Bingo

The city attorney has been asked to review Lomita's bingo ordinance to define more specifically who may be issued bingo licenses. The ordinance does not specify how many organizations should be given permits or how frequently games should be permitted. The city attorney will submit clarifications at a public hearing next month.

Christina Winkelmann's booth at the Renegade Craft Fair in L.A. this weekend showcased her holiday wreaths made of vintage Christmas ornaments, but it was her recycled bingo-card gift wrap that had shoppers lined up. The Los Feliz crafter seemed downright embarrassed that so many fairgoers were charmed by something that was more marketing genius than personal artistic expression. Winkelmann said the bingo cards truly were recycled -- picked up during visits to Grandma out in the desert.

Senior citizens and other groups that lobbied the city to permit bingo games will have to go elsewhere to play, the City Council has decided. After months of debate, the council rejected a plan that would have allowed bingo games on private and city property, much to the disappointment of seniors at Creekside Park Community-Senior Center and parishioners at St. Edward's Catholic Church. Council members Harold R.

Like the man said, always be closing. In Cody Henderson's "The Bewildered Herd," now at Greenway Arts Alliance, everyone's after someone else's mental real estate. When he's not helping win an election, slick consultant Bingo (John Getz) is trying to keep his disaffected wife (Trace Turville) from divorcing him and his college-dropout daughter (Corryn Cummins) from running off with a deadbeat rocker (Derek Manson). Meanwhile, Grandma (Lisa Richards) smilingly insists that Bingo's father is still alive and worth loving.

The South Gate City Council killed a proposal to open a bingo parlor in the city, ending a three-year debate over the issue. The nonprofit Steelworkers Oldtimers Foundation had hoped to open a bingo hall at the former Builders Emporium warehouse at 5645 Firestone Blvd. The bingo parlor would have raised an estimated $4 million each year for area charities, said foundation Director George Cole.

The city may again allow fund-raising bingo games three times a week to help reestablish the 36-year-old Kingsmen drum and bugle corps. Council members last week voted 3 to 2 to draft an ordinance that would allow any nonprofit organization in the city to hold bingo games three times a week. A similar ordinance, extended last July by the council, expired Dec. 31. Bingo games are now limited to once a week.

A federal appeals court Wednesday gave the go-ahead for enforcement of a ban on electronic bingo machines in California while a group of charities continues a legal challenge to the law. FOR THE RECORD: The headline for an article about a ban on California's bingo machines that ran in Thursday's Section A incorrectly said the ban had been upheld. A federal appeals court did not rule on the ban itself. It lifted an injunction on enforcement of the ban. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an injunction that had blocked sheriffs from unplugging the games and set the stage for the devices to be shut down in three weeks unless there is another appeal.

The City Council gave final approval to a measure this week that allows charity groups, including the Kingsmen drum and bugle corps, to have as many as three bingo games a week. Stanton has limited bingo games to one a week. Mayor David John Shawver supported adding additional games to keep Stanton's bingo halls competitive with those in neighboring cities.

School trustees gave tentative approval this week to a proposal that would allow a parent booster club to hold bingo nights at Esperanza High School. Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board members voted 4 to 1 Tuesday in favor of a new policy allowing bingo at the district's four high schools. A group of parents at Esperanza High School plans to hold weekly bingo nights to help fund classroom and extracurricular activities.

Members of the West Anaheim Moose Lodge No. 522, who pleaded guilty to operating illegal gambling at the lodge earlier this year, will soon negotiate with the city to reinstate the group's revoked bingo license. The group is scheduled to appeal the revocation in November, said Mac Slaughter, deputy city attorney. A mediator will hear the appeal and then present the case and a recommendation to the city. The City Council will make the final decision, expected in November or December.

Life's a drag, but if we're talking about Los Angeles after dark, that's a good thing. The city's drag show scene, once a closeted affair hidden in dive bars, now sells out theaters and pulls in straight crowds. During the last 20 years, female-impersonator shows in L.A. have become more than dressing like Cher and lip-syncing "Believe. " "Performers are real singers and real writers," says Jon Imparato, director of cultural arts at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. "It's become an art form.

Underground Rebel Bingo Club Where: Somewhere in East Hollywood (disclosed on website) When: 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and March 3 Price: $5 to $15 online, $20 at the door Contact: http://www.rebelbingo.com

It all started a couple of years ago in the basement of a church hall in central London, when two event promoters started putting on a secretive club night with dance music, costumed hosts, sexy girls — and bingo. Secretive, because running a bingo game could be construed as gambling (it's not). And why bingo? Because there's nothing like a childhood game to get people to drink, dance and even take their clothes off. Underground Rebel Bingo Club has become a global cult hit, now happening in 25 cities worldwide, including London, Madrid, Toronto and New York.

The Occupy L.A. group that camped out at City Hall for months before being ejected in late November may have chosen the wrong venue: Not only would protesting in Malibu have been more scenic, it would have more appropriately symbolized the group's struggle against the unfairnesses perpetrated by the 1% — such as the refusal by certain super-wealthy individuals to allow public access to public beaches. A recent report by the California Coastal Commission showed that some progress has been made across the state in improving access to the 1,100-mile shoreline, whose wet sands and craggy tide pools are part of the birthright of all Californians and cannot be privately owned below the high tide line.

When Anna Prieto Sandoval became leader of the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians in 1972, its reservation near El Cajon was a tumbledown settlement of wooden shacks with outhouses, a 100-year-old Catholic church and a cinder-block meeting hall. About 80 members lived on the tribal land, and none had a steady job. When she stepped down two decades later, the Sycuan had risen from abject poverty to become a national model of tribal self-sufficiency, a transformation that Sandoval was largely responsible for ?

Nearly 200 ATMs in casinos and strip clubs have been removed from the network that allows access to California welfare benefits, and the ban may be extended to bingo halls, racetracks, gun stores and massage parlors, state officials said Friday. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said ATMS had been removed from 200 casinos and strip clubs. The announcement follows Times reports that millions of dollars have been withdrawn from welfare accounts at gambling establishments and adult clubs with debit cards issued to people on state aid. The cash, meant to help the needy feed and clothe their families, was dispensed at casinos and poker rooms at a rate of more than $227,000 per month between October and May, state officials have acknowledged.

Re "Ban May Spell Trouble," Feb. 2: I am an ex-heavy smoker and an ex-bingo player. Until the smoking ban went into effect on Jan. 1, I was forced to inhale stinking smoke, which in turn jeopardized my health and made my clothes smell like a dirty old ashtray for the chance to maybe win a $250 jackpot! Why do smokers think their rights are more important than a nonsmoker's right to live in a less hazardous atmosphere? For all bar owners and bingo operators who are complaining about the smoking ban and their loss of revenues, perhaps legal action against these people would result in bigger payouts for the nonsmoking bingo players.

I salute the Culver City Board of Education for rejecting plans for bingo (Times, Aug. 11) at a school cafeteria--not only because of the decision to exclude tobacco but also because of the resultant decision to exclude gambling, which is also illegal for those under 18. First, from a health and safety perspective, adults who choose to lead chemical-free lifestyles are more likely to have children who lead chemical-free lifestyles. Alcohol and tobacco are gateway drugs. Secondly, the choice of bingo as a source of "stable funds" is similar to the state of California choosing the lottery.

A federal appeals court Wednesday gave the go-ahead for enforcement of a ban on electronic bingo machines in California while a group of charities continues a legal challenge to the law. FOR THE RECORD: The headline for an article about a ban on California's bingo machines that ran in Thursday's Section A incorrectly said the ban had been upheld. A federal appeals court did not rule on the ban itself. It lifted an injunction on enforcement of the ban. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an injunction that had blocked sheriffs from unplugging the games and set the stage for the devices to be shut down in three weeks unless there is another appeal.

Re "Stacked deck," editorial, Sept. 15 The Times' editorial too hastily criticizes the Legislature's effort to rein in the growing industry of unregulated charity casino bingo. The editorial failed to mention that operators of these machines are not currently subject to any regulatory oversight, nor is there any requirement to pay the charities a reasonable percentage of their income. The California attorney general said in May that these electronic bingo devices are unlawful under the California Penal Code and no longer should be used.