Well it didn’t disappear, but a bunch of rich somebodies took there money out of the bank within a few hours. I find that strange. I also find the lack of coverage on this strange. I unfortunately don’t have the resources to check this out, but someone who does: Maybe some unemployed journalist with some free time and an employed spouse or trustfund could check this out. Continue reading
Holidays mean an opportunity for jobbers to make a buck, and Valentine’s day is one of the biggest days to cash in. I took a few random pics of some of the ones I passed by, click ahead to see.
A look back at California
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Companies that might not survive, with fun commentary put in by me, so you won’t be bored.
Rite Aid. (Ticker symbol: RAD; about 100,000 employees; 1-year stock-price decline: 92%).
This is unfortunate. I will now have to walk all the way to the downtown Ralph’s to get the mind numbing kind of alcohol that makes your forget everything. They should have stayed Thrifty’s. I still call it Thrifty’s
Claire’s Stores. (Privately owned; about 18,000 employees.) On the rare occasions I do go to the mall, where will I get my cheap jewelry from? I need cheap jewelry and hair accessories made in a random third world country to go along with my  Hot Topic t-shirt of a band that started before I was alive. Who is this Pink Floyd? Who cares, they make a cute T-shirt. Continue reading
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A Margaret Bourke-White Photo
Here is a volunteer information list of all of the companies who are or who have given people notice that they will no longer have a job.
After the company name is the layoff date and the number of affected workers
Just so you can get a feel of how bad it is this is just for the first two months of 2009 (and February just started.) There are 19 pages of companies.
In 2006 there were only 24 pages for the entire year.
In 2008 44 pages.
At this rate we’ll have 120 pages of layoffs by the end of 2009. At about 40 companies per page the amount of job losses would be staggering.
H/T to LoveandHateLA
AUTOBYTEL IRVINE 5 1/2/09
AT&T, WORLD WIDE CUSTOMER
SERVICE
SAN RAMON 37 2/27/09
AT&T, NATIONAL CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
SAN RAMON 16 2/6/09
AT&T , ADVANCE SOLUTIONS INC MONTEREY PARK 81 3/24/09
ANESIVA, INC SOUTH SAN
FRANCISCO
62 1/9/09
AT&T COMPANY PLEASANTON 16 1/30/09
AT&T COMPANY SAN RAMON 55 1/23/09
AT&T COMPANY PLEASANTON 27 2/6/09
ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED SAN JOSE 191 2/3/09
ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED SAN FRANCISCO 75 2/3/09
ALZA CORPORATION MOUNTAIN VIEW 29 3/20/09
ADVANCED MEDICAL OPTICS MILPITAS 61 1/17/09
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD LOS ANGELES 4 1/31/09
A FIRSTGROUP AMERICA CO DBAFIRST
TRANSIT
LOS ANGELES 177 2/28/09
photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times website
If you didn’t live in Los Angeles during the early 90s, count your lucky stars. It was a rough time to live in my beloved city, there was a crack epidemic, people were in dire straits and I knew folks that were either getting shot or doing the shooting. And then there were the riots…I’ve been thinking a lot about those times lately, the economy is bad and that means people start getting desperate. Two events today are reminiscent of those dark times.
I was at Figueroa Produce today on York and Figueroa stocking up on my veggies and Mediterranean products when the police rush up in a patrol car, sirens wailing to the nearby 99 cent store. An employee or guard has a guy on the ground outside the front door. The police order him to stand up and to put his hands on his head. There’s an ambulance there. Did he shoot someone? And two firetrucks. Could one man cause so much trouble?
I remark on the drama to the young clerk at Figueroa Produce, she shrugs and says “You know the economy’s getting bad when they start robbing 99 cent stores.” Ah, from the mouth of babes, indeed.
Tonight in the industrial section of Lincoln Heights, a woman was found shot in her car. Her life was worth a 41 second clip on KCAL news. The story was being reported from a helicopter. Women in our neighborhood are not worth a newsvan.
Okay, it can’t be that bad. Let me tell you what it reads:
1. Sevende ropa exclusiva interior para hombre.
2. Masaje de hombre para hombres y mujeres, que quieran salir de la rutina experimentar algo nuevo, llamadas serias por favor $ open
And if you read between the lines (literally) in english it reads:
Sale interior man ander weres different sizes & models.
Man to man masage women’s welcom IM BI
And if you read between the lines figuratively, it’s an ad for sex, complete with phone number and address. Sex for pay is nothing new but I thought it was a bit desparate to see it at a crosswalk, with so much information on where to get these services. And I thought knock-on-my-door-pupusas were brazen! Salir de la rutina indeed.
Sas!
PS. info blurred to protect the job seeker.
It’s not uncommon for people to sell stuff from their homes in working class communities; every little bit helps to make ends meet. And I don’t mean ebay either, though I bet that computer route is getting popular too. Often it’s food items, sold mostly via a mobile setup (ala eloteros, tamaleros, etc) or from a makeshift outdoor kitchen that hangs the open sign during the evening dinner rush. I’ve known of places where you can knock on the door and ask for a plate of something, and the lady would get to cooking. But since these sorts of kitchens are probably illegal, they were kept kinda quiet, advertising being done by word of mouth. But I guess things are really getting rough: in Lincoln Heights, Jose the pupusa vendor put up a sign with his phone and Apt. number so you can purchase some of his $1.50 Salvadoran treats. “Savado y Domingo Solamente.”
When you don’t have a trust fund to fall back on, parents that can pay your rent or front you the money for a house, an inheritance that’s just a heartbeat away, the right connections, or the various forms of plan B middle class people crazily assume everyone has, then you learn to be resourceful. Hats off to Jose and his knock-on-my-door pupusa solution, a self-bailout plan that we can all emulate!
My personal predictions for businesses that might go belly-up in 2009……
1)Â Â Â K-Mart
2)Â Â Â Blockbuster Video
3)Â Â Â Sears
4)Â Â Â L.A. Weekly
5)Â Â Â JC Penny
6)Â Â Â Radio Shack
7)Â Â Â Krispy Kremes
8)Â Â Â Sizzler
9)Â Â Â Big 5 Sporting Goods
10)Â Yahoo
11)Â Clear Channel
My quest for a car to destroy has come to an end. The results will be performed in a symbolic ritual involving a sledge hammer an eighteen wheeler and small children.
Anti-consumerism is the theme the tools to be discussed will be public transportation and a tossing away of all things that you think you need to be happy.
What is your addiction(s)?
An enterprising citizen of Lincoln Heights gave Micro Loft living a go recently on a busy intersection of N. Broadway, but locals mostly ignored the concept, as can be seen in the photo above. With a small area for the Tupperware kitchen, a lightpost headboard, and some “facilities”, this attempt at urban space reclamation was short lived, all signs of this experiment had vanished a few days later when I went back to this corner. Even though the rent was appropriately priced, the constant flow of pedestrians thru the bedroom and the excessive banging on the crosswalk button above the pillow made for terrible sleeping conditions, even though the views were spectacular.
Click ahead for a pic of the garage!
I was reading the Uncle Fatlips blog and on his page I found a great resource, RentalForeclosure.com.
On it you can look up where you are renting and see if you will soon be homeless.
I found out my building is in foreclosure or has received a notice of foreclosure.
Al put up this little post before the New Year on Max Romeau a person who is a real estate agent with a twist. He matches people without homes to foreclosed homes. I thought it was such an awesome thing, so I decided to do some investigation.
Max is part of organization called Take Back the Land.
Here’s a video with Max explaining his purpose.