Solstice sunrise in Paradise Cove.
The first day of summer - cue the Beach Boys...

POOF! The brand-new accessway on Carbon Beach at 21950 PCH–-the one that a homeowner volunteered to open next to his house–-is now officially closed. It lasted 3 weeks. Here’s hoping you had a chance to use it.

That’s unlikely, however, since someone apparently was coming along and closing the gate when it was supposed to be open.

The dry-sand public easements remain abundant on that stretch–-most of the properties have them–-and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the brief life of this accessway than by using and enjoying them. They’re just a 5-10-minute walk down the coast from the Hooray for Geffen accessway at 22140 PCH. (Click here for a list.) Have a picnic. Sing, play, and dance.

The homeowners giveth–-usually after a court battle, though–and the homeowners taketh away. Why did this homeowner, Peter Kleidman, lock the gate after working for months and months with the Coastal Commission and the state parks agency MRCA to open it? Oddly, he’s declined to explain why he opened or closed it. Were his motives pure or not? Was he in fact mostly interested in providing public access? Did he shy from the resulting attention? Did he not want to deal with inevitable lawsuits? Was he pressured to close it? Was it, as the Malibu reportage has hinted, an elaborate act of revenge in a spat with his neighbors–-who happen to include real-estate mogul and civic leader Eli Broad?

It doesn’t really matter, since every one of these scenarios speaks volumes about the problems with public access to these essential public beaches. By state law, private development cannot impede access to the public tidelands. We should enjoy a public accessway every 1000 feet–-not fewer than 1 per mile-–and beachfront homeowners, whose properties front public lands, should be more than accustomed to sharing these beaches.

A new accessway should not be extraordinary. It should not be a media event. It should not generate angst and panic. It should not bestir lawyers. Above all, it should not be seen as, or even posited to be, the worst thing a homeowner can possibly do to the neighbors.

Will the accessway ever reopen? Well, Kleidman hasn’t said so one way or another. So perhaps. We have a dream. In the meantime, RIP, 21950. You were such a source of joy and promise.

(Click for parts 1, 2, and 3 of the Malibu Beaches Owners Manual).

At 2:30 pm yesterday I read on LAist that legendary journalist Carl Bernstein would be at a "super-secret style" book signing in West Hollywood at 4:00 pm, so cameraman/producer Tommy Macker and I blazed over to Book Soup to see if we could get a word in with him. And that we did. Many words, actually -- about Hillary Clinton, the L.A. Times and Paris Hilton -- just for starters. It's all in the video.

Josh Getlin visited with Bernstein recently for the Times. Here's his take:

He's clearly mellowed since the days when he was an intense, chain-smoking journalist at the Washington Post who helped topple a president. Today, he's a silver-haired man with hard-etched lines in his face and a softening middle. He's eager to talk about his latest book, which represents a literary reemergence for him — a personal comeback in a career dogged by dubious celebrity.

Woodward and Bernstein took different paths after their Pulitzer Prize-winning triumph, which also included two bestselling Watergate books and the 1976 Oscar-winning film "All the President's Men," in which Dustin Hoffman portrayed Bernstein and Robert Redford was his partner. While Woodward went on to become a chronicler of Washington, D.C., power, a restless Bernstein left the Post in 1977.

In the video I ask Bernstein what role if any Los Angeles plays in his new book, a biography of Hillary Clinton. He couldn't recall anything specific, but I did a little digging. On page 328, LAX makes an appearance as the scene of President Clinton's infamous $200 Cristophe haircut. Also, former L.A. deputy mayor Mark Fabiani appears after having "successfully coordinated legal and media strategy for Mayor Tom Bradley during city and federal investigations of his personal and family finances."

For more:
Today’s Managing Partner in Team Clinton & Clinton NYT
Shining a Halogen Light on a Senator’s Dark Corners NYT
'A Woman in Charge' and 'Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton' LAT
Carl Bernstein Plugs New Work -- By His Rock Musician Son E&P

Problems viewing the video? E-mail me. Video editing and post production by Alex Gans. Camera and field production by Thomas Macker.

The Malibu Surfside News reports that two of LA's most vital water-pollution watchdogs--Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper--are readying to sue Malibu to stem the serious pollution that flows into Santa Monica Bay via septic tanks and storm sewers.

Pollution? In Malibu? Yes, and hence the irony that these gorgeous beaches--and my personal favorites--are some of the dirtiest in the state. Also, hence the famous "Malibu smell" from the septic tanks.

Now that the stars have aligned successfully to defeat the LNG port--which promised substantial offshore pollution--perhaps they could apply their high wattage (seriously) to clean up the pollution that flows into the bay from the city's roads and lawns and out of the residents' dishwashers and washing machines.

For this kind of news on Malibu from my co-LA-Observed-er Veronique de Turenne--who's out of town just now, so we're tag-teaming this one--check her blog "Here In Malibu."

Back when I did a lot of Playboy Interviews, we interrogators shared a joke among ourselves. At some point in every interview - celeb, politician, sports hero, etc. - we knew we’d get an answer that required us to respond, “Oh, come on.” You know: “Do you expect us to believe that malarkey, that specious explanation, that rationalization, that equivocation?” It was meant to signify, in case any had doubts, our editorial integrity, that we weren’t playing along as publicists might have us play, that despite valuing our privileged access we weren’t about to just bend over and bring the personal lubricant. If we didn't get to respond Oh, come on!" to an answer, we knew we weren't doing our job. Those were the days.

These days Penn and Teller put it best: Bullshit!

Anyone who knows that two plus two is four knows that the recent Paris Hilton events are more bullshit than believable. How many fingers am I holding up? No, that’s just my middle finger.

I’m still waiting to hear what medical condition convinced Sheriff Baca to let her go home. But instead of a peek behind the doctor/patient privacy shield, I get two pages of absolutely no information in today’s (6/8/07) LA Times - lots of pictures though - and tonight I get some air head on KNBC blathering that “not since O.J. ... has such a spectacle ...”

Yeah, some spectacle, especially when your obsessive door-to-cell coverage is responsible for the spectacle in the first place.

My diagnosis: Paris is on anti-depressants and she conveniently forgot to tell the Sheriff’s Department that she needed them. Five days off the meds, and the crying jag begins. Great plan. I’m only speculating of course, but it’s not as if, in her private cell, she was in much danger of being brutally raped, just brutally rapped. This should have been easy time to do, and a perfect setup to get some good publicity for taking it like a grownup. Instead, she’s taking it like a pampered heiress. Whats-a-matter? Sheriff wouldn’t let Nicole Richie come over to play with your dolls?

Wait: maybe she’s inconsolable because it’s Friday and she had a bunch of parties she won’t be able to hit this weekend, for her usual fee plus expenses.

I’d believe she had a medical condition -- more than a spoiled brat panic attack -- if I’d ever seen Paris’s shrink trailing her around to the usual festivities, to hand out extra meds, just in case she didn’t make it home for a few days or forgot to stash some extra pills in her purse. Instead I see Britney with no underwear.

Here's a thought: You've heard of minors being tried as adults (a practice I do not agree with), but I'd make an exception just this once if we could try this adult as the child she is. In other words, you're grounded. Indefinitely. No car. No phone. And clean up your room while you're at it.

(Note: if Paris really has a problem, then get her help Mom and Dad. Part of that help is having consistent boundaries and consequences -- something clearly missing in her upbringing. Not much you can do about it now until Paris finds her own bottom -- and no jokes here about how we and others have already found it, on videotape.)

What’s even more mystifying is Baca’s willingness to go along with the whole charade. What was he thinking? I suspect the stuff’s just starting to hit the fan.

Do Paris and her ilk exist in a different world than you and me. Don’t answer that: of course she thought she could get away with it. Paris needs to man-up.

Where’s Martha Stewart when you need her to write Paris a letter on cell block comportment, on some of that stationery she no doubt made at home from plants grown in her own garden. Whoever thought Martha would be a role model?

How many fingers am I holding up?

Oh, come on.

** Update (6/9/07): Today’s Times finally sheds some light on the matter at hand. Apparently Paris does have some psychiatric issues that Sheriff Baca believed warranted her release. However, having received a few emails about this column, I’m inclined to agree with one writer – Bob – that “Long before Paris Hilton went to jail an agreement was worked out that she would only spend a few nights there . . . Only, when the judge ordered her back to court she went hysterical -- why didn't she go hysterical when she first went in? Why now?”

What’s also significant here is the coming clash between the Sheriff and the courts about who has the discretion to decide on early release, and for what reason. One suggestion: If it’s all about overcrowding, how about releasing the huge number of inmates locked up for most drug offenses? (Nationwide, anyone?) Bet we’d even have some empty cells for a while. Another thought: If it’s overcrowding we’re worried about, has anyone considered renovating some of the empty office space/floors in buildings around town? So what if you need a special key to get the elevator to stop at floor 13? It doesn’t exist anyway?

**Update 2 (6/10/07)
Seems Paris WAS on meds, and didn't take them -- but not as part of some grand ruse. She also didn't eat or drink because she was afraid to go potty in case a greedy or creepy guard snapped a cell phone picture. Now this is a legitimate concern. Truly. And the way to handle it was not to let her go home just because she was dehydrated and hyperventilating. Being that no one thought she'd hurt herself, a simple privacy curtain could have been rigged. Bed, Bath & Beyond sells everything she'd need.

Anyway, Paris has returned to jail, and something must have been arranged to guard her privacy. Perhaps it's a curtain, perhaps the guards just have to empty their pockets. Meanwhile Paris wants us to turn our attention to Iraq instead of her. Good advice. I'll take it.

On the front page of this morning’s Calendar section (June 6, 2007) is Michael J. Ybarra’s story about Osamu Tezuka, the manga artist who has been called “Japan’s Walt Disney” for, as the Times reports, creating “Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, which in turn beget the Japanese anime craze that circled the globe.”

Now, I’m not sure if “beget” above should be “begat” -- where's that Bible when you need it? -- but I’m absolutely sure that manga is not spelled “magna” as it is three times in the story.

Makes me want to blow my top and spew.

I know how easy it is for a writer to transpose letters in a wodr, but that’s why God created copy-desks. And He knows full well how much I need one so that my books at least look as if they're written by a professional.

I've resisted joining the chorus of complaint about our local paper, but the latest talent Diaspora is disheartening.

And now this?

Will they Yoda speaking next start printing like?

Click on image to view larger version

LAPD Chief William Bratton responded on the department's blog, where he pointed out, among other things, the logistical nightmare it would be for a department the size of the LAPD to make these kind of daily reports available.

But for all that was said, there was more to the story, so I sought to fill in the blanks with my own blog post.

As I explained back in November, the concept of a newspaper police blotter [see inset] seemed not only foreign, but foolish to some in the LAPD's ranks. Like Garza, I wanted my collegiate journalism students to do what reporters across the country do every day, review daily crime reports and decide what qualifies as news (No crime writer worth reading waits for a press release, or news conference, to dictate what's news). Yet, as I sought to set up this routine exercise, I was shocked at the response:

I suggested that perhaps LAPD might know these reports as a "blotter," or "crime log," or some sort of watch-commander's crime summary — anything that provided sufficient detail about the prior day's reported crimes as to allow a reasonable person to determine if any incidents were worth a closer look.

[cut]

I asked one of the people with whom I spoke how anyone at the LAPD could not at least be a little familiar with what is a routine practice practically everywhere else. The response I received was that what may be normal in other places is not the norm in LA

This is what a police blotter looks like [see inset].

It's too bad this kind of information isn't readily available in Los Angeles. As you'll see, it includes far more detail than you'll find on the LAPD's Crime Maps.

Former US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis is often credited for his statement that "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

Braindeis also said "publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases."