Easyriders Bike Show 2014 Anaheim

It is January and for custom bike builders and those that enjoy looking at custom bikes that means that the 2014 Easyriders Bike Show Tour is now underway. The first stop for the tour was Saturday, January 4 at the Anaheim Convention Center. I have been attending various Easyriders events as a participant or spectator since the mid-80’s and while there are definitely bikes that show up in the show year after year, it is interesting to watch the evolution of motorcycle building. Huge front wheels, etched chrome and amazing paint jobs seemed to be the theme in recent years …

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Floats readied for the 125th Tournament of Roses Parade

If you will recall, last week I headed out to Fiesta Parade Floats to take photos of the floats they were building for the upcoming 125th Tournament of Roses Parade. It was December 23 and at that point the floats were virtual skeletons; waiting for December 26 when the actual decorating could begin. The parade rules state that all surfaces of the float framework must be covered in natural materials; usually flowers and seeds. Since these natural materials have a tendency to decay after they are plucked from the ground, the decorating does not begin until December 26. The decorating …

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Preparing for the 125th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade

This afternoon I headed out to Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale, CA to check out the progress on the float building for the upcoming 125th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade which will be held Wednesday, January 1, 2014. As I have been donating time towards helping the Torrance Rose Float Association (TRFA) raise the funds needed for building the float, I figured I would go out to where the float is being built so people can get an idea of what goes into a project like this. Fiesta Parade Floats builds award winning floats and has for several years; as …

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Bluegrass, Punk & Gospel at Saint Rocke

These photos are from a concert I attended at Saint Rocke, a live music venue in Hermosa Beach, on Wednesday night. The photos begin with Saint Rocke’s Bluegrass Happy Hour, which featured the band, Pompous Highmen. The main show featured Hang Dog Expression, The Curly Wolf and starred Dustbowl Revival. A week or so ago I won a contest on the Saint Rocke Facebook page; as a prize I won a couple passes to an upcoming event. I let Tanya look through the Saint Rocke calendar of upcoming events and she suggested we see Dustbowl Revival, an old school bluegrass, …

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Decem-brrrr in the South Bay

Last night a meteorologist (or two) on my Twitter feed mentioned that today west facing beaches would have some high surf advisories. I immediately noted on my calendar that I would need to head over to said beaches to see what kind of photos I could get. I have to admit, I really did not expect temperatures to hit the low 80’s; I guess that is why they call it Decem-brrrr. The main obstacle I was to encounter is that high tide was going to happen around 1:00 AM and, truth be told, I have never photographed surf in the …

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Sleepy Hollow brings back the Christmas lights

With a tradition that has gone on since 1985, the Christmas lights in the Sleepy Hollow section of Torrance have been put back up in its transformation to Candy Cane Lane. While it is still a couple of weeks until Christmas, our visit to Sleepy Hollow last night revealed that most of the Christmas decorations seem to be up and those in the know about the Christmas Light Extravaganza have already started showing up to view the lively decorations. While it was a little chilly last night, at least it was not wet or windy, so walking up and down …

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Torrance Civic Chorale performs for City Council

In my attempt to become more aware of what is happening within the City of Torrance and to be more involved in the civic process, I have started attending the weekly Torrance City Council meetings as frequently as possible. This past Tuesday, December 10, the Torrance Civic Chorale came and sang a few holiday songs to the city council, other attendees and television viewers. In addition to entertaining us, the purpose was to bring awareness to the Torrance Civic Chorale’s upcoming concert series, Spirit of the Season, which will be presented Friday, December 13, and Saturday, December 14 at 8:00 …

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One last Champagne Brunch at the Proud Bird

Last week my Facebook feed lit up with the news that the Proud Bird Restaurant, an aviation-themed restaurant by Los Angeles International Airport for 48 years, will be closing effective November 21, 2013. Apparently they are closing because the landlords, Los Angeles World Airports, want to increase the rent to such an extent that the restaurant cannot afford to stay open. As the Proud Bird and I go back about 35 years and Tanya and I had been talking about going to a champagne brunch anyway, we decided that we would go for one last brunch at the Proud Bird …

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Get to the Choppers at Ed’s Stumble Inn

These photos are from Saturday afternoon at Ed’s Stumble Inn where they hosted TJ Brutal Customs’ First Annual Get to the Choppers Inaugural Bike Show and Charity Raffle. The fundraiser benefited Vision2Victory, a 501(c)(3) charity that gives back to the military community. The centerpiece of the event was the raffle for a custom Honda motorcycle built by TJ Stiles; with paint by Department of Customz, handlebars by Noise Cycles, leather work by Lower Class Leather, a gas tank by Paughco, grips and pegs by Hippy Killer and a fender by Lowbrow Customs, with the velocity stack and custom exhaust by …

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Columbia Park, Torrance: Pay to play?

I have a feeling this is going to be a multi-post story; so let’s start at the beginning. Regular readers know I have two dogs, Buddy & Hershey, and they get walked twice a day, every day. To keep things interesting for the dogs we were in the habit of frequently changing the route we would walk; we might walk around the South Bay Galleria, or several neighborhood blocks and we would include the various walking paths in Columbia Park. Well, we used to walk around Columbia Park up until May 20, 2013 when we discovered the west side of …

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