Fairfax

With a cockatiel perched on her shoulder and her brown hair flowing nearly to her waist, Patricia Morison looks elegant and at ease beneath a portrait of herself. The former Broadway star of "Kiss Me Kate" and "The King and I" stares out her ninth-floor window at the rest of Park La Brea. She is 97 now and, having lived in the same tower for more than 50 years, is one of the last representatives of the demographic that once dominated the apartment complex. "It was more homogenous, I have to say. Most of the population was actors, actresses, artistic folks and businesspeople on the top floor," says Morison, who negotiates her flat with the aid of a walker.

It was a vision former USC coach Tim Floyd had. To put Derrick Williams, Lamont Jones and Solomon Hill together and win an NCAA title. Then Floyd left the Trojans in the middle of a scandal involving the football program and basketball star O.J. Mayo, and Williams, Hill and Jones landed at Arizona. Williams became a national star with the Wildcats. Jones played two seasons in Tucson before transferring to Iona in order to be closer to his home in Harlem. Hill is still at Arizona and making life nice for Coach Sean Miller.

Kareem Jamar glanced at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter and couldn't believe it. "It was crazy because all my four years," the Westchester guard said, "it's never been a blowout." A series that has spawned plenty of epic battles produced an instant clunker Wednesday night when top-ranked Westchester beat Fairfax, 72-39, in the tiny Fairfax gym. It was the most one-sided game in the series since Fairfax trounced its Western League rival by 33 points in the 2007 Southern California Regional Division I championship.

When Jordan Wilson of Los Angeles Windward High banked in a three-point shot from the top of the key as the first half ended Saturday at Fairfax High, it was a sign he could make anything. "I was feeling it," he said. Wilson made seven three-point baskets and finished with 33 points in Windward's 86-72 victory over Mission Hills Alemany in the Fairfax State Preview Classic. Windward, ranked No. 7 by The Times in the preseason, is 14-8 and finally playing like a top 25 team. Earlier in the week, the Wildcats knocked off Pacific Hills.

WHEN: Tonight at 8 SITE: East Los Angeles College KEY PLAYERS: Quarterback Rodney Dorsett of Fairfax has thrown for 1,562 yards and nine touchdowns. He has run for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Tailback Michael Hale of Fairfax has rushed for 1,039 yards and 16 touchdowns. Richard Bennett, a defensive end, is the leader of the Chatsworth defense.

When the venerable Pan Pacific Auditorium in the Fairfax neighborhood went up in flames, it took nearly six decades of Los Angeles history with it. Yet the loss of this landmark could pale by comparison to an even more devastating tragedy looming less conspicuously: the gradual sacrifice of the vibrant Fairfax neighborhood to gentrification precipitated by large-scale commercial development. Los Angeles needs to treat exceptional, increasingly fragile communities like the Fairfax district that housed the Pan Pacific with special care because we have precious few of them.

Last basketball season, after no players were selected from California for the McDonald's All-American Game, there was concern about a talent shortage. After watching the talent at this week's Fairfax tournament, I can report those worries were unfounded. Santa Ana Mater Dei fans should start humming the tune, "Happy Days are Here Again," because 6-foot-5 freshman Shaqquan Aaron is going to be the Monarchs' best first-year player since Taylor King. And just wait until he gains more strength.

There was no Parker Jackson-Cartwright on Monday night at the Fairfax tournament. The heavily recruited junior point guard from Los Angeles Loyola sat in a chair resting his ankles after playing at a camp in Chicago over the weekend. In Jackson-Cartwright's absence, another promising junior point guard, Ajon Efferson, put on a first-half show for Pasadena, scoring 16 points. In the second half, it was Burbank transfer Andre Spight making major contributions. Efferson finished with 18 points and Spight had 21 points in Pasadena's 66-57 victory over Loyola.

Fairfax played so poorly for the first 18 minutes of its Western League basketball game against Palisades on Friday night that Coach Harvey Kitani probably didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The Lions trailed 45-19 early in the third quarter. They made three of 29 shots in the first half. The big question was whether a running clock would be used in the fourth quarter. A bigger surprise was that the Lions came close to pulling off an impressive comeback. They trailed 62-60 and had the ball with 14 seconds left.

Michael Feuer, director of research and issues for Mayor Tom Bradley's gubernatorial campaign, has been named executive director of Bet Tzedek, a nonprofit legal service organization. Feuer, 28, replaces Terry Friedman, who resigned to seek public office. A Harvard Law School graduate, Feuer will begin overseeing the $1.6-million agency after the November elections.

Los Angeles High School Sports Hall of Fame: 2013 Class AQUATICS Lenny Krayzelburg, Fairfax Marjorie Gestring, Los Angeles Sue Gossick, Taft SOFTBALL Laura Espinoza Watson, Banning GOLF Donna Caponi Byrnes, Granada Hills WRESTLING Briggs Hunt, Los Angeles VOLLEYBALL Craig Buck, Taft Jeff Stork, Taft Kim Ruddins, Westchester Ron Lang, Dorsey ...

The atmosphere was electric Friday night at Fairfax High. There was a packed gym for a high school basketball game matching City Section powers Westchester and Fairfax. Fans got their money's worth. There were dunks by Chaunce Hill of Fairfax. There were blocked shots by Nick Reese of Westchester. There was fabulous point guard play by Jonathan Brown of Fairfax. There were three-point bombs by Myles Stewart of Westchester. And most importantly, there was a game that produced drama at the end. After Lindsey Drew of Fairfax had given his team a one-point lead with an offensive rebound basket with 20 seconds left, Nick Hamilton of Westchester scored on a layup with eight seconds left, enabling the Comets to pull out a 65-64 victory.

Have you been to Tom Bergin's Tavern lately? No — not Molly Malone's, the pub with the bands; the other one on Fairfax, a few blocks south, with the Irish coffee and the old Bing Crosby vibe. Bergin's has been a fascinating place since Brandon Boudet took it over last summer, partly because you're unsure whether you have fallen prey to an elaborate put-on or whether you really have stepped back into Raymond Chandler's L.A., whether the names of the paper shamrocks still stapled to the ceiling are of authentic provenance and whether the dinginess of the barroom is real.

Most of the high school band members had never touched an instrument. Most had never marched; most couldn't read music. But in the fall of 2006, Ray Vizcarra resurrected the Fairfax Marching Lions. Wearing red T-shirts, the band belted out the national anthem and school song at the first home football game of the season. The band program at Fairfax High School had been defunct for two decades. But Vizcarra, the new, young band and orchestra director, had gone from classroom to classroom, recruiting students to revive it. In five years, the band won more trophies than Vizcarra can keep track of. Fifteen months after the band's formation, the Marching Lions won their first of two Los Angeles Unified School District band and drill championships.

With a cockatiel perched on her shoulder and her brown hair flowing nearly to her waist, Patricia Morison looks elegant and at ease beneath a portrait of herself. The former Broadway star of "Kiss Me Kate" and "The King and I" stares out her ninth-floor window at the rest of Park La Brea. She is 97 now and, having lived in the same tower for more than 50 years, is one of the last representatives of the demographic that once dominated the apartment complex. "It was more homogenous, I have to say. Most of the population was actors, actresses, artistic folks and businesspeople on the top floor," says Morison, who negotiates her flat with the aid of a walker.

Nearly four decades ago, 18 friends came together to offer free legal services in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. They were lawyers and legal secretaries and law students and social workers, and they found themselves a storefront on Fairfax Avenue. Each month, they chipped in $5 apiece, which was enough to cover rent, electricity and phones. No one got paid a dime. All volunteered time. Theirs was a tiny operation with a name huge with hope: Bet Tzedek, which in Hebrew means House of Justice.

Long Beach Poly boys' basketball Coach Sharrief Metoyer was calmly and quietly sitting in his chair, his legs crossed, as his team fell behind by 10 points against Westlake Village Oaks Christian in the opening half of the Fairfax tournament on Tuesday night. "You wait and see if kids are going to learn," Metoyer said of his demeanor. Finally, he'd seen enough. He called timeout. He raised his voice and threatened to bench a couple players if they didn't start playing harder.

Anthony January sank a 15-foot jump shot with eight seconds remaining to give Carson High School a 49-48 basketball victory over Fairfax Wednesday in a City 4-A quarterfinal playoff game at Fairfax. January's clutch basket saved the win for Carson, which saw its second-half lead of 14 points crumble under a 20-1 Fairfax run. Junior forward Sean Higgins, who scored 22 points, led the spree with 12 points to give Fairfax a 46-41 lead with 3:18 left.

A deputy U.S. marshal was arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a man who intervened in a late-night argument between the off-duty lawman and his wife in a Fairfax area alley more than four years ago. Matthew Itkowitz was taken into custody a day after being secretly indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on civil rights and obstruction of justice charges that carry a potential life sentence. He was arraigned in the same downtown Los Angeles courthouse where he reports to work each day. The filing of criminal charges against a law enforcement officer for use of deadly force is rare, and such cases are typically difficult to prove.

Long Beach Poly boys' basketball Coach Sharrief Metoyer was calmly and quietly sitting in his chair, his legs crossed, as his team fell behind by 10 points against Westlake Village Oaks Christian in the opening half of the Fairfax tournament on Tuesday night. "You wait and see if kids are going to learn," Metoyer said of his demeanor. Finally, he'd seen enough. He called timeout. He raised his voice and threatened to bench a couple players if they didn't start playing harder.