Tuesday, October 30, 2007

back in business

the LA Derby Dolls are no longer homeless! as of last weekend, we are the proud occupants of a ginormous warehouse at 1910 Temple Ave., just west of Alvarado (the neighborhood is Historic Filipino Town, and we are adjacent to Silver Lake and Echo Park). capacity has been tentatively set at 1600. holy shit! maybe now our games won't sell out days in advance (though it would be pretty amazing if they still did).

the inaugural bout in our new home is slated for november 17, sirens v. tough cookies. i'll let you know know when tickets become available.

in the meantime, here are some pics from last weekend's move-in and track build:





we haven't settled on a name for our new digs, which will serve as a practice space, administrative HQ and bout venue. "temple of the dolls" (in honor of the temple street location) and "the doll factory" are currently league favorites. what do you guys think?

Thursday, October 4, 2007

have bike, will travel

though i've been quiet since my return from europe, it was more than two weeks ago that shannon, my roommate, retrieved my globe-trotting ass from LAX. she'd spent the summer in new york completing an archival internship, and our airport rendezvous was the first time i'd seen her since june. beneath the air canada sign, i waited with my bags. as she navigated her red volvo toward the curb, i thought: summer's over.

since my return to hollywood (and more importantly, my bedroom), i've been writing about the bike tour, which can only be described as epic. i'm at about 7000 words - way too many for a blog update. until i'm able to whittle shit down to something easily digestible and appropriately cyber, i'll placate you guys with pictures. don't most folks prefer those over words anyway?





in brief: though i was abroad for more than two weeks, the ride from london to paris took 6 days, and the route was approximately 250 miles. i have decided that bicycle is the best way to travel, and i hope to never vacation without one again.

check out all the photos from my trip here.