Encino morning picture of the day (Malibu too) - Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

No, it's not Street Art Thursday. I got to my dentist one hour too early for my root canal procedure this morning so I decided to kill some time before I killed my nerve, and take a walk up and down Ventura Blvd. for exercise. What should I happen upon in this sea of office buildings and bland, national chain restaurants is this mosaic facing Ventura just east of Libbit.

Artist: unattributed, Southern California Orange Lady, mosaic on cement.

Unless things take a severe downturn, I cannot imagine painted murals of the type found in East Holly EVER making their way into Encino (yes, the neighborhood made popular by Moon Zappa), but this is exactly what I would expect to find on the street of this solidly, upper-middle-class community. There is no parking in the neighborhoods off Ventura and I mean NO parking. The residents don't even allow THEMSELVES to park on their streets with special permits, it's that kind of place.

She is so earnest looking, and she looks like someone you'd
actually know, like at work (but not dressed like this).

This is a very sunny, optimistic picture with a golden sun, orange trees (of which you find very few in urban So Cal anymore) palms, brown chaparral hills, some green, a river, and stylized sunbeams stabbing everything like so many knives. The blonde woman holding the fruit bounty is dressed to the nines in what I vaguely remember nouveau riche Valley women in the 1980s would wear formally--this sort of British-Let's-Visit-the-Ascot kind of uber chic.

I think it's funny that her posture seems to be saying "I have no idea what to do with these orange things, get them away from me." The model was probably the developer's girlfriend. Wouldn't you put your girlfriend in a mural you were commissioning?

It's more than twice my height, my head would be right at about her crotch (no that's not wishful thinking). Even if you drive Ventura all the time, I bet you never see this because you're going by at 45-50 MPH. I've never seen it before.

Since this one is very far afield from my normal haunts, I did not put her up on Thursday (and I already bent the geo-rule last week), but I did want to share.



NOW BACK TO OUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING:
THE MALIBU MORNING PICTURE OF THE DAY

Taken at 11:30 AM when I finally got to work:

Rain is expected in some parts of So Cal today, but hain't seen none yet!

Have a wondeful Wednesday.

Love,
Pops