Listen to Eric Estrada: "Buckle Up!"

As seen on the side of the 101 Freeway in downtown LA.
1983: the last time it was cool to be a member of the California Highway Patrol, otherwise known as..."CHIPS"!  Coincidentally, it was also the last time their uniforms were updated...

It's Like the W Hotel...but for DOGS...

Okay, so I had to use NYC citysearch to make sure that the Big Apple didn't have one of these. We don't. I'm sure it's coming soon...but must it look this similar to a "people hotel"? I don't think Rover reviews the thread count before checking in, but you never know...this is LA...

Check out the "D" hotel on line, "A Luxury Resort and Spa for the Distinguished Dog." (http://www.dpethotels.com) You will not be disappointed.

LA Thugs Launch Plums at Moving Cars

At first take, I thought I was being ambushed by a small time, Westside street gang while making my way onto the on-ramp of the dreaded 10 Freeway. (Freeways in Los Angeles = Interstates in the Tri-State Area) "The 10" is the only major highway that runs East/West across the city. Translation: it's a parking lot 99% of the time. City planning here is an entirely other story...and with the state budget deficit increasing by $2 billion per day to simply maintain the status quo, I don't foresee any major infrastructure improvements being undertaken in the near or distant future.

Anyway while talking via headset to a fellow tri-state transplant, what seemed to be a very large bullet or missile shot into my windshield at warp speed causing me to slam on the brakes, duck, yell, and shiver with fear while crouching below my steering wheel. It was to be my first brush with the gang activity I so often hear about (Crips, Bloods, Tupac...) NOTE: I was going to post a link here to a site about LA gangs that I've reviewed before (for my own protection) but BOTTOM LINE, I'm too paranoid to do it.

At my frenetic reaction, the fellow transplant asked me if everything was okay. "Sure, if by okay you mean ABOUT TO MEET MY MAKER!" I said. I pulled over to the side of the road (a very dangerous decision seeing as though I was now in the middle of the on-ramp to "The 10") and nervously took a closer look at my windshield. After further inspection, I realized that the glass was intact and the missile was in fact a juicy, splattered piece of fruit. A PLUM. They're in season now and, I admit, very tasty. LA street gangs are now using fruit as weaponry! (Either that or it fell from a nearby plum tree- as if plum trees really exist...) No need to fret brother and sister Angelenos, I've already alerted the LA Times via Twitter. I assume they will be reporting on it soon. If not, feel free to forward this posting to your loved ones. You never know whose life you might save.

In case you are really Out-Of-The-Know, here is a link to what a plum looks like, should you come across one (the perp that met its doom on my windshield was of the red skin and light-yellow flesh persuasion): http://www.uga.edu/fruit/plum.html