First thing Tuesday, 9/20

A sampling of starters for the day...

♦ Simon Wiesenthal died in Vienna at age 96, the center on Pico Boulevard announced. Standing ovations in every temple in L.A. on Friday night, I say. Henry Weinstein has a 7,000-word obit in the LAT.

♦ Channel 2 killed a news story on Dr. Phil after the TV talker complained that reporter Laura Diaz's questions were too tough, Ron Fineman reports, citing a station source. Reportedly, Phil called CBS2 General Manager Don Corsini and News Director Nancy Bauer Gonzales out to the Paramount lot to register his complaint.

♦ The lead editorial in today's LAT: Confirm Roberts.

♦ I finally realized the L.A. Independent has a small profile up on the deputy mayor Marcus Allen, called "the highest-ranking African American in the mayor�s office."

♦ Diana Rubio has been named the press deputy in Mayor Villaraigosa's office for handling Spanish language media.

♦ Barry Sanders argues his case for pursuing the 2016 Olympics on the Times op-ed page. His group has a website.

♦ Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly and Agustin Gurza of the L.A. Times have been named Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism "senior fellows" for an upcoming seminar called "Latinization of Art and Culture in America: Understanding Its Impact and Why It Matters."

♦ The American Reporter's Robert Gelfand wishes the LAT's design would be less imaginative.

♦ Kim and Nathan of the 1947Project popped up on BBC radio recently. Kim's Scram magazine is also behind the upcoming Bubblegum Achievement Awards, "honoring" the best of bubble-gum music.

And for the Googie fans out there...

Johnie's, the former Armet & Davis Googie coffee shop at Wilshire and Fairfax that was the locale for the cult film Miracle Mile, will re-open to the public for six hours on Oct. 2. That day, the L.A. Conservancy is putting on Curating the City: Wilshire Boulevard, a self-driving tour of the boulevard's sights. The Conservancy has also persuaded the Department of Veterans Affairs to open the hundred-year-old chapel on Wilshire west of the 405 freeway for the day. At Johnie's, which is owned by the family behind the 99 Cents Only stores, the Conservancy's Modern Committee will serve coffee and pie and host a book signing by Alan Hess, author of Googie Redux! Architect Eldon Davis, a USC grad, will also be there. I don't have any role in the actual tour, but I consulted on the website and guide and will be signing Wilshire Boulevard that morning at the Park Plaza Hotel, one of the stops. (Link pointer from Preserve LA)