03-17-14

A Special Section on Downtown Living SEE PAGE 9

The Strange Saga of the Cecil Hotel | 5 Amazing Tattoos at JANM | 21 MARCH 17, 2014 I VOL. 43 I #11

Courtesy of Marvel Comics / Artist: Mitch Gerads

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AROUND TOWN

Restaurant Guide Coming

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ou know that restaurant explosion that has been underway for a few years? Well, it shows no sign of letting up. Fortunately, there’s a helpful tool to help you keep track of all the places in Downtown Los Angeles to eat. On March 24, Los Angeles Downtown News will publish its annual Restaurant Guide. The 52-page magazine will feature more than 100 places to grab breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snacks, sweets and more.

The easy-to-use guide has all the information hungry Downtowners need: hours, delivery, catering, happy hour, WiFi, entertainment options and more. Altogether, 80,000 copies of the Restaurant Guide will be printed; in addition to the 40,000 distributed with the issue, Guides will be available at Downtown locations such as hotels, stores and restaurants throughout the year. The guide is also online at downtownladining.com.

Free WiFi for Subway Lines

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ate not being able to watch YouTube cat videos while riding or waiting for the subway? Good news: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January began work to bring cell phone and WiFi service to the city’s underground transit system. Along with the Red and Purple lines, the upgrade will provide service to underground portions of the Blue, Gold and Expo lines, as well as the Crenshaw line when it is finished. To complete the work, the county has contracted InSite Wireless, which brought the

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS same services to Boston’s subway. People who already have data plans on their phones will be able to use Metro’s services free of charge, according to Daniel Lindstrom, Metro manager of wayside communications. The system is expected to be complete by January 2016.

March 17, 2014

TAKE MY PICTURE GARY LEONARD

Affordable Housing Workshop in Arts District

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hat does it take to qualify for affordable housing? An information session this week hosted by multiple civic and nonprofit agencies will walk folks through the government-regulated selection process, which is based partly on income. The workshop comes as the $160 million One Santa Fe project heads toward summer move-ins. The complex, at Santa Fe Avenue and Third Street, will offer 88 of its 438 apartments at 50% of current market rate. The affordable units are supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 24, at Art Share, 801 E. Fourth Pl. RSVP to affordableartisthousing@gmail.com.

The Wrong Tweet

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threat is a threat, even at 140 characters or less. Officers from the LAPD’s Central Division on Wednesday, March 12, investigated a Twitter post that included multiple pictures of an unidentified type of rifle pointing in the direction of city streets. The images were captioned with “100 RT’s (Re-Tweets) and i’ll shoot someone walking,” according to police. The account user was identified as Dakkari McAnuff, a 20-year-old Downtown resident. He was arrest-

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ed on suspicion of making a criminal threat. An air rifle was recovered at his home. He is being held at Los Angeles County Jail on $50,000 bail.

New Signs at Union Station

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ne of the chief complaints about Union Station is that it is easy to get lost in the transit hub. To relieve the confusion, Metro began work last week to streamline signage and add navigation aids around the station. The historic waiting room will get two large wall-mounted LED signs for arrival/departure info for Amtrak and Metrolink lines. At the east entrance to the

Winter 2014

station, Metro will install a large pylon with four touchscreens to help travelers with trip planning.

Other improvements include installing identifying pylons around the perimeter of Union Station and new signage at the Patsaouras Bus Plaza. The updates will be complete by May 3.

Correction

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he March 10 story “The Star is Born” incorrectly stated that rents for the Star Apartments were subsidized by the county Housing Authority. The subsidies come from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.

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EDITORIALS

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March 17, 2014

Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis

Shifting Sands in Chinatown

C

hinatown has largely missed out on the development boom that has taken place in Downtown Los Angeles over the last decadeplus. Some of this is geographic — the community is north of the Civic Center and Bunker Hill — and much of it is economic: Though several major projects were proposed for the area back around 2006, almost everything of significance was hampered by the recession. Once lending markets froze, the big projects disappeared.

Now, things are changing. Chinatown recently welcomed its biggest new development in decades, the $93 million, 280-unit Jia Apartments, and another major project, Blossom Plaza, is set to transform the heart of the community and strengthen the connection to mass transit. While all of this holds the potential to do wonderful things for Chinatown by bringing in additional visitors and sparking street life, it also has to be approached carefully, with developers and visitors considering the entirety of the neighborhood.

Certainly this holds true in any area undergoing change, but these sensitivities carry added weight in Chinatown, which over the decades has carved out a distinct architectural, cultural and residential identity. New arrivals need to comprehend the players and history, and must do more than just incorporate a few token Chinese-themed design elements into their buildings.

The potential for a positive shift exists in large part because of Blossom Plaza. The development from the firm Forest City has resuscitated one of the projects that stalled during the economic downturn; the $100 million development at 900 N. Broadway also has the benefit of replacing Little Joe’s, an Italian restaurant (today’s Chinatown was once Little Italy) that has been closed for more than a decade.

The five-story structure will create 237 apartments, 20% of them reserved for low-income residents. More important for the neighborhood will be the open plaza and the direct connection to the Gold Line station one block east. This will make reaching the center of Chinatown easier (currently you have to walk down stairs then go up a hill) and provide another gathering point in the community in addition to Central and West plazas.

Although Jia and Blossom Plaza are the two big arrivals, one should expect that more will come, and probably sooner rather than later. Neighborhood shifts can occur quickly, especially after one or two residential beachheads. If a fleet of construction cranes across the neighborhood sounds farfetched, just consider all that is happening in the Arts District. Few would have predicted such activity even five years ago, and Chinatown could be next.

Chinatown has many longstanding stakeholders, along with a Business Improvement District that has helped bring new events and visitors to the area (think the crowds of the popular Summer Nights program).

Those are entities that new developers would be wise to work with when considering investing in the neighborhood.

To be sure, change will come to Chinatown, and Jia and Blossom Plaza are just the start. The key is to manage the change effectively.

Raising the Design Bar on Low-Income Housing

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eople in Downtown Los Angeles care a lot about architecture. As the community booms, there is ample public discourse on the design of buildings and how they fit into the community. One frequently hears excitement about the coming Broad art museum, the $140 million Grand Avenue attraction with a web-like exterior designed by the New York firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. Another eagerly awaited development is the replacement for the Wilshire Grand Hotel, a 73-story tower that will add visual variety to the skyline.

Talk spins the other way as well, with questions and concerns about new residential buildings that don’t contribute much, at least aesthetically, to the landscape. There is a lot of clucking, and rightfully so, over a series of six- and seven-story apartment complexes that are not much more than rectangular boxes with an occasional wall splashed in a bright color and a few jutting balconies.

Such structures reflect an aesthetic from an earlier era Downtown, one that experimented with how to attract residents.

That challenge has been quite well met, and the thinking about the future of the heart of the city has taken a sharp turn. Wellplanned density is now the theme, one emerging from population growth projections plus the realization that Downtown is running out of parcels on which to accommodate that growth.

There is another, less-noticed but also important theme: the ability of low-income housing to raise the design bar. It comes, most recently, in the form of the Star Apartments, which is not just one of the most impressive new buildings in Skid Row, but one of the most impressive new buildings in all of Los Angeles.

Move-ins at the permanent supportive housing complex at 240 E. Sixth St. began late last year, and Los Angeles Downtown News reported on the structure again last week. The $21 million project was developed by Skid Row Housing Trust and designed by Silver Lake-based Michael Maltzan, a prominent architect who has made his name on market-rate buildings, but who also has several lowincome residential complexes on his resume.

One reason the project stands out is because the design at this location is so unexpected. The Star opened across the street from the dispiriting, fortress-like headquarters of LAPD’s Central Division.

Additionally, with the Star’s focus on housing people literally just off the streets, one might expect cost to be the driving factor; that concern, of course, often propels bland and cookie-cutter type design.

Fortunately, SRHT and Maltzan refused to be confined by tradition. Instead, they orchestrated a dynamic building that sits atop an old one-story edifice that was reinforced with a concrete superstructure. The 102 residential units rest upon thick slanted support columns. Certain portions of the building appear to float in mid-air.

The look of the building is not the only thing that is unique. The Star utilized prefabricated housing units, something never before undertaken in Skid Row. The 350-square-foot homes were assembled in Idaho complete with toilets, cabinets and appliances installed. They were then trucked to Los Angeles and placed individually by crane on the complex. Operating in this manner brought the price down, and with the “experiment” having proved successful, the prefab model could be repeated in the future.

The building contains other elements that are counter to the bare-bones offerings one might expect in low-income housing.

The Star is an energy-efficient complex with 15,000 square feet of community space including a garden and, soon, a running track.

As with other permanent supportive housing complexes, it contains in-house services such as counseling, a medical clinic and job training. The goal is to give those just off the streets all the help required to turn their lives around.

The Star is a project worthy of praise, though it is not the only low-income housing development in Downtown to stand out architecturally. Another example came in 2009, when SRHT and Maltzan worked together on the New Carver Apartments, a 97-unit complex at 17th and Hope streets; the circular edifice with a large interior courtyard also is the kind of building that, at first glance, one might expect to house market-rate occupants. Both the Star and the New Carver, of course, have a psychological along with a physical function — they communicate the idea that the residents are as important as anyone in any other building, that their travails with money, addiction or mental illness don’t mean they should lack the pride or sense of ownership that other people have in their homes. It’s a basic and valued model of enhancing self-worth.

We’re pleased that SRHT and Maltzan went this route, and hope that the Star reminds other developers and the greater community that low-income housing does not need to be shoehorned into a box of existing expectations. Creating a new-look building enhances life for its inhabitants. It also makes for a more varied and impressive Downtown.

March 17, 2014

Downtown News 5

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

The Strange Saga of the Cecil Hotel A now-defunct plan for the “New Cecil” would have turned the building at 640 S. Main St., which currently operates as a mix of a budget hotel and lowincome housing, into a complex with nearly 400 rooms for people just off the streets.

When Plans Moved Forward to Turn the Building Into 384 Apartments for Those Just off the Streets, the Community Erupted

By Donna Evans n a Wednesday last month, a coalition of citywide business and nonprofit leaders appeared to be on the verge of turning Main Street’s Cecil Hotel into a massive permanent supportive housing facility. That evening, a county official talked up the plan to bring nearly 400 people off the streets of Skid Row and into the 1927 complex in the rapidly changing Historic Core. The Cecil’s owner was on board.

Twenty-four hours later, the proposal was dead, killed by another coalition — this one of Downtown community leaders and residents who argued that the plan would overwhelm a neighborhood that, stakeholders point out, already has more than its fair share of low-income housing.

The New Cecil plan was being pushed by an entity called Home for Good, and the proposal’s rise and sudden, strange fall shines a light on a series of connected issues that Downtown, and indeed the rest of Los Angeles, is grappling with. It involves the effort to address chronic homelessness and the aim of nurturing growth in the Central City. The players, who in other instances have been allies, hail from the business and political arenas, as well as the nonprofit and residential sectors.

For the time being at least, the community has won out.

“At the end of the day, we heard from the community and from the stakeholders immediately

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adjacent to the area,” said Jerry Neuman, a Home for Good task force co-chair. “And though we may not agree with their presumptions, neither the county nor Home for Good wanted to impose a project upon a neighborhood that wasn’t prepared for it. Additionally, the requisite political support, given the realities, was not there.”

Leading the Charge The New Cecil plan came from the County DHS and Home for Good, an initiative created in 2010 by leaders from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Greater L.A. They proposed turning the faded building into a permanent supportive housing complex with 384 apartments for those just off the streets, along with a suite of in-house social services. The building at 640 S. Main St., which currently operates as a mix of a budget hotel and low-income housing, would also have held 75 affordable and 75 market-rate apartments, though those would measure just 165 square feet.

Additional plans called for five new retail and restaurant spaces at street level.

Neuman, a key leader of the project who has worked for years on the effort to alleviate homelessness, said the New Cecil would ultimately save taxpayers money by giving homeless individuals the care they need and cutting down on emergency room visits and other costly expenditures.

An important ally was Herb Chase, the managing partner of Main Street Hotel Management

photo by Gary Leonard

and the owner of the Cecil. Chase saw it as an opportunity to upgrade his building — plans called for spending $10 million on the effort — and the team believed the project would go a long way toward eliminating chronic homelessness in Los Angeles.

The New Cecil team prepared a 20-page proposal filled with maps, floor plans and colorful renderings. It described the project as “a vibrant mixed-use residence serving the diverse commercial and residential needs of the Downtown community.”

Saturated Neighborhood The proposal quietly moved forward for at least several months. In early February, however, a group of Downtowners learned about it and began raising objections. While some might charge project opponents with NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard), a chorus of local stakeholders said it was a situation of the back yard already holding numerous complexes for low-income and former-

ly homeless individuals. Project opponents compiled a list of more than 3,000 available units of low-income and permanent supportive housing in the Historic Core (not all are occupied), including the Rosslyn Lofts, a 264-unit complex at 451 S. Main St. currently being renovated by SRO Housing Corp., and the New Pershing Apartments, a building at 500 S. Main St. that will hold 69 low-income residences. The recently opened Gateways Apartments at 505 S. San Pedro St. created 107 permanent supportive housing units.

Among those speaking out loudly was Tom Gilmore, the developer of the Old Bank District housing hub at Fourth and Main streets, and a former commissioner of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“The concept of so many new supportive units in one building is questionable as a policy in and of itself, but to add them to an already stressed neighborhood is unconscionable,” Continued on page 8

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Racers are invited to bring their dogs along to be part of the fun. The course is flat and will begin and end at CHMC, travelling up and down Grand Avenue, 11th and Figueroa. The festivities will feature an expo, health information, and even a doggie costume contest.

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March 17, 2014

The Punisher Comes to Downtown, And That’s a Good Thing

The Punisher first appeared in print in 1974, and the character has driven a 2004 film. Marvel Comics recently created a new series, in which Frank Castle battles bad guys in Los Angeles.

Marvel Comics’ Vigilante Hero Escapes New York and Becomes a Patron of the Nickel Diner And Other Local Landmarks

By Donna Evans nyone who lives or works in Downtown Los Angeles is familiar with the film crews that frequently shoot scenes and snarl traffic on local streets. Of course, that line of New York City taxicabs snaking around the Historic Core, or the huge sign in the Arts District welcoming tenants home to Brooklyn, are pretty good indicators that Downtown doesn’t always get to star in its own stories.

Lately, though, a new trend is emerging, one that plants the storyline right smack in Downtown. It is most prominent in film — think the recent remake of About Last Night, last year’s indie rom-com Dorfman in Love and 2009’s (500) Days of Summer — but now comic books are getting into the action. The Punisher, a soldierturned-vigilante, is calling Los Angeles home.

In fact, the title character is so immersed in Downtown culture that he visits area landmarks and chomps down on maple bacon donuts at the Historic Core’s Nickel Diner.

The Punisher, created by Gerry Conway, made his debut in 1974, according to Marvel. The character, Frank Castle, is a Vietnam veteran who saw his wife and children gunned down for accidentally observing a mafia hit. Castle took on his alter ego and devoted his life to ridding the world of organized crime, though not everyone agrees

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Nathan Edmondson, who writes the new series of The Punisher, signed copies last week at the Nickel Diner. In the new book, The Punisher chomps the occasional maple bacon donut at the Historic Core restaurant.

with his methods. He has been featured in a series of comics, and a Punisher film starring Thomas Jane came out in 2004.

Nathan Edmondson, who is writing the new Punisher series for Marvel Comics, said New York, a city long utilized in the Marvel universe,

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Street eatery, Castle will do battle with nefarious villains all around Los Angeles. In future issues Downtowners will see the vigilante stock up on emergency supplies at the Broadway Army Store and belly up to the counter at China Café in Grand Central Market. There will also be cameos for the Rosslyn Hotel, the Million Dollar Theatre, the Ritz-Carlton tower at L.A. Live and the 121-year-old Bradbury Building.

Punisher illustrator Mitch Gerads also appreciates the shift in locations. Although the Minnesota resident hasn’t been to Los Angeles since he was a kid, Gerads pores over images of the city and creates scenery using a mix of reality and fiction. For example, after consulting photos of the Nickel, he drew a counter that gives Castle a place to sit and chat with a police officer or banter with the cook (the Nickel

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felt like overly familiar territory. He wanted to shake things up for the bad-guy-fighting Castle. Plus, he said, Los Angeles is more visually appealing, offering the city center with its high rises, as well as the desert and mountains.

Marvel just released the third issue of The Punisher. When preparing the series, Edmondson, who is based outside of Atlanta, said he wanted to find a home base where Castle could hang out and associate with the locals. During a meeting with some project executives, Edmondson said, two people suggested the Nickel, which Monica May and Karen Trattner opened in 2008.

“It makes sense,” Edmondson said on Tuesday, March 11, during a comic book signing at the Nickel, his first time at the restaurant. “It’s Skid Row-adjacent and the area used to be the heart of a lot of criminal activity. It fits his character.”

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 7

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

doesn’t actually have a counter).

Creatively speaking, Gerads has enjoyed the Punisher’s move to the West Coast.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” he said in an email. “Aside from all the great story avenues the city holds, it’s incredibly fun to illustrate. Los Angeles allows me to play with a very large and vibrant color palette in the book. It’s familiar, but because it’s the Marvel [universe] everything is turned up to 11 so I get this great opportunity to heighten the ‘atmosphere’ of L.A.” Last week, as Edmondson signed copies of The Punisher, Stephanie Freidenreich walked into the Nickel and thumbed through the comic. The character and story are new to her, but she still bought a stack for friends who are Marvel fans. When asked if she likes comics, Freidenreich, a lawyer in the office of the Los Angeles County Public Defender, said she’s a fan of the Nickel.

“This is such a timeless place,” she said, adding she’s happy to see a favorite Downtown spot get inked into perpetuity.

With three issues published and a fourth coming out in a few weeks, Castle is getting closer to a firefight that will erupt in Downtown, and Edmondson promised that there will be plenty of mayhem ahead. Unlike all those film shoots however, the comic’s gunplay and explosions won’t keep area residents awake at night with the noise.

If they stay up late reading to see what happens to Castle, that’s another matter. donna@downtownnews.com

Welcome to Restaurant Stadium Downtown Becomes the Center of the Culinary World With L.A. Live’s ‘All-Star Chef Classic’

By Eddie Kim ne of Nancy Silverton’s earliest experiences with a chef-driven food event came in the early 1980s. At the time, the current chef and co-owner of Osteria Mozza was slaving away in the kitchen of Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Hollywood.

“It was 10 chefs cooking in the Spago parking lot,” Silverton recalled. “Not much to look at.”

Things have come pretty far in three decades.

Now food and wine festivals attract thousands of people and food television programs snag massive ratings. Some chefs have attained near rock-star status.

So there’s a little irony in the fact that Silverton this week will be cooking in a parking lot herself. It just happens to be a much larger one with an arena built on it.

Silverton is one of 27 chefs taking part in the inaugural All-Star Chef Classic, a celebration of cooking that runs Friday-Sunday, March 2123, at L.A. Live. Other participants include local chefs Ludovic Lefebvre (Trois Mec), Michael Cimarusti (Providence) and Roy Choi (Chego!).

Also on the bill are Alain Passard from France, modernist cuisine master Wylie Dufresne from New York, Graham Elliot from Chicago and Dominique Crenn from San Francisco.

The action will take place during four themed events being held on two stages built for the occasion by Anschutz Entertainment Group.

“Restaurant Stadium,” a large arena with four

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Krissy Lefebvre is co-running the All-Star Chef Classic and her husband Ludovic will be one of 27 international chefs showing off their skills.

The event takes place March 21-23 on two specially built stages at L.A. Live. photo by Gary Leonard

kitchens surrounded by stadium seating for 250 diners, will host the French Masters Dinner on Friday evening, Saturday’s All-Star Lunch (featuring an all-female cast), and a slate of chef demos throughout the weekend. The “Chef’s Tasting Arena,” a collection of 10 small kitchens arranged around a huge tent, will be the site of the Grill and Chill session on Saturday night and Savor the Season on Sunday. It offers more of a chance for diners to roam, taste and chat.

The All-Star Chef Classic is the brainchild of Lucy Lean and Krissy Lefebvre. Lean served as the former editor of the magazine edible Los Angeles and wrote Made in America, a cookbook of classic recipes interpreted by chefs around the county. Krissy Lefebvre, meanwhile, is the general manager and a partner in Trois

Mec, where her husband helms the kitchen.

The Lefebvres also staged several series of the pop-up restaurant LudoBites in Downtown.

Both Lean and Krissy Lefebvre have put on large food festivals before. The difference here is the up-close-and-personal experience the duo wanted to create.

“Everyone sees how exciting food TV has become, with all of the close-ups of the action,” Lean said. “Making this event was taking that sensation and figuring out a way where you feel you’re right in the kitchen, but you also get to eat what results.”

Eating Courtside Large food events with chef demos often feature a lecture-type layout, with a chef and Continued on page 8

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Food, 7

group of chefs, and it’s also a reunion of sorts. We don’t often get to cook together or even talk to each other, so I’m looking forward to it.”

While tickets for the French Masters Dinner and All-Star Lunch were almost sold out by press time, the other events promise a tasty slate of dishes. Silverton will feature a baby kale salad with marinated white anchovies, ricotta salata and pine nuts during the Savor the Season event. For Grill and Chill, Kaysen is preparing a bahn mi sandwich filled with grilled Thai sausage, a pork and chicken mousse, shaved radishes and a fish sauce vinaigrette.

Beyond the dishes, the All-Star Chef Classic symbolizes an ongoing shift for dining culture as a whole, even beyond customers’ focus on the food and the ingredients.

“When it comes to the relationship between diner and chef, there’s more interaction than ever before,” Silverton said. “It’s more important to today’s customer to know the face behind the food they’re eating.”

That dynamic bodes well for the future of the All-Star Chef Classic. AEG hopes to make it an annual event, and it could grow even larger and take place at other AEG properties in the U.S. and beyond, said Carrion.

No matter where the event travels, however, the premise will remain simple: Focus on chefs having fun together, and let the crowd in on the action.

“I just love to cook,” Ludovic Lefebvre wrote in an email, “so it’s exciting for me that people seem to also love what I love doing.”

The All-Star Chef Classic takes place March 2123 at L.A. Live, (877) 234-8425 or allstarchefclassic.com. eddie@downtownnews.com

AL A VE

the kitchen placed in front of a crowd. Restaurant Stadium, however, is more akin to courtside seats at a basketball game, with multiple screens showing off a stream of action from all parts of the kitchen.

Diners attending the five-course French Masters Dinner and All-Star Lunch will watch each course get cooked and plated. Servers will bring the meals to the seats, which will have counters wide enough to accommodate the usual array of silverware and glasses.

The Chef’s Tasting Arena offers attendees an even better opportunity to engage directly with the chefs, as the Grill and Chill and the Savor the Season sessions are more casual.

The Chef Classic is a fairly intimate affair, though it comes at a cost, with individual events costing from $65 (for Savor the Season) to $300 (for front-row seats at the French Masters Dinner). AEG expects about 1,700 attendees across three days.

“We wanted award-winning chefs, not just celebrity types, and we wanted this event to be much smaller and more exclusive than other similar productions,” said Evelyn Taylor Carrion, AEG’s vice president of sales and events. “There was a focus on quality, not quantity.”

The emphasis on top talent and keeping the crowd manageable also benefits the chefs, letting them interact with the diners and each other more comfortably, said Gavin Kaysen, who heads the kitchen at New York City’s Café Boulud and will participate in Saturday’s Grill and Chill.

“A lot of times these events aren’t built to make chefs happy and engaged. We’re just there to feed people,” Kaysen said. “But this a great

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Cecil, 5 Gilmore said in early February.

The chorus of growing opposition led to a meeting between project advocates and opponents on the morning of Feb. 13. The group discussed the details and the project’s impact on the community and future residents. Questions were posed and concerns voiced about the size of the effort.

The night before the meeting, Marc Trotz, director of housing for health at the County Department of Health Services, had been touting the plan. In an interview that evening, he told Downtown News that the project had to be in Downtown rather than another location because many of the people who would benefit from the New Cecil know Downtown as home, and it would be exponentially harder to get them to relocate to an area they do not know.

Still, the plan quickly fell apart. Late in the afternoon of Feb. 13, the deal was dead.

Waiting for Next After a year of working on the New Cecil, Chase is disappointed that it has been scrapped. He said the area needs the project to balance the thousands of market-rate units in the development pipeline.

“For those saying, ‘Let’s move it to another city,’ that’s never going to happen,” he said.

Chase said he will re-evaluate his options.

Neuman believes the Cecil will find another means of development that will offer affordable housing. He hopes it will include some residences for people who are home-

March 17, 2014

less or formerly homeless.

The question of what comes next for the Cecil is also being asked by area leaders.

Patti Berman, president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, points out that the current Cecil has been a vital resource that provides a destination for travelers on a budget, in particular international tourists. A transformation of the building would mean fewer visitors who patronize local businesses.

Blair Besten, executive director of the Historic Downtown Los Angeles Business Improvement District, said that in the future, she hopes the owner takes the entire neighborhood into consideration. Placing more permanent supportive housing in the Cecil would have amounted to “containment,” a term for keeping homeless services in a concentrated portion of the city, she said. She also noted the proximity of building residents to Skid Row drug dealers.

Besten’s containment concern was echoed by Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association and the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. Schatz said she supports “whatever the community wanted” and that her organizations made clear when they endorsed Home for Good that they hoped to see projects spread throughout the city and county.

With the Cecil still in the situation that prompted its owner to seek a radical change, community members are waiting to see what happens next. donna@downtownnews.com

March 17, 2014

Downtown News 9

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

DOWNTOWN LIVING

What’s in My Loft?

Downtown Dwellers Share a Few of Their Favorite Things

by Joey Kaufman, Photos by Gary Leonard

Ben Hensley and Michael Montiel Grand Central Square Apartments

T

he journeys Ben Hensley and Michael Montiel took to Downtown could hardly be more different: Hensley hails from Salina, Kansas, while Montiel grew up in nearby South Los Angeles. Still, those pasts have converged harmoniously: The two actors lived in the Gas Company Lofts for several years before moving in August 2012 into a second-floor unit in the Grand Central Square Apartments in the Historic Core.

“I always had my eye on this apartment complex because of the history,” Hensley said. “I always loved the architecture of this building.”

The duo have a vaudeville-style act known, fittingly, as Hensley & Montiel. Much of what is in their home is a testament to their appreciation of the past.

1. “This decorative ornament is from the Variety Arts Theatre on Figueroa Street,” Hensley says. “They had a sale. Michael walked by and bought that head for 20 bucks. We’re constantly looking for interesting objects around Downtown at various thrift stores or in alleys see What’s in My Loft?, page 10

10 Downtown News

DOWNTOWN LIVING

March 17, 2014

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 9 where there are all kinds of knickknacks, costumes and jewelry pieces.

Especially items that are theater-related and speak to our dramatic sensibilities.”

2. “The photo is the front of the Million Dollar Theatre,” says Hensley, referring to a picture of the building that houses the Grand Central Square Apartments. “It was taken in 1925. It’s a window of the famous film comedian Harold Lloyd in The Freshman. It’s the same window as exists today. We’re very inspired by him.”

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3. “That H&M trunk is a set piece in our show,” says Hensley, who has performed the act with Montiel from Utah to Seattle and throughout Southern California. “That’s the plot: Our grandfathers wanted to perform and act but never got to perform. The trunk they were going to use for their act is lost and then was discovered in the Million Dollar Theatre. So the whole show is about the unveiling of this trunk and all the props and the costumes come out of the trunk. We’re very connected to this old-time entertainment. This is how we justify, in our play, doing these old-timey songs.”

4. “I’ve always kind of naturally been a performer,” says Montiel, motioning to the six wigs he uses during his drag performances at Mickey’s in West Hollywood. “I enjoy designing costumes and putting things together. I’ve created Hummingbird, a sort of over-the-top character. Performing in drag is like a modern vaudeville in a way.

When you go to a drag show, there are many different performances and everyone is very different. And in vaudeville, you would see one act after another that are very different.”

March 17, 2014

DOWNTOWN LIVING

Downtown News 11

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March 17, 2014

DOWNTOWN LIVING

What’s in My Loft?

Flynn Helper and Anne Hodder Mercantile Lofts

F

lynn Helper and Anne Hodder moved into a fifth-floor apartment at the Mercantile Lofts on Main Street about seven months ago. Soon after, Helper’s

parents paid them a visit, and when mom and dad walked through the door, they unwittingly paid the couple one of the highest compliments possible.

“They said, ‘It’s like a museum in here,’” Hodder recalled. “And it kind of is. Every room you go into, every corner you look at, there’s something there.”

For Helper, a glassblower, and Hodder, a writer, there is a story behind virtually every object, many of which fill the walls in the space with 16-foot-high ceilings. They are

eager to share the tales.

1. “This is one of my favorite pieces of glass I’ve done: a leg,” says Helper. “It’s all blown glass. It’s technical skill. Nobody does limbs, not life size. None of it is glued. It’s all hot assembled. A lot of larger stuff like that would be glued. I made it all hot in 2008 when I

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Downtown News 13

DOWNTOWN LIVING

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 12 was living in Oregon.”

2. “I love taxidermy,” says Helper, pointing to a stuffed, two-headed duck. “That’s my prized taxidermy. And it’s more than taxidermy. I like weird funky stuff that gets a conversation started.” Adds Hodder, laughing, “Which is why our house looks like this.”

3. “I’m a cat person but a cool one,” Hodder says, motioning to a framed drawing of a feline on the wall. “My sister drew this cat with eyelashes, lipstick and blush when she was little.

So my mother found it and of course had to instantly frame it and give it to me. Because she lives back in Vermont, I don’t get to see her very much. My sister labeled it ‘Cat.’ It’s very adorable. This is like my family corner.”

4. “This really represents Downtown,” Helper says. “It’s by a local artist, Greg Brisson. When I first moved Downtown, we were out on an Art Walk and saw this painting. But I couldn’t afford it. At the end of the month, he emailed and said, ‘It didn’t sell and I have nowhere to keep it. Would you buy it for $500?’ Yeah, I’ll buy it for $500. He was just this really great old-school L.A./Silver Lake/Downtown artist.”

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14 Downtown News

March 17, 2014

DOWNTOWN LIVING

What’s in My Loft?

Harjas Kler Luma

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arjas Kler moved into a loft at the Luma building in South Park last September, and when she unpacked, she laid out plenty of history. Kler, a Los Angeles native, has already lived in India, Europe, Orange County and, most recently, Newport Beach. Not surprisingly, her 14th-

floor apartment is a bit like an ongoing scrapbook.

“My place is so eclectic and so strange,” Kler said. “It’s like bits and pieces from everywhere I’ve traveled to, or what I like. I just brought it all together.”

For Kler, a real estate investor, every memento and piece of furniture provides, in its own way, a link to the past.

1. “This dresser reminds me of India,” Kler says, pointing to the stand that also holds a TV. “It’s vintage. The colors

remind me of India, and Christmas too. And just love. The color and detail are so stressed. When I think of India it’s such a beautiful country but it has so many flaws. That’s what this reminds me of.”

2. “This kitchen island piece reminds me of when I lived in Europe,” says Kler, who studied abroad in college in Salamanca, Spain, and traveled to Italy as well. “It reminds me of a European wine, a Tuscan getaway. The finish is

see What’s in My Loft?, page 15

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 15

DOWNTOWN LIVING

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 14 strong, so rustic. Now, it’s like a kitchen table and can help with cooking. I’ll make Bolognese with sautéed onions, bell pepper, garlic, mushrooms, olive oil, canned tomato sauce and half a cup of red wine. And entertain with friends on the fourth floor at the pool deck.”

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3. Kler walks to a bookshelf and pulls out a book entitled The Go-Giver. “This is my favorite,” she says. “I’ve read it like five times. It’s about giving back, and I try.

There’s a place called School on Wheels on Skid Row, where I tutor kids. I started in late December. I help them with any homework: reading and math and book reports. They range from first grade to high school. I go every week. It’s a big part of me. My grandma started a school in India in her village.

My mom has that same spirit too.”

4. “I have probably 700 CDs, but I just started collecting records,” Kler says. “I have my favorites. You’ll see Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Coldplay. It’s eclectic, not just one genre. That’s how I feel Downtown is: It’s unique and different, and not just one neighborhood. That’s kind of what I think Downtown represents.”

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March 17, 2014

DOWNTOWN LIVING

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When visitors ask about Bunker Hill, the author explains that it’s “like the Upper East Side of Downtown,” a not-so-edgy, more tree-lined part of the neighborhood.

By Lisa Napoli moved to Bunker Hill for a year — a decade ago. That was back when the streets rolled up at 6 p.m. and people either sneered or marveled when you told them where you lived, like Downtown Los Angeles was Afghanistan or something.

This was just after the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in

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MY DOWNTOWN 2003, but B.G. (before Golden Gopher), B.R. (Ralphs) and B.W. (Wurstküche). In those days, if more than three people were hanging out at the Groundwork café in the Arts District on a Saturday morning, it felt crowded. During one of the very first Art Walks, I saw more sad homeless people lining the streets than art patrons.

Why did I choose this odd sliver of a neighborhood in this grand metropolis? Because, upon arriving here in 2004 from my native New York, I had a goal for the very first time in my life: to not waste one precious moment commuting.

The gig at the public radio show “Marketplace” that lured me out here required erratic and sometimes overnight hours. From the studio at Figueroa Courtyard I gazed across the street at the apartment towers, discovered there was a massive swimming pool in the back, and marched into the rental office to sign a lease.

My view from the 18th floor of Disney Hall, of City Hall and of the San Gabriel Mountains dazzled visitors, especially ones from my hometown. “This is like the Upper East Side of Downtown,” I’d explain (despite my usual insistence that comparing L.A. and NY was a pointless, apples-to-oranges exercise). When aghast Westsiders asked if I lived in a loft, I’d disappoint them by saying I lived in the not-so-edgy, more tree-lined part of the neighborhood.

When the lease expired I found myself signing another, without hesitation. Around that glorious swimming pool I’d met some great neighbors. Not to mention the amenities within walking distance: The public library! The YMCA! I’d found my spots and my peeps, and since I wasn’t wasting time in traffic commuting, I could fully enjoy both.

Aside from my sweet little lifestyle, I’d also become curious about the past, the history of Bunker Hill. As I learned about the aging Victorian mansions that had been seized by eminent domain in order to make way for, well, structures like my building, I felt a sense of duty and responsibility to stick around and learn more. As someone who doesn’t think too much about Hollywood, I found it amusing when the film crews rolled in. I became something of an expert on car commercials, which is ironic because I only used my car to go to Trader Joe’s in Silver Continued on page 19

17 Downtown News

March 17, 2014

DOWNTOWN LIVING

In the Arts District, Change Is a Constant An Eight-Year Resident Has an Up-Close View of the Community’s Transformation

By Bob Shilland ight years ago I moved into a live-work loft in an adaptive reuse, 1920s rag warehouse in the Arts District, on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles. It was rainy and gloomy on the day I relocated from Hollywood.

As I write this on a late February day, it is again rainy and gloomy. But so much has

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The Arts District has become fairly walkable, with plenty of restaurants, bars and entertainment options. One of the busiest areas is around Traction Avenue and Third and Hewitt streets.

MY DOWNTOWN happened in this neighborhood between these two rainstorms.

In 2006, there was a weekly neighborhood walk led by activist/icon/store owner Joel Bloom.

It was an adventure: Along with old-timers, new residents, an LAPD Senior Lead Officer and a gaggle of dogs, one never knew what seedy individuals and/or activities we would encounter along our 90-minute saunter. That pioneering frisson was, in part, what brought new residents like me to this little sector, which at the time lacked the development seen in the Historic Core, South Park and other neighborhoods.

Joel passed away in 2007, and I sometimes wonder what he would think of the enormous ground-up projects happening all across the area. Developments like One Santa Fe and the MegaToys replacement will bring a total of approximately 800 living units to the area, along with shops and entertainment spaces. Suddenly, the long-sleepy Arts District, a place where artists could once find large spaces for cheap rents, is a hot enclave. I have a pretty fair idea of what Joel would say to all this, and it is some-

photo by Gary Leonard

thing that can’t be printed here.

While your view of whether the Arts District “jumped the shark” may depend on how long you have lived here, the smaller housing projects built after 2006 started to add some structure to the neighborhood, bringing in new life and new families. This is one of the things I really like about living here: We are showing that it is possible to rejuvenate an old area zoned for “noxious” industries with vibrant ideas, restaurants, bars, stores and personalities.

I am centrally located in the Arts District, and can easily walk in any direction to find a vast array of places to eat or drink. Head north or west and I’m at Americano, Wurstküche, Novel, Zip, Umami, Nola’s or One-Eyed Gypsy. Wander south or east and I’m at Villains Tavern, Urban

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Radish, Little Bear, Church & State, Pour Haus, Daily Dose, Pizzanista, Tony’s or the relatively new, amazing culinary destinations Bestia and Factory Kitchen. These places are getting national recognition, and they are right in our own little AD. They’re not the only advances either, and these days one can literally wake up and smell the coffee in the Arts District. Urth Caffe was the first roaster to take a chance on the AD and it has paid off. Handsome Coffee Roasters followed suit and brought more hipsters (and Jerry Seinfeld) to Mateo Street. Stumptown Coffee Roasters brewed up additional competition.

Like any neighborhood, the Arts District has its drawbacks. My neighbors and I are frequently frustrated by the increased traffic snarls, park-

ing shortages and occasional boorish behavior which comes with the influx of people enjoying the places named above. Then there are the ubiquitous film and commercial shoots for which the community is famous/notorious, and while production crews once might have taken the neighborhood for granted because almost no one complained, now it is a place where people live and need their sleep. These issues could become even more troubling with additional new building projects on the horizon.

Living in the Arts District the last eight years has provided a fascinating experience in city planning, local politics and group dynamics. For years there was a Business Improvement District that enhanced the area with security officers on bikes and cleaning crews. Then, last year, the BID was shut down following legal challenges from another group of business owners. The interruption was troubling for everyone, but fortunately two rival groups recently reached an agreement and a new BID will soon form. The AD is back in BIDness, baby!

I have enjoyed my view of the Arts District, which includes a bridge, trees (!), an occasional train and, on clear days, even the mountains. I have tried to give something back by picking up trash, serving three years as treasurer on my HOA board, meeting neighbors on local walks, attending area planning meetings, reporting hinky activities and dropping thousands of dollars at local purveyors of fine food and beverage.

As a retiree, I now have additional free time and hope to provide my services to the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council, of which the Arts District is a small but vital component. After all that the district has given me over the years, I’m excited by the opportunity to give back even more.

18 Downtown News

In the Historic Core Tidal Pool Life in a Neighborhood Where People Come and Go

By Dan Johnson e sat together on the outside patio at the restaurant Blossom on Main Street. It was a warm night. The usual dog attendants and aimless wanderers were out strolling the streets of the Historic Core. I

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MY DOWNTOWN stirred my noodles aimlessly and she stared at me as if I had a pronounced hole in my head.

It was a first date and, judging by the strength of her incredulous gaze, I reckoned it would be our last.

She had just finished telling me about her time abroad in Spain during college and how travelling through Europe had left an indelible impression on her, which was all well and good.

But then she began to explore my lack of wanderlust.

She was aghast to discover that, at that very moment, no part of me was secretly longing to be on the banks of the Seine or gazing up at the Tokyo skyline. No, I was then and remain content to be in the Historic Core.

We just weren’t speaking the same language, and I can’t blame her. She hadn’t spent

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any time in Downtown Los Angeles. Limited moments in this neighborhood are wholly inadequate to understand why so many choose to call the Historic Core home. This place is an ever-shifting source of urban wonder.

Perhaps the best way to think of the Historic Core is as a massive tidal pool. Though every neighborhood has its populations that shift over the course of a day, this community, more than any other in Downtown and perhaps any in Los Angeles, sees people adapt and comingle in a daily cycle of tides.

Our neighborhood is defined by a constant, restless flow of Angelenos washing through, and the residents emerge as stationary nomads (or are we barnacles?) perching in the surplus of available windows and patios, watching the Continued on page 20

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 19

DOWNTOWN LIVING

Grit and Creativity in Skid Row It’s Not for Everyone, but One Former Hollywood Resident Finds a Welcoming Environment

By Tom Berman rowing up on the asphalt playgrounds of the Valley, I understood Downtown Los Angeles as an abstract concept: a zone packed with boxy municipal buildings and the sort of traffic that might make my Mom say bad words. I’d picture the opening credits from the cop show “Dragnet.”

G

MY DOWNTOWN Years later, as an idealist in the field of professional politics, I arrived Downtown to work in the municipal buildings. With reluctance, I absorbed the tough lesson about government: It’s a place where too many go to do well, rather than do good.

Like a lot of L.A. residents, my perceptions of the area started to change. Through magazine covers and word-of-mouth, I became more aware of a vision for Downtown as an on-the-rise urban core gilded by thrilling nightlife and a gritty art scene. The setting appealed to me, because life in Hollywood and work in politics left me inclined toward a more urban and creative lifestyle. More and more, I looked to Downtown.

Through dumb luck, I befriended a group sharing an unorthodox living situation. Although few know about it, there’s a creative complex called Catalyst perched on Fifth Street over the troubled intersection of Skid Row and the Toy District. At the time, its 10 residents ran the gamut from painters and filmmakers to bakers and leatherworkers.

When a room opened up about two years ago, I decided to take a chance and move in. If nothing else, I figured it’d be a welcome change from my solo apartment in Beachwood Canyon. As a bonus, I’d get to live closer to the Dodgers and the Last Bookstore.

When I moved in, the other residents didn’t offer direct lessons in creativity, aside from a Martha Graham quote about staying out of your own way that I found stuck to a refrigerator.

Instead, I learned by example. As a student in New York, I’d accustomed myself to dashing to corner stores for quick meals between subway rides. But as a newly minted Downtowner, I watched as friends took their time to assemble meals with care and precision. In contrast to the frenetic speed of political campaigns, I started to adapt to a slower pace.

Catalyst’s center is its sole kitchen, a 1,500-square-foot converted warehouse space with brightly colored floor-to-ceiling murals on each of its walls. With an adjoining foyer, it simultaneously serves as a studio and gallery as well as a place to cook. It brings everyone together, and while it’s curious to mix art and food preparation in the same place, for us it follows a theme.

When you train yourself to cook or paint, you have to wing it and learn to flow. You start with an ingredient, or a layer of color, and then you reflect for a moment before making the next move. One decision follows another, and a meal or a painting begins to take shape. The more you practice, the easier it gets.

An advantage of our location is proximity to the Historic Core, the Fashion District and the rest of Downtown. Art supplies from

BUNKER HILL, 16 Lake or to the beach on weekends.

Then, as it always does, life took a turn. For reasons too complicated to explain here, I started traveling back and forth to the other side of the planet, to a little country called Bhutan. That was almost as bizarre as my choice to live in Downtown L.A. The stars aligned and I got a generous book deal that enabled me to leave my day job. I was free to relocate anywhere in the world!

Though I returned to Asia to start writing, I found myself coming back to finish the book on Bunker Hill. By then one of my best friends had transferred to L.A. and moved into the building. Thus commenced our own version of “Seinfeld.”

Once the book was delivered to the publisher, the timing was right, again, to vamoose back to the East Coast. Then, in the lobby of my beloved Central Library one afternoon, I found myself falling in love — with a guy named Ted. He asked me to please not move, to give our romance a try.

photo by Gary Leonard

Living in Skid Row east of Los Angeles Street presents challenges and an environment that few can or want to understand.

Raw Materials are just a quick walk away, and so are Metro stops offering access to the rest of the city.

The neighborhood east of Los Angeles Street isn’t known for being pleasant. A lot goes on that most would find hard to see each day. Sometimes you smell it, sometimes you step over it, and sometimes it’s screamed in your face. You don’t feel unsafe, but it’s taxing to see people sleeping on sidewalks within the same field of view as advertisements for luxury condos.

While some of Catalyst’s residents volunteer in the neighborhood, we don’t seek to alter the character of the area. We reside in a space apart from day-to-day life on the streets, but we don’t see our decision to live here as a step toward gentrification. The missions and non-profits that provide help and support to Skid Row residents aren’t going anywhere. It’s realistic to predict that we’ll be the ones to leave the neighborhood first.

From the roof of our building, there’s so much to take in. Look up, and there’s a stirring tableau of Downtown featuring a smallbut-visible mural by the street artist JR: an eyeball that stares back as you gawk at the skyline. Look down, and you view the difficult realities of homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

It’s like living in one of those surreal-but-prescient ’80s sci-fi novels, and maybe that’s the point. If you can resist the urge to avert your eyes, you take in the full picture of L.A.’s achievements, as well as the challenges that persist. It’s jarring but it’s honest, and that’s crucial, because progress begins from a position of truth.

I couldn’t think of a good reason to say no. When we decided to live together, there was little debate over where it would be. Ted’s place near LACMA was far bigger, but the convenience, the neighbors and the swimming pool on Bunker Hill were far more enticing.

Are there shortfalls? Sure. That glorious pool is currently off-limits due to a dispute that’s out of our control. Eli Broad’s new museum has blocked part of our view. Along with the trendy people who over the last few years have discovered the neighborhood (one kind of problem), some less savory types have, too (stirring up other issues).

In response, I’ve become something of a community activist, working to clean things up around the area. I relish the cooking club I lead at the Downtown Women’s Center, where we do a bit to help our less fortunate neighbors. If you had told me all of this 10 years ago, of course I wouldn’t have believed you.

Brooklyn may be where I was born, but Bunker Hill has become my home.

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Historic core, 18

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world drift by.

From Bunker Hill come the professionals, with a distinguished regularity to their attire and the busy demeanor that comes with spending too many hours each week worrying about someone else’s money. Some land here during the lunch hour while others roll through for a quick happy hour once the 9-5 day ends.

In stark contrast, the population of Skid Row spreads through the community each day. At nearly all points of the sunlight hours they search for quiet places to cohabitate or engage their neighbors with the desperation that comes with spending too many hours each week worrying about their own money.

The Fashion District lends us its bumper crop

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of hyper-stylized designers and assistants while the Civic Center dispenses suit-clad individuals who hole up in the area’s restaurants and coffee shops to compare notes on various wheelings and dealings.

Still a whole other cross-section of Los Angeles bleeds into the Historic Core at night in search of the excitement that comes with occupying a bar stool for too long and spending the wee hours of the morning braying about the quiet streets.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Stay long enough and you’ll begin to notice the white rabbits that crowd our historic streets: flamboyantly dressed men jaunting about on their bicycles, the occasional gaggle of weekend Mennonites and squalor-sensitive bros from the Westside all take their place.

This mix of types and shifts is not exactly an easy thing to explain over dinner to someone unfamiliar with the area. Part of that is because, in all honestly, sometimes truly enjoying this place is no easy feat.

The rewards of living in this part of Downtown are not instantaneous and not for everyone. Living here is an investment. There are plenty of payoffs, but it takes time to learn the rhythms of the place.

The visceral joy of life in the Historic Core is paid for in full with weekly challenges ranging from frivolous (and pricey) jaywalking tickets to the occasional riot and a profusion of morbid tragedies that occur too frequently.

The highs are high and the lows are low.

Still I can’t help but feel that without the tension of this place, my existence would feel

terribly undefined.

What would my life be without spending a glorious afternoon sitting in Spring Street Park, only to witness two neighbors nearly come to blows over a request to clean up dog feces?

Would I still enjoy seeing someone belt out a classic tune at Gong Show Karaoke at Bar 107 if judge Trucker Schweinsteiger wasn’t there to mock them?

Will I ever again be this eager to see a screaming man ride a bicycle with a different costume each day?

These are answers I don’t have. Still, I am fairly certain that each ensuing moment here will be different. Blessedly, all signs indicate that this neighborhood will continue to change, one way or another. Any way it flows, we’ll be there to see it come and go.

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 21

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

DT

Patient Suffering The exhibit contains more than 200 images of men and women, some nude, all with skin functioning as a canvas. Photographed by Kip Fulbeck, whose work has been displayed repeatedly at JANM, the collection includes a handful of life-size portraits hanging from the ceiling.

Show curator and tattoo artist Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura described Japanese tattooing as an art form that represents the history and culture of a nation. Across Kitamura’s own back is a depiction of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the samurai who united Japan and created peace in the country. Kitamura loved the story of how he rose from servant to the head of the nation.

Kitamura and Fulbeck have another tie in addition to curator and photographer: tattoo artist and client.

“He’s the first person to put needles into my skin that weren’t vaccinations,” Fulbeck said of his inaugural tattoo, a red koi on his left arm. During the inking, Fulbeck recalled, his body shook so badly that Kitamura had to send him home because he could not continue the design.

The anecdote explains the exhibit’s title. The Japanese word for “perseverance,” gaman, translates as “patient suffering” or endurance with dignity for a purpose, Kitamura said. Gaman is a state of mind, as well as a word that people in some regions of Japan use for tattoo.

The exhibit Perseverance: Another artist whose work is on display is Kazuaki Japanese Tattoo Tradition in “Horitomo” Kitamura (no relation to the curator). Cona Modern World shows work sidered a master in the hand tattooing, or tebori methfrom 40 artists. od, which predates the electric machine, Kitamura also worked on Fulbeck. His depiction of a Buddhist figure required working on the photographer every day for five weeks, from 90 minutes to three hours at a time. Before Perseverance was even conceived, Fulbeck flew to Yokohama, Japan, for what amounted to 20 separate sessions.

“Tattoo is a symbol of patience,” Kitamura said.

The high-end tattoo world is somewhat insular. When asked about the price of large-scale works, Kitamura the curator bristled, calling the question Now Playing/Starts Mar 7 “tacky” and saying only that people invest a lot of time, money and pain to get inked. nNews “Horitaka” Kitamura said most of his clients come in monthly Facebook.com/L.A.Downtow for a few hours at a time. However, he has seen people receive full body suits in one year, “but that means a very frequent apLike Downtown News on Facebook JANM Exhibit Explores the Culture pointment schedule.” & Be Entered to Win Movie Tickets!

And Artistry of Tattooing There’s another question common to the unmarked: What if, after hours of blood, sweat and ink, the client regrets the illustration? “Horitaka” Kitamura said this rarely occurs because of how much effort goes into acquiring the extensive artwork.

“Tattoo people live in the present. We do not think about 30 Los Angeles exhibit. Still, four decades after her first design, ShiBy Donna Evans years from now. We enjoy the now,” he said. mada couldn’t quite pinpoint what keeps her entrenched. rowing up in 1960s Tokyo, Junko Shimada was enamRegret is a concept quickly dismissed by Perseverance model “Somehow, I love it. There is pain, but then you heal and the ored by the tattoos she saw needled into men’s skin.

Richard Parish, who wears work from Stan Corona and Chris art remains,” she said.

Men on TV, men walking down the street. Her parents Brand over most of his body. The 29-year-old Lakewood resident Tattoos have long been considered socially taboo in Japan, chided her for staring, and when she asked a tattoo-covered is half Japanese and said he was fortunate that family members partly due to the ink displayed on members of the yakuza (an stranger how she, too, could be inked, the man scoffed. He got tattoos first, paving the way for acceptance of his extensive organized crime syndicate), and partly for the government’s histold her to blame her parents for not giving birth to a boy.

Nowresorts Playing/Starts work.Mar He 14 believes tattoos are an “eye-catching medium” to portorical practice of using tattoos to mark criminals. Some Literally taking matters into her own hands, a teenage Shitray Japan’s rich culture. and gyms in Japan, as well as other public places where people madaMO tied dipped it in ink and BILEa sewing needle to a short pencil, IE to 55678* DTNM CLU Textcross Parish would know. He strolled the opening reception wearmarked a Bhalf-inch intoOV her thigh. The pain-laced sensation bare their skin, have signs that forbid exposing tattoos. ing only flip-flops and a fundoshi, which resembles thong underIt is this kind of stigma that JANM wants to help shed. gave her a strange satisfaction, she said. She felt alive.

DTNMOVIE to 55678 to Join Our wear. He said the outfit was daunting at first, but he felt a broth“We have an obligation to recognize this cultural inheriNow, 40 Text years later, Shimada wears a traditional “body suit”Movie Club andis be Entered to Win Tickets!tance and to honor it even if it still remains something of an erhood walking amid the other 20 or so models, and was proud (full body tattoo) and recognized as one of theMovie most impormsg & data rates apply. Reply HELP for help.

STOP to quit. max. association in Japan, itself,” Greg Kimura, the JANM that the focus was on the art. outlaw tant women*Carrier in Japanese tattooing, a field still dominated by4 msgs/month Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World president and CEO, said at a March 7 opening reception for men. Shimada, who inks under the name “Junii,” is one of 40 artruns through Sept. 14 at the Japanese American National Museum, the show. He described Perseverance, two years in the making, ists whose work hangs in the just-opened Japanese American 100 N. Central Ave., (213) 625-0414 or janm.org. Hours are 11 a.m.as historic, and pointed out that the museum is making the National Museum exhibit Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition 5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, except Thursday, which is 12-8 p.m. Closed “provocative and radical argument” that Japanese tattooing is in a Modern World. The show runs through Sept.14.

Monday. a full-fledged art form, one that can be traced to the ukiyo-e Shimada, who lives in San Francisco and runs the Diamond donna@downtownnews.com Club Tattoo parlor, said it is an honor to be part of the Downtown wood block prints of the 1600s.

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March 17, 2014

Not Quite Perfect Harmony Barry Manilow’s Musical at the Ahmanson Doesn’t Quite Come Together

By Jeff Favre he verdict came in decades ago on Barry Manilow as a pop music hit maker. His infectious melodies for catchy, sappy love songs remain radio favorites. At 70, he still packs houses for his tours.

The jury remains out, however, on Barry Manilow the Broadway musical composer. His schlock-filled Copacabana proved that a full show doesn’t simply spring from one enjoyable four-minute song. Manilow hasn’t given up, though, as he returns, again, to the wildly uneven but occasionally wonderful Harmony, a collaboration with Copacabana lyricist and librettist Bruce Sussman.

First staged in 1997, followed by a failed attempt to get to Broadway a decade ago (lack of funds was cited for the pre-New York shutdown), and then revised last year in Atlanta, Harmony opened last week at Downtown’s Ahmanson Theatre. It’s one of the few shows on the Ahmanson stage in recent seasons that isn’t part of a tour or a pre-Broadway run, though Manilow has made clear those are his intentions. Directed by Tony Speciale, the musical runs through April 13.

The name Manilow has clout, but Harmony hardly has Broadway smash written over it, given its bloated first act, its nearly three-hour running time and source material that few Americans know.

What’s most frustrating, however, is that Har-

T

mony is not too far from being on pitch and in step. Its struggles, unfortunately, are all pre-intermission.

Manilow and Sussman are bent on cramming the entire backstory into the opening title song.

Despite its pristine blending of six voices — part of an enjoyable ensemble — the song loses its goodwill after about four minutes, with another several to go.

What’s explained between the refrains by narrator Rabbi (Shayne Kennon) is that in late 1920s Berlin, six guys from disparate walks of life join voices to form the Comedian Harmonists. After a few years of struggling and singing in a subway station (part of Tobin Ost’s impressive scenic design of an increasingly oppressive country), the very early version of a “boy band” catches a break. By 1932, the members are touring the world, including a triumphant 1933 performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, after which Albert Einstein (Brandon O’Dell) visits them backstage.

Clouds loom over the rise to stardom because some of the members are Jewish, and it doesn’t take an historian to know that Adolf Hitler’s rise to power spells likely doom for the band. The group has a choice to stay in America or return to its homeland.

Manilow and Sussman are on their game with the performance numbers, most notably in the clever, quite funny “Lost in the Shadows,” sung by Marlene Dietrich (Lauren Elaine Taylor)

What a six pack: The musical Harmony recounts the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a sextet that formed in Germany in the 1920s.

photo by Craig Schwartz

with the Harmonists using their voices as backup instruments.

The problems come from the early songs intended to further the plot. “And What Do You See?” and “This Is Our Time” are lengthy, forgettable and more formulaic than inspired. A drawnout wedding scene, which tries to emphasize the love stories for two of the men, could be cut without being missed. Also, the Nazi conflict doesn’t arrive in a meaningful way until Act II. It’s worth sticking around, though, for the taut second half, which includes the evening’s highlights, a musically skilled “Hungarian Rhapsody #20” and the darkly satirical “Come to the Fatherland.”

Both in voice and acting, the cast is ideal, with a slight standout being Will Blum as Lesh, a soaring tenor with sharp comedic timing.

Choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter favors sharply executed but smaller dances to extravagance, best exemplified in “How Can I Serve

City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks

Pershing Square Presents

You, Madame?,” which has the half-dressed men trying to hide behind inappropriate food choices, with humorous results.

Speciale keeps the action moving. He finds the proper tone shifts from comedy to drama without much awkwardness, but the book is too thin to give significant weight to the turmoil in Germany at the time.

Speciale said in a recent Downtown News interview that he hopes audience members after seeing the show “go home to their computers and learn about the people the characters were based on.” Whether viewers do this or not, the story is fascinating and worthy of more study.

Without more work on the show itself, however, Harmony will remain an unrealized hit, leaving Manilow still searching for success in a genre beyond pop.

Harmony runs through April 13 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-4444 or centertheatregroup.com.

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 23

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

DT

CALENDAR LISTINGS EVENTS

Tuesday, March 18 Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7500 or lfla.org.

7:15 p.m.: Tonight’s Aloud program features KPCC’s Alex Cohen and philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. They’ll ponder the importance of ancient thought in this technologically heightened era. The event is BYOH, or bring your own hemlock.

Friday, March 21 Model Behavior Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St., (213) 488-0599 or lastbookstorela.com.

7:30 p.m.: If you’re sick of Camus and just can’t seem to find that old thrill that Tolstoy used to give you, be sure to check out the winner of “America’s Next Top Model” season 4, Naima Mora.

She’ll be dropping her latest contribution to the English canon, the autobiographical Model Behavior.

photo courtesy of Goldenvoice

ROCK, POP & JAZZ Belasco 1050 S. Hill St., (213) 746-5670 or thebelascotheater.com.

March 18, 8 p.m.: Mainstream indie act Band of Skulls combines Kings of Leon sass with Black Keys fuzz tones.

Blue Whale 123 Astronaut E. S. Onizuka St., (213) 620-0908 or bluewhalemusic.com.

March 18: The Bill Cunliffe NY Trio has escaped from NY. March 19: Roger Neumann and Larry Koonse.

March 20: Dan Schnelle Group.

March 21: Dontae Winslow.

March 22: John Daversa Small Band.

March 23: Joomanji.

Bootleg Bar 2220 Beverly Blvd., (213) 389-3856 or bootlegtheater.org.

March 17, 9 p.m.: Moses Sumney will not be accepting your loud demands to play “Whiskey in the Jar.” March 18, 8 p.m.: From all outward appearances, Rozzi Crane Continued on next page

With all due respect to ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, the long-awaited condiment revolution is upon us. Or so says the Chinese American Museum. The just-opened exhibit at the El Pueblo attraction, L.A. Heat: Taste Changing Condiments, highlights the importance of Sriracha and Tapatio as tongue-tingling alternatives to the sauce establishment. Bask in the glow of art inspired by the two devilish hot sauces. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. If you’re planning to drop by on a Monday, better cool your jets — the joint will be closed. At 425 N. Los Angeles St., (213) 485-8567 or camla.org.

David Gilmour just turned 68. Rick Wright is no longer with us.

Roger Waters is doing his own thing. Nick Mason is really into cars.

Yes, your opportunity to see the spectacle of the great and wise Pink Floyd live in concert is long gone. Instead, get your fix checking out the multimedia extravaganza that is ultra-loyal cover band The Pink Floyd Experience, which comes to Downtown’s gorgeous Orpheum Theatre on Friday, March 21. They’re on their “Greatest Hits and Rarities Tour,” so don’t expect to hear Dark Side in its entirety. Instead, you’ll get some deep cuts from Animals, Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Meddle, all of which will leave you comfortably numb. At 842 S. Broadway, (877) 677-4386 or laorpheum.com.

sunday, March 23 So You Think You Can Dance Auditions 842 S. Broadway, (877) 677-4386 or laorpheum.com.

8 a.m.: Whether you’ve been practicing your routine for months on the corner of Fifth and Broadway or are just coming off of a particularly jaw-clenching evening at the local rave club, all are welcome to strut their stuff.

photo courtesy of Lefteris Photography

photo courtesy of RT N the 44s

For the uninitiated, classical music did not stop with Debussy and Stravinsky. Few local organizations better embody the future of the genre than Piano Spheres, whose monthly ivory-tickling sessions continue on Tuesday, March 18, with returning pianist Vicki Ray. Ray will show up at Zipper Hall in the Colburn School to deliver a performance dubbed “New Territories,” complete with works by Christopher Cerrone, Joseph Pereira, Donnacha Denneby, George Aperghis, Metallica and Vicki Ray herself (one of those isn’t true). At press time tickets were still available to the 8 p.m. show. At 200 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2200 or colburnschool.edu.

If you grew up giggling to the situational comedy “Full House” or indulging in the family-oriented sadism of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” we have a bit of somewhat disturbing news: Bob Saget is not the clean-cut public figure you think he is. The surprisingly foul-mouthed comedian will be dropping by Club Nokia on Friday, March 21, to perform a bit of off-color stand-up in support of his autobiography Dirty Daddy. Don’t expect the soft stuff folks, as this is not the Saget who raised three girls to be responsible adults on TV. No, this is the Saget from “Entourage,” The Aristocrats and Half Baked.

Beware. At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-7000 or clubnokia.com.

Send information and possible Don’t Miss List submissions to calendar@downtownnews.com.

photo courtesy the Pink Floyd Experience

Thursday, March 20 Fred Moten at REDCAT REDCAT, 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

8:30 p.m.: English Literature and American Studies mastermind Fred Moten delivers his thoughts of the subject of “The Sustain: Blackness and Poetry.” That’s poetry, not pottery.

George Packer at Aloud Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7500 or lfla.org.

7:15 p.m.: The New Yorker’s George Packer presents his latest book, The Unwinding, and discusses the drastic structural and moral fluctuations that have transpired in the past 50 years of the American experiment. Justin Bieber has to be in there somewhere, right?

Yung Jake at MOCA MOCA, 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-1745 or moca.org.

7 p.m.: Artist Yung Jake will be commandeering a projector to show off some of his favorite music videos, art and digital detritus in this voyage into one strange personality’s Internet.

Down on Boyd Street, the folks at The Escondite are pioneering a new form of Downtown living centered on strong ale, good burgers and loud music. Even though St. Patrick’s Day falls on a sobering Monday this year, the bar will be holding down the fort with its third annual day-long free concert. The show kicks off at noon on Monday, March 17, with RT N the 44s (shown here) followed by the ever-entertaining Boom Boom Boom, Speed Buggy, Johnny Moezzi and, finally, Boys School. It promises to be a long day, so be sure to grab some corned beef to fortify your stomach. At 410 Boyd St., (213) 626-1800 of theescondite.com.

photo courtesy Chinese American Museum

Wednesday, March 19 SCI-Arc Lecture Series SCI-Arc, 255 S. Santa Fe Ave., (213) 613-2200 or sciarc.edu.

7 p.m.: You probably spend 27% of the day discussing the interplay between architecture and green space, but Princeton University’s Stan Allen will do it better, thank you, in a discussion dubbed “Landscapes and Buildings.”

By Dan Johnson | calendar@downtownnews.com

24 Downtown News Continued from previous page is a thoughtful, talented singer/songwriter.

March 19, 7 p.m.: If Peaches rapped about the existential void that is today’s generation, she’d sound a lot like tonight’s artist, K.Flay.

March 19, 9 p.m.: Syracuse, New York’s latest contribution to the punk dialogue will hereby be referred to as Perfect Kitty Cat. March 19, 11 p.m.: The Heavenly Beats, and whatever music he happens to play.

March 20, 9 p.m.: The Belle Game correctly intuited that more people would take their tension-fraught indie rock seriously if they chose not to smile in their press photo.

March 21, 9:30 p.m.: If you’re looking for inoffensive music to license for your latest fabric softener commercial, you’ll be enthralled by Wakey! Wakey!

March 22, 9 p.m.: Small Black is a Brooklyn-based synth pop band with a name that also serves as an Ad-Lib for you to add a noun to.

March 23, 8 p.m.: Singer/songwriter Cold Air will be answer-

Volunteers Needed!

Monday, April 28 and Tuesday, April 29, 2014

C A L I F O R N I A S TAT E C A L I SF O CR I ENNI AC ES TFAAT IE R S C I E N C E F A I R

Be a part of the 63nd Annual California State Science Fair See top high school competitors present their at the California Science Center.

Be a part of the 63nd Annual California State Science Fair at the California Science Center. explorations in Astronomy, Aerodynamics, Biology, Chemistry, and more.

See top high Electronics, school competitors

present their100explorations in Astronomy, More than volunteers are needed each day toAerodynamics, assist with registration, directions, Chemistry, project transport, Biology, display monitoring, meal distribution, etc.

Electronics, and more. (unpaid positions) More thanFor100 morevolunteers infomation: are needed each day (213) 744-2124 to assist with Phone: registration, directions, project transport, Email: volunteerdept@cscmail.org display monitoring, meal distribution, etc.

Website: californiasciencecenter.org positions) General(unpaid Information-->Employment-->Volunteer

For more information: Phone: (213) 744-2124 Email: volunteerdept@cscmail.org We b s i t e : c a l i f o r n i a s c i e n c e c e n t e r. o r g General Information-->Employment-->Volunteer

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS ing the age-old question, “Are there hipsters in Poland?” The answer is a resounding yes.

Casey’s 613 S. Grand Ave., (213) 629-2353 or 213nightlife.com/caseys March 17, 6 a.m.: The yearly street-closing shenanigans continue with the St. Patricks’ Day bonanza. Unlike years prior, adjacent businesses will not have to listen to an absurd U2 cover band, but will instead be treated to DJs Aaron Castle, Waldo and Timmy Two Shoes.

Club Nokia 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-7000 or clubnokia.com.

March 21, 9 p.m.: True American hero, vulgar stand-up and father of three: Bob Saget.

March 22, 9 p.m.: Ultra chic Swedish indie quintet The Sounds made a name for themselves in the early 2000s.

Escondite 410 Boyd St., (213) 626-1800 or theescondite.com.

March 17, 12 p.m.: The third annual St. Patrick’s Day Fiasco features RT N the 44s, Boom Boom Boom, Speed Buggy, Johnny Moezzi and Boys School.

March 18, 10 p.m.: Boom Boom Boom will be dropping the jams for the second straight day with help from Bunny West.

March 19, 10 p.m.: The Sunset Drifters open it up for funk de blanc from The Vibrometers.

March 20, 10 p.m.: Rarely do two bands with more contrasting names than The Punknecks and My Baby play a double bill.

March 21, 9 p.m.: My Baby returns to do a little corner stage action with Trevor Menear.

March 22, 10 p.m.: Johnny Moezzi and Charlie Chan and the SOB’s unite for another rousing Saturday.

March 23, 10 p.m.: If it’s Sunday, it must be RT N the 44s.

Exchange LA 618 S. Spring St., (213) 627-8070 or exchangela.com.

March 21, 10 p.m.: Fedde Legrand.

March 22, 10 p.m.: Adam Beyer.

Grammy Museum 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or grammymuseum.org.

March 17, 8 p.m.: John Nemeth recently moved from the West Coast to Memphis. Does he know something we don’t?

March 20, 8 p.m.: St. Vincent is killing the indie game right now.

She’ll be dropping by to unload her new album to the select few who had the foresight to purchase a ticket before they sold out.

March 17, 2014

Ham and Eggs 433 W. Eighth St. or hamandeggstavern.com.

March 17, 9 p.m.: Telecaves, Gregg Skloff and more.

March 18, 9 p.m.: Turtle Puberty.

March 19, 9 p.m.: DIM. Honeycut 819 S. Flower St., (213) 688-0888 or honeycutla.com.

March 20, 10 p.m.: DJ Rob Ackroyd.

March 21, 10 p.m.: Jack of All Tracks.

March 22, 8 p.m.: DJ Aaron Castle.

Nokia Theatre 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6030 or nokiatheatrelalive.com.

March 22, 2 and 7:30 p.m. and March 23, 1 p.m.: You’ve seen the overzealous smattering of television commercials and billboards for this program of traditional Chinese music and dance.

Now it’s your turn to determine whether the Shen Yun promoters are truly desperate for ticket sales or just really pumped on silk costumes.

Nola’s 734 E. Third St, (213) 680-3003 or nolasla.com.

March 22, 9 p.m.: Ace Saturdays—Pure Addiction.

One-Eyed Gypsy 901 E. First St., (626) 340-3529 or one-eyedgypsy.com.

March 19, 10 p.m.: Hot Club Vignati.

Orpheum Theatre 842 Broadway, (877) 677-4386 or laorpheum.com.

March 21, 8 p.m.: Many crazy diamonds will be shining on with ultimate cover band The Pink Floyd Experience.

Redwood Bar and Grill 316 W. Second St., (213) 652-4444 or theredwoodbar.com.

March 17: Black Water Jukebox, Red Roses, The Amadans and Ender.

March 18: Iron Chic, Pizza Wolf and White Night.

March 19: Mystik, Courage You Bastards, Sauceda, Niantic, Maadwest and Giant Monsters.

March 22: CH 3, The Plexikill, The Ex-Gentlemen and No Small Children.

March 23, 3 p.m.: Banned From the Beach, 3 Balls of Fire and The Glasgow Tiki Shakers.

March 23: Juniper Rising, Foreverever, Bombon and Tonopah.

Seven Grand 515 W. Seventh St., (213) 614-0737 or sevengrand.la.

March 17, 10 p.m.: Ride the snake with the Katisse Buckingham Oddsemble.

March 18, 10 p.m.: If The Makers left you now, they’d take away the biggest part of you.

March 19, 10 p.m.: Study up for Rick Taub’s Midnight Blues Review.

The Smell 247 S. Main St. in the alley between Spring and Main or thesmell.org.

March 21: A White Hunter, Gorgon Zoloft, cthtr and Big Swamp Thunder.

March 22: Sons of the Bitch, Birthdaygirl, Bodysnatchers and The Delicates.

March 23: Mikki and the Mauses, Ni Hao and Pop Heart.

Walt Disney Hall 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-0777 or musiccenter.org.

March 22, 8 p.m.: South African trumpet master Hugh Masekela celebrates his 75th birthday. If you’re inclined to bring a present, he’d like a pony and a puppy.

FILM Downtown Independent 251 S. Main St., (213) 617-1033 or downtownindependent.com.

March 17, 6 and 9:30 p.m., March 18, 3 and 7 p.m., March 19, 4 and 8 p.m. and March 20, 6 and 10 p.m.: Crime fighting, robotsuited heroes take on criminal masterminds in Tiger & Bunny: The Rising. Through March 20.

March 21-24: If you’re not sick of James Franco yet, you’ll get another crack at burning out on this leading man with Maladies, the story of a ’60s soap star trying to get back to his roots.

March 21-24: Further optimism for the digital age in The Den. Web cams take a sinister turn and devolve into a thrilling whodunnit.

March 21, 9 p.m.: The Double Feature Drink Along returns with Varsity Blues and She’s All That. Extra points to anyone who drinks each time they see an actor currently out of work.

IMAX California Science Center, 700 State Drive, (213) 744-2019

City Living THIS WEEK CHECK OUT

Harmony, a new musical at the Ahmanson Theatre.

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Comic Book The Punisher takes on Downtown.

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March 17, 2014

Downtown News 25

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or californiasciencecenter.org.

Explore the remnants and wisdom of an ancient empire in Mysteries of Egypt.

Ice and polar bear enthusiasts will likely dig To the Arctic 3D. Experience the gripping story full of hope, crushing disappointment and triumph in Hubble 3D. Regal Cinemas 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 763-6070 or lalive.com/movies.

Through March 20: Divergent (8 p.m.); Muppets Most Wanted (7 and 10 p.m.); Need For Speed (12, 3:10, 6:30 and 9:50 p.m.); Need For Speed 3D (12:40, 3:50, 7:10 and 10:30 p.m.); The Single Moms Club (12:50, 1:10, 3:40, 4:10, 6:30, 7:10, 9:30 and 10:10 p.m.); 300: Rise of an Empire (12:30, 1:10, 4, 6:10, 6:50 and 9:40 p.m.); 300: Rise of an Empire 3D (1:50, 3:20, 4:40, 7:30, 9 and 10:20 p.m.); Mr. Peabody & Sherman (11:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:10, 6:40 and 9:10 p.m.); Mr. Peabody & Sherman 3D (2:20, 4:50, 7:20 and 9:50 p.m.); Non-Stop (1, 1:40, 3:50, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:10 p.m.); Son of God (12, 3:10, 6:40 and 10 p.m.); RoboCop (1:30, 4:20, 7 and 9:40 p.m.); The LEGO Movie 3D (11:50 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.); The LEGO Movie (2:10, 7 and 9:30 p.m.).

THEATER, OPERA & DANCE A Nice Indian Boy East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St., (213) 625-7000 or eastwestplayers.org.

March 19-22, 8 p.m. and March 23, 2 p.m.: Doting Indian parents reach new heights of absurdity in this play about an adopted son and his search for the man of his (and his parents’) dreams. Through March 23.

MORE LISTINGS Hundreds of listings of fun and interesting things to do in Downtown Los Angeles can also be found online at ladowntownnews.com/calendar: Rock, Pop & Jazz; Bars & Clubs; Farmers Markets; Events; Film; Sports; Art Spaces; Theater, Dance and Opera; Classical Music; Museums; and Tours.

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Public Availability: The DOL is gathering input from regulatory agencies and the public to consider any potential effects. Comments may be submitted to the following address: Los Angeles Job Corps Center Seismic Improvements - EA Comments ATTN: Jackie Honore, Director 1020 S. Olive Street Los Angeles, CA 90015 Comments submitted by mail are welcome at any time; however, they should be received no later than comment closing date – April 1, 2014. The Draft EA is available for a 15-day public comment period after publication of this Notice of Availability.

It is available for review at the Los Angeles Job Corps Center, located at 1200 S. Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles.

LEGAL

NOticEs

FictitiOus BusiNEss NamE

PUBLIC NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY DrAFT ENVIrONmENTAL AssEssmENT (EA) sEIsmIC ImPrOVEmENTs PrOjECT LOs ANgELEs jOB COrPs CENTEr LOs ANgELEs, CA Pursuant to the regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 United States Code [USC] 4321 et seq.) and the Council of Environmental Quality Regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 1500 to 1508), the Department of Labor (DOL) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) to analyze potential impacts to natural or cultural resources, as well as to land use and socioeconomics, that may result from seismic improvements proposed for three buildings at the Los Angeles Job Corps Center, located at 1031 and 1049 South Hill Street, and 215 West 11th Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County,

FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014040946 The following person is doing business as: Aladdin Bail Bonds, 900 Avila Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012 are hereby registered by the following registrant: Two Jinn Inc., 1000 Aviara Parkway, Suite 300, Carlsbad, CA 92011. This business is conducted by a corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 06/01/2004.

This statement was filed with Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 14,

2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/03, 03/10, 03/17, 03/24/2014.

FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014040965 The following person is doing business as: Aladdin Bail Bonds, 5250 W. Century Blvd, #108, Los Angeles, CA 90045 are hereby registered by the following registrant: Two Jinn Inc., 1000 Aviara Parkway, Suite 300, Carlsbad, CA 92011. This business is conducted by a corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 06/01/2004.

This statement was filed with Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 14, 2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/03, 03/10, 03/17,

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FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014041061 The following person is doing business as: Aladdin Bail Bonds, 432 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802 are hereby

registered by the following registrant: Two Jinn Inc., 1000 Aviara Parkway, Suite 300, Carlsbad, CA 92011. This business is conducted by a corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 04/30/2004.

This statement was filed with Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 14, 2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/03, 03/10, 03/17, 03/24/2014.

FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014041135 The following person is doing business as: Aladdin Bail Bonds, 6213 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 91401 are hereby registered by the following registrant: Two Jinn Inc., 1000 Aviara Parkway, Suite 300, Carlsbad, CA 92011.

This business is conducted by a corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 06/01/2004.

This statement was filed with Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 14, 2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/03, 03/10, 03/17, 03/24/2014.

FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014051760 The following person is doing business as: On Purpose Unlimited, 253 Linwood Ave., #E, Monrovia, CA 91016 are hereby registered by the following registrants: George Albert Hunlock,

Jr., 253 Linwood Avenue Unit E, Monrovia, CA 91016 and Jeanne Lynn Johnson, 253 Linwood Avenue Unit E, Monrovia, CA 91016. This business is conducted by a married couple.

Registrant began to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed herein on January 02, 2014.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on February 26, 2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/10, 03/17, 03/24, 03/31/2014.

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FICTITIOUs BUsINEss NAmE sTATEmENT FILE NO. 2014041000 The following person is doing business as: Aladdin Bail Bonds, 11430 Valley Blvd., El Monte, CA 91731, are hereby registered by the following registrant: Two Jinn Inc., 1000 Aviara Parkway, Suite 300, Carlsbad, CA 92011.

This business is conducted by a corporation. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on 06/01/2004.

This statement was filed with Dean C. Logan, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 14, 2014.

NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code).

Pub. 03/03, 03/10, 03/17, 03/24/2014.

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March 17, 2014