Pink pistola found after bloody shooting shocks Bel Air barrio

I was waiting for my burrito from Arturo's BBQ in the parking lot of the former Bel Air Foods on Roscomare Road in Bel Air Monday when a groundsman found a small semiautomatic pistol at the edge of the lot.

He called his boss; the boss called his security company. The security guy called the LAPD.

A neighbor showed up and said that at 3 in the morning +/- bloodied shooting victims were knocking on doors on his side street asking for help.

Before I split (hey my burrito was getting cold!) I photographed the TAURUS .380 where the landscaper found it.

When I got home I shared the photo on my local Nextdoor (Bel Air Hills).

It turned into an epic thread:

I got a nice write-up in Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent

I like being an "active adult" –– especially considering the alternative.

You can read the story beginning on page 16 of this online PDF.
Here's how it starts out...

The birds are singing out back [video]

Here's about a minute of birdsong, shot on the western edge of my apartment complex back yard. We're overlooking Hamner Drive in Upper Bel Air.

Arturo’s BBQ – the food truck – is the Fresh Grill of Bel Air (video)

Mis amigos Ricardo and Arturo are feeding a lot of hungry people at Arturo’s BBQ on the south side of Mulholland Drive east of the 405 Freeway in Upper Bel Air.

Their six-month-old upscale food truck, parked around the corner from American Jewish University, serves grilled tri-tip, baby back ribs, chicken, half-pound hamburguesas, salmon, and burritos, tacos, tortas, and even ceviche. We visited one morning last week — before the lunch rush started — to see wassup. [Disclosure: They have insisted on treating me to lunch. Twice.]

I'm not sure these plants originated on Earth

 

Jacarandas are blooming in Los Angeles

Another one bites the Patch

I'm pleased to announce I'll be joining the local Patch.com operation next month.

If it all works out as planned, I'll be building, running and growing brentwood.patch.com, here on Los Angeles' West Side.

The Brentwood neighborhood stretches from the Bel Air on the east, the San Fernando Valley on the north, Pacific Palisades to the west and Santa Monica and West Los Angeles to the south and is home to families and horses, small homes and huge estates, small business and big corporations, struggling college students and megamillionaires.

My aim -- as I detailed a year ago in this blog -- is to use the Web to give all my neighbors a voice online and that's exactly the Patch.com business plan.  It's a perfect fit as far as I'm concerned!

I'm especially enthusiastic because Patch.com is what's known as a "pure Internet play." The online presence is all there is; unlike my previous gigs as the Web guy for  LACMA.org,  JewishJournal.com, SpinalTap.com, EndWorldTerror.com,  there is no associated museum, newspaper, band/movie or art project underlying the site. We're electric, in the air, in the cloud 24/7.  No atoms, just electrons.

I don't know how much time I'll have for this blog, or hanging out on Facebook, but you know where to reach me. Until then, I hope your Thanksgiving will be as joyous as mine.