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Life & Times Transcript
8/3/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Is it coming to a neighborhood near you? High rents are putting the squeeze on quaint shopping villages. Tom Kneafsey>> I think, as the rents go up, you get a better quality tenant even if they're mom and pop. Diana Buckhantz>> It's very disheartening to me to look at our society and say that nothing matters except the dollar. Val Zavala>> And then, the institution on the hill is reeling from bad press. Can the new head of the Getty Trust restore its luster? It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> We all love villages, those charming neighborhood shopping areas. They're such a relief from urban sprawl and impersonal malls. But now many of them from Larchmont Village to Leimert Park are in danger. What's causing the shops to close and can we do anything to stop it? Sam Louie has our story. Sam Louie>> Los Angeles is a huge metropolis, but sprinkled around this urban giant are small, quaint villages like the Larchmont District, Melrose Avenue, Leimert Park, Robertson Boulevard and Abbot Kinney in Venice, all popular hot-spots with their own unique charm. As different and diverse as these communities are, these days there's a theme unifying them: rising rents, rents that are putting many small businesses out of business and eroding the very character that make these places so attractive. Robertino Giovannelli>> It's going to be very heartbreaking to leave this place. Definitely it will be very heartbreaking to have to tell all my employees that they have lost their jobs and now our relationship is going to stop right there. Sam Louie>> Robertino Giovannelli is the chef and co-owner of La Luna Restaurant on Larchmont Boulevard. The popular Italian restaurant is in peril of closing down. Its lease is up and the landlord can get much more with a different tenant. Robertino Giovannelli>> I think that there should be some kind of decency on the thoughts and on the actions of everybody to have the little people staying around. Sam Louie>> The landlord charges just over three thousand dollars a month, but a new restaurant is set to move in and is willing to pay twice that. In addition, the new tenant also paid one hundred thousand dollars known as key money just for the privilege of renting. Tom Kneafsey>> In the case of La Luna, there ended up to be a bidding war and the fellow that has the lease now, the new lease, offered them thirty thousand dollars in key money. Somebody else came in and offered a hundred thousand key money, so the owner then went back to the first guy and said, "Look, I've been offered a hundred thousand." He said, "I'll match them." Sam Louie>> Tom Kneafsey is the President of the Larchmont Boulevard Business Improvement District. Tom Kneafsey>> There's always kind of an adversarial relationship between, you know, the property owner and the tenant. Tenants are always saying that the rent is too high and the property owners are always saying that we're not getting enough. Sam Louie>> He defends the landlords and the rising rents. Ultimately, Kneafsey believes the market should determine who stays and who goes. Tom Kneafsey>> I think, as the rents go up, you get a better quality tenant even if they're mom and pop. Sam Louie>> But Giovannelli disagrees. He says that his restaurant has been good for the community. He's been here sixteen years and feels a close kinship to his customers. Robertino Giovannelli>> This is my life. This is where, you know, I've seen many of our customer kids grow up and now coming with their girlfriends and I've seen people get married and now coming with their children. Sam Louie>> But walking out is what happened to Wilshire Fireplace, a store in the heart of trendy Melrose Avenue. Richard Digeorgio>> There was a lot of negotiating leases and people selling their leases and leases running out and landlords getting bigger rents, so the writing was on the wall. Sam Louie>> Owner Richard Digeorgio opened his store in 1990 and then watched as his rent soared. Richard Digeorgio>> It went from fifty-seven hundred. I think in three years, it went to almost nine thousand, then three years later, it went to twelve thousand and something. So it was substantial increases every three years. Sam Louie>> Unlike residents, some business owners can sell their lease to a new tenant before it runs out. So when Richard's lease only had a year left, he sold it. Richard then used the profits to set up shop in a bigger space in Beverly Hills. Richard Digeorgio>> As far as people like us, yeah, it gets tougher and tougher to matriculate around the areas and still stay in a location that's convenient to your clientele, you know. Chan Luu>> "Yeah, we do a lot embroidery work." Sam Louie>> Some business owners decided to leave altogether. Chan Luu is a Los Angeles-based fashion designer. Her clothing line can be found in high-end shops like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman-Marcus, but what you won't find is her store on Robertson Boulevard anymore. Chan Luu>> My store is not big enough. It's only eleven hundred square feet. I can't raise more sales if I stay there and my rent is doubling or tripling, so it's not become that profitable for me, so there's no reason for me to stay. I can't compromise on that. Sam Louie>> Chan also sold the last year of her lease to Coach. They were willing to pay a hefty three hundred fifty thousand dollars. Chan Luu>> As much as Robertson did good for my company, I'm a business woman. I operate on a profit level only. If it's not profitable, I'm not compromising. I can't compromise on that level. Sam Louie>> While Chan Luu and other merchants have been able to capitalize on the rising property values, many others have to sell out, relocate or shut down completely. Jay Luchs>> It's really hard for a landlord to keep a current tenant in when they're a business person and they're trying to get the highest amount of money they can in rent. Sam Louie>> Jay Luchs is a commercial real estate broker. He's watched prime retail space in Los Angeles become hot commodities as corporate labels want in. Jay Luchs>> And, yes, it does drive rents up because, if Mark Jacobs wants to be there, the next tenant wants to be there. And the next thing you know, in the last year, deals have been signed with Chloe, with Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Templey of London, Mark Jacobs about a year and a half ago, new tenants like Sergio Rossi which is part of the Gucci Company. They're looking on the street. Sam Louie>> He says that landlords and village retail areas don't have the flexibility that large retail landlords have. Jay Luchs>> This is not one large mall where an owner can pick and choose and put an anchor at a low rent and then some smaller users of the high rent. It's individual owners who own different pieces on these eclectic streets. Sam Louie>> But some neighbors are looking to fight back against what they see as greed. Diana Buckhantz>> It's very disheartening to me to look at our society and say that nothing matters except the dollar. "Hi, Joe, there's a community meeting on April 11 to talk about Larchmont and what's happening here." Sam Louie>> Diana Buckhantz is on the Committee to Save Larchmont Village. Her first campaign? Saving the La Luna Restaurant. Diana Buckhantz>> We have a very strong connection to this restaurant. It's not just a place to eat to many of us. We feel like this is family to us. Sam Louie>> Do you feel there's going to be that kind of loss? Tom Kneafsey>> I don't think so. I don't think so. That was the discussion back in 1990. They said, if these trends continue, Larchmont is going to be a dead street. Well, it didn't happen. It got livelier. Sam Louie>> The restaurant has filed a lawsuit against the landlord, so for the time being, La Luna will stay open as the lawsuit winds its way through court. But other businesses have conceded defeat and are looking to close shop. So what's the future of neighborhood retail villages like these? Will the quaint, small-town retailers survive rising rents or will corporate chains and high-end brands win out over mom and pop shops? One thing southern Californians have learned is that, when real estate market forces take hold, it's hard to stop. I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> This week, a historic agreement was reached between the Getty Museum and the government of Italy. The settlement resolves an intense legal dispute that's been going on for two years. The Italian government claimed that the Getty had forty-six antiquities that were illegally excavated, exported and eventually acquired by the Getty, the world's richest art institution. Well, now the Getty has agreed to return forty pieces to Italy, though it's not admitting any wrongdoing. Among the pieces to be returned is a prize statue of Aphrodite, a fifth century masterpiece from ancient Greece. It will, however, remain at the Getty Villa through December 2010 and, as part of the settlement, Italy has agreed to lend the Getty other important works. The Met in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Art have also had to return antiquities. It's part of an effort by Italian officials to crack down on stolen art. The announcement comes just six months after James Wood, a renowned art historian, took over as the new head of the Getty. I talked with him last May when he was a guest of Town Hall Los Angeles. Jim Wood, it's very nice to have you in Los Angeles and a lot of people say you are the right man for the Getty right now because it has been through a couple of very, very tough years. How do you intend to restore the integrity of the Getty? James Wood>> Well, the first thing is to listen long and hard to people who love the Getty and people who have criticized the Getty. I'm well into that and I think that's really the test. I mean, we are not going to be judged ultimately by what we say, but what we do. That's the way we should be judged and I'm confident that that organization, with all of its extraordinary different parts, can do things that we'll be proud of and that the public will be proud of. Val Zavala>> Do you think you're at an advantage being an out-of-towner because, you know, you don't have a lot of friends and people to assuage? In other words, you can listen to that criticism, in a sense, with more open ears? James Wood>> Maybe. I mean, I hadn't quite thought of it that way. I suppose I have no preconceptions. It's still pretty mysterious to me the way Los Angeles works and how the Getty can most effectively relate to it. Val Zavala>> That's a mystery to those of us who have been here for twenty years (laughter). James Wood>> Well, I'm beginning to sense, in a way, that's nice because art is a mystery, a mystery that you're constantly trying to solve. But when you think you've solved it, then either it's a bad work of art or you've become arrogant. The one thing the Getty, you know, does not need to be is arrogant. So I think maybe a little ignorance on my part at this moment in Los Angeles is a good thing. Val Zavala>> There are still some pending issues, especially with the works of art that had to be returned and I think there are still some charges against the former curator. Are there actual policy changes that the Getty has put in place to prevent suspect works of art from landing in your collections? James Wood>> Yes. This was really ironically begun by Marion True, the curator that has now been charged by Italy. We have now instituted a policy on our acquisitions of antiquities that is extremely strict. It's one of the strictest among American museums. I think it's the right thing for us to do. It will make it more difficult for us to add things in the future, but not impossible. Val Zavala>> The Getty does have this reputation, among some at least, for being an elite institution. Now you can say that you want to connect with the city and be more accessible, but how does that translate into real concrete policies or practices? James Wood>> Well, the first thing I would stress is the problem is not being elite. The problem is, are we making people aware of where we are and, most importantly, that they're welcome? What you want to be, it seems to me, no matter who you are or what your background is, you want to be invited to the best party. You want to feel that you are welcome where the most extraordinary works of art can be experienced. The other advantage we have and really a responsibility is that we have the means to not only be sure that people throughout the city and well beyond the city are aware we're there and, hopefully, aware that they're welcome to come, but actually make it possible. I mean, we provide buses for thousands and thousands of school kids, particularly from districts that wouldn't be able to do that. Val Zavala>> You're a world-renowned art expert and internationally known. What kind of mark would you like to make on the Getty artistically in terms of your collection or what direction it goes? James Wood>> Well, I mean, two crucial areas. How we collect in the future. There are not restrictions on what we collect, but there is a strong tradition. We began with what J. Paul Getty himself had collected. We've then gone beyond that in areas like photography and really built in that particular media one of the great, great collections of the world. The other thing is how we present it. I mean, the Getty will never be a huge, huge museum. It's just too late in the day, regardless of how much your resources are. My goal is that the Getty will be a place where you come and, let's say in contrast to the Metropolitan Museum, you know, our great mother museum, there will be less to see, but it will be presented so handsomely, so enticingly, so excitingly, that one will spend more time looking at less. I mean, any great work of art deserves to be looked at long and hard, you know, struggled with. It's like a good meal. You know, you don't want to race through it. The danger, of course, with huge museums is that one is intimidated by the sheer size and you spend more time walking between than actually stopping and looking and digesting. You could call it making the most of a limitation. I think it's actually making the most of a real opportunity. Val Zavala>> Now as you know, Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cultures on the planet, incredible disparities economically. Take the average person could be a Latino family earning maybe thirty or forty thousand a year if they're lucky. How do you convince them that they should bring their children to the Getty because it has something to say to them or do for them? James Wood>> I mean, I can only speak as a parent, but what parent does not want their children to have the opportunity to be exposed to something as recognized as being important and of very high quality? Or maybe it's as simple as curiosity. We have the great advantage of being up on a hill. You can see us from a great distance. What's it like up there? What would it be like to actually experience that? Many people come, I think, to get an idea of what Los Angeles would look like from the Getty and then maybe secondarily realize, "My gosh, there are works of art here." You're constantly shifting back and forth between works of art in controlled settings and views out on the broader landscape of the city, which is exactly the kind of thing that happens if you go to a small village in the mountains, you know, a great Italian hill town or I'm sure there are the equivalents right here. I think these are experiences of a range of pleasures that are accessible to anyone. You may start with the view and end up with the painting. Some people might do it the other way around. Val Zavala>> Something for everyone. James Wood>> I certainly hope so. Val Zavala>> Well, Jim Wood, thank you so much for being here and we really look forward to the impact you're going to make on our community. James Wood>> Well, thank you so much. Val Zavala>> James Wood was a guest speaker at a luncheon for Town Hall Los Angeles. If you'd like more information on future events, you can go to their website at townhall-la.org. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> The year was 1850. Now what town in America would you imagine had the highest murder rate? Was it Dodge City? Or maybe Tombstone? Well, guess again. It was Los Angeles. That's right. In the 1850s, Los Angeles had a murder rate one hundred times the national average. Then the sheriff came to town. Who was he? Well, the answer is in a book called "Six Gun Sound". It's by Sergeant Sven Crongeyer who's been with the Sheriff's Department for seventeen years. I met Crongeyer at the Museum of the American West in Griffith Park. So tell us, what was Los Angeles like in the 1850s? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Los Angeles really was one of the wildest towns in the west and the reason that few people know this is because it was so isolated. There was only one local newspaper and it was very small. It was called the Los Angeles Star. People on the east coast really had never even heard of Los Angeles until many years later. Val Zavala>> What was the crime rate back then and how does it compare to today? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> The homicide rate was a hundred times higher than the average rate was during the 1990s here in Los Angeles, so it really was quite out of control. The reason for that was many-fold. One of which there were young men living in Los Angeles, very few women, very few families. You had prospectors, Forty-Niners, that thought they were going to strike it rich and ended up realizing that all their dreams were broken on the rocks. So they came to Los Angeles, as well as some banditos that came up from Mexico, and they met right in the middle of the state here on this street called the Calle de los Negros and there was kind of an explosive activity of violence there. At one point during the late 1840s and 1850s, it had degenerated into a street of bordellos, saloons, bars, gambling houses and every night at least one person was killed, sometimes more. There were shoot-outs and fights and stabbings and it was really a wild street and made Los Angeles one of the wildest towns in the west. The Bella Union was the first sheriff's office. It was a rented room at the hotel and it was the scene of many wild incidents over the years. Val Zavala>> Tell us about Los Angeles County's first sheriff, Sheriff Burrill. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> The first sheriff's name was George Burrill and he came from Mexico up north. He was actually, we believe, a Mexican American war veteran and he took office of the new county. He had an infantry dress sword which he carried on his side and he used it to prod the inmates to court with it. His first jail was an adobe house with a large log in the middle that he used to chain inmates to so that they wouldn't escape. He had one jailer and one assistant sheriff which was part-time. The county was much larger back then than it is today. The County of Los Angeles included Riverside, San Bernardino, parts of Ventura County, all of Orange County, so it was a huge area that he had to cover on horseback with one deputy. Early sheriffs were well-compensated. They were paid approximately ten thousand dollars in money back then, which is over two hundred thousand dollars today. Part of the income came from being translators for the judge. Judge Olvera did not speak English very well, so Sheriff Burrill would translate for him. The early sheriffs also acted as tax collectors and the county allowed them to keep a small portion of the fees that they collected. Val Zavala>> Then the next sheriff was Sheriff Barton. Tell us about him. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> He had a posse of five men with him and they were chasing after the Pancho Daniel gang in the area of Orange County where the 405 and the 133 intersect. They were outnumbered and outgunned and Sheriff Barton was killed along with three other men of his posse. The other two men escaped. One went to El Monte for help and the other went to Los Angeles on horseback at full speed to call for help. Val Zavala>> Whatever happened because these three lawmen get killed? That's pretty stunning. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Yes. Four total. Three of his posse, plus the sheriff. The next time this happened was in the 1970s where four California Highway Patrol officers were killed in the Newhall area. So it was a remarkable part of California history. Val Zavala>> And then Los Angeles County had a Mexican American sheriff way back then. Tell us about him. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> He's a very interesting man. Tomas Sanchez was from a family that was one of the original families to settle the Pueblo of Los Angeles. There actually was a Sanchez Street. They had a very, very large ranch, thousands of acres, many, many heads of cattle, and Tomas Sanchez was respected by both the Latino community and the Anglo community in town. There were three King brothers. One of them, A.J., was the under-sheriff to Tomas Sanchez. A.J. was in a dispute with a rancher named Carlisle and, at a wedding celebration, Carlisle slashed A.J. King with a knife. A.J. tried to shoot him, but the fight was broken up and he was pulled outside. At the doctor's, A.J.'s two brothers visited him. They were all southerners and they'd felt that their southern honor had been impinged upon, so the two brothers swore that they would get revenge. They went back to the Bella Union Hotel, which was in now downtown Los Angeles, and a large and wild shootout ensued. Carlisle was killed and Sheriff Tomas Sanchez broke up the fight, but not after one of the other brothers was killed. A horse was shot from a stagecoach and Mr. Carlisle's attorney was shot. But in the end, there was one King brother left and A.J. recovered from his knife wound. A pretty wild time back then. Sheriff Tomas Sanchez actually ended up breaking up the fight. Val Zavala>> Another sheriff who's in your book is Billy Rowland. Tell us about Rowland. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Sheriff Rowland was a very interesting character. He loved Los Angeles. He was born here, lived his whole life here and hated to leave Los Angeles. His mother was of Mexican descent and his father was of Anglo descent. Sheriff Rowland is most famous for his capture of the outlaw, Tiburcio Vasquez, after whom the Vasquez Rock is named. So he organized a posse and he knew that Tiburcio Vasquez was pretty sly. Tiburcio would probably run out of town if he knew that the posse was after him, so Sheriff Rowland purposely stayed in town so that, if there were any spies, Tiburcio wouldn't catch on. He secretly sent his posse out to the area close to where West Hollywood is now today to a ranch where they ambushed Tiburcio Vasquez and captured him and one of his henchmen. Val Zavala>> Now at some point along the line, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department really evolved and went through some major turning points. When did that happen? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> There were some very major turning points. One of them was when Sheriff Burns took office just after Sheriff Tomas Sanchez. Sheriff Burns was one of the first sheriffs to really stand up to the vigilantes. Prior to him, people would hold the sheriff at gunpoint and threaten him, break into the jail and take the inmates out and hang them. So Sheriff Burns collected a strong group of men who were able to stand up to the vigilantes and keep the security of the jails and the courts intact. That was the first major change towards modern law enforcement. From then, civil service rules came into being. Towards the late 1880s, things started to change. The sheriff took more of a manager's role, less hands-on type of role, and became more of a political role, as is the case today where he's managing a large department and doesn't handle the day-to-day duties that the deputies do. Val Zavala>> Sven Crongeyer, thank you so much for a lot of work and a great book. Thank you. Sgt. Sven Crongeyer>> Thanks for having me. Val Zavala>> And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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