Not Exactly a Day at the Beach

We expect to see seagulls at Lake Balboa, but this raucous flock was gathered around a rather pathetic puddle in a parking lot at Victory and Owensmouth. The real attraction seemed to be an uncovered dumpster filled with garbage from a couple of nearby restaurants.

Grasshopper

It's not unusual to find grasshoppers drowned in the pool, but this one saved itself by perching on a hose. The gray bird grasshopper (Schistocerca nitens) is native to the American southwest. We see a lot of them here this time of year. They appear in shades of gray or brown, and can be as much as three inches long. (This one was definitely that big.) They eat plants, but unlike some other species (including locusts) they do not form huge, destructive swarms. They fly rather awkwardly, sometimes crashing into people when they should be escaping.

Incineration

In the 1940s and 50s, it was typical for houses built in South California to have these back yard incinerators for burning household trash. Use of the incinerators was considered by many to be a major source of air pollution, although others believed that industry and automobiles were really to blame. By the end of the 1950s, use of the incinerators had been banned, and most were eventually hauled away, presumably to landfills. But a few remain, often forgotten behind a tool shed or in an overgrown corner of the yard. This one, in remarkably good condition, has been kept by the homeowner because her pet tortoise likes to sleep in it.

Eichler Homes

In the early 1960's, well-known real estate developer Joseph Eichler built a tract of around 100 houses in an area sometimes called Balboa Highlands, in Granada Hills. The principal architects were A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons. Many owners have remodeled these midcentury homes, while others have preserved and restored the original style. This one on Nanette Street was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 848 in 2006.