LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
Check Out the 12th Annual Downtowners Of Distinction Winners 33-39
CELEBRATING Volume 42, Number 7
February 18, 2013
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
YEARS
2 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Congratulations
Los Angeles Downtown News
Downtown L.A. Auto Group Family Owned & Operated Since 1955
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SUE LARIS AND THE DOWNTOWN NEWS
40 YEARS (AND YOU DON’T LOOK A DAY OVER 30)
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February 18, 2013
Downtown News 3
Celebrating 40 Years
Real People, Real Stories I purchased my first Porsche from Porsche of Downtown LA 4 years ago and will never purchase anything but Porsches for the rest of my driving life.. They are simply the best cars made... anywhere. Thanks to everyone at Porsche of Downtown LA for helping me achieve my automotive dreams.
— Christopher Martin
I’m extremely excited about leasing my brand new 2013 Volkswagen EOS Komfort from Volkswagen of Downtown L.A. I was even able to just drop off my old Mazda and they paid off the remainder off the lease as part of my new deal. I can’t say enough about how great the Volkswagen of Downtown L.A. team was.
Our sales person at Felix Chevrolet, Keenan was wonderful! He was helpful, straightforward and friendly. He fought to get me into this beautiful 2013 Chevy Volt.
Come see why our customers choose Downtown L.A. Auto Group
— Becca Doten
I couldn’t be happier with him or Felix Chevrolet.
— Kelsey Szamet
Everyone at Carson Nissan was very friendly and helpful. They were very persistent in making sure I spent enough time with the car so I knew it was the right fit for me.
I bought my 2012 EOS last year and just recently upgraded to the 2013 CC Sport. I have found the service at Volkswagen of Downtown to be great for both Sales and Service. They have consistently gone the extra mile and they have certainly earned my trust as a customer.
Even though I knew from the start which car I wanted, it was nice to know they cared.
— Lauren Walker
— Sharlys Williams I have been using the service department at Nissan of Downtown LA since 2007. Their service advisors are friendly, knowledgeable, professional, polite, and always ready to help you with any questions. Nissan of Downtown LA makes me feel at home.
— Greg Vilshtein
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4 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Turning 40
And the Journey Continues
F
orty is a special number, as in the 40 days of rain that floated Noah’s Ark. Forty years is even more special. It’s the time that Captain Ahab, that famous chaser of Moby Dick, spent on the seas. It’s the time that the Jews wandered in the desert after escaping Egypt, waiting to find the Promised Land. It’s the time it took Steve Carrell’s character to achieve an important breakthrough in The 40 Year Old Virgin. OK, maybe not all 40-year periods are equally important. Forty is also the age of Los Angeles Downtown News. The first issue of the paper (then called Civic Center News) hit the streets of Downtown on Sept. 12, 1972. We’ve been at it ever since,
covering the news, business, politics and culture of the ever-changing community. It’s been a long, wonderful and flat-out unpredictable trip. Over 40 years Downtown evolved from a fairly barren area to a hub of gleaming office towers which attracted thousands of workers in the day, and almost no one at night. There was a period in the ’80s when new skyscrapers seemed to leap out of the ground every month. In the ’90s, in the wake of the Los Angeles riots and Northridge earthquake, there were new major projects, with various visionaries pushing Staples Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and an NFL stadium in
the Coliseum at Exposition Park. Hey, three out of four ain’t bad. Then there is the last 13 years, the time that Downtown has morphed once again, gaining tens of thousands of new residents and hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores serving a growing residential community. Now Downtown, once dead after dark, is alive in the evenings. One constant over the years has been you — the readers. We have been lucky to have such a passionate, devoted audience, people who care deeply about this community, and over four decades we have striven to serve Downtown’s workers and residents. We’re truly grateful for every single person who takes the time to pick
up a copy of the paper or read our stories, columns, features and editorials online. This issue attempts to highlight the life and changes in Downtown over the last 40 years. We have stories on the 40 most important Downtowners of the period, as well as the most significant buildings and most prominent cultural events. We have an extensive timeline of what was happening here compared to the world at large. We even detail the community’s biggest mistakes. We hope you enjoy reading this “history lesson” as much as we enjoyed putting it together. We also hope to be doing this for another 40 years. At least. —Jon Regardie
Table of ConTenTs
Start Your Own Newspaper ................................................................................................................................ 6 The 40 Most Important Downtowners of the Last 40 Years ....................................................................... 12 The Buildings That Shaped Downtown .......................................................................................................... 22 A Downtown Timeline ........................................................................................................................................ 25 The 2013 Downtowners of Distinction Winners ............................................................................................ 33 Downtown, We’ve Had Some Problems ........................................................................................................ 39 Big Shows, Big Events, Big Crowds ................................................................................................................ 42 The Don’t Miss List ............................................................................................................................................. 45 Calendar Listings ................................................................................................................................................ 45
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Downtown News 5
Celebrating 40 Years
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6 Downtown News
Celebrating 40 Years
February 18, 2013
How to Start Your Own Newspaper L.A. Downtown News Began Publishing In September 1972. Here Are Some Lessons From 40 Years in the Field by Sue Laris editor and publisher
T
here is a book on my nightstand that I’ve never read. Someone found it in a used bookstore years ago and gave it to me, but I have never really wanted to open it. It’s called My Affair With a Weekly. Forty years and two husbands later, I think I probably should have written it myself. More people than you might expect have had thoughts of owning their own newspaper. Nearly all print journalists have experienced this whimsical yearning. A surprising number of business people have had the same inclination I’ve learned with surprise. More people have wanted to write a book (nearly every person I’ve ever met) than have wanted to own their own newspaper, but the two ideas fall in the same void. Here, slightly tongue in cheek, is a checklist for starting your own newspaper, should you be so foolish: Be young, very young. Be broke, very broke. Do not be a journalism major. Do not be a business major. Have no business background at all; this means neither education nor experience.
Try to save money to buy a smalltown paper and fail. Start your newspaper in the midst of a recession. Do not do market studies. Know nothing whatsoever about writing for newspapers. Have no experience working on one in school or in your career. Know nothing about newspaper equipment, typesetting, layout or paste up. With current equipment the parallel would be: Know nothing about computers. Be ready to go through the long list of printers in the Yellow Pages to find the right one. Try to speak “printerese” until someone takes pity on you and tells you to find a “web offset” printer who uses newsprint. When you meet the right printer, start by asking really intelligent questions such as, “How do you get the lines of type so straight on that big blank page?” Did I say be broke, very broke? Have a toddler to schlep with you to news conferences when you can’t afford a babysitter. It’s a way to make sure other journalists shun you. (The shunning is OK, though. You’ll laugh see Start Your Own, page 8
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A copy of the first issue of Civic Center News, the precursor to Los Angeles Downtown News. The issue hit the streets of Downtown in September 1972.
February 18, 2013
Downtown News 7
Celebrating 40 Years
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8 Downtown News
Celebrating 40 Years
Start Your Own Continued from page 6 with them about it later. They will be embarrassed they could have ever been so narrow-minded. You’ll forgive them, but your son might not — he still wants to protect you from the “mean” people of his childhood.) Later, be willing to return calls from your hospital bed a few hours after you’ve given birth to a second baby you’ve just fallen in love with. You’ll have a few moments when your second son is napping; you can enjoy him lying cuddled against you as you talk. Forget about your own sleep for years. Forget about predictability, stability, clear thinking and peace of mind. Redefine your concept of hard work. Make it more difficult by about a factor of 10.
Redefine your concept of stress. It should be increased by a factor of 20. Be willing to build your own news racks with angle iron and plywood. Paint them bright yellow and just set them on the street next to the other news racks. Stand behind a pillar at the Federal Building and peek around to see what happens when you fill them up with the first edition of your newspaper. And if you are going to start your newspaper in the heart of the (now) second largest city in the United States, grow up in a town of 1,300 people in order to make absolutely certain you are uninformed on urban matters. On the Serious Side Be lucky. Run into strangers who perform random acts of kindness. Have no false pride. Admit your ignorance and buy high school journalism textbooks to learn what to do. Ignore all your friends who say the idea will never work. Ignore all the cheap space in empty office buildings, and
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start the newspaper on your kitchen table. Be tenacious (AKA stubborn) beyond any sense you ever had about that side of yourself. Allow your fear of failure to rule every moment of your life. Make editorial decisions using a combination of your mind and heart. When you get something right, do not think you were smart to figure it out. A recession will come along all too quickly and remind you of your limitations. Choose a community with very little identity of its own, which was what Downtown L.A. was in 1971 when the planning for this paper began, first in my household and then in the cafeteria of the Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. When the big boys try to take you on, just hunker down and get the paper out. Did I say be lucky? Be very, very lucky. The biggest lesson in starting any kind of business comes down, in the end, to luck. When you start a business, you assume you have to have a smart idea, you must work impossible hours and that you will be pressed to your absolute limit in every part of your life. Being the best you can be and giving up everything for your business is no guarantee of success. You still need luck. In our case, we were lucky we chose Downtown L.A. to start a newspaper. Starting a paper here was not the original dream. We had planned on saving money and buying a small town paper. We found in short order we couldn’t save on our salaries, so we decided to start a paper instead. It sounds insane, but it made sense at the time. Very quickly we began to get excited about the possibilities of publishing a paper Downtown. Pretty soon it was all we could talk about. Our friends and family thought we were nuts. Downtown lies at the center of all the transportation systems in Los Angeles. City planners like to call it the transportation hub. Logistics determine that people will always work here. Downtown’s success is, therefore, virtually guaranteed. People can do many things wrong, and there still will be economic energy here. When we started the paper, we didn’t know the behind-the-scenes plans for growth. We knew it was a community that didn’t have its own paper (the Times was here, but it didn’t focus on Downtown), but we didn’t know how much the community would grow. Starting the paper here was part good judgment and part good luck. Even if you are more prepared than we were, you still need luck. You can have a brilliant idea, flash your Harvard MBA, be extremely well informed on the nuances of your kind of business, do broad-based market research, acquire a deeppocket funder, be the hardest worker the town has ever seen, and still the deciding factor in your success or failure will be luck. Most new businesses die within the first year of their creation, and something like 95% of them fail within five years. The mortality rate is particularly daunting in light of the fact that small business is the largest employer in the U.S. But I digress. This piece is about starting a newspaper, this newspaper. The World of Big Finance Let’s talk financing, something about which I knew nothing. I had been an English major, after all, not a titan of industry. I did what made sense to me at the time. I figured out what it would cost for one piece of typesetting equipment — it looked like an old electric typewriter. I estimated the salary for a parttime person to typeset the copy and added the cost of the printing. I totaled it all up for a period of three months, factoring in salary for neither myself nor my then husband. I planned to keep my job teaching English and math at Washington Adult School at night. I’d have days to work on the paper, while taking care of my son, Mike. My husband would keep his job at the federal government, take care of Mike in the evenings and work on the paper on the weekends. We factored in no office space because we intended to put the paper together on our kitchen table. We factored in no distribution costs because we decided to deliver the heavy bundled papers ourselves (which we did until I was seven months pregnant with my second child, Casey). With care we thought we could handle the time and money constraints of our new business lives and keep our personal finances in order. We had no savings. The total we needed to borrow to start the company was $1,400, which was a lot of money to us at the time. I had no idea of the right way to get a business loan, so I walked into our bank, then a United California Bank branch in Inglewood, and asked for the loan officer. “I want to borrow $1,400,” I told him. “What do you need it for?” he asked. “I want to start a newspaper.” He tried very hard to keep a straight face as he heard the words, sort of sucking in his cheeks and taking deep, slow breaths through his nose. He blinked a few times. He looked like he thought I was audacious, outrageously so. After he’d composed himself he said, “I’m sorry. We don’t give business start-up loans.” “Why not?” see Start Your Own, page 10
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Downtown News 9
10 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Start Your Own Continued from page 8 “Well, we need collateral to secure our loans,” he said. “Oh,” I said, stopped in my tracks. I thought for a minute and said, “Wait. I don’t get it. We have good credit. If I wanted to buy carpets and drapes and a washer and dryer you’d lend me the money. And you’d never ask for them back as collateral.” “Yes,” he laughed a little, not able to hold back any longer. “You do have good credit, but we still don’t give business start-up loans.” My first conversation with a banker was over, and I was out the door, bewildered. I went home and thought about it for two days. I paced and fumed. His position made absolutely no sense. And I had nowhere else to go for the money. Two days later I went back to the same branch and the same loan officer. “Hi,” I said, sitting down. “I want to borrow $1,400 for carpets and drapes and a washer and dryer.” I looked him in the eye and gave him my best straightforward smile. I didn’t say another word. I was trying to let him conclude the obvious, that if he defined the rules as such, I would play by them. To his great credit, he sat back in his chair and laughed, a big belly laugh this time. “OK, OK, OK,” he said. “I’ll lend you the money. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I will lend you the money. “Your newspaper idea won’t work,” he continued, “but I know you will pay me back.” He gave us the loan on a UCB credit card with a limit of $1,400. Over the years UCB and its successors all tried to increase the limit of the card, but I insisted on keeping it at $1,400 as a memento of an important moment. I learned my share of painful lessons about bankers over the years. The basic lesson is
that mostly they don’t know how to lend money to closely held small companies. They are familiar with businesses with shareholders or partners. The frustrations of dealing with minimally trained bankers led me to foreswear dealing with them. Too much energy for too little result. This company funded its growth mostly by its own earnings (though twice I refinanced my house) so that I didn’t have to deal with bankers. I admit that I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake doing it that way. Other Los Angeles papers used more conventional methods of funding their growth, and today they are bigger. The L.A. Weekly was unprofitable until it reached 80 pages, but it had as a backer actor Michael Douglas and others to shore it up. Speaking of funding other newspapers, another big lesson in starting your own newspaper: Don’t let yourself be seduced by a competitor’s flattery, even if you think that competitor is too small to hurt you. I made that mistake and have lived to regret it. Business Journal There used to be a small paper, a newsletter, really, owned by Scripps Howard. It was called the Business Journal. No one took it seriously. One day Robert Rowan, whose family owned the Rowan building on Spring Street, asked to meet with me. I’d never met him, but knew the family name, so I went. He gave me this wonderful ah shucks story about this poor little paper having a hard time, and gee, didn’t I have some suggestions for them, since Downtown News really knew what it was doing. Surely I had some ideas for improvements on my own paper, and maybe they could use a few of them, you know, just to stay around.
photo by Gary Leonard
(l to r) Downtown News Executive Editor Jon Regardie, Editor and Publisher Sue Laris, City Councilman José Huizar and Downtown News General Manager Dawn Eastin. On Wednesday, Feb. 13, Huizar honored Laris at City Hall for her 40 years of running Downtown News.
“What would you do to make it better,” he asked, “if money were no object?” I should have seen what was coming at that point, but I was still too high from the flattery. “I know exactly what to do,” I told him. “I’d run color on the cover. I’d spend a lot of effort on special sections for the purpose of selling advertising. I’d hire more reporters, taking a loss until the ads caught up with the expenses. I’d run a big paper every week even if there was little advertising to support it. I’d spend a lot of money training sales staff. I’d improve the quality of the newsprint.…” And on and on. In short order the “little” Scripps Howard paper got bought out by a recluse with a deep pocket who lives, I hear, behind some kind of a bunker in Kansas. Also within short order, I saw all my suggestions implemented in what became the Los Angeles Business Journal. By the way, Robert Rowan never surfaced again. He showed up at our door long enough to pick my brain, and off he went. Am I sorry I didn’t build my own company the way I recommended? I didn’t have a deep pocket, so it would have meant bring-
ing in investors or lenders. I regret I didn’t go that route when I think about the size of the paper. I believe with conventional funding it could have been (and still could be) 60 pages a week. But size is not the only consideration. On a personal level I am glad (most of the time) that I own all of the company myself. It has worked well, so far, not having partners, investors and bankers to whom I have to be accountable. And I particularly like not having debt. If I’d had conventional funding, the debt service could have overwhelmed the company in the ’90s and in this most recent recession. Maybe not, too. Whatever the truth of the matter, I like having a bit of control over my destiny, something people do not have when there is huge debt service. I can fret about this endlessly, but the bottom line is we must have done something right, a lot of things right. We’re still here after 40 years. And we’re still strong. This piece is adapted form a column that ran on the occasion of Downtown News’ 30th anniversary. Sue Laris is co-founder, editor and publisher of L.A. Downtown News.
Perhaps my meeting invite did not go through.
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February 18, 2013
Downtown News 11
Celebrating 40 Years
Congratulations to the Downtown News on your 40 years of covering Downtown. Historic
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12 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Running Down the Political, Business, Cultural and Community Leaders Who Made Downtown What It Is Today by Jon RegaRdie executive editoR
T
rying to come up with a list of the 40 most important Downtowners of the last 40 years is a nearly impossible task — the challenge lies not in determining who should be there, but rather deciding who, by virtue of that relatively small number, doesn’t make the cut.
The Downtown Los Angeles of today is completely unlike the community that existed in September 1972, when the first issue of Los Angeles Downtown News hit the streets. The thriving urban hub of 2013 is a result of the work of thousands of individuals, many of whom remain unheralded. Still, this is the 40th anniversary of Downtown News, and as such, we’re focusing on the key business, political, cultural,
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community and other leaders who helped shape Downtown into what it is today. If we overlooked someone or you think another person should have been on this list, let us know. Here, by category (not in order if importance), are the 40 most important Downtowners of the last 40 years.
Politicians and Policy Mayor Tom Bradley
T
he former police officer, city councilman and five-term mayor arguably did more for Los Angeles than any person in the last century, but when it comes to Downtown Los Angeles, two achievements stand out: Bradley was a key force in bringing the 1984 Olympics to Los Angeles, and the Games, centered at the Coliseum in Exposition Park, had an effect that reverberated across the community — athletically, economically and culturally — for decades. Perhaps more importantly, Bradley realized how far the urban core had fallen, and believing that the future of the center of Los Angeles was at risk, he worked with others to launch the Central Business District Redevelopment Project Area. The Community Redevelopment Agency project, which started in 1975, would direct $750 million in tax revenue to development in Downtown. This led to the construction of the glimmering office towers on Bunker Hill and in the Central Business District. Downtown soon became a major jobs center. The community never looked back. Bradley died in 1988 at the age of 80.
Mayor Tom Bradley and union leader and Community Redevelopment Agency chair Jim Wood were key figures in the Downtown office building boom of the 1970s and ’80s.
James M. “Jim” Wood
A
key partner of Bradley’s in the transformation of Downtown, Wood had his fingers in a number of proverbial pies. As a board member and chair of the CRA in the 1970s and ’80s, he helped propel the creation of the office high-rises that changed the Downtown skyline. He was also a union leader (eventually becoming executive secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO), and worked hard to ensure that the people building and later working behind the scenes in the new structures were paid fair wages and received benefits. His influence on Downtown continued in other ways: He founded the SRO Housing Corporation, which today is a leader in helping get people off the streets and into homes where they can turn their lives around. He died at the age of 51 in 1996.
Mayor Richard Riordan photo by Gary Leonard
The 40 Most Important Downtowners of the Past 40 Years
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he highly successful businessman and 39th mayor of Los Angeles had his biggest impact on the city by see 40 Downtowners, page 14
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Celebrating 40 Years
Downtown News 13
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40 Downtowners Continued from page 12 leading the quicker-than-expected recovery from the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake. However, his role in helping pull Los Angeles out of the depths of a brutal recession was nearly as important, and its effects were widely felt in Downtown. His Mayor’s Business Team was vital in cutting red tape and helping bring thousands of jobs to Los Angeles, with many successes in and around Downtown. He was also a key leader, in partnership with Eli Broad, in bringing about the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The project had stalled in the mid-’90s due to soaring costs, including a parking garage that ran $90 million (that’s not a typo). Riordan twisted arms and “convinced” affluent individuals and corporations to donate to the project. He and Broad
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years got Disney Hall built, paving the way for other advances on Grand Avenue.
Police Chief William Bratton
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is Los Angeles stint was relatively short: Bratton was appointed LAPD chief in 2002 and would leave in 2009. However, his time in L.A. was packed with advances. He was instrumental in changing the culture and reputation of the LAPD, turning what many once considered a brutal occupying force into a widely respected department. He led the LAPD past the Rampart scandal and out of a federal consent decree. He also used mapping to respond to problems, ushering in a groundbreaking drop in crime citywide (it has continued under his successor, Charlie Beck). In Downtown specifically, Bratton recorded two major accomplishments: He helped spearhead the building of a $440 million Civic Center police headquarters, getting the department out of bedraggled
Parker Center. He also launched the Safer Cities Initiative, directing 50 officers to Skid Row. The ensuing crackdown on “quality of life” crimes resulted in a major change in the area.
Councilwoman Jan Perry
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he Ninth District council rep since 2001 (she is termed out in July) has been a leader in the growth that Downtown enjoyed over the past dozen years. Perry championed many jobs-generating projects, facilitating the creation of thousands of housing units. She was also a primary backer of catalytic developments such as L.A. Live. She seemed to grasp what many politicians fail to understand: that sometimes a pol’s job is to push a project forward, and other times the task is just not to get in the way. Perry was equally effective in Skid Row, though her work in the community earned fewer headlines. She pushed hard and helped find funds for a number of lowincome housing projects, leading to developments that got people off the streets. She is currently running for mayor.
Councilman Richard Alatorre
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ne of the craftiest politicians of the last several decades, Alatorre was a skilled leader who knew where all the skeletons in City Hall were buried. He followed on the heels of Councilman Art Snyder, moving from the state Assembly to win a council seat in 1985. Although much of Alatorre’s 14th District was in Boyle Heights and communities outside of Downtown, he managed to get a busy, primarily Latino shopping sliver on Broadway included in his realm — it was known, fittingly, as the “Alatorre Finger.” Alatorre was also an important early leader in the Latino political movement that today is one of the most powerful engines in the state.
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Councilman Gil Lindsay
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ilbert Lindsay Plaza in front of the Convention Center is named for a figure who many current Downtowners have never heard of: the longtime councilman who created what came to be known as “The Great Ninth.” Lindsay took over the Ninth District council seat in 1963, becoming the first African American council rep in Los Angeles. In the era before term limits, he held the job for 27 years. Although not on the same level of importance as Bradley or Wood, he did play a key role in pushing forward the building boom and growth of office structures on Bunker Hill and in the Central Business District.
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uilding all those Downtown office towers was one challenge. Filling them with law firms and corporate headquarters was another. The latter is where John C. Cushman made his name. He came to Los Angeles in 1967 to open Cushman & Wakefield’s Southern California office, and one of his early successes was leasing the 2.6 million square feet of space in ARCO Plaza. In 1978, he and his twin brother Louis founded Cushman Realty Corp., which was based in Downtown and for years was the leader in local office leasing, working with entities such as Maguire Partners. In 2001, the firm merged with Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman today is co-chairman of the company.
photo by Gary Leonard
Phil Anschutz
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owntown stakeholders rarely see Phil Anschutz, but virtually every day they witness the fruits of his vision in the form of Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Convention Center Hotel. The media-averse, Colorado-based billionaire is the money man behind those projects. He’s also the one whose bankroll has enabled AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke to push forward on Farmers Field. As everyone knows Anschutz is on the way out of Downtown — his AEG is on the market, and the announcement of a buyer is expected in the coming see 40 Downtowners, page 16
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Downtown News 15
C&W Proudly SaluteS John C. CuShman, III For his considerable influence on the Downtown L.A. community and his tireless commitment to its progress. Congratulations to John C. Cushman, III for having been named one of Los Angeles Downtown News’ 40 most important people to Downtown L.A.’s development. Celebrating nearly 100 years of exceptional real estate services, C&W delivers integrated solutions across our global platform of 253 offices in 60 countries. We actively advise, implement, and manage on behalf of tenants, landlords, and investors through every stage of the real estate process.
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16 Downtown News
Continued from page 14 months. Still, no one has invested in the community quite like he has: As Downtown News recently reported, AEG’s Central City holdings have an approximate value of $4.4 billion.
Ed Roski
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hen it comes to L.A. Live, everyone thinks of Phil Anschutz and Tim Leiweke, but Staples Center — and the huge projects that followed — never would have happened without Ed Roski. The head of Majestic Realty was Anschutz’s partner in the $375 million arena that opened in 1999 and houses the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks, and as the process was moving through city chan1
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nels in the mid-1990s, Roski was the public face selling the deal. Today many in Downtown think of Roski only as the guy pushing the City of Industry football stadium, a rival to the proposed Farmers Field. But without Roski and his work more than a decade ago, the Farmers Field concept might never have come about.
Tim Leiweke
and permanent positions) and reinvented the look and feel of South Park. It’s a testament to the master salesman’s prowess that no one can fathom the future owner of AEG moving forward without Leiweke. If football ever does come to Farmers Field, all credit will go to Leiweke.
Jack Kyser photo by Gary Leonard
40 Downtowners
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February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
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hil Anschutz may have the billions, but the money wouldn’t go nearly as far without AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke. Over the last 15 years Leiweke has emerged as Downtown’s most powerful and influential individual, dealing with the business community, the political leaders and the labor unions and getting them all to come out in support of AEG’s L.A. Live, Convention Center hotel and, now, Farmers Field. Under Leiweke’s leadership AEG has created thousands of Downtown jobs (both construction
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or decades, whenever any reporter anywhere needed a comment about the economy in Los Angeles, they called one person: Jack Kyser, the chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. From his office in Downtown he’d dispense his wisdom and analysis, taking whatever time was needed to make sure the caller understood the facts, numbers and context. Then, if given the chance, he’d espouse on all the Central City had to offer, citing its infrastructure, its location, the size of its work force, etc. His influence went beyond speaking to the media: Kyser participated in panel discussions and put together the LAEDC’s annual economic forecasts for the region. He later went on to work for the Southern California Association of Governments. He died in 2010 at the age of 76.
Sue Laris
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aris and her then-husband Jim founded what would become Los Angeles Downtown News in September 1972. On her own with the paper since 1980, Downtown News became the voice of Downtown Los Angeles, giving the neighborhood an identity that continues to grow; the paper covers the news, politics, business and cultural events of the Central City. Over four decades Laris has enabled Downtown News to remain that rare thing in media: an independent publication that has survived numerous recessions and the challenges of the Internet era. Downtown News continues to hit stands every Monday, with web content posted daily.
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Peter O’Malley
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t was O’Malley’s father Walter who brought the Dodgers west and opened Dodger Stadium in 1962, and Peter O’Malley today has an ownership stake in the San Diego Padres. Still, for decades it was impossible to think of the Dodgers without thinking of Peter O’Malley. He became president of the ball club in 1970 and held the title for 28 years, including during the World Series runs in 1981 and 1988. O’Malley was there as the team became immensely popular, with more than 3 million fans a year coming to see players including Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzuela and dozens of others. The era of family ownership ended in 1998 when, following a failed effort to bring the NFL to a new stadium in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, he sold the team to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Otis Chandler
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orget Sam Zell — one cannot separate the history of the Los Angeles Times from the Chandler family. Many members of the family have played key roles in the evolution of Los Angeles, but Otis Chandler, who was the publisher of the paper from 1960-1980, was the most important member of the clan in Downtown during the past 40 years. Under his leadership the Times saw a surge in circulation and grew to become one of the largest, most influential and most profitable newspapers in the country. During Chandler’s two decades with the paper and five additional years as chair of the parent company Times-Mirror, the Times won nine Pulitzer prizes.
Robert Anderson
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he name may be unfamiliar to many young Downtowners, but the man who spent two decades as chairman of ARCO was a major figure in Los Angeles. He moved the company from New York to Downtown in 1972 and made its headquarters in ARCO Plaza (today City National Plaza); the twin 52-story skyscrapers on Flower Street prefaced the launch of see 40 Downtowners, page 18
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
With sincere gratitude‌ The contribution of the Downtown News in the past 40 years can not be measured.
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Continued from page 16 the Central Business District building boom. With a massive work force and a new office complex, Anderson was an influential leader, and he also emerged as a prominent philanthropist in the city. He stayed as chairman of the oil company until 1986, and was followed by Lodwrick Cook.
Darryl Holter
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he CEO of auto company Shammas Group has played a key role in Downtown Los Angeles in two areas: Shammas Group has become a major employer and activator of the Figueroa Corridor, with seven dealerships under the Downtown L.A. Auto Group umbrella; the holdings
include the iconic Felix Chevrolet at 3300 S. Figueroa St. and Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen outlets at 1900 S. Figueroa St. Those have led to investments from others, creating a sort of Downtown “auto row.” Holter has also been a key player in the Figueroa Corridor Partnership, the area’s business improvement district. He was the founding chair of the BID in 1998, and the work has strengthened the connection between the urban core and USC. He continues the work of his fatherin-law and company founder Nick Shammas, one of the trio of “grand old men” of early Downtown. (The other two are Jack Needleman and Stanley Hirsh, both icons of the early Fashion District, né Garment District.) Shammas died in 2003 at the age of 87.
Carol Schatz
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hen Schatz became president and CEO of the Central City Association in 1995, it was a minor organization
with fewer than 100 members and a budget of $750,000. Twenty-three years later, it is the leading and most important business group based in Downtown. Over the decades Schatz has been aggressive and fiercely active on both the legislative front (the CCA helped write the adaptive reuse ordinance) t and in terms of pushing the community forward: She also spurred the formation of and sits atop the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. When it comes to advancing most Downtown projects, Schatz is there, whether in City Hall, at a press conference or working behind the scenes.
Jona Goldrich
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efore Tom Gilmore started building Downtown housing, and even before Ira Yellin started building Downtown housing, there was Jona Goldrich. The businessman who was born in Poland in 1927 was the primary driver (through the firm Goldrich and Kest) of the Promenade residential complexes on Bunker Hill, creating more than 900 apartments and condominiums long before many thought the community could be livable. The ties to the Civic Center and Bunker Hill were immediate and strong. Goldrich was also involved in the development of the California Plaza office complex.
Stuart M. Ketchum
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tuart M. Ketchum is more than just the guy whose name appears on the Downtown YMCA. Another major real estate player and longtime champion of Downtown, he has been involved in numerous deals, including the construction of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, the Bank of America Plaza (Security Pacific Plaza when it opened) and the edifice at 800 Wilshire Blvd. His $3 million donation paved the way for the opening of the Ketchum Y, as it is often called, in 1986. He has also been involved with the boards of the Music Center and was a key player in getting the Walt Disney Concert Hall built.
Ezat Delijani photo by Gary Leonard
40 Downtowners
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
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ithout Ezat Delijani, Downtown would likely have lost some of its architectural jewels. The Iranian-born real estate magnate, who fled the country during the Islamic Revolution, founded Delson Investment Co., which became a major landowner in the Jewelry District. Still, he is perhaps best known for heeding then-Mayor Tom Bradley’s request in 1987 to buy the Los Angeles Theater, saving it from the wrecking ball. The family would also go on to acquire the Tower, State and Palace theaters; all are to be upgraded and activated. Delijani was also a partner with 14th District Councilman José Huizar in launching the Bringing Back Broadway initiative to upgrade the historic corridor. In 2009 the city renamed the intersection of Seventh Street and Broadway Ezat Delijani Square. He died in 2011 at the age of 83.
Development Ira Yellin photo by Gary Leonard
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ven Tom Gilmore acknowledges that he followed in the footsteps of Ira Yellin. The groundwork for Downtown’s future reclamation of historic buildings was laid by Yellin, an Ivy League-educated lawyer-turned-developer, who in 1995 began reviving a handful of structures on a faded Broadway block. In addition to restoring the Bradbury Building and Grand Central Market, Yellin converted the Homer Laughlin building above the market into apartments. He also transformed the upper floors of the historic, 12-story Million Dollar Theatre into residential units. The son of a rabbi didn’t just change old into new — he also set a precedent by caring deeply about the past and preserving architectural elements, knowing that would only help the city in the future. Yellin would go on to co-found the prominent development firm Urban Partners. He died in 2002 at the age of 62.
Tom Gilmore
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Celebrating 40 Years
Steve and Jack Needleman
Wayne Ratkovich
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ver the past decade, Steve Needleman has been the most active and forward-thinking building owner on Broadway; his restoration of the 1923 Orpheum Theatre, completed in 2001 (it included creating apartments on the upper floors), set a precedent that many in Downtown hope other theater owners will echo. Needleman, however, is in some ways following in the footsteps of his father, Jack Needleman, who through his company Anjac (named for him and his wife Annette) acquired dozens of properties in and around the Fashion District. Unlike many Downtown building owners of the time, Jack Needleman paid keen attention to historic properties; when he acquired the venerable Grand Olympic Auditorium, he refused suggestions to raze it (it is currently owned by a church). Steve Needleman is now turning the old Singer Sewing Machine Building into housing.
nother developer with decades of involvement in Downtown real estate, Wayne Ratkovich has had an impact on the past and will likely shape the future of the community as well. He founded the Downtown-based Ratkovich Company in 1977 and took on projects such as the restoration of the Olive Street Art Deco gem the Oviatt Building and, later, another historic jewel, the Fine Arts Building. He also managed the development of FIDM’s campus. He is now in escrow on a purchase of the massive Macy’s Plaza and is expected to launch a major renovation of the project’s shopping center.
Geoff Palmer
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he longtime developer found a gold mine on the edges of Downtown with a series of market-rate apartment comsee 40 Downtowners, page 20
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he former New York architect changed Downtown Los Angeles forever when, in late 1999, he purchased three dilapidated buildings at the corner of Fourth and Main streets and announced plans to turn them into housing. The Old Bank District, which was the first project to take advantage of the city’s Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, followed, and once the structure quickly filled up the Downtown residential floodgates opened. Gilmore not only built apartments, he created a community, launching Pete’s Café and nurturing numerous independent retail outlets and restaurants. He has continued to play an active role in the community, chipping in money to save Art Walk when it encountered financial trouble. He recently donated $1 million to the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Robert F. “Rob” Maguire
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he visionary developer helped build the modern Downtown skyline. With Jim Thomas in the firm Maguire Thomas Partners, he developed the Downtown trophy properties Library Tower (today U.S. Bank Tower), the Gas Company Tower, the Wells Fargo Tower and the KPMG Tower. The firm became the biggest office landowner in Downtown, with its skyscrapers housing some of the city’s most prominent businesses. Maguire also helped restore and expand the Central Library after the devastating 1986 fire (doing so was a condition of getting development rights for two skyscrapers). Maguire and Thomas split in 1996, with Maguire controlling the Downtown portfolio; the company name changed to Maguire Properties, Inc. His run ended in the recent recession, as in 2008 the board of directors responded to financial troubles and a falling stock price by ousting him as chairman, president and CEO (he was replaced by Nelson Rising). Although the firm has since been renamed MPG Office Trust, few who have a history in Downtown separates its past from Maguire.
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James A. “Jim” Thomas
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homas is another figure who is inextricably linked to the growth of Downtown as a Class A office hub. He ran Maguire Thomas Partners with Robert F. Maguire for 13 years, and was instrumental in building some of the Central City’s most prominent skyscrapers. The North Carolina native split from Maguire in 1996, and though he owned the Sacramento Kings basketball team from 1992-1999, he also ran the firm TPG, which in 2004 led to Thomas Properties Group, Inc. Thomas made a major Downtown play in 2003 when he bought City National Plaza for $270 million. He then poured $125 million into a restoration of the faded 1972 office complex. The twin 52-story edifices on Flower Street became vibrant once again and tenants filled the complex. Thomas has also been active on civic issues and boards, serving as chair of Town Hall-Los Angeles and heading Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic, or FAST, a program to alleviate surface street gridlock.
Nelson Rising
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lthough Rising last year finally put his name on his own company, he has been influencing Downtown Los Angeles and California real estate circles for decades. He was a partner in Maguire Thomas Partners during the office building boom of the 1980s and led the development of Library Tower (now U.S. Bank Tower), among other efforts. He was also a leader in creating the Downtown Strategic Plan and undertaking the renovation of Pershing Square. That’s just the start of his resume: Rising was chair of the Federal Reserve in San Francisco and spent 11 years as the CEO of Catellus. More recently, he came back to be CEO of MPG Office Trust, a successor to Maguire Thomas Partners. Last year, he joined with his son Christopher Rising to form Rising Realty Partners. The firm purchased and is turning around the Pacific Center in the Financial District.
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20 Downtown News
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Celebrating 40 Years
Culture
40 Downtowners
years. However, it was Gordon Davidson who put CTG on the map, both locally and nationally. He took charge of the company that operates Downtown’s Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum in 1967, and over the next 37 years he made the venues powerful cultural engines, the places that hosted big-name Broadway musicals and plays (the Ahmanson) and welcomed and nurtured newer and more challenging work (the Taper). Davidson also ensured that there was some star power in the productions, as actors including Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Lemmon and Katherine Hepburn stepped on stage in front of Downtown crowds. Davidson’s productions won every award imaginable and he nurtured young and diverse voices.
Eli Broad
Continued from page 19 plexes. Through his G.H. Palmer Associates, Palmer since the turn of the millennium has created more than 2,000 residential units. His completed Downtown projects, many of them in City West, include multiple phases of the Medici, Orsini, Piero and Vistonti. All have an Italian Renaissance-inspired design. Other area projects are under construction.
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photo by Gary Leonard
Homer Williams
he billionaire and philanthropist founded two Fortune 500 companies in home builder Kaufman and Broad and retirement advisor SunAmerica, and he has been a leader on a number of civic issues. In Downtown, however, Broad’s biggest impact has been on the cultural front. In 1979 he became the founding chairman of a group of arts patrons who thought the city needed a new contemporary art museum, and that it should be in Downtown: MOCA opened in a temporary space in 1983 and moved to a permanent Grand Avenue home three years later. Over the decades Broad has been a vocal proponent of making Grand Avenue truly grand, and in the late-1990s he teamed with Mayor Richard Riordan to kick-start the fundraising for the stalled Walt Disney Concert Hall; their work led to the venue’s opening in 2003. Now, as all Downtown is aware, he is pushing forward on The Broad, a $120 million museum just south of Disney Hall that will house his 2,000-piece contemporary art collection. The structure with a design by the heralded New York firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro will open in 2014.
Esa-Pekka Salonen
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photo courtesy of Center Theatre Group
Gordon Davidson
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ortland-based Homer Williams changed the look and utility of South Park when, after the opening of Staples Center but long before the debut of L.A. Live, he began acquiring land for a series of upscale condominium buildings. Elleven, Luma and Evo gave the neighborhood three striking structures and a critical mass of property owners, and provided the base for more residential development to follow. Though the third building, Evo, hit financial trouble, the partner in Williams & Dame Associates returned to the Downtown development scene last year. He is in charge of the $172 million project that will create nearly 400 additional Marriott hotel rooms in a 23-story building across from the JW Marriott/Ritz-Carlton Convention Center hotel.
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ichael Ritchie has run Center Theatre Group, the most important theater purveyor in Los Angeles, for nine
he excitement that still surrounds Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel makes it easy to forget that he is only the second-most important music man in the Phil’s ranks in recent decades — it was Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen who really made people pay attention to the Downtown-based symphony. Salonen became Music Director in 1992 and remained in the post until 2009; during his tenure he boosted the abilities and reputation of the orchestra. Not only did he bring the Phil across the country and around the world, he sparked enough excitement locally to help the body move from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to its new home, the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall. Salonen continues to show up at the Phil each year for a short conducting stint.
Plácido Domingo
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n one way, Plácido Domingo was not the key figure at Los Angeles Opera — one could argue that late General Director Peter Hemmings did the grunt work and built the company into a top-tier opera provider (Hemmings died in 2002). However, Domingo’s voice, personality, resume and reputation opened all kinds of doors. The famed tenor has been part of L.A. Opera since the beginning: He sang the title role in the company’s 1986 debut of Otello. Though he has various national and international opera duties, Domingo retains the title of general director of L.A. Opera and routinely
Celebrating 40 Years
appears in at least one production a season, while conducting at least one more.
Michael Alexander
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halk Michael Alexander’s presence on this list up to endurance and vision — for a quarter century he has been the executive director of Grand Performances, the organization that provides the free summer outdoor concerts at the California Plaza Watercourt. While big crowds at Cal Plaza are now the norm, Alexander started the program at a time when Downtown claimed very few residents, and it was up to him and his top aide, Leigh Ann Hahn, to put together the shows that would prompt people to stay after work and even drive Downtown on weekends. Alexander has done it all by combining an eclectic, international roster with a slate of local artists — the band Ozomatli and the dance troupe Diavalo are among those who found early and eager audiences at Cal Plaza.
Downtown News 21 photo by Gary Leonard
February 18, 2013
Cathedral from the wrecking ball, she also doubled the Conservancy’s membership, tripled its staff and quadrupled its budget. Her presence in Downtown is felt in other ways too: The Conservancy orchestrates weekly walking tours of historic properties, and its Last Remaining Seats series of classic films in old Broadway movie palaces has become a summer cultural highlight.
Joel Bloom
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n the 1990s, before the expensive housing arrived and the young urbanites moved in, Joel Bloom was the glue that held the hardscrabble Arts District together. The unofficial mayor of the Arts District opened Bloom’s General Store in 1994, giving locals both easy access to staples and providing a place to hang out and trade gossip. That was only the beginning of his impact — he was a tireless advocate for the community, and famously helped kill an attempt by the Los Angeles Unified School
District to build a massive warehouse in the area. Though adored by residents and neighbors, he also could be gruff and didn’t suffer fools. Bloom died in 2007 at the age of 59. The district’s annual arts celebration Bloomfest is named for him. Contact Jon Regardie at regardie@downtownnews.com.
photo courtesy Patina Restaurant Group
Joachim Splichal
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n 2013, Downtown boasts the hottest food scene in the city. It wasn’t always this way, and chef and Patina Group founder Joachim Splichal was one of the first culinary big names to gamble on Downtown Los Angeles. Splichal’s Café Pinot, which opened in 1995 next to the Central Library, was an immediate hit, its Cal-French cuisine completely different than anything else available at the time. That began a big Central City play, with restaurants including Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse and Kendall’s Brasserie and Bar. Perhaps the biggest vote of confidence in the market came after the original Patina closed in Hollywood — Splichal brought it Downtown to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.
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Los Angeles Downtown News for 40 years of service to our community. We know all about service!
Frances Hashimoto
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ittle Tokyo has faced many challenges over the decades, and Frances Hashimoto was always there to lead the way. The president and CEO of Mikawaya, the bakery and ice cream empire owned by her family since 1910, did virtually everything at one time or another in the tight-knit community: She helped launch the Little Tokyo Community Council and the Little Tokyo Business Improvement District; she twice chaired the Nisei Week Japanese Festival; and she was chair of the Little Tokyo Business Association. She did it all while growing Mikawaya from a small sweets shop to a major business, building it into a $13 million-a-year operation with five stores, a warehouse and bakery on Fourth Street and a 100,000-squarefoot facility in Vernon. Hashimoto died last November at the age of 69. Two weeks later the city unveiled the long-planned Frances K. Hashimoto Plaza at Azusa and Second streets.
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Cardinal Roger Mahony
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oday, Mahony’s name sparks anger and disappointment over his handling of numerous priest abuse cases. While those actions will taint his legacy as the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, for years Mahony was extremely powerful, particularly in Downtown. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, Mahony got the backing from the city’s political elite to have the building razed so a new cathedral could rise on the same spot. When preservationists stymied the effort, Mahony led the development of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on a lot overlooking the 101 Freeway. The $195 million structure opened in 2002 and became a new amenity for Downtown and an instant home for the local Catholic community.
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ast September, Linda Dishman celebrated her 20th anniversary as the executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy. During her tenure, the organization emerged as a powerful advocate for preserving the city’s history. While many remember how Dishman helped save St. Vibiana’s
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22 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
The Buildings That Shaped Downtown A Collection of New and Restored Office Towers, Entertainment Spaces And Civic Structures Helped Transform the Central City by Ryan VaillancouRt staff wRiteR
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ver the past four decades, Downtown Los Angeles been built and rebuilt. Whether the office tower boom of the 1970s and ’80s or the housing rush of the last dozen years, construction of new landmarks has been a constant. The structures have had different kinds of impacts on the Central City. Often, a property’s value extends beyond its concrete, steel and wooden bones. Sometimes a building’s importance is chiefly architectural
— the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s design, for instance, gave Downtown a new identity when it opened in 2003 (as well as a new place to film car commercials). In other cases, the value lies in how a building influenced an industry or pushed a new paradigm. That came into play with Tom Gilmore’s trio of adaptive reuse housing projects in the Old Bank District. These are the buildings, whether new structures or salvaged older edifices, that have made the biggest impact on Downtown since 1972.
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Office Buildings City National Bank (aka ARCO Plaza)
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n 1972, when the twin 52-story towers at Fifth and Figueroa streets known as ARCO Plaza were completed, the dark green granite skyscrapers marked the start of a wave of Downtown office construction. Developed by the Atlantic Richfield Company, the AC Martin-designed towers were suddenly the tallest structures in Los Angeles. (That ranking would not last long.) The ARCO Plaza buildings, which were the corporate headquarters of the oil company after it relocated from New York, were also briefly the tallest “twin towers” in the country — the World Trade Center in New York was completed months after the local landmark’s dedication. While the property experienced a downturn in the late 1980s under the stewardship of then-owner Shuwa Investment Corp., current landlord Thomas Properties restored it as a competitive Class A office site with a $125 million renovation after acquiring it in 2003. That also led to the project’s current name.
Wells Fargo Center (aka Crocker Center)
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his pair of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed Bunker Hill buildings, known as the Crocker Center when they opened in 1983, continued the office architectural aesthetic toward sleek minimal towers with heavy use of glass. The project at 333-355 S. Grand Ave. was developed by Maguire Thomas Partners and contained 54- and 45-story buildings. It was one of the trophies of the new civic vision for a corporate center in place of the old residential Bunker Hill.
California Plaza
T NOW is the time to sell, buy or lease with L.A. LOFTS REALTY, your neighborhood Realtors!
US Bank Tower (aka Library Tower) photo by Gary Leonard
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he centerpiece of Bunker Hill redevelopment, California Plaza took 10 years and $1.2 billion to complete. Anchored by two skyscrapers, One and Two Cal Plaza, which were finished in 1985 and 1992, respectively, the project redefined Grand Avenue, adding a hotel (currently the Omni), the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Colburn School. The 1.5-acre Watercourt, funded by a mandatory 1% development budget allotment for public art, blossomed into a key Downtown cultural destination thanks to Grand Performances. Technically, the project originally developed by Cadillac Fairview is not finished — it was entitled for a third tower at Fourth and Hill streets.
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M
aguire Thomas Partners’ signature development, US Bank Tower is the tallest structure west of the Mississippi (even if that title is threatened by the planned new Wilshire Grand hotel). The skyscraper, which opened in 1989, has a lighthouse-like top that has come to be the defining feature on L.A.’s skyline. The building also played a key role in other developments: The city gave Maguire the rights to build the 72-story tower at 633 W. Fifth St., along with the neighboring Gas Company Tower, on the condition that it contribute $140 million toward a renovation and expansion of the Central Library. That’s why the tower was originally known, and is still referred to by many as Library Tower. The building also came
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with the Lawrence Halprin-designed Bunker Hill Steps, which connected Bunker Hill to the Financial District.
Gas Company Tower
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onsidered a sort of second phase to Library Tower, the Gas Company Tower was another skyline-altering project conceived during the 1980s office boom. Some likened its upper floors to a ship, sailing by the lighthouse of Library Tower. The building, however, was also known by some in the real estate world as a symbol that the boom was over. Gas Company Tower opened in 1991 amid a commercial real estate shake-out, as demand for corporate office space failed to keep pace with the new supply built by Maguire Thomas and others. It remains the headquarters of the Southern California Gas Company.
Ernst & Young Plaza, 777 Tower, FIGat7th (aka Citicorp Center)
Downtown News 23
Celebrating 40 Years house in the 14-screen Regal Cineplex. Then, in 2010, AEG completed the $900 million J.W. Marriott/Ritz-Carlton hotel and condo project. The tower reshaped the L.A. skyline and helped boost business at the slumping Convention Center.
Macy’s Plaza (aka MCI Center, aka Broadway Plaza)
I
n 1973, Seventh Street got a major development. Broadway Plaza (later MCI Center and now Macy’s Plaza) was also a sort of pioneer in mixed-use real estate. The complex never won fawning praise from architectural critics — it is often derided for its fortress-like, brick-clad design — but it nevertheless delivered significant space for Downtown shoppers, with a mall below an office tower and a separate hotel highrise. The structure fills the entire block bounded by Seventh, Eighth, Hope and Flower streets.
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
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he 1,354-room Westin Bonaventure opened in 1976, wowing some with its glass-encased vertical cylinders and exterior elevators, and confusing others with its difficult-tonavigate interior. The John Portman-designed 35-story hotel at 404 S. Figueroa St. would grow into a key lodging point for Los Angeles convention goers and for large business confabs. It remains the largest hotel, by room number, in the city.
Japanese Village Plaza
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uilt in 1977, Japanese Village Plaza helped Little Tokyo evolve into a commercial hub visited by tourists and Angelenos alike. The outdoor mall nestled between First and Second streets just west of Central Avenue gave the community a new destination, one that complemented the historic see Buildings, page 24
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he Citicorp Center was an important development in part because the two towers — the 41-story Ernst & Young Plaza and the 52-story 777 Tower — were designed around an outdoor shopping center. The mall at Seventh and Figueroa streets was anchored by the Bullock’s and May Co. department stores, which both eventually went out of business. The same plaza is now anchored by Target and is the shopping hub that Downtown boosters hope will be a lynchpin of local retail growth.
Ronald Reagan Building
C
ompleted in 1990, the pink granite-clad Ronald Reagan State Office Building (later renamed the Ronald Reagan Building after some adopted the nickname Ronald Reagan SOB) marked perhaps the single biggest government-sponsored push to revitalize the Historic Core. While the fortresslike design of the structure prompted some critics to dub it Fort Ronnie, public officials hoped the infusion of thousands of state office workers would be a shot in the arm for nearby property owners and merchants. At the time, Spring Street was the fringe of Skid Row. The state spent $106 million to develop the complex and the CRA kicked in an additional $20 million for the acquisition of nearly the entire block bounded by Spring, Main, Third and Fourth streets.
Entertainment, Shopping and Hotels Staples Center
T
he $375 million sports arena helped kick off the revitalization of Downtown by taking the Lakers out of Inglewood and moving them to the Central City. It also replaced a largely derelict patch of parking lots and budget motels with a commercial hub that would lay the groundwork for L.A. Live. Staples Center (which also houses the Clippers, Kings and Sparks) had its detractors, including then Ninth District Councilwoman Rita Walters (she actually voted against the project; her colleagues on the council approved it), but fears that the venue would harm area business were proven wrong. On the contrary, Staples was a key driver in investment in Downtown. It didn’t hurt that in their first season in Staples Center, the Lakers won a championship.
Downtown news Thank you for telling our story for the past 40 years
photo by Gary Leonard
L.A. Live
Congratulations
www.industrialdistrictla.com
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owntown changed forever in 2008 when Anschutz Entertainment Group christened the second phase of the $2.5 billion L.A. Live (Nokia Theatre, which comprised the first phase, opened in 2007). Suddenly, Staples Center was conjoined with a sort of restaurant row that the masses packed before games and shows at Staples, Nokia Theatre, Club Nokia, the Lucky Strike bowling alley and the Grammy Museum. L.A. Live gave Downtown residents a crucial amenity in 2009 when it opened the area’s first full-scale movie
www.artsdistrictla.com
Central City East Association 725 South Crocker Street Los Angeles, CA 90021 213-228-8484
24 Downtown News
Buildings Continued from page 23 businesses that already lined First Street. More than 30 years later, Japanese Village Plaza is considered by many to be the heart of the neighborhood. However, the wooden fire tower at the First Street entrance to the mall was ravaged by termites and was later replaced by a metal replica.
CiviC
opened, as Angelenos debated whether the building designed by Thom Mayne was visionary or an imposing monolith akin to the Star Wars “Death Star.” The $171 million project developed by Urban Partners houses 2,300 state and city workers. The 13-story edifice bounded by First, Second, Main and Los Angeles streets still ignites passions, though many people have come around to embrace (or at least accept) it. The structure was also the first contemporary development in the Civic Center to include significant public space. The building, which has also been praised for its environmental efficiencies, features a mini amphitheater off Main Street where people often eat lunch.
by First, Second, Spring and Main streets. But ultimately, the 500,000-square-foot headquarters that opened in 2009 proved a stately, modern new anchor for the Civic Center, while also providing ample public space. The lawn facing Second Street organically turned into an unofficial dog park. Perhaps most importantly, the building allowed the LAPD to leave the earthquake-damaged Parker Center. Glass walls on the east-facing façade also gave people a view into the edifice, making for a symbolic shift away from the department’s past penchant for fortress-like stations.
Cultural
Police Administration Building
he California Department of Transportation’s District 7 Headquarters was the subject of controversy before it
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he $440 million headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department raised eyebrows and drew criticism for its price tag. It also rankled some Civic Center residents who had hoped the city would build a park on the block bounded
Walt Disney Concert Hall photo by Gary Leonard
CalTrans Building
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February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Good Samaritan Hospital Congratulates
Sue Laris &
The Los Angeles Downtown News For her vision, courage, and service to the Los Angeles Downtown Community.
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o building gave Los Angeles more instant international recognition than architect Frank Gehry’s masterpiece at First Street and Grand Avenue. The $274 million Walt Disney Concert Hall also had one of the longest and most painful gestation periods of any project in the country, as it opened in 2003, 16 years after planning began. The home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic holds 2,265 seats, and the acoustics by Yasuhisa Toyota are recognized as among the best in the world. The fourth building in the L.A. County Music Center also holds the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The building is among L.A.’s most popular tourist destinations.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
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long with Disney Hall and Staples Center, architect José Rafael Moneo’s cathedral was among the big projects that were drawing national buzz to Downtown in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The $195 million development spearheaded by Cardinal Roger Mahony holds approximately 3,000 people and is the center of Catholic life in Los Angeles County. When it opened in 2002 it also became a civic landmark. It now hosts community events such as the annual Downtown Dog Day Afternoon. The cathedral was important on another level: Mahony once considered moving the replacement for St. Vibiana’s outside Downtown. That would have cost the community one of its top architectural and tourist destinations, as the building at 555 W. Temple St. draws not just worshipers, but Downtown workers, residents and visitors who stroll its courtyard and gardens.
Orpheum Renovation
L
ike most former Broadway movie palaces, the 1926 Orpheum Theatre had faded over decades due to neglect. Then in 2003, before there was a politically backed campaign like Bringing Back Broadway to spur theater upgrades, owner Steve Needleman spent $3.5 million to restore the venue at 842 S. Broadway to its original glory. He installed new seats, air conditioning and lighting and polished the marble lobby, the bronze doors and the marquee. The following year, Needleman turned the former office space above the theater into 37 apartments. Big name music artists started to take the Orpheum stage, as did TV shows such as “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent.” Needleman also set the stage for other theater owners to invest in renovations of their historic Broadway venues.
1225 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90017 www.goodsam.org 1 (800) GS-CARES
SCI-Arc Campus
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quarter-mile long former rail depot gained new life in 2000 when the Southern California Institute of Architecture moved into Downtown, leaving a home in Marina Del Rey. The 1906 structure became a hive for 500 students and the school’s faculty and administrative offices. Classes were first held in a tent before the building at 960 E. Third St. opened in fall 2001. The activation of the 89,000-square-foot space was by see Buildings, page 32
February 18, 2013
■ Local Events ▲ U.S./World Events
Downtown News 25
Celebrating 40 Years
TIMELINE ■ The LAPD agrees to destroy secret files that were kept on 5,500 citizens. ■ Los Angeles Mall officially opens: Triforium dedicated.
■ Los Angeles awarded 1984 Olympic Games.
■ Community Redevelopment Agency begins Central Business District Project Area.
▲ Nixon re-elected in landslide victory over Democratic challenger George McGovern. ▲ Republican agents burglarize Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C., Watergate complex. ▲ J. Edgar Hoover dies. ▲ Gov. George C. Wallace is shot at a political rally in Laurel, Md.
1972
■ Despite another racially charged campaign, Los Angeles City Councilman Tom Bradley, ex-LAPD policeman, defeats incumbent Sam Yorty to become the first black mayor of Los Angeles. ■ Broadway Plaza (later Macy’s Plaza) opens. ■ World Trade Center opens: 10 stories, 353,421 sq. ft. ■ UCLA wins NCAA Basketball championship.
1973
■ Downtown’s new newspaper, Civic Center News, debuts; later becomes Downtown News.
▲ U.S. experiences national energy crisis which leads to the closing of all gas stations on Sundays.
■ Mandarin Plaza in Chinatown dedicated. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win their first championship. ■ USC wins NCAA Football Championship. ■ UCLA wins NCAA Basketball championship.
■ Occidental Tower (later Transamerica Tower) opens: 32 stories, 1.6 million sq. ft.
■ Tommy Lasorda becomes manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
■ Emperor Hirohito of Japan visits Los Angeles. ▲ Nixon becomes the first president to resign. ▲ Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th president. ▲ Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1974
■ The Southern California Air Quality Management District (AQMD) is formed.
▲ Jimmy Carter elected U.S. president.
■ The George C. Page Museum opens next to the La Brea Tar Pits.
▲ U.S. Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
■ UCLA wins NCAA Basketball championship.
▲ The United States celebrates its bicentennial.
1975
■ United California Bank Tower (now AON) opens: 62 stories, 1 million sq. ft.
▲ U.S. pulls out of Saigon; remaining Americans evacuated ending the Vietnam war.
▲ Lyndon B. Johnson dies.
■ The Los Angeles Ballet is established.
▲ On national TV Nixon accepts responsibility but not blame for Watergate.
■ The Los Angeles City Council eliminates “sexist” titles from city jobs.
▲ Gerald Ford escapes two assassination attempts in 17 days, the first in Sacramento, California.
▲ Spiro T. Agnew resigns as vice president and pleads no contest to charges of income tax evasion.
■ USC wins NCAA Football Championship.
▲ Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion.
■ The 1,500-room Bonaventure Hotel is completed.
▲ Saturday Night Live premieres on NBC, George Carlin hosts the first show.
1976 ■ Los Angeles begins experimenting with freeway carpool lanes on the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10). ■ The Central Library and major portions of Little Tokyo are slated for destruction. Plans later nixed. ■ Security Pacific Plaza (now Bank of America Plaza) is completed and 85 percent occupied. ■ Saint Vibiana’s Cathedral celebrates its centennial.
■ Drought prompts city leaders to shut off the Fort Moore waterfall in the Civic Center, which remains dry today. ■ Civic Center News banner design changes. ■ Tom Bradley is elected to second term on the issues of public transportation and urban redevelopment.
1977 ▲ Egyptian President Anwar Sadat speaks to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, a defining moment in the history of Arab-Israeli relations. ▲ Carter pardons Vietnam war draft evaders. ▲ Elvis Presley dies.
26 Downtown News
▲ Jim Jones and more than 400 American followers commit mass suicide in Guyana; most are from California. ▲ Pope Paul VI dies at age 80; new Pope John Paul dies unexpectedly after 34 days in office. ▲ Muhammad Ali regains heavyweight boxing title. ▲ Sony introduces the Walkman.
1978
■ 911 (now 915) Wilshire Building opens: 22 stories, 376,450 sq. ft. The first high-rise office building to be completed Downtown since 1975. ■ Jewelry Center reopens.
▲ Ronald Reagan wins presidency in a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter.
■ Local funding arranged for Metro Rail to run from Wilshire Blvd. to North Hollywood.
▲ Eight servicemen are killed during a desert raid to rescue American hostages in Tehran.
■ Los Angeles experiences severe flooding and mudslides.
▲ John Lennon of the Beatles fatally shot in New York City.
1979
■ Civic Center News adds new edition for area south of Third Street. Calls it “Downtown News.”
▲ An overheated reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania threatens to melt down.
■ Japanese Village Plaza opens.
▲ Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to the families of the dead and injured in the Kent State University shootings.
■ Los Angeles area fires claim 40,000 acres and destroy 270 homes. ■ Los Angeles Dodgers are defeated by the New York Yankees in the World Series. Game 6 was held at Dodger Stadium with the Yankees winning 7-2.
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Celebrating 40 Years
▲ Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first female prime minister.
1980 ■ Commercial real estate boom hits Downtown. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship. ■ The People Mover idea for Downtown gets axed. ■ Exclusive rights to negotiate on the huge parcel now known as California Plaza awarded to Cadillac Fairview. ■ Superbowl XIV is held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The Los Angeles Rams are defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-19.
■ The Moreton Bay fig tree, the only major tree still remaining on Bunker Hill before the renewal, relocated from the current Angels Flight Railway site to Angelus Plaza. ■ Tom Bradley elected to a third term. ■ Los Angeles celebrates its 200th anniversary. ■ The first case of AIDS appears in Los Angeles County. ■ Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series.
1981 ▲ After 14 months the 52 American hostages in Iran are freed. ▲ President Reagan is shot in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley. ▲ Pope John Paul II wounded by gunman. ▲ Egyptian president Anwar Sadat assassinated by Islamic extremists.
▲ Florida Senate votes “No” on the Equal Rights Amendment. NOW President Eleanor Smeal vows the fight has just begun for women’s rights. ▲ Alexander Haig Jr. resigns as secretary of state. ▲ John Hinckley found not guilty by reason of insanity in shooting of President Reagan.
■ A tornado strikes parts of Downtown causing an estimated $2.5 million in damage to the Convention Center auditorium. ■ Japan America Theatre opens. ■ Museum of Contemporary Art opens at the Temporary Contemporary. ■ Lakers are swept in the NBA Championships by the Philidelphia 76ers 4-0.
1982
1983
■ Civic Center News incorporates as Civic Center News, Inc., both editions are combined under the banner Downtown News.
▲ Suicide bombing in Beirut kills 237 U.S. Marines.
■ Wells Fargo Center opens: 45 stories, over 1 million sq. ft. ■ L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley is defeated by George Deukmejian in his bid to become governor of California. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship. ■ The Oakland Raiders move to Los Angeles.
▲ Sally Ride is the first woman astronaut in space as a crew member aboard space shuttle Challenger. ▲ Singer Karen Carpenter dies of complications from anorexia nervosa. ▲ 125 million viewers tune in to the final episode of M*A*S*H.
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Downtown News 27
Celebrating 40 Years
■ Wilshire Bixel building opens: 42 stories, over 1 million sq. ft. ■ Roger M. Mahony is appointed archbishop of Los Angeles. ■ One California Plaza opens: 42 stories, over 1 million sq. ft.
■ Biltmore Court completed: 12 stories. Biltmore Hotel completely refurbished.
■ An agreement is reached
with Maguire Thomas Partners to renovate the Central Library.
■ Tom Bradley is re-elected mayor of Los Angeles. First four-term mayor. In his inaugural speech he announces “The California Century.” ▲ Geraldine Ferraro accepts Democratic vice presidential nomination with presidential nominee Walter Mondale. ▲ Bell System breaks up. ▲ Soviet Union withdraws from summer Olympic games and other bloc nations follow. ▲ President Reagan re-elected with 59% of the vote.
1984 ■ The L.A. Raiders win Super Bowl XVIII. ■ The XXIII Olympiad summer games are held in Los Angeles. ■ John Delorean is acquitted in a Los Angeles federal trial. ■ Richard W. Miller is arrested on charges of passing government secrets to the Soviets.
■ Los Angeles is officially
declared the second largest city in the United States with a population of 3,096,721 surpassing the population of Chicago.
■ Los Angeles Lakers win NBA championship. ■ The Los Angeles Music Center Opera Assoc. is founded.
1985 ▲ Arthur Walker, retired naval officer is convicted in federal court for participating in Soviet spy ring operated by his brother John Walker. ▲ Soviet leader Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev who initiates program of reform and liberalization. ▲ Rock Hudson dies of AIDS.
▲ Space shuttle Challenger explodes 75 seconds after liftoff killing its crew of seven, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. ▲ U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms abortion rights. ▲ Hands Across America forms a human chain of over 5 million people stretching 4,150 miles from Long Beach to New York City. ▲ Reagan denies exchanging arms for hostages.
1986 ■ Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market opens. ■ 1100 Wilshire opens: 37 stories, 325,000 sq. ft. ■ Figueroa Plaza opens: 16 stories, 153,778 sq. ft. ■ Biltmore Tower opens: 24 stories, 130,410 sq. ft. ■ Chase Plaza opens at 801 S. Grand: 22 stories ■ Groundbreaking for Metro Red Line subway. ■ Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) designed by Arata Isozaki opens at California Plaza. ■ Two separate fires force the closure of the Los Angeles Central Library. ■ The first Los Angeles Marathon is held. ■ Mayor Tom Bradley is defeated yet again by George Deukmejian in his bid for the California governorship.
■ The Los Angeles Herald Examiner closes, leaving Los Angeles with only one major daily newspaper.
■ Construction begins on the 73-story Library Tower (now US Bank Tower): $350 million. It’s the tallest building west of the Mississippi. ■ Pope John Paul II visits Los Angeles. ■ The Whittier Narrows Earthquake jolts the Los Angeles area. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship. ■ The band U2 performs live on the rooftop of the Republic Liquor Store at the corner of 7th and Main streets to film the video for the song “Where the Streets Have No Name”.
1987 ▲ During the Iran-Contra hearings Lt. Col. Oliver North contradicts key assertions by President Reagan and other prominent figures involved. ▲ Charles Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan failure costs taxpayers over $2 billion. ▲ Reagan admits Iran armsContra policy went astray and accepts responsibility. ▲ Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wins rare third term in Britain.
■ Construction completed on First Interstate World Center. ▲ Pan Am 747 bound for New York explodes from terrorist bomb and crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 aboard and 11 on the ground.
■ Checkers Hotel (now Hilton Checkers Hotel), opens. ■ Construction begins on Convention Center expansion.
▲ U.S. Navy ship shoots down Iranian airliner in Persian Gulf mistaking it for a jet fighter, 290 people killed.
■ Richard Ramirez, the “Night Stalker,” receives the death sentence for 13 counts of murder.
▲ Republicans sweep 40 states in the election and George Bush beats Dukakis.
■ L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley is elected to an unprecedented fifth term.
1988
1989
■ 1000 Wilshire opens: 22 stories, 490,000 sq. ft. ■ Home Savings Tower (now Figueroa Tower) opens: 24 stories, 260,000 sq. ft. ■ ARCO Center (now 1055 West Seventh Street) opens: 32 stories, 615,647 sq. ft. ■ First Interstate Tower (now AON) ravaged by fire. ■ Los Angeles Dodgers win the world series. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship.
▲ Berlin Wall pulled down opening the border between East and West Germany. ▲ Hundreds killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders take hard line toward demonstrators in a rally for democracy. ▲ U.S. troops invade Panama seeking the capture of General Manuel Noriega. ▲ Ruptured tanker Exxon Valdez sends 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
28 Downtown News
▲ Manuel Noriega surrenders in Panama. ▲ Iraqi troops invade Kuwait setting off the Persian Gulf War. ▲ U.S. Appeals Court overturns Oliver North’s 1989 Iran Contra conviction.
1990 ■ Recession hits, Downtown real estate boom halted. ■ Sanwa Bank Plaza opens: 52 stories, 950,000 sq. ft. ■ 777 Tower/Citicorp Plaza (now 7+FIG/Ernst & Young Plaza), opens: 53 stories, 895,000 sq. ft. ■ RTD (now Metro) begins operation of Blue Line light rail to Long Beach at a cost of $877 million: first rail trains in nearly 30 years. ■ RTD (now Metro) carries its one-millionth Blue Line passenger. ■ LAPD Chief Daryl Gates proposes before a Senate Committee that casual drug users be shot. ■ A fire in the Metro rail tunnel forces the Hollywood Freeway to close for more than a week. ■ CRA undergoes massive political reorganization. ■ The Port of Los Angeles surges ahead of the Port of New York as the nation’s busiest seaport. ■ Los Angeles’ first black city councilman Gilbert Lindsay dies at 90. The former janitor, who represented the 9th District, helped fashion Downtown into a major metropolitan center.
■ Motorist Rodney King, after being pursued by Highway Patrol, is stopped and beaten by LAPD officers. The Los Angeles District Attorney charges four LAPD officers with police brutality. ■ General Motors closes the last Southern California automaking plant in Van Nuys. ■ Earvin “Magic” Johnson announces his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers because of his diagnosis as HIV-positive.
1991
■ The Red Line subway between Union Station and Pershing Square opens.
■ The trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez ends in a mistrial.
▲ U.S. forces leave the Philippines ending nearly a century of American military presence.
■ Former LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell are convicted in Federal Court on charges of violating the civil rights of Rodney King.
▲ Bill Clinton elected president, Democrats keep control of Congress. ▲ After 30 years, Johnny Carson retires from NBC’s Tonight Show.
■ Downtown News celebrates 20th anniversary: Mayor Bradley proclaims “Downtown News Week” in Los Angeles.
▲ President Cinton compromises on military’s ban on homosexuals.
■ Los Angeles suffers severe winter flooding. ■ The acquittals of four LAPD officers tried for the beating of motorist Rodney King sparks a week of rioting. National Guard and federal troops are called in to help restore order. ■ The first Metrolink commuter train begins operations. ■ Esa-Pekka Salonen becomes conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic. ■ Metropolitan Water District ends water rationing. ■ Security Pacific Bank merges into Bank of America.
▲ Major League Baseball players strike.
▲ U.S. sends troops to Somalia in an attempt to oust warlord General Adid.
■ 801 Tower opens: 24 stories, 435,000 sq. ft.
■ 474 days after his arrest as a double-murder suspect, a jury finds O.J. Simpson not guilty.
▲ President Clinton accused of sexual harassment.
■ The Century Freeway (Interstate 105) opens.
▲ Federal agents besiege Texas Branch Davidian religious cult and fire claims 72 lives during the assault.
■ Two California Plaza opens: 52 stories, 1,399,807 sq. ft.
▲ U.S. sends troops to Haiti to overthrow military dictatorship.
▲ Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked.
▲ Terrorists explode a car bomb in the underground garage of the World Trade Center.
■ Taped interviews with LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman are publicly aired in the O.J. Simpson murder trial to impeach the detective’s testimony that he had never used racist language.
▲ Thousands of people slaughtered in Rwandan massacre.
■ Universal CityWalk opens.
1993
1992 ■ 865 S. Figueroa opens: 35 stories, 700,000 sq. ft.
▲ Anita Hill accuses judge Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
■ Expanded Convention Center opens.
▲ U.S. lifts trade sanctions against China.
▲ Soviet Union breaks up after president Gorbachev’s resignation. Constituent republics form Commonwealth of Independant States.
■ University of California Regents vote to end affirmative action programs at all UC campuses.
■ Central Library reopens.
▲ World Wide Web takes off.
■ 550 South Hope Street opens: 26 stories, 565,000 sq. ft.
■ UCLA wins NCAA Basketball championship.
■ Richard Riordan is elected mayor of Los Angeles.
▲ Bush and Yeltsin proclaim a formal end to the Cold War.
▲ Persian Gulf War begins and ends, UN forces victorious.
■ The Unabomber makes a July 4 threat to blow up an airplane at LAX and then calls it a prank in a follow-up letter.
■ MTA (now Metro) chief executive Franklin White is fired from his job.
1994
1995
■ Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights, primarily a Jewish neighborhood in the early part of the 20th century, is renamed Cesar Chavez Avenue, an indication that the area is now predominately Latino.
▲ Bomb rips through Oklahoma City federal building, later Timothy McVeigh, 27, arrested as main suspect. ▲ Nerve gas attack in Tokyo subway by Supreme Truth cult kills eight and injures thousands.
■ January 17: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Northridge causes 61 deaths and $20 billion in damage.
▲ Million Man March draws hundreds of thousands of African-American men to the nation’s capital.
■ Nicole Brown Simpson, the wife of football star and actor O.J. Simpson, and friend Ronald Goldman are found brutally murdered.
▲ Olympic gold medal diver Greg Louganis reveals that he had the AIDS virus before the 1988 games in Seoul.
■ 95 million viewers watch O.J. Simpson and Al Cowlings drive along Los Angeles freeways in history’s most exciting low-speed chase. ■ World Cup Soccer games are held at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. ■ Entertainment moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen form DREAMWORKS SKG. ■ Bloom’s General Store opens.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ A U.S. Air jetliner and a SkyWest commuter plane collide on a runway at LAX. 34 people are killed and 24 are injured. Investigators point to an error made by an air traffic controller.
■ The Port of Long Beach becomes the nation’s leading handler of ocean containers. photo by Gary Leonard
■ Gloria Molina becomes the first woman and the first Latino this century to be elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
■ The Los Angeles Rams move from Anaheim to St. Louis.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ The Gas Company Tower opens: 60 stories, 1,437,000 sq. ft.
■ The Los Angeles Raiders return to Oakland. photo by Gary Leonard
■ RTD begins operating the Blue Line into the Metro Seventh Street underground station.
▲ Nelson Mandela is released from prison.
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
February 18, 2013
Downtown News 29
Celebrating 40 Years
photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
■ James Hahn is elected mayor of Los Angeles. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Championship for the second year in a row.
■ Construction begins on the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
■ Two cable cars on Downtown’s historic Angels Flight railway collide, killing one man and injuring seven others, closing the funicular.
■ Expansion of the Japanese American National Museum completed.
■ Longtime City Council President John Ferraro dies at 76.
▲ 20,000 American troops are deployed to Bosnia as part of a NATO peacekeeping force. ▲ Militant Taliban leaders seize Afghan capital of Kabul. ▲ Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright as first female U.S. Secretary of State.
■ The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Pathfinder project provides close-up photographs from Mars. ■ Bernard C. Parks becomes Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. ■ Incumbent Richard Riordan defeats State Senator Tom Hayden for a second term as mayor of Los Angeles.
▲ President Clinton accused in White House sex scandal involving an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. ▲ Unabomber sentenced to four life terms. ▲ U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed.
■ The Getty Center opens.
▲ Starr report by independent counsel outlines case for impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.
▲ FBI arrests suspected Unabomber.
■ El Niño hits Southern California.
▲ President outlines first balanced budget in 30 years.
1996
1997
■ Wells Fargo Bank buys out First Interstate Bank.
▲ Princess Diana is killed in a car crash.
■ A compromise results in an end to the demolition of the quake damaged St. Vibiana’s Cathedral. A new cathedral will be built on a site adjacent to the Music Center.
▲ Timothy McVeigh sentenced to death for Oklahoma City bombing.
■ Tommy Lasorda retires as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
■ Downtown Center Business Improvement District is formed. ■ Colburn School of Performing Arts opens.
▲ Heaven’s Gate cult members commit mass suicide in California.
■ Construction begins on Staples Center, a new sports arena Downtown.
▲ Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule.
■ Former mayor Tom Bradley dies. ■ Construction begins on Los Angeles Center Studios, the first major independent studios in 50 years.
■ Ernest Fleischmann, legendary managing director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, retires after 27 years.
■ Rupert Murdoch buys the Los Angeles Dodgers from Peter O’Malley, son of the owner who first brought the team to the city from Brooklyn.
■ Angels Flight reopens. ■ James M. Wood, longtime Community Redevelopment Agency chair, SRO Housing founder and labor leader, dies.
■ California Science Center opens in Exposition Park. ■ Los Angeles County voters pass a ballot measure to deny the use of county transit sales tax for additional subway projects.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Lyle and Erik Menendez are found guilty of murder.
photo by Gary Leonard
1998
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald dies.
■ O.J. Simpson found liable in civil suit.
■ Metropolitan Water District (MWD) headquarters at Union Station opens. ■ The Hollywood segment of the MTA Red Line opens. ■ A gunman opens fire at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills. ■ The LAPD Rampart division is hit by its worst scandal in 60 years. ■ City Council passes Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, allowing developers to convert commercial buildings into residential.
■ An abandoned rail yard near Downtown gets $40 million to become a state park. ■ City Council approves $1 billion, 27-acre Staples Center plan to create a sports and entertainment district.
▲ Presidents of North and South Korea sign peace accord.
■ Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIArc) opens in an old train depot on the eastern edge of Downtown.
▲ U.S. sailors on Navy destroyer Cole die in Yemen terrorist explosion.
■ City Hall reopens after a $299 million restoration and seismic retrofit.
▲ Mad cow disease alarms Europe. ▲ Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez at the center of international dispute.
■ City Councilman Alex Padilla, 28, becomes the first Latino to serve as council president since 1867.
▲ Closest presidential election in decades. Bush defeats Gore after drawn out vote dispute in Florida.
■ L.A. term limit laws usher in new era of government during city elections.
1999
2000
2001
▲ Magnitude 7.4 earthquake kills more than 15,000 and leaves 600,000 homeless in Turkey.
■ Chinatown’s Chung King Road creates a vibrant gallery culture.
▲ On Sept. 11 terrorists hijack four commercial airliners and crash them, two hit the World Trade Center in New York, eventually leveling the Twin Towers; the third hits the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; the fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania.
▲ Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, steps down. ▲ The U.S. joins NATO in airstrikes against Yugoslavia to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. ▲ Senate acquits Clinton in impeachment trial. ▲ Two students storm Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado killing 12 students and one teacher and then themselves.
■ The San Fernando Building, the first of three buildings to be converted in the Old Bank District, opens; developer Tom Gilmore sparks a loft housing boom.
▲ Apple launches the iPod.
■ The Belmont Learning Center construction project is abondoned after reports of toxic gas leaks from the former oil field.
▲ Wikipedia is launched. ▲ George Bush sworn in as the 43rd President. ▲ America enters into war against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, with a prime objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
■ Atlantic Richfield Company (Arco) merges with London-based BP Amoco, leaving Downtown without a Fortune 500 company. ■ Times-Mirror is purchased by the Tribune Company. Los Angeles becomes the largest U.S. city without a locallyowned, general interest daily newspaper. ■ Los Angeles hosts the Democratic National Convention. ■ The stock trading floor of the 112-year-old Pacific Exchange on Beaudry Avenue closes. ■ The first phase of the $100 million luxury Medici apartments opens. ■ Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Championship against the Indiana Pacers. Fans riot in Downtown.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island shortly after take-off killing 230 on board.
■ Charter reform gives the mayor of Los Angeles greater power. It also provides for the formation of neighborhood councils.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ The Los Angeles Convention Center expands exhibit space to 870,000 square feet, making the Center one of the 10 largest in North America.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Staples Center arena opens.
30 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
■ REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) opens. ■ Los Angeles hosts the X Games for the first time. ■ The Orpheum hosts its first live play in 40 years.
▲ The Euro becomes the official currency of 12 European Union members.
■ The Chinese American Museum debuts at the El Pueblo Historical Monument.
▲ Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, dies.
■ Arco Plaza (now City National Bank Plaza) is purchased by Thomas Properties with plans for a $125 million renovation.
▲ Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City. ▲ The Department of Homeland Security is created to fight threats of terrorism.
■ The housing frenzy continues with many openings.
▲ An estimated 40 million people are infected with AIDS/HIV virus worldwide.
■ Nickolas Shammas, founder of the Shammas Group, owner of seven Downtown car dealerships, dies at 87.
▲ Two snipers in Washington, D.C., area kill 10 people and injure three.
■ Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected Governor of California.
▲ United Airlines files for bankruptcy protection.
2003
2002 ■ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels opens.
▲ United States plans for invasion of Iraq due to imminent threat of weapons of mass destruction.
■ Los Angeles Opera founder Peter Hemmings, dies.
▲ Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts onboard.
■ Bernard Parks resigns and New York Police Commissioner William Bratton is chosen to lead the troubled Los Angeles Police Department.
▲ The European heat wave, one of the hottest summers ever recorded in Europe. More than 37,000 died as a result.
■ Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council is formed and elects its 27-member board of directors.
▲ Armed undercover “sky marshals” are used on aircraft to prevent terrorist attacks.
■ City Hall is officially rededicated after a three-year, $299 million restoration and seismic retrofit following the 1994 Northridge quake.
▲ The Human Genome Project is declared complete. ▲ Mars Exploration Rover is launched.
■ Ira Yellin, developer and restorer of several Downtown historic treasures, including Grand Central Square, the Bradbury Building and the Million Dollar Theater, dies.
▲ Athens hosts the first Olympic Games since 1896. ▲ George W. Bush is reelected. ▲ A series of coordinated train bombings in Madrid kills 191 people and injures 1,800. ▲ An earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggers a series of devastating tsunamis, killing nearly 230,000 people in 14 countries. ▲ Facebook is launched. ▲ The first privately-funded human spaceflight. ▲ First same sex marriage performed in Massachusetts. ▲ Martha Stewart is convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to five months in jail.
2004 ■ Gallery Row is designated and approved by City Council. ■ The first Downtown Art Walk takes place. ■ Science Center open the year’s most controversial and discussed museum exhibit in the entire city, Body Worlds. ■ Gordon Davidson ends his tenure after four decades as the Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group. ■ The $200 million Caltrans headquarters opens generating strong reaction and the nickname “Death Star.” ■ New York-based Related Companies is selected to develop the $2 billion Grand Avenue project. ■ The half-finished Belmont Learning Center finally moves forward starting with the demolition of two buildings atop an earthquake fault.
■ Lauren Bon and a team of volunteers plant corn seed in a barren plot of land (now a State Park) north of Chinatown. The resultant 32acre, $2 million art installation called “Not A Cornfield” charms the city. ■ Edward Roybal, Los Angeles City Council member and Congressman for East Los Angeles, dies. ■ 19,500 housing units are under construction or in the planning state. ■ The beautifully refurbished (former) St. Vibiana’s cathedral opens as a performance and event space. ■ The County Board of Supervisors approves the Grand Avenue project, a plan for sleek towers and a lively nine-acre retail and cultural promenade. ■ The MTA (now Metro) board of directors certify the final EIR paving the way for construction to start on the light rail to Culver City.
▲ Pope John Paul II dies. ▲ Michael Jackson is found not guilty of child molestation charges. ▲ Winter ice storms leave nearly 1 million without power on the Atlantic Coast. ▲ Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay begin a hunger strike protesting their innocence and the conditions of their confinement. ▲ Suicide bombers in London kill 56 people, injure 700 others. ▲ The video-sharing website YouTube is launched.
■ Joel Bloom, dubbed the unofficial mayor during his 20 years in the Arts District, dies at the age of 59.
▲ Saddam Hussein is executed. ▲ Twitter founded. ▲ North Korea declares it has carried out its first test of a nuclear weapon. ▲ Barry Bonds breaks Babe Ruth’s record hitting his 715th home run. ▲ Pluto is downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet. ▲ The one-billionth song is downloaded from iTunes. ▲ 12 coal miners die in the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia.
■ More than a dozen housing projects debut. ■ Albert C. Martin Jr. who designed high-rises including Union Bank Plaza, Department of Water & Power, City National Bank Plaza, dies at the age of 92. ■ Otis Chandler, visionary publisher of the Los Angeles Times, dies. ■ Skid Row makes headlines with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals siding with the ACLU ruling that it was cruel and unusual punishment to arrest people for sleeping in the street. A compromise is reached that allows people to sleep at night.
■ USC’s Galen Center opens as the new home for USC basketball and volleyball teams.
photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Grand Performances celebrates its 20th anniversary.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ The 40-acre former freight train routing center Taylor Yard debuts as a sprawling state park. ■ The City Council approves the Los Angeles River Master Plan. ■ Downtown-based art collective Farmlab distributed 23 portable gardens around Skid Row. ■ Nearly a dozen residential projects open.
2007 ▲ The world experiences the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. ▲ Nicolas Sarkozy is elected President of the French Republic. ▲ Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair as Prime Minister of Great Britain. ▲ Apple debuts the iPhone. ▲ Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in Pakistan. ▲ 30 students are killed by a student gunman at Virginia Tech. ▲ Nancy Pelosi is elected as the first female Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
■ Huell Howser’s new series “Downtown” begins airing on KCET focusing on Downtown life.
■ The $138 million Miguel Contreras Learning Complex opens.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ 7,000 seat Nokia Theatre opens the first phase of AEG’s $2.5 billion L.A. Live with a concert by the Eagles and the Dixie Chicks.
2006
2005 ▲ Hurricane Katrina strikes Louisiana and floods 80% of New Orleans killing more than 1,600.
■ 50,000-square-foot Ralphs opens and in just a few months makes the top 15% of the chain’s 262 supermarkets.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ The first phase of the Gold Line that runs between Downtown and Pasadena opens.
■ Music Center kicks off its Informal Arts Initiative drawing hundreds to the Music Center Plaza for free dance and music lessons. photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Grank Gehry opens and becomes the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Antonio Villaraigosa is elected Mayor.
photo by Gary Leonard
Celebrating 40 Years
February 18, 2013
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Gustavo Dudamel, the 28-year-old Venezuelan, makes his debut as the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
photo by Gary Leonard
Downtown News 31
Celebrating 40 Years
■ The $440 million, 500,000-square-foot Police Administrative Building opens. ■ LAPD Chief William Bratton leaves the department for a private-sector job. Bratton is replaced by Chief Charlie Beck.
▲ Illinois Governer Rod Blagojevich is arrested on federal corruption charges. The House votes 114-1 to impeach him.
2008
■ The $232 million High School for the Visual and Performing Arts on Grand Avenue opens.
▲ A solar eclipse occurs in the Indian Ocean. It is the longest eclipse of this millennium, with a duration of 11 minutes, 8 seconds.
2009
2010
■ Edward R. Roybal Learning Center (formerly Belmont Learning Complex) opens after years of controversy.
▲ Michael Jackson dies.
■ The Mark Taper Forum reopens following a $30 million renovation. ■ José Huizar’s Bringing Back Broadway initiative launches to encourage retail, restaurants and the Downtown streetcar.
■ Downtown gets a dog park in the Arts District.
■ Oren Shachar defrauds numerous jewelry district businesses out of millions of dollars worth of precious gems.
■ Economist extraordinaire Jack Kyser dies.
photo by Gary Leonard
■ Dodger owners Frank & Jamie McCourt spend the summer in a protracted custody battle for the team.
■ Grand Park opens. ■ Space Shuttle Endeavour goes on public display at the California Science Center.
▲ Japan is devastated by 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
■ City Hall park reopens with 51% reduction in grass after 8-month makeover following damage from Occupy LA campers.
▲ After several months of gathering intelligence Osama bin Laden is killed.
■ Wilshire Grand Hotel begins demolition.
▲ The world’s first synthetic organ transplant is successfully completed in Sweden.
■ CRA dissolved by Governor Jerry Brown.
▲ The Space Shuttle fleet is retired.
■ Fugitive and alleged counterfeiter Brian Alexik evades police for weeks.
■ The 10-acre Vista Hermosa Natural Park opens.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is shot along with 12 others at a public appearance.
■ Downtown Art Walk crowds swell and the event is threatened. Property owners keep the event alive.
▲ NASA announces finding significant amounts of water on the moon.
2012
2011
■ CicLAvia debuts, turning 7.5 miles of city streets into a parkway for bicyclists and pedestrians.
▲ Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger makes a successful crash landing in the Hudson River.
▲ The Mayan calendar reaches the end with many predicting the end of the world…life continues.
■ Jerry Brown elected Governor of California.
■ Downtown moves from 26 to 15th on the nation’s convention rankings with the opening of the 123 room Ritz Carlton and the 878 room JW Marriott.
▲ The Burj Dubai opens. With 160 floors, it is the tallest man-made structure in the world.
▲ Curiosity, the largest and most powerful rover, is sent to Mars carrying the first video camera taken to another planet.
■ Occupy Wall Street converges on the lawn of City Hall, the park is cleared after 2 months and suffers extensive damage.
■ Angels Flight reopens.
▲ The World Health Organization declares H1N1 as a global pandemic.
▲ Queen Elizabeth II celebrates a Diamond Jubilee.
■ Dinosaur Hall opens at the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park.
▲ Apple debuts the iPad.
■ The $898 million Gold Line Eastside Extension opens linking Downtown and East Los Angeles.
▲ 20 children and 6 adults from Sandy Hook Elementary School fatally shot by Adam Lanza.
■ The $930 million Expo Line opens connecting Downtown with Culver City.
▲ 260 million gallons of crude oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico after a BP oil platform explodes.
■ The Lakers win their 15th championship.
▲ Barack Obama is inaugurated in as 44th president.
■ The Museum of Contemporary Art suffers major financial trouble under Jeremy Strick.
▲ 33 miners working in Copiapo, Chile become trapped and all are successfully extracted 69 days later.
■ Bloom’s General Store in the Arts District closes after 15 years.
■ The $2.5 billion, 27-acre L.A. Live opens.
■ A 7-week old boy is killed when a car jumps the curb and drives onto a crowded sidewalk during Art Walk.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ Writers strike against Hollywood studios, networks and production companies, affecting programming.
▲ 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti and kills more than 230,000.
■ The Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup.
▲ The last US troops leave Iraq nearly nine years after the initial invasion.
■ A bitter fight over City Council redistricting ends with most of the Ninth District moving into the 14th District.
▲ North Korea’s Kim Jong Il dies.
■ AEG delivers 10,000-page environmental impact report for proposed Farmers Field. ■ AEG announces that the company is up for sale. ■ The purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers by Guggenheim Baseball Management.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ President Bush signs the $700 billion bailout Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 into law.
■ The $27 million La Plaza de Cultura y Artes opens.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ Beijing hosts the Olympic Games.
■ Macy’s shutters 11 underperforming locations, among them the 7+FIG (now FIGat7th) location leaving Brookfield Properties with 125,000 square feet of prime, but vacant space. It leads to a $40 million renovation.
photo by Gary Leonard
▲ President Bush and House leaders agree to a $150 billion stimulus package.
■ Cardinal Roger Mahony steps down at mandated age of 75 and hands the reins to Archbishop Jose Gomez.
32 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years pensive flop instead demonstrated a sizeable market of people ready for urban living. In the wake of Gilmore’s success, developers flocked to the area.
Buildings Continued from page 24 far the most important project in the Arts District in decades. The $15 million development also led to the arrival of new restaurants, stores and housing projects. Today, developers are constructing a 438-unit apartment complex across the street from the school — no chance that happens without SCI-Arc.
Housing photo by Gary Leonard
Old Bank District
Grand Central Square Apartments
D
eveloper Ira Yellin’s gamble in 1995 on a mixed-use project, with affordable and market-rate residential units and office space above a restored Grand Central Market, didn’t necessarily hit the financial jackpot — the $64 million effort ultimately required a public bailout to avoid foreclosure. Still, Yellin’s Broadway vision was crucial because he was ahead of his time. He brought residents to the Historic Core years before Tom Gilmore embarked on the Old Bank District. It was a residential beachhead for Downtown.
Elleven, Luma and Evo
T
oday, South Park is known as a hot real estate area with pricey condos. But Portland developer South Group, headed by Homer Williams, realized the potential years before almost everyone else and began buying land and building housing. The $65 million Elleven opened at 11th Street and Grand Avenue in 2006, bringing 176 condominiums and an elegant steel and glass design. The next year the $80 million, 236-unit Luma debuted on the same block. The trio’s final piece, the $160 million Evo, arrived in late 2008, creating 311 residences. The opening of more than 700 total housing units on a single block transformed the neighborhood and led to significant investment from other residential developers, as well as restaurateurs and retailers.
M
any doubted Tom Gilmore when he announced plans to turn a trio of buildings not far from Skid Row into market-rate apartments. Making use of the then-new adaptive reuse ordinance, Gilmore and his business partner Jerri Perrone transformed the 70-unit San Fernando Building, which opened in fall 2000. It was followed the next year by the 104-apartment Hellman Building and the 56-unit Continental Building. The corner of Fourth and Main streets has since become the epicenter of street life in the Historic Core; the area now has restaurants, a convenience store, book stores, a DVD rental shop and much more. At $33 million and 230 units, the project that many feared would be an ex-
Watermarke Tower
T
he glass high-rise Watermarke Tower marked a key milestone in Downtown’s residential renaissance. First, the 35-story Meruelo Maddux-developed building at 705 W. Ninth St. became the tallest purely residential tower in Downtown when it opened in 2010 (Meruelo went bankrupt on the building, which was bought by Watermarke Properties). The tower commands the highest rental rates in the area. It also stands as evidence that high-rise residential development can pencil out, as developers are now working on two nearby steel and glass apartment towers.
Angelus Plaza
O
pened in 1980, Angelus Plaza was and remains the largest senior living complex in the country. The massive structure at 255 S. Hill St. won awards for its architecture, which made use of prefabricated units to create 1,100 residences for older adults. The campus has also come to be known for its annual senior talent show. It is a commanding presence on the Downtown skyline and helps the community maintain a diverse residential demographic.
Rainbow Apartments
S
kid Row Housing Trust’s 89-unit Rainbow Apartments marked the nonprofit developer’s first ground-up permanent supportive housing project. Since then, permanent supportive housing, which combines apartments with onsite social services, has become the predominant model in housing for those just off the streets. Design-wise, the building at 643 S. San Pedro St. was like nothing Skid Row had ever seen, with asymmetrical red windows, an open-air courtyard, common rooms and outdoor corridors. Since then, SRHT and Maltzan have continued to push the affordable housing paradigm, notably with the New Carver Apartments, a circular structure that won architectural acclaim.
Toy Factory and Biscuit Company Lofts
I
n 2004, when residential growth in Downtown was mostly focused in the Historic Core, gutsy developer Linear City put $25 million into the Toy Factory Lofts, its renovation of a hulking 251,000-square-foot building on Industrial Street at the southern end of the Arts District. The project created 109 modern loft-style condominiums, and three years later Linear City continued the momentum across the street with the Biscuit Company Lofts, turning a 1925 former Nabisco plant into 105 condos. With two buildings, Linear City established a near critical mass of residents that inspired a concentration of small businesses in the live-work space, as well as the popular restaurant Church & State. Altogether, the projects turned a onetime industrial zone into a community. Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
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Downtown News 33
Celebrating 40 Years
The Few, the Proud, the Distinct Honoring the 2012 Downtown Projects That Meant the Most to Their Districts
I
n 2012, a lot happened in Downtown Los Angeles. The community continued the revitalization that kicked off more than a decade ago. It seemed that everywhere one looked, construction crews were busy at work. As the building continued, some wonderful new projects arrived. Unlike in certain past years, however, the new additions of 2012 ran a wide gamut. Downtown welcomed the expected in the form of several housing complexes, but also saw the arrival of major cultural additions, including a museum exhibit that will draw millions of visitors. Then there was the celebrating of two parks — one brand new, one old but re-envisioned. In the following pages, Los Angeles Downtown News
celebrates the winners of our 12th annual Downtowners of Distinction awards. The prizes were created to recognize the individuals who came up with and nurtured efforts that not only enhance their bottom line, but also benefit the district in which they are located. In each case, the project has made its surrounding community, and by extension all of Downtown, a better place in which to live, work or visit. Individual winners were selected by the editorial staff of Downtown News, and the awards will be handed out on Tuesday, Feb. 19 (awardees were not named in every Downtown district). Next week, the Project of the Year, chosen by leaders from each of the districts, will be announced. Following, in alphabetical order by district, are this year’s Downtowners of Distinction winners.
photo by Gary Leonard
by Jon RegaRdie executive editoR
Downtown, it’s not just big business anymore!
Grand Tower 255 south Grand avenue Leasing Information 213 229 9777
Promenade Towers 123 south Figueroa street Leasing Information 213 617 3777
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Community Amenities: ~ 24 Hr. Manned Lobby ~ Pool / Saunas ~ Fitness Center ~ Covered Parking
Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove, Microwave & Dishwasher (most units) ~ Central Air Conditioning & Heating ~ Balconies (most units)
On-site: ~ Dry Cleaners / Dental Office / Restaurants
Now For l l a C n Specials Move-I
8 7 7 - 2 65 - 714 6
museum Tower 225 south olive street Leasing Information 213 626 1500
Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove & Dishwasher ~ Central Air & Heating ~ Solariums and/or Balconies
On Site: ~ Convenience Store / Coffee House / Yogurt Shop / Beauty Salon
Community Amenities: ~ 24 Hr. Manned Lobby ~ Concierge ~ Pool / Spa / Saunas ~ Fitness Center ~ Gas BBQ Grills ~ Recreation Room
Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove, Microwave & Dish washer (most units) ~ Central Air & Heating ~ Balconies (most units)
It’s our business to make you comfortable... at home, downtown. Corporate and long term residency is accommodated in high style at the Towers Apartments. Contemporary singles, studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartment homes provide fortunate residents with a courteous full service lobby attendant, heated pool, spa, complete fitness center, sauna and recreation room with kitchen. Beautiful views extend from the Towers’ lofty homes in the sky. Mountain vistas and slender skyscrapers provide an incredible back drop to complement your decor. Far below are a host of businesses ready to support your pampered downtown lifestyle. With spectacular cultural events nearby, even the most demanding tastes are satisfied. Downtown, it’s not just big business anymore. Visit the Towers Apartments today.
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34 Downtown News
BUNKER HILL
Winner: 7+Bridge
Winner: Grand Park
photos by Gary Leonard
ARTS DISTRICT
photos courtesy of 7+Bridge
T
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
he southeastern edge of the Arts District continued its resurgence in the fall, when the veteran development firm Linear City opened a long-stalled three-building complex near Seventh and Santa Fe streets. The 78-apartment 7+Bridge represents a turnaround for a project that had been started by another developer, but that stumbled during the recession. The effort a short walk from
Linear City’s Biscuit Company and Toy Factory lofts manages to be both rustic and upscale at the same time. Adding to the community appeal, it houses Bill Chait and Ore Menashe’s new restaurant Bestia, along with the bakery Bread Lounge. Another restaurant is on the way, and 7+Bridge’s combination of food and housing continues to make the Arts District a thriving part of Downtown.
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Congratulations to the Los Angeles Downtown News on 40 years of excellence!
kfalosangeles.com
E
xpectations for the $56 million Grand Park were sky high. Fortunately, the results are better than almost anyone anticipated, and the once difficult space stretching between the Music Center and City Hall is now inviting and welcoming. The project’s spark was Supervisor Gloria Molina, who ensured that developer Related Companies would pay for the park up front as a condition of the deal giving it the rights to build the Grand Avenue project. The park, designed by
Rios Clementi Hale Studios, opened over the summer, and offers a lineup of cultural events, as well as green space and a small dog park. Sure, some people complain about concrete expanses and busy streets that divide the park’s three sections, but no one can argue with the calm locale that serves as an oasis for area office workers. Then there’s the restored Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain, with a splash zone that lures children and families to come Downtown and play.
February 18, 2013
Downtown News 35
Celebrating 40 Years FIGUEROA CORRIDOR
Winner: City Hall Sustainable Park Project
Winner: Space Shuttle Endeavour
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ne unexpected result of Occupy L.A.’s 2011 protests was the destruction of the park around City Hall. Just as unexpectedly, city leaders turned this to a positive, and didn’t simply copy the old planting scheme. Instead, through an array of subtle alterations, city landscapers and engineers managed to reduce turf coverage throughout the 1.7-acre property by 51%. While the south lawn still has a large grassy expanse that welcomes
visitors, other sections feature droughttolerant gardens appropriate to the local climate. In fact, most people don’t know what’s missing, thanks to the colorful mix of agaves, aloe and other succulents. Like the low-water plantings around the DWP building on Bunker Hill, the City Hall lawn replacement both beautifies the space and serves as an example to the public. It almost makes one thank the protesters for opening the doors to change. Almost.
photos courtesy of California Science Center
photos courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks
CIVIC CENTER
T
here is no shortage of attractions at Exposition Park’s California Science Center. However, it’s hard to find anything that thrills more people than the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The craft that took astronauts into space 25 times before being decommissioned moved in October to its new home at the Science Center. Already it’s a hit, drawing long lines of kids, fami-
lies and tourists. The display showcases the shuttle, reveals a few of its secrets (for example, how the “space potty” works) and details its California roots. The biggest boost may come in the future: A $200 million permanent display space is slated to open in 2017. Already, the presence of Endeavour is expected to increase Science Center attendance by 600,000 people a year.
36 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years HISTORIC CORE
Winner: FIGat7th Renovation and CityTarget
Winner: Chester Williams Building
photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
D
owntown shopping opportunities expanded in October, when the longawaited CityTarget opened. The centerpiece of landlord Brookfield Properties’ $40 million renovation of the FIGat7th shopping center offers many of the items that local workers and residents previously needed a car trip to find — anything and everything from clothes to groceries to household goods. The Target is only the first step in reviving the tired outdoor
mall that Brookfield acquired in 2006, and the new owner wisely waited to find the right anchor tenant, rather than shoving in something more immediate but less appealing to the community. The revamped 1986 mall has been redesigned and is now a modern space that boasts easier access points and parking. It is also only the start — an impressive upgrade of casual eateries is well on the way, and Downtown’s first Sport Chalet will open in the spring.
THE PETROLEUM BUILDING Commercial Office Space for Lease
photos by Gary Leonard
photo courtesy of Brookfield Properties
photos courtesy of Brookfield Properties
photo by Gary Leonard
A
ustralian businessman Joseph Hellen doesn’t go into a market half-hearted — the Chester Williams Building, which began leasing in the fall, is the third Historic Core apartment complex opened in the past few years by his local company, Downtown Management. The 12-story edifice at 215 W. Fifth St. continues his work of turning faded office structures into modern, market-rate apartments (he previously transformed
the nearby Spring Arcade and Jewelry Trades buildings). The $15 million project has revitalized a 1926 edifice, creating 88 apartments that range from 800 to 1,500 square feet; they feature darkstained wood floors, marble countertops and other modern amenities. The project continues the district’s revitalization, making Fifth and Broadway only the second Downtown intersection to have housing complexes at all four corners.
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4 Decades Covering Downtown LA Congratulations to the Downtown News, its staff and its readers and to our DASH Downtown LA riders as we jointly celebrate 40 years of great reading and great riding.
February 18, 2013
Downtown News 37
Celebrating 40 Years SOUTH PARK
Winner: Bäco Mercat
Winner: L.A. Live Community Events
photos by Dylan + Jeni
photo courtesy of AEG
photo by Gary Leonard
photo courtesy of AEG
photo by Gary Leonard
photo by Gary Leonard
OLD BANK DISTRICT
C
hef Josef Centeno gained quite a following during his time at Little Tokyo small plates emporium Lazy Ox Canteen. Now, he has extended his reputation, and satisfied thousands of Downtown diners, by opening his own restaurant, Bäco Mercat. The 1,750-square-foot space at 408 S. Main St. is built around the bäco, a Centeno creation that is a hybrid of culinary cul-
ture, a kind of taco mixed with a gyro. The airy, high-ceilinged space has generated raves — Esquire named it one of the 20 best new restaurants in the entire country — that have in turn drawn customers from across the city. Bäco, open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, also regularly introduces people to the thriving bar and nightlife scene in the Old Bank District.
W
hen it comes to L.A. Live, the first things that pop to mind are Staples Center, the Convention Center hotel and the restaurants and bars. Those are all notable draws, but they overshadow something else offered at Anschutz Entertainment Group’s $2 billion complex: a full lineup of community-friendly events. The activity that takes place in and around Nokia Plaza proves that AEG’s promise to make L.A. Live a true
city gathering point wasn’t just lip service. Summer brings a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and a food and wine festival, while winter holds more than a month of an outdoor ice skating rink. L.A. Live is the place for a massive St. Patrick’s Day party, a spring multi-day Latin music festival, a November recycling drive, Easter egg hunts and, amusingly, a rock-fueled Octoberfest celebration, complete with Gene Simmons.
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38 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years SEVENTH STREET CORRIDOR
Brockman Lofts
photos by Gary Leonard
photos by Cathy Chaplin
Winners (TIE): Mo-Chica
U
ntil it opened in May at 514 W. Seventh St., many Downtowners didn’t know how much they needed Mo-Chica. But the joint that puts a modern, accessible spin on Peruvian food is a hit, with suit-clad workers thronging chef/owner Ricardo Zarate’s colorful restaurant in the day, and the loft crowd and Downtown visitors filling it in the evenings and on weekends. Zarate launched Mo-Chica in 2009 in the hard-to-reach Mercado La Paloma, and in its new location the restaurant has increased foot traffic on
Seventh Street. It has also added to Downtown’s reputation as the place in L.A. for good meals and adventurous eaters. With dishes such as the lomo saltado and the quinoa risotto, the accolades and the crowds will keep coming. Just down the street is the Brockman Lofts, which for years epitomized all that could go wrong in real estate. The property at 530 W. Seventh St. was initially scheduled to open as condominiums in 2005. That date came and went, as did many others, and although Bottega
Louie debuted on the building’s ground floor in 2009, the property tumbled into bankruptcy and continued to sit empty. Finally, last year, Denver-based Simpson Housing Group acquired the edifice for nearly $39 million, and started marketing it as apartments. Now the stately 12-story structure is activated and occupied. This both eradicates an eyesore and generates foot traffic. It took longer than anyone wanted or expected, but having the building filled pushes the neighborhood forward.
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February 18, 2013
Downtown News 39
Celebrating 40 Years UNION STATION/EL PUEBLO
Winner: ‘América Tropical’ Conservation
Downtown, We’ve Had Some Problems The Worst Ideas, Concepts and Plans of the Past 40 Years by Ryan VaillancouRt staff wRiteR
T
The Triforium
R
ising from the plaza above the subterranean Los Angeles Mall is a six-story structure with a kaleidoscopic blossom of neon prisms that is supposed to play music. The 1975 sculpture known as the Triforium, see Problems, page 40 photo by Gary Leonard
photos courtesy of Getty Conservation Institute
here is a lot to like about Downtown Los Angeles. There is also a lot that makes you shake your head and mutter, “What were they thinking?” Sometimes, Downtown projects, developments and movements stand out not for their qualities, but for their stunning lack of forethought or how poorly conceived they were. From concrete “fortress-style” buildings to the needless demolition of historic
structures, Downtown has seen its share of unfortunate concepts. Since 1972, these failures are tops.
L
os Angeles still gets zapped for covering up its past. So it was significant when, in October, the city unveiled David Alfaro Siqueiros’ 18-by-80 foot mural “América Tropical” 80 years to the day after it had first gone on view. The preserved artwork at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is the end result of a long-in-the-works, $10 million partnership between the city and the Getty Conservation Institute. Not only is
the once shocking artwork now open for all to see, but it includes a nearby “interpretive center” that offers information on the fiery artist and explains why he created the piece, and why it sparked an uproar and was subsequently whitewashed. In bringing back the mural, city and Getty officials have not only preserved the past, but have created another reason for locals and tourists to come to El Pueblo and Olvera Street.
Congratulations
L.A. Downtown news on 40 years of exemplary service to the Downtown community!
The Triforium, a structure erected at the Los Angeles Mall in 1975, was designed to light up and play music. Instead, it has become the most maligned piece of public art in the city.
Downtown News Celebrates its 40th Year along with Los Angeles Chinatown’s Historic 75th Anniversary
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40 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years service politicians in far-flung districts give to being open to taking on more of these facilities, they rarely come through, worried about constituent blowback. The situation continues to give Skid Row a concentration of the types of vices that go hand-in-hand with poverty, from drug use to petty crime.
Problems Continued from page 39 by the late Joseph Young, may be the most maligned piece of public art in a city with plenty of uninspiring works. To some it resembles a giant ladybug. It was once famously likened it to “three wishbones in search of a turkey.” Nearly 40 years after its dedication, the Triforium still confounds.
Pershing Square’s Redesign
T
he eggplant and canary walls. The odd geometrical shapes. The 10-story Modernist clock tower with a massive concrete ball inside it. The wide expanses of hardscape with minimal grass. The redesign of Pershing Square in 1994 remains one of the most regrettable acts of urban design in Los Angeles. Today, local stakeholders have a near universal reaction when they see pictures of the old park, the one that had an expanse of green surrounded by shade-producing trees: Why can’t it be like that today? The current design by Ricardo Legorreta and landscape architect Laurie Olin was driven by safety concerns. The park had become such a homeless hangout that most other people avoided going there. But in obscuring much of the park from pedestrian view, and by using so little grass, the design never succeeded in activating Pershing Square with the Downtown masses. The well-intentioned concerts and events staged by the city Recreation and Parks Department have done some good, but mass use and enjoyment is still hampered by the endemic homeless presence.
Skid Row ‘Containment’
I
n what is perhaps the most ill-conceived unofficial landuse policy in Los Angeles, city operatives for decades have treated Skid Row as a “containment” zone for the homeless and the social services that support them. While the area has a long history of serving transient laborers, the city’s moves to concentrate shelters and other services for the poor in an urban hideaway has proven costly. As the homeless capital of the country, Skid Row is a black eye on Los Angeles, all the more visible today since it abuts a thriving residential and commercial community in Downtown. The concentration of shelters, food banks, clinics and supportive housing in one small area has also reduced pressure on other communities in the region to provide their own resources. And no matter how much lip
Fort Downtown
P
ershing Square isn’t alone when it comes to awkward design. Instead, it’s one example of a period when architects sought not to embrace the public, but to shun it. The result is that Downtown was peppered with buildings that could double as military defense posts. Consider the 1973 Macy’s Plaza (then Broadway Plaza). The brick behemoth housed an indoor mall, a hotel and an office building, and yet it seemed designed to keep pedestrians away. Then there was the 1976 Westin Bonaventure Hotel, which put its series of glass cylinders above a concrete foundation that walled the structure off from the ground level. It also came with a series of pedestrian bridges to navigate across Flower Street, so visitors could avoid, gasp, walking on the street. It’s as if those for-profit projects inspired the LAPD’s 1977 Central Area station on Sixth Street. The windowless brick edifice commands an entire block. The trend didn’t stop there. The 1980s brought the Little Tokyo Galleria, a gray concrete box at Third and Alameda streets that is so off-putting that many Downtowners have no idea that it houses a mall and a full-size grocery store. Finally, there’s the Ronald Reagan State Building, which critics took to calling Fort Ronnie when it opened in 1990. The pink granite complex was supposed to enliven the Historic Core. Instead it gave Spring Street a block-long bunker.
photo by Gary Leonard
Downtown endured a series of buildings that could best be described as fortress-style architecture. They include the Little Tokyo Galleria, a beast of a shopping center at Third and Alameda streets.
photo by Gary Leonard
The 1994 redesign of Pershing Square has been decried by virtually everyone in Downtown Los Angeles. Not only is the park hard to see from the street, it also has almost no grass.
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Red Line Construction
SRO Conversions
T
I
oday, the Metro Red Line is the most used rail line in the county’s transit system. But building the underground route was a major drain on the Downtown economy, especially for merchants and property owners on Seventh Street. From 1987 to 1990, the street was a near constant construction zone. To find the shops that existed at the time, pedestrians had to walk through narrow sidewalk alleyways. Many businesses folded and office building owners saw their occupancy rate tumble as tenants fled the dust, noise and snarled traffic. It took years to effect a recovery.
Graffiti Pit
T
he north side of First Street, between Broadway and Spring Street, was once the address of a handsome state office building. However, the 1931 structure was irreparably damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and was razed five years later. Since then, the fenced-off site, which still includes the concrete foundation and an underground parking structure, has had multiple unofficial uses: skate park, homeless encampment, graffiti canvas and, most recently, feral cat colony. It has been perhaps the most deadening Civic Center eyesore, in part because it stands across the street from City Hall. State officials say they’re in talks to sell the site to the city or county, both of which have indicated a desire to convert the property into park space. But longtime Downtown observers could be forgiven for remaining skeptical that the site known by some as the “graffiti pit” could finally have a bright future.
n the early days of the Historic Core renaissance, developers smelling profits started eyeing residential hotels. The properties that lined Main Street were occupied by low-income residents long before the loft craze started, and although some observers decried them as drug dens, they were a key part of the city’s fragile affordable housing fabric. The loft craze led to situations like the illegal renovation of the Frontier Hotel, now known as the Rosslyn Lofts. The former owners tried to move out low-income tenants to convert the building to market-rate apartments (the owners were ordered to halt the process after they had already converted a few upper floors of the building to lofts). Other SROs targeted for market rate conversions included the Cecil and Bristol hotels, though neither has been turned into upscale housing. The situation ultimately prompted the city to pass rules that protect residential hotels from market-rate conversions.
Historic Teardowns
A
mid all the ornate Beaux Arts architecture in Downtown, the landscape is painted with parking lots, as the second half of the 20th century saw a rash of teardowns. Some buildings were demolished simply because parking was seen as a more viable business. Other structures, like the 1914 Italian Renaissance style Church of the Open Door at 550 S. Hope St., were damaged in earthquakes; that was razed in 1988 because seismic upgrades were deemed too costly. Then there is (make that, there was) the 1906 Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium at Fifth and Olive streets. It was
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Downtown News 41
Celebrating 40 Years
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The site of a former state office building just west of City Hall isn’t covered with graffiti today, but for more than 40 years the ideally situated block has been off limits to the public. It is mainly used by taggers, skateboarders and feral cats. Meow!
torn down in 1985 to make way for newer developments that never happened. Today it holds cars, not people. Sigh.
Quimby Funds Fiasco
I
n the fall of 2007, the city eliminated a special zoning rule that allowed developers of adaptive reuse housing projects to pay a discounted rate on Quimby fees — dollars collected from developers to pay for public parks. It sparked an outcry that led to scrutiny of the Quimby program and the revelation that the Department of Recreation and Parks had no effective system for tracking or spending the funds it had already secured. Of the $120 million that the city had collected by then, nearly $77.5 million remained un-allocated. In the words of then City Controller Laura Chick, “We have millions of dollars that developers have readily agreed to pay that are sitting, collecting dust. It’s shocking; it’s dismaying; it’s depressing and it’s wrong.”
Redistricting Fights
E
very 10 years, as population shifts dictate a change in the borders of City Council districts, a game of political puzzle-making begins. In Downtown, the game has been fractious and marked by conflict and naked power grabs. In 2012, the 14th District usurped most of the Downtown territory that had long been the province of the Ninth District. The changed lines came after a bitter battle between Ninth District rep Jan Perry and José Huizar of the 14th. Huizar was successful in adding Downtown territory where previous 14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco had fallen short. Perhaps the most notorious land grab in Downtown redistricting history came in 1991. That’s when 14th District Councilman Richard Alatorre took a nine-block stretch of Broadway out of the Ninth. It left lines that often confounded Historic Core constituents in need of local representation at City Hall. It came to be known as the “Alatorre Finger.” Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
42 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Big Shows, Big Events and Big Crowds As Downtown Changes, So Has Its Lineup of Concerts, Theater, Museum Exhibits and More
T
he evolution of Downtown during the past 40 years would not have been complete without the cultural happenings that have attracted visitors, entertained locals and redefined the neighborhood. As Downtown evolved, so did its entertainment scene. Below, in alphabetical order, are some of the cultural activities, series, organizations and movements that have had a significant impact on the community and helped strengthen the fabric of the neighborhood.
Aloud at the Central Library
S
uggestions that Los Angeles lacks a literary life have been obliterated over two decades by Aloud. The series at the Central Library put on by the Library Foundation and curated by Louise Steinman has brought authors, poets, playwrights, literary giants, Nobel winners and even some actors and musicians to Downtown. The series was launched in 1993 and features a mostly free lineup of readings, lectures, performances and conversations. Past participants — and there are way too many to name — have included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, writer Salman Rushdie, Turkish author and Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk and Homeboy Industries’ founder Father Gregory Boyle.
Art Walk
T
he monthly event that now attracts tens of thousands of people during summer started with modest intentions. Gallery owner Bert Green organized the first Art Walk in 2004 as a way to generate attention for Downtown’s then small art scene. Although
the initial gathering attracted about 75 people, the happening on the second Thursday of the month grew quickly. By 2008 crowds were huge, even if many people were coming for the bars rather than the art. Although Art Walk had two notable low points — a 2-month old boy died in a traffic accident in July 2011 and police clashed with Occupy L.A. protesters a year later — the event has largely solidified, thanks to the hiring of Joe Moller, the organization’s first paid leader. Today, Art Walk continues to attract big crowds and serves as an economic engine for area bars and restaurants. Although many gallery owners say crowds don’t equal sales, Art Walk has helped change the perception of Downtown after dark.
A
bout 1.4 million people each year visit the Exposition Park museum that focuses on science, space and nature. The attraction opened in a sparkling building in 1998, and visitors have taken in myriad displays, including “Tess,” a gigantic woman who shows how the body works. One highlight came in 2010, when a $165 million expansion brought the debut of Ecosystems, a 45,000-square-foot permanent exhibition that looks at different types of environments all around the globe. The best may be yet to come: Last October, the museum opened a display on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The 122-foot-long craft is being housed in a temporary exhibit while the $200 million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is being built. The shuttle is expected to bring approximately 600,000 more people to the venue annually.
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Taylor, Katherine Hepburn and Jane Fonda, among many others) as well as new works. Some of the highlight shows nurtured and produced by CTG include Mark Medoff’s Children of a Lesser God, Robert Schenkkan’s The Kentucky Cycle, Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and Tony Kushner’s groundbreaking Angels in America.
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people to Downtown Los Angeles, with a series of high-profile plays and musicals at the Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre. Gordon Davidson oversaw CTG for most of its run, before giving way to Michael Ritchie in 2004. Over the decades CTG has hosted touring productions of Broadway dazzlers, plays with big-name stars (think Elizabeth
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Praise has routinely followed Center Theatre Group productions at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre. Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which played the Taper in 2010, ended up being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
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Downtown News 43
Celebrating 40 Years
Conservation of ‘América Tropical’
D
avid Alfaro Siqueiros’ 18-by-80 foot mural “América Tropical” was whitewashed shortly after it was unveiled in 1932 — folks just didn’t like elements such as an indigenous man tied to a cross with an American eagle sitting above him. The artwork remained hidden for decades, even if various Angelenos talked about getting rid of the paint and bringing it back. Finally, last year, that happened. On Oct. 9, 80 years to the day after it first went on view, the city and the Getty Conservation Institute revealed the “conserved” artwork (it was “conserved” rather than “restored” because of a lack of original color images). The $9.95 million project created a viewing area on the roof of the Sepulveda House about 150 feet away from the mural. The América Tropical Interpretive Center is inside the Sepulveda House and features bilingual, multimedia presentations about Siqueiros’ life, the artwork and the conservation process.
Cornerstone Theater Company
T
he Arts District-based ensemble has made a name for itself by creating community-oriented plays that mix actors with amateurs. Founded in 1986, the company moved to its current Traction Avenue home in 1999, though only after it had already staged works at places such as the Cal Plaza Watercourt (a show in which all the actors shared the same birthday) and the Central Library (an updated Candide that wound through various rooms in the build-
photo by Michael Lamont photo by Gary Leonard
For more than a quarter century crowds have flocked to California Plaza for the free summer concerts staged by Grand Performances.
ing). Cornerstone also takes on years-long “cycles” that address various aspects of complex issues. One cycle focused on religion and another concentrated on justice. Now the company, which still frequently stages plays in Downtown, is working on the “Hunger Cycle.” The six-year undertaking includes nine plays that deal with food issues.
East West Players
I
n 1998, the Asian-American theater troupe moved to Downtown, and its 240-seat David Henry Hwang Theater in the Union Center for the Arts just north of First Street was both an instant attraction and a salvation for an old building. The company, which was established in 1965, focuses on producing works about the Asian-American experience. Although EWP is recognized as one of the
East West Players has built a strong relationship with Stephen Sondheim over the years. The Little Tokyo company presented a fantastic and bloody version of his Sweeney Todd in 2006.
top (if not the top) Asian American theaters in the United States, 44% percent of its audience is non-Asian, according to the company website. The shows attract about 10,000 people each year to the Little Tokyo location. The works are a combination of plays and musicals, some new and some revivals. The company also has a long history of staging pieces by Stephen Sondheim.
Grand Park
I
n 2012, the underutilized and hard-to-seefrom street level park between the Stanley Mosk Courthouse and the County Hall of Administration opened after a $56 million renovation. The 12-acre expanse, christened Grand Park, stretches from the Music Center to City Hall and has become a popular lunch spot as well as a destination for school field
trips. There are now grassy lawns, bright pink chairs, tables and benches, performance spaces, free yoga twice a week and a fountain that shoots jets of water, luring kids and adults for a summer splash cool-down.
Grand Performances
S
ince 1986, the California Plaza Watercourt has been the site of a series of free concerts and cultural events. Michael Alexander and Leigh Ann Hahn travel the globe to bring in a dizzying array of artists, some of whom lure literally thousands of revelers to the Grand Avenue amphitheater. The series brings everything from Afro-Cuban bands to 1970s funk to Spanish rock to a hip-hop orchestra to Downtown. The list could go on and on. The annual summer lineup certainly does. see Culture, page 44
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44 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
n! i W d n a s U Culture Like
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Grammy Museum, which opened in 2008. The fourfloor attraction features exhibits that have run the acoustic gamut, with shows on rock, hip-hop, heavy metal, country, jazz and Latin music. The highly interactive space also explores the art and technology of music, and delivers memorabilia-driven exhibits on stars such as Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, George Harrison, James Brown and John Lennon. Another highlight is the series of mini-performances and conversations with artists in the 200-seat theater. Those who have gotten the close-up treatment in Downtown include Brian Wilson, Annie Lennox, Tom Morello and Ringo Starr. m S wnNews.co
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he idea of opening a museum dedicated to the Japanese American experience was first broached by Little Tokyo businessman Bruce Kaji in 1982. A decade later the Japanese American National Museum opened in a building on First Street in Little Tokyo. In 1999, JANM moved into a $22 million facility at 369 E. First St. Although there have been many exhibits addressing the internment of Japanese American during World War II, the museum has also mounted art shows, photography exhibitions and a series of collaborations with the creator of Giant Robot magazine. Under the 8* as CEO last year, leadership of Greg Kimura,IE 5567over to took V who O MOBILE M N T D t x e JANM on attracting a more diverse and younger T CLUBis focusing audience. Upcoming exhibits include a photo display about Texttattoos. DTNMOVIE to 55678 to Join Our Movie Japanese
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n effort to preserve and activate Downtown’s old movie palaces has evolved into a popular summer film series. Preservationist organization the Los Angeles Conservancy launched the Last Remaining Seats in 1987, and the six-week run in Downtown now usually attracts about 10,000 people. Broadway venues that have hosted screenings include the Orpheum, Palace, Los Angeles and Million Dollar theaters. Crowds have taken in classics such as The Wizard of Oz, King Kong, The Graduate and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
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oused at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A. Opera has emerged over more than a quarter century as a topnotch provider of opera. The company was started in 1986 with tenor Plácido Domingo singing the title role in the debut production of Otello. The late Peter Hemmings nurtured the growth of L.A. Opera for more than a decade, and Domingo now bears the general director title while James Conlon serves as music director. Productions vary from Verdi warhorses to rarely staged operas to new works, such as the lauded 2011 production Il Postino, based on the movie about a man who delivers the mail and poet Pablo Neruda. In 2008 the company embarked on its most ambitious project when it launched a $32 million, multi-year presentation of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Although that and the recession combined to bring about financial troubles and trim the schedule, the s.com E-NEWS owntownNew D t a p u n ig company S been recovering, and paid back an emergency SIGN UP has loan from L.A. County.
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L.A. Opera aimed big when it tapped Achim Freyer to direct the company’s $32 million undertaking of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. The four works included a February 2009 staging of Das Rheingold.
out having to actually leave Downtown. The road to greenery for the 32-acre site near Chinatown started in 2005 when artOur received Website$2for Full Movie ist Check Lauren Bon million from Listings LADowntownNews.com the Annenberg Foundation to transform the land into a cornfield for a year. After Bon’s “Not a Cornfield” project ended, the California State Parks department took over. The site has since become a place Starts February 1 for joggers, people on a picnic and everyone else who wants a respite from busy Downtown. It also hosts occasional concerts and raves. An $18 million renovation of the park that will add a welcome pavilion, a promenade for a farmers market, an amphitheater and wetlands areas is exphoto by Gary Leonard pected to start in the fall. MOCA’s 2011 graffiti-based show Art in the Streets was a huge hit for the museum, and one of the few bright spots for current museum director Jeffrey Deitch.
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ure, it has endured plenty of turmoil in the last few years, seeks out the young and hip with First Fridays, a series of but the Museum of Contemporary Art was a game evening events that mix music, lectures and drinking. changer in the Downtown cultural scene. MOCA, spurred by individuals including Eli Broad, made its debut in 1983 in what today is the Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo. In n the late 1970s 1986, MOCA opened the $23 million main facility on Grand Starts February 8 and early ’80s, very few people lived Downtown. The neighborhood lacked gloss, especially after Avenue with the inaugural exhibition Individuals: A Selected History of Contemporary Art, 1945-1986. For years director dark. That’s also what made it hospitable to hosting punk and Richard Koshalek led the institution with a steady hand, and underground music. Four venues in particular flourished, and chief curator Paul Schimmel created groundbreaking survey their names would live on long after they closed: Madame exhibits such as Helter Skelter, a 1992 display that focused Wong’s and the Hong Kong Café in Chinatown, the Atomic on Los Angeles artists. The museum also hosted fantastically Café in Little Tokyo and Al’s Bar in the Arts District. Although popular exhibits on Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, the Atomic Café was a late-night diner whose frequent visitors Ed Kienholz, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, to included members of X and Blondie, the music wasn’t live, and name a few among the very many. The museum endured instead was supplied by a jukebox. The other venues hosted virtually every big name in punk and alt rock, with bands such a financial in 2008 and to Movie be rescued by Broad. Check crisis Our Website forhadFull Listings LADowntownNews.com Although current director Jeffrey Deitch has generated plenty as the Ramones, the Germs, X, Sonic Youth, the Misfits, Beck of controversy and clashed with Schimmel (who left last year and the Red Hot Chili Peppers — among thousands of othafter more than two decades), he also scored a major hit with ers — taking the tiny stages. At each place the bathrooms were gritty, the beer cheap and the music loud. Al’s Bar, on Traction the graffiti-based exhibit Art in the Streets. Avenue, lasted the longest, closing in 2001.
Punk Rock City
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Natural History Museum ! s e n li d Starts February 14 a e yH il lthough the Exposition Park museum debuted in Walt Disney Concert Hall a D r o f p U ✔ Sign A1913, it entered a new era when it launched an ambi- he glimmering curved metallic edifice is perhaps the most
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hose who walk on the grass or check out the Downtown skyline behind the bright yellow wildflowers may find it hard to believe that L.A. State Historic Park was once a gritty, abandoned rail yard. The park, known to many as the Cornfield, is an escape from the urban center with-
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recognizable symbol of Downtown. Disney Hall, which tious seven-year, $135 million transformation in 2006. The changes have included the renovation of the original 1913 includes the experimental REDCAT theater in the rear of the building and the creation of new exhibitions such as The building, was conceived in 1987 with a $50 million gift from Age of Mammals and the immensely popular Dinosaur Hall, Walt Disney’s widow Lillian. However, it took 16 years to fund, which features more than 20 displays of the huge extinct build and open the $274 million venue designed by Frank creatures. Debuting this summer is Becoming Los Angeles, Gehry for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The structure has a 14,000-square-foot permanent exhibition that will look been essential in elevating the role and reputation of the Phil, Check Website Movie LADowntownNews.com with first Esa-Pekka Salonen and now Gustavo Dudmael servat 500 yearsOur of local history. for TheFull changes haveListings transformed the museum from a cavernous and sleepy space filled with ing as music director and being the chief men at the podium. Contact Richard Guzman at richard@downtownnews.com. dioramas to an interactive and energetic attraction. It even
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February 18, 2013
Downtown News 45
Celebrating 40 Years
EVENTS
The ‘Don’t Miss’ List
SPONSORED LISTINGS Free Downtown LA Housing Bus Tour Downtown Center Business Improvement District, downtownla.com/housingtour. Feb. 23 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: This guided bus tour will take you through Downtown’s vibrant neighborhoods and into six residences for sale or rent, from lofts to luxury condos. See the hotspots and amenities that make Downtown living exciting and easy. The tour is free, but RSVP is required, via downtownla. com/housingtour.
Avant Garde Theater, Shock Rock and the City Controller Candidates Storm Downtown
Wednesday, February 20 SCI-Arc Lecture Series SCI-Arc, 960 E. Third St., (213) 613-2200 or sciarc.edu 7 p.m.: Don’t be fooled by Ben Van Berkel’s stunning baby blue puppy dog eyes. The Dutch architect has some very serious ideas about designing buildings.
os Angeles theater lovers will rejoice this week as REDCAT hosts the Wooster Group and New York City Players in a long day’s journey of reimagined Eugene O’Neill plays. On Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 21-24, the tortured early 20th century playwright’s Glencairn Plays collide on stage. The macabre maritime dimensions of O’Neill’s native land serve as the setting in this collection of four plays centered around sailors and their cathartic cavorting. The touring spectacle, known as Early Plays, is yours to behold Thursday-Friday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. At 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.
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t is your civic duty to vote. It is also your civic duty to be informed before heading to the ballot box. So prepare for the March 5 elections by showing up at the forum for the L.A. City Controller candidates on Thursday, Feb. 21. The laugh riot (we jest) staged by the organization Town HallLos Angeles brings together Cary Brazeman, Ron Galperin and Dennis Zine, who will discuss what they would do for the office that conducts audits and takes on other financial matters for the city of Los Angeles. The 6:30 p.m. event is at the AT&T Center theater and will be moderated by KCET’s Val Zavala. It’s a great first date (again, we jest). At 1150 S. Olive St., (213) 628-8141 or townhall-la.org.
photo © Eric England
ROCK, POP & JAZZ
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et raucous on Saturday, Feb. 23, as the Music Center’s World City program highlights Washington, D.C.’s Step Afrika! The dance troupe invites audience members to witness a melding of American step dancing routines and traditional African movement. Bits of Zulu ritual mix with collegiate competitive styles on stage at the W.M. Keck Amphitheatre at Disney Hall at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Tickets are free and will be distributed an hour before the first performance and 90 minutes before the second to those waiting patiently outside. Be warned: lines will form. At 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-0777 or musiccenter.org.
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f the cavalcade of finely coiffed club goers or Mexican wrestling aficionados that comprise the Mayan Theatre’s typical clientele are any indication, rock super group Tomahawk will have an ideal audience as it hits the stage Tuesday, Feb. 19. Beneath the ornate frescos, the schizophrenic, pared-down sonic collage of roaring aural masochism and silky smooth lounge stylings will draw a fine line between alternative metal and chic sound. Former Faith No More and Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton helms this collection of exJesus Lizard, Battles, Helmet and Fantomas bards. At 1038 S. Hill St., (213) 746-4674 or clubmayan.com.
Send information and possible Don’t Miss List submissions to calendar@downtownnews.com.
photo courtesy of Step Afrika!
arilyn ! You may remember M 96 19 its e lik rty pa to repare ed as the cker who for a time serv across Manson as the shock ro ps ou gr s nservative and religiou er, the arn object of hatred for co W r to think of him as Brian d his an on the country, but we prefe Mans rida who struck it big. Flo m fro y bo fan th a y wi n rm wo wntow es will be regaling Do siv er bv su rry a. me ki of No ub band Thursday, Feb. 21, at Cl on ue sq ote gr the an of t on pagean take a toll nded that the road can Concertgoers are remi mited on stage vo d usness an cio ns co t los on ns Ma tred artist. After t his lyric “take your ha tha are aw be ld ou sh s last week, fan ly metaphorical. victim my head” was on out on me, make your okia.com. (213) 765-7000 or clubn At 800 W. Olympic Blvd.,
sunday, February 24 African American History Lecture Series CAAM, 600 State Dr., (213) 744-7432 or caamuseum.org. 2 p.m.: Early Los Angeles midwife and philanthropist Biddy Mason is the subject of this lecture by Terilyn Lawson. Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention Shrine Auditorium, 649 W. Jefferson, (213) 748-5116 or shrineauditorium.com. 10 a.m.: The Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention features an appearance by Edward Furlong, who you may recognize from Terminator 2, or perhaps as the defendant in the last case you had during jury duty. Opera Talk at Last Bookstore Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St., (213) 488-0599 or lastbookstorela.com. 1 p.m.: The L.A. Opera sponsors a discussion of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, an operatic classic soon to see the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Insert requisite joke about “going Dutch” here.
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Thursday, February 21 The Feminine Mystique at Aloud Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 2287500 or lfla.org. 7:15: Fifty years after Betty Friedan’s seminal text, feminists Hanna Rosin, Kathy Spillar and Tani Ikeda get together to talk about what has transpired. City Controller Debate Theater at AT&T Center, 1150 S. Olive St., (213) 628-8141 or townhall-la.org. 8:30 p.m.: Candidates Dennis Zine, Ron Galperin and Cary Brazeman come together to discuss who is best qualified to be the next L.A. City Controller. OK, maybe “discuss” isn’t the best word. Free to all.
Blue Whale 123 Astronaut E. S. Onizuka St., (213) 620-0908 or bluewhalemusic.com. Feb. 19: Budman/Levy Orchestra. Feb. 20: Gary Fukushima, Joon Lee and Jon Armstrong. Feb. 21: Richard Sears, Garrett Lang and Albert Too Tie Heath. Feb. 22: Joshua White, Dayna Stephens, Jeff Denson and Dan Schnelle. Feb. 23: Jazz Gene. Feb. 24: The Brazil You Never Heard with Marcel Camargo and friends. Bootleg Bar 2220 Beverly Blvd., (213) 389-3856 or bootlegtheater.org. Feb. 18, 8 p.m.: Those who show up at the Mystery Skulls concert anticipating a thorough lesson in phrenology will be rudely disappointed to discover the band’s sugary sweet electronica. Feb. 20, 7 p.m.: From deep within her hip brain, locked behind those down to earth glasses, Lisa Loeb spins a web of tunes that will help you forget the past decade of absurdity. Feb. 20, 8:30 p.m.: West Coast ambient folk rock by Split Screens. What does it mean? Feb. 21, 8 p.m.: Possessing tremendous foresight, the London indie soul outfit Various Cruelties anticipated the audience reception of their watered down Motown when they decided on a band name. Feb. 21, 10:30 p.m.: If you’re seeking a singer/ songwriter whose brand of indie rock is just excitable enough to approximate the caffeine ridden
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photo courtesy of The Wooster Group
by Dan Johnson, listings eDitor
46 Downtown News
Continued from previous page excitement of a Thursday afternoon at Intelligentsia, Melanoid may be for you. Feb. 22-23, 8 p.m.: Renowned New York performance artist Joey Arias offers up a rousing set of vocal majesty that feels like a Tim Burton produced lounge act. Feb. 24, 7 p.m.: Technical rock duo Biceratops’ self congratulatory stance of celebrating their own “spontaneity” works both ways, guys. Hats. Magic. Turtles. Turnstyles. Papier mache. Is that the kind of spontaneous review you wanted? Broadway Bar 830 S. Broadway, (213) 614-9909 or broadwaybar.la. Feb. 21, 10 p.m.: Once again, buys and girls, it’s HM Soundsystem’s electronic grooves. Casey’s Irish Pub 613 S. Grand Ave., (213) 629-2353 or bigcaseys.com. Feb. 23, 10 p.m.: We Were Indians, basement occupying rock band and common phrase heard by college admissions departments across the country. Club Nokia 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-7000 or clubnokia.com. Feb. 21, 9 p.m.: There’s no time to discriminate. Hate every ticket scalper that’s in your way! Marilyn Manson! Feb. 22, 8 p.m.: Brandy, otherwise known as Moesha. Whatever gets you to the show. Exchange LA 618 S. Spring St., (213) 627-8070 or exchangela.com. Feb. 22, 10 p.m.: Gabriel & Dresden have been around the electronica game long enough to remember the glory of Darude. Feb. 23, 10 p.m.: Where diplomatic channels between the United States and Iran fail, DJ Dubfire succeeds in uniting the two cultures. Grammy Museum 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or grammymuseum.org. Feb. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Jake Shimabukuro drops by the Grammy Museum to afford you the opportunity to see a real live “Ukulele Wizard” in person. Mayan 1038 S. Hill St., (213) 746-4674 or clubmayan.com. Feb. 19, 8 p.m.: Heavy hitting odd fellows Tomahawk are here to reinvigorate your distaste for mainstream music. Nokia Theater 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6020 or nokiatheatrelalive.com. Feb. 23, 8 p.m.: All you smooth operators out
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years there are encouraged to check out 94.7 The Wave’s “Smooth Night Out” featuring Boney James! Nola’s 734 E. Third St., (213) 680-3003 or nolasla.com. Feb. 19, 8 p.m.: Reggy Woods Jam Session. Feb. 20, 7 p.m.: Aalon. One-Eyed Gypsy 901 E. First St., (626) 340-3529 or one-eyedgypsy.com. Feb. 20: RT N the 44s. Feb. 21: Ubiquity presents “Frolic.” Feb. 22: The Downtown Train. Feb. 23: AK and Her Kalashnikovs. Redwood Bar and Grill 316 W. Second St., (213) 652-4444 or theredwoodbar.com. Feb. 18: The Preservation and the Grit. Feb. 19: Billy Bones. Feb. 20: The Zoo. Feb. 21: Early Bird Circus with the Vibrometers, the Dirty Diamond and Brad Standley. Feb. 22: The Flytraps, Pearl Harbor, The After Hours and The Boodhounds. Feb. 23: Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders, Freakstar and Schitzophonics. Feb. 24: FU Mary Lou, No Small Children and Electric Children. Seven Grand 515 W. Seventh St., (213) 614-0737 or sevengrand.la. Feb. 18: Good thing Seven Grand doesn’t advertise their concerts on a marquee, because the Katisse Buckingham Quintet has a needless profusion of ever-scarce vowels in its name. Feb. 19: The Makers don’t take requests or your guff. Feb. 20: Artwork Jamal is back with his Acid Blues Band. The Smell 247 S. Main St., alley between Spring and Main streets, thesmell.org. Feb. 20: Japanther, Warm Soda, Brannigan’s Law and Corners. Feb. 22: Breakfast, Pop/Soda and more. Feb. 23: Dirt Dress, Wide Streets, Norse Horse and Washing Machines.
FILM Downtown Independent 251 S. Main St., (213) 617-1033 or downtownindependent.com. Feb. 18-20, 5 and 7 p.m.: The Bitter Buddha chronicles the career of alt-comic Eddie Pepitone
and his acerbic insights. Feb. 21, 8 p.m.: “How to Start A Movement” is a night-long collection of independent filmmakers and their fine wares. Feb. 22, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m., Feb. 23, 4 p.m., Feb. 24, 1 p.m.: The Jeffrey Dahmer Files is an experimental documentary that uses archival footage, interviews and fictionalized scenarios to tell the story of the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the summer of his arrest in 1991. Feb. 23, 6 p.m.: Short film fans unite for Channel 101. IMAX California Science Center, 700 State Drive, (213) 7442019 or californiasciencecenter.org. Explore the remnants and wisdom of an ancient empire in Mysteries of Egypt. Ice and polar bear enthusiasts will likely dig To the Arctic 3D. Experience the gripping story full of hope, crushing disappointment and triumph in Hubble 3D. MOCA 250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-1710 or moca.org. Feb. 21, 7 p.m.: Herb & Dorothy is the filmic biography of the Vogels, whose comprehensive collection of modern art is on display at the museum. Regal Cinemas 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 763-6070 or lalive.com/ movies. Through Feb. 21: Escape From Planet Earth (12:20, 5 and 9:40 p.m.); Beautiful Creatures (1:30, 4:40, 7:40 and 10:40 p.m.); Escape from Planet Earth 3D (2:40 and 7:20 p.m.); A Good Day to Die Hard (1:30, 4:20, 7:10 and 10:10 p.m.); Safe Haven (11:20 a.m., 1, 2, 4, 4:50, 7, 7:50, 10 and 10:50 p.m.); Identity Thief (12:40, 1:40, 3:40, 4:30, 6:40, 7:30, 9:40 and 10:30 p.m.); Side Effects (12:30, 3:30, 6:30 and 9:20 p.m.); Warm Bodies (1:40, 4:10, 6:50 and 9:30 p.m.); Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (1:50 p.m.); Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D (11:30 a.m., 4:10, 6:50 and 9:20 p.m.); Mama (12, 2:30, 4:50, 7:20 and 9:50 p.m.); Zero Dark Thirty (11:40 a.m., 3, 6:30, 9:50 p.m.); Silver Linings Playbook (1:20, 4:30, 7:40 and 10:30 p.m.).
THEATER, OPERA & DANCE Backbeat Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 6282772 or centertheatregroup.org. Feb. 19-22, 8 p.m., Feb. 23, 2 and 8 p.m. and Feb. 24, 1 and 6:30 p.m.: Before Sgt. Pepper. Before Abbey Road. Even before Ringo, there were five Beatles. Five
rowdy working class lads from the docks of Liverpool rocking out eight days a week in the raucous clubs and red-light seediness of Hamburg, Germany, creating an epic new sound. Here’s the story about the band you never knew, unless of course you happened to see Backbeat the movie 19 years ago. Black Women State of the Union: Taking Flight Company of Angels, 501 S. Spring St., (213) 489-3703 or companyofangels.org. Feb. 22-23, 8 p.m. and Feb. 24, 3 p.m.: Civil rights and African American representation in modern culture play into this collection of parodies and commentary. Through Feb. 24. Bob Baker’s Something To Crow About The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St., (213) 250-9995 or bobbakermarionettes.com. Feb. 19-22, 10:30 a.m. and Feb. 23-24, 2:30 p.m.: Come join Mama and Papa Goat and 100 more of the Bob Baker Marionettes for a musical “day on the farm.” Expect everything from dancing scarecrows to tap dancing bullfrogs warbling “Shine on Harvest Moon.” Call for reservations. Christmas in Hanoi East West Players, 120 Judge John Aliso St., (213) 6257000 or eastwestplayers.org. Feb. 21-23, 8 p.m. and Feb. 24, 2 p.m.: A mixed race family returns to Vietnam for the first time since the war. Through March 10. Lovesick Loft Ensemble, 929 E. Second St., (213) 680-0392 or loftsensemble.com. Feb. 23, 8 p.m. and Feb. 24, 7 p.m.: It’s a love story! Or it is? Verse, song and prose smash together on the stage as Benjamin and Sophia share the same dream and find each other. Behold the dark comedy of odd amour. Through March 10. Wooster Group and New York Players REDCAT, 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 of redcat.org. Feb. 21-22, 8:30 p.m., Feb. 23, 3 and 8:30 p.m. and Feb. 24, 3 p.m.: Selections from Eugene O’Neill’s early works are the subject of the visiting visage of the finest theater New York is willing to send to Los Angeles. The show is known as Early Plays.
CLASSICAL MUSIC Tuesday, February 19 Colburn Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or laphil.com. 8 p.m.: Gustavo Dudamel leads local music prod-
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February 18, 2013 igies in pieces from Revueltas, Copland and Tchaikovsky.
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515 W 7th St., Downtown
Performing songs from his new album “Crooked Hearts”
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wood decor, it’s easy to see how this neighborhood bar and grill still works its Irish charm. Regulars cozy up to the 60-foot mahogany bar with a pint of Guinness and a plate of bangers and mash. Casey’s has a full menu with six beers on tap and a selection of Belgian ales and microbrews. Cole’s 118 E. Sixth St., colesfrenchdip.com. This beloved restaurant saloon has been renovated under new ownership. The great leather booths and dark wood bar of the old spot remain, but now the glasses are clean. Draft beer, historic cocktails, including what is probably the best Old Fashioned in town, and a short wine list. Corkbar 403 W. 12th St., corkbar.com. If the name didn’t give it away, this South Park establishment is all about the wine, specifically, California wine. Situated on the ground floor of the Evo condominium building, Corkbar serves up a seasonal food menu of farmer’s market-driven driven creations to go with your Golden State pinots, cabernets and syrahs. Down and Out 501 S. Spring St., (213) 489-7800 or twitter.com/ thedownandout. This latest offering from the same folks that brought you Bar 107. The 3,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the Alexandria Hotel features Angeles Downtown including News mugLos shots of celebrities Frank Sinatra, 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 Hugh Grant, Steve McQueen and Andy Dick. The
AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard
Just55minutes minutes from Just from
Was
phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 Continued on next page web: DowntownNews.com email: realpeople@downtownnews.com facebook: L.A. Downtown News
Trattoria 25
10
AccouNtiNG: DOWNTOWN Ashley Schmidt
hingto dirEctor: Steve Nakutin twitter: AdvErtisiNG n Blvd E. 25th St. . DowntownNews clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway Italian restaurant in the heart of Vernon AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Yoji Cole, Catherine Holloway, Sol Ortasse The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read Trattoria 25 sAlEs AssistANt: Claudia Hernandez newspaper for Downtown Los Angeles and is disS. Santa Fe Ave.
BARS & CLUBS
cocktail lounge offers a 360-degree view of the city. Bottlerock 1150 S. Flower St., (213) 747-1100 or bottlerock.net. Situated on the ground floor of the Met Lofts in South Park, this wine bar features a vast range of bottles from around the world and a price range equally as wide. Wines by the glass start at around $8, but if you’re feeling overcome by oenophilia (or just deep-pocketed) there are some first growth Bordeauxs for more than $1,000 for the bottle. And if you don’t get your fill while at the bar, which also features a rotating crop of artisanal beers and a full dinner menu, the bar also sells bottles at retail. Broadway Bar 830 S. Broadway, (213) 614-9909 or broadwaybar.la. Located next to the Orpheum Theatre in the Platt Building, the Broadway Bar’s blue neon sign beckons patrons inside to its 50-foot circular bar. The casualchic spot is based on Jack Dempsey’s New York bar, with low lighting and a dose of ’40s glam. There’s a patio upstairs with nice views, and a jukebox. Caña 714 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 745-7090 or Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris canarumbar.com. GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin In the Caribbean, “caña” is slang for sugarcane. Rum is Editor: made from sugarcane. Therefore, Caña ExEcutivE Jon Regardie citY Editor: Richardhandcrafted Guzmán serves premium rum cocktails in an stAFF writEr: Ryan environment Vaillancourt featuring live Caribintimate, elegant coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese bean and tropical Latin music. coNtributiNG writErs: Dave Denholm, Jeff Favre, Casey’s Irish Pub Greg Fischer, Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Ryan E. Smith, 613Porter S. Grand Ave., (213) 629-2353 or bigcaseys.com. Marc Zasada With its worn staircase, tin ceilings and dark Art dirEctor: Brianbrick Allison
Alameda Blvd.
hind the bar. Look for a heavy door, a brass knocker and a long line. Barbara’s at the Brewery Wednesday, February 20 620 Moulton Ave., No. 110, (323) 221-9204 or From Lullaby to Dance bwestcatering.com. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) On the grounds of the Brewery, this bar and res850-2000 or laphil.com. taurant in an unfinished warehouse is where local 8 p.m.: A gaggle of 20th century composers, includ- residents find their artistic sustenance. Fifteen craft ing Schubert, Gershwin and Milhaud, provide the beers on tap, wine list and full bar. music for a night of dream-inspired classical music. Bar 107 107 W. Fourth St., (213) 625-7382 or myspace.com/ Thursday, February 21 bar107. Dudamel and Shaham Inside the keyhole-shaped door, tough-as-nails Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) Derby Dolls vie for elbowroom with crusty old bar 850-2000 or laphil.com. guys and a steady stream of Old Bank District inhabFeb. 21-23, 8 p.m. and Feb. 24, 2 p.m.: Dudamel itants. Velvet señoritas, deer heads with sunglasses, a conducts the L.A. Phil and violinist Gil Shaham wooden Indian and Schlitz paraphernalia plaster the through pieces of German Romanticism from Wag- red walls. There’s no shortage of entertainment, with ner, Brahms and Schumann. the funky dance room, great DJs and the occasional rock band. In the photo booth, you can capture saTurday, February 23 your mug in old-fashioned black and white. Open 2012 LA International New Music Festival from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2200 or Big Wang’s colburnschool.edu. 801 S. Grand Ave., (213) 629-2449 or bigwangs.com. 8 p.m.: Southwest Chamber Music continues the Wings, beer and sports: That’s the winning recipe L.A. International New Music Festival with com- at this sports bar. The Downtown outpost, the third posers and music from Japan, China, South Korea, for the Hollywood-based bar, has everything the Los Angeles Downtown Germany, Great Britain,News Mexico, Argentina and the other locations have, plus a comfortable patio with 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 United States. outdoor flat screens. phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 Bonaventure Brewing Company web: DowntownNews.com • email: realpeople@downtownnews.com sunday, February 24 404 S. Figueroa St., (213) 236-0802 or facebook: twitter: bonaventurebrewing.com. Avanesov, Pianist and Composer L.A. 200 Downtown News Zipper Hall, S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2200DowntownNews or Where can you get a drink, order some decolburnschool.edu. cent bar food, sit outdoors and still feel like you’re 3 p.m.: Selections from Bartok, Ravel and Avane- Downtown? It’s a tall order to fill, but this bar in the Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris sov comprise this afternoon of chamber music from Bonaventure Hotel does it admirably. Come by for GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin the Lark Musical Society. a taster set of award-winning ales crafted by Head ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie Brewer David Blackwell. Sure, the hotel is vaguely citY Editor: Richard Guzmán ’80s, and you’ll probably encounter some convenstAFF writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt tion goers tying a few on, but it only adds to the fun. coNtributiNG Editor: Kathryn Maese The Association Bona Vista Lounge coNtributiNG writErs: Dave Denholm, Jeff Favre, Greg Fischer, 610 S. Main St., (213) 627-7385. 404 S. Figueroa St., (213) 624-1000 or Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Ryan E. Smith, Marc Porter Zasada Carved out of the area that used to belong to thebonaventure.com. Art dirEctor: Allison Cole’s, the bar inBrian front, the Association is a dimly-lit, Located in the heart of the Financial District in the AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa swank little alcove with some serious mixologists be- landmark Westin Bonaventure Hotel, this revolving
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Downtown News 47
Celebrating 40 Years
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AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Steve Nakutin clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Yoji Cole, Catherine Holloway, Sol Ortasse sAlEs AssistANt: Claudia Hernandez circulAtioN: Jessica Tarr distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla 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.
48 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
THE ANSWER
TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE
Tucked behind the Chop Suey Café is the Far Bar, where intimacy and a sense of noir L.A. collide. If you can find the place, which you enter through the back of the café or via a skinny alley a few doors down, you can throw them back in the same spot author Raymond Chandler is rumored to have done the same. Figueroa Hotel 939 S. Figueroa St., (213) 627-8971 or figueroahotel.com. The Moroccan-inspired Figueroa Hotel just a block north of Staples Center manages the unique feat of making you feel like you’re in the heart of the city and removed from it at the same time. The light-filled Veranda Bar is just steps from the clear, glittery pool, and it’s common to see suitclad Downtowners a few feet from swimsuit-wearing Euro-tourists. Five Stars Bar 269 S. Main St., (213) 625-1037. Burgers, brew, billiards, art and live music. Cash only, amigos. Gallery Bar Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, 506 S. Grand Ave., (213) 6241011 or millenniumhotels.com. This elegant lounge in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel is known for its martinis, wines and vintage ports. Golden Gopher 417 W. Eighth St., (213) 614-8001 or goldengopherbar.com. This stylish, dimly lit space with exposed brick walls, chandeliers and golden gopher lamps has a rockin’ jukebox, cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon and an outdoor lounge for smokers. Best of all, it also has Ms. Pac Man and Galaga. The bar also has a rare take-out liquor counter. Grand Star Jazz Club 943 Sun Mun Way, (213) 626-2285 or grandstarjazzclub.com. Firecracker club heats things up every other Friday atop the Quon Brothers’ Grand Star. Start the evening at the latter, where the lapu lapus are wicked strong. There’s usually alternating karaoke and a good jazz trio. Upstairs you’ll find the indie/Brit pop haven known as Firecracker, a longtime dance club with good music and an eclectic, lively crowd. Hop Louie
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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/submit 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.
Regent China Inn
950 Mei Ling Way (Central Plaza), (213) 628-4244. This is old school Chinatown, on the ground floor of the Hop Louie Restaurant, with slightly indifferent bartenders and décor — it’s actually a relief. La Cita 336 S. Hill St., (213) 687-7111 or lacitabar.com. Though the owners of Echo Park’s Short Stop bought it, little has changed. Everything in this former Mexican Ranchero bar oozes red, from the vinyl booths lining the wall to the glowing light fixtures. Hipsters, Latino regulars and artists mingle as DJs get their groove on during the week. Saturday and Sunday bring Hacienda Nights with traditional Ranchero music.
Suim nner m i D ch and D n Lu
Continued from previous page owners describe it as a sports bar for local residents who don’t want to mingle with tourists. Dublin’s 815 W. Seventh St. or (213) 489-6628. The opening of this Irish pub was fraught with delays and initial closings, but the absurdly large collection of draft beers all for three dollars has kept this place alive and well. A plethora of TVs, quick service, cheap beer and good bar food make this place a favorite for after work drinks and sports spectatorship alike. Edison 108 W. Second St., (213) 613-0000 or edisondowntown.com. Downtown history has come full circle in this former power plant turned stunning cocktail bar. The Edison is perhaps Downtown’s hottest hotspot and draws an eclectic crowd, including jaded Hollywood types who can’t help but gawk at the preserved bits of machinery, the huge generator and the coal box that now houses the jukebox. Escondite 410 Boyd St., (213) 626-1800 or theescondite.com. This beer and burger-centric joint is tucked in an odd strip mall near Skid Row. No wonder its name means “The Hideout” in Spanish. There are nine craft beers on tap, plus 15 bottle varieties and a 56-seat patio that welcomes your furry pals (dogs, that is). The Escondite also pairs its food and drink with regular live music. What a find. Far Bar 347 E. First St., (behind the Chop Suey Café), (213) 617-9990 or chopsueycafeandlounge.com.
An Extensive Seafood Menu including Dim Sum at Moderate Prices Relaxed Dining in an Elegant Ambiance Live Lobster Tank
Free Parking Next to Restaurant
700 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 | Tel: 213.617.2323
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
February 18, 2013
Downtown News 49
Celebrating 40 Years
CLASSIFIED
plaCe your ad online aT www.ladownTownnews.Com
FOR RENT
l.a. downtown news classifieds Call: 213-481-1448 Classified Display & Line ad Deadlines: Thursday 12 pm REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL
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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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Monthly from $600 utilities paid. (213) 612-0348
Cell 310-346-6601 leigh@kw.com leighsellssouthbay.com
Fully furnished with TV, telephone, microwave, refrigerator. Full bathroom. Excellent location. Downtown LA. Weekly maid service.
Monthly from $695 utilities paid. (213) 627-1151
50 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
DID YOU KNOW that Ten Million adults tweeted in the past month, while 164 million read a newspaper in print or online in the past week? Advertise in 240 California newspapers for one low cost. Your 25 word classified ad will reach over 6 million+ Californians. For brochure call Elizabeth (916)288-6019. (Cal-SCAN) MEET SINGLES Right now! No paid operators, just real people like you. Browse greetings, exchange messages and connect live. Try it free. Call now 1-800945-3392. (Cal-SCAN)
Reunions The 1957 & 1958 graduating class of Long Beach Polytechnic (Poly) High School in Long Beach, CA is holding its 55th and 56th year reunion on March 16, 2013 at the Grand in Long Beach. Please contact Sandy Schroeder Leafsted at 562-5975497 for details.
LEGAL Civil summons
WANTED DIABETIC test strips. Cash Paid. Unopened, Unexpired Boxes Only. All Brands Considered. Help Others - don’t throw boxes away. For more Information, call (888) 491-1168 (Cal-SCAN)
SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA NO. 111CV211712 PLAINTIFF: WILLIAM FOSTER, JR., ET AL
VS DEFENDANTS: SIMON BRODIE, ALLERCA LIFESTYLE PET, INC. AND DOES 1-100, INCLUSIVE You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form, if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www. courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time,
you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia. org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo. ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. The name and address of the court is: Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara 191 N. 1st St. San Jose, CA 95113
Case Number: 111CV211712 Dated: October 21, 2011 The name, address, telephone number, and fax number of Plaintiff’s attorney is: Scotty Storey (State Bar No. 227124) Law Offices of Scotty Storey 100 Saratoga Ave., Suite 100 Santa Clara, CA 95051 Telephone: (408)920-6300 Pub. 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, 2/18/13
This business is conducted by an individual. Registrants has not begun to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed herein. This statement was filed with DEAN LOGAN, Los Angeles County Clerk on January 22, 2013. NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the
office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code). Pub. 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, 2/18/13
FiCtitious Business name FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE NO. 2013014404 The following person is doing business as: CENTER BUSINESS SYSTEMS, 323 W. Valley Blvd., Suite 202, Alhambra, CA 91214, are hereby registered by the following registrant: MOE ESSA, 323 W. Valley Blvd., Suite 202, Alhambra, CA 91803.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Notice is given that proposals for Check Printing and Mailing Services will be received by the County of L.A. Dept. of AuditorController, 500 W. Temple St., Room 410 Los Angeles, CA 90012. A Mandatory Proposers' Conference will be held on Thursday, February 28, 2013, at 3 p.m. An RFP may be obtained by accessing following link: http://file.lacounty.gov/auditor/portal/cms1_190363.pdf
DOWNTOWN L.A. AUTO GROUP WWW.DTLAMOTORS.COM
NISSAN
of Downtown L.A. 888-838-5089 635 W. Washington Blvd. • downtownnissan.com
NEW ’13 Nissan Altima 2.5S Lease for only
$129
VoLkSwAgeN
Carson
NISSAN
of Downtown L.A.
888-781-8102 1900 S. Figueroa St. • vwdowntownla.com
NEW ’13 Volkswagen Jetta S Lease for only
per month for 39 mos
$149
Felix
888-845-2267 1505 E. 223rd St., Carson • carsonnissan.com
NEW ’13 Nissan Rogue S
$179
Lease for only
per month for 39 mos
per month for 36 mos
CHeVRoLeT 888-304-7039 3300 S. Figueroa St. • felixchevrolet.com
NEW ’13 Chevy Camaro LS Buy for only
$21,999
Plus tax, 39 month closed end lease on approved credit. $0 Sec. Dep. $5359 due at Signing. (Excludes taxes, title, other options & dealer fees). Residual $14,280. Model # 13113. $0.15/mile over 12,000 miles/year. 5 At this Price.
Plus tax 36-month closed end lease on approved VW Credit., $1,999 due at signing. (Excludes title, tax, 1st mo. pymt, options and dealer fees). MSRP $17,470 with manual trans. $0 security deposit. $0.20/mile over 36,000 miles. # 411061. Offer ends February 28, 2013.
Plus tax 39-month closed end lease on above average tier approved credit., $2999 due at signing. (Excludes title, tax, 1st mo. pymt, options and dealer fees). $0 security deposit. $0.20/mile over 12,000 miles/yr. 1 at this offer # C130048/008216.
MSRP $25,445 Felix Discount -$1946 Customer cash -$500 Competitive lease $1000 (NON GM Lease) Net Cost $21,999. 5 at this price
2002 Nissan Altima Sedan ................
2011 VW Jetta ...................................
2007 Ford Focus ................................
2010 Chevy Aveo ..............................
Only 87K miles, Looks and Runs great, N130239-1/2C197821
$6,999
Certified, Gold/Gray, 35K Miles, Auto. RZV2044 / BM335348
$15,889
2007 Nissan Altima Sedan ...............
2010 VW Tiguan S ..............................
$13,999
$17,994
Only 42,000 Miles, Must See, N130227-1/7N418393
2005 Nissan Armada SE ................... 5.6L V8, Silver/Black, Leather, 38K miles, NI4111/5N706134
$15,999
Plus 296 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
ToYoTA
Downtown L.A. 800-574-4891 1600 S. Figueroa St. • toyotadowntownla.com
NEW ’12 Toyota Camry LE Lease for only
$199
Certified, Turbo, Black/Black, Only 22K miles. ZV1916/AW534741
2012 VW Jetta GLI ............................ Turbo, Silver/Black, Only 6646 Miles. ZV2081/ CM458892
$22,680
Plus 392 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
2007 Dodge Ram Pickup .................. 3.7L V6, Auto, Red/Gray, Leather, 1 owner. CU0893P / 604015
$8,995
2011 Nissan Versa ............................. Certified pre-owned. Won’t last. CU0902R / 364923
$11,995
Plus 311 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
AuDI
Downtown L.A. Motors
MeRCeDeS BeNz
$7,995
Great car, fantastic mileage. CU0904P/245655
of Downtown L.A.
888-319-8762 1801 S. Figueroa St. • mbzla.com
888-583-0981 1900 S. Figueroa St. • audidtla.com
NEW ’13 Mercedes C250
NEW ’13 Audi A3 2.0T TDI
Lease for only
per month for 36 mos
$299
Lease for only
per month for 48 mos
$299
Red/Gray, Great Mileage, Must See. F13618-1 / B096184
$10,995
2011 Chevy HHR LT Sport ............... Gray/Gray, Auto, 40K Miles, 32 MPG. UC409R / S659470
$13,995
2011 Chevy Impala LT ...................... White/Gray. V6, 35K Miles. UC434R / B1310113
$15,995
Plus 198 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
PoRSCHe
of Downtown L.A. 888-685-5426 1900 S. Figueroa St. • porschedowntownla.com
NEW ’13 Porsche Boxster Lease for only
per month for 42 mos
$499 per month for 24 mos
+ tax 48 month closed end lease on approved credit. $2399 due at signing excluding title, taxes, options, acquisition fees, dealer fees & first payment. Zero Sec. Dep. .25cents/ mile over 10K miles/year. 5 to choose. MSRP $36255.
+ tax, 42 month closed end lease on approved credit. $350 Sec. Deposit. $4343.26 Due at Signing. Excludes taxes, title, other options and dealer fees Lease price includes Audi Loyalty Rebate. Residual $18,099.20. $0.25 per mile over 10,000 miles per year. 1 at this payment DA011080
Plus tax 24-month closed end lease offered to highly qualified lessees on approved credit. $2995 due at signing. (Excludes title, tax, 1st month’s pymt, options and dealer fees). $0 security deposit. Residual of $39,436.40. $0.30/mile over 5,000 miles/year. 1 at this offer #DS113366.
2011 Toyota Corolla LE .....................
2009 Mercedes C300W .....................
2010 Audi A3 2.0T Wagon ................
2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS ..............
$13,998
$25,991
$23,994
$46,898
Plus tax 36-month closed end lease on approved above average credit. In lieu of factory rebate. $3425 due at signing. $24,060 MSRP, $13,208 residual. $0.15/mile over 36,000 miles. All Model #2532 Offer ends March 4, 2013.
Gray/Gray, Only 40K Miles, Great Value. TU0078/548701
Certified, White/Grey, Only 24K Miles. 6322C/ R083029
Certified, Silver/Beige, Turbo, Only 24K Miles. A13598D-1 / AA127029
Certified, 4.8L V8, Sand White/Black Low Miles, ZP1556/8LA73049
2012 Hyundai Elantra GLS ...............
2009 Mercedes CLK 350 Coupe ......
2011 Audi A5 Quattro Cab ..............
2002 Porsche 911 Turbo ..................
$15,998
$26,888
$39,994
$49,898
Gray/Gray, Only 35K Miles, Premium Sound. TU0082/127760
Certified, AMG, White/Stone, 3.5L, 5940C/F270087
Certified, Silver/Black, Only 15K Miles. ZA10417/ BN019891
Silver/Black, 3.6L V6 24V, Only 24K Miles, ZP1560/2S686321
2010 Toyota Prius III .........................
2010 Mercedes E350W ......................
2012 Audi A7 Quattro Sdn ..............
2011 Porsche Panamera S ...............
$18,988
$36,991
$56,890
$76,896
Black/Gray, Only 34K Miles, 51 MPG City. T130193-1/050042
Plus 500 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
Certified, Silver/Black, Only 22K Miles. 121489-1/ A165279
Plus 419 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
6 cyl, 3.0L Supercharged, Gray/Black, AWD, 11K Miles. A13597-1/CN019185
Plus 116 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
Certified, Silver/Blk, 20” Turbo Wheels, Burmester Sound, P13281-1/BL060773
Plus 112 More New & Used In Stock & On Sale!
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
Downtown News 51
Go further. • • • • • • • • •
Accounting and Tax Seminars Certificate in Business Management Certified Employee Benefit Specialist EKG Technician Training Legal Interpretation and Translation Medical Billing and Coding Medical Interpreting Paralegal Training Pharmacy Technician Training
• Open University
Enroll in a regular University course without formal admission to the University.
Photo, Office of Public Affairs, Cal State L.A.
Classes begin March 26, 2013. Call now for more information. College of Extended Studies and International Programs 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032 www.calstatela.edu/extension extension@calstatela.edu (323) 343-4900
52 Downtown News
February 18, 2013
Celebrating 40 Years
contemporary luxury with a century of charact y luxury with a century of character
© Image Locations Inc.
The building that shaped downtown a century ago is now home to a select number of spectacularly finished loft apartments. Residents have already begun to move in to these spacious lofts located above Bottega Louie in the epicenter of one of the city’s most dynamic neighborhoods. • One of a kind penthouse units • Spacious loft floorplans from 802 – 2219 sq. ft. • Superb interior finishes • Italian marble bathrooms
• GE appliances w/Kohler fixtures • Original exposed brick walls & windows • Rooftop lounges w/ zen garden & soaking pools • 24-hour front desk attendant
• Garage parking w/ 24-hour valet • Room service available from Bottega Louie & Coco Laurent • On 7th Street’s “Restaurant Row” • Easy access to the 110 freeway
relax. enjoy. live. © Image Locations Inc.
This living landmark offers a new level of style. Leasing from $2200 - $9660/ month. relax. enjoy. live.
Claim your place in this living landmark today.
530 W 7TH STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90014 | P. 1.855.234.7040 | THEBROCKMANLA.COM