Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Everything Changes

Roxbury Memorial Park Recreation Center, Beverly Hills

I'd heard that the City of Beverly Hills was going to remodel the Recreation Center at Roxbury Memorial Park.


Roxbury Park was built around 1927-28 in the bean fields that bordered Tenth St. and Roxbury Drive. Tenth Street was what Olympic Boulevard was called before the 1932 Olympics. Also, before the 1932 Olympics, Tenth Street stopped at 20th Century Fox Studios and picked up on the other side as Country Club Drive. Later, 20th added a bridge over Olympic Boulevard to their north lot (now Century City). After 1941 the park was renamed Roxbury Memorial Park to honor Beverly Hills residents who died in battle.


The only history I could find about the park relates to the lawn bowling portion of the park and an overview of all Beverly Hills parks. Here are some really nice photos of what the park looks like today.

Roof Overhang at the Rec Center

The plan to remodel the Rec Center includes adding classrooms, offices, a multi-use large room, updated kitchen facilities, a gymnasium and more. They will be changing the existing building (1958) quite a bit.


I spent my youth at Roxbury Park. We lived on Bedford Drive, one block over. It was like our backyard. We had picnics and birthday parties there. We played and climbed trees at the Park. When I was older I played tennis on its courts and took tap dancing at the Rec Center. I've always loved the clean, modern architecture of the Rec Center. I wonder who designed it? Does anyone know?

Mid-1960's Planter Benches in the Courtyard of the Rec Center

Larry and I stopped by the Rec Center over the weekend to snap a few shots before they tear the place apart. Sigh.

Ken and Ellen Bloom, Roxbury Park, 1955
(before the current Rec Center was built!)


UPDATE 12/2/11: The fantastic, Mr. Chris Nichols found an article about the opening of the Rec Center, including the names of the architects and construction company! Thanks so much Chris!!

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Holidays!

Knit Menorah Pillow for Chanukah

OK! Time to gear up for Chanukah and Christmas! There are tons of knit and crochet patterns out there for the celebration. Some patterns are excellent, some...not so much. Here are a few:

Christmas Elf that will either delight or scare the kidsHanukkkah Gift Bag
The bag is nice, but the unfortunate choice of ribbon in the
Greek Key design that resembles a swastika is not a good thing

Christmas Tree Duo
LOVE those thread spool tree trunks!
Felted Chanukah Dreidel
Not sure if these would spin properly, but they're cuteHoliday Hat! My all-time favorite

Hey! Isn't it time to start planning our WeHoHoHo Holiday Hat Party, Ms. Natalie?

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Mini Traffic

Super-Mini in West L.A.

It was lovely driving around Los Angeles over the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. There wasn't any TRAFFIC!!! After barely surviving my tortuous hour+ drives home from work (east Santa Monica to Mid-City L.A....8 miles) at 6pm every night last week, it was such a pleasure to be able to drive from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica in 20 minutes over the weekend!!
I spotted this adorable little Mini-Mini Cooper on eastbound Olympic Boulevard near Westwood Blvd. on Wednesday afternoon. The side of the car had a Classic Coca-Cola logo on it. This car was super-mini with a super tall guy driving it!

His "other car" is a yoga mat! Hahahahaha!

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Thankful

Thanksgiving, 2011, Del Rey Yacht Club

Thanksgiving with my family yesterday was wonderful. Once again we celebrated the day at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey. We reserved a private dining room for our large group. That way, we could really talk, hang-out and the kids could run around without bothering the rest of the club members in the large dining area.
We had a full house last night with relatives coming from the San Francisco area, Oregon, San Diego and just around the corner in L.A. There were almost 30 of us in attendance. It's great seeing everyone and seeing how all of the kids have grown! Here are a few highlights from our evening.

Amelie
Avery
Brooke, Roz and Hal
Liz wore this goregous scarf!
John, Carolyn and Mae
Lots of laughs! Larry and Karen
Happy Thanksgiving! With love from Ellen and Larry

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm soooooo lucky! No cooking or clean-up for me! However, I do get to see my family and enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving feast. Thank you to the people who work on this day so that we may have a day of togetherness. I hope everyone has a wonderful celebration.
I'll be knitting, crocheting and reading today, before we leave for our turkey party. Here are a few seasonal patterns courtesy of Ravelry.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Empty Office

Empty Lobby Today

I arrived at my Santa Monica office this sunny November morning to find an almost EMPTY suite! Yes, we're leaving early today, but what's the deal with taking the whole day off! Sheesh!
The phones are quiet. The lobby is devoid of people. Computer screens are dark. I brought in bagels for the few of us here.

This is what our lobby looks like on a normal work day
Busy Lobby
yeah, we always have carolers, don't you?
Empty Office
Bagels for the Suffering Workers
Yahoo Center, Santa Monica

One thing about the Thanksgiving weekend, the traffic yesterday was horrible and I expect it to be awful today too! I travel 8 miles from home to work. It usually takes me anywhere from 15-35 minutes to get home. Last night it took me one hour and 45 minutes to travel the 8 miles! Ack! It was grueling. I plan to stay close to home for the rest of the weekend. We're having T-Giving dinner tomorrow night with my family in Marina del Rey. Have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday weekend!

Thanksgiving, Beverly Hills, 1956

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Seen Around Town

I always take photos as I drive around our beautiful City. Here are a few recent snapshots.

6th Street Bridge, L.A.
Test Run for New Expo Line, viewed from La Cienega Blvd.
Old and New Houses, Lincoln Hts., L.A.
Seating at Chabelita Restaurant, L.A.Vintage Cadillac, La CaƱada, CAMural, near 5th St., Downtown L.A.

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Sunday Lunch @The Churchill

Julie's Birthday!

Yesterday, in the POURING rain, the Sometimes Sunday Crochet Group convened to celebrate Julie's b-day! We all met at Beth's house, then Beth's chivalrous husband, Larry A., shuttled us over to the Orlando Hotel for lunch. The Churchill is the new restaurant/pub at the Orlando.
There was a private party in the upstairs dining room that had the music cranked up to high, but Beth had reserved us a private booth downstairs, away from most of the madness. After awhile, the booming party music subsided, thankfully!

Divine Bloody Mary

The Churchill has a patio....not used on rainy Sunday. There's a bar, lots of TVs tuned to football games and a high-tech, but woodsy decor....kind of new-age Brit. Most of the time, we took pictures of ourselves, our food and giggled a lot!

Lori and Carol
Julie and Beth
Natalie and Ellen

The brunch/lunch menu features many choices: Omelets, sandwiches, soups, salads, entrees and more. Below are some of our lunch items.

Cheeseburger
Grilled Cheese Sammi and Soup
Flat-Iron Steak Sandwich

After lunch, Chauffeur Larry A. picked us up so we wouldn't have to walk the 2 blocks in the rain back to Beth's house. Julie opened her gifts, we all had yummy lemon b-day cake prepared by Beth and had a wonderful afternoon crocheting away! That's MY kind of Sunday!!!

Carol, Lori & Natalie in Beth's Cozy KitchenNatalie and Beth
Julie and Carol
Beth's and Carol's Sweet Eleanor Scarves

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Hiren's BootCD
hard drive recovery