Don’t worry about me here out on the west coast. I know it’s flooding, pouring rain for the next 70 days and you guys might need boats to make it around but I pulled the weather report for the rest of 2009 in Los Angeles and it says sunny. Cody Wellons from S3 Magazine has even started a website called ATLflood.com which has a photo that looks strikingly like it was from my old house at 1280 West.Thank goodness we moved out west to the drought. I have yet to see a harder rain than a sprinkle in the year I have lived here and it rarely lasts more than 30 minutes, amazing I know. One thing I don’t miss is the stupid rain.

Check out the 75-85 Interchange underwater: http://www.atlflood.com/news/?p=13

Before Baywatch and the pollution was a very crowded Venice Beach. This photo was linked on CurbedLA and I had to post it. I have been on a vintage Los Angeles kick lately and this was a great moment in time. I cannot believe the beach was this packed back in the 20′s. It looks like less people in Los Angeles had jobs back then compared to now.

So tonight is Richmond International Raceway which is the final race before the chase and “playoffs.” Richmond is a 3/4 mile D shaped track made of asphalt. The stadium fits just over 112,000 people and people will be glued to the television to see who will make the chase.

With Monza this weekend in Formula 1 and the Richmond race tonight it’s a weekend full of some great racing we cannot wait to come on television. My favorite NASCAR driver and the most hated man on the track Kyle Busch currently sits in 14th place. By my numbers it would appear he must finish in front of Brian Vickers by 3 positions and Matt Kenseth by 7 positions. This is going to be a great race weekend for fans so stay tuned to your television.

Sorry I have been posting so much non automotive related content but I will work on getting some more of that coming on the blog when I can. I am a huge tennis fan and have been for quite sometime. When I was little my Memere (French for grandmother) would always take me to watch her play tennis and I’ve been a fan every since. Countless travel hours on the road are wasted playing Virtua Tennis 3 and many hours watching endless coverage of the major events.

Watching the US Open I first noticed this girl from Marietta, Georgia when she faced off against my favorite female tennis player of all time, Maria Sharapova. Watching Melanie stay composed and defeat her was truly amazing. Melanie managed to win me over as a fan from her residence in Marietta, Georgia. I grew up right there until I moved to Los Angeles last year and love her representing in the US Open for Georgia.

Appearing in only her second US Open,, Oudin ousted seeded players Elena Dementieva (4), Maria Sharapova (29), and Nadia Petrova (13) on her way to the quarterfinals. Entering the quarterfinals she was the youngest to enter since Serena Williams in 1999. Last night she was defeated by a 19 year-old Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark in a tough 6-2/6-2 set. She shook up woman’s tennis and hopefully the next majors will be as exciting as this US Open ladder.

While reading the LA Times today I learned that 40 miles of Angeles Crest Highway is closed indefinitely due to the Station Fire. Just before the fires I took out this 2009 Scion tC RS 5.0 for a photo shoot and drove around half of the highway. I hadn’t been up the highway and up Mount Wilson since December 2004 when I came to visit for JGTC. With the whole area closed down for quite a long time I am glad we captured the area in it’s beauty before the fires attacked it.

According to Caltrans the reason for the long road closure isn’t from the pavement being damaged but the fires have ruined guardrails, street signs, and the road stripping. Lucky we took the Scion tC up when we did because I am guessing the road will be closed close to the rest of the year. Anyone that has any recommendations for any other roads I can use to shoot on in Northern/Western Los Angeles I would love to hear suggestions.

You can check out my review of the Scion tC 5.0 Release series over in our Road Trips section of Wrecked Magazine. I know next month we will be testing the new Nissan 370z for our website so stay on the lookout for that hitting the Road Trips section as well.

Although I have been a resident of Los Angeles, California for almost a year I have not attended a baseball game in Los Angeles since my arrival in November. In the honor of celebrating America I decided what better weekend than Labor Day to head out to Dodger Stadium to eat a Dodger Dog, drink some beer, and enjoy America’s past time.

An interesting fact that most of you might not know about me is that for two baseball seasons I operated the Publix Friday Night Fireworks at Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves with Jason Small. Here are some photos of a Friday Night Firework Show at Turner Field. So I may not be the die hard baseball fan I once was growing up hoarding Topps Rooke Cards but I still have a pretty jaded view of professional baseball you can enjoy below.

I have to admit that I haven’t been a huge fan of baseball in sometime but when I did follow baseball back in the 1990′s I was a huge Cleveland Indians fan. Back in the Cleveland Indians glory days we had two stars that now play for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the likes of recently acquired Jim Thome and of course Manny Ramirez. So getting a chance to see those guys in person was pretty exciting.

While the game I attended saw the Los Angeles Dodgers fall just short with a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres I have to admit that I like the ballgame culture around the Dodgers more than I do about most teams in the MLB. Sure, most fans show up in the 2nd inning and cheer louder/more about the beach balls flying around the stands than the actual baseball game unless Manny is up but the stadium is old and built for baseball and you have to respect that.

For those of you that don’t know Dodger Stadium is the third oldest baseball stadium still in use. The oldest stadium being Fenway Park (Boston RedSox) and second oldest field is Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs). I’ve been to baseball games in roughly 6-10 MLB stadiums and the first thing that strikes you about Dodger Stadium is the seating capacity. They fill up at 56,000 making it the largest stadium seating wise in Major League Baseball. This title was handed to them recently with the retirement this year of Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium.

Some other notes on why I like the Los Angeles Dodgers:

-The stadium is named after the team which is a true rarity these days in pro sports period.
-The whole place is BLUE. Anywhere you look in this place screams it’s love and support for the home team.
-It’s a stadium built for baseball and only that unlike all these new modern “multi purpose stadiums” that suck
-People in Los Angeles actually take Manny Ramirez serious and don’t seem to wonder why he plays in the outfield.
- They play fundamentally perfect baseball which I never saw growing up National League East.