New benches and new bins are coming soon to Larchmont, thanks to the LBA and LVBID.
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PARK LA BREA
Sprawling apartment complex, with garden and tower units, turned 80. Page 6
GROCER & CAFE
New grocery and cafe replace a neighborhood staple from the 1930s. Page 11
By Casey Russell
With phase one of the Larchmont Boulevard Association (LBA) Beautification Committee’s plan well underway, people strolling the Boulevard will soon notice phase two being put into action.
The Boulevard’s aesthetic improvements are being led with grace and gusto by LBA board member Romi Cortier, chair of the committee and business representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Cortier is the owner of Romi Cortier Design, 425 N. Larchmont Blvd. The LBA has partnered with the Larchmont Village Business Improvement District (LVBID) on this project.
The first improvements got underway in August 2024 and were directed at the Boulevard’s four median strips adjoining mid-block crosswalks between First Street and Beverly Boulevard, originally promoted by the late Councilmember Tom La Bonge. There also was focus on the 10 existing concrete planter pots that adorn the sidewalks. This holiday season, it was also hard to miss the medians’ seasonal poinsettias and hot pink flowers in the planter pots, paid for by the LVBID.
In February, the first three
of 11 new blue “legacy benches” will be placed on the west side of the Boulevard. Sourced from DuMor.com, each bench costs $3,200. This includes shipping and installation. Cortier is grateful for the donors who have come through so far, and he hopes more people are inspired to contribute when they see how the improvements add to the Boulevard’s charm.
A plaque with the donor’s name will adorn each bench. These first three were made possible by the Llanos family of Coldwell Banker, Hollywoodland Realty (which bench president Patricia Carroll is dedicating to her father, Ed Carroll) and
Swanson’s Dentistry, which has had three generations of dentists on the Boulevard for the past 90 years. One more bench has already been reserved, but it is a surprise for the donor’s family.
Cortier hopes also to eventually install backless benches in a lighter shade of blue on the east side of the Boulevard, but he told us that that side of the street is a bit trickier due to building owner preferences.
Along with the new benches, Cortier and LVBID Executive Director Heather Duffy Boylston have worked together to bring 12 new blue trash cans to the Boulevard — dark blue will be for garbage, lighter blue for recycling. Cortier believes the style of these receptacles will be a big improvement from the somewhat difficult to open Big Belly receptacles that are in place now.
Furthering the landscaping improvements, Cortier has $1,000 of donations in hand and hopes to raise an additional $5,000 to plant flowers on the grounds of the city parking area. He plans to plant a couple of crape myrtle trees (replacing the agave plants), and to flesh out the area with a palette of white and light-col-
ored plants to contrast with the dark blue benches that will soon add to the area’s decor.
Cortier has kept in mind the possibility that a parklet could one day come to this area of the Boulevard, including a seating area near the clock tower and parking lot. “These new assets are not set in concrete,” he said. “They can be moved. The improvements dovetail beautifully with [the idea of a parklet] while we wait for the money to be raised,” he said. Central Park(let) advances Initial concepts for the “Larchmont Central Park(let)” idea
CENTRAL PARK(LET) concept continues to evolve. The LBA board saw this drawing of bin and bench placements last month.
(Continued from Page 2) (shared in illustrations and stories in the Larchmont Buzz [February 2024], and in several 2024 issues of the Larchmont Chronicle ) have continued to be discussed by the LBA board of directors. Last month, the board saw some refined drawings that offer paving pattern suggestions and possible shade tree locations, all consistent with the bench and trash can installations being moved forward by Cortier.
When the city parking lot area plantings are complete, Cortier hopes to take the improvements further north toward Page Academy and the strip mall close to his salon. “North Larchmont could be next,” he said. For a project that began last year when Cortier noticed that the Boulevard’s concrete planters were full of trash and dead succulents, there has been a lot done in a short amount of time. Anyone wanting to support the LBA’s beautification efforts can visit larchmont.com/ beautification.php.
OVERHEAD PLAN VIEW shows details of possible park(let) improvement along Larchmont’s western sidewalk.
REFINEMENT of Central Park(let) concept shows suggestions for paving pattern, bollard installations and shade tree locations.
The historic apartments of Greater Wilshire are having a moment. Fresh off last month’s declaration of the Clinton Manor Apartments as a Historic-Cultural Monument comes another HCM nomination for the Hermoyne Apartments at 569 N. Rossmore Ave., submitted by local preservationist James Dastoli. Set at the gateway of Rossmore’s curvaceous procession of multi-family buildings, The Hermoyne is among the “sensational six” of historic apartment projects that line the avenue.
Built on the eve of the Great Depression, in 1929, the Hermoyne apartments were the speculative project of tycoon Herbert “H.B.” Squires, whose eponymous electronics outlets in San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles provided technical equipment to the motion picture and oth-
by Brian Curran
er major industries. Squires hired architect Leonard L. Jones to design his apartment / hotel, which would offer residents the most modern and luxurious amenities and the touch of class of an address in Hancock Park.
It is likely that Squires chose the architect upon seeing the Castle Argyle Arms, “the finest address in Hollywood,” designed by Jones the previous year. In fact, Squires must have liked the design so much that the Hermoyne was designed as a “twin,” with an almost identical façade and shape. Designed ostensibly
in a hybrid Spanish / Mediterranean Revival Style, the Hermoyne’s composition was actually quite modern, eschewing much of the historicism and frippery of more pure revival designs. With minimal ornament, smooth stucco walls, meticulous linear placement of steel casement windows, projecting bay windows, and recessed loggia balconies at its corners, Jones references the past while placing the Hermoyne in the modern age. The building required 190,000 tons of steel, costing Squires the handsome sum of $425,000.
The origins of the name Hermoyne have evaded historians, being a combination of Herbert and moyne, which comes from the Anglo-French for monk or even moon. There is an Irish town called Moyne which means “little plain.” Could Hermoyne signify “Herbert’s Land?” Whatever its origins, the Hermoyne was clearly a building on which Squires meant to put his own stamp, through the offering of modern amenities rare even in other luxury apartment housing of the time. When finished, the Hermoyne offered 54 units with subterranean parking, a heated indoor pool, private gym, tennis courts and sundeck on the roof. Services included daily maid service, with a cook, butler and chauffeur on call. Residents could utilize catering services for entertaining in the Hermoyne’s private dining and club rooms. As one brochure put it, “The Hermoyne is a truly distinctive residential apartment of unusual charm … thoroughly attuned to present day requirements for gracious living, yet every detail is consonant with the spirit of home … .” Indeed!
Located in close proximity to Hollywood studios, the Hermoyne immediately catered to a celebrity crowd, with Al Jolson, Estelle Taylor, Conchita Montenegro and Ruth
Etting residing there throughout the 1930s. While the apartment hotel was a resounding success, Squires woefully fell into financial difficulties during the Depression, losing the Hermoyne to Pacific States Savings and Loan by 1932. Nearly a century later, the Hermoyne remains a choice address, having survived changing hands, scandal and even a murder in the building. Now under consideration by the Cultural Heritage Commission, the Hermoyne’s nomination will next be reviewed in April.
A new dawn for 215 S. Wilton Pl. It is my distinct pleasure to inform my readers that 215 S. Wilton Pl. has been sold. I covered the tragic and long saga of the wanton destruction of the property’s interior following its sale in 2021 to the family of Korean popstar Samuel Arrendondo. That triggered a public outcry and one of the most robust City of Los
Angeles enforcement actions by the Office of Historic Resources. The result was that the interiors were meticulously restored under the guidance of preservation architect Michele McDonough. We can only hope that the new owners have been made well aware of their obligations under the terms of their Mills Act contract and will cherish the home as much as did its former longtime owner and champion Marita Geraghty.
By Helene Seifer
Every neighborhood has its share of quirky residents and bizarre occurrences that make for interesting gossip, but not many can claim a loping Roman charioteer, a ghostly apparition and a parade of elephants. Park La Brea can.
Over its 80-year history, almost anything could happen and usually did. The charioteer was Charlton Heston, who, while living in Park La Brea (PLB) in the 1950s, was cast as Judah Ben-Hur in the eponymous film. He apparently delighted his neighbors by periodically marching around the grounds in his costume.
The ghost? Park La Brea has at least two. One, a barefoot little girl, dressed in diaphanous white, lives in one tower’s basement. In another spirited example, Eve Lauricella, PLB’s leasing manager, was working in the complex’s storage area and heard highheel shoes clacking behind her, but no one was there. “I ran out!” she says. “I won’t go in there anymore.”
And the elephants? Rumor has it that circus animals, including elephants, used to be part of Park La Brea’s Halloween festivities.
Park La Brea is known for its activities that regularly bring people together. To name a few, there are popular summer outdoor movie nights, coffee with a cop, and an Earth Day event with local environmentally friendly vendors. In fact, conservation has become a unifying interest of PLB renters and management. The complex won an Innovation Award in March 2023 from the Better Buildings Challenge of the U.S. Department of Energy for utilizing a moisture sensor to control watering according to need, resulting in a savings of 23 million gallons of water per year.
From the 1940s Construction on Parklabrea,
as it was originally spelled, began in 1941. From the beginning, the gardens and grassy areas were designed to encourage shared use. Over the years, other amenities were added in the interest of building community, including a fitness center, lap pool, recreational pool, cafe, dry cleaner and activity center. In the late 1980s, PLB was gated to eliminate the danger of speeding cars cutting through the complex.
The first renters moved into two-story garden apartments built along the Fairfax border of the property in 1944, a bit more than 80 years ago. Apartment towers were added in response to the critical need for housing after World War II. The development was completed in 1952 with the opening of the 18th 13-story tower, the maximum building height allowed in Los Angeles at that time, other than City Hall.
The public and the press lauded PLB’s mid-century take on Colonial Revivalism and modern, spacious interiors that lent themselves to gracious décor. One-bedroom tower apartments in 1952 rented for $115 to $140 per month; now the same (upgraded) apartments are $2,400 to $3,100. More than 10,000 people live in 4,250 units, making it the largest housing development west of the Mississippi River. The garden apartments and towers are spread over 150 landscaped acres; its footprint is about the size of the original Disneyland.
Multiple architects
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company developed PLB, as one of several of its apartment communities built across the United States, including Parkfairfax in Alexandria, Va., which was built to house Pentagon personnel, and Parkmerced in San Francisco.
The Los Angeles Conservancy credits PLB’s design to architects Earl Heitschmidt (also
known for designing the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix, Arizona) and Leonard Schultze (architect of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles). Records from the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library credit Gordon Kaufmann (who worked on Hoover Dam and who designed the Times Mirror Square / Los Angeles Times building and Santa Anita Park) and J. E. Stanton (architect of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse). Union Station’s landscape architect, Tommy Tomson, designed PLB’s grounds.
Rancho La Brea
Park La Brea’s land was part of Rancho La Brea, a 4,439acre, 1828 Mexican land grant to Antonio Jose Rocha. Rocha allowed anyone who needed it to take tar from his land. After the Mexican-American War, the jurisdiction wasn’t Mexican anymore, but land grants were supposed to be honored if ownership could be proved. Rocha’s rights were proven in court, but his high legal fees led him to sell most of his land to his attorney, Henry Han-
cock, in 1860. The Hancock family initially mined asphalt and later leased land to oil companies. In 1924, when the oil was depleted, Henry Hancock’s son George donated land to Los Angeles County for what is now Hancock Park (the park, not the residential subdivision slightly to the northeast!) that now contains the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. In 1940, Metropolitan Life bought 178 acres of the Hancock land north of the park, and Park La Brea was born. Current owner Prime Residential purchased PLB in 1995.
Today Park La Brea buzzes with a diverse group of residents. There are families, seniors (a dozen or so have lived in PLB since the 1950s), college students on semester-in-Los Angeles programs (for Boston University, for example) and young professionals. Several people who work for PLB’s management company or for Prime Residential prefer to reside where they work, some of them having lived at PLB for decades.
An astonishing array of celebrities also has lived in Park La Brea. In addition to Charlton Heston, other celebrities who joined the community
include K-Earth’s “Shotgun Tom” Kelly, Michael J. Pollard (best known as the getaway driver in “Bonnie and Clyde”), Broadway actress Patricia Morison (“Kiss Me Kate,” “The King and I”) and “Moonstruck” actress Olympia Dukakis (who lived in PLB when filming in Los Angeles). Albert Von Tilzer, the composer of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” was a resident. Park La Brea has formed the backdrop to many a Hollywood scene, including for the television series “Bosch,” which used a two-bedroom garden apartment in some episodes. With studios and one-tofour-bedroom apartments, two-story garden apartments and rooms with a view in the
towers, plus all the greenery and upgraded amenities, Park La Brea continues to be relevant into its ninth decade.
As Vice President, Property Management, for Prime Residential Aryn Thomez notes, “One of the great things about
Park La Brea is there are so many options. There’s a home for anyone. Find your place at Park La Brea.”
By Suzan Filipek
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved last month the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP), a huge step in meeting the state mandate to plan for 255,000 new homes in our city by 2029.
According to local homeowner association leaders, the new law and its two companion ordinances also mark a victory for single-family neighborhoods.
The Council also approved the Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance and the Housing Element Sites and Minimum Density Ordinance — key components of the city’s rezoning program required by the state legislature to be in place by February 2025.
The Hancock Park Homeowners Association thanked local residents and United
Neighbors — a statewide coalition of residential groups — for working with the City Planning Dept. and elected officials, including Mayor Bass and Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Hugo Soto-Martinez, the past two years.
The residential associations’ goal was to find housing solutions that meet the city’s needs and state requirements while protecting
single-family neighborhoods and historic districts. According to Cindy Chvatal-Keene of Hancock Park, these ordinances meet the goal.
CHIP is designed to provide developers with incentives to build 100-percent affordable and mixed-income housing, focusing increased density along commercial corridors, near transit, job centers and public transportation.
By Suzan Filipek
A large-scale, multi-screen installation by artist Doug Aitken is accompanied by music by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a new exhibit at the Marciano Art Foundation (MAF).
The exhibition, Lightscape, features cinematic images of Southern California and the American West in the MAF’s giant Theater Gallery on the
first floor. On the third floor is an exhibit of varied works from the Marciano collection.
Weekly performances accompanying Lightscape will begin Sat., Jan. 11, at 2 p.m., with eight singers from the
Master Chorale. Music from the cinematic artwork’s soundtrack by minimalists Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Steve Reich will be featured.
The LA Phil New Music Group will present its first onsite performance Sat., Jan. 18.
Opening concurrently at MAF, inside the Marciano Library, is Quaternion, by artists Kristen Wentrcek and Andrew Zebulon.
The exhibit features newly commissioned comfortable furniture made of foam to encourage reading and conversation.
The furniture ensemble draws on materials and the history of the MAF building designed in 1961 by Millard Sheets as a large Masonic theater and lodge rooms. The building was reconceived by
(Continued from Page 8)
Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY architects as a contemporary art space that opened in 2017.
The exhibit’s title, Quaternion, comes from the double-headed Quaternion Eagle, a symbol of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.
To view the exhibits and attend weekly programs, visit marcianoartfoundation.org.
Attendance is free but reservations are required. Lights-
cape continues through Sat., March 15. The Quaternion exhibit is ongoing.
Marciano Art Foundation is at 4357 Wilshire Blvd., with free parking available at the Lucerne Boulevard entrance.
For more on Lightscape, visit lightscapeart.org.
By Nona Sue Friedman
The Miracle Mile Residential Association (MMRA) will hold its annual community meeting on Sat., Jan. 25, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Petersen Automotive Museum, 744 S. Fairfax Ave. Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky of Council District 5 and Heather Hutt of Council District 10 will speak, along with an officer from the Los Angeles Police Department. The MMRA board has invited represen-
tatives from the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 Committee and Metro to address residents.
All neighbors within the Miracle Mile are welcome to bring their input and questions pertinent to the neighborhood and to become members of MMRA for an annual fee of $25. Refreshments will be served at the meeting.
MMRA was established in 1983 to preserve the quality of life in the neighborhood.
The 2024 fall soccer season concluded on a winning streak last month for AYSO Region 78 Hollywood-Wilshire at Fairfax High with championship matches for Divisions 10U (10 years old or younger), 12U and 14U.
Winners advance to the Area 1P League Champion playoffs taking place Jan. 1112, Regional Commissioner Kurt Muller told us.
Championship teams will be playing against teams from Beverly Hills, Culver City, Los Feliz, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, South Los Angeles and West Los Angeles.
Looking ahead, the area AllStar playoffs will take place in the two weekends that follow the champion playoffs, Muller said.
The St. Brendan Basketball Association (SBBA) spring 2025 season runs from Sat., Jan. 11, through Sat., March 22. Practices for the Bobcats, Cobras and D-League divisions begin the week of Mon., Jan. 6.
The neighborhood recreational basketball league serves boys ages 6 to 14, and games are played in the Fleming Family Center at St. Brendan School.
For information, visit sbba. sportngin.com.
Stefan Ernberg and Jim Young, Regional Commissioner Kurt Muller and referee David Wiater.
Sign-ups for Wilshire Warriors Pony Baseball spring season are open. Boys and girls ages 4 through 14 can register for the spring season, which tentatively begins Mon., March 10, and ends
FAIRFAX
161 S. Gardner St. 323-936-6191
JOHN C. FREMONT 6121 Melrose Ave. 323-962-3521
MEMORIAL
4625 W. Olympic Blvd. 323-938-2732
WILSHIRE
149 N. St. Andrews Pl. 323-957-4550
HOURS
Mon. and Wed., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tues. and Thurs. noon to 8 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Libraries will be closed Mon., Jan. 20, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Sun., June 8, at wilshirewarriors.com.
The community-based nonprofit organization holds its weekly practices at Pan Pacific Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd.
Park La Brea to hold election at Jan.
By Nona Sue Friedman
The Park La Brea Residents Association (PLBRA) is hosting its annual meeting on Sun., Jan. 12, at 2 p.m. at The Theater, 475 S. Curson Ave. All residents are encouraged to attend.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky of Council District 5 will address the meeting and an election will be held for the PLBRA board.
PLBRA’s mission is to inform and advocate for the residents of Park La Brea. The association is independent of the Park La Brea management.
In order to vote at meetings, you must be a paying member. Memberships are $20 for individuals and $30 for families annually. Visit plbra.org/join-now to join.
By Casey Russell
Not far from Larchmont Boulevard, at Melrose Avenue and Manhattan Place, is a beautifully thought-out market and café. Owned and operated by Caitlin Sullivan and Theresa Ruzumna, L.A. Grocery & Café, 5059 Melrose Ave., opened six months ago in a space that previously had been a grocery store since the 1930s — Produce for Less, most recently.
There is a welcoming air about the market and café. The bow truss ceilings make the space feel large, clean and inviting. The night we visited, Sullivan told us that exposing this beautiful wood was a request of the building’s owner and developer, Zach Lasry.
“Business has been great and steadily building,” said café employee Joe Shaffer. “It’s growing through word of mouth,” he said.
Sullivan told us that, so far, the grocery area brings in more people than the café. She and Ruzumna find this interesting because both women came from restaurant backgrounds. (Sullivan was co-owner of Echo Park’s Honey Hi, and Ruzumna had worked in the restaurant business for decades.) “People were so into the idea of a grocery store,” said Sullivan. “The café has
been popular, but people have come for the grocery more.”
With a dozen pasture-raised eggs priced at $4.99, it’s no wonder the store has been growing in popularity. “We want to be an accessible place in the neighborhood for people to find what they need every day,” said Sullivan.
The duo put thought into where items in the store would be placed. “We have inverted the grocery layout,” she said. The women have items that should be at the center of a healthy diet in the center of the store. Colorful produce is the first thing one sees upon entering. “Every-
thing else around the outside helps you build your meal,” said Sullivan.
The shelf-stable items are mostly local, but to ensure items that can’t be sourced locally (like bananas) can be found, the grocery doesn’t stick to this exclusively. Local farmers’ markets provide 85 percent of the produce, and the duo has learned how much to buy in order to mitigate waste.
“We really try to watch what’s going on with produce to utilize it in the café,” Sullivan said. The cafe items I tried — including a Columbia River steelhead salad with fennel, shallot, preserved lemon, dill, parsley and olive oil; a marinated beet salad with tarragon vinaigrette, French feta and California pistachios; and a farro salad with apples, dates, California almonds, kale, radicchio, parmesan and apple cider vinaigrette — were fresh and delicious.
With a seasonally driven menu, pastries, specialty and staple grocery items, hand-selected flowers, beer and wine and a large parking lot, L.A. Grocery & Café truly is the full-basket shop the owners envisioned.
To learn more or to place an order, visit lagroceryandcafe. com.
Registration is open for the Griffith Park Run Half-Marathon and 5K on Sun., Feb. 2, at 4730 Crystal Springs Dr. The event is open to runners and walkers of all ages and abilities, as well as pets.
Enjoy the scenic trails of Griffith Park while supporting the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and Los Angeles city parks.
The event is the only half-marathon that covers all the main trails in Griffith Park. Participants can enjoy the backdrop of iconic landmarks such as the Merry-Go-Round, Travel Town, Los Angeles Zoo and Autry Museum.
The 5K route will be flat, scenic and shaded. Awards will be given to the first male and female runners at the finish line. All finishers will be awarded medals designed by Los Angeles-based artist Beatriz Mojarro.
Promising a great family day out, the half-marathon will begin at 7:30 a.m. The 5K race starts at 10 a.m. Registration fees include raffle items, a commemorative die-cast medal and a T-shirt. Parking will be located off of Crystal Springs Road. For prices, more information and to register, visit rungpr.com.
By Nona Sue Friedman
Beverly Boulevard now has a left-turn arrow for drivers heading north and south onto Larchmont Boulevard. A request to study the intersection and possibly install the signal came from Council District 4 in 2017.
Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) studied the intersection, noting that, for it to qualify for such a signal, certain criteria needed to be met. “Collision patterns, visibility of oncoming traffic and vehicular volume,” are examined, according to Colin Sweeney, public information director at LADOT. Sweeney further told us, “The study showed the intersection met these criteria to justify a protected turn signal for east and westbound traffic.”
The cost for this new equipment was approximately $175,000. It was installed in November.
In addition to the new signal, the intersection received an updated bus shelter on the northwest corner of Beverly Boulevard, in front of Chipotle Mexican Grill. It’s a crisp white modern structure with three individual seats and a large shade canopy.
The shelter is one of six in the area. The other locations are: Melrose Avenue and Larchmont, Melrose and Van Ness Avenue, Fairfax Avenue at First Street, Western Avenue and Beverly Boulevard and Third at La Brea Avenue. More are planned for the area, and a total of 3,000 are expect to be installed throughout the city.
StreetsLA Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program
It’s part of the StreetsLA Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program, known as STAP, aimed at providing safety,
shade and comfort to bus riders. Transit officials hope the new additions will improve bus riders’ experiences and
increase ridership. Currently, many bus stops lack shade and seating.
The shelters feature a digital display board that can announce bus arrivals in real time and can display
emergency alerts and public announcements. There is also a push-to-talk button for the visually impaired. In the future, LADOT might install phone charging stations as well as Wi-Fi in the shelters.
By Nona Sue Friedman
“Something to Crow About” is the next performance at Bob Baker Marionette Theater (BBMT), 4949 York Blvd. in Highland Park. The first show is Sat., Jan. 18.
Imagine a glamorous hen, Miss Clarissa, retires from Broadway. Instead of spending her golden years as a sophisticate in the city, she ends up laying eggs on a farm. Then, add musical numbers to the performance.
The BBMT website states,
‘Da Vinci’ exhibit closes January 5
Da Vinci: Inventor. Artist. Dreamer,” currently at the California Science Center, 700 Explosition Park, will close Sun., Jan. 5. The exhibit features 30 of Da Vinci’s inventions, including a flying bicycle built by Italian artisans according to Da Vinci’s drawings. Digitally restored reproductions of his artwork include the “Last Supper” and “Lady with an Ermine.” For more information, visit californiasciencecenter.org.
“It’s both a satirical comedy and a fantastic world of make-believe.” It’s one of Bob Baker’s original creations that debuted in 1959 and has been revitalized.
The show is performed Friday, Saturday and Sundays, through Sun., March 30. Tickets are $25 and are available at bobbakermarionettetheater.com.
By Nona Sue Friedman
Last month, the Larchmont Chronicle reported about the prostitution problem plaguing the area along Western Avenue and its adjoining residential streets. The Chronicle relayed how the situation is adversely affecting the quality of life for residents throughout the area as well as impacting elementary and middle school students who are forced to see barely clad women every morning en route to school. Many of the women in the area are victims of sex trafficking.
Affected residents have contacted the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as well as Council District 13 to address the issue.
LAPD’s response
Sex trafficking is a multipronged problem. LAPD has many different ways of approaching it, according to: Lt. Robert McDonald, LAPD Operations, West Bureau Vice Coordinator, Human Trafficking Task Force; Capt. Rachel Rodriguez of Olympic Community Police Station; and Olympic Division’s local Senior Lead Officer (SLO) Daniel Chavez.
Chavez’s primary focus is the streets closest to the schools – St. Brendan School and Charles Kim Elementary School. He wants to assure safe passage of the kids to their classes and hopefully curtail their seeing the half-naked women on the sidewalks.
To accomplish this, Chavez and other SLOs have shifted their hours to start patrolling at 5 a.m. This ensures they are on duty before the kids go to school.
Capt. Rodriguez said, “We have moved funds around to have additional task force units go out more often.” The station created a brand new team, the Prostitution Enforcement Detail (PED), that started going out into the division areas Dec. 15. It is made up of uniformed officers who work in conjunction with the undercover vice unit.
Dear John Letters
Lt. McDonald told the
Chronicle that LAPD is piloting a program called Dear John Letters. With this program, undercover officers watch for vehicle drivers circling particular blocks and engaging in conversations with scantily clad girls. The officers clandestinely take a picture of the interactions and note license plate numbers.
Back at the station, the officers run the license plates and then send a letter and picture to the registered owner of the vehicle. The letter is a reminder that engaging in prostitution is illegal and “you’ve been spotted.” LAPD hopes that the letter, which could end up in the hands of a spouse, is a deterrent.
Legislation
Since the repeal of California Penal Code Section 653.22 (PC 653.22) on Jan. 1, 2023, by legislation sponsored by San Francisco’s state Senator Scott Wiener, police officers can no longer arrest individuals for loitering with the intent of prostitution.
The officers have to catch people literally in the act. However, the police have a couple of work-arounds.
One is citing individuals for standing in the middle of a roadway. Another is pulling over drivers who make illegal turns, and another is for car windows that are illegally tinted.
The Chronicle heard from SLO Chavez right before
going to press, that — with the increased police presence — LAPD has issued 40 citations and made seven arrests for prostitution.
Western is lined with “no turning” signs, forbidding turns onto residential streets at certain nighttime hours, thanks to the late Councilmember Tom LaBonge. Citations for such infractions have been issued.
As always, LAPD has several undercover vice units, with both male and female officers who pose as sex workers and as their clients, “Johns.”
These units go out twice a month under LAPD’s West Bureau jurisdiction and more frequently with Olympic Division.
Additionally, Western is highly patrolled, day and night, with uniformed officers in black and whites for high visibility. What about indecent exposure?
When talking to Caroline Chiles of Larchmont Village, whose child goes to St. Brendan School, Chiles told us she was mortified to find out from SLO Chavez that “as long as their private parts are covered, the girls cannot be arrested for indecent exposure.” Chiles told us, “the rules right now are ludicrous.”
Chiles believes that Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, which prohibits people from living on the streets within 500 feet of a school, should be expanded to include prostitution and drugs. “Kids don’t deserve to see this, this isn’t reasonable,” she concludes.
Another local resident who lives in St. Andrews Square residential neighborhood, just west of Western Avenue, told us: “It is terrible when kids are walking to school and they have to see several naked
women on the streets.”
She continues, “I’ve picked up so many used condoms and wrappers on the sidewalk, street and alley. I’m trying to keep the streets clean for my kids and the kids in our neighborhood. We have three elementary schools right next to each other: St. Brendan School, Charles Kim and Cahuenga Elementary School. It’s getting worse!”
“This is an ongoing problem. It starts as early as 10 p.m. [and continues] until [about] 8 a.m. some mornings.” Driving up and down Western, she says, “You can see a prostitute or two on every other block. I’ve seen condoms at the curbside and on the street at our local library (Wilshire Branch Library).”
Prostitution in Los Angeles
Lt. McDonald, who has worked for LAPD for 37 years, and Capt. Rodriguez concur that there are three main areas in Los Angeles where prostitution takes place: Sepulveda Boulevard corridor in the San Fernando Valley, Figueroa Street in the south end of Los Angeles and here on Western Avenue.
For Western, a majority of the girls are local to Los Angeles, and many are underage and being trafficked. The activity in this area is primarily controlled by gangs. The Johns are also mostly local and are often going to or coming from work. The activity happens primarily from 11 p.m. until 8 or 9 a.m.
More about sex trafficking Journey Out, a Los Angeles nonprofit that helps victims of sex trafficking, states on its website that the average age for entrance into the commercial sex industry is between 12 to 14 years old. More than 85 percent of the youth are victims of childhood molestation. Human trafficking is the world’s third largest crime industry, generating $32 billion per year.
‘Creative Minds’ on exhibit, Italian style
The Jacuzzi and the telephone are among creations by Italian Americans. Learn about them in the exhibit “Creative Minds: Italian American Inventors and Innovators” at the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles through October 2025. Visit IAMALA.org.
Police have been cracking down hard on sex trafficking in the other two areas, according to Lt. McDonald, making it harder for prostitutes to work in those areas.
It’s one of the reasons there has been an uptick in activity here.
SLO Tyler Shuck told the Larchmont Chronicle that burglary numbers for the division have been leveling off recently. Shuck attributes this to the extra resources Wilshire Division has received from Council District 5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.
According to CD5, $200,000 was approved by the Los Angeles City Council in September 2024 and given to Wilshire “primarily to combat burglaries and property crimes and ensure proper staffing of patrol officers.”
Even with the static number of burglaries, Shuck cautions that officers continue to see suspects casing properties, sometimes on foot, waiting for residents to leave. Once they have left, two to four suspects enter the property through a rear window and go straight for the master bedroom. Once there, they grab safes, go through closets and flee the location in a vehicle that’s waiting. He recommends moving safes from the master bedroom closet to a hidden location somewhere else in your home.
He also wants to remind readers to have working vid-
eo surveillance and alarm systems, good lighting and trimmed landscaping.
ASSAULT WITH A DEAD-
LY WEAPON: An argument started between two drivers at the corner of Larchmont Boulevard and Third Street on Dec. 9. The suspect exited the vehicle waving a knife, struck the victim’s side window and slashed tires on the victim’s car. The suspect fled eastbound on Third.
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY:
Suspects broke a rear window of a home on the 200 block of South McCadden Place on Dec. 6. The suspects fled before entering the home when they noticed a witness.
BURGLARY: A suspect opened the front lobby of a building, entered the manager’s office and removed property on the 300 block of South Cloverdale Avenue on Dec. 5.
OLYMPIC DIVISION
BURGLARIES: A suspect removed a window screen and forced entry into a locked and secured room in a home on Dec. 7 at 4:30 a.m. on the 500 block of North Bronson Avenue.
A burglar shattered a sliding glass door of a home on
WILSHIRE DIVISION
Furnished by Senior Lead Officer
Tyler Shuck
213-712-3715
40740@lapd.online
Twitter: @lapdwilshire
the 700 Block of South Bronson Avenue, entered and took property on Dec. 7 at 9 p.m.
Three suspects broke a glass door to a home on the 800 block of Third Avenue. They ransacked the residence and took property on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
THEFT: A passerby opened a car door and snatched a purse on the 800 block of South Western Avenue on Dec. 6 at 2:30 p.m.
ROBBERY: A suspect exited a black Mercedes and approached a victim. The suspect had given the victim a necklace and then forcibly took it back at Western Avenue and First Street at 1 a.m. on Dec. 8.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT:
At the corner of Western Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, there was an argument that led to a suspect punching a victim. The assailant then brandished a knife and chased the victim. The suspect was arrested on Dec. 1 just after midnight.
Approximately three to as many as seven Hispanic males approached another group walking on Western Avenue and asked where they were from, using a racial slur. Shots were fired, hitting the victims, on Dec. 7 at 1 a.m. on Fourth Street near Western Avenue.
OLYMPIC DIVISION
Furnished by Senior Lead Officer
Daniel Chavez
213-793-0709
36304@lapd.online
Instagram: @olympic_slo1
ADDITIONAL CRIMES:
The Windsor Square Association informed its constituents via email that several more homes were burglarized in early Decem-
ber. These include homes in: the 500 block of South Plymouth Boulevard on Dec. 5; the 100 block of South Windsor Boulevard on Dec. 13; the 300 block of South Windsor Boulevard on Dec. 14; and the 100 block of South Norton Avenue on Dec. 15.
There also were two attempted burglaries; one on the 500 block of South Plymouth, on Dec. 5, where the burglar’s first attempt was unsuccessful but the second was successful, and another, on the 300 block of South Windsor, on Dec. 10.
By Nona Sue Friedman
It’s been 10 years since the stabbing of Antonia (Toni) Yager at her home on the 100 block of North Beachwood Drive. Yager, a well-known woman in the neighborhood, was married to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Yager, whose career was marred by the disappearance of his first wife days after they were married in 1965.
The Larchmont Chronicle recently was contacted by volunteer criminologist and retired social worker Clark Williams, looking for help with this cold case murder. He is interested in talking with anyone who knew Yager and spent time with her. He works collaboratively with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Williams builds his cases by gathering information about victims that police officers might not have had the time and resources for. Williams was instrumental in uncov-
ering key information in the 32-year-old West Hollywood cold case murder of gay porn star William (Billy) Newton. Williams’ discoveries led to a suspect’s confession. Because of this, Williams is now working on 10 other cold cases across the country.
History of Yager’s home
While researching Yager’s murder, Williams discovered that the home where the crime took place had a more sordid history, being formerly occupied by the notorious Walburga Oesterreich, nicknamed the “Queen of Los Angeles,” in the 1930s. Oesterreich moved into the home after the murder of her husband, Fred William Oesterreich, a wealthy textile merchant, by her lover and sex slave, Otto Sanhuber. Sanhuber, who had been living in the attic of the married couple’s previous home for years — hidden away by
(Please turn to Page 15)
Just past the wooden doors of an unassuming church on Via Veneto in Rome lie the bones of 3,700 Capuchin friars. Their remains are not buried, but rather arranged in ornate compositions that line almost every inch of the crypt’s six rooms. The amount of skeletal matter is staggering; the bones’ use as an art medium is a visceral reminder that in the end we’re all reduced to rubble. A sign in one of the crypt’s alcoves spells out a message from the long-gone friars that one feels deep in one’s marrow: “What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be.”
Marquis de Sade, the French nobleman known — and imprisoned — for his writings rife with perversions of the flesh, visited the crypt in 1775 and wrote, “I have never seen anything more striking.”
In his 1869 book “The Innocents Abroad,” Mark Twain mused, “The reflection that [the Capuchin friar] must someday be taken apart like an engine or a clock ... and worked up into arches and pyramids and hideous frescoes, did not distress this monk in the least. I thought he even looked as if he were thinking, with complacent
designs from ‘A Complete Unknown’ at FIDM Jan. 6 to Jan. 17
A new exhibition will highlight costume designs by Academy Award-nominated designer Arianne Phillips from the new Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown.”
The exhibit, “Design Behind the Scenes,” is at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Museum Mon., Jan. 6 to Fri., Jan. 17.
FIDM has partnered with Searchlight Pictures for this immersive exhibit, which showcases fashions from the early 1960s and Dylan’s evolving style from the precise cut of his Levi’s to the jackets he wore.
FIDM is at 919 S. Grand Ave., in Downtown Los Angeles.
(Continued from Page 14)
Walburga while their affair carried on — also lived in the attic of this new Beachwood home, even though Fred was out of the picture. The crime was the inspiration for the 1968 film “The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom” and the madefor-TV movies “The Man in the Attic” and “Lover in the Attic.” Please contact Williams at clarkwilliams@ hotmail.com if you have relevant information.
vanity, that his own skull would look well on top of the heap and his own ribs add a charm to the frescoes which possibly they lacked at present.”
When I made the trip to the catacombs in 2019, I texted my mom, simply, “Blew my mind.”
A bone to pick
The word “skeleton” originates from the Greek “skeletos,” meaning “dried up,” part of a seemingly universal notion that bones are especially dry (as per the phrase “bone-dry”). Indeed, outside the body and aged over time, bones may achieve a profoundly desiccated state, though when in our bodies and out of sight, I’d argue they’re anything but. And more bones
Many of the bones in the human skeleton are named for the worldly objects they resemble. The flat, rounded patella — the kneecap — is so named for the Latin word meaning “small pan.” Also found in mice, birds, cats and dogs, the patella is the largest of the “sesamoid” bones — those which are embedded within a tendon or muscle. Most sesamoids are very small, hence their
Arts for LA is offering artists a free advocacy training and leadership development program. The program, named ACTIVATE, is a nine- month, stipend program.
The goal of the training sessions is to give artists a voice to advocate for issues affecting the community. It also enables artists to connect with and support each other.
Applications are being accepted through Thurs., Jan. 9. Visit artsforla.org to access the application.
Café by Mara Fisher
name, which arrives from the Greek word for sesame seed. Another sesamoid located on the inside of the knee is an anatomical variation present in only 39 percent of humans — the fabella, from the Latin “faba,” meaning “bean.”
Appearing in the 1670s, “fibula” was the word for a brooch used to fasten clothing, from the Latin “figere,” or “to drive in, insert, fasten.” Just several decades later, in 1706, an unnamed figure
noticed the resemblance of safety pin-like fibulas to the smaller of the two bones in the shin, leading to the appellation for this bone still used today.
The collarbone — called the “clavicle” — shares a root with the spice known as clove (See Word Café, November 2024).
The Proto-Indo-European “klau,” translating to “hook,” is the antecedent of both the Latin “clavis,” or “key,” and “clavus,” meaning “nail.”
While cloves were thought to resemble nails, the clavicle — the most commonly fractured bone — is named because it rotates along its axis like a key turning in a lock. The vertebrae that make up our spinal column are also famed for making moves. Their name is
thought to have arrived from the Latin “vertere” (“to turn”).
The “funny bone” isn’t actually a bone, but rather the ulnar nerve in our forearm that, when impacted, creates a “funny,” tingling sensation. That’s not to say the bones in the arm don’t possess a certain wit, however. The “funny bone” is conspicuously close to the bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow — the “humerus.”
A bone-rattling end
How did the supporting framework within us become the stuff of nightmares? Long after death, the bones are what remain. They’re an unwanted mirror, a memento mori, reminding us that, like taxes, death can be said to be certain — no bones about it.
To our Neighbors and Friends:
We wanted to share an update on the Television City project.
First and foremost, thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to attend the LA City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee hearing on December 3, 2024. Your presence and thoughtful comments on downsizing and improving the project demonstrated our community's commitment to responsible development.
Unfortunately, despite our collective efforts, Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and the PLUM Committee voted to recommend the project. The next step is a City Council vote in early January 2025.
The real news was Councilmember Yaroslavsky’s last-minute condition of approval which punctured the illusion of a “studio expansion,” as the developer touted.
Of the 1.7 million square feet, Yaroslavsky’s new condition requires as little as 150,000 square feet to be designated for sound stage, production support, and production offices combined. Television City currently has nearly 600,000 square feet for studio production, so the new zoning allows the developer to reduce the production capacity by 74 percent.
Calling this a studio expansion is downright Orwellian.
We have said from day one that this project was bogus, a blank check to the developer, with just a small fraction of the new square footage for production.
Alarmingly, the project is twice the size of Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) –wildly out of scale and character with surrounding neighborhoods. Traffic will only become worse. And with a 20-year construction timeline, the new Television City will give us two decades of disruption.
Over the last two years, thousands of community members raised serious concerns about the project and the process. Nine appeals – perhaps a record number - laid out substantial, well-supported arguments against approval.
The full Council vote is coming up in early January. We will provide more information on www.FixTVC.org when the exact date is known, so you can make your views heard.
Thank you for standing with us to help protect our community. And, we wish you and your family a happy new year!
Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development