Dennis Hopper’s Art
LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS INSIDE
Honda of Downtown Los Angeles is offering exclusive service specials to all Honda car owners. SEE PAGE 2 1540 S. Figueroa St.
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of Downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90015
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
July 19, 2010
Volume 39, Number 29
ATTENTION HONDA OWNERS!
Ludovic’s Fifth How a Celebrated Chef Launched a New Restaurant Concept and Landed Downtown by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
Urban Scrawl on some coming culture.
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Broad Museum takes two steps forward.
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High-speed rail plan sparks anger.
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hen it comes to making a name for yourself as a chef/restaurateur/ brand, there are three main paths to success: The first is by spending decades honing a unique style that combines food, decor and personal magnetism. This worked for now revered individuals such as Wolfgang Puck (Spago, etc.), Joachim Splichal (the Patina empire) and Roy Yamaguchi (Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion). The second, and most common mode, is to climb the ladder at local hot spots. Slave away in the kitchen, rise to sous chef and then executive
Park of the Future Begins
Historic Core Project Looks for Two Types Of Tenants to Fill 85,000 Square Feet of Retail Space
The $56 Million Public Space Is Set to Open in 2012 by Jon ReGaRdie executive editoR
by RichaRd Guzmán
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photo by Gary Leonard
Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy in Gram & Papa’s, a small Fashion District restaurant. This week, they’ll launch LudoBites 5.0 in the establishment, and the crowds will come.
Medallion’s Double Gamble
city editoR
A very bloody ‘Lieutenant.’
chef, and gain a following before using the momentum (in the dining room and online) to launch your own place. This can currently be seen in the cases of local phenoms Walter Manzke (recently of Church & State) and Michael Voltaggio (the Dining Room at The Langham Hotel in Pasadena). Both are now preparing eagerly awaited restaurants of their own. The third, and newest style, is the reality TV route. Winners of cooking shows can parlay their celebrity into their own businesses. A Downtown example is “Top Chef” winner Ilan Hall, who rode his fame to open The Gorbals. see LudoBites, page 8
ith a small private street flanked by empty storefronts, idle escalators and a noticeable lull in Downtown noise, Saeed Farkhondepour’s mixed-use Medallion project looks almost like a ghost town. That’s to be expected right now, as the development at Fourth and Main streets with 96 apartments and 200 retail spaces is in the final weeks of construction. The bigger question is how the project, in particular its 85,000 square feet of retail space, will look and sound six months or a year from now. Despite the weak economy, Farkhondepour believes that once
he’s built it, they will come, and the project perched between the Historic Core, the Civic Center and the Toy District will be a thriving retail hub. To make that happen, he’ll have to pull off a delicate dance unlike any other retail effort in Downtown. Rather than cater to a single type of tenant, he’ll have to play mix and match, luring the Toy District merchants he has long dealt with to one side of the project, while wooing trendy shops and restaurants to another part of the three-building complex. Retail and other Downtown experts believe it will be a tough sell in today’s market, though they also say filling the Medallion with commercial tenants see Medallion, page 10
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t 9:41 a.m. on Thursday, July 15, the water stopped running at the historic Arthur J. Will fountain behind the County Hall of Administration. As it did, work on a $56 million park that will stretch from the Music Center to City Hall officially began. The fountain shut-off was the culmination of a ceremony that attracted hundreds of civic and business leaders. They came to celebrate the beginning of construction on a 12-acre space that is set to open in the summer of 2012. The park is the public component of the Grand Avenue plan, a $3 billion project by developer Related
Cos. that is currently stalled due to the recession. However, as part of the deal negotiated by a city-county team when the development rights were awarded, Related paid $50 million up front. “Related, thank you for supporting the effort, and thank you for your money,” joked Councilwoman Jan Perry to the crowd. Perry, along with County Supervisor Gloria Molina, were credited with spearheading the creation of the park. Eli Broad, a former chair of the Grand Avenue Committee, noted that the idea for the Grand Avenue plan was first broached a decade ago, during the construction of the see Park, page 9
Five great entertainment options.
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14 CALENDAR LISTINGS 16 MAP 17 CLASSIFIEDS
photo by Gary Leonard photo by Gary Leonard
Saeed Farkhondepour’s Medallion project is set to open in August. The project contains about 200 retail spaces.
(l to r) Bill Witte, Nelson Rising, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Gloria Molina, Councilwoman Jan Perry and Eli Broad last week spun a wheel to turn off the Arthur J. Will fountain behind the County Hall of Administration.
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles