Tag Archives: Toyon berry

Mountain High, Valley Low

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Today’s cloud show was so spectacular I made a movie, with Mary Martin weaving a magic binding spell with her unforgettable: ‘Mountain High, Valley Low.’ Vale For All Seasons’ Greetings from the View! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V8dU7tqrU_UIwjxflY6SpkYzi_82jX7O/view?usp=sharing

Just last week I was fretting about the parched sands in the foothills; then yesterday our first big winter rain arrived. It whitened the peaks, cleared the air, and delighted the chaparrall. Beauty and good feeling result! View Little Tujunga Canyon:

The fresh air and the clouds were so sweet — one wrapped itself in a funnel, and puff! — blew me a smoke-ring kiss, like Santa. One momentary curl of condensation refracted an amazing spotlight, conveniently pointing exactly to Valley Village!

I Guess They CAN Take That Away From Me %^&!

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So apparently all the accursed Millennials spent the weekend bopping around all the public beaches and parks, playing volleyball and hugging each other with high fives, or hiking Runyon Canyon six-abreast, arms around each others necks; or else “cruising” the trafficky, gas-fumed arroyos of Griffith Park in their cars. One imagines them, fists thrust in the air, boobs and armpits to the wind, singing “woo, hoo, woo hoo” all day while alternately gulping de-natured alcohol soda pop, and tossing their silky blonde hair in the breeze, shedding millions of virus as they bop along to the silent beats of their headphones, perched on the backseats of their Stingray convertibles, bronzing their young skin.

So they’ve CLOSED THE DAMN BEACHES, PARKS, AND NATURE TRAILS. Millennials!! I hate them so much. [Old Man Yells At Cloud]. Boomers too!! Ahh, I hates the lotta yuz!

Since WE CAN’T DO HEALTHY THINGS, I will try to cope by reliving past escapes to solitude. Here’s the first place I CAN”T GO, BUT VERY MUCH WANT TO RIGHT NOW, AND PLANNED TO GO WHEN I WOKE UP AND SAW THE RAIN HAD STOPPED DAMMIT.

Last December, just before Christmas, I hiked up Fryman Canyon, in the most beautiful part of the Santa Monica Mountains. It was a rare day when there was fog down in the Valley basin, but parts of the hills poked above it into sunshine. That’s Mt. Hollywood, with the broadcast towers.

The View is to Studio City, in veiled fall colors; and NoHo, the white urban sprawl.

Sugar Bush, Laurel Sumac,Toyon Berry, and Lemonade Berry, the Berry sisters, all hanging out in the Hollywood sun.

A Rainbow, A View, and A Merry-Go-Round: Christmas In Griffith Park.

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Christmas Da:y requires a mid-day constitutional, to burn off the champagne and eggnog. This year the time between showers was short. Thus handy, boring old Griffith Park was the chosen venue. I expected little but a trudge through wet sagebrush, but the old Park showed it still has the power to charm even the most jaded holiday hiker. First there was the rainbow:

Then there was the extravagant display of toyon berries on all the hillsides. The View has never seen so much happy, cheerful toyon. LA’s native city tree is berrying-out everywhere across the LA Basin, but here, it graces the view of the San Gabriels.

Finally, there was the Merry-Go-Round. I never knew Griffith Park had a carousel. But cloud cover in the hills and canyons creates a well-known natural acoustical effect: like a lid on a pot, it bounces sound around the landscape. At the top of a canyon trail, I heard music. Faint but distinct, a calliope was playing Christmas Carols. So I followed my ears, winding all down the trail into a little grove I’d never seen before, and found this delightful contraption. COOL.

Click on the link for two minutes of humbug-banishing, Grinch-defying, Ho Ho Ho-provoking delight.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PqOmMc9dStEtvi2b-GYdFhgiXTlYQ_SK/view?usp=sharing

The Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round was built in 1926 by the Spillman Engineering Company. Commissioned by the Spreckels family, it was originally housed at the Mission Beach Amusement Center in San Diego but was moved to its current location in 1937. The merry-go-round is comprised of 68 hand-made horses, all of which jump, and a custom-built Stinson 165 Military Band Organ that plays more than 1,500 songs. It’s the only full-size Spillman carousel still in operation today. The small carousel, which is tucked away into a quiet corner of the park, served as Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland. When his children were young, Walt, a Los Feliz denizen, took them to the merry-go-round on weekends. During one visit, while sitting on a bench watching his kids circle round and round, he was inspired to create a large scale gathering site that the whole family could enjoy. His dream was realized on July 17, 1955, when Disneyland opened to the public.

— LA Magazine web article on the Merry-Go-Round

Top o-Mulholland To Ya

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Looking north, over Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Studio City, Valley Village in fall colors. Distant are the Santa Susana Pass, San Fernando Pass, Newhall Pass and, Big Tujunga Pass to Pasadena and Mt. Baldy; while stretched across the middle distance, View the brown Green Verdugo Hills. My, my!

CURMUDGEON TRIGGER ALERT: Just look at the pretty pictures if You Can’t Deal With My Anger….


[INSPIRATION POINT NO MORE: The Mikado’s capital laws against flirting, like ALL SUDDENLY DRACONIAN LA PARKING LAWS, will now, apparently, be STRICTLY ENFORCED on Mulholland Drive Overlooks. No teenager, EVEN IF YOU OWN A CAR, can ever suck face here again on a quiet night, while the lights twinkle and the sagebrush wafts and the coyotes yip. No soul-parched screenwriter can pull off here at 1:00 am, and look out at the stars and down on the Valley, and think — “Dammit, that Twinkling Pit has got two million stories in it!” No Parking. (&#*!) When California goes socialist next November, blame the “I got mine” jerks of the Hollywood Hills. “OK, Boomer!”)]