blogdowntown

Fashion District Recycling Program Wins IDA Award

Eric Richardson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:55:14 -0700

The Fashion District BID’s recycling program was recently honored with a sustainability award at the International Downtown Association’s 2008 annual conference. This spring, the Fashion District teamed up with the City of Los Angeles to try and find a solution for the various types of waste generated in the district. Over nineteen tons of recyclables are now picked up weekly.

The program, run by Etec, LLC, launched covered only ten blocks. It was later expanded to serve a wider area, and to include flower cuttings and green waste from the Flower Markets. The goal is to expand the program to serve the entire BID.

The Merit Award in Sustainable Development was presented on September 13, at the IDA’s conference held in Calgary.

Downtown’s wholesale districts have long struggled with the amount of trash they generate. Fashion District BID head Kent Smith hopes their program can serve as a model for others. “We are thrilled to be honored with this award,” Smith said in a press release. “We are extremely proud of our recycling program and hope that its success can help inspire other BIDs and Downtowns around the country.”

Developer Shy's Suit Against Homeowner Thrown Out on Anti-SLAPP Grounds

Eric Richardson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:15:01 -0700

Defendant Jessica Jordan is a homeowner in SB Grand, a building developed by Barry Shy. Photo by Eric Richardson.

Developer Barry Shy’s attempt to clear his name via the courts was dealt a major blow this week as Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos granted an anti-SLAPP motion filed by attorneys for Jessica Jordan, a homeowner in the Shy-developed SB Grand.

The ruling strikes the complaints Shy had filed against Jordan and leaves the developer responsible for the defendant’s legal fees and court costs.

A SLAPP suit, or “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” is a suit intended to punish someone for engaging in free speech. California has particularly tough laws against SLAPP suits, providing mechanisms for defendants to get a judge to quickly rule on the potential merits of the case.

Shy’s suit against Jordan alleged defamation and loss of business as a result of items published on Jordan’s website, truedowntown.com.

Palazuelos’ ruling determined that the case against Jordan met both of the criteria to be struck down under California’s Anti-SLAPP laws. First, the court ruled that “all three causes of action alleged in the complaint ‘arise from’ Jordan’s exercise of free speech about a public issue in a place open to the public.” Palazuelos then ruled that Shy did not provide provide sufficient evidence that the case had merit and could be successful.

Jordan was represented by Jamey Leonard of the non-profit First Ammendment Project. Asked for a statement on the decision, Leonard emailed this to blogdowntown:

The First Amendment Project was proud to defend Jessica Jordan’s exercise of free speech, and she has our heartfelt congratulations. Judge Palazuelos’ ruling should serve as a reminder to all Californians that they cannot be silenced by even the most powerful of opponents. Free Speech is the cornerstone of our democratic society, and while it is up to our courts to protect this right, the true burden is on our citizens to bravely speak their minds, no matter who stands against them.

Jordan is currently out of the country doing film work, but emailed blogdowntown this morning to provide information on the ruling.

L.A.'s Italian American History Uncovered

Ed Fuentes — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:41:29 -0700

Postcard for “Struggle and Success: The Italian Presence in Los Angeles, 1827-1927.” The circa 1919 photo was taken at a weekend footrace once organized by Il Circolo Operaio Italiano (The Italian Worker’s Club). The race began at Italian Hall on North Main Street, and concluded at Lincoln Park. Courtesy of El Pueblo Historical Monument Photo by El Pueblo Historical Monument.

Sitting in her cubicle office at El Pueblo Historical Monument, historian and curator Mariann Gatto (previous blogdowntown profile) is talking on the phone while answering emails, surrounded by artifacts and photographs. She’s busy with last minute preparations for an upcoming exhibit, that for many, that will be a unexpected discovery.

“Sunshine and Struggle: The Italian Experience in Los Angeles” will be held at the Pico House Gallery from October 4 through November 15 and organizers hope it will being new awareness of the Los Angeles based Italian American. “This is the first major exhibition about Italian Americans in Los Angeles,” says Gatto. “We hope to mark how Italian Americans were, and still are, an important part of L.A.’s diversity and growth.”

Los Angeles has very little trace of any early Italian-American enclave, or “Little Italy,” remaining around the original central core of El Pueblo. Most of what had been Italian territory in the early 1900s is now part of Chinatown. The only active sites may very well be the San Antonio Winery, founded in 1917, and St. Peter’s Church, founded in 1904 on Spring, and relocated to its present location on North Broadway in 1915.

The exhibit surveys the early Italian settlers, covering the time from 1827 to 1927. The 19th century immigration from Italy and Sicily was followed by early 20th century migrants from the Eastern seaboard. After that, the relocation of families into other parts of the city dissipated the identity of the Los Angeles Italian American.

Another purpose of the exhibit is to tell the story of El Pueblo’s Italian Hall, earmarked by the Historic Italian Hall Foundation to become a museum to house those missing stories.

“Sunshine and Struggle: The Italian Experience in Los Angeles” / Opening reception, Saturday October 4, 2008, 7:00-10:00 p.m. at the Pico House Gallery at El Pueblo Historical Monument / 424 North Main, Downtown Los Angeles, 90012 / (213) 485-8432

Fast Fact: “A Profile of Today’s Italian Americans” reports that according to 2000 Census, the City of LA is ranked the 5th largest U.S. metropolitan area with most Italian-Americans, only behind New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

Metro Board Approves Extended Red Line Hours

Ed Fuentes with Eric Richardson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:28:54 -0700

At the end of a long agenda, the Metro Board today unanimously approved a pilot program extended the hours of the Red Line between Downtown and North Hollywood during the upcoming holiday season. The program, which would be privately funded, now must secure contractually binding funding commitments by October 17 in order for the service to move forward.

Board member and County Supervisor Gloria Molina amended the bill, clarifying that private commitments must be fully secured for the effort to move forward.

Bringing Back Broadway Executive Director Jessica Wethington Mclean spoke about the commitments that have already been made by business and property owners in Downtown and Hollywood. Cedd Moses of 213 (Golden Gopher, Broadway Bar, Seven Grand) spoke in support of the effort, and afterward talked about how branding and marketing will be important steps to make the concept a success.

The pilot would extend operation of the Red Line to 3am on Friday and Saturday nights during the holidays. The motion approved included a start date of November 1, but those familiar with the discussions have indicated the 14th as a more realistic launch. The extended service would run until January 3.

Downtown Lens: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Part 3 -- Processing

Dave Bullock — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:18:21 -0700

Smoke billows up over the LA river in this HDR image from a fire in Griffith Park in 2007. Photo by Dave Bullock.

What your eye sees is not always what your camera captures. Your camera’s dynamic range, the level of tones it can capture, is much narrower than what nature presents.

High Dynamic Range photography allows you to capture a view that more closely mimics real life. The real magic happens not in the camera, but in the computer.

In the first installment of this series, I talked about the camera and tripod you will need to create HDR images. In the second installment I went over the core of the process, capturing multiple images. In this final installment I will discuss bringing it all together and processing it in software.

There are a number of different software applications on the market which allow you to process individual images and create an HDR image. Personally I really like the results from HDRSoft’s PhotoMatix. Its batch processing capabilities and wide range of features give it a leading edge over the competition.

Go ahead and download a demo version of PhotoMatix so you can give it a try. The demo is fully functional, but watermarks the company’s logo on your image. If you decide you want to start using it, the software costs $99. I bought it a long time ago and I’m glad I did. HDRSoft has included full version updates for free so far.

Once you have the software downloaded and installed, run it and click on the button that says “Generate HDR image”. This will open a dialog box that will let you browse for your images. Use the dialog box to select three of the bracketed images you took during the last installment. These should be three images of the same subject, one properly exposed, one underexposed and one overexposed.

Once you select them and hit OK, you will see a screen with many options. If you used a good tripod, you won’t need to align the images, but feel free to leave this turned on. Further down there is an option to “Attempt to reduce ghosting artifacts” which will try and get rid of things that moved in between your exposures like cars or people. I have had limited success with this feature.

If you are using RAW files, which you should be doing, you won’t have the option to adjust tone curve. There are also options to change white balance, I normally just choose “As Shot”, but if you know the color temperature of the light your subject was under you may want to adjust this. Finally you can adjust what color gamut your files are, I shoot everything in AdobeRGB as it has a wider gamut than sRGB. This is a setting in your camera, so set it to whatever you have in your camera. When in doubt pick sRGB.

Once you have the settings down, click OK. Photomatix will then convert your images into one HDR file. It will take a few minutes depending on your processor speed. After this image is generated it will pop up on the screen. You will note that it doesn’t look very good. This is because your monitor can not display HDR images as its dynamic range is too narrow. If you scroll your mouse over the image you will see that there is really a very large amount of detail which will be shown in the HDR viewer window. If you don’t see this window click View > Show HDR Viewer.

Because we want to be able to see and print the whole tonal range of this image, we will have to map the HDR photo to levels our monitor and printer can display. This is called Tone Mapping. Click the Tone Mapping button to proceed.

A new dialog box will pop up with a huge array of options. PhotoMatix has a good preview system, so try changing the parameters to get a result you like. The strength slider has what is probably the most noticeable affect on the final image and can make a photo look either very realistic or surreal and cartoonish. When you are happy with your settings click “Process”. This will also take a few minutes. When it is done click File > Save and save the image as a JPG or TIFF.

There you go! You are now on your way to becoming and HDR master. Now you just have to get out and shoot more photos to process. Have fun and happy shooting!

This post is the eighth part in a weekly series entitled Downtown Lens in which I will discuss a photograph and the technique that relates to it.

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Double Decker Bus Now Touring Downtown

Ed Fuentes — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:40:05 -0700

Back-Up Bus: A Starline tour bus, soon to have new super graphics, departs from Olvera Street. Downtown tours will begin at 9:30 a.m. and run until 5:30 p.m. Photo by Ed Fuentes.

Red double-decker sight-seeing buses are known for being filled with tourists seeking Hollywood stars in their natural habitat (or the occasional busload of locals touring neon lights). Now out-of-towners can “ohh and ahh” at Downtown Los Angeles’ new entertainment landmarks, historic buildings and street life.

Granted, Downtown street life may make for an unusual set of prints to send back to family in Ohio, but the new service makes for a good benchmark point: Starline Tours thinks enough of Downtown to put it on their map.

Well, close enough anyway. The new Starline touring map calls the Los Angeles Theater the “L.A. Theater” and lists its address as 808 Chick Hearn Court, where L.A. Live is located. It also claims that the Disney Concert Hall stop is on Lower Grand Avenue, an odd point for sight-seers.

Pesky details aside, yesterday’s ceremonial first bumpy run is considered a milestone for Downtown tourism, offering “Hop-On-Hop-Off” arrivals and departures from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the 70 minute run.

Voice-over narration will give trivia between the thirteen stops that include Olvera Street, Civic Center, Little Tokyo, Staples Center, Disney Hall, and the Fashion District. A highlight is expected to be the aforementioned Los Angeles Theater stop, allowing tourists to walk on Broadway and look at the collection of historic theaters from the outside.

Will this impact awareness for Bringing Back Broadway? “Oh man, yes,” says an excited Jose Huizar. “It will introduce the area to visitors, and make a connection between Downtown as an early Hollywood.” Truly, that is an interesting point. Out of town tourists may find Downtown historical factoids interesting, but discovering how long its been a studio back lot will surprise many.

Just as surprised will be locals and Downtown workers who see the red double-decker filled with tourists, snapping pictures of Downtown from a different perspective.

Starline Hollywood Downtown Tour / $30 per person or $90 for a family of five; two-day tickets are $40 per passenger or $125 for two adults and three children.

Update (Friday): As noted in this press release, the double decker tour is free this Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28.

Photos

Downtown P.R.O. Wants Your Work Clothes

Eric Richardson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:32:46 -0700

A donation box at Old Bank DVD (400 S. Main). Photo by Ed Fuentes.

People Reaching Out is a Downtown organization that wants to take your pre-owned professional clothing and use it to help those just getting back on their feet look the part for job interviews. Their second annual clothing drive just kicked off, with donation boxes in nine buildings Downtown and four public drop-off locations.

The group, founded by Peter Davis and Jon Toktas, held its first drive last year. This year’s effort is expanded to more buildings, with someone in each of the ten locations having worked with management to secure the ok on placing a donation box in community space.

Seven residential buildings are participating: P.E. Lofts, Manhattan Lofts, the Douglas Building, Security Lofts, City Lofts, Chapman Flats and the Santa Fe Lofts. Additionally, donation boxes are available for tenants of the Oviatt Building and members of the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Those who don’t live in a participating building can look for public drop-off boxes at Arda’s Cafe (418 W. 6th), Old Bank DVD (400 S. Main), Chanelli Outlet (625 S. Broadway) and Neihule Salon (607 S. Olive).

While the group’s website lists a September 30th end date, a delay in getting donation boxes out means that clothing will be accepted through October 7th. Donated clothing will be distributed to homeless shelters and assistance providers.

Grand Ave Festival Shows off Downtown Culture

Ed Fuentes — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:06:15 -0700

One of the musical acts performs during the 2007 Grand Avenue Festival. Photo by Eric Richardson.

Many cities offer street fairs to display their cultural and dining resources, but how many have a street like Bunker Hill’s Grand Avenue? That’s where MOCA, the L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the L.A. Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Redcat, the Colburn School are bookended by the Central Library and the Center Theater Group’s newly renovated Mark Taper Forum.

The 5th Annual Grand Avenue Festival takes place on Sunday, September 28th, from 11am to 5pm. With a lineup that includes more than 40 programs for kids and adults and booths set up by Downtown restaurants, there is bound to be something of interest for any Downtown local, new or otherwise.

Take in some culture, like a tour of the works of German artist Martin Kippenberger at MOCA, or listen to the Rite of Spring Sensation by LA Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Join the Theatre Scavenger Hunt at the renovated Mark Taper Forum, or become part of the potentially record breaking disco dance party at 1st and Grand (12:30pm).

For Downtowners, the festival offers a prime chance to take in a free, abbreviated performance at a number of premiere venues. Definitely take note of performances at the Colburn School, one of Downtown’s less talked about gems.

Grand Avenue Festival / Sunday, September 28th / 11 am - 5pm / Events are free, though some require tickets available on-site. Food you have to pay for.