Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Memories: Adventures In Baloney Creek While growing up, Baloney Creek was at the end of our dead-end street! I remember it looking to be 200 feet deep, but in reality, it was not! Maybe 20 or 25 at most.
As a boy, I would tie a rope to my bicycle and lower it down the side into the cement bottom… then use the maintenance ladder to get to the bottom! We would ride for what seemed miles.
The creek turned into a real creek about two miles down, and the MGM backlots were adjacent to the creek! We guys would hide our bikes, sneak into the backlots, and watch them file Tarzan and some westerns. Sometimes we would go into the feeders to Baloney Creek! Flashlights were mandatory!
We could only ride the bikes after winter rains because the bottom of the creek had several inches of MUCK on it many times a year! Some of the muck was from Adohr Farms, a dairy that was on La Cienega Blvd between Pico and Venice.
Ballona Creek is the most significant storm drain in the Santa Monica Bay watershed.
I did now know until I was in my 50s that Mom would follow me down to the ladder and bring a chair and knit until she heard us coming back up the creek, and then she would go home and ask us,” Where have you been.”
If you ever watched the movie “Volcano,” the channel they directed the lava into fed Balona Creek! In the 1997 movie “Volcano,” the protagonists divert the flow of lava at Beverly Center by using explosives to dig a trench that takes it to Ballona Creek, which then leads to the ocean.
This day was reserved for errands/chores. First, we visit Mary’s PT facility, and her arm is getting better all the time. After that, we met with our interior decorator, who is going to reupholster and re-cane two chairs, plus make a dust ruffle for the master bedroom.
After that, we headed for the hearing doctor as we were both losing some of our hearing ability. Amazingly enough, our symptoms match perfectly, and they are going to sell us first-class hearing aids for a mere $7600 each! They are wired to our iPhones, so we can make adjustments if need be.
