Photo: November 2006, by Martin Cox
Hot off the duck press: Friday morning at Echo Park Lake, I saw what may be the season's first American Wigeon, but by today it was gone. Must have been a stopover. Then, this morning, Cleopatra duck, pictured above, shows up, alone. Probably a mixed breed, she/he did not appear to have a mate or any friends. (If it's a he, we can call him Cleopatrick, I guess.)
Martin took the picture of Cleo and we moved on, past the blue heron on the island, past the man in filthy clothes who plays an expensive-looking violin rather badly. Martin says there are days when he plays the radio loudly in his apartment, which overlooks the lake, in order the drown out the the repetitive whining sounds of the violin. Joggers and other types of exercisers passed us in both directions, a couple of them flapping their arms weirdly. There was a new white male human with some belongings in a baby stoller who told us that God doesn't want your money, but He wants everything else. Martin and I discussed whether it made sense to go clockwise or counter clock around the lake. Martin said if he had to name a preference it would be clockwise (I think) because the sun is shining on the western flanks of the lake in the morning. I did not have a scientific/artistic underpinning to my preference. Not that I was aware of, at least.
As for Cleo's solo status: Last week, I had the good luck to be introduced to Dave Foster, the parks and rec guy who tends the lake. He's had the Echo Park Lake beat for three or four years, according to Martin Cox, and is passionate about his job. In a brief conversation, it became clear that he knew the minute details not just of animals at the lake but characteristics of the water, i.e., the way the rains of almost two years ago have had lasting effects on the color/clarity of the water today (it's been worse since then). Friday Dave mentioned how difficult it is for newcomer ducks to find their niche at Echo Park Lake -- the already established ones shun them, chase them away and so on. For the ducks, it's not cute. It's all about territory, and many get forced out, carried off by humans, or die. It's worst for the drop-offs, ducks that were pets and have been abandoned at the lake. But wild ducks sometimes show up here and stay, with mixed success. It took many seasons for the Ross's goose to find friends, but now it travels with some of the white domestic geese. And a duck called Brownie who used to be alone was hanging out with Hairdo today.
Upcoming: Tales of Franken Duck.
More on Magic Gas cafe and co. today at Hexod.us -- and a photo of the independent gas station's sign before Jean Cocteau's ghost showed up to redesign it. (Vertigo alert: Hexod.us points to Chicken Corner).
One person who really knows Echo Park is the FedEx guy, who takes the time to be snoopy (I mean it in a good way). For about three years I have seen him everywhere. At the shops on Alvarado, at Chango, at the top of Echo Park Avenue, on my street. Yesterday, he told me that Steve McQueen used to live on Vestal in the late 1950s. He said it may have been Steve's first home in Los Angeles, back in the days when the neighborhood was known to some as Red Hill, for all of the lefties who made their homes here. Also the days of Art Pepper and a Beat undercurrent. FedEx said an elderly man who lives on the block told him about Steve McQueen. When he asked the present occupant of Steve's house how it felt to live in Steve McQueen's old house, the man knew nothing about it. The next time FedEx made a delivery, the occupant was all thanks, because now he knew he lived in a special place.
