^ You forgot the weather, 75-80 today in Southern California.

It was 95 in downtown LA actually. 91 in Santa Barbara the day before whixh was miserable.

Bunker Hill kinda sucks, but its supposed to, since its the Financial District. The Theater District (along Broadway), Jewelery and Toy districts along with Santee Alley are definitely worth a trip to see.

I love LA, but its good points are tough to find if you don't look hard enough. For as many visitors as it attracts, its probably one of the least tourist-friendly cities I've ever been to.

As for the heat, anything above 85 in Southern California is uncomfortable. Its not as humid as the Midwest, Florida or East Texas, but to someone from Arizona, its definitely noticeable. Doesn't help that a lot of older buildings don't have air conditioning. Its hit 110 in inland Orange County, and the house I lived in at the time lacked air conditioning...

Yeah it did crack the 90s in El Cajon, Ramona, which really aren't that far from the ocean. Some records were shattered the past 2 days. I'm surprised it got so hot in Santa Barbara though!

I've been meaning to do an LA trip for so long...maybe this summer finally.

It's weird, I can't wait to go to cities like SF, Chicago, NYC, DC and there is a huge, interesting international city just a few hours away by car and I never go. I've been a bunch of times but never explored the city in the same way I do those other cities. I usually just go to the beach, do some shopping a mall and that's about it.

Come to think of it, I don't even know much about it. What are the good places to go? Do they have a happening urban area with sidewalk patios and people strolling by? Something like the Gaslamp in SD?

So many areas were just teeming with pedestrians and very cosmopolitan. I loved koreatown, santa monica, and just about the whole westside. Beverly hills was a trip so much money. Bentleys were more common than civics.

I love LA. It is a severely misunderstood and under-rated city. It has that energy that I've only experienced in New York.

When I go, I usually stay with friends/family along the coastal communities (SM, Venice, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach), but I have stayed at the Westin Bonaventure Downtown - located in the heart of DTLA, close access to the red line subway to get to Hollywood, which was also a good time.

Hollywood was weird. I wouldn't do that tourist trap again.

Next time I go, I want to hit the beach cities and go back to Brentwood and find the Fresh Prince house. That was my favorite show growing up and I really wanted to see that house, but we ran out of time.

I did feel as though there was a good chance of getting carjacked/mugged just about everywhere I went though. Call it racism if you want, but all those cholos got me on edge.

I've been through South Central a couple of times, which isn't nearly as intimidating a built environment as we're led to believe. Personally, I find places like the South Side of Chicago and parts of Over-the-Rhine and the West End of Cincinnati (my hometown) much more intimidating.

Chicago's southside scares the shit out of me like nothing else I know of. Crime in Chicago though, is historically much higher than Los Angeles. I've also found myself in some neighborhoods just north of downtown Detroit that were pretty effed up.

Haha I lived, albeit a very short time, on Chicago's Southside (Woodlawn) as a kid. It's bad but not really as bad as most people would think, especially with Woodlawn being one of the worst areas of the Southside. During the wintertime, though, it's incredibly bleak. Then again, that's true for much of Chicago outside of the Loop.

I vaguely recall the area around Tiger Stadium in Detroit being sketchy, but this was way back in 1993, so who knows what its like nowadays...

This looks to have some good info...haven't actually read it myself yet...

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...es-debate.html

Apropos of nothing, I found this sweet retro style Phoenix Giants hat online today:

http://www.ebbets.com/product/Phoeni...llcap/Ballcaps

I'll probably buy it. I'd love to get a Firebirds hat and I know New Era did a run of them a few years ago but they were kind of cheap and flimsy and never in my gigantic size :/

The same website also has a (very pricey!) Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings jersey:
http://www.ebbets.com/product/Bisbee...aseballJerseys

I picked up a firebirds hat at Lidz just a few months ago. It is the same 59/50 fitted cap that they make for every other team. Many people don't know that Lidz has lots of exclusives from New Era.

While we're on the topic of hats, I have never owned a D'backs hat simply because their hats are hideous. I like the new colors, that was a great move, but the logo has got to go.

How about they make a hat with the letters "AZ" overlapping each other? A logo that is timeless and never needed to be changed ever again...:shrug:

you mean a logo like every other team in the league? Fuck that I'd rather have something at least a little bit different. I like the big D shaped snake.

I totally agree. Their logos suck. The "D" snake logo is kiddie crap. Ball caps look the best with simple letters. Actully I wish they had taken the firebirds logo/colors etc when they became a franchise. Even if that's not a lettered ball cap, it looks good.

Totally agree with you on the Firebirds thing. Thats what both the Angels and Padres did, they just 'graduated' their AAA team logo/nickname to the MLB.

"Arizona Diamondbacks" was always an awful name. Too many syllables and I hate when pro teams use the states name instead of the Cities, that seems like something that should be reserved for colleges. "Phoenix Firebirds" rolls off thr tongue, plus their colors were the colors of the state flag, it was great.

The biggest problem with the D'backs hats is they don't really work to represent the City. Think about how often you see people in Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers hats. Really they're wearing them more as New York, Boston or Los Angeles caps as opposed to for that particular team. I've known many people who don't care about sports at all but wear the cap that represents their home City.

If the Suns were smart they'd fill the gap the D'backs have left. I've always wanted a dark purple (or black or charcoal) hat with an orange Western style "P" like on the original Suns uni's (and seen in my avatar). I think something like that could become synonymous with Phoenix and that would be cool.

E: I type this while I sit here in a red D'backs hat with the D. I'm a fan, so Ill wear pretty much whatever my home team puts out, but I do wish they had better stuff. I HATE that the home uni's say "D*Backs", ugh, so lame. I wish they all just said "Arizona" like the road grays, those are the slickest uni's they've had in Franchise history (I have one).

Hoover, I hate state names fOr teams too. U hit the nail on the head with people wearing a hat for the city not necessarily a team. Not many people want to rep Phoenix with a corny D snake hat, unfortunately. And the coyotes r going to become the Arizona coyotes. Bleck.