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 The bill to repair and restore the space-age Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport continues to grow. On Monday, the Board of Airport Commissioners approved a $9.3 million contract to apply a new stucco skin to the structure's steel legs. The most recent expenditure means LAX will have spent about $15 million on repairs since chunks of the original plaster exterior began to fall from the building, which houses a restaurant and lounge, reports the Daily Breeze.
One commissioner questioned spending so much money on a building "that does not have much of a function." But another defended the Theme Building for providing LAX something it sorely lacks: "We have kind of a boring-looking airport," said Airport Commissioner Valeria Velasco. "The Theme Building gives us some character."
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
 With all the will-it-or-won't-it uncertainty about the Grand Avenue project this week, we thought we’d check in on the health of downtown’s other mega-project, the $2.5-billion L.A. Live. A quick recap from our own downtown devotee, Cara Mia DiMassa:
The Anschutz Entertainment Group is building the project across the street from Staples Center, which it also owns. Though the Nokia Theatre has already opened, most of the rest of the project is still under construction.
Michael Roth, a spokesman for AEG, said it will be handing ESPN the keys to its West Coast broadcast headquarters, “any day now.” But don’t look for “Cold Pizza” or any other ESPN show to be broadcasting from there soon. It'll take months for the broadcaster to ready the studio — most likely until next spring, Roth said.
The Conga Room, Lucky Strikes Bowling Alley and restaurants, including Katsuya and The Farm of Beverly Hills, are on track to open by December of this year -- in some cases, before that. And the 32,000 square foot Grammy Museum announced just this week that it will celebrate its grand opening Dec. 3-7 with several events.
A third phase, with a JW Marriott Hotel, a Ritz Carlton hotel and luxury condos, as well as a Regal Cinema, has begun construction and is scheduled to open by early 2010.
With the Lakers down but not out, the folks at AEG have been busily promoting the Ritz Carlton residences — luxury lofts that will feature a 24-hour concierge service, among other things. They’ve even been holding pre-game parties for some ticket-holders.
But will they learn how to spell “hors d’oeuvres” properly?
A bit of spelling -- and cooking -- help here.
--Veronique de Turenne
Love the Cinerama Dome? How about the gorgeous movie palace that is the El Capitan Theatre? They're still standing thanks in large part to Robert Nudelman, the impassioned preservationist who died on Tuesday. Valerie J. Nelson writes about Nudelman's life:
"There probably isn't a single historic building or development project
in Hollywood that Mr. Nudelman didn't have a part in," Offenhauser said
in a statement.
Nudelman began his activism in 1978 by fighting to save MGM's old
Lot 2 in Culver City, a 10-acre site that included sets from the films
"Gone With the Wind" and "King Kong."
The effort failed but Nudelman dedicated the rest of his life to the
preservation of Hollywood history and landmarks -- with mixed success.
In 1990, he helped persuade Disney to spend $6 million to restore
the El Capitan to its original splendor. A hard-fought attempt to
prevent the Hollywood Bowl's acoustic shell from being demolished was
lost; a new shell debuted in 2004.
As recently as last month, Nudelman, who was president of the Hollywood Heritage Museum, was fighting against "supergraphics", enormous advertisements in the outsides of buildings. (LA Independent)
You can read the rest of the Times' Nudelman obituary here. And here's a mention in City Councilman Eric Garcetti's blog,
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Los Angeles Times
 A thinner blue line, thanks to the LAPD dietician. Daily Breeze
Did the OC Reg fire a columnist on her honeymoon? Asked and answered at Fishbowl LA.
First impressions of Americana at Grand. Franklin Avenue
Santa Monica High wins the Science Bowl. LADN
Interested in education? We've got it all in The Homeroom.
Pay hikes possible for Long beach firefighters. Long Beach P-T
Going to high school -- online. SGV Trib
That photo? It's Cam Correa and his girlfriend, Margaret Stewart, dancing at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in downtown L.A. last night.
An injured surfer girl surfs again. OC Reg
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times
 The forbidden coffee: kopi luwak. Deep End Dining
A $25-million gift to USC by the Dauterive family. The Sentinel
A Woodland Hills parish donates $1.5 million to help church pay for sex abuse cases. LADN
Video of the fire at Basques, the restaurant and nightclub at Hollywood and Vine that burned today. LAT
Wolves, puppies and a shark attack, at our animal blog, Unleashed. 
Another reason not to travel downtown: Valley awaits its $125-million performing arts center in Northridge. Daily News
San Jacinto fire burns 700 acres. Desert Sun
Can I interest you in a John Wayne coffee table? OC Register
-- Veronique de Turenne & Jesus Sanchez
Wooden pallets acted like kindling as a fire raged in a South L.A. industrial complex. Francisco Vara-Orta has all the details. Meanwhile, the Sierra Madre fire still burns.
Lakers sweep. Bill Plaschke recaps.
A four-year delay faces the grand Grand Avenue development project slated for downtown. The double whammy of the credit crunch and the soft (that's putting it politely) real estate market have pushed the projected finish date to 2012. The first phase was supposed to be finished next year. So what'll happen now? Cara Mia DiMassa has the full story.
Another milestone pegged to 2012: a third of the state's voters will be immigrants. Teresa Watanabe runs the numbers.
Autopsy confirms the San Diego swimmer was killed by a great white shark. AP via LAT.
Two more molestation charges against that assistant principal who was transfered to Markham Middle School, despite accusations of sexual misconduct at his previous assignment. Richard Winton and Molly Hennessy-Fiske have the update.
The trial for the man who caused the worst crash in Metrolink history opened with statements he was faking a suicide to win back his wife's love. He's fine, but 11 people died. Ann M. Simmons tells what happened in court.
You mean things aren't tough enough for bookstores? Scammers posing as authors are trying (and sometimes managing) to squeeze some cash from the businesses. Scott Timberg has details.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photos: Los Angeles Times
 From offices near Venice Beach, Frank Gehry has designed some of the world's most eye-catching and acclaimed buildings, from Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles to the Guggenheim museum in Spain. But not even Gehry's world renown and design savvy are enough to insulate his firm from the slumping economy. This week, the L.A. architecture community was buzzing about rumored layoffs at Gehry Partners and the prospect of job cuts at other firms across the region.
One Gehry architect told LA Now today that 23 workers were laid off in the firm's Venice office in response to the delay in the giant Atlantic Yards project in New York and the slowing economy. On Thursday, Curbed LA reported a rumor that 80 people had lost their jobs. Gehry's firm, for its part, is not talking, failing to respond to several e-mails and phone calls today.
What's for sure is that architects, along with real estate developers and builders, are seeing business drop off steeply, with no end in sight. Says Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne: "I think it's likely certain big firms around town will have to take similar action; even foreign investors flush with capital, which have been keeping a few high-stakes projects here from collapsing, are starting to look wary of investing in the U.S. All the same, Gehry's is a special case: The sheer scale of the firm's Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn -- not to mention Grand Avenue, Abu Dhabi and other mega-commissions around the world -- meant it had to expand over the last few years to an unprecedented degree. Staffing levels there really had nowhere to go but down."
-- Jesus Sanchez
A reader shares a photo of Disney Hall at night, the silvery skin turned gold, car lights strung out like sheet music, bass and treble clefs, all counterpoint and jazzy harmony.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: oasis / Your Scene
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Veronique de Turenne
Veronique de Turenne is a journalist, essayist, book critic and blogger, and has been a staff writer at virtually every newspaper in Southern California. One of the highlights of her career was interviewing Vin Scully in his broadcast booth at Dodger Stadium, then receiving a handwritten thank you note from him a week later. She lives in Malibu.
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The bill to repair and restore the space-age Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport continues to grow. On Monday, the Board of Airport Commissioners approved a $9.3 million contract to apply a new stucco skin to the structure's steel legs. The most recent expenditure means LAX will have spent about $15 million on repairs since chunks of the original plaster exterior began to fall from the building, which houses a restaurant and lounge, reports the Daily Breeze. 
