More May 1 nuggets

This photo looks east on Wilshire Boulevard toward Hancock Park from the top of the former bank building (now a Korean church) at La Brea. The tall building in the background is the former Carnation headquarters that houses the Hollywood Reporter and other media offices. Credit AP's Stefano Paltera. Rally photos abound online; here's a selection at the Times' gallery, Yahoo News, Franklin Avenue, Mack Reed, Just Above Sunset, DadTalk. I can't link directly to the Daily News galleries.

♦ Mayor Villaraigosa, looking as uncomfortable on camera as I have ever seen him, appeared on tape on "Live with Geraldo" at 11 pm. Villaraigosa told Rivera that the push to translate the Star-Spangled Banner into Spanish is "absolutely ridiculous," and while expressing support for marchers and immigration reform he also said, in reply to a question: "If you want to be part of this country, you should sing the national anthem in English and you should wave the American flag." The mayor did wave the flag while on stage at the Wilshire and La Brea rally Monday.

♦ Bottom line from the New York Times lede story by Randal C. Archibold of the L.A. bureau: "The demonstrations did not bring the nation to a halt as planned by some organizers, though they did cause some disruptions and conveyed in peaceful but sometimes boisterous ways the resolve of those who favor loosening the country's laws on immigration."

♦ The LAPD did indeed revise its estimated of Wilshire Boulevard marchers: 400,000.

♦ More than 27% of secondary students were absent from LAUSD schools, compared to the usual 10%. Officials estimate the truancy will cost the district $2.1 million in state funds.

♦ Times coverage of the rallies credits more than thirty-five reporters by name. One of the stories is about Dov Charney shuttering American Apparel and walking with marchers from his company. We don't find out whether garment firms without sex-soaked celebrity bosses also shut down for the day.

♦ How TV covered the day—and why Lou Dobbs is mad.

♦ Fox-11 found a good commentator for its afternoon coverage in Loyola Marymount's Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

♦ In Spanish, here is the main story at La Opinión, the main news page at Hoy and bloggage at Noti Los Angeles.