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LAWSUIT CONTINUES Judge denies excessive force temporary restraining order

July 27, 2020 I VOL. 49 I #30

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JULY 27, 2020

High school students breaking the education barriers

By Sarah Donahue t started with a group of Los Angeles high school students who wanted to use their talents to bridge the gap in educational inequalities among low-income and recently immigrated families.

The Leaders United for Change, a completely high school student-led organization, started tutoring Los Angeles’ underprivileged students in March 2019—but they wanted it to be more than a tutoring program, but rather a mentorship where they could foster and grow meaningful relationships with the common goal of sharing knowledge in both academic and extracurricular areas.

“We just want to be someone who can be like an older brother or sister figure who can listen to them, who can give them advice, who they can trust no matter what happens,” said Lyon Ui Chung, president of Leaders United for Change and a rising junior at Harvard Westlake School.

They used to mentor students at The Oriental Mission Church—then COVID-19 became a reality. Schools across the globe shut down and people were encouraged to stay home, preventing the mentorship program from meeting in person and creating new unprecedented academic challenges for students to overcome.

The Leaders United for Change overcame the social distancing barrier, creating an online platform and mentoring students through Zoom. Despite the pandemic’s struggles, the program grew from 60 Los Angeles students and mentors to over 300 students across the country and globe.

“That continued interest from not only our students and mentors we already had but these different friends from all over the globe that also wanted to contribute to something and develop a way to continue serving during quarantine was what drove us to expand and also develop this digital platform,” said Andrew Choe, a leader of the mentorship program.

The program offers academic assistance to students from third to 10th grade in any subject they need help with, also offering classes in master skills the mentors possess, like journalism, robotics and machine making as well as competition math and English.

The best thing about the system is that it’s a healthy, communal cycle, where those who were once mentees eventually can become mentors, too, Chung said.

The organization provides more to students than just “robotically inputting information into their heads,” Chung said. It’s about having real conversations and creating long-lasting, meaningful friendships while helping them on their educational journey.

From 6 to 7 p.m. Saturdays, the mentors and students join a Zoom call and jump right into learning and reviewing educational material. The leaders of the program pair mentors with students and go through a review process, speaking with the student and taking notes on how their personalities mesh and whether it was a suitable pairing.

“The happiest time for me is at 7 o’clock I start getting these text messages and emails about how great the session was,” Chung said.

The Leaders United for Change have worked hard to expand their educational

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enrichment opportunities to students from over 15 states and as well as Colombia, China and South Korea.

The mentorship program has teamed with other organizations and schools to offer academic support with the goal of extending outreach to as many students as possible.

Around March, the Leaders United for Change teamed with Baby Box, a South Korea-based organization that rescues babies abandoned by single mothers as well as helping North Korean refugees adapt to life in South Korea.

Through this mentorship, the Leaders United for Change teach English to students on the other side of the world and also offer their friendship and emotional support during the isolating time of social distancing. The program has 20 bilingual mentors in both English and Korean who teach the Baby Box students each week.

While learning a language together can be frustrating and difficult at times, “Sharing in that learning process is something our international mentors and students have been able to enjoy together,” Choe said.

For students in China as well as South Korea, the skill of speaking English is widely valued and will help them secure professional jobs, which in turn will help to break the cycle of poverty, Chung said. For children growing under the care of recently immigrated parents, the skill of knowing English in the United States is also vital to succeed, he said.

“I think teaching the (English) language is very important, especially if you grow up to be an American in this current state,” Chung said.

As a child of a recent immigrant, Chung said he empathizes with the struggles that students face trying to master their English-speaking skills. “I wanted to help people like me,” he said.

The Leaders United for Change also reached out to LA-based organization Korean American Family Services in April and they have plans to mentor students from their Asian Foster Family Initiative program, they said.

The mentorships outreach recently connected with Today’s Fresh Start Charter in Compton, where they hope they can soon build friendships and offer educational assistance to their eighth graders.

“Through this organization, I’ve gone to learn so many different things about me as a person, about how to interact with other people, and I’ve been able to meet so many incredible mentors and mentees through this,” Chung said. “That was the most important gift this organization has been to me.”

The leaders said they hope to continue the mentorship program for as long as possible, to offer kindness and educational support to all the students who need it.

“We want to create a society where no student fails in their educational journey because they lack resources,” Chung said.

Students can join the program by either calling 213-700-4746, emailing leadersunitedforchange@gmail.com or registering on their website, leadersunitedforchange.org.

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Judge denies excessive force temporary restraining order

By Sarah Donahue uring the first week of demonstrations in response to George Floyd’s death, many protesters couldn’t express their right to assemble without the fear of being arrested, struck with a baton or shot with rubber bullets by LAPD. More than 50 days of protests later, the frequency of harm at the hands of LAPD has seemingly decreased, but for many demonstrators the fear remains, some said.

Black Lives Matter LA, other protest groups and the lawyers representing them requested a temporary restraining order on June 24 that would have ordered the courts to step in and forbid the LAPD’s actions of unlawful arrests as well as the use of “lessthan-lethal” weapons and baton strikes to disperse crowds.

U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall denied it in an order dated July 14, saying that because LAPD has not exercised any of these actions since June 3, the measure is not necessary.

Jorge Gonzalez, a lawyer representing protesters, said LAPD’s response to the demonstrations changed dramatically as daily protests became a new normal. Despite the temporary restraining order not being approved, the litigators and protesters somewhat got what they wanted—the LAPD to stop allegedly violating the protesters’ First Amendment rights.

“By the time the (temporary restraining order) got filed, the LAPD had curtailed its behavior that we were complaining of,” Gonzalez said. “In a way, we essentially obtained our purpose even without obtaining the TRO.” While the litigators agreed that LAPD’s use of excessive force has decreased, they sought the temporary restraining order to assure that they did not start that behavior again on their own accord, he said.

There is still a possibility that the police could harm protesters again, but “the court was persuaded that that possibility was not enough,” Gonzalez said.

LAPD Cmdr. Michael Rimkunas was quoted in the opinion stating that although

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A demonstrator uses a megaphone to lead chants as protesters link arms while marching through the streets of Downtown on June 5.

Photo by Sarah Donahue/LA Downtown News

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protests have continued, LAPD has not declared unlawful assemblies, ordered crowds to disperse, shot rubber bullets, used baton strikes or made mass arrests since June 3 at the latest.

The order argues that LAPD causing irreparable harm to protesters in the future is based on speculation, and that speculation alone does not warrant the need for the temporary restraining order.

“Although plaintiffs proffer evidence that they previously suffered irreparable harm while protesting and intend to continue those activities, the irreparable harm plaintiffs allege rests on the assumption that more protests will lead to more constitutional violations,” the order states.

LA Downtown News reached out to LAPD for comment via email. Its response was “NO COMMENT.” The order also states that because there was a delay in filing the temporary restraining order, that shows that the need is not urgent enough for the courts to step in.

“Defendants argue plaintiffs were not diligent in seeking a temporary restraining order because they waited nineteen days to file this Application, which indicates there is a lack of urgency and irreparable harm,” the opinion stated.

For the most part, LA’s protesters are in the state of affairs that they wanted had the temporary restraining order been granted, Gonzalez said. However, they are still going forward with the lawsuit, which was filed June 5 against LAPD for the harm they have caused to protesters simply exercising their First Amendment right, he said.

The number of arrests that were made during the protests isn’t certain. The litigators behind the case are estimating that around 2,000 people were arrested; however, Gonzalez said he heard that an LAPD officer estimated the number is over 4,000. “ That’s a lot of people who were harmed in some way, either arrested on charges they shouldn’t have been arrested on or they were injured in some manner by the use of these different methods,” he said. “So that lawsuit continues.”

He said 90% of those arrests were for breaking curfew or failure to disperse, however noting that the city announced it will not press charges or fines for those violations.

Those who were arrested for unlawful assembly and breaking curfew should have never been detained, Gonzalez emphasized. Those charges are similar to a

traffic ticket, where the person should receive a written ticket, he said, and after signing and agreeing to appear in court, they should be free to go.

However, “LAPD decided in their infinite wisdom” to arrest people to remove them from the area to keep them from continuing to demonstrate, Gonzalez said.

He also mentioned the harm that LAPD caused by not only unlawfully arresting the protesters but also tying their zip ties so tight it cut off their circulation; crowding them on cold, crowded buses with no respect for social distancing; and transporting them to faraway facilities with no way home during the curfew. The complaint mentioned how some protesters were forced to urinate themselves, as they had no access to bathrooms.

Those actions are the more minimal harm LAPD brought upon protesters, Gonzalez said, mentioning how he is representing multiple protesters who “suffered tremendous injuries.”

LAPD shot one of his clients in the face with a rubber bullet that fractured her jaw, he said, noting that she had to undergo surgery and have a steel plate installed. The screws were just removed earlier this week, he added.

Another one of his clients saw LAPD ap-

proaching a crowd of protesters “in a very aggressive manner,” to which he instructed the group to move back while holding his arms out in front of the protesters “in a protective capacity,” Gonzalez said.

Despite attempting to move back, LAPD shot the protester in the stomach with a rubber bullet, Gonzalez said.

These actions would have been justified had the protesters been more riotous, he said, but there is no evidence of this being the case.

The denial of the temporary restraining order will not affect its lawsuit against LAPD, Gonzalez said, noting that he is fairly certain the litigation team will still seek a preliminary injunction. The objective of the lawsuit and the preliminary injunction is for these actions to stop, he said.

The goal of the litigators now is to reach an agreement with the LAPD to prevent any further harm to protesters as well as seeking compensation for both the people who were injured as well as those who were unlawfully arrested, Gonzalez said.

“It appears that we’ve obtained our purpose because the city has to be thinking about what it’s going to cost them for the little mini exercise in fascism,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that if they continue doing it, it’s just going to pile on. It’s going to be worse.”

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Indeed, Obama paved the way on LA Downtown News to keep you for Trump, he said. informed how virusSorry, is forInterestingly, Obama hason lost his voicethe now COVID-19 that America is ailing. mer President Obama, but if you took credit for the good times, then fairness affecting your local community. We demands that you also take credit for the bad times. appreciate the trust placed in usDavid as the Tulanian

news and voice of the community.

Being good stewards of that trust means we are here for you, especially in difficult times.

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JULY 27, 2020

Strada embraces outdoor dining in wake of COVID-19

By William Bergholz n response to the coronavirus pandemic, Strada Eateria & Bar has opened its patio and courtyard—among following other safety procedures. Indoor dining, however, remains closed.

Nevertheless, managing partner Julian Andrei, who has worked in the hospitality industry for 21 years and opened Strada on July 1, believes the restaurant and bar has been lucky.

“I think our luck is how we designed the restaurant with outdoor dining. We’re in a unique position to stay open,” Andrei said. “I think we’ll continue operation with this formula.”

Strada currently only serves dinner from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 3 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Staff and guests must follow health-related procedures, too.

Servers now wear masks and face shields, and temperatures are checked at the host stand. There are several cleaning stations, each one with a sanitizing bottle and a sanitizing bucket. Tables are wiped after use and spaced 6 feet apart, and all the doors and windows are left open to increase ventilation. Plus, the break room for the staff has been moved outside rather than downstairs.

“If the state shuts down outdoor dining, we’ll have to do only takeout and perhaps delivery. But the plan is to now stay the course and offer outdoor dining,” Andrei said. “We have plenty of space and all the safety measures in place. We want the people to feel comfortable.”

At Strada, a new menu is printed every day, depending on availability. Though some of the meats have exotic names for European, Asian and South American recipes, the concept is mainly local.

The menu boasts a new lobster and wagyu truffle beef ravioli, boneless 16-ounce prime ribeye, salmon linguine, paella made with pasta, and Sand Brew Coffee.

Other items include Tapas of Bruschetta, made with tomato, garlic, cilantro, basil, olive oil, balsamic and ciabatta and priced at $8 (jamon costs an extra $3); Garden of Strada Caprese, made with buffalo mozzarella, tomato, basil, avocado, balsamic glaze, virgin olive oil and walnuts and priced at $15; Sea of Loch Etive Salmon, made with squid ink linguine,

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dill, cherry tomato, capelin caviar and radicchio and priced at $25; and Meadow of Filet Trio, made with charred cauliflower, mushrooms and green onion and priced at $39.

A late-night menu is planned for after the restaurant reopens. Set to be available on Fridays and Saturdays, it will include bar drinks along with burgers, wings, ceviche, tapas, salads and roasts.

Much of Strada’s ingredients are sourced from local food companies, like The LA Produce Market and Pacific Fresh Fish Co. in Downtown, and Melissa’s / World Variety Produce in Vernon.

Andrei also ages his own tequila, Strada Reposado, which is now available in-house and will debut for online takeout and pickup July 27. Andrei repurposes wine bottles and waxes them. Bottles cost $20 to $25.

Customers can order through the food delivery app Toast, and in the future via Uber Eats.

For those who stop by in person, three-hour free parking is available after 4 p.m. in the TCW building, located at Eighth Place and Francisco Street.

Commenting on the state of the restaurant industry and how it will ultimately deal with the coronavirus, Andrei said, “Overall, I think the restaurant industry will survive, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be unchanged. A lot of concepts perhaps are not going to make it, such as speakeasies and restaurants without an outdoor space. But, we’ll still be able to go and dine out.”

Strada Eateria & Bar 825 W. Ninth Street, Downtown Los Angeles 213-822-4558 stradadtla.com

JULY 27, 2020

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Help us keep the tradition going of “never being closed and never without a customer” Thank you for your support.

For the LA Kings, MKF will have a premier corner in-ice logo, which will be featured prominently during all regular season home games at Staples Center.

Submitted photo

AEG, Monkey Knife Fight enter into partnership

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski onkey Knife Fight has teamed with AEG to be the exclusive fantasy sports partner of the LA Kings and the LA Galaxy and an official partner of the Ontario Reign.

The deal also marks MKF’s first partnerships with an NHL, MLS and AHL franchise and underscores the company’s overall commitment to helping grow the sports of hockey and soccer.

As the exclusive fantasy sports partner of the LA Kings and LA Galaxy, MKF will have an enhanced brand presence for the popular Los Angeles teams’ venues and online media channels.

For the LA Kings, MKF will have a premier corner in-ice logo, which will be featured prominently during all regular season home games at Staples Center.

MKF will also receive digital scoreboard and LED stadium ribbon board signage during all LA Galaxy regular season home games at Dignity Health Sports Park.

This is in addition to the partnership elements it will receive with the Ontario Reign, which includes digital signage and in-game marketing elements during all of team’s regular season home games at Toyota Arena.

LA Kings and Ontario Reign elements will commence with the start of the 202021 NHL and AHL seasons, while LA Galaxy elements will begin with the launch of the 2021 MLS regular season.

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The agreement is a continuation of Monkey Knife Fight’s plan to heavily target the Southern California marketplace. In addition to signing with Los Angeles’ NHL and MLS teams, in the past year the company has also partnered with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, MLB’s San Diego Padres, XFL’s Los Angeles Wildcats, and PGA Tour golfer Charley Hoffman from San Diego.

“Our partnership with AEG is the perfect opportunity to help strengthen the MKF brand and reinforces our shared commitment to the sports fans we serve throughout Southern California, one of our most important and fastest-growing markets,” said Bill Asher, founder and CEO of Monkey Knife Fight.

“The LA Kings, LA Galaxy and Ontario Reign are three highly acclaimed teams, and we are incredibly proud to be a part of their ongoing success.”

Josh Veilleux, LA Kings senior vice president of corporate partnerships, added, “We’re excited about bringing Monkey Knife Fight into our family of sports partners here at AEG. Our global portfolio of assets includes some of the most iconic sports teams, facilities and live event offerings, which makes us uniquely positioned to bring our partners the very best.

This partnership is an example of that, and we look forward to working closely with MKF to further strengthen its brand amongst our sports and entertainment fans in Southern California.”

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Deisy Suarez-Giles and her husband Keith have two sons and spend their time running a successful spa business in DTLA.

JULY 27, 2020

Deisy Suarez-Giles is the owner of DESUAR Spa in Downtown Los Angeles and the author of a new book that she wrote during quarantine.

Photo courtesy Deisy Suarez-Giles

Photo courtesy Deisy Suarez-Giles

In her new book, “Marriage Material: How I Found My Husband,” Deisy Suarez-Giles shares the inspiring story of how she met the love of her life.

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Photo courtesy Deisy Suarez-Giles

Covered BOOKS California will help

DTLA spa owner studies relationships in new book

By Kamala Kirk eisy Suarez-Giles had always dreamed about writing a book, but she never imagined that she would do it during a pandemic.

Like many other business owners affected by COVID-19, Suarez-Giles had to temporarily close the doors to DESUAR Spa, the luxury day spa she owns in DTLA. Suddenly finding herself with extra time, Suarez-Giles initially struggled during quarantine because she wasn’t used to the inactivity. But

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DESUAR Spa is a day spa in DTLA that offers healing and relaxing high-end treatments.

as soon as her husband Keith suggested that she start the book project, Suarez-Giles became inspired and within 30 days had finished the first draft.

“Writing a book was something on my to-do list,” she said. “My husband and friends kept asking for it. I always envisioned myself writing it, although I didn’t know when I would be able to do it or what topic I would write about. I just had no idea how I was going to pull it off, especially while running a full-time business and rais-

Photo courtesy Deisy Suarez-Giles

ing two kids. A number of friends told me I should write about dating and relationships, and more specifically about my love story and how I found my husband.”

“Marriage Material: How I Found My Husband” is a detailed account of Suarez-Giles’ adventures and misadventures as she searched for a husband—first in Los Angeles, and later around the world. The book also shares how she eventually met her husband, the couple’s unexpected noguest wedding, and how they overcame adversity in order to start a life together.

“When the pandemic shutdown happened, a shelter-in-place was imposed on all of us and I had the time I needed to write and focus,” shared Suarez-Giles. “The writing process was quite relaxing, in fact.

I found that once I started writing, everything just flowed right onto the page. At the same time, I noticed how a number of my friends were canceling their dream and destination weddings and opting for a noguest wedding, which reminded me of my own wedding. I wanted to write something that my readers could relate to and find some value in.”

Suarez-Giles also hopes that her book

will inspire single women not to lose hope, particularly during these times of limited social interaction.

“I know we are living through some difficult times and it can be hard for women, especially single women,” she pointed out.

“Just know that there is somebody for you.

We often just need to re-evaluate our approach towards dating and try something different, whether that means dating someone outside your race or culture, or from a different age group than you traditionally look at. Just be open to finding Mr. or Mrs. Right, wherever they may be.”

The book was published in June and is available in paperback and e-book formats on Amazon. Now with one book under her belt, Suarez-Giles is already making plans to write a second.

“In my next book, I’m planning on writing about entrepreneurship, particularly from a woman’s perspective, and my struggles as a Latina minority and immigrant woman,” she said. “I found that writing is something I actually enjoyed doing. It was therapy for my soul.”

For more information, visit deisysuarez. com or desuar.com.

JULY 27, 2020

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Dodgers’ commitment is a dream for Betts

By Dave Hogg ookie Betts doesn’t want to be thought of as the face of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.

After signing a 13-year, $365 million contract extension on July 22, he might not have a choice.

As Betts pointed out on a Zoom call, the Dodgers won the last seven NL West titles and two National League pennants without him. He’s not going into a situation where he’s going to be expected to carry a mediocre team to a championship.

“When I got here and saw all the talent here, you understand why they’ve won so many division titles in a row,” he said. “It’s an honor just to be part of an organization with the kind of history the Dodgers have built over all these years. They don’t need someone to come in and be the face of the Dodgers. They just need me to come in and do my job.”

The Dodgers have been in the postseason 11 times in the 21st century, but they haven’t won a World Series since Kirk Gibson’s home run helped them beat the Oakland Athletics in 1988. At 32 years, they are on their longest drought without a championship since the Brooklyn Dodgers won the franchise’s first title in 1955.

Betts wasn’t born until October 7, 1992— days after Los Angeles hit rock bottom with a 99-loss season. For some franchises, 100loss seasons are fairly common, but that’s not tolerated in the Dodgers organization.

The last time they hit triple digits was in 1908, when the Brooklyn Superbas and ace pitcher Kaiser Wilhelm—not that Kaiser Wilhelm—went 53-101.

The 1992 season was the beginning of the end of the Tommy Lasorda era, but

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FAMOUS FIRE-GRILLED CHICKEN

none of the eight managers to follow him have gotten the franchise a seventh championship. In 2016, they hired a manager who already had a World Series ring— Dave Roberts was a postseason hero for the Boston Red Sox when they ended their drought in 2004.

Roberts took the Dodgers to the World Series in 2017 and 2018 but lost the first time to the can-banging Houston Astros and the second time to American League MVP Mookie Betts and the Red Sox. For the past five seasons, Betts has been the best American League player not named Mike Trout, and he’s put together the first half of a Hall of Fame career. However, the Red Sox decided last winter they weren’t willing to pay the quarter-billion dollars it was going to take to sign him after the 2020 season, so they looked for a trading partner.

The Yankees had the cash, but the Red Sox didn’t want to send them another superstar, especially on the 100th anniversary of selling Babe Ruth to New York. The Dodgers, though, were a perfect choice.

They have unlimited amounts of cash and a desperate need to find the player who can finally get them another victory parade.

“We’ve always tried to build a culture where this team would be a destination spot for players—somewhere they get and never want to leave,” team president Andrew Friedman said. “We want players from other organizations looking longingly at us and wanting to be here. So the goal was always to get Mookie here and make a good impression on him.

“We were hoping he’d fall in love with the culture and go out and help us win all the way from opening day in March to the

Mookie Betts signed a 12-year, $365 million contract extension on July 22.

Photo by Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers

World Series in October.”

The Dodgers have deep enough pockets to feel confident in a bidding war for any player, but they also know how much the Yankees and Angels would like to steal one of their stars. Before the pandemic hit, they were already sounding Betts out about a long-term commitment.

“We had some conversations during spring training, but the world changed on us and everything got put on hold,” Friedman said. “It was obviously in the front of our minds, and we really wanted to find a way to make it work for everyone involved.”

It didn’t take Betts long to realize he didn’t want to worry about free agency.

“I wasn’t exactly sure what they had going on out here, because I’m on the East

Coast,” he said. “But I talked to people and I learned how they do things and how they win every year. That’s when I realized this is obviously the destination—you want the Dodgers to be your last team. It feels great to know I’ll be here for 13 seasons, starting with this one.”

Thirteen years is a lifetime in sports— Betts will turn 40 as the contract expires— but he’s convinced this is the perfect moment.

“I thought about 13 years and I realized I’ve been working my whole life to get here,” he said. “You dream about getting to the point where you can get this kind of commitment from the team you want to spend your career playing for. Having that come true is a blessing.”

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JULY 27, 2020

Covered California will help ARTS & CULTURE

The Broad Museum goes virtual with arts programs

By William Bergholz he Broad Museum is temporarily closed due to the pandemic. As a result, the staff created The Broad from Home Project to show art to audiences.

The artwork is culled from The Broad’s Museum’s most popular art exhibitions, as well as new and original content from LA-based artists, by Ed Patuto, audience engagement director, and Darin Klein, events and programs associate director.

All are shared on the nonprofit museum’s social media pages and email newsletters.

“Everything is being done remotely,” Patuto said. “We bring the artworks that one would see if they could go to the museum to a very wide audience through digital media and social media. Many of our viewers are artists. In response, those artists make paintings, sculptures and performances of music and poems, and film them. They’re creat-

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ing their own content.”

The artists are paid for their artwork.

The fees vary.

As a contemporary art museum, The Broad Museum focuses on ar t from the 1950s and beyond, with works in the pop art movement like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Takashi Murakami.

The museum is also hosting Infinite Drone Series, which puts its most popular artwork to electronic, ambient and pop music, in the spirit of “Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” by Yayoi Kusama.

The Broad from Home Project includes peripheral programs like Up Close Curator Talks, featuring Ed Schad and Sarah Loyer taking an in-depth look at artists in the collection and their careers.

Let’s Make Art! is where The Broad Museum sends videos of artwork with a particular style and an instructor to families and their kids, and they can learn

The Broad Museum is temporarily closed due to the pandemic.

how to make the artwork, too.

A new program coming to The Broad from Home is the series Interplay: Poetry and Art, featuring poets working in a variety of styles to respond to specific artworks in the Broad collection to demonstrate the bond between visual art and literature. Some of the writings are new ekphrastic poems, and others are previously written works.

Another new program is Trap Heals, which is a collective of ar tists who hand-deliver initiatives and activations dedicated to philanthropic equity. This is done through live installations, brand development, artist management and creative strategy. Overall, Trap Heals

Submitted photos

builds alliances with similar brands, nonprofits and movements. Their true mission is to make moves in silence that create an echoing impact. The One Trap Heals video is accompanied by Katarra Parson singing “Phoenix Rising,” with works by artist Christopher Wool.

“I think it’s new material to be creative with,” Patuto said. “A really good artist will take material, take challenges, raise questions and solve problems. I think that this is a time where people are looking to artists to help them see a path forward. Institutions like The Broad have an obligation to help those artist’s voices to be heard and considered. Creativity: Think about what else is possible.”

The Broad from Home thebroad.org/broadfromhome

JULY 27, 2020

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

Boomtown Brewery releases Candy Rain hazy IPA

By William Bergholz using aromas of pineapple, orange and peppery spice, Boomtown Brewery has launched a brand-new hazy IPA craft beer called Candy Rain.

Crafted with 7% ABV and 35 IBU, the brew also incorporates flavors of melon, key lime and apricot.

Founded in 2014, Boomtown crafts its beers with a wide variety of hops and yeasts, and ages them in old spirit barrels. Other beers include the Hazy IPA Series’ Cool Kids, Lil No and Marine Layer, and West Coast IPAs, stouts, porters, lagers, Pilsners and sours.

“Traditionally, the name of our brewery does invoke the history of California and the West with the precious metals of silver and gold,” said Product Manager Ben Turkel, who leads operations with head brewer Samuel Chawinga.

“Overnight, the boomtowns could spring up over this precious resource. Our precious resource is beer.

“Ten years ago, there weren’t many options for craft beer in the county of Los Angeles. Fast forward to 2020 and there’s a tremendous selection of craft beer here. So there have been boomtowns of different resources, and ours happens to be beer. We’re really grateful and super appreciative of our fan base, the people who support us and who support craft brewing in totality in the city.”

At Boomtown, brewers break down water using a carbon filter and reverse osmosis. The water is broken down to 15 parts per million, so it’s almost just blank hydrogen and oxygen. The water is then built back up to both mimic certain traditional brewing regions but also to accentuate hops, malted oats and aromas.

For example, Boomtown Brewery’s German-style beers mimic the chemical water profile of Munich. Candy Rain is no different. The water being mimicked has a mineral-rich water source, which makes for 95% of this product.

Grains include barley, which provides the majority of the sugars that the yeasts consume and convert to alcohol, as well as malted oats and wheat. Both help with the mouthfeel and add protein, which gives hazy IPAs their haze, as does unmalted wheat, which has a lot of protein.

Boomtown Brewery sources grains from the France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Canada, while Candy Rain’s grains come from the latter three.

As for hops—sourced from the United States—they are thermo-reactive. Depending on the temperature and the time, the hops change flavor. A single hop can produce many different flavors, and that ability is used to layer flavors.

Candy Rain has three different types of hops—Idaho 7, Citra and El Dorado—which together together produce complementary flavors.

The yeast used consumes the sugars from the grains and produces alcohol, carbon dioxide and other flavor components.

For can packaging, Boomtown looks to several suppliers, the main one being Visionary Canning Supplies. Visionary supplies the physical cans and branded wraps that the brews are sold in.

The cans that arrive at Boomtown Brewery are put on one side of the canning machine. Through the conveyer belt, they are filled with carbon dioxide. An insulated line connects the fermentation vessel, which is full of the beer, to the canning line machine. Using pressure, the cans are filled with the beer itself. Once the beer is filled, a met-

F

Boomtown Brewery’s Production Manager and beer craftsman Ben Turkel presents the new hazy IPA Candy Rain.

Photo by William Berholz/LA Downtown News

al disk carrying caps is placed on the cans and sealed. The cans then go through a rinse and blow cycle, and eventually go to an employee who quickly inspects the four-packs for proper weight.

Lastly, the beers are placed on a pallet, wrapped and placed in the cold storage. All of the beer, including Candy Rain, is kept cold in a refrigerator until it’s sold to customers.

“We produce a lot of beers because there are so many different beers to produce. It’s a very exciting time in the industry. It’s a very exciting time to be making, because we have such an awesome audience across the city and across the world who are willing and excited to try new beers,” Turkel said.

As branding is important, Boomtown Brewery works with local artists to design its wraps.

“One of our missions is to support the local artists’ community in general and as a whole. Being able to team up with local artists is a fun way for us to get a cool unique label and to have them get a bunch of exposure throughout the city,” Turkel said.

Boomtown Brewery compensates local artists with around $500 and free beer.

“It’s really fun teamwork. Typically, the process is we’ll reach out to an artist. We’ll say, ‘Hey, you’ve got beautiful art. Would you mind making us a can?’ We like to give them free range. It’s their art. We don’t want to put really any direction on our end to the art. We want them to express what they wish to express,” Turkel said.

Boomtown Brewery employees and a local artist then go back and forth to make sure the art is appropriate, that there is room for all the government requirements, and then they do hard proofs with Visionary. This is to make sure that what they see on the computer screen is what actually ends up being on the branded wrap. They check for correct colors and that everything is in focus and doesn’t get distorted when the label is wrapped around the can.

DOWNTOWN NEWS 11

When they’re happy with the product, they’ll order the cans. Boomtown Brewery does canning runs in the low ten thousands per brand.

Boomtown Brewery posts artists’ work and contact information on its Instagram: @boomtownbrewery.

And as Boomtown Brewery realizes packaged beer is the new and only way to sell beer, canned sales have grown exponentially. It debuts a new release around every two to three weeks and is currently working on several ideas.

Staff hopes to have the next artist series, a hazy double IPA, out at the end of August or in September.

Another long-term project, which the team hopes to have out this winter, is the brewery’s first production of bottles through its Footer Project, which uses a 40-barrel footer—or a large oak and wooden vessel—to age its sour beer.

“This is going to be a really fun sour series that will come in beautiful bottles. We’re hoping to have this come out in December. Stay tuned for that,” Turkel teased.

While the brews are the focus, Boomtown Brewery has a large parking lot that allows pop-up restaurants space.

“People like drinking and people like eating delicious food, and so if you put those two things together, you’ve got a real winning combination,” Turkel explained.

So, the brewery partners with food providers that have their own passions and dreams and gives them a safe space to set up and sell food—from tacos and burgers to Mediterranean food. This includes Cortizon LA, Highland Hickory and more, information which is also available on the brewery’s Instagram page. It guarantees the beer and food combination on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while a rotating selection of food is given on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

The spacious facility includes a taproom, event space and outdoor patio breezeway, although, as a result of the coronavirus, all three of these spaces are closed to the public for the foreseeable feature.

“With the pandemic, the only way to actually get the beer to the market is by package. So we’ve accelerated our canned program. Our complete business model has pivoted to distribution of cans as well as to-go sales. It’s enforced evolution,” Turkel said.

Overall, the dream is to craft a quality product.

“We are craft people trying to make a good product,” Turkel explained. “We’re people who got into beer typically through other avenues. None of us started out in beer, but we all ended up here. We are looking to produce a high-quality product that’s both familiar and innovative.

“We’re trying to both put Boomtown on the map of making good beer but also help support the identity of Los Angeles as being the beer capital,” he continued. “We rightfully should be. We’re a great city of tens of millions of people.

We have nearly 100 breweries. Every year, breweries in Los Angeles bring back awards from various competitions.

“We’re really excited to be part of that culture and to push that discussion forward that LA can be a capital and can be a mecca for excellent craft beer. We get to wake up and live that dream every day, to keep working on that dream and make that dream a reality.”

The new release, Candy Rain, costs $18 for a four-pack, with no limits on purchases, and can be contactless picked up at the brewery or preordered online.

Boomtown Brewery 700 Jackson Street, Downtown Los Angeles boomtownbrew.com

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JULY 27, 2020

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