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LA Observed archive
for January 2014
If you don't find what you want here, check another month or search below.
KCETLink is about to announce that it has received a $1 million grant from the Ahmanson Foundation for a new season of the award-winning news series, "SoCal Connected." No word on staffing or format.
LA Stage Times is going on hiatus, effective immediately. Longtime theater writer Don Shirley will now post regularly at LA Observed.
Wal-Mart last month sold a vacant 60-acre parcel next to the Forum and Hollywood Park in Inglewood to a mystery buyer many believe to be St. Louis Rams owner E. Stanley Kroenke. Speculation about a stadium plan abounds.
Greuel doesn't live in the Westside and coastal district, but the law doesn't mind — the voters may be another story. The list of other candidates still may be long.
Marcie Edwards, Mayor Eric Garcetti's choice to become general manager of the Department of Water and Power, worked at the utility for 24 years before taking a senior job in Anaheim. Most recently she has been the Anaheim city manager.
Rep. Henry Waxman's decision to retire rather than run for another term makes available one of the Democrats' most valuable congressional districts.
“At the end of this year, I would have been in Congress for 40 years,” Waxman said. “If there is a time for me to move on to another chapter in my life, I think this is the time to do it."
The California Sunday Magazine will exist in several digital formats and be delivered on dead trees in the Los Angeles Times and other papers. It's coming out of the Bay Area — and they are hiring.
KCRW looks at efforts by activists and the Trust for Public Lands to convert neglected alleys into nice, safe lanes for walking, running and riding bikes.
There are now eight historic structures at the museum -- in various stages of continuous repair -- built between 1876 and 1899. They offer "a fascinating look into an infantile Los Angeles without an architectural identity."
Barbra Streisand and Mayor Eric Garcetti were among the attendees at the Fremont Place home of "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal.
The Dodgers suspended their season ticket sale and said they may raise prices on big games during the season. Magic Johnson says Lakers erred in hiring coach Mike D'Antoni, and the Olympic marathon trials are coming.
John Scott and his wife both gave up Los Angeles sheriff's department careers out of concern about the direction under Lee Baca. Now Scott gets the rest of the year to leave his mark.
Architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali have unveiled plans to adapt the old May Co. department store into the motion picture museum Hollywood (and Los Angeles) have never had.
LA Times business columnist and blogger Michael Hiltzik and Register owner Aaron Kushner have a difference of opinion on the paper buying insurance policies on the lives of staffers, and directing any proceeds to the pension plan.
Fog diverts flights. Running out of water. New fill-in sheriff named. Republican candidates for governor don't vote. New attention for Pacific Standard. The woman behind In-n-Out Burger. Aaron Kushner replies to story about life insurance policies. The mayor's tweet about Pete Seeger and Justin Bieber.
Sherak was Mayor Eric Garcetti's designated ambassador between the film industry, City Hall and Sacremento. He died today after a long battle with prostate cancer.
The Inglewood Democrat is the first member of the California legislature to be convicted in criminal court since the 1990s. He could face eight years for lying about his address.
Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig will still have to pay a speeding ticket for pushing his Mercedes to 110 miles an hour in a 70 mph zone in Alligator Alley.
The Los Angeles Register now has a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, to go with the paper's first promotional ad and what looks like a prototype cover. A feature on Nixon and Agnew?
Ridley-Thomas responds to Daily News with swipe at LA Times. Garcetti previews Obama speech and welcomes Madeleine Brand to KCRW. Jennifer Ferro on Brand. Eneergy drinks and the City Council. Tarantino sues Gawker. Matthew Garrahan promoted by the FT. Chuck Cecil leaves the air. Plus more.
Pete Seeger, a champion of American folk music and social change since the 1940s, collected songs in the South with Alan Lomax, traveled in California with Woody Guthrie, performed for President Barack Obama — and adapted the civil rights movement anthem "We Shall Overcome."
Too many lies over too many years to be a lawyer, the California State Supreme Court says in an unsigned, unanimous opinion.
Patch sites have been citing USC as source of documents actually from UC Berkeley. The bigger question, though, is why does LA City Hall not already have all of this data and more on its own buildings?
Grammys list. Golden Mikes winners. Republicans see California drought as advantage. More on Bobby Shriver's stocks. Garcetti to propose end of business tax. Broadway to lose a traffic lane downtown. Jason Collins to sit in First Lady's box at SOTU. OC Register won't name restaurants where food critic got sick. Plus more.
On the ice it was just another hockey game (not that there is anything wrong with that.) LA Observed kept an eye on the fans and media.
Sounds as if the Troubadour stage has hosted another memorable show. "Deliriously upbeat," writes Chris Willman for the Hollywood Reporter. Adds Steve Hochman: "Hard to believe anyone could steal a show with a lineup like this. But, well, Rhiannon Giddens."
It felt very weird to have a few splatters on the car windshield. Ten minutes later, a few more drops hit our breakfast table. Alert the networks!
Los Angeles writers Amanda Hess and Amy Wallace were on CNN with Brian Stelter this morning to discuss their recent pieces. Link to watch inside.
This is the first promotion I've seen for the LA Register. It ran on the video scoreboard at
Dodger Stadium before the Kings-Ducks game tonight.
It turns out if you plant Mexican fan palms in Utah, they freeze and die. Go figure. Plus Mojave's two bent palms, Moorpark's two criss-crossed trees, and palms for the Bay Bridge?
The American snowboard racer has now won more X Games gold medals than any other female athlete. She seems recovered from a torn ACL and meniscus.
Eric Rose posted to Facebook this view of Dodger Stadium tonight from LAPD Air 3.
For many Hollywood Democrats, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is apparently their number two choice for president in 2016, after Hillary Clinton. He was in Brentwood Thursday night for a fundraiser.
In the annals of weather records, this is one nobody wanted to break, says the Bee. Not since 1884 has Sacramento gone this many winter days without rain or snow.
The high pressure ridge keeping us dry also left Mavericks with the ideal combination of big swells and no wind or weather.
Everything is ready for Saturday's outdoor Kings-Ducks game at Dodger Stadium. The rink is up and the media have done their job promoting the event. Remember, this is not the first outdoor hockey game in LA.
Media analyst Ken Doctor got his latest briefing from Aaron Kushner on the progress of the experiment at the Orange County Register and Freedom. Doctor adds some research and analysis of his own and concludes, in essence, it's on track.
Christensen gives LA credit as a good enviro partner in an essay in High Country News, and she's not impressed.
The National Park Service said Thursday that the cub was untagged — not one of the cougars they have been following. Which is interesting.
Asra Q. Nomani was a close friend and Wall Street Journal colleague of Daniel Pearl. It was from her house in Karachi that the Los Angeles native left on January 23, 2002 for the interview he never returned from.
Here are two more LA palm trees that don't fit with their current locations -- plus one I do admire and KPCC's "Off-Ramp" takes on the subject.
SoCal leads both houses of the legislature. Smith and Wesson stops selling in California. The campaign for sheriff. A pilot episode of KCRW's "Press Play." The Palm to move. Media notes and more.
"California saved my life," the "Good Day LA" entertainment anchor says of the tumor discovered after she moved here and got bonked on the head by a surfboard.
Next Speaker looks to be from San Diego. Metro breaks ground on Crenshaw line. Expo Line a hit so far. Fares may be going up. Ridley-Thomas acknowledges some work on his house. Bobby Shriver's stock holdings. City Hall and media moves. New president of the LA Press Club. And much more.
UCLA Law professor Eugene Volokh — he graduated from college at age 15 — takes his popular center-right law, culture and politics blog to the Post, which loses Ezra Klein.
Times editors joke that BuzzFeed is "the online juggernaut known for hard-hitting reports such as 'The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions.'” But they regret losing Bensinger.
No changes in staff at the weekly are expected, but you can see Aaron Kushner working his way deeper into Los Angeles County.
Flights are dropping due to East Coast weather. A possible GOP candidate for governor. Nobody likes the helicopter noise law. City Hall and county notes. Grantland's Bill Simmons does the mea culpa. LAT editorial says get going on climate change. KCET to air "Democracy Now." And much more for the first workday after a holiday weekend.
Shriver and Sheila Kuehl are both of Santa Monica but they look to be the main choices for Democratic voters across a wide swath of Los Angeles County.
Nasty online bullying of women affects many people who you know. When it's aimed at journalists, it seeks to intimidate and silence.
Fun fact: the guns on the Iowa could hit downtown LA from San Pedro — that's like an hour and a half with traffic.
This might be the most beautiful surfing video you have seen (and heard.) Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warns of very big waves on all of Hawaii's islands this week.
New York Times media columnist David Carr becomes a skeptic about the great OC Register experiment. It's the layoffs and the lack of convincing specifics about the move into Los Angeles.
The mayor says anti-poverty money will go south of the 10 freeway, but there is a lot of upset and finger pointing.
Garza is going to Sacramento to be the... — well, you have to click and go inside to get her new job.
Weather models show California's historically dry weather is expected to continue. Gov. Brown today declared a drought emergency. The Obama Administration named 27 counties as disaster areas.
Brown declares drought. Maldonado drops out. Congress passes LA helicopter noise bill. Moves in the race for sheriff. A critical audit of the sheriff's department. More quake coverage. OC Weekly on the Register's new editor. A profile of LARB's Tom Lutz. Justine Bateman at UCLA. The second-to-last Munchkin dies. And more.
The parking lots at Dodger Stadium have more ridiculous palm trees per square mile than just about anywhere in Los Angeles.
Firefighters in and around Glendora stayed on the line tonight to fight the fire that began about 6 a.m. Thursday near homes in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills.
I guess that at 4:31 on Friday morning, Channel 4's tweets will begin. They did this before during the anniversary of the LA riots.
"The 32 friends and colleagues leaving us have helped the Register navigate through some very challenging times....We enter 2014 with real opportunities and real challenges."
The whereabouts of Glendora, the closest city to where the fire is burning today in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills, is confounding the local media.
Reports have been coming since last night about expected management changes and layoffs today in the Orange County newsroom. Sources are saying that editor Ken Brusic is being replaced by Rob Curley, with associated shifts down the line.
Fire burning above Glendora. New MOCA chief talks to LA Times. County employees did work at Ridley-Thomas home. Transit officials don't want light rail under LAX. And more.
“American Hustle” tied with “Gravity” for the most overall nominations with 10. “12 Years a Slave” came in with nine. Some highlights and the full list.
Check out to the NOAA satellite pictures and a release from Mono County. Plus: Olympic hopefuls like Lindsey Jacobellis (video) are in Mammoth this weekend.
The Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles is poised to name as its new director Philippe Vergne, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York, according to Jori Finkel in the New York Times. The LAT, which laid off Finkel last year, doesn't have the story.
The position open now is for an on-air host of entertainment programing. As I understand the plan, the coverage will begin as a segment on "Take Two" then expand to a half-hour show.
A second round of layoffs at the Riverside Press-Enterprise since the purchase last fall by Freedom Communications includes back-office, newsroom, information technology and production workers. But new reporter hires will mean no net loss of newsroom head count. Plus an update on the LA Register.
Buck McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, won't go through another reelection battle this year, Politico reports. His district includes the Santa Clarita Valley area.
"Enjoy him, L.A.," writes ESPN's David Schoenfield. At 25, Kershaw is the first baseball player to make $30 million a season over the life of his contract.
Will SoCal lead the state Legislature? Plan for Grand Avenue gets Supes' OK. No charges for cop who shot at phantom Dorner. Lucy Jones to work with City Hall. Film and TV production has really fallen since 1996. That odd Eagle Rock meme. The Velaslavasay Panorama, two tweets of the day and more.
The former NBC 4 reporter will host a monthly show on the economic life of Southern California on PBS SoCal. The first episode airs Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m.
Perhaps THR should have chosen a little different wording for one of the click-bait links in its story on today's PCH brush fire in Pacific Palisades.
Dana Goodyear's latest piece for the New Yorker from Los Angeles is about Valley Fever, which is caused by a toxic fungus found in the California soil.
Subject line: "Energy Statement." Fake sender: PG&E. Actual email address: in Russia.
This native Angeleno has finally seen one too many palm trees. Occasionally we'll highlight one that stands out, even in this city of misplaced Washingtonia and Phoenix.
The city-owned SUV that Mayor Eric Garcetti rides around in struck and injured a female pedestrian at 2nd and Spring streets, outside the Los Angeles Times building. An LAPD driver was behind the wheel. The victim was taken to the hospital by LAFD ambulance.
Lots of things are popular but not cool - like the Super Bowl, or crystal meth.
Won't be able to post a Morning Buzz. But I do want to point out a familiar face in that 1994 photo of the quake-disheveled Daily News newsroom.
The Natural History Museum's entomology people give the intriguing details. "Some ant decapitating flies, like zombie hunters, aim for the head..."
Former LAPD official Jim McDonnell has endorsements from Chief Charlie Beck, DA Jackie Lacey, City Attorney Mike Feuer and Supervisor Don Knabe, among others. He is currently the chief of police in Long Beach.
Former Fullerton Police Department officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli were found not guilty of all charges in the 2011 beating death of homeless schizophrenic Kelly Thomas.
Rep. George Miller won't run. LA 2020 Report sounds a lot like a 1988 report. Doug McIntyre blames illegal immigration. Golden Globes now "the gold standard of awards shows." Meghan McCain joins TakePart Live. "Smogtown" goes Chinese. Neiman Marcus says its credit card data hacked too. Plus 80 years of the Warner Bros ranch, and more.
"Press Play" will debut Monday, Jan. 27 in the noon to 1 p.m. time slot. It will feature news and culture talk and be KCRW's first new daily program in more than a dozen years.
The Daily News package includes a dramatic shot of what the newsroom in Woodland Hills looked like when staffers tried to get in. The paper's executive editor recalls the day.
He wrote a column on Saturday taking retailers like Target to task for not doing a better job of safeguarding credit card data. Hours later, he found that his own American Express card was among the pilfered.
Number 5 on the New York Times Travel section's feature on 52 places to visit this year is Downtown Los Angeles. Right after Albania and before Namibia.
Coming up on three years since the catastrophic Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, officials say flatly there is no threat to food or beachgoers. No matter what you might see on Facebook.
We're swinging into a week full of earthquake conversation and recollection in LA media. January 17 will be the 20th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake.
BuzzFeed calls its listicle 40 Movies That Define Los Angeles, which is a big overreach. But it's a fun list nonetheless. A couple I would have added, inside.
Lindgren will relocate to Los Angeles for three months to oversee The Hollywood Reporter as acting editor while Janice Min and other key editors are working on a remake of Billboard.
It was the Clippers' biggest win ever over the Lakers. And really, it wasn't even that close.
Matthew Butcher worked at an Echo Park marijuana dispensary during a 2010 robbery. The robbers got away with $10,000 and a load of pot, but returned to shoot Butcher and...
Bob Chamberlin of the Los Angeles Times and Brad Graverson of the Daily Breeze use iPhones to document today's rededication of the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro.
Brown wants more money for quake maps. South LA left out of new Obama "Promise Zone." Roderick Wright trial begins. Dan Schnur to announce. Woman says she was sexually assaulted in the back of an LAPD car. Dodgers channel billboard goes up prematurely. Is is El Sereno or Rose Hills? Plus more.
Dave McCoy, the former city of Los Angeles hydrographer in the Sierras who founded the Mammoth Mountain ski area, is now 98 years old.
Diane Pucin has been covering sports media and tennis, as well as other sports, at the Los Angeles Times for a long time.
"I might run for something in the future, but I just don’t think I want another campaign now,” former controller and mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel said Thursday. Here's who is in.
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced this morning that Ron Nichols, the general manager of the city's Department of Water and Power for three years, will leave at the end of the month. A letter from Nichols said he was going for personal reasons.
The Miracle Mile office tower formerly named for Variety (and before that for People's Bank) is getting a new top-floor occupant: SBE, the lifestyle and hospitality company headed by Sam Nazarian.
Gov. Brown's flush-year budget. Galperin subpeonas Brian D'Arcy. Garcetti in Washington again. Blue Line to get a makeover. Bobby Shriver files Board of Supes fundraising committee. More jostling for sheriff. Loving jury duty. Gabriel Snyder leaves The Wire. Dodger Stadium renovation. And more.
The two amigos of local Mexican-flavored media are part of the team for the new Fox show "Bordertown," and darn happy to be there it sounds like.
Jones led Northrop for three decades and after retiring created Moraga Vineyards and its respected winery on a slope in Bel Air — a premium winery within the city limits of Los Angeles.
Encephalitis was the reason that Healy resigned last year after just nine months as LA's first official poet laureate. She is recovering.
Yasiel Puig tried to talk the Florida trooper out of taking him to jail on a reckless driving allegation back in December.
The figure skating and hockey cultures of the Westside are feverishly trying to avert the impending closure of the fixture on Sepulveda Boulevard where Wayne Gretzky practiced as an LA King (and before) and where generations of local kids learned to skate.
The California state geologist released revised earthquake fault maps today as required by state law — with possible big consequences for development in Hollywood and in the city of West Hollywood.
Maddux gets the most votes in the annual polling of baseball writers. Mike Piazza finishes fifth and misses election this year.
LA 2020 report sounds bleak notes. Baca mulled his options over the weekend. The school board votes for a special election. The Supes vote to put a cross on the county seal. Janice Min gets a promotion. And more.
With NBC moving from Burbank to Universal City, and "The Tonight Show" returning to New York, the website Pro Video Coalition.com is remembering the first studio built specifically for color television.
Sheriff Lee Baca said he is retiring for personal reasons and also to avoid the negative coverage of the Sheriff's Department in the upcoming campaign.
Jerry Brown and the high-speed train. Waxman again demands Tribune talk about LA Times. New LAFD class mostly white and male. Garcetti to announce Gatto reward. Female black cast member for SNL. LA TV anchor has a baby. Managing editor is a felon. Sea level rise a threat to LA. The Encounter restaurant closes at LAX. And much more.
Media say that Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca informed the county's elected supervisors and his key staff that he will announce on Tuesday. Gone by end of the month. Long Beach police chief Jim McDonnell reportedly looking at getting in the race.
Scientists on Sunday discovered twin calves that were conjoined. They did not survive. "It might be the first documented case of Siamese twin gray whales," blogs the outdoors writer Pete Thomas.
Whale-watcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger says that she and colleagues observed a baby gray whale 1.5 miles off Palos Verdes on Friday that may have been just born. "It was the coolest thing ever."
State lawmakers return to Sacramento. Sen. Kevin de Leon wants to lead the Senate. Napolitano on Edward Snowden. City Attorney Mike Feuer on jaywalking and more. Why film and TV production leaves LA. New Yorker profiles author Jennifer Weiner. LAT profiles AIDS activist Michael Weinstein. When a young colleague dies. Plus Don Forst, RIP. And more inside.
The blog LA Creek Freak may be closing in on the location of the natural drainage that used to flow — and maybe still does? — through what became the cities of Pasadena, San Marino and/or Alhambra.
Remember those disturbing photos last year of mysteriously malnourished sea lions at rescue centers? An alarming drop in sardine schools may be a big reason. There are all kinds of reasons to worry about the sardines, it turns out.
Skelton, the Los Angeles Times columnist in Sacramento, notes in his latest column that he had his first story in the paper 40 years ago — a front-pager about Ronald Reagan heading into the final year of his two terms as governor. "Unbeknown to most people outside this business, nothing is more important to a news reporter — short of accuracy — than landing on Page 1," he says.
NBC has posted a minute-long teaser for the Jimmy Fallon remake of "The Tonight Show," with footage of earlier hosts Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno.
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, the influential duo that became one of the first ten groups inducted into the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, died in Burbank at age 74. He had been battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Paul Walker autopsy, Mayor Garcetti's tech agenda, hit-and-run in the Palisades, a minor but media-observed earthquake, a mountain lion in Burbank and in praise of copy editors. Plus more.
Former Fox 11 anchor Carlos Amezcua will handle 3 to 6 p.m. on the new LA home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.
State hydrologists report today they found more bare ground than snow in the first Sierra snowpack measurement of the year. That's bad. Here's why no storms are getting through to California.
Architect Gerhard Becker pleaded no contest Friday to involuntary manslaughter in the 2011 death of Los Angeles city firefighter Glenn Allen, who died fighting a fire at Becker's home on Viewsite Drive in the Hollywood Hills.
It's another one of those days when the LA Times says to hell with even trying to make the website attractive or newsy.
Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, Thomas Keller and Bradley Ogden are among the chefs who will join in Las Vegas dinners to raise funds for Jacobson, who was hit by a car while walking in Henderson, Nevada.
Pamela J. Peters is a photographer from the Navajo reservation who discovered Kent Mackenzie's film "The Exiles" while she was at UCLA. Her work updates the presence of young Native Americans in LA. She talks to Lisa Napoli at KCRW and has a show downtown this weekend.
Bad news out of the WNBA about one of the league's cornerstone franchises. The league vows the team will be taken over by new owners.
Peter Dreier offers the New York City mayor some advice from the progressive side after eight years of Antonio Villaraigosa. Plus: Bill Bratton takes over (again) at the NYPD.
The lecturer in the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley covered Congress for the New York Times and helped train a generation of government reporters. She died on Dec. 29 after a long illness.
Sergio Garcia has waited four years to be told he can practice as a lawyer. He still cannot be paid under federal law.
The Hamburger Hamlet in Pasadena is scheduled to close for good tonight and flip into a Du-Par's. That leaves the Sherman Oaks location. Alison Martino has nice memories of the Hamlet.
The stats cover Dec. 13 to midnight on January 1 and include arrests by 100 different law enforcement agencies.
The Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica has declared "Bonus Pool Days!" because the weather here is so nice.
There were 105,000 fans at the outdoor NHL game on January 1 in the snow in Michigan. There will be half that many at the LA game — but we will be warmer.
The hike means that most workers with the Coalition of L.A. City Unions have received increases totaling 24.5 percent since 2007, the Times says.
The editorial board of the New York Times refers to Edward Snowden as a "whistle-blower' and says it is time that the Obama Administration offer him a safe way home.
Producers Remington Chase and Stefan Martirosian have an unusual and unsavory backstory they tried to get the LA Weekly not to publish. It didn't work.
Los Angeles News Group photographer Dean Musgrove mounted his iPhone in front of the Star-News building in Pasadena and shot the passing Rose Parade. Quickly.
Crime down again, building on earthquake faults, a 94-year-old mountain man — lots of stories crept into the news over the holiday period, plus media notes and job openings. Here's a little round-up to clear the decks for 2014.
New Year's Day is one of the holidays that pushes LA trash collection back one day — service returns to normal next week. Plus some tips on recycling your Christmas tree.
Clinton fundraises in LA
Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
The natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Performing arts with cheer
Donna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
