Insider Magazine, Spring 2016

theinsider

Minimum Wage Controversy surrounds $15 an hour working wage.

6th Street Bridge The end of an era for the most iconic bridge in Los Angeles.

LA River

Community meets environment in LA’s wetlands

The Broad

LA’s newest art museum is a must-see

and more inside...

Glendale Community College

theinsider

Glendale Community College Magazine Spring 2016

Volume 8 Number I

Our Student Writers learning skills, building experience Vicky Deger left her home in Australia at seventeen. She traveled and worked her way around the world until settling in to a life in New York’s, East Village where she dyed her hair pink, rode a bicycle, wrote short stories, and assisted directors for a hundred bucks a day. These days, not much has changed–except her day rate. Vicky has accomplished most things she’s dreamed of, bar living in a tree house and getting a college degree (which she is working on). Her short stories have appeared in The Coachella Review, Ducts, The Grove Review, Golf Stream magazine, and RA mag.

Brent Giannotta is a continuing student at GCC who is fascinated by issues of gender, race and relationships. He previously worked as a political analyst in Washington DC and is slowly building a career as a writer.

Sal Polcino is a jazz guitarist and jazz blogger who is a past editor-in-chief of El Vaquero, the Insider’s sister publication, for two semesters.

Nancy Villalobos is a returning student to GCC working toward a degree in Mass Communications to pursue a career in Public Relations.

On Our Cover:

The Los Angeles River has, for the last 100 years, been a concrete-lined channel of biohazardous wastewater runoff. But times are changing and plans to rehabilitate LA’s beleaguered waterway are in full effect.

Community meets the environment to usher in a new era. Photo and story by Vicky Deger, page 2.

insider

the

Glendale Community College Magazine SPRING 2016

VOLUME 8

NUMBER I

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Jane Pojawa STAFF WRITERS

Vicky Deger Brent Giannotta Sal Polcino Nancy Villalobos

Here’s What’s

Inside

...

LA River: Metropolis’ Wet Dream Fulfilled

by Vicky Deger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

Too Many Strokes, Not Enough Medical Facilities

by Brent Giannotta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sal Polcino FACULTY ADVISER

Michael Moreau mmoreau@glendale.edu (818) 551-5214

Minimum Wage

by Brent Giannotta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 9

ADVERTISING

Jeff Smith jsmith@glendale.edu (818) 240-1000, ext. 5493

Opinion: Arctic Drilling

by Nancy Villalobos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

page 11

6th Street Bridge: The Year in Pictures Print copies are available for sale at http://gccinsider.magcloud.com To submit an idea or an article: The insider accepts story ideas in news, features, profiles, sports and entertainment from the public. Send ideas or articles, to the editor at editor@glendalecollegeinsider.com

by Sal Polcino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 12

Review: Wi Spa

by Vicky Deger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

page 15

or (818) 551-5349.

Letters to the Editor: Letters may be reproduced in full or in part and represent only the point of view of the writer, not the opinion of The Insider or Glendale Community College and its district. Letters must be signed and typed and include the full name and address of the writer. The Insider is a First Amendment publication.

Send letters to: 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208 (818) 240-1000 ext. 5349 Send E-mail to: editor@glendalecollegeinsider.com

Review: The Broad

by Brent Giannotta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 18

Personal Account: Live like a Musician

by Sal Polcino. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges

page 22

LA River

Community: L os Angeles’ wet dream is about to come true

Many Angelenos are unaware that a river runs through the heart of our metropolis. The Los Angeles River, a 51-mile waterway, begins at the far western edges of the San Fernando Valley, flows through dozens of neighborhoods and cities, and finally lands in Long Beach where it discharges about 207 million gallons of water into the Pacific a day.

Eighty percent of the river’s water comes from reclamation plants (treated raw sewage) and despite a steady number of dead bodies, massive amounts of trash, and lethal pollutants being pulled from its waters annually, the concrete river hosts multimillion dollar real estate investment projects, fishing tournaments, horseback riding, kayak trips, picnic areas, bike riding paths and bird-watching.

Join me in an armchair tour of the LA River. Grab onto a floating device of your choice, and we’ll take a little excursion.

It’s a sunny Saturday morning in April. Friends of the LA River (FoLAR), a local nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of the Los Angeles River, are hosting their annual Spring cleanup at the Glendale Narrows.

The Narrows, the focus of today’s cleanup, is one of four sections of the Los Angeles River with an earthen bottom.

Flora with names more suited to a hobbit movie than an urban waterway–arroyo willows, swamp sedge and toad rush–flourish amongst soggy rock outcrops and sandy banks. What might be a soothing hum of river-throughfoliage is drowned by the whirr of cars above as the 134 freeway exits at Western Ave onto a straddling pylon-heavy overhang.

Hoards of good Samaritans gather, wearing blue Friends of the River T-shirts and rubber gloves. They clutch clear plastic garbage bags in various levels of capacity and galumph up and down the concreted river edges.

Some are braver than others. The gallant don leaden pants and boots, soaked from thigh-deep trash collecting.

A pair of 20-something workers hired by the Army Corps of Engineers haul trash bags up and down the sloped concrete

2

the insider | Spring 2016

— Story and Photos by Vicky Deger banks to a parked pickup truck. They wear dirty long sleeved shirts and mud smeared yellow safety vests. The taller of the two, whose cheeks are stained from the sun and lips coated in a white zinc solution, stops for a few moments by the edge of the water to fasten the straps of an overflowing bag. Soggy diapers, a pair of sand-laden Dickie work pants, a rusty barbecue grill, a moss covered black and red Nintendo console. He thinks for a while after being asked to consider the strangest thing he’s pulled from the LA River.

“Corpses,” he says. “I’ve found two. The first guy was a heroin overdose, been there a long time, pretty decomposed.

The second,” he looks up from his trash bag towards the bridge overpass above, “a jumper.”

Prior to the 1930‘s the LA River was much like any ol’ river – winding up and around.

Twisting and turning its way through Los Angeles, which at the time happened to be the agricultural capital of the US. Kid anglers cast their lines and picnicked. Summer nights spent camped out on the river’s white sandy banks. Firing up a collected pile of twigs, puffing on found cigarette butts.

But as the city grew, the river’s seasonal bursts caused havoc. Water gushed from the overflowing riverbanks causing one disaster after another– roads flooded, citizens drowned, homes washed away, crops destroyed. Early flood control efforts included channelization and damning, none of which proved successful. So in 1938, an undertaking to concrete the entire length of the river began.

The project was not fully completed until 1960‘s.

Fast forward a few decades and drawing on examples such as

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Portland and Seattle’s river renovation projects, Los Angeles has leapt onboard. Government agencies, nonprofits and private entities alike work diligently to provide infrastructure to a resurgence and regeneration of a river that since the 1960‘s, despite its fame in movies like Grease and Terminator, has not been much more than a fenced, graffiti and litter-laden waterway.

The river meanders mostly silently beside its city’s dwellers, one million of which live within a mile of the river.

Despite long periods of draught in LA, the river runs at a rather steady course year-round, fed by a constant supply of water from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the Sepulveda Basin, which unloads 23 million gallons of reclaimed water a day into the concrete channel.

The river’s flow is relentless, and at times deadly. This past May, best friends Gustavo Ramirez, 15, and Carlos Daniel Jovel, 16, plunged to their deaths while playing by the river behind their school on San Fernando Blvd Friday evening. Gustavo fell and Carlos jumped in after him.

Neither one surfaced again. Fire department helicopters flew over late that afternoon after a 911 call from the boy’s friends, but nothing was spotted.

The boy’s bodies were not retrieved until that Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, property values along the edges of the river increase as investors clamor to buy up old rail yards, industrial spaces and undeveloped land with the intention to renovate and reuse into parks and playgrounds, cafes, condominiums and mixed-use retail. Elaborate renderings of an aqueous future Los

Friends of the LA River are instrumental in cleaning trash from the waterway, which on weekends attracts families. On this page, Jonno Roberts and his four-year-old twins Lenny and Percy are enjoying a Sunday stroll by the river for some duck watching.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Angeles float about the cyber world – a snaking terraced greenbelt, rich in opportunities for riparian riverside romping.

Adopted by the LA County of Supervisors in 1996, orchestration of a LA River Master Plan has been in motion since. Slowly at first, but recently, along side development and recreational ventures, is gaining momentum. Amongst the countless re-use proposals included in the Master Plan for the Los Angeles River is redevelopment of the historic Lincoln Heights jail. Formerly the dark and dreary digs to Angeleno’s

first prisoners, purportedly haunted.

The concept is to transform the 230,000 square foot river-edge reformatory into retail and live/work spaces complete with urban roof garden and fancy eateries.

Yuval Bar-Zemer, of Linear City Development, is a downtown Los Angeles-based real estate developer of mixed use, urban infill communities.

(Infill development is the process of developing vacant or under-used parcels within existing urban areas that are already largely developed.)

Bar-Zemer’s first re-use investment in downtown’s Arts District, in Spring 2016 | the insider

3

redevelopment of the Los Angeles River. The announcement raised major concern from political activist and FoLAR cofounder, Lewis MacAdams, who working towards LA River renaissance since the mid 1980’s, refers to FoLAR as a “40 year art work” to bring the Los Angeles River back to life.

Mac Adams is not happy about Gehry’s involvement. In an August 2015 LA Times article Mac Adams says, “Last time there was a single idea for the L.A. River it involved 3 million barrels of concrete. To us, it’s the epitome of wrong-ended planning. It’s not coming from the bottom up. It’s coming from the top down.”

Regardless of what the exact proposals are, or who is offering them, these days condo owners and developers alike are excited about Mike Dudley and Dan Peterson (not pictured), members of the Western the plans to rejuvenate the industrial Wilderness Club, take to the river to practise fly fishing for carp. Although river wasteland that borders LA’s the fish are sizeable, they’re considered too boney to eat. gentrifying downtown cityscape. And how can they not be when colorful renderings materialize after a few taps on a Google search. Dreams of walking out their doors into flourishing repurposed parkland.

2002, was converting a toy factory into an architecturally Or launching canoes and paddle boats onto aqua blue waters. groundbreaking condominium complex just several But, “It takes time, ” Bar-Zemmer says. “The city only has hundred yards from the river. so many millions of dollars a year they can put into a project But Bar-Zemer says, “When we started developing, the like that.

It may not even happen in my lifetime.” river being so close was not a consideration.”

Los Angeles City Bureau of Engineering is spearheading the ARBOR (Area with Restoration Benefits and Opportunities for Revitalization) study.

According to the Bureau’s website, “The Master Plan aims to transform 32 miles of concrete-lined river into public green space in the heart of one of America’s most populated cities.”

ARBOR’s immediate goal is to remove much of the concrete bottom and take 11 miles of river, from Spring Street Bridge Downtown to Glendale Narrows, as a means to restore natural habitat. BarZemer praises the ARBOR study and coins it, “a major mile stone.” He says, “It’s probably the biggest achievement to date of anything related to the river.

After $1.5 billion of investment just creating green space.”

The Los Angeles River Master Plan strives Late in 2015 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to create an inclusive space that will broadcasted that Architect Frank Gehry is working incorporate tourism, commercial interests, with city officials to draft a new master plan for the residents and environmental concerns.

4

the insider | Spring 2016

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

At the very least, approval of a bike path meandering the full 51 miles of river is official, and it is hoped that by 2020 today’s limited riverside bike routes will be connected and a Los Angeles dream can come to fruition–a bike ride from Canoga Park to Long Beach–Go Grease Lightening.

FoLAR actively lobbies for an increased “greening” of the river. And has done since the 1980’s. The Glendale Narrows is a natural zone to focus on due to a high water table, which prevented cementing its sandy floor. According to The Department of Water and Power, “The soft-bottom portions of the river provide valuable resting and feeding zones for migratory birds, yet these areas are seasonally inundated with high flows, which often preclude nesting.”

It goes on to list dozens of bird and animal species found in the area as well as eight different species of fish (none of which are native to the river as it was prior to cementing) including cod, carp, tilapia and large mouthed bass.

Said “greening” has encouraged recreation along the river.

From the late 1930’s until May 2013 it was illegal to recreate in or on the LA River. These days, however, fishing, bike riding, horse riding and bird watching are permitted year round. In addition, on any given summer day, one can paddle a kayak via one of the few privately owned kayak trip companies.

The Glendale Narrows and the Sepulveda Basin (further up river, also earthen bottomed) are officially open for these activities.

“Of course I’ve been on the kayaking trip,” Bar-Zemer laughs. But when asked if he’d eat a fish from the river, he responds, “No, I’m afraid the fish probably wouldn’t meet my wife’s standards.” But after a shared chuckle, the tone of his voice changes with a type of urgency.

“What’s important to look at with the river though, is what other functionalities it does other than added recreational value. There are plans on how to manage water in the river.”

Bar-Zemer explains that the water in the river right now is mostly from three large reclamation plants in the San Fernando Valley. “The water from the plants is almost of drinking quality,” he says.

But the real problem is the city storm drains connecting to the river, which bring pollutants from the surface streets. “Like people dumping oil in the catch basins,” says Bar-Zemer. “It’s how to maintain the quality of the water that exists in the river and not allow it to deteriorate as it gets down to Long Beach.”

He explains there are a number of programs being considered that will pump a lot of the water out of the river, bring it to a piping system to south central LA industrial areas, and utilize it as gray water.

The US Army Corps of Engineers are one of the world’s largest public engineering, design, and construction management agencies. These are the guys who originally poured all that concrete some 80 years ago. They have teamed up with city engineers on a $10 million study of the potential for restoring the river’s ecosystem. Their primary goal is flood risk management.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

10 fun facts

1. The river provided a source of water and food for the Tongva tribe who settled by on its banks prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the late 1700’s.

2. The river is the reason the City of Los Angeles was founded where it is.

3. The river was the city’s principal water supply until 1914.

4. Grizzly bears once lived along the banks of the Los Angeles River.

5. Water quality in the earthen bottom/flora-rich sections of the river is significantly better than in its concrete stretches.

6. It took 30 years and 3.5 million barrels of concrete to channelize the river.

7. During peak flow, the river carries as much H2O as 80 million garden hoses going full bore per second out to the Pacific Ocean – 14 times the gush of NY’s Hudson River.

8. The river is habitat to more than 250 species of birds.

9. At least 80 types of fish live within the river. Included in the count are largemouth bass, green sunfish, tilapia, black bullhead, Amazon sailfish, catfish, carp, fathead minnow and mosquitofish.

10. The amphibious creatures that once wandered the Elysian Valley—giving the Frogtown neighborhood its name—were probably Western Toads and not frogs at all.

The toads are tiny, often measuring less than an inch.

Spring 2016 | the insider

5

Lincoln Heights is not a community known for its birdwatching or kayacking, and yet it is one of the regions that grew up along the banks of the LA River. Perhaps with redevelopment, that will change.

Despite their restoration efforts the Corps has been criticized. Susie Cagle from Grist Magazine writes the following, “The Corps razed dozens of acres of the river’s wildlife habitat along the Sepulveda Basin, seriously pissed off the local water agency, violated the Clean Water Act, and potentially also violated endangered species protections.” This was back in December, 2012.

Meanwhile, an article in the Environmental News in 2009 stated this: “In a lawsuit initiated in 2008 by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper (now Los Angeles Waterkeeper), the groups sought to hold the county responsible for the mix of mercury, arsenic, cyanide, lead and fecal bacteria found in billions of gallons of storm water.”

FoLAR holds another annual event called “Off Tha’ Hook” where LA enthusiasts ascend upon the concrete banks of their river to apply sun screen, use novelty bait like tortillas or matzo balls and cast a fishing line.

Mostly it’s catch and release. “People are enjoying the sheer goofiness of it,” says MacAdams. But the truth is,

6

the insider | Spring 2016

and has been for years, that there are plenty of Angeleno anglers and their families who eat the fish they catch in their local river.

In 2009 FoLAR commissioned a fish study (ironically, about the same time the Environmental News published their article on the contaminants in the river as mentioned above). FoLAR found that the fish “were healthier and lower in mercury and toxic Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) compared to those found in the ocean.” FoLAR doesn’t necessarily advocate eating the fish, but claim it is safe to consume. In its report, the non-profit writes, “The Glendale Narrows is one of the cleanest sections of the river.” This is mostly because the natural river bottom cleans itself, and the high quality cleaned water that comes out of the treatment plants upstream.

Remember the pair of Army Corps engineers in the yellow vests on that sunny Saturday morning at Glendale Narrows Cleanup? Let’s revisit them for a bit.

The tall guy, who found the dead bodies, walks off towards their white utility truck. His arms are loaded with

gritty trash bags, a bent metal pole pokes from the plastic. The shorter Latino guy, his work buddy, is bagging a wad of fishing line attached to a circular rubber disk about the size of a tire. A navy Gilligan’s Island-esque bucket-hat sits above his eyebrows, his eyes are bright. He stands on the cement river edge.

The river rolls through the vegetation, lush from spring storms.

Pointing out where the homeless set up their encampments, in the middle of the river on sandy clearings, he explains how when the rains come hard and quickly it can be lethal for the displaced.

“They can get washed down river,” he says.

Migrating mallards quack overhead. Traffic from the 5 Freeway barrels past. The worker scratches the side of his cheek with the back of his grimy gloved hand. He ponders an answer to whether or not he’d eat a fish from the Los Angeles River, “Yeah, I’d eat it,” he eventually says.

He’s a hopeful guy. He nods his head a handful of times. “But I’d double cook it.”

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

There are not enough medical facilities for stroke patients...

and the problem is getting worse ­— By Brent Giannotta

In 2011, Lotje Sodderland was a healthy, 34-year-old advertising professional when one night she was jolted awake by a thundering headache. She flailed around her room knocking things over, and lumbered outside to the hotel next door for help.

Workers found her on the floor of the hotel bathroom unconscious.

Three days later she woke up in a hospital. The vision out of her right eye was a psychedelic haze. The charts on the wall were in English, but as imperceptible as hieroglyphics. When she tried to speak, she struggled to utter a word every five seconds like someone just learning English. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess and she could barely finish a sentence.

She covered her face and broke down sobbing. She’d had a hemorrhagic stroke.

When a stroke disrupts the brain’s blood flow, 1.9 million brain cells die every minute. The longer it takes a victim to get to a hospital, the higher the chance of debilitating injury or even death. To adequately care for LA’s baby boomers entering their golden years, the county needs adequate hospitals that are accessible to all of its far-flung communities. That is where LA is failing.

In December 2016, the Joint Commission, a private organization www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

that certifies hospital quality, will mandate that paramedics in California only take stroke victims to certified comprehensive stroke centers. LA only has three of these: UCLA in Westwood, Cedars Sinai in West Hollywood and Glendale Adventist.

The rest of the county is out of luck.

“We have some big infrastructure problems here,” says Dr. Arun Amar, a neurosurgeon at Keck medical center at the University of Southern California and a national authority on stroke intervention. “We are not prepared to rout patients to just a few centers in this big city. Imagine someone who’s not in Beverly Hills or Westwood or Pasadena…what if someone in the San Fernando Valley needs to take the 405, it’s going to take them 45 minutes. That’s a problem.”

USC, where Dr. Amar works, however is well-equipped to provide high quality relief to stroke victims including a breakthrough technique called thrombectomy that can bust a clot in under 20 minutes. As Dr. Amar explains, “First step is to insert a catheter, a flexible tube that’s pretty long, about four feet, into the artery in the leg right at the crease of the thigh. All the arteries of the body are connected so once we’re in, we can steer that into any other artery we want…We navigate the tube all

the way to the site of the blockage, then there are various devices we can use to remove the clot. The first is shaped like a corkscrew pushed into the middle of the clot to pull it out.

It’s a very mechanical, almost vulgar procedure. You don’t always get it the first time.”

When a patient arrives at a hospital that lacks surgeons trained in these new methods, they need to be transferred, which wastes valuable time during which brain cells are quickly dying. Mandating paramedics bypass community hospitals and go straight to comprehensive stroke centers aims to eliminate that scenario. But having only three hospitals still guarantees victims will suffer on long drives in LA traffic.

Other methods of thrombectomy that suction out the clot (mechanical thrombectomy) and chemically dissolve the clot (pharmacological thrombectomy) have led to faster relief and less debilitating injuries for scores of stroke victims.

The Joint Commission’s mandate however requires comprehensive stroke centers have an emergency room. USC does not, and therefore, starting this December, will no longer be accepting stroke patients.

The reason for the mandate however is a benevolent one. When Spring 2016 | the insider

7

a patient arrives at a hospital that lacks surgeons trained in these new methods, they need to be transferred, which wastes valuable time during which brain cells are quickly dying.

Mandating paramedics bypass community hospitals and go straight to comprehensive stroke centers aims to eliminate that scenario. But having only three hospitals still guarantees victims will suffer on long drives in LA traffic.

Progress is coming.

Dr. Amar predicts LA will add six comprehensive stroke centers by 2017 and he himself is trying to certify County General Hospital in East Los Angeles where USC surgeons also operate. “County has a big ER but never committed the resources to actually reporting its data or doing all the other metrics needed to apply to become certified. County General will have to become a primary stroke center before becoming comprehensive, which will take at least a year.”

USC is also devising a program to move their stroke doctors to Good Samaritan hospital in downtown, which also has an ER. The Joint Commission’s policy will mean bureaucratic hurdles for USC but ultimately positive steps for stroke medicine in the largest county in the nation.

Each year about 800,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke. It’s the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, and the number one cause of disability. When we think of stroke we usually think of the elderly because they have the much more common “ischemic” stroke, involving a clot, typically caused by high blood pressure, smoking or diabetes.

Unlike an ischemic stroke, Lotje’s hemorrhagic stroke can attack anyone at any age, is less detectable and more 8

the insider | Spring 2016

destructive. Though advances in microsurgery offer a less invasive way to salvage brain tissue, thrombectomy would not have helped her. Doctors surmised Lotje was born with an arterial malformation (AVM), a weird tangle of blood vessels in her brain that are weaker than they should be. The AVM was imperceptible for

decades, but a ticking time bomb. On that fateful night, without warning, it sprung a leak.

Blood squirted out and pooled in Lotje’s brain tissue. In more severe cases the ensuing cell death and tissue damage causes permanent impairment, paralysis and death. In that way Lotje was lucky to be alive and have normal use of her body.

She had emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure, but the damage was already done to the parts of her brain that govern reading and word association. Hemorrhagic stroke like Lotje’s remain a frustrating scourge with less preventative procedure options than ischemic stroke.

Five years on, Lotje continues her rehabilitation (reading, writing and basic word games) to rewire her brain around the zones the stroke killed. Lucky for us, she filmed much of the first eight months of her ordeal.

Award-winning producer David Lynch took that footage and turned it into a full-length documentary called

“My Beautiful Broken Brain,” now available on Netflix.

Lotje joins a small league of nowfamous stroke survivors including local Los Angeles reporter Serene Branson who in 2011 had a minor stroke on live TV while reporting at the Grammy Awards. In 1995 a massive stroke left now deceased French journalist JeanDominique Bauby with locked-in syndrome, unable to move except for one eyelid.

He penned his memoirs, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” by blinking to correspond to letters of the alphabet. His story inspired a 2007 film by the same name.

An obvious piece of LA’s stroke puzzle lies in public education. The American Heart Association is the nation’s most powerful lobby for combatting stroke and has publicized a program to teach lay people the signs someone is having a stroke. FAST stands for Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, and Time to call 911. The AHA has a 60-second instructional video on YouTube that explains these warning signs. The Stroke Association in the United Kingdom has a similar program and produced an excellent 10-minute YouTube video depicting a real-life scenario of a man having a stroke in a mall and bystander administering the FAST test effectively.

With luck LA will soon certify new centers and mandate new policies that will reduce stroke’s debilitating effects on Southland residents. LA doctors will rely on us, the LA population, to be able to identify symptoms and get stroke victims to help quickly. Those two forces can make LA a model for combating stroke nationwide, an effort we owe both to our aging relatives and to ourselves.

USC is one of the three medical centers that offers a comprehensive stroke center. Photo by Sal Polcino. www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

$15 an hour by 2022

Minimum Wage a controversial victory for low-earning workers

­— By Brent Giannotta

By 6 a.m. on Monday, second year Glendale College mechanical engineering student Mia Maselli is awake in her apartment packing school books for a 90­-minute bus ride, but she’s not heading to school.

She’ll do homework on the ride to a diamond jewelry wholesaler in downtown LA where she works as an office assistant for $12 an hour. She’ll also do homework in the stairwell during lunch.

She’s studying to be a programmer at SpaceX, Elon Musk’s dynamic spacecraft company that’s doing some of the most exciting engineering projects in the world. But first she needs a degree, and this semester she’s only taking one class. In her little free time she writes creatively and works on building her own local food service business, a venture that will take time and money she doesn’t have.

“For the month the bus is a hundred dollars at five dollars a day. But the bus stops running from downtown at 5:45 p.m., so I can’t stay late anymore and make those extra bucks. I used to stay until 6:15 or 6:30.”

To supplement she works at least one weekend day a week at Barnes www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

and Noble for $10 an hour, a choice that restricts her social life, but inches her closer to financial freedom, slowly.

Recently the California Government seemingly came to her rescue. Mia is one of 4.3 million Californians who make less than $15 an hour and stand to have their wages dramatically increased. In early April, Governor Jerry Brown announced a deal to raise the state minimum wage by $1 a year until it reaches $15 in 2022, with a one year start delay for businesses with under 25 employees. The top-down measure aims to boost notoriously stagnant wages and low-skilled workers’ purchasing power and standards of living. Their increased spending will ideally spur economic growth.

Maselli says the raise would let her quit one of her jobs, and regain some much needed free time. The potential costs of the measure, however, are many and threaten the very group of workers the measure intends to aid.

Last year the city of Seattle adopted a $15 minimum wage standard, and

while Washington State saw major job gains in 2015, Seattle’s food service industry suffered its largest job losses since 2009. Many fear the same for California, that businesses struggling to adjust to the January 2016 $10 minimum wage hike will get squeezed even harder and have to lay off workers, potentially replacing them with automated systems.

In Fresno, Calif, Craig Scharton owns a farm­to­table restaurant that he has to keep closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and cut his staff from 18 to 10 to make up the costs of a $10 an hour minimum.

Seattle and Fresno Mia Maselli highlight another critique of the deal, that a state­wide minimum wage will affect areas differently. Historically, areas with high housing prices and tourism industries more easily adjust to wage hikes than low m ­ edian ­wage cities like Fresno and Merced where labor comprises 74% of business operating costs.

Spring 2016 | the insider

9

Maselli is excited to be making more money but anxious about losing one or both of her jobs. Since she’s not specially trained, she can imagine either of her companies justifying letting her go.

Fred Capriccio is the COO of California Marketing, a direct mail and advertising company in Pasadena. He’s fearful of what he sees as a drastic wage hike at a breakneck speed. “You’re going to get a lot of people having their hours cut back because smaller businesses have one of two options: pass the cost onto the customer or reduce their labor costs. It could mean reduce the hours worked, or reduce the number of people working. They’ll expect one person to do the job of one and a half people.” Mathematically, a worker whose wage went from $10 to $15 only needs their hours cut by 33% to nullify their gain in total earnings.

“The next issue is that it puts upward pressure on everyone else in the company. You’ll have people who have worked X number of years for $20 an hour who say ‘I only make $5 more than someone working at Wendy’s. I consider myself skilled labor.’ It’s going to increase the labor costs across the board, then you’re going to have to increase things like workers’ compensation and payroll tax. Not all of those costs can be absorbed because not all companies are Walmart or MacDonald’s.”

The hike is also likely to hurt California businesses’ competitiveness in an interconnected world. “In my industry, you’re competing against a guy in Florida who doesn’t have a $15 an hour minimum wage rule but

has an online printing service that could be cheaper than mine even with shipping included. Industries are now in close competition with each other because of online business. I know of companies that hire illegal immigrants. I’m competing with them and they’re taking the business.”

Capriccio prides himself on providing a high-quality product, keeping clean books, and hiring legal workers, but he realizes American consumer culture prefers low prices to high quality or American branding.

He cites American Apparel filing for bankruptcy last October as a bad omen for his business model, as they also marketed themselves as a wholly American operation. He’s concerned he’ll have to sacrifice some of his business values to keep his company alive and his employees employed, some who’ve been with him over 20 years.

Many of the most outspoken critics of the hike are in the food industry who warn of impending doom for America’s comfortable relationship with restaurant dining. Alex Fresquez runs a Tex­Mex restaurant in New York City’s upper west side with his wife Laura, both who bemoan Governor Cuomo’s plan for a similar wage hike for their state.

“We’re talking about opening a second location, but if the minimum wage is going to go up to $15 in 2018, do we even want to open another restaurant?”

The couple is reeling from a restaurant specific wage hike from $7.50 to $9 an hour, where restaurants are only required to pay workers $7.50 as long as tips cover the

other $1.50, but constitutes a 50% wage increase. “That system makes sense for small tip businesses like nail salons. We had to do different rotations, cut hours, and keep as little staff as possible.”

What Fresquez said next was shocking. He’d gotten pushback against the raise from those who would benefit the most: his employees. “Now that everyone is making more money on the books, they don’t qualify for certain benefits (like cheap public health care). They ask me not to report certain gains, or they don’t want the raise.”

Laura Fresquez explained that unlike normal businesses, restaurants require lots of employees, making it harder to absorb increases in labor costs. She swears small shops are appearing on the sites of failed restaurants all over the city. “If you’ve got a little nail shop, you just have one or two workers, so paying $15 an hour isn’t a big deal. When you have a bigger staff…that can really kill a restaurant.” Even a small restaurant can average 20-­30 employees. She anticipates more shops replacing often iconic restaurants that used to dot the streets of Manhattan.

So what’s the solution?

George Runner, a member of the California Board of Equalization, wrote in the Sacramento Bee that the minimum wage hike was “a huge mistake,” and suggested investment in education and skills training through tech schools and trade schools as a responsible alternative that will

Continued on page 14

“In early April, Governor Jerry Brown announced a deal to raise the state minimum wage by $1 a year until

it reaches $15 in 2022 , with a one year start delay for businesses with under 25 employees.”

10

the insider | Spring 2016

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Arctic Drilling

Opinon: who has the right to destroy the environment? ­— By Nancy Villalobos

Santa Claus may be wondering who his new landlord is going to be as several world nations are staking their claim to the region known as North Pole.

The reason for the interest in the frozen tundra is that according to the U.S. Geological Survey, there is an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 44 billions barrels of natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas believed to potentially have petroleum.

“Of the estimated totals, more than half of the undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic provinces - Arctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift Basins. On an oil-equivalency basis, undiscovered natural gas is estimated to be three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic. More than 70 percent of the undiscovered natural gas is estimated to occur in three provinces - the West Siberian Basin, the East Barents Basins, and Arctic Alaska,” according to the 2008 U.S.G.S. study.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

“Arctic oil drilling is a dangerous, high-risk enterprise and an oil spill under these icy waters would have a catastrophic impact on one of the most pristine, unique and beautiful landscapes on earth. The risks of such an accident are ever present and the oil industry’s response plans remain wholly inadequate,” according to the Greenpeace website.

Additionally, as the ice melts due to global warming, shipping lanes may open up as well. This alone would change the current trade routes tremendously as well as present unspeakable dangers to the wildlife in the area. Polar Bears are already suffering due to the melting ice making them extremely vulnerable. Almost the entire Narwhal population can be found in the Arctic region as well.

Russia has had a military presence in the area for some years now and has had a vested interest in tapping into its resources. Russian explorer Artur N. Chilingarov, while on expedition, planted a titanium Russian flag on the ocean floor

underneath the North Pole while collecting soil samples, thereby claiming the area as Russia’s own.

“Russia will probably have an edge over other countries because they have seven nuclear powered icebreakers,” Glendale Community College Associate Professor of Geography Michael Reed said. “Even large corporations like Shell have pulled out of expeditions in the Arctic because it’s just too expensive to try to drill there.”

Denmark is also claiming its piece of the pie, as are the United States, Norway and Canada. With such huge economic potential it’s going to be an interesting debate as to who will walk away with the biggest prize, and if conflict can be avoided.

It is up to the United Nations arbitration department to decide who has a legitimate claim to the area and what the borders will be. The original request to the U.N. was made by the five nations claiming rights to the

Continued on page 14 Spring 2016 | the insider

11

12

the insider | Spring 2016

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

The End of an Era

Sixth Street Bridge is Falling Down ­— Story and photos by Sal Polcino

O

ne of the most iconic structures in Los Angeles, the Sixth Street Viaduct, is in the process of demolition. Built in 1932, the bridge spanned 3,500 feet between Boyle Heights and the Arts District downtown.

With its timeless architecture and sweeping views, the viaduct has been featured in hundreds of films such as “The Terminator 2,”(1991) “Grease,”(1978) and “Repo Man,” (1984.) Recently the bridge has been seen on TV shows “Fear the Walking Dead” and Amazon’s original series, “Bosch.” It is also seen in many music videos and even video games. In “Grand Theft Auto V” players can chase each other along the L.A. River below the bridge.

The original concrete had a high alkali concentration which caused chemical deterioration called Alkai Silica Reaction and the structure is no longer seismically sound, so the city decided to tear it down and rebuild.

The demolition began in January and according to the city’s website, “48,000 cubic yards of concrete, 1,245 tons of structural steel and 4,200 tons of rebar will be hauled away as construction begins on the replacement.”

The Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement Project has set aside $449 million for the project with funding from the Federal Highway Transportation Administration and CALTrans. Architect Michael Maltzan designed the new structure titled “Ribbon of Light,” which will feature parks, open spaces and community features on, next to and below the bridge.

So far, about half of the bridge has been demolished, beginning on the Boyle Heights side. Mayor Eric Garcetti held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new bridge on Feb. 5 and construction is scheduled for completion in 2019.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Spring 2016 | the insider

13

“Minimum Wage” Continued from page 10 help make workers actually worth $15 an hour and potentially more.

A rebuttal is that current economic forces are likely to suppress average wages regardless of the education level of minimum wage earners.

Additionally, once someone jumps up a level in marketable skills, they no longer inhabit the socio­economic class minimum wage jobs are meant to benefit, like students, young people and immigrants who’ve lacked the time and means to acquire higher education. America needs jobs that keep low skilled workers out of poverty and serve as a stepping stone for the upwardly mobile.

Michael Reich, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley, reported that in fact the overall economic effect of minimum wage hikes is essentially neutral. He explained that in his models the negative effects of

higher unemployment and declining sales from price increases are offset by the increased purchasing power of workers, which lifts economic activity in an area.

Emily, the manager at a Starbucks in East Pasadena is not so sure.

She claims none of her $12/hour employees want the raise because the costs of commodities, like groceries and gasoline, will rise everywhere and knock them back to their previous financial standing, or even worse.

Maselli oscillates between two competing judgments. More money could improve her life, but she’s anxious about keeping her current job and about her prospects of making it as an entrepreneur.

If the net economic effect is in fact neutral and the benefits nominally cancel out the costs, the question then becomes one of values. California and other state governments have decided the potential rise in unemployment and heavy costs levied

upon small businesses are worth having society’s lowest earners earn a more livable wage. In a way, it’s a double-down on the capitalist system: more individuals will compete for fewer jobs that, at $15 an hour, allot the recipient more time for selfimprovement and skills training instead of working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Still the fear of worse economic times looms large for workers who stand to become under- or unemployed by the wage hike.

For Maselli, dodging that unfortunate scenario is a matter of timing. Governor Brown has the option to delay incremental hikes by a year if costs begin to outweigh benefits, pushing the days of $15 an hour to 2023.

If everything goes well, Mia Maselli will be working at SpaceX by then.

“Arctic Drilling” Continued from page 11 area in 2008, exploration continues and hope to have a decision by 2027.

It’s extremely important to be aware of the reckless behavior humans are capable of and educate yourself as to the alternatives available. With elections coming up this year take the time to find out where the candidates stand on important issues. Make informed choices to protect the Earth and the environment. It won’t take much to completely change circumstances at the North Pole for the worse.

There is only Earth, which all life depends on for survival. Humans are only one species of millions with no right to destroy the habitat of the others that share the planet. Be part of the solution, choose world leaders wisely, do your part to reduce your dependency on fossil fuels, respect all life and the land it needs to survive.

14

the insider | Spring 2016

Fighting climate change: Dieuwertje Kast, a GCC alumna, is spending her summer at the North Pole Toolik field station as part of her training with PolarTREC, an organization that sponsors educators to partner with researchers. Kast’s area of study is microbial changes in arctic freshwater. www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Naked is the New Black Review: Wi Spa is the jimjilbang of rehabilitation ­— Vicky Deger I’ve been pummeled, slapped and soaked at Korean Spas over the years. They’re mostly quaint, intimate places, where dimmed lights and generic Asian-elevator-music soothe the client into evanescent tranquility.

Where the hot and cold herb baths are steaming, and the sauna rooms, offering clay or jade mineral healing properties, are mellow and inviting.

Where notices threatening expulsion from premises due to “voices louder than whisper” are posted about the bathhouse walls. Where, at closing time, no later than midnight, everyone goes home.

Enter Wi Spa, a 24-hour Korean jimjilbang (or Korean bathhouse) on Wilshire Blvd in the heart of Koreatown. Let’s just say, if your average Korean spa is an elegant boutique blip on Olympic Blvd, then Wi Spa is the Westfield Shopping Mall of bathhouses. Located inside a monolithic white cement slab of a building, offering valet parking, and five floors of spa splendor.

This spot is the Mother Load of Korean Spas.

It’s 11 a.m. on a Friday, family day at the spa. A pair of towering glass doors push open into a pristine lobby where classical tunes spill from invisible speakers. Giant ceramic vases filled with dried reeds stand The salt sauna at Wi Spa is simply jimjilbang-tastic www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

at either end of a robin-egg-blue velveteen sofa. Gold-framed Z Gallery type prints decorate the walls. Behind a shiny wood veneer reception desk, three polished Korean millennials, wearing black, or white, or a combination of both, meet and greet a steady stream of clientele.

After a semi-smiley exchange, a receptionist wearing a leather choker swipes my credit card. She hands me a neatly folded pile that includes a brown towel, a yellow t-shirt and a clear plastic Swatch type watch. She

explains the details of where to go, what to wear, or what not to wear, where. “No clothes in the pool areas,” she says. “T-shirts and shorts in the co-ed areas.” She points around a corner to where the shorts can be retrieved. And upstairs to the co-ed floor.

For a $25 entrance fee, one can use the facilities, which in addition to pools, spas, saunas and steam rooms, include a gym, restaurant and numerous lounging/sleeping areas.

An additional “overnight charge” of Spring 2016 | the insider

15

$10 is applied should one decide to stay past 4 a.m. Wait, past 4 a.m.? Like overnight? The mind races.

An elaborately scripted poster describes the treatments available at Wi Spa. There’s acupressure, oil massages, salt scrubs, cucumber facials, manicures and pedicures.

Prices start at $30 for a 30-minute foot massage and end at $200 for a 120-minute buff and mud treatment.

I book a 70-minute buff and massage for $70, and my $25 entrance fee drops to $15.

Affordable.

A pair of female patrons wearing beige shorts and canary yellow crew neck t-shirts saunter by. Clones.

The uniformity seems almost preposterous. Alas, I smile and consider matching black and white Nikes. Heaven’s Gate. The Hale-Bopp comet crew. But, predisposed to drink the Kool Aid (or in this case the probiotic drink I’m handed after check in), I fasten my identification watch to my wrist. The face reads, 703. My watch will open my locker and pay for my food.

Beam me up, Scotty.

The ladies locker room is shiny and clean. Polished wood details, lots of chrome and rows and rows of lockers. It’s alive with the whirl of 16

the insider | Spring 2016

hair drier and naked women quaffing fresh hairstyles. Half-naked women.

Women in clone uniforms giggling at the unattractive factor. “Taking one for the team,” laughs a woman in a fedora as she holds up a pair of oversized beige shorts. Her fellow bachelorette members giggle in agreement.

It’s funny how the idea of perfection, of an unattainable body image, goes out the window in the presence of other naked women.

Insecurities played like cards across a poker table. Fat women, skinny women, sagging women, mastectomyed women. Hairy women, shaved women. I secure my belongings, say hello to my nakedness, and hit the steamy pool area.

A dozen women in different stages of pamper amble about. Some scrubbing, others soaking, steaming or showering. Fleshy Korean women sit on stools at small, mirrored station. Between douses of water from plastic bins they scrub their bodies with exfoliating sponges. Aggressively.

Habitually. Inch by inch.

Shiny white shower stalls stack up on one side of the room. An Asian shower-er has cupping marks polka dotting her back. Dispensers of body wash, shampoo and conditioner dispensers furnish the stalls. Shelves of brown towels stand off in the distance. After soaking in all three pools, first hot, then warm and finally cold, my only complaint is that they

use chlorine in place of “healing herbs.”

The lighting inside Wi Spa is brighter than other places. But with no restrictions on speaking above a whisper, conversations with strangers are encouraged. Adriana, a big, jovial, red headed black woman from the Bay Area, says she adores this place. She works hard as a paralegal during the week, and tries to come down once a month for few days at Wi. She appreciates that they offer toothbrushes because she often forgets hers. She points to a basket of blue disposable brushes. “You really should come at night,” she says. It’s a really different, mellow vibe.”

Just a hunch, but I’m guessing Adriana’s spa weekends in Los Angeles may not include a hotel room.

The dry sauna is huge, and hot.

A television with Korean kids eating lunch with chop sticks plays through a glass window in the room. A fellow Caucasian woman and I share a giggle. The steam room next door is television-less, but not to worry, outside another huge screen boasting a soccer match in it’s blaring high definition details.

A high pitched, “number 703” shrills from across the room. I raise my hand as Jessica, my ajumma, which roughly translates to pushy aunty, waddles in my direction. Her fluffy white belly sticks out between her black lace bra and panties–the female massage staff uniform. A pair of silver rimmed glasses sit high on her nose. She motions me to follow her across the room, over the tiles, past the pools, to an empty pink massage table in the treatment area.

Jessica’s English is minimal, at best. After a series of “face-down,” “face-up,” and “on your side”s she scrubs my skin till it is pilled into tiny brown/grey piles about the table.

She pries my legs and arms open, The opportunity to soak in hot water is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Who’s up for a slumber party? www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

straddles my head between her hefty thighs, and massages me roughly with her fists. Between chuckles with her lace-pantied pal, who works on a naked brunette beside me, Jessica pours buckets of warm water over me.

Slipping off the vinyl seems probable as I go from face-up to face-down, but I somehow make it to the cucumber mask without sliding to the tile floor.

My neck hurts from being creaked and tweaked, but my skin is smoother (and whiter) than ever.

It’s 2 p.m. Time for lunch.

I don my shorts and t-shirt, complete with poop-brown slippers, and head up to the co-ed area.

Couples (the men wear the same uniform but with a white t-shirt) walk hand in hand across the heated marble floor. The uniformity is creepy (and intoxicating). Did I mention my penchant for the odd?

Duos and individuals rest on floral matting about the room. Some sleeping, others reading, watching one of the three 60 inch television screens, or working on their laptops.

Wifi is available, as is a library of Korean books, and a bank of desktop computers. Sauna rooms, varying from 208 degrees to 40 degrees are positioned about the perimeter of the room. As is a colorful children’s playroom (complete with two very well behaved Korean children) and a screen mounted to the exterior doorway which allows parents to monitor said “well behaved” Korean kids, without having to enter their vibrant kingdom.

Uniformed patrons sit with their feet crossed at communal tables in the dining area. The menu, which includes green and pink health smoothies, frappuccinos and shaved iced desserts, is some kind of Asian-Korean fusion with a wink to Western fare. The dishes are numbered 1 though 30. Full color replications include kimchi stew, spicy pork bulgogi, galbi, spicy cold noodle or romaine chicken salad.

My choice, number 7, the hot stone bibimbap, is excellent. A well proportioned rice bowl covered with www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

braised vegetables including seaweed, sprouts and carrots. I opt for tofu instead of meat. The dish is topped with a fried egg. Well spiced and served in a heated bowl that sizzles as I eat and promises a delicious chewy crust, which combined with the spicy sauce and bites of kimchi and pickled vegetables, is delightful. At $11.93 (not to be confused with $12.84 for beef stew, or $13.76 for beef paddy and pasta) it’s not cheap, but not overly expensive either.

After lunch I post up on a mat on the heated tile floor. A few women from my earlier pool time make it up to the co-ed floor. They lay about, wait in line to order food, or walk the room’s perimeter checking out the saunas.

The Bulgama clay oven sauna at 208 degrees is a surreal experience. You know the rush of eyelash tingeing heat that escapes from the oven on Turkey Day? Well, it’s like that. Whoosh. I drop to the floor where it’s cooler, squatting with my head between my thighs. The heat radiates through my slippers onto the soles of my feet. I am alone. There are no seats or benches. I breathe deeply and wonder how long one might be able to stay in this kind of heat. Hell, Lucifer, double headed dogs come to mind. My hair changes from slick-wet to fluffy over-dry, drips of sweat form between my clavicles.

After two minutes I’m out.

Later, I learn a couple of valuable facts. The world record for sitting in this kind of dry sauna is thirty minutes, and was set by a man from Finland. And, eggs for sale in the Wi Spa restaurant, are roasted inside the Bulgama clay oven.

Next the jade, salt, clay and ice saunas. All with promises of cleansing, regeneration, brain functioning powers and hormone balancing.

I’m coming back for these. The clay sauna in particular–an acceptable 126 degrees, with a floor blanketed six inches deep in heated clay pebbles about the size of tapioca balls.

According to Wi Spa’s brochure, the clay is imported from Korea, and “allows your body to breathe by assisting in the heavy metal

detoxification.” Quicksand like at first, but once settled in (and by that I mean lying butt down in snow angel position) being in there feels very much like a warm and fuzzy adult ball room. Wiggle and laze. Toss a few balls at unsuspecting strangers.

Upstairs, the fifth floor roof patio is almost as special as the shaved ice desserts for sale in the restaurant.

With redwood decking, linen upholstered day beds, tables, chairs, umbrellas, and yes (I don’t like this, but assume it necessary) a smoking section. Complete with towering King Tut Cyprus grass and horsetail, what zen garden would be complete without water trickling from cement lion heads? I laze about on a bed, partially covered with a cream blanket, and marvel at the towering palm trees along Wilshire.

4 p.m.

Back in downstairs in the locker room I peel off my sweaty uniform.

I buzz my locker open with my watch, and as I reluctantly pull on my personal blue jean and sweatshirt uniform, I gather a few thoughts in conclusion.

Run, don’t walk, to Wi Spa on Wilshire Blvd. It’s weird and wonderful, all at once. Be prepared to enter a fully immersive Korean spa experience, and not want to leave.

(The good news is, you don’t have to.) If you want a perfect massage experience or herb infused bathing experience then this place may not be for you. But, go anyway!

Wi Spa is so much more than pools, massage and sauna. It’s a little slice of Korea, which, short of jumping aboard a 747 and flying across the planet, should be a must on every Angeleno’s bucket list.

I know I’m going back, and next time, I’m making it a sleepover.

Wi Spa, 2700 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90057 (213) 487-2700

Spring 2016 | the insider

17

THE

BROAD Review: L.A.’s newest art museum (GO!)

­— By Brent Giannotta The Broad, in downtown LA ,is the city’s seventh and newest art museum and packs a truly unique art viewing experience. The building, open since Sept. 2015, is a $140 million dollar, bone-white honeycomb spaceship, that on any given day displays 250 works of postwar and contemporary art from the 2,000-piece collection of mogul-philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. The couple placed their namesake museum across Grand street from the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Broad is the next step in the couple’s plan to turn downtown’s Bunker Hill area into an international culture hub.

Starting June 11 and ending in October, the Broad will display a new temporary exhibit by famed New York City artist Cindy Sherman that will occupy almost all of the museum’s first floor.

So, in preparation for your visit, here are a few things you should know:

Admission is Free: Unlike the $12 entrance fee at the MOCA, the multibillionaire Broad does not need your money. The parking lot under the Broad however is $12 with validation and $22 if you stay longer than three hours. Admission to the Cindy Sherman exhibit is another $12.

Order in Advance or Wait in Line: Advance tickets for August are available starting July 1. For September, they’re available August 1, and so on.

But if you want to go today, just park and wait in a line, 15-45 minutes, and bring a hat.

The Architecture is Awesome: From the outside, the Broad looks like a futuristic government ministry for an advanced civilization many light years away. Once inside, the lobby’s grey, undulating walls give the feeling you’re in a cavern burrowed deep inside the earth. Portals lead you to the first floor exhibits, the gift shop and an escalator to the great unknown above.

The Broad exterior by Iwan Baan

18

the insider | Spring 2016

The Infinity Mirrored Room is Unforgettable: You will have 45 seconds alone in this LED-lit experience designed by veteran expressionist artist Yayoi Kusama.

Fight the urge to take a photo or video and rather feel the power of seeing millions of your own reflection standing in a dream sequence universe of lights and nothingness. www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Cindy Sherman Shines: In her first exhibition in LA in two decades, “Imitation of Life” features Sherman herself in photographs that mock stereotypes of beauty and celebrity in popular media. With expertly extravagant makeup and exaggerated emotional states, her collections titled, “Hollywood/Hamptons,” “Centerfolds,” and “History Portraits” showcase the fabrication of femininity and the melodrama inherent in images of the cultural elite. She is Lady Gaga airing pop culture’s dirty laundry.

It’s a Truly LA Experience: You can digest the art in the Broad over a 90-minute lunch break. From the first floor, the 105-foot long escalator through an opaque, gray portal transports you to the expansive 3rd floor gallery, where filtered natural light enlivens the clean, white walls that divide up rooms where things are BIG. Once off the escalator in the main room, you’re welcomed by the 82-foot mural titled, “In the Land of the Dead,”

by Takashi Murakami. It conjures a mythic narrative of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In the room behind you lives the imposing, ten-foot-tall “Balloon Dog (Blue)” by Jeff Koons, which your eyes won’t believe is stainless steel.

The rooms to your right house the requisite pop art, silk-screening and monoprints by the giants of modern art: Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. In the same corner, Ellsworth Kelly’s 19-foot long, freefloating “Green Angle,” a bright green boomerang without frame or brushstrokes, invites you to meditate in front of its simplicity of color and shape.

In the room to your left, all the way in the back, sit the massive table and chairs titled, “Under the Table,” which send you back to a time of childhood wonder.

Reviews Have Been Mixed: Some bigtime art critics claim the Broad’s “sweeping, chronological journey” doesn’t quite gel…that the unimaginative march of blue chip pieces makes the www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

galleries feel ordinary, choppy and uninspired…that the architectural excitement of the building represses the poignancy of the display. Other visitors bemoan the museum’s lack of cafe or nearby, affordable option for coffee or a quick snack.

Admittedly art lovers may leave the Broad without that enlightened feeling that stays with us after hours in one of the world’s great cultural institutions like the MOMA in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, The Tate in London, or the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris.

Regardless, appreciation of art is most often a solitary experience that leaves widely varying effects on different viewers. A visitor to the Broad

has over 200 opportunities to have a work of art jump off a wall and grab their soul.

The Diverse Array Has Something for Everyone: Keith Haring’s “Red Room,” initially a red jumble of quirky, Picasso-like shapes may, in slow

waves, bring the lounging woman and her bedroom accouterments to life with a reach the artist’s intended, pulsating energy. “Skull” by New York-based Haitian-Puerto Rican whiz kid, Jean Michel Basquiat, will take you inside the mind of someone living America’s tortured minority experience. The soft, faded, dusty feel of Richard Artschwager’ print, “Destruction V” depicting the 1972 controlled demolition of Atlantic City’s Traymore Hotel may evoke the same feelings one remembers from watching the twin towers fall on September 11th.

Los Angelenos owe it to themselves to find their own specific source of inspiration in the Broad’s wide collection.

Spring 2016 | the insider

19

Eli Broad is Revitalizing LA: The New York Times says Eli Broad has “arguably more impact shaping the city’s cultural identity than anyone else in recent times.” Born in the Bronx, Broad moved to Detroit and, with a partner, turned a tiny home-building outfit, KB Homes, into an empire.

After moving to LA he transformed a small insurance company into a retirement savings powerhouse and sold it (SunAmerica) to AIG for $18 billion. Broad and his wife, already noted art collectors, then looked to turning downtown Los Angeles into a hub of urban vitality.

20

the insider | Spring 2016

Broad in 1979 helped co-found the MOCA. In the mid-1990’s he helped turn the Hammer Museum in Westwood into a thriving institution.

In the mid-2000’s he breathed new life into the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) before going back to the MOCA in 2008 and rescuing it from bankruptcy.

The Broad Museum sits in Bunker Hill where Mr. Broad instituted the $3 billion Grand Avenue Project that turned three blocks of governmentowned parking lots into housing, shops, a hotel, a park and a 19-story luxury condo tower. To aid walking traffic to and from museums, he widened the sidewalks by six feet, financed a crosswalk and stoplight on Grand Avenue, and designed a grassy plaza to run alongside the museum building. Mr. Broad’s future plans for LA include a movie museum,

a redesign of the LACMA and an additional 100,000-square-foot art space.

Broad has already done so much for art in the city, it’s fitting one of LA’s major art installations bears his name, not only as a testament to what he’s done, but also as a sign of things to come.

The Broad Museum is located at 221 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. Monday | CLOSED Tuesday | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wednesday | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday | 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday | 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Saturday | 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Sunday | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

After the Broad...

Although Downtown LA is only a short distance from Glendale, it may seem much farther in practice. A visit to the Broad may be just a jumping-off point for other city destinations. Try these attractions the next time you’re in the neighborhood.

The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) Museum and Gallery offers changing exhibits including Oscar-nominated costumes, such as Cinderella’s gown. Free admission. As a bonus, the docents are FIDM students who are very knowledgeable about the collections.

919 S Grand Ave #250, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Clifton’s Cafeteria (below) has been a Los Angeles landmark since 1931. Recently re-opened after a fiveyear, $10 million renovation, the historic restaurant with the “Brookdale” theme reminiscent of a retreat in the redwoods, is back in business. Prices are good, the bar is breathtaking, and the fare is affordable middle-American tastiness.

648 S. Broadway Los Angeles CA 90014 213 627 1673

Scott Hove is a master of cake design and taxidermy and his room-sized installations are something to behold. Located in the heart of the fabric district, Think Tank Gallery offers a mix of ticketed events and generally free admission. Check out the website for details.

939 Maple Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90015 www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Spring 2016 | the insider

21

H

Personal Account:

n a i c i s Like u M e a t v o i L w o

Wake up one Christmas morning and run down the stairs into the living room lit only by tiny twinkling stars. Tear through the pile of colorfully wrapped and ribboned boxes under the tree that hide the big violin shaped faux-wooden case with a giant bow and your name on it – from Santa. Tear off the bow and finagle the unfamiliar latches and open the case.

— By Sal Polcino

Inside you find a shiny sunburstfinished acoustic guitar – a Sears Silvertone to be exact. Sit back on your haunches and scratch your head. Your parents beam and tell you that your favorite toy when you were a baby was a wind-up plastic guitar that played the theme from the Mickey Mouse Club. You were eight years old at the time. They knew not what they had done.

Take lessons. Hate lessons. Practice until your little fingers bleed. Listen to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Learn to pick out notes and chords by ear. Decide that you must have an electric guitar, which Mom provides on your twelfth birthday. The obligatory amplifier comes on Christmas later that year.

Pick a guitar hero. Clapton, Page, Townshend – there are so many. Hendrix is the most colorful and flamboyant, touching a deep part of your soul. Emulate your hero. He plays a Fender Stratocaster, you must have one. By this time Dad is gone and Mom says “Get a job.”

You are 16 and you go to work in a factory that paints bomb shells headed to Viet Nam. It doesn’t matter what you think about the war. Even as your friends are headed to fight in the god-forsaken jungle, you are near-sighted with but only one goal. Buy a Stratocaster. Drop out of school even after your English teacher, Mr. Jeffries, comes to your house to tell your mother that you have a talent for writing.

Seek out sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

Grow your hair out. Go to Woodstock with your brother who is a photojournalist for

Christmas morning, 1963 22

the insider | Spring 2016

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

the Trentonian, the smaller newspaper in Trenton, New Jersey, and abuse his press credentials for a campsite inside the fence on the hill. Fight your way through the rain and the muck and the horrible hippies for a spot on the hill where you can see the performers. Fall asleep and miss most of the show while bearded and baubled, naked, slovenly dropouts trip over you and call you names. Walk through human feces back to the car, your brother’s brand new cherry red Camaro, and leave on the second day of the festival, go home, cut your hair and learn to play soul music.

Pick a new hero. James Brown.

Suffer through the disco era while concentrating on the sex part of D.S. & R.

www.glendalecollegeinsider.com

Spend your twenties getting laid, while playing in top forty bands and tending bar in pick-up joints in Seattle. Hear electric jazz for the first time and aspire to a new goal, a new hero, Miles Davis. Practice for ten more years. Start experimenting with drugs.

Discover cocaine, the miracle brain food.

Work through your thirties managing a jazz club where you meet all your heroes, including Miles, while putting tens of thousands of dollars up your nose. Move 1,200 miles away to try your hand at the big time in Hollywood.

Meet some of the best players in town and become part of the hippest set before meeting a Seattle girl who takes you back to the misty mountains of Washington state.

Get married, buy a house, and take a job running a warehouse, denying any creative outlet. Discuss with your wife the feelings of emptiness and stagnation. Do more drugs, Come home to find your wife has cleaned out the bank account after missing six months worth of credit card bills and house payments and running off with a crack dealer. Get clean and move back to L.A. Discover your friends have all moved on or have become incredibly successful.

Falter around looking for work. Try acting, which seems simple. Work as a background actor for four years barely paying the bills, yet having fun and working with celebrities.

Hit bottom financially.

Form your own band with weekend warrior musicians that have day jobs now. Make a record that hits number one on the college jazz charts, but receive royalty payments of twelve cents a quarter. Give up.

Suddenly remember that, according to Mr. Jeffries, you have a talent for writing.

Blog for your band. Get noticed. Blog for some famous bands. Sink lower into financial oblivion. Have a family member suggest that you go back to school and get grants and loans, while honing your skills.

Go back to school.

Fall in love with journalism and write for the school paper, become editor in chief then production manager. Get noticed again and write freelance for the Times Community Newspapers. Keep playing jazz around town.

Learn the lesson here. Have a backup plan and stay in school.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.

Jimi Hendrix, clockwise from top left, Sal Polcino as an aspiring rock legend, Mickey Mouse’s signature guitar and James Brown.

Spring 2016 | the insider

23

The Muckrakers

Glendale’s journalism club. We provide support for students enrolled in journalism, mass communication, media arts and associated classes. Improve your writing, add to your portfolio and learn marketable skills while getting hands-on experience in print and digital media. For more information contact the El Vaquero newsroom at ext. 5349.