Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Tell Me a Story 9 – Driving Ms Watanabe Yesterday, I drove a 71 year old Japanese woman around West LA. She was lost. After finishing dinner at Don Chuy’s, a Mexican restaurant, the waiter asked if we spoke Japanese. A woman needed help. She spoke politely and explained that she went for a walk but couldn’t find her way back. She had no money, no phone, no number and no address. She seemed to be in good spirits despite walking for about 40 minutes. She remembered that the apartment was across from a school that was decent sized with single story buildings. The school educated kids up to middle school. There were trees and it was near a moderate sized street. She didn’t cross under a bridge or walk over a freeway and there was a “super” nearby – meaning a market. I’ve seen The Fugitive and thought of the Tommy Lee Jones line: “Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles.” My guest was no Richard Kimble, but she walked for 40 minutes at 2-3 miles an hour on flat land. Mostly likely she went at the slower pace, but the radius could be up to two miles. Looking at Google Maps, there’s about 10 schools. I offered her “shotgun” and drove. We passed the closest elementary, middle, private and high school without any luck. It was beginning to get dark. I was sure that it would be one of the first few schools. After a half hour, the radius got larger. The schools seemed to be ones that didn’t fit her description, but her being in LA for just 24 hours, what could she know? I then asked for her daughter’s name which was a Japanese one that I’ve never heard before. I repeated it often and asked where she works and any other details that could help find her. No luck. I even posted it on my social networks, thinking maybe someone knows her since she works in nearby Santa Monica. It soon passed an hour of driving and we ran out of schools. I was beginning to think maybe it wasn’t a school, but a library or perhaps a community center. She had a photo on her camera of what looks like the back of an apartment building, an alley and a fence which belonged to the school. I zoomed in and could see nothing. I placed a call to an LAPD friend, Bob who suggested we stop at Pacific Division so they could check for a missing persons report. If the daughter called it in, they’d know about it. I wrote down the name of the daughter and my lost guest filled out the DOBs as well as her own name on the same sheet. The check by the officer yielded nothing. He and a colleague looked at the photo but weren’t sure....
Continue reading
Ice-Bat (as Dracula), Tray (as the Bride), Wedge-head (as the Frankenstein Monster), Big Toe (as the Creature), Ox (as the Wolfman), and Babo (as the Mummy) Just got them in at the GR Store
Continue reading
Ice-Bat (as Dracula), Tray (as the Bride), Wedge-head (as the Frankenstein Monster), Big Toe (as the Creature), Ox (as the Wolfman), and Babo (as the Mummy) Just got them in at the GR Store
Continue reading
Just got back from Donut Friend, the long-awaited eatery from my friend Mark Trombino. He’s known by most for producing key albums for Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World but also eternally loved by some others for his drumming with Drive Like Jehu and Night Soil Man. (Mark is on the right, and that’s my crew of Angelyn from Kumquat and Carlos from Music Friends on the left. They know him way better then me!) Donut Friend is on York Blvd. in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, right next door to Scoops Ice Cream and between Gimme Gimme Records and Wombletown Records (way closer to the latter). Today was only its second day of operation, with soft launch hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. When you walk in, you can’t miss the very yummy mural by another friend Saelee Oh. Mammals eating donuts, playing instruments made out of donuts… Wow. Then you turn around and see edible beauty in the form of baked treats that you get to trick out yourself. Before and after. First, choose a donut to start with. I went with the glazed vegan. Then, select a filling, put stuff in it, and choose toppings. If you’re too hungry to think, there are suggested combinations all named after bands: Jets to Basil, Chocolate from the Crypt, Coconut of Conformity. Yes, there’s a Rites of Sprinkles T-shirt. Mine was the GBH (Greek yogurt, blueberry jam, and honey) with pistachio bits on top, and it was tasty. You have to admire a guy like Mark, who has been in some rad bands and found success producing huge albums but chucked music altogether to follow his dream of opening the most awesome donut shop ever. Check it out at Donutfriend.com or facebook.com/donutfriend and then pay a visit to the shop: Donut Friend 5107 York Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90042 Seeya there and please tell me if there’s crud on my mouth!
Continue reading
Just got back from Donut Friend, the long-awaited eatery from my friend Mark Trombino. He’s known by most for producing key albums for Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World but also eternally loved by some others for his drumming with Drive Like Jehu and Night Soil Man. (Mark is on the right, and that’s my crew of Angelyn from Kumquat and Carlos from Music Friends on the left. They know him way better then me!) Donut Friend is on York Blvd. in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, right next door to Scoops Ice Cream and between Gimme Gimme Records and Wombletown Records (way closer to the latter). Today was only its second day of operation, with soft launch hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. When you walk in, you can’t miss the very yummy mural by another friend Saelee Oh. Mammals eating donuts, playing instruments made out of donuts… Wow. Then you turn around and see edible beauty in the form of baked treats that you get to trick out yourself. Before and after. First, choose a donut to start with. I went with the glazed vegan. Then, select a filling, put stuff in it, and choose toppings. If you’re too hungry to think, there are suggested combinations all named after bands: Jets to Basil, Chocolate from the Crypt, Coconut of Conformity. Yes, there’s a Rites of Sprinkles T-shirt. Mine was the GBH (Greek yogurt, blueberry jam, and honey) with pistachio bits on top, and it was tasty. You have to admire a guy like Mark, who has been in some rad bands and found success producing huge albums but chucked music altogether to follow his dream of opening the most awesome donut shop ever. Check it out at Donutfriend.com or facebook.com/donutfriend and then pay a visit to the shop: Donut Friend 5107 York Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90042 Seeya there and please tell me if there’s crud on my mouth!
Continue reading