Meet the East Side Moto Babes, a motorcycle club by women, for women; and the LAPD's class of 1966, men sworn-in the year after the Watts riots. John calls up the LA Craft Beer Hotline, with operators standing by to answer any of your questions about beer … including “Why I-P-A?” Two new animated movies – The Little Prince and Kubo and the Two Strings – highlight the resurgence in stop-motion animation. With the Rams returning to town, and their first game this weekend at the Coliseum, we go to Tom Bergen’s, the venerable Irish pub on Fairfax and home of the original LA Rams. The vault at the Petersen Auto Museum is filled with rare and expensive cars but the Petersen’s archive -- filled with papers, photos, magazines, manuals, and more -- may be just as important to automotive history.
Warm memories and war stories traded at 50 year LAPD class reunion
"See these guys?" retired officer Larry Manchester gestures around a reception hall at the Hyatt Recency in Huntington Beach, CA. "Manson? The Weather Underground? The Watts Riots? These guys were there." Manchester is referring to the few dozen cops, all in their 70s, fraternizing gregariously on the 50th anniversary of their graduation from the LA Police Academy. Their service spanned some of the most iconic events in LA history.
"We are the Parker class," Frank Vergeletto explains proudly, referring to police chief William H. Parker, who died the day after he inspected the class of 1966 at the Academy. "We were the last of his group. That's what made us special. Before chief Parker the city of Los Angeles was very corrupt. We had a chief Davis that went to jail. We had a mayor that went to jail. There was a lot of graft and corruption, and Chief Parker cleaned that all up."
"Some of the officers in this class were involved in a shooting where I got shot," recalls retired officer Frank Pettinato. "At that time when I came on the job, S.W.A.T. wasn't there, we were not equipped with bulletproof vests, and the only thing we had was a six-shot revolver. Our communication was limited to the length of a microphone cord."
Retired Sergeant Joe Cupo says the training he got at the academy saved his life many times. "I had a World War 2 combat veteran who was my training officer and he told me, 'You can either fight everybody into jail, or you can talk 'em into jail, and kid, it's a lot easier talkin' 'em into jail than it is fightin' 'em.' I never killed anybody, I never fired my gun, and I never had a citizen complaint for 30 years, and I was in the busiest crime laden areas the whole time."
Toast the return of the LA Rams at the original Rams bar, under a piece of Rams history
The Rams are coming back to Los Angeles, but the teams’ World Championship banner from 1951 has always had a home at Tom Bergin’s on Fairfax, one of LA’s oldest restaurants.
While the hues of this dark blue and gold pennant may be faded, Los Angeles Rams fans could soon reclaim the history of this iconic bar to make new Rams memories. “The sky is the limit, this could become a new Rams hangout,” says Joshua Neuman, creator and host of the new Rams podcast, The Greatest Show on Grass. “Right now there really aren’t Rams bars in Los Angeles.”
When football player salaries were low and most had civilian jobs in the off-season, you probably would have seen them buying groceries or hanging in the neighborhood … or partying at Tom Bergin’s. Many of the Rams drank at the bar, and played on its fastpitch softball team. Bergin was such a big supporter that when the Rams won it all in 1951, team owner Dan Reeves gave Bergin the pennant – the pre-Super Bowl equivalent of the Vince Lombardi trophy.
"I was born in the wrong century," says Derek Schreck, owner of Tom Bergin's since 2013. He was a regular of the bar before he began to restore it to its current state. His mission was to make the place exactly like it was 80 years ago. Looking up at the banner, preserved behind heavy glass in the rafters of the pub, he says “We have received requests from the NFL Hall of Fame to donate it,” Schreck says. “There was a time when I was finishing up restoring the building. People weren’t sure whether we were going to reopen with the banner. It belongs with the bar. We have the telegraph Dan Reeves sent to Tom Bergin mounted next to it – that gifts the banner to the bar.”
The Rams were the first professional California franchise to win a championship, but since they left things haven’t been the same for LA Ram fans. “Being a Rams fan is Los Angeles has been somewhat humiliating,” Neuman says. “You would go to bars and have to beg them to turn on the Rams game, or you would be shuffled to a back room while a cowboys game was blasting. There was a certain indignity – but you never experienced it in Tom Burgin’s.”
So, if you’re not going to the Coliseum Saturday to watch the Rams play an exhibition game against the Cowboys, the next best thing – to celebrate the team’s return and their place in LA history – would be to raise a glass and watch the game at Tom Bergin’s.
Tom Bergin's: 840 S. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
Meet the women of one of LA's only all-female motorcycle clubs
Founded in 2010, the East Side Moto Babes is "a club of female motorcycle riders who ride and race in Los Angeles," according to the group's Facebook page.
The group — which welcomes men, too — meets every Tuesday night at a different restaurant in Los Angeles' Eastside. From there, they go on a short ride around the city.
Talk with the women of East Side Moto Babes and you'll hear about typical biker stuff: gnarly crashes, whiskey-fueled campouts, the latest gear. But you'll also hear about the casual sexism they encounter in motorcycle communities all over, and the value of having a club run for women, by women.
We met up with the club before a ride on a recent Tuesday to hear their stories.
Emily Hughes, member since 2013
The first time I rode a motorcycle on my own, I dropped it and broke it. I wasn't wearing the right shoes – I was wearing flat-bottom shoes, and I slipped trying to kickstart it. The bike fell over and I cracked the oil pan! I didn't ride again for about two years. It wasn't until I was living in Indonesia when I started riding smaller motorcycles and then really got my chops.
Is there value in riding a club that's all women based? Absolutely. As a woman, you feel less judged by your peers. And it's a very male-dominated, sometimes misogynistic world, the motorcycle world. Men can be ... I don't know, maybe we're just projecting it, but men sometimes can be a little judgmental when you're on a motorcycle. Or they want to "Honey, baby" you. "Honey honey, baby baby, let me show you how that works." And that can make you feel small — like you can't do it.
I stopped riding after I had a kid. And then when I was going through a divorce, I happened across a new motorcycle, my child was then about five or six. I bought the motorcycle and I started riding it, and it was this incredible, therapeutic tool that helped me feel like I was in control of my life again. Suddenly I was on this 600-pound machine and throwing it around corners and feeling very empowered. So that was a really great journey.
Elisa Perez, member since 2015
I heard about it through my friend, David Laredo. I ran into him at bar and I had just purchased my Triumph — I have a 2015 Bonneville. It's black and mean! Her name is Luna Negra, which means "black moon." Mag tires, leather seat. I still kept my lollipop mirrors, because they're cute.
I've always loved motorcycles, ever since I was a little girl, always attracted to then. But it was scary to me. And them my brother's friend gave me a ride — I was hooked. But I also hurt myself, because I did exactly what he told me not to do: Which is when you get off of the motorcycle, don't put your leg on the exhaust! I still have the scar. I got a little burnt.
I feel a little bit safer on the road with ladies. I've ridden with men, and guys have a little more adrenaline, testosterone. For me, it was a little intimidating.
It's just fun, and we all get off of our motorcycles, take off our helmets and it's like "Girl, How's my hair? Girl, how's my lipstick?" You can't really do that with a guy.
Stacie London, Founder
I bought my first bike and started riding in 2009. I was riding with a lot of male groups, because there wasn't a female group. And so I was looking around and saw how great it was — these male clubs had so much camaraderie! They helped each other and did events together.
I designed a logo and started a Facebook page and tagged all the women I knew who rode motorcycles. I scheduled our first meeting — four people showed up!
That first ride was really fun. It was really exciting, we met at a pizza place in Boyle Heights, and it was super giddy and exciting. Just that there were other women that were interested in not just riding, but had a similar vision that I had.
I mean, it was one of the goals — and I think we achieved it — is the idea of community. And not just community for women, even thought that's our main focus, but it's also a coed community. That men and women ride together, that women have something to teach men just like men have something to teach women.
Maria Delgado
I've been riding with the East Side Moto Babes as soon as I got my first motorcycle, which was four years ago.
A lot of people are freaked out about motorcycles. I was scared of them, too. But one time my brother bought home a vintage Honda. When I saw it, I thought "Hey, that seems like a fun challenge, to see if I can learn how to ride a motorcycle!"
I'd have to say my favorite story of riding was when I got my most recent motorcycle, which is an MV Agusta — it's an Italian sport bike without all the fancy plastics.
Two weeks after I bought it, I took it on a road trip from LA to Monterey to watch the MotoGP Races at Laguna Seca. I took a bunch of backroads and road up PCH. It was something I did on my own, but having that support from other women back here in LA — from the East Side Moto Babes — was really encouraging.
Because I was frightened to go on my own. All I had was my maps, I had memorized the routes and the gas stops, hoping that I wouldn't break down. But I did it, and it was amazing.
Anna Logan, member since 2012
The first time I got a motorcycle was my Dad's hand-me-down. It was a Honda Rebel 250 and I actually taught myself how to ride. I took it up and down my street. Eventually I got brave enough to take it to the Rose Bowl. I would practice in the parking lot. And finally I got savvy enough to ride around Highland Park. I told myself, "I'll never get on the freeway, because that's crazy."
And one day I just hopped on the most dangerous freeway in Los Angeles! I think it was [the 110 at] Avenue 52, go gotta go from 0 to 60 real quick before you get smashed. I was nervous as hell, but I hung in there.
I just got around so much easier! It's easier to park, better gas mileage, the convenience of getting around traffic. I started out with scooters in high school and just loved the ease of getting around town. I love just getting together with the girls, going camping, going on adventures together, our dinners, our monthly meetings where we talk about events that we're gonna have. For instance, we did a charity event for the Downtown Women's Shelter.
'Little Prince' and 'Kubo' are part of a renaissance for stop-motion animation
Charles Solomon is an animation historian and critic for Airtalk's Filmweek and Off-Ramp.
Six of the top 20 movies of the year so far are animated films, all of them CG. But as you can see in two new movies, we’re also in a golden age for stop-motion animation.
In "The Little Prince," which opened last weekend, the director uses CG animation to tell a pedestrian new story that’s a framing device for the classic novella, which is told with stop-motion animation.
The stop-motion artists evoke the poetry of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s drawings, using figures that suggest paper sculptures. Saint-Exupery was not a trained artist, but his minimal figures read clearly. Likewise, the simple features, delicate hands, and round eyes of the puppets telegraph their thoughts, but don't distract the viewer with unnecessary detail.
In "Kubo and the Two Strings," which opens next weekend, the title character is a street musician who tells tales of heroic warriors. As he accompanies himself on the samisen, origami figures fly through the air, performing the actions he describes. The visuals feel new and fresh and exciting.
Stop-motion used to be a not terribly exciting form of animation, used primarily for special effects in Ray Harryhausen monster movies and for TV shows like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Animating stop-motion puppets is so tricky and time-consuming, the directors concentrated on those movements and locked down the camera, producing films that were visually uninteresting.
Then in 1993, Tim Burton’s "Nightmare Before Christmas" introduced a new kind of filmmaking. When Jack Skellington lay in the arms of a graveyard angel singing, “What have I done?” while the camera slowly circled him, audiences gasped in amazement. They had never seen anything like it because there had never been anything like it. Burton and director Henry Sellick proved that a stop-motion film could have cinematography as fluid and expressive as the best live action. Burton took the cinematography, animation, and acting even further in the underrated "Corpse Bride" in 2005.
Aardman Animations founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton had pushed the boundaries of what animated Plasticene figures could do in award-winning films like "Babylon" during the 80s. But it was Nick Park’s Oscar-winners "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" that proved clay animation could be as expressive as the best drawn animation or CG. When Gromit looked up from his knitting at the hilariously sinister Penguin, audiences believed the little clay figure was thinking. Wallace and Gromit were as alive as any actor in a Hollywood film.
But I think the more polished animation and cinematography--and the new technologies that are producing better puppets and camera rigs — are only part of the story.
The popularity of stop-motion is also a reaction to the perfection of CG, which tends to produce geometrical precision. Any flaws or imperfections, like the smudges on Russell’s face in "Up," have to be added. But stop-motion, like drawn animation, relies more on the artists’ instincts and less on math. Imperfections and illogic are built into it.
I remember Nick Park studying a still from "Wrong Trousers" and saying, “That’s my scene: you can see my thumbprint on Wallace’s neck.”
In a world where everyone walks around staring at their phones, an occasional thumb print is a welcome reminder of our shared — imperfect — humanity.
Song of the week: Nicholas Krgovich - "Sunset Tower"
This week's Off-Ramp song of the week comes from a Canadian who's fallen in love with our fair city: Nicholas Krgovich.
To date, Krgovich has recorded three albums focused on Los Angeles and its hazy, glamorous, sun-drenched mystique. "Sunset Tower" is a dark brooder that combines the passion of an Alicia Keys song with the pathos of Gloria Swanson's character in Sunset Boulevard.
It's off his latest album, "The Hills," which was released this year. Check out the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArGgQgjz50
Vancouver's Krgovich doesn't have any tour dates announced yet, but you can try and sate yourself by checking out his extensive collection of slick, hypnotic music videos on Youtube.
Why Genius Grant-winner Gene Luen Yang made Superman a bully
UPDATE 9/22/2016: Mike Roe is prescient! Gene Luen Yang just won a $625,000 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant because his "work for young adults demonstrates the potential of comics to broaden our understanding of diverse cultures and people." Here's the video from the foundation's website.
Congratulations, Gene!
Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novelist making a big impact on kids. He was named the national ambassador for young people's literature by the Library of Congress and has gone from being a computer science teacher to a comic book writer. He also recently transitioned from longer-form graphic novels to monthly serialized comics.
His latest — DC Comics' "New Super-Man" — tells the story of the teenage Kenan Kong, who becomes China's Superman, a superhero with a mean streak. The story, with art by Victor Bogdanovic, combines western and eastern influences, mixing the story of Clark Kent with the ancient Chinese tale of the Monkey King.
Learning to write monthly comics
While Yang comes with major comic cred, it's been a bumpy road to learning the form of traditional superhero comics. His first major DC project was writing their main "Superman" book.
"I did a 10-issue run on regular 'Superman,' and I was just on a steep learning curve," Yang says. "It was really difficult to come from the world of graphic novels, where there was no page limit, to writing in these 22-page chunks."
Yang says DC stood behind him during the transition.
"I come from the world of young adult graphic novels, and what DC has allowed me to do with this new book is to kind of get back to a voice that feels a little bit more native to me."
Clark Kent: Super bully
"New Super-Man" protagonist Kenan Kong is less of a traditional superhero than his namesake, but Yang says the inspiration goes back to the very beginning of the character.
"If you look at early Clark Kent stories from the late 1930s, early 1940s, Superman started off as kind of a bully. He was kind of a jerk, he was kind of full of himself, and then eventually, as the decades go on, he develops into this moral compass that we all know today."
Yang says incorporating those early traits of Superman gives the story resonance — then Yang adds elements from the ancient Chinese story "Journey to the West."
"The Monkey King also has a similar story arc," Yang says. "He starts off as a bully and he has this process of enlightenment where he arrives at a more selfless character. So by doing this with Kenan Kong, we are referencing both an American story — the story of Clark Kent — and a very Chinese story."
The Asian-American pop culture moment
Asian-American stories have taken on more prominence lately, with TV series "Fresh Off The Boat" leading the way. Stories that come out of Asian-American culture fit well with the increasing diversity in society, Yang says.
"It's rare now that you go through your entire life just with people who look like you or live like you," he says. "You meet people at school, you meet people at work that are completely different from you."
One piece of culture that Yang brings to "New Super-Man" is deep Chinese symbolism, starting with a red uniform.
"A Chinese Superman has to be red, because red is the character with the most cultural currency, and the most cultural meaning for Chinese. It's the color of joy, it's the color of strength, it's the color of virtue," Yang says. "The other piece of symbolism on his costume is the octagon around his chest. Now the octagon is actually a reference to 'bagua,' which is a Taoist concept, and it's fundamental to a Chinese view of the universe. Taoist concepts will play a vital role in this character's journey."
Chinese versions of Batman's and Wonder Woman's uniforms in Yang's comic also incorporate strong color motifs. Yang says he hopes the symbolism will bring something to the story and play to a wider audience.
The next generation
As the national ambassador for young people's literature, Yang has been trying to engage kids with reading. Along with the rest of the comics in DC's "Rebirth" line, Yang offered his endorsements of these graphic novels to pull in young adult readers:
- Anything by Raina Telgemeier (best known for "Smile")
- "Meanwhile" by Jason Shiga, which Yang describes as a Choose Your Own Adventure graphic novel
- "Amulet" by Kazu Kibuishi
"All of these are on-ramps into not just storytelling, but into the habit of reading," Yang says.
If you want your on-ramp to be "New Super-Man," the first two issues are in stores now.
An alternate cover for DC Comics' "New Super-Man #1."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Forget the vault! The Petersen Auto Museum's archive is an Ali Baba’s cave of gearhead lore
The coming of the car at the dawn of the last century made Los Angeles the world’s first city of automotion, of freeways, parking structures, unequaled liberty of movement, sprawl …and smog. Supposing you wanted to probe the raw history of the Southland’s troubled romance with the automobile?
You’d go to the Petersen Auto Museum, whose archive comprises probably the largest single collection of automotive history. Thousands of automotive books, magazines (1,300 different publications), manuals, brochures, releases, advertisements, and more than 10-million photographs, most of them never published, plus blueprints of rare, classic cars, and arrays of tires and car parts. Not to mention a full set of Hot Wheels toys, bundles of old street signs and even a pristine full-size billboard for the 1929 Cadillac.
This Ali Baba’s cave of gearhead lore sprawls in thousands of filing cabinets, scores of shipping pallets, and hundreds of yards of shelving in the basement of the swank museum building at Wilshire and Fairfax, closely adjoined by the elite prize vehicles of the Petersen’s Vault Collection—think lavender and fuchsia 1930 Ruxton convertible, a mirror-black 1930’s Talbot Lago coupe.
The vault gets all the visitors, but the genuine knowledge of the entire automotive era resides in the archives, which is the charge of Carolina Luna, an historian with an MA from CalState LA, who began as an intern.
She watches as a half-dozen college age people in blue surgical gloves work at a table, handling rare old pictures and documents, some of which will soon be digitized. The archive workforce is nearly all interns like these and volunteers—retirees with vast professional car experience. The elders are happy to pass their specialized knowledge along to the new generation.
Joe Gattenio, for instance, works in the car parts archive where he mentors people too young to have ever seen a carburetor. And Tom Voehringer, who runs the larger of two photo archives at the Petersen, showed us a photo he dug up in 2010: a set of pictures of 50s movie icon James Dean, when he was creating another, tragic career as a competitive sports car racer. Here there are actual photos of him in 1955—winning a big race at Palm Springs in his Porsche. He'd soon die in the crash of his Porsche 550.
Carolina Luna’s ultimate goal is to digitize the entire collection. Until then, access to the archives is on an individual basis. But if you want to consult the blueprints to build you own classic replica Tucker Torpedo sedan, or need a shop manual to do a brake job on your 1923 Nash, just ask Carolina.
Note: This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Mr. Voehringer's name and several details regarding the James Dean photo.