Very Temporary Shakespeare, Middle English & Joseph Conrad (and Proust & Bronte) Installation in the One Dollar Section of The Last Bookstore!

Due to several recent acquisitions & donations, not only does the round floor main section of The Last Bookstore have an even better collection than usual of books about Shakespeare and his time sand the Middle English period of English Literature - but as long as the existing supply lasts there is a special section of the Labyrinth for just books (around 40 in total) about Shakespeare and the Middle English literature - plus a handful of books about the writings of Joesph Conrad.  AND - also books about Proust and all the Brontes.

This collection can be found starting this Saturday morning at 10:30 in the sec don room of books which you reach from the first room by going through the book tunnel and then - once you enter the second room - there are two bookcases on your right - across from the carousel of white books - the Shakespeare, Middle English books and handful of books about Joseph Conrad books are on the bottom three shelves of the second bookshelf.

And remember - they will only be there for as long as the existing supply lasts!  And if you have any questions,. I will be there until by 11 AM - 1 PM walking tour of Historic Downtown starts - tickets are $15 per person - and then I will be back around 1:30 PM for awhile and in and out for the rest of the weekend.

Wrestling May Be Dead at the Olympics - But It's LIVE at the Alexandria Hotel This Saturday Night, April 27th, from 6 PM to 9 PM. And It's a Benefit to Help Kids With Cancer.

If you've never been to a professional wrestling show - then you can check that off your 'bucket list' this Saturday, April 27th - from 6 - 9 PM in the Alexandria's hotel's Palm Room with its Tiffany Glass ceiling - and you can also support this worthy cause helping kids with cancer - the Scott L/ Schwartz Children's Foundation.  The event is sponsored by the Wrestling Cares Association (WCA).

Tickets for this event are $20 or you can buy front row seats that include tickets to the after party for $40 each.  Or you can just make a donation of any amount to a great charity.

MATCH #1:
COLT CABANA, "Art of Wrestling Podcast" Host, Former NWA World Champion and Wrestler/Entertainer Extraordinaire!
VS.
KYLE MATTHEWS, Rampage Pro Wrestling (RPW) TV Champion and 2012 Cauliflower Alley Club Future Legend Award Winner!

MATCH #2:
KYLE O'REILLY, One half of the reigning Ring of Honor (ROH) Tag Team Champions!
VS.
DAVEY RICHARDS, International Superstar and former Ring of Honor (ROH), Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG), and Full Impact Pro (FIP) Heavyweight Champion!

MATCH #3:
JAMIN OLIVENCIA, Reigning Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) Heavyweight Champion and record-setting 8-Time OVW TV Champion!
VS.
SAMI CALLIHAN, Former Pro Wrestling Syndicate (PWS) Heayweight Champion, and 2012 CZW Best of the Best Tournament Champion!

MATCH #4:
ADAM COLE, Reigning Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) World Champion and Former Ring of Honor (ROH) Television Champion!
VS.
ANTHONY NESE, "The Premiere Athlete", reigning New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) Fusion Champion!

MATCH #5:
CAPRICE COLEMAN, T-Town’s Favorite Preacher, The Charismatic Ring of Honor Star and Tag Team Specialist brings his infinite skills to L.A. in the Race for the Ring!
VS.
STEVE ANTHONY, The Wildkat Heavyweight Champion and TCW Superstar, The King of the 450 Splash!

MATCH #6:
PEPPER PARKS, Former HWA Heavyweight Champion & Wrestling’s Life Coach and Wellness Guru!
VS.
VORDELL WALKER, Pro Wrestling Xtreme’s Heavy-Hitting Striker & Amateur Wrestling/MMA Expert!

MATCH #7:
DREW GULAK, Former CZW Wired Champion & Tag Champion, Leader of Campaign for a Better CZW!
VS.
BOBBY SHARP, Reigning CNWA Canadian National Champion in his Stateside Debut!

MATCH #8:
B-BOY, The Brutally Tough New Age Punisher and California’s Favorite Thug Brings the Pain to WCA!
VS.
JEFF MCALLISTER, One of the NWA’s Best, Mr. Intensity Makes a Huge Return to L.A. in Race for the Ring!

TICKETS START AT JUST $20!

VIP FRONT ROW MEET & GREET TICKETS ONLY $40!

25% OF ALL TICKET SALES ARE DONATED TO

City of Los Angeles Needs to Decide What is More Important. Jobs - or Symbolism?

For two years the City has been - so far unsuccessfully - tried to paint the Spring Street Bike Lane - green - only to have it almost instantly start to peel into an unsightly mess.  It is also slippery when it rains or gets wet.  But the biggest problem is that it has added one more obstacle for the film industry to deal with at a time that Los Angeles has lost the a majority of its hour TV shows to New York and other cities - for the first time every - and New York and Vancouver' creative industries are booming as jobs that once were in LA - are moving to those two cities.

And this is just one of the dozens of reasons why the City of Los Angeles continues to have over 12% unemployment while the film,TV, post-production, music scoring and now the visual affects & animation industries continue to move to Vancouver and New York.  At some point the City needs to ask - why is symbolism more important than jobs?

photo courtesy of Hayley Fox

Here is part of the recent Blogdowntown post by Hayley Fox on the subject:

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Downtown councilman José Huizar has started the ball rolling to have the peeling paint along the Spring Street bike lane re-painted once again.

The six-foot wide path that runs down Spring Street is painted a distinctive green to help increase driver awareness of cyclists and improve overall street safety. The bike lane was first painted back in 2011 as part of a pilot program, but has had to be re-painted and touched up multiple times since.

Transportation officials said that variables such as sun exposure and roadway composition caused the paint to splotch and rub-off the road completely, and they have since been experimenting with different paint types and "infill materials" to avoid this issue in the future.

Huizar introduced a motion last week that asks the L.A. Department of Public Transportation (LADOT) to repaint the lane once again, citing its notable effects on the community despite its deterioration.

The motion states: "The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition's annual bicycle counts recorded a dramatic increase in the number of bicycles following installation of the green bike lane on Spring Street. Residents and local businesses support continued maintenance of the painted lane."

And although many locals are in favor of the green bike lane, the film industry is opposed to it.

The Source reports that many in Hollywood have said the lane makes film shoots in the area difficult because it is a distracting visual in the middle of a scene.

The rest of the story can be found here.

Developer Plans Five High Rise Residential Buildings in Downtown Los Angeles

Bruce Haring over at GlobeSt.comGlobeSt.com reports  that a Canadian developer is planning on building four more high rise residential buildings in addition to the one that is already under construction at 888 S. Olive.

And while only the first project has a specific number of units announced - since they are all proposed to be of comparable size - these five projects alone - on already purchased land by just one developer - should bring well over another 2,000 residents to Downtown LA.  Here are the opening paragraphs of the article:

A $100-million, 33-story mixed-use high rise apartment tower currently under construction in the downtown area may be joined by four similar multifamily  towers. The four additions would make the potential downtown development total over a half-billion dollars.

Developer Onni Group of Canada, which is building the under-construction mixed-use tower at 888 Olive, is in the entitlement stage of developing the four additional mixed-use towers for the downtown area.

Apriano Meola, VP for U.S. operations for Onni Group, confirmed the plans to GlobeSt.com, saying the developer is planning four other mixed-use residential towers at other sites downtown that will be similar in size and scope to the one currently being built at 888 Olive. One of the earmarked sites is near the current development at 888 Olive. The other is near Staples Center, Meola says.

"You see the opportunity with downtown L.A. in the transformation going on with restaurants and shops starting to open up," says Meola. "It really is starting to evolve into a livable city."

More details on all five projects at the GlobeSt.com website's California page.

Explore the Hidden Secrets of Historic Downtown Los Angeles This Saturday April 27th on a Two Hour Walking Tour Starting 11 AM at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 5th & Spring

The Last Bookstore (and it's  2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)  Presents



... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

I am continuing the  HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours this Saturday April 27th and the following two Saturdays, May 4th and 11th..  And there will also be tours on other upcoming weekends.  And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring and they are still only $15 per person.

And  besides our regular scheduled tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times and from one to three hours including weekdays - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??

FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

BRADBURY BUILDING

All tours begin at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street in the Spring Arts Tower and will be led by long time Downtown resident Brady Westwater who, besides being involved with the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council, the Historic Downtown BID, Gallery Row, Art Walk, and the BOXeight and the CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

If you are a participant in 'Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101' Tour, you will see the first motion picture theater built,  the place where Babe Ruth signed his contract with the Yankees, the hotel where Charlie Chaplin lived when he made his early films (and the place where he made his Los Angeles vaudeville debut in 1910) - plus the homes and haunts of everyone from actor Nicholas Cage, the Black Dahlia, Rudolph Valentino, LA’s version of Jack the Ripper, President Teddy Roosevelt, the Night Stalker, western outlaw Emmet Dalton,  actor Ryan Gosling and more.  And you will also visit where O. J. Simpson bought his knife.

You’ll explore an intersection where all four buildings were often visited by gunfighter/sheriff Wyatt Earp since they were all built or occupied by friends of his from Tombstone during the shoot-out at the OK Corral.  At this intersection you will also discover what John Wayne, a prime minister of Italy, Houdini, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey, Greta Garbo, President Woodrow Wilson and multiple Mexican boxing champions all had in common here.

You will also see where the first new lofts were opened, the places where Gallery Row and the Art Walk began and where Fashion Week returned to Downtown.  You will see many of the new boutiques, designer showrooms and stores that have recently opened in the area along with getting a sneak preview of what will soon be happening in the area.

Tickets for either tour are only $15 per person - free for children under 8 - and reservations can be made by calling Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 or emailing bradywestwater@gmail.com.  All credit card orders will be processed  at Last Bookstore and cash payments may be made at the start of the tour.   All proceeds will go towards the revitalization and the study of the history of the neighborhood.  

Lastly, future tours will feature specialized areas of interest such as architecture, art of all kinds, shopping and food, single streets, sports (from steer wrestling to luchador wrestlers to a Sumo wrestler), transportation, specific periods of history, the hidden Wild West history of Los Angeles, movie locations, Downtown after hours and many other aspects of the neighborhood. And custom designed can be developed by request  for groups of four or more.

We will also be soon starting weekday and evening tours on what it's like to live in Downtown Los Angeles. You will be introduced to the many of stores, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues (and often their owners, too) - along with being given previews of one of a kind special events - so you can get a feel for what it is like to live in Downtown Los Angeles.

We expect this tour to be popular with not only people considering moving to Downtown and people who work in Downtown and who would like to know what to do after hours in Downtown - but also to recent and even long established Downtown residents who want to know more about their neighborhood.

Were the two Tsarnaev brothers accused of the Boston Marathon Bombing part of a much larger sleeper cell?

It sure looks as if that is the case in this article: 

• By Christopher Bucktin, Andy Lines
• 190 Comments

Boston bombers: FBI hunting 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

21 Apr 2013 00:01

Police believe the pair were specially trained to carry out the devastating attack

 

Covered boat: Fugitive was found in back yard

AP

The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to the Boston marathon bomb brothers.

Police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were specially trained to carry out the devastating attack.

More than 1,000 FBI operatives were last night working to track down the cell and arrested a man and two women 60 miles from Boston in the hours before Dzhokhar’s dramatic capture after a bloody shootout on Friday.

A source close to the investigation said: “We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were highly sophisticated and not the kind of thing people learn from Google.

“They were too advanced. Someone gave the brothers the skills and it is now our job to find out just who they were. Agents think the sleeper cell has up to a dozen members and has been waiting several years for their day to come.”

A specialist team of CIA and FBI interrogators was yesterday flown to a Boston hospital to grill wounded Dzhokhar, 19, about the secret group. The University of Massachusetts student was caught on Friday after hiding out in a boat parked in a garden in locked down Watertown the day after a gun battle with police left his 26-year-old brother and a rookie cop dead.

Next Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Los Angeles Saturday April 20th. Starts at 11 AM at THE LAST BOOKSTORE AT 5th & Spring

The Last Bookstore (and it's  2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)  Presents


... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

I am continuing the  HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours this Saturday April 20th and the following Saturday, April 27th.  And there will also be tours on other upcoming weekends.  And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring and they are still only $15 per person.

And  besides our regular scheduled tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times and from one to three hours including weekdays - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??

FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

BRADBURY BUILDING

All tours begin at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street in the Spring Arts Tower and will be led by long time Downtown resident Brady Westwater who, besides being involved with the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council, the Historic Downtown BID, Gallery Row, Art Walk, and the BOXeight and the CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

If you are a participant in 'Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101' Tour, you will see the first motion picture theater built,  the place where Babe Ruth signed his contract with the Yankees, the hotel where Charlie Chaplin lived when he made his early films (and the place where he made his Los Angeles vaudeville debut in 1910) - plus the homes and haunts of everyone from actor Nicholas Cage, the Black Dahlia, Rudolph Valentino, LA’s version of Jack the Ripper, President Teddy Roosevelt, the Night Stalker, western outlaw Emmet Dalton,  actor Ryan Gosling and more.  And you will also visit where O. J. Simpson bought his knife.

You’ll explore an intersection where all four buildings were often visited by gunfighter/sheriff Wyatt Earp since they were all built or occupied by friends of his from Tombstone during the shoot-out at the OK Corral.  At this intersection you will also discover what John Wayne, a prime minister of Italy, Houdini, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey, Greta Garbo, President Woodrow Wilson and multiple Mexican boxing champions all had in common here.

You will also see where the first new lofts were opened, the places where Gallery Row and the Art Walk began and where Fashion Week returned to Downtown.  You will see many of the new boutiques, designer showrooms and stores that have recently opened in the area along with getting a sneak preview of what will soon be happening in the area.

Tickets for either tour are only $15 per person - free for children under 8 - and reservations can be made by calling Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 or emailing bradywestwater@gmail.com.  All credit card orders will be processed  at Last Bookstore and cash payments may be made at the start of the tour.   All proceeds will go towards the revitalization and the study of the history of the neighborhood.  

Lastly, future tours will feature specialized areas of interest such as architecture, art of all kinds, shopping and food, single streets, sports (from steer wrestling to luchador wrestlers to a Sumo wrestler), transportation, specific periods of history, the hidden Wild West history of Los Angeles, movie locations, Downtown after hours and many other aspects of the neighborhood. And custom designed can be developed by request  for groups of four or more.

We will also be soon starting weekday and evening tours on what it's like to live in Downtown Los Angeles. You will be introduced to the many of stores, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues (and often their owners, too) - along with being given previews of one of a kind special events - so you can get a feel for what it is like to live in Downtown Los Angeles.

We expect this tour to be popular with not only people considering moving to Downtown and people who work in Downtown and who would like to know what to do after hours in Downtown - but also to recent and even long established Downtown residents who want to know more about their neighborhood.

First bombing suspect arrested in Boston!

Just released report of arrest.  

One suspect is a Brown University Student Sunil Tripathi, 

TWO MORE WALKING TOURS OF HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES THIS MONTH!

The Last Bookstore (and it's  2nd floor with 100,000 books at only ONE DOLLAR each!)  Presents


... The Secret Lives of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

I am continuing the  HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours this Saturday April 20th and the following Saturday, April 27th.  And there will also be tours on other upcoming weekends.  And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring and they are still only $15 per person.

And  besides our regular scheduled tours, we will be offering customized tours on different days and different times and from one to three hours including weekdays - depending on your schedule.  With a minimum of four reservations, we will design a tour of any part of Downtown focusing on any subject matter you choose.  These tours can be after work, during lunch breaks - or??

FOR MORE INFORMATION  - contact Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 - or bradywestwater@gmail.com

BRADBURY BUILDING

All tours begin at THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 453 S. Spring Street in the Spring Arts Tower and will be led by long time Downtown resident Brady Westwater who, besides being involved with the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council, the Historic Downtown BID, Gallery Row, Art Walk, and the BOXeight and the CONCEPT Fashion Weeks, has brought over 150 businesses, artists and non-profit institutions to Downtown.  All tours are only $15 per person.  

Wyatt Earp

If you are a participant in 'Historic Downtown Los Angeles 101' Tour, you will see the first motion picture theater built,  the place where Babe Ruth signed his contract with the Yankees, the hotel where Charlie Chaplin lived when he made his early films (and the place where he made his Los Angeles vaudeville debut in 1910) - plus the homes and haunts of everyone from actor Nicholas Cage, the Black Dahlia, Rudolph Valentino, LA’s version of Jack the Ripper, President Teddy Roosevelt, the Night Stalker, western outlaw Emmet Dalton,  actor Ryan Gosling and more.  And you will also visit where O. J. Simpson bought his knife.

You’ll explore an intersection where all four buildings were often visited by gunfighter/sheriff Wyatt Earp since they were all built or occupied by friends of his from Tombstone during the shoot-out at the OK Corral.  At this intersection you will also discover what John Wayne, a prime minister of Italy, Houdini, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey, Greta Garbo, President Woodrow Wilson and multiple Mexican boxing champions all had in common here.

You will also see where the first new lofts were opened, the places where Gallery Row and the Art Walk began and where Fashion Week returned to Downtown.  You will see many of the new boutiques, designer showrooms and stores that have recently opened in the area along with getting a sneak preview of what will soon be happening in the area.

Tickets for either tour are only $15 per person - free for children under 8 - and reservations can be made by calling Brady Westwater at 213-804-8396 or emailing bradywestwater@gmail.com.  All credit card orders will be processed  at Last Bookstore and cash payments may be made at the start of the tour.   All proceeds will go towards the revitalization and the study of the history of the neighborhood.  

Lastly, future tours will feature specialized areas of interest such as architecture, art of all kinds, shopping and food, single streets, sports (from steer wrestling to luchador wrestlers to a Sumo wrestler), transportation, specific periods of history, the hidden Wild West history of Los Angeles, movie locations, Downtown after hours and many other aspects of the neighborhood. And custom designed can be developed by request  for groups of four or more.

We will also be soon starting weekday and evening tours on what it's like to live in Downtown Los Angeles. You will be introduced to the many of stores, restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues (and often their owners, too) - along with being given previews of one of a kind special events - so you can get a feel for what it is like to live in Downtown Los Angeles.

We expect this tour to be popular with not only people considering moving to Downtown and people who work in Downtown and who would like to know what to do after hours in Downtown - but also to recent and even long established Downtown residents who want to know more about their neighborhood.

AN RX FOR LOS ANGELES - Vote by Noon Today Wednesday April 17th to Support This Proposal

If you are still wondering which project to vote for in the MY LA2050 competition which ends at NOON today - here is a link to my proposal: 

And here is a recent story about me in the Downtown Examiner.

Brady Westwater aka The LA Cowboy & How He Brought over 120 New Businesses to Downtown

Arts & Culture, Latest News

by Downtown Examiner

Brady Westwater spends an average of seven days a week in the silent warrens of The Last Bookstore, categorizing the 1$ bargain books on the mezzanine level. An unpaid volunteer, he spends most of the time on his feet, scanning the shelves and putting everything in its right place while a constant stream of people ask him for advice on his cell phone, held to his ear by his shoulder, while other people are following him around to discuss their projects with him.

Brady has the books cataloged by sub categories of non-fiction including philosophy, geology, paleontology and so on. This newly added section of the store caters to students, older residents of Skid Row trying to get their GED’s and those making a career change. It is up to Westwater and other volunteers to sort through an immense pile of donated books and put it in a logical order.

Mr. Westwater – a.k.a. the ‘LA Cowboy’ complete with hat and a kind weather-worn face – has always been a proponent of the truth, especially when it comes to the history of Los Angles.

It’s this quest for truth – unadulterated and unbiased – that seems to drive Westwater, who gives 2-hour guided tours of historic downtown where patrons can take in facts about the city that may not coincide with the previously accepted knowledge. Westwater feels the complicated and often contradictory and usually messy way things actually happened is always more interesting than anything written to prove how one side is right – or wrong.

Westwater has born in LA (his parents met on a blind date on Spring Street), and from his earliest years he met and knew a wide range of people, even members of the Rancho families who dated back to the early 19th century; owners of cattle property that would eventually become townships like Santa Monica, Culver City and Monterey Park. They – and others who families came later – dazzled his young ears with passed down stories from 19th Century LA – and with first hand stories of LA “before the War”, about what LA was like from the 1890’s to 20’s and 30’s.” He soaked in stories of old feuds, cattle thieves and tales from elders who had personally known Wyatt Earp.

His fascination often brought him to various archives to study microfilms of old newspapers, old family diaries and correspondences between prominent people in the city’s history. His meticulous knowledge of books has reached a point that he rarely comes across a book about downtown LA that he isn’t already familiar with.

His involvement in Los Angeles parks began in the early 1960’s. In junior high school he started a group to clean up the LA River, a cause that would become one of his lifelong goals. He describes his early dabbles with activism as “sort of a joke” though his essays concerning the river were passionate and serious to him. It would later push him to join the cause to save the Victorian homes on Bunker Hill, “We saved two of them,” Brady recalls bitter-sweetly. “They were unfortunately burnt down by arsonists.”

Brady became one of the founding 27 members of the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council – and its Planning and Land Use Committee (PLUC), one of the committees the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood City Council (DLANC).

The DLANC website declares their mission “to unite the diverse communities of downtown Los Angeles and to provide an innovative forum for all community stakeholders to contribute to a healthy, vibrant and inclusive Downtown.”

Though Brady has since retired from serving on the board, he remains the last of the founding members on the Planning and Land Use Committee. He was also the the first co-chair of the Public Works committe and at its first meeting in 2002, he asked why the Quimby fees being paid by developers of condos – why they weren’t being used to buy park land in Downtown. Then with the help of co-chair Michael Gagan, a land use attorney, the committee started the process that led to the overhall passing of a resolution that helped Jan Perry to get a audit of the Quimby fee. And – only 13 years later – the first park in in the city to be bought with Quimby fees – is about to open on Spring Street

“We were lucky we got some very connected people politically to sit as public members on our committees and they really supported us as we were working with the city. By having people sit with each other and respect each other, we were able to bring this wide cross section of people together. It also helps when you have committee or board members who could call up a head of a city agency on their cell phone.”

It also helped to have community members who had a vision. Founding Board and committee members Nic Cha Kim & Kjell Hagen, after being recruited to DLAnc by Brady, used the Arts Committee to help start Gallery Row – working with, among others, Art walk founder Bert Green while Brady worked with him to lease the frist cluster of art Galleries at 5th and Main where the Downtown Art Walk began. From there, Brady says “I started counting all the businesses I helped lease in Downtown and I had to stop counting at 120”.

And It all happened because 27 DLANC board members and far more volunteers serving on committees
worked – together – to make it happen.

When he is not giving historic tours, updating his blog or organizing the shelves of the bookstore Brady pursues non-civic passions like film making, screenwriting, the elusive final edit of his novel and the memoirs of his cowboy years. He admits wishing he could be upstairs writing it all now, but there’s always so much to be done down here.

I Need Your Support by NOON TODAY To Help Bring Jobs & Businesses to Los Angeles

HIGH NOON DEADLINE TODAY! WEDNESDAY APRIL 16TH!

 I have never asked for help before for all my community building and
economic development projects for Downtown LA - and all of Los Angeles
(all of which I have done 100% pro bono) - but I am now asking for
just a few minutes of your time. Please vote for my project at the
below link BEFORE NOON Wednesday April 16th.
http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/RXforLA
Thanks!
Lastly – here is a link to recent story on me.
http://downtownexaminer.com/news/brady-westwater-aka-the-la-cowboy-how-he-brought-over-120-new-businesses-to-downtown/

MOCA ENDOWMENT SKYROCKETS TO $75 MILLION! Major Crow Shortage In Local Supermarkets Predicted!

With all of MOCA's critics who predicted that MOCA's endowment campaign was doomed to failure now having to chow down some serious crow for their lunchtime meal - and evening dinners, too - the price of crow at the local supermarket is bound is be rising ... almost... as fast is the amount of money in MOCA's endowment. So even while the local skies may soon be devoid of flying crows, their absence will be more than made up for by the swarms of flying pigs.  (and speaking of worthwhile projects- there is a HIGH NOON deadline today to vote for my project http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/RXforLA)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 17, 2013

MOCA ENDOWMENT CLIMBS TO $75 MILLION AS FUNDRAISING GAINS MOMENTUM

LOS ANGELES—The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles announced today that its Board of Trustees has obtained commitments that will raise the endowment to $75 million—up from $22 million in mid-March.

Commitments ranging from $1 million to $10 million have been received from the following donors, including current or former trustees: Paul and Herta Amir, Wallis Annenberg, Maria and Bill Bell, Edye and Eli Broad, Blake Byrne, Alexandra and Steven Cohen, Mandy and Cliff Einstein, Lenore and Bernard Greenberg, Suzanne and David Johnson, Lilly Tartikoff Karatz and Bruce Karatz, Margaret Munzer Loeb and Daniel S. Loeb, Eugenio Lopez, Lillian Lovelace, Maurice Marciano, Julie and Edward J. Minskoff, Dallas Price-Van Breda, Carla and Fred Sands, Catharine and Jeffrey Soros, Darren Star, Eva and Marc Stern and Sutton Stracke.

"We have an extraordinary commitment from the board to ensure that MOCA remains an independent institution with a vibrant future and ongoing track record of cutting-edge programming," said Board President Jeffrey Soros, who is co-chairing MOCA Independence, a campaign to raise the endowment to an initial $100 million. "These generous gifts are evidence of the trustees' belief that Los Angeles needs an independent contemporary art museum."

"The level of support we have received is fantastic," said Eugenio Lopez, a longtime trustee who is co-chairing the campaign with Soros. "There is a new energy and excitement about MOCA’s future and its leadership role in the art world."

MOCA's annual gala will be held this weekend to celebrate the opening ofUrs Fischer, the first comprehensive museum retrospective in the United States of works by the internationally acclaimed Swiss-born artist. The exhibit is curated by Jessica Morgan, curator of international art at Tate Modern in London, and will occupy both MOCA Grand Avenue and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA from April 21, 2013 to August 19, 2013.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL PRESS RELEASE 

---

MOCA MEDIA CONTACTS
LYN WINTER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Tel 213 633 5390, lwinter@moca.org 

NANCY LEE, PUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATOR
Tel 213 621 1788, nlee@moca.org

Downtown LA's Movie-Going Bonanza Continues. Devil's Drive-In Theater to Re-Open at City Market in the Fashion District

One of the best qualities of the newly revitalized - and rapidly growing - Downtown Los Angeles is that we still take care of our own.  So even while we celebrated yesterday the addition of eight motion picture screens at 4th and Main - we were still also mourning for the about to be lost Devil's Drive-in Theater at 4th and Spring.  Or, at least we were.  As reported first in Catherine Green's blog post over at Los Angeles Magazine -

Fans of the DTLA outdoor movie experience can breathe a sigh of relief. Just days after their"farewell" screening this past Saturday, the folks behind Electric Dusk Drive-Inannounced they'd found a new spot to project larger-than-life flicks.

Up-and-coming City Market in the Fashion District, located a mile or so from EDDI's previous digs, will become the new venue for downtown's only drive-in theater. 

And...

A screening of Goodfellas marks the official grand re-opening April 27. Get your ticketshere. 

(Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times / April 9, 2013)
Then LA Times real estate reporter, Roger Vincent, elaborates on the Devil's Drive-in's new home:

Just last month it looked like curtains for the young business when its landlord on Broadway announced that it was time for tenants to leave so that the building could be demolished. Stories about the theater's plight in The Times and local blogs brought relocation offers from local property owners, said Eric Heusinger, co-owner of Electric Dusk.
"I wanted to preserve that activity for the community," the drive-in's new landlord, Peter Fleming, said. "It would be dreadful to lose that."

Fleming is president of City Market, an ambitious 3.3-million-square-foot development that would include a college, hotel, offices and apartments. It could cost as much as $1 billion and rise on 10 acres roughly between San Julian, San Pedro, 9th and 12th streets.

 But construction is at least two years away, Fleming said. Until then and perhaps long beyond, theater-goers will have a ground-level view of the downtown skyline behind the big screen on the City Market campus, Fleming said. First to be screened will be the 1990 gangster flick "Goodfellas" on April 27.

And the rest of that story is at the LA Times.