Local to Los angeles and Southern California, news, thoughts and other tidbits
The annual Venice sign lighting with holiday colors took place this evening on Windward Avenue just across Pacific from the actual sign.
The party started at 6 with musical performances by among others, the Kenneth Brian Band and Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine performing hits like “Help me Rhonda”, “Surfin USA” and “Barbara Ann” among others.
The Sign lighting ceremony this year was handled by local movie star Matthew Modine, who did an excellent job flicking the switch to turn the lights on.
This morning there were a few futuristic looking cool Volkswagen’s spotted on Windward Avenue in Venice California. It looked like a shoot for a commercial and in particular one of the cars looked “electric”. It turns out these cars were introduced as concept cars at the Paris Motor Show in 2016, which was held October 1 – 16 at the Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, France . The top car is a VW Concept ID car, here is a link to the VW UK site that has more information. These autos can be seen in person at the LA Auto show Friday December 1 – 10 2017. More info about, and tickets for the LA Auto show here.
You can certainly hit the waves at the Venice breaker in style showing up in this VW!
We have been having a week or more with pretty good surf in Venice, currently as much as 8′ breakers. The surfers love it of course, and they come out every morning to enjoy the big waves full out. Add the fact that the weather has been unseasonably balmy, and it is all set up for some awesome times out there!
Hyde Park is London’s great oasis. People come to walk their dogs, ride their horses, sit on the benches, watch the birds, walk around, run around, ski around, ride their bike around, smell the flowers, listen to the birds – and to Fish! Hyde Park came to be in 1536 when Henry VIII took the land from Westminster Abbey to use it as his private hunting grounds. Hyde Park was opened to the public in 1637 and has been immensely popular ever since.
There are wild animals apart from birds in Hyde Park, and these guys are not hunted anymore…
Kensington Palace has a number of apartments in it and it is the current home of, among others, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate as well as William’s brother prince Harry. Both William and Harry grew up in the palace as it was the home of their parents Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Diana Princess of Wales. After their parents divorced Kensington palace continued to be the home of their mother, the beloved princess Diana, until her death in 1997.
The fisherman has cast far out towards a small island in the Serpentine lake. It looks like he might have a bite
The inscription reads: “ANNE ANDREWS WHO ENJOYED VISITING THE GARDENS”. We have not been able to find any information on memorial benches in the Royal parks, however donated memorial benches can currently be installed in the City of Westminster owned parks, more info here.
