Caucasian Hot Delicacy

If I ever become a rapper, this will be my name:

Photo taken at the always excellent (and frequently amusing) Ranch Market on Central.

Vote Glendale Blogger America's Most Stylish

And it's definitely not me! Vote for Tiffany Tse, the Glendale fashionista who blogs at Style Sophisticate.

From the LAT's Image blog:

Tiffany Tse, an indie fashion blogger based in Glendale, is competing to be "America's Most Stylish Blogger" in a national contest sponsored by AOL lifestyle website Stylelist.com and online designer retailer Bluefly.com.

She's one of eight finalists in the competition -- in which Bluefly sends bloggers a mystery item of clothing every week to style as they see fit. The bloggers then post photos of their styled outfits and are judged by a panel of experts via video. But voting takes place online -- with America picking the weekly winners on Bluefly.

Jewel City Photo: Glendale From Griffith Park

LA Live Steamers Haunted Train Ride: Awesome

Last night my girlfriend and I stumbled into the LA Live Steamers Halloween Haunted Train Ride in Griffith Park. It's $5, and was way, way, better than I expected - GO NOW. note: small children may actually be pretty scared!

The LA Live Steamers museum is about a mile east of Travel Town- Travel Town has full size trains, and LALS has smaller model trains - that are still large enough to take you on rides. It's separate from Travel Town and pretty easy to miss.
http://www.lals.org/

Porto's Burbank Was Robbed In 2007

This caught my eye while reading about the current FBI investigation into conduct at Burbank PD this morning.

From LA Now:

Federal officials are seeking use-of-force complaints or allegations generated in response to a Dec. 28, 2007, robbery of Porto's Bakery a well as records in connection with the Aug. 23, 2007, arrest of Rene Escarsega, the subpoena states.

How did I not hear about this? The only information I could dig up about the Porto's robbery is in a post today on the SemiChorus Burbank blog, and it's fascinating:

The reason why the LASO came in was because of a serious robbery down at Portos. That’s right, the fantastically lucrative Portos Bakery was robbed here in Burbank a few years ago, and you never heard about it in our little local newspaper, as far as we can detect. This Portos crime was big news to us when we first heard about it awhile back, and apparently there might have been a good reason to keep it all quiet, because it has turned out to be more than just a simple robbery.

We’re trying to get a line on just what happened, but apparently for now, the Sheriff’s investigators happened upon Burbank police misconduct in the course of their findings, and then called in the FBI, which is why the federal agency got involved. And things branched out from there, as they often do.

The linchpin in all of this is Portos. We understand the DA’s office placed this robbery case within their organized crime division for investigation, but we’re not sure if this means possible gang participation, or whether the DA thinks the city itself is the organization that conspired to do something wrong.

Either way, it was Portos that dragged in both the FBI and the Sheriff’s Office, not Gary Bric or anyone else in the city on their conscientious own, and then things got complicated and out of hand.

If you have any information about the previously undisclosed robbery, please post it in the comments.

GCC Planetarium: The Coolest Thing I've Ever Seen In Glendale

The GCC Planetarium show is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in Glendale. If you've seen the planetarium show at the Griffith Observatory it will merely function as a warmup for the planetarium at GCC. At Griffith, an actor holding a glowing orb narrates a (pretty cool) movie about the universe, which is projected onto the dome. GCC's show is entirely different. For onething, the dome is much smaller, so the effective resolution and brightness of the projected images is much, much better than Griffith.

Most importantly, at GCC, an actual very knowledgeable astronomy professor (Paul Buehler) uses an amazing digital 3d system to literally fly you around the universe, and shows you whatever you, the audience, want to see, while very knowledgeably explaining the actual science behind why we know these things and what they mean. Nearly the entire presentation is based on the questions asked by the audience.

The first question was asked by a 4 year old girl: "Do fairies live on other planets?" Professor Buehler calmly explained that given what we now know about the number of habitable planets in the universe, statistically, its very likely that fairies DO exist out there on some other planet.

Visually, the dome is amazing. Hundreds of different datasets from satellites and probes can be loaded into the system and shown on the fly, as well as high resolution imagery from Hubble or any other source. It's way, way cool -- and a tremendous mental workout. For the first 45 minutes I was able to keep up with the staggering scale changes and conceptual leaps necessary to understand the universe, but after that I just let the narration wash over me and soaked in the imagery. My mind was blown.

http://www.glendale.edu/planetarium/

"Evening With the Stars" schedule:

http://www.glendale.edu/planetarium/Public_Shows/EWTS/ETWS.htm

Video of SUV Crashing Into Movses Pastry

Unbelievable video of an SUV plowing into Movses Pastry on Glenoaks this Tuesday. The action starts a minute into the video. Their baklava is delicious, by the way. (via Vince and Harsanik)

Related story in the News-Press.

Free Zankou Wraps

Yes, a buy one wrap-get one free deal at the Zankou on Glenoaks. This coupon was in yesterdays Pennysaver that was stuffed in my mailbox - and which I usually throw out immediately. I will start paying attention to them if they have Zankou coupons!

Museum of Neon Art Coming To Glendale!

Fantastic news - the Museum of Neon Art is moving to a city owned building in downtown Glendale! The museum will be in the building on Brand that housed Rite Aid before Rite Aid moved just across the street to the Americana. This is the most exciting bit of movement downtown in a long time. How nice to have an actual attraction downtown rather than endless, boring retail. I'm also excited because the museum also hosts concerts and other cultural events, and I'm sure they will continue that in Glendale as well. Thanks to the city council, and especially John Drayman, who actively pushed to make this happen.

LAT

Glendale News-Press

Franklin Avenue

Museum of Neon Art

Next - lets get an art theater into the Mann Exchange 10 when its lease expires...

Glendale Murder #2: Michelle Levin, 35*

Michelle Levin, 35. Here she is with her husband John, who is suspected of murdering her (and their dog) with a knife. Police found Michelle's body on Friday at their apartment in the 200 block of West Fairview Avenue. John went missing, and was apprehended by Border Protection agents at the Canadian border. Here's a picture of John from his Facebook profile.

from the News-Press:

The Los Angeles County district attorney on Monday charged John Levin with one count of murder, identifying the weapon as a knife. He was also charged with one felony count of animal cruelty, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In an announcement from U.S. Customs, officials noted that John Levin’s wrists “were injured and oozing blood” at the time he was taken into custody.

Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said it appeared as if Michelle Levin had been dead for several days when discovered. Police officers responded to the scene after receiving a call from someone concerned about the pair’s whereabouts, he added.

“The evidence and investigation lead us to believe that there was some foul play, and because the husband was nowhere to be found . . . we put a missing-persons alert out on him,” Lorenz said.

from Customs and Border Protection:

CBP officers of the Blaine Anti-Terrorism Contraband Enforcement Team were conducting routine outbound operations at the Peace Arch port of entry when John Levin, 44, approached the officers driving his 2009 Volkswagen EOS. A query of the vehicle’s license plate resulted in an NCIC alert for a missing person. The record also stated that Levin’s wife had been found deceased under suspicious circumstances.

The CBP officers immediately removed Levin from the vehicle. When placing him in handcuffs, they noticed that his wrists were injured and oozing blood. The Glendale Police Department was contacted by CBP and they confirmed their interest in Levin as a murder suspect. After Glendale police obtained a no bail felony arrest warrant, CBP turned Levin over to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to await the arrival of Glendale detectives.

Update 06/15/11:

John Levin has been found guilty -

A 46-year-old Glendale man was found guilty today of killing his wife and microwaving his Pomeranian to death before fleeing the state, officials said.

Jurors deliberated for a day and half before finding John Levin guilty of the second-degree murder of his wife, Michelle Levin, said Jane Robison, a Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman.

John Levin pleaded guilty to a felony animal cruelty for microwaving his dog before jurors returned with a verdict, she added.

He is expected to be sentenced July 19 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pasadena. He faces 16 years to life in prison for both counts, Robison said.

I did a quick update post here.

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On Vacation: Ruins

On Vacation: Normandy

Omaha beach.

Point Du Hoc.

On Vacation: Museums

On Vacation: Mont St. Michel

On Vacation: Museums

On Vacation: Domes

On Vacation: Yum

On Vacation: Cinque Terre

On Vacation: Statues in Florence

On Vacation: Eiffel Tower

On Vacation: Lizards

On Vacation: Miscellaneous

On Vacation: Cars