Arroyo Seco Park in LA

I went looking for a bike path in Highland Park and the NE LA area and found this. I was surprised to see a small horse ranch near the interstate that connected to the concreted river. I didn't make it to much of the bike path because the southern LA portion was closed. Two dudes who didn't appear to be working but probably worked for the horse ranch or the city said people bike down there all the time. In my mind I had no idea what was down in that ditch other than concrete and filth. The park that surrounded the entry to the bike path was as run down as Ive seen. If the bathrooms are filthy, graffitied, and locked up, then you probably wont bring your family down there. You can tell when the scene shifts to pics of the north side in South Pasadena that had nice ball golf courses and tennis courts. It was a serious contrast to the rundown in LA.

El Paso Brew Pub

Every city I've traveled to in recent years has numerous brew pubs and I love them. They're usually in old run down places and part of a renewal of the space. Ode Brewery is a good one in El Paso. Tasty beer and food in an old mini mall area. They had a great quesadilla made of bbq pork. Fusion food seems like another trend that is fashionable and creates great possibilities. Its only a couple miles from downtown and the beautiful mountains surrounding the area place it in the western edge of Texas, far away from my home in Austin. The more I stayed there the more I bemoaned leaving the mountain west.

Cool Disc Golf Courses

Most of these pics are from a disc golf course in central LA. I love disc golf. I love hiking around and throwing the discs and seeing the beauty of flying discs and the magic that happens sometimes. And they're usually located in marginal lands with little else for human use. The Austin area has some very cool disc golf courses but I've noticed a few things lacking compared to other course around the country. One is the box you throw from. Seawright park course which you see in the pics that have big wooden trunks surrounding a relatively small cement box What problems? You need more concrete length. Or open the space to let people throw while moving a lot in front or on the follow through. It not only boxes you in it puts you at risk of injury. I'm surprised Ive only once twisted my ankle badly on those darn logs. Notice these holes allow you to throw from a rubber mat and give space before and after the throw. Excellent. I can't think of an Austin course with the mats. Also look at the pic with a hole diagram. That's from the LA course near downtown - one pic shows you how close I was to Dodger stadium. Notice there are numerous hole placings giving you variety. I can't think of any courses in Austin that have that feature, although Im probably forgetting a few that do. But its common everywhere else Ive played. Wake up Austin disc golf clubs and city parks department. I couldn't help but notice the poor state of the trees along the throwing paths. Blame the disc golfers? It may have something to do with it. But I would guess if you watered and composted those areas the trees would live.

Austin is Soooo Cool, Or its denizens are delusional - And More of the Cities of LA

When you say a place is cool or awesome, like I hear many people tell me about Austin when I say I'm from there, you must be focusing a part of Austin and not the real city. And even that part can't be as cool as other cities like LA and Miami and Houston and New York and keep going. In Austin you're not connected to the crazy social and cultural expanse and complexity and diversity of an urban community like LA. Austin has way less of those characteristics. Its like LA. But its not LA. When you're in LA you feel more connected to a global community The pics here and in some other posts are from York Street in Northeast LA. One of my favorites is the three story red brick building because they tried to go above two stories. Another thing that stuck out about this building is that there were clothes hanging in the windows. Working people I guess. In neighborhoods like this with expensive housing you wonder where working people can afford to live. There is a real contrast of affluent and working people evident throughout LA like all other American cities including Austin.