Desolation Boulevard

Roaming The Boulevard, carrying Leica Q2 Monochrom, on Super Bowl Sunday, I stopped to take photos of brewery patrons and Red Fox Restaurant. But I botched the street shot of El Cajon and Texas, which attempted salvage is the close-cropped Featured Image. Vitals, aperture and shutter speed manually set: f/2, ISO 2000, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 5:51 p.m. PST, Feb. 13, 2022.

The sun set 17 minutes earlier but that intersection is below the horizon, making for a darker dusk and opportunity to spotlight the camera’s lowlight capabilities, which benefit from there being no color overlay on the full-frame sensor.

The approaching cars are in North Park. The other side of the street, from where I stood, is University Heights. Both are considered to be among San Diego’s more desirable neighborhoods. While many of the homes are humble—and overpriced—their architectural styles are varied and the mature, manicured properties ooze character. Both communities are also coveted for their walkability and increasing number of bike lanes. If you don’t commute to work, you conceivably don’t need a car; although about that idea city planners and I disagree.

The title of this post is chosen for two reasons: 1) The unusually desolate El Cajon during the big game. 2) Homage to glam rockers Sweet and their record album of the same name. As a teenager, I owned the U.S. version of the LP issued in 1975.