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SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2002
Volume 1, Issue 228
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Boardwalk business is no day at the beach BY ANDREW H. FIXMER Daily Press Staff Writer
While merchants at the beach say the kind of business they get is almost entirely dependent on the weather, the amount of rent they pay is not. Currently the City of Santa Monica leases property on the boardwalk to three tenants: Hot Dog on a Stick, Back on the Beach and Perry’s Cafe. The remainder of the merchants rent from private landlords. “The city is fairer than the private sector,” said Fred Deni, owner of Back on the Beach and Back on Broadway. “If you look at commercial rentals on Main Street and the Promenade, the rent would be much higher there than what it sounds like they are charging Hot Dog on a Stick.” The Santa Monica City Council last week approved a new five-year lease with Hot Dog on a Stick that raised the rent on the company’s small Ocean Front Walk stand from $550 a month to $2,200 a month.
"It's where the dream began and it's our only link to our past," said Fredrica Thode, president of HDOS Enterprises. "They can raise the rent all they want, and we'll somehow find a way to stay in that location." And while the new amount represents a 400 percent increase, local merchants say Hot Dog on a Stick is receiving a good deal from the city. Many beachfront merchants who rent from private landlords agree their rent is much higher than the city’s. An Oceanview Activewear and Souvenirs manager said the store is charged $7,000 per month for its shop, which is roughly 1,200 square feet in size. Though the shop is almost double the size of the Hot Dog on a Stick stand, its rent is more than triple the hot dog stand’s new amount. “Our rent is based on a market rate analysis and an appraisal of the facility,” said Elaine Polachek, the city’s open space manager. “We’re not out there trying to See BUSINESS, page 5
Santa Monica filmmaker loses copyright lawsuit Judge rules that possession of clips may grant copyright BY JOHN WOOD Special to the Daily Press
A Santa Monica filmmaker who borrowed 62 seconds of aging sportscar footage lost a copyright lawsuit after the eventual owner of the 1960s frames demanded payment. The judge relied on the principles of fairness to find in favor of Manny Samaniego, who sued filmmaker Michael Rose for using old Ford Motor Co. promotional footage in a special for The History Channel last year. Samaniego got the master to the 1960s Ford film, “Shelby Goes Racing with Ford,” from an unnamed friend in Washington. The friend had bought an entire library of film negatives from a local movie laboratory that went out of business a decade ago. The show is about Carroll Shelby’s Cobra, the famous American sportscar. Samaniego calculated that 62 seconds of the old film appear in Rose’s recent History Channel special, “Ultimate Autos: Cobra.” So he sent Rose an
Baywatching
invoice for $7,956.38, asking $75 for each second of the old footage that was used, as well as compensation for other footage not covered in the lawsuit. Possession of the old master, Samaniego claimed, entitles him to copyright royalties. So when Rose didn’t pay up, he sued the filmmaker for the maximum small claims amount of $5,000. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Richard Goldstein acknowledged the complexities of the lawsuit. “I have two problems with this case,” said the judge. “Is there a copyright? If so, what’s a fair price? I’m not sure I know the answer to either one.” Ultimately, Judge Goldstein concluded that Rose should pay Samaniego for using the footage, based on principles of fairness. “I’m going to exercise my equity powers,” said Judge Goldstein, “and award Mr. Samaniego $1,450 plus court costs.” Equity powers allow judges to make awards based on what they feel is fair and equitable, and not on any specific legal basis. Rose, who was paid $150,000 to produce the 45-minute, 45-second special, told the court that even if he was legally responsible to pay a licensing fee, the industry rate See LAWSUIT, page 5
Jason Auslander/Daily Press
Los Angeles County lifeguards treat a swimmer Friday afternoon at Will Rogers State Beach. The swimmer was “just shaken up,” said lifeguard Chris Andelin, and wasn’t injured.
Berkeley event to try for mass breast-feeding record BY MICHELLE LOCKE Associated Press Writer
BERKELEY — In a city that has always kept abreast of the latest in social movements, hundreds of women are plotting the mother of all consciousness-raising events — a mass nurse-in. The goal is to promote breast-feeding and break a world record. So far, Berkeley organizer Ellen Sirbu has heard from around 700 women who want to be part of the event, scheduled this Saturday. “It is going to be a happening,” says Sirbu, director of Berkeley’s special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children. The city is sponsoring the event and the mayor plans to help verify the count. The number to beat is 767, set Thursday by a group of women in Australia. Mothers from down under, where mass nurse-ins have been held annually since 1999, welcomed the challenge. “It’s a bit of fun isn’t it?” said Lee
King, one of the directors of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. “It’s really something different and something interesting but it actually is really good for the baby and it’s a good way of promoting breast-feeding.” Last month, about 75 women held a “nurse in” at Santa Monica Place to protect their breast-feeding rights after a Los Angeles woman was told by a security guard to either leave the mall or cover up when she was feeding her baby. In Berkeley, volunteers from the Bay Area Lactation Association will count the babies in action and two independent observers will verify the record, which will be submitted to Guinness World Records. Three decades ago, when Sirbu nursed her own children, breast-feeding was unfashionable to the point of oddity. She remembers trying to nurse in a fancy restaurant and being summarily ordered to the restroom. See RECORD, page 5