12-13-10 by Los Angeles Downtown News

LOS ANGELES

DOWNTOWN

NEWS Volume 39, Number 50

INSIDE

Goodbye Jack Kyser 5

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December 13, 2010

The Curious Case of Brian Alexik Drugs, Guns and Counterfeit Cash. Inside the Jailhouse Mind of the Man Who Evaded Police and Captivated Los Angeles

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Brian Alexik was arrested in June, six weeks after fleeing his Reserve Lofts penthouse. He’s representing himself in court against a slew of charges. He maintains the police search of his apartment was illegal. Here, he listens to a Superior Court judge during a hearing in September.

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n the evening of April 19, Brian Alexik decided to run. As firemen and police stood outside his penthouse apartment asking to get in, he rigged two metal rods to jam the door handle and rolled a five-foot circle of Plexiglass in front of the door. The Plexiglass was covered in mosaic tile, so it was heavy. He scooted out to the balcony, which overlooks the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve, then hopped onto a neighbor’s balcony and re-entered the building through a rooftop door. He scurried down several flights of steps, popped into the garage, and simply walked out of the building. The police and fire department had responded to apartment 701 at the Reserve Lofts to investigate a neighbor’s report of an exhaust smell. She described hearing a rattling noise, like that of a gaspowered electric generator. The sound had stopped when police arrived. When authorities asked to enter, Alexik shouted a refusal. LAPD Officer Michael Orosco didn’t smell anything, but the neighbor’s report was alarming, he would later testify, and after a while, Alexik stopped answering. As the room went silent Orosco feared an explosion, or that something had happened to the person inside. Minutes after Alexik split, police used a battering ram to break down the door and the hastily assembled barricade. Inside, the lights were out. Alexik’s power had

been cut. Light spilling in from the hallway illuminated a five-foot-wide handmade tile mosaic of the CIA seal, the object previously standing on its side to block the door. It had tumbled to the ground and settled face up. Once inside, Orosco used the light on his pistol to find his way. He saw a framed image covered in Arabic writing and depicting a woman in a burka, pointing a high-caliber pistol right back at him. A framed portrait of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hung on one wall. The place was littered with power tools. A musty scent lingered. As Orosco moved into the bedroom, the toe of his boot caught something hard poking out from under the bed. He pulled out a rifle-sized gun case. He opened it and found a sawed-off shotgun, a handgun and components for an SKS assault rifle, the Soviet predecessor to the AK-47. They found one of those, too. Orosco’s partner noticed the AK propped up against a wall inside a closet. It was loaded and “ready for live fire,” Orosco would later testify. Dozens of plastic identification cards were strewn across a bed. An open desk drawer was full of cash. After Orosco and his partner found the guns, the police prepared a search warrant affidavit and, at 4:20 a.m., a judge approved it. Investigators tore through the apartment for at least four hours, uncovering a veritable buffet of drugs — crack, heroin, Ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine and an array of pharmaceuticals. They also found miscellaneous gun parts that detectives believe were part of a weapons manufacturing operation.

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But the most curious contraband was the $15,000 in counterfeit hundred dollar bills, a noteworthy find considering the location. The Reserve Lofts building was the former home of the Federal Reserve, before the institution moved into more modern digs next door. The LAPD had come to investigate a gas smell and stumbled onto something bigger. Yet for everything police found, they had an unanswered question. Who was this guy? Where did he go? Was he planning some kind of attack? A witness told police she saw Alexik throw two duffle bags off the roof. Investigators still wonder: What was in the bags? There were other questions they didn’t know to ask, like how did Alexik manage to watch from a neighboring building as investigators tossed his apartment? In the following weeks, the mysterious fugitive caught the attention of the Secret Service and the FBI, and popped up on the America’s Most Wanted website. An LAPD release warned that he was armed and dangerous, and reported that he was of Russian descent. An LAPD official compared Alexik to Jason Bourne, novelist Robert Ludlum’s fictional super spy played by Matt Damon in three blockbuster films. National media outlets latched on to the affiliation and came to refer to Alexik as “the real life Jason Bourne” in headlines. The LAPD assigned its Major Crimes Division, which investigates terrorism cases, to find Alexik. Six weeks later, on June 3, they traced him to his girlfriend Brittany Morrill’s apartment at see Alexik, page 8

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December 13, 2010

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AROUNDTOWN TiGeorges Returns

estaurant TiGeorges Chicken began serving again last week, 10 months after it was closed due to a fire. Owner Georges Laguerre reopened his City West establishment on Thursday, Dec. 9, after the completion of repairs from a Feb. 18 fire that damaged the building. “We’re here, open, customers are already walking in,” Laguerre said Thursday. The restaurant at 309 N. Glendale Blvd. gained notoriety in January as a hub for relief efforts for victims of the Haiti earthquake. One fundraiser there raised $14,000 for the cause. After the fire, Laguerre, who didn’t have fire insurance, said the landlord originally told him the restaurant would be repaired within 30 days. But work lingered on until this month. On the reopening day, Laguerre said he had to turn customers away for about an hour until the food was ready to serve. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m-7 p.m.

Seven Bid on Cleantech Site

he Community Redevelopment Agency’s long effort to develop a clean technology-oriented industrial park in southeast Downtown took a small step forward last week, when seven firms submitted proposals to build the Cleantech Manufacturing Center. Bids were due Dec. 3 for the site east of Santa Fe Avenue near the intersection of 15th Street and Washington Boulevard. Responses have not been disclosed, as they have not yet been reviewed by the agency, said CRA Project Manager Len Betz. However, he said bidders include some Los Angeles businesses, with others hailing from the greater L.A. region or out of state. Betz expects the agency to have a preliminary recommendation for the CRA board by early February. Staff could recommend one bid, or could reject all of them if they do not meet the requirements and vision the agency wants, Betz said. “Just because someone submitted a response doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s the right business for that location,” he said. The city has been looking for an anchor tenant for two years. AnsaldoBreda, an Italian rail car manufacturer, had been slated to develop the plot before it pulled out of a deal last year. The city purchased the property, a formerly contaminated Brownfield, from the state for $14 million in 2008 and spent $2.2 million to clean it up.

Supervisors Back Five-Year Anti-Homelessness Plan

he County Board of Supervisors last week voted to realign its housing and mental health resources to mirror a fiveyear plan to end homelessness launched by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the United Way. Echoing the heart of the Chamber/United Way plan, the board pledged to redirect funding to increase aid for permanent supportive housing. The model emphasizes housing the 12,000 people estimated to be chronically homeless in Los Angeles, and providing them onsite mental health, addiction and medical treatment. The county is the first civic body to formally adopt the tenets of the five-year plan, said Jerold Neuman, who co-chairs the task force. “It truly is indicative of the county’s continuing fight for the betterment of its citizens and the way in which they’re treated and seeing to it that they’re no longer on the streets,” Neuman said.

Police Investigating Gruesome Skid Row Murder

photo by Gary Leonard

APD detectives last week were looking for two suspects they believe killed and dismembered a man in a Skid Row hotel. Edward Garcia Jr., 36, and his wife, 25-year-old Melissa Hope Garcia, are wanted on suspicion of killing 49-year-old Herbert Tracy White of Hollywood (photos of the suspects are at downtownnews.com). Both suspects are from Pennsylvania and are believed to be in the Hollywood area or heading back to the state, police said in a statement. On Nov. 29, Newton Division officers responded to a call at the Continental Hotel at 800 E. Seventh St. When they arrived, they found a dismembered body, with some parts inside a backpack and others wrapped in blankets. Friends of White described him as a generous man and a reliable friend. “The last three times I moved, literally, he was the one I called,” said friend Randy Mathias. After battling addiction, White had been sober for 10 years, and was known for trying to help others stay off drugs and alcohol. Mathias was one of the people White counseled. Anyone with information is asked to contact Newton homicide detectives at (323) 846-6556.

On Friday, Dec. 10, residents and clients of the Downtown Women’s Center took park in a Mardi Gras-style procession from their old building to a new, $26 million home at 434 S. San Pedro St.

Downtown Lawyer Goes to the Bench

obert Willett, an attorney with O’Melveny & Myers, has been appointed a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the firm announced last week. Willett, a litigator in O’Melveny’s Downtown office for more than three decades, begins his tenure on the bench Dec. 30 and will retire from the law firm in order to serve as a judge. Willett joined O’Melveny as an associate in 1974. He was named a partner in 1982.

Clarification In the Dec. 6 story “A Bigger and Better Cornfield Park,” a California State Parks official stated that about 100 people a day use Los Angeles State Historic Park. Department officials last week said that the park actually sees 500-1,000 visitors per day.

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EDITORIALS Council Should Stay Out of DWP GM Decisions

he City Council last week tried to gain the ability to hire and fire the general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. They may have thought this was a good idea, considering the uproar the DWP sparked in the spring with its boneheaded attempt to withhold a $73 million transfer to the city’s beleaguered general fund. In fact, this was a terrible decision by the council, almost on par with the DWP’s spring misstep. Fortunately and predictably, the power grab was snuffed out by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who vetoed the council’s effort to put a proposition on the March ballot. It is unclear whether the council will attempt to override the mayor’s veto (10 of the 15 council members would have to stay together to shoot down Villaraigosa). There are plenty of reasons to look skeptically at the DWP these days. Executive-level turnover has been shocking, with nine general managers in a decade (a permanent one to replace interim GM Austin Beutner is expected to be named soon). The appointed civilian commission that oversees the department has also seen plenty of churn, including the resignation last week of board president Lee Alpert. These frequent changes at the top both destroy ef-

forts at consistency and create a public impression of a ship adrift. As a Los Angeles Times story noted last week, plans have shifted frequently regarding the agency’s goals to produce more power from “green” sources. Then there was the divisive Measure B, a solar power initiative that voters shot down in the spring. That brought into play the union representing most DWP employees; the IBEW chapter headed by Brian d’Arcy wields immense power both in the agency and in greater City Hall. In short, there is a wealth of political discord and public skepticism, and few Angelenos expect yet another GM to effect meaningful change. With an outward appearance of a department run amok, the council moved to assert control. The problem is, giving the council the power to hire and fire the GM would increase, not diminish, the politics already at play in the office. We also don’t see how increased council authority will make the department perform better. Los Angeles is a city where the council wields significant power and the mayor’s office is relatively weak. The last thing a DWP GM needs is to have to satisfy 15 new bosses. Pleasing the mayor (lower case, as the next department head will,

hopefully, be around long after Villaraigosa is termed out) is already difficult enough. We can see plenty of paths to trouble considering that council members have clashed numerous times with city department heads and are known to throw their weight around. We can fathom a situation where a current or future council member might butt heads with a DWP GM, possibly on efforts to go green, possibly on rates charged to customers (the latter especially could arise come election time). If an ego is bruised, or even if there is just a clash of wills, a council member could rally his or her compatriots to force out the general manager. Council members might acquiesce in the effort to build up “chits” that can be paid back when they need a favor/vote. Sure, this would be small minded, but we’ve seen a lot of small-minded thinking in both the public and the private sector. Any DWP GM will face myriad challenges the moment he or she steps into the building. Improving the operations of the department, and making it transparent to ratepayers, already require an immense amount of fortitude and political skills. There is no need to add to that with a council power grab that will complicate the situation.

Park Officials Need a Plan B

fficials with the California State Parks Department last week revealed next-step plans for the Los Angeles State Historic Park on Spring Street east of Chinatown. The vision they laid out for one of Downtown’s still-underrated jewels is responsible and doable, and fits with how the space is used by visitors from the Central City and beyond. In general, we like the vision for the site’s future. However, park officials would be wise to have a well-thought-through Plan B in their back pocket, because the potential route of the local leg of a statewide high-speed rail system could have all the destructive power of, well, a train. It would be a shame and a wasted opportunity if park officials do not prepare for trouble. Los Angeles Downtown News last week

reported on the exciting possibilities for an $18 million makeover of the park many still refer to as the Cornfield. One reason to be excited is that it offers a plan for the future even as a previous, grander vision fell apart. Several years ago, park officials readied a $55 million overhaul to activate the 19 acres of space that sit mostly unused. When the recession hit and California’s economy cratered, that plan became a financial impossibility. Now, parks officials have secured money from Prop. 84, passed by voters in 2006. It will expand the current 13 acres, creating amenities such as pavilions, an architectural display, permanent restrooms and additional parking. Those could flow into future expansion efforts if additional money ever becomes available.

The hurdle comes in California’s $40 billion high-speed train system. With Union Station as the Los Angeles hub, a route may have to slice through the park. Already under discussion is a proposal to close part or all of the park so a trench could be dug for the train tracks. After tracks are laid, they would be covered and the park re-opened. State park officials told Downtown News they are moving forward with their plan as if the rail route won’t impact their future. We hope that is not the case, as high-speed rail has a lot of backers who carry serious political juice. Train advocates could easily convince others that cutting through the park, while displeasing to many, would have less impact than disrupting nearby developed neighborhoods or rush-hour transit routes. We’re not saying here whether that for-the-

greater-good argument is right or wrong, just that it could happen. That is why park officials must prepare for every eventuality. In fact, their stance now just may be a public face. The 18-month park construction period is not scheduled to start until 2013, and the highspeed rail route could be selected by the end of 2011. It is possible that the route will be determined before a park shovel ever hits the ground, meaning the ugly scenario of building then disruption would not come to fruition. Still, this is a situation where planning prevention now could save millions of a redesign cure later. Officials should pursue their plans to give the community the park it deserves, but they also need to be ready for a potentially disruptive future.

Urban Scrawl by Doug Davis Los Angeles Downtown News 1264 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026 phone: 213-481-1448 • fax: 213-250-4617 web: DowntownNews.com • email: realpeople@downtownnews.com facebook: L.A. Downtown News

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Editor & PublishEr: Sue Laris GENErAl MANAGEr: Dawn Eastin ExEcutivE Editor: Jon Regardie citY Editor: Richard Guzmán stAFF writEr: Ryan Vaillancourt coNtributiNG Editors: David Friedman, Kathryn Maese coNtributiNG writErs: Pamela Albanese, Jay Berman, Jim Farber, 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 PhotoGrAPhEr: Gary Leonard AccouNtiNG: Ashley Schmidt AdvErtisiNG dirEctor: Steve Nakutin sAlEs AssistANt: Annette Cruz clAssiFiEd AdvErtisiNG MANAGEr: Catherine Holloway AccouNt ExEcutivEs: Catherine Holloway, Brenda Stevens, Billy Wright, Lon Wahlberg 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.

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Memories of Jack Kyser Saggy Buns, a Disneyland Birthday And Other Sides of the Late Economist by Jon RegaRdie executive editoR

’m not quite sure how, or for that matter why, Jack Kyser and I developed our phone ritual. It certainly didn’t fit with what one would expect from the region’s most prominent and widely quoted economist. Then again, Jack THE REGARDIE REPORT

was nothing like the stereotypical dull, dry economic analyst. “Hola señor,” I’d say after the receptionist told me Jack was on the line. “Hola joven,” he’d respond, and I guess the Spanish for “young one” fit because he was more than three decades my senior. “Como estas?” “Estoy muy guapo,” I’d respond, amusing myself by saying I’m handsome. “Y tu?” “Estoy feo y cansado—” “Non es verdad,” I’d interject. No, it’s not true that you’re ugly and tired. Then he’d pick up. “—y tengo nalgas dormidas.” He’d pause. “Do you know what that is?” “No,” I always said. “It means I have saggy buns.” We’d both laugh. Then we’d slip into the reason for the call, a story I needed his expert analysis on, or perhaps a tip he had for me. Jack died this month at the age of 76. It was a shock to his friends, to the community and to the many who had come to rely on him. His work and reports were commissioned by interests across the region. Reporters from around the globe would call him seeking to understand the economy of sprawling Southern California. One of his gifts was an ability to address complex business matters in a way that the layman could understand. “If you wanted to know about business and the economy of L.A., he was better than Google,” said Carol Martinez, a close friend who knew Jack for more than 15 years. She works at L.A. Inc. and the two would speak first thing in the morning every weekday, simply to tell each other what they had in store for the day. She knew how he could be silly, playful, full of funny stories. They celebrated their most recent birthdays together by going to Disneyland. “We went on Pirates of the Caribbean. We went on rides all day,” she said. Leaving and Returning Jack was born in Huntington Park and grew up in Downey and Vernon (Downey High School put him in its Hall of Fame in 2008, Martinez said). He majored in industrial design at USC and later received an MBA from the university. He moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1978 for a job with Union Pacific Railroad, and after being laid off during a recession had a stint as a radio business reporter. He returned to Los Angeles where he worked for United California Bank. The time away, although short, was formative, said Dick Carter, a local real estate and retail expert who knew Jack for 45 years. Carter said it gave Jack a greater appreciation for the Los Angeles area, and both closely watched and tracked the region’s evolution. “We enjoyed the third dimension that many people miss out on in L.A.,” Carter said. “Jack loved the greater picture The best that ever happened, he thought, is that we have migration from every country in the world here.” Jack’s most prominent job began in 1991 when he joined the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. In 2007, the LAEDC renamed its economics department the Kyser Center for Economic Research. His office was just about the exact opposite of what you’d expect in an economist’s working environment. It looked more like FAO Schwartz than a sanctum to financial studies. It was full of toys, stuffed animals that made noise, even a train set running around the rim of his cluttered desk. After a brief “retirement” this summer, Jack became chief economic advisor of the Southern California Association of Governments and continued his practice of helping politicians, business leaders and journalists understand the region. While he often had a glass-half-full perspective on local matters, he didn’t shy away from criticism. “He always had good things to say but he was a great believer in honesty,” said Hal Bastian, a friend for more than 15 years who works at the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. “Jack called it like he saw it. He didn’t pull punches when it came to public policy. He really — there see Kyser, page 15

Jack Kyser in June in his toy-cluttered office at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. He was known not just for his ability to explain complex economic issues, but also for his sense of humor and silly jokes.

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December 13, 2010

Most Merchants Reject El Pueblo Rent Deal Lengthy Mediation Process Fails to Produce Results by Richard Guzmán city editor

fter a three-month mediation process, members of the Olvera Street Merchants Association have rejected the latest rental agreement offered by the city. Only seven of the more than 50 tenants without leases have accepted the terms. The proposal presented to OSMA at the end of November called for 20-year leases with an option to renew for another 20 years at rates up to 30% below what the city sought earlier this year; the figures are, in some cases, double or even more what tenants had been paying. The deal also offered merchants who can show that they are in financial distress a discount of up to 50% if they open their books to a city audit. An attorney representing OSMA maintained that negotiations are not finished. Under the offered lease, rents would rise to market rate within five years, with “market rate” being determined by a study at that time. City negotiators expressed dismay at the rejection. “The city attorney’s office, and we assume other city officials, were surprised and disappointed when the OSMA merchants refused to sign the concession agreement and instead demanded more concessions from the city,” said David Michaelson, chief assistant city attorney. After a lengthy dispute, a mediation process began in September. That led to the terms offered to the Olvera Street tenants. Michaelson said the 30-page document given to OSMA was returned to City Attorney Carmen Trutanich’s office marked up with more than 40 substantial changes on everything from rent to common area maintenance fees to changes sought in security deposits. Paul Hamilton, an attorney hired by OSMA who represents about 45 merchants, said he is trying to resolve the lingering issues. “We are still in negotiations with the city,” he said. “We are submitting information to each other and we are hopeful negotiations are close to an end.” Uncertain Steps It is unclear what will happen next. Michaelson said the decision on future steps is up to policy makers including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman José Huizar, whose 14th District covers El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. Villaraigosa’s office declined to comment. Huizar’s office also would not comment. “The city has yet to make a decision on what the next step will be, but one of the options available to the city is to proceed with the eviction process for failure to pay rent,” Michaelson said. He added that Trutanich’s office is not interested in restarting negotiations. “These negotiations have been going on for months… and those negotiations are now concluded,” he said. “The city has gone out of its way to be as reasonable as it can possibly be, but there is only so far the city can go.” The rent issue on Olvera Street has been heated for years. Tenants, some of whom have familial ties to the street’s 1930 founding, have often stated they would pay higher rents if the city completes various improvements they say were promised. They have also protested rent hikes during an economic downturn. In January, the civilian El Pueblo Commission approved new rents based on a study commissioned by the city. The report, by Simi Valley-based Riggs & Riggs, recommended rents of $2-$6.50 per square foot. It also said tenants of the puestos, the small kiosks that occupy the center of the pedestrian street, should pay $950-$1,350 a month. The higher rates went into effect on April 1, but more than 40 tenants paid only their old rates. The merchants also commissioned their own rental study; their May report stated that rates should be $265 to about $300 for most puestos and merchants in most of the standalone businesses should pay $1.20-$2 per square foot. Merchants were given until Dec. 7 to accept the new lease. Those who signed by Dec. 1 were offered a break in the back rent owed since April. Some Say Yes Not all Olvera Street tenants said no. El Pueblo General

Downtown News 7

DowntownNews.com Manager Robert Andrade said that as of the Dec. 7 deadline, seven tenants had signed the new agreement. “It’s a generous deal,” he said. New rental agreements require approval of the El Pueblo Commission and the City Council. Last Thursday’s meeting of the Commission was cancelled hours before it was scheduled to start. No reason was given as to why. None of the tenants who signed the new agreement belong to OSMA, and they are not being represented by Hamilton. Emily Martinez is one of the seven who signed. Under her new lease, rent at a store she owns will rise from $400 to about $1,300. A puesto she previously paid $300 a month for will now cost about $950. “Of course I would like lower rents like we had before, but I think it’s fair,” she said. Although her family has been doing business on Olvera Street since the 1930s, Martinez said she has felt like she has been left out of the negotiation process as the OSMA team

handled most of the deals. “The merchants that the city attorney has been dealing with have not been all of the merchants,” she said. “They are not talking for all of us. They do not represent all of the merchants and that has been a big misconception.” Derrick Moore, vice president of brokerage services at real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, said that despite some large percentage increases, the new rates seem like a good deal when compared to others in Downtown. At nearby Union Station, he noted, kiosk owners pay about $35,000 a year. Tenants at larger spaces pay up to $5,000 a month, he said. “I think there should be a lot of happy faces,” Moore said of the El Pueblo offer, “but it could be that some folks aren’t happy until rents are $1 or free.” Andrade said he will discuss options on what to do next with city officials within a week. Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

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8 Downtown News

December 13, 2010

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Alexik Continued from page 1 the American Hotel, a rundown residential complex in the Arts District, not even two miles from the Reserve Lofts. After a standoff, he was arrested peacefully. About four weeks later, on a Sunday morning in late June, Alexik sat behind two inches of scratched glass in the visitors’ pen at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. He pressed the worn jail phone to his ear. “I’m being held illegally,” he said. “The charges are egregious.” Alexik, 34, was anxious to get his story out. He told it at a Gatling gun pace. “They have no case.” “In everything I read, the city of L.A. is the victim, the LAPD is the victim. What about me?” The “real-life Jason Bourne” is 5-foot-10 and weighs about 180 pounds. He has a pale, egg-shaped face and a distinct dimple in his chin. His hair, dyed the color of dry rust, was pulled back in a wave from his forehead, where his natural dark brown was starting to emerge at the roots. He radiated a cool confidence, betrayed only by an occasional nervous jitter that took over his right hand when it was not gesticulating. He occasionally slowed the pace by mixing in friendly pleasantries. “Are you having a good weekend?” he asked, before diving back into thoughts about the weapons, drugs and counterfeiting charges that threaten to keep him locked up for 15 years. The SKS rifle that police found in his Downtown apartment and used to obtain a search warrant? “It’s legal in the state of California,” he said. “The LAPD’s own documentation says as much.”

The gas generator that authorities suspected was spewing fumes into a neighbor’s apartment in the Reserve Lofts? They didn’t find one. “There was no generator. I think it gives them permission to get into my apartment.” Since his arrest, Alexik has become somewhat of a jailhouse lawyer. He rejected his court-appointed Public Defender and pleaded with a judge to let him represent himself. His request was initially denied, but the judge relented when another attorney Alexik hired didn’t show up for a routine preliminary hearing. This turned out to be not a mistake, but a legal maneuver, Alexik said. Alexik had arranged for the attorney to attend one hearing to take over his case from the public defender. The lawyer showed up and gained access to documents Alexik said his court-appointed representative, for some reason, would not pass on to him. After that, Alexik’s new attorney didn’t appear again, leading the perturbed judge to let Alexik represent himself. He is now preparing paperwork that he hopes will trigger a second hearing to contest the search of his apartment — he lost a preliminary trial centered on the same issue in October. If he loses again, it would set the stage for a jury trial early next year. Alexik believes his Fourth Amendment right to privacy and protection from unwarranted searches was violated. He won’t discuss the drug charges or the alleged counterfeiting operation — allegations that never would have arose had authorities not, he asserts, unlawfully searched his home. “I’m not a bad guy,” Alexik said during our first jail visit. Over the course of three months, he also called me more than a dozen times, for conversations that ranged from five minutes to an hour. “I’m a private person. I keep things private but I keep things safe. I don’t harm anyone.

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Alexik partied with U2 frontman Bono. The back of the pictures says it was taken in St. Tropez in 2003.

“I’m not what’s being portrayed. For my mother to see ‘armed and dangerous,’ that breaks her heart.” A Boy From Edison Brian Elliot Alexik was born on May 14, 1976, the second of two sons to Edward and Sharon Alexik in Edison, New Jersey. The mostly middle class city of some 90,000 is about 30 miles southwest of Manhattan. Edward Alexik was an infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division who parachuted into Normandy during World War II, according to military records. After the war, he worked with his brothers at an auto mechanic shop. He was a serial handyman who helped friends and family with plumbing, mechanical and carpentry tasks. Young Brian inherited his father’s fix-it gene.

“When my husband put an addition on to the kitchen, my other son wouldn’t turn a screwdriver,” said Sharon Alexik, who speaks with a subtle New Jersey accent, like a native New Yorker, but softer. “Brian was very mechanically inclined. He just knew how to do it.” When Brian was 8, his father went into the hospital, suffering from cancer. Several weeks later, after multiple surgeries, Brian and his brother readied a “Welcome Home Dad” sign. Edward Alexik never came home. He was 61 when he died on Dec. 16, 1984. “Until very recently, that date was the start of my life,” Brian wrote in the first of two letters he sent me from jail. “Everything before was either a fairy tale that someone decided to tell me, or a picture I would stare at and try

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to remember, like looking at a magazine and ‘wishing you were here.’” Brian persevered. In grammar school, he joined the choir and was a generally happy, social and popular child, Sharon recalled. In eighth grade, he ran for class president under the slogan, “Vote for Brian, he’s not lyin’,’” but lost. As a teenager, he was a “boy’s boy,” who liked girls, going to the mall with friends and listening to big hair rock. High school, however, seemed to bore him, she said, and he posted “average” grades. Sharon, who never remarried, became a strict disciplinarian. She required her sons to be home before she returned from her job as payroll manager at an auto dealership. Brian was expected to do laundry, to vacuum the carpets, to trim the hedges. With the tight budget of a one-parent, blue-collar household, it also meant fixing the washer, repairing the vacuum and troubleshooting the cranky hedge clipper motor. He recounted his childhood in a letter: Since the age of 8, I’ve basically come home to an empty home. I had been given chores to do that were beyond any kid I knew. Where most kids were playing I would be trimming hedges or tending to the lawn… But one thing was for sure, if it wasn’t done, it was the reason for my mother’s day to be that much harder (on me and my brother). Now don’t misunderstand what I am writing. My mother did what she knew. She did everything she could with two boys on her own. She never hit us, but I know it must have been tough. She always wanted to do more. I’m certain if she could have, she would have. Growing up, Brian worked odd jobs, at a cafe in the mall, at McDonald’s, at a convenience store. At one point, he was a manager at an electronics store. By then, his facility for fixing things had evolved into a focus on computers.

“He basically taught himself everything he knows from playing with a computer,” Sharon said. “That was his thing. He could take them apart.” Tragedy struck again when Brian was 17. A few friends planned to visit the mall to buy tickets for a Poison concert. The trip would have had Brian back home after his mother returned from work, against her edict, so he didn’t go. The car crashed and Brian’s best friend fell into a coma. He died a few weeks later. Recalling the incident last week in jail, Brian verged on tears. After high school, Sharon and Brian remained close in some ways, but there are gaps in her knowledge regarding her son during his late teens and early 20s. He enrolled in community college, she recalled, but dropped out after a year. He got an apartment in Westfield, NJ, and appeared to be doing well financially with a business designing, testing and selling software, she said. It was something else he was selling that first got him in trouble. At 20, he had his first recorded run-in with the law when he was arrested and charged with heroin and cocaine sales, according to New Jersey court records. At 24, he was arrested again, this time for “theft by deception,” a felony charge often applied to identity theft and forgery suspects, a Middlesex County court official said. He was sentenced to 180 days in county jail. His legal trouble surprised his mother, but she confessed that Brian had become a very private person in his young adulthood. They locked horns on occasion, she said, mostly because they’re both bull-headed Tauruses who need the last word. He nevertheless remains fiercely loyal to her. When he wanted to reach out to me — he was reading Los Angeles Downtown News coverage of the investigation while he was on the run — he had his mother track me down and pass on his request for a visit. In that first meeting, he warned me, with

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Downtown News 9

Alexik, again with Bono, at a beachside bar.

a light-hearted veneer to his voice: “Don’t put my mom in a bad light or I will come for you.” In 2005, at age 28 and not long after serving time for his theft by deception conviction, he moved to California. “He wanted to start a new life,” Sharon said. Shadow World As investigators searched Alexik’s apartment, their suspect was gone, but he wasn’t exactly on the run. At least, he hadn’t run very far. After walking out of the Reserve Lofts garage, he hustled over to the Packard Lofts, an apartment complex one block to the west, where his friend Charles Dupree lived. Alexik knew that he could see the windows and parts of his own balcony from Dupree’s fourth floor balcony. “He basically went straight to the balcony, and was looking over at his place,” said Dupree, an attorney, who recalled the April 19 visit during an interview in his office on the top floor of the 72-story US Bank Tower. “I could tell something was up.”

As Orosco waved his pistol around the upstairs room in the penthouse, Alexik stood on Dupree’s balcony, watching a mini orb of light dance around the window. He was too far away to make out details, but Alexik said he saw officers walk on and off the balcony and eventually turn on the lights. Power in the unit had apparently been restored. Dupree sensed that Alexik was in serious trouble and soon insisted that his friend leave. Alexik, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, agreed to leave, but only after he looked through Dupree’s closet and asked to borrow what happened to be his nicest suit. Dupree reluctantly let him take it. They haven’t seen each other since, though Alexik somehow arranged the return of the suit, Dupree said. The two met about two years ago when a friend of Dupree’s began dating Alexik. The relationship ended, but Alexik and Dupree maintained a friendship that they continued to build on discussions about fringe theories on American history, economic policy and law. see Alexik, page 10

10 Downtown News

December 13, 2010

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Alexik Continued from page 9 Alexik also delved into his political thinking in the two handwritten letters, totaling 25 pages, that he sent me from jail. In the letters, he paints America as a semi-secretly fascistic ruler in bed with international corporate interests. Alexikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s America is one fit for conspiracy theorists, but coming from him, the ideas were strangely palatable, said Dupree, who always considered himself a sociopolitical progressive. He was never given to ideas like those Alexik espoused, at least not until the two met. At first the concepts sounded radical, â&#x20AC;&#x153;crazyâ&#x20AC;? even, but Dupree was so impressed with Alexikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intelligence and his seemingly

encyclopedic grasp of history and economics that he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ignore him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of the stuff Brian talks about, you know, is, well at first I was like, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know,â&#x20AC;? Dupree said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really smart. I just thought, you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just dismiss a guy like that.â&#x20AC;? The letters from jail came in envelopes adorned with the symbol of the Freemasons, the secretive fraternity of secular philanthropists often accused by conspiracy theorists of plotting to take over the world. One envelope was decorated with a pencil drawing of the scale held by Lady Justice, the blindfolded Roman Goddess who symbolizes moral force in judicial systems. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Have you ever wondered where our desire to install a democracy across the world comes from,â&#x20AC;? Alexik wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Remember these words, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;To the Republic, for which it stands?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

The pledge never mentions democracy. How did we become one? The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;united states,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; which is a corporation, just like the DEA, CIA, FBI, NASA, LAPD and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Los Angeles Superior

Court,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; all require one thing in order to operate. That is money.â&#x20AC;? The $15,000 in counterfeit cash found in Alexikâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s apartment was deemed of â&#x20AC;&#x153;average

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Alexik cozies up with supermodel turned reality TV star Janice Dickinson in an undated photo. He refused to discuss their relationship.

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level of deception” by a spokesman for the Secret Service, which investigates counterfeiting cases. But sources with close knowledge of the case, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss it, said that a Secret Service investigator originally described the bills as high quality, or a “nine out of 10.” Inside the apartment, authorities found scattered knickknacks and accessories consistent with a home counterfeiting operation, including glittery green nail polish and hair spray, which is used to beat certain scanners that detect bogus bills. There was an ink jet printer, a scanner and several bills with obvious defects that were trashed, or simply unfinished. Investigators also seized multiple computers that they are still analyzing. It’s unclear whether Alexik or anyone else ever tried to use the faux bills police found in his apartment, but Secret Service spokesman Wayne Williams said the paper never entered circulation. Every batch of counterfeit bills has an idiosyncratic flaw that helps the agency pinpoint the source of the bad dollars, he said. In Alexik’s case, the red flag was that among the 150 bills found, there were only four serial numbers. Dupree said he never saw any evidence that his friend was printing fake cash. But if he was, Dupree theorized, it may have

A slimmer, younger Alexik, again with Dickinson.

been his way to illustrate his contempt for the Federal Reserve and the U.S. monetary system. In his letter, Alexik likened the country’s removal from the gold standard as the “bankruptcy of America.” “I could see Brian just wanting to make a point, you know, like hey, I can make money too — that doesn’t mean it’s worth anything,” Dupree said. Living the High Life Alexik may be skeptical of the American monetary system, but that hasn’t stopped him from spending lots of cash. In Los Angeles, Alexik lived luxuriously. He drove a Lexus, wore Versace and resided in expensive penthouses. The Reserve Lofts apartment cost him about $3,000 per month. In 2007, he paid about $4,000 per month to live in the priciest unit at the City View Lofts. He always paid in money orders, managers of both buildings said. Even before he moved to California, he was partying hard, rubbing shoulders with high rollers and celebrities. Two photos obtained by Downtown News show Alexik with U2 frontman Bono. In one, they appear to be at a beachside bar, and Alexik has one arm around the Irish rock star. The other, a black and white print, shows the two sitting on a couch, Alexik in a white bandana and both wearing sunglasses. The name of a photography and film processing shop in Saint Tropez, France, a vacation oasis for the international elite, is printed on the back of the picture, along with the year 2003. Two other images, neither of them dated, show Alexik embracing the supermodel turned reality television star Janice Dickinson. In one, they lean into each other, posing on a beach. Representatives for Bono and Dickinson did not respond to requests for comment. Alexik would not discuss the nature of his relationships with either star, out of respect for their privacy, he said in a letter. You found out my private memories through someone violating my rights… I’m not willing to reward you or anyone else for doing so. I know these people and have had the relationships I have had with them on the basis of 2 major things. These were things I realize with anyone I encounter. 1. They breathe the exact same air I do. They are members of the human family and enjoy being treated as such. 2. They adore and respect privacy, for themselves, their

DowntownNews.com families and their business. (Ok, not so much Janice). But understand we all do… don’t you? Alexik’s letters make several appeals to loyalty, honesty and integrity. He is fond of tapping the words of famous writers and leaders to express his thoughts; he references more than a dozen quotes or passages in his letters, most with exact accuracy. “The very word secrecy, in a free and open society, is repugnant,” he writes, referencing President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 appeal to the American Newspaper Publishers Association. Kennedy was urging publishers to consider national security when divulging state secrets in the press. In the same letter, Alexik quotes English writer E.V. Lucas: “The art of life is to show your hand. There is no diplomacy like candor. You may lose by it now and then, but it will be a loss well gained if you do. Nothing is so boring as having to keep up a deception.” But in life, Alexik himself did not shy from deception. At see Alexik, page 12

Downtown News 11

Alexik made this tile mosaic resembling the CIA seal. The tiles are inlaid in a five-foot-wide piece of Plexiglass that was used to barricade his door.

12 Downtown News

December 13, 2010

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Alexik Continued from page 11 the Reserve Lofts his lease was in the name of Ken Shurin, an alias, and he played the part with bravado. In the months before April 19, Alexik appeared in court as “Ken Shurin” to fight an eviction from Reserve Lofts management. “Shurin,” who had paid his rent in cash for the first 10 months, suddenly stopped paying. Alexik said he refused to pay after management entered his unit without consent. Even from jail, Alexik maintains the ruse. In a request to get a message out to some friends, he lists several close pals, including “Ken.” During a visit last week at Men’s Central Jail in Downtown, where Alexik was moved in October, he insisted that Shurin is a different person. He said he acted as an agent of Ken Shurin at the courthouse, not as Ken Shurin. He mused that even if he was using an alias, it was hardly a “deception,” because there was no ill intent. “What was it actually doing wrong?” he asked. Police officials feared that Alexik’s veil of secrecy was a key ingredient — along with the guns, drugs and cash — in a recipe for some greater if only halfcooked plot. “He had the wherewithal,” Lt. David Dolan, a Major Crimes investigator, told Downtown News in May. “He had it all there, the guns and everything. It was definitely there. He hadn’t pushed the button yet, but who knows?” If he was plotting something, a crucial piece of the puzzle is missing. None of the 10 charges the District Attorney filed against Alexik allege conspiracy of any kind. Still, the evidence that was recovered — the guns, the drugs, the fake cash — could put him in state prison for 15 years, possibly more if the feds file additional counterfeiting charges. Alexik said prosecutors offered him a plea bargain,

but he would not specify the terms. “I don’t want to take it because the search was illegal,” he said during last week’s visit. “I have so much law to back it up…. If anything, I’ll let it go to the appellate court.” He maintains that his apartment should not have been searched, but he’s not surprised to find himself fighting what he considers a Fourth Amendment violation. In fact, he was betting this day would come. Tattooed on the back of his neck, just below his hairline, are five words. They were meant as a warning to others. They turned out to be a premonition for himself. The nape of the neck, he points out, is the patch of skin most likely to be seen when an arresting officer has a suspect face down on the ground to apply a set of handcuffs. The tattoo reads: “Notice I Do Not Consent.” A Peculiar Charm Major Crimes Detective Daniel Logan, the lead in the Alexik investigation, sat in a Downtown courtroom in October waiting for the arrival of the defendant and the start of his preliminary trial. Logan, a hulking ex-Marine with shoulders broader than the chair he occupied, chatted with the court reporter. She had taken notice that the defendant was a pro per — in propria persona, or representing himself. “It never works out, even when you’re an attorney and you pass the Bar,” she said with a sigh. “He thinks he’s real smart,” Logan said. Dupree described Alexik as an extremely intelligent, well-read person with a sharp memory and startlingly good focus. Sharon Alexik said her son is “brilliant.” Still, even Dupree questioned his friend’s decision to go pro per. Alexik armed himself with a copy of Black’s Law Dictionary (his mother sent it to him) and tapped the county jail’s limited resources (he said he has computer access for an hour a day) to research Fourth Amendment law and other probable cause cases that might offer clues on how to argue his own. In September he

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Downtown News 13

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filed a motion to have the search warrant thrown out, thereby expunging any evidence it allowed police to find. He aims to prove that the forced entry was illegal; that the warrant was unjustified; and that even if the warrant was viable, authorities searched his home before they had the warrant in hand. His motion prompted the October preliminary trial, during which his lack of legal acumen stuck out almost immediately. Minutes into the hearing, Judge Samuel B. Mayerson scanned the document certifying that Alexik had relinquished his right to representation. Alexik signed the document, but like he did on every page of the letters from jail, he added the phrase “All rights reserved.” “That contradicts the very essence of this document,” Mayerson said with an incredulous lilt. It was the first of several hiccups born of Alexik’s weak grasp on courtroom custom and legalese. At one point, he sounded awestruck by the veterans of the system in the room. “How you know all this stuff, I have no idea, sir,” Alexik told Mayerson, with an almost childlike sincerity, during a break in the proceedings. “May I say I have tremendous respect for everyone in the courtroom today.” Despite his lack of formal training, Alexik wasn’t entirely lost. In cross examinations of Orosco, Logan and Detective Angel Vega, he managed to expose several discrepancies in the official timeline of the investigation of his apartment. The warrant was issued at 4:20 a.m. The LAPD left the scene, according to its own documents, at 7:11 a.m. But in response to Alexik’s cross-examination, Vega said that the search took four to five hours. If it lasted four hours, Alexik reasoned, it would have had to start at 3:11 a.m., or more than an hour before the warrant was issued, in order to finish by 7:11 a.m. Police are permitted to force entry into private property when there are “exigent circumstances,” but even in those cases, they cannot search without a warrant. Only obvious contraband, observed by an officer in plain sight, can be used to obtain a search warrant. The so-called plain sight doctrine is a key to Alexik’s defense. According to testimony and official reports, the Secret Service was at the Reserve Lofts by about 10 p.m., more than six hours before the warrant was issued. But there was no mention of counterfeit money in the warrant affidavit. So why did the Secret Service beat the warrant to the scene by several hours, Alexik asked?

The discrepancies were not lost on Mayerson. “You’ve got a peculiar charm about you, Mr. Alexik,” Mayerson said during a break. “And you’re doing very well for a layperson. But I would advise you to have a lawyer.” Mayerson ultimately rejected Alexik’s motions to quash the warrant, ruling that exigent circumstances necessitated Orosco’s forced entry into unit 701. As for the timeline, Mayerson said that documented times cannot be treated as ironclad, since officers must write their reports after their work is done. The process leads to inevitable, if minor, incongruities in the timeline. Mayerson conceded that mistakes were made during the search. For one, he said Orosco shouldn’t have moved or opened the gun case that he tripped over. Still, Mayerson sided with prosecutors who said that the warrant was attained on the strength of information and evidence that was collected lawfully. A week after the preliminary trial ended, Alexik called from jail. Despite losing, something about the trial emboldened him. “You see, the truth always comes out,” he said. Alexik pointed to the discrepancies in the timeline, and the fact that police never found a source of the fumes. The guns they recovered were in a closed case, not in plain sight. The AK-47 in the closet was not in plain sight either, he said. He is convinced the court will eventually see it his way. “I think every judge in the state knows that police jumped the gun,” he said. “They looked around the apartment and said this guy’s a terrorist…. They stumbled upon some little bullshit and blew it into something completely out of control.” He feels that the cops and the media sensationalized him, starting with the gratuitous Jason Bourne references. The Hugo Chavez portrait was torn out of a New Yorker. The police claim in a media release that Alexik was possibly of Russian descent was not only incorrect, but flew in the face of his father’s decorated Army career. During our final visit, Alexik seemed anything but worried. He showed no emotional urgency, no overt distress except when he recalled his teenage friend’s death. This time, there was no twitch in his hand. His hair, slicked back as always, was now entirely dark brown. He said he knows that going pro per defies all conventional wisdom. “I understand that what’s going on for me is totally insane,” he said. “But there’s nobody in the world who is going to spend as much time on this as me. I spend every minute of

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my day researching how the Supreme Court has found that what happened to me is illegal. If they gave me bail for $1, I would guarantee that I would show up in court, because I’m dying to fight this fight.” Sharon Alexik, on the other hand, is on edge. She and Brian grew apart in recent years. They hadn’t been speaking regularly before he was arrested, and she has concerns about her son. “I don’t think anybody will ever truly know him,” she said. “I believe in my heart of hearts that Brian is an extremely sensitive person and he’s been hurt so much personally in his life.” But Brian is still her son, she said, and she continues to help him out, functioning as his de facto legal runner, printing out court rulings and mailing him the documents. “I’m very proud that he’s representing himself, because who knows better than Brian what happened?” she said. “But as a mother, I’m worried.” Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

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Leiweke Wants NFL Plan Within Three Months AEG Talking With Architects, Hopes to Identify Team for South Park Stadium by February by Jon RegaRdie executive editoR

n Feb. 6, the National Football League will host Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, Texas. One month after that, Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of Downtownbased Anschutz Entertainment Group, expects either to have the framework in place to bring a football team to Los Angeles to play in a $1 billion stadium, or to drop the matter. Speaking to about 350 people at a Central City Association luncheon last week, Leiweke followed up on football stadium plans he announced last month at another Downtown gathering. At the event at the J.W. Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live on Wednesday, Dec. 8, he said AEG has already begun the architectural review process for a South Park stadium with a retractable roof. Leiweke said 12 architects have submitted designs, including some from Los Angeles. The only one he would identify is Gensler, the firm whose credits include the 54-story Convention Center hotel developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group. Leiweke said AEG expects to conduct interviews with the architecture firms this week, and to cut the list to about two designers. He said the company plans to make a decision in January. Leiweke’s vision involves building a new West Hall of the Convention Center, which would attach to the existing I.M.

Pei-designed structure fronting Figueroa Street. Once the approximately $350 million convention wing is ready, he said, the current West Hall would be torn down. The new stadium would rise on land bounded by Pico Boulevard, 11th Street, the Cherry Street parking garage and Staples Center. “A 65,000-seat stadium fits nicely on that spot,” he said. He has previously said the stadium would be privately financed, and that AEG would back the bonds on the Convention Center expansion so the city’s general fund would not be at risk. He also has said he hopes a team would begin playing in the Downtown stadium in fall 2015, and that he wants the venue to host the 2016 Super Bowl. Fight With a Partner AEG, headed by Phil Anschutz, is working with Casey Wasserman on the deal to return professional football to Los Angeles. The team is competing with a stadium proposal in the City of Industry helmed by Ed Roski, Anschutz’s partner in the development of Staples Center. Roski has been trying to bring an NFL team to Southern California for more than a decade. Leiweke laid out a scenario to bring football to South Park, though he said three things must happen by February. First, he said, negotiations already underway with the city have to be finalized. L.A. officials, he said, are in talks regarding

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Anschutz Entertainment Group President and CEO Tim Leiweke last week told a Central City Association luncheon that he hopes to identify a team that could move to a Downtown football stadium within three months.

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DowntownNews.com was rarely alone. He had regularly scheduled meals with a variety of people. He ate breakfast every Saturday with one friend and breakfast every other week at Hilton Checkers with another. He and Carter would meet at the Flying Leap Café in Silver Lake every Friday night for dinner. They did it for 15 years. They were supposed to meet Dec. 3 at the restaurant. Jack called him that morning to say he probably wouldn’t make it, that there was a problem from a kidney procedure he had had a few years before. They spoke again later that day. When Carter called him on Sunday morning, there was no answer. While Jack didn’t have hobbies — during an interview last June he joked to me that, “I was taught at an early age that golf is a bad game” — he loved trains, both Carter and Martinez said. He was dedicated to his mother, who died

Kyser Continued from page 5 was no personal life and professional life for Jack Kyser. There was one life, and it was a fabulous one.” On a Schedule One of my favorite Jack moments came in the late 1990s. He was part of a panel discussion and one of the speakers kept dismissing Downtown. Finally, the panelist called the area the “Downtown dog.” “Be careful of the Downtown dog,” Kyser responded immediately, “because it will bite you in the ass.” The packed room exploded in laughter. Kyser lived by himself in a condo in Downey, but he

the plan to tear down the West Hall of the Convention Center. He said he expects to reach an agreement on those matters early next year, and to begin the entitlement process for the stadium in January. The other things he said must happen involve the NFL. He said AEG is in frequent conversation with numerous NFL owners, who would ultimately have to approve a deal to return football to L.A. He also said AEG wants to identify a team that would move to Los Angeles. He said the goal is not to “steal” a team from another city, but to target franchises whose financial situation will require a move. He added that AEG, which owns the Los Angeles Kings and has a one-third stake in the Lakers, is prepared to “invest” in a football team. Although Leiweke did not mention any team specifically, franchises including the San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars have been widely speculated as possible candidates to move based on

about a decade ago. His remains will be placed next to hers at a cemetery in Whittier. Jack also always had a cat. He was devoted to his latest feline, Tony the Tiger. Tony will be living with Martinez. The pet will be a fond reminder of the friend. “He really enjoyed what he was doing and he had a passion for it,” she said, “and I think he also was proud that in many cases he made a real difference, and that he did some things to help make Los Angeles a better place and to help create jobs for people. “He could have been a total snob — if you’d be at lunch and a politician walked in the room they’d walk over to him. But he was an ordinary guy and related to the ordinary guy.” A memorial service for Jack will take place in January. Contact Jon Regardie at regardie@downtownnews.com.

economics and stadium issues in their cities. “If we can define… an agreement with the city, an agreement with the league and at least an understanding of the team and the economics of the lease with that, then we’re going to do this,” he said. “And if we can’t, then we won’t do this and we’ll move on and we’ll let others have at it.” While football is the public driver of the stadium plan, Leiweke talked up how the building could bolster the Los Angeles convention industry. He has said that a floor could be placed over the stadium’s playing field, allowing the building to woo prominent and lucrative businesses gatherings. The goal, he said, is to make Los Angeles a top five destination for the national convention industry, up from its current 16th position. Doubling the 16 major conventions the building now hosts annually, he predicted, would lead to the construction of as many as five new convention-related hotels in Downtown. Contact Jon Regardie at regardie@downtownnews.com.

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MOCA Commissions Mural, Then Whitewashes It photos by Gary Leonard

Artwork Painted Over Day Before Media Preview of New Show

MOCA offered a wall of its Geffen Contemporary to an Italian street artist who calls himself Blu. On Dec. 9, the museum whitewashed the piece, which may have offended military veterans.

by Ryan VaillancouRt

advocate who curates the L.A. Freewalls Project and was in Little Tokyo to document the whitewashing. t seemed a novel idea: In advance of its recently “He was here this morning, taking pictures,” announced April 2011 show on street art, the Lahoda said. “He was [angry].” Museum of Contemporary Art offered one of its It came as little surprise to the Los Angeles art world walls to a prominent street artist. when new MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, a longtime The artist, an Italian who goes by the name Blu, fin- street art champion, announced in September that ished the work. On the morning of Thursday, Dec, 9, the museum would present a major show exploring the museum painted over it. the movement. His former New York gallery, Deitch The paint was hardly dry on the mural, which Projects, displayed the work of California street art icon covered the entire north-facing wall of MOCA’s Barry McGee and L.A. transplant Shepard Fairey. Geffen Contemporary with depictions of wooden The whitewashing of the mural at the Geffen caskets draped in dollar bills, when the museum lit- Contemporary came a day before the museum was erally whitewashed the piece. due to host a media preview for Suprasensorial, a A MOCA spokeswoman would not comment on show highlighting Latin American artists working the whitewashing, but the piece may have struck a with light and space. MOCA previews generally atdelicate nerve center that sits just steps from the wall. tract scores of cameras and reporters. The wall faces the Veterans Administration healthcare Lahoda, whose LA Freewalls connects artists with building on Temple Street. The dollar bills draped on building owners who offer their walls for murals, welBlu’s caskets seem to be an overt replacement of the comed Deitch’s embrace of street art. But he said the customary American flags that cover the coffins of mural snafu is emblematic of a critique that often folStarts s.com or soldiers killed in wartime. street art when it leaves the public realm and goes ownNewlows er at Downt rn co nd ha December 10 llist e upper right Administration A representative for the Veterans up on the walls of mainstream art institutions. /forms/mai l in th nnews.com E-NEWS Look for this symbo .ladowntow w w w P U said Looking at street art in a museum, or in this case on N management at the facility was aware of the SIGthat mural, but did not complain to MOCA. a museum’s wall, he said, is sort of like “looking at wild The mural is also adjacent to the Go For Broke animals in the zoo.” Monument, a memorial to Japanese Americans who The move may remind Downtowners of the fought in World War II. A spokeswoman for the 2006 whitewashing of Kent Twitchell’s “Ed Ruscha National Go For Broke Education Center said that Monument.” The destruction of the massive work some veterans found the mural “in bad taste,” but the on the side of a building at 1051 S. Hill St. prompted organization did not complain to MOCA either. nearly twoCheck years of legal that culminated when Listings LADowntownNews.com Ourbattles Website for Full Movie The artist, who did not respond to an email, was on the artist was awarded $1.1 million. the scene as a crew began to paint over the work, and Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at he was not pleased, said Daniel Lahoda, a street art ryan@downtownnews.com. staff wRiteR

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Revisiting and Resetting Dance Performance at REDCAT Puts a New Spin on a Classic Piece by Richard Guzmán city editor

t’s marked by exceptionally fluid movements that belie the complexity of the dance. It’s considered a masterpiece that created a sensation when it premiered in New York in 1983. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to explain, though Downtown Los Angeles audiences will have a chance to see it this weekend when seven dance students perform the 24-minute piece at REDCAT. The CalArts Winter Dance program presents two nights of four dance pieces Friday-Saturday, Dec. 17-18. The works will be headlined by the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance restaging of choreographer Trisha Brown’s 1983 Set and Reset. This version is titled Set and Reset/Reset.

her use of fluid movement and unpredictable style, and features a score by Laurie Anderson and costume and set design by Robert Rauschenberg. The CalArts production will use the score and a design inspired by Rauschenberg’s work. Although there is no storyline in the abstract piece, the Downtown version will include images projected onto a screen. “It’s a very beautiful work of abstract art, so people can create their own narrative of what they’re seeing in the intricate movements that are woven in and out on the stage,” Koplowitz said. “It sort of creates a complete world through all these elements.”

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photo by Steven Gunther

Set and Reset/Reset, based on a 1983 work by choreographer Trisha Brown, highlights a four-piece dance program at REDCAT on Dec. 17-18. Ariana Daub (left) and Katherine Morales are two of the seven CalArts dance students in the performance.

“Trisha Brown is one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Her work is extremely influential,” said Stephan Koplowitz, dean of the CalArts School of Dance. “We thought it would be important for students to be exposed to the asthetics of this work.” Also being performed are an excerpt from Israeli-American choreographer Barak Marshall’s physical-theater work Rooster, New York-based choreographer Daniel Charon’s Juncture, and a new short piece by Rosanna Gamson, whose Tov premiered last spring at REDCAT. “It’s a very exciting night of dance, so no matter what kind of dance you’re interested in there is something for you,” said Koplowitz. “Barak’s work is very theatrical and very humorous and at the same time poignant. Daniel Charon’s is highly physical, very fast paced dancing, and Rosanna’s new work is visually stunning and also theatrical and very beautiful.” But the unquestioned highlight of the evening will be Brown’s work. Resetting Set and Reset/Reset was created as part of a teaching project developed by the Trisha Brown Dance Company. Instructors who know Set and Reset teach the basic material to a group of students who then work with the teacher to develop their own version of the dance, using the same rules that Brown gave her dancers. The students become part of the creative process, and their movements are shaped into Set and Reset/ Reset as a variation on the original choreography. Brown is considered one of the world’s leading choreographers of postmodern dance. She is recognized for pushing the limits of what was considered typical choreography. She founded her own company in 1970 and was the first woman choreographer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She has also been awarded Brandeis University’s Creative Arts Medal in Dance and the National Medal of Arts in 2003. She continues to live and work in New York. Set and Reset is considered her masterpiece. It highlights

Kathleen Fisher, a former member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, taught the material to the CalArts dancers The students chosen for the piece went through interviews with Koplowitz. He selected dancers he felt were the most adaptable and most open to collaborating in a specialized way. “This was a project where they couldn’t just come in and throw whatever ideas they had. They had to be really in dialogue with Kathleen,” Koplowitz said. One of those chosen for the performance is 20-year-old Ariana Daub. The CalArts student said it was intimidating at first taking on a piece with a prominent history. “We had such a part of creating and making the piece our own,” she said. “The piece has been reset many, many times, and every time it’s reset it takes on a different form.” Set and Reset/Reset and the other works are performed Dec. 17-18 at REDCAT, 613 W. Second St., (213) 237-2800 or redcat. org. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $10-16 for students. Contact Richard Guzmán at richard@downtownnews.com.

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Downtown Closes the Decade

Say Yes to Vice: If you’re going to join the countless people who make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, then Noé Restaurant and Bar wants to help you go out in style before you start your diet. The restaurant in the Omni Los Angeles hotel is offering an “Indulge Your Vices” night on Dec. 31. The menu is replete with what the restaurant labels “no-no” items to which you wish you could always say yes-yes. In other words, it’s a dinner filled with delicious dishes made with butter, cream and carbs. There will be two seatings. The 5-8 p.m. dinner is $60 per person and includes three courses The second seating is from 8-10:30 p.m. and costs $90 for a five-course meal. The night also holds a live band playing in the lounge. At 251 S. Olive St., (213) 356-4100 or noerestaurant.com.

On New Year’s Eve, It’ll Be a Party All Across the Neighborhood by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR

t’s the end of the decade, and all across Downtown Los Angeles, 2010 is likely to go out with a bang. The neighborhood’s growing nightlife scene is sure to attract many people looking to celebrate the turning of the calendar. Los Angeles Downtown News has compiled a list of things to do in the Central City, with offerings in restaurants, bars, clubs and concert halls. It’s never too early to start planning where you’ll be once the crowds begin singing “Auld Lang Syne.” Classic Voice: New Year’s Eve doesn’t have to be all about the party and booze. You can also enjoy a beautiful voice and welcome the year with some classic tunes. That’s the situation when little Emmy and Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth brings her big voice to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Chenoweth, a veritable triple threat artist with stage, film and television credits, performs on Dec. 31 with shows at 7 and 10:30 p.m. She originated the role of Glinda in Broadway’s Wicked and won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy for her role on ABC’s “Pushing Daisies.” For her New Year’s Eve show in Downtown, she will sing hits from her albums, Broadway shows and some holiday classics too. At 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 850-2000 or laphil.com. One-Stop Party: With so many people out on New Year’s Eve, it can be difficult to hit different spots for dinner, then drinks, then dancing — not to mention the drive home

photo by Hilary Hulteen

The boiler room turned bar The Edison will bring in 13-member cabaret act Yard Dog Road Shows for some Dec. 31 entertainment.

with all those who have had a drink or five. So solve all of your New Year’s concerns at one place with the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. The Financial District establishment is throwing an all-inclusive party starting with dinner at Smeraldi’s, the Italian eatery in the hotel. For $99 per person, you can

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welcome 2011 with a stomach full of savory dishes such as filet mignon, lobster or seared duck breast. The dinner includes admission to the hotel’s New Year’s Eve celebration at the Rendezvous Court and Gallery Bar. There will be two live bands, dancing and a champagne toast at midnight. If you want to skip the dinner, the party itself is $50. To make it an all-nighter, the hotel is offering a holiday package, which includes the dinner and party, plus a room and breakfast in the morning, starting at $369. At 506 S. Grand Ave., (213) 612-1545 or thebiltmore.com. A Cabaret Eve: The 13-member cabaret act known as Yard Dog Road Shows takes over The Edison for a New Year’s Eve performance. The group blends vaudeville with rock and roll, and their “hobo cabaret” follows the tradition of traveling saloon vaudeville troupes that toured the West in the 1800s. There are sword swallowers, fire-eaters and song and dance numbers. Tickets are $75 per person and $300 and up per table. At 108 W. Second St., (213) 613-0000 or edisondowntown.com.

Party Like a Rock Star: That’s the theme for the New Year’s Eve bash at J Restaurant & Lounge, and with 25,000 square feet of party space, two dance floors, six bars and VIP cabanas, it’ll be easy. The party will feature the music of DJ Ravidrums. The cost is $40 per person, but if you want to take it up a notch, $75 buys a three-course dinner and party access. If that’s little league, the $750 Diamond VIP Package features a table for six, a bottle of Grey Goose and Ace of Spades champagne, private entrance and chocolate covered strawberries. The fullon Rock Star Package is yours for $10,000 (yes, four zeros) and includes 20 admissions, three bottles of Grey Goose, a VIP table, a hotel room for two, two personal flat-screen TVs to watch the countdown, chocolate covered strawberries and a private entrance. Rock on. At 1119 S. Olive St., (213) 746-7746 or jpresents.com. La India: Polish the dancing shoes and rehearse your best moves, because the Conga Room will become a dancer’s dream on New Year’s Eve as the princess of salsa hits the stage. Grammy-nominated singer La India, who has performed with legends such as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, will bring in the new year. The show is for ages 21 and up and is expected to sell out. Those who attend can also expect to see some great dancing, since salseros are know to show off their moves during a big celebration like New Year’s. If you can’t salsa, don’t worry; just smile and swing your hips. Tickets are $65-$125. At 800 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 745-0162 or congaroom.com. All Together Now: There will be no wallflowers at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on New Year’s Eve as the 13th annual see New Year’s Eve, page 24

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EVENTS

the ’t n o ‘D ’ s s Mi t s i l

SPONSORED LISTINGS Live Church LA Club Nokia, 1000 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 4934329 or livechurchla.com. 10 a.m.: Every Sunday, Live Church L.A. takes over the VIP Lounge at Club Nokia, bringing great music, people and inspiring messages. Jazz for the Holidays 7+Fig, 725 S. Figueroa St., artsbrookfield.com. Dec. 14, noon: Alfredo Rodriguez, Thelonious Monk Institute/LACHSA Ensemble. Portraits by Robert Zuckerman Ultimate Life Living, 548 S. Spring St., (213) 626-5433 or ultimatelifeliving.com. Dec. 19, noon-6 p.m.: Jeff Goldblum and Michael Chiklis present an opening reception for an exhibition by Hollywood photographer Robert G. Zuckerman. His portraits including David Bowie, Kate Winslet, Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino and others. A portion of the sales will benefit the nonprofit Chrysalis. RSVP at ultimatelifeliving.com

Tuesday, dec. 14 Grand Performances California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., (213) 687-2159 or grandperformances.org. Noon: Quartetto Fantastico, a classically trained string quartet featuring Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, performs original compositions and imaginative re-interpretations of material from different cultures and genres in a free holiday concert. Jazz for the Holidays 7+FIG at Ernst & Young Plaza, 725 Figueroa St., ArtsBrookfield.com. Noon-2 p.m.: Brookfield Properties presents Alfredo Rodriguez and the Thelonious Monk Institute/LACHSA Ensemble in a free lunchtime concert on the plaza. Wednesday, dec. 15 ALOUD at the Central Library 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7025 or aloudla.org. 7 p.m.: Songs new and old from various faith and folk traditions are featured in an “Interfaith Sing ALOUD.” No singing experience is necessary. Staples Center 1201 S. Figueroa St., staplescenter.com. 7:30 p.m.: Disney on Ice’s Let’s Celebrate features Micky, Minnie and their friends in a medley of holidays, celebrations and festivals from around the globe. Ten shows through Dec. 19. Rock Around The Rink Pershing Square, 532 S. Olive St., (213) 847-4970 or laparks.org/pershingsquare. 8-10 p.m.: Eighties new wavers The Motels rock with Martha Davis in a free outdoor holiday concert. Thursday, dec. 16 Grand Performances California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., (213) 687-2159 or grandperformances.org. Noon: Marcus L. Miller and his Freedom Jazz Movement band explore the meaning of Kwanzaa through a fusion of blues, jazz, R&B, pop and panAfrican rhythms. MOCA Art Talk: Martin Kersels The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., (213) 621-1745 or moca.org. 6:30 p.m.: The artist will discuss his work in “The Artist’s Museum” exhibition, including Piano Drag (1995), which will be performed. Free. No reservations required. Friday, dec. 17 Holiday Sing-Along Music Center Plaza, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 9723660 or musiccenter.org. 6:30-8 p.m.: A free evening of singing among the holiday lights of the plaza with live musical accompaniment. Lyric sheets are provided and tickets are

Continued on next page

by Lauren CampedeLLi, Listings editor calendar@downtownnews.com photo by Craig Schwartz

Monday, dec. 13 Zócalo Public Square Art Share LA, 801 E. Fourth Pl., zocalopublicsquare.org. 7:30 p.m.: California’s teenage pregnancy rate has hit a historic low, while the rest of the country’s rates are rising. Mark Regnerus, author of the forthcoming Premarital Sex in America, Connie Kruzan of Adolescent Services at North Hollywood’s Valley Community Clinic, and Francisca Angulo-Olaiz, a research scientist, discuss what California is doing right.

Celebrate Ozomatli, and a Couple Chances to Sing Out Loud

photo by Jon Coulthard

LISTINGS one

c, fire and sents musi e r p e r t a th Grammyzomatli, a onkey god O m n c w te o z s A .’ L.A usic, funk, A little mesake for -hop beats, Latin m a n e th is e kitchen hip passion raga and th ral enat mashes n th ia d d n In a , b ll g a ceh icultu winnin . R&B, dan cial issues. The mult .A L st a E , so uinceañera reggae and address will celebrate with a q he party t u o ck ro sink to p.m. T ar and ec. 18, at 8 s 15 this ye ansemble turn Nokia on Saturday, D l’s transition to wom gir b best bash at Clu ed for a 15-year-old -male band. The two ll rv a ress se e d re th so y , y ad b ckets usuall ed on its he s will win upgraded ti rn tu ts e g hood ndee . -attired atte bnokia.com quinceañera W. Olympic Blvd., clu 00 sharp! At 8

three

2 If you’ve never heard 2,200 Angelenos joined together in song — outside of a Lakers chant at Staples Center — then get thee to Walt Disney Concert Hall for the annual Messiah Sing-Along. On Sunday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m., Los Angeles Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon conducts Handel’s masterwork featuring a quartet of professional singers handling the solo roles, while the audience tackles the chorus parts. Bring your own score or buy one at the door. This year, an old tradition is being revived and all those who just can’t get enough can head to BP Hall for some postconcert caroling (after all, your voices are all warmed up). At 111 S. Grand Ave., (213) 972-7282 or lamc.org. photo by Chuck Gee

Our state’s finances might be atrocious, but California is doing something right when it comes to the teenage pregnancy rate. It’s hit a historic low, while the rest of the country’s rates are rising. How and why has that happened? Zócalo Public Square invites so-ciologist Mark Regnerus, author of the forthcoming Premarital Sex in America,, Connie Kruzan, director of Adolescent Services at North Hollywood’s Valley Community Clinic, and Francisca Angulo-Olaiz, a research scientist at the Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, to discuss what changed around the country and what California is doing right. Share in the collective pat on the back at Art Share LA on Monday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. At 801 E. Fourth Pl., zocalopublicsquare.org.

four

What’s a fun way to celebrate religious diversity and community this season? Try the Interfaith Sing Aloud. From “Auld Lang Syne” to “Henie Mat Tov,” from Sanskrit devotionals to gospel spirituals (and maybe even a few traditional Christmas carols), the event welcomes everyone to get together and sing. The Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium will resound with songs new and old from various faith and folk traditions and songbooks on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. The righteous evening, part of the Aloud speaker series, is made possible by a grant from the Righteous Persons Foundation. No singing experience is necessary — righteous, indeed. At 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7025 or aloudla.org.

., when . 14, from noon-2 p.m banec D y, da es Tu on all 7+Fig m driguez. The Cu lunchtime jazz at the ung pianist Alfredo Ro y Jones — brings yo ing ris ts Cozy up to some cool en es pr s presario Quinc Office Propertie landowner Brookfield ered” by and taken under the wing of im joined by the Thelonious Monk ov He is olidays” born virtuoso — “disc ritage to his playing. he l ica us m h ric ’s e final “Jazz for the H shopth ba r Cu fo d ble an m ng se ini En tra ts l classica for the Ar nosh or holiday County High School mpaniment with your co ac e fre joy Institute/Los Angeles en So . r shopping center concert at the outdoo field.com. gueroa St., ArtsBrook ping break. At 725 Fi Send information and possible Don’t Miss List submissions to calendar@downtownnews.com.

20 Downtown News

December 13, 2010

Twitter/DowntownNews Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., (213) 6171033 or downtownindependent.com. 8 p.m.: The King of Americana Kitsch celebrates how we decorated, dressed up, dined and drank during the holidays in the 50s and 60s.

Listings Continued from previous page distributed beginning at 6 p.m. Holiday Organ Spectacular Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., (323) 850-2000 or musiccenter.org. 8 p.m.: The L.A. Phil presents an eclectic program of holiday music featuring organist David Higgs. Saturday, dec. 18 Central Library 630 W. Fifth St., (213) 228-7000 or lapl.org. 10 a.m.-noon: Used Book Sale features hundreds of bargain books, LPs, videos. In the Rotunda. Noon-3 p.m.: David Meyer-O’Shea conducts oral history interviews with WWII veterans for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. In Meeting Room B. Charles Phoenix’s Retro Holiday Slide Show

Sunday, dec. 19 MOCA Art Talk: John Outterbridge The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., (213) 621-1745 or moca.org. 3 p.m.: The artist will lead a walk through of “The Artist’s Museum” exhibition and discuss his work. Free with museum admission; no reservations required.

ROCK, POP & JAZZ Café Metropol 923 E. Third St., (213) 613-1537 or cafemetropol.com. Dec. 18, 8-10 p.m.: Billy White Band. Club Nokia Corner of Olympic Blvd. and Figueroa St.,

Continued on next page

We Got Games Lakers, Clips, Kings Hit the Road Los Angeles Lakers Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., (213) 742-7100 or nba.com/lakers. The Lakers are on the road all week. Kobe and friends have been shaky lately, but look to regain dominance in a quartet of matchups that, at least on paper, they should absolutely dominate. First, they play in D.C., taking on John Wall and the Wizards on Dec. 14 (they’ll also pay another visit to the president). Then it’s on to Indiana (Dec. 15) to hopefully avenge an earlier loss to the Pacers; abysmal Philly (Dec. 17); and also weak Toronto (Dec. 19). Los Angeles Clippers Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., (213) 742-7100 or nba.com/clippers. For most teams, a loss is a loss. For the Clippers, a loss, at the buzzer, by one point, to the Lakers last week was somewhat of a victory. After beating the Sacramento Kings in a Western Conference battle of

weaklings, the Clippers nearly knocked off the defending champs. It was heartbreaking, but there was a silver lining: The Clips, who already beat San Antonio and New Orleans, showed again that they can play with any team. Coach Vinny Del Negro looks to put the pieces together during a road trip to Philadelphia (Dec. 15), Detroit (Dec. 17) and Chicago (Dec. 18). Los Angeles Kings Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., 1 (888) KINGS-LA or kings.nhl.com. The Kings, like the Lakers and Clippers, are on the road (thank you Disney On Ice). After a recent rough patch, the skaters seem to be regaining their early season form. They look to keep a win streak alive in Detroit (Dec. 13), St. Louis (Dec. 16), Nashville (Dec. 18) and the Windy City, where they take on the defending champ Blackhawks (Dec. 19). —Ryan Vaillancourt

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Listings Continued from previous page clubnokia.com. Dec. 16, 8 p.m.: American Idol Adam Lambert brings his Glam Nation Tour to Downtown. Dec. 17, 9 p.m.: The funny, the obscene, The Dan Band. Dec. 18, 8 p.m.: LA-based culture-mashers Ozomatli celebrate their 15th anniversary by headlining a Quinceañera Party for themselves. We hear the bass player looks good in a dress. Conga Room L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic, (213) 749-0445 or congaroom.com. Dec. 14-15, 8 p.m.: Cuba’s legendary, post-revolutionary dance band Los Van Van.

Hundreds of listings of fun and interesting things to do in Downtown Los Angeles can also be found online at ladowntownnews.com/calendar: Rock, Pop & Jazz; Bars & Clubs; Farmers Markets; Events; Film; Sports; Art Spaces; Theater, Dance and Opera; Classical Music; Museums; and Tours.

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COMPANY DRIVERS (Solos & Hazmat Teams) * Great Pay * Great Miles * CDL-A Required. We also have dedicated & regional positions available. Call 866-789-8947. Swift. (CalSCAN) COMPANY DRIVERS (Solos & Hazmat Teams) *Great Pay *Great Miles *CDL-A Required. We also have dedicated & regional positions available. Call: 866-448-1055 SWIFT. (CalSCAN) DRIVERS Earn up to 49c/mile! 1 year minimum OTR experience qualifies you to be a trainer for our fleet. Call: 888-417-7564. Crst Expedited www.JoinCRST. com. (Cal-SCAN)

Downtown since 2002

Available Immediately

Voted Best Downtown Residential Real Estate Agent Call us today! Bill Cooper • 213.598.7555 • TheLoftExpertGroup.com

HOTEL BRISTOL NOW OPEN

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

CENTRALLY LOCATED

213-228-3000

• Secured prime development site • Ideal for office or retail • 3,420 sq. ft. office building with ample parking • 1 blk from USC and Harbor Freeway • Immediate access to use 3111 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles

Leasing Office Open 12/15/2010

Call now 213-746-6300 x1455

8th @ Olive ALL UTILITIES PAID

Top floor of 11 story historical building available now! We have approximately 2,868 square feet of contiguous exterior space facing Olympic Blvd. Stunning views of L.A. Two blocks away from the Staples Center and adjacent to the new L.A. Live Complex. The building also has other beautiful contiguous space & some small offices available. This space can be viewed by appointment. Information available to qualified prospective tenants. Email request to ghollis@shammasgroup.com or call (213) 746-6300 x1455

Do you have something to sell?

Ad Copy: _________________________________________

Ad Prices

________________________________________________

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

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

FREE! $11.50 $14.00 $16.50 $19.00

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

All ads run for 2 weeks. Ads may be renewed after two weeks for 50% off the original price of the ad.

With a circulation of State Check $

Zip Credit Card $

47,000,

our classifieds get results!

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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.

DRIVERS - 100% Tuition paid CDL Training. Start your New Career. No Credit Check. No Experience required! Call: 888417-7564. Crst Expedited www. JoinCRST.com. (Cal-SCAN) DRIVERS/CDL Training - Career Central. We Train and Employ You. Company Drivers up to 40K First Year. New Team Pay! Up to 48c/mile Class A CDL Training Regional Locations! 1-877-3697091 www.CentralDrivingJobs. net. (Cal-SCAN) REGIONAL CDL Drivers Needed! Gordon Trucking, Inc. Sign on bonus in some areas! Current Openings on our NCA Fleet. Home weekly available! Consistent Miles & Time off! Full Benefits, 401k. We have lots of Freight! www.TeamGTI. com 1-888-832-6484 EOE. (CalSCAN) REGIONAL WEST Coast - Up to $0.36 Per Mile - Company Drivers! Consistent freight. Benefits. Respect. Class A CDL. 1 year OTR required. Apply 1.888.619.6845 or www.NationalCarriers.com. (Cal-SCAN) General

Office/Clerical JOBS NATIONWIDE! Admin., HR, Clerical, Accounting, Mgmt., Tech., etc. - www.Jobs444.com and www.JobsBloom.com.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Business Opportunities ALL CASH VENDING Route! Be Your Own Boss! 25 Machines + Candy All for $9995. Vend3. 1877-915-8222. All major credit cards accepted! (Cal-SCAN) Help Wanted ABLE TO TRAVEL. Hiring 8 people. No experience necessary. Transportation & lodging furnished. Paid training. Work and travel entire USA. Start today. www.ProtekChemical. com 1-208-590-0365. (CalSCAN)

SERVICES Attorneys

HELP WANTED Movie Extras. Earn up to $150/day. People needed for background in a major film production. Exp. not required. 888-366-0843 Industrial

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

SUPERVISES WORK; plans sequence of operation; inspects workplace $56,202/yr 9am-6pm MF GEMINI MFG 1020 E Vernon Anaheim 92805 888-2423180 Sales AVAILABLE TO Travel? Earn Above Average $$$ Selling with Fun Successful Business Group. No Experience Necessary. Paid Training. Lodging, Transportation Provided. 1-877-646-5050. (CalSCAN)

Law Office of H. Douglas Daniel Esq., (213) 689-1710

ATTORNEY JOHN BENSON Your Local Downtown Attorney Wills Trusts Estates Bankruptcy and Divorce best rates in town www.attorneyjohnrbenson.com (213) 905-9364 Business Services

Start Your Own Business just

(323) 829-2434 Aromaticbliss.Scentsy.us

THAI MASSAGE SPECIALIST VIP Room Available. The Best Way For Business Meetings & Entertainment

Professional massage for men & women. Services include Thai Massage, Shiatsu Massage, Swedish Oil Massage, Foot Massage, Sauna, Steam, and more. Lounge area.

Health Dept. rank A for 7 Consecutive Years

SAKURA HEALTH GYM & SAUNA, INC. 111 N. Atlantic Blvd. Ste #231-233 Monterey Park, CA 91754 (626) 458-1919 [Corner of Garvey Ave.]

HBODY

MASSAGEH

First Professionally Licensed Massage Shop in L.A. County.

3386766 0119

L.A. Downtown News Classifieds

ADVERTISE YOUR Home, property or business for sale in 240 California newspapers. Reach over 6 million readers for Only $550! Call this newspaper or visit: www.CAL-SCAN.com. (Cal-SCAN) ADVERTISE YOUR Job Opening in 240 California newspapers. Reach over 6 million readers for Only $550! Call this newspaper or visit: www.Cal-SCAN.com. (Cal-SCAN)

THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

December 13, 2010

Downtown News 23

DowntownNews.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) Education ATTEND COLLEGE Online from Home. *Medical, *Business, *Paralegal, *Criminal Justice. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. SCHEV certified. Call 888-210-5162 www.Centura.us.com. (Cal-SCAN) HIGH SCHOOL Diploma! Graduate in 4 weeks! Free Brochure. Call Now! 1-866-562-3650 ext. 60 www.SouthEasternHS.com. (Cal-SCAN)

clEaning CAL CLEANING SERVICES Cleaning Office & Apartment/Loft buildings. Single apartments/ Lofts. Monthly/Weekly/Daily services. Painting & light repairs as well. (323) 708-1189 CONCEPTO’S CLEANING Crew. Professional, experienced, cleans apartments, homes, offices and restaurants. Call for a quote. 323-459-3067 or 818-409-9183. SEcuritY SWITCH NOW! OLD Alarm Clunkers API SECURITY SERVICE www.apisecurityservices.com 310-492-5457

AUTOS

Financial SErvicES CASH NOW! Cash for your structured settlement or annuity payments. Call J.G. Wentworth. 1-866-SETTLEMENT (1-866738-8536). Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. (Cal-SCAN) HEaltH NOT FEELING any joy? Overwhelmed by stress and emotional overload? Professional counseling helps! www.drannewarman. vpweb.com, Downtown Wilshire Office, reasonable rates, insurance accepted, 310-281-9797.

PrE-oWnEd

doWntoWn l.a. auto grouP Porsche Volkswagen audi Mercedes-Benz nissan cheVrolet cadillac

2005 BMW 330CIC Convertible, Low Mileage, White/Black stk # uc459-1/PL52952 $19,887 Call 888-879-9608.

2007 AUDI A6 Low miles. Loaded! Manager special. # 151076 vin ZA9770 $28,830 Call 888583-0981 2007 MERCEDES BENZ C230 Stock CU0298P vin 926270 Extra clean! $20,883 call 888-2032967. 2007 MERCEDES BENZ ML350 Pewter/Black, 3.5 Liter, leather, $28,999 4JGBB86E77A260898 Call 888-319-8762. 2007 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE Certified low miles. One owner. Manager special Stk # ZV952 vin # 512012 $13,983 call 888781-8102. 2009 CAYENNE GTS Black / Black, Tipronic, Only 9k miles, Well-equipped, Certified vin A66157 $73,988 Call 888-6855426. 2009 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5S Certified, air with power pkg # NI3609 / 9N487053 $14,999, call 888-838-5089.

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

downtownnews.com

autoS WantEd

voluntEEr oPPortunitiES

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)

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.

DONATE YOUR Vehicle! Receive Free Vacation Voucher. United Breast Cancer Foundation. Free Mammograms, Breast Cancer Info www.ubcf.info Free Towing, Tax Deductible, NonRunners Accepted, 1-888-4685964. (Cal-SCAN)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

LEGAL FictitiouS BuSinESS namE Fictitious Business name statement File no. 20101677916 The following person is doing business as: SAVIOR WINES, 600 W. Ninth Street, Suite #1102, Los Angeles CA 90015, are hereby registered by the following registrant: STEPHANIE BADEN, 600 W. Ninth Street, Suite #1102, Los Angeles CA 90015. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed

cHurcHES THE BRIDGE / Little Tokyo: Contemporary worship, 4:00pm Sundays, 401 E Third St. www. thebridgewired.org.

noticES INTERNATIONAL Fellowship seeks Volunteer Host Families for Foreign Exchange Students arriving January 2011. Or Earn extra cash as Area Rep! 1-800647-8839. www.InternationalFellowship.org. (Cal-SCAN)

The Downtown Renaissance Collection

WANTED DIABETIC Test Strips. Cash Paid. Unopened, Unexpired Boxes Only. All Brands Considered. Help others, don’t throw boxes away. For more information, Call 888-491-1168. (Cal-SCAN)

Be Inspired... Best Downtown Locations!

I c o n I c B e au t y

Elegant World Class Resort Apartment Homes

Orsini

S e e k S S t y l i S h M at e

550 NORTH FIGUEROA ST.

877-231-9362

WWW.THEORSINI.COM

On Spring St.

Medici

Premiere Towers:

2 bdrm/2 bath, $1600/mo • Rooftop garden terrace/ GYM w/city view • 24 hr. doorman • Free (1) parking

City Lofts: noW lEaSing

$1,400’s/mo. Free Parking ROOFTOP GARDEN RETREAT WITH BBQ AND LOUNGE GRAND LOBBY • FITNESS CENTER • SPA MODERN KITCHEN w/CAESAR COUNTERTOPS HIGH SPEED INTERNET DESIGNER LIVING SPACES • PET FRIENDLY • DRAMATIC VIEWS WALKING DISTANCE TO RALPHS SUPERMARKET

756 S. Broadway • Downtown Los Angeles 213-892-9100 • chapmanf lats.com

1000 sqft, 16ft ceilings, $1950/mo. w/2nd level bedroom • Stainless steel appliances/refrigerator etc. • Pet friendly We are located in a prime area in Downtown LA nice neighborhood w/ salon, market, café etc. Wired for high speed internet & cable, central heat & A/C

Please call 213.627.6913 www.cityloftsquare.com

Pricing subject to change without notice.

Furnished single unit with kitchenette, bathroom. Excellent location. Downtown LA. Weekly rate $275 inc.

Monthly from $550 utilities paid. (213) 612-0348

Downtown Los Angeles Brentwood y Century City Woodland Hills Downtown Los Angeles Brentwood y Century City Woodland Hills

legal notice PRe-solicitation notice ReQuest FoR PRoPosals Blossom PlaZa DeVeloPment site cHinatoWn ReDeVeloPment PRoJect aRea RFP no. cH-3120 / 1300 The City of Los Angeles is launching a new cycle of investment in Chinatown, one of the most celebrated and historic neighborhoods in downtown Los Angeles, with the creation of a cultural / transit oriented development. To advance this vision, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, invites respondents to submit proposals for the purchase and immediate development of a fully entitled 1.9-acre site (the “Project”) immediately adjacent to the iconic Chinatown Station on the Metro Gold Line. By creating a vibrant place with exceptional residential, commercial and community facilities, the Project aims to emerge as an exciting new destination in a reinvigorated Chinatown. Construction is expected to start in 2013. The RFP, No. CH-3120/1300, is anticipated to be available for direct downloading only on the CRA/LA Website at www.crala.org on or after December 7, 2010. The CRA/LA plans to hold a non-mandatory pre-proposal conference and site tour to discuss this RFP on December 16, 2010 at 3:30 P.M. to be held at the Project site at the corner of College Street and Spring Street, former home of the little Joe's restaurant. Please RSVP if you plan on attending the meeting to Ms. Christine Kalamaros by e-mail at ckalamaros@cra.lacity.org. 12/13/10 CNS-2001895# DOWNTOWN NEWS

Beautiful Fully Furnished Offices Starting at $500 y Flexible Terms y Corporate ID Programs Beautiful Fully FurnishedAvailable Offices Starting at $500 y Flexible Terms y Corporate ID Programs Available Services Include:

Reception y Mail y Fiber Optic Internet y TelephoneServices & Voice Include: Mail y West Law y Reception y& Mail Optic Internet y Photocopy FaxyyFiber Video Conferencing

725 SOUTH BIXEL ST.

877-239-8256

WWW.THEMEDICI.COM

• Free Resident/Guest Parking in Gated Garage • Private Library, Business Center & Conference Rooms • Free Wi-Fi & DSL Computer Use • Resident Karaoke Lounge • Directors Screening Room • Lavish Fountains & Sculptures • On-Site Private Resident Park with Sand Volleyball, BBQ’s and Jogging Track • Night Light Tennis Courts • Indoor Basketball

Clean unfurnished bachelor rooms with shared bath at $550/mo. Client: with private bath at $695/mo.

(213) 996-8301

Fully furnished with TV, telephone, microwave, refrigerator. Full bathroom. Excellent location. Downtown LA. Weekly maid service.

www.regentbc.com

Monthly from $595 utilities paid. (213) 627-1151

Visconti 1221 WEST THIRD ST.

866-690-2888

WWW.THEVISCONTI.COM

• Brunswick Four-Lane Virtual Bowling • Full Swing Virtual Golf • 3100 Square Foot Cybex Fitness Facility • Free Tanning Rooms • Massage Room, Sauna & Steam Room • Rooftop Pools with Dressing Rooms • Concierge Service • 24-Hour Doorman • 24/7 On-Site Management • Magnificent City Views *Amenities vary among communities

is your teen experiencing:

• School problems? • Conflict at home or with friends?

G.H. Palmer Associates

support Publication:adolescent LADT News Includes utilities, basic cable group now forming channels, laundry room Size/Color: on site. 4.3125” x 8” ages 13-17 Gated building in a good area. low fee 208 W. 14th St. at Hill St. Downtown LA

Children’s Performing Group

laleads@regentbc.com

877-235-6012

WWW.THEPIERO.COM

Sec. deposit Special @$100

Fully Trained Staff

laleads@regentbc.com

616 ST. PAUL AVE.

Version Casaloma1 L.A. Apartments

Telephone & Voice Mail y West Law y Photocopy & Fax y Video Conferencing

Additional Features: Kitchen Additional Facilities, Mail/Copy Features: Room, Conference Rooms, Mail/Copy Spectacular Views, Kitchen Facilities, Room, Fully Trained Staff Views, Conference Rooms, Spectacular

Piero

FREE Rent Specials On Select Floor Plans

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

JENNY AHN JENNY AHN (213) 996-8301

herein on November 15, 2010. This statement was filed with DEAN LOGAN, Los Angeles County Clerk on November 19, 2010. NOTICE—This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14411 et. seq. Business and Professions Code). Pub. 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 12/27/10

Sunshine Generation Singing, dancing, performing and fun! For boys & girls ages 3 and up!

SunshineGenerationLA.com 909-861-4433

call marney Stofflet, lcSW

by: apluscreative@yahoo.com (323) 662-9797 Ph: 323.474.4668 4344 Fountain ave. (at Sunset), Suite a los angeles, ca 90029

Real Estate Specialist of San Gabriel Valley Proudly serving the communities of San Gabriel, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Montebello and El Monte.

Cal Best Realty

madison hotel 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.

Emi Terauchi

(2 blocks west of San Pedro St.)

Lic.No.00810238 English/Japanes/Chinese speaking

downtownnews.com

Realtor / Notary

emiterauchi@yahoo.com (626) 786-9086

24 Downtown News

December 13, 2010

Twitter/DowntownNews

New Year’s Eve Continued from page 18 Together as One dance event gets underway at 6 p.m. Don’t fear the rave, as fans of dance music will pack the arena to listen to DJs including Markus Schulz, Laidback Luke, Wolfgang Gartner and Dada Life. If you recognize those names, this is the place to be with your fellow dance fans. Tickets are $60-$150 and the event is for those 18 and older. At 3939 S. Figueroa St., tickets at newyearsevela.com. High Times in Shanghai: Welcome the New Year Shanghai style, without leaving Downtown. Chaya Downtown’s “Shanghai Nights” is a culinary trip where $75 gets a four-course prix-fixe dinner that includes a dim sum bonsai box with hama hama oyster and sea urchin; seared wagyu beef and braised Kobe short rib. The night includes a champagne toast at midnight and lion dancers will perform. At 525 S. Flower St., (213) 236-9577 or thechaya.com.

Parrrty Harrrrd: Downtown’s pirate bar, the Redwood Bar and Grill, gets a little blue for New Year’s Eve, with the Gene Taylor Blues Band performing at 9 p.m. The group features Dave Alvin, Johnny Bazz and Bill Bateman, and the show will include an appearance by Phil Alvin of the roots-rock band The Blasters and banjo player Frank Fairfield. It’s not a pirate themed New Year’s, but good music is always a good way to celebrate anything. At 316 W. Second St., (213) 680-2600 or theredwoodbar.com. Open Bar: Few phrases are more beautiful on New Year’s Eve than “open bar,” and the nightlife gurus at 213 Inc. will be whispering these sweet words all night long. The company is offering a $119 ticket for eight Downtown venues: Broadway Bar, Caña, Casey’s, Cole’s, Golden Gopher, Las Perlas, Seven Grand and Tony’s Saloon. That buys entry to all the venues plus open bar on well drinks and some cocktails at each. (sorry, no gallons of Patron or Johnnie Walker Blue Label). Each bar will post a list of what’s photo by Rony Alwin DJ Wolfgang Gartner will be one of the headliners at the Los Angeles Memorial available for free. Sports Arena on New Year’s Eve at the 13th annual Together as One event. At 213nightlife.com.

Downtown, it’s not just big business anymore!

Grand Tower 255 south Grand avenue Leasing Information 213 229 9777

Promenade Towers 123 south Figueroa street Leasing Information 213 617 3777

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

Community Amenities: ~ 24 Hr. Manned Lobby ~ Pool / Saunas ~ Fitness Center ~ Covered Parking

Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove, Microwave & Dishwasher (most units) ~ Central Air Conditioning & Heating ~ Balconies (most units)

On-site: ~ Dry Cleaners / Dental Office / Restaurants

Now For Call n Specials Move-I

8 7 7 - 2 65 - 714 6

museum Tower 225 south olive street Leasing Information 213 626 1500

Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove & Dishwasher ~ Central Air & Heating ~ Solariums and/or Balconies

On Site: ~ Convenience Store / Coffee House / Yogurt Shop / Beauty Salon

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

Apartment Amenities: ~ Refrigerator, Stove, Microwave & Dish washer (most units) ~ Central Air & Heating ~ Balconies (most units)

It’s our business to make you comfortable... at home, downtown. Corporate and long term residency is accommodated in high style at the Towers Apartments. Contemporary singles, studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartment homes provide fortunate residents with a courteous full service lobby attendant, heated pool, spa, complete fitness center, sauna and recreation room with kitchen. Beautiful views extend from the Towers’ lofty homes in the sky. Mountain vistas and slender skyscrapers provide an incredible back drop to complement your decor. Far below are a host of businesses ready to support your pampered downtown lifestyle. With spectacular cultural events nearby, even the most demanding tastes are satisfied. Downtown, it’s not just big business anymore. Visit the Towers Apartments today.

TOWERS T H E

A PA RT M E N T S

www.TowersApartmentsLA.com

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