The financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art announced Friday afternoon that the California attorney general's office was looking into its finances. A museum spokeswoman released this statement:
MOCA has received a letter from the California Attorney General's office. The California Attorney General has broad jurisdiction and oversight over California non-profits, including MOCA. The letter requested information and documents related to the Museum's finances. MOCA is fully cooperating with the Attorney General.
Scott Gerber, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, would not confirm that the office had sent the letter and would offer no comment on the matter.
Arthur Rieman, managing attorney of the Law Firm for Non-Profits in Studio City, said Friday that it was standard procedure for the attorney general's office to launch a preliminary inquiry in reaction to news reports of possible misuse or inappropriate diversion of charitable assets.
"This probably is normal -- it doesn't mean anything other than that they have been made aware that there may have been a diversion of assets," Rieman said of the attorney general's staff.
"I'd like to make a proposal to the MOCA board and to the civic angels of Los Angeles. I'll step up if you do too. The Broad Art Foundation is prepared to make a significant investment in MOCA -- $30 million -- with the expectation that the museum's board and others join in this effort to solve the institution's financial problems. It is vital that the museum remain on Grand Avenue, keep its collection and continue its grand tradition of world-class exhibitions.
At a time when bookstores such as Acres of Books and Dutton's are closing, Echo Park is getting an independent bookstore and cafe in the same location. Jessica Gelt reports on Stories:
Stories is co-owned by Echo booker Liz Garo who dished about the cafe's culinary plans via e-mail, (noting that Mike Demilo, sous chef for Cafe Stella and Canele, is the menu consultant). In the beginning, the cafe, which is located in the back of the bookstore in what was formerly Sea Level records, will just serve baked goods and coffee. The organic coffee is from Raven's Brew in Washington and the pastries (brownies, blondies, cookies and peanut butter-filled cupcakes) are from Sweeties. All bread, croissants and danishes will come from Breadbar, and the bagels from Brooklyn Bagels. When the menu is unveiled it will be very simple, says Garo, "Salads, sandwiches, soups and easy 'hand-to-mouth' plates including a hummus, feta cheese, roasted pepper platter; also cheese, salami and grapes; and another [platter] with crostinis, tomato, mozzarella and basil."
Once a year, the Sons of Norway, Norrona Lodge No. 50 in Van Nuys, put on their "world famous" community dinner.
Over the course of two days last weekend, they presented an all-you-can-eat buffet, including Norwegian meatballs made with veal, pork and beef; lefse, which is like a buttery tortilla made from potatoes; and trimmings such as carrots, peas and a traditional cream sauce. Desserts included specialties such as krumkake, which is a thin, sweetened batter baked until golden brown and draped into the shape of a cone, and rosette, which is deep fried and then sugared.
And then there is lutefisk. We'll let Gerald Rowe, vice president of the lodge, describe that:
"It's a boiled fish," he said.
It's also an acquired taste, and no traditional holiday dinner would be complete without it. (When asked whether he liked lutefisk, Rowe answered diplomatically: "Some people eat a lot of lutefisk and some people won’t touch it. I just like to sample it for traditional reasons. I like the meatballs.")
Remember the theft of the landmark gold miner sculpture in Carthay Circle? Well, the guy who took the statue was sentenced today to more than a year in jail. Here's everything you ever wanted to know about the statue from our friends at the Daily Mirror blog. City News Service has the story on today's court action:
A man was sentenced today to 16 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $31,700 for stealing outdoor sculptures, including a 7-foot bronze statue of a gold miner taken from its longtime home in the Carthay Circle community of Los Angeles.
Sebastian Solis Espana, 22, of Los Angeles was one of two men who pleaded no contest June 12 to grand-theft charges stemming from the string of thefts in the Wilshire and Beverly Hills areas. His codefendant, Jessie Guzman Hernandez, 24, also of Los Angeles, was previously sentenced to 16 months in state prison, and today was also ordered to pay restitution of $31,700.
The two were arrested Feb. 14 by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Commercial Crimes Division after the life-size, 512-pound bronze statue of a miner panning for gold, valued at $125,000, was recovered in two pieces from a local scrap yard, which had paid them about $900, authorities said.
To the outside world, Watts is many things: code, a euphemism, a one-word cautionary tale. "It's a place that everybody thinks they know about but are afraid to go to," says artist Edgar Arceneaux. "And this project offers a chance for people to come together and build something collectively." Arceneaux is reffering to his Watts House Project, an artist-driven urban revitalization project centered around the historic Watts Towers, the Watts Art Center, and a strip of property on 107th Street.
Read more by Times Staff Writer Lynell George here.
There's still plenty of time get your house ready for Halloween and, if you're in need of inspiration, we've got a photo gallery filled with plenty of spirited ideas.
Wait long enough and what's old is not just new again, it's hip. Such is the case with tiki, that oddly Americanized vision of South Seas culture once viewed through a Woolworth's lens. Gone is the kitsch and in its place comes, well, a touch of class. Our own Adam Tschorn, who dubs it tiki 2.0, has the story.
We should have seen this coming after "13 Going on 30" made it somehow cool yet wildly uncool to do the monster mash, Michael Jackson-style. Anyway, this Saturday there will be (ahem) normal people just like you in 96 cities across 13 countries doing a synchronized public celebration of the 25th anniversary of M.J.'s "Thriller."
Here in L.A., the "Thrill the World" dance will be at the Hollywood and Highland courtyard, which assures that anyone who dares to participate will be photographed by thousands of tourists, many from strange foreign lands such as Malaysia and Wisconsin.
With the stakes so high, there's a rehearsal today at 5 p.m. at Pan Pacific Park in West Hollywood. Or you could re-learn the dance right there at your office desk by standing up and following along to this step-by-step video. Heh. Double-dog-dare you...
The assertion by school officials that they didn't know of the bullying at Vasquez High School in Acton has struck a hollow note with many Times readers in the wake of the suicide of 14-year-old student Jeremiah Lasater earlier this week.
“It disgusts me to hear this principle of the school in an off handed way say she cannot fix what she is unaware of, not the point,” writes Kristen Lanter. “This is tragic, a tragic life that deserves compassion, not some lame excuse. It’s not about blame but have some flipping compassion!
Nat Trigoboff, of Coral Springs, Fla., says it is the job of teachers and administrators to know when and where bullying takes place and to punish those who do it.
“The attitude expressed of it wasn't reported so didn't know about it so don't blame me is a reaction of someone who does not want to take responsibility,” he writes.
“I was a dean of students at Andrew Jackson High School in the Cambria Heights section of the borough of Queens in New York City. At this school there were seven deans, eleven security guards, two teachers who supervised the security guards, and two police officers assigned to the school. My policy for bullying was simple, I did not tolerate it and made judgments as to who was bullying and who was the victim.”
The responsibility of parents doesn't end with standing up for the victims, according to Mary Taylor, who writes for BingNote.Com as "The Schoolmarm.
“We can not allow our children to participate in bullying, or to stand idly by,” she writes. “Can't we instill in our kids that there is value to every human being? We can't leave it all up to the school. It starts at home. I repeat, it starts at home!”
Taylor offers suggestions to concerned parents: “Attend PTA meetings and other school organizations. Ask the administrators what the policy of the school is regarding teasing and bullying. If they say they have zero tolerance for bullying, ask them what that means and if it is working. Ask what intervention is provided for at-risk kids.
“For Jeremiah Lasater, it is too late," she writes. "But I guarantee you, there are many other "uncool" kids, boys and girls, who cried themselves to sleep last night, dreading to go to school today.”
More information on the causes of bullying and what school
communities can do about it right here.
Clearly the mindset is a little different in Newport Beach. Consider this crime caper: Vonda Simon forgot to lock her Bentley before going on a trip to Paris. Inside was $500,000 work of jewelry. I think we know what happened next (as told by the Orange County Register's Andrew Galvin):
Still, Simon -– a cosmetics entrepreneur who says she worked for 20 years to buy the diamonds rings, necklaces, watches and earrings –- feels "violated, raped, sick" that someone stole a small safe containing the items, which she had left behind in the passenger seat of her Bentley. The car was parked in the garage of her home in a gated Newport Beach community, but the garage door was left open the night of the theft. Simon, 47, and her husband, Scott, 48, estimate the jewelry, including her six-carat-diamond engagement ring and dozens of other pieces, is worth more than $500,000.
On the other side of the spectrum, a Newport Beach councilman is in hot water because his house might not be nice enough.
More than a few Newport Beach residents say Councilman Steve Rosansky needs to clean up his act. And by "act," they mean his house. The vacant property, purchased by Rosansky more than four years ago, sits in the Newport Shores neighborhood. Locals have long been miffed by the dwelling's battered stucco, peeling paint and occasionally knee-high weeds. In one oft-told anecdote, an opossum died inside and attracted rats.
The people living in this corner of Lincoln Heights thought the road that goes to their homes is public. One of their neighbors has a different idea and has put up a gate to block access. Who's right and who's wrong and when will the gate come down? Our own Bob Pool has the story:
Maria Freyre could not believe her eyes last week when she pulled onto the Lincoln Heights street where she has lived for 45 years.
A neighbor had erected a steel gate across Forest Park Drive, blocking 18 residents' access to their homes.
A simmering neighborhood dispute had prompted Gardner Compton's barricade. Forest Park Drive crosses private property, Compton said -- his. He was willing to let his neighbors walk on foot along the narrow dirt road, but cars were no longer allowed.
Angry residents called Los Angeles authorities, who pledged that they would move quickly to resolve the dispute and have the gate removed from the street, which has been in use since 1924.
But the street remained blocked Wednesday morning when Freyre, 61, and her 30-year-old daughter, Norma Enriquez, squeezed past the gate to get to the car they had parked outside it overnight.
Residents say they are lugging groceries past the gate and using miner-style flashlights to hike back and forth at night to their cars.
"This is unbelievable," said Freyre, who was worried what would happen later in the day when her son planned to bring his prematurely born child home from the hospital for the first time.
It's a bit of Wild West justice that has neighbors distraught and city officials scratching their heads. The rest of Bob's story -- don't expect easy answers -- is here.
The economic meltdown is hitting Main Street hard. But not Beverly Hills' Main Street. Rodeo Drive, home to Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Tiffany, Hermes, DeBeers, Prada, Jimmy Choo and the rest, is doing pretty well, thank you very much. According to Bloomberg, well-heeled foreign visitors (and shoppers) are bucking up the luxury market. Estimates are that 30% of Rodeo sales come from foreigners:
Thanks to big-spending foreigners and wealthy locals, the three-block strip that Rodeo Drive's website calls "the epicenter of luxury fashion'' is shrugging off the credit crunch and economic slowdown. Stores in the heart of the 90210 zip code are less vulnerable than others, said Thomas J. Blumenthal, president of the Rodeo Drive Committee, a business group.
"It's our opinion Christmas is still coming on Dec. 25,'' said Blumenthal, the chief executive officer of Gearys watch store on the Drive and a jewelry store nearby. "We're doing much better than our colleagues at other locations, so we're cautiously optimistic about the fourth quarter.''
It's not just the high-end merchandise that keeps them coming. "The Drive gets a boost from the steady stream of tourists and gawkers hoping to spot Tom Cruise, Ellen DeGeneres, David Beckham and other celebrities known to shop in the area, Blumenthal said. "Every store on the street has celebrities, whether they pop in the front door or come in the back.''
Our David Lazarus found much the same dynamic in August. It kind of makes sense, then, that a few years ago Beverly Hills considered literally paving Rodeo's sidewalks in granite. Seriously. At the time, the city was worried about "places like Las Vegas and Dubai and enclaves like Vail and Martha’s Vineyard and developments like the Grove, Century City and South Coast Plaza ... eroding the base of the long-established markets and specifically in Beverly Hills."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new strategy for relieving the gridlock in Sacramento: Get rid of some of the men in the Legislature and replace them with women.
Not surprisingly, Schwarzenegger unveiled this new tactic this morning in Long Beach at the Women’s Conference organized by his wife, Maria Shriver, whom he said calls the shots in their household.
"I think that you will see decisions are being made differently because women have different priorities, and I think we need that mix in Sacramento and in Washington in order to make great decisions," he said.
The governor, who once referred to the mostly male legislators as “girlie men,” said his goal is to do everything he can to “create” more female lawmakers to even out the gender balance.
It’s not clear how he might do that. Perhaps it will be similar to the creation of the cyborg he played in his "Terminator" movies.
Women right now hold only about a quarter of legislative seats. By the governor's reckoning, they should have half.
Anonymous, the loosely-knit global group that targets Scientology with pickets, demonstrations, spooky YouTube videos (3.2 million views so far) and cyber-attacks became a bit more transparent today as one of its members was charged with hacking a church website:
Federal authorities today charged an 18-year-old man for his role in attacking Church of Scientology websites earlier this year.
According to the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, Dmitriy Guzner, 18, of Verona, N.J., pleaded guilty to a role in the alleged hacking. Prosecutors claim that Guzner was a member of an underground group called Anonymous, which led protests against the Church of Scientology.
Scientology had replied with a video of its own, but it has since been removed and a "terms of service violation" explainer is in its place. Meanwhile, this being YouTube, someone has made a video mocking the original Anonymous warning. (And a warning of our own -- there's some PG-13 cursing.)
In the last few years, the Grove has emerged as a popular place to take in the Christmas tree and holiday decorations (and let's not get started about the old "tallest Christmas tree" war in Orange County between South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island). But this year, there is a new face in the Christmas crowd. The new L.A. Live complex downtown is promising a holiday celebration to mark its opening. That includes 37,500-pound, 52-foot tall tree and a "holiday multi-media spectacular:"
Capturing the unique spirit of City of the Angels, The Light of the Angels multi-cultural, multi-ethnic holiday celebration with performances will run nightly Dec. 4-31 at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m. The 7-minute program will combine lights, video creations, live performances and never-before-seen special effects to create a holiday show that will become a new tradition and L.A. Live's gift to the City.
Angelenic, the downtown website, can't wait: "It’s already mid-October, and most Downtown residents (if not people from all over Los Angeles) are waiting with bated breath for the paramount arrival of LA Live this fall."
In L.A., sometimes the celebrity chefs get all the attention. But, of course, we spend a lot more time with our waiter or waitress. And at the famed El Cholo on Western Avenue, you could not help but meet Carmen Rocha, who served up the margaritas and reportedly introduced L.A. to nachos (seriously!). Rocha, 77, died this month, and our own Mary Rourke pays tribute:
She started working at the restaurant in 1959 and won a following with her warm, outgoing personality. "Carmen was wonderful, to me and to everybody," actor Jack Nicholson, a longtime regular at El Cholo, said this week. "It's a community loss," he said of her death.
For a special treat Rocha sometimes went into the kitchen and made her customers an order of nachos, an item not included on the menu. She followed a recipe she learned in San Antonio, where she grew up, layering tortilla wedges, shredded cheddar cheese and slices of jalapeño pepper, warming the dish in the oven. Before long she had requests from all over the dining room and her nachos were added to the menu.
"Carmen Rocha introduced an iconic dish and helped popularize it," said Merrill Shindler, who wrote "El Cholo Cookbook: Recipes and Lore from California's Best Loved Mexican Kitchen" in 1998. "Now, everybody eats nachos. If they were called 'Carmens,' not nachos, her name would be remembered forever."
El Cholo also claims the restaurant played a big role in popularizing not just nachos but the margarita.
Chowhound asked readers what they thought were L.A.-invented foods and drinks. Here are a few replies: the California roll, Cobb salad, the apple martini and the Shirley Temple.
As Election Day draws ever nearer and the fight over Prop. 8 keeps heating up, gay couples from throughout the state and the nation are headed for the altar in California to say "I do." Just reading the comments on this blog, where supporters of both sides of the Prop. 8 question passionately argue their positions, shows what an emotional issue same-sex marriage remains.
Most recently, a Catholic priest who revealed he's gay and took a public stand against Prop. 8 paid with his job -- he was removed as pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center, which primarily serves students and faculty at Cal State Fresno.
Prop. 8, if you're not familiar with it, is a ballot initiative to rewrite the California constitution so that same-sex marriage would be illegal. Prop. 8 proponents are winning the fund-raising race, having outspent opponents by $1.2 million. Here's the AP story:
“Couples are making their plans to come in before November 4 because people are getting a little uneasy,” said San Francisco Clerk-Recorder Karen Hong Lee. “It's too close to call, basically, and it's legal right now, so why wait? Why take the chance and say, 'Let's get married on November 5?'”
Since same-sex marriage became legal in California in mid-June, at least 11,000 couples have exchanged vows statewide, according to the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, based at UCLA. That's more than the 10,400 gay and lesbian couples who have wed in Massachusetts since gay marriage was legalized there in May 2004, according to the institute.
The demand for same-sex marriage licenses has proven so great in San Francisco that Hong doubled the number of daily reservations her office accepts each day. And she assigned a second marriage commissioner to perform weddings.
Even so, the office is booked solid through Oct. 21 for license appointments and has no more coveted Friday ceremony slots available between now and the election.
California may lead the nation in gay rights, but a new poll suggests growing support for Prop. 8. Opponents of the measure include L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who helped open a "No on Prop. 8" headquarters, and actor Brad Pitt and director-producer Steven Spielberg, who each gave $100,000 contributions to defeat the measure.
Meanwhile, it's still legal to marry the man or woman you love in California, whether you're a man or a woman. They're getting married in the morning -- this morning, if at all possible.
Golfers are different, and it's not just those dweebie clothes. Even as wildfires burn out of control in the mountains above the Porter Valley Country Club, no fewer than 140 duffers are on the course. From the Associated Press:
Some golfers just keep right on playing, even as a wildfire rages in the mountains above them.
A fire broke out Monday morning in the Santa Susana Mountains overlooking the course at Porter Valley Country Club. Then strong winds arrived, and the whipping flames and blankets of smoke moved away from the course.
Golf pro Sue Schroer says the golfers decided to stay where they were and no one was ordered to evacuate.
About 140 golfers are on the course, taking part in the club's Dennis Casey Memorial Tournament.
Wild winds, wildfires, choking smoke -- what some people won't brave just to spoil a good walk.
Yes, we're in the midst of a bitter battle right now over Prop. 8, in which foes of gay marriage (or, to put it another way, proponents of hetero-only marriage) would like to amend the California Constitution to outlaw marriages between same-sex couples. And yes, voters did pass Prop. 22 eight years ago, which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
But the various social gains and legal victories over the years add up, and California leads the nation in gay rights. Here's the story from our own Maura Dolan and Jessica Garrison:
No matter what voters decide this November on same-sex marriage, the election will not change one fact: Over the last decade, California has become the nation's leader in providing legal protections to gays and lesbians.
This has happened not just because of high-profile gestures like San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to issue the nation's first same-sex marriage licenses in 2004 but also because of a carefully crafted campaign to enact laws in the state Legislature and push for court decisions to support and enhance the new rights.
The changes have delighted some Californians and alarmed others.
Gay rights have been expanded in "little bites that people found hard to argue with at the time," said Matt McReynolds, staff attorney of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute. "And all of a sudden, we are at a point where gay rights trump religious rights."
For a list of protections guaranteed by California, check out the full story here. Our database of who's donating both for and against Prop. 8 is here.
Times are tough at the Playboy mansion. Hugh Hefner has taken out a restraining order against a man who twice crashed his car into the gates of the mansion. And now there is word in the Los Angeles Business Journal of possible cutbacks and new revenue-generating ideas at the mansion:
In the last few months he’s resorted to selling tickets to his private parties at the Gothic Tudor estate, according to a person close to Hefner. The mansion’s hedonistic grounds have long been rented out for corporate events, but Hefner’s private parties have been free to those invited. Now, John and Jane Q. Public can buy their way in to some of those events -– albeit for a hefty price. Tickets to parties hosted by Hefner sell for $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the event and celebrity guest list. Tickets to this year’s Halloween party, for example, which in the past has drawn celebrities such as Paris Hilton, are starting at $10,000.
And to make matters worse, Hefner and his "first lady" Holly Madison appear to have split up. But apparently the reality TV show will go on.
The paparazzo -- sorry, celebrity photographer -- who's suing Keanu Reeves, saying the actor intentionally ran him over with his Porsche in 2007, wants to keep the words "paparazzi" and "paparazzo" out of the courtroom because they're prejudicial. Here's a wire story via the Contra Costa Times:
Alison Silva says his
earning ability and job prospects have been diminished because of
injuries suffered March 19, 2007, according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 5
of that year.
Video shows Reeves stopped in black 1996 Porsche 911 Cabrio
and trying to pull away from a photographer on Avenida Tranquila in
Rancho Palos Verdes Estates.
Silva maintains Reeves drove negligently and hit him, but
the actor claims that assertion is untrue and that the photographer
tripped on his own feet, then fell.
"In recent years, and especially since the death of
Princess Diana, the term "paparazzo" has received a negative
connotation," Silva's lawyer, Joseph S. Farzam, states in court papers
filed Tuesday.
So where does the word come from, anyway? Paparazzo was the name of a news photographer in "La Dolce Vita," the famous film by Italian director Federico Fellini. That name soon turned into a noun used to describe the buzzing hordes of shutterbugs who earned a living by staking out the rich and famous.
In the 1970s, Ron Galella's aggressive pursuit of Jackie Onassis earned him a restraining order keeping him a set distance from the former first lady. This summer, of course, the Malibu Paparazzi Wars made international news.
Silva's lawyer, who suffered a legal defeat when a judge threw out much of his case last month, now says the use of the p-words in court will be fatal to his client's case.
Just wondering -- if you show a jury a photo of these paparazzi celebrity photographers angling for a shot of Britney Spears last January, will vocabulary make a difference, or will a picture be worth a thousand words?
The Santa Monica Beach and neighborhood of Echo Park are being singled out as “Great Places in America” by the American Planning Assn., according to an announcement that will be made public Wednesday.
The organization awards the distinctions annually to 30 neighborhoods, streets and public places that it says possess exemplary character, quality and planning.
The organization praised Santa Monica Beach for its opportunities for recreation and social interaction, as well as a “long-standing commitment to accessibility for all people; and a commitment to environmental stewardship and historic preservation.”
Echo Park was cited because of its “varied topography, historic architecture and engaged citizens who, over the years, have gone to great lengths to protect and preserve their historic arts community.” Mayor Villaraigosa is expected to accept the award on behalf of the community at Echo Park Lake tomorrow morning.
A list of all 30 great places chosen for 2008 is available on the APA's website.
The Dodger Stadium area goes by many names -- Chavez Ravine, Elysian Park, Echo Park. But now, there is an effort to give it a more corporate name: Dodgertown. Backers say the name would celebrate the home team and stress it would only cover the Dodgers' property, not surrounding communities. According to the Associated Press:
The area around Dodger Stadium would be renamed Dodgertown pending federal legislation that would redraw a Zip code boundary.
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday and it hopes that a local congressional representative will agree to carry such a bill.
The stadium, opened in 1962, is undergoing a $500-million renovation that is expected to be completed by opening day 2012.
Creating Dodgertown would “support the Dodgers and promote a sense of pride” in the community, according to a report prepared by the chief legislative analyst’s office.
“This really is about celebrating and memorializing the great tradition that the Dodgers have brought to this town,” said City Councilman Ed Reyes, who represents the area.
“This resolution will essentially identify the Dodger property only as Dodgertown. It will not impact surrounding communities, surrounding properties, so all the folks who live around Dodger Stadium need not to worry.”
Here's the scene yesterday as hundreds of Philippe's fans (thousands, by the time it was all over) lines up around the block for a chance at a 10-cent sandwich.
California has married more same-sex couples in three months than Massachusetts has married in three years, according to a new study from UCLA’s Williams Institute for the study of law and sexual orientation.
The study, released today, found that an estimated 11,000 same-sex couples have married in California between June 17, when the marriages become legal, and Sept. 17. Five counties -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Riverside and Alameda -- accounted for 80% of those marriages.
The institute, which is the nation’s only think tank dedicated to studying law and policy as it pertains to sexual orientation, also released studies that found that there are more than 109,000 same-sex couples in California, and 52,000 children are living in those households.
Better get in line early if you want a chance to celebrate Philippe's centenary today with a 10-cent sandwich, on sale from 4 to 8 p.m. Our own Cara Mia DiMassa looks at Philippe's rich history, and the special place it holds in Angeleno's hearts:
Lines for the turn-of-the-20th century deal are expected to form at 2 p.m. today for the 4 p.m. event, and the deals will continue until 8 p.m.
The restaurant -- which was founded when Theodore Roosevelt was president and there were only 46 states in the United States of America -- has long been an institution in the city center. Part of its appeal stems from its stable menu, which has varied only slightly over the years.
While customers flock to the restaurant for such old-time delicacies as pickled pigs feet and eggs, sweet baked apples and icy lemonade, by far the star of the Phillipe’s menu has been the French Dip sandwich.
The restaurant serves approximately 18,000 French Dips a week -- made with beef, mostly, but also lamb, pork, and turkey -- a relatively new addition to the lineup.
The legend goes that in 1918, the restaurant’s founder, Philippe Mathieu, accidentally dropped a French roll into a roasting pan laden with meat drippings while preparing a sandwich for a police officer who just happened to be called Officer French. The officer liked the sandwich so much, according to restaurant lore, that he came back with friends to order the sandwich en masse.
Got this email yesterday about the recent shindig at TreePeople, the non-profit organization all about -- you guessed it -- trees:
Actor Annette Bening joined with TreePeople, a Los Angeles-based environmental nonprofit, today to celebrate the opening of TreePeople Center for Community Forestry. This four-acre, $10 million environmental educational campus, located in L.A.’s Coldwater Canyon Park, will serve more than 70,000 visitors annually.
Bening joined school children and public officials at the ribbon cutting event at TreePeople Center, where visitors learn basic principles of how natural forests “work,” and simple ways to apply these principles in an urban setting to actively prevent – and protect against – climate change, water and air pollution, and water shortages.
“Forests have always been the life support systems for the planet,” said Bening. “I’m inspired by TreePeople’s work in using trees as visible models of sustainability and helping to transform Los Angeles into a truly green city.”
The photo shows Bening andTreePeople prez, Andy Lipkis, at the ribbon cutting for the group's $10
million Center for Community Forestry in Coldwater Canyon Park. For more info about TreePeople, check out their website.
What's your favorite Echo Park movie? There was the well-received indie "Quinceanera" and then the cool disaster movie "Right at Your Door." The neighborhood has long been a favorite location for Hollywood -- but now, there's a push for even more filming. According to City News Service:
Echo Park could be designated as a film district, which would provide residents and business owners with more information about production in the neighborhood, under a City Council motion introduced today.
Establishing the Echo Park Film District would create a number of guidelines, including providing residents with information at least two days in advance of filming, restricting production vehicles from blocking public transit stops and limiting placement of portable restrooms.
“With its charming lake, historic homes and the famed Elysian Park, the Echo Park neighborhood has become an oft-used location for filming,” said City Council President Eric Garcetti.
--Shelby Grad
On You Tube, someone has produced a short film on the opening of Michael Connelly's mystery "Echo Park."
The name on the USC classroom roster may be Michael Balzary, but to the rest of us he's Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And to a few hundred music students at USC, he's someone they can call up to get the latest homework assignment. Adam Rose has the details about one of USC's newest -- and most famous -- Trojans:
The 45-year-old is listed as an "undergraduate visitor" in USC's Thornton School of Music. Balzary probably has a leg up on most of his classmates, considering he founded the Silverlake Conservatory of Music and, oh, yeah ... is a rock icon. Although he's on campus several times per week, don't expect any dorm sightings -- Flea's a commuter student.
Over at Soundboard, Margaret Wappler asks Flea a bunch if questions and gets a lot of thoughtful answers:
So you're taking classes at USC. What brought that on?
I’m glad my music education has developed the way that it has, but it’s so much fun to learn this stuff because I never knew anything. I played trumpet in the school bands. I learned things I liked to play on my trumpet but I didn’t learn why this note goes with this note and why it produces that sound. Or how to create tension in the composition. The Chili Peppers did that in our song structures but all based on emotion and intuition as opposed to knowing the math and academics of it. Knowing the structure is really fun.
What classes are you taking?
I'm taking three: theory, composition and jazz trumpet.
What are you studying in jazz trumpet?
In jazz trumpet, I’m...
Lots more in Margaret's Q&A, including whatever happened to the stuffed animal pants.
Yahoo comes up with a solar-powered, web-enabled, GPS-tracking bicycle that takes photographs, which it automatically uploads to Flickr. The results? Pedal-powered voyeurism for all to enjoy.
So the Berkeley Bowl piece that ran today as a Column One touched a chord: I received dozens of e-mails from folks who know the store and agree with the story's take on Berkeley as a place where the screws of liberalism and sanity are racheted a little too tightly.
Most people got a kick out of the fact that offenders who commit crimes such as felony food noshing without paying are banned from the Bowl for good.
But not everyone was laughing. Owner Glenn Yasuda (in photo, at right) called to complain about the story's tone, especially the portrayal of the management's tough line on food samplers.
The upshot, he told me: I've been banned from the Berkeley Bowl. For life.
Here's Dolly: "People always ask me if I'm offended by all the dumb blond jokes. I say no, because I know I'm not dumb, and I know I'm not blond!"
And here's E! Entertainment senior editor Marc Malkin, talking about Dolly: "I listen to Dolly, and it's musical Prozac."
Lots more about the enduring country music singer and her Broadway debut in the musical version of "9 to 5" in Ann Powers fun and funny story, right here.
It's Park(ing) Day here in our fair burg, where cars are king and open space is hard to come by. Today, though, creative types from all walks of life are commandeering parking spaces and spiffing them up, turning them into the pocket parks of their dreams.
Yeah, it's a tiny bit crazy, and of course there's a legal cha-cha, but there's a serious side too. Organizers make an effort to spread out into urban neighborhoods to highlight the dire need for more parks. In some cases, as with this park in Long Beach, Park(ing) Day is credited with inspiring the creation of an actual park. At the very least, the event gets people thinking differently about our paved paradise.
She's back -- Stephanie Edwards, the true queen of the Rose Parade, bumped from her cozy booth in 2006 by Michaela Pereira and sent to stand alone in the cold New Year's Day rain.
Bob Eubanks sounded cranky during that broadcast, a perky Pereira blithely demoted Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Grand Marshal of the parade, to the superior court, and viewers swiftly rallied to Edwards' defense.
Now the titian-haired expert in horticultural minutiae is back, bygones are bygones and Pereira continues at KTLA. Our own Greg Braxton spoke with Edwards about her return:
"Hell has frozen over," Edwards said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It feels great, of course."
Her comeback brings a happy twist to the parade saga, which prompted an uproar from longtime fans when Edwards, then 61, was exiled from the booth in 2005 in favor of the much younger KTLA morning news coanchor Michaela Pereira.
The furor was fueled by Edwards' assignment on a rainy day -- working the sidelines in the viewer grandstands where she became drenched. Soon after the soaking, she was fired. The station was later flooded with complaints from viewers who felt she had been treated shabbily.
Although looking forward to her new beginning, Edwards admitted to some apprehension.
More about the backstage drama, how the reconciliation took place, and why tense broadcast moments between Edwards and Eubanks are really a sign of love, in Greg's full story.
Brad Pitt, who once said he won't get married until the right extends to everyone, has donated $100,000 to help fight Prop 8. Our own Tina Daunt has the story:
Brad Pitt announced Wednesday that he's donating $100,000 to fight California's Proposition 8, a November ballot initiative that would eliminate same-sex couples' right to marry.
"Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," the actor said in a statement.
Pitt's donation marks the largest thus far to the anti-Prop. 8 campaign by an A-list celebrity.
The financial fight over Prop. 8 has been fierce, with gay marriage supporters taking an early fundraising lead. But last month, a $1-million contribution by the Knights of Columbus, followed by infusions of cash from other gay marriage opponents, tipped the balance in favor of those who believe only a man and a woman should be able to marry.
Our own Maloy Moore follows the money in a pair of databases she helped create, which she updates daily. As of today, Prop. 8 opponents have raised $11,119,614.56, while the Prop 8 supporters side has amassed $16,647,476.77. (Pitt's contribution hasn't made it's way to the official tally yet, so add $100,000 to the no side of the equation.)
You can look at total contributions within the state, broken down by county, or you can search the nationwide database (use abbreviations for the states) for an illuminating look at money flowing to both sides of the issue.
So is Brad being altruistic and, at the same time, hoping to hurry along a wedding of his own?
Three years after Huntington Beach police raided Jim Spray's one-man pot-growing operation, they returned the four ounces of medical marijuana and a small amount of hashish they confiscated because a judge ruled it shouldn't have been seized in the first place, the OC Register reports:
"That's a chunk of hash," said Spray, a 52-year-old trade show decorator from Huntington Beach. A tall, stocky police official watched as the medical marijuana patient inspected a tiny, eye shadow-sized container full of hashish.
"It's still good. I almost forgot about all this," said Spray, who uses medical marijuana because of pain from a herniated disc.
(Skip)
The order came nearly nine months after the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the city must return Spray's marijuana and equipment taken from his home in November 2005. Spray was represented by attorneys with medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.
It's the second time the Huntington Beach police have had to return pot to its owner. Six months ago, a court ruling forced them to give back the Purple Urkel taken from Dave Lucas. Though California allows the use of medical marijuana, federal law doesn't. Between growing clubs and pot dispensaries, it's a legal netherworld that Jerry Brown, California's attorney general, has tried to address with new guidelines. And that pot farm in the photo? Legal. For now.
Black Crowes cancel California concerts because of to illness. LAist
The eternal question -- buy or rent? -- answered (sort of ) in the NYT.
A busy day in Daily Breeze territory, with cops arresting an accused burglar who leaped through a double-paned window, hunting for car thieves and checking out the hand grenade found in a newly purchased home, which prompted an evacuation.
Santa Monica High choir -- greater than the sum of its parts. The Homeroom
Speculation that Metrolink lawsuits could lead to millions -- and possibly billions -- in claims. LADN
Check out pix of the pro surf championship last weekend at Trestles. LAT
There's been a flurry of support around the web for Denise Tyrrell, who resigned as Metrolink spokeswoman after being criticized for announcing that her agency appeared to be at fault in the Chatsworth train crash. On a Yahoo! Answers forum titled "Do you admire Denise Tyrrell for speaking up about the Metrolink crash in Los Angeles last Friday?" several posters have kind words for the spokeswoman. The Times' Sandy Banks does too:
I'm not prepared to call Tyrrell a hero. She struck a blow for decency. But the heroes are the rescue workers, the local residents who rallied to help, the hospital teams who treated the wounded. And she doesn't want us to consider her a victim. "Those people on that train and their families are the victims," Tyrrell told me in an e-mail Monday night. "I'm going through stress. They are going through tragedy." She was our first link to that tragedy. And her tears confirmed for me our shared humanity.
But I think she did the right thing here. As she stated in the statement (which for whatever reason I can’t find online), Metrolink is a family. I’ve talked to Board members, staff, and passengers, and there is a unique bond between the passengers and the staff, which has survived previous incidents, annual fare increases, and other issues. And sometimes, you have to face up to the reality of what happened, and try to start the healing process. The odds of the story changing are very slim, probably slimmer than the chance of the collision happening in the first place.
Exile on Wall Street -- stocks are tumbling, companies are teetering and laid-off employees are boxing up their coffee mugs and Dilbert calendars. Experts say more bad news is on the way.
Some of the commuters in Friday's deadly Metrolink crash were survivors of the crash in Glendale in 2005. Richard Myles survived both crashes. Gregory Lintner walked away from the first but died this week in the second.
A fatal crash on the eastbound 210 Freeway has all but one of the lanes closed in Arcadia.
Another day, another few hundred tomatoes in Bill Anderson's Winnetka garden.
Cab drivers in Burbank love their hybrid rides. (pictured at right.)
An agriculture instructor in Tulare was gored to death by a bull.
Monday was Day One of the O.J. Simpson trial, where he's facing more than a dozen charges, including kidnapping.
Let's start with the crash: Metrolink officials initially blamed the engineer, who died in the crash, and then backed off that claim. But the feds are looking into whether a red light signal, which would have warned of the oncoming freight train, was broken.
If you're a rail commuter, how do you get to work today? Info here.
And for IDs on those who died in the crash, check here.
Ready for some good news? We (almost) have a state budget! No new taxes in the new spending plan, which goes to a vote today.
Another O.J. Simpson trial, another debate about race, as prosecutors are accused of trying to exclude blacks from the jury.
An appreciation of the late (I still can't quite believe it) David Foster Wallace.
Let's end with some good -- and surprising -- news: Ike's damage to oil and gas platforms in the Gulf was relatively minor and oil falls to $97 per barrel.
A woman who witnesses say was sitting in a lane of the 101 Freeway near the Cahuenga Pass was struck and killed.
Health Net, one of the state's biggest insurers, reinstated 926 people whose health insurance policies it had canceled after they got sick, and will pay some hefty fines. One thing the Woodland Hills company refuses to do: admit it was wrong.
Kelly Slater shreds the competition at Lower Trestles in San Clemente.
Oops -- never mind. The MTA alters a message urging support of Measure R, a sales tax hike, on its website because it turns out that's, well, illegal.
A somber day around the nation as people commemorate the 7th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers in NYC and the Pentagon in D.C. Check out some event listings in our travel blog, and Johanna Neuman's story from today's front page. Also, some photos, and our original story about that awful day.
On a lighter note, if you've been reading this blog this week, you've had a peek into the madcap mind of our own Shelby Grad, who energized this space with posts about everything from taco trucks (a perennial L.A. Now fave) to Barack Obama. Shelby's a natural when it comes to blogging so let's hope he keeps finding time to spice things up.
And now onward to today's news:
At last -- something good to say about the credit crunch. If you can qualify for a mortgage (and that can be a big if) you'll find that rates are sharply down.
Now here's a concept -- when developers are finished with the redo of the Santa Monica Place mall, there's actually going to be an ocean view. Oh -- and Bloomingdales will replace Macy's as the anchor.
And here's something verging on a minor miracle -- for the first time in 40 years, Watts is close to having a movie theater of its own. Barbara Stanton (she's heads the Wattstar Cinema and Education Center) says she's got about $10 million of the $20 million the project will take to build.
Another indoor pot farm busted, this time in an Azusa warehouse.
California's top Episcopal bishops stand up to their denomination's ban on gay marriage and publicly oppose Prop 8.
The fight for an Air Force tanker contract, no less bitter than the "lipstick on a pig" controversy now hijacking the presidential campaign, has been canceled by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on grounds that things got out of hand.
An early-morning brush fire in the hills of Sherman Oaks near Benedict Canyon Lane burned just two acres before firefighters knocked it down. Residents were praised for their brush-clearing efforts, which made the job easier.
Four days later, the seven Inglewood police officers involved in shooting to death an unarmed homeless man have been put on leave. Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks says of the shooting, in which 47 rounds were fired, "We could have done a better job tactically." You think?
Steve Lopez has a few thoughts about Inglewood, and they're not all that flattering.
The LAUSD has shelled out $9.9 million for MealpayPlus, an online program for parents to track how school kids spend their lunch money.
Authorities are mighty vague about the "security adjustments" they're making at LAX after discovering that an elevator mechanic may have been helping illegal immigrants slip past security checks and enter the U.S.
Vietnamese immigrants who came to the U.S. as political refugees have a higher rate of mental illness when they reach their mid-50s and beyond.
The developers of the downtown megadevelopment L.A. Live announced today that they've leased the last space in the retail and entertainment complex to an outpost of the fabled tiki restaurant chain Trader Vic’s.
The L.A. area has been without a Trader Vic’s restaurant since its Beverly Hills location, the legendary Rat Pack watering hole that helped launch a national tiki-bar craze, closed in April, though a tiki bar at the Beverly Hilton remains.
The new restaurant is being franchised by the Valencia Group, which announced plans last year to build a 10,000-square-foot restaurant in a former bank building downtown but ultimately canceled that project.
Most of the restaurants in the $2.5-billion L.A. Live -- including The Farm of Beverly Hills, Katsuya and Rock ’n’ Fish -- are scheduled to open late this year, and the project’s two hotels, a J.W. Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton, would open in 2010. Representatives from the Valencia Group, which owns the Trader Vic’s chain, said the restaurant would open next year with Polynesian dancers, tiki drinks and what they described as Island-Asian fusion food.
Zac, who has sailed on to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, is feeling a bit unsafe right now, and it's not because of dangerous seas. Pete Thomas, who's been following Zac's quest to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe, has this update:
Sunderland, 16, who departed from Marina del Rey in June, was headed
toward Darwin, Australia. He made the unplanned stop [in Port Moresby] because of engine
problems he is still trying to sort out. Fortunately, he was taken
under the wing of Americans working in the city, and became a guest of
the posh yacht club.
Zac’s only reference to danger in his blog is this passage:
“There has been a lot of concern over safety in Port Moresby (POM).
As I looked out of my cockpit I saw an armed guard standing in a guard
tower overlooking the marina. Another armed guard was pacing back and
forth across the breakwater outside the marina. I learned 2 things; POM
definitely is a dangerous place and also that I would be safe where I
was. The security at the Yacht Club is pretty elaborate. It has the
feel of a military compound.”
Sunderland tried sailing out Wednesday but...
The rest of the post is here, in our outdoors blog, Outposts.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo Ringo H.W. Chiu / For the Los Angeles Times
* A previous version of this post referred to the Seychelles, when Zac was actually in the Marshall Islands. Thank you to reader Julia Stick for pointing out my mistake.
Did you feel that? Probably not. An earthquake hit San Bernardino early this morning, but at 3.3, it was pretty small and no injuries or damage was reported.
What many Californians are feeling, though, are the results of the longest budget standoff ever. It's affecting everyone from kidney patients in need of dialysis to independent contractors about to go bankrupt because they can't get paid. It's a mess with no end in sight.
So what has the Legislature done? A bit of tinkering with the state's flawed health care system but, thanks to aggressively lobbying by docs and insurance companies, coupled with gridlock caused by feuding Democrats, lots of widespread problems remain.
Another battle in the quest for cupcake domination as Sprinkles sues Sprinkled Pink, a competitor in Montecito, for trademark infringement.
John Sanford Todd, who designed Lakewood and pretty much invented the "contract city," has died.
An elevator mechanic at LAX has been arrested on suspicion of helping illegal immigrants gain entry to the U.S. by helping them avoid authorities as they left the airline terminal.
Meanwhile, a San Diego police officer is accused of helping drug traffickers in Mexico by passing along inside info on investigations. Nice, huh?
In a world where newspapers are shrinking, we run an appreciation of the late voiceover artist, Don LaFontaine, written by Hank Stuever of the Washington Post.
So that's why you're not supposed to feed them -- hungry bears are breaking into people's homes in Kern County in search of easy pickings. Talk about a home invasion robbery.
Think stern warnings to L.A. city workers about wasting water have had an effect? Think again.
Eight men digging a tunnel from Mexico into the U.S., complete with ventilation and a trolley system, have been arrested.
Antonio Villaraigosa promises the moon to double the rate of academic achievement in the 10 "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools" he oversees.
Speaking of which, lots of back-to-school news and details in our education blog, The Homeroom.
Jerry Brown, the state's attorney general, sides with O.C. sheriff's deputies in a fight about their pension plan.
A man has been found shot to death on an isolated canyon road in Malibu.
A man in Irvine, who police say aimed a gun at a SWAT team during a standoff, has been shot and wounded.
As soon as I finish this post, I'm downloading Google's new browser, Chrome, which gets a (mostly) good review from our own David Colker and Michelle Maltais. I'll let you know how it goes.
San Diego's Ballast Point is among a handful of breweries crafting whiskey, rum and other concoctions. 'It's really a form of advanced brewing,' says one enthusiast.
Stuck for something to do? How about some screamingscreenings in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where the grass is green, the night is dark, and the neighbors are very, very quiet. (This week: Nicolas Roeg's "Don't Look Now.")
Have a spare $425 (and up)? Then you, too, can wake up to this white-on-white bathroom at the Mondrian in West Hollywood. Designed by Phillipe Starck, home to the Sky Bar,the pricey place has a new look after an extensive remodel. Curious? More pix (and no attitude) right here.
It's been a banner week for nudity in California. First the naked sunbathers at San Onofre got permission to keep their most private parts public, now a pair of women arrested in Sacramento in 2005 for baring their breasts in the name of peace have won a legal victory of their own.
According to a Superior Court judge in Sacramento, the arrest of "Breasts Not Bombs" protesters Sherry Glaser and Sheba Love was unlawful because their action was symbolic speech and the women were not, as accused, indecently exposed or committing a lewd act.
Our own Evan Halper covered the lead-up to the protest, in which officials warned that the sight of the women's bare bosoms could, as Evan put it, "corrupt children, prompt drivers to veer off the road and cause sex offenders to run amok." He was also there on Nov. 7, when the women shed their shirts and police arrested them. The women faced the possibility of a trial, and of having to register as sex offenders.
In case you're a bit hazy about the whole breasts-to-bombs connection, the women say breasts represent peace and the survival of the human race while bombs, well, don't. The group has protested in San Francisco without incident (natch) and in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., where neither the women nor the men in the group were told to put on shirts.
If you're made of sterner stuff, this site has not only photos of the bare-breasted women protesting in Berkeley in July of 2005, but some men who dropped by and, in the spirit of things, dropped trou for peace.
America. What a country.
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times
(A previous version of this post misidentified Sheba Love as Shoba Love.)
The partisan pantry? It's nothing new, says our own Betty Hallock, who knows a thing or two about how campaigns cook. There's "The Democrats' Cookbook", "How to Eat Like a Republican," "The Watergate Cookbook" and "The Axis of Evil Cookbook," and don't forget about all those cookie recipes:
In recent years the cookie recipe has become some kind of litmus test for domestic bliss for political candidates. Hence, the McCain oatmeal cookies and Michelle Obama's shortbread, one of a cadre of recipes in the "Obama Campaign Family Cookbook" posted on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's website. (In 2004, Laura Bush's oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies took on Teresa Heinz Kerry's pumpkin spice cookies.)
Are the recipes beside the point? Answers, and fun political facts, in Betty's full story here.
It's not just that skateboarders are about to be personae non gratae at Cal State Fullerton, they'll have a hefty bounty on their heads, as well. The campus law banning the boards kicks in on Oct. 6, after which all manner of airfeet, nose-slides and double kinks will cost you -- $112.50 (weird, that extra 50 cents, no?) if there's a cop around to cite you. From the OC Register:
... officers are handing out warnings this week to first-time offenders. Temporary signs are posted throughout the campus.
"This is being done for safety reasons," King said.
The directive from the President's Office is in response to injuries from students either falling from their skateboards or hitting people in heavy pedestrian areas. Bicyclists have also pedaled into pedestrians.
"Students can ride their skateboards to the perimeter of the school or walk their bicycles along heavily populated walkways, but they will be cited if they don't obey the new law," King said.
The new rules of the road will also apply to cyclists who, when conditions are crowded, will be required to get off and walk their bikes. Students cited more than once could wind up in a disciplinary hearing, where a translator might come in handy.
There was great mourning and moaning and gnashing of teeth (and more than a few carb-withdrawals) when Phil's Diner, a quintessential greasy spoon housed in a charming but crumbling wood-paneled dining car, closed down in the 1990s. Now, with a new owner and some help from L.A.'s Community Redevelopment Agency, the much-loved diner (someone even stole the sign) is headed back to life. Downtown NoHo was one of the first with the news:
The CRA Board approved a plan for a new modern office building, a luxurious Laemmle’s eight-screen theater, and a restored and operating Phil’s Diner. The diner will be moved to the corner of Lankershim and Weddington –- across from the El Portal Theater -– where it will be restored to its 1920’s condition and reopen as a restaurant, and to become the centerpiece of the theater courtyard.
Today's Daily News has a bit more info on the new owner's plans:
Owner Casey Hallenbeck plans to reopen — and reinvent — Phil's at the NoHo Commons project, at Lankershim and Weddington Street.
He promises that the reborn Phil's will feature the best of yesterday with a modern twist.
"It is going to be like a classic piece of Route 66 memorabilia," Hallenbeck said.
But far from the greasy burgers and fries and heavy blue-plate specials, the new Phil's will include organic salads, locally harvested produce, and biodegradable takeout containers.
No greasy burgers? Then it's not really going to be Phil's.
Some of the most heartfelt ceremonies of the Summer Olympics took place not on raised platforms before cheering crowds in Beijing, but in living rooms and backyards in hometowns across the United States. Here's one of them, shot by Eddy Hartenstein, our new photo internpublisher.
That's U.S. Olympian Will Simpson, fresh from the airport, being welcomed home to Hidden Valley on Tuesday night by his sister, Kerry Simpson (in the red-striped shirt) and a bunch of friends and neighbors. Someone used a forklift to attach a banner to a telephone pole and hoisted it across the road. No word on what's in all those glasses.
Next up for Hartenstein, who grabbed a camera when he saw this celebration in his neighborhood — a stint on the night cops beat. (Just kidding.) (I think.)
A bill working its way through the state Legislature targets snooping into hospital medical files by unauthorized docs, nurses and healthcare workers. Also in the hopper -- a bill to assure medical care for people with pre-existing conditions.
Another deadline looms for state lawmakers -- they must say yes to a plan on the shared use of carpool lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways, or $210 million the feds are offering will vanish.
Ready for some good news? Poverty in L.A. is down. (Bad news -- it's rising in the rest of the U.S.)
And whether this next item is good or bad news depends on how much of a purist you are (litmus test -- interleague play is A: A brilliant idea, or B: The devil's handiwork.) -- MLB umpires will be allowed to use video replays starting Thursday.
Dave Freeman, the ad exec who wrote "100 things to do before you die" has died at age 47 after a fall in his home in Venice. (And yes, he did most of the 100 things in his book.)
-- Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Ruth Cordoba, center, and her family are living in a hotel after they were evicted from a rental that had fallen into foreclosure. Credit: Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times
Good luck if you're now on or near the 105 Freeway hoping to get anywhere on time. A body (no ID, no reason for death given) found on the eastbound lanes near Watts prompted authorities to shut down the freeway while they figured out what happened. Lanes reopen at 9 a.m., or so we're told.
Some rail buffs aren't faring much better -- an Amtrak train headed to San Diego from L.A. ran out of fuel and had to be pushed to its destination.
A man in East L.A. has been arrested in connection with a drug-related massacre on a ranch near Ensenada, in which 19 people, including two toddlers, were shot to death.
UCLA football -- hoping for the best but not expecting much.
What's going on at Aurora Las Encinas hospital in Pasadena? A teen was raped and three adults unexpectedly died in the facility, which is known for its ties to celeb doc Drew Pinsky.
Tyrone Freeman, prez of L.A.'s chapter of the SEIU, steps down after stories by The Times reveal the union and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies owned by Freeman's wife and her mother. (That's Freeman in the photo at right.)
Our state legislators are on the verge of doing something right, George Skelton says. (Hint: a growth bill.)
Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger is tilting at windmills pushing a budget that includes a three-year tax hike.
Not so fast -- even if state leaders do manage to balance the budget (fingers crossed), state voters will screw it all up on Nov. 4 when all those pricey ballot initiatives are up for grabs. That's one opinion, anyway.
You pull back, those upscale malls reach out, which means more marketing, aggressive sales and even free outdoor concerts and movies.
A thief dressed as a DWP workers steals a bike. LA Metblogs
My kind of fight -- a gourmet taco battle in the OC. OC Register
City of Lawndale says no to applicant who wanted to open a hookah cafe. Daily Breeze
Casting call for "Deal or No Deal" tomorrow at Ontario Mills mall. The Sun
An 81-year-old apartment building from Pasadena's Fuller Seminary, which was sliced in two, carted off and stored on blocks, is finally getting a new home. Star-News
The five-page document, considered a linchpin in post-Civil War reunification, is headed to the Reagan Library next month, part of "Forever Free," a look at slavery and the Civil War that includes a small collection of items associated with Abraham Lincoln. Details from the Ventura County Star:
"We don't just tell the story of one man here; we tell the story of American history and the presidency, and the Reagan Library is honored to share this piece of American history," said Joanne Drake, chief of staff for the Reagan Foundation.
The exhibit will include letters and manuscripts written by Lincoln, including a California Emancipation Proclamation — printed in California in 1864 and signed by President Lincoln for commemorative purposes — one of only three known to exist, said Rob Zucca, an exhibit specialist at the Reagan Library.
Lincoln artifacts include a purple chamberpot from the White House, a hanky that Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, monogrammed for him, and a volume from his law office in Springfield, Ill. (Above is a photo of Lincoln and his son, Tad, who spend part of his youth in the White House.)
The "Forever Free" exhibit starts Friday and runs through Oct. 24. The Emancipation Proclamation, hand-signed by the president and on loan from the National Archives, will be on display from Sept. 19 through the 22nd. More details at the library's website.
Those seven fires in Griffith Park? Definitely arson, investigators are saying. At least two were set by the same person. All seven started near roadways, a "crime of opportunity."
It's been 27 years since wholesale prices have risen as fast as they're rising right now.
But wait -- a spot of good news. Gas prices are at their lowest since May.
An Internet kiddie porn sweep in SoCal results in several arrests and charges filed against 50 men, the Department of Justice announced. We'll have a story later in the day.
Eighteen hospitals -- most here in SoCal -- get hit with fines for violations that put patients in serious jeopardy.
A man who barricaded himself in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall stabbed a police officer with a pair of scissors and was shot by another officer.
"Faulty recollections" by an LAPD detective lead to dismissal of a 2005 gang murder case and, after three years, the man falsely accused is released from prison.
The FBI has begun a criminal probe of our city attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (UPDATE: Given what we’ve reported about Delgadillo’s use of city funds to repair a wrecked car and city staff to watch his kids, it’s not surprising that the feds might be looking into his actions. They have a legal obligation to chase leads. But it’s also worth noting that lots of investigations end up determining nothing illegal happened.)
The ancient Terra Cotta warriors of imperial China are drawing some of the biggest crowds yet for the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.
Forget the fake grass, Patt Morrison says. Just let your unnatural lawn die a natural death.
Sharon D. Herzberger, the president of Whittier College, is one of 100 college leaders backing the Amethyst Initiative, launched last month to persuade lawmakers to lower the drinking age in the U.S. from 21 to 18.
Not only does the current law fail to protect young people from alcohol abuse, it creates a culture that encourages it, the group's mission statement says. Schools like Tufts, Smith, Dartmouth and Duke are among the high-profile signatories. Though the effort is barely a month old, opposition is already fierce, the Daily Breeze reports.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."
Other prominent schools in the group include Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
But even before the presidents begin the public phase of their efforts, which may include publishing newspaper ads in the coming weeks, they are already facing sharp criticism.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.
Look for the issue to make news as the group's ads hit print.
California remains without a budget as statehouse Republicans freeze out the Democrats' plan to close the $15.2-billion gap by taxing corporations and the wealthy.
Get ready for a fight as the developer who owns the 14-acre property formerly known as the South Central Farm tries to build a warehouse for Forever 21.
Speaking of which, there's a bit of a controversy about whether that "What if you couldn't marry the person you love?" TV commercial is breaking the law.
Cutbacks by foreign airlines flying into LAX could cost the region $9 billion per year in local economic activity.
The father of Olympic boxer Shawn Estrada has died.
Is the basketball winning streak at Villa Park High School the result of rule-breaking recruiting practices? Some coaches think so, but school officials deny it.
Swing by the Yosemite Village Post Office today and you'll be able to get first-day cancellations of a new stamp featuring Yosemite National Park.
The 42-cent first-class stamp features Albert Bierstadt’s painting “Valley of the Yosemite.” Yosemite’s Postmaster Bill Carroll as well as park Superintendent Mike Tollefson will be on hand for the ceremony.
The original 1864 oil painting belongs to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, according to a U.S. Postal Service release. The Yosemite stamp will be on sale nationwide starting Thursday — and also will be rolled out at the American Philatelic Society StampShow 2008 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Other artworks in the American Treasures series — this stamp is the eighth one — include Amish quilts, the quilts of Gee’s Bend and works by artist Mary Cassatt.
This is hardly Yosemite’s first time on a postage stamp. In 2006, a photo of the Gates of the Valley by the late Galen Rowell was turned into an 84-cent stamp that was then the international letter rate.
We pass along a lot of rotten news during a day's work here at LA Now, so when a group of people who call themselves "metaphysical activists" get ready for their first-ever "Vibe Demonstration," we feel honor-bound to share that as well.
They're going to gather -- sorry, "peacefully convene" -- at the corner of LaBrea and Santa Monica boulevards today at 6 p.m. and, carrying posters, will aim positive thoughts right at you and everyone else who lives in Gotham our fair city. From their press release:
"The group hopes to create and exhibit a positive vibration that will be felt throughout the city. The demonstration will serve as both an act of metaphysical activism and a street art installation."
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"We want to make it known that you can change your life for the better regardless of your circumstances. You just have to be armed with the knowledge that if you're willing to work, it's impossible not to see dramatic and satisfactory life changes."
Eddie Romero, a part-time philosophy professor at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, went into hiding in China after posting this protest video, which he filmed in a Beijing hotel room. Police reports have been filed and Romero has told friends he will turn himself in after the conclusion of the Games. His fall term classes, "Introduction to Philosophy" and "Major World Religions," start on Aug. 25.
The post about Romero on our Olympics blog has been updated several times and is keeping excellent track of the story.
In the hot sun, Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood spreads out
wide and flat, the granite fronts of office buildings glistening in the
light. Austere sentinels of palm trees tower over the street.
The community was named in hopes of catching a whiff of the glamour
conjured by Hollywood to the south. And as with a life devoted to
chasing stardom, the rhythms of this swatch of the San Fernando Valley
are both prosaic and poetic. A leopard-print upholstered chair is for
sale on the sidewalk in front of Al's Discount Furniture, south of
Magnolia, the street that is the namesake of the haunting movie about
angst-ridden lives set here.
Yet this is also NoHo, the North Hollywood Arts DistrictA photo-plus-audio look at a little piece of SoCal...(keep reading)
The Olympics haven't even started and already California has made history. For the first time ever, a shipment of foreign strawberries -- California-grown strawberries, to be exact -- entered China on Tuesday. And who do we have to thank? Richard Nixon, of course, whose unprecedented trip in 1972 pried open the door. But also Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who acted as a strawberry spokesman during his trade mission to China in 2005.
The first 450-pound delivery of one of the Golden State's most recognizable cash crops arrived in Beijing at a time when local strawberries are out of season. Before they make it into the hands of Olympic chefs, however, the berries will undergo rigorous inspection by the (deep breath) China General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Meanwhile, Australians are still screaming bloody murder as the Chinese continue their ban on that (seriously, have you tasted it?) oddity from Down Under, Vegemite.
Note to self -- a publicity-seeking video blog is not the way to stay hidden after skipping out on probation after a prison sentence. Case in point, Patric Ian Henn, a 33-year-old gay man who pleaded guilty to bilking charity organizations out of $68,000 when he lied about losing a partner in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Henn, who also failed to perform 600 hours of community service and didn't pay back $29,000 to the Red Cross and other charities, was discovered in Long Beach, where had set up an identity as "Boy About Town." He used the blog to post pictures and videos of himself with minor celebs, as well as details of his party hopping. It wasn't until he told someone his real name that Henn's newest scam began to unravel, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports:
Henn made his way to Long Beach late last year, trying to leave his past and create a new identity with his "Boy About Town" blog, www.boysbuzz.net.
He never told anyone his full name, introducing himself only as "Boy About Town" or Patric, according to sources he interviewed for his blog and local businesses he sought for advertising.
One day, Henn revealed his real name to an acquaintance, who searched the Internet and found Henn's checkered past. Word spread about Henn's real identity and eventually, the Long Beach Police Department got an anonymous tip.
Long Beach police arrested Henn earlier this month, and he now sits in the men's central jail in Los Angeles until his hearing, now postponed until Aug. 8. No bail has been set. And, apparently he has not a clue, judging from the most recent post on his website:
In light of what has happened to me recently, I want to assure you all that Who I was is not who I am today.
the beginning, the cafe, which is located in the back of the bookstore in what was formerly Sea Level records, will just serve baked goods and coffee. The organic coffee is from Raven's Brew in Washington and the pastries (brownies, blondies, cookies and peanut butter-filled cupcakes) are from Sweeties. All bread, croissants and danishes will come from 
