Century Boulevard

Their wares are as varied as rental cars, motel lodging and hamburgers, but what brought the outraged Inglewood merchants together Thursday was a common problem: crime along Century Boulevard. In a meeting with Councilman Garland Hardeman and Police Capt. James Seymour, 25 merchants complained of drug dealing and prostitution outside their businesses and frequent break-ins and robberies inside.

The Century Lounge, an LAX-area strip club that has titillated and disgusted tourists for decades with its blinking "Nude Nude Nudes" sign, will be demolished and replaced by a parking lot, officials said Thursday. The lease for the tawdry Century Boulevard landmark -- best known for its psychedelic, red-and-orange marquee -- expired at the end of August, according to John Day, general counsel for property owner L&R Group of Companies. The club will be razed next month and incorporated into L&R's adjacent WallyPark parking structure.

Many out-of-towners catch their first and last glimpses of Los Angeles on the stretch of Century Boulevard between LAX and the San Diego Freeway. But they don't often like what they see. The boulevard offers few attractions as eight lanes of traffic zoom past 13 major hotels, fast food eateries, car rental agencies, cargo storage warehouses, office buildings with high vacancy rates and a pornography complex that features nude dancers. "People fly into L.A. from all over the world and right now they are seeing a somewhat bleak environment.

It begins with three chords that ring familiar to Southern California fans. The D major to the F sharp minor to the A major. The opening strains of "I Love L.A.," blasted from speakers at Staples Center or Dodger Stadium, signal that the home team has just won another game. The unofficial city anthem -- satirical as it may be -- is getting a lot of play lately, with the Lakers now NBA champions and the Dodgers holding the best record in Major League Baseball. It has been a while since both teams have been at the top of their games at the same time, which leads to a question: Are the people of Los Angeles happier when their teams are winning?

Two black incumbents held on to their jobs and for the first time a Latino was elected to the five-member City Council in a race marked by charges that racism was behind the renaming of Century Boulevard in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Mayor Evelyn Wells and Mayor Pro Tem Paul H. Richards were reelected to second four-year terms. Armando Rea, who ran on a slate with two other Latinos, finished third, capturing the seat left vacant by retiring veteran Councilman E. L.

The Century Lounge, an LAX-area strip club that has titillated and disgusted tourists for decades with its blinking "Nude Nude Nudes" sign, will be demolished and replaced by a parking lot, officials said Thursday. The lease for the tawdry Century Boulevard landmark -- best known for its psychedelic, red-and-orange marquee -- expired at the end of August, according to John Day, general counsel for property owner L&R Group of Companies. The club will be razed next month and incorporated into L&R's adjacent WallyPark parking structure.

All northbound lanes of the Harbor Freeway, between Century and El Segundo boulevards, will be closed during the early morning hours for three days starting Monday, and the southbound lanes will be closed later in the week for construction work on a Century Freeway interchange. The California Department of Transportation said the northbound lanes will be closed from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Re "LAX Gets Face Lift for Democratic Convention," May 2: The pylon beautification of LAX is the worst concept yet. If the design is to enhance the area for incoming Democratic conventioneers, how about doing something about the ugly entrance to L.A. along La Cienega. Surely the old oil fields present no cosmetic panorama for first-time arrivals that use that corridor to enter L.A. Spending money to enhance our image is one thing. Using it foolishly to install pylons is ridiculous.

School district map -- A map in Monday's California section with an article about Wiseburn School District labeled the area bounded by Century Boulevard on the north, the 105 Freeway on the south, La Cienega Boulevard on the west and Prairie Avenue on the east as Inglewood. Most of that area is in the community of Lennox. Also, an area south of 138th Street -- between El Segundo Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue -- and east of the 405 Freeway, was shown as being in the Wiseburn School District.

Lynwood will hold a ceremony next month for the renaming of Century Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in honor of the slain civil rights leader. The dedication is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. April 21 at the Lynwood Community Center, Bullis Road and Century Boulevard.

About 300 people protesting the treatment of immigrant workers by hotels near Los Angeles International Airport were arrested Thursday night during two coordinated sit-ins in the middle of Century Boulevard east of the airport. The arrests, which were planned in recent weeks with the cooperation of the Los Angeles Police Department, came after a short march of more than 2,000 people that closed Century Boulevard for three hours.

The first step to improving the neighborhood leading from Los Angeles International Airport should be to improve working conditions for the area's hotel employees, a report released Tuesday recommends. The Coalition for a New Century, a group of clergy, workers and community groups, recommends paying hotel workers higher wages. It suggests at least $10.33 per hour with no healthcare benefits or $9.08 per hour if such benefits are provided.

Re "Trying to Picture L.A. Clearly," Commentary, Sept. 6: Maybe the only place that is safe from the taggers is in a cave. I watched the battle Caltrans waged with the taggers regarding Kent Twitchell's "The Runners." The taggers tagged his mural, and Caltrans discreetly tried to cover it up without much success, finally giving in to the overwhelming destruction of the mural by these taggers. I drive the 405 Freeway every day and between Hughes Parkway and Century Boulevard look at the walls that border the freeway.

School district map -- A map in Monday's California section with an article about Wiseburn School District labeled the area bounded by Century Boulevard on the north, the 105 Freeway on the south, La Cienega Boulevard on the west and Prairie Avenue on the east as Inglewood. Most of that area is in the community of Lennox. Also, an area south of 138th Street -- between El Segundo Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue -- and east of the 405 Freeway, was shown as being in the Wiseburn School District.

City officials from Los Angeles and Inglewood reached an agreement Tuesday on a controversial plan designed to address noise, traffic and other environmental concerns stemming from growth at Los Angeles International Airport. The agreement, marking a milestone in a long-running fight between the airport administration and residents of the city on the eastern boundary of LAX, covers soundproofing of homes, a $10-million upgrading of Century Boulevard and efforts to reduce air pollution.

Many Angelenos' place in Los Angeles--their street address--is determined by where they live and work in relation to the historic corner of 1st and Main streets in downtown's Civic Center. First and Main is ground zero for the city's and county's unified house-numbering systems--the manner in which government determines the addresses of large numbers of homes and businesses. Streets are numbered according to their distance from that intersection.

A nine-block stretch of Century Boulevard that divides Lynwood and South Gate is destined to have two names. The south side of the street, in Lynwood, recently was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. But the north side of the street, in South Gate, will remain Century Boulevard. The Lynwood City Council recently renamed a 3 1/2-mile section of Century Boulevard in the northern part of the city. But South Gate merchants and residents had objected to any name change in the South Gate section.

Re "Trying to Picture L.A. Clearly," Commentary, Sept. 6: Maybe the only place that is safe from the taggers is in a cave. I watched the battle Caltrans waged with the taggers regarding Kent Twitchell's "The Runners." The taggers tagged his mural, and Caltrans discreetly tried to cover it up without much success, finally giving in to the overwhelming destruction of the mural by these taggers. I drive the 405 Freeway every day and between Hughes Parkway and Century Boulevard look at the walls that border the freeway.

Re "LAX Gets Face Lift for Democratic Convention," May 2: The pylon beautification of LAX is the worst concept yet. If the design is to enhance the area for incoming Democratic conventioneers, how about doing something about the ugly entrance to L.A. along La Cienega. Surely the old oil fields present no cosmetic panorama for first-time arrivals that use that corridor to enter L.A. Spending money to enhance our image is one thing. Using it foolishly to install pylons is ridiculous.

Say hello to the talking crosswalk. The first one in Los Angeles introduced itself Friday to 2,500 blind and visually impaired people gathered at Century Boulevard and Concourse Way for a convention. The automated voice system is connected to the pedestrian signals in front of the Airport Westin hotel. It tells when it is safe to cross the busy, 120-foot-wide boulevard, and when it is safer to stay on the curb.