Dinotopia, Light, Concrete, Battlestar...

James Gurney, creator of Dinotopia and former next-door neighbor, has put up a photo of the "crest" from my first apartment complex after moving to Los Angeles. "The Golden Palms." I wish I could say this had me waxing nostalgic, but truth be told, that place was a real dump. And moving out was one of the sweeter moments of my L.A. sojourn... in the hour it took to load up the rental truck, we were "decorated" by a tagger!

Other memories include catching a tenant selling guns out of the trunk of his car, the night a biker gang decided to party in the courtyard, death threats against a very good friend after he caught a gang member stealing a barbecue (!), and several blood-soaked evenings when "things got out of hand" between assorted tenants. I remember fondly the night I walked up the driveway past puddles of blood to find a drunken tenant being restrained by ambulance attendants... he had severed a vein after punching through his ex-wife's front window. Ahh, memories...

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/gp-golden-palms.html