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Covered NEWS California will help MacArthur Park Lakeside reopens after $1.5M rehabilitation

By Luke Netzley LA Downtown News Deputy Editor n a sprawling urban metropolis like Los Angeles, clean and safe recreational public spaces are essential to the well-being and togetherness of their communities.

At noon Feb. 22, the iconic MacArthur Park Lakeside reopened its gates.

Led by the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks and made possible by District 1’s Councilmember Gil Cedillo, the $1.5 million rehabilitation saw the installation of a new irrigation system, trash receptacles, asphalt walkways, hydration station, lighting and artwork.

The city also planted 60 new trees, 125 plants and shrubs, 276,000 square feet of sod, and removed nine dead trees to improve the park’s landscape.

“This will be returned to a park for the entire community,” Cedillo said. “The most important thing is that it’ll be activated by families, by people who live here, people who come here to work and are committed and invested stakeholders in this community.”

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The park will feature new daily activities to bring the community to the new rec spot.

The activities will be conducted by the department of recreation and parks and nonprofit partners such as El Centro Del Pueblo, Volunteers of America and Korean Youth and Community Center, and will include walk clubs, arts and crafts, sports and workshops.

Though MacArthur Park’s history has been marked by violence, poverty and homelessness, Cedillo and his partners are optimistic about the park’s future.

“We’re the only district that’s reduced homelessness and increased affordable housing at the same time,” Cedillo explained.

“We provide services to the homeless community, providing showers seven days a week with the Shower of Hope, laundry services and restrooms.”

The park will also host the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and People Assisting the Homeless outreach teams, who will walk both sides of the park to engage the homeless to offer them services and

The $1.5 million rehabilitation of MacArthur Park saw the city plant 60 new trees and restore vibrant green grass to what had been largely left as dirt and dead grass before.

Photo by Luke Netzley

connect them to available resources.

“Those services are good services in and of themselves, but they’re part of our strategic response in that they have helped us build a bridge of trust,” Cedillo said. “We’re not doing something for somebody; we’re working with people to help them do something for themselves.”

Cedillo has deep family ties to the community surrounding MacArthur Park. His father, who moved to the area in 1941, helped inform his strategies as a leader.

“We have a lot of faith in the community for them to manage themselves,” Cedillo said. They tell us that we need a playground across the street, and we do it. They tell us we need to upgrade our soccer field, and so we do it. We’re doing things that are responsive to them and moving us forward as a community.”

Regarding public safety and security, the park has an upgraded CCTV network spanning 18 new locations along with the park rangers and LAPD officers who will protect the park. Recreation and parks will also have new uniformed security officers at the park daily during the late afternoon to early morning.

“Whether it’s Brentwood, Westwood or the Palisades, everybody in this city, including my district, deserves to have park where they can go,” Cedillo said. “Public space in a democratic society is where we should all be equal. And in this democratic society, this is our park. This is our public space, so we want it to be a clean, safe and secure place for recreation. This is where we should be equal to anyone else in the city, regardless of our immigration status, our gender, our LGBTQ status or our income.”

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Skid Row’s The Midnight Mission brings community together

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor omelessness was a big fear of Georgia Berkovich. She vowed to get clean and sober to avoid it.

Now, close to 30 years later, she is helping others fight those demons.

Getting sober through a 12-step program, Berkovich is the public affairs director for The Midnight Mission, a Skid Row-based nonprofit that offers paths to self-sufficiency to individuals who “lost direction.”

She is part of a team who organized the second Nowruz Comedy Night Fundraiser for the nonprofit’s 11th annual celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. The event is 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, at the Laugh Factory, Hollywood.

The comedic lineup includes Maz Jobrani, Max Amini, Alonzo Bodden and Melissa Shoshahi, with Tehran Von Ghasri hosting the event. (See related story.)

“At a time when our nation is so painfully divided, it is important we continue to hold events that bring our community together,” she said.

“Nowruz, a 3,000-year-old Iranian holiday for people of all faiths, honors a time of deep spirituality when light symbolically conquers darkness and people open their hearts to help those less fortunate than themselves.”

A longtime partner of The Midnight Mission, Laugh Factory brings comedians to perfect for the nonprofit’s homeless guests as part of its Laughter with a Mission.

Stand-up comedian Darren Moore helped connect The Midnight Mission with comedians for the event.

“Now we have a couple comedians who participate in Laughter with a Mission, but more so, it focuses on providing an open mic for our homeless community, so they have an opportunity to perform,” Berkovich said.

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“We’ve had a lot of fun with it. Jamie Masada, Laugh Factory’s owner, offered the venue. We loved it so much last year that this year we’re going back to the Laugh Factory to do another comedy event — this time live and in person.”

Berkovich — who once smoked crack and binge-drank alcohol — is proud of The Midnight Mission, for which she has worked 12 years. She served as a volunteer before that.

“Since 1914, we have never closed our doors to those in need, which is pretty amazing after all the things we’ve been through in the last 108 or so years,” Berkovich said.

“I can say that, honestly, I was a volunteer for so many years — 17 years before becoming an employee. This is where I want to be when I’m not working. It’s a place that has been a big part of my personal sobriety.”

She admires the programs The Midnight Mission provides the homeless community. The organization expanded its services as the needs of the homeless community have grown and changed.

“We are able to treat the individual versus the dollar,” she added. “I think it makes a huge difference.”

Among the programs are emergency services and 12-step recovery, three meals a day, family living, job training, education and workforce development.

It “removes obstacles and provides the accountability and structure that people who are experiencing homelessness need to be productive in their communities.”

The Midnight Mission has a courtyard with restrooms that are open 24/7, a mail service, a barber shop and a library.

About 500 to 1,000 people take advantage of each of the three meals it serves.

“Everything we offer is for free — no questions asked to anyone,” she said. “We have a drug and alcohol recovery program. We connect people with services

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place to stay until their place is open.”

The Midnight Mission purchased an apartment building where it provides all

Photo by Chris Mortenson

“It’s pretty great,” Berkovich said. “We’re able to say ‘yes’ to anyone who comes through our doors.”

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski STAFF WRITERS: Jordan Houston, Luke Netzley

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Alonzo Bodden guests at fundraiser

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor omedian Alonzo Bodden is looking forward to performing as part of The Midnight Mission’s second Nowruz Comedy Night Fundraiser from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, at the Laugh Factory.

He will be joined by Maz Jobrani, Max Amini and Melissa Shoshahi. Tehran Von Ghasri is hosting.

A panelist on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me,” Bodden got into comedy a little later in life.

“I started doing comedy when I was 30,” said Bodden, 59. “My original career was in aerospace. I started training workers and making them laugh. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was in comedy class doing a 5-minute graduation show. I never looked back.”

Bodden’s big comedy break came when he was on the “New Faces of Comedy” showcase at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.

However, it was as the season three winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” where he was introduced to America. Since then, he has starred in two comedy specials for Showtime: “Historically Incorrect” and “Who’s Paying Attention.”

Bodden said laughter is needed these days, in light of $5-per-gallon gas, “Gavin Newsom still not getting it” and not wearing masks in public when he mandated it.

“There’s so much going on,” Bodden added. “I think it’s our job to make it all palatable. If we watched the news for a 24-hour cycle, we’d go nuts. It’s our job to soften the blow, if we can. Then we have World War III coming up. Nobody would have thought that the Republicans would support Putin and the Democrats supporting Reagan.”

Bodden grew up in St. Albans, Queens, where he left in his teens.

“I didn’t know St. Albans was the hood until 50 Cent mentioned it in a song,” he said with a laugh. “I was hired by Lockheed Martin, so I moved to Burbank. The only remnant of Lockheed Martin now is an airplane on a stick at a strip mall.

“This is where it all started for me. New York had a lot of trade high schools, like the school for ‘Fame,’ aviation schools, automotive schools, tech schools and business schools.

“It’s like at 14 you want to decide what your lifelong career is going to be. I chose

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Alonzo Bodden is a car and motorcycle aficionado, who hosted Speed Channel’s “101 Cars You Must Drive” and “America’s Worst Driver” on the Travel Channel.

Photo courtesy of Alonzo Bodden

aircraft. My friend’s dad was an airplane mechanic. I was told I didn’t want to go to college. I just needed to get licensed.”

He still has his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification, “if this comedy thing doesn’t work out,” he said with a laugh. He’s working on another special, for lack of a better term, to follow up on his previous successes.

“Now, it’s almost like you record a show just to do a clip,” he said. “This is going to be a YouTube thing. I’m not going to call it a ‘special.’ I’m going to call it a ‘best of.’ I’m filming it in two weeks in Philly at Helium.

It’ll be released later this year. It’s going to be 45 minutes, with one clip released at a time.”

Bodden called comedy a gift from his mom, whom he called “hilarious.”

“Things just come in and they come out funny,” Bodden said.

“I’m just riding that wave. It’s very interesting. My fanbase is a blend of NPR listeners, motorcycle and car nuts, and everything in between. I see a great mixture of people. The most surprising to me are the youngsters. I’ve received emails from 9- and 10-year-olds. I think, ‘Your parents are doing a horrible job.’ They get it, which I really love.”

A car and motorcycle aficionado, Bodden hosted Speed Channel’s “101 Cars You Must Drive” and “America’s Worst Driver” on the Travel Channel. He’s also joined Jay Leno for several off-road trips on his CNBC series “Jay Leno’s Garage.” Bodden drives a Mini Cooper Countryman, a BMW touring bike and a BMW sport bike.

“I call my motorcycles the Jay Leno Starter Kit.”

The Midnight Mission’s Nowruz Comedy Night Fundraiser w/Alonzo Bodden, Maz Jobrani, Max Amini, Melissa Shoshahi and host Tehran Von Ghasri WHEN: 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, March 7 WHERE: Laugh Factory, 8001 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles COST: $150 to $350 INFO: midnightmission.org/nowruz or alonzobodden.com

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Craig Greiwe hopes to solve LA’s homelessness crisis

By Luke Netzley LA Downtown News Deputy Editor n a year when over 40,000 people experienced homelessness in the city of Los Angeles and 60,000 in the county, the 2022 mayoral election comes at a crucial time in the city’s history.

LA mayoral candidate Craig Greiwe pledged to use his business-centric background to rebuild the city with a series of ambitious programs, without raising taxes and breaking the cycle of “broken leadership” in LA. Greiwe raised $100,000 for his campaign in the first month for his plan to address homelessness, housing affordability, corruption and post-pandemic economic recovery, “I have never wanted to run for office in my life, because I focused on my business career and on doing good work in my both my career and in my private life by serving on the boards of different nonprofits and creating movements that brought real change,” said Greiwe, the former chief strategy officer for Rogers & Cowan PMK. “Especially in the middle of the pandemic when I created programs that saved tens of thousands of small businesses for my clients, my goal was to make a better world through my work.”

As a marketing executive and co-founder of the civic engagement nonprofit Rise Together, Greiwe was asked by many to run for mayor and become a “common ground” candidate. He brushed it aside because he wasn’t a career politician.

“I’m only interested in being the mayor of LA,” Greiwe said. “As the only outsider in the race, I am not beholden to anyone except the people of this city. And it will be the first time in 80 years that we have a mayor in that position. We’ve only had a series of career politicians who have used that office as a steppingstone for whatever came next. I am only interested in being mayor and in fixing this city.”

He helps major Fortune 500 companies realign their resources to reach their goals, but Greiwe said his upbringing was in stark contrast to his success.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Greiwe grew up in poverty in rural Indiana, experiencing the struggles of food and housing insecurity. At the age of 14, he was abandoned and left to fend for himself, a moment that was as traumatic as it was formative for him.

“It was a journey that no one should ever have to go through and that people have to go through far too often today,” Greiwe said. “And I know what that’s like,

Homelessness

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As the former chief strategy officer of Rogers & Cowan PMK, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Craig Greiwe has raised over $100,000 in the first month of his campaign.

Photo courtesy of Craig Greiwe

how painful and stressful that is. I know what it’s like to run out of money with no resources and no one to call, to be on the edge of homelessness and fall asleep hungry at night. And that left me with an abiding sense of empathy for anyone who is struggling. I don’t know everyone’s struggle, but I know struggle, and it has also left me with a belief in hard work and helping hands over handouts.”

Greiwe left for school between 5:30 and 6 a.m., then worked after school until midnight so he could buy food at Walmart. He purchased the cheapest sandwich at the deli and split it in half so could eat it over two dinners.

His small-town community — including teachers and friends — offered him warm meals and advice, much of which related to attending university.

“It was one small step forward after another, and I ended up out here in Los Angeles at USC,” Greiwe said. “It’s one of the richest universities in the country, and I was blown away by the institutions and often blown away by the privilege of many people that I was surrounded by and the world that they didn’t know.”

He graduated with honors USC and, subsequently, Columbia Law School. Although he moved to the East Coast for his studies, Los Angeles held a special place in Greiwe’s heart.

“I had never had a family before I came to LA,” Greiwe said. “I was adopted after college by native Angelenos. They’re my family, so the very existence of my life and

the people that I love the most is tied up in moving to and being a part of LA. My passion for this city is because the dreams that I’ve been able to fulfill in my life came from the opportunities that this city provided to me.”

Greiwe, however, was troubled by the changes he saw in the city. He said he felt that the opportunities provided to him were no longer offered to those from impoverished backgrounds such as his own.

“When I moved here, there was a sense that any dream was possible, not that the city would crush any dream,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in LA, it’s this vibrant fabric of communities that have fostered each other for decades but are now being ripped apart by a corrupt city governance system that gets in the way of communities. It gets in the way of people, so my passion for LA is about moving us forward to get us back to a place where this city serves its communities instead of breaking them down.”

If elected, Greiwe said he hopes to bring core principles from his background in business to government, such as accountability, knowledge of where money is spent and confirmation that money is spent productively, and the implementation of programs that have been proved to work in other cities. By marrying these principles, Greiwe is confident that he will effectively combat homelessness, post-pandemic economic recovery and corruption.

According to Community Solutions, a nonprofit working to achieve a lasting end to homelessness across the United States, 98 cities are participating in its “Built for Zero” movement and 14 cities have already ended homelessness.

Greiwe insists that the tactics utilized by these “functional zero” cities can be successfully applied to Los Angeles and that the solution isn’t solely reached by how much money is spent but by how money is spent.

“The city of LA is already projected to spend $8.6 billion on homelessness over the next three years, while my plan calls for spending just over $5 billion,” Greiwe said about his budgeted plan, which has been cited in the Los Angeles City Health Commission’s annual report.

“That’s a 30% reduction. My math could be off by 100%, except it’s not, as it’s been vetted by economists in the Army Corps of Engineers, but my math could be off by 100% and I would still spend less money than LA’s already projected to spend.”

One of the first steps in Greiwe’s plan is to create a real-time database that would expand on LA’s homelessness count to include who is homeless, where they are, and what they need at any given time.

“We treat the single mother of two who needs to get back on her feet the same way we do somebody who needs 24/7 mental health care, and that’s wrong,” Greiwe said.

“You have to know people’s needs and you have to fit those needs with real-time data.”

Greiwe’s next step would be to implement a 24/7 hotline that could help prevent people from becoming homeless. It would partner those in need with caseworkers who can meet the gap in people’s rent and work with them over the course of the next sixth months to help them build financial stability.

“It is 10 times more cost effective to keep someone in their home than it is to get them off the streets,” Greiwe explained. “If you have a home today, you need to have a home tomorrow. Over $100 million in rental assistance went unused because the process was so arcane and difficult to access. In my case, you’re talking about a direct hotline that’s easy to access with a human being on-site the next day.”

The final primary stage of Greiwe’s plan looks to focus on building 20,000 semi-private shelter-based beds in city-owned and city-controlled land at a cost of no more than $10,000 per person including service costs and 10,000 transitional supportive

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housing units such as “tiny homes” at a maximum cost of $30,000 per person including service costs.

To address issues of mental health and addiction, Greiwe also plans to construct 12,000 shared collaborative housing units at an average cost of $5,000 per person and 5,000 new residential mental health beds in addition to 500 substance abuse beds at the county of Los Angeles general hospital on 1200 State Street.

“Those numbers get 50% of the people off the streets in the first nine months,” Greiwe declared. “Ending homelessness is possible. Other cities have done it, and we need to take the lessons proven to work and apply them here.”

By using real-time data, a 24/7 hotline to prevent people from becoming homeless, and a concrete program that focuses on immediate and transitional supportive housing all together, Greiwe is confident that Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis can be solved.

COVID-19 response While the outbreak of COVID-19 has generated a series of health and economic crises across the country, Greiwe said he believes that the hardship and instability felt by the public health sector can act as an opportunity for a beneficial reset on

how the city of LA addresses public health, with proper funding and transparency at its core.

“We’ve long needed to readdress public health,” Greiwe said. “The city needs its own health department. We cannot be subject to the whims of the county and the board of supervisors. The reality is that we need independent governance for our city, and we need control over our own city’s health and wellness.”

Greiwe promises to fully fund the LA City Health Commission from day one and will ensure that the economy remains open by exploring a waiver of the city’s small-business tax by moving from a gross receipts tax to a net receipts tax, meaning that businesses would pay taxes on every dollar they make in profit instead of every dollar they take in.

“We cannot be in a position where we are playing games with people’s very existence,” Greiwe said. “The reality is the vaccine and treatments are readily available.

This virus is endemic. The people who need help can get it, but we have got to move forward as a society with honesty and transparency. And that includes both our schools and businesses being open.”

Greiwe wants to focus on implementing zero-interest innovation loans to help small, struggling businesses grow and thrive while also creating a city innovation

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fund, a $100 million a year installation put into a venture capital fund to fund startups within Los Angeles with the vision of turning the city into the country’s technological center.

“The city could actually take a stake in those startups,” Greiwe explained. “Imagine if we had taken a stake in the early days of Snapchat and Facebook, how much that would be worth. We’d be cutting taxes and increasing social programs at the same time. Those are just a few of the resources that we would create.”

He also plans a 24/7 hotline for struggling small businesses navigate the city’s resources so they know where to go and what to do. While Greiwe acknowledges 311 is an important resource, he believes it’s not enough for small businesses.

Corruption Greiwe said the city has to address vital issues and enact effective change. That is the prominence of corruption within varying levels of Los Angeles’ governance.

“Not only have there been three city councilmembers under indictment in the last 20 months, three members of city council voted to let a member under indictment keep his authority,” Greiwe said.

“You have to ask yourself why they did that. It’s that five additional members of

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city council are still under active investigation. You’re talking about a majority of city council under investigation or under indictment. This is a corrupt city in America, and they will stop at nothing to stay that way.”

According to Greiwe, many parts of LA are failing because its leaders are failing, and this election is a unique opportunity for Angelenos to use their voice and show complete intolerance to corruption at any level of leadership.

“More people will vote in this city than ever before,” Greiwe said. “New municipal voters will outnumber previous municipal voters by a 2-to-1 margin, which means we have an opportunity for a flood at the ballot box to take control of the city and restore it to the people of the city. I’m running because the opportunity is there for us to restore common sense to our town.”

Greiwe plans to tackle corruption headon by partnering with local, state and federal agencies to lead a new anti-corruption task force and embrace the principle of complete transparency in governance.

“My life is the story of impossible, and I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to make the impossible happen in LA now,” Greiwe said.

The 2022 Los Angeles mayoral primary is Tuesday, June 7, while the election is Tuesday, Nov. 8. To learn more about Greiwe and his campaign, visit craigformayor.com.

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Bacon Fakatani shows a picture that was taken while he was in the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center during WWII.

Misa and Richard Kawano join the names of other Japanese survivors of internment camps in WWII.

Gary Ono shows a picture of him and his brother Stanley On as kids in the Amache camp in Colorado.

Photo by Chris Mortenson

Photo by Chris Mortenson

Photo by Chris Mortenson

80 years later, survivors keep history alive on stars and stripes

By Lynda Lin Grigsby LA Downtown News Contributing Writer oshio “Yosh” Nakamura once braved gunfire in the name of the American flag as a World War II veteran. Last July, he was given the opportunity to sign a flag as a hero and a survivor of a mass incarceration experience.

“I was very, very touched,” said Nakamura, 96, of Whittier, who served on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated Japanese American unit during WWII known today as the most highly decorated unit for its size and length of service in U.S. military history. While he fought for freedom in France and Italy, his family was incarcerated at Gila River, a U.S. wartime camp in Arizona.

Nakamura’s signature is one of many on the 48-star flag that was donated to the Japanese American Natural Museum (JANM) in Little Tokyo on Feb. 19 — the 80th anniversary of the start of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced removal and incarceration of about 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast in the name of national security after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The government feared that Japanese American friends and neighbors were spies who needed to be imprisoned.

American citizens were forcibly removed from their homes without due process and incarcerated first at converted racetracks

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and other public facilities, then in desolate camps surrounded by barbed wire.

To mark the somber anniversary, camp survivors added their signatures on an unusual canvas — a 48-star American flag — as part of a commemorative project to shine the light on this chapter of American history.

Feb. 19, a group of about 30 survivors gathered in front of the Little Tokyo museum to locate their signatures on the flag, make last-minute signatures, and take photos together as a dwindling class. Most survivors are in their 80s and 90s, the last of a generation who experienced the incarceration.

“Because I am an incarceree, it was like writing down my experience,” Nakamura said about signing the flag. He touched his blue hat emblazoned with a 442nd RCT logo. “I feel really privileged to be here today.”

Santa Clara County Judge Johnny Gogo spearheaded the flag signing project to honor the Japanese American survivors.

“It’s so important to share these lessons with our future generations, because from generation to generation, we do tend to forget the lessons of history,” said Gogo, 53.

It started out as a project with a singular dream: to get enough signatures for one flag to donate to the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, the city Gogo calls home. Then the project mushroomed — more and more survivors wanted to sign the flag. What started out as an idea to fill

one flag grew into a national educational tour now with over 1,000 signatures filling five flags.

Of the five signed flags, the one donated to JANM is the largest, Gogo said. The 48-star flag was a deliberate choice. It was this version of the flag that Japanese Americans saw flying at their camps and the same version that WWII soldiers hoisted on battlefields.

Harumi “Bacon” Sakatani, a Korean War veteran, signed his name on one of the flag’s 48 stars, reserved for individuals who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Sakatani was 12 years old living in El Monte when his family received the orders to report to the Pomona Assembly Center — the Fairplex today — one of 15 sites that provided temporary housing until the U.S. government built permanent facilities inland. For the Sakatani Family that meant the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming, where they were incarcerated for three years.

“We obeyed and did as we were told to do,” said Sakatani, 92.

At Heart Mountain, Sakatani found a beacon of light in the Boy Scouts, established at camp to lift the spirits of teens grappling with the loss of normalcy. At the Little Tokyo event, Sakatani was invited to fold the signed flag into the traditional triangle, an unexpected honor that turned his eyes into oceans.

He performed the flag-folding ceremony with his friend, George Iseri, while survivors

shouted words of encouragement and the occasional joke, “Don’t mess up, Bacon!”

“I wish we had rehearsed it beforehand,” Sakatani said.

The American flag is a symbol of courage and triumph over adversity. With the signatures, it becomes a priceless work of art and a historical record of the lives affected by wartime hysteria and racism.

“Each signatory has a story to tell, and it’s part of the fabric of memory that is critical to ensuring that this dark chapter of history is not forgotten,” said Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of JANM. The signed flag traveled across California and to Hawaii and Utah, Gogo said. It also traveled to many of the WWII camps.

There are 10 main WWII camps: Gila River and Poston in Arizona; Amache in Colorado; Heart Mountain in Wyoming; Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas; Manzanar and Tule Lake in California; Minidoka in Idaho; and Topaz in Utah.

George Takei, of “Star Trek,” signed the flag in Los Angeles. Before playing the original Hikaru Sulu on the iconic television series, Takei was a child imprisoned at Rohwer.

Shigeru “Shig” Yabu, 89, signed the flag at Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo, where he served as a longtime executive director. Alongside his signature, Yabu drew the outline of Wyoming’s Heart Mountain, a peak that served as the backdrop to his childhood incarceration experience. He also drew a picture of the magpie bird he

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

DOWNTOWN NEWS 9

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Helene Mihara adds her name to an American flag that will serve as a memorial to Japanese survivors of mass incarceration during WWII.

Bacon Fakatani folds the American flag before handing it over to the Japanese American National Museum.

Vivian Matsushige signs her name on a flag that will serve as a memorial to Japanese survivors of mass incarceration during WWII.

Photo by Chris Mortenson

Photo by Chris Mortenson

Photo by Chris Mortenson

befriended at Heart Mountain and immortalized in his 2007 children’s book, “Hello Maggie!” The book was illustrated by longtime Walt Disney animator Willie Ito, 87, who also signed the flag with the Disney flourish of circles dotting each “I” in his name.

For Japanese Americans, camp stories about Boy Scouts and pet birds are one of the few positive parts of an otherwise traumatic experience. For a long time, these endearing stories were the only ones told from the incarceration experience — like a cloak over a gaping wound. During WWII,

Japanese American families brought what they could carry to the camps and lived in hastily built barracks. At the end of the war, they were given back their freedom, but nothing else.

The Sakatani family returned to the West Coast but could find nowhere to live. For a while they lived in a tent before finding a farm in Pomona to live and work.

“My parents almost lost everything when we left, so now we had to start all over with nothing,” Sakatani said. “It was a great struggle, an area we do not want to talk about, as it was so bad and embarrass-

ing on how we survived.”

In 1988, lawmakers passed the Civil Liberties Act and offered an apology and monetary compensation to Japanese American survivors.

“I had great faith that the country would see the incarceration as a mistake,” Nakamura said.

In its new home at JANM, the signed flag will become a part of a new exhibit that tells the stories of the incarceration, Burroughs said.

The other signed flags were donated to the Japanese American Museum of San

Jose and the Fred T. Korematsu Institute in San Francisco. Gogo will donate another signed flag on March 28 to the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. The last signed flag will likely travel with a photographic exhibit about the WWII incarceration.

Eighty years later, survivors are still telling their stories. The signed flag is like a yearbook chronicling their experiences.

“If you look at any history book, there is very little about the internment camps,” Yabu said at the event. “I think education is so important.”

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10 DOWNTOWN NEWS

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered NEWS California will help

Judge to be featured in ASICS brand campaign, ‘Live Uplifted’

By Jordan Houston LA Downtown News Staff Writer rom the courtroom to the pavement, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell is an advocate, using the sport of running as a tool in overcoming addiction. Now, his efforts are being recognized by a multinational sports equipment brand.

Mitchell, who founded Skid Row Running Club a decade ago, will be featured as the March storyteller in ASICS’ newest brand campaign, “Live Uplifted.” The campaign highlights five diverse storytellers from around the country who are using the “power of running in their communities to bring people together and make a meaningful impact.”

The sponsorship will highlight Mitchell’s efforts with Skid Row, a running program for the “Skid Row community of Los Angeles” designed to “involve the larger community” in supporting its members to overcome alcohol and drug abuse.

“Skid Row Running Club has been in business for a little over 10 years. So, when we had an opportunity to gain a sponsorship from ASICS, it made perfect sense,” said Mitchell, who assumed office in 2005. “To have ASICS as a sponsor to provide us with footwear and attire is a Godsend for us. The ‘sound mind, sound body’ concept is exactly what we’re about. We’re about people in recovery — and through healthy exercise, through running and assuming the mental strength, maintain their sobriety.”

As Mitchell noted, the ASICS campaign is grounded in the brand’s founding ethos and mantra, “A Sound Mind in a Sound Body.”

From community events and race opportunities to panel discussions and cause awareness, ASICS will work with its storytellers throughout the year to help further their missions and make an impact in their communities.

“When an organization as well-known as ASICS essentially says, ‘You’re important enough and you’re significant enough in our community that we want to tell your story,’ it really validates each of our runners,” Mitchell said. “When you’re in the depths of addiction and when you’re homeless, people aren’t paying attention to you. You’re at the very fringe of our society.”

Married with three grown children, the judge ran in his first relay race over 25 years ago at the request of his boss in the district attorney’s office. Little did he

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know how impactful running would become in his life, he recalled.

In 2012, Mitchell was introduced to Los Angeles-based Midnight Mission, a nonprofit homeless shelter tailored toward recovery and education services, from a man he had sentenced to prison.

That introduction later birthed the foundation for the Skid Row Running Club.

“An individual I had sent to prison was paroled. Even though I sent him to prison, he liked the way I treated him in court,” Mitchell remembered. “So, when he was released into custody, he came back to the courtroom and asked if I could come to the Midnight Mission and meet people who were involved in his recovery.

“They asked if there was something I could do to contribute to their recovery program,” he continued. “I knew how beneficial running was, on so many different levels, in my own life, and I thought those benefits would also be beneficial for people in recovery.”

Through the club, Mitchell encourages the runners to prioritize their own health, as well as the well-being of their fellow participants. Mentor and mentee relationships are also developed and emphasized.

The Skid Row Running Club frequently organizes charity, fundraising and volunteer events inviting the greater LA community to help support those in the program. Club members also compete in local, national and international running events to further cultivate their own personal growth.

Mitchell joins the group for weekly runs and is doubling down on his calls for rehabilitation through the sport of running.

“It gives me a lot of time to think. Oftentimes, whether it is an issue I’m having in terms of being a father or being a husband, I go out for a good, long run,” Mitchell explained. “Whatever problem I’m contemplating on, it doesn’t seem quite so daunting at the end of the run.

“The same thing applies as a judge. I will literally sometimes tell the lawyers, ‘I can make a decision right now if you want me to. Or, if you’d like, I can come back in a week after a few long runs to think about my decision,’” he added. “Invariably, the lawyers were saying, ‘Judge Mitchell, think about it on your runs.’ It just works — it’s really conducive to analyzing. There are no distractions out there when running. It’s just me and whatever is going on between my ears.”

Los Angeles County Superior Judge Craig Mitchell, who founded Skid Row Running Club over 10 years ago, promotes running as an outlet for those looking to overcome alcohol and drug abuse problems.

Photo courtesy of Craig Mitchell

ASICS will further integrate the “Live Uplifted” into the brand’s big moments throughout the year, including the ASICS Blue Jean Mile activation during Mental Health Awareness Month and the World Athletic Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Mitchell said he is looking forward to the upcoming sponsorship and its potential exposure for the club.

“The other thing I’m looking forward to for our indefinite future is growing our program here in LA,” the judge shared. “Every week, we see new faces — and we run three days a week. So, the word is getting out and it’s just exciting.

“Not only are we increasing our numbers of those who are in recovery of addiction, but we’re also increasing the number of people who I put in the category of being mentors. People who really understand that, if you give back to the community and express your concern in a meaningful way to the people who are attempting to rebuild their lives, some incredible results occur.”

To lear n more about the ASICS campaign, visit asics.com or follow #LIVEUPLIFTED on social media.

Skid Row Running Club information can be found at skidrowrunningclub. com.

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered California CONSIDER THIS will help

DOWNTOWN NEWS 11

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MARGULIES’ OPINION

Unleash your curiosity this Women’s History Month

By Ellen Snortland LA Downtown News Columnist he ever-quotable Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”

Hear, hear! And here we are at March, Women’s History Month. I am stunned at how few people actually know WHM even exists. I believe our general ignorance about women’s history reflects the subtle and pernicious misogyny woven through our society — a mirror of our unarticulated worship of males. The utter lack of curiosity about women and girls’ role in the world manifests how media and entertainment consign female stories to the wastebaskets of hohum.

Why are so few people curious about women? While streaming services and “prestige” television projects have experienced significant breakthroughs in stories of fictional women, we continue to have a deficit of stories about actual historical figures — other than con artists. Because we’ve never done anything interesting? Because we’re only good for our looks? Only of value during our child-bearing years? And so the wheel turns; the storytelling gatekeepers keep us out, and we are regarded as not worthwhile learning about.

The British show “Call the Midwife” is a slap in the face to people who unconsciously believe that only men are bold and daring. We see valor and bravery depicted in action movies, war movies and adventures, almost always starring men. But hang out with a few episodes of “Call the Midwife” and you’ll see, up close and personal, that the most natural thing in the world is also the most courageous, one which frequently requires more guts than going into battle.

And yet our storytellers continue glorifying men’s violence.

I’m fond of saying, “How do you know something is missing if it’s missing?”

Did any of you say to yourself, “I wonder if there have been any female Popes?”

(Yes, as it turns out. And also a female emperor of China.) Curiosity is born of wonder, and we’ve been bamboozled out of our natural curiosity by being brainwashed into thinking that only men are fascinating. Yes, they are fascinating, and so are women, from the act of childbirth all the way to ruling as one

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Ellen Snortland of the best popes or most innovative Chinese emperors in history.

If you’re predicating superiority on the idea that only white men are the most capable (and if you are, please stop!) stories of the “other” — whether that’s people of color or any women of any color — start chipping away at the notion that men are inherently better than women. Frustratingly, stories of gender nonconformity and accomplishments by people with disabilities or anyone “other” than the dominant group threaten the social order.

I ache when I think of the “missing” people of history, the denigrated and violated people of color who proved time and again they could accomplish anything their white brethren could. If their stories weren’t recorded, then they didn’t exist. If they didn’t exist, then they wouldn’t endanger the status quo by giving people “ideas.” Ideas are contagious, and pretty soon, wow, you’ve got whole groups of people thinking they are worthy of respect and rights. Very dangerous, ideas are.

And curiosity is also dangerous. Why are so few men curious about women’s lives? I have lucked out in the male friends department, but I can count on one hand the number of men who’ve asked me about my creativity or my accomplishments. Why do we still have the stereotypes of “chick lit” and “chick flicks”? Why do fanboys still blow their collective gaskets whenever a Marvel or “Star Wars” project has women in lead roles? I’m curious about that. What’s up, guys?

A central theme of my first book, “Beauty Bites Beast,” is that being represented by males only gave tacit permission to the religiously superstitious

Hey you! Speak up!

Downtown News wants to hear from people in the community. If you like or dislike a story, let us know, or weigh in on something you feel is important to the community.

Participation is easy. Go to downtownnews.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Letter to the Editor” link. For guest opinion proposals, please email christina@timespublications.com.

to torture, maim and/or kill women. Relegating women to inferior status made it easier to burn them at the stake. And goddess forbid that they learn how to defend themselves! Is it any wonder that women setting limits has been so taboo? Thus, my mission to teach women how to set boundaries: emotional, verbal and, when necessary, physical.

I am so proud to kick off Women’s Histor y Month with the announce ment that Gavin de Becker, the author of the worldwide bestseller “The Gift of Fear,” has rolled out a free series of MasterClasses available at his website, giftoffear.com. Mr. de Becker is one of the most generous, understanding, curious and no-b.s. people I know when it comes to empowering women and girls. His intellect is astonishing. I am

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so proud to be an ally of his and even prouder to be in the “cast” of some of the classes in his series. Watch them yourself and then insist that everyone you know watch them, too. You’ll thank me.

Meanwhile, have a stellar Women’s History Month. Let me be your fairy godmother and bonk your head with my curiosity wand. Poof! You’re curious about women — woo-hoo!

Ellen Snortland has been writing this column for decades and teaches creative writing. She can be reached at ellen@beautybitesbeast.com. Her award-winning film “Beauty Bites Beast” is once again available for download or streaming at vimeo.com/ondemand/ beautybitesbeast.

Covered LETTERSCalifornia will help Democrats appear ‘irrelevant’

Editor: When Joe Biden was elected president, the Democrats dismissed Donald Trump and called the Republican Party “irrelevant.”

But in 2022, the Republicans are poised to

capture the House and possibly the Senate.

Moving to the Supreme Court, a majority of justices lean right. Increasingly, it’s the Democrats who appear irrelevant, as they are guided by a weak and feckless president.

David Tulanian

TWITTER: @ DOWNTOWNNEWS

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12 DOWNTOWN NEWS

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered will help SPRINGCalifornia ARTS PREVIEW

DTLA comes alive with spring dance, theater and music

By Bridgette M. Redman LA Downtown News Contributing Writer owntown Los Angeles is vibrating with the performing arts this spring, coming to life with works classic and new, exploding with pent-up expressions long held in check by pandemic restrictions and anxiety.

While some shows are still available virtually, most venues are eagerly welcoming the public back into their seats and hoping the audiences will come.

The next few months will see the arrival of touring shows, operatic passions, symphonic performances, classic ballets, new works, Cirque du Soleil, and all genres of musicians.

If you’re ready to re-enter the world, here are some of the options that can scratch your artistic itch. All the shows are in LA, unless otherwise noted.

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Dance Diavolo Dance Theater 616 Moulton Avenue diavolo.org • “SOS: Signs of Strength,” March 18 and March 19, The Wallis Center for the Performing Arts Heidi Duckler Dance 1206 Maple Avenue, Suite 1100B heididucker.org • “Truth or Consequences,” March 6 and May 15, Bendix Building Rooftop, 1206 Maple Avenue • “Counter Intelligence: The Story of Sister Alyonuschka and Brother Ivanuska,” weekly online series premiering on Sundays • “Ebb and Flow”: Chinatown, Los Angeles

State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring Street, Redcat: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theatre 631 W. Second Street, Los Angeles redcat.org • “Indigenous Enterprise: Indigenous Liberation,” March 19 • “Dahlak Brathwaite: Try/Step/Trip,” March 24 to March 26 • Studio 2022, March 29 to May 7 • CalArts Spring Dance, May 6 to March 7

Theater Ahmanson Theatre 135 N. Grand Avenue centertheatregroup.org • “The Lehman Trilogy,” March 3 to April 10 • “Hadestown,” April 26 to May 29 • “Come from Away,” May 31 to June 12 Redcat: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theatre 631 W. Second Street redcat.org • “Elevator Repair Service: Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge,” March 3 to March 5 • “Dahlak Brathwaite: Try/Step/Trip,” March 24 to March 26 • Studio 2022, March 29 to May 7 • “Sola Bamis: The Tutorial,” April 21 to April 23 • “Mark-n-Sparks: The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe,” May 19 to May 21 The Robey Theatre 514 S. Spring Street therobeytheatrecompany.org • “A Heated Discussion” by Levy Lee Simon,

“The Lehman Trilogy” runs from March 3 to April 10 at Ahmanson Theatre.

April 9 to May 14

Music

Casa 0101 2102 First Street casa0101.org • Chicanas, Cholos y Chsime: Thriving! New Works Festival, March 10 to March 27

Redcat: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theatre 631 W. Second Street redcat.org • Florian Hecker: FAVN, March 12 • Studio 2022, March 29 to May 7 • Christine Sun-Kim, March 31 • Derrick Skye: Where Can We Go from Here?

April 2 • Du Yun: In Our Daughter’s Eyes, April 13 to April 17

Mark Taper Forum 135 N. Grand Avenue centertheatregroup.org • “Slave Play,” through March 13 • “I’ll Be Seein’ Ya,” March 15 to April 15 • “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” April 6 to May 8 Kirk Douglas Theatre 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City 90232 (Part of Downtown LA’s Center Theatre Group) centertheatregroup.org • “Alma,” March 6 to April 3 • “Tambo & Bones,” May 1 to May 29 East West Players 120 Judge John Aiso Street eastwestplayers.org • “Assassins,” to March 20

“SOS: Signs of Strength” is coming to Diavolo Dance Theater March 18 and March 19.

Submitted photo

Photo by Julieta Cervantes

LA Opera Performs in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Avenue laopera.org • “St. Matthew Passion,” March 12 to 27 • “The Three Women of Jerusalem,” March 19 • “Javier Camarena,” March 31 to April 2 • “In Our Daughter’s Eyes,” April 13 to 17 • “On Gold Mountain,” May 5 to 15 • “Aida,” May 21 to June 12

LA Philharmonic Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Avenue laphil.com • Elgar and Tchaikovsky, March 4 to 6 • Wayne Shorter Celebration, March 9 • Shoshtakovich and Prokofiev with Ludovic Morlot, March 12 to 13 • Hilary Hahn Plays Barber, March 18 to March 20 • Mahler’s Seventh with Bychkov, March 24, March 26, March 27 • Maria Schneider Orchestra/Regina Carter, March 25 • Mozart’s Great Mass with Mehta, March 31, April 1 to April 3 • Mehta Conducts Bruckner and Berg, April 7, April 8 and April 10 • Beethoven’s Fidelio with Dudamel and Deaf West Theatre, April 14 to 16 • Gen X Festival, April 22 to April 30, May 10 • Itzhak Perlman and Rohan de Silva, April 24 • Waiting to X-Hale at Redcat, May 1 • The Rite of Spring and Estancia with Dudamel, May 5 to May 8

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

• On the Dance Floor: LA’s Queer ’90s, May 7 • Dudamel Conducts Revueltas and Petrushka, May 12 to 13 • Ortiz, Villa-Lobos and The Firebird with Dudamel, May 14 to May 15 • Dudamel Conducts Beethoven’s Ninth, May 26 to May 29 • Hold On, We Shall Overcome with Nathaniel Gumbs, May 29 Los Angeles Master Chorale Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Avenue lamasterchorale.org • Handel/Part, March 20 • United We Sing, May 8 Microsoft Theatre 777 Chick Hearn Court microsofttheater.com Select shows: • Cirque du Soleil, March 17 to May 1 • Netflix is a Joke: The Festival — A Conversation with Ellen DeGeneres, May 4 • The Full Circle Tour: KEM and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, May 14 • Pedro Fernandez, May 20 • Alejandra Guzman and Paulina Rubio, May 22 Crypto.com Arena 1111 S. Figueroa Street cryptoarena.com Select shows

DOWNTOWN NEWS 13

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• Justin Bieber Justice Tour, March 7 to March 8 • Imagine Dragons, March 12 • Marc Anthony, March 18 • New Edition: The Culture Tour with Charlie Wilson, March 20 • Alt-J and Portugal. The Man, March 27 • The Go-Go’s, March 30 • Tyler, the Creator, March 31 • Los Tigres Del Norte, April 2 • Journey and Toto, April 5 • 93.5 KDAY Presents Krush Groove, April 30 • Ricardo Arjona, May 1 • Netflix is a Joke: The Festival – Kevin Hart, May 6 • Eric Church, May 7 • New Kids on the Block, May 27 The Wiltern 3790 Wilshire Boulevard thewiltern.net • The Walters, March 5 • Mayhem & Watain, March 8 • Hippie Sabotage, March 15 • Perfume Genius and Hand Habits, March 20 • Cobra Man, March 26 • The Script, March 30 • Jawbreaker, Best Coast and the Linda Lindas, April 1 to April 3 • a-ha, April 7-9 • Jacob Collier, April 13 to April 14 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Armchair Expert & Dax Shepard, May 2

• Netflix is a Joke Festival: Conan O’Brien, May 4 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Chelsea Handler, May 5 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Deon Cole, May 6 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Margaret Cho,

May 6 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Theo Von, May 7 • Netflix is a Joke Festival: Brian Regan, May 8 • The Flaming Lips, May 9 • Big Thief, May 10 to May 11 • Neil deGrasse Tyson, May 19

Alt- J and Portugal. The Man come to Crypto.com Arena on March 27.

Submitted photo

Los primeros años de la vida de un niño son críticos para su desarrollo. Los niños en riesgo de un atraso en el desarrollo, o que muestran signos de atraso, pueden calificar para la intervención y los servicios a través del programa Early Start de California.

En todo el estado de California, el programa Early Start es coordinado por los 21 centros regionales. Con la guía de los coordinadores de servicios, un plan individualizado de servicios y apoyos puede marcar la diferencia en el desarrollo de un niño.

Para las personas mayores de 3 años, los centros regionales también brindan servicios y apoyos de por vida desde la edad escolar hasta la edad adulta, incluida la coordinación de servicios, la planificación de servicios individuales, educación relacionadas con la defensa y capacitación.

En asociación con los Centros de Recursos Familiares, los padres y los miembros de la familia pueden recibir apoyo, orientación, información y referencias a recursos comunitarios.

Debido a la disminución de las referencias durante el estado de emergencia de COVID-19, es importante saber que su centro regional local permanece abierto y está aceptando referencias. Aunque algunos miembros del personal del centro regional pueden estar trabajando de forma remota, continúan trabajando arduamente para garantizar que su hijo reciba los servicios que necesita.

Para averiguar exactamente qué centro regional serviría a su familia, visite dds.ca.gov/services or dds.ca.gov/listings Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center 3303 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 383-1300 or (213) 252-5600 kyrc@lanterman.org | www.lanterman.org

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help

Epic modern classic arrives on the West Coast

By Jeff Favre LA Downtown News Contributing Writer oward W. O vershown recalls his professor at the University of Virginia pointing to various students in the class and prophesying where their acting futures lay.

When the teacher arrived at Overshown, he said, “Howard, you’re going to work a lot because you have the face of humanity, especially in TV and film.”

Overshown disagreed, and when the professor protested, the young actor replied, “I don’t see me. The only lightskinned brothers I see doing (stuff ) are Vin Diesel and The Rock.”

The one place Overshown did see opportunities was theater — particularly Shakespeare and other classics, where he said nationality doesn’t matter.

A steady career in the classics followed — with a sprinkling of the TV and film as his professor predicted — all leading to what Overshown states, without hesitation, is a career highlight and biggest challenge.

He is joining legendary English actors Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley in the West Coast premiere of “The Lehman Trilogy,” directed by Oscar winner and Tony nominee Sam Mendes. The threeplus-hour, three-actor epic begins previews March 3 at Downtown’s Ahmanson Theatre.

Originating as a more than five-hour work by Italian writer Stefano Massini, adapted into English by Ben Power, “The Lehman Trilogy” debuted in London in 2018. The pandemic delayed its official arrival on Broadway until last year.

The sweeping saga contains more than 50 characters, but at the core are the three Lehman brothers.

German-Jewish immigrants to America in the mid-1800s, their meager beginnings as small-business owners grew to trading cotton, then to banking, and eventually they become financial giants.

Their empire endured until the 2008 financial crisis — long after they or their ancestors were part of the company.

Overshown, who portrays Emanuel Lehman, first saw the “Trilogy” at a pre-Broadway run at Park Avenue Armory, which became one of the hardestto-get tickets of the year.

“I was so moved. … I’m getting emotional talking about it now,” he said.

“It didn’t matter what the story was in some ways, just the way Sam put it together was so beautiful. But then the story, it’s just been handled so well.”

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“The Lehman Trilogy” comes to Ahmanson Theatre as a three-plus-hour epic on March 3. It features, from left to right, actors Simon Russell Beale, Howard W.

Submitted photo

Associate Director Zoé Ford Burnett, who Overshown called “a rock star,” is responsible for keeping the same standard set by Mendes.

The key to setting the tone for Trilogy is through experimentation, she explained. “Lots of ideas were tried in the room, and slowly we found that less is more. The action, lighting and sound must never detract from what is being said. It has to support and enhance it.

Minimal props, singular costume and clever design allow the audience to be transported through time and space.”

Overshown has a working history with Mendes, appearing in his 2011 production of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” as part of a transatlantic collaboration known as The Bridge Project.

“Sam, to me, is the greatest director,” he said. “And this is his masterpiece.” “ The Lehman Trilogy ” is the third consecutive big get for Center Theatre Group, following the North American debut of “Everybody’s Talking About Ja-

mie” and the West Coast premiere of “Slave Play.”

CTG Producing Director Douglas Baker had the play on his radar years before its National Theatre opening in London, when it was in early development.

“I rushed to see it at the Armory,” Baker said. “Once I saw it, I had been in conversations with Kash Bennett, the producer of National Theater Productions, I immediately said to her, ‘Is there any way we can bring this to the Ahmanson, given our long history?’”

Two years of COVID-19 shutdown left Baker unsure if that promise would come to fruition, but CTG, after at least three rescheduling efforts, made it hap-

pen.

“This is a complete remount of the Broadway production,” he said. “We’re in fact even using the Broadway physical production for our production. And, as you know, we’ve got two of the three original actors in it, so I was just thrilled.”

Overshown understands the obvious new element to the show is him.

“I saw this interview with Adrian Lester (who took over the role of Emanuel in New York), and he said, ‘You know, it’s already been successful, so if it doesn’t do well on Broadway, we know why.’ And I was like, now it’s my turn.

“The Lehman Trilogy” WHEN: Various times Thursday, March 3, to Sunday, April 10 WHERE: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles COST: Tickets start at $39 INFO: 213-628-2772, centertheatregroup.org

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

DOWNTOWN NEWS 15

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FREE TAX FILING SERVICES February - April 2022

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help

Austin’s Sue Foley celebrates her signature guitar and “Pinky’s Blues” album at Zebulon March 3.

Photo by Todd Wolfson

Sue Foley celebrates her signature guitar, ‘Pinky’s Blues’

By Bliss Bowen LA Downtown News Contributing Writer ue up the opening bars of Texas blues guitarist Sue Foley’s album “Pinky’s Blues,” and listeners will be hit with that feeling of opening a nightclub door and being swept up in the music of a live band and the sense of dancers and barflies letting out a collective sigh of relief after a long week.

Arriving last August, it was one of 2021’s strongest releases and reminded fans of pre-pandemic good times. It sailed beneath the radar of mainstream listeners, but for those tuned in to the blues, the music’s immediacy and lean, tough guitar tones packed a lasting

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punch. Foley is on a promotional tour that brings her to Zebulon in Silver Lake next Thursday, March 3.

“We are live players, so we wanted to make a blues album that sounded live,” Foley explained during a recent phone call from Austin. “In doing that, you really have to do it in the moment; you can’t just be overdubbing and tracking. So, everything really is live. When I do these songs on the stage live, they sound exactly the same (laughs), which is great.

I don’t have to worry I can’t pull it off on a live stage, because (it’s) what I’ve done my whole career.”

The Canadian-born musician already established her fierce playing style by

the time she settled in Austin and released her first album, 1992’s “Young Girl Blues,” for the Antone’s label. Having picked up the Telecaster because of iconic inspirations such as Albert Collins and Muddy Waters, she titled “Pinky’s Blues” — the album as well as her self-composed title tune — after her signature pink Tele.

“The Tele requires a lot from a player to get something unique out of it, because there’s really not much there to work with — it’s just wood and there’s no effects,” she said with a laugh. “It’s just really bare bones. I try to play just clean and pure. Everything is coming out of my hands and the guitar. …

“This one’s really special. When you’ve bonded with an instrument for over 30 years — there’s just something about that. I have two other pink Teles that I tour with because Pinky doesn’t like to fly anymore (laughs) and I’m working them in, but it’s hard to replace something that you’ve put so much soul and blood and sweat into.”

Produced by Jimmie Vaughan Trio organist Mike Flanigin, “Pinky’s Blues” is a refreshingly old-school guitar album that pays homage to Texas artists Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Frankie Lee Sims, Angela Strehli and Lavelle White. Foley says she and Flanigin studied during their hungry early years in

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

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Austin’s music scene. Finigin’s B3 complements bassist Jon Penner and Stevie Ray Vaughan drummer Chris Layton on a couple of tracks, and his uncluttered production stays tightly focused on Foley’s upfront Telecaster leads and sultry vocals.

“Mike said, ‘Just play your guitar — it’s what people want to hear. It’s what you do best, so let’s just turn it up and do it,’” Foley recalled. “He’s also got the courage to record like this. He’s not afraid of letting go of the reins, you know what I mean? Some producers want to control everything and have everything under their hands so they can manipulate it. But when you let it go, sometimes it shows a lot more faith and courage.”

Having stepped back from career demands to raise her son, now 25, Foley had just started “hitting a really good stride” during a year-and-a-half-long tour behind her 2018 album “The Ice Queen” when the pandemic shutdown upended her momentum. There’s more than a little gratitude and relief in her

voice when she talks about being able to perform for live audiences again.

“We did a little bit of livestreaming, and I will still do the odd thing, but that really doesn’t do it with blues music. We play for the people and the people help us play better. They’re really happy to see something real and feel something and share in the vibrations, because we can’t get that from screens and phones. … This is it, right? We’re only given a certain amount of time in this life, so I feel like this is crunch time for me. I feel a responsibility to do my best.”

And if ever there was a time for real-deal blues, now is it.

“It’s music that’s honest,” Foley agreed.

“What the blues is, is something that will go into those dark places but comes out in the light and makes everybody feel like they’re not alone. That’s really what the experience of blues music is. For me, it’s always a good time for the blues, but that catharsis is probably pretty important right now.”

Sue Foley WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3 WHERE: Zebulon, 2478 Fletcher Drive, Los Angeles COST: $24.60 INFO: 323-663-6927, zebulon.la, suefoley.com

Sue Foley released her first album in 1992.

Photo by Danny Clinch

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a Advertising is Keep Great Way to rs Your Custome Informed The Los Angeles Downtown News publishes a wide array of special sections and quarterlies throughout the year on topics like Health, Education, Nightlife and Residential Living.

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Across the state of California, the Early Start program is coordinated by all 21 regional centers. With the guidance of service coordinators, an individualized plan for services and supports can make a difference in a child’s development.

For individuals over the age of 3, the regional centers also provide lifelong services and supports from the school age years through adulthood, including service coordination, individual service planning, education related advocacy and training In partnership with the Family Resource Centers, parents and family members may receive parent-to-parent support, guidance, information and referrals to community resources.

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help

Danny O’Donoghue shares ‘that magic moment’

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor anny O’Donoghue flashes his trademark smile when he arrives on a Zoom call.

He’s happy to be playing shows again, sure, but he’s even more amazed by the background.

“Is that blue sky?” he asked. “It’s rainy here in London.”

America is a second home to O’Donoghue, the charismatic frontman of the Irish pop band The Script. He loves the country’s sunshine, people and food, and had plenty of it as a songwriter living in Orlando and Los Angeles.

“I toured around America as a songwriter before The Script even happened,” he said. “I feel like every song on every album must be majorly influenced by America.

So, we’re absolutely delighted when we get to come back over and play more shows. I think this is our sixth time there.”

The Script will head to Koreatown to play The Wiltern on Wednesday, March 30, with Calum Scott. O’Donoghue said the set in support of “Tales from The Script: Greatest Hits” will be all-encompassing, featuring the songs that “mean so much to us as a band.”

“They’ve changed our career and changed the trajectory of our lives,” he explained.

Songs like “Hall of Fame” and “Superheroes,” O’Donoghue said, are especially relevant today.

“I think the songs speak to what we’ve all been through,” he said. “Regardless of whether it’s the U.K. or Ireland or the world tour we’re embarking on, I feel like it’s a really special moment to be able to go back out with the people whom you love and going to the places that you used to go to and singing the songs that you used to love as well.”

All of that ties in with “Tales from The Script,” which O’Donoghue described as a mix of the band’s and fans’ favorite songs. The shows on the world tour will be emotional and nostalgic.

“It’s like getting back to our roots and what music and shows are really about — people singing as loud as they possibly can and connecting again,” he said.

O’Donoghue — who is joined in The Script by guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power — admitted to having a slight case of nerves.

“It’s almost as if we spent two years not doing anything, like you never did it in the first place,” he said. “It feels like we’re relearning everything, which makes me just as nervous.

“Stepping back out into the world is kind of a scary thing, but, at the same time, it’s actually quite invigorating because I feel like it is the new world. I feel like I’m going to be experiencing this feeling and emotion just like the audiences. People are going to be unsure about what to expect at the shows. By the end of the show, like I said, we’ll think about what a moment we made together.”

The Script is known for its heartfelt lyrics that bring a story full circle in tracks like “Millionaires” or “Glowing.”

“Everybody’s gone through some really rough times,” he said. “Art is probably the only beneficiary of real pain and real tragedy, because everybody and all of our feelings go to art, whether it’s sculpting, painting or music.

“Over the next year or so, there will be some really interesting art made. In the interim, there are all these songs that I think people are rediscovering.”

O’Donoghue falls within that group.

“I’m rediscovering some of our songs like ‘For the First Time,’ which talks about ‘drinking old cheap bottles of wine/ sit talking up all night/ doing things we haven’t for a while/ We’re smiling but we’re close to tears/ even after all these years/ we just now got the feeling that we’re meeting/ for the first time.’

“That could have been written yesterday about us getting back together after COVID. Or, was it written 10 years ago after we met you and your mom. They bring on a new meaning. We’ve been singing these songs on stage for maybe 12 to 13 years.

They really do mean different things now.”

The Script, he said, stands out because there isn’t another band who is prouder of its own catalog.

“If there’s anything good to come out of this time right now, it would be for us to

D

Irish singer-songwriter Danny O’Donoghue is the frontman of the Irish rock band, The Script.

Submitted photo

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

DOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

From left to right, The Script drummer Glen Power, frontman Danny O’ Donoghue and guitarist Mark Sheehan. The band will perform on Wednesday, March 30, at the Wiltern with Calum Scott. be able to get onstage and sing all the songs and mean every single lyric again — and not be a jaded band who’s doing it just to sell tickets before they disappear off into the sunset.

“It’s a magic moment for us, as a band, to be able to do this. Our songs, in my opinion, are quite inspirational to me and to the people who listen to them.”

O’Donoghue also sees “Superheroes” in a different light.

“When you’ve been fighting for it all your life/ That’s how the superhero learns to fly/ Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power,” he sang.

“That’s what always resonates,” he continued. “I think, going back through the catalog, there is the song I wrote after my mom passed away called ‘Run Through Walls,’ about people getting you through a really difficult time. Once you hit on an emotion, as a human, that transcends race, nationality, genre and time. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through, mate, whether it’s me talking about my mum, the loss of my mom, the loss of your social structure or the loss of your tribe, or your friends.”

“I quite like to extract new meaning from old art, if you know what I mean.”

The passionate “If You Could See Me Now” was written by Sheehan about the deaths of his and O’Donoghue’s parents.

“If they could see me now, what would they make of all this?” he said rhetorically.

“What would they think of me going back out on tour again? How would they react?

Like I said, I’m really eager to get back out and play the songs.”

In previous interviews, O’Donoghue has called “Tales from The Script” the end of a chapter. The new road wavers each day.

“I’m in a band with other people,” he said coyly. “I feel like we’ve wrapped it up in a bow. Those were the starters, and this is the main course, if you know what I mean. I just need to refresh the palate a little bit.

“We’re going around the world now. It’s a sort of litmus test. I’m going to try and find its temperature. It’s a very unique position, as a songwriter, to be able to travel around the world and tune into every conversation, be it through music before show or after show, and get some kind of temperature and read the room — and the world is the ‘room.’

“I’m hoping to ingest a lot of the emotion and the pain and write the stories that people tell me while I’m out on the road. I’ll write about that experience. We’re all or-

DOWNTOWN NEWS 19

Submitted photo

dinary people who have been through extraordinary circumstances. It sounds bizarre, but it’s a very fertile place for creativity.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the soundscape changed. Instruments are becoming less relevant to pop, O’Donoghue said. He quickly takes back the word “relevant.”

“I hate the word ‘relevant,’” he said with a laugh. “Matters of the heart are always relevant. The human condition is always relevant.”

O’Donoghue apologizes for being “too heavy,” but he continues with a heartbreaking confession.

“Not having a father to tell me everything is going to be OK is rough,” he said with a sigh. “It’s quite an experience as well, because now I’m that person. I don’t have any kids, but people look up to me in my life and ask if everything is going to be alright.”

World leaders can’t even guarantee that.

“It’s quite a scary place to be when the powers that be don’t look like they have much power,” he said.

“So, everybody has to now trust their own judgment and look inside of themselves for the answers. It’s really terrifying.”

All of that said, O’Donoghue said he reminds himself that life is too short. He ensures he’s doing exactly what he loves to do. He tries to live his best life daily.

“If you can’t find that love for art, that love for writing or that love for journalism or whatever it is, then go find it,” he said. “Everybody has music inside of them. You don’t want to die with that music inside. You might be wrong for doing it. If it’s inside you and you want to do it, you should definitely exercise that. Questions are not what you want to have on your deathbed.

“At my house, it’s raining here today. That’s pretty much it. It’s miserable. I’ve had maybe too many cups of tea, but I try not worry about the things I can’t control.”

The Script and Calum Scott WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 30 WHERE: The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles COST: Various ticket prices INFO: thewiltern.net

20 DOWNTOWN NEWS

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

Covered ARTS & California CULTUREwill help

Bruce Dickinson takes to the stage to talk, this time

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor ruce Dickinson smiles when he pops on Zoom at the beginning of an interview.

The Iron Maiden frontman sits in a Florida hotel room, preparing for his “An Evening with Bruce Dickinson” tour, which comes to the Orpheum on Tuesday, March 1.

This isn’t a concert, but a discussion with fans about his list of accomplishments, all told with humorous stories.

A true polymath, his accomplishments include pilot and airline captain, aviation entrepreneur, beer brewer, motivational speaker, podcaster, film scriptwriter, twice-published novelist and New York Times Top 10 best-selling author, radio presenter, TV actor, sports commentator and international fencer.

“It’s a show that has been developed over several years, really — since I wrote an autobiography and started road testing the show,” Dickinson said. “People thought they were getting a promotional event about a book. Actually, what they were getting was a tryout for a oneman show, which is how I evolved it into where it is now.”

Now, he says, was the perfect time to bring it to theaters. “An Evening with Bruce Dickinson” is easy to adapt to these pandemic times.

“As soon as things looked like it was opening up, we thought we would bring it to theaters, with the help of Live Nation promoters, who do the theatrical side of things, not the music side of things,” he said.

The 90-minute show is in two “unequal halves.” It starts with how a “spotty kid from a town’s nobody’s ever heard of in the world gets from wearing the world’s most ridiculous trousers to the world’s biggest heavy metal band,” he said.

“How does that happen? A lot of it is about first experiences. Birth is one of

B

Bruce Dickinson will unveil the video for “The Writing on the Wall” at his appearance.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Dickinson

them. So, I start with something that’s common to everybody and it goes from there: adolescence, being in an English boarding school, a place where you might bump into Boris Johnson, if it was a few years later.”

Fans understand, he said, because it’s something that they have in common.

“They’re going to recognize their own goofy things,” Dickinson says. “What mistakes did you make, audience? How come you’re not standing here, you know? That’s it. It’s a slightly semi-satirical look at how we ended up where we ended up.”

Dickinson said the show’s second half is written by the audience, based on comments they write on index cards.

“They can write whatever the hell they want,” he said. “They can write questions.

They can make any comment they want about anything at all. I collect them all up. I basically arrange them into a kind of improv script in the intermission.”

While he’s doing that, audiences watch the video for “The Writing on the Wall,” Iron Maiden’s 2021 single, on a large screen.

“I wanted to premiere it at actual movie theaters,” he said. “Because of COVID, we never got around to it, so people have to watch it on YouTube, which is nice, but rubbish.

“When you have something that’s really cool looking,” you want to show it the right way.

“I thought, what the hell, I’m going to America, let me just take it with me,” he added.

“It’s the Dolby version with the big sound system with the sound effects.

You can hear the motorbikes. You can hear the boots on the ground. People have never seen it on the big screen. So, during the intermission, I go off and arrange the cards and, in the meantime, here’s what I made earlier.

“When I come back, it’s a Q&A with a twist.”

“An Evening with Bruce Dickinson” WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 WHERE: The Orpheum, 842 S. Broadway, Los Angeles COST: Tickets start at $29.50 INFO: 1-877-577-4386, laorpheum.com

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

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DOWNTOWN NEWS 21

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Covered California will help BUSINESS

Curbivore debuting in-person conference in DTLA

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor urbivore founder Harry Campbell said the name of his business is ever so relevant. After all, restaurants and delivery services for other products are moving to the curb.

“It’s not just the act of eating or drinking on the street or sidewalk, but a reflection that curb space is limited, and cities and businesses must work together to equitably share these prized pieces of real estate,” Campbell said.

Curbivore has invited restaurateurs, retailers, city leaders and technology thinkers to speak about bouncing back from the pandemic during its March 4 conference in Downtown LA. “The pandemic (sent) demands to the curb,” he said. “Takeout orders and restaurants were using space on the curb. Uber, Lyft and Amazon, everyone wants a piece of the curb.”

The conference revolves around the effect of these changes. Programming will

C

be focused on three key areas: food delivery and technology, restaurants and retailers, and the policy leaders in charge of it all. Campbell said folks will be flying in from around the world but there will also be a strong contingent of LA-based executives, investors, speakers and companies.

“I just got an email from a restaurateur saying he owned two Vietnamese restaurants that are takeout only. He didn’t know how to hire drivers or where to go from here,” Campbell explained.

“I’m hearing a lot of these stories and about the high fees. A lot of cities are trying to regulate or cap the fees. What a lot of these restaurant owners don’t realize is opportunities, technology and solutions are at their fingertips.”

Some of the LA-based speakers include Upfront Ventures’ Mark Suster, Canter’s legend/Nextbite CEO Alex Canter, LADOT GM Seleta Reynolds, Parking Legend and UCLA Professor Donald Shoup, Shef CEO Joey Grassia, Fast AF CEO Lee Hnet-

Harry Campbell founded Curbivore. ink and JOKR COO Aspa Lekka.

“If you’re in mobility or the transportation world, Donald Shoup is the ‘parking god,’” he said.

“We’ll also have a number of innovative activations, vehicles and hardware on display: including a lunchtime drone delivery from LA-based Flyby, mobile kitchen

Submitted photo

on site (Ziki, Texino-LA-based manufacturer with two huge factories in Chinatown), emerging vehicles (Arcimoto’s three-wheeled “Deliverator” EVs; Automoto’s mobile delivery vehicles, Robomart’s autonomous store, scooters from Wheels and Pico, delivery robots from Tortoise, Coco and Serve.)

Curbivore Conference WHEN: 8 a.m to 6 p.m. Friday March 4 WHERE: 1061 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles COST: $349 for early bird until Feb. 28, $495 general admission afterward INFO: curbivore.co

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

CA residents scramble to get last Walking Liberty Rolls CALIFORNIA - Once California residents got wind that California State Restricted Bank Rolls filled with Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s were being handed over, there was a mad dash to get them. That’s because some of these U.S. Gov’t issued silver coins are already worth hundreds in collector value.

“It’s like a run on the banks. The phones are ringing off the hook. That’s because everyone is trying to get them before they’re all gone,” according to officials at the National Mint and Treasury who say they can barely keep up with all the orders.

In fact, they had to impose a strict limit of 4 California State Restricted Bank Rolls. So, if you get the chance to get your hands on these State Restricted Bank Rolls you better hurry because hundreds of California residents already have and you don’t want to miss out.

You see, the U.S. Gov’t stopped mint-

ing these Silver Walking Liberties in 1947 and there can never be any more which makes them extremely collectible.

And here’s the best part. The rolls are unsearched so there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value.

That’s why at just the $39 state minimum set by National Mint and Treasury it’s a deal too good to pass up.

But you better hurry because these California State Restricted Bank Rolls are the only ones known to exist and California residents are grabbing them up as fast as they can.

That’s because they make amazing gifts for children, grandchildren and loved ones. Just imagine the look on their face when you hand them one of the State Restricted Rolls — they’ll tell everyone they know what you did for them.

■ GOT ‘EM: Residents all across California who get their hands on these State Restricted Silver Walking Liberty Bank Rolls are definitely showing them off. That’s because they are the only ones known to exist. And here’s the best part, these Bank Rolls are loaded with U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberty coins some dating back to the early 1900’s and worth up to 100 times their face value so everyone wants them.

Last State Restricted Silver Walking Liberty Bank Rolls go to California residents California residents get first dibs on last remaining Bank Rolls loaded with U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value for the next 2 days STATE DISTRIBUTION: A strict limit of 4 State Restricted Bank Rolls per CA resident has been imposed CALIFORNIA - “It’s a miracle these State Restricted Bank Rolls even exist.

That’s why Hotline Operators are bracing for the flood of calls,” said Laura Lynne, U.S. Coin and Currency Director for the National Mint and Treasury.

For the next 2 days the last remaining State of California Restricted Bank Rolls loaded with rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties are actually being handed over to California residents who call the State Toll-Free Hotlines listed in today’s newspaper publication.

“National Mint and Treasury recently spoke with its Chief Professional Numismatist who said ‘Very few people have ever actually saw one of these rarely seen Silver Walking Liberties issued by the U.S. Gov’t back in the early 1900’s. But to actually find them sealed away in State Restricted Bank Rolls is like finding buried treasure. So anyone lucky enough to get their hands on these Bank Rolls had better hold on to them,’” Lynne said.

“Now that the State of California Restricted Bank Rolls are being offered up we won’t be surprised if thousands (Continued on next page)

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FEBRUARY 28, 2022

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DOWNTOWN NEWS 23 SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

(Continued from previous page)

of California residents claim the maximum limit allowed of 4 Bank Rolls per resident before they’re all gone,” said Lynne.

“That’s because after the Bank Rolls were loaded with 15 rarely seen Silver Walking Liberties, each verified to meet a minimum collector grade of very good or above, the dates and mint marks of the U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollars sealed away inside the State of California Restricted Bank Rolls have never been searched. But, we do know that some of these coins date clear back to the early 1900’s and are worth up to 100 times their face value, so there is no telling what California residents will find until they sort through all the coins,” Lynne went on to say.

And here’s the best part. If you are a resident of the state of California you cover only the $39 per coin state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury, that’s fifteen rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties worth up to 100 times their face value for just $585 which is a real steal because non state residents must pay $118 per coin which totals $1,770 if any coins remain after the 2-day deadline.

The only thing California residents need to do is call the State Toll-Free Hotlines printed in today’s newspaper publication before the 2-day order deadline ends.

“Rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued silver coins like these are highly sought after, but we’ve never seen anything like this before. According to The Official Red Book, a Guide Book of United States Coins many Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollars are now worth $40 - $825 each in collector value,” Lynne said.

“We’re guessing thousands of California residents will be taking the maximum limit of 4 Bank Rolls because they make such amazing gifts for any occasion for children, parents, grandparents, friends and loved ones,” Lynne continued.

“We know the phones will be ringing off the hook. That’s why hundreds of Hotline Operators are standing by to answer the phones beginning at 8:30 am this morning. We’re going to do our best, but with just 2 days to answer all the calls it won’t be easy. So make sure to tell everyone to keep calling if all lines are busy. We’ll do our best to answer them all.” Lynne said.

The only thing readers of today’s newspaper publication need to do is make sure they are a resident of the state of California and call the National Toll-Free Hotlines before the 2-day caption. deadline ends midnight tomorrow. ■

HOW TO CLAIM THE LAST STATE RESTRICTED BANK ROLLS FACTS:

If you are a California State Resident read the important information below about claiming the State Silver Bank Rolls, then call the State Toll-Free Hotline at 8:30 am: 1-800-979-3771 EXT: RWB4313

Are these Silver Walking Liberties worth more than other half dollars:

Yes. These U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties were minted in the early 1900’s and will never be minted again. That makes them extremely collectible.

The vast majority of half dollars minted after 1970 have no silver content at all and these Walking Liberties were one of the last silver coins minted for circulation.

That’s why many of them now command hundreds in collector value so there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value someday.

How much are State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls worth:

It’s impossible to say, but some of these U.S Gov’t issued Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s are worth up to 100 times the face value and there are 15 in each Bank Roll so you better hurry if you want to get your hands on them.

Collector values always fluctuate and there are never any guarantees. But we do know they are the only California State Silver Bank Rolls known to exist and Walking Liberties are highly collectible so anyone lucky enough to get their hands on these Silver Bank Rolls should hold onto them because there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value someday.

Why are so many California residents claiming them:

Because they are the only State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls known to exist and everyone wants their share. Each Bank Roll contains a whopping 15 Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value. Best of all California residents are guaranteed to get them for the state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury of just $39 per Silver Walking Liberty for the next two days.

How do I get the State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls:

California residents are authorized to claim up to the limit of 4 State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls by calling the State Toll Free Hotline at 1-800-979-3771 Ext. RWB4313 starting at precisely 8:30 am this morning. Everyone who does is getting the only State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls known to exist.

That’s a full Bank Roll containing 15 Silver Walking Liberties from the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value for just the state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury of just $39 per Silver Walking Liberty, which is just $585 for the full Bank Rolls and that’s a real steal because non state residents are not permitted to call before 5 pm tomorrow and must pay $1,770 for each California State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Roll if any remain.

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NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, LLC IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE U.S. MINT, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, A BANK OR ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY. IF FOR ANY REASON WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM SHIPMENT YOU ARE DISSATISFIED, RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR A REFUND LESS SHIPPING AND RETURN POSTAGE. THIS SAME OFFER MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE AT A LATER DATE OR IN A DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. OH RESIDENTS ADD 6.5% SALES TAX. NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, PO BOX 35609, CANTON, OH 44735 ©2021 NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY.

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