Tumbleweed snow couple near Elysian Park. Photo: M.Imlay.

The return of these tumbleweed snowmen to Stadium Way can only mean one thing: It’s officially Christmas time in the City of Angels.

It’s amusing how ingrained the concept of a White Christmas is in our pop culture. Even here, at the edge of the Mojave Desert, these are the lengths we’ll go to in “recreating” the idealized winter wonderland.

Perhaps that’s in large part because we’re a region populated by countless East-Coast transplants like a friend of mine, who every year laments that here in Los Angeles we never enjoy a “real” Currier and Ives Christmas like the ones he had back home. (It’s one of the many common complaints East Coasters seem to have about L.A., along with our supposedly “unfriendly” atmosphere, poor public transportation, and the inability to find a “decent” — i.e., New York-style — pizza anywhere.)

Reality Check

On the other hand, I maintain that a SoCal Christmas is just as “authentic” as any commercialized fantasy concocted by Macy’s, Hallmark or those maniacal Rankin/Bass cartoonists — perhaps more so. After all, a good portion of the world never sees snow in December. Count among that number Jesus himself, who was born in Bethlehem, a city that also shares a Mediterranean clime like ours in which snow is rare. Moreover, if you take into account current scholarship that dates his actual birth to spring or possibly summer, there’s not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where that the first Christmas was white.

Photo: Curious Country Creations

And yet for some reason, from California to New Mexico, we denizens of the Southwest still feel an annual compulsion to build snowmen — even if we have to resort to spray-painted tumbleweeds to do it. (Not surprisingly, there are even commercial enterprises ready to help us with the basics for as little as $59.95!) But I’ll happily take a tumbleweed snowman over the “real” variety any day.

The great thing about Southern California is you can visit the snow in the nearby mountains whenever you like without ever worrying that the fluffy wet stuff is going to follow you home.

Or you can do like me, forget about the powder and slush altogether, and just hit the beach instead.

Whatever your preference, here’s to a happy, healthy, traditional SoCal holiday season — clear, balmy, and Santa-Ana breezy, with just enough scattered showers here and there to keep the smog at bay…

StockXchng image.

While the rest of us were carving up our turkeys for the holiday, it appears someone — or something — in southern Colorado was engaging in an otherworldly animal carving ritual of their own.

According to this Associated Press story, “a creepy string of calf mutilations” has left local ranchers and sheriff’s officials “mystified:”

“Four calves were found dead in a pasture just north of the New Mexico state line in recent weeks. The dead calves had their skins peeled back and organs cleared from the rib cage. One calf had its tongue removed.”

For those who aren’t too squeamish, grainy pictures of the carnage can be found here. The lack of blood, guts, footprints and predator or ATV tracks at the scene has raised speculation in some quarters that the cattle may have met with a close, deadly encounter of the alien kind.

But before you laugh this whole thing off as an isolated incident in rural Colorado, check out this ranching forum, where the story has stirred some buzz. At least one “real-life” tale shared there is oddly reminiscent of killings attributed to Latin America’s fabled Chupacabra.

Meanwhile, my question has always been why alien travelers never seem to visit us in the big city, preferring instead sparsely populated desert, wilderness and plains communities. But maybe any slight toward us urbanites is completely unintentional.

Perhaps after traveling thousands of light years they merely prefer the dining experiences offered by quiet little out-of-the-way spots.

Dateline>City of Angels will resume regular posting after the holiday weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this Gloria Gaynor parody, courtesy USA Green Card Center.

Photo: M.Imlay

Who says L.A. has no history? Open your eyes (or in this case your camera lens) wide enough, and you’ll literally discover it in the most out-of-the-way corners of town.

While shooting the Broadway viaduct the other day, I parked my Jeep in front of this old brick building on N. Spring Street, thinking little of it. Located at the northernmost fringes of the downtown train yards, there’s nothing all that remarkable about the neighborhood — just a lot of aging warehouses and machine shops. Still, returning from my photoshoot, I liked the way the light was playing off the structure, so I took a few quick photos before driving off.

As I processed the images, the building’s backstory began to gnaw at me. How old was it? Who constructed it? What was its original purpose? On a lark, I launched an Internet search, not really expecting to find anything noteworthy. Little did I know…

Oil, Acrylics and Feminism

It turns out the 16,000-square-foot building was erected in 1914 (some sources say 1917) as a sales office for the once-illustrious Standard Oil Corp. In fact, the relief topping the door represents the oil company’s former logo. But the now-forlorn edifice has an even greater claim to fame. In 1975 it became home to the legendary non-profit feminist art and education group, Woman’s Building. Here are the details, courtesy Wikipedia:

“In 1973, artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven founded the first independent school for women artists, the Feminist Studio Workshop…. Central to the founders’ vision was the idea that the arts should not be separated from other activities of the burgeoning women’s community, and the three looked for a site for their school that could also be shared with other organizations and enterprises.”

They first chose the old Chouinard Art Institute near MacArthur Park, which they re-dubbed “Woman’s Building” after an 1893 Chicago World’s Fair structure designed by Sophia Hayden to showcase women’s arts and crafts. (In fact, not since Hayden had anyone undertaken such an exclusive center for women’s art.) However, when the Korean Culture Center purchased the Chouinard building in 1975, the group was forced to move.

The Gallery of Sisterhood

Photo: M.Imlay

They landed here at the corner of Spring and Aurora. Though somewhat isolated above Chinatown, for 16 years the new Woman’s Building went on to distinguish itself as a hub of creative activism for feminist artists, poets and writers. It hosted programs and events featuring some of women culture’s biggest names while also variously housing theater groups, the Sisterhood Bookstore, a thrift shop, a travel agency, cafes, an arts and crafts store, and offices for Chrysalis Magazine and the Woman Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) organization.

By 1991, though, the original Woman’s Building organizers had all moved on to other projects, and the enterprise shut its doors. Today the momentous brick-and-mortar building is again up for lease as creative/office space.

Hopefully it will find a new occupant worthy of its history.

Photo: M.Imlay

It’s either the best of wall art or it’s the worst of wall art, depending upon your perspective. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But if you ever needed a demonstration of the self-evident principle that murals mirror the life and cultural assumptions of their respective communities, this is it.

Detail, Temple City mural.

This first mural decorates a small gift shop in the heart of Temple City, the sleepy WASP-ish suburb where I grew up. Murals were never really a part of my former hometown’s tableau, so this one grabbed my attention during a recent visit. I have no idea when it went up, but the painting appears to depict an idealized scene from the area’s formative years as a predominantly Anglo ranching community a century or more ago. Although Temple City has become more Asian in recent years, the old Euro-centric cultural cues remain — this piece might just as easily be a depiction of an English or German country scene.

Viva La Diferencia…

Photo: M.Imlay

As a study in contrasts, the second mural above is a well-known icon found in my current Echo Park, Los Angeles, neighborhood.

Detail, Echo Park mural.

Of course, all murals tell a story, but I much prefer the Latin-themed tales scattered about my “grown-up” neighborhood. More often than not the storytellers here think big and bold, employing vibrant symbols to impart powerful cultural messages and social commentary. Expressive and colorful, their murals are more than mere wall adornments — they exude energy and purpose.

I guess that’s another reason I prefer life in the big city vis-a-vis the suburbs. Up against diverse pieces like this, the few murals you’ll find in my old childhood stomping grounds seem as flat as the walls they’re painted on.

Broadway Viaduct, L.A. River. Photo: M.Imlay.

“The Los Angeles River was a beautiful, limpid little stream with willows on its banks….it was so attractive to me that it at once became something about which my whole scheme of life was woven. I loved it so much.” — William Mulholland, 1855-1935.

You have to admit there’s a certain irony to this quote. Thanks to the draining of the Owens Valley and, later, the St. Francis Dam disaster, “nature lover” isn’t exactly the first thing that pops to mind when today’s Angeleno thinks “Mulholland.”

Hero or villain, with his legendary engineering prowess Mulholland helped pave the way for this town’s explosive growth in the 1900s. The crazy twist is his beloved river also ended up paved in the process.

A purported sighting of the elusive Sasquatch along the trails of Los Angeles’ oldest city park near Dodger Stadium. Obviously this little clip is intended as a spoof, but even if it weren’t, there’s a glaring flaw in the video that should raise astute Angeleno eyebrows.

Can you guess what it is? Here’s a clue: Look closely at the opening sequence… OK, think you got it? Give up? Either way, click the Bigfoot icon to the right for the answer.

2nd Street cable car, circa 1889. (LAPL Digital Archives, Permitted Use)

A week ago this blog brought you the news that L.A.’s streets have been ranked the nation’s third most deadly to pedestrians. But have our streets always been so mean?

Obviously, such statistics weren’t kept 117 years ago, but this April 21, 1892, Los Angeles Times “City Brief” may offer a clue:

“People should be careful about getting on or off moving cable and electric cars, especially in rounding curves. A man took a ‘header’ on Broadway last evening, coming down on the pavement with such violence as to almost dislocate his vertebrae.”

Ouch! Were these the same safe, reliable old cable and electric cars that downtowners romanticize so much today?

Lummis' home and castle. Photo: M. Imlay.

Imagine trekking more than 3,000 miles to take a job. Yet that’s exactly what Charles Fletcher Lummis did in 1884 after accepting a reporting position at the Los Angeles Times.

In what has to be one of the greatest early promotional stunts in L.A. Media history, Lummis journeyed on foot from Cincinnati to the City of Angels, dispatching reports of his adventures along the way. The entire trip took 148 days, but every step was worth it: Lummis arrived in Los Angeles a sensation, prompting Times publisher Harrison Otis to immediately make him the paper’s first City Editor.

Between 1898 and 1910, Lummis built the distinctive El Alisal “castle” along the Arroyo Seco using granite river rock, concrete and old Santa Fe Railroad telephone poles. Located off the 110 Freeway at Avenue 43, it’s now the home of the Historical Society of Southern California.

Library of Congress image.

Quite a Character

To say Lummis was “eccentric” would be an understatement. An admirer of Native American culture, popular legend has it he used to run around El Alisal clad in nothing but a loin cloth, imitating California tribal ways and generally getting back to nature.

Thankfully for Southern California, Lummis also enjoyed playing the role of energetic civic booster, serving as Los Angeles City Librarian, founding the famous Southwest Museum, and hosting swanky parties for civic, artistic and theatrical luminaries to promote Southwestern culture. (Theodore Roosevelt and Will Rogers were just two of his illustrious guests.) As president of the historic Landmarks Club, he fought to preserve the California Missions, which at that time were mostly in ruins. Meanwhile, he championed Indian rights by establishing the Sequoya League.

Path through the garden.

Considering how Lummis got here, there’s ironically little walking to do at his former grounds. A pleasant little pocket park about half a block in size, El Alisal features a simple path meandering through a tranquil botanical garden boasting many California native specimens. A garden stroll and tour of the house/museum can be accomplished in 30 minutes, but the quaint beauty of the place will have you lingering much longer. Best of all, admission is free, making this hidden landmark an exceptional sightseeing choice for a lazy weekend afternoon.

Just please don’t try doing it in a loin cloth…

• El Alisal is located at 200 E. Avenue 43. Hours are Friday-Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Phone: 323.460.5632.
• You can learn more about Lummis at CharlesLummis.com.

Photo: M. Imlay.

A colorful gate to a community garden catches the morning sun in the Elysian Valley’s Frogtown neighborhood. Just a block or two from the river, this is one of the nicest community gardens I’ve ever stumbled across. Everything is very neatly arranged and tidy, with a well-maintained brick path leading past a variety of fruit trees and other useful plantings. The residents obviously take great pride in their little patch of shared earth.

Incidentally, if you’re a gardener, community or otherwise, check out my friend Hilda Brucker’s new Gardening blog for Gadabout Media. It’s a high-quality site offering expert info and tips.

Anonymous billboard urging boycott. Photo: M. Imlay.

At first I thought this new billboard along Sunset’s 4400 block might be the work of advertising amateurs — or possibly a lone disgruntled customer angry enough to splurge on an outdoor display. The slogan’s catchy enough, but there’s nothing to support the message or make us care. For all we know, the alleged “injustice” is that Vermont Hand Wash stiffs you on air freshener.

And why should Los Feliz, Hollywood and Silver Lake motorists join an anonymous boycott? The billboard offers no sponsor name, no contact number for further information, not even a website to visit. Not very effective advertising.

Thank heavens for Google. Search on “car wash + injustice” and up pops a web page for a group calling itself the Clean Carwash Campaign, currently in organizing and labor disputes with Vermont Hand Wash. The campaign says it’s working to clean up car washes all over L.A., but it’s clear from the website that they’ve narrowed their wrath on the Pirian Family, which owns six washes throughout the area.

According to an AFL-CIO blog, the signage is the latest in an ongoing “billboard war” that has struggled to find just the right wording.

Personally, I think it could use a little more tweaking.

Silver Lake's new 13,600 sq. ft. library. Photo: M. Imlay

It was a long time in coming, but Silver Lake finally saw the much-anticipated opening of its new $12-million library this morning. The residents’ campaign for the building actually began in the mid-1990s, but considering how Silver Lake’s elite history dates to the early 1900s, you wonder why it even took that long.

In any event, today’s opening ceremonies at the corner of Glendale and Silver Lake Blvds. featured the usual speechifying by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, district council representatives Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge, and a host of other civic dignitaries.

However, the real heroes in this story are Los Angeles Public Library administrators who resourcefully used a $335-million construction bond approved in 1989 to build or upgrade a total of 64 branches. Not only were they able to commission many more libraries than originally envisioned, but they managed to create a series of distinctive, state-of-the-art structures perfectly blending with each community’s “sense of place.”

Silver Lake’s library is the capstone to this venture, with a design inspired by architect Richard Neutra, who lived and worked in the neighborhood not far from the new building.

• For a full library backstory, see this LAT piece.
• To become a Friend of the Silver Lake Library, follow this link.
• For more about Neutra and Silver Lake, visit this L.A. Places post.

The aquatic park entertained millions of visitors to the Palos Verdes Peninsula from 1954 to 1987. Opening a year prior to Disneyland, it was then the world’s largest oceanarium and arguably California’s first major theme park.

But the whales, dolphins and performing seals are all history now, along with the ruins shown in this video made two years ago. This past June a brand-new resort hotel opened on their site.

For yet another trip down memory lane, click on over to this old Marineland commercial starring a formerly well-known child actor.

Los Angeles' oldest Mexican cafe. Photo: M. Imlay.

Readers with a thirst for spirits — both the distilled and paranormal kind — should consider some monthly barhopping with GHOULA, the Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles.

Last night the group’s “Spirits With Spirits” gathering descended on Olvera Street’s famous La Golondrina Mexican Cafe for dinner, drinks and an impromptu tour of the not-so-public upstairs floor, all in the hopes of glimpsing a mysterious White Lady said to haunt the place.

Alas, Friday the 13th proved unlucky for ghost seekers, for she failed to materialize. However, La Golondrina’s staff did have plenty of spine-tingling tales about many strange happenings in L.A.’S oldest fire-brick building, which was constructed between 1855-57 by Italian winemaker Giuseppi Covaccichi.

And that’s really the point of GHOULA’s regular meetings the 13th of each month: They aren’t so much actual ghost hunts as fun opportunities to socialize, swap tales and share information with other like-minded enthusiasts. Plus, if you’re not careful, you might learn some odd tidbits about our region’s history and architecture along the way.

Haunted Stairway? Photo: M. Imlay.

Exploring Creepy Attics

For example, while your humble blogger has long been a regular diner at La Golondrina, he’s never been able to venture up the allegedly haunted stairway (right) to the cafe’s private offices. These rooms were once bedchambers for the Covaccichis, and later the Pelanconi Family, which purchased the building in 1871. Especially interesting were exterior architectural embellishments adorning the now-interior hallways, indicating where two separate buildings were long ago joined to form the total Pelanconi House structure.

Every once in a while, however, a GHOULA event will stir up more than drinks, spirited conversation and sightseeing. Last month the group, accompanied by a local TV news crew, got an exclusive night tour of three lavish old downtown Movie Palaces. While setting up his equipment at the Tower Theater, the news cameraman spied a man in 1920s attire at the top of the lobby stairway. He assumed it was a costumed participant there to add flavor to the evening. Then, much to his surprise, the apparition vanished before he was able to film it.

Halloween may be over, but GHOULA’s “Spirits With Spirits” adventures continue year round. For information, visit their website.

Careful before stepping out! Photo: StockXchng.

As if you didn’t have reason enough, now there’s even more cause to fear the mean streets of Los Angeles.

The Transportation for America (TFA) advocacy group has released a report ranking Los Angeles as 27th in the nation for pedestrian accidents, but third in pedestrian fatalities.

In other words, your stroll along Main Street carries less peril overall than in other American cities, but is more likely to end in tragedy if you do bump into an Angeleno motorist (or vice versa).

Entitled Dangerous by Design, the TFA report is part of a campaign to push pro-pedestrian legislation through Congress. Not surprisingly, it finds the elderly (especially those living in Florida), women and minorities the hardest hit (perhaps that’s a poor choice of words) amid a growing “epidemic” of unsafe urban infrastructure:

“[B]ut people of all ages and all walks of life have been struck down in the simple act of walking. These deaths typically are labeled ‘accidents,’ and attributed to error on the part of motorist or pedestrian. In fact, however, an overwhelming proportion share a similar factor: They occurred along roadways that were dangerous by design…”

How “Unwalkable” Are We?

While even the casual observer would agree that L.A. has become increasingly hostile for pedestrians — a trend we need to reverse — TFA’s analysis should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

To attain its deathly statistics, the group lumped Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Long Beach into the same “metro area.” Not only is Santa Ana the seat of a whole other county, but these three cities are linked by some of our state’s busiest commercial trucking routes. We have no way of knowing from the analysis whether accidents occurred primarily in civic and shopping centers, along “city walks,” or in port, industrial and warehouse districts.

It’s an important distinction, since the problems — and their solutions — are entirely different.

Bottom line: While everyone wants a more walkable L.A., taking that stroll down Main Street may not actually be as dangerous as reported.

Photo: Flickr, Ingrid Taylor.

If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s for Tournament of Roses officials to bring a trademark “rosy optimism” to each New Year’s celebration.

For a year overshadowed by malaise like 2010 promises to be, could they have done any better to lift our spirits than naming Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger as the parade’s Grand Marshal?

Throughout the Tournament’s history, Grand Marshal honors have gone mostly to celebrities, political figures and even cartoon characters. But kudos to parade officials for recognizing a true American hero right when we need one the most.

Since safely ditching his US Airways plane in the Hudson almost a year ago, Capt. Sully has remained a humble, straightforward man — despite the sudden celebrity thrust upon him for saving all 155 people in his charge. To hear him in interviews, he’s just a guy who happened that day to be doing a job he loved to the best of his ability.

As LAist notes, the Captain’s cool post-splashdown demeanor has even earned him “stud status” and 600,000 fans on Facebook.

All that silliness aside, to me Sullenberger embodies a reminder we desperately need in 2010: That our nation is actually filled with common men and women who are somehow able to roll up their sleeves and accomplish the uncommon when the going gets tough.

I know such sentiment is considered sappy nowadays, but I’ll underscore it anyway… All too often our pop culture worships the “media heroes” enshrined in the political or sports arenas and star-studded galas peddling the latest celebrity cause. We forget that every day, guided by a steady mindset and basic human values, “ordinary” people are rising to heroic stature in their homes, workplaces and communities, rarely noticed by the media limelight. It will be refreshing to see Sullenberger metaphorically representing them at the parade.

• For a look at the Captain’s ranking among the Tournament’s 121-year parade of Grand Marshals, visit the official online roster. (Wikipedia also has a list with additional links to many of the Marshals’ bios.)

• Even more interesting is the Tournament’s photographic timeline stretching back to the very first event in 1890.

The decaying aftermath. Photo: M. Imlay

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. I guess it still is, but I just don’t seem to enjoy it as much nowadays.

The past several years a busy work schedule usually kept me on the road for the holiday. No costume parties, no Day of the Dead processions at Olvera Street, no ghosts, ghouls or goblins of any sort. This year, however, my annual business trip evaporated and I finally found myself available for All Hallows Eve.

So how to celebrate it?

I opted for a nice, quiet, homespun Halloween. I bought candy, spent hours carving Jack O’ Lanterns (and roasting their seeds), dressed up the porch with some scary decorations, turned on Adams Family reruns, and settled down to await hordes of marauding urchins at nightfall.

But, alas, the demonic hosts never came. By midnight a mere seven Trick-or-Treaters had dared to approach my spooky abode.

To be honest, my Echo Park neighborhood has never been awash with ghosts and zombies, but when I first moved here several years ago, there was at least a respectable showing. In my absence the last couple of Halloweens I’ve apparently missed a frightening phenomenon: Gentrification has driven a stake through the heart of good ol’ fashioned Trick or Treating and Halloween mischief here in the hood.

Ever so quietly, all our tough, street-smart kids have disappeared one by one, only to be replaced by “perfect children” raised by “perfect parents” to be “perfectly fearful” of razor blades, fish hooks and poisoned goodies. (Never mind that these fears have been shown to be largely based on urban legend and hoaxes.)

I feel like Charlie Brown the morning after the Great Pumpkin Vigil. Here I am, left with a bowl full of candy, contemplating how I’ll revive an otherwise dying Halloween spirit the next time around. One thing’s for sure, I won’t be caught dead scooping and roasting pumpkin seeds in 2010.

Sigh. I miss my favorite holiday.

But more than that, I mourn what Halloween has become for today’s kids. All the magic seems gone.

Gloria Swanson, aka Norma Desmond. Wikipedia Commons.

Like Sunset Boulevard’s fictional movie fatale Norma Desmond, I hate the word “comeback,” so let’s take her cue and call this blog’s resurrection a “return.”

After a catastrophic attempt to update WordPress over a month ago, your humble blogger was left scrambling to recover hundreds of former posts and photos and redesign Dateline>City of Angels from scratch.

Add to this an extremely busy personal schedule, and you’ve suddenly got the recipe for one very reclusive blogger. For a while even I was wondering if Dateline>City of Angels would simply wind up another blogospheric has-been.

Thankfully, no! I’ve finally hunkered down and got this site’s makeover close to where I want it. (Thanks to the new Thesis 1.6 theme, the whole design and coding phase was far easier than expected.) Even better, as I wrote in a post below, all the old entries have been recovered, at least text-wise. The re-uploading of more than 300 photos will, however, take significantly more time. (Simple math will tell you I’d have to work on 10 a day just to complete this task in a month.)

Nevertheless, to paraphrase Ms. Desmond, I’ve kept the adoring public in the dark long enough, so lights, cameras, action! Dateline>City of Angels has returned! (We’ll just consider the re-posting of all those missing photos a work in progress, OK?)

A Little Preview…

So what can you, the reader, expect from this blog moving forward?

First, no more technical fiascoes leading to lengthy hiatuses. I’ve learned my lesson: backup, backup, backup.

Plus I’m committed to more regular posting. Look for more short photo essays, pop quizzes and fun stuff peppered among the lengthier feature articles. I also plan to ramp up the podcasts in coming months, along with occasional “documentary vodcasts” on local topics.

Now also might be a good time to explain two somewhat misunderstood features that I began to experiment with before the big blog crash:

• L.A. in Quotes: A weekly quotation about our region, illustrated through either amateur photography and/or historical images.

• Old News: Interesting tidbits unearthed from the archives of historic (and even defunct) local newspapers. Normally, I look for 100-year-old news items that remain as timely today as they were way back then. When that fails, I just go for something bizarre.

In addition to the return of the above, expect a greater focus on Southland kitsch and obscure, offbeat attractions.

Finally, as this blog becomes more active with local ghost hunters and their paranormal investigations, I’ll also be stepping up entries in the ever-popular Cryptic L.A. category.

Please Bookmark It!

As a reminder, please also note that you’re now viewing Dateline>City of Angels at its new subdomain: www.mimlay.com/blog1 — a move designed to separate it further from my main professional writing pages, which are equally destined for an overhaul soon.

All in all, I intend to loosen up and have more fun with this blog — and hope you enjoy the changing scene here as well.

I’m so excited! After one post, we’ll make another post, and another, and… well, you get both the idea and the lame Sunset Boulevard reference.

Sardonic wit and all, this blog’s back and ready for its closeup.

StockXchng image.

The pumpkins are carved, the skeletons are hanging from the rafters, dusk has descended, and the witching hour is upon us.

Yes, it’s the Eve of All Hallows, and at long last the resurrection of this blog after its recent crash. Most of the infrastructure has been repaired, so, fittingly, I plan to recommence regular posts tomorrow on the traditional Day of the Dead.

While this blog has been idle for a month now, lots of stuff has been happening behind the scenes. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to participate in a Haunted Speakeasy hosted by CreepyLA and Smart Gals.org. One of several local writers invited to speak, I had a blast presenting the “true story” of the Feliz Curse to the gathering.

Even more thrilling, however, was the chance to meet fellow presenters Drew Daywalt (Fewdio), Joe Oesterle, Will Campbell (Sic), Javier Ortega and Joe Ruiz (GhostTheory.com — with whom I especially look forward to future joint projects). Although not presenting a tale per se, Richard Carradine (Ghoula) was also in attendance to share his considerable expertise on local ghostlore as well.

If you’re still waiting for Trick or Treaters to invade your threshold (only five have visited my house thus far), here are two activities perfect for tonight:

First, test your knowledge of Haunted L.A. with David Markland’s CreepyLA quiz from the Speakeasy.

Then, enjoy a masterful, high-calibre ghost story representative of the Speakeasy by jumping on over to Will Campbell’s Playground of the Devils feature.

Happy Halloween!

Photo: StockXchng

If you’re reading this, you likely reached Dateline>City of Angels either through a back door or some search engine, and are now wondering why it appears so … incomplete.

Answer: We’re still under construction — or rather, “re-construction” — after a nasty blog crash several weeks ago. That reconstruction has meant changing locations to a new subdomain (mimlay.com/blog1), applying a new WordPress “Thesis” theme, and starting to painstakingly re-upload 300 photos one by one from scratch.

For now, all this blog’s former posts have been restored, although most of their photos and links will take some time to complete.

Meanwhile, all of the parent site, mimlay.com, will soon undergo an overhaul as well. Your humble blogger realizes it’s more professional to do everything offline then unveil it all at once — but reader requests have convinced me it’s more important to at least serve up a little something right away.

This blog will be 100-percent ready to rock again with new posts very soon. Please pardon the mess until then.

Oh, and make sure to bookmark this new subdomain!