Los Angeles Downtown news 05/29/2023

Metro Expansion Downtown Regional Connector to open Father’s Day weekend

During a recent gathering outside of the newly built Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, Metro board members and executives revealed that the agency’s Regional Connector Transit Project will be completed and open to the public on Friday, June 16.

The Regional Connector will unite the Metro L (Gold), A (Blue), E (Expo), B (Red) and D (Purple) lines at Downtown Los Angeles’ Seventh Street/Metro Center station Riders will now be able to travel from as far as Azusa to Long Beach and from East Los Angeles to Santa Monica in one seat.

The project also features three new underground stations: Little Tokyo/Arts District Station on the corner of East First Street and North Alameda Street; Historic Broadway Station on Second Street and Broadway; and Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill Station, Metro’s deepest rail system and a connection point for arts and cultural venues like The Broad, MOCA, The Music Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

“Over the past 30 years, Metro has stitched together an expansive rail network that stretches from the South Bay and Santa Monica to East LA and the San Gabriel Valley, but we’ve always had a missing link through the Downtown core,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said. “The regional connector will enable a lot more access for a lot more people, and it’s when our county needs it the most. We’re seeing ridership begin to rebound, particularly on the weekends and during the off peak, and it’s because families want to connect more to destinations, cultural events and activities. Regional connector is going to support the revitalization of Downtown LA as it continues to emerge from the pandemic and peo-

ple are slowly returning to normal.”

The Metro line from Long Beach to Azusa will be the longest light-rail line in the world with an end-to-end timing of approximately one hour and 58 minutes, while traveling from East LA to Santa Monica will take riders one hour and nine minutes. Each line will start by running with a frequency of 20 minutes during off-peak hours and 12 minutes during on peak hours.

The project has been described as “unique in terms of the scale” of its expansion by Downtown leaders like DCBID Executive Director Nick Griffin, who also said that it comes at a time when “the Metro system is more important than ever.”

Public transportation remains a point of discussion and debate in Downtown LA, the heart of a car-reliant city known for its congested highways, but Metro projects like the Ambassador Program, GoPass Pilot Program and the Regional Connector Transit Project have been recently introduced in an effort to improve accessibility and public safety, which has suffered in recent years.

Nine days before Metro set the opening date for their new regional connector stations in Downtown, a 36-year-old man was shot to death outside of the Civic Center/ Grand Park Station following what witnesses described as an argument before the suspect fled the scene. This shooting came one month after a fatal stabbing of 25-yearold Luis Fernando Polita on a Metro A Line train in Long Beach, the third stabbing on a Metro line within a week.

The number of deaths on Metro systems this year already surpassed the entirety of 2022, the majority of which have been attributed to drug overdose. It’s a trend that Metro has recognized, inspiring its board to approve the deployment of 48 new transit security officers in March and 300 trained, unarmed ambassadors in April across transit lines.

“We’re really proud of this project today; you’ll be able to see the infrastructure, but what you won’t yet see is all the people who will be working on the regional connector to keep these stations as friendly, clean and safe as they can be,” Wiggins said. “Dozens of Metro operators, service attendants, ambassadors, transit security, custodians and outreach workers will be working around the clock on the trains and in our stations to deliver on the promise of the regional connector, and that is to improve the quality of life for the people all over the county.”

Glendale City Councilmember and Metro board Chair Ara J. Najarian added that the Regional Connector has been one of the agency’s safest and most cost-efficient projects, as its construction took 7.7 million

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Essential Education

Professor, attorney discuss importance of subpoenas

University of California, Los Angeles, alumnus and associate professor Bobby Rimas of the American legal systems course at California State University, Los Angeles’ Downtown LA Campus, lectured on the importance of subpoenas and what should be done to ensure compliance on May 10.

Additionally, Rimas indicated that subpoenas allow for parties to learn about information or evidence that may be used for their cases.

Rimas then introduced guest speaker Andrew Beshai, an associate attorney at Larson LLP.

Beshai spoke about the difference between civil and criminal subpoenas, how subpoenas can request for court appearance, document productions or both. Furthermore, civil subpoenas can be issued by any lawyer but not a pros -

ecutor.

Beshai also discussed the Fifth Amendment constitutional right not to self-incriminate.

Prior to his role as a federal prosecutor, Beshai was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, where he investigated and litigated discrimination cases against state and local entities in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and Colorado.

As a trial lawyer with the DOJ Civil Rights Division, Beshai also worked on complex matters, including taking depositions, developing discovery strategy and arguing motions. He graduated valedictorian from Loyola Law School, where he served for two years as an adjunct professor teaching legal drafting.

Rimas indicated that Beshai’s presentation was “…very informative and gave

Vote for California Hospital as the of Downtown 2023

students a clear picture as to the significance of subpoenas and what they should consider doing when assisting their legal teams with such matters.”

In addition to being an associate professor, Rimas is a paralegal at the Larson LLP law firm and an adjunct faculty member at the University of La Verne. He is also the vice chair of the special committee on diversity, equity and inclusion for a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization and a board member for the UCLA Lambda Alumni Association.

Rimas graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a Master of Legal Studies degree, cum laude, from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

He is the past chair/president of the UCLA Pilipino Alumni Association and past president of the Los Angeles Paralegal Association.

Covered California will help DT CONSIDER THIS

Trust Issues

At Trusted HouseSitters, who do you trust?

Adear friend of mine, JM, is one of the most “traveling-est” people I know. “Who takes care of your dogs when you’re away?” I ask during our weekly dinner at Altadena’s El Patrón, a homey restaurant plastered with Mexican bric-a-brac. Finishing her bite, she says, “I have a housesitter who stays with them while I travel.” “Isn’t that expensive?” I say. “It sure is … but my peace of mind is worth it. I pay her nicely, and the dogs love her.”

I have done my share of traveling; house and dog care is the priority. Paying for housesitting has never been in my budget, given that the lion’s share of my travel has been pro bono due to the philanthropic nature of my work. The women and girls served by impoverished organizations that request Beauty Bites Beast

can’t afford to pay my expenses, let alone the cost of leaving my critters in good hands.

My late sister, Alane, loved getting out of frozen Troy, New York, and staying here while we traveled, primarily to get her biannual quota of dog snuggles. For one trip, Alane wasn’t available. A friend mentioned Trusted HouseSitters, an online “matchmaker” for people who want their domestic responsibilities taken care of economically while traveling. On the other side of the equation, people who want to travel but don’t want to pay for hotels can sign up as sitters. It can be a dynamic win-win arrangement. On the other hand, the results can suck.

Back to my meal with JM, “Have you heard of Trusted HouseSitters?” I ask. She says, “Vaguely; it kind of rings a bell.” So, I launched into an impassioned promotion of Trusted HouseSitters, how the married couple who took care of our home while we were away was kind and trustworthy: veritable Girl and Boy Scouts of the world.

“I would use that service again in a heartbeat; give it a try!” She was reluctant, and I should have left it at that.

JM paid the membership fee, joined Trusted HouseSitters, got vetted, and then found someone who wanted to stay in her home and care for her dogs. After a great trip, JM came home to chaos: Raw sewage was all over her floors due to a sewer line break she’d been informed of via text. JM had engaged a plumber from afar, then explicitly explained — again, via text — the situation to the sitter and asked them not to take a shower until the plumber arrived. The sitter from H-E double hockey sticks deliberately took a shower anyway. Upon arrival at her front door, JM found her dogs loose and barking in the backyard, which was prohibited. The mistrusted housesitter told one lie after another, including having her “cousin” at the house who supposedly

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was only visiting from a local Airbnb. As JM entered, she heard one of them say, “The house smells like (expletive). She’s coming home soon; hurry!”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sitter threatened JM with a lawsuit claiming she had contracted cholera while staying at the house. What?! Yikes! Oh, and JM had to replace her floors, then pay through the nose for a paid sitter to come because she was traveling again in the next few days. (The Horror Sitter had originally scheduled herself to do that stint, too.) It was a lose-lose situation, even though the service insures its users. JM was eventually reimbursed for the floors and the cost of the emergency housesitter.

I texted JM, “I feel so guilty for pushing you into using Trusted HouseSitters; if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have had to replace your floors.” “It’s OK; it’s not your fault. I guess I feel funny about getting something for nothing anyway.” I didn’t think quickly enough to respond to the “something for nothing” remark.

When Trusted HouseSitters works as intended, it embodies quid pro quo. We’re signed up to be both a “sittee” and “sitter.” We haven’t been sitters yet because we have been only half-hearted about it. When we were toying with traveling to New Zealand, I entered the dates we wanted, and there weren’t any great matches. One homeowner ran a farm,

which meant we would have spent our time away at Old Mcdonald’s … E-I-E-INO! From experience, I knew I’d be responsible for critters from dawn to dusk; I’d also fret about the animals. I passed.

I recently returned from a conference in Mexico where I was a volunteer. In anticipation of the event, I went to TrustedHousesitters.com and entered our dates; we got a few matches. I Zoomed with the best candidate, Fernando Lopez, and bada bing! A perfect match. Fernando is an animal lover, wants to live in the Los Angeles area and (wait for it…) pursue an acting career. Before he commits to moving into his own place, he wants to experience different communities in this vast region. He already sat a home in the Hollywood Hills and will soon be “tasting” Santa Monica and Downtown LA next. However, after 10 days in our home in Altadena, he is now a huge fan of our community and can see himself living here. And the dogs loved him — a win-win!

2023 marks the 30th year that Ellen Snortland has written this column. She has an LA Press Club nomination for Journalist of the Year. She also teaches creative writing online and can be reached at ellen@beautybitesbeast.com. Her award-winning film “Beauty Bites Beast” is available for download or streaming at vimeo.com/ ondemand/beautybitesbeast.

Covered California will help DTFEATURES More Than Just a Number

For unhoused people, mental health is an all-encompassing journey

There is a common misconception that unhoused people are on the streets because of preexisting mental illnesses. While this is true for some, many only experience mental health crises after losing housing.

The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health recently hosted an event at Gladys Park, a well-known park in Skid Row, with resources for those experiencing homelessness. Participating organizations included Skid Row Concierge, Veteran Peer Access Network, Prevent Homelessness and Promote Health, My Friend’s House, Los Angeles Christian Health Center, LAHSA, Social Model Recovery Systems, Skid Row Brigade and the Skid Row Action Plan.

“Everyone has a certain notion of Skid Row. They know it’s high need, but many people don’t want to come — even to of-

TALK

fer help,” said Dr. Lisa H. Wong, LACDMH director. “When you get to know people in this community, you learn individual stories and individual struggles and come to appreciate that no one person’s circumstances are the same as another.”

It’s estimated that 25% to 40% of people experiencing homelessness struggle with mental health, but only 10% deal with more severe conditions like schizophrenia or psychosis. Yet some argue that most, if not all, unhoused people experience some level of trauma or mental health issues related to the stress of losing housing and living on the streets.

“Even though there’s a lot for mental health to do to help unhoused people, it’s not the magic bullet. It’s not the only thing that’s going to solve homelessness,” Wong said.

It’s no wonder people on the streets struggle with mental health considering what led them to that point: abuse, medi-

Presented in conjunction with The Broad’s special exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, this iteration of  The Un-Private Collection conversation series features legendary dancer/choreographer and Haring collaborator  Bill T. Jones with Haring biographer Brad Gooch

The pair will discuss the storied life and iconic work of artist Keith Haring and the energy and spirit of the experiences they all lived in New York City in the 1980s. Tickets to the talk include one-time free access to The Broad’s special exhibition  Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody and the museum’s third floor galleries.

cal issues, loss of employment and poverty, which are only exacerbated by losing one’s home or living situation. And while mental health care is essential, especially for those with severe mental illnesses, it’s rendered futile without basic human needs like water, food, shelter and safety.

Former Skid Row resident Bria Sherrod was homeless for five years after fleeing a violent relationship with the father of her children.

“I just decided to leave the home, and I had no money,” she said. “I was terrified, but I had to go.”

Sherrod stayed with friends briefly and struggled to find employment due to a past brush with the law. Eventually, with nowhere to go, Sherrod found herself living on the streets of LA and spiraling.

“Trying to find food alone was just so stressful for me. Everything was so hard for me, even just daily tasks,” Sherrod said. “I was getting so depressed and didn’t know if I could manage it. I did not feel like I even wanted to live anymore because I was separated from my children.”

After encountering a slew of unhelpful organizations, Sherrod finally connected with Skid Row Concierge, a Skid Rowbased support network that was able to help her find housing in the LA Grand Hotel, which serves as temporary lodging for unhoused people.

“I was nervous because I’ve gone to different organizations, and they never real-

ly helped me,” she said. “(Skid Row Concierge) is not just about getting people housed. It’s about really supporting people. That was different from other organizations, where I felt like I was just a number.”

Alexandria Britton, a community health worker with LACDMH and a former DMH client, works with formerly unhoused clients struggling with mental health to maintain their housing. People living experiencing homelessness and mental illness are often dismissed and dehumanized, which only aggravates the problem.

“We strive to get on their level and sit down in the dirt and listen,” Britton said. “You don’t have to feel like you’re different, weird or a bad person. You don’t have to have shame. You’re human.”

Keith Rice has been homeless for the past 15 years after losing his job and struggling to find employment due to his disability. Through the Veteran Peer Access Network, a community-driven support network serving veterans and their families, Rice is readying to move into his first apartment with his support dog, Mindy. VPAN’s support has far exceeded finding Rice a place to live.

“Knowing that they’re behind me, willing to help me and I can go to them anytime has made all the difference,“ he beamed. “If I’m having a bad day, I’m welcome to go to their office and talk with them.”

“Skid Row is a community, and we need to be invested in the health of all our communities, whether it’s a temporary community for somebody or a permanent community. That’s not our distinction to make,” Wong said.

“Our responsibility is to bring the kinds of services in so that people can live their best lives, change their trajectories and have a feeling of well-being. At the end of the day, mental health is a social justice issue.”

Covered California will help DTFEATURES Overcoming Trauma

Former commune member shares experiences in memoir

Author Wendy Baker had an upbringing unlike any other, and after several decades, she has put it down on paper to share with the world.

The Malibu resident has published her memoir, “My Name Was Mushroom: My Life as a Teenage Runaway in The Source Family Commune.” The 250-page book details her experiences as an adolescent fugitive who was one of the first and youngest members of the Source Family Commune, an infamous spiritual group in 1970s Downtown LA led by Jim Baker (known as “Father Yod” or “Yahowah”).

Wendy, who is now 65 and the co-owner of a company with her husband, said she felt ready to share her story after overcoming 50 years of emotional and physical trauma from her life in the commune and how that led to where she is today.

“It’s difficult sometimes for me when people know all the stuff that went on,” she said. “Because for so long I didn’t talk about it and I hid it because I was somewhat embarrassed that I didn’t go to a traditional school. I didn’t get raised traditionally. I didn’t go to college. I was in a commune. It was just such a difficult thing to explain to people, so I just didn’t.”

“Now, everyone I know is reading (my book) and people I don’t know. I find it’s healing to me.”

Wendy will discuss her memoir from 7 to 8 p.m. on June 2 at Stories Books & Cafe on Sunset Boulevard. She will be joined by three former members of the Source Family and will share more about her experiences during a reading, book signing and audience Q&A.

“I don’t know many people that have gone through what I’ve gone through,” she said. “So what (readers) could take away is that the things that happen when you’re young in your life don’t have to define you, and it’s the choices that you make as you grow that get you into a better place.”

Meeting the family

Wendy’s journey with the commune began when she met her now-husband, Bart Baker, the son of Father Yod.

“When we were 12 years old, he introduced me to his father. So that’s how I

originally met Jim Baker, that was before the Family started,” she said.

She was drawn to Father Yod’s blue eyes and charismatic personality. Due to a troubled home life, she joined the commune at age 14 and dedicated herself to its leaders beliefs and teachings. She was called “Mushroom.”

“I didn’t know it was going to be a spiritual commune, but it just kind of turned out to be that way,” Wendy said. “Growing up there was like my high school. I was in like a spiritual bootcamp, and it was like a whole different experience than the normal.”

Inside the Source Family Commune

In 1969, Father Yod opened The Source restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.

The restaurant was the first vegan, natural food establishment in LA and quickly became one of the most influential eateries of its time, attracting stars like the Beatles, Cher and Woody Allen. It was even parodied in the 1977 film “Annie Hall.”

This was also the beginning of the Source Family Commune, which fostered the 1970s hippie lifestyle of love, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

The cult group had over 144 members

at its peak and traversed settlements across California and Hawaii.

Members followed Father Yod’s word and commandments, used marijuana for morning meditation, created their own clothing out of flowing white fabric, and even started a band called YaHoWa-13 that starred their leader.

“Being in the Family was wonderful. I loved it,” Wendy said. “I loved the experience, I loved being a vegetarian, I loved all the people there, I loved the exercises that we did, the meditation. I just thought it was such a better world than the world that I was in, and I embraced it and I gave it everything I had.”

Despite this, some of her experiences were traumatizing and “just not right.”

“I just had lots of things happen to me on my journey being in a commune that were completely different than everybody else’s,” she said.

During her time as a member of the Source Family, Wendy was taken to court by her mother to force her out of the commune, becoming a fugitive of justice from the state of California; spent time in a halfway house; had a baby at age 16; and overcame homelessness as she hid with the Family.

The Source also maintained some practices and beliefs that Wendy did not

agree with, which led to her departure from the group.

“I didn’t agree with everything. I didn’t think it was gonna work out, and I still believe that today,” she said. “I chose more to fit into society, and to have a family, and to be married and to leave. There’s very few things that I’ve adopted from the Source Family that I keep in my life today.”

A message of courage and hope

Wendy’s desire is to help others who had a similar upbringing as her — those who didn’t grow up in a conventional family, or teenage mothers who feel like they will not make it out as a better person.

Today, Wendy runs a successful insurance company with Bart, to whom she’s been married for 45 years. They have three children, one of whom is her child with another man in the Family.

“I’m successful, and I’m doing great. I’ve learned a lot from my experience, and I’ve used a lot of my skills in my everyday life. It taught me so much,” she said.

“The book gives you hope that you can still come out of it and be OK. … I

think it would be inspiring for people to read it,” she added.

Until the publishing of her memoir, no one from the Source had been aware of Wendy’s experiences with the exception of a few members.

Her children, in particular, were in the dark about their mother’s teenage years.

“I wrote it for my kids,” Wendy said. “I wanted them to know what I had been through before I get too old and forget all about it. So that’s kind of where I’m coming from.”

“My Name Was Mushroom: My Life as a Teenage Runaway in The Source Family Commune” has already collected a handful of awards.

The memoir won first place in the Firebird Book Awards Young Adult, Nonfiction category; gold in the 2022 Global Book Awards Biographical-Memoir category; and third place in the BookFest

Awards Nonfiction, Memoir category.

Wendy’s experience with the Source Family has even piqued the interest of multiple filmmakers, resulting in her signing a contract with a company. The process has begun to translate her story to the big screen, although it hasn’t yet been established if it will be a movie or TV series.

Regardless, Wendy wants to share the story of her youth with others and pass on the wisdom she gained from her experiences.

“The only advice I can give is what I gave myself,” she said. “And that was look forward. Keep your head up. Be strong. Learn as much as you can. And figure out where you want to go, where you want to end up and work toward that goal. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it.”

“My Name Was Mushroom: My Life as a Teenage Runaway in The Source Family Commune” reading, book signing and Q&A

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, June 2

WHERE: Stories Books & Cafe, 1716 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles COST: Book is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IngramSpark and independent bookstores; paperback ($16.95), hardcover ($27), Kindle ($4.99), audio ($4.99)

INFO: @wendybakerauthor, wendybakerauthor.com

Covered California will help DTBUSINESS Renewed Partnership Agreement calls for Delta Sky360° Club

Delta Air Lines and AEG have expanded their agreement, enhancing the airline’s presence across Southern California entertainment venues.

With the agreement, Delta renews its longtime status as a founding partner of Crypto.com Arena and the official airline carrier of Crypto.com Arena and the LA Kings.

The partnership includes naming entitlement to Crypto.com Arena’s recently expanded and reimagined, exclusive Chairman’s Club, which will be introduced as the new Delta Sky360° Club.

“Delta and AEG are both focused on elevating the experience for our customers, whether they are cheering on their favorite team or catching a flight to their next destination,” said Scott Santoro, vice president of global sales, Delta Air Lines.

“Delta is proud to be LA’s largest premium global carrier, and with the support of partners like AEG, we will continue to provide

best-in-class offerings to Angelenos and LA sports fans worldwide.”

Los Angeles remains a major global travel hub and a strategically important market for the airline and its more than 4,000 LA-based employees.

At the same time, the sports landscape in Los Angeles has grown exponentially since the start of Delta’s partnership with AEG in 2011. The city is home to 12 major professional sports franchises and is only expected to grow with major global sporting events coming to LA in the next five years like the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games.

“We are proud to be growing our relationship with Delta, a global leader and one of our longest-standing partners who shares our commitment to excellence and providing a premium experience for the millions of fans and guests we both serve around the world,” said Nick Baker, co-chief operating officer, AEG Global Partnerships.

Located on the arena’s event level, the new Delta Sky360° Club will offer select season ticket members and VIP guests new benefits and experiences before, during and after all Crypto.com Arena publicly ticketed sporting events and select concerts. Guests can expect to enjoy a fully immersive, all-inclusive luxury game-day experience with no details spared, including an unlimited bar, upscale food and drink offerings, state-ofthe-art new seating and fireplaces, as well as valet parking and a dedicated entrance.

“With its numerous first-class amenities, the Delta Sky360° Club represents the new standard in exclusive VIP hospitality at Crypto.com Arena and will bring one-of-a-kind fan experience to our guests,” said Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena and LA Live. “Our long and fruitful partnership with Delta, has consistently added value to our arena and continues to help us raise the bar for the millions of fans we entertain each year.”

As a founding partner of Crypto.com Arena, the airline will continue to be prominently featured via premium indoor and outdoor signage in and around the venue. Custom branding elements at the venue include LED rotation on the center scoreboard during all publicly ticketed events, enhanced LED rotational exposure of the arena’s 110 and 10 freeway marquees, prominent main concourse signage, and online exposure via the arena’s digital channels.

This is in addition to the partnership elements Delta will receive through its ongoing relationship with LA Live. Delta will continue to benefit from a variety of premier digital signage elements as well as premium exposure during events such as the annual Grammy Awards, Emmys and American Music Awards, all of which are hosted at the district each year.

As the official airline carrier of Crypto.com Arena and the LA Kings, Delta will continue to enhance its connection to fans. This will include a variety of in-game and TV broadcast exposure including branded scoreboard features, virtual on-ice signage, digitally enhanced dasherboards (DEDs), static dasherboards and TV-visible rotational dasherboard signage during all LA Kings locally televised regular season home games at Crypto.com Arena and more. Delta will engage with fans directly during its title night game at Crypto.com Arena each NHL season as well as with various fan-focused promotions including sweepstakes, a seasonlong social media feature, and events featuring player and alumni appearances.

“We are honored and excited to expand our partnership with Delta, an impactful relationship that has consistently added value to the LA Kings and our home, Crypto.com Arena,” said Luc Robitaille, LA Kings president and hall of famer.

“The long-standing success of our relationship is a testament to our mutual commitment to excellence, innovation and, most importantly, the many loyal hockey fans we serve across Los Angeles.”

“We’re incredibly proud of the relationship we’ve grown with Delta over the years as well as the positive impact we’ve been able to make both at our venues and across the LA Kings,” said Russell Silvers, co-chief operating officer, AEG Global Partnerships. “Together we have created a dynamic and successful partnership that not only showcases the best of both of our brands and what we have to offer, but more importantly allows the people we both serve in Southern California and beyond to be the real benefactors of the many benefits and enhanced fan experiences our unique relationship brings to them.” hours without any times lost due to injury or incident.

“That’s a tremendous record for a job of this complexity,” said Mat Antonelli, construction director at Metro, before speaking about the community-involved construction process. “Our tunnel, going back east, does travel underneath the Walt Disney Concert Hall, … the Colburn School of Music and other stakeholders. There was a very big concern, obviously, for noise and vibration, as trains are operating not only during construction but after construction for many years. We were able to put in some special track, what we call a ‘floating slab,’ that really takes all the noise and vibration out of the trains. And we’ve done a lot of testing up on the surface, both in an outside of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and been able to prove that there’s no noise, vibration or impact on the stakeholders.”

Each station was also outfitted with artwork as part of the Metro Regional Connector Art Program, which involved over 180

local artists and community organizations. Artists Andrea Bowers, Audrey Chan, Mark Steven Greenfield, Ann Hamilton, Pearl C. Hsiung, Clare Rojas, Mungo Tomson and Clare Williams developed their work over the past seven years and will be showcased in the new Metro stations. There will also be two temporary exhibitions featuring Ralph Gilbert and Samira Yamin at the Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill and Historic Broadway Stations.

“It’s such a rich area for (art),” said Maya Emsden, executive officer of Metro’s art and cultural programming. “What is unique about the LA Metro system is how deeply we integrate the artwork into the construction project. … The art program is a very important part of the customer experience.”

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics on the horizon, Metro’s programs and upcoming expansion of the city’s transit lines have served as signifiers of a desired shift from car-based travel to rail and bus-based travel and as symbols of the agency’s drive to see this future realized for Angelenos.

Covered California will help DTENTERTAINMENT

The Celebrated Revival

‘A Soldier’s Play’ arrives at

It took only three words of dialogue for up-and-coming actor Eugene Lee to recognize he was part of a play that would resonate not only with audiences of the time, but for decades to come: “I hate myself.”

In one of the most intense, raw moments of Charles Fuller’s 1981 drama “A Soldier’s Play,” Lee recalled that night after night it brought gasps to the audience. And the same impact is happening more than 40 years later.

The Pulitzer Prize winner — the most successful work in the storied history of the Negro Ensemble Company — made it to Broadway in 2020 and earned seven Tony nominations, including for director Kenny Leon and costume designer Dede Ayite. Now on tour, “A Soldier’s Play” has opened at Downtown’s Ahmanson Theatre.

Set in 1944 at Fort Neal, Louisiana, Fuller’s tale is part mystery, part exploration of racism within the Black members of a segregated platoon surrounding the killing of Sgt. Vernon C. Waters (Lee). The world premiere off-Broadway featured Lee and a then little-known Denzel Washington in smaller roles.

Washington later starred in the movie adaptation, which earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture; Best Adapted Screenplay by Fuller; and Best Supporting Actor for Adolph Caesar, who also starred in the original stage production.

Frank Rich, in his New York Times review of the first production, wrote that Fuller’s story “tirelessly insists on embracing volatile contradictions because that is the way to arrive at the shattering truth.” Lee echoes that critique.

“It’s the truth. And it’s told with clarity,” he said. “And the truth will always resonate.”

As Waters, Lee begins the play by dying. His remaining time onstage is in flashbacks, as the mystery surrounding the killer and the motive are uncovered, requires Lee to take the role of the abrasive sergeant in whatever path the various storyteller take.

“And each have a different take; some lie and some tell the truth,” he said. “My job is to go that way. But I had to find the human being in him. I can’t not like him. And what I found was his fear, what he was afraid of.”

the Ahmanson

“A Soldier’s Play” is perhaps Fuller’s best-known play, but the 2020 revival was only the second major restaging, which surprises Center Theatre Group associate general manager Eric Sims.

“It’s criminally underproduced,” he said. “It’s a suspenseful thriller. It’s got a terrific cast of characters, and the ensemble of this production is a gift. It’s just an amazing opportunity for actors to really be at their best.”

While racism frequently serves as the driver of dramatic plots, it’s rarer that the concept is expanded and examined indepth to include internal racism.

“One thing this play dug into that I think made people uncomfortable — and still does — is that sometimes the impact of racism is so toxic that it seeps in and that the enemy can be from within,” Sims said. “This is a conversation that is still ongoing.”

Lee agreed, and he added that not only do Fuller’s words remain as fresh as they did the first time around but that Leon’s direction and the technical aspects — including the new costumes — make the

production feel modern, which still retaining its nod toward the World War II era.

Designer Dede Ayite said finding the reality of the costumes is key, whether or not it’s a period piece, which is why she begins by serious research.

“Research is important, not only for authenticity, but it allows me to identify the essence of each character and to find ways to put that essence into my costumes,” she said.

One key is to find the right fit in uniform and what that says about their personality. For example, to make the fit and style of Waters’ uniform to enhance his imposing manner.

“But so much of that is him,” she said.

“He has been in this show before, and he brings such strength to the character but also humanity.”

Lee said he believes it’s the complexity of the human experience, shown through these men, that Ahmanson audiences will take with them.

“You’re going to leave with something you didn’t take to this play,” he said. “White people come see the play and they get some insight into the history of this is African American experience. But even for Black people, this element of self-hate is one of those ‘I didn’t know that’ moments, or ‘I hadn’t realized that’ or ‘I hadn’t articulated that moment quite so specifically.’ They leave the play with a new insight.”

“A Soldier’s Play”

WHEN: Various times; shows run through Sunday, June 25

WHERE: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

COST: Tickets start at $40

INFO: 213-628-2772, centertheatregroup.org

‘Transparent’ World premiere musical opens at the Mark Taper Forum

The hit Amazon Prime show “Transparent” was more than entertainment for Murphy Taylor Smith. It was a support system, a story that showed she wasn’t the only person transitioning.

Now, as a star in the world premiere of “A Transparent Musical,” she’s getting to share the same story that helped her. Adapted by the show’s creator Joey Soloway, along with MJ Kaufman, the music and lyrics are by Joey’s sibling Faith Soloway. Directed by Tina Landau, with choreography by James Alsop, it opens May 31 at Downtown’s Mark Taper Forum.

The show, which was inspired by the Soloway family, ran four full seasons, plus an ending musical movie. The story arc centers around the Pfeffermans, when one parent of three grown children, 75-year-old Maura, comes out as transgender. Smith plays Rabbi Raquel, the ex-fiancé of middle child Josh.

“When I was first going through my own gender journey, the TV show was a big part of my life,” said Smith, whose twin sister also is trans. “I would watch it with my parents, and it was also kind of a teaching tool. So many people had their understanding of what it meant to be transgender refined and expanded because of that show.”

in this community, but also the attack that’s being made on our community right now.”

That timely message resonates with Alsop. She’s a veteran choreographer who worked with Beyonce on her music video “Run the World (Girls),” the movie “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” and several other stage and screen productions. She’s also trans.

“I was a huge fan of the show, and Joey Soloway and I have been dying to work on something,” she said. “But I didn’t want to do a show just because it was about trans people. It has to be a show that made sense. And because they have made a great story based on the TV show, it made sense for me to be part of this. I would have cried if I wasn’t.’

It’s that same passion that Center Theatre Group expressed when talks began over producing the world premiere. Since its formation, the company has offered many groundbreaking shows, including “Zoot Suit” and “Children of a Lesser God.” In recent years, CTG has pushed even more forcefully for diversity onstage and behind the curtain.

For Smith, the musical is a chance for trans people and gender-nonconforming people to be more fully included in the world of American theater. She joined other performers and the creative team for several workshops, during which she said the show kept getting stronger.

At the same time, the political climate in different states made her feel as though the timing was spot on for a show of this type.

“There have been these absolutely insane legislative attacks across the country that have focused on trans people and our existence,” she said. “So, it just felt the more we worked on it, the more pertinent and important it became to make the show kind of a lightning bolt. It can try to wake up people and make them as aware as possible of the people

“More than two years ago, we made a commitment to do an entire season of female, female-identifying and LGBTQ+ writers,” said Kelley Kirkpatrick, associate artistic director at CTG. “Even before we had made that commitment, this show came across our desk and it was really interesting and really fun. It represented a community that’s never been represented before on our stage, and it’s a world premiere musical, which I don’t think we’ve done in almost 13 years. Putting those elements together, it was a really good fit. And on top of that, it’s really good.”

It’s that combination — a strong voice for trans people and a quality piece of entertainment — that most excited Smith, whose family will get to see the show, just as they watched the TV version with her years earlier.

“It’s going to be so much fun,” she said, adding that her family “We can have a great time and still learn something. This show is brimming with big emotions and a big story, and I’m excited to see the response.”

Covered California will help DTENTERTAINMENT

‘The Brush and the Torch’

Adrian Cox shows at Corey Helford Gallery

For Los Angeles painter Adrian Cox, every second of his life feeds into his creative process. His art has allowed him to take his personal experiences and process them on a canvas, giving life to imaginary worlds and symbolic narratives.

Featuring 25 new figurative pieces, Cox’s exhibition “The Brush and the Torch” is set to debut at Corey Helford Gallery on Saturday, June 3. It will be his largest solo exhibition and his fourth at CHG.

Cox described the collection as a continuation of an epic mythology crafted over the past decade, shedding light on a surreal landscape filled with otherworldly creatures.

“Each exhibition I create expands this world that I’m telling a story about, this imagined, fantastical, semi-surrealist kind of world that I’m building that I call the ‘Borderlands,’” Cox said. “This exhibition carries forward some of the themes that I explore in previous exhibitions: the relationship between humans and the natural world, our ability to be empathetic and open to each other, and brings in new questions of examining what the source of creativity is, that radical mystery that’s at the heart of creativity.”

Cox’s mythic narrative in “The Brush and the Torch” follows the creative and spiritual development of a character called Painter. Though the work stands as an extension of the myths explored in past shows like “Dream Country” in 2021, “Into the Spirit Garden” in 2020 and “Terra Incognita” in 2018, Cox explained that the show can be enjoyed as a singular, dreamlike experience without a cohesive storyline.

“In this body of work, I’m not trying to streamline any person who’s looking at it into a singular experience of the work so much as opening up a world in which someone can explore and find their own experience,” he described. “Within visual art, there is a tendency for people to feel the need to be able to explain every aspect of an image that’s representational, to point to something and say, ‘This is what this means.’ And if you can’t point to that and label it as a one-to-one relationship, there’s this feeling that perhaps it’s not meaningful. … Not being able to put words to something is not the same thing as something being meaningless.

Cox said he sometimes creates work

that intentionally lacks a clear symbolic explanation and facilitates an emotional experience rather than a logical thought process. He compared it to a dream.

“Meaning in dreams is the kind of thing where you can talk about symbolism, you can talk about, ‘This represents this,’ but ultimately the feeling that you have about an image you encounter in a dream is more important than the logical explanation you give to it,” he said. “I have intentionality about the kinds of moods that I’m working with painting to painting, but … I’ve tended to want to keep things open enough for people looking at the work to feel like this is a space that they can explore and that they can psychologically inhabit as they look at it and bring themselves into the world.”

Cox invites viewers to the exhibition to inhabit his imaginary landscape like a shared dream, with each piece serving as an exploratory step into the Borderlands. The protagonists of his mythology are called Border Creatures, painted as both physical and spiritual manifestations of the world around them. Whether they’re scientists, poets or mystics, these beings are caretakers of the land, and when they dream, the landscape dreams with them.

The antagonists of the story are the Specters, energetic spirits led by the Spectral King that burn the land and wage war against the Border Creatures. From

the conflict, a third group has emerged known as the Spectral Witnesses, rainbow-hued spirits who were Specters transformed by revelations and spiritual awakenings. They now wander the Borderlands in search of redemption.

Cox’s mythology raises themes of identity, spirituality, and the relationship between the creatures and the natural world around them. His creative process for each piece starts in written form, then ebbs and flows through a variety of mediums.

“It isn’t a lightning bolt kind of ‘aha’ idea that I then execute and illustrate. It’s a winding searching, laborious kind of process,” he said. “I’ll write a half-thought, half-formed idea for an image of a scene that’s unfolding. And I might not even know what that that scene means or symbolizes at that point, but it’s something that I find compelling and interesting, and then I’ll explore it with the drawing.

“From there, I have in my studio sculptures of all of the characters that are in my paintings. Because this is a process of world building and a mythology that I’m creating, and the figures that I paint are very complex, I need to get inventive with how I’m able to achieve a certain level of verisimilitude with the representation of these things so that they’re consistent painting to painting.”

Cox creates his sculptures using a mix of found materials such as fake flowers

and candle wax. He then photographs the sculptures and transfers them onto his computer or tablet, where he draws or uses Photoshop on them.

“Having so many steps between having an idea and making a painting creates a whole realm of possibilities,” he explained. “For this exhibition, in two of the paintings, there are these abstractions, and it’s in ‘Painter’s Tower’ and ‘Painter’s Star.’ In ‘Painter’s Tower,’ there’s a kind of flat abstraction that’s on an easel behind the figure at the foreground of the painting. In ‘Painter’s Star,’ there is an abstraction that’s opening in a portal behind one of the figures.

“Both of these I actually made with cut paper that I then created an abstract diorama out of cut paper and lit with colored lights to give a certain … weight to the abstraction.”

Cox described his process as “always exploratory” and said his theme of searching for the source of creativity extends from

the final works into his creative methods for “The Brush and the Torch.” The solo show will run through Saturday, July 8, in CHG’s main gallery, standing alongside a four-artist show featuring mini-solos by Tarntara Sudadung, Robert Palacios, kelogsloops and Yuka Sakuma in Gallery 3.

“I always feel like I need people to encounter the work and view the work in order to make it complete. Making the work in isolation in my studio is not enough for me as an artist,” Cox said.

“That’s not to say that’s for every artist out there. Some people work in privacy and in very personal practices, and I think that’s very respectable. But for me personally as an artist, I’m building this world to be shared, so having a space like Corey Halford … it’s the kind of space that I could only dream of being able to fill with my art. In that sense, having this body of work that I’ve labored over so intensely completed by showing it at Corey Helford is very gratifying.”

“The Brush and the Torch” by Adrian Cox

WHEN: Opening reception is 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 3; exhibit runs through Saturday, July 8

WHERE: Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S. Anderson Street, Los Angeles

COST: Free

INFO: coreyhelfordgallery.com

Covered California will help DTENTERTAINMENT

‘We Will Come Back to the Title’

New meta comedy by Downtown playwright opens at the Zephyr Theatre

Like a scene out of a movie, Estonian writer Liisi Rohumae departed from an Amtrak train at Downtown’s Union Station at 6 a.m., took a first look at her new hometown, and fell in love.

She hopped on a city bus to Santa Monica, put her feet in the Pacific and dreamed about how her playwrighting and film career, which blossomed in her home country with the movie Bad Hair, would grow even bigger in Los Angeles.

A couple of years later, the Downtown resident, who works in film production, is premiering her latest play at the Hollywood Fringe, the annual festival where offbeat and often experimental plays are presented in more than 20 venues for more than two weeks.

Rohumae, serving as writer and director, will debut her extremely long-titled play, “We’ll Come Back to the Title. It’s Fine.” It previews Saturday, June 3, and runs Sunday, June 11; Saturday, June 17; Thursday, June 22; and Saturday, June 24, at the Zephyr Theatre on Melrose Avenue.

Following the adage of “writing what you know,” Rohumae created a play within a play that includes characters that appear to have several things in common with the actors who are in the cast.

“The whole thing started at this party that I went to, and I met one of the actors who is now in the play,” she said. “We exchanged contact information. Later, we talked and we said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have a play about being writers and actors dealing with rejection who decide to put on a play where they can showcase themselves?’ To his credit, even though he’s a working actor, he said, ‘Sure.’”

That actor is Jaime Zevallos, who appeared in the TV show “Cloak & Dagger.” Not only did he join the cast, but he enlisted his wife Leila Almas Rose. And to keep the theme going, they also portray a couple in the production.

And what’s the play within the play?

“It’s a stupid action play called ‘Die Yesterday,’” Rohumae said. “And it’s so fun to do, quote unquote, bad writing full of awful cliches. There’s even a writer-director character who met one of the actors at a party, so there’s a lot of meta levels to it.”

Those elements are something Rose is enjoying. She could tell the characters were being updated based on conversations she and her husband were having

with Rohumae.

“It’s so strange to think we are helping to build this thing, while we’re doing it,” said Rose, who appeared in the film “Sanctioning Evil,” which opened last year. “It gives you a kind of self-conscious feeling.”

Rohumae is leaning into the wacky elements of the story, including a self-proclaimed ridiculous closing credits song. The music is allowing cast member and Downtown resident Frankie Barrios to use her singing voice.

“You can kind of say it’s a little bit of a musical, slightly, but not quite,” Barrios explained. “And there’s a part where I’m definitely using my pipes, and it’s definitely not a style that I’m used to singing

and so it cracks me up.”

Rohumae is having fun with her new creation. But the one thing she has taken seriously is diversity in the casting to make sure that talent often overlooked has this opportunity to be seen — something she has tried to do since coming to LA.

“We are a tiny team of nine people doing this whole thing, and I’m so proud of the diversity here,” she said. “We have so many women, and we have nonbinary people, and BIPOC and LGBT. And because those are the values I believe in, I’m happy to be able to practice what I preach.”

“We’ll Come Back to the Title. It’s Fine.”

WHEN: Various times on Saturday, June 3; Sunday, June 11; Saturday, June 17; Thursday, June 22; and Saturday, June 24

WHERE: Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles

COST: Tickets are $15

INFO: 323-469-9988, hollywoodfringe.org

DT PHOTO PAGE

Conga Kids

Conga Kids hosted its highly anticipated year-end celebration event at Xbox Plaza at LA Live. The event featured impressive dance performances by more than 200 fifth-grade students and Conga Kids’ professional Discover the Diaspora dance ensemble. Student performers from 17 elementary schools and nine school districts across LA and Orange counties competed for first place after winning their regional competitions. The students showcased their dance skills

in salsa, merengue, danzón, jazz and hiphop. Community Magnet Charter School from Los Angeles Unified School District was proclaimed champion in the friendly competition. Conga Kids’ yearend celebration event highlighted the organization’s commitment to providing opportunities for students to showcase their skills and promote diversity, equity and inclusion through social dance. Staff photographer Chris Mortenson was there to capture the action.

Desert Hearts Music Festival

The Desert Hearts Music Festival is an annual event where people gather to celebrate fashion and their love for house and techno music. The event brings world-class DJs and guests from around the world. While it is normally a four-day camping festival, this year it was held at the LA Coliseum for two days of good music, great art and good times. Staff photographer Chris Mortenson was there to capture fans’ spirit.

It’s time to VOTE

It’s once again time to show your favorite DTLA businesses some love!

From May 23rd to June 23rd, you can vote for your favorite DTLA businesses simply by going to ladowntownnews.com – look for the Best of DTLA “VOTE” button. You can vote one time per device per day!

Voting starts at noon on May 23 and closes at noon on June 23.

If you have a business and would like to be involved in the Best of DTLA this year, please contact Catherine Holloway at 213-308-2261 or Michael Lamb at 213-453-3548.