Culver City

Re “ Ex-cop Dorner's manifesto recalls troubling legacy ,” Feb. 23 Once again I am grateful for Sandy Banks' summary of a complex local issue, which I do not want to denigrate by comparing it to the playground adjudications I performed for years as an elementary school teacher. What's with the system that needs to severely punish one or the other, regardless of the uncertainty raised? Susan Soto-Campos Culver City More letters to the editor ...  

More Neapolitan-style pizza hits L.A. when Wildcraft Sourdough Pizza opens Feb. 25 in Culver City in the historic Beaux Arts Washington Building on Culver Boulevard. Set to open for lunch and dinner, the sit-down pizza place will serve wood-fired sourdough pizza that crosses the Neapolitan tradition with Southern California culinary inventiveness. The "wild" in the restaurant's name is a reference to the wild yeast in the sourdough starter that is used to make the dough for the pizzas.  The "mother dough," fed daily, is the work of executive chef Tin Vuong (also the chef at Abigaile in Hermosa Beach)

Fresh off an eclectic monthlong residency at the Blue Whale, Grammy-nominated keyboardist John Beasley leads this funk and soul-jazz-oriented trio joined by bassist Daryl Jones and drummer Ronald Bruner Jr. The trio, titled 3 Brave Souls, will be joined by a pair of vocalists in Nayanna Holley and Dwight Trible, who reliably can take any song directly into interstellar space. The Jazz Bakery at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Fri., 8 p.m. $25. http://www.jazzbakery.com .

Super Bowl Sunday is upon us. Maybe it's the only day that you deign to watch football, or maybe it marks the culmination of five months of blood, sweat and beers spent glued to the television out of devotion to your favorite team. Either way, it's the one day of the year that America comes together over a singularly American sports obsession, and as such it's a darn good reason to party. Sports bars and restaurants across the city will throw open their doors in a high-def blitz. Here are a few of our favorite options: -- The Bungalow, 101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

Whitney Flood is chef and proprietor of new Culver City restaurant Muddy Leek. After working in restaurants in New York and Big Sur, he and his wife, Julie Retzlaff, started Bon Mélange Catering in Los Angeles -- known for its farm-to-table focus and Flood's affinity for unusual pairings and game meats -- for events including weddings and underground pop-up dinners. Now the two together run Muddy Leek, the name an ode to the seasonal ingredients on their market-driven menu. What's coming up next on your menu?

A Culver City man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after a pursuit in November was struck by bullets five times in the back and once each in the right hip and right forearm, also from behind, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Times. Jose de la Trinidad, a 36-year-old father of two, was killed Nov. 10 by deputies who believed he was reaching for a weapon after a pursuit. But a witness to the shooting said De la Trinidad, who was unarmed, was complying with deputies and had his hands above his head when he was shot.

Musical electronics retailer Beats by Dr. Dre will move its headquarters from a plush office park in Santa Monica to gritty-looking former warehouses in Culver City. Beats will occupy the entire 40,000-square-foot building at 8476 Steller Drive, plus an additional 26,400 square feet in two adjacent properties at 8401 and 8454 Steller, real estate broker Joshua Gorin of Studley said. The electronics company that sells such music-related products as headphones, earphones and speakers is now in the Water Garden, a luxury office complex dating to the early 1990s.

Fresh off a run at the new A.O.C. space, pop-up restaurant Barbershop will reappear in Culver City starting Jan. 30. Chef Walter el Nagar (of La Botte) and partner Mario Vollera (Piccolo Venice) are operating Barbershop Ristorante Italiano at La Petite Crêperie from Wednesday to Saturday evenings until Feb. 16. El Nagar will serve a five-course Italian menu showcasing his mix of the traditional and modernist, influenced by what's available at the Santa Monica Farmers Market and downtown fish market each week.

The brother of music legend Nat "King" Cole, Freddy Cole upholds a rich family vocal tradition with an equal facility with elegantly swung jazz as well as blues and classic pop. The Jazz Bakery at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. 8 p.m. Sat. $30, http://www.jazzbakery.org.

For Christmas, a friend gave me some superb smoked salmon from Tasmania. That's something I love to eat on rye bread. Those chocolate black pumpernickel loaves are just too strong tasting so the delicate fish. And so began my search for the perfect rye bread. I tried this one and that one. And then I walked into Copenhagen Pastry in Culver City for a slice of Kringle and spotted loaves of rye high on the counter. How had I missed them before? I guess I was so intent on my Danish pastry fix that the bread just didn't register.