Cruise ship Queen Elizabeth to visit Queen Mary in Long Beach

In keeping with tradition, the newest Cunard ocean liner -- Queen Elizabeth -- will sail by Long Beach Harbor on Tuesday night to pay homage to her predecessor the Queen Mary, once the undisputed grand dame of the North Atlantic.

This is the third “royal rendezvous” in four decades between one of Cunard’s modern vessels and the Queen Mary. Organizers have scheduled a whistle salute, fireworks display and free admission to Long Beach’s iconic flagship for the “once in a generation meeting.”

Over the past decades Cunard Line, which use to own the Long Beach ship, has sent vessels to pay tribute to the first queen. In the early 1980s, Cunard Princess made a stop to say “hello,” according to the Queen Mary website. In 2006, it was the Queen Mary 2 and in 2011 it was Queen Victoria. The latest will be the 2,068-passenger Queen Elizabeth, which went into service in October 2010.

Organizers and cruise ship officials say Tuesday's meeting between the two ships will be the most poignant of all because the original Queen Elizabeth -- whom the current ship is named for -- and the Queen Mary crossed the North Atlantic regularly from 1946 to 1967. Both ships were owned by Cunard Line at the time. 

“Every Wednesday one queen would leave New York and the other queen would leave England,” said Everett Hoard, commodore of the Queen Mary. “And in mid-transatlantic, they would cross each other.”

Adding additional historical significance to the meeting is the Goodyear Blimp, based in nearby Carson. Goodyear built hundreds of blimps for the U.S. Navy in World War II to serve as coastal patrols and to escort convoy and troop ships such as the Queen Mary and the original Queen Elizabeth.

“We’re very proud of these contributions, and that not a single ship was ever lost when one of our blimps stood guard overhead,”  said Elizabeth Flynn, spokeswoman for the Spirit of America. “We are honored to provide escort to Queen Elizabeth as she meets up with her sister the Queen Mary.”

Tuesday’s event is organized by the Queen Mary and Cunard Lines. The Queen Mary is managed by Evolution Hospitality. 

Free admission to the Queen Mary will be offered from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Organizers say the best public viewing location will be on the ship's Promenade Deck. The Queen Elizabeth will sail into the harbor about 6:30 p.m., followed by whistle salutes. The fireworks display will begin at 7:30 p.m.

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Photo: The Queen Mary at its permanent dock in Long Beach Harbor in a 2011 file photo. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times  

Boy jumps to his death from La Canada High School roof

A young boy died Friday afternoon after apparently jumping off the roof of the library at La Canada High School,  authorities said.

The boy jumped at 4 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m., said Lt. Brian Fitch of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

He apparently died from head injuries, Fitch said.

No other information was immediately available.

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Arab American exhibit on display in Little Tokyo

A traveling exhibit highlighting often forgotten Arab immigrants is  being displayed in Little Tokyo, sharing the work of a community and its contributions to history since the American Revolution.

"Patriots and Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to Our Country" takes center stage at the Japanese American National Museum through April 14. It tells the stories of everyday life, religion and family, honoring a people who now total nearly 4 million across the United States.

"This is a way of bringing cultures together, people together, under one society in which we all live. We share so much in common, both Arab and Japanese communities, it's a good pairing," says Janis Tanji Wong, the museum's director of marketing and communications.

The show, culled from the Arab American National Museum in Michigan, last appeared at UC Irvine.

It's the result of four years of research and hundreds of interviews, with an emphasis on those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, the Peace Corps and in diplomatic posts.

Arab Americans fought and died in every U.S. war, defending the Constitution and democracy. A selection of patriots with California roots may interest local visitors, and personal narratives in the multimedia exhibit reveal their different backgrounds. For viewers, one of the questions the show asks is how commitment to military service can affect their daily lives.

"It's important for those going to the exhibit to understand the diversity that Arab Americans represent," Wong said. "We hope to launch more cultural programs together."

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With prospect of all-male L.A. Council, female candidates organize

Tina Hess says she never planned to be a Los Angeles City Council candidate.

But last November, when she turned her attention to local races after the presidential election, she was shocked to see not a single woman running to represent her Westside district. And in eight other council races across the city, only a handful of women were running, compared to dozens of men.

“I just saw this void,” said Hess, a city prosecutor who lives in Del Rey. She decided to enter the race when she realized the city could soon be without any women on its 15-member lawmaking body after mayoral candidate Jan Perry, the council’s lone female, departs on June 30 because of term limits.

Hess is one of several female candidates waging uphill battles against men who have raised considerably more money.

In the west San Fernando Valley, attorney Joyce Pearson and business owner Elizabeth Badger are in a six-person field looking to replace Councilman Dennis Zine. Pearson has raised nearly $90,000 for her campaign, according to the most recent reports. Her main opponent, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, collected nearly twice that amount during the same period.

In the east Valley, two women are running in a lopsided four-way race against former Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes. In the most recent fundraising reports, Fuentes had raised 10 times as much money as two of his opponents -- actress and community volunteer Krystee Clark and education activist Nicole Chase.

In south Los Angeles, Ana Cubas is facing seven male candidates. In a news conference Wednesday, she urged voters not to let the council become a male-only outpost of city government. “Do we want to go back to 1933?” she asked, pointing to a picture from that era in which not a single woman sits at the council's "horseshoe" of desks.

L.A. County honors World War II Marines who broke racial barriers

As part of Black History Month, Los Angeles County honored a group of U.S. Marines who broke down racial barriers.

About 20,000 black recruits were trained as Marines at Camp Montford Point in North Carolina during World War II. The U.S. House of Representatives awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to the Montford Point Marines in 2011.

Los Angeles County officials presented scrolls to members of the local chapter of the Montford Point Marines Assn. at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

Supervisor Don Knabe, who made the presentation, said the Marines "loyally served our nation in the face of prejudice and discrimination."

Montford Point Marines William "Jack" McDowell of Long Beach, 85, who served in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars during his 23-year career as a Marine, and Vaughan Whitworth, 88, of Los Angeles, who served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, accepted the award.

Association chapter president Larry E. Michael Johnson, who joined the Marine Corps in 1972, thanked the Montford Point Marines for paving the way for him.

"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be who I am today," he said.

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World War II internment site considered for historical status

The Los Angeles City Council has decided to review a World War II internment site for possible status as a historical monument, a move that could end up protecting Verdugo Hills Golf Course from residential development.

The council voted unanimously last week to approve the motion for the review. L.A. Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose district includes the golf course, introduced the motion, and the matter will now go to the Cultural Heritage Commission. The commission will recommend whether to designate the site a Historic-Cultural Monument.

Alarcon praised the council’s decision.

“I strongly believe that a housing development would be inconsistent with our goal to preserve the legacy of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station site,” Alarcon said in a statement, adding that the designation “would allow us to protect this important piece of our history.”

During World War II, the federal government converted the former Civilian Conservation Corps camp — where the golf course is now located — into the Tuna Canyon Detention Station.

The camp was “a gateway to internment” for civilians of Japanese, Japanese-Peruvian, Italian and German descent taken into custody after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, according to Alarcon's office.

Residents and several local officials have been trying for years to keep the golf course from being developed. The proposed development by Snowball West Investments would include 229 single-family homes, to be located on about 28 acres of the 58-acre golf course, with the rest of the land being converted to open space, according to the draft environmental impact report filed with the city of Los Angeles in 2009.

If the golf course were to be designated a historic site, demolition or alteration would require permits from the Cultural Heritage Commission.

At Tuesday’s meeting, attorney Fred Gaines, representing Snowball West, told the council that because the developer was already undertaking an environmental impact report, further review was unnecessary.

“This motion and this case is a complete waste of time,” he said. “You can have all of this process and waste all of this time and the city’s resources, [Snowball West’s] resources, to get to the same place you’re already at.”

Residents have previously tried to prevent development through failed attempts to rezone or buy the land outright with grants and government funding.

“This space must be preserved, documented and protected,” Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council representative Krystee Clark told the City Council. “It is important for the stories and the memories of the men who were detained here to be remembered.”

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Photo: A housing development is planned for the site of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course in Tujunga. Credit: Christina House / For The Times

City Beat: A Christmas tradition in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown

Each year in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown, people gather for the parol parade. 

Parols are star-shaped lanterns on bamboo poles. They represent the Star of Bethlehem.

On Friday night, about 80 people came to Burlington Nursery School on Burlington Avenue to assemble for the parade, which took them along Burlington Avenue to Temple Street, then down Mountain View Avenue to Beverly Boulevard and back to the school for a meal.

FULL COVERAGE: City Beat

A whole pig was roasted for the parade, which was organized by the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council. Lechón -- roast pork -- is a Filipino specialty. To keep warm on the cool, drizzly evening, people drank cups of salabat, a sweet ginger drink, and had bowls full of arroz caldo, a sort of Filipino chicken congee.

In the old days in the Philippines, most parols contained candles, said Cecile Ramos, who owns Burlington Nursery School and is president of the neighborhood council. People carried the parols to light their way across the fields to early Mass on the nine days before Christmas. 

The parols in parade in Los Angeles had electric lights, powered by battery packs.

Here's a look at the parols and the parade, which I sent out on Twitter: 

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As nation remembers Pearl Harbor, few recall local detention camp

As the nation commemorates the 71st anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Friday, local history enthusiasts are focused on a little piece of history near the Crescenta Valley where thousands of Japanese Americans and others were held for months after the devastating attack in 1941.

What is now Verdugo Hills Golf Course was once a detention station for thousands on their way to internment camps in Montana, North Dakota and New Mexico.

Recently released records at the National Archives and Records Center in Laguna Niguel acknowledged the existence of the camp for the first time, but local historian Lloyd Hitt said he’s been researching the station for years.

The Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management Committee next year is expected to discuss a motion submitted by City Councilman Richard Alcaron that the site be designated a historic and cultural monument.

Photos: The attack on Pearl Harbor | Local remembrance

From the camp’s opening until it closed in late 1943, roughly 2,560 people were processed there, Hitt said. Up to about 300 people at a time could be detained at the station — a barbed-wire enclosure with lights, seven barracks, an infirmary, a mess hall and office buildings.

There, armed guards processed individuals considered “enemy aliens” who had been taken into custody by the FBI on Dec. 16, 1941 — the same day the detention camp started operating. According to information Hitt has compiled, 75% of the detainees were of Japanese descent, with Italians and Germans mostly filling out the rest of the count.