Westways magazine might have pulled off just the sort of generational bridge-building so many media outlets and marketers chase these days, thanks to a hot idea from the newsroom and some chic stylings from one of SoCal’s hippest artists … The current issue of the publication – part of the Automobile Club of Southern California, one of numerous AAA affiliates across the nation – features three separate illustrations for its cover … How’s that? Costa Mesa-based Westways publishes separate editions for members in the Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego markets, and the January/February issues each feature a different-but-related work by Shag, AKA Josh Agle, who’s gained fame for a style that draws on influences of commercial illustration and the social trends of consumerism from the latter half of the 20th and early 21st centuries …
The likelihood of a demographic crossover resides in the fans Shag has won across a range of Baby Boomers, GenXers and Millennials. They’ll all have a chance to get limited-edition prints of all three cover images running together – sans the Westways logo – as a sort of triptych … Most of the limited prints are said to be en route to Shag’s stores, one in Palm Springs and the other in West Hollywood at Melrose Avenue & Melrose Alley – and just try to find an address that sounds hipper than that … A couple of more notes for longtime Westways readers … Enjoy the irony of the triptych as you consider the “TripTik” travel planners that put AAA on the map back in the day and remain available on paper and digitally … And consider the typeface Westways used for its front-page titles in the current editions, achieving a look that manages a subtle departure from tradition without shaking the consistency that helps make the magazine a prized and trusted source for its millions of readers.
UCLA Anderson Dean’s List
No names to report, but an informed source says UCLA has a list of three finalists to fill Judy Olian’s shoes at its business school, including candidates from Northwestern University, the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland… None of them are currently deans.
Not Your Average Nimby
Sandra Figueroa-Villa isn’t alone in questioning the budding trend of turning recreation space into locations for permanent supportive housing for the homeless. Figueroa-Villa is the long-serving executive director of El Centro Del Pueblo in Echo Park, where the non-profit provides various services to the youths and their families, offering everything from sessions to help them deal with domestic violence to computer classes and tae kwon do lessons in hopes of strengthening the social fabric of the neighborhood that straddles Sunset Boulevard just northwest of Downtown …
Figueroa-Villa is no Nimby – she has demonstrated plenty of concern for the homeless as head of El Centro Del Pueblo and in her role as a member of the Los Angeles Police Commission … Yet she can’t see how 13th District Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell figures that changing a playground that El Centro Del Pueblo oversees – a patch of land where kids in the densely packed area can play and learn– into supportive housing for the homeless amounts to any sort of net gain for the community. El Centro Del Pueblo has leased the space for years from the city and is now on a month-to-month agreement, which gives O’Farrell an opening to make the move …
Figueroa-Villa isn’t alone in opposing the swap of community recreation space for housing for the homeless. Some have raised the same objection to the establishment of a supportive housing development on what had been a tennis court in Lafayette Park in the even-more-densely-packed Westlake neighborhood … It’s not hard to see a trend here. Politicians faced with the contentious issue of where to put housing for the homeless – a laudable priority, to be sure – seem to choose what they expect to be the path of least resistance by claiming recreational space in areas where such options are most needed … Here’s urging O’Farrell and his colleagues to choose the more difficult right over the easier wrong and find another location for housing for the homeless in his 13th District, which runs from Hollywood to Atwater Village … And here’s betting O’Farrell and his colleagues will find out how tough Figueroa-Villa can get when she’s fighting for families in Echo Park.
Windy City, SoCal-Style
Plenty of man-made wind storms out there, as the prior item demonstrates and the next one will confirm.Take a half-minute here to consider this video, which offers an up-close look and listen as a reminder of the power of those natural gales we call Santa Anas.
Huizar Watch: Lawyers, Lawyers Everywhere
Here’s the lead that everyone else has buried in recent days: 14th District Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar has hired a criminal defense team that includes a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who served with a public-corruption unit … Also given short shrift in recent coverage: Huizar’s wife, Richelle, has another erstwhile federal prosecutor working on behalf of a political action committee that was an early backer of her short-circuited run for public office …
The most recent addition to Jose Huizar’s barricades are the name partners of the law firm of Andrues/Podberesky – a Downtown-based criminal-defense specialist. Other lawyers in Huizar’s employ include another Downtowner –Stephen Kaufman of the Kaufman Legal Group, who represents the councilmember on matters of campaign finance. And Encino-based Ballard, Rosenberg, Golfer & Savitt LLP is defending Huizar against charges of retaliation against a staffer who raised questions about his ethics …
Aaron May of Huang Ybarra Gelberg & May LLP, meanwhile, has been identified as the lawyer for Families for a Better Los Angeles, a political action committee that was presented to donors, according to the Los Angeles Times, as an instrument to promote Richelle Huizar, who intended to run to replace her husband when he hits term limits next year … Those plans were laid out prior to the public’s learning that the FBI and IRS raided Jose Huizar’s office in City Hall, another field office, and the couple’s home in Boyle Heights among other places. Now the buzz on the Eastside suggests Jose’s term in office could end even sooner … The Eastside also buzzes from time to time about Huizar taking refuge at a ranch in the Inland Empire. A recent run out to the country to track down a few leads on the western edge of Riverside County yielded nothing solid, although there was enough horse manure in the area to make any politician feel at home.
Bhathal Ball
There’s a SoCal tie to the NBA’s move to play its first-ever games in India, a market with more than 1 billion potential customers for the basketball league, which has already made impressive strides in China. The Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers will match up in two pre-season games in Mumbai next October …
The SoCal tie comes courtesy of India-born Raj Bhathal, who made his first fortune with the Anaheim-based Raj Manufacturing swimwear line and now owns about 20% of the Kings … The franchise also counts Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs of San Diego and Silicon Valley-based billionaire Vivek Ranadive, another native of India, as top shareholders. There are believed to be about 33 other partners who each have a 1-percent stake in the team …
Alex Bhathal – son of Raj, managing partner of Newport Beach-based Raj Capital Management, and a co-owner and member of the executive board of the Kings – viewed news of the upcoming games in India through a lens of appreciation for his father’s immigrant experience. “Who could have imagined that when our dad left India and began his journey to the [United] States in 1961 with $50 in his pocket that he would be returning 58 years later in such a circumstance,” the younger Bhathal asks. “It’s a testament to his character, hard work and the power of the American Dream.”
OC Brands Differ on Tucker the Talker
Tucker Carlson has looked at other immigrants through a different lens as part of his Fox News talk show, making waves with some generally derogatory comments about members of the caravan of asylum seekers from Honduras. The ensuing flap has included calls for advertisers to boycott Carlson’s show, and two big Orange County-based brands have reacted differently…
Mitsubishi Motors North America in Cypress appeared set to stick with ads on Carlson’s show on Fox News, at last report, while Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. has pulled its spots for now … No response from Mitsubishi last week, while a note sent along by PacLife about its “decision to pause advertising” on the show seemed to leave room for a return. “As a business, it is not our intention to become political advocates nor do we want to limit free speech,” according to a spokesperson for PacLife. “Rather, our goal is to drive our advertising spend to create the most consistently positive reflection of our brand.”
LA Weakly?
The view on the street indicates LA Weekly has cut back on its print distribution – and word on the street supports the indication … A New Year’s Eve check of street racks in the Miracle Mile area found many either empty or carrying out-of-date issues – copies of the December 21 edition were still in the racks within hours of the New Year – and full three days after the December 28 issue was due. An earlier visit to the ArcLight Hollywood yielded a pile of more out-of-date copies …
Word from folks with some knowledge of LA Weekly’s weekly print distribution said that some areas of the alternative paper’s territory got less than half the usual number of copies to spread over street racks and indoor drops at retail shops, restaurants, theaters, etc. Multiple sources indicated the cutback was a recent move … An initial query to Publisher Brian Calle on whether LA Weekly had skipped the Dec. 28 issue altogether prompted a quick “Nope” in response via text. A followup on the possibility of a reduction in the press run – sent to Calle the morning of New Year’s Eve – had not drawn any response, as of press time … LA Weekly did produce an issue – a digital flip-through of the December 28 edition shows that much. The questions over whether there had been a cutback on the press run as New Year’s Eve approached nevertheless serve as a stark reminder of how much things have changed for a publication that once was the clear choice of the party crowd.
Sophia Sightings?
Any Westsiders caught in a double-take over a lady who looked like she could be Sophia Loren might have actually caught a glimpse of the one-and-only over the holidays … Reliable word around Westwood says the inimitable Italian actress was there to visit her sons – filmmaker Eduardo Ponti and his brother, Carlo Ponti Jr., a world-renowned orchestra conductor who keeps a laudable local focus as founder and conductor of the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, a labor of love that helps bring music and music lessons to kids who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance … Visit lavirtuosi.org for more.
Sullivan Says: Regrets and a silver lining to Bianca Almada, events manager for Zocalo Public Square and certified Golden Domer, on the loss sustained by the Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl – at least it wasn’t the national championship stage this time.