03-30-15

MARCH 30, 2015 I VOL. 44 I #13

BOARD THE CHAIRWOMAN OF THE

A New Hobby Has Anne Williams Seeing Downtown in a Whole New Way

photo by Gary Leonard

SEE PAGE 8

INSIDE THIS WEEK Big Trouble at Spring Street Park : 5 | Yet More Arts District Developments : 10 | Eight Great Easter Options : 13

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AROUND TOWN

L.A. Hotel Becoming the W.H. Grand

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or years the hotel at 333 S. Figueroa St. was a Marriott. It was purchased in 2010

by Chinese developer Shenzhen New World Group, and after a renovation began two years later, it became The L.A. Hotel. The upgrades to the guest rooms and common areas were in anticipation of a deal with Hyatt to operate the facility, which would also invoke a name change. Those plans never came to fruition, however, and Shenzhen is now rebranding the hotel as the independent W.H. Grand. Some exterior signage has already gone up, and the transition should be complete during the summer, said Bruce Curry, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing.

The hotel’s staff and ownership will remain intact with the new brand, Curry added. The 14-story, 469-room hotel opened in 1984, and for decades a four-screen Laemmle movie theater operated in a basement space. Shenzhen purchased the hotel for a reported $63 million.

Irvine Developer Buys 15 Acres in the Arts District

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he boom in the Arts District has led to a huge transaction: Irvine-based developer SunCal has purchased 15 acres at Sixth and

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS Alameda streets. The deal closed on March 24, said Bradford McCarthy, a CBRE Group, Inc. senior vice president, who represented the seller, a partnership managed by Lowe Enterprises. The price was $130 million, according to Bloomberg Business, which first reported the story. The land has been used by various produce companies for about a decade. The Orange County-based developer’s partner is a fund affiliated with MSD Capital, the private investment firm for Michael Dell, according to a prepared statement from SunCal. The developer will organize a series of community meetings to obtain input that will help shape the site plan and mix of uses, the statement said. Jeffrey Sofferman, senior vice president of SunCal, said in the statement that the project will likely contain live/work, creative office and public gathering spaces.

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South Park Condo Sells for $3.4 Million

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espite an ongoing housing boom and growing demand, condominium supply remains low in Downtown. Maybe that helps explain how a 3,600-square-foot penthouse at Evo (1155 S. Grand Ave.) sold this month for $3.4 million. It is the highest price a Downtown condominium has fetched since 2008, said Rhonda Slavik, director of business development with real estate firm Polaris Pacific, which handled the deal. There’s a catch, however — that’s the highest price not including the ultra-luxury Ritz-Carlton condos.

Still, Slavik said the purchase is indicative of a changing buying atmosphere in Downtown.

“The past three to six months have brought

March 30, 2015

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a sharp increase in high-end buyers chasing fewer options for large spaces, views and location,” Slavik said. Condo prices in urban L.A. areas rose 11.4% in the November-January period compared to the same period the previous year, according to Polaris.

Low-Income Housing Proposed Near Flower District

I

t’s not just new market-rate housing projects that are being proposed in Downtown.

March 20, 2015

Veteran low-income developer Skid Row Housing Trust has revealed plans to build two apartment buildings on Wall Street, on the north side of Seventh Street, on what are currently surface lots with one-story buildings. A six-story structure on the west side of Wall, dubbed Six Four Nine Lofts, would have 55 affordable units for homeless individuals with special needs; the residences would sit over three stories of offices and clinic space for the Los Angeles Christian Health Centers. The structure on the east side of Wall Street, dubbed FLOR 401 Lofts, would have Continued on page 20

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EDITORIALS

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March 30, 2015

Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis

Think Big With Seventh Street Improvements

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n a modern city, reconfigurations of busy streets are rare. This is a good thing — even the bestintentioned improvements and roadwork tend to frustrate pedestrians and cause massive traffic headaches. We’ve seen this on Seventh Street in Downtown Los Angeles — the construction of the Red Line in the 1990s, followed by the brutal recession, crippled many businesses.

Now, there are new plans to re-engineer the portion of Seventh Street between roughly Figueroa and Olive streets. While this would, again, cause some gridlock and make life difficult for certain businesses, we think the long-term payoff is worth it. Local leaders should dig deeply into the issue, encourage community input and modernize the stretch as much as is economically feasible.

Los Angeles Downtown News last week wrote about a proposal to upgrade Seventh Street, with elements potentially including landscaping improvements, bicycle lanes separated from cars by a concrete buffer, and even diagonal crosswalks akin to those in Old Town Pasadena. The spur for the project is the construction of the 73-story replacement for the Wilshire Grand hotel. As part of the $1 billion complex’s community benefits package, developer Hanjin International is providing $9.175 million to make the street more useful and attractive.

There is another reason to seize the opportunity. As Hanjin builds its tower on the northwest corner of Seventh and Figueroa streets, developer Wayne Ratkovich is deep into a $180 million upgrade of the former Macy’s Plaza on the southeast corner of Seventh and Flower streets. The office, hotel and shopping complex, now known as The Bloc, is being revitalized, and careful attention is being given to enhancing the project’s interactions with the streetscape. Actual improvements to the sidewalk and street are a natural.

Plans for a street upgrade are in the relatively early stage, with the next public meeting scheduled for April. Still, the timeline could be quick, with city officials hoping to select design elements and begin construction by late 2016.

As more and more people come Downtown, we like the concept of making it easier to bicycle on Seventh Street. This could also be a smart tiein to the streetscape improvements coming to Figueroa Street. A $20 million project there will seek to enhance pedestrian and cycling opportunities, with work extending past the University of Southern California. If the two projects happen in concert, then someone could begin pedaling near the university and ride into the heart of Downtown by turning on Seventh Street. Having buffers that protect bicycles from cars would lead more people to do this.

We hope city officials are aggressive in their outreach on this project. We also hope that Downtown workers and residents will take advantage of the chance to weigh in. There may not be another opportunity to rethink this key corridor for decades.

Downtown needs to get this right, and Downtowners should be part of it.

A Chance for More Broadway Vitality, But Only if People Can Get Along

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his is a busy time for development in Downtown. Along with the number of housing complexes opening, some large, long-delayed projects are finally under construction. The groundbreakings for Ten50, a 22-story condominium tower, and the mega-project Oceanwide Plaza (formerly known as Fig Central) took place this month. They join Metropolis as major South Park efforts planned before the recession that are just now starting.

It’s a different story for a housing tower proposed for 525 S. Spring St. in the Historic Core. Joseph Hellen, an Australia-based businessman with extensive holdings in Downtown Los Angeles, has just unveiled his latest version of the project. One particular element makes it more exciting than previous iterations: The plan for an ultra-modern, 40-story tower now includes an upgrade and reactivation of three small Broadway theaters.

Will this be the proposal that succeeds on the long-stagnant site, currently a parking lot between the Alexandria Hotel and the Spring Arcade Building? That’s impossible to answer, in part because there’s a political tangle (more on that below). Still, the project has the potential to further the momentum on Broadway. We think it is worth serious discussion, and hope that all parties can put aside their differences and be willing to compromise.

Hellen has an impressive development record in Downtown in the past five years. He has turned a trio of aged Historic Core buildings into housing, and continues with the effort to bring new eateries into the rebounding arcade portion of the Spring Arcade Building.

He also owns the Roxie, Cameo and Arcade theaters, three small former movie halls at 518-534 S. Broadway (which are just west of the proposed building site on the block stretching between Spring Street and Broadway). Hellen purchased these more than two decades ago with the idea to tear them down and build a retail complex. That was shot down following opposition from preservationists and the (now defunct) Community Redevelopment Agency.

The theaters for years have operated as swap meets.

Broadway needs more than that in 2015, thanks to the resounding success of 14th District City Councilman José Huizar’s effort to modernize the street and make it more welcoming to pedestrians. The Delijani family, which owns four Broadway theaters, is increasing the frequency of concerts and other events in some of its venues. Orpheum Theatre owner Steve Needleman continues his steady pace of shows in that restored building, and the old United

Artists Theatre is now the southern anchor of the corridor following its conversion to an Ace Hotel. A block to the Ace’s north, the old Rialto Theater is an Urban Outfitters.

While this may not yet be the time for seven-nights-a-week programming at the Roxie, Cameo and Arcade, the overall growth of Downtown Los Angeles indicates a busier period could be on the horizon. Even if entertainment is not right for these venues, there is a potential retail future. National chain stores tend to follow each other, and with Urban Outfitters, the Gap Factory Store and Ross Dress for Less all operating on Broadway, there’s another template for Hellen’s buildings.

So what’s the hurdle? It’s the past, as well as some politics.

Hellen and Huizar have a history of clashing. During the 2011 City Council election, Hellen erected a large billboard on the roof of one of his Broadway buildings in favor of Huizar’s then opponent (Huizar won the election handily). A few years ago, Huizar’s office opposed another Hellen plan to build on the site in question — the councilman’s team said the developer’s proposal to erect a residential tower would block rear access to the Roxie, Cameo and Arcade, thereby preventing their reactivation. There have been other disputes, as well.

Huizar’s office has refrained from commenting in depth on the current Hellen proposal, preferring to wait until plans are formally filed with the city, which could take about six months.

We hope the parties will figure out a way to begin serious discussions before that, as this proposal has real potential to improve the neighborhood, and the sooner talks can begin, the sooner plans can be refined. We hope there will also be public presentations of Hellen’s vision.

A theater upgrade was never previously part of Hellen’s proposal, and putting this on the table seems to be a nod to Huizar and his vision for Downtown (though Hellen also hopes the renovation of the theaters will allow him to include additional parking in the tower). We hope the councilman can see this as a springboard for further talks.

Plans are early, but if things work out, Hellen could get his housing (though we suspect some design changes will be required) and Huizar could help save three more theaters and continue his upgrade of Broadway. There is all the reason in the world to try to make this happen.

March 30, 2015

Downtown News 5

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

Decline of Spring Street Park Frustrates Neighbors As Situation Deteriorates, City Has Money for Security, But Has Yet to Give It to Nonprofit That Runs the Facility

By Donna Evans n June 17, 2013, dozens of Downtowners attended the grand opening of Spring Street Park. They celebrated the debut of the $8 million facility at 426 S. Spring St. that had been in the works since 2009. Families thrilled over the small playground for toddlers. Neighbors cheered the ample seating and green space. The park was instantly seen as a vital public gathering point in a growing neighborhood.

Fast forward two years and not everything is as sunny as previously anticipated. While families utilize the playground and Historic Core residents and workers gather there, neighbors of the facility say that maintenance has been poor, and there are increasingly unseemly behaviors that can make visiting uncomfortable.

Making the situation more troubling, the money for a security guard has been given to the city, but the funds have not yet trickled down to the nonprofit that operates the park.

The state of Spring Street Park is exemplified by the view from Nick Previsich’s third-floor balcony. He bought his 1,000-square-foot home at the El Dorado Lofts, just north of the park, in 2010. He can easily see the grassy hill in the middle of the park, the blooming flower beds and more.

Lately, though, Previsich’s view includes passed-out drunk people, one with his pants around his ankles, and individuals urinating in the bushes. During a recent neighborhood park clean-up, he said, he found used syringes

O

photo by Tara Thomas

Neighbors of the Spring Street Park say that an increase in the number of homeless individuals is part of a decline at the facility. One area resident said he found used syringes next to the children’s playground.

stuffed bags, lay next to her shopping cart and loudly screamed gibberish.

The situation is making neighbors think twice about visiting. Kim Henderson, a resident of the San Fernando Building at Fourth and Main streets, one block east of the facility, said she used to walk her 8-year-old Manchester

next to the playground.

Others report similar experiences. Indeed, on a recent sunny afternoon, a man awash in dirt and wearing a bloody bandage on his forehead, slumped on a bench and stared at the grassy hill, which has been cordoned off. Nearby a woman, surrounded by her possessions-

Terrier, Olive, to the park two or three times a day and would sit at the fountain and relax.

Henderson no longer feels comfortable when she sees “heroin heads crashed out at the park,” especially when her dog reacts skittishly. Now, she opts for a jaunt around the neighborhood.

“I hoped the park would have been a spot for the community to meet with their dogs and kids and become a spot where people talk and get to know each other,” she said. “And it is that when the grass is open, but lately it has turned into a place where people are drunk and passed out and where people feel unsafe due to criminal behavior. The park needs a caretaker or security person to help curb the overall lawlessness that is currently happening.”

Search for Money The call for security has been pronounced almost since the park opened, though the intensity of the outcry has increased in recent months. Previsich said he has repeatedly asked for additional foot patrols from the LAPD or some type of security.

Patti Berman, president of the nonprofit Friends of Spring Street Park, which runs the nearly one-acre attraction, said they are due $250,000 from the team behind the $1 billion Wilshire Grand replacement. Developer Hanjin International is paying the money as part of its community benefits agreement for the megaproject.

A spokesman for the Wilshire Grand replacement said that a lump sum of money for the Continued on page 6

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project’s community benefits package was paid to the city in June 2013. Rick Coca, a spokesman for 14th District City Councilman José Huizar, said the funds, which he identified as $3.8 million, were put in a trust fund so that they could later be allocated to individual projects.

The council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, of which Huizar is the chair, discussed the transfer of $250,000 to the park in October, Coca said. However, the money has not yet been delivered.

“This is something we’ve repeatedly asked for,” said Coca. “It’s a bureaucracy. Things take a long time in the city.”

Berman said she would have liked to have had the funds last fall, when the complaints started pouring in. She said she has seen a woman give a child a bath in the fountain and watched pets frolic in the water.

“We’re hoping full-time security will make a difference, that a guard will take care of the dope smoking, alcohol consumption and other things that make people not want to go there,” she said.

The security program calls for one guard who would man the facility from sunrise to sunset, the park’s operating hours. The funds would also provide programing. A small Park Advisory Board, to help with these aspects, is currently being formed, Berman said.

Berman is quick to add that a security guard will not be ushering away homeless people. Those sleeping in the park won’t be asked to leave either, she said, as long as they follow park rules.

Several factors have contributed to an influx of Skid Row and homeless individuals at the park and in other parts of the Historic Core, said Deon Joseph, an LAPD senior lead officer who patrols Skid Row and the park. He pointed to the effects of Proposition 47, a statewide measure passed last November that reduced penalties for certain drug offenses and other crimes. People who might previously have gone to prison are now quickly back on the streets, he said.

That has also made Skid Row “super violent now,” Joseph said, with the result that people are fleeing to other parts of the Central City to escape the danger.

Once they arrive at the park or the Historic Core, Joseph noted, some individuals may be unruly, but unless they are breaking the law, the LAPD can’t do anything. He pointed to the woman yelling gibberish: While her behavior might make others uncomfortable, law enforcement cannot do anything unless she threatens someone or indicates she will hurt herself.

“She has a right to yell and scream all she wants. She and anybody, homeless or not, has the right to be here and sleep in the park,” he said.

He acknowledged that approach might not satisfy everyone.

“We are aware of the community’s concerns and we’re not ignoring them,” he said. “You’re going to see a more visible presence of police in the area.”

Dog Debate Spring Street Park has sparked different kinds of controversy since it opened. Soon after it debuted, there was a clash involving pets. Although dogs are required to be on leash, many pet owners let them run free and urinate on the grass. The grass quickly died and the hill had to be re-sodded.

Some parents also said dogs running free frightened their young children in the playground. This resulted in a short fence being put up around the play area.

Even the call for security is not new. Last September, Berman told Downtown News that a designated off-leash dog area and a full-time security guard were coming to the park. A dog run has been added.

As residents wait for the security and the programming that will flow from the $250,000, Coca said Huizar is aware of the illicit activity occurring in the park. He said the councilman hopes to see rangers from the Department of Recreation and Parks monitor the facility, but that will depend on the availability of funds.

Coca said it is an ongoing conversation with the city, and they expect to know soon when the money from Hanjin will finally be available.

“Through this bureaucratic process, we have intervened to speed it up,” he said.

Coca added that he expects a council motion to be filed in the near future that will allow the department of City Planning to administer money to the nonprofit running the park.

In the meantime, people still come to the park, though perhaps not as many as before. donna@downtownnews.com

March 30, 2015

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March 30, 2015

The Chairwoman of the Board Six Months Ago Anne Williams Stepped on a Skateboard for the First Time. Now She Sees Downtown in a Whole New Way

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If she has time during the workday, Anne Williams will leave her job in a Financial District office tower and skateboard for an hour. She says people are taken aback by seeing an adult woman on a board.

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age boys grinding the rails at Pershing Square or doing tricks against the walls of the Caltrans building on First Street.

In other words, she’s used to the dumbfounded stares.

“I feel like a unicorn,” she says. “People can’t get their head around it. I will skate right past people who know me from the corporate world and they don’t recognize me.”

Four Boards The expectation is that Williams picked up skateboarding from her sons, twin 5-year-olds named Declan and Finn. That’s not the case.

Rather, she was in a park near her Hermosa Beach home about six months ago with her children. She began talking with a dad who had a skateboard. She said she could paddleboard, but not skate. The man challenged her to try. She got on, didn’t fall, and a new hobby was born.

She later borrowed her husband John’s board and began riding on some of the flat expanses near her home. Over the Christmas holidays she set a goal to skateboard 100 miles in 10 days. She ended up doing 154 miles.

When she returned to work in Downtown after the break, she brought a board with her. Williams, who commutes via bus, now owns four boards, including a longboard, a short, undecorated board — “It’s my corporate board. Get it?” — a board with a vibrant image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the underside, and her newest addition, one with a pic-

or

of

By Jon Regardie n a recent Tuesday afternoon, Anne Williams walked out of her Financial District office tower, skateboard in arm, and headed to a cafe in the Arts District. Though the trek was less than two miles, it took her through the panoply of Downtown. She rode the escalator up the Spanish Steps to Bunker Hill. She got on the board and, after leaving the suit-clad office workers behind, glided along the wide sidewalks and past the government buildings in the Civic Center. She rolled through the buzz of Little Tokyo before winding up in the hipster district on the edge of the Los Angeles River.

Along the way, Williams got a number of different reactions. A homeless man high-fived her, she said, and a woman yelled, “You go, girl!” A highschool girl saw Williams, clad in jeans, red sneakers and a black “Boyle Heights” T-shirt, and shouted, “You have a beautiful board.”

She was also asked, by a kind security guard, to please stop skating through Grand Park. She complied.

Those reactions have been par for the course since Williams, a senior project manager in the Land Use Entitlements division at the engineering and consulting firm Psomas, first stepped on a skateboard six months ago. She is keenly aware how unusual it is to see a 41-year-old mom skateboarding in Downtown Los Angeles, particularly when most local practitioners are black-clad teen-

d e n ta

l

March 30, 2015 ture of the part-man/part-fowl Los Angeles icon Chicken Boy. Ryan McLean, the CEO of Psomas, said that while he knows some company employees are enthusiastic cyclists, Williams is the only skateboarder he’s aware of.

“It seems like a really fun, Southern California hobby,” said McLean. He added that he walks to Psomas’ office from his home in South Park, and he hasn’t seen any other “corporate” skateboarders.

Williams started working in Downtown in 1999 as an attorney, and before joining Psomas she was vice president of Legislative and Legal Affairs for the business organization the Central City Association. While her past and present positions have taken her all across Downtown (she was also a founding member and vice president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council), she said skateboarding has taught her new things about the community. In years past she walked or took the DASH for most area excursions. Now, on a skateboard, she notices things like the elevations and grades of sidewalks.

She has also become familiar with the differences in terrain in various neighborhoods, and the dangers they pose to skateboarders. The Arts District, she said, has perilous railroad tracks and gravel. It’s hard to ride on Financial District sidewalks because of the hordes of office workers staring down at their phones and texting while they walk. The Historic Core is peppered with sidewalks in terrible condition. Bunker Hill is smooth and great for riding, she notes, but visually it’s boring.

“I’ve gotten intimately familiar with the skin of the city,” she says.

Seeking Converts Williams’ new passion has drawn the interest of Lewis MacAdams, a poet, writer and co-founder of the organization Friends of the Los Angeles River. He first saw Williams on her board in late fall when she was riding at the Frog Spot, a seasonal FOLAR community gathering space with bands and other attractions. He noted instantly how it separated her from other workers.

He also sees a potential for this type of activity spreading beyond Williams.

Downtown News 9

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photo by Gary Leonard

Williams with her two favorite boards, one featuring the underground Los Angeles icon Chicken Boy, the other with the Virgin of Guadalupe.

“She’s really at a place unlike anyone else,” said MacAdams.

“She’s not a runner, or on roller skates or a car or a Segway. She’s created a form of transportation. You can imagine 10 people on

skateboards all skating through the city with a guide. I think it’s another step in the pedestrianization of Downtown, which is a very positive thing.”

Williams doesn’t skateboard to meetings in City Hall or skyscrapers where propriety demands office wear. However, she’ll change into causal gear to ride to lunch if it’s far from her work. If a meeting cancels she might grab a board and ride for an hour. Some people go for walks in the middle of the day. Williams skates.

She doesn’t wear a helmet or pads, but also stresses that she’s a conservative rider who uses the sidewalks when possible. Her wonkish side even led her to look up the municipal code — she found it’s legal to skate on city sidewalks as long as riders adhere to certain standards. (The code includes the directive, “No person shall operate a skateboard recklessly or in such a manner or at such a speed as to cause or threaten to cause injury to himself or herself or to others.”)

Williams knows skateboarding among her demographic is unusual. Still, she wonders why more professional people don’t try it. Buying a board isn’t expensive, she notes, and rolling across Downtown can be easier than getting in a car and looking for parking. She believes anyone with a decent sense of balance can do it.

She also likes the doors it opens. Riding into someplace new frequently prompts conversations with fellow skaters, including people not carrying a board at the time. They’re individuals the affable Williams might not otherwise have met.

Still, Williams is most thrilled with the urban exploration and the vantage point that her new hobby affords. Life as a corporate lawyer at the end of the 20th century provided one view of the city’s center, she said, and pushing her infants in a double stroller in Downtown five years ago delivered another. The view from a skateboard, she says, is something else entirely.

“I thought I knew Downtown. I didn’t know Downtown,” Williams says. “The grade, the bridges, the terrain. I learn more every time I go out.”

A few minutes later she grabs her board and rolls off, ready to see another part of the city. regardie@downtownnews.com

metro.net

Meet Metro’s best.

With over one million boardings a day, Metro moves a lot of people, and Dennis Johnson is among the thousands who help make it happen.

A 21-year veteran, Dennis is an outstanding Rail Electronic Communications Inspector assigned to the rail operations control facility in South Los Angeles. He and his team of technicians work every day to install and maintain communication systems for the entire Metro Rail system. Dennis enjoys learning something new, because technology is constantly changing.

In his spare time, Dennis loves hang gliding and spending time outdoors with his kids.

“Metro is convenient and saves you time and stress.”

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We salute Dennis and all the Metro Rail communications technicians who serve you every day.

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10 Downtown News

Bill Chait Plans Two Arts District Restaurants Acclaimed Chefs Ori Menashe and Walter Manzke To Have New Downtown Outposts

By Donna Evans ill Chait really likes the Arts District.

The restaurateur whose Downtown Los Angeles projects have included Bestia, Redbird and the now-shuttered Rivera, is planning two more establishments in the booming neighborhood.

Chait, who lives in the Biscuit Company Lofts, said that Bestia chef Ori Menashe’s long-dis-

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cussed Middle Eastern eatery will open in a portion of a 12,682-square-foot, one-story brick building adjacent to the Fourth Street Bridge.

Plans call for 210 seats inside and 214 outside, with a 4,818-square-foot patio.

It will actually be part of a larger Chait project. The building at 500 S. Mateo St. will also house Verve Coffee Roasters, which will offer a variety of java and juice drinks, as well as a small

March 30, 2015

roaster. Additionally, there will be an ice cream shop and a bakery from husband-and-wife pastry chefs Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos, as well as a market with freshly prepared foods and staple items. Beer and wine will be sold at the restaurant and the market, and customers will be able to eat and drink on the patio.

“What we’re trying to do is to build something that provides important services, as well as be a place where people can come and relax, bring the dog, eat dinner and move freely throughout the building,” Chait said.

The project does not yet have a name. Chait anticipates an opening in late fall.

The building, with its loading docks-turnedpatio space, will not have walls between the businesses. Instead, it will be a single open room where people can walk between the various entities.

The project is on the eastern side of the Molino Street Lofts. On the western side of the adaptive reuse housing complex will be Chait’s second restaurant, at 515 Molino St. Helmed by Republique chef Walter Manzke, it will feature a 6,500-square space with a 900-square-foot uncovered patio. No timeline has been revealed.

It will add to Manzke’s workload in the Arts District. Manzke, the onetime chef at Church and State, is also planning an outpost of his Petty Cash in the former Fifty Seven space at 712 S. Santa Fe Ave. Chait is also involved in that venture.

Chait discussed the plans for his projects on March 18, when he spoke at a meeting hosted by the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council and the Los Angeles River Artists and Business Association. One of the big issues among attendees was parking, which is growing ever more scarce in the Arts District.

“It is very important that we provide off-site

photo by Gary Leonard

Bill Chait, whose Downtown restaurants include Bestia and Redbird, has plans to open two more establishments in the Arts District.

parking,” Chait said. “Walter is a very famous chef. We’re expecting people to be coming from all over.”

Chait said that 15 spaces for Manzke’s restaurant will be in a garage just north of the building, and Dilip Bhavnani, principal of Legendary Developments, is allowing Chait to use the parking lot at his building on nearby Fourth Street and the under-construction 950 E. Third St. apartment complex.

As for the Mateo building, Chait is in talks with the owners of Lucky Brand to utilize its parking lot on Santa Fe Avenue.

The project would add to the boom in the Arts District. In a three-block radius from both Chait restaurants is the under-construction retail center At Mateo, the retail and creative office development Fourth & Traction, the recently opened 438-apartment complex One Santa Fe, and Legendary Developments’ 472 apartments on Third Street. donna@downtownnews.com

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Don’t Call It a

CoPY The Amazing, Unusual Artistic Pursuits of Elaine Sturtevant

By Kirk Silsbee stute art observers who don’t know the work of Elaine Sturtevant needn’t feel illinformed. She was an artist’s artist, known to a few, and to even fewer critics in her lifetime.

That seems to have been the way she wanted it.

Her first-ever comprehensive retrospective has landed at MOCA’s Grand Avenue location, following its Museum of Modern Art debut in New York. Sturtevant: Double Trouble introduces Los Angeles to a chameleon whose work played a shell game with identity, origination, replication and attribution.

If you parachuted into the exhibition with no prior knowledge of the artist, her history or concerns, you might well wonder what is going on.

What unites Jasper Johns’ flag and target paintings, Warhol’s cow wallpaper and Marilyn Monroe prints, Marcel Duchamp’s ephemera, documentation of Joseph Beuys’ performances, a Claes Oldenberg mock-up, James Rosenquist’s spaghetti painting, a Muybridge photo grid, a cascade of light bulbs on dangling cords by Gonzalez-Torres, and some early Frank Stella stripe paintings?

Sturtevant executed all of these. Some are spot-on clones, some are sloppy representations, and some cleverly use the other artist’s own vernacular to speak Sturtevant’s personal truths. “Hide in plain sight” might be the best way to characterize how she made art and summarize her motives. Long before Cindy Sherman made a cottage industry out of playing dress-up, Sturtevant was ducking and hiding every time she exhibited.

Elaine Francis Sturtevant (1924-2014) had degrees in psychology and worked in New York City. While there, she began attending the Art Students League classes and by 1964 was making art in earnest. In the beginning of her shown work, she chose to replicate pieces by the Pop artists, whose currency was blue chip at the time. She made a game out of where and

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how her own footprint could be discerned.

While some were outraged at her duplicating contemporary artists via “copies,” a word she strenuously disapproved of, Sturtevant won favor in surprising quarters. When a flag was stolen from a Robert Rauschenberg construction, he let her replicate it. Warhol gladly loaned her his original cow silkscreens. When his Marilyn screen couldn’t be found, she tracked down an original negative from the movie Niagara and made her own.

One of the most fascinating chapters in the Sturtevant saga is her relationship with Beuys, the influential German conceptualist. He was a rustic who questioned the industrialized, postWorld War II civilization, but made use of its technology to spread his art of personal experience.

Beuys took the New York art world by storm in a landmark performance piece in 1974.

Dressed in his signature factory worker garb and hunting vest, he seemed to be a man from another world. His “I Like America and America Likes Me” was a long, cool drink of psychodrama involving ambulance transport, a bed of straw, a felt blanket and three days of cohabitation with a coyote. The East Coast art world was smitten. Artforum magazine began its longterm editorial romance with him.

Sturtevant had met Beuys in Germany before this. She spent a fair amount of time with him, learning his philosophy and immersing herself in his array of materials (dead rabbits, felt and animal fat among them). She returned to New York and held an unheralded Beuys show in a small gallery prior to his U.S. debut. It was little noted, but it happened. She didn’t make too much of it, but Sturtevant was the unacknowledged herald of the art world darling.

At MOCA, a section of her knockoffs (graphic pieces all) show Sturtevant doing all things Beuysian, in Beuys drag. It’s not hard to discern her face from the chisel-featured German, so this time she didn’t mind showing her cards a little. But the episode begs the question: If a conceptualist shows in the forest and nobody sees it, is it still real art?

Duchamp, another great trickster, was obviously important to her. She reproduced his own flyer for the watershed Duchamp retrospective at the old Pasadena Art Museum. Substituting her own image and name is an easy giveaway, but re-creating his “Adam & Eve” photo (with Rauschenberg) brings to mind Lucas Cranach’s original painting. Unless, of course, he cribbed it from someone else.

Sturtevant felt an attraction to Los Angeles, especially Hollywood. She was fascinated with the dream industry and its relation to, and manipulation of, reality. She wanted an L.A. show very much, but this posthumous retrospective is her first.

So just who, really, was Sturtevant? Beats the hell outta me.

Sturtevant: Double Trouble is at MOCA Grand Avenue, 250 S. Grand Ave., through July 27. Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Info at (213) 626-6222 or moca.org

photo courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris–Salzburg, © Estate Sturtevant, Paris

DT

CALENDAR

Downtown News 11

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photo by Peter Butler, © Estate Sturtevant, Paris

March 30, 2015

The New York artist Elaine Sturtevant made a career out of replicating the work of other artists, including the pieces “Warhol Flowers” (above) and “Duchamp L.H.O.O.Q.” (below). MOCA’s Grand Avenue location is now showing Sturtevant: Double Trouble, the first comprehensive retrospective of her work.

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March 30, 2015

Sex, Marriage and Class Warfare At L.A. Opera A Sharp Take on a Mozart Classic Closes the ‘Figaro Trilogy’

By Eddie Kim he curtain rises on L.A. Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro to reveal an opulent, halfpainted red-and-black room. Figaro is busy taking measurements for a bed. His soonto-be wife Susanna sits nearby.

It is their wedding day, and the two servants’ master, Count Almaviva, has been kind enough to give them the finest room in the manor. It’s all upside for Figaro, who points out that their proximity to the Count and Countess’ room next door makes it convenient to serve them.

Almaviva, however, is no longer the charming, romantic young man from The Barber of Seville. In his older age he’s become, well, a creep, and Susanna notes that Almaviva has been making moves on her in advance of an archaic privilege: The lord’s right to sleep with any woman in his jurisdiction on her wedding night.

The stage for an all-out operatic battle of the sexes, and of the classes, is set.

The Marriage of Figaro, with a score from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (based on the play by Pierre Beaumarchais), is a sequel of sorts to Barber. It opened March 21 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown and has three more performances through April 12.

Marriage differs from Barber by trading many of the latter’s bluntly silly plot points for a more

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nuanced, parodic take on love, sex and social class. Add in conductor James Conlon driving Mozart’s complex score and impeccable performances from the cast and you get one of L.A. Opera’s best productions of the 2014-2015 season. It’s also a fitting close for the company’s Figaro trilogy, walking the line between The Ghosts of Versailles’ postmodern flair and The Barber of Seville’s classic (but blander) comedy.

The plot concerns Figaro trying to figure out how to prevent Almaviva from sleeping with Susanna. His plans are complicated by various (and hilarious) misfires and the arrival of an older woman who demands Figaro marry her as a repayment of a debt. Servants scheme against nobles, nobles scheme against each other, and everything concludes in a hellacious garden scene.

Even two centuries after its debut, the sexual and class politics of Marriage feel fresh. The same silly stereotypes that we chuckle at in modern movie rom-coms — say, the brutish buffoonery of men or the wily, deceitful ways of women — are all here, but with satirical twists that challenge those assumptions.

The action succeeds in large part because of an impressive cast. Pretty Yende is pitch-perfect as a warm and lovable Susanna, and her crisp soprano plays well by itself and when with other voices. Ryan McKinny gives cocksure arrogance to Almaviva without venturing into cari-

aster ESunday

Pretty Yende is Susanna, the soonto-be wife of Figaro (Roberto Tagliavini), in L.A. Opera’s revival of a 2004 production of The Marriage of Figaro.

It continues through April 12 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

photo by Craig T. Mathew

cature. Roberto Tagliavini is a standout Figaro, both for his expressive presence and booming bass-baritone.

A number of performers returning from Ghosts and Barber are clearly in their element, including Kristinn Sigmundsson as Doctor Bartolo, Robert Brubaker as the slick Don Basilio, the stellar Guanqun Yu as Rosina, and Lucy Schaufer as Marcellina. Renée Rapier particularly shines as Cherubino, the young man who lusts after the older Countess and ends up the subject of many a comic gag.

Director Ian Judge, who led the production’s debut in 2004, knows how to use his actors for maximum visual effect, whether the scene involves two people or a dozen. The physical and emotional chemistry of the players is clear, especially when Yende is involved, and there’s a

clever use of props, everything from a sheet to a straight razor to, weirdly, flashlights.

The regal sets and detailed decorations from scenic designer Tim Goodchild work well throughout. Only the staging of the garden scene is a stretch, as characters hide from, and search for, each other despite the fact that they’re just feet away and in plain view. There were also a few instances on opening night of sloppy timing between the singers and Conlon’s otherwise stellar orchestra.

But those are minor quibbles, and when the curtain falls on Marriage after a crackling fireworks show and some sly life lessons, it’s hard to leave with anything less than a smile.

The Marriage of Figaro runs through April 12 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7219 or laopera.org.

Join Us

COMMUNITY PASSOVER SEDER

at First Church

April 5 9am – First Worship in Shatto Chapel 11am – The Sanctuary

JOIN JCC-CHABAD OF DOWNTOWN L.A. FOR A PASSOVER SEDER EXPERIENCE WITH A FRIENDLY AND WARM FAMILY SPIRIT. Enjoy as the story of Exodus comes alive through mystical meaning and Kabbalistic insights all explained through humor and melody

by Rabbi Moshe & Rivky Greenwald. Whether you are a Seder veteran or a curious explorer, the Community Passover Seder offers a stimulating and satisfying experience.

Audience Participation! ~ Savor a Gourmet Dinner ~ Hand baked “Shmurah” matzah from Israel ~ An array of fine wines ~ Hebrew/English Haggadahs provided Alexandria Friday April 3 Hotel 7:00 PM welcome & introduction 7:30 Seder begins Ballroom 501 S Spring St. | Los Angeles, CA 90013

$50 per person RSVP Required

540 S. Commonwealth Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90020 • tel 213.385.1341 • www.FCCLA.org

For Tickets and more information please visit:

www.DowntownJCC.com

March 30, 2015

Downtown News 13

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EASTER

Downtown’s Eggcellent Easter Options Brunches, Blessings and More in the Central City

By Donna Evans aster means different things to different people. For some it’s a religious occasion.

For many, it’s a chance to see small children toddling about with huge smiles and baskets brimming with Easter eggs and candy. Some older individuals like donning Easter bonnets.

For others, it’s simply an excuse to have a huge brunch.

Fortunately, those in Downtown Los Angeles have quite the selection of activities to mark the holiday that arrives on Sunday, April 5. Even better, the events are not limited to that day.

Below are some of the wacky scavenger and egg hunts available in the Central City, as well as a few places that are serving big meals.

There are also opportunities to help the less fortunate, and even options to ensure your pet’s well-being.

Here’s how to make your weekend eggs-tra special. Yes, we really just did that.

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Show Me the Bunny: Just when you thought Downtown couldn’t get more interesting: On

Saturday, April 4, three people in bunny costumes and donning pastel-colored track suits will hide in various places around the Central City. In a scavenger hunt dubbed the Money Bunny Run, teams will try to find the rascally rabbits, including one holding $1,000.

The event is being organized by Fearless L.A., a church that meets weekly at The Exchange.

Registration is at 11 a.m. and the race begins at noon at 633 S. Spring St. There also will be an Easter egg hunt at the starting location, as well as face painting and a variety of food trucks.

At 633 S. Spring St. or moneybunnyrun.com.

Ovals in a Square: How hard can it be to find eggs in a park with very little grass? That question will be answered at Pershing Square on Saturday, April 4. The facility in the heart of the Financial District will host its annual Spring Egg Hunt from noon-4 p.m. Entertainment begins at noon, and there will be a series of egg hunts divided by age range. The free outing includes face painting, magicians, jugglers, bounce houses and, for those who’ve grown wary of

JOIN US FOR A MEMORABLE EASTER CELEBRATION

This Easter Morton’s is featuring a delicious Steak & Lobster special for $55. Open 3pm-9pm.

photo by Gary Leonard

A Downtown tradition returns on Saturday, April 4, when Archbishop Jose Gomez presides at the annual Blessing of the Animals. It is meant to be a way to thank the creatures for all that they provide to us lowly humans.

candy consumption, food trucks. Bonus: The Easter Bunny will be on hand for photos, but please bring your own camera.

At 532 S. Olive St. or laparks.org/pershingsquare.

Fun for Kids: Several egg hunts organized by

age group will keep the tykes busy at the seventh annual Downtown Easter Fest at Grand Hope Park on Easter Sunday. It runs from 2-5 p.m. and offers multiple bounce houses, face painting, arts and crafts, games and more. Last year, approximately 2,500 people attended.

Continued on page 14

Rendezvous

Downtown | 735 South Figueroa St Los Angeles, CA 90017 | 213 - 553- 4566 mortons.com/losangeles

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER CHAPEL JAPANESE CATHOLIC CENTER (Maryknoll)

聖フランシスコ・ザビエル教会 日系カトリックセンター

Come and worship with us at St. Francis Xavier Chapel Holy Thursday Good Friday

Holy Saturday Easter Sunday

April 2 (No Noon Mass) Mass of the Lord's Supper and Washing of the Feet

April 3 (No Noon Mass) Station of the Cross Service Day of Fast & Abstinence April 4 Easter Vigil (Bilingual)

April 5 - The Resurrection of the Lord Mass (Japanese) Mass (English) 222 S. Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 626-2279 — www.sfxcjcc.org— info@sfxcjcc.org

5:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 AM 10:00 AM

Springtime has arrived with a sumptuous Easter brunch buffet, sparkling wine and festive treats for the whole family.

Sunday, April 5 10.30am to 2pm $59 per adult, $25 per child (ages 4-11)* Reservations highly recommended +1 213.612.1562 www.millenniumhotels.com *Subject to tax and gratuity

14 Downtown News

easter, 13 The cost is $10 for a family ticket, which is good for up to seven people. Tickets are expected to sell out ahead of time and all proceeds support programs assisting homeless children in Downtown.

At 919 S. Grand Ave. or newcitychurchla.com.

Beastly Blessings: In a ceremony that dates to the fourth century, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument will play host to the annual Blessing of the Animals. The event takes place Saturday, April 4, and runs from noon-5 p.m. People tend to bring their dogs and cats, but household pets of every kind — think iguanas, birds, hamsters and a giant albino python — have appeared in the procession and been blessed and sprinkled with Holy Water by Archbishop Jose Gomez. The impetus of the blessing is to acknowledge and thank the animals for all they bring to our world. The family friendly event near Olvera Street includes a petting zoo.

At 125 Paseo de la Plaza, (213) 625-7074 or elpueblo.lacity.org.

Bountiful Brunch: The Easter brunch buffet at Smeraldi’s in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel runs from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. The meal, which is $59 for adults and $25 for kids ages 4-11, will include an omelet station, potatoes, sausage, eggs benedict and more. There will also be fruit parfaits, melons, a seafood display of king crab legs and shrimp, and carving stations with ham, rib eye and more. Sparkling champagne will be served for those who want it. Reservations are highly recommended. And, no, the waitstaff will not roll you back to your car if you clean multiple plates.

At 506 S. Grand Ave., (213) 612-1562 or thebiltmore.com.

Easter Sizzle: Over at L.A. Live, Fleming’s Steakhouse is offering a $39.95 per-person brunch ($18.95 for children) with eggs benedict, and it comes with either filet mignon or smoked salmon. Choices for the three-course meal include lobster bisque, fresh seasonal fruit and baked brioche French toast. Plus, there’s prime rib with a trio of sauces. Perhaps most interesting to the East Coast transplants: Fleming’s is offering a blue crab omelet, with whipped eggs, gruyere cheese, spinach, mushrooms, blistered tomatoes and dill hollandaise. You can almost smell the Chesapeake.

At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 745-9911 or flemingssteakhouse.com.

March 30, 2015

EASTER

A Super-Sized Seder Downtown Synagogue Prepares for Its Biggest Passover Ever

By Jon Regardie n 2007, Rabbi Moshe Greenwald opened Downtown’s first full-time synagogue in more than 50 years. Every spring since then, crowds have increased for his Passover seder, a meal and celebration that recounts the story of how the Jews escaped slavery in Egypt. Last year, he said, about 220 people attended.

Greenwald is thrilled with the growth of his Downtown Jewish Community Center — Chabad of Greater Los Angeles. Still, it barely prepares him for this week’s seder. Greenwald said that, thanks to an increasing number of young Jewish adults, he expects approximately 350 people at the event taking place Friday, April 3, in the ballroom of the Alexandria Hotel.

“I already have 85 reservations from young adults, and they usually make their plans 24 or 48 hours before an event,” he said last Tuesday afternoon.

The size isn’t the only thing that makes this week’s seder different from all others. For the past two years, the dinner took place in the nightclub The Exchange, thanks to a friendly Jewish owner who provided the space. Having Passover land on a Friday means the club is hosting a DJ. Fortunately, said Greenwald, developer Izek Shomof has donated the room in his Historic Core residential complex.

Greenwald is quick to point out that, although the seder celebrates a momentous

I

Solemn Services: All the bonnets, baskets and ruffled dresses can cause one to overlook the fact that Easter is, in fact, one of the most important Christian holidays. In that vein, one of the most popular places to worship is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Services will be offered on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and at 8 p.m. on April 4, Archbishop Jose Gomez will preside over an Easter vigil. Easter Mass is at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on April 5. A bilingual Mass will be held at 12:30 p.m.

At 555 W. Temple St., (213) 680-5200 or olacathedral.org.

Hot, Cold and Sweet: Another brunch option is the Grand Café in the Omni Hotel, next to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The restau-

event in Jewish history, strict religiosity is not required. He said the vast majority of the attendees are not observant Jews, and that most of the dinner and the reading of the Haggadah (which tells the story of Passover), will be in English, not Hebrew.

“Our agenda is not to make people religious or to feel like they are in any sort of group. Our agenda is to make Judaism exciting and accessible and see how it adds value to our life,” Greenwald said. “It’s a traditional seder done in an untraditional way.”

Greenwald picks a new theme for each seder. This year, he said, the focus is on reaching emotional maturity and security, and how to progress while still addressing the “child in the room.” That figures into the seder as children at the table traditionally ask “the four questions,” which address what makes the night special.

The meal is $50 a person, which covers food, wine, a special kind of matzo and other costs. People also have the option to sponsor those who can’t afford the dinner, Greenwald said. He noted that a young man in the Jewelry District recently offered $1,000 to sponsor others. He said this kind of generosity is becoming more frequent as Downtown grows.

“People come out of the woodwork to help and it’s always wonderful, always touching,” he said.

While the Passover seder is open to all, rant will put together a meal that focuses on seasonal, local ingredients. Easter Brunch will run from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and there will be carving stations — think rosemary-rubbed beef and a whole roasted suckling pig — omelet stations, seafood and a variety of charcuterie and breakfast staples, including oatmeal, waffles and scrambled eggs. There’s even a glutenfree station. The meal is $59 for adults and $25 for children 12 and younger.

At 251 S. Olive St., (213) 356-4155 or omnihotels.com.

On a Mission: The concept of giving back comes into play on Easter Sunday at the Midnight Mission. Thousands of homeless men, women and children will be treated to a New

photo by Gary Leonard

Rabbi Moshe Greenwald of the Jewish Community Center — Chabad of Greater Los Angeles is expecting approximately 350 people at his Passover seder this week.

Greenwald stressed there is one caveat: Anyone who wants to attend must RSVP in advance online. No tickets will be sold at the door.

The Passover seder is Friday, April 3, at 7 p.m. at the Alexandria Ballroom, 501 S. Spring St. Reservations are required and can be made at downtownjcc.com. regardie@downtownnews.com Orleans-inspired brunch from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the facility at Sixth and San Pedro streets. The menu will include honey baked ham, chicken, jambalaya rice, red beans and white chocolate bread pudding. The biped bunny will be on hand to pass out sweet treats to the children.

Volunteers including longtime mission supporter Dick Van Dyke will appear. In fact, the Mission is looking for a few extra hands: If anyone is interested in volunteering to set up (between 8-9:30 a.m.) on Sunday, April 5, and to help out from 10:30 a.m.-noon, they can email volunteer@midnightmission.org or call (213) 624-9258 x1242.

At 601 S. San Pedro, (213) 624-9258 or midnightmission.org donna@downtownnews.com

EASTER BRUNCH! Nick’s Cafe

ll s for a Thank upport! your s

1300 N. Spring St. (Across from LA Historic Park) Mon thru Fri 5:30am to 3pm, Sat & Sun 6:30am to 4pm

Since 1948

323-222-1450 • NicksCafeLA.com

DT

CALENDAR LISTINGS

Th e D o n ’ T M i s s Li s T

EVENTS

DAviD LYNCH’S MuSiC, THOMAS MCGuANE’S WORDS, A BuNCH OF BOxERS’ FiSTS AND MORE DOWNTOWN FuN

By Dan Johnson | calendar@downtownnews.com

Tuesday, March 31 Thomas McGuane at Aloud Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7500 or lfla.org.

7:15 p.m.: The contemporary Western fiction author and essayist discusses his latest compendium of short stories, Crow Fair.

Spotlight Finale Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 8502040 or laphil.com.

7 p.m.: Some fine up-and-coming classical musicians, contemporary dancers, singers and jazz practitioners show off their stuff in a concert for Spotlight, a free scholarship and arts training program.

saTurday, april 4 Pershing Square Eggstravaganza 532 S. Olive St., (213) 847-4970 or laparks.org/ pershingsquare.

12:30-4 p.m.: Bring the kids and pack some extra latex gloves as the annual Pershing Square Easter Egg hunt returns. From 12:30-1 p.m., those 4 and under have the run of the roost; 1:30-2 p.m. is for 5-7 year olds; 2:30 to 3 p.m. is for minions who have spent between eight and nine rotations of the sun on this rock; and 3:30 to 4 p.m. is for 10 and 11 year celebrants. sunday, april 5 Rock ‘N’ Roll Flea Market 448 S. Main St. or theregenttheatre.com.

10 a.m.: All those vintage band T-shirts, posters and vinyl you’ve always coveted will be yours to peruse and purchase.

ROCK, POP & JAZZ Ace Hotel 929 S. Broadway, (213) 623-3233 or acehotel.com.

April 1, 8 p.m.: “The Music of David Lynch” features interpretations of the director’s film scores from Angelo Badalamenti, Chrysta Bell, Rebekah Del Rio, Donovan, Duran Duran, Jim James, Julee Cruise, Karen O, Kinney Landrum, Moby, Rob Mathes, Sky Ferreira, Tennis and many more.

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

March 30: Susan Krebs Chamber Band.

March 31: Dorian Wood.

April 1: Josh Nelson and Graham Dechter.

April 2: Steven Lugerner’s Slugish Ensemble.

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

March 30, 8 p.m.: Soko is a French pastiche of punk who “gets Continued on next page

photo by Paul Antico for the Music Center

2

3

The well-known meets the maybeone-day famous this week, when Jenna Elfman handles MC duties as the Spotlight scholarship program finale at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. On Tuesday, March 31, some of L.A.’s extraordinarily gifted youth will get a chance to take the big stage. For a mere $10, you can witness some of the finest up-and-coming classical musicians, contemporary dancers, singers and jazz practitioners. Spotlight, by the way, is a free scholarship and arts training program. See these kids today and brag about it tomorrow. At 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2040 or laphil.com.

5

Throw on some blue velvet, motor down the lost highway that is Broadway and perch up at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on Wednesday, April 1. in case you haven’t yet figured out the allusions, the night is all about director David Lynch, or, rather, an evening dubbed The Music of David Lynch. An absolutely star-studded evening of tunes tied to the mild Manichean master of meditation will begin at 8 p.m. The evocative scoring to some of Lynch’s most soul-wrenching and logicstaggering films will be reworked by the likes of Angelo Badalamenti, Donovan, Karen O, Duran Duran, Sky Ferreira and Zola Jesus. Tickets, priced at $45-$1,000, were still available at press time, but is your consciousness ready? At 929 S. Broadway, (213) 623-3233 or acehotel.com/losangeles.

Though born and raised in Michigan, Thomas McGuane’s credentials as a Westerner are strong. The author is a member of the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and the Fly-fishing Hall of Fame. He has crashed a Porsche in Texas and sharpened his sentences in Montana. To promote the release of his latest collection of short stories, Crow Fair, McGuane will be sauntering into the Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium on Tuesday, March 31. During the 7:15 p.m. event that is part of the Aloud series, McGuane will chat with L.A. Times book critic David ulin.

Tickets are free but reservations should be made in advance. At 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7500 or lfla.org.

photo by Bruce Weber

1

in this world, there is stuff you know, stuff you don’t know and Stuff You Should Know. if the one thing you know is that you don’t know what the above means, then relax: “Stuff You Should Know” is a popular podcast, and on Monday, March 30, its progenitors, Josh Clark and Charles W. “Chuck” Bryant, are barreling into Broadway’s Palace Theatre for a live performance. The event starts at 8 p.m., and while SYSK has done more than 500 episodes, the Downtown material will be fresh. in case you are unfamiliar, topics Clark and Bryant have touched on include vintage educational films, bizarre Jesus appearances and abandoned roadside attractions.

At 630 S. Broadway or livenation.com.

4

Rest easy Downtown, because on Thursday, April 2, the fisticuffs on Hill Street will be fully sanctioned. That’s because Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is bringing its second installment of L.A. Fight Club to the Belasco Theatre (a shot from the first night is here). The new addition to the boxing scene focuses on up-and-coming fighters, and the main event will feature undefeated Julian “El Camaron” Ramirez (his record is 13-0), fighting Ramon "Bule" Hidalgo (23-12) in a 10-round fight. Also on the card are Brazilian Olympian Everton Lopes and Glendora’s own Joet Gonzalez. Some of the bouts will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes. Tickets start at $20. At 1050 S. Hill St. or goldenboypromotions.com.

photo by Golden Boy Promotions

Monday, March 30 Stuff You Should Know Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway or livenation.com.

8 p.m.: The “Stuff You Should Know” podcast becomes a live event as Josh Clark and Charles W. “Chuck” Bryant visit Broadway.

Thursday, april 2 Bennett Simpson at MOCA Geffen Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave., (213) 626-6222 or moca.org.

7 p.m.: The museum’s senior curator lends credence and great regard to the recently debuted William Pope.L show Trinket.

Dennis Arriola at Town Hall-LA City Club, 555 S. Flower St., (213) 628-8141 or townhall-la.org.

11:30 a.m.: The SoCal Gas President and CEO talks about utilities, the present and the future.

L.A. Fight Club Belasco Theatre, 1050 S. Hill St. or goldenboypromotions.com.

5:30 p.m.: The second installment of the boxing card from Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is the one time of the month that people in nightclubs are encouraged to use their fists. The main event will feature undefeated Julian “El Camaron” Ramirez.

Downtown News 15

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

photo courtesy Stuff You Should Know

March 30, 2015

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

16 Downtown News

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

Continued from previous page trashed on tea instead of liquor,” and “won’t hesitate to wreak havoc or cartwheel.” In other words, keep your distance from the stage.

March 31, 8 p.m.: Cocktail tables, Django-vibing lo-fi lounge music and an immaculate beard with Rodrigo Amarante.

April 2, 9 p.m.: ELEL’s “world pop” breakout single “40 Watt” is a feel-good celebration of a quantity that is not sufficient to illuminate a room.

April 3, 9 p.m.: Chicago funk band The Main Squeeze apparently won a battle of the bands contest in China, which of course we can’t substantiate because they don’t have open Internet over there.

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

April 1, 10 p.m.: Staff and regulars are equally excited to announce that pint-sized Atlanta rap phenom and social justice advocate Matty B will be taking the corner stage.

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

April 3: Project 46.

April 4: Maya Jane Coles.

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

March 30, 8 p.m.: The latest Nashville gunslinger du jour, Robben Ford, drops his new album.

March 31, 8 p.m.: Pluuto is the electro jazz fusion band featuring sexy sex man Sergio Flores.

April 2, 6 p.m.: L.A. Kings Live Music Nights features a pregame concert from Bebe Xexha.

REDCAT 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

April 1, 8:30 p.m.: Experimental composer Robert Ashley’s 1960s compositions again see the light of day as The Southland Ensemble facilitates their renaissance.

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

April 1: April Fools with Danger INC and the Puttytats.

April 2: Thursday Night Booty with Thoughtcrime and Enemy Proof.

April 3: Ceschi, Poke Da Squid, Tommy V and Dusty Babies.

April 4: Death Cat. April 5: DFMK, Spokenest, Sapphic Musk and Pizza Wolf.

The Regent 448 S. Main St. or theregenttheatre.com.

April 4, 8 p.m.: IAMNOBODI joins The Sound of Tomorrow in some sonic proof that the future is now.

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

March 24, 10 p.m.: The Makers are heavily influenced by the inflection and phrasing of Crazy Bike Guy’s guttural street commentary.

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

April 2: Color TV, Hyacinth Girl and Crystales.

Walt Disney Concert Hall 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7211 or musiccenter.org.

8 p.m.: Miles Davis/Gil Evans: Still Ahead features original Davis compositions arranged by Evans and performed by a bevy of supreme contemporary jazz players including Terence Blanchard.

NISSAN OF DOWNTOWN L.A.

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

See website for schedule.

IMAX California Science Center, 700 State Drive, (213) 744-2019 or californiasciencecenter.org.

Galapagos 3D. If it was good enough to blow Charles Darwin’s mind, it’s probably good enough for you!

Forces of Nature promises a panoply of nature’s worst destruction.

Experience the gripping story full of hope, crushing disappointment and triumph in Hubble 3D. REDCAT 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

April 30, 8:30 p.m.: Renowned local experimental auteurs congregate for Transforming Spaces: New Films From L.A. Filmmakers.

Regal Cinemas LA Live 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 763-6070 or lalive.com/movies.

Through April 2: Furious 7 (7, 8, 8:30, 9:30, 10, 10:30, 11:30 p.m. and 12 a.m.). See website for additional showtimes.

THEATER, OPERA & DANCE Bob Baker’s Something to Crow About Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St., (213) 250-9995 or bobbakermarionettes.com.

April 4-5, 2:30 p.m.: The puppets are getting down right agrarian as Bob Baker’s marionettes sojourn into the American heartland in Something to Crow About.

March 30, 2015

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MUSEUMS African American Firefighter Museum 1401 S. Central Ave., (213) 744-1730 or aaffmuseum.org.

Ongoing: An array of firefighting relics dating to 1924, including a 1940 Pirsch ladder truck, an 1890 hose wagon, uniforms

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213-228-8999 | farmerboysla.com 726 Alameda St. (Bay & Alameda)

California African American Museum 600 State Drive, (213) 744-7432 or caamuseum.org.

Through June 7: Light Catchers is the artistic fruit of a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs grant extended to photographer Irene Fertik in 1997.

Through July 5: Formerly of Watts Tower Arts Center fame, Mark Steven Greenfield’s lengthy career in the arts receives its due in Lookin’ Back in Front of Me: Selected Works.

Through May 3: From Women’s Hands features work from five African-American women housed within the CAAM courtyard.

Ongoing: The multi-functional Gallery of Discovery offers visitors the opportunity to connect with the lineage of their own family, engage in artistic workshops, educational tours and other programs of historical discoveries. Hear recordings of former slaves from the Library of Congress archives and discover stories from the past.

California Science Center 700 State Drive, (323) 724-3623 or Continued on next page

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FOR ORDERS OVER $15 *

Limited Time Offer Only at:

McDonald’s: 201 WEST WASHINGTON BLVD.

from New York, L.A. County and City of L.A. firefighters, badges, helmets, photographs and other artifacts.

FIDM Museum FIDM, second floor, 919 S. Grand Ave., (213) 624-1200 or fidmmuseum.org.

Through April 25: The annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design highlights some of the finest garb from last year’s Oscar nominated films.

Through July 4: If you have ever desired to see what was all the rage in 1700s Europe, Opulent Art: 18th-Century Dress has you covered.

Ongoing: The FIDM Museum presents Artfully Adorned, an exceptional collection of fragrance, cosmetics and ephemera from the house of Lucien Lelong. This group of objects was donated by Monique Fink, wife of artist Peter Fink, who worked for Lelong as package designer and interior decorator.

Ongoing: Accessories from The Helen Larson Historic Fashion Collection surveys footwear, fans, gloves, purses and hats.

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She Kills Monsters Loft Ensemble, 929 E. Second St., (213) 680-0392 or loftensemble.org.

April 4, 8 p.m. and April 5, 7 p.m.: Role playing games get the theatrical treatment in this satirical journey through the heart of the absurd and fictional heroic quest.

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

March 31, 9 p.m.: Every Tuesday this irreverent stand-up comedy cavalcade takes up residence at the Downtown Independent.

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Global Taxi Driver Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., (213) 625-7000 or eastwestplayers.org.

April 4, 8 p.m. and April 5, 2 p.m.: The stories of countless taxi drivers from across this wide world come to theatrical focus with Leilani Chan’s latest work.

The Marriage of Figaro Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 9727219 or laopera.org.

April 4, 7:30 p.m.: Figaro hits the scene in the Mozart classic that, inevitably, you have hummed some part of during your life.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7211 or musiccenter.org.

March 31-April 3, 8 p.m., April 4, 2 and 8 p.m., April 5, 1 and 6:30 p.m.: Fran Drescher stars in this staging of the classic fairy tale about romance, social status and evil stepsisters.

Downtown News 17

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

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March 30, 2015

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015

NEW LOCATION !

FOR 2015

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Recreation Ride: 32 miles @ a 10-12 MPH pace Rolling closure for the entire ride.

Post ride lunch provided by Sharky’s Woodfired Mexican Grill Huge raffle... win bikes, bike parts, clothing, accessories and more!

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RS

SPECIAL THANKS

TO THE LAPD!

SP

O

O NS

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

18 Downtown News

Continued from previous page procession, Las Posadas. Open daily, though hours at shops and californiasciencecenter.org. halls vary.

Ongoing: Mission 26: The Big Endeavour presents Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum very own Space Shuttle/tree destroyer in all its splendor.

L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or Ongoing: Science in Toyland presents physics through favorite grammymuseum.org. kids toys. This hands-on exhibit engages museum visitors with Through April 22: Lyric journals, long-forgotten interview Dominos, Sails and Roller Coasters in a fun, but informational footage, handwritten prison complaints, personalized Death Row primer on friction, momentum and chain reactions.

Records memorabilia and a righteous video of an ancient NotoriOngoing: The Science Center’s permanent exhibits are usu- ous B.I.G./Pac freestyle are all part of All Eyez On Me: The Writings ally interactive and focus on human innovations and inventions of Tupac Shakur. as well as the life processes of living things. The lobby Science Through 2015: Leadbelly: A Musical Legacy tracks the career of Court stays busy with the High Wire Bicycle, a Motion-Based famous bluesman Huddie William Ledbetter.

Simulator, the Ecology Cliff Climb and Forty Years of Space PhoThrough Winter 2015: The 75th anniversary of the illustrious C label E 19 2 museum treatment with Blue Note: The Finest tography. The human body is another big focus: The Life TunnelS I Njazz gets7the LostoAngeles News all life forms, from the aims show the Downtown connections between in Jazz.

1264 W. First Street, Los100-trillion-celled Angeles, CA 90026 single-celled amoeba to the human being.

Through July 2015: Late great guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan’s 213-481-1448 fax: 213-250-4617 Thephone: new Ecosystems exhibit •explores how life on our planet is legacy and career merge in an exhibit rich in personal memoraweb:byDowntownNews.com • email: realpeople@downtownnews.com shaped geophysical and biological processes. bilia, instruments, clothing and his famous “Number One” strat.

Throughfacebook: September 7: Long-obscured texts and the fatetwitter: of the Through Spring 2015: Dresses, personal items and gold records Old Testament explored inNews Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition. illuminate the life of the “Queen of Disco” in Donna Summer: Four L.A.are Downtown DowntownNews Chinese American Museum Seasons Of Love.

425 N. Los Angeles St., (213) 485-8567 or camla.org.

Through May 2015: Shake off your expectations and dive right Editor & PublishEr: Suethe Laris Permanent: Origins presents story of the Chinese-Ameri- in to everyone’s favorite pop country icon in The Taylor Swift Dawn Eastin canGENErAl communityMANAGEr: in Los Angeles.

Experience.

Permanent: Re-creation of the Sun Wing Wo, a Chinese Ongoing: 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story provides an ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie general store and herbal shop, and Journeys: Stories of Chinese in-depth look at all aspects of Columbia Records’ history and ofsENior writEr: Eddie Kim Immigration, an exhibit exploring Chinese immigration to the fers a virtual history of the music industry from its infancy, tracing stAFF writEr: Donna Evans United States with an emphasis on community settlement Columbia’s pivotal technological as well as business innovations, coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese in coNtributiNG Los Angeles. Outlined into four distinct time periods, each including its invention of the LP. writErs: Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer is defined by an important immigration law and/or event, Ongoing: Featuring copious memorabilia including drum kits Art dirEctor: Brian Allison accompanied by a description and a personal story about a and a cape, Ringo: Peace & Love is the first major exhibit to be AssistANt Art dirEctor: Kanegawa local Chinese American and theirYumi experiences in that particular dedicated to a drummer at the museum. historical period.

Ongoing: White sequined gloves and other wardrobe piecPhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument es are the focal point of the new exhibit case paying tribute Ashley Schmidt 124AccouNtiNG: Paseo de la Plaza, (213) 485-8372 or elpueblo.lacity.org. to the life and legacy of Michael Jackson. This special display Ongoing: TheAdvErtisiNG whole of El Pueblo is called a “monument,” clAssiFiEd MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway serves as a follow-up to the Museum’s past exhibitions, MiandAccouNt of this monument’s historic function chael Jackson: HIStyle and Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy.

ExEcutivEs:27Yoji Cole, buildings, Catherine four Holloway, Brenda Stevens as sAlEs museums: the AvilaClaudia Adobe,Hernandez the city’s oldest house; the Housed on the Museum’s third floor, the launch of the new AssistANt: Sepulveda House, home to exhibits and the monument’s Visi- exhibit coincided with the second anniversary of Jackson’s circulAtioN: Danielle Salmon tors Center; the Fire House Museum, which houses late 19th- death. distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles century fire-fighting equipment; and the Masonic Hall, which Ongoing: Roland Live is a permanent installation courtesy of distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla boasts Masonic memorabilia. Check its website for a full slate the electronic musical instrument maker, Roland Corporation. The of ©2015 fiestas,Civic including Cinco de Mayo, Dia De Los Muertos (Day of exhibit gives visitors a chance to participate in the music-making Center News, Inc. Los Angeles Downtown News is a trademark of Civic Center theNews Dead) and December’s beautiful candlelight process by playing a wide variety of Roland products, from VInc.inAllNovember rights reserved.

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Ongoing: Installed chronologically, this selection of some of Drums and BOSS pedals to VIMA keyboards and the MV-8800 the most significant works from the museum’s permanent collecProduction Studio. tion introduces major art movements of the 20th century, includJapanese American National Museum ing abstract expressionism and pop art.

369 E. First St., (213) 625-0414 or janm.org.

Permanent: Nancy Rubins’ cheekily and comprehensively titled Through April 26: For nearly four decades, Japan’s pre-eminent cartoon export has been making waves and adorning mer- “Chas’ Stainless Steel, Mark Thompson’s Airplane Parts, About chandise around the world. Now you can venture into the inner 1000 Pounds of Stainless Steel Wire, Gagosian’s Beverly Hills workings of the phenomena at Hello! Exploring the Supercute Space, at MOCA (2001-2002)” is a monumental sculpture made out of parts of an airplane.

World of Hello Kitty.

Ongoing: Common Ground: The Heart of Community chroni- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris cles 130 years of Japanese American history, from the early days County GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) of the Issei pioneers to the present.

763–3466 or nhm.org.

ExEcutivE Jon Regardie LA PlazaEditor: de Cultura y Artes Through September 2015: Grandes Maestros highlights art 501 N. writEr: Main St., (888) or lapca.org. sENior Eddie488-8083 Kim Current: Los Angeles’ first Mexican American cultural center’s from 22 Latin American countries and illuminates a larger cultural stAFF writEr: Donna Evans new. inaugural exhibition, LA Starts Here!,Maese reveals the essential role of relationship between old coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn S I world N C Eand19 72 Ongoing: “Age of Downtown Mammals” tells an epic evolutionary story Mexicans and Mexican Americans in theGreg founding and shaping coNtributiNG writErs: Jeff Favre, Fischer Los Angeles News million ButLos its theme can be of Los Angeles’ history and culture—a multicultural project from that spans 126465W. Firstyears.

Street, Angeles, CAdistilled 90026into just Art Brian Allison six words: Continents move. Climates change.

Mammals evolve. the dirEctor: very beginning. phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 AssistANt Art dirEctor: Kanegawa Ongoing: From sleepy Spanish outpost to American metropoOngoing: Calle PrincipalYumi invites visitors of all ages to web: DowntownNews.com ideas, resources and people that helped to fashion our dear explore the Mexican American community of downtown Los lis, theemail: realpeople@downtownnews.com PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard Angeles during the 1920s. Located on the second floor of city come into clear focus in Becoming Los Angeles. facebook: Ongoing: The spectacular Humboldt fin whale specimen, AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt the historic Plaza House, Calle Principal is an evocative reL.A. Downtown News creation of 1920s-era Main Street, at the time the heart of Los “Finwhale Passage,” features the 63-foot-long specimen, which clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway twitter: pounds and has been re-articulated to Angeles’s growing immigrant community. Featuring a variety weighs more than 7,000 AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Yoji Cole, Catherine Holloway, impression of the living animal. An intriguof vignettes—a grocery store, portrait studio, clothing store, create a more realistic DowntownNews Brenda Stevens installation visitor components phonograph and record store, pharmacy, and more—it of- ing sound ©2015 Civic Center and News,interactive Inc. Los Angeles Downtown News will acsAlEs AssistANt: Claudia Hernandez is a trademark of Civic Center Newsof Inc. rightsand reserved. the display, which is one theAllbest most complete fers visitors a hands-on investigation of daily life during that company The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read newsarticulations in the world. period, encouraging them to make connections between the large-whale circulAtioN: Danielle Salmon paper for Downtown Los Angeles and is distributed every Monday throughout offices residencespaleontological of Downtown Ongoing: The “DinotheLab” is and a working lab, past and the present. distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles Los Angeles. wherein museum preparators will work on a several dinosaur and Museum of Contemporary Art, Geffen distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla One copy per person. other fossil creature skeletons for future display at the museum.

Center For a true behind-the-scenes experience, come witness the excit152 N. Central Ave., (213) 621-2766 or moca.org.

Through June 28: The massive unfurled American flag is but ing dinosaur preparation process in the Level 2 Dino Lab. Sneak a peek at real fossils and see the NHM staff working on the day-tothe centerpiece in William Pope.L: Trinket. day details. Everything you see in the lab is real.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Wells Fargo History Museum Avenue 333 S. Grand Ave., (213) 253-7166 or 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2766 or moca.org.

Through Aug. 16: Inspired by the setting and lyrics of Kendrick wellsfargohistory.com.

Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris Ongoing: Take in an Old West exhibit including a faux 19thLamar’s opus Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, Khalil Joseph: Double ConGENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn century Wells Fargo office, a real-life Concord stagecoach that science explores Los Angeles withEastin a dual screen narrative.

Through July 27: Sturtevant: Double Trouble chronicles an once traversed windy southern Kentucky roads and a gold nugget ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie artist who finds origins and source material in the work of her weighing in at a shocking two pounds. sENior writEr: Eddie Kim contemporaries. stAFF writEr: Donna Evans coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer

Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa

http://issuu.com/ladtn PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard

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NC 19 7 2 things to do in DownHundreds of listings Sof Ifun andEinteresting town Los Los Angeles canDowntown also be foundNews online at ladowntownnews.

Angeles com/calendar: & Jazz; & Clubs;CAFarmers 1264 W.Rock, FirstPop Street, LosBars Angeles, 90026Markets; Events;phone: Film; Sports; Art Spaces; Theater, Dance and Opera; Classi213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com cal Music; Museums; and Tours. email: realpeople@downtownnews.com

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PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Yoji Cole, Catherine Holloway, Brenda Stevens sAlEs AssistANt: Claudia Hernandez circulAtioN: Danielle Salmon distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla

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March 30, 2015

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CLASSIFIEDS REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL

FOR RENT

To place a classified ad in the Downtown News please call 213-481-1448, or go to DowntownNews.com Deadline classified display and line ads are Thursday at 12pm.

FORfor RENT All submissions are subject to federal and California fair housing laws, which make it illegal to indicate in any advertisement any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income or physical or mental disability. We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

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20 Downtown News

March 30, 2015

AROUND TOWN, 2 100 units of affordable housing for homeless veterans and people with special needs. The design from Koning Eizenberg Architects features a building with a huge “floating” solar panel grid on the roof; SRHT hopes to have the building run on renewable energy produced on-site. The developer is aiming to complete a purchase of the Six Four Nine Lofts site in June and break ground in December, with full occupancy in October 2018. The timeline for FLOR 401 Lofts would be about six months behind.

New Timeline for MyFigueroa Plan

T

NEW LOCATION OPENING SOON! THURSDAY

APRIL 2

201 W. WASHINGTON BLVD.

We invite you to join us at our NEW McDonald’s restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles.

When we open the doors on April 2 our new McDonald’s restaurant will be one of just 18 in the world to provide our Create Your Taste experience for lunch or dinner!

All of your favorites - Our world famous French Fries, Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Premium Salads, etc - will still be on the menu, but we will also be taking McDonald’s burgers to a whole new level of greatness.

You will be able to completely customize your burger with new flavors, choose your own ingredients, and have it delivered with table side service. Create Your Taste is going to be different from anything you’ve experienced at McDonald’s.

Mark your calendars for April 2 - Join us for lunch or dinner and be one of the very first in the world to experience Create Your Taste. All of us at your Downtown Washington and Hill McDonald’s are excited and we hope you will be too! McDonald’s Opening Soon! 201 W. Washington Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90015 (Across the street from LA Trade Technical College)

McDonald’s 201 W. Washington Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90015 (across the street from LA Trade Technical College) © 2013 McDonald’s. At participating McDonald’s.

he MyFigueroa streetscape plan will transform the Figueroa Corridor, cutting driving lanes and installing pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly features on the street. Construction was to begin early this year, but planning delays and a lawsuit held things up. There’s a new timeline now, with the city Department of Transportation aiming to finish plans in June and select a contractor, via a bidding process, soon after that. A groundbreaking could take place by December, according to the LADOT. It won’t be a long build-out, as the roughly $20 million project must be completed by December 2016 as part of an agreement for funding from the state. The MyFigueroa plan is a three-mile effort that runs from Seventh Street to 41st Street in South L.A. It will slash eight driving lanes down to five, and significant segments of the route will feature curbs that protect cyclists from cars. The project will also build bus platforms that extend the sidewalk for transit riders, create new landscaping and install pedestrian-friendly lighting and signage, among other things. The project was first broached in 2010.

New Restaurants Coming to Historic Core, Arts District

A

favorite diner in Eagle Rock is expanding into the Historic Core. Auntie Em’s Kitchenette is coming to a small space at 116 E. Fifth St. (off the southeast corner of Fifth and Main streets) and will bring all of the favorite breakfast hashes, egg dishes and baked goods for which the 13-year-old establishment is known. The Downtown location is a partnership between Auntie Em’s owner Terri Wahl and Lozano Miller, who owns the nearby Two Bits Market. Those craving Wahl’s red velvet cake and breakfast tortas won’t have to wait much longer, as the restaurant is tentatively slated to open on April 9, according to the L.A. Times. Meanwhile, in the Arts District, the long-awaited vegan restaurant Café Gratitude was scheduled to open on Sunday, March 29 (after Downtown News went to press), at the One Santa Fe apartment complex. It is the third outpost of the restaurant and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dishes include a macadamia nut “cheese” with white truffles, yam and cauliflower samosas, sauteed quinoa pasta and roasted brussels sprouts with maple-miso glaze.

The restaurant at 300 S. Santa Fe Ave. is open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. every day.

Homeboy Industries Expanding Headquarters

T

he often-lauded gang intervention nonprofit Homeboy Industries, run by Father Greg Boyle, has provided jobs and services to former gang members since 1988. During the recession, however, the entity headquartered at 130 Bruno St. in Chinatown struggled to keep its revenues up, and had to lay off employees. With its finances now on solid ground, Homeboy is expanding: It has purchased a 6,000-square-foot building on an adjacent lot to serve as offices for counseling, tutoring, case management and more. Homeboy anticipates doing some minor renovations and opening the building by May, according to CEO Thomas Vozzo. “Demand for Homeboy’s services is still very high and this expansion will help us to better serve our clients as they work to rebuild their lives,” he wrote in an email. Homeboy provides about 300 jobs, and an additional 250 people are in its job-training program.

Homeboy’s budget in 2015 is about $15 million, according to Vozzo.