818 Cash for Cars

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  • Safety First – Smart Phones Second

    Safety First – Smart Phones Second

    Look Ma. No hands-free.

    Studio City Multi-Tasking Geniuses

    I remember when multi-tasking while driving was considered changing CD’s.  No wait.  Let’s be honest.  Cassette tapes.  Okay, 8-track.  Compared to today’s daily driving ritual, changing music while steering and watching the road is primitive.  Today, everything in life – our conversations, our own thoughts, and yes, driving, has taken a backseat to our smart phones.   I’m sure I’m not the only one and in fact, every so often there is a tragic story of some nice housewife who died on a train track waiting for the Bed, Bath and Beyond website to upload.  I understand.  A good deal on towels is important.

     Driving The Valley Lazy

    It’s a grey area for the law, but distracted driving is clearly black and white.  The cops have a right and should pull you over if they sense you’re not in the present world of driving.   Seeing you engaged in the deep world of online stuff, no matter if it’s searching for an open restaurant, they will nail you, as they should.  Me, being a writer, my mind is constantly going.  I’ll be on the road and suddenly a new idea for a screenplay or simply a great Tweet will occur to me.  I will pull over and park.  I don’t care if it makes me a little late.  I have decided the idea in my head is more important and so is my safety and everyone else’s.

    Ventura Boulevard Movement

    Maybe it’s the music that comes on the radio or a news report or you pass an intersection which brings back subconscious memory and triggers your deeper thinking creative mind strategies, but for me, driving stimulates ideas.   Like working out at the gym.  Physical movement gets my mind going.  It’s like when I moved from L.A. to New York. Suddenly 25 years of being in a car was now replaced by walking this giant myriad of concrete structures, this mysterious canyon of people and ideas and commerce.  Not so much on a flight. Even though I’m moving much faster, it seems slower.  Time to sleep, read or watch a film.   Not for strategic creative thinking, which is what I’m good at.  However; driving along Ventura Boulevard does move my mind.

    Searching on Google Maps is one thing; checking Facebook is another, but writing an email to a colleague, while you’re at a stoplight is almost okay, but I wouldn’t advise it.  You may be in the middle of a thought then awoken out of it by the impatient honking of the guy behind you.  

    The Drive of the Valley

    But, it’s perhaps driving in the San Fernando Valley which is such a unique experience. In some ways it’s like living in a small suburban town which sits in the middle of one of the world’s biggest metropolis.   Studio City is just this nice section of the Valley you can find great restaurants and shops and still find quiet off the grid streets where the cutest of homes live.   And, yet, Studio City is a showbiz town.   CBS Studio Center (aka Radford Studios) is right here, where they shot Mary Tyler Moore, Gilligan’s Island, and even going way back to the Keystone Cops.   Right across the street from Trader Joes.

    I called 818 Cash for Cars

    The mind is mysterious thing.  It can look for answers even if we don’t know there’s even a question.   Things can plague us. Those things we want to take care of but never do.   I had a car I loved, literally to death.  I drove it cross country three times and it was just sitting in my driveway like an ex-wife.  It’s visage nagging me incessantly.  Finally, I decided to do something about it.  I called 818 Cash for Cars.  Within an hour and a half, a rep was at my house with cash in hand and all I had to do was sign a few forms and hand them over the keys. Easiest thing I’ve done all day.

    You can really get lost on those little smart phones and ironically they can easily block out the larger world outside your car.  Do yourself a favor and pull over, park, then look at your phone.

    Be safe out there.

    Sag
    7/20/17

  • Great Driving Music Can Make the Difference

    Great Driving Music Can Make the Difference

    Your Personal Soundtrack

    If you’re like me, you worry about everything.  Especially when it comes to your car.  Living in a city like Los Angeles, you’re gonna live half your life in your car.  And, when you’re not in your car, you’re gonna be worrying about it, paying for it, keeping it healthy, safe and running.  The right music can make the difference.

    Image Conscious Driving

    It’s hard in LA if you’re image conscious and who isn’t. Let’s face it.  For me?  It’s all about getting from point A to point B.  I’ve lived in cities around the world, like New York, San Francisco, London, where having private transportation is actually a deficit, not an advantage.  Streets are too small, parking a job unto itself and why bother when you live in major cities with state of the art public transportation.  Unfortunately, L.A. really hasn’t had fully functioning public transportation system since forever.

    You Aren’t What You Drive

    I’ve had the honor of owning all sorts of cars in my day.  And whether it was a beater I had to drive between big pay-days or a leased Beamer, I’ve had the experience of always seeing someone else with a better car.  It’s natural.  And, if your car ain’t up to snuff; if there’s some body work needed doing or it just doesn’t have the juice you want to feel under your feet, you can always turn to music.

    The Right Music

    Having the right music playing can take your head space to a place where the type of car you have doesn’t matter.  A decent sound system and these days you can plug your smart phone in and listen to whatever you want.   I love soundtrack music.  Trainspotting is a great one.  The combination of random selections from Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Pulp, Primal Scream, Blur and more, makes for a great drive.  Good music on the box in my car elevates me to that great feeling of freedom and inspiration.  I can tackle anything.  Even gridlock on the 405.

    Enjoy Pulp’s Mile End from the movie soundtrack Trainspotting.

    Drive safe,

    Steven Alan Green 5/24/17

  • Why I Love the Valley

    Why I Love the Valley

    The other side of the hill

    I grew up in Beverly Hills. The “poor” section between Wilshire and Olympic.  We were so poor I only had a $10,000 limit on my credit cards.  You know how embarrassing that was for me in first grade?  To us, the Valley didn’t exist.   The Valley was foreign land.  The only time we ever went to the Valley was to attend an event at Sportsman’s Lodge.   I found out later on the San Fernando Valley has many awesome attributes and is also home of some of the most creative people in L.A.

    The literally cooler side of the hill.

    New hip hamlets such as West Hollywood morphed from being a seedy secret hang for the then disenfranchised Gay community to one of the most sought after real estate booms in the country.  Neighborhoods change and gentrify.  Towns evolve into cities.  Los Angeles is fun, but it’s hectic!

    Just two months ago I was mulling over a couple of invites to move to the desert.  LA had gotten to me and I felt like I needed to explore other terrain.  Maybe Joshua Tree was where my future beckoned.  A chance to redefine my spirit and to literally get back to the best teacher of all: Nature.  I was all set to move, when an opportunity came up to live and to work in Studio City. So I took it.

    Not ten minutes from Hollywood

    Studio City gives me the desert-like sun as well as the much quieter pace than busy cut-throat traffic and parking of Los Feliz or Westwood.  The entire south Valley as a matter of fact is much more built for the car.  The streets are much wider.  There are much less strict parking ordinances and land is cheaper.  And because land is cheaper, there are a zillion great little family run restaurants all over the place.  Ethnic foods from Armenia to Timbuktu. You should try some, I’ll write about great Valley food experiences soon.

    Not over the hill

    Now when I go over the hill, I go with purpose.  Whether it’s to meet a fellow writer, record in the studio or to perform stand up comedy, I go with glee.  With definition and a good take on the traffic I’m gonna have to cut through to zip back to my cozy little apartment in my new hometown: The Valley.

    I just love it here.  I feel younger.  Definitely happier.

    And that worries me.

    Steven Alan Green, SAG in SFV!
    5/22/17