At left is another photo taken on Delta Street the morning of the vintage car rally departure. The small crowd in the background is the rally drivers and their fans and friends. That was Saturday morning. I would have run the photo on Tuesday, when I wrote about the rally in Chicken Corner, but I had overlooked it in my files.

Yesterday, my daughter, Madeleine, and I went to the Downbeat Cafe with our friends Willoughby and Angela. The place was crowded -- our special stakeout at the couch taken! Dakota Bertrand said the cafe's been packed for the last few days. He attributes the extra patronage to the LA Weekly's Best of LA item that came out last Thursday praising the Downbeat. Turns out a regular, a guy who is always in the cafe with his laptop, was not civilian after all. The quiet, unassuming keyboarder was an LA Weekly editor. Alas, now his cover is blown, and he may have trouble finding a choice seat due to increased attendance.

On the sidewalk next door to the Downbeat, I took a look into Machine Project's storefront. The cubes are gone. The place no longer looks like a gallery. Instead there were about eight steel trashcans, planted with a variety of edibles -- a drwarf citrus, sharing space with a tomato plant, mint and other greens, in one -- a sort of victory garden for the 21st century. It's part of the Edible Estates project. I assume the plants will have to clear out before the Dorkbots workshop at Machine Project -- in which found electronics are reassembled, and a good time is had by all.

Photo: Morning on Delta Street
By Cindy Bennett