WWW.BEVERLYPRESS.COM INSIDE • School safety in L.A. and Beverly Partly cloudy, Hills. pg. 3 with highs in • Women’s History the low 70s Month. pg. 6 Volume 28 No. 10 Serving the West Hollywood, Hancock Park, Beverly Hills and Wilshire Communities March 8, 2018 n NoDiscoveries bones in saber- about“Where is theit arthritis? Where Lifen in the slow lane along L.A. streets are the fractures? Where are the Speed limit toothed cat bones could abnormalities?” said Klapper, co- reductions have been enhance patient care director of the Cedars-Sinai joint replacement program. placed on Sunset, La He approached a security guard at the museum, who led the surgeon Brea and other streets Robert Klapper, an orthopaedic to Chris Shaw, the museum’s one- surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, visited the time director of collections. They La Brea Tar Pits and Museum for walked into the depths of the muse- the first time in 1998 with his then um, into a room with rows of draw- The Los Angeles Department of 12-year-old daughter. Walking ers. Shaw pulled one open and Transportation is reducing speed among the pristine sets of bones on showed Klapper two saber-toothed limits on some major streets in the display, he couldn’t help but won- cat pelvices. local area, including Sunset der: Where were the ones with Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. irregularities? See Fossils page 21 The speed limits are being reduced from 35 mph to 30, with the goal of increasing traffic safe- ty. The reductions resulted from an analysis of traffic patterns required by the state that are con- ducted every five to 10 years. New speed limit signs have been photo by Edwin Folven posted on streets such as La Brea The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has reduced speed Avenue, and will soon be placed limits on some major commercial streets, including La Brea Avenue. on Sunset Boulevard, said LADOT spokesman Oliver Hou. “All of them are major arterial speed limits and look out for their Boulevard. The speed limit is also streets that are mostly commercial safety and the safety of others.” being reduced from 35 mph to 30 corridors,” said Hou, who added The speed limit change on on a residential stretch of that the speed limit changes are Sunset Boulevard is between Hollywood Boulevard between occurring on many other streets Crescent Heights Boulevard and La Brea Avenue and Laurel citywide. “We do know that colli- Virgil Avenue. On La Brea Canyon Boulevard, and in East sions are up nationwide. Motorists Avenue, the change is from photo courtesy of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center See Limit page 21 should ideally always obey the Romaine Street to Olympic Robert Klapper’s work with fossils could pay off for future patients. Hook, Purple Line and sinker in Beverly Hills nTower Recordsstores founder in West Hollywood, dies Manila, n Russ Solomon’s Toronto, Mexico City, London, City Council plans Sunset Strip storefront Buenos Aires, Tokyo and more, design elements for each filled with aisles of records, leaves a lasting legacy thousands of bands in every genre. construction areas Tower’s beginnings, however, were much smaller. Solomon, at just 16 Back in 2006, the closure of years old in 1941, began selling With the Purple Line Extension Tower Records stores sent music used records in a corner of his project making its way into fans across the globe into mourn- father’s drug store in the Tower Beverly Hills, the City Council ing. And now, 12 years later, those Theater building in Sacramento. discussed on March 6 the designs same fans find themselves in Years later, in 1960, that side of sounds walls, fencing, business mourning yet again. On March 4, business became Solomon’s main signage and other elements of the founder of the records store business. By 1965, he had moved construction that will be on dis- chain, Russ Solomon, died of an out of his father’s shop to a building play during the newest phase of apparent heart attack. He was 92. across the street. the project. photo courtesy of Metro Solomon created the famed busi- From there, the hits kept on com- The Purple Line Extension project is making its way into Beverly Hills. ness chain that, at its height, had Construction for the Rodeo See Founder page 22 Station commenced last fall with utility relocation. Residents have been concerned about the effects ment between the city and Metro. information, and adds elements to on the city, including traffic The city will cover the walls with create a layered and immersive impacts and the aesthetics of pub- banners that include way-finding experience,” according to city lic spaces near the construction and public information, images engineer Tony Antich and project sites. and graphics about Beverly Hills manager Robert Welch in a report According to city staff, the Los and Metro. to the council. “It is intended to Angeles County Metropolitan The city had already selected spotlight the city and its world- Transportation Authority is design firm Shook Kelley to pre- wide popularity by featuring well- responsible for constructing sound pare conceptual designs for the known icons, symbols and land- walls that are at least 20 feet high construction elements that will be marks of the city, both historic and around the staging yards located at used during the project. contemporary.” the southwest corner of Wilshire “The recommended concept Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, and Reeves, and at the northeast builds on and broadens the cohe- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, corner of Wilshire and Canon, sive branding components and other state and local officials based on a memorandum of agree- through the city, provides public See Subway page 22 photo courtesy of Jerome Cleary 2 March 8, 2018 CALENDAR Park Labrea News/Beverly Press on Wednesday, March 14 from 6:30 Cordova Theatre on the campus of Akita Lecture to 7:30 p.m. at the Wilshire Ebell Beverly Hills High School. The pro- Dog lovers won’t want to miss the Theater. Officers and detectives from duction is directed by Melanie Japan Foundation, Los Angeles’ the LAPD’s Wilshire and Olympic MacQueen and produced by David “Akita Dog 101 (Wan Oh Wan!),” a divisions will discuss crime, and rep- Hunt Stafford for Theatre 40. It stars lecture on Thursday, March 8 at 7 resentatives from home security com- Jennifer Lynn Davis, Warren Davis, p.m. in the JFLA auditorium. panies can answer questions about Grinnell Morris and Susan Priver. Set Steven Takamatsu, president of Akita service. 4401 W. Eighth St. greater- in 1897 England, wealthy Irish heiress Inu Hozonkai, wilshire.org. Charlotte Payne-Townshend meets L.A. Branch, will George Bernard Shaw, the financially discuss the Akita challenged but famous Irish play- breed of dogs, in wright and political activist. Charlotte conjunction with OscarProducer Phillip Zeta Rodriguez’s Acosta film is not quite like any other woman that the lunar Year of “The Rise and Fall of the Brown Shaw has met before – a woman that the Dog. He leads Buffalo” will be shown on Saturday, he must consider his intellectual peer. the local chapter March 14 from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Morogiello’s imagining of the true of Akita Inu West Hollywood City Council story of the two Irish lovers arrives Hozonkai, established in 1927, which Chambers. The film profiles the life of just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. is the oldest and largest organization the Chicano Los Angeles writer, Showtimes are 8 p.m., Thursday dedicated solely to Akitas in Japan. lawyer, activist, and 1960s and ‘70s through Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 100. counter-culture figure Oscar Zeta Tickets are $30. 241 S. Moreno Drive. (323)761-7510, jflalc.org. Acosta. Admission is free, but RSVP (310)364-0535, theatre40.org. is requested by visiting bit.ly/2C6KvNI. 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. (323)848-6360, weho.org. TheatreFrench Raymond Fairytale Kabbaz is hosting the Los Angeles premiere of “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood),” by French writer and director Usuyuki in Japan Joël Pommerat, on Friday, March 9 Explore the intersection of art and and Saturday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. music during “Cross-Hatched: Saturday, Pommerat rewrites the steps of the Usuyuki in Japan” on March 14 famous story, preserving its original at 8 p.m. at The Broad. structure while using a profound rite Pianist Adam Tendler will perform of initiation and passage. Tickets are works reflecting $30; $15 for students. 10361 W. Pico Japan’s influence Blvd. tinyurl.com/nj7aulr and theatr- on John Cage and Jasper Johns, eraymondkabbaz.com. photo courtesy of Jeff Fasano Photography including compo- Violinist Simone Porter will make her Broad Stage solo recital debut on sitions and Fluxus Saturday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. The Avery Fisher Career Grant recip- performance pie- UCLA’sMy Lai Center for the Art of ient performed last season with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles ces that were tak- Performance welcomes the Kronos Philharmonic. She will perform works by Mozart, Salonen, Prokofiev, ing place in Japan Quartet, tenor Rinde Eckert and Janacek, Bloch and Ravel. Tickets start at $30. 1310 11th St., Santa when Johns visited the country. Vietnamese instrumental virtuoso Monica. (310)434-3200, thebroadstage.org. Usuyuki is the Japanese word for Vân-Ánh Võ in “My Lai,” a work “light snow” and suggests the idea composed by Jonathan Berger with that something disappears as it is libretto by Harriet Scott Chessman, on Sunday, Ma rch 11 at 4 p.m.