These photos were taken Saturday at Lot I of the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. Every once in a while, when I photograph a place or event, I will submit an accompanying article to CNN\’s iReport. I have a pretty good idea ahead of time whether or not they will find it suitable for use on CNN and I have a pretty good track record of getting vetted. I know that they have liked my photos from Candy Cane Lane and my coverage of the 123rd Annual Tournament of Roses Parade so it made sense for me to submit a pictorial using photos from my visits to Fiesta Parade Floats showing the preparation of some of the floats for this year\’s Rose Parade. While I was not surprised to be vetted, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my article was named an Editor\’s Pick which resulted in the article being placed on the front page of CNN.com. As one might guess, this resulted in a lot of exposure for both the article and me. Of the thousands that read the report, one was a representative of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC).
In my CNN report I had mentioned that my access to Fiesta Parade Floats had been cut off for the float decorating and that I was seeking a float sponsor that could provide me with a media pass. The CCFC contacted CNN, got my contact information and contacted me with an offer to come photograph the decorating of the float being entered by Cal Poly Universities at the Rose Bowl Stadium. They also provided me with some background information that they felt I would find interesting enough to write about; they were right. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday, December 29 at Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale, CA as volunteers hurried to add the organic items to nine of the entries to the 124th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. After my last visit to Fiesta Floats on Christmas Eve I happened to notice that Fiesta Floats was tweeting my articles about the float preparation at their location, so I contacted their social media person via Twitter and asked if they would be able to assist in my getting in to photograph the actual decorating of the floats. I was put in touch with the Vice-President of The Pollack PR Marketing Group who was more than happy to help me come back in with my camera.
This was my third visit to the warehouse at Fiesta Floats and the first thing I noticed was that this time it smelled great! Of the 10 floats built by Fiesta Floats, nine of them were set up with scaffolding around them and the floats were covered with people adding flowers, seeds and whatever other finishing touches needed to be completed by Monday. To me, some of the more interesting tasks were performed by those adding the small details to the floats; items such as books or butterflies that required each individual seed to be added, one by one; or the people underneath the floats that would pull the flower holders down to ensure that only flowers would be seen on the topside. Continue reading
These photos are from our Business & Beer gathering at the 1321 Downtown Taproom Bistro, a gastropub located in Old Torrance. 1321 Taproom is a popular destination for beer drinkers due to the 16 taps of craft beers that they have available. They also offer flights of various sizes (4, 8, 12) for the adventurous craft beer drinkers out there. While the name indicates that they serve food as well as drink, they are in the process of redoing their kitchen staff and menu, so the kitchen is currently closed. To welcome Business & Beer for their first get-together at 1321, Chef Jacob prepared a small appetizer menu for us. I know some of their other customers were glad we were there as they were able to take advantage of the special menu as well. We had a very nice sized group and being just two days after Christmas I was happy to see that. I am sure we will come back after their full menu has returned.
2013 is almost upon us, so if you have made a New Year\’s resolution to do more business networking, please feel free to join us at any or all of our weekly gatherings. We meet every Thursday at 6:00 PM at a microbrewery, brewpub or gastropub in the South Bay area. You can see the schedule at BusinessNbeer.com. Feel free to sign up to the mailing list to be kept aware of where we have been and where we are going next; you can also find us on Facebook. Continue reading
A couple of weeks ago I headed out to Fiesta Floats in Irwindale, CA to take some photos of the float being entered in the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade by the City of Torrance. Fiesta Floats creates some of the best floats in the Tournament of Roses and has won the Sweepstakes Award for the last 19 years. That is pretty impressive. As it turned out, Kaiser Permanente was having a family day there, so the warehouse was pretty packed and it made it difficult to get a lot of shots. I went back this morning to see what kind of progress had been made.
Well, it was pretty obvious that they had been busy at Fiesta Parade Floats, because there were several new floats there. It did not look like a lot of work had been done on the Torrance or Kaiser floats; but I don\’t know that they really needed much beyond the application of the flowers. To that end, all of the floats had scaffolding around them so that the volunteers and workers could apply the flowers and seeds. Unfortunately, that took away from my ability to photograph the floats. Oh well; it is what it is. They start decorating on December 26 and unless I can arrange a pass I will not be able to get any more preparation shots.
The Torrance float is funded by donations to the Torrance Rose Float Association (TRFA). The Torrance Rose Float Association is a non-profit so they rely entirely on donations. For more details on how you can help, please visit the Torrance Rose Float Association website. Continue reading
At the end of 2011 I made a decision that GotBaddog.com would dedicate much of my content to promoting local businesses and non-profits. When Tanya was looking for something for us to do on New Year\’s Eve, she discovered the Lady Of Magic at the Redondo Beach Castle was having a New Year\’s Eve party that was also a fundraiser, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles. It was then that we had the pleasure of meeting Sisuepahn Phila, the “Lady of Magic.”
Sisuepahn is a world renowned and world class magician, and I am not talking about doing sleight of hand card tricks or something like that. She has performed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood and has been featured on Penn and Teller, on the Discovery Channel and on an A & E special, “Backstage from the Magic Castle.” She is also known as, “The Entertainer to the Stars.” What drew me to her was her Magic 4 Orphans which benefits more than 2,000 children both locally and those living in five orphanages in Laos. I have photographed a few events at the Redondo Beach Castle, including her magic shows which are pretty amazing. Many times I have looked through my photos afterwards and still could not figure out how the heck she changed into five different outfits without ever leaving the stage. She is really good.
Anyway, this Monday, December 31, 2012 she is hosting another New Year\’s Eve party. If you are looking for something to do for New Year\’s Eve that is fun and also helps others in the process, I suggest considering coming out to the Redondo Beach Castle. There will be live music, a DJ, dancing, and lots of really good magic. Continue reading
These photos are from El Segundo Brewing Company\’s (ESBC) Standard Crude Release party which was held Friday evening, December 21, 2012. Throwing caution to the wind, Rob Croxall and Thomas Kelley decided to not worry about the end of the Mayan Calendar, and possibly the world as we know it, and released their first 10% beer, Standard Crude American Imperial Stout. Judging by the turnout at their tasting room, there were many that were equally relieved that the world did not end and they came out to welcome El Segundo\’s latest brew.
In addition to the Standard Crude, ESBC offered their Blue House Pale Ale, Citra Pale Ale, White Dog IPA, Blue House IPA, Two-5 Left DIPA and Hyperion Stout on cask. They were all delicious and everyone seemed to have a great time. Next month, El Segundo Brewing Company will be releasing their Standard Crude American Imperial Stout in bottles, so ESBC should be congratulated for that as it is a pretty big step up and pretty much guarantees that more people will be able to enjoy the fine brews that are coming out of El Segundo. I, for one, am very glad the Mayans got the date wrong for the final Apocalypse. Continue reading
These photos were taken last night at the Sleepy Hollow area of Torrance, which is known as Candy Cane Lane during the Christmas season; a look at the photos makes it easy to figure out why they call it that. On December 1, Tanya and I went there to take some photos like I have for the past couple of years. There were definitely a lot of lights that went up between then and now. Homes that we thought were decorated on December 1 had even more decorations on December 18. Even though it was cold and windy, there were a lot more cars and pedestrians out enjoying the view.
After the first night of photos I submitted a report to CNN\’s iReport, and was subsequently vetted by them for use on CNN. In the vetting process I was asked things like why they called it Sleepy Hollow and how long has the mass decorating been going on. My dad had told me that he thought the decorating had been going on for 40 years; so I passed that along as fact. The Sleepy Hollow thing I could not answer because I did not recall it ever being called that when I was a kid. One of my Facebook and Business & Beer friends, Dan Thomas, sent me a message that he knew who the \”father\” of the Candy Cane Lane phenomena was and he put me in touch with him, a Mr. Bob Solomon. Here is his story: Continue reading
A few weeks ago several of my siblings came into town to attend a function that was honoring my dad and a few others that attend his church. One of my brothers asked me if I was going to continue writing about life with Rheumatoid Arthritis or not. Apparently he had enjoyed reading my perspective. I explained to him that while I was continuing to do as I had promised as far as bringing awareness of RA and of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, I was doing it primarily by donating watermarks on some of my photos to the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. The reason for this was that living with a person that had RA was not always a pleasant experience and I was not always ready to deal with the strife that might result if I wrote my thoughts for the world to see. Little did I know that some might interpret my lack of writing a an indication that all was well, apparently there are people in my own family that seem to think that we use Tanya\’s disease as an excuse to get out of doing things. Tanya frequently discusses on her blog how strangers do not seem to understand RA, how they will offer home remedies that their grandmother used for her arthritis, or how if people cannot see the effects of the disease, it must not exist. I begrudgingly accepted this as reality, but I was saddened when I discovered that this extended to my own family. As a result, I have decided to talk a little about the last year.
In October of 2011 Tanya moved in with me and I learned what living with Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease (RAD), also known as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) was really like. Tanya and I carried on a long distance relationship for more than four years, so I thought I had a pretty good grasp on things as far as RA was concerned; I was wrong. When we were 2,000 miles apart I did not see RAD on a daily basis; I could only go by the comments Tanya might make when we spoke on Skype or ICQ. Considering we lived so far apart we saw each other a lot but Tanya is pretty good about not complaining, so for the most part, I only heard about problems when they were severe. Because Tanya wanted to spend time with me, she would suffer in silence and I really did not know how bad it was. Continue reading
These photos are from our Business & Beer networking group\’s return to Sophie\’s Place in Redondo Beach last night. Sophie\’s Place is a gastropub that serves really good food and offers 50 varieties of craft beer with eight brews on rotating taps. While our last few Business & Beer gatherings have had six or seven people show up, last night we had about 15. I was happy to see the big turnout, we had a good time.
If networking helps your business or it fits into your job description and you live or work in the South Bay, come check out Business & Beer. Business & Beer is a different kind of networking group. Unlike the more well-known business networking groups, there are no mandatory meetings, no dues, no restrictions on who can join. We meet every Thursday night at 6:00 PM and we meet at various microbreweries, brewpubs and gastropubs in the South Bay area. There are probably 50 people that have joined us, with our typical gatherings having between 10 and 15 people; with sometimes being less and sometimes more. The one consistent factor is that we have a good time and meet new people; oh, and we drink some good beer. If you want to join us, simply show up. The schedule is on the front page of BusinessNBeer.com and you can sign up to the mailing list so you will be notified when a date has been set. You can also follow us on Facebook to be sure you are kept in the loop. Continue reading
These photos are of the S.S. Lane Victory which is located at Berth 46 in the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro, CA. A couple of weeks ago, Tanya and I were at a regional Chamber of Commerce mixer and I won a raffle prize of tickets for two to receive the President\’s Tour of the ship as well as lunch in the Officer\’s Mess. It was actually the one thing I wanted to win. Anyway, this morning we met with Anthony Broude, the current President at U.S. Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II, and he gave us a personal tour of the Lane Victory from the bridge to the engine room and everything in-between. We had a great time and I learned that the difference between the Officer\’s Mess and the Crew\’s Mess would be tablecloths.
The S.S. Lane Victory was built in 1944 at Terminal Island, which is right around the corner from where she currently sits. She launched in 1945 for World War II. After the war she was decommissioned until 1950 when she was recommissioned for the Korean Conflict. One of the highlights of her time in Korea was when she rescued more than 7,000 Korean men, women and children and safely transported them from North Korea to South Korea. In 1953 she was decommissioned once again only to be recommissioned in 1966 for service in Vietnam. After four years there she was decommissioned on last time in 1970. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan conveyed the Lane Victory to the Merchant Marine; and on December 14, 1991 the S.S. Lane Victory was designated a National Historic Landmark. Continue reading