Landmarks

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Music Center in April with three programs of mixed repertory, combining contemporary works with such Ailey classics as 1960's "Revelations. " Alicia Graf Mack, who rejoined the company in 2011 after she was sidelined with an injury for three years, will be front and center in many of the performances. The dancer for the 55-year-old company talked about the engagement while on tour in Gainesville, Fla. PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times What will you be dancing?

He was the first Chinese American graduate of Stanford Law School and the first Chinese American judge to be appointed to the bench in the continental United States. On Friday, he became the first Chinese American to have a Los Angeles landmark named after him: Judge Delbert E. Wong Square, which encompasses the intersection of Hill and Ord streets at the western edge of Chinatown. Councilman Ed Reyes hopes that someday the stretch of Hill Street that runs in front of the Chinatown public library will be named after Wong, who died in 2006 at age 85. Wong and his wife, Dolores, were instrumental in getting the library built, so the location would be fitting.

When Junior's Deli closed in late December, longtime customers lined up for a last, nostalgic nosh at the 53-year-old Westside institution. But Brian Won's main reaction was "meh. " "The food was unremarkable," said the West Los Angeles IT specialist, 32, who visited to use up a Groupon voucher. "Given that there are so many good places to eat in L.A., I have a really hard time saying yes to that. " Increasing apathy, particularly from younger patrons, has driven traditional Jewish delicatessens from their mid-century pinnacle.

Ronda Rousey is celebrated as a trailblazer, the first female champion in the male bastion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She got there by herself, with nothing more than the assistance of her mom and a few select others. When she enters the octagon Saturday night at Honda Center for UFC's first female fight - the main event against challenger Liz Carmouche - Rousey does so only after taking a series of boldly independent stances that wove together the fabric of this Santa Monica high school dropout.

When Los Angeles muralist Richard Wyatt Jr. set out in 1990 to create a gigantic public artwork paying tribute to nearly a dozen great jazz musicians, he was given only two specific requests. "Nat King Cole's widow [Maria] asked me if I would show him wearing his favorite tie," said Wyatt, 57, as he stood next to his recently restored mural at the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood last week. "And Joe Smith, who was president of Capitol at the time, asked me if I'd please include Ella Fitzgerald," he said.

Antron Brown was in constant motion before qualifying Friday, what with fans wanting his autograph, crew members wanting his ear and no less than drag-racing legend John Force wanting a bit of his guidance. But Brown wasn't complaining because it comes with having won the top-fuel championship in the National Hot Rod Assn. last year, when Brown became the first African American driver to win a major U.S. motor-racing title. Now Brown is starting his quest to win back-to-back championships at this weekend's season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona.

From rubble and wreckage, Ki Suh Park often saw possibility. It was so as he stood amid the destruction of the Korean War, when he resolved to study architecture and help rebuild his homeland. And it was so as he drove down Western Avenue after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when he vowed to help rebuild a community after the violence that wracked his adopted home. Park, an architect who rose to become a leader in the city's Korean American community, died Jan. 16 at Stanford University Medical Center after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his family said.

When President Obama first took office, many highlighted the occasion as a fulfillment of many promises in music from the civil rights era. Songs from the '60s that promised change and lambasted inequality took a new air of poignancy with the first black president in office. As his second inauguration wraps up with Beyonce ravishing the national anthem Monday morning, and on the auspicious occasion of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, here are a few of the landmark songs from that era. Sam Cooke -- "A Change is Gonna Come" The most prophetic song from the era is also Cooke's most beautiful vocal.

No school has meant more to the African American community in Los Angeles than Crenshaw High . For most of its 45 years, it has been an established neighborhood hub, known for championship athletic teams and arts programs, sending graduates to top colleges. But the Leimert Park campus has declined in recent years. Dropout rates have soared and student achievement has plummeted. L.A. Unified school Supt. John Deasy calls it one of the district's biggest disappointments. In an effort to turn the school around, the Board of Education on Tuesday approved Deasy's drastic proposal to remake the campus into three magnets - and require teachers to reapply for their jobs.

The Frank Gehry-designed Benson House - a Calabasas historic landmark - reflects the architect's "deconstructed village" style. One part of the residence contains the main living spaces, another has the sleeping quarters, and the two are connected by wood bridges and exterior corridors. The details Location: 23685 Clover Trails, Calabasas 91302 Asking price: $895,000 Year built: 1981 House size: Two bedrooms, three bathrooms, 1,719 square feet Lot size: 15,116 square feet Features: Concrete floors, exposed rafters, dining area, fireplace, loft, laundry room, expansive windows, mountain and valley views.