ENTERTAINMENT
March 15, 2010 | By Greg Braxton
KCAL news anchor Pat Harvey can still recall her edgy excitement generated decades ago by not only the imminent launch of an ambitious and historic broadcast but also by widespread predictions of failure. It was March 5, 1990, as the now veteran broadcaster positioned herself behind the anchor desk, the focus of a sparkling new set on a Paramount Studios sound stage. After months of planning, a rash of hirings and upgrades that cost more than $30 million, she was on the front lines of an unprecedented experiment -- a nightly three-hour newscast.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 16, 2010 | By Jessica Gelt
Billy Al Bengston knows that when it comes to art, presentation is crucial. So the 75-year-old artist and his agent, Samuel Freeman, decided to mark a milestone in Bengston's career in an unusual way. This year is the 50th anniversary of Bengston's second solo show at the famed Ferus Gallery, the outsider gallery that nurtured the raucous and eccentric crowd of talented young Southern California artists in the '50s and '60s, including John Altoon,...
SPORTS
February 10, 2010 | By Jim Peltz
They had colorful nicknames like "The Mongoose" and "The Snake," initially raced mostly for glory in light of skimpy prize money and became legends as professional drag racing's popularity expanded nationwide. As the National Hot Rod Assn. holds the 50th anniversary of the Winternationals this week, here's a look at some of drag racing's most notable drivers over the decades in the premier top-fuel and funny car classes, some of whom will appear to help celebrate this year's Winternationals in Pomona: 1960s "Big Daddy" Don Garlits In the Winternationals' first 10 years, and for decades after that, Garlits was the driver even casual fans knew as being synonymous with drag racing.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 11, 2009 | Mike Boehm
When it comes to extracting free labor from famous cinematic figures, it would be hard to top Francesco Vezzoli. The Italian video artist's output over the last 12 years reflects his ability to get highly paid cinematic talent to work without pay. Vezzoli's enlistees so far have included Helen Mirren, Sharon Stone, Courtney Love, Benicio del Toro, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Sonia Braga, Marianne Faithfull, Natalie Portman, Roman Polanski, Michelle...
ENTERTAINMENT
November 10, 2009 | Yvonne Villarreal
They each stood by, bundled in scarves and coats. Slight murmurs wafted through the air. But as the 80-foot barricade came tumbling down, cheers erupted. Berlin it wasn't. But very early Monday morning, Los Angeles paid tribute to the historic collapse of the wall that kept a city divided for 28 years. About 700 people gathered on Wilshire Boulevard near Ogden Drive to take part in the Wende Museum's "A Wall Across Wilshire," a symbolic re-creation of the wall that once separated East and West Berlin.
WORLD
November 8, 2009 | By Henry Chu
Valentin Geissler has no memory of the wall. He was just 10 months old when it fell, and most of its traces have by now disappeared. But it still hovers over the city like a ghostly presence. "Sometimes I can see in the city where the wall was. . . . I don't remember specifically when I was told [about it]. I guess I kind of grew up with this knowledge." But the wall didn't play a big role in his childhood, not the way it had loomed over the lives of his parents. The restrictions, privations and other hardships of life in the former East Berlin are an alien concept.