Apocalyptic Sky in West Hollywood – Photo by Eleanore Studer
The Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest Continues to Rage
The Bobcat Fire, which began on September 6th, has now burned over 50,000 acres and is at 3% containment, continuing to affect the skies and air quality, as far away as Santa Monica. The U.S. Forest Service expected to only have full containment by October 15th — already disconcerting — but now they have pushed it back till October 30th. New mandatory evacuations have been issued in the Antelope Valley, and these areas are still under evacuation warning: Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte and Bradbury. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
“Regarding Paul R. Williams” Takes a New Look at the L.A. Architect
Photographer Janna Ireland has a new book out about Los Angeles architect Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980), “Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View.” Defeating the odds against severe racism and Jim Crow laws, Williams designed houses for such members of the Hollywood elite as Cary Grant, Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, Frank Sinatra and Barbara Stanwyck. Other famous structures by him include parts of the Beverly Hills Hotel (including the Fountain Coffee Shop), the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building in West Adams, the Angelus Funeral Home in Historic South-Central, and both the memorial mausoleum and the Al Jolsen memorial at Hillside Memorial Park.
Conflicting Reports of the L.A. County Sheriff Deputies’ Shooting of Dijon Kizzee
LASD Homicide Bureau Capt. Kent Wegener has reported that 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee was shot by deputies after picking up a gun that he dropped. Kizzee’s family’s attorney, Benjamin Krump, argues that this conflicts with the cell phone video that appears to show the victim being shot as he is running away. Wegener says that Kizzee was stopped by the deputies for riding his bike on the wrong side of the road, after which he jumped off the bike and ran. So details about when he dropped the gun appear to be murky, but the weapon has been identified as his from a serial number visible in a video on his own phone. The investigation moves to the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office next. L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has been called upon to resign not only by Kizzee’s family, but also some county supervisors and members of L.A.’s Civilian Oversight Commission.
Want to Help Those Affected by the 2020 Wildfires? Here’s a List of Response Funds
Philanthropy California, an alliance of more than 600 foundations, corporate funders, government agencies and individuals and families from across our state, has published a vetted list of California-based organizations that are accepting funds to help those devastated by this year’s record-setting wildfires. The list can be filtered according to organization and location, including the United Way of Northern California, the Women’s Foundation of California’s Relief and Resilience Fund, the Latino Community Foundation’s Wildfire Relief Fund, and community foundations in the counties of Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Napa, San Mateo and Santa Clara. The New York Times’ California Today newsletter lists additional organizations in need, including Red Rover Shelters and the Humane Society, both of which are caring for displaced pets, or local food banks supervised by the California Association of Food Banks. – Paul Gaita
Music Pick: “World of Burning Hate” EP by Classics of Love
Fans of the legendary ska/punk band Operation Ivy got a nice surprise recently from the band’s singer and artist Jesse Michaels who revived his 2008-2012 band Classics of Love with an excellent new EP on Bandcamp entitled “World of Burning Hate.” The new recording doesn’t feature the other original members of Classics (HARD GIRLS’ Mike Huguenor, Max Feshbach & Morgan Herrell) and leans into hardcore but with some effective melodic moments. The current players beside Michaels are Sharif Dumani (Alice Bag, Exploding Flowers) and Peter John Fontes (Los Nauticals, Surf Fronts). My favorite track is “Walking With The Lost.”
