Magic Hour

Magic Hour at Venice Beach, California June 24 , 2008

Beckham and LA Galaxy Tied Up

David Beckham and his Galaxy tied the Columbus Crew on a hot Saturday night in steamy SoCal. Becks had a chance to win the game near the in the last couple of minutes, but his shot sailed over the goal. He was clearly bummed out and knelt on the ground for a few moments after the shot. After the match a very happy fan got Becks game jersey. Here's a photo for the ladies

Crowds Flock To Venice

The beach was packed here today with people trying to escape this heat wave, but today it's hot at the beach too , 85º and humid and that is relief form the 110º plus temps inland. My street is packed bumper to bumper with people still arriving here at 5:30 PM and all the parking lots are filled up. Looks like it's going to be a long, hot summer....

Summer Officially Begins

Good day to be at the beach, just about 15 miles away in Woodland Hills today the record high tempature was 111º , it was in the upper 70's here at Venice Beach as the Summer Solstice took place at 4:59 PM .

First Same-Sex Weddings in Los Angeles County

*Update 6-17-08 A very sweet and happy Jennifer Ramos and Antionette Bantigue wait to be issued their marriage license outside of the County of Los Angeles Registrar Recorder / County Clerk building in Norwalk, California June 17, 2008


A lesbian couple, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson celebrated the first official same-sex marriage in Los Angeles County Monday evening at the Beverly Hills Courthouse. They had tried to obtain a marriage license at the courthouse 5 times since 2004 and were denied each time. They were clearly very happy and emotional, and were joined by friends, family, their Attorney Gloria Allred, a Rabbi, the very aggressive and large contingent of media, and a handful of protesters.

Same-Sex Weddings Begin This Week

Tomorrow, June 16 , at 5:01 PM same-sex marriages of gay and lesbian couples will be officially legal and recognized by the State of California. They are expecting record applicants for marriage licenses.Florists and other wedding related businesses are extremely busy as a rush of weddings will be taking place this week. In the upcoming November election , Californians will be voting on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. pictured- cake topper figurines top a wedding cake at Cake and Art June 13, 2008 in West Hollywood, California

Oil Prices at Record Highs

Don't expect relief from stratospheric gasoline prices any time soon, the Energy Department said Wednesday. National average is around $4.10 a gallon, but it's $4.50 in L.A. , and the gas stations aren't the ones cashing in on the skyrocketing prices. According to a recent story in the L.A. Times -"Credit card fees, the price of tanker-loads of fuel and other costs are rising so rapidly that station owners haven't been able to keep pace despite the record prices they're charging.High California taxes, and stringent pollution laws add to the high CA prices. On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would push for a tax on record-high oil-company profits like those being collected by Exxon Mobil Corp."

Beckham Fan Runs onto Field

A David Beckham fan decided he wanted to meet Becks in person, the problem was he ran onto the field in the middle of a LA Galaxy match against Colorado. Somehow he made it past security, hugging Becks until Galaxy teammate Chris Klein knocked the fan off . Security then came out to get the fan out of there. What an idiot. Oh yeah, the Galaxy won the match 3-2.

Pump you up - Gas hits $4.50

The price of a barrel of crude oil rose $10.75 today to close the day at $138.54 per barrel.That's a record for a one day increase. A gallon of regular unleaded is going for $4.50 in Los Angeles. Here's an interesting and disturbing fact : on December 10, 1998, crude traded at only $10.72 a barrel. And the price has doubled in the last year as well. Where will it be in a month? $5.00 a gallon seems realistic the way it's going now.

Universal Studios Fire

Huge fire today at the Universal Studios back lot, the fire started before dawn and burned all day becoming one the longest burning structure fires in Los Angeles history. The raging fire burned a movie set from 'Back to the Future' , the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels. The Studio kept media off of the property, so it was a scramble to get images. I arrived there at about 7:30 am, and when I left around 2 pm it was still burning and very smoky.