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Entries in Skyscape (10)

Fire in the Sky

Red clouds can be seen early in the morning over Santa Monica on Monday, January 19, 2009. Before the advent of modern meteorology, explorers and settlers of North America developed rules of thumb for the weather based on common observations. One of the most famous – and sometimes true – is:

Red sky by morning,
sailor take warning.
Red sky at night,
sailor's delight.

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 12:00AM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Skyscape, Weather |

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Pacific Park: Phase Two

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DAY 9 - THE NEW WHEEL (top) Dan Light, (left) customer service representative form Chance Rides Manufacturing, Inc. and Jim Quaintance, (right) Maintenance Manager of Pacific Park, wire-up the new Pacific Wheel on Tuesday, May 12, 2008. The Pacific Park Maintenance Team with help from the John S Meek Company Crane Team install Pacific Wheel's new axle, hubs and some sweep bars on Tuesday. (above) The Pacific Park staff look on as the crane lifts the wheels' axle into place.

Update on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 10:13PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 10

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The Pacific Park Maintenance Team instal all of the wheel's eight new motors, the 20 sweep bars and the 40 spreaders on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. The John S Meek Company begin to remove the crane from Pacific Park on Wednesday and should be completely out by Thursday.

Update on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 03:03PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 11

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Pacific Park's new Ferris wheel takes shape at the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, May 15, 2008.

Update on Friday, May 16, 2008 at 06:22PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 12

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(top) Troy Holder (left) and Luis Iraheta (right) torque all the nuts on the new Pacific Wheel on Friday, May 16, 2008. (center)Teddy Cruz (left) rewires the eight new motors while Luis Iraheta (left) replaces the wheel's tire with new ones on Friday. (above) Pacific Park was in full swing minus the new Ferris Wheel on Friday.

Update on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 10:17AM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 13

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Jim Quaintance, (left) Maintenance Manager of Pacific Park and Teddy Cruz (right) install an Intermediate spreader on Saturday, May 17, 2008. The maintenance team installed all 80 Intermediate spreaders on Saturday.

Update on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 04:39PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 14

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(1) Lars Koch, President of Eworks Pro Inc. (right) and Jim Quaintance, (left) Maintenance Manager of Pacific Park, begin attaching the lighting package onto the new Pacific Wheel Sunday, May 18, 2008. The lighting package consists of 440 LED bar lights which can change colors. (2) Dana Wyatt, Director of Operations & Security at Pacific Park, drills hole mounts on the new LED bar lights. (3) Dan Light, customer service representative form Chance Rides Manufacturing, Inc. installs the new Pacific Wheel's control stand. (4) Jim Quaintance (left) and Troy Holder (right) mount a lighting bar onto the Pacific Wheel. "This is going to be a tedious job mounting 440 bar lights," said Quaintance on Sunday.

Update on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 09:35PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 15

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(top) Jim Quaintance, (left) Maintenance Manager of Pacific Park and Jeff Sicat, (right) Maintenance Supervisor, install a 34 foot light support bar on Monday, May 19, 2008. There are 40 light support bars to be installed, 20 on each side. (center) Ilyitch Miranda (left) and Luis Iraheta (right) work underneath the Santa Monica Pier bringing in air lines for the Pacific Wheel's air brake system on Monday. (above) A KTLA Channel 5 news helicopter hovers above Pacific Park on Monday.

Update on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 03:10PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 16

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(top) Dana Wyatt, (L) Director of Operations & Security at Pacific Park and Randy Dixon (R) unload 20 new gondolas and move them into the park to begin installation on Tuesday, May 20, 2008. (center) Randy Dixon(L) and Craig Brayman move a new gondala.

Update on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 03:42PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 17

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(top) Craig Brayman moves the wheel forward a few feet so the crew can tighten bolts on Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

Update on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 06:14PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 18

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The Pacific Park Maintenance Team installs all 20 gondolas onto the Pacific Wheel on Thursday, May 22, 2008.

Update on Friday, May 23, 2008 at 05:46PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 19

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The Pacific Park Maintenance Team, dressed in their rain gear, install 95% of the lighting package on Friday, May 23, 2008. The lighting package consists of 440 LED bar lights. Scattered showers persisted throughout the day on Friday.

Update on Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 07:27PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 20

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(TOP) Dana Wyatt, (L) Director of Operations & Security at Pacific Park and Jim Quaintance, (R) Maintenance Manager, install the rest of the lighting package and begin wiring them up on Saturday, May 24, 2008. (ABOVE) Tom Norman, Electric Engineer Manager of Chance Rides Manufacturing, Inc., programs the new Pacific Wheel on Saturday.

Update on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 03:54PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 21

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Dana Wyatt, Director of Operations & Security at Pacific Park, goes up on the boom-lift to the center of the Ferris wheel to connect wires onto the lighting control box on Sunday, May 25, 2008.

Update on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 08:13PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 22

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After two days of wiring, the Pacific Park Maintenance Team finished connecting all the wires into the lighting control box (located on the center axle) on Sunday, May 26, 2008. There are 80 spokes (40 on each side) on the Ferris wheel and each spoke has a wire which was connected to the lighting control box. (TOP) (Left to Right) Technicians Luis Iraheta, Troy Holder and Teddy Cruz wire the lighting control box. (ABOVE) Jim Quaintance, (R) Maintenance Manager of Pacific Park and Jeff Sicat, (L) Pacific Park Maintenance Supervisor, prepare the new LED Reader Board for installation which is the final step in the operation.

Update on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at 03:04PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

DAY 23

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1) Dana Wyatt, Director of Operations & Security at Pacific Park and Jim Quaintance, Maintenance Manager test the new LED lighting bars and the new LED Reader Board on Tuesday, May 27, 2008. 2) Jim cuts the customized mounting bracket which will hold the LED Reader Board

Update on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 01:27PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

-DAY 24-

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

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The Pacific Park Maintenance Team installs the new LED readerboards and completes Operation Pacific Wheel on Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 10:59AM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Construction, Pacific Park, Santa Monica Pier, Skyscape |

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Pot of gold

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A rainbow can be seen early Friday morning above Pico Blvd.

Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007 at 08:23AM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Skyscape, Sunset, Weather |

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Live Green

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The worlds largest ecology flag flies high above Southern California Disposal and Recycling, a family run Santa Monica based trash collection and recycling company, on Thursday, September 20, 2007. The giant flag is three stories tall and five stories wide (30x50 feet) and is flying from a 100-foot tall flag tower within feets of the 10 Freeway where 348,000 vehicles pass per day (according to Caltrans records).

Update on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 02:13PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz

Posted on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 09:58PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Skyscape |

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Mammatus over Santa Monica

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Mammatus (also known as mamma or mammatocumulus, meaning "breast-cloud") were clearly visable above Santa Monica Beach on Saterday just south of the Pier. Mammatus is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud, often a cumulus or cumulonimbus. Their color is normally a bluish gray, the same as that of the host cloud, but direct illumination from the setting sun and other clouds may cause a gold or reddish cast. Mammatus can persist anywhere from minutes to hours, diffusing and disappearing over time. The atmosphere must also meet certain conditions, which include a moist and unstable middle to upper atmosphere over a very dry, lower layer of the atmosphere. An updraft then must occur, which shapes the mammatus into the pouch-like shape. Info on Mammatus cloud formation was courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 12:23PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Skyscape, Weather |

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