The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were towns that were annexed by the growing city. There are also several independent cities in and around Los Angeles, but they are popularly grouped with the city of Los Angeles, either due to being completely engulfed as enclaves by Los Angeles, or lying within its immediate vicinity. Generally, the city is divided into the following areas: Downtown Los Angeles, Northeast - including Highland Park and Eagle Rock areas, the Eastside, South Los Angeles (still often colloquially referred to as South Central by locals), the Harbor Area, Hollywood, Wilshire, the Westside, and the San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys.

Some well-known communities of Los Angeles include West Adams, Watts, Venice Beach, the Downtown Financial District, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Koreatown, Westwood and the more affluent areas of Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Pacific Palisades, and Brentwood.

[edit] Landmarks

Important landmarks in Los Angeles include Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kodak Theatre, Griffith Observatory, Getty Center, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Capitol Records Tower, Los Angeles City Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Watts Towers, Staples Center, Dodger Stadium and La Placita Olvera/Olvera Street.

Downtown Los Angeles

Skyline of downtown Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The area features many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities, a variety of skyscrapers and associated large multinational corporations and an array of public art, unique shopping opportunities and the hub of the city's freeway and public transportation networks.

Downtown Los Angeles is generally thought to be bounded by the Los Angeles River on the east, the U.S. Route 101 to the north, the 10 Santa Monica Freeway on the south and the 110 Harbor Freeway on the west; however, some sources including the Los Angeles Downtown News and Los Angeles Times[1], extend the area past the traditional boundary to include the University Park (encompassing the University of Southern California (USC) and Exposition Park, just south of the 10 Freeway) and Central City West (just west of the 110 Freeway) neighborhoods as a part of the downtown map. Downtown Los Angeles is currently undergoing a transformation, with many historic buildings being converted into lofts, several retail businesses and restaurants opening, many new high-rise residential buildings being built and slated to be built, and with two star projects being built: L.A. Live and the Grand Avenue Project.

Bunker Hill as seen from Los Angeles City Hall

History

U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles is the tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi River. (1,018 ft/310 m)

Downtown Los Angeles was a premier attraction of the county and city. In terms of glamour particular during the middle 20th century, it was second only to Hollywood. The streets were home to the prime movers and shakers of Southern California with ornate and decorative banks, corporate headquarters, intermingled with major high department stores, restaurants, and boutiques all interspaced with family neighborhoods and diners.

Despite the common misconception that the city's sprawl is a product of the automobile and an immense freeway system, Los Angeles' famous "76 cities in search of a downtown" is due primarily to trains and iron rails, not cars and concrete. Long before the middle class could afford the luxury of private car ownership; long before the first shovel of dirt was turned for its first freeway, Los Angeles was a sprawling city.[citation needed]

By 1920, the city's private - and later - municipal rail lines were among the most far-flung and most comprehensive in the world. By that year, helped along by building height limits, relatively flat terrain, a steady influx of residents, and some very aggressive land developers, the city's metropolitan area was immense. Rail lines connected 4 counties with well over 1000 miles of track.[citation needed]

So, it was during the booming 1920s, when private automobiles moved from the play things of the rich to the work horses of the middle classes, the already sprawling Los Angeles was ripe for even further expansion. Prior to that time, most commuters, shoppers and theater-goers used streetcars and interurbans for transportation. With the automobile, those same (already far-flung) commuters, shoppers and theater-goers could hop in their cars and drive the growing network of streets and boulevards to their destinations. Witness the growth of department stores and specialty shops along the famous Wilshire Boulevard. By 1924, rail transit use had hit its peak. In the already-sprawling Los Angeles, the car was now king. The death of the city's rail system was not caused by some sinister collusion of car makers, tire makers and oil companies. The system was already dying - though there's probably some truth to the accusation that the movers and shakers in auto, tire and oil industries may have, in the late 1940s, added the final nails to rail's coffin.[citation needed]

Downtown's corporate headquarters also slowly dispersed to outer areas or dissolved in the de-industrialization of the age. Banks and some financial institutions remained but as the population left the central core toward cheaper, newer housing in the suburbs, demographics also changed. Desegregation of the school districts proved the final end for the remaining white middle classes who soon fled to the suburbs.

With crime, vagrancy, and gang activity increasing,[citation needed] the remaining major upscale department stores shuttered in the 1970s and 1980s, while a few moved into newer more modern office, hotel and shopping complexes in the Financial District. Macy's Plaza and Robinsons-May (now closed and operating as a second Macy's store) are just two examples.

With the movement of the city's commercial center westward, downtown Los Angeles was devoid of much nightlife from the 1950s until the residential population increase of recent years. What little nightlife existed was concentrated in Little Tokyo.

However, some corporations retained their headquarters in the downtown area while new service-oriented institutions replaced the industrial- and agricultural-oriented ones which preceded them, thereby keeping downtown Los Angeles from sinking into obscurity. In 1999, the Los Angeles City Council passed an adaptive reuse ordinance, making it easier for developers to convert vacant office and commercial buildings (many of which were the lavish headquarters buildings of banks and other financial institutions in the early part of the Twentieth Century) into renovated lofts and well-secured luxury apartment complexes. Ironically, among those moving into these buildings were workers fed up with the city's notorious traffic commuting to and from the suburbs which was the result of the planning of the '50s that precipitated urban flight in the first place. Another sign of the fledgling Downtown renaissance is that the Ralphs supermarket chain opened a new store in Downtown in late July 2007. Ralphs had its first store in Downtown in the late 1800s and closed its doors in Downtown in the 1950s as the suburbs grew.

The residential population of Downtown LA has boomed since 2005, with a 20% jump in two years (2005-07) to 28,878 residents.[2] This number surpassed previous estimates and, with units under construction, pushes the estimated Downtown population to more than 40,000 by the end of 2008 instead of 2015, the previous target milestone.

However, reflective of the growing outsourcing of service jobs and the continued dearth of retail shopping customers with disposable income sufficient to maintain merchants, at the same time, the number of jobs in the downtown area has dropped to 418,000 in 2005, down from a high of 605,000 in 1995. [2] On August 7, 2007, the Los Angeles City Council approved sweeping changes in zoning rules for the downtown area and including a corridor extending from Downtown south along Figueroa Street to Exposition Park and USC.[1] Strongly advocated by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the changes allow larger and more dense developments downtown; developers who reserve 15% of their units for low-income residents are now exempt from some open-space requirements and can make their buildings 35% larger than current zoning codes allow.[1]

[edit] Subdistricts

Union Station.

Arts District Civic Center Gallery Row Fashion District Financial District Toy District Jewelry District Bunker Hill Chinatown South Park Old Bank District Historic Core Skid Row Central City West Little Tokyo [edit] Attractions

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bunker Hill

Some of the buildings of the Downtown core date from the early 1900s, with the topmost floors of most of the office buildings at mostly 13 stories. Between 1917 and 1957, a city ordinance capped building heights at 150 feet, leading to an unusually homogenous skyline. This has been mistakenly said to be due to earthquakes, but it was done to keep a uniform height in the area and to prevent Manhattan style congestion. However, starting in the 1950's developers started either ignoring the ordinances, challenging them in court, or receiving exemptions of dubious legality from the city commissioners. Thus, while the Los Angeles City Hall was the tallest building for decades at 454 ft., that ended with the development of the 18 Story California Bank Building at 600 S. Spring. That building is now being converted into condos. The unique Bradbury building, built in 1893, has a courtyard with spectacular wrought iron staircases and railings, and a glass and iron ceiling over the spacious courtyard. The Grand Central Market captures an early 1900s feel, with customs in distinct contrast to the current supermarkets of the U.S.

On the northeast edge of Downtown, the bustling Union Station is an example of the massive buildings, on a heroic scale, that served a vanished rail passenger market until the 1990s when a subway line (operated by the MTA) and six commuter rail lines (operated by Metrolink) began taking passengers there. The recent opening of Gold Line light rail at Union Station serves Chinatown, the northeast districts of Los Angeles, the city of South Pasadena, and Pasadena. Currently under construction, the eastern extension of the Gold Line will continue through Union Station serving Little Tokyo, the east side districts of Los Angeles, and terminate in East Los Angeles (an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.) Plans are moving forward to extend the Gold Line east of Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley, but have yet to secure funding. Adjacent to Union Station is the historic center of the city, enshrined for local or tourist consumption as Olvera Street. Just one block away is the edge of Chinatown.

Up the hill from Union Station are the Civic Center buildings devoted to federal, state and city administration, including the Parker Center (LAPD headquarters) and City Hall. The main office of the Los Angeles Times is also in this corner of the downtown. When it first opened in 1935, it was the tallest building West of the Mississippi to house a newspaper press. This area of downtown is also home to the Music Center, a complex of music and theatrical halls which imitates the architecture of New York's Lincoln Center. In 2003 the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened to increase the number of major theaters at the Music Center to four. Also in the building is the smaller REDCAT theater and art studio. Near the Music Center are the Museum of Contemporary Art, or MOCA, and the Colburn school of performing arts. Down the hill, Little Tokyo still contains businesses with Japanese roots. Some of the buildings and sidewalks date back to the 1800s and still include hitching posts for horses. Little Tokyo also contains the Japanese American National Museum and another Museum of Contemporary Art campus.

South of Bunker Hill is the Library Tower, now known as the U.S. Bank Tower. At 310 m (1018 ft), it is the seventh tallest building in the United States, and the tallest building between Chicago and Auckland. Built in 1989, it was initially called Library Tower because the purchase of the air rights from the Los Angeles Central Library, located across the street, were used to allow a building of such height to be built. The money went towards expanding and renovating the library, which had suffered two arson fires in 1986. The library itself was built in 1926.

The South Park area of town includes the Los Angeles Convention Center and Staples Center. Many lofts and apartments are being built in this area, which is seeing a much needed revival.

The Old Bank District is the center of the loft movement downtown. A number of developers have purchased old buildings and are converting them into residential lofts.

Gallery Row is a creative district in the Downtown Historic Core. Starting with 3 art galleries in 2004, Gallery Row now claims 17 art galleries in 2005.

City West is a portion West of the Harbor Freeway (110) that is growing with new towering condos and luxury apartment complexes. [edit] Skyline

Main article: Skyscrapers in Los Angeles

As the civic center and county seat, downtown Los Angeles is home to many courthouses and law offices.

John Ferraro Building, Bunker Hill

Despite its relative decentralization, Los Angeles has one of the largest skylines in the United States, and its development has continued in recent times. The skyline has seen rapid growth due to improvements in building standards, which has made some buildings highly earthquake-resistant. Many of the new skyscrapers are housing, especially in Downtown--what the office tower rush in the 1970s and 1980s added to the skyline is now occurring again in the form of residential construction. Some current and upcoming examples of skyscraper construction include:

Grand Avenue Project LA Live South, a tri-tower complex (13-, 19-, and 23-story towers) called Elleven, Luma, and Evo at the north- west block from 11th and Grand to 12th and Grand. Metropolis, a mixed-use tri-tower (38, 47, and 52 stories, respectively) at Francisco and 9th Street. Park Fifth Residential Towers.

This is a brief list, and there are many more. The recent "rise" of South Park, the low-rise district of downtown south of Bunker Hill (roughly south of 8th Street and north of the Santa Monica Freeway), is bringing skyscrapers that will be high enough in quantity and height to create an extended downtown skyline within a few years from 2005. Due to numerous films, television, and music videos that are shot in Los Angeles and uses downtown Los Angeles as the backdrop, the Los Angeles skyline is probably one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.

The skyline of Los Angeles consists of several different clusters of high-rise buildings; most of these clusters are not directly connected to each other. Century City and the parts of Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood together form a rather busy skyline that is often confused with the downtown skyline.

[edit] Building Height Limits: 1904-1957

The first height limit ordnance in Los Angeles was enacted following the completion of the 13 story Continental Building, located at the southeast corner of 4th and Spring Streets (presently converted to use as lofts by developer Tom Gilmore). The purpose of the height limit was to limit the density of the city. There was great hostility to skyscrapers in many cities in these years, mainly due to the congestion they could bring to the streets, and height limit ordinances were a common way of dealing with the problem. In 1911, the city passed an updated height limit ordinance, establishing a specific limit of 150 feet. Exceptions were granted for decorative towers such as those later built on the now-demolished Richfield building and the still-extant Eastern-Columbia Building.

Though there is a common belief that the limits were imposed due to the risk of earthquakes, it is notable that the first limit was imposed in 1904, two years before the San Francisco earthquake, and that even after that seismic event it was long believed in Los Angeles that Southern California (despite historic evidence to the contrary) was not subject to such violent temblors. The motivation behind height limits was primarily to limit congestion in the city.

It is also notable that building height limits were first imposed long before the 1928 City Hall was built, so the story that they were enacted in order to keep the City Hall the tallest building in town are also mere legends. The 1911 ordinance was repealed in 1957. The first private building to exceed the old limit was the 18 story California Bank Building, located at the southeast corner of 6th and Spring Streets in Downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] Emergency services

[edit] Fire services

The Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 9 (Central City) and Station 3 (Civic Center/Bunker Hill), serving Downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] Police services

The Los Angeles Police Department Central Community Police Station serves the neighborhood [1].

[edit] Education

Downtown is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Belmont High School and Miguel Contreras Learning Complex jointly serve a portion of Downtown.

Santee Education Complex serves another portion of Downtown.

Downtown Magnets High School is serves the entire county, as students are bussed in from many different places. It is the closest to the center of Downtown LA, with students being able to walk to the Richard Riordan Los Angeles Central Library, the third largest public library in the country, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels among many other landmarks.

[edit] Pop culture

Downtown Los Angeles is one of the most popular film locations in the world because of its proximity to the motion picture and television production industry. Because it looks like a typical North American city, for audiences across the globe it is both instantly recognizable and somewhat generic at the same. Movie makers have been able to make downtown L.A. look like just about any other city in any historical era. For example, on streets with older buildings developed in the early part of the 20th Century, downtown is often a stand-in for old New York. On other streets with modern developments, downtown has been the backdrop for stories taking place in the future. It is also a very popular location for filming television commercials, especially for cars.

The 1971 film, The Omega Man is set in Downtown Los Angeles after a biological war leaves a sole human survivor. Figueroa Blvd., Wilshire Blvd., Third Street, Broadway and Eighth Street are prominently shown, along with several prominent towers under construction, notably the ARCO Towers, AON Tower, and the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Courts building. In the film Collateral downtown is the main setting for the film with a climactic car crash that happens on Figueroa street. In the film The Day After Tomorrow downtown is destroyed by an F5 tornado while other tornadoes destroyed the rest of the city. Also one of Downtown's buildings, the 611 Place, is seen in the New York Skyline later in the movie. In the film Independence Day the US Bank tower is destroyed, along with the rest of downtown Los Angeles by an Alien invasion. In Power Rangers: Wild Force, Animarium is setting by downtown Los Angeles. In the film Transformers a climactic battle is waged between the Autobots and the Decepticons in a fictional city mostly portrayed by recognizable Los Angeles streets and buildings, with some scenes shot in Detroit. In the film Dragon Wars, Dragons destroy downtown Los Angeles, and one dragon hangs onto US Bank Tower. In the video game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas an area of the city Los Santos is based on Downtown Los Angeles. In the music video A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton, she is seen performing on her piano through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles in the latter part of the video. The film Blade Runner is set entirely in and around Downtown Los Angeles, although its futuristic vision bares almost no resmbllence to the modern Los Angeles.

Highland Park, Los Angeles, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •

Highland Park is a district of North East Los Angeles. It includes the Garvanza and San Pasqual neighborhoods, and some would argue, Mt. Washington.

[edit] Geography and Transportation

Highland Park is located along the Arroyo Seco. It is situated within what was once Rancho San Rafael of the Spanish / Mexican era. Its boundaries are roughly the Pasadena Freeway (CA-110) and the city limits of South Pasadena on the southeast, the city limits of Pasadena on the east, Oak Grove Drive on the north, and Avenue 50/51 on the west. The district's neighbors include Mt. Washington on the southwest, Montecito Heights on the south, Hermon and Monterey Hills on the southeast, South Pasadena on the east, Pasadena on the northeast, Eagle Rock on the north, and Glassell Park on the west. Primary thoroughfares include York Boulevard, Avenues 50, 54, and 64, Monte Vista Street, and Figueroa Street. Highland Park is served by the Gold Line, a light rail system that largely runs at street grade parallel to Figueroa Street until turning east into South Pasadena at Avenue 61. The district's ZIP code is 90042.

A look from Highland Park to Downtown. Taken from Ave 65 & Elder torwards Figueroa & York. You can see the 99cent store sign.

[edit] The neighborhood

One of the oldest settled areas of Los Angeles, Highland Park is also one of the most scenic due to its architecture and location between the Mt. Washington hills, the San Rafael hills and the Monterey Hills, Los Angeles, California. There are large sprawling parks in the area, including the Arroyo Seco Park and the Ernest E. Debs Regional Park. The Southwest Museum , with one of the largest and most significant collections of Native American artifacts in the country, is located in adjacent Mt. Washington. The light rail Metro Gold Line from Union Station to Pasadena (traversing all of Highland Park) is one of the most enjoyable and dynamic public transportation journeys in the city, because of views offered by the parks, hills and valleys along the meandering route.

Despite these advantages, Highland Park experienced an exodus of white residents beginning with the development of Mid-Wilshire district beginning in the 1920s. By the mid 1960s, it was becoming a largely Latino enclave as the phenomenon of white flight, coupled with relentless over-development, caused land prices to drop. By the mid 1970s, it had emerged as a predominantly Latino area. But in keeping with its tradition of being a haven for immigrants, the shift in demographics never fully homogenized as it did in East L.A., leaving room for many races and ethnicities to find a place in Highland Park. Indeed, some residents find the mix of people to be one of the most appealing aspects of the community.

During the 1950s and continuing into the 1960s, many of Highland Park's grandest and oldest homes were razed. Witness, for example, Heritage Square: a Highland Park museum started by local Los Angeles activists hoping to save some of the Victorian homes which were scheduled for demolition to make room for gas stations and parking lots. One of the fine and architecturally significant homes was the only one saved from this era. A hint of gentrification sprouted in Highland Park in 1984 when large tracts of the district were set aside for historic preservation under Los Angeles' pioneering Historic Preservation Overlay Zone ordinance.

Before the skyrocketing of Southern California housing prices from 2002 - 2005, many arrived to Highland Park to seek out, buy, and revitalize Craftsman homes that had suffered neglect over the decades. Although this quiet movement continues, Highland Park has largely been spared the dramatic changes that Silver Lake, Echo Park and Eagle Rock have experienced. The district's proximity to those neighborhoods (coupled with low rents), have made it increasingly popular among hipsters. Local dive bars have become fashionable nightclubs, with doormen and chi-chi velvet ropes, including Mr. T's, a Highland Park bowling alley partially renovated as a performance venue and tavern, that has been host to local bands since the mid-90's. In another sign of neighborhood change, the Old LA Certified Farmers Market opened in 2006, operating adjacent to the Highland Park Gold Line Station and providing a new nexus of community activity. It remains to be seen whether gentrification in the area will continue, as it lacks the high-quality schools that have made Mt. Washington, Eagle Rock and South Pasadena attractive destinations for upper middle-class to lower upper-class Angelenos seeking alternatives to suburbia.

The area is also served by the Arroyo Seco Journal [www.asjournal.net], a hip and smart, politically-oriented monthly publication, founded in 1999 by Edward Rivera, a local journalist/activist. From the late 1950s until around the early 80s, Highland Park and neighboring Eagle Rock were known as a haven for Hot Rod builders. While most of the original hot rod shops have now disappeared, McGibbons Auto Body still exists at 5251 York Blvd. McGibbons shop was the creator of many of the hot rodder and low-rider graphics and paints from the 1970s onward.

Highland Park is home to NELA bikes, a more genteel and law-abiding version of Echo Park's Midnight Ridazz.

One of the last typewriter shops in the City of Los Angeles, the U.S. Office Machine Company, is located in Highland Park at 5722 N. Figueroa. They specialize in repairing antique typewriters, and have restored a few for movie studios. It is one of three businesess located in the old Sunbeam Theatre, one of the earliest in the area, much older than the Highland Theater.

The clothing retail chain Forever 21 was founded in Highland Park in 1984. The first store is still located in its original location at 5637 N. Figueroa and bears the original name of the company, Fashion 21.

[edit] In the media

Because of the picturesque neighborhoods in and around Highland Park, many movies are filmed here. Resevoir Dogs was filmed largely in Highland Park. Cutter's Way, starring Jeff Bridges was filmed for the most part, on Aldama Street. The dance hall scene in La Bamba was filmed at the VFW hall on Avenue 57.

An illustration in the booklet for Quasimoto's album The Further Adventures of Lord Quas depicts the area of Highland Park on Figueroa St. between Aves 26th and 56th.

Tuff Turf starring James Spader was shot in Highland Park.

Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •

The Eagle Rock

Eagle Rock is a neighborhood in northeastern Los Angeles, California. It is bordered by the city of Glendale on the north and west, Highland Park on the south, and the cities of Pasadena and South Pasadena on the east. Major thoroughfares include Eagle Rock Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard, and Figueroa Street. The Glendale and Ventura freeways run along the district's western and northern edges, respectively. A massive boulder at the district's northern edge contains an indentation which casts a vaguely bird-shaped shadow on the rock at certain times of day; the neighborhood derives its name from this geological feature. Some claim to be able to point out two different eagles, the bird-shaped shadow, the entire head of the eagle.

The entire city has been experiencing gentrification for the last few years as young urban professionals, finding themselves priced out of Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Echo Park, have found still affordable housing in this city. A core of counter-culture writers, artists, and filmmakers has existed in this town since the 20s, and is being supplemented by the recent influx of hipsters. The town was well known during the late 50s, 60s and 70s for its sizable Hot Rodder culture, which is now almost defunct. Eagle Rock boasts a significant Filipino population.

Eagle Rock is the site of Occidental College, designed by famed architect Myron Hunt, and built in 1914.

Eagle Rock is home to many historic and achitecturally significant homes, many done in the Craftsman, Georgian, Streamline Moderne, Art Deco and Spanish/Mission style.

[edit] History

Eagle Rock, 1900

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, the secluded valley below the San Rafael Hills that is roughly congruent to Eagle Rock's present boundaries was inhabited by the Tongva tribe, who hunted the game that watered at its springs. These aboriginal inhabitants were displaced by Spanish settlers in the late 18th century, with the area incorporated into the Rancho San Rafael. Following court battles the area known as Rancho San Rafael was divided into 31 parcels in 1870. Benjamin Dreyfus was awarded what is now called Eagle Rock. In the 1880s Eagle Rock existed as a farming community. The arrival of American settlers and the growth of Los Angeles resulted in steadily increasing semi-rural development in the region throughout the late 19th century, culminating in Eagle Rock's establishment as an independent city in 1906 and its incorporation in 1911.

Eagle Rock from Yosemite Dr.

In 1909, Hill Avenue, now Hill Drive, was (and still is) one of Eagle Rock's most beautiful streets. Other streets were Royal Drive (now Mt. Royal Drive), Acacia Street (now Laverna Avenue), Kenilworth Avenue (now Hermosa Avenue), Highland Avenue (now Highland View Avenue), and Fairmont Avenue (now Maywood Avenue). In the 1950s, newer streets such as Kincheloe Drive were extended into the hillsides for the building of larger homes with a view of the city. Now these streets are dotted with large and expensive homes on wide lots.

Intersection of Eagle Rock Bl and Colorado Blvd.

The arrival of Owens Valley water via the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the concurrent depletion of the young city's wells ultimately led the city fathers, after considerable pressure and threats from the City of Los Angeles, to agree to annexation by Los Angeles in 1923. Eagle Rock is one of the few cities incorporated by Los Angeles to still have its original pre-annnexation City Hall (2035 Colorado Blvd) and Library (2225 Colorado Blvd) still standing. The library, a Carnegie Library built in 1915, has since been converted into a community center.

An early victim of the Hillside Strangler was discovered in an Eagle Rock neighborhood on October 31, 1977. The discovery, along with the successive murders of at least ten other women in the area over the course of the five months, rocked what was then a small, close-knit community on the outskirts of Los Angeles. In an opinion piece to the Los Angeles Times on December 6, 1977, a resident under the pseudonym Deirdre Blackstone wrote of the fear experienced by the community: "Groups of gum-chewing girls in look-alike hairdos and jeans who used to haunt the Eagle Rock Plaza — they too are keeping close to home...We are all afraid. For women living alone, ours is an actual visceral fear that starts at the feet. Then it hits the knees — and finally it grips the mind." Two men, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, were subsequently convicted of the murders.

On the night of March 20, 1985, an 8-year old girl was abducted from her home in Eagle Rock and sexually assaulted by a man dubbed the "Valley Intruder", "Walk-in Killer" and "The Night Stalker", later identified as Richard Ramirez. This was the seventh in a long string of murders and sexual assaults committed by Ramirez in Los Angeles and San Francisco before he was apprehended.

During the early 70s to the late 80s, several street and roller hockey teams competed in and around Eagle Rock, most of which were centered on the asphalt surfaces at Eagle Rock High School, Yosemite Recreation Center, the Eagle Rock Plaza, and Toland Way and Rockdale Elementary schools. From 1977 to 1981, the Yosemite Sams competed in the FSHL (Federal Street Hockey League) and won the Melrose Open in 1978 , the Echo Park Open in 1980 and the Atwater Open in 1981. The Atwater Open victory was significant, because by 1981, the tournament served as the defacto city championship in this sport.

[edit] Eagle Rock and the motion picture industry

With an "Anytown, USA" feel to it, and such a close proximity to Hollywood and the major motion picture studios, this community has often been a favored choice as a film location. Cameos include Top Gun, Hunt for Red October, and a second-season episode of The O.C. Star Trek III, was partially filmed on the campus of Occidental College. Quentin Tarantino filmed parts of Reservoir Dogs here and in neighboring Highland Park. Other movies filmed almost entirely in Eagle Rock include; all of the exterior scenes of The Incredible Shrinking Woman[1] (1981) starring Lily Tomlin, Record City[2] (1978) with Ed Begley, Jr. was filmed in its entirety in a defunct auto paint shop, and The Unwed Father[3] (1974) starring Timothy Bottoms had all of its exterior location shots filmed on the Eagle Rock High School campus.[4]

Some of the architecture of Eagle Rock has been featured as well; a house on the 5200 block of Shearin Avenue was used during the 1984 filming of Teen Wolf, starring Michael J. Fox, and a house on the 4900 block of College View Avenue was used during the 1975 filming of The Day of the Locust, starring Donald Sutherland.

From a story perspective, in the movie Days Of Thunder, Tom Cruise's character was from Eagle Rock, and there have been numerous movies and television based on the Hillside Strangler[5] and Richard Ramirez[6]

Many famous motion picture actors and actresses, along with writers and others involved in the industry, have lived in Eagle Rock over the years, see the Notable Residents section below for more details.

East Los Angeles (region)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Learn more about using Wikipedia for research •

Alternate meaning: East LA, an unincorporated community bordering the East LA region described below.

East Los Angeles (also known as East L.A. or the Eastside or East Los) is the portion of the City of Los Angeles, California that lies east of the Los Angeles River and Downtown Los Angeles, west of the San Gabriel Valley and the unincorporated area of East Los Angeles, California and City Terrace, California, south of the Crescenta Valley, and north of Vernon, California and City of Commerce, California.

The short form for the region, "East L.A.," is an imprecise term which can mean different things depending on usage and context. As a geographical term, it can either refer to the region described here or the unincorporated community of East Los Angeles. As a cultural term, East L.A., has developed to refer to the predominantly Hispanic communities lying east of the city of Los Angeles, centered around the unincorporated area of East Los Angeles and City Terrace, but also the Los Angeles district of Boyle Heights. To disambiguate between this area and the broader eastern region of the City of Los Angeles, a collection of neighborhoods and communities lying within Los Angeles city boundaries, locals have come to use the term "Eastside" for the region (to counter with "the Westside") to emphasize its character as a region which may vary in characteristics from those of the unincorporated East L.A. area.

[edit] Built environment

In appearance, while northern East Los Angeles may vary in character, much of East Los Angeles is a throwback to Los Angeles' early 20th century heritage. The dusty streets up and down the Monterey Hills, on which much of the region sits, are often winding and narrow. On primary and secondary thoroughfares, at times busy industrial concerns and/or shops sit side-by-side with single-family residences, in contrast to heavily zoned areas like parts of the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, where it is less common. In some areas backyard agriculture is still widely practiced: as was colorfully depicted in the films My Family (aka Mi Familia) and Stand and Deliver (which was set in an East L.A. high school representing James A. Garfield High School). Of these, many families maintained chicken coops and citrus groves in their backyards long after most of Los Angeles had abandoned these vestiges of its rural past. In some areas, however, this is less common or non-existent, such as Montecito Heights and Mt. Washington, among others.

[edit] History

[edit] Origins (late 18th-early 20th centuries)

Most of what is now considered East Los Angeles was, at the time of Spanish settlement, parceled out among the Pueblo of Los Angeles, the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, and several rancho. Large-scale development commenced with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1875, with numerous electric streetcar lines being laid over the following three decades to connect the area to fast-growing Downtown Los Angeles. Areas along the Arroyo Seco such as Montecito Heights and Mt. Washington were once among the wealthiest neighborhoods in the region, their winding streets lined with finely detailed Mediterranean villas and Craftsman frame houses and bungalows that enjoy some of the finest views in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Spanish Colonial bungalows and duplexes sprouted like mushrooms in working- class areas such as El Sereno and City Terrace.

[edit] Ethnicity

The East Los Angeles region has long had a very high concentration of Hispanic residents, primarily of Mexican descent. Since the early 20th century, it has been the focus of the Hispanic population in Los Angeles County. This was not always the case: areas of northeastern Los Angeles had heavy Anglo populations until the 1930s, when the development of whites-only areas in Mid-Wilshire and the West Side drew away most of the area's Anglo population. In the southern portions of the region, there were also large and diverse non-Hispanic populations; Boyle Heights was heavily Serbian, Jewish, and Japanese, and Lincoln Heights was heavily Italian. However, most of these groups moved to segregated suburbs after World War II, and Mexicans who had been forced into squalid slums such as Boyle Heights' infamous "The Flats" (later the site of the infamous Aliso Village housing project) seized the opportunity to move into the region's housing at low prices. With the exception of a small but distinct Filipino population in areas such as Glassell Park and Atwater Village, the region was primarily Mexican American by 1950.

The areas surrounding the unincorporated area of East L.A. formed the political and cultural heart of Mexican-American life in Los Angeles County during a period when the overall population of the county was mostly white (non-Hispanic) and often quite hostile to Latinos. Much of the violence of the Zoot Suit Riots occurred in the region. Today East L.A. is populated mostly by immigrants of Mexican descent, and their American children. [edit] Population shifts

Many second and third-generation Hispanic or Central Americans have since moved from East Los Angeles to other parts of Southern California. This movement began soon after World War II, with middle-class families settling in San Gabriel Valley suburbs such as Baldwin Park and Alhambra. From the 1970s onward, Orange County, the San Fernando Valley, the Inland Empire, and the Gateway Cities region of southeast Los Angeles County have also been major destinations for upwardly mobile Latino families. Meanwhile, recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America have settled in the low-income parts of East Los Angeles where the parents of many U.S.-born Hispanics once lived. At the same time, there are parts of "greater" East L.A., such as the cities of Montebello, Whittier and Pico Rivera, where many U.S.-born Hispanics still live. Since the 1970s, many Hispanic immigrants have moved into areas that had previously been heavily African American, in areas such as Compton, Lynwood, and the Watts district of Los Angeles, while in those areas in which Hispanics moved out, Filipino Americans and Chinese Americans moved in.

[edit] Gentrification

Since the late 1990s, gentrification has started to occur in formerly working-class pockets of East Los Angeles, and middle-class pockets in the northwest of the region, although mainly in the region's northern portions. Eagle Rock (which is not considered by some part of the East Side due to its historic independence) has seen a considerable influx of middle- and upper-middle-class white residents drawn by the area's architecture and schools, the latter of which are some of the best in the Los Angeles Unified School District. High housing prices in other parts of Los Angeles are leading whites to settle in pockets of northeastern Los Angeles such as Glassell Park, Atwater Village, and Highland Park, as well as Montecito Heights, Mt. Washington, Eagle Rock and Elysian Valley, as an affordable alternative to Silver Lake.

South Los Angeles

South Los Angeles

South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. It borders the Westside on the northwest, and Downtown LA on the northeast. In 2003, the city of Los Angeles changed the area's official name from South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles, hoping to blur collective memories of violence and blight. The name "South Central" had become almost synonymous with urban decay and street crime. The new name is rather misleading though, since geographically, South Los Angeles would refer to the L.A. Harbor/San Pedro district. Though the city took it upon itself to change street signs and freeway signs with the new name to make it "official", and though media like the Los Angeles Times and L.A. news networks now refer to the area as South Los Angeles, the name is not very widely used. Most residents of the Los Angeles area (including residents of South Los Angeles) still use the old name. Prominent figures from South Los Angeles, such as Ice Cube, also continue to refer to the area as South Central Los Angeles.

South Los Angeles is a notoriously dangerous region in the City of Los Angeles with an extensive history of gang violence, as it gave birth to dangerous gangs such as the Crips, Bloods, 38th St. Gang, La Mara 18 (18th Street gang), Eastside Florencia 13, Eastside Trece 13 (Brownside), and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). A majority of gang wars in Los Angeles have taken place there, as well as conflicts between African-Americans and Latinos usually occurring in the streets and in schools.

[edit] Geographic definition

The name "South Central" originally referred to an area bounded roughly by Main Street on the west and Washington Boulevard on the north, and sharply by Slauson Avenue (which had Santa Fe Railroad track running alongside it) on the south and Alameda Street (including Southern Pacific Railroad track) on the east. Central Avenue bisects this area from north to south. Along with Watts several miles to the south, this corridor was the only district-scale area within the city in which African-Americans could purchase property prior to 1948. While some African-Americans rented and sometimes even owned property in other areas of the city, they were generally confined to single streets or small neighborhoods.

Since the 1950s, the definition of "South Central" has gradually expanded to include all of the areas of the city of Los Angeles (and small unincorporated pockets of Los Angeles County) lying south of the Santa Monica Freeway, east of the city limits of Culver City and north of the Century Freeway. Some incorporated cities outside of L.A. city limits lying east of Alameda Street are considered identifiable with South L.A. to some extent by their urban or "inner city" characteristics.

The demography of South Los Angeles has been changing since 1990, when Hispanic immigrants from Mexico and Central America arrived in number to buy or rent apartments and homes vacated by African-American renters who moved away. In the 2000 census, 55% of residents in the designated area of South L.A. were Latino, while 40% were African American. A large percentage of small stores and shops are owned by Asian-American immigrants, especially Koreans and Indians. Filipinos have also been part of the area and American Indians are a sizable percentage of apartment rental tenants. Prior to the 1990s, the area was predominantly black.[1] The chief reasons for the population shifts were people moving away from gang violence and police brutality, and people coming in through immigration.

[edit] History [edit] 19th Century-1948

South LA contains some of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, featuring many spectacular examples of Victorian and Craftsman architecture in West Adams. It is home to the University of Southern California, founded in 1880, as well as the Doheny Campus of Mount St. Mary's College, which was founded in 1920. The 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games took place near the USC campus at neighboring Exposition Park, which hosts the Los Angeles Coliseum. Until the 1920s, West Adams was one of the most desirable areas of the city. Then development of the Wilshire Boulevard corridor drew Los Angeles' development to the west of downtown.

As the wealthy were building stately mansions in West Adams and Jefferson Park, the white working class was establishing itself in Crenshaw and Hyde Park. Affluent blacks were somewhat less restricted than other blacks in their ability to purchase property, and they gradually moved into West Adams and Jefferson Park as the decades passed.

At the same time, the area of modest bungalows and low-rise commercial buildings along Central Avenue emerged as the heart of the black community in southern California. It had one of the first jazz scenes in the western U.S., with trombonist Kid Ory a prominent resident. Under racially restrictive covenants, blacks were allowed to own property only within the Main-Slauson-Alameda-Washington box and in Watts, as well as in small enclaves elsewhere in the city. The working- and middle-class blacks who poured into Los Angeles during the Great Depression and for jobs during World War II found themselves penned into what was becoming a severely overcrowded neighborhood. During the war, blacks faced such dire housing shortages that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles built the virtually all-black Pueblo del Rio project, which ran against its previous policy of integrating all of its housing projects.

[edit] 1948-1960s

When the Supreme Court banned the legal enforcement of race-oriented restrictive covenants in 1948's Shelley v. Kraemer, blacks began to move into areas outside the increasingly overcrowded Slauson-Alameda-Washington- Main settlement area. For a time in the early 1950s, southern Los Angeles became the site of significant racial violence, with whites bombing, firing into, and burning crosses on the lawns of homes purchased by black families south of Slauson. In an escalation of behavior that began in the 1920s, white gangs in nearby cities such as South Gate and Huntington Park routinely accosted blacks who traveled through white areas. The black mutual protection clubs that formed in response to these assaults became the basis of the region's fearsome street gangs.

As in most urban areas, 1950s freeway construction radically altered the geography of southern Los Angeles. Freeway routes tended to reinforce traditional segregation lines.[citation needed] The Harbor Freeway ran just to the west of Main Street, and the Santa Monica Freeway just to the north of Washington Boulevard. The Marina Freeway was originally to run near Slauson Avenue all the way to the Orange County line, but was deemed redundant and went unbuilt except for its westernmost portions.

However well the freeways worked in moving cars around, they were decidedly unsuccessful as instruments of segregation. The explosive growth of suburbs, most of which barred blacks by a variety of methods, provided the opportunity for whites in neighborhoods bordering black districts to leave en masse. The spread of blacks throughout the area was achieved in large part through "blockbusting," a technique whereby real estate speculators would buy a home on an all-white street, sell or rent it to a black family, and then buy up the remaining homes from whites at cut-rate prices and sell them at a hefty profit to housing-hungry blacks.

This process accelerated after the Watts Riots of 1965. The riots resulted in an abandonment of southern Los Angeles by white residents and merchants. Middle-class blacks also left the area, moving to the north and west. By the late 1960s most of Los Angeles south of Pico Boulevard and east of La Cienega Boulevard had become overwhelmingly black and more poor. Areas wealthy (Baldwin Hills, West Adams) and impoverished (Watts) alike were referred to under the umbrella name of "South Central," even if they were 10 miles from the intersection of Vernon and Central Avenues. The Santa Monica Freeway formed the northern boundary of the "new" South Central, primarily dividing the middle-class blacks of Mid-Wilshire from the poor and working- class blacks to the south.

[edit] 1970s-1990s

Beginning in the 1970s, the precipitous decline of the area's manufacturing base resulted in a loss of the jobs that had allowed skilled union workers to have a middle class life. The downtown Los Angeles' service sector, which had long been dominated by unionized African Americans earning relatively high wages, replaced most black workers with newly arrived Central American immigrants.

Widespread unemployment, poverty and street crime resulted in South Central. Street gangs, such as the Crips and Bloods, rose to great notoriety. They became even more powerful with money from drugs, especially the crack cocaine trade, dominated by gangs in the 1980s. By the time of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which began in South Central and spread throughout the city, South Central had become a byword for urban decay. Its bad reputation was broadcast by movies such as Colors, South Central, Menace II Society, Friday, and in particular, South Central native John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood. The rap group N.W.A.'s album Straight Outta Compton and the Rockstar video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also promoted South Central's bad image.

[edit] 2000s

Despite the improvements in the local economy thanks to financial aid to introduce new retail stores and other employment development to the area, South (Central) Los Angeles remains known for its notorious gangs. In recent news, the beef between Black and Latino gangs have led to increased shootings/murders since the early- 2000s. The percentage of African-American residents in South Los Angeles is about a quarter of what it was in 1990, as Latin American (i.e. Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran and even more Mexican) immigrants became the majority alike much of the older sections of Los Angeles.[citation needed]

Harbor Area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •

Port of Los Angeles (USGS Satellite)

The Harbor Area is the area along the Port of Los Angeles. It contains neighborhoods of Los Angeles (including Wilmington & San Pedro).

[edit] Los Angeles City neighborhoods in the Harbor Area

Harbor City Harbor Pines Harbor Gateway San Pedro Palisades Point Fermin South Shores Vista del Oro The Gardens Rolling Hills Highlands Terminal Island Wilmington

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

The Hollywood Sign as it appears today

Hollywood Boulevard, taken from the Kodak Theatre

The Boundaries of Hollywood, as established by the California Legislature (AB 588)

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles.[1] Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonym for the cinema of the United States. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as Burbank and the Los Angeles Westside[2] but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production and lighting companies, remain in Hollywood.

Many historic Hollywood theaters are used as venues and concert stages to premiere major theatrical releases and host the Academy Awards. It is a popular destination for nightlife and tourism and home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Although it is not the typical practice of the city of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods, Hollywood is a recent exception. On February 16, 2005, Assembly Members Goldberg and Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as though it were independent. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. This bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the LA City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor on August 28, 2006 and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border is shown at the right and can be loosely described as the area east of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Blvd. and Barham Blvd. and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. Note that this includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz—two areas that were hitherto generally considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 167,664 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.[3]

As a portion of the city of Los Angeles, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government, but does have an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who serves as "Honorary Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position for decades, until his death on January 9, 2008.[4][5]

[edit] History

Hollywood 1885

Glen-Holly Hotel, first hotel in Hollywood, at the corner of what is now Yucca Street. It was built by Joakim Berg (Hollywood artist), a famous artist back in the 1890s

Hollywood Hotel 1905

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland 1907

In 1853, one adobe hut stood on the site that became Hollywood. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops. A locally popular etymology is that the name "Hollywood" traces to the ample stands of native Toyon or "California Holly", that cover the hillsides with clusters of bright red berries each winter. But this and accounts of the name coming from imported holly then growing in the area, are not confirmed. The name Hollywood was coined by H. J. Whitley,[6] the Father of Hollywood. He and his wife, Gigi, came up with the name while on their honeymoon, according to Margaret Virginia Whitley's memoir.[6]As they stood on the hill (which is now the center of Hollywood) admiring the view they spied a rickety old wagon pulled by one horse with a Chinese man driving pell-mell down a narrow path. As he approached them he stopped his wagon. HJ Whitley asked what he was doing. In broken English with a Chinese accent he said, "I up sunrise. Old trees fall down. Pick up wood. All time haully wood." With an epiphany HJ declared he would name his new town Hollywood. Ivar Weid a Danish immigrant, railroad owner and major land holder in Hollywood told Daeida Wilcox of HJ's plans. That is why she recorded the name on her property. Another story refers the name to Harvey Wilcox, who bought land in the area for development of homes. His wife, Daeida, met a woman on a train who mentioned that she had named her Ohio summer home Hollywood. Daeide, who liked the name, gave it to their new development. The name first appeared on the Wilcox's map of the subdivision, filed with the county recorder on February 1, 1887.[7]

By 1900, the community then called Cahuenga had a post office, newspaper, hotel and two markets, along with a population of 500. LA, with a population of 100,000 people at the time, lay 7 miles east through the citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent and the trip took two hours. The old citrus fruit packing house would be converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood.

The first section of the famous Hollywood Hotel, the first major hotel in Hollywood, was opened in 1902, by H. J. Whitley, eager to sell residential lots among the lemon ranches then lining the foothills. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue. Still a dusty, unpaved road, it was regularly graded and graveled.

Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. Among the town ordinances was one prohibiting the sale of liquor except by pharmacists and one outlawing the driving of cattle through the streets in herds of more than two hundred. In 1904, a new trolley car track running from Los Angeles to Hollywood up Prospect Avenue was opened. The system was called "the Hollywood Boulevard." It cut travel time to and from Los Angeles drastically.

By 1910, because of an ongoing struggle to secure an adequate water supply, the townsmen voted for Hollywood to be annexed into the City of Los Angeles, as the water system of the growing city had opened the Los Angeles Aqueduct and was piping water down from the Owens River in the Owens Valley. Another reason for the vote was that Hollywood could have access to drainage through Los Angeles´ sewer system.

With annexation, the name of Prospect Avenue was changed to Hollywood Boulevard and all the street numbers in the new district changed. For example, 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, became 6400 Hollywood Boulevard; and 100 Cahuenga Boulevard, at Hollywood Boulevard, changed to 1700 Cahuenga Boulevard.

[edit] Hollywood and the motion picture industry

Main article: Cinema of the United States

Nestor Studios, Hollywood's first movie studio, 1913 In early 1910, director D. W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his troupe, consisting of actors Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and others. They started filming on a vacant lot in downtown Los Angeles. The Company decided to explore new territories and traveled 5 miles north to the little village Hollywood, which was friendly and enjoyed the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood called In Old California, a Biograph melodrama about Latino-Mexican occupied California in the 1800s. The movie company stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York. After hearing about this wonderful place, in 1913 many movie-makers headed west. The first feature film made in Hollywood, in 1914, was called "The Squaw Man", directed by Cecil B. DeMille. All the films made in Los Angeles from 1908 to 1913 were short subjects. With this film, the Hollywood movie industry was "born."

Through the First World War, it became the movie capital of the world. The oldest company still existing in Hollywood today was founded by William Horsley of Gower Gulch-based Nestor and Centaur films, who went on to create the Hollywood Film Laboratory, which is now called the Hollywood Digital Laboratory.

Hollywood movie studios, 1922

[edit] Modern Hollywood

On January 22, 1947, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, began operating in Hollywood. In December of that year, the first Hollywood movie production was made for TV, The Public Prosecutor. And in the 1950s, music recording studios and offices began moving into Hollywood. Other businesses, however, continued to migrate to different parts of the Los Angeles area, primarily to Burbank. Much of the movie industry remained in Hollywood, although the district's outward appearance changed.

In 1952, CBS built CBS Television City on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, on the former site of Gilmore Stadium. CBS's expansion into the Fairfax District pushed the unofficial boundary of Hollywood further south than it had been. CBS's slogan for the shows taped there was "From Television City in Hollywood..."

During the early 50's the famous Hollywood Freeway was constructed from The Stack interchange in downtown Los Angeles, past the Hollywood Bowl, up through Cahuenga Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. In the early days, streetcars ran up through the pass, on rails running along the central reservation of the highway. The famous Capitol Records building on Vine St. just north of Hollywood Boulevard was built in 1956. The building houses offices and recording studios which are not open to the public, but its circular design looks like a stack of 7-inch vinyl records.

The now derelict lot at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Serrano Avenue was once the site of the illustrious Hollywood Professional School, whose alumni reads like a Hollywood Who's Who of household "names". Many of these former child stars attended a "farewell" party at the commemorative sealing of a time capsule buried on the lot.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 and the first star was placed in 1960 as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry. Honorees receive a star based on career and lifetime achievements in motion pictures, live theatre, radio, television, and or music, as well as their charitable and civic contributions.

In 1985, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places protecting important buildings and ensuring that the significance of Hollywood's past would always be a part of its future.

In June 1999, the long-awaited Hollywood extension of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Red Line subway opened, running from Downtown Los Angeles to the Valley, with stops along Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue, Vine Street and Highland Avenue.

The Kodak Theater.

The Kodak Theatre, which opened in 2001 on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood, has become the new home of the Oscars.

While motion picture production still occurs within the Hollywood district, most major studios are actually located elsewhere in the Los Angeles region. Paramount Studios is the only major studio still physically located within Hollywood. Other studios in the district include the aforementioned Jim Henson (formerly Chaplin) Studios, Sunset Gower Studios, and Raleigh Studios.

While Hollywood and the adjacent neighborhood of Los Feliz served as the initial homes for all of the early television stations in the Los Angeles market, most have now relocated to other locations within the metropolitan area. KNBC began this exodus in 1962, when it moved from the former NBC Radio City Studios located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street to NBC Studios in Burbank. KTTV pulled up stakes in 1996 from its former home at Metromedia Square in the 5700 block of Sunset Boulevard to relocate to Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles. KABC-TV moved from its original location at ABC Television Center (now branded The Prospect Studios) just east of Hollywood to Glendale in 2000, though the Los Angeles bureau of ABC News still resides at Prospect. After being purchased by 20th Century Fox in 2001, KCOP left its former home in the 900 block of North La Brea Avenue to join KTTV on the Fox lot. The CBS Corporation-owned duopoly of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from its longtime home at CBS Columbia Square in the 6100 block of Sunset Boulevard to a new facility at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. KTLA, located in the 5800 block of Sunset Boulevard, and KCET, in the 4400 block of Sunset Boulevard, are the last broadcasters (television or radio) with Hollywood addresses.

Additionally, Hollywood once served as the home of nearly every radio station in Los Angeles, all of which have now moved into other communities. KNX was the last station to broadcast from Hollywood, when it left CBS Columbia Square for a studio in the Miracle Mile in 2005.

In 2002, a number of Hollywood citizens began a campaign for the district to secede from Los Angeles and become, as it had been a century earlier, its own incorporated municipality. Secession supporters argued that the needs of their community were being ignored by the leaders of Los Angeles. In June of that year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors placed secession referendums for both, Hollywood and the Valley, on the ballots for a "citywide election." To pass, they required the approval of a majority of voters in the proposed new municipality as well as a majority of voters in all of Los Angeles. In the November election, both referendums failed by wide margins in the citywide vote.

[edit] Revitalization

After many years of serious decline, Hollywood is now undergoing rapid gentrification and revitalization with the goal of urban density in mind. Many new developments have been completed, and many more are planned, and several are centered on Hollywood Boulevard itself. In particular, the Hollywood & Highland complex, which is also the site of the Kodak Theater, has been a major catalyst for the redevelopment of the area. In addition, numerous trendy bars, clubs, and retail businesses have opened on or surrounding the boulevard, allowing it to become one of the main nighttime spots in all of Los Angeles. Many older buildings have also been converted to lofts and condominiums, and a W Hotel is currently under construction at the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, including The CBS Columbia Square which is being used as the new site of MTV's Real World: Hollywood which will likely serve to even further revitalize the area.

Wilshire, Los Angeles, California

Wilshire (pronounced wilsher by residents) is a region of the City of Los Angeles, California.

The Wilshire area is north of the I-10, east of Beverly Hills, west of Downtown LA and south of Hollywood. Wilshire contains, or abuts the districts of Mid-City West and Mid-Wilshire.

It refers to those areas that are centered around Wilshire Boulevard roughly between Hoover St. and La Cienega Blvd, but also any adjacent to Wilshire Blvd, between Downtown Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

Avalon Wilshire, one of several new luxury developments in Wilshire.

It is a collection of wealthy, middle, and working class neighborhoods that cluster around Wilshire Boulevard. Unlike other parts of Los Angeles, the wealthier neighborhoods of Wilshire, such as Larchmont and Hancock Park, are set not in the hills but rather on leveled land north of Wilshire Boulevard and east of Beverly Hills. On the lower end, Koreatown is an example of a somewhat struggling neighborhood undergoing a revival.

For a map see http://www.allncs.org/west_wilshiremap.htm

Some also include Echo Park & Westlake (listed below) as a part of a Greater Wilshire.

[edit] Education

Wilshire is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Los Angeles Public Library operates the Wilshire Branch.

Westside (Los Angeles County)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •

The Westside as seen from a plane departing Los Angeles International Airport.

West Los Angeles (also known as West L.A. or the Westside) comprises the Los Angeles city communities of Bel Air, Beverly Crest, Brentwood, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Rancho Park, Sawtelle, West Los Angeles, Westwood (Los Angeles Almanac), Venice, Mar Vista, Playa del Rey, and Westchester, as well as the incorporated cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and the unincorporated county territory of Marina del Rey.[1]

West Los Angeles is in a Mediterranean-type region of a subtropical climate zone.

[edit] Business and transportation Many of the major educational, retail, cultural, and recreational attractions of Greater Los Angeles are located in this area, as is a large portion of the entertainment industry. Century City is a major business hub of the Westside, containing many major production corporations, talent agencies, and entertainment law firms.

Culver City houses several film studios and commercial effects houses. Santa Monica, Venice, Beverly Hills, and new developments near LAX are also important entertainment industry centers.

The Westside rivals downtown Los Angeles for the number of people commuting to it from other areas, particularly the San Fernando Valley to the north and the South Bay to the south.

The proposed Pacific Coast, Beverly Hills, and Laurel Canyon freeways went unbuilt in the face of massive community opposition. A great deal of high-density development took place in anticipation of these roadways' construction, resulting in significant congestion on the area's surface streets. Getting to Hollywood from the West Side is particularly difficult. Major east-west streets between the regions are jammed during much of the day. Proposals to widen the existing freeways or extend the Purple Line to the ocean have been stalled by their great expense; more recently, an old proposal to turn Pico and Olympic into one-way streets has been revived.[1]

San Fernando Valley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •

San Fernando Valley from its southwestern edge. Woodland Hills in foreground.

The San Fernando Valley or The Valley is an urbanized valley located in the north-western section of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States.

[edit] Geography

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is 345 square miles (894 km²) bounded by the Santa Susana Mountains to the northwest, the Simi Hills to the west, the Santa Monica Mountains to the south, the Verdugo Mountains to the east, and the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The Sierra Pelona Mountains (to the north) can be seen in parts of the San Fernando Valley from the gap between the Santa Susana and San Gabriel (Newhall Pass). The Los Angeles River starts at the confluence of Calabasas and Bell Canyon creeks behind Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park and flows east along the southern areas of the Valley. One of the river's only unpaved section can be found at the Sepulveda Basin. Another waterway, the Tujunga Wash, drains much of the western San Gabriel Mountains and, after passing through the Hansen Dam Recreation Center, winds south through the eastern communities of the Valley before merging with the Los Angeles River in Studio City. Other tributaries of the Los Angeles River include Caballero Creek, Bull Creek, Pacoima Wash, and Verdugo Wash. The valley's elevation varies from between about 250 and 1,200 ft. above sea level.

Most of the San Fernando Valley is within the City of Los Angeles, California, although several smaller cities are within the Valley as well; Burbank and Glendale are in the southeast corner of the Valley, Hidden Hills and Calabasas are in the southwest corner, and San Fernando, which is completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles, is in the northeast Valley. Universal City, an enclave in the southern part of the Valley, is unincorporated land housing the Universal Studios filming lot. Mulholland Drive, which runs along the ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains, marks the boundary between the Valley and the communities of Hollywood and Los Angeles' westside.

Los Angeles' administrative center for the Valley is in Van Nuys. The area in and around the former Van Nuys City Hall is home to a police station, municipal and superior courts and Los Angeles city and county administrative offices. Northridge is home to California State University Northridge. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake (January 17, 1994 which measured 6.7 on the Richter Scale), one of the few major earthquakes to have struck directly under a major city, was epicentered in neighboring Reseda just east of the intersection of Elkwood Street and Baird Avenue. An earlier major temblor (in 1971), The Sylmar Quake (February 9, 1971 and measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale), was also a killer, having destroyed the Olive View and Veterans Administration Hospitals, and rendered the east west Interstate 210 useless for a number of years due to severe damage. Prior to development, before the arrival of the Los Angeles Owens Valley Aqueduct water, the valley was a bleak semi-desert, too dry for extensive agriculture over more than a small part of the valley. The water brought farming with some major crops including corn, cotton, persimmons, lemons, oranges, and walnuts. The advent of three new industries - motion picture, automobile, and aircraft - spurred urbanization and population growth. World War II and a subsequent post war boom accelerated this growth so that by 1960, the valley had a population of well over 1 million.

[edit] Climate

The Valley shares the Los Angeles Basin's dry, sunny weather. Although the southwestern edge of the Valley is less than 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean, the Valley can be considerably hotter than the Los Angeles Basin during the summer months and cooler during the winter months. Temperatures in the Valley normally reach as high as the nineties and triple-digits during latter part of summer and early fall, from around late June through early October. The West Valley community of Woodland Hills has set the highest recorded temperature in the City of Los Angeles of 119 °F (49 °C) in 2006, the coldest recorded temperature was in Canoga Park 18 °F (-8 °C) in 1989. Also, rainfall accumulations tend to be slightly higher in the Valley during the rainy season in comparison to the Los Angeles Basin and the coast. The valley is more likely to get snow during winter months than the Los Angeles basin, although snow in San Fernando valley is quite rare. The last measurable accumulation of snow in the valley was in 1988 while the last measurable accumulation of snow in the Los Angeles basin was in 1960. The Valley is prone to smog, particularly in the summer, because of the mountain ranges surrounding it and because vertical motion in the atmosphere is often blocked by temperature inversions. Environmental regulations and improvements through the years have cut the smog levels almost in half since they peaked in the 1960s.

[edit] History

Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797 by Franciscan friars. It is the 17th of the twenty- one missions.

The Tataviam, also known as the Fernandeño, tribe of Indians and the Tongva had inhabited the valley for almost 2,000 years before the Spanish built the San Fernando Mission in 1797.

The treaty ending the Mexican-American War in California was signed near the mouth of the Cahuenga Pass (at the southeast corner of San Fernando Valley) at the Campo de Cahuenga in 1847.

After the construction of the Owens Valley-Los Angeles Aqueduct, the mostly rural area was annexed by the city of Los Angeles in 1915, more than doubling the size of the city. A highly fictionalized story based on these events is told in the film Chinatown (1974). Los Angeles continued to consolidate its territories in the San Fernando Valley by annexing Laurel Canyon (1923), Lankershim (1923), Sunland (1926), Tuna Canyon (1926), the incorporated city of Tujunga (1932), and Porter Ranch (1965). The additions expanded the Los Angeles portion of San Fernando Valley from the original 169 square miles (438 km²) to 224 square miles (580 km²) today. Six cities incorporated independent from Los Angeles: Glendale (1906), Burbank (1911), San Fernando (1911) Hidden Hills (1961), Calabasas (1991). Universal City is an unincorporated enclave that is home to Universal Studios theme park and Universal CityWalk.

[edit] Secession movement

In 2002, Los Angeles residents defeated a proposal under which the San Fernando Valley portion of the City of Los Angeles would have seceded and become an independent incorporated city of its own. Had the proposal passed, it would have created a new municipality of 211 square miles (546 km²) with about 1.3 million residents. The new Valley City would have been the sixth most populous city in the U.S., just ahead of Phoenix. Los Angeles would have become the third largest city in the nation, behind New York City and Chicago.

The Valley attempted to secede in the 1970s, but the state passed a law barring city formation without the approval of the City Council. In 1997, Assemblymen Bob Hertzberg and Tom McClintock helped pass a bill that would make it easier for the Valley to secede by removing the City Council veto. AB 62 was signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson. Meanwhile, a grassroots movement to split the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and create new San Fernando Valley-based school districts became the focal point of the desire to leave the city. Though the state rejected the idea of Valley-based districts, it remained an important rallying point for Hertzberg's mayoral campaign, which proved unsuccessful.

Before secession could come out for a vote, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) studied the fiscal viability of the new city and decided that the new city must mitigate any fiscal loss incurred by the rest of Los Angeles. LAFCO concluded that a new San Fernando Valley city would be financially viable, but would need to mitigate the $60.8 million that Los Angeles would lose in revenues. Secessionists took this figure as evidence that the Valley gave more money to Los Angeles than it received back in services. This triggered a petition drive led by Valley VOTE to put secession on the ballot. Measures F and H not only decided whether the Valley became a city but voters also got to pick a new name for it. The proposed names on the ballot were as follows: San Fernando Valley, Rancho San Fernando, Mission Valley, Valley City and Camelot. Along with Measures F and H, elections were held for fourteen council members and a mayor.

Valley politicians such as State Senator Richard Alarcon and City Council President Alex Padilla opposed the initiatives. The leader of the LAUSD breakup and former congresswoman and busing opponent Bobbie Fiedler also campaigned against secession. Supporters pointed out that the Valley suffered from many of the same problems of poverty, crime, drug and gang activity as the rest of the city.

The proposal passed with a slight majority in the Valley, but was defeated by the rest of Los Angeles voters due to a heavily-funded campaign against it led by former Los Angeles mayor James Hahn. Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman of Northridge was voted in as mayor of the stillborn city. Richman and other activists behind the secession movement attempted to redirect their civic energies toward influencing Los Angeles city politics, but their efforts largely fizzled. Hertzberg's 2005 mayoral campaign, which received heavy support in the Valley, nonetheless finished in third place (only a few percentage points behind incumbent Mayor Hahn), and no secession supporters were elected to positions on the Los Angeles City Council.

[edit] Non-Political Secession

Many neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley have 'seceded' from one another in the form of renaming and reforming known community boundaries. Groups are motivated by the desire to disassociate themselves from undesirable connotations that some communities have inherited and, in the process, increase property values. Lake Balboa broke away from Van Nuys. Valley Village, Studio City and Valley Glen separated from North Hollywood. West Hills and Winnetka separated from Canoga Park. Porter Ranch seceded from Northridge. Arleta successfully broke off from Pacoima but was thwarted in its attempts to carve out a separate ZIP code. The separate districts are in name only as none of the communities have actual governmental authority and all of the communities remain politically a part of the City of Los Angeles.

[edit] Demographics

The San Fernando Valley had a population 1,996,347 in 2000. A recent estimate by the Los Angeles County Urban Research Unit and Population Division puts the 2004 population at 1,808,599. The largest cities entirely in the valley are Glendale and Burbank. The largest sections of Los Angeles in the valley are North Hollywood and Van Nuys. Each of the two districts and each of the two sections of Los Angeles mentioned has more than 100,000 residents. Despite the San Fernando Valley's reputation for sprawling, low-density development, the Valley communities of Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Reseda, Canoga Park, and Northridge, all in Los Angeles, have numerous apartment complexes and contain some of the densest census tracts in Los Angeles.

Latinos and non-Hispanic whites are nearly even in numbers, combining to comprise more than four out of five Valley residents. In general, communities in the northeastern, central, and southeastern parts of the Valley have the highest concentration of Latinos. Non-Hispanic Whites live mainly along the communities along the region's mountain rim and in the northwestern and southern sections of the valley. The city of Glendale has an influential and very large Armenian community. The cities of San Fernando, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, and the Tarzana area of Los Angeles are quite homogeneous in racial makeup.

Asian Americans make up 10.7% of the population and live throughout the Valley, but are most numerous in the city of Glendale and the Los Angeles communities of Chatsworth, Panorama City, Porter Ranch and Granada Hills. African Americans compose 5.1% of the Valley's population, living mainly in the Los Angeles sections of Lake View Terrace, Pacoima, Reseda, Valley Village, Van Nuys, and Northridge. Another large ethnic element is the Iranian community with 200,000 people living mainly in west San Fernando Valley. The valley is also home to a large and influential Jewish community.

Poverty rates in the San Fernando Valley are lower than the rest of the county (15.3% compared to 17.9%). Eight San Fernando Valley communities have at least one in five residents living in poverty.

The Pacoima section of Los Angeles is widely known in the region as a hub of suburban blight. Other San Fernando Valley communities, such as the Los Angeles sections of Mission Hills, Arleta, and Sylmar, have poverty rates well below the regional average, even lower than neighborhoods populated by a higher number of Non-Hispanic White residents.

Many wealthy families live in the hills south of Ventura Boulevard; as a result, the phrase "South of the Boulevard" has become a commonly used buzzword in local real estate.

[edit] Neighborhoods and districts

A view of the San Fernando Valley looking west from Brand Park in Glendale. Santa Monica Mountains, and Simi Hills are seen in the distance.

Cities

Burbank Calabasas Hidden Hills San Fernando Glendale

Unincorporated communities

Bell Canyon Kagel Canyon Olive View

Communities of the City of Los Angeles

Arleta Balboa Park Cahuenga Pass Canoga Park Chatsworth Encino Granada Hills Knollwood Lake View Terrace Lake Balboa La Tuna Canyon+ Mission Hills NoHo Arts District North Hills North Hollywood Northridge Pacoima Panorama City Porter Ranch Reseda Sepulveda Shadow Hills+ Sherman Oaks Studio City Sun Valley Sunland+ Sylmar Tarzana Toluca Lake Toluca Woods Tujunga+ Valley Glen Valley Village Van Nuys Ventura Business District Warner Center West Hills West Toluca Winnetka Woodland Hills

+Common usage of the term San Fernando Valley include these communities that are in Crescenta Valley.

[edit] Economy

The Valley is home to numerous companies, the most well-known of which are involved in motion pictures, recording, and television production (including CBS Studio Center, NBC-Universal, The Walt Disney Company (and its ABC television network), and Warner Bros.. The Valley was previously known for stellar advances in aerospace technology by companies such as Lockheed, Rocketdyne, and Marquardt. Most of these enterprises have since disappeared or moved on to regions with friendlier political climates and/or cheaper labor. The Valley became the pioneering region for producing adult films in the 1970s and since then has been home to a multi-billion dollar pornography industry earning the monikers "Porn Valley", "San Pornando Valley" or "Silicone Valley" (a play on Silicon Valley and silicone breast implants). The leading trade paper for that field (AVN Magazine) is based in the Northwest Valley, as are a majority of the nation's adult video and magazine distributors. According to the HBO series Porn Valley, nearly 90% of all legally distributed pornographic films made in the United States are either filmed in or by studios based in the San Fernando Valley.

[edit] Transportation

Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys (2002). This boulevard is lined with low-rise commercial establishments and is typical of the broad, straight roadways in the San Fernando Valley.

Although most of the Valley is part of Los Angeles, its development pattern is almost exclusively suburban, and the automobile is the dominant mode of transportation. Several freeways criss-cross the Valley, most notably, Interstate 405, U.S. Route 101, State Route 118, and Interstate 5. Most of the major thoroughfares run on a cartographic grid; notable streets include Sepulveda Boulevard, Ventura Boulevard, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, San Fernando Road, Victory Boulevard, Reseda Boulevard, Riverside Drive, Mulholland Drive, and State Route 27 (Topanga Canyon Boulevard).

Despite the dominance of the automobile, the Valley has two Metro subway stations, in Universal City and North Hollywood, which opened in 2000 as an extension of the Metro Red Line Subway connecting the Valley to Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. The Orange Line, an east-west Bus Rapid Transit bus-way was opened in October 2005, connecting the North Hollywood Metro station to Warner Center in the west Valley. The new line features "train-like" articulated buses and very high frequency of service. Long-promised daily bus service between Sylmar and Santa Clarita began operating in 2006. Two Metrolink commuter rail lines connect the Valley to downtown Los Angeles, merging into one at Burbank. These operate on a limited schedule serving commuters only during regular work hours. Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner has stations at Burbank Airport, Van Nuys and Chatsworth. Five Metro Rapid bus rapid transit lines (the 734, the 741, the 750, the 761, and the 780) serve the area, with more planned. Metro service is planned and operated by the San Fernando Valley Sector under policies and oversight of its Governance Council [1].

[edit] Parks and recreation

The San Fernando Valley is home to several large and many small parks. Griffith Park, the largest of Los Angeles' municipal parks, lies at the southeastern end of the valley, straddling the eastern end of the Hollywood Hills. Two large recreation areas occupy the flood control basins behind Sepulveda Dam and Hansen Dam. O'Melveny Park above Granada Hills protects the upper reaches of Bee Canyon, at the eastern end of the Santa Susana Mountains. There is also a sizeable recreation area in the northwest valley, Chatsworth Park.

In the past decade, many large tracts of undeveloped or ranch lands in the mountains surrounding the Valley have been acquired for parkland. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and its affiliated agencies have purchased or otherwise acquired many of these lands, which are maintained as parkland by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California state parks, or local parks districts. In 2003 the Ahmanson Ranch, a 2,983 acre (12 km²) property in Ventura County at the west end of the Valley, was purchased by the State of California, and dedicated as the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve on April 10, 2004.

[edit] House prices

Prices for houses in the Valley are some of the highest in the U.S. (Housing affordability is a major problem in California as a whole, not just in the Valley [2].) In August of 2005, the median price of an average one family, two bedroom, one bath, home in the San Fernando Valley reached over $600,000. In 1997, it was only $155,000. In the summer of 2003, it reached $400,000 and by July 2005, it reached $578,500. From July to August (one month) 2005, it rose by $100,000. A cooling off was noted in 2006, when between November 2005 and November 2006, median prices rose by the smallest amount of any 12 month period since mid-1997. Indeed, November prices were lower than October prices, and sales for November had fallen 19.1% compared to a year earlier. [3]

[edit] Movies about the Valley

See also: List of movies set in Los Angeles

Several motion pictures about life in the San Fernando Valley were produced by many companies also in the San Fernando Valley, including Chinatown (1974), Thank God It's Friday (1978), Foxes (1980), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), E.T. (1982),Valley Girl (1983), La Bamba (1987), Encino Man (1992), Safe (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), some scenes of Mulholland Drive (2001), Magnolia (1999), Punch- Drunk Love (2002), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Knocked Up (2007), and Down in the Valley (2005).

The first and third The Karate Kid films (1984 and 1989 respectively) were mostly filmed and set in the Valley, while the second entry (1986) starts there but in the six-month flashforward, moves its story to Okinawa. A Cinderella Story (2004) also takes place in the San Fernando Valley.

Alpha Dog (2007) was based on a true story that happened in the San Fernando Valley in 2000, and it was mostly filmed in the Valley in Fall 2004, but, for legal reasons, it was fictionalized within the film to take place in the San Gabriel Valley instead.

In the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino, The Valley is referenced by Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules, as being a place where Marsellus Wallace had no friends. This being in response to John Travolta's character, Vincent, accidentally shooting a man point blank in the face there in broad daylight. [edit] Songs about the Valley

The lifestyles of Valley teens in the 1980s, and their slang (Valspeak), were satirized in the Frank Zappa song "Valley Girl." The song featured his daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, performing Valspeak (example: "Like, grody to the max!").

Bing Crosby had a #1 hit song in 1944 called "The San Fernando Valley", written by Gordon Jenkins.

The protagonist of Tom Petty's song "Free Fallin'" has ended a relationship with a Valley girl, and mentions various locations and landmarks associated with the area: "It's a long day living in Reseda," "all the vampires walkin' through the Valley/ move west down Ventura Boulevard," and "I wanna glide down over Mulholland."

Soul Coughing's song "Screenwriter's Blues" describes a person who is "going to Reseda to make love to a model."

Randy Newman's song "I Love L.A." mentions Victory Boulevard.

Roy Roger's song "Make My Home the San Fernando Valley."

Waking Ashland have a song named Reseda.

Bryan Ferry mentions that "Canoga Park is a straight safe drive" in "Can't Let Go" on The Bride Stripped Bare.

"Van Nuys" by Sixx:A.M. released in 2007 on the album "The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack." Crescenta Valley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Have questions? Find out how to ask questions and get answers. •

The Crescenta Valley is a small inland valley in Los Angeles County, California. Its name derives from its crescent-like shape, with the convex portion facing roughly northeast and the concave portion southwest. It lies between the San Gabriel Mountains on the northeast and the Verdugo Mountains and San Rafael Hills on the southwest. It opens into the San Fernando Valley at the northwest and the San Gabriel Valley at the southeast. It is nearly bisected by the Verdugo Wash, a smaller valley separating the Verdugos from the San Rafael Hills. Most of the valley lies at an elevation of over 1500 feet (450 m), isolating it from both the smog and the cooling ocean breezes that blow through the Los Angeles Basin. Daytime temperatures are generally 10 to 15 °F (6 to 8 °C) warmer than those in coastal regions.

The Crescenta Valley with the Verdugo Mountains to the left, San Gabriel Mountains to the top, and the Mojave Desert to the very top and top right. [edit] History

It became a pastoral area under the Rancho Tujunga and Rancho San Rafael land grants. Significant residential development began around 1870 with the development of La Crescenta and Montrose, accelerating significantly after World War II and the construction of the Foothill (I-210) and Glendale (CA/SR-2) freeways. Today, the Crescenta Valley is a mature suburban area.

Chinatown, Los Angeles, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia •

Chinatown in Los Angeles, California (Chinese: 洛杉磯唐人街; pinyin: luò shān jī táng rén jiē) is a Chinatown in Downtown Los Angeles that was founded in the late 1800s. It was originally located less than a mile from its current location.[citation needed]

[edit] Southern California Chinatowns

Main article: Southern California Chinatowns

There are now other flourishing satellite Chinese communities in the Greater Los Angeles Area that are not officially classified as "Chinatowns", but are well known, such as Monterey Park, where over 60 percent of the population is Asian American, and San Gabriel (where the Asian population is approaching 50 percent).

[edit] Old Chinatown

Between 1852 (when the first Chinese immigrants were reported to be in Los Angeles) and 1890 a distinct community of over 3,000 Chinese people flourished. This original Chinatown was located between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street, stretching eastward across Alameda Street.

In 1871, 19 Chinese men and boys were murdered by a mob of 500 locals in one of the most serious incidents of racial violence that has ever occurred in America's West. This incident became known as "Chinese Massacre of 1871".

Reaching its heyday from 1890 to 1910, Chinatown grew to approximately 15 streets and alleys containing 200 buildings. It was large enough to boast a Chinese Opera theatre, three temples, its own newspaper, and a telephone exchange. But laws prohibiting most Chinese from citizenship and property ownership, and Exclusion Acts curtailing immigration, inhibited future growth for the district.

From the early 1910s Chinatown began to decline. Symptoms of a corrupt Los Angeles discolored the public's view of Chinatown; gambling houses, opium dens, and a fierce tong warfare severely reduced business in the area. As tenants and lessees rather than outright owners, the residents of Old Chinatown were threatened with impending redevelopment and as a result the owners neglected upkeep on their buildings. Eventually, the entire area was sold and resold, as entrepreneurs and town developers fought over usage of the area. After 30 years of continual decay, a Supreme Court ruling approved condemnation of the entire area to allow for the construction of the new major rail terminal, Union Station.

Seven years passed before an acceptable relocation proposal was put into place, situating Chinatown in its present day location. During that long hiatus, the entire area of Old Chinatown was demolished, leaving many businesses without a location, and forcing some of them to close permanently. Nonetheless, it is not commonly known that a remnant of Old Chinatown persisted into the early 1950s, situated between Union Station and the Old Plaza. A narrow, one-block street known as Ferguson Alley ran between the Plaza and Alameda, and was the location of a Buddhist temple and several businesses.

In the late 1950s the covenants on the use and ownership of property were removed, allowing Chinese Americans to live in other neighborhoods and gain access to new types of employment.

[edit] New Chinatown

Official entrance to Los Angeles Chinatown

In the 1930s, under the efforts of Chinese American community leader Peter Soo Hoo, the design and operational concepts for a New Chinatown evolved through the collective community process, resulting in a blend of both Chinese and American architecture. The Los Angeles Chinatown saw major development, especially as a tourist attraction, throughout the 1930s with the development of the "Central Plaza", a Hollywoodized version of Shanghai, containing names such as Bamboo Lane, Gin Ling Way and Chung King Road (named after the city of Chongqing in mainland China). Chinatown was designed by Hollywood film set designers and a "Chinese" movie prop was subsequently donated by the legendary film director Cecil B. DeMille to give Chinatown an exotic atmosphere.[citation needed] Today, this section of Chinatown is less frequented by ethnic Chinese residents and dayshoppers, though it is where several benevolent associations are located. Chinatown expanded beyond the area and is now bounded by Olvera Street and Dodger Stadium.

While Chinatown generally does not have the activity of Chinatown, San Francisco—still regarded as the largest and most historic Chinatown in North America because of the huge Chinese population in that city—it still attracts visitors throughout the Los Angeles area and throughout the world. However, there are many businesses in Chinatown that generally cater mainly to the local community rather than the tourism economy. Many of the older buildings built in the 1930s and 1940s in the northeast corner of New Chinatown (near the Pasadena Freeway) were previously abandoned. As part of gentrification movement, they are now primarily used as art galleries by artists. It has also been turned into a center of nightlife.

There is relatively little social interaction between these artists and business owners and the Chinatown Chinese-speaking residents. Many elderly residents usually lounge in the court of Central Plaza. The historic Hop Sing Tong Society is located in Central Plaza, as are several other Chinatown lodges and guilds.

Thien Hau Temple, another popular attraction in LA Chinatown.

New Chinatown is served by the Gold Line of the city's Metro Rail; parts of Old Chinatown were uncovered during excavation for another portion of the L.A. subway (the Red Line connection to Union Station). The Metro Rail station in Chinatown has been designed with modernized traditional Chinese architecture.

Chinatown's residential areas are on the hills northwest of Alpine Park, with a public elementary school, library, Chinese school, hospital, churches, and other businesses. In the mornings at Alpine Recreation Center, many Chinese-speaking old-timers practice the relaxing martial arts tai chi, a scene common in many Chinatowns.

This area is located away from the main tourist areas. In 1994, an Academy Award-winning Cambodian refugee actor Haing S. Ngor was shot dead in the Chinatown residential area in a botched robbery attempt by Asian gang members. It was previously speculated that he was assassinated for his activism against the Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia but this proven false.

A feng shui spiral at Chinatown's Metro station.

Near Broadway, Central Plaza contains a statue honoring Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a Mainland Chinese revolutionary leader who is considered the "founder of modern China". This unique monument was erected in the 1960s by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

Wishing Well, 2001.

During the 1980s, many buildings were constructed for new shopping centers and mini-malls, especially along Broadway, and this would expand Chinatown greatly. In the mid-1990s, a new shopping center containing the 99 Ranch Market was built near the old Central Plaza. However, the supermarket chain failed, and closed its doors a few years later in 1997. (The chain is highly successful, however, in the numerous Chinese communities of the San Gabriel Valley.) Metro Plaza Hotel was built in the southwest corner of Chinatown in the early 1990s but it has struggled with a low occupancy rate.

A large Chinese gateway is found at the intersection of Broadway and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue. This was funded by the local Teochew-speaking population.

[edit] Streets

Chinese translation on a street sign at College Street and Broadway. This sign reads in Cantonese Dai hok gai and in Mandarin as Da xue jie (da xue means college or university).

The main streets running through the new Chinatown are Broadway, Spring Street and Hill Street. Chinatown is located directly north of downtown Los Angeles, between Dodger Stadium and the Los Angeles Civic Center. The Broadway side of Chinatown is usually packed with a myriad of tourists, with a lot of Chinese restaurants and merchants.

Chinatown is somewhat segregated between Chinese ethnic groups in some respects. College Street, running in a northwest-southeast direction, provides a rough boundary between the older (post-1930s and 1940s) and newer businesses (post-1980s). Many businesses belonging to the original American-born Chinese families (Taishanese and Cantonese Chinese) are in the northwest area. Also due to the stylized exotic atmosphere, this section of Chinatown is very popular for on-site movie filming, such as Rush Hour with Jackie Chan. In the southwest, according to an estimate in the Los Angeles Times, nearly 90% of businesses are owned by first-generation Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees of Chinese origin.

[edit] New ethnic Chinese immigrants

As in most other Chinatowns in the United States, Taishanese (or Toisan)–a subdialect of Cantonese–was the dominant Chinese dialect of the Los Angeles Chinatown until the 1970s. In post-Vietnam War 1970s, some members of the Los Angeles lodge of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association headed to the Vietnamese refugee settlements in Camp Pendelton to talk and entice several refugees - especially ethnic Chinese from Vietnam - into settling into the once-diminishing Chinatown by sponsoring them. Thus, during the 1980s, Cantonese and especially Teochew (Pinyin: Chaozhou, Vietnamese: Trieu Chau) Chinese became more widely spoken as Chinatown experienced a rise in Vietnamese and Cambodians and Thais. While Cantonese is still predominant and remains the lingua franca of Chinatown, the use of Taishanese has diminished in Los Angeles and its usage is more common among elderly Chinese within the area.

With the boom of de facto suburban Chinese communities in the eastern part of the Los Angeles area, there have been very few immigrants from the Republic of China - especially those with high socioeconomic status - to the downtown Chinatown. Mandarin is only used in some contexts in Chinatown and is not widely spoken there.

The arrival of new immigrants from Southeast Asia and Mainland China to Los Angeles Chinatown gave rise to new associations such as the Southern California Teo Chew Association (serving the Teochew speakers), the Cambodia Ethnic Chinese Association (catering to Chinese Cambodian residents), and the Southern California Fukienese Association and the Foo Chow Natives Benevolent Association (both serving immigrants from the Fujian province of Mainland China).

Many Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants in the downtown Chinatown run small curiosity shops and bazaars in the shopping plazas such as Saigon Plaza and Dynasty Center—both built in the 1980s—south of Broadway. Today these immigrants and their families own nearly 90 percent of Chinatown's businesses. Most old-time and dying Chinese American (those of Taishanese and Cantonese descent) businesses are located in the old Chinatown Plaza.

[edit] Businesses

A display of scrumptious Cantonese roast duck for sale in a delicatessen in L.A.'s Chinatown, also acclaimed by culinary critics

There are numerous small, specialized grocery stores in Chinatown. The Chinese Vietnamese own many bazaars. The stores sell products such as soap, toys, clothes, music CDs at everyday low prices. Several restaurants in Chinatown serve mainly Cantonese cuisine but there are also various Asian cuisine restaurants such as Teochew Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai, which reflects the diverse character of Chinatown. Many Chinatown-area restaurants have been featured and reviewed extensively in the Food section of the Los Angeles Times. Few boba cafes have opened in Chinatown, but a large number are to be found in the "suburban Chinatowns" of the San Gabriel Valley. TS Emporium and Wing Hop Fung are stores selling ginseng and herbs as well as other household merchandises are operated within the confinement of this particular Chinatown, and branches of these stores also operate in Monterey Park.

Dynasty Center, Saigon Plaza, and the Chinatown Phuoc Loc Tho Center feature many Vietnamese-style bazaars with people engaged in bargain shopping for items such as clothing, toys, Chinese-language CDs, pets, household items, funerary products, and so on. Its entrepreneurs are ethnic Chinese from Vietnam and most customers are Vietnamese Chinese, ethnic Vietnamese, Mexicans, and gwai lo.

Chinatown offers the usual barbecue delicatessens - with glass displays of roast duck and suckling pig - and Cantonese seafood restaurants with dim sum. Owing to its large Vietnamese influence, there are many eateries in Chinatown offering Vietnamese pho noodle soup and submarine sandwiches called banh mi as well.

Plum Tree Inn is a restaurant serving Americanized Chinese cuisine mainly for non-Chinese clientele. Yang Chow Restaurant serves very Americanized Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine and is famous for its "slippery shrimp". The restaurant has a predominantly white and Mexican clientele. Lucky Deli is among the more historic and popular Chinese food delicatessens, offering Chinese food at bargain prices.

Los Angeles Chinatown is home to the first restaurant of the venerable barbecue restaurant chain Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant, serving up Cantonese cuisine. Mein Nghia, a small local chain serving Teochew noodles and also operating in the new Chinatowns of San Gabriel Valley, had its start here in Chinatown as well. There are also a number of bakeries operating in Chinatown, such as Queen's Bakery and the much older Phoenix Bakery. While owned by ethnic Chinese, these are also attracting Spanish-speaking customers.

Some Chinatown restaurants that have gotten good reviews include CBS Seafood Restaurant, Hop Woo Restaurant, Ocean Seafood Restaurant, and Empress Pavilion. Both CBS Seafood Restaurant and Empress Pavilion are usually pack with customers waiting for a table for dim sum. Hop Woo, while touristy in atmosphere with Chinese lanterns and with waitresses dressed in cheongsam attire, offers both authentic and Americanized Chinese dishes and attracts diversity of customers - white, African American, Mexican and Filipino - as well as Chinese-speaking ones. Ocean Seafood Restaurant has been Zagat Rated for six consecutive years, and it is widely known for its dim sum.[1]

There are over 20 art galleries to see, mostly featuring non-Chinese modern art, with works from up and coming artists in all types of media. Popular galleries include Acuna-Hansen Gallery, Black Dragon Society, China Art Objects, and The Gallery at General Lee's. Spaces such as Telic Art Exchange, Betalevel and The Mountain Bar often have readings, performances and lectures.

[edit] Little Joe's

Sculpture of Sun Yat-sen in Chinatown.

Little Joe's Italian Restaurant, now shuttered, has long stood in Chinatown. This is a testament of the former Italian American community that once populated the site of the current Chinatown. Actor Robert De Niro starred in the movie 15 Minutes, which was filmed at the former restaurant.

The restaurant closed in December 1998 because the building did not meet seismic standards.

As part of the revitalization movement of Chinatown, there are plans to turn the restaurant into a retail and residential hub with a large parking structure. However, very little construction activity has yet to take place at Little Joe's and other proposals for other buildings on the intersection of Broadway and College Street in Chinatown has not turned into action yet.

[edit] Rush Hour

The movie Rush Hour, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, was filmed on location in the Los Angeles Chinatown. A local Chinese restaurant featured in the film, Foo Chow Restaurant, mentions the fact on its enthusiastic mural by labeling it the "best-seller movie" [sic]. The filming location was at the Central Plaza. However, there are no food vendors (which the scene with the old man and Chris Tucker character argue about "soul food") present in the real Chinatown, unlike the film. Additionally other fictional aspects of the movie in portraying Chinatown is the restaurant (with movie's waitress wear the cheongsam) and surrounding area is not really a haven for Chinese organized crime as depicted in the movie.

Koreatown, Los Angeles, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Learn more about citing Wikipedia • For other Koreatowns, see Koreatown.

Wilshire Boulevard in greater Koreatown Koreatown is a community in the Mid-Wilshire area of the City of Los Angeles, California. Technically, as defined by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, Wilshire Community Plan, adopted September 19, 2001, Koreatown ―is generally bounded by Eighth Street on the north, Twelfth Street on the south, Western Avenue on the west, and continues east towards Vermont Avenue.‖ However, the name "Koreatown" is usually used by residents to refer to most of the area of Wilshire Center (see also) as well. Both neighborhoods have large numbers of Korean residents and businesses. This article focuses on the official Koreatown neighborhood, to differentiate it from Wilshire Center, which is a more commercial and historic area.

[edit] Geography

Koreatown street scene

Wilshire Center lies to the north, Pico-Union to the east, Harvard Heights lies to the south, and Country Club Park lies to the west.

Major thoroughfares include Olympic Boulevard, Western Avenue, Normandie, and Vermont Avenues, and 8th and 12th Streets. The Santa Monica Freeway is about 2 miles to the south.

The area is about 3 miles west of downtown Los Angeles.

[edit] History

Prior to the 1960s, Wilshire Center (at that time including Koreatown) was a wealthy commercial and residential district. As Los Angeles rapidly decentralized along newly constructed freeway corridors, Wilshire Boulevard and the areas surrounding it went into a lengthy decline. With property values drastically diminished, the area saw a heavy influx of Koreans during the 1960s, after restrictions on immigration to the United States from East Asia were lifted in 1965.

In the 1970s, the Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive initiated by South Korean president Park Chung Hee, which displaced much of Korea's petty bourgeoisie, resulted in even more Koreans settling in Wilshire Center, part of which was soon rechristened "Koreatown." The name "Koreatown" had more to do, however, with the predominance of Korean-owned businesses in Mid-Wilshire's major arteries--Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Eighth Street, Sixth Street, Third Street and Vermont Avenue--than with the demographics of the residents, as large parts of the area were heavily Latino throughout the 1970s and 1980s while the level of Korean residents in other areas remained low as well.

[edit] Language restrictions on Korean businesses outside of Koreatown In 1988, Pomona enacted an ordinance requiring businesses that displayed signs with "foreign alphabetical characters," to "devote at least one-half of the sign area to advertising copy in English alphabetical characters." Similar ordinances were also passed in Monterey Park, San Gabriel, and Rosemead. This ordinance was phrased to impact Asian American-owned businesses generally, but it was enforced to hamper Korean shopkeepers particularly.[1] The Pomona ordinance was struck down in 1989 by a federal district court as an unconstitutional restriction on the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.

[edit] Violence, riots, and aftermath

Further tensions arose when Korean shopkeepers who had experienced actual incidents of armed store robberies or had heard reports of armed store robberies treated black and Latino customers with suspicion. The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, were sparked on April 29, 1992 when a predominately white jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King when he resisted arrest following a high-speed car chase.

Many Korean-owned businesses were looted, damaged, and burned down during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, due to "lack" of police power in the area. Over time, it was depicted by the media and other sources as if Koreans were the reason why such uprising took place. The true reason focused on neither the Korean nor the black citizens in the area.

In the aftermath, much of the Korean population decamped to the San Fernando Valley and Orange County. The vacuum was largely filled by Mexican and Central American immigrants, who continued to make up a large part of the population of the area, particularly in the eastern portions of the neighborhood. At the end of the 1990s, Latino-Americans made up over three-fourths of Koreatown's population, while Asian Americans made up less than one-fifth of the total population. There was some popular television footage of armed Korean-American business owners atop their stores prepared to defend their property.

[edit] Revitalization

The early 2000s have seen a revitalization of the area with many Korean-Americans returning, seeking a more urban lifestyle than could be found in Korean-heavy suburbs like Cerritos, and Irvine. The neighborhood has also become invigorated with the arrival of a new generation of middle-class immigrants from Korea, seeking better positions than are generally available in South Korea's stagnant economy.

Koreatown now brims with vibrant nightlife and commerce, and the construction of mid-high end residential buildings, including numerous apartments and condominiums continues to attract new residents. As of 2000, the estimated population of Koreans in Los Angeles is about 186,350 or 2% of the population [US Census 2000]. Koreatown's presence has also notably expanded east into Westlake and west into Country Club Park.

Recently, Koreatown has been infused with college students due to inexpensive housing, public transit to UCLA and USC, and a vibrant nightlife.

[edit] Nightlife Koreatown is well known for its nightlife atmosphere, which includes exclusive clubs and numerous bars. It's not unusual to see an alcohol establishment on every block, and with the large number of already existing liquor licenses, new licenses are hard to get. Some of the Korean nightclubs in Koreatown and Wilshire Center include Karnak, Le Prive (now Le Cercle Super Club), Velvet Room, 2626, and Express. Every club has an age group, ranging from the early 20's to late 50's. Koreatown is known for noraebangs (Korean karaoke), bakeries, cosmetic stores, salons/barber shops, PC rooms, and many more. Koreatown is also known for Korean BBQ, tofu houses, noodle shops, and a wide selection of 24-hour restaurants. The Wiltern Theater lies just to the north, and plays host to a variety of high-profile and indie rock evening concerts.

For a detailed listing of busineses in Koreatown, see KtownLove.com

[edit] Transportation

Koreatown is served by two subway lines: the Red Line, which runs north-south along Vermont Avenue, and the Purple Line, which runs east-west along Wilshire Boulevard. These two lines have relieved some of its traffic congestion and increased the mobility options of its residents.[citation needed] Four subway stations are located in Wilshire Center; on the Purple (Wilshire) Line, Wilshire/Western station sits across from the famous Wiltern Theatre, while Wilshire/Normandie station is situated among a number of high-rise and historical buildings just north of the center of the district. The Wilshire/Vermont transfer station connects downtown and the Red Line going toward North Hollywood.

In addition to these two subway lines, LA Metro also runs numerous Rapid and Local buses through the district. Rapid lines cut across Koreatown, including Line 710 (Crenshaw), Line 720 (Wilshire), Line 728 (Olympic), Line 754 (Vermont), and Line 757 (Western).

Recently, Hanguk Taxis or "Korean Taxis," have sprouted up in Los Angeles' Koreatown. These are unlicensed, privately operated taxis driven by recent Korean immigrants. Their primary form of advertising is by supplying free lighters with their phone number on it in local bars and clubs.

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japanese Village Plaza, the center of the Little Tokyo area.

The New Otani Hotel is the tallest hotel in the Little Tokyo area.

Little Tokyo is an ethnic Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles, one of three official Japantowns left in the United States. Founded around the beginning of the 20th century, the area, sometimes called Lil' Tokyo, J-Town, or Shō-tokyo (Japanese), is the cultural center for Japanese Americans in Southern California.

At its peak, Little Tokyo had approximately 30,000 Japanese Americans living in the area. While a shadow of what it once was in terms of population (only about 1,000 mostly elderly residents actually live there now), Little Tokyo is still a cultural focal point for Los Angeles's Japanese American population. It is mainly a work, cultural, religious, restaurant and shopping district, because Japanese Americans today are likely to live in nearby cities such as Torrance, Gardena, and Monterey Park. However, the recent boom in downtown residential construction may change the nature of Little Tokyo.

What is left of the original Little Tokyo can be found in roughly four large city blocks. It is bounded on the west by Los Angeles Street, on the east by Alameda Street, on the south by 3rd Street, and on the north by First Street and the Los Angeles Civic Center. More broadly, Little Tokyo is bordered by the Los Angeles River to the east, downtown Los Angeles to the west, L.A. City Hall and the Parker Center to the north, and the newly named Artist District (made up of warehouses converted into live-work lofts) to the south.

[edit] Attractions

[edit] Cultural attractions

The original Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist temple. Across from the building is the Japanese American National Museum opened in 1992—50 years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese Americans.

The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center is located in Little Tokyo, as well as the Japanese American National Museum. The extension of the Museum of Contemporary Art, formerly called the Temporary Contemporary and now known as the Geffen Contemporary (named after David Geffen), is also in Little Tokyo. East West Players, one of the nation's first Asian American theatre companies, specializing in live theater written and performed by Asian American artists, is located in Little Tokyo, performing in the David Henry Hwang Theater. There is also the Aratani/Japan America Theater, which features plays and musical performances. Visual Communications, an Asian Pacific American media arts organization, has its offices in Little Tokyo, and each May, annually presents VC FilmFest (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival), in several venues around Little Tokyo.

The Nisei Week festival is held every August, and includes a large parade, a pageant, athletic events, exhibits of Japanese art and culture, a taiko drum festival, and other events. The LA Tofu Festival is a subcommittee of Nisei Week and is also held during the month.

Little Tokyo has quite a few public sculptures and artwork, including a monument to Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka, a Japanese American from Hawaiʻi who was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Challenger when it exploded during takeoff in 1986. There are also two Japanese gardens in the area open to the public—one is next to the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center and the other is a rooftop garden in the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens, formerly the New Otani Hotel. The Go For Broke Monument commemorates Japanese Americans who served in the United States Military during World War II. The multi-purpose theatre, The ImaginAsian Center will be open fall 2007.

[edit] Shopping and dining

Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Street with Weller Court, Challenger Memorial and Los Angeles City Hall in background.

There are numerous Japanese restaurants, catering to both Japanese and non-Japanese clientele. Many of them specialize in one type of Japanese cuisine, such as Donburi, Japanese noodles (both soba and udon), shabu-shabu (which translated from Japanese means 'swish-swish', referring to the motion of dipping meat and vegetables in a communal bowl of boiling water), or Japanese curry. There are also a number of Korean barbecue restaurants, where meat is often cooked on a small grill built into the center of the table.

Little Tokyo has several shops that specialize in Japanese-language videos and DVDs, while other shops specialize in Japanese electronics and video games. These are a great way to find Japanese video games that were never translated into English.

The Weller Court shopping mall has several restaurants, karaoke clubs, and a Bubble Tea cafe. For tourists visiting from Japan, there are a number of shops specializing in expensive name brand products such as Coach handbags. There is also a large bookstore, Kinokuniya, that is part of a well-known Japanese chain. They have a large selection of Japanese-language books, magazines, music CDs, manga, and anime, as well as a selection of English-language books on Japanese subjects and translated manga and anime.

The Japanese Village Plaza is located roughly in the center of Little Tokyo. There are several restaurants in the plaza, plus a number of shops geared towards tourists.

[edit] History

The Far East Café (Chop Suey), a landmark 1896 Beaux-Arts building in Little Tokyo, and subject of a $3.8 million restoration that received county, state, and federal funds.

The original boundaries of Little Tokyo extended east and south of the present location, and covered approximately one square mile. The area was a magnet for immigrating Japanese until the Exclusion Act of 1924 halted any further migration. Shops were along First Street, and vegetable markets were along Central Avenue to the south. Japanese Americans were a significant ethnic group in the vegetable trade, due to the number of successful Japanese American truck farms across Southern California.

The internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War emptied Little Tokyo. For a brief time, the area became known as Bronzeville as African Americans moved into the vacated properties and opened up nightclubs and restaurants. After the internment ended, the Bronzeville residents mainly moved to other areas.

After the war, due to lack of housing in Little Tokyo, Japanese Americans returning from the camps moved into areas surrounding the downtown, into apartments and boarding houses. Notably, Boyle Heights, just east of Little Tokyo, had a large Japanese American population in the 1950s (as it had before the internment).

In the late 1970s, a redevelopment movement started as Japanese corporations expanded overseas operations and many of them set up their US headquarters in the Los Angeles area. Several new shopping plazas and hotels opened, along with branches of some major Japanese banks. Although this redevelopment resulted in many new buildings and shopping centers, there are still some of the original Little Tokyo buildings and restaurants, especially along First Street.

During the 1970s and 1980s, artists began to move into nearby aging warehouse spaces in the area, forming a hidden community in the industrialized area. Al's Bar, Gorky's, the Atomic Cafe, and LA Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) are some well-known sites.

Downtown Los Angeles from Little Tokyo, with Cathedral of St. Vibiana in foreground.

Land use has been a contentious issue in Little Tokyo due to its history, the proximity to the Los Angeles Civic Center, the role of Los Angeles as a site of business between Japan and America, and the increasing influx of residents into the Artist District. Unlike a traditional ethnic enclave, there are relatively few Japanese residents in the area because of evacuation and internment. Consequently, Little Tokyo, like other ethnic urban enclaves, is constantly threatened with development that could eradicate it. Conversely, because the Japanese American community was politicized by the internment and subsequent Redress and Reparations effort, and because of the global and local growth of overseas Japanese investment, Little Tokyo has resisted eradication and has continued to exist as a tourist attraction, community center, and home to Japanese American senior citizens and others.

The current site of Parker Center, the Los Angeles Police Department's headquarters, was the former site of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist temple. The area south of the site was part of the First Street business strip. The warehouses and new condominiums to the east of Little Tokyo were once residential areas of the district. The Weller Court mall was opposed by some people in the community because it redeveloped a strip of family- owned small businesses. Community activists established First Street as a historic district in 1986, In 2004, they helped reopen the Far East Cafe, an acknowledged community hub.

[edit] Education

St. Vibiana complex today with the Little Tokyo Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library

The area is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District [1].

9th Street Elementary School Hollenbeck Middle School Belmont High School

Los Angeles Public Library operates the Little Tokyo Branch. [edit] Religion

Koyasan Buddhist temple in Little Tokyo

There are several Buddhist temples in the area, including Zenshuji Soto Mission (the first Soto Zen temple in North America) and a few Japanese Christian churches.

One of the roots of Pentecostalism started in Little Tokyo. Where the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center Plaza is now located was once the home of the First Pentecostal Church, a multiracial congregation called the Azusa Street Mission. This is where the Azusa Street Revival started in 1906. Earlier, it was also the site of the First AME Church.

The former Catholic Cathedral of Saint Vibiana is just to the west of Little Tokyo. After being heavily damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Archdiocese moved to a new site (now the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels) and the old site was redeveloped with the former cathedral converted into a performing arts space and non-historic buildings on the site demolished and replaced with a new Little Tokyo Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia •

The Walt Disney Concert hall in Winter 2007.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves (among other purposes) as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Frank Gehry-designed building opened on October 23, 2003. While the architecture (as with other Gehry works) evoked mixed opinions, the acoustics of the concert hall were widely praised in contrast to its predecessor, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

[edit] Construction

In a late stage of construction; the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is to the right in the rear.

The project was launched in 1987, when Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, donated $50 million. Gehry delivered completed designs in 1991. Construction of the underground parking garage began in 1992 and was completed in 1996. The garage cost had been $110 million, and was paid for by Los Angeles County, which sold bonds to provide the garage under the site of the planned hall [1].

Construction of the concert hall itself stalled from 1994 to 1996 due to lack of fundraising. Additional funds were required since the construction cost of the final project far exceeded the original budget. Plans were revised, and in a cost saving move the originally designed stone exterior was replaced with a less costly metal skin. The needed fundraising restarted in earnest in 1996 — after the real estate depression passed — headed up by Eli Broad and then-mayor Richard Riordan and groundbreaking for the hall was held in December 1999. Delay in the project completion caused many financial problems for the county of LA. The city expected to repay the garage debts by revenue coming from the Disney Hall parking users[1].

Upon completion in 2003, the project had cost an estimated $274 million, including the parking garage which had solely cost $ 110 million [1]. The remainder of the total cost was paid by private donations, of which the Disney family's contribution was estimated to $84.5 million with another $25 million from The Walt Disney Company. By comparison, the three existing halls of the Music Center cost $35 million in the 1960s.

[edit] Reflection problems

After the construction, modifications were made to the Founders Room exterior; while most of the building's exterior was designed with stainless steel given a matte finish, the Founders Room and Children's Amphitheater were designed with highly polished mirror-like panels. The reflective qualities of the surface were amplified by the concave sections of the Founders Room walls. Some residents of the neighboring condominiums suffered glare caused by sunlight that was reflected off these surfaces and concentrated in a manner similar to a parabolic mirror. The resulting heat made some rooms of nearby condominiums unbearably warm, caused the air- conditioning costs of these residents to skyrocket and created hot spots on adjacent sidewalks of as much as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. After complaints from neighboring buildings and residents, the owners asked Gehry Partners to come up with a solution. Their response was a computer analysis of the building's surfaces identifying the offending panels. In 2005 these were dulled by lighty sanding the panels to eliminate unwanted glare. [2]

[edit] Concert organ

View of the stage and organ before a concert.

The design of the hall included a large concert organ, completed in 2004, which was used in a special concert for the July 2004 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. The organ had its public debut in a non- subscription recital performed by Frederick Swann on September 30, 2004, and its first public performance with the Philharmonic two days later in a concert featuring Todd Wilson.

The organ's facade was designed by architect Frank Gehry in consultation with organ consultant and sound designer, Manuel Rosales. Gehry wanted a distinctive, unique design for the organ. He would submit design concepts to Rosales, who would then provide feedback. Many of Gehry's early designs were fanciful, but impractical: Rosales said in an interview with Timothy Mangan of the Orange County Reigster, "His [Gehry's] earliest input would have created very bizarre musical results in the organ. Just as a taste, some of them would have had the console at the top and pipes upside down. There was another in which the pipes were in layers of arrays like fans. Very fascinating. Couldn't be built. The pipes would have had to be made out of materials that wouldn't work for pipes. We had our moments where we realized we were not going anywhere. As the design became more practical for me, it also became more boring for him." Then, Gehry came up with the curved wooden pipe concept, "like a logjam kind of thing," says Rosales, "turned sideways." This design turned out to be musically viable.[3]

The organ was built by the German organ builder, Caspar Glatter-Götz, under the tonal direction and voicing of Manuel Rosales. It has an attached console, built into the base of the instrument, from which the pipes of the Positive, Great and Swell manuals are playable by direct mechanical, or "tracker" key action, with the rest playing by electric key action; this console somewhat resembles North-German Baroque organs, and has a closed-circuit television monitor set into the music desk. It is also equipped with a detached, movable console, which can be moved about as easily as a grand piano, and plugged in at any of four positions on the stage, this console has terraced, curved "amphitheatre"-style stop-jambs resembling those of French Romantic organs, and is built with a low profile, with the music desk entirely above the top of the console, for the sake of clear sight lines to the conductor. From the detached console, all ranks play by electric key and stop action.

In all, there are 72 stops, 109 ranks, and 6125 pipes; pipes range in size from a few inches to the longest being 32 feet (which has a frequency of 16 hertz).[4] The organ is a gift to the County of Los Angeles from the Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. (the U.S. sales, marketing, service, and distribution arm of Toyota Motor Corporation).[5][6]

[edit] Pop culture

The Hall was spoofed in The Simpsons episode "The Seven-Beer Snitch"; Frank Gehry voiced himself in the episode where the town of Springfield had him design a new Concert Hall for the town.[1] The Concert Hall was then transformed into a jail by Mr. Burns. The first ever movie premiere at the concert hall was in 2003, when The Matrix Revolutions held its world premiere. In the opening moments of "Day 6" of 24, a suicide bomber destroyed a bus in the vicinity of the Concert Hall. The Concert Hall held Ellen DeGeneres co-hosting for American Idol during the special week of Idol Gives Back. Rascal Flatts, Kelly Clarkson, and Il Divo performed here. This building was also used in the Iron Man (film) (2008 release) briefly for a party for Stark Industries. Kodak Theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Learn more about citing Wikipedia •

Coordinates: 34°06′09.75″N, 118°20′24.5″W

Kodak Theatre

Front facade of the the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood

6801 Hollywood Boulevard Location Hollywood, California

Type Indoor theatre

Built 2001

Opened November 9, 2001 Owner CIM Group

Seating type Reserved

Capacity 3,400

Website kodaktheatre.com

The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland retail, dining, and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Since its opening on November 9, 2001, the theatre has been the home of the annual Academy Awards Ceremonies (The Oscars), which were first held there in March 2002, and is the first permanent home for the awards.

The theatre was designed by David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group and David Taylor for Theatre Projects Consultants[1] specifically with the Oscars in mind. It has a seating capacity for up to 3,401 people and the stage is one of the largest in the United States, measuring 113 feet (34 m) wide by 60 feet (18 m) deep. The theatre was sponsored by the Kodak company, which paid $75 million to have its name associated with the building. It is owned by CIM Group.

The Grand Staircase entrance columns hall to the Kodak Theatre is flanked by columns displaying the names of winners of the Academy Awards for Best Picture since 1927-1928, with blank spaces left for future Best Picture winners well into the 21st century. Still, a visitor during the rest of the year might have a hard time recognizing the landmark. In a fashion reminiscent of Hollywood's moviemaking process, the building is "dressed" before the ceremony, including a different sign, drapery to hide all the storefronts, and the famous large red carpet.

The theatre is rented to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for weeks before the Oscar night. During the rest of the year, it is host to numerous other live concerts, award shows, symphony performances and others.

[edit] Cirque du Soleil

Beginning in 2010, a new Cirque du Soleil show will debut at the Kodak with a movie-themed show for the millions of tourists who flock to the Hollywood area. The Show will run for 10 years and will take a six week break during L.A.'s Oscar season.[2]

[edit] Past events

Artists that have appeared at the Kodak Theatre include Andranik Madadian, Parska Hav, Armenchik, Christina Aguilera, Céline Dion, the Dixie Chicks, Mariah Carey, Elvis Costello, Vanilla Ice, Barry Manilow, Prince, Ian Anderson, David Gilmour, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Broadway musicals, dance shows, symphony performances and opera.

Kodak Theatre.

The Kodak Theatre before the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.

Other events have included the AFI Life Achievement Award to Tom Hanks, the ESPY Awards for excellence in sports performance yearly, the BET Awards and American Idol finales. In April 2006, it was home to the 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards, and it hosted the 34th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 15, 2007.

In 2005, Nintendo launched its latest game console, the Wii, at the Kodak Theatre before E3 began. Nintendo used the venue again in 2006 for its pre-E3 news conference. The 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was also held at the Kodak Theatre for the first time, having been held in New York in previous years.

The theatre has also hosted the Miss USA pageant twice, in 2004 and 2007.

[edit] External links

Workers make preparations before the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.

Official Website of the Kodak Theatre Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences venue description Kodak.com

Watts Towers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Have questions? Find out how to ask questions and get answers. • Watts Towers of Simon Rodia

(U.S. National Historic Landmark)

Watts Towers, 1765 East 107th St., Los Angeles

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Coordinates: 33°56′19.46″N 118°14′27.77″W33.9387389, -118.2410472Coordinates: 33°56′19.46″N 118°14′27.77″W33.9387389, -118.2410472 Built/Founded: 1921

Architect: Simon Rodia Designated as December 14, 1990 [1] NHL: Added to April 13, 1977[2] NRHP: NRHP 77000297 Reference#: Governing body: Local

The Watts Towers or Nuestro Pueblo in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is a superb example of non-traditional vernacular architecture. The Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn Station of the Metro Rail LACMTA Blue Line.

[edit] Design and construction

The sculptures' armatures are constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh, coated with mortar. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects: bed frames, bottles, ceramic tiles, scrap metal and sea shells. Rodia called the towers Nuestro Pueblo, meaning "our town." Rodia built them with no special equipment or (so far as is known) predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer's equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia in hopes they would be added to the project, but the majority of Rodia's material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery, where he worked for many years. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles, some still bearing the logos of 7 Up, Squirt, Bubble Up, and Canada Dry; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles.

Closeup view of the mosaic decoration

Doorway detail featuring broken bottles, pottery shards, tile fragments, and seashells. Note flower-like imprints in mortar (lower right) made with a faucet handle."1765" and "SR" are repeatedly seen, referring to the street number and to Simon Rodia, the builder.

Rodia bent up much of the Towers' framework from scrap rebar, using nearby railroad tracks as a sort of makeshift vise.

Other items came from alongside the Pacific Electric Railway right of way between Watts and Wilmington. Rodia often walked the right of way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly 20 miles (32 km).

Rodia reportedly did not get along with his neighbors, some of whom allowed their children to vandalize his work. Rumors that the towers were antennae for communicating with enemy Japanese forces, or contained buried treasure, caused suspicion and further vandalism.

In 1955, Rodia gave the property away and left, reportedly tired of the abuse he had received. He retired to Martinez, California, and never came back. He died a decade later.

[edit] After Rodia The property changed hands, Rodia's bungalow inside the enclosure was burned down, and the city of Los Angeles condemned the structure and ordered it razed. An actor, Nicholas King, and a film editor, William Cartwright, visited the site in 1959, saw the neglect, and decided to buy the property for $3,000 in order to preserve it. When the city found out about the transfer, it decided to perform the demolition before the transfer went through. The towers had already become famous and there was opposition from around the world. King, Cartwright, and a curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, along with area architects, artists, and community activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The Committee negotiated with the city to allow for an engineering test to establish the safety of the structures.

For the test, steel cable was attached to each tower and a crane was used to exert lateral force. The crane was unable to topple or even shift the towers, and the test was concluded when the crane experienced mechanical failure.

The committee preserved the towers independently until 1975, when it deeded the site to the City of Los Angeles, which deeded it to the State of California in 1978. It is now designated the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park. It is operated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. The towers are one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.[1][3][4]

The steel, concrete and glass folk art structures were undamaged during the Watts riots in 1965. However, the towers did suffer minor damage in the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. They were repaired and were reopened to the public in 2001.

The Watts Towers Arts Center is an adjacent community arts center that was opened in 1970.

[edit] References in Popular Culture

Griffith Observatory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •

Griffith Observatory, September, 2006.

Griffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles, California, United States. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction that features an extensive array of space- and science-related displays.

[edit] History

View from a trail in Griffith Park from the south, looking north.

The land on which the observatory stands was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Col. Griffith J. Griffith in 1896. In his will, Griffith donated funds to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. Construction began on June 20, 1933 using a design developed by architect John C. Austin based on preliminary sketches by Russell W. Porter. The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public on May 14, 1935. In its first five days of operation the observatory logged more than 13,000 visitors. Dinsmore Alter was the museum's director during its first years. A wildfire in the hills came dangerously close to the observatory on May 10, 2007.[1]

[edit] Exhibits

The first exhibit visitors encountered in 1935 was the Foucault pendulum, which was designed to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. The exhibits also included a twelve-inch Zeiss telescope, a solar telescope, and a thirty- eight foot relief model of the moon's north polar region.

The Griffith Observatory after renovations, June 2007.

Col. Griffith requested that the observatory include a display on evolution which was accomplished with the Cosmochron exhibit which included a narration from Caltech Professor Chester Stock and an accompanying slide show. The evolution exhibit existed from 1937 to the mid 1960s. Also included in the original design was a planetarium. The first shows covered topics including the Moon, worlds of the solar system, and eclipses.

Mad Systems, the Orange, California based audio-visual consultancy and integration company, developed all the audio-visual equipment for the over 60 exhibits as well as the telluria and the magic boxes.

During World War II the planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation. The planetarium was again used for this purpose in the 1960s to train Apollo program astronauts for the first lunar missions.

The planetarium theater was renovated in 1964 and a Mark IV Zeiss projector was installed.

[edit] Renovation and expansion

A model showing the new underground exhibits

The observatory closed in 2002 for renovation and a major expansion of exhibit space. It reopened to the public on November 3, 2006, retaining its art deco exterior. The $93 million renovation, paid largely by a public bond issue, restored the building, as well as replaced the aging planetarium dome. The building was expanded underground, with completely new exhibits [1], a café, gift shop, and the new Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater[2]. The Café at the End of the Universe, an homage to Restaurant at the End of the Universe, is one of the many cafés run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. One wall inside the building is covered with the largest astronomically accurate image ever constructed (152 feet long by 20 feet high), called "The Big Picture", depicting the Virgo Cluster of galaxies; visitors can explore the highly detailed image from within arm's reach or through telescopes 60 feet away. [3] The 1964-vintage Zeiss Mark IV star projector was replaced with a Zeiss Mark IX Universarium [4]. The former planetarium projector is part of the underground exhibit on ways in which humanity has visualized the skies.

View of L.A. from behind the Observatory, taken during renovations

Since the observatory opened in 1935, admission has been free, in accordance with Griffith's will. Admission to the museum continues to be free. Tickets for the show Centered in the Universe in the 290-seat Samuel Oschin Planetarium Theater are purchased separately at the box office within the observatory. Tickets are sold on a first- come, first-served basis.

Children under 5 are free, but are admitted to only the first planetarium show of the day. Only members of the observatory's support group, Friends Of The Observatory [5], may reserve tickets for the planetarium show.

Centered in the Universe features a high-resolution immersive video projected by an innovative laser system developed by Evans and Sutherland Corporation, along with a short night sky simulation projected by the Zeiss Universarium. A team of animators worked more than two years to create the 30-minute program. Actors, holding a glowing orb, perform the presentation, under the direction of Chris Shelton.

[edit] Filming location

Lego model of Griffith Observatory at Legoland California

Film

The observatory was featured in a number of scenes in the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause; a bust of James Dean was subsequently placed at the west side of the grounds. It has appeared in several movies:

The Terminator The Rocketeer The End of Violence Midnight Madness Bowfinger War of the Colossal Beast Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle House on Haunted Hill (1999 remake) Queen of the Damned Transformers (2007 live-action film) Television

The Observatory has appeared in episodes of the following TV shows:

Adventures of Superman (first episode, as Jor-El's laboratory on Superman's home planet, Krypton; some other episodes, as the Metropolis observatory.) Angel (episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been").[2] Beverly Hills 90210 ("Rebel with a Cause", episode 13) Danny Phantom (The Amity Park Observatory modeled off The Griffith Observatory.) MacGyver (pilot episode) Mission: Impossible (opening pilot episode) Moonlight Remington Steele Rocky Jones, Space Ranger Star Trek: Voyager (two-part episode "Future's End") The Man From U.N.C.L.E The New Adventures of Wonder Woman between 1977 and 1979. The Simpsons (duplicated as Springfield's Observatory) The Wonder Years. Other Media

Was a filming location for the music video for "Rush Rush" by Paula Abdul which starred Keanu Reeves and was directed by Stefan Würnitzer. [edit] Popular culture references

Comics

The James Dean memorial at the Griffith Observatory is an important landmark for the teenage superheroes of the Marvel Comics series Runaways.

In Bill Griffith's comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, the cynical Griffy can occasionally be found in Griffith Observatory, aiming its telescope down into the valley to afford himself a view of the comings and goings in Hollywood.

Video games

In the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game this landmark is featured and is identical to the real life Griffith Observatory. The observatory is a playable area in the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines video game, unfortunately being ruined by a werewolf and destroyed by fire.

Music

The song Observatory Crest by Captain Beefheart may refer to the location of the Griffith Observatory. The song includes the lyric "...drive up / and watch the city / from Observatory Crest."

Other

A Lego model of this building is on permanent exhibit at Legoland California in the Southern California section of Miniland. It has also been featured in the comic strip "Spiderman." [6] In "Macross Frontier," Episode 03, two characters hold a conversation in a future replica of the Griffith Observatory. [edit] Gallery

The Griffith Los Angeles at night, View of Downtown Architecture closeup, Observatory, April taken from the roof. Los Angeles from the taken after the 2007 telescope. renovation.

Panorama of Los

Angeles and Griffith Observatory viewed View of the Lawn at entrance and View looking from the Hollywood Hollywood Sign on a Griffith Park trails, eastward, with south Hills. clear day. looking north from Griffith Park and atop the observatory. Eagle Rock

View of the Los

Angeles Basin looking Astronomers Foucault Pendulum in south, with Little Monument in front of the center of W. M. Armenia in the center. north door. Keck Foundation Central Rotunda.

Getty Center

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Learn more about using Wikipedia for research •

The Getty Center, seen from the Central Garden The Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, is the current home of the J. Paul Getty Museum, as well as a research institute (the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)), a grant program, and a leadership institute. The museum opened on December 16, 1997. It is owned and operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust.

[edit] The Getty Trust

The Getty Trust administers four programs: the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the Getty Museum.

[edit] The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), part of the Getty Trust, was conceived in 1982 and began operation in 1985. Its central objective is to advance the conservation of the visual arts, in all their dimensions. It achieves this objective through four key strands: international model field projects; scientific research and analysis into materials; educational initiatives for the conservation professional; and by sharing the results of its activities and the activities of others in the field.

The GCI tackles unanswered questions in both immovable and movable heritage. At any one time it is engaged in a number of projects, ranging from site management to collection care. Its work is necessarily interdisciplinary. The primary audience for the GCI is conservation professionals, and those working in allied fields such as art historians, curators, archaeologists, architects, scientists, and government officials.

The GCI is distinct from most other conservation-focused organisations in that it is independently funded and has no political affiliations. In its activities, the GCI adheres to the principles that guide the work of the Getty Trust: service, philanthropy, teaching, and access.

In addition to the work of the GCI, the J. Paul Getty Trust contributes to the conservation field through the Getty Museum conservation departments, conservation grants provided by the Getty Foundation, and the conservation collection located in the library at the Getty Research Institute.

[edit] GCI Directors

1985-90 Luis Monreal 1990-98 Miguel Angel Corzo 1998- Timothy Whalen [edit] GCI Senior Staff

Associate Director, Programs and Acting Head of Field Projects: Jeanne Marie Teutonico Assistant Director, Administration: Kathleen Gaines Assistant Director, Communications and Information Resources: Jemima Rellie Chief Scientist: Giacomo Chiari Head of Education: Kathleen Dardes [edit] Getty Museum Collection The museum collects and exhibits classical sculpture and art, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture, decorative arts, and photographs. In respect to Getty's collecting inclinations, the museum does not generally collect twentieth or twenty-first century art, with the exception of photography.

The J. Paul Getty Museum

In 1974, J. Paul Getty opened his second museum, in a re-creation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, on his property in Pacific Palisades, California. In 1997, the museum moved to its current location in Brentwood; the Pacific Palisades museum, renamed the "Getty Villa", was closed for renovation until 2006.

At present, the Getty Villa holds the Greek, Etruscan and Roman sculptures once housed in the Getty Center.

The Getty Center houses such paintings as Irises by Vincent Van Gogh and King of France and Navarre by Hyacinthe Rigaud.

[edit] The controversies with Italy and Greece

The Getty is involved in a controversy regarding proper title to some of the artwork in its collection. The Museum's previous curator of antiquities, Marion True, was indicted in Italy in 2005 (along with famed dealer Robert Hecht Jr.) on criminal charges relating to trafficking in stolen antiquities. Similar charges have been addressed by the Greek authorities. The primary evidence in the case came from the 1995 raid of a Geneva, Switzerland warehouse which had contained a fortune in stolen artifacts. Italian art dealer Giacomo Medici was eventually arrested in 1997; his operation was thought to be "one of the largest and most sophisticated antiquities networks in the world, responsible for illegally digging up and spiriting away thousands of top-drawer pieces and passing them on to the most elite end of the international art market".[1]

In a letter to the J. Paul Getty Trust on December 18, 2006, True stated that that she is being made to "carry the burden" for practices which were known, approved, and condoned by the Getty's Board of Directors.[2] True is currently under investigation by Greek authorities over the acquisition of a 2,500 year old funerary wreath. The wreath along with a 6th century B.C. statue of a woman have now being returned to Greece and are now exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.[3]

On November 20, 2006, the director of the museum, Michael Brand, announced that twenty-six disputed pieces were to be returned to Italy, but not the Victorious Youth, which is still claimed by the Italian authorities. In 2007 the Los Angeles J. Paul Getty Museum was forced to return 40 artifacts, including a 5th century B.C. statue of the goddess Aphrodite, which was looted from Morgantina, an ancient Greek settlement in Sicily.[4] The Getty Museum resisted the requests of the Italian government for nearly two decades, only to admit later that "there might be 'problems'" attached to the acquisition."[5] In 2006 Italian senior cultural official Giuseppe Proietti said: "The negotiations haven't made a single step forward." Only after he suggested the Italian government "to take cultural sanctions against the Getty, suspending all cultural cooperation,"[6] did the J. Paul Getty Museum return the antiquities.

In another unrelated case in 1999 the Getty Museum had to hand over three antiquities to Italy after determining they were stolen. The objects included a Greek red-figure kylix from the fifth-century B.C., signed by the painter Onesimos and the potter Euphronios as potter, looted from the Etruscan site of Cerveteri; a torso of the god Mithra from the second-century A.D., and the head of a youth by the Greek sculptor Polykleitos.[7]

On September 26, 2007, Sarcona Center signed a contract with the Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, to return stolen arts from Italy. Forty ancient art works will be returned including: the 5th Century BC Aphrodite limestone and marble statue, in 2010; fresco paintings stolen from Pompeii, marble and bronze sculptures and Greek vases. Dr. Marion True (former curator) is on trial in Italy on conspiracy charges in the looting.[8]

[edit] Getty Center architecture

The Getty Center at dusk.

The Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, is the US$1.2 billion flagship location of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the largest arts endowment in history (at over US$3 billion).[9]It is located on a hill in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California overlooking Interstate 405 and Bel-Air. The museum is free to the public (although there is a parking fee imposed by the City of Los Angeles). The Getty Center is high enough that on a clear day, it is possible to see the snow at Big Bear as well as the Pacific Ocean and the entire Los Angeles basin.

Richard Meier has exploited the two naturally occurring ridges (which diverge at a 22.5 degree angle) by overlaying two grids along these axes. These grids serve to define the space of the campus while dividing the import of the buildings on it. Along one axis lie the galleries and along the other axis lie the administrative buildings. The primary grid structure is a 30-inch square; most wall and floor elements are 30-inch squares or some derivative thereof.

USGS satellite image of the Getty Center.

The buildings at the Getty Center are made from concrete and steel with either travertine or aluminium cladding.[10] The Getty Center houses four primary art collections: Greek and Roman antiquities, French decorative arts, European paintings before the 1900s and Photography from its inception through present day.

The five galleries, called pavilions, are North, East, South, West and the Changing Exhibit pavilion. The artwork is displayed throughout the pavilions chronologically: the North houses the oldest art while the West houses the newest. The first floor galleries house light-sensitive art, such as illuminated manuscripts, furniture or photography. Computer-controlled skylights on the second floor galleries allow paintings to be displayed in natural light. The second floors are connected by a series of glass enclosed bridges and open terraces, both of which offer views of the surrounding hillsides and central plaza.

Throughout the campus, numerous fountains provide white noise as a background. The initial design has remained intact, however benches and fences have been installed around the plaza fountains to discourage visitors from wading into the pools. Some additional revisions have been made in deference to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The museum has a seven-story deep underground parking garage with over 1,200 parking spaces. An automated, driver-less, three-car tram takes passengers to and from the museum. This serves to decompress the visitor and create an entirely pedestrian experience for the museum-goer.

The north promontory is anchored by a circular grass area which serves as a heliport in case of emergencies, and the south promontory is anchored by a succulent plant and cactus garden.

[edit] Getty Center Central Garden

The central garden in April 2007.

The 134,000-square-foot Central Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin. The design of the Central Garden re-establishes the natural ravine between the Museum and the Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities with a tree-lined walkway. The walkway traverses a stream planted on each side with a variety of grasses and gradually descends to a plaza where bougainvillea arbors provide scale. The stream continues through the plaza and ends in a cascade of water over a stone waterfall into a pool in which a maze of azaleas floats. Around the pool is a series of specialty gardens, each with a variety of plant material.

The process of creating the Central Garden began for Irwin in 1992, when he started working with Harold M. Williams and Stephen D. Rountree of the J. Paul Getty Trust in consultation with Richard Meier. Irwin also worked closely with Richard Naranjo, the Getty’s manager of grounds and gardens, and the landscape architecture firm of Spurlock Poirier, in finalizing all facets of the garden.

[edit] Getty Center Construction schedule

Spring 1996 Begin grading on the reflecting pool and chadar wall Spring 1997 Complete grading for remainder of garden; Begin construction of stream Summer 1997 Complete construction of stream; Install bridges and walkways; Begin irrigation and first plantings; Complete planting and installation of final details December 1997 Garden completed; Getty Center opens to the public [edit] Getty Center Plants

A garden at the Getty Center, seen from the Central Garden.

(Botanical name - Common name)

Trees: Platanus acerifolia - 'Yarwood' London Plane Lagerstroemia indica - 'Muskogee' Crape Myrtle Stream Garden: Helichrysum petiolatum - Cudflower Cotyledon orbiculata - no common name Kalanchoe - various species Tibouchina urvilleana - Princess Flower Geranium psilostemon - Cranesbill Cannas - no common name Terrace Bowers: Bougainvillea - no common name Meadow: Muhlenbergia rigens - Deer Grass Festuca mairei - Maire's Fescue Terrace Gardens: Hydrangea macrophylla - Garden Hydrangea Iris species - no common name Rosa species - Floribunda roses Tulips, South African and Mediterranean Bulbs - no common names Tropaeolum malus - Garden Nasturtium Erigeron karvinskianus - Fleabane Sempervivum tectorum - Hen and Chicks Penstemon species - Beard Tongue Salvia Species - Sages Cosmos species - no common name Azalea Pool: Three varieties of Southern Indica Rhododendron [edit] GettyGuide

Detailed information about the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection at the Getty Center is provided on GettyGuide, a suite of interactive multimedia tools available at the Museum, as well as on getty.edu. At the GettyGuide stations in the Museum, visitors can get information about exhibitions, play with an interactive timeline, watch videos on art-making techniques, and more. Also available at the Museum, the GettyGuide audio player features commentary from curators and conservators on over 300 works of art. With GettyGuide on the Web, one may browse the Museum’s collections[11] and bookmark works of art to create a customized tour and printable map.[12] More information about GettyGuide can be found on getty.edu.[13]

Admission: Free Parking: $8.00 The museum is closed Mondays. [edit] Additional images

The Getty Center, seen A rest area in the from a hill in Bel-Air garden A garden at the Getty Center Cactus Garden perched on the edge of the Getty Center, with West Los Angeles in the background

A stairway leading down to the Central Garden The fountain at the Westwood skyline, as viewed tram station. Stairway at the Getty from the Getty Center; Center Downtown Los Angeles is on the horizon.

A hazy Westwood skyline behind the Getty Center.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia •

For board track racing circuit, see Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Grand Old Lady

3911 South Figueroa Street Location Los Angeles, California 90037 Broke ground Dec 21, 1921

Opened May 1, 1923

Owner State of California

Operator Los Angeles Coliseum Commission

Surface Grass

Construction $954,873 USD cost

Architect John and Donald Parkinson

USC Trojans (NCAA) (1923-present) UCLA Bruins (NCAA) (1928-1981) Summer Olympics (1932, 1984) Los Angeles Dons (AAFC) (1946-1949) Los Angeles Rams (NFL) (1946-1979) Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) (1958- 1961, 2008) Los Angeles Chargers (AFL) (1960) Los Angeles Wolves (USA) (1967) Tenants Los Angeles Aztecs (NASL) (1974- 1981) Los Angeles Raiders (NFL) (1982-1994) Los Angeles Express (USFL) (1983- 1985) Los Angeles Xtreme (XFL) (2001) Los Angeles Christmas Festival (NCAA) (1924) Mercy Bowl (NCAA) (1961,1971) Los Angeles Dragons (SFL) (2000)

76,000 (1923) 101,574 (1932) Capacity 92,000 (1995-present) 115,300 (2008 Dodgers 50th anniversary Game)

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at Exposition Park that has hosted two Olympics and is home to the University of Southern California Trojans football team. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena adjacent to the campus of the University of Southern California (USC). The stadium is owned by the State of California and is currently being leased (and managed) by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.[1]

The Coliseum was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.[2] [edit] Present use

The Coliseum during a USC game

The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity 92,000 person crowd, although they regularly drew far less during the 1990s. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 92,516. The Coliseum Commission also rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events. Concurrently, the commission is negotiating a new lease with the state after the 48-year lease expired in December 2005.[1]

Celebrating their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox played an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On March 29th, 2008 a Los Angeles and MLB record for attendance was broken. 115,300 people attended the game.

[edit] Olympic Cauldron

The Olympic Cauldron (also known as the Olympic Torch) was built for the stadium's two Olympic games. It is still lit during the fourth quarter of USC football games, and other special occasions (e.g., when the Olympics are being held in another city). In 2004, the cauldron was lit non-stop for seven days in tribute to Ronald Reagan, who had died; and it was lit again in April 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II, who had celebrated Mass at the Coliseum during his visit to Los Angeles in 1987. The torch was also lit for over a week following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

[edit] History

[edit] Structure

The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to veterans of World War I (rededicated to veterans of all wars in 1968.) The official ground breaking ceremony took place on December 21, 1921 with work being completed less than two years later, on May 1, 1923[3]. Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl's initial construction costs were $954,873. When the Coliseum opened in 1923, it was the largest stadium in Los Angeles with a capacity of 76,000. However, with the arrival of the Olympics only ten years later, the stadium was expanded to 101,574 and the now-signature torch was added. For a time it was known as Olympic Stadium. The Olympic cauldron torch which burned through both Games remains above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances. The football field runs east-west with the press box on the south side of the stadium. The scoreboard and video screen that tower over the peristyle date back to 1983; they replaced a smaller scoreboard installed in 1972, which in turn supplanted the 1937 model, one of the first electric scoreboards in the nation. Over the years new light towers have been placed along the north and south rims. The analog clock and thermometer over the office windows at either end of the peristyle were installed in 1956. Between the peristyle arches at the east end are plaques recognizing many of the memorable events and participants in Coliseum history, including a full list of 1932 and 1984 Olympic gold medalists.

A pair of life-sized bronze nude statues of male and female athletes atop a 20,000 pound (9,000 kg) post-and- lintel frame formed the Olympic Gateway created by Robert Graham for the 1984 games. The statues, modeled on water polo player Terry Schroeder and long jumper from Guyana, Jennifer Innis, who participated in the games, were noted for their anatomical accuracy.

The Coliseum under construction in 1922

For many years the Coliseum was capable of seating over 100,000 spectators, and the capacity for the 1984 Olympics configuration was approximately 90,500. During the 1960s and 70s, it was common practice to shift the playing field to the closed end of the stadium and install end zone bleachers in front of the peristyle, reducing the capacity to 71,500. With the upcoming 1984 Summer Olympic Games, a new track was installed and the playing field permanently placed inside it. The large seating capacity made the venue problematic for the Raiders, as it meant that the vast majority of their home games could not be shown locally due to NFL "blackout" rules (league rules do not allow home games to be televised locally unless the game sells out at least 72 hours prior to its scheduled kickoff). Furthermore, the combination of the stadium's large, relatively shallow design, along with the presence of the track between the playing field and the stands, meant that some of the original end zone seats were essentially away from the field by the equivalent length of another football field. To address these and other problems, the Coliseum underwent a $15 million renovation before the 1993 football season which included the following[4]:

The field was lowered by 11 feet (3.4 m) and fourteen new rows of seats replaced the running track, bringing the first row of seats closer to the playing field (a maximum distance of 54 feet (16 m) at the eastern 30 yard-line). A portable seating section was built between the eastern endline and the peristyle bleachers (the stands are removed for concerts and similar events). A modernization of the locker rooms and public restrooms. The bleachers were replaced with individual seating[5].

Additionally, for Raiders home games, tarpaulins were placed over seldom-sold sections, reducing seating capacity to approximately 65,000. The changes were anticipated to be the first of a multi-stage renovation designed by HNTB that would have turned the Coliseum into a split-bowl stadium with two levels of mezzanine suites (the peristyle end would have been left as is). After the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, however, $93 million were required from government agencies (including FEMA) to repair earthquake damage, and the renovations demanded by the Raiders were put on hold indefinitely. The Raiders then redirected their efforts toward a proposed stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood before electing to move back to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum prior to the 1995 season. The last element of the Northridge Earthquake repairs was the replacement of the condemned press box with a new press box in 1995.

[edit] Events

Many events have been held at the Coliseum over the years; below are some of the more notable.

[edit] 1920s

On October 6, 1923, Pomona College and USC played in the inaugural game at the Los Angeles Coliseum, with the Trojans prevailing 23-7. Located across the street from Exposition Park, USC's agreement to play all its home games at the Coliseum was a contributing factor to its original construction. From 1928 until their departure in 1982, the UCLA Bruins also played home games at the Coliseum. When USC and UCLA played each other, the "home" team fans sat on the North side of the stadium, and the "visiting" team fans sat on the South (press box) side of the stadium. For many years, both teams both wore their home football jerseys for the UCLA-USC rivalry football games.

[edit] 1930s-1940s

The front of the Olympic Stadium, including the two bronze statues.

In 1932, the Coliseum hosted the 1932 Summer Olympic Games; the first of two Olympiads hosted at the stadium. The Coliseum served as the site of primary track and field events as well as opening and closing ceremonies. The 1932 games marked the introduction of the Olympic Village as well as the victory podium.[2]

The former Cleveland Rams of the National Football League relocated to the Coliseum in 1946, becoming the Los Angeles Rams; but the team later relocated again, first to Anaheim in 1980, then to St. Louis, Missouri in 1995. The Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference played in the Coliseum from 1946 to 1949, when the Dons franchise merged with its NFL cousins just before the two leagues merged.[6] In 1960 the American Football League's Los Angeles Chargers played at the Coliseum before relocating to San Diego the next year.

[edit] 1950s-1960s

A Dodgers game at the Coliseum; note the shape of the field.

Among other sporting events held at the Coliseum over the years was Major League Baseball, which was held at the Coliseum when the former Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League relocated to Los Angeles in 1958. The Dodgers played here until Dodger Stadium was completed in time for the 1962 season, despite the fact that the Coliseum's one-tier, oval bowl shape was extremely poorly suited to baseball. There was virtually no foul territory along the first base line, but a large amount along the third base line. Some seats were as far as 710 feet (220 m) from the plate.

The left field fence was only 251 feet (77 m) from the plate because the field was just barely large enough to fit a baseball diamond. Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick ordered the Dodgers to erect a screen in left field to prevent pop flies from becoming home runs. At its highest point at the foul pole, the fence was 42 feet (13 m) high. [1] The cables, towers, girders and wires were in play. Frick originally wanted the Dodgers to build a second screen in the stands, 333 feet (101 m) from the plate. A ball hit to left would have to clear both screens to be a home run; if it cleared the first screen, it would be a ground-rule double. However, the state's earthquake laws barred construction of a second screen.[7]

Unable to compel the Dodgers to fix the situation, the major leagues passed a note to Rule 1.04 stating that any ball field constructed after June 1, 1958, must provide a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) down each foul line.

In 1959, the screen figured in the National League pennant race. The Milwaukee Braves were playing the Dodgers in the Coliseum on September 15, 1959, and Joe Adcock hit a ball that cleared the screen but hit a steel girder behind it and got stuck in the mesh. According to the ground rules, this should have been a home run. However, the umpires ruled it a ground-rule double. Then the fans shook the screen, causing the ball to fall into the seats. The umpires changed the call to a homer, only to change their minds again and rule it a ground-rule double.[7] Adcock was left stranded on second. The game was tied at the end of nine innings and the Dodgers won it in the tenth inning. [2] At the end of the regular season, the Dodgers and Braves finished in a tie. The Dodgers won the ensuing playoff and went on to win the World Series. If Adcock's hit had been ruled a home run, the Braves may have won the game and could have gone on to win the pennant by one game.

Although ill-suited as a Major League Baseball field, with its left field line at 251 feet (mentioned above) and power alley at 320 feet (98 m), it was ideally suited for large paying crowds. Each of the three games of the 1959 World Series played there drew over 92,706 fans, a record unlikely to be seriously threatened anytime soon, given the smaller seating capacities of today's baseball parks. A May 1959 exhibition game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees in honor of legendary catcher Roy Campanella drew 93,103, the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in the Western Hemisphere until an exhibition game in 2008 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox to mark the Golden Jubilee of Major League Baseball in Los Angeles. The Coliseum also hosted the second 1959 MLB All-Star Game. Also, from baseball's point of view, the locker rooms were huge, because they were designed for football (not baseball) teams.

The Coliseum was also the site of John F. Kennedy's memorable acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. It was during that speech that Kennedy first used the term "the New Frontier."

The Rams hosted the 1949, 1951 and the 1955 NFL championship games at the Coliseum. The Coliseum was the site of the very first NFL-AFL Championship Game in January 1967, an event since renamed the Super Bowl. It also hosted the Super Bowl in 1973. The venue was also the site of the NFL Pro Bowl from 1951-1972 and again in 1979.

[edit] 1970s-1980s

In July 1972, the Coliseum hosted the Super Bowl of Motocross. The event was the first motocross race held inside a stadium. It has evolved into the AMA Supercross championship held in stadiums across the United States and Canada.

The Coliseum was also home to the USFL's Los Angeles Express between 1983 and 1985. In this capacity, the stadium also is the site of the longest professional American football game in history; a triple-overtime game on June 30, 1984 (a few weeks before the start of the 1984 Summer Olympics) between the Express and the Michigan Panthers, which was decided on a 24-yard game winning touchdown by Mel Gray of the Express, 3:33 into the third overtime to give Los Angeles a 27-21 win. [3]

In 1982 the former Oakland Raiders moved in. The same year, UCLA decided to move out, relocating its home games to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Also in 1982, the Individual World Speedway Final was held for the first and, to this day, only time in the USA. The event saw American Bruce Penhall retain his title in a meeting that involved one of the most controversial incidents in the history of World Speedway, when Penhall and Englishman Kenny Carter collided.

Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics, and the Coliseum became the first stadium to host the Olympics twice; again serving as the primary track and field venue and site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

[edit] 1990s-2000s

In 1995, the Raiders left Los Angeles and returned to Oakland, leaving the Coliseum without a professional football tenant for the first time since the close of World War II.

The most recent pro football tenant has been the short-lived Los Angeles Xtreme, the first and only champion of the XFL.

The stadium hosted several matches, including the semi-finals and final, of the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer tournament. The United States national team beat Honduras in the final. The Coliseum also staged the final match of the Gold Cup in the 1996, 1998, and 2000 tournaments. The stadium hosted the K-1 Dynamite!! USA mixed martial arts event. The promoters claimed that 54,000 people attended the event, which would have set a new attendance record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States, however other officials estimated the crowd between 20,000 and 30,000.[8]

In May of 1959, the Dodgers had hosted an exhibition game against the reigning World Series champion New York Yankees at the Coliseum, a game which drew over 93,000 people. The Yankees won that game 6-2. As part of their west coast 50th anniversary celebration in 2008, the Dodgers again hosted an exhibition game against the reigning World Champions, the Boston Red Sox. [9] The middle game of a three-game set in Los Angeles, held on March 29, 2008, was also won by the visitors, by the relatively low score of 7-4, given the layout of the field - Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek had joked that he expected scores in the 80s.

As previously mentioned in the 1950s-1960s section, during 1958-1961, the distance from home plate to the left field foul pole was 251 feet (77 m) with a 42-foot (13 m) screen running across the close part of left field. Due to the intervening addition of another section of seating rimming the field, the 2008 grounds crew had much less space to work with, and the result was a left field foul line only 201 feet (61 m) long, with a 60-foot (18 m) screen which one Boston writer dubbed the "Screen Monster".[4] Even at that distance, 201 feet is also 49 feet (15 m) short of the minimum legal home run distance. This being an exhibition game, balls hit over the 60 feet (18 m) temporary screen were still counted as home runs. There were only a couple of homers over the screen, as pitchers adjusted (and Manny Ramirez did not play).[5] Net proceeds from the game, estimated to be at $1 million (US) were to go to the ThinkCure charity. [6]

This diagram ([7]) illustrates the differences in the dimensions between 1959 and 2008:

2008 - LF 201 feet (61 m) - LCF 280 feet (85 m) - CF 380 feet (120 m) - RCF 352 feet (107 m) - RF 300 feet (91 m) 1959 - LF 251 feet (77 m) - LCF 320 feet (98 m) - CF 417 feet (127 m) - RCF 375 feet (114 m) - RF 300 feet (91 m)

A sellout crowd of 115,300 was announced, [8] which set a Guiness World Record for attendance at a baseball game, breaking the record set at a 1956 Summer Olympics baseball demonstation game between teams from the USA and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

[edit] The Coliseum and the NFL today

See also: NFL in Los Angeles

Model of a proposed renovation to the Coliseum.

There is great debate about the Coliseum's potential as a modern NFL stadium. Although the Coliseum is an important historical sports venue, it is regarded by some as no longer adequate to be the home of a major professional sports organization. Since it was designed and built long before the age of club seats, luxury boxes, and many of the other money-generating amenities that modern football stadiums possess, any professional team moving to the Coliseum will likely have to do extensive renovations. Also, its status as a National Historic Landmark means any renovations would have to be complementary to the most identifiable parts of the building, something that was not followed during Soldier Field's renovations in 2002 and ended up being stripped of its landmark status as a result. Los Angeles County voters are generally uninterested in appropriating tax revenues toward a new stadium, which would put the costs of renovation on any future tenant. Another factor is its location at the edge of South Los Angeles, which is perceived by many potential fans[who?] as a somewhat unsafe part of the city.[citation needed] Because of the difficulties that the NFL has had with trying to finance a renovated Coliseum, Rose Bowl or brand new stadium, it has been absent from the second- largest media market in the United States, remarkably, for over a decade. (The NFL was to award a franchise to Los Angeles in 2002, but debate over a stadium, coupled with Houston's aggressiveness, led the NFL to award the franchise to Houston instead.)

On November 10, 2005 then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced that the NFL and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on bringing an NFL team back to the Coliseum. However, no details have been decided.

An article in the Wednesday, May 24, 2006 issue of the Los Angeles Times made light of a proposition to spend tens of millions of dollars of city funds to heavily renovate the stadium, and indicated that the city may make more than $100 million dollars in added funds available in the future toward further renovation. City leaders who support the spending despite significant disapproval from the local population cite that the renovations are necessary to help attract a new NFL team to the city, and that the tax revenue generated by the presence of a new franchise team would eventually pay back the investment many times over. Supporters further claim that the addition of a new NFL team will increase employment in the area adjacent to the stadium, a major concern because the area's population is largely of low and middle income, that these people will themselves help repay the expenditure by paying income taxes, that the presence of a new team will stimulate the local economy by making the area more attractive to new businesses (which themselves could theoretically employ hundreds of tax payers) and that the overall impact on the area will help to raise the area's real estate values.

While a proposal to bring pro football back to the southland is still in the works, there has been little action taken in recent times and doubts of bringing an NFL team to the coliseum or any other venue in the region have risen. The Los Angeles Coliseum Commission is currently in talks with USC to see if a long-term master lease can be arranged with the university managing the facility; however the university has stated it does not want an opening for the NFL to come in later in such an agreement.[1] In recent years, USC has had a series of mostly one- and two- year leases with the commission.[1] In November 2007, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared that the policy of requiring the NFL to relocate to the Coliseum will change and other options will be explored.[10]

[edit] Attendance records

[edit] Football (college)

Records differ between the 2006 USC football media guide and 2006 UCLA football media guide. (This may be due to only keeping records for "home" games until the 1950s.) The USC Media guide lists the top five record crowds as:

1. 104,953 — 1947 vs. Notre Dame (Highest attendance for a football game in the Coliseum) 2. 103,303 — 1939 vs. UCLA 3. 103,000 — 1945 vs. UCLA 4. 102,548 — 1954 vs. UCLA 5. 102,050 — 1947 vs. UCLA

The UCLA Media guide does not list the 1939 game against USC, and only lists attendance for the second game in 1945 for Coliseum attendance records. These are the top three listed UCLA record Coliseum crowds:

1. 102,548 — vs. USC 1954 2. 102,050 — vs. USC 1947 3. 100,333 — vs. USC (2nd game) 1945 [edit] Football (NFL)

The Los Angeles Rams played the San Francisco 49ers before an NFL record 102,368 on November 10, 1957. This stood as an overall NFL regular season record until broken by a 2005 regular season game played at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.[11][12] This record still stands as the largest regular-season crowd to watch an NFL game in the United States. The Coliseum hosted the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, later called the Super Bowl. The first game had an attendance of 61,946. For Super Bowl VII in 1973, the attendance was 90,182, a record that would stand until Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl Stadium.

[edit] Baseball (MLB)

Contemporary baseball guides listed the theoretical baseball seating capacity as 92,500. Thousands of east-end seats were very far from home plate, and were not sold unless needed. The largest regular season attendance was 78,672, the Dodgers' home debut in the Coliseum, against the San Francisco Giants on April 18, 1958. The May 7, 1959, exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1958 World Series Champion New York Yankees, in honor of crippled former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, drew 93,103, which was a Major League Baseball record prior to 2008.

All three Dodgers home games in the 1959 World Series with the Chicago White Sox exceeded 90,000 attendance. Game 5 drew 92,706 fans, a major league record for a non- exhibition game.

The attendance for the exhibition game on March 29, 2008, between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, was reported to be 115,300. [13]

[edit] Popular culture

Due to its location near Hollywood, the Coliseum has been used in hundreds of commercials and movies over the years. Recently, a computer-generated version of the Coliseum was used for Budweiser beer TV commercials during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and then the 2006 NFL playoffs, the only change being that football players were on the field in the NFL playoffs version, whereas soccer players were on the field in the World Cup version. The stadium was shown filled to capacity, with each spectator participating in a classic card stunt. The imagery turned out to be a gigantic beer bottle on one sideline, pouring into a gigantic beer mug on the other sideline, whose contents were then shown being drained by an invisible consumer. It was also used in the filming of the last episode of the second season of the television show 24.[14].

The final scene of the film Money Talks was shot in the Coliseum.

[edit] See also

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The historic Hollywood mecca.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre is an iconic movie theatre located at 6928 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922. Built over 18 months beginning in January 1926 by a partnership headed by Sid Grauman, the theatre opened May 18, 1927 with the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings.[1] It has since been home to many premieres, birthday parties, corporate junkets and two Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theatre's most famous traits are the autographed cement blocks that reside in the forecourt, which bear the signatures and markings of many of Hollywood's most revered stars and starlets.

From 1973 through 2001, the theatre was known as Mann's Chinese Theatre, owing to its acquisition by Mann Theatres in 1973. In the wake of Mann's bankruptcy, the Chinese, along with the other Mann properties, was sold in 2000 to a partnership comprising Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, who also acquired the Mann brand name.[2] In 2002 the original name was restored to the cinema palace, although the other theatres in the attached Hollywood and Highland mall retain and continue to operate under the name Mann's Chinese 6 Theatre.[1]

[edit] History

Interior of the theatre.

After his success with the Egyptian Theatre, Sid Grauman, once again, turned to C.E. Toberman to secure a long term lease on property located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. Mr. Toberman contracted with the architectural firm of Meyer and Holler (who also designed the Egyptian Theatre) to design a "palace type theatre" of Chinese design. Grauman's Chinese Theatre was financed by a showman, Sid Grauman, who owned a one-third interest with his partners: Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Howard Schenck.[1] Upon completion of the plans, Mr. Toberman began construction of the theatre. The principal architect of the Chinese Theatre was Raymond M. Kennedy, of the firm Meyer and Holler. During construction, Sid Grauman hired Jean Klossner to formulate an extremely hard cement for the forecourt of the theatre. Klossner later became known as "Mr. Footprint", performing the footprint ceremonies from 1927 through 1962.

In a short interview at the end of the September 13, 1937 Lux Radio Theatre program (whose night's presentation was a radio adaptation of A Star Is Born) Grauman told Cecil B. DeMille how he got the idea to put hand and footprints in the cement. Grauman stated that it was by "pure accident. I walked right into it. While we were building the theatre, I accidentally happened to step in some soft concrete. And there it was. So, I went to Mary Pickford immediately. Mary put her foot into it." The theatre's third partner, Douglas Fairbanks, was the next celebrity to be immortalized in the cement.

Sid Grauman sold his share to William Fox's Fox Theatre in 1929 but remained as the theatre's Managing Director until his death in 1950.

In 1968 it was declared a historic and cultural landmark, and has undergone restoration projects in the years since then. The theatre was purchased in 1973 by Ted Mann, owner of the Mann Theatres chain and husband of actress Rhonda Fleming, who renamed it Mann's Chinese Theatre. As of November 9, 2001, the original name was returned to the front of the theatre. To the dismay of many fans of historic architecture, the free-standing ticket booth was removed, along with the left and right neon marquees--but their absence brings the theatre back closer to its original state. The auditorium has recently been completely restored along with much of the exterior, however, the wear and tear on the physical structure has been so pronounced that over the years some of the external decor has been removed, rather than repaired.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre continues to serve the public as a normal first-run movie theatre. Many film premieres are held at the Chinese Theatre, often attended by large throngs of celebrities.

The theatre was home to the 1944, 1945, and 1946 Academy Awards ceremonies and is adjacent to the Kodak Theatre, the Awards' current home.[3]

The exterior of the movie theatre is meant to resemble a giant, red Chinese pagoda. The architecture features a huge Chinese dragon across the front, two stone lion-dogs guarding the main entrance, and the silhouettes of tiny dragons up and down the sides of the copper roof.

[edit] Footprints

Many older entries contain personal messages to Sid Grauman, such as Myrna Loy's 1936 contribution. Loy's first job was as a dancer at the theatre in the 1920s.

There are nearly 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs in the cement of the theatre's forecourt.

Steve McQueen's hand and foot prints

Variations of this honored tradition are imprints of the eye glasses of Harold Lloyd, the cigars of Groucho Marx and George Burns, the legs of Betty Grable, the fist of John Wayne, the knees of Al Jolson, the ice skating blades of Sonja Henie, and the noses of Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope.

Western stars William S. Hart and Roy Rogers left imprints of their guns. The hoofprints of "Tony", the horse of Tom Mix, "Champion", the horse of Gene Autry, and "Trigger", the horse of Rogers, were left in the cement beside the prints of the stars who rode them in the movies. During World War II the theatre discontinued installing cement handprints and footprints. The tradition resumed after the war in 1945 with Gene Tierney: her star was on the rise at the time with Laura and the release of Leave Her to Heaven.

The only person not associated with the movie industry to have a signature and hand print in front of the theatre is Grauman's mother. Additionally, Charles Nelson, the winner of a "Talent Quest," had his handprints and footprints embedded in the "Forecourt of the Stars."

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Sign

The Hollywood sign as it appears today.

Building information

Town Los Angeles, California

Country United States

Architect Thomas Fisk Goff

Woodruff and Shoults Client (Hollywoodland)

Construction 1923 start date

Completion date 1923

Wood and sheet metal Structural (1923) system Steel (1978)

Size 45' high; about 200' long

The Hollywood Sign is a famous landmark in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, California, spelling out the name of the area in 50 ft (15.2 m)[1] high white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after its initial purpose had been fulfilled.[2] The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism, but has undergone restoration including a state of the art security system to deter vandalism. The Hollywood sign is protected and promoted by the Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to physically maintain, repair and secure the Hollywood sign; to educate the world about its historical and cultural importance; and to raise the funds necessary to accomplish these projects.

From the ground, the contours of the hills give the sign its well-known "wavy" appearance. When observed at a comparable altitude, the letters appear straight-across.

The sign makes frequent appearances in popular culture, particularly in establishing shots for films and television programs set in or around Hollywood. Signs of similar style, but spelling different words, are frequently seen as parodies.

The sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND", and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. H.J. Whitley had already used a sign to advertise his development Whitley Heights, which was located between Highland Avenue and Vine Avenue. He suggested to his friend Harry Chandler, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, that the land syndicate he was involved in make a similar sign to advertise their land. Real estate developers Woodruff and Shoults called their development "Hollywoodland" and advertised it as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the Hollywood side of the hills."

They contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect thirteen letters on the hillside, each facing south. The sign company owner, Thomas Fisk Goff (1890–1984) designed the sign. Each letter of the sign was 30 ft (9 m) wide and 50 ft (15 m) high, and was studded with some 4000 light bulbs. The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923. It was not intended to be permanent. Some sources say its expected life was to be about a year and a half but after the rise of the American cinema in Los Angeles, it became an internationally recognized symbol, and was left there.

It became so associated with Hollywood that in September 1932, actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping to her death from the letter "H", as she saw the sign as a symbol of the industry that had rejected her.

Deterioration

Official maintenance of the sign ended in 1939 and it rapidly began to deteriorate.

According to the summer 2006 edition of The Beachwood Voice, during the early 1940s, Albert Kothe (the sign's official caretaker) caused an accident that destroyed the letter "H", as seen in many historical pictures. Kothe was driving his car up to the top of Mount Lee drunk, lost control of the vehicle, and stumbled off the cliff behind the "H". While Kothe was not injured, the 1928 Ford Model A was destroyed, as was the "H".

In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped up and began a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair and rebuild the sign. However the contract stipulated that "LAND" be removed to spell "Hollywood" and reflect the city, not the "Hollywoodland" housing development[3]. The Parks Department dictated that all subsequent illumination would be at the cost of the chamber, so the chamber opted not to replace the light bulbs. The 1949 effort gave it new life, but the wooden and sheet metal sign continued to deteriorate in the open air of the Hollywood Hills. Eventually the first "O" splintered and broke off resembling a lowercase "u", and the third "O" fell down completely leaving the severely dilapidated sign reading "HuLLYWO D".

The sign from the Hollywood Hills.

In 1978, due in large part to the public campaign to restore the landmark by shock rocker Alice Cooper (who donated the wholly missing "O"), the Chamber set out to replace the intensely deteriorated sign with a more permanent structure. For the contract of $250,000.00 nine donors gave $27,777 each to sponsor replacement letters made of Australian steel, guaranteed to last for many years (see Donors section below).

These new letters were each 45 ft (13.7 m) high and ranged from 31 to 39 ft (9.3 to 11.8 m) wide. The new version of the sign was unveiled on Hollywood's 75th anniversary, November 14, 1978, before a live television audience of 60 million people.

Refurbishment, donated by Bay Cal Commercial Painting,[4] began again in November 2005, as workers stripped the letters back to their metal base and repainted them white. Also in 2005, the original 1923 sign was put up for sale on eBay by producer/entrepreneur Dan Bliss.[5] Bliss sold the sign to artist Bill Mack.

Location

View from West Hollywood, near Santa Monica Blvd. a few blocks south of Hollywood Blvd. The historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is visible on the left

The sign is located on the southern side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, north of the Mulholland Highway. A good viewpoint within 100 yards of the sign can be reached by driving north up Gower Street from Hollywood Blvd. and then north along Beachwood Drive.

In 2000 or so, the LAPD installed a security system featuring motion detection and closed-circuit cameras. Approaching the sign any closer than 50 yards or so activates an alarm, and the Police are called.

34°08′02.56″N, 118°19′18.00″W Altitude 1578 ft (491 m)

The famous sign is actually visible from satellite[1]. Land in the vicinity of the sign remains privately owned, despite widespread belief that it is all public land. Much of it was owned by the estate of Howard Hughes, who had once planned a hilltop mansion at Cahuenga Peak; part of that tract was sold in 2002, and the new owners are interested in exploiting a route for a road to access the property granted in 1945 by the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power. As a result, Los Angeles is considering buying the property, possibly by raising money from celebrities as was done for the restoration.[6]

Cultural Significance

The sign makes frequent appearances in popular culture, particularly in establishing shots for films and television programs set in or around Hollywood. Signs of similar style, but spelling different words, are frequently seen as parodies.

The Capitol Records Tower

The Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, with mural by Richard Wyatt titled Hollywood Jazz featuring prominent jazz artists Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington.

The Capitol Records Tower is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Hollywood, California. The 13-story earthquake resistant tower, designed by Welton Becket, was the world's first circular office building, and is home to several recording studios. Although not originally specifically designed as such,[2] the wide curved awnings over windows on each story and the tall spike emerging from the top of the building combine to give it the appearance of a stack of vinyl 45s on a turntable. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after it was completed. It was completed in April of 1956, just north of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine as the consolidated West Coast operations of Capitol Records; it houses the operations of Capitol Records and Capitol Studios, a recording facility which includes an echo chamber engineered by guitarist Les Paul. It would also be known as "The House That Nat Built" due to the vast amounts of records and merchandise Nat "King" Cole sold for the company.

The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color.

The blinking light atop the tower spells out the phrase "Hollywood" in Morse code, and has done so since the building's opening in 1956. This was an idea of Capitol's then president, Alan Livingston, who wanted to subtly advertise Capitol's status as the first record label with a base on the west coast. The switch activating the light was thrown by Lyla Morse, Samuel Morse's granddaughter.[3] In 1992 it was changed to read "Capitol 50" in honor of the label's fiftieth anniversary. It has since returned to spelling "Hollywood".

In the 1974 disaster blockbuster film Earthquake, the tower was shown collapsing during a massive tremor. Thirty years later, in an homage to Earthquake, the tower was again depicted as being destroyed, this time by a massive tornado, in The Day After Tomorrow.

In September 2006, owner EMI announced that it had sold the tower and adjacent properties for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures.[4] Coordinates: 34°06′11″N 118°19′34″W34.103085, - 118.326189 International operations

Canada

Capitol Records of Canada was established in 1949 by independent businessman W. Lockwood Miller. Capitol Records broke with Miller's company and formed Capitol Record Distributors of Canada Limited in 1954. EMI acquired this company when it acquired Capitol Records. In 1957, Paul White established an A&R department independent of the American company to promote talent for the Canadian market. They include home grown Canadian talent (of which Anne Murray is one of the more famous examples) as well as EMI artists from other countries. Canada only issues bore 6000 series catalogue numbers for LPs and 72000 series catalogue numbers for singles. Capitol Canada issues of American Capitol recordings bore the same catalogue numbers as their American counterparts. The company was renamed back to Capitol Records of Canada Ltd in 1958 after Miller's rights to the name expired. Beginning in 1962, Capitol of Canada issued albums by British artists such as Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield. They said yes to The Beatles from day one, even though the American company turned them down during most of 1963. The company was renamed Capitol Records-EMI of Canada in 1974 then adopted its present name, EMI Music Canada, in the early 1990s.[3][4][5]

The current headquarters for EMI Music Canada, which operates the Capitol label, are located in Mississauga, Ontario.

The Canadian branch of Capitol won two Juno Awards in 1971, the leading music awards in that country. One Juno was for "Top Record Company" and the other was for "Top Promotional Company".

Taiwan

Capitol Records of Taiwan was established in 2006. It is home to several artistes who are megastars in the Chinese Music Industry. They include Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿), Zhang Hui Mei (張惠妹), Stanley Huang (黄立行) and Show Luo (羅志祥). Even though artistes are signed on with this label, the albums are still released under EMI Music Taiwan. The label is now the label with the highest sales among all labels in Taiwan.

Los Angeles City Hall

Los Angeles City Hall is the center of government in the city of Los Angeles, California. It is located in the Civic Center district of Downtown Los Angeles in the city block bordered by Main, Temple, 1st, and Spring streets.

History

1931 Photograph of new city hall[1]

The building was designed by John Parkinson, John C. Austin, and Albert C. Martin, and was completed in 1928. It has 32 floors and stands at 454 feet (138 m) high. The city hall's distinctive tower was based on the purported shape of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and shows the influence of the Los Angeles Public Library, completed soon before the City Hall was started.

Due in part to seismic concerns, prior to the late 1950s the City of Los Angeles did not permit any portion of any building other than a purely decorative tower to be more than 150 feet (46 m) high. Therefore, from its completion in 1928 until 1964, the City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles, and shared the skyline with only a few structures having decorative towers, including the Richfield Tower and the Eastern Columbia Building.

Trivia

Tallest base-isolated structure in the world.[2] The concrete in its tower was made with sand from each of California's 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions.[3] An observation level is open to the public on the 27th floor. The Mayor of Los Angeles has an office in room 300 of this building. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays at 10:00am the Los Angeles City Council meets here. City Hall and the adjacent federal, state, and county buildings are served by the Civic Center station on the Metro Red Line. An image of City Hall has been on Los Angeles Police Department badges since 1940.[4] Popular culture

The striking work of architecture has been used in popular media, for example:

In April 2006, the popular rock band AFI shot music video for their song "Miss Murder" there. They won the MTV VMA Best Rock Nomination in August of the same year. As the Daily Planet building beginning in the second season of the 1950s TV series, Adventures of Superman. Various stock shots were used, some showing the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. Route 101) with many 1950s cars tooling along. At the time the TV program was broadcast, the show's "Daily Planet" building (Los Angeles City Hall) was frequently confused with the similarly designed Pennsylvania Power & Light Building, also built in 1928. As itself in the TV series Dragnet.The first episode of Dragnet (1951)Season 1, Episode 1: "The Human Bomb", Original Air Date: 16 December 1951 was filmed at Los Angeles City Hall. L.A. City Hall always appeared in the series one way or another, as it was embossed on Sgt. Joe Friday's famous badge number 714 that was displayed under the credits. The 2003 Dragnet remake used throughout its introduction, the L.A. City Hall building aerial shot and on the badge. On the popular television series Alias, the CIA black ops unit Authorized Personnel Only is located behind a maintenance door at Civic Station. In the Japanese manga series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, The building serves as the headquarters for one of the main occupation armies of the antagonist Principality of Zeon, under Garma Zabi. The City Hall was destroyed in the 1953 film version of War of the Worlds (although the H.G. Wells book has the aliens attacking London, the setting was changed to Los Angeles for the film). Appears in the hit videogame GTA:San Andreas as part of the city of Los Santos.

The distinctive City Hall from Skid As seen from San As seen from ground silhouette of City Row Pedro and 2nd St floor Hall, at sunrise

Ground Floor view Seen at night from the Walt Disney Concert Hall

Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl in 2005.

Public event being held at the Hollywood Bowl by the Technocracy movement, circa 1930's.

Playboy Jazz Festival hosted in the Hollywood Bowl 2007

USGS satellite image of the Hollywood Bowl.

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheatre at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California, USA, that is used primarily for music performances. The "bowl" in this context is the natural cavity in the earth into which the amphitheater is built, rather than the shape of the bandshell. It officially opened on July 11, 1922 on the site of a natural amphitheater formerly known as the Daisy Dell, and has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since then. The Bowl is also home to a second resident ensemble, the "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra".

The Hollywood Bowl is well known for its band shell, a distinctive set of concentric arches that has graced the site since 1929. Cartoon buffs may see a resemblance between the concentric arches of the shell and Porky Pig's backdrop in Th-th-that's all, Folks; it is debatable whether it was intentional (however, the Bowl did make appearances in various Warner Brothers cartoon shorts, at least one DePatie-Freleng Pink Panther cartoon, and a Tom and Jerry 1950 cartoon Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl). Adding to the atmosphere of the Bowl, the famous Hollywood Sign, several miles away, is visible from the Bowl site, to the north-northeast, behind and to the right of it from the spectators' viewpoint.

Shortly after the end of the 2003 summer season, the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County, which owns the Hollywood Bowl (seating capacity 17,376), replaced the 1929 shell with a new, somewhat larger, acoustically improved shell, which had its debut in the 2004 summer season. Preservationists fiercely opposed the demolition for many years, citing the shell's storied history. However, even when it was built, the 1929 shell was (at least acoustically) only the third-best shell in the Bowl's history, behind its two immediate predecessors (which were designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright). By the late 1970s the Hollywood Bowl became an acoustic liability because of continued hardening of its transite skin. The new shell incorporates design elements of not only the 1929 shell, but of both the Lloyd Wright shells. During the 2004 summer season, the sound steadily improved, as engineers learned to work with its live acoustics.

Every Easter Sunday, Bel Air Presbyterian Church holds the largest worship service in Southern California at the Hollywood Bowl, with attendance exceeding 10,000.[1]

Shells

At first, the Bowl was very close to its natural state, with only makeshift wooden benches for the audience, and eventually a simple awning over the stage. In 1926, a group known as the Allied Architects was contracted to regrade the Bowl, providing permanent seating and a shell. These improvements did provide increased capacity (the all-time record for attendance was set in 1936, when 26,410 people crowded into the Bowl to hear opera singer Lily Pons), but were otherwise disappointing, as the regrading noticeably degraded the natural acoustics, and the original shell was deemed acoustically unsatisfactory (as well as visually unfashionable, with its murals of sailing ships).

For the 1927 season, Lloyd Wright built a pyramidal shell, with a vaguely Southwestern look, out of left-over lumber from a production of Robin Hood. This was generally regarded as the best shell the Bowl ever had from an acoustic standpoint; unfortunately, its appearance was deemed too avant-garde, and it was demolished at the end of the season. It did, however, get Wright a second chance, this time with the stipulation that the shell was to have an arch shape.

For the 1928 season, Wright built a fiberglass shell in the shape of concentric 120-degree arches, with movable panels inside that could be used to tune the acoustics. It was designed to be easily dismantled and stored between concert seasons; apparently for political reasons, this was not done, and it did not survive the winter.

For the 1929 season, the Allied Architects built the shell that stood until 2003, using a transite skin over a metal frame. Its acoustics, though not nearly as good as those of the Lloyd Wright shells, were deemed satisfactory at first, and its clean lines and white, almost-semicircular arches were copied for music shells elsewhere. As the acoustics deteriorated, various measures were used to mitigate the problems, starting with an inner shell made from large cardboard tubes (of the sort used as forms for round concrete pillars) in the 1970s, which were replaced by the early 1980s with the large fiberglass spheres (designed by Frank Gehry) that remained until 2003. These dampened out the unfavorable acoustics, but required massive use of electronic amplification to reach the full audience, particularly since the background noise level had risen sharply since the 1920s. The appearance underwent other, purely visual, changes as well, including the addition of a broad outer arch (forming a proscenium) where it had once had only a narrow rim and the reflecting pool in front of the stage that lasted from 1953 till 1972[2].

The 2004 shell incorporates the prominent front arch, flared at the base and forming a proscenium, of the 1926 shell, the broad profile of the 1928 shell, and the unadorned white finish (and most of the general lines) of the 1929 shell. In addition, the ring-shaped structure hung within the shell, supporting lights and acoustic clouds, echoes a somewhat similar structure hung within the 1927 shell. During the 2004 season, because the back wall was not yet finished, a white curtain was hung at the back; beginning with the 2005 season, the curtain was removed to reveal a finished back wall. The architectural concept for the shell was developed by the LA based architectural practice Hodgetts and Fung, with the structural concept developed by the local office of Arup.

In addition, the new shell is wired for video cameras, with two large screens on either side, and two more atop the rearmost lighting towers; during most concerts, three remotely-operated cameras in the shell, and a fourth, manually-operated camera among the box seats, provide the audience with close-up views of the musicians, usually alternating between a view of the conductor, and a view of whichever musician(s) have "the melody."

Staples Center

Staples Center

1111 S. Figueroa Street Location Los Angeles, California 90015

Broke ground March 31, 1998

Opened October 17, 1999

L.A. Arena Company Owner Anschutz Entertainment Group

L.A. Arena Company Operator Anschutz Entertainment Group

Construction $375 Million USD cost

Architect NBBJ

Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) (1999- present) Los Angeles Clippers (NBA) (1999- present) Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA) (2001- present) Tenants Los Angeles Kings (NHL) (1999- present) Los Angeles Avengers (AFL) (2000- present) Los Angeles D-Fenders (D-League) (2006-present)

Basketball: 18,997 Hockey: 18,118 Capacity Arena Football: 18,118 Concerts: 20,000

Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles, California adjacent to the LA Live development. It is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex. Staples Center was financed privately at a cost of $375 Million and is named for the Staples office-supply company, one of the center's corporate sponsors that paid for naming rights.[1]

History

Staples Center opened on October 17, 1999, with a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert, [2]and became a two-time winner of the Pollstar-CIC Arena of the Year award soon after.[3] It is home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, and the Los Angeles Avengers of the AFL.[4] It is the only arena that is home to five professional sports franchises.[4]

The arena is host to 250 events and nearly 4,000,000 visitors a year.[3] Since its opening day, Staples Center has hosted the 2000 Democratic National Convention, the 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the 52nd NHL All-Star game, the 2004 NBA All-Star Game, the 2004 Pac-10 Basketball Finals, the WTA Tour Championships from 2002 to 2005, the first Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, the annual Grammy Awards since 2000 with the exception of 2003, the Summer X Games indoor competitions since 2003, the UFC 60 pay per view event, as well as numerous Concerts and HBO Championship Boxing matches.[3] In addition to hosting the attendance record setting WrestleMania 21 in 2005, Staples Center has also hosted Unforgiven 2002, Judgment Day 2004, and No Way Out 2007 as well as other World Wrestling Entertainment events.[4]

The arena

A view of the Staples Center at night

There are a total of twelve locker and dressing rooms, including team-specific locker rooms for the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings.[1] There are a series of meeting rooms in the arena, including the Bank of America conference area on the suite level and additional rooms in the attached, three-story office tower.[1] There are extensive hospitality facilities, including a restaurant and club space on the suite level at one end of the arena, overlooking the arena floor.[1]

The arena features a full-service ticket window, 1,200 television monitors throughout the facility, 23 refreshment stands spread among the arena's five concourses, as well as the Fox Sports SkyBox restaurant on the main plaza, the Royal Room on main concourse, the Arena Club and Grand Reserve Club above the premier seating level, a TeamLA store on the plaza level accessible from outside the arena, and the outdoor City View Grille.[1] The arena also features a $2 million specialty lighting package, a $1.5 million Bose sound system, a Mitsubishi eight- sided, center-court scoreboard and videoboard, as well as a Daktronics fascia board along the upper seating level.[1] Staples Center seats up to 20,000 for concerts, 18,997 for basketball, and 18,118 for hockey and arena football.[3] Two-thirds of the arena's seating, including 2,500 club seats, are in the lower bowl. There are also 160 luxury suites, including 15 event suites, on three levels between the lower and upper bowls.[1] The arena's attendance record is held by WWE WrestleMania 21 with a crowd of 20,193 set on April 3, 2005.[5]

Future developments

Staples Center as seen from L.A. Live Plaza

Although Staples Center is already a Los Angeles landmark,[citation needed] it is only a part of a much larger 4,000,000-square-foot (371,612.2 m²) development by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) adjoining Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The development, known as L.A. Live, broke ground on September 15, 2005. L.A. Live is designed to offer entertainment, retail and residential programming in the downtown Los Angeles area.[6][7]

L.A. Live will feature entertainment venues, restaurants, retail commercial and residential spaces, television and radio broadcast studios, and concert spaces.[6] It will feature a four star 1,100 room convention center headquarters hotel known as The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, a 40,000-square-foot (3,716.1 m²) outdoor plaza, an ESPN broadcast and restaurant facility, Regal Theatres, as well as Club Nokia, the Nokia Theatre Los Angeles, and Nokia Plaza.[6]

Dodger Stadium

Chávez Ravine Taj O'Malley

1000 Elysian Park Ave. Location Los Angeles, California 90012

34°4′24.82″N Coordinates 118°14′24.44″W34.0735611, - 118.2401222Coordinates: 34°4′24.82″N 118°14′24.44″W34.0735611, -118.2401222 Broke September 17, 1959 ground Built 1959-1962 Opened April 10, 1962

Owner Los Angeles Dodgers Surface Grass Construction $23 million cost Architect Captain Emil Praeger Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) 1962-present Tenants Los Angeles Angels (MLB) 1962-1965 Capacity 56,000 Left Field: 330 ft (101 m) Medium Left-Center: 360 ft (110 m) True Left-Center: 375 ft (114 m) Center Field: 395 ft (120 m)* True Right-Center: 375 ft (114 m) Medium Right-Center: 360 ft (110 m) Field Right Field: 330 ft (101 m) dimensions Backstop: ≈55 ft (≈17 m)

*Actual distance to center field is 400 ft (122 m); the 395-foot (120 m) markings are to the left and right of dead center.[1]

Dodger Stadium is a large outdoor ballpark in Los Angeles, California at Chávez Ravine. It is located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles. Dodger Stadium was privately financed at a cost of $23 million in 1962.

[edit] Overview

Dodger Stadium has been the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team since 1962. The stadium hosted the 1980 MLB All-Star Game, as well as games of the 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, and 1988 World Series.

Despite being built in a part of Los Angeles called Chávez Ravine, the stadium is also on a hillside overlooking downtown Los Angeles, providing birds-eye views of the city to the south; the green, tree-lined hills of Elysian Park to the north and east; and the San Gabriel Mountains beyond the outfield pavilions. Player polls regularly rate Dodger Stadium's playing surface as one of the best in the game.[citation needed]

Dodger Stadium is the only current MLB park (excluding the most recently-built parks) that has never changed its capacity. It has always held 56,000 fans, due to a conditional-use permit limiting its capacity. Every time the Dodgers add seats, they always remove an equal number of seats in the upper deck or in the pavilion to keep the capacity the same.[1] The stadium was originally designed to be expandable to 85,000 seats, simply by enclosing the outfield pavilion. However, the Dodgers have not pursued such a project.

A unique terraced-earthworks parking lot was built behind the main stands, allowing ticketholders to park at roughly the level that their seats are, minimizing their climbing and descending of ramps once they get inside the stadium. It was also designed to be earthquake-resistant, an important consideration in California, and has stood the test of several serious earthquakes.

One of the park's distinctive features is the wavy roof atop each outfield pavilion. Strobe lights were added in 1999; they flash when the Dodgers take the field, after a Dodger home run and after a Dodger win.

Dodger Stadium was one of the last baseball-only facilities built before the dawn of the multi-purpose "cookie- cutter stadium", or "concrete donut" era in stadium construction. Architecturally speaking, it has little in common with the concrete donuts; however, like the concrete donuts, it was built near freeways, away from the city center, to allow for placement of an expansive parking lot surrounding the stadium. With the construction of many new MLB ballparks in recent years, it is now the fourth-oldest park still in use (will become the third oldest with the closure of Yankee Stadium at the end of the 2008 season), and the oldest on the West Coast.

Dodger Stadium at dusk

However, the Dodgers devote significant resources to the park's maintenance. For example, it is repainted every year, and a full-time crew of gardeners maintain the site. No plans are in the works to replace it. Some renovations were made in 2004 that added luxury suites, a feature that had not been previously present. Currently, Dodger Stadium is one of a shortening list of MLB stadia without the name of a corporate sponsor as part of the title, along with Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Dolphin Stadium, Kauffman Stadium, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Shea Stadium, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington,Turner Field, and Nationals Park.

For various reasons, Dodger Stadium, for a long time, once enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a pitchers' park. At first, the relatively deep outfield dimensions were a factor, with the power alleys being about 385 feet (117 m). Home plate was moved 10 feet (3 m) toward center field in 1969, but that move also expanded foul ground by 10 feet (3 m), a tradeoff which helped to offset the increased likelihood of home runs caused by the decreased field dimensions. The extremely short outfield walls near the foul poles also make some balls that would bounce off the wall in other parks go for home runs. Also, during evening games, as the sun sets, the surrounding air cools quickly due to the ocean climate, becoming more dense, and deep fly balls that might be home runs during the day might instead "die" in the air for routine outs.

Dodger Stadium before a game

Recently, however, Dodger Stadium has actually been neutral with respect to home runs. [1] The stadium does depress doubles and triples quite a bit, due to its uniform outfield walls and relatively small "corners" near the foul poles. With some expansion of the box seat area and the removal of significant foul territory, the ballpark has become neutral for both pitchers and hitters alike. Baseball-Reference's Park Factor measurement of 102 for the 2006 and 2007 seasons is evidence of this. In addition, foul territory, once very spacious, has been significantly reduced over the years.

Although the Dodgers have maintained that the distance to center field is 395 feet (120 m) since 1980, it is still actually 400 feet (120 m) to center, as has been the case since 1969. The two 395-foot (120 m) signs erected in 1980 are to the left and right of dead center.[1]

Pitchers such as Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela, and Orel Hershiser became superstars after arriving in Los Angeles. The pitcher's edge is also evident in the fact that nine no-hitters have been thrown in the stadium, including two perfect games (by the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax in 1965, and by Dennis Martinez of the former Montreal Expos in 1991). Bo Belinsky threw the first ever no-hitter in Dodger Stadium on May 5, 1962 while pitching for the Los Angeles Angels.

The park's significant advantage was eroded somewhat in 1969, in general because MLB rules were changed to lower the maximum height of the pitcher's mound, and more specifically because the Dodgers moved the diamond about 10 feet (3 m) towards center field. This also gave the fielders more room to catch foul balls, so there was some tradeoff. Following the 2004 season, the stadium underwent a renovation which significantly reduced the amount of foul territory. Seats were added which were closer to home plate than the pitcher's mound, the dugouts were moved closer to the field, and previously open space down the foul lines was filled with new seats. To pay for an outstanding loan with the Dodgers former owner Fox News Corporation, current owner Frank McCourt used Dodger Stadium as collateral to obtain a $250 million loan[2].

Dodger Stadium was the first Major League Baseball stadium since the initial construction of Yankee Stadium to be built using entirely private financing, and the last until AT&T Park was built.

Dodger Stadium at Night The 2008 will mark the Dodger franchise's 47th season at Dodger Stadium, two more than the number of seasons that the club spent at its storied ancestral home, Ebbets Field (1913-1957). Thanks to the 162-game season that coincidentally went into effect the year the stadium opened, as of 2005 the Dodgers had actually played more games at Dodger Stadium at that point than they did at Ebbets Field. In the mid-1950s, team president Walter O'Malley had tried to convince the Borough of Brooklyn to construct a new stadium, complete with dome, to replace the woefully cramped Ebbets. O'Malley eventually got his stadium, except it was in Los Angeles and without a dome. Given the Dodgers' ongoing commitment to keeping the stadium in good shape, and barring unforeseen circumstances, Dodger Stadium should outlive Ebbets Field by a good margin. With completion of the Washington Nationals new home field, Nationals Park in 2008 and the opening of New Yankee Stadium for the New York Yankees for 2009, and with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park still around with their renovations, in 2009 Dodger Stadium would become the third oldest Major League ballpark still in use, albeit some five decades younger than the other two venerable facilities. Additionally, the park will become the largest capacity stadium in all of Major League Baseball, regaining that title they held from 1958 through 1961 at their temporary home, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which could seat in excess of 80,000 people.

The ballpark has had a good run of luck with rain. Prior to 1976, the Dodgers were rained out only once, against the St. Louis Cardinals, on April 21, 1967. That rainout ended a streak of 737 consecutive games without a postponement. The second home rainout, on April 12, 1976, ended a streak of 724 straight games. No rainouts occurred between three straight games from April 19-21, 1988, and April 11, 1999 - a major league record of 856 straight home games without a rainout. [3]

A Dodgers game beneath the stadium lights.

Famous players who have called Dodger Stadium home include Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, Orel Hershiser, and Mike Piazza.

In addition to those of Drysdale, Koufax, and Sutton, the retired numbers of Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Tommy Lasorda, Walter Alston, Roy Campanella and Jim Gilliam are mounted below the pavilion roofs behind the outfield fence.

In a 2003 survey of Major League Players the Playing Field was voted the best in Major League Baseball.

Construction controversy

Think Blue sign in the mountains north of Dodger Stadium.

The land for Dodger Stadium was purchased from local owners/inhabitants in the early 1950s by the City of Los Angeles using eminent domain with funds from the Federal Housing Act of 1949. The city had planned to develop the Elysian Park Heights public housing project which included two dozen 13-story buildings and more than 160 two-story townhouses, in addition to newly rebuilt playgrounds and schools.

Before construction could begin, the local political climate changed greatly when Norris Poulson was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1953. Proposed public housing projects like Elysian Park Heights lost most of their support as they became associated with communist/socialist ideals. Following protracted negotiations, the City of Los Angeles was able to purchase the Chavez Ravine property back from the Federal Housing Authority at a drastically reduced price, with the stipulation that the land be used for a public purpose. It wasn't until the baseball referendum Taxpayers Committee for Yes on Baseball, which was approved by Los Angeles voters on June 3, 1958 that the Dodgers were able to acquire 352 acres (1.42 km²) of Chavez Ravine from the City of Los Angeles.

Noted Los Angeles author Mike Davis, in his seminal work on the city, City of Quartz, describes the process of gradually convincing Chávez Ravine homeowners to sell. With nearly all of the original Spanish-speaking homeowners initially unwilling to sell, developers resorted to offering immediate cash payments, distributed through their Spanish-speaking agents. Once the first sales had been completed, remaining homeowners were offered increasingly lesser amounts of money, to create a community panic of not receiving fair compensation, or of being left as one of the few holdouts. Many residents continued to hold out despite the pressure being placed upon them by developers, resulting in the Battle of Chavez Ravine, an unsuccessful ten year struggle by residents of Chavez Ravine, to maintain control of their property.

The controversy surrounding the construction of the Dodger stadium provided the inspiration for Ry Cooder's 2005 concept album, Chávez Ravine. The album received a Grammy Nomination for "Best Contemporary Folk Album" in 2006.

The top of a local hill was removed and the soil was used to fill in the actual Chávez Ravine, to provide a level surface for a parking lot and the stadium.

A few years after the stadium opened, a minor land dispute arose. A nearby landowner claimed that a corner of his property had been paved over as part of the parking lot. He announced he was going to build a small hamburger stand on that small slice of property, selling "O'Malleyburgers", the buns to carry an imprint of Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley, so that disgruntled patrons could "bite off his ear". Apparently a settlement was reached, as nothing much came of this incident[citation needed]. Dodger Stadium was also the home of the Los Angeles Angels between 1962 and 1965. To avoid constantly referring to their landlords, the Angels called the park Chávez Ravine Stadium (or just "Chávez Ravine"), after the former geographic feature in which the stadium had been constructed.

Other notable events and settings

Original dimensions

Just before the Dodgers' first game there in 1962, it was discovered that the foul poles were located entirely in foul territory. The Dodgers got special dispensation from the National League to keep the poles where they were for the 1962 season, but after the season they had to move the plate so the poles would be partially in fair territory as required by the rules.[1]

Dodger Stadium was the site of a brief moment in the 1971 movie, "The Omega Man," in which Charlton Heston was rescued by Rosalind Cash.

Pope John Paul II celebrated a famous Mass at Dodger Stadium on September 16, 1987.

Many of the world's top rock bands have performed at Dodger Stadium, including acts such as The Cure, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Genesis, Eric Clapton, Depeche Mode (2 Nights), U2, the Dave Matthews Band and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Police played at Dodger Stadium on their reunion tour.

Dodger Stadium was also the site of "Encore - the Three Tenors", a 1994 concert reuniting internationally renowned tenors Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Zubin Mehta.

The Fleetwood Mac song "Tusk" was recorded and filmed at the empty stadium in 1979.

Dodger Stadium has also staged other sporting events such as boxing, a basketball game featuring the Harlem Globetrotters and a ski-jumping exhibition, as well as the baseball competition of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

The stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival.

Baseball games from Thursday April 30, 1992 to Sunday May 3, 1992 were postponed due to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Three consecutive days of double headers were held later in the season.

Dodger Stadium was the site of media day for Super Bowl XXVII Played between the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills at the Rose Bowl In nearby Pasadena. The baseball scenes from The Naked Gun were filmed at Dodger Stadium, although the team represented in the film was the California Angels.

In the opening scene of the 2003 movie The Core, the Space Shuttle makes a crash landing in Los Angeles after flying over Dodger Stadium during a game. Interestingly, the shuttle is shown flying from beyond the outfield toward home plate, which would take it from the inland toward downtown. In actuality, the shuttle's approach as depicted in the film would have taken it west to east toward downtown and not over Dodger Stadium.

Part of the 2006 Superman Returns movie, was filmed at Dodger Stadium, however a CGI backdrop for Metropolis was added behind the outfield.

This was the starting point of a popular reality show, The Amazing Race in its Fourth Season

In a scene from the 2007 film Transformers, an empty Dodger Stadium is depicted being hit by the Autobot :Jazz's protoform which crashes through the upper deck and landing in the outfield.

A scene in which Paul Walker's character practices his street racing in the movie The Fast and the Furious was shot at Dodger Stadium

A scene from the 2007 movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was also shot at Dodger Stadium

A Baby Ruth TV commercial seen in the summer of 2007 and in the post-season tournament, in which 50,000 fans are humming "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" due to their mouths being full of the candy bar, was shot in Dodger Stadium. Renovations under Frank McCourt

Dodger Stadium seat removal, 2005 offseason.

The new All-You-Can-Eat section in the Right Field Pavilion At the conclusion of the 2005 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers made major renovations during the subsequent off-season.

The largest of these improvements was the replacement of nearly all the seats in the stadium. The seats that were removed had been in use since the mid-1970s and helped give the stadium its unique "space age" feel with a color palette of bright yellow, orange, blue, and red. The new seats are in the original (more muted) 1962 color scheme consisting of yellow, light orange, turquoise, and sky blue. Two thousand pairs of seats were made available for fans to purchase for $250 with the proceeds going to charity.

The baseline seating sections have been converted into retro-style "box" seating, adding leg room and a table for fans. Other maintenance and repairs were made to the concrete structure of the stadium. These improvements mark the second phase of a multi-year improvement plan for Dodger Stadium.

Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles Asistencia

Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles Asistencia

"Los Angeles Plaza" circa 1847. The "Plaza Church" (foreground, seen from the rear) occupies what remains of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel asistencia site.

Location Los Angeles, California

Asistencia de la Misión San Gabriel, Name as Founded Arcángel [1]

Sub-Mission of the Mission San Gabriel English Translation Arcángel

Founding Date 1784 [1]

Military District First

Native Tribe(s) Tongva Spanish Name(s) Gabrieliño

Native Place Yaanga [2] Name(s)

Current Use Nonextant Coordinates 34°05′69″N, 118°23′90″W

Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles Asistencia was originally founded in early 1784 within the burgeoning Pueblo de Los Angeles as an asistencia (or "sub-mission") to the nearby Mission San Gabriel Arcángel.[3] The assistant mission fell into disuse over time and a Catholic chapel, La Iglesia Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles, was constructed in its place a mere thirty years later.

Precontact

The current prevailing theory postulates that Paleo-Indians entered the Americas from Asia via a land bridge called "Beringia" that connected eastern Siberia with present-day Alaska (when sea levels were significantly lower, due to widespread glaciation) between about 15,000 to 35,000 years ago. The remains of Arlington Springs Man on Santa Rosa Island are among the traces of a very early habitation in California, dated to the last ice age (Wisconsin glaciation) about 13,000 years ago. The first humans are therefore thought to have made their homes among the southern valleys of California's coastal mountain ranges some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago; the earliest of these people are known only from archaeological evidence.[4] The cultural impacts resulting from climactic changes and other natural events during this broad expanse of time were negligible; conversely, European contact was a momentous event, which profoundly affected California's native peoples.[5]

History

Asistencia de la Misión San Gabriel, Arcángel

In the first months of 1784, priests from San Gabriel established an assistant mission in the neighboring Pueblo de Los Angeles along the banks of El Rio de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula, in an area with a high concentration of potential converts. At a half-a-day's ride to the east, the mother mission was too distant to serve the area effectively. Father Presidente Junípero Serra had the opportunity to visit the asistencia on March 18, 1784, just five months before his untimely death. Perhaps more important than its duty to provide religious instruction to the local natives was the settlement's role in growing crops and grazing livestock to feed the inhabitants of Mission San Gabriel, whose padres divided their time between that outpost and the new site.[6] The abundant water supply allowed for the planting of citrus orchards and raising of cattle in abundant numbers.

In time, however, the priests abandoned the site as the pueblo grew in population and the native poblanos moved away (few of the nuevos cristianos were welcomed in the pueblo). Relatively little of the site's physical record remains today.

La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles

Main article: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles On August 18, 1814 Fray Luis Gíl y Taboada placed the cornerstone of a new church amidst the ruins of the former asistencia to serve the local pobladores (settlers); the completed structure was dedicated on December 8, 1822.[1] The padres of San Gabriel donated 7 barrels of brandy to help establish the new chapel.[7] A replacement chapel, named for Mary, mother of Jesus (La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, or "The Church of Our Lady of the Angels") was rebuilt utilizing materials of the original church in 1861; Reina, meaning "Queen," was added later.[8] For years the little chapel, which collected the nicknames "La Placita" and "Plaza Church," served as the sole Roman Catholic church in Los Angeles. The Plaza area today is popularly known as Olvera Street.

Olvera Street

Olvera Street Market; the zigzag brick pattern represents the original path of the Zanja Madre

Olvera Street is in the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles, California, and is otherwise known as the birthplace of the City of Angels or El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument and is a department within the city. Many Latinos refer to it as 'La Placita Olvera'. Circa 1911 it was described as Sonora Town.

Having started as a short lane, Wine Street, it was extended and renamed in honor of Agustin Olvera, a prominent local judge, in 1877. There are 27 historic buildings lining Olvera Street, including the Avila Adobe, the Pelanconi House and the Sepulveda House. In 1930, it was converted to a colorful Mexican marketplace. It is also the setting for Mexican style music and dancing and holiday celebrations, such as Cinco de Mayo.

History

Early days

The "Old Plaza Church" facing the Plaza, 1869. The brick reservoir in the middle of the Plaza was the original terminus of the Zanja Madre

Los Angeles was founded in 1781 on a site southeast of Olvera Street near the Los Angeles River by a group of Spanish pobladores (settlers), consisting of 11 families — 44 men, women and children, led by Don Fernando Rivera y Moncada, Lt. Governor of the Californias and accompanied by a contingent of soldiers — who had set out from the nearby Mission San Gabriel Arcángel to establish an asistencia ("sub-mission") along the banks of the Porciúncula River at the Indian village of Yang-na.[1] The initial settlement was dubbed Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles, known today as the "Old Plaza Church." Unpredictable flooding forced settlers to move the town to higher ground. The town, complete with a church and rectangular plaza surrounded by house lots and planting fields, was placed in its current location in the early 1800s. Spanish colonial rule lasted until 1820. This period saw the first streets and adobe buildings of the town constructed. The town came under the control of newly independent Mexico in 1821. During this time of Mexican rule, which lasted until 1848, the Plaza area was the heart of Mexican community life in Los Angeles and center of an economy based upon cattle ranching and agriculture.

Hard times

Men and women gather around the "Old Plaza Church" sometime between 1890 and 1900. Faint impressions of paintings on the exterior of the building are evident. Signs on nearby commercial buildings read: "Saloon and Restaurant, Home Brewery" and "F.W. Braun and Co., Druggist."

For a time after the Mexican-American War and Gold Rush the Plaza remained the center of a diverse town. The central street of the Plaza, Vine or Wine Street, was extended and had its name changed by City Council ordinance in 1877 to Olvera Street to honor Augustín Olvera, the first Superior Court Judge of Los Angeles County and long time Olvera Street resident. In the 1880s Los Angeles began quick expansion through a massive influx of Anglo and European settlers who arrived via the railroad. The old Plaza area became a forgotten remnant of the city's roots, and the remaining adobe and brick buildings within the Plaza area fell into disrepair as the civic center of the city shifted to present-day Temple and Main Streets. A few of the street's buildings that were put up during this era, like the Sepulveda House (1880s) and Italian Hall (1907) actually had their backs facing Olvera while the front doors were on Main Street, furthering the character of the street as a mere alley. A good view of the street during this period is to be found in Charlie Chaplin's 1921 film The Kid, which featured a number of scenes in it, mostly on the west side a few doors north of the Pelanconi House. At the time of the film, years before its makeover by Christine Sterling, it was hardly considered to be a proper street, but rather just a dingy, dirty alley.

Its decline as the center of civic life led to its reclamation by diverse sectors of the city's poor and disenfranchised. The Plaza served as a gateway for newly arrived immigrants, especially Mexicans and Italians. During the 1920s, the pace of Mexican immigration into the United States increased to about 500,000 per year. California became the prime destination for Mexican immigrants, with Los Angeles receiving the largest number of any city in the Southwest. As a result of this dramatic demographic increase, a resurgence of Mexican culture occurred in Los Angeles. It was within this social and political climate that Christine Sterling began her public campaign to save the old Francisco Avila Adobe from demolition and build up Olvera Street as a center of Mexican romance and tourism. Preservation and restoration

Sundial at Olvera Street

Sterling's efforts to rescue the Plaza-Olvera area began in 1926, when she discovered the deteriorated conditions of the area, and in particular the Avila Adobe, the oldest existing home in the city. After raising the issue of the Avila Adobe with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Sterling approached Harry Chandler, the scion of the Los Angeles Times with a plan to restore the building and create a colorful Mexican marketplace and cultural center in the Plaza. Chandler was intrigued by Sterling's idea for restoring the Plaza area as a mixture of romance and capitalism, and helped by providing extensive publicity and support for the development plan in The Times.

However, by 1928, due to a lack of financial support for implementing her ideas, the project appeared to be fading. In late November of that year, Sterling found a Los Angeles City Health Department Notice of Condemnation posted in front of the Avila Adobe. In response, Sterling posted her own hand-painted sign condemning the shortsightedness of city bureaucrats in failing to preserve an important historic site. Her action helped attract additional public interest in preserving the old adobe. In response to the increased show of publicity, the Los Angeles City Council reversed its original order of condemnation. Support for restoring the adobe rushed in from throughout the city. Building materials came from several local companies, including Blue Diamond Cement and the Simmons Brick Company, one of the largest employers of Mexicans in the Los Angeles area. Los Angeles Police Chief James Davis provided a crew of prison inmates to do hard labor on the project. Sterling oversaw the entire construction project and an excerpt from her diary vividly captures her spirit and sense of desperation for financial support during the construction: One of the prisoners is a good carpenter, another an electrician. Each night I pray they will arrest a bricklayer and a plumber.

Entrance to Olvera Street (left), Los Angeles.

In spite of ample supplies and forced volunteers, the project lacked solid financial backing until Chandler came forward with capital for the project through funds collected at $1,000-a-plate luncheons with selected businessmen. Chandler established and headed the Plaza de Los Angeles Corporation, a for-profit venture which became the financial basis for the restoration of Plaza-Olvera. The street was closed to traffic in 1929 On Easter Sunday 1930, Sterling's romantic revival came to pass with the opening of Paseo de Los Angeles (which later became popularly known by its official street name, Olvera Street). Touted as A Mexican Street of Yesterday in a City of Today, Olvera Street was an instant success as a tourist site. La Opinión, the leading Spanish language daily, perhaps reflecting the sentiments among many Mexicans in the city, praised the project as una calleja que recuerda al Mexico viejo.

Present

The Plaza-Olvera Street site was designated as a California State Historic Landmark in 1953.

In the midst of Downtown industrialization, Olvera Street is a quaint, colorized, and non-confrontational environment. Olvera Street is successful in depicting the quaintness of Mexican culture.

As a tourist attraction, Olvera Street is a living museum paying homage to a romantic vision of old Mexico. The exterior facades of the brick buildings enclosing Olvera Street and on the small vendor stands lining its center are colorful piñatas, hanging puppets in white peasant garb, Mexican pottery, serapes, mounted bull horns, oversized sombreros, and a life-size stuffed donkey. Perhaps the single most widespread image of this version of old Mexico is the painting or ceramic statue of the Mexican campesino reclining against a giant saguaro cactus. Olvera Street attracts almost two million visitors per year.