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Articles by this Author
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The Strokes keep their distance in making good ‘Impressions’
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UNIVERSAL CITY — The Strokes’ performance on Thursday, March 30, at the Gibson Amphitheater — the first of two sold-out shows here — may not have been a lovefest between the New Yorkers and its fist-pumping fan base, but it was another skillful workmanlike performance by the acclaimed post-punk revivalists.
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Santa Monica’s reshaping gets some attention
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CITYWIDE — No longer the cozy little beach town of yesteryear, characterized by blocks of bungalows and garden apartment buildings, the city of Santa Monica is remaking its image in a decidedly forward-thinking arena — contemporary architecture.
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Memorial expands its reach
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SM BEACH — With each passing Memorial Day weekend, less and less of the beckoning sand just north of the Santa Monica Pier is made available for beachcombers. On Sunday, the path that winds west from the pier to the Pacific meandered around more than 2,400 crosses and nine coffins — grim reminders all of the War on Terror’s casualties on an otherwise picturesque day.
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The seat of power
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CITYWIDE — It’s no secret that mid-term elections don’t hold the same attraction over voters as do heated White House showdowns, or even City Council shakeups, but the race for the 41st Assembly District seat should be of utmost interest to city voters.
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A morbid curiosity follows Golay
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OCEAN PARK — While the very nature of the charges being mounted against Helen Louise Golay are shocking, those who truly knew the 75-year-old Santa Monica property owner who will enter a plea today in federal court on 10 counts of insurance fraud are more intrigued by the case than floored by the news of who was allegedly behind the deadly plot.
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Golay denies fraud scheme
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DOWNTOWN LA — An elderly Santa Monica landlord, who investigators suspect may have had a hand in the murder of a homeless man last year, was ordered on Monday by a federal judge to stand trial later this summer on 10 counts of fraud.
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Apocalypse, now?
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WORLDWIDE — Come hell or high water, or maybe both if the tides cooperate.
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Deserving of a raze
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SUNSET PARK — An embattled Santa Monica property owner is one step closer to losing his home of 33 years, with a state appellate judge clearing the way towards the building’s demolition after repeated city inspections found the structure an unsafe blight to the community.
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Cousins deny role in Juarez murders
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LAX COURTHOUSE — A pair of gang members already serving time in state prison on unrelated felony convictions, were led into a courtroom Thursday morning to answer to charges that they gunned down two brothers in a Santa Monica clothing store nearly eight years ago.
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Tenants file suit to stave off evictions
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VENICE — In case there was any doubt as to whether the 50 or so remaining tenants being evicted from Lincoln Place Apartments planned to go quietly into the night, a group of united residents filed suit this week against both the property owners and city of Los Angeles in efforts to stay put.
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Passion was activist’s M.O.
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MID-CITY — Longtime neighborhood activist and political watchdog Chuck Allord, who became a vocal fixture at City Council meetings and mounted a run for office in 2002, died on Sunday night at Saint John’s Health Center from complications following surgery. He was 43.
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‘Gloom’ is always there
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CITYWIDE — Santa Monicans can be forgiven for their occasional doom-and-gloom dispositions this time of year, for they know full well the ballyhooed Southern California sunshine can be quite fickle, especially in June.
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Lessons of a life in the scrum
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Rugby is the sport for those who loved playing “kill the man with the ball” as kids, according to Stuart Krohn of Sunset Park, summing up the mindset of those who don their mouthguards and little else each week to ruck, scrum and grub the day away.
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Cold case thaws
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NEWPORT BEACH — More than 30 years after the body of 36-year-old Bodil Rasmussen was found strangled and dumped in a Santa Monica parking lot, the man long thought to be her assailant will finally stand before a judge today and answer to murder charges.
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Our City’s Cup Runneth Over
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CITYWIDE — As time ran out on the U.S. National team during their loss to Ghana in Thursday’s World Cup match, eliminating them from the global showcase that has captivated the world, so did the interest of most Americans who passively flirt with the sport every four years.
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Lost And Found: Inspector Spots Missing Woman
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CULVER CITY — It’s been a long journey home for Margaret Rose Roberts, the 62-year-old Sunset Park woman who went missing more than a month ago and prompted her husband to engage in a tireless search of the region, but one with a happy ending thanks to an observant City Hall employee.
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Brutal Day For An Outspoken Attorney
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LOS ANGELES — Venice Civil Rights attorney Stephen G. Yagman, an outspoken critic of the legal system and police brutality, turned himself in to authorities on Friday morning after having been indicted on tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and 17 counts of money laundering.
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Jackson jurists not too thrilled
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SM COURTHOUSE — Finding a dozen people devoid of opinion about Michael Jackson proved a challenge on Wednesday, as jury selection got underway here for a $3.8 million lawsuit brought against the pop singer by a former business associate. But then, seldom are things business-as-usual when they involve the embattled entertainer.
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Absent Jackson is still a presence
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SM COURTHOUSE — Michael Jackson is either a forgetful genius on par with Albert Einstein or a backstabbing businessman with a selective memory, according to attorneys on opposing sides of the $3.8 million lawsuit being brought against the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court by a former associate.
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Still plenty of Fourth to be had
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Not so fast. The holiday weekend’s only half over, and despite a grand old time being had at Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field on Saturday night, the kids are liable to be wanting more.
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Passing fancy
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SUNSET PARK — Each Saturday morning, women from all corners of the world descend upon Marine Park. There are Aussies and Kiwis, Fijians and South Africans, Singaporeans and Trinbagonians.
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Couple aids in capture of molester
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SMC — Shortly after settling in for Saturday’s fireworks show here for Celebrate America, Julie McGray and her boyfriend Manuel Monson were horrified at what they saw near the Corsair Field stage.
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Casting web for predators
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LA COUNTY — The arrest Saturday night of a convicted child molester, who was forbidden to enter the Santa Monica city limits, brings to the fore the role a community can play in apprehending such fugitives.
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Jackson begs to differ over cash claims
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SM COURTHOUSE — The defense of Michael Jackson began in earnest on Friday in the $1.6 million lawsuit brought against the entertainer by a former associate, a day highlighted by bizarre twists such as cash loans smelling of French fries and a $1 million gift given by the singer to late actor Marlon Brando.
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Deadline for clean waters is set adrift
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LOS ANGELES — The time to come clean for cities that make use of the Santa Monica Bay has receded for the foreseeable future, after the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board decided on Wednesday not to adopt enforceable clean water standards that could have gone into effect this weekend.
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Thrill is gone
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SM COURTHOUSE — In his closing argument, Michael Jackson’s attorney looked to turn the $1.4 million suit against his client on its head, alleging that Jackson’s accuser actually owes the entertainer money.
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Police busy rounding up suspects
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PICO NEIGHBORHOOD — On the heels of a suspected gang-related incident Wednesday afternoon, during which a lone black man was assaulted at a local restaurant and chased on Lincoln Boulevard by a group of Hispanic teens, the police announced that they have taken five suspects into custody.
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Plan general: City fills void with new hire
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CITY HALL — Yes, Virginia, the city has a new planning director.
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Jackson told to give $1 million more
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SM COURTHOUSE — A Santa Monica jury had a resounding answer for the question posed in Michael Jackson’s charity record “What More Can I Give?”, which was at the center of a contentious lawsuit brought against the entertainer by a former associate — about $1 million.
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City a dead-end for riders
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DOWNTOWN — The billboard for REI at Fourth Street and Broadway enticed its customers to “Get There Any Way You Can,” but local residents may think twice before taking the model’s lead and hopping on a bicycle in order to do so.
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Cyclists tripped up by a lack of enforcement
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SM BEACH — The kisses may have been hers and hers and his, but three isn’t always company on an increasingly crowded Santa Monica bike path.
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Hot and bothered
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THIRD STREET — A large swath of downtown buildings and businesses, including those on the west side of the bustling Promenade, remained shrouded in darkness on Sunday evening, more than 24 hours after a pair of electrical vaults exploded and caused widespread blackouts.
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Landlord fights for release amid murder probe
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DOWNTOWN LA — A federal judge has postponed the trial of two elderly women — one a Santa Monica landlord — on charges of insurance fraud, as investigators continue to look into their suspected roles in the hit-and-run murders of several homeless men.
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Businesses taking their shots in dark
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DOWNTOWN — As a widespread power outage extended into its fifth day here, with no long-term guarantees being offered by the local energy provider, some merchants have taken matters into their own hands this week in order to take care of business.
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Fish out of water
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SM PIER — Pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp and potatoes ... boca burger?
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‘Widows’ face murder rap
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DOWNTOWN LA — The macabre plot investigators believe was hatched by a pair of elderly women — one a Santa Monica landlord — began to take shape Monday, as murder charges were filed against the so-called “Black Widows” in connection with the hit-and-run deaths of two men whom the women had allegedly befriended in a conspiracy to cash in on their life insurance policies.
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Deli ‘star’ leaves a shining light
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NORTH OF WILSHIRE — Former car dealership owner Walter Parr liked to bring clients and associates to Izzy’s Deli — the self-dubbed “Deli of the Stars” — where he knew upon entering he could expect celebrity-like treatment.
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A watchful eye in times of change
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SMPD HDQTRS. — Seated in his fourth-floor office within the new Public Safety Building just off Main Street, Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. has a bird’s eye view of the Santa Monica Pier, the downtown district and a large swath of the city whose people he has been entrusted with protecting for the past 15 years.
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Hedge frustration is growing
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CITYWIDE — Longtime resident Ken Ziff has had that creeping feeling lately, as he sits looking out the window in his second-story Ocean Park apartment. Each day that passes, he bears witness to the manifest destiny of a bamboo hedge four feet from his window that continually stretches skyward.
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SMC students have ‘Magic to Do’
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SANTA MONICA COLLEGE — The origami-like roof that sits atop the school’s new $17 million Theatre Arts Building seemed particularly fitting on Saturday night, as students opened the state-of-the-art facility to the public by sashaying through a Broadway musical revue that shifted form at an animated pace.
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Shriver, Bono got a brand new bag
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CITYWIDE — With great power comes great responsibility.
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Police on high alert in Pico
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PICO NEIGHBORHOOD Tensions ran high here on Tuesday, with police responding to an early morning shooting and engaging in an armed stand-off in the afternoon.
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Owners ordered to back up
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VENICE The remaining tenants of Lincoln Place, who have fought their eviction from the 38-acre, World War II-era complex tooth and nail, can stand their ground indefinitely.
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A local’s big break
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LOS ANGELES A longtime Santa Monica resident’s first foray into filmmaking has earned him an exclusive berth in the competition for top honors at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Dreams do come true
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A FORMER GIRLFRIEND’S COUCH Of the 16 directors who’d beaten out thousands of rivals to make the final cut at next month’s Sundance Film Festival, Matt Stanton was probably the only one who celebrated by drinking a “forty” in an alley with an unwitting homeless man.
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