Movie Shots in Downtwon Los Angeles

One of the benefits (well that's debateable) of working in downtown Los Angeles is seeing movies, commercials and TV shows being shot. I've seen them do a helicopter scene for the TV Show 24, they've spent 3 weeks building out the 6th floor of my building for some movie that Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck are in and now they are decorating 6th street @ Olive with snow and christmas lights. Here are a couple of recent pictures.

I Feel So Sorry for This Book

I admit it, I'm a book lover. I'm sure that it was my Mom that instilled this love of books, not sure how, maybe because she bought almost every Little Golden children's book out there or maybe because she read to me all the time. It could have been because I was an only child for 10 years so an escape into make believe was a good way to keep the loneliness at bay. One of my favorite things to do is wander around Barnes & Noble or Borders books and browse, imagine, touch and ultimately buy something new.

When I first started working at my new job I realized I was right across from the LA Central Public Library. I was very excited. An entire building full of books, the ultimate collection. The 2nd day I went over and signed up for a library card. I'd never had one in Los Angeles before. Hope sprang eternal of all the possibilities. These were soon dashed as I made several forays into the depths looking for this specific book or that. Being a geek, one has needs, very specific and timely needs for research and constant learning. I prefer getting that from an actual book rather than an e-book or PDF.

Each time I went to the library they were out of the book I wanted and the books they did have were very out of date. At one point I even donated some of my older technical books to augment their collection. Today I tried again and was thrilled they had the specific book I was looking for. I practically ran down 2 flights of stairs afraid someone would beat me to it. There it was, sitting on the shelf, the dirty old book in the picture. Dare I touch it? It was filthy and looked as if it was left in the rain for a week the pages were so curled. I did check it out but only after I made the librarian make a note of its condition. After reaching my office I clorox wiped the hard cover, twice and washed my hands several times. Black, each time. It's sad that a book be treated so unfairly but I suppose its nice that it has a home rather than being burned in some Fahrenheit 401 reincarnation.

Today in Los Angeles

Today I got my first LA City library card. The Los Angeles Central Library is about 50' from the door of the building I now work at in downtown Los Angeles. I thought, wow, what a beautiful, historic place filled with resources available literally at my fingertips. I should take advantage of it. So I trotted in during lunch, filled in the brief application form and walked away with my first ever LA library card. I was hopeful and feeling just a little bit proud of myself.

Being the geek I am, I meandered through the library dodging tourists, down a few flights of escalators on my way to the "Science and Technology" section. I thought that checking out a few computer geek books would be just lovely. I entered the "section" and it was the entire floor. A little confused I asked the librarian where the books I was looking for might be. Off I went in search. It turns out that any book I might have wanted was checked out and what was left was clearly outdated and yucky. Nothing worse than a dirty old book. Do you think we get that phobia from using every one's marked up, dirty, torn paged textbooks from grade school? Perhaps I do.

So I went to the head librarian in charge of this section (Mary Jean) and asked her what the deal was. I have been trying to find somewhere to donate my not really that old computer books to. They are certainly newer, more relevant and in excellent condition compared to what's in the stacks here. She said that if I brought them to her and they were newer ( I scoff at this comment ) that she would take them. She should be damn happy to get them.

Regardless of its relevance in my life, the library is a architecturally gorgeous both inside and out and a pleasure to stroll through.