Blog: Los Angeles 1947

"Los Angeles in 1947 was a social powderkeg. War-damaged returning soldiers were threatened by a new kind of independant female, who in turn found her freedoms disappearing as male workers returned to the factories. These conflicts worked themselves out in dark ways. The Black Dahlia is the most famous victim of 1947's sex wars, but hardly the only one. The 1947project seeks to document this pivotal year in L.A., through period reporting and visits to the scenes as they are today." -- from the website. <http://1947project.blogspot.com/>

Nightlife: New Jazz Venue

Em Bistro & Corky' Jazz Club
8256 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90048
323.658.6004
7:30 to 11:00 pm

Activism: Emotional Support

The newly formed Activist Support Circle, created to "provide emotional support, nurturing, positive energy and peer reinforcement to longtime and just-beginning activists of all ages and progressive causes," will hold its first gathering Wednesday, March 30 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Friends Meeting Hall, 1440 Harvard St., Santa Monica. Info: 310-399-1000 (L.A. Alliance for Survival).

I-10 foot/bike overpasses

If we are serious about making Santa Monica a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community, an important step will be to restore or construct limited-access bridges over the 10 Freeway. At about Seventh Street, where the footbridge used to connect SaMoHi with downtown, and about halfway between each of the other vehicular bridges, Caltrans and/or the City of Santa Monica should build new supplementary links for walkers, bikers and skaters. Such overpasses would help to suture divisions unhealed since the road sliced through the town in the 1960s.

Surf City: Wireless access at the beach

There's going to be a lot more surfing at San Elijo State Beach now that the California state parks system has made a deal to give SBC Communications a monopoly on wireless internet access at a group of state-run recreational facilities.

Offering evidence that internet access may soon be as ubiquitous and as essential as the pay phone once was, the 278-park system plans to make wifi access available -- for a fee -- to visitors who have wireless-enabled laptops or personal digital assistants, beginning with 85 venues to be outfitted by SBC.

SBC is installing the hardware and providing the service as a two-year pilot program at the 85 parks. If the program is successful, the parks department will open the system up to bids from companies that want to compete for the opportunity to sell the service, but in the meantime the phone company will have locked up nearly a third of the state's parks.

No doubt this move is being orchestrated by SBC, since only subscribers to its wireless service, FreedomLink, will have unlimited internet access at the public parks. Other taxpayers will be able to get to the state's websites for free, but will be charged $7.95 for 24-hour access or $19.95 for unlimited monthly service if they want to check their email or go to weather.com while at the beach.

It hardly needs to be said that from the consumer's point of view this is a bad idea (the state will get 10 percent of the fee, which doesn't seem like much of a deal for the state, either). Wifi technology is cheap and getting cheaper, and there is no reason to limit access in public spaces to subscribers of expensive services.

Other Southland state parks and beaches that are expected to be connected by summer include Anza Borrego, Cardiff, Carlsbad, South Carlsbad, Old Town San Diego, Silver Strand, and San Onofre.

Although they are not among the first 85, sooner or later the state will bring wifi to the Santa Monica and L.A. beaches, where it is to be hoped that local officials can make a more sensible arrangement on behalf of their constituents. Santa Monica, especially, has direct control over its beach under a contract with the state and is in a strong position to insist on public access there. They have two years to demonstrate to the parks department that there is a better and cheaper way to connect the public and virtual realms.

Maybe the Convention & Visitors Bureaus in Santa Monica and Los Angeles will see the wisdom in making the phrase "public access" mean what it says.

Here's the pdf of the press release: <http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/011905.pdf>

The Arts: The Distillery LA studio in Venice

Check out The Distillery LA (aka, Institute for the Pursuit of Absolutes and Nothingness) to see some of the works of Venice-based artists Gary Palmer (whose Zanzibar Fish Dance is at left), Masami Tsuchikawa and Robert Yeager. <http://thedistilleryla.com/>

Lecture Series: Imagining Venice

Imagining Venice
Sundays 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Venice Center For Peace With Justice & The Arts
2210 Lincoln Bl (at Victoria Ave), Venice
310.391.8183
(enter first gate on Victoria and proceed thru courtyard to The Parlour)

A University of Venice Production

***********
Hosted by Eric Vollmer

Future (Invited) Guest Speakers Include:
Joel Shapiro, Artistic Director, Electric Lodge
Judy Baca, Artistic Director, Sparc
Fred Dewey, Managing Director, Beyond Baroque
Marilyn Fox, Artistic Director, Pacific Residents Ensemble
Elayne Alexander, Venice Historical Society
Todd Von Hoffmann, Author, Venice Centennial Committee

Watch for: In collaboration with the Venice Center, the Electric Lodge and local artists, Eric Vollmer and the Voice in the Well Ensemble are planning a Chautauqua Performing Arts Festival in the Summer of 2005 to celebrate the Venice Centenary and pay homage to its Founder, Abbot Kinney, who launched a cultural Renaissance in Southern California on July 4, 1905.

The Next Los Angeles: Struggle for a Livable City

Robert Gottlieb, speaker
Thursday, March 3, 11:15am
SMC Concert Hall 1900 Pico Blvd.
Free

Given Santa Monica's focus on updating its General Plan, this SMC Associates Lecture by Robert Gottlieb is extremely timely. Dr. Gottlieb is the Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and an expert on the urban environment. His talk will provide an "overview of alternative visions for achieving social and economic justice in LA and observations on key trends reshaping LA at the beginning of the 21st century." For more information, please call 434-4003.

Performance: Sunday Jazz Guitar Brunch at La Vecchia Cucina

La Vecchia Cucina has a Sunday Jazz Guitar Brunch series, with special guest guitarists each week, hosted by jazz picker extraordinaire Thom Rotella.

Sundays 11am-2:30pm (no cover charge) at

La Vecchia Cucina
2654 Main Street
Santa Monica
310.399.7979
<http://www.lavecchiacucina.com/>
<http://www.thomrotella.com/>