Park Labrea News and Beverly Press - Our People Our Places - 70th Anniversary

Navigating the neighborhood

O

nce again it is our pleasure and privilege to dedicate our 70th anniversary special edition, “Our People, Our Places,” to our loyal readers and local citizens who have so richly contributed to our unique community.

Being only the third publishers of this 70-year-old community beacon, we consider it an honor to be at its helm. We never forget that the newspapers are really here for and at the service of the community. We are proud to be the caretakers of this public trust.

Over the years, we have worked hard to improve the newspapers and we are happy to report the papers are strong.

With an emphasis on hard news, we cover breaking news and events daily and even hourly on our state-of-the-art website. The hard copy is delivered every Thursday with our media partners, the Los Angeles Times.

The Park Labrea News and Beverly Press have continued to succeed because of YOU, our readers, who have supported this local newspaper since 1946. Its legacy lives on because you see the value in having a local voice. We tell the stories of our neighbors in the Miracle Mile, the Fairfax District, Hancock Park, Beverly Wilshire, Hollywood and West Hollywood. We do our best to keep you informed on the news and events happening in the community. We’re invested in you – and you are invested in us.

The newspaper has navigated through prosperous and lean times, through joyful celebrations and challenging moments. Thank you for your support. We look forward to continuing the legacy of your local newspaper for the next 70 years.

Michael and Karen Villalpando Publishers Dashing across Wilshire Boulevard for what’s next.

photo by Andrew Kitchen

On the cover Founded 1946 KAREN VILLALPANDO Editor & Publisher

MICHAEL VILLALPANDO CEO & Publisher

Contributing Writers: Gregory Cornfield, Edwin Folven, Daniel Langhorne,Tim Posada, Luis Rivas, Patricia Sanchez, Justin Sayles, Callie Webb, Jill Weinlein.

Proofreader: Susan de la Vergne The Park Labrea News & Beverly Press are weekly newspapers publishing since 1946.

“Our People, Our Places” 70th Anniversary Special Edition, April 2016 5150 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 330 P.O. Box 36036, Los Angeles, CA 90036 323.933.5518 • www.beverlypress.com 4 April 2016

Photographer extraordinaire, Andrew Kitchen, traveled the neighborhood, shooting iconic landmarks and a few offbeat spots too, compiling a photo album that reflects the colorful diversity of “Our Places.” His incredible photography is used throughout the magazine. Thank you, Andy, for your hard work, keen eye and determination to “get the shot.” See more of Andy’s work on Instagram @wanderingprints. photo by Michael Jilg Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

5 April 2016

LESSONS FROM THE BULLPEN

One Big Move Can Change Your Life

BY BRIAN BOYƒ

I

f you’re reading this right now, you’re probably used to having a weekly dose of local news appear on your doorstep every Thursday. You read the headlines to see what’s happening in the neighborhood. You may discover a new place to dine or scan Calendar for upcoming events. You probably recognize the bylines of reporters who expertly provide a local slant to city news.

You may even take all of this for granted.

It’s easy to do. Whether national or local, we expect to be kept abreast of the news. It’s all around us.

What you might not know is that the duo behind this newspaper took a lifechanging risk early in their careers to keep it alive. They took even more chances to grow it into a thriving publication that currently reaches 13,000 households in this community.

I know, because I was there. Shortly after Michael and Karen Villalpando left their successful big-city newspaper jobs in 1989, they took another leap of faith. They hired me: a kid with a one-month old journalism degree from the University of Texas. They were in start-up mode and so was I. If you ask my dad, they got me for a steal. But as the newspaper flourished, so did my paycheck. And my knowhow.

Five years ago they asked me to write a piece for the 65th anniversary edition of this newspaper. I talked about the lessons I learned from those early days in my career, most of which had to do with building relationships with people in this community. I had to befriend the local police captains so they’d let me dig through their records to create the Police Blotter. And I had to nurture contacts in City Hall so I could get the scoop on news that affected you.

Michael and Karen couldn’t have helped define a community and create a dialogue between you, your neighbors, city leaders and local businesses had they not gambled on a little news6 April 2016

paper 26 years ago. And had they not put their faith in me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So if you’ll allow me; these are the three things I learned about gambling from the Villalpandos.

GO BIG

I honed my editorial skills here for four great years. My goal, though, was to write for a national magazine. After I left this paper, I worked at an L.A.based magazine. A few years later, I quit that gig and moved to Manhattan.

I had no job, not much money and one big goal. When I speak to young journalists now, I tell them how I’d given myself about a month to land my dream job – which, at the time, was to be an editor at GQ. It didn’t matter that I landed in the Big Apple without connections; something I later learned was nearly as important as job skills. I didn’t yet know that thousands of young adults like me moved to the big city every year to compete for about a dozen editorial jobs. I’d seen Michael and Karen jump off the cliff and land on both feet. I figured I’d be fine.

If I knew then about the magazine business what I know now, I’d probably never have quit, moved or tried.

But I went by what I’d seen: two risktakers who built a business from practically nothing.

The short story about what happened to me was that I did not get that non-existent job at GQ. But I did get a great job handling the public relations and events for a Swiss watch brand. I spent two years learning the ropes and making as many friends in the magazine business as I could. My next job was working for a fashion trade publication and in 2000, I landed the position of fashion director at Men’s Health – the world’s largest men’s magazine – where I have happily been since.

No risk. No reward.

KEEP LEARNING

The last time I had a byline here, I

wrote about how anything is possible, even learning to design from scratch.

In 1990, I was hired here to be a writer, editor, photographer and designer. I even took classified ads when I needed to. I loved to do all of those things, but I had no clue how to design a newspaper.

I had a few weeks to figure it out before I started the job, and I did.

When I wrote the piece for the 65th Anniversary, I had just started to oversee social media for Men’s Health as part of my job. I used Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to share vacation photos or funny puppy videos, but I didn’t know how to manage them for work. Like my early days here, I was scrappy. I learned things by trial and error, and grew along the way.

Here’s the update: more than 10 million people follow Men’s Health across our social media accounts. It was a game-changer for the magazine.

More people visit our website via Facebook and Twitter than anywhere else – to the tune of about 14 million readers per month. We have a larger digital presence than all of our competitors…combined.

When people ask what I love most about my work, I tell them it’s that I continue to learn. That started here, in the pages of the newspaper you’re holding right now.

SHARE YOUR WISDOM

It’s never lost on me that this newspaper launched my career. I remember late nights at the office finalizing pages before we sent them off to be printed.

Or going to movie screenings – for free! It was my dream job. In the years since, I’ve done a lot of things I never thought I’d do, from working with guys like David Beckham and Matthew McConaughey to going to the runway shows in Paris and Milan.

And I’m always looking for ways I can help young people realize their dreams too.

During those early years of Park Labrea News and Beverly Press, Michael and Karen had two children.

We published special editions of the newspaper for their family and friends with front-page stories about the birth of their first daughter Emily and then, a few years later, Rebecca. A few years ago, in the ultimate full-circle moment, I hired Emily at Men’s Health to work with me as a junior editor while she was finishing her degree

in journalism from the University of Missouri.

I mentor young people year-round.

I employ a few – like Emily – and advise many others on how to break into an industry – whether it’s media or fashion – that’s notoriously hard to crack. Sometimes it’s something as simple as “Pick up the phone.” Teaching a generation that communicates via text and tweet to talk to people – in real life — is a bigger issue than I thought.

You can’t get what you want by playing it safe. Whether that’s making personal connections or fighting to be noticed, the most successful people I know are the ones who dared to be bold.

So take a page from the little newspaper that could.

What knowledge do you have that might be useful to someone else? How can you help your neighbors? We all have something that can make this community a better place. Acting on it may seem risky – but the pay-off can be huge.

And take nothing for granted. Not even the friendly faces that work hard to keep the community spirit alive in these pages.

Brian Boyé, Fashion Director for Men’s Health magazine, is the first editor we hired when we became publishers of the Park Labrea News in 1990. We are grateful for his column and proud to call him our friend.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Petersen Automotive Museum

Life in the fast lane

I

n December, the Petersen Automotive Museum re-engineered itself and unveiled a façade as sleek and sexy as a lightning fast sports car.

Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Bugatti, Cadillac and “Greased Lightning” have auto enthusiasts lining up to get a glimpse of these beauties.

People connect with certain vehicles for how they make you feel. Cars in movies, on racetracks, highways or back roads represent power, speed, style and class. Sometimes it’s about showing off, other times it’s about getting the job done or taking a family vacation. A car can be a tool for seemingly infinite transportation or an extension of who you are and what you’re doing. And everyone knows that feeling of driving YOUR car on the highway in the summer with the windows down.

A visit to the new Petersen gives

8 April 2016

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

you the same feeling as driving your first car or perhaps your dream car. It’s a destination for the car expert or the novice enthusiast. It’s romantic and elegant, flashy and classy. It looks to the future of automobiles while keeping a clear eye on the past in the rear view mirror. And considering Angelenos’ relationship with automobiles, the Petersen Automotive Museum is the city’s new flagship on Museum Row. “Southern California grew out, not up. And that’s because of the car,” said Peter Mullin, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, at the Petersen’s grand re-opening. “Every other major city grew up, we went out.

More than 150 manufacturers made cars in Los Angeles since the early 1900s. So this is truly a car capital of the world right here. Wilshire Boulevard is truly the center of Los Angeles.

The building we’re standing in is truly the entryway to Museum Row. So if

you could write the perfect script on a blank piece of paper, that’s what you’d write down.”

When the all-new Petersen reopened after a 14-month, $90 million renovation, it made more than a statement with a fiery red building and steel “ribbon” exterior. The Petersen’s redesign also signaled the beginning of a decade of complete transformation of Museum Row. In the next eight years, the Academy Museum and LACMA will follow the Petersen with new facilities on Wilshire Boulevard.

“If you look at the progression of the major transformations that are in play for Museum Row, you could say – excuse the pun – that the starting flag has dropped,” said Adam Langsbard, chief marketing officer for the Petersen.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates designed the new building, and Langsbard said it was the first submitted proposal that developed from a casual conversation and quickly became a reality.

But the redesign brought so much more than a sleek exterior.

The transformation inside, from department store

photos by Andrew Kitchen

to state-of-the-art car sanctuary, has set a new standard for the museum model and experience.

“One of the things that we wanted to hit was to live up to the moniker of ‘ultimate automotive experience,’” Langsbard said. “Museum experiences are traditionally very passive.

It’s a slow saunter around an object and then you share your opinion and discuss. Instead, we want to give you as much touch and feel as possible.

And it’s very visual.”

A visit to the Petersen is unique and unlike a typical museum visit. It matches the best experiences found in a car: cool, fast, sexy, powerful, elegant, beautiful, and most of all fun.

Visitors remember why they fell in love with cars in the first place when they see Steve McQueen’s green 1956 Jaguar XKSS. Turn around from McQueen’s car, and you see one of the less-promoted treasures of the museum – a collection of past photos of Petersen staff members posing with the first cars that made them fall in love with the industry.

“What we want to celebrate is the everyman of automobiles,” Langsbard said. “You don’t have to walk in here with a boat load of knowledge. If your idea of car enthusiasm is driving with the top down, we’ve got that for you too. You could be into racing, history, art deco cars, alternative power, you could be into cars that are art.”

The touch and feel aspect is seen throughout the museum. Every floor has a signature exhibit with a video component and elements that Langsbard said would not have been found in the old museum. For example, at one exhibit, visitors can check out the latest Ford GT – the same model that will be used in the world-famous 24

See Petersen page 10

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“If you look at the progression of the major transformations that are in play for Museum Row, you could say ...the starting flag has dropped.”

Adam Langsbard, Petersen chief marketing officer

Hours of Le Mans race in France this year. Then on the same floor, you can sit behind the wheel of that same model in the Forza Motorsport 6 racing simulator, where visitors can race each other on the Le Mans track. At the motorsports exhibit, visitors are virtually transported to a day at the racetrack, with perspectives of the fans, crews and drivers on an immersive 134-foot, 180-degree projection wall that makes you feel the race fly by. The interactive Pixar “Cars” Mechanical Institute uses augmented reality to teach children how cars work on “CARSpad” tablets. Visitors can design and race their own virtual cars as they move throughout the galleries on the second floor. There are exhibits that break down the entire process of manufacturing a modern car, from raw materials to the finished product. At the Roeder-Harman Gallery, visitors learn that every car on the road represents the work of thousands of individuals.

Designers, engineers,

marketers and more all work in concert to produce today’s automobile and visitors can hear their stories with interactive video displays. The second floor is also where visitors can view automotive students from the Art Center College of Design Studio sketch and mold models at a satellite teaching space.

The new features of ultimate automotive experience have caught on quick. Langsbard said after approximately 115 days, more than 145,000 people visited the revamped destination. The Petersen also set a new single day record with more than 3,400 people – more than double the attendance of the previous building’s best day.

“It’s truly been phenomenal,” Langsbard said. “We have been better received by the public than we ever could have imagined.”

The new museum is also seeing broader audiences and wider demographics. The old museum was geared toward the “car junkie,” while the new

photo by Gregory Cornfield

The silver 1933 Duesenberg at the Petersen is part of the visitor-favorite Precious Metal display – an exhibit valued at more than $120 million.

museum is attracting families, school field trips and people visiting on their own. But that’s not to say it isn’t heaven for motor heads.

If the cars in the exclusive and legendary vault – hidden below the Petersen’s main floor – could talk they’d spin tales of presidents, celebrities and more. The Petersen’s vault houses over 120 rare and legendary vehicles, making a tour feel like a visit to the

photo by Gregory Cornfield

The 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic at the Petersen greets visitors at the Rolling Sculptures exhibit. The exhibit shows how a small number of coach builders and aspiring designers created car bodies that embraced artistic principles after automobiles became commonplace.

10 April 2016

Petersen 2.0 with the purchase of an additional ticket.

“The Petersen is home to over 400 vehicles, some are part of the permanent collection and many more are on loan from private collectors, museums and manufacturers around the world,” said executive director of the Petersen, Terry Karges. “Even after the renovation when we opened up the third floor as a display space, we only have room for 135 cars on display in the museum.

That leaves over 300 vehicles we cannot display in the museum – all with incredible stories that need telling. Our new vault experience will take visitors on private tours led by gifted storytellers, where they can walk the aisles and see 125 of the best cars from the collection in our secure underground facility. It’s quite an experience.”

The vault includes a 1952 Hudson Wasp originally owned by actor Steve McQueen, a 24-karat gold-plated DeLorean, several head-of-state cars including the Chrysler Imperial that served President Eisenhower, a variety of movie and television “star cars,” and the largest gathering of “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” award winners in history, including a 1964 Porsche 901 and 1952 Ferrari 212/225 Barchetta. While visitors gather around some of the best cars in the world in the vault, mechanics are also working on new additions to the collection or refurbishing classics so they are ready for the showrooms upstairs or off-campus car shows, and they are

See Petersen page 129 Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

New players take center stage at

The Wallis

BY JUSTIN SAYLES

P

ositioning itself to become a civic hub for the Beverly Hills community and an artistic focal point for the Los Angeles region as a whole, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has opened its next act with two new dynamic players playing leading roles.

Rachel Fine and Paul Crewes began as the Wallis’ executive director and artistic director respectively in late 2015. Both have deep roots in the artistic community and hope to bolster the two-and-a-half-year-old performing arts center.

Fine took over for outgoing executive director Tania Camargo in November after five years as executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and establishing the organization as orchestra-in-residence for the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA. In the Wallis, Fine is inheriting stewardship of a small, but growing, arts organization. Its 2015-2016 season was expected to bring in 50,000 patrons – up from 44,000 in the previous season.

To set itself on a path leading to further growth among patrons and donors, the Wallis will rely in part on its diverse performance offerings, Fine said.

“That stage could be big enough for 1,000 seats or 1,500 seats.

You’ve got 500 seats.

That’s very intimate.”

Paul Crewes Artistic Director

12 April 2016

David Finkel and Wu Han performed at The Wallis.

“Programming drives everything,” she said. “When you have outstanding programming and outstanding artists – and distinctive programming and artists – that’s the first step.”

Much of that programming responsibility will fall to United Kingdom theater veteran Paul Crewes, whom Fine describes as a “visionary.”

Crewes came on as the Wallis’ first artistic director in October. In April, he relocated to Los Angeles from Great Britain, where he spent the past 11 years in creative executive capacities at Kneehigh Theatre Group.

Kneehigh, an international touring company, offered Crewes great perspective and insight into the performance community. The group toured Europe, Australia and across the United States.

That U.S. trip included a 2013 stop at the Wallis with Kneehigh’s production of “Brief Encounter.” Though still in its infancy at the time, the cen-

ter struck a chord with Crewes immediately.

“It was fantastic, and I just remember falling in love with the space and the location,” he said. “It’s surreal that two and a half years later I am returning to work here.”

Crewes said he sees Los Angeles as a vibrant, growing arts community. In particular, Beverly Hills is an area ripe for a civic and artistic center, he said. While the past and current performances at the Wallis have worked towards that goal, he said the center has a chance to further bring people together. “[The arts] create a community environment,” Crewes said. “I think it can have a galvanizing effect.”

That opportunity to be part of the Beverly Hills community harkens back to the site’s original use.

Located at the corner of North Canyon Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard, the building originally

photo courtesy of The Wallis

served as the Beverly Hills Post Office. Dedicated in 1936, it served civic functions beyond what its name suggested, housing meetings and encounters of sorts, allowing local residents to meet and share gossip and for children to purchase newspapers and candy.

The U.S. Postal Service opted to get rid of the property in 1991, deeming it outdated. Almost immediately, planning started for a performing arts and education center.

Over the course of the next 20-plus years, a number of civic, arts and philanthropic figures contributed to the center’s creation. Chief among them was Wallis Annenberg, namesake of the center and daughter of the late publisher and ambassador Walter H. Annenberg.

The Annenberg Foundation – a family trust created in 1989 to support arts, social justice and environmental

See Wallis page 14 Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo courtesy of The Wallis

programs –granted $25 million to support the construction project, which lasted approximately 10 years and cost an estimated $70 million.

Designed by Studio Pali Fekete’s Zoltan Pali – architect of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – the Wallis opened in October 2013.

The site includes the Goldsmith Theater, the smaller Lovelace Studio Theater and a sculpture garden.

Fine and Crewes both describe the space as “intimate.” For Crewes in particular, the 500-seat Goldsmith Theater represents a unique programming opportunity, however the stage is large, he said. But because of the size of theater, the Wallis has to try to not be “too ambitious with the scale of work” while also bringing in performances that excite patrons.

“That stage could be big enough for 1,000 seats or 1,500 seats,” Crewes said. “You’ve got 500 seats.

That’s very intimate.”

The center’s education area, dubbed GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education, is one of the key ways the Wallis is connecting with its neighborhood and Los Angeles at large. Fine credits Director of Education Mark Slavkin, who, after only one year in his position, has worked to grow existing programs and create new ones to benefit school-aged children.

Education initiatives include courses such as “The Art of Choreography,” “The Art of the Small Ensemble – classical music and jazz” and “Songwriting for the Theater.” Additionally, GRoW offers a Master Classes program that allows access to visiting artists such as Arturo Sandoval and Suzanne Farrell.

Partnerships have helped create other educational programs, such as the Wallis Student Arts Reporters pro14 April 2016

gram, a collaboration with the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle designed for students interested in journalism.

Fine said that roughly 10,000 students will visit the center in 2016, a figure that includes students from Beverly Hills and the region at large.

In addition to outreach, the center is constantly striving to improve its reputation by offering quality, diverse programming, Fine said. That’s reflected in the 2015-16 season, which offered an array of music and theater performances such as The Jerusalem Quartet, “An Evening with Peter Sellars” and “The Revisionist,” an offBroadway production by Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg.

Fine and Crewes said they can’t reveal details on the upcoming season before it is announced on May 4.

But both said that the programming will reflect a willingness to tap local artistic resources through collaborations with Los Angelesbased artists and institutions. Crewes also noted that future programming could include traveling companies from across the United States and abroad, an experience he is familiar with from his time Kneehigh.

“I’m hoping that the work that we will bring next season will be supported by the core audience,” Crewes said. “But also, I’m hoping that it will attract some new, more diverse audiences to come to the Wallis and … try it out.”

The strategic plan to attract new patrons and donors begins with strong leadership, Fine said. While a lot of that direction comes from Crewes and her, she said that the center’s board of directors plays a large role as well.

Philanthropist and technological en-

Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts

trepreneur David C. Bohnett, a longtime Beverly Hills resident, leads the board after taking over as chairman in November 2015.

“Having very strong leaders in all of the positions who are aligned ... is critical,” Fine said.

Los Angeles presents unique opportunities for a nascent arts hub, she said. The center can position itself as a premier cultural attraction in not only Beverly Hills, but also in the region.

As a sign of an increasing patron base, Fine points to the growing variety of zip codes where ticket buyers live who are attending Wallis performances. Anecdotally, she speaks about a conversation she had with visitors from Laguna Beach following a March performance by violinist Jennifer Koh as further evidence.

However, the Los Angeles area also poses challenges for an arts organizations looking to establish itself. Not only is the Wallis competing with other performing arts venues, it also has to compete with sports teams and other entertainment options for people’s attention and disposable income.

All this comes at a time when technological advances have made entertainment options portable and easily accessed through smartphones and other devices. Fine said that she’s all for technology, but thinks that what the Wallis is offering is “becoming more rare.”

“We’re here to be a vibrant and relevant resource for the community,”

Fine said. “Ultimately, what we want to do is offer transformative experiences that people cannot have anywhere else.”

Twyla Tharp

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Ebell of Los Angeles 112 years of service, philanthropy and education

S

etting a foundation for women’s empowerment, the Ebell of Los Angeles has enriched women’s lives since it was founded in 1894 by the Parsons Sisters in their downtown cottage. The club was named after Adrian John Ebell, a German educator and staunch proponent of education for women at the time.

Known as the Misses Parsons, the sisters believed education is a right and women, who were excluded from universities in the late 1800s, should have the resources needed to expand their education. The club initially formed study groups and distributed educational materials. The membership flourished, numbering around 2,500 in the early days.

In the early 1920s, the leadership began looking for a larger home and settled on an undeveloped parcel at the corner of Wilshire and Lucerne boulevards. The 70,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance-style building was con-

16 April 2016

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

structed in 1927, and the club began operating much in the same way it does today.

“I think we have still had the same mission over the years that was established by the original founders. It was service, philanthropy and education,” said Laura Cohen, director of membership for the Ebell of Los Angeles.

“The club served the purpose of educating them, it served as a social center and was a center for philanthropy in helping the community.”

The Wilshire Ebell Theatre, adjacent to the club’s building, was built with 1,270 seats as a venue for musical performances and academic lectures – a role it still serves today.

The Ebell of Los Angeles’ building features an art salon and study rooms where women did research and made presentations.

“The Ebell art salon was the first real art gallery in Los Angeles when the building opened,” Cohen said.

“We still have programs addressing history the same way, whether it’s L.A. history or larger history.”

One of the most famous speakers at the Ebell of Los Angeles, aviator Amelia Earhart, spoke at the club about her adventures flying around the world on April 7, 1937. No one could have known it would be one of her last public speaking experiences. Earhart – the famed pilot who was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean – disappeared on July 2, 1937 over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to circumnavigate the world.

Another famous female icon performed at the club as a child.

“My understanding is

photos by Edwin Folven

The Ebell is looking for younger women to join their philanthropic club.

Judy Garland was discovered on the stage of the Ebell Theater,” Cohen said. “As a child, she had a lot of performances here.”

Philanthropy was a big part of the club’s mission, and during World War II its members sprang into action. The club supported the Red Cross with blood drives and held dances for soldiers on leave or returning home from overseas.

“Everyone wanted to do something to help,” Cohen noted, adding that the club’s terrace was covered during the war so it was blacked out to enemy aircraft.

The Ebell’s educational and philanthropic programs continued over the following decades, but membership diminished. At one point, the club’s membership was in the low hundreds, Cohen said.

Increasing membership has been at the forefront of the Ebell’s mission.

Cohen said their goal is to bring the number back to 500.

“That’s a milestone, because we haven’t [achieved] 500 for a while,” she added. “We are doing a lot of outreach. We are trying to promote the Ebell as timeless and timely. It’s not just the wonderful history. We do programs on current affairs, issues of Los Angeles and issues of the world.”

The Ebell held a program in February for Black History Month with author Susan D. Anderson, who has written about the history of African American families in Los Angeles. In January, the club held a dinner with Italian winemakers who shared their expertise. Other recent programs include a discussion on women in film.

“The programs are things that are pertinent and of interest to women,” Cohen said. “I organized a screening of a movie on feminism in the 1960s.

On May 9, we will have a speaker on stunt women and their untold Hollywood story.”

The Ebell leases its iconic building for filming and special events such as weddings, corporate meetings and community gatherings. In 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke before a packed house at the Ebell Theater during a re-election campaign event for Sen. Barbara Boxer.

The Greater Wilshire neighborhood council and Wilshire Rotary also meet in the building. The money raised from private events goes directly toward philanthropy and educational events. The Ebell of Los Angeles grants more than $100,000 each year to women’s charities. More than $100,000 in scholarships are provided annually for students. Ebell members also hold a monthly potluck at Alexandria House, a women’s shelter, and support Helen’s Room at Good Samaritan Hospital, which helps women diagnosed with cancer.

Cohen said the Ebell plans to continue serving the community and will remain dedicated to its founding mission. She encouraged all women who want to become more involved with the community come see what the Ebell has to offer.

“We are always welcoming new members,” she said. “When you join the Ebell, you make a lot of friends.

You are part of something, you are part of Los Angeles history. And hopefully, you’ll be part of its future.”

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

LACMA M

Govan’s transparent vision for

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

ichael Govan’s office at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art looks onto Wilshire Boulevard. Every day, the museum director can see the proverbial obstacle that he plans to hurdle with an ambitious renovation project. Since Govan can’t part the sea of traffic, LACMA will bridge the museum over the iconic corridor to the south side of the street.

It will cap a decade of massive reimagining for Museum Row and the Miracle Mile, following the Petersen Automotive Museum’s $90 million renovation, the addition of the Academy Museum and the Metro Purple Line Extension set to open at the same time that LACMA reopens in 2023. All of which is at or near the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.

But Govan knows that expanding the art museum means more than a new look for the corridor. The changes will mean as much to the city’s art and culture status as they will to the Miracle Mile.

Sixteen years after a renovation attempt failed due to lack of funding, the conditions and details of LACMA’s plans have changed as much as the city’s reputation for producing, preserving and developing art. While it may have been inaccurate to call Los Angeles an art destination decades ago, Govan and LACMA are improving that reputation as much as their buildings. And the renovation may be Govan’s Los Angeles magnum opus to help secure the city’s distiction as an art capital of the world.

After talking for a few minutes with Govan – a 52-year-old Hancock Park resident – it is clear that he wants to create something remarkable for Los Angeles that will reinvent the museum experience.

But if you talked to the same man a few decades ago, that would not have been the case.

“Since I was a kid I wanted to be an artist, so I would draw and paint all the time, and I always thought that that’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “I would visit museums – it was funny – I liked art but I didn’t like museums. I always thought that some of the big museums were stuffy and unfriendly, like a lot of people do. But I liked art so I had a lot of exposure to art and museums.”

Govan studied art at Williams College in Massachusetts – often considered the best liberal arts college in the country. He worked at the Williams College Museum of Art “doing everything from screwing in light bulbs, to making and curating exhibitions, to helping oversee a building [redevelopment] project.”

“Once you have that experience … that’s kind of how I got into museums,” he said.

photo by Catherine Opi

For a year, Govan attended graduate school in San Diego and became acquainted with Los Angeles when he visited art exhibitions and galleries. In 1986, LACMA opened the Art of the Americas Building on the southeast side of its campus – which currently houses Govan’s office.

“I remember when this building opened,” he said. “I did not like it. I thought it was not a wholly conceived project. I only learned later from (former LACMA director) Rusty Powell that the project here was never even finished.”

Powell left to direct of the National Gallery in Washington D.C. before the project was complete.

“It seemed out of date already,” he said. “It was a practical issue of the museum of that time, but it needed more space and there was no space to build because of the Tar Pits, Wilshire Boulevard and Ogden [Drive]. So the only place they could build is right where we’re sitting. …The circumstances that they had to expand weren’t ideal.”

Govan left San Diego when he was offered a job as a deputy director to help renovate the The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, or The Guggenheim, in New York City. During his time there, Govan had a lot of exposure to Los Angeles thanks to his work with legendary architect Frank Gehry on the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain – one of the most architecturally stunning museums in the world.

In 1994, Govan moved to the Dia Art Foundation where he led the creation of the Dia:Beacon – a modern art museum on the Hudson River in Beacon, New York. During Govan’s 12 years as director and president of Dia, the museum’s collection doubled in size.

Govan was very happy in New York. He was planning a new museum where the Whitney Museum of American Art is now in Manhattan when Nancy Daly Riordan, the wife of former Mayor Richard Riordan, and other LACMA trustees were “insistent” that Govan consider L.A. first.

But when first offered the job, Govan – the man who is now re-sculpting the city’s biggest museum and possibly its art reputation – balked at the opportunity.

He didn’t want to take the job, but he promised he would consider the “big, big, big risk.”

“I think the common perspective was that Los Angeles – it has a lot of artists – but the feeling was there wasn’t a lot of cultural philanthropy,” Govan said.

“There was this question about whether L.A. had the wherewithal.”

See Govan page 20

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

GOVAN

building bridges to secure LACMA’s future He pointed to fundraising efforts for projects like MOCA and Walt Disney Concert Hall that “really struggled” to raise enough money. And in 2000 when LACMA planned to rebuild the campus, the project failed because of a lack of funding.

But after three “really painful” months of consideration, Govan decided to take the cross-country leap for “the same thing that gets everybody to L.A.” “It’s the city of the future,” he said. “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can be.”

And what it is now is not too bad either, he said, because despite a lack of philanthropy, the city was and is an incredibly diverse art community.

One of the persuading elements was that the city and LACMA – which last year celebrated its 50th birthday – are comparably very young when listed with cities like New York or London.

“In 2020, I think, the Metropolitan Museum in New York will celebrate their 150th birthday. So you think about a century and how much happens in a century and how young this place is,” Govan said. “The thrill was that it’s a young place and its future is open. I think that’s what brings everybody to L.A. There’s a lot of creative people who are very invested in the future, not in prestige for the sake of it, but for what can be done.”

Govan also learned to love LACMA’s location.

“I remember wandering around, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is right in the middle of this giant metropolis. This location is awesome, just being equidistant from Hollywood and the 10 Freeway between downtown and the Westside. It’s kind of right in the middle of everything,” Govan said. “So I know L.A. has no center, but if it were to, metaphorically and physically, this is where it should be located. And that was before I knew the subway would stop here.”

He admitted it may sound like heresy to some Angelenos, but he found Los Angeles to be very similar to New York City.

“These are two big, giant, multicultural, complicated cities filled with artists and ambitious people. One’s the gateway to Europe, one’s the gateway to the West. In some ways they function for the nation like bookends to two worlds – one more to the past and to the power of Europe and sort of 18th and 19th century perspectives, and then one that is clearly this side, clearly oriented toward the new world.”

Govan said when he moved to L.A. in 2006, LACMA was an underutilized resource. But space and architecture have allowed the museum to bring in much higher quality art exhibitions. The Broad Contemporary Art Museum added 60,000 square feet of gallery space to the campus in 2008. The Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, an open-plan building designed to adapt to a rotating slate of exhibitions, added another 40,000 square feet in 2010. The open air BP Grand Entrance hosts Ray’s and Stark Bar at the center of the museum’s campus.

Monumental works of art, such as Chris Burden’s “Urban Light,” Michael Heizer’s “Levitated Mass,” Robert Irwin’s “Palm Gardens,” Barbara Kruger’s “Untitled,” and Tony Smith’s “Smoke” have become iconic.

Govan said it’s only now, three decades after Rusty Powell’s expansion, after the removal of Ogden Drive and the 1994 acquisition of the May Company Building, that LACMA has created a campus plan “that really works.”

“We’re in between now,” he said.” I think we’re in this growth and change mode because we have done a lot of work, we have opened the exterior, the plazas, the gardens, the large sculpture. We’ve worked very hard to make it friendlier, easier, more integrated with the park and public space.”

LACMA also reversed a trend under Govan’s direction by producing more exhibitions than it takes in.

“We’re trying to, in a way, export the California perspective and the Los An20 April 2016

geles perspective by designing and organizing more shows here and traveling them throughout the world rather than be a venue for shows from elsewhere,” Govan said. “So we can create not just a brand but a point of view and an intellectual point of view of what it means to look at the art history from Los Angeles.”

He said part of that L.A. brand will come from creating a view that is distinctive from other museums in other cities to produce an identity that’s appropriate to Angelenos.

“Los Angeles is a powerful, creative place,” Govan said. “It shouldn’t be making apologies to any other city in terms of its creative energy, the art that’s made here and the way we look at the world.”

LACMA emphasizes California artists, and its commitment to Asian and Korean art has more than quadrupled since Govan’s arrival. The museum has also expanded exhibition space for movies and film.

“One of our most landmark shows was ‘California Design.’ Before we did that show, everybody said, ‘What’s California Design? Is that even a category?’”

Govan said. “And thanks to Wendy Kaplan and that team and that show, it’s a category now. And that show has traveled the world now. Now everybody knows what California Design is. There’s a lot of pride in that.”

Govan’s and LACMA’s success over the past 10 years is unmistakable and indisputable. Since he took over in 2006, attendance and gallery space have doubled, and the museum added 30,000 new works of art to its collection. He has built a reputation as one of the city’s best fundraisers, and his name is sometimes paired in headlines with celebrities, world-renowned art directors, artists or architects.

See Govan page 118

photo by Andrew Kitchen

Eli Broad the man the mission the art

T

here’s reason to believe that Eli Broad would have succeeded in every industry in which he tried his hand.

The evidence started to gather in the 1950s when, at 20 years old, he became the youngest CPA in Michigan history – a record that stood until 2010. His first CPA career didn’t last long, though. A couple of years later, Broad partnered with a Donald Kaufman in Detroit on an idea to streamline homebuilding by eliminating basements, and the Kaufman & Broad model was born – giving young families on a budget a better opportunity to own a home. The company expanded to Arizona and then to Southern California and other major cities around the country. It was the first homebuilding company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and it became a Fortune 500 company. Broad then bought SunLife insurance company in 1971 and turned it into a retirement savings firm, SunAmerica, which also became a Fortune 500 company and sold for $18 billion in 1999.

While the two powerhouse companies in separate industries were achieving success, Broad and his wife, Edythe, developed a fascination for art, a love of Los Angeles, and the goal to share them both with the world. The Broads collected thousands of art pieces and set out to share them with as many people as possible. Since moving to Los Angeles, the two art aficionados helped found the Museum of Contemporary Art, spearheaded the campaign to fund the Walt Disney Concert Hall project, donated $60 million to LACMA to build the Broad Contemporary Art Museum in 2008, 22 April 2016

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD and constructed the new Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles which opened last year to share their personal art collection. The two have directly helped to reshape Grand Avenue, and their museum has already enjoyed great success. The Broads have done more for Los Angeles than most elected officials ever dream of.

(Although, it helps that Broad’s net worth, according to Forbes, is similar to Mayor Eric Garcetti’s city budget proposals).

Needless to say, the Broads have been in the zone for six decades. Yet, when discussing his legacy earlier this year at the offices of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation on the 30th floor of an office building in Century City, it was surprising when Broad

changed the subject entirely.

“Scientific and medical research,” he answered, skipping over Kaufman & Broad or SunAmerica or his new museum. He pointed to the work he and Edythe have been able to accomplish because of those successful companies.

Broad has jumped industries as often as bullpen pitchers change uniforms. After being a CPA, homebuilder, retirement provider, art cognoscente and advocate, he has moved on to his next endeavor: philanthropist. His mission is to contribute to the public good, and his foundation focuses on – and has invested billions of dollars into – public education, science and medical research, and providing access to the

best art in the world.

“When I look at all the things we’ve done,” he said, “science and medical research with stem cell centers both at UCLA and USC, and UC San Francisco, and the Broad Institute which is number one in the world now for scientific research, we feel good about that.”

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has donated more than $800 million to scientific and medical research – Broad said it is the area of philanthropy that gives them the most hope and greatest joy, especially when he can see the effect it has around the world in real time. For example, the Broad Institutes of MIT and Harvard helped decode the Ebola genome that led to major advances in how quickly

and accurately doctors in Sierra Leone were able to diagnose and treat the deadly disease.

After science and medical research, Broad pointed to their goal of advancing and improving public education.

Eli and Edythe both attended public schools in Detroit where they were first exposed to the arts at the Detroit Institute of the Arts. They have spent the last 16 years trying to improve the public school systems nationwide after seeing the United States drop in the public education rankings. Their mission is to ensure every student in an urban public school has the opportunity to succeed.

“We feel good about what we’ve done in education reform here and elsewhere,” he said. The Broads started working on education reform in 1999, and believe that urgent, bold reforms are necessary to produce dramatically better student achievement.

The Broads have invested more than $650 million to improve America’s public schools since 1999 and are working to find different ways to further incentivize the public school system. After seeing academic improvements throughout the charter systems, they made the controversial decision to also invest more than $144 million in developing high-quality public charter management organizations.

“Public schools played such a vital role in our lives, and we have a deep commitment to give the same solid foundation to the millions of students who today attend public schools,” he said.

Finally, Broad pointed to their contributions to the arts.

While traveling on business trips Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

with Eli, Edythe roamed galleries and acquired art, which then captured Eli’s interest in the 1970s. By 1980, the Broads were enamored with modern works of social and political art. During Eli’s New York business trips, the couple visited gallery shows and studios of artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. They have been collecting art for more than 50 years and started the Broad Art Foundation in 1984 with the mission of sharing as much art as they could with as many people as possible.

“And because art of our time reflects many thought-provoking social, political, cultural and racial issues, we

clusive, Los Angeles embraces people from all walks of life. This museum’s collection is our gift to Los Angeles.”

Broad said the museum has already seen two-and-a-half times the attendance they thought it would. In March, museum administrators announced that more than 410,000 people visited The Broad in its first six months.

“It’s incredible,” he said. Broad originally expected an annual attendance of approximately 300,000.

The Broads asked six architects to submit ideas for their museum in 2010, and picked a design by Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Ren-

“And because art of our time reflects many thought-provoking social, political, cultural and racial issues, we knew that contemporary art was what we wanted to collect and share with the public.”

Eli Broad knew that contemporary art was what we wanted to collect and share with the public,” he said.

They have collected 2,000 works of art and last year found a way to share it all. They opened the new Broad Museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles – a permanent home for their collection, which includes works from artists like Joseph Beuys, Cindy Sherman, Mike Kelley and Andy Warhol. To improve accessibility, The Broad offers free admission.

“We want as many people as possible to have access to the museum and the art within,” Broad said when the museum opened in September.

“Where other cities are insular and ex-

fro. The exterior has been compared to everything from a sponge to a cheese grater to a honeycomb. But to the architects, it’s the veil over a vault. The veil is the white “porous exoskeleton” that allows natural light into the galleries. It covers the 35,000 square feet of gallery space and the rest of the collection stored in the vault. Visitors can peek at the vault as they travel up in the museum’s glass elevator, or from the stairs or escalator.

Works like Jeff Koons’ 12-foot-tall blue “Balloon Dog” and Ragnar Kjartaanson’s “The Visitors” – a 64minute, nine-screen video of musicians playing and singing, one to each screen, perfectly synchronized –

have attracted visitors from around the world.

Some of the draw comes from artworks that keep visitors talking even after they leave the building, as they discuss how unique and creative that 64-minute video is or how different the 82-foot “In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” is compared to what other museums offer.

“We have worked to create a unique visitor experience so that the widest cross-section of the public – of every age and with a knowledge level of contemporary art ranging from novice to expert – can connect with the collection and the architecture, engage in dialogue and have an enjoyable and educational experience when they visit The Broad,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director at the museum.

Broad said one of the best parts is reaching young audiences. According to the museum’s directors, 70 percent of the museum’s guests are under the age of 34.

“Edye and I could not be more pleased that The Broad is attracting a wide, young audience, which we think makes sense because contemporary art reflects the time in which we live,” Broad said. “We want the public to have access to art, and we hope that by presenting dynamic exhibitions in addition to the permanent collection, people will want to visit again and again.”

The millennial generation relates to the art because it reflects their time and is even something they can remember. Visitors don’t connect with centuries-old, paint-on-canvass works in the same way they do with works at The Broad, which include striking 23 April 2016

Broad continues to endow Los Angeles scenes of law enforcement during the 2014 Ferguson riots.

Combine relatability with exhibits like Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored” – an experiential mirror-lined chamber with hypnotizing LED lights, which has become one of the most Intagrammed spots in L.A. – and other galleries that visitors can attach to their social media accounts. It’s a recipe that appeals to people in the crowd who want to take photos and selfies with the art.

“We want to be very different than any other museum,” Broad said. “We want it to be a very friendly place, a very welcoming place, and we want to have a very interesting piece of architecture, and have it be a great experience.”

The Broads are also continuing their goal of spreading art throughout the world.

“We’ve made over 8,000 loans to over 500 institutions,” Broad said. “We’re going to continue to do that, headquartered at our museum.”

Broad said they still have the same passion that inspired them years ago, and the couple still attends auctions each year for art.

“We’re still adding to the collection,” he said. “Not as rapidly as we did in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But we’re keeping it fresh and looking at some young, very accomplished artists.”

The Broad Museum probably would have found success anywhere, but fortunately the Broads picked Los Angeles. It’s their home, and a place they have adored as much as they have the art world. Broad said he moved to Los Angeles in 1963 for business, but discovered a lot more.

“We were very impressed with the cultural activities here in Los Angeles,” Broad said. “And we saw Los Angeles as a true meritocracy, where if one has good ideas they can accomplish quite a bit. It’s a very open society here. A lot of opportunities business-wise, and civic-wise.”

From his time with Kaufman & Broad to his success with his new museum, Broad has also seen Los Angeles change as much as his portfolio.

“We’ve become one of four major cultural capitals in the world – together with Paris, London, New York – both in the visual arts, and we’ve got great museums,” Broad said. “We actually have more contemporary art museum space than any city in the world. Of course, in the performing arts, no one has a better symphony or symphony hall and a great opera. We actually have more theatrical productions than in New York or London, although it’s more spread out, admittedly.”

He also marveled at the great artists that Los Angeles and California have produced, mentioning names like John Baldessari, Mark Bradford, Mark Rojan and many more natives.

“Look, Los Angeles has the best art schools in America – UCLA, USC, Arts Center College, CalArts. And we’ve got artists that are world-famous … more so than any other city,” he said. “We’ve become really the contemporary art capital of the world.”

And the Broads played a direct role in making that happen, as they were catalysts to the renaissance occurring downtown. Broad helped found the Grand Avenue Committee to bring together county and city leaders around the common goal of revitalizing the downtown area and strengthening Los Angeles as a cultural capital of the world.

“Our heart is on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles,” Broad said.

The new museum is just the latest addition the Broads have made in restoring downtown. Today, Grand Avenue is also home to the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Disney Hall, MOCA and Grand Park – some of the top architectural achievements located in Los Angeles. And much of it was directly thanks to Broad – he was a founding chairman of MOCA, and he helped raise $225 million with former Mayor Richard Riordan to fund the Walt Disney Concert Hall project.

“Look at Grand Avenue, if you go back 20 years, even before Staples [Center], people said no one is going to go downtown,” Broad said. “Now, I think the population downtown is going to dramatically increase year by year. More young people want to go downtown.”

Broad admitted part of all his success over the decades comes from being a 24 April 2016

bit of a workaholic.

“I’m a pretty hard worker, and I’m very intense about what I do,” he said. “I always have a thirst for knowledge. I read four newspapers a day. I don’t go home without something to read or something to do.”

When your name is included on the Forbes list of most successful businessmen, though, people start to ask for advice. Broad revealed some more of his secrets in his book, “The Art of Being Unreasonable.”

“I try to defy conventional wisdom and not just follow conventional thinking,” he said. “We’re always looking for new ideas and new thoughts. You get a lot of that by reading four newspapers a day and meeting other bright people and the fascinating people out there.”

The Broads and their foundation will certainly continue to add to their list of successes for decades to come, especially considering they were two of the first signees of the Giving Pledge, committing to give 75 percent of their net worth away during or after their lifetimes. To date, The Broad Foundation has invested more than $4 billion in education, science and the arts.

Perhaps soon Mr. Broad would like to add a fifth newspaper to his repertoire … may we suggest the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press? photos in this story: Eli and Edythe Broad, photo by Elizabeth Daniels The Broad Museum, photo by Iwan Baan The Broad Installation, with Jeff Koons’ “Tulips” and Christopher Wool’s “Untitled” mural, photo by Bruce Damonte

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

A life in the booth

nearly as much as they are today, except for college football games on Saturdays. And on those days, Scully remembers taking a pillow and crawling under the radio.

“My head would be directly under the loud speaker,” he said. “And I was enthralled, not by the game, but by the roar of the crowd. It would wash over me like water coming out of a showerhead. Each week, I would look forward to hearing the crowd. Then I started to dream that I would be in the crowd. Then I started to think, ‘I wish I was the announcer.’”

He set his path early and didn’t deviate. After his time announcing games for the Fordham University Rams, his career went on a fast track. He was recruited by fellow redhead and broadcast legend, Walter “Red” Barber to cover college football games for CBS. Scully continued to impress Barber, and in 1950 Scully joined Barber and Connie Desmond in the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast booth. Barber mentored Scully, who continues to use the advice

Batter up for Vin Scully’s final season

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

J

ust before 4 p.m. on April 4, Dodger fans heard a voice they’ve heard thousands of times before.

“Hi, everybody. And a very pleasant good afternoon to you, wherever you may be.”

The soothing voice of Vincent Scully rang over the airwaves starting the 67th season of his career as the team’s announcer. He opened the Dodger’s 2016 season against the San Diego Padres the way he always has.

It signaled the start of the game, the season and the summer for Angelenos in the way that the bat hitting the ball and the days getting longer always do.

Since 1950, Dodger fans have tuned in to hear that melodic voice call balls and strikes, weave a yarn like the seams on a baseball, and make everyone feel

26 April 2016

at home with their team. But sadly, this year will be his last. Dodger fans will miss that voice that is as crucial to the season as extra innings, hot dogs and playing catch with your dad.

Dubbed “just about the only thing [Angelenos] value to come out of New York” by the Los Angeles Sports Council, Scully’s play-by-play aspirations started well before his time with the Dodgers, back to when he played stickball as a kid in the Bronx. As early as age 8, he remembers wanting to announce sports games.

“In my school, most of my classmates wanted to be policeman or fireman,” Scully said. “But this redheaded kid wanted to be an announcer.”

That was surprising, he explained, because sports were not broadcasted

he received today. For example, Scully doesn’t listen to other announcers call games, per Red’s advice.

“Red Barber told me when I was first starting, ‘You bring something into the booth that no one else brings in – yourself. There’s no one else in this world exactly like you. You must learn to be you.’”

Scully explained there can be a temptation for announcers to copy others’ styles or to try to call games better than other play-by-play people. If announcers give into the temptation then they won’t be original, and instead they become a mix of what they’ve seen or heard.

“Then you’ve lost what you bring to the group,” Scully said. “Don’t let anybody else change you. That’s the toughest thing to do – not to listen to successful announcers. As Red said, ‘Stick to you.’”

During the 1953 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers – a series that included Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizutto and Pee Wee Reese – Barber found himself in a contract dispute with sponsor Gillette. He decided to sit the

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photos courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers)

Walter “Red” Barber hired Vin Scully and invited him to join the Dodgers in 1950. Scully said Barber was his mentor, and he uses the advice he received to this day.

series out, and Scully became the youngest person to announce a World Series at age 25 – a record that stands today.

“I was scared to death,” Scully said.

“The morning of the first game I had a typical breakfast made by my Irish mother and I was fine and I went upstairs to get dressed and threw everything up.”

When Scully arrived at the ballpark and heard the sound of the players’ bats hitting the baseballs, his nerves calmed enough to call the game. After the sePark Labrea News/Beverly Press

ries, he said he felt like he “just avoided a car crash.” But Barber officially left the organization after that year and the Dodgers had a new lead announcer with Scully.

Scully quickly became exposed to storied characters like Dodger manager Walter “Smokey” Alston, who Scully said was a great leader of men, and Branch Rickey who helped break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson. And when Jackie stole home in the 1955 World Series – one of the most iconic and most reviewed plays in MLB history – Scully said Robinson was safe at the plate, at least from his perspective.

He slowly became more comfortable and confident in his first few years, but he was still cautious, especially after the Dodgers’ owners decided to move the team across the country to Los Angeles.

At first, it was questionable whether Scully would be offered the job in the new city. He was thrilled and relieved when owner Walter O’Malley decided to keep him as the voice of the team, but the move was still bittersweet.

“At the same time it was sadness to

leave after I felt like I was reasonably established,” he said. “I felt like I was accepted, but now I’m leaving everyone I knew and grew up with and I was going to start all over again and hope to get accepted in Los Angeles.”

It turned out “accepted” would be an understatement.

Ebbets Field in Brooklyn held 34,000 people. The Coliseum in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers moved in 1958, was built for track and football and housed 93,000 fans. That ended up being the perfect scenario for what Scully called the “luckiest thing in the whole world.”

The emergence of the transistor radio became the kick-starter for Scully’s strong relationship with the fans. It put Scully’s voice in the ears of the people watching the game in the 79th row at the Coliseum. Scully explained that fans knew the famous baseball players’ names, but they didn’t know the “rank and file” players. He always did his research and transistor radios allowed him to keep fans’ attention by teaching them about the stars of the game and the lesser-known players.

“That was the single biggest break to bring me and Jerry (Doggett) closer to the population of Southern California,” Scully said.

He learned how connected he was with crowds during a game in 1960 when he realized it happened to be one of the four umpires’ birthday.

“And I said to the people in the ballpark, ‘Wouldn’t it be something with this big crowd, if we could sing Happy Birthday to the umpire. I mean, it’s never been done and it will forever go in the history books.’ So I said, ‘When I come out of commercial, we’ll sing or holler, ‘Happy birthday Frank!’”

Scully came back from commercial and counted down three, two, one …

“And the whole ball park goes, “Happy birthday, Frank!” Scully exclaimed. “The umpire almost fainted.”

Scully and the Dodgers quickly became favorites in Los Angeles as he took new fans on a ride through their new team’s World Series victory over the Chicago White Sox. On Oct. 6, 1959, approximately 92,706 fans attended Game 5 at Memorial Coliseum.

The Dodgers moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962 and Scully said he realized he had found where he belonged.

“I would say I’m an Angeleno,” the Bronx native said.

Scully announced national games, playoff games and even had experience in other sports announcing NFL games and PGA tournaments. Every year, Scully’s relationship grew stronger with baseball fans as his voiced filled living rooms throughout Los Angeles and the country.

He talked about the 1963 and 1965 World Series teams that included Dodger greats like Maury Wills, Jim Gilliam, Wes Parker and Tommy Davis, that Scully said won with speed, defense and great pitching. Then in the 1970s, Scully and Dodger fans boasted one of the best and longest-running group of infielders with Ron “the Penguin” Cey at 3rd base, Bill Russell at shortstop, Davey Lopes at 2nd and Steve Garvey at 1st.

“It was quite an accomplishment to keep four players together for so long,” Scully said. “They were four outstanding players, who worked very hard and were very dedicated.”

Scully has been so well-liked that Dodger fans voted him the “most memorable personality” in Los Angeles Dodger history. And that was 40 years ago.

In a profession that calls for

see page 28 27 April 2016

“

”

We all can’t be heroes. Most of us have to stand at the curb and cheer as they go by. For 67 years, thank God, that’s what I’ve been blessed to be. I’ve been that man on the curb applauding as the heroes went by. let the crowd roar,” he said. “It might have been the longest wait on radio.”

Finally, Scully sat down, and put the moment into perspective.

“What a marvelous moment for baseball,” he said after the silence. “What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of photo by Gregory Cornfield Georgia. What a Scully gets the crowd’s attention in February after receiving a marvelous moLifetime Achievement award from the Los Angeles Sports Council. ment for the country and the From page 27 world. A black man is getting a standadditional chatter and color, part of ing ovation in the deep South for Scully’s trademark is to do the opposite breaking a record of a long-time base– he shuts up. After walk-off home runs ball idol.” or hinge moment strikeouts – when Scully said it became sociologically most announcers deliver a trademark one of the greatest moments in Amerone-liner or poetic sentence – Scully lets ican sports. the crowd do the work of describing to Scully used the silent treatment the audience at home how special the throughout his career, except for one big plays are. special exception that every Dodger “As soon as the play is accom- fan knows. plished, I shut up and let that crowd roar.

When Kirk Gibson hit that pinch hit And I sit there listening to that crowd, home run in the 1988 World Series, and believe me, I’m that 8-year-old kid Scully couldn’t help himself and he underneath that radio, just relishing in gave us those genuine words: “In a the roar of the crowd,” Scully said. year that has been so improbable, the He was calling the game in Atlanta impossible has happened!” when Hank Aaron hit the record-setting 715th home run to pass Babe Earlier this year on a February Ruth – still considered by many to be night, Scully received a Lifetime the true home run record – and Scully Achievement Award at the L.A. really let the silence ride.

Sports Awards ceremony. While the “One ball and no strikes. Aaron recipient list included names like waiting. The outfield deep and Blake Griffin and the guest list instraightaway. Fastball. IT’S A DEEP cluded Mayor Eric Garcetti, the FLY BALL TO DEEP LEFT-CEN- crowd was there to see Vin. TERFIELD, BUCKNER GOES After several standing ovations BACK, TO THE FENCE, IT IS and more laugh breaks than PresiGONE!” dent Obama gets during a White After “gone,” Scully waited more House Correspondents dinner, Scully than an entire minute-and-a-half – an had one more thing to say. He just eternity to anyone in broadcasting – spent 20 minutes telling stories about before he spoke again. his playing career in college, his all“I took the headset off, got up, went time favorite players and most memto the back, got some water and just orable moments to a packed 28 April 2016

ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

He accepted his award and tried to speak over the cacophony of the exiting audience, but the microphone was turned off because most thought the show was over.

Finally the humble man got to the podium and everyone turned around.

“I just had one other thing to say, and I have thought about it for a while,” he said. “It’s simply this: The award is a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award, and I gave it thought. ‘Lifetime’ is not in my hands. It’s God’s will how long my life will be. So I had nothing to do with ‘Lifetime.’And then I looked at lifetime ‘Achievement.’ Well sure, if you read my biography, they will tell you that, ‘He broadcast 25 no-hitters, 8,000 home runs, three perfect games. But it wasn’t my achievement. I mean, I was fortunate to be there, but I didn’t pitch a nohitter. I didn’t hit a home run. All of a sudden, the award is a little different.

“We all can’t be heroes. Most of us have to stand at the curb and cheer as they go by. For 67 years, thank God, that’s what I’ve been blessed to be.

I’ve been that man on the curb applauding as the heroes went by.”

Per usual, everything Scully said was correct. He never pitched a no-hitter. But that doesn’t mean he can get away with downplaying his part.

Scully was there during the good and bad seasons, and during the good and bad times for the city. He was there while kids were growing up, and he brought with him each perfect game, great play and big hit. Every memory would have to include his words painting the picture. Those times we’re with our parents and siblings and best friends in the living room during a Fourth-of-July day game, and during the night playoff games in October, Vin was there.

“Vin, you are Dodger baseball. In many ways it’s your voice that narrated my childhood – the highs, the lows, the big plays that marked the summertime in Los Angeles,” Mayor Garcetti said. “Your legacy reminds each one of us in this town that sports have the capacity to be emblematic of something much larger than one game

- VIN SCULLY

or one season.”

Beyond the fact that Scully has almost become a friend of the family to Angelenos without ever meeting one another, it still can’t be overstated how legendary Scully is to the game of baseball. For evidence, look at what baseball fans love most – his statistics.

But forget your baseball record books.

In 2013, Scully’s name was added to the Guinness Book of World Records for becoming the longest tenured announcer with one team. Scully has also called more than 10,000 regular season games for the Dodgers alone.

That doesn’t include preseason games, post-season games, All Star Games, or games he announced nationally that didn’t include the Dodgers. That’s three times as many games as Tommy Lasorda coached. Since the Dodgers played their first inning at Memorial Coliseum in 1958, no name has been as timeless to Los Angeles sports as Vincent Scully’s.

From the Coliseum to Kirk Gibson’s home run to his 67th season in the booth this year, Scully’s perpetual voice has reached more ears than any broadcaster in history and connected with more fans than any athlete ever could.

He has been there every summer, and he has always been Vin Scully.

“What you hear coming out is straight me, no imitation,” he said.

After this season, Scully will retire.

His final games on television will be a three game series in San Francisco against the Giants from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. If the Dodgers advance to the playoffs, he could announce games on the radio, but he won’t announce the World Series even if the Dodgers make it that far.

“This isn’t a dress rehearsal. This is life. When the season ends this year, a major part of me will end,” he said.

While the rest of Dodger nation will be watching baseball next summer, Scully will be hanging out with his family and said he will take time to “smell the roses.” But Vin’s voice will forever be a part of Los Angeles’ sports history as the narrator of summer for Los Angeles, for the Dodgers, and for their fans.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

One life at a time Homeboy founder Father Greg Boyle reflects on his mission in Los Angeles and changing perspectives on how to help others STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWIN FOLVEN

W

hen Father Gregory Boyle was a boy living in Hancock Park, he never imagined the impact he would have on the lives of others. Yet while serving the Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights during the late 1980s, Boyle saw how gangs destroyed people’s lives and knew he needed to help. Since he founded Homeboy Industries nearly three decades ago, he has given some of the most troubled Angelenos a second chance.

Boyle, a jovial bespectacled priest with white hair, said his Jesuit teachers at Loyola High School inspired him to enter the priesthood. He later taught at Loyola from 1979-81. He was ordained in 1984 and then accepted his first assignment in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

30 April 2016

After returning to Los Angeles in 1986, he was assigned to the Dolores Mission, where he witnessed the struggles working-class Latino families in his parish faced every day. He committed himself to helping them improve their lives.

At that time, many families were being torn apart by the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which allowed some people to remain in the United States while others were deported. However, immigration issues were quickly overshadowed by gang violence. In 1988, Boyle led a funeral service for a young parishioner who was stabbed to death in a gang fight, which he said reinforced his pledge to help untangle the lives of young men who were mired in

the downward spiral of gangs, drugs and crime.

“That began the decade of death, which was 1988 to 1998, where you had steady shootings morning, noon and night. We were in the projects, which was my parish – Pico Gardens and Aliso Village – and it had the highest concentration of gang activity in all of Los Angeles. If L.A. was the gang capital of the world, my parish was the gang capital of Los Angeles.”

Boyle started an alternative school at the Dolores Mission for 12-to-14-yearsolds with disciplinary problems who had been expelled from school. He sought out employers willing to hire troubled youth from his community as part of Jobs For the Future. After the limited Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

31 April 2016

success of the jobs program and civil unrest during the L.A. riots in 1992, Boyle launched the Homeboy Bakery that year. It was his first social enterprise giving jobs and hope to gang members who pledged to turn their lives around.

Boyle said the uphill battle surprised him – not getting the gang members to accept help, but criticism from law enforcement, which accused Boyle of “coddling” criminals when a tough approach was the societal norm.

“In those days, there was such a wholesale demonizing of this population. And so if they are the enemy – which they were to law enforcement and a large sector of the population – then the friend of our enemy is our enemy. We had bomb threats, hate mail, you name it,” he said. “They always used [the term] coddling, which was somewhat confusing. If you had a drug problem and you went to a rehab, would [they] accuse the rehab of coddling you? It doesn’t make any sense. If you were sick and went to a hospital, and they said, ‘You’re just coddling that person with cancer,’ it wouldn’t make any sense. That’s how irrational it all was.”

Boyle soon expanded the operation to create Homeboy Industries. Young people often lack parental supervision and turn to gangs for a sense of family, so Homeboy Industries created a family-environment offering a sense of belonging, Boyle said. He continued job training and re-entry programs, and added avenues for “homeboys” to finish high school or obtain a GED. Homeboy Industries also removed tattoos and offered counseling – a valuable element that helps give people a fresh start and turn their lives around.

After 10 years, societal views on gang rehabilitation and programs like Homeboy also changed. Boyle said he suddenly began receiving support instead of resistance from law enforcement and legislators.

“People suddenly began to become smart on crime rather than mindlessly, futily tough on crime. And then they went, ‘Wow, this place really works.

If they are engaging this population positively, then that means law enforcement won’t have to engage them negatively!’ It was incremental, and it took time for people to put a human face to it,” Boyle said. “The culture at the time was ‘let’s wipe them out and round them up.’ It didn’t work. I real32 April 2016

Father Greg Boyle coordinates with an assistant on site at Homeboy.

“In our earliest days, we were dispatching gang members to jobs. But now, it’s not about that.

It’s about healing.”

Father Boyle

ized we could actually strike while the iron was hot and do something sensible.”

Boyle said Homeboy Industries initially adopted the mantra “Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” but just as the program evolved, so has his approach.

Boyle now prefers “Community trumps gangs” because a strong sense of community is key to long-term success.

“It’s kind of old and creaky now, ‘Nothing stops a bullet like a job.’ I’ve sort of retired it,” Boyle said. “In the earliest days, that’s what we did. In our earliest days, we were dispatching gang members to jobs. But now, it’s not about that. It’s about healing. A job helps, but healing is forever. So that’s

where we want to be.”

“It’s really about healing. What will guarantee someone doesn’t re-offend?

– only healing,” Boyle said. “We discovered that with a job, people were re-offending because no healing had taken place. [Healing] happens in a community of tenderness here, where people pay attention to each other and people do their work, and people come to terms with what’s been done to them and what they’ve done. Whatever hardness got shellacked in them in prison gets softened here. Gang members would not come here it they didn’t experience it as working.”

Homeboy Industries expanded its programs over the years to include Homeboy Silkscreen and Embroidery,

the Homegirl Café and Catering, Homeboy Farmers Market and the Homeboy Diner at Los Angeles City Hall. Homeboy Industries moved into its current headquarters at Alameda and Bruno Streets in 2007 and is now a multi-million dollar operation. More than 10,000 former gang members pass through Homeboy Industries’ doors every year.

Boyle has been recognized for his work with former gang members, including by the James Beard Foundation, which recently named him a 2016 Humanitarian of the Year. Boyle received the recognition for his help through Homeboy’s packaged foods, the Homegirl Café and Catering and the Homeboy Diner.

“I am honored and humbled by this recognition, but also heartened, because it acknowledges a community on the margins that has long been demonized,” Boyle said. “This award imagines a circle of compassion outside of which no one is left standing.”

Homeboy Industries depends on Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

donations. It receives limited government support. Private contributions are key, and Boyle is hopeful more people will buy into the Homeboy Industries concept.

“It’s money, money, and did I mention money? Like 5 percent of our overall needs are provided by government, which is preposterous, because we provide this utterly unique service to the county. It has a singular impact on public safety. We should be at 25 percent,” Boyle said. “The county, the probation department and the city should step up to the plate. We provide such an extraordinary service to the city and county, it’s kind of unconscionable that we don’t get funds for it. If there is another place in the county or the city that serves more people and engages this population – folks who are violent and serious offenders – if there is another place that does that more than we do, then give them the money.”

Boyle said he is no longer as close to the day-to-day operations of Homeboy Industries as before, but he maintains an office near the front door and consults with clients daily to ensure they stay on track. He is busy writing a second book that he expects to finish later this year that will include Homeboy Industries success stories. Although he declined to share its content, he added the title will be “Barking to the Choir: Now Entering the Kinship of God.” Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“The title comes from me telling one kid, because he was showing up late and was missing and coloring outside the lines, and I was running it down to him. He stopped me and said, ‘You’re barking to the choir.’ It’s merging ‘barking up the wrong tree’ and ‘preaching to the choir,’ and I liked the combo nature of it,” Boyle said. “I built a whole book based on his title. It’s more stories from here, stories of the homies, but also trying to underscore themes of compassion and healing and the exploration of good and evil.”

Boyle has no plans to retire. He said Homeboy Industries will continue spreading its message of hope and sharing its approach with communities throughout the world. He frequently travels to spread this message, and the Homeboy Industries concept is now followed in anti-gang programs in 47 U.S. cities and 13 other countries. In approximately five years, Boyle hopes to build bigger headquarters at the current site to serve more people.

He added that he is proud of his accomplishments and isn’t slowing down.

“Jesuits retire in the graveyard. I’ve got people to run this place. It’s already moved forward without me. The homies run the place and I am kind of like the chancellor,” Boyle added. “I don’t care about legacies. It’s been a good run. I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone’s.”

33 April 2016

TELEVISION CITY keeps its eye on the prize

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

“Live from CBS Television City, it’s The Price Is Right!” The popular game show hosted by Bob Barker debuted on Aug. 19, 1972 and is one of the highly successful programs produced and broadcast at the Fairfax Avenue studio.

The site once teemed with sounds of revving engines and roaring crowds at Gilmore Stadium and Gilmore Field, which became CBS’s new television production facility.

The media giant had a radio facility at Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard, and broadcast the network’s first live television shows from the West Coast. CBS also used small theaters in Hollywood to tape live shows, but they didn’t meet the need for the growing

television medium. CBS wanted a location where it could do everything in one place, from rehearsal and taping to post-production and broadcast. In 1949, the network bought 25 acres of land at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue from the A.F. Gilmore Company for $1.2 million, and network executives set out to create the world’s first full-service television studio.

“They wanted to be in Hollywood and they found this big piece of land they were able to buy without the restrictions of geography,” said Barry Zegel, senior vice president/general manager of Television City.

The architectural firm Pereira and Luckman designed the facility to ac-

photos courtesy of CBSCTVCCity

Elvis Presley shook things up on the CBS TV City lot when he appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1956. Below, Chastity Bono often appeared with parents Sonny and Cher on their variety show which aired from 1971-1974.

commodate 30 hours of live programming per week. It housed sound stages, set construction shops, scenery storage, rehearsal halls, post-production offices and broadcast transmission facilities.

Construction began in 1950 and the studio was completed less than two years later. The result was Television City – literally a small city unto itself – which became home to 700 employees.

“At this facility you can do soup to nuts. A producer can walk in with just an idea and we can make it a reality.

Virtually everything a show needs is here or we can put it together,” Zegel said. “It was the first building built for television. Television was an evolving thing and we took a lot of guesses, but we guessed pretty good. It is still a fullservice television studio that is on the cutting edge today.”

CBS Television City produced iconic shows from its very beginning.

The first program produced at the studio was “My Friend Irma,” a comedy starring Marie Wilson. By 1954, five shows were broadcast weekly – “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” The Bob Crosby Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” “The Jo Stafford Show” and “Life With Father.” Later that year, “Life With Father” became the first show broadcast in color from CBS Television City.

Jim Hergenrather, broadcast associate director for CBS Television City and the studio’s archivist, said live variety shows dominated the 1950s, but the studio quickly adapted as technology improved and television formats

changed. In 1956, the first program recorded on videotape and then rebroadcast – “Douglas Edwards and the News” – was taped in CBS Television City’s basement. An episode of “Playhouse 90,” a long-running drama series in the late-1950s, was pre-recorded and spliced together. It was the first time a television show was recorded and edited for future broadcast. Danny Kaye and Judy Garland also taped their variety shows at the studio in the early 1960s.

“There were so many programs that started out from Television City,” Hergenrather said. “It’s where people wanted to be. You had the feeling it was something special when you worked at Television City.”

Some of TV’s most popular shows were produced at CBS Television City, including “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Dinah Shore Show” and “The Mike Douglas Show.” Andy Griffith, Dionne Warwick and Dick Van Dyke also taped specials at CBS Television City.

Many may wonder about veteran CBS Evening News broadcaster Walter Cronkite’s connection to the studio.

Hergenrather said Cronkite sometimes broadcast from Television City if events unfolded in Los Angeles and circumstances warranted, but not on a regular basis. The map seen behind

See CBS Television City page 36 Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

CBS Television City From page 34 Cronkite in the news show, however, now hangs in the studio’s lobby.

One of the most famous shows ever taped at CBS Television City debuted in 1971 – “All in the Family.” Caroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker made “All in the Family” one of the most controversial programs in television history, Zegel said. It pushed the limits of what could be said on television.

prised to learn that shows aired on other networks are taped at CBS Television City, including “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Hergenrather said CBS Television City still operates in some of the same ways today as it did in the beginning, which is why many production companies use the studio. Its eight sound

photos courtesy of CBS TV City

Comedy icons Tim Conway and Carol Burnett teamed up for thousands of laughs during the nearly dozen year run of “The Carol Burnett Show.”

“Three’s Company,” also produced at the studio, was considered controversial when it debuted because it starred an unmarried man living with two women.

“It showed how adaptive the network was,” Zegel added. “Whatever genres came up, Television City was able to accommodate that.”

Game shows found a home at CBS Television City. “The Price Is Right” became the longest running game show in television history and is still taped at Television City. Audiences can often be seen waiting in line outside the studio to be the next contestants to “come on down” in the game show now hosted by Drew Carey.

“Match Game,” “Joker’s Wild” and “Name That Tune” also drew in live audiences by the thousands.

CBS Television City is also famous for another genre – daytime television.

“The Young and the Restless” started taping there in 1973 and is still produced at the facility. It is the longestrunning daytime television program.

Many other soaps have run the cycle there, and “The Bold and the Beautiful” is still spinning today.

Zegel said many people are sur36 April 2016

stages are always brimming with activity, he added. The studio’s connectivity with wardrobe, make-up and rehearsal space near all of the sound stages, and post-production facilities on-site for editing and broadcast, still make it unique.

Zegel said CBS Television City executives plan to keep the studio on the cutting edge of television formats well into the future. The studio has been taping in high definition formats and is adapting as the technology improves. Engineers are already working on virtual reality television. Zegel said the studio will be ready to meet any challenges and be able to meet demands no matter how television transforms in the future.

“We used to call ourselves broadcasters but we now call ourselves a content provider,” Zegel said. “We sell a lot of content to Netflix and iTunes.

Whatever people are going to want, you have to have the programming. A lot of that happens here.

“It’s a dynamic place with an ongoing history and a connection to Los Angeles,” Zegel said. “And the audiences are an important part of that connection.”

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

37 April 2016

Mike Feuer City attorney champions social justice while remaining tough on crime

O

ne of the nation’s most powerful prosecutors and most influential legal leaders calls the Fairfax District home.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer’s ties to the local area run deep.

His grandparents lived near Fifth Street and Crescent Heights Boulevard, and while he was growing up in San Bernardino, his family frequently visited the neighborhood on weekends. And as a city councilman and legislator, he represented the area for 20 years.

Feuer fondly remembers going to Canter’s Deli and Diamond Bakery on Fairfax Avenue, and he enjoyed the neighborhood’s distinctive Jewish culture and tradition as well as its diversity.

“All the culture of Fairfax is deeply ingrained in my memories growing up,” Feuer said. “One of my strongest memories was going home in a car filled with pickles and rye bread and corned beef. It was always a pleasant ride back to San Bernardino.”

Feuer’s father was a teacher and school administrator and his mother was a homemaker and administrator at the University of California-San Bernardino. Both were committed to improving society and standing up for one’s principles, and imparted values that still guide his life. Feuer said his parents were his inspiration.

“I grew up in a house where the most important values focused on how to help other people, and from a very early age, I had a very strong sense of social justice,” Feuer said.

“Very importantly, a feeling of how important it is to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves.

[My parents inspired me] not just by words alone, but by example. It was a natural progression for me to go from trying to find ways to improve what was happening in my community to eventually running for public office.”

Feuer said he was also inspired by 40 April 2016

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, whose assassinations were deeply troubling to Feuer during his childhood. He said their values and willingness to fight for social justice also put him on a path that led to the Los Angeles City Council, the California State Assembly and the City Attorney’s Office.

“One of my strongest memories was going home in a car filled with pickles and rye bread and corned beef.

It was always a pleasant ride back to San Bernardino.”

Feuer graduated from Harvard Law School and clerked for California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin before entering private practice. He later took a position as director of Bet Tzedek, a legal services organization formerly based on Fairfax Avenue. He said it was a milestone in his life. At Bet Tzedek, he fought for the rights of senior citizens, the disabled and disadvantaged. Feuer built a close relationship with Jewish Family Services and helped guide people in need to organizations that could help better their lives.

While at Bet Tzedek, his biggest concern was for the thousands of seniors on fixed incomes who did not have enough money for food. He said many seniors sometimes ate cat food to survive, and it stuck with him. He resolved to find solutions and decided to run for city council.

Feuer was elected as city council representative for the 5th District in 1995. One of the first things he did in office was secure funding for a meal delivery service for seniors and others

photo by Edwin Folven

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer began his politcal career as the City Councilman for the 5th District from 1995-2001.

who couldn’t afford to buy nutritious food. He also volunteered in the local community and served meals to seniors during the holidays.

He vividly remembers Thanksgiving during his first year on the council when he asked his son Aaron to help him serve meals to the needy. His son was a boy at the time and was initially upset they wouldn’t be home on Thanksgiving. After thinking about it, Aaron pulled some coins from his piggy bank and asked if he could give them to the people he would be serving. Feuer said it was a special moment that showed his work was not only helping others, it was teaching by example.

Feuer represented the 5th District for six years. He chaired the Budget and Finance Committee, helped create gang-prevention and job creation programs and fought for resources for education. He also focused on gun violence prevention, a hallmark of his work today as city attorney.

Feuer said he always viewed the City Attorney’s Office as an opportunity to enact social change while protecting citizens’ rights. He left the council in 2001 to run for the office, but was narrowly defeated by Rocky Delgadillo. Feuer said it inspired him to continue fighting for what he believed in. It also led him down another path that took him to Sacramento.

In 2006, Feuer was elected to the State Assembly representing the 42nd Assembly District, which included the Melrose and Fairfax Districts, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

He spent six years in the Assembly,

serving as majority policy leader and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He authored a law requiring gun manufacturers to use micro-stamping technology. Because of the law, guns sold in California have a feature that imprints a serial number onto bullet casings when they are fired. The law is a valuable tool for solving crimes involving gun violence.

He also jointly authored the Homeowners Bill of Rights and a law requiring the removal of cancer-causing agents in consumer products. Feuer also helped pave the way for Measure R to be placed on the ballot. The transportation measure raised the countywide sales tax by a half-cent, generating millions of dollars for public transportation projects including Metro’s Purple Line Extension subway project along Wilshire Boulevard.

Feuer termed out of the Assembly in 2012, but didn’t stay idle. He launched a vigorous campaign for city attorney and defeated Carmen Trutanich in 2013.

Shortly after taking office, Feuer expanded the Neighborhood Prosecutor program. A deputy city attorney is now assigned to every police division in the city to work directly with residents. Neighborhood prosecutors field citizen complaints about issues ranging from illegal dumping and graffiti to drug sales and gang activity.

They are liaisons between community members, the police department and the City Attorney’s Office.

Feuer regularly joins neighborhood prosecutors at community meetings Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

throughout the city. Face-to-face meetings keep residents informed and help the City Attorney’s Office stay proactive in addressing issues, he added.

“There are so many communities in this city and many people feel too distant from city government,” Feuer said. “People often don’t feel like their needs are being addressed by city hall, and I want to change that.”

Feuer is proud of his efforts to prevent gun violence, and has prosecuted gun owners who fail to keep firearms secure. One of the most troubling situations is when guns end up in the hands of children who take them to school, he said.

Feuer joined with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. to create Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a non-partisan organization working on public policy solutions.

He has worked on creating gun violence restraining orders, in which guns are taken from people arrested for domestic violence.

“There was no system in place for

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

those situations,” Feuer said. “That’s a dangerous person. It’s very important to make sure that those people don’t have guns.”

Enforcing Prop. D, a voter-approved initiative that allowed some medical marijuana dispensaries to operate but gave the city authority to close illegal dispensaries, has been at the top of his list. Under Feuer’s watch, more than 700 illegal dispensaries have shut down citywide and more than 350 criminal cases have been filed against operators.

The city attorney continues to target billboard companies seeking to circumvent city laws to erect new signs, as well as banks using highpressure tactics to sell customers services they don’t want. He is at the forefront of the legal action surrounding the Porter Ranch gas leak and an effort to bring more transparency to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Feuer added the City Attorney’s Office is the perfect vehicle to better people’s lives on a large scale and plans

to run for the office again in 2017.

“There are basic values people expect to be validated by this department,” Feuer added.

“Being a councilman was great training for this job. People care a lot about what’s happening on their block. I try to never lose sight of that.”

photo by Edwin Folven

Zev Yaroslavsky and Henry Waxman joined Feuer for a friendly chat. We named this shot, “Los Tres Mustachios.”

41 April 2016

Jeffrey Kahane

The man behind LACO’s baton

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

T

he Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s (LACO) director Jeffrey Kahane is a musical genius who takes the orchestra in new directions, making 200-year-old classical pieces fresh and exciting.

Kahane, with help from LACO musicians, explains the essence of the music performed and how it is interpreted by different orchestras, and he hopes it is music to audience members’ ears. LACO focuses on classical and baroque music from the late 18th century and early 19th century. The chamber orchestra is half the size of the LA Phil, givng classical music lovers a more intimate experience.

“A chamber orchestra is different than a large symphony orchestra. Symphonies have 80 to 110 musicians, and a chamber orchestra has around 40 musicians,” Kahane said. “It’s a different style of player. It’s a more intimate and personal kind of experience than one gets with a large orchestra. The Los Angeles Chamber orchestra is one of a half-

42 April 2016

dozen off the finest chamber orchestras in America, and it’s in the top 10 in the world.”

Kahane has served as LACO music director and its conductor since 1997, but he is also an accomplished pianist who began taking lessons as a boy.

He grew up just south of Beverly Hills near Olympic Boulevard and Cañon Drive, and his parents were music lovers who encouraged Kahane to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional musician. They took him to classical concerts at UCLA, where he experienced the power and eloquence of classical music first hand. The experiences set him on a path that would lead him to some of the finest concert halls in the world.

“I loved music from the time I was a small child.

My parents were not musicians but they played recordings of all different types,” Kahane said. “I

photo by Jamie Pham

started studying music and taking lessons when I was five years old. I already wanted to be a musician when I was a small child, which is common for most people in the world of classical music. It was certainly the case [and] hearing a lot of great artists was a tremendous inspiration.”

After attending Beverly Hills High School, Kahane left at 16 to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He also studied music at the Juilliard School in New York for a year.

Kahane said “one of the biggest things” in his early music career occurred in 1981 when he was 24. The pianist was a finalist in the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition, which caught the attention of professionals in the music field. He hired a manager

See LACO page 102

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Eight decades of adventures on

Gilmore Island

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

I

n 1880, Arthur Fremont “A.F.” Gilmore borrowed $500 and with a partner bought a 256-acre parcel of land and started a dairy farm. When Gilmore struck oil on the property, he realized he was sitting on a gold mine.

He called his newfound oasis Gilmore Island and developed it into a sports and entertainment center in the heart of Los Angeles. Today, the Original Farmers Market is the last remaining vestige of Gilmore Island. “[A.F. Gilmore] was a young man but it seemed like he had a very confident air to him,” said Brett Arena, archivist for the A.F. Gilmore Company, which owns the Original Farmers Market. “The bank recognized it because they gave him a $500 loan with no collateral. The opportunity to buy land here arose and he jumped on the opportunity.”

Once he struck oil, the Gilmore Oil Company was established and oil rigs sprouted up across the property. The Gilmore Oil Company became one of the early leaders in the petroleum industry, supplying crude oil used to pave the city’s early roads. However, “The discovery of oil did not lead to instant riches in those days,” Arena said.

“Gasoline was pretty much non-existent. They used the crude for road oil.

But that’s what got the Gilmore Oil Company on solid footing.”

Arena said A.F Gilmore was a visionary. When automobiles became popular after the turn of the century, Gilmore seized the opportunity and began processing the crude into gasoline and motor oil. He remained a driving force in the early development of the automobile until his death in 1918.

A.F. Gilmore’s heir, son, Earl Bell “E.B.” Gilmore, took over the property and was also a visionary. E.B. saw opportunity in the growing city of Los Angeles and created Gilmore Gasoline, which helped fuel the new automobile craze.

E.B. recognized the value of advertising and created Gilmore Oil’s mascot – the Gilmore Lion – to promote the brand’s Red Lion gasoline. E.B. sold newspapers for children at Gilmore filling stations. Children would urge their parents to take them to the filling stations to buy the newspapers, thereby introducing a future generation of drivers to

Babe Ruth was known to take in a few Hollywood Stars’ games.

44 April 2016

photos courtesy of Brett Arena, Farmers Market

The famed clock tower beckons visitors to the Farmers Market, in a vintage photo above, and today, with The Grove shopping center in the background.

Gilmore gas.

“E.B would go down to the northeast corner of La Brea and Wilshire.

He had a horse-drawn tanker with a sign that read, ‘Someday you will own a horseless carriage. Our gasoline will run it.’ He would sell gasoline before Wilshire Boulevard was even paved,” Arena said. “On the same corner was the first Gilmore station. From that station, a network of 3,500 gas stations was created up and down the coast.”

Gilmore Oil opened the first selfservice filling station – which they called a Gas-a-teria – at Third and Fairfax in 1938. It was followed a few years later by another Gas-a-teria on Beverly Boulevard near Genesee Avenue.

“It had 24 pumps, and you could save a nickel if you pumped your own gas,” Arena said. “It was like a drivein diner. Girls would come out and give you change.”

Gilmore Oil operated until it was purchased in 1945 by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, a forerunner of Mobile Oil Company. However, Gilmore filling stations supplied gas well into the 1960s.

E.B. Gilmore looked for other ways

to profit from his land. The answer came from entrepreneur Roger Dahlhjelm and Fred Beck, who ran a small advertising firm. They approached Gilmore with the idea of creating a marketplace for craftspeople and envisioned it as a place where local farmers would sell produce to people living in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Arena said Gilmore wanted nothing to do with the crafts idea, but liked the prospect of farmers selling their produce. He granted Dahlhjelm and Beck permission in 1934 to organize a “famers market” and soon a dozen trucks were parked near the corner of Third and Fairfax.

“The Original Farmers Market was born,” Arena said. “[Gilmore] loved the idea because this was a crossroads [between] Hollywood, downtown and the west side. He knew there would be a lot of traffic and people would need fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs and dairy. It grew in popularity from the start.”

The early farmers paid 50 cents a day for the privilege of selling their goods at the site. Around that time, the market’s first food vendor arrived.

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Blanche Magee, a friend of the farmers who owned a food stand in the Grand Central Market, stopped by to serve sandwiches to the farmers. People loved the idea and Magee became one of the Market’s original tenants during its first year.

Arena said Dahlhjelm had very high standards for quality that became a cornerstone of the Market’s success.

Anyone caught selling substandard produce was quickly asked to leave.

Crowds flocked to the Market, as they do today.

“In 1936, it was more or less like it is now,” Arena said. “Aisles were built.

The place was paved. Right from the start it was a place where it was understood you were going to get the highest quality meats, produce and citrus. That was part of the legacy of Roger Dahlhjelm. He died in 1950, but his standards are adhered to today.”

E.B. Gilmore was always looking for ways to bring people to Gilmore Island. Auto racing was popular in the 1930s and E.B. started sponsoring racing teams, including cars that competed in the Indianapolis 500.

The 18,000-seat Gilmore Stadium opened near the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard. E. B. Gilmore custom built the stadium for midget car auto racing. Arena said the Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

stadium was packed at the Thursday night races. The sound of revving engines echoed throughout the neighborhood. The cars, known as “thunder bugs,” could reach speeds of 90 mph on straightaways.

Gilmore Stadium became a mecca for auto racing and teams from around the country competed regularly.

“A lot of the racers who found fame and fortune at Indianapolis got their start at Gilmore Stadium,” Arena said. “[The course] was a quarter-mile track so they would go into a power slide into the turns and dirt would be sprayed into the stands. People in the lower seats would shield themselves with their programs. It had a good run, but the stadium was made of wood and wooden stadiums don’t last long. The last race was held in November 1950.”

Gilmore Field was also used for other sporting events. While the Rams are well known as Los Angeles’ first professional football team and are moving back this fall, few people know that another pro team once reigned supreme in the City of Angels.

The Los Angeles Bulldogs called Gilmore Stadium home from 1934-45, playing in the Pacific Coast Professional Football League. Many Bulldogs players had been college football players for the USC Trojans and

UCLA Bruins. The Bulldogs finished in first place in the regular season in 1937, 1939 and 1940, and won the Pacific Coast Professional Football League championship in 1946. Although the Bulldogs were the hottest team in town, football’s popularity grew throughout the country and the team soon faced competition locally.

“The Rams came to town in 1946 and that spelled the end for the Bulldogs,” Arena said. “There were also other games with NFL teams at Gilmore Stadium at the time. The NFL champs would come out and play their counterparts. The Detroit Lions won the championship when the stadium was new in ’35. They played the Green Bay Packers at Gilmore Stadium that year.”

Gilmore Stadium’s gridiron was also popular on the silver screen serving as the setting for The Three Stooges short film “Three Little Pigskins,” featuring actress and comedienne Lucille Ball.

Boxing was also popular and Gilmore Stadium hosted some of the greatest fighters of the day. Henry Armstrong, considered by many to be one of the best boxers of all time, fought Ceferino Garcia there in 1940 for the World Middleweight Title. The match ended in a draw.

Other famous fighters who entered the ring included “Slapsie” Maxie

Rosenbloom. The Hall-of-Fame boxer got his name because he was known to throw an unconventional openhanded punch once in a while, Arena said.

While auto racing, football and boxing were the mainstays of Gilmore Stadium, it also hosted political rallies.

Presidential candidate Harry S. Truman gave his famous “Stiff Upper Lip” speech there in 1948.

Gilmore Stadium’s sister attraction, Gilmore Field, opened in 1939 and was home to the Hollywood Stars baseball team. The Stars moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco and played in the Pacific Coast League.

Prominent figures in Hollywood owned the team, including Robert Cobb, founder of the Brown Derby Restaurant, Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby and Barbara Stanwyck. Hollywood celebrities would routinely be seen in the stands, and celebrities went to Stars games to be noticed.

“The boxes along the baselines were often occupied by celebrities.

Bob Hope, Harpo Marx and Phil Silvers were regulars. Children would have autographs signed. It was the place to be if you enjoyed baseball,” Arena added. “The celebrity backdrop to Gilmore Field, Gilmore Stadium and the Farmers Market was always

See page 46

From page 45

very important. The first photos of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were taken at Gilmore Stadium.”

The Hollywood Stars’ archrivals were the Los Angeles Angels, who played at Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles. The Stars routinely beat them, winning championships in 1949, 1952 and 1953. Arena said the team had a good run until baseball became so popular that famous East Coast major league teams started scouting Los Angeles as a new home.

The Stars folded in 1957, a year before the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to town. Gilmore Field also closed that year when CBS purchased it and built CBS Television City.

Gilmore Island even had its own drive-in theater on Third Street near Genesee. It had parking for 650 cars and fans flocked to see the drive-in’s first movie, “Silver River” starring Eroll Flynn. The drive-in was also ahead of its time, offering seating for walk-in guests before it closed in the mid-1970s.

Pan Pacific Auditorium was an important destination on Gilmore Island.

E.B. Gilmore sold a 13-acre parcel that is now Pan Pacific Park to Clifford and

46 April 2016

Phillip Henderson, well known aviators, in 1935. The theater’s distinctive Streamline Moderne architecture was designed by the Los Angeles Firm of Wurdeman & Beckett. It was built in six short weeks and quickly became a landmark on Beverly Boulevard when it opened in 1937.

Pan Pacific Auditorium became a venue for sports, music and trade shows over the years. College basketball and minor league hockey games were played there, and it hosted the Ice Capades and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Elvis Presley played two nights at the auditorium in October 1957, Arena said.

“It had 100,000 square feet of unobstructed views. There were no poles to get in the way,” he added. “It was very popular for decades but fell into disrepair in the ‘80s. It had been closed for 17 years when it burned in 1989.”

Today, a gymnasium is located in Pan Pacific Park nearby where the theater used to be. The gym’s art deco design is reminiscent of Pan Pacific Auditorium’s design.

Arena said the Gilmore Company’s pioneering spirit was the driving force behind the attractions located on Gilmore Island, and the family has never been afraid to take risks. While

attractions like Gilmore Stadium and Gilmore Field eventually passed their prime, they represented firsts in the City of Angels.

“A large part of the success was in the attractions that drew people to the area,” Arena said. “They were always trying new things. They built The Dell in the parking lot (north of the Original Farmers Market) and in the 1940s and ‘50s it was a collection of unique specialty shops. New restaurants and shops came to the Farmers Market and it grew into what it is today.”

The property that now houses The Grove was leased to developer Rick Caruso and the shopping center opened in 2002. The Grove is run independently by Caruso, but is reminiscent of the attractions that people once flocked to on Gilmore Island.

The Gilmore family residence, known as the Gilmore Adobe, is still tucked away on the property. While it is undergoing renovations, the adobe is not open to the public. The crown jewel of Gilmore Island is still the Farmers Market. True to its slogan, “Meet me at Third and Fairfax,” the Market remains a gathering place for Angelenos and visitors from around the world.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Can’t talk about Fairfax without talking about ...

photo by Andrew Kitchen

48 April 2016

C

anter’s Deli on Fairfax Avenue is the kind of place where if you eat there once, you will become a lifelong customer.

The food, history, vibrant atmosphere and friendly staff make Canter’s Deli one of the icons of Los Angeles.

This year, Canter’s Deli is celebrating its 85th anniversary, after being founded in 1931 in Boyle Heights by Ben Canter and his brothers. The deli moved to Fairfax Avenue in 1948, and into its current location at 419 N. Fairfax Ave. in 1953. The deli is one of those places people remember from when they were children, and years later bring their children back for the same experience. It is not uncommon to see three or four generations of families sitting around one of the many tables, enjoying a corned beef or pastrami on rye, according to Jacqueline and Marc Canter, who are among an extended family that runs the deli today. Canter’s closes only on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and is a mainstay among the breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night crowds.

“One thing is the atmosphere. We are open 24-hours, and we are depend-

able,” Marc said. “No matter what time of day, you can come here and get comfort food. The food is good, and you get a good feeling coming here. The corned beef and pastrami sandwiches are the most popular, and a lot of people like the Reuben. The matzo ball soup is also very popular.”

Jacqueline and Marc Canter are among the third generation of the family carrying on the Canter’s tradition.

Their parents Alan and Elizabeth Canter met at Fairfax High School and were high school sweethearts. They married 58 years ago and still work at Canter’s. Alan comes in every morning for breakfast and to mind the store.

Marc and Jacqueline can be found at the deli on most days, taking care of day-to-day operations. Marc is a “jack of all trades” who repairs equipment or tends to problems when they come up. Jacqueline takes care of the hiring and personnel matters, and is always working in the dining room seating customers and ensuring their meals are being served promptly. Both have longtime ties to the Fairfax District and continue to live in the neighbor-

See Canter’s page 50

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo by Jill Weinlein You’ll find Marc, left, cousin Albert and Jacqueline Canter working at the family-run deli when you stop in for a corned beef on rye.

From page 48 hood. A graduate of Fairfax High School, Jacqueline is also committed to the neighborhood. As the founder of the Fairfax Business Association, she has helped bring improvements to the neighborhood for the last 20 years.

Cousin Albert is also a long-time

only place in town to get real East Coast-style deli food.

“We get a lot of people who get off the plane and the first place they come is to Canter’s,” Marc said. “When people come in from out of town, you take them to Disneyland, or you take them to Venice Beach, and then you take them to Canter’s.”

Canter’s is a favorite destination for celebrities, too. Some of Hollywood’s elite have dined there, including Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Depp, Seth Rogan and Leonardo Di Caprio. Rock legends who have enjoyed the food include Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, The Beatles and Slash. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist once worked at the restaurant and is Marc’s longtime friend.

The Kibitz Room lounge at Can-

ter’s opened in 1961, and is still a venue for popular bands. Many, including Joni Mitchell, Rick James, Slash and members of Guns N’ Roses, The Wallflowers, and members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have come to the Kibitz Room to hang out, sing, play, and most importantly to eat and drink. Now, there is something going on every night in the Kibitz Room, like open mic night, and up-and-coming artists debuting their music.

The food and ambience at Canter’s has remained steady over the years, but they always keep an eye on the future. Their food truck travels around the city and you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter to find out their next stop.

Canter’s is celebrating their 85th anniversary this summer.

employee who started as the deli manager in 1960. The spry, 90-year-old still works part time, but is usually there every day except Wednesdays, his designated golf day.

While many local residents visit Canter’s regularly, the deli is also a destination for tourists. Marc said many people tell him Canter’s is the

It’s BBQ time.

We carry all natural, anti-biotic-free, USDA Prime Beef, Pure Grass-fed Beef, Kobe-style Wagyu Beef, & Colorado Lamb as well as Niman Ranch Heirloom Pork.

Our meats are hormone and steriod free, and naturally raised.

We also carry the finest, all-natural & organic poultry available.

6333 W. Third St. • Farmers Market • 323.938.5131 www.marcondas.com 50 April 2016

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BY LUIS RIVAS

B

ack in the heyday of early Hollywood, you could have walked into Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard and seen celebrities like Marilyn Monroe or Charlie Chaplin alongside some of the most well-known writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald or William Faulkner. Picture them sharing a corner booth, perhaps enjoying a porterhouse steak and one — or two —of the restaurant’s famous martinis, which GQ Magazine once called the best in America.

Hollywood celebrities continue to dine at Musso and Frank, including Johnny Depp, Scarlett Johansson, Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The restaurant is equally as welcoming to the rest of us. In fact, that’s one of Musso and Frank’s strongest attractions, according to general manager Andres Airoldi.

“We treat everyone the same way. We don’t give special attention to celebrities, and they like that, “ Airoldi said. “We have kind of a hidden parking lot off the boulevard and we have a back entrance, which is a big deal for them.”

Arguably, nothing in Hollywood is more iconic — save for the Hollywood Sign or the Hollywood Walk of Fame — as Musso and Frank Grill, or simply known as Musso and Frank.

Its nearly-unchanged menu for close to a century, its old Hollywood ambiance and its history are hallmarks of the nearly century-old establishment.

Frank Toulet and Joseph Musso, aided by French chef Jean Rue who created the original menu, opened

The early days at Musso and Frank, circa 1920.

52 April 2016

Skillful bartenders have been shaking martinis at Musso and Frank Grill since 1919.

the restaurant in Hollywood in 1919. Rue stayed with the restaurant for 53 years as its first executive chef.

In 1927, Musso and Toulet sold the restaurant to two Italian immigrants, Joseph Carrissimi and John Mosso, who later moved the restaurant next door to 6667 Hollywood Blvd., where it stands today, with the Carrissimi and Mosso families continuing as owners.

The restaurant’s allure may be attributed to its Back Room, located a few doors down from Musso and Frank. Opened in 1934, the Back Room was famed for its well-known writer and Hollywood elite patrons.

After years of hosting guests, such as William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Chandler, William Saroyan, T.S. Elliot, John Steinbeck, Aldous Huxley and Dorothy Parker, the Back Room’s lease expired. However, the New Room — where the restaurant’s bar, booths and tables are — was modeled directly after the Back Room, and has been open since 1955.

Today, as it was since the beginning and throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood, Musso and Frank stands as a permanent part of Tinsletown’s history and cultural landscape. The restaurant has stood the test of time, in fact, thriving in the highlycompetitive redevelopment of Hollywood — with new neighboring bars, restaurants and venues saturating the boulevard.

“We’re basically a landmark.

We’re a destiphoto courtesy of Musso and Frank Grill

photo by Luis Rivas

nation. People have been coming here for decades,” Airoldi said.

The concentration of development and more people moving into Hollywood has kept the restaurant popular and successful, Airoldi added.

“You can walk basically anywhere, kind of like downtown L.A. You can walk to Cahuenga and Vine” Airoldi said. “It’s getting more of a neighborhood feeling that it didn’t have before,” Many of the restaurant’s customers have been coming to Musso and Frank for 40 to 50 years, and they love that the menu has not changed, Airoldi said.

But there’s a newer generation that is quickly falling in love with this iconic restaurant.

“And now we’re attracting a younger demographic because there’s this thing about being a historic landmark, young people are starting to appreciate that,” he said.

The restaurant’s executive chef, J.P. Amateau, is the third executive chef in Musso and Frank’s history.

“We’re mainly a steakhouse. But like any other steakhouse, we have a wide variety of fish and seafood,” Airoldi said.

Musso and Frank features several specialty dishes, such as Sauerbraten and corned beef and cabbage, among other dishes.

“We’re a little bit eclectic. We have chicken pot pie on Thursdays. We also have a wide variety of pasta, so there’s a little bit for everyone,” Airoldi said.

Musso and Frank also has had a long history of keeping employees for decades. Many of the waiters have been working at the restaurant for over 40 years, according to Airoldi.

Airoldi said that due to its legacy and success the restaurant might – with Airoldi repeatedly emphasizing the “might” – expand the brand of Musso and Frank.

“There are a lot of people interested in taking the brand to Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago.

But it’s not definite yet,” Airoldi said.

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salt [s™lt] noun: crystal substance used for seasoning food. literary: something that adds piquancy or makes something more interesting. phrase: The salt of the earth. A person or group of people with great kindness, reliability or honesty [with Biblical allusion to Matthew 5:13.]

salt

We submit just a small pinch of some of the people who make a difference in our community. On the following pages, we have profiled some men and women who don’t seek headlines and quietly conduct their businesses and endeavors with dignity and without fanfare. These are “Our People,” truly the salt of the earth.

54 April 2016

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L.A.’s Top Dog since 1939!

Open Sun.- Thurs.

9:30 a.m.- 2:00 a.m Fri.-Sat. 9:30 a.m.- 3 a.m.

36 Hot Dog Varieties • A Dozen Varieties of Hamburgers • Yummy Fries & Onion Rings!

@theofficialpinkshotdogs @Pinkshotdogs. #pinkshotdogs

Celebrating 76 Years!

La Brea & Melrose

www.pinkshollywood.com

CateringByPinks@gmail.com. 323.979.3878

Meet the meat men at 3rd & Fairfax It’s a DeRosa family affair at Marconda’s Meats PHOTO & STORY BY EDWIN FOLVEN Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, Lou DeRosa is a third generation family member of Marconda’s Meats and Marconda’s Puritan Poultry. The butcher shops opened in 1941 at the Original Farmers Market and DeRosa started working there after finishing high school in 1980.

He said the family-oriented environment at Marconda’s is as important to its success as are the fresh USDA prime steaks and chops offered in the meat cases. He oversees the shop with his father Dave DeRosa and his sons Tyler, Thomas and Cody, making his job a true family affair.

“I was an apprentice meat cutter and there was no special treatment,” DeRosa said. “I think a big part of what has made the store a success over

56 April 2016

the years is that we are a family. My grandpa was here, my dad was here and my kids are here. It’s really a family business.”

DeRosa said he routinely serves customers who are the children of parents and grandparents who shopped at Marconda’s. Nancy Reagan purchased Thanksgiving turkeys from Marconda’s during the holidays since the 1970s, he said.

DeRosa said Marconda’s matches the perfect Farmers Market merchant profile. He said he loves his job because everyday is different and “there is never a dull moment.”

Marconda’s is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and while the variety has expanded over the decades, the quality remains the same.

Louis DeRosa

“Plain and simple, we always have a family member or two here and we have a staff that knows how to cook and cut everything so we can give customers tips. We are trying to make sure you walk away happy.”

salt

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Jim Cascone

Going big at Huntington Meats Jim Cascone, owner of Huntington Meats, first arrived at the Original Farmers Market in 1977 as a tourist.

After strolling through several restaurants, delis and other eateries, he said he was in awe.

“I fell in love with what it had to offer,” Cascone said. “I got excited because food is my passion.”

Two years later, Cascone, born and raised in Chicago, came back to Los Angeles for the warm weather and promise of a better job opportunity.

Even though it would be years before he would own Huntington Meats, he said his love for the deli and market business was ingrained in him from an early age.

Cascone said he grew to love the tightknit family atmosphere of working in a market and deli. When he worked in Chicago the customers were his friends. The relationship with his patrons has grown stronger over the years.

“As a kid I would slice deli meat in my grandparents’ store,” Cascone said.

“I worked for an Italian market as a teenager, because I’m Italian of course.

I always knew it was something I enjoyed doing. It just felt right, and I was always drawn to what my family did.”

In 2002, after years of consulting for other markets and delis, Cascone and his business partner Dan Vance took over Huntington Meats, located at the Original Farmers Market since 1986.

Over the past decade, he helped the store expand its products and customer relationships.

“It’s a fun environment, and people really seem to like our products. I also think people come for the environment of [my store],” Cascone said. “It’s fun when you make people laugh or they Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

make you laugh, and it attracts other people. You get to know your customers and a lot of fun and interesting people. You meet anybody from politicians to celebrities. I’ve met James Spader, Blake Shelton from ‘The Voice.

It’s what I love most about the job. You meet people from all walks of life.”

Cascone said his career has also influenced his other hobbies as well, including his love of classic cars. He owns a 1966 Ford Mustang that he showcases at the Farmers Market Car Show every year. He acquired the Mustang from Jim Welliver, Huntington Meats’ previous owner.

“I love hot cars. My Mustang is one hot car, and it’s been in the Huntington Meats family for over 30 years,” Cascone said. “It has significance to the company and to me. In my heyday though, I used to get a new car every six months. I just had to try them all I guess.”

Cascone also owns a 1970 Corvette “Roadster” he hopes to showcase this year at the Gilmore Heritage Auto Show on June 4.

Cascone plans to continue running the butcher shop with the same hard work and dedication he learned from his family.

“This business has always been in my blood. I worked alongside my dad, and now my sons help me here,” Cascone said. “You know it’s what you love when money isn’t an issue. You focus on making your business the best it can and being the top leader of the industry.”

salt 57 April 2016

Richard Pink is relishing every moment

R

ichard Pink, the man behind the tastiest hot dogs and chili in Los Angeles, grew up on Fuller Avenue a few blocks away from his parents’ stand at Melrose and La Brea Avenues. As a boy, he frequently rode his bike to Pink’s Hot Dogs to enjoy a snack with friends.

Pink’s Hot Dogs founders Paul and Betty Pink were longtime Fairfax District residents, and both Paul and his son Richard attended Fairfax High School. Although he now lives in Westwood, Richard Pink said the Fairfax community has a special place in his heart and remains as vibrant as ever. There is no place better for the iconic stand that has been selling hot dogs in the neighborhood since his parents opened a pushcart at Melrose and La Brea Avenues in 1939.

“Talk about a family that’s rooted in the neighborhood,” Pink said. “I was born in L.A. and went to Bancroft Elementary and Fairfax High. I played little league at Poinsettia Park. I loved the neighborhood and still do. The neighborhood hasn’t changed that much. It’s a great place.”

Pink joined the family business after college and said it has been a labor of love. He runs the stand with his wife Gloria and sister Beverly Pink. He said the secret is quality food and offering a fun and satisfying experience. People are receptive, as is evident in the throngs of customers who

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

flock to the stand craving the signature chili dogs, hamburgers and chili fries.

Pink said the stand stays true to its roots by keeping the ambiance unchanged since its opening in 1941.

Generations of Angelenos return year after year and mingle with people from around the world who have made Pink’s Hot Dogs a culinary destination.

Celebrities like Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Steve Martin, Jay Leno and Cuba Gooding Jr. are regular customers. The walls of celebrity photographs at Pink’s could rival the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Pink’s created specialty hot dogs in honor of celebrity guests, including Martha Stewart (a nine-inch stretch dog with relish, onions, bacon, chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut and sour cream) and Emeril Lagasse (a nine-inch stretch dog with mustard, onions, cheese, jalapenos, bacon and coleslaw.)

“It was a who’s who of entertainment,” Pink said. “Bruce Willis proposed to Demi Moore here. Michael Jackson came to Pink’s since he was so small he couldn’t see over the counter. Orson Welles has the record for eating hot dogs – he ate 18 in one sitting.”

Pink said his primary role now is expanding the Pink’s brand worldwide. Pink’s Hot Dogs has stands in casinos and amusement parks in Las Vegas, Ohio, Connecticut, San Diego,

photo courtesy of Pink’s Hot Dogs

Pink’s started serving hot dogs near the corner of La Brea and Melrose in 1939. This photo, circa 1941, shows their early years when they offered “curb service” and a hot dog for a dime.

Miami, Hawaii and the Philippines.

Pink’s is expanding into catering, serving hot dogs three to four times a week at private celebrations and company employee appreciation days.

Pink said he doesn’t expand in the L.A. area because it keeps the stand on La Brea a unique and special place.

“It’s a family business and it has a lot of family history. Generations have eaten here and it’s part of their family history too. It’s touched people’s lives

and that is so meaningful,” Pink said.

“Whether you’re a first time customer or long time regular, we would love to see you at Pink’s. The neighborhood is close knit. It’s a place you love to come to and Pink’s is part of what makes it home.”

salt

Thank You!

For 85 Years of Patronage

Open 24 Hours

World Famous Award Winning

Restaurant • Deli • Bakery • Bar

419 N. Fairfax Ave.

Gloria, Richard and Beverly Pink 58 April 2016

(between Beverly & Melrose)

(323) 651-2030

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Rockin’ and rollin’ with Gary Twinn Gary Twinn started his career in music over 40 years ago. Twinn, a guitarist and singer, said self-expression has always been important to him.

He had a successful music career in Australia and England spearheading rock ‘n’ roll bands like Supernaut, Twenty Flight Rockers, Knock-Out Drops, Dead Horse and The Honeydippers. He even had a No. 1 hit with Supernaut in Australia. He continues to perform with The International Swingers at a particular venue – EB’s at the Original Farmers Market where he has been the manager since 2007.

His transition from musician to bar manager happened completely by accident.

“When I moved to Los Angeles [in 1990] I still played a lot of music and rode my motorcycle around with friends,” Twinn said. “There was this bar, Power House on Hollywood Boulevard. I would bring my motorcycle friends. I kept bringing more people, and I guess it became too much for the owner to handle. One

salt day he asked me to help him out. I didn’t know anything about working for a bar, but that’s how it started.”

A few years later, a friend asked him to help out at her new bar, Lava Lounge, on La Brea Avenue. Twinn contributed to the glamorous atmosphere by playing an eclectic and diverse music selection at the bar.

“We’d get all sorts of celebrities, from Brad Pitt to Quentin Tarantino,” Twinn said. “It’s interesting because a lot of the music in Quentin’s film ‘Pulp Fiction’ came from the music we played at Lava Lounge.”

Twinn eventually left the Lava Lounge and became the manager of the Farmers Market bars – EB’s and the recently renovated Bar 326.

Twinn said he fell in love with the market – it reminded him of why he moved to the city in the first place.

“There’s something about this place that encapsulates that old Los Angeles feeling,” Twinn said. “Back when I first moved here, Los Angeles was a little more quaint, and I think the

photo by Dawn Laureen

The International Swingers regularly play at EB’s.Twinn books many other musical acts at the bars as well.

Farmers Market holds onto that charm.”

Twinn said being English has influenced his management style and helps him accommodate the patrons that visit the Farmers Market bars.

“We get so many people from other countries who come to visit, and that’s quite exciting,” Twinn said. “We get people from all around the world, and I think because I’ve been in their shoes I know how important first impres-

sions are. I tell my staff they get to be the representatives of L.A., and that’s something they shouldn’t take lightly.”

Twinn said his role as bar manager appeals to his artistic nature.

“I’ve always loved creating things, whether it be music or creating the atmosphere of a bar,” Twinn said. “I think contribution is vital. Contributing in any way to society is how you should live your life.”

the culinary odyssey of the greek islands begins here and finishes at ulysses voyage

Farmers Market • 3rd & fairfax

323.939.9728 • www.ulyssesvoyage.com Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

59 April 2016

It’s in the stars

BY PATRICIA SANCHEZ

Hubble Space Telescope photograph

T

he Griffith Observatory – one of the most beloved treasures in Los Angeles – is a place to take in breathtaking views of the basin below and the universe above. But its history is not just with the cosmic stars in the sky. According to Ed Krupp, Griffith Observatory director, it also has a longstanding connection with film and Hollywood stars.

The observatory was commissioned in 1896 by Griffith J. Griffith, a mining correspondent, industrialist and philanthropist who earned his fortune as a mining expert. He donated 3,015 acres of land to Los Angeles for Griffith Park with specific instructions to build a free observatory. In 1935, Griffith Observatory opened and became a place

where patrons could explore the galaxy.

“Griffith Observatory was distinctively different from observatories that preceded it,” Krupp said. “It had a planetarium, it had a museum, and it had telescopes. The telescopes were the key instrument because it put into play Griffith’s idea of letting people eyeball the universe.”

Krupp said because Griffith’s plans for Griffith Observatory were so detailed, the building’s features, attractions and surrounding grounds came together to create a fascinating destination.

Krupp explained that, from the very beginning, Griffith Observatory was set for stardom. Dinsmore Alter, Griffith

photo by Patricia Sanchez 60 April 2016

Observatory’s first director, was an astronomer wanted to create a unique experience for the observatory’s visitors.

“Alter put conceptual energy into the observatory and had the same kind of value for showmanship and experiential phenomena that you see in Hollywood,” Krupp said. “He used the observatory as more than just as a vehicle for information. He wanted his audience to go places. He wanted to tell stories.”

In the year it opened, Griffith Observatory was featured in the film “The Phantom Empire” and has appeared in many more films including “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Terminator.”

“The number of documentaries, motion pictures, news features, student films and music videos that have been done here is in the thousands,” Krupp said. “We certainly have enough prime film credits that we should have our own star down in Hollywood.”

FilmL.A., a private, not-for-profit organization that contracts permits for on-location motion pictures, has been working with Griffith Observatory for the past 20 years. They have coordinated 230 filming permits for 223 film projects including movies, television shows and commercials.

“Day After Tomorrow,” “Yes Man,” “The House on Haunted Hill” and “Criminal Minds” have all filmed at the observatory. Four permits have been approved for filming this year, including a taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

“The fact that there would be an exchange and interaction between Holly-

wood film and Griffith Observatory is inevitable,” Krupp said. “The Griffith Observatory is a star. It’s not an extra, and every one of those filming experiences over time has affected the observatory in ways many people don’t think of on a conscious level.”

The most famous link between Griffith Observatory and Hollywood, though, was the 1955 film “Rebel Without a Cause.”

“Whatever people end up saying about movies and Griffith Observatory, the heart of it is ‘Rebel Without a Cause,’” Krupp said. “The reason that we are so charmed [by the film] is because it was the first film to treat Griffith Observatory as Griffith Observatory. The film has an astronomical cosmic theme, and the observatory is a key element of that picture.”

In the film, students are taken to the Observatory to watch a projection light show, and James Dean’s character gets chased around the premises by classmates. “Rebel Without a Cause,” Krupp added, highlighted Griffith Observatory as a part of Los Angeles history and also made it recognizable around the world.

“While Griffith Observatory had its own merit, the film in fact made it world famous, and you can’t beat Hollywood and the exposure that comes from it,” Krupp said. “Even the monument we have of James Dean (on the west side of the Observatory lawn) is strategically placed so that the Hollywood Sign is visible in the background as a reminder to Griffith Observatory’s movie history.”

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Throughout the years of filming on Griffith Observatory grounds, Krupp said there have been two very memorable scenes to him, including one from the film “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.”

“It was a very textbook explosion scene so to speak. Everything went as planned, but it was great to see a car explode in front of Griffith Observatory,” Krupp said. “Then you have the most recent ‘Terminator’ where Arnold Schwarzenegger appears naked on our front lawn. People loved to see that.”

Krupp explained there have been artists who have collaborated with Griffith Observatory on artwork and film sets. Several astronomers became consultants on science fiction movies.

“That kind of relationship has been in the fabric of [Griffith Observatory] from the very beginning,” Krupp said. “It is something people in Los Angeles don’t often see or realize.”

Andre Bormanis, board member of Friends of the Observatory helped Krupp write the Observatory’s planetarium show, “Centered in the Universe.”

He is also a television producer, screenwriter and science consultant for the Star Trek series. Bormanis helped create authenticity for the show and even included Griffith Observatory in a two-part episode “Star Trek: Voyager, Future’s End.” “The good thing about Star Trek is that, from the beginning, it had a strong scientific background,” Bormanis said. “We were always eager to find ways to bring real science into the show. I was glad we were able to include Griffith Observatory in an episode. It only made sense given the Observatory’s

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history.”

People are drawn to Griffith Observatory just as much as they are drawn to film and television, he said, because both tell stories that engage viewers.

“I always think of science as a narrative in which we’re trying to explain the world,” Bormanis said.

“Griffith Observatory is a place to explore that narrative, and people are naturally drawn to the stars and night sky.”

Griffith Observatory’s location has also helped solidify its place in Hollywood film history.

“The relationship between Griffith Observatory and Hollywood is not just the case of a handy set,” Krupp said.

Krupp said Griffith Observatory is easily spotted from the city and provides people with a view of the entire Los Angeles basin all the way to the ocean.

photo by Patricia Sanchez

“The Griffith Observatory is a highly visible landmark that has worked its way into peoples’ imagination and hearts, and Hollywood has had a lot to do with that,” Krupp said. “It was that way from the very beginning, and people still turn to it when they want an iconic setting.”

Krupp said while filming can be routine, he and his staff are vigilant and make sure Griffith Observatory is not damaged during any filming process.

“The place needs to maintain its dignity and purpose,” Krupp said. “We do our best to accommodate filming and projects but never compromise the structure or surrounding area.”

Krupp said he welcomes filmmakers as a part of that rich history and hopes to see the strong bond between Griffith Observatory and Hollywood grow even stronger.

61 April 2016

LAMOTH remembers, educates

and preserves history

T

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

housands of people will assemble in Pan Pacific Park on May 1 for Yom Hashoah, the annual day of remembrance commemorating victims of the Holocaust.

The Los Angeles Holocaust Memorial and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) serve as monuments to the 6 million Jews and others who were killed by the Nazis during World War II. The idea to establish a museum grew from a group of Holocaust survivors who in 1961, were taking English as a second language classes at Hollywood High School. They often gathered at Pan Pacific Park to share photographs, clothing and other Holocaust artifacts. It seemed to be the logical location for the museum.

“This park was a hub for post-war, post-Holocaust Jewish life. This was a neighborhood that had a very high concentration of Jewish refugees,” said LAMOTH executive director Samara Hutman.

Vermont Avenue, and was located in various buildings in the Miracle Mile.

Finally, the dream became a reality in 2010 when LAMOTH opened in Pan Pacific Park. The museum follows the same mission its founders envisioned – providing a place for remembrance that is informative, educational and relevant in modern times.

“Their mission from the beginning was to commemorate and educate about the Holocaust, free to the public, which I think is a very meaningful piece of the mandate of the founding survivors. That was important to them, a basic tenet of their work, that the thing they wanted to create would always be free and no one would be turned away,” Hutman said.

LAMOTH had approximately 50,000 visitors last year, half of which were students, a testament to its role in education. Student tours and programs with interactive involvement fulfill its educational mission. Survivors, many now in their 80s and 90s,

“The hope is people will be aware of this possibility and understand the need to protect the world.”

Samara Hutman LAMOTH executive director

“1961 was only 16 years after the Holocaust, and in terms of time, 16 years is a minute. Here were these men and women who were so close to the event itself. I think it’s very meaningful given all that they had gone through that they had a drive to create something for the public. This small group of survivors was on the vanguard of understanding that this was going to be a subject that would require a place and a space and a dedicated effort to study it, to disseminate learning about it and to have an internal, organizational and institutional dialogue of all the complexities.”

The desire grew to build a museum but funds needed to be raised. The group went to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles for help. The museum first opened in a building on 62 April 2016

lecture regularly at the museum and their stories have been recorded and archived.

The museum also serves as a vault for documents, photographs, artifacts and relics from the Holocaust period of 1933-1945. Visitors can hear testimonials from a soldier who helped liberate a concentration camp and learn about pre-Holocaust Jewish life. Exhibits about the rise of the Nazis are displayed. Information about the destruction of Jewish communities in occupied German territories, and the ultimate removal of Jewish citizens to ghettos and concentration camps serve as harsh reminders of the period. The museum shows the human suffering that was inflicted and conveys the brutality and dehumanization. It also shows the horror of extermination and

photo courtesy of LAMOTH

genocide inflicted during the Holocaust. And while there was much despair, visitors also learn stories of hope and resistance, and how people survived after the camps were liberated.

One of the museum’s goals is for visitors to take with them a sense of the survivors’ struggles and a determination to fight against the discrimination and hatred that led to the Holocaust. The exhibits keep the stories alive and help guard against history repeating itself.

“The hope is people will be aware of this possibility and understand the need to protect the world,” Hutman said. “The study of history, especially history like this, is critical for a humane civilization.”

Many of the museum’s exhibits are interactive, including the Tree of Testimony displaying video screens along “branches” near the museum’s entrance.

Testimony from 51,000 survivors are broadcast on the screens, allowing visitors to hear directly from the people who experienced the Holocaust.

One hundred Torah scrolls that were looted by the Nazis and believed to be lost have been recovered and are now on display for the first time at LAMOTH. The museum also takes its stories outside its walls, providing resources for teaching and programs in schools, temples and community centers. Hutman is proud the museum’s attendance is growing and programs are expanding, keeping the stories of Holocaust survivors fresh and pertinent in the minds of people, young and old.

“There is nothing like hearing from someone who lived through it personally or seeing an artifact that allows you to start piecing together history,” she added. “The museum always understood the preciousness of one person’s story, one person’s artifact. We are a local museum grounded in family history. And the stories will always carry on with the children and grandchildren of the survivors who made it possible.”

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OUR PLACES

70 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Hooray for Hollywood...Toyota Possibly the most successful Hollywood opening of 1957 And Now Leading the Way in Green Technology Vehicles Hollywood Toyota was the First Toyota Dealership in the USA and is a leader in green technology as one of the first dealers in LA to install charging stations. The Prius has surpassed the 2 million mark in sales and is celebrating 15 years as the number one selling hybrid vehicle.

6000 Hollywood Blvd. • Hollywood, CA 90028 1-800-293-3527 www.hollywoodtoyota.com Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

71 April 2016

Lions and tigers and bears...

...Tasmanian devils too! How do you zoo?

I

t’s only natural that the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a top destination for Angelenos and visitors from around the world.

Where else can you visit the grasslands and jungles of Africa, the remote Australian outback, the lush rainforests of Central and South America and the stunning tropics of Asia in one leisurely afternoon? Add a geographically diverse collection of more than 250 animal species, educational programs and special events, and it’s easy to see why more than 1.75 million people visit the Los Angeles Zoo each year.

Zoo director John Lewis said while he wants people to enjoy viewing the animals and walking through the gardens, he hopes they learn something new during their visit. Newcomer species like Tasmanian devils and an endangered herd of Grevy’s zebras are examples of how the zoo stays on the cutting edge. And no trip to the zoo is complete without seeing the elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees, gorillas – and of course, lions, tigers and bears.

“We have a lot of visitors who have never been up close to wild animals,” Lewis said. “It makes them feel good to see the animals and experience something they’ve never experienced.”

The zoo opened in 1966 in Griffith Park and remains one of the top facilities of its kind in the nation. Owned and operated by the city of Los Angeles, the 113-acre zoo is supported by a small army of staff and volunteers from the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA). More than 1,100 animals are on display, along with 800 different plant species.

A new program, the Hippo Encounter, allows small groups of 15 people, for a nominal fee, to stand next to the zoo’s baby Rosie and mom Mara, even touching their smooth hides. The popular experience is one of the most photographed at the Los Angeles Zoo. Zoo officials are currently developing a master plan that will plot its course into the future. One of the newest attractions is a special dinosaur 72 April 2016

exhibit that runs through Oct. 31.

“There [are] animatronic dinosaurs, fossil digs and things for the kids, a lot of educational material. And throughout the experience, we’ll be trying to connect the dinosaurs with some of the animals that actually live here at the zoo,” Lewis said. “That is a fun thing for people to see and a reason to come back to the zoo.

Its permanent primate exhibit, the Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains habitat, is home to one of the largest troops of chimps in the country; the Red Ape Rainforest allows visitors to walk among orangutans; and the Campo Gorilla Reserve is home to a thriving group of lowland gorillas. The Dragons of Komodo houses the world’s largest lizards. The ornate design of the Elephants of Asia section links its two inhabitants to the cultures of Thailand, India, Cambodia and China.

The LAIR (Living Amphibians, Invertebrates and Reptiles) boasts more than 70 creepy-crawly species. Many of its inhabitants are unique, such as Chinese giant salamanders, which resemble small logs as they float in the water. Others are highly venomous, such as the zoo’s collection of Armenian vipers, which recently multiplied under a breeding program.

Visitors can also travel to the jungles

of Central and South America in the new Rainforest of the Americas habitat to see indigenous animals such as black howler monkeys, tapirs, jaguars and giant river otters. New stingrays were recently introduced to the tanks next to the otters’ swimming pool.

Lewis said the zoo’s diversity of species living side-by-side makes the zoo special. Some species, like Calamian deer from the Philippines, can’t be seen anywhere else in the U.S. “We have a fairly unique animal collection. We have a lot of hooved animals that a lot of zoos don’t work with. Some of that is because of our climate, but [mostly] it’s because of the professionals that work here. They have the expertise to work with those delicate species,” Lewis said. “In the LAIR, we’re working with a lot of reptile species in particular that very few other zoos are working with and our staff has not only been able to keep them but reproduce them. We’ve sent close to 50 komodo dragons around the world from offspring that were hatched here.”

The zoo is also a leader in conservation, working with the peninsular pronghorn antelopes in Baja California and the California condor populations, among others. While the condors are not on display, the zoo cares for them at an adjacent facility

BY EDWIN FOLVEN and has helped the birds rebound from the brink of extinction. Contributions that go directly to the preservation of endangered species are encouraged.

“In my opinion [the zoo is] for the people who [come here] and are going to make a difference in what happens to a species. Hopefully, it makes one receptive to what’s happening, makes them more informed and more apt to make a difference,” Lewis said.

GLAZA plays a major role in supporting the zoo’s work with endangered species, raising money through fundraisers and special programs. The annual “Beastly Ball,” where every June visitors walk the zoo after hours and sample gourmet food from top Los Angeles restaurants, is GLAZA’s biggest benefit of the year. The zoo also hosts special music nights, culinary and craft beer events and family festivals allowing visitors to see a different side of the zoo. All of the events are planned around the animals and include zookeeper talks and up-close animal encounters.

The Winnick Family Children’s Zoo is also perfect for families with young children, who can interact with small animals and explore a cave. The flamingos – one of the largest flocks in the world – are the technicolor moment of every visit to the Los Angeles Zoo. The Tom Mankiewicz Conservation Carousel, a merry-go-round featuring 60 handcrafted figures representing many of the animals at the zoo, is a one-of-a-kind attraction that is popular with families and children. The colorful carousel was named after the late Mankiewicz, a screenwriter, producer, GLAZA board chairman and staunch supporter of animal conservation.

Whether for events like the “Beastly Ball,” special programs like the Hippo Encounter or simply a family afternoon among the animals, the zoo continues to be a favorite destination where you can view a wide array of animal species big and small. And after all, where else can you travel around the world to more than a dozen exotic locales without leaving the city?

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photos by Jamie Pham 73 April 2016

“The Big Sleep”/photo courtesy of Doctormacro.com

Long Take the

Film noir,

true crime and the allure of the Los Angeles

underground on the silver screen

By Tim Posada 74 April 2016

I

t’s a dark and stormy night in the City of Angels. I’m leaning against a lamppost puffing a Cuban, waiting for this guy I know. Suddenly, a shiny Packard pulls up and a leggy dame climbs out. She dashes toward a club.

She drops her bag on the sidewalk.

She turns, we exchange glances. I’m hooked.

Film Noir

This type of narration set the tone for the mysterious genre of film noir.

But movie making wasn’t always so dark.

Before the 1940s, everything felt so clean. Tramps like Chaplin ran this town. But then the war started and crime of all kinds began to spike in Hollywood. Films like “Double Indemnity” featured the evolution of crime. “Chinatown” uncovered the truth on crime-ridden streets. “The Onion Field” exposed the reality behind such crime stories, depicting one of the most notorious murders of a police officer in L.A. history.

To tell a good crime story, the city had to become a character equally as important as a leading protagonist.

Crime films set in Los Angeles know

their way around every street corner, illuminating dark allies as much as Tinseltown.

Stories like “Chinatown” focused on the more seedy side of the city, only coming up for air with some occasional humor.

“Can you believe it? We’re in the middle of a drought, and the water commissioner drowns. Only in L.A.,” said one jaded character.

But other films mix style with mystery, like “L.A. Confidential,” a film that toys with the allure of L.A.’s past.

This is an homage to a different age of filmmaking in a different kind of Los Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Left:“Kiss Me Deadly” by United Artists. Right: Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in “Double Indemnity” by Paramount Pictures.

Angeles now forgotten.

“Life is good in Los Angeles. It’s paradise on Earth. That’s what they tell you, anyway,” narrates Sid Hudgens in the film, acknowledging the paradox of L.A.’s dangerous intrigue.

Take “Double Indemnity.” In a downtown L.A. office, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) begins narrating the horrid events that recently transpired. We soon learn he was once a simple salesman, until he was lured into a scheme to help Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) murder her husband. But that intro sets the tone, the shape of things to come, almost declaring, “Here’s downtown L.A., so you best believe something important’s about to happen. After all, this isn’t San Dimas.”

These films tried to make L.A. just as sexy as their leading ladies, those “dames to kill for,” borrowing a line from Frank Miller’s “Sin City,” a graphic novel series that takes its entire aesthetic from film noir. Back in “Double Indemnity” poor Neff is undone by a beautiful woman. At the time it wasn’t an oldie but the origin of a classic.

“Suddenly you have nudity, violence,” said William Luhr, author of “Film Noir” and professor of English at Saint Paul’s College. “A lot of things in the ’40s that were implicit became explicit. Now they could Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

show what evil is all about.”

At the time these films spoke to a “cynicism, pessimism and darkness which had crept into the American cinema,” said “Raging Bull” screenwriter Paul Schrader in his essay “Notes on Film Noir.”

By the end of the 1950s, film noir vanished. But like all good murder mysteries, it returned from the dead in

genre is “Chinatown.” Never has a film been more decisive between the controversy surrounding director Roman Polanski and the jaw-dropping scandals revealed at every turn of Jake’s (Jack Nicholson) investigation.

Sure, the villain might be Noah Cross (John Huston), but he’s really just a puppet controlled by the city. L.A.’s “Chinatown” allows Cross to get

“Part of what these films do is center on people who aren’t good. It’s about exploring them on their way to hell.”

William Luhr the 1970s with films like “The Long Goodbye” in 1973, “Chinatown” in 1974 and even a second attempt at “The Big Sleep” in 1978. These films made their presence in Los Angeles quite clear. Rather than film on the cheap in a studio, film noir has always sought to acknowledge the paradox of big cities.

Easily the most popular film of the

away with it all, leading to one of the most notable lines in the film: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

Film noir refuses to die. Why? For Luhr, the allure results from “the erotics of evil,” as he puts it.

“Part of what these films do is center on people who aren’t good,” he says. “It’s about exploring them on their way to hell. It was something

very new in the ’40s. Instead of locating evil in crime, it placed evil in the middle class and down the block.

These people are not visibly monstrous at the beginning.”

“L.A. Confidential” and “The Black Dahlia,” are both L.A. detective stories based on books by James Ellroy. They draw upon the traditions of classic noir.

“L.A. Confidential,” as a piece of fiction, presents a classic crime story so visually engaging and equally complex that it earned nine Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won a couple too. Considering its premiere in 1997, this is a special kind of nostalgia for a type of filmmaking that can only be called “L.A.” The flat landscape and newer housing depicted can’t be New York or Chicago and the traffic and diverse population counters every midwest town.

Even a wacky film like “Mulholland Drive” couldn’t escape the noir label, meeting comparisons to “Sunset Blvd.” This is the kind of mystery film that leaves audiences’ eyes bulging.

Some likely smirk, pretending they understand everything they just experienced – every dream sequence and nonlinear moment – though they are likely as confused as everyone else.

Perhaps the answer is simpler: only in L.A. If it doesn’t make sense, that’s L.A. Just take it in.

75 April 2016

True Crime Despite its gritty and often complex webs of deception and villainy, film noir remains a Hollywood staple that easily fits into a nice screenplaymade package.

But Joseph Wambaugh, author of “The New Centurions” and “The Onion Field,” favors a different approach. While he’s quick to say he enjoys well-made film noir, like “Body Heat,” his approach to police stories, true crime or fictional, is grounded in the grittiness of reality, not overly saturated cinematography.

“I try to avoid melodrama,” he says. “I try to tell stories that are true.

I tell stories that are true to somebody I knew, to somebody I observed.”

His crowning achievement “The Onion Field” embodies this. While he was a police officer for the LAPD in 1963, Wambaugh witnessed first hand the impact of the kidnapping of two officers and the following murder of one in an onion field near Bakersfield. In Wambaugh’s true crime book and screenplay for the 1979 adaption, which he also wrote, the events that lead to officer Ian Campbell’s death and the downward spiral of officer Karl Hettinger are not revised to cleanly fit into a film’s three-act structure.

Fast cars, bullets peppering the sky and action-movie one-liners take a backseat to what a real police procedural would look like. This is by design.

“I’m not fond of chases, shoot outs,” Wambaugh says. “I don’t like to write about those things. With a police procedural, the others try to depict how the cop acts on the job. I flip it and tell how the job acts on the cop.”

Perhaps the only creative license in the “The Onion Field” film occurs when a beat cop condemns a new policy that says officers are to never give up their guns under any circumstances.

This is a result of the events of March 9, 1963, when Gregory Ulas Powell pulled a gun on Officer Campbell.

Soon after, Hettinger relinquished his sidearm, a choice that would officially be condemned by LAPD. While on the force, Wambaugh disapproved of this policy, so he added a fictional voice to the facts.

“I’ve been walking the beat longer than some of these babies been on this Earth,” says Richard Herd in “The 76 April 2016

courtesy of the Wambaughs

Joseph Wambaugh on set during the filming of “The Onion Field,” which premiered in 1979. Below: James Woods, top right, portrays killer Gregory Powell. Franklyn Seales, bottom right, portrays Jimmy Smith in the film that depicts the kidnapping of two LAPD officers and then murder of one in an Onion Field near Bakersfield.

Onion Field,” simply credited as Beat Cop. “And there was one thing you might say was always kinda sacred.

Police work is the kind of business only you know what you shoulda or shouldn’t have did. Nobody else had the right to question a judgement call.”

Wambaugh empathizes with Hettinger, who became a scapegoat, a man with post-traumatic stress disorder before it became a regular diagnosis.

“I could put myself in Hettinger’s place,” he says. “I could imagine what he went through. That beat cop was speaking for the author. Most cops agreed with the beat cop. Very few agreed with the proposition that you never give your gun up under any circumstance. You can’t make 10 Commandments in police work that work every situation.”

For the most part, “The Onion Field” is a straight laced film: backstory, the murder and the many trials that followed in what many would deem a miscarriage of justice. And that sums up the difference between film noir and true crime: noir builds and builds, Wambaugh’s depiction features the horror and the horror that sticks around. And what could be more noir than that?

Film noir doesn’t care about reality.

Due process and forensic evidence tgive way to cryptic one-liners and a well-lit scene. True crime, on the other hand, is under a microscope. If details vary from the truth, or events of record, critics come out with pens at the ready.

Despite their differences, film noir and true crime share their engagement with the city. And L.A. based stories capture many similar elements: the heat, the sometimes disconnected public and the horrors the just might reside in our own backyards. Modern L.A. films like “Nightcrawler,” “Training Day” and “Heat” know their way around an action scene. But the action and thriller genres build anticipation in entirely different ways.

“The Onion Field” and L.A. film noir, however, are more content to examine every street, every dark alley, every cracked sidewalk in search of answers. They search slowly, building to a climax. They have patience, never forcing the truth.

It’s a challenging process, but that’s the price of telling a story that speaks to a city. It’s deep process. It’s the long take.

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FIGHTING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

F

or 107 years, the National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angles (NCJW/LA) has been a beacon of hope for women, children and families in need.

And over the decades, NCJW/LA has stayed true to the core values of advocating for the needy that were outlined by women’s rights activist Rachel Kauffman when she founded the organization in 1909.

Kauffman followed the lead of the national council’s founder Hannah G. Solomon, who 16 years earlier became a symbol in the fight for gender equality. Solomon walked out of an event at the Chicago World’s Fair, angry about the second-class treatment of women.

Solomon had been asked by the maleled Jewish delegation to organize Jewish women’s participation at the fair.

Once they arrived, Solomon’s group was relegated to serving coffee and hosting. By the end of the fair in 1893, the National Council of Jewish Women was born, leading to branches throughout the country, including Los Angeles.

“Women from around the country gathered with the national council in the mid-1890s and when they came back to their communities, they found ways to create NCJWs, especially in areas where there were large concentrations of Jewish women,” said Hillary Selvin, executive director of NCJW/LA. “Rachel Kauffman started NCJW/LA with 15 members on June 20, 1909. A year later, they had a membership of 101.”

In the early days, NCJW/LA focused on bringing about social justice for women, children, families and immigrants – a tradition that continues today. The organization was rooted downtown in the B’nai B’rith Temple on Hope Street, and it quickly became a community center where members created programs and planned actions supporting women’s causes.

“It was about philanthropy and self-improvement. The women who were part of NCJW/LA cared about the community and wanted to help others,” Selvin said. “It 78 April 2016

NCJW

was what we call social justice today.”

Some of the earliest programs included a nursery school for working mothers and the El Nido Camp, which provided healthcare for children.

Selvin said the first council thrift shop opened in 1924 on East Seventh Street.

Clothing and furniture donations were sold at the thrift shop, with proceeds funding NCJW/LA social programs.

The council now has eight thrift shops that serve the same role today, providing more than 75 percent of the organization’s net income.

NCJW/LA’s membership grew exponentially over the first decades and the programs expanded. The organization launched efforts to help refugees coming to the United States in the 1920s and ‘30s. During World War II, the organization worked closely with the Red Cross, veterans’ programs and the USO. In the 1950s, NCJW/LA started a program for at-risk girls and volunteer training that helped people find jobs. In 1960, the organization broke ground on its current headquarters in the Fairfax District. A year later, the council house opened at 543 N. Fairfax Ave. Just as the organization’s early headquarters became a center of the community downtown, the council house on Fairfax Avenue flourished as a gathering place. Selvin said in the early days, they hosted 12-step meetings and served as a site for training

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

lobbyists. Today, organizations like the Mid City West Community Council utilize it as their headquarters.

“It was place for the community and still is,” Selvin added.

The NCJW/LA that people are familiar with today really took shape in the 1970s and ‘80s, Selvin said. A daycare program for working moms was launched that is now part of Vista Del Mar – an affiliated organization serving people in need. Selvin said the NCJW/LA Talk Line was also founded in the early 1980s. People call for emotional support and counseling and receive help finding mental health, domestic violence and educational resources.

The council also launched its women’s network in the 1980s, which evolved into its current advocacy program for social injustice. Issues at the time included reproductive rights and attempts to overturn Roe v. Wade. The council’s fight for women’s reproductive rights, and support for causes such as LGBTQ equality, stopping human trafficking and gender-related violence, remain hallmarks of the organization. Forums and panel discussions on NCJW/LA advocacy and social justice initiatives are held regularly at the council house.

Selvin said one of the most important NCJW/LA programs is the yearly clothing giveaway, held annually in early December. Thousands of people

line Fairfax Avenue to receive free clothing and children’s gifts that are donated to the community from the thrift shops.

“The clothing giveaway is our signature event,” Selvin said. It’s been going on for 17 or 18 years. We always have a few thousand people come and we readily provide for [them].”

Selvin said she is also excited about Adopt-a-Family, a new program that last year provided help in different ways for 30 families in need.

“One person we helped was a single-mom who was going to school and had to get up at four in the morning so she could get to the library to use a computer to do her work and then go to school. Then she had to go to her job,” Selvin said. “We bought her a laptop and got her connected to the Internet. Do you know how lifesaving that is? Sometimes it’s little things, just helping them pay their bills and keeping their lights on. Some just need their car repaired. These are ways you can change their lives.”

Selvin added that NCJW/LA has a paid support staff but is primarily a volunteer organization whose members look for ways to make a difference. There are currently 2,500 members and 600 periodic volunteers.

“The volunteers are the core element of our organization,” Selvin added. “We are a grassroots, volunteer organization. They are the strength of the organization, they are an anchor.” photo by Edwin Folven Selvin, a Brooklyn native who has been NCJW/LA’s executive director for 12 years, said the council will never stop caring for people in the community and fighting for social justice. NCJW/LA is always looking for ways to start new assistance programs as needs arise.

“It’s about making the world a better place,” Selvin added.

“No matter how many brick walls you have to climb and then climb again, it’s worthwhile. At the end of the day, you never know who you might have helped. You can make a positive difference in someone’s life.”

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The Spirit of Immaculate Heart Principal Virginia Hurst to retire

BY CALLIE WEBB

A

fter more than a half century at Immaculate Heart High School, including the last 19 years as principal, Virginia Hurst will retire from a lifetime of service to her alma mater and its mission of educating the hearts and minds of young women.

The announcement that Hurst will step down in June triggered an outpouring of praise for a woman whose leadership has quietly shaped and supported a diverse student body, a rigorous academic curriculum and, most notably, a Catholic identity anchored in social justice.

“No one can claim a greater commitment to the education of young women at Immaculate Heart High School than Virginia,” said Ruth Anne Murray, chair of the Immaculate Heart board of trustees. “She has been a loving, sensitive, competent teacher and principal, who has been deeply revered by her students, her fellow teachers, administrators and trustees. We will miss her very much.”

While Hurst’s departure will leave a hole in the hearts of many, her retirement is significant for yet another reason: She represents the last “IHM” presence on campus with ties to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the religious order of women that founded the all-girls school in 1906. When. Hurst steps down from her post, the school will be without an IHM presence in administration for the first time in 110 years.

In her letter to Immaculate Heart trustees, Hurst described her tenure as principal as “life-sustaining,” and she noted, “I feel blessed to have worked in a

80 April 2016

place made sacred by the devoted lives of so many IHMs and lay teachers.”

Hurst was so impressed by the IHM teachers when she was an Immaculate Heart (IH) student that she joined the religious order following her graduation in 1954.

“These women were intelligent, forward-thinking and connected to their students,” she recalled. “They were also happy people, so human.”

Taking the name Sister Ellen Mary, the young nun immediately transitioned into teaching, a profession the IHMs considered their most revered ministry and one that yielded dozens and dozens of teachers for parochial schools throughout the Los Angeles area and beyond.

To this day, Hurst said she still misses the classroom. “There’s something so exciting and stimulating about sharing ideas with students,” she said. “And it’s so rewarding to see the growth of your students.”

During the late 1960s, the IHM sisters swapped their habits for secular garb

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as they embraced a number of Vatican II reforms calling for renewal of religious orders. Their actions drew the ire of then Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, the conservative head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. When the nuns refused to abandon their efforts, he removed them from the diocese’s Catholic schools. As a result, about 300 IHMs, including Hurst who was teaching at Bishop Conaty High School at the time, left the order to form a lay organization called the Immaculate Heart Community.

“I just assumed I would continue to teach, but in public schools,” Hurst said. She briefly joined the faculty at Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles after earning her teaching credential at Immaculate Heart College.

But in 1969, Hurst returned to Immaculate Heart, an independent Catholic high school at the corner of Western and Franklin avenues, and she never left. Initially an English instructor, she inspired a love of literature among hundreds of students, especially for stories penned by women that featured strong female characters. She later chaired the Eng-

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lish Department and also served as moderator of the school newspaper.

She advanced to the position of assistant principal in 1985 and was named principal in 1996.

Hurst said she was fortunate to join an administrative team led by Murray, then Immaculate Heart’s president, along with assistant principal Julie McCormick. Both were instrumental in securing new campus buildings, adding a middle school, and maintaining full enrollment. In turn, Hurst focused on developing an increasingly more rigorous academic curriculum to match a more demanding college application process. Today, nearly 100 percent of Immaculate Heart graduates matriculate immediately to some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country.

Additionally, where once the school offered only one Advanced Placement course, today Immaculate Heart now boasts 17 AP classes. IH students outperform their peers worldwide by achieving an 89 percent passing rate on the AP exams. The school’s AP program has been so successful that the College Board recently selected Immaculate Heart for a new AP class

that focuses on research and presentation, called AP Capstone, to be introduced next fall.

Under Hurst’s guidance, the school has also been transformed by technology and its instructional use in the classroom. Teachers regularly use Smart Boards to tap online resources in all classrooms and students often interact with guest speakers via Skype.

Immaculate Heart introduced a 1:1 program two years ago that provides a laptop and training to every incoming freshman.

Meanwhile, the school draws students from throughout the Los Angeles area, increasing the diversity of its student body dramatically, reflecting ethnicities, cultures and faiths representative of Southern California.

Members of the Class of 2019, for example, hail from nearly 50 elementary schools and 65 zip codes. “The diversity is wonderful on campus,” Hurst said. “Our students reflect our city and that is important.”

The school’s Catholic identity is rooted in service to others and social justice. Students demonstrate faith in action through ministry, charitable works, and other acts of solidarity that

bring them in regular contact with the underserved and the marginalized members of the community. Last year alone, the efforts of IH students totaled more than 14,000 service hours.

While much has changed at Immaculate Heart, Hurst is quick to cite its one constant. “The school’s unwavering commitment to its original mission as a Catholic, college preparatory school where the education of girls is taken seriously,” she said. “Immaculate Heart remains true to its mission by selecting and retaining an excellent faculty, who promote leadership skills and empower students to make good moral and ethical decisions.”

Although her successor has not yet been named, the principal pointed out that the school is in good hands.

“There are so many dedicated people here on campus who will carry on the school’s great traditions and mission, and our board is strongly committed to Immaculate Heart’s identity as a Catholic school,” she said “I leave with good memories.”

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81 April 2016

Crowder’s quest for new computers

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Rosewood Avenue Elementary Principal Linda Crowder is committed to turning the school into a top learning institution in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

When she took the position seven years ago, the school was struggling.

Enrollment was down, bungalows on the school’s periphery were empty and the campus was not secure.

“It was safety first. I was able to fence the school. I had a monitor put at the front door. I worked with the neighbors and created a safety valet on Alfred [Street, in front of the school],” Crowder said. “I was able to have the bungalows taken down, which gave us more playground space.”

Crowder said one of the first programs created under her tenure was transitional kindergarten. Rosewood Avenue Elementary was one of 26 LAUSD schools to launch a pilot pro-

gram in 2010. Students younger than 5 are enrolled in the program, which prepares them for the classroom. Children preparing to enter Hancock Park Elementary School are also enrolled in Rosewood’s transitional kindergarten.

“It’s a structured program that moves at a slower pace and gives them an opportunity to develop social skills,” Crowder added. “It better prepares them for the first grade. The parents agree to a two-year program, and the kids do really well.”

Crowder said Rosewood is a school for advanced studies, providing enhanced academic instruction in English, reading and mathematics. It is also a pilot campus for the Adopt the Arts Foundation, a private non-profit supporting school arts programs co-founded by Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum and community member Abby Berman. The organization funded a music teacher and a new music room. All students

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82 April 2016

receive vocal training, and 3rd through 6th graders learn to play drums, guitar and keyboards.

Crowder said other partnerships have followed. The school is currently working with Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on a program in which student art will be displayed on the company’s packaging.

Rosewood Avenue Elementary School is also in the process of creating a media and technology lab – a project Crowder said is a work in progress. She hopes to raise $208,000 for new computers and other equipment, as well as teacher training and professional development. So far, she has raised approximately $20,000.

“The goal is to integrate technology in the classroom,” Crowder added.

“Once we have that, we can start teaching them coding and graphic design. The goal is career and college readiness.”

Crowder is confident she will achieve her goals for the campus. The school now has more than 300 students, many of whom are children of

Principal Linda Crowder

parents who work nearby. After seven years, 2016 is the first year in which all students at the school started under Crowder’s tenure.

“I wanted to go where I can actually make a difference,” she added. “There have been challenges and we are working on solutions.”

“The goal is to integrate technology in the classroom ... [then] we can start teaching them coding and graphic design. The goal is career and college readiness.”

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Marlborough maintains tradition of academic excellence

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Marlborough School, a private campus for 7th through 12th grade girls at the corner of Third Street and Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park dates back to 1889, when founder Mary Caswell came to Southern California and started the St. Margaret’s School for Girls in Pasadena.

Within a few years, the school reached capacity and Caswell headed west to Hancock Park, purchasing the parcel at Third and Rossmore for $70,000.

The school upholds the core values established by Caswell: community, excellence, confidence and honor.

Those guiding principles have kept Marlborough School on the top tier of private college preparatory schools in the nation. Marlborough School pre-

pares young women for college thanks to a rigorous academic curriculum and active participation in community service.

The school transformed during the 1960s under the leadership of Principal Virginia Jennings and Headmaster Philip Perkins. Marlborough’s Board of Trustees was formed in the ‘60s, and a $4 million fundraising campaign raised capital to construct new buildings.

Architects William Pereira and Associates were commissioned to create a campus with a contemporary yet traditional design. The project was completed in 1968.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Marlborough school expanded its academic offerings and grew its endowment, enabling the school to hire top teachers and administrators. In the 1990s, for-

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mer Head of School Barbara Wagner oversaw more expansion, including the construction of Booth Field and Munger Hall.

Marlborough School continues to be committed to history, tradition and academics. Marlborough also offers a robust photo courtesy of Marlborough School arts curriculum, Marlborough School is undergoing a transformation, with a new including music, sports field, aquatics center and other facilities under construction. dance, ballet and acting. fitness and wellness center, and more The school is a leader in athletics, parking. The project is scheduled to with championship cross country, be completed before the school starts track and field, golf and tennis teams, this fall. among others, focusing on teamwork Marlborough School also weland inclusion. Many graduates go on comed new Head of School Priscilla to play team sports in college.

Sands last year. With new leadership, The school is currently transform- an expansion project and a continued ing its campus once again. The $24 commitment to academic excellence, million Arden Project includes a new Marlborough is poised to remain one multi-purpose athletic field, expanded of the top college preparatory schools tennis courts, a new aquatic center, in the country well into the future.

83 April 2016

Wilshire’s ‘Jewish Village’ extends helping hand

BY DANIEL LANGHORNE The Wilshire Boulevard Temple is known as the synagogue built by Hollywood’s shot callers. The synagogue’s elaborate Byzantine dome was constructed in 1929, thanks to the philanthropy of film moguls, including Warner Bros.’ studio chief Jack Warner.

But Senior Rabbi Steven Leder sees a future that uses the congregation’s talents and resources to improve the lives of their Koreatown neighbors.

Now the Wilshire Boulevard Temple is entering a new era after completing a $175 million fundraising campaign to overhaul its Erika J. Glazer Family Campus, which included restoring the historic sanctuary. Rabbi Leder described the campaign and construction as “an exhausting inspiration.”

The latest piece in the development

of the Glazer campus, located on the temple’s grounds, is the recentlyopened Karsh Family Social Service Center, which offers free dental care, vision care, legal aid services, mental health counseling and a food pantry.

The Wilshire Boulevard Temple staff and community consider themselves a Jewish village, building a community through worship, public service and education, making the temple one of the most respected synagogues in the country.

Leder is at the helm of the synagogue’s clergy. He came to the temple in July 1987, primarily to learn from Rabbi Harvey J. Fields. But he was also captivated by the temple’s striking murals and the architecture of the sanctuary.

“I knew the congregation that built it was inspiring and aspirational,” he said.

Leder is the spiritual leader and

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84 April 2016

photo by Edwin Folven

Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s domed sanctuary, one of the synagogue’s defining features, dates to 1929.

confidant of some of the most influential film studio executives and attorneys in Los Angeles. He says that

his own oratorical skills have been sharpened over the years by some of these great communicators who are

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some of the best storytellers in the world.

One of his goals has been to foster an environment where every temple member, no matter their position, can be themselves.

“It’s a place where they can come together where it’s not adversarial or competitive,” Leder said.

But Leder isn’t just interested in making life better for his congregation or Jews in general. He sees making Los Angeles – and the world – a better place as one of the crucial parts of the Jewish faith.

The temple’s leadership worked with their neighbors at the KHEIR S. Mark Taper Foundation Community Clinic on Sixth Street to identify which healthcare services weren’t available to the public at affordable costs. That’s how the temple began providing dental and vision care, said Elizabeth Ross, director of the temple’s Karsh Family Social Service Center.

“We knew we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel and start new,” Ross said.

Some dentists and attorneys in the congregation volunteer their time to meet with the center’s guests. Volunteers also help with support services like greeting guests and checking them in.

The Karsh Center will also host other nonprofits including Our House Grief Support Center, the Book Foundation, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Public Counsel, Alliance for Children’s Rights, Inner City Law, Asian

Americans Advancing Justice, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles QueensCare and Hope-Net. The decision to invite the organizations to use the Karsh Center was strategic in making the public feel welcome.

“Their word carries a lot of weight,” Ross said. “We know that they will automatically be a feeder for clients.”

Education is an important aspect of Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s mission, and the temple’s Brawerman Elementary School plays a special role in its community.

Brandon Cohen, incoming head of school at Brawerman, sees his job as keeping the school focused on academic excellence and “joyful Judaism” for its 350 students. He encourages his teachers to create lessons that teach students how to collaborate and how distinguish truths from falsehoods.

Cohen said he’s been lucky to learn from Nadine Breuer, the founding head of school, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

In addition to 40-minutes of Hebrew instruction each day, Brawerman tries to incorporate lessons from the Torah into secular studies by showing how knowledge and past decision making can be helpful when solving today’s dilemmas.

“As much as we can, we like to see [The Torah] integrated because we think it’s a much more dynamic way to learn the Judaic studies and secular studies program,” Cohen said.

photo by Edwin Folven

Carol Bovill, director of Wilshire Boulevard Temple's Early Childhood Center, and Gillian Feldman, principal of Brawerman Elementary School East, lead the temple’s educational programs.

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85 April 2016

A visit to L.A. becomes a permanent stay

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

P

ark La Brea’s director of resident services John Burney, a native of Glastonbury, Conn., fell in love with Los Angeles during a visit in 1981 during his final year at Boston-based Emerson College.

He and a group of students stayed at the Beverly Laurel Hotel on Beverly Boulevard and Burney said he got a glimpse of the good life in the Fairfax District and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“The trip was great. We went to CBS Television City and got into tapings of shows like ‘Happy Days,’ ‘Laverne & Shirley’ and ‘Three’s Company.’ I compare it to Dorothy arriving at Oz. To see CBS where all these shows were made was amazing to me,” Burney said.

“We spent a month here and as soon as I graduated, I moved back.

It was partly the weather and partly career driven. This is where I have been ever since.”

86 April 2016

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Burney studied communications, with an emphasis in radio and television. He didn’t land a job in the field, however, and instead first worked as a door man at the former Odyssey Nightclub at Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards and later as a waiter and manager at the Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard. Both were iconic places in the local neighborhood, and Burney said he is proud to have been part of those pieces of Hollywood’s history.

Burney said he also pursued a career in front of the camera and landed a spot as a dancer on “American Bandstand” in the mid-1980s.

“It was a big deal back then, even if you were just a dancer,” he said.

“I was just open to being here and experiencing whatever I could do. I did some commercials and was just going with the flow. From there, I just began focusing on what I was going to be doing with the rest of my life.”

In the late 1980s, Burney landed a job in commercial property management and said he found his niche. A few years later, he answered a help wanted ad in the Los Angeles Times

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and was hired by Forest City, the company that owned Park La Brea at the time.

ordinating with vendors and the complex’s staff, and helping out in the activities center.

“I was just open to being here and experiencing whatever I could do. I did some commercials and was just going with the flow.

From there, I just began focusing on what I was going to be doing with the rest of my life.”

John Burney, director of services at Park La Brea

“I started in the leasing office. The property changed hands in 1995 and is [now] owned by Prime Residential, but I’ve been here since 1990,” Burney added. “This neighborhood is very important to me. It’s really the center of Los Angeles.”

As director of resident services for Park La Brea, Burney takes care of residents’ needs. He said it includes everything from working directly with tenants and scheduling repairs, to co-

“It’s a well-rounded job that is exciting every day,” Burney said. “The relationships I build are really valuable. I think the relationships, in some respect, helped educate me and gave me a good background in different cultures. It helps me appreciate what Los Angeles and the people have to offer.”

Burney added that he loves the diversity at Park La Brea, which is the

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largest apartment community this side of the Mississippi River. The complex is home to 11,000 people.

“It’s very rewarding to work at a place that people call home and are comfortable in their setting,” Burney said. “Everyone comes together at Park La Brea.”

Burney has also lived at Park La Brea since 1990 and has seen the surrounding neighborhood change over the years. He serves as a liaison between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Park La Brea to inform residents about the Purple Line Extension project construction that is now underway. Burney also plans to get more involved with the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce – a group for which he is currently a board member – to facilitate more positive changes in the community.

“I am really excited about the future of this neighborhood,” Burney said.

“Part of what’s unique is that it is one of the best walking neighborhoods in L.A. It’s a great community and the changes have been well-planned. I want to be a part of what the future holds for this community.”

87 April 2016

LaBonge’s theme song is still ‘I Love L.A.’

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

F

ormer Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge hikes the trails in Griffith Park daily, giving him a bird’s eye view of the 4th District neighborhoods he represented from 2001-2015.

The views bring back fond memories of his tenure on the city council and as a city employee and volunteer for 40 years. A life-long Silver Lake resident, LaBonge said he loves Los Angeles and it was his destiny to serve the people of the City of Angels. Since retiring last June, he said he misses the communities he served and the people he worked with over the decades.

“What makes the 4th District special is the neighborhoods and the people. Larchmont, Hancock Park, the Miracle Mile, they are all so special,”

LaBonge said. “I also miss the people who work for the city. I see the traffic officers and the city workers and people I know and it takes me back. I was on Rossmore one day driving in my car and a city truck came by and the driver leaned out and said, ‘Hey Tom.’ It was great. The key to success is working with people, and the people who are key are the city employees.”

LaBonge said his love for the city dates to his childhood.

He attended Ivanhoe Elementary, Thomas Starr King Middle School and Marshall High School, where he was a star center on the football team. He played football with quarterback Mike Haynes, who went on to play in the National Football League for the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Raiders. After graduating high school in 1971, LaBonge attended Los Angeles City College and Cal Poly San Luis

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Obispo, where he received a degree in sociology.

It was during his final year in college that he began his career with the city, joining Mayor Tom Bradley’s Youth Advisory Council in 1974. From there, he worked as a council aide to former Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson, who represented the 13th District.

He said he enjoyed working on projects in the community and helping solve problems, and parlayed his experience into a staff position with the late City Council President John Ferraro.

On Ferraro’s staff, he was involved in organizing the 1984 Olympic Games and worked as a council aide tackling neighborhood issues. He said Ferraro inspired him as a civil servant

photo by Edwin Folven

and instilled a hands-on work ethic that he carried throughout his career.

“John Ferraro was a great leader for the city. He championed the ’84 Olympics, which transformed the city,” LaBonge said. “He also really cared about the neighborhoods. After 16 years of working with John, I ran for city council in the 13th District and

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lost by 40 votes to Jackie Goldberg.�

Never dissuaded, LaBonge worked briefly as an assistant to Mayor Richard Riordan and with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power before making another attempt at joining the city council. In 2001, Ferraro passed away and LaBonge won a special election to fill the vacancy left by his mentor. He went on to serve another three terms representing the 4th District. “When I left last year, I was the highest ranking council member in number of years [on the council],�

LaBonge said. “It was a true pleasure to serve on the city council and I am proud of the things I was able to accomplish.�

LaBonge said his biggest accomplishment was helping clear the way for the Purple Line Extension project to begin. As a member of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board, he helped the project roll forward by calling for studies on safely building a tunnel under Wilshire Boulevard.

LaBonge credited former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, former Congressman Henry Waxman and then-State Assemblyman Mike Feuer for authoring legislation that allowed Metro to plan the

photo by Edwin Folven

On Tom LaBonge’s last day at city hall, his colleagues gave him a standing ovation. LaBonge’s wife, Brigid, Mitch O’Farrell, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer were there to honor him.

project. Preliminary construction on the Purple Line Extension began during LaBonge’s final two years in office. “That’s the biggest long-range thing.

We started the studies, and now here we are today. Now they’re working away in the Miracle Mile,� LaBonge said. “The subway will change the area dramatically in a positive way. Exciting times are coming for the Miracle Mile.�

LaBonge said he is also proud of helping clear the way for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to install

Chris Burden’s “Urban Light� on Wilshire Boulevard. The assemblage of vintage streetlights is located where Ogden Drive used to intersect Wilshire Boulevard. LaBonge had the street closed and the area turned into a public plaza for LACMA. “We closed Ogden and created a great public space,� LaBonge said. “I like to go and sit there and watch the people visiting. There is no greater diversity than at Urban Light in the evening. I was very proud of my in-

volvement with that.�

LaBonge said his many other accomplishments include forming a public-private partnership that raised funding to buy the land around Cahuenga Peak so it could be donated to Griffith Park. Helping establish the historic preservation overlay zone in Hancock Park is another high point in LaBonge’s career. It prevents people from demolishing houses and building new ones that are out of character in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

LaBonge said he hasn’t ruled out working again in a position to help the people of Los Angeles. In the meantime, he has been traveling and enjoying retirement with his wife of 28 years, Brigid. “Right now, I’m spending time with my family and taking time to see people I haven’t seen in years,� LaBonge added. “I always tried to work with people. I cared about the community and worked hard. For those I met and were able to achieve common ground, we were able to achieve a lot. The opportunities given to me by Mayor Bradley and John Ferraro helped me along the way. I hope somebody reading this will take advantage of the opportunities and say they want to try to help the city and the people, too.�

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89 April 2016

Museum Row The crown jewel of the Miracle Mile

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rom art and natural history to automobiles and soon film, Museum Row on Wilshire Boulevard gives visitors an opportunity to experience fine art and contemporary works to rare automobiles and prehistoric fossils – all in a five-block stretch.

Museum Row is home to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum. The Academy Museum, which is expected to open in 2018 at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, will round out the collection, showcasing the history of motion pictures in stateof-the-art galleries and exhibition spaces.

The Academy Museum’s defining feature will be a five-story glass globe adjacent to the former May Co. Building. The museum will house the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ collection of film artifacts and memorabilia, as well as exhibitions on the future of the medium. The collection includes 10 million photographs, 190,000 films and videos, 80,000 screenplays, 50,000 posters and 20,000 production and costume design drawings from silent films to modern digital blockbusters.

At the opposite end of Museum Row is the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, which is dedicated to the natural history of the Los Angeles area 10,000-50,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene era. Since opening in 1977, the museum has constructed exhibits of woolly mammoths, sabertoothed cats and dire wolves from bones and fossils found in the earth.

The animals were preserved in pools of tar seeping naturally from the ground. The museum houses more than 1 million fossils from 650 different species. It includes interactive exhibits and viewing “pits” where fossils are still being extracted from the tar.

In addition to large mammals such as bison, bears, camels and horses, the 90 April 2016

La Brea Tar Pits and Museum houses a vast collection of bird, insect and plant fossils. Visitors observe paleontologists and their assistants as they clean and preserve the bones in the museum’s fossil lab.

New attractions at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum include “Titans of the Ice Age,” a 3D film that takes audiences to a frozen world thousands of years ago that was ruled by mammoths, giant sloths and other creatures now extinct. It also highlights the discovery of “Zed,” a nearly complete mammoth skeleton found during a 2007 excavation.

The grounds of Hancock Park, which surround the museum, include the Pleistocene Garden, a pre-historic landscape dedicated to Los Angeles’ native flora, and of course, the tar pits.

Walking west through Hancock Park takes visitors to LACMA – one of the top art and cultural institutions in the world. LACMA, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015, has an expansive and diverse collection ranging from works by classical masters to contemporary artists.

Current LACMA exhibitions include a retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography, who is an icon of the medium. In Random International’s “Rain Room,” an immersive environment, water falls perpetually, pausing only when someone walks through.

Upcoming exhibits include “Miracle Mile,” a body of work by contemporary artist Robert Irwin inspired by the architecture along Wilshire Boulevard. In July, the museum plans to open an exhibition of Picasso prints, showcasing his experimentation and ingenuity. More information about LACMA and its plans for the future is included in the article in this issue on museum director Michael Govan.

Across Wilshire Boulevard from LACMA is a shining monument to car culture – the Petersen Automotive Museum, founded in 1994 by publishing magnate Robert E. Petersen and his wife Margie. The Petersen’s re-

photo by Edwin Folven The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is a cornerstone of Museum Row.

imagined museum which opened in December is a shining star on Museum Row. A comprehensive piece on The Petersen is included in this issue.

Museum Row’s smallest cultural institution, the Craft and Folk Art Museum, is dedicated to handcrafted artwork by emerging and often unknown artists. (See related article below.)

Millions of visitors have flocked to Museum Row over the past 50 years, and now it is poised to become even more popular in the future. A subway

station on the Purple Line Extension is scheduled to open near Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in 2023, providing even more access to the collection of world-class museums. Coupled with the opening of the Academy Museum and an expansion across Wilshire Boulevard planned by LACMA, the changing fa ade of Museum Row will undoubtedly continue to mirror the rich diversity of the art found inside the walls of its institutions.

CAFAM opens doors for craft artists

The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is a Miracle Mile destination showcasing work by leading craft artists and designers. A Museum Row institution since 1965, the museum features artists whose work is not generally found in larger museums. CAFAM exhibitions demonstrate unique perspectives – such as “Granny Squared,” an exhibit in which the museum’s exterior was covered in 7,500 hand-crafted crocheted granny squares.

A current exhibit, “Little Dreams in Glass and Metal: Enameling in America, 1920 to the Present” runs through May 8, displaying enamel works ranging from jewelry and tiles to large abstract wall panels. The exhibit explores more than 100 years of enameling history and 121 works by iconic artists in the medium such as Edward Winter, Paul Hultberg and Fred Uhl Ball.

Concurrently, CAFAM is hosting “Made in China: New Ceramic Works

by Keiko Fukazawa” through May 8. It is the first solo museum exhibit by the Los Angeles-based ceramic artist.

Fukazawa studied porcelain in Jingdezhen, China, a center for the medium for 2,000 years. Her porcelain busts represent mass-produced statues of Chairman Mao. Her large porcelain boxes feature painted Chinese landscapes alongside logos from multinational corporations, showing that Western consumerism is changing Chinese society. Fukazawa also creates works based on intricately decorated everyday objects such as spoons, bottles and tea flasks.

CAFAM is a destination for families too, and hosts children’s programs and student tours. Although smaller than its neighbor the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CAFAM is an integral part of the cultural institutions on Museum Row. Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Samy’s Camera was meant to be

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

N

early 60 years ago, William Herskovic – the uncle of Samy Kamienowicz, who founded Samy’s Camera – was the first in the family to leave Belgium for Los Angeles. But the family’s photography story starts long before they came to America.

When Germany started to invade countries throughout Europe during World War II, Herskovic was captured

by Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Samy explained that laborers and people from the villages near the camps performed maintenance tasks that the prisoners were not allowed to do. Herskovic and two prisoners obtained clippers from the laborers, cut the wires on the fence and escaped.

He made it back to Belgium and successfully hid on a farm until after the war was over.

Herskovic then opened a camera shop in Brussels when photography equipment was not easy to come by.

Samy worked for his uncle after school and started to get a feel for the business, but Herskovic and his wife were no longer happy in Europe.

“It was their dream to come to America,” Samy said.

In 1957, Herskovic moved across the world to California where he opened Bel Air Camera in Westwood.

Samy’s family remained in Belgium for a year, and he found work at a large camera lab in Brussels, but his mother wanted to be closer to her sister. In 1958, Samy’s family followed Herskovic to California.

Samy worked for his uncle at Bel Air Camera for 18 years. Without speaking a word of English, Samy started out washing windows and cleaning floors.

In 1976, he opened the first of many Samy’s Camera stores at Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards, close to where Tail o’ the Pup used to be.

He started small with rentals, professional film and Polaroid equipment.

Because Samy’s Camera was able to

provide service that larger chains couldn’t, the business grew and expanded.

By 1992, things seemed pretty picturesque for Samy. His flagship store at Beverly Boulevard and Detroit Street was doing very well. But while he was on a trip to England with other industry members, he learned that his store might be in trouble. On April 30, 1992 after the Rodney King trial ended, the ensuing riots were moving north from South Central L.A. Samy’s brother-inlaw called him on the plane en route to London to tell him that rioters were getting closer to the store and the employees were getting nervous.

“I said close the store and send everyone home,” Samy said. “Some store owners stayed at their business and tried to protect their stores. But I couldn’t ask my people to do that, especially when I wasn’t there.”

Rioters broke into the store and eventually set the building on fire. Massive flames erupted through the roof and thick black smoke billowed from the top of the store. A video taken that day shows dozens and dozens of community members helping a handful of firefighters with hoses trying to put out the flames.

“The store burned down. We landed in England and turned around and took a flight right back,” Samy said. “That was the most traumatic thing.”

But that didn’t stop Samy. Less than a week later, he had Samy’s Camera up and running again in a rented party tent in the parking lot.

“Thank God our customers brought their rented equipment back,” Samy said.

It was the start of a tough journey to rebuild. Samy started shipping merchandise and built up the inventory again.

“It was just survival,” Samy said.

“We had to do it. There was nothing else I could do. I think it just made me

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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

courtesy of Samy Kamienowicz

Samy and Hedy Kamienowicz step out of their home in Venice.

more determined not to give up.”

After operating in the parking lot for a few weeks, Samy’s Camera opened where the Trader Joe’s now stands at Third Street and La Brea Avenue, and his business dug itself out of the hole.

Samy said it took about five years to “get out of the mess” and pay back the money his company owed. The total loss was approximately $10 million.

The company had only about $3 million in insurance at the time, and Samy’s Camera almost went bankrupt and out of business.

He teamed up with Ben Silverman, who was a customer, friend and attorney, to work with banks and creditors to make up for the lost merchandise.

“We were lucky that the suppliers helped us and were good to us,” Samy said.

In addition to his determination, Samy’s reputation and business model kept his store alive.

“We have a pretty solid reputation,” he said. “That’s probably the most precious thing – your name. We try to protect that as much as we can.”

In 2000, Samy’s Camera opened the

current flagship at 431 S. Fairfax Ave., and has since opened more locations around Los Angeles and as far north as San Francisco.

Today, Samy continues to expand and grow his business in the face of new challenges. From competition online, such as Amazon, to cell phone cameras to out-of-state businesses taking advantage of tax rates in Los Angeles, Samy’s Camera has survived it all.

With Samy’s tenacity and resolve, his business continues to adapt and thrive.

One secret that kept Samy’s alive is that they can offer services that Amazon can’t. At the educational department, called Samy’s Photo School, customers can attend workshops and courses to learn anything from basic photography and lighting, Photoshop and software classes, to in-depth courses for beginning and advanced hobbyists or professionals, as well as classes for elementary school students.

Considering that Samy is thriving in the face of the challenges he met, and will continue to do so, it is clear that Samy’s Camera was meant to be.

91 April 2016

photo by Chris Devlin

James Panozzo, Steve Kramer and L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl prepare for TarFest in 2015.

Kramer’s corner of L.A.

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Agam Asaf Ben Zvi Chagall Cohen-Gan Gershuni N. David B. Guy

Klapisch Kupferman Livneh Na’aman Tal R. Rauchwerger Reeb

Rubin Schneuer Shani Ticho Tobiasse Zaritsky & more

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92 April 2016

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

t’s safe to say the Miracle Mile community would look very different today were it not for Steve Kramer.

Though he quickly admits that he didn’t do it alone and has had great help along the way, Kramer founded and now directs the Greater Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce, and he has had a hand in forming the Mid City West Community Council.

Kramer is a native Angeleno who graduated from USC, studied law at UCLA and opened his practice in the Miracle Mile in 1993.

Kramer said he and some younger attorneys at his office realized the Miracle Mile was “pretty quiet at that point” but they wanted to get people together and meet more members of the community.

“We said we oughta do something,” he said.

Kramer remembers the first meeting at Callender’s Wilshire Restaurant with colleagues and business owners who worked in his building. He also remembers having breakfast with Larchmont Chronicle co-founder Jane Gilman, who explained that a chamber existed before, but that the area was in need of one again.

It grew from there.

“We just started doing it,” Kramer said.

He remembers the Miracle Mile in the 1990s as a place Angelenos would just drive through.

“It wasn’t a destination like it is today,” he said.

Word started to spread, and the chamber started to grow. Kramer learned early on that good ideas make a difference, and how simple the process can be if you ask.

He said he remembers wondering why there wasn’t much street parking in the Miracle Mile. He brought it up to Renée Weitzer, former City Councilman Tom

LaBonge’s deputy at the time, and they worked together to develop more public parking spaces. Kramer explained the additional spaces gave people the opportunity to park and leave their cars and walk down the streets. It helped activate the communities and area businesses.

“That was a big deal,” he said.

It built momentum for the chamber.

And the more meetings Kramer had, the more the chamber grew.

“Then it started snowballing,” he said.

Friends and partners started recommending the chamber to each other and elected officials started to support the efforts as well.

“There were people interested because either they didn’t have a chamber or they just didn’t feel connected,” Kramer said.

Now the chamber has eight board members and 125 members.

Kramer co-founded TarFest with James Panozzo in 2003 to make Museum Row more accessible and give local artists new avenues to showcase their work. After 13 years, TarFest has become a staple in the community that draws thousands.

“It’s taken its own trajectory now,” Kramer said.

Kramer is the president of the board of LaunchLA, a nonprofit that Panozzo founded with a similar mission when they created TarFest.

Kramer said in 2002 he remembers the day he realized that the Miracle Mile made it on the map when he was driving home and saw Mick Jagger’s and Bob Dylan’s names on the El Rey Theatre marquee.

“I knew something had happened,” Kramer said. “I specifically remember walking into my house and telling my wife.”

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7321 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles California 90036 (323)933-5523 www.TobeyCMossGallery.com email:tobeymoss@earthlink.net

Panozzo’s passion

James Panozzo and Merry Karnowsky

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Now Showing

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

hen people say the Miracle Mile has turned into one of the top cultural hubs of Los Angeles, it isn’t just because of LACMA’s success.

When it comes to bringing the community together to celebrate its own art, there are likely few, if any, more responsible for that reputation than the founder of TarFest, James Panozzo.

Panozzo is a product of the Midwest but he brings mentalities from around the country to the Miracle Mile.

He moved to Southern California in the early 1990s, but didn’t stay for long. He spent time in Los Angeles, San Diego and Arizona. While pursuing acting, he moved to Europe and then to New York City, where he was inspired by the active, pedestrian-minded settings, and places where they cherish summer months when they can spend time at parks and festivals in the streets.

When Panozzo came back to Los Angeles, he explored the local art scene and noticed a significant absence of what he loved so much in New York.

“In Manhattan, you walk out your door and you’re in it. It’s humanity,” he said.

But he believed L.A.’s reputation revolved around spending more time in the car, or in the back yard or courtyard – features not as popular in New York.

“It wasn’t like this 14 years ago,” Panozzo said. “If you wanted to go out and meet people maybe you had to go to a club. The art world is an alternative to that.”

Panozzo teamed up with his friend

and president of the Greater Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce, Steve Kramer, and together they launched the first annual TarFest at LACMA and rented the rooftop on the May Company Building. It didn’t take long before other members of the Miracle Mile community and elected officials started to support TarFest. Attendance continues to grow each year, and Panozzo has built strong relationships with the LAPD, LAFD, and restaurant and bar owners along Wilshire Boulevard.

Panozzo was the director of the Lawrence Asher Gallery for six years, and in 2010 created the nonprofit LaunchLA around the belief that exposure to arts enhances the quality of life and strengthens communities. LaunchLA creates different gallery, festival and performance settings, and provides new avenues for neighborhood artists.

Panozzo said TarFest has been different every year. The festival’s 13th year in 2015 drew thousands and included a day full of music, dance performances, live art installments, museum exhibits and other activities for the whole family.

“We’ll do it as long as we’re welcome,” he said.

Panozzo, who is married to gallery owner Merry Karnowsky and a father now, said the last 14 years have taught him a lot.

“Since I’ve been in L.A., since I’ve been part of the Miracle Mile, it’s really shaped me. And I hope I have contributed to why it has become so awesome,” he said.

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For 38 years, we’ve helped private collectors, corporations and museums acquire art and artists of Southern California 1930 - 1990s

West Gallery - California Modernist

June Wayne, Helen Lundeberg, Leonard Edmondson, Lorser Feitelson, Clinton Adams, Oskar Fischinger, Jules Engel, Peter Krasnow

Front Gallery - Assemblages & Collage Betye Saar, George Herms, Gordon Wagner

Middle Gallery - Prints & Drawings

Moshe Gershuni, Lorser Feitelson, Henry Moore, Max Pollak, Jules Engel, Moshe Kupferman, Francisco Zuniga, Jean Charlot, William Dole

93 April 2016

NCJW/LA volunteers make community programs possible

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

R

uth Zeitzew and Lee Saltz have served the National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angeles (NCJW/LA) for more than a decade.

Zeitzew is a current board member and former director of advocacy who has helped organize programs on civil rights, domestic violence, women’s reproductive rights, the U.S. Supreme Court and human trafficking.

Saltz is vice president of the eight Council Thrift Shops, where donated clothing, furniture and other items are sold to fund NCJW/LA programs for women, children and families.

Both are retirees who have time to devote to community service. They said it is fulfilling to be part of an organization that does so much to educate, protect and promote the well being of people in the community.

Zeitzew is a longtime Beverly Grove resident who taught 5th and 6th grade at the 28th Street Elementary School downtown. A career educator, she said after retirement she wanted to get involved in the community. She started volunteering at NCJW/LA because she

courtesy of Ruth Zeitzew

Lee Saltz, left, and Ruth Zeitzew pose with city attorney Mike Feuer.

enjoys helping people in need.

“It’s part of a tradition that you give back,” Zeitzew said. “I grew up in Los Angeles and it’s a privilege for me to give back. There has been a lot of progress made but there is still a need.”

Zeitzew helped organize forums at the NCJW/LA council house on Roe v.

Wade, gun violence prevention, women who rely on government assistance to raise their families and issues facing the LGBTQ community.

She has also worked on food drives for

SOVA, a Jewish Family Services program offering groceries to people in need. Zeitzew said one of her proudest moments comes each year in December at the NCJW/LA’s clothing drive – an event where apparel from the thrift shops is donated to thousands of people before the holidays.

“It’s one of the most meaningful things in our neighborhood,” Zeitzew said. “Thousands of people line up on Fairfax Avenue to receive clothing, and the line goes

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around the corner.”

Saltz, who lives near the border of Beverly Hills and Century City, also said the clothing giveaway is a highlight of her work with NCJW/LA. She said the thrift shops are an integral part of the organization because they make their programs possible.

“You can’t have the programs unless you raise the money, so they play a critical role,” Saltz said. “They really do allow the council to hold a lot of programs.”

Saltz grew up in Boyle Heights. She graduated UCLA, became a teacher and taught physical education at Fairfax High School from 1970-87. She later worked for the LAUSD Board of Education and helped develop drug intervention programs that are still in place today such as IMPACT, an early intervention program for middle and high school students.

She joined the organization a dozen years ago and never looked back.

“I was taught you have to get out there and help other people and make the world a better place,” Saltz said.

“NCJW/LA gives me a way to give back and I am proud of the work we do.”

George Epstein: ready for liftoff

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

T

he U.S. space program launched into orbit in the 1950s with the help of a resident who has called the Fairfax District home for six decades.

Engineer George Epstein, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, came west from Boston in the early 1950s and found his niche in the aerospace industry. He developed adhesives for North American Aviation, Boeing and Aerojet that were used to manufacture NASA spacecraft for the Apollo, Titan and Polaris missions.

His adhesives were an integral part of the space program and made it possible for dozens of space missions and satellites to be deployed. The adhesives Epstein created are still used today.

“One of the things I developed that became an industry standard is film adhesives, where you have fiberglass coated with adhesive. They were much

easier to use,” Epstein said. “I got a commendation from NASA for it.”

His adhesives have more down-toearth applications, too, and are used in aquariums and building projects that use plastic and glass.

He invented lightweight components known as honeycomb composite structures that are like building blocks for making airplane and rocket fuselages. He went on to work for the Aerospace Corp. for 25 years.

Although he retired 1991, he remained a consultant in aerospace engineering until a few years ago.

Epstein said he modeled his personal life and professional career after a quote from Henry Ford that he heard when he was a young man.

“He said ‘Success is contributing to society more than it does for you,’” Epstein recalled. “I said that’s what I want to do. It’s something I have always believed and try to follow in whatever I do.”

Epstein’s career also afforded an

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94 April 2016

opportunity for philanthropy in the local community. His late wife Irene inspired him to help young people pursue their dreams in engineering.

Epstein is a member of the professional organization Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE). In 1996, SAMPE created the Irene Epstein Memorial Scholarship, and George arranged for students at Fairfax High School to be annual beneficiaries.

Every year, four or five Fairfax High students who plan to study engineering or medicine at universities are awarded $2,000 scholarships.

“My kids went to Fairfax High. I’ve always believed that kids who are academically determined but don’t have the financial ability should be allowed to pursue higher education,” Epstein said. “Money should not be a deterrent. The scholarship was set up and now it’s 20 years and running.”

At age 89, Epstein devotes himself to another longtime love – poker. He runs a poker club at the Claude Pepper Senior Citizen Center on La Cienega

George Epstein

Boulevard and said the game is like a fountain of youth.

“When I retired, I decided I didn’t want to be a couch potato,” Epstein said. “In playing poker, you challenge the mind. It’s like building a muscle.

The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.”

Epstein regularly plays in poker tournaments and writes columns for Gaming Today and Poker Player magazines.

Helping fellow senior citizens keep their minds sharp through poker plays on his desire to give back to others.

“It goes with my goal of contributing to society more than it does for you,” Epstein said. “I’ve had a very productive and useful life. I enjoy sharing that with others.”

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

45 YEARS OF “PRACTICING” NOW “PERFECT” GOING STRONG

ANDREW FRIEDMAN ATTORNEY AT LAW

124 N. La Brea Ave. • Los Angeles, CA 90036 • (323)931-2476 • afriedmanlaw@aol.com Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

95 April 2016

photo courtesy of Rosalie Klein Flaster

Rosalie Klein Flaster and her husband Morrie Flaster have helped countless people find the perfect residence.

From Russia to Beverly Grove Rosalie the Realtor

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Rosalie Klein Flaster, or Rosalie the Realtor as she is affectionately called by her clients, moved to the Beverly Grove neighborhood in 1989, long before the neighborhood was known by that name.

Klein Flaster emigrated from Russia four years earlier and said her assimilation was somewhat difficult. She entered the country on her own and didn’t know anyone in the United States. Coming to a new country as an immigrant, she said, helped her appreciate the opportunities afforded her in the U.S. “Someone who isn’t born here appreciates freedom on a different level,” Klein Flaster said. “It’s natural to want to work harder.”

Klein Flaster initially worked as a paralegal at a small law firm, but the job was temporary. After finding it tough to find a permanent position in the legal field, she decided to try something else.

She studied real estate law and was thinking about a career in property sales, but was unsure. It was the early 1990s and a recession had sent the housing market into a tailspin. One day in 1992 while walking on Third Street, she entered a Fred Sands Realty office to see what opportunities there were. It was a fortuitous decision that was the first step in her successful career as a realtor.

“I wasn’t dressed for an interview.

I had no clue about sales,” Klein Flaster said. “We lived a few blocks 96 April 2016

away on Maryland, and I just said let’s go in. The manager asked me, ‘Do you have enough money to live for six months?’ It was during the recession, and they told me I was crazy to want to get into real estate. But I was determined to make it.”

She works with her husband Morrie Flaster, who coined the name “Beverly Grove” for the neighborhood between the Beverly Center and The Grove where they live and sell property. The name has since become common, which pleases Rosalie and Morrie. He never trademarked the name Beverly Grove because he hoped everyone would simply adopt it, she added.

Klein Flaster said she is successful because she lives in the area and cares about the community. People trust her.

Throughout the years, Klein Flaster said she’s seen Beverly Grove grow and expand. Her role in that change, she said, comes from her passion for her work.

Rosalie and Morrie have helped countless people find not just a house, but a home. She hopes to continue improving people’s lives as long as she can.

“I will slow down eventually, but I can’t see myself stopping completely.”

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Epstein is the man

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

I

f you need a guy, call Scott Epstein.

He’s the man in Mid City West.

Epstein is the guy who somehow makes it to every community meeting.

He’s the one pressing city leaders and officials on pedestrian safety, and he’s the guy who helped get funding from Metro for the Bicycle Friendly Streets Plan.

He’s the guy organizing homeless counts, and he’s one of the guys who started the Midtown Los Angeles Homeless Coalition.

Epstein is the guy fighting for affordable housing and for renters’ rights, and he’s the guy who everyone knows.

Epstein is a research analyst at UCLA, and he has been the leader of the Mid City West Community Council (MCWCC) for more than three years – a position that is nearly a full-time job itself.

Epstein grew up in New York. He was living in Washington, D.C., when his then-girlfriend and now-wife Liz, applied to film school in Los Angeles.

In 2007, they moved to the Mid City area and found their new home.

“I fell in love with the community,” he said. “What’s exciting about Mid City is that it is the heart of the entire city. If you were to pinpoint the geographic center, it would actually be Mid City West.”

He was drawn by the community’s rich diversity and how each neighborhood offers something different.

“We’re a cultural center and a center

for so many other things,” he said.

His involvement in social issues comes from his interest in public policy – a subject he earned a Masters Degree in at Georgetown University – and from wanting to make the community a better place to live.

He said he is driven by the results he sees from the community council’s efforts.

“It’s exciting to get things done. You really can do that with the neighborhood council system. I love to problem solve, it’s just my natural inclination,” he said.

In addition to taking on the homeless crisis, one of his focuses moving forward will be to make the streets safer for everybody with the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate pedestrian deaths.

“The idea is that it shouldn’t be OK that people die on the streets,” he said.

“There are ways to reduce those collisions. The cities that have taken [Vision Zero] on have seen great results.”

Epstein said through enforcement and educational outreach, the MCWCC can make a big difference.

“I’m excited about really taking that issue head on,” he said.

The rest of his focus will be on “comprehensive” planning for the neighborhood to determine problems and ways to help.

Epstein is running for re-election next month, and many hope he will win, because he is the man in Mid City.

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97 April 2016

Constructing success

City attorney Mike Jenkins reflects on helping shape West Hollywood

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

W

est Hollywood City Attorney Mike Jenkins, one of the architects of the city’s formation, realized the size of the undertaking on Nov. 29, 1984 at the city’s first council meeting. It was standing room only at Fiesta Hall, and the new city attorney was soaking it all in. “The room was packed to the gills. I barely got in,� Jenkins said. “The excitement was so palpable, it was really something else. They chose County Supervisor Ed Edelman to preside until they were all sworn in. They had the meeting and organized and got going. The rest is history.�

Jenkins was selected by the first council members as the city’s chief legal advisor, top civil prosecutor and defender, and has served in the position for 32 years. “It was very exciting to have the opportunity to help start a city. It was a huge undertaking and it was really overwhelming,� Jenkins said.

“There were a whole host of legal things that needed to get done. We had to adopt a municipal code and get started with accomplishing the things the council wanted to do. I would come in and there would be 300 slips on my desk of people who called. We were working day and night to get it done.�

Jenkins said the first order of business was to hire a city manager, city hall staff and municipal employees, and set up a payroll system.

Jenkins helped organize the city’s internal structure and secured the building that serves as city hall on Santa Monica Boulevard.

On the legislative side, the council wasted no time addressing the needs of residents. “One of the first things we did was develop a social services program. That was a first for a city, especially a city as small as West Hollywood,� Jenkins said. “We spent a lot of time researching whether the city even had the right under the state Constitution to spend its money on social services. There was the LGBT com-

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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“It was very exciting to have the opportunity to help start a city. It was a huge undertaking and it was really overwhelming.”

Mike Jenkins, West Hollywood City Attorney

munity and seniors and Russian immigrants. A lot of demands were not being met. I am very proud that even now the city grants millions of dollars every year to social services.”

Jenkins said the city also quickly enacted a rent control ordinance protecting tenants, and laws prohibiting discrimination. He said rent control was crucial because people were being removed from apartments en masse because of rising property values.

“It would have resulted in the evictions of the most vulnerable people,” Jenkins said. “The law was challenged many times, but rent stabilization and housing were some of the hallmarks of

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo by Edwin Folven

the city since the very beginning.”

Another challenge was helping the LGBT community. Fears about the AIDS epidemic were heightened in the mid-1980s, and the city took quick action to protect residents.

“People were very frightened. It was a very tough time,” Jenkins said. “We had one of the first ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of AIDS. Eventually, the federal government recognized AIDS as a disability, but West Hollywood was involved early on.”

West Hollywood was also a leader

in domestic partnership registry for same-sex couples, allowing them to receive benefits similar to married couples. Jenkins said West Hollywood worked for years for marriage equality and the U.S. Supreme Court granting everyone the right to marry was a major victory.

“Our domestic partnership registry was one of the first ones anywhere,” Jenkins added. “We have marriage equality now, and were leading the way then. We have been extraordinarily progressive. Human rights have been very important, and those include

LGBT issues.”

Jenkins added that he helped author numerous ordinances for West Hollywood that made it a leader in other areas. The city passed laws in the early 1990s that prohibited smoking in restaurants and public buildings, long before the state approved similar measures. Also in the 1990s, Jenkins helped write the city’s law banning the sale of Saturday Night Specials – small, inexpensive handguns commonly used to commit crimes. He also helped keep the city at the forefront of animal protections, crafting the ordinances after the city approved groundbreaking laws prohibiting declawing cats and the sale of dogs bred in puppy mills.

“We have always been at the cutting edge of the issues of the day,” Jenkins said. “We also established a living wage ordinance, which was the first ever requiring entities doing business with a city to pay employees a living wage.

“I am really proud of the fact that we have been on the cutting edge of so many issues,” he added. “The city has been so progressive on so many areas of governance.”

99 April 2016

Guardians of the arts

BY EDWIN FOLVEN When Fairfax District resident Pierson Blaetz came to Los Angeles from Pennsylvania in 1991 to pursue an acting career, he longed for the smalltown feel of the community he left where everyone knew and supported each other.

A short time later he met actress Whitney Weston when they both produced plays at the Improv on Melrose Avenue. Weston, a Chicago transplant, was also looking for ways to become more connected to the Fairfax community.

They set their sights on Fairfax High School because, when Blaetz was growing up, his high school was the cornerstone of the community.

During the early 1990s, Fairfax High School, with 3,400 students, was overcrowded – compared to the approximately 2,100 attending today.

The district did not have funding for

arts programs. Blaetz and Weston decided to use their acting and theater talents to bring the arts back to classrooms.

“We knocked on the door at Fairfax High School and didn’t get much response. The whole idea of us approaching them with something positive was completely foreign to them,” Blaetz said. “The school was in bad shape at the time. We basically crashed a PTA meeting because we wanted to find a way to connect.”

At the meeting, Blaetz and Weston met former Principal Carol Truscott, and she listened to their ideas.

In addition to arts programming, they approached Truscott with the idea of creating a marketplace on campus to raise funds for school arts programs.

The idea led to the Melrose Trading Post, a flea market which is still held every Sunday in the school’s parking lot near Melrose and Fairfax Avenues.

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“They needed economic vitality, and we initially created the Melrose Trading Post as a one-time event,” Weston said. “We’ve been doing it every Sunday now for more than 18 years, and we created a program around it so it would be a learning experience.”

Melrose Trading photo courtesy of Whitney Weston Post is a thriving market featuring Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz oversee the Greenway Arts Alliance, which supports programs at Fairfax High School. craftspeople and vendors offering one-of-a-kind items. More than 240 trading post, Blaetz and Weston disprivate vendors sell everything from covered the Greenway Court, a buildclothing and collectibles to antiques ing on the Fairfax Avenue side of the and furniture. Fairfax High School campus that was being used for storstudents staff the trading post, giving age. They got permission to clear out them work experience. Melrose Trad- the cobwebs and use the building as a ing Post has generated more than $8 theater for student and professional million for academic programs at Fair- productions, giving Blaetz and Weston fax High since it opened on Oct. 26, a headquarters for arts education programs and a venue to bring theater to 1997, Blaetz said.

A few months after starting the See Greenway page 108

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Mr. Hollywood

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD When you think of how Hollywood has changed over the past 25 years, you should think about Leron Gubler.

“Twenty-three years ago, when I came to Hollywood it was very different than it is today,” Gubler said. “We were kind of down and out. A lot of people had given up on Hollywood.

Businesses were moving out right and left.”

Now the neighborhood is seeing record high tourism numbers, and top new-age businesses like Netflix are leasing space 100,000 square feet at a time. And the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, under Gubler, played a pivotal role in turning things around.

Ironically, the man who helped save Hollywood is from “farm country.”

Gubler grew up in Porter, Calif., in the Gold Country of Calaveras County.

Gubler was the CEO of the San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce for 12 years before he came to Los Angeles.

When he arrived on Sept. 8, 1992, Hollywood didn’t exemplify the Tinseltown nickname it earned decades before.

Los Angeles had just suffered through the riots and a citywide recession, he explained, and Hollywood saw several buildings destroyed or burned down.

“That on top of everything else, it was a discouraging time,” Gubler said.

“Businesses wondered which were going to survive, and some companies were just leaving.”

Development projects were falling through and Hollywood didn’t have the buzz that its name suggests.

“At that time, there was basically nothing happening,” Gubler said.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was almost in worse shape than the neighborhood it serves. After three different CEOs in three years and about the same number of lawsuits, the organization almost went bankrupt.

“The chamber had gone through the most difficult time in its history,” Gubler said.

But he knew something could be done, and he took the job “because it was still Hollywood.” He said with one of the most famous brands in the world, at some point the “down and out” neighborhood would come back.

“My task was to turn it around,” he said. “We did it piecemeal. Step-bystep, we turned it around.”

First, Gubler got the budget in order.

He revamped programs the chamber offered, installed new committees and worked closely with volunteers until the chamber had credibility again.

“It was a gradual process to win back peoples’ confidence,” he said.

There isn’t a single instance that started the revitalization, he said, but the Red Line was a catalyst. Two symbols that showed the town was reviving

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photo by Gregory Cornfield

Leron Gubler introduced actress and comedienne Amy Poehler at her star ceremony in Hollywood in December.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo by Gregory Cornfield

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Leron Gubler represents business interests in Hollywood, but said his favorite part of the job is emceeing star ceremonies on the Walk of Fame.

was the opening of the Hollywood and Highland Center and the return of the Academy Awards ceremony after being hosted for decades outside of Hollywood.

“That was really what convinced people that Hollywood could be turned around,” Gubler said.

The chamber played pivotal roles in bringing the film industry back and encouraging companies to break ground in Hollywood for projects such as the ArcLight Hollywood revitalization, Sunset + Vine, Hollywood and Vine developments and the W Hotel.

“Then things mushroomed,” Gubler said.

Since taking the helm, Gubler has also become a voice for social and political issues. He knows not everyone agrees, but he can often be found at a neighborhood council town hall, property owners’ alliance meeting, or a Los Angeles City Council committee hearing, advocating for what’s best for the Hollywood community.

One perk of the job has remained consistent though – the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies. One of Gubler’s mentors was the emcee for the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies and the ceremonial mayor of Hollywood, the late Johnny Grant.

“He was in my office once a day. I looked up to Johnny. He was a great example. He loved Hollywood and he was one of the greatest assets this com-

munity ever had,” Gubler said.

Gubler has attended more than 600 ceremonies and emceed more than 200 since taking over for Grant. Gubler said a couple of his favorite ceremonies were for Andrea Bocelli and Patrick Stewart. Gubler said George Clooney helped emcee at a Walk of Fame ceremony and leaned over to him and said, “This is a pretty good gig, isn’t it?”

“It’s the best,” Gubler said.

In the next 25 years, Hollywood will be the gateway to the future of Los Angeles.

“It has a very bright future,” he said.

“It’s midway between downtown and the valley, and between downtown and the westside. It’s the best to service all those areas. It’s also the backbone of the mass transit system.”

Gubler said the neighborhood will continue to thrive because of the way it was built – it’s compact and walkable.

“Hollywood has become a prototype in California to show that we can have a walkable, livable community.”

He said the influx of millennials and the surge of mobile apps like Uber and Lyft make it possible for the neighborhood to adapt and thrive.

“These things are going to show the way for the future,” he said.

Even without it, Hollywood will always have its famous name.

“We’re Hollywood. It is a landmark in and of itself,” Gubler said.

101 April 2016

Kahane’s command of the orchestra from page 42

and launched an international music career. In 1983, he placed first in the Arthur Rubenstein Competition in Tel Aviv, which brought more acclaim and attention. The same year, he made his Carnegie Hall debut. “It was a tremendous experience for me. I have been very fortunate to have played at Carnegie Hall a number of times, but the first time was a great thrill,� Kahane said. “It’s one of the most beautiful and historically important concert halls in the world.�

Kahane was music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony when he was approached by LACO for their music director position. He became director of LACO in 1997 and simultaneously held both positions until 2004. LACO currently performs 10 to 12 times a year in different venues throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding area. “One of the things that sets the orchestra apart is its incredible versatility and range of styles,� Kahane said. “I make it a point talk to the audience about the music we are going to play.

It gives the audience an introduction

into the music and makes it a much more human experience. Every year, we do the Discover Program where I spend an entire evening focusing on an extended piece. I give some examples of the recorded piece, we perform it and the audience interacts with the musicians. It’s makes it much more personal.�

LACO’s Baroque Conversations and Westside Connections series also engage audiences. In Baroque Conversations, Kahane focuses on pieces of music that explore the genesis of orchestral repertoire, opening audiences to new selections from the pre-classical period. He also cited LACO’s recent “Music and the Mind� performance which was part of the Westside Connections series. It paired the classics of Mendelssohn and Mozart with a discussion by a neuroscience professor on the effect of music on the human brain.

Kahane will conduct the orchestra in performances of works by Aucoin, Mozart and Schumann on May 14 at the Alex Theater in Glendale and May

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102 April 2016

15 in UCLA’s Royce Hall. Aucoin’s work was commissioned

by LACO as part of its Sound Investment program, initiated by Kahane 15 years ago to bring contemporary works to LACO audiences.

Kahane lives in Santa Rosa and also travels the world performing with other orchestras and symphonies. He appears as a soloist with the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, as well as at summer classical festivals.

He travels to Los Angeles almost monthly for his commitments with LACO. “One of the things I can say about Los Angeles is it’s one of very few cities that transformed so radically and so dramatically in such a short period of time. One hundred years ago, Los Angeles was a small and provincial city without a lot of cultural offerings,� he said. “Los Angeles has become one of the greatest cultural capitals of the world. The shift began

LACO’s music director Jeffrey Kahane

photo by Michael Burke

to happen about 25 to 30 years ago, and Los Angeles has taken its rightful place. It’s a tremendous honor and every time I come to Los Angeles to work it’s very exciting and different. I am very proud of what we have accomplished in the last 20 years.�

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Super delegate serves both national, local levels

D

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

uring the presidential campaign season, it can be easy to get lost in the electoral math and chaos around primaries, caucuses and delegate counts. When candidates head for national conventions this summer, pressure increases as attention turns to delegates and super delegates, although not much is said about who they are.

Kerman Maddox is one of those super delegates, appointed by President Barack Obama to the Democratic National Committee.

He came to Southern California from Detroit with his family when he was 10 years old. He graduated from USC’s Intergovernmental Master’s Program and started a career that has included strategic planning, media relations, governmental relations, public outreach and political guidance with less fanfare than some of the people

with whom he works.

He has worked behind the scenes as an aide and advisor to mayors Tom Bradley and Antonio Villaraigosa, who became mentors to Maddox, as well as other elected officials such as Congresswoman Karen Bass.

He said throughout his career, one of the most satisfying things was teaching political science with L.A. Community College District schools.

“I had the chance to work with some really smart needy kids who didn’t know they were smart,” Maddox said.

He taught students who came from some of the toughest parts of Los Angeles. He said they were “a lot sharper than they realized” because they hadn’t reached their potential in high school.

He said watching students build confidence and self-esteem and then move on to schools like UC Berkley and USC was the one of the most satisfying and

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enjoyable experiences.

“These kids are nurses now. They’re police officers and lawyers. And they talk fondly of taking my class back in the ’90s. It has an impact on them, and

it had an impact on me,” he said.

“Whenever you can have an impact and you can see students grow and develop and blossom, that’s what it’s all about.”

See page 121

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103 April 2016

Majestic Jewelry keeps Fairfax ticking

BY PATRICIA SANCHEZ John Berberian, co-owner of Majestic Jewelry, said he remembers when he first immigrated from Bulgaria to Los Angeles 47 years ago. At 26, he fled his home country to escape Communism and fell in love with the freedom he found in Los Angeles.

“I was young, handsome and in a new country,” Berberian said.

“When I got here I was very excited. I thought it would be something good for me.”

But he left his sweetheart, Virginia, behind, and three years later he returned to Bulgaria to marry her and bring her to Los Angeles.

Berberian’s father was a watchmaker in Bulgaria and taught him the

craft when he was in high school. He wanted to continue his father’s legacy, which kept the family close.

In 1976, Berberian opened Majestic Jewelry on Third Street in the Town and Country Shopping Center.

“It was important to me because he is my father, and I thought I could make a good living off of it as well,” Berberian said.

A year later, after John and Virginia had their first child, he asked her to help run the store.

“I had worked in a research center at USC, and I worked in a blood bank before then in downtown Los Angeles,” Virginia said. “When I had my child, John asked me not to go back to work and help him out. It’s been the two of us ever since.”

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John and Virginia said they are lucky to have been a part of the community for so long.

Their journey, Virginia said, has taken them from one corner of Third Street to the other, and now their shop is upstairs in the photo by Patricia Sanchez Original Farm- Majestic’s John Berberian is a master jeweler. ers Market.

“I feel like I know everybody, and I Virginia said she is extremely lucky to work with her husband. She jok- know everything here,” Berberian ingly admitted that while she deserves said. “I have seen kids grow up and a medal for all the time she spends have kids of their own. We are a part with her husband, she wouldn’t have it of this community and almost all our customers are our friends.” any other way.

Through the years, their customers “It was exciting and [opening our own store was] something we couldn’t urged them to stay in business, and do where we used to live,” Virginia that’s what they plan to do.

“Majestic Jewelry gives us somesaid. “I moved to America when I was 23, and everything was so new. I never thing to do other than retire,” Virginia dreamed I would be living here today.” said. “It allows us to do something we The couple said their customers love, and we’ll continue doing that for as long as we can.” keep them young and energized.

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104 April 2016

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Linoleum City still rolling on Route 66

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

L

inoleum City has been on Route 66 for nearly 70 years, and the highway’s history is source of pride for owner Fred Stifter. Known as the “Mother Road,” Route 66 stretches from Chicago to Santa Monica, passing through small towns and large cities.

In Los Angeles, Route 66 runs along Santa Monica Boulevard from East Hollywood to the coast. Stifter commemorated the famous highway with a Route 66 road sign outside Linoleum City. The sign is reminiscent of markers motorists saw along the road, proclaiming it “California US 66.”

Stifter’s father started the flooring business in 1948 and operated at two locations in the 5600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard for nearly 60 years.

In 2007, Linoleum City moved a mile east to its present location at 4849 Santa Monica Blvd.

Stifter said he didn’t always envision running the family business. He grew up in Burbank and studied business finance

at the University of Portland in Oregon.

Opportunities existed in the Northwest, and he contemplated making the area his permanent home. His mentor, the dean of the university’s business school, advised him that it would be a natural fit to help run his father’s business.

“It’s a small family business, and I started out cleaning the floors, receiving inventory and keeping track of merchandising and sales, Stifter said. “We expect everyone who works here to be multifaceted so they are able to do just about anything, and particularly help the customers.”

Stifter said Linoleum City carries “almost everything that goes on the floor,” from hardwood, tile and carpet to hundreds of styles of linoleum.

“Linoleum is back in style. It’s one of the hottest things in design right now,” Stifter said. “It’s the greenest thing people can put down. We put a lot of emphasis on that.”

Linoleum City also carries hundreds of varieties of vinyl and rubber flooring in every color and pattern imaginable.

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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“We have some items that we can specifically add custom features to,” Stifter added. “We could take a picture of your face, for instance, and put it on carpet or put it on sheet rolls if you wanted.”

Linoleum City sells flooring to major Hollywood studios for use in movie sets and television production.

He said once in a while, he watches television programs like “All In the Family” or “The Golden Girls” and sees flooring products Linoleum City supplied to studios. Linoleum City also supplied products for sets on more contemporary shows like “The Middle” and “Last Man Standing.”

He also offers tiles and other types of flooring that match the antique designs found in homes built in the early 20th century.

Since 1981, Stifter has lived in Glendale, where he raised two sons and a daughter. He was closely involved in the Boy Scouts with his sons and took many ski trips over the years to Big Bear and Mammoth.

“I don’t [ski] as much now as I am a little slower, but it was something I really enjoyed,” Stifter said. “Now, I like

photo by Edwin Folven

Linoleum City has been on Route 66 for nearly 70 years.

to garden and I like to walk and hike. I also enjoy going to the Pasadena Playhouse. We’ve been members there since the 1980s.”

Stifter said although he lives in Glendale, he feels like East Hollywood is home. He is working with other business owners in the area to form the Route 66 Business Improvement District.

“I spend more time in this area than I do at home, so we do our part in keeping the neighborhood clean,” Stifter said. “If I see graffiti, I write down the area and make a call to the city. We are trying to make an impact in the area and are trying to keep it clean.”

105 April 2016

Allan Jeffries, frame by frame

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

A

photograph of your grandfather taken in 1900 is gathering dust in a box in the attic. A cheerleading sweater from the 1980s was your prized memory from high school and you want to preserve it. An estate sale painting is in need of a good cleaning and a new frame. Who can bring that special heirloom back to life?

Allan Jeffries Marion, owner of Allan Jeffries Framing, started his business in the late 1970s in his apartment at Sweetzer and First Avenue.

Marion followed in his family’s footsteps. His father manufactured premade frames and his mother operated Discount Frames, a chain of framing shops in the San Fernando Valley.

Marion took his love for framing and combined it with a philosophy of treating each piece like a valuable artwork rather than framing in a factory environment. He said customers deserve to have their important documents, art

pieces and collectibles framed in a design that best suits each piece. To accomplish that, he employs people who are passionate about the craft.

“I like the public and have always been interested in working with people. For me, that’s what makes it special. I started doing framing out of my garage. It started out as a way to make a living but it turned into something bigger than that,” Marion said.

“Now, it’s like a family. It’s about supporting the people who work for you and supporting your community.”

Marion opened his store at 8301 W. Third St. in 1985. He has 13 employees; most have worked at the shop for 15 years or more. He said treating his employees well is key, which is why he offers health insurance and pays them well above minimum wage.

Having dedicated employees who enjoy what they are doing has been rewarding, Marion added. The philosophy has been a success, as the shop has been thriving for three decades.

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106 April 2016

See Jeffries page 108

photo by Edwin Folven

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

and organizations feeding the homeless. I think there’s an obligation.”

Marion said he frames just about “I feel very fortunate. I feel there is an obligation and a connection to the anything, including wedding dresses, neighborhood and the people who jerseys, sports collectibles and basework here. My business lasted through balls.

Marion also guarfour recessions. I antees all materials think there should be and work and will rea give and take with the community,” If I had to guess, I give pair or replace frames – no questions asked.

Marion said. about $50,000 a He said it his commitHe gives to the ment to the people of community by doyear in materials the neighborhood that nating to places like and labor to these has given him so the Los Angeles Mumuch. Marion added seum of the Holoorganizations.” that he is in the caust, as well as local Allan Jeffries Marion, process of moving schools and temples.

Marion frames artowner of Allan Jeffries Framing back to the community from his home work and photoin the Hollywood graphs for them.

“If I had to guess, I give about Hills. He longs for the excitement and $50,000 a year in materials and labor vibrancy of the city.

“I’m selling my house to move to these organizations,” he added.

“They come to me and I can’t remem- back down to the neighborhood beber one I said no to. I really love when cause I miss it so much,” he said. “I people feel strongly about something. like the mix of people. In the Fairfax The only thing I will not contribute to District you have the Jewish populaare political organizations. I don’t do tion and the older generation, and you that because I’d rather put my time have a younger generation that’s comand effort into schools and churches ing in. I can’t wait to get back there.”

Jeffries from page 106

From Greenway page 100 the community. They renamed their nonprofit the Greenway Arts Alliance.

Weston said the school’s theater program now holds two student productions each year. They also rent it for professional plays. It has also been the venue for shows by big names in entertainment such as Jason Alexander’s “When You’re In Love The Whole World is Jewish.” Al Pacino and Jessie Eisenberg also starred in “Orphans” at the Greenway Court Theatre.

On Tuesdays, poetry nights at the theater routinely attract crowds of more than 200 people. One of the signature events is InkSlam, a poetry and spoken word festival held every July that draws thousands.

Melrose Arts Alliance’s classroom programs include “Shakespeare in the Classroom,” in which theater professionals work with teachers and students to bring the Bard’s stories to life in English classes. The alliance also supports after school drama and photo courses.

Blaetz said he is also developing a partnership between the Melrose Arts Alliance and the Melrose Av-

enue Business Improvement District in which students will decorate and beautify vacant storefronts. The idea is to improve aesthetics while giving students design experience.

“We want to develop programs that are learning experiences and give [students] a chance to develop ideas and grow,” Blaetz added. “I really feel Greenway’s partnership has kept Fairfax High School on the top tier of the public school system.”

Blaetz and Weston will continue to support the school through the Greenway Arts Alliance and maintain Melrose Trading Post because they mean so much to students and residents. Blaetz said he is excited about the trading post’s 20th anniversary next year for which there will be a big celebration.

“I think having this special partnership with Fairfax High School has been a huge benefit for the school and the community,” Blaetz said. “The message is when you think of any community, think of the public high school.

The young people are an important part of any community. We’ve been building a bridge, and are still building it.”

>

108 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

The other side of the Stollers T

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

here’s the side of Corky Hale and Mike Stoller that music fans know. Hale, the acclaimed jazz pianist, harpist and vocalist, has performed, recorded or toured with some of the top names in music history – Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Liberace – at places like the White House and Carnegie Hall. Her new book, “Uncorked,” details lunch dates with James Dean and Sinatra, and the first time she met Harpo Marx. Hale’s husband, composer Mike Stoller, teamed up with Jerry Leiber and became Leiber & Stoller – one of the greatest songwriting teams in music history. The duo wrote and produced classics such as “Hound Dog,” and “Jailhouse Rock” and they produced “Smokey Joe’s Café” which holds the record for longest running

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musical revue in Broadway history.

But there’s also a side of Hale and Stoller that their fans might not be as familiar with. The two have been married since 1970, and some of their best work has been done outside of the recording studio.

Hale said her “very unusual, but fabulous mother” inspired her to champion women’s rights. Hale and Stoller partner with Planned Parenthood - Los Angeles and helped build three state-of-the-art health centers in L.A. that serve thousands of women every month. Hale serves on the national advisory board for the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and

Corky Hale and Mike Stoller

the board for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project in California, and she is working to correct misunderstandings about the services that Planned Parenthood offer.

“Three percent of Planned Parenthood’s work is abortions. Ninety-seven percent is mammograms and other examinations. It’s about women’s health,” Hale said.

In 2011, Hale was honored as the

Champion of Choice by NARAL for her lifelong advocacy for women’s reproductive rights.

Hale’s father also inspired her to view people for who they are, and not for their race or religious beliefs. She remembered when she was a high school student in the Midwest and her friends initially invited her on a trip to a lake house in Wisconsin.

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109 April 2016

How to make all the pieces fit Harrison Trust’s Joyce Kleifield builds bridges between the community and L.A. High School

“The key is having someone to put all this together. Principals don’t have time to do all that stuff.”

BY EDWIN FOLVEN

B

everly Grove resident Joyce Kleifield found her calling in education in the 1990s when her children attended Hancock Park Elementary School. A stay-at-home mom, Kleifield worked with the principal on special events and was determined to get further involved at local campuses.

She continued working at the school until her children moved on to middle school, and she also became involved with the Mid City West Community Council. In 2007, she took a job Fairfax High School as director of development and remained there until 2013, generating financial and community support for the school.

Kleifield was successful because she built relationships with organizations such as the Mid City West Community Council, the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce and local city council district offices. She said one of her biggest accomplishments was helping to raise approximately $1 million for the high school’s stadium and athletic field, which was completed in 2012.

Her work at Fairfax High led to her current position as executive director of the Harrison Trust, a nonprofit that supports Los Angeles High School, located on Olympic Boulevard. Kleifield’s experience in community relations and education serves her well at L.A. High. It is the oldest high school in the city, yet the school lacked outside support when she took the position in 2013.

“A lot of what I do is building support in the community. I am meeting people and sharing information about the school and bringing together alumni and bringing them back into decision making, fundraising and vol-

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110 April 2016

Joyce Kleifield

unteering,” Kleifield said. “The key is having someone to put all this together. Principals don’t have time to do all that stuff.”

Kleifield said she enthusiastically supports educational programs and extracurricular activities that enrich the lives of the school’s 1,500 students, including the marching band and athletic department. You could say she’s their

biggest cheerleader. She plans to continue building relationships that will help the school grow, and she regularly attends reunions and alumni events to get more graduates involved.

She has also partnered with the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce on special events showcasing the school’s culinary and dance programs.

Other partners include the Greater

Wilshire Neighborhood Council, the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council, the Longwood Avenue Neighborhood Association and CIM Group. Kleifield said she is willing to meet with anyone wishing to learn more about how they can help make L.A. High a better place for students and the community.

“I’ve always thought we should be doing more for public education and think public education is where we should be investing our time and money,” Kleifield said. “It’s something I am passionate about. I love the school and plan to keep building support.”

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From page 109

“I said, ‘Dad, I wanted to go with the girls but they said it’s restricted. No Jews allowed,’” she remembered. “He said, ‘I will not allow you to go back to school [with those people.]’”

Her father taught her that people should be treated equally and fairly, and today, Hale and Stoller are strong advocates for civil rights and equality. For more than 30 years they have supported the Southern Poverty Law Center, which Hale called “one of the most important groups in the country.”

In 2013, the Southern Poverty Law Center dedicated and named the Civil Rights Memorial Center Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama in honor of Stoller and Hale. At the dedication ceremony, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explained how valuable Hale and Stoller’s efforts are.

“Since the day Corky came to Mike’s studio to record demos as a musician, they have been partners in every sense of the word: fighting together for liberty and justice for all, for the basic dignity of every human being,” Pelosi said. “It is appropriate that the theater is named for Mike and Corky because of their ongoing commitment to the civil rights movement. The Stollers are two of a kind – in music, in activism, in their generosity of spirit. ... At this theater and across the country, may all Americans associate the names of Mike Stoller and Corky Hale Stoller with their contributions to music and their leadership for civil rights.”

Hale also contributes to schools like Compton High School where she bought uniforms for the school’s band.

Last year, Hale and Stoller were inspired by the jazz band at Foshay Learning Center at the corner of Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard.

“They have the greatest jazz band – they are really wonderful,” Hale said.

The couple learned the band had the opportunity to perform in Paris but didn’t have the funds to get there.

“So we sent them to Paris,” Hale said. “That was the most heart-warming thing. Most of those kids said, ‘I’ve never been on an airplane,’ and ‘I never thought in my lifetime I would get to Paris.’”

Hale continued her selfless ways in December. She read a story in the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press about a fundraising campaign for the Hollywood-based meal service organization, Project Angel Food, which was in need of a new delivery van.

After celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary that month, Hale and Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“It’s really inspiring to know that a story moves someone so much that they picked up the phone and said, ‘we’re going to buy you a van.’ It’s remarkable.”

- Richard Ayoub, Project Angel Food Stoller wanted to find a way to help people who are less fortunate.

“If we can help [Project Angel Food] get food to those people, then that’s what we wanted to do,” she said.

Richard Ayoub, executive director of

Project Angel Food, said he was very surprised when Hale called him.

“It’s like a dream come true,” he said.

“It’s really inspiring to know that a story moves someone so much that they picked up the phone and said, ‘We’re

going to buy you a van.’ It’s remarkable.

You put these things out in the universe and hope something happens, and when it does it restores faith.”

Though her book will feature many stories that fans have never heard, the full extent to which Hale and Stoller have given to others may never truly be revealed.

“My husband doesn’t like to talk as much about it,” Hale said. “He’s so humble. He never tells you anything.”

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111 April 2016

A force in the community

LGBT Center continues to rally

BY GREGORY CORNFIELD

photo by Jon Viscott

Thousands of people gathered in West Hollywood Park on June 26, 2015 to celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision to extend marriage equality nationwide.

112 April 2016

D

ecision Day – June 26, 2015 – will forever be associated with the U.S. Supreme Court decision to extend marriage equality nationwide. For advocates and leaders in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, the decision solidified what they have been fighting to achieve for decades.

At a rally in West Hollywood Park that day, Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean said it took decades of “blood, sweat and tears” to reach Decision Day – a day she never thought she would live to see. She said she has kept a copy of the Constitution in her brief case every day since she was a young lawyer.

“Today, it finally includes us all,” she said.

In the time since Decision Day, the LGBT Center has shown no signs of slowing down. Just as West Hollywood and Los Angeles were trailblazers in the fight for marriage equality, the L.A. LGBT Center continues to set a path toward overall equality by eliminating discrimination, stigmas and unequal treatment. Center administrators announced that a student safety program it launched with LAUSD has proven so successful that it was intro-

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

duced in nine other school districts including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C. Now for anti-bullying month in October, thousands of teachers and school staff members wear rainbow badges to identify themselves as LGBT allies and protectors.

“We don’t imagine that the struggle is over [for LGBT students],” LAUSD board president Steve Zimmer said in October. “We know we’re not anywhere near done. We know there are students in LAUSD right now who do not feel safe, that face fear, bullying, depression and anxiety. The badge is not just a symbol, it’s who we are.”

That same month, the LGBT Center continued expanding to meet increasing demand for health and housing services when hundreds of people celebrated the opening of a 2,600-square-foot center in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard.

The center offers HIV and STD testing and treatment.

In March, as part of a major expansion, the Los Angeles LGBT Center released renderings of a landmark mixed-use development that will provide housing and health serv-

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo by Jon Viscott

Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the L.A. LGBT Center, holds up a copy of the Constitution at the Decision Day rally in West Hollywood. “Today, it finally includes us all,” she said.

ices for at-risk youth and seniors.

The new Anita May Rosenstein Campus, scheduled to open in early 2019, will be located on McCadden Pl. and Santa Monica Blvd., directly

across the street from The Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood. It will have of 100 affordable units for seniors, 100 beds for homeless youth and 35 units of permanent supportive

housing for young adults.

“We are bursting at the seams,” Jean said. “Our growth has far outpaced what we projected.”

Jean said they have not been able to “come anywhere close to meeting the need” for LGBT youth in the community and the senior population is growing by “leaps and bounds.” There are more than 65,000 LGBT seniors in Los Angeles, and Jean said that number is going to double by 2030.

“We’re dealing with the first generation of LGBT seniors who were true to who they are and who come to the center for help,” she said. “LGBT seniors in comparison [to the general population] are more likely to not have children or grandchildren to care for them, and they are much poorer. Affordable housing is the number one request we get from senior clients.”

The new campus will also be the center’s new administrative headquarters, freeing space for the McDonald/Wright building to become a health and medical center, and enabling staff to meet the growing demand for health-related services, including medical care, mental health

See page 121

113 April 2016

On the beat with Sgt. Kirby

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Sgt. A.J. Kirby relishes his role as the face of the Los Angeles Police Department as leader of the Wilshire Division’s community relations office.

He spends hours each week meeting with community members and attending neighborhood council and chamber of commerce meetings. He said being a link between residents and the police department gives people someone to turn to when problems arise.

Kirby also informs people about how the police department operates and explains regulations and policies behind officers’ actions.

“The main things are education and crime prevention,” Kirby said. “We promote department programs and act as liaisons to a lot of groups. We develop friendships and promote trust.

Crime isn’t going to end itself. It takes people in the community to be educated about what we are doing. When you build a relationship in the community, they can [share] the information with other people on their end. It helps spread the message and makes neighborhoods safer.”

Growing up near 60th Street and Hooper Avenue in South Los Angeles, Kirby said he never dreamed of being a police officer. His mother worked for the City of Los Angeles Personnel Department, and he wanted to be a firefighter.

Because he lived south of the 10 Freeway, he was bussed to Monroe High School in the San Fernando Valley under an LAUSD integration program. He graduated in 1983. He later attended Los Angeles City College and El Camino College, but he left be-

“I am honored to represent California's beautiful 33rd Congressional District, which stretches along the Los Angeles coast and includes Miracle Mile, Beverly Hills, Westwood Village, Bel Air, and Pacific Palisades.”

Congratulations to Park Labrea News and Beverly Press for 70 years of outstanding service to our community!

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114 April 2016

photo courtesy of Sgt. A.J. Kirby

LAPD Sgt. A.J. Kirby and his wife Iesha celebrated the sergeant’s 25th anniversary with the department in 2014.

fore graduating to manage concessions at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Kirby said it was a good job, and there he met a lot of off-duty LAPD officers who moonlighted in different positions at the sports venue. One of them, Jeff Fedrizzi, told him he should

consider a career with the police department. Kirby said it was a suggestion that changed his life, because he quickly signed up for the test to qualify for the LAPD Academy.

“After a Def Leppard concert one night, I worked until two or three in

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We look forward to your continued coverage of news and events in the 28th District.

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the morning [at the Sports Arena]. The police officer test was at eight in the morning. I slept in my office so I could get there on time,” Kirby said. “I passed and that was it.”

Kirby graduated the police academy and officially joined the LAPD on Nov. 6, 1989. He was assigned as an officer at the West Los Angeles Division and later the Devonshire Division in the San Fernando Valley.

In 1995, he was promoted to detective and transferred to the Southeast Division, where he investigated robberies and other violent crimes. In 1999, he was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the Wilshire Division.

Kirby said he remained there for a year before taking a position in former Chief Bernard Parks’ office as a community relations specialist. He stayed in the position when former Chief William Bratton succeeded Parks.

In 2005, Kirby returned to the Wilshire Division and first worked patrol and oversaw the senior lead officers. Three years later, the division’s community relations office expanded and Kirby was assigned as its leader.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

“For me it was great because I get to meet a lot of people,” he said. “We want people to have a relationship with us, and I love building bridges with the community.”

Kirby works with Joyce Kleifield of Los Angeles High School on the school’s National Night Against Crime observance each August. L.A. High held its first National Night Out event last year, and several hundred community members came together in a show of unity against crime.

Residents and students meet one another and police officers while enjoying food, music and entertainment. Kirby said it’s an informal way to promote the department and build relationships.

Kirby works directly with the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce and the Mid City West and Greater Wilshire neighborhood councils. By attending chamber meetings, he learns about concerns in the business community. When he heard, for example, from the owners of a local boot camp

fitness program that their signs were being stolen from Hancock Park next to the La Brea Tar Pits and LACMA, Kirby had extra patrols placed around the park, which he said alleviated the problem.

The community relations specialist also recently participated in “Days of Dialogue,” a meeting in which police came together with members of the African American community to discuss relations and ways to prevent situations like the 2014 police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri and similar incidents around the country.

“It gave us an opportunity to discuss issues of concern and have a dialogue,” Kirby added. “We dispel myths about the police department and come together. We plan to have another one coming up, probably in May.” Kirby said attending neighborhood council meetings is beneficial because he hears directly from residents. Last year he heard about problems occur-

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ring in Harold Henry Park in the Windsor Village community south of Wilshire Boulevard. He relayed the information to senior lead officers, who monitored the park and solved the problem.

“There were people out there drinking and smoking,” Kirby said. “Once we were alerted to the problem, we were able to deploy resources and end it.”

Kirby also oversees the cadet program and organizes the Wilshire Division’s annual open house and golf tournament benefit. Additionally, he teaches courses in the division’s citizens police academy, providing instruction on police procedure.

Kirby added that the station has an open-door policy for residents and stakeholders in the community, and he hopes to interact with as many people as possible.

“I love working with people and I encourage anyone who is interested to get in touch,” Kirby said. “It really helps the department. It’s about education and respect. If you treat people with respect, they will treat you with respect.”

115 April 2016

Minister builds upon faith at Immanuel Presbyterian

BY EDWIN FOLVEN Rev. Raafat Girgis has shepherded the congregation at Immanuel Presbyterian Church since last September. He has grand plans for the future of the church, which has been located at 3300 Wilshire Blvd. for 88 years.

The congregation has approximately 180 members, but Girgis said at one time there were more than 3,000 members. He hopes to build bridges with other faith communities and regrow the congregation to the size it once was. Located on Wilshire Boulevard between Koreatown and the Westlake District, Girgis wants the congregation to represent the diverse surrounding neighborhoods.

“The goal is to transform the

church. We want it to go to the [next] level and for it to grow into a much stronger and vital part of the community,” Girgis said. “The main goal is working with our partners.”

Two other faith communities – The Calvary Faith Church, a Korean congregation, and Amanuel Ethiopian Church – use space at Immanuel Presbyterian for services. Girgis said they bring more than 300 additional people to the church each week. Girgis said joining with other groups helps realize his philosophy of bringing the community together.

“The church is providing holistic teaching,” said Girgis. “We are teaching spiritual transformation and social justice. We have a very welcoming congregation.”

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The reverend said had it not been for fate, he may never have come to Immanuel Presbyterian. Girgis was born, raised and ordained in Egypt, where Christians are a minority.

“We are a sizeable minority, there are about 12 million,” he added. “In Egypt, [Christians are members of] the Coptic Orthodox Church. Many leave and become Presbyterians. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that an Egyptian minister can become head of staff of a ministry of such a large church like Immanuel Presbyterian.”

Girgis came to the United States in 1987 when he was 28 to further his religious education. He studied theology in Chicago and Virginia. After graduating from the seminary, he served as minister for five-and-a-half years at a Presbyterian church in North Carolina.

Girgis later moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked at the Presbyterian Church’s national office.

In 2014, he came to Los Angeles to be close to a cousin suffering from cancer. A short time after he arrived, he received a call from the Presbytery of the Pacific, the organization that oversees Presbyterian churches in Los Angeles.

Church administrators here knew about

Rev. Raafat Girgis

Girgis’ work in Louisville. He was told about an opening for a minister at Immanuel Presbyterian, and he jumped at the opportunity. Girgis said the assignment is temporary – perhaps one or two years – but he is hopeful it becomes permanent. He added that the congregation is supportive, and he plans to do his best to serve members while boosting membership at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.

“It is a position that will continue as long as it takes,” Girgis said. “When I came here, it was almost like something leading to something else. We are in God’s hands.”

Congratulations PARK LABREA NEWS BEVERLY PRESS

on celebrating 70 years of journalistic excellence, creative vision, inspiring stories and innovative writing.

Thank you for your historic commitment to exemplary reporting and serving the community.

PAUL KORETZ

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Paid for by Koretz for City Council 2017 - 249 E. Ocean Boulevard, Suite 685 Long Beach, CA 90802 - ID #1383457 116 April 2016

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A unique collection in big commercial sea

BY PATRICIA SANCHEZ

Miracle Mile Toys and Games may seem like the underdog with big box stores selling flashy toys and electronic games, but owner Christine Johnson said it’s the shop’s unique mix of the unusual, paired with some traditional favorites, that makes it stand out.

“Yes, we sell Legos because everyone loves them, but we also offer unique products you can’t find anywhere else,” Johnson said. “It’s the hand-picked touch that people gravitate toward.”

Johnson moved to Los Angeles in 2005 from Baltimore where she worked as a film production manager.

After taking time off work to take care of her newborn son, Johnson decided it was time for a change in careers.

The idea of owning a business, she said, always intrigued her.

“I’ve always been interested in retail business, and the longer I lived in L.A.,

the more I felt like the city needed a shop with a small town feel,” Johnson said.

After researching areas in L.A., Johnson fell in love with the Miracle Mile. To her it was a diverse and growing neighborhood with families.

In March 2013, she opened Miracle Mile Toys and Games at 5363 Wilshire Blvd, a “mom and pop” toyshop that combined Johnson’s desire to own a business with her longtime love of toys.

“It was always about the small things for me,” Johnson said. “I had a great collection of toys growing up as a kid – from the dollhouse my dad made me to my collection of Tonka Trucks. I was always interested in miniatures and toys, and as I got older, I was expecting to grow out of liking them, but it never happened.”

Community response to the toyshop

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was positive from the very beginning.

Johnson recalled having people come to the doors even before the store opened, which was a great way to get to know the community, she said.

“A month before we opened we put up a little sign and had a small teddy bear in our window,” Johnson said.

“People would see the bear and come out to say how excited they were to see me opening up a toy store.”

Since then, Johnson has seen her toy store grow to become a gathering place for the community. Families come in to let their children play, and parents sit and enjoy a coffee as they chat with friends.

“They’re the parents that know each other from the soccer fields, they’re neighbors and friends,” Johnson said.

“I’m a mother of three, so I understand where they’re coming from. I’m here for them. I’m here for their kids.”

Johnson said she plans to stay in the Miracle Mile and hopefully expand her store.

courtesy of the office of Councilman Ryu

Christine Johnson stands in front of Miracle Mile Toys & Games with her children and Councilman David Ryu during the first Miracle Mile Small Business Stroll in April.

“I just re-signed my lease, so I’m committed to staying here. I hope to be here for the next 20 to 30 years,” Johnson said.

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU to the Park Labrea News & Beverly Press for 70 years of history and service to our communities!

JEFFREY PRANG ASSESSOR Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

117 April 2016

Getting to know Govan from page 20 But the next 10 years are “the big 10 years,” he said, as the museum takes on the task of replacing four buildings with one state-of-the-art facility.

The statement that the new structure will make in 2023 may be debatable, but a need to renovate is not, he said.

“With the current facilities, it’s really immaterial whether you like them or not,” Govan said. “It’s not even a debating point. These things are about to fall apart. We’ve had skylights fall in and we have had leaks. We closed many galleries and storage spaces when it rained the other week. These facilities are dead. They really need to be replaced as soon as possible for the protection and accessibility of the collections.”

Govan has also built a reputation as someone with outside-the-box, or outside-the-frame, interests. He has spearheaded dozens of art projects that go well beyond paint on a canvas, and are not limited to any genre. From “Urban Light” or “Levitated Mass” to an acquisition of James Goldstein’s John Lautner-designed house earlier this year and a general fascination with architecture, Govan is always interested in the broad field of visual art.

“It comes from an interest in ancient art when architecture and art were a part of the same sphere,” he said.

Similarly, he plans to go beyond a typical brick-and-mortar institution and expand the definition of a museum.

“You shouldn’t have to constrain a museum to a box that you place art inside of,” he said.

The new plans to transform LACMA’s campus come from Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The major feat, of course, is adding a bridge to connect the museum’s main building to LACMA-owned property at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Spaulding Avenue.

Crews will remove 100,000 square feet of facilities and exhibit space from the current campus and put it on the south side of Wilshire Boulevard. That will free up about two acres on the north side. The bridge-section of the building over Wilshire Boulevard will display exhibits and artwork and offer views of the boulevard in both directions.

Galleries will also be added to the roof. The new building will cost much 118 April 2016

less to operate and will utilize solar panels.

At approximately 400,000 square feet, Zumthor’s building will contain roughly the same overall size as the four structures it will replace – but will make twice as much art accessible to visitors.

Govan also said the cost to fix and refurbish the four existing buildings would be almost equal to creating Zumthor’s designs, but would not include the added benefits of a new stateof-the-art museum.

“It’s the largest public cultural project ever attempted in Los Angeles. The current budget over 10 years, inclusive of everything, is $600 million currently,” Govan said.

Los Angeles County has already given its full support to the redesign, and will commit approximately $125 million, or one fifth of the total goal.

But soon, Govan will change hats – from art director and urban planner to private fundraiser.

“You shouldn’t have to constrain a museum to a box that you place art inside of.”

Michael Govan One of the primary goals of the renovation goes beyond a fresh new campus. LACMA also wants to reshape and set a new standard for an individual’s experience at a museum. When it comes to shaping something as abstract as a person’s experience, Govan said he will use a combination of the best aspects of his past. For example, the Guggenheim is a well-known institution with a large budget and as many employees as LACMA. It has a more “retail” experience, and boasts impressive attendance rates, where people can walk in off the street in New York.

“It was quality not quantity [at the Dia], and the Guggenheim was always after quantity,” Govan explained. “In some sense this seemed to be an opportunity [at LACMA] to blend the two experiences – to create a museum that was big and public but with a very special and immersive quality. The idea is to have your cake and eat it too.”

That strategy has already been a suc-

Paul Cézanne (France, 1839-1906) Sous-Bois, circa 1894 Oil on canvas

cess at LACMA, where larger audiences are attracted to public artworks like “Urban Light” on the sidewalk in front of the campus which produces a “cacophony of energy” with a steady flow of Instagrammers and wedding photographers. And Angelenos can see and visit “Levitated Mass” for free from Sixth Street or Fairfax Avenue.

These exhibits draw visitors in and, once they are inside, the experience becomes quieter and more intimate throughout the gallery space.

“My view is that museums don’t have to be one or the other,” he said. “If designed properly, they can be as open and accessible as a public plaza, and as intimate and intellectually spiritual and personal as a single encounter with a work of art. That’s really what we’re going for here in the new building.”

To increase accessibility, Zumthor’s designs include a transparent exterior and open plaza.

“And sort of step-by-step you remove yourself from the energy of the city into a quiet contemplative experience, but you’re not more than a few steps from looking out a window onto Wilshire Boulevard. That’s the idea,” Govan said.

The existing campus was built “little pieces at a time,” which created a “Swiss cheese” effect where escalators, elevators, staircases, doorways and entrances seem disconnected and aren’t integrated together, making it difficult to navigate.

“It’s not designed as a whole,” he said. “So the new building will be de-

signed for much easier accessibility, orientation and security. The environment for art, the light and shadow, the doorways into galleries, everything will look much better. And all the galleries are on the main floor so rather than going up and down escalators and elevators and staircases you’ll just have this easy flow like walking through a park.”

You can see the excitement on Govan’s face and hear the enthusiasm in his voice when he talks about the new plans. But when asked what aspect or feature he is most excited about, he paused.

“Everything,” he said after a beat. “I mean, every museum should be glass on the outside. You should be able to look in. And I think it’s fantastic to look out. And I love natural light. And every museum should be solar-powered. The best galleries are the ones that are easy to rearrange or when they’re horizontal and you can really keep developing an approach to the collection that isn’t hindered by little boxes that are fixed to the floor.”

The new and improved LACMA is scheduled to open in 2023 – right when the Purple Line Extension station opens near Fairfax Avenue.

“I would say the time is right now,” Govan said. “The board is fully excited and prepared. The community is much more mature in terms of the acknowledgement of the role of the museum.

And I think we’re going to be successful… I know we’ll be successful.”

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Just Du-p It!

Order pancakes for dinner

W

hile walking around the Original Farmers Market, you may bump into a tall and affable man named Biff Naylor, especially if you are near Du-par’s.

Naylor owns Du-par’s and can often be found at any of their locations.

A while back, we shared a stack of Du-par’s famous buttermilk pancakes, Naylor told me, “You can’t make a great meal without great ingredients and great people to serve it.”

He believes the secret to his restaurant’s success is maintaining the integrity of old school cooking and hospitality.

His pancakes have been named “Best pancakes in U.S.” by Esquire

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

BY JILL WEINLEIN

magazine and “Best pancakes in Los Angeles” by L.A. Weekly. It may be because of the time it takes to prepare them. Patrons won’t find anything from a box here. Du-par’s uses all fresh ingredients, then whips up the batter and lets it rest for hours. The result is the fluffiest and tastiest pancake in town.

Author Michael Connelly enjoys the pancakes, too. The author of detective novels and other crime fiction – notably those involving LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller – features Du-par’s in his books. In his best seller, “The Brass

See Du-par’s page 120

Biff Naylor and Veronica Gonzales of Du-par’s

119 April 2016

Du-par’s From page 119 Verdict” (2008) he wrote, “We drove silently down Ventura Boulevard and stopped for dinner at Du-par’s. It was my daughter’s favorite place to eat dinner because I always let her order the pancakes. Somehow, the kid thought ordering breakfast for dinner was crossing some line and it made her feel rebellious and brave.”

Connelly has sold millions of books that have been translated into 39 languages, and has inspired people from all over the world to visit Du-par’s.

“For some reason, people in England more than any other country come into Du-par’s when they arrive in Los Angeles because of reading

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Connelly’s books,” Naylor said.

“They all want to try our pancakes for dinner.” Hmm, maybe it fortifies them to be brave and a little rebellious on their trip.

The restaurant business is a family affair with the Naylors. In 1926, Biff’s father, W.W. “Tiny” Naylor opened his own farm-style diner in Central California. Naylor was nicknamed “Tiny” because of his 6’4”, 320 lbs. frame. He was an innovator, one of the first to open drive-ins complete with roller skating waitresses. In the late 1940s, Tiny opened Biff’s, named after his son. Biff took over the business after his father passed away in 1959 and became CEO. Du-par’s was founded at the Original Farmers Market years before Naylor took it over in 2005, and it has been a staple Los Angeles since 1938. He has followed the same winning formula his family used for decades. He loves what he does every day, waking up early, getting dressed and visiting his restaurants.

A few years ago, Naylor created a “Beat the Clock” menu from 4-6 p.m. to offer guests an affordable homestyle meal for the dollar amount that

is the same as the time on the clock. If you order a meal at 4:15, it costs $4.15. Guests choose from four entrees that may include gourmet meatloaf, fish and chips, mushroom and tomato pasta or country fried chicken.

Naylor’s daughter Jennifer collaborates as the executive consultant with the chefs at Du-par’s. After learning from Los Angeles chefs Roland Gibert, Mary Sue Miliken and Susan Feniger, Jennifer joined the restaurant team of Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff to work at the brewery restaurant Eureka and, later, Granita in Malibu. She helped prepare a menu, combining the best ingredients with the old school cooking, just as Tiny did in the 1920s.

“We make everything from scratch, starting with soups and gravies,” Naylor said, adding that they also grind their beef for burgers and make their own jams, pies and ice cream. “We even cut the freshly caught salmon into filets.”

The Naylors are expanding the family business to Las Vegas, where Naylor’s son is working on opening the city’s second Du-par’s.

“The heart of every good casino is

photos by Jill Weinlein

Enjoy a piping hot stack of Du-par’s famous pancakes.

a great 24/7 restaurant,” Biff said recently as we shared another stack of Du-par’s buttermilk pancakes, this time with house-made boysenberry syrup.

Next time you crave a good breakfast or when you’re feeling adventurous and want pancakes for dinner, go to Du-par’s. Biff Naylor will offer you a warm smile and a satisfying meal.

Du-Par’s at the Farmers Market is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

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“I’m a free agent delegate. [This year,] I could go with Bernie or Hillary.”

- Kerman Maddox Obama-appointed super delegate

From page 103 Maddox continued to work with elected officials, legislative and governmental agencies, business organizations and nonprofit groups, which led to a meeting with a young Illinois Senator named Barack Obama in 2004. The two stayed in touch, and when Obama ran for president in 2007, he wanted Maddox on his team.

Maddox said, since he is not old enough to have experienced the civil rights movements with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he jumped at the opportunity to get involved with the civil rights movement of his time and help put the first African American in the Oval Office.

“My wife and I traveled to so many primary states [for Obama’s campaign],” he said. “We didn’t take vacations. Our vacation was going to South Carolina or Iowa or New Hampshire, and the other primary states. We traveled all over the country. It was a fascinating experience seeing how people interact, and seeing how different states have caucuses or primaries. … That’s also when you realize how lucky you are to live in L.A.” After he was elected, Obama appointed Maddox to the Democratic National Committee as a super delegate to help carry out the initiatives of the administration and help advance the President’s agenda on a range of issues from health care to trade, jobs programs to appointment confirmations.

Presidential candidates must receive a majority of the delegate votes at the national convention to secure the nomination. “Pledged delegates” support the candidate their state voted for in the respective primaries or caucuses. But Maddox is an unpledged delegate, or a “super delegate,” which is unique to the Democratic Party. He said super delegates typically vote for the candidate their state has voted for, but they are not bound to vote for one candidate or another.

“It means I’m a free agent delegate,” he said. “[This year,] I could go with Bernie or Hillary. Super delPark Labrea News/Beverly Press

egates can sway the election one way or the other.”

Maddox said one of the best aspects of his career is that he has been able to use it to connect with others and make a difference in communities in more direct ways than advising and helping elected officials. For example, Maddox is a member of the advisory board for Vision to Learn – an organization providing free eyeglasses to public school students, mostly for children in low-income families.

“We talk to the school in advance and then bring a doctor to their campus. The kids pick the frame and we put the lenses in. I love it,” Maddox said. “When you see these kids try the glasses on and say, ‘I had no idea the leaves were that color.’ And then you have to think they can’t see in the classroom either. And if they can’t see there, they can’t learn.”

Maddox also served as a chairman for the Open Access Alliance, an organization dedicated to making the Internet available, affordable and accessible to everyone, especially for those in low-income communities. In 2002, the NAACP recognized Maddox as a positive male role model.

Today, Maddox still serves on the National Finance Committee for Obama and is the managing partner for Dakota Communications. He develops planning and public outreach programs for corporations, government agencies, faith-based institutions, academic institutions and political candidates.

Now with his friend set to leave office, Maddox and a small group of associates recently met with Clinton in New York, and he said they had a very “frank, spirited discussion” with her.

“I was very impressed by her intelligence, her thoughtful responses to questions and her demeanor,” Maddox said. “She is very persuasive in small group meetings. Prior to the meeting I was leaning toward supporting Hillary Clinton but after the meeting I became a solid supporter of Secretary Clinton … Her experience, vast knowledge of the issues and realistic proposals won me over.”

rendering courtesy of the LGBT Center

The LGBT Center will open the new Anita May Rosenstein Campus in 2019.

From page 113 services, addiction recovery, HIV/STD testing and treatment and more. The new campus will also include senior and youth centers, a commercial kitchen to feed homeless individuals and ground-floor retail space.

Though the court’s decision on marriage equality was cause for major celebration, it was just part of the overall fight for LGBT rights.

Across the country, LGBT people

can still be fired, evicted or denied service in restaurants, hotels or other businesses. Jean said LGBT youth are still kicked out their homes, condemned by churches and bullied at school for their sexual orientation.

The fight is moving forward, and thanks to leaders and pioneers in West Hollywood and Los Angeles, the LGBT community has centers to turn to. They are setting the stage for a future of full equality and bigger rallies than the one on Decision Day.

121 April 2016

Hollywood’s music scene

BY PATRICIA SANCHEZ

I

n the 1960s, folk music and rock ‘n’ roll made its ground-shaking debut in the City of Angels, and an eclectic group of musicians made their home in the clubs and venues lining the Sunset Strip.

In Hollywood, a new music scene was ready to explode, and it became the center stage that would launch many music careers and influence countless others for years to come.

Julia St. Pierre, production manager and music writer for Los Angeles Magazine, said there is a certain magic that happens on the stages of The Troubadour, The Roxy Theatre,

Whiskey A Go Go, The Viper Room and other venues in Hollywood. Some clubs, such as London Fog and Pandora’s Box, opened and closed with the changing times, while others still maintain a strong hold today.

“These venues are important because they preserve and continue the spirit of live music that includes so many important bands and artists that make up such an important part of the musical and cultural fabric of Los Angeles,” said Erik Janson, guitarist and keyboardist for the Los Angeles-based band Wildling. “Bands from Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, Frank Zappa to Jane’s Addiction and so many more 122 April 2016

have played at these venues while creating music that was so vital and representative of the times, and [they’re] still influential today.”

The Troubadour

First opened in 1957 by Doug Weston, The Troubadour was a coffee house on La Cienega Boulevard.

Shortly after it opened, it moved to its current location at 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., with a maximum capacity of 500 people.

The Troubadour played an important role for many musicians and provided them with an intimate and exciting place to perform. Musicians from Elton John, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Van Morrison, Buffalo Spring-

field and countless others performed at the venue at the beginning of their careers.

The venue was popular among folk singers in the 1960s. True to its name – a reference to poets and storytellers – The Troubadour was an outlet for many singer/songwriters including Bob Dylan, whose career in folk rock music started after an impromptu “jam session” at the venue. A year later, The Byrds performed Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” for the first time, and The Troubadour helped the group gain popularity.

St. Pierre said The Troubadour has always been a special venue because

photos by Patricia Sanchez Above and left, Moving Units, a punk-dance band from Silverlake played a sold out show at The Roxy Theatre on Dec. 19.The energy, said singer Blake Miller, lived up to the venue’s history.

it connected musicians to their fans.

“You don’t have to worry about The Troubadour. People will always go there and [musicians] will always want to play there,” St. Pierre said.

The Troubadour was the first venue many out-of-state musicians played in California, including country singer Kris Kristofferson who made his Los Angeles debut in 1970. Two years later, the venue was featured in the film “Cisco Pike” starring Kristofferson.

In the 1980s, the venue was synonymous with heavy metal and attracted bands such as Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses, Poison and Warrant.

The “headbanger” scene, St. Pierre said, was prominent in most of the venues when she moved to Los Angeles in 1987, but as music continued to change, so did The Troubadour.

Now, nearly half a century after it first opened, musicians still see The Troubadour as an important venue.

Ryan Ross, bass player, vocalist and trumpeter in the Los Angeles-based band, The Lonely Wild, said playing at The Troubadour over the years has always been a special experience.

Ross said The Lonely Wild has played at The Roxy, The Viper Room and Hotel Cafe, but there is something unique about The Troubadour.

“It was the venue I used to go to all the time back in college to see shows. I love the balcony – I would get there early just to snag a great spot,” Ross said. “It’s such a historic venue too, and you really get that feel when wandering the dressing rooms. Everything seems old … because it’s probably been there since the ’60s.”

Ross said it’s also humbling to play in a venue that has so much history.

“I think there’s a certain magic or charm that comes from recognizing all

the incredible talents that have been up on that stage,” Ross said. “We’ve played newer venues that are nice, but they’re lacking in the soul that comes with years and years of history-making shows.”

Whiskey A Go Go

Whiskey A Go Go, located at 8901 Sunset Blvd., opened in Los Angeles in 1964 with a dance-inducing live band performance fronted by rock ‘n’ roll musician Johnny Rivers and a DJ set by Rhonda Lane. Rivers’ album “Live at the Whiskey A Go Go” later helped the club gain popularity in the rock ‘n’ roll scene. In its early years it was popularized as a club for go-go dancing and was a hot spot for celebrities and musicians to hang out.

It soon became the center of rock ’n’ roll music in the mid-1960s, playing an important role in the careers of The Doors, The Turtles and Alice Cooper. Musicians from Janis Joplin to Fleetwood Mac performed and hung out at the venue.

During the 1960s, the venue, along with Pandora’s Box and other small clubs on the Sunset Strip, found itself in the middle of a series of riots when police tried to enforce a 10 p.m. curfew. But, the venue continued to host concerts.

Like The Troubadour, Whiskey A Go Go transformed throughout the decades and showcased everything from folk rock and psychedelic bands, to new wave, punk and heavy metal music. In the 1990s, it helped spread Seattle grunge, highlighting bands such as Soundgarden, Mudhoney and The Melvins.

While it remains an iconic venue and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 for its contributions to music history, St. Pierre Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

said Whisky A Go Go is most famous for its earlier contributions to music.

“For the Whiskey it was the ‘60s, the era it thrived in, that really made it iconic,” St. Pierre said. “The Doors even had a residency there.”

In recent years, Whiskey A Go Go has adapted to a changing music scene, and many musicians still enjoy playing at the iconic venue.

The Roxy Theatre

“If Whiskey A Go Go was the ‘60s, then The Roxy thrived in the ’70s,” St. Pierre said. “It’s just timing. There were so many clubs that started in the ’60s and ’70s. Some just stuck.”

The Roxy Theatre, located at 9009 W. Sunset Blvd., was opened in 1973

by Lou Adler and Elmer Valentine.

The venue’s opening was celebrated with a three-night concert headlined

by Neil Young.

Adler and his associates opened the venue intending it to be a place for musicians of all genres to perform and feel welcomed. It was synonymous not just with music, but also for hosting standup comedy shows and other plays. Adler himself was credited with bringing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to the United States with a performance of the play at The Roxy Theatre.

Comedian Paul Reubens first introduced his “Pee-Wee Herman” character during a performance at The Roxy Theatre in the spring of 1981, and for two months, “The Pee-Wee Herman Show” ran three nights a week at the venue. Cheech and Chong also performed there.

From the 1970s to present day, famous musicians have graced the stage of The Roxy Theatre including B.B. King, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel, Patti Smith, Lou Reed and The Ramones.

The venue was featured in 16 albums including Van Morrison’s “Mojo at The Roxy” and Frank Zappa’s “Roxy and Elsewhere.”

Musicians who played at The Roxy Theatre in recent years said they still feel the energy of the historic venue.

“I’ve been fortunate to see a ton of rad shows at The Roxy before [my band] began,” said Blake Miller, founding member of Los Angeles dance-punk band Moving Units. “I saw The Verve and Slowdive there in 1993, also Pavement and Sebadoh.

Moving Units was able to play two epic shows at The Roxy. It’s a classic L.A. venue, and the music history Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photos by Patricia Sanchez Many folk and country artists continue to gravitate toward The Troubadour, including Nashville natives Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors.

crackling in the atmosphere always ignites a burst of creative inspiration during performances. The Roxy has absolutely earned its legacy for showcasing incredible talent.”

Miller, who has fronted Moving Units for the past 25 years, said he always enjoys playing The Roxy, not just because of its historic standing, but for its technical quality as well.

“I love the vibrant production value. The sound system is super tight, and the lighting is big-festival quality in an intimate club setting. We’re able to engage with the crowd in a very natural way.”

The Viper Room

The Viper Room may be the youngest venue among Hollywood’s hard hitters, but its intimate space and relationship to celebrities has made it a notable music club.

Founded by actor Johnny Depp in 1993, the club was popular among celebrities and musicians, but wasn’t without its share of trouble.

During the same year it opened, actor River Phoenix was found dead outside the venue. Despite the shocking tragedy, the club remained a popular hangout for celebrities.

Depp’s band, consisting of Michael “Flea” Balzary (bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and musician Gibby Haynes, frequently played at

the club, and it was prominent among punk and metal bands.

Current owner Darin Feinstein said the rich history of the club and its small size have helped it stand out.

“About 300 people fit inside the club during a show,” Feinstein said.

“You’re not going to perform for a crowd that intimate anywhere else.”

Feinstein recalled the night he took over The Viper Room. Courtney Love was playing a sold out show that was streamed live on KROQ radio station.

Amid all the chaos, Feinstein and his staff were changing the locks on the doors.

“It was kind of crazy to be doing that while a live show was happening,” Feinstein said. “But every type of experience you could imagine happening in a rock ‘n’ roll club has probably happened here.”

Wilding played at The Viper Room in April 2015. Band member Janson said their experience in the smaller club was much different than when they played at the Roxy.

“The Viper Room has a more intimate vibe,” he said. “Wildling is a five-piece band with a fairly extensive set up, so we all barely fit onto the stage. I remember when the curtain was coming up it knocked over my mic and nearly took down my keyboard. Despite how cramped we were the sound was excellent for us, and it

felt great playing to the room.”

While the look of the clubs and the Strip are very different today, they still provide musicians with a place to call home.

Author and music journalist Jerry Hopkins once wrote that if you strip away the fake plastic of Hollywood, you’ll find real vinyl underneath – along the Sunset Strip, there were, and are, genuine musicians who forever made an impact in the music community with the help of Hollywood’s many venues.

“My parents used to live on Holloway Plaza Drive, so some of my earliest memories are driving with my parents along Sunset Boulevard while they reminisced pointing out many places where they’d see incredible artists perform on any given night of the week,” Janson said.

As Hollywood and West Hollywood continue to evolve, many of the nightclubs and venues in the city have disappeared. Those that have survived, Feinstein said, have done so because they have been able to co-exist and provide a unique experience.

“We can’t lose these places like Whiskey or The Roxy,” St. Pierre said.

“They played an important role in music history not, just for L.A. You always want to root for these kinds of venues, and you hope to see them stick around.”

123 April 2016

A pound for a pittance Market Basket was selling rib roast for 75 cents a pound as advertised in the February 8, 1968 edition of the Park Labrea News. With top sirloin also selling for $1.39, customers could afford to indulge in the finest of meats.

Hooray for Hollywood Pearl Bailey was appearing at the Coconut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, as advertised in the August 18, 1960 edition

Nixon runs for Congress Future President Nixon was running for the U.S. Senate in this ad from the November 2, 1950 edition of the Park Labrea News.The ad read, â&#x20AC;&#x153;you have a date with the future...â&#x20AC;? Nixon, as it turned out, had a fairly high-profile date with the future as well.

Giving dancers confidence The Arthur Miller Dance Academy was a staple in the local community, offering a special introductory lesson for Park Labreans in this ad on May 31, 1951.

Shoppers could grab a meal at May Co.

Hollywood Grill reaches a milestone

The May Co. store at Wilshire and offered Fairfax lunch for hungry shoppers, and children were invited to order from the Baby Panda menu in this ad from the February 23, 1950, issue.

The Musso & Frank Grill celebrated its 50th Anniversary as denoted in the May 29, 1969 edition.The restaurant is still a local favorite today.

124 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

An early version of the News

The newspaper’s office on La Brea

The front page of a 1948 issue of the Park Labrea News shows typewritten copy and a hand-lettered banner.

The Staff is Always Hard at Work The staff of the Park Labrea News was introduced on the cover of the March 22, 1951 issue of the Park Labrea News, and included (clockwise from top left) photographer Auburn Graves, editor and publisher Lu Weare, society editor Terri Bowman, and advertising salesperson Marian Peltason.

The Park Labrea News’ office was once located at 626 1/2 S. La Brea Ave. This photo shows the building circa 1960s. The address was also the original location of the La Brea Bakery.

Store offered thrifty deals Thrifty Drugstore at Wilshire and Fairfax had great deals on many items, including ones not usually associated with a drugstore — “piping hot” fish & chips for 39 cents.

Football and fun on Fairfax Tom Bergin’s has been a staple on Fairfax Avenue for decades.

In this ad from Sept. 7, 1950, football fans were encouraged to stop by the restaurant and tavern before L.A. Rams football games.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

125 April 2016

One of the regular features in the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press has been to showcase some of the interesting ads and articles that have appeared in the newspaper over the years. A small collection is featured here, and illustrate how dramatically the times have changed.

Greetings from the Fourth District USC Football All-American and Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro wished everyone in his Fourth District a happy holiday season in the December 18, 1969 edition. Ferraro went on to serve until his death in 2001

They ‘service’ your car Irv White Buick at the corner of Third Street and La Brea Avenue was a staple in the newspapers back in the 1960s, with ads running almost every week, including this one from the September 23, 1965 edition.

Lookin’ good

Fresh milk, delivered

The Monaco Beauty Salon offered Park Labreans the chance to try the latest in hairstyles in the July 13, 1950 issue, in this case, the new “Dove-Tail Shingle.” The ad continued on that never before was there a hair style that does so much for everyone.

Park Labreans were invited to arrange for milk deliveries from the Adohr Farms Dairy in this advertisement from the March 3, 1955 edition of the newspaper.

Milkman Neil, as the ad denotes, never leaves Park La Brea except to return to the company’s La Cienega Creamery.

126 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

A stepping stone to the White House Ronald Reagan was making his first foray into politics in 1966, and was pictured in a Nov. 3, 1966 ad running for California governor. He was joined on the ticket by Robert H. Finch. It turned out that the governor’s mansion was just a stop on the way to the White House for Reagan, who was elected president in 1980. After serving as Lt. Governor, Finch was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under President Richard Nixon.

The beginning of a legacy An ad for John F. Kennedy ran on Oct. 27, 1960, marking the start of one of the 20th century’s most famous political dynasties.

Cinerama Dome opens The Cinerama Dome had been open for 16 weeks in this ad from the August 13, 1953 issue. Audiences could buy movie tickets at the box office, or pick them up at the Original Farmers Market.

Gov. Brown wins, and again...

An ad for Pat Brown for governor ran on Oct. 16, 1958, signaling the beginning of one of California’s greatest political dynasties. Pat Brown served as governor from 1959 to 1967. His son, Edmund “Jerry” Brown (bottom right) was pictured in the Nov. 16, 1978 issue, after he was re-elected to his second term as California governor. He served through 1983, and after serving as mayor of Oakland and California Attorney General, was re-elected in 2010 as governor, a position he still holds today.

Eatery had real value menu An All You Can Eat smorgasbord with dessert and drink was only $1.50 in October 1951 at the Hickory House on Wilshire Boulevard.

An extra 50 cents got you a complete prime rib dinner, with an extrathick cut of meat. Selections included fried chicken, broiled lobster and roast turkey. Diners could have seconds, if they wished.

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

127 April 2016

New Publishers

January 11, 1990 marked the pivotal day that Publishers Michael and Karen Villalpando started on their journalistic odyssey at the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press.

128 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

photo by Patricia Sanchez

The Petersen

from page 10

always ready for the road. (Just don’t expect to see too many cars from the collection cruising down Wilshire Boulevard.)

“It’s in the DNA of the museum to have cars that run,” Langsbard said. “That can require year-round maintenance, from taking apart an engine to a tune up.”

The exhibits on the museum’s three main floors are each dedicated to history, industry and artistry of the automobile, totaling 95,000 square feet of exhibit space.

On the floor dedicated to the automobile industry, the museum shows how automobile design has evolved for speed and efficiency, and includes some of the fastest cars of all time. Exotic and rare cars finished in silver, including a 1936 Duesenberg and a 1967 Ferrari 625/250 Testa Rossa, are visitor magnets at the Precious Metal gallery – a $120 million exhibit.

On the “Artistry” floor, the masterful “Rolling Sculptures” speak for themselves. It’s the floor dedicated to some of the most powerful, beautiful and rare cars in the collection. As automobiles became commonplace during the 1920s, manufacturers created car bodies that embraced “artistic principles that spoke to broader design movements.” It starts with Jean Bugatti’s beautiful blue masterpiece 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, which is a work of art whether you’ve ever seen a car or not. But the Armand Hammer Foundation Gallery is the Petersen’s closest link between the automobile and fine art with the BMW Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

Z4 and other “art cars.” Artists covered the car’s tires with paint to use the vehicle as a paintbrush. An accompanying video shows the driver spinning around on a large canvas on the ground to create the work of art. The exhibits also feature works from Alexander Calder, David Hockney and Robin Rhode.

The level dedicated to history shows how automobile ownership increased through the 1930s, and so did the early imagination of the industry’s first trendsetters. Exhibits transition through to the 1960s when automobiles embodied attitude, style and freedom. In Los Angeles, the conversation with cars must include film. From the Pontiac Aztec featured in “Breaking Bad,” to the Continental featured in “Entourage,” the Hollywood gallery presents the coolest cars from movie and television history. The Petersen also still features classics from its first exhibits in the previous building, including the Batmobile, which holds the title for most photographed car in the museum.

The history of the car also includes the history of the Petersen. Robert E. Petersen, a publishing magnet with magazines such as “Hot Rod” and “Motor Trend,” established the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1994 to pay homage to the automobile and to preserve its legacy. After he helped build car culture in Los Angeles through his magazine empire, he envisioned the museum as a place where he could display his collection of vehicles. The legacy of the publishing magnet, who passed away in 2007, is exemplified throughout the museum.

As the founder, he laid out what the museum should be at the inaugural opening in 1994.

“Culture has been changed by the automobile,” he said. “This museum is about the role the automobile has played in defining our past and present … as well as shaping our future.”

Twenty-two years later, the Petersen Automotive Museum crossed the finish line with its red and steel ribbon masterpiece.

129 April 2016

And finally...

T

o our staff – all top professionals – we are grateful for your dedication and your determination to gather the news and insure its accuracy. Thank you.

We pay homage to the men and women who mentored us along the way and instilled in us the importance of getting the news right and delivering it to the readers. We also recognize our responsibility to our advertisers to provide a valuable vehicle for their advertising message.

We remember and thank the Daily News “Chicago boys” – the late Scott Schmidt, Tom Culligan, Tom Osborne, Sammee Zeile, Victor Field, Ali Sar and many more for giving us the tools to succeed.

We also want to recognize our media partners the Los Angeles Times. We collaborate on circulation, advertising and promotion, including the annual “Taste” event at Paramount Pictures.

But most of all, we thank our daughters, Emily and Rebecca, for their constant faith and support.

Emily graduated from the University of Missouri Journalism School in 2014 and is now hitting it out of the park at the Los Angeles Times. Rebecca is headed for her senior year at Tulane University and is a gifted writer, double majoring in English and art history. Expect her to be a force in the art world or perhaps a novelist or playwright.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our 70th anniversary edition, “Our People, Our Places.”

We look forward to serving you for the next 70 years.

Michael and Karen Villalpando Publishers

Karen, Rebecca, Emily and Michael Villalpando photo by Andrew Kitchen 130 April 2016

Park Labrea News/Beverly Press

ALLAN JEFFRIES FRAMING

We would like to thank the community for your patronage and loyalty.

We believe that customer satisfaction and incredible word of mouth is the #1 reason why Allan Jeffries Framing has been the fastest growing framer in Southern California for the past 33 years.

We are proud of our reputation, both as a framer and as an employer who supports the ideals of above average wages and health care for all.

We also consistently give back to the community, such as schools, churches, temples and charitable organizations.

We stand proud and look forward to continuing to serve you now and for the future.

8301 W. Third St. • Los Angeles, CA 90048 • 323.655.1296 • www.allanjeffries.com