10-19-09

Downtown Living

LOS ANGELES

DOWNTOWN

NEWS Volume 38, Number 42

INSIDE

What’s next for Parker Center?

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11-20 W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M

October 19, 2009

More Than Just a Game In the Skid Row Basketball League, Quik and Sunshine Find A Family That Stands by Them, No Matter What

by Ryan Vaillancourt staff writer

Urban Scrawl on the Dodgers.

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Play 4th and Long Football and win prizes.

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A new restaurant for First and Hope.

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Dynamic dance at REDCAT.

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Second of a Three-Part Series hey stand hand-in-hand, heads bowed, eyes closed, in a circle at the center of the mint-green basketball court in Gladys Park. They are here to play ball. But first, a prayer.

“Dear Lord, thank you for this day, for this game,” says Sunshine, a 24-year-old cherry blonde and a recovering crack addict. She wears jeans, and a thin purple dress drapes over her swollen belly. She’s seven months pregnant.

“Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together,” she continues, her voice quieting to a whisper. “We need you.”

As Sunshine speaks, life in this normally busy park in the heart of Skid Row is suspended. The old men and women playing dominoes pause to respect the ritual. A stereo pounding rap music dies. Even a few children ambling around seem to recognize something serious is happening, and they stop too.

The prayer circle is made up of about 35 people, mostly men. Among them is Sunshine’s man, who goes by the name of Quik. Their almost 2-year-old son, Boogie, unaware of the little brother on the way, waddles around the court. He stops at Quik’s feet and tugs impatiently at his sagging mesh shorts. Boogie doesn’t know that Quik is not his biological father. Nor do many of Quik’s friends on the see Basketball, page 7

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The Road Crew Downtown-Based Company Drives the Gourmet Food Truck Trend

by Richard Guzmán city editor

An intimate view of the Chandlers’ legacy.

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24 CALENDAR LISTINGS 26 CLASSIFIEDS

photo by Gary Leonard

George “Quik” Hogan sold drugs and battled addiction until he found a familial community in the Skid Row 3-on-3 Streetball League. He is one of about 40 men who play basketball at Gladys Park every Saturday.

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hese days in Los Angeles, it is virtually impossible to escape the gourmet food truck craze. But one question is usually left unasked amid the appearances of upscale barbecue, ice cream, hot dog, cupcake and other mobile kitchens: Where do they come from?

The answer, at least for many of them, is Road Stoves, a company on Oak Street, near where the 110 and 10 freeways meet.

Run by Josh Hiller and Morris Appel, Road Stoves is actually a spin-off of A La Carte Catering Inc., a business run by Appel’s father,

Herman Appel, that leases catering trucks. Last year, A La Carte outfitted the first of the newfangled mobile kitchens — the Kogi Korean barbecue truck.

Like other catering truck companies, Road Stoves provides permits, insurance and maintenance, and leases the $120,000 trucks to operators. But they also offer eye-catching customization, help with marketing and even work with newcomers to keep ideas fresh and the food good.

Road Stoves has received hundreds of food truck proposals, Appel said, the majority of which it rejects. Some were duplicate ideas of what is already on the streets, or trucks they

feel won’t deliver the type of quality cuisine that will ensure the trend outlasts the hype.

“We had people that wanted to do noodles, but you can’t boil the noodles on the truck unless it’s the Top Ramen kind where you throw hot water on them, and for that you really don’t need a gourmet truck,” Appel said.

Hiller added, “When someone comes to us and says, ‘I want to do exactly what so and so is doing,’ we don’t feel that’s the best way to enter the marketplace.”

Following Kogi Road Stove clients include Nom Nom, which serves Vietnamese sand-

The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles

wiches, Baby’s Badass Burgers, easily recognizable for its hot pink paint job and provocatively dressed servers, Marked 5, which serves Asian minibite sandwiches, and Barbie’s Q and Skewers on Wheels, both of which are pretty self-explanatory.

The food truck scene exploded late last year after the Kogi truck tapped into a young and computer-friendly foodie market by posting Twitter updates telling people where the trucks would be. The savvy marketing, along with the high-end yet affordable menu, made it stand out from the traditional taco trucks geared toward a blue-collar clientele. see Trucks, page 5

2 Downtown News

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

AROUNDTOWN Downtown Investor Buys Fifth and Grand May Apartment Building Become ‘John Fante he Downtown-based real estate invest- Square’

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ment and brokerage company The Hogan Group, Inc. has purchased a 30unit apartment building just west of the 110 Freeway from P.I. Properties for $1.44 million. The 14,000-square-foot, 1914 building at 1628 W. 12th St. is a rent-controlled project. Hogan Group President Brent Hogan said the company plans to make minor cosmetic upgrades to the building and will hold onto it as an investment at least until the housing market turns around. “That’s what we do: We focus on blue-collar housing,” he said. The Hogan Group owns about 12 rental properties in and around Downtown and Koreatown.

Taper to Present Randy Newman Musical

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andy Newman loves L.A., but will Mark Taper Forum audiences love him? Expect that question to be answered late next year, when the Center Theatre Group presents a world premiere of Newman’s Harps and Angels. CTG announced the show last week, which it described as a politically tinged and humorous look at life in America. The musical will run Nov. 10-Dec. 19, 2010. It was conceived by Jack Viertel, creative director of Jujamcyn Theaters, and will feature songs and lyrics from the award winning singer/songwriter, including “I think It’s Going to Rain Today,” “You Got a Friend in Me” and “I Love L.A.” The piece will be the finale of the Taper’s 2010 season.

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he Bunker Hill described by the late author John Fante is gone, but the legendary Los Angeles writer’s legacy may forever be rooted at the corner of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue. Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry last week proposed that the intersection be named John Fante Square as a tribute to the writer whose works, including Ask the Dust, celebrate old Downtown. Fante and his semi-autobiographical protagonists, including Arturo Bandini, spent a lot of time in the Bunker Hill of the past, not far from the site that could bear his name. The intersection is on the eastern edge of the Central Library.

Fante, who was born in 1909, died in 1983.

The motion, made on Tuesday, Oct. 13, now goes to the Public Works Committee.

Ralphs Selling Homegirl Salsa

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he Downtown Ralphs supermarket and its customers are getting a little taste of Homegirl Café as part of a partnership with Homeboy Industries, the Downtown-based organization that helps at-risk youth with job training programs. City leaders, along with Homeboy Industries founder Father Gregory Boyle, announced recently that the supermarket at 645 W. Ninth St. is now selling two flavors of Homegirl Salsa. The salsa is made by women participating in the Homegirl Café & Catering job-training program. The agreement is part of an ongoing partnership that includes financial sup-

photo by Gary Leonard

Los Angeles Opera lured a huge crowd to its Art District costume warehouse on Saturday, Oct. 10. The company held a sale to get rid of clothes and accessories from past productions that it no longer needs.

port, job training and product donations by Ralphs. Kendra Doyel, group vice president of public relations and government affairs for Ralphs Grocery Company, said they hope eventually to sell the salsa at all their stores, but are starting with the Downtown location.

he said. The names of the suspect and victim were not immediately released.

Man Fatally Stabbed In Skid Row Hotel

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58-year-old man was stabbed to death inside a Skid Row hotel on Wednesday, Oct. 14, said Los Angeles Police Department officials. Two men were involved in a verbal argument at the Continental Hotel at 800 E. Seventh St. shortly before 9 p.m. The fight turned violent when one of the men pulled out two knives and stabbed the victim multiple times, said LAPD Det. Richard Arciniega.

The victim was transported to a local hospital where he died, Arciniega said. The suspect, who is being treated for minor injuries, was arrested and taken into custody at the scene,

Halloween Party Goes to the Dogs alloween isn’t just for the kids, or adults. Dogs can get in on the fun too at the inaugural Count Fluffula’s Costumes and Cocktails party on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Benefiting the Four Legged Friends Foundation, the 7-11 p.m. event is a 21-andover costume party for dogs and their owners at the Gallery in the Pacific Electric Lofts, at 610 S. Main St. The party will include a best costume contest, a best dog costume contest and best dog with their person contest. A few celebrities are scheduled to appear, including Jamie Ray Newman from television show “Eastwick” and wrestling diva Ariel Shelly Martinez. Tickets for the cocktail party are $10 per person, and dogs get in free. For tickets email events@flff.org.

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

Downtown News 3

What’s Next for Parker Center?

Officials Say Dilapidated Police Headquarters Could Sit Vacant for Several Years

by Ryan Vaillancourt staff writer

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he Civic Center has a new gem in the $440 million police headquarters building on First between Main and Spring streets. But as the Los Angeles Police Department preps for the Oct. 24 opening of the new digs, questions remain over what to do with its old home, Parker Center.

The answer to those questions may not come any time soon. Although city officials have known for years the property would be empty, only now are they working to hire a firm to conduct the necessary environmental studies.

In the coming weeks, the city Board of Public Works is expected to approve a contract with consultant Tetra Design to perform an Environmental Impact Report on the 1955 building, which many city and civic officials have long derided as dilapidated. The city council has set aside $1 million for the study, which is required because the edifice has been found to be eligible for state and national historical designations.

The proposed study comes more than three years after the council directed city agencies to evaluate the feasibility of demolishing the building and constructing a new city facility. Since then, it’s been a common expectation that Parker Center would be razed as soon as the LAPD finalized its move into the gleaming new headquarters a block away.

Parker Center was built for $6.1 million, according to the LAPD (it was named for Chief William H. Parker after he died in 1966). In the first few years after it opened, there was so much demand from public and civic groups for tours that the department staffed a full-time officer as a tour guide.

Now, as the department moves from Parker Center into the new building, it’s difficult to imagine visitors oohing and ahhing at the 54-year-old facility at First and Los Angeles streets. These days, they’d be more likely to question its safety.

“It’s shameful that we would force the police administration to have to live in that building when it has been so clearly, in my view, unsafe,” said Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association, echoing a viewpoint others in Downtown have made for years.

Even outgoing LAPD Chief William Bratton recently joked at a media event inside the new headquarters that a Hollywood production company should buy Parker Center, just so they could blow it up.

Not so fast, said Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry.

“It’s very easy to say, ‘Let’s tear it down,’ but I think we need to be responsible about it and go through a process and document that it cannot be revived in any way before we draw that conclusion,” Perry said.

Civic Center Blight In addition to evaluating the structural integrity of Parker Center, the EIR would analyze the feasibility of alternative options for the site.

A report by the city’s Municipal Services Committee on the proposed EIR identifies five options, including adaptive reuse of the building, partial demolition and renovation, and demolition and replacement with a temporary parking lot. The other options would be to demolish the building and replace it with a 1 million-square-foot structure and 500 parking spaces, or the same plan but with 1,000 parking spaces.

It may not be the most glamorous option, but finding an adaptive reuse for the structure could be the most environmentally friendly route.

“All the people that say ‘Hey, just tear it down, they don’t understand the embodied energy that goes into doing something like that, not to mention the resources and taxpayer money that would go into rebuilding a structure in a Downtown environment,” said Michael Schulman, an associate principal with the architecture firm Johnson Favaro, which has designed several civic facilities in Los Angeles. “It probably needs to be brought to current structural code, but as far as a good skeleton… it’s already there.”

No matter what happens to the site, it won’t be happening soon. Perry noted that environmental analyses can take several years. The Municipal Services Committee report indicates that the proposed consultant would initiate the study in December and finish it in June 2011.

“I think any sort of development is utterly dependent on the ability to generate funds or revenue to develop it, and in a down real estate market we will probably have to be realistic and slow our progress. But we can still move forward in making plans for the future,” Perry said.

In the meantime, Parker Center will continue to host limited LAPD operations, including a jail which occupies 72,000 square feet in the 325,000-square-foot building, and its Scientific Investigation Division, said Reginald Jones Sawyer, chief management analyst for the city.

Most of the building, however, will be left vacant, potentially adding to the Civic Center’s patchwork of abandoned public properties.

In the shadow of celebrated structures like City Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Caltrans buildings, there are at least three wallowing publicly owned sites. The property immediately west of City Hall is a former office tower that was razed after it suffered earthquake damage, and is now a fenced-off, graffiti-scarred plot. see Parker Center, page 6

photo by Gary Leonard

Parker Center, which the LAPD is vacating for a new headquarters a block away, has long been considered for demolition. A proposed study could recommend adaptive reuse instead.

4 Downtown News

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

EDITORIALS Find the Right Leader for Building and Safety

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here are three high-profile holes in city of Los Angeles departments and agencies right now. The search is on for a successor to LAPD Chief William Bratton, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has to hire a replacement for David Nahai, the recently pushed-out head of the Department of Water & Power. Also needed is a permanent replacement for Housing Department GM Mercedes Marquez, who was lured away by the Obama Administration.

Filling these slots is important and should be accomplished in a timely manner. But there is another vacancy that, while lower profile, should not be overlooked: general manager of the Department of Building and Safety. The position is crucial for Downtown and the rest of Los Angeles. How well and how quickly development projects make it through the DBS will be a key factor in the city’s economic recovery. Its work helps create construction jobs, increases the tax roles and helps homeowners make improvements.

Villaraigosa needs to make finding the right leader for this department a priority. It is our recommendation that public input be sought, like it has been for the LAPD search.

The DBS’ role is vital. Its mission statement notes that the department’s task is “to protect the lives and safety of the residents and visitors of Los Angeles, preserve the City’s quality

of life, and contribute to the City’s economic development.”

It accomplishes this by enforcing zoning, building and other codes, and making sure that commercial, residential and other structures adhere to local and state laws.

This can seem like optional, low-priority stuff, and indeed, many people only think of the department when problems arise. More often than not they blame it for slowing construction or costing people money by forcing delays they think are unnecessary. But DBS inspectors and others can be the ones who stand between public safety and a developer or builder trying to skimp by. The rules exist for a reason, and it is important that management be inspiring and efficient, and create an environment where those enforcing the code can do their job.

The DBS has been in tumult for a while, and not for reasons having anything to do with building or safety. Andrew Adelman, who oversaw the department with more than 1,000 employees since the mid-1990s, was put on administrative leave in August, following the start of a police investigation for an alleged sexual assault. He later resigned his position.

Although the District Attorney’s office decided not to file charges, it seems clear (justified or not) that largely because of the incident Adelman’s career with the department is over.

Adelman was credited with modernizing the DBS during his

Considering Frank McCourt

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os Angeles has an often passionate relationship with its professional sports teams and the owners of those franchises. There is usually a correlation between winning and adoration, though not always.

There is near-citywide love for the Lakers and Jerry Buss.

The longtime owner has spent big for star players, a feat that has helped create a culture of winning. Equally important, Buss understands how to hire the right people, and while he made a fortune in business, he usually lets the basketball people handle the basketball decisions.

The city’s other basketball team, the Clippers, has a history of failure and frustration, something owner Donald Sterling has been either unable or unwilling to change. Consequently, there is little affection for Sterling or belief in him, especially among Clipper fans.

The hockey team, the Kings, falls somewhere in the middle.

They are beloved by a core group of fans and ignored by most of the city. They are a product of the Anschutz Entertainment Group and, just like hockey has never really caught on in sunny

Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis

Los Angeles, winning has rarely caught on with the Kings.

Then there are the Dodgers, and with their recent history, it may be worth reconsidering the team’s owner, Frank McCourt.

McCourt, a Bostonian, bought the storied franchise from the Fox Corp. in 2004. He moved to Los Angeles and had multiple stumbles in his first couple years, with some poor hires and a rotating cast of managers and executives. During his tenure ticket prices have soared, and his willingness to spend on quality players has been questioned. Though fairly available to the media, he has had difficulty generating public affection. Part of that may be him (last week’s widely reported split with his wife Jamie may also affect perception), and part of it may be in comparison to the O’Malley family, who owned the Dodgers for decades. Comparisons are also made to popular Angels owner Arte Moreno.

Yet, McCourt’s team has made the playoffs three of the past four years, and for the second consecutive season is only one series away from reaching the World Series, something the Dodgers had not accomplished in more than two decades.

decade-plus tenure. But city insiders note that in recent years, morale among many employees dropped. The department gained a reputation for being a difficult place to work, with some blaming Adelman’s management style, which was reputed to have included “loyalty oaths” by new, highly placed employees. It is also said that he kept an “enemies list,” about which he was ruthless — not uncommon among politicians, but still not the right thing, especially for a key department bureaucrat.

Thus, Villaraigosa and his advisors need to look closely at the department and work to return it to a more professional management style. In choosing a new general manager they should speak not only with those overseeing the department on an interim basis, but the people doing field work, learning what they need to ensure that buildings in Los Angeles are safe. Villaraigosa’s team should also gather input from the private sector so they can know what the department does well and where it needs improvement.

Perhaps Villaraigosa will see a need to change the culture of the department, and the next step could be a nationwide search for someone who can bring in a fresh vision and inspire the work force. Questions need to be asked, and the issue cannot be overlooked as other seemingly more pressing holes are filled.

Annual attendance remains north of 3.5 million, and as the Dodgers continue to face the Phillies in the National League Championship Series this week, there is excitement throughout the city.

This transformation of the franchise is not the result of simple luck. McCourt brought in Joe Torre, a manager with a track record of winning, and though not a free-spender, neither is McCourt a miser. He certainly wasn’t helped by the 50-game suspension of his star player, Manny Ramirez, for violating baseball’s drug policy.

So here he is, just shy of a World Series. If the Dodgers can win it all, we just might see a little more public affection for Frank McCourt.

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Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie citY Editor: Richard Guzmán stAFF writErs: Anna Scott, Ryan Vaillancourt coNtributiNG Editors: David Friedman, Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Jay Berman, Jeff Favre, Michael X. Ferraro, Kristin Friedrich, Howard Leff, Rod Riggs, Marc Porter Zasada Art dirEctor: Brian Allison AssistANt Art dirEctor: Yumi Kanegawa ProductioN ANd GrAPhics: Alexis Rawlins ProductioN AssistANt / EvENt coordiNAtor: Claudia Hernandez PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard AccouNtiNG: Ashley Vandervort AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Steve Nakutin sAlEs AssistANt: Annette Cruz clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Robert Dutcher, Steve Epstein, Catherine Holloway, Tam Nguyen, Kelley Smith 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. It is also distributed to the extended urban communities of Glendale, Hollywood, Wilshire Center, Los Feliz, Silver Lake & Larchmont Village.

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October 19, 2009

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Downtown News 5

Trucks Continued from page 1 Most of the followers echo Kogi’s lead and use Twitter to try to gain a customer base. While some hit areas where numerous office workers are looking for a lunch alternative (a concentration of mid-day trucks in the Miracle Mile recently were booted out after complaints from area restaurants), the new breed of trucks can often be found outside of clubs or bars, or at events like the monthly Downtown Art Walk.

“The thing that was already here was the original taco truck, but if you go anywhere else in the world they have all sorts of street food,” said Appel. “So it was just a matter of time before someone came and did it right, and now we’re trying to bring what everyone else has here,” Road Stoves has helped put 20 new food trucks on the street, Hiller said. Operators usually buy their food from other sources and develop their own routes, although Road Stoves uses their industry contracts to help them find a niche.

“We talk to them about what they want to do and how they plan on marketing, who their chef is and whether we feel they can execute on their concept,” Hiller said. “We want something out there that represents the quality we represent.”

One-Stop Shop Roy Choi, co-owner of Kogi, is unequivocal about his praise for the company that helped him launch.

“This would not have been possible without Road Stoves,” Choi said one morning as he loaded food onto one of the four trucks he parks at the Road Stoves lot. “It was a one-stop shop. We came in with very little capital but with a good concept, and they helped us go from wanting to do this to turning on the ignition to the truck.”

David Stankunas, owner of Nom Nom, agrees. He launched his business in August and serves Vietnamese sandwiches and tacos at various locations throughout the city.

While Stankunas has developed his own route, he said Road Stoves gives them tips on clients.

“Every so often they give us a call or an email saying so and so wants to have us out. They had us recently go by the Playboy offices because they have an arrangement with them,” Stankunas said.

photo by Gary Leonard

Morris Appel (left) and Josh Hiller (center) run Road Stoves, which has put 20 upscale food trucks on the streets. The Downtown business is a spin-off of A La Carte Catering Inc., founded by Morris’ father, Herman Appel.

Long History Innovation is nothing new to those behind Road Stoves.

The parent company, A La Carte, was started more than 40 years ago by Herman Appel, who began by driving a small truck with a camper and re-heating pre-packaged food at construction sites.

The company now has about 90 trucks in its fleet, which it leases to operators who often start a business within a matter of weeks, and usually with just a four-figure investment. The company does not release its lease rates.

A La Carte’s traditional customers, the trucks that serve simple meals like tacos, burgers and sandwiches, are still popular at many work sites. They also get a route from the company and buy most of their food from the onsite warehouse.

“If someone comes in and says I want to do Philly cheese steak or Chinese, we don’t do that. We do run-of-the-mill,

standard catering,” Herman Appel said.

Most of the old timers respect the new trucks, according to an industry official.

Juan Torres, president of the Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de California (Caterers Association L.A. United Family of California), which represents food truck drivers in the city, said many of the newcomers bring positive attention to the industry.

“They look good, they’re well managed and clean, and that makes all of the industry look better,” he said.

Appel said within the next five years Road Stoves plans on going national. In the meantime, they have a few new trucks in development, with operators prepping a grilled cheese truck, a gourmet hot dog truck and a dessert truck.

“The food is the most important thing,” Appel said. “As long as it’s good food this can go on forever.”

Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

6 Downtown News

Parker Center Continued from page 3 A block away is the massive hole at First Street and Broadway, where the federal government planned to build a new courthouse until funding issues crippled progress. The earthquake-damaged County Hall of Justice, at Temple Street between Spring Street and Broadway, has been shuttered for years.

The layout does mark significant progress since 1997, however, when a coalition of city, state and federal agencies, along with the local business community, convened the Civic Center Authority and worked on a master plan for the area. It was known as the 10-Minute Diamond Plan because it sought to concentrate government offices within a 10-minute walk from City Hall. The statesanctioned authority still exists, but meetings eventually “just sort of fizzled out,” Schatz said.

With the pending status of Parker Center, some suggest reconvening the authority.

“It might be time to revisit the Diamond Plan and bring back the parties that participated,” said Dan Ronsenfeld, planning deputy to L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Rosenfeld was a member of the group when he worked in the private sector. “It would be unfortunate if any one government made unilateral real estate decisions, without discussing it with everyone. We’re all neighbors there.”

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

DowntownNews.com

October 19, 2009

ON THE MOVE ARTS n Dr. John Long has been named vice president of research and collections at the Natural History Museum.

Long, a paleontologist, will lead the curatorial staff at the Exposition Park facility, and will help orchestrate the museum’s currently underway transformation. n Nancy Marks and Lilly Tartitkoff have joined the MOCA Board of Trustees, and former members Gilbert Friesen and Peter Morton have returned to the board.

AWARDS n Dr. Mark Brooks of the Pilgrim School has been awarded a fellowship to the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership’s 2010 Heads of Schools program at Teachers College, Columbia University. It gives independent school leaders an opportunity for focused professional enrich- Mark Brooks ment, renewal and reflection.

BUSINESS n The Valley Economic Development Center has named Marsel Watts project manager of the Historic

Downtown Retail Project. He previously worked for the VEDC’s West San Fernando Valley Business Assistance Program.

LAW n Attorneys from the California law firm of Cotkin & Collins have formed the Cotkin Law Group. The firm will continue to represent individual, corporate, insurance and governmental clients in the areas of business and commercial litigation, insurance coverage, employment and family law.

NEW IN DOWNTOWN n Urban Life Cleaners has opened at 421 S. Main St. The business is founded by Michael and Steven Woods.

ORGANIZATIONS n Greg Schultz has been appointed president of the Los Angeles Headquarters Association. Schultz is a 35-year Los Angeles real estate veteran long active in Downtown. The LAHQ is one of the city’s top business Greg Schultz organizations.

October 19, 2009

Downtown News 7

DowntownNews.com

Basketball Continued from page 1 court. It doesn’t matter. Quik has raised him as a son. When Boogie looks up at Quik, he smiles and says “Papa.”

“Help us, heavenly father, to be our best, to do our best,” Sunshine continues, her eye clasped shut, her head nodding slowly to the pulse of her own speech. “And to show the world the real Skid Row. Amen.”

Heads lift, eyes open, and minutes later the pre-game calm is gone. The Gladys Boyz and Urban Legends, two of the eight teams in the 3-year-old Skid Row 3-on-3 Streetball League, are flying around the court, diving for loose balls and fighting for rebounds. Fans in the metal bleachers holler support.

Founded in 2007 by Manuel Benito Compito, a sort of neighborhood father figure and activist who was looking to cultivate an outlet for young men in Skid Row, the league now has about 40 players. Compito, known as OG Man — the letters stand for “original gangster” and are meant as a sign of respect — runs it entirely with volunteers.

Sunshine and Quik are among the most devoted members.

mile west of Gladys Park. He’s selling crack on behalf of a sect of the Bloods gang that runs out of The Jungles, a notorious southwest Los Angeles housing project.

In the drug hierarchy, Quik, who earned his nickname playing high school basketball in New Orleans, is somewhere in the middle. He’s not a kingpin, but he’s above the foot soldiers. He deals only in $50, $80 and $100 packages, selling to lower level dealers who divvy it up further and hawk it to individual users.

He sells to buyers all over Skid Row, but his customers know they can usually find him near Main and Winston.

He’s surrounded by addicts and is constantly dealing with the stress that comes with keeping track of what lower level dealers owe him. He means to save some of the profits, but eventually breaks one of the cardinal rules of the dope game and caves into the temptation to dabble in his own product.

“Through the day I would come down and make the money, take a break, drink, smoke, drink, smoke,” Quik recalls in a

Southern drawl, his delivery slow but calculated. “Once I finished smoking and drinking, sometimes I’d find myself saying, ‘I’ll go to my re-up person, get some more stuff,’ and the whole night is gone. It’s another day now and I’m still here.”

Almost inevitably, the police catch Quik. When they do, he has about $300 worth of crack in his pocket and another $900 in cash. He does six months in county prison, then comes back to the neighborhood.

There are stabs at recovery — a job at the Volunteers of America drop-in center on San Julian Street, an apartment at the Weingart Center. But even with a consistent paycheck for janitorial work, he is unable to resist what he refers to as “the call of the streets.” On Oct, 6, 2006, he leaves his apartment at the Huntington Hotel to collect his dues when an unfamiliar buyer approaches, just a few paces from his doorstep. The buyer’s a cop. Quik is arrested. Again.

“I had so much on me, too, like 75 grams,” he says. “Street see Basketball, page 8

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photo by Gary Leonard

Kristin Richardson, 24, is known as Sunshine. She grew up on Skid Row and battled addiction, but is now two years sober. In part, she credits the basketball league for her recovery.

With Boogie in tow, they arrive at the park early every week to set up audio gear, unpack the scoreboard and hang the homemade banners touting the league’s motto, “It’s More Than Just a Game.”

“It makes me feel good to do this,” Quik says of his role in the league. “And I’m going to continue to do this until it’s time for me to do something else. This here is my passion.”

Though it is first and foremost a basketball league, OG sees his project in Gladys Park as a less rigid path to recovery than the myriad institutionalized programs in the neighborhood.

Many men, including Quik, a former drug dealer, have embraced the league as a tool to help turn their lives around. But when it comes to keeping men away from crime and out of jail, OG knows that in Skid Row, he’s battling a cruel law of averages.

“We knew what we was dealing with when we created the league,” OG says, his black cap perched backward atop his bald head. At 60, the former convict knows well the troubles and temptations these young men face, and in some instances, go out of their way to find.

“We knew people was going to go to jail,” he says matter of factly. “Things are pretty good right now, but some disaster is going to happen. It happens every season.”

Corner Life At 40, George “Quik” Hogan is sinewy and strong. He stands 6-foot-1 and weighs about 170 pounds. His skin is so dark that the teardrop tattoos under both of his espresso brown eyes are barely noticeable. He doesn’t smile often.

When he does, he reveals a zirconia-studded golden mouthpiece that caps his upper teeth. A tight nylon skullcap wraps his shaved head. He doesn’t gangbang anymore, but he willingly reflects on the time when it defined him.

Flash back 15 years, to the summer of 1994, and Quik is standing on the corner of Main and Winston streets, about a

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Basketball Continued from page 7 value, that was about maybe four, $5,000. I had about maybe $3,000 in my pocket.

“But I didn’t look at it as a bad thing. I didn’t look at the officers as they did me wrong because I did wrong to get there. It was a blessing to get picked up because I was out of control, out of control within myself.”

Park Music Gladys Park has its own soundtrack.

Shirtless men sprint up and down the court, their feet pounding out a jagged rhythm accented by grunts, hand slaps and chirps of the referee’s whistle. Fans on the sidelines are a raucous chorus, yelping at three-pointers and booing botched lay-ups.

Above it all, Ron Crockett, the league’s tireless play-by-play announcer, narrates the game. His voice is a rapid-fire tenor that he accentuates and bends, sounding like a fiery preacher. He’s so loud that amplification might be unnecessary, but he wraps his fist around a microphone and hollers into it anyway. Park regulars know him as the Skid Row Chick Hearn.

Like the late Lakers broadcaster had his signature phrases, so does Crockett. Even when the action slows and a player dribbles in place, waiting for an opportunity to develop, Crockett narrates the literal cadence of the ball hitting the pavement: “Bounce! Bounce!

Bounce!” he says. When a player is fouled and heads to the free throw line, Crockett likens the trip to the neighborhood’s ubiquitous charity giveaways: “This is Skid Row, home of the freebies, baby.”

On the mic he refers to most of the players by their nicknames, calling out “Sniper,” “Lefty,” “Bulldog” and “G-Man.” Those without a nickname go by their first name.

If he doesn’t know a player, he simply refers to them, with no less enthusiasm, as “Unknown.”

“Annnnd, Unknown passes the ball to Philly. Philly backs him down, gives it back to Unknown. Mid-range jumperrrr. He nailed it! Another point for Unknown.”

He likes to warn opposing teams that a certain player is “heaatttting up!” When someone misses the hoop entirely, Crockett leads the crowd in a refrain of “Airrrrrrrr-ballllll.”

The sidelines are as much a part of the league as the in-game action. The metal bleachers on the east side of the court are always peppered with the extended league family, everyone watching the game and joking with each other. They laugh, a lot.

When Quik gets released in the fall of 2007, after serving 13 months, he heads to the park.

An old friend, Louie Rodriguez, the self-proclaimed “King of the Court,” recruits Quik to

play on his team, Liquid Halo.

Quik still has traces of the moves that earned him his nickname in high school, but at 40, he can’t dance gracefully past defenders anymore.

He has to toil for his points. Defenders respect his game though, because more often than not, he finds a way to get the ball in the hoop.

Soon rooted in the league, Quik aims to leave his troubled past behind, and in his second season he helps lead Liquid Halo to the championship, though they end up losing. OG, who as part of his guidance assigns titles and responsibilities to certain committed players, takes Quik under his wing and installs him on the league’s board.

“I embraced OG and he showed me that man, you can get back to where you were in your life,” Quik says.

There’s another, larger prize waiting for him outside of jail: Sunshine. They had been together for two years prior to his incarceration. Though during his time away she became pregnant with another man’s child, he forgives her and nurtures her through the pregnancy. Boogie may not be his by blood, but the birth certificate says the child’s last name is Hogan.

They move off Skid Row and into an apartment in South Los Angeles, where Quik gets a job doing maintenance at the building. But they take the bus back to Gladys Park every Saturday.

It’s a men’s league, but Sunshine is a mainstay. A strong-willed and cheerful woman, for a while she kept track of player statistics and managed the scoreboard. She’s been sober for two years and is taking night classes, studying criminal justice, a route she hopes will lead to more chances to give back to the streets that reared her. Her mother was a heroin addict and prostitute here. She died in Sunshine’s arms just a few blocks from the park. Sunshine was 14.

These days, with Boogie at her side and Quik’s child on the way, she doesn’t staff the scorer’s table anymore. But she still leads the pre-game prayer every week.

Quik is increasingly proud to be part of the league, he tells me often. He’s eager to share his story, because he sees himself as an example to other men in similar situations.

They can change, he says, and it’ll help them to hear it from someone like them, much like it helped Quik to hear it from OG. “I keep coming back because I want to let the other guys see that, man, I’m no different from you,” he says. “I am not. So I come back and show these people feeling like they have no hope, that if I were able to do it, you are able to do it.”

No-Show The 2009 season starts in August and runs through December. The first few weeks play out mostly as expected. Last year’s champions, Da Villains, win their first few games with ease.

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(Above) Sunshine leads the pre-game prayer, with league founder Manuel “OG Man” Compito at her right. (Below) The prayer circle is open to everyone in the park at Sixth Street and Gladys Avenue, not just the basketball players.

But Liquid Halo, which finished second last year, struggles. They drop their first three games. Quik seems to be tiring. With each missed shot, frustration flashes on his face.

The look doesn’t last long though. Off the court, after each loss, he seems at peace, a sharp contrast to many in the league, who stew or steam. Tantrums are common.

There’s a lot of posturing and near fights.

Losing can mean a week of taunting in the neighborhood.

Quik contemplates taking a secondary role on the team, letting the other men play while he offers moral support, maybe some coaching tips. I’m not sure whether he’s resigned to being a good sport, gracious in defeat, or whether he’s simply accepted that the team just doesn’t have it this year.

It doesn’t seem to matter though. He and Sunshine still show up early every Saturday to set up. He greets teammates and opponents alike with fist bumps and hugs. Between games, he plays with Boogie on the court.

Then one day in late August, Quik and Sunshine don’t show. Without the prayer, OG delivers some testimony himself, but it’s not the same.

A few hours later, Sunshine shows up, without Quik. Pushing Boogie in a stroller out in front of her pregnant belly, her usual smile and playful demeanor are gone. Instead she wears a

fixed wince. Her left eye is swollen and black.

In the ensuing days, the story slips out.

A verbal spat turned violent. She called the cops. An ambulance came too. It had happened earlier that week and the black eye everyone saw in the park was mild compared to the immediate aftermath, which she captured with a cell phone camera. In the picture her whole face is puffy, the left side painted purple. She wears a neck immobilizer. Her left eye is swollen shut.

Quik, who was still on parole, is facing five to 15 years for two counts of domestic violence. One against Sunshine, the other against his unborn son.

Quit Means Quit Quik’s situation resonates deeply. Recidivism is always a factor in the league. Players don’t show up, sometimes because they’re on drugs, sometimes because they’re in jail. It happens.

This is, after all, Skid Row. The league family in a way becomes a protective cocoon, trying to support Sunshine, to show her sympathy. Players and park regulars try to console her. In a sense, she’s alone now, she says, left to raise two children on her own for at least five years.

Yet the family also refuses to disown Quik.

Even as he sits in Twin Towers Correctional Facility a few miles away, waiting for sentencing, they won’t turn their backs on him.

October 19, 2009

Downtown News 9

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“I don’t agree with what he did,” says Louie Rodriguez, the man who recruited Quik to Liquid Halo. “That’s a big no no, because all he had to do was walk away. And all that stuff he was doing, for him not to be…”

Rodriguez’s voice trails off, before he edits his thought.

“Anger must have got to the guy. But man to man, I forgive him. He’s still a role model to us even though he took a few steps back.”

After Quik’s arrest, OG doesn’t talk much about the man he often told me was “like a son.” He’ll deal with Quik when Quik gets out, he says. He’s got enough to worry about trying to keep the league going.

With the help of volunteers, OG has nurtured a structure and schedule that seem to work, and it extends beyond the Saturday games.

OG encourages players to attend his twice-a-week league meetings. During those sessions, he leads a discussion on selected “words of the week,” like discipline, loyalty, or teamwork, relating those ideas to life on and off the court.

Many players never go to meetings. Plenty of guys roll their eyes at OG’s “It’s More Than Just a Game” mantra. For them, it is just a game, a way to blow off steam and satisfy a competitive instinct.

But they can’t escape it. OG preaches on Saturdays at the court too. He holds the microphone, talking and searching with his eyes for the players looking the most impatient, the ones who wish he’d just shut up. Then he speaks directly at them.

“If you just want to play basketball, go to Venice Beach,” he says, often. “They play there all day.”

There is only one rule that OG enforces.

There’s only one way to formally and permanently cut ties with the league. Someone gets mad and throws a chair, storms off the court after the game, starts a fight? Nobody’s applauding that, but they’re still on a team.

They can cool off and come back. They usually do. But if anyone quits, then they’re gone.

They shouldn’t bother crawling back next Saturday. Or ever again.

“We got a lot of league members in jail,” OG says. “I got people who hear about it for the first time in jail and come out wanting to play. But the only way you get out of the league is to say you quit. People get suspended and then quit, but then that’s on them. You

photos by Gary Leonard

(l to r) Quik, 40, makes up for his lack of youth with bullishness and tenacity on the court; Ron Crockett, the Skid Row Chick Hearn, calls the game in an inimitable style; Louie Rodriguez, a league mainstay who recruited Quik to play on his team, mans the scorer’s table.

can’t quit and come back. Quit means quit and people gotta learn to mean what they say.”

Quik disappointed OG and a lot of other people. But he didn’t quit. When his time is up, the league will have evolved, brought in new faces, lost some key members. But it will be here. And Quik is welcome to come back.

“Who am I to judge a man for his mistakes?” OG says. “We try to tell people not to do what they do, but it’s up to them. I hate that Quik had to learn his lesson at the sake of Sunshine, but he learned it, at least I think he did. He’ll be back. We’ll be waiting for him.”

The games go on, and most Saturdays, although Quik is in the Twin Towers, Sunshine and Boogie still get on the bus and come to Gladys Park. More than ever, the league is her family now. Plus, she has a job to do.

It is evidenced a little more than a week after Quik’s arrest when she takes the microphone, as usual, just a few minutes before 11 a.m. As she grips it, she displays the old tattoo on her right hand, an homage to her man: The letters Q-U-I-K are spelled out across her fingers.

The players form a ring, hand-in-hand.

Boogie wobbles when he walks across the circle, from some familiar face back to mom.

She begins.

“Dear heavenly father. May you keep watch over the ones that aren’t here. May you guide the ones going through hard times to the other side. May you take away hurt, pain, anger and resentment,” she says, fighting back tears.

“May you give forgiveness. May you give

the ability to forgive.”

Boogie, tapping Sunshine’s leg, is crying now.

“We pray for the people who aren’t here.

We pray for their lengthy but safe return home. Lord, you’ve hauled many of us away.

You’ve brought many of us back. We just

pray that your will be done here, as it is every Saturday. It must be, because we’re here.”

Next week: Part three of “More Than Just a Game” details the immersion of a reporter into the league, first as an observer, then as a player.

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

About This Series: For “More Than Just a Game,” Los Angeles Downtown News staff writer Ryan Vaillancourt spent more than a year chronicling the Skid Row 3-on-3 Streetball League. He conducted more than 50 interviews, and also became part of the league, joining a team in its third season.

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DOWNTOWN LIVING What’s in My Loft?

Downtowners Reveal How They Live, How They Decorate And Detail Four Things They Love About Their Homes by kristin friedrich, contributing writer

Steve Anderson, Continental Building Topping Off the City’s First High-Rise Photographer Steve Anderson and his girlfriend/muse Betsy Klein occupy the entire top floor of the Old Bank District’s Continental Building — 46 windows, 360-degree views, and as long as we’re doing the numbers, a 19-year-old cat named Toonces. They moved in last December from Huntington Beach and filled their home with an eclectic range of art, antiques and curiosities — including an enormous red bean bag chair, animal prints and textures, and Anderson’s 8 mm film projector, loaded with a vintage Betty Page reel.

Though they weren’t aware of the building’s history at the time, they’re well-versed in it now: Built in 1902, the Spring Street structure was L.A.’s first high-rise on the thoroughfare nicknamed the “Wall Street of the West.” Anderson was told it was cleared of all its financier ghosts before it became residential.

1. Probably the key piece of furniture is our old Philco record player. I got it when we were in New Hampshire visiting Betsy’s folks. I was hanging out with her stepdad, this old Brit, and a bottle of scotch later, I was in an antique store. It plays the old Bakelite records, and it came with “Jingle Bells,” so we had to go to Amoeba pretty quickly. It has a radio that still works, and the old preset stations — because it was a wartime radio, built in 1941 — say Havana, London, Berlin and Rome.

2. Our art collection is probably around 200 pieces. It’s on the walls, it’s leaning on the walls, it’s everywhere. It tells the story of our lives. There’s a mix of things we’ve come across, things our friends have given us, things we got in exchanges. One of our artist friends does these body imprints — so we did that. We rolled around in paint and she pressed us on a canvas.

3. When the sun rises, these beams of light come through one set of windows, streaming down across the path of the loft. And as the sun gets higher, it hits the glass windows of the buildings across the way and bounces back. It’s fantastic. It’s like magic.

4. We have a private patio, with a couple director’s chairs and some twinkle lights. You can’t see our place from the street, we’re above the building’s crest. So you can sun out there on the balcony, no tan lines. photo by Gary Leonard

see What’s in My Loft?, page 12

12 Downtown News

Downtown Living

October 19, 2009

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 11

Karin Liljegren, Roosevelt Lofts photo by Gary Leonard

The Work Project That Became Home After 10 years of working on Downtown adaptive reuse projects with Killefer Flammang Architects, Karin Liljegren has left her imprint on more than 2,000 Downtown lofts. She recently moved in to a building she had worked on in her professional career — the Roosevelt, on Seventh Street in the Financial District. She has started a firm called Omgivning, Swedish for “total environment,” that she runs out of a loft she shares with her 7-year-old son, Arik, and two cats. It’s not a giant space, but Liljegren had tricks up her sleeve to stretch it visually.

1. My loft space is long and skinny. For me as a designer, it’s about pushing spaces out. When you’re in it, the walls on one end are dark and this effect extends the space. In Arik’s room, one side is dark blue, and I let him do what he wants on that wall — he’s put up decals and patterns. It’s like his own art project.

2. I’m interested in interior design as well as architecture, and being more hands on with what the interior feels like. Drapery is critical for a warm cozy space, so off I went to the Fashion District and worked on my haggling skills for great fabrics. Instead of walls, my bed is surrounded by heavy drape. It’s been really functional. It’s a nice sleeping pod, and it’s cozy when you’re surrounded by silky thick fabric.

3. I’ve never done any painting, but I like to make my own cheap art. I did my first canvas painting here. I bought a lot of different sized canvases, and my son and I painted them — it’s hard to tell whose are whose. Over my bed there’s a simple black and white photograph of a Downtown alley that I took and had made into wallpaper, five by seven feet.

4. You learn so much more by living in the buildings you’re designing. One of the things I realized was the value of a rooftop space. When you’re not in the suburbs, you really need it. The Roosevelt has a great one, lovely to hang out in. Rooftops aren’t an amenity, they’re a necessity.

see What’s in My Loft?, page 14

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October 19, 2009

Downtown Living

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 12

Leila Fakouri, Fashion District Warehouse Through the Looking Glass and Into the Dream World

photo by Gary Leonard

When designer Leila Fakouri was a girl, she and her dad used to walk around their overgrown garden, peering at spider webs and looking at the shapes of leaves. That kind of magic-infused version of the natural world was inside the house too; her mom collected Persian art with boldly colored, flattened nature imagery.

As the years passed and her career began to encompass photography, installation and design, whimsical flora and fauna made its way into her aesthetic. Two years ago, Fakouri moved into a vacant Fashion District warehouse — a huge former workroom with no bathroom or kitchen, and iron bars over the windows. Her vision was to seed a quirky sense of nature into an industrial space; the result is pure Alice in Wonderland.

1. The greenery is a mixture of live plants, succulents and branches. I mix real organic matter and fake elements together. There’s grass “growing” out of the top of the bathroom, and greenery coming out of the fireplace in the bedroom. I like the idea of random nature coming into absurd places.

2. There’s a TV and a projection screen, and both are enclosed in huge painted wooden frames — the kinds of frames you see around old paintings. If you’re not using them for a TV show or a movie, you can play nature type imagery, and because the screens are framed it makes them look like a moving art piece. And I love the concept of not showing the mechanics of things, so the DVD player, and any of the controls, are all hidden in trunks.

3. I find vintage things all over the place, then re-upholster and repaint them. I had been collecting things for years and putting them into a massive storage unit. When I moved in here, I finally had a place to put it all.

4. I’m very much into the idea of little dream worlds. So on shelves, I’ll create installations with absurd figurines and tchotchkes and greenery. It’s a microcosmic world, a little environment where the figurines have their own interactions. I don’t hear them talking though. Don’t worry — I’m not that far gone. see What’s in My Loft?, page 16

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October 19, 2009

Downtown News 15

Downtown Living

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16 Downtown News

Downtown Living

October 19, 2009

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 14

Dennis Hunter, Bartlett Building photo by Gary Leonard

The View That Saved the Day Film production supervisor Dennis Hunter was a hair’s breadth from moving to New York City. He had vacated his Santa Monica apartment and was looking for an urban setting. His friends kept telling him he would know when he saw the right loft, but he had looked at four and didn’t connect. Then came the Bartlett. “It was the view of the skyline from the bedroom that sold me. I knew immediately this was it.�

With his cats, Kojo and Cheech, he’s gotten rid of the sand-colored walls and silver accents that infused the loft when he moved in. The developer was pushing an industrialized postmodern look, but Dennis turned the living area into a gallery setting for his ethnic art.

1. When I moved from the Westside the only thing that I kept was a big overstuffed chair and ottoman which are in the bedroom. Everything else had to go: the slip-covered couch, the four poster bed. None of it worked in the new space. It was too beachy.

2. I had always dreamed of a space where I could have Mid-Century furniture. I have vintage lamps and a replica of a 1950s Sputnik chandelier. My dining chairs are registered Henry Miller Eames; I found them online. And my couch, the end chair and my tables are all from Room and Board, which is an amazing company.

3. I was studying art at San Diego State, and my sophomore year I ended up an exchange student in Ghana, West Africa. I’d say it was the best experience of my life. I have a mud painting that was from the chief of a village. He asked what my name was through a translator, and when I said “Hunter,� he said, “Oh, that’s easy.� The next day he showed up with this painting of a hunter in ceremonial dress. He had it made for me.

4. My favorite thing in my loft is the barbershop sign. The barbershops in West Africa have them painted to keep up with the styles. I found mine in an art gallery in South Pasadena; it was painted by a student that I went to school with in Kumasi in 1982. So 25 years after I’m in Africa, I find this in South Pasadena. Buying it wasn’t even a question. It had to be mine. see What’s in My Loft?, page 20

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October 19, 2009

The Downtown Living Guide Because That Pizza Isn’t Going to Deliver Itself

By Kristin Friedrich contributing writer

The Downtown Living Guide is meant as a quick survival sheet for residents. Not everyone knows, for instance, that a Rite-Aid in our midst has decent wine — and yes, the kind that comes in bottles, not boxes. Or that there’s a tiny post office in Little Tokyo, with infinitely better customer service than the one on Spring Street. Not every Downtown resource is listed here, but it’s a good starting point. From pizza to Pilates to places to get your keys made, there’s really no need to get in the car anymore.

GROCERIES Bunker Hill Market & Deli 800 W. First St., (213) 624-1245 Open Sun.-Thurs. 7 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 7 a.m.-midnight.

All the basics, plus beer, wine and spirits, and no attitude. They’ll deliver Downtown for $5.

Famima Cal Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., Suite R-2B, (213) 628-4000 Open Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 7 a.m.-6 p.m.

City National Plaza, 505 S. Flower St., B-level, Suite 520, (213) 623-3236 Open Mon.-Fri. 5 a.m.-9 p.m.

800 S. Figueroa St., Suite 101, (213) 624-7700 Open Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat. 6 a.m.-1 a.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite A, (213) 622-2006 Open Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat. 7 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

525 W. Sixth St., (213) 629-5100 Open Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat.-Sun. 7 a.m.-12 a.m.

727 W. Seventh St., (213) 627-7334 Open Mon.-Fri. 5 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat. 6 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

They’re popping up everywhere — it’s probably the hot buns. The convenience store has sandwiches, salads, Japanese savories and an impressive magazine selection. Visit famima-usa.com.

Grand Central Market 317 S. Broadway, (213) 624-2378 or grandcentralsquare.com Open daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

There’s produce for sale here, as well as a surprisingly good butcher, food stalls, a liquor store and a massage booth, which is less creepy than it sounds. Open all holidays. One hour free parking with $10 purchase.

Joe’s Downtown Market (Toy Factory Lofts) 1855 Industrial St., (213) 612-0248 Open daily 7 a.m.-11 p.m.

Snacks, drinks, gourmet items, soy cheese, an ATM and some downright fancy booze.

LAX-C 1100 N. Main St., (323) 343-9000 or lax-c.com Open Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

A sort of “Thai Costco” near Chinatown, with everything from bulk produce to fresh seafood to kitchen supplies. The website’s listed here, but don’t bother. It’s better to walk in, and make sure to check out the food vendors in the parking lot when you do.

Little Tokyo Market Place 333 S. Alameda St., (213) 617-0030 Open daily at 8 a.m.

Organic produce, meats and products — like a Whole Foods, but cheaper. Free parking with validation.

Marukai Market 123 S. Onizuka St., (213) 893-7200 or marukai.com Open Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sun. 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m.

Boxed bento meals, a fun beauty supply scene, basic sundries and that staple of every Japanese grocery, cute snacks!

Old Bank District Market 409 S. Main St., (213) 680-9000 Open daily 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

Basic groceries, nice wine, a new coffee bar and a deli. When they finally make a sitcom of goings-on at Fourth and Main, hilarious and ubiquitous shop purveyor Ray will be a character.

Ralphs Fresh Fare 645 W. Ninth St., (213) 452-0840 or ralphs.com Open daily 5 a.m.-2 a.m.

A beautiful supermarket with a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a deli, fresh sushi, dry cleaning and a smart wine guy. Keep an eye out for the sales, which offset this palace’s overall priciness, and if you’ve figured out how to navigate the self-service checkout line gracefully, let me know. Validated parking accessible from Hope and Flower streets.

DRUG STORES/PHARMACIES CVS Pharmacy 1050 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 975-1200 or cvs.com Open 24 hours This well-stocked store offers a pharmacy, cosmetics and spirits. It also has that rare L.A. occurrence — a parking lot.

Rite-Aid 500 S. Broadway, (213) 623-5820 or riteaid.com Open Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun. 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

600 W. Seventh St., (213) 896-0083 or riteaid.com Open Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Drug store necessities and toiletries, plus good deals on wine.

Uptown Drug & Gift Shop 444 S. Flower St. #100, (213) 612-4300 or uptowndrugandgiftshop.com Open weekdays 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Traditional pharmacy with personal attention, screenings and prescription delivery.

HOSPITALS California Hospital Medical Center 1401 S. Grand Ave., (213) 748-2411 or chmcla.org Good Samaritan Hospital Los Angeles 1225 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 977-2121 or goodsam.org Healthcare Partners 1025 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 623-2225 or healthcarepartners.com

Downtown Living St. Vincent Medical Center 2131 W. Third St., (213) 484-7111 or stvincentmedicalcenter.com Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital 2400 S. Flower St. (213) 742-1000 or orthohospital.org PIZZA DELIVERY Domino’s 545 S. Olive St., (213) 623-2424 or dominos.com Open daily 10 a.m.-1 a.m.

Free delivery and basic pies.

Los Angeles Pizza Company 712 N. Figueroa St., (213) 626-5272 or losangelespizzacompany.com Open Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-12 a.m.

Free delivery and several gourmet options.

Pitfire Pizza 108 W. Second St., (213) 808-1200 or pitfirepizza.com Open daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Free delivery and individual gourmet pizzas, pasta, salads and sandwiches.

Purgatory Pizza 1326 E. First St., (323) 262-5310 or eatpurgatorypizza.com Open Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 6-11 p.m.

Rustic, handmade pizzas from a quirky crew. Dine-in or they’ll deliver.

Rocket Pizza 122 W. Fourth St., (213) 687-4992 or rocketpizzalounge.com

Downtown News 17 Open Mon.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri. 11:30 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat. noon-12 a.m.; and Sun. noon-10 p.m.

Free delivery with $10 minimum purchase, which alleviates guilt when you’ve ordered a pizza with scrambled eggs and cheese on it.

MOVIE RENTALS/THEATERS Angel City Drive-In 240 W. Fourth St., second floor, angelcitydrivein.com See website for schedule.

Bring your own chair and blanket for these neighborhood screenings, and BYOB. Downtown Independent 251 S. Main St., (213) 617-1033 or downtownindependent.com The film and event facility in the former Imaginasian Center, with indie flicks, readings, talks and film series.

Laemmle Grande 4-Plex 345 S. Figueroa St., (213) 617-0268 or laemmle.com Before the multiplex at L.A. Live, this was Downtown’s only multiplex. It’s a tiny place with tiny screens, but the employees are great and tickets to first-run movies are almost always available, even on opening weekends. Scheduled to close soon though.

Old Bank DVD 400 S. Main St., (213) 613-9654 or oldbankdvd.com Open Sun.-Thurs. noon-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. noon-midnight Art house, classics, foreign, independent and new releases are on the shelves. Candy and really cool owners who will order or help you find just about anything and, if asked nicely, bring your movie out to the car if parking is a no-go.

18 Downtown News Regal Cinemas 800 W. Olympic Blvd., regmovies.com Opening at the end of October, there will be 14 new theaters at the L.A. Live campus.

PET SERVICES Bark Avenue 545 S. Main St., (213) 748-7485 or barkavela.com Open weekdays 7 a.m-7 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m-7 p.m.

Daily “playcare,” training, grooming, boarding, pick-up/drop-off and yes, canine party planning.

Lofty Dog 525 S. Hewitt St., (213) 617-2275 or loftydog.beepeez.com Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat. noon-5 p.m.; closed Sundays in the fall.

Grooming, doggie daycare, indoor dog park and a boutique in 7,000 square feet. They’ll board 24/7 after a temperament test (for the dog, not you).

Muttropolitan 408 E. Second St., (213) 626-8887 or muttropolitanla.com Open Tues.-Sat. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

This Little Tokyo salon for pets includes self-service pet wash stations and drop offs.

Pet Project 400 S. Main St., #7B, (213) 595-4225 or petproject-losangeles.com A pet supply delivery service with low prices and free delivery in

Downtown Living Downtown.

Pussy & Pooch 564 S. Main St., (213) 438-0900 or pussyandpooch.com Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Upscale pet boutique with grooming services, unique products and pet furniture, plus the Pawbar for pet meals.

DRY CLEANING Bunker Hill Cleaners 801 W. First St., Suite 102, (213) 680-0973 Open Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat. 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Located in the Bunker Hill Towers complex, it’s quick and convenient.

Monte Carlo Cleaners 225 W. Eighth St., (213) 489-9400 Open Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. noon-4 p.m.

Organic dry cleaning, fluff and fold with lifesaving delivery options and housekeeping services.

S&H Cleaners 511 S. Spring St., (213) 626-2891 Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Cheap, family run, and the owners are known to give a bottle of Chuck Shaw to the regulars come Christmas.

Sloan’s Dry Cleaners 300 S. Grand Ave., (213) 620-0205 330 S. Hope St., (213) 620-1622

735 S. Figueroa St., (213) 627-5123 Call for hours. This chain has been Downtown forever, servicing the corporate crowd.

SHOE REPAIR Shoe Care & Dry Cleaners 543B S. Olive St., (213) 624-3440 Open weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Across from Pershing Square, two services in one.

Shoe Wiz Instant Shoe Repair 514 W. Sixth St., (213) 688-9699 735 S. Figueroa St., (213) 689-0050 Repairs on heels and boots, plus dye jobs, polishing and overnight work.

SALONS/SERVICES Candolyn’s 350 S. Grand Ave., D-9, (213) 625-7895 or candolyn.com Open Mon.-Wed. 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Thurs.-Fri. 8 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday by appointment.

Hair, nails and massage facing the California Plaza Watercourt.

Jacqueline’s Salon 108 W. Second St., (213) 617-7911 or jacquelinessalon.com Open Tues.-Sat. 9 a.m.-close (also by appointment) A full-service salon in Downtown for 18 years.

Nail Service 244 E. First St., (213) 626-0315 Open Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Nail and spa services, face treatments, lash extensions and 3D nail art in both gel and acrylic. Validated parking in garage on Second Street.

Neihule 607 S. Olive St., (213) 623-4383 or neihule.com Open Mon. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tues. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Wed.-Fri. 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

A high-end, full-service salon across from Pershing Square decked out in mod white. Internet service. Early morning appointments starting at 6 a.m.

Salon on Main 403 S. Main St., (213) 626-4247 Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Hair, nails, make up (temporary and permanent), facials, waxing and hair extensions.

Rudy’s Barber Shop

October 19, 2009 550 S. Flower St., (213) 439-3058 or rudysbarbershop.com Open Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

The Downtown Standard hotel’s in-house barber shop.

Salon Eleven 420 W. 11th St., (213) 744-9944 or salon-eleven.com Open Wed.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; most other days 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

A hip, upbeat salon in South Park.

Salon on 6 548 S. Spring St., Suite 111, (213) 623-5033 or salonon6.com Open Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Salon and day spa in the Historic Core.

Salon Pure 117 E. Sixth St., (213) 624-7873 or salonpurela.com Open weekdays 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; weekends 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Cuts, color, nails and waxing at the Santa Fe Lofts.

Yolanda Aguilar Beauty Institute & Spa 735 S. Figueroa St. (7+Fig), Suite 100, (213) 687-6683 or yabeauty.com Open weekdays 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

More than four decades in the beauty business, with everything from facials to massages to body wraps.

FURNITURE/HOME GOODS Cleveland Art 523 S. Hewitt St., (310) 940-4134 or clevelandart.com Open Mon.-Tues. by appt.; Wed.-Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Industrial machinery and surplus recycled as cool design for office, home and retail.

Loft Appeal 903 S. Hill St., (213) 629-9105 or loftappeal.com Open Mon. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Modern, retro and unique film-set furnishings at reasonable prices.

Loft Appeal East/Reel Appeal 521 S. Hewitt St., (213) 625-1725 or loftappeal.com Open Mon., Tues., Fri. noon-7 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

This furniture store’s Arts District location features contemporary home furnishings. Next door is the spectacular warehouse dubbed Reel Appeal, where you’ll find everything from cool movie props to furniture to antiques, and more.

Raw Materials 436 S. Main St., (213) 627-7223 or rawmaterialsla.com

October 19, 2009 Open Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Art supplies, custom fine art framing and soon, large-format printing. The security dog is a Shih Tzu named Wonton who sleeps in the display window.

Sweet Smiling Home 1317 Palmetto St., (213) 687-9630 or sweetsmilinghome.com Open to the public for special sales and events. Register at sweetsmilinghome.com.

Home furnishings and accessories from Indonesia and China.

POLICE/BID CONTACTS Central Division 251 E. Sixth St., (213) 485-3294; call (877) 275-5273 to report non-emergency crimes.

This LAPD division, helmed by Capt. Blake Chow, covers Downtown.

Central City East Association 725 S. Crocker St., (213) 228-8484 or centralcityeast.org This BID covers the Toy and Industrial districts. It also organizes monthly community walks on Skid Row. Chinatown BID Red Patrol (213) 629-0466, press 7; BID office (213) 680-0243 or chinatownla.org The BID’s Red Patrol keeps Chinatown’s streets safe and clean.

Downtown Center BID 626 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 624-2146; after hours (213) 624-2425 or downtownla.com This is Downtown’s largest BID covering the Central Business District. Its purple-clad officers will help with security, cleanup and any other questions when you don’t know who to call.

Fashion District BID 110 E. Ninth St., A-1175, (213) 741-2661 for 24-hour public safety assistance or fashiondistrict.org The yellow-garbed Clean and Safe Team patrols the bustling Fashion District on bike and via cruisers.

Figueroa Corridor Partnership BID 3982 S. Figueroa St., (213) 746-9577; service hotline (213) 746-3444 or figueroacorridor.org This organization covers the area just south of Downtown, including Exposition Park and USC. DOWNTOWN REPRESENTATIVES Ninth Council District, Councilwoman Jan Perry 200 N. Spring St., Room 420, (213) 473-7009 or lacity.org/council/cd9 Represents the majority of Downtown, including the Central Business District, South Park, parts of the Historic Core and Skid Row. First Council District, Councilman Ed Reyes 200 N. Spring St., Room 410, (213) 473-7001 or lacity.org/council/cd1 Represents Chinatown, City West, L.A. River issues.

Fourteenth Council District, Councilman José Huizar 200 N. Spring St., Room 465, (213) 473-7014 or lacity.org/council/cd14 Covers Broadway, part of the Historic Core and the Arts District.

Thirty-Fourth Congressional District of California, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard 255 E. Temple St., (213) 628-9230 or roybal-allard.house.gov Downtown’s voice in the U.S. House of Representatives is also a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Neighborhood Prosecutor 312 S. Hill St., second floor, (213) 847-8045 This responsive office deals with quality of life crimes including drug dealing, littering, panhandling and other issues. Email neighborhood@atty.lacity.org.

FILMING FilmL.A. Inc. 1201 W. Fifth St., Suite T-800, (213) 977-8600 (after hours call main line and press option #2) or filmlainc.com Open weekdays 8 a.m.-6 p.m., and 24-hour on-call staff.

Bright light in your loft at 3 a.m. and helicopters overhead? Call them with complaints or concerns or visit the website to read Downtown filming rules.

NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council 453 S. Spring St., Suite 1020, (213) 291-0933 or dlanc.com Neighborhood outreach, public board meetings and community advocacy. Send an email to outreach@dlanc.com to join their list.

Downtown L.A. Parents Contact downtownl.a.parents@gmail.com An online group of Downtown parents that organizes events and shares resources.

Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council 305 E. First St., (213) 847-5026, hcncla.org Covers the northern tip of Downtown, including Chinatown, El Pueblo and Elysian Park, as well as Little Tokyo, the Industrial and Arts districts.

FITNESS Bally’s (Macy’s Plaza) 700 S. Flower St., (213) 624-3933 or ballyfitness.com Open Mon.-Thurs. 5 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri. 5 a.m.-10 p.m.; weekends 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

Personal trainers, tons of equipment, classes and a juice bar.

Bikram Yoga Downtown L.A. 700 W. First St., (310) 405-1114 or bikramyogadowntownla.com A series of 26 poses in a heated room. Call for class schedule.

EducoGym 633 W. Fifth St., Suite 5750, (213) 617-8229 or educogym.com By appointment only Mon.-Fri. 6 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

In the country’s highest gym, located on the 57th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower. The specialty is a 20-minute, three times a week workout system.

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Open Mon.-Thurs. 3-9 p.m.; Fri. 3-7 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Learn the art of Muay Thai and kickboxing at this serious Arts District gym.

KEYS Roy Hopp and Company 510 W. Sixth St., (213) 622-5153 Open Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

A family run shop in the basement of a Jewelry District edifice.

LIFESAVERS E-Geniuses 409 W. Olympic Blvd.

(877) 694-3648 or e-geniuses.com Open Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

For when your hard drive crashes, usually on the weekend when you have a Monday deadline, and things are tense.

Farmer Boys 726 S. Alameda St., (213) 228-8999 or farmerboysla.com Open seven days a week, 24 hours.

There’s really only three things to know: Farmer Boys has free Wi-Fi, it’s open 24 hours, and the “Farmer Burger” contains two patties, avocado and bacon.

Little Tokyo Post Office Honda Plaza, 406 E. Second St., (213) 613-0701 Open Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Sometimes a person needs a post office on a Sunday. This is it.

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20 Downtown News

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

What’s in My Loft?

Continued from page 16

Ernie Panza, SB Manhattan photo by Gary Leonard

Morocco on Sixth Street When businessman Ernie Panza moved into his penthouse, the huge space had white walls and an empty vibe. “I think it was intimidating for people,” Panza says. “Nobody knew what to do with it. It was so big and hollow.”

There’s not a white surface to be seen now, except for the chew toys that a Labrador named Tocayo likes to scatter around. The walls and draped fabrics are Moroccan crimsons, rusts and rich greens; the beams that top the triple decker loft are hand painted; the tile in the three and a half bathrooms is vibrant.

1. It feels like I was meant to move in here. All the pieces from my old places seemed to fit. That xylophone — I carried that around in my backpack through four provinces in China. That mirror, I never knew what to do with it, but I stained it and hung it in the corner, and it belongs. Those lounges used to be my guest bed; I cut them in half. This coffee table was an old dining room table. I cut the legs off and made a coffee table. It just all fit.

2. My dining room table is really heavy. It’s carved out of one piece of wood, so there are no bolts, no hinges. I got six guys to help me move it and the deal was, we either fit it into the elevator or we were bringing it out to the trash, because there’s no way we could walk it up 14 floors. Somehow we got it into the elevator.

3. I have four flat screen TVs in here, but if you look, you’ll see they’re not even plugged in. I never watch them. I rent the space out from time to time for shoots, so I should be watching, but I don’t.

4. I think my favorite part about this place is the sunrise. There are three balconies, but the main one is about 1,000 square feet. When the sun comes up, the light shines off the glass buildings and glistens red, pink and orange. Every time it’s different. I’m a morning person, so it’s amazing to wake up to this.

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October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

Downtown News 21

RESTAURANTS

The Audacity of First and Hope First-time Restaurateurs Try to Succeed In a Spot Where Others Have Failed

by Richard Guzmán city editor

I

f all goes according to plan for two restaurant newbies, then opera fans, DWP employees and anyone wanting a taste of their childhood, along with a little live music, will find what they need at the southeast corner of First and Hope streets.

“Nothing sounds better than first and hope,” said Parker Martin, a Downtown CPA who with his business partner and neighbor Terry Brewer plan to open First and Hope, a comfort food restaurant in Promenade Plaza.

Construction is still ongoing at the 6,000-square-foot spot, and an opening date is unknown, although the partners hope it will happen within two months. When the doors open on the approximately 200-seat restaurant, it will offer a moderately priced menu a stone’s throw from the Music Center.

First and Hope marks the first restaurant venture for Brewer and Martin (although Martin owns a coffee shop at the plaza). Both have a long history in Downtown.

“Having lived here for 15 years, we saw a couple of restaurants that didn’t live up to the potential of the corner,” said Brewer, the manager of the Promenade condominiums, which overlook the plaza. “I feel we’re the right players, we’re the right team, we could maximize this location and really do something great.”

Elan Argil, the owner of Promenade Plaza, saw an Italian restaurant fail in the space. He was wary of another project that wouldn’t work, but was impressed with the plans Brewer and Martin offered.

“The guys came to me with a great idea that I think is going to be a magical place,” said Argil. “They’re very passionate about what they’re doing and I think they’ll get the audience they’re going for.”

That target audience is essentially three groups, Brewer said, with one in the daytime and two in the evening. At lunch, they hope to lure Downtown workers, including employees of the nearby DWP building, as well as those from the L.A. County Courthouse. At night, they will try to attract 30-somethings who live on Bunker Hill, as well as those heading to the Music Center for a show or a concert.

With the recent Downtown restaurant renaissance, there is no shortage of choices for hungry visitors and workers. First and Hope will have ample competition within walking distance, everything from the food court at California Plaza to hot dog vendors to the upscale restaurant Patina.

Brewer and Martin partly hope to attract crowds with a hip interior. Martin said plans call for a modern version of Art Deco, with a bar, lounge area, four custom chandeliers, wood columns and a banquet room that can hold up to 50 people. They also plan on having live jazz and other music.

The Food Ambience is one thing, but the partners know the make or break element is the food.

With that in mind, they have come up with a concept they believe will make First and Hope a destination.

“It’s modern American comfort food,” Martin said.

“It’s sort of mom’s cooking offered in a

photo by Gary Leonard

Terry Brewer (left) and Parker Martin are working on a new comfort-food establishment for a restaurant space at First and Hope streets. The interior will feature a modern twist on Art Deco.

sophisticated way,” Brewer added. “The appearance of it, the presentation, the fact that there’s a world class chef that’s been hired.”

Finding the person to oversee the kitchen was like a season from Bravo’s “Top Chef” show. About 200 people applied, and the field was whittled to 60 interviews. From there the top 10 chefs came in and were given a few cooking challenges. The aspirants cooked two at a time side by side to determine who would get the job.

“They made amazing four-course meals,” said Steve Springer, general manager of the restaurant.

While the menu is still being developed, some of the likely dishes include macaroni

and cheese made with artisan cheese, meatloaf, and pastry items such as peanut butter and jelly cake. Entrees will be between $10 and $28, Springer said.

The chef who outlasted the competition is Shelley Cooper, a Memphis native who Springer said brings an honest love of comfort food to the kitchen.

“It was evident that she cooks from her heart. She wasn’t trying to create comfort food. It’s kind of who she is,” he said.

“We’re taking the idea of Americana and American food and presenting it in a new, grown-up way.”

Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

22 Downtown News

DowntownNews.com

October 19, 2009

CALENDAR Beautiful Dancing and A Cultural Cocktail South African Performer Gregory Maqoma Brings His Past to REDCAT

photos by John Hogg

In Beautiful Me, South African dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma explores his various identities. The solo work runs Oct. 21-25.

by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR

L

ike many kids growing up in the 1980s, Gregory Maqoma was fascinated by pop stars like Michael Jackson. He wanted to dress like him and dance like him. He wanted to be a star.

Maqoma set out on such a career path, but the nature of his upbringing gave him a little something to add to the moonwalk and the side glide. A resident of Soweto, South Africa, he infused those moves with the traditional dances he saw in his culturally rich neighborhood, like the Zulu sounds of mbaqanga, maskanda and isicathamiya, and other South African music.

“I lived near a hostel and there I saw people from all parts of South Africa who were practicing their own traditional forms of dance,” said Maqoma last week as he prepared for five Downtown Los Angeles performances of Beautiful Me, a solo work. “I would learn those traditional forms and mix that with the pop icon I saw on TV. At that time I wasn’t aware that I was dealing with defining an aesthetic. I wasn’t even aware I was dealing with choreography.”

Maqoma, 36, is much more self aware now as a choreographer and as a South African. He has learned to balance the traditional expectations of his culture with his love of dance and with the far-reaching influence of the West.

In Beautiful Me, which runs at REDCAT from Oct. 21-25, Maqoma explores his identity and the relationships that have shaped his life. Performed to live music driven by a sitar, violin, cello and percussion, the piece also includes spoken word text. It is not only a self-portrait, he said, but a reflection of African identity. He hopes it will shatter stereotypes people may have of Africa. The continent is more, he said, than a war-torn, poverty stricken region or a place that is exotic and primitive.

The situation is especially defined with his home country.

“To be a South African is complex,” Maqoma said. “We don’t have a single identity. We have multiple identities, so you’re always negotiating around those identities. It has become a complex subject but I feed on those complexities, and from these complexities I’m able to create work like Beautiful Me. “I pose a lot of questions, a lot of statements, and I’m curious to see how it will be perceived in the USA.”

‘Ensemble’ Method For Beautiful Me, Maqoma teamed up with three choreographers. Akram Khan, Faustin Linyekula and Vincent Mantsoe all helped create what Maqoma calls an “ensemble” of dance styles such as contemporary kathak, a form of Indian classical dance, and Afro-fusion.

“It’s an ensemble of different movement aesthetics and forms, and you can’t extract one from the other,” Maqoma said. “It has become on its own a piece of movement.”

Khan was instrumental in helping implement the kathak influences, while Linyekula added a more theatrical component. Mantose, a childhood friend, contributed a more spiritual element to Beautiful Me. “He pulls all of that together in this one piece,” said Emily Harney, a project manager for Mapp International Productions, a performing arts company that works with artists by helping them develop their ideas, find funding and collaborators and books their tours. For Beautiful Me Mapp also

partnered with the African Contemporary Arts Consortium, which works to bring African artists to the United States.

American audiences may not be familiar with Maqoma, but he has a strong following in South Africa and Europe, Harney noted.

“He calls himself a cultural cocktail,” Harney said. “He pulls and integrates a lot of different influences he’s been exposed to over his time.”

Harney describes Beautiful Me as both “generous” and “conversational,” a piece that operates on numerous levels.

“He actually talks to the audience at a couple of points in the piece and he uses a staging technique with a few microphones on stage where he sort of figuratively talks with the other choreographers that have given him material to work with,” she said.

Harney said the piece also challenges the audience to think about themselves while being very energetic.

Maqoma’s admiration for Jackson and South African dancers shaped his youth and spurred him to form a dance group with five friends. Although that won him the admiration of his peers, not everyone was pleased — it provoked scorn from his father, who wanted him to take a different path. That is also explored in the piece.

“Beautiful Me is also about relationships,” said Maqoma.

“Relationships with other artists, with my father who was traditional in a Western sense and wanted me to play [soccer] and be a doctor, not a dancer of any form. Throughout my upbringing I was always against my father’s wishes, so that created tension.”

Despite the tension, and a short stint as an insurance salesman to help support the family, Maqoma stuck to his guns, and in 1999 he went on to found the Vuyani Dance Theatre Company in Johannesburg, where he currently serves as artistic director.

He has taught and danced throughout South Africa and in Europe, but admits he is a little nervous about his U.S. performance.

“You come here and you feel like, what is so special about you?” he said. “That’s the question that I’m also asking, but ultimately I find the answers in the piece itself.”

Beautiful Me runs Oct. 21-25 at REDCAT, 631 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat.org.

Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

October 19, 2009

Downtown News 23

DowntownNews.com

Inventing the Chandlers Bill Boyarsky Discusses His Book About the Family That Ran the L.A. Times

by Anna Scott staff writer

M

ost Angelenos know of the Chandlers as the family that built the Los Angeles Times. But their dynasty spread far beyond the paper.

Bill Boyarsky, who spent 31 years at the Times as a reporter, columnist and editor, is also the author of Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times. The book, published this month by Angel City Press, traces the history of the paper amid the city, starting with Harrison Gray Otis, who arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1880s. The book is a companion to a PBS documentary on the family that premiered Oct. 5. Boyarsky last week spoke about the book and the family.

Los Angeles Downtown News: How deep was the Chandlers’ influence in L.A. in the years of Harrison Gray Otis and Harry Chandler?

Bill Boyarsky: It was just tremendous. It’s unimaginable today, that this newspaper and these publishers, General Otis and Harry Chandler, could have such influence over every aspect of life in Los Angeles and the development of Los Angeles and it would all come out of this newspaper office. Amazing.

Getting the water from the Owens Valley, through fair and foul means, was really their greatest accomplishment in those early years, because without the water the city would not have grown.

Q: When you say fair and foul means, what foul things did they do?

A: General Otis and his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, and their allies and business people in town went up to the Owens Valley and bought this land, water rights, from the ranchers up here without telling them what it was for. Their man posed as a cattle rancher so he got it at a lower price. Meanwhile, General Otis and Harry Chandler were buying up all this

land in the San Fernando Valley, secretly. They didn’t write about that in the paper. So then the water came and suddenly the land was worth quite a bit and that had not been written about in the paper.

Q: What was the paper like in those days?

A: When General Otis started the paper it was a small daily and he was quite a good writer, a flamboyant 19th century writer. His wife Eliza did the soft stuff.

The paper had a strong patriotic tone to it, which really fit in post-Civil War, and it was not religious but it was “respect God and country.” But Otis was also a nasty, evil man who harangued his enemies and slanted the news and had no sense, even by those standards of journalistic ethics.

Now Harry, he didn’t care about the news except that he didn’t want anything in there about Democrats, labor unions.

He wanted all those stories slanted. He didn’t want anything in there about Jews or blacks or Mexicans, as he would call them, Latinos, Asians. It was a right-wing propaganda rag aimed very much at the San Marino, Pasadena, Hancock Park crowd.

Q: How did it change after Norman Chandler took over in 1941?

A: Norman came in and the thing was going down the drain.

It was poorly run, it was losing circulation to the other papers, it was boring, it was slanted. Norman didn’t do that much with the editorial content. He stabilized the business operation under the influence of his wife, Buff Chandler. It became a little more fair with the political news but not much. But he saw the need for change and his wife did too, so that’s why they installed their son, Otis, to be the publisher. He made the greatest changes in the newspaper.

photo by Gary Leonard

Bill Boyarsky is the author of Inventing L.A., a book about the Chandler family based on the PBS documentary by the same name.

ness, gossip, celebrities, health, culture. But then he also knew that he had to get the paper out to the educated people, not just the people his father had served. The theory was people who read and who were interested in national news and foreign news. He built up the foreign bureaus and the national bureaus and the Washington bureau to provide news for those readers and that was a huge thing and people really relied on that.

More information about the book and film is at pbs.org/kcet/ inventing-la/.

Contact Anna Scott at anna@downtownnews.com.

Q: How did Otis turn the paper into a credible news organization?

A: He hired a great staff and he expanded it. “Mass and class” was his motto. It meant that he had to expand the circulation to what everyone wanted to read. Sports, movies, show busi-

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October 19, 2009

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EVENTS SponSored LiStingS Cheer for Life Rummage Sale Harlem Alley, Fourth Street between Main and Spring streets, cheerla.org.

Oct. 24, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.: This neighborhood alley rummage sale will feature donated items, from clothes, to furniture to random knick knacks. The proceeds will support the Cheer For Life Fund, which supports charities like Aid for Aids, Aids Healthcare Foundation and Aids Project LA. Unsold goods will be donated to the Downtown Women’s Center. All donations (except underwear or broken items) are welcome.

Pilgrim School Open House 540. S. Commonwealth Ave., (213) 355-5205 or pilgrim-school.org.

Nov. 14, 9 a.m.: Meet the head of the Downtown independent school, teachers and administrators. Tour the historic campus and talk with Pilgrim students and parents. Hear all about the school’s under construction Fine Arts Center. Call for reservations.

The ‘Don’t

Miss’ List

Bandleader Gossip, Skid Row Theater, and Some Shape Shifters

by AnnA Scott, StAff writer

Y

ph oto sc o

ou might know him best as the sidekick on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” but bandleader Paul Shaffer takes center stage at the Grammy Museum on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Shaffer will appear as part of the museum’s “An Evening With” series, which puts prominent musicians before an intimate audience to discuss their work. Shaffer will talk about his new book, We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Showbiz Saga, which chronicles his career, including his start as a pianist in a topless bar. He will also take questions from the audience, perform a few songs and sign copies of the book. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for museum tours and the program starts at 8. At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 763-2133 or grammymuseum.org.

Tuesday, OcTOber 20 ALOUD at the Central Library 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7025 or aloudla.org.

7 p.m.: Father Patrick Desbois, a French Catholic priest, has devoted his life to confronting anti-Semitism and furthering Catholic-Jewish understanding.

Since 2001 he and his team have crisscrossed the Ukrainian countryside in an effort to locate every mass grave and site at which Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Aloud curator Louise Steinman picks his brain.

M JAN of y s te ur

image courtesy of Natural History Museum

Friday, OcTOber 23 Alchemy Conference Los Angeles Convention Center, 1200 S. Figueroa St., alchemyconference.com.

Oct. 23-25: Get your alchemy on at the Third International Alchemy Conference. It brings a series of workshops on Eastern and Western ancient spiritual and medicine mysteries. Special sessions look at the alchemy of Harry Potter, sensory resonance, Kabbalah, meditation, astrology, herbalism, sacred geometry and more.

Farmlab Public Salons 1745 N. Spring St. #4, (323) 226-1158 or farmlab.org.

Noon: The salon hosts Sherwood Chen from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.

SCI-Arc Lecture Series 960 E. Third St., (213) 356-5328 or sciarc.edu. In the W. M. Keck Lecture Hall.

1 p.m.: Jean-Pierre Hebert discusses his pioneering work in computational drawing and translating algorithmic drawing processes into images.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 763-DINO or visit nhm.org.

6:30 p.m.: The museum hosts Tim Flannery, acclaimed scientist, conservationist, explorer and author as he discusses the subject of climate change and his new book, “Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future.” After the discussion, he’ll sign copies of the new book.

➋

The Japanese American National Museum hosts an unusual pairing on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m.: Politician Norman Mineta and actor George Takei, who are both Japanese American, will appear together to discuss growing up pre- and post-World War II, the challenges they have faced in the public eye and other topics.

Both were interned as children during the war, and then went on to successful and very public careers. Mineta, the first Asian American to serve at the Cabinet level, was secretary of commerce under President Clinton and then secretary of transportation under President Bush. Takei is best known for his role as Sulu in “Star Trek.” The event is a fundraiser and general seating is $75 for museum members and $100 for non-members.

RSVP required by Oct. 19. At 369 E. First St., (213) 625-0414 or janm.org. image courtesy of Captured Aural Phantasy Theater

Wednesday, OcTOber 21 Zócalo National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave., zocalopublicsquare.org.

7:30 p.m.: ProPublica reporter Charles Ornstein leads a healthcare panel discussion that asks, “Is This the End of the Doctor’s Office?”

Thursday, OcTOber 22 Thursdays at Central Central Library, 630 W. Fifth St., meeting room A, (213) 228-7241 or lapl.org.

12:15-1 p.m.: Since its beginning, the film industry has looked, with varying success, to popular literature for inspiration. Join Thursdays at Central for a look back at some of Hollywood’s noteworthy adaptations from page to screen.

ALOUD at the Central Library 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7025 or aloudla.org.

7 p.m.: “When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present” is New York Times columnist Gail Collins’ latest work on the revolution in women’s lives over the past 50 years.

photo courtesy of the Grammy Museum

3

n you come a job descriptio t n’ is r” ho ut -a s on the st er-conservationi annery, who has penned book med or pl ex ttis en ci Fl “S d na Tim a, discovered an riteric y. But it fits for er da y m A er ev th ss or N ro ac and the w ies of Australia t and appears as or is st og hi ol al zo ic d og el ol fi ec s” to boot. as a ammal species he Future Eater m “T 30 es ri an se th el e or nn m Cha ge, Now or e Documentary s latest book on climate chan Oct. 23 presenter of th hi um on Friday, ve a lecture on l History Muse ra Flannery will gi u at m.org.

N e th at copies 763-3466 or nh Never, and sign t 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) .A from 6:30-8 p.m

Get ready to be thrilled and chilled on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24, at Captured Aural Phantasy Theater’s Halloween Spooktacular. The funny-scary variety show, which starts at 8 p.m., features staged readings and slide projections of vintage horror comic books, plus live music. It will take place in the ballroom of the Alexandria Hotel, a historic edifice recently converted into apartments. It also happens to be haunted — if you believe in that sort of thing. At 501 S. Spring St., capturedaurualphantasy.com.

➎

Shape-shifting is one of the coolest concepts around. While many believe it can only be done by demons or other sci-fi creatures, others swear by the skills of Pilobolus. Founded nearly 40 years ago at Dartmouth College, the group has morphed into a pop culture phenomenon, particularly with a silhouetted performance at the 2007 Academy Awards.

The company will perform three shows Friday-Sunday, Oct. 23-25, at the Ahmanson Theatre, and will unveil its intricate shape shifting and physically demanding dances. Among the pieces from its extensive repertoire, the company will perform a new work, “Redline,” which examines the beauty and futility of physical battle. At 135 N. Grand Ave., (800) 982-2787.

Contact Anna Scott at anna@downtownnews.com.

photo by John Kane

October 19, 2009

Downtown News 25

DowntownNews.com

But Wait, There’s More!

Additional Event Information on the Web

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM/CALENDAR : EVENTS | ROCK, POP & JAZZ | CLASSICAL MUSIC | THEATER, OPERA & DANCE ART SPACES | FILM | BARS & CLUBS | MUSEUMS | FARMERS MARKETS | TOURS Saturday, October 24 Japanese American Cultural & Community Center JACCC Plaza or Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., (213) 628-3700 or jaccc.org.

8 p.m.: Under the direction of Linda Sohl-Ellison, “Rhapsody in Taps” brings that foot stomping revelry back to Little Tokyo. The troupe will perform four world premiere works, plus audience favorites.

Conversation with Norman Mineta and George Takei Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., (213) 830-5669 or janm.org.

2 p.m.: Two of the most distinguished and widely recognized Japanese Americans, Norman Mineta and George Takei, will have a frank discussion about growing up before and after World War II, the challenges of entering careers in the public eye, and what it took to arrive at difficult decisions in their personal and professional lives.

Space is limited. RSVP. Sunday, October 25 Japanese American Cultural & Community Center JACCC Plaza or Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., (213) 628-3700 or jaccc.org.

THE ANSWER

TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

1-3 p.m.: Learn how to draw 12th century Japanese anime characters with brush and ink in this art workshop.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 763-DINO or visit nhm.org.

5 p.m.: In “The Spookiest Show on Earth,” a haunted circus invades the museum on a ghostly mission to find their mysteriously absent cast member, Human Cannonball, Billy “Ballistic” Jones. Rumor has it that Billy has recently been spotted behind the scenes in the museum’s research and collections departments, and he’s desperately seeking a way to fly back home.

On These Shoulders We Stand Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., rootsofequality.org.

6 p.m.: As a prelude to “Lavender Los Angeles,” a two-week event starting Nov. 8 celebrating L.A.’s gay history prior to the Stonewall Riots, Roots of Equality and Impact Stories are hosting a reception and benefit screening of “On These Shoulders We Stand.” The film won the Outfest Special Programming Award for Freedom this summer.

ROCK, POP & JAZZ 2nd Street Jazz 366 E. Second St., (213) 680-0047, 2ndstjazz.com or myspace. com/2ndstreetlivejazz.

Tuesdays: Jazz jam session. Music usually starts at 9 or 10 p.m.

626 Reserve 626 S. Spring St., (213) 627-9800 or 626reserve.com.

Tuesdays, 6 p.m.: Live music with Goh Kurosawa.

Thursdays, 6 p.m.: More live sounds, this time with Jessie Torrez.

Blue Velvet 750 S. Garland Ave., (213) 239-0061.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 p.m.: Live music and DJs. Café Metropol 923 E. Third St., (213) 613-1537 or cafemetropol.com.

Oct. 24, 8-10 p.m.: Vocalist Sara Leib.

Chop Suey Café 347 E. First St., (213) 617-9990 or chopsueycafe.com.

Thursdays, 7:30-9:30 p.m.: Live jazz on the patio of the restored landmark.

Cicada Cicada Restaurant, 617 S. Olive St., (213) 488-9488 or clubcicada.com.

Thursdays, 8-11 p.m.: The velvet-voiced Max Vontaine recreates the sounds and styles of rat packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Listings for additional concerts, exhibits and more in Downtown Los Angeles can be found on our website. Go to downtownnews.com/calendar for full information, including time and location, for all the happenings in Downtown.

His smoking jackets and tunes are vintage; his bawdy repartee is less so.

Keep a close eye on the unlit cigarette.

Sundays, 6-11 p.m.: The restaurant is transformed into a vintage, old Hollywood-style dance club every Sunday. Come out to appreciate the big band, swank costumes, dinner and cocktails.

Club Nokia Corner of Olympic Blvd. and Figueroa St., clubnokia.com.

Oct. 20, 8 p.m.: Darius Rucker is in town, but you may know him best as Hootie, leader of the Blowfish.

Oct. 23, 7 p.m.: Get ready for Skillet and Hawk Nelson, a match made in cast iron heaven.

Oct. 24, 8 p.m.: When it comes to the Beatles tribute group The Fab Four, you gotta love those bowl-cut wigs, and the cover tunes are spot on too.

Conga Room L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic, (213) 749-0445 or congaroom.com.

Oct. 24, 9 p.m.: Los Angeles salseros Tabaco y Ron. Grammy Museum L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 765-6800 or grammymuseum.org.

These shows take place in the museum’s Sound Stage theater.

Oct. 20, 8 p.m.: Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli interviews bandleader Paul Shaffer about his musical and television careers, most notably with David Letterman, and new book, “We’ll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Showbiz Saga.” After the interview, Shaffer will take questions from the audience, perform a few songs, and sign copies of the book.

Oct. 22, 8 p.m.: Disco queen Gloria Gaynor takes the stage to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her smash hit “I Will Survive.” During the program, Gaynor will reflect on her long and varied career, newest projects, and more. An audience Q&A session and brief musical performance will follow.

J Restaurant and Lounge 1119 S. Olive St., (213) 746-7746 or jloungela.com.

Tuesdays: Live acoustic performances in the lounge.

Wednesdays: Salsa in the City features complimentary salsa lessons at 8 p.m. At 9 p.m., a batch of live musicians takes over for a jam session.

Nokia Theatre 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6000 or nokiatheatrelalive.com.

Oct. 24, 8 p.m.: Echo and the Bunnymen return to Los Angeles with their dark, swirling fusion of gloomy post-punk and British psychedelic.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

see Listings, page 28

26 Downtown News

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com

CLASSIFIED

place your ad online at www.ladowntownnews.com

l.a. downtown news classifieds call: 213-481-1448 Classified Display & Line ad Deadlines: thursday 12 pm

retail space lease/sale

Retail Store Front $1000 gross rent Downtown LA

“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

MONTANA STATE Land Sale Over 50 tracts: 20-1000 Acres Pine ridges, grassy meadows, mtn. views, huge elk & deer area. Great bird hunting. Federal lands accessible. 20 Acres w/ Utilities- $39,900 New Cabin on 20 Acres- $79,900 160-1000 Acres- $625/Acre. Great financing available. Call 888-361-3006 www.WesternSkiesLand.com.

(Cal-SCAN)

lofts for sale

Buying, Leasing or Selling a Loft?

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1240 sq.ft., 20ft ceiling, water included, central AC w/private restroom.

Call Pierre or terri at 818-212-8333 or 213-744-9911

FOR RENT

apartments/unfurnisHed

Lg. 2 Bdrm.

acreage/lots

Call 213-625-1313

1 Bath, Hardwood floors Includes 1 parking space.

Ideal for roommates. $1,560 a month

* NATIONWIDE ONLINE Land Auction * 400+ Props. 168 Absolute. ALL Starting Bids: $100.

REDC. View Full Listings. www.

Auction.com/land. (Cal-SCAN)

TheLoftExpertGroup.com Downtown since 2002

bill Cooper

Milano Lofts Now LeasiNg!

• Gorgeous Layouts • 10-15’ Ceilings • Fitness Center • Wi-Fi Rooftop Lounge • Amazing Views 6th + Grand Ave. • 213.627.1900 milanoloftsla.com

office space lease/sale

Homes for sale 20 BRAND NEW Homes For Sale 5000 S. Figueroa St. LA 90037 FHA available. All 3+2, garage $329,000-$339,000 Open Sat. & Sun. 12-4. Agent Melissa 310-663-8061.

DOWNTOWN L.A. OVIATT BUILDING

2 offices for rent, all hook-ups, partly furnished. 530 sqft. $1,000 month, flex lease.

213.623.7008 or 213.280.5452

out of state LAND FORECLOSURE Southern Colorado 35 Acres- $29,900 Rocky Mtn. views, Warranty Deed Survey, Utilities. Enjoy 300 days of sunshine. Low down payment. Call Today! 1-866-6965263, x5355 www.coloradolandbargains.com. (Cal-SCAN)

LOFT LIVING

Your number 1 source for Loft sales, rentals and development! downtownnews.com

FREE RENT SPECIALS (O.A.C.) Brand New Resort Apartments. Granite kitchens, washer/dryers, pools, spas, saunas, fitness ctr, free tanning beds & much more! 866-690-2894.

FREE RENT SPECIALS (O.A.C.) New downtown luxury apartments with granite kitchens, marble baths, pool, spa, saunas & free parking. 888-736-7471.

FREE RENT SPECIALS @ the Medici. Penthouse 1 & 2 bdrm apts. Granite kitchens, washer/ dryers, business center, 2 pools, spa! Visit TheMedici.com for a full list of amenities. Call 888886-3731.

Monthly from $695 utilities paid.

(213) 627-1151

Fully furnished with TV, telephone, microwave, refrigerator.

Full bathroom.

Excellent location.

Downtown LA. Weekly maid service.

Monthly from $595 utilities paid.

(213) 612-0348

Furnished single unit with kitchenette, bathroom.

Excellent location.

Downtown LA. Weekly rate $275 inc.

FREE RENT SPECIALS Panoramic downtown views. 1 bed/1 bath starting at $1398. Washer dryer in unit, gated,Pool, spa and sauna. 888-265-1707.

LARGE STUDIO apartment in 1901 renovated apartment building near metro station. Hardwood floors and high ceilings. $720 per month including utilities. Parking not included. 2520 W.7th St. 213-389-0753

condominiums AMAzING VIEWS! This 3+2 condo on the 31st floor is rarely available. BHT is a full service bldg with every amenity. $3300/ mo includes pkg, electric, internet,cable. Great value. 213 6870258

(213) 746-6300

REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL

213.598.7555

FREE RENT SPECIALS Los Angeles Studio $1688/ month Luxury at it’s finest! Granite counters, W & D 888-262-9761.

loft/furnisHed HISTORIC N.Y. STYLE loft for lease in Historic Core.

FULLY FURNISHED,stainless steel,LCD tv,washer/dryer,queen sized bed. Underground parking. $1600 mo. 2138192699

loft/unfurnisHed

old Bank District The original Live/Work Lofts from $1,100 Cafes, Bars, Shops, Galleries, Parking adjacent. Pets no charge call 213.253.4777 laloft.com

REAL ARTIST LOFTS 12002000 Sq. Ft., $1600-$2100/mo.

High ceilings, hardwood floors, fireplace, pool/spa, gated parking, laundry, sorry no dogs, Open House Sundays 12-3pm @ 1250 Long Beach Ave. 213629-5539

Bunker Hill real estate Co, inC.

EstablishEd 1984

For sale: bunker Hill Tower ❏ 1 Bedroom, 1 Bath. Elegant. Ready To Move In. South City Lights View. Recently Refurbished.

Offered At $315,000.

Now. $2,200 Month. ❏ 1 Bed. 1 Bath. Lafayette Park Place. Move In Now. $1200 Month. ❏ Prom. West-2 Bed. 2 Bath PenthouseSophisticated, Spectacular One Of A Kind For renT: Condo. Top Of The Line Upgrades & Décor. ❏ Prom. West-1 Bed. 1 Bath Penthouse. Overlooks Gorgeous Furnishings Adorn This Pride Of Pool & Gardens. Greenhouse Windows And Ownership Home. Corporate Lease Welcome.

Balcony. Stunning! $1995 Month.

Furnished $3500 Per Month. Un-Furnished ❏ Prom. West-2 Bed. 2 Bath. 5th Floor. Move In $3200 Per Month.

Bank foreclosure-Pasadena 2 Houses on the lot. Remodeled & ready to move-in.

One 2 bed w/1 bath. One three bedroom w/2 baths.

Easy care yard, gated & fenced. 2 Car garage.

Offered at $629,000

Call us for other condos for sale or lease Dwntwn & surrounding areas!!

EMPLOYMENT computers/it ATTN: COMPUTER WORK. Work from anywhere 24/7. Up to $1,500 Part Time to $7,500/ mo. Full Time. Training provided. www.KTPGlobal.com or call 1-800-330-8446. (Cal-SCAN) drivers ANDRUS TRANSPORTATION Seeking Team Drivers for fast turning freight lanes! Also Hiring Solo OTR drivers - West states exp/hazmat end, great miles/ hometime. Stable Family owned 35 yrs+ 1-800-888-5838, 1-866806-5119 x1402. (Cal-SCAN) DRIVERS - SLT - Immediate Openings for CDLA teams, O/ OPs welcome and paid percentage. $1,000 bonus. $1100 week average pay for company teams.

Hazmat & 2 yrs experience.

1-800-835-9471. (Cal-SCAN) SLT - IMMEDIATE OPENINGS for CDLA teams, O/OPs welcome and paid percentage. $1,000 bonus. $1100 week average pay for company teams.

Hazmat & 2 yrs experience.

1-800-835-9471. (Cal-SCAN) educational BEVERLY DRIVING AND Traffic school hiring a bilingual instructor in LA area 213-381-1771. general HELP WANTED, Movie Extras.

Earn up to $150/day. People needed for background in a major film production. Exp. not required. 888-366-0843 MECHANICS: Keep the Army National Guard rolling. Fix Humvees, Strykers, etc. Expand skills through paid career training. Part-time work. Full -time benefits. www.NationalGuard. com/Mechanics or 1-800-GOGUARD. (Cal-SCAN)

retail/sales

advertising

CUSTOMER SERVICE. Call on businesses. Includes training, start immediately, commissioned, bonus, and draw on account. Need Internet, good work ethic and serious people. patrick@skyadman. com 800-477-2334. (Cal-SCAN)

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING in 240 Cal-SCAN newspapers for the best reach, coverage, and price. 25-words $550. Reach 6 million Californians!. Free email brochure. Call (916) 288-6019. www.Cal-SCAN.com.

(CalSCAN)

OVER 18? AVAILABLE to TRAVEL? Earn Above Average $$$ with Fun Successful Business Group! No Experience Necessary. 2wks Paid Training.

Lodging, Transportation Provided.

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Business opportunities ALL CASH VENDING! Be Your Own Boss! Your Own Local Vending Route. Includes 25 Machines and Candy for $9,995.

MultiVend LLC, 1-888-625-2405.

(Cal-SCAN)

SERVICES Housekeeping MAID SERVICE $40 cleaning special, expires 11/1/2009.

References available. All major credit cards accepted. Licensed & Insured. (213) 489-9401. misc. services DISH NETWORK. $19.99/mo.

Why Pay More for TV? 100+ Channels - Free! 4-Room Install - Free! HD-DVR Plus $600 Signup BONUS. Call Now! 1-866747-9773. (Cal-SCAN) music lessons CHILDREN’S PERFORMING Group! Singing, dancing, performing and fun! For boys & girls ages 3 and up! See SunshineGenerationLA.com or call 909861-4433.

MILANO LOFTS Now Leasing!

• Gorgeous Layouts • 10-15’ Ceilings • Fitness Center • Wi-Fi Rooftop Lounge • Amazing Views

leasing-salesloans-refinance

(213) 680-1720

www.Bunkerhillrealestate.com

6th+Grand Ave. • milanoloftsla.com • 213.627.1900

Ad Copy: _________________________________________

Ad Prices

________________________________________________

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

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

With a circulation of 49,000 , our classifieds get results!

massage tHerapy

Star Holistic Spa Massage/acupressure $40 (1 Hour) 2551 W. Beverly Blvd.

LA, CA, 90057 (Beverly Rampart)

Tel: 213-383-7676

Hollywood Foot Spa Massage $14.95 • FrEE Parking 5226 W. sunset, Los Angeles 323.666.1216

7 Days a Week • 10am-11pm

EZ SHIATSU & MASSAGE 30 min. (reg. $30) $10 off with this AD 400 E. 2nd St., #205 LA CA 90012

(Honda Plaza Mall)

213-680-4970

Low Move in Special Unfurnished bachelor rooms with shared bath at $550/mo. with private bath $695/mo.

Includes utilities, basic cable channels, laundry room on site. Gated building in a good area.

For English Call Pierre or Terri 213.744.9911 For Spanish Call Susana 213.749.0306

madison hotel

Do you have something to sell?

(Marketplace and Automotive Categories ONLY)

NEWS RELEASE? Cost-efficient service. The California Press Release Service has 500 current daily, weekly and college newspaper contacts in California. Free email brochure. Call (916) 288-6010. www.CaliforniaPressReleaseService.com.

(Cal-SCAN)

208 W. 14th St. at Hill St. Downtown LA

Mirza alli

Broker/Realtor

e-mail us: info@bunkerhillrealestate.com

DISPLAY ADVERTISING in 140 Cal-SDAN newspapers statewide for $1,550! Reach over 3 million Californians! Free email brochure. Call (916) 288-6019. www.Cal-SDAN.com.

(CalSCAN)

________________________________________________

Clean furnished single rooms. 24-hour desk clerk service.

•Daily, $25.00 •Weekly, $99.00 •Monthly, $295.00 (213) 622-1508 423 East 7th St.

(2 blocks west of San Pedro St.)

________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

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.

Children’s Performing Group

Sunshine Generation Singing, dancing, performing and fun!

For boys & girls ages 3 and up!

SunshineGenerationLA.com 909-861-4433

October 19, 2009

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

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

Monte Carlo Cleaners offering Free Pick Up & Delivery 7 Days a Week on Dry Cleaning,Laundry,& Alterations.

Call for specials. (213)489-9400 Real Estate CALCO Property Management **Commercial **Residential **HOA The quality of service you want, the management company you need. 213-9854128 / www.calcopm.net. attorneys

ABOGADO DE IMMIGRACION! Family, Criminal, P.I. for more than 20 yrs!

Child Support / Custody Necesita Permiso de trabajo? Tagalog / Español / Korean

Get your GREEN CARD or CITIZENSHIP Law Office of H. Douglas Daniel Esq., (213) 689-1710

DONATE YOUR VEHICLE! Receive Free Vacation Voucher. United Breast Cancer Foundation. Free Mammograms, Breast Cancer Info www.ubcf. info Free Towing, Tax Deductible, Non-Runners Accepted, 1-888468-5964. (Cal-SCAN)

ITEMS FOR SALE Misc. Items LA TIMES “OBAMA” Inaguration Edition! (7) available $20 each O.B.O. 213-687-7118.

ANNOUNCEMENTS Volunteer Opportunities Helping kids heal. Free Arts for Abused Children is looking for volunteers to integrate the healing power of the arts into the lives of abused and at-risk children and their families. Today is the day to get involved! Contact Annie at volunteers@freearts. org or 310-313-4278 for more information.

LEGAL

home improvement

Construction

$98

s.f.

Architectural Plans + Permit Included GC# 308729

Downtown News 27

DowntownNews.com

Established 1975

details 323-960-5792

崔Roof Michael Choi Roofing

Since 1972 • Free Estimate Reroof, Repairs • Lic. #C-39-588045

323-229-3320 (C) 323-722-1646 (B)

AUTOS & RECREATIONAL Autos Wanted DONATE YOUR CAR: Children’s Cancer Fund! Help Save A Child’s Life Through Research & Support! Free Vacation Package. Fast, Easy & Tax Deductible. Call 1-800-252-0615. (CalSCAN)

Civil Summons LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Case No. BC391815 Plaintiff: WACHOVIA BANK Cross-complaint: ING BANK, FSB vs Cross-Defendants: EDVIN DANTA VERDIAN GONARAKI, an individual, et al

Notice to Cross Defendants: all persons unknown, claiming any legal or equitable right, title, estate, lien, or interest in that real property located in the City of Los Angeles, commonly described as 3751 Prestwick Drive, which claim would be adverse to cross-complainant’s title to or interest in said property, or any cloud on cross-complainant’s title to or interest in said property, named herein as ROES 1 to 50, inclusive.

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the cross-complainant. A letter or phone call will not protect you.

Your written response must be in proper legal form, if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form.

If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away.

If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/

selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association.

The name and address of the court is: Los Angeles County Superior Court Central District 111 N. Hill Street Los Angeles, CA 90012-3014 Case Number: BC391815 Dated: August 7, 2009 John A. Clarke, Clerk Dawn Alexander, Deputy The name, address, telephone number, and fax number of cross-complainant Plaintiff’s attorney is: Shulman Bunn LLP Stephanie J. Shulman State Bar: 108556 20341 SW Birch Street, Suite 320 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Telephone: 949-679-1800 Fax: 949-679-1802 Pub. 10/5, 10/12, 10/19, 10/26/09 PETITION FOR CUSTODY & SUPPORT SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA

COUNTY OF ORANGE LAMOREAUX JUSTICE CENTER PETITION FOR CUSTODY AND SUPPORT NOTICE TO RESPONDENT(Name): RAMON CRISTOBAL ARANDA AVISO AL DEMANDADO(Nombre): RAMON CRISTOBAL ARANDA YOU ARE BEING SUED. A USTED LE ESTAN DEMANDANDO. PETITIONER’S NAME: DARLA JEAN SEBASTIAN-ARANDA EL NOMBRE DEL DEMANDANTE ES: DARLA JEAN SEBASTIAN-ARANDA NO. 09P000612 You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response to Petition to Establish Parental Relationship (form FL220) or Response to Petition for Custody and Support of Minor Children (form FL-270) at the court and serve a copy on the petitioner. A letter or phone call

will not protect you.

If you do not file Response on time, the court may make orders affecting custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately.

Usted tiene 30 DIAS CALENDARIOS despues de recibir oficialmente esta citacion judicial y peticion, para completar y presentar su formulario de Respuesta (Response form FL220) ante la corte. Una carta o una llamada telefonica no le ofreceri proteccion.

Si usted no presenta su Respuesta a tiempo, la corte puede expedir ordenes que afecten la custadia de sus hijos ordenen que usted pague mantencion, honorarios de abogado y las costas. Si no puede pagar las costas por la presentacion de la demanda, pida al actuario de la corte que le de un formulario

de exoneracion de las mismas (Waiver of Court Fees and Costs).

Si desea obtener consejo legal, comuniquese de inmediato con un abogado.

The name and address of the court is: (El nombre y dirreccion de la corte es): Orange 341 The City Drive Post Office Box 14170 Orange, CA 92863-1570 The name, address, and telephone number of petiioner’s attorney: (El nombre, la dirreccion y el numero del abogado del demandante): Joseph Robert Terrazas III 444 W. Tenth Street, Suite 200 Santa Ana, CA 92701 Tel: 714-543-1851 SBN#258404 Date (Fecha): May 11, 2009 Alan Carlson, Clerk of the Court (Actuario) By: Victoria L. Do, Deputy Pub. 10/19, 10/26, 11/2/09

We Got Games Dodgers and Trojans Look for Revenge Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave., (213) 224-1400 or dodgers.mlb.com.

Oct. 23-24, if necessary: The Dodgers start the week in Philadelphia for games three, four, and if necessary, five, of the NLCS. The Phillies sent the Blue Crew home last year, but Joe Torre is hoping pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who faltered in game one, will reboound later in the series and help reverse last year’s outcome. Games six and seven, if

October 19, 2009

DowntownNews.com necessary, would be in Chavez Ravine.

and the New Orleans Hornets.

Los Angeles Lakers Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., (213) 742-7100 or nba.com/lakers.

The Lakers have one more week of preseason away from Staples Center. First, they’re in Ontario to host the Golden State Warriors (Oct. 20); then they play Denver, first in Anaheim (Oct. 22) and then in San Diego (Oct. 23).

Los Angeles Kings Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., 1 (888) KINGS-LA or kings.nhl.com.

Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 25, 6 p.m.: The Kings are off to a good start, skating to a 4-3 record by press time. This week, they host the Dallas Stars and then the Columbus Blue Jackets. On Oct. 24 they visit the Phoenix Coyotes.

Los Angeles Clippers Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., (213) 742-7100 or nba.com/clippers.

Oct. 20 and 23, 7:30 p.m.: Don’t get too excited yet, but the Clippers are making some noise in the preseason, with none louder than rookie Blake Griffin, who scored 23 points in an exhibition against San Antonio. This week they host Maccabi Tel Aviv, all the way from Israel, then Chris Paul

USC Trojans Football L.A. Coliseum, 3911 S Figueroa St., (213) 747-7111 or usctrojans.com.

Oct. 24, 5 p.m.: Matt Barkley and the Trojans look to avenge last year’s upset loss to Jacquizz Rodgers and the Oregon State Beavers.

—Ryan Vaillancourt photo by Gary Leonard

28 Downtown News

Clayton Kershaw looks to rebound in his second start against the Phillies.

Listings Continued from page 25 Oct. 25, 5 p.m.: The Concert for Hope is an evening of performances by Miley Cyrus, Jesse McCartney and Demi Lovato to benefit City of Hope. Proceeds will benefit cancer research, treatment and education programs.

Orpheum Theatre 842 S. Broadway, (213) 622-1939 or laorpheum.com.

Oct. 22, 9 p.m.: “Michael and Michael Have Issues” is the two man show of Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter.

Oct. 24, 8 p.m.: Silent Bob, aka Kevin Smith. He promises not to be silent.

Oct. 25-26, 8 p.m.: Banjo and introspection aplenty from the folk duo Tegan and Sara.

Redwood Bar & Grill 316 W. Second St., (213) 680-2600 or theredwoodbar.com.

Oct. 19, 10 p.m.: The Blind Boy Paxton and Frank Fairfield Show.

Oct. 21, 10 p.m.: The Honkys with Dos Hermanos, all the way from Germany.

Oct. 24, 10 p.m.: The Superbees, The Black Tibetans, Psychostar and The Amplifiers Oct. 25, noon: Baja western tunes from The Vaquetones, 77 el Deora, The Palominos and Whiskey Wagon.

Rerax Fridays at Señor Fish 422 E. First St., (213) 625-0566 or senorfishla.com.

Fridays, 9 p.m.-3 a.m.: Music, art, VJ performances, silk screening and photos.

Royale 2619 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 388-8488 or royaleonwilshire.com.

Mondays, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.: A live musical showcase with bands, a DJ and an Eastside vibe.

Tuesdays, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.: An acoustic live set in the historic Royale lounge. A DJ spins between sets.

Wednesday (second of every month), 9 p.m.-2 a.m.: A fusion of spoken word and acoustic musical melodies.

Sundays, 9 p.m.-midnight: Rat pack protégé Max Vontaine.

2 Your Event Info Easy ways to submit

4 WEB: www.DowntownNews.com 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.