Jessica Koslow

Sometime around 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, a giant windstorm hit Manzanar National Historic Site, located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains just north of Lone Pine. To Dan Kwong, the winds felt like they were blowing 80 miles an hour. The dust was gusting sideways, and he could not see 10 feet in front of his face.

When the dirt settled, Kwong was able to see that much of his and his fellow volunteers’ hard work was smashed to the ground. In 2023, the staff of Manzanar National Historic Site announced it would rebuild its WWII baseball field, which was used when more than 11,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly incarcerated between 1942 and 1945. The newly finished announcer’s booth was still standing, but the storm had destroyed most of the fencing on the first base side.

“It was just heartbreaking,” Kwong said. “To watch it slowly give way and just, bam, smash down. It’s the third time we’ve had damage from wind, but this was just absolute obliteration. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Growing up in Encino, Nancy Silverton remembers shopping at small businesses with her parents. Unlike the Encino of today, populated by mini-malls, it was a town of tiny shops and markets, like the family-owned Jurgensen’s Grocery Company, Owl Rexall pharmacy and Gibson Girl boutique.

Silverton’s maternal grandfather was a doctor in Yonkers, New York, who practiced out of an office above their home. Her paternal grandfather was a jeweler in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, whose shop was the community gathering place. Her parents were “small-town people.” 

Although she wanted to, Silverton never went into a department store or a fast-food chain restaurant—until much later in life. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It is where the Beastie Boys created some of their most iconic work — “Check Your Head,” “Ill Communication” and “Hello Nasty” — and where they filmed the “Pass the Mic” music video. It was a 1,600-plus square foot studio, label headquarters, clubhouse, skate spot, basketball court: a creative anything-goes space that, post-Beasties, has been home to Han Cholo Jewelry, X-Large Clothing and Mad Decent Recordings. Recently, Courtney Barnett filmed her video in the back for “One Thing at a Time.”

The place is G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, an old ballroom that is known today as one of the most mythic creative hideouts in LA. The legend goes that around 1990, when Atwater Village had a more small town USA vibe, the Beastie Boys arrived from New York City with record label money in their pockets. They decided to set up their own recording studio on Atwater’s main strip.

On the roof of the building, an old sign that used to read Gilson Plumbing and Heating now only listed “G son.” The studio’s name was decided thus for the place where the trio would launch Grand Royal, the label and magazine, and catapult themselves to global superstardom. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

Throughout his career — from artist to teacher to principal to CEO — John Lawler has always been on the same mission: equity and access to arts for all kids. He has worn many hats: an award-winning director and writer, the co-founder of two nonprofits and the principal of two nationally recognized arts high schools.

“Arts education means more than just creating young artists,” said Lawler. “It’s about how they will do in school — kids with an arts education are three to five times more likely to graduate and get into college than kids who don’t have arts. There are such incredible benefits and outcomes that go beyond what people normally think of.”

As the CEO of P.S. ARTS, based in Downtown LA and one of the largest and most well-established arts providers, Lawler oversees arts programs in public schools that cannot afford them. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.