LA Shriners Support Crips (Not Bloods)!

Down the street from the conference center that I am doing training at in LA is the Shrine Auditorium. In front of the entrance is a charming statue of a Shriner holding a crippled little girl in the crook of his arm. I know that the cause is good (raising money for children’s hospitals), but damn if that ridiculous statue of a guy in a fez holding a girl in an severly unstylish frock with 1950s leg braces and her one crutch does not make me giggle:
Here's a closer shot of the braces:Now that I take a better look, I realize the the girl is one fugly lass. Did the poor kid not have enough problems as a disabled child with super frumpish clothes that the sculptor had to make her ugly as well to emphasize that Shriners not only help cute diabled girls, but also weird-looking ones?!? We already understand that the Shriners are Good. No need to drill it in.

On the other hand, if we could not figure out the Goodness of the Shriners from the statue, the sign below reminds people of the noble cause and has the emblems of both the Masons and the Shriners:In keeping with the mysticism of the Masons, the Shrine Auditorium (also known as Al-Malaika Temple) is an extremely funky-looking building, with onion bulb towers, Arabian doorways, and Moorish stonecuts in the facade. I wanted to see what it was like inside, but unfortunately, the doors were locked.

Another amusing sign near my hotel and conference center is this car dealership’s:
I feel like it is very L.A.

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On another note, there is nothing like staying in a college dorm to make me feel like a lame old lady. Seriously, I hate this hotel immensely.