West Hollywood is searching for a lost dog: a 10-foot-tall, 200-pound, hot-pink bulldog, to be more specific. The Los Angeles Times reports the dog sculpture was stationed along Santa Monica Boulevard as part of an art installation put in place in advance of last Sunday’s gay pride parade. But it went missing on Monday, perhaps as a prank, or because someone wanted the dog in their personal collection.
The LA Times says William Sweetlove, the Belgian artist behind the bubblegum-colored canine, is asking the dognappers to come forward, and will even reward anyone who leads him to the missing pink pooch with a frog statue worth $1,600. There’s no word on what the lost pink dog is worth, perhaps to discourage others from stealing the artist’s five other statues lining the boulevard. Meanwhile, local police are reviewing video surveillance from nearby businesses to try and find the culprit(s).
It was a rainy Monday, just after 7 a.m., when I pulled into the parking lot at Keeneland, one of the nation’s most venerable thoroughbred racetracks. I had read that watching the horses morning workout was one of the best free things to do in Lexington, Kentucky, but on a dreary, wet day, I figured the horses would probably be lounging in their stables, nibbling on carrots or catching up on their sleep.
But before I even made my way into the beautiful, old track, which is a National Historic Landmark, I could see the horses gracefully galloping through the mud, impervious to the rain. I walked up into the track past rows of wet, empty benches and positioned myself against the rail. There were about a dozen horses and jockeys out on the track working out. I looked around the empty grandstands and realized that I was the only spectator.
As the jockeys trotted past me on horseback, each said, “Good morning” to me on their way by, but other than that the only noise in the place was the oddly soothing sound of the horses’ hooves clip-clopping in and out of the mud. But as the rain intensified, I made a rookie mistake in popping open my umbrella.
“No umbrellas!” barked one of the jockeys.
“They scare the horses,” called out another, perhaps noticing my perplexed expression.
I had no idea. Seeking shelter from the rain, I walked down toward a little building next to the track, and realized there was one other spectator in the house, a Latino in his 60s who introduced himself as James.
“I’m surprised they’re still working out in the rain,” I said to him.
“They work out every morning,” he said. “Doesn’t matter what the weather is.”
James told me that he had spent his entire life around horses and had moved to the area from New Mexico because he wanted to live in Lexington, a hotbed for thoroughbred racing. He said that he spent every morning at Keeneland, watching the horses.
“It’s not a bad way to spend your retirement,” he said. “You know there’s free coffee right down the way inside that building over there.”
Sure enough, there was free coffee, along with two track employees, one watching a horse race from Churchill Downs from the previous day, and another having a cup of coffee.
“So they really do this every day?” I asked the coffee drinker.
“We work every day except for Christmas,” he said.
The man confirmed that the horses work out on two tracks, on the big track from 5:30 until 10, and on a smaller one from 5:30 until 11. It’s always free, and anyone can roam around the grounds to check out the horses in their stables.
I made my way over to the smaller track, where a dozen or so jockeys and their magnificent horses were trotting about in a light, early morning drizzle. The only spectator was a trainer named Stephen Lyster, who told me that there were some 500-600 thoroughbred horses living in 72 barns at Keeneland. Stephen trains 22 horses and travels around the region with them for races.
He said that wealthy people hire trainers like him to care for their horses, and it’s an expensive endeavor- it costs about $3,000 per month to board a horse at Keeneland. Only a few very successful horses can actually turn a profit for the owner. He said that the high stakes caused some small tracks to fix races, but asserted that in Kentucky and other big-time horse racing states like New York, Florida and Arkansas, the races are clean.
The rain eventually tapered off and my wife and kids met me at the track. Stephen invited us back to their barn after the workout and gave us an opportunity to feed some of the ponies carrots. I loved having a chance to see these beautiful creatures – horses with names like Bold North, Seattle Devil, Run Marvin Run and Two Ferdy Somewhere – up close but the most serendipitous experience of the morning was still to come. Stephen mentioned that we should try the track kitchen, a cafeteria-style restaurant behind the stables.
“It’s cheap and really good,” he said.
Everyone has a different definition of “cheap” but in this case, Stephen wasn’t kidding. I looked up at the menu and thought I’d died and gone to cheapskate heaven. Here are a few examples of the cheap grub on offer.
Egg and cheese breakfast sandwich- $1.70
Bacon, egg and cheese biscuit sandwich- $3.25
Sausage, egg and cheese breakfast burrito- $3.25
Four pancakes: $2.50
Two biscuits and gravy: $2.40
One egg: 90 cents
Breakfast special: scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, toast or biscuit, plus two of the following- potatoes, spiced apples, grits or gravy- $5.00
And things got even better when a gray-haired lady wearing a hat filled with racing pins said to me, “Hey, honey, wacha gunna have?” I don’t know why, but I like it when female servers address me as “honey,” and if I’m in the South, even better.
I ordered the breakfast burrito and assumed that, for the price, it would be puny or pre-made, but it was neither. The thing weighed about 4 pounds and was freshly made and superb. Manna from heaven at $3.25. As a variety of stable workers and trainers filed in and out of the place, I realized that the prices are low because they are catering to the people who work there every day, not tourists.
I know very little about horses and thoroughbred racing but I learned that Keeneland has sold more champions and stakes winners than any other company, including 78 Breeders’ Cup World Championship winners, 19 Kentucky Derby winners; 21 Preakness winners and 17 Belmont winners. In April and October, Keeneland hosts elite caliber races and everyone – even college students – get all dressed up for the occasions.
It’s a beautiful place and if you’re a frugal traveler, like me, there is no better place to while away a morning.
There’s something about a bar on vacation that relaxes us. It could be a fancy hotel bar, an unassuming neighborhood watering hole or a trendy nightclub; and it can be friendly and chatty, or anonymous and discreet. Perhaps it’s comforting to know that our cocktails are made more or less the same the world wide, there’s nearly always another person to strike up a conversation with if you need local tips, and there’s far less social etiquette and customs to break than in a restaurant. The bar in today’s Photo of the Day is on Gun Beach in Guam, a place foreign to many Americans even though it’s part of our larger nation. Flickr user Peter Rood notes that it’s a “great place to grab a beer after diving and watch the sunset.” The patrons in this bar could be tourists or natives, but everyone looks comfortable and relaxed, whether or not anyone knows their name.
Want to see your travel photos featured as a future Photo of the Day? Upload them to the Gadling Flickr pool, and if we can download and share here, we’ll be sure to credit you too.
The New York Subway is considered by many to be the best mass transit system in the world, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Randy Gregory, a student at the School of Visual Arts and frequent Subway rider, is putting his design skills to the test by exploring some possible improvements on his Tumblr, 100 Improvements. Since he’s a designer, many of his suggestions have to do with better signage, branding and advertisements, but other ideas include physical improvements to the areas inside and outside of Subway cars and stations.
Below, we handpicked 10 of our favorite innovations on Gregory’s blog. Whether it’s likely they’ll be implemented is debatable – but boy, wouldn’t it be nice?
Digital train marker: “‘Where are we?’ A common question I hear uttered on the train, especially on the weekends. A digital map, with a marker showing where your train is would help.”Designated directions on stairs: “At first glance, this could be seen as a hopeless gesture. But in countries like Japan, this works. People see the arrows, and follow accordingly, minus rush hour. A man can dream, right?”
Antimicrobial benches: “Currently, the benches in many stations are old, usually made out of wood, which isn’t easily cleaned. New benches, made out of antimicrobial material, would be easily to clean, and could become opportunities for cleaning brands to sponsor, like Lysol.“
Gym-style flooring: “A soft gym style flooring could relieve our feet from the strain of standing. Not too soft, and not too hard.”
Subway door timers: “Start them at 30 seconds, and countdown. At zero, doors close. This way, if someone sees the train with 5 seconds left, and they’re 20 seconds away, they’ll second guess about trying to run for the doors.“
Cardinal directions: “Wouldn’t it be great to step out of a train, look slightly down, and see what direction you’re in? Stations can be very disorienting, especially after a long trip. Simple cardinal directions alleviate this problem.”
Drains in subway cars: “A constant nuisance in the New York Subway system are spilled drinks… So why not install drains at both sides of the cars, in order to catch theses liquids?”
USB power stations: “With newer trains, the subway will utilize the kinetic energy created by braking. USB power stations can borrow some of this energy, so that riders with low batteries can charge up for 50 cents, all by tapping your RFID Metrocard.”
Textured grip: “Currently, we have to hold onto metal railings in the cars. It’s really easy to loose your grip though, and when the train stops hard, you could end up loosing your grip, hurting yourself or others. If the metal bars in the train had rubberized grips, this issue could be solved.
Car density tracking: “It’s a real pain when you’re standing on the platform, and the car you always get on is full… And sometimes, you miss the train, causing even more tension & anger. Live tracking, based on the weight of the cars, could determine this info. When you get to the platform, you can check the screen, and figure out where to stand. This results in better distribution of riders.”
Have a design idea to add? Let us know in the comments below.
In a city like Las Vegas, dreaming up new gimmicks to attract visitors is no easy task. Adrenaline-seekers can already bungee jump off the Stratosphere or drive a racecar around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but soon a new thrill will come to town: the ability to eat dinner at a table suspended in the air.
The aerial dining concept is simple. A steel tower with a pair of lifts raises two dinner tables 180 feet above the Las Vegas skyline. Chefs prepare food in the center of the table, while up to 22 guests surround them strapped into amusement park-style chairs. From high above the city, guests will take in 360-degree views of the Strip and the surrounding area.
Dinner in the Sky might be new to Vegas, but it’s not an entirely new concept. Similar attractions have popped up in recent years across the United States and internationally, usually on a temporary basis. In Las Vegas, the company has been doing its own trial run. Here’s what one diner said about the experience:
“My husband thought it would be romantic to take me to dinner overlooking Vegas at a height of over 150 feet. What he didn’t know is that I would completely freak out and be terrified when I saw what we were going to do … So here I was terrified in the beginning and once we got going I realized it really wasn’t going to be bad at all. In fact, I really enjoyed myself … Only one person was super terrified the entire length of the dinner.” – Yelp user Lauren H.
Ground broke on Dinner in the Sky Las Vegas yesterday, and it plans to officially open in late summer. The experience will start at $290 per person, including a three-course meal with wine pairings and a souvenir photo. Eight nightly seatings that last about an hour, including the ascent and descent, are planned. Let’s hope nobody loses their lunch in the middle of the ride – or has to get up to use the bathroom.