Villaraigosa talking gentrification on ABC7's "Vista LA."
LA Observed on Facebook
At the top
There was no shooting at LAX last night. Only "loud noises," according to the LAPD. Chaos, official and otherwise, ensued anyway. LA Times
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced the death Sunday of singing legend Juan Gabriel, and OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano writes on Facebook: "I didn't cry for Bowie or Prince, and I won't be that morose when the last Beatle (my favorite group of all time) is gone. But I'm weeping for JuanGa, a man with no modern peer. Here's my attempt at an obituary about him, along with a bunch of songs you can play."
It's "apparently" no longer a question of whether Tronc will sell to Gannett, but for how much, news industry analyst Ken Doctor writes for Politico. "A recent quiet renewed offer from Gannett – its third – at a higher price point has Tronc moving forward with a counteroffer....Of course, Ferro retaining the L.A. Times would upset the pricing and some of the scale economics of the Gannett buy."
ABC's 7 Vista LA aired a special show on gentrification in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and Orange counties. Former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is one of the quoted. "What some call progress, others call displacement," says the flackage. "No matter how you define gentrification, it changes how neighborhoods look and the lives of the people who live there." Trailer on Facebook
Destruction from Italy quake a grave warning for California's old brick buildings. LAT
Little people in Hollywood: Low Pay, Degrading Jobs and a Tragic Death, by Seth Abramovitch at the Hollywood Report.
Charles Osgood told viewers that "the rumors are true" -- he's retiring from "CBS Sunday Morning" on September 25.
Monday items
At 9 a.m., LA City Councilwoman Nury Martinez and LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green will announce over 200 arrests from a San Fernando Valley human trafficking task force... Seven Los Angeles County cities will go to court seeking an expedited hearing on a lawsuit filed Friday against Metro's half-cent county sales tax ballot measure Measure M... Los Angeles Community College District campuses and Santa Monica College begin their years... Kareem Abdul-Jabbar discusses his new book, "Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White," tonight in Santa Monica for Live Talks Los Angeles.
People are talking about...
Former LA Weekly managing editor Jill Stewart on what she's learned as director of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative campaign in The Planning Report.... Scientology has completed its makeover of the former KCET studio complex on Sunset Blvd... Why the New York Times sends you notifications for non-breaking news... NYT promo: "California Today coming next month: The news and stories that matter to Californians, weekday mornings. Sign up to get it by email." ... Ex-LAT reporter Garrett Therolf on the Katherine Boo series in the Washington Post that set him on the investigative reporting path... Fusion unveiled an investigative series on Kern County as an unhealthy place to live... The new drone rules: What journalists need to know... The St. Louis media misses the Rams.
Media and politics
Univision anchor Jorge Ramos tells Brian Stelter on CNN's Reliable Sources that standing up to Donald Trump is a journalist's duty... Radio host Laura Ingraham is helping Trump with debate preparation and may play the part of Hillary Clinton... Inside Facebook’s (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine. NYT Magazine... Breitbart Rises From Outlier to Potent Voice in Campaign, in the NYT.
Ashley Thomas is the new Interim Communications Director for City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson... KCET and Link TV announced the online and on-air launch of two key election initiatives designed to help voters this election season. KCET and Link TV will begin running public service announcements curated from a variety of organizations dedicated to encouraging Americans to vote this election season. Also, KCET’s online voter resource Ballot Brief has launched “Props in a Minute,” a series of one-minute video explanations for each of the 17 ballot measures to help voters understand the complex propositions on California’s ballot.
The Troncosphere
Tronc's South Florida Sun Sentinel has been accused of killing critical stories... Did you have trouble reaching LA Times reporters by email last week? Says a tipster: "I sent messages to 3 LAT city hall reporters asking them to confirm that their email works, and they ALL bounced 24 hours later with the following message: 'Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address. Mail server for latimes.com unreachable for too long."... Also a Malibu subscriber is incredulous that his print LA Times arrived three hours before his e-edition one day last week.... D. B. Hebbard of Talking New Media evaluates the latest Tronc-Gannett speculation... New York hedge fund HG Vora Capital Management increased its ownership stake in Tronc and may get involved in talks to sell the newspaper publisher.
Media people doing stuff
How SoCal Doctors Used Basketball to Rehabilitate Paralyzed Vets, by David Davis in Los Angeles Magazine... Author Nina Revoyr on the lack of diversity in the California backcountry... Rebecca Milzoff has been named senior editor, Features at Billboard... Former LA Times news editor Gary Metzker is taking over guidance of the journalism program at Golden West College in Huntington Beach... Bay Area journalist Warren Hinckle, the former editor of Ramparts magazine, died at age 77... Brentwood poet Max Ritvo died at age 25... The memorial service for Saul Halpert is Sunday, September 25th at 1 p.m. at Westwood Village Memorial Park.
Books and authors
Publishers Weekly calls Lisa Napoli's upcoming "Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away" "a must-read for anyone who loves a good love story behind a business success."... Seven questions for Darryl Holter of Chevalier’s Books. Also Maureen Palacios of Once Upon a Time... Bestsellers: "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is the fiction bestseller in SoCal independent bookstores, ahead of ""The Woman in Cabin 10" by Ruth Ware. The bestsellers in nonfiction are "The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo" by Amy Schumer and "American Heiress" by Jeffrey Toobin. More local bestsellers.
Press release of the week
"Which reporter would you like us to toss off a 10-story building? On Saturday, December 3, Community Senior Services would like to toss your favorite reporter OVER THE EDGE of the Ontario Airport Hotel…for charity of course!"
Planning ahead
The California Incline in Santa Monica reopens Thursday with a 9 a.m. press conference and open street access for pedestrians and cyclists from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Incline will open to cars at 5 p.m., in time for Labor Day weekend... The Atlantic will be back in Los Angeles Sept. 15 for Race + Justice: An Atlantic Summit at the Hudson Loft on South Hope Street downtown... Confronting the Shame of Los Angeles, a discussion of the homeless issue, with City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, Councilman Mike Bonin and LA Times editorial writer Carla Hall at the Westside Urban Forum, Sept. 16... Busy day: Hey! Ho! Let's Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk opens Sept. 16 at the Grammy Museum, and the Natural History Museum opens its re-designed Butterfly Pavilion.... On Sept. 21, Writers Bloc will present Maureen Dowd with Todd Purdum at the Writers Guild theater... The List Portraits by photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders come to the Annenberg Space for Photography on Sept. 24... PEN Center USA's 26th annual Literary Awards Festival is Sept. 28 at the Beverly Wilshire.
Place
The building booms of Beijing and Shanghai are being replicated in downtown Los Angeles. “When all these mega-projects are finished, they’re going to have to re-shoot the postcard picture of downtown L.A.,” said Mark Tarczynski, executive vice president for Colliers International’s L.A. office. LAT
Sunday was the annual ritual for weekend news desks: the day a small group of women, "joined by men," march topless in Venice and get media coverage. AP draws the duty.
The former Rocketdyne plant in Canoga Park is being razed for the next phase of the Warner Center development in the far west Valley.
Ridership on the Expo Line is still growing but the line is the worst in the system for lateness. LAT
The battle over LACMA's new design. KCRW
Visitation to Los Angles is expected to set a new record in 2016 with more than 46.5 million total visitors, an increase of 2.4% from the previous record-setting year, says L.A. Tourism.
Bullocks Wilshire / John and Donald Parkinson in Arch Daily
Meet the man who miniaturized LA's formerly iconic landmarks. KPCC
The decline and hopeful resurgence of Southern California’s abalone population
Residents of historic Chase Knolls apartments in Sherman Oaks challenge city on expansion
‘The smell is torture,’ San Fernando Valley residents say of Sunshine Canyon Landfill
South LA's long-gone Wrigley Field, home of the Los Angeles Angels for one American League season, makes a list of ballparks we miss. Also see: Baseball strikes out in Bakersfield after 75 years
LA Observed on Twitter
Selected tweets
If Politico is right, it suggests utter corruption of mission at tronc-owned South Fla. Sun-Sentinel. It reeks. https://t.co/sGhKPLgeQD
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) August 27, 2016
Yesterday, I ran into an actress I once did an in-depth interview with. So I said hello. She replied, "Sorry, do I know you?" RIP me.
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) August 28, 2016
Los Angeles, harness & feed stores at First & Broadway, 1886: #USC pic.twitter.com/7Vm9vzCtQX
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) August 29, 2016
Gearing up for #CBS2 news at 11 with @Patharveynews in for @JackieJohnsonLA Check out our forecast on @CBSLA ☀️👍 pic.twitter.com/KeElUUa3jw
— Evelyn Taft (@EvelynTaft) August 27, 2016