San Pedro Sun Rise

For the last two speedway season I have written a blog about the speedway scene in Southern California. For those unfamiliar with speedway a few clicks back here will show pictures of this motor sport. Though the season is over there are still races that will continue through the fall and winter periods but I have parked mine in the back of the garage until next year.

A few months back I gave up living under a roof and moved on to my boat and with some exceptions when I do some house and grandson sitting I am happily living in San Pedro, California in a great marina.

Living on a boat puts you in touch with nature, you feel it and hear it in a different way. When the wind blows or the tide changes you become aware of this. The light of the sun, stars and moon illuminate the inside of the boat.

If the sky is clear the morning rise of the sun gives enough light to start doing things very early. Many are out early walking or running around the sidewalks that border the marina and Cabrillo Beach.

The views do not stay static during the day as the skies color change as the sun rises and lights go off and later the afternoon winds come up. The water goes from a silver stillness to a slight ripple to the small white caps in the gulch.

Small fishing boats start to go out and cargo ships come in.

And each day the sun moves to a new position in the sky shadowing the Eastern mountain.

The above three shots are from the lifeguards rowing their surf dory very early.

Our neighbors include many sea birds, squirrels, tons of feral cats, harbor seals, and many various types of fish. The harbor is not sterile and the amount of fish one see in the marina makes one feel as if you were in an aquarium.

These pictures were taken on September 29, 2010 around the marinas adjoining Cabrillo Beach which is located in San Pedro, California with a Nikon D80.

Main Street

With the present economic crisis the term "Main Street" has returned to the media. Occasionally words become popular that have different shades of meaning. My daughter objects to the current usages of main street while I feel the word maverick of Texas origin is being spun by the lip stick wearing pit bull from the frozen north and really doesn't fit the description of a GOPer.

The city where my childhood wandering took place had a main street, a city hall, a library, a bus line, a school system, an actual downtown town, two high schools, a city college, a newspaper and a name: Santa Monica, There was back then a Santa Monica Bank and many business and places with the name of the city attached. You could tell your whereabouts if you knew the difference between 4Th Street and 20 Th Street and you could actually get around without running into a maze of developments that prevented through traffic.

When my time has me here in Orange County, California this is not the case. Streets were not meant to be traveled in a straight line and the only direction one headed was to get on the freeway to leave. Adjacent Mission Viejo is full of streets with names that were made up to sound Spanish and was developed by a division of a tobacco company. A few older cities here existed before the urban sprawl and grove removal and they do have main streets and down towns but the sprawl had no room for them and the most visited Main Street is at Disneyland.

Saturday night I went searching for main street in San Pedro with my camera but my Nikon was giving me problems but I did grab a few spots. San Pedro is as different as night and day compared to the developed subs where bars, liquors stores, and local markets were not permitted in the zoning regulations or not needed. By accident I went into a bar, at least I thought it was, only to find a zillion pipes for sale and not plumbing pipes.