LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS SF Fed chief talks up the economy.
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The El Pueblo rent battle continues.
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A Downtown top cop looks back.
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W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
March 29, 2010
Volume 39, Number 13
The Last Hour of Brooks Brothers
photo by Gary Leonard
INSIDE
Easter Happenings
After 71 Years in Downtown, Customers Say Goodbye to an Institution by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
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or Tom Kaleita, it was the personal touch that made him go well out of his way to get to the Downtown Los Angeles Brooks Brothers. He’d drive from UCLA, where he is a professor, knowing he could always find that one-on-one connection with the sales staff that ensured he would look his best. Last Monday, Kaleita walked out of the store at 604 S. Figueroa St. for the last time, a heavy heart under his nicely fitted shirt. “I’m grieving the loss,” he said. “The people that worked here personalized the service, they gave you opinions about what looked good and what fits better…. They really spruced up Downtown.” Kaleita, who bought two shirts on his visit, was the final customer at the see Brooks Brothers, page 12
Figueroa Street Marriott Sells
Just after the store closed for the final time, an employee began scraping the Brooks Brothers name off the door.
Great Moments From the Budget Bumble
China-Based Investor Plans Up to $15 Million in Renovations
A Big Deficit and Unheeded Warnings Help Make Los Angeles a Pink Slip City by Jon ReGaRdie executive editoR
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he only thing surprising about the city’s budget disaster is that anyone is actually surprised about it. People may
A side of the L.A. Marathon you missed.
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THE REGARDIE REPORT
bemoan the $212 million shortfall for the current year, but the fact is, this is nothing new.
Around this time last year, City Hall was Chicken Little-ing over what was then a $530 million deficit. Threats of up to 2,800 job cuts were floated but, after some angry back and forth between elected leaders and union officials, the negotiators came together like in that old I’dlike-to-buy-the-world-a-Coke commercial. see Budget, page 10
photo by Gary Leonard
Huge health fair coming to Sports Arena.
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18 CALENDAR LISTINGS 21 MAP 22 CLASSIFIEDS
The 1982 Los Angeles Marriott Downtown, which fell into foreclosure last year, has been acquired by a Chinese firm. A planned renovation will enable the building to meet LEED energy-efficiency standards. by Ryan vaillancouRt staff wRiteR
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he Los Angeles Marriott Downtown was sold last week, capping a tumultuous period for the 28-year-old hotel on Figueroa Street. Shenzhen New World Group Co., Ltd., an influential real estate developer in China, purchased the
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469-room hotel for an undisclosed price. Shenzhen partnered with the Arcadia-based investor and property manager Kam Sang Co., which initiated the deal, said Ronnie Lamm, Kam Sang’s president and CEO. The purchase, which closed Wednesday, March 24, marks Shenzhen’s first investment in Los see Marriott, page 11
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The man in charge as Los Angeles hit its worst budget crisis ever.
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