Arrested At Comic-Con 2010

        It seems to me that fuses and tempers are starting are starting to run a little short at Comic-Con. On the convention floor, fire marshals are actively patrolling, enforcing the “no sitting” rule, security guards are preventing fans from taking decent pictures because we “have to keep moving,” one fan stabbed a fellow fan below his eye for sitting to close to him, and at least one fan has been tackled to the ground by a mob of non-peace officer security guards for apparently cutting in line for one of the discussion panels.
        On top of all that it was SUPER crowded today, so I was able to get only a few good shots. I was just not at the top of my game today. I think we all just need to take a deep breath, count to ten and relax.

An Alleged Line Jumper At Comic-Con 2010

        I mentioned earlier that I was not at the top of game today, and I’d like to elaborate on that point, but first let me explain the video above. I shot it with my keychain camera and it’s about 2 minutes long, but only the first 50 seconds are interesting. At that point, when one of the security guards pulls the kid’s hair to keep his head on the ground, I let go of the video camera, pulled my Nikon D5000 out and took the photo at the top of this post. The reason I didn’t edit the video once the video camera is pointed at my bag is because I want you to hear the audio. At about the one minute and thirty second mark you can hear a guard yelling “STAY DOWN! STAY DOWN! Then another guard comes up to me and another photographer and says, “You guys, will you put the cameras away please?” The guard then says that, “He doesn’t need to be encouraged.” You can then hear me say that we are not encouraging him. Anyway, no one put their camera away, and I got my shot.
        As for me not being on top of my game today, it should be pretty obvious… I was inside the convention center, on my way to the Elvira press conference yet I didn’t even have my camera out yet! On top of that, my big 200mm zoom lens is what happened to be mounted on my camera when I pulled it out, so that’s why the shot is so tight. Had I prepared properly, my camera would have already have been slung on my body with my 18mm lens, so the shot would have included all the security guards that were involved. Lesson learned.

Elvira -- Mistress Of The Dark

        Elvira held a press conference at Comic-Con for a very special announcement; Elvira is returning to television this Fall! She has a new Movie Macabre with over 20 films she will be hosting. It is going to be funny and scary and with Elvira bringing her iconic brand of humor to every film in the line-up, I think it is the perfect venue for her to introduce herself to a whole new generation of people. Her press conference was the highlight of my day. She is so beautiful, has perfect comedic timing and told us that she HATES the Twilight movie series. Awesome!

        The beautiful women were out in force today at Comic-Con. Above on the left is Pauley Perrette from at least two acronym shows: CSI and NCIS. She was very warm and cheerful to everyone that came up to her for an autograph. I said earlier that for some reason security guards won’t let us plant our feet long enough to take pictures of celebs while they are signing, we have to “keep moving” so I had to circle around the CBS booth about a dozen times to get this shot. I mentioned in my last post that planning ahead can help you get some great shots, and my shot above of artist and mythbuster Kari Byron, is a good example of that. I noticed she was scheduled to do a signing at the same table that Olivia Munn had been at the day before. I didn’t get a great shot of Olivia on that day, but I did take note of WHERE security lead her into the autograph signing area. I figured Kari Byron would be brought in the same way, so I went around to the bayside patio and waited. Sure enough, Kari and the security entourage walked right past me so I was able to get the above shot as she was about to walk into the autograph area. Remember, my fellow photographers, patience and planning will help you get some great shots.

        Two of Hollywood’s baddest bad boys were on hand today. Sid Haig, on the left played the great Captain Spalding in two of Rob Zombie’s films: House Of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. If you haven’t seen them then you should go out and rent them right now. Ron Perlman, above has a bio sheet longer than my arm, but my two favorite roles of his are as Johner in Alien Resurrection and as Hellboy. To me, he is just one of those guys that is flat out cool, no matter what he does.

Katey Sagal

        Katey Sagal was a favorite of mine when she was playing Peggy Bundy on Married With Children and she still a favorite of mine now, providing the voice of Turanga Leela on Futurama.

Mark Valley And Chi McBride

        Mark Valley And Chi McBride are currently working together on the TV show Human Target, and they were happily signing autographs today at Comic-Con. For the most part, the celebrities seem to go out of their way to be nice to the fans, smile and pose for pictures. They are very personable, and I’m sure that means a lot to the fans, especially the ones that have traveled for across the United States just to come to San Diego to meet them.
        So… One more day of Comic-Con left. There is light at the end of the tunnel my friends! This week has been exhausting and sleepless, but has been worth every little bit pain & suffering I’ve endured. Cheers!

Welcome To Technomania Circus

        Technomania Circus is a law unto itself. Before the show started, Dr. Techno read our minds, entertained us and most important of all, made us laugh. We all knew from the title of the show that we would be traveling through time, but when you are at Technomania Circus, most things are not always as they seem.

        That being said, I once again I found myself in the audience of Technomania Circus and once again I was amazed by what I saw. For this performance of the Technomaniacs, we took a journey through time, a journey that went through millions of years of history, and we laughed the entire time. We, as Americans do not have a sense of history that that goes beyond 1776, when we became a country. Most of us have no idea what the world was doing before that, but Technomania Circus does, so they educated and entertained us by reminding us what happened before, during and after the mighty United States of America was an idea, a reality and a ghost.

Dr. Techno At Technomania Circus

        Something I’ve never mentioned before is the personal guarantee that Dr. Techno gives each and every member of the audience: “You will enjoy the show or I will clean your house.” There are never any takers because everyone always loves the show.

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth

        Our journey begins somewhere around 25,000,000 BC, when dinosaurs and talking Tyrannosaurus Rex’s where a force to be reckoned with. Just look at his tiny little hands!

Cavemen

        Depending on who you ask and what part of the United States you are standing in when you ask, dinosaurs and people either co-existed OR where separated by millions of years of evolution. This particular dinosaur spoken fluent English, so right now I’m thinking that people and thunder lizards were contemporaries of one another. Of course, biblical scholars would disagree, but they disagree with everyone.

        As we continued to move forward through time at Technomania Circus, we met some familiar faces. Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble demonstrated the the first automobile and the need to invent a back seat for a car. Wasn’t the Flintstones an awesome cartoon? What a great concept. The cartoon came out in the 1960′s and applied 1960′s technology to the stone age. I would be very interested to watch a remake of the show that is updated to for 2010 technology. I think watching the the Flintstones deal with stone age computers, social networks and coffee shops would be incredibly funny. Anyways, after the Flintstones came the Egyptians, and King Ramses. As you can see from the photo above, Ramses was very pleased with his volunteer on his blue ball.

The Pharaoh Ramses Balances On His Big Blue Ball

        As we progressed through time we learned that even pharaohs like to have fun. Time travel aside, this really was quite a feat of balance and concentration. Walking on top of a giant rubber ball back and forth across a see-saw is a very exciting thing to watch!

Jesus Hubert Christ!

        Jesus Christ arrived 2000 years or so after the the golden age of Egypt, and when he did arrive, he rocked the house. What was his first number 1 single? Stairway To Heaven, of course.

Henry VIII Is Entertained At The Palace

        Henry VIII had 6 wives, two of whom were beheaded, so it is easy to understand why the court musician would try very, VERY hard to keep the King of England entertained. After all, if Henry would lop off the heads of his wives, what would he lop off a lowly court musician?

The Wild West

        After Henry VIII came an American gunfighter. This particular gunfighter chose to balance on a ladder and shoot balloons from a hand-held target. He had a very steady hand and never missed.

        The photo above, on the left reminded me of a line from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, spoken by Chevy Chase, “That’s a great place for a pearl necklace.” Ahem, as we continued forward through time we got to hear a remarkable song by Albert Einstein that ran through every element on the periodic table. It reminded me of the Nations Of The World song performed by Yakko Warner of the Animaniacs.

Space Pirates!

        Dr. Techno, the leader of the Technomaniacs was the operator of the time machine throughout the show. The time machine was a gigantic, mechanical contraption that only had enough juice to take us BACK in time. However, Albert Einstein produced an unspecified quantity of OBTAINIUM, which allowed the good Dr. Techno to take us into the FUTURE with his time machine. The first thing we encountered where space pirates.

At Some Point In History We Discovered Fire

        I began to lose track of where I was and WHEN I was, but The Welderman jumped out on stage to show me the light. I was at Technomania Circus, and I was in the very distant future. I have mentioned many times in previous posts that fire is my favorite part of the show, so I like to think they closed out the show with fire just for me. I know that’s not the reason, but it could be. It could be!

Technomania Circus Presents The Time Travel Show

Keychain Camera After I messed With It

        Yesterday was the 4th of July and San Diego held their annual BOOM ON THE BAY last night. I was there, and SDMTS, which is San Diego’s public transportation system was flawless in getting me there and back in just over 3 hours. I had about 10 pounds of photographic gear on my person, but managed to forget my camera. Yes, I went to the largest fireworks display on the west coast and forgot to bring my camera. ‘Nuff said.

1280x960 Resolution Video Camera

        Since I have no fireworks photos to work on, I had to find another way to occupy my time. I decided to modify my new keychain spy camera to be even better than it was when I bought it. The problem was that the camera was at the bottom of the fob. This meant I had to hold it like a wand, which is not spy-like at all. I really wanted the camera to face 90 degrees to the front or the back so I could paste the keychain camera to something, without it sticking out.

Keychain Camera About To Be Modified

        I disassembled the keychain camera and found the lens to be held in place with glue. I removed the glue and repositioned the camera 90 degrees so it would be pointed out the back of the fob. I drilled two holes to accommodate the new position of the lens. Yes, only one hole was necessary but as the photo below shows, I misjudged the first time.

Modified Keychain Camera

        Now I can wear this keychain video camera as a necklace, rather than pointing it like a laser pointer at my subject. The only reason I bought this keychain camera was so I can record people and events without me having to use my hands. The position the lens was in when purchased pretty much makes it necessary to hold the camera in your hand while extending your arm. My mod allows the camera to be used as a necklace.
        The two videos below compare the keychain camera to the Nikon D5000, in terms of video capability. The keychain claims to have 1280x960, 30fps resolution, while the D5000 is 1280x720, 24fps. I think the videos speak for themselves. The D5000 has FAR superior video capabilities than the keychain camera, and the keychain camera’s claims of being HD are false.

Keychain Camera From The Trolley

        Above you see footage taken with a 1280x960 resolution camera encoded at 720p. I have footage from the same trolley ride taken with a Nikon D5000. The D5000 video is much better than the keychain video.

Video Taken With My Nikon D5000

        The video footage above is superior to the keychain camera. I’m not saying that the keychain camera won’t help you out in a pinch, I’m saying that it is not an HD video camera. I’m going to wear it with a lanyard when I go out shooting from now on though. Hands free video recording of any person that challenges me while taking pictures is worth it’s weight in gold for me.

Great Place To Start Inline Skating Around San Diego Bay.

        My latest inline skating adventure led me to the northwest area of San Diego Bay. There is a path that runs from Market St. & N. Harbor Dr. all the way around the northern edge of the bay, past the airport and over the bridge at the western edge of Harbor Island. I took the orange line trolley to American Plaza station and then walked 1 block west on Broadway, where I popped on my skates and headed north. I was there on a Friday at lunchtime and it was pretty crowded with pedestrians from the Broadway pier until I got to Hawthorn St. At that point, the foot traffic dropped off so it was smooth sailing. The trail is concrete and parallels N. Harbor Dr. and the coast of the bay. It is wide and smooth the whole way, and as the trail curves to the west you can see planes taking off from San Diego International Airport on your right, and watch the calm, San Diego bay to your left. The path goes right past the Coast Guard base, so you can see their helicopters and hangers as well.

Inline Skate Path At San Diego Bay -- Shot with Nikon D5000

        In the spirit of making this blog more dynamic and interesting, I am learning the best ways to use my Nikon D5000 to add video to the posts. The best way is probably not to shoot video while hand-holding the D5000 and skating at the same time. That being said, the video above is a little jumpy, but it will give you a great sense of what the path is like, as well as the video capabilities of the D5000, in case you are considering purchasing one. One thing I don’t like about shooting video with the D5000 is that you have to focus manually, which is not fun when you are trying to stay upright on skates.

New Flowers For The Path

        The shot above was taken just where the trails curves to the west, between terminal two of the airport and the bay. This will make a great before and after shot, once the plants have matured and the orange safety fence is removed.
        So, yet one more skate path that is accessible on San Diego public transportation. Both the orange and blue line trolleys stop at American Plaza station and from there it’s just a one block walk to the path. To see other blog posts of mine from other San Diego skate paths, click here.

Mission Bay’s Eastern Shore

        I had a great day yesterday. Inline skating used to be everything to me, so from 1995 until 2007, I racked up more miles on my skates than most people do in their cars. I skated everywhere, and even spent 3 of those years on a 12 foot vert ramp. Life was good and the future was very far away. Thanks to a very brief, yet poignant article in the San Diego Reader, I got back on the skating wagon yesterday. I discovered a gem of San Diego that, for reasons unknown even to me, I have never explored. There are beautiful, wide, paved trails all around Mission Bay, and yesterday was the first time I skated on them. I have been in San Diego since 2006, and yesterday was the first time I took my skates to Mission Bay and skated the trails there. It was amazing, and now, 24 hours later, I am still trying to get the smile off my face.

Rosa Marie Starns South Shores Park

        The entire Mission Bay Park area is beautiful, and something that helps to enhance this beauty is the fact that it is very accessible on San Diego’s public transportation. If you live downtown, jump on the #30 bus and it will zip you right into Mission Bay, Pacific Beach or La Jolla Shores. If you live in Old Town, you can grab bus numbers 9, 9a, 8 or 30 to get to the beaches. If you live anywhere else along San Diego’s 53 miles of trolley track, get on, head to the Old Town transit center and jump on any of the above mentioned buses.

Jet Skiing Along The South Shores Of Mission Bay

        My journey was rather epic on this day. I live in East County and I do not drive, so in order to get to San Diego’s beaches, I must take public transportation. I started out by taking the Orange Line Trolley into downtown, where I had a bite to eat at my favorite taco shop “Azteca” at the Park & Market trolley station. They have a special called the “Big Plate” that consists of 2 rolled tacos, a regular taco and a bean tostada for $4.08 after tax. Yummy! Ordering and consuming this meal took less than 15 minutes so I was able to catch the next trolley up to City College, where I debarked, walked down Broadway and caught the #30 bus. Downtown traffic was a nightmare, but since I was a passenger on the bus, I was pleasantly amused by the traffic, while listening to my iPod. I felt sorry for all the suckers in their cars, I really did, but watching them putz along reminded why I don’t drive, and even though buses are prone to traffic too, but I can sleep, rock out or daydream through it, rather than rage about it.

        I rode the #30 bus into the fringes of Pacific Beach, debarking at Grand Ave. & Bond St. From there I crossed Grand Ave., put on my skates and headed south on the Rose Creek Trail, which took me right to the northern edge of De Anza Cove, which is home of the start (or the end, depending on your direction of travel) of a beautiful, 10 foot wide concrete path the travels down the entire eastern shore of Mission Bay, curls around to the south and on past Sea World. From there, the path parallels Ingraham St, through Vacation Island and meets up with Bayside Walk Path. By the time I reached Vacation Island, I was becoming very hungry, thirsty and… Hungry. The #9 bus runs along Ingraham St., so I ended my skating adventure, jumped the bus and headed to the Old Town transit center. Once there I boarded the Green Line trolley, which took me to Grossmont transit center where I took a #1 bus that dropped me off a few feet from my house in La Mesa. It was a good day.

De Anza Cove In East Mission Bay

SDKA HPV4, Formula YC, and Superbox Racers Take The Stage

        The last SDKA (San Diego Karting Association) event I attended was back in April, and the resulting photos and blog post I produced had me lamenting that the fact that it seemed my SDKA photo shoots had become very dull and ordinary. As such, back in April I promised that my next SDKA photo-op would be different… “like nothing you’ve ever seen before.” Well, the SDKA race in May 2010 was in Perris, CA which is too far away for me to travel to, so I had to wait for two months to redeem myself, and I really do think that I did.

Seconds After The Green Flag

        In order to distance this photo-shoot at this particular SDKA race from the others I have done, I knew I needed to shoot something that was NOT in any of my previous posts or photos. It took a lot of thought to figure out what that might be. I though about traipsing through the pits and snapping some shots of racers as they prepared to race but I ultimately nixed that idea. I wanted ACTION shots that I haven’t seen online or anywhere else.

The Checkered Flag

        I did some research, and by research I mean that I used avenues other than Google, because Google will provide law enforcement with search records without a warrant. Since I am a child of the 1990′s, I knew how to go to a library, read encyclopedias, and generally conduct an information search that was 100% Google (law enforcement’s puppet) free. What I found out was very simple. SDKA photos and articles did not have photos of the start or finish of their races. Bam! I had my agenda.

HPV-2/HPV-1/Junior-1 Racer Tears Up The Track

        So, even after doing my Google (CIA, NSA & FBI) free research, it still took a little time to get into my photographic groove. For one thing, by 3:30pm, the sun was really starting to dive into the Pacific ocean, so one side of the SDKA track was back-lit, and the other side was bathed in late afternoon sunshine. If you are a photographer, then you know the challenges this lighting creates.

The Checkered Flag

        Number 12 buzzed across the finish line first, making him the winner for the HPV-2/HPV-1/Junior-1 class. I was hoping for some photo-finishes, but the winners of each race were very much in a league of their own, beating the rest of the field by a wide margin.

TaG Seniors And TaG Masters Take The Stage

        So, in the spirit of photographing something I’ve photographed in the past, but in a different way, I have shots of the start and finish of most of the races. I’m also grouping the photos for this post according to the class of the racers, as opposed to a random assortment of photos. I think it will help the post be a bit more linear and help to tell a better story.

TaG Racer Roars By During An SDKA Race

The Winner Of The TaG Heat Takes The Checkered Flag

        It is very exciting to watch the winner of a race cross the finish line. For that moment in time, everyone knows that you are the best, with a checkered flag and possibly a trophy to prove it.

SDKA Shifters Explode From The Starting Line

        As a person that knows a little less than nothing about go karts, I will make the following assumption: The shifter class of go karts are the fastest karts on the circuit. These guys fly around the course, Tokyo drift around the corners and generally control a certain amount of chaos behind the wheel.

The Winner Of The Shifter Class

        I think the body language of this racer says it all, and rightfully so. This SDKA racer CRUSHED his competitors, and as the photo above proves, he was so far ahead that his competition was nowhere in site.

SuperMoto Invades SDKA Go Kart Racing At Qualcomm Stadium

        This is the first time I have ever seen motorcycles racing at an SDKA event. It was very, very cool, and (no offense intended to go kart racers) the highlight of the race for me. I love motorcycles and even own one myself, even though I never ride it.

Panning A SuperMoto Racer At Qualcomm Stadium

        Just in case other photographers would like to know, every photo in this post was taken with my Nikon D5000 at 1/1000th, f/8, 200 ISO. The D5000 really is an incredible camera and until I have a D700 fall into my lap, it will be with me just about everywhere I go.

The SuperMoto Winner Crosses The Finish Line

        The SuperMoto racers were the final heat for the day. If nothing else, my time at the track on this particular day inspired me to get the hell back onto my motorcycle. Motorcycles rock, and god damn it, I rock too! The brief video below does not do the racers justice but I figured I’d throw it into the post anyway. Cheers.

Amboy, CA & Roy’s Cafe

        Just north of Joshua Tree National Park, situated along Historic Route 66 is the town of Amboy, which consists of Roy’s Cafe and a decaying, 60 year old church. As you head north out of Joshua Tree, you will travel through Bristol Dry Lake to get to Amboy, where you can gas up and have a meal at Roy’s Cafe.

        Roy’s Cafe has been an institution in Amboy and Historic Route 66 since 1938, eventually serving travelers with food, a place to fix and/or gas up as well as stay the night. At the height of travel along Route 66, Roy’s employed 70 people. That all changed in 1972 when I-40 opened up to the north, which meant that Amboy would lose all the transcontinental traffic that made it into a boom town in the years after WWII. I-40 completely bypassed Amboy and Roy’s Cafe, so the area became a ghost town and fell into disrepair. As a visitor during Memorial Day weekend in 2010, it is hard to believe that 70 employees were needed to run the place because I saw less than a dozen travelers the entire time I was there. It is sad to think that 30 years ago, with the stroke of a pen on a map, Route 66 and the town of Amboy became relics of the past, and I-40 became the corridor of the future.
        Barstow, which lies to the west along I-40 boomed, while Amboy and Roy’s Cafe, along the instantly forgotten Route 66 were stripped of their status as a way point for travelers and were reduced to a point of curiosity that people only see if they specifically mean to go there.

Amboy Crater

        At the intersection of Amboy Road and Route 66 were some roadside vendors selling fresh jerky and cherries. The jerky vendor advertised a website: www.freshjerky.com that I explored and found that they have a two California retail locations: One in Olancha and another in Needles, as well as a location in Golden Valley, AZ. My cousin purchased a bag of jerky from this “retail outlet” of Gus’s Really Good Fresh Jerky and it was in fact really good and really fresh. The photo of Amboy Crater above as well as the top photo in this post were taken from the vantage of this roadside vendor.

Approaching Bristol Dry Lake, Amboy Crater & Roy’s Cafe

        The silent movie above shows just how timeless a journey through the desert can be. When you drive through a dry lake on the fringes of the Mojave desert, it is easy to forget what planet you are on, but it’s even easier to forget what year you are in. The grainy, jumpy video above might be 50 years or 50 days old. We just don’t know for sure.

Downtown Amboy

        Desert towns rely on a steady traffic flow of desert travelers for their economy to flourish. In 1972, when I-40 opened and bypassed the town of Amboy, the town went belly-up, and became a novelty destination, which does not encompass enough people to be sustainable for small desert town situated along a now defunct Route 66.

Historic Route 66 Shoe Tree

        After a nice meal at Roy’s Cafe, head east on Route 66 and you will see history rewind before your very eyes. So many people over so many years have passed through here that even roadside garbage has a story to tell.

Immortalized On Historic Route 66

        As you leave Amboy and head east on Route 66, you will notice the shoulder on the north side of the road contains the names of countless travelers, hand-printed with stones for miles and miles. It is difficult to say when this impromptu tradition started, but I think it must go back to the 1920′s. With that in mind, I decided to add my name, with dozens of carefully selected and positioned stones to the roster. Take the time to do the same and who knows what you’ll find in the process. For example, I planned on arranging my name with stones, snapping a picture and leaving. Who would have known that a .38 snub nose revolver and a beer can, so old that it was made out of steel would make an appearance? Either way, Historic Route 66 is American heritage, so on your next road trip, you really should veer off of our interstate highway system and detour along the original cross-country highway… Historic Route 66.

General Labor In La Mesa, CA

        These guys have been digging, drilling and filling for a few days now and even though I have no idea what the Hell they are doing, it is still interesting to watch.

Using A Jackhammer

Whew! The Ball Is Safe

        Across the street from the construction is the Christ Lutheran Church, which also contains a school. A rubber ball made it over the security fence of the school and rolled down the street where it came to rest at the entrance to a storm drain. Luckily for the students, the ball is slightly larger than the drain, so this good Samaritan lady was able to retrieve the ball for the children.

Jackhammer Through Concrete

        The ground level of this gas station is no match for the relentless beat of a jackhammer. One man with a jackhammer and another with a heavy steel bar equals one hole in the ground. The short video below helps to illustrate this point.

Fire Hydrant Water Fountain

        I heard it before I saw it. Thousands of gallons of water shooting into the air, splashing onto the ground and flowing down the street.

Broken Fire Hydrant Creates A Water Fountain

        It turned out that some one knocked over a fire hydrant so a 25 foot water fountain ensued. The La Mesa fire department arrived on the scene and shut down the water. Good job guys!

La Mesa Community Service Officer -- First On Scene

Firefighters On The Scene

        Through an access near the edge of the street, the firefighters used a T shaped tool turn a subterranean valve that stopped the flow of water. The 1 minute video below was shot with my Nikon D5000.

Unauthorized Balboa Park Fountain Photography

        Today I had a run in with security guards inside of Balboa Park in San Diego. I was taking photos of the defunct fountain, surrounded by yellow flowers you see above when a security guard drove up in a truck and asked me for my ID. I said I would not show him my ID, which angered him, so he called for back-up. His back-up was another Balboa Park security guard that also asked for my ID. I refused to give him my ID as well, so he said, “then I’m gonna treat you like a criminal.” The video below was shot during the altercation.
        Despite the camera being aimed at the guards’ crotch for most of the time, there are a few audio highlights of from this 4 minute video.

        At about the 1:20 mark, the first guard implies that I have something to hide because I won’t show him my ID. He then says that people over the age of eighteen are required to have ID at all times. I then ask him if citizens over the age of eighteen are required to show ID to a non-peace officer at any given time just because he says. The guard doesn’t answer my question, he merely states that the only difference between what he does and a peace officer does is location. He also states he can arrest me, and cite me. When I point out that it would be a citizen’s arrest he said, it would NOT be because there are city and municipal codes that allow “us” to arrest people.
        Just before the 3 minute mark, when I point out that I may want to see the guard’s ID, and that if he doesn’t show me that I may arrest HIM, he says I’m being a “pain in the ass” and that it’ll be easier for me if I just give him my ID.
        At the 3:15 mark, the other security guard shows up, and he was just a comical person on a power trip. He starts out by driving his truck over the curb and onto the flowers. This guy then speaks with a voice of authority, using long, unnecessary pauses and hand gestures for emphasis. He tells me to relax, follow his instructions, and give him my ID. I refuse so he says he’s going to treat me like a criminal. He also says to turn off my camera, remove it from my body and place it on the ground. I did turn the camera off, but I swear it was an accident… I forgot I was shooting video, so the remaining 5 minutes of the altercation, including the arrival of the cops was not captured.

        So there you have it. Just one more example of non-peace officer security guards that think they are cops, yet they called the cops when I wouldn’t show my ID. So remember, be polite, stand your ground and don’t buy in to what a security guard tells you. Just from this 4 minute video we hear Balboa Park security guards make the following claims: 1. They can arrest people that don’t show ID, because special municipal and state codes allow them to do so. 2. They will “treat you like a criminal” if you don’t show ID. 3. If you have a camera, they will want you to place it on the ground. Pathetic.