July 3, 2025 • 28 mins
(July 03, 2025)
Neil Saavedra fills in while Bill is out for an extended 4th of July weekend. A classic childhood pastime is fading. The origin of the $80 popcorn bucket. Scientists define six traits that make a person ‘cool.’ Inside the Los Angeles Zoo’s messy $50MIL breakup.
Neil Saavedra fills in while Bill is out for an extended 4th of July weekend. A classic childhood pastime is fading. The origin of the $80 popcorn bucket. Scientists define six traits that make a person ‘cool.’ Inside the Los Angeles Zoo’s messy $50MIL breakup.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I want to.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Ride my big wound, the luckiest boy in the World.
KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio. Appy, everybody,
It's the Morning Crew. I'm Neil Savedra hanging out today.
Bill Handle has the day off, so does Amy King.
She's out on vacation. So we've got Heather Brooker here,
(00:27):
will Cole Schreiber Kno and of course and Ring you know,
wrangling us all together. Don't touch that, don't put that
in your mouth. Sit over here, sit up straight. Read
the articles.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
God downer man.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The US added one hundred and forty seven thousand jobs
in June, soundly beating estimates and offering a welcome sign
to the economy. We're in relatively solid shape. We'll take it.
The unemployment rate fell from four point two to four
point one, so says the Bureau of Labor Statistics that
(01:09):
came out today, and we will take that. Any news
like that is good news. Just some of the things
that are trending going on today. This story has bummed
me out. This is out of the Atlantic, and this
is about one of our childhood pastimes. And I don't
know what it is about holidays, but I think we
(01:29):
get a little nostalgic right when it comes to holidays,
because those were the the punctuation of life. Look at
the big bosses there, What are you doing here? When
everybody's gone something? The boss walks in in shorts, looking casual.
How are you, sir? Everybody stood up to salute, and
(01:52):
I'm like, what are they doing? Paul Corvino, the president
just walks in casually and it show it's no big deal,
just coming in checking on things. Nice to see you, sir. Yeah,
well we're trying. We're doing what we can. Nice to
see you you as well.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You don't see that every day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And then an think the head of Starbucks walks in
the Starbucks No.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you know, the thought of.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Nostalgia and these small punctuations in our life that remind
us because unlike adults, time moves differently when you're a kid, right,
so that all those things, those summers are go on forever,
and the holidays go on forever. And one of the
things I remember we were we were broke. We didn't
(02:45):
have money, but we had bikes. Did we share some Yeah,
I bet we did. Were given to us by friends.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Jamie Coda, who unfortunately passed not too long and go
way too early, was a childhood friend and I remember
him giving me a bike. You know, I remember distinctly,
you know, these these moments where you know, the bikes
were a big deal. Talking with producer and earlier, she said,
(03:18):
you always knew like where everybody was, like, oh, that's
the party house, that's where all the kids are going
to play a game at the end, because all the
bikes were in the front yard and you could tell
who was home too. I would walk up and I'd
see the bikes in the front yard and I knew
which brothers my sister were home. And that was like
a thing, and there was something of freedom in life,
(03:41):
and it's dying, you know those you watch a Spielberg movie,
you watch the Goonies, Goodnies Never Die, and then you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Watch et or.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Bikes were so prominent in these things, and I remember that,
you know, when you you have the freedom to be
able to, you know, walk around the block when you
ride a bike, you know, and I like to skateboard
and stuff like that back in the day as well.
But it's like you. You could propel yourself. You could
make decisions which direction you want to go, which path
(04:16):
you want to go. You were away from your parents
usually that's how I remember it. And you were with
your buddies and you were flying like lightning through the streets.
And when I grew up, we had our track of homes,
and there was one more street, and then it was
(04:37):
fields forever. We had a crowd head pond everything like
all the stuff that you think about being in maybe
I don't know, Middle America or something right here in
southern California and riding my bike and you just you'd
ride it up to the edge of you know, the
the fields and you just leave it there and then
(04:58):
you'd run in further to go to the Krawdie Pound
or whatever whatever. And they're saying, over the course of
the nineties, an average of twenty point five million children
ages seven to seventeen hopped on a bike six or
more times a year. I mean, that doesn't even sound
like a lot, right. This is from the National Sporting
(05:19):
Goods Association. By the way, they're the ones that pull
all this this information. A few decades later, you fast forward,
numbers fallen nearly in half ten point nine million in
twenty twenty three. Of those kids, according to the association,
less than five percent rode their bikes frequently. Is dying Now.
(05:44):
I we live in the city. I mean everything that
is not downtown. Yes, technically is a suburb. I suppose it.
But we live by very populated and frequented roads, very busy.
(06:04):
It's not real fun to ride a bike in our area.
Now there's a lot of bike riders, a lot, but
they're cyclists. Our boy Max, for whatever reason, balance stuff
like that didn't FaZe him. Literally, My wife put him
on a bike and he wrote it just it just
(06:27):
took to it. It was you know, we all break
codes in life, and some of us breaking them earlier
or certain codes.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So that was one of his.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And he just broke it and he flew, I mean
as fast as he could go immediately. Had balanced, no problem.
But we go to a park. We go to a park.
It's a big park that has you know, a trail
and things like that. It's controlled out on the streets. Now,
before our son was born, my wife and I rode
around La all the time. We would ride into Chinatown.
(06:59):
We'd were seven miles. Didn't think about it. Ci Lavilla
came around, we'd ride throughout the streets of Los Angeles.
Amazing to ride through downtown with not a car insight.
But as a kid, it was a right of passage
to get a bicycle and to go wherever you want it.
Think about what this builds, how crucial it is to
(07:20):
the way a kid thinks, the independence that comes with it,
the fight you know, of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. You know,
it's not just the foods. Everybody points to the foods
we're getting fat. It's the foods. Yeah, there's a problem
with uber processed foods and all of that, and the
facts that we don't understand fats properly, so we think
(07:42):
fats are bad and we give low fat foods in
the seventies and early eighties and that caused all kinds
of There's a lot to it, but it's the first
type of exercise that you don't think that you're exercising.
It's mobility, man, it's about about going out, hanging out
with your friends, and it's dying. It's a trainer for
(08:09):
kids being solo, being independent, thinking differently, making decisions, spatial mapping,
understanding your surroundings, trouble shooting, shooting, problem solving all in one, maintenance,
keeping your bike up understanding, don't leave those jeans flapping,
(08:33):
or your tough skins whatever they might have been at
the time, near a bear chain going to be a problem.
Tuck that pant legaty in your sock, do something keeping
the bike in working order. It's the first time you
probably said, oh, I need you know, my brakes aren't working.
I need another pad on here, I need to tighten
(08:54):
the cable or There's so much more to it than
just biking. And it's going away, and part of it
is us as parents, the fear of kids going out
and about the fear of kids not being within reach.
They're tethered to us, and again, unintended consequences is my
(09:15):
thing trying to foresee them. And I don't know what
this will be in a generation without bikes, what will
continue to produce?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
But what a bummer to me? All right? Popcorn buckets.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You remember when we used to remember, hey, remember this
guy's Remember when we would go to the movies, remember
and you'd be like, wow, this popcorn is expensive. It's
like yeah, and you'd go and you complain about popcorn
being so expensive. Well, what we all know now as
an adult is that the concessions is where they really
(09:55):
make the money. It's expensive to rent those movies and
pay to be able to play them. The system is
kind of broken, quite honestly, but that's the way it works.
And they're not making money the ticket sales the way
you think they are. It's the concession So they got
to make their money somehow. Well, those days are over
(10:15):
because now it's not about the popcorn, it's what the
popcorn is in. This is in movies, This is at Disneyland.
Disneyland has custom or these limited edition popcorn buckets. I
know because I am a baby child man, I like toys.
(10:39):
So as a baby child man myself, I do get
some of the Star Wars ones and I have a
couple of Mickey ones as well, because they make me
happy and they're neat, they look neat and they're cool.
But now when you go to a movie theater you
can pay up to eighty bucks for the container. And
(11:01):
what happens, you know, infrequently, you know, we go to movies,
and frequently these days you can watch them at home.
They come out more quickly on streaming and you're.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Good to go.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
But you take a kid to the theater and he's
going to see he or she's going to see their
favorite little film, and then all of a sudden they
see this thing that looks like a toy and it's
filled with popcorn and it's eighty dollars. Now, I got
one recently. I haven't even seen the film, but I
bought it online because I like the way it looks,
(11:34):
and it was for Nusfarautu.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It was his coffin, so I thought it was cool.
I use it to hold stuff in my shop.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And then I have a bunch of you know, the
Star Wars ones from Disneyland. But I'm looking right now,
looking right now. On eBay, a dead Pool in Wolverine
one is going for one hundred and fifty bucks. Another
pair of limited edition Deadpool and Wolverine movie popcorn buckets.
(12:10):
These were AMC exclusive, very rare, five thousand dollars. Five
thousand dollars so you know how to train your Dragon?
Sixty two bucks on eBay. Superman Movie one. This is
this is the pre sale because the movie opens July eleventh.
(12:31):
I think one hundred and fifty bucks Fantastic four Galactus.
That's the one I'm looking at right here in front
of me too. In a story that one's going for
one hundred and sixty five bucks. I get notices from AMC.
A member of AMC. I get notices from them when
(12:52):
these things go on pre sale, saying hey, you want
to get this bucket. Now they're collectibles. You know where
it started. Now, they've had special things in the past,
but this madness, this new wave goes to Dune. So
Dune the episode one put out this this topper that
(13:17):
went on top of you know, it was a bucket, right,
but it's of there, you know, there the sandworm or whatever.
But it looks like a marital aid. I don't know
if you guys have seen this here see that the
opening of that. Yeah, So the first thing people thought
(13:39):
was I'm going to put myself in that, apparently because
that was what people were thinking. So the minute this
came out, it went viral because everybody's like that looks like, oh,
how's your father? Little thanks, little something for the effort,
little type thing, And so that went. Everybody bought those
(14:03):
out and they sold out, and then I think it
was Deadpool and Wolverine because Ryan Reynolds is a marketing genius.
Probably not a very nice person this I guess, but
a marketing genius, and they came up with ones of
Wolverine and Deadpool with their mouths wide open, playing off
(14:28):
of the the sexual connotation of the dune one. So
that went on, and now it's the thing. Everywhere you go,
there's these popcorn buckets and they're getting more expensive and
more elaborate.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
They light up, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We got a Sipper that's it's a you know, popcorn buckets.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Then Sipper.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
The limit edition sippers are all the coolness of a
popcorn bucket, but you put.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Soda, is it them? Right?
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And there it was a special edition one at Disneyland
of the yetti inside the Matahorn and you pull its
arm down and its eyes light up.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The arm goes up and it roars just like it
does in the right.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
We bought multiple of them because it's so cool, but
they were like forty bucks and they're probably hard to
get now, but I bet you those will be sold on.
So just walk the kids very past, very quickly, past
the popcorn area and you won't have to buy an
eighty dollars popcorn bucket for them less they're spoil So
(15:36):
cool is one of those words that continues to live on.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
A lot of phrases terms come and go. You know,
nobody's saying groovy at least not unironically, but cool has
kind of stayed. And this is something that's been around
for a long time, rebellious subcultures that were out there.
Concept of coolness started really small, So there's small groups
(16:01):
where it was Beatenix, black jazz musicians of the forties.
You know, the Beatnix were what in the fifties. So
different groups had this air or attitude about them, and
some group wanted to study it. That group happened to
be Journal of Experimental Psychology. So basically what they did
(16:22):
is they studied studied Eastern and Western social circles, and
you know, you're talking about massive culture swings, a lot
of difference in Eastern and Western social circles. The experiment
here was conducted from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two
(16:44):
with about six thousand adults participating. Now listening to this
group of places participating in US, Australia, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain,
South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. Now, each participant was
asked to think of someone they thought was cool or
(17:06):
in like, you know, someone like Coono not cool. They
would look at whether someone was good or not good,
and they would rate that person's personality and their values.
Now they took this information, all the data, and they
assessed how cool people differed from uncool or good people.
Everyone wants to be cool, right, God knows Cono wants
(17:30):
to hell. He just liked to sit at the adult table.
That's cool. I get that, I understand, but you don't
Even if you can't be cool, you don't want to
be stigmatized in the uncool category. So society kind of
builds itself on cool people being those that are kind
(17:53):
of pushing back or challenging the norms. So they found
that no matter what the col culture was in this
large swath of people, that they all had very similar
definitions of what they thought was cool, even in the
different cultures. So being more extroverted hedonistic, if that's a
(18:17):
new word for you. Hedonism is the philosophy of if
it feels good, If it feels good, do it if
it doesn't feel good, don't do it kind of thing.
So kind of this hedonistic attitude as well, powerful, adventurous, open, autonomous,
(18:41):
and they found this is the American Psychological Association found
that this seemed to be the categories in which so
called cool people, you know, flourished in comparison when you
look at good good people were perceived as more comfort
kind of traditional, secure, or words like warm, agreeable, universalistic,
(19:08):
calm were used. So now it's it sort of changes
because researchers found that that being cool isn't necessarily considered
good in a moral sense. But there are some things
that are growing when it comes to fashion or music
(19:31):
or different film industry, anything like that, that there is
a sense of cool that has changed to be approachable
as well. Like you'll see this about certain musicians something
they were cool because they were open to talking to you,
or they were cool because they were connecting with their
fans in a way that others didn't. So it evolves,
(19:54):
but it hasn't lost its edge. It still has that
a little bit of rogueness to it. Well, I'll tell
you it's not as easy as people think. It's a burden.
It's been a burden of mine. You know, since I
was a kid, how you think? Oh, man, Neil's got
it all. He's cool, he's got all these things.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But it's tough.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And this is kind of a warning to you, Cono,
don't don't search for it. Don't seek it out, buddy.
It comes naturally to those of us with that rebellious streak.
And yeah, you're so cool. See you didn't have to
say that. Now you're embarrassed because you're you're kind of
just fawning over me.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah, coolest hair, doo, coolest See I don't even have
a hair. Do I have a hair? Don't? Man, that's
how rogue. I am the coolest guy.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Listen, if you had great hair, you wouldn't cover it
with a baseball cap all the time. Okay, you're so right,
come in here, so cool. Happy July third to you.
I hope that you are with family and friends and
(21:02):
not working, but one never knows. Hopefully you're heading out
somewhere at some point today to enjoy yourself. Tomorrow, of course,
is July fourth, and you may or may not be
watching fireworks. Drone shows are becoming more popular, but a
lot of events were canceled this year or postponed due
(21:23):
to the immigration raids and the like. Of course, fire
hazards are always a concern as well, but celebration goes
on spending time with family and friends. I'll be with
you again tomorrow. It's niel Sevadri here in the morning.
Crew Handle is taking the next couple days off, and
so is Amy King. She's out for the next couple
(21:44):
of weeks. So we are happy to have Heather Brooker
with us as well. The La Zoo.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
A lot of issues coming out of there. Now. I
love the zoo.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think, you know, I think I'm proud that we
have such a beautiful zoo in Los Angeles, and as
the dad of an eight year old, we've spent a
lot of time at the zoo. Passes and all of
those things a very important part of our son growing
up and seeing animals. I know it's controversial, but what
(22:18):
isn't I mean, everything's controversial. We're, you know, about to
celebrate America's birthday and we're now Fireworks are controversial, but
so are drone shows, and so is walking talking and
(22:42):
apparently eating popcorn by the fistful. Everything is controversial, So
the La Zoo, I know, you may find yourself in
one of those.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You know that we should not have zoo zoos exist.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It should be just a big area with mirrors and
you can look at yourself and other humans and all
of these things. But whatever it is there, it is
a lot. A zoo does a lot, and quite honestly,
studies and understanding of animals and how they move, exist,
(23:14):
eat connect with each other. Although there's a lot that
comes out of this. So in twenty twenty two, Robert
Ellis pledged two hundred thousand dollars to create a garden
in Los Angeles Zoo in their Bird Theater area. By January,
the City of Los Angeles had sued its nonprofit partner,
(23:39):
the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, amid long standing tensions
over spending and other issues. So Ellis, a Greater Los
Angeles Zoo Association board member, redirected his donation to fund
to a fund for the nonprofit's legal fees. So, in
(24:00):
the middle of all this at stake, you've got kind
of this I don't know, divorce between the city and
the association. There's nearly fifty million dollars endownment that each
side claims is theirs and the funds much of the
you know, this funds much of the zoo's special projects,
(24:23):
any capital improvements, exhibit, construction, all these things. So the
city and their contract with Glaza, which you know govers
oversees all the fundraising special events. It ends Tuesday, and
(24:44):
that leaves the zoo in this incredibly precarious predicament with
no plans, nothing firm you know, how to proceed in
The Los Angeles Times did a great article breaking this
down a couple of days years ago. Because the zoo's
got you know, sixteen hundred animals or so, it is aging.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
That's what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
By the way, have you ever been out to the
old zoo, So it's very cool. There was an old
La Zoo and it's not far from the location now.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I guess it's in the Griffith Park area there.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I have been there in a long time, but my
wife and I used to go hiking over in that
area and we've taken Max over there too. So they
have a couple of the enclosures, even some of the cages,
like the bars are still up and you can walk
around check things out. You have. It's a great place
for a picnic or throw a frisbee around something. But
you know, when I think it dilapidated, I think of
(25:49):
that place because it you know, it's aged and all
of that. It's even been used in a couple of movies.
I think as a zoo. They've cleaned it up and
made it look like the zoo again. But the La
Zoo has, you know, renovations, It's got stuff that it
needs to do. Exhibits, lions, bears, sea lions, pelicans, a
lot of them have closed because they need renovations. And
(26:09):
now this battle is going to go on because you
got this almost sixty year old zoo one hundred and
thirty three acres. It's just right there on the northeast
corner of Griffith Park, and it's it's struggling to maintain
its national accreditation. They you know, take care of the
peeling paint, the rust and some and it you know,
(26:31):
it only gets worse. I mean over time these things.
And I think they keep it quite nice. I think
the zoo looks it looks quite nice, but there are
areas where you can see they're going to need some work.
They have nice evening programs during part.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You know where you can. Is it beer in the
park or beer in the zoo or something they do
on some nights they have holiday stuff and you know
they they they are really doing their best to put
on things that are interest interesting for the whole family.
But just like we talked about earlier with bicycles and
riding bikes and kids not doing that anymore, you know,
(27:08):
maybe the zoo isn't you know, you can go online
and see any animal you want, some of them with
live cameras in the actual you know, African Sahara, you
know the what am I looking for? That's not the Saharan?
What am I looking for? The so what Serengetti? I
(27:31):
think that's what I was looking for, right Maybe I
don't know. It's the end of the program that just
erase this part. You'll be fine anyways. So, you know,
God bless them. We're lucky to have the zoo, the
La Zoo. And I know more and more people protest
anything that's to do with animals or any of these things,
but you know, it was it was a very special
(27:56):
place and has been a special place for a lot
of people and makes and have started the love of
animals for many people. And so I hope that they
figure this out, because you know, so much of LA
is rotting in a lot of ways. We should be
able to preserve certain special places like the Lazio. All Right,
Neil Savedro with the morning crew. Happy to be with
(28:17):
you today. Stick around for Gary and Shannon. I'll be
back tomorrow with the Gang starting at six am. After
wake up Call with Heather Brooker starts at five.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
We'll see you then. Be safe and if you're traveling.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You know, keep your head on a swivel. A lot
of WingNuts out there. Conina is going to be driving
home later. It's the Bill Handles Show. This is KFI
and KOSTHD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
You've been listening to The Bill Handles Show.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I want to.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Ride my big wound, the luckiest boy in the World.
KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio. Appy, everybody,
It's the Morning Crew. I'm Neil Savedra hanging out today.
Bill Handle has the day off, so does Amy King.
She's out on vacation. So we've got Heather Brooker here,
(00:27):
will Cole Schreiber Kno and of course and Ring you know,
wrangling us all together. Don't touch that, don't put that
in your mouth. Sit over here, sit up straight. Read
the articles.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
God downer man.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The US added one hundred and forty seven thousand jobs
in June, soundly beating estimates and offering a welcome sign
to the economy. We're in relatively solid shape. We'll take it.
The unemployment rate fell from four point two to four
point one, so says the Bureau of Labor Statistics that
(01:09):
came out today, and we will take that. Any news
like that is good news. Just some of the things
that are trending going on today. This story has bummed
me out. This is out of the Atlantic, and this
is about one of our childhood pastimes. And I don't
know what it is about holidays, but I think we
(01:29):
get a little nostalgic right when it comes to holidays,
because those were the the punctuation of life. Look at
the big bosses there, What are you doing here? When
everybody's gone something? The boss walks in in shorts, looking casual.
How are you, sir? Everybody stood up to salute, and
(01:52):
I'm like, what are they doing? Paul Corvino, the president
just walks in casually and it show it's no big deal,
just coming in checking on things. Nice to see you, sir. Yeah,
well we're trying. We're doing what we can. Nice to
see you you as well.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You don't see that every day.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And then an think the head of Starbucks walks in
the Starbucks No.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you know, the thought of.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Nostalgia and these small punctuations in our life that remind
us because unlike adults, time moves differently when you're a kid, right,
so that all those things, those summers are go on forever,
and the holidays go on forever. And one of the
things I remember we were we were broke. We didn't
(02:45):
have money, but we had bikes. Did we share some Yeah,
I bet we did. Were given to us by friends.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Jamie Coda, who unfortunately passed not too long and go
way too early, was a childhood friend and I remember
him giving me a bike. You know, I remember distinctly,
you know, these these moments where you know, the bikes
were a big deal. Talking with producer and earlier, she said,
(03:18):
you always knew like where everybody was, like, oh, that's
the party house, that's where all the kids are going
to play a game at the end, because all the
bikes were in the front yard and you could tell
who was home too. I would walk up and I'd
see the bikes in the front yard and I knew
which brothers my sister were home. And that was like
a thing, and there was something of freedom in life,
(03:41):
and it's dying, you know those you watch a Spielberg movie,
you watch the Goonies, Goodnies Never Die, and then you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Watch et or.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Bikes were so prominent in these things, and I remember that,
you know, when you you have the freedom to be
able to, you know, walk around the block when you
ride a bike, you know, and I like to skateboard
and stuff like that back in the day as well.
But it's like you. You could propel yourself. You could
make decisions which direction you want to go, which path
(04:16):
you want to go. You were away from your parents
usually that's how I remember it. And you were with
your buddies and you were flying like lightning through the streets.
And when I grew up, we had our track of homes,
and there was one more street, and then it was
(04:37):
fields forever. We had a crowd head pond everything like
all the stuff that you think about being in maybe
I don't know, Middle America or something right here in
southern California and riding my bike and you just you'd
ride it up to the edge of you know, the
the fields and you just leave it there and then
(04:58):
you'd run in further to go to the Krawdie Pound
or whatever whatever. And they're saying, over the course of
the nineties, an average of twenty point five million children
ages seven to seventeen hopped on a bike six or
more times a year. I mean, that doesn't even sound
like a lot, right. This is from the National Sporting
(05:19):
Goods Association. By the way, they're the ones that pull
all this this information. A few decades later, you fast forward,
numbers fallen nearly in half ten point nine million in
twenty twenty three. Of those kids, according to the association,
less than five percent rode their bikes frequently. Is dying Now.
(05:44):
I we live in the city. I mean everything that
is not downtown. Yes, technically is a suburb. I suppose it.
But we live by very populated and frequented roads, very busy.
(06:04):
It's not real fun to ride a bike in our area.
Now there's a lot of bike riders, a lot, but
they're cyclists. Our boy Max, for whatever reason, balance stuff
like that didn't FaZe him. Literally, My wife put him
on a bike and he wrote it just it just
(06:27):
took to it. It was you know, we all break
codes in life, and some of us breaking them earlier
or certain codes.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So that was one of his.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And he just broke it and he flew, I mean
as fast as he could go immediately. Had balanced, no problem.
But we go to a park. We go to a park.
It's a big park that has you know, a trail
and things like that. It's controlled out on the streets. Now,
before our son was born, my wife and I rode
around La all the time. We would ride into Chinatown.
(06:59):
We'd were seven miles. Didn't think about it. Ci Lavilla
came around, we'd ride throughout the streets of Los Angeles.
Amazing to ride through downtown with not a car insight.
But as a kid, it was a right of passage
to get a bicycle and to go wherever you want it.
Think about what this builds, how crucial it is to
(07:20):
the way a kid thinks, the independence that comes with it,
the fight you know, of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. You know,
it's not just the foods. Everybody points to the foods
we're getting fat. It's the foods. Yeah, there's a problem
with uber processed foods and all of that, and the
facts that we don't understand fats properly, so we think
(07:42):
fats are bad and we give low fat foods in
the seventies and early eighties and that caused all kinds
of There's a lot to it, but it's the first
type of exercise that you don't think that you're exercising.
It's mobility, man, it's about about going out, hanging out
with your friends, and it's dying. It's a trainer for
(08:09):
kids being solo, being independent, thinking differently, making decisions, spatial mapping,
understanding your surroundings, trouble shooting, shooting, problem solving all in one, maintenance,
keeping your bike up understanding, don't leave those jeans flapping,
(08:33):
or your tough skins whatever they might have been at
the time, near a bear chain going to be a problem.
Tuck that pant legaty in your sock, do something keeping
the bike in working order. It's the first time you
probably said, oh, I need you know, my brakes aren't working.
I need another pad on here, I need to tighten
(08:54):
the cable or There's so much more to it than
just biking. And it's going away, and part of it
is us as parents, the fear of kids going out
and about the fear of kids not being within reach.
They're tethered to us, and again, unintended consequences is my
(09:15):
thing trying to foresee them. And I don't know what
this will be in a generation without bikes, what will
continue to produce?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
But what a bummer to me? All right? Popcorn buckets.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You remember when we used to remember, hey, remember this
guy's Remember when we would go to the movies, remember
and you'd be like, wow, this popcorn is expensive. It's
like yeah, and you'd go and you complain about popcorn
being so expensive. Well, what we all know now as
an adult is that the concessions is where they really
(09:55):
make the money. It's expensive to rent those movies and
pay to be able to play them. The system is
kind of broken, quite honestly, but that's the way it works.
And they're not making money the ticket sales the way
you think they are. It's the concession So they got
to make their money somehow. Well, those days are over
(10:15):
because now it's not about the popcorn, it's what the
popcorn is in. This is in movies, This is at Disneyland.
Disneyland has custom or these limited edition popcorn buckets. I
know because I am a baby child man, I like toys.
(10:39):
So as a baby child man myself, I do get
some of the Star Wars ones and I have a
couple of Mickey ones as well, because they make me
happy and they're neat, they look neat and they're cool.
But now when you go to a movie theater you
can pay up to eighty bucks for the container. And
(11:01):
what happens, you know, infrequently, you know, we go to movies,
and frequently these days you can watch them at home.
They come out more quickly on streaming and you're.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Good to go.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
But you take a kid to the theater and he's
going to see he or she's going to see their
favorite little film, and then all of a sudden they
see this thing that looks like a toy and it's
filled with popcorn and it's eighty dollars. Now, I got
one recently. I haven't even seen the film, but I
bought it online because I like the way it looks,
(11:34):
and it was for Nusfarautu.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It was his coffin, so I thought it was cool.
I use it to hold stuff in my shop.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And then I have a bunch of you know, the
Star Wars ones from Disneyland. But I'm looking right now,
looking right now. On eBay, a dead Pool in Wolverine
one is going for one hundred and fifty bucks. Another
pair of limited edition Deadpool and Wolverine movie popcorn buckets.
(12:10):
These were AMC exclusive, very rare, five thousand dollars. Five
thousand dollars so you know how to train your Dragon?
Sixty two bucks on eBay. Superman Movie one. This is
this is the pre sale because the movie opens July eleventh.
(12:31):
I think one hundred and fifty bucks Fantastic four Galactus.
That's the one I'm looking at right here in front
of me too. In a story that one's going for
one hundred and sixty five bucks. I get notices from AMC.
A member of AMC. I get notices from them when
(12:52):
these things go on pre sale, saying hey, you want
to get this bucket. Now they're collectibles. You know where
it started. Now, they've had special things in the past,
but this madness, this new wave goes to Dune. So
Dune the episode one put out this this topper that
(13:17):
went on top of you know, it was a bucket, right,
but it's of there, you know, there the sandworm or whatever.
But it looks like a marital aid. I don't know
if you guys have seen this here see that the
opening of that. Yeah, So the first thing people thought
(13:39):
was I'm going to put myself in that, apparently because
that was what people were thinking. So the minute this
came out, it went viral because everybody's like that looks like, oh,
how's your father? Little thanks, little something for the effort,
little type thing, And so that went. Everybody bought those
(14:03):
out and they sold out, and then I think it
was Deadpool and Wolverine because Ryan Reynolds is a marketing genius.
Probably not a very nice person this I guess, but
a marketing genius, and they came up with ones of
Wolverine and Deadpool with their mouths wide open, playing off
(14:28):
of the the sexual connotation of the dune one. So
that went on, and now it's the thing. Everywhere you go,
there's these popcorn buckets and they're getting more expensive and
more elaborate.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
They light up, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
We got a Sipper that's it's a you know, popcorn buckets.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Then Sipper.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
The limit edition sippers are all the coolness of a
popcorn bucket, but you put.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Soda, is it them? Right?
Speaker 1 (14:57):
And there it was a special edition one at Disneyland
of the yetti inside the Matahorn and you pull its
arm down and its eyes light up.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
The arm goes up and it roars just like it
does in the right.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
We bought multiple of them because it's so cool, but
they were like forty bucks and they're probably hard to
get now, but I bet you those will be sold on.
So just walk the kids very past, very quickly, past
the popcorn area and you won't have to buy an
eighty dollars popcorn bucket for them less they're spoil So
(15:36):
cool is one of those words that continues to live on.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
A lot of phrases terms come and go. You know,
nobody's saying groovy at least not unironically, but cool has
kind of stayed. And this is something that's been around
for a long time, rebellious subcultures that were out there.
Concept of coolness started really small, So there's small groups
(16:01):
where it was Beatenix, black jazz musicians of the forties.
You know, the Beatnix were what in the fifties. So
different groups had this air or attitude about them, and
some group wanted to study it. That group happened to
be Journal of Experimental Psychology. So basically what they did
(16:22):
is they studied studied Eastern and Western social circles, and
you know, you're talking about massive culture swings, a lot
of difference in Eastern and Western social circles. The experiment
here was conducted from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty two
(16:44):
with about six thousand adults participating. Now listening to this
group of places participating in US, Australia, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain,
South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. Now, each participant was
asked to think of someone they thought was cool or
(17:06):
in like, you know, someone like Coono not cool. They
would look at whether someone was good or not good,
and they would rate that person's personality and their values.
Now they took this information, all the data, and they
assessed how cool people differed from uncool or good people.
Everyone wants to be cool, right, God knows Cono wants
(17:30):
to hell. He just liked to sit at the adult table.
That's cool. I get that, I understand, but you don't
Even if you can't be cool, you don't want to
be stigmatized in the uncool category. So society kind of
builds itself on cool people being those that are kind
(17:53):
of pushing back or challenging the norms. So they found
that no matter what the col culture was in this
large swath of people, that they all had very similar
definitions of what they thought was cool, even in the
different cultures. So being more extroverted hedonistic, if that's a
(18:17):
new word for you. Hedonism is the philosophy of if
it feels good, If it feels good, do it if
it doesn't feel good, don't do it kind of thing.
So kind of this hedonistic attitude as well, powerful, adventurous, open, autonomous,
(18:41):
and they found this is the American Psychological Association found
that this seemed to be the categories in which so
called cool people, you know, flourished in comparison when you
look at good good people were perceived as more comfort
kind of traditional, secure, or words like warm, agreeable, universalistic,
(19:08):
calm were used. So now it's it sort of changes
because researchers found that that being cool isn't necessarily considered
good in a moral sense. But there are some things
that are growing when it comes to fashion or music
(19:31):
or different film industry, anything like that, that there is
a sense of cool that has changed to be approachable
as well. Like you'll see this about certain musicians something
they were cool because they were open to talking to you,
or they were cool because they were connecting with their
fans in a way that others didn't. So it evolves,
(19:54):
but it hasn't lost its edge. It still has that
a little bit of rogueness to it. Well, I'll tell
you it's not as easy as people think. It's a burden.
It's been a burden of mine. You know, since I
was a kid, how you think? Oh, man, Neil's got
it all. He's cool, he's got all these things.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But it's tough.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And this is kind of a warning to you, Cono,
don't don't search for it. Don't seek it out, buddy.
It comes naturally to those of us with that rebellious streak.
And yeah, you're so cool. See you didn't have to
say that. Now you're embarrassed because you're you're kind of
just fawning over me.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah, coolest hair, doo, coolest See I don't even have
a hair. Do I have a hair? Don't? Man, that's
how rogue. I am the coolest guy.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Listen, if you had great hair, you wouldn't cover it
with a baseball cap all the time. Okay, you're so right,
come in here, so cool. Happy July third to you.
I hope that you are with family and friends and
(21:02):
not working, but one never knows. Hopefully you're heading out
somewhere at some point today to enjoy yourself. Tomorrow, of course,
is July fourth, and you may or may not be
watching fireworks. Drone shows are becoming more popular, but a
lot of events were canceled this year or postponed due
(21:23):
to the immigration raids and the like. Of course, fire
hazards are always a concern as well, but celebration goes
on spending time with family and friends. I'll be with
you again tomorrow. It's niel Sevadri here in the morning.
Crew Handle is taking the next couple days off, and
so is Amy King. She's out for the next couple
(21:44):
of weeks. So we are happy to have Heather Brooker
with us as well. The La Zoo.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
A lot of issues coming out of there. Now. I
love the zoo.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think, you know, I think I'm proud that we
have such a beautiful zoo in Los Angeles, and as
the dad of an eight year old, we've spent a
lot of time at the zoo. Passes and all of
those things a very important part of our son growing
up and seeing animals. I know it's controversial, but what
(22:18):
isn't I mean, everything's controversial. We're, you know, about to
celebrate America's birthday and we're now Fireworks are controversial, but
so are drone shows, and so is walking talking and
(22:42):
apparently eating popcorn by the fistful. Everything is controversial, So
the La Zoo, I know, you may find yourself in
one of those.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
You know that we should not have zoo zoos exist.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It should be just a big area with mirrors and
you can look at yourself and other humans and all
of these things. But whatever it is there, it is
a lot. A zoo does a lot, and quite honestly,
studies and understanding of animals and how they move, exist,
(23:14):
eat connect with each other. Although there's a lot that
comes out of this. So in twenty twenty two, Robert
Ellis pledged two hundred thousand dollars to create a garden
in Los Angeles Zoo in their Bird Theater area. By January,
the City of Los Angeles had sued its nonprofit partner,
(23:39):
the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, amid long standing tensions
over spending and other issues. So Ellis, a Greater Los
Angeles Zoo Association board member, redirected his donation to fund
to a fund for the nonprofit's legal fees. So, in
(24:00):
the middle of all this at stake, you've got kind
of this I don't know, divorce between the city and
the association. There's nearly fifty million dollars endownment that each
side claims is theirs and the funds much of the
you know, this funds much of the zoo's special projects,
(24:23):
any capital improvements, exhibit, construction, all these things. So the
city and their contract with Glaza, which you know govers
oversees all the fundraising special events. It ends Tuesday, and
(24:44):
that leaves the zoo in this incredibly precarious predicament with
no plans, nothing firm you know, how to proceed in
The Los Angeles Times did a great article breaking this
down a couple of days years ago. Because the zoo's
got you know, sixteen hundred animals or so, it is aging.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
That's what happens.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
By the way, have you ever been out to the
old zoo, So it's very cool. There was an old
La Zoo and it's not far from the location now.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I guess it's in the Griffith Park area there.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I have been there in a long time, but my
wife and I used to go hiking over in that
area and we've taken Max over there too. So they
have a couple of the enclosures, even some of the cages,
like the bars are still up and you can walk
around check things out. You have. It's a great place
for a picnic or throw a frisbee around something. But
you know, when I think it dilapidated, I think of
(25:49):
that place because it you know, it's aged and all
of that. It's even been used in a couple of movies.
I think as a zoo. They've cleaned it up and
made it look like the zoo again. But the La
Zoo has, you know, renovations, It's got stuff that it
needs to do. Exhibits, lions, bears, sea lions, pelicans, a
lot of them have closed because they need renovations. And
(26:09):
now this battle is going to go on because you
got this almost sixty year old zoo one hundred and
thirty three acres. It's just right there on the northeast
corner of Griffith Park, and it's it's struggling to maintain
its national accreditation. They you know, take care of the
peeling paint, the rust and some and it you know,
(26:31):
it only gets worse. I mean over time these things.
And I think they keep it quite nice. I think
the zoo looks it looks quite nice, but there are
areas where you can see they're going to need some work.
They have nice evening programs during part.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Of the year.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You know where you can. Is it beer in the
park or beer in the zoo or something they do
on some nights they have holiday stuff and you know
they they they are really doing their best to put
on things that are interest interesting for the whole family.
But just like we talked about earlier with bicycles and
riding bikes and kids not doing that anymore, you know,
(27:08):
maybe the zoo isn't you know, you can go online
and see any animal you want, some of them with
live cameras in the actual you know, African Sahara, you
know the what am I looking for? That's not the Saharan?
What am I looking for? The so what Serengetti? I
(27:31):
think that's what I was looking for, right Maybe I
don't know. It's the end of the program that just
erase this part. You'll be fine anyways. So, you know,
God bless them. We're lucky to have the zoo, the
La Zoo. And I know more and more people protest
anything that's to do with animals or any of these things,
but you know, it was it was a very special
(27:56):
place and has been a special place for a lot
of people and makes and have started the love of
animals for many people. And so I hope that they
figure this out, because you know, so much of LA
is rotting in a lot of ways. We should be
able to preserve certain special places like the Lazio. All Right,
Neil Savedro with the morning crew. Happy to be with
(28:17):
you today. Stick around for Gary and Shannon. I'll be
back tomorrow with the Gang starting at six am. After
wake up Call with Heather Brooker starts at five.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
We'll see you then. Be safe and if you're traveling.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
You know, keep your head on a swivel. A lot
of WingNuts out there. Conina is going to be driving
home later. It's the Bill Handles Show. This is KFI
and KOSTHD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
You've been listening to The Bill Handles Show.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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