New Neighbors

I've written before about the number of useful services within walking distance of my home in "felony flats". We are thrilled to learn that Dave's Olde Book Shop, a used bookstore where we trade in our books, is moving from Manhattan Beach to our neighborhood! Add that to Aardvark's Odd Ark and Cotton Shop, both refugees from pricier Hermosa Beach, and this is a cultural creative paradise.

The downside would be the grittier aspect of living in "Felony Flats". Gunshots were fired at two nearby bars around closing time this year. Note that the bar closest to our home , a gay bar, has much better behaved patrons.

A really cute Spanish-style cottage was bulldozed and developers are putting three townhouses in its place. I am not overly sad about that as, our friendly neighborhood drug dealer lived in that cottage. I was tired of losing my gardening tools to junkies whenever I left them unattended in the front yard even for a minute. Then my belongings would turn up at the perpetual yard sale in front of the dealer's house. Sometimes, buying your own stuff back is less hassle than calling the police and proving that those items were stolen from you*.

And Frank Gehry is moving his office to around the corner from our (work) campus!

* I have never bought anything from that drug dealer, my own stuff or anything else. I am sad to lose my favorite pruning shears and a weed puller thingy from Japan. The ones I have been able to find have not worked so well. I went to a Japanese nursery that sold me the Japanese tool. They told me that their distributor now only imports the cheaper Chinese-made tools as the Japanese ones can't compete on price. Says who? I have used both and I would gladly pay extra for the Japanese one. And why don't we make one in the USA?