02-27-12

LOS ANGELES

DOWNTOWN

NEWS

Restaurant Buzz

February 27, 2012

Volume 41, Number 9

13

2

A bookshop expands, Broadway theater, and more happenings Around Town.

12

Some of the most wonderful and silliest injuries ever suffered by a young man.

W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M

Still Shooting at 92

INSIDE

Hollywood Photographer Phil Stern Shows Some of His Greatest Hits At His Downtown Gallery Urban Scrawl on city redistricting.

4

Pretending at the Biltmore Hotel.

5

Another local housing project.

6

photo by Gary Leonard

Phil Stern, 92, at his Phil Stern Gallery in the Historic Core. The longtime Hollywood photographer’s celebrity pictures are on display in a new exhibit. He is holding a photo with Clint Eastwood (third from left) in a meeting.

by Richard Guzmán city editor

A

t 92, longtime Hollywood photographer Phil Stern walked slowly as he entered his gallery in the Historic Core. Once inside, he took a short breath with the help of his oxygen tank and stretched out a hand to greet a reporter.

“You’re gonna tell everyone about the naked girls on my walls?” he asked.

Lucky jeans gets a Downtown base.

9

The reference was to more than a dozen nude images hanging in his gallery at Sixth and Los Angeles streets. The reporter informed him that no, instead he was here to write about the next show, which features fully clothed subjects.

In conjunction with the recent Academy Awards, Inside Hollywood opened Feb. 25 and runs through April 21. It includes about 50 images taken by Stern that portray the behind-the-scenes

aspects of filmmaking, everything from stars resting between cuts to directors setting up a scene to actors stretching before a take.

“We picked the images that show the nuts and bolts of making movies,” Stern said. “We wanted a combination of big name people, actors, directors, and technical people, like the cameramen, to show as much as we could the drama of making see Photographs, page 14

Distinct Perseverance Arts District Condo Complex Named Downtown ‘Project of the Year’

Swimming and hula at East West Players.

15

by Ryan Vaillancourt

16 CALENDAR LISTINGS

staff writer

I

18 CLASSIFIEDS

t was a long time coming for 940 East 2nd Street, the Arts District condominium complex that was launched in 2005, then trudged through seeming economic disaster before finally opening in 2011.

Now, the pain and frustration is finally paying off. The project originally known as the Barn Lofts sold out its first phase, and last week it was named Project of the Year at Los Angeles Downtown News’

11th annual Downtowners of Distinction awards ceremony.

The awards were handed out on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The nine prizes honor efforts that benefited their districts and Downtown in general. Nearly 400 people attended the event celebrating highlights from housing projects to art exhibits to a book store.

Mark Borman, who developed 940 East 2nd Street with investor Canyon-Johnson Urban see Distinction, page 10

photo by Gary Leonard

John Lee (left) of Canyon-Johnson and developer Mark Borman with the Project of the Year prize for the condo complex 940 East 2nd Street.

Whole Woman Care...

Whole hearted-ly!

www.lacwh.org

www.facebook.com/lacwh HEART_DWNTN_10.25x1.5.indd 1

You are unique. So is your heart. This February, get heart smart. Come see the specialists at the Los Angeles Center for Women’s Health and learn more about our comprehensive Cardiac Health Program.

Call us for a Cardiac Risk Assessment

(213) 742.6400

It’s happening downtown.

1/25/12 2:59 PM

2 Downtown News

AROUNDTOWN Last Bookstore Set to Expand

I

t seemed an unlikely business venture last year when the used book shop the Last Bookstore left its Main Street home and moved into a 10,000-square-foot space at Fifth and Spring streets. Didn’t anyone tell owner Josh Spencer that people don’t buy books anymore? Well, keep the secret going, because Spencer has agreed to lease another 6,000 square feet in the Spring Arts Tower to expand the business’ $1 book section. The expansion, expected to be completed by June, is in partnership with Books for People, a nonprofit that Spencer helped create (he’s no longer officially involved). The group collects used books and distributes them to hospitals and schools, and sells some of the tomes to raise money to support tutoring low-income children. Currently, the shop’s entryway is packed with books selling for $1. “It seems to be a really popular front room and we just get tons and tons of donations that we don’t have any other way to get rid of,” Spencer said. “We’re drowning in them.”

The shop is asking for help in its expansion effort. Spencer said he plans to launch a Kickstarter fundraising campaign in the coming weeks to help pay for the growth.

Details will be at lastbookstorela.com. The shop this month added a coffee bar, called DBA.

Get Him to the Orpheum

R

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

ussell Brand, the British comedian and star of the 2010 comedy Get Him to the

TAKE MY PICTURE GARY LEONARD

Greek, will headline a new show coming to the Orpheum Theatre that features the talents of some of his fellow countrymen and women. The play What About Dick?, created

by Eric Idle, will be staged at the venue at 842 S. Broadway April 26-29. The period comedy from Idle, best known for being part of the English troupe Monty Python, follows young Dick (Brand) a philosophy and gynecology student at Oxford. Others in the cast include Eddie Izzard, Tim Curry, Tracey Ullman and Billy Connolly. On his website, Idle describes the play as “Oscar Wilde on acid, or like ‘Downton Abbey,’ only even funnier.” The tale begins with the birth of the vibrator, invented by Deepak Obi Ben Kingsley (Izzard), and goes on to tell the story of the decline of the British Empire and a piano discovered on a beach.

Tickets for the four performances are $38$103. Information at laorpheum.com

Metro Punts on Regional Connector Hearing

O

n Thursday, Feb. 23, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors was supposed to consider the final environmental study of the Regional Connector, a $1.37 billion underground transit link that will snake through Downtown. The hearing, however, was postponed until March 22 to give officials more time to meet with Financial District property owners who say the project will cause major disruption along Flower Street, said agency spokesman Dave Sotero. Attorneys representing Thomas

THE PETROLEUM BUILDING Commercial Office Space for Lease

Spring Street Steps

City Hall

Feb. 22, 2012

Properties Group, Hines (owner of the Citigroup Center), the California Club and the Westin Bonaventure Hotel are urging the agency to tunnel under Flower Street, and ditch a plan to use “cut and cover” construction. The latter process, they say, would be more disruptive and harmful to the local economy. Metro already plans to use a tunnel boring machine on the part of the route that goes through Little Tokyo, where community stakeholders have long been clamoring to minimize construction impacts. Approval of the environmental study is crucial if the connector is to maintain its construction timeline; it is slated to open in 2019. If the agency can settle concerns with the Financial District stakeholders and approve the report in March, Sotero said the timeline would not be affected.

Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Touts Progress

I

n late 2010, a group of business leaders from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce teamed with the United Way of Greater L.A. to tackle homelessness in the region. After studying the problem, the so-called Home for Good initiative set its sights on the chronically homeless and homeless veterans. The plan was to place these individuals into permanent supportive housing, where residents have on-location medical, mental health and substance abuse services. On Feb. 23, Home for Good reported that 2,273 chronically homeless people and 864 non-chronically homeless see Around Town, page 8

BUILDING HIGHLIGHTS Beautiful 236,900 sq. ft.

11 Story Office Building.

Parking Available on Premises Conference Room

©

24 Hour Security $1.55 Interior $1.65 Exterior Per

HU

Y RR

–

E S L E AC SP

IN AS

G

S FA

T!

Rentable Sq. Ft.

2 SUITES AVAILABLE Suite 1000 - 7,400 approximate rentable square feet.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012 7:30am - 12:30pm Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 N. Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012

8 offices, 1 executive office and large creative space.

Access directly off elevators.

Suite 1011 - 7,812 approximate rentable square feet.

Large, open creative space with one office.

Suite 1011

SAVE THE DATE!

Suite 1000

Will consider division and space build-outs.

The

Petroleum Building

SUCCESSFUL REAL ESTATE STRATEGIES Real Estate Development’s Role in Creating Healthy Cities SPEAKERS • ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS • MARKETPLACE EXHIBITS Sponsors Presenting

Silver

Bronze

714 W. Olympic Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90015 Phone: 213.746.6300 Ext. 1455 Fax: 213.765.1910 ghollis@shammasgroup.com

For More Information visit www.uli-la.org

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 3

DowntownNews.com

AUDI OF

DOWNTOWN L.A. 1900 S. Figueroa St. audidtla.com • 888-583-0981

2012 AUDI A3 2.0T

L.A. Auto Group Close to Work • Close to Home

OF DOWNTOWN L.A. 1900 S. Figueroa St. vwdowntownla.com • 888-781-8102 SPECIAL PROGRAMS • • • • • •

College Graduate Plan Foriegn College Student Plan First Time Buyer Plan Corporate Transactions International Business Professionals Plan Military Assistance Corporation

2012 VW JETTA S plus tax per month for 42 months

AUDI A3 for $299 a month. $350 Security Deposit / $299 First Month Payment / $695 Acquisition Fee / $1999 Down Payment / $3343 Due at Signing (Excludes taxes, title, other options and dealer fees). 42-month closed-end lease, 10,000 miles per year, Excess Mileage is $0.25 per mile . Must take delivery by January 31, 2012. Rate based on MSRP $30,045 of 2012 Audi A3 2.0T FWD Premium with Manual Transmission, open sky sunroof and Blue Tooth Package Purchase option at lease end for $15,392.55.

PORSCHE OF DOWNTOWN L.A. 1900 S. Figueroa St. porschedowntownla.com • 888-685-5426

2012 PORSCHE PANAMERA

$899

plus tax per month for 48 months

Top 10 reasons why you should buy your next vehicle from the Downtown L.A. Auto Group.

$149

1 Knowledgeable and dedicated 2 sales professionals. dealerships conveniently located 3 Six right in downtown.

Dozens of different models of 4 vehicles to fit every budget. trained and authorized 5 Factory service technicians.

Free shuttle service to and 6 from your office.

7 Free car wash with every service. stocked parts department 8 Fully at all of our dealerships.

9 Family owned since 1955.

Your satisfaction is our priority 10 before, during and after the sale.

Thousands of new and used vehicles in stock and ready for delivery.

NISSAN OF DOWNTOWN L.A. 635 W. Washington Blvd. downtownnissan.com • 888-838-5089

3330 S. Figueroa St. felixchevrolet.com • 888-879-9608

2012 CHEVY CRUZE LS

2011 NISSAN LEAF SL

$385

plus tax per month for 39 months

On approved credit, 39 month closed end lease, $2999 due at signing plus tax, 1st month payment, acquisition fee, license, doc fee. $0 security deposit. Residual $15,593. .15 cents per mile over 12,000 miles per year. MSRP $35,440, Stock #N111549/ VIN #BT00841

(CL014631) $5,999 plus tax. Residual $38,697.75. 10k miles per year. 48 Month Lease.

FELIX CHEVROLET

per month for 36 months

2012 Jetta S with manual transmission, $1,999 due at lease signing, MSRP $17,365. Purchase option at leaseend $9,898.05. .20 cents/mile over 30,000 miles. VIN 361817.

100% ELECTRIC

$299

Downtown

VOLKSWAGEN

DOWNTOWN L.A. AUTO GROUP 888-I-LOVE-LA (456-8352) W W W . D T L A M O T O R S . C O M

1801 S. Figueroa St. mbzla.com • 888-319-8762

2012 MERCEDES C250

CARSON NISSAN 1505 E. 223rd St., Carson carsonnnissan.com • 888-845-2267

$169

Own A New 2012 Nissan Sentra For $999 Down and Just $185 Per Month! plus tax per month for 39 months

2012 Chevy Cruze LS at 0 down! (does not include tax, license and registration fees. 39 months 12,000 miles per year OAC. Vin 133668

185

OWN$ IT FOR

per month for 72 months

2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0 model 12012 (Stock #C120762/Serial 688590), All sale prices and finance payments presented are net of Carson Nissan discounts and Nissan Factory Rebates including Customer Cash Rebate, NMAC Captive Cash Rebate, and College Graduate Cash Rebate and any Bonus Cash Rebates if applicable. Factory Rebates cannot be combined with Nissan Special Financing Rates and/or Lease Programs. Finance payments calculated with $999 cash/equity down payment plus fees, taxes, documentation charge and emissions testing charge for 72 months with above average tier credit approval All vehicles subject to prior sale. All offers expire at the close of business day on February 29, 2012.

$349

per month for 30 months

Plus tax 30 month closed end lease on approved credit. $2865 due at signing excluding title, taxes, options, acquisition fees, dealer fees and first payment. Zero Security Deposit. Purchase option at lease end $26,722. .25cents/ mile over 10,000 miles per year. All with MSRP of $38,175.

4 Downtown News

Twitter/DowntownNews

February 27, 2012

EDITORIALS Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis

Redistricting Solution: For a Unified City, Divide Downtown

T

he painful city redistricting process will continue for several more months. Already numerous City Council members and Angelenos have expressed anger at how maps have been drawn. With the process set to shift from an appointed commission to elected individuals, the fracas could escalate.

Disputes have surfaced across Los Angeles, with some people protesting that communities would be divided, and others claiming that proposed boundaries would erase decades of hard-won productivity. Many have charged that public testimony was ignored. There have been threats of lawsuits. There may be more before the process comes to an end.

One of the most heated battlegrounds has been in Downtown Los Angeles, where the proposed maps would vastly alter the status quo. As a refresher, Downtown is currently divided in ways that, on paper, appear downright strange. Much of the western half of the community rests in the Ninth District, which extends into South Los Angeles. Most of the eastern portion falls in the 14th, which rolls into Boyle Heights and up to Highland Park and Eagle Rock. There are oddities throughout, including having the west side of Spring Street in the 14th and the east side in the Ninth. Skid Row, a community of interest if ever there was one, is cleaved in two. Then there’s the famous “Alatorre Finger.” Named for the former councilman who pushed it through, it’s a digit-shaped area that creeps into the Historic Core and extends up Broadway, uniting the historically Latino shopping corridor with ethnically similar neighborhoods.

After months of work, and plenty of influence from elected officials, the City Council Redistricting Commission has proposed moving virtually all of the Ninth’s existing Downtown territory into the 14th District. Of the areas bounded by the freeway ring and the Los Angeles River, only a few of the mostly developed blocks holding Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Convention Center would remain in the Ninth (Chinatown and City West would continue to be in the First District).

Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry has railed against the proposal, arguing that it would amount to “economic apartheid.” Shoving the Ninth fully into South Los Angeles, she maintains, would create a devastatingly poor district and eliminate an economic engine that has helped spur development and job growth after a long struggle.

Fourteenth District rep José Huizar has just as forcefully

advocated for the commission’s new boundaries, arguing that Downtown would be nearly unified (Perry also put forward a map that nearly unifies Downtown in the Ninth), and reminding people that the community also has important historic ties to Boyle Heights. He has claimed as well that population shifts in adjoining districts make Downtown the natural area where the 14th, which needs to gain residents (all 15 districts need approximately 250,000 inhabitants), can grow. Of course, Perry’s team disputes that.

Both Perry and Huizar are right in that Downtown should be unified. Unfortunately, there is no simple path to make that happen. Neither of their proposals totally unifies Downtown; both “nearly” unify it and each deprives the other unnecessarily.

We now believe Downtown should be divided more cleanly between the Ninth and 14th districts. It is not a decision we come to lightly or happily. Early in the redistricting process we called for a unified Downtown, noting that concentrating the community in a single district would be consistent with the letter and spirit of the requirement to keep communities of interest together. We still believe that, but it’s not worth further harming poverty-stricken areas for our minimal gains — not only would the Ninth suffer in the current proposal, but Bernard Parks’ Eighth District would also lose its economic engines.

No solution is perfect, but an argument can be made for dividing Downtown in an upside down “L” shaped manner (or, if you start from the south, a lower case “r”). We strongly suggest that everything west of Broadway, along with Little Tokyo and the Civic Center, be placed in the Ninth, which would then extend to South L.A. Both sides of Broadway south of Third Street and everything to the east, including the Arts District and the First Street Bridge, could fall in the 14th.

(The additional residents that the 14th needs could be found in Northeast L.A. by pushing some other districts west.)

This could work because, although Downtown is a community of interest, it has large and numerous sub-communities, or perhaps districts of interest. The Broadway/“L” divide would allow Bunker Hill, the Financial District and South Park to continue to be united and in the Ninth. Meanwhile, the Historic Core, Skid Row, and the Arts, Fashion and Manufacturing districts could be whole in the 14th.

In this scenario, the east and west halves of Downtown would still be influential and would demand attention from

the person representing the area (though to be truly effective for Downtown, the two districts should work together). No Ninth District rep could easily behave like former Councilwoman Rita Walters and worry only about South L.A. while giving short shrift to the office hubs of Bunker Hill and the Financial District and the hive of activity around L.A. Live. Similarly, the outspoken and increasingly affluent residents in the Historic Core and the Arts District, and the financially powerful Fashion District, make it nearly impossible for any 14th District office holder to treat these neighborhoods as a satellite community to Boyle Heights.

This proposal will not please everyone, but the mapmakers, and some of the politicians guiding them, have made this necessary with their back-door dealing, potential Brown Act violations, power grabbing and land grabbing.

Some will argue that boundaries should not matter, that it’s not like a Berlin Wall is going up, preventing an exchange of ideas, people and commerce. The success of redistricting will depend on the quality of the individuals elected and their ability to work with their neighboring districts when interests overlap.

However, this is a situation where a good concept falls second to the way that business gets done in L.A. Historically, council representatives have used projects in one portion of their area to benefit less affluent communities in their district — sometimes, when there’s a “nexus,” a developer is required to create nearby affordable housing or something else that has a positive impact.

These individuals can act as mini-mayors. There’s a lot of power in the 15 fiefdoms for those who know how to wield it.

This is not about choosing between Perry and Huizar. Maps are drawn once a decade, and Perry will be termed out in 2013.

Although Huizar potentially has seven more years, he could seize other opportunities if they arise. Lines can’t be based on the present. Instead, dividing Downtown will give all future officeholders ways to improve the rest of their territory.

The Redistricting Commission is almost ready to hand its final maps to the City Council. Now, the elected officials will intensify the land trading and favor granting. There also may be a challenge to Council President Herb Wesson, who many believe is pulling the strings behind redistricting (he is also gaining some of the affluent neighborhoods that Parks is losing, at least so far). Things could get uglier than they already are.

In an ideal world, the politics of redistricting would be kept to a minimum, all 15 council districts would have some sort of economic engine their elected representative could leverage, and Downtown would be in a single district.

Unfortunately, the powers-that-be are not allowing that to happen. Thus, as difficult as it is, Downtown should be cut in two again. The community is strong enough to thrive. Plus, it’s better for all of Los Angeles.

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 5

Opinion

Pretending at the Biltmore Parading Through the Illusions and Secrets Of Downtown’s Storied Hotel

by Anne MArie ruff

I

t’s no secret that one of this city’s most important products is illusion — movies, entertainment, media. Whatever you call it, Angelenos are known for the products of their pretending. I am no exception.

FIRST PERSON

One of my favorite sets in the city on which to pretend is the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. Built in 1923 and designed by the firm Schultze & Weaver, the same architects who designed New York’s storied WaldorfAstoria, the Biltmore is an architectural gem.

A collection of ballrooms and bedrooms elaborately ornamented with carpets and crests, the whole place seems like a pretend palace for a royalty (or at least an aristocracy) which Los Angeles has never possessed.

I have entered the doors of the Biltmore so many times, and for so many purposes, that I imagine on some level it is my hotel. When friends or colleagues come to town I tour them through the courtyard with its vaulted ceiling as if it were my second home. I narrate the vintage 1920s photos of the Academy Awards — birthed and held in the grand Crystal Ballroom for several years — lining one of the back hallways as I would a family photo album: “And here is Shirley Temple, and here is Ronald Reagan, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis.”

The public heart of the Biltmore is the Rendezvous Court, a setting on the Olive Street side centered around a formal stone fountain punctuated with giant potted plants, and bordered by recessed spaces sheltering

cozy couches and chairs. Here the hotel persists in offering the anachronistic ritual of high tea. I have watched several seasons of visitors and business people gather next to tea cozies coupled with pyramids of cucumber sandwiches and clotted cream looking fancy and important. For the last couple of holiday seasons, my husband and I have splurged as a gift to each other and pretended to be the kind of people who “take their tea in the courtyard,” bringing the extra chocolate-covered strawberries home to our children.

Our children have also come to know the Biltmore’s courtyard on their own terms. As Downtown residents we would go to the hotel at Christmas time for a public session of holiday book reading, cookies and apple cider. So my little boys have learned to pretend that they belong in that grand place, spilling cookie crumbs on the ornate carpets to tales of the Grinch and the Polar Express.

The Biltmore has a series of ballrooms in varying degrees of grandness. I have attended dozens of conferences, luncheons and receptions in those halls. As a journalist reporting on lawyers and their industry, I always picked up my name tag at the registration table without paying the registration fee (media never pays to report on such events) and felt as though I was pretending to belong at my seat at the round table, beneath the interior balconies and giant curtains, enjoying the three-course meals a small army of servers delivered with practiced precision.

Gilded elevators have taken me on short rides up to the guest rooms. One year I had the

photo courtesy of Millennium Biltmore Hotel

The Biltmore’s Rendezvous Court is the location for high tea, where visitors and business people gather next to tea cozies coupled with pyramids of cucumber sandwiches and clotted cream.

pleasure of staying at the hotel on two separate weekends, sponsored by a journalism fellowship for a series of meetings and conferences.

Like the out-of-town fellows, I pretended the stay was a necessary luxury, even though I lived only a block and a half away.

Another meeting place is the Gallery Bar, which opens onto the wide concourse that connects all the public rooms of the hotel.

On a recent birthday I met a friend there for a drink. Cloistered beneath the Art Nouveau designs on the walls of the bar’s annex (also known as the Cognac Room), sipping a martini, lounging on elegant cushions, I felt for all the world like I could be one of the bar’s patrons from an earlier generation, sporting a pixie cut and a flapper dress.

Curiously, I know the hotel best not for any of its individual rooms, but as a thoroughfare between Olive Street and Grand Avenue. For a year I visited the Biltmore

twice daily while commuting on foot from my loft to my office. I kept waiting for the management to stop and ask me my purpose, my reason for being there. My daily ritual afforded me an almost insider’s perspective on the conferences and conventions, the various communities of professionals, industries, sports associations, would-be child actors and ethnic affinity groups as they paraded through the hotel and primped for their gala dinners and dances.

Amazingly, neither the doormen, nor the managers, nor the waiters ever asked me why I traipsed through the hotel every day.

They never once told me I didn’t belong.

Perhaps like me, they were in on the pretending. Perhaps at the end of the day, that is the Biltmore’s purpose, to make a continual flow of outsiders and interlopers, dealmakers and dreamers feel like they have arrived, however briefly, in their own fabulous fairy tale.

YOUR DOWNTOWN TOYOTA DEALER! “2012 CAMRY WINS NHTSA 5-STAR SAFETY RATING!”

35MPG

HWY!

EPA ESTIMATE

PRESENTING THE ALL-NEW

2012 TOYOTA CAM CAMRY! LEASE A NEW 2012 CAMRY SE FOR JUST

229/mo!

$

plus tax on approved above average credit Lease a new 2012 Camr y SE for $229 plus tax, 36 months on approved above average credit. $1999 due at lease signing, plus license tax and applicable fees. No security deposit required. 12,000 miles per year, 15¢ per mile for excess miles. See dealer for complete details. Offer ends 3/5/12.

Los Angeles, CA · www.singlestone.com | t 213.892.0772 San Marino, CA · www.singlestonemissionstreet.com | t 626.799.3109

Call or visit today!

1-800-574-4891

• toyotacentral.com

1600 S. Figueroa (at Venice), LA — 2 blocks south of the Staples Center

6 Downtown News

Twitter/DowntownNews

February 27, 2012

Banco-ing on a Building Conversion Faded Property at Fourth and Spring to Become Apartments

by Ryan VaillancouRt staff wRiteR

D

eveloper Allen Gross has reached an agreement to buy the Herman H. Hellman building and plans to convert the 1903 former bank facility, which later housed the Community Redevelopment Agency, into 212 apartments.

The project could breath new life into the once luxurious but now faded structure at 354 S. Spring St. It would mark the first start on a residential conversion in the Old Bank District in seven years.

Gross and his wife, Arax Harutunian, run the firm

Neighborhood Effort. The company developed the Blackstone Lofts at 901 S. Broadway and the Los Altos Apartments on Wilshire Boulevard, a few miles west of Downtown. They are in escrow with seller Jamison Properties and expect to complete the purchase of the Hellman building, better known today as the Banco Popular building, this year. Gross would not be more specific in terms of timing.

“We are grateful at the potential of being entrusted with such a cherished, historical building,” said Gross, who is already working with a preservation consultant to have the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gross is awaiting city approvals, along with the close of

photo by Gary Leonard

free seminar

Allen Gross plans to convert the Herman W. Hellman building, where an original Tiffany glass dome remains intact in the lobby, into 212 apartments.

Downtown back talk

The Anatomy of Pain Where SPiNe AND NerveS iNTerSecT Presented by Fardad Mobin, MD, FAANS St. Vincent Spine Institute Neurosurgeon

Thursday, March 8th 12:15pm–1:00pm Central Library – Meeting Room A 630 W. 5th St. (cross Hope Street) Los Angeles, CA 90071 Park at 524 S. Flower St. Discounted parking available with Los Angeles Public Library Card

Call to reserve a seat 866-478-8462 RSVP by March 7th Lunch will be served Co-sponsored by St. Vincent Spine Institute and the Science, Technology and Patents Department of Central Library.

StvincentSpine.com

escrow, to proceed with the conversion. He said a project cost has not been determined, though he expects funding will come from a mix of private and public sources including tax incentives. He plans to set aside about 20% of the units for affordable housing.

A zoning administrator is expected to consider the proposal in the next two months. At that hearing, the city will weigh granting the project an exception to a rule in the 13-year-old adaptive reuse ordinance. The ordinance demands that, in the case of residential conversions, units in a building must average at least 750 square feet.

Satisfying that 750-square-foot average would mean the Banco Popular Building could have no more than 178 apartments. Neighborhood Effort’s proposal instead calls for 212 units averaging 610 square feet. They would range from 481-1,576 square feet, said Elizabeth Peterson Gower, whose land-use firm the Elizabeth Peterson Group is representing Neighborhood Effort.

Peterson said the size requirements might have made sense when officials were writing the ordinance in the late 1990s, but current market conditions merit a change to the rules.

Today, Downtown is attracting single, young renters who seek smaller units for lower rents, she said.

Hamid Behdad, a developer who previously served as the city’s adaptive reuse czar and helped write and implement the ordinance, including the size rules, agrees that it is time for a change. He said the decision to prohibit small units was intended to discourage the conversion of historic commercial buildings into low-income, single room occupancy hotels. Now, he said, if the city wants to stimulate development, it should cater to landlords’ frequent preference for smaller apartments, which translate to higher lease rates per square foot.

“With the realities of today’s market, to limit units in terms of size, in my opinion, is no longer valid,” he said.

The city may ultimately agree with Behdad and Peterson.

The city zoning administrator already has the authority to approve projects that don’t meet the adaptive reuse ordinance’s minimum size standards. In fact, Neighborhood Effort’s most recent project — the transformation of the Blackstone, which included units as small as 400 square feet — was granted the exception.

The size rules are up for potential revision by the city Planning Department, which is reviewing the adaptive reuse ordinance and considering updates. Peterson said Neighborhood Effort’s project, however, will likely go to the zoning administrator before the Planning Department alters the ordinance.

Sibling Rivalry Herman W. Hellman tore down his single family home at Fourth and Spring streets in order to erect his namesake building, which may have been the first steel-framed high-rise in the city, said preservation architect Robert Chattel.

Hellman was the brother of Isaiah Hellman, who, not to be outdone, would later raze his residence at Fourth and Main streets and build the still standing Farmers and Merchants Bank building.

Much of the Herman W. Hellman building’s historic fabric remains intact. Original stained Tiffany glass is in the marble encased lobby, and Hellman’s initials are carved in various interior and exterior ornaments. All of those elements will be preserved, Gross said.

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 7

DowntownNews.com

The renovation calls for restoring the nine-story building’s original corridor arrangement, which loops around every floor. Many walls were torn down to provide large office spaces for previous tenants, including the CRA, which occupied the property on the northeast corner of the intersection from 1980 to 2010. After the agency left for space on the west side of the 110 Freeway, the building was largely empty. The CRA had occupied six floors, but workers had grown angry over the property’s deterioration and the owner’s alleged unwillingness to make fixes. The building was described in a 2009 agency memo as having “fallen into disrepair.”

Once the CRA left, the building seemed at risk of becoming something of a neighborhood dead zone, said developer Tom Gilmore.

Gilmore, credited as the adaptive reuse pioneer for converting three faded structure into apartments that he branded the Old Bank District, actually came to the area in the late 1990s for the Banco Popular building.

Then working for the Hertz Group, which bought the

building, Gilmore was charged with attracting commercial tenants. He worried it was a dead-end task, largely because the surrounding neighborhood was so blighted.

“I was thinking that there was no way we could reposition that building unless somehow the whole neighborhood came up, and then in that context I began to think about what would become the Old Bank District,” Gilmore said.

The neighborhood has indeed “come up.” Ironically, it’s the Herman W. Hellman building that is poised to be one of the last faded properties to find new life.

Gross said that, once approved, construction would take about 16 months. Units, he said, will be finished with hardwood floors and top-notch appliances. Unlike many lofts in the area that embraced raw finishes with exposed ceilings and concrete floors, Gross said his project will incorporate more of a soft-loft aesthetic.

Remaining elements of the building’s historic fabric, however, will not be touched, he said.

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

photo by Gary Leonard

The building opened in 1903. It later became known as the Banco Popular building, though many Downtowners knew it as the longtime home of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

A Commercial Finance Lender

NEED A LOAN TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS? ■ MicroCreditAccess Loans to $75,000 ■ MaxCreditAccess Loans to $350,000

Loans are made under a License from the ca department of corporations

Small BuSineSS SpecialiSt

For more details contact: Michael Banner (213) 362-9111 www.losangelesldc.com

New Location in Downtown!

SBIC Essential Checking Add Value – Save Costs Savings Account

0.50%

*

APY

Premium MMDA Account (Min. $100,000)

MINIMUM OPENING BALANCES

0.75% *

PRESENTING THE ALL-NEW

2012 TOYOTA PRIUS v

APY

PERSONAL: $100 BUSINESS: $500

* APY refers to Annual Percentage Yield. Interest rates and annual percentage yields are current as of 02/08/2012.

Fee could change earning on the account. Rates are subject to change. Offer available for limited period only.

Please contact our branch for further details.

STATE BANK OF INDIA (CALIFORNIA)

Easy On-Site Validated PARKING!

523 W. 6th Street, R501, Los Angeles 90014 Tel. 213-627-7350 • Fax- 213-622-8612 Hours: Monday - Friday 9am to 4pm Toll Free: 877-505-INDIA www.sbical.com

(CALL US TODAY TO GET AN EVEN BETTER LOOK.)

Make your appointment now!

1-800-574-4891

• toyotacentral.com

1600 S. Figueroa (at Venice), LA — 2 blocks south of the Staples Center

8 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

Return of the Butterflies

Around Town

T

Continued from page 2 veterans were placed in permanent supportive housing in 2011. Officials with the effort say its key success last year was in securing the support and cooperation of community organizations and public agencies that for years have tackled homelessness in a piecemeal manner, said Jerry Neuman, co-chair of the Home for Good task force. Last year, 104 stakeholders, including the city and county, signed on to the program. In 2012, Neuman said the group is looking to pool some $40 million in housing monies from various public agencies into a single fund. The task force would kick in $5 million raised from the private sector, then look to allocate the funds for new permanent supportive housing developments. Home for Good’s focus is rooted partly in research that shows that it costs taxpayers less to house a homeless individual than it does to shoulder their bills from emergency room visits, jails, mental health facilities and other public services.

he always popular Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum is coming back, officials with the Exposition Park institution announced last week. Starting April 8, there will be 53 species of North American butterflies flying around the outdoor pavilion in front of the museum.

The creatures will include yellow and black giant swallowtails, multicolored painted ladies and the state butterfly, the California dogface. The flitting will continue through Sept. 3 at 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 763-3466 or nhm.org.

Women Be Well

G

ood Samaritan Hospital in City West is hosting the Women’s Wellness Conference, a morning program on Saturday, March 3, that will address several health issues. The $25 per person event starts at 9 a.m. with registration. The program begins at 10 a.m. with Dr. Joanna Davies, adjunct associate professor at the USC Andrus School of Gerontology, who will address the topic “Healthy Aging, What It Means.” She’ll be followed by Dr. Jennifer Keagle, who will talk about age management. The program

will also include talks on Alzheimer’s disease and ways to prevent it, as well as urology issues. Good Samaritan Hospital is at 1225 Wilshire Blvd. To register call (800) 472-2737 or goodsam.org.

A New Plaza in Little Tokyo

A

grand opening ceremony for a 300-space underground parking garage in Little Tokyo and an aboveground plaza was held last week. City officials including Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry joined neighborhood leaders such as Bill Watanabe of the Little Tokyo Service Center for the Feb. 24 event at the northwest corner of First and Judge John Aiso streets. The ceremony marked the debut of a two-level garage and the unveiling of a new Japantown marker, as well as the dedication of the Toriumi Plaza. The street-level gathering space is named for Rev. Howard Noboru Toriumi, a minister of the Union Church in Little Tokyo who, according to Perry’s office, was instrumental in establishing efforts such as the Little Tokyo Community Redevelopment Project Area, the Koreisha Chushoku Kai senior nutrition program and the Parkinson’s Support Group.

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

Community Amenities: ~ 24 Hr. Manned Lobby ~ Concierge ~ Pool / Spa / Saunas ~ Fitness Center ~ Gas BBQ Grills ~ Recreation Room

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 Call 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.

TOWERS T H E

A PA RT M E N T S

www.TowersApartmentsLA.com

MAID SERVICE • FURNITURE • HOUSEWARES • CABLE • UTILITIES • PARKING RESIDENCES: SINGLES • STUDIO • ONE BEDROOM • TWO BEDROOM

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 9

DowntownNews.com

Lucky Arrival in the Arts District Clothing Company Opens $15 Million Headquarters photo by Gary Leonard

by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR

M

ore than 200 stylish, denim-clad employees looked on from the parking lot last week as city leaders joined the brass from Lucky Brand jeans at the grand opening ceremony for the company’s new Arts District headquarters.

The $15 million effort at 540 S. Santa Fe Ave. will house about 250 employees.

The two-story, 46,000-square-foot project, which was announced in late 2009, will hold the business’ executive offices, product and store design departments, production, marketing and other units.

The company was founded in 1990 and was previously headquartered in Vernon.

“When we were looking for new headquarters we wanted an environment that would inspire us and be a part of our culture, and we loved the Arts District,” said David Demattei, CEO of Lucky Brand, at the event on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

The company designs items for men and women and is known for vintage-inspired jeans that have a rugged, worn look. The clothes are sold at more than 170 Lucky Brand retail outlets as well as in other shops and department stores.

The new building sits just south of the $160 million One Santa Fe, a recently launched project that will bring more than 400 apartments and a grocery store to the area. It is also near the Southern California Institute of Architecture and is across the street from the Villains Tavern bar.

“It is an important addition to the revitalization of this area,” said 14th District City Councilman José Huizar, whose district covers the new headquarters.

Huizar said that the well-known company’s presence in the Arts District, coupled with developments such as One Santa Fe, could serve as yet another catalyst for the area and will reshape people’s thinking about what is possible in the Arts District.

“In the past we looked at this area as being industrial,” Huizar said. “But this is an

A $15 million headquarters for Lucky Brand jeans opened on Santa Fe Avenue last week. The building will house 250 jobs.

office for a major jean and clothing manufacturer and I think these are the types of new business that will locate here.”

Although the building is new, it was designed to look as if it has been there for years, said Patrick Wade, the creative director for Lucky Brand who also designed the edifice.

“We were inspired by the train station, by that 1930s early L.A. feel, so we wanted to bring the vintage feeling to the building,” he said.

The exterior is painted a light beige with dark brown accents. Inside, the company’s employees will work in a stylish environment with a dark concrete floor, brick walls and industrial-style brown lamps along the hallways.

Long dark-wood tables line the cafeteria.

The cubicles are made of canvas dividers stitched together with what looks like old ropes. Mannequins dressed in Lucky Brand clothing are placed throughout the space.

Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

Voted Best Dentist 2011!

Ad #2

cosmetic, tmj, & sedation dentistry

siNCE 1949 Your full service paint store. We provide quality products, reliable

service, competitive prices, dependable delivery, and professional consultation. Par Paints proudly features non-toxic, Zero VOC paints as a healthy option for your environment. Commercial Accounts Welcome.

255 Grand Ave., Suite 204, Los Angeles, CA 90012

213-620-5777 | Find us on Facebook @ www.downtowndentalla.com

WE CARRY BRANds LiKE:

, AFM Safecoat, Benjamin Moore, Pratt and Lambert, Spectrum Paint, American Clay, Fine Paints of Europe, Valspar Lacquer, Cabot Stains, One Shot Paint, And Much More...

PAR PAiNt COMPANY, iNC Like Us on Facebook

10% OFF With this Ad!

See Us on Yelp

1634 Temple Street, Los Angeles | 213-413-4950

Monday-Friday, 7:30am-5pm, Saturday 8am-2:30pm, Closed Sunday

20% Off

C onvenient Parking

1 888 711 9622 1901 W. 8th St. •

M-Sat. 8am-7pm, Sun 8am-5pm

Anything in the Store Must present coupon.1 coupon per person. 1 item per coupon.

Expires 3/18/12

YOUR OPINION COUNTS What do you love about the Downtown L.A. Arts District? What would make it even better?

PROTECT YOUR TOYOTA with service designed by the people who made it.

Arts District residents, business owners, property owners, students, and visitors…

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Please go to www.artsdistrictla.com and click on the “Survey” link on the home page to take the survey. The deadline for completion is March 19, 2012.

You can opt-in for a chance to win a gift certificate for food, beverages or classes at one of many Arts District venues.

We Appreciate and THANK YOU for your participation!

725 S. Crocker Street • Los Angeles, CA 90021 213.228.8484 • artsdistrictla.com

FREE shuttle service drop-off & pick-up

EVERYDAY LOW PRICES! • Prices competitive with local garages!

• $39.95 OIL CHANGE*

• Includes 27-point safety inspection

• Includes CHECK ENGINE LIGHT scan

• Service: M- F 6AM -6PM, Sat 6AM-5PM * And up. Includes up to 5 quarts of oil. Tax and hazardous disposal fees extra. Synthetic oil additional.

Toyota vehicles only. Expires 3/31/2012.

55029

Make an appointment today!

1-800-716-1345

• toyotacentral.com

1600 S. Figueroa (at Venice), LA — 2 blocks south of the Staples Center

10 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

Distinction

lowed suit. Michael Ritchie, CTG’s artistic director, said he expects the company that won the prize in Bunker Hill will be around for at least another 45 years.

Another award went to the recurring bike bonanza known as CicLAvia, which closes miles of streets to cars and opens them to bicyclists, skateboarders and all manner of walkers.

Organizers have managed to do it three times and the event is slated to roll back through Downtown on April 15. It won for the Civic Center.

After the first CicLAvia, “We heard that people fell in love with Los Angeles again, that people who lived in the neighborhoods were able to enjoy the streets for the first time in years,” said CicLAvia board member Jonathan Parfrey. “We heard that people who lived in the suburbs were taking public transport, coming to Downtown Los Angeles, how much they loved Spring Street, how much they loved bicycling though Downtown.”

Other Downtowners of Distinction winners included the Bristol Hotel, Izek Shomoff’s Jewelry District conversion of a blighted residential hotel into 107 apartments; the Grammy Museum, a three-year-old music and culture emporium in South Park; the Downtown Women’s Center’s Project Home, the organization’s new Central City East headquarters and service center housing 71 formerly homeless women; and the Natural History Museum’s $135 million Dinosaur Hall exhibit on the Figueroa Corridor.

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

OVO-sm-031875

NO1

031875

photos by Gary Leonard

Continued from page 1 Funds, likened the effort to a dream, one that he said “came together and could only be realized if you work with a talented architect, and can survive Building and Safety, City Planning and a global financial meltdown.”

The Downtowners of Distinction honors projects from different Downtown districts (a prize is not awarded in each district every year). The district winners were selected by the Downtown News editorial department, while the Project of the Year was voted on by community leaders from individual districts.

In Little Tokyo, the award went to the Spice Table, a restaurant that has earned raves for its take on Singaporean and Vietnamese food.

“We could not find a better place to open our restaurant,” said Kim Luu-Ng, who opened the Central Avenue spot last year with her husband, former Pizzeria Mozza chefde-cuisine Bryant Ng. “We want to bring people back to Downtown, create jobs, create a vibrant community, and when people from the Westside come over, we know we’re doing something right.”

For the Historic Core, the award went to the Last Bookstore, which relocated to a 10,000-square-foot space last year. The shop has a section for used records and recently added a cafe.

“In my mind I’m still selling books in my apartment like I was 10 years ago,” said Josh Spencer, who also announced that the shop will soon expand into the Spring Arts Tower’s 6,000-square-foot mezzanine. “I’m always surprised when I find out anyone knows who we are and that we’re around.”

Also cheered was Center Theatre Group, which launched 45 years ago and was praised for luring visitors to Downtown long before new housing developments and restaurants fol-

Josh Spencer of the Last Bookstore.

21/02/2012 sans corr.

Linéature : 133 lpi.

Safety : XXX Infographiste : Robert

Michael Ritchie of Center Theatre Group.

Izek Shomof of the Bristol Hotel.

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

MEDIA PARTNERS

sans corr.

Date de Livraison : Date de Parution : Couleur :

avec corr. sans corr. avec corr.

FOR PREFERRED SEATING, ASK FOR THE Tapis Rouge ™ VIP EXPERIENCE GROuP SALES AND X : 1-800-450-1480

Kim Luu-Ng of Spice Table.

sans corr.

AT THE SANTA MONICA PIER

avec corr.

limited engagement

031875_OVO_SM_Feb27 Downtown News 6.75” x 12”

now playing

Jonathan Parfrey of CicLAvia.

N annonce : Publication : Format Fini :

get your tickets today! cirquedusoleil.com

O

PRESENTED BY

OVO – santa mOnICa – ann JRnL – FebRuaRy 27

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY DEBORAH COLKER

Feb 21, 2012 Feb 27, 2012 CMYK

avec corr.

Lisa Watson of the Downtown Women’s Center.

Jane Pisano of the Natural History Museum.

Rita George of the Grammy Museum.

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 11

DowntownNews.com

SCENES OF DISTINCTION Photos by Gary Leonard Nearly 400 people showed up at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Tuesday, Feb. 21, for the Los Angeles Downtown News’ 11th annual Downtowners of Distinction awards. Those who celebrated the standout projects in Downtown Los Angeles in 2011 included Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, and City Council members Jan Perry, José Huizar, Dennis Zine and Tom LaBonge.

Good Samaritan Hospital’s

Women’s Wellness Conference

You’re invited

Keynote Speaker Alzheimer’s Disease in Women’s Health Issue: Strategies to Prevent and Treat

Roberta Diaz Brinton, Ph.D. R. Pete Vanderveen Chair in Therapeutic Discovery and Development Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomedical Engineering and Neurology Norris Foundation Laboratory for Neuroscience Research Director, USC STAR Science Education Program Director Center for Scientific Translation, USC Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Saturday, March 3, 2012 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

Luncheon following program.

Continental breakfast and lunch will be served.

Parking will be validated.

Good Samaritan Hospital Moseley-Salvatori Conference Center 637 S. Lucas Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90017

For more information or to register in advance please call 1 (800) GS-CARES (1-800-472-2737) or go to www.goodsam.org.

Cost: $25

12 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

HEALTH My Favorite Injuries Sometimes the Worst Thing About Getting Hurt Is That It Shouldn’t Have Happened in the First Place

by Xander davies

N

obody likes getting injured.

By their very nature, injuries are painful. They can take forever to heal. Worse, sometimes the way you get them is flat-out embarrassing.

Over the years, I’ve learned to have a good sense of humor about the afflictions I’ve suffered. This is probably a good thing, because in many instances I should have seen them coming. I can safely say that a lot of my tumbles were entirely preventable. Had I been more aware and/or used better judgment, I never would have gotten them in the first place.

On the other hand, I now have valuable experience and some stories to tell my grandkids. Here are my three favorite injuries.

Much Knee-ded: I have had knee issues for years. This is terrible, and only partly because I’m in my early 20s. Sadly, I have already suffered through multiple operations and myriad aches and pains.

My initial mishap occurred during baseball tryouts during the spring of my sophomore year of high school. I was a big fan of Adrian Beltre, who at the time was the third baseman of the Dodgers. Inspired, I thought I would try my hand at his position.

I’m a lifelong athlete. My coordination is

good and, to be honest, I’m strong. I know how to act on an athletic field.

One of my strengths is that I’m aware of the inherent risk for injury in sports. I had broken my wrist and multiple fingers playing football and been spiked in the leg by metal cleats on the soccer pitch. Still, except for the part where they throw the ball at the batter, I considered baseball a non-contact sport.

My big mistake occurred even before I jogged out to the third base bag — I had forgotten my cleats. Instead, I took the field wearing an old pair of Osiris skateboard shoes that I’d repaired several times with glue. Seriously.

On my third throw of the day, a routine toss from third to first, the front of my left shoe ripped apart. My foot slipped through the tear, causing my knee to buckle. In no time I was flat on the grass, both dumbfounded and writhing in pain.

My knee swelled to the size of a grapefruit and I was rushed to the hospital. An MRI revealed a torn ligament in my left leg. I also learned that both my kneecaps were in the wrong place due to over-tightened lateral tendons. I have no idea how I achieved that magnificent condition, but there it was.

Initially, my surgeon couldn’t tell which leg was giving me issues. This was not a good sign.

“Wow, your left knee?” he asked. “From

Comprehensive Family Health Care

this image I’d guess your right knee was in pain. That’s probably coming soon.”

Great, something to look forward to.

A Not-So Magical Kingdom: In 2003, my English cousins came to visit for the holidays. Flying to California was a big deal for them and they desperately wanted to see Disneyland. I knew I was in for a day of long lines. Still, I figured the deafening repetition of the It’s a Small World ride theme song would be the extent of my pain.

The park was full that day, with most rides sporting outrageous lines. Monsanto’s House of the Future was no different.

We were packed like sardines inside the entrance of the Tomorrowland attraction, where a cartoon docent gives a spiel about the building. It was so crowded that neither of my little cousins could see the monitors.

This was a problem for a lot of people, including the family next to us in line. Thus, the father decided his daughter needed a better view. He proceeded to lift the 6-year-old off the ground and throw her over his shoulder, fireman style.

Good for her, bad for me. I was right behind her and dad wasn’t aware of the surroundings. Her foot popped me smack in the right eye.

The pain was intense and I was momentarily blinded. I covered my eye with my hands. In a few seconds I was able to blink away the pain. I could see, but I wound up with a black eye and bruised retina.

Location:there ROP Fortunately, was G no 2012 permanent damage.

I would have2-6.indd to tell my FileUnfortunately, Name: Grand Medical friends that Rep:I had Solbeen taken out by a first grader. Date: 1-23 There was, however, one bright side. The Creator: yk good folks at the Magic Kingdom responded Changes: 4 and issued fast-passes to my entire family. So while sporting a fresh shiner, we got to cut to the front of the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I wonder if that’s a company policy, an Aye for an Eye? Parkour, Nevermore: If you are unaware of the sensation known as parkour, then you probably have not seen the opening chase sequence of the James Bond film Casino Royale. Those in the know can guess there is a great falling-and-hurting-myself story in the works.

Originating in France, parkour, or free running, is a method of movement focused on navigating obstacles with speed and efficiency, using public spaces as a course. In layman’s terms, it means bouncing off buildings, walls and other fixed objects in a speedy, acrobatic and downright dangerous dance. It is best left to professionals.

When the Bond film came out, my friends and I were swept up in the craze. One evening, four of us, all about 20, were running and jumping around Downtown Los Angeles in our best effort to replicate the sport.

It was fine for a while. Then, the early confidence I had attained prompted me to try to pull a 360-degree heel grab, which is exactly what it sounds like, over a 2-foot high bush.

Not surprisingly, my foot got caught halfway up the plant. I felt the fear immediately. A half-second later, I landed on the concrete with a deafening thud.

My brief experience with free running left me with two broken fingers and a badly twisted ankle. I’m all healed now, but thinking back, it was a really bad idea. I am lucky it wasn’t much worse.

Redeem this offer at your initial examination and cleaning appointment and receive a FREE whitening kit Offer expires: 3/31/2012

Dr. Thomas Cachur Jr. & Dr. David Steinberg

center for Maternal fetal Medicine of l.a.

• Comprehensive Obstetric Ultrasound (AIUM accredited) • CA Perinatal Diagnostic Center including Genetic Counseling • Nuchal Translucency Screening

MAKING QUALITY DENTISTRY COMFORTABLE ANDAND GENTLE MAKING QUALITY DENTISTRY COMFORTABLE GENTLE MAKING QUALITY COMFORTABLE for over 18 years in Downtown LA LA AND GENTLE for DENTISTRY over 18 years in Downtown for over 18 years in Downtown LA Complimentary Whitening WEAND CARE! Complimentary Teeth Whitening WE GENTLE CARE! MAKING QUALITYTeeth DENTISTRY COMFORTABLE Complimentary Teeth Whitening WE CARE! for over 18 years in Downtown LA x State the of artthe sterilization center,center, x of State art sterilization

✓ submit your own events

x |State ofequipment theGraduate art sterilization Silvia Kasparian, D.D.S. USC | A.D.A., C.D.A. Member with equipment tested weekly tocenter, with tested weekly to WE CARE! with equipment weekly to ensure your safety. ensure your safety.

601x W.State 5th St. ,art#1110 |tested (213) 892-8172 ensure your safety. of the sterilization center,

Complimentary Teeth Whitening

Dr. Kevin Justus & Dr. Lori Silver

We gladly accept most insurance plans.

1513 S. Grand Ave., Suite 320 (Venice & Grand) Los Angeles • 213.747.7307

Digital x-raysx-rays for minimal expo- expox Digital for minimal x equipment Digital x-rays for minimal MAKING QUALITY COMFORTABLE AND withDENTISTRY tested weekly to exposure and feedback. sureimmediate and immediate feedback. sure and immediate feedback. LA ensure safety. x over Oral Cancer and Periodontal x your Oral Cancer andDowntown Periodontal for 18 years in x x-rays Oral Cancer Periodontal x Digital for minimal exposcreening at each examination ap- apscreening atand each examination atfeedback. each sure pointment and screening immediate at no extra charge. pointment at no examination extra charge.appointment at time, no extra charge. x Oral Cancer Periodontal x We your and we seewe see x respect Weand respect your time, and x We respect your time, and screening at each examination ap- we see that you are treated promptly. that you are treated promptly. that you are treated promptly. pointment at financial no extra charge. x Flexible options, includ-includx Flexible financial options, x Flexible financialinterest-free options, includx We respect your time, we see ing uping to 12 up months to 12 and months interest-free up to 12promptly. months interest-free Offer expires: 7/31/2009 Offer expires: 7/31/2009 that financing. you ing are treated financing.

Offer expires: 7/31/2009 financing. x Flexible financial options, includx

Silvia Kasparian, D.D.S. Silvia Kasparian, D.D.S. ing up to 12 months interest-free Silvia Kasparian, D.D.S. Graduate USC School of Dentistry financing.

Graduate USC School of Dentistry Graduate USC School of Dentistry Member: American DentalDental Association Member: American Association Member: American Dental Association SilviaCalifornia Kasparian, D.D.S. DentalDental Association California Association California Dental Association Graduate USC School of Dentistry Los Angeles Dental Society Los Angeles Dental Society Los Angeles Dental Society Member: American Dental Association 601 W. 5th St. Suite 1110 601 W. 5th St. Suite 1110 601 W. 5th St. Suite 1110 California Los Dental Association Angeles, CA CA Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles, Los Angeles Dental Society CALL: 213-892-8172 CALL: 213-892-8172 CALL: 213-892-8172 601 W. 5th St. Suite 1110 Los Angeles, CA

✓ comment on stories

✓ submit your own news

• Digital x-rays • Oral Cancer and Periodontal screening • Flexible financial options

Grand Medical associates • Complete Prenatal Care • Comprehensive Gynecological Care • Family Medicine • Well Pediatric/Adult Care

Go to DowntownNews.com We want to hear from YOU

GENTLE

✓ post your own photos

✓ place an ad in classifieds

Offer expires: 7/31/2009

New SPA LocAtioN CALL: 213-892-8172Now oPeN!

www.relaken.com

20% OFF Shiatsu & Swedish Aromatherapy & Deep Tissue Expires June 30, 2012

Miyako Hotel, Los Angeles (Downtown), 328 E. 1st St. | 213.617.0004

get a 10% discount at the restaurant. They have a pretty good sandwich selection, including the Night Toast. It’s made with roast beef and is served on a pressed French roll. It’s flat and juicy, and is small enough to be smuggled onto the bus.

At 653 S. Spring St., (213) 488-9944 or nightoast.com.

A Food Anniversary, Artistic Meals and Other Dining News

by Richad Guzmán

Downtown’s Seventh Street restaurant row, the establishment with newspapers across its irst Quarter: It seems like it was walls has closed. Owner Philip Sanan said it just yesterday that little Ensenada was a matter of the rent being too high and n Sunday Fun Day: Is it OK to engage opened in the Historic Core, serv- not drawing enough customers. A new Asian in crime on Sunday? True criminals may ing its first plate of carnitas to a hungry restaurant will fill the spot, but the opening not care, but until now, they couldn’t Downtowner. But they grow up so fast, day it still unknown, said Sanan, who is goingEditorcongregate Tavern on the & PublishEr: at SueVillains Laris GENErAl DawnArts Eastin and the Mexican restaurant with the big back to his native South Africa. dayMANAGEr: of rest. The District bar, inspired portions and tiny prices is celebrating its by 18th century England with a gothicExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie Los25th Angeles Downtownthis News Guzmán birthday year. In people terms n Artsy Bites: If you love art so much thatcitY Editor: punk Richard edge, has added Sunday hours and 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 stAFF writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt that’s not very old, but in restaurant you want to eat it, like the guy in the RedcoNtributiNG is openEditors: from 7Kathryn p.m.-Maese 1 a.m. Even true phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 Los Angeles Downtown News years it makes Ensenada veteran of the Dragon movie, then Rivera, the celebratedcoNtributiNG villainswritErs: should Jay be Berman, carefulJim of Farber, the drinks, Jeff Favre, web: DowntownNews.com • email:arealpeople@downtownnews.com 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Rod Riggs, Marc Porter Zasada Downtown dining scene. The Spring Street South Park restaurant, has a few options which are strong and tasty. photo courtesy of Eco Asian facebook: twitter: phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 Eco Asian, which opened on Seventh Street establishment celebrate with aDowntownNews private for you. As part of Pacific Standard Time,Art dirEctor: At 1356 Palmetto Brian Allison St., (213) 613-0766 or L.A. Downtownwill News web: DowntownNews.com less than a year ago, closed this month. party this week, but hungry Downtowners the Getty sponsored Southern CaliforniaAssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa villainstavern.com. email: realpeople@downtownnews.com ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins can pay homage to their longevity from 9 arts initiative, chef John Sedlar Rivera and Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday or until his mixologist Julian Cox have created aPhotoGrAPhEr: n Beer Run!: It’s not too early to start don’t have tofacebook: go far to find him. On Gary Leonard GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin L.A. Downtown News 11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Try the pork multi-course food and drink menu inspiredAccouNtiNG: training, since the LA Beerathon is Feb. 17, he opened his own restaurant, Ashley Schmidt ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie short ribs served in a red-hot sauce or the by specific pieces of art.

For example, a just a few weeks away.

The inaugural Il Mare, at 11th and Hope streets, just twitter: citY Editor: Richard Guzmán dirEctor: Steve Nakutin DowntownNews Caldo 7 Mares (seven seas soup), which dish ignited by Ed Ruscha’s painting “LosAdvErtisiNG race to drink 26 beers from 26 different around the corner from his old job. The stAFF writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway has everything you could find in the ocean Angeles County Museum of Art on Fire”AccouNt Downtown beCatherine held onHolloway, March 31. 2,800-square-foot establishment seats coNtributiNG Editors: Kathryn Maese ExEcutivEs:bars Kim will Brown, The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read Stevens coNtributiNG writErs: bowl.

Jay Berman, Jim you’re Farber, Jeff Favre, is the fire-grilled chicken breast with cobbSol Ortasse, in one delicious While eatFromBrenda noon-1 a.m. participants will visit 76 people and offers Italian dishes with newspaper for Downtown Los Angeles and is disladowntownnews.com/news Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Rod Riggs, Marc Porter Zasada tributedon every Monday throughout the officesitems and ing, you can reflect on a couple of other salad, goat cheese and an “incendiary” salsa.circulAtioN: the twoNorma dozen and two watering holes and a focus seafood.

This means Rodas residences of Downtown Los Angeles. distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles Art dirEctor: Brian Allison 1987 fun facts: It was the year U2 shot their Cox’s Christopher Oaxacan cocktail was try to swallow a frothy one at each spot. such as poached salmon, the Il Mare AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla One copy per person.

AssistANt dirEctor: Kanegawa “WhereArtthe StreetsYumi Have No Name” video inspired by photographer Oscar Castillo’sdistributioN The, yikes, $55 per person entry fee comes pasta made with shrimp, calamari and ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins on top of a liquor store in Downtown; ladowntownnews.com/gallery 1972 photograph “47 Chevy in Wilmington with a map and a pass to get a beer at clams, and a seafood pizza with shrimp PhotoGrAPhEr: Garyhit Leonard Dirty Dancing theaters; the stock mar- California.” The drink is made with mezcal, each bar. There are also team discounts for and mussels. “I live just around the corket crashed; and Restaurant Buzz decided agave nectar and passion fruit. groups of 20 or more. Finishing this com- ner and I wanted a small neighborhood AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt & PublishEr: Suebe Laris it was time to cut Steve the mullet.

At 1050 S. Flower St., (213) 749-1460 orEditorpetition won’t easy, and really, it may place where people can relax and enjoy AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Nakutin GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin At 517 S. Spring St., (213) 622-4659 riverarestaurant.com. not be a healthy idea.

Drinker beware. themselves,” he said. He also wants the clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Hollowayor AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Kim Brown, Catherine Holloway, Sol Ortasse, ensenadarestaurant.net.

At labeerathon.com. meals to be affordable to a wide swath ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie Brenda Stevens n Ticket to Night: It’s probably a good busi-citY Editor: Richard Guzmán of diners, so lunch and dinner entrees circulAtioN: Norma Rodas Restaurant Buzz is gon Eco Gone Home: ness move for Night Toast to partner withstAFF n Water World: Kay Lee, the man who range from about $9-$15. writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles Editors:ofKathryn ing to miss the fresh pho, the Thai beef bowl Metro, since there’s a bus stop directly in frontcoNtributiNG gave legions SouthMaese Park diners lobAt 1111 S. Hope St., (213) 746-7766. ladowntownnews.com/calendar distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla coNtributiNG writErs: Jay Jim Farber, Jeffthe Favre, Contact Los Angeles Downtown Newsat and trying to read the walls at Eco Asian. Just of the Historic Core eatery. Now, Metro pass sters and steaks at Berman, The Palm, has left Richard Guzman Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Rod Riggs, Marc Porter Zasada 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 month away from first anniversary on holders restaurant. However, fans of his cooking richard@downtownnews.com.

TheaLos Angeles Downtown News is its the must-read newspaper for Downtown Los Angelesor those with a Metro Rail ticket will city editoR

F

View

Get

and more @

w o D LA

n

e N n tow

m o c . ws

and is distributed every Monday throughout the offices and residences of Downtown Los Angeles.

10 PieCe sPeCiAL

Now Accepting Credit Cards

We Deliver

2 Downtown Locations Corner of BroADWAy & 3rd 260 S. Broadway

L.A., CA 90012 (213) 626-7975 • (213) 626-8235

thighs & Legs Tel/Fx: (213) 626-4572 ladowntownnews.com/gallery with Tortillas & Salsa and more at FAshion DistriCt

onLy LADowntownNews.com With minimum order of $10.

Only when available.

Limited area & hours.

Party Paks Available

$9.99 + TAX

226 E. 9th St.

at corner 9th/Santee (213) 623-5091 • (213) 327-0645

Tel/Fx:

(213) 623-9405

Events

Find

Regent China Inn

AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt Authentic Chinese Cuisine in Chinatown AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Steve Nakutin

Find

distributioN MANAGEr: Salvador Ingles LADowntownNews.com 739-747 N. Main St., Los Angeles, 90012 distributioN AssistANts: Lorenzo Castillo, Gustavo Bonilla

213.680.3333 • Regentchinainn.com FREE PARKING

LADowntownNews.com

700 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 | Tel: 213.617.2323

Gourmet LA Bakery Bringing you our best from Guanajuato... to Downtown Los Angeles Bread • Cakes • Sandwiches • Coffee • Ice Cream 213.623.4244 • 548 S. Broadway Ave. LA, CA 90013 • 6:30am - 8pm, M. - Sat. • 7am -7pm, Sun.

Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin

twitter: DowntownNews

Free One copyParking per person.Next to Restaurant

View

and more at

facebook: L.A. Downtown News

An Extensive Seafood Menu including Dim Sum at Moderate Prices The Los Angeles Downtown News is the must-read Relaxed Dining in an newspaper for Downtown LosElegant AngelesAmbiance and is distributed every Monday throughout the offices and Live Lobster Tank residences of Downtown Los Angeles.



ladowntownnews.com/news ladowntownnews.com/calendar ladowntownnews.com/gallery

Los Angeles Downtown News 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 phone: 213-481-1448 fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com email: realpeople@downtownnews.com

DowntownNews

✤ Delivery, Minimum Order $15 clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Kim Brown, Catherine Holloway, ✤ Party Tray Available Sol Ortasse, Brenda Stevens ladowntownnews.com/calendar ✤ Lunch Special $4.95 and more at 11-3 circulAtioN: Norma Rodas M-F 11-5, Sat.-Sun.

Photos

Get

facebook:  m L.A. Downtown News u S inner m D i d D ch an twitter: Lun

PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard



Why Cook?

View

Events

One copy per person.

phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com email: realpeople@downtownnews.com

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



Events

Find

News

m

Restaurant Buzz

Photos

d

RESTAURANTS

Photos

y

Downtown News 13

DowntownNews.com

News

t

February 27, 2012

ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie citY Editor: Richard Guzmán stAFF writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt coNtributiNG Editors: Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jay Berman, Jim Farber, Jeff Favre, Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Rod Riggs, Marc Porter Zasada Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard

AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Steve Nakutin clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Kim Brown, Catherine Holloway, Sol Ortasse, Brenda Stevens circulAtioN: Norma Rodas 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.

14 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

photo courtesy of Phil Stern Gallery © Phil Stern-CPi

CALENDAR Photographs

A photo of action star Jackie Chan during production of the 1998 film Rush Hour.

Chan is known for doing his own stunts.

Stern was on hand during the production of West Side Story. Rita Moreno is in the background.

photo courtesy of Phil Stern Gallery © Phil Stern-CPi

Steven Spielberg, captured by Stern on the set of the war comedy 1941.

He moved to Los Angeles after the war and shot for publications such as Life, Look and Colliers, as well as a number of movie magazines. His most memorable images include a close-up of James Dean with his sweater pulled up, covering everything but his eyes.

The two met when Dean, riding a motorcycle, almost crashed into Stern on Sunset Boulevard. After yelling profanities at the actor, Stern calmed down, and the two had coffee and set up a photo shoot.

Stern’s Downtown space, which opened in 2010, is his first and only gallery. Although it also showcases work from other artists, the focus is on Stern’s images with exhibits such as Inside Hollywood.

“I opened this gallery with my son, Peter,” Stern said. “The whole idea of the gallery is to continue the legacy, which is a fancy way of saying continue to make money with my images.”

He settled on Downtown due to the community’s development as a cultural center.

Peter Stern said the goal is to utilize the access that his father had.

“Because Phil has so much work, he has the story of how these stars ended up being the icons that they were,” said Peter Stern.

Although Stern hung around Hollywood’s elite, he said he did not consider most of

them his friends. Instead, he always viewed them as fascinating subjects.

“I loved photography and I loved the subject matter,” he said. “Some of them were exciting, some were not, but they were interesting. I attempted to be a fly on the wall.”

The prints at Inside Hollywood range from about $2,000-$7,500 said Peter Stern.

Naturally, Phil Stern had an opinion “I heard that and it’s too [expletive] much,” the elder Stern stated.

While he has been slowed by age, his mind and sense of humor remain as sharp as the photographs he took. But these days, he prefers to point his lens at his grandchildren, shooting family portraits rather than celebrities.

“I don’t have the reflexes anymore,” he stated. “I can’t get from position A to position B on my bones anymore. But I always carry a picture of those days when I did photograph professionally.

He smiles and pulls out an old picture from his wallet. The image shows a monkey with a camera.

Inside Hollywood is at the Phil Stern Gallery, 601 S. Los Angeles St., (213) 488-0138 or philsterngallery.com. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com. photo courtesy of Phil Stern Gallery © Phil Stern-CPi

ally, has plenty of fans. They include Fourth District City Councilman Tom LaBonge.

LaBonge, an avid photographer whose brother was married to one of Stern’s daughters, said Stern’s honesty and straightforward manner that earned the respect of celebrities comes through in his images.

“There’s no one like Phil Stern,” LaBonge said. “He captured everyone, all of the icons.”

New York and the War Stern was born in 1919 and began his career as a photographer for the Police Gazette in New York. He enlisted in the army as a combat photographer during World War II, where he was injured and earned a Purple Heart.

photo courtesy of Phil Stern Gallery © Phil Stern-CPi

Continued from page 1 movies.”

The exhibit spans four decades of work by the respected photographer, who since the 1940s has focused his lens on Hollywood’s elite, shooting figures including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Marlon Brandon.

Stern photographed more than 100 sets, capturing images from such films as The Alamo, the 1960 vehicle starring John Wayne, 1962’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, and the 1979 Steven Spielberg war comedy 1941. He hung out with the celebrities and recorded their private moments before and after the director yelled “Cut!” Many of the photographs he took became iconic images of the stars.

“I haven’t been around Hollywood for decades, but for centuries,” Stern joked.

“Spontaneity is what I always looked for and sometimes I was very successful and sometimes I fell on my [expletive].”

The pictures run the Hollywood gamut.

There is a shot of Jackie Chan on the set of the 1998 movie Rush Hour. Dressed in a suit and tie, the action star known for doing his own stunts is between takes, stretching his right leg by placing it on the highest step of a folding ladder.

Then there is an image of Rita Moreno shot during rehearsals for the 1961 musical West Side Story. In Stern’s photograph, a group of dancers rehearse on the main floor.

In the background, seemingly lost in her own world and facing away from the other performers, is Moreno. Her arms are spread wide and she is leaning back with one leg raised in the air.

Yet another shot depicts a young Orson Wells. He’s wearing a pinstriped suit and is sitting behind a camera during the filming of The Magnificent Ambersons in 1942.

Stern, who no longer shoots profession-

Stern shot Orson Wells on the set of his 1942 film The Magnificent Ambersons.

February 27, 2012

DowntownNews.com

Downtown News 15

In the Swim of Things East West Players Offers a Little-Known True Tale of Sports Perseverance

by Jeff favre contributing writer

I

n the movies, fighter Rocky Balboa trains by hitting sides of frozen beef, the Karate Kid waxes vintage cars, and the title character in The Natural carves his magical baseball bat from a tree struck by lightning.

In Lee Tonouchi’s Three Year Swim Club, the coach trains his swimmers in an irrigation ditch with runoff water from the sugar cane crops of Maui.

The difference between these four wildly unorthodox methods for forging great athletes is that the last one is actually true.

Beginning in 1937, Soichi Sakamoto challenged a group of Hawaiian teens to strive for the 1940 Summer Olympics by having them swim against the strong current of a lessthan-sparkling irrigation ditch.

It’s the stuff of pure Hollywood, so it’s surprising that Tonouchi appears to be the first to dramatize this little-known slice of sports life. His charming 90-minute one-act dramedy, which premiered in Hawaii last year, is running through March 11 at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo as part of East West Players’ 46th season.

Directed with a gentle hand by Keo Woolford and starring a likable Hawaiian native ensemble, Three Year Swim Club succeeds because it doesn’t try to be more than it is — a predictable, uplifting morality tale about teamwork and perseverance.

There are no major surprises. It’s common knowledge that the 1940 and ’44 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II, which means Sakamoto’s oft-repeated motto, “Olympics first, Olympics always,” was doomed by events beyond his control.

But it’s in the trying that four young swimmers find lifelong success. There’s the egotistical Halo (Kelsey Chock), a quiet, focused Keo (Jared Asato), the earnest Bill (Chris Takemoto-Gentile) and the lone girl, nick-

photos by Michael Lamont

Hula dancing is an inventive stand-in for swimming in Three Year Swim Club, a show at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo through March 11.

named Fudge (Mapuana Makia).

Coach Sakamoto (Blake Kushi) is viewed as crazy for thinking he can train the children of sugar cane plantation workers to be champions. Other than his swimmers, the coach’s only believer is his wife (Kaliko Kauahi), who sacrifices time with her husband so he can follow his dream.

Kushi serves as the anchor of the show, beginning with his passionately delivered opening monologue about the swim club.

He conveys a hard edge tinged with deep affection for his students, who are like his children.

Other than its strange-but-true plot, what elevates Three Year Swim Club is its use of hula dancing to express the swimming action. Deftly choreographed by Woolford, the freestyle and other strokes are represented through hand gestures, hip sways and rhythmic steps, accompanied by a steady percussive beat. Surrounded by blue and green lighting emanating from Adam Flemming’s multi-level set, the effect gives

Extraordinary Events • Festival Orchestra, Hugh Wolff, conductor Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and young artists from the USC Thornton School of Music and The Colburn School • Three concerts featuring cellists appearing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Neeme Järvi, conductor

A opportunities? opportunities? deadlines and vendors? Let opportunities? your business communi-

Scared

deadlines and vendors? Let g togetherand all the resources deadlines vendors?

Let your business communibusiness communig your together all the resources • Signs, posters and banners g together all the resources • Digital printing •• Signs, Online posters orderingand banners Digital posters printing and banners • Signs, Online printing ordering • Digital • Online ordering

• Recitals and masterclasses given by distinguished international artists Films and Panel with • Remembering of missing salesPiatigorsky: opportunities?

Evan Drachman, Terry King, Laurence Lesser,

Maisky, Nathaniel Rosen, Jeffrey Solow, We’ve got the solution. Juggling too Mischa many projects, deadlines and vendors?

Let Raphael Wallfisch PIP manage the creation and re-ordering of all of your business communications. In one location, your PIP consultants bring together all the resources • Mass cello ensemble at Walt Disney Concert Hall you need, including: • Printing

• Signs, posters and banners

• GraphicPresenters design

• Online ordering Partners

Copying • Digital evening of The Back Suitesprinting for Unaccompanied Cello • •An

700 Wilshire Blvd.

ph: 213-489-2333 fax: 213-489-2897 piparco@sbcglobal.net Major Sponsors

B n’t notice you?

www.usc.edu/piatigorskyfestival

n’t noticeor appealing you? one customer n’t notice you? sales opportunities. In one

afraid

one customer or appealing llone the resourcesor you need, appealing salescustomer opportunities.

In one opportunities.

Inneed, one llsales resources youbanners •the Signs, posters and ll •the resources Digital printing you need, •• Signs, Online posters orderingand banners • Digital printing and banners Signs, posters • Online Digital ordering printing • Online ordering

your customers won’t notice you?

We’ve got the solution. Whether going after just one customer or appealing to a mass market, we’ll help you capture those sales opportunities. In one location, your PIP consultants bring together all the resources you need, including:

700 Wilshire Blvd.

• Printing • Copying • Graphic design

ph: 213-489-2333 fax: 213-489-2897 piparco@sbcglobal.net

• Signs, posters and banners • Digital printing • Online ordering

the emotional impression of bodies flowing through water.

Flemming’s design also includes projected images that span a narrow strip above the stage, providing an effective means to quickly change locations.

Credit Woolford’s brisk pace for keeping the simple story from dragging. Scenes flow seamlessly, and dramatic pauses are reserved for the few key moments.

The only challenge that Woolford cannot overcome is the age of his swimmers.

Yes, older actors playing teens is commonplace, as most productions of Grease prove.

However, it’s difficult to remember that the cast is supposed to be young teens, even though the quartet is competent at the fidgets and pouts that go with typical immature behavior. More youthful actors would feel more authentic, although on the positive side the veteran performers handle with ease the

Hawaiian accent and language.

Tonouchi is an expert at Hawaiian Pidgin, having written several books and plays in the dialect. Here, he sprinkles some non-English words into the conversations. He doesn’t overdo it, and always provides enough context to grasp the meaning.

Most family-friendly plays talk down to younger audience members, but Three Year Swim Club is easy to follow without resorting to soapbox preaching or too much repetition. While it may not be “challenging” theater, there’s nothing wrong with an easily digestible story that’s told well and leaves you feeling good about its message. The fact that it’s based on real events and inspiring people adds to the enjoyment.

Three Year Swim Club runs through March 11 at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., (213) 625-7000 or eastwestplayers.org.

16 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

LISTINGS

EVENTS SPONSORED LISTINGS BAR 107 107 W. 4th St., facebook.com/bar107 or twitter. com/bar107 Every Monday night is S*** Beer and Jameson Night!!! Including a weekly DJ, a selection of 10 beers at $2 each and Jameson shots at $4 each from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. We also have $5 well drinks. Come join the only bar in Downtown on Monday where you can bring a $10 dollar bill and have a good time.

Tuesday, February 28 Eric Klinenberg at Aloud 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 765-6800 or lfla.org.

7 p.m.: Why do so many people want to live by themselves? That’s the question sociologist Eric Klinenberg asks in his new tome Going Solo. He’ll talk about the subject with journalist Laurie Winer.

ory photo courtesy Natural Hist

Friday, March 2 Kevin James at AIA Mayoral Candidates Forum Deaton Civic Auditorium, 100 W. First St., (213) 6390764 or aialosangeles.org.

7 p.m.: The L.A. chapter of the American Institute of Architects will talk to mayoral candidate Kevin James about city planning, urban design and architecture issues.

First Friday Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd, (213) 763-3466 or nhm.org.

5-10 p.m.: Live music, dead dinosaurs, special lectures and mesmeric DJs. It’s science, but fun. See the Don’t Miss List for more details.

Museum

Wednesday, February 29 Ricardo de Ostos Lecture at SCI-Arc W.M. Keck Auditorium, 960 E. Third St., (213) 6132200 or sciarc.edu.

7 p.m.: The co-founder of the London architecture firm Naja & DeOstos will be discussing something that the PR material describes as “Ectoplasmatic Manifestations.” Oh, you architects with your wacky, impenetrable lingo.

Thursday, March 1 LeetUp at Club Nokia 800 W. Olympic Blvd, (213) 765-7000 or leetup.com.

7 p.m.: Time to log off of 4chan and head down to the analog chat room at L.A. Live. Nerd culture reaches an apex with this new event hosted by Kevin Pereira. There’ll be live podcasting, DJ sets, obsequious video games, meme-juicing conversations and, of course, the oft-neglected human interaction.

o pop earthy echoes of electr Pulsing beats and the of nd with the joyful trade performer Zola Jesus ble s thi on a defunct planet at taxidermy and punditry al tur First Fridays at the Na week’s installation of mma d ea g-d lon osaurs and History Museum. The din 2. rch Ma on st their bedtime t mals will be up way pa gh hli hig the 0 p.m., though The event runs from 5-1 to d Ha to discussion “Why Plu may be the 6:30 p.m. llery wn. There will also be ga Die,” with Dr. Mike Bro enop pickup attempts and the tours, DJs, drinks, lame d., re). At 900 Exposition Blv ing band Ema (shown he org.

(213) 763-3466 or nhm.

Not since Rick Deckard traipsed through the structure’s derelict halls in Blade Runner has the Brad bury Building seen a mix of intrigue and fine music as compelli ng as this week’s two shows by Trio Mediaeval. On Satu rday, March 3, the 1893 architectural gem plays host to a trio of Scandinavian songstresses steeped in the traditions of archaic music and a knack for captivating showmanship. The Da Camera Society presents the three ladies from Oslo at 3 and 5 p.m. At 304 S. Broadway, (213) 477-2929 or dacamera.or g.

Wednesday, Feb. 29, is special for a couple reasons. First, it’s Leap Day! Second, it’s the day that the Downtown Independent screens the film Revenge of the Electric Car. Tim Robbins narrates this gripping tale of corporate subterfuge, numerous chips borne on defiant shoulders and the resurrection of an eco-friendly automobile. The 7 p.m. event presented by Downtown’s Mindshare L.A. features a post-movie Q&A session with the film’s director, Chris Paine, along some drink specials. At 251 S. Main St., (213) 617-1033 or downtownindependent.com.

photo courtesy Grammy Museum

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

Feb. 28: The Claudia Quintet featuring John Hollenbeck, Drew Gress, Matt Moran, Red Wierenga, Chris Speed and Theo Bleckmann. Yes, that’s six people in a quintet.

Feb. 29: Kait Dunton Group.

March 1: Raya Yarbrough CD release party.

March 2: Eric Reed Trio March 3: Kyle Wilson Group, straight from New York City.

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

Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.: It’s your last chance to see Incan Abraham in residence… for free.

Feb. 28, 7 p.m.: Apparently John C. Reilly can’t spend enough time on Beverly Boulevard. He’s been directing the Buddha show, and now he’ll be rocking the house with a little olde tyme music.

Feb. 28, 9 p.m.: Bluesy rock straight out of Venice.

That’s right, it’s Terraplane Sun, as heard on TV. March 1, 8 p.m.: Saucy Argentinian tango from Maria Volonte.

March 2, 8 p.m.: A comprehensive night of pop rock with Jarrod Gorbel and Downtown News “Best Band Name” nominee Now the Rabbit Has the Gun. March 3, 8 p.m.: Pile all the frat bros in your Tahoe and check out the introspective musings and Telecaster licks of Kiven.

March 4, 7 p.m.: Jolie Holland’s undulating vocal box elucidates the ugly truths of life with a groovy down-on-one’s-luck feel.

Broadway Bar 830 S. Broadway, (213) 614-9909 or broadwaybar.la.

March 1, 10 p.m.: Sexy sax man Sergio Flores is back again, so lean in close and enjoy the careless whisper of Broader Than Broadway.

by Dan Johnson, listings eDitor calendar@downtownnews.com

photo © CF-Wesenberg_kolonihaven.no

Dance in a Museum, Herd a Buffalo and More Downtown Fun

The Grammys are over, so is there any reason to head to the Grammy Museum? Silly rabbit, of course there is. In addition to the new exhibit Trouble in Paradise: Music and Los Angeles, 1945-1975, there is White Buffalo, the guest of honor in the venue’s intimate performance space. The show on Thursday, March 1, part of the museum’s “Homegrown” series, will bring Downtowners face to voice with the husky narratives of Jake Smith, a sort of folk Grizzly Adams. The burly, six-string slinging testament to the enduring legacy of the American frontier will stop by for a quick chat with Scott Goldman. He’ll also do a couple tunes. It starts at 7:30 p.m. At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or grammymuseum.org.

, the L.A. Phil has So far this season and paid desulthrilled Mahler fans y, but what tory tribute to Debuss champiof the lesser-known For 20 ons of orchestration? onic’s years, the Philharm s has rie se Green Umbrella conof ds saluted the legen position m co l temporary classica nized but whose who have yet to be lio genre are invaluable. contributions to the r y, Feb. 28, conducto At 8 p.m. on Tuesda a s (shown here) helm Reinbert de Leeuw sen malist Louis Andries tribute to Dutch mini ro es of the works La Gi with the U.S. premier r’s ite wr e th t latter abou and Anais Nin, the ong others, am love affairs with, alt W Henry Miller. At Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or laphil.com. lharmonic photo courtesy L.A. Phi

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

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 17

DowntownNews.com

Cana 714 W. Olympic Blvd, (213) 745-7090 or canarumbar.com.

10:30 p.m.: If ever there was the perfectly soothing and warm soundtrack to a mojito, Salt Petal’s South American pop rock is it.

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

March 2, 9 p.m.: J.B. Smoove, aka Leon from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” brings laughter for the people.

March 3, 8 p.m.: Colombian stand-up Andres Lopez.

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

March 1, 7:30 p.m.: The White Buffalo paints the town red with deep-gutted folk.

Nokia Theater 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6020 or nokiatheatrelalive.com.

March 3, 8 p.m.: Steve Harvey’s comedy tour hits L.A. Sorry J.B. Smoove, you’ve been shown up.

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

Feb. 27, 8 p.m.: Jacques Lesure jam session.

Feb. 28, 7 p.m.: Sharon Ridley on piano and vocals.

Feb. 29, 7 p.m.: Curtis Parry on jazz guitar.

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

Feb. 27: Frank Fairfield hits home with roots music in a pirate bar.

Feb. 28: Death on the Radio, Sketch Monsters, Million Kids and Fiction Reform.

March 1: Guitars a Go-Go with Guitars Inc, Double Naught Spy Car and 3 Balls of Fire.

March 2: Tito Ramsey.

March 3: Susan Surftone and Black Widows.

March 4: Knyfe Party.

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

Feb. 27: The Robby Marshall Group takes jazz to another level. Literally, they have to carry their equipment up a flight of stairs to play Seven Grand.

Feb. 28: King Kong ain’t got squat on the Makers.

Feb. 29: Leap year madness with Deacon Jones Blues Review and the ever-vivacious Lady GG. The Varnish 118 E. Sixth St., (213) 622-9999 or thevarnishbar.com.

Feb. 28, 9 p.m.: Jamie Elman tickles the keys.

Feb. 29, 8:30 p.m.: Somewhere deep in a Downtown back room Mark Bosserman will play you a song.

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

Feb. 29, 7 p.m.: Mindshare L.A. present Revenge of the Electric Car. March 1, 11 a.m. and March 2, 2 p.m.: Broadcast live to cinemas around the world, The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare’s furiously paced comedy, will be staged in a contemporary world.

March 1, 7 p.m.: Take in award-winning films The Dish & The Spoon and Una Hora Por Favora.

March 2-8, showtimes vary: Pina is a featurelength dance film focused on German choreographer Pina Bausch, who died in 2009. The documentary, which was shot in 3D, is up for an Academy Award.

IMAX Theater California Science Center, 700 State Drive, (213) 7442019 or californiasciencecenter.org.

Soar over primordial earth in Flying Monsters 3D. Some 220 million years ago dinosaurs were beginning their domination of Earth. But another group of reptiles was about to make an extraordinary leap: Pterosaurs were taking control of the skies. The story of how and why these mysterious creatures took to the air is more fantastical than any fiction.

Experience a gripping story full of hope, crushing disappointment, dazzling ingenuity, bravery and triumph in Hubble 3D, the seventh film from the award-winning IMAX Space Team.

Million Dollar Theatre 307 S. Broadway, (213) 617-3600 or milliondollartheater.com.

Feb. 29, 7:30 p.m.: The UCLA Film & Television Archive presents a double dose of director William Castle. Strait Jacket and Homicidal.

Regal Cinemas LA Live 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., (877) 835-5734 or lalive.com.

Through March 1: Act of Valor (11:50 a.m. and 12:30, 2:30, 3:10, 5:10, 6, 7:50, 8:50 and 10:40 p.m.); Gone (11:40 a.m. and 2:10, 4:50, 7:20 and 10 p.m.); Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (11:30 a.m. and 1:10, 2:20, 5:10, 7:10, 8 and 10:50 p.m.); Wanderlust (12, 2:20, 5, 7:40 and 10:20 p.m.); Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (11:40 a.m. and 4:40 and 10:10 p.m.); Ghost Rider:

Spirit of Vengeance 3D (2:10 and 7:30 p.m.); The Secret World of Arrietty (11:30 a.m. and 1:50, 4:20, 6:50 and 9:20 p.m.); This Means War (12, 2:30, 5, 7:40 and 10:30 p.m.); Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (1:40 and 6:40 p.m.); Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (11:20 a.m. and 4 and 9:30 p.m.); Safe House (1:40, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.); Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace (4 and 10 p.m.); The Vow (11:20 and 2, 4:40, 7;20 and 10:10 p.m.); Chronicle (12:30, 2:40, 4:50, 7:10 and 9:30 p.m.); The Woman in Black (12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50 and 10:20 p.m.).

March 2 (Partial): Dr. Seuss’ Lorax 3D (11:30 a.m. and 1:50, 4:20, 7 and 9:40 p.m.); Project X (11:50 a.m. and 2:10, 4:40, 7:20 and 10 p.m.).

THEATER, OPERA & DANCE Buddha Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly, (800) 838-3006 or bootlegtheater.org.

March 3-4, 3 and 7 p.m.: John C. Reilly directs Evan Brenner in this one-man show dedicated to the “triumph and tragedy in the life of the Great Sage.”

Fiesta The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. First St., (213) 250-9995 or bobbakermarionettes.com.

Feb. 28-March 2, 10:30 a.m. and March 3-4, 2:30 p.m.: “Fiesta” is a south of the border marionette extravaganza featuring everything from skating sombreros to dancing cacti, and was first presented at the theater in 1964. The production still resonates today with children of all ages.

Short Eyes LATC, 514 S. Spring St., (213) 489-0994 or thelatc.org.

March 1-3, 8 p.m.; March 4, 7 p.m.: Following a sold out run at LATC during the fall season, the play about a pedophile returns.

Simon Boccanegra 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7211 or laopera.com.

March 1, 7:30 p.m.; March 4, 2 p.m.: Plácido Domingo put another notch in his operatic belt when he first performed the baritone title role in Simon Boccanegra. Now he brings his interpretation of one of opera’s most complex characters to his home company. Verdi master James Conlon conducts.

Timboctu REDCAT, 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org March 2 and 3, 8:30 p.m. and March 4, 7 p.m.: Strangers find their lives suddenly intertwined by

acts of violence and corruption in Timboctou, a wryly humorous new play written by Alejandro Ricaño. It is set against the volatile backdrop of the Mexican drug wars and border politics. This world premiere imagines Timboctou as a mysterious, unreachable refuge at the end of the earth.

CLASSICAL MUSIC Tuesday, February 28 Green Umbrella: de Leeuw Conducts Andriessen Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or laphil.com.

8 p.m.: The L.A. Phil’s New Music Group salutes Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen with the US premieres of La Giro and Anais Nin. Friday, March 2 Heras-Casado Conducts Strauss Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or laphil.com.

March 2, 8 p.m.; March 3-4, 2 p.m.: An unusual program that combines periods and styles puts the L.A. Phil to work as they kick out the jams from Beethoven, Strauss and a bit from contemporary composer James Matheson.

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.

2

Event Info

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

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

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Answers to last week’s puzzle on page 19

Easy ways to submit Your

18 Downtown News

February 27, 2012

Twitter/DowntownNews

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

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.

“Be wary of out of area companies.

Check with the local Better Business Bureau before you send any money for fees or services. Read and understand any contracts before you sign.

Shop around for rates.”

REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL Lofts for saLe

TheLoftExpertGroup.com Downtown since 2002

Bill Cooper

213.598.7555

20 ACRES NEAR El Paso, TX. $0 Down, $99/mo. $12,900 Owner Financing, No Credit Checks. Beautiful Mountain Views. Money Back Guarantee.

Free Map/Pictures. 1-800-3439444. (Cal-SCAN)

accounting/Banking ACCOUNTANT 5 years experience. Quickbooks, Photoshop, Jewelry software. Send resume to: TJOT, LLC. 523 W. 6th St. #805 LA. CA. 90014.

Lofts/unfurnisHed

oLd Bank District The original Live/Work Lofts

TEXAS LAND BARGAIN! 4 acres only $49,900. Enjoy private lake access to West Texas finest lake. Excellent financing. Call now 1-877-888-1635, x1576. (Cal-SCAN)

driVers

from $1,100 Cafes, Bars, Shops, Galleries, Parking adjacent. Pets no charge

DRIVER - $0 TUITION CDL (A) Training & a Job! Top Industry Pay, Quality Training, Stability & Miles. *Short employment commitment required. 1-800326-2778. www.JoinCRST.com (Cal-SCAN)

Call 213.253.4777 laloft.com

Vacation Homes

FOR RENT? FOR LEASE? FOR SALE?

ADVERTISE YOUR Vacation Propertyin 240 California newspapers for one low cost of $600. Your 25 word classified ad reaches over 6 million+ Californians. Free brochure call Elizabeth (916)288-6019. (CalSCAN)

EMPLOYMENT

FOR RENT

out of state

apartments/unfurnisHed

People are looking here, shouldn’t your ad should be here?

(213) 481-1448

Beautiful

SENIOR APARTMENTS 62 + Studio $754 1 Bedroom $864 Balcony, Full Kitchen, A/C, Clubhouse, BBQ, Resource room, Laundry, SEC 8 O.K. Visit GSL SAN LUCAS.com 213-6232010.

DRIVERS - SOLOS & Teams!

Run 11 Western States! SignOn Bonus, Excellent Pay, Great Equipment, Exceptional Home Time. CDL-A, 1-Year OTR Experience. HazMat Required. 1-888905-9879. www.AndrusTrans. com (Cal-SCAN)

Homes/unfurnisHed

DRIVERS: NO EXPERIENCE? Class A Driver Training. We train and employ! New pay increases coming soon. Experienced Drivers also Needed! Central Refrigerated. 1-877-369-7091. www.CentralTruckDrivingJobs. com (Cal-SCAN)

RESERVE IT IT’S YOURS! $1,200/MO 433 Cottage Home St. in Chinatown. 2BR/1BA New Paint, New Carpet, Laundry On-Site. One Parking 818-5939060.

EstD 1912

Historic beauty.

Modern refinement.

Eclectic elegance.

Business serVices ADVERTISE Your Truck Driver Jobs in 240 California newspapers for one low cost of $600.

Your 25 word classified ad reaches over 6 million+ Californians.

Free brochure call Elizabeth (916)288-6019. (Cal-SCAN)

DRIVE 4 MELTON. Top pay & CSA Friendly Equipment. 2 Months CDL Class A Driving Experience.

1-877-258-8782. www.MeltonTruck.com/drive.

(Cal-SCAN) DRIVER - UP TO $.42/mile plus $.02/mile safety bonus. Daily Pay. Weekly Hometime. Van and Refrigerated. CDL-A, 3 months recent experience required.

1-800-414-9569. www.DriveKnight.com (Cal-SCAN)

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY HeLp Wanted INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL Exchange Representative: Earn supplemental income placing and supervising high school exchange students.

Volunteer host families also needed. Promote world peace!

1-866-GO-AFICE or www.afice. org (Cal-SCAN)

SERVICES attorneys

ABOGADO DE IMMIGRACION!

the LOFT expert!

ROOFTOP GARDEN RETREAT WITH BBQ AND LOUNGE GRAND LOBBY • FITNESS CENTER • SPA MODERN KITCHEN w/CAESAR COUNTERTOPS PET FRIENDLY • DRAMATIC VIEWS

TheLoftExpertGroup.com

Pricing subject to change without notice.

RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE

Studio 280 sqft.

Full Bathroom Apartment

1000 E. 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Located in Central City East

$600 mo. to mo. $580 on 6 mo. Lease

150 Efficiency Apartments includes microwave, refrigerator & full size bathroom Amenities Furnished, Energy Star Appliances, Laundry Facility, Community Room w/ Computers, Game Room, On-site Manager

No Application Fee! - Sec. Dep. $175 Free Utilities, 24 hr. laundry, Around the Clock Courtesy Patrol

INCOME & PROGRAM RESTRICTIONS APPLY Rents from $560 to $672 per month

112 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 213.624.3311 • Rosslyn@SROhousing.com

Please apply by calling (213) 229-9365

premiere Towers

7000 sqft. Basement Space ✦ set up for Gallery/Office space

Monthly from CALL For PrICE • w/Gallery Lights • Wide Private (Spring St.) Entrance • Ideal for Art Gallery, $695 SPA, Office Space • Wired for internet service/telephone outlets • Prime utilities Location in Downtown (Gallery row, residential area, wine bar, café, market) havepaid. something to sell?

213.627.6913 | cityloftsquare.com (213) 627-1151

(Marketplace and Automotive Categories ONLY)

• • • • •

Items Items Items Items Items

under $300 $301 to $500 $501 to $1200 $1201 to $2000 $2001+…

Furnished single unit with kitchenette, bathroom.

Excellent location.

Name: Address: Downtown LA.  $275 inc.

WeeklyCity rate Phone: Cash $ Credit card #: Exp. Date:

12 15 15 15 15

words, 2 weeks words words words words

Monthly from $550 utilities paid.

(213) State 612-0348 Check $

ATTENTION JOINT & Muscle Pain Sufferers: Clinically proven all-natural supplement helps reduce pain and enhance mobility. Call 877-217-7698 to try Hydraflexin Risk-Free for 90 days.

(Cal-SCAN) DIABETES/CHOLESTEROL/ Weight Loss. Bergamonte, a Natural Product for Cholesterol, Blood Sugar and weight. Physician recommended, backed

by Human Clinical Studies with amazing results. Call today and save 15% off your first bottle!

888-392-8780 (Cal-SCAN) FEELING OLDER? Men lose the ability to produce testosterone as they age. Call 888-904-2372 for a free trial of Progene- All Natural Testosterone Supplement.

(Cal-SCAN) IF YOU USED YAZ/YAZMIN/ OCELLA Birth Control Pills or a NuvaRING Vaginal Ring Contraceptive between 2001 and the present and developed blood clots, suffered a stroke, heart attack or required gall bladder removal you may be entitled to compensation. Call Attorney Charles Johnson 1-800-5355727. (Cal-SCAN)

855.240.7518

rossLyn HoteL

FORD APARTMENTS

Do you

HeaLtH & fitness

Voted BEST Downtown Residential Real Estate Agent!

756 S. Broadway, Los Angeles 213-892-9100 | chapmanf lats.com

Fully furnished with TV, telephone, microwave, refrigerator.

Full bathroom.

Excellent location.

Downtown LA. Weekly maid service.

Ad Prices

ALLIED HEALTH Career training - Attend college 100% online. Job placement assistance.

Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. SCHEV certified.

Call 800-481-9409. www.CenturaOnline.com (Cal-SCAN)

EVER CONSIDER a Reverse Mortgage? At least 62 years old? Stay in your home & increase cash flow! Safe & Effective! Call Now for your Free DVD! Call Now 888-698-3165.

(Cal-SCAN)

35 Boutique Style “Live/Work” Residences starting at $1,450 Studio Lofts 600-1800 sq. ft.

Bill Cooper 213.598.7555 DRE # 01309009

education

financiaL serVices

TM

Downtown since 2002

MARKET, KELLY’S COFFEE, DRY CLEANING, MAC AND CHEEZA and LA BREWERY on Ground Floor

CONCEPTO’S CLEANING Crew. Professional, experienced, cleans apartments, homes, offices and restaurants.

Call for a quote. 323-459-3067 or 818-409-9183.

ATTEND COLLEGE Online from Home. *Medical, *Business, *Criminal Justice, *Hospitality. Job placement assistance.

Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. SCHEV certified.

Call 888-210-5162 www.CenturaOnline.com (Cal-SCAN)

Immigraiton, Criminal, Accidents.

Child Support/ Custody over 25 years’ experience.

Necesita Permiso de trabajo?

Tagalog / Español / Korean / Mandarin Chinese Law Office of H. Douglas Daniel Esq., (213) 689-1710

$1,400’s/mo.

REACH CALIFORNIANS With a Classified in Almost Every County! Experience the power of classifieds! Combo~California Daily and Weekly Networks. One order. One payment. Free Brochures. elizabeth@cnpa.com or (916)288-6019. (Cal-SCAN) cLeaning

get your green card or citiZensHip

noW Leasing

ADVERTISE A display Business Card sized ad in 140 California newspapers for one low cost of $1,550. Your display 3.75x2” ad reaches over 3 million+ Californians. Free brochure call Elizabeth (916)288-6019. (Cal-SCAN)

HIGH SCHOOL Diploma! Graduate in 4 weeks! Free Brochure.

Call Now! 1-866-562-3650 ext.

60 www.SouthEasternHS.com (Cal-SCAN)

All ads run for 2 weeks.

FREE! Ads may be renewed after madison hotel $11.50 Clean furnished single two weeks for 50% off the $14.00 rooms.

24-hour desk original price of the ad. $16.50

LOFT LIVING

clerk service. $19.00

•Daily, $30.00 •Weekly, $109.00 •Monthly, $310.00 (213) 622-1508 423 East 7th St.

Zip (2 blocks west of San Pedro St.) Starting Jan. 1, 2011

Credit Card $

Your number 1 source for Loft sales, rentals a and With development! circulation of downtownnews.com 47,000, our classifieds get results!

Do you have something to sell?

______

Ad Prices (Marketplace and Automotive Categories ONLY) • Items under $300 • Items $301 to $500 • Items $501 to $1200 • Items $1201 to $2000 • Items $2001+…

Name: Address: City Phone: Cash $ Credit card #: Exp. Date:

Ad Copy

FREE! $11.50 $14.00 $16.50 $19.00

12 words, 2 weeks 15 words 15 words 15 words 15 words

All ads run for 2 weeks.

Ads may be renewed after two weeks for 50% off the original price of the ad.

With a circulation of State Check $

Zip Credit Card $

47,000,

our classifieds get results!

______

______

______

______

______

______

______

Restrictions: Offer good on private party ads only. Ads must be pre-paid by cash, check or credit card. Certain classificati

Ad Copy: _________________________________________

________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Restrictions: Offer good on private party ads only. Ads must be pre-paid by cash, check or credit card. Certain classifications excluded. Deadline: Thursday at noon for next issue.

________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

February 27, 2012

Downtown News 19

DowntownNews.com

VIAGRA 100MG and CIALIS 20mg!! 40 Pills 4 free for only $99. #1 Male Enhancement, Discreet Shipping. Only $2.70/ pill. Buy the Blue Pill Now! 1-888904-6658. (Cal-SCAN)

Psychic PSYCHIC READER Spiritual advisor. Tarot $20. Confidential text for one free question 323493-9494.

LegaL

Tax services

SOCIAL SECURITY Disability Benefits. Win or Pay Nothing!

Start your Application In Under 60 Seconds. Call Today! Contact Disability Group, Inc. Licensed Attorneys & BBB Accredited.

Call 877-490-6596. (Cal-SCAN)

TAX Preparation From $49+ We can do your Taxes: On-Line, Mail, In-Office www.ABTTEAM.com 888-808-0344 2500 Broadway 90404 888-808-0344.

AUTOS

Misc. services ATTENTION DIABETICS with Medicare. Get a free Talking Meter and diabetic testing supplies at No Cost, plus free home delivery! Best of all, this meter eliminates painful finger pricking! Call 888-781-9376. (Cal-SCAN) ATTENTION SLEEP APNEA Sufferers with Medicare. Get free CPAP Replacement Supplies at No Cost, plus free home delivery! Best of all, prevent red skin sores and bacterial infection! Call 888-699-7660. (CalSCAN) SAVE ON CABLE TV-InternetDigital Phone. Packages start at $89.99/mo (for 12 months.)

Options from ALL major service providers. Call Acceller today to learn more! CALL 1-888-8977650. (Cal-SCAN)

PETS/ANIMALS

2008 PORSCHE CAYMAN Coupe Certified, Black/Black, Only 18k Miles, 8U762547 $38,895 Call 888-685-5426.

aDOPT a PeT ADOPT (OR FOSTER) your forever friend from Bark Avenue Foundation. Beautiful, healthy puppies, dogs, cats and kittens available at Downtown’s largest private adoption facility. Call Dawn at 213-840-0153 or email Dawn@BarkAveLA.com or visit www.Bark Avenue Foundation. org.

2008 VW JETTA WOLF Certified, Auto, Low Miles ZV1443/8M197061 $14,966 Auto Call 888-781-8102.

2009 CHEVY IMPALA Certified, Low Miles, #CH1041-1 $9,995 Call 888-879-9608 2010 MERCEDES C300W Certified, 3.0L, 31k miles, White/ Black 5858C/R087445 $27,991 Call 888-319-8762.

DOWNTOWN L.a. auTO grOuP POrSchE VOLKSWAgEn AUdi MErcEdES-BEnZ niSSAn chEVrOLET cAdiLLAc

2007 NISSAN FRONTIER EXTENDED CAB Certified,Low Miles and much more!!

N120553/N129626 $9,499 call 888-838-5089 2007 NISSAN QUEST Certified, 21k miles, NI20652-1/N129626 $16,999 call 888-838-5089 2008 AUDI A4 2.0T Certified, Low Miles, ZA10067/A165712 $21,688 Call 888-583-0981

MANTIS DELUXE Tiller. New! FastStart engine. Ships free.

One-Year Money-Back Guarantee when you buy direct.

Call for the DVD and free Good Soil book! 888-815-5176. (CalSCAN)

SELL YOUR car, truck or SUV Today! All 50 states, fast pickup and payment. Any condition, make or model. Call now 1-877818-8848. www.MyCarforCash. net (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: 888962-3056. (Cal-SCAN)

THE ANSWER

aucTiON

LEGAL FicTiTiOus BusiNess NaMe Fictitious Business name statement File no. 2012027754 The following persons doing business as: 1) VILLA COL-

DOWNTOWN

$9,499

L.A. AUTO GROUP OVER 500

Certified, Low Miles..

$16,999 2008 Nissan 350Z .............................................. $20,999 Certified only 27K Miles. NI3884/M704287 2009 Infiniti FX35 .............................................. $34,499 Only 18K Miles. Certified. NI3876/9M103735

PREOWNED CARS, TRUCKS, SUV’s & VANS IN STOCK!

2007 Nissan Quest 3.5S ....................................

Certified, 21K Miles. N120652-1/N129626

AUDI OF DOWNTOWN L.A.

$17,810

$27,878 2008 Audi A6 ...................................................... $29,838 Certified, Auto, Nav, Low Miles. ZA10079/N077967 2010 Audi A5 Cab .............................................. $43,788 Certified, Auto. ZA10094/AN022822 2009 Audi A4 Cab ..............................................

Certified, Auto Low Miles. ZA10101/9K001417

888-I-LOVE-LA DTLAMOTORS.COM

DOWNTOWN L.A. AUTO GROUP 888-I-LOVE-LA (456-8352) W W W . D T L A M O T O R S . C O M

ZV1420/8M412815

$13,994 2009 VW EOS KOM ........................................... $21,639 Certified, Low Miles. ZV1434/V002187 2010 VW CC Sport .............................................. $24,887 Certified, Low Miles. ZV1460/AE513581 2009 VW Jetta Cali ...............................................

Certified, Manual Low Miles. ZV1516/9M067422

is your teen experiencing:

adolescent support group now forming ages 13-17 Low fee call Marney stofflet, LcsW

Certified, Gray, 86K Miles.

CU0574P/540992

2006 Pontiac Grand Prix ..........

Certified.

CU0603P/217429

$26,991 Certified, Black/Black, 22K miles, 3.0 Liter

$10,995

PORSCHE OF DOWNTOWN L.A.

888-685-5426 1900 S. Figueroa St. • porschedowntownla.com

$44,891

2009 PORSCHE CAYENNE 9LA04712

Certified, silver/black, Nav, Park Asst., Loaded!

$38,895 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet .............. $57,891 Certified, midnight blue. 7S765803 2008 Nissan Xterra ................... $18,995 2010 Porsche Panamera S ................................

Certified. $79,982 Certified, Gray 34k Miles. AL062364 CU0581p/8C533568 2009 Honda Fit .......................

Certified.

C120276-1/025079

Sunshine Generation Singing, dancing, performing and fun!

For boys & girls ages 3 and up!

(323) 662-9797

4344 Fountain ave. (at sunset), suite a Los angeles, ca 90029

2008 MERCEDES C300W

$27,991 2009 Mercedes E350W ..................................... $31,991 Certified, Blk/Blk, 44k Miles. 111852-1/ B396329 2009 Mercedes ML350W4 ................................ $36,991 Certified, Wht/Blk, 29k Miles, 3.5 Liter. 5680C/ A447715

$15,995

Children’s Performing Group

• School problems?

• Conflict at home or with friends?

888-319-8762 • 1801 S. Figueroa St. • mbzla.com

Certified, White/Black, 31k Miles, 3.5 Liter. 5602C/F254750

888-845-2267 1505 E. 223rd St., Carson carsonnissan.com

888-781-8102 1900 S. Figueroa St. • vwdowntownla.com

Certified, Low Miles.

$10,995 2012 Chevy Cruze ECO ..................................... $16,995 Loaded, Low Miles. F12014-1 2011 Cadillac Escalade ..................................... $45,995 Loaded, Navi and More. UC921R

2008 Mercedes CLK350C ..............................

CARSON NISSAN

2005 NISSAN TITAN

$16,378

Certified, Low Miles

5585C/R018046

VOLKSWAGEN OF DOWNTOWN L.A. 2008 VW BEETLE CONVERTIBLE

$9,995

2009 CHEVY IMPALA CH1041-1 Loaded, Mint! UC863

Certified, Low miles..

ZA100095/8A164278

FELIX CHEVROLET

888-879-9608 330 S. Figueroa St. • felixchevrolet.com

2007 Pontiac G6 Coupe ....................................

888-583-0981 1900 S. Figueroa St. • audidtla.com

2008 AUDI A4 2.0T

TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

ADVERTISE YOUR Auction in 240 California newspapers for one low cost of $600. Your 25 word classified ad reaches over 6 million+ Californians. Free brochure call Elizabeth (916)2886019. (Cal-SCAN)

Misc. iTeMs

DONATE YOUR car, truck or boat to Heritage for the Blind.

Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax Deductible, Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 888-9026851. (Cal-SCAN)

filed with DEAN LOGAN, Los Angeles County Clerk on February 17, 2012. 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. 2/27, 3/05, 3/12, 3/19/12

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DODGER SEASON TICKETS Quarter Share 4 seats, 20 games (u pick). Loge level 138 (1st base), row M (in shade).

Great seats for $3,425.00 @ cost. Call Alex: 818 497-4102

auTOs WaNTeD

888-838-5089 635 W. Washington Blvd. • downtownnissan.com

N120553/ N129626

TickeTs

For a complete list of our pre-owned inventory, go to www.DTLAMOTORS.com

NISSAN OF DOWNTOWN L.A.

2007 NISSAN FRONTIER

READERS & MUSIC Lovers.

100 Greatest Novels (audio books) ONLY $99.00 (plus s h.)

Includes MP3 Player & Accessories. Bonus: 50 Classical Music Works & Money Back Guarantee. Call Today! 1-866-979-4428.

(Cal-SCAN)

ITEMS FOR SALE

2010 NISSAN SENTRA 4DR Certified, Red, Great Car, Must See CU0584R/655453 $12,995 call 888-845-2267

Pre-OWNeD

DEW PROPERTIES, 2) JAMAICA FARMER’S MARKET, 3) JAMAICA FARMERS, 4) JAMAICA HOT, 5) OCHO RIOS NICE, 6) JAMAICAN FARMERS, 7) JAMAICA HUB, 8) KINGSTON NICE, 9) NO LINGA, 10) NUH LINGA, 633 W. 5th Street, 28th Floor, Los Angeles CA 90071, are hereby registered by the following registrant: JAMAICA SCOPE CORPORATION, 633 W. 5th Street, 28th Floor, Los Angeles CA 90071. This business is conducted by a corporation.

Registrant(s) has not begun to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed herein. This statement was

100 PERCENT Guaranteed Omaha Steaks - save 65 percent on the Family Value Collection.

Now only $49.99 Plus 3 free gifts & right-to-the-door delivery in a reusable cooler. Order today at 1-888-525-4620 or www.OmahaSteaks.com/family16, use code 45069TVH. (Cal-SCAN)

SunshineGenerationLA.com 909-861-4433

$13,595

2008 Porsche Cayman Coupe ..........................

Certified, Black/Black, 18k Miles. 8U762547

My Nails aNd spa • • • • •

Crystal Nails Acrylic Nails Pink & White Silk Wrap Shellac Gel

323.662.2718 4335 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029 (in front of McDonald’s)

• Spa Pedicure • Hot Oil Manicure • Waxing • Facial • Eyelash Extension M.-Sat. 10am - 7:30pm Sun. 10am - 5pm Walk-in Welcome GIft Certificate Available

MR. CABINET FREE Estimate Specialize in

Kitchen Cabinet Entertainment Center Vanities Closet Bar

Baseboard Granite Top All Wood Jobs Custom Make Work

Crown Molding &

Residential and Commercial

Ask for Mario (909) 657-7671

20 Downtown News

Twitter/DowntownNews

February 27, 2012