REAL ESTATE SALES

BRIGID LABONGE leans on the hood of the convertible, and the City of Los Angeles flag is draped on the trunk, as friends and family pose for posterity below the sign that includes an image of the football that Tom regularly would carry on his hikes.

Photo by Gary Leonard

Tom LaBonge celebrated again in June (twice!)

PLAQUE honors “Mr. Los Angeles” outside the Fire Department Museum. OLD FIRE STATION 27 is now the location of the Hollywood Museum of the Los Angeles Fire Department and was the site of the unveiling of a plaque honoring the late city councilman Tom LaBonge.

By John Welborne June of each year, the summer solstice in particular, always was a favorite time for former city councilmember Tom LaBonge. It was a day when “Mr. Los Angeles“ loved to show off his city by venturing through Griffith Park to Mt. Hollywood on a hike with all who would join him. Keeping up the Summer Solstice tradition again this year, on June 21, Tom’s widow, Brigid, and family and friends made the late afternoon hike to what is now the official city of Los Angeles “Tom LaBonge Panorama.”

The Mt. Hollywood overlook was given its new name several months after LaBonge’s unexpected death on Jan. 7, 2021 at age 67. A regular destination for hikers, this favorite spot of LaBonge’s offers incredible views of Griffith Park, the Griffith Observatory and the entire city. This year, a happy crowd of about 50 people enjoyed those views in the company of one another while saluting Tom and his city. Prominent among them was the current councilmember of the Fourth District, Nithya Raman.

Two weeks earlier, LaBonge was one of two honorees, the other being longtime director of operations for the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society, Frank Borden, who are now recognized with bronze plaques mounted on either side of the central doors of the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society Museum and Memorial at Cahuenga Boulevard and DeLongpre Avenue. Learn about the museum at lafdmuseum.org.

Letters

(Continued from page 2) on how nobody is taking responsibility to solve this dangerous carline. I know that there are countless more members of this community who are just as outraged.

Even though I am thankful that this article was written, I’m concerned that it makes it seem like the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) facilities development manager, the LAPD traffic sergeant and the John Burroughs School principal Dr. Martinez are all doing everything they can to make the carline safe — when this is not the case. These people who are in charge in my opinion talk a good talk but in the end rarely anything changes.

In the article, the development manager says that LAUSD is alleviating the carline congestion by relocating the buses. This is a step in the right direction but isn’t addressing the main problem that contributes to about 90 percent of the safety issues — the carline!

Whenever anyone addresses the dangers of this carline, the immediate response is that (Please turn to page 10)