San Gabriel Valley

LOOKING for the gritty ambience of dearly departed L.A. rock dives such as Al's Bar and the Garage in Silver Lake? Dig out the earplugs and throw on a leather jacket, because your new favorite hangout lies to the east. Yes, Spike's Bar and Billiards is in Rosemead, but that only sounds like a distant land. From Silver Lake, it's about a 15-minute jaunt -- a shorter trek than, say, the Sunset Strip.

A spasm of cross-racial gang shootings in and around the San Gabriel Valley city of Monrovia has left a 64-year-old African American man and a 16-year-old Latina dead and prompted a law enforcement crackdown to stem the bloodshed. In all, seven people have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, as suspected black and Latino gang members have traded gunfire. At least two of those killed have been bystanders, authorities said.

As the Olympic torch made its way through the streets of Paris, London and San Francisco, tens of thousands protested China's treatment of Tibet and the Dalai Lama. But inside some Chinese American communities, notably the San Gabriel Valley, the view of Tibet and its spiritual leader is far more complex.

POLISHING off their cream-filled crepes and fruit smoothies, the after-movie crowd at Garden Cafe drifts homeward around 1 a.m. But by 3 a.m., a fresh wave of customers -- most in goth-inspired club-wear -- fills the tables at this classic Hong Kong-style coffee shop.

Declaring that it's time to try something new in the war on traffic, Los Angeles County transportation officials unanimously voted Thursday to make some motorists pay tolls to use carpool lanes on two local freeways. If all goes as planned, tolls for those lanes will take effect on the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley by the end of 2010. On the 210, it is expected that tolls will be implemented between Pasadena and the 605 Freeway.

Take a look at the map on this page and it might help explain why local officials want to convert the carpool lanes on parts of the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley to toll lanes. The map was built using data from the 2000 Census, and it shows the average commuting time for nearly all Southland cities. Notice any patterns? Nearly all the cities in the valley and the Inland Empire are colored yellow or red, meaning residents there have the longest commutes.

The fiery dishes spiked with Sichuan peppercorns began arriving on the table, but Tang Xiulan and her friends remained transfixed by a television screen above the restaurant's front door showing images of rescue efforts in their home province. The past week has provided the most they had seen or heard of Sichuan since they immigrated to the United States -- some a decade ago or more. Unlike Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, the cities of Sichuan are largely unheralded overseas.

While Southern California transit officials push to speed traffic by installing toll lanes on the 10 and 210 freeways, the member of Congress who represents the San Gabriel Valley is telling them to just slow down a little. The plan is to convert the carpool lane on both freeways to toll lanes that will also feature express bus service. But Rep. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) doesn't like it, at least not yet. And she's not alone. One of her colleagues -- Rep.

On the far eastern side of Pasadena, the Gold Line tracks run in the middle of the 210 Freeway and then, at Madre Street, they just stop. The old rail right of way continues up the middle of the freeway and extends across the width of the Valley, roughly paralleling the 210. Hardly any freight trains use the corridor, and it's been decades since passengers rode those rails. Public officials from across the San Gabriel Valley are hoping to change that soon.

The celery and squid sizzle in Suipao Tsai's blackened wok as she prepares lunch for up to six dozen employees of the family's multimillion-dollar lingerie business in the city of Industry. It's a scene repeated every weekday morning at her palatial family compound in the hills of Rowland Heights. Chicken is deep fried on an outdoor cooking island by the pool and waterfall.