From below, the Vincent Thomas Bridge is green and fresh, the paint glossy-bright on all the bolts and screws, wires and girders, all the way to the tops of its towers.I’ve looked up at many big bridges in my time; even lived under one once. But I‘ve never seen one so, well, shiny and straight-out-of-the-box-looking.The […]
Month: July 2018
Steal This Hoffman
The long-haired radical kid from the Pennsylvania backcountry had just returned from the 1968 Democratic Convention, battered and without a speck of love left in her heart for Abbie Hoffman. “He sat off someplace and let us all get beat,” she said, also implicating two other activist organizers of that event who survive. “That was […]
About That Money
As some of you may have already heard, there was a political convention in town the other week. And while it sometimes seemed unduly unruly, one thing the 2000 Democratic National Convention did not appear was poor. There was that $10 million cost of the basics, of course — the venue, and so on. That […]
The Grapes of L.A.
The broadcast media had a ball with this month‘s little story that Los Angeles County was about, once again, to allow people to make their own wine in marketable quantities. It was such a condign idea that the Board of Supervisors is expected to pass the ordinance next month, albeit past vintage for most growers.The […]
You Got Me, Babe
Bowling Alone isn’t really about bowling alone. As sociologist Robert Putnam allows on page 113, a better designation might be Bowling in Small Groups; admittedly, this wouldn‘t be the catch phrase for modern alienation his title became when it first topped a 1995 article. His key observation is that bowling leagues are losing their members. […]
The First Step Back
The lore has been out there practically since first I learned to read: It’s the legend of the totally out-of-control, self-and-everyone-else-destructive junkie. First, I think, came Frankie Machine, counterhero of Nelson Algren‘s classic, 1949 The Man With the Golden Arm. Then there was William S. Burroughs’ then-pseudonymous paperback, Junky, in 1953, and Jack Gelber‘s beatnik-era, […]
Flip a Coin
Got a call from Mayor Riordan the other day, or so he said. The Great Stone Voice identified himself: ”Hi, I‘m Mayor Richard Riordan,“ and then told me to vote for Assemblyman Wally Knox for state senator in the 23rd District.I immediately replied, ”Mayor Riordan, I gotta tell you one thing. This is Santa Monica, […]
Hiding behind Badges
It was very simple, as Chief Bernard Parks explained it last week. The Los Angeles Police Department is undermined by mediocrity, slipshod performance, bad management, and insidious and inappropriate cultures. These problems led to the Rampart scandal.Accordingly, this mediocrity-riddled LAPD should be left to clean itself up. This, essentially, was what the long-awaited 362-page LAPD […]
Bernie Dresses Down
The night Bernard Parks should have apologized to the district attorney for trying to derail the state constitution, he left his uniform hanging in the closet.The police chief wore his civvies when he made his evening appearance outside Rampart station — where he’s been rather scarce lately.Parks said he would cooperate with D.A. Gil Garcetti, […]
Gas Attack
Trying to get into the minds of the current majority of Los Angeles Unified School District board members is often like trying to crawl into an impossibly small, dark, unventilated space.Particularly when it comes to the fate of the accursed $200 million Belmont Learning Complex. It‘s now two months since the board majority sought to […]