Lotus Festival To Return In July

After a depressing one-year hiatus, the City of Los Angeles' Lotus Festival will be back again this year, returning to Echo Park Lake on the weekend of July 10-11.

The Militant learned of the festival's return thanks to an operative's tip after the said operative received paperwork from the festival organizers for entertainers to perform at the fest.

As it turns out, the paperwork comes not from the City's Recreation and Parks department, but from "L.A. Lotus Festival, Inc," an assumed non-profit entity with an address of 2001 W. Beverly Blvd in the Historic Filipinotown neighborhood. Apparently the organization of the festival is now off the hands of the City (which has more pressing matters these days), although the City does appear to remain involved in the Festival to a certain extent.

The website to the festival points to a dead link on the City's website, which may or may not change into a dedicated domain name in the near future.

As to the fate of the now-absent lotus flower bed -- once the largest lotus bed outside Asia -- it is still in question. Analysis of the lake pointed to a combination of contaminants and the end of the natural cycle of the lotus bed as the reason for its demise. A total renovation of Echo Park lake is proposed, which will involve draining the lake's water, and must be done before any lotus restoration takes place, but with the current state of the City's you-know-what, the timeline for the project remains in question.

Five Fascinating Facts About The Baldwin Hills

Earthquakes on the Newport-Inglewood Fault can give us pretty tragic events, but they can also give us beautiful things, like mountains and hills -- such as the ones towards the western end of the Los Angeles basin named after Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, the businessman and landowner who gave us Santa Anita Racetrack and owned the land where Arcadia and Monrovia now sits.

After doing some Militant research, the Militant Angeleno paid a visit to them hills on Tuesday and found a five fascinating facts:

1. Enjoy the view. The Baldwin Hills is the home of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area which gives a place for Westsiders and Southsiders alike a place to picnic, BBQ, hike, fish, mountain bike or most of all - enjoy the view. The hills, which rise to heights between 300 and 500 feet in elevation, afford a beautiful view of Los Angeles, and from Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, you can see views of the Pacific Ocean, Miracle Mile, Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles.
Admission to the park is free on weekdays but be prepared to pay a $6 entrance fee on weekends and holidays (but you're free to bike there (even better next year when the Metro Exposition Line opens nearby) or take Metro Local 439 on non-weekdays). The park entrance is accessible from La Cienega Blvd.

2. Enjoy The View, Too! There's not just one but two places to get a wonderful view. On the Culver City side, there's the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, also a state-owned parkland, which grants you a vista of LAX, an uninterrupted view of the Pacific Ocean, Century City, the Miracle Mile and parts of Hollywood.

The Militant drove up here on Tuesday after a tip from an operative some months ago. The park's entrance is on Jefferson Blvd and Hetzler Rd, which leads you up the hill. All was cool until he saw a sign reading, "PARKING $6.00." WTF?!?

There was no parking attendant, but rather a gravel lot (you pay $6 for parking and not on a paved lot?!?) with a box where you drop your money in. In other words, the honor system. Periodically, a Mighty Morphin Park Ranger would check to see if cars have paid or not (you leave a receipt stub on your windshield).

Of course, the gravel $6 parking lot was totally empty, and the Militant only stayed around long enough to enjoy the view for a couple minutes and take some pics. Of course, you can park for free at the bottom of the hill on Jefferson and walk up the hiking trail for free, which is what most park visitors do.

Though the Militant couldn't help but wonder whether the $6 thing is a deterrent to make this park, made for Westsiders (you know what the Militant's talkin' about), not so accessible to Southsiders (you know what the Militant's talkin' about).

3. A Dam Shame. Back at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area lies a bowl-like area with grass and trees called "Janice's Green Valley." And yes, it was named after the daughter of the park's namesake, who is now Los Angeles' 15th District Councilwoman (and currently candidate for California Lieutenant Governor). But there's more to that patch of land than the name. On that site once stood the Baldwin Hills Reservoir, which, on the morning of December 14, 1963, developed a crack in its dam, and hours later caused devastating flooding to the area below. 250 million gallons wiped away 277 homes and claimed five lives. The dam rupture was caused by land subsiding due to the nearby Inglewood Oil Fields.

Here's a KTLA clip of the disaster:






4. Drill, Baby, Drill? You've no doubt seen it while driving through La Brea, Stocker or La Cienega en route to LAX, or in movies like L.A. Confidential. It's big, it's bad, it's ugly, and even other-worldly. It's the Inglewood Oil Fields, which has been producing black gold since 1924 and is by far the largest remaining vestige of Southern California's once-immense oil production industry. Formerly operated by Stocker Resources, Inc (hence the street's name) and now merged into Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP), the field has produced some 350 million barrels of oil. These days, most of what is pumped is groundwater, and the majority of the pumps are inactive, albeit connected to sensors that will activate them once oil has reached pumpable levels. For the most part, production has gradually declined for parts of the oil field, and the nearby Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area has expanded out into no-longer pumpable areas. The oil fields are also linked to pumps adjacent to Beverly Hills High School and The Beverly Center, which PXP also operates.

In the future, when the oil fields eventually dry up, look for an expansion of Kenneth Hahn park and perhaps the most-sought-after undeveloped parcel of land in all of Los Angeles.

5. It Takes An Olympic Village. The Baldwin Hills were not only the site of the 1932 Olympics athletes' village, but the first formal Olympic Village ever. Some 1200 male athletes lived here for the duration of the Games of the Xth Olympiad. The 126 female athletes roomed in the Chapman Park Hotel (now demolished; the 34-story Equitable/Center Bank building stands in its place) in Mid-Wilshire).

Thing is, although it's been well-documented the 1932 Olympic Village was in the Baldwin Hills, just like the Lost City of Atlantis, no one can agree on its exact location. This web page devoted to the '32 village mentions two locations: Blair Hills in Culver City (nestled in between the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and Kenneth Hahn Park) or an area west of Vernon and Crenshaw. The page seems to settle on the latter, which bears streets named "Olympiad Drive" and "Athenian Way."

The Militant went to Olympiad Drive but found the area to be rather hilly. The painting of the village above, however, shows obvious flat terrain. And another web site seems to point to the village's location as Leimert Park, which is flat, but is still a noticeable distance from the actual Baldwin Hills.

Does anyone know where the 1932 Olympic Village was located? Surely this sounds like another Militant reconnaissance mission in the works!

You Feel That?

In case you were fast asleep on 4:04 on Tuesday morning, we just had a 4.4 earthquake centered in Pico Rivera.

The Militant was walking in the hallway of his compound when he heard a rattling sound for like...three seconds, as if The Incredible Hulk punched the foundations...and not even that hard.

Then there was...nothing more.

So he headed straight to his computer, logged on to Twitter and Tweeted away!

Apparently, so did a bunch of you. It didn't take much more than 20 minutes to have the magnitude and epicenter surface on both teh Interwebz and broadcast media.

The quake was reportedly felt as far as Palmdale, but one of the Militant's operatives who lives in San Diego that it was even felt down there.

The Militant did watch KCBS 2 and was pleased to see Kent "After" Shocknek, of all people, inform us of the seismic goings-on. Later, he interviewed Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who gave all of Southern California not just a play-by-play of the jolt from his Silver Lake abode, but the names of his dogs -- Oliver and Dexter -- during his telephone interview (remember that for your vital Los Angeles trivia!).

Soon afterward, the quake-related Tweets subsided, and the town went back to sleep. Yes, there's the required "One in 20 chance of this being a foreshock to something larger (which diminishes each hour)" , but if you're a SoCal native like the Militant, you'll know right away that they say that for every quake.

Nothing to see here, move along!

Vlogstyle Episode 06: The Militant Rides Angels Flight 3.0!

The Militant couldn't quite recall when was the last time he rode Angels Flight before the tragic February 1, 2001 accident, but he seems to think it may or may not have been towards the end of 2000 - nearly 10 years ago. And why would he remember? It was one of those things he took for granted.

After much anticipation, the Militant overheard via the Twittersphere that the Flight was open for riders today (the soft opening apparently began 10 a.m. on Saturday), so the Militant headed straight for Downtown for a ride. Sure enough, the twin orange-and-black cars, named Sinai (the one on the north-side track) and Olivet (the one on the south-side track), were moving. It was almost like it never left - the familiar rumble of the minute-long journey was there, and the dancing waters of California Plaza greeted him at the top.

The Militant does vividly remember being there on February 24, 1996 (Huell Howser and his trusted cameraman Luis Fuerte were there), patiently waiting in line. After the ceremonial ribbon-cutting heralding the release of Angels Flight 2.0, (re-)opened to the public after a 27-year absence from Angeleno reality, a nearly 3-decade limbo of historical lore, Leo Politi paintings and cynical uncertainty. But that limbo turned to heaven as Sinai and Olivet ascended and descended, as everyone assumed - for good.

The world has changed since 2/1/01. Most obvious was what happened seven months and ten days later some 3,000 miles away. But other things have changed. On Sunday afternoon, the Militant tweeted, "And YES, The Militant just rode on @AngelsFlight again!!!!!!!!!!!!" and suddenly realized that there was no Twitter back in 2001, much less 1996, even much less 1969 when Angels Flight 1.0 last ran (Speaking of which, there is an official Angels Flight Twitter account). In 2001, not as many people lived in Downtown Los Angeles. No Gold Line, No L.A. Live (but then again, virtually no hipsters...). And there was no Militant Angeleno blog. So here he is.

As he hung out near the top of the funicular, people-watching, he saw a couple teenagers watch the cars go up and down attentively -- they were too young to remember when they ran last. And he saw younger children ride on the 'Flight for the very first time -- they weren't even born the last time people were able to ride it (He also spotted Ed Fuentes, a.k.a. Mr. View From A Loft take a quick ride up and down, heheheh).

Angels Flight 3.0, which officially opens to the public on Monday (which will likely have long lines of residents, office workers and tourists clamoring to get their first ride in), is designed with several 'fail-safe' features that will hopefully keep the tragic death of 83-year old tourist (and Holocaust survivor) Leon Praport an anomaly. Features like a second cable (which Angels Flight 2.0 lacked, but Angels Flight 1.0 had) and track brakes designed to stop the vehicle in case of drive system failure are now implemented, so hopefully the third time's the charm, and no Angeleno from here on out will be deprived of an opportunity to ride it.

The Militant welcomes Sinai and Olivet back to Bunker Hill!

Angels Flight 3.0 operates from 6:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Fare is 25 cents each way; payment is made at the top station.

The Militant's Mess Hall: Born On A Bayou (Grille)

The Militant discovered he hadn't blogged all March so he figured he'd give you a two-fer today.

As you may or may not know, the Militant spent his Wednesday in Inglewood, trying to find meaning in some street named Arbor Vitae, because the Militant is such a street geek like that. Of course, he got a little hungry and making his way back to the Central area of Los Angeles where his compound lies, he decided to forgo the freeway and take the surface streets (as usual).

As he drove north on La Brea, he noticed something, the abundance of unique, non-chain restaurants along the corridor. There's the expected soul food joints (and certainly some of those might be definitely all that) but there were a few Caribbean eateries, and an esoteric joint called The Crab Pit, which hawks not the expected seafood, but its Killer Turkey Taco.

So here we go, all you foodies [Turns on megaphone] [Feedback squeals] Oh sorry about that.

ATTENTION FOODIES: THE LA BREA CORRIDOR IN INGLEWOOD IS AN UNDISCOVERED FOODIE WONDERLAND! GO FOR IT!

The Militant decided to descend on one such place on La Brea to feast on. It's one of those places he's heard of before that he's never had the opportunity to check out.

The place is called Bayou Grille, on the corner of La Brea and 64th Place, boasting, "Authentic New Orleans Taste."

If you've been reading the Militant Angeleno recently, last month, in covering New Orleans locales in Los Angeles (Putting the 'MA' in Mardi Gras, Feb. 26), the Militant mentioned a couple places where some good New Orleans-style food can be found. But at the time he hadn't been here, so he left Bayou Grille out of his post. According to the woman at the counter, the place has been around for 11 years.

One of the Militant's fondest (sober) memories during his visit to New Orleans during an unspecified year in the last decade was having an oyster po-boy sandwich in a restaurant called Mother's in the downtown area. The bread was on point - slightly crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, the fried oysters were perfectly breaded and likewise internally soft. It was like...wow.

The Militant searched high and low for something equivalent here in his hometown, but couldn't find it. The oysters were good but the bread wasn't right. Or vice-versa. Or he had the po-boy at the Gumbo Pot in Farmer's Market. The Militant was afraid that he would have to echo the classic utterance of transplants: "You just can't find decent _____ food out here."

Thankfully, he tried the Louisiana Oyster Po'Boy at the Bayou Grille ($7.29, 6").

Like, whoa. WHOA!

They got it. It was like the Militant was on Poydras St. again.

He washed it down with some Southern-style sweet tea (pre-sweetened iced tea, that is), which was only $1.50 (and free refills...lagniappe indeed!)

That was awesome. But what's even more awesome is their rather complete Louisiana creole menu: jambalaya, etoufee, file gumbo and boiled crawfish (Saturday and Sunday only). The prices are fairly reasonable compared to other New Orleans-style eateries in town. The Militant is definitely returning here!

The Militant was only one of seven customers inside, but this was a weekday afternoon. Apparently it gets rather crowded here during the weekends (must be that crawfish...). It's order-at-the-counter and sit-down style. It didn't take the Militant long to get his food and the lady behind the counter was cool and graciously thanked the Militant for the props he gave the place as he asked for a "Thank You" frequent customer card (your meal on your 10th visit is free!).

Okay, the Militant can spot a few of you out there (yes, you...and you...no, not you...you're cool...and you) with serious xenophobic reservations about Inglewood, with preconceived images of ghettoes and gangstas and stuff like this. The Militant's basic urban philosophy of people's perception being greater than reality hindering their knowledge of their City notwithstanding, the Militant has snapped this photo of the neighborhood just around the corner from Bayou Grille:
[sarcasm]As you can see it's a hideously ugly, blight-filled ghetto with run-down housing project buildings, crack-addicted homeless dudes sleeping in the streets, prostitutes hanging out in the corner, zero green space and several gangbangers pointing their AK-47s directly at the Militant [/sarcasm]. Puh-lease.

So yes, to say it again, the La Brea Ave. corridor in Inglewood (from Slauson in the north to Century in the south) is the undiscovered foodie frontier (are you listening, WeEatz.com blog?). And if they won't tackle it, the Militant will!

Bayou Grille
1400 N. La Brea (at 64th Pl.)
Inglewood
310. 673.0824

Open Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 12 noon to 6 p.m.

Free street parking or take (M) local bus 212 (Sorry, the nearby Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line is gonna take a while...).

Item: Louisiana oyster po-boy ($7.29); Sweet tea ($1.50)

Chasing Arbor Vitae

The Militant had to drop off one of his unspecified siblings at LAX on Wednesday afternoon, and although the Militant was bike-less, he nevertheless couldn't pass up an opportunity to go on a Militant adventure.

The Militant firmly believes that the streets of Los Angeles and its environs tell stories, whether you read up on the history or not. All you got to do is pay attention.

So on Wednesday, he decided to follow a particular street that's stuck in his mind for years: Arbor Vitae St., which runs 2.4 miles from Airport Blvd in Los Angeles to Prairie Ave. in Inglewood, where the Hollywood Park racetrack property separates the street from a non-contiguous half-mile stretch to the east of it, where it turns into 92nd St. east of Van Ness Ave.

When the Militant was a kid, watching TV during the middle of the day, with a certain trade technical school advertising its services, and listing one of its locations at some "Arbor Vitae" place. Even as a kid, Lil'Mil was curious about an mysteriously-named street in Los Angeles that wasn't named after a local historical figure, a saint, a part of town or a number. Much less one named in Latin.

But you don't have to be the Pope to know that "Arbor Vitae" means "Tree of Life" (which sounds like something those Na'vi Avatar people would wanna hang out in).

The street runs in a straight line and cuts through industrial, commercial and residential areas, (in that order) from west to east. Unfortunately not much historical background onj the street could be found via online Militant research. There is such a species of tree as an "Arborvitae" which is a member of the cypress family. The Militant thought he had one of these trees on the grounds of his compound, but it was only an Italian cypress, which are pretty ubiquitous here in So Cal. On the other hand, most arborvitaes are found in colder climates such as Canada.

But alas, pay attention to the surroundings. Eventually the Militant stumbled on various Inglewood cross-streets with arbolesque nomenclature: Ash, Oak Cedar, Eucalyptus, Fir (and they weren't even in alphabetical order, like most cities are apt to do). And looking at a map, he also found other streets parallel to Arbor Vitae with such names: Magnolia, Elm, Lime, Olive.

So there you go, mystery solved. Arbor Vitae fits in with the theme. Inglewood isn't just the (once-upon-a-time) City of Champions, or The City Without A Mayor, but a City Of Streets Named After Trees.

The Dodgertown Showdown: UCLA vs. USC at The Stadium!

The last day of February 2009, wasn't just a beautiful sunshiny So Cal winter day, but a fine sports day. While many chillaxed at home to watch the epic USA vs. Canada Olympic ice hockey game, or see the Lakers play the Nuggets at Staples Center, the Militant got an opportunity to watch a baseball game and enjoy a Dodger Dog at Chavez Ravine.

Wait, what?

In what was the first day of baseball at the Stadium in 2010, Sunday was the day of the inaugural Dodgertown Classic, a day of NCAA college baseball played in a major league environment.

The day began with a 10 a.m. game between the Vanderbilt Commodores and Oklahoma State Cowboys (both in town to play both the Trojans and Bruins this week), which the Militant cared even less for than the Winter Olympic Curling semifinals. A whopping 1,220 attended that game. But for those curious, the Commodores edged the Cowboys 7-6. The winning pitcher was Lionel Richie.

The real game was the 2 p.m. crosstown rivalry showdown between the UCLA Bruin and the USC Trojan baseball teams in what was a Why-Didn't-They-Think-Of-It-Before match on not only neutral ground, but a hallowed ground for both Bruin and Trojan alike.

As you may or may not know, the Militant, a proud alum of one of those local universities, and obviously a Dodger fan (in case you didn't know already) couldn't pass up this chance, especially since the tickets to the game were all but $5 each (at either schools' box offices; $10 at the Stadium). Also, parking for the game was completely free, even with the RV show taking place at one of the Stadium lots.

The Militant carpooled to the game with an operative whom he went to college with and painlessly found a parking space in Lot F (only lots 2, 3, F and G were open for the event). The throngs of blue and gold and cardinal and gold filed into field level, which was the only section open for the game as everyone had first-come-first-served General Admission tickets. The Bruin team took the home field dugout, the Trojans took the visitor dugout and their respective bands, students, alumni and fans sat accordingly, though there were lots of "the other" sprinkled in on each side. Later in the game, the left and then right-field pavilions opened up (no, there was no All You Can Eat in effect today).

Speaking of concessions, prices were knocked down a bit (Dodger dogs were $3.75 for this game), but the notoriously long lines were there as expected (Hurrah, Levy Restaurants Not!). The Militant's operative volunteered to get the food and was absent for a good two innings. But the operative, a Los Angeles native who now lives in the frigid northeast for career reasons and is visiting his home town for family reasons, told the Militant that he was willing to wait in line as he told the Militant that this was his only chance to enjoy a Dodger Dog for a while. The Militant understood. And besides, a Dodger Dog (and them garlic fries) in the Stadium - in February?! That concept is beyond awesome.

The game itself was a slight paradigm shift. Unlike 56,000 loud, screaming Dodger fans, this game had some 14,500 spirited attendees, most of which arrived before the 1st inning, thank you.
The respective defensive and offensive plays for each team was cheered on of course, but the big league stadium crowd participation effects - i.e. the "Day-O"s, the "Car Wash" claps, even the venerable "Charge!" and the "Let's Go - - " chants were met with a lukewarm response from both sides. The Militant thanks the Stadium staff for not attempting to use the "Let's Get Loud"-O-Meter. But both teams got equal home field treatment with at-bat music and the like.

And even though this was a heated crosstown rivalry and engaged in good-natured ribbing of the other side's fans, it was a very chill event. The Militant Bowl this definitely was not. No obnoxious drunken fights between the schools, and the one time the crowd got distracted due to a ruckus emanating from behind the stands -- was only due to the excitement caused by the USA hockey team scoring the tying goal, as seen on the TV screens.

During the 7th inning stretch, though, the fans were not treated to the warm-and-fuzzy organ of Nancy Bea Hefley, but a cheap-sounding karaoke background track of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." And you can bet your bottom dollar that the name of the home team one was inclined to "Root, root, root" for in the song was met with a suddenly boisterous cacophonic chant that resembled a mashed-up amalgam of "Bruins" and "Trojans."

But perhaps the thing the Militant couldn't get used to the most was the "ding" of the aluminum bats. So shrill, at times resulting in a sustained whistling tone. Since they're in a big league park, couldn't they use the wooden ones, at least for today?

As for the game, it was scoreless for five innings until Trojan DH Cade Kreuter (Son of USC baseball coach and former Dodger catcher Chad Kreuter) hit an RBI double. But the Bruins tied the score in the bottom of the 5th and ran away with the game, scoring two runs in the 7th, and three in the 8th (including a homer by Niko Gallego) and the UCLA beat USC 6-1. Of course, in the name of anonymity, the Militant will have to refrain from voicing his personal feeling towards that score.

But what he can tell you was that he hopes the Dodgers will make this a tradition; 14,500 fans ain't bad at all, and it can only grow. Fans from both sides thought this was a fun event, and all proceeds of the game's ticket sales went to the Dodgers Dream Foundation. Of course, it was also a slick way for the Dodgers to promote their upcoming USC and UCLA "My Town" nights on April 29 and 30, respectively to a captive audience.

Honestly speaking, even the Militant, a proud alum of one of these schools, will admit that both UCLA and USC played rather mediocre baseball (with a game that lasted nearly 4 hours) and that the best college baseball teams in Southern California these days are not from places like West Adams or Westwood, but from places like Long Beach or Fullerton. Those Cal State teams definitely got it goin' on.

Still, Dodger Stadium is all about tradition and history, and no matter what, the college match meant for the Ravine will always be the team that boasts alums like Jackie Robinson, Eric Karros and Dave Roberts, versus the team that owes its legacy to former Brooklyn Dodger Rod Dedeaux and produced all-stars alumni such as Tom Seaver, Fred Lynn, Randy Johnson and Mark McGwire.

Go [Militant Angeleno's unspecified alma mater]!

The Los Angeles '84 Olympics Play On

For the past week, you may or may not have been watching the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics (the Militant, admittedly, has been watching the speed skating and bobsled events lately). And despite NBC's moronic prime-time tape delay of the games (which even have the east coast folks angry), this is the first Olympic games to take place in the Pacific Time Zone since the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad, which, as you all know, took place right here in Los Angeles in 1984 (even a transplant would know that...well, at least transplants over age 26 do).

The legacy of the '84 games live on to this very day, notably in the LA84 Foundation (formerly known as the Amateur Athletic Foundation), an organization that supports local youth sports programs with surplus funds from the games. Prior to '84, Olympic games incurred considerable debt to the host city, most notably in the '76 Montreal games. When the '84 games were up for bid in May 1978, Los Angeles was the only city in the world with the shot-put balls to host them, and after becoming the most financially successful games evar, they forever changed the game (Of course, that doesn't surprise the Militant - as does Los Angeles, the world follows, right?). Other legacies of the games include the Los Angeles Marathon, which will take place next month and will run a Los Angeles-to-Santa Monica route that is virtually reverse to the '84 Olympic marathon route (The Militant, then a teenager, fondly remembers watching the '84 Olympic marathon from Rodeo Rd and La Cienega Bl. in Baldwin Hills, across from the old Fedco).

But for those watching the Vancouver games, and any Olympic telecast since '92, there's one lasting legacy of the '84 games that lives on today - John Williams' "Olympic Fanfare and Theme":





This musical piece was commissioned by the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for Williams to compose for the games. In the '84 Opening Ceremonies, Williams conducted an orchestra situated in the peristyle end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and performed the song for the very first time.

Okay, Williams writes music all the time, so what's the big deal here? The Angeleno composer (who moved here with his family at age 16 and attended North Hollywood High School, UCLA and Los Angeles City College), has also written themes for the 1988 Seoul and 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, and the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter games -- but his piece for the Los Angeles '84 games is by far the most memorable and still plays on today in the commercial bumpers for the NBC tape-delay Olympic broadcast (Do you know what his '88, '96 and '02 Olympic themes sound like? Anyone? Yo, all you chirping crickets, do you know?).

In fact, it's one of the most well-known pieces of music associated with the Olympics, second only to Leo Arnaud's 1958 piece, "Bugler's Dream," which was first used by ABC (now there's a network that knows how to broadcast the Olympics) in their coverage of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics (and certainly Williams' '84 music is far more recognizable than the actual Olympic Hymn).

So who says Los Angeles has no history? We make history all the time. And we certainly know how to put on an Olympics, and make them memorable for generations. In fact, we've hosted the Olympics twice (take that and suck it, all you "L.A. Isn't A Sports Town" haters out there)!

Puttin' On The Ritz

The Militant once heard in a song the line, "A skyscraper hasn't reached maturity until it has the ability to shine at night."

That line couldn't have been more true driving back to the Compound on Tuesday night via the eastbound 10 when it beckoned him to come closer.

The sight was of the awesome glowing outlines of the 54-story Ritz-Carlton Hotel building (heretofore referred to by the Militant as "The Ritz" (no not that one, nor that one either), now the 10th tallest building in Los Angeles, and the tallest non-office building in town.

As the Militant swept through the curving interchange from the 10 east to the 110 north, the glowing white LED outlines of each of the building's four curving corners seemed to vary in luminosity depending on the viewer's position, and at times, one corner would "vanish" from a certain angle. Furthermore, because of an optical illusion from the building's glass skin, when three lighted corners are visible, the "hidden" fourth corner seems to appear faintly in its expected position, as if the building were a transparent figure.

Like whoa (The Militant learned, upon closer inspection that the lighting effect is achieved through strategically-angled LED lights and a parallel column outfitted with reflectors).

The Militant, admittedly a building and wannabe architecture geek of sorts, hasn't been this excited over the first lighting of a building in Downtown Los Angeles since the 73-story Library Tower (now the USBank Tower) made its debut nocturnal illumination on the night of July 3, 1989 (yes, the Militant remembers these sorts of things).

It's no wonder since The Ritz is the first skyscraper to be built in Los Angeles in nearly two decades, also representing not just a continuing southward shift of the Downtown skyline along the Figueroa Corridor, but signifying the shift from highrise commercial office space to residential (the upper half of the tower are residential condos) and hotel use. In fact, it's not just one hotel but two: From the fourth floor to the 21st, the building houses 879 rooms of the newly-opened J.W. Marriott Los Angeles LA LIVE (a.k.a. the expensive hotel). From floors 22 to 26, it's 123 rooms of The Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles (a.k.a. the really expensive hotel), with a combined 1,001 hotel rooms.

For those of you who have been following the nearby area for the past 20 years, the hotel is a really big deal with regard to the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center. Unlike its nearby competitors in Anaheim (popular with music geeks) and San Diego (popular with comic book geeks), the Convention Center, last undergone a major expansion in 1993, has long lacked adequate hotel facilities to not only host convention guests but to provide supplementary convention space. The new Ritz/Marriott tag team changes the game at long last.

For us locals, the hotels may or may not mean much to you, unless you plan to have your wedding reception/high school reunion/overtly lavish quinceañera booked there. But it sure looks purty. Designed by the architectural firm Gensler, The Ritz effectively widens the skyline and adds an extra 21st-century flair to our late-'80s/early '90s style-dominated Downtown towers. And even during the day, the building's glass skin panels form a complex pattern corresponding to the various uses of the building's parts (Gensler even employed a computer-generated design to achieve this).

Most of all (and the Militant has heard all the different sorts of criticisms lobbied at LA LIVE), you can't deny that the synergy of the hotel, the new Regal Cinemas LA Live Stadium 14, the Nokia Theatre, The Staples Center and the amenities of LA LIVE itself, sort of signal the fact that Something Big Is Happening Downtown, even if it's not exactly the organic street-fronting facades us new urbanism types salivate over. But who's to say that the surrounding streets can't be that, and they already are. Getting off at the 9th Street exit from the 110 north already almost feels like exiting the 80 or the 101 in Downtown S.F. It's part of the energy that Downtown needs. It's not everything of course, but it's all interconnected. It's starting to happen folks.

Putting the 'MA' In Mardi Gras

Today is Fat Tuesday - Mardi Gras, and no doubt the home of the World Champion New Orleans Saints have an even bigger fete this year.

Tonight, the Militant will be going to a private Mardi Gras party at the house of an operative of Louisiana heritage!

No doubt, the focus is on New Orleans today. But being the Militant Angeleno (as opposed to the Militant New Orleanian), he's gonna take you from "L.A." to "La." - and back.

The Militant has been to New Orleans before (the photo above was taken by the Militant during his visit there), during an unspecified year in the last decade. As usual when he travels, he likes to immerse himself in the destination city's culture, and also learn about its people, urban life, infrastructure and layout - and usually compares and contrasts between the destination city and his own.

Believe it or not, though the tiny Crescent City is vastly different than the ginormous City of Angels, there are a few things shared in common between them (yes, aside from Reggie Bush).

Both cities were founded by a river, have a "Mid-City" district, are important coastal port cities and are multicultural cities that have spawned fusion cuisines. Both cities have a huge Catholic influence. Interstate 10 runs through both The Big Easy and The Big Orange. And singer/songwriter Randy Newman has written songs about both cities - he grew up in both of them.

But here's something interesting the Militant discovered: Both Los Angeles and New Orleans have streets named "Rampart" and "Carondelet" that are not only parallel to each other but just a couple blocks apart, with both Ramparts located to the northwest of the Carondelets. Both pairs of streets in both cities run in a diagonal direction, from the southwest o the northeast. In New Orleans, the streets are located in the Downtown area, in Los Angeles, they are located in the Historic Filipinotown and Westlake districts.

Perhaps it was intentional -- in what is now Historic Filipinotown, just behind the former Rampart Police Station (which was on Benton Way and not Rampart Blvd), lies Hyans St, which was the first block in Los Angeles where African Americans were able to own their own property.
Being that most African Americans who settled in Los Angeles in the late 1800s-early 1900s came from places like Louisiana and Texas (and prior to World War II, they settled in places like Mid City and Jefferson Park), they probably not only brought the names of places familiar to them, but familiar architecture as well.

Along Hyans St, Benton Way and Council St in the aforementioned block, a few "shotgun" houses (pictured left) can be seen, and are hardly found anywhere else in Los Angeles. These narrow houses, designed without a shared interior hallway, are a familiar sight in the South, particularly in Louisiana. Their name derives from the fact that one can fire (in a straight line) a shotgun from the backyard to the front yard, provided all the doors of the house are open.

But enough of the history lesson for now, it's time to party! laist.com recently listed places where one can get their Mardi Gras on this week.

But the Militant is also familiar with some other places that will garon-tee you a lil bit of dat N'awlins flava:

Harold & Belle's - this Jefferson Park restaurant serves up some of the finest Creole cuisine in Los Angeles for over 40 years. The Militant celebrated his birthday with some of his closest operatives a few years ago and everyone was both happy and extremely full. The menu is a bit on the pricey side, but it's more than worth it considering the portions they give you. The Militant ordered the fried catfish, and well, had enough fried catfish to last him until lunch the next day. The desserts are divine as well, do try their bread pudding. 2920 West Jefferson Blvd, (323) 735-9023

La Louisianne - another fine-dining Creole restaurant, located just over the Baldwin Hills near Inglewood. The gumbo is spectacular. Drop by at night and check out the live jazz, blues and soul music entertainmenr. 5812 Overhill Dr (at Slauson), (323) 293-5073.

New Orelans Fish Market - Not a restaurant, but if you're into doing your own cooking, check out this store in Jefferson Park for your ingredients and seafood needs. One of the Militant's operatives, who's a damn good cook, goes here for his crawfish supply all the time. 2212 West Vernon Avenue (at Arlington), (323) 296-3817

And while you're at it, you can groove to the sound of the Los Angeles-based, New Orleans style brass band Critical Brass!

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Where y'at?!