Happy Birthday 19th Amendment!

That's right, 90 years ago today women became able to vote in this country, due to a lot of hard work and sacrifices by the suffragist movement- we beat the UK by 8 years. Hard to imagine that when we came this close to having a woman presidential candidate that her grandmother would have been the first woman in the family to be able to vote. Chew on that next time you think it's too inconvenient to bother to do so...

Photo: Wikipedia

Shop Local!

Rudy Cole in this weeks Beverly Hills Weekly (issue 566) writes that our local hardware store, Pioneer Hardware is in trouble. A combination of a bad economy and the closure of Crescent Drive between "big" and "little" Santa Monica for the Annenberg garage has bitten into foot traffic to all businesses on Crescent, including the irreplaceable Beverly Hills Market, which serves the senior housing (and all of us) with a low-cost alternative to Whole Foods.

There's a lot of talk about being sustainable these days, keeping a small footprint and shopping local. What could be more in line with that than getting your hardware items a short walk or car trip to Crescent Drive with an hour free parking entered from either Crescent or Dayton? I can personally vouch that Pioneer is the same or better on prices than anyplace within miles: when you figure in what you're worth an hour, suddenly that drive 20 miles each way to Costco seems waaay less of a bargain. They also offer a Handyman service for people like me who could topple a wall trying to hang a picture.

If you're not from the area, why not purchase online and add a Green Bag for that "90210" touch? If you are in the area, stop in and say "hello" and discover the other businesses on that block. It's one-stop shopping, all in your backyard...

Image: Pioneer Hardware

Garage Sale this weekend!

My friend Sue is having a garage sale as prep to move to NYC. Saturday, 8/7 at 9 am (early birds will be fed to the cats).

616 N Ave 65, Los Angeles, CA 90042.

From Beverly Hills/Hollywood: Take Coldwater or Laurel to the Valley, get on the 101 East, get in left lane to transition to the 134. Keep left past the junction of the 5 and the 2 freeways. Exit San Rafael Avenue. Right off exit, immediate right onto Colorado Blvd. Left at stop sign to Melrose Ave. 100 feet or so to left at stop sign onto Ave 64. Go south on Ave 64 about 1/3 mile to traffic light at Meridian. Just past light make a left at Pollard, then immediate right at Ave 65. 616 will be on your left.

From Pasadena Freeway: Exit Marmion Way (exit will mention York Ave). Keep left and exit left onto Marmion. Bear right up the hill to light at York Ave. Continue ahead onto Ave 64. Right on Repton and left on Ave 65. 616 will be on your right.

Photo from Google Maps.