The Brief

It’s a Wednesday morning at around 6:30 a.m., and people are streaming into Friendship Auditorium in Los Feliz — a spacious venue operated by the city typically used for weddings and other ceremonies. But this morning, what’s on the menu is a hearty breakfast, the chance to “flip the egg,” and an art lecture from Robocop himself, Peter Weller.

That is just one part of the weekly meeting at the Los Angeles Breakfast Club — a gathering that began 100 years ago for the city’s rich and famous to share a meal and have fun while learning something enriching along the way. Today, it remains one of Los Angeles' best-kept secrets.

Walt Disney on his initiation day with Guests and Mickey, September 28, 1932.

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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Joe DiMaggio being initiated on Ham the Sawhorse, with Club Manager Harold Link and member Don Lake, August 18, 1943

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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“The original founders, if they came today, would still recognize so much of what’s happening. Most of the traditions date back to the 1920s,” said Los Angeles Breakfast Club historian Rachel Skytt, co-author of the forthcoming book, The Los Angeles Breakfast Club: A Century of Hollywood, Hi-Jinx, and Ham & Eggs.

The club, Skytt and her co-authors say, started after a group of avid horsemen, including local banker Marco Hellman and merchant Maurice De Mond, finished their ride along the trails near Griffith Park.

“They were wealthy businessmen pretending to be cowboys,” said Sandi Hemmerlein, a co-author of the book. “Naturally, they worked up an appetite on horseback, so one of them arranged to serve breakfast out of a chuckwagon.”

Eventually, the group moved the festivities down to a nearby riding academy, hired a chef and some waiters, and built a picnic table in the shape of a horseshoe.

A postcard featuring exterior of The LABC's second clubhouse on Los Feliz Blvd (1937-1965) and cryptogram.

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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A postcard with driving directions to The LABC's second clubhouse on Los Feliz Blvd (1937-1965).

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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Initial membership consisted only of men, but women attended as guests and speakers at the club almost from the start, with opera singer Amelita Galli-Curci as the first honorary member in 1926.

“During that time, the Breakfast Club had two sister clubs, which were women-only,” Skytt said.

It wasn’t until 1981 when the men’s chapter — by that time known as the Los Angeles Breakfast Club — became officially co-ed.

Who’s who in L.A.

Calvin Coolidge and Grace Coolidge on their initiation day with movie star Mary Pickford and others, February 19, 1930

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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Since the beginning, the club’s ethos was strongly nonpartisan and nonpolitical — and more about fun than networking and business. Hemmerlein mentions that bitter newspaper rivals Harry Chandler and William Randolph Hearst were photographed shaking hands and smiling here in 1926.

“De Mond and Hellman were both Jewish, and lots of the movie business members too: Jack and Sam Warner, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky, Carl Laemmle, Louis B. Mayer, Sid Grauman,” Hammerlein says.

The club also had at least one Native American member, movie director Edwin Carewe.

Over the years, past members include Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joe DiMaggio, Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney, John Philip Sousa, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and Babe Ruth.

And every one of them has had their hand put onto a plate of fried eggs and learned the club’s special wrist-rotating handshake, a ritual known as “flipping the egg.”

A day at the club

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club's "Ham-and-Egg Cryptogram" is a coded chant recited at their weekly meetings.

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James Bartlett

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LAist

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Alex Evans, Co-Executive Director of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, puppeteers Bull the Frog for the Los Angeles Breakfast Club, February 17, 2021

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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That special handshake has endured for decades. But today’s attendees — anywhere from 100 to 200 each time — are a much more diverse bunch. Some have colored dyed hair, while others wear big hats, tiki shirts, or breakfast-themed clothes, and there’s a man carrying a large squirrel hand puppet.

But first, the day starts with the bracing breakfast of ham and eggs and other food staples.

Then the lights go down.

The Roosters, regulars of the club, deliver a friendly heckle during a breakfast meeting in February 2024.

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Larry Underhill

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club

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A breakfast meeting being held at Friendship Auditorium

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Larry Underhill

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Courtesy Los Angeles Breakfast Club.

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On this particular morning, conductor of ceremonies Kahlil Nelson begins the proceedings by singing his version of “The Lambeth Walk” — the classic song from the musical Me and My Girl — with lyrics about Buckaroo Bonzai and Robocop as an affectionate preamble to the day’s guest lecturer, actor and art historian Weller.

Then everyone gets on their feet, doing some light stretching, led by exercise goddess Carole Nese, who is sporting multi-colored LED wristbands. Naturally, everyone groans melodramatically as they bend to touch their toes: This club loves a good ham.

Today, there is a new member initiation: A woman sits on Ham the Sawhorse, blindfolded, as Club President Mickey Corcoran asks her to repeat a specially written membership vow based around the initiate’s hobbies and interests.

The main course of the morning is the lecture, the subjects of which have ranged from Googie architecture and old-school restaurants to the city’s parrot population.

Today, Weller is holding court on Italian art throughout history.

The Los Angeles Breakfast Club podium with two fresh sunny-side-up eggs ready for initiations.

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Christopher Gibson

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LAist

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Judging by the audience reaction, the talk is a hit, and Weller concludes by saying:

“You guys are the warmest and strangest group of people I’ve ever met!”

Quite a compliment coming from the man who starred in the movie adaptation of William S. Burrough’s Naked Lunch.

How to join and how to visit

Los Angeles Breakfast Club meets every Wednesday at 7 a.m. Fees and details on membership can be found at www.labreakfastclub.com

On Friday, Southern California Edison filed lawsuits against Los Angeles County and several other agencies over their alleged roles in the Eaton Fire.

Two lawsuits were filed.

In one suit, the utility company alleges Southern California Gas delayed shutting off gas in the burn area for several days after the fire, making the blaze worse.

“SoCalGas’ design and actions caused gas leaks, gas fires, reignition of fires, gas explosions and secondary ignitions during the critical early stages of the Eaton Fire,” according to the suit.

The claim goes on to say this contributed to the spread of the fire and made firefighting and evacuation efforts more difficult.

In the second suit, the utility company alleges the Eaton Fire was made worse by the local government response, “including due to the failures of LASD, LACoFD, OEM and GENASYS in issuing timely evacuation alerts and notifications,” the claim reads.

The same filing says L.A. County was to blame for vegetation and overgrown brush in the Eaton Canyon area that fueled the blaze.

It also named the city of Pasadena and its utility system, Pasadena Water and Power, the city of Sierra Madre, Kinneloa Irrigation District, Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association, Las Flores Water Company and Lincoln Avenue Water Company as parties responsible for water systems running dry in Altadena as the fire broke out.

Edison says hydrants running dry compounded the extent of the disaster.

Those claims will be heard in the L.A. County Superior Court, which is also handling L.A. County’s lawsuit against SoCal Edison.

Edison itself is the subject of hundreds of lawsuits from survivors of the Eaton Fire, which could cost the company billions of dollars in settlements.

Edison has said its equipment likely sparked the Eaton Fire and filed these suits, in part, because it believes these various entities should share some of the blame for the disaster, which resulted in the destruction of thousands of buildings and the deaths of 19 people.

A compensation program Edison established for fire survivors who forgo suing the company has made settlement offers to more than 80 of those who applied.

A new organization is taking over production of the MLK Day Parade, almost 40 years after the first parade was held in South L.A. to commemorate the civil rights leader.

Bakewell Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper (a partner of The LA Local), was granted the permit in September to organize the parade for the first time by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Formerly called the Kingdom Day Parade, the parade has been rebranded as the Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade. The parade was previously produced and organized by Adrian Dove and the L.A. chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality California (CORE-CA).

With less than a week before the parade kicks off, LA Local reporter LaMonica Peters sat down with Danny Bakewell Jr., president and executive editor of the LA Sentinel, to discuss the details and what attendees should expect.

This Jan. 12 interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Why did you decide to produce the MLK Day Parade this year?

Bakewell: It all started because Adrian Dove, who was the previous promoter, had announced that he was retiring. When he announced he was retiring, LAPD, city council offices and other people said, “Hey, we still want to do the MLK Day parade. Would you guys be interested? You have the infrastructure to put it together.” And we said yes.

What’s different about this year’s production?

We’re going to start the parade with a singer performing “Lift Every Voice.” We’re going to play the message from Bernice King at the start of the show. Obviously, we have Cedric the Entertainer as our grand marshal to add the entertainment value, but the community has always been and will continue to be a major part of this parade.

Is ABC 7 covering the parade this year? 

It’s still going to be televised by ABC. We’re working diligently on how the show is going to be, but ABC has been a great partner.

What was the preparation for this parade?

Thanks to our corporate sponsors, we have a number of bands. The truth is, particularly in LAUSD at this time, and other school districts, they don’t have the funding to just get a bus and get here. I can’t say enough about Airbnb to Bank of America, all of our corporate sponsors, who are supporting all of the youth organizations.

Were there any unexpected challenges while preparing for this parade? 

This [The LA Sentinel office on Crenshaw Blvd.] is usually our command center during The Taste of Soul. It dawned on me last week that we’re going to be a mile away [from the parade route]. So, we made the decision to bring in a trailer to be our office at the corner of King and Crenshaw boulevards.

Any special guests this year besides the grand marshal?

I’m working on a surprise guest to be the singer for the national anthem. No matter what, we will give tribute to the Black national anthem “Lift Every Voice” as loud as we can next Monday.

What’s the long-term vision for this parade, if Bakewell Media continues to produce it?

We see the MLK Day Parade, and we want the world to see and expect to see this parade, the same way they see the Macy’s Parade, the Hollywood Parade or the Rose Parade. BET has come in this year as a partner. So there’s an opportunity to possibly do a national broadcast on BET. Not that we would lose our local television, but we see this as a major parade in this community and in the national African American community, celebrating the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So, we are very excited.

Bits of conversation drift out of Aladdin Used Books as people lined up at the register with stacks of books.

The bustle of activity is bittersweet as the Koreatown bookstore will close its doors at the end of January after 13 years in the neighborhood.

Jina Lee, store manager, said declining sales at the Koreatown branch led to the decision to close the store. In recent years, staffing at the 5,000-square-foot store on the third floor of Madang Mall dropped from six to two, Lee said.

“This was a happy place for everyone,” she said, “but we were struggling.”

On a recent January afternoon, the shop looked lively as customers took advantage of the clearance sale on Korean and English books, CDs, DVDs and other media.

Koreatown resident Jin Lee wishes he visited the bookstore more often.

“It would have been great if it had been this crowded all the time,” Lee said. “But nowadays, people don’t read paper books and prefer devices, so it’s hard for all bookstores.”

Some customers traveled from as far as Orange County and the Inland Empire to visit one last time.

Minjung Kim, who moved from Koreatown to Fullerton five years ago, still made trips to the bookstore after she moved away.

“It’s the only place that sells this many new and used Korean books,” she said.

Each visit to the bookstore was important to David Artiga of Pomona, because it gave him a chance to connect with friends over literature.

“I feel like this is really negative for the community,” he said. “The importance of having a well-versed society, keeping in touch with literature and art is so important. And now this place is just going to be gone.”

South Korea-based Aladdin Used Books opened its first U.S. brick-and-mortar store in Los Angeles in 2013. The store carries around 50,000 new and used books, with a majority in Korean.

Customers will still be able to order books through Aladdin’s website after the store closes.

Ken Derick, a Koreatown resident, walked around the store aisles with a stack of books.

“It’s like we’re kind of moving towards a new technology, like everything’s virtual and online,” he said.

Longtime customer Anthony Kim said he’s enjoyed looking for gems in the English-language shelves.

“My Korean ability is rather limited but I’ve always enjoyed browsing their English language sections,” he said. “And now that I have a niece and nephew, their children’s book section has always been a great place to pick up new books for them.”

Valerie Laguna perused the shop’s CD section, a bygone experience in the era of streaming.

“I really like their CD collection and their literature collection they have in English,” she said.

“I was so sad about it, I immediately texted my friend,” she said. “I’ve gotten so many of my favorite books and my favorite CDs from this place. I feel like losing a place like this is just so sad and makes a huge dent in the community and culture.”

Less than a mile away on Western Avenue, Happy Bookstore owner Jung Jae-seung said it has been difficult for bookstores for some time now. His Korean-language bookstore is also struggling in an era when so many people have abandoned print media.

“It’s really about how long printed books can survive,” Jung said. “From that point of view, it’s hard to be optimistic.”

South L.A. or South Central? More than 20 years ago, that question came with high emotions for some residents who were sick of the stereotypes they saw in media coverage of their neighborhoods.

So in 2003, the Los Angeles City Council renamed the collection of communities south of the 10 freeway in an attempt to cut ties with the connotations of poverty and crime that some believe came to represent South Central after the turbulence of the 1980s and ‘90s. Today, you see South L.A. on official documents, maps and even historical and cultural districts.

Even though city officials moved to wipe away the old name, some locals never stopped calling the area South Central — a name that for them represents history, resilience and Black and Latino culture.

“I think it will always be South Central for its residents and for the people that were born and raised here,” said Evelyn Alfaro-Macias, a social worker who was raised in Historic South Central and whose office is on Hoover Street. “It means home. It means culture. People should respect the name South Central.”

What and where is South LA, anyway?

By the early 2000s, television news and pop culture had given South Central a reputation for violence and chaos that some were eager to shake.

Helen Johnson, a resident of Vermont Square, helped lead the campaign to change the name.

“I think the media can make you or either break you,” 72-year-old Johnson told reporters in 2003 after the city council approved the name change, according to the L.A. Times. “This is what you’ve done to us. You’ve broke us.”

Supporters of the change included then-Councilmember Janice Hahn, who is now a county supervisor and said at the time that the South Central name had become “mostly derogatory.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who was working then as executive director of the nonprofit Community Coalition, said the area’s image problem wasn’t just about its name.

“If the media paid a little more attention to covering positive things in the community, that will also help,” Bass said, according to an L.A. Times report.

The LA Local has reached out Bass and Hahn’s offices, as well as L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

The exact borders of South Los Angeles, or the area formerly known as South Central, are fuzzy.

The South Central name originally only applied to the neighborhood around Central Avenue south of downtown Los Angeles, but it spread west as populations grew.

City planning documents today designate a strip of neighborhoods between Interstate 110 and Arlington Avenue as South Los Angeles and tag the Central Avenue neighborhood as Historic South Central. Others, including academics and the city tourism board, use a map of South Los Angeles that stretches to the border of Culver City.

This is what the community told us

Some businesses in the area adopted the South L.A. name, notably South LA Cafe, the coffee shop that has grown to five locations and become a local institution.

More recently, some groups have made a concerted effort to embrace South Central, like the South Central Run Club or South Central Clips, an Instagram-based group that sells skatewear-inspired “South Central” apparel. (Even South LA Cafe today sells some merch with the South Central name.)

Several locals told The LA Local the official designation never changed anything for them.

“It’s South Central for me. That’s where my roots are,” April Brown said. “When you go anywhere across the country, across the world and you say South Central, they know exactly what you’re talking about.”

To Emily Amador, the name change erases the history of South Central, including “the Black migration that occurred, redlining that created what we know today to be South Central and the demographics, which are here today, which is Black and brown and undocumented.”

Ulysses Alfaro, who was born and raised in the Historic South Central neighborhood, said he uses South L.A. with people from out of town but South Central with locals.

South L.A. is a geographic designator, he said, but he considers South Central to be an identity: “That’s where the grinders are, the hard-working people that work their butts off, their asses off. The ones that keep the city running.”