My Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is now available from retailers in downtown Hermosa Beach.

Visit Treasure Chest (50 Pier Ave.) or The Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce (1007 Hermosa Ave.) to get one for your wall. You can also order online, of course.

Featuring 15 months of South Bay scenery (October 2009 – December 2010), the calendar this year includes images of Hermosa, Manhattan, Palos Verdes and El Segundo.

A commercially printed color wall calendar measuring 11″ x 17″, the Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is perfect for all current and past South Bay residents. The price is $15 plus tax and shipping.

Order now while supplies last.

The Hermosa Beach Post Office opened at the corner of Pier and Valley in 1957 during the Eisenhower Administration. An anchor of the Upper Pier area, the post office is now endangered, listed as one of 371 post offices around the country to be closed to save money.

We have created an online petition form, and if you’re interested I’d encourage you to sign it.

There is also a support rally scheduled for Thursday October 29th at 6:00PM, in front of the Post Office at the intersection of Pier and Valley. UPDATE: The rally has been canceled, since the Post Office has been successfully removed from the closure list.

Sign the petition…

Update: City Councilman  Michael Keegan has informed me that Congresswoman Jane Harman says the Hermosa Beach Post Office has been removed from the “endangered post office” list.

The new Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is now available from my website.

Featuring 15 months of South Bay scenery (October 2009 – December 2010), the calendar this year includes images of Hermosa, Manhattan, Palos Verdes and El Segundo.

A commercially printed color wall calendar measuring 11″ x 17″, the Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is perfect for all current and past South Bay residents. The price is $15 plus tax and shipping.

About 30% of the calendars have already been sold, so don’t wait. Order now and get one on your wall!

This weekend is the Fiesta Hermosa, Sept 5-6-7. It’s going to be a hot summer weekend, with many inlanders coming to the beach for cooler and clearer air.

I’ll be selling photos and calendars at my usual spot in the center of Pier Plaza, in front of Il Boccacio and across from Patrick Malloy’s.

A great way to get here is using The Strand path that goes from Pacific Palisades to Palos Verdes, on foot, skate or bike.

Lots of places to quench your thirst here, some say too many :-) Good bands, too. Here’s the music schedule.

See you there!

The new Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is on it’s way from the printer and should be ready for shipping by the end of the week!

Featuring 15 months of South Bay scenery (October 2009 – December 2010), the calendar this year includes images of Hermosa, Manhattan, Palos Verdes and El Segundo.

A commercially printed color wall calendar measuring 11″ x 17″, the Hermosawave 2010 South Bay Calendar is perfect for all current and past South Bay residents. The price is $15 plus tax and shipping. Order now and be one of the first to receive it.

A few words on why I am strongly supportive of the administration’s proposed healthcare reform…

My wife and I have a corporation for our small business, so we are paying corporate rates for healthcare. We have a plan with HealthNet, one that our insurance agent says is the plan he has too. My agent is a longtime member of our community (and I think I’m healthier than he is), so if it’s good enough for him then it’s good enough for me.

Our HMO plan allows us to choose any of the HMOs on their approved list, and our doctor of 25 years is on that list. It is not the absolute cheapest plan out there, but neither is it a luxury plan. There is no eye care, hearing or dental in our our plan, which is a shame since my dentist is urging me to begin $12k of dental work…

The two of us are healthy and in our 50’s, no existing conditions. I take two minor medications that cost me $45/mo in co-pay fees.

So… $890/Month

$890 a month. For two people. So what are we getting for $890 dollars a month? A fee that is up 12% this year, as it was the year before, and the year before that. That is more than 1/3 the cost of our mortgage, double the monthly payment of my Volkswagen. For what? For a tenuous promise that one day when I get really sick, the insurance company will take care of me.

But one misstep, one or two late payments, and we’ll be out of healthcare, no COBRA to tide us over, nowhere to go except the emergency room like all the poor people. Hard to imagine living in a million dollar house and being a poor person. Maybe we could find a different healthcare plan. But the anecdotal evidence is that it is almost impossible to get health insurance unless you already have it.

Now, I am not complaining about my situation, only explaining it to show HOW MUCH WORSE other people must have it. Healthcare is the largest cause of personal bankruptcy in this country, so it’s obvious that others have it far worse than I.

About his healthcare plan, President Obama says, “if you’re happy with the healthcare plan you have, you can keep it.” But what he doesn’t say is that   you won’t be able to afford it   a decade from now, unless things change.   A lot.   So actually the President’s plan is only a small, tentative step towards fixing the problem.

In short, this healthcare debacle cannot not continue, it must change.

And doing nothing is itself a choice — a choice that will leave millions of retiring boomers with healthcare bills to to be paid by the rest of the population, a choice far more expensive than anything the President is proposing.

I’m starting production on next year’s Calendar, so if you have any favorite photos or other requests you’d like to have in the new edition, now is the time to let me know at info@hermosawave.net.

I’m hoping to focus on the South Bay, but I might add a small number of other Southern California photos, or maybe even beyond. Let me know if you have a strong opinion about keeping it local, and how local.

I’m also planning to add moon phase icons. I’d like to add tides too, but it’s a lot of work and might dilute the clean aesthetic I’m striving for.

The calendar will cover the period September 2009 – December 2010, and will be available at Fiesta Hermosa, September 5-7, perhaps earlier if I get my act together…

After a great Fiesta Hermosa last month, I’m printing more photos to make sure I have your favorites on hand at the Hermosa Beach Art Walk.

The Art Walk takes place on the grass at the Hermosa Community Center, Pier Ave and Pacific Coast Highway, Saturday and Sunday June 13 & 14. There will be lots of artists showing their work in a relaxed environment.

I’m continuing last month’s same low prices — and paying the sales tax — during the Art Walk, but California Sales Tax goes up another percentage point on July 1 so prices will be going up.

Looks like a beautiful summer weekend for Hermosa Beach’s Fiesta Hermosa. This Memorial Day weekend party of arts & crafts, music and fun runs Saturday May 23 through Monday May 25.

My booth will be where it has been the past six years, in front of 49 Pier Ave. at about the center of Pier Plaza. I’ll be selling lots of photos of Hermosa and the South Bay, with some new show specials.

If you’re in the area, drop by and say hello. Mention this article for a free print with any purchase.

See you there!

Election Day referendum: Do we want to pay more money for fewer state services, or not pay more and have almost no services from the state?

None of the answers to this question are good, but here’s information about the propositions as well as what the LA Times has to say about it.

Find out where to vote here…