SoCal Photos: Day 5

Since it's been so cold lately, it seems this is what the view should look like right now...

SoCal Photos: Days 1 & 2 (For those without the Twitter Feed)

 

 

 

Chalking up the loss now: What's up, Lakers!?!

Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers head to the World Famous Madison Square Garden.  Even when the Knicks were terrible, and even during the 3-5 seasons of disappointing Laker basketball in my 30 years, MSG games were always something different and something to feel excited about.  NY vs. LA.  The established primary US city vs. the city that continues to erode the primary city's importance.  East vs. West.  Biggie vs. Tupac.  Tonight's game feels much different.

Forget the fact that the Knicks are undefeated at home this year.  Forget the fact that D'Antoni is heading in to coach his first game against his former team.  Forget the fact that two future Hall of Famers are not playing.  After all, this isn't about playing against a hot team, isn't about taking time to implement an offense, and isn't about a lack of chemistry on the offensive end or of offensive production components.  We can look back at various stretches of the 2003-04 season to draw comparisons, and at no point did the Lakers look as lifeless and beatable as they do right now.

The game isn't until 5 on the West Coast tonight, but I'm already recouping from what will be the Lakers' fourth straight loss.  Of course I'm still going to tune in and hope that they actually show up and play, but I also try to be a realist.  There is no heart, and no fight in this team (exemption, Kobe), and they are absolutely going to miss the playoffs at this rate.  With four future Hall of Fame first-ballot inductees.

It's gut check time, Lakers.  I know fans are giving you the excuse of blaming the front office, but I don't buy the whole notion of pigeon-holing a professional basketball coach into a single, monochromatic style.  Phil and Jerry are exceptions, not the rule, so a Mike D'Antoni team can play defense.  Any other excuse is complete B.S. and needs to be treated as such.  Better defense leads to run-and-gun offense, so the two can absolutely compliment each other.  Maybe we run Shell Drill all damn practice to drive the point home, but the latest disappointment in Cleveland clearly shows that it's time for everyone in the locker room to have a long look in the mirror and ask themselves what they are doing to earn their paycheck.  Mitch has done plenty, so don't let him (and the rest of us) down.

Long Beach's British Invasion

Okay, I get that Long Beach has the Queen Mary, so we're bound to attract tourism from the UK to our sunny Southern California destination.  And the Princess Diana exhibit that is currently showing at the Queen Mary is no doubt a big draw.  But my ears have noticed a rather large uptick in the King's English being spoken in Downtown LB.  Not sure exactly what gives....any reader insights?  Any Brits want to clue me in as to why my town is such a popular choice for UK tourism?  Any other specific spots in town that you've come to see?  The curiosity is beginning to get to me.

Did Anyone Else Notice?

Right under our noses and with no fanfare, justification, or marketing spin, something in Long Beach has changed.  A quick check at LBTrainsit's website leaves no clues as to how long this change has been in place, and the observant indivudual in me sure hopes it's only about a week, or so, old.

As can be found HERE, the Passport bus system in Long Beach has drastically changed.  There used to be an A,B,C, and D bus that connected downtown to some of the more frequented destinations in Long Beach like Belmont Shore, Alamitos Bay Marina, Long Beach State, the Los Altos neighborhood, Retro Row, and various other stops in between.

However, now only the "C" route, the one which serves the downtown core and tourist destinations (free of charge), is now the only remaining route and maintains the legacy name.  But yes, this route is still free, and is a great way to shuttle between Long Beach's most popular destinations in the downtown and waterfront areas.  Both the Aqualink and Aquabus are still mainstays, but run only during the peak months, from Memorial Day through Sept 30.  Those lines will be back up in May 2013.

A Piece of History

Saw something pretty cool at lunch today...

The Marathon is Coming!

The 2012 Long Beach International City Bank Marathon is just over a month away!  That's right, the 28th iteration of Long Beach's 3rd largest event is a little less than 32 full days from today.  The event includes a full marathon, half marathon, 26.2 mile bike tour (I'll be participating), a 5k run/walk, and a kids fun run.  Check out The Website for more details and to sign up!

Sad State of Six Man

Yes, I know this post is over 3 weeks late.  Perhaps it's because this year's tournament was overshadowed by the Olympics.  Perhaps because the tournament was on a Tuesday.  Or perhaps it was because one of the greatest summer traditions in the South Bay was embarrassingly dull this year.  The courts weren't filled, the sand seemed empty, and most of the spectators did so from the pier or boardwalk above.  The normally packed bars were completely empty.  If I owned any of the establishments down there, I would certainly be upset that my biggest weekend of the year just got sacked.  Instead, now they must settle for a droll Tuesday crowd that won't bring in even 25% of last year's business.  Vendors outnumbered spectators, and only true volleyball die-hards had any enthusiasm for the event.  Even the costumes suffered.  But at least Richard Jefferson was there to make a celebrity appearance (and to play, as he does every year), thus saving the event from complete disaster.  Here's to hoping that Manhattan Beach returns to its senses and brings back the event in epic form next year.

Hospitality?

Perhaps 30 has already turned me into an old, griping geezer, but I've noticed a sad trend lately.  Since the month prior to my nuptials last year, I've had the opportunity to visit and stay at hotels in Las Vegas, San Diego, SLO, Surf City, Long Beach, Buellton (CA), Costa Rica, Fulton (IL), and Chicago; 14 different hotels in all (which I was not really aware of prior to writing this; my eyes just dish-panned).  No, I do not travel for work, and only one location (3 hotels) was for the honeymoon; my point being that I've stayed in 2-4 star hotels and not just the high or low-end places.

The disappointing trend I've noticed is in the Hospitality industry's increasing lack of knowledge of what their purpose is.  I understand that they are running a for-profit business, and I have zero qualms with that.  My issue is as follows:

When was the last time you opened a Webster's dictionary?  Thought so.  Dictionary.com defines hospitality as "the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way."  Many of my experiences have been left short of that definition.

But I don't want to drag down the good places, so I will say that my stay at all three hotels in Costa Rica was beyond expectation when it comes to hospitality, the Embassy Suites is a brand exception to the rule, so the SLO and El Segundo (tomorrow night's hotel; now we're at 15) are also exempt from my consumer dissatisfaction. The Best Western Plus in Downtown Long Beach is solid as well, though pricey for what it is, and the Comfort Inn in Fulton showed some true Midwestern hospitality.

My poor experiences were at two Hard Rocks two Hyatts a Marriott, and a boutique hotel in Chicago.  Mistake number one for a couple of these hotels (Huntington Beach Hyatt, $39; Hard Rock San Diego, $39; Sutton Place Hotel Chicago, $55, and probably the same at Hyatt Chicago, but we didn't have a car at that point) is that they charge for parking.  Look, the typical guest staying at any of those places in between the parentheses isn't really bargain-hunting, so if the price of everyone's room went up by $20 per night, I'm guessing the folks that didn't drive wouldn't even notice that they were subsidizing those that drove.  Wouldn't that be the friendly and generous thing to do, rather than profiteer from parking?

Other issues with a number of these hotels were related to the way the staff interacted with the guests.  At the Hyatt in Chicago, the employees at the front desk were not empowered to do anything to help the frustrated guests that were trying to check into their rooms at 4pm (which were supposed to be ready by 3pm), only to be told that the room was not yet ready.  To Hyatt's credit, when I sent them a rather terse email about the situation, they were highly apologetic and are sending a $50 gift card, but the point is that someone at the scene should be able to help diffuse the situation, because a number of the other guests decided to dictate their emails directly to the staff in the lobby.

Beyond a lack of employee empowerment, the Hard Rock brand embodies an attitude that does not have the word hospitality in its vocabulary.  For the prices that the place charges, you would think that they would treat their guests well.  However, in Las Vegas, when you stay in the poolside villa for 3 nights, that will only get you two, that's 2, admission wristbands for their "rehab" pool party.  When you have two other rooms in addition to the villa in the hotel, and you ask if they can be next to each other, they look at you as if you're speaking a foreign language.  On top of that, the minimalist look inside the rooms is designed to make it look nice, but the quality of the fixtures and furnishings did not warrant anywhere near their nightly rate.  As for San Diego, the $39 per night parking, the fact that they pay more attention to the incoming clubbers and pool-partiers than hotel guests says it all.  When you stay at the Hard Rock, you aren't staying for hospitality at all, I've learned.  Just for the party, and you should feel lucky to be a part of it.

Finally, and backing up the parking issue, why has the hospitality industry become as a-la-carte as the airline industry-- but only in the nicer hotels?  It seems counter-intuitive that of all the hotels that I've stayed at stateside in the past year-plus, the only one that provided a free hot breakfast, free parking, a free wi-fi connection, and a flat screen, not to mention a working ice machine on our floor, was the Comfort Inn in Fulton, IL.  Yes I paid $100/night to stay there but hey, inflation's a bitch, right?  So when I pay more, but a supposedly nicer place has an old-school TV, a broken ice machine, no ice machine on my floor, a $50+ per night parking tab, charges $15/day for wi-fi access, or can't provide compensation of some sort (heck,a free couple of drinks at the bar is an easy way to chill out upset customers), it really makes me wonder if the hospitality industry feels any obligation to be hospitable anymore.

Chi-Town, Olympics, and Six Man, Oh My!

It's about to be an event-filled two weeks as I head on vacation from my real job.  Having just touched-down in Chicago, we'll be exploring the Midwest this upcoming week.  Then on Friday, it's the opening ceremonies and the 2012 London Games will be underway.  Finally, July 31 is Six Man in Manhattan Beach.  No, I don't have the date wrong, and yes, you're looking at the correct calendar.  The legendary tournament and beach party is now on a weekday to deter the large crowds.  I'll be there to see the effect this has on the fun-tivities.  Keep the feed rolling!

Random Thought of the Day

Last night at a city council meeting, Compton officials raised the prospect that the city may need to consider bankruptcy in the near future,  which could make it the fourth California city to do so since the financial collapse.  At the same time, political campaigns raise hundreds of millions of dollars from deep pockets and celebrities just to blow on mud-slinging advertising.

I wonder what it would be like if celebrities and deep pockets channeled their influence through municipalities to promote electoral campaigns; would any of these cities have gone broke? I'd like to think Dre and The Game would have made the CPT a hip-hop tourist resort town, by now...

Introducing Costa Rica to Southern California

It's been six months, and I still have not experienced a comparison.  Though Firestone Walker's new 805 Gold brew is legit, it still doesn't compare to the Tico tradition, Imperial.  That said, I'm on a mission....to find Imperial in Southern California...and introduce it to YOU!

Home Remedies

So we recently bought a house, and as new homeowners had to figure a few things out the hard way.  I thought that we'd pass along a few tips that may enlighten and hopefully help a few other people.

#1: RoundUp kills weeds and grass.  Yes, it says so on the bottle, but apparently not quite as common of knowledge as one would think, and if you've already got a pre-made mix running, an off-the cuff question for confirmation can have a negative impact on your new lawn.  I recommend Patch Master to correct that error.

#2: Raccoons are some serious SOB's.  We had some that decided to camp under our deck and roll up the new sod in the yard to poach on worms and grub.  As fun as it is to roll your lawn back over the bare ground a couple of times a week, we decided to take action...swiftly.  First, we used Ammonia-soaked tennis balls and tossed them under the deck.  This sent them packing for a few days, but they were back within a week.  Follow up attacks included moth balls and Critter Ridder, which again worked for a limited time.  In the end, what stopped the damn raccoons was depriving them of their food, and using their nocturnal nature against them.  The worms and grub always came out when the sprinklers came on to water the grass, which prompted the raccoons.  By changing our watering time from 4:30am to 6:15am we may have reduced the optimum utilization that the water companies talk about, but keeping the sprinklers on early (before it gets hot) but after dawn has turned our pests into ghosts.  Not a raccoon trace anywhere since.  Note to the people!

#3: CFLs are great energy saving tools.  However, if you have your light on a dimmer switch (and literally every light switch in our house, save the kitchen and master bath, was on a dimmer), a CFL will not work properly.  The reason is that they are already producing less wattage than a standard light bulb, so dialing the current back gives the light a flickering effect-- even leaving the light on high will eventually produce a flicker due to the variable current in the switch.  So we changed out a couple of our switches to the standard [on/off] to handle the CFLs, and kept others with standard bulbs on dimmers.  We won't save as much energy and risk our commitment to the environment, but it's nice to be able to adjust the intensity of some lights.

Residential Lending is Still Stringent: Some Tips

Believe it or not, in most types of lending, credit standards are beginning to ease a bit.  Most commercial banks are no longer requiring their guarantors to have liquidity of 3x the amount of their business loans, credit scores by themselves are less and less likely to be the determination for a denial of credit (the litany of short sales and loan modifications can be thanked for that) on an overall basis, and Banks have expanded their LTV capabilities on commercial property-- especially multifamily housing.

But perhaps because of the proximity to disaster, mortgage loan standards remain as tight as they have ever been, and at some points can seem completely unnecessary.  If you plan on refinancing your mortgage, given the historic rates, or have realized that if there was ever a time to buy into the housing market it's right now, then here's a few things you should be prepared for.

Have three years' worth of Tax Returns available, first and foremost.  Not only that, but just be prepared to explain-- in detail-- the nature of your primary lifestyle activities of the past three years.  And by past three, I actually mean past four, given that the tax deadline was last month (if you're on extension, be prepared to have your EA/CPA prepare a draft return for you; this is non-negotiable with lenders still).  Also, be prepared with bank account statements, retirement account statements, and any brokerage statements you may have....heck, life insurance statements if you have them, too.

Take my experience for example:  My wife had no income to report in 2008 and 2009, as she was in school obtaining her doctorate.  Her 2010 return showed her employment, albeit brief (beginning in October of that year), and associated income.  Just stating that she was in school should have been enough to piece together the history, but that was not enough for our lender.  We also had to provide sealed transcripts and her diploma in order to satisfy the lender.

Not only that, but the lender required the most recent two paystubs from both of us...twice.  Once at the initial application, and once again when escrow closing was delayed due to the short-sale lender's process.  Even on top of that, the lender placed phone calls to both of our employers to verify our employment....twice! 

This is the kind of lender panic and fear that has led to the interpretation that its still impossible to qualify for a home loan still.  And while that's not the case, persistence and overwhelming willpower are certainly keys to success in seeing the process through. 

So get your ducks in a row; my advice is to get all of those documents into "The Cloud" as you start the process (we used Google Docs, now 'Drive'), and continue saving all of the lending info into the cloud as you fill it out and sign it.  More than once we had an issue where the seller's Bank (the Short Sale lender) asked a second time for the same set of info we had already forwarded.  Thankfully, since it was already "In The Cloud," I was able to immediately furnish the info to continue pushing our process forward.

And while I wish I could say that this was the only major headache in closing on our purchase, we also had to deal with the fact that we were buying a short sale, were buying someone's rental property that they had as an investment from out of state, a property that had tenants, and a selling agent that continually tried to get us to accept closing escrow before the tenants moved out.  Then our insurer decided to get snippy with us about occupancy, though we've settled every outstanding issue and are finally going to move into our little piece of Southern California this upcoming weekend!

While our situation is under normal circumstances "unique," today's environment is anything but normal, with distressed sales amounting to 1/3 of all home purchases.  So, that's the kind of madness you may be looking at in the real estate world.  Hopefully now you feel a bit more prepared.

Who Named Big Bear, and Why?

Happy Friday, Angelenos and Southern California enthusiasts!  Your random So-Cal facts for the day....

Do you know how Big Bear lake got its name?

Originally named Bear Lake, it received its name because of the abundance of bears present during an 1885 expedition to ward off Indians that were coming into the area, ravaging and plundering what they could.

The Lake was named by none other than Benjamin "Benito," B.D. Wilson, for whom the towering (litterally, with communications equipment) mountaintop of the San Gabriels is named.  Wilson was twice almost killed by bears.

From the "Wha?..." File

Nothing special, but I just had to share.....

I did a double-take yesterday while at 7-11, picking up a Big Gulp on the way home from work (no, the apple does not fall far from the tree).  I was headed out the door when a guy who just walked in asks, "Do you guys have those little packs of gum, you know, the ones for a quarter?"  Dude had just stepped out of a Jag to come in the door.

Theme Song:  Big Timers, "Still Fly"

Getting Ready for the Long Beach Grand Prix

The 2012 Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix kicks off in just two weeks, and downtown is all abuzz in preparations for the three days of events.

This is the premier event for the year in Long Beach, followed by the marathon and Pride Parade.  Check the image below to see the circuit route and happenings of the weekend.  If you're in the area April 13-15 or don't yet know what to do that weekend, hop on the light rail and come on down to the waterfront to check out the Grand Prix!

Stunning Partisan Fact of the Day

When we look at the partisanship of business, we generally see established businesses subscribe to conservative politics, and young companies tend to adapt more progressive policies.  Even more so, we tend to associate Big Oil with the Republican party.

But did you know.....?  LA-based Occidental Petroleum, the third largest US oil company, made political campaign contributions in favor of Democrats at a clip of 1.47 to 1 in 2008.  True Story.

An LA Fact for the Day

Did you know that the Pueblo of Los Angeles (El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora, La Reina de Los Angeles) is the fist officially chartered city in California?  While true, San Jose was founded a year earlier, it was more of an experiment than anything, and in September of 1781, the pueblo was founded and the history of Los Angeles began.

Beautiful March Weather: LA Photos

Eat your heart out, Middle America!  This is what the beginning of March looks like on the Santa Monica Bay...