Part of My View for a Year, on TV!

Since moving to downtown Los Angeles, I've had a lot of fun playing "Where was that shot?" Sometimes you know of such things in advance, such as when CSI: NY staged a St. Patrick's Day parade on W 4th. St (between S. Spring & S Main). Other times, you just say "Hey! I know where that is." Such was the case when seeing the VW "Punch Dub" ad for the Tiguan. Both Pam and I instantly recognized this shot (click the photo to access other sizes):

Why? Because it was part of the view we had from our bedroom window when we lived in the Hellman Building. The building in the shot is The Canadian. You might recognize it as the location of Tom's apartment in "(500) Days of Summer." For us, it's the home of:

• Blossom Vietnamese Restaurant (which occupies the corner & the adjacent space to the right with the awning)
  
• Stella Dottir (next to the tree)
  
• Raw Materials (you can almost make out their sign)
  
• An empty space for lease that used to house Main St. Tattoos (which tells us that this was shot within the past two months)
  
• Metropolis Books

So, was this shot from our old apartment? I highly doubt that. It's either shot from the roof of the Old Bank District Garage or the roof the Hellman Building. Still, it's fun recognizing your neighborhood.

New Streetlamp on Main Street

A few weeks ago, some of the old streetlamps on Main Street were replaced with cobra style streetlamps like this one:



When I tweeted about this, I received a response suggesting that this was a temporary move. On Monday, this was confirmed.

First, they installed a new base:



Then, the mid-section:



Then, the retro style top:



Screw in the actual lamps:



And voila! New streetlamp



And whadda ya know? It works!



To see more photos of the installation, go here.

Sunday Sunset on Main

While watching the Vikings-Saints game, I spied on this view out the window:



More here