Posts Tagged ‘ news ’

11/11/11 – A Day of Eats, Drinks, Art, Wax & Crystal Skulls

November 10, 2011
11/11/11 – A Day of Eats, Drinks, Art, Wax & Crystal Skulls

Friday marks November 11, 2011 – a date that some believe to be the end of the world. With tomorrow’s highly anticipated triple identical digits comes special events happening all around L.A. Read on for the deets! more › Original post: 11/11/11 – A Day of Eats, Drinks, Art, Wax & Crystal Skulls

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Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?

November 10, 2011
Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?

BUYER: Sally Field LOCATION: New York City, NY PRICE: $2,550,000 SIZE: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A snitchy little birdie told landed outside out window this morning and chirp-chirp-chirped that Oscar-, Emmy-, Golden Globe- and People’s Choice-award winning actress Sally Field (may have) recently snatched up a New York City pied-a-terre. Okay, truth is Your Mama actually read it in a barely-there blurb in the Gimme Shelter column of the New York Post this morning like everybody else. Property records available online reveal that just before Halloween a woman named Sally Field spent $2,550,000 to acquire a two bedroom and two bathroom cooperative apartment in one of the more refined and in-demand buildings in downtown Manhattan’s West Village. Your Mama can not confirm, however, the Sally Field who signed her famous name on the deed’s dotted line is the very same Sally Field ( Gidget, Sybil, Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias ) whose long and sometimes hilly Showbiz career has been on fire the last few years with the screaming success of the now canceled family (melo)drama Brothers & Sisters . So, for now anyways, this is just some celebrity real estate rumor and gossip, okay? Thing is, we love us some Sally Field so we can’t resist taking her real estate ball and running with it… The apartment in question sits on a high floor of an august 17-story pre-war building, a red and brown brick edifice of reassuring proportions designed by architect Robert T. Lyons, built by the Bing brothers–that makes it what’s known in local parlance as a Bing & Bing building–and completed in 1931. Handsome Art Deco-era architectural flourishes with a Greek key design embellish the facade. Originally an apartment hotel– hello Wikipedia –the building converted to a co-operative apartment house in 1987. Some of the children may recognize this building as the very same one where it was once widely rumored and reported sit-com and rom-com queen Jennifer Aniston was interested in the possible acquisition of a duplex penthouse then priced at $14,950,000. Miz Aniston did not buy the duplex. She bought, as it turns out, two apartments in another West Village Bing & Bing building. Records show the posh penthouse Miz Aniston didn’t buy was actually purchased for $12,500,000 by one of the many daughters of the very philanthropic co-founder of Purdue Pharmaceuticals , the makers of OxyContin . Anyhoo, we’re not here to speak on Miz Aniston’s sometimes fickle and inexplicable real estate ways but rather those of a lady named Sally Field who who may or may not be Sally Field and who just paid $2,550,000 for the aforementioned high-floor apartment in a fancy but relaxed pre-war building in New York’s West Village. The always informative real estate website StreetEasy shows the apartment, a successful combination between a studio and a one bedroom apartment, was listed with a price tag of $2,350,000, which means, as per our bejeweled abacus that this Miz Field paid $200,000 over the asking price. And what did her extra two hundred thousand get her y’all might wonder? Listing information shows 4-room corner apartment, fairly spacious by West Village standards where a puny 300 square foot 5th floor walk up studio apartment can easily cost $1,700 per month , has windowed exposure on four sides and carries hefty monthly maintenance charges of $2,426 per month. A long and narrow entrance hall with an excellently large walk-in coat closet directs traffic into a lofty living/dining area with beamed ceilings, large windows with pretty city views, and the first of two wood burning fireplaces in the apartment. Your Mama hopes somebody tells Miz Field that all that track lighting in the living room needs to be removed. A woman of her stature and eminence probably shouldn’t have track lighting in their home(s). Anyhoodles poodles, the simply designed but decently sized kitchen opens to the dining area over a long counter topped half with marble and half with butcher block. The dishwasher situated directly under the sink causes Your Mama’s heart to palpitate uncomfortably How does one rinse and load dishes in a set up like that anyhow? When we take into account this is a kitchen in Manhattan–and one must absolutely take in to account this is a kitchen in Manhattan and not a kitchen in a suburban mcmansion–the ugly dishwasher situation is somewhat mitigated by the full-size fridge/freezer, large window for proper light and ventilation, teeny-tiny walk-in pantry, and impressive amount of counter space. The living/dining room is flanked by bedrooms, each with two closets (including one walk-in in each room) and an attached bathroom. The master bedroom has a fireplace and a window in the walk-in closet but it’s also got green marble tile floors–What the hell?!?–and a petite, window-free bathroom. The second bedroom, only slightly smaller than the master, also has a walk-in closet plus cross-ventilation and a welcomed window in the compact bathroom where, somewhat regrettably, the stacked washer and dryer are installed. That complaint aired, we again recognize this is a New York City apartment where an inconveniently located private washer-dryer stack is immeasurably much better than no private washer-dryer stack at all. For two and a half million of our clams Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would hope and pine for a slice of outdoor space. Otherwise, in our humble and meaningless opinion, this apartment reeks of Big Apple desirability and can easily be fashioned into a comfortable urban aerie for part- or full-time living that would appeal to just about everyone perhaps but those poor people afflicted with the dreaded Real Estate Size Queen Syndrome, a disease that often and unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with the even more infectious Real Estate Snobitis. Until recently Sally Field– the Sally Field–owned a secluded estate nestled into the rolling foothills of Malibu that she first listed in March 2009 for $6,950,000 . The estate, complete with swimming pool, tennis court, and equestrian facilities was taken off the market after just months. The private property wasn’t re-listed until May 2011 when it popped up with a new, improved and much lower asking price of $5,900,000. Property records we peeped show was sold within two months. Early reports in the celebrity real estate gossip blogs and publications like the L.A. Times show the property sold for $5,650,000 but a closer examination of online deeds and documents shows it sold for $5,909,000. Make of that what you will. As best as Your Mama can tell the horsey estate was sold to a Malibu gynecologist and a Pacific Palisades-based clinical psychologist who bills herself as a “love and happiness guru.” listing photos: Sotheby’s International Realty via StreetEasy See the article here: Did Sally Field Do It in the West Village?

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Steve McQueen at the premiere of "Shame"

November 10, 2011
Steve McQueen at the premiere of "Shame"

http://www.youtube.com/v/SIRJ9C04aLQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Steve McQueen talks to LA Times reporter Amy Kaufman at the premiere of “Shame.” Read more here: Steve McQueen at the premiere of “Shame”

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Michael Fassbender at the premiere of "Shame"

November 10, 2011
Michael Fassbender at the premiere of "Shame"

http://www.youtube.com/v/-eid2Qrnr9s?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Michael Fassbender talks to LA Times reporter Amy Kaufman at the premiere of “Shame.” More: Michael Fassbender at the premiere of “Shame”

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College Hoops Player Goes on Naked Rampage After Getting Cut

November 10, 2011
College Hoops Player Goes on Naked Rampage After Getting Cut

Player goes nuts after team drops him. Photo Credit: Fresno Pacific See the rest here: College Hoops Player Goes on Naked Rampage After Getting Cut

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Agustin Duran: Education Window: An Option to Start Getting Involved in Our Kids’ Future

November 10, 2011

If you live in Los Angeles and your child goes to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the chances that he/she will not be able to participate in a high school ceremony are high. Forget about them going to college and obtaining a bachelor’s degree. For years, the second largest district with the most Latino students in the whole country has been fighting to increase their graduation rate that not too long ago reached 43%. Today, it is at 56% according to Monica Garcia, LAUSD president. This means, that for every two students who start elementary or kindergarten at the LAUSD, one would not be able to graduate from high school and probably putting an end to their education. Currently, the district has over 700,000 students from which almost 75% are Latinos and 92% of the kids that are part of the English as a second language program speak Spanish (most of them from Mexico). In other words, if you are an immigrant in Los Angeles and speak Spanish at home, your kids have a big risk of not finishing their academic goals. If we don’t do something about it, they may become part of that 50% that won’t graduate in the future. The worst part is that the problem does not end there because after many congratulations for the students who finally graduate, less than 50% will finish with a bachelor’s degree. This situation reduced the opportunity for our children to become a doctor, engineer, teacher or whatever career they want to pursue because out of 10 kids that start school today, only 2.5 may end with a bachelor degree. As a Latino parent this is not acceptable. But what should we do: blame the teacher, the district or ourselves? Probably a better question may be: Can we afford to keep blaming and pointing fingers while our children keep dropping out of school and in a worst case scenario ending pregnant, in jail or drugs? I’ve had the opportunity to cover and follow the LAUSD for years and until now, there is not one board member, teacher or administrator that hasn’t said that they will do the impossible to increase the graduation rates, but so far and after 10 years we still have the same ups and downs. Should we wait until the school district does things right? Recently, I was at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles where dignitaries inaugurated the Education Window, an office where parents will have the opportunity to get involved in their kids’ education and help them to accomplish their academic goals. In the window they have preschool, elementary, intermediate, high school and college information and according to the Mexican Consul David Figueroa, every day close to 800 people visit the facility, hoping they will be interested in participating in their kids’ education. Also, one person will be there providing information on how to get parents involved, the options parents may have to get their kids into programs that will help children to not get behind and how to encourage them to continue all the way; to finish their higher education. The day of the inauguration, five aggressive advocators for the education delivered their speech and almost every single one of them had a story of sacrifice and story where they remembered their parents encouraging them to go to school; stories where they had to live with extreme limitations and sometimes work at an early age. They didn’t speak about the good or the bad school system they went during their first years of school. They remember the sacrifices, the support and the work their parents did for them to finish college; those images and memories always fed their will to continue their education until they finished with a Bachelor degree on their hands. David Figueroa grew up in Sonora while his dad was working as a bracero in San Jose California. With the support of his mother, he obtained his master degree in business administration and years later he went back to San Jose, California as a Consul representing his country. Now, he is the consul in Los Angeles and he is the one that after a couple months leading the office realized the risk that LAUSD was taking so he launched the Education Window. “We know education is the way to empower our community and this is what we are going to do here, but we need your help”, the consul challenged the parents to use the Education Window not only for their kids’ benefit, but for the whole family and community. The stories continued the rest of the evening, all of them inspired and praising their parents for what they are today. If we do not want to see our children as another statistic we need to get involved in our children’s education. Otherwise, in 10 years we will continue to talk about the bad situation of the school district still is. It does not matter how poor we are, where we come from or what language we speak, if our kids see the sacrifice we are doing to put food on the table and a roof over their head and hear our words of encouragement for them to finish school all the time. With those memories, I believe our children will have enough to continue and not only to finish high school but to finish college. If you do not know how to do it or where to start, go to the Education Window at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. I am sure they will give you enough support to make the difference in your child’s future. Agustin Duran is an editor at Latinocalifornia.com and has been a journalist for the last 15 years in LA. Visit link: Agustin Duran: Education Window: An Option to Start Getting Involved in Our Kids’ Future

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Crews Knock Down Brentwood Fire

November 10, 2011
Crews Knock Down Brentwood Fire

A fire started early Thursday morning at a townhome complex under construction in Brentwood. An apartment complex across the street was evacuated. Photo Credit: On Scene Video The rest is here: Crews Knock Down Brentwood Fire

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Murphy, Ratner Bow Out of Oscar Telecast

November 10, 2011

Comedian Eddie Murphy follows producer Brett Ratner out the door as host and producer of the Academy Awards. Photo Credit: Ashley Gordon Read the original: Murphy, Ratner Bow Out of Oscar Telecast

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Two-Year-Old Girl Killed in Hit-and-Run

November 10, 2011

A 2-year-old was killed in a hit-and-run by a suspected drunken driver Wednesday night in Santa Ana. Photo Credit: Ashley Gordon See the original post: Two-Year-Old Girl Killed in Hit-and-Run

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Maps: 7 Routes Being Considered for the Downtown Streetcar

November 10, 2011
Maps: 7 Routes Being Considered for the Downtown Streetcar

Read more here: Maps: 7 Routes Being Considered for the Downtown Streetcar

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Raw Police Video