It’s official: Eli Broad absolutely will be building his namesake contemporary art museum along a stretch of Downtown Los Angeles with aspirations as audacious as its name—Grand Avenue.

“We want to make great works of contemporary art accessible to the broadest public, and we can think of no better location than in the center of the contemporary art world,” the billionaire philanthropist said in a media statement Monday, following the last in a series of approvals for the museum and parking lot. The Broad’s are expected to spend between $80 and $100 million on the project.

The museum, which will house the legendary contemporary collection of Broad and his wife, Edythe, is expected to be completed by late 2012.

Broad also announced that the museum—located near Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art—would  be designed by the architectural firm of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, which, among its many civic projects, designed the new Institute of Contemporary Art on Boston harbor as well as the renovation and expansion of Lincoln Center in New York.

Talking to reporters, Broad said the New York firm’s work would complement, “not clash,” with architect Frank Gehry’s iconic Disney Hall—but added that it also would not be “anonymous.” The design will be made public, Broad said, in October, when construction on the parking lot is expected to begin.

Broad’s long-awaited announcement came after the Grand Avenue Authority, a multi-agency panel that oversees the project, unanimously approved construction of the museum, which came into play only after a plan for retail businesses and residences was undermined by the deteriorating economy.

The hope of all involved is that the infusion of money into the Broad Collection museum—and the tourism it will encourage—will persuade other investors to get off the sidelines and rejoin the project.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, a member of the authority, called the Broad museum “a tremendous Plan B that we hadn’t anticipated,” one that she hopes will “reinvigorate interest” in the larger Grand Avenue plan.

In comments after the joint power authority’s vote, Broad made clear that the downtown site had long been his first and best option for the museum—despite statements from his camp that Santa Monica was in serious contention until the end.

“We always wanted it on Grand Avenue,” Broad said.

Last week, he expressed a similar sentiment to a writer for Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s website after the board signed off on the Grand Avenue location. “Absolutely, it’s coming to this site,” he told the writer.

Broad said he wanted to create a “populist institution” that would draw not only cultural tourists but youngsters from the region as well as the increasing numbers of people who now make downtown Los Angeles their home.

The museum will include approximately 50,000 square feet of sky lit galleries, a lecture hall and public lobby. There will be enough space, Broad said, to display upwards of 300 pieces—mostly from the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s—including pieces from Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman.

As part of Broad’s agreement with Los Angeles County and the Grand Avenue Authority, he has agreed to pay more than $7 million for the construction of affordable housing. The Broads also will endow the Broad Art Foundation with $200 million to cover the museum’s ongoing annual operating expenses.

Posted 8/23/10

Portia Sanders has been left at the altar again.

Just days ago, she was downing Monster energy drinks and orchestrating the dizzying logistics of joining in holy matrimony an expected surge of gay and lesbian couples across Los Angeles County.

A federal judge, who ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, had cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin on Wednesday evening after a ban of nearly two years. As division manager of public records for the county’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, it was Sanders’ job to make sure the couples were hitched without a hitch.

Plans were well in the works to install partitions in an executive conference room at the Norwalk headquarters to create seven “small chapels” for the exchange of marital vows.

And Sanders, although anxious about the many tasks ahead, was excited about a repeat of the experiences she’d had with same-sex marriages back in 2008, before the passage of Proposition 8.

“That was one of the most rewarding times of my career,” says Sanders, who has worked for the county for 24 years. “There was so much love, so much happiness. Even the most conservative person couldn’t help shed a tear. There were no ‘tough guys’ anywhere.”

But for now, Sanders, who was planning on performing a few marriage ceremonies herself, will have to wait for another one of those career highlights. Late Monday, she got the word that a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had imposed an emergency stay of the trial court judge’s ruling. The impact: same-sex marriages will be on hold until at least December.

“I’m disappointed because people don’t have the right to do what they want to do. That’s my personal opinion,” says Sanders. But, by now, she knows that marriage deferred is not necessarily marriage denied. “At least the delay gives us more time to fine-tune.”

To date, most of her planning has centered on making sure there are enough staffers to process licenses and perform ceremonies in Norwalk and at a half-dozen field offices, a task she says may be tougher around the December holidays. Sanders says she has had to draw employees from, among other places, the real estate division. She also has juggled assignments for a small number of employees who, citing religious views, have said they do not want to perform same-sex marriages.

“This is part of their job but we cut them some slack in performing the ceremony. We have them type up marriage licenses,” Sanders says, stressing that each request is carefully examined.

For the most part, L.A. County marriage ceremonies are conducted by volunteers, who are deputized by the registrar-recorder’s office. According to Sanders, some are retired men whose wives have told them to spend more time outside the house. Others, she says, might hold emotionally challenging jobs, such as working in a hospice, and enjoy the lift they get from joyful marriage ceremonies. “It evens it out for them,” says Sanders, who says the department is always seeking more volunteers to perform marriages—same-sex or otherwise.

In some respects, Sanders says she expects the next round of gay marriages (should they occur) to go more smoothly than in 2008. The marriage license itself, for example, has already been changed and integrated into the system. It no longer asks for the name of the “bride” and “groom.” That’s been changed to “first person” and “second person,” Sanders says.

She suspects, however, that one thing will remain the same—the “very reverent” attitude the participants brought to the ceremony. “They didn’t want anyone thinking they were making a mockery of marriage.”

Posted 8/19/10

From the man who gave the world Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepé LePew, and the late WB mascot, comes a collection of Oscar-winning shorts presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Chuck Jones, who died in 2002, spent a large part of his life animating still-popular cartoons for Warner Bros. Studios. As part of the exhibit “Chuck Jones: An animator’s life from A to Z-Z-Z-Z,” the Academy will be screening all of Jones’ Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated shorts this Friday night. Starting at 7:30pm, the works to be screened are Academy Award winners For Scent-imental Reasons (1949), So Much for So Little (1949) and The Dot and the Line (1965). Six Oscar-nominated shorts will be screened as well: “Mouse Wreckers” (1948), “From A to Z-Z-Z-Z” (1953), “High Note” (1960), “Beep Prepared” (1961), “Nelly’s Folly” (1961) and “Now Hear This” (1962).

For more information about the shorts and the exhibit, click here.

Muse, LACMA’s premier membership group for twenty-to-fortysomethings, offers a range of special activities–private tours and exclusive parties aimed at building support and cultivating interest in our community’s civic and cultural life.

On Saturday, August 21, the Museum presents the 14^th Annual “Muse ’til Midnight” event, and it’s a date night you won’t soon forget. The evening offers live music, food and complimentary drinks, built around a theme based on some of LACMA’s current exhibits. Keying off “Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins,” visitors will enter a mysterious late 19^th-century atmosphere showcasing period-inspired music, video projections, vaudeville performers, and steampunk-inspired crafts, evoking a unique mélange of antique and futuristic designs.

The proceedings kick off at 8:15 p.m., and continue from 10 p.m. to midnight in the Steampunk Saloon atop LACMA West’s penthouse terrace. Live music will be furnished by The Unextraordinary Gentlemen.

Tickets are $25 for Muse members and $40 for the general public. LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard in heart of L.A.’s Miracle Mile. There is ample parking, but don’t forget about your public transportation options through the Metro Trip Planner.

Posted 8/18/10

Fireworks spectaculars at the Hollywood Bowl are perennial crowd-pleasers. But this weekend’s is the granddaddy of them all: the annual all-Tchaikovsky program, opening with the stirring Festival Coronation March and concluding with a rousing finale of the 1812 Overture, complete with cannon and USC Trojan Marching Band.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic performs under the baton of resident conductor Bramwell Tovey. Guest soloist Baiba Skride joins the orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op. 35.

The concert takes place on Friday, August 20 at 8:30 p.m. The Hollywood Bowl is located at 2301 N. Highland Avenue at Odin Street. For tickets, here’s the box office information. Getting there is easier than you think: avoid the on-site stack parking by taking public transportation using Metro’s handy Trip Planner, or try one of the Bowl’s park-and-ride or shuttle lots. Here are general transportation directions, and you can call (323) 850-2000 for further information.

Posted  8/19/10

This may come as surprise to the dog lovers in the audience—and even some of the cat lovers—but it turns out that summer is the height of “kitten season.” This is not just a bit of animal kingdom trivia; it’s also a chance to adopt two felines for the price of one at Los Angeles county animal shelters. The “Summer Buddies” special promotion runs through Sept. 30. Here’s how it works: If you adopt a pair of cats or kittens, the Found Animals Foundation (www.foundanimals.org) will foot the bill for one of them. More information is available on the Department of Animal Care & Control’s new Facebook page or on the Found Animals site.

Bad eggs and contaminated frozen fruit pulp have hit Los Angeles County—which means that a large serving of caution should now be added to your food-preparation menu.

County public health officials this week put out the word that consumers should avoid some batches of eggs from Wright County Egg in Iowa as well as Goya Brand frozen mamey pulp. (Also called sapote, the tropical fruit pulp is often used in smoothie-style beverages known as licuados )

Both are contaminated with strains of salmonella bacteria, which can cause an array of unpleasant and potentially fatal symptoms.

So far, 55 people have gotten sick from the eggs in the county, with more than 266 affected statewide. Two Los Angeles County residents, along with three others statewide, have been sickened by the fruit pulp. There have been no deaths associated with either of the recalls, which are unrelated.

Health officials said the eggs were sold under these brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.

“Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946,” according to the public health department’s news release. “Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1946 223. Consumers are advised by Wright County Egg to return the eggs in the original carton to the store where they were purchased for a full refund.”

As for the recalled frozen mamey pulp, all lots numbered 041331090803 should be discarded. Customers should then contact Goya’s consumer affairs department, (800) 275-4692.

Posted 8/18/10

Updated 8/19/20: Public health officials announced an expansion of the egg recall, and said up to 60 people in the county have now been sickened.

Eggs from the expanded recall were packaged under the following brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. “Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg cartons, dozen egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942,” the public health department said. Officials urged consumers to check packages of eggs in their refrigerators to make sure they are not part of the recall.

For up-to-the-minute updates on the recall, which is national in scope, consult the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recall webpage.

Since coming to town as the new principal of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, George Simpson hears one question constantly.

“People ask me all the time, ‘Is your school like ‘Fame’?” says Simpson, who joined LACHSA in 2008. “It’s exactly like ‘Fame,’ only 10 times more intense…We have kids spontaneously bursting into song in the hallways.”

Now picture that intensity spread across a quarter-century.

As Los Angeles County’s “arts high” turns 25 this year, you get the feeling that this is one silver anniversary that’s going platinum.

Since September, 1985, when it opened on the Cal State L.A. campus, LACHSA has been launching the careers of young artists in music, theater, dance and the visual arts while garnering support from some of the biggest names around.

Placido Domingo’s grandson was a LACHSA student. Other alums include singer Josh Groban, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, actress Jenna Elfman, Corbin Bleu of “High School Musical” fame and Anthony Anderson (“Law & Order.”) One of Frank Gehry’s sons went there and another currently is on the faculty. (Just to keep it all in the family, graduations are sometimes held at the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall.) The headliner for the first graduation in 1987? Barry Manilow.

And when you start talking about past galas to benefit the school, you’re getting into the celebrity stratosphere—with honorees including Henry Mancini and French fashion great Hubert de Givenchy, and performers ranging from Julie Andrews to Luciano Pavarotti.

The 25th anniversary celebration being put on by the Arts High Foundation on April 17 is no exception, with appearances slated by artists including Natalie Cole, opera legend Marilyn Horne, Bob Newhart and Manilow, along with video tributes from luminaries such as Domingo, Quincy Jones, Janet Jackson and Cher. Tickets for the fundraiser—whose honorees include Manilow and Ginny Mancini—range from $2,500 for VIP seating to $50 for LACHSA students and staff.

But the mission is, as the saying goes, priceless. The high school’s foundation says it needs to “stand strong in the gulf of a broken arts education system—a rupture that has allowed arts education in other communities to be virtually eliminated, and one that has even threatened LACHSA by key areas of its programs being reduced by up to 20%.”

Despite perennial funding challenges, the school now has on the drawing board a new building—to provide academic classrooms, a new “black box” theater and an outside amphitheater—that would be the first space on the Cal State campus dedicated exclusively to LACHSA.

At the same time, the 600-student school, which also offers programs in film and television, is experiencing a surge in applications. This year, a record 760 applicants auditioned for 175 slots. In all, 3,300 hundred students have come through during the past 25 years.

Early champions include the late Caroline Ahmanson and Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who helped LACHSA navigate initial difficulties over where to locate the campus. LACHSA’s foundation has long played a key role in providing a tuition-free, conservatory-style arts education to some of the most talented public school students around.

Click through the gallery below and see if you can discover the next Matthew Rushing (Class of ‘91, now an Alvin Ailey dancer/choreographer) or Kehinde Wiley (Class of ‘95, whose paintings have been displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.)

And then post your own LACHSA pictures on our website.

An investigation of leaks involving the county’s Department of Children and Family Services is diverting attention from the more pressing work of protecting children from the kind of harm that has drawn so much media interest, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Tuesday.

“The obsession with leaks seems to me to exceed the obsession with the child deaths,” Yaroslavsky said. “This seems to be No. 1 on the list—how to plug these leaks.”

Yaroslavsky’s remarks came during a public session in which the supervisors spent more than an hour discussing a motion that, on the surface, seemed fairly straightforward. The motion, which passed 4-1, called on all county departments to assist the Chief Executive Officer’s inquiry into the disclosure of “confidential child welfare information,” an inquiry that CEO William T Fujioka said should be completed by week’s end.

But behind the motion—opposed by Yaroslavsky as a distraction from the real work at hand—were a series of events that raised questions about why the inquiry was launched and whether it was done in compliance with the Brown Act, a state law requiring that official actions be taken in public except in limited circumstances.

The issue of leaks about DCFS cases was raised in a closed session last week in which no explicit mention of the matter had been listed on the meeting’s agenda.

The only reason the issue was placed on this week’s agenda was to “cure” what may have been violations of the Brown Act, County Counsel Andrea Sheridan Ordin acknowledged.

During Tuesday’s lengthy discussion, it was disclosed that CEO Fujioka initiated the investigation last month after embattled DCFS Director Trish Ploehn complained that her staff was being undermined and demoralized by leaks of confidential information that suggested they’ve acted negligently in protecting abused children.

In the closed-door session last week, Fujioka asked the board for authority to examine e-mails of a supervisor staffer suspected of possibly leaking confidential information to the media, Yaroslavsky said. Fujioka, he said, did not have access to a separate e-mail system for board members and their staffs.

In their closed-door session, the supervisors decided that requests for their e-mails—as well as those of their staffs—should be made available to the CEO through the board’s Executive Office to restrict any “rummaging through” Board of Supervisors e-mails. Several times during Tuesday’s public meeting, Yaroslavsky stressed his belief that this same process should be used for future requests for e-mails by the CEO’s office.

Supervisors Gloria Molina and Mark Ridley-Thomas were most vocal in their arguments in favor of the motion requiring all departments to cooperate in the DCFS leak probe. They said it was simply a reflection of the legal realities and their board responsibilities. “We have a duty to ensure that these [confidential] documents are preserved and protected,” Molina said.

Yaroslavsky agreed that confidentiality should be respected but questioned the amount of time being consumed on the issue at a time of crisis for DCFS.

“If you have a good lead, by all means pursue it,” Yaroslavsky said. “But you can spend all of your waking hours trying to plug a leak and not addressing the root cause of what the leaks are all about, which is a frustration with the number of children who are dying under our care.

“That’s why I’m not voting for this,” he said of the motion. “I think symbolically, among other things, it sends the wrong message to the public, not to mention to our own organization.”

Fujioka, for his part, took strong exception to the supervisor’s suggestion that the department is not singularly focused on child protection.

“I need to state that is an absolutely incorrect statement,” Fujioka said, noting the “ton of time, effort, commitment and passion” that has gone into trying to stem the tide of child deaths. He defended his investigation, saying the disclosure of confidential information could compromise the department and its work on behalf of troubled families.

Posted 8/17/10