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Saving the L.A. Times : 5 Downtown’s Tech Boom : 16

DECEMBER 15, 2014 I VOL. 43 I #50

how the fire department fought the Da Vinci blaze

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Former Pot Clinic to Become Sit-Down Restaurant

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1912 Arts District building that formerly housed a medical marijuana business is poised to become a sit-down restaurant with an outdoor patio. Project representative Kate Bartolo said restaurateurs Tomas Rivera and Daniel Sullivan of First Street Ventures plan to rehab the deteriorated façade at 620 E. First St., add landscaping and create a special events space on the second floor. The 4,000-squarefoot restaurant, Chas Germain, would offer shareable plates such as mussels, charcuterie, cheeses and salads, along with wood-fired pizzas, burgers, seafood and more. The operators are seeking a full liquor license. Bartolo pointed out that there is little nighttime street activity currently on the corner of First and Hewitt.

“This would transform a foreboding building storefront into an inviting, well-lit neighborhood hub,” she said. The aim is to open in the third quarter of 2015.

Three Teams Angling to Design Convention Center Overhaul

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ity officials have been clamoring for an expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center, and while Anschutz Entertainment Group has agreed to do that work if it brings an

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS NFL team to its proposed Farmers Field, the city is also pursuing a “Plan B” to overhaul the Convention Center on its own. The city in October selected three architectural teams to compete for the design bid, and they are now waiting for official approval from the Bureau of Engineering to begin the design process. The three teams are AC Martin Partners and LMN Architects, Lehrer Architects and Gensler, and HMC Architects and Populus. Each team will present two design concepts, and projected budgets for each design must fall between $250 million and $350 million. The teams were picked based on the strength of their portfolios and experience on large exhibition halls, among other criteria. The designs will be judged by a panel comprising multiple city agencies, the City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti. A public comment period in January will allow stakeholders to help shape the city’s design criteria. As part of a deal to extend the football hunt until April, AEG is paying $750,000 to the city to cover the firms’ work.

Arts District Park Breaks Ground

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he shovels have pierced the dirt at the corner of Fifth and Hewitt streets, and construction of the Arts District Park is underway. Groundbreaking occurred Saturday, Dec. 13, for the $1.6 million half-acre facility.

Located just south of Urth Caffe, the park will feature an eight-foot wall for mural art, eating areas, plaza space, a playground, shade trees around the perimeter, concrete seating and nighttime lighting. A series of community meetings allowed area residents to have

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December 15, 2014

TAKE MY PICTURE GARY LEONARD

Downtown LA Motors Grand Opening Mercedes Showroom Darryl Holter December 5, 2014

input on the design, said Rick Coca, a spokesman for 14th District City Councilman José Huizar. “The councilmember is focused on improving every park in CD 14 and adding green spaces to areas where they’re needed. Parks go a long way to improving the livability of a community,” Coca said. The money for the park was secured through Quimby fees, which developers pay for park creation. Completion is expected in summer 2015, and will be coordinated with a ceremony for the adjacent, under-construction La Kretz Innovation Campus, a 30,000-square-foot clean technology project and business incubator.

Councilman Parks Consults On NFL Conduct Policy

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ity Hall has been unsuccessful in its efforts to persuade the National Football League to bring a team to Los Angeles. However, the NFL recently came to City Hall — make that a specific person in City Hall — for help in creating its new employee conduct policy.

Eighth District City Councilman Bernard Parks was one of the 69 people and organizations the league reached out to when compiling the document that lays out new behavior and Continued on page 8

December 15, 2014

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EDITORIALS

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December 15, 2014

Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis

Our Problem Pharmacy

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or years, Historic Core residents and workers have complained about the prevalence of people selling illegal prescription drugs on the sidewalk outside the Rite Aid at Fifth Street and Broadway. Los Angeles Downtown News has written about the issue numerous times, and occasional police operations to combat the trade have only made a dent in the practice. The peddlers of Oxycontin, Xanax and other prescription drugs sometimes shift their base of operations, but they always seem to return to the same corner.

Now there is a clearer indication of why this has been occurring: As Downtown News reported last week, state officials have been investigating pill sales not on the corner, but at the pharmacy inside the Rite Aid. A March complaint filed by Attorney General Kamala Harris details instances in which 27 people filled prescriptions in manners that indicate more than personal use was involved. In a few instances, customers refilled prescriptions multiple times and received thousands of painkillers and other medication.

The store and its pharmacist-in-charge, Anne Chung, were accused of unprofessional conduct, gross immorality, incompetence, gross negligence and the “clearly excessive furnishing” of controlled substances between 2009 and 2012.

This is distressing, as the investigation raises concerns about the management of the store and oversight from the Pennsylvania-based parent company.

Although state officials have yet to make a ruling and determine if the store will face penalties, the result has been an ugly mark on Downtown.

We understand that businesses, in particular chain stores, invest in Downtown with the desire to make money. However, anyone who takes a street-front space in a heavily trafficked area such as the Historic Core has a responsibility not only to their bottom line, but to the people who live and work in the community. In this instance we have to question whether Rite Aid management was blinded by the profits rolling in at the pharmacy counter.

Part of the reason for the distress is that the problem had gone on for so long. The LAPD senior lead officer for the area said he heard complaints about the street sales back in 2012, and that when he asked a store pharmacist why so many people were coming in the Rite Aid to get prescriptions filled, he was brushed off. The experience prompted him to contact a state pharmaceutical inspector. That initiated the investigation.

Rite Aid officials told Downtown News that they are committed to following all laws, and that they are working with the LAPD and community leaders to improve conditions outside the store. It’s a nice line to hear and we’re pleased they have not denied everything. However, given all that has occurred, we need proof, rather than promises, of a better future.

We want to know what Rite Aid management will do to ensure that better practices are put in place inside the pharmacy. We want to know what steps the company will take to regain the trust of Downtown. The onus is on Rite Aid: The executives need to convince area stakeholders that things have changed and that they are taking responsibility.

Preparing for the Big One

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ighteen months after Mayor Eric Garcetti was sworn in, one unexpected effort is becoming a hallmark of his administration: disaster preparedness, in particular earthquakes. It’s an interesting allocation of resources, in part because it may never pay off politically: If the Big One strikes in the next few years, then there will probably not have been enough time to effect the most significant changes Garcetti wants. If a massive temblor hits after he leaves office, and the city turns out to be well prepared, then he may not be around to take the credit.

All of which indicates that Garcetti may be focusing on earthquake safety because it’s, gasp, the right thing to do for the city.

Garcetti’s approach is vastly different than that of previous Los Angeles politicians, who preached preparedness but didn’t order overarching change.

Garcetti continued his attention to the matter last week with the release of a 123-page report that outlines steps the city should take in anticipation of some serious shaking. The paper, dubbed “Resilience by Design,” was powered by Dr. Lucy Jones, the prominent United States Geological Survey seismologist. Garcetti brought her aboard as a special consultant in January.

“Resilience by Design” is thoughtful, thought-provoking and, in some instances, scary. It notes that the devastating 1994 Northridge Earthquake was, by potential local standards, fairly small, a magnitude 6.7 quake that lasted seven seconds. The report ponders an earthquake generated by the San Andreas Fault that reaches magnitude 7.8 and causes the ground to shake for two full minutes.

Among other things, the report inspires questions, particularly in terms of paying for the retrofitting of numerous older buildings.

More on that below.

We like that Garcetti and Jones are focusing not only on keeping buildings standing, but on ensuring that water delivery and telecommunications remain functional in the wake of a large quake.

It’s wise to remind people that the damage would not be limited to the people injured and the buildings destroyed in the initial event.

There would be an ensuing severe effect on regional spending: Downed structures and broken infrastructure will result in shuttered businesses and people out of jobs, potentially crippling the local economy for months or years.

Garcetti and Jones smartly propose steps such as developing an alternative system for water delivery. If the principal pipes break, this will be vital to extinguish the fires that follow big earthquakes.

It’s a similar approach to the recommendation to create a solarpowered Wi-Fi network and fortify cell phone towers; the ability to communicate after a disaster will help everyone from emergency responders to family members who are separated.

The biggest component of “Resilience by Design” involves retrofitting buildings, and this will be crucial in Downtown Los Angeles, which contains the region’s greatest concentration of old structures.

Here Garcetti is taking a tough approach: His plan would mandate, not recommend, seismic strengthening in some older properties.

We agree with his aim to require “soft-first-story” buildings (those with large open spaces on the ground floor, such as garages) constructed before 1980 to be retrofitted within five years. The document notes that two-thirds of the 49,000 housing units lost during the 1994 Northridge earthquake involved this kind of construction. The worst damage occurs when upper floors “pancake” the ground level.

The second element, and one that pertains more to Downtown, concerns retrofitting “non-ductile reinforced concrete buildings” erected before 1980. These structures, which can be warehouses, office buildings and schools, among other things, have a limited capacity to absorb ground shaking, the report noted. “Resilience by Design” goes on to cite data saying there are 1,400 of these buildings in the city, and that thousands of people could be in them, and thus at risk, if a quake hits during the workday.

Garcetti’s proposal would require that people who own these buildings have a structural engineer evaluate the property and for a retrofit plan to be prepared within five years. The owner would then have 25 years to complete the work.

We understand that this is difficult and expensive, but a 30-year timeframe verges on being pointless. There is too much risk over that extended period. We would prefer to see a shorter window.

That leads to cost, and any building owner will rightly raise a ruckus over the price of a government-required retrofitting. That’s why Garcetti and other city leaders must be just as aggressive in helping property owners find money as they are in urging fixes.

We want Garcetti and his team to lobby the feds and the state for grants and low-interest loans with long payback plans, and to take other steps to ease the financial burden. The easier it is for people to swallow the cost, the more likely they are to move quickly.

As has often been said, the Big One is coming, and it’s a matter of “when,” not “if.” We’re glad to see strong city leadership on this topic.

December 15, 2014

Downtown News 5

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Austin Beutner Enters The Matrix Where Will the New L.A. Times Publisher Take the Newspaper and Website?

By Jon Regardie hen 2010 dawned, almost no one in Los Angeles had heard of Austin Beutner. Five years and five distinct phases later, he’s one of the most powerful and respected people on the civic landscape. To understand his status, consider his Dec. 3 appearance at a Downtown luncheon hosted by the organization Town Hall-Los Angeles: The

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THE REGARDIE REPORT publisher of the Los Angeles Times sold out the event, filling the room with nearly 200 individuals at $50 a pop and up. These are Taylor Swift prices (albeit for the nosebleed seats), but without the dance numbers and songs about exboyfriends.

When’s the last time a publisher of the Times sold out any appearance larger than a kitchen table? Heck, who can even name a publisher of the L.A. Times since Otis Chandler?

This isn’t a slap at ex-publishers, but rather a comment on Beutner, the attention paid to him and the expectations being placed on his shoulders. With the paper having spent the better part of a decade hemorrhaging reporters, and the years of Sam Zell’s ownership and the Tribune Company’s bankruptcy creating a general consensus that the Times’ best days are in the past, some are looking at Beutner like he’s Neo in The Matrix, and is the only hope to save L.A.’s most enduring

news organization.

What’s on the table for the future of the 133-year-old newspaper and its much younger website? Just about everything.

“I made it pretty clear when I joined to people that if we’re going to repeat the same habits, we’re not going to get a different outcome,” Beutner told me after his address. “It’s the old Einstein adage: The definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome. Well, we can’t do that. So let’s call a mistake a mistake, or let’s call a practice that once made all the sense in the world, or that we can no longer afford or is no longer valued by our customers or no longer works for us, if we can change it, let’s change it now and move on and do it.”

Striking Quickly Beutner took the job, he told the Town Hall crowd, after he tried unsuccessfully to buy the paper. He let the owners know he would come on as an active publisher, but not a caretaker.

“I’m only interested if we can make it great again and if we can be that civic conscience,” he remarked.

Beutner struck quickly, and within two months of starting he euthanized the calamity known as the LatExtra section, and while I’m not sure if one technically can euthanize a calamity, I’m sticking with it, because it was true. The section exemplified all that had gone wrong at the paper, with

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Austin Beutner at his Dec. 3 appearance before the organization Town Hall-Los Angeles. In the past five years Beutner has been first deputy mayor, run for mayor, been the head of a nonprofit organization that provides glasses to schoolchildren, and served as co-leader of the 2020 Commission.

Now, he’s the publisher of the Los Angeles Times.

photo by Gary Leonard

Beutner noting that it worked for the printing press operators but made little sense to readers.

In killing LatExtra Beutner got the double bonus of reviving the California section, which at last gives the impression that the newspaper might care about local readers. The move

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has been roundly cheered, and probably gave Beutner eight months of goodwill with the public. Hail Neo! He said more changes will come, and if successful they’ll resonate with the community and make oodles of money (he didn’t use the Continued on page 28

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‘It’s by Far the Biggest Single Fire In an Urban Area I’ve Seen’ In His Own Words, LAFD Battalion Chief David Perez Describes How Firefighters Knocked Down the Da Vinci Blaze “

As Told to Eddie Kim hen we got the call, I was asleep at Station 4. Whenever we have an incident there’s a really loud series of tones that sound through the station, and lights are immediately activated. A voice tells us the dispatch info. I was out the door in 60 seconds.

“We got the 911 calls at about 1:20 a.m., but almost 80% of the construction site was involved by the time firefighters showed up. Station 3, which is right down the street from the site, pulled out and all they could see was fire.

That was practically a minute after the calls came in. We had a firefighter who later told us he had driven by the site at around 1:05 and hadn’t seen anything.

“The first important question is, is there a rescue needed? Thankfully, there was nobody in the building, because the probability of their survival would’ve been zero.

“The next question is, what’s being exposed by this fire? We knew that we had a problem across the street on Temple; we did not know how much heat these high-rises were taking.

“One of our basic principles is to get in lines between fire and exposures. On the Temple Street side we were able to do that, and on the south end of the project. We had driven around that building plenty of times before, and we knew that if that site ever caught fire, we were not going to be able to put people on Fremont Street. That would be the collapse zone, and the trees on both sides of Fremont create a tun-

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photo by Gary Leonard

Battalion Chief David Perez was one of the first senior LAFD officials on the site of the Dec. 8 fire at the Da Vinci apartments and played a lead role in coordinating the response. It took 250 firefighters 90 minutes to put out the blaze.

nel, so we wouldn’t be able to drive in and raise a ladder.

“So our firefighters were attacking it from north to south and south to north, and as soon as we could, we put companies on the Harbor Freeway and attacked it from west to east.

“Exposed lumber framing is probably the most flammable configuration of fuel you can

photo by Gary Leonard

The southern phase of developer Geoff Palmer’s Da Vinci apartment complex has been reduced to massive piles of burned wood, twisted steel and concrete slabs.

have, period. Truckloads of lumber in pallets on top of each other — that’s not gonna burn quick. If you frame it up like on the site, you get one piece to burn and the entire thing will burn so quick. It’s just like kindling.

“But it was over pretty fast. We were able to flow massive quantities of water onto this be-

cause of the sheer amount of resources. The other thing was, as that fire continued to burn, it was killing its fuel. As long as we kept it from crossing the street, it was dying on its own.

“We didn’t use any special technology. This was absolute old-school firefighting. A huge Continued on page 19

December 15, 2014

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Downtown News 7

GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL EXPERTS

Good Samaritan Hospital has great doctors, including the eye experts from Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group.

The following are answers to common eye disease questions from our doctors.

What are the signs and symptoms of diabetic eye disease?

David S. Boyer, M.D., is a boardcertified ophthalmologist specializing in treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous and is Senior Partner at RetinaVitreous Associates Medical Group. Dr. Boyer is a world-renowned clinician, surgeon and educator. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign, received his medical degree from Chicago Medical School, an ophthalmology residency at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and a retinal fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Boyer is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California with an extensive research background. Throughout his career, Dr. Boyer has been honored by several prestigious organizations.

Though diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working age adults in the Western world, early diabetic retinal changes are usually assymptomatic. Though the patient may have good vision and be assymptomatic they still may require treatment to maintain their good vision. If left untreated diabetic retinopathy may cause blurring, distortion, loss of vision, or black spots in vision.

Early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the chances of developing visual symptoms. If you are diabetic you need annual eye exams to help maintain your vision. Control of blood sugar, blood pressure and lipids can maintain vision and lessen visual loss.

David S. Boyer, M.D.

Daniel D. Esmaili, M.D., is a boardcertified ophthalmologist specializing in the medical and surgical treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous.

After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Physiological Sciences at the University of California Los Angeles, Dr. Esmaili obtained his medical degree with Highest Distinction from the USC/ Keck School of Medicine. Following an internship at the Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, CA, he completed his residency training in ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute, USC Keck School of Medicine. He then completed a two-year fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) of Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Retina Specialists.

How does high blood pressure affect my eyes?

The retina is a light sensitive tissue that lines the back inner wall of the eye and is critical for maintaining sharp vision. The retina needs proper blood flow in order to function normally. In some patients with high blood pressure, the retina does not receive the blood flow it needs, and can become damaged. Possible complications of high blood pressure include developing a blockage in a blood vessel of the retina or developing swelling of the retina. If you also have diabetes along with high blood pressure, your chance of developing a problem increases. Fortunately, effective treatment options now exist for these complications.

Controlling your blood pressure, eating a healthy diet, exercising, and having regular eye exams are important steps in maintaining healthy eyes.

Daniel D. Esmaili, M.D.

What is Central Serous Choroidopathy?

Roger L. Novack, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally recognized clinician, scientist and surgeon. After attending Columbia University in New York where he majored in Electrical Engineering, he obtained his masters degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, he completed his medical school training and doctorate degree in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He then attended residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA, followed by a prestigious retina fellowship at Duke University. He has held academic positions at both Duke University and UCLA. He also holds a patent for developing instrumentation for monitoring retinal metabolism.

Central Serous Choroidopathy is a disease that causes fluid to build up under the retina. The cause is unknown, but men are affected more often than women and the condition is most common at around age 45. Stress appears to be a risk factor. “Type A” personalities who are under a lot of stress may be more likely to develop Central Serous Choroidopathy. It can also occur as a complication of steroid drug use.

Symptoms are: dim and blurred blind spot in the center of vision, distortion of straight lines and objects appearing smaller or farther away. Most cases clear up without treatment in 1 or 2 months. Patients with more severe leakage and more severe visual loss, or those in whom the disease lasts longer, may be helped by laser treatment or photodynamic therapy. Patients who are using steroids (for example, to treat autoimmune diseases) should stop using them, if possible, under the supervision of a physician. Most patients recover good vision without treatment. The disease returns in about half of all patients, and has a similarly good outlook. Rarely, patients develop permanent scars that damage their central vision.

Roger L. Novack, M.D., Ph.D.

GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL 1225 Wilshire Blvd. • Los Angeles, CA 90017 Phone: (213) 977-2121 • goodsam.org

RETINA-VITREOUS ASSOCIATES MEDICAL GROUP 1127 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1620 • Los Angeles, CA 90017 Phone: (213) 483-8810 • laretina.com

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December 15, 2014

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discipline guidelines and responses. The report was released to much fanfare and controversy on Wednesday, Dec. 10. Bernard Parks Jr., the councilman’s chief of staff, said the senior Parks was sought out because of his time as chief of the LAPD, where he created and oversaw a disciplinary policy. The councilman also saw ties between professional athletes and police officers, Parks Jr. said, as both have jobs that require them to go full bore for short spurts, then instantly shift gears. The new conduct policy applies to all NFL employees, including team owners, and came in response to the league’s handling of alleged abuse cases involving players such as Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson.

New Tenant Announced for The Bloc

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eveloper the Ratkovich Company is in the midst of a $160 million renovation of the former Macy’s Plaza into an openair shopping and office complex dubbed The Bloc. In August, it was revealed that an Alamo Drafthouse will open in the shopping center portion of the project. Now, a retail tenant has been announced: San Francisco men’s brand Wingtip, which offers custom and ready-to-wear apparel, leather goods, cigars and even single-malt whiskies, will open its first Los Angeles outpost at the complex. Wingtip will also have a members-only social club on an upper floor of The Bloc’s office tower. Downtowners can expect a bar and lounge, a whiskey room, a game room and a restaurant, among other features. Also announced at the complex is a collaboration between the Arts District firms Otto Design Group and CNTRLgroup. The Bloc is slated to open in October 2015.

South Park Restaurant Rivera Closing

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Downtown dining pioneer is bidding farewell at the end of the year. Chef/owner John Rivera Sedlar’s South Park eatery Rivera will close after a blowout dinner on New Year’s Eve. A more casual version of the restaurant will reopen somewhere in the Beverly Hills/Hollywood area, though Sedlar declined to specify the location. The move happens as Sedlar pursues a hotel restaurant in his hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“I’ve been wanting to open a restaurant in Santa Fe for 40 years, and it’s now that I have the perfect opportunity,” he said. Sedlar will remain a partner in Rivera’s new iteration. As for departing Downtown, Sedlar said that diners’ tastes have changed over the six years the restaurant operated in South Park. “A more casual approach to dining is popular now, and Rivera is slightly more formal,” he said. While Sedlar has no plans to open another restaurant in the Central City, he did say that he continues to be approached for Downtown projects by potential partners.

Shave Ice Shop Opens in Little Tokyo

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he weather might be cooling down, but Los Angeles is still plenty warm enough to enjoy shave ice. Enter Cold Rush, a new spot in Little Tokyo’s Weller Court. Cold Rush, which softopened last month in the complex at 123 Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka St., offers icy treats made with purified water that’s shaved into a fluffy heap and flavored by a huge assortment of sauces and toppings. Flavors include tiramisu, strawberry and milk, yuzu and mint mojito, and red velvet. A regular serving costs $5, with an extra portion an additional $2. Customers can also add toppings such as crushed almonds, yogurt sauce and more for a $1 each. Cold Rush is open 12-9 p.m. daily.

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New Year’s Handbook INSIDE 10 12 14

Parties & Gatherings Food & Drink

Music & Dance

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December 15, 2014

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK

Parties to the People From Throwback Balls to a Giant Free Community Gathering, Dec. 31 Will Be Big in Downtown

By Jacqueline Fox hether your idea of celebrating on New Year’s Eve involves free-flowing champagne, kicking it 1920s style or doing figure eights on the ice with your sweetheart, Downtown Los Angeles has you covered.

There are more than a half dozen parties and events to celebrate the end of 2014 and the arrival of 2015, with everything from high-priced balls to a free community gathering for all ages.

Here’s a sampling of what you can do in Downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 31… and in one instance, three days later.

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Go Big Before Going Home: The biggest New Year’s Eve event in Downtown will take place in Grand Park, and unlike this past summer’s Made in America festival, the music and other fun here are free.

The event dubbed Grand Park’s N.Y.E. L.A. starts at 7 p.m. and will fill the park and surrounding streets. It is also three times as big as last year’s event, when the huge crowds meant that some people were turned away at the entrance gates.

There will be a hefty musical lineup on three stages, with performances by indie folk-rock band Run River North, Latin rock singer Ceci Bastida, indie rockers Dorothy and many more.

KCRW DJs Chris Douridas, Garth Trinidad and Aaron Byrd will also be spinning tunes.

The countdown to midnight starts at 11:50

The Dec. 31 celebration at Grand Park will be three times as big as the over-capacity event last year. Expect three stages and 3-D “digital mapping” images projected on City Hall.

photo courtesy Grand Park

p.m., and a highlight will be the 3-D digital mapping presentations projected across two façades of City Hall and other buildings. There will also be free “selfie” photo booths, food vendors and what is being touted as the tallest interactive sound display ever presented in the

Dec. 31 will mark the last day of the ice skating rink at L.A. Live. It will remain open until midnight.

photo by Gary Leonard

city. The party ends at 12:30 a.m. Be smart and take public transit to this one.

At 200 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-8080 or grandparkla.org.

No Prohibition Against Having Fun: People think of Union Station as a place to catch a train. On Dec. 31, it becomes a destination for a New Year’s bash. The Prohibition NYE Union Station party offers a chance to take a trip back in time. The soiree, in the gloriously preserved Fred Harvey Restaurant space, kicks off at 9 p.m., and there will be DJ sets from Posso, Travis Emmons, Parker + Barrow, as well as some live jazz. There will also be hand-rolled cigars, tray-passed oysters and burlesque dancers. Don’t let the Prohibition in the name fool you: The 1920s-themed party will have plenty of booze, including custom cocktails and bubbly. Tickets start at $155 and go as high as $6,500 for VIP tables and bottle service.

The dress code is described as Flapper meets Bugsy Siegal.

At 800 N. Alameda St. or prohibitionnye.com.

Sizzle and Spice: What could feel more like a party than a room full of suavely dressed men and women grooving to the sizzle of Brazilian

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beats? The Conga Room at L.A. Live in South Park is hosting its annual White & Gold Masquerade on New Year’s Eve. The lineup features DJ Chris Brazil, Raiz Brazil Sambistas, Ana Gazzola, Brasil Brazil, traditional Brazilian dancers and much more.

Tickets start at $45. VIP party packages with bottle and table service begin at $660 for groups of six. Doors open at 9 p.m. and close at 2 a.m.

At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 745-0162 or congaroom.com.

Twice the Ice: Sometimes you don’t need a formal party on New Year’s Eve. Sometimes, all you need is to gather a group of friends together and do something that approximates a winter wonderland. Fortunately, that can happen at two places in Downtown: the ice rinks at Pershing Square and Nokia Plaza at L.A. Live.

The Holiday Ice Rink at Pershing Square will be open for hourly sessions for all ages on Dec. 31 from 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Admission at the 60-by-100-foot rink is $9 per person and skate rental is another $3. The Hodads, a local tribute band, will perform on the stage at the north edge of the park from 12:30-2 p.m. that afternoon.

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Downtown News 11

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK

The L.A. Kings Holiday Ice rink is larger, measuring 132-by-80- feet. The swath of frozen water, smack in the middle of Nokia Plaza, charges $15 for general admission, including skates. The rink runs through Dec. 31 and, on the last day of the year, will stay open until midnight. One option is a Supper & Skate package, which combines dinner and ice skating for a reduced price. L.A. Live restaurants including Ford’s Filling Station, Lawry’s Carvery and The Farm at Beverly Hills are participating. Check out the details online.

Pershing Square is at 532 S. Olive St., (213) 6244289 or holidayicerinkdowntownla.com. L.A. Live is at 800 W. Olympic Blvd. or lalive.com.

The Spirit of Invention: Speakeasy style meets turn-of-the century fantasy at The Edison New Year’s Eve Cabaret Ball. The acclaimed nightspot in the basement of the Higgins Building is hosting a Dec. 31 ball in the building’s former boiler room with live entertainment including the Urban Renewal Project Big Band and DJ Johnny Abrahams.

There will also be aerial artists, stilt walkers and more. General admission is $100 and includes a glass of champagne at midnight.

VIP and bottle service packages start at $327, which includes one bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the party runs until 2 a.m.

At 108 W. Second St., (213) 613-0000 or theedisondowntown.com.

A Party on Top: What makes a Dec. 31 party at Elevate special? In addition to the date, there’s the view, as the joint is on the 21st story of a building in the Financial District and offers a shimmering, glimmering vista of the Central

Those who overindulge on Dec. 31 can work off the calories three days later. The Jan. 3 New Year’s Race includes an evening marathon, a half-marathon and a 5K on the streets of Downtown.

photo courtesy New Year’s Race

City. The event will include DJ Eddie Boy spinning hip-hop and top 40 dance hits all night long. Tickets are $50 and include a glass of champagne for a midnight toast and party favors. Bottle packages and table reservations are also available. The party starts at 9:30 p.m. and runs until at 2 a.m.

At 811 W. Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2100, (213) 6237100 or elevatelounge.com.

New Year’s Eve With the Blake Show: The Dec. 31 festivities get going early at Staples

Center. That’s because the Los Angeles Clippers tip off against the New York Knicks at 3 p.m. The Knicks are, well, terrible, which means Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordon could be a three-headed highlight reel. The buzzer will sound with plenty of time before the calendar changes. Tickets start at $40.

At 1111 S. Figueroa St., (213) 457-1647 or clippers.com.

Calorie Crusher: The new year starts on Jan. 1.

However, the new year’s festivities in Downtown run, literally, until Jan. 3. That’s because the third annual New Year’s Race takes place that day. The evening event includes a marathon, a half-marathon, a 5K and a kid’s “fun run.”

The starting line is at Seventh Street and Grand Avenue. There will also be children’s activities at the finish line with face painting and more.

Think of the New Year’s Race as the perfect opportunity to work off all that Dec. 31 food and booze you consumed.

At (213) 627-8484 or newyearsrace.com.

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12 Downtown News

December 15, 2014

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK

The Last Supper (of 2014) Downtown Restaurants End the Year With Special Menus

By Eddie Kim or some, celebrating the new year means drinking a lot of champagne while counting down and watching the glittering ball drop. For others, New Year’s Eve is nothing without a great meal.

Those in the latter category are in luck, as Downtown Los Angeles has a diverse array of restaurants that are cooking up something special on Dec. 31. Here is a small selection of the highlights, and while the food options are diverse, each has something in common: Availability is limited, so reservations are recommended.

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A Modernist New Year: At Alma, chef Ari Taymor is celebrating the end of 2014 by moving beyond his $95 tasting menu. The night’s offering will be a $150 per person meal with a champagne toast. As always, expect the dinner to feature an array of unpredictable, exciting and delicious flavor combinations. Highlights at Alma include a tiny snack of English muffin topped with burrata, sea urchin and caviar; Pacific jack fish with Meyer lemon, celery root and pine; and the crowd favorite of frozen duck liver with coffee granola, smoked maple and sweet, tender discs of carrot.

At 952 S. Broadway, (213) 244-1422 or alma-la.com.

Hotel Party: Noé, the fine-dining restaurant tucked inside the Omni Hotel on Bunker Hill, is an elegant and rather underrated place to eat.

For New Year’s Eve, chef John Paul Kuhn is serving a four-course menu for $75 and a six-course meal for $100. Kuhn’s cooking features subtle flavors that meander between California, classic French and Japanese cuisines. Dishes you may encounter include a silky carrot and ginger soup with coconut cream, crisp duck breast with a huckleberry sauce and seared scallops with polenta ravioli. Wine pairings are available for both tasting menus.

At 251 S. Olive St., (213) 356-4100 or noerestaurant.com.

Garden State: It’s hard to go wrong at Café Pinot. One of the jewels in the Patina empire, it stands out both for the picturesque views from the restaurant’s patio, located amid the Central Library’s Maguire Gardens, and for chef Joe Vasiloff’s lively dishes. Café Pinot is marking the changing of the calendar by offering three- and four-course menus for $60 and $70, respectively, from 4:30-10 p.m. on Dec. 31. Dishes include a Jerusalem artichoke soup with potato blini and caviar, veal breast ravioli with smoked tomato sauce and a pan-seared sea bass with cauliflower custard.

At 700 W. Fifth St., (213) 239-6500 or patinagroup.com.

Bonne Année: Chef Tony Esnault is whipping up a $95, five-course menu to ring in 2015 at the Arts District French bistro Church & State. Diners will start with a sunchoke and celery soup, then choose between mari-

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Café Pinot has indoor and patio seating and a prix-fixe dinner on New Year’s Eve.

nated hamachi fish or a salad of greens and herbs. Next up is butternut squash risotto or pate with forest mushroom pasta (dare to resist the supplement of shaved winter truffles for $15). There’s roasted salmon with beets and yogurt or roasted beef tenderloin with slow-cooked potatoes as a main entree, and a chocolate mousse or a fruit tart for a sweet finish. If you’ve got the bucks to splurge, you can order a wine pairing to complement each course.

At 1850 Industrial St., (213) 405-1434 or churchandstatebistro.com.

A Trip to the East: Chaya has an $85 prix-fixe menu with four courses on Dec. 31, which is perfect for anyone who wants to indulge in Japanese flavors. The first course is a take on Chaya’s famous bento box, with mini dishes including lobster and Wagyu beef sushi and yuzu-tinged persimmon fruit with beets. The second course is sea bass with a crab dashi broth,

December 15, 2014

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK

photo courtesy of Chaya

Put a Japanese twist on the changing of the calendar with a dinner at Chaya. The four-course, $85 prix-fixe meal can be enjoyed inside the restaurant or, if it’s nice, on the patio.

photo by Gary Leonard

The Arts District’s Church & State will close out 2014 with chef Tony Esnault’s $95, five-course menu. Entrees include roasted salmon or beef tenderloin.

followed by a pairing of braised short rib and grilled beef tenderloin. Dinner culminates with a green tea marjolaine, a type of rich, layered cake. Eat indoors or, if the weather is pleasant, take advantage of the patio.

At 525 S. Flower St., (213) 236-9577 or thechaya.com.

Surf and Turf: At Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse at L.A. Live, the New Year’s Eve meal involves more than just meat. Fleming’s is serving a three-course prix-fixe menu for $69.95 on Dec. 31 that starts with an appetizer of prosciutto-wrapped shrimp served with a savory tomato jam. Next comes a choice of French onion soup or a house salad, then an entree of filet mignon paired with an eight-ounce lobster tail. Dessert isn’t included, but considering it’s a celebration, you may want to splurge on something like the Belgian chocolate flourless torte with lush vanilla creme Anglaise.

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

Haute Cuisine: Want to go all-out for New Year’s Eve dinner? Patina, Downtown’s grande dame of fine French-California cuisine, is a safe bet. The restaurant inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall is offering a three- or four-course prix-fixe menu with seating at 4:30-5 p.m. ($75 and $100, respectively), an eight-course “Gala” menu beginning at 7:30-8 p.m. ($185), and an à la carte menu from 10-10:30 p.m. There are few restaurants in Los Angeles as refined and precise as Patina, and the work shows in dishes such as black truffle-crusted scallops with a Mache salad, poached lobster with hedgehog mushrooms, and Guinea hen with a “cigar” of shredded dark hen meat.

At 141 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-3331 or patinagroup.com. eddie@downtownnews.com

Downtown News 13

14 Downtown News

December 15, 2014

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK

The Sounds of a New Year Whether You Want to Dance All Night or Hear Some Chill Music, Downtown Has You Covered on Dec. 31

Dance Dance Revolution: USC is on winter break, but if you happen to come across a huge crowd of late teens and 20-somethings festooned in bright colors amidst the scholarly confines of University Park, you can safely bet they’ve enrolled in a three-day crash course in electronica known as OMFG! NYE LA. The Shrine Auditorium is playing host to the rave that will be filled with dance-friendly EDM. On Dec. 29, Chicago’s Flosstradamus will headline.

The next night finds Deorro and Madeon closing out the evening. On New Year’s Eve, the top slot will be filled by Swedish-born L.A. resident Eric Prydz. Pace yourself, as only the strong will survive these three nights of bacchanalia.

Think Pink: One school of thought is that New Year’s Eve requires high-decibel, pulse-pounding music, whether of the rock, dance or rap varieties. A more sophisticated crowd might wander over to Walt Disney Concert Hall where Pink Martini will play not one, but two shows on Dec. 31. The ensemble will mark the passing of another year with a sharply honed fusion of classical music, jazz and traditional pop vocals.

Better still, the von Trapps will be joining them on stage. That’s correct, the grandchildren of the von Trapp clan from Sound of Music fame are touring and will be stopping in Downtown Los Angeles. The early show starts at 7 p.m. and the nightcap begins at 10:30 p.m.

At 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or laphil.com.

Digweed Deep: As exciting as your plans for New Year’s Eve may be, there’s a better than good chance that they pale in comparison to the Dec. 31 parties of yesteryear when electronica first began to take over clubs in the UK. Don’t believe us? Ask John Digweed when he plugs into the sound system at Exchange L.A. A veteran of the early, devil-may-care dance-all-night days, Digweed will be burning through a set of his trademark progressive house. Enjoy this Historic Core show with moderation, friends, because although house music

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By Dan Johnson hen the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31 and 2014 becomes 2015, people everywhere will begin to sing “Auld Lang Syne.” It’s a nice moment, even if no one knows the words.

In Downtown Los Angeles, “Auld Lang Syne” won’t be the most popular song of the evening.

That’s because a wave of concerts and musical performances are taking place across the Central City. From classical sounds to electronica blowouts and a little hip-hop and juke joint rock and roll in between, there is no shortage of ways to ring in the new year. Here are some of the best options, including suggestions on where to go when the clubs close but you don’t want the night to end.

photo by Autumn-de-Wilde

The Portland outfit Pink Martini returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Dec. 31 for a show full of classical music, jazz and traditional pop vocals. Actually, make that shows: There are concerts at 7 and 10:30 p.m.

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

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December 15, 2014 monthly ritual that is Bootie LA, here’s a primer: This audio oddity deals exclusively in mashups, aka well-spun musical concoctions that seamlessly blend elements of different songs.

This month, the torch of compulsive dancing that has long burned at the Echoplex will be handed off to the new Regent Theatre. The Bootie LA NYE 2015 show will have New York DJ Lobsterdust joining Los Angeles DJ Shyboy for what promises to be a blowout of absurd costumes and a hodgepodge of 2014 anthems primed for deconstruction and recombination.

Of further awesomeness, the first 500 guests at the Main Street venue will receive an 80-minute mix CD entitled Best of Bootie 2014. BTW, when you leave, please try to be quiet. There are a lot of apartment buildings nearby, and some of the residents will be sleeping.

At 448 S. Main St. or theregenttheater.com.

Back to Basics: Like a great haggard beast that crawled out of the primordial ooze of some southern swamp and found an electric guitar, Blackwater Jukebox has been making waves throughout the Los Angeles music scene with the slimy succulence of their gypsy punk.

They’ll be taking the unassuming corner stage at The Escondite in the Toy District on New Year’s Eve, and will deliver an evening free from pretension, bright lights and high heels (unless that’s your thing).

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

Master-piece in a Theater: Over 15 years, the faux-carved stone of the Mayan Theatre on Hill Street has played host to Masterbeat NYE, one of Los Angeles’ preeminent alternative holiday celebrations. This year is no different,

Downtown News 15

NEW YEAR’S HANDBOOK and to celebrate the long tenure of pounding rhythms and shared experiences, Masterbeat is laying claim to the Hill Street spot with DJs Grind and Alison Calagna. Doors at the LGBT-friendly rager open at 9 p.m. on Dec. 31 and the party continues until, egads, 6 a.m. If you happen to survive, the Masterbeat team is hosting another dance night on Jan. 1, this one dubbed Ice & Fire: Endgame, at Exchange LA. Again, it runs from 9 p.m.-6 a.m. Brett Henrichsen will DJ. At 1038 S. Hill St., (213) 746-4287 or masterbeat.com.

Creative Twist: What better person to ring in 2015 with than the goblin face of L.A.’s grotesque hip-hop collective Odd Future? Yes, Tyler the Creator and his loyal band of miscreants will be hijacking Club Nokia on Dec. 31.

Prepare for an all-ages evening of immoral pleasures and subversive sounds as Tyler describes in lucid detail what he wants to do to poor Bruno Mars. He’ll be joined by the amusingly named DJ Billy Jole.

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

I Know Who You Danced to Last Summer: Those who have packed Grand Park on a July Sunday for the Summer Sessions series are well-acquainted with the potent combination of stiff cocktails and deep house music that have made the event a rousing success. What you may not know is that Summer Sessions founder and DJ Eduardo Castillo has been holding down the fort for down-tempo, groovy vinyl and deep house at his own establishment, Pattern Bar, at the corner of Ninth and Main streets. This New Year’s Eve, Castillo and his col-

photo by Terry Richardson

Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator helms the New Year’s Eve party at Club Nokia.

league John Dill take over the one-twos for a ’20s-themed party complete with loud tunes and fine drinks. It probably won’t take you all the way back to the speakeasy days of Prohibition, but it very well might transport you to last summer.

At 100 W. Ninth St., (213) 627-7774 or patternbar.com.

The Party Never Ends: Downtown, there’s a place you can go when 2 a.m. rolls around (OK, in some cases it’s 6 a.m.) and you’re not yet ready to end the evening. Down at The Original Pantry Café (877 S. Figueroa St.), the doors

never close (seriously, it’s open 24-7 every day of the year) and the sourdough French toast has a marvelous way of soaking up the alcohol in your stomach. If your spirit is willing but the body is tired, the IHOP at Eighth and Flower streets is also a 24-hour affair that is generally accepting of diminished motor skills. The point is, you only have to find someplace to lay low until 6 a.m. (there it is again!) rolls around and the King Eddy Saloon (131 E. Fifth St.) opens.

All three joints will be serving on New Year’s Day, but the early opening time may just forestall a crippling headache or help you ramp into another day of shenanigans. Stay safe.

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16 Downtown News

December 15, 2014

On the Edge of a Tech Boom It’s Not Yet a Rival to Silicon Beach, But Downtown’s Startup and Tech Scene Is Growing Rapidly

By Eddie Kim hen it comes to high technology in Los Angeles, the location of choice is “Silicon Beach.” The label describes the thriving scene in Santa Monica, Venice and adjacent neighborhoods that is home to the local offices of Google, Snapchat, Hulu and many smaller companies.

At the same time, and with far less flash, Downtown Los Angeles is emerging as a destination for some tech companies. While the Central City is not yet a rival to the Westside, certain startups are finding a ripe atmosphere in a supportive, creative community. In other instances, established firms like the ability to grow with the neighborhood.

There are numerous reasons for this, say tech industry and real estate players. The Central City has cheaper office space than on the Westside, and the offerings are growing as developers build more “creative” office space, with open floor plans rather than traditional corner offices and cubicles (see sidebar p.17). Others point out that Downtown’s growing roster of restaurants, bars and entertainment spots makes it more urban and flat-out hipper than the more venerable hubs, which is important for an industry with a hefty concentration of young workers.

Downtown’s greatest tech strength is in e-commerce, thanks to the proximity of the Fashion District and its network of manufacturing and distribution centers. Online fashion retailer Nasty Gal last year expanded into a larger

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space in its home of the PacMutual Building near Pershing Square. Other web-centric retailers to set up in Downtown include Hautelook, StyleSaint, GoJane, Ella Moss and Splendid.

Additionally, more than 35 tech startups call Downtown home, according to startup mapping site Represent L.A., with brands ranging from the customer service app maker Showkit to online truck parts shop Findit Parts to teleconferencing company Oblong Industries.

S. Ryan Meyer, regional director of tech education company General Assembly, has closely watched the area’s growing tech environment.

The company, which has locations in 14 cities around the world, is expanding from Santa Monica into new digs at shared-office space Maker City, near Broadway and Washington Boulevard (in the complex formerly known as the L.A. Mart).

They are also nearing a deal for a permanent office in the Arts District.

“There’s a lot of innovation Downtown in the tech sector, and as an educational startup, being closer and more accessible to a majority of people in the city was important,” Meyer said.

Startup Ecosystem One man with a bird’s-eye view of the local tech scene is Peter Marx, a longtime Qualcomm executive who Mayor Eric Garcetti hired to be the city’s first Chief Innovation Technology Officer. His duties include improving tech infrastructure across Los Angeles and tracking tech sector growth.

When it comes to the latter category, he said,

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the city is performing “beyond everyone’s expectations.” Marx added that he has noticed an eastward trend in tech talent, and even traditional companies like real estate giant CBRE are choosing high-tech offices in Downtown.

“Downtown is a completely different place than when I was growing up,” he said. “You have public transit, you have bike lanes, you have nightlife. It has all the characteristics of what a hip, contemporary digital crowd would want.”

Marx is not alone in pointing to the cultural shift in the community.

Jeff Ellermeyer founded the production company Buck, which specializes in motion graphics, usually in ads, in 2003. Three years later he moved the growing company from Koreatown

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Ellermeyer has 30 employees in his Downtown office and calls coming to the community the “best decision I’ve made.”

“Production likes to be cool, and one thing I’m noticing now is — this is important for advertising — when clients come and participate in production, they used to want to be at the beach,” Ellermeyer said. “But a lot of clients want to stay Downtown now instead. There’s a tipping point for attracting creatives.”

Anthony Kelani, the co-founder and CEO of startup app company Showkit, saw a similar hip factor before deciding to move to the

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Spring Arts Tower after “graduating” from a West Hollywood incubator. He has five employees and plans to expand the office soon.

“Everybody kind of congregates on the Westside and a lot of mixers and networking events take place there,” he said.

“But you’re starting to see those things in Downtown, too. I think the whole startup ecosystem is growing up right now.”

The hip factor is complemented by cost concerns. Scott Steuber, a broker with Avison Young, who has experience in both West L.A. and Downtown, said that a number of companies are getting priced out of Silicon Beach and are winding up in “peripheral” markets such as Downtown.

Rents could be $7-$8 per square foot per month in certain neighborhoods in Venice, he said. It can cost $5-$6 in Santa Monica and $3-$4 in Playa Vista. Meanwhile, rents in Downtown are closer to $2.50-$3 per square foot, he said.

Steuber doesn’t yet see a full-on migration of tech companies into the Central City, but he noted there are more office options for innovative brands than ever before.

Other companies are choosing to expand in Downtown. NationBuilder, a digital organizing platform company founded in 2009 by longtime Central City resident Jim Gilliam, is moving from the Pershing Square Building into bigger headquarters in the Biltmore Hotel. Gilliam said he resisted pressure to relocate his company, which now has about 150 employees, to West L.A. Part of the reason for staying, he said, was to avoid being in a “bubble.” The Downtown location, he added, allows NationBuilder to integrate with the neighborhood in a meaningful way.

“D.C., Silicon Valley, the Westside — they all have their own dominant culture that’s toxic in its own way,” Gilliam said. “I wanted to be in a community where people were trying to build new from something old. Downtown really represented that to me.”

Ani Okkasian, director of member experience at Hub L.A., an Arts District incubator that specializes in companies with social entrepreneurship elements and has more than 30 locations around the world, echoed the point.

“A couple years ago, the Arts District wasn’t as desirable. Now, people are coming in and newer businesses are re-establishing

100 year

The Creative Push

M

photo by Gary Leonard

Peter Marx, a former Qualcomm executive, was hired by Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the city’s first Chief Innovation Technology Officer. He says Downtown “has all the characteristics of what a hip, contemporary digital crowd would want.”

neighborhoods,” she said. “It felt like a neighborhood where we could ask, ‘Can we change it through good business?’”

Hunting a Juggernaut No one pretends that Downtown is a direct competitor to Silicon Beach. Instead, say experts, its rivals for attracting businesses are smaller communities such as Culver City.

One issue, Steuber said, is that much of the top engineering and programming talent is concentrated in West L.A., and executives from national companies continue to be attracted to living on the coastline. Moving Downtown into the tech big-time, he said, may require persuading a juggernaut comContinued on page 18

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any Downtown law, banking and insurance firms have traditional office layouts, with executives in window suites and assistants relegated to interior cubicles. Amid the emerging tech boom, however, Downtown landlords are trying to lure innovative tenants by offering collaborative floor plans and modern tech infrastructure.

It seems to be working.

The New York-based We Work, which offers shared office space for entrepreneurs in creative and tech industries, recently announced it is leasing six floors (44,500 square feet) of the Fine Arts Building at 811 W. Seventh St. There’s a similar arrangement at Maker City L.A., near Broadway and Washington Boulevard, and newcomer Blankspaces in the Historic Core.

The L.A. Cleantech Incubator also offers office space and support services to startups, as does its neighbor Hub L.A., which specializes in companies with social entrepreneurship elements.

If office space is being built in Downtown, it probably comes with the “creative” tag. The former Ford and Coca Cola factories in the Arts District are undergoing such a transformation. The Herald Examiner Building in South Park will also have creative office space as part of its renovation.

Rising Realty Partners’ Christopher Rising, who oversaw a renovation of the PacMutual Building into creative office space, notes that the shift in workspace design is affecting not just the tech and startup sectors, but “traditional” occupations like law and finance, too.

“What’s interesting is that the term ‘creative’ isn’t going to mean a lot in the future,” Rising said. “A 32-year-old lawyer trying to start their own business is going to want open offices, too. I don’t see us going back to the time of 10-by-10 offices with all your files in cabinets. We don’t have horse-and-buggies anymore, either.”

—Eddie Kim

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

18 Downtown News

Five intriguing downtown tech players

Buck

Location: 515 W. Seventh St. Employees: 30 Website: Buck.tv Who Are They?: Even if you’ve nev-

er heard of motion graphics production company Buck, you’ve probably seen their work on TV. From McDonald’s “Heart Winter” campaign for their white chocolate drinks to Honda’s “Santa’s New Sleigh” ad, Buck does it all. The company, which moved Downtown in 2006, is one of the area’s oldest tech players.

NatioNBuilder

Location: 506 S. Grand Ave. Employees: Approx. 150 Website: NationBuilder.com Who Are They?: Count Mayor Eric Garc-

etti among NationBuilder’s clients; he has used the digital organizing company for a bevy of services both before and after he was elected. The company is known for its software tool that streamlines different

are getting more expensive to live in, he said, and potential office and residential projects have been “shut down” by the community.

“When these kids get older and start building families, they’ll run into a huge housing imbalance,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rising said, younger people are attracted to Downtown’s “24-hour experience,”

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Location: 411 S. Hewitt St. Startups: 19 companies which he compared to the scenes in San Francisco and New York’s SoHo area.

Marx has high hopes that the burgeoning Downtown tech trend will continue to grow.

The Central City’s emergence, he said, reminds him of an aged San Francisco warehouse, next to a vein of railroad tracks, that software giant Adobe converted into its huge headquarters.

maGNopus

Location: 523 W. Sixth St. Employees: Approx. 14 Who Are They?: Hollywood has come

Downtown, thanks to visual effects artists Alex Henning and Ben Grossmann, who partnered with Rodrigo Teixeira to create Magnopus. Henning and Grossmann won an Oscar for their work on Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. Past titles from the duo include Sin City, The Amazing Spider-Man and the Leonardo DiCaprioled Shutter Island.

—Eddie Kim “It was when Giants Stadium was being built, the Embarcadero was growing, and they’re still there and thriving,” Marx remarked. “We’ll have our own examples, in a very L.A. way, where Downtown and its beautiful buildings and communities stay hip and rejuvenated as a center for technology.” eddie@downtownnews.com

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formed in the age of digital media, and General Assembly is Exhibit A in Downtown. The company offers both online and campus classes with a focus on leveraging technology, with programs in data science, digital marketing, web development and more. General Assembly is expanding from Santa Monica to Downtown.

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(it’s next to Urth Caffé) is an incubator that nurtures a variety of tech startups. From a cutting-edge production lighting business (Hive) to tricked-out electric motorcycles (Juiced) to experimental lithium ion batteries (CalBattery), LACI teaches the next generation what to do and not do. The incubator, run by Fred Walti, is expanding as the La Kretz Innovation Campus, which will house R&D, conference and workplace training spaces.

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tasks — say, finances, employee and volunteer management and growth goals — into a single platform.

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pany to set up in Downtown.

That’s easier said than done, of course. Most recently, Yahoo, which real estate players say toured Downtown, rejected the area in favor of Plaza Vista, which is also where Google just bought 12 acres of land.

Still, Christopher Rising sees big tech potential in Downtown. He and his father, real estate veteran Nelson Rising, founded the company Rising Realty Partners in 2012. Their first project was turning the faded PacMutual Building into a modern creative office complex. It is now more than 90% occupied, with tech tenants including Nasty Gal and movie effects firm Magnopus.

In Rising’s long view, Downtown has more breathing room for companies and their talent.

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Downtown News 19

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

fire, 6 lumber fire only responds to huge amounts of water. We would’ve fought it the same way 50 or 60 years ago.

“We knew early on that we needed to put firefighters inside Figueroa Plaza and other nearby buildings. My initial thought was to get people inside the buildings so they could do an assessment on smoke and heat detectors.

Everything was in normal status except for the 221 North Figueroa towers. I didn’t realize they were catching fire, and that was happening right as firefighters were going in to check. But we weren’t worried about people in the build-

ings, which was security staff that had evacuated to the lobby. As bad as it looked, 221 Fig took mostly water damage from the sprinklers.

“The damage to the DWP building was a surprise. I’m still not sure how the building sustained so much heat. It had 160 broken windows. We didn’t even know about that damage until the next morning.

“The only thing that points to human involvement is the size of the fire based on how quickly it appears to have occurred. Had this been a smoldering fire that slowly started to build up, someone would’ve called us earlier, with all the people still driving on the freeway.

“This fire went from zero to almost com-

photo by Gary Leonard

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plete involvement of a two-block building in a matter of moments. Unless a fire was cooking somewhere in the basement or a place where nobody could see it, and it burst up quickly, I don’t know. Whether or not it’s arson remains to be seen.

“I’ve heard people call it a ‘career fire,’ which implies that you see one of these in your career. It’s interesting — I was talking to a senior firefighter, and he said he used to go to these all the time some decades ago in the Valley on construction sites. Better enforcement of fire codes and better-written codes have helped

reduce big fires a lot. With the advent of cell phones and automatic alarms we get notified much earlier.

“It doesn’t compare to anything I’ve ever seen in initial size and intensity. It’s by far the biggest single fire in an urban area I’ve seen.

“I’ve visited the fire stations in my battalion to tell them I was impressed. This still gets me a little choked up. They took a lot of heat but they stayed right there fighting the fire. The thing that gets to me the most is the dedication and professionalism of these firefighters.” eddie@downtownnews.com

DT

CALENDAR

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

December 15, 2014

The Sounds of the Season

photos by Alex Pitt for The Music Center

20 Downtown News

The annual Music Center Holiday Sing-Along on Friday, Dec. 19, will features favorite carols sung by the masses. Last year 400 people attended the free event.

Sing-Alongs and Other Holiday Programs Come to the Music Center

Klezmer band The Klezmatics returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Dec. 22 with a Hanukkah-themed program.

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They will be distributed to people waiting in

By Donna Evans line at 6 p.m. and are first-come, first-served. s December’s nighttime temperatures The sing-along has grown in popularity evdip into the 50s, two things are reery year, Seldis said, with approximately 400 soundingly true: The holiday season is people attending in 2013. Still, he stressed that upon us, and festive merriment abounds on E-NEWS om s.c New it’s an informal affair, with some people seated Bunker Hill in the form of song. wn nto Dow at SIGN UP Sign up and singing all 90 minutes, while others walk Beginning this week, a host of programs few tunes. featuring a wealth of holiday music will be Sign Up for Our E-News Blasts up & to belt out aThe Professionals performed throughout the venues of the MuEntered toTuesday, Win Movie Tickets!Another returning favorite is Chanticleer, the sic Center.Be Festivities begin Dec. 16, all-male, 12-member chorus that performs piecwith the jazz vocals of the Manhattan Transfer es from a variety of periods, from eighth cenChristmas Show. The run culminates on Tuesday, Dec. 23, with the Arturo Sandoval Big Band tury chants to traditional Christmas carols. The Chanticleer Christmas program is on Thursday, Christmas. In between are six other events and Dec. 18, at 8 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall. shows.

Chanticleer assistant music director Kory One popular engagement takes place FriReid said listening to Gregorian chants can day, Dec. 19, when the Music Center presents help someone relax amid the chaotic holiday the seventh annual Holiday Sing-Along. In this happening the crowd is the star and the live ac- stress. The group will provide that opportunity: Chants will begin the program amid candlecompaniment is the back-up. light, and the singers will proceed toward the “We’re just trying to create an environment Renaissance and into the 17th century. The for people to participate in the arts in an easy townNews works, he said, will depict the many facets of .Downproduc/L.A and enjoyable Fac way, ” said Mark Seldis, ok.com ebo the Christmas story and the mystery of the Imtion manager for the Music Center. “It’s fun and maculate Conception. it’s outside so people can grab a scarf and enLike Downtown News on Facebook “It’s like eating a well-rounded meal: We start joy the limited wintry weather that we have.” & Be Entered to6:30-8 Win p.m.

Movie with the historical period,” Reid said, “and in the The sing-along runs from on Tickets! second half we jump into dessert with carols the Music Center Plaza (if there’s rain, the proyou’ve heard before.” gram will shift to the second floor of the DoroThe Jewish Festival of Light also gets its due thy Chandler Pavilion). Participants can expect at Disney Hall, when the six-member klezmer to raise their voice to favorites such as “Jingle Bells,”“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “White band The Klezmatics arrives. The group’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah program takes place at Christmas” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

8 p.m. on Dec. 22. It’s the third Disney Hall apThe event is free, but tickets are required.

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In addition to the singers on stage, the vopearance for the band. calists in the audience will be accompanied “It’s nice to be able to add to the body of

by Disney Hall’s huge pipe organ, as well as work of songs that people can sing for the holipiano players and a small jazz band. Songs on days,” said lead singer and accordion player the docket include “Feliz Navidad,” “12 Days of Lorin Sklamberg. He added that the playlist Christmas” and “The Dreidel Song.” will include songs from Wonder Wheel, which Rees said no one should worry if their voice won the 2006 Grammy for best Contemporary isn’t as strong or as beautiful as that of profesWorld Music Album. sional singers. It’s about the spirit, she said.

Disney Hall has its own sing-along, though “It’s not all formal with regular concert protounlike the outdoor version, this one is not free. cols,” she remarked.

The two Holiday Sing-Along events, on SaturOther events this week include the Los Anday, Dec. 20, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., will geles Master Chorale’s performance of Handel’s be led by conductor John Sutton of the AngeStarts Dec. 12 “Messiah” on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m. les Chorale. A special guest will be Drew Carey (it repeats Sunday at 7 p.m.) and a Holiday Or(yes, that Drew Carey). Lyric sheets will be progan Spectacular on Friday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m. vided, and Johanna Rees, associate director of Both are at Disney Hall. presentations for the Los Angeles PhilharmonAt the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) ic, said there are usually a number of children in 972-7211 or musiccenter.org and Walt Disney the audience.

Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or “It’s really a lot of fun for kids, but I’m an laphil.com. adult and it’s just as fun for me. It totally gets donna@downtownnews.com you into the spirit,” said Rees.

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December 15, 2014

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Downtown News 21

Inside the Temple of the Macaron Bottega Louie Opens a Mammoth Bakery Across From Its Mammoth Restaurant

By Donna Evans he Financial District restaurant Bottega Louie is known for two things: its cavernous space, and the constant high-decibel clatter that accompanies any meal.

Now the restaurant has a second mammoth space, though it’s one few diners will ever see. In September, Bottega Louie’s owners opened a 15,000-square-foot basement bakery across the street from the restaurant. On a visit last week it was a hive of activity, with workers baking, filling, flattening, cutting, spraying and curing an array of colorful macarons, along with the bread, beignets and assorted chocolates the eatery sells.

The new space at 617 W. Seventh St. is in a 1923 building that once functioned as the headquarters for Union Oil Co. The Swig Co. purchased the 12-story building in 2011 for approximately $39 million, and Bottega Louie leased the basement, which is more than three times the size of the 4,800-square-foot space in Glendale that it had been using for baking operations.

Bottega Louie opened in 2009 and initially did all the baking inside the restaurant at the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue. Yet, with just a 250-square-foot area in the 1,000-squarefoot kitchen, the amount of pastries that

T

could be produced was limited. Many days, said restaurant general manager Matt Daniel, the display case at the front of the business would be empty by the early afternoon.

In 2012, the baking operations were moved to the Glendale site. However, the still-inadequate size and the location far from Downtown stymied production, Daniel said. Bottega Louie executives looked at 12 locations for a new bakery, with six of them in Downtown, before deciding that the best option was literally across the street.

“We’ve benefitted from being in Downtown with its renaissance, and we were here even before that started. We wanted to continue to support that revival,” Daniel said.

Temperamental Cookie When the elevator doors open into the basement, the first thing a visitor notices is the smell of freshly baked bread. There’s a flurry of paper-hat-wearing employees who are carrying trays, pushing carts and rolling dough. In one area, known as the “fulfillment room,” workers assemble gift boxes and other online orders. Daniel said tens of thousands of macarons are produced every week, and during the holidays “the tens go up.” Valentine’s Day and USC’s graduation day are the next busiest production times.

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Bread isn’t the only olfactory experience in the basement. There’s also a chocolate room, filled with the scent of just-prepared truffles and palet d’or, a rich dessert comprised of layers of cake and chocolate cream and covered in a chocolate glaze.

The 250-square-foot space is kept at a steady 68 degrees.

As for the favored macarons, they’re actually a very temperamental cookie, said Scott Andriola, manager for the restaurant’s gourmet market. They’re more like mini soufflés than a bake-and-go sugar cookie, he said. If the product cracks in the oven, or spews into an odd shape on the paper, it’s on to the island of misfit macarons, otherwise known as the trash.

“We throw them away. We ship them in trays with molding so a lack of uniformity won’t work,” Andriola said.

In a different part of the bakery, one worker slams a metal tray onto a counter, trying to even out the cookies’ shape, while another moistens a table-top full of macarons with a spray gun. All told, roughly 30 workers keep the bakery humming from 3 a.m.-9 p.m. each day.

“It’s kind of like Willy Wonka on a smaller scale,” Daniel said.

The basement bakery is frenetic, but compared to the rattle in the main dining room, it’s also quiet. donna@downtownnews.com

The Bottega Louie staff produces tens of thousands of macarons each week, as well as bread, chocolate and other goods, in a recently opened 15,000-square foot basement bakery. It is across the street from the restaurant. photo by Gary Leonard

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

DT

CALENDAR LISTINGS

By Dan Johnson calendar@downtownnews.com

The Don't Miss List

1

Monday, deceMber 15 Marcus Baram at the Last Bookstore Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St., (213) 488-0599 or lastbookstore.com.

7:30 p.m.: The life and times of the underappreciated musician Gil Scott-Heron comes into full focus as Marcus Baram discusses his work Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man.

One might be uneasy inviting a medium over for the sole purpose of exploiting the spirit-summoning session as material for a forthcoming work of fiction, only to have the soul of their first spouse begin haunting the joint. When Oscar- and Tony-winning actress Angela Lansbury plays the seer, and the scenario is penned by the celebrated Noel Coward, far fewer people object. Center Theatre Group just opened Blithe Spirit at the Ahmanson Theatre,, where it runs through Jan. 18, 2015.

Enjoy the eerie farce this Tuesday-Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. At 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 628-2772 or centertheatregroup.org.

Wednesday, deceMber 17 Mythbusters Live Nokia Theatre, 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6030 or nokiatheatrelalive.com.

8 p.m.: Your favorite scientific-method-inspired debunking show takes to the stage to wow you with its cast members’ ability to suck all of the magic from day-to-day life.

photo by Robert Fujioka

Thursday, deceMber 18 Ed Templeton at MOCA MOCA, 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 626-6222 or moca.org.

6 p.m.: Artist Ed Templeton will be signing copies of his latest book, Wayward Cognitions, a retrospective featuring works from the past two decades.

The Empire Strikes Back Live Read 929 S. Broadway, (213) 623-3233 or acehotel.com/ losangeles 8 p.m.: Episode five of the Star Wars film series is generally viewed as the Negative Nancy of the original trio. For those who enjoy basking in the permafrost existential crisis experienced by the Rebel Alliance in the dark days of Hoth or the philosophically illuminating training sessions of Dagobah, this Jason Reitmanhelmed celebrity read (cast to be announced later) should be a winner.

2

4

Photo by Robert J. Saferstein

The Spirit World, the Piano World, the World of Myths and More Downtown Fun

EVENTS

For years you’ve enjoyed the fact-finding, odd couple antics of Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage on Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters.” Now you get to enjoy them live in Downtown.

On Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m., the facial hair-blessed hosts will venture forth from their isolated experimentation facilities to disprove a bevy of common misconceptions before a live audience at Nokia Theatre. Think of it as a pop opus tribute to the scientific method. Tickets were still available at press time. At 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6030 or nokiatheatrelalive.com.

If you’re into post-Prohibition New Orleans-infused orchestral takes on jazz, ragtime and cabaret — and really, who isn’t? — then Vaud and the Villains should be right up your alley. The longstanding Los Angeles outfit routinely assembles its 19-person crew for gigs all across these United States. So it will be quite the honor to find them channeling the spirit of the Big Easy in the California Plaza Watercourt on Thursday, Dec. 18, at noon. The raucous noise may be unexpected in the middle of the working day, so loosen the necktie, take a deep breath and enjoy the free outdoor fun. At 350 S. Grand Ave., (213) 687-2190 or grandperformances.org.

Friday, deceMber 19 The Music Center Holiday Sing-Along Music Center Plaza, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7211 or musiccenter.org.

6:30 p.m.: Bring your family to this complimentary sing-along featuring classic song upon classic song arranged for you to belt out. Tickets are first-come, first-served for those queuing up at 6 p.m.

photo courtesy Piano Spheres

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

Dec. 16-17: Steve Coleman and Five Elements.

Dec. 18: Artyom Manukyan Quartet.

Dec. 19-21: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Large Ensemble Live DVD Filming.

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

Dec. 15, 8 p.m.: It’s always tough to follow up a Sunday afternoon pole dancing championship, but The Black and The White will give it a shot this Monday.

Dec. 16, 8 p.m.: Smoke Season is a stylish Americana duo with a name that’s making advertisers’ heads spin over at the Bong District on Third Street.

Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.: Feel Better is an immersive art event that promises to blend music with a heretofore unknown combination of performance aspects that aspire to crack your brain.

Dec. 17, 8:30 p.m.: Meanwhile, Katy Rose and Fiona Gray offer up pop vocals.

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

Dec. 19, 9 p.m.: Comedy cover outfit The Dan Band will be lacing holiday favorites with profanities.

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

Dec. 15, 10 p.m.: Kat Meyers and the Buzzards provide important sonic counterpoints to the lush Christmas decorations.

Dec. 16, 10 p.m.: Jeremiah & The Red Eyes join seasonal favorites Two Turtle Doves.

Dec. 17, 10 p.m.: Downtown’s favorite returning neo-funk band The Vibrometers.

Dec. 18, 10 p.m.: Black Hole Past can’t get enough of that

December 15, 2014

photo by Audrey Nguyen of Fenetre Photography

22 Downtown News

3

In the past two decades, some of Los Angeles’ finest contemporary pianists have left their mark on the Piano Spheres performance program.

Eschewing the rigid formality of the classical music canon, Piano Spheres encourages its players to explore the dimensions of the current human condition and even incorporate bits of, gasp, postmodern theory. On Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 8:30 p.m., pianist Aron Kallay drops into REDCAT to perform Nothing Is Real, a curiously curated collection of textural piano compositions that blur rigid lines of genre. At 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

5

Tongues will be firmly planted in cheek on Saturday, Dec. 20, as Street Food Cinema journeys to Broadway to host a special eggnog-soaked screening of The Princess Bride at the Palace Theatre. The film is delightful enough, but there’s a great and wonderful add-on: The movie’s leading man, Westminster, England’s Cary Elwes, will be on hand to sign copies of his latest tell-all book about the making of the film, As You Wish. At 630 S. Broadway, (323) 2545068 or streetfoodcinema.com.

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

December 15, 2014

Downtown News 23

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

Dan-cing With the StarS

photo courtesy of Goldenvoice

Dan Finnerty was once just a schlub with a penchant for hilarious karaoke performances of songs like “I Am Woman.” Lucky for him, that led to a career in Hollywood, with his breakthrough coming via a rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the Will Farrell comedy Old School. Finnerty now tours the country as The Dan Band, and he visits Club Nokia for his holiday show on Friday, Dec. 19.

Tickets are $15-$47, and it is open to all ages, but expect plenty of raunch.

At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 7657000 or axs.com.

sweet corner stage.

Dec. 19, 9 p.m.: Skin & Bones are a statement on the condition of the soul rather than a cryptic criticism of this bar’s Buffalo Mushrooms.

Dec. 20, 10 p.m.: Before you pack your undereducated family in the gas-guzzling F-250 with the “NObama” and “Don’t Tread On Me” bumper stickers to see tonight’s show, you should know that Willie Tea is not affiliated with the Tea Party.

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

Dec. 18: Head Hunter.

Dec. 19: Mercer.

Dec. 20: Tommy Trash.

Mayan Theater 1038 S. Hill St., (213) 746-4287 or clubmayan.com.

Dec. 16, 7 p.m.: Heavy metal guitar wizard Devin Townsend returns with support from the Washington, D.C. progressive metal trio Animals As Leaders.

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

Dec. 21, 8 p.m.: The line blurs between Yuletide jazz, rockabilly style and consumer-friendly pseudo swing with the Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Rocks! Extravaganza.

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

Dec. 15: Adder, Spooks, Trip Lips and Tomber Lever.

Dec. 16: Turbulent Hearts.

Dec. 17: Charlie Siren.

Dec. 18: Thursday Night Booty.

Dec. 19: Sick City X-Mas Party.

Dec. 21: Abby Hollander Band.

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

Dec. 19, 8 p.m.: Like a frivolous, misunderstood vanity license plate, 3BallMty is a Latino DJ outfit who mean to have their name pronounced “Tribal Monterey.”

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

Dec. 15, 10 p.m.: Despite his touring stint with Christopher Cross, Alex Budman will likely not respond well to your drunken requests for “Sailing.”

Dec. 16, 10 p.m.: The Makers are an elaborate pyramid scheme for improvised jazz.

Dec. 17, 10 p.m.: From the Delta to Chicago and beyond, Rick Taub’s Midnight Blues Review is comprehensive.

Dec. 18, 10 p.m.: Dust off your spats, the Sidewinders are back.

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

Dec. 19: Polyan & The Johnson Sisters, Ghost Noise, Franky Flowers and Soma.

Dec. 20: Hooded Fang, Slow Hollows, Franky Flowers and Tonkapuma.

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

Dec. 16, 8 p.m.: The Manhattan Transfer Christmas Show delivers age-old stylings of vocal jazz dipped into the bottomless well of Christmas standards.

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

downtownindependent.com.

Dec. 16: We’ve got ourselves a stylized, off-kilter coming of age tale with William H. Macy in Two-Bit Waltz.

Dec. 20: Rubio tells the story of the coach that brought the long-snapper position to the forefront of football. You were sitting down for that, right?

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

Nature’s Wonderland: Galapagos 3D is an up-close peek at half-ton, long-necked tortoises, small penguins and other marine life that inhabit these volcanic islands.

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. Palace Theatre 630 S. Broadway or streetfoodcinema.com.

6 p.m.: Tonight begins with a book signing with film star Cary Elwes to be followed by a brief Q&A and an 8:30 p.m. screening of The Princess Bride.

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

Through Dec. 18: Exodus: Gods and Kings (2:20, 5:50 and 9:30 p.m.); Exodus: Gods and Kings 3D (12:20, 2:50, 3:50, 6:20, 7:20 and 10 p.m.); Top Five (1:30, 2:10, 4:20, 5, 7, 7:40, 9:50 and 10:40 p.m.); Voice of the King (12:30, 2:30, 4:40, 7:10 and 9:10 p.m.); Horrible Bosses 2 (12:10, 2:45, 5:20, 7:50 and 10:20 p.m.); Penguins of Madagascar (1:50, 4:10, 6:40 and 9 p.m.); The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 (2, 3:30, 6:30, 9:20 and 10:50 p.m.); Big Hero 6 (12:05, 2:15, 4:50 and 10:10 p.m.); Big Hero 6 3D (7:30 p.m.); Interstellar (12, 2:25, 6 and 9:40 p.m.).

THEATER, OPERA & DANCE Blithe Spirit Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 628-2772 or centertheatregroup.org.

Dec. 16-19, 8 p.m., Dec. 20, 2 and 8 p.m., Dec. 21, 6:30 p.m.: Angela Lansbury stars in this staging of Noel Coward’s supernatural comedy.

Bob Baker’s Nutcracker Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St., (213) 2509995 or bobbakermarionettes.com.

Dec. 18-21, 11:30 a.m. The March of the Sugarplum Fairy will never be the same after marionettes have their way with Bob Baker’s version of The Nutcracker.

Florencia en el Amazones Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 9727211 or musiccenter.org.

Dec. 18 and 20, 7:30 p.m.: Soprano Veronica Villarroel stars in this Amazonian riverboat-themed opera written by Il Postino’s Daniel Catan. Through Dec. 20.

The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., (213) 4890994 or thelatc.org.

Dec. 18-20, 8 p.m. and Dec. 21, 3 p.m.: The Robey Theatre Company, in conjunction with the LATC, offer the story of a Central Avenue hotel during the Jazz Age. Sleepaway Camp Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., (213) 617-1033 or downtownindependent.com.

Dec. 16, 9 p.m.: Every Tuesday this irreverent stand-up comedy cavalcade takes up residence at the Downtown Independent.

Takarazuka East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso Court, (213) 6257000 or eastwestplayers.org.

Dec. 18-20, 8 p.m. and Dec. 21, 2 p.m.: As she prepares for retirement, a Japanese showgirl in an all-female kabuki reflects on the past and future.

What the Butler Saw Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 628-2772 or Continued on next page

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24 Downtown News Continued from previous page centertheatregroup.org.

Dec. 16-19, 8 p.m. and Dec. 20, 2:30 and 8 p.m. and Dec. 21, 7 p.m.: John Tillinger directs Paxton Whitehead in this Joe Ortonpenned psychiatric farce.

CLASSICAL MUSIC Tuesday, December 16 Piano Spheres: Aran Kallay REDCAT, 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

8:30 p.m.: As part of the Piano Spheres 20th anniversary, Aran Kallay guides that sweet, sweet ivory through a curious collection of contemporary piano music.

7211 or musiccenter.org.

Dec. 19, 11 a.m., Dec. 20, 8 p.m. and Dec. 21, 2 p.m.: Trevor Pinnock conducts the L.A. Phil, soprano Miah Persson and pianist Beatrice Rana through, you guessed it, some Mozart.

Holiday Organ Spectactular Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 9727211 or musiccenter.org.

8 p.m.: Hurricane Mama doesn’t even get a break for Christmas.

December 17 S I NWednesday, C E 19 7 2

Handel’s Messiah Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 9727211 or musiccenter.org. ople@downtownnews.com 7:30 p.m.: The Los Angeles Master Chorale deftly presents twitter: Frederic Handel’s eternal Messiah. Again, this is not a sing-along.

DowntownNews Also Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

Thursday, December 18 A Chanticleer Christmas Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 9727211 or musiccenter.org.

8 p.m.: The all-male vocal group takes the holidays up as the causeFriedrich, du jour. scher, Kristin Friday, December 19 All Mozart Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-

December 15, 2014

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

Through Winter 2015: The 75th anniversary of the illustrious jazz label gets the museum treatment with Blue Note: The Finest in Jazz.

Through Spring 2015: Dresses, personal items and gold records

Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie stAFF writErs: Donna Evans, Eddie Kim coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer, Kristin Friedrich, Kylie Jane Wakefield Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard

LAST WEEKS ANSWERS S I N C E 19 7 2 Los Angeles Downtown News 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com email: realpeople@downtownnews.com facebook: L.A. Downtown News

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

twitter: DowntownNews ©2014 Civic Center News, Inc. Los Angeles Downtown News is a trademark of Civic Center News Inc. All rights reserved.

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CROSSWORD

ne Holloway n, Catherine Holloway

Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin

Gustavo Bonilla

ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie stAFF writErs: Donna Evans, Eddie Kim coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer, Kristin Friedrich, Kylie Jane Wakefield

News is a trademark of Civic Center

spaper for Downtown Los Angeles and residences of Downtown Los

Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Yoji Cole, Steve Epstein, Catherine Holloway sAlEs AssistANt: Claudia Hernandez circulAtioN: Danielle Salmon distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla

Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin

72

wn News geles, CA 90026 : 213-250-4617 eople@downtownnews.com twitter: DowntownNews

ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie stAFF writErs: Donna Evans, Eddie Kim coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer, Kristin Friedrich, Kylie Jane Wakefield

illuminate the life of the “Queen of Disco” in Donna Summer: Four Seasons Of Love.

Ongoing: 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story provides an in-depth look at all aspects of Columbia Records’ history and offers a virtual history of the music industry from its infancy, tracing Columbia’s pivotal technological as well as business innovations, including its invention of the LP. Ongoing: Featuring copious memorabilia including drum kits and a cape, Ringo: Peace & Love is the first major exhibit to be dedicated to a drummer at the museum.

Ongoing: White sequined gloves and other wardrobe pieces are the focal point of the new exhibit case paying tribute to the

S I N C E 19 7 2 Los Angeles Downtown News 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com email: realpeople@downtownnews.com facebook: L.A. Downtown News twitter: DowntownNews ©2014 Civic Center News, Inc. Los Angeles Downtown News is a trademark of Civic Center News Inc. All rights reserved.

The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read newspaper for Downtown Los Angeles and is distributed every Monday throughout the offices and residences of Downtown Los Angeles.

One copy per person.

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

Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins

©2014 Civic Center News, Inc. Los Angeles Downtown News is a trademark of Civic Center News Inc. All rights reserved.

The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read newspaper for Downtown Los Angeles and is distributed every Monday throughout the offices and residences of Downtown Los Angeles.

PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard

One copy per person.

December 15, 2014 life and legacy of Michael Jackson. This special display serves as a follow-up to the Museum’s past exhibitions, Michael Jackson: HIStyle and Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy.

Housed on the Museum’s third floor, the launch of the new exhibit coincided with the second anniversary of Jackson’s death.

Ongoing: Roland Live is a permanent installation courtesy of the electronic musical instrument maker, Roland Corporation. The exhibit gives visitors a chance to participate in the music-making process by playing a wide variety of Roland products, from V-Drums and BOSS pedals to VIMA keyboards and the MV-8800 Production Studio.

Japanese American National Museum 369 E. First St., (213) 625-0414 or janm.org.

Ongoing: Common Ground: The Heart of Community chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, from the early days of the Issei pioneers to the present.

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes 501 N. Main St., (888) 488-8083 or lapca.org.

Current: Los Angeles’ first Mexican American cultural center’s inaugural exhibition, LA Starts Here!, reveals the essential role of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the founding and shaping of Los Angeles’ history and culture—a multicultural project from the very beginning.

Ongoing: Calle Principal invites visitors of all ages to explore the Mexican American community of downtown Los Angeles during the 1920s. Located on the second floor of the historic Plaza House, Calle Principal is an evocative re-creation of 1920s-era Main Street, at the time the heart of Los Angeles’s growing immigrant community. Featuring a variety of vignettes—a grocery store, portrait studio, clothing store, phonograph and record store, pharmacy, and more—it offers visitors a hands-on investigation of daily life during that period, encouraging them to make connections between the past and the present.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2766 or moca.org.

Through February 2: Straight from 1978, Andy Warhol’s 102-part silkscreened exhibition Shadows reemerges into the light of day.

Ongoing: Installed chronologically, this selection of some of the most significant works from the museum’s permanent collection introduces major art movements of the 20th century, including abstract expressionism and pop art.

Permanent: Nancy Rubins’ cheekily and comprehensively titled “Chas’ Stainless Steel, Mark Thompson’s Airplane Parts, About 1000 Pounds of Stainless Steel Wire, Gagosian’s Beverly Hills Space, at MOCA (2001-2002)” is a monumental sculpture made out of parts of an airplane.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 763–3466 or nhm.org.

Through Jan. 6: 12-carats of internally flawless gemstone make their debut at the Natural History Museum as the Blue Hope Diamond goes on display.

Ongoing: “Age of Mammals” tells an epic evolutionary story that spans 65 million years. But its theme can be distilled into just six words: Continents move. Climates change. Mammals evolve.

Ongoing: The spectacular Humboldt fin whale specimen, “Finwhale Passage,” features the 63-foot-long specimen, which weighs more than 7,000 pounds and has been re-articulated to create a more realistic impression of the living animal.

An intriguing sound installation and interactive visitor components will accompany the display, which is one of the best and most complete large-whale articulations in the world.

Ongoing: The “Dino Lab” is a working paleontological lab, wherein museum preparators will work on a several dinosaur and other fossil creature skeletons for future display at the museum. For a true behind-the-scenes experience, come witness the exciting dinosaur preparation process in the Level 2 Dino Lab. Sneak a peek at real fossils and see the NHM staff working on the day-to-day details. Everything you see in the lab is real.

Through September 2: The museum’s lauded Butterfly Pavilion opens again for the summer.

Wells Fargo History Museum 333 S. Grand Ave., (213) 253-7166 or wellsfargohistory.com.

Ongoing: Take in an Old West exhibit including a faux 19th-century Wells Fargo office, a real-life Concord stagecoach that once traversed windy southern Kentucky roads and a gold nugget weighing in at a shocking two pounds.

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.

2YOUR EVENT INFO

EASY WAYS TO SUBMIT

4 WEB: LADowntownNews.com/calendar 4 EMAIL: Calendar@DowntownNews.com

Email: Send a brief description, street address and public phone number. Submissions must be received 10 days prior to publication date to be considered for print.

Downtown News 25

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CLASSIFIEDS REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL

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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Downtown News 27

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LEGAL name chanGe SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. ES018313 Petitioner (name of each) Narine Nana Gevinian, 1305 North Columbus Avenue, #115, Glendale, CA 91202, filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: NARINE NANA GEVINIAN Proposed name: NARINE GEVINIAN THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be

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NOTICE OF HEARING Date: 02/03/2015 Time: 08:30 a.m.

Dept.: E The address of the court is 600 East Broadway, Glendale, CA 91206-4304. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in LA DOWNTOWN NEWS, 1264 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 of general circulation, printed in this county.

Prepared by: Sherri R. Carter, Executive Office/Clerk.

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SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. ES018586 Petitioner (name of each) Kyle Stephen Shafer, 11126 Huston Street, #5, North Hollywood, CA 91601, filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: KYLE STEPHEN SHAFER Proposed name: JACE CAMRON THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must

appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: 01/23/2015 Time: 08:30 a.m.

Dept.: NC-A The address of the court is 300 East Olive Avenue, Burbank, CA 91502. A copy of this Order to Show Cause shall be published at least once each week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in LA DOWNTOWN NEWS, 1264 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 of general circulation, printed in this county.

Prepared by: Sherri R. Carter, Executive Office/Clerk.

Burbank Courthouse - North Central District 300 East Olive Avenue, Burbank, CA 91502 Date: December 08, 2014 Hon. Mary Thornton House Judge of the Superior Court Pub. 12/15, 12/22, 12/29, 01/05/2015

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granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

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28 Downtown News

December 15, 2014

Beutner, 5

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word “oodles”). He noted that the paper still has 500 journalists and a $75 million newsroom budget, but the same old won’t suffice.

“We have to find different ways to tell stories and engage the community,” he told the crowd.

“Different” is the operative word. Beutner said that the Times’ analytical web data, prepared by gnomes that live in the Times headquarters’ boiler room (not really), reveals that readers most engage with short stories of 100-200 words, or longer explanatory pieces of 1,000 words or more, and the common 500- to 700-word story falters by comparison. Guess which ones you’ll see less of in the future.

He also said the Times will partner heavily with high schools (the “HS Insider” launched eight days later), and that sports reporters who spend hours with the teams they cover will, in the future, deliver more than just a single story. Other sections will also get a revamp. The key, he said, is for the Times to be agile and nimble.

“We have to be very different as an organization than we were in print,” he said.

Big Vision Anyone familiar with Beutner isn’t surprised by the ambitious agenda. After all, he made partner at the cutthroat New York financial firm Blackstone at 29, and later went to Russia at the behest of President Bill Clinton to help install a market economy.

He would go on to co-found the venture capital firm Evercore.

He has more money than most rappers.

Things changed in 2007 when he broke his neck in a mountain biking accident. He spent a year recuperating and reassessing his life, and opted to go civic. On Jan. 12, 2010, he joined Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office as First Deputy Mayor. It was a never-before-given title, made just for Beutner. He took a salary of $1 a year.

This led to something shocking: a successful year for the formerly wandering, unfocused Villaraigosa administration. Beutner oversaw 13 city departments, including the DWP, and introduced proposals to streamline the development permitting process and erase the business tax for three years for companies that relocate to Los Angeles.

He quit in April 2011, ran for mayor, then dropped out of the race. Still, he remained civically engaged, and partnered with power lawyer Mickey Kantor to helm the 2020 Commission, which this year released two sharply worded reports about the problems facing Los Angeles and how to address them. City Hall responded with the ostrich approach, sticking its collective head in the sand and hoping the reports would go away.

Beutner’s is an interesting and unique resume. He is preternaturally smart, but isn’t a system disruptor à la Facebook or Twitter. Rather, he’s a re-envisioner who grasps the core of a problem and reshapes it, and who doesn’t hesitate to jettison outdated practices that have become comfortable. The piece of his past that might best indicate his future at the Times comes not from his time in the mayor’s office or the 2020 Commission, but rather at his nonprofit, Vision to Learn.

In 2012 Beutner learned that thousands of local children were suffering from poor vision that impacted their schoolwork, but whether because of poverty or something else, they never received glasses. So, Beutner found some money, bought a bus, hired eye doctors and support staff and had them travel to schools. Kids would climb aboard, take eye tests and those who needed glasses would pick out frames. A couple weeks later the glasses would be delivered, free of charge.

It was the type of problem that could be analyzed to death, one that in government would spark reams of reports and rounds of bidding before any action. Instead, Beutner glimpsed the problem and acted.

Killing LatExtra was a similar move. A more significant shift may come via Nicco Mele, who will join the Times next month as deputy publisher. He’ll be the Times’ top Internet strategist, which doesn’t actually mean he’s in charge of finding funny cat videos. Instead, he’ll shape the Times’ business approach on all digital platforms. Beutner hired him, he said, to provide “a fresh set of ideas and a fresh set of thinking.”

Expect the digital shift to be seismic, though it’s impossible to know if the strategy will work, or if Beutner can ultimately pull a Neo move and beat The Matrix. Still, one thing is for sure: The Times of yesterday will not be the Times of tomorrow. regardie@downtownnews.com