San Pedro: Block by Block

…ladder. I passed this house on Patton that had a rope swing in one tree and this rope ladder in the other. Anytime I think about kids playing in trees it reminds me of the Sound of Music. A perfect movie to show these rope climbing children when it’s raining like today.

It’s not a SPBXB posting day without a picture of a beatiful home.

My Grandma taught my little sister to say that when she was a toddler, so she would say it everytime she knocked on a door. She may not know the origins of the saying but she knew it meant “Open the door and let me in”, which is exactly what this cat means when it sits on the brick ledge by the mailbox.

Walking the streets I’ve noticed that San Pedro has grown from east to west. But it also seems that a lot of the neighborhoods to the south are older than some of the northern areas. Its just an observation. But as I travel south, I’ve noticed more and more contractor’s stamps in the sidewalks. Some have dates, but most are just names.


This one may be local.

I got a little curious about the practice of stamping names into concrete so I went poking around the internet and found a few blogs, one in Berkeley specifically that is trying to catalog and preserve the sidewalk stamps. I also found an LA Times article from 1997 about the stamps.

You can read the whole article here, but here are some excerpts I found interesting.

“Contractors’ practice of stamping their names on concrete streets, alleys and sidewalks curbs apparently started in Los Angeles’ post-World War I building frenzy. For most builders, it was free advertising. But imprints were required of contractors handling federal WPA sidewalk projects in the 1930s. That allowed officials to verify their work…”

“The practice of stamping names and dates on new sidewalks disappeared by the mid-1960s, according to city officials. But sidewalk builders can still get permits to autograph their work…”

One of the blogs I found has a theory as to why contractors stopped stamping.
“Most were placed from the early 1900s through the late 1970s, but few contractors now use them because of fear of litigation…”

I found these deer grazing on Averill. One of them looked spooked.

Maybe it saw the lions on the gate by the driveway.

This picture is for any parent who has had to nag their child about standing up straight. You can always threaten to build a contraption like this to make sure they grow up with good posture.

There are noticeable nautical elements on this house – the seagulls on top and the anchor on the gate. But I’m pretty sure there used to be a lot more. I don’t know how long ago, but I distinctly remember part of the yard being painted a light blue, water color and there being life preservers and a pelican. It was a little much, but I loved the commitment that it took to get there.

Here’s a beautiful Airstream Trailer at the starting point of what I’ve decided is Stingaree Gulch. It’s very much an Averill Park Post Card.

Today’s my last day having Averill as a backdrop for my walks. It looks like they’ve started working on the pond restoration. It was kind of funny to just hear loud duck shrieking coming from behind a closed off gate. Because you know there are a few drama queens among those ducks that get everyone riled up down there.