Foie Gras Crossing

A Hi-Ho Christmas

Year-round Christmas tree at the HaFoSaFo adjacent Hi-Ho Market.

Christmas Card

Happy Holidays from the HaFoSaFo! May gravity be your friend this year!

Sunset Boulevard: Street or Race Track?

Let me first say what an honor it is to be a guest blogger on HaFoSaFo.com. By way of introduction, I'm a 14 year citizen of the north border region of HaFoSaFo and a regular blogger over at rootsimple.com.  I'll be joining the team here to provide breaking news from, so to speak, the "heart of the 'foot".

Last Thursday I went on a walk to photograph Coronado Street's Cadillac Pick Up. On the way back I witnessed a horrific accident--a beige SUV tumbling end over end just like the one in the crash test above. Miraculously, no one seems to have been injured seriously. I did not see what caused the accident, but it was, in my opinion, most likely due to speed.

Speed is what Sunset Blvd. is all about, particularly here in HaFoSaFo. Our illustrious Los Angeles Department of Transportation runs Sunset Blvd the way you would operate a Formula One race course. Witness the new K-rail installed at the "Polka-Dot Plaza" in nearby Silver Lake:

Photo by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Speeds to high? Should we work on traffic calming to create a pleasant street where our kids can walk safely to school or just slap up a barrier and keep the high speed status quo?

Look out Long Beach, LADOT is preparing for the first HaFoSaFo Grand Prix and a future of yet more spectacular rollovers.

Cadillac Pick Up

This awesome Cadillac Pick Up combo has been rocking HaFoSaFo lately- proving that there may be no limit to how drastically one can alter a pick up, but apparently messing with the Caddy would not be cool. I think it is an awesome get together.

Amber Waves to Hafo Safo

 Amber waves is a tiny 1-acre farm in Norco California, a town known for its small family farms until they were gobbled up by developers of mini malls and big box stores during the 1980's land grab.

Debbie and Jim Hosely run a lovely little establishment catering to the seratonin deprived cute overload addicts making the leap from virtual to backyard for a dose of the adorable.

 

They breed show Silkies, a bantam chicken breed both gorgeous and goofy looking, and African Pygmy goats. We just managed to escape Amber Waves without a baby goat in the back of the Prius, but it was a near thing! Ouch they are painfully cute!

 

Instead, I left with these three lovely and, hopefully, ladies down my shirt.(it is said that one can't tell the boys from the girls with Silkies until one lays an egg or crows.)

 We also got to visit with the transportation of the future!

 Emu!

 Sebastopol Geese

 and many other lovely creatures well loved and pampered by proud proprietors.

Local Cat hits Nip Jackpot!

Serge, a local feline resident piebald, recently discovered a jackpot of catnip and can now help himself to its consciousness altering effects all day any day. But will he? It seems not. Local resident owner reports Serge only likes to partake at night with the company of his colony.
Meanwhile Hafo Safo human residents have seen medical marijuana and hydroponic shops open only to shut their doors again as the city prevaricates and legislation alters. Will the rise in homegrown catnip influence the human populace to get on back to the grow-your-own movement? Will stash boxes and record covers re-trend? Will people eschew the bud-only giant carbon footprint medical grades to rediscover the gentle highs of homegrown leaves, seeds and all?
If it happens, it's already happening in Hafo Safo.

FREEEEEEEE Mattress Speech

Street Mattress Art hits HaFoSaFo on this fine garbage day. Inspired by The Nothing Really Mattress:

and the Nothing Else Mattress

This fourth of July brought about much anarchy and mayhem, but the Most Ghetto Party award goes to the Mini Market 99 Cent Art studios for their Sidewalk Barby-Q with an above-ground mobile swimming pool made in the back of the Chevy S10. I suppose it doubled as fire prevention, should the rockets red glare alight too close to home. Walking about LA's East Side around Temple Street is our equivalent of running with the bulls, for danger and its flipside: the thrill of being alive.

Foot Doctor sees Sign Doctor

The Happy Foot / Sad Foot will spin again! Crews were working fervently at 10:00 Tuesday morning to put the spin back into our neighborhood landmark. Workmen assured that nothing will change; they are just repairing the motor. The sign has been immobile for months, but our oracle should soon be back and running (and hobbling)!

Totally Eclipse, Son.

HafoSafo Native Troy Burgos experiences the Solar Eclipse today through 4 pairs of sunglasses. It was awesome. I tried to take a picture of the actual event, but I am sure the internets are full of better images with better technology, but for innovative gazing Low Tech style Troy had it nailed.

Bike Exemption

Looks like the parking signs by the Tropi Cal cafe have a new addendum. It could be read two ways I suppose, either bikes are exempt from ticketing, or someone is luring them into the risk of being swept up...

Ghettobird Southside Playground exposed!

Startling Evidence: Southside HaFoSaFo IS Ghettobird playground!

Residents of the Southside of Sunset in HaFoSaFo,  also referred to as  HafoSafo Sur or Baja Silverlake, who have had reason to suspect, of late, that the neighborhood was some sort of training area or playground for low flying police helicopters -from the species Ornathacanicea, colloquially named Ghettobirds- now have startling evidence. Evidently, some  fledglings left unequivocal proof at the scene. Examining this evidence, Ornathacanics, noted experts in the life cycle and habits of the the Copter, now believe the Southside has been designated by these strange birds as a nursery/training ground.

On a recent bird watching trip through picturesque tumbleweeds and broken masonry, these rare images of an actually Copter plaything were discovered.

Yuppie Meldown

Stymied simmering Stuart stews, storms and strikes!

The elite neighborhood of HaFo SaFo North has been victimized by a crime perpetrated by a former resident. Evidently, choosy white middle class males choose car torching to mete out retribution for perceived slights in on-going disputes with past neighbors.

For years, New Zealand born "I'm-in-the-industry" neighbor Stuart has been sending lawyers after his neighbors, the Matavosians, because their dogs occasionally barked. Other neighbors who testified that the dogs were not a problem joined the hit-list and got hostile Christmas cards(!?!) from Stuart. Both he and the Matavosian family put up security cameras because of ongoing litigation.

Then Stuart et famille moved out of the neighborhood.

Friday night the Matavosian security cameras captured the image of a man attempting to blow up their car. The LAPD was called and came across a belligerent possibly intoxicated Stu lurking on Montana street with the strong smell of kerosene on his clothes. He was taken into custody.

Other unsolved auto(mobile) de feys have been reported in this neighborhood.
We wish the Matavosians peace and hope their legal wrangles have finally come to an end. We also hope Stuart gets some much needed help.

On Canvas

Cushioned headboard with original contemporary fine art print on real canvas!  Suitable for framing or use!

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Art for Teacups

Teacup Chihuahuas that is. Spotted on the Southeast corner of Benton Way at Sunset and positioned for optimal viewing by teacups, these lovely little teapots are easy to miss since they are at extremely small dog eye-level.

Teapots. Check. Teacups. Check. BYOCake.

Ms. Petra Von Fido enjoying the street art of Hafo Safo.

Container Gardening

DIY Container Gardening HafoSafo Style

 It's time to start your seedlings. Just drink some beer from a stylish aluminum can. Cut the top off. Fill with soil. Add seeds. Water. Wait. Instructable coming soon!

Resident Celebrates 106th Birthday

Milestones

Hafo Safo Resident Nadia celebrated her 106 birthday yesterday with some of her neighbors. She got a new teal bathrobe, a bright pink sleeping cap, fuzzy socks with rubber soles, a box of Depends undergarments, a bottle of vodka and a pack of menthol cigarettes. Now that's living!

Long Division

Religion

via the Eastsider

The history of Hafo Safo is the story of two halves,  of division and taking sides, of the divisiveness of borders and the flourishing of new ideas along a perilous edge, of the disease of the past effecting our present, of history repeating itself: the north versus the south played out ad infinitum; happiness flipping flopping to sadness; ranches turning to cities turning to farms within cities, always there are strange amalgamations on the rift.
When is it possible to find the beginning of a meme, especially one thumping out its rhythm in the very soil beneath the concrete, seeping through the variegation of aggregates, entering us through our very soles? What god demon creation myth explains our propensity for making edges on which to settle and reside?
Now, for the first time, Hafo Safo's creation myth has been literally unearthed.
Get ready to meet your Mecca.

Home is Where you Hang your Can

Style Section

You have heard of mini-houses, microcars, and cargo bikes.  Now we have a truly mini-micro-cargo design for the urbane alternative lifestyle set and canine companions.
Hafo Safo dilettante inventor/ fabricator of the off-the-grid powered, income generating  cart home-office has added a new feature to his rig: a mobile doghouse. One lucky mama dog and her young pups now ride the streets in style with a front seat view.

Mobile rig function adds new meaning to litter collecting.

Mom is pretty happy with street life.

Rare Credenza Breeding Ground Discovered

The Credenza
The Credenza is a common site in your well-heeled Hafo Safo homestead. Popularized by mid-century modern Scandahoovian designers, The credenza is back and it is breeding, which is lucky since they are in such high demand.
Both Sunset Bazaar and Pepe's next door offer quality mid-century credenzas. They both have downstairs shops as well which will custom-build a credenza to your exacting tastes! Draw them a picture of what you want and they can fabricate it to your specifications. Or, If you aren't too sure of your mechanical drafting skills, contact this blog and we can arrange a design to be commissioned. We got a custom credenza made for less than anything at Ikea. Plus, we got that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting our local economy- and it was delivered!

The elusive Credenza breeding ground discovered at Pepe's on Sunset at Coronado.

Credenza's guard the door at Sunset Bazaar, 2508 W. Sunset.

Custom cathouse credenza commission complete!