Remembering Ezat Delijani, 83; bought and saved 4 downtown LA movie palaces ... A Noise Within gets a huge new theatre ... stick-fighting in Hermosa Beach ... Nick Roman remembers covering Cerritos plane crash 25 years ago ...
A Noise Within builds new 33,000sf theatre center in East Pasadena
UPDATE: A Noise Within opened the new theatre October 29 with a joyous performance of Twelfth Night, updated to pre-Castro Cuba. The next play up is O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms," which opens November 19. Here's our sneak preview of the new space, which aired August 2011.
After 19 years in a funky but impractical space in Glendale, A Noise Within, the classical rep theatre company, is building a new home in East Pasadena with the help of a $13m capital campaign. The theatre's founders give Off-Ramp host John Rabe an exclusive tour of the beautiful new facility, which opens in late October.
Forget Food on a Stick - Check out the Shark Tank at the LA County Fair
Phillip Peters has brought his 5,000 gallon shark tank trailer to the LA County Fair, where it's on display -- with him in it -- every day for the run of the fair. He tells Ashley Bailey why he does it, where the sharks come from, where he takes them, and which shark is his favorite.
Mayor Bogaard's Plans for East Pasadena
Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with longtime Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard about A Noise Within's place in his dreams for East Pasadena.
Savior of downtown LA theaters, Ezat Delijani, dead at 83
In 1982, when Ezat Delijani bought his first endangered movie palace in downtown Los Angeles, it was an act of faith. Now, it's a given that places like the Orpheum and the Million Dollar Theatre should be preserved for posterity. Delijani, an Iran-born philanthropist, died Saturday. He was 83.
(The Tower Theater, circa 1927. Credit: LA Public Library/Herald-Examiner Collection)
For decades, the movie palaces that line Broadway were the gems of downtown Los Angeles. Even into the 1980s, they were still well attended, used to show Spanish-language films. But in 1982, the Los Angeles Theater was threatened with demolition, and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley asked Ezat Delijani, newly arrived from Iran, to step in.
Delijani did so literally. As Delijani's son Shahram Delijani told the LA Times, "When he first walked in, he was literally blown away by the beauty and knew he had to save the theater."
(Los Angeles Theatre, 1979. Credit: LA Public Library/William Reagh)
So he bought the Los Angeles Theater. Then came the Tower, and the Palace ...
(The Palace, 1972. Credit: LAPL online photo collection.)
... and the State.
(Loew's State Theater, 1938. Credit: LAPL online photo collection.)
Linda Dishman of the LA Conservancy says the elder Delijani "grew up in an historic house in Tehran, and really appreciated the history that was imbued in that house." But -- a lesson for us -- she also says "when you come to a place, you appreciate historic resources more than people who have lived with them their whole lives."
25 years after the Cerritos plane crash
25 years ago this week, Aeromexico flight 498 was making its descent into LAX when a smaller, private plane carrying just three passengers collided with it mid-air. The planes spiraled down towards Cerritos. All in all 82 people died, 15 of them were on the ground. Nick Roman is KPCC's Managing Editor. Back then, he was working for a station in Long Beach. He talked with Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson about the accident.
Sweet and Hot Music Festival brings jazz, classic pop songwriting to LA
From September 2 through 5, the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel will host a weekend of "sweet and hot" jazz from the 1920s - 1950s, America's Golden Age of popular music.
"For me and I think most of the people that are involved with this, we feel that jazz is music that swings," said Wally Holmes, director of the festival. "And it's not swinging just if the band is swinging, the people have got to be swinging, too."
The Sweet and Hot Music Festival has been swinging every labor day weekend in Los Angeles since 1984. This year's lineup includes performances by Barbara Morrison, the Mills Brothers and 98 year-old legend Herb Jeffries, best known for a hit single he performed with Duke Ellington. In total, over 50 artists will gather to perform in a wide variety of musical styles.
"Come and see them and you decide whether it swings or not," said Holmes.
Audio: Off-Ramp's Brian Watt talks with Wally Holmes, who wrote the 1970s hit song "Rock The Boat" and is now the director of the Sweet and Hot Music Festival.
Herb Jeffries: Ellington singer and pioneering black cowboy actor
5-26-2014 UPDATE: Herb Jeffries died of heart failure Sunday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center. He was 100.
9-24-2013 UPDATE: Today is probably Herb Jeffries 100th birthday! Happy Birthday, Mr Jeffries!
8-31-2011 UPDATE: Herb Jeffries is scheduled to appear at the Sweet and Hot Music Festival, which is at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel from September 2 through 5. It's a weekend of jazz from the 1920s - 1950s, America's Golden Age of popular music.
97-year old Herb Jeffries had two distinct careers. He's been called the Bronze Buckaroo, the two gun man from Harlem, Herb Jeffries was the first African American actor to star in a Western film back in 1937. But he also sang with Duke Ellington in the early 40s. "Flamingo" was his signature song.
Jeffries is still singing today. If the 97 year old Jeffries is feeling up to it, you can see him perform this weekend at the the 14th Annual Sweet and Hot Music Festival at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. KPCC's Brian Watt talked with Jeffries for Off-Ramp.
COME INSIDE to see Jeffries singing years ago, and for a link to the festival.
Meet KPCC's newest blogger: Matt DeBord
If you visit our website, kpcc dot org, you might have noticed something new: the Debord Report - a look at Southern California's economy through the eyes of writer Matthew DeBord. He talked with Off-Ramp Producer Kevin Ferguson.
Stepping into a full-contact stickfighting ring
Parks on Sunday morning are typically reserved for dog-walking or quiet picnics, but for members of an anything-goes fighting organization, Sunday mornings are anything but a walk in the park. Off-Ramp's Raghu Manavalan went down to Hermosa Beach to see the action.
Twenty people have gathered here from as far as Canada and Germany for the latest Dog Brothers event. Wooden sticks, knives, whips, and whatever else fighters agree to use against each other are all fair game.
"No judges, no referees, no trophies. One rule only: Be friends at the end of the day," Marc Denny, founder of the Dog Brothers, said in a past interview on Off-Ramp. "This means our goal is that no one spends the night in the hospital. Our goal is that everyone leaves with the IQ with which they came."
Eric Bryant has been taking part in these events for six years. He says the trick to staying healthy is to be a little cautious.
"If you can see it's...a little bit dangerous. So you’ve got to be a little bit careful," says Bryant. "You’ve got to still have a job and all those things, too."
Why would anybody be willing to take part in a full-contact fight? Bryant says it has to do with the rush of adrenaline that comes from knowing you may be in danger.
"Honestly, it’s the intensity of it. It’s hard to replicate anything else that feels like this. Even having kick-boxed before and stuff like that, when a stick comes whizzing by your head at 90 miles-per-hour it's like, 'Whoa, I’m awake now.'"
"You see the guys out here with the aluminum knives doing our knife sparring, when you get thrusted in the body it really, really hurts," Bryant says. "And the stick, it’s like the worst sunburn you’ve ever had – and then someone rubbing it with sandpaper. It’s pretty bad. It stings really, really bad. And then if you get a really solid shot, it makes it ache. It stinging on the outside, and it aches really bad on the inside, and it makes a nauseated feeling all at the same time. So it’s very unpleasant, but for some reason we’re addicted to it."
But, according to some of its participants, the real satisfaction of being in the group comes from fighting through the pain.
“It's just an amazing thing, to feel that pain and know you're in a fight and to keep going," says Roy Starr after taking part in his first Dog Brothers event. "It's addictive, it really is, in the best sense. People may look at it and think it's an alpha-male-macho-thing but it's not that at all. I’m hooked. As long as my bones are intact, I’ll keep going into my 50s if I can."
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