November 14, 2013
Local News & Culture Marina del Rey
Westchester
Free S a n ta M o n i c a
P l aya d e l R e y
P l aya V i s t a
M a r V i s ta
Del Rey
VenicE Photo by Steven Douglas
Westside state Assembly race heats up Attack mailer targets son of Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has raised 10 times the funds of his opponents
John Jake
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas
Christopher Armenta
By Gary Walker An otherwise listless special election contest to fill a state Assembly seat representing Mar Vista, Del Rey, Culver City and other Westside communities got a jolt of energy last week from a campaign mailer that targeted one candidate for his special relationship with the Los Angeles County Supervisor representing the area — that of father and son. Sebastian RidleyThomas, the 25-year-old scion of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, faces former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta, 49, and Olympic Park Neighborhood Council President
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks as City Councilman Mike Bonin looks on during a panel discussion at Loyola Marymount University
Garcetti, Bonin weigh in on LAX’s future Officials question airport emergency response and speak out against runway relocation during LMU forum By Gary Walker Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city officials new to their offices this year discussed a variety of issues concerning Westsiders — the future of Los Angeles International Airport among them — during a Nov. 6 forum at Loyola
Marymount University. Garcetti was joined by City Controller Ron Galperin, City Attorney Mike Feuer and local Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin at the “100 Days, Plus…” forum organized by Westside Democratic clubs to discuss the mutual benchmark in their terms.
But the Nov. 1 shooting spree at LAX that claimed the life of a federal airport security officer and left several others wounded came up almost immediately. “Our first responders did a heroic job, but there is room for improvement,” Bonin said of the airport’s response to the shooting in response to a question by panel moderator and KCRW 89.9 FM radio host Warren Olney. “In the cold light of day we have seen that there were way too many people who (Continued on page 6)
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Photo by Jorge M. Vargas Jr.
Artist is still ‘licensed to ill’
Sunny Bak, a Venice photographer who documented the Beastie Boys’ rise to fame, brings vintage celebrity images back into the public eye By Michael Aushenker Before TMZ, smart phones and the Internet, Venice fashion and music photographer Sunny Bak was shooting candid images of American icons — and she was only 14. In time her images, particularly those documenting the earliest years of the Beastie Boys, would achieve their own notoriety.
On Saturday, Bak and other artists will launch “Sleepwalking Through Dreamland,” a mixedmedia art show at Essentia Sleep Shop and Gallery in Santa Monica that includes prints she has exhumed from storage after more than three decades. The exhibit includes photos of Elizabeth Taylor, Andy Warhol, Ginger Rogers, Jackie Onassis, (Continued on page 22)
Sunny Bak takes a break from installing her Santa Monica exhibit