LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS Volume 37, Number 46
INSIDE
L.A. Auto Show drives into Downtown.
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Thanksgiving in Downtown 10
Rise Comes Even as Violent Crime in Area Falls
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Volunteering options in Downtown.
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ssaults on Central Division police officers have more than tripled in the past two years. The rise, from 12 incidents in 2006 and 28 in 2007 to 39 so far this year, comes at the same time that violent crime in the neighborhood has dropped precipitously. The increase is perhaps an unexpected result of the Safer Cities Initiative, a high-profile policing effort that began in September
Holiday Shopping: Check out the boutiques.
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Five events you don’t want to miss.
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19 CALENDAR LISTINGS 21 CLASSIFIEDS
photo by Gary Leonard
Central Division Capt. Jodi Wakefield was involved in a 2005 Downtown incident in which a bank robbery suspect was killed by police after brandishing a sword. So far this year, 39 police officers on Skid Row have been attacked, and two suspects have been shot.
Chop Suey Café Chopped Down
Study Says Some Buildings Could Collapse in Major Earthquake
Landmark Little Tokyo Restaurant Closes Two Years After Celebrated Revival
staff writer
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2006 and that has otherwise unfolded largely as the department planned. The move, championed by LAPD Chief William Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, deployed 50 additional officers to Skid Row and has resulted in a crackdown not only on violent crime, but on misdemeanor offenses such as jaywalking and littering. But Bratton said the 39 assaults on officers this year is not necessarily a surprise. “We have more police down there and, see Assaults, page 9
Hey Downtown, What’s Shakin’? by Ryan Vaillancourt
Stay healthy with The Body Shop.
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Paltry candidate lineup makes this a bad time for democracy in Los Angeles.
Assaults on Skid Row Police Officers Triple In Two Years staff writer
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Broadway financing, park plans, and other happenings Around Town.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
November 17, 2008
by Ryan Vaillancourt
Urban Scrawl on the LAUSD.
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he last time the San Andreas Fault uncorked a major earthquake south of the Bay Area, Los Angeles saw limited damage. But that’s because the year was 1857, and the city had fewer than 6,000 residents. A similar shakedown of the San Andreas today, however, could be disastrous for Los Angeles, where some buildings constructed in the 1960s or before could collapse, according to a recent study by the United States Geological Survey, an arm of the Department of the Interior. A team of USGS scientists spent nearly two years analyzing earthquake data and using a complex computer model to simulate a 7.8 magnitude earthquake — about the same magnitude as the 1857 event — and how the related ground motions would affect Downtown. According to the study, the city as a whole could expect 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in losses. The release of the study was timed to coincide with what the USGS called the largest earthquake awareness and preparedness initiative in the country’s history, the Great Southern California ShakeOut, which was launched last week. The campaign included events all over the region, including at L.A.
Live on Friday, where attendees were bombarded with earthquake safety literature. But the study is not just a publicity stunt. The science behind it, said Ken Hudnut, a USGS earthquake expert and one of the report’s authors, is real and comes from some of the world’s leading earthquake experts. As for the possibility of “the big one” hitting, there is little doubt that it will happen, he said. “I would venture to say there’s not a single earthquake researcher that would say the San Andreas can’t dish out a 7.8 [magnitude earthquake] or that would refute the idea that it’s not if, but when,” Hudnut said. “All of the data point to that.” High-Rise Movement The first phase of the exercise centered on where the San Andreas Fault, which stretches along most of the length of California with its southern end southeast of Palm Springs, would rupture. The fault has slipped three times since the 1857 Fort Tejon (in Central California) earthquake, though all three were in the Bay Area, including the 1907 San Francisco temblor. Most experts predict that the next San Andreas rupture will happen in Southern California, Hudnut said. In the USGS scenario, the rupture extends from Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, 168 miles southeast of Downtown, to Lake Hughes, about see Earthquake, page 5
by Anna Scott staff writer
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along with a ground-floor community computer center. The restaurant reopened as the Chop Suey Café and Lounge the following year. Despite an initial surge of nostalgic customers, the restaurant’s see Chop Suey, page 7
n 2006, Little Tokyo celebrated the reopening of the historic Far East Café. After sitting vacant for 12 years, the restaurant’s revival, complete with its giant neon sign, was celebrated as a comeback of sorts for the community. The fanfare has proved to be shortlived. The restaurant has closed again, a blow to some who thought it would help preserve the past in a quickly changing neighborhood. Located in the Far East Building at 347 E. First St., the restaurant and a 26-room hotel above it were closed after being damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Following a $3.8 million restoration, property owner the Little Tokyo Service Center rephoto by Gary Leonard opened the build- (l to r) Enrique Ramirez, Mike Gin and Don Tahara ing’s upper floors as outside the Far East Café before it reopened in 2006. 16 units of afford- Although the revival, part of a $3.8 million restoration, able housing in 2005, was widely celebrated, the historic restaurant has closed.
Since 1972, an independent, locally owned and edited newspaper, go figure.