Some of the email I receive that clarifies or adds to a post will be shared here. If you don't want your email posted, tell me. It will run under your name, and unless you ask that I leave it out, with your email address. Send email here.

If I'm sarcastic or offensive, by all means give it back to me. Otherwise, please be civil, respect your audience and remain patient, since I won't be adding feedback every day. If I and the L.A. Observed audience don't know you, help us out and include a little about yourself.

Dennis Mosher responds to LAT staffer Eric Slater's apology email about his story on Cal State Chico's hazing issues:

Eric Slater's apology reminds me more than anything of the scene in the movie "Patton" -- the apology for the soldier slapping incident.

In the scene, George C. Scott tries to justify his motives, refers to the slappee as a "coward", and inserts the word "apology" at the end, in the apparent belief that mentioning the word would make his speech an apology.

A real apology would contain an admission of wrong doing, wouldn't it? A mistake? A judgment lapse? A deliberate misdeed (rare)?

At least we know Slater didn't make up a source. That's good. But he gives no clue as to what he did that he felt warranted an apology. Interesting how Slater mentions his braving tracer bullets in Afghanistan. What was the relevance to this issue? Let me guess, "Why the hair-splitting over this unimportant, hick town college story? I've covered war -- why were my talents wasted in Chico."

The Times is one of our great newspapers, and I want it to prosper. But with this embarrassment coming shortly after David Shaw's arrogant challenge to the blogsphere, the paper has put bullseye on its back with its most severe critics primed to take the next shot.

Dennis Mosher

The Slater post is here.

Alexandra E. Pollyea writes regarding L.A. for foodies:

Yeah, OK, foodie girl's got the bbq angle down but here's the rest of the picture:

1. Local jazz bands is the understatement. They are sometimes local but not always, and always top of the line; awesome bands that you would pay a cover for that here play for free! My friend Dennis Sullivan books them and does much of the organizing of the events as a labor of love because he believes in the cause.

2. What cause? Yes, something else not included in the post. The whole point of the diner is not to provide grub for foodies et al but as a part of the New Directions program, established to give veterans who've been on the skids a chance to jump start their lives, including learning job skills like...cooking, and catering. Hire them for your holiday parties, people!

Best,
A

Alexandra E. Pollyea is Director of Public Relations & Marketing at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

Steve Hodel responds to Black Dahlia redux:

Dear Kevin:

First, congratulations on your website. I applaud your professionalism in presenting Angelenos (and the rest of the world) with a website that encourages thoughtful examination of our city's past, as well as monitoring this great city's vital signs, by taking a daily read of our pulse and temperature.

I would like to address a couple of L.A. Observations, in regards to recent posts. One made by you, and another, by a reader.

In your Black Dahlia redux post, you refer to the L.A. Times Magazine story, by Paul Teetor, as leaving me "personally devastated." That is inaccurate. Teetor used the word "devastating" as his own adjective to describe Gary Indiana's 2003 review of my book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. "Devastated" never came from me. If I, or any writer, empowered book reviewers to that degree, we would all be in serious caca.

In Dahlia disputed, a response to your post, the writer suggests that perhaps L.A. County Head Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay might want to re-evaluate his eighteen-month old endorsement where he stated, "The most haunting murder mystery in Los Angeles County during the twentieth century [Black Dahlia] has finally been solved in the twenty-first century." She states, "Kay would hardly be the only public official having trouble admitting he made a mistake these days." To clarify his present position, on November 27, 2004, Head D.D.A. Steve Kay, in a CBS nationally televised interview, made it clear that he is more convinced than ever that the case is solved, and believes that based on the current facts and evidence, were a jury trial held today, he would convict Dr. George Hodel of at least two of the crimes. [Black Dahlia and Red Lipstick murders]

The writer then goes on to ask the question, "I'd also like to know how George Hodel managed to base the posing of the Black Dahlia's body on a then little known photograph that he almost surely could not have seen prior to 1947." I would refer your readers to my own website, blackdahliaavenger.com, in the FAQ section, where I try to address many of these commonly asked questions. As to her question, the answer is quite simple. She refers to Man Ray's 1934 photograph of The Minotaur. This famous photograph was in fact published many times in Surrealist journals and art brochures from the 1930s, both in France and here in the United States. My father subscribed to a number of these journals and attended many of the local showings including those of his personal friend, Man Ray, here in Los Angeles in the early 1940s.

Keep up the excellent work on your website! A real service to our city.

Steve Hodel

Steve Hodel is a retired LAPD homicide detective and the author of Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder.

From Elizabeth Reynolds regarding Black Dahlia Redux:

First, Steven Kay is not a new convert to Hodel's case. Kay made a laudatory contribution to Hodel's book before it was published and helped promote it when it came out, over a year and a half ago. Kay would hardly be the only public official having trouble admitting he made a mistake these days. And what makes you think it's true that Man Ray attended "wild sex parties" at the Hodel home? Steve Hodel's source for that is Joe Barrett, the guy who says he talked to Man Ray on the very day the artist fled the country in the winter of 1949/1950, to escape justice for his own unspecified involvement in George Hodel's evil deeds. Too bad Man Ray actually lived in LA until 1951, as any biographical overview of the man will tell you.

I'd also like to know how George Hodel managed to base the posing of the Black Dahlia's body on a then little-known Man Ray photograph that he almost surely could not have seen prior to 1947. Man Ray couldn't have shown it to him, because it was still stashed away in Paris with the rest of his stuff. Moreover, why should we believe anything Steve Hodel says after we've caught him in so many whoppers? Gary Indiana got it right. Hodel's book is a mass of revolting, meretricious twaddle and an extended exercises in litigation-proof slander.

Reynolds' email already appeared on L.A. Observed but is re-posted here for context.