Riordan’s ‘Walking Tour’ Had a Short Run

It was billed as a “walking tour” of the North Hollywood Arts District. The guest: Assistant Secretary of Transportation Gordon Linton. The tour guide: Mayor Richard Riordan. Reporters and photographers, both from the print and broadcast media, showed up to document the event.

But last Friday’s tour only technically fit that description.

“Can you take a walk around?” Riordan asked Linton--whom he called “the one who brings us checks”--after they exchanged pleasantries under the glare of the cameras. “How many minutes do you have?”

“About five,” Linton answered. And they were off.

A crowd of merchants, aides, reporters and photographers followed the officials as they eyed the exteriors of a few shops on Lankershim Boulevard before slipping into a coffeehouse. They stayed perhaps half a minute--long enough for Riordan to ask if the food was as good as the vittles at the Pantry, Riordan’s own restaurant downtown--before exiting. They then turned around and moseyed back to where they started.

That was about as much of North Hollywood as the busy assistant secretary saw.

At one point, Linton picked up a copy of LA Weekly and began flipping through it. “Lots of interesting features, arts coverage in that,” Riordan offered--then paused before quipping: “But they always have an article knocking me!”