Open Garage: Recent Episodes
Daniel Tovar
Here’s another recording from Laura and Brad of Bungalow Brutal. This one was taken during a visit to a neighborhood park and packs in a menagerie of sounds: the creak of a swing, a bell sound, water, a meeting between strangers. It’s a pleasure to listen to. Thanks Laura and Brad!
This was recorded on my phone on a farm I was camping at in San Miguel. It was sunset after a very hot day, a little over 100º. It’s quiet, but you can hear frogs croaking in the background, the songbirds beginning to chirp, and some crows cawing as the sun disappears behind the brown rolling hills in the distance.
This episode is from the home of illustrator and printmaker duo Steven and Miranda, aka Blial Cabal, where they raise goats and chickens, keep a beautiful garden, and of course produce their incredible artwork. You can hear their chickens clucking and giving themselves dust baths in the midday heat. Follow them on Instagram @blialcabal.
I am out of town this week and so instead of posting recordings from my garage, I’m handing the feed over to some friends who have made ten minute recordings capturing their own lives. This first Guest Garage—posted one day late because of spotty internet—is from Chicago-based designers Laura and Brad (aka Brutal Bungalow) and their kiddo Xeno (check out @bungalowbrutal on Instagram!). Laura writes,
“Today was July 4, 2022. The weather was clear and sunny, bordering unbearably hot for most Chicagoans. Today’s recording is of sounds from the Pro-Choice Abortion March at 39th and King organized and led by Kido Chicago and the Chicago Abortion Fund. You can hear individual voices of people marching, protesting, talking, sharing stories and uniting together to collectively uplift one another and protest the recent overturn of Roe v Wade.”
It’s warm out (84º) but cooler than it has been so far this week. The neighborhood seems especially calm this afternoon. There’s the usual traffic in the background, but the alley is person- and car-free. You can hear the whirr (and perhaps the squeak?) of air-conditioners, and the birds— a mockingbird and a house finch, I think, and also a rooster—are especially predominant. It’s a soothing soundscape, with some of east LA’s key hallmarks.
It’s a warm night after a very hot day. I’m recording out in the yard to get away from the crickets in the garage, which, when combined with its slight echo, have an annoyingly piercing sound. You can hear the explosion of fireworks both in the distance and on our street, close to our house. My neighbor came home while recording and you can hear me saying goodnight. It’s 68º and slightly cloudy.
It was hot out today, around 88º. Too hot to spend much time working in the garage. You can hear the neighbors hanging out in the alley and throwing buckets of water out for reasons I couldn’t discern. After recording I quickly escaped back into the sweet, sweet air-conditioning of our house.
There've been constant explosions in the distance tonight. Perhaps people getting ready for July 4? Or maybe it's because the Dodgers won earlier today? Otherwise, it's a pretty relaxed Thursday eve. In addition to explosions you can hear some birds out and the ever-present rumble of traffic. It's 63º and mostly clear.
We had a rare thunderstorm in LA today, with intermittent brief periods of extremely heavy rainfall. I’m happy that I was able to capture some of it on tape.
It's 9:44 and 70º. It's cooled off a bit from today's high of 92ª, but it still feels too warm out and I still feel sticky with sweat. It's relatively quiet in the alley, though there's some indistinct conversation in the background and cars revving their engines speeding down the residential roads.
I'm back! I had a long weekend camping and I missed last Friday's recording. Today's recording is a little different. The birds are out, there was some traffic in the alley, and maybe an explosion somewhere in the distance near the end? But throughout, I was working in the garage listening to a conversation with Neil Brenner and Nikos Katsikis, doing research for a video project called "Anti-Frontier." There’s a trailer up on my website (tovar.io). Check it out. It was hot today — 89º I think — and the sky was clear with a slight breeze.
The city is working on the pavement in front of our house. You can hear the trucks doing...something...out there. The temp is 61º and the sky is clear.
I usually EQ these episodes subtly but I had to significantly tone down the piercing noise (at least to my overly sensitive ears) of a cricket that must have landed near one of the mics. What a racket. It's 64º and overcast.
The traffic sounds relatively heavy in the background and the neighborhood is out: loud music, kids screaming, and cars revving their engines, leaving a trail of blaring alarms in their wake. It’s Friday night and the weather was 90º and “haze.”
A break from the usual garage recordings, this one comes from my yard, which is located directly behind the garage. After a long day working on another project in the Mojave Desert, I was sitting in the yard, enjoying the sounds of the city in the evening, so I decided to record there instead. The car sounds are a bit more muffled and the birds are closer, some in the tree directly above where I was sitting. The recording starts out with me applying bug spray.
It’s a dark grey morning and the clouds are completely blocking the sunrise. The dawn chorus is out, along with the undying LA traffic.
This is one of the louder episodes. There's a low flying police helicopter, a gate sliding open directly in front of the mics, and honking. It's a busy noon in the alley. The sky is clear and it's a warm 81º.
It’s a warm 80º in Lincoln Heights. It was overcast earlier in the day but that’s burnt off this afternoon. It’s trash day and you can hear the empty trash can lids swinging in the light wind, tapping the plastic bins that they’re attached to. With a car, a helicopter, a train in the distance, and birds, it’s a lively day in the alley.
The neighbor's kids are often hanging out in the alley. In order to dampen their voices, I moved the mics outside of the garage, further away from them. Surprisingly, the changed mic position makes them sound more echo-y but also less intelligible. The temp is 61º and cloudy.
Recorded last night but uploaded late. It was 62º, cloudy, and very still. There’s very little audible from the alley in this one, except, of course, for crickets and distant traffic.
It’s a cool 68º. The sky is clear and the neighbors are hanging out in the alley drinking beers and smoking. Happy June 1.
It’s Tuesday, the temp is 74º, and the sky is clear. There’s a soft breeze that makes it feel a little cooler than it is. The sky looks hazy with smog. The birds are out, as usual, and there is no car activity in the ally. Other than some sort of explosion in the distance, it’s a relaxing afternoon.
It’s 66° and the sky is clear. Happy Memorial Day. I’m back from a brief but eventful camping trip, first in the Los Padres National Forest and then, driven out by the crowds, on the Carrizo Plains. Even after just one night on the nearly silent plains, the LA landscape sounds remarkably loud and chaotic, even on this relatively quiet holiday evening.
It’s 60° and just before 5:00 AM. It’s still and cloudy out. I figured that at this hour it would be remarkably quiet out. But the traffic sounds loud and the neighbor is loudly playing the oldies. I’m up early for a Memorial Day Weekend camping trip but will be back in the garage again on Monday.
68° with a slight breeze in Lincoln Heights. It’s a calm Thursday afternoon and it sounds like the neighbors are prepping for the long Memorial Day weekend.
67° and just before sunset. The neighbors are hanging out, the birds are hanging out, and I think I heard the tune of an ice cream truck in the background. Cool evenings after a long hot day are the best.
It’s 72º but it feels a little warmer. There’s a slight breeze and the sky is cloud free. It appears to be a dull blue through a brown haze that is blanketing the city. In the spring, plant life in LA is bursting and uncontrollable: orange bugambilias, purple jacarandas, and white jasmine. But the cars are uncontrollable too, and the city feels like it is barely able to contain them. This tends to diminish the experience of the flowers. But perhaps there’s a kind of beauty to be found in the cars, also, and the half-thought-out infrastructure that supports them.
It's a chilly 60º and overcast in LA. It's a sleepy Monday night. You can hear the neighbor talking on the phone indistinctly and the crows cawing in the distance. I did pick up a siren, but otherwise, traffic is relatively quiet. I'm off to bed. Good night!
It's a cool (65º), gusty evening after a remarkably hot and hazy day. Midday, the view of downtown—about three miles from Lincoln Heights—was partially obscured by the thick, smoggy air. Further away, the Hollywood sign and the Santa Monica mountain range, visible on a normal day, were entirely hidden.
“What Is Going On With LAPD Helicopter Surveillance,” by Erin Wisti. knock-la.com, March 21, 2021. https://knock-la.com/lapd-helicopter-surveillance-6ed93fb7c9a/
A chill evening in the alley with birds, a little air traffic, and the lulling din of the 110.
It’s a calm evening in Lincoln Heights. There are no cars in the alley, only the low, constant rumble of the nearby 110 and 5 highways. The temp is 60º, the sky is clear, and when the sun was up the sky looked thick with smog.
It's a warm 78º while I'm recording, but this is down from a blistering 93º earlier in the day. It's suddenly summer in LA.
It's a calm but blustery afternoon in the alley. You can hear the wind occasionally rattle the chain on the neighbor's gate. After a three-day stint of jury duty—a brief but surprisingly harrowing experience—I am feeling especially relaxed and content working in the garage this late afternoon. The temp is 83º and skies are perfectly clear.
It's a busy Wednesday morning in Lincoln Heights. The temp is 65º and I'm freezing, even with my heavy fleece on. I'm a fully acclimated Angeleno now.
The skies are clear, the sun is shining, and the temp is a comfortable 70º. Conditions are ideal. The birds and the builders are out. The train can be heard in the distance. The neighborhood dogs are barking and the roosters are crowing. LA feels alive this morning.
The evening is a crisp 59º. After spending the whole day sawing wood, the neighbor is now throwing the pieces into the back of his truck. You can catch the tail end of the evening bird song and the onset of the crickets. It’s a conspicuously quiet Cinco de Mayo in Lincoln Heights.
It's a lively late morning in Lincoln Heights. The birds are out and the roosters are crowing.
It's a clear and breezy day in LA. The temperature is a very comfortable 68ºF. The alley is surprisingly relaxed for a Tuesday afternoon. The birds are out. You can hear someone taking her dog for a walk and to neighbors making small talk.