'Tis the Season for WAHA's Holiday Party.
By Laura Meyers
1). A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER IN WEST ADAMS
WAHA Holiday Party for members and volunteers Sunday, December 10 2-5 p.m. 1809 Westmoreland Blvd. ( Harvard Heights)
Good friends, good food, great cheer -- WAHA's Annual Holiday bash is this coming Sunday at the historic Craftsman home of Lynn Brown and Bill Judson.
Their home, the Evelyn Welzter Residence, was designed in 1907 by Abraham M. Edelman, a famed architect who was also involved with the designs of such landmark buildings as the Hillcrest Country Club and, in West Adams, the Shrine Auditorium. Edelman was the son of Los Angeles' pioneer Orthodox rabbi, Abraham Wolf Edelman, who presided over Congregation B'nai B'rith beginning in 1862.
Come one, come all - celebrate WAHA's successful Holiday Tour, and sample some of the recipes from 20 years of progressive dinners.
We will also have a preview of our Recipe Collection, "WAHA Cooks: A Season of Taste," with these and other favorite holiday recipes from our tours and our members.
We would really appreciate your RSVP (so we can have plenty of food and beverages on hand).
Please e-mail us at WAHAHoliday@aol.com, and let us know the number in your party, by Thursday noon.
Thank you, and happy holidays!
2). THE RHYTHM OF LOS ANGELES
Saturday, December 9 10 a.m. Tom Bradley Tower, Los Angeles City Hall
Usher in the holidays with "The Rhythm of LA's History." Come learn about the history of immigration to Los Angeles through drama, music, spoken word, visual arts, and narration. The program will feature Korean American drummers, Native American Tataviam singers, Chicano actors, African American singers and more! Free brunch is included.
This is the fourth part in a six-part series sponsored by the Korean American Coalition 4.29 Center in partnership with L.A. City and L.A. County Commissions on Human Relations and dozens of community organizations. The series seeks to explore the state of race relations in Los Angeles leading up to the 15-year anniversary of the LA civil unrest and to explore the establishment of a multi-ethnic coalition to address economic and community development issues in areas impacted by 1992.
This December event is a unique cultural/educational event following three prior dialogue events which commemorated the anniversary date of the 1992 unrest, examined contemporary media's role in shaping race relations, and explored the impact social and economic conditions, segregated urban areas, changing demographics, and police misconduct have on fueling tensions in Los Angeles.
This event is supported by the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles, the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council, the MacArthur Neighborhood Council, Tia Chucha's Cafe, NALEO Educational Fund, Avenues to Peace, the Law Offices of Guy A. Leemhuis, Hooper Elementary School, Mediare, Inflx Entertainment, and others.
RSVP to: 429center@kacla.org or 213-365-5999, 400 and include car make, model and license plate number to arrange for free parking at City Hall.
3). UNEXPECTED WEST ADAMS: CRIME SCENES BUS TOUR
Saturday, December 16 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Two weeks after WAHA's traditional holiday historic homes tour, you'll have a chance to tour West Adams in a different light. The "Weird West Adams Crime History Bus Tour" delves into the lost L.A. being explored by the 1947project.
Since January, the bloggers at 1947project have taken their Los Angeles crime history research on the road with their lively, mysterious and very popular Crime Bus tours. Past routes have explored the dark side of Pasadena, the secret history of downtown and the real story of the Black Dahlia case.
Now, 1947project offers a new tour celebrating the Beverly Hills of the early 20th century, that grand swath of city just west of downtown: our very own West Adams.
On this four-hour tour, Crime Bus passengers will be treated to detailed descriptions of some of the most notorious, strange and fascinating forgotten tales from the past hundred years, each told at the scene of the crime. This is NOT the usual Historic West Adams Tour!
Visitors will learn about the carjacking horror of silent film starlet Myrtle Gonzalez. They'll shiver as Dream Killer Otto Parzyjegla chops his newspaper publisher boss to pieces with the paper-cutting blade, shudder at the pickled poignancy of the murder-by-brandy of Benjamin Weber, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family and their litany of murder-suicides, attempted husband slayings, Byzantine estate battles and mad bombings, then revisit the terrible fate visited on kidnap victim Marion Parker by The Fox.
There will be some celebrity sites along the route, including the death scenes of Motown soul sensation Marvin Gaye and 1920s star Angels baseball catcher Gus Sandberg.
And in a special treat for the holiday season, the Crime Bus will toast the Winter Solstice by visiting the city's shortest street and remembering 2' 11" Angelo Rossitto, the charismatic cult actor/newsstand operator ("Freaks," "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome") who famously visited the spot in his teeny-tiny car on December 21, 1937. All this, plus a robbery by Pretty Boy Floyd, Prohibition-era houses transformed into secret distilleries, fumigations gone terribly wrong, mashers, bad marriages, rotten drivers, assorted weirdos and a mummified teenage cult priestess.
1947project has quickly built a reputation for the most eclectic and well researched crime history tours in the Southland, with feature stories in The Los Angeles Times, and many other local media outlets.
Passengers on this eye-opening, funny and informative tour will forever see the West Adams district in a new light. Cost: $47 cost includes snacks, beverages and five-hour luxury coach tour. Reservations are required, and the tour is expected to sell out quickly.
For more info on the blog or Crime Bus tour, visit http://www.1947project.com. They ask that you e-mail (using the feedback form on the website) to reserve your space before either paying online with Paypal, or arranging to send a check.
4). SUBMIT YOUR NEWS
We welcome your contributions to the WAHA E-News and West Adams Heritage Association's monthly publication, "West Adams Matters." Please understand that we do have deadlines. Material for the print newsletter should be submitted no later than the 1st of the prior month (i.e.: April 1 for the May issue). If your event is scheduled for early in a month, we suggest you request coverage for the prior month (i.e.: May issue for a June 3 event), because it's entirely possible that not all of our members will have received their newsletter by then (we do try hard�). We reserve the right to edit submitted material. For the WAHA E-News, we prefer to only send it out once or twice a month. Please don't wait until two days before an event to let us know about it. It may not be sent out. EXCEPTION: If you suddenly hear of an important city hearing or other public meeting that is important to West Adams, we will endeavor to send out a special bulletin. Submit your material to Laura Meyers, editor, lauramink@aol.com.