Sign graveyard

We happened upon this pile of discarded signs at an industrial facility on Lafitte Avenue in Mid-City.

Flip it!

Flipped view

From the roof of the Ace Hotel, using the wonders of digital photography, I've flipped this photo so it reads in the right direction.

During the days when the United Artists Theatre and Texaco Building were owned by evangelist Gene Scott's Los Angeles University Cathedral, two huge neon signs proclaiming "Jesus Saves" were installed on the building.

In 2011 after Scott's widow sold the building to a real estate investment firm, one of the signs was removed to parts unknown, but the second sign, facing to the west, still remains and still functions.

From the bar at the roof of the Hotel, you can look down on the back of the sign:

True view

Like LA, perpetually re-inventing itself.

Thematic Photographic - Streetscapes

 Carmi at the blog "Written, Inc." posts a photographic challenge each week at Thematic Photographic. This week, the theme is "Streetscapes."

Blogging friend ifthethunderdon'tgetya reminds me that "Streetscapes" is Carmi's theme for this week. So here are some streetscapes from my weekend.

 On North Figueroa, in Highland Park, cool painted taco truck.

one great sign

Click any photo to "embiggen." Especially Chicken Boy!

and our old friend Chicken Boy!

Real life opera

La Traviata apartment house in Santa Monica. Operatic pretensions aside, the famed Verdi opera was based on Alexandre Dumas' novel La Dame aux Camelias, a romantic pot-boiler about a tubercular courtesan, but its Italian name, La Traviata, means "the fallen woman."  Would it be a little odd to live in an apartment so named?

Thematic photographic - Signs of the times

Carmi at the blog "Written, Inc." posts a photographic challenge each week at Thematic Photographic. This week, the theme is "Signs of the times."

Click to "embiggen"

 A sign on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice Beach. This is our time, and a reminder from two inspirational leaders (Malala and Nelson Mandela) is powerful - even when delivered in a homegrown, vernacular medium!

Sign of the day

Seen in the Tottenham Court Road tube station.

Spring swing

This sign painted on a building in the 900 block of South Broadway in downtown LA made me stop and come back for a photograph.

A dreary place, the block is an example of the demolition and paving of downtown Los Angeles. Facing the crumbling but beautiful gothic United Artists Theatre, a vast parking lot lies behind steel fences, with only a few buildings standing.

They include a narrow, boarded up loft building, with a graceful gothic-inspired facade. On the blank side facing the parking lot, a girl on a swing kicks her heels from bright red letters.

What's it mean? Did some inspired graffiti artist alter the ubiquitous advertisement for PARKING in a plea for more green space and family amenities in downtown LA?

Or is it painted as originally intended? This photo from January, 2010 shows  no advertisement on the building's side.  Who knows?

Enjoy the mystery - and glimpse of the beautiful turquoise terra-cotta Eastern Columbia building beyond.

UPDATE: Sheila is absolutely right, the artist is Banksy!

Roadside sign

 

So are you?

Step right up

Won't somebody think of the children?

At the Santa Monica Wednesday Farmer's Market.

Says it all

Click to "embiggen"

I had to smile at this cheerful and optimistic wall I encountered in Venice, on Electric Avenue.

Kiss dogs and cats!

Bumper sticker

Seen in the Silver Lake neighborhood, Los Angeles.

Sumo Chicken

This is one of my favorite signs of all time. This sign is at a chicken restaurant in East Los Angeles on Cesar Chavez Boulevard.

Sumo Chickens.

Pure Evil

Circus Liquors in North Hollywood. There's something creepy about clowns, right? And especially when they're selling liquor. You don't want to walk past this guy to get your booze, do you?

Does anyone know why so many liquor stores in L.A. are called "Jr. Markets"?

Deja vu

Another great neon sign - Deja Vu Liquors on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. If you're going to have a liquor store named after a paranormal phenomenon, you might as well rent the upstairs room to a psychic.

After all, how can you predict when you'll want a cocktail?