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District 44 Student Artists Honored

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District 44 Student Artists Honored

On May 17, winners of the 44thCongressional District Art Competition were honored at Crafted at Port of Los Angeles. This year, Rep. Janice Hahn’s office received submissions from more than 100 high school students from across the district.

The winners included Angelica Macias, a Compton High School senior who won the competition with her silk portrait titled “My Friend Mirna.” Her work will be displayed in the United States Capitol for the next year beside the winning works from every district in the nation. Angelica also won a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the installation ceremony for her work.

Lynwood High School student Gabriela Gonzalez placed second and Compton High School student Geovanny Juarez from Compton High School placed third in the competition.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges made up of various renowned artists from across Los Angeles and Long Beach. The student art work will remain up at Crafted untilJune 8.

Details: http://hahn.house.gov/press-release/congresswoman-hahn-announces-congressional-art-competition-winners-0

San Pedro Urban Greening Project

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San Pedro Urban Greening Project

The San Pedro Urban Greening project made it rounds presenting the city’s effort to create green pathways at the May 19 Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council meeting.

The pathways link the community’s public assets such as the waterfront promenade, historic monuments downtown shopping and entertainment, and San Pedro’s parks such as Point Fermin and Leland parks.

According to the project website, www.witzelsucht.org, the greening of San Pedro’s connections could take the form of landscaped sidewalks , preferred bicycle routes, walking and running trails, highly functional public transit, sustainable storm water paths or passive natural greenways.

The purpose of these types of connections is to encourage people to walk or bike to their destinations, expand the urban forest and its associated benefits, heighten nature consciousness, and boost community health.

The group plans to host an open house during the FirstThursdayArt WalkJune 5, at People’s Place, 365 W. 6th St., in San Pedro, to begin the process of collecting community input.

Details:www.witzelsucht.org/connections.html

Apartment Burned in Pedro: Cause Unknown

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Apartment Burned in Pedro: Cause Unknown

A small fire burned through an apartment of two-floor complex at about shortly after 4 p.m. May 19, on the 700 block of 16th Street in San Pedro.

“I was watching TV and I smelled something burning,” said María Guadalupe Alvarez, the tenant in the lower level apartment. “I turned around and saw the fire.”

Alvarez said that though she does not know what the cause of the fire was, she believes it started outside.

Her neighbor Rebecca Jones, who was sitting on her porch smoking a cigarette, rushed to her aid. They tried to fight the fire with a garden hose but that did not work.

“I was surprised at how fast I moved,” Jones said. “I didn’t think I could move that fast anymore.”

The windows exploded. Jones yelled for her not to get closed and screamed for the upstairs apartment occupants to come out. The woman who lived upstairs was bathing her child and rushed out.

The women called 911. The living room and kitchen were destroyed. Alvarez still did not know if any of the other rooms were damaged.

“It felt like it took 10 or 15 minutes,” said Alvarez, who rushed out of her apartment without shoes. “My purse was inside with money, my personal papers, computer, certificates.”

Alvarez did not know where she and her family were going to spend the night but officials told the residents of the upstairs unit that the damage on their apartment was minimal, but due to the smoke they may not be able to stay in the unit, at least for the night.

Susie Glaze, the Hilonesome Band Bringing Hot acoustic strings to Alvas

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Susie Glaze, the Hilonesome Band Bringing Hot acoustic strings to Alvas

By Larry Wines, RLn Contributor

Susie Glaze puts “international award-winning Folk-Americana music” and “Broadway star” in the same sentence.

Her band’s latest album, White Swan, was No. 1 for three months on Roots Music Report and is still charting in the Folk Category’s Top 50, more than a year later.

The Hilonesome Band has enjoyed steady bookings since its debut CD, Blue Eyed Darlin’, won the Just Plain Folks award, with 40,000-plus people voting, worldwide for Best Roots Album in 2006.

Early on, Entertainment Weekly declared, “She can blow the roof off any joint lucky enough to book her.” And yes, her music career began on Broadway, in Big River.

Susie Glaze and The Hilonesome Band arrive May 25, for their first time at Alvas Showroom, having played the Grand Annex three times to enthusiastic San Pedro audiences.

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Documentary Finds Sugar Man

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Documentary Finds Sugar Man

Melina Paris, Music Columnist

Singer and songwriter rock musician Sixto Rodriguez released his two albums and disappeared from the music scene back in the 1970s, few took notice in the states. Wild stories of his death circulated, like the artist setting himself on fire while performing or pulling a gun to his head and shooting himself at the end of a song. He was even rumored to be dead. But no one knew for sure.

Though his music was relatively unknown in North America, his two albums became major hits in South Africa and Australia attracting diehard fans in both countries.

A couple of those fans were Stephen Segerman and music journalist, Craig Bartholomew Strydom. They set out on a journey to find the truth behind Sixto’s “death,” how it happened and why. Their investigation turned into an Academy Award winning documentary entitled, Searching for Sugar Man. The Grand Vision foundation as part of its Reel Rockumentuary film series featured the Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary at the Warner Grand May 4.

Cold Hard Fact was Sixto’s biggest album Segerman said. The second one, Coming from Reality, is believed to have sold half a million copies in South Africa, where Rodriguez became a cult figure.

According to the film, Segerman’s epiphany came while he was speaking to a girl who immigrated to the United States but returned to South Africa. She asked where in South Africa she could buy Rodriguez’s albums. She searched all over the States but could not find them. A man who was bigger in South Africa than Elvis was in the states and she couldn’t get his albums? This set Segerman to thinking, “How this could be?”

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The Trouble with Waterfront Development:

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Competing visions for the future of the Port are obscured by what isn’t being said

James Preston Allen, Publisher

One hundred some odd years ago, Southern California was criss-crossed with light rail lines. Vestiges of the old Red Car lines are still visible in some neighborhoods, now in use as parks and bike paths.

A decade ago, when Sixth Street in San Pedro was dug up for some road repair, work crews sawed through steel rails and wooden railroad ties hidden under the asphalt exposing a forgotten transportation system that connected Point Fermin to San Bernardino. Interestingly enough, it is said that with our modern traffic clogged freeways, it takes us about as long to travel from Los Angeles to Riverside as it did in 1914. Now that’s progress!

So at this point you might be wondering what this nostalgic introduction has to do with waterfront development at the Port of Los Angeles. Everything or nothing, depending on your perspective. As you will see in our report in this issue about the Harbor Commission’s vote to extend Ports O’ Call development negotiations with the Los Angeles Waterfront Alliance, there are some brewing differences voiced by John Papadakis and his followers about this project. On our letters page you will find an expanded version of his critique of the project and a rebuttal by Wayne Ratkovich, the venerated urban development guru and partner with the Johnson family’s property management company, Jericho Development, in the Los Angeles Waterfront Alliance. This could end up being a made-for-TV reality drama if left to its own devices. And, I’m not sure that the Port of Los Angeles is in the position to mediate the coming divide.

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Rumble: Riding the Long Road to Equality

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Rumble: Riding the Long Road to Equality
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo
Satyrs Motorcycle Club. Courtesy Photo

By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor

 

Walk into a gay bar these days and you are likely to see men greeting each other with a hug and a kiss. Not unlike any other bar, people mingle and freely flirt with one another over drinks and music.

But it wasn’t always that way.

“You’d walk in, you’d see people and maybe you’d nod to them,” said 69-year-old Riley Black, about his experience in the late 60s and early 70s. “Unless, you knew someone and if they introduced you to someone else, you wouldn’t just walk up and hit on someone, because you didn’t know if it was an undercover cop.”

Black lived in a time where gay men were not even allowed to touch at bars. Bars were frequently raided. Police officers would come, beat their night sticks on the bar, order that the bartenders turn the music off and turn on the lights. Then, they’d have everyone get against the wall.

“They would just start, ‘Well, we’ve gotta count heads to see if you are over fire capacity,’” Black recalled.

As people would go out the door, someone would stand at the door, and maybe every fourth one or every fifth one, they’d say, “You, lewd conduct.”

“It was your word against the cop,” Black said. “Your name would end up being in the paper and they would call your employer. People lost jobs…. I was in bars when they came in and did that. Fortunately, it wasn’t my number [they] called.”

But in 1969, he found a retreat from the harassment that gays endured all too frequently. A group of motorcycle riders opened their arms and a whole new world opened up to him. Members enjoyed camping trips and bike runs together away from the bar scene.

“I liked camping. I liked being around the guys and just the camaraderie of it,” he said.

Today, Black is the president of the Satyrs Motorcycle Club, the oldest, continually existing gay men’s group in the United States. The Satyrs Motorcycle Club formed in 1954. Former military men from Long Beach and Los Angeles formed the club at the peak of Sen. Joe McCarthy’s “un-American activities” hearings–a witch hunt for Communists and homosexuals.

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RL NEWS of the Week: May 16, 2014

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RL NEWS of the Week: May 16, 2014

Coastal Neighborhood Council Presents Results
SAN PEDRO — Two-hundred-twenty-three voters submitted ballots for the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council election.
The 17 candidates with the highest number of votes are shown and have been selected for the Board.
95 VOTES»Dave Behar
104 VOTES»Gary Bettis
83 VOTES»Cari Burich
66 VOTES »Mike Cammareri
67 VOTES»Slobodan Dimitrov
93 VOTES»James Dimon
98 VOTES»Louis Dominguez
60 VOTES »Bob Gelfand
87 VOTES»Chuck Hawley
33 VOTES »David Adam Holop
61 VOTES »Dan Malstrom
66 VOTES »Pat Means
100 VOTES»Matt Matich
97 VOTES»Chris Nagle
131 VOTES»Ana Ortiz
115 VOTES»Denise Marovich-Sampson
86 VOTES»Ted Shirley
106 VOTES»June Burlingame Smith
90 VOTES»Sonya Tsujimura
102 VOTES»John Vidovich
117 VOTES»Peter Warren
93 VOTES»Rachel Waugh
Note: Prior to (or at) the June Board meeting of CSPNC, each selection winner will need to demonstrate to the Selection Committee that he or she:
1) is a stakeholder in the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council district; and
2) is at least 18 years old on or before 10 May 2014.
Any selection winner who fails to qualify on both requirements will be disqualified. The losing candidate(s) with the largest number of votes will join the Board in the place of disqualified candidates (and must also qualify on both requirements to join the Board).
Details:www,cspnc.org/selection

POLB Imports, Exports Surge
Long Beach — Cargo numbers for containers at the Port of Long Beach were up in April by 9.7 percent overall, compared to the same month one year ago, according to numbers that the port released May 15.
Following a slow March due to the harsh winter in other parts of the country, April container volumes rebounded as weather patterns and shopping patterns returned to normal.
A total of 569,843 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) moved through the Port of Long Beach during April. Imports numbered 295,712 TEUs, up 11.9 percent from 2013. Exports jumped 6.3 percent to 146,498 TEUs. Empty containers were up 8.8 percent to 127,633 TEUs. Following a weak first quarter here, overall volume for the first four months of 2014 is up just 1 percent compared to the same period last year.
This past year, against which 2014 is being compared, was the third-busiest year in port history with a total of 6.73 million TEUs.
Details: www.polb.com/stats.

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Scandal in San Pedro

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Scandal in San Pedro

By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer

Head to downtown New York for a delightful evening of sexual intrigue, all without having to go any farther than the Little Fish Theatre in San Pedro.

Central Park Westis Woody Allen’s one-act play that involves all the participants, including an Allen clone, in the devious doings of a group of New Yorkers in marital infidelity and lots of fast and highly biting wit. It is on at Little Fish throughMay 22in the playhouse’s mid-week series.

From the moment Phyllis (Belinda Howell) doesn’t answer her door — pouring herself a martini instead — to the final moments,just over an hour later, everyone, including young and mostly innocent Juliet (Rhiannon Heather Franck-Thompson) are revealed as involved in the sexual plots of Phyllis’ husband Sam (David Kiernan).

Sam has been sleeping with a lot of people, including Carol (Jennifer Faneuff). It is Carol who first gets interrogated. By the time Howard (Paul LaGreca, in a near-perfect imitation of Allen’s mousy on-screen persona) gets involved you are fully intrigued and wondering where it will all end.

There is a bit of a hidden meaning, a roman à clef, in this play since Allen in real life has had a couple of scandals involving younger woman and this play is about that, in part, but you don’t have to know anything about those scandals (though you can Google them) to appreciate this work.

Marge Schugt directs and allows her actors free hand, keeping the dialog crisp and effective.

Tickets are $27, $24 for seniors. Performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays throughMay 22,with a single matinee May 18.

Details:(310) 512-6030;www.littlefishtheatre.org
Venue: Little Fish Theatre
Location 777 Centre St., San Pedro

RLn ANNOUNCEMENTS: May 9, 2014

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RLn ANNOUNCEMENTS: May 9, 2014

May 10
Bridge Construction
Southbound Interstate 710 Freeway closure connector to westbound Ocean Boulevard will close for 30 months, starting May 10.
Officials reminded commuters and truck driver heading to the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles about the long-term closure and detour routes that are needed.
The Interstate 710 Freeway will be under construction to demolish and rebuild the connector ramp, as apart of the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project.
When the connector closes, southbound I-710 traffic heading to Terminal Island traffic will be briefly diverted onto southbound Pico Avenue, then to an on-ramp that joins westbound Ocean Boulevard to cross the Gerald Desmond Bridge.
Trucks and other vehicles whose destination is beyond the Port of Long Beach are being asked to consider using the I-110 Harbor freeway, State Route 47 or other alternate routes to avoid the surface street detour.
Details: www.newgdbridge.com

May 12
Free Women’s Health event for all ages
St. Mary Medical Center is hosting a free women health event, from 5 to7 p.m. May 12, in Long Beach.
Internist Visal Nga, Do and Interventional cardiologist Amar Kapoor will host a lecture. There will be a demonstration meditation and yoga. There also will be health screening.
Details: (888) 478-6279;www.dignityhealth.org/heart.
Venue: Bazzeni Wellness Center
Location: 1050 Linden Ave, Long Beach

May 12
A Major Water Line Construction Project
The Metropolitan Water District work will replace and/or reline 900 feet of a major water feeder line, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 12, near west Bixby Road and Cedar Avenue in Long Beach.
The work will continue through mid-August.
Cedar Avenue and the alley between Cedar and Pacific avenues will be closed at the north side of Bixby Road for the duration of the project. The two north lanes of west Bixby Road and the adjacent sidewalk will be closed from Country Club Drive to Pine Avenue, as well. Two-way traffic will continue in the two south lanes of Bixby Road.
Details: (213) 217-6752

May 12
LB Board of Harbor Commissioners
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners will meet, at 6 p.m. May 12, at the Miller Family Health Education Center.
Commissioners will consider the approval of the second amendment to the contract with the South Coast Air Quality Management for up to $30 million in funds from Proposition 1B Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program.
Details: www.polb.com
Venue: Miller Family Health Education Center
Location: 3820 Cherry Ave., Long Beach

May 13
Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council Meeting
The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council welcomes the new commander of the Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Division, Capt. Gerald Woodyard at its 5:30 p.m., May 13 meeting, at Port of Los Angeles High School.
The situation of the unused jail at Harbor Division will be addressed by Capt. David Lindsay, commanding officer of Los Angeles jails. We’ll also hear from the new neighborhood prosecutor, Lauren Halligan, and section chiefs of the Customs and Border Patrol about the policy regarding detaining cruise ship members in our port.
The neighborhood is looking for community members to fill 17 at-large board positions that begin July 2014. Potential candidates are invited to come to the May 13 meeting at 5:30 to learn more about the opportunity to serve the community. Candidate applications are due May 16.
Details: www.sanpedrocity.org
Venue: Port of Los Angeles High School
Location: 250 W. 5thSt., San Pedro

May 17
Hands Across the Sand
The 5th Annual Hand Across the Sand event will take place, from 10 to 1 p.m. May 17, at the Wilmington Waterfront Park and at Long Beach Cherry Beach. The event will kick off with workshops at 10 a.m. and holding hands will take place at 12 p.m. in Wilmington.
The groups are meeting in solidarity to voice their opposition to dirty fossil fuels and to call for an end to climate change.
Details: (310) 303-7950, (323) 350-0873
Venue: Wilmington Waterfront Park, Long Beach Cherry Beach
Location: 326 King Ave., Wilmington; Junipero at Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach

The Long Beach Opera Needs Volunteers
The Long Beach Opera is looking for Volunteers Usher to assist at performances.
Volunteers are welcome to stay and watch the performances free of charge. Details: (562) 432-5934,
Venue: Longbeachopera.org
Location: 507 Pacific Ave., Long Beach

Women Shelter Needs Volunteers
The Women Shelter of Long Beach need volunteers in various capacities, contributing to the thousands of families overcoming trauma caused by domestic violence.
Volunteers are need in assisting in planning and participating in community awareness campaigns, providing service to its board of directors, direct service support and others.
Details: (562) 437-4663; www.womenshelterlb.org

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