This is one of those stories you think has to be a joke, but then it turns out it is all too real — superstar boxer Manny Pacquiao has been banned from stepping foot into The Grove because of anti-gay marriage comments he made. Let me make that clear — a shopping mall doesn’t like a person’s views, so it is preventing him from being there.
In an interview with the National Conservative Examiner, Pacquiao said, “God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married. It should not be of the same sex, so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Okay, that is the man’s opinion, and he is entitled to it whether you agree with him or not (and just for the record, before I am accused of trying to advance the anti-gay marriage agenda, I do not agree with Mr. Pacquiao).
However The Grove apparently doesn’t believe that people are entitled to voice an opinion. On Wednesday, Pacquiao was supposed to appear on “Extra,” which tapes at The Grove. Not anymore, according to a statement The Grove released to LA Weekly:
“Based on news reports of statements made by Mr. Pacquiao we have made it be known that he is not welcome at The Grove and will not be interviewed here now or in the future. The Grove is a gathering place for all Angelenos and not a place for intolerance.”
So The Grove is a place for tolerance — as long as you agree with its politics.
This is a very dangerous precedent. Mitt Romney is against gay marriage. If he shows up at The Grove, will he be asked to leave the premises (actually, I would pay to see that happen!)?
What if an employee of The Grove overhears a shopper speaking against gay marriage? Will he or she be escorted away?
And up until a week ago President Obama was publicly against gay marriage. Would he have been welcome at The Grove?
This is just an asinine, politically correct maneuver for publicity that could backfire. After all, Prop 8 did pass in California.
The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday approved the final environmental impact report for the first 3.9 miles of what used to be called the “Subway to the Sea” but what is now called the Westside Subway Extension because it no longer goes to the sea. It means work could begin as early next year.
The board only approved the subway under Wilshire from downtown to La Cienega because Beverly Hills is fighting the proposed tunnel under Beverly Hills High School. The Purple Line will allegedly eventually end at the VA Hospital in Westwood.
“Today’s certification of the Westside Subway Extension final environmental impact report reflects the culmination of nearly five years of environmental analysis by Metro and unprecedented community engagement,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also chairs Metro’s board. “We are now closer than we’ve ever been to getting this project under construction.”
Curbed LA reports that the station at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax will not be at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax; rather, it will be a block east on the South side of Orange Grove Ave. LACMA says it will pay to have a station built on the North side of the street, delivering passengers right to the museum.
The move of the station is a concession to LACMA and private developers on the South side of Wilshire. So now people will have to walk an extra block so a bunch of rich guys can get even richer. Why not just build the station as planned (in an empty lot next to Johnie’s at Wilshire and Fairfax), then have LACMA pay for the station on its grounds? Subway stations can have two entrances, you know.
Just another example of poor decision-making in our fair city.
So you are sitting home one night and you decide you want to play some poker. It’s too late to get four friends together, and you don’t feel like driving the four hours to Las Vegas. And you certainly can’t wait until they build that stupid train to Vegas which for some reason begins in Victorville.
Of course there are plenty of online poker rooms, but you crave physical human interaction.
Well, it turns out there are places in town to play some cards. Here is a partial list:
– Hollywood Park Casino: You can also try your luck on the ponies if the cards aren’t falling right for you.
– Hustler Casino: No naked chicks, but some pretty good poker.
– Commerce Casino: Featuring 160 poker tables.
– Bicycle Casino: Win a ten-speed!
– Hawaiian Gardens Casino: Go there for a lei!
– Normandie Casino: I’ve got nothing for this one.
LACMA flung open its doors on Saturday for the final weekend of Pacific Standard Time. It’s entry into the massive 60+ museum and gallery show was called “California Design 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way,” featuring mid-century furniture, artifacts, photos, even a mini-Eames house.
I thought the most fascinating pieces were two photos of Los Angeles, one from 1922 and one from 1930. They were taken from the same spot — the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, looking West. In 1922 it was virtually empty, save for a couple of buildings. Just eight short years later the city as we know it sprung up. It is mind-boggling that they were able to build a city from scratch in such a short amount of time — tens of thousands of houses for hundreds of thousands of people. Sewer lines, water lines, power lines. Streets, sidewalks. It’s remarkable considering how long it now takes to build a relatively simple apartment complex.
Check out the incredible photos:
The group headed by Lakers legend Magic Johnson has been chosen to buy the Dodgers, multiple reports said Tuesday night. Guggenheim Partners — headed by Johnson and long-time baseball executive Stan Kasten — will reportedly pay $2 billion for the team, by far the most ever paid for a sports franchise.
In a statement Johnson said:
“I am thrilled to be part of the historic Dodger franchise and intend to build on the fantastic foundation as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section in our wonderful community of Los Angeles.”
Having Johnson involved is a good PR move for the Dodgers after years of terrible PR under Frank McCourt, who paid $371 million for the team in 2004. So even after he pays his ex-wife the $131 million due to her by the end of April, McCourt will walk away with a tidy little profit. There will be no tears shed for him by Dodgers fans as he leaves the owner’s box.
Under the cover of darkness early Saturday morning, a giant rig carrying an equally giant rock finally made its way to LACMA — only seven months behind schedule; not bad by Los Angeles standards. And in a few (alleged) short months, “Levitated Mass” will be open for the public to walk around and under.
The centerpiece of artist Michael Heizer’s self-proclaimed masterpiece was originally supposed to be in place last August, but there were all sorts of problems which delayed the journey from Riverside until this month. It took 11 overnights traveling at blinding speeds of up to five miles an hour for the 340-ton boulder to reach its destination.
On Saturday the rock still sat on its truck Saturday afternoon, as everyone involved took the weekend off to sleep.
It certainly is an impressive specimen up close (or, as close as LACMA is allowing us to get right now).
This has the potential to be a fascinating piece of art, a landmark for our city, when it opens this summer. Or it could just be a stupid giant rock suspended over a concrete walkway.
It’s official — St. Patrick’s Day boozers will not get to do their drinking at the venerable Irish pub Tom Bergin’s. Renovations are taking far longer than anyone expected, so for the first time in three quarters of a century, green vomit will not decorate the bathrooms at the Fairfax Ave bar on March 17.
As recently as December 27 the owners were confident they would be open by now, tweeting:
However this week they were forced to admit that they will indeed miss St. Patrick’s Day. Here is the statement from Tom Bergin’s:
To all of our customers past, present and future:
Since we began our restoration of Tom Bergin’s in August, we have had one goal in mind – to position the business to last another 75 years. Although we’d hoped the renovations would only take one or two months, we quickly discovered it was going to take more than just paint, soap, and water to get the old girl ready for the next 75. Well, it seems we’ve finally started to turn the corner. We’re interviewing for staff and, instead of ordering roofing and cement, we are ordering plates & glasses. It’s all beginning to come together.
This brings us to March 17th. Tom Bergin’s has enjoyed sharing its Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day with the city of Los Angeles for 75 years. We hoped to host the 76th St. Patrick’s Day, but after weeks of debate, had to make the difficult decision that it will be for the greater good to remain closed on that holiest of days. This was not an easy decision. Throwing together a one day event is fraught with many variables that could leave a bad first impression, and that is not what we want.
We want everyone’s first impression of the revitalized Tom Bergin’s to be an exceptional one and we want it without any further delay. So we ask for your understanding and hope that when the tavern doors finally swing open, you’ll feel it was a decision well made.
Thank you
So this weekend I decided it was time to upgrade my sheets and towels (long past time actually, as my fraying bath towel could attest). That left me with the problem of what to do with my old stuff. I hate to just throw things away, so my girlfriend suggested I take them to an animal shelter. It seems they use them as bedding and such for the pets.
I am not much of a pet person; I prefer people, and I decided a homeless person might benefit more from my old stuff. So I walked over to my local Ralph’s where there is always at least one homeless person standing outside asking for change. Of course, there was one there. I said, “Hey, would you like a blanket?” He looked at me, then over at the blanket, scowled and walked away. At least people standing on the corner were impressed with my attempted act of kindness.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have offered someone a down comforter on an 85 degree day.
In any case, that’s when I decided to go with the animals — they wouldn’t reject me. If I had to choose I would take a cat over a dog (not very manly, I know), so I found a cat shelter nearby.
Pet Pride is located at 3350 S. Robertson Blvd., right near the 10 where Robertson begins (or ends, depending on how you want to look at it). It is a place I’ve driven past dozens of times and never noticed; perhaps you have, too.
I was just going to drop off my bags and leave, but the very nice man (whose name I did not get) invited me in to see the cats. I expected a few cats, so I was shocked when I walked onto an outdoor porch where there were more than a dozen cats. Several of them ran up to me and rubbed on my legs, as cats are wont to do. I asked how many cats they have and he said 200!
These were the sweetest cats I’d ever seen. None of them swatted or hissed at me when I petted them. They weren’t afraid or jumpy like many cats are.
So why am I writing about this? Well, all of the cats were adults, which means the likelihood of them getting adopted is very low. Most people go for the adorable kittens and shun the adults. The man told me many of the cats spend their entire lives there; it is, after all, a no-kill shelter. It is not a terrible life — they are very well cared for. But I could tell these cats are starved for attention, as there is only so much attention three workers can give to 200 individual cats.
I have to admit, this room had a bit of a creepy “The Birds” vibe to it!
So I urge anyone out there thinking about adopting a cat to check the place out and select an adult cat which really needs a home. Even if you are not adopting, the place is open for people just to come in and play with the cats. Here is the website.
And just for the record, I did not adopt one, although I really wanted to. I live in a no-pet building and besides, I am kind of allergic.
A really cool sculpture is on display at LACMA that presents one possible future of Los Angeles. It features moving cars and everything!
If you can’t make it down to the museum, here is a video of it:
After a more than six-month delay, the giant boulder that will be the centerpiece of a likely very permanent art installation at LACMA began its journey to the museum Tuesday night.
The 21-foot high, 340-ton boulder that has spent the past 20,000 or so years anonymously at a quarry in Riverside County will now be part of the art world, the feature of “Levitated Mass.” The specially-designed 299-foot long, 27-foot wide truck that is carrying the rock will take nine days to make its delivery, at speeds nearing a blazing 5 mph.
Once it gets here, it will be placed in the middle of a concrete trench which will allow people to walk underneath the behemoth:
The rock was supposed to be in place last August, but there was a problem with a bridge — it seems the truck would have crushed it, so a new route was required. Finally all of the red tape has been cleared and the odyssey has begun.
It has been reported that the project costs in the “single digit millions, more than five and less than 10,” and paid for mostly by private donations. That’s good; in these difficult financial times, it would be tough to explain to people that their tax money is going towards dumping a rock at a museum.
They ripped up a perfectly good lawn that had only been in place for a few months to construct this thing that on the surface appears to be a vanity project by the artist. But I’ll bet we’ll all be happy with the results — how often to you get to walk around and beneath such an imposing object?
