SUMMERTIME NEWS: The Valley can be a...

SUMMERTIME NEWS: The Valley can be a happening spot, especially if you’re looking for places without the typical L. A. glitz. From the motorcyclist-Mecca Rock Store in Cornell to the Pink Motel in Sun Valley, from Stoney Point in Chatsworth to Vasquez Rocks County Park, the region is home to a plethora of places that are cool when it’s hot (Valley Life, page 14).

EATING THE WORLD: The area’s ethnic diversity translates into a staggering variety of international cuisines. When visiting relatives ask what the locals eat, the question is whether to take them for Cambodian food or Bolivian (Valley Life, page 50). . . . Plus a roundup of Fourth of July fireworks and a rundown of what 11 malls offer shop-aholics.

CUBAN CONNECTION: Gus Dominguez brought along a love for baseball when his family fled Cuba for the San Fernando Valley in the 1960s. A high school and college pitcher, Dominguez was forced out of the game by a sore arm, but now he might become a heavy hitter as a big-league agent (C10). . . . First client: Rene Arocha, a St. Louis Cardinal pitcher who defected from the Cuban national team in 1991.

LATE FOR SCHOOL: Plans are afoot to overhaul the mammoth Los Angeles schools bureaucracy, eliminating four regional offices and six top executive jobs (B1). . . . It comes too late for a major Valley business organization. Committees, calling the district’s bureaucracy too bloated to give parents any meaningful impact on their children’s education, recommended the group back a move that could break up the district (B6).

TAGGER KILLED: “Taggers” were admiring their work after painting graffiti on a railroad car in Panorama City, police said, and one of them even stood back to photograph it. Just then, the Coast Starlight passenger train came by, and struck and killed him (B1). . . . The boxcar was covered with the gaudy “tag” put there by the dead man or his friends: “KRASH.”