Adam J. Choit

I wanted to give everyone an update with Where’s My Crosswalk?

I’m happy to report that I received an email a few days ago from Deborah Murphy, Chair of the L.A. Pedestrian Advisory Committee.  She gave me the great news that after completing a study of the area, the L.A. Department of Transportation has come to the conclusion that a new traffic signal is indeed needed at Vista St. and Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.  Construction is expected to begin sometime within the next fiscal year, which I believe begins in October.

I’m not exactly sure what kind of traffic signal will be installed, but I’m sure whatever is constructed will make the area a lot more safe for pedestrians, and will definitely help local businesses by making it that much more convenient for people to get to them.  I’ll keep you all posted as more information comes in, and I definitely plan to shoot some sort of “afters” of the area.  If possible, I’ll do my best to get out there to capture some of the construction, and maybe grab a few sound bites as well.

Lastly, I wanted to thank everyone who helped this all come to fruition — Deborah Murphy of course, as well as Curbed LA writer Adam Kudler, and Streetsblog writer Damien Newton.  Also thanks to LA Taco, and everyone else who posted and re-posted my video and/or blurbs about this story on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  It was very much greatly appreciated!

You’ve heard that I’m sure — that people we know, or even famous people die in threes.  Eh.  I don’t know about that.  Believe it or not, people die all the time.

As far as celebrity people are concerned, there’s just way too much gray area for me to buy into the dying-in-threes thing.  I mean, how famous does one have to be, to be part of the club?  Also, what are the rules with the passage of time? — like if two relatively famous people die, then a third three weeks later — that would count, right?  But what about a third death five weeks later, or seven weeks later?

Recently, we lost Dick Clark, Junior Seau, Maurice Sendak, and just yesterday the hair guy Vidal Sassoon had the nerve to die, making it four reasonably famous people dead, within just 22 days.

So what do you expect me to do?  We’re not gonna change this to the rule-of-fours now, are we?  Maybe we oughta just knock the least famous person out of the bunch.  I think Dick Clark for sure is safe, but with the other three, there’s less clarity.

So in conclusion, there is no “dying-in-threes” — only “dying-in-one-hundred-seven-billions.” (depending on who you ask, give or take a buncha billions+ since the dawn of man 50,000 years ago)

I don’t know if you’ve seen it — that commercial for LegalZoom.com featuring an endorsement from former O.J. Simpson defense attorney and LegalZoom co-founder, Robert Shapiro.  At first I was a bit taken aback.  All my brain heard and saw, were the words “LegalZoom” and “Robert Shapiro.”  After a couple of seconds went by, the name Robert Shapiro rang a bell.  “Hey, isn’t he that guy who helped O.J. get off in the murder trial?  Not Johnnie Cochran.  The other guy.”

Sure, most people probably know Robert Shapiro immediately upon hearing the man’s name, but let me remind you that while it was dubbed “The Trial of the Century,” as a kid, I more or less just saw coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial as something that day-after-day just annoyingly interfered with Sports Center’s showing of game highlights.

So anyway, when Shapiro popped up on my TV, I thought to myself, why would I want to work with LegalZoom, a company associated with a man who helped another man essentially get away with murder.  I mean, just because someone is famous, this doesn’t automatically mean he or she is a good fit for selling products and services to the general public.  But after all, this is for LegalZoom and legal services.  So who better to represent an online-lawyering service company than a man who helped a former client literally get away with murder.  So just imagine what they can do for you…

And it’s not that I’m trying to judge Shapiro for his actions (at least not intentionally).  After all, we’re supposed to be entitled to due process and a fair trial.  I say “supposed to be,” given our Federal government’s recent passing of the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act).  But that’s a topic for another blog, for now just Google “NDAA indefinite detention.”  Because with the NDAA now, even Robert Shapiro might not be able to help you.

After “Where’s My Crosswalk?” has made the rounds on the Internet this week, Fox 11 followed up with a story about this area of Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA — between Gardner and Poinsettia by Guitar Center, Sam Ash, & Aroma Cafe.

No mention of me or my video, but hey, at least they’re covering this and helping the cause.

Because there needs to be a crosswalk on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA — between N. Gardner St. & N. Poinsettia Pl. How dare they inconvenience me by making me horseshoe around at the closest, but rather distant traffic light.

It’s not exactly the safest place out there, either.

As some of you may already know, a while back I contacted the L.A. D.O.T. suggesting we need a crosswalk, right near Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA.  Since the city dismissed my suggestion, I made this short documentary which shows very much why a crosswalk is necessary for pedestrian safety.  A crosswalk in this location would actually benefit local economy as well, by making it more convenient for pedestrians to get from business to business.

Please watch & share, help force the city to take action. #wheresmycrosswalk

What’s a stamp cost these days, 44 cents?  Although the price of stamps has gone up steadily over the years, it’s still pretty amazing to think that one can send a letter from Miami to Seattle, and it costs so little.

Nevertheless, I still had a ridiculous idea for some postal shenanigans (I’m sure I’m not the first person ever to think of doing this).  I’ve never actually tried this, but I wonder if anyone has actually done the following: 1) Put the address you actually want to send a letter to in the left corner of an envelope, as if it’s the return address.  2) Put pretty much any address you want in the middle portion of the envelope 3) Do not put a stamp on the envelope.

Shouldn’t the letter then be sent back to the return address — like if someone attempted to mail it without postage?

I suppose someone might catch on to this, but it’s not as if people don’t mail letters to one another from places other than from where they live.  If I need to send someone a letter, but I’m on vacation far from home, I would still put my actual home address as the return address, not a hotel or anything like that obviously.

I mean, if you put a letter out to be mailed from a residential address, and you stick it in your mailbox to go, the mailman might just leave it there — but what about with public mailboxes, and mailboxes at the post office?

I don’t know.  This whole thing seems like a great (terrible) idea that would just be too easy, and thus would never work.

If this actually did work, I’m pretty sure everyone would already be doing it…

They (whoever “they” are), always seem to say that funerals aren’t for the dead, and that they are for the living.  Well, if that’s true, then weddings aren’t for the bride and groom, they are for the guests —- at least in the following case:

A friend of mine recently told me a story about a time when he worked as security in a downtown Los Angeles high-rise, in a building that often hosted events such as wedding parties.  I figured I’d forward this story along.

Inside the building there was a fancy private club on the bottom floor.  During an “upper class” wedding this one time, my friend and other members of the security team got called downstairs for a “disturbance.”  Upon his arrival, my friend witnessed the groom (obviously drunk as all hell) running around the room, yelling at the bride, “You fucked every guy in here you whore!”  Wow.  I can’t think of a better way for a couple to start off their new life together as a married couple.

Needless to say, the groom had to be removed…from his own wedding.  My friend and the rest of security had to physically remove the guy from the premises, and put him in a cab.  While they were carrying the groom out of his own wedding, the groom was giving all the security guys big hugs, and saying stuff like, “You guys are the best.  Fuck everyone else in there, they fucked my wife…but you guys are cool.”

This being one of the most drunken debaucherous weddings ever, even after the groom had left, the party continued on — as if nothing even happened.  I wonder if the bride ended up going on the honeymoon with someone other than the groom.

I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but surely some movie(s) has had a situation in which a blind person witnesses a crime.   Well, maybe not as an eyewitness, but the blind character either heard the crime/criminals, or perhaps even made physical contact with them.

I’m too lazy to Google anything, or to take the time to do any legitimate research, but I wonder how it works in real life when it comes to blind people witnessing crimes.  For the visually-abled, they have the standard lineup of people to choose from to help the cops identify a suspect.   With blind people though, what do cops do?

Do they play the sounds of six different guys yelling out the same sentence?  Do they ask the blind people to smell the lineup of suspects?  How would that work though, since the suspects can’t come in direct contact with the witnesses.  Somehow the cops would have to contain, and I guess bottle the smell of each suspect.

They have this shit on C.S.I. yet?  And by the way, what is the deal with C.S.I.?  It’s the highest rated show or something, yet I don’t know a single person who watches it.