Construction Maison

In the summer of 1995, Doug Robb and his friends snuck into Agoura High School in the middle of the night. Dressed in all black, they found the set of portable stages their alma mater used for its commencement ceremonies and wheeled them through a dirt track and onto the beds of pickup trucks they’d borrowed for the occasion. The next day, they set up the foldout stages in Robb’s parents’ backyard to play their first show as Hoobastank, a metal- influenced band they’d formed about six months prior. Robb eventually returned the stages to the school, but not before using them during a massive rager that attracted teens and 20-somethings from all over the area. Among them were the then-unknown members of Incubus and Linkin Park—bands that, along with Hoobastank, would go on to produce some of the biggest hits of the next century. What could’ve easily been just another house party thrown by bored kids in a wealthy LA suburb turned out to be the beginning of a rock-music scene that was...

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Madison Square Garden Co., which owns and operates the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., isn’t alone in its apprehension about an agreement between the city and the L.A. Clippers to negotiate construction of another arena in the immediate neighborhood – residents and businesses aren’t thrilled, either. Buried in the 22-page document is a proposal to employ eminent domain to acquire additional land to supplement acreage already owned by the city near the proposed project. A site map filed with the document indicates a four-block area containing 100 “potential participating parcels” where the arena might be built. The Los Angeles Times reports that within that four-block area are “an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people, predominantly Latino” as well as businesses, schools, churches, apartments and single-family homes, in some cases occupied by the same families for generations. Not only did the city and Clippers identify the 100 parce...

SANTA MARIA, CA — A man who abducted his 9-year-old son after allegedly shooting and killing the child's mother, prompting an Amber Alert, was killed Tuesday in an officer-involved shooting in Tarzana and the child was found safe. The California Highway Patrol reported just after 8 p.m. that the Amber Alert was cancelled. It had been in effect in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties The announcement that Daniel Morozov was found safe came within 90 minutes of an officer-involved shooting about 6:45 p.m. in the 5500 block of Lindley Avenue near Killion Street that left the boy's father, 48-year-old Konstantin Morozov, dead, according to the Los Angeles Police Department . The father brought the boy to a friend's apartment in that neighborhood and police located them with a tip, said LAPD Deputy Chief Justin Eisenberg . The elder Morozov, who was suspected of fatally shooting Daniel 's mother and then abducting the boy Monday in Santa Maria in northern Santa...

Two years ago, developer Mike Harrah joined a bid to purchase the Orange County Register out of bankruptcy. The effort ultimately failed . But the flamboyant local construction magnate with a ZZ Top beard still acquired the Register’s Santa Ana real estate , currently vacant after the publication decamped to Anaheim this spring. With the Register gone, Harrah is now embarking on an ambitious $1-billion plan for the 20- acre Grand Avenue site , proposing to build Orange County ’s tallest buildings, more than 1,000 residences, a 171-room hotel, offices and retail shops. In all, Harrah’s Caribou Industries envisions a 2.3-million-square- foot development known as 625IVE that serves as a gateway to historic downtown Santa Ana , where hip restaurants and shops are opening just a mile away. And he’s signed up prominent architecture firm Gensler to work on it. Harrah, himself, has been credited with helping kick-start the revitalization early last decade after he acquired buildings in t...

LaTisha Nixon is a mother on a mission for her son. Nixon’s son, Gemmel Moore, 26, was found dead from an apparent overdose of methamphetamine at on July 27 at the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic political donor . The initial investigation by responding deputies revealed no suspicious circumstances of foul play. That was verified by the responding Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Corner investigator. “I’m asking for justice for my son,” said Nixon at a recent West Hollywood City Council meeting . “Regardless of the fact of whatever he did the meth or whatever, he was still my son. He was still a person. “I want justice. That’s it.” According to Nixon, at the time of his death, Moore was homeless and working as an escort for gay men. Since the announcement of Moore’s death, additional information has surfaced, including Moore ’s journal stating it was Buck who introduced him to methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug . “I honestly don’t...

Cross posted from our sister-site, Santa Monica Next . California state legislators are back in Sacramento after a month- long summer recess and they are looking to tackle the state’s growing housing crisis with a package of bills that could generate more than $3 billion for affordable housing as well as streamline new housing approval and construction. But lawmakers and political observers alike have noted that it won’t be an easy task to get the votes necessary to pass some of bigger-ticket legislation, like S.B. 2 and S.B. 3 , both of which have passed the State Senate but still need to get through the Assembly. And both require a two-thirds supermajority to pass. S.B. 2, introduced by State Senator Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), would place a $75 fee on real estate transactions and generate roughly $250 million a year annually. State Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose) introduced S.B. 3, which would put a housing bond before the voters in 2018 that would generate $3 billion. “We ne...

The mother of a man who died after apparently overdosing at the West Hollywood apartment belonging to prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck told KTLA that there is more to the story behind the death. Latisha Nixon provided this undated photo of her and her son, Gemmel Moore." width="226" height="300" /> Latisha Nixon provided this undated photo of her and her son, Gemmel Moore. Latisha Nixon is asking the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department to launch a “thorough investigation” into her son Gemmel Moore ’s death. Moore, 26, was found dead on July 27 while working as an escort. The death was ruled an accident, but Nixon is skeptical. "It seems like everyone is turning a blind eye because my son was a gay black man and Ed Buck is a wealthy white politician ," she said. Homicide detectives are reexamining Moore’s death, based on additional information, sheriff’s officials announced Tuesday . A journal provided to KTLA by a family friend appears ...

(Photo: Nadezhda1906 / iStock / Getty Images Plus) This story was made possible by support from readers like you. Help Truthout report on the urgent issues of health care, climate change, US foreign policy and more: Make a tax- deductible donation today . When April's paternal nephews first came to live with her, one was two months old and the other was one-and-a-half years old. She had to fill out the paperwork necessary to retrieve the older boy from foster care, where he had been placed months earlier after being removed from his mother. Under California law, if a potential caregiver -- any adult in the household or any adult who might have "significant contact" with the children has an arrest or conviction for anything other than a minor traffic violation -- they must apply for a criminal record exemption . Granting the exemption is at the discretion of each county -- and often the social workers assigned to the family. This has led to an uneven application of the ...