Half-staff

French flag half staff  for a France in mourning

 

At the French Consul home in Los Angles, Thursday evening, Bastille Day celebration  is tainted with sadness. 

Cliché or stereotype ?

Strolling on Santa Monica boulevard in West Hollywood, one can find a little bit of Paris...  Can  you  hear an accordéon in the background ?

Paris crêpe café, West Hollywood, CA

NO  REMARQUABLE  EXIT

L.A.  Sunday Feb 27, evening : No Oscar for "Exit by the Gift Shop " last night.....   We were hoping to finally discover ZE unmasked Banksy during the ceremony  (security reason) but the mystery lingers.

Does only one person know?  Does  Mr Brainwash AKA  Frenchman Thierry Getta know? mrbrainwash.com

AU REVOIR , JACQUES.

With sadness, we all learned last month that Jack LaLanne,  the fitness guru, passed away at the age of  96.

A pioneer in health and fitness, he relentlessly reminded us to exercise and  stay away from junk food.
Born in 1915 on a farm  near Bakersfield , both his parents where  French immigrants.  In 1887, His father,  Jean Lalanne ( french spelling), left the Béarn  to work on a  California farm. Twelve years later, he met Jeanne Caraig,  also born in France who came to the US in 1898.  A few years later,  Jean  was  was hired by a telephone company and the whole family moved to San Francisco. 

We can imagine little Jack first athletic stint:  To climb on telephone poles that his father was dressing.

http://www.jacklalanne.com/jacks-adventures

PARIS - L. A. 
Recently year, Air France threw a party to celebrate the 50th year anniversary of its regular  line between Paris and L.A. 
The food was good ( France oblige)  and  models clad as flying attendant mingled among the guests  in vintage uniforms ( Balenciaga, Cardin)
This new connection between the continents made LA a little bit closer to Europe: a record of 13 hours and a half of flying time after a necessary stop over in Montreal for re-fueling. 

Today, the same flight is shorten by two hours for the same route, not because the aircraft is faster, but only because there is no fueling stop. 
If you think it is a long flight, be thankful to live in the jet age ! 
In 1860, the only option was to sail from coastal France to California.  Allowing, in the best case , between 3 and 4 months,  sometimes more.
Fifty years later, in 1910,  the traveler had to spend  almost two whole weeks to reach Los Angeles spending 5 days at sea and  5 days on the transcontinental railroad with  a change in Chicago
From 6 months to  a week then to 13 hours,  big steps every 50 years.