Free Van

This 1969 VW Camper Van is being given away free to the best non-profit business that applies. The owner wants the tax deduction. The most creative use wins! This belongs in HaFoSaFo, don'cha think? More pics here.

Plant a Cat Tree

The Cat Trees are flourishing just a block up from where Eagle Rock blvd ends Fletcher (technically that is Ave 36). In a garage on 3737 Eagle Rock, with the sign painted on the outside that says "Carpet Center" resides a Cat Tree Nursery with brilliant designs.
These guys run from $65.00 to over $200.00, with hideouts, scratching posts, and all sorts of perches upholstered in a variety of piles and shags. They also do custom work. I spoke with Oscar (below) as he contemplats his next design.

Signs of the Times

Nowadays, you have to have an ID to buy a paint pen, the spray paint is in lockup and you have to bring your own labels to the Post Office. Why? Because of the Art In The Street! Can't you see the signs? There everywhere in HaFoSaFo- This one especially across from 7-Eleven on Sunset.

Gardens of HaFoSaFo

I stumbled upon this garden in the middle of the night on a feral kitten rescue at 110 S. Rampart across the street from the infamous "Original Tommy's." There was something just so HaFoSaFo about it that I went back the next day to photograph it and happened to meet gardener Angela as she tended her vegetables.

She informed me that many of the tenants of this building have little flower,vegetable and herb gardens along the driveway.

I asked Angela about the landlords, who live at the apartment complex, and she told me they encourage the tenants to garden. You can tell from the street that something is a little bit different about this place. For one thing, there is a sort of homemade suit of armor decorating the facade of the building. There is also an ancient looking wagon/fence and a sculpture made from a wagon wheel.

One could argue that calling Beverly and Rampart HaFoSaFo is infringing on Westlake, but the boundaries of HaFoSaFo are not traditional hard and fast lines drawn on maps, but subject to sprawl anywhere our sign seems to leave its humble footprint(s).

So, in the name of the quantum foot, I claim this building as soveriegn territory and a southern outpost of our noble land/state of mind (does this make us a landmind?).

The Great City/State/Barrio of HaFoSaFo ratifies its legitimate and non-prescribing sovereignty over... and offers its great abiding bare-foot kicking power to the above aforementioned property..... or something to that effect.

The Wheel is an Extension of the Foot.

Another sound business on wheels. This guy has a shoe repair usually situated at the north side of Logan off of Sunset in the Echo Park side of HaFoSaFo. He can do house calls and make your feet happy if you call his number:
(I can't really make it out either. I'm guessing that is 1(626)240-9238ish)

Insane Clown Payaso

By and large, I am not afraid of clowns. At least I wasn't until I saw the graphic for Payaso's Original Horchata. It may be the vividness of the hairy eyebrows peeking out from under the pancake makeup eyebrows, or the size of his tongue. This is not a clown I would leave alone with my children.

Backing up a few paces, I have to shout out to my local HaFoSaFo Mexican Food supplier where I found this wonder:

If you haven't been there, you wouldn't ever guess... and if you have, well you don't need me to tell you: Rite Aid Pharmacy betwixt. Alvarado and Glendale. Everything you need from 5 lb cans of hominy to solid hot chocolate. Go figure.

Things with things

Why do we love the Happy Foot / Sad Foot sign so much? Is it because it shows a foot with... feet?

Why is a foot with feet so loveable when a tooth with teeth strikes me as just menacing? Nevertheless, several area dentists find the icon to be just as good for business.

This sign is to be found around 14891 Burbank Boulevard,

And this one on Sunset and Echo Park.

I am sure there are many others of these to be found.

Submissions are always welcome in the comments!

Bag of Cash found

Here's a poster you don't often see:

Found just uphill from the very civilized Vintage Eyewear shop Gentleman's Breakfast Sunset & Mowhawk. To my knowledge no one has claimed the prize yet.

Welder on Wheels

I've always been impressed with businesses on wheels, other than the standard food truck. This place is set up (for now) in the lot between The Flores Recycling Center and The Circle H Market & LIQUER. Has anyone had any work done here? They aren't even on Yelp, but it sure would be handy to have someone I could bring my metal to.

Playing Possum

Saw this poster on the corner of Glendale and Fletcher - and it looked familiar, but still funny. There is a viral video from 2008 collecting all the called-in "concerned citizen" responses. Still, the sign itself and the person who put it up is way funnier than the people who believe it.

More Love Hours Than Can Ever Be Repaid

Found this sale on stuffed toys at the corner of Fletcher and San Fernando- 3 for 50 cents! This pile is available, by coincidence usually on weekends. For service ask at the nearby Pupusa grill.

Moped Army

I just found out that HaFoSaFo is home to at least 2 active Moped Gangs within bike pushing distance of the Happy/Sad foot sign. Due to Landlord Objections, I can't divulge their exact secret hideouts, or they might buzz my house and party in my driveway, suffice it to say these Chicks and Dudes are Fabulous. If you see a woman in a catsuit riding a Puch it may be one of the Gaskettes who do endearing things like make valentines and deliver them via moped. All images here come from their blog- an essential hipster wall calendar without all that stupid date chart stuff. Had I been paying closer attention, I would never have missed this:

Also local, somewhat scruffier and maybe more about the bikes, are The Wooly Bullies, brother chapter and official members of The Moped Army. Check out the top tanks, and upside down skateboard plank seat.

Raccoononball plant?

Thanks to everyone who wrote in about the Blue Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea)! What a totally amazing plant. Plant ID could be a regular thing on HaFoSaFo, because while I know there is a lot of good edible wild forage growing in the parkways in our neighborhood, there are some things that are just downright odd. For instance, near a clump of wild fennel, was this arm of spikey balls attached to what looks like Tommy Chong sized giant Marajuana leaves. There is a clump of these guys growing in the vicinity of the former Sunset Landslide.

Anyone got some ideas? I recently pulled my motorcycle over on the side of Chevy Chase in the vicinity of Desconso Gardens just in time to see some critter probably a raccoon, kick one of these fruits down the slope at me. So they can be used as cannonballs, but aside from that... I just don't know.

Beverly Hills Two and a Hafo

Springtime in LA brings out the attractive and scantily clad actor/models. These two were seen vamping, voguing and preening on Alvarado Street trying to get noticed for a sequil - Beverly Hills Chihuahua: Two 'n a HaFoSaFo.

Alien Life Form

Kudos to anyone who can identify this Psychomadiggley flower growing out of trash and roaches by the 7-11/Holistic Collective about Yonder.

GuitarTruck

Mike Cornwall, high on my list as one of the world's nicest guys, has been smelling lately like a totally awesome Business Plan. On wheels. Now with solar.

I made a guitar repair shop inside a vintage 1973 SnapOn truck. I owned and ran Silverlake Guitar Shop from 1999 through 2006, and I have many great memories and friends from that time. Since then, I've been working on guitars for bands in the studio and on the road, and fixing gear for old friends. In 2010, between doing guitar tech work on a couple recording sessions, I was hired to set up shop in a studio and put all the instruments in proper working order. Working this way was such a positive and pleasant experience, I got to thinking about finding a way to service studios and collections with a mobile workshop, in which I could concentrate fully on the instrument without distractions. I started looking for a vehicle that would have the right amount of space and appliances, and I found this GrummanOlsen StepVan to be perfect for a shop.

Guitartruck.com