Elon Musk's tunnel project beneath Hawthorne, LA residents submitted their most ghostly tales, the class that explores racism and the black horror aesthetic.
Elon Musk's Boring Company shows off part of new LA tunnel
The city of Hawthorne in south LA County is just six square miles. Located between the 105 and 405 freeways, you'd be forgiven for not knowing exactly where it is.
For a lot of people, it's the area they pass through on their way to Los Angeles International Airport. But someday it might be a place they also pass under.
Over the weekend, Elon Musk tweeted a picture of the LA tunnel he's building under the city of Hawthorne with his Boring Company. No further details were revealed, so Take Two reached out to Hawthorne Mayor Alex Vargas for more information.
Why Hawthorne approved the tunnel project
Elon Musk and his different companies are based in the city of Hawthorne, his design centers and the construction facility for the rockets. There's a lot of synergy that's taking place in the city of Hawthorne, and Elon Musk's operations are crucial to that. The Boring Company's idea to take us to the next stage, the next level of transport within the city to alleviate a lot of the problems we have. So to us it sounded like a worthy cause to support.
Elon Musk has been talking about having this in New York and Maryland, but he has to test it out, so he's using his locale and part of Hawthorne's subterranean area to be able to test out his tunnel system so that's what we've been working with him on.
Where is the tunnel exactly
It's all within Hawthorne's boundaries. Part of the tunnel was started under his property, but he needed to get permission from the city of Hawthorne to run it under the city It is basically going underneath 120th Street from Crenshaw Blvd. all the way to Hawthorne Blvd. He's first going to start working on the 700 foot piece and then he'll determine if he's going to want to go further.
Why the tunnel is needed
As Elon Musk has mentioned, he wants to test out this transport system. There's an elevator system where he brings down the different vehicles that he's wanting to transport along the track, so future details with regards to speed and what kind of goals he's trying to meet, ultimately he's going to have to answer that, [but] the general idea is basically a transportation system for cars and vehicles on what he's calling skates, traveling along the rail.
Can a tunnel system alleviate traffic
Absolutely. The metropolitan area here in our area is pretty congested. It's built out, so the natural next step to look at is why don't we go below ground where there's a lot of opportunity to go every which way with your transportation network, so to me it seemed like a natural direction in which to go. It makes a lot of sense to me.
Why Hawthorne is becoming a tech hub
One of the things a lot of people might not remember is we were the home of Northrop. So we were the birthplace of aerospace along with a couple of other locations here in the South Bay of metropolitan Los Angeles, so it's just a natural succession.
Paleontologists fear destruction of undiscovered fossils in Utah
If you want a peek into Earth's ancient history, you only need to look in one direction.
Down.
First, you've gotta dig pretty deep.
One of the best places to do that is the home to one of the richest fossil beds in the world – the Grand Staircase in Utah's Escalante National Monument.
But it's a place that's also rich in coal.
It may become legal to mine for minerals in this area under the Trump administration's plan to reduce the lands protected by their national monuments status since 1996.
And that has scientists worried.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with researcher and paleontologist Jeff Eaton of the Museum of Natural History of Utah.
"The Grand Staircase is a remarkable, pristine environment – a remarkable example of high plateaus in fabulous, relatively untouched conditions, " said Eaton. "My primary concern is the destruction of the ecology, the habitat which certainly strip mining has extraordinary negative impacts upon."
Researchers value the Grand Staircase because it's the only region on Earth known to have specific periods of time preserved. That means it's the only source to observe the evolution of many species of dinosaurs and other animals, plants, geology and climate.
"It's a huge area," said Eaton. "There's still much to be looked at... and I'd say we've barely touched the potential of what this area has to teach us about ecosystems."
Listen to the full interview by clicking the audio player above.
Milo Yiannopoulos is coming to Cal State Fullerton — and that's fine by administrators
Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos will speak at Cal State Fullerton tonight, in an event sponsored by the campus' Republican group. A crowd of more than 800 is expected.
But his presence on the campus isn't without controversy: more than 5,000 people signed a petition trying to stop it.
Campus police and federal agencies plan to beef-up security with pat-downs, metal detectors. Protestors are expected.
So why this campus? Why this speaker? And why now?
Jeff Cook is the chief communications officer at Cal State Fullerton. He says the campus doesn't vet speakers brought in by campus groups.
"The issue I think at hand is that even hateful speech is in-fact protected speech," Cook tells Take Two's A Martinez.
There are few legal mechanisms; there are few pathways to shut that speech down. And even if there were a legal argument to be made, I think it's likely antithetical to higher education to be in the business of basically censoring the exchange of viewpoints.
Press the blue play button above to hear more about how students and faculty are responding.
Using the film Get Out to explain Black Horror
Lots of people are going to be watching scary movies tonight ... you know, to get themselves in the mood for Halloween
Chances are this years breakout hit, Get Out, will be one of them. The film was the creation of actor and comedian Jordan Peele, best known for starring in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele.
The story centers on Chris, a young African American man, who is feeling nervous about a visit to the childhood home of Rose, his white girlfriend. The initial awkwardness when he meets her parents soon turns to panic when he discovers that her family is part of a plot to kidnap black men and women, and through a series of psychological and medical procedures, take over their bodies.
The victims would be forced into the Sunken Place, a zone where they would see everything all around them - but have no control over their lives.
The film was a smash hit, but it also created a cultural touchstone because it got a lot of people talking about how many African Americans deal with subtle racism or microaggressions. Peeele himself tweeted out recently that the sunken place has a lot more to do with everyday reality than movie fiction.
The Sunken Place means we're marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us.
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele)
The Sunken Place means we're marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us.
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) March 17, 2017
But
, a writer and UCLA educator, saw something else in the film, a chance to use it to examine the scope, role, and impact of something called the black horror genre. The class, called The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival, and Black Horror Aesthetic, looks at films and horror fiction through the lenses of racism and social survival, and it all started when Due saw Get Out.
When Get Out came out ... I realized it was the missing piece I needed as someone who loves horror, who has written, read and watched black horror my whole life, but we never had that piece of work that we could pin the sub-genre on, especially with this concept of the sunken place, because it so captures what artists are talking about. It's confronting white supremacy, using African based magical systems, sometimes for good or ill ... sometimes it's a bit of exploitation, even in the black made films, but there's that that runs through. Ancestors, family, survival ... all of those things we look for when we enjoy black horror ...
Another film she examined in the class was 1968's Night of the Living Dead by George Romero. In the film the main protagonist, Ben, is played by the black actor Duane Jones. It follows Ben and five other people who are trapped in a house because a horde of flesh eating zombies are outside.
Ben emerges as the leader, even shooting a white man that refuses to do what Ben tells him to do.
But after surviving the zombie attack all night, he is shot and killed by a white sheriff. And Due says that this is an early example of black horror, especially when you imagine the time that the film was released.
It's even unusual now to have a black male lead in a horror film, the sterotype for a long time is that we're the first to die ... or you're the spiritual guide, or you're the magical Negro. And Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead is none of those things ... I have to tell my students, imagine you're watching this in 1968, this is pretty explosive stuff...
talking about her class on black horror at UCLA, “The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival, and Black Horror Aesthetic."
(click on the blue arrow to hear the entire interview)
Tales from the LA crypt: Angelenos share their ghostly stories
Los Angeles has the reputation of being a pretty haunted place. Landmarks like the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, the Queen Mary and Griffith Park are known as spooktacular destinations —especially this time of year.
In the true spirit of Halloween, KPCC listeners told us about their personal ghostly tales here in L.A. These are the most ghastly ones.
The ghosts of Kagel Canyon
Our first story comes to us from West Covina accountant Barry Reimer.
When he was living in unincorporated L.A.'s tiny community of Kagel Canyon, some odd things started happening in his home. They culminated one quiet night while Barry tried to sleep.
All of a sudden I hear this sound, it sounded like children or high pitched some cackling. They were inside.
I look over and I see a transparency of 10, 12 ghosts. These apparitions, you could see right through them and they were just kind of floating.
After that spooky incident, Reimer packed up his things and moved out of that home. He wrote all about his experience, you can read more about it here.
Griffith Park's scale singing woman
Our next story is from Coral Barreiro who works at the L.A. Zoo.
About three years ago, she was there preparing for a summer camp when suddenly she heard a woman singing.
"It was a very eerie song, a very strange song...the sound was haunting," she says. "I couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the weeks."
When she asked one of the keepers at the zoo that works that particular area, he said that he, too, has heard the woman singing.
A few months later, he said that he sees her, too, always out beyond the zoo's boundaries wearing a yellow raincoat.
Dancing Joe
Not all ghosts are bad.
Julie Greenberg lives in Long Beach, but her story takes place about 20 years ago when she was working the door at a rock club.
The building was a residential home decades earlier, but remnants of its past life remained. Specifically, Joe.
He was believed to have lived there when it was a residential building. Not much is known about Joe, though the story went that he fought in World War II.
Once the building was turned into a rock club, Julie would often catch glimpses of him.
I saw Joe several times at the club. His image never frightened me.
When I would see his image moving in front of the stage for more than 30 seconds, I knew he liked the band.
I've driven by that corner in the years that have passed and the building does not look like a house anymore. But I hope that Joe is still dancing.
Koreatown horror
The last story is probably the spookiest we got. And this one has a pretty gruesome ending.
It comes from L.A. resident Mark Roeder.
About 19 years ago, he was living in an apartment in Koreatown. Everything was fine until something happened that made him feel ... a little uneasy.
First, it started with some creepy "ghost" activity at the foot of his bed.
Then one night, while he was washing the dishes, Roeder felt as if someone pushed him, but no one else was around.
Finally, an overwhelmingly dark negative energy was the final straw. He and his wife decided to move.
We're packing up to move and the next door neighbor says, "'Oh, you guys are moving? That's too bad. Did anything weird happen?" I said, "What are you talking about?"
He said, "Oh. The guy who lived here before you, he killed himself in the apartment. We found him dead in the bathtub. He'd been in there for about three weeks."
To hear all the ghostly tales, click the blue play button above.
This article has been updated with Julie Greenberg's name.
It's win-or-go-home for the Dodgers tonight. Here’s what you need to know
A lot of ink has been spilled dissecting what the Dodgers should and shouldn’t have done over the last three games in the World Series.
Now, the citizens of Los Angeles turn their attention to the pivotal Game 6 of the series. Dodgers are sending pitcher Rich Hill to the mound, while Justin Verlander hopes to close out the series for the Astros tonight.
Larry talks to A Martinez on what the Dodgers need to do to stay alive, and KPCC’s resident Astros fan Rebecca Nieto.
Guests:
A Martínez, host of KPCC’s Take Two; he tweets
Rebecca Nieto, senior producer, News, Broadcast & Digital at KPCC; she tweets
Semi-spooky LA history for Halloweenies
Halloween is just around the corner. Before the holiday became known for costumes and candy it was dedicated to remembering the dearly departed. So, in the spirit of remembrance, Take Two is bringing you some little-known, kinda spooky stories about L.A., including Showmen's Rest.
Find the pink tiger
Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights is one of the city's oldest and largest graveyards.Historian Kim Cooper knows a lot about this place. She's an expert in LA crime and oddities for Esotouric bus tours. She says if you walk all the way to the very eastern side of Evergreen cemetery, you may come across a little pink tiger atop a tomb.
It's a fitting symbol for those who are buried there - members of the Pacific Coast Showmen's Association. It was for people who participated in the carnival arts, circus performers, sideshow workers, etc.
"These people are all buried together because they were part of a traveling community. And though some people believe that the Pacific Coast Showmen's Sssociation graves represent penniless carnival workers who were buried because they couldn't afford a burial, that's actually not true."
Think of it as more of a guild or a union. Because they were all in the same career/field, the workers would pay an annual fee to this association and in return, if they died out on the road, they would get shipped back to Los Angeles and be buried among their friends.
"Every December when the shows went off the road because the weather was terrible, people would gather in Los Angeles to remember those that had come before," Cooper said.
Some circus and carnival notables buried there include:
- Fat lady Dainty Dotty Jensen (who was the wife of tattooing legend Otto Jensen).
- James Louis Cooley (who is believed to have introduced the ice cream sandwich in the west).
- The armless and legless Billy Pilgrim (who was famous for his exquisite penmanship).
- Flea circus proprietor Professor W.E. Alexander.
The world-class shopping mall and the LA gangster
A lot of people say it's America's first outdoor shopping mall: Crossroads of the World. It sits on Sunset Boulevard between Las Palmas and Cherokee Avenue in L.A.
Built in 1936, it was designed to look like an ocean liner and it's surrounded by cottages built to resemble ports o call all over the world.
You've probably seen it. If not in person, it's been in films like "L.A. Confidential" and "Cafe Society." Today, it's home to offices for a variety of creative companies, but as part of our mini-series on semi-spooky places in L.A. Esotouric's Kim Cooper and Richard Schave share the story of Crossroads' forgotten roots.
It was actually built as a tribute to an OG Los Angeles gangster.
"Charlie Crawford was one the original guys that was in Los Angeles from about 1915/1916 doing all these bad things...Charlie Crawford owned this property. Crossroads of the world was developed by his widow."
It all came about because in May of 1931 Charlie Crawford was in the middle of a meeting with newspaper publisher Herbert Spencer.
According to Schave, suddenly an unidentified person walked into Crawford's office, shot Spencer dead and fatally wounded Crawford and walked away.
"They rush Crawford to the hospital and say, 'Charlie Crawford, who shot you?' and he said, 'I'll never tell you.'"
Turns out, Crawford was trying to live a legit life, and that's why they shot him. So, as a result of the shooting, Charlie Crawford's wife said, "He was the greatest Angeleno anyone ever knew, and I want to make sure everyone remembers him."
In an effort to have him remembered. She had Crossroads of the World erected, "based on all the wonderful trips we took on cruises around the world."
Psychometry and the La Brea Tar Pits
L.A.'s urban center is also a treasure trove of ice age fossils.
Mammoths, ground sloths and saber-toothed cats are just some of the prehistoric creatures found at the La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park. It was George Allan Hancock who donated the land where the tar pits are located in L.A. County.
But it was a lesser-known geologist named William Denton who first identified the tar pits' bones as ancient fossils. Esotouric's Kim Cooper told us the REAL reason Denton made his way out west.
"Usually when scholars talk about Denton, they say oh, 'He was a geologist from Boston, and he came out looking for oil.' That is not true. He actually came out because he and his wife had the most extraordinary hobby, she had a gift from very very early childhood."
The gift was that of psychometry. Which means having the ability to hold objects and while having little to no information about the object, and narrate the object's 'experience.'
"Old man Hancock, gave him this fang and Denton recognized this fang as coming from an extinct cat and he took it home to Elizabeth and I'm sure they had lots of fun holding it to her forehead and seeing what life was like on the edge of the tar pits..."
The Bradbury Building
The Bradbury is one of the most iconic buildings in downtown L.A.
It isn't the brown brick exterior that's so noteworthy but its naturally lit interior of iron grillwork that's made the Bradbury a star, and not just architecturally.
The building has also played a role in films like "Blade Runner," "500 Days of Summer" and "The Artist."
Gold mining millionaire, and real estate developer, Lewis Bradbury had it built way back in 1893.
For the conclusion to our miniseries on semi-spooky LA stories, Estouric's Kim Cooper explains how the Bradbury's beginning is a classic "right person at the right time" kind of story...with an occult twist.
It all started with a drawing. Lewis Bradbury wanted a building that had his name on it and that was really extraordinary. Unfortunately, the architect he hired for the job, Sumner Hunt was not delivering.
It was then that he came across George Wyman's sketch, inspired by the sci-fi fantasy novel "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy. He offered Wyman the job on the spot.
"The young man went home and told his wife of his problems and his problem was, do I actually take this commission and steal a job from my boss and build something that's just a fantasy from a science fiction book?"
The answer, was yes. But how he got to that decision is where things get interesting. Wyman decided to consult his deceased brother, using a planchette, an instrument very similar to a modern-day ouija board.
"The planchette began to move and quiver and shake, and the planchette began to make a mark and it said, 'Take Bradbury you will be...' then an incoherent scribble.
It wasn't until someone got up from the table to go to the restroom and look at the table upside down that they saw if you turned it over it said, 'Take Bradbury you will be...successful."
And he was.
To hear the stories in its entirety, click the blue play button above.
Tuesday Reviewsday, Mexican Institute of Sound and Luis Coronel
If you don't have the time to keep up with the latest in new music, we've got the perfect solution for you: Tuesday Reviewsday. Every week our music experts come in to talk about the best new tunes in one short segment. This week music journalist Justino Aguila join A Martinez with his top picks.
Mexican Institute of Sound
Album: Disco Popular
Camilo Lara, the founder of Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS), returns with more vibrant music that’s rooted in an eclectic DJ-style centered around electronica, pop and cumbias. The prolific producer is often working on multiple projects, so it's understandable that it's been a few years since he’s had another official MIS project.
Disco Popular is a welcome musical treat from Lara who also produced Mexrissey, the all-star tribute to Morrissey and The Smiths. Disco Popular is due out in early November, but some tracks are already available such as the whimsical “Mi T-Shirt De La NASA," homage to Lara's favorite T-shirt.
MIS always has a creative edge wrapped around humor, irony and cool beats.
Luis Coronel
Album: Ahora Soy Yo (Now I'm Me)
Luis Coronel is one the stars in regional Mexican music, but at 21 he brings a new vibe that's both traditional and modern with new ballads and a very cool collaboration with Puerto Rican rapper Farukko.
Always keeping anchored to his roots, the Tucson-born Coronel divides his time between L.A, Tucson and Miami in addition to a steady touring schedule that takes him to Latin America.
He fell into music by accident when he posted a song on Facebook and the next day realized it had received thousands of hits. He's also a social media heartthrob as 2 million fans follow him regularly on Instagram alone. This new album showcases his ability to navigate the romantic ballads and equally show his vocal chops.
is a music journalist and contributing writer for Billboard magazine.