What to do on THE DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES ART WALK Tonight - Thursday March 14, 2013

First check out Ed Fuentes monthly Art Walk preview over at KCET of 12 of the best gallery shows not to be missed tonight.  But -  be warned -  one of the highlights - Chris Oately at the CB1 Gallery will be closing at 6 PM tonight.

So get down here early enough to see that show and then head next door to THE LAST BOOKSTORE - which like CB1-  is also at 5th & Spring in the Spring Arts Tower. 

And you can read here a recent LA Times article about the Last Bookstore's new mezzanine level - the LABYRINTH - where every books sells for just... one dollar (and I will be there most of the evening giving tours of the space. But if you can't find me - just give me a call - 213-804-8396) - and where you can also buy art work directly from a half-dozen artist in their studios.

And for everything else related to ART WALK - visit the the official website.

LA2050 Study Suggests Los Angeles Will Have Zero Businesses by 2050!

Carren Jao over at KCET's Departures has a story about the $1 Million Grant - to be split ten ways by local organizations - to plan for a better Los Angeles by 2050.  Now I've seen several mentions of this very worthwhile sounding project by the Goldhirsh Foundation but this is the first time I've had the chance to check out all the details.  And with LA's two top  needs being more and better jobs and a growing tax base to pay for everything else LA needs, when I saw the deadline for applications was coming up, I realized I'd better submit an application and downloaded the report to see what category I could apply under

But after reading the entire 72 page report on LA's future, I made the surprising discovery that by the year 2050 - Los Angeles will no longer have - or evidently even need - a business community.

Yes, according to this report, despite the fact that...someone...  is going to have to pay for all the great projects that will undoubtedly be proposed, and even though there is a section is about the need for more and better paying jobs -  there is no section  - or even mention - about the need for economic development or business development - or even a section on the existence of business.  There are also zero statistics or metrics measuring the business climate in Los Angeles or measuring the status of business in Los Angeles.   The only statistics are about incomes - and how low they are in LA - while the businesses that could create better paying jobs - are totally ignored.

 Now I would love to propose a project - and work with other people on - rebuilding LA's business infrastructure - but the the problem is that even the mere existence of businesses in the Los Angeles of 2050 is ignored to the point that 'business' is not even a topic - even though  the end benefits of business, jobs and incomes, are topics.

Then when I did a search of the entire 72 page study - other than when it was used as part of a person's job title - the word 'business was only used twice - and both times in conjunction with the Delta  Water Project, and not even... once... in connection with LA's present or future  - while the word businesses - was not even mentioned once.

Evidently - by 2050 - Los Angeles is projected to have finally reached its goal of being a 100% business-free zone.

Unfortunately, the complete exclusion of even mentioning the existence of a business community in Los Angeles from an entire report on the Los Angeles of 2050, despite the fact  that business creates all the jobs that pay all the taxes for all the public sector and non-profit jobs - is a clear demonstration of why Los Angeles continues to lose businesses and jobs and why there is not the money to solve the other problems that also need to be addressed.  Because the people who pay the bills  for the rest of us are leaving.

And again - this is a subject I would love to work on - but... it's clear no one else does.

Sunny and 70's for This Weekend's - Saturday March 16th & Sunday March 17th - Two Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

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

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

 I am continuing the  HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours this Saturday and Sunday March 16th and 17th at 11 AM -  plus there will also be tours on other upcoming weekends.  And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring and they are still only $15 per person.

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

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

BRADBURY BUILDING

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

Wyatt Earp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Downtown LA High Rise Leaves Financial District for Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

Mark Lacter, over at LA OBSERVED, yesterday observed - without comment - that the Los Angeles Business Journal is reporting the office tower at 601 S. Figueroa has just moved itself from the Financial District to the Historic Core (aka - Historic Downtown Los Angeles) neighborhood. Blair Besten, head of the Historic Downtown Los Angeles BID, has not yet returned a phone call on how the HDLA BID managed to pull off this stunning historic event.

The loss of the large occupant is another setback for MPG, which has seen a number of its tenants move out or downsize as it struggles with $1.9 billion in debt and the possible sale of its portfolio. The move is a blow to the Bunker Hill neighborhood, too, coming on the heels of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's announcement that it would move its 135,000-square-foot requirement to the Historic Core's 601 Figueroa St. from Bunker Hill's 350 S. Grand.

Another blow for L.A.'s Bunker Hill

www.laobserved.com

Accounting giant KPMG will move out of its Grand Street offices later this year, choosing instead a Hope Street location that's closer to L.A. Live. Other professional firms are doing the same.

Did Christoper Knight Just Torpedo LACMA's Takeover MOCA in Today's LA Times?

LACMA's proposed takeover of MOCA has just crashed into a major roadblock. Christopher Knight of the LA Times just put up a piece suggesting - if not outright stating - that MOCA losing its independence for a paltry - and yet to be raised $100 million dollars (which would be shared between the two museums, according to the offer) was not just a bargain, but far too cheap a price for MOCA to even consider for the loss of its curatorial independence.

With Knight having long been seen by some as the leading proponent of anyone but Eli camp, this clearly contradicts those assumptions. Even more importantly, Knight goes out of his way to dismiss the rumors that Broad has any designs on adding MOCA's collection to his own while he also, in dramatic contrast to what has been written in the New York Times, makes it clear this is a merger that will be exceptionally hard for LACMA to achieve.

These two astute observations would seem to clear the path for USC - about which Knight also expresses reservations - to consummate its negotiations. But it also makes it far easier for another white knight - particularly a local institution that does not collect contemporary art and which would allow MOCA to have an independent curatorial program and allow LA to continue to have two major collecting institutions promoting contemporary art - to make a dramatic last minute appearance, with or without the assistance of USC.

Possibly even an institution that might bring the world's greatest photography collection to an adjacent site on Bunker Hill (an addition that would make Grand Avenue the undisputed center of the contemporary art world) that could - one day - include the site for the long dreamed of building to house a permanent display of MOCA's permanent collection. A merger or relationship - that would not only preserve the collection intact (rather than splitting it with another collection)and its curatorial independence , but even make its collections far stronger.

So even if MOCA and Eli have not already been talking with the Getty (which I doubt), I can't imagine that discussion not now happening.

Now Some Crazy California Politician Wants To Tax Our Emails!

My God - isn't there anything left in the once great state of California that moves - or doesn't move - that some crazy politician isn't trying to tax?  

LA TIMES Says LACMA Offers to Buy MOCA! Will Eli Broad - or - the Getty Ride to the Rescue?

Jori Frankell of the Los Angeles Times reports that Los Angeles County Museum of Art has made an offer to acquire the Museum of Contemporary Art in response to an request from members of the MOCA Board with the implication that it came from MOCA co-cjhairs 

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has made a formal proposal to acquire the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which has been struggling with financial troubles and staff and board defections.
LACMA Director Michael Govan and the two co-chairs of his board made the offer in a Feb. 24 letter to the MOCA board co-chairs, laying out the rationale for an acquisition.
The letter said that LACMA would preserve MOCA’s two downtown locations and operate them under the MOCA name, according to people who have seen the letter but were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Now the article seems to imply that the MOCA co-chairs made the request, but it does not state that.

For its part, LACMA would agree to raise $100 million for the combined museums as a condition for completing the deal, these people said.
Govan declined to discuss any specific terms of the proposal but characterized it as "friendly and cooperative," saying that it came in response to a request from MOCA board members.
"Yes, MOCA leadership initiated a request for a proposal. But, back and forth, people have been talking for years, so it’s a blurry line."

Which  leadership?  Is that  MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch?  The two board co-chairs?  Or??  And what does Eli Broad think - or know about all this?  This is the article's only mention of Broad.

(LACMA had proposed a merger in 2008, before the museum's $30-million bailout by billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad.)

Hit the link at the top of my post to see the rest of the article.  But, right now there are very few facts - and lots of unanswered questions - including one mentioned at the very end.

MOCA leaders, who have also been involved in discussions with the University of Southern California about a possible partnership, were unavailable for immediate comment.

Sunny (no more showers) and 60's for This Weekend's - Saturday March 9th & Sunday March 10th - Two Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Los Angeles!

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

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

 I am continuing the  HISTORIC DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES 101  2 hour walking tours this Saturday and Sunday March 9th and 10th at 11 AM -  plus there will also be tours next Saturday and Sunday, March 16th and 17th, also from 11 AM  to 1 PM and on the two weekends after that, too.  And all tours start at THE LAST BOOKSTORE in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring and they are still only $15 per person.

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

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

BRADBURY BUILDING

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

Wyatt Earp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Los Angeles Voters Say No to Prop A!

Prop A, the proposed sales tax increase for Los Angeles (which was grossly mislabeled as a public safety measure to con voters into approving it), lost by over 10 points in preliminary final results released late last night.

This saved the people of Los Angeles from not just having the highest income tax rate in the country (a distinction we share with everyone else in California) - but from also paying the highest sales tax rate of any major city in the country - joining that paragon of civic virtue - Chicago.

The stunning landslide loss occurred despite over a million dollars being spent by special interest groups to convince the voters that life as we know it would cease to exist unless we passed it  - and it happened just 3 days after a USC Price /LA Times poll showed Prop A winning by a huge 13 point margin (53.4 to 40.6) .  Now that poll did have a stated margin of error - 4.4 points,  but the true error turned out to be just a little bit higher.... about 23 points higher.

So why the huge loss?  Well, not only did the LA Times and the Daily News strongly recommend a no vote, but so did all five major candidates running for Mayor.

And then there was the massive opposition campaign - which was essentially one man - Jack Humpreville, a  neighborhood council oriented news blog run by Ken Draper - CityWatch and Jack's facebook page.

Every Major Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles Says - VOTE NO on Prop A Today! No to Higher Sales Taxes!

All five leading candidates running for Mayor of Los Angeles - and the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News - agree that anyone who cares about the City of Los Angeles - needs to vote NO on Prop A and its PERMANENT increase in the Los Angeles City sales tax rate.

However, no one has run a campaign against Prop A since it was thought to be behind in the polls. But - due to a highly misleading campaign -  funded by millions of dollars from the special interest groups that will benefit from this tax - the latest poll shows Prop A will likely pass today and that the residents of Los Angeles will then pay both the highest income tax rate and the  highest sales tax rate of any major city in the entire country.

And those high taxes are one reason Los Angeles has the highest unemployment rate of any major city in the country.

So join our next Mayor - who will be Wendy Greuel, Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry, Kevin James, or  Emanuel Pleitez - and the LA Times and the Daily News - and Vote NO om Prop A when you cast your vote for our new Mayor today.

And if you agree with them - please re-post this today!

Let's Make Los Angeles the Number One City in the Country - in Taxes!

Yes, with the help of the voters of Los Angeles,  Los Angeles is about to be the Number One City in America - in taxes!  Los Angeles residents already have the honor to pay the highest income tax rate in the country (as does everyone in California) and if the City of Los Angeles sale tax increase  passes Tuesday – as the LAT TIMES poll says it will due to misleading advertising  – we can also proudly claim we are also pay the highest sales tax rate of any major city!

So while the lucky citizens of Chicago also get to  pay that  rate (and two towns in… Alabama pay a bit more), Illinois and Alabama have lower income taxes -  so LA  will beats Chicago!  We will be the ONLY major city with the highest  income and the highest sales taxes ! 

And that’s not all we can be number one at!

Even though California is still lagging behind with only the country's second highest unemployment rate (but just by one-tenth of  one point!)  – the LA Metropolitan area has the highest unemployment rate of any of the largest MSA's – and the City of Los Angeles  has a far higher unemployment rate than the rest of our area!  The City of Los Angeles also has a higher unemployment rate than any other really big city   - higher than  Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland!  And, with a little more hard work,  we can be even higher than Detroit!

So let's make LA Number One in everything!!  Taxes AND unemployment!   Vote yes on higher sales taxes this Tuesday!  After all – the job you drive out of LA – could be your own!

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER! 

ALAS - I have to disclose that both the LA Times and the Daily News - for once - agree - and say to vote NO. And the five leading candidates for Mayor - Wendy Greuel, Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry, Kevin James and Emanuel Pleitez - one of whom will be the next Mayor of Los Angeles - also all agree - and say to vote NO to higher sales taxes on Tuesday.  

Los Angeles Times Covers How THE LAST BOOKSTORE Is Building a Community in Downtown Los Angeles

The LAT's website has the Sunday Book section's story by Deborah Vankin up on the latest additions to the ever expanding THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 5th and Spring in the Spring Arts Tower.  And you see a vaguely familiar cowboy lurking in the shadows of one of the photos of the slideshow.  Below are just the opening paragraphs of the story:

Jacket Copy

BOOKS, AUTHORS AND ALL THINGS BOOKISH

Community gathers at the Last Bookstore

Not only is the venue surviving in downtown L.A., it has expanded. Neighboring artists help transform an upstairs space into the Labyrinth.

• 
• Comments

  1

• Email

  Share 121

• previous
 
• 1
 
• 2
 
• |   single page

The first incarnation of the Last Bookstore opened on Christmas 2009 in a small space on 4th and Main streets; it's now the restaurant Baco Mercat.

What propelled Spencer to expand the store to its current location when the rest of the book publishing industry was seemingly imploding?

"I'm no businessman," Spencer says with a laugh. "I think in terms of story."

The narrative in his head was rich. Spencer spent nights in the empty would-be bookstore, staring at its 25-foot-high ceiling and mosaic tile floor, imagining what he might build there.

"I'd sit for hours and feel the room. The pillars, the space, it made me think of Indiana Jones as a professor, a 1920s university lecture hall," he says. "Also, the movies 'Hellboy,' 'The Rocketeer,' 'Dark City' — that inspired the steampunk, neo-Victorian palette."

In an ironic twist, Spencer was able to buy inexpensive shelving, books and other fixtures from local Borders bookstores when the chain shut down.

And click here to read the rest of the story.