LA Observed Notes: Bookstore stays open, NPR pact

The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre reopened Friday after a multi-year upgrade of the Cahuenga Pass venue. Photo: Tom Bonner

Our occasional roundup of news and notes from media sources and our in-box. Between posts, keep up with LA Observed on Twitter — along with the feed's 24,420 followers.

At the top

Pomona bookstore reopens after tragedy: Dwain Kaiser, 69, the owner of Magic Door IV Used Books in downtown Pomona, was murdered in his apartment above the store. Instead of immediately closing the doors for good, his wife JoAnn Kaiser has opened to sell the inventory at 30 percent off. "The plan is to get the books he loved to the people who want them, who need them," Kaiser says. Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen is a longtime customer.

Hollywood obituaries: Martin Landau, 89, won the best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood" and was nominated for his work in "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." George Romero, 77, made "Night of the Living Dead” in 1968 and "created the modern zombie genre."

NPR and staff reach deal: National Public Radio and SAG/AFTRA, which represents more than 400 on-air and off-air workers, said Sunday they have a tentative three-year agreement. No more strike talk.

Media notes

A new ABC-Washington Post poll shows Donald Trump to be the most low-rated new president since polls began. Trump tweeted to his base that the numbers look pretty good and that this poll was among the most inaccurate during the campaign, but actually the ABC-Post poll was among the best on the election. Who are you going to believe? The most dishonest national political figure of our lifetimes or media outfits whose entire existence rests solely on getting things as right as possible.

Two Sunday columns on Trump continuing to shout "fake news" even when he knows it's right on. The Washington Post's Margaret Sullivan writes: "Shouldn’t President Trump’s 'fake news' defense be dead by now?" No, because it works with Trump’s base and with some independents. Press critic Jay Rosen: "His campaign to discredit the press is a permanent feature of Trump’s political style. It’s all they know. They aren’t prepared for anything else."

Fox News anchor Shep Smith shakes his head at "lie after lie" from the White House on Russia and wonders what will happen when the true believers wake up to reality: "There are still people out there who believe we’re making it up. And one day they’re gonna realize we're not."

Peter Beinart in the Atlantic: Tucker Carlson Is Doing Something Extraordinary; "He is offering a glimpse into what Fox News would look like as an intellectually interesting network."

Los Angeles Magazine's new Michigan-centric owner probably has a policy requiring all top job openings to be widely posted. Let's hope they aren't actually taking applications off Journalism Jobs for a new publisher. "Magazine publishing and print experience is a must." You don't say!... The magazine's new Best of LA issue is out, and editor-in-chief Matthew Segal in his opener hails cross-city explorations: "those kinds of outings [that] make us true Angelenos rather than Los Felizians or Van Nuysians; you go, you conquer, you connect."

KPCC has added the New Yorker Radio Hour to its Saturday lineup at 10 a.m. KPCC promo-ed the addition by having Larry Mantle chat on "AirTalk" with David Remnick, the magazine's editor who hosts the hour. The Saturday noon slot formerly occupied by "Off-Ramp" is now held by an hour-long reprise of "Film Week." KPCC also added "On The Media" on Sundays at 10 a.m.

HuffPost editors will go on a seven-week, 23-city bus tour to learn about Middle America. Or they could just hire journalists from Middle America.

Tronc, Inc. named Marisa Kollias as Vice President of Corporate Communications, based in Chicago. She will report to CEO Justin Dearborn.

Quentin Tarantino’s Manson Murders Project Would Be a Radical Change of Pace, writes Anne Thompson at IndieWire.

Hollywood's Top 25 Power Lunch Spots for 2017 from THR. And a bonus: What to Eat and Where to Sit at Studio Executive Commissaries.

Here's the full list of Emmy Award nominees, in case you missed it.

Because Fox Sports has shifted its website to all-video, ace baseball columnist Ken Rosenthal is looking for a new home for his written news stories and notes columns.

Media obits

Bill Smith, the retired news veteran at KTTV Channel 11 and KTLA Channel 5, died last week at age 74. His colleague Sam Rubin remembered Smith in the KTLA Morning News clip above. Sam name-checks "Metro News-Metro News," the irreverent news show that Channel 11 aired after "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" in the 1970s. Smith was co-anchor with Chuck Ashman. He also had been news director and Dick Whittington's producer at KGIL radio, on the air with Wink Martindale at KABC radio, and at KNXT and the Sunland-Tujunga Record-Ledger. Here's a Deadline obit and the family's obit.

Several Los Angeles Times staffers are mentioned or quoted in the paper's obituary last week for Tenny Tatusian, the deputy editor of LATimes.com who died at 47 after a battle with melanoma. Tatusian had also worked at the Register and CNN. "Tenny was a warmhearted colleague, an outstanding journalist and, as we all know, a sensational cook," editor-publisher Davan Maharaj said in a newsroom note.

Tatusian is one of the subjects in a sobering Register story: 4 Southern California journalists fell to cancer in recent weeks.

Media people doing stuff

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough writes in the Washington Post that he's no longer in the GOP: "I did not leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left its senses."... Warren Olney writes for the LA Times op-ed page that Trump can thank the 'fake media' for his presidency... Former Supervisor and City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky co-bylined an LA Times op-ed A Muslim and a Jew urge the Supreme Court to strike down the Muslim ban... David Kipen, also in the LAT but in Arts & Books, on Ernest Hemingway's long-lost Los Angeles visit, 80 years ago this week... Sacramento Bee opinion editor Shawn Hubler columnizes Is Texas safe for my California kid?... In his sports media column, Tom Hoffarth chats with former Daily News sports colleague Lisa Nehus Saxon... Sports columnist Tim Kawakami tweeted he's leaving the San Jose Mercury after 17 years "for an exciting new venture," believed to be The Athletic... Former LA Weekly publisher Michael Sigman is out with his History of the Music Biz Volume 2... Filmmaker Kelly Candaele writes that My Mother the Feminist Would Never Drop a Ball on Purpose... Nancy Rivera Brooks, a longtime assistant Business editor at the LA Times, was inducted in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists hall of fame... KTLA morning anchor Megan Henderson downsized to a rented townhouse and got a story in the LA Times... This year's First Amendment Awards from the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation were judged by LA Times editor-publisher Davan Maharaj and UC Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky. The awards are presented August 7 at the Playboy Mansion.

Book note: Luis Fuerte, the longtime photographer for Huell Howser, will sign his new book, "Louie, Take A Look At This!," at Pink's Hot Dogs on Thursday from 12 to 2 p.m.

Following up: New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck serves as guest curator for a series of dance performances this month at the Music Center. We've posted about her before. Since her last work in LA, she and dancer-husband Robert Fairchildhave announced that they have split up.

Job opening of the week: Editor, Wine, Spirits, and Cigars for the Robb Report

Oops

Good place to put the Hot Property house ad, LA Times.

Politics notes

Why the darkest chapters for both Villaraigosa and Newsom may never surface during their gubernatorial campaigns: The LAT's Seema Mehta examines the sticky campaign crossover for the Democratic candidates for governor. Sean Clegg, Newsom's top strategist, was "Villaraigosa’s deputy mayor in 2007 when the then-Los Angeles mayor and his wife Corina separated after two decades of marriage. Soon after the news came out, Villaraigosa revealed that the cause of the split was his relationship with Telemundo reporter Mirthala Salinas, who covered the mayor at City Hall. It was his second acknowledged extramarital affair." Villaraigosa's top strategist, Eric Jaye, "was at Newsom’s side when the mayor disclosed a sexual relationship...with his appointments secretary. She was the wife of Alex Tourk, who was Newsom’s deputy chief of staff and campaign manager until he learned of the affair. Jaye and Tourk are close friends." Also this: "Political consultants sign nondisclosure agreements, so Jaye and Clegg can’t share any secrets they learned when they worked for Newsom and Villaraigosa."

Meanwhile, State Treasurer John Chiang will speak this week at Comic-Con in San Diego

Caitlyn Jenner told a radio show that she will decide in the next six months whether to run for U.S. Senate. Jenner is a Republican and a Trump supporter.

With the leap to a $125,000 annual salary, paying them more than teachers and most school principals, LA Unified school board members are now full-time local officials occupying a political plum job. Not the part-time governing board that was the traditional practice here.

Rich Hasen, the UC Irvine law and political science professor and author of “The Voting Wars: From Florida 2000 to the Next Election Meltdown,” argues in a New York Times op-ed that between cyber attacks, Russian interference and Republican efforts in many states to make it harder for Americans to vote, "the strength and integrity of the American electoral process are under tremendous strain, but the worst may be yet to come." Also "White House releases sensitive personal information of voters worried about their sensitive personal information," from Hasen's Election Law Blog.

Here’s the most detailed visual of the California budget we know of—come get lost in it - CalMatters

Sorry, L.A. Ranks as One of America's "Worst-Run Cities" - LA Weekly

L.A. took their water and land a century ago. Now the Owens Valley is fighting back - LA Times

Claims of harassment, threats have embroiled the LA community college board - Daily News

Mar Vista council votes to support Venice Boulevard lane reduction—for now - Curbed LA

Place

Venice Beach Is a Hot Place to Live, So Why Is Its Housing Supply Shrinking? - Wall Street Journal

Earthquake fault maps for Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and other Westside areas could bring development restrictions - LA Times

66-story Downtown LA tower plans to open in 2023 - Curbed LA

Academy Museum is Getting Ready for its Iconic Sphere - Urbanize LA

Pasadena installing fences to deter suicide attempts from Colorado Street Bridge - Star-News

USC's stewardship of LA's historic Coliseum includes renting it out for odd golf events - Daily News

Rape Choreography Makes Films Safer, But Still Takes a Toll on Cast and Crew - LA Weekly

Disney unveils model of Star Wars theme park which is set to open in 2019 - DesignBoom

5 Things You Didn’t Know about L.A.’s Iconic Lifeguard Towers - Los Angeles Magazine

Greatest Movie Props of All Time: From Lightsabers to Wilson - Thrillist

Selected tweets

dumbest tweet of the summer. https://t.co/FXce4jtf0j

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) July 15, 2017

 

If you worked at CNN, say, this would end your career. At Fox, it is your Monday. https://t.co/HJUwMXQGSu

— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 12, 2017

 

This is like the plot of house of cards with the characters from Veep.

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 11, 2017

 

Angels Flight cars getting new paint job in preparation for reopening. #dtla #KCRW pic.twitter.com/BYETvQF6qo

— Saul Gonzalez (@SaulKCRW) July 13, 2017

 

Metallica comes to town on Tuesday but I have to miss it to go on my stupid honeymoon.

— Adam Kovac (@AdamJKovac) July 15, 2017

 

SELFIE FAIL: Woman knocks down $200K worth of art as she poses for selfie at LA exhibit https://t.co/xLUToQOAGW pic.twitter.com/gZdUiBlwRU

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 14, 2017

 

Pretty grim auto accident at Beverly Bl. & Highland Av. this morning. # HancockPark #RanchoLaBrea pic.twitter.com/UVrRJyjM5D

— Zev Yaroslavsky (@ZevYaroslavsky) July 13, 2017