Tuesday, May 13, 2008 – Oops

It's something you only see in chase movies – but now and then it happens in real life, every driver's nightmare – you lose control at one of the city's busiest intersections, take out a fire hydrant, and things get dramatic. It must be really embarrassing, but in this case the driver was long gone.

This was Tuesday, May 13, in the Wilshire District, at noon – the northwest corner of Third and Vermont. A van took out a fire hydrant, the Fire Department rolled in three or four units, the police shut down the intersection, and the fireman took an hour to find the damned shut-off valve. 

A big crowd gathered, of course. It was kind of like a party – even the firemen were laughing.  And it made for some interesting pictures.

The perpetrator and the victim –

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70. The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik