trinacriabob

Back to June ... the 22nd, to be exact: Saw this new charger at the Palm Springs (CA) Library parking lot. What a great color. Maybe even better than basic white, which I like for the Charger. This new gray must be popular. Here it is on a Porsche set on its own island on Palm Canyon Drive. You guys remember a Dodge Monaco? Here's a new Camaro convertible bought at Felix Chevrolet (an L.A. icon) and most likely visiting from those parts. And here's a Challenger at some MCM looking hotel on Palm Canyon Drive. @oldshurst442 It's not a 4-4-2, but close enough? Some people in SoCal can't get enough of USC. Seen here at a dealership along Palm Canyon Drive on June 22. I wonder if it has the exhaust burble of an older car or it sounds newer and stock.

Spotted June 2: In San Francisco ... in its western half, where they have homes with garages and a LITTLE sliver of extra land around them. A car to ruin you day: A car to make your day: Incredible ... to the latter.

Spotted July 1: Regal Gran Sport coupe - somewhere in the '91 to '93 range - a little beat up. There's a badge up front for a (Series I) 3800 V6 that is obviously chugging along some 30 years later. Impressive. I doubt a San Francisco sophisticate who looks somewhat like Jacqueline Bisset is going to be taken by and smiling at a Regal coupe. But, my hat's off to this car for how nice it looks from the front as it's keeping up with that cable car ... successful design ... they sold a lot of these coupes.

I cherrypicked the GM ones I liked the most. Love that Regal '84 (onward) coupe silhouette, the new Corvette, that bright yellow F-Bird or Camaro (can't tell) which, with the wraparound rear back lite, tells me it's a '74 and above, from which there appears to be a downsized Cadillac convertible across the street. Nice. For GM's pony cars, '75 and '76 were my favorite years. I created the above problem by finally posting some photos seen in June on this thread and waking it up.

Yes. I just looked it up. It's the third gen, so between 2005 and 2010, more or less. Also, it's a 2-door hatchback. Manual everything indeed.

June 21 - seen in the underground parking at the hotel. I've come to like these small Hyundais to putt around in. This Accent is old but in great condition. They seem to last a long time. This one is also a coupe, which aren't too common.

Well done! You've got it down. One of the funniest scenes in this landmark comedy. It's too bad that political correctness now interferes with the type of good comedy that was much more prevalent a few decades ago. Happy weekend! "Neutron Dance" ... timeless.

Right. I'm slotting things into archival mode. See on June 20th. On Malibu Canyon Road, which becomes Las Virgenes Canyon Road as it approaches the Ventura Freeway (the 101) and the San Fernando Valley: On Topanga Canyon Blvd. at Ventura Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley, and right before the ramps to the Ventura Freeway (the 101): In Woodland Hills in the SFV, basically exclaiming: 'Axel* Foley, where are you?' * Akmed to Bronson Pinchot's character, Serge, working in the Beverly Hills art gallery

Or the potential for that to be an issue later on, giving some credence to the adage that "you can't have your cake and eat it, too."

Spotted on June 11 - near home This was at the market. The girl who owned this car bought it when it was 1 or 2 years old and likes it. Has the red sport trim. I got up closer to see this MILF sticker! I'd never seen a sticker with that on it before. It said, "Man, I like frogs." I do, too. I took 3 years of French in high school.

It's tough to know when GM's troubles began. I think that the push to make Americans think that driving an American vehicle was uncool was a big part of it. Californians began abandoning domestic vehicles decades ago, and at a very quick rate. Our family still kept buying them, though, and my parents were foreigners. Yes, foreigners! However, in terms of quality and reliability, GM did begin to falter toward the end of the '70s and beginning of the '80s. Early versions of computerized emission control systems such as CCC (Computer Command Control) required repairs and replacements of sensors much more so than current versions, where you don't see "check engine" indicators as often. As for the "Poncho" up above, the ghetto wheels have to go. Put the Pontiac ones back on. Then you've got one stellar vehicle. They made my favorite convertibles within the GM fold.

Some slotting of some spotting into its proper out-of-town month. Seen in SoCal ... An El Camino in not so great shape but still running, most likely with a 305 c.i. V8 ... and when it was likely that the 5 GM brands were sold at their respective dealerships. Also, the plate sequence looks very original. - - - - - An old school convertible Cadillac Seen along Imperial Highway (yes, from "I Love L.A." by Randy Newman) at Pershing Drive, the road that bounds the western edge of LAX, slightly inboard from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean Seen at the signal of Imperial Highway and Vista del Mar, which runs along the beach and which the planes take off over. I can assure you SoCal was a much nicer and more livable place when EITHER of these cars were newly minted.

To this I say:

I like the photos of the woodworking you posted, but I especially like this! ^ This map is pretty much spot on. Which makes me hate people who b!tch about stereotyping all the more. Where it says "farms" in the middle, it should also say "looks like Kansas." Driving up and down the Central Valley can be so flat and treeless that it reminds me of I-70 smack in the middle of the country. Kevin McCarthy may very well be the ONLY alum of Cal State Bakersfield that people can name. Where it says "palm trees" near Palm Springs, also add "heaven's waiting room." Right above "wine," add "meth" again ... to describe Lake County, right above Napa County, where the social ills barometer runs very high and has law enforcement and social services agencies spread thin. In and around Sacramento, add "bureaucrats" - many of them - who are paid too much for not enough work and sticking to their smoke breaks. To "sea otters," add "great white sharks" ... that snack on them and occasionally try to do the same with a surfer or two. - - - - - I love these sorts of maps. There was one for the city of Vancouver (Canada) that stereotyped all its neighborhoods and was also funny and spot on.

God, I love potato bread ... and potato buns for hamburgers and hot dogs. The problem is that I will snack on these buns late at night, so that I don't have enough for the hamburgers and hot dogs on hand.

Yes, a hearty Happy Canada Day greeting to our Canadian members - and Canadian members we don't see much of anymore - from those of us, such as me, who like Canada a lot!

Dave, I hope everything goes well for all of you. - - - - - Question on restaurant tipping. Do you tip on the pre-tax or after-tax tab? What is considered correct?

Happy Father's Day, gents! This time I mean it.

I've lived in quite a few states and overseas. Yes, people are different everywhere you go. It can vary within the city, the county, the state, and the country. But what I've seen is that you either click with a place or you don't. I was hesitant to move to Atlanta for a job in my twenties because it was "the South." After 4 months, I felt great about being there and felt welcome. Then, when I lived near Seattle, I did not feel that welcome. Their accent is generic West Coast, like what I speak. I was friends with a few transplants. But getting the "go back to California" vibe from even a few people was not cool. I even got it when opening up a bank account, and in a suit. It was all going smoothly until the question "place of birth" came up. So, these experiences can be like an on-off switch and you won't easily forget them.

@oldshurst442 I've seen the Olympic Stadium/Village complex about 10 times now. Thank you for the time lapse photos of the construction. When I first saw it, I was wowed by it. Like anyone would be. Then, with each visit, I learned more about it. Mayor Jean Drapeau aimed very high with that one, and with the blank check he "wrote." You take one look at that ambitious design and it flashes "cost overrun" in big red lights. But, yes, the stadium complex looks more worn with each visit. Just take a look at all the concrete plazas around it. But you keep going back and keep going back because it's just that unique. When they open up the border, some of us down here might just road trip up to Montreal. And we will be coming up there hungry, if you get my drift.

And also because the mindset and value system seems very similar to the one in Southern California. Many people think that. But a lot of the locals are not that cool. It's the natural beauty and the temperate climate that I enjoyed. The weather didn't really get me down - time for coffee somewhere and a good book! It seemed like some of the long-term locals were easily rattled by anything that was off color or slightly politically incorrect. The transplants rolled with it, or even enjoyed that sort of stuff. The PacNW is a little more attuned and receptive to NorCal. A little. It is definitely not attuned to a SoCal mentality. I once bought one of these at the Inclined Tower in Montreal. Haha. Where do you find this stuff?!?

Your ideal climate is found in the Bay Area and, to some extent, in the Pacific Northwest. It can be depressing, but people in the PacNW mention how the cool, moist air makes them and their skin feel clean. I don't know how that works. Perhaps that it's comfortable. That temperature band is probably the best one for people's well being. For that matter, cars in the PacNW probably fare better than in any other place in the country ... the air for combustion and the cool, moist ambient for tires, belts, and hoses. I was discussing this with a prof. I once had. She said that, even though heat is miserable, extreme cold will finish off a person quite a bit sooner than extreme heat. So, yes, 50F to 80F sounds just great. If you can afford the places where it's the calling card.

If ocnblu is Bill from PA, could that make him Billy Ocean? Probably the song most associated with this musical artist ... good song:

This looks like a Jetta or a Passat? Anyway, there is always the debate between dry heat and humid heat. I find humid heat more annoying than painful. An acquaintance of mine who is a Southerner moved from Phoenix to Houston, heading toward "home," where he will probably eventually end up. He said that, to better deal with heat, one has to keep their weight way down (he's short and lean) and wear little clothing and make sure it's cotton (t-shirts, shorts) and flip flops. To me, 95 F (should it be that high) and humid is less painful than 115 F and dry.

I thought it was today. The second Sunday in June, just like Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May. Sorry.