It's funny to us that one of the more enduring things associated with Charles Bukowski is his old Volkswagen Beetle, given the man's extra-manly reputation. This is not a photograph of his dash, but rather a 200mph speedo that a Herbie replica aficionado installed in his own '64. Then again, if we had Buk's Beetle,…

While not quite the quad-flat Merc Limo of 'Gundo, this Cadillac's been sitting on 22nd Street right next to the sidewalk for the last couple of weeks or so. Sure, it's missing a couple of wheels, but since it's for sale, this display tactic allows potential buyers to check out the brakes. Nearby sits a primered El…

Despite what y'all think, we at Jalopnik to do not spend our days tearing around in Torino Talladegas playing the Angry Samoans at high volume, outrunning the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol, mowing down sidewalk fruit stands and supping on the finest lobster bisque at sunset on the beach…

The Pacific Electric Red Cars were legendary in prewar Los Angeles part of a 1,500-mile streetcar network that enabled the city to grow before everyone had sixteen cars and a Mike Brady-designed ranch house. A few years back they restored one of the old streetcars and used it as a model to construct replicas which run…

There's an bit of space in the air off of the SoCal coast, right near our West Coast office in San Pedro, that's reserved for aeronautic acrobatic stunts. David Hermance, 59, Toyota's top American exec for alt-fuel vehicles and emissions tech, was well known as a pilot who enjoyed a bit of the loop-de-looping in…

In San Pedro there is problem. And the problem is transport. We hammer on this point like Sweet Peet on his "product, product, product" mantra, but the movement of goods in and out of the harbor has created a massive air-pollution problem. One application where we see hybrid technology as especially beneficial is in…

Yesterday was one of the hottest November Sixths we can remember. According to the owner of the bodega, it hit 93 in LA, although we're sure it was a bit cooler in Pedro. Nevertheless, it resulted in some of the worst harbor smog we've seen in the year Jalopnik's Los Angeles bureau has been in operation.

We really thought the Loverman would nail this one, but apparently, commenter ParanoidAndroid07's taste in experimental rock ranges beyond mopey Brit-types and into at-all-costs San Pedro corndogs obsessed with politics, poetry and brevity. Here's the winning comment: "Because it is the Daihatsu Boon and has a D on…

The other day, Bumbeck said to us, "Man, I may as well just go back to smoking," in reference to the air quality in LA. He's up in the hills, while we're at the tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We're also three blocks from the Port of Los Angeles, which, combined with the Port of Long Beach, create the busiest port…

ThnderBlt's comment on this post got us thinking about what's alternately known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway and can be generally summed up by its route number, the 110. Designed by a man named Spencer Cortelyou (who, coincidentally, is the great-great uncle of the first girl we ever made out with),…

Lately, we've been a little obsessed with bombas. Maybe it's because it's summer, and the Mexican guys around Pedro are dragging 'em out of the garage and parading them around. These cars were harbingers; the first customs, and they've got a look today that totally endures. They won't look dorky and anachronistic like…

We've been walking by this forlorn Valiant derivative for a week or so now, and every time we see it, our heart sinks a bit. Oh, sweet little A-Body, won't somebody take you home, love you, buff you out and buy you a new fender and headlight assembly? Maybe slip a nice 340 between the rails of your front subframe? You…

Bumbeck came down from the hills in the Mighty Starlet to catch a showing of Cars today (which totally brought out the softy in us, and may well be our favorite Pixar film yet — disregard the haters and see it). He calls and says, "Hey, I just ran across this awesome bike show," which happened to be at Century…

A few months ago, we rocked a set of photos of the random vehicles we found down by the marina. Now, here's a random sampling of what can be found by merely walking from our house to Louie's Chinese Restaurant #2, known around these parts as "Dollar Chinese"...for good reason. Sit back, relax, put on your headgear,…

When Ray and Austin crashed the parade in Indy and ended up in a car with Karen Catchpole and her husband Eric Mohl, the masterminds behind Transamericas Journey, for some reason, it didn't click. And then in some sort of delayed reaction, we hear from the mighty Lew last night, saying "Karen Catchpole!" And it still…

As we were walking back from supper at Louie's Chinese Restaurant #2, we spied a white GMC MotorHome that looked like it'd been painted with a brush. Pedro, with its salt air, light breeze, Southern California sun and "Trespassers Will Be Eaten" signs, is the perfect place for such a vehicle. In fact, it would be the…

Is this a Burberry cross-promo car, or is Mercedes planning to give Mike Watt a free car so he can save gas money by not solely feeding his E-350's V10? We're hoping it's the latter. We wanna see this ridiculous thing around Pedro. [Spotted by reader Al in the Mercedes-Benz parking lot.]