You know you’re in LA when…

the street musicians turn out to be really good.

I got a CD from these guys today, while down at 3rd Street Promenade:

Los Pinguos on the 3rd Street Promenade. Way cooler than Express.

The snow-covered San Gabriel mountains are beautiful these days– so beautiful that I am enjoying driving on the highway, looking at palm trees against the mountains.

Meanwhile, another way you know you are in LA: everyone around you (and I mean everyone– even the overweight 50-something year old couple walking down the street next to you) has given in to the Ed Hardy trend. I myself tried to buy a discounted tiger t-shirt from Loehmann’s yesterday, but couldn’t find my size. Below, the flagship Melrose store (before the security guard noticed me taking a photo and kicked me out):

Not only can you wear an Ed Hardy t-shirt, but a coat, belt, tights, and hat too!

Note the skull...

 

Someone, I’m sure, could say something very interesting and deep about the connections between Mexican Day of the Dead imagery and biker tattoos, and how Christian Audiger has managed to popularize the style and imagery of a subculture and sell it to the masses. That person, however, would not be me, as I am unable to think of a 2nd sentence to follow the last. All I know is, 1) we watched “Raising Arizona” last night, and the Biker of the Apocalypse character had a very classic Day of the Dead skull design on his arm tattoo, and that movie is fairly old (1987), and (2) my sister reports that the TJ Maxx in Cleveland, Ohio (a discount re-seller of clothing, for those not in the know) has a huge surplus of Ed Hardy merchandise. From this I conclude, uh, both that the popularization of Chicano/biker tattoo themes was a long time in coming, and that perhaps it did not sell so well outside of LA.