... and run

The sun was barely breaking through a light drizzle in the Culver City afternoon today. I was standing on the liftgate of the truck(see below), I looked across the intersection of Adams and Fairfax to see a women exiting her newer white Mercedes sedan. It was apparent she had been rear-ended. I didn't hear the contact and didn't pay it much mind. It's L.A., it happens every 5.3 seconds somewhere in the city.
A few moments later I glanced up to see her calmly turning the corner, pulling over to exchange info and insurance with the other driver. The other driver, a diminutive Latino man(* if I generalize and call him Mexican or give him a stereotypical name like Pedro or Raul, my wife will hit the imaginary un PC buzzer she derived years back. More explaining the buzzer at another time) had other ideas, like getting the hell out of there. He , gripping the wheel at 10 and 2, drove his gold '88 BMW 325, with the bumper askew and the grill dangling, like Our Lady of Guadalupe was appearing south in Inglewood. His passenger, also of Latin descent(Juan), had a look as though they were running from the INS. The two buddies were long gone by the time the lanky lady exited her car, realizing she had been duped. She kicked and punched the air. Her car really didn't have any damage as far as I could tell, and I felt kinda bad for the two in the gettaway car for some reason... although my memory was just jarred. A similar thing happen to me several years ago, except I chased the guilty party until they pulled over.
Anyway, that's what I saw today, a rainy day in L.A.



Addressing Questions and Confusion:

1. What is a FIVE TON?

It is usually a white box truck( overall length approx. 32ft long) with: air brakes, a hydrolic lift gate(with tilting action), jockey boxes(seperate compartments on the outside of the truck, below the box. Somehow my wife does not give me the buzzer when refering to these strorage areas, hmm...), and a granny attic(area of the box over the cab). These trucks come with various size cabs, some hold a driver and a rider, some can hold a driver and up to 5 riders. The larger cabs are sometimes refered to as 'union cabs'. They run on diesel fuel. Inside the box there are slats to tie furniture to. It is basically an oversized, fancy moving truck. Oh, and it's gross weight is somewhere near 5 tons, I think. If it does have airbrakes, then you are required to have a commercial drivers license. See, isn't Hollywood glamorous?
Below are a few pics.


Rider(or P T Crusier as he fondly refered to) is standing in the back of a packed 5 TON. We had 23 pick ups the day before. By the way, Rider is one of finest and most hustling(is this poor English?) set dressers in the commercial world today. The other pics are the author, driving a lawn mower into an empty 5 TON. A famous pop singer later drove this same mower. I guess I butts touched indirectly, hmm...

Until next time, when we discuss where the homeless use the restroom...