I enjoyed a good bit of walking and biking today though unfortunately did not have a camera on hand for the first half of my outings.
Today I walked from Oak Grove area to Delevan Drive area to meet the-soon-to-be-blogging-about-vegetarian-eating-and-fit-living hippierunner. About two miles. We then walked to the excellent restaurant Spitz via Yosemite Way/College View/Colorado for lunch with an old friend. The place was full of life as we arrived with the rest of the lunch crowd. The three of us enjoyed outdoor seating which still surprises me , due to the seven car traveling lanes adjacent. Actually, Spitz has THE BEST outdoor seating of any restaurant along Colorado Boulevard and let me explain why:
- The outdoor seating is not on the sidewalk like it is at Taco Spot or The Coffee Table. It is on the property space like outdoor seating at The Oinkster.
- There is greenery providing separation from foot traffic but more importantly from the blight of a strip mall, and cars whizzing by. The flowers are much nicer to look at and smell than the exhaust coming from the cars on the street.
- Birds jump and chirp around by the planted greenery. Today I saw a humming bird flying around this area as I ate my lunch- you just don’t get that anywhere else.
- There are no ashtrays so smoking is discouraged. Unfortunately, The Oinkster is more tolerant and accommodating to smokers.
- At night, the outdoor tables are candle lit. I did not know this until I went by recently when the sun was down.
- Plenty of shade is provided by the table umbrellas for the hot LA weather.
- This might be seen as a given, but the food is brought to you.
- Ambient music plays sometimes. I generally enjoy the selection of classic rock and contemporary music. However, when music doesn’t suit your needs, you are able to ignore it as is consistently played at a volume which isn’t overpowering your ability to hold a conversation and hear yourself.
Spitz knows they are doing a lot of things right, and I am glad they’re in our town. Now I can officially grant them the title of having the best outdoor seating on Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock in all of Eagle Rock! Now the only thing that would make Spitz better is some bike parking in the patio area.
The food was excellent, the company was excellent, and the atmosphere was, as you’d expect, excellent. All this might explain why hippierunner, and myself stayed there for about three hours with our friend.
When it was time to part we all walked to Colorado Boulevard/Eagle Rock Boulevard. Our friend went on ER BLVD as hippierunner and I continued on Colorado until we reached Townsend Avenue, at this point I took Townsend to Oak Grove to get my camera and my bike. I apologize for not having it on me earlier in today’s adventure, I could have had some great pictures!
As you may or may not know, the Eagle Rock/Highland Park DASH route is experiencing a shortening as part of citywide transit budget cuts. No longer will the Eagle Rock portion run on the eastside of town, this includes: Colorado boulevard east of Townsend Avenue, Yosemite Drive, and the bit along North Figueroa.
A few days ago LADOT was out, re-routing, making the trip shorter. The new route cuts the eastside and instead runs along Townsend before turning left, westbound on Colorado. Here are pictures of the new stops
Townsend/Oak Grove
Stop on Townsend/Yosemite still there, though it is on Townsend instead of Yosemite
Only the Metro 181 bus will stop here now
Townsend/Grandola
The new route will no doubt impact many ERHS students once the fall session starts up again. From a personal standpoint, the new route actually works favorably for me so let’s hope while the change will disservice many, that it can bring a new crowd some good. Unfortunately while we see a re-routing, Highland Park sees simply a cut by San Pascual area.
After I went along the Townsend route, I joined hippierunner and an other friend at Pete’s for some chit-chat. I didn’t stay terribly long as I was antsy to take more pictures and explore. The first find, which taunted me from the window at Pete’s was this:
ipod earphones
And a close up
I didn’t get to try the earphones out, so it’s unknown whether or not they work and I’m not sure if I would feel all that comfortable putting these in my ears. If I needed earphones, and if they worked, I would probably take them. You might say ‘they were tossed, they probably don’t work’. To that, I say: the other day I found an alarm clock by Delevan Drive in the middle of the street. I put a couple AAA batteries in and now I have a new alarm clock! Just goes to show, you never know why you find something on the streets and you can never assume whether or not your found item still functions.
Since it had been a while since I had been on a bike ride for pure fun, I decided to just bike around. First I went up and down Colorado, then I moved to Chickasaw Avenue. I spotted some old classmates here, they were heading to Yosemite Park for some tennis though broke my heart going there by car. I continued my leisure bike ride along what I have determined is my favorite ‘short walk/bike ride’ in town. From Chickasaw I went South onto Argus Drive then wiggled along the short stretches of street around there, like this:
I can’t fully explain why I am so fond of this little area but I’ll try: The area is very peaceful, a quiet place but not nearly as eerie or isolated as walking along parks of Hill Drive can be at times. There’s little car traffic around here. The walk may not capture a complete image of Eagle Rock but I feel it encapsulates much of the warm atmosphere, tranquility and timelessness that can be found here. My feelings of this area may change over time, but in the six or seven years I have lived here this Argus walk has remained dear to me, always making me glad to live in our community and always making me feel happy and at peace. Here are just a few pictures from the brief ride:
A speed limit I can stand behind. Why aren't all residential streets 15mph?
Surely longtime residents have seen this badboy before
When finished my Argus area meditation, I spotted my former classmates parking by the park and suggested they skip the car next time. From there I biked up and down Yosemite in similar fashion to how I had done on Colorado earlier. I tried the filming feature on the camera to get park of my ride recorded but I accidentally deleted the video so my directing debut will have to wait.
I then biked over to hippierunner and our friend on their walk from Pete’s to the Delevan area. Shortly afterwards I biked home to Oak Grove and was satisfied with all the biking I got to enjoy.
Reason #5 to walk Eagle Rock: Truly appreciate outdoor seating at Spitz while catching up with an old friend. Discover a change in bus route, and ipod earphones. Realize how lucky you are to live in Eagle Rock. Say ’hi’ to some old classmates, and advocate they do the above mentioned or find their own reasons to walk Eagle Rock.
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