viewfromaloft

1st and Spring

Downtown will be the workplace for soon to be former LAist Editor Tony Pierce,  who will be overseeing the 25 blogs at the LA Times.

Andy [Steinberg, LAist News Editor]: Is there anything specifically interesting that you're charged with off the bat in your job description? What is your proper title?

Tony: The title is still being worked on. i hope theres a team of people on that right now, actually. and to be honest, that was one of the biggest things Meredith [Artley, LATimes] and I discussed. She's really open minded as I am. Hopefully it will say Blog in there somewhere. But that word has never been on a business card at the LAT so it will probably be something far more general. Titles don't interest me much. people usually just point and say, yep thats the nutball I was telling you about yesterday.

[view] LAist Tony Pierce Moves on to LATimes--Mainstream Media Will Never Be The Same 

Well, maybe not so soon . . .

Loads of links and stories are piling up, but the aforementioned in-studio projects, RFPs, and updating the logo/art direction pdf portfolio are taking up more time than expected. There will be a slow building back up to speed over the weekend so in the meantime, have some quick hits after the jump: Pictured: Getting ready for the ImaginAsian Center.

catching up

The studio has a few projects in house, so postings will be later this evening. There will be news about the Main Street Mural, slightly belated as we secure the last pieces of funding needed to install it over the Regent Theater.  It will be previewed soon.

Also, "Bloggers on Ice" date is just about set, so get those ice skates ready.

Large Scale Work by Gary Leonard to be Exhibited

Photographer Gary Leonard is everywhere, even before the public, and you can see his access to Downtown in a new exhibition called PHOENIX, a series of large scale architectural images documenting the City in transition. The framed photographs, measuring 20" x 24" and 20" x 30, will include construction views of Thom Mayne's CalTrans headquarters, Frank Gehry's Disney Hall and the newly opened L.A. Live complex, plus a portrait of the Ambassador Hotel in its final days.

PHOENIX will debut during the final Downtown Art Walk of 2007 on Thursday, Dec 13 at Colori, the popular trattoria located around the corner from Gary Leonard’s "anti" gallery. Chef Luigi Barducci Contessi will host the exhibition with a special menu from 6pm to 9pm. Colori is located at 429 W 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90014.

Gary Leonard [view]
Colori Kitchen [view]
Previous profile [view]

Pictured: "Ambassador Hotel" courtesy of Gary Leonard

Dodgers to play Boston in Coliseum for March Exhibition Game

More Dodger Golden Anniversary News:  Reader Dennis Smith tips us of another Christmas gift for Dodger Fans that's even better than the Rose Parade Float set for New Years Day.  On March 29, 2008, the Dodgers will play an exhibition game against the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. The Dodger website says "the exhibition contest is expected to include similar dimensions on the playing field."

Due to the oval shape of the stadium, the left field fence was only 251 feet from home plate, causing the team to erect a 42-foot high fence to avoid an excess of home runs. Dodger outfielder Wally Moon took advantage of the short porch, clubbing 56 home runs - dubbed "Moon Shots" - during the four-year span in which the team played at the Coliseum. While the dimensions will be altered as a result of physical improvements made to the Coliseum in recent years, the fence in left field will remain.

With so many transplants missing baseball, and locals wanting in on the action, the Coliseum played host to the largest crowds in MLB history.  The Dodgers and Yankees played before an exhibition crowd of 93,103 in honor of Roy Campanella on On May 7, 1959, still the highest single-game attendance mark.

As Tipster Dodger Blue Dennis says, "With all the heavyweights like Vin Scully on hand today to make the announcement, my favorite comment was passed on by a member of the Coliseum Commission who quipped 'We always figured the Dodgers would beat the NFL in the race to return to the Coliseum'."

Dodger Website [view]

Picture: ballparks.com
 

Music Center Holiday

The Jumpin’ Joz Band entertains a small crowd at the Music Center waiting for The County's Official Tree Lighting Ceremony to be completed. The lighting ceremony was timed to be on the NBC4 news weather broadcast with Fritz Coleman, so it meant waiting around and having some extra hot chocolate before the tree was finally lit. Coleman claims the tree was plugged into a DWP AC outlet, so you can "expect a little bump in your next ultility bill."

and for the record . . .

Downtown News Editor, Publisher and Owner Sue Laris comments over at Angelenic about the "The Downtown Blogger" cartoon by Doug Davis:

Thanks for all the attention. Our cartoonist, Doug Davis, who creates his cartoons with his own point of view, will be especially thrilled. You’ll note that he has a specific series going, one he adds to from time to time, called “Downtown Snapshots,” of which this is one. The intent is to be gently humorous, not a deep needle. Just a cartoonist’s vision of what various Downtown “types” are. He has satirized me in some of his work, too, but usually in the cartoon strip in the Calendar section, not the political cartoon. He saves the deep needles for politicians, I find. The point is that I, too, have experienced the cringe. Not so bad. Kind of fun. Kind of not. But a cartoonist needs to be given his freedom, so onward we go.

<snip>

Hey, for the record, we do print material provided by bloggers from time to time. Ask Eric Richardson. We’ve printed 800-word pieces by him. And when we get our new web site up and operating, we plan to link to all the Downtown bloggers.

With that, this blog closes the subject.

Quick Notes

TELL ME MORE: The "What's the Story?” Workshop series that has writers/actors perform works-in-progress in front an audience will have the last performance of the year Tuesday, Nov 27 at Cafe Metropol. Dinner and Drinks are at 7pm, and the show starts "promptly" at 8pm. Joining the approximately ten readers/actors/writers are musical guests Ivan Johnson & David Johnson.  Stacie Chaiken, a faculty member of the USC School of Theatre, is the artistic director for WHAT'S THE STORY? @ CAFE METROPOL (923 E 3rd St LA). Reservations can be had at 213-613-1537.

It was 20 years ago . . .

 

The video for U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" was filmed on March 27, 1987 atop 7th and Main building that holds Craby Joe's. Video lore often cites as on the top of the Republic liquor store. As we  noted a year ago, in the video you can hear the never-show-fear Los Angeles DJs warning listeners going to this part of Downtown to "use caution . . .not one of those deeelightful neighborhoods."

NPR's Robin Hilton wrote about the album week:

By 1987 I was used to tuning everything out.  My first exposure to The Joshua Tree was an accident. I was at a friend's house and the TV was on. I wasn't paying much attention. But at some point I looked up and saw what looked like a breaking news event. The streets of Los Angeles were filled with people, all gawking skyward. Cops everywhere. U2 was on a rooftop, breaking into "Where the Streets Have No Name."

The song was like nothing else I'd heard. It radiated. The Edge's guitar was shimmering and majestic. Bono's voice was so pure, and the words he sang rang with a passion and sincerity I'd not heard before.

Side note of inspiration:  In the video you can see a prop hotel sign that says "Million Dollar Hotel," patterned on those  5th and Main,  "Million Dollar Hotel", the film that was released in 2000, is credited as written by Nicholas Klein based on an idea by Bono,

 

* edited

Sense of Humor

Team Angelenic and artist Devin Fountain combined forces to respond to a political cartoon called "The Downtown Blogger" that currently appears in Downtown News.

In short, the Doug Davis Urban Scrawl takes a dig at a "fictious" group of downtown bloggers and implies the online scribes only offer contradictions to their very own idealistic messages.

Meanwhile, Garment & Citizen recently ran an op-ed that defended urban journalist Joel Kotkin that in part stated: 'Many of Kotkin’s critics label him a crank who brings nothing more than a negative outlook and a caustic tongue to discussions of urban planning."

"Kotkin is strident—I’ll give all of his critics that much. But no more than the public relations machine that has hummed along in support of Downtown’s residential development, as many bloggers with direct or indirect stakes in an upscale makeover have joined the traditional array of print publications and developers’ advocates in the feel-good blitz of recent years."

So, according to the two local fish-wraps, downtown L.A. bloggers are somewhere in between being out of touch of the real Downtown and part of a well oiled public relations machine that drank the developer Kool-Aid with a "caustic" tongue.

As you can expect, the 3bN discussed the illustrated barb by Davis in a flurry of e-mails late Saturday morning and passed around some ideas for another political style cartoon. I even drew up three more versions for fun, then entered political cartoon illustrator rehab over the weekend. Thanks to professional intervention, I have passed the need to post them. Besides, the satirical bite in the e-mails would be a hard act to follow.