Questions the Wisdom of Nixing Gun Show So the Glendale Civic Auditorium will have a cash shortfall. Good for them. They asked for it. They kissed over $160,000 per year, by their figures, away. They got rid of that evil gun show that was so dangerous there were never any problems. Nice civil folks having […]
By Mike Lawler Lawrence Tibbett was, in the ’30s through the ’50s, the biggest name in opera, as big a name as Placido Domingo is today, and surprisingly he had roots right here in CV. My mom was a fan of Tibbett when she was a young girl growing up in Wisconsin. Each Saturday […]
In case you’ve been living under a rock since the holidays, this Sunday is the Big Game. As the nation’s mega-TV-watching event of the year approaches, the teams involved are most certainly gearing up to see whose reputations will be crushed in agonizing defeat – and whose will be hoisted high on the pillars of […]
You’re Not From Around Here, Right? As lifelong residents of Southern California, my wife and I have had our share of out-of-town guests who come to visit, see the sights, warm themselves in our year-round sunshine and immerse themselves in the renowned “Southern California experience,” whatever that is. Like most people, I would think, who […]
The Montrose Japanese Gardens The hype surrounding Montrose was pretty brazen in 1913 as lots were first going up for sale, and I’ve outlined several broken promises in my last two columns. Here’s another plan promoted by the developers at the beginning of Montrose: a beautiful Japanese garden was to be built. A Los Angeles […]
The Montrose Country Club Continuing my mini-series on some of the promised (but never delivered) features of Montrose 100 years ago, we’ll take a look at the country club that was to be a feature of the new community. Recreational facilities are a common feature of upscale large developments today. The Oakmont development that spreads […]
Coffee Perqs I remember studying something in a history or social studies class (do they even teach that subject anymore?) back in the day about couples begetting many multiples of children so that their immediate family would have a plentiful source of laborers for its farms, or whatever industry the parents were involved in. It’s […]
Worth Repeating: Honored to Serve You, Always Glad to Hear from You As a result of a government-reform effort, an independent commission re-drew California’s Legislative boundaries that were used in last year’s elections. The new lines are much more logical. Gone are the squiggly lines at which we all used to chuckle. The new, more […]
Hucksterism in the Birth of Montrose As we run up to the 100th anniversary of Montrose next month, we’ll see a fair amount of flowery talk about its founding and growth. Robert Newcombe’s new book “Montrose” (on the shelves in just a couple of weeks) covers all that and more. But I’m a guy who […]
Happy New Laws With each new calendar year come a slew of new laws regulating an already over-legislated populace. Last year I incurred the wrath of more than a few readers by merely mentioning a handful of the thousands of new laws that had just been enacted. So heck, let’s have some fun and […]