Friday, August 27, 2010

POTG Travelogue Loves Venice Beach and Dogtown and Friday Wrap-Up

There is no better setting for people watching than the wide walkways of Venice Beach in Los Angeles. While other places have interesting people, Venice moves to the top of the list with its paradise-like setting.











If you stroll for a mile or two you can see almost anything and be entertained by a myriad of buskers and entertainers. There are wall to wall shops with county fair type hucksters luring you into their shops.

If you have a headache or some other medical issue the Marijuana Doctor is always in and can (legally) take care of your problem with a prescription for medical grade weed.










Muscle Beach is world renowned as the place where the Govornator got his start as a tough guy in his movie career. It's a great place for wannabe muscle men to pose for pictures. There are also bike trails, freestyle skate areas, and a skateboard bowl that where world class skaters practice.











It is hard to draw a line where the area known as Dogtown begins and ends. Originally, it was an area around and inland from the long gone Pacific Ocean Park which sat between Venice and Santa Monica up until it was razed in the mid-seventies.

The old pier was a popular surf spot for locals and was where the Z-Boys got their start. The old Zepher Surf Shop at the corner of Bay and Main is considered to be the birthplace of modern skateboarding and was immortalized in the movie Lords of Dogtown.

Today, Horizons West Surf shop is in part of the building with the other part sitting as a tribute to an earlier era with plenty of pictures of Skip Engblom, Jeff Ho and all the neighborhood kids like Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and others that went on to be skateboard legends.


Bicknell Hill, where the Z-Boys used to practice their downhill, is now a busy street leading to a beach parking lot. From its crest, you can get a surreal view of the Santa Monica Pier with the mountains in the background.












If you ever are in Los Angeles, you owe it to yourself to make plans to spend a few hours in the Venice/Dogtown area that is conveniently located just to the north of LAX. You will be happy that you did.

Tweetup at The Sounds Game...


Thanks to all those that came out to the Tweetup at the Nashville Sounds game last night. Everyone that came had a good time with a reason to get out of the house. The pace of the baseball game had all the attendees ready for the Preds camp to open to see a little more spirited play.

Next summer off-season, we will try to get more outings together for baseball and of course, the Nashville Rollergirls.

In Preds Nation...

The unsigned Cody Franson is the man of the day at On The Forecheck. Other news at OTF is an announcement that Ryan Miller has joined their team and will provide reports from Milwaukee on the Admirals. Ryan was previously one half of the Admirals Short Shifts team along with Eric Kent.

Mark from The View From 111 mad it home from the Tweetup in time to get his weekly My View published.

For those looking for something to do this weekend, check out Nashville Predators Day at the Nashville Zoo on Sunday. J P Dumont and Wade Belak will be there.

Kovi's Korner...

Dmitry Chesnokov reported late Thursday that the KHL is becoming more of an option for Kovalchuk as the contract talks appear to have stalled in New Jersey.

Intent to Blow has raised a little known article of the CBA that is keeping the Devils from signing Kovalchuk.

Around the NHL...

Greg Wyshynski has an interesting post about a couple of franchises trying to push their anti-blogger stance on the rest of the league. Jake Duhaime has additional commentary on the Puck Daddy post at Inside Hockey. Michelle Kenneth adds her perspective that even refutes some of what the Rangers stance was reported to be in the Monday conference call that was the basis for the whole conversation. Later in the day Wyshynski obtained an email copy of one proposal that appears to be on the table for credentialing bloggers.

Jeff Marek points out the strategery involved with the Fehr announcement during the Hockey Summit. If the leak could have come out right before Bettman's speech, it would have been more effective.

The Sporting News reports that Bill Daly is allegedly pleased that the NHLPA s getting a leader, even if it is Donald Fehr.

Sean Leahy at Puck Daddy unveils Yahoo's top 100 Fantasy picks for 2010. Pekka, Weber and Horny are all listed.

Ryan at the RLD continues fantasy week with the Top 5 Bang for the Buck.

Michelle Kenneth has a Mixed Bag of her own thoughts on the Olympics, the world and the KHL.

Matt Reitz has an interview with Jeff Angus from Dobber Hockey.

After Wednesday's TV schedule release, Steve Lapore has the good and bad of what was done.

The NHL is exploring getting involved with women's hockey in order to avoid having it dropped from the Olympics.

Puck Central has a history lesson on "Potvin Sucks."

Odds and Ends...

There is a tussle between two separate ventures as to who will stage this year's Maverick's big wave event. It appears to be big money vs the green crowd.

Angela from The Office discusses Michael leaving and much more.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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