Demographics

Jessica Maes did not just witness the wrenching economic upheaval wrought by the flight of Los Angeles' heavy industry, she lived it. Her brother lost a $15-an-hour union job. Her city, Huntington Park, lost economic muscle, as did 18 other areas, according to a new study, when "deindustrialization" swept 200,000 jobs out of the Alameda Corridor and left cities like Huntington Park stranded in a Southern California rust belt.

Hollywood has come bearing gifts: young heartthrobs, hip-hop soundtracks, wisecracking adolescent characters. But its object of affection--America's ballooning population of teenagers--has mixed feelings about all the attention. "I think a lot of people ignore it," said Katie Rosen, 16, of Westchester. "It's so. . . . They're going about it all wrong." Nevertheless, Rosen went to see the popular slasher parody film "Scream" and its sequel. "I liked those--they were different," she said.

Monica Jones counts people for the U.S. Census Bureau, and if you think that's an easy job, take a quick walk in her Nikes. Armed with only a clipboard, good manners and a government badge, Jones goes door to door in some of Sacramento's sketchiest neighborhoods, asking--no, begging--people to pulleeze take five minutes out of their busy day to answer a couple of questions. Some groan and comply. Some run and hide when they hear her knock.

Los Angeles has a message for President Clinton about race: It's more complicated than black and white. In an effort to broaden the president's initiative on race from a discussion of black-white relations to a debate about a multiracial society, Los Angeles community leaders have produced a video examining the county's shifting racial makeup. Consider it a primer on diversity, L.A.-style.

Tuxedo rentals may not seem like an obvious choice for an entrepreneur starting out fresh in a country that only yesterday held the necktie in disdain. But Judah Ohayon had experience in the "rag" trade and an eye for opportunity. Ohayon, who recently emigrated from Canada, found that his new compatriots were throwing ever-bigger bar mitzvahs, fancier weddings and more elaborate diplomatic galas. Israelis wanted to keep up with the Cohens, so to speak, and Ohayon figured he could help them.

As Washingtons go, Gregory noticed that Craig had a certain quality he'd never seen before in someone with his last name: white skin. "I thought he was going to be black," said Gregory, an African American, of his first meeting with new co-worker Craig Washington at Hughes Electronics in Torrance. "I told him he was the first white Washington I'd ever seen. I joked that we must be brothers." Greg's assumption that Craig would probably be black was not ill-founded.

USC research faculty give mixed grades to Southern California's economic, social and physical conditions in a second annual report card to be released Tuesday. The survey by USC's Southern California Studies Center finds hopeful trends about the job market but raises serious concerns about housing costs and decaying infrastructure. "All things considered, we are doing pretty well economically. However, some of the clouds on the horizon are troublesome.

Presidents have long since mastered the art of using sports for cheap, positive publicity. They show up at the ballgame and throw out the first pitch. They call the winning Super Bowl teams in the locker room. They invite championship teams and Olympic athletes (except those naughty hockey players) to the White House for a photo op. But never before has sports tied in so perfectly with a presidential agenda as it did for Tuesday night's town hall meeting televised on ESPN.

A lot of companies have no idea where their business is coming from. Even worse, they don't know where to turn for new business. Now there are some reasonably priced geographic information system software packages that can help. Understanding where customers are can be critically important. If you're investigating where to open a fast-food restaurant, for example, you probably want to locate in a high-traffic area that the competition hasn't discovered yet.

Opportunities to enroll children in choice public schools outside their neighborhoods--a well-received program that began four years ago during a downturn in enrollment--have dwindled significantly because of surging demographics and second thoughts about private schools.