A Rabbi, a Mayor, and a Cheerleader Walk into a Blog....

Hmmm.

I swear this isn’t how I planned this, but I have to work some pictures in here.

In the last thirty days, I’ve had my picture taken with the mayor of one of the fifty largest cities in the United States, a cheerleader from a NCAA Division 1 school, and a rabbi.

See if you can tell who is who.

Exhibit "A"

Exhibit "B"
Exhibit "C"

If you guessed that picture "A" was of me with a rabbi, clearly you have no concept of what a rabbi is. Everyone knows that rabbis generally don’t grow past 6 and a half feet tall. If they do, they tend to have problems with chuppas, which make them undesirable wedding officiators.

You’d be closer if you guessed cheerleader from Syracuse. You’d be closer, but you’d still be wrong. The man I am pictured with is none other than the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Mufi Hanneman. He played basketball at Harvard and is 6’ 7” (too tall for a rabbi). I met Mayor Hanneman at an Iolani alumni event in New York City on February 29 and he
indulged me with a photo. He graduated from Iolani in June 1972, three months before I matriculated there as a kindergartener.

This picture was taken by Frogma and my original intent was to just show it to my Mom so she could show it to everyone she knew and brag that the Mayor and I were cool enough to do the simultaneous shaka. I decided to include this picture in the post because, if I asked people to guess who was a rabbi and who was a cheerleader, that would be too easy. Throwing in a mayor
spices things up a bit.

If you thought the picture "B" was of me with a rabbi, clearly, again, you have no concept of what a rabbi is. And Annie (the one without the tie or grey in her hair) is too young to be mayor. Annie is on the cheerleading squad at Syracuse University and was in town for the Big East basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden.

If you are perplexed by the fact that a random cheerleader half my age would agree to be photographed with me, don’t be. Annie is the cousin of a co-worker and was swinging by work to say hi to her after the game. This photo demonstrates that sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. I was also aided by the fact that I always wear deodorant and have a generally pleasant disposition.

Ok. I’m sure all you geniuses have deduced that picture "C" is with me and a rabbi. Sure, he’s a young rabbi, but he’s still a rabbi. A rabbi who agreed to pose with me the same day I had my picture taken with Annie. Rabbi Micah Kelber was willing to be photographed with me because he is a regular visitor to BillyBlog and he agreed that his presence would help lessen the shock that many readers would have after seeing a picture of yours truly with a cheerleader.

I am using Rabbi Kelber’s full name because now, when people google his name, they will find BillyBlog, and see how cool he is, being in the same post with a cheerleader and the Mayor of Honolulu. It's Six Degrees of Billy Cohen.

[On a side note, I am seen walking across the screen as the credits roll in a show called "Tales from the Whoop: Hot Rod Brown Class Clown". Whoopi Goldberg starred in that. Whoopi was in Ghost with Demi Moore. Demi Moore was in A Few Good Men with, you guessed it, Kevin Bacon. That's only three degrees for me.]

Thanks to Mayor Mufi, Annie, and Rabbi Kelber for helping me with this post.

Miscel-LA-neous Photos from Saturday

As reported below/previously, I was in my former home base (1985-1997) of Los Angeles over the weekend, and on Saturday, riding shotgun with my brother, then my sister, I was El Touristo in the car, snapping pictures left and right, of blog-possible sights. They may or not be worthy, but they encapsulate my state of mind on the way to Pink's, at Pink's, and after Pink's. You could say it was Pinky on the Brain, but it's a beautiful city, in its mad L.A. way.

Saturday was a cold, sunny day. Cold for Southern California, but the sun still blazed warm. Above, the sun is just beginning to dip in the West, as we head East on the Santa Monica Freeway (aka "The 10"). The photo doesn't show it well enough, but out beyond downtown, we could see the San Gabriel Mountains and the snow-capped top of Mt. Baldy.

Below, also on the 10, I see that California DMV has loosened its liscence plate restrictions:


Earlier on La Brea, I saw this cool bookstore name:


More info on IL Literature here.

Below, not a great shot, but an eclectic junk/chair yard. I thought the yellow hand chair was cool, especially in proximity to the Pacifico beer cooler.



There once was (and still may be) a very popular lecture at Occidental College called "L.A. the Magnificent" given by Professor Robert Winter (see his books here). He loves L.A. architecture. Yet he bemoaned the absurdity that often befell great buildings in a city as transient and ever-changing as L.A. I think this following example might get his goat. I thought I had recognized it immediately, as the old May Company building at the corner of La Brea and Wilshire. Further research showed I had misidentified it, but I did unearth this trivia about the Glen-Wilson Building, at 5225 Wilshire Boulevard:

Designed by Meyer and Holler (of Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian Theatre fame), the Streamline Moderne and ZigZag tower is the tallest of the three 1920s high-rises on the Miracle Mile. It used to feature a dirigible mast soaring from the top, but Mutual of Omaha removed the mast when the insurer owned the building — costing it eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.

It was completed in 1929 and is thirteen stories tall. Current tenants include Jack Slomovitz Photographs, Core Pilates, and the offices of Mr. Mudd, the company that produced the film, Ghost World. Also notable is Sheila Kelly's S. Factor L.A. Studio, where an introductory class in S. Factor striptease workout and pole dancing is only $40.

But I digress. So what has become of this 78-year old Art Deco classic? Look and weep:




Yes, it has been topped with a hideous Samsung billboard. Brilliant advertising placement = architectural rape. That's okay, we all know the tops of Art Deco buildings are boring anyway.

Now let me climb down off of my soapbox and end with one final shot, taken from the line at Pink's. Seth gets credit for spotting the sign, I get credit for framing the photo with an added bonus:


Closer inspection leads to puzzlement:


What does that mean? You get free pupus when you purchase your poppies? Half-price well drinks when you drink from buttercups?

But the piece-de-resistance for me was the guy in line ahead of us, at the bottom of the frame. You can't see his cool Green Lantern t-shirt, but you can admire the biggest, bushiest sideburns this side of 1975:


Well, that's that. Back to NYC and single digit wind chills (Winter's finally here. Or is it?)