Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Los Angeles, what are we standing on?

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Geologists would say that the Los Angeles Basin is like a huge bowl of sand

The geologic center for the Los Angeles Basin is the place where the Los Angeles River and the river known as Rio Hondo merge in South Gate. At this central point, sand, silt, clay and other river sediments are the deepest. Actually in excess of 30,000 feet of sediment separate the surface here from the bedrock below. This is the height of the highest mountains in the Himalayas!

Surrounding this enormous bowl of sand are mountains, namely the San Gabriel Mountains, the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Ana Mountains and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Just like today’s Santa Catalina Island, the P.V. peninsula was once an island offshore.

Geology can only be studied on vast time scales. Today’s Los Angeles Basin was once underwater. Fifteen million years ago a shallow sea covered today’s L.A. The mountains surrounding it, which are still here, were slowly spiraling around the sea as the Pacific tectonic plate ground it’s way Northward past the North American plate.

As the mountains slowly circled the sea, the Earth’s crust below twisted, stretched and cracked enough to allow molten lava to reach the surface. This newer crust began collapsing as it stretched thin, and eventually it formed a deep bowl of rock, above which sediments from not only the local rivers of the time, but also the sea itself, began to gradually give us our giant bowl of sand.

Small microorganisms also poured in and as they lived, died and settled in vast numbers, they slowly began to change under pressure to become today’s oil and gas deposits.

About 5 million years ago, the stretching of the crust stopped. As the bowl shrank, it continued to be filled with sediment and at the same same time, seismic activity started raising the level of the ground. The former ocean floor became the future backyards of the San Fernando Valley and Beverly Hills etc. As the sea floor became dry land, rivers such as today’s Los Angeles, Rio Honda, Ballona Creek, and countless others which are no longer visible from the city’s surface, meandered and flooded and cut and diverted and merged and separated over and over again.

It is this sediment that we call our ground today. There are fossils of sea creatures in the soil of our backyards. There are winding boulevards built over old rivers and streams, and when the earthquakes come, the sandy bowl always throws us surprises, with one block shaking itself to pieces right beside another block that barely moves.

It is this giant wobbly sandpit that contains our skyscraper foundations, our subways, and our utilities infrastructure. It is upon this sediment that we build our million dollar wood framed houses. In geologic time, it is but a moment since the first human set foot in the basin, and it will be just another moment before all traces of our stay here will have been buried or washed away.

And eventually, the continental plate upon which we rest, will be subducted and recycled in the magma. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Sun will one day swell to take back the Earth, then long after that, will die itself and our atoms will potentially spark a new life somewhere else in the unimaginably long distant future.

Jeffrey the Barak has lived in L.A. for more than twenty years. It has hardly moved during this time.

The No-Hydrogen Auto Show

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The No-Hydrogen Auto Show – The Greater LA AutoShow 2003
By Jeffrey the Barak

Back at the beginning of 2002, the-vu went to the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show and focused on electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. People loved the blend of seriousness and silliness in that article, so armed once again with a press pass and some comfortable shoes, it was back for more of the same in 2003.

This year at the 2003 show we were surprised to find that the EVAA is no longer exhibiting. Perhaps saving gasoline is a bad idea if you have to justify a war or two in order to protect your gasoline supplies. However all is not lost. The petroleum and electric hybrid version of the good old ordinary Honda Civic is alive and well. Speaking of alive and well, the amazing Toyota Prius is selling as fast as the company can make it.

Having done very little research in advance of the show, our hopes were raised at the Ford exhibition when we saw a Ford Focus with big plastic letters stuck on the side spelling PZEV. However this is not a hybrid, it is merely an extremely efficient and cleanburning conventional car. Ford say they are bringing out a hybrid version of their mid-size SUV, the Escape, but it’s not ready yet.

The whole Think division of Ford has been killed, leaving Chrysler’s GEM cars alone in their class as short distance, low speed, mild climate, electric cars. This GEM has the Kustom look.

Annother purely electric vehicle on display was the infamous Segway Human Transporter. Sadly there was no one demonstrating this on Thursday January 2nd., Media Day, but it was nice to actually stand beside the device that so tantalised us until the disappointing day when was finally revealed to be nothing more than a battery-powered means of conveyance, albeit a clever one.

No sign of the Nissan Hypermini this year, or the older, two seater Honda hybrid, the Insight, so it was down to two players: the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic. In either case, the buyer will have to save a lot of fuel before they save back the extra money they spent when they didn’t buy either the regular Civic, or a small Toyota such as an Echo, or a baseline Corolla.

In my humble opinion, the Toyota Prius is currently the undisputed king of the hybrid world.

Fuel Cell Technology seems to have been pushed away from the forefront, and there are few signs in America of the establishment of a hydrogen distribution system, so we’ll all be burning petrol for longer that I would have predicted after last year’s promising show. Honda still displays the FCX,but the emphasis is on the X for experimental. It must be hard to test this car when you have to follow it around with a hydrogen tanker.

On Friday 3rd. January, still a future date at the time of writing (2nd January), a group of fifty local television celebrities and ordinary folks will be bringing their hybrid cars to the L.A. Convention Center to give journalists a ride around the block and attempt to seduce them away from the all gasoline way of thinking. This hybrid Car rendezvous and rally is organised by the Union of Concerned Scientists. This group seems to think that almost all America’s cars and trucks could reach an average of 60 mpg if the best existing hybrid and conventional technology were more widely used to day.

Recently, television actor Ed Begley Jr. drove from coast to coast across the USA and all the way back again, and spent a mere $150 on fuel. He did so in a hybrid car, not on a moped!

Writer Jeffrey the Barak is also the publisher of the-vu.

Pushing the Amateurs

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Pushing the Amateurs – How one woman is trying to create a chapter of USABDA
By Jeffrey the Barak

USABDA – The United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association. You might expect a big dancing town like Los Angeles to have a large chapter of USABDA, but in early 2003, there is only a mostly defunct Greater L.A. Chapter, which is not only less great than it once was, it’s virtually completely disbanded.

Standard Competitors at USABDA’s 2002 National Championships

Enter one enthusiastically devoted amateur ballroom dancer by the name of Alexandra Caluen, and her quest to create a long overdue West LA chapter of USABDA.

There is no shortage of social ballroom dancing in West LA, mostly thanks to well-known teachers such as Russell Adcock and Michael Kuka, and there is more East Coast Swing, Salsa and West Coast Swing than you would ever have time to do, but USABDA is only partly about social dancing.

As the national governing body for amateur ballroom dancing and DanceSport (the competitive version of ballroom dancing) in the United States, USABDA encourages its members to compete and perform as well as to waltz the night away for purely social reasons.

If you join a chapter of USABDA, you had better be prepared to be encouraged to recruit new dancers, dance with new people at the socials and also to learn a performance routine or two as well as give serious consideration to entering a dance competition.

And why not? 99% of social dancers already know it’s all about the dance itself. A ballroom party is no place to cruise for your next date. The dancing and the constant quest to improve upon it take precedence over everything else.

And attracting beginners is essential. Many ballroom events are filled with beautiful souls who are almost too old to go on a cruise ship. As cool and fabulous as these more mature people may be, the only hope for the future of ballroom is the constant influx of younger and younger new dancers. With Salsa and Swing being so popular, there are plenty of potential recruits, but there is often an image misconception with ballroom dancing.

Latin Competitors at USABDA’s 2002 National Championships

For example, unless a Salsa Dancer is exposed to the visual wonders of advanced competitive Latin dance, they are not going to be able to erase the image of nice old grannies doing a gentle social Cha-Cha on the community center floor on a Saturday night.

Unless a Swing Dancer actually witnesses a high-speed continuity style Foxtrot, they are not going to have any inkling of how amazingly cool that is. They are going to see the word “Foxtrot” through glazed-over eyes.

USABDA is like an outreach organization that spreads the word to the unconverted. We dance because we evolved enough to be able to dance, and it feels even better than it looks. USABDA is a way for there to be more Ballroom Dancers, and better Ballroom Dancers.

So there was this void in West Los Angeles. In this case West Los Angeles also includes a 30-mile arc around West Los Angeles, and Alexandra Caluen decided to take some action to fill the void. Alexandra even bought everyone dinner following the second meeting that took place to discuss the formation of the chapter!


Alexandra Caluen with her husband Phil

the-vu: When did you first become aware of the existence of USABDA and the lack of a local chapter?

Alexandra: I don’t remember the actual first-heard-about-it moment, but I suspect that I saw an ad placed by USABDA in a magazine called Dancing USA. I joined fairly soon thereafter, and this would have been within my first year of dancing ballroom. As to the local chapter, Greater LA lost its entire board of directors last year. We thought and talked about if for a couple of months after receiving an appeal from the regional vice-president; when no one else stepped up to revive a local chapter, I took a deep breath and dived in.

You met your husband Phil in dance class?

Yes indeed. We both started lessons in August 1997, by November were practicing together, and New Year’s Eve was our “first date.” We got married October 6, 2001 and yes, we danced a lot at the reception.

How long had you two been dancing before you decided to pin on a number and compete?

I believe it was in January 1999 and we were still quite bad. J But competition has proved to be the best motivation for us to continue improving overall, to stay in group-lessons, to take private lessons. For me it’s also quite exciting since I was never athletic before. Phil did some biathlons before we met, but for him also ballroom has become an excellent outlet for that competitive urge.

What has been your greatest success so far in competition?

We placed first in a “Silver” level three-dance event (cha-cha, rumba, and swing) at USABDA’s 2002 Nationals. Big thrill, major thrill.

How much help and encouragement, with regard to the formation of the chapter, did you get from your teacher, Russell Adcock and others in the professional dance world?

Russell has always encouraged us to participate in USABDA and has been very open-minded about how he might help. Professionals aren’t allowed to actually organize events, of course. Michael Kuka and Thomas Hicks (other local instructors) are also both actively supporting social ballroom and competitive ballroom.

Junior Competitors at USABDA’s 2002 National Championships

If the West LA Chapter looks like it won’t be happening after all, at what stage do you think you’ll pull the plug on your time and personal expense?

If after one year we have the chapter chartered, and have scheduled our first social dance, and have organized one promotional event, I will keep on with it. I don’t have the kind of ego that will require me to flog any dead horses. All I require is a moderate level of interest and commitment from enough other people to actually pull off the events we all want.

How will the chapter encourage social dancers to learn a performance routine or enter a competition?

I hope that the chapter will fall out, structurally, into a sort of tree. The trunk will be the social dancers who both attend and organize the chapter dances. The branches are competition, performance/outreach, college/youth programs, a formal dinner dance, etc. We would encourage couples who dance socially to learn a routine so they can perform it at chapter dances or outreach events; we would also encourage singles to find partners for the same purpose. Those couples might then very likely be tempted to begin competing. Once you get over the initial stage fright, the performance aspect can be addictive, and if you are at all competitive, the prospect of winning a medal or trophy can be that extra motivation you need to really perfect your technique.

Ultimately, in order to attract those who haven’t considered ballroom dancing before, we need to present it in all its forms: social, competitive, whatever. The point above about “club” dancers being attracted to ballroom by the variety it offers is one that I hope we will make over and over again in our promotional efforts. The catch is that those dance clubs really are predominantly places for the younger, dating crowd. So not only do we have to frame USABDA events in such a way as to arouse the curiosity of club dancers, we have to take our message into the clubs by offering short lessons or demonstrations in the other dances that can be done to the same sort of music in the same sort of ambiance. If people like dancing at all, seeing something new will often inspire a wish to add it to their repertoire. If our hopes are realized, that wish will bring young people into the ballroom studios and they will start to enjoy all the glamour and romance of traditional ballroom, as well as the excitement of DanceSport.

If your readers are interested in learning more about USABDA, there are pages & pages of information on its website: www.usabda.org.

Thank you Alexandra!

And so at the time of writing, it is not yet certain that Alexandra will meet her goal, and that there will be a West Los Angeles chapter of USABDA, but if it doesn’t get off the ground, it will be a loss of opportunity for the area, and for every person that does not learn to dance, it’s a life wasted in the mediocrity of sitting still.

Jeffrey the Barak is the publisher of the-vu, and an enthusiastic social dancer.

Photographer Carson Zullinger’s dance photographs courtesy USABDA.org

Spielberg’s Mom and The Milky Way

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By Nicola Pittam

He’s the biggest director in the world and the mastermind such box office hits as ET, Jurassic Park, Jaws and Indiana Jones. But while Steven Spielberg makes movies that pull in hundreds of millions of dollars, his mum still runs the tiny restaurant she began 25 years ago.

Petite Leah Adler, who has just turned 82, could easily have retired years ago and been looked after by her famous son, who is reportedly worth more than $2 billion. But instead she chooses to work up to eight hours a day, seven days a week, greeting customers at her Los Angeles eatery The Milky Way.

The diner has proved such a success that even Spielberg has to put in his daily order for a Tuna Stuffer, which is pita bread stuffed with tuna salad, early to make sure he’s not left out!

Leah said: “Steven loves the food we serve here – whenever he is in town shooting a film I always have to send him over a tuna sandwich to the set. That’s his favorite dish off the menu and he always gets his order in early. But when he’s not shooting, he comes into the restaurant and then he order the cabbage rolls which he also loves. I’m so proud of him, I never dreamed he would be where he is today. I’m still toiling away here and he’s the most famous director in the world.”

“Seriously, I love doing this. I don’t think I could ever give it up – it keeps me young! I’ve just turned 82 but I feel 30 years younger and I know that running this place is what keeps me on my toes.”

Customers entering The Milky Way are immediately struck by the homeliness of the restaurant as Leah is on hand to meet and greet them. But soon their eyes turn the walls which are adorned with mementos of her famous son.

There are movie posters from most of his films, a clapperboard from Jaws and, of course, photos of Spielberg himself, including one with him and Leah at the Academy Awards when he won for Schindler’s List.

And on one counter there are even photos of Leah with Kirk Douglas and even Bill Clinton. Former concert pianist Leah proudly shows diners the pictures and says: “That’s my son, isn’t he wonderful? I don’t know where he got his creativity from! Well maybe he gets a little of it from me!”

“He was always making movies when he was a kid. I think he did his first one when he was eight. Of course then we never had any idea that he would go on to become where he is today. Then he would just spend all day filming the family and making up these wonderful little tales. He has a wonderful imagination and I love all his movies, they are so whimsical and extraordinary. But my favorite must be Schindler’s List. It is such a powerful film and close to all our hearts.”

With Spielberg on his way to success after paving the way for summer blockbusters with his hit movie Jaws in 1975, Leah decided it was time for her own: ‘Action.’

Leah, who has split from Spielberg’s dad and remarried Bernie Adler, decided she wanted to start her own business because she couldn’t find anywhere decent to eat. She wanted somewhere she could get fabulous home style food but without any meat included.

So after searching through Los Angeles and hitting a dead end she decided to open the Milky Way in 1979, the same year that Spielberg hit cinema screens with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Leah came up with the name Milky Way, not after one of her son’s fantasy sci-fi movies like Close Encounters or ET but because the menu is kosher and made up of dairy-based dishes.

Leah explained: “The reason I called the restaurant The Milky Way has nothing to do with Steven’s science fiction type movies like Close Encounters or ET! The reason is that we only serve dairy products – there is no meat on the menu at all. We have some fish like salmon or snapper but that’s it. However, there is a lot of cheese and egg based dishes as well as vegetarian dishes like eggplant parmesan and spinach crepes.”

Leah has three full time chefs that prepare the meals, which include seven appetizers, six entrees, five specials, five pizzas, five different sandwiches, six light dishes, salads, soups and five deserts.

The petite owner admits she is not allowed in her own kitchen to cook after being barred by the chefs. But does decide what dishes go on the menu which has hardly changed over the years.

She added: “”I have three chefs and they do all the cooking – I’m not allowed in the kitchen! Besides I have far more fun meeting and greeting people as they arrive for lunch of dinner. I love talking to everyone and getting to know them, no matter if they’re famous or just ordinary people.”

“We have people coming in who have been coming here for 20-odd years and often they want to chat as much as they want to eat! I do put the menu together but again I also have people who advise me  – this is a business not just a place where I can hang out. I think the reason it has lasted so long is that I don’t put my favorite dishes on the menu or do the cooking!”

“I’m there’s lots of things that I and Steven like but no-one else would, so early on I realized I had to make the menu varied and not just thing I wanted to eat. Also the menu has not changed that much over the years, I’m a big believer in that once you find something you like, you should stick with it.”

“Occasionally I’ll update the menu and I listen to my customers about what they like but why change a winning formula? But even so I love all the dishes – my favorite is the dreamy cheesecake which is so light I could eat it day after day!”

Leah’s daughter and Spielberg’s sister Sue added: “Mum just loves running this place – we can’t tear her away from it. She doesn’t have to be in here every day but she really enjoys it and the customers all love her. She spends most of her time going from table to table chatting to everyone and making sure they’re having a good time.”

“If the customers are happy then so is she. No-one would ever guess that she is 82, the way she runs around here.”

And Leah says she has no plans to retire any time soon, adding: “I couldn’t ever imagine retiring, I love this too much. Besides what would Steven do without his daily sandwich to keep him going?”

Some examples of the dishes available on the Milky Way menu:

“APPETEASERS”

Freshest Norwegian Smoked Salmon with the fixins

Steamed Veggie Platter with a creamette dressing

Tangy Guacamole Dip with fresh tortilla chips

THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Marinated Fish & Advocado: Tender fish filled with capers, Chinese peas, artichoke hearts and avocado in a tangy dressing

Spinach Seafood Fettuccine: Pasta sautéed in olive oil with smoked salmon, spinach and plum tomatoes

Oriental Stir Fry: Snowpeas and fresh veggies sauteed in a savoury Oriental dressing on a bed of rice or angel hair pasta

LUNCHEON ENTREES

Salmon Roulades: Baked slices of fresh Norwegian salmon layered with cream cheese and spinach pate. Served with toasted pine nuts and sauce béarnaise.

Cabbage Rolls: A classic. Poached cabbage leaves filled with our secret blend of fresh vegetables, rice and walnut pate. Baked with sauerkraut in tomato and served with potato pancakes and sour cream

Eggplant Parmesan: Delicately sautéed eggplant smothered in a zesty marinara sauce and baked with layers of mozzarella. Accompanied by a fresh green salad and garlic bread.

MILKY WAY SPECIALTIES

Spinach Crepes: A tasty combination of cream spinach accented by friend onions and wrapped in two golden crepes. Topped with melted cheese and served with garlic.

Cajun Blackened Snapper: Red snapper rolled in lively Cajun spices and blackened in a cast iron skillet. Served with rice.

Cheese Blintzes: What would a dairy restaurant be without blintzes? Ours are yummy. Served with sour cream and strawberry preserve.

BETWEEN THE SLICES

Tuna Stuffer: Pita bread stuffed with tasty tuna salad, lettuce and tomatoes.

Seafood Tacos: Two corn tortillas filled with succulent blackened fish, shredded cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes. Topped with tangy salsa and sour cream.

Hot Mushroom Sandwich: Delicate mushroom pate topped with melted Swiss cheese, avocado and sliced tomato. Served on toast.

DELIGHTFUL DESSERTS

* Dreamy Cheesecake
* Fresh Fruit Stir Fry
* Luscious Carrot Cake
* Devilishly Rich Chocolate Mousse Pie
* Tangy Lemon Tart

Nicola Pittam is a British journalist who has worked for Splash News in Los Angeles for four years. She reports daily on the latest from Tinsel Town for the British newspapers