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Southern California chronicles
Throughout 2008, the Los Angeles Times will produce a series of weekly dispatches, each one a postcard from a different community in Southern California.
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The hotel that once was the pride of the black community and resting spot for jazz greats is now in decay as it houses low-income tenants. Its future is riddled with uncertainty.
• Photos | Discussion
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OUT THERE: The Dunbar in South L.A., once a landmark, has lost its beat
Neighborhoods
Recent coverage
An unfinished loft project at the end of the main drag stands in marked contrast to the vibrant, artsy community that has emerged in the last decade.
Some residents in Sylmar and San Fernando support the move, but others believe it criminalizes an entire area.
OUT THERE
Urban planners re-imagine the city's concrete connectors as community oases, replacing trash and crime with trees, grass and swing sets -- and civic leaders are paying attention.
OUT THERE
Sol Shankman is a fixture at Griffith Park, where he has been taking a daily hike for more than three decades. Although his pace has slowed, it sustains him.
STREET SCENES
Dogs and their people stroll the Strand of Hermosa Beach, taking in the panorama of land and sea, cyclists and sunbathers. Welcome to the Hermosa life.
OUT THERE
An activist who grew up near a vacant lot that symbolized blight runs into an array of obstacles in her bid to bring a bit of green to the neighborhood near the 105 Freeway.
STREET SCENES
The square-mile Old Towne is California's largest historic district. The barbershop is "circa 1955." The Coba Academy beauty school sign boasts "Creating a World of Beauty Since 1965."
STREET SCENES
A pearly gazebo next to City Hall sits atop a pristine lawn along a stretch of Las Tunas Drive dotted with quaint mom-and-pop businesses, noodle houses and Asian bridal stores.
OUT THERE
In the South Bay community, the debate over aerial advertisements has reached a new high. But compromise is in the air.
STREET SCENES
If you're cruising Coast Highway in search of the Fun Zone Ferris wheel, remember to turn seaward at the bridge. Otherwise, you'll end up at Fashion Island in a universe where "Newport Coast" means mustard-and-terra-cotta-tinted mega-mansions and "Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County" is a show on MTV.
OUT THERE
The women -- some just out of prison, others recently homeless -- have been given a chance to succeed, learning the techniques of fine cuisine at a Los Angeles cafe operated by a homeless center.
STREET SCENES
In the hot sun, Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood spreads out wide and flat, the granite fronts of office buildings glistening in the light. Austere sentinels of palm trees tower over the street.
OUT THERE
The locals -- old-timers who live on their little boats -- have a lot to lose as development encroaches.
STREET SCENES
Along Fairfax Avenue, storefronts stand crunched together, the traditional adjacent to the trendy. At Solomon's Bookstore, golden menorahs glisten on display and yarmulkes, a sign advertises, can be imprinted. Just steps away, the store called "A Life" displays T-shirts and sneakers in knife-straight rows behind glass, hip-hop music blasting.
OUT THERE
Funded largely by West Hollywood, the racy Web show promotes safe sex at a time when diagnoses of AIDS and HIV are rising. The target is men too young to recall the disease's early devastation.
STREET SCENES
Broadway's fortunes have fallen and risen, but landmarks remain. The Grand Central Market is awash with the scent of fish, tortillas, barbecue and ripe vegetables. Outside the International House of Music, an old RCA Victor dog statue stands with its head cocked to hear the music.
OUT THERE
In the battle for the historic area's future, the neighborhood council is ground zero.
STREET SCENES
Those who have never seen Riverside may picture it in the language of L.A. drive-time radio: Triple digit heat. Foreclosures. Traffic. But unlike some cities on the coast, its 312,000 residents started long ago to transform their downtown rather than dismantle it.
OUT THERE
Three sisters take over the dome in Landers, where therapeutic 'sound baths,' time travel and who knows what else are said to be possible.
STREET SCENES
Today, the urban avenue, with its colonial red-tile architecture, has the settled feel of a Mexican Mayberry. It passes the Centro Maravilla county offices, auto parts shops, and East L.A.'s only heated indoor pool, where aging women perform aqua aerobics.
OUT THERE
In the inland city, sold as a sort of Napa of Southern California, as many as 15% of the 22,500 single-family homes may be bank-owned or in some stage of foreclosure.
STREET SCENES
Koreatown can feel like a visual din of symbols. Signs outside tea houses, restaurants and beauty shops are mostly in Korean, mystifying English- and Spanish-speaking commuters idling on car-clogged Western Avenue.
OUT THERE
The man who watched his brothers fall victim to the streets found refuge in art. Many of his Locsters -- such as 'Tattoo Tony' -- are real people depicted as toys.
STREET SCENES
Stand still in the crush of sticky, sun-screened bodies on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and you'll experience a feast for the senses.
OUT THERE
No one called police for over an hour as the victim cried for help near Poinsettia Park. Residents say the area has been growing more dangerous, and they are organizing to fight crime.
OUT THERE
For nearly a quarter of a century, Sister Nuala Ryan has taught music and been the Catholic chaplain at Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona.
OUT THERE
In the conservative Orange County town, where 'hippie' is a weight problem, homegrown activists are springing up to fight what they see as unchecked development.
Southern California -- this just in
Earlier this week it was L.A. and Ventura counties, now it's San Bernardino...
| - | Downed power lines possible cause of Sesnon fire, officials say |
| - | Pasadena woman facing eviction is found dead in burning home |
| - | Nancy Reagan hospitalized with broken pelvis |