three l.a. events

After repeatedly seeing advertisements on TV for the LA soapbox races about a month ago, Jesse and I decided it would be a good opportunity to walk around downtown and to check out a local event. I've been to a lot of "local events" in the past two years while living in Central Illinois (sweet corn festival, corn broom festival, chili and beer fest...), and somehow it did not occur to me that an LA event might be a bit different. As in CROWDED. It was ridiculous. There were 110,000 people there, and the track was a mere two blocks long, so it was nearly impossible to see anything.

The only reason the track can even be seen in this picture is because I held the camera over my head.

There were people perched in every tree and on every sign.

We finally got a view of the racers by getting up high on a building's patio. Of course this car wasn't as creative as some of the others, which included a speedboat, a grand piano, and a giant nose. There were 40 entries - all human-powered race cars which cannot weigh more than 176 pounds, and which can seat up to two drivers. Despite the crowds (and the heat) it was pretty entertaining.

The next day, we checked out the Abbot Kinney festival in Venice, which is right next to Santa Monica. 150,000 people were expected, and I am pretty sure that they all showed up. There was live music, art for sale, and good food.

By contrast, a couple weeks later we went to a screening of the Flight of the Navigator with a director discussion (as the first movie my family recorded on a VCR, it has a special place in my memory), and (maybe not such a surprise?) the theatre was practically empty. But we got to see the actual model that was used for the spaceship during production!

Notice all the empty chairs? No appreciation!