We're Sending You Back...To the Eighties!

And now, a blast from my past...

I have an old photo album that I put together sometime in the late 1980's, when I was still very young. I took some, but not all, of the photos that are in it. I thought it might be fun to scan some of the photos and upload them to my space at Flickr. Allow me to share a few of them here as well.

1) A Boy and His Sign Fetish

If you've looked at my Flickr photosets from East Hollywood and Phoenix, you probably noticed that I take a lot of pictures of signs. I obviously have a sign fetish, but I can't explain why.

My mom often tells the story of me taking a vacation to Southern California and coming home with pictures of signs. My mom already knew I was an odd child at this time, but I think it really floored her that her 8-year-old son liked signs enough to take (numerous) pictures of them.

To wit, a kid goes to Disneyland and what does he take a picture of? The sign out front.

From the same trip -- I suppose I was already into photo documentation at a young age. I decided to document the motel we stayed at in Anaheim...by taking a picture of its sign facing the Santa Ana Freeway.

Also from the same trip -- I remember being really impressed by this sign along Interstate 10 near Palm Springs. After eating at this particular McDonald's on our way to Disneyland, I made sure to snap a picture of it. This sign's still there, by the way, but it's been modified (no, I don't have a more recent pic).

2) Pioneer Park

If you grew up in the East Valley of Phoenix (a.k.a. "The 480"), then I'm sure you know about Pioneer Park in Mesa, across Main Street from the Mormon Temple.

I loved the old train they had at Pioneer Park - you could play on it! I'm not sure if the train is still there, and if it is, I doubt they let kids climb on it anymore. That train's a lawsuit waiting to happen (I myself have a scar from this train). By the way, I don't think I included the woman on the left "on purpose," but in retrospect I'm glad I did -- check out the boom box she's carrying! Awesome, I love the '80's.

Pioneer Park also had this Navy jet, which was also cool but probably more dangerous than the train. I'm fairly certain that it's long gone.

My sister and I, locked up at the Pioneer Park Prison.

3) The Fam

Here's a photo of my late grandmother holding one of my cousins (Vincent, I think) -- I miss her a lot. She raised 10 kids, which is no small feat, and she was fun to be around!

From the same family get-together: here's my mom holding my late grandfather's new dog, Leo (Leo was a Christmas present, I believe). I think I was afraid of him, which might explain the weird way I'm touching him (maybe I was tring to give him an eye exam). My grandfather is sitting to the right of my mom.

Here's another pic of me and "lil sis," this one taken at the Arizona State Fair. I remember looking forward to the Fair all year, I think every kid in Phoenix did.

4) Obligatory Mall Photos

During my Disneyland trip, I was able to visit South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, one of the country's largest malls. And this was the only photograph I took???!!!

Here is an absolutely horrible photograph of me inside the Sears at Westridge Mall in Phoenix. No, I didn't know how to play a piano, so I'm not sure why I assumed this pose. As you all know, I am still as every bit as "cool" now as I was back then (well, maybe a little less "cool" now).

If you want to see more, just click on this drawing I made on the inside of the photo album's cover:

Oh yeah, one more thing -- even at my young age I knew how to give props where props were due -- thanks again, Thrifty Drug and Discount Stores! As you may know, Thrifty no longer exists. I'm sure glad I finally learned how to spell "possible" in my third year at college:

Remembering Robinsons-May

Robinsons-May is one of the ten regional department store nameplates that Federated Department Stores will be phasing out in 2006. Robinsons-May consists of about 60 stores located in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Reaction to Robinsons-May's demise was pretty muted here in Los Angeles. People here don't feel the same sort of connection to Robinsons-May that people in Chicago have to Marshall Field's. Perhaps that's because Robinsons-May itself is the product of a mega-merger by two out-of-town conglomerates (May and Associated Dry Goods), or because Macy's has already absorbed two other local chains, Bullock's and The Broadway.

I would like to take a few moments to remember Robinsons-May and its predecessors.

A. Hamburger & Sons was arguably the first department store to operate in Los Angeles. In 1908, the company relocated to the brand new 500,000-square-foot building pictured above. The store was located at Broadway and Eighth Street, on what was then considered the edge of Downtown. St. Louis-based May Company acquired Hamburger's in 1923 and renamed it The May Company of California soon after.

J.W. Robinson Company was another early department store in Los Angeles. In 1915, the company relocated to the brand new 400,000-square-foot building pictured above. The store was located at Grand Avenue and Seventh Street, several blocks away from the Broadway shopping district but closer than its competition to the fashionable areas then developing west of Downtown.

May Company and Robinson's both prospered in the 1920's, as did their primary rivals, Bullock's and The Broadway. All four companies operated gigantic stores in Downtown Los Angeles that drew customers from throughout Southern California.

By 1930, Los Angeles had already become the nation's most car-dependent and sprawling urban region. Not only were the department stores' customers moving further and further afield from Downtown, but the concentration of automobiles, street cars, and pedestrians in the central district resulted in intolerable congestion. It was obvious that if Downtown merchants didn't open more car-friendly locations in the suburbs, they'd lose business to competitors who did.

The first branch department store in Los Angeles was Bullock's Wilshire, pictured above. Opening in 1929 a few miles west of Downtown, Bullock's Wilshire included a parking lot for 375 cars and complemented the 740,000-square-foot flagship at Broadway and Seventh Street.

Though Bullock's was the first to "branch out," May Company was far more ambitious in its expansion plans.

May Company opened the brand new 270,000-square-foot store pictured above in 1939, dwarfing Bullock's Wilshire. The store was located at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in the "Miracle Mile" district near Beverly Hills. While May's Downtown store remained open, this store replaced it as the "flagship."

May Company continued to expand after World War II. The next branch store was planned for the northwest corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and Santa Barbara Avenue (now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) -- unlike the Wilshire store, this location was not in an established business district, but on the suburban fringe of rapidly-growing southwest Los Angeles.

The 200,000-square-foot May Company Crenshaw store opened in 1947. Interestingly, it opened directly across the street from a new branch of The Broadway, which was rapidly becoming May's main competitor. The fact that both stores prospered in such close proximity in a "fringe" location hinted at the future success of shopping malls with several competing "anchor" stores.

The Broadway developed a shopping center along with its branch store (May Company did not). This shopping center was a precursor to the modern mall -- its tenant mix was "integrated," meaning that the stores were hand-picked by Broadway to complement its store and provide a full breadth of shopping choices.

The first true shopping mall to open in the Los Angeles region was Lakewood Center, located in the iconic master-planned suburb of Lakewood that was being constructed on farm fields near Long Beach. When the first phase of the mall opened in 1952, it included a 350,000-square-foot May Company branch, pictured above.

In 1954, May Company decided to scrap plans for a branch near Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in favor of a more suburban location in the rapidly-urbanizing San Fernando Valley. This drawing of the proposed 420,000-square-foot store at Valley Plaza demonstrates May's early recognition of the importance of access to Southern California's developing freeway network.

Robinson's was slower to expand during these years. Unlike May Company, Bullock's, and The Broadway, Robinson's didn't open any branch stores prior to World War II. After the war, Robinson's opened a branch in posh Beverly Hills but did not embark on an ambitious expansion program like its competitors did.

Robinson's and May Company were both units of national department store companies based elsewhere but they retained their local identities. Los Angeles was an important and growing market; after 1960, both chains anchored many of the new shopping malls popping up throughout Southern California and extended their market area from Santa Barbara in the north to San Diego in the south.

In 1986, May Department Stores, parent company of May Company of California, acquired Associated Dry Goods, parent company of Robinson's. May chose to maintain the chains' seperate identities, perhaps because Robinson's image and stores were generally more upscale than May's.

Associated Dry Goods had also been the parent company of Goldwaters, a chain with stores in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. In 1989, May decided to consolidate Goldwaters into other regional chains. Stores in New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona were rebranded as Foley's (the Tucson stores would later revert to Robinsons-May), while stores in Nevada were rebranded as May Company and stores in Phoenix, Arizona were rebranded as Robinson's.

In 1993, May merged its Robinson's and May Company divisions into Robinsons-May. The names on all the stores were changed, although Robinson's had never operated in Nevada and May Company had never operated in Phoenix. There was a fair amount of overlap between the two chains in Southern California, but no stores were closed initially, probably to protect market share against Bullock's and The Broadway. At many malls, Robinsons-May operated two stores, and continues to do so to this day. Some stores were eventually closed, however.

Robinsons-May seemed to have the upper hand in the Los Angeles area for awhile, but its two primary competitors were soon consolidated too. Federated Department Stores acquired R.H. Macy Co. in 1994 and decided to rebrand its Bullock's stores as Macy's the following year. In 1996, Federated acquired Broadway Stores (formerly known as Carter-Hawley-Hale) and The Broadway was also rebranded as Macy's. Robinsons-May and Macy's were now on more-or-less equal footing, co-anchoring many of the region's malls.

Where there once were four major "mid-line" department stores in Los Angeles, now there will be only one: Macy's. It's true that Robinsons-May won't be sorely missed -- the only thing still "local" about the stores these days is the name on the front -- the stores themselves have become so homogenized that there's little to distinguish them from May's other divisions or even from Macy's Southern California stores. However, I salute the decades of Los Angeles retailing history that the name represents. Goodbye, Robinsons-May!

Props to Richard Longstreth, author of "City Center to Regional Mall," which contains much of the information (and some of the photos) displayed in this post. The book is a must-have for anyone who's interested in the growth of Los Angeles.

Note: I will speculate on the effects of the Federated-May merger on the Los Angeles market (i.e. the numerous stores that will be closed) in an upcoming post. I will speculate on the effects of the merger on the Phoenix market in another upcoming post.

Macy's: Coming Soon to a Mall Near You

Say goodbye to Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, The Jones Store, Kaufmann's, L.S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, and Strawbridge's. Say hello to Macy's.

Federated Department Stores announced on Thursday that most of the stores it will acquire in its merger with May Department Stores will be converted to the Macy's brand. The announcement shocked no one in retailing circles, since Federated re-branded its remaining regional department stores (Lazarus, Burdine's, Rich's, Goldsmith's, The Bon Marche) to Macy's earlier this year.

As I reported on Wednesday, Federated has postponed a decision on whether to rebrand May's Marshall Field's division, which operates primarily in Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. I doubt that the Marshall Field's name will be saved, but if it is, it will probably remain only in Chicago. Field's has less of a following in Detroit and the Twin Cities -- those stores were re-branded from the Dayton's and Hudson's banners just 4 years ago.

Federated has also postponed any decisions about Lord & Taylor, which is May's "upscale" division (see this post from Steve's Blog). Lord & Taylor hasn't been doing well -- May recently pulled it out of several markets -- and Federated may sell it. My prediction is that Federated will ultimately shut down Lord & Taylor and rebrand its "best" stores as either Macy's or Bloomingdale's.

Bloomingdale's, which is Federated's "upscale" division, may add some stores and enter some new markets as a result of the merger. As of yet, no specific stores have been identified by Federated for conversion to the Bloomingdale's banner.

While Federated will be adding approximately 330 new Macy's stores next year, it will also divest 68 "duplicate locations" at malls across the country. This is just the "first round" -- expect a lot more store closings over the next few years.

Adventures in the Blogosphere

I find myself sliding further and further into full-fledged Internet geekdom. Truth be told, I've always been an Internet geek, I just didn't own a computer for awhile.

I knew I had reached the point of no return when my blog got blogged this week. Here's a screen capture of an entry on Steve's Blog containing a screen capture of Paradox Unbound.

I was actually quite flattered. I was even more flattered when I learned that Steve had blogged "All the Malls of Southern California" way back in June. We share a love of malls and retail that few other people could fathom.

The Internet is a way for people around the world with similar interests to connect and share. I am amazed at its potential. I've spent a lot of time reading other people's blogs and find a lot of them fascinating. Every person has a story to tell, and now that story can be told to the whole world!

I am awed and inspired by the creativity people can bring to the Web. Although it's not Tuesday, I wanted to highlight a blog called the 1947project.

Nathan Marsak and Kim Cooper bring the Los Angeles of 1947 back to life through this fascinating blogging endeavor. Here is the project's mission statement:

Los Angeles in 1947 was a social powderkeg. War-damaged returning soldiers were threatened by a new kind of independent female, who in turn found her freedoms disappearing as male workers returned to the factories. These conflicts worked themselves out in dark ways. The Black Dahlia is the most famous victim of 1947's sex wars, but hardly the only one. The 1947project seeks to document this pivotal year in L.A., through period reporting and visits to the scenes as they are today.

I highly recommend both Steve's Blog and the 1947project as daily reading. Don't fear Internet geekdom -- if you delve into the blogosphere, I guarantee that you'll love what you find.

Saving Marshall Field's

You may have heard that the nation's two largest department store conglomerates, Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores, are merging. The new mega-company will operate 950 department stores from coast to coast.

A lot of consolidation has occurred in the department store business over the last 20 years and now only a handful of companies operate most of the nation's department stores. Along the way, a lot of venerable names have been dropped. Most recently, Federated decided to "re-brand" its regional department store chains as Macy's, which is now the company's "national" moniker. Some of the names lost in the recent conversion were Rich's in Atlanta, Burdine's in Florida, Lazarus in Ohio, and The Bon Marche in Seattle. May still operates most of its stores under regional names, such as Robinsons-May in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, Hecht's in Washington D.C., Strawbridge's in Philadelphia, and Marshall Field's in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Detroit.

When Federated announced its intent to acquire May, CEO Terry Lundgren said most of May's stores would be "re-branded" as Macy's, with the possible exceptions of Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field's. Recently, Lundgren indicated that the company would hold surveys and focus groups to determine whether Marshall Field's customers would accept a name change. One man in the Twin Cities has decided to launch a grass-roots effort on the Internet to pressure Lundgren to keep the Marshall Field's moniker and he and his campaign have recieved a lot of attention.

Check it out: www.keepitfields.org

Props to Steven Swain for tipping me off to this (Steve may be the only person on Earth who loves malls and retail more than I do).

Take a Trip to Sprawl City, U.S.A.

One of my interests is photography. I do not have artistic aspirations; my interest lies in documentation. I suppose it started back in college when I undertook a photographic survey of all the malls in Southern California as a class project (see it here).

At the end of the year I usually take a couple weeks off work in order to spend the holiday season in Phoenix, where I grew up. When I was home in December 2003 and January 2004, I decided to document some of the urban sprawl occuring there. I spent a few days driving around on the edges of town, taking pictures with my digital camera. My intent was to create a web site like the one I made for "All the Malls of Southern California," and I may get around to doing that someday, but in the meantime I've posted them at my space on Flickr.

"Phoenix Sprawl" photoset and slide show on Flickr (321 photos)

I know that many of you are not necessarily interested in seeing all 321 photos...this is where Flickr's awesome "tags" come in. All of the sprawl photos were "tagged" into different categories (e.g. construction, houses, bigboxretail, southphoenix, gilbert, etc.). You can use any combination of the tags to narrow the photos down into a smaller photoset and slide show - if you only want to see houses under construction in the suburb of Gilbert, you can. Try it out!

Here are 12 photos that are representative of the bunch, with commentary:

1) "Welcome to Phoenix" --- I chose to make this the "primary photo" of the Flickr photoset. This picture was taken on West Baseline Road in the Laveen area of southwest Phoenix, a rural area that has become increasingly suburban over the last 5 years. Note the "Zoning Hearing" sign at the right.

2) "Zoning Hearing" -- I took a lot of pictures of signs, especially "Zoning Hearing" signs like this one. Signs like this are the first indication that sprawl is underway - someone is trying to get the zoning changed on a vacant property so that he or she can build a subdivision, a shopping center, or some other development. This picture was taken on East Baseline Road in South Phoenix. South Phoenix is an interesting area; it remained largely rural for many years although it was only a few miles from Downtown Phoenix, Sky Harbor Airport, and Arizona State University, largely because it had a bad reputation as a "ghetto." About 10 years ago, some smart developers realized there was a lot of opportunity in South Phoenix and it has slowly but surely been losing its rural flavor ever since. Note the dying orange tree at the left of the sign.

3) "You've Been Warned" -- Another sign, this one on Queen Creek Road in the suburb of Chandler. This is what it says: "THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN ZONED FOR OTHER THAN SINGLE FAMILY USE. CURRENT INFORMATION REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE CITY OF CHANDLER PLANNING SERVICES DIVISION, 480-782-3000" I saw a few signs like this; the purpose is to advise people buying single family residences in the area that this little farm will not necessarily turn into more of the same - it could become an office park, a Safeway, or God forbid, an apartment complex or a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

4) "Freedom of Choice" -- Areas experiencing sprawl are full of signs like these advertising nearby subdivisions with cute names like "Cottonfield Ranch" and "Bougainvillea." This photo is also from West Baseline Road in the Laveen area of southwest Phoenix. Note the Circle K in the background -- Circle K is headquartered in Phoenix, and there's a Circle K at almost every major intersection.

5) "Road to Nowhere" -- This is a photo of Paloma Parkway in north Phoenix, just off Carefree Highway. As you can see, it ends here. Sprawl requires that infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, street lights, etc.) be put in before the area is developed. While this may seem like a meaningless road to nowhere now, in 5 years it will be a busy thoroughfare serving thousands of people each day.

6) "Come and Play" -- This photo, taken at the Royal Ranch subdivision in the suburb of Surprise, shows another type of "infrastructure" that comes in before development: a playground. This playground in the middle of nowhere was downright spooky.

7) "Not The Olive Grove" -- Many subdivisions have ironic names, like this one in the suburb of Peoria named "The Olive Grove." It's doubtful that there was an olive grove at this location in the first place, and even if there was, it was ripped out for a subdivision that was named in its honor.

8) "Pretend We're Not in the Desert" -- This subdivision, Lagos Vistoso, is on Riggs Road in the suburb of Chandler. Subdivisions with little man-made lakes and waterfalls are very popular in greater Phoenix, which is extremely ironic when you consider that this is the Sonoran Desert!

9) "The Assembly Line" -- This is a photo of the Amber Hills subdivision in north Phoenix, near Carefree Highway and Interstate 17. It is interesting to me that all "neighborhoods" start out as "construction sites." Many "volume homebuilders" operate in Phoenix and they build homes in a way that would make Henry Ford proud.

10) "Welcome Home?" -- This is a photo taken in Anthem, a master-planned virtual "mini-city" being built by the Del Webb company, whose main claim to fame is Sun City, the first master-planned retirement community, also in Phoenix. Anthem, like Sun City, is classic "leap frog" development, meaning it's way out on the fringe of the metro area, several miles north of the Amber Hills subdivision seen in the last photograph. What I find interesting is the fact that people start moving into a "neighborhood" when it's still a "construction site." Someone is probably going to move into the completed house on the left before the house on the right is even finished. I figure people who move into a still-developing subdivision feel like "urban pioneers" but I wouldn't want to live in a place that isn't "finished" yet.

11) "Following Rooftops" -- One adage in Phoenix is that "retail follows rooftops," meaning that the first wave of sprawl is housing and the second wave is shopping centers. This photo shows the site of the "Gilbert Gateway Towne Center" on Power Road in the suburb of Gilbert. The developer of this center, Vestar, has built similar "power centers" full of big box retailers all over Phoenix during the last 15 years and has about a dozen more in the works right now. This center has all the usual suspects: Ross, Cost Plus, Michael's, Petsmart, Linens N Things, and SuperTarget (a Target with groceries, like a Wal-Mart Supercenter).

12) "Everything Sprawls" -- In Phoenix, sprawl is not limited to subdivisions, shopping centers, office parks, and the like; major sports facilities are part of sprawl too. This is a photo of the (then) recently completed Glendale Arena (home of the Phoenix Coyotes NHL team) off Glendale Avenue and 91st Avenue in the suburb of Glendale. This photo shows its still-rural context. In the 1990's, both the America West Arena (home of the Phoenix Suns NBA team) and the Bank One Ballpark (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks MLB team) were built next to each other in Downtown, which can be seen as a vote against sprawl by then-owner Jerry Colangelo. Times have changed; after a failed attempt to build an arena on the site of the old Los Arcos Mall in Scottsdale, Coyotes team owner Steve Ellman was lured to this site in Glendale adjacent to the recently completed Loop 101 Freeway. Now a new stadium for the Arizona Cardinals NFL team is being built next door! Sprawl wins!

Doing this sprawl project was a lot of fun for me. Driving and walking through several developing subdivisions gave me an eerie feeling, though: I realized the neighborhood in Tempe that I grew up in was once a "construction site" too. Tempe is now a well-established "built-out" suburb, but 30 years ago it was part of the sprawling fringe too. 30 years from now, the developing neighborhoods I photographed will be "old" like the one in which my mom lives in Tempe (her house was built in 1977, so it's historic by Phoenix standards!).

There are no signs of sprawl slowing down in metropolitan Phoenix. If anything, it speeds up exponentially each year. Currently, the metro area is home to about 3 million people, and it's projected to be home to 6 million people by 2025. There's still a lot of land to keep Phoenix sprawling for the foreseeable future. The growth of Phoenix - past, present, and future - is a fascinating topic (to me at least), perhaps I'll post more about it in the future.

P.U. Blog of the Week: July 26-August 1, 2005

This week's blog is Marrie's Meanderings. Marrie is a good writer and has a knack for telling interesting (and often funny) anecdotes from her present and her past. I can tell she's a very "real" person.

Cambodian Wedding in the LBC

One of my co-workers, Kanika, got married over the weekend. It was a traditional Cambodian wedding, meaning it was a two day affair consisting of several different events. Kanika was gracious enough to invite me to the final event last night, which could be considered the "reception." It was held at the New Paradise Restaurant in Long Beach.

I sat at a table containing a random assortment of other DRP'ers and enjoyed a lot of excellent food. I ate duck for the first time.

L to R: Marie, Adrienne, newlyweds Kanika and Steve

L to R: Russ, yours truly, Kanika, Steve

There was a live band playing some pretty good Cambodian music. The wedding party led the attendees into some traditional Cambodian dance moves. I documented what, in my multi-cultural ignorance, I will label "The Hand Dance":

I attempted to do "The Hand Dance" and failed miserably. It was a lot harder than it looked. Unforuntately, my co-workers now know that despite my ability to enforce the Zoning Code, I have no rhythm whatsoever.

I was pretty excited to attend this function and wasn't disappointed. If you're ever invited to a Cambodian wedding reception, don't pass it up!

I want to thank Kanika and Steve for allowing me to share in the occassion with them and I wish them the very best. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

See also: Flickr photoset

Looking For Love in All the Wal Places

I suppose my dreams of meeting my soulmate at Wal-Mart have been dashed. Read on:

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Wal-Mart Nixes Flirts

ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 24, 2005

ROANOKE, Va. -- Wal-Mart has ditched a program that helped single shoppers find love in the discount store's aisles.

Officials at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., ordered their Roanoke store to put an end to Singles Shopping, the only program of its kind at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores.

Taking a cue from Wal-Marts in Germany, the month-old program encouraged customers on Friday evenings to pick up a red bow they could place on their carts as an invitation to other singles. "Flirt points" were set up in sections of the store.

A Wal-Mart spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the cancellation. Customer Dale Firebaugh, who showed up Friday hoping to meet his match, said employees told him people had complained.

"I'm disappointed," said Firebaugh, 63. "Where can someone over 40 who doesn't smoke or drink or go to bars meet someone?"

Google Conquers the Moon

I've already told you about Google Earth (remember?). Now I implore you to visit Google Moon.

Hace Calor!

Hot town, summer in the city

Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn't it a pity

Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead

Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

-- Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the City"

Summer doesn't really start in Los Angeles until July. As the weather began to heat up over the last few weeks, I bragged to folks that it wasn't "hot" as far as I was concerned because I grew up in Phoenix and handled a lot worse in my younger days.

Over this last week, I've had to swallow my pride and admit that it is definitely "hot" in L.A. now - oppressively hot. The daily high temperature in Downtown has hovered in the high 80's, even hitting 90 a couple times. That's not too bad, but the combination of those temps with the recent spike in humidity (50% or higher each day) makes it pretty nasty outside. People who live in outlying areas (further from the ocean) are contending with temps in the 90's and 100's.

Central air conditioning was invented for days like these, but that's a bit of a luxury item here in L.A. My apartment has a small wall-mounted air conditioner, but it's placed in a corner of the living room, so running it is not very practical or cost effective. There's a ceiling fan in the dining room but it doesn't help much. All the windows in the apartment are open, but they're all on one side, so there's no cross-ventilation to speak of. As hot as it may be outside, it's even hotter inside! And it stays that way 24 hours a day. It's been hard to sleep at night.

I have Fridays off, and after spending a few hours sweating in my apartment today, I realized it was time for action. It had become impossible to feel comfortable. I went to Target to buy fans; not surprisingly, the fan aisle had been completely ravaged. Thankfully there were a few small Honeywell fans still available for $15, so I picked up 3 of them (2 for the living room, 1 for my bedroom). It is now somewhat more bearable in here, and one of the fans is blowing on me as I type.

The icky heat will remain at least through the beginning of next week.

Great Scott!

20 years ago this month, the original "Back to the Future" was first released in theatres.

I assume nearly everyone has seen "BTTF" at least once in the past 20 years. I probably have seen it on approximately 153 occassions in the past 20 years. I remember the first occassion, a trip to the Cinema 6 in Westridge Mall during a hot July afternoon in Phoenix in 1985; my 6-year-old mind was blown. "BTTF" has since been one of my favorite movies of all time.

Michael J. Fox played Marty McFly, the main character, seen here wearing his "life preserver." Throughout the film, Marty demonstrates "coolness" and admirable grace under unfathomable pressure. I was already a big Michael J. Fox fan in 1985, having regularly watched him on "Family Ties." Fox epitimized suave, smart-ass "cool," '80's style. I even wore a clip-on tie and sweater vest for my kindergarten class photo in an effort to look more "Alex P. Keaton"-like (I think I have that photo lying around...I'll have to scan and upload it soon).

Christopher Llyod played Emmett "Doc" Brown, the key member of the supporting cast. The movie never explains how Doc, a kooky gray-haired scientist, hooks up with Marty, a hip 17-year-old high school student, but they enjoy a valuable friendship. They help each other be better people. The Doc demonstrates that you can be cool while being crazy.

But we all know the "real" star of the movie was the time machine, a modified DeLorean car. For a long time, I planned to buy a DeLorean as my first car; this did not come to pass. I think I still want a DeLorean. Maybe one day I'll be rich and ostentatious enough to own a garage full of fancy cars I don't drive; one of those cars would be a DeLorean.

The pivotal scene of "BTTF" takes place at a mall, which endears me to the film even more. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, I discovered that the "Twin Pines Mall" was actually Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry (21 miles southeast of L.A. City Hall). Sadly, the JCPenney was closed by 1998 and there's no Fox Photo booth in the parking lot, so it doesn't look quite the same. I attempted to drive 88 miles per hour in Puente Hills Mall's parking lot but was unsuccessful.

I snagged this map of Hill Valley in 1955 off the Net - I can't guarantee its accuracy.

There is an urban planning angle to "BTTF." The film tells the story of the fictional California city of Hill Valley, a story of suburban sprawl and urban decay. In 1955, Hill Valley's downtown is thriving and gleaming clean; in 1985, it's dirty and deteriorating. The park in front of the Courthouse became a parking lot, one movie theater became a porn theatre and the other became a church. In 1955, the site of the Twin Pines Mall and its environs were once "farmland as far as the eye could see" (Doc Brown), and the subdivision where Marty lives in 1985 hasn't even been built yet. Some variation of this story of suburban sprawl and urban decay was told in every town and city in the United States between 1955 and 1985, making Hill Valley a true "anytown" that most people can relate to. This urban planning angle was communicated to me even at the tender age of 6, largely because I had already realized that cities were living entities susceptible to evolutionary change. My mother had lived in Phoenix since 1957, so she often told me stories of how that fast-growing city had evolved over time. I was already fascinated by the history of cities and became enthralled with the idea of using time travel to witness first-hand the growth of, and change within, cities.

Perhaps the greatest thing about "BTTF" is its positive message: "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." This epiphany, related from Doc to Marty and on to Marty's father George, was true in 1955 and 1985 and is very much true today. As trite as this message is, I've adopted it as one of my mantras, and it's served me well. If the Doc can build a time machine, surely any one of us can do whatever it is he or she dreams of. Commitment is the key.

For a long time I felt cheated by the film's ending, which stated that the story was "to be continued." It was 4 long years before the sequel came out ("BTTF 2" hit theatres in the fall of 1989, "BTTF 3" in the summer of 1990). For a 6-year-old, this was an unbearingly long wait. I have come to appreciate the sequels as excellent films in their own right, but in no way do they eclipse the original. I was pleased, though, to see that the urban planning angle continued to be explored in the sequels ("BTTF 2" documents Hill Valley's urban life in the year 2015 and in an alternate year 1985, while "BTTF 3" documents it in the year 1885).

Happy 20th Anniversary, "Back to the Future!" I hope my (hypothetical) children and grandchildren will enjoy you as much as I have.

Liks of Interest

BTTF on IMDb

Official BTTF Site

BTTF.com

The Original BTTF Script

DeLorean Motor Company

Puente Hills Mall

Michael J. Fox Database

Another Unofficial Christopher Lloyd Web Site

P.U. Blog of the Week: July 19-25, 2005

The first time Paradox Unbound gave props to another blog was last Tuesday (remember?). I've decided to make this routine; from now on, a post on every Tuesday will highlight the "P.U. Blog of the Week."

This week's blog is Apathy & Conceit. Its owner, Andrew of New York City, is also 26 and relatively new to the blogging game. Andrew is an excellent writer, and he is usually hilarious. I wish I were as witty as he is. I am glad I stumbled onto Apathy & Conceit and I will continue to read it regularly. You should check it out.

Book Review: The United States of Wal-Mart

Paradox Unbound Book Review

The United States of Wal-Mart

by John Dicker

213 pages (excluding acknowledgements, notes, and index)

See back cover






When I went to Skylight Books in Los Feliz Village during my walk on Friday, this book was being heavily promoted with a window display and a prominent location in the front of the store. I would have bought it anyway, though, since I have a bit of a Wal-Mart obsession (evidenced by this previous post on Paradox Unbound).

You might notice I bought an autographed copy, and that's because all the copies of this book at the store were autographed. I'm assuming (based on the autographed copies and the promotional materials) that author John Dicker did a book-signing event at the store recently...I'm sorry I missed it. It's kind of cool to have an autographed book, I've never owned one before.

I read this book over the weekend. On the whole, it is an excellent survey of the various issues that are making Wal-Mart increasingly controversial, especially in "liberal" circles. It does contain a few minor typographical and factual errors that hopefully will be corrected in future editions. Dicker's writing style is engaging, if a bit laborious at times. He has a penchant for colorful metaphors, but at times he can be a bit too flippant (to wit, his assertion that "we're all Wal-Mart's bitches").

After cataloguing the immense size of the world's largest retailer, Dicker goes on to debunk the "ethos" of the late Sam Walton, the company's legendary founder and one-time "richest man in the world." From there, he analyzes Wal-Mart's business plan, which could be summed up as "Growth! Growth! Growth!" I appreciated the emphasis on Wal-Mart's technology, which in my opinion has been the key to its success (it owns the largest private satellite system in the world). Dicker also points out that as big as Wal-Mart is, it is getting and will continue to get far bigger.

The book then delves into the aspects of Wal-Mart that have generated controversy. Dicker describes the burden its labor policies (low wages coupled with high health insurance premiums) place onto public welfare systems throughout the country as well as the company's firm "anti-union" stance. He also mentions the company's sexist reputation and the class action sex discrimination lawsuit recently filed on behalf of all women employed by Wal-Mart since 1998 (links below). He spends most of his time, however, on Wal-Mart's role in "globalization," particularly the "outsourcing" of manufacturing jobs from the United States to Third World countries where labor is much cheaper. Wal-Mart's "sweat shop" loving ways snagged Kathie Lee Gifford seven years ago (remember that? remember her?).

The second part of the book studies the effect Wal-Mart has had on the United States, the workings of Wal-Mart's PR machine, and those who have fought the store moving into their communities. Most troubling is the discussion on Wal-Mart's move into politics since 2000: it now controls the country's second-largest corporate Political Action Committee (PAC). Nearly all its money goes to the Republican Party and Wal-Mart is very cozy with the Bush Administration. Also troubling is Wal-Mart's censorship of the media it sells in its stores (which Dicker points out as being inconsistent). Wal-Mart is a part of "the culture wars" and the "red state/blue state" dichotomy brought to light in the 2004 elections (an interesting article linking Wal-Mart to red states and Costco to blue states is linked below). I appreciated that Dicker aimed to debunk the perception that Wal-Mart is on one side of "the culture wars," pointing out that Wal-Mart is a major contributor to National Public Radio (NPR) and that it changed its antidiscrimination policy a few years ago to include specific protection for gays, lesbians, and transgendered people.

Dicker makes some interesting conclusions. First off, he states what I think should be obvious: Wal-Mart cannot be stopped or "rolled back," we have to learn to live with it and pressure the company to change its policies. He admits that it might not be a bad idea to let Wal-Mart open in "inner city" areas, because bad jobs are better than no jobs and also because there are few other stores in these areas that offer good merchandise at low prices. He also argues that the most effective way to fight Wal-Mart at the local level is not to raise issues of employee welfare and globalization but the minutiae of zoning law (is there proper drainage? are the traffic studies based on accurate information?). His most compelling point, though, is that Americans don't really seem to care about the "negative externalities" associated with Wal-Mart. Most of us only care about low prices and feel entitled to a "deal" and are ignorant of or unconcerned with the "true cost" of those low prices.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it to everyone. In keeping with the title of this book, I made a flag for the United States of Wal-Mart and wrote a Pledge of Allegiance to it (yes, I have a lot of time on my hands, thanks for asking):

I Pledge Allegiance

To the Flag

Of the United States of Wal-Mart

And to the Big Box

For Which it Stands

One Retailer

Under Sam,

Indestructable,

With Low Prices

And Bad Jobs

For All - Always.

Links of Interest

Wal-Mart on Wikipedia

"Shop the Vote" by Daniel Gross (Wal-Mart = Bush, Costco = Kerry)

"The Wal-Mart You Don't Know" by Charles Fishman (Wal-Mart's relationship with its suppliers)

walmartclass.com (official site of the class action sex discrimination lawsuit)

walmartversuswomen.com (a former Miss America is now a Wal-Mart hater)

sprawl-busters.com (home of Al Norman, the nation's #1 Wal-Mart hater)

walmartwatch.com (more Wal-Mart haters)

wakeupwalmart.com (even more Wal-Mart haters)

walmartfacts.com (Wal-Mart's corporate propaganda site)

walmartmovie.com (coming soon from the maker of "Outfoxed" and "Uncovered")

I have a feeling that the subject of Wal-Mart will keep popping up on Paradox Unbound...in fact, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Hooray for (East) Hollywood!

I have lived just off Hollywood and Western for over 2 years. I love the neighborhood to the point of bragging that it is "the best in L.A." The true essence of the Los Angeles metropolis is beautifully expressed in the diversity of land uses, buildings, and people in East Hollywood.

Recently I decided to thoroughly document my neighborhood through photographs. My methodology is a series of walks. Despite what Missing Persons would have you believe, a lot of people walk in L.A. Check out this guy. I wanna be like him.

My first walk was on June 25. I started at Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue and proceeded east on Hollywood, with a detour at Olive Hill, the location of Barnsdall Park. I then turned north on Vermont Avenue and went into Los Feliz Village. At Franklin Avenue I turned around on Vermont, then turned west on Hollywood and returned home. Here's a map (click here for a larger view):

(Props to Google Earth)

A photo album and slideshow of my June 25 walk

My second walk was on July 15. I started at Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue and proceeded south on Western. I turned east on Sunset Boulevard and then turned south on Vermont Avenue in the "hospital district." At Fountain Avenue I turned around on Vermont and proceeded north into Los Feliz Village. I turned west on Franklin Avenue, then turned south on Harvard Boulevard and returned home. Here's a map (click here for a larger view):

(Props to Google Earth)

A photo album and slideshow of my July 15 walk

While I didn't set out to document anything in particular, I ending up taking a lot of photos of certain things: restaurants, fast-food joints, retail stores, mini-malls, dingbat apartment buildings, and of course, signs. Here are 12 photos; if you like them, you can see 156 more in my photo albums.

Props to flickr for hosting my photos. I will elaborate on what flickr is (and on how awesome it is) in an upcoming post.

Burbank is Scandalous!

I saw a bizarre story on the morning news a few minutes ago and felt compelled to blog it. A City Councilwoman in the suburb of Burbank was arrested for cocaine possession and child endangerment after a gang task force raided her house. Her boyfriend, a "known gang member," ratted her out to the authorities.

I found the story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, not the Los Angeles Times. You know those haters down there are just eating this up.

Link to article here (text follows)

It's interesting that something like this has happened in Burbank, a respectable and somewhat "hum drum" suburb. It would seem more likely to occur in the more "hard scrabble" suburbs with a history of scandals, like Bell Gardens, South Gate, and Compton.

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Burbank councilwoman arrested for alleged cocaine possession

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:39 a.m., July 15, 2005

BURBANK – A city councilwoman arrested for investigation of cocaine possession and child endangerment by members of a task force that recently raided a notorious street gang allegedly kept cocaine in her bedroom closet and knew her boyfriend associated with gang members, according to court papers.

Councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy, 47, was arrested Wednesday night at her home, where law enforcement agents served a federal search warrant, police said. Police found cocaine, three loaded handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition during a search of her home, they said.

She posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail Thursday. Phone calls left for Murphy at her office and home by The Associated Press were not returned.

Also arrested was Murphy's boyfriend Scott Schaffer, 51, for investigation of federal firearms and narcotic violations. Robert Polloreno, 54, who lives with Schaffer, was arrested for alleged grand theft of a firearm. Schaffer was being held at a federal custody facility and Polloreno was being held on $50,000 bail.

The warrant served at Murphy's home was based on information gathered by a task force that last month arrested 36 people, including 23 members of a San Fernando Valley gang. Police have accused some gang members of participating in the slayings of Los Angeles police Officer James Beyea in 1988 and Burbank Officer Matthew Pavelka in 2003.

Many of those arrested were wanted for trafficking in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

According to an 18-page affidavit, Schaffer agreed to cooperate with authorities after a .45-caliber Sig-Sauer semiautomatic handgun found June 8 at the home of one gang member was traced to him. During an interview with investigators, Schaffer admitted purchasing cocaine from the gang and selling handguns to one member.

Schaffer also told police that Murphy was aware that two of his associates were members of the gang and that he and Murphy had purchased cocaine and used it. He said Murphy had stored cocaine inside the bedroom closet of her home, according to the affidavit.

Those who know Murphy reacted with shock.

"Stacey Murphy has been a friend and a colleague. To the extent we can help her family and her, we'll stand next to her," Burbank Mayor Jef Vander Borght.

Murphy's ex-husband, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner and a former Burbank councilman, said he hoped the arrest was "a terrible mistake."

"A reminder: An arrest is only an arrest. It has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in court," said Timothy Murphy, who divorced Stacey Murphy in the 1990s.

The gang allegedly forged a treaty with the Mexican Mafia prison gang under which it agreed to pay taxes on its drug profits. Its drug trafficking operation allegedly stretched from Hawaii to Indiana.

Authorities have arrested more than 200 of the gang's documented members over the last 18 months, seizing cars, firearms, at least $500,000 in cash and more than 300 pounds of narcotics.

Murphy, who has been on the Burbank City Council since 1997, served as mayor in 1999-2000 and in 2003-04. The mother of three children was re-elected earlier this year to a four-year term.

A Shadowy Figure

Nearly two years ago, the identity of a CIA agent was "leaked" to the press by an unnamed government official and reported in the media. This CIA agent happened to be married to a former Ambassador who had recently written a New York Times op-ed critical of President Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium from Africa. The resulting investigation reached a breakthrough this week, when e-mails sent by reporter Matt Cooper of Time to his editors pointed towards Karl Rove, President Bush's must trusted advisor, as the unnamed source.

The White House has been completely silent on this matter.

One issue is whether the President will follow through on a pledge to remove anyone in his administration found responsible for the "leak." Another is whether the "leak" Rove may have made is "illegal." A third is whether, accussed of a crime or not, Rove's reputation would be so damaged that he would be forced to resign. Bush and Rove enjoy a long-time, close-knit relationship; the President dubbed Rove the "architect" of his highly contested but successful 2004 reelection bid.

The potential exile of Rove would deprive the President and the Republican Party of their chief political strategist. That he might depart in scandal threatens to cast a pall on the same Republican leadership that is responsible for the GOP's recent gains.

I think there is a larger concern in this story: the power of "shadowy" aides such as Rove within the uppermost level of our government. By "shadowy," I mean outside the public spotlight and the public scrutiny. Rove has a heavy hand in the President's policies, yet few Americans know who he is. Americans re-elected President Bush, either unaware or unconcerned with the fact that they were also re-electing Karl Rove. Rove is not even a member of the Cabinet or Judiciary, meaning he is not held up to the scrutiny of the Congress either. The most powerful people in our government seem exempt from the concept of "checks and balances."

A joke I often make when comparing the career of a bureaucrat to the career of a politician is that "they don't have to vote you in, and they can't vote you out." While this applies to bureaucrats, it also applies to political aides such as Karl Rove. Political aides have more power, as they are able to coerce bureaucrats into making policy decisions that overlap with political interests (Rove is a master at this). Political aides also have some power over the media.

It should concern us that one of our President's closest aides may have engaged in inappropriate, unethical, and possibly illegal activity. But it is more important that we ask oursevles who Karl Rove is, what he represents, and why he is such an important figure in our government.

For the Love of Malls

Hey, check this blog out. If you like it, you should see this web site too.

Is it Live, or is it Memex?

I came across an interesting article in the Business Section of the Los Angeles Times today about some new technology that greatly transcends the concept of "blogging."

Link to article here (text follows)

I'm not sure that I'd want to put my life into a Microsoft Memex. I'm certain that I don't want to wear a Microsoft SenseCam around my neck so that I can record every hour of my day. I'm all for documentation, but there's a limit to its usefulness. Life is meant to be lived and remembered, not recorded and replayed on a computer.

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Turning Your Life Into Bits, Indexed

Michael Hiltzik

July 11, 2005

“I think we've got the Memex dream down," Gordon Bell told me when I greeted him at Microsoft Corp.'s downtown San Francisco laboratory.

To technology aficionados his allusion would be instantly recognizable. "Memex" was a machine envisioned by Vannevar Bush, Franklin D. Roosevelt's science advisor, in a prophetic 1945 Atlantic Monthly article titled, "As We May Think." The device was an intriguing preconception of today's personal computer in which, as Bush wrote, "an individual stores all his books, records, and communications" for easy retrieval through a form of indexing based on the associative properties of the human mind.

Bell's version, embodied in a system known as MyLifeBits (soon to be formally renamed "Memex") aims at nothing less than creating a digital archive of a person's entire life.

The effort is not as much of a technical challenge as it sounds. It merely exploits two modern phenomena: the digitization of information and the plummeting cost of digital storage. Documents, snapshots, telephone conversations, music and home movies are now constituted from digital bits rather than ink on paper, chemical emulsions or analog waves.

The cost of storing all this material is minuscule and falling fast. Bell and his research associate, Jim Gemmell, estimate that a person's entire lifetime production of paperwork, phone conversations and sounds and images can fit on a one-terabyte hard disk; that's only eight times the size of the 120-gigabyte drive often found inside today's medium-sized PC, and can be had for about $800, retail.

Bell, 70, is a distinguished engineer revered within the fraternity of computer scientists as a genuine pioneer. A cheerful, informal personality, he was the lead architect of whole families of groundbreaking 1960s-era minicomputers at Digital Equipment Corp. After leaving DEC and spending a few years running a National Science Foundation program and investing in start-ups, he joined Microsoft Research's Bay Area lab in 1995.

He had been pondering the digitization and storage cost curves for some time, but action was forced upon him a few years ago when he received a shipment of his old DEC papers from the company's successor, Compaq. He solved the resulting storage crisis by scanning his books and papers into a computer, where the texts could theoretically reside, compactly, for eternity.

MyLifeBits took off from there. "We scanned every piece of paper he owned," recalls Gemmell, 40. Then they moved onto photos and CDs, even the designs of promotional coffee mugs and T-shirts issued by companies Bell had founded or financed. When the process ended, virtually the only remaining physical objects were those with a sort of totemic significance, such as diplomas and award certificates. These went into a big black leather album.

The digital archive came to about 16 gigabytes, tiny in computer storage terms. Gemmell and Bell next considered how to retrieve items from this digital shoebox. The real achievement of their project is an indexing system that embodies Bush's ideas about mental associations by cross-referencing each object with its various properties.

A photo shot by a digital camera, for example, might be linked to an address-book entry for a person in the photo, to a dot on a map showing where it was taken and a calendar showing where and when, and to written or spoken annotations. A user trying to recover the photo could track it down via any or all of those paths. ("All I remember is that I took it at lunch on July 5 in Yosemite … ")

Gemmell showed me how this works on his office computer. He brought up a map of Southern California. A sinewy blue line began to trace the route he had taken on a family drive (including a meandering loop or two), based on continuous readings from his GPS device. Red dots appeared at various points, signifying locations where he had shot a photo.

Once the bare bones of a retrieval system were in place, Bell's digital storeroom expanded from legacy material like technical articles, books, photos and videotapes to real-time recordings of his daily life — conversations, phone calls, computer keystrokes, even his temperature and pulse rate.

Microsoft's British lab contributed a device called the SenseCam, which hangs on a neck lanyard and snaps a low-resolution picture of one's environment every few minutes. (Bell tested it for a few hours a day.) A new version also will record ambient audio and one's location via GPS. The device will allow the user to play back an entire day — 16 hours of wakefulness compressed into 1,000 photos — in minutes.

By this May, the archive held 206,000 items in 101 gigabytes, including 84,300 e-mail texts, copies of 53,400 Web pages Bell had visited, 38,600 pictures and more than 15,000 documents. It grows at a pace of about 1 gigabyte per month.

The assiduous archiving of every aspect of personal experience may seem wacky to people today, who have enough trouble culling their family snapshots. But the idea has taken hold among computer engineers: A sold-out 2004 workshop Gemmell organized on what is now known as CARPE, for "Continuous Archival and Retrieval of Personal Experiences," started participants thinking ahead to its social and legal implications. "Can we avoid subpoenas of a person's digital memory?" Gemmell asks.

Bell and Gemmell have tried, thus far unsuccessfully, to interest neuroscientists in applying MyLifeBits for patients with memory loss, such as victims of Alzheimer's. The idea may yet be too novel.

But they are convinced that the passive automated recording of one's life is too logical, and will be too easy, to resist. "It's like bucking the trend toward literacy," says Gemmell. "That reduced our ability to remember things orally, but gave us the permanency of books."

Bell, for his part, remains deeply committed to ferreting out and archiving all those records of his life still resisting his digital grasp. "I'm on a crusade right now to get all my EKGs," he says.

I Ran Today!

One of my co-workers, Lynette, convinced me to sign up for the "Keep L.A. Running" 12th Annual 5K Walk/Run that started at 8:00 a.m. this morning. She was also able to convince some of my other co-workers to go: Steven, Craig, Oscar, Pauline, and Connie. All of us did the 5K, except Connie, who did the 10K solely because she is insane. 5K is about 3 miles.

I had never "run" before; I didn't know "how" and even had to buy "running shoes" yesterday because I didn't have any. I didn't wear appropriate "running clothes" either. Even worse, Lynette picked me up at 7 this morning and I only had 3 hours of sleep last night because I was at Meghan's (hella fun) "Lottery Millionaires" party. I surprised myself, though, by being able to run the 5K within a reasonable amount of time. It was so much fun that I might run again, maybe even on a permanent basis!

After the run, Lynette, Craig, Pauline, and I enjoyed a nice meal at House of Pies in my neighborhood.

I suppose the lesson here is to continually try new things. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy running.

A couple pictures:

Lto R: Craig, Lynette, Pauline, me, and Steven (photo credit: Connie C.)

L to R: Craig, Connie (at least her eyes), Lynette, Pauline, me, and Steven (photo credit: Connie C.)

Remembering Smitty's

I am a member of the "Remembering Retail" group on Yahoo! Recently a member of the group posted pictures of a newly remodeled Fred Meyer store in the Seattle area, which sparked a lively discussion. I will spare you the details of this discussion, as most of them would probably be unfamiliar to those who are not retail junkies, but I would like to share a contribution to the discussion I made today. I wanted to remember a retail chain that is very close to my heart.

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--- In remembering_retail@yahoogroups.com, "storewanderer" wrote:
> Kroger has a lot of gems on their hands. It is just a question of
> bringing them together to work well. Frys and Fred Meyer have worked
> very successfully together since the failed Fred Meyer entry into
> Phoenix and they have opened a couple new Frys Marketplace Stores this
> year alone. I believe they have close to 20 Frys Marketplace Stores in
> metro Phoenix now.
>
> One full size Fred Meyer was built in Phoenix but never opened. Kroger
> cancelled the grand opening. The building was demolished.

Most of today's Fry's Marketplace stores were Smitty's stores, a homegrown chain of multi-department "supercenters" that was briefly absorbed into Fred Meyer. I'd like to take some time to remember Smitty's, which operated in Phoenix from 1964 to 1999.

I worked at Smitty's #7 (northwest corner of Baseline Road and McClintock Drive in Tempe) part-time from June 1994 to August 1997, then only during summer and winter breaks from college until January 1999. I witnessed a lot of changes in these years that foretold the end of the chain.

The first "Smitty's Big Town" opened at the southwest corner of Buckeye Road and 16th Street and was a large supermarket but not a true "supercenter” (it was later sold to Southwest Supermarkets, now it’s closed).

The second Smitty's opened at the northwest corner of McDowell Road and Granite Reef Road in a former discount department store. Smitty's "supercenter" mix of food and department store merchandise was first executed here (it was briefly a Smith’s – see below – then closed and demolished).

Smitty's continued to open stores at a rapid clip until the late 1970's, most of them "supercenters" in excess of 100,000 square feet. These stores included: a full supermarket with service meat, deli, bakery, and produce; liquor; health and beauty aids; pharmacy; domestics; housewares; furniture; men's, women's, and children's clothing; shoes; jewelry; toys; books; photo and electronics; cosmetics; hardware; automotive; lawn and garden; a full-service branch bank; a barber shop; a beauty salon; a restaurant; a snack bar; and a candy counter. The chain was agressive in the fast-growing suburbs, fending off competition. Smitty's was the undisputed #1 market leader for a long time.

In 1980 Clyde Smith sold Smitty's to a Canadian retailer, Steinberg. Long-time cashiers I worked with shared how the sale of the chain to a foreign company bothered customers in Phoenix, some of whom threatened to stop patronizing the stores.

Smitty's held on in the 1980's but began to lose ground by 1989. Steinberg's struggles in Canada deprived Smitty's of capital to expand and/or renovate existing stores. In the 1980's, Fry's, which had become part of Kroger, expanded or relocated many of its stores into large "food-drug combo units" and was aggressive about "following rooftops" in the suburbs. Smitty's other competitors in the late 1980's were Safeway, ABCO (a combination of former Alpha-Beta and Lucky stores in AZ), homegrown chain A.J. Bayless, homegrown chain Bashas', and the new warehouse-style chain, Megafoods. Albertsons and Smith's both entered the market in 1989, making Phoenix one of the most competitive grocery markets in the country. Smitty's fell to #2 behind Fry's.

Smitty's began to open new stores again before late 1994, when Steinberg sold it to The Yucaipa Cos. Yucaipa also acquired Ralphs in Southern California soon after. Yucaipa embarked on a remodeling and rebranding effort. The original Smitty's logo from 1962 was replaced with a red-white-and-blue logo to signal that the stores were back under American ownership. The store remodels were largely face-lifts, but in most instances GM sections were cut in favor of more grocery merchandise (Levi's jeans were dropped at this point).

In 1995, Yucaipa sold the reinvigorated Smitty's to Smith's Food and Drug. Smith's was reeling from its disastrous attempt to move into Southern California, and the merger allowed Yucaipa Cos. to take control of Smith's. The merger made for odd bedfellows: Smith's was #4 in the market (impressive considering it had only entered in 1989) and operated newer conventional "food-drug combos" in the 50K square foot range. Smitty's, on the other hand, was a distant #2 behind Fry's and operated older "supercenters" in the 100K square foot range. Smith's decided to keep the Smitty's name and format. Smith's private label products were placed on Smitty's shelves, and the grocery ads were combined. Smitty's did continue to have a seperate ad for its GM selection, however.

Smitty's employees resented that their stores were equipped with the "hand-me-downs" from the aborted Smith’s California division. The Smith's registers, computers, and other store equipment placed in Smitty's stores were obviously used did not function well. Working in the video rental department in 1996, I learned that most of our videotapes had come from stores in places like Santee and Corona.

In 1997, Yucaipa Cos. sold Smith's to Fred Meyer (it also sold Ralphs to Fred Meyer soon after and gained a controlling interest in the company). Fred Meyer saw opportunity in Smitty's and decided to tilt the chain more upscale and to reinvigorate the GM selection. 2 stores were remodeled into the new "Smitty's Marketplace" format in 1997, with the rest converted in the following 2 years. Smitty's was given another new logo; this one had a more "southerwestern" feel. The stores were far more extensively remodeled than they had been by Yucaipa a couple years earlier. The restaurants and snack bars, sadly, were closed at this time - they were replaced with indoor/outdoor garden centers (the outdoor portion usually taken from restaurant-adjacent parking).

According to long-time cashiers I worked with, Fred Meyer had seriously considered buying Smitty's several times over the years. Fred Meyer was obviously pleased at the results at the "Smitty's Marketplace" stores and saw room for future growth in the fast-growing city. Early in 1999, Fred Meyer absorbed Smitty's.

Smitty's had always been different from Fred Meyer: its stores were smaller, less "upscale," and had a more limited GM mix. In recognition of this fact, Fred Meyer renamed all Smitty's Marketplace stores "Fred Meyer Marketplace" and announced plans to build full-scale stores that would be known simply as "Fred Meyer." It was certainly a risk to replace a venerable Phoenix name with a banner no one had heard of, but Smitty's identity had become too blurred. Consider that Smitty's had operated under 4 different owners in 5 years, under 3 different logos in 5 years, and all its stores had been remodeled twice in 5 years. Fred Meyer felt a name change would reflect how much the stores and merchandise had changed (for the better).

The first full-scale Fred Meyer was planned for the northeast corner of Bethany Home Road and 35th Avenue, next-door to an older Smitty's that hadn't been remodeled into the "Marketplace" format. The store was partially built but never opened, and the Fred Meyer name is now long gone from the Phoenix retail landscape.

In 1999, Yucaipa Cos. sold Fred Meyer to Kroger. One of the selling points of the merger was the limited overlap between the two companies - the only market where they overlapped extensively was Phoenix. In Phoenix, Fred Meyer owned its namesake stores and the Smith's Food and Drug units, while Kroger owned Fry's, which mostly operated "food-drug combos" by this point.

By early 2000, Kroger had made some decisions about Phoenix. Most Smith's stores in Arizona were converted to Fry's units (Smith's, of course, continues to operate elsewhere). This was a smart move, considering that the Fry's name had operated in the market far longer and had an excellent reputation. Additionally, Fred Meyer's move into Arizona was stopped; the Fred Meyer Marketplace stores became Fry's Marketplace stores. Kroger preferred to operate its Arizona "supercenters" under a trusted local name while continuing to rely on Fred Meyer for its GM strategy. The full-scale Fred Meyer stores were unceremoniously dropped. For a long time, Arizona’s first Fred Meyer store (partially built, never opened) stood next to the Smitty's it was meant to replace - it too was abandoned. These 2 empty shells were replaced by a Wal-Mart Supercenter. This is appropriate because Kroger was probably afraid to have the Phoenix full-scale Fred Meyer stores compete against the growing number of Wal-Mart Supercenters in Arizona.

Some "new" Fry's Marketplace stores have opened, but they are nothing like Fred Meyer stores, nor are they like the Fry's Marketplace stores that are former Smitty's. They are larger than a combo but smaller than a supercenter (80K square feet or so). There is a good amount of GM, mainly housewares, small electrics, furniture, and garden - these stores are oriented towards the "Arizona lifestyle" and therefore emphasize "home and garden" as opposed to the full range of GM that Fred Meyer had planned to unleash on Phoenix.

The Smitty's story shows that Kroger has no intention of expanding Fred Meyer into new markets (the recent conversion of Fred Meyer stores in Utah to "Smith's Marketplace" units demonstrates this). Kroger does not intend to open Fred Meyer-like stores under other banners, either. Instead, Kroger is focusing on the "Marketplace" concept, larger than a "combo food-drug" but far smaller than a "supercenter." Kroger realizes it can't compete with Wal-Mart Supercenters and SuperTarget; it wants to offer something different, drawing on the GM strengths of Fred Meyer, the acquisition and distribution strengths of the nation's largest supermarket chain, and the loyalty strengths of homegrown store banners. Ralphs and Fry's, for example, have a lot of Kroger private label products, but Kroger sees no need to change the names on the front of the stores to match the products. Kroger is taking a very smart approach, learning what it can from Fred Meyer to make its grocery chains more competitive against Wal-Mart.

M.G. in A.V.

Although I've lived in L.A. for nearly 8 years, there are still many parts of Southern California I haven't seen. For example, last Monday was the first time I'd ever set foot in Pershing Square (the "central park" in Downtown L.A.).

North of Los Angeles, on the other side of the great San Gabriel Mountains, lies the Antelope Valley (which Southern Californians call "the high desert"). I had never been to the Antelope Valley, largely because I never had a reason to go there, nor have I ever known anyone who lived up there. Recently the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning (my employer) hired a young woman named Marie to do Zoning Enforcement in the unincorporated parts of the Antelope Valley, and she happens to have grown up in the Antelope Valley and currently lives there. A couple months back I gave her a tour of my Zoning Enforcement "turf" (Florence-Firestone, in South Central L.A.), so I asked her to return the favor by showing me around the Antelope Valley yesterday.

All of the pictures I took yesterday can be seen here.

My original intent had been to take Metrolink (Southern California's commuter rail system) up to the A.V. and back, but that was not meant to be. I arrived at Union Station about 15 minutes before the train's departure, thinking that was enough "lead time." It turned out 2 of the 3 Metrolink ticket vending machines were broken and there was a long line in front of the one that was working. Even worse, every single person in that line seemed absolutely mystified by the ticket vending machine and spent several minutes trying to figure out how to buy a ticket. I got to the machine a couple minutes before departure - I bought my ticket quickly and ran to the platform just in time to see the train leave. I learned a valuable lesson about poor trip planning!

The ticket was non-refundable, but at least I have it as a souvenir of my first-ever attempt to use the Metrolink system:

So I ended up driving. It only took about an hour from Hollywood - it would have taken me just as long to go to San Bernardino or Irvine, if not longer. This picture from a Scenic View pull-off on the 14 Freeway shows the wide open spaces that greeted me:

It should surprise no one that my first stop was Antelope Valley Mall, where I met Marie:

These photos show some of the rustic landscapes and mountain vistas I saw in the A.V.:

These photos show some of the Zoning violations I saw in the A.V.:

The Antelope Valley reminded me of my homeland (Phoenix), but it is a different kind of desert. It is less arid and has joshua trees instead of saguaro cacti. I like it quite a lot; it has a rustic, rural feel but is very much within the Los Angeles orbit.

Props to Marie for being an excellent tour guide. I had a lot of fun yesterday.

Tempeans in L.A.

Over the extended July 4th weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting Mom and Thurman. I'm sure being in L.A. was a nice break for them, as the current daily high temperature in Tempe, Arizona is about 110 degrees, as compared to about 80 degrees here. Entertaning out-of-towners is a nice break for me too, since I get to take people to the many unique, unusual (sometimes touristy) places we Angelenos take for granted.

On Sunday we had an early meal at House of Pies and climbed Olive Hill to see Barnsdall Park. Then we took the Red Line to Hollywood & Highland so we could check out "downtown" Hollywood (the touristy part). We met up with my friend Angela and her friend (and fellow Trojan) Preet. Angela is about to leave for Surabaya, Indonesia for two years to begin her first assignment in the U.S. Foreign Service, so it was good to see her. From Hollywood, we took a bus to Farmers Market and The Grove. We then took the bus back to Hollywood to see "War of the Worlds" at the Mann Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We took the Red Line back home after the show.

Yesterday we took the Red Line to Downtown and transferred to the Blue Line in order to travel to Watts so we could see the Watts Towers. Afterwards, we spent time walking around USC and the Exposition Park Rose Garden. A short bus ride took us from there to Downtown, where we enjoyed the views at the rotating bar atop the Bonaventure Hotel, then walked around to see the Central Library, Pershing Square, Broadway, the Old Bank District, City Hall, The Plaza, and Olvera Street. We ended the tour with a fine meal at Phillippe, then headed over to Union Station to catch the Red Line back home.

I am proud to say we did all these things without getting inside a car, though some might argue this made the vacation a little less "authentic" for my out-of-town guests. L.A. is still a city meant for automobiles, not pedestrians and/or transit riders.

Some photos:

Thurman is happy to meet some of America's greatest deceased celebrities (photo credit: Kathleen McMahon)

Mom hangs out with The Devil at the Hollywood/Western Red Line station (photo credit: G.D. Thurman)

Angela, Preet, and I discuss our love for public service - in case I get any snarky comments: 1) Yes, I am wearing back shoes with white socks, 2) I know this is a major fashion faux pas, and 3) I do not care (photo credit: G.D. Thurman)

Google Does it Again!

Google has developed a Geographic Information System (GIS). It is absolutely amazing and free to all.

http://earth.google.com

Unfortunately, no downloads available as of this writing, but more should be on the way. Google has obviously recieved a lot of interest. Check out the "Product Tour" and "Sightseeing" sections in the meantime, they'll blow you away.

Report on Antonio Villaraigosa's Inauguration

The City of Los Angeles has a new Mayor today: Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Villaraigosa defeated incubment Mayor James K. Hahn in a "runoff election" on May 17 - four years earlier, Mr. Hahn defeated Mr. Villaraigosa when they were both vying for the Mayor's job after Richard Riordan was termed out. Mr. Villaraigosa bounced back: he was elected to City Council in 2003 (to represent District 14) and was in a position to again challenge Mr. Hahn, whose winning coalition of 2001 had fractured greatly.

This year's Mayoral election was a watershed development for several reasons:

1) The fact (very well publicized) that Mr. Villaraigosa is the first Latino to hold the position since Cristobal Aguilar left office in 1872 (the city's population then was about 6,000).

2) Mr. Villaraigosa effectively overthrew the "Hahn dynasty" with help from the African-American community - James K. Hahn's father was Kenneth Hahn, a legendary politician who represented the Second District on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for an unbelieveable 40 years (1952-1992). The elder Hahn was able to connect with the African-American constituency that came to dominate the Second District, building loyalty his son drew upon in the 2001 election. Hahn's decision soon after being elected to remove Bernard Parks (an African-American) as L.A. Police Chief alienated that constituency. Mr. Parks, like Villaraigosa, regrouped and was elected to City Council in 2003 (representing District 8). Mr. Parks also ran against Mr. Hahn for Mayor and endorsed Mr. Villaraigosa after he failed to qualify for the runoff election.

3) An incumbent Mayor hadn't been "turned out" since 1973 and no incubment had been denied a second term since the Great Depression. Many have drawn parallels between this year's election and the 1973 election that denied Sam Yorty a fourth term. In 1973, Mr. Yorty had a rematch with African-American politican Tom Bradley (Mr. Bradley had lost in 1969 in a racially charged campaign, much as Mr. Villaraigosa did in 2001). Mr. Bradley became a popular Mayor and held the office for 20 years.

4) Mr. Villaraigosa was elected in a "landslide" that (despite dismal voter turnout) drew support from every group in the city: Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Caucasians; the Westside, the Eastside, South L.A., and the Valley.

Since Mr. Villaraigosa's election was remarkable, his inauguration today attracted extensive international media attention (as evidenced by this photo, this photo, and this photo). Among the dignitatries who attended: Former Vice President Al Gore; fromer Governor (current Mayor of Oakland) Jerry Brown; fromer Governor Gray Davis; former Mayors Hahn and Riordan; Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church; Governor Aronld Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and former Secretary of State Warren Christopher. I also attended the inauguration; this entry in "Paradox Unbound" shares what I heard and saw.

All of the photographs I took today can be seen here.

I arrived at the Civic Center at about 9:20 a.m. The "interfaith service" at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles had concluded and a procession from the Cathedral to City Hall was already underway. By the time I got to the "south lawn" of City Hall (where the actual ceremony was to take place) the anticipation was palpable. While walking around City Hall, I learned what some of Los Angeles' "Sister Cities" are - now you can too!

At about 10:15 a.m., the inauguration began. Here's a photo of Mr. Villaraigosa taking the oath of office:

In this close-up view of the same photo, former Mayor Hahn is at left, with the orange-ish tie:

Here's a photo of Mr. Villaraigosa making his inaugural address:

In this close-up view of the same photo, Maria Shriver and Governor Schwarezenegger are sitting to the right of Mayor Villararigosa (at podium). Al Gore is at far right (with blue tie); Cardinal Mahoney is next to him. Mr. Villaraigosa's wife, Corina, is sitting between Mr. Schwarezenegger and Mr. Mahoney:

Mr. Villaraigosa's speech was fantastic - I strongly suggest you read it for yourself. It spoke to me in a very personal way; however, I doubt I was the only one in the audience who was moved listening to his rhetoric. Here are the finer points, according to me:

1) The Mayor shared his compelling personal story in the context of the "vast difference" that exists between City Hall and City Terrace (the rough-and-tumble East L.A. neighborhood he grew up in) despite the "short way" between them (City Terrace is just a couple miles east of the Civic Center). He gave props to his late mother, who raised him and three younger siblings largely alone (Mr. Villaraigosa has shared the few memories he has of his father - most of them involve his mother being a victim of domestic violence). Mr. Villaraigosa, far more than Mr. Hahn, Mr. Riordan, and even Mr. Bradley, understands the struggles of the city's working class.

2) The Mayor has the "right" priorities: crime, education, and traffic. Furthermore, Mr. Villaraigosa, while pledging to hire many more police officers, seems to understand that to get at the "root" of crime (especially gang violence), we must fix the city's educational system (a third of the city's students drop out before high school graduation). Although the Mayor has no authority over the autonomous Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), he is committed to using the "bully pulpit" to wrestle power away from LAUSD, which over the last several years seems to have lost any and all respect and credibility it once had. The Mayor has somewhat more authority over the autonomous Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the transit system, but today he did not go so far as to say he would "push" the expansion of the Metro Rail system "to the beach" (meaning Santa Monica), as he often did during his campaign.

3) The Mayor painted a beautiful comparison between the Watts Towers (one of my favorite "only in L.A." monuments) and the city itself in order to encourage "all Angelenos" to "dream with me." Mr. Villaraigosa was quite candid in admitting that there is a duality to L.A. today - he said the city represents the nation's "greatest hopes" but also its most "daunting challenges." He is absolutely right, the conflicting realities of "sunshine" and "noir" continue to go "hand in hand" in defining what may be the most fascinating metropolis in the world. I believe L.A. has reached a crucial juncture in its history and Mr. Villaraigosa convinced me today that he's the person to lead it to continued greatness. Perhaps he caught me at an overly optimistic time in my life, but as a resident of the City of Los Angeles I am fully committed to "dreaming" with him and doing what I can to make those dreams into reality.

Bear in mind that James K. Hahn was not necessarily a "bad Mayor." Mr. Hahn ran the city like the seasoned politican that he is but he lacked the "vision thing" and the "leadership thing." It is entirely true that Mr. Villaraigosa is utterly ambitious and will probably make a move towards higher office soon; when elected to City Council 2 years ago, he swore he'd serve his full term (4 years) and broke that promise by running for Mayor. Of course, constituents expect politicians to break career promises and let their "dreams" run away with them, but in the meantime, I believe L.A. will hold its new Mayor to his lofty rhetoric. The pressure is on to actually "get something done." It won't be easy, whether he keeps the office for 2 years or 8. All I can say is that he made me doubt my desire to leave L.A.! Truly, the City of Los Angeles is in able hands.

After the inauguration ended at about 11:30 a.m., we Angelenos were treated to entertainment and free food (provided we could wait in line). Overall, it was a great way to spend my Friday morning off (though I did miss "The Price is Right"). Congratulations Mayor Villaraigosa!