Wooden gets an honor (sort of)
The U.S. post office in Reseda, out in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, will be named for John Wooden on the coaching legend's 96 birthday Oct. 14. How nice, you might say, especially if you went to UCLA. But Wooden doesn't live in Reseda and never has, and the community was clearly second choice. First choice would have been Encino — where Wooden has been a longtime resident — but the post office there was already named for Chick Hearn, the Lakers' late announcer. So Rep. Brad Sherman, a UCLA alumnus, took #2 — at least Wooden's daughter lives there and presumably he has visited a few times. President Bush signed the bill today.
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| Google's database of 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008 provides some interesting clues about word usage - and perhaps about attitudes.
| In "Leaving Las Vegas," Hollywood screenwriter Ben leaves LA ... and then he dies, which was sort of what he wanted. Who better than a Hollywood screenwriter to figure out that the easiest way to kill yourself is to leave LA?
| At LACMA on Thursday night, a packed and very excited audience, some dressed in 80's garb, watched a screening of "Valley Girl" as the the museum's Film Independent program celebrated the movie's 30th anniversary. "This film was well-researched and shot in Los Angeles. It is about our cultural history," director Martha Coolidge told the crowd.
| Ricky Jay could conjure a taxi in the rain in the middle of a cornfield. A documentary film about the renowned illusionist doesn't explain how, and, really, would you want it any other way?
| Take My Picture Gary Leonard appears every Thursday at LA Observed.
| Why would you stand on a corner with a picket sign if you don't want people to hear your message?
The latest poll, which finds Dennis Zine ahead in the controller’s race and Mike Feuer leading for city attorney, also shows that half the voters don’t think Los Angeles is heading in the right direction.
Dear Readers, it's true. Chicken Corner has decamped. Just a few months ago, I believed I might possibly never move from my house in Echo Park, and now here I am moved out of that house and on my way to Cincinnati, Ohio. (Via I-40.)
