Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Congress
Senate Agenda
February 3, 2007
(10 a.m.)
DWP John Ferraro Building (Conference Rooms behind Cafeteria)
111 N. Hope Street – West side of Street Across from Music Center
between First and Temple Streets, Downtown Los Angeles.
Enter directly from parking lot level.
Parking free at Hope Street entrance if you say you are there for Neighborhood Councils Congress.
Nearest Red Line Subway Station is at First and Hill 2 blocks away.
1. Call to order and roll call.
2. Approval of the minutes
3. Public Comment (2 minutes per speaker on non-agenda items)
4. City of Los Angeles Deputy Mayor, Larry Frank, will discuss education and the Neighborhood Councils. He will then present a number of upcoming projects the NC’s may wish to consider participating in and hold a question and answer session on any topics of concern to the audience.
5. Reports from board members and/or Neighborhood Councils.
Committee Reports - ACTIONS MAY BE REQUIRED ON THESE ITEMS.
6a. Executive Committee - Vote on recommendation to temporarily combine all administrative committees including DONE, Congress, Legal Action, Communications, Outreach, Agenda, and Technology with the Executive Committee and to then have posted, open to the public meetings of the Executive Committee which any board member can fully participate in.
b. The Los Angeles Times has asked LANCC for ideas on how they can improve the Times’ coverage of local issues and local communities. Come prepared with suggestions you or your stakeholders have on this topic. We will also discuss if we would like to suggest that NC’s be integrated into the LA Times and other media websites. Need to get initial feedback prior to February 26th.
c. Creation of a LANCC Review and Goal Setting Committee open to all stakeholders chaired by Greg Nelson and Ken Draper to evaluate where we are and where we should be going. Discussion of time line for report.
d. Update on Meeting with Trust for Public Land.
7. Report from UNCOLA, the 501c3 created to independently fund LANNC.
8. Update from DWP MOU Committee on MOU renewal progress and pending vote by members of that committee to become LANCC’s DWP committee.
9. Consideration of inviting members of the Planning MOU Committee to become the Planning Committee of LANCC.
10. Historic Resources Committee – Report on upcoming Sunday March 18th – SAVING LOS ANGELES - citywide historic & cultural resource preservation conference at the Los Angeles Theater at 615 S. Broadway co-sponsored by LANCC, the Planning Department and the Conservancy.
Report on proposed Los Angeles Museum.
11. Transportation Committee – Report on Feb. 10th meeting of Transportation Committee Meeting on how neighborhood councils can work with city in developing a mobility master plan and defining the goals of the committee. Discussion on questions co-chairs are proposing we ask our stakeholders:
12. Outreach Committee – Presentation about our participation at the Home Show.
13. Congress of Neighborhoods Committee – Discussion on LANCC participation at April DONE Congress and possible fall 2007 Congress. We are guaranteed one room for the duration of the event and may have one more. That could give us up to six sessions. What types of formats do we want to use? What subjects do we want to tackle? Whom should we invite as guest speakers? Which NC council member experts should be presenters? Come prepared to discuss these items.
14. Cultural Affairs Committee. Report on meeting with acting general manager and progress on setting up ad hoc committee to deal with location filming issues. Discussion of supporting documentation on request to NC’s that they considering asking the city to increase the budget of Cultural Affairs.
15. Legal Action Committee. Report by Len Schaffer and Jeff Jacobberger on city attorney letter concerning LANCC.
16. (Time permitting) Discussion and possible action regarding restructuring existing committees and forming new committees such as Homeless/ Social Services & Parks and Recreation.
17. Public Comment
18. Future Agenda Items
19. Adjournment.
Next LANCC Senate Meeting: March 3, 2007 (10 a.m.)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
The Continuing Lies, Ignorance And Hypocrisy Of Nicolai Ouroussooff!
In a staggering display of shamelessness even by his standards, Nicola Ouroussoff, former architecture critic of the Los Angeles Times and the current despoiler of that post at the New York Times, demonstrates he is still completely cluelessness about even the most basic physical and cultural realities of Los Angeles and that there is no lie he is not willing to tell to hide the truth from his readers.
First, for those of you with cast iron stomachs, lets look at parts of his article:
NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
LOS ANGELES
HOW to find meaning in a centerless world? For a half-century, that has been the question facing the strip of corporate towers, cultural landmarks and undeveloped lots known as Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Time and again the avenue has been the focus of grandiose proposals by civic leaders who dreamed of transforming it into a cultural Acropolis. Angelenos watched the progress from the comfort of their suburban enclaves, mostly with bland indifference.
That all began to change with Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, completed in 2003, which raised the level of architectural ambition for Grand Avenue. Next month the Los Angeles City Council and the county Board of Supervisors will review revised plans for a retail, residential hotel and entertainment complex that may reveal just how willing the city is to address the deep social rifts beneath the area’s newly polished surface.
Designed by Mr. Gehry for the New York-based Related Companies, the master plan for the site, a choice parcel directly across from Disney Hall, provides a case study for one of the most pressing issues in architecture today. Can the bottom-line world of mainstream development produce something of architectural value at enormous scale? Or is Mr. Gehry simply there to provide a veneer of cultural pretension?
The project also offers a lens on the conflicts that continue to define the identity of downtown Los Angeles today: the tension between the fortified cultural and business district at the top of the hill and the vibrant Latino district to the east; between traditional East Coast planning formulas and this city’s informal urban landscape; between its high-culture aspirations and its pop-culture ethos. How Mr. Gehry negotiates all this could determine whether downtown Los Angeles will ever matter to anyone but civic boosters and curiosity seekers.
If any one other than Nicolai is delusional enough to believe that Gehry's design of a few blocks around Grand Avenue will determine the future of Downtown Los Angeles and the deep social rifts of Downtown - they are probably blood relatives of his.
In addition, Nicky still has zero understanding of the area directly east of Bunker Hill. It begins with Hill Street which has government buildings, a Japanese hotel, increasing numbers of lofts, the Grand Central Market - which has a largely Latino clientele - and after that, the vast majority of the street is filled with jewelry businesses run largely by Middle Easterners, Israelis and Europeans.
Then comes Broadway which used to be a vibrant Latino cultural destination with live music concerts, films and highly ethnic specific stores - but which is now a glorified suburban style swap meet/shopping center no different than dozens of others around LA. While there are great Latino shopping/cultural districts in LA - it's been decades since Broadway was one of them.
Then comes Spring and Main which are now almost exclusively lofts or office buildings (and some affordable housing buildings) with many of the people living and working in them being the demographic that will be using the cultural facilities of Grand Avenue.
And - surprise, surprise - many of the art galleries, web design companies, ad agencies, restaurants, furniture design stores, clothing boutiques and other creative businesses (many of which I brought into the area, pro bono) - are run by... Latinos. Latinos who will also be using the cultural resources of Grand Avenue. But since they are upwardly mobile, upper middle class and culturally inclined, they, of course, no longer count as 'real' Latinos in the pages of the New York Times.
The downtown area’s decline dates from the late 1920s, when the birth of the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard heralded the triumph of a new motorized culture. For decades since, promoters of downtown Los Angeles have struggled to stem the exodus of businesses to the palm-lined streets of Old Town Pasadena, Westwood and Beverly Hills.
The redevelopment of Grand Avenue has been the most significant effort so far to reverse that trend. It also ranks among the most misguided.
Both statements are moronic.
Building several high rise condos and a hotel hardly even qualifies as an effort, much less the most significant effort to reverse the movement of businesses from downtown. However, no matter what one might think of the architectural end results, the original development of a dozen plus high rise office buildings in the Bunker Hill area did keep many corporate headquarters Downtown and created millions of square feet of class A office space. Now that qualifies as a significant attempt to keep businesses downtown.
And even today, the far larger Staples/LA Live Project will being far more businesses downtown than Grand Avenue ever will.
And if Nicky wants to count new residential as bringing in business, the adaptive reuse ordinance today opens more new residential units in some single months - than will be built on all of Grand Avenue.
In architectural terms the avenue said as much about the city’s cultural insecurities as its growing ambitions. The Music Center’s barren concrete plinth and fusion of classical and modern decor are an unoriginal takeoff on New York’s Lincoln Center; the generic corporate towers mirror those found in every American city, sleek corporate citadels devoid of imagination. Yet the architecture also masked an insidious social agenda: like other cities seeking to make themselves palatable to squeamish suburbanites and tourists, planners walled off the new cultural and business district from the rest of downtown.
Totally false.
If Nicky had ever actually walked Bunker Hill with his eyes and his mind open and if he ever knew anything about its history other than the delusions of Mike Davis, he would know the Bunker Hill plan started in the 1930's - long before the 1950's - and the whole goal was to level the hill as much as possible to better connect it with the rest of downtown - the exact opposite of walling it off from Downtown. And on all four sides of Bunker Hill the pedestrian access to Bunker has been greatly increased at every single stage of development - the exact opposite of the claim Nicky falsely makes.
And even today, Second Street is being extended to Grand Avenue to provide even easier direct pedestrian access to old Downtown.
That history began to turn with Disney Hall, which unlike its neighbors is woven into its immediate surroundings. Its sweeping steel facade, which unfurls like a ribbon along the avenue, echoes the curved facade of the Chandler Pavilion next door, its forms lifting up to allow the life inside the lobby to spill out onto the avenue. Grand stairs climb to a verdant public garden that wraps like a necklace around the rear of the building.
Again, totally false. Disney Hall is a great building; one of the finest every built not just in LA - but in the entire 20th Century. But it is also an art object set onto its site so that it almost totally ignores its surroundings. On three sides the pedestrian is confronted by a blank stone wall just as - or more - oppressive than any of the commercial buildings he earlier rails against. And the lobby is a muddled failure and does anything but spill out onto the avenue.
And as for the verdant public garden - now we're talking shooting fish in a barrel time!
It is totally and completely hidden from public view at the top of a steep, steep staircase - and it is totally inaccessible to the public unless one knows the the secret code to get there. It is easily the most hidden, inaccessible 'public' space in downtown.
Great architecture, amazing auditorium and acoustics - but horrible city planning.
When Related hired Mr. Gehry in 2005 to design its entertainment and retail complex too, it seemed like a promising step. Few architects are as familiar with the avenue’s history or have played a bigger role in shaping the city’s architectural legacy. And although the project did not seem nearly as glamorous as Disney Hall, it was viewed as critical to the avenue’s success. Situated on the east slope of Bunker Hill alongside the Colburn School of Music and the Museum of Contemporary Art, it presents one of the last opportunities to repair the fractured link between the new cultural district and the old city center.
Total bull shit.
There never was any link - fractured or otherwise - to repair. The new cultural center was built on top of a hill that had been graded down from a far steeper, far more inaccessible hill. There simply never was any link to 'repair' and every stage of development has made the two areas increasingly physically accessible to each other.
Yet in some ways the project represents a return to the predictable approach long favored by large-scale urban developers across the country. Related has now decided that the Mandarin Oriental Hotel will occupy the lower half of the south tower. (Bill Witte, president of Related’s California division, said the hotel’s cachet would help “brand” the residential condos.)
Now here's where Nicky's naivete gets real scary. By putting quote marks around "brand" he is likely showing his skepticism and - possibly - even mocking those who would buy a condo just because it is branded by a luxury hotel. But if Nicky knew anything about how the real world operates (and I'll pause here until the laughing stops), this "branding" means that anyone who buys a condo there, will be able to utilize the services of a five star hotel - on a daily basis in their own home.
And that is a major selling point. Also, when Nicky earlier pointed out how business has fled to Beverly Hills - one of the many reasons is that Beverly Hills has five star hotels - and LA does not. So this new five star brand hotel will bring tourists who will shop and spend money in LA rather than in Beverly Hills - which of course, is an example of why this project is so 'misguided' in bringing back business to downtown, according to Nicky.
The developers also plan to include more than a half-dozen restaurants, a bookstore, health club and a boutique supermarket, the staples of today’s high-end shopping mall. It’s the same formula the developer used for the Time Warner Center, the vertical mall that seems so out of place on Columbus Circle.
OK. Nicky claims that for any residential community to have a gym, a variety of restaurants, a place to buy books and a place to buy food - that this is is a very bad thing because these are services that might... shudder... be found in a mall. May I please have a show of hands on who agrees with this?
Nicky also neglects to mention that the layout of these stores and restaurants are NOT in an upper story vertical mall, but are instead wonderfully scattered around the project and take full advantage of the California climate. It is the opposite of Time Warner Center.
And it is an example of how much Gehry has grown as an architect and as an urban planner since he designed Disney Hall. This will be a great urban experience.
Meanwhile Mr. Gehry and Related have engaged in a quiet tug of war over how open the development should be to its surroundings. In an early version of the design, the two residential towers were set at the site’s northeast and southwest corners, visually framing the complex and anchoring it into the surrounding skyline. A series of two- and three-story retail buildings, loosely stacked upon one another like a child’s building blocks, were scattered along Grand Avenue, creating an informal street wall that served as a counterpoint to the flowing stainless-steel forms of Disney Hall.
These forms broke apart to allow street life to flow into the retail complex. Inside, the blocks framed small open-air courtyards overlooked by terraces. A staircase cascaded down from one of the courtyards to the corner of Olive and Second Streets, a gesture intended to open up the complex to the more chaotic street life farther down the hill.
Over the last year, as Mr. Gehry struggled to contain rising construction estimates, his boxlike forms became more static, lending the design a more formal symmetry. The proposed facades of the two towers (one 22 stories, the other 45), which originally included fractured planes of glass that gave the impression that they were coming apart at the seams, are also less dynamic, forming a polite backdrop to Disney Hall across the avenue.
Mr. Gehry added a large terrace above Olive Street so that visitors strolling down from Grand Avenue would pass under an elevated walkway to a sweeping view of the downtown skyline to the east. But in a major reversal, the developers forced Mr. Gehry to remove the cascading staircase that was the project’s main link to the life at the bottom of the hill, a bustle that spreads from Olive Street to Broadway’s Latino shopping district and beyond, to Little Tokyo.
Again - total bull shit.
First, there is zero bustle on Olive Street! Zero!! It is almost totally avoid of retail or restaurants or anything that is open to the public in any way - except for amenities such as a... copying shop.
Plus Olive is up on the Bunker Hill - it is NOT at the bottom of the hill. It is also probably the single most uninviting street anywhere in downtown. Additionally, the cascading staircase was the type of monumental gesture that looks great on paper, but which - due to the steepness of the steps - would never be used. And the extension of Second Street also provides direct practical access to Grand Avenue.
Mr. Gehry has tried to compensate for this by anchoring the corner with a restaurant and packing more stores into Olive Street. He has also decorated his boxlike buildings with swirling canopies to pump life back into the restaurants and shops above.
Again, typical Nicky hypocrisy. Replacing an unusable staircase with street activating uses - and adding interior escalators that create real world access to the upper plaza is not compensation - it is progress.
But the towering block-long facade that faces Olive Street is an eerie echo of the clifflike 1980s-era corporate plazas just to the south.
There is zero resemblance and there is also... no plaza!
And he still faces the challenge of overcoming the social apartheid of downtown Los Angeles: high culture separated from low, upper-middle-class concertgoers from working-class Latino shoppers.
And here we come to Nicky's biggest of all his many lies. First, right next to the Grand Avenue project is one of the largest senior housing project in the city - Angelus Plaza - housing over 1,300 racially mixed seniors. Yes, 1,300 low income residents are already up on Bunker Hill right next to this project.
Second, Grand is the only high rise condo project being built Downtown that will have 20% of its units as permanent lower income rental units mixed in with the high income condos. Yes, the real big story about the Grand Avenue Project is its mixture of income levels!
So first, we have 1,300 low income residents next to the this project on the hill, second, 20% of the Grand Avenue units are low income rentals and, third, also right next to Grand Avenue the Colbun School is just finishing a high rise tower of heavily subsidized student housing! And yet in a discussion of 'social apartheid' on Bunker Hill - Nicky hides all three low income and/or subsidized projects from his readers who - as usual - must be protected from the truth.
And, just to show that nothing he writes can be trusted, regarding the 'social apartheid' of Broadway, almost every block of Broadway has loft conversions on it or under construction creating yet another very mixed neighborhood
So why all the lies?
Why all the deception?
Well, Nicki wanted to write an article about a noble architect who is the victim of an evil developer. And to write that article, all it took him was a lot of lies, a lot of hidden truths and a willing architect to play the game with him.
First, for those of you with cast iron stomachs, lets look at parts of his article:
NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
LOS ANGELES
HOW to find meaning in a centerless world? For a half-century, that has been the question facing the strip of corporate towers, cultural landmarks and undeveloped lots known as Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Time and again the avenue has been the focus of grandiose proposals by civic leaders who dreamed of transforming it into a cultural Acropolis. Angelenos watched the progress from the comfort of their suburban enclaves, mostly with bland indifference.
That all began to change with Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, completed in 2003, which raised the level of architectural ambition for Grand Avenue. Next month the Los Angeles City Council and the county Board of Supervisors will review revised plans for a retail, residential hotel and entertainment complex that may reveal just how willing the city is to address the deep social rifts beneath the area’s newly polished surface.
Designed by Mr. Gehry for the New York-based Related Companies, the master plan for the site, a choice parcel directly across from Disney Hall, provides a case study for one of the most pressing issues in architecture today. Can the bottom-line world of mainstream development produce something of architectural value at enormous scale? Or is Mr. Gehry simply there to provide a veneer of cultural pretension?
The project also offers a lens on the conflicts that continue to define the identity of downtown Los Angeles today: the tension between the fortified cultural and business district at the top of the hill and the vibrant Latino district to the east; between traditional East Coast planning formulas and this city’s informal urban landscape; between its high-culture aspirations and its pop-culture ethos. How Mr. Gehry negotiates all this could determine whether downtown Los Angeles will ever matter to anyone but civic boosters and curiosity seekers.
If any one other than Nicolai is delusional enough to believe that Gehry's design of a few blocks around Grand Avenue will determine the future of Downtown Los Angeles and the deep social rifts of Downtown - they are probably blood relatives of his.
In addition, Nicky still has zero understanding of the area directly east of Bunker Hill. It begins with Hill Street which has government buildings, a Japanese hotel, increasing numbers of lofts, the Grand Central Market - which has a largely Latino clientele - and after that, the vast majority of the street is filled with jewelry businesses run largely by Middle Easterners, Israelis and Europeans.
Then comes Broadway which used to be a vibrant Latino cultural destination with live music concerts, films and highly ethnic specific stores - but which is now a glorified suburban style swap meet/shopping center no different than dozens of others around LA. While there are great Latino shopping/cultural districts in LA - it's been decades since Broadway was one of them.
Then comes Spring and Main which are now almost exclusively lofts or office buildings (and some affordable housing buildings) with many of the people living and working in them being the demographic that will be using the cultural facilities of Grand Avenue.
And - surprise, surprise - many of the art galleries, web design companies, ad agencies, restaurants, furniture design stores, clothing boutiques and other creative businesses (many of which I brought into the area, pro bono) - are run by... Latinos. Latinos who will also be using the cultural resources of Grand Avenue. But since they are upwardly mobile, upper middle class and culturally inclined, they, of course, no longer count as 'real' Latinos in the pages of the New York Times.
The downtown area’s decline dates from the late 1920s, when the birth of the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard heralded the triumph of a new motorized culture. For decades since, promoters of downtown Los Angeles have struggled to stem the exodus of businesses to the palm-lined streets of Old Town Pasadena, Westwood and Beverly Hills.
The redevelopment of Grand Avenue has been the most significant effort so far to reverse that trend. It also ranks among the most misguided.
Both statements are moronic.
Building several high rise condos and a hotel hardly even qualifies as an effort, much less the most significant effort to reverse the movement of businesses from downtown. However, no matter what one might think of the architectural end results, the original development of a dozen plus high rise office buildings in the Bunker Hill area did keep many corporate headquarters Downtown and created millions of square feet of class A office space. Now that qualifies as a significant attempt to keep businesses downtown.
And even today, the far larger Staples/LA Live Project will being far more businesses downtown than Grand Avenue ever will.
And if Nicky wants to count new residential as bringing in business, the adaptive reuse ordinance today opens more new residential units in some single months - than will be built on all of Grand Avenue.
In architectural terms the avenue said as much about the city’s cultural insecurities as its growing ambitions. The Music Center’s barren concrete plinth and fusion of classical and modern decor are an unoriginal takeoff on New York’s Lincoln Center; the generic corporate towers mirror those found in every American city, sleek corporate citadels devoid of imagination. Yet the architecture also masked an insidious social agenda: like other cities seeking to make themselves palatable to squeamish suburbanites and tourists, planners walled off the new cultural and business district from the rest of downtown.
Totally false.
If Nicky had ever actually walked Bunker Hill with his eyes and his mind open and if he ever knew anything about its history other than the delusions of Mike Davis, he would know the Bunker Hill plan started in the 1930's - long before the 1950's - and the whole goal was to level the hill as much as possible to better connect it with the rest of downtown - the exact opposite of walling it off from Downtown. And on all four sides of Bunker Hill the pedestrian access to Bunker has been greatly increased at every single stage of development - the exact opposite of the claim Nicky falsely makes.
And even today, Second Street is being extended to Grand Avenue to provide even easier direct pedestrian access to old Downtown.
That history began to turn with Disney Hall, which unlike its neighbors is woven into its immediate surroundings. Its sweeping steel facade, which unfurls like a ribbon along the avenue, echoes the curved facade of the Chandler Pavilion next door, its forms lifting up to allow the life inside the lobby to spill out onto the avenue. Grand stairs climb to a verdant public garden that wraps like a necklace around the rear of the building.
Again, totally false. Disney Hall is a great building; one of the finest every built not just in LA - but in the entire 20th Century. But it is also an art object set onto its site so that it almost totally ignores its surroundings. On three sides the pedestrian is confronted by a blank stone wall just as - or more - oppressive than any of the commercial buildings he earlier rails against. And the lobby is a muddled failure and does anything but spill out onto the avenue.
And as for the verdant public garden - now we're talking shooting fish in a barrel time!
It is totally and completely hidden from public view at the top of a steep, steep staircase - and it is totally inaccessible to the public unless one knows the the secret code to get there. It is easily the most hidden, inaccessible 'public' space in downtown.
Great architecture, amazing auditorium and acoustics - but horrible city planning.
When Related hired Mr. Gehry in 2005 to design its entertainment and retail complex too, it seemed like a promising step. Few architects are as familiar with the avenue’s history or have played a bigger role in shaping the city’s architectural legacy. And although the project did not seem nearly as glamorous as Disney Hall, it was viewed as critical to the avenue’s success. Situated on the east slope of Bunker Hill alongside the Colburn School of Music and the Museum of Contemporary Art, it presents one of the last opportunities to repair the fractured link between the new cultural district and the old city center.
Total bull shit.
There never was any link - fractured or otherwise - to repair. The new cultural center was built on top of a hill that had been graded down from a far steeper, far more inaccessible hill. There simply never was any link to 'repair' and every stage of development has made the two areas increasingly physically accessible to each other.
Yet in some ways the project represents a return to the predictable approach long favored by large-scale urban developers across the country. Related has now decided that the Mandarin Oriental Hotel will occupy the lower half of the south tower. (Bill Witte, president of Related’s California division, said the hotel’s cachet would help “brand” the residential condos.)
Now here's where Nicky's naivete gets real scary. By putting quote marks around "brand" he is likely showing his skepticism and - possibly - even mocking those who would buy a condo just because it is branded by a luxury hotel. But if Nicky knew anything about how the real world operates (and I'll pause here until the laughing stops), this "branding" means that anyone who buys a condo there, will be able to utilize the services of a five star hotel - on a daily basis in their own home.
And that is a major selling point. Also, when Nicky earlier pointed out how business has fled to Beverly Hills - one of the many reasons is that Beverly Hills has five star hotels - and LA does not. So this new five star brand hotel will bring tourists who will shop and spend money in LA rather than in Beverly Hills - which of course, is an example of why this project is so 'misguided' in bringing back business to downtown, according to Nicky.
The developers also plan to include more than a half-dozen restaurants, a bookstore, health club and a boutique supermarket, the staples of today’s high-end shopping mall. It’s the same formula the developer used for the Time Warner Center, the vertical mall that seems so out of place on Columbus Circle.
OK. Nicky claims that for any residential community to have a gym, a variety of restaurants, a place to buy books and a place to buy food - that this is is a very bad thing because these are services that might... shudder... be found in a mall. May I please have a show of hands on who agrees with this?
Nicky also neglects to mention that the layout of these stores and restaurants are NOT in an upper story vertical mall, but are instead wonderfully scattered around the project and take full advantage of the California climate. It is the opposite of Time Warner Center.
And it is an example of how much Gehry has grown as an architect and as an urban planner since he designed Disney Hall. This will be a great urban experience.
Meanwhile Mr. Gehry and Related have engaged in a quiet tug of war over how open the development should be to its surroundings. In an early version of the design, the two residential towers were set at the site’s northeast and southwest corners, visually framing the complex and anchoring it into the surrounding skyline. A series of two- and three-story retail buildings, loosely stacked upon one another like a child’s building blocks, were scattered along Grand Avenue, creating an informal street wall that served as a counterpoint to the flowing stainless-steel forms of Disney Hall.
These forms broke apart to allow street life to flow into the retail complex. Inside, the blocks framed small open-air courtyards overlooked by terraces. A staircase cascaded down from one of the courtyards to the corner of Olive and Second Streets, a gesture intended to open up the complex to the more chaotic street life farther down the hill.
Over the last year, as Mr. Gehry struggled to contain rising construction estimates, his boxlike forms became more static, lending the design a more formal symmetry. The proposed facades of the two towers (one 22 stories, the other 45), which originally included fractured planes of glass that gave the impression that they were coming apart at the seams, are also less dynamic, forming a polite backdrop to Disney Hall across the avenue.
Mr. Gehry added a large terrace above Olive Street so that visitors strolling down from Grand Avenue would pass under an elevated walkway to a sweeping view of the downtown skyline to the east. But in a major reversal, the developers forced Mr. Gehry to remove the cascading staircase that was the project’s main link to the life at the bottom of the hill, a bustle that spreads from Olive Street to Broadway’s Latino shopping district and beyond, to Little Tokyo.
Again - total bull shit.
First, there is zero bustle on Olive Street! Zero!! It is almost totally avoid of retail or restaurants or anything that is open to the public in any way - except for amenities such as a... copying shop.
Plus Olive is up on the Bunker Hill - it is NOT at the bottom of the hill. It is also probably the single most uninviting street anywhere in downtown. Additionally, the cascading staircase was the type of monumental gesture that looks great on paper, but which - due to the steepness of the steps - would never be used. And the extension of Second Street also provides direct practical access to Grand Avenue.
Mr. Gehry has tried to compensate for this by anchoring the corner with a restaurant and packing more stores into Olive Street. He has also decorated his boxlike buildings with swirling canopies to pump life back into the restaurants and shops above.
Again, typical Nicky hypocrisy. Replacing an unusable staircase with street activating uses - and adding interior escalators that create real world access to the upper plaza is not compensation - it is progress.
But the towering block-long facade that faces Olive Street is an eerie echo of the clifflike 1980s-era corporate plazas just to the south.
There is zero resemblance and there is also... no plaza!
And he still faces the challenge of overcoming the social apartheid of downtown Los Angeles: high culture separated from low, upper-middle-class concertgoers from working-class Latino shoppers.
And here we come to Nicky's biggest of all his many lies. First, right next to the Grand Avenue project is one of the largest senior housing project in the city - Angelus Plaza - housing over 1,300 racially mixed seniors. Yes, 1,300 low income residents are already up on Bunker Hill right next to this project.
Second, Grand is the only high rise condo project being built Downtown that will have 20% of its units as permanent lower income rental units mixed in with the high income condos. Yes, the real big story about the Grand Avenue Project is its mixture of income levels!
So first, we have 1,300 low income residents next to the this project on the hill, second, 20% of the Grand Avenue units are low income rentals and, third, also right next to Grand Avenue the Colbun School is just finishing a high rise tower of heavily subsidized student housing! And yet in a discussion of 'social apartheid' on Bunker Hill - Nicky hides all three low income and/or subsidized projects from his readers who - as usual - must be protected from the truth.
And, just to show that nothing he writes can be trusted, regarding the 'social apartheid' of Broadway, almost every block of Broadway has loft conversions on it or under construction creating yet another very mixed neighborhood
So why all the lies?
Why all the deception?
Well, Nicki wanted to write an article about a noble architect who is the victim of an evil developer. And to write that article, all it took him was a lot of lies, a lot of hidden truths and a willing architect to play the game with him.
Los Angeles Times Headline Writers Still Contradict What Is In The Stories!
Below is the actual lede of the story on the website:
By Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer
11:04 AM PST, February 1, 2007
The company behind the blinking electronic devices that sparked terrorism fears in Boston intended to place them at nearly 50 locations in Los Angeles, authorities said today.
Below is the headline and the lede on the front page of the website... on crack:
Boston guerrilla marketers look west
By Andrew Blankstein | 11:04 a.m.
The firm whose blinking devices caused havoc in Boston wants to put them in L.A.
Real story - they had been planning to put them in LA.
Headline writer's story - they now want to place them in LA.
Time stamp on both posts - 11:04.
By Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer
11:04 AM PST, February 1, 2007
The company behind the blinking electronic devices that sparked terrorism fears in Boston intended to place them at nearly 50 locations in Los Angeles, authorities said today.
Below is the headline and the lede on the front page of the website... on crack:
Boston guerrilla marketers look west
By Andrew Blankstein | 11:04 a.m.
The firm whose blinking devices caused havoc in Boston wants to put them in L.A.
Real story - they had been planning to put them in LA.
Headline writer's story - they now want to place them in LA.
Time stamp on both posts - 11:04.
Any Of You Fellow Cowboys Out There Ever Walked A Cow Around The Barn?
First, thanks to LAOBSERVED for the tip to Jack Shafer's media column over at SLATE where he uses the phrase 'walks the cow around the barn' in a column about the mainstream media disingenuously engaging in character assassination:
Having dumped the compost, planted the seed, and fertilized and watered the earth, the Journal leaves it to nobody's imagination what species the flowering Thomson-Bartiromo friendship, relationship, and contact is without actually coming out and writing anything that 1) they can't prove and 2) invites a libel suit. This is the sort of copy a clever lawyer directs reporters to write when they "know" something but can't prove it. Leave it to the reader to assemble the meaning of the facts in their minds, the wise libel attorney tells his clients. The Jan. 26 New York Times also walks the cow around the barn by noting that both Thomson and Bartiromo are married.
Now like any other self-respecting cowboy I have herded cows; I have roped cows; I have bulldogged and steer wrestled them; and I have even ridden the odd bull. Plus, on occasion, I have milked one or two dairy cows.
But one thing I have never done is... walk a a cow around the barn. Nor have I ever heard that phrase used before.
Then when I checked out the phrase on GOOGLE - it turned out there is not a single other use of that phrase - or any phrase even like it - anywhere on the world wide web. In fact, the only usage of any phrase even using the same words, but in a totally different way, is in describing barns in which cows are not confined in stalls but where cows are 'allowed to walk around the barn' themselves as opposed to someone else walking them around the barn.
So... Jack... where did you get that phrase? Or were you just ... walking the cow around the barn... when you used it?
Having dumped the compost, planted the seed, and fertilized and watered the earth, the Journal leaves it to nobody's imagination what species the flowering Thomson-Bartiromo friendship, relationship, and contact is without actually coming out and writing anything that 1) they can't prove and 2) invites a libel suit. This is the sort of copy a clever lawyer directs reporters to write when they "know" something but can't prove it. Leave it to the reader to assemble the meaning of the facts in their minds, the wise libel attorney tells his clients. The Jan. 26 New York Times also walks the cow around the barn by noting that both Thomson and Bartiromo are married.
Now like any other self-respecting cowboy I have herded cows; I have roped cows; I have bulldogged and steer wrestled them; and I have even ridden the odd bull. Plus, on occasion, I have milked one or two dairy cows.
But one thing I have never done is... walk a a cow around the barn. Nor have I ever heard that phrase used before.
Then when I checked out the phrase on GOOGLE - it turned out there is not a single other use of that phrase - or any phrase even like it - anywhere on the world wide web. In fact, the only usage of any phrase even using the same words, but in a totally different way, is in describing barns in which cows are not confined in stalls but where cows are 'allowed to walk around the barn' themselves as opposed to someone else walking them around the barn.
So... Jack... where did you get that phrase? Or were you just ... walking the cow around the barn... when you used it?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Why Can't GOOGLE Spell Los Angeles When It Can Spell The Names Of Lots Of Podunk Towns Including - Podunk!
One of the most frustrating things about using G-mail and Google's Blogspot is that neither one of them is capable of recognizing the existence of Los Angeles; both of their spell checks (which also suck big time in many other ways) insist that neither of the words Los or Angeles... exist.
Plus... there is no option to add them to the Google dictionary.
Plus... there is no option to add them to the Google dictionary.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
LAist Tries To Interview Department Of Neighborhood Empowerment !
So back in November we asked the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, who oversees Neighborhood Councils, for a quick 5 question interview...
LAist: Okay, so what the heck is a DONE Advocate and what are these Neighborhood Councils all about?
DONE: ...
LAist: Why should our readers get to know their Neighborhood Council?
DONE: ...
LAist: What is one step our readers can do right now to participate to help mold the future of Los Angeles?
DONE: ...
LAist: Many people feel like their Neighborhood Council never reachs out to them or they feel like they don't even exist in their part of town. Why is this happening and what is DONE doing about it?
DONE: ...
LAist: What is your favorite Neighborhood Council success story?
DONE: ...
If you didn't notice, DONE has nothing to say. Repeated requests, even an e-mail to Interim General Manager, Lisa Sarno, went without response. All I got was "we are working on a media policy." Well, today is January 24th, 2007. The interview was requested on November 1st, 2006. We're almost at a whole business quarter later!
And it wasn't like these were hard hitting questions. These were happy go-lucky cheerleading questions. But no, there's a policy and well, "we'll be working on that policy for the rest of your life you press people."
I'm sorry, but I did not realize my 5 encouraging questions needed a policy.
So there you go residents of Los Angeles. This is how much the department that oversees Neighborhood Councils wants you to know about or to be involved with Neighborhood Councils... (hint, it rhymes with DONE).
By the way, LAist thinks you should get involved with your Neighborhood Council. It is a rewarding experience. Just stay away from upper management and get your neighborhood looking and feeling great!
No comment necessary....
LAist: Okay, so what the heck is a DONE Advocate and what are these Neighborhood Councils all about?
DONE: ...
LAist: Why should our readers get to know their Neighborhood Council?
DONE: ...
LAist: What is one step our readers can do right now to participate to help mold the future of Los Angeles?
DONE: ...
LAist: Many people feel like their Neighborhood Council never reachs out to them or they feel like they don't even exist in their part of town. Why is this happening and what is DONE doing about it?
DONE: ...
LAist: What is your favorite Neighborhood Council success story?
DONE: ...
If you didn't notice, DONE has nothing to say. Repeated requests, even an e-mail to Interim General Manager, Lisa Sarno, went without response. All I got was "we are working on a media policy." Well, today is January 24th, 2007. The interview was requested on November 1st, 2006. We're almost at a whole business quarter later!
And it wasn't like these were hard hitting questions. These were happy go-lucky cheerleading questions. But no, there's a policy and well, "we'll be working on that policy for the rest of your life you press people."
I'm sorry, but I did not realize my 5 encouraging questions needed a policy.
So there you go residents of Los Angeles. This is how much the department that oversees Neighborhood Councils wants you to know about or to be involved with Neighborhood Councils... (hint, it rhymes with DONE).
By the way, LAist thinks you should get involved with your Neighborhood Council. It is a rewarding experience. Just stay away from upper management and get your neighborhood looking and feeling great!
No comment necessary....
Thursday, January 18, 2007
October 24, 2006 Story On Tonight's Jan 18, 2007 LAT Website! UPDATE!
WTF is this story doing on the LAT website on January 18th? And it's also listed as second most viewed story on the front page of the website. UPDATE! Story vanishes from most viewed list.
10:42 PM PST, January 18, 2007
Police allege 5 patients were dumped on skid row by hospital
Richard Winton and Cara Mia DiMassa
Times Staff Writers
October 24, 2006
The LAPD says it has opened its first criminal investigation into the dumping of homeless people on skid row after documenting five cases in which ambulances dropped off patients there Sunday. Police said the patients, who had been discharged from a Los Angeles hospital, told them they did not want to be taken downtown.
Los Angeles Police Department officials, who photographed and videotaped the five alleged dumping cases, called it a major break in their yearlong effort to reduce the number of people left on skid row by hospitals, police departments and other institutions.
10:42 PM PST, January 18, 2007
Police allege 5 patients were dumped on skid row by hospital
Richard Winton and Cara Mia DiMassa
Times Staff Writers
October 24, 2006
The LAPD says it has opened its first criminal investigation into the dumping of homeless people on skid row after documenting five cases in which ambulances dropped off patients there Sunday. Police said the patients, who had been discharged from a Los Angeles hospital, told them they did not want to be taken downtown.
Los Angeles Police Department officials, who photographed and videotaped the five alleged dumping cases, called it a major break in their yearlong effort to reduce the number of people left on skid row by hospitals, police departments and other institutions.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Now Chandlers Want To Buy LA Times!
Forget 'Ugly Betty' - the best comedy series is - 'Ugly LA Times'!
Chandlers, L.A. moguls float rival bids for Tribune
By James Rainey and Thomas S. Mulligan
Times Staff Writers
9:10 PM PST, January 17, 2007
The contest for control of Tribune Co. of Chicago appears to be coming down to two powerful Southern California interests -- the family that founded that Los Angeles Times and a partnership of billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle.
The two parties each submitted complex offers Wednesday for the media conglomerate that owns The Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Chandler family proposal would put it in control of Tribune's 11 newspapers, along with a minority partner, while spinning off 23 television stations. The billionaires, in contrast, would leave Tribune intact but would borrow heavily in order to pay a highly unusual dividend to shareholders while giving the magnates a roughly a one-third stake in Tribune Co.
Tribune's board is expected to consider the offers at a meeting in Chicago on Saturday. Tribune declined to comment on the proposals or any other aspects of the auction, which ended at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The deadline was artificial in the sense that other bidders could still emerge.
The Broad-Burkle deal, an unusual recapitalization that a source described as a "public leveraged buyout," would roughly triple the company's long-term debt to more than $10 billion, sharply raising the company's risks and increasing pressure to sell assets or cut expenses.
The most unusual feature of the Broad-Burkle proposal is a gigantic cash dividend of $27 per share -- about $6.5 billion total -- that would be paid to Tribune shareholders soon after the closing of the deal.
For many shareholders, this could be an attractive selling point: receiving $27 in cash yet still retaining stock that Broad and Burkle say would be worth $7 a share after the recapitalization.
Broad and Burkle contend that the stock should grow in value to $12 a share in less than four years. Their plan for achieving this growth is still unknown, although the two said they "would work closely with management."
The $27 is nearly the same price where the stock was trading last summer when the Chandlers went public with their complaints against management, triggering the auction.
They also promised to leave the company's headquarters in Chicago.
The offer will present the Tribune board with a difficult decision, said a Wall Street investment banker who has followed the saga closely.
"They may ask, 'Why do we need Ron Burkle to do this?'" he said.
Chandlers, L.A. moguls float rival bids for Tribune
By James Rainey and Thomas S. Mulligan
Times Staff Writers
9:10 PM PST, January 17, 2007
The contest for control of Tribune Co. of Chicago appears to be coming down to two powerful Southern California interests -- the family that founded that Los Angeles Times and a partnership of billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle.
The two parties each submitted complex offers Wednesday for the media conglomerate that owns The Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Chandler family proposal would put it in control of Tribune's 11 newspapers, along with a minority partner, while spinning off 23 television stations. The billionaires, in contrast, would leave Tribune intact but would borrow heavily in order to pay a highly unusual dividend to shareholders while giving the magnates a roughly a one-third stake in Tribune Co.
Tribune's board is expected to consider the offers at a meeting in Chicago on Saturday. Tribune declined to comment on the proposals or any other aspects of the auction, which ended at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The deadline was artificial in the sense that other bidders could still emerge.
The Broad-Burkle deal, an unusual recapitalization that a source described as a "public leveraged buyout," would roughly triple the company's long-term debt to more than $10 billion, sharply raising the company's risks and increasing pressure to sell assets or cut expenses.
The most unusual feature of the Broad-Burkle proposal is a gigantic cash dividend of $27 per share -- about $6.5 billion total -- that would be paid to Tribune shareholders soon after the closing of the deal.
For many shareholders, this could be an attractive selling point: receiving $27 in cash yet still retaining stock that Broad and Burkle say would be worth $7 a share after the recapitalization.
Broad and Burkle contend that the stock should grow in value to $12 a share in less than four years. Their plan for achieving this growth is still unknown, although the two said they "would work closely with management."
The $27 is nearly the same price where the stock was trading last summer when the Chandlers went public with their complaints against management, triggering the auction.
They also promised to leave the company's headquarters in Chicago.
The offer will present the Tribune board with a difficult decision, said a Wall Street investment banker who has followed the saga closely.
"They may ask, 'Why do we need Ron Burkle to do this?'" he said.
Lisa Sarno Tied, Staked And Trellised By Bill Boyarsky!
The good news for Lisa Sarno is that after being replaced as General Manager for the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, if there is ever an all female version of 'Caine Mutiny' - the Captain Queeg part is hers!
The other night I dropped in on Galpin Ford, not to buy one of the big trucks or SUVs on the floor but to spend some time with Valley Vote, the defeated but unbeaten bunch of Angelenos who scared the pants off of city hall with their 2002 secession campaign.
Yes, they are still around. They meet every month on the second floor of Galpin Motors Inc., owned by Bert Boeckman, the godfather of Valley politics. They discuss city issues with an intensity and intelligence the city council should copy, always guided by their anti government populist views, loyal to the gospel of rebellion as preached by Ron Kaye, the take-no-crap editor of the Daily News.
Kaye takes issues that are rendered into mush by city hall politicians and splashes them across page one in headlines that anyone can understand. Kaye should have been at Galpin Ford. His approach was needed that night.
I was there with David Hernandez, who is suing to stop implementation of Proposition R, the measure that gave city council members another term and made lobby control laws harder to enforce. He talked about the suit and I discussed how the City Ethics Commission is going to implement the measure,
The most interesting speaker was Lisa Sarno, the interim general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which rides herd on LA’s neighborhood councils. She has a relentlessly cheerful style and uses phrases like “skill set.” In other words, the language of city hall.
Since I’m schooled in the language, I could translate. She wants to bring order to the messy world of neighborhood councils.
Her predecessor, Greg Nelson was once chief aide to former City Councilman Joel Wachs, a driving force behind creation of the councils. Nelson’s attitude toward the rowdy grassroots groups was “let 1,000 flowers bloom.” Sarno, who doesn’t seem to approve of the Nelson regime, would let the flowers bloom as long as they are tied to stakes and trellises and lined up neatly in rows.
The other night I dropped in on Galpin Ford, not to buy one of the big trucks or SUVs on the floor but to spend some time with Valley Vote, the defeated but unbeaten bunch of Angelenos who scared the pants off of city hall with their 2002 secession campaign.
Yes, they are still around. They meet every month on the second floor of Galpin Motors Inc., owned by Bert Boeckman, the godfather of Valley politics. They discuss city issues with an intensity and intelligence the city council should copy, always guided by their anti government populist views, loyal to the gospel of rebellion as preached by Ron Kaye, the take-no-crap editor of the Daily News.
Kaye takes issues that are rendered into mush by city hall politicians and splashes them across page one in headlines that anyone can understand. Kaye should have been at Galpin Ford. His approach was needed that night.
I was there with David Hernandez, who is suing to stop implementation of Proposition R, the measure that gave city council members another term and made lobby control laws harder to enforce. He talked about the suit and I discussed how the City Ethics Commission is going to implement the measure,
The most interesting speaker was Lisa Sarno, the interim general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which rides herd on LA’s neighborhood councils. She has a relentlessly cheerful style and uses phrases like “skill set.” In other words, the language of city hall.
Since I’m schooled in the language, I could translate. She wants to bring order to the messy world of neighborhood councils.
Her predecessor, Greg Nelson was once chief aide to former City Councilman Joel Wachs, a driving force behind creation of the councils. Nelson’s attitude toward the rowdy grassroots groups was “let 1,000 flowers bloom.” Sarno, who doesn’t seem to approve of the Nelson regime, would let the flowers bloom as long as they are tied to stakes and trellises and lined up neatly in rows.
Broad And Burkle To Buy 30% of Tribune Company?
Just when you thought the soap opera couldn't get any more complicated - Eli Broad, Ron Burkle, the Tribune - and the Chandlers - soon may all be in bed together!
Broad and Burkle prepare to bid for stake in Tribune
By James Rainey
Times Staff Writer
6:12 PM PST, January 17, 2007
Southern California billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle have arranged an offer to buy a large minority stake in Tribune Co. of Chicago -- a proposal that would allow payment of a substantial dividend to shareholders and give the duo substantial say over assets that include the Los Angeles Times, a source close to the two men said.
It was unclear Wednesday afternoon whether the two men would go ahead with their offer, but they had drawn a detailed plan that would put $500 million of their own money into the company, in addition to a substantial debt package that would allow payment of the dividend, the source said.
In exchange, Broad and Burkle would get an interest in Tribune that would eventually increase to about 30% and several seats on the company's board of directors. The duo would also receive warrants that would allow them to take on an even larger stake in the company over time.
The proposal was the only offer received by Tribune before a deadline Wednesday of 5 p.m. Central Time for bidding on the company, according to several sources following the auction for the company, which also owns KTLA Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs, 22 other television stations and 10 other daily newspapers.
Broad and Burkle have long expressed interest in owning the Los Angeles Times, saying that they wanted to put the paper back in local hands more than six years after California's Chandler family sold the paper and the rest of Times Mirror Co. to the Chicago media company.
Details of the proposal were not available and Tribune declined to comment. It was unclear how the Chandler family would respond to the proposal. The family pushed Tribune into play in June when it protested against Tribune management and said the company should review alternatives to increase the company's sagging stock price.
Several private equity firms earlier had made it clear they were bowing out of the four-month-old Tribune auction. They cited the difficult atmosphere for media companies and newspapers in particular, which are losing readers and advertisers to the Internet.
Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Parnters had been expected to lead one bid for Tribune. But sources close to the firm said that the Madison consortium decided not to bid after examining Tribune's books. The investment firm found declining revenues and large tax liabilities. The taxes would substantially cut into any proceeds that Tribune would realize from a sale.
The Cubs exemplified the tax dilemma confronting Tribune. The company listed the baseball team's value at $800 million to $1 billion. But even if it could get such a price, it would have to pay capital gains based taxes on the club's increased value. It paid just $20.5 million for the Cubs in 1981.
The flagging revenues at Tribune's papers left one Madison Dearborn adviser to conclude "it's just a crappy industry. I hate to tell you that. But you know."
Madison Dearborn totaled up its estimate of the value of Tribune's 11 daily newspapers, 23 television stations and other holdings. Its total came to less than the company's current market value -- $7.25 billion as of Tuesday. But Tribune's auction representatives had made clear that the company would not accept an offer below the company's market value.
"Everybody there was hoping they could make sense of this and when you added up the value of each of the properties that you would get to a price above market," said one person familiar with Madison Dearborn's thinking. "But when they added up all these prices, they just couldn't get above market price."
And the Chicago company took a rosier view than its two partners -- New York-based Apollo and Rhode Island-based Providence. Both those firms were even less inclined to go forward with an offer.
Broad and Burkle prepare to bid for stake in Tribune
By James Rainey
Times Staff Writer
6:12 PM PST, January 17, 2007
Southern California billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle have arranged an offer to buy a large minority stake in Tribune Co. of Chicago -- a proposal that would allow payment of a substantial dividend to shareholders and give the duo substantial say over assets that include the Los Angeles Times, a source close to the two men said.
It was unclear Wednesday afternoon whether the two men would go ahead with their offer, but they had drawn a detailed plan that would put $500 million of their own money into the company, in addition to a substantial debt package that would allow payment of the dividend, the source said.
In exchange, Broad and Burkle would get an interest in Tribune that would eventually increase to about 30% and several seats on the company's board of directors. The duo would also receive warrants that would allow them to take on an even larger stake in the company over time.
The proposal was the only offer received by Tribune before a deadline Wednesday of 5 p.m. Central Time for bidding on the company, according to several sources following the auction for the company, which also owns KTLA Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs, 22 other television stations and 10 other daily newspapers.
Broad and Burkle have long expressed interest in owning the Los Angeles Times, saying that they wanted to put the paper back in local hands more than six years after California's Chandler family sold the paper and the rest of Times Mirror Co. to the Chicago media company.
Details of the proposal were not available and Tribune declined to comment. It was unclear how the Chandler family would respond to the proposal. The family pushed Tribune into play in June when it protested against Tribune management and said the company should review alternatives to increase the company's sagging stock price.
Several private equity firms earlier had made it clear they were bowing out of the four-month-old Tribune auction. They cited the difficult atmosphere for media companies and newspapers in particular, which are losing readers and advertisers to the Internet.
Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Parnters had been expected to lead one bid for Tribune. But sources close to the firm said that the Madison consortium decided not to bid after examining Tribune's books. The investment firm found declining revenues and large tax liabilities. The taxes would substantially cut into any proceeds that Tribune would realize from a sale.
The Cubs exemplified the tax dilemma confronting Tribune. The company listed the baseball team's value at $800 million to $1 billion. But even if it could get such a price, it would have to pay capital gains based taxes on the club's increased value. It paid just $20.5 million for the Cubs in 1981.
The flagging revenues at Tribune's papers left one Madison Dearborn adviser to conclude "it's just a crappy industry. I hate to tell you that. But you know."
Madison Dearborn totaled up its estimate of the value of Tribune's 11 daily newspapers, 23 television stations and other holdings. Its total came to less than the company's current market value -- $7.25 billion as of Tuesday. But Tribune's auction representatives had made clear that the company would not accept an offer below the company's market value.
"Everybody there was hoping they could make sense of this and when you added up the value of each of the properties that you would get to a price above market," said one person familiar with Madison Dearborn's thinking. "But when they added up all these prices, they just couldn't get above market price."
And the Chicago company took a rosier view than its two partners -- New York-based Apollo and Rhode Island-based Providence. Both those firms were even less inclined to go forward with an offer.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Reasons 412 and 413 and 414 Why West Magazine Sucks!
Or - kicking a dead magazine when it's down.
The above link to FISHBOWLLA touches on just some of the reasons why the latest issue of West Magazine is almost as bad as all other issues of West Magazine (with one important exception).
Now I normally don't read much less critique West Magazine since even writers at the Times refuse to read, much less defend it, but when even almost the first words you read in this issue are totally... idiotic... it's hard to resist:
REARVIEW MIRROR
1852
For the Subjugated Indians, Some Food, a Loincloth, a Blanket
January 14, 2007
This week in 1852, Antonio Garra, a chief in the Cupeños tribe, was executed near San Diego. Garra sought to unite Southern California tribes in a revolt against the Anglos, whose policies and diseases had decimated the native population, reducing it by 90% in the course of a single century.
Now since California had been run by the 'Anglos' only since 1847... which by 1851 revolt was... four whole years... this statement is clearly a lie. But that should be no surprise to any regular reader of West Magazine.
The above link to FISHBOWLLA touches on just some of the reasons why the latest issue of West Magazine is almost as bad as all other issues of West Magazine (with one important exception).
Now I normally don't read much less critique West Magazine since even writers at the Times refuse to read, much less defend it, but when even almost the first words you read in this issue are totally... idiotic... it's hard to resist:
REARVIEW MIRROR
1852
For the Subjugated Indians, Some Food, a Loincloth, a Blanket
January 14, 2007
This week in 1852, Antonio Garra, a chief in the Cupeños tribe, was executed near San Diego. Garra sought to unite Southern California tribes in a revolt against the Anglos, whose policies and diseases had decimated the native population, reducing it by 90% in the course of a single century.
Now since California had been run by the 'Anglos' only since 1847... which by 1851 revolt was... four whole years... this statement is clearly a lie. But that should be no surprise to any regular reader of West Magazine.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Red Dot Bistro Joins Red Dot Gallery On Gallery Row At 5th And Spring!
Below is a message from Julie Rico on the opening of the Red Dot Bistro:
Hi Everyone,
I would like to cordially invite you to the new Red Dot Gallery and
Bistro. Enjoy fine wine, fine art and fine food (crab cakes,jerk
chicken sticks, salad, jerk beef and desserts). We have cappucinos,
espressos and nice teas. The space is really comfortable. I had a
small artists party there the other day and loved it. It would be
great to have more artists soirees so that people can spark each
others creative motors. Because of the three galleries that I have run
the space is set up to honor and nuture artists with a warm space
where we can galvanize our energies. Come enjoy the space. I would
love to have weekly artists soirees. Of course I would love to have
many kinds of parties here. If you are interested in attending please
e-mail me. Enter thru Weeneez at 500 S. Spring in Downtown LA Julie
Rico www.weeneez.com
The current exhibition is:
BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORLD OF LARK AND KIKI
at
RED DOT GALLERY
Los Angeles: BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORK OF LARK AND KIKI will
be on view from January 11 through March 4th at the new Red Dot
Gallery in the downtown arts district. In the more than 40 paintings,
assemblages, and mixed media, Larisa Pilinsky ("Lark") and Gregor
Mikayelyan ("Kiki") explore ultra dimensional time and place. A
reception for the artists will be held in conjunction with the
Downtown Artwalk on Thursday February 8th from 11 AM to 10 PM. Red Dot
Gallery and Bistro is located at 118 W 5th Street (5th and Spring)
Los Angeles. Hours are from 11 AM -9 PM daily.
When viewers first experience the work of Lark and Kiki they often
feel they have entered into another dimension, a Kingdom of the Soul
beyond the limits of the visible, tangible world.
Included in the exhibition are an important new selection from Kiki's
series of "Bobo" paintings, based on an every person character, which
unites all the experiences and emotions of humanity, Many of these
paintings permanently reside in collections in the US, Russia,
Germany, Estonia and Armenia.
BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORK OF LARK AND KIKI will also showcase
the first major showing of Lark's new abstract landscapes, which are
rich in heavy brush strokes, natural objects and emotion. Lark's
assemblages have been featured in more than 30 solo and group shows in
the US, Armenia and Russia.
The tense, terse beauty of the work of both artists reflects their
membership in the dissident, anti-representational Bunker Art Group
from the former Soviet Union. Over the years a group of experimental
Armenian painters came together in Armenia's capital city, Yerevan,
and took the risk to express their emotions through the color, line
and philosophy of abstract art. When late Soviet repression gave way
to perestroika, the group emerged from the basement, taking the name
"Bunker" as a reminder of its previous underground status. The Bunker
group, now grown to include members of many different nationalities,
has become international in scope, and recognized by major art critics
Their credo might be found in Kiki's statement: "The value of art lies
is in its ability to draw nature when the real becomes momentarily
unreal, when skies become red, clouds- light green. These moments-
when nature moves from one state to another-are the moments when
nature gives birth to miracles."
Hi Everyone,
I would like to cordially invite you to the new Red Dot Gallery and
Bistro. Enjoy fine wine, fine art and fine food (crab cakes,jerk
chicken sticks, salad, jerk beef and desserts). We have cappucinos,
espressos and nice teas. The space is really comfortable. I had a
small artists party there the other day and loved it. It would be
great to have more artists soirees so that people can spark each
others creative motors. Because of the three galleries that I have run
the space is set up to honor and nuture artists with a warm space
where we can galvanize our energies. Come enjoy the space. I would
love to have weekly artists soirees. Of course I would love to have
many kinds of parties here. If you are interested in attending please
e-mail me. Enter thru Weeneez at 500 S. Spring in Downtown LA Julie
Rico www.weeneez.com
The current exhibition is:
BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORLD OF LARK AND KIKI
at
RED DOT GALLERY
Los Angeles: BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORK OF LARK AND KIKI will
be on view from January 11 through March 4th at the new Red Dot
Gallery in the downtown arts district. In the more than 40 paintings,
assemblages, and mixed media, Larisa Pilinsky ("Lark") and Gregor
Mikayelyan ("Kiki") explore ultra dimensional time and place. A
reception for the artists will be held in conjunction with the
Downtown Artwalk on Thursday February 8th from 11 AM to 10 PM. Red Dot
Gallery and Bistro is located at 118 W 5th Street (5th and Spring)
Los Angeles. Hours are from 11 AM -9 PM daily.
When viewers first experience the work of Lark and Kiki they often
feel they have entered into another dimension, a Kingdom of the Soul
beyond the limits of the visible, tangible world.
Included in the exhibition are an important new selection from Kiki's
series of "Bobo" paintings, based on an every person character, which
unites all the experiences and emotions of humanity, Many of these
paintings permanently reside in collections in the US, Russia,
Germany, Estonia and Armenia.
BEYOND: THE ULTRA-DIMENSIONAL WORK OF LARK AND KIKI will also showcase
the first major showing of Lark's new abstract landscapes, which are
rich in heavy brush strokes, natural objects and emotion. Lark's
assemblages have been featured in more than 30 solo and group shows in
the US, Armenia and Russia.
The tense, terse beauty of the work of both artists reflects their
membership in the dissident, anti-representational Bunker Art Group
from the former Soviet Union. Over the years a group of experimental
Armenian painters came together in Armenia's capital city, Yerevan,
and took the risk to express their emotions through the color, line
and philosophy of abstract art. When late Soviet repression gave way
to perestroika, the group emerged from the basement, taking the name
"Bunker" as a reminder of its previous underground status. The Bunker
group, now grown to include members of many different nationalities,
has become international in scope, and recognized by major art critics
Their credo might be found in Kiki's statement: "The value of art lies
is in its ability to draw nature when the real becomes momentarily
unreal, when skies become red, clouds- light green. These moments-
when nature moves from one state to another-are the moments when
nature gives birth to miracles."
Saturday, January 13, 2007
January 13, 1929 Wyatt Earp Died In Los Angeles, California!
While few people realize it, Wyatt Earp from his teenage years when he drove a stage for Phineas Banning until his death many decades later, spent more time in Los Angeles - and Southern California - than any other part of the country.
Much of that time was spend around Downtown Los Angeles where he once ran a faro game (directly across the street from where I am typing this)in the Alexandria Hotel. And the reason why he spent so much time at the Alexandria Hotel was... well... you'll just have to wait for the debut of the beta version of the Los Angeles Museum in March....
Much of that time was spend around Downtown Los Angeles where he once ran a faro game (directly across the street from where I am typing this)in the Alexandria Hotel. And the reason why he spent so much time at the Alexandria Hotel was... well... you'll just have to wait for the debut of the beta version of the Los Angeles Museum in March....
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Spice Girl Moves To LA!
Some dude in short pants to accompany her....
The Beckhams -- a soccer icon and a former Spice Girl -- are leaving London for the lights of Hollywood.
By Robin Abcarian, Scott Martelle and Kim Murphy
Times Staff Writers
January 12, 2007
Somehow, it was just meant to be.
International soccer star David Beckham — perhaps equally famous hereabouts as the husband of former pop singer "Posh" Spice — announced Thursday in Madrid that he has agreed to a five-year, potential $250-million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, injecting a fresh shot of celebrity into a city where it is practiced as an art.
While Galaxy and Major League Soccer officials hope the deal will vault the American professional league into the global ranks, Londoners are feeling a sense of loss and local paparazzi are relishing the arrival of the photogenic jet-setters — he of the constantly changing locks and quintessential metrosexual wardrobe, and she of the impossibly thin frame and penchant for shopping.
"It's like manifest destiny," said producer Peter Guber, the host of the TV entertainment talk show "Sunday Morning Shootout." "At a certain point in somebody's career, Hollywood is an inevitable stop on the journey. Whatever the luminosity of these celebrities in New York or England or Paris, they want to test it against the ultimate pop culture of Los Angeles."
The Beckhams -- a soccer icon and a former Spice Girl -- are leaving London for the lights of Hollywood.
By Robin Abcarian, Scott Martelle and Kim Murphy
Times Staff Writers
January 12, 2007
Somehow, it was just meant to be.
International soccer star David Beckham — perhaps equally famous hereabouts as the husband of former pop singer "Posh" Spice — announced Thursday in Madrid that he has agreed to a five-year, potential $250-million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, injecting a fresh shot of celebrity into a city where it is practiced as an art.
While Galaxy and Major League Soccer officials hope the deal will vault the American professional league into the global ranks, Londoners are feeling a sense of loss and local paparazzi are relishing the arrival of the photogenic jet-setters — he of the constantly changing locks and quintessential metrosexual wardrobe, and she of the impossibly thin frame and penchant for shopping.
"It's like manifest destiny," said producer Peter Guber, the host of the TV entertainment talk show "Sunday Morning Shootout." "At a certain point in somebody's career, Hollywood is an inevitable stop on the journey. Whatever the luminosity of these celebrities in New York or England or Paris, they want to test it against the ultimate pop culture of Los Angeles."
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
New Gallery On Gallery Row?
Somehow I missed the news that a major new gallery was going to open in Gallery Row in the Bradbury Building:
Villaraigosa has also distributed tokens of L.A. culture internationally. During a trade mission to Asia in October, he included among his gifts to officials bowls designed by Frank Gehry and works of papel picado (the Mexican folk art of paper cutting) by Margaret Sosa. During that trip, he also visited Beijing's 798 Arts District to announce that two dealers of contemporary Chinese art, Karon Morono and Eliot Kiang, would open Morono Kiang Gallery in downtown's Bradbury Building in the spring.
Villaraigosa has also distributed tokens of L.A. culture internationally. During a trade mission to Asia in October, he included among his gifts to officials bowls designed by Frank Gehry and works of papel picado (the Mexican folk art of paper cutting) by Margaret Sosa. During that trip, he also visited Beijing's 798 Arts District to announce that two dealers of contemporary Chinese art, Karon Morono and Eliot Kiang, would open Morono Kiang Gallery in downtown's Bradbury Building in the spring.
Monday, January 08, 2007
LA Times Coverage Of Malibu Fire!
First, I know what it is like to loose almost everything you own in a fire, though in my case it was not my house that burned. I also helped fight a half-dozen fires during my over twenty years in Malibu. And in the 1993 fire, I knew when it was time to run from the fire.
So whenever I hear there is a fire in Malibu, I know friends and former neighbors of mine are in danger and I follow the news reports. But, to my not great surprise, the LA Times is not always useful in finding out whose homes burned, even though one call to any local would tell them who the owner of the big house that burned was. And as for not wanting anyone to find out their house was burning - well - all they had to do was look at the photo.
More importantly, the facts are not always right. For example:
The only safe escape route was west along Malibu Road, known locally as the old Pacific Coast Highway. "We told everybody to get out.... People were getting out as fast as possible," Kearsley said.
Now while Malibu Road was the old PCH more than a half-century ago, it is still, nevertheless, known locally as... Malibu Road.
Go figure.
However, some of the old timers do sometimes refer to it as... the Old Road. But in 20 years out there, I never once heard anyone say they lived on old Pacific Coast Highway.
Also, if you were west of the fire - the only safe way out would be to drive west. But if you were east of the fire, your only choice would, of course - be to drive east.
Duh...
The burning homes were located near the midpoint of the 2 1/2-mile-long Malibu Road, which runs beneath the bluff along the oceanfront and is lined by about 60 to 70 houses.
Now it says Malibu Road is 2 1/2 miles long - and FYI, the average lot size on Malibu Road ranges from 50 feet to 60 feet with some larger and smaller. It then states that 60 to 70 homes are along Malibu Road. And there are 5,280 feet in a mile. And at least 100 homes are on 50 foot - or smaller - beach lots.
And... many parts of Malibu Road have houses on both sides of the road.
Um... do the math.
So whenever I hear there is a fire in Malibu, I know friends and former neighbors of mine are in danger and I follow the news reports. But, to my not great surprise, the LA Times is not always useful in finding out whose homes burned, even though one call to any local would tell them who the owner of the big house that burned was. And as for not wanting anyone to find out their house was burning - well - all they had to do was look at the photo.
More importantly, the facts are not always right. For example:
The only safe escape route was west along Malibu Road, known locally as the old Pacific Coast Highway. "We told everybody to get out.... People were getting out as fast as possible," Kearsley said.
Now while Malibu Road was the old PCH more than a half-century ago, it is still, nevertheless, known locally as... Malibu Road.
Go figure.
However, some of the old timers do sometimes refer to it as... the Old Road. But in 20 years out there, I never once heard anyone say they lived on old Pacific Coast Highway.
Also, if you were west of the fire - the only safe way out would be to drive west. But if you were east of the fire, your only choice would, of course - be to drive east.
Duh...
The burning homes were located near the midpoint of the 2 1/2-mile-long Malibu Road, which runs beneath the bluff along the oceanfront and is lined by about 60 to 70 houses.
Now it says Malibu Road is 2 1/2 miles long - and FYI, the average lot size on Malibu Road ranges from 50 feet to 60 feet with some larger and smaller. It then states that 60 to 70 homes are along Malibu Road. And there are 5,280 feet in a mile. And at least 100 homes are on 50 foot - or smaller - beach lots.
And... many parts of Malibu Road have houses on both sides of the road.
Um... do the math.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Dog Bits Man! Downtown News Scoops LA Times!
Once again, the Downtown News scoops the LA Times on an important story - the sale and - hopefully - reopening of a major cultural venue:
Kathryn Maese
A new player has entered the mix in the hot Staples Center neighborhood. Downtown's latest building transaction could bring a hefty dose of drama to South Park.
The Variety Arts Center has been sold to David Houk, a local developer who once owned the Pasadena Playhouse.
Former Pasadena Playhouse owner David Houk last week told Los Angeles Downtown News that he has closed escrow on the historic Variety Arts Center for an undisclosed amount. Houk, who heads Downtown-based Houk Development Company, purchased the 1924 theater and event space at 940 S. Figueroa St. from Anschutz Entertainment Group.
"We bought it to restore it and produce new plays and musicals," he said. "We plan to read new scripts and pick shows."
Houk said the deal closed Dec. 7, after his business plan was approved by AEG. Renovation of the Variety Arts Center is expected to last a year; he plans to move his offices and theater company into the location once the project is completed.
AEG, which owns Staples Center, did not return calls for comment.
The transaction has sparked enthusiasm from area players.
"I would think because of [Houk's] background that it's a real opportunity to create a potential new theater and entertainment center adjacent to the L.A. Live complex," said Mike Pfeiffer, executive director of the South Park Stakeholders Group, which represents many of the area's businesses. "It seems like the best fit. It's a building that's needed something like this for a long time."
AEG purchased the five-story Variety Arts Center for an estimated $8 million in spring 2004, with plans to develop it as a key component of the $2.5 billion L.A. Live sports and entertainment district rising two blocks away. The first phase is set to open late this year with a host of big-name restaurants and retail shops; later phases include a theater, movie complex, ESPN broadcast center, housing and a hotel.
Houk had eyed the Variety Arts Center for several years, and said he tried to purchase it around the time AEG bought it. When he heard that Anschutz was looking for a quiet sale, he jumped at the opportunity.
"It's a fabulous location to put on shows," Houk said. "I was told that more than dollars they were interested in a compatible use for what they were doing."
The elegant structure, which is a registered historic cultural landmark, houses a 1,000-seat theater along with a smaller theater and nightclub space, a lounge, a library and offices. Over the years the venue has seen a smattering of events from concerts to film shoots to fashion shows.
"We're very excited about hearing his plans and the timing couldn't be better," Pfeiffer said. "When you look at that location and that building, it has tremendous history. The architecture is so beautiful and it's another of those features that attracts people to the Downtown core."
The Italian Renaissance-style theater is among Downtown's most historically and architecturally noteworthy structures. The building, which is sometimes overlooked because of its simple gray facade, was constructed to house the Friday Morning Club, a social and political organization for women founded in 1891 by Caroline Severance. To pay off the construction costs, the club built the main theater, whose elegant design includes a gold-leafed, coffered ceiling and faux-marble columns, as a playhouse to generate income. Will Rogers was toastmaster on opening night, and guests included Charlie Chaplin and Cecil B. DeMille.
Throughout the 1930s the Variety Arts Center attracted prominent speakers including Eleanor Roosevelt and Dorothy Parker, and hosted live radio shows by Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. The structure, and its anchor club, began to decline by the '70s. It was sold in 1977 to the Society of the Preservation of the Arts. Paul Sehdeva purchased the building in 1989 and held onto it until AEG acquired it.
The Variety Arts Center is one of nearly half a dozen Downtown theaters that are being brought back from obscurity. Developer Tom Gilmore is currently rehabbing the State Theater on Main Street and plans have been announced to fix up the Million Dollar Theater on Broadway.
If the Variety Arts building becomes a theater, it would have an ample audience within walking distance. Developer South Group is building five condominium towers in South Park and Houston's Hanover Company is constructing a 26-story apartment complex at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street.
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
It is now over a month since the sale closed and the Times still doesn't seem to know about it.
Kathryn Maese
A new player has entered the mix in the hot Staples Center neighborhood. Downtown's latest building transaction could bring a hefty dose of drama to South Park.
The Variety Arts Center has been sold to David Houk, a local developer who once owned the Pasadena Playhouse.
Former Pasadena Playhouse owner David Houk last week told Los Angeles Downtown News that he has closed escrow on the historic Variety Arts Center for an undisclosed amount. Houk, who heads Downtown-based Houk Development Company, purchased the 1924 theater and event space at 940 S. Figueroa St. from Anschutz Entertainment Group.
"We bought it to restore it and produce new plays and musicals," he said. "We plan to read new scripts and pick shows."
Houk said the deal closed Dec. 7, after his business plan was approved by AEG. Renovation of the Variety Arts Center is expected to last a year; he plans to move his offices and theater company into the location once the project is completed.
AEG, which owns Staples Center, did not return calls for comment.
The transaction has sparked enthusiasm from area players.
"I would think because of [Houk's] background that it's a real opportunity to create a potential new theater and entertainment center adjacent to the L.A. Live complex," said Mike Pfeiffer, executive director of the South Park Stakeholders Group, which represents many of the area's businesses. "It seems like the best fit. It's a building that's needed something like this for a long time."
AEG purchased the five-story Variety Arts Center for an estimated $8 million in spring 2004, with plans to develop it as a key component of the $2.5 billion L.A. Live sports and entertainment district rising two blocks away. The first phase is set to open late this year with a host of big-name restaurants and retail shops; later phases include a theater, movie complex, ESPN broadcast center, housing and a hotel.
Houk had eyed the Variety Arts Center for several years, and said he tried to purchase it around the time AEG bought it. When he heard that Anschutz was looking for a quiet sale, he jumped at the opportunity.
"It's a fabulous location to put on shows," Houk said. "I was told that more than dollars they were interested in a compatible use for what they were doing."
The elegant structure, which is a registered historic cultural landmark, houses a 1,000-seat theater along with a smaller theater and nightclub space, a lounge, a library and offices. Over the years the venue has seen a smattering of events from concerts to film shoots to fashion shows.
"We're very excited about hearing his plans and the timing couldn't be better," Pfeiffer said. "When you look at that location and that building, it has tremendous history. The architecture is so beautiful and it's another of those features that attracts people to the Downtown core."
The Italian Renaissance-style theater is among Downtown's most historically and architecturally noteworthy structures. The building, which is sometimes overlooked because of its simple gray facade, was constructed to house the Friday Morning Club, a social and political organization for women founded in 1891 by Caroline Severance. To pay off the construction costs, the club built the main theater, whose elegant design includes a gold-leafed, coffered ceiling and faux-marble columns, as a playhouse to generate income. Will Rogers was toastmaster on opening night, and guests included Charlie Chaplin and Cecil B. DeMille.
Throughout the 1930s the Variety Arts Center attracted prominent speakers including Eleanor Roosevelt and Dorothy Parker, and hosted live radio shows by Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. The structure, and its anchor club, began to decline by the '70s. It was sold in 1977 to the Society of the Preservation of the Arts. Paul Sehdeva purchased the building in 1989 and held onto it until AEG acquired it.
The Variety Arts Center is one of nearly half a dozen Downtown theaters that are being brought back from obscurity. Developer Tom Gilmore is currently rehabbing the State Theater on Main Street and plans have been announced to fix up the Million Dollar Theater on Broadway.
If the Variety Arts building becomes a theater, it would have an ample audience within walking distance. Developer South Group is building five condominium towers in South Park and Houston's Hanover Company is constructing a 26-story apartment complex at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street.
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
It is now over a month since the sale closed and the Times still doesn't seem to know about it.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
LA Times Union Vote Yes By NINE Votes!
There appears to be an error in the below linked story about the vote to unionize the press workers at the LA Times. Below is what LAOBSERVED had somewhat buried on a sidebar under NATIVE INTELLIGENCE:
Jacob Soboro
The workers in the Los Angeles Times pressroom have voted to be represented by a union for the first time in nearly four decades.
I just sat in on the counting of the votes at the National Labor Relations Board's regional headquarters downtown - no cameras allowed during the tallying, but I kept score myself. It felt like a sporting event - with multiple lead changes and a final come-from-behind run at the end by the "yes" side. The official tally was 140 for the union, 131 against - one vote off from my personal scorecard. The Times has five days from Monday to challenge the vote...
The obvious joke is - of course - nobody in any capacity at the LA Times can get their facts straight....
Jacob Soboro
The workers in the Los Angeles Times pressroom have voted to be represented by a union for the first time in nearly four decades.
I just sat in on the counting of the votes at the National Labor Relations Board's regional headquarters downtown - no cameras allowed during the tallying, but I kept score myself. It felt like a sporting event - with multiple lead changes and a final come-from-behind run at the end by the "yes" side. The official tally was 140 for the union, 131 against - one vote off from my personal scorecard. The Times has five days from Monday to challenge the vote...
The obvious joke is - of course - nobody in any capacity at the LA Times can get their facts straight....
Union Wins At LA Times By ONE Vote! (CORRECTION BELOW)
According to the linked story from LAOBSERVED on the post above this one, the vote tallies were different and the winning margin was nine.
From LA Times Pressmen's Blog:
Saturday, January 06, 2007
ONE Vote: Union YES at LA Times
The vote is in and it was close:
140 Yes
139 No
All but 18 people voted.
Unionization by ONE vote.
Proof that every vote counts.
From LA Times Pressmen's Blog:
Saturday, January 06, 2007
ONE Vote: Union YES at LA Times
The vote is in and it was close:
140 Yes
139 No
All but 18 people voted.
Unionization by ONE vote.
Proof that every vote counts.
LAT Union Election Results Not Released Until Morning... BUT....
.... one on the scene observer... Ed Padgett... has the following observation:
.... I polled twenty percent of my co-workers, with some having no comment, and others telling me loud enough for others to hear, how they voted. I respect everyone’s privacy, and will never reveal how any of my co-workers have voted, or why they sided with the union or against the union.
Not wanting to sway anyone’s vote today I waited till the polls had closed before predicting the outcome of this important election. And this is nothing more than my prediction; the true count will be displayed eleven hours from now.
We will see many with red eyes, from the lack of sleep, in attendance tomorrow because of the importance of this election.
Yes votes = 41%
No votes = 59%
I could be completely wrong and shocked by the results, but doubt it.
Peace
.... I polled twenty percent of my co-workers, with some having no comment, and others telling me loud enough for others to hear, how they voted. I respect everyone’s privacy, and will never reveal how any of my co-workers have voted, or why they sided with the union or against the union.
Not wanting to sway anyone’s vote today I waited till the polls had closed before predicting the outcome of this important election. And this is nothing more than my prediction; the true count will be displayed eleven hours from now.
We will see many with red eyes, from the lack of sleep, in attendance tomorrow because of the importance of this election.
Yes votes = 41%
No votes = 59%
I could be completely wrong and shocked by the results, but doubt it.
Peace
So... Did The Times Pressmen Vote For The Union - Or Not?
The voting on the pressmen at the Los Angeles Times going union - or staying non-union - ended over a hour ago, and it was going to take an hour to count the votes. It was unclear, though, if the results are going to be released until the morning.
Link above thanks to www.LA OBSERVED.com which will likely have the results first.
Link above thanks to www.LA OBSERVED.com which will likely have the results first.
If A Book Store Closes In The Forest And No One Writes About It - Did It Really Close?
When long time Fairfax fixture, Arnold Herr Bookseller, posted its closing notice after losing its lease last year, the story got a lot of ink.
Then when the used book store found a new home, also on Fairfax, but in a area with less foot traffic, the story got a lot less ink.
Then when Powell Books of Portland (aka - The Evil Empire) showed up with a check and a massive tractor-trailer truck this autumn - there was zero ink when the tractor-trailer truck left holding the entire stock of the former book store and headed up to... Portland.
So that makes me zero for two in getting a large, general interest used book store downtown. First Book City, and now Arnold Herr.
But... as they say... the third time's the charm....
Then when the used book store found a new home, also on Fairfax, but in a area with less foot traffic, the story got a lot less ink.
Then when Powell Books of Portland (aka - The Evil Empire) showed up with a check and a massive tractor-trailer truck this autumn - there was zero ink when the tractor-trailer truck left holding the entire stock of the former book store and headed up to... Portland.
So that makes me zero for two in getting a large, general interest used book store downtown. First Book City, and now Arnold Herr.
But... as they say... the third time's the charm....
Friday, January 05, 2007
Funniest On-Line Post Of The Morning!
FISHBOWLLA
SAG Award Nominees Unveiled -- Nation Yawns
Steve Carell and Leo DiCaprio lead the pack of performers with three nominations a piece. It would be weird/funny/quirky/newsworthy that Steve Carell and Leo DiCaprio share anything in common. But these are the SAG awards, the Hollywood equivalent of an El Torito gift-certificate employee incentive program, so we'll move on.
Posted by Mayrav |
SAG Award Nominees Unveiled -- Nation Yawns
Steve Carell and Leo DiCaprio lead the pack of performers with three nominations a piece. It would be weird/funny/quirky/newsworthy that Steve Carell and Leo DiCaprio share anything in common. But these are the SAG awards, the Hollywood equivalent of an El Torito gift-certificate employee incentive program, so we'll move on.
Posted by Mayrav |
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Why The Los Angeles Times Still Can Not Be Trusted To Tell The Truth!
I've read about how dishonest the coverage of the Los Angeles Times has been on the recent Long Beach hate crimes incident. But until Kate Coe's article in LA Weekly, I had no idea how totally the Times has failed this city.
Despite recent improvements at the paper, there still remain editors convinced we need to be protected from inconvenient truths and that lying to us is acceptable to keep us from knowing those truths.
Hopefully, the Times' new leadership will issue an apology, publish an examination of the facts and then take action to guarantee this type of cover-up never takes place again.
Despite recent improvements at the paper, there still remain editors convinced we need to be protected from inconvenient truths and that lying to us is acceptable to keep us from knowing those truths.
Hopefully, the Times' new leadership will issue an apology, publish an examination of the facts and then take action to guarantee this type of cover-up never takes place again.
LIES! LIES!! LIES!!!
Below is a statement made to anyone who uses BLOGSPOT:
The New Version of Blogger
The new version of Blogger in beta is dead!
Long live the new version of Blogger!
(P.S. The old version of Blogger is not dead, but it would like to retire for a little while... maybe go to Hawaii or play World of Warcraft all day? It begs you to let it play World of Warcraft all day.)
I am overjoyed to announce that today we have o’ficially graduated the new version of Blogger from “in beta” to “.” Why is this significant? Allow me to explain via analogy:
The problem is - at times - I am still asked to switch over to the 'new' Blogspot when I try to log into my own blog - even though - I switched a long, long time ago.
And then whenever I try to post on other Blogspot blogs - I am also constantly asked to change over to the 'new' Blogspot - for weeks now.
So... I guess that the old Blogspot has returned from Hawaii or got tired of playing World of Warcraft all day.
The New Version of Blogger
The new version of Blogger in beta is dead!
Long live the new version of Blogger!
(P.S. The old version of Blogger is not dead, but it would like to retire for a little while... maybe go to Hawaii or play World of Warcraft all day? It begs you to let it play World of Warcraft all day.)
I am overjoyed to announce that today we have o’ficially graduated the new version of Blogger from “in beta” to “.” Why is this significant? Allow me to explain via analogy:
The problem is - at times - I am still asked to switch over to the 'new' Blogspot when I try to log into my own blog - even though - I switched a long, long time ago.
And then whenever I try to post on other Blogspot blogs - I am also constantly asked to change over to the 'new' Blogspot - for weeks now.
So... I guess that the old Blogspot has returned from Hawaii or got tired of playing World of Warcraft all day.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
A Cowboy Almost Christmas Wedding
Two things were clear from the start.
First, we would spend the rest of our lives together.
There was never any question about that.
Second, I was not remotely ready to get married.
There was even less disagreement on that.
My ever wayward – and increasingly continent hopping - cowhand career (which by then had little to do with cows other than eating them) at that time still took precedence over my nascent (and unremunerated) writing career.
So while our increasingly… adventuresome… adventures were becoming quite lucrative, I had - without realizing it - made a decision not to live off that money, but to instead only use my share to finance further adventures to fuel my dopamine-starved brain.
Despite my stubbornness and male pride, though, as always, she still hung in there with me and patiently waited until I would feel financially capable of providing for her in ways that did not involve liberating stolen airplanes from foreign governments or riding shotgun on diamond shipments along the Orinoco.
Finally, though, one day Lance, as head cowboy, decided to take matters into his own hands and decided he was going to make an honest cowhand of me whether I wanted to be one or not. So shortly before Christmas, he declared he would marry us himself in a cowboy wedding and gave us – and everyone else – 48 hours to make arrangements.
I foolishly tried to challenge his authority on this, but Lance reminded me if a captain of a ship was entitled to marry couples, then as undispute captain of our ship of horses he certainly could.
Thus two days later, in all my finest cowhand finery and on Christmas eve, I marched down an aisle in the middle of a corral lined with all the others in their newly shined, polished, groomed, and tailored cowboy suits, boots, hats and spurs. Plus each of our personal horses was also in attendance tacked out within an inch of thie lives which created considerable unintentional – or more likely – intentional – humor as our horses did all the usual things that horses are often wont to do.
Then in a brilliant stroke displaying his true evil genius, Lance dragooned my ever faithless horse - Mr. D - into being the ring bearer, and Mr. D then trotted down the aisle after me with his teeth holding a box with the rings that would symbolize my loss of freedom. (And with all the attention given my bride and my horse, if I hadn't shown up – no one would have noticed – or cared)
And, luckily, D did not mistake the five carats of the ring (and as we were being paid in diamonds, size was no object) for real carrots, otherwise we would have had a wedding delay while we waited for the ring to reappear.
And, speaking of dodged bullets, with Bach as my best man (and he occupied that position since Lance was performing the ceremony) – if there was ever anyone born to host a bachelor party – it was Bach since Bach was short for… bachelor… it was a miracle any of us had the energy left to still make it to the wedding.
Then when it finally came time to close the ceremony, Lance nodded his head forward as he announced I could kiss the bride and exactly as those words came from his mouth – my horse leaned forward and gently nudged me towards my bride with his nose – to the collective vocal approval of all those in attendance.
And so I was completely upstaged not just once, but twice by my own horse at my own wedding.
Then after kissing my bride (after which she gave my Benedict Arnold of a horse both a hug and a kiss), I had the quite mitigated pleasure of watching all the others embrace and kiss my new wife under my watchful eye – when Lance came over and announced this ceremony was his early Christmas present to me.
But before I could properly thank him, for just a moment I saw that look of incredible sadness in his eyes, the look he had whenever his thoughts turned to his wife and his son.
And when he saw me reacting to his momentary mood, he turned on his easy grin and reached over and gave me a ‘friendly squeeze’ on my shoulder – which left black and blue finger imprints all over my shoulder for a full week. And between the knee weakening pain and his grin, he managed to change the mood and the subject.
But now looking back, I wonder if he somehow, or in some way knew that in all too short a time, we would all gather together again, but this time to celebrate a life that had all too soon ended and mourn her passing before laying her to rest on the ridge where Lance’s wife and son lay in wait for us.
First, we would spend the rest of our lives together.
There was never any question about that.
Second, I was not remotely ready to get married.
There was even less disagreement on that.
My ever wayward – and increasingly continent hopping - cowhand career (which by then had little to do with cows other than eating them) at that time still took precedence over my nascent (and unremunerated) writing career.
So while our increasingly… adventuresome… adventures were becoming quite lucrative, I had - without realizing it - made a decision not to live off that money, but to instead only use my share to finance further adventures to fuel my dopamine-starved brain.
Despite my stubbornness and male pride, though, as always, she still hung in there with me and patiently waited until I would feel financially capable of providing for her in ways that did not involve liberating stolen airplanes from foreign governments or riding shotgun on diamond shipments along the Orinoco.
Finally, though, one day Lance, as head cowboy, decided to take matters into his own hands and decided he was going to make an honest cowhand of me whether I wanted to be one or not. So shortly before Christmas, he declared he would marry us himself in a cowboy wedding and gave us – and everyone else – 48 hours to make arrangements.
I foolishly tried to challenge his authority on this, but Lance reminded me if a captain of a ship was entitled to marry couples, then as undispute captain of our ship of horses he certainly could.
Thus two days later, in all my finest cowhand finery and on Christmas eve, I marched down an aisle in the middle of a corral lined with all the others in their newly shined, polished, groomed, and tailored cowboy suits, boots, hats and spurs. Plus each of our personal horses was also in attendance tacked out within an inch of thie lives which created considerable unintentional – or more likely – intentional – humor as our horses did all the usual things that horses are often wont to do.
Then in a brilliant stroke displaying his true evil genius, Lance dragooned my ever faithless horse - Mr. D - into being the ring bearer, and Mr. D then trotted down the aisle after me with his teeth holding a box with the rings that would symbolize my loss of freedom. (And with all the attention given my bride and my horse, if I hadn't shown up – no one would have noticed – or cared)
And, luckily, D did not mistake the five carats of the ring (and as we were being paid in diamonds, size was no object) for real carrots, otherwise we would have had a wedding delay while we waited for the ring to reappear.
And, speaking of dodged bullets, with Bach as my best man (and he occupied that position since Lance was performing the ceremony) – if there was ever anyone born to host a bachelor party – it was Bach since Bach was short for… bachelor… it was a miracle any of us had the energy left to still make it to the wedding.
Then when it finally came time to close the ceremony, Lance nodded his head forward as he announced I could kiss the bride and exactly as those words came from his mouth – my horse leaned forward and gently nudged me towards my bride with his nose – to the collective vocal approval of all those in attendance.
And so I was completely upstaged not just once, but twice by my own horse at my own wedding.
Then after kissing my bride (after which she gave my Benedict Arnold of a horse both a hug and a kiss), I had the quite mitigated pleasure of watching all the others embrace and kiss my new wife under my watchful eye – when Lance came over and announced this ceremony was his early Christmas present to me.
But before I could properly thank him, for just a moment I saw that look of incredible sadness in his eyes, the look he had whenever his thoughts turned to his wife and his son.
And when he saw me reacting to his momentary mood, he turned on his easy grin and reached over and gave me a ‘friendly squeeze’ on my shoulder – which left black and blue finger imprints all over my shoulder for a full week. And between the knee weakening pain and his grin, he managed to change the mood and the subject.
But now looking back, I wonder if he somehow, or in some way knew that in all too short a time, we would all gather together again, but this time to celebrate a life that had all too soon ended and mourn her passing before laying her to rest on the ridge where Lance’s wife and son lay in wait for us.
LA Cowboy Pisses Off Miss Snark!
For those three people left alive who are still unaware who Miss Snark is, she posts an anonymous eponymous blog that enlightens writers on how to get and deal with agents and publishers.
She is also funny as hell.
She also runs what she calls a CRAPOMETER where she critiques first pages, synopsises or - most recently - hooks. Unfortunately for her, her last CRAPOMETER had a ... staggering... 682 submissions that she both read - and critiqued!
And after all of that work and resultant chaos in her life - of course some smart ass had to ask her the obvious question.
And that smart ass was... of course... me!
See above link for particulars.
And if you want to see - and hear - how all us loyal Snarklings really feel about Miss Snark - click on the below YOUTUBE video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRrb2pkA7h0
She is also funny as hell.
She also runs what she calls a CRAPOMETER where she critiques first pages, synopsises or - most recently - hooks. Unfortunately for her, her last CRAPOMETER had a ... staggering... 682 submissions that she both read - and critiqued!
And after all of that work and resultant chaos in her life - of course some smart ass had to ask her the obvious question.
And that smart ass was... of course... me!
See above link for particulars.
And if you want to see - and hear - how all us loyal Snarklings really feel about Miss Snark - click on the below YOUTUBE video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRrb2pkA7h0
Friday, December 29, 2006
Due To OVERWHELMING Demand....
Well, an 'overwhelming number' of exactly four fellow Snarklings asked me to post this, the first page to the Long Rider.....
In the West, a 'long rider' is a man who has been outlawed, a man on a long ride; a ride that will last forever.
THE LONG RIDER
BY
BRADY WESTWATER
CHAPTER ONE
Three belows were necessary before the horseshoe drove the nail into the oak beam that bridged the doorless doorway. Age had yet to weaken the ancient beam any more than it had imparted any weakness to the man who gripped the rusted horseshoe.
Once a cattle ranch bunkhouse, all that remained was a decayed ruin, fit only to haunt those of knew of its past - or those cursed or blessed with imagination enough to see in sun-bleached wood what stories had once been told around campfires before they too receded into a past of their own.
Ten years had passed since the boots of Jed Matthews last trod that silent floor; ten years to the night his life had been felled as a cottonwood tree often was - only to have a shoot spring up from its roots and rise until the tree once more reached its full measure and overshadowed the dead and useless stump which existed then but as a mute reminder of what had been.
But not only for Jed Matthews did such reminders exist. For what had disrupted his life that night had also affected the lives of many other men in more ways than he had imagined. One of the most immediate of those consequences had been the altering of the lives of those in power as they had to reflect upon what they had done and then had to prevent any further disruptions.
Finally, there were those who could only spend sleepless nights wishing there had been something they could have done... and fearing that perhaps there had been.
But none of this could be changed.
What had happened, had happened forever. And what had been, existed then only in ruins such as those - and in the memories of the men who had taken part in the tragedy; men who lay in the safety of heir beds not knowing that Jed Matthews had returned.
In the West, a 'long rider' is a man who has been outlawed, a man on a long ride; a ride that will last forever.
THE LONG RIDER
BY
BRADY WESTWATER
CHAPTER ONE
Three belows were necessary before the horseshoe drove the nail into the oak beam that bridged the doorless doorway. Age had yet to weaken the ancient beam any more than it had imparted any weakness to the man who gripped the rusted horseshoe.
Once a cattle ranch bunkhouse, all that remained was a decayed ruin, fit only to haunt those of knew of its past - or those cursed or blessed with imagination enough to see in sun-bleached wood what stories had once been told around campfires before they too receded into a past of their own.
Ten years had passed since the boots of Jed Matthews last trod that silent floor; ten years to the night his life had been felled as a cottonwood tree often was - only to have a shoot spring up from its roots and rise until the tree once more reached its full measure and overshadowed the dead and useless stump which existed then but as a mute reminder of what had been.
But not only for Jed Matthews did such reminders exist. For what had disrupted his life that night had also affected the lives of many other men in more ways than he had imagined. One of the most immediate of those consequences had been the altering of the lives of those in power as they had to reflect upon what they had done and then had to prevent any further disruptions.
Finally, there were those who could only spend sleepless nights wishing there had been something they could have done... and fearing that perhaps there had been.
But none of this could be changed.
What had happened, had happened forever. And what had been, existed then only in ruins such as those - and in the memories of the men who had taken part in the tragedy; men who lay in the safety of heir beds not knowing that Jed Matthews had returned.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Does Anyone At The Los Angeles Times Read The Headlines Before They Print Them? Obviously - NO!
According to both the print and the on-line edition of the Sunday Los Angeles Times,the present California congressional delegation is dominated by white, male... Republicans. The minor problem is that the present California delegation is dominated by... Democrats.
But that is not what the headline of the article says. The article, of course, correctly contradicts the headline and states that the existing Republican leadership in the house is being replaced by new Democratic leadership, hence the demographic and partisan shift.
Unfortunately, this type of error is an almost daily occurrence in the Times. People who write the headlines - evidently - never read - or at least understand - the articles they are putting headlines... on.
And this is why I made the suggestion some time ago that assuming that the Times does not trust writers to write their own headlines, to at least REQUIRE that the writers sign-off on the headlines.
New Congress mirrors shift in California
A delegation largely white, male and Republican yields to a diverse array of Democrats.
By Noam N. Levey
Times Staff Writer
December 24, 2006
WASHINGTON — When control of Congress switches parties next month, so too will the political face of California.
Slipping into eclipse is red California, dominated by Republican House members who for years have been the state's most influential voices in Washington.
These lawmakers — all white and all Christian — hailed largely from inland valleys. Many were deeply rooted Californians who grew up immediately after World War II when the state was a more homogeneous place. Several strolled the halls of Congress in cowboy boots.
With Democrats ascendant, however, a bluer California is set to put its mark on Capitol Hill. This face is more urban and more diverse. Its senior lawmakers — who include women, Jews, African Americans and Latinos — live in large coastal metropolitan areas. Many moved to the Golden State as adults.
The contrast broadly mirrors national differences between the two major political parties. But the shift in power within the state's congressional delegation also reflects a changing California that is cleaving along an East-West divide.
One California, concentrated along the Pacific Coast, is increasingly secular, multicultural and Democratic; the other, centered east of the coastal mountain ranges, is more overtly religious, more white and more Republican.
But that is not what the headline of the article says. The article, of course, correctly contradicts the headline and states that the existing Republican leadership in the house is being replaced by new Democratic leadership, hence the demographic and partisan shift.
Unfortunately, this type of error is an almost daily occurrence in the Times. People who write the headlines - evidently - never read - or at least understand - the articles they are putting headlines... on.
And this is why I made the suggestion some time ago that assuming that the Times does not trust writers to write their own headlines, to at least REQUIRE that the writers sign-off on the headlines.
New Congress mirrors shift in California
A delegation largely white, male and Republican yields to a diverse array of Democrats.
By Noam N. Levey
Times Staff Writer
December 24, 2006
WASHINGTON — When control of Congress switches parties next month, so too will the political face of California.
Slipping into eclipse is red California, dominated by Republican House members who for years have been the state's most influential voices in Washington.
These lawmakers — all white and all Christian — hailed largely from inland valleys. Many were deeply rooted Californians who grew up immediately after World War II when the state was a more homogeneous place. Several strolled the halls of Congress in cowboy boots.
With Democrats ascendant, however, a bluer California is set to put its mark on Capitol Hill. This face is more urban and more diverse. Its senior lawmakers — who include women, Jews, African Americans and Latinos — live in large coastal metropolitan areas. Many moved to the Golden State as adults.
The contrast broadly mirrors national differences between the two major political parties. But the shift in power within the state's congressional delegation also reflects a changing California that is cleaving along an East-West divide.
One California, concentrated along the Pacific Coast, is increasingly secular, multicultural and Democratic; the other, centered east of the coastal mountain ranges, is more overtly religious, more white and more Republican.
Last Night's 'Friday Nights Lights' Mini-Marathon! And How To Save The Show!!
After being unable to make it through more than a few minutes of any of previous episodes of the critically acclaimed Friday Nights Light's hour drama on NBC - I sat through the three back to back episodes last night while working at my desk. And... possibly... there were... maybe... 10 minutes out of the combined three hours that managed to in any way capture my interest.
Which left me puzzled. It has gotten excellent reviews from many critics and the backdrop of a small Western town - and I spent much of my time for 10 years in such towns and have been around them my entire life - so why do I find this series so totally and completely... unwatchable?
Looking back at the three hours last night - I don't think I can recall a single moment where anything - on any level - other than the scenes of the elders in the black church scenes, which felt dead-on - felt real for me.
There was zero feeling of any sense of place of any kind to me and none of the younger characters felt like any real people I have ever known - much less like kids from a small Western town. And when I tried to recollect who they did remind me of - to my surprise - it was the characters of Seinfeld - but without the humor!
All the joy of life has been sucked out of them and all they ever do is sit around and bitch and complain and talk and talk about life as if they were bunch old timers hanging out, waiting for death at Zabar's on the Upper West Side of New York.
So here's my suggestion - take the exact same characters, very slightly rewrite the dialogue, change the sport to basketball, add a laugh track and move them to Manhattan.
It'll be a guaranteed hit!
Which left me puzzled. It has gotten excellent reviews from many critics and the backdrop of a small Western town - and I spent much of my time for 10 years in such towns and have been around them my entire life - so why do I find this series so totally and completely... unwatchable?
Looking back at the three hours last night - I don't think I can recall a single moment where anything - on any level - other than the scenes of the elders in the black church scenes, which felt dead-on - felt real for me.
There was zero feeling of any sense of place of any kind to me and none of the younger characters felt like any real people I have ever known - much less like kids from a small Western town. And when I tried to recollect who they did remind me of - to my surprise - it was the characters of Seinfeld - but without the humor!
All the joy of life has been sucked out of them and all they ever do is sit around and bitch and complain and talk and talk about life as if they were bunch old timers hanging out, waiting for death at Zabar's on the Upper West Side of New York.
So here's my suggestion - take the exact same characters, very slightly rewrite the dialogue, change the sport to basketball, add a laugh track and move them to Manhattan.
It'll be a guaranteed hit!
Is GOOGLE God?
Evidently... yes!
From Poytner:
Posted by Fons Tuinstra 6:07:06 AM
Has Google Built a Smarter Internet?
Google
Google.com
Google appears to be smart about how it handles net traffic.
Day two of the Asian Internet crisis. Here's a short update from Shanghai.
Much of the situation reported yesterday remains the same for me: most sites still are not accessible after Tuesday's earthquake off the coast of Taiwan. The traffic is not cut off entirely, however, since some services seem to be working better than others. This story is rather more complicated than a continent being cut off from the rest of the world.
Skype is back in action, but MSN is spotty. When I can get online, I can only see that nobody else is. Yahoo is totally out of service.
What keeps amazing me is that all Google services keep on humming as if there was no problem: Google search, blog search, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Reader, Adsense, Google Documents, Blogger.com... Even the uncensored Google News is showing no delay, although I cannot click through to the original sources in Google News.
I have been asking around a bit why people think Google can avoid the physical barriers that are causing problems for most of the others. One explanation is that Google, without claiming or getting much praise, has been building a smarter Internet. They seem to be able to avoid single points of failure.
From Poytner:
Posted by Fons Tuinstra 6:07:06 AM
Has Google Built a Smarter Internet?
Google.com
Google appears to be smart about how it handles net traffic.
Day two of the Asian Internet crisis. Here's a short update from Shanghai.
Much of the situation reported yesterday remains the same for me: most sites still are not accessible after Tuesday's earthquake off the coast of Taiwan. The traffic is not cut off entirely, however, since some services seem to be working better than others. This story is rather more complicated than a continent being cut off from the rest of the world.
Skype is back in action, but MSN is spotty. When I can get online, I can only see that nobody else is. Yahoo is totally out of service.
What keeps amazing me is that all Google services keep on humming as if there was no problem: Google search, blog search, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Reader, Adsense, Google Documents, Blogger.com... Even the uncensored Google News is showing no delay, although I cannot click through to the original sources in Google News.
I have been asking around a bit why people think Google can avoid the physical barriers that are causing problems for most of the others. One explanation is that Google, without claiming or getting much praise, has been building a smarter Internet. They seem to be able to avoid single points of failure.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Five Things You Don't Know About LA Cowboy!
1. I have been wanted for a capital offense in India for over 30 years.
2. I lost my virginity in a Nevada brothel at age 17.
3. A wild horse I caught, broke and trained as rodeo stock threw two former national champions in one season.
4. I met the Manson family at the Spahn Movie Ranch after the murders.
5. In 1966, I was one of the first people to read the first draft of Carlos Castaneda's 'Teachings of Don Juan' and met him while investigating a ghost that was haunting me.
And I tag... Miss Snark:
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/
2. I lost my virginity in a Nevada brothel at age 17.
3. A wild horse I caught, broke and trained as rodeo stock threw two former national champions in one season.
4. I met the Manson family at the Spahn Movie Ranch after the murders.
5. In 1966, I was one of the first people to read the first draft of Carlos Castaneda's 'Teachings of Don Juan' and met him while investigating a ghost that was haunting me.
And I tag... Miss Snark:
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 22, 2006
Another Misleading Los Angeles Times Headline!
First... the headline:
The holiday fixture is a film classic, but the production wasn't always angelic.
OK - so it seems clear that some aspects of the production were the opposite of being angelic - would seem be if not satanic - as least filled with strife, discord or other non-angelic behavior. Right?
Uh... no...
Stephen Cox
Special to The Times
December 23, 2006
IT is arguably one of the most magnetic moments ever captured on film. This enduring celluloid juncture from 1946's "It's a Wonderful Life" can be summoned to mind by merely mentioning "the prayer scene." In it, a tearfully reduced George Bailey — played by Jimmy Stewart — sits at a bar and contemplates taking his own life, then clasps his hands and quietly asks for God's intervention.
And while filming this key moment, this pivotal point in the picture, Frank Capra goofed — big time.
Despite a reputation for being fastidiously well prepared, the veteran director had no idea that his star would turn on the waterworks and deliver such an impassioned, intimate performance on the first take. It was something overwhelming even for Stewart himself.
So the cameras rolled, the music and bustle in the bar erupted, and the scene played out — but when it was over, Capra realized his angle was too distant. And he had failed to capture a close-up of the emotionally draining scene. Capra apologized and asked his Oscar-winning star to replicate it, but a spent Stewart knew he'd nailed it and couldn't fathom a re-creation as effective as the one he'd just poured out.
To remedy the situation, during postproduction the director and his editor manually and painstakingly moved in — frame by frame. It created what appears to be an optical zoom.
So.. the not always angelic behavior during the production was that.... James Stewart gave a perfect single take performance.
Now that sure was... devilish... of him.
The holiday fixture is a film classic, but the production wasn't always angelic.
OK - so it seems clear that some aspects of the production were the opposite of being angelic - would seem be if not satanic - as least filled with strife, discord or other non-angelic behavior. Right?
Uh... no...
Stephen Cox
Special to The Times
December 23, 2006
IT is arguably one of the most magnetic moments ever captured on film. This enduring celluloid juncture from 1946's "It's a Wonderful Life" can be summoned to mind by merely mentioning "the prayer scene." In it, a tearfully reduced George Bailey — played by Jimmy Stewart — sits at a bar and contemplates taking his own life, then clasps his hands and quietly asks for God's intervention.
And while filming this key moment, this pivotal point in the picture, Frank Capra goofed — big time.
Despite a reputation for being fastidiously well prepared, the veteran director had no idea that his star would turn on the waterworks and deliver such an impassioned, intimate performance on the first take. It was something overwhelming even for Stewart himself.
So the cameras rolled, the music and bustle in the bar erupted, and the scene played out — but when it was over, Capra realized his angle was too distant. And he had failed to capture a close-up of the emotionally draining scene. Capra apologized and asked his Oscar-winning star to replicate it, but a spent Stewart knew he'd nailed it and couldn't fathom a re-creation as effective as the one he'd just poured out.
To remedy the situation, during postproduction the director and his editor manually and painstakingly moved in — frame by frame. It created what appears to be an optical zoom.
So.. the not always angelic behavior during the production was that.... James Stewart gave a perfect single take performance.
Now that sure was... devilish... of him.
Monday, December 11, 2006
There Is An Obvious Reason Why Japanese Owned Companies Are Headquartered In Torrance!
In linking to The Los Angeles Business Journal's article on Japanese businesses in Torrance, Mark Lacter's LAOBSERVED business blog states there is no obvious reason why this is so:
Japanese in Torrance: The city is home to at least 246 companies that are either units of Japanese companies or founded by people of Japanese origin. That's at least 44 more than the city of L.A. There isn't any obvious explanation for the Torrance contingent, other than it's a relatively business-friendly community and very close to the port and other major transportation networks.
Actually... there is a very obvious reason!
Just look at a map. Almost directly east of Torrance is Gardena which for most of the 20th Century had a very large Japanese population due to Japanese-American run truck farms that started not long after the turn of the last century. Even the latest census shows an almost 30% Asian population in Gardena. Then when that community prospered, the nearest middle/upper middle class community was Torrance and they started moving west setting up stores, restaurants, supermarkets, language schools, churches and temples - proving the social infrastructure for the incoming Japanese companies.
And with Torrance having the necessary land for the new offices and factories (and a glut of cheap space after the aero-space industry collapse) and a superb school system, it had advantages that none of the other Japanese-American communities in LA County had.
Therefore - it became the headquarters city for major Japanese companies.
Japanese in Torrance: The city is home to at least 246 companies that are either units of Japanese companies or founded by people of Japanese origin. That's at least 44 more than the city of L.A. There isn't any obvious explanation for the Torrance contingent, other than it's a relatively business-friendly community and very close to the port and other major transportation networks.
Actually... there is a very obvious reason!
Just look at a map. Almost directly east of Torrance is Gardena which for most of the 20th Century had a very large Japanese population due to Japanese-American run truck farms that started not long after the turn of the last century. Even the latest census shows an almost 30% Asian population in Gardena. Then when that community prospered, the nearest middle/upper middle class community was Torrance and they started moving west setting up stores, restaurants, supermarkets, language schools, churches and temples - proving the social infrastructure for the incoming Japanese companies.
And with Torrance having the necessary land for the new offices and factories (and a glut of cheap space after the aero-space industry collapse) and a superb school system, it had advantages that none of the other Japanese-American communities in LA County had.
Therefore - it became the headquarters city for major Japanese companies.
Friday, December 08, 2006
LA To The Arts - Drop Dead!
The City of Los Angeles’ master plan to drive every non-profit and profit making cultural institution from the city limits continues unabated. In a city famous (for decades) years for losing more museums and museum quality collections than any city in the world (and a city that has driven its best galleries to Culver City, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills), now the Neon Museum may be the next to be forced to leave LA. And several other cultural institutions may be next:
Museum of Neon Art faces dim prospects
In January it will find itself homeless, priced out of the changing downtown scene. But don't shut off those lights just yet.
By Christopher Reynolds
Times Staff Writer
December 8, 2006
The Museum of Neon Art has collected scores of electric artworks, kinetic artifacts and gleaming bits of historic cityscape. But what it really needs right now is a well-placed "vacancy" sign.
At the end of January, a month after the downtown museum celebrates its 25th birthday, the lease runs out on MONA's home of 10 years at 501 W. Olympic Blvd. After a series of failed courtships, the organization has no new permanent home lined up.
"In crisis, there is opportunity," said executive director Kim Koga, who has been looking for new sites while lining up temporary storage and arranging a fundraising event.
Koga, who has directed the museum since 1998, said she has been searching for months for a new venue, but the museum is caught in a bind common among bohemians in booming urban settings: With rents rising, lofts proliferating and redevelopment efforts underway downtown, the 400-member museum, which lives on a $200,000 yearly budget, can't afford most buildings.
For a while, MONA was looking at the old Subway Terminal Building downtown at Hill and 4th streets, which has been converted into an apartment building and renamed 417 Metro. Then Koga was interested in the basement of the Eastern Columbia building at 849 S. Broadway, a 1929 Moderne landmark with a turquoise terra cotta exterior, designed as a department store, that's being turned into 147 lofts. But neither option panned out.
Now Koga is in talks with another prospective landlord that would put the museum under the same downtown roof as a jazz-blues club, she said, but nothing has been signed.
Meanwhile, MONA will stage a fundraising party and silent auction Saturday at the Design Within Reach store in Beverly Hills, beginning at 7 p.m.
"We'd really like to stay downtown," Koga said. "This is where our roots are, and the history of neon started downtown."
Created in France, neon first came to the U.S. when Earl C. Anthony, an entrepreneur with Packard car dealerships in downtown Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, saw a gleaming sign display in 1923 and immediately bought at least two and brought them west. The Museum of Neon Art, founded in 1981, began in a rented space on scruffy Traction Avenue.
And...
One site is a stone's throw from the museum's current location, on the ground floor of the upstairs Grand Avenue Night Club at 1024 S. Grand Ave, she said, and another is a print shop on Overland Avenue near the Santa Monica (I-10) Freeway.
Now for some back story. I first introduced the Neon Museum to the former owners of the Subway Terminal a couple years, and when new owners bought the building, the deal survived... until it didn't.
Then a month ago, I introduced them to the new owners of the Grand Avenue Club who not only offered them the needed space - rent free - for close to a year - but they also agreed to house the pending Los Angeles Museum, the just evicted Company of Angels Theater and a legendary art gallery.
Again, rent free.
So what's the problem?
Well, the spaces need to have occupancy permits for these uses, which shouldn't be a problem since the spaces have plenty of restroom and plenty of exits. It's a no brainer. But this is LA where getting even the simplest thing done can take months and months of endless inspections.
And the only person in City Hall who actually took an interest in getting things done - and who was also capable of getting them done (two very different things), left on Monday.
So I just wait... and wait... for someone... anyone at City Hall... to return a call or an email.
Meanwhile, projects no one wants such as potted trees and cheesy stamped crosswalks get easy funding while projects that might would actually improve the quality of life in Downtown, enhance the city's artistic life and create revenue generating cultural tourism... are ignored.
Welcome to LA!
Now please leave...
Museum of Neon Art faces dim prospects
In January it will find itself homeless, priced out of the changing downtown scene. But don't shut off those lights just yet.
By Christopher Reynolds
Times Staff Writer
December 8, 2006
The Museum of Neon Art has collected scores of electric artworks, kinetic artifacts and gleaming bits of historic cityscape. But what it really needs right now is a well-placed "vacancy" sign.
At the end of January, a month after the downtown museum celebrates its 25th birthday, the lease runs out on MONA's home of 10 years at 501 W. Olympic Blvd. After a series of failed courtships, the organization has no new permanent home lined up.
"In crisis, there is opportunity," said executive director Kim Koga, who has been looking for new sites while lining up temporary storage and arranging a fundraising event.
Koga, who has directed the museum since 1998, said she has been searching for months for a new venue, but the museum is caught in a bind common among bohemians in booming urban settings: With rents rising, lofts proliferating and redevelopment efforts underway downtown, the 400-member museum, which lives on a $200,000 yearly budget, can't afford most buildings.
For a while, MONA was looking at the old Subway Terminal Building downtown at Hill and 4th streets, which has been converted into an apartment building and renamed 417 Metro. Then Koga was interested in the basement of the Eastern Columbia building at 849 S. Broadway, a 1929 Moderne landmark with a turquoise terra cotta exterior, designed as a department store, that's being turned into 147 lofts. But neither option panned out.
Now Koga is in talks with another prospective landlord that would put the museum under the same downtown roof as a jazz-blues club, she said, but nothing has been signed.
Meanwhile, MONA will stage a fundraising party and silent auction Saturday at the Design Within Reach store in Beverly Hills, beginning at 7 p.m.
"We'd really like to stay downtown," Koga said. "This is where our roots are, and the history of neon started downtown."
Created in France, neon first came to the U.S. when Earl C. Anthony, an entrepreneur with Packard car dealerships in downtown Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, saw a gleaming sign display in 1923 and immediately bought at least two and brought them west. The Museum of Neon Art, founded in 1981, began in a rented space on scruffy Traction Avenue.
And...
One site is a stone's throw from the museum's current location, on the ground floor of the upstairs Grand Avenue Night Club at 1024 S. Grand Ave, she said, and another is a print shop on Overland Avenue near the Santa Monica (I-10) Freeway.
Now for some back story. I first introduced the Neon Museum to the former owners of the Subway Terminal a couple years, and when new owners bought the building, the deal survived... until it didn't.
Then a month ago, I introduced them to the new owners of the Grand Avenue Club who not only offered them the needed space - rent free - for close to a year - but they also agreed to house the pending Los Angeles Museum, the just evicted Company of Angels Theater and a legendary art gallery.
Again, rent free.
So what's the problem?
Well, the spaces need to have occupancy permits for these uses, which shouldn't be a problem since the spaces have plenty of restroom and plenty of exits. It's a no brainer. But this is LA where getting even the simplest thing done can take months and months of endless inspections.
And the only person in City Hall who actually took an interest in getting things done - and who was also capable of getting them done (two very different things), left on Monday.
So I just wait... and wait... for someone... anyone at City Hall... to return a call or an email.
Meanwhile, projects no one wants such as potted trees and cheesy stamped crosswalks get easy funding while projects that might would actually improve the quality of life in Downtown, enhance the city's artistic life and create revenue generating cultural tourism... are ignored.
Welcome to LA!
Now please leave...
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Suggestion Number Two On How To Improve Los Angeles Times! Have All Headlines Approved By Writers!
A not uncommon occurrence when I talk to an LA Times writer after an article appears in print (or on-line) is that they almost 'died' when they read the headline appended to their article without their input. To protect both the innocent and the guilty, I will refrain from mentioning which recent story titles upset which writers.
Like most papers, the Times has people who edit the stories and people who write the titles. Now usually, the writer get to see the story edits, but they usually do not see, much less approve, the story titles. And increasingly frequently, these titles sometimes either distort the intent of the story or, on rarer occasions, even get the facts of the story wrong, a situation that would be fixed if the writer was given a chance to see - and sign off on - the title before it goes to press or on-line.
Today's very minor example is below:
Cal State panel fails to suspend Cyprus program
Deborah Schoch
December 7, 2006
A trustee committee for the Cal State system declined Wednesday to suspend an overseas study program on conflict resolution held on the divided island of Cyprus.
Now the panel failing to do something is a far stronger statement - and makes for a snappier headline - when compared to the panel 'declining' to take an action. But is it... accurate?
I don't think so. Below are some web definitions of 'fail':
# fail to do something; leave something undone; "She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib"; "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"
# be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
# disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
# stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
# be unable; "I fail to understand your motives"
# judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students"
# fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?"
# fall short in what is expected; "She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law"; "We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust"
# become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close; "The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor"; "A number of banks failed that year"
# prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
# get worse; "Her health is declining"
Like most papers, the Times has people who edit the stories and people who write the titles. Now usually, the writer get to see the story edits, but they usually do not see, much less approve, the story titles. And increasingly frequently, these titles sometimes either distort the intent of the story or, on rarer occasions, even get the facts of the story wrong, a situation that would be fixed if the writer was given a chance to see - and sign off on - the title before it goes to press or on-line.
Today's very minor example is below:
Cal State panel fails to suspend Cyprus program
Deborah Schoch
December 7, 2006
A trustee committee for the Cal State system declined Wednesday to suspend an overseas study program on conflict resolution held on the divided island of Cyprus.
Now the panel failing to do something is a far stronger statement - and makes for a snappier headline - when compared to the panel 'declining' to take an action. But is it... accurate?
I don't think so. Below are some web definitions of 'fail':
# fail to do something; leave something undone; "She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib"; "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"
# be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
# disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
# stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
# be unable; "I fail to understand your motives"
# judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students"
# fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?"
# fall short in what is expected; "She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law"; "We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust"
# become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close; "The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor"; "A number of banks failed that year"
# prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
# get worse; "Her health is declining"
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Scariest Recent Sentence In Los Angeles Times!
Justin: "Kate Winslet is one of my favorite older actresses.
Kate Winslet just turned... 31.
Kate Winslet just turned... 31.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Christopher Knight On James Wood At Getty!
Most of the article welcomes having an art professional running an arts institution... duh!... and then goes into more detail about James Wood's impeccable background for this job. And then comes the one other point everyone agrees upon:
What might prove most difficult for the new president is grappling with a structural problem built into the Getty at its original home in Malibu and replicated, alas, at its Brentwood campus. The Getty Villa and the Getty Center both feel remote from the city's fabric, designed more for tourism than for civic engagement. The institution must function at both levels.
And this can best be done by moving the photography collection into a new museum off the hill and within the center of urban life in Los Angeles. And, possibly, it might be built in a complex that would also allow for a new building for MOCA to be able to at last house its permanent collection.
What might prove most difficult for the new president is grappling with a structural problem built into the Getty at its original home in Malibu and replicated, alas, at its Brentwood campus. The Getty Villa and the Getty Center both feel remote from the city's fabric, designed more for tourism than for civic engagement. The institution must function at both levels.
And this can best be done by moving the photography collection into a new museum off the hill and within the center of urban life in Los Angeles. And, possibly, it might be built in a complex that would also allow for a new building for MOCA to be able to at last house its permanent collection.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Hamid Behdad - Adaptive Reuse Czar And Mr. Downtown To Leave Public Service!
I just received the below email:
Dear Recipients,
Attached, please see my FINAL announcement. Thank you.
Hamid Behdad, PE
Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
200 N Spring Street, 13th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hamid will be grealy missed by everyone who cares about this city. He has been one of those too few at City Hall who want to know how things can get done as opposed to finding reasons why things can not be done.
Below is his announcement:
Born on Christmas Day of 1956 to a Muslim family in Iran, Hamid Behdad was raised to be different but understanding and respectful of others. Growing up in a middle-class family, he learned ambitions from his mother, integrity from his late father, and competitiveness from growing up with five brothers.
Working from the first semester of college in September of 1975, Hamid realized that for a son of a middle-class family of eight – where kids were limited to a couple pairs of shoes each New Year and new clothes as a reward for good grades in school –there is no magic way tosucceed except to work hard.
Life experiences from the Iranian monarchy of Shah, the religious regime of the Ayatollah, as well as the devastating era of the Iraq-Iran War, had influenced Hamid to seek a different life abroad. Leaving 29 years of fond memories from his home country, as well as his loving family,he decided to test his “motherly-taught” ambitions by seeking a new life in the “land of opportunity”, the United States of America.
As a testament to his competitive nature, his first ordeal came in the form of a 2-year long fight with the Islamic Regime for his passport, followed by a 42-day long mission to convince the American Embassy in Germany to grant him a student visa for entering the United States.
Landing in Seattle Airport in a rainy October day in 1985 with nothing more than two suitcases in hand, less than $5,000 cash, and not knowing one complete sentence of English, Hamid began his American adventure! The day after his arrival he immediately started studying English at Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington.
On June 2, 1986, Hamid flew to the City of Brookings, South Dakota to start his graduate studies at South Dakota State University (SDSU) – the only school willing to give him a “conditional” admission – where he would also earn a Master’s Degree with a 4.0 GPA in Engineering.
In spite of his relatively successful academic accomplishments, his intense job-hunting efforts proved to be fruitless. Having sent over 150 resumes and job-request packages to every known company in the U.S., Hamid struggled as he was not offered even one single interview. God, however, works in mysterious ways.
In 1988, Los Angeles County held campus interviews for recruiting engineering graduates at SDSU, where Hamid scored 97 (of 100) in the first interview of his life. Accordingly, Hamid was offered a position with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works in Alhambra, California.
Without any other viable options, Hamid made his way to California. In May 5, 1989, while packing everything he owned into a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (purchased for $620 in the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan), Hamid took his chances by driving for the first time in his life on US highways and freeways for a 2000-mile trip from South Dakota to Los Angeles, California.
Arriving in LA with $250 of debt on his Citibank credit card, Hamid started his new career by working as a Civil Engineer Assistant at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
In December of 1989, Hamid accepted an offer from the Department of Building and Safety in the City of Los Angeles to work in the field of structural engineering, a field he was passionate about. His passions would shift later after being selected to work in the Economic Development Offices of LA City Mayors Richard J. Riordan, followed by Mayor James K. Hahn, and most recently under the leadership of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa.
Hamid realized his passion was about being in the center of action, where he had the ability – and was given the opportunity – to make things happen. Over the last seven years, it was this passion, augmented by genuine hard work and motivation that provided Hamid with the ingredients necessary for making a difference in cultivating the implementation of the City’s Adaptive Reuse Program.
The program has since realized the completion of 4,252 loft units, and promises 4,100 units that are currently under construction, followed by an additional 3,200 units in the development pipeline. The program is responsible for an estimated $6 billion in stimulated economic investments and has been a tremendous boon for the City, as well as a personally gratifying experience for Hamid - the proclaimed Adaptive Reuse “Czar”.
Ladies and gentlemen, after an outstanding 17 years of working for the great City of
Los Angeles, it is time for me to move on. My years of service with the City have been perhaps the most fulfilling 17 years of my life, and now at the age of 50 I am still motivated – and like to assume that I have the ambitions - to continue my career in the private sector.
God willing, I will survive this one too - wish me luck, and thank you very much for your support throughout all these years.
Finally, and as a token of my appreciation to the great City of Angels - as well as the Adaptive Reuse Program that provided me with the opportunity to be the “Czar”
- I would like to offer my FREE consultation services to all of those who are currently in the process of developing an Adaptive Reuse project.
So long everybody.
Dear Recipients,
Attached, please see my FINAL announcement. Thank you.
Hamid Behdad, PE
Office of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
200 N Spring Street, 13th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hamid will be grealy missed by everyone who cares about this city. He has been one of those too few at City Hall who want to know how things can get done as opposed to finding reasons why things can not be done.
Below is his announcement:
Born on Christmas Day of 1956 to a Muslim family in Iran, Hamid Behdad was raised to be different but understanding and respectful of others. Growing up in a middle-class family, he learned ambitions from his mother, integrity from his late father, and competitiveness from growing up with five brothers.
Working from the first semester of college in September of 1975, Hamid realized that for a son of a middle-class family of eight – where kids were limited to a couple pairs of shoes each New Year and new clothes as a reward for good grades in school –there is no magic way tosucceed except to work hard.
Life experiences from the Iranian monarchy of Shah, the religious regime of the Ayatollah, as well as the devastating era of the Iraq-Iran War, had influenced Hamid to seek a different life abroad. Leaving 29 years of fond memories from his home country, as well as his loving family,he decided to test his “motherly-taught” ambitions by seeking a new life in the “land of opportunity”, the United States of America.
As a testament to his competitive nature, his first ordeal came in the form of a 2-year long fight with the Islamic Regime for his passport, followed by a 42-day long mission to convince the American Embassy in Germany to grant him a student visa for entering the United States.
Landing in Seattle Airport in a rainy October day in 1985 with nothing more than two suitcases in hand, less than $5,000 cash, and not knowing one complete sentence of English, Hamid began his American adventure! The day after his arrival he immediately started studying English at Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington.
On June 2, 1986, Hamid flew to the City of Brookings, South Dakota to start his graduate studies at South Dakota State University (SDSU) – the only school willing to give him a “conditional” admission – where he would also earn a Master’s Degree with a 4.0 GPA in Engineering.
In spite of his relatively successful academic accomplishments, his intense job-hunting efforts proved to be fruitless. Having sent over 150 resumes and job-request packages to every known company in the U.S., Hamid struggled as he was not offered even one single interview. God, however, works in mysterious ways.
In 1988, Los Angeles County held campus interviews for recruiting engineering graduates at SDSU, where Hamid scored 97 (of 100) in the first interview of his life. Accordingly, Hamid was offered a position with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works in Alhambra, California.
Without any other viable options, Hamid made his way to California. In May 5, 1989, while packing everything he owned into a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (purchased for $620 in the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan), Hamid took his chances by driving for the first time in his life on US highways and freeways for a 2000-mile trip from South Dakota to Los Angeles, California.
Arriving in LA with $250 of debt on his Citibank credit card, Hamid started his new career by working as a Civil Engineer Assistant at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
In December of 1989, Hamid accepted an offer from the Department of Building and Safety in the City of Los Angeles to work in the field of structural engineering, a field he was passionate about. His passions would shift later after being selected to work in the Economic Development Offices of LA City Mayors Richard J. Riordan, followed by Mayor James K. Hahn, and most recently under the leadership of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa.
Hamid realized his passion was about being in the center of action, where he had the ability – and was given the opportunity – to make things happen. Over the last seven years, it was this passion, augmented by genuine hard work and motivation that provided Hamid with the ingredients necessary for making a difference in cultivating the implementation of the City’s Adaptive Reuse Program.
The program has since realized the completion of 4,252 loft units, and promises 4,100 units that are currently under construction, followed by an additional 3,200 units in the development pipeline. The program is responsible for an estimated $6 billion in stimulated economic investments and has been a tremendous boon for the City, as well as a personally gratifying experience for Hamid - the proclaimed Adaptive Reuse “Czar”.
Ladies and gentlemen, after an outstanding 17 years of working for the great City of
Los Angeles, it is time for me to move on. My years of service with the City have been perhaps the most fulfilling 17 years of my life, and now at the age of 50 I am still motivated – and like to assume that I have the ambitions - to continue my career in the private sector.
God willing, I will survive this one too - wish me luck, and thank you very much for your support throughout all these years.
Finally, and as a token of my appreciation to the great City of Angels - as well as the Adaptive Reuse Program that provided me with the opportunity to be the “Czar”
- I would like to offer my FREE consultation services to all of those who are currently in the process of developing an Adaptive Reuse project.
So long everybody.
Tyler Green Interview With New Getty Chief!
Below are the three most intriguing questions and answers in Tyler Green's interview with new uber-Getty boss, Jim Wood aka James Wood aka James N. Wood:
MAN: One of the issues that the Getty has faced for years is that the Meier in Brentwood and the Villa are physically disconnected from Los Angeles. The Getty has never felt like a part of the fabric of the city. I know you don’t have any Los Angeles ties, but is this something you’ve thought about and is it something that you need to address?
JW: It’s certainly something I’ve thought about. Specific answers… No, that would be presumptuous. But one of the attractions of coming here in the abstract sense is that there’s no question that Los Angeles and New York, in 30 different ways in my opinion, are the two most dynamic incubators of contemporary art and the visual arts and how they deal with the rest of the country. Another tremendous plus in my mind is that the visual arts institutions in this city are led by an absolutely terrific group of people that I’ve known for a long time.
Look at the institutions here. One of the things that quite excites me is that you’ve got the whole spectrum, from the Hammer, to MOCA; from historic moments in time, to institutions that do it all. How the Getty fits in -- I haven’t got the answer yet, but the dialogue that is possible is one that the Getty can learn a lot from.
Hopefully, this means he will consider bringing the rapidly growing photography collection off the hill and down into the urban fabric of Los Angeles. And since the Getty signed a covenant prohibiting the addition of even one single square foot of new space up on the hill - assuming I recall this correctly - and someone please correct me if I am wrong - then the Getty really has no choice but to do this.
And with MOCA seriously needing a large new buidling to accommodate its permanent collection - possibly there can be some kind of partnership on this project.
MAN: In recent years, in the Munitz years really, the Museum’s pace of acquisitions has slowed. You’ve written a great deal (most recently in Whose Muse?) about how important it is for museums to actively collect. Do you want the Museum to return to its previous acquisitive ways?
JW: I’m not going to get too specific because I need to know more about the priorities of the different collecting areas. Collecting is absolutely essential to the metabolism of an institution like this. And that’s not just collecting art, but collecting collections, and to go beyond that to collecting people. You need to keep growing.
The whole question is to focus on what’s going to be the most intelligent way to use the means this institution has to make Los Angeles more cosmopolitan. One of the very appealing things about the Getty to me is that its’ collecting opportunities are really quite open. We were not left with an iron-clad restriction, so the opportunity is there to make the most of changing times -- both in terms of the legality of acquisitions and in the cost and the importance of different cultures for both Los Angeles and the nation. I think one wants to remain very flexible here.
Yea! More art!! Finally!!!
MAN: Given that Los Angeles is one of the two big producers of contemporary art in the United States and one of the four biggest producers in the world (to say nothing of LA’s other creative industries), what should the Getty Trust’s relationship to contemporary art be?
JW: Contemporary art, contemporary culture is the water we swim in. The Getty needs to be very sensitive to that. Does that automatically mean we start competing with these other institutions in town that are collecting contemporary so brilliantly? I would argue not at all. I would say that the icons from St. Catherine’s is the kind of thing that is essential to have happen in a metropolitan area where young artists are figuring out how to express their own culture. Show me any great artist and usually they will say, ‘Here are the moments in the past I used to, in effect, learn how to deal with the present.’ History doesn’t have to be revoked from the contemporary. To me it’s quite the opposite.
Great answer! And with only the Getty having the resources or inclination to collect in its current fields - let the buying begin!
And the rest of the interview can be found at the above link to MAN.
MAN: One of the issues that the Getty has faced for years is that the Meier in Brentwood and the Villa are physically disconnected from Los Angeles. The Getty has never felt like a part of the fabric of the city. I know you don’t have any Los Angeles ties, but is this something you’ve thought about and is it something that you need to address?
JW: It’s certainly something I’ve thought about. Specific answers… No, that would be presumptuous. But one of the attractions of coming here in the abstract sense is that there’s no question that Los Angeles and New York, in 30 different ways in my opinion, are the two most dynamic incubators of contemporary art and the visual arts and how they deal with the rest of the country. Another tremendous plus in my mind is that the visual arts institutions in this city are led by an absolutely terrific group of people that I’ve known for a long time.
Look at the institutions here. One of the things that quite excites me is that you’ve got the whole spectrum, from the Hammer, to MOCA; from historic moments in time, to institutions that do it all. How the Getty fits in -- I haven’t got the answer yet, but the dialogue that is possible is one that the Getty can learn a lot from.
Hopefully, this means he will consider bringing the rapidly growing photography collection off the hill and down into the urban fabric of Los Angeles. And since the Getty signed a covenant prohibiting the addition of even one single square foot of new space up on the hill - assuming I recall this correctly - and someone please correct me if I am wrong - then the Getty really has no choice but to do this.
And with MOCA seriously needing a large new buidling to accommodate its permanent collection - possibly there can be some kind of partnership on this project.
MAN: In recent years, in the Munitz years really, the Museum’s pace of acquisitions has slowed. You’ve written a great deal (most recently in Whose Muse?) about how important it is for museums to actively collect. Do you want the Museum to return to its previous acquisitive ways?
JW: I’m not going to get too specific because I need to know more about the priorities of the different collecting areas. Collecting is absolutely essential to the metabolism of an institution like this. And that’s not just collecting art, but collecting collections, and to go beyond that to collecting people. You need to keep growing.
The whole question is to focus on what’s going to be the most intelligent way to use the means this institution has to make Los Angeles more cosmopolitan. One of the very appealing things about the Getty to me is that its’ collecting opportunities are really quite open. We were not left with an iron-clad restriction, so the opportunity is there to make the most of changing times -- both in terms of the legality of acquisitions and in the cost and the importance of different cultures for both Los Angeles and the nation. I think one wants to remain very flexible here.
Yea! More art!! Finally!!!
MAN: Given that Los Angeles is one of the two big producers of contemporary art in the United States and one of the four biggest producers in the world (to say nothing of LA’s other creative industries), what should the Getty Trust’s relationship to contemporary art be?
JW: Contemporary art, contemporary culture is the water we swim in. The Getty needs to be very sensitive to that. Does that automatically mean we start competing with these other institutions in town that are collecting contemporary so brilliantly? I would argue not at all. I would say that the icons from St. Catherine’s is the kind of thing that is essential to have happen in a metropolitan area where young artists are figuring out how to express their own culture. Show me any great artist and usually they will say, ‘Here are the moments in the past I used to, in effect, learn how to deal with the present.’ History doesn’t have to be revoked from the contemporary. To me it’s quite the opposite.
Great answer! And with only the Getty having the resources or inclination to collect in its current fields - let the buying begin!
And the rest of the interview can be found at the above link to MAN.
Tyler Green Take On New Getty Trust Head - And The Recent Rash Of Art Star Imports To LA!
First, Tyler Green agrees that getting a great art person trumps having someone with LA ties for this position:
What we think: Wood is a first-class choice. I wrote back in February that it was important for the Getty to hire an art person to run the Trust, and Wood has strong art world credentials.
I also wrote that I hoped that the Getty would hire someone with Los Angeles ties. Wood has none. He sits on the boards of the Clark Art Institute, the IFA at NYU, HUAM, and the RISD museum. Oh well. There's no question it's more important that the Getty be run by an art guy.
In addition to the issues discussed here ad absurdem for several years, one of the Getty's biggest problems in recent years has been a brain drain, an exodus of top-notch talent. Expect Wood to be a stabilizing force. I think the staff would have loved anybody with an art background, but Wood's background should be especially appealing.
Second, he delves into the cornucopia of first rate art world talent that our city has attracted over the past few years:
Finally: The flow of Easterners heading to Los Angeles continues. New Yorkers Annie Philbin and Gary Garrels went to the Hammer. New Yorker Michael Govan runs LACMA. Michael Brand went from Virginia to the Getty Museum. And now Wood to the Getty Trust. (And who could forget: MOCA's Jeremy Strick is an ex-AICer. So with Wood at the Meier-on-the-hill, maybe we're one step closer to Michael Kimmelman's fantasy of the Getty buying-out MOCA, ha ha.)
What we think: Wood is a first-class choice. I wrote back in February that it was important for the Getty to hire an art person to run the Trust, and Wood has strong art world credentials.
I also wrote that I hoped that the Getty would hire someone with Los Angeles ties. Wood has none. He sits on the boards of the Clark Art Institute, the IFA at NYU, HUAM, and the RISD museum. Oh well. There's no question it's more important that the Getty be run by an art guy.
In addition to the issues discussed here ad absurdem for several years, one of the Getty's biggest problems in recent years has been a brain drain, an exodus of top-notch talent. Expect Wood to be a stabilizing force. I think the staff would have loved anybody with an art background, but Wood's background should be especially appealing.
Second, he delves into the cornucopia of first rate art world talent that our city has attracted over the past few years:
Finally: The flow of Easterners heading to Los Angeles continues. New Yorkers Annie Philbin and Gary Garrels went to the Hammer. New Yorker Michael Govan runs LACMA. Michael Brand went from Virginia to the Getty Museum. And now Wood to the Getty Trust. (And who could forget: MOCA's Jeremy Strick is an ex-AICer. So with Wood at the Meier-on-the-hill, maybe we're one step closer to Michael Kimmelman's fantasy of the Getty buying-out MOCA, ha ha.)
LAOBSERVED Has Getty Press Release On New Head Of Getty Trust - James Wood!
JAMES N. WOOD, FORMER DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, NAMED PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE J. PAUL GETTY TRUST
LOS ANGELES-The Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust announced today that James N. Wood, an internationally recognized arts leader, has been named to serve as president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Mr. Wood, who served as director and president of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1980-2004, will take up his position in February after he relocates to Los Angeles from Rhode Island.
The rest of the release is at the above link.
LOS ANGELES-The Board of Trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust announced today that James N. Wood, an internationally recognized arts leader, has been named to serve as president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Mr. Wood, who served as director and president of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1980-2004, will take up his position in February after he relocates to Los Angeles from Rhode Island.
The rest of the release is at the above link.
Genuine Art Star Slated To Run Getty Trust!
The Chicago'ification of LA continues- but in a good way - with the Getty Trust landing one of the most brilliant and knowledgeable and effective scholars and administrators in the art world. And even while excellent Michael Brand runs the two Getty Museums technically, what resources the museums get is dependent upon what the Trust allocates to it, and that is why it was so critical that a hard core art person runs the Trust.
Christmas has come early to the LA art world.
James N. Wood named Getty Trust president
By Christopher Reynolds
Times Staff Writer
10:42 AM PST, December 4, 2006
James N. Wood, a 65-year-old art historian and former president of the Art Institute of Chicago, will take over the presidency of the Getty Trust, Getty officials announced today.
He'll start in February.
The Getty, the wealthiest arts organization in the world with an endowment of more than $5 billion, includes two museum sites — one a modern campus on a Brentwood hilltop, the other a re-created villa at the edge of Malibu — along with research and conservation institutes and a grant-making foundation.
And...
Wood succeeds interim president Deborah Marrow, a veteran Getty administrator who took the post in February after the abrupt resignation under fire of Barry Munitz. Munitz, former head of the California State University system, led the Getty for seven years but was forced out amid the attorney general's probe of his free spending and other irregularities.
And...
Wood, educated at Williams College in Massachusetts, began his career with a series of academic and museum positions, including a post at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He took over as director of the St. Louis Art Museum in 1975, then moved on to serve as president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1980 to 2003.
His specialty is European painting and sculpture from the 16th to 20th centuries, along with American painting and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Wood "was at the top of my personal list" of best candidates, said Jeremy Strick, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. "He's a brilliant choice. This is someone who's spent his career in art museums, leading one of the greatest institutions in the country, and indeed the world."
Strick, who worked for Wood as a curator at the Art Institute from 1996 to 1999, called Wood "deeply reflective and at times quiet — but decisive." He noted that the Art Institute's president oversees not only a museum but an art school, a many-sided job description with some similarity to the Getty Trust presidency. Strick also noted that Wood played a key role in the Chicago institute's increased emphasis on contemporary art in recent years.
Getty officials said Marrow would return to her former job as director of the Getty Foundation when Wood arrives.
Christmas has come early to the LA art world.
James N. Wood named Getty Trust president
By Christopher Reynolds
Times Staff Writer
10:42 AM PST, December 4, 2006
James N. Wood, a 65-year-old art historian and former president of the Art Institute of Chicago, will take over the presidency of the Getty Trust, Getty officials announced today.
He'll start in February.
The Getty, the wealthiest arts organization in the world with an endowment of more than $5 billion, includes two museum sites — one a modern campus on a Brentwood hilltop, the other a re-created villa at the edge of Malibu — along with research and conservation institutes and a grant-making foundation.
And...
Wood succeeds interim president Deborah Marrow, a veteran Getty administrator who took the post in February after the abrupt resignation under fire of Barry Munitz. Munitz, former head of the California State University system, led the Getty for seven years but was forced out amid the attorney general's probe of his free spending and other irregularities.
And...
Wood, educated at Williams College in Massachusetts, began his career with a series of academic and museum positions, including a post at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He took over as director of the St. Louis Art Museum in 1975, then moved on to serve as president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1980 to 2003.
His specialty is European painting and sculpture from the 16th to 20th centuries, along with American painting and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Wood "was at the top of my personal list" of best candidates, said Jeremy Strick, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. "He's a brilliant choice. This is someone who's spent his career in art museums, leading one of the greatest institutions in the country, and indeed the world."
Strick, who worked for Wood as a curator at the Art Institute from 1996 to 1999, called Wood "deeply reflective and at times quiet — but decisive." He noted that the Art Institute's president oversees not only a museum but an art school, a many-sided job description with some similarity to the Getty Trust presidency. Strick also noted that Wood played a key role in the Chicago institute's increased emphasis on contemporary art in recent years.
Getty officials said Marrow would return to her former job as director of the Getty Foundation when Wood arrives.
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