Wanderlust seems to be infectious around these parts.
Remember Zac Sunderland? He's the 16-year-old Marina del Rey teen who set about exploring the world in his 36-foot fiberglass sailboat, Intrepid. He was also featured in the Daily Breeze, and more importantly, The Daily Link.
Sunderland's site has a biography, images and a blog that lists his global coordinates. Thus far, he has been very good in providing daily updates.
If you're not aware by now, Bike to Work Week is May 12 through May 16. If the two-wheeler has been sitting in the garage throughout this week, there's no excuse not to bring it out today: Bike to Work Day.
This morning is when bicyclists are feted for using human-powered propulsion and the most energy efficient mode of transportation on Earth. Of Two Minds blogger Charles Hugh Smith estimates that a bicyclist can get and MPG of 900 -- yes nine hundred.
Pit stops are set up this morning to give thanks and free swag to bicyclists. In the South Bay, pit stops will be at the Aviation and El Segundo/Nash Metro Green Line stations and at Torrance City Hall, at Torrance Boulevard and Madrona Avenue. All of Los Angeles County's pit stops are plotted out on a Google Map.
Another freebie bicyclists might consider: free transit rides. South Bay bus and rail carriers offering free rides today are Metro, Beach Cities Transit, Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Torrance Transit. Gardena Municipal Bus Lines is also offering free rides, but its buses cannot accommodate bicycles.
The Century (105) Freeway provides a speedy link through southern Los Angeles County. It runs between LAX and Norwalk, and connects three freeways.
It also spawned one of the first major freeway revolts and a complicated legal battle that forced Caltrans to implement unprecedented legal remedies to the mostly low-income communities through where the 105 was built.
Photographer Jeff Gates provides a history lesson.
He shares photographs and essays of the drawn-out process of building Los Angeles County's last major freeway opening on his site, In Our Path. He began photographing the construction of the freeway in 1982, and interviewed residents in the path of the freeway who were displaced by freeway construction.
The Century Freeway, which was originally set to be completed by 1980, opened in 1993 after the state battled cities and residents in the courts. The freeway was ultimately built, but the state agreed to enter a consent decree that required replacing homes taken for the freeway, giving preferential hiring to nearby residents for construction, and integrating mass transit into the highway's design. The Metro Green Line, running in the freeway's median, opened in 1995.
The litigation brought on by construction of the freeway factored in slowing down highway expansion throughout the county.
Gates, a Los Angeles native now living on the East Coast, supplies images and writing on the construction of the freeway and Southern California's transition from the suburban boom started by the Pacific Electric streetcars and completed with the highway grid that largely replaced the traction.
Well, it is.
Photography social networking site Flickr has the LA South Bay group. More than 200 amateur and professional photographers share the people and places they captured in Torrance, the Beach Cities and the Peninsula.
Anyone can join this group and share their own photos. The photos can even be "geotagged" by placing their location on an interactive map. The group also maintains a discussion board.
A free basic membership allows uploads of up to 100 megabytes. A paid pro account allows for unlimited uploads.
There are more than 4,000 photos in the group. A few hundred or thousand more wouldn't hurt.
We gave you a primer on using public transportation in the South Bay on Tuesday. We introduced you to the services provided by Metro, Torrance and Gardena. These are the three services with the largest buses and the routes on the most important streets.
Meet the South Bay's other, smaller bus services. These systems use smaller buses or only offer service for rush-hour commuters.
First is Beach Cities Transit, the South Bay's youngest bus system. The fixed-route system emerged from a dial-a-ride service provided to the beach cities. The most fun is Route 109, which parallels the coast between El Segundo and Redondo Beach. Route 102 connects the Green Line with the South Bay Galleria and the Redondo Beach Pier. Route 104 connects Riviera Village with the Del Amo Fashion Center.
The Lawndale Beat is a two-route bus system connecting Lawndale with the Green Line and the South Bay Galleria. The residential route runs along Firmona, Osage and Prairie avenues. The express route runs along Hawthorne Boulevard.
Even the cities on The Hill have a bus service: the Palos Verdes Peninsula Transit Authority. There are six routes, designated by color: green, gold, orange, blue, silver and white. The routes are tailored to senior citizens and school children, so the service coverage is very limited.
Finally, we arrive at the commuter bus options. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation runs the rush-hour Commuter Express services from the Beach Cities and the Peninsula and Harbor areas to downtown Los Angeles. A smaller commuter service, the Municipal Area Express, operates within the South Bay to take workers to and from the aerospace jobs in and around El Segundo.
Think we're a couple days early? You haven't been reading.
This story from Catholic News Agency explains the move:
Church authorities reportedly spent weeks debating where to move the feast day because March 17, 2008, falls on the second day of Holy Week next year.
The liturgical norms would require the feast day to be moved to the earliest available date after Easter, which would be April 1. But church officials said the Vatican approved the March 15 date in order to minimize conflict with the scheduled civic events.
While religious celebrations honoring St. Patrick are affected, religious and secular authorities stressed this would not change secular festivities. The St. Patrick's Festival Committee in Dublin confirmed that next year's parade would be March 17 as usual. In addition, Monday, March 17, will remain an official day off of work in Ireland.
This marks the first time the date has been changed since 1940. The next conflict with Holy Week is not expected until 2160.
Here's some more on the religious background of St. Patrick’s Day.
As Redondo Beach puts the finishing touches on a new bike path in the northern part of the city, you may be looking for places to ride. Here are some Web sites that can point you in the right direction: a list of 116 trails in the L.A. area; Links to Southern California cycling Web sites; the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. But if two wheels are too many, check out Harvey Mudd College's unicycle club: Gonzo Unicycle Madness.
