Cliff's Books closes in Pasadena ... Gil Garcetti celebrates the iron workers who built Disney Hall ... Happy Birthday Hollywood Sign and Herb Jeffries, the Bronze Buckaroo ...
Gil Garcetti celebrates Disney Hall's 10th birthday with the ironworkers who built it
Most everyone who sees the Walt Disney Concert Disney Hall thinks of Frank Gehry, its architect. True, he had the dream, but without a highly trained crew of ironworkers, it'd still be a dream. On the Hall's 10th anniversary, local ironworkers celebrated their efforts and were joined in the celebration by former L.A. County District Atttorney Gil Garcetti.
After Gil Garcetti (father to mayor Eric Garcetti) retired from politics, he took up what he called his "second major career," photography. Garcetti began by photographing the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and in doing so created a compelling portrait of the local ironworkers tasked with building the unique building.
Garcetti's photographs eventually became the main content for his book "Iron: Erecting the Walt Disney Concert Hall" and "Frozen Music." Now, 10 years after the hall opened its doors, the Colburn School of Music has some of Garcetti's photos on exhibit.
Off-Ramp host John Rabe went to the opening, where Garcetti and several of the ironworkers involved with the project spoke about their experience with the concert hall's construction.
The Proud Bird, historic LAX adjacent restaurant, to close
Perched on the south side of Los Angeles International Airport is the Proud Bird--an enormous, aviation themed steak and seafood restaurant. For 48 years, LA residents and tourists have flocked to the Proud Bird not just to eat but to watch LAX's planes take off and land and admire the aviation themed decor. That includes a sizable collection of old planes on the restaurant's lawn.
But now, the Torrance Daily Breeze reports that come November the restaurant will be shut its doors for good--a rent dispute is to blame. Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson talked with the Breeze's Brian Sumers about the story behind the Proud Bird's demise.
RIP Cliff's Books, musty, messy, melancholy, marvelous
Cliff's Books in Pasadena closed at the end of business this Thursday.
Cliff’s truly stood alone. In fact other spots on East Colorado between Garfield and Oak Knoll avenues had long since fallen away or moved or found themselves replaced by more modern — if sterile — store fronts. And today many of the trendy restaurants and shops in the neighborhood would probably call the cops on the assortment of oddballs, freaks and cigarette smokers that used to wander the eastern boulevard around the Pasadena Playhouse.
Think about Cliff’s. It outlasted Thrifty, White Hut, Bungalow News, Nardi’s, a couple of other used bookstores and a proprietor or two of the venerable playhouse itself. Somehow Cliff’s with its funky smells, its dust mites, its lack of light, its low ceilings and its less-than-organized layout managed to stay in business even as Vroman’s expanded and grew, Target moved into the neighborhood and the empty lot that was kitty corner to Cliff’s filled with apartments and upscale eateries. That’s a tribute to something. Right?
-- Frank Girardot, Pasadena Star-News
Cliff Gildart, an 81-year old former probation officer, opened Cliff's in 1986, told Off-Ramp that he was inspired to do so, to some extent, when he learned that the chances of someone shooting a gun during a holdup was directly related to their level of literacy. The better read, the less violent they were.
John Rabe went in for a last haul, and came out with a stack of sci-fi anthologies and a signed (!) Lowell Thomas memoir. He also interviewed a longtime clerk, Jerry Lang, who mostly blamed the Internet; David Kipen of Libros Schmibros and Take Two, who mostly blamed Cliff’s old-fashioned business practices; and Cliff himself, Cliff Gildart, the former probation officer who opened the place in 1986 and who mostly blamed parking pirates for the closing.
The Hollywood sign: Still turning heads at 90
Hard to believe that a sign for a real estate development became the symbol for the entertainment capital of the world – Hollywood. Harder still to believe that it’s marking its 90th birthday this year. Marc Wanamaker is a historian and lover of all things Hollywood, and he talks about the ups and downs of the landmark with Patt Morrison at the W Hotel in Hollywood, within sight of those iconic nine letters.