Observations Along The Road

Last night (as I posted), the Temple Ahavat Shalom Live Theatre Group went to go see "Jewish for Dinner" at the Santa Monica Playhouse. It was a very funny show -- a bit sitcomish but still funny and with some good questions to consider. It is an expansion of the short film "Jewish for Lunch". Well worth seeing if you're familiar with Jewish culture.

Last night, we saw "All The Villains Are Here", written and performed by Patrick Page, at the BroadStage in Santa Monica. An excellent show, with a deep dive exploration of all the villains in Shakespeare, explored chronologically. We really enjoyed it.

Oh, great Internet brain: I'm trying to decide whether to upgrade my existing Windows 10 system to Windows 11, or purchase a new Windows 11 system. Details are in the attached post. I'm on extended support until October, so I've got a little time, but I do need to decide. Opinions?

Last night, we saw "The Notebook" @ Broadway In Hollywood / Hollywood Pantages Theatre . For a show about memory and forgetting, it was pleasant and weepy and lovely and ... forgettable. You'll enjoy it while experiences, but come out more sad at the memory loss, not remembering any songs, just the basics of the story. Wonderful performance that are, luckily, quite memorable.

A new episode of the podcast is up: This one explores all things 10: The 10th route define, LRN 10, Sign Route 10, and of course, the first segment of I-10: The Santa Monica Freeway. Enjoy the episode, and please share it in all the appropriate places. Find it here, or in your favorite podcatcher.

As promised: Here are the updates to the California Highways pages covering November and December 2025.

It may be the start of a new year, but it's also the start of a new month. That means: It's time for Highway Headlines for December. Here are your headlines from articles about California's highways published in December 2025.

Our last live theatre of 2025: "Stereophonic" at Broadway In Hollywood / Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Was it the train wreck that some attendees commented that it was? Did we leave at intermission? Did we end up liking the show? You'll have to read the writeup to find out.

Over the holidays, we break our rule about seeing live performances to see some filmed performances. This year, our Christmas movie viewing featured two features: “Wicked: For Good” and “Song Sung Blue”. Here are some short writeups of those films. Both were excellent.

Another month, another set of headlines. Here are your headlines about California Highways, and related subjects, for November.

For your enjoyment, as you enjoy your leftovers from Thanksgiving: Here's a new episode of the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. Episode 4.03 starts a pair of episodes that explore Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. This episode (4.03) covers the current Route 9 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos; the next episode (4.04) covers the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This episode also explores the 9th State Route between Peanut and Kuntz (now Mad River), and LRN 9. LRN 9 ran all the way from Ventura to San Bernardino, and was Sign Route 118 from Ventura to Pasadena, and US 66 from Pasadena to San Bernardino. As always, we’ll talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. As noted, the next episode explores the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 from Saratoga through Milpitas to the Castro Valley.

Last night, we saw "Suffs" at Broadway In Hollywood / Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Wonderful show, with a great message. Quite uplifting. Go see it.

Today, we saw "Paranormal Activity" at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre. For me, it was a "situation horror" - a trifle of a show with an entertaining story, but not too much fear. You want fear? Imagine this ghost story: A version of “A Christmas Carol”, where the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein (past, present, and future) comes out to haunt Donald Trump. That would certainly be worth seeing. Who’s up for writing it.

Yesterday afternoon, we saw "Jaja's African Hair Braiding" at Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum.  Interesting show about immigrants and the community they build. One more performance tonight.

This is Episode 4.02, which continues our exploration of Route 8, better known as Interstate 8. In this episode, we focus on the portion of I-8 from La Mesa (just outside of San Diego) to the Arizona border. We look at not only current I-8, but the routing of the predecessor route, US 80. We discuss the communities of La Mesa and El Cajon, Alpine and Descanso, Boulevard, the Mountain Springs Grade, Jacumba, Ocatillo (with a digression on the Imperial Highway), El Centro, Holtville and the Algondenes Dunes (with a digression on the Plank Road), Winterhaven and Yuma. We also briefly talk about the interesting routing of US 80 within Arizona, and how it differs from I-8. We talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. In the next episode, we’ll turn our attention to Route 9, which currently runs from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, but which once ran all the way to Castro Valley.

Halloween has come and gone, and so have my 4 bags of candy (and my diet for October). But, as always, Highway Headlines remain. Here are your headlines about highways in California for the month of October. Ready, set, discuss.