Silver Lake: a Lot Less Safe Than You Think (Still)

Was coming into my place last night when I looked behind me and saw a dude in a hooded sweatshirt running towards me.

This was after I'd executed my now standard full visual sweep of my environment and thinking about an escape route.

Good thing I did, because when I saw the dude and screamed at him, freezing him in his tracks for a split second, the momentary confusion gave me time to run--he hadn't cloed enough distance to be close enough to assault me before I turned around and notice him.

So there I am, in bike shoes, dude who came out of the shadows momentarily frozen.

Ever run in bike shoes?

I hauled ass down 50 stairs in road bike shoes, doing my best Sven Nys impersonation with my bike slung over shoulder, remounted and got the fuck out of there.

Problem being 'there' was uh, my house, aka 'a safe place.' so I had to get back in, which I did.

One amazing but predictable thing is that this all happened within earshot of a dozen neighbors, not a single one of whom did so much as open a door or window to see if we were okay. That's hospitality, Los Angeles style.

Best part: police didn't respond. Why should they? They had their show pony arrest of the four alleged teen masterminds behind the rash of Silver Lake muggings, so they can cool their heels.

Ironically, directly antecedent to this happening, saw four cops at 7-Eleven less than a mile from my house drinking coffee in the coffee machine area.

Protect ya' neck!

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