Winter sunsets

Enjoy these views of the Pacific, taken at sunset on two February days.

The first was taken from the Huntington Beach pier on a sunny warm day. The second was taken from a ferry between Catalina Island and the Palos Verdes peninsula on a cool, windy day. The difference really shows.

Smog: The hidden fees

It’s almost November, which means my car registration fees are due. It costs $147 to register my car, a 2004 Toyota. That’s not bad, considering my husband pays more than $300 for his vehicle.

Atop my notice was a big STOP sign and “SMOG Certification Required.” Surely my car, which was tested when I moved to California in 2007, did not need such a test. It doesn’t smoke, sputter or make any loud noises when I drive it. But the governor won’t let me renew my registration without such a test.

The DMV letter directed me to “Please take this notice to a SMOG check station.” (I did, but of course forgot said notice.) I took the car in and had it tested for such things as Spark Controls, Fuel Cap Visual, Wiring to Sensors, Fuel Evaporative Controls and Oxygen Sensor, whatever all of that stuff means. They ran the car at 15 mph and 25 mph to check for CO2. Why no faster? Probably because I rarely have the opportunity to drive much faster in the SoCal traffic.

The car passed. My test results said, “Congratulations! Your vehicle passed the enhanced Smog Check inspection, which helps California reach its daily goal of removing an extra 100 tons (!) of smog-forming emissions from the air.”

Of course, the test adds to the cost of registering a vehicle in California. My test was $71.20, which included a Smog Certificate and a fee for transmitting the test results to the DMV. So really, it’s costing me $218.20 to keep my car on the road for the next year. I guess it could be worse.

Walk with the stars

Since 1960, the Walk of Fame has attracted tourists who want to see the stars. About 10 million people visit the 18-block walk annually, and it celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year.

Hollywood business leaders came up with the Walk of Fame idea in the 1950s as a way to beautify and promote the area.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the walk’s plans called for 1,529 of the biggest stars of film, stage, radio, television and music to be immortalized in the concrete using brass set in salmon-colored terrazzo stars surrounded by black backgrounds. As of March 2010, The Times found more than 2,300 stars on the walk, representing 2,100 individuals or organizations.

Anyone can nominate a candidate, but the celebrity must agree to be considered. And if chosen, a star (or their fan club) has to pay a $25,000 fee for the ceremony.

The Walk of Fame has five types of stars. Performers are recognized for work in the fields of motion pictures, television, radio, live performance and recording. There are also 15 so-called special stars awarded to events or companies, including the Apollo moon landing and news organizations such as the L.A. Times and Variety. Believe it or not, there are stars for the Victoria's Secret Angels, granted in 2007, and Absolut Vodka, granted in 2008.

Surprisingly, there are many big names in Hollywood who do not have stars on the Walk of Fame. There are numerous reasons for this. A celebrity must be nominated, selected and agree to the ceremony — in addition to paying for the ceremony. You won’t see stars for Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney (What?), Julia Roberts, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Sean Connery, Angelina Jolie or Denzel Washington. Clint Eastwood doesn't have a star either, but you can see his handprints in the courtyard in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Gene Autry is the only person to have stars in five fields: film, TV, radio, live performance and music. I just learned that Autry was the original owner of TV station KTLA.

Caption: Michael Jackson’s star is on Hollywood Boulevard near the front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Our lobby is better than your lobby

Parts of the building are hopelessly dated, but there are some cool things to see at the Los Angeles Times. One of the highlights is the Globe Lobby, which is off the building's 1st Street entrance. (Of course, this entrance is not open to the public. Sorry.)

The lobby has 10-foot-high murals that were painted in 1935 by Hugo Ballin, who also painted the Griffith Observatory rotunda. It also has an exhibit showcasing the history of The Times. As for the globe, my guess is that it symbolizes the paper's worldwide coverage.

The Globe Lobby is where I met and shook the hand of Barack Obama in 2008.

Another tidbit: The Times building was designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann, the same architect who designed Hoover Dam.

Caption: The Times offers free tours of its downtown L.A. building.

Welcome, summer

Summer has finally arrived in Southern California! After weeks of cloudy and cool mornings and afternoons, the temperatures are higher than 80. Unfortunately, they are much higher than 80: Friday's high in Long Beach was 91 and downtown L.A. was even hotter at 97.

On Saturday, the fourth day of excessive heat, the L.A. Times reported temperatures reached 95 in downtown Los Angeles, 103 in Pomona, 103 in Lancaster and 96 in Anaheim. My thermometer in Long Beach read 88.

People are hitting the beaches to escape the heat. In Seal Beach, there are big crowds and more than six people have been stung by stingrays. The strand there is nicknamed ray bay because the shallow waters are warmed by nearby power plants, attracting thousands of rays. They lurk just below the sand.

Aquarium of the Pacific educators tell guests to shuffle while walking in the water to avoid stepping on a ray. The sting is painful and the only known treatment is to soak the affected foot in hot water.

Caption: Summer is in full swing at Seal Beach.

Surf's up!

Waves were reportedly up to 1o feet in Newport Beach.

The surfing was rough north of the city pier in Huntington Beach.

It's broiling in the eastern half of the country, but we're experiencing cool and cloudy conditions on the West Coast. A storm off New Zealand caused some of the year's biggest waves, which were 8-15 feet in some areas. Orange County's south-facing beaches experienced the highest surf, which was expected to taper off midweek. I took these photos Tuesday afternoon, well after the waves had peaked.

Even the beaches have to make the grade

Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization, released its annual Beach Report Card this week.

Heal the Bay analysts assigned A to F letter grades to beaches for the dry-weather period from March 2009 through April 2010, based on levels of weekly bacterial pollution. The report, which analyzes monitoring data at 326 beaches in California, gave 76 beaches perfect scores, meaning they never exceeded state bacterial standards for ocean water quality. (None of the beaches I have visited earned a perfect score.)

Seventy-nine percent of Los Angeles County's 86 beaches received A’s or B’s, compared to 70% last year. But the county has continued to dominate on the list of the state's most polluted beaches, with five L.A. County locations ranking among the 10 worst and seven beaches receiving year-round F’s. Orange County as a whole had terrific water quality, with about 97% of beaches scoring A or B. (Translation: Go to the beach in Orange County.)

Here are Heal the Bay’s Top 10 Beach Bummers:

1. Avalon Harbor Beach on Santa Catalina Island (Los Angeles County)
2. Cowell Beach – at the wharf (Santa Cruz County)
3. Cabrillo Beach harborside (San Pedro, Los Angeles County)
4. Poche Beach (San Clemente, Orange County)
5. Santa Monica Municipal Pier (Santa Monica, Los Angeles County)
6. Colorado Lagoon (Long Beach, Los Angeles County)
7. Baker Beach at Lobos Creek (San Francisco County)
8. Capitola Beach -- west of the jetty (Santa Cruz County)
9. Vacation Isle North Cove Beach in Mission Bay (San Diego County)
10. Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway at Santa Ynez Drain (Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles County)

My favorite beach, Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach, received an A. My second-favorite beach, Seal Beach, also received an A. Both are in Orange County. (In addition to better water quality, I find the restrooms to be nicer and cleaner and both have plenty of parking.)

The Beach Report Card is a comprehensive evaluation of coastal water quality based on daily and weekly samples taken from sites along the entire coast of California. A poor grade means beachgoers face a higher risk of contracting illnesses such as stomach flu, ear infections, upper respiratory infections and skin rashes than swimmers at cleaner beaches.

This seems like a good time to point out that beginning next year, there is no secured state funding for ongoing testing of ocean water quality, placing public health at risk. (Thanks, Arnold!) If the situation does not improve, more than half of the beach monitoring in the state will stop. Heal the Bay says it will work with state and local governments to ensure that ongoing funding is secured.

You can read the full report at healthebay.org/2010BRC.

Caption: The water is blue and the sand is clean at Aliso Creek Beach in the OC.