Checking out Broadway's old theaters of the superb

All that was missing Saturday were the searchlights as thousands filed through theater lobby doors to get a rare glimpse of the grand old movie palaces that line Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.

"This is like discovering treasure in an old tomb," marveled Venice architect Peter Culley as he stepped from the opulent 2,000-seat Los Angeles Theatre, which opened in 1931. "This is the first time I've been here. We're really surprised because it doesn't give the impression of being this large from the street."

His wife, high school English teacher Lynn Culley, was amazed by the ornate decorative touches: the crystal chandeliers, the marble women's restrooms in the basement, the 60-foot-wide curtain with three-dimensional figures sewn on it to re-create a 1800s French scene.

"The fixtures are so detailed. I don't think people realize there are still places like this here," she said.

Six of the street's dozen movie theaters were open to the public Saturday, and representatives of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation were on hand to lead tours.

"It's a big surprise to a lot of people today to see these theaters are still here. A small number of people have known about these for decades," said Escott Norton, a downtown home designer who is the foundation's executive director.

Not on public view were the 1931 Roxie, which houses a clothing store, and the Arcade and the Cameo, which opened in 1910 and are taken up by a storage space and a jewelry store. Also missing were the 1921 State, now used as a church, the 1917 Rialto, now an Urban Outfitters store, and the 1927 United Artists Theatre at the new Ace Hotel.

The Ace Hotel's theater was being readied for a Sunday night Grammy party but will be open to visitors on Feb. 1, said Hillsman Wright, a co-founder of the 27-year-old foundation.

Wright termed the Roxie, Arcade and Cameo theaters "the orphans of the street." They sit in a row in the 500 block of Broadway and are ripe for development as entertainment venues, he said. "They could share the sidewalk and a joint lobby. These three have amazing potential, and their owner, Joseph Hellen, is open to finding someone to insure these theaters' long-term survival," he said.

Wright, a 62-year-old semi-retired special events consultant from Venice, characterized the conversion of the Rialto into a clothing store and the restoration of its bright neon marquee as "a win," explaining that it could easily be converted back into an entertainment venue if Urban Outfitters ever leaves. He said the clothing chain is keeping the theater's past alive by projecting videos on the back wall where the Rialto's screen once hung.

The Globe Theatre, which opened in 1913 as the Morosco Theatre, is already being turned into an entertainment center by Frenchman Erik Chol. Its sloping floor was leveled out in 1987 when the movie house closed and the space was used as a swap meet. Aldric Angelier, an associate of Chol, said corporate gatherings, fashion shows and rock music performances will be scheduled once construction ends later this year.

"Even though they filled in the orchestra pit, I'm thankful it's still around," said Kim Rawley, a college English teacher from Lancaster, after emerging from the Globe.

At the 1918 Million Dollar Theatre, El Segundo account manager Robyn Walsh stepped from the auditorium and pronounced it "absolutely gorgeous … it's a hidden treasure."

And Michael Hart, a magazine editor from Mount Washington, said he was making a mental note to return to the Million Dollar to experience a movie. The theater is used for occasional screenings.

Kevin Truong, an insurance contractor from Westminster, was surprised that downtown's stand-alone theaters have survived in the era of multiplexes.

But a friend, Brea medical biller Staci Louie, said Broadway is the perfect place for such spectacular venues.

"This whole street is filled with old buildings and great architecture," she said.

bob.pool@latimes.com

l@latimes.com">bob.pool@latimes.com

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bernanke leaves legacy of stimulus and stagnation

WASHINGTON — As Ben S. Bernanke walks away from the Federal Reserve's marble headquarters on the Mall after presiding over his last policy meeting Wednesday, he will leave behind a bittersweet legacy.

On one hand, his unprecedented efforts to drive down interest rates and stimulate the economy are widely credited by his peers with saving the nation from a second Depression, strengthening the economic recovery and leaving the nation's financial condition poised to take off this year.

Yet those same policies have added momentum to one of the greatest surges in economic inequality in U.S. history, helping the wealthiest Americans add to their enormous riches while the incomes of almost everyone else stagnated.

By driving interest rates down to historic lows, the Fed chairman helped fuel a huge surge in the stock market, where the wealthiest 1% of Americans have been far better positioned to take advantage of gains than their less affluent fellow citizens.

To be sure, his policies have helped those with 401(k) and retirement plans tied to the stock market. Also, low interest rates have stimulated housing sales and permitted many homeowners to save money by lowering their mortgage costs through refinancing.

But unemployment remains high by historical standards, and the financial strength of many workers has deteriorated. Most economists see little chance of that picture changing radically anytime soon.

Fed policy "did a wonderful job of keeping the financial system from falling off the table," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer with BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "But as a side effect or consequence, it's driven a wedge between the haves and have-nots."

Bernanke, whose term expires Friday, has repeatedly rebuffed the notion that his policies have done little for the masses.

"It's simply not true," he said publicly in November before rattling off ways that the Fed's low-interest policies have benefited Main Street — cheaper car loans, recovering home values, stable consumer prices and more jobs.

Even so, from mid-2009, when the Great Recession ended, to 2011, the average net worth of the wealthiest 7% of households surged 28% to $3.2 million, according to Pew Research. For everybody else, such wealth — assets minus debts — fell 4% during that period to $133,817.

Since 2011, the disparity has grown. Stocks have jumped even higher in the last two years, according to data from Swiss financial services company Credit Suisse Group. And income statistics show a similar, though less dramatic, pattern.

Major corporations, meanwhile, have piled up millions of dollars in cash reserves.

The result is that inequality, which narrowed some during the recession as the stock market plummeted, has widened again and exacerbated a long-running problem that has surged to the forefront of public discourse for the rich and powerful gathered last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as for U.S. policymakers and ordinary Americans.

President Obama is expected to press the matter in his State of the Union address Tuesday.

For Bernanke, it's a subject that has evoked particular sensitivity as he has sought to dispel the public perception that the Fed was more interested in helping Wall Street than Main Street.

That image was etched on the minds of many people when the Fed engineered bailouts of such major financial firms as insurer American International Group Inc. and banking firm Citigroup Inc. along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler during the 2007-09 recession.

In interviews with media, town-hall-style forums and visits to college campuses and even a military base, Bernanke has tried to explain to people why these controversial rescues and other funding programs were needed to revive credit markets and keep the economy from collapsing.

Bernanke's groundbreaking efforts to engage the public and open up the Fed to the outside may be one of his lasting achievements as chairman; Vice Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen is expected to continue promoting that increased transparency as his successor.

Still, the Fed's improved communications, effective with financial markets, have had limited success with ordinary folk.

One reason is the weak recovery, which has left many people disenchanted with politicians and policymakers in general.

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bernanke leaves legacy of stimulus and stagnation

WASHINGTON — As Ben S. Bernanke walks away from the Federal Reserve's marble headquarters on the Mall after presiding over his last policy meeting Wednesday, he will leave behind a bittersweet legacy.

On one hand, his unprecedented efforts to drive down interest rates and stimulate the economy are widely credited by his peers with saving the nation from a second Depression, strengthening the economic recovery and leaving the nation's financial condition poised to take off this year.

Yet those same policies have added momentum to one of the greatest surges in economic inequality in U.S. history, helping the wealthiest Americans add to their enormous riches while the incomes of almost everyone else stagnated.

By driving interest rates down to historic lows, the Fed chairman helped fuel a huge surge in the stock market, where the wealthiest 1% of Americans have been far better positioned to take advantage of gains than their less affluent fellow citizens.

To be sure, his policies have helped those with 401(k) and retirement plans tied to the stock market. Also, low interest rates have stimulated housing sales and permitted many homeowners to save money by lowering their mortgage costs through refinancing.

But unemployment remains high by historical standards, and the financial strength of many workers has deteriorated. Most economists see little chance of that picture changing radically anytime soon.

Fed policy "did a wonderful job of keeping the financial system from falling off the table," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer with BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "But as a side effect or consequence, it's driven a wedge between the haves and have-nots."

Bernanke, whose term expires Friday, has repeatedly rebuffed the notion that his policies have done little for the masses.

"It's simply not true," he said publicly in November before rattling off ways that the Fed's low-interest policies have benefited Main Street — cheaper car loans, recovering home values, stable consumer prices and more jobs.

Even so, from mid-2009, when the Great Recession ended, to 2011, the average net worth of the wealthiest 7% of households surged 28% to $3.2 million, according to Pew Research. For everybody else, such wealth — assets minus debts — fell 4% during that period to $133,817.

Since 2011, the disparity has grown. Stocks have jumped even higher in the last two years, according to data from Swiss financial services company Credit Suisse Group. And income statistics show a similar, though less dramatic, pattern.

Major corporations, meanwhile, have piled up millions of dollars in cash reserves.

The result is that inequality, which narrowed some during the recession as the stock market plummeted, has widened again and exacerbated a long-running problem that has surged to the forefront of public discourse for the rich and powerful gathered last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as for U.S. policymakers and ordinary Americans.

President Obama is expected to press the matter in his State of the Union address Tuesday.

For Bernanke, it's a subject that has evoked particular sensitivity as he has sought to dispel the public perception that the Fed was more interested in helping Wall Street than Main Street.

That image was etched on the minds of many people when the Fed engineered bailouts of such major financial firms as insurer American International Group Inc. and banking firm Citigroup Inc. along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler during the 2007-09 recession.

In interviews with media, town-hall-style forums and visits to college campuses and even a military base, Bernanke has tried to explain to people why these controversial rescues and other funding programs were needed to revive credit markets and keep the economy from collapsing.

Bernanke's groundbreaking efforts to engage the public and open up the Fed to the outside may be one of his lasting achievements as chairman; Vice Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen is expected to continue promoting that increased transparency as his successor.

Still, the Fed's improved communications, effective with financial markets, have had limited success with ordinary folk.

One reason is the weak recovery, which has left many people disenchanted with politicians and policymakers in general.

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Jockeying for memorabilia at Hollywood Park

If you have memories of a place that stretch over a lifetime — from when you were a kid there to when you brought your kids and then their kids — it's hard to go back and see it empty and unloved, the flowers unwatered and dead, dust coating the floors and the benches.

It all happened so quickly at Hollywood Park, where thoroughbreds last thundered down the track just a month ago. Now, with that day's racing slips still scattered about the stands, everything that can be removed is being sold off: the ticket booths, the Jumbotron, the jockeys' impossibly small, narrow bunk beds.

The 75-year-old Inglewood property was open Wednesday and Thursday to anyone wanting to preview the items in the two-day auction, which ends Saturday.

Special events planners and owners of racetracks and restaurants carried around clipboards to make notes on the big stuff: the floodlights, the tractors, the walk-in coolers, the cement mixer, the hot-walking machines used to cool down the horses.

Fans and former employees were drawn to potentially affordable memorabilia: stacks of brightly colored saddle cloths, lawn jockeys from the winner's circle, bobbleheads of trainer Bob Baffert, framed photos of Seabiscuit, Citation and Bill Shoemaker on Swaps, DVDs by the boxful of Zenyatta and Lava Man.

They could touch the Toledo scale on which winning jockeys were weighed out. They also got one last chance to stand in the stands, stare at the track, maybe replaying a race.

Bright pink auction tags were everywhere, from ground level to the rooftop boxes, and the public was free to wander as never before — into the jockeys' locker rooms and sauna, the members-only Turf Club, the paddocks.

They could ride in a pink-tagged white van serving as a shuttle bus to the infield — and there find a last remaining pink flamingo and a pink-tagged swan boat in which the Goose Girls of yesteryear used to wave at the crowds from the infield lakes.

Sure, many people prefer the more vintage look of Santa Anita and Del Mar. But this spot south of L.A., especially dear to fans living nearby, was swanky in its day.

It was founded with the help of Hollywood moguls and stars. In the early years, you might go there and glimpse Claudette Colbert or Joan Crawford or Fred Astaire, who owned racehorses.

It was a place people used to dress up to visit, to eat steak at the Turf Club.

"It's heartbreaking. This was Zenyatta's home. This was the home of the champions. I never missed a Zenyatta race. I come here every Thanksgiving," said Sharon Liveten, 55, as she stood in the memorabilia room. "There are people who came here who wouldn't go to Santa Anita. They were locals. It was a neat kind of crowd."

The plans for the 238-acre site's future as Hollywood Park Tomorrow — a mixed-use development with homes, shops, movie theaters and a big hotel — don't sit well with Liveten and others who treasure the Hollywood Park of yesterday.

"It should have been a historical monument," said Charles Francis, 64, a retired tile-setter who first visited the track as a child and as a teenager worked as a groom and hot walker for trainer Charles Whittingham.

In the late 1970s, Francis' wife, Darlana, was out of work when she came to Hollywood Park with a friend, who fronted her the money to bet. She won $680.

"It meant a hell of a lot," she said Thursday as she walked past rows of empty betting windows.

Their friend Earl Warren Sr. said he liked to pop in and out some days when he was still working as a painter. "I would come here and bet, eat my chicken wings," he said. "I had a ball here, mm-hmmm. Yeah, I had a real nice time here."

Good memories are powerful. Nostalgia files away facts that don't fit.

Even though average attendance had fallen off a cliff in recent decades — dropping to below 4,000 last summer — and simulcasts and off-track betting kept many fans from making the trip, only a few of those who came this week to look and remember owned up to visiting less.

One who did was Stan Thornton, 62, of Inglewood, as he stepped into the winner's circle.

"I didn't come here on a regular basis … and I live literally straight across from here," he said, pointing out past the infield. "Sign of the times, you know. One goes and one comes."

Then he went, in search of the jockeys' rec room.

nita.lelyveld@latimes.com

Follow City Beat @latimescitybeaton Twitter and at Los Angeles Times City Beaton Facebook.

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Pasta to please the pickiest palates

In Italy, it's so critical that the pasta be cooked right that I've seen a whole dinner party standing around the pot at the crucial moment to ensure the spaghetti wouldn't be overcooked. Some people prefer freshly made pasta, the more eggs the better. Others swear by dried pasta and insist on certain brands from Gragnano outside Naples. I say there's room for both.

The Factory Kitchen

Longtime Valentino chef Angelo Auriana is back in town as chef/partner in the Factory Kitchen downtown. At this casual Italian restaurant, head straight to the pasta section of the menu for his silky mandilli di seta (handkerchief pasta) tossed in a fragrant almond-basil pesto from Liguria embellished with Sardinian sheep's milk cheese. Wide ribbon noodles are speckled with olives and sauced in a rich duck ragú. To try too, his paccheri (large dried pasta tubes) in a spicy tomato sauce enriched with pork sausage. His ricotta gnocchi? Ethereally light, the best in town.

1300 Factory Place, Los Angeles, (213) 996-6000, http://www.thefactorykitchen.com. Pasta dishes, $18 to $22.

Bucato

At his new Culver City restaurant, Evan Funke takes a purist's stand, making pasta with only flour and eggs and rolling it out with a long wooden rolling pin as they do in Emilia-Romagna. That means even his cacio e pepe is made with fresh, square-cut spaghetti alla chitarra, upsetting those who insist it should be made only with dried pasta. Taken on its own terms, though, it's delicious. Go for his pappardelle with a gentle lamb ragú. And who could resist the delicate ravioli with peas, pancetta, brown butter and Parmigiano Reggiano?

3280 Helms Ave., Culver City, (310) 876-0286, http://www.bucato.la.com. Pasta dishes, $15 to $17.

Angelini Osteria

Pasta e fagioli can be made with either fresh or dried pasta. I've always loved the version of the bean soup Gino Angelini makes at Angelini Osteria. He uses maltagliati ("badly cut" fresh pasta scraps) — not a lot of them, but enough to give the velvety beans a lift. Add a swirl of olive oil and some black pepper and it's pure comfort, Italian style. But then I so love his bombolotti all' Amatriciana, fat ridged-tube pasta in a sauce made with his house-cured guanciale, San Marzano tomatoes and dried hot peppers too.

7313 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 297-0070, http://www.angeliniosteria.com. Pasta, $9 to $22.

irene.virbila@latimes.com

12.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

C'mon, give dried fruit a chance

I knew dried fruit had an image problem, but I had no idea how bad it had gotten.

Sure, I can kind of understand how prunes, er, "dried plums," might have an issue — let's face it, any time your marketing solution involves changing your product's name entirely, well, things are tough.

But the other day, I was talking to Cooks County's Roxana Jullapat, and she told me that in her restaurant, merely putting the word "raisin" on the menu was enough to kill sales for a dish completely. Interestingly, actually adding the raisins had no effect whatsoever. People seem to like them, just so long as they're added on the down-low.

Truly, dried fruit has become the ingredient that dare not speak its name.

What's weirdest about that is all the really good cooks I know love dried fruit. On Facebook recently, cookbook author Maria Speck (her "Ancient Grains" is terrific) polled colleagues about which dried fruits they had in their pantries. I was feeling pretty proud: dark and golden raisins, currants, apricots, cranberries, sour cherries, figs and prunes (yes, I call them prunes, and proudly!).

But when other cooks chimed in, there were so many others mentioned that I felt like a piker. How could I have overlooked apples, mangoes, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, barberries … ? The list goes on and on.

So why do others hate them?

It wasn't so very long ago that even raisins were regarded as exotic ingredients, reserved for special occasions only. Until the 1870s, almost all raisins had to be imported from Europe. It wasn't until the birth of the gigantic vineyards of the Central Valley (located smack in the middle of one of the finest natural dehydrators known to man) that they began to become commonplace.

The Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco proved to be just as hospitable for prunes. In the 1850s, a visitor brought over cuttings of the famed Agen prune trees from southwestern France; 50 years later there were more than 90,000 acres, almost all of them of that variety.

Indeed, before the Napa Valley became vinified, it was far better known for its prune orchards, and that's much more recent history. In 1960, Napa's prunes were more valuable than Napa's grapes.

Do we take raisins, prunes and their like for granted today because they've become so familiar?

I certainly don't. Dried fruit tastes too good to ignore just because of some silly fashion. Particularly at this time of year when there's not a lot of sweetness to be had (produce-wise), dried fruit can come to the rescue in both savory dishes and desserts.

Think like a Sicilian and combine raisins with salty or pungent flavors. I made a pasta the other day with broccoli, salted anchovies, raisins and pine nuts. Or toss a handful of raisins into a kale and wild rice salad to offset the dark greens' slight bitterness. (Steep them in warm water or brandy to soften a little before cooking.) Raisins or prunes are great with braised meats; just add them close to the end so they soften but don't fall apart.

Sweets? Besides the obvious — scattering raisins in just about anything possible: cookies, cakes, puddings and even pie fillings — I always have a jar of prune compote in the refrigerator during the winter. Make a strong brew by cooking black tea in a simple syrup with spices and orange zest, and poach the prunes just long enough to soften them slightly. The slight bitterness of the tea and the perfume of orange balances the sweetness and warm spice.

Serve the prunes and their syrup with a spoonful of yogurt and you've got a terrific dessert that's always on hand.

And if you love dried fruit as much as I do, you might even have them for breakfast.

russ.parsons@latimes.com

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Kobe Bryant appreciates All-Star votes but has no desire to play

MIAMI — Thanks for the All-Star votes, Kobe Bryant wanted his fans to know, but, uh, don't expect him to play in the game.

When Bryant was announced Thursday as a starter in the Feb. 16 game, he said it was "always a tremendous honor" but had no desire to play in New Orleans that weekend.

"No, I don't think so," he said flatly.

How come?

"With all due respect to the fans who voted me in, and I certainly appreciate that ... but you've got to do the right thing as well. My feeling is you've got to reward these young guys for the work that they've been putting in," Bryant said.

Cognizant he played only six games this season because of injuries, Bryant lobbied twice this month for younger Western Conference guards to get the starting nod, specifically Portland's Damian Lillard.

Houston's James Harden also was not voted into the game, but Golden State's Stephen Curry, a young guard, will start alongside Bryant.

Lillard and Harden are expected to be added to the West squad next week as reserves chosen by the 15 West coaches.

The NBA almost surely would battle Bryant if he tried to skip the game, which would mark his 16th All-Star appearance.

He is supposed to return from a fractured knee in early February, perhaps playing half a dozen games before All-Star weekend. Bryant said he expected a two-game suspension from the NBA if he skipped it so he might suit up, reluctantly.

"It just means somebody will have to lose a spot, unfortunately," he said. "Our backups will be playing a lot if I go in there and do my two minutes and sit down."

Bryant will lose leverage if he returns soon from his knee injury and plays for the Lakers, which is expected. The NBA does not have an "official rule" for All-Star participation, but it frowns upon healthy players skipping the event.

There was a compromise in 2008, when Bryant played in Lakers games despite a torn ligament in his pinkie. The team heavily lobbied the NBA to keep him out of the All-Star game, but Bryant took part in it. He played only 2 minutes 52 seconds in the game, also in New Orleans.

Bryant, 35, has missed most of this season because of a torn Achilles' tendon and his knee injury. He is averaging 13.8 points, 6.3 assists and 5.7 turnovers a game.

Lillard, 23, is averaging 21.2 points and 5.8 assists. Harden, 24, is averaging 24.3 points and 5.4 assists.

"I mean, they've been playing all season," Bryant said. "I see no reason why they shouldn't be out there doing their thing."

If Bryant doesn't play in the game, he might not be able to say goodbye to NBA Commissioner David Stern, who is retiring after that weekend.

"I've said goodbye to him plenty," Bryant said wryly. "He's a phone call away."

Bryant missed the Lakers' first 19 games while recovering from a torn Achilles' tendon, returned for barely a week and was hurt again.

He said he wouldn't see a doctor again this month, making Feb. 4 against Minnesota the earliest he would return. He revealed one positive bit of health news Thursday.

"I don't even worry about my Achilles'," he said. "It's not even something that's on the radar anymore."

Nash back soon?

Lakers Coach Mike D'Antoni was hopeful Steve Nash would return next Tuesday against Indiana after sitting out since Nov. 10 because of nerve damage in his back.

"That's what they keep saying. We'll see him and he's going to try it," D'Antoni said. "If it works out, great. If not, we'll reevaluate him."

Nash, who turns 40 on Feb. 7, is averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 assists in six games.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

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Metrolink to replace contractor to avoid train control project delays

Southern California's Metrolink commuter rail agency plans to replace a key subcontractor Friday in an attempt to keep on schedule a $211-million, state-of-the-art collision avoidance system.

The passenger railroad's board of directors is expected to approve a $6.8-million contract to Wabtec Corp. for an important component of the "Positive Train Control" system that will help dispatchers keep track of trains on Metrolink's 500-mile network. Officials said the current subcontractor, ARINC, failed to meet deadlines and agreed to the change.

Wabtec has more experience delivering computer-assisted dispatch systems, according to Metrolink officials. Among other things, the company will be required to install a computer server that supports the PTC system.

The six-county commuter rail service, which averages more than 40,000 riders a day, is trying to become the first passenger carrier in the nation to install the high-tech safety technology on its entire system. Positive train control combines computers, digital radio systems and global positioning devices to track trains and take control of them if necessary to prevent collisions, derailments and other accidents.

Metrolink's project was launched in the aftermath of the 2008 Chatsworth crash that killed 25 people and injured 135. Federal investigators said the technology could have prevented the head-on collision of a Metrolink train with a Union Pacific freight train.

The accident prompted Congress to require U.S. freight and passenger railroads to install positive train control by December 2015. Metrolink officials plan to have their system operational by next January.

The proposed contractor change, if approved, will allow Metrolink to "move forward in an expeditious manner while keeping the overall schedule for positive train control on track to be completed well before the federal deadline," said Jeff Lustgarten, a spokesman for the commuter line.

A demonstration project for Metrolink's PTC system is scheduled to begin Feb. 18 on a line that runs to San Bernardino through Los Angeles County, north Orange County and Riverside County.

But before the demonstration project can begin, Metrolink needs to complete 10 consecutive days of successful testing and receive approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.

dan.weikel@latimes.com

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Up next for the Lakers: Friday at Orlando

Miami's Chris Anderson and Pau Gasol fight for a rebound during the Lakers' loss Thursday to the Heat, 109-102, at American Airlines Arena. (Rhona Wise / EPA / January 23, 2014)

January 23, 2014, 9:03 p.m.

Lakers tonight

AT ORLANDO

When: 4 PST.

Where: Amway Center.

On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330.

Records: Lakers 16-27, Magic 11-32.

Record vs. Magic (2012-13): 1-1.

Update: Orlando has lost 12 of its last 13 games overall and owns the NBA's second-worst home record (8-14). It's hard to find any bright spots on the Magic, but former UCLA standout Arron Afflalo is having a solid season (20.2 points a game) and shooting guard Victor Oladipo is in the mix to be NBA rookie of the year (13.7 points, 3.9 assists a game).

— Mike Bresnahan

Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link next to a comment. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.

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Two men charged with funneling illegal campaign funds

SAN DIEGO — Just as this city is recovering from the scandal that drove Bob Filner from the mayor's office, along comes another political firestorm. But instead of sexual harassment, it involves allegations of illegal contributions flowing into mayoral campaigns.

A retired San Diego police officer and the owner of a Washington, D.C.-based election services business have been charged with conspiring to funnel more than $500,000 in illegal contributions from an unidentified Mexican businessman into recent political campaigns.

Ravneet Singh, 41, owner of ElectionMall Inc., and retired police detective Ernesto Encinas, 57, conspired to steer the money into independent committees supporting candidates in the mayoral elections of 2012 and 2013, among other elections, according to a federal complaint unsealed Tuesday.

Under U.S. law, foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to any American political campaign.

The complaint does not identify the candidates, but appears to refer to Filner and Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis, among others. Dumanis was defeated in the 2012 mayoral primary; Filner was elected in the runoff that fall.

The complaint contains no assertion that the candidates knew of the contributions to the independent committees or that any candidate met with Encinas, who allegedly acted as the go-between for the businessman and the committees. The businessman has been locked in high-stakes litigation for several years with San Diego-based Sempra Energy.

On Wednesday, four local politicians returned contributions from Encinas: Acting Mayor Todd Gloria returned $500, congressional candidate Carl DeMaio returned $500, and Rep. Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) returned $3,500. Dumanis, who is seeking a fourth term as district attorney, returned $1,400 received from Encinas and his wife.

The charges come as City Council members David Alvarez, a Democrat, and Kevin Faulconer, a Republican, square off in a Feb. 11 mayoral runoff. The charges do not mention Alvarez or Faulconer or any committees supporting their candidacies.

Filner, who resigned Aug. 30, is serving a 90-day sentence of home confinement after pleading guilty to three counts of mistreating women.

The case filed this week has raised questions for Dumanis.

"As D.A., [Dumanis] is in a 'Caesar's wife' situation where any hint of undue influence weighs heavier," said Carl Luna, political science professor at San Diego Mesa College.

A campaign consultant for Dumanis issued a statement late Tuesday saying that the case "appears to be related to contributions to an independent expenditure committee and not our campaign. Our campaign followed the law and did not coordinate with this independent committee."

The complaint says that during the 2012 mayoral primary, "a local news source published an article noting the Foreign National's large expenditures and implicitly questioning whether he was eligible to donate. The article noted that the Foreign National was a Mexican citizen."

In May 2012, just before the mayoral primary election, the weekly San Diego City Beat reported that a political action committee, San Diegans for Bonnie Dumanis for Mayor 2012, had received at least $100,000 from an aviation firm controlled by Susumo Azano, described as a Mexican national living in Coronado.

Azano has "bankrolled lawsuits in a land dispute against Sempra Energy in Mexico," the newspaper reported.

According to court documents, Azano is involved with legal disputes with Sempra in U.S. federal court, Mexican federal court, Mexican state court and Mexican agrarian reform court. At issue is 250 acres that Sempra owns next to its liquid-natural gas terminal near Ensenada but that Azano asserts he should own under Mexican law concerning squatters' rights.

Efforts to reach Azano were unsuccessful.

In the complaint, one of the illegal contributions from the defendants was $100,000 for social media services. Another contribution of $100,000 was made by the same Foreign National to the same committee, the complaint alleges.

Republican political strategist Kevin Spillane, who headed fundraising for the independent committee backing Dumanis, is quoted in the City Beat story as saying that the contributions were legal because Azano has a green card. The federal complaint says the Foreign National does not have a green card.

District attorney candidate Robert Brewer, a former Los Angeles prosecutor who has been in private practice in San Diego for more than 20 years, said Dumanis "owes the public a full accounting of all of her connections to the defendants."

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