final score - dodgers 3, cubs 1.

gotta say thanks to my friend evan for joining me in the experience.

the big sky of pasadena

more clouds from the other day when their was actually some moisture in the air. i don't think i ever expected to miss clouds. i now cherish them much more than i ever had before.

and i don't think i'm the only one looking at the sky these days.


my sister also got in on the cloud postings today!

cafe verde

a little friday neon for you today. for those not familiar, this is a recurring theme on this blog when friday rolls around. today's shot is of the quaint cafe verde on green street (catch the connection there?). as you can see, this tiny shop is expanding with construction underway next door.

i've never been, but cafe pasadena swears it is a pretty great place to eat. with a name like that, how can you question the insight?

jacob maarse

maybe one of the most lavish store fronts in town - at least on green street. the tile around the front door, the stonework, the tall manicured trees, etc. apparently it's a high end florist - i've never been inside.

october theme day: lines

this line of palm trees isn't unusual for this part of california, but the fluffy clouds in the background were a big surprise! it's been mostly clear and blue since the spring. monday was the first cloudy day i'd seen in a while, and brought with it the first rain we've had in several months.

there are 164 other bloggers doing their best to interpret the theme of lines. check them out below...

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

pasadena to long beach

yesterday i promised that i would fill you in on my other big weekend event. i joined two friends (tim and ryan in the top photo) on a bike ride that took us from pasadena to the san gabriel river bike trail over in duarte. from there we headed south to the end of the trail, located in seal beach. we biked over to long beach for lunch and a quick stop at a bike shop to fix a broken spoke. we turned around and headed back up the trail and back to pasadena.


the second photo today is looking back at the san gabriel mountains. about 105 miles total in our round trip ride. pretty fun and a great work out!

i just noticed that tim also blogged about this.

lets go dodgers!

did a couple of pretty fun things this weekend so it was hard to know what photo to lead with on monday morning...



i ended up deciding on the dodger postseason rally that i attended last night at dodger stadium. three pictures for your viewing pleasure today. it was pretty fun to attend an event like this. my blue jays haven't been in the playoffs since their last world series championship in 1993, so a chance to attend something like this for my adopted national league team was pretty special. 10,000 fans ended up coming to this free gathering.

it got me very geared up for their first home playoff game coming up next weekend against the cubs - and lucky me, i was able to snag a pair of tickets for the big game. should be great!



tommy lasorda got things kicked off with a very inspiring speach about what it means to be a fan of the dodgers.


after several announcements that the team bus was leaving the airport, on the 105, heading north on the 110, in downtown, passing the staples center, getting off at the dodger stadium exit, etc., the team finally arrived. manager joe torre spoke a few words then handed the mic to nomar garciaparra and manny ramirez to thunderous applause.

you might say i've come full circle this season.

you'll see what else i was up to this weekend when you see tomorrow's photo.

photo request #11: cinnamon roll from euro pane

yesterday's post invoked my lunchtime companion to request this photo i took of my fantastic cinnamon roll i ordered while we were dining at euro pane.

this blog is made better with input from it's readers. if there is a photo missing from around pasadena that you would like to see here, simply let me know and i'll do my best to track it down! you can check out the 10 previous photo requests right here.

those who may have missed this announcement in the side panel, if you would like to have your pasadena business featured on this blog, send me a paypal donation for my new bike fund and i'd be happy to grant your request!

euro pane

grabbed a bite to eat the other day with mike (not pictured) from cafe pasadena. he recommended euro pane, and i have to say, i was impressed! maybe i'm blowing their cover, but this little hole in the wall seems like a local secret. if you are looking for a place in pasadena with fantastic pastries and amazing sandwiches, this is your place. go check it out! meal times can be packed, but that's a sign that it's worthy of my praise.

barack 'n' roll

with the polls flip-flopping back and forth between blue and red, it's hard to say who is going to come out on top in november. tonight is the first debate, which i'm sure will mix up those polling numbers once again.

one thing for certain is that the rest of the world is pulling for obama. this photo was taken during my last trip to canada, just down the road from my parents. in some ways it's sad that canadians have a vested interest in who is the president of the usa. it would be better if it didn't matter to the rest of the world. yet the usa holds immense power - both for good and bad.

canada is also holding elections this fall. how many americans will have banners like this on their front lawn with the names of canadian polticians on them? how many americans even know who the prime minister of canada is?

ken over at stouffville daily photo recently had a blog post discussing this sign. it's worth checking out!

(no friday neon today. we'll have some for you next week)

the sky is big in pasadena turns one!

today marks one year of daily photo posts. i've been amazed that i ended up sticking with this idea for this long. there have been some ups and downs, some pictures that i'm really proud of, and some which i'm embarrased i decided to post them. people have shown me more support than i ever thought possible, and i've been introduced to a new kind of community.

thank you all for your support!

a few stats from the first 365 posts:

almost 12,000 visitors, and over 18,000 page views
photo postings from 4 different countries (usa, canada, mexico, morroco)
photo postings from at least 6 u.s. states (CA, NV, PA, VA, DE, MD)
visitors from 6 continents and countless countries
increase in visitors from the previous month's total in all but one month
starting with 144 visitors in October 2007 to the highest visitor count in July 2008 (1731)
46 friday neon posts
7 theme days
38 posts of pasadena sky

where pasadena's finest hang out

nope, not fuller seminary, this is our police department. pretty sweet, eh?

not only does it look sharp, it also has a pretty fantastic view of town, situated right across the street from our beautiful library and diagonal from the impressive city hall.

fortunately i have no experience in this building. any pasadena readers care to help us out on what it's like on the inside?

in my ears and in my eyes

a little while ago i had a post about canterbury records, a local independent record shop in town. it would only be fair to give publicity to another fantastic music shop. while penny lane has more than one location, they do keep things small and simple. they have a great selection of music and even better, accept trade ins to cut the cost of your purchase. this also means there is a decent selection of used music available.

i also hear they have a nice selection of dvds, though one location seems to emphasise that more (see above link).

from sonoma

a quick photo from this weekend's trip up north to sonoma valley. we spent some time with good friends while we camped, biked, tasted many wines, and celebrated my birthday.

cheers!