[nggallery id=”2″]

This is just a disclaimer these photographs were taken over a three-day period because it took that long to be happy with what I got. Of course the day I go to photograph the shipwreck, it was cloudy.

Anyhow, I mentioned before how in high school my friends and I would go down the cliff at Bluff Cove and just chill. It was relatively secluded, and even if there were people it was easy to separate off on your own.

Despite having grown up in San Pedro since I was eight years old, I never knew about the shipwreck of the Dominator. Back in 1961, a 441-foot Greek freighter carrying wheat and beef came a little too close to the rocky shore during heavy fog. Instead of going to Long Beach to refuel, it got stuck on the rocks.

For two days they tried to rescue the ship to no avail. The ship was abandoned and left at the mercy of the sea. And looking at the pictures, the sea is merciless.

Now don’t get it twisted. The walk from Bluff Cove to Rocky Point is difficult. It’s only two miles or so with no grades, but because of the rocks it is very slow going. Not only do you have to dodge kelp brought on shore from the tides, you have to be on the lookout for dead mammals and birds. Fortunately they leave a stench that make them unavoidable.

If you’re lazy, there is a drainpipe at the end of Cloyden Drive at Paseo Del Mar that will dump you right onto the beach. I’ve only gone up this drainpipe, and I’ve never slipped or had any close calls. (You can en-biggen the map above for all the details.)

Environmental lovers will probably be in tears seeing the trash and debris left by drunken teenagers. There are abandoned fire pits, make shift benches, and even a bench swing. There’s graffiti, broken beer bottles, condom wrappers. But for some reason, it puts a smile on my face.

Another word of warning: be sure to stick to low tide when making this trek. Not only do you see more of the shore, it will ensure the beach will not be blocked off by the incoming waves.

It is amazing that we can witness the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya as it happens live despite domestic cable news outlets doing a piss poor job at the onset of the fall.

With the release of the West Memphis 3 this morning, I can’t help but remember the “Free the West Memphis 3” comp back in the day. It contained this gem from Kelley Deal – her cover of Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile.” Exquisite! After all these years, I’m still obsessed with it.

Director Ridley Scott is set to direct and produce a prequel or sequel to Blade Runner. Not only that, but Harrison Ford will not be involved in the film.

It got me thinking. Besides Thelma and Louise, what’s the last movie since Blade Runner associated with Ridley Scott that was anywhere near watchable? I’m trying to think of one but unfortunately cannot think of one for the life of me.

This does not bode well.

After 50 years, the rusted remnants of the SS Dominator remain for all to see. It says “Hi” to you.

This is just a little preview of some photo essays I have yet to do. One of my favorite places to go to during high school was to Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes. It has an easy trail that takes you down the cliff onto the rocky shore. If you go far enough, there’s even remnants of a shipwreck from the 1960’s.

There usually aren’t a lot of people on the beach, but sometimes as you walk along the beach you pass by an awful stench. You pinpoint where the stench is coming from and sometimes you find a carcass of a seal, seagull or something else.

But there that is.

Of all of the pretentious things I did in college, “Art in Deep Koma” was one of the few things that stuck around. Well I’m officially killing it off.

For a little bit, it will mirror the new site here at JimmyBramlett.com before becoming just a link then going into the ether.

There was a blog I was obsessed with in 1998. Scratch that, back then they weren’t called blogs. Website, journal, whatever. DanteWoo.com It no longer is alive and merely lives on in piecemeal form thanks to the Wayback Machine.

I was obsessed with it and the nom de plume of the writer. Like me he was a queer half Asian mutt, so I decided I would give myself a pretentious name. I decided “Antonin Devon Ko” – “Antonin” for Antonin Artaud, “Devon” just because and “Ko” for my mother’s maiden name that means “high” in Korean/Chinese/whatever.

As an extension, to make things look cute in the copyright section of the blog, I came up with a pseudo-company name that fit with the initials ADK. And in 30 seconds “Art in Deep Koma” was born.

Dante Woo went away, even Antonin Ko did. But for some reason “Art in Deep Koma” stuck around. And with that years of having to spell it out when giving out my email address, years of telling people, “It’s a long story,” when they ask about the meaning of it.

I’M FREE!

Now it’s just JimmyBramlett.com. Easy. No probing questions. Also since there’s a pentecostal preacher-man author who writes about all of our souls going to hell by the name of James Bramlett, hopefully I do my part as a queer sports writer to subvert that name.

[nggallery id=”1″]

For some reason I get obsessed with little things from time to time. I was looking at Google Maps while doing my pieces about Peck Park and Point Fermin Park for LAist in July and noticed these missile sites at the end of Western Ave. in San Pedro.

It floored me because I grew up in the area and I had no idea about the missile site. The Sunken City? Yes. Fort McArthur? Yes. But missiles that had the capabilities of carrying nuclear warheads? Au contraire, mon frère.

So I went to the White Point Nature Preserve that contains the site. The launch site is in complete disrepair, although with a little imagination it’s possible to see the missile launch and shoot down an enemy.

Also on the site is a battery named after Paul D. Bunker, a halfback and tackle for the Army football team in 1899-1902. A college football All-American in 1901 and 1902, Bunker had a 40-year military career that sent him to the Philippines, Panama and New York. He was stationed at Fort MacArthur in 1937 before heading back to Corregidor in the Phillipines in 1940.

It was at Corregidor that General Douglas MacArthur (the son of Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur for whom Fort MacArthur was named) recognized Bunker before leaving the Philippines. Bunker, at the age of 61, was captured when the Allied Forces were defeated in the Battle of Corregidor and died as prisoner of war in Taiwan.

What made Bunker transcendent was his determination during the surrender of Corregidor. When ordered to burn the American flag by General Jonathan Wainwright to prevent it from getting into Japanese hands, Bunker cut off a patch and hid it in his shirt. Before he died, Bunker tore a piece of the flag and gave it to Colonel Delbert Ausmus and commanded him to give it to the Secretary of War.

Ausmus hid the piece and after the war handed it Secretary Patterson in 1945. Patterson unveiled it during Flag Day in 1946 and it is on display in the West Point museum.

Meanwhile Bunker died clutching the other piece and was cremated with it in his hands. Bunker was honored by having the Battery in San Pedro named after him and was inducted into the college football hall of fame in 1969.

It really was amazing to walk through the trails amongst the serenity of flora and ocean and see the evidence of cold violence. The Nike missile site was built in 1955 and was decommissioned in 1974. Although the site is rusted due to disuse, it is probably the most intact site in Southern California.

After checking this out, I decided to head a little bit east on Paseo del Mar to the Korean Friendship Bell. After you walk past the bell, there is still evidence of some sort of bunkers or batteries from Fort MacArthur. That prompted a walk to the fort to peek around.

Anyhow it was really fascinating to walk around and see the remnants of the coastal defense. None of the walking around was all that difficult, but it is advisable to watch out for the seagulls when your mouth is wide open in awe.

Originally published on LAist on July 27, 2011

The Dodgers hate Hiroki Kuroda. After all, how else can one explain the lack of run support Kuroda this season?

“I think it’s him being unlucky,” Dodgers’ Manager Don Mattingly said directing the propaganda. If “unlucky” means “unworthy of getting any runs from us,” then that quote is spot on.

Coming into the game the Dodgers scored an average of 2.9 runs per games that Kuroda has started. Only the San Diego Padres’ Dustin Moseley has worse run support in the National League among pitchers who have started at least 13 games. As a comparison Chad Billingsley has 4.4 runs of support per game, Clayton Kershaw has 4.2, Ted Lilly has 4.1 and Rubby De La Rosa has 3.7.

“When I was stretching I was looking at his record,” Kemp said conspiratorially. “He should have a better record than that. We should score some runs for him. We just haven’t done it when he pitched.”

They keep saying that, but the story never changes. Like a broken record it happened again Wednesday night. While Kuroda’s six innings might not have been the most stellar pitching performance of the season, he limited the six hits and three walks to only one run.

But by dropping his earned run average to 3.11, just outside the top ten for starters in the National League, it still wasn’t enough to get him the win. With only Rod Barajas’ solo shot in the ninth inning as support, Kuroda’s record fell to 6-13 as the Dodgers lost 3-1.

“You do feel bad for him,” Mattingly said. “He does exactly what we ask him to do. He’s doing his job every time out.”

Of course the last three times out were speculation that each game would be his last.

“I really haven’t decided anything,” Kuroda said through translator Kenji Nimura. It’s a sentiment he repeated to reporters after the game despite the animosity shown to him by his teammates in the guise of run support.

“My honest feeling right now is I cannot fathom thinking about wearing another uniform.”

To be truthful there is no animosity in the clubhouse. In fact there is a lot of camaraderie amongst the players, and the thought of a play leaving is hard on them.

“I know it is part of the business,” Mattingly said. “Anybody that would have him would know that this kind of guy is going to keep them in every game.

“But you’d hate to lose one of your guys from the standpoint that he’s been here for four years and pitched really well for us. You really want what’s best for him more than anything.”

Despite how taxing all the trade talk can be for Kuroda, getting no support still tops the frustration list for him.

“Every time you go on the mound you go out there to win. So it’s frustrating and disappointing each time you lose. I’ve now experienced that disappointment 13 times already this season, so I think this is more frustrating.”

I’m fully aware that this has turned into a sappy nostalgic mess. I do have chunks of vomit lodged in the back of my throat, somehow stuck after attempting to swallow back down.

This goes back to my LiveJournal days (which can still be viewed here for posterity’s sake.) Back in 2003 Tim Byron, the bassist of The Mae Shi posted this in the So Cal Indie community for a free show at Qtopia. They played with Miracle Chosuke, Child Pornography and The Manifolds.

I became really good friends with Nicole from The Manifolds and was all over the place. Fortunately I was on the list for a lot of these shows, so I didn’t go poor as a result. But it was tons of fun. Seeing Rainbow Blanket, Amps for Christ, Year Future, Xiu Xiu, Blood Brothers, Rose for Bohdan, Cold War, Experimental Dental School, Deerhoof, Noxagt, Vaz and on and on and on. Being at The Smell, it was like party after party.

I fell out of the scene around 2005 as things started to get a bit monotonous. Maybe it was when Drew of The Manifolds moved up to Bay Area. Or when The Manifolds disbanded. Or when Ezra left The Mae Shi. Something was missing. I moved onto the sports world and now do what I do. But there are times when I really miss those days in the early Naughties.