Stories for March 1997
Monday, March 24
OPEDPOL
When California began the process of deregulating its electricity system, it was a bold step that caught national attention. By watching closely how California proceeds, the entire country will either witness our mistakes or seek to replicate our successe
Otani
The bruising labor battle over the New Otani Hotel & Gardens is claiming an unintended victim the small businesses of Little Tokyo.
Avnet
Electronics components distributor Avnet Inc. has sold its 150,000-square-foot Culver City office campus and signed a lease to relocate to 63,000 square feet of office space in the "Herbalife Building" along the San Diego (405) Freeway in Inglewood.
Westwood
A Westwood property owners group is claiming that the developer of a proposed retail and theater complex has created a "front group" called Westwood 2000 to create the appearance of public support for the project.
LAX
Dealing a blow to the Riordan administration, the Federal Aviation Administration has ordered Los Angeles officials to return more than $30 million in revenues to Los Angeles International Airport.
RE Column
Not every major American commercial real estate services firm is in discussions to acquire or be acquired. It just seems that way.
Greatwest side
While officials of H.F. Ahmanson & Co. continue its takeover battle for Great Western Financial Corp., the Irwindale-based thrift announced a $70 billion commitment to community based investing over the next 10 years.
Persfi
A funny thing happened when drivers flexed their political muscle a few years ago to hold down the rise in auto-insurance premiums.
E!
From the outside, the 27-story highrise looks like any other buttoned-down business emporium along the Miracle Mile skyline.
Company Index
A & R; Livestock 13
Wage
While the impact of the living wage ordinance adopted by the L.A. City Council remains in doubt, two things were clear from last week's unanimous vote for adoption:
Health Column
In back-to-back announcements last week, PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. and Kaiser Permanente became the first managed care groups in the state to introduce point-of-service plans specifically for Medicare patients.
IEC sptlt
iec.sptlt/turner/mike1st/mark2nd
Listory
The volume of L.A.-area properties being sold is inching upward, and so is activity at L.A.'s top title companies, according to this week's List.
Newsmakers
Michele Parker has joined Los Angeles-based Kalis & Savage Advertising as an account supervisor. She previously worked at Saatchi & Saatchi in Torrance, where she handled the Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. account. Client accounts she will handle in her new po
Playa
In rare public comments, developer Rob Maguire asserted that he expects to have financing for the long-stalled Playa Vista development within 60 days and avert the foreclosure that now threatens the development.
Olympics
Olympic Sam might be making a return tour of Los Angeles but don't hold your breath. We're talking at least 11 years from now.
Computer Column
The news that Apple Computer has been forced to make major layoffs is confirmation of a trend long evident in the microcomputer industry, but one which is nonetheless paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic.
Market Column
Who is more powerful, Jeannie from "I Dream of Jeannie" or Samantha from "Bewitched"?
Hopper
The fight over changing California's eight-hour overtime law has degenerated into more name calling and falsehoods than any labor-management battle in recent years. As is so often the case, small business owners are caught in the middle. It's time to set
Profile
Mention local media dynasties and people immediately think of the Chandler family and the Los Angeles Times. But L.A. is home to another such dynasty the Lozano family, which for three generations has guided the city's dominant Spanish language daily,
Edit
With all due respect to the role that Hollywood plays in the Los Angeles economy, where was it on the living wage legislation that was passed last week by the City Council?
Hayden
City Charter reform backers have long conceded the difficulty of coming up with a snappy ad campaign to sell their ballot initiative to voters.
BTLs
SunAmerica Inc. chairman Eli Broad took a page from Mark Twain at this month's news conference to announce the Arco Foundation's $10 million donation to the struggling Disney Concert Hall project.
Arena
Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas conceded last week that the city officials have failed to persuade NFL team owners that the Memorial Coliseum can be a good home for professional football.
Great Western
The battle to acquire Great Western Financial Corp. is finally coming down to the shareholders.
Animals
Twenty years ago, Denny Allen owned one of the hottest livestock companies in the Hollywood animal trade, supplying horses, antique buggies and wagons for such productions as "Little House on the Prairie," "The Legend of the Lone Ranger," "Lonesome Dove"
Forum
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted last week to adopt the so-called "living wage" ordinance, which requires certain employers with city contracts or receiving city aid to pay their workers at least $7.50 an hour with benefits, or $8.50 an hour
WSW
We got it from the horse's mouth: Torrance-based Imperial Credit Industries Inc. (ICII) will take a 49 percent equity stake in Beverly Hills-based brokerage Dabney/Resnick/Imperial LLC despite some high-level departures at Dabney.
Santaan
When a takeover battle was launched last fall for control of the company that owns Santa Anita racetrack, about the last thing anyone expected was that the two rival bidders would be teaming up.
Letter Smith
This is in response to Larry Walsh's guest opinion ("L.A. deserves a viable stadium plan," March 17).
SmallBizcol
To demonstrate the role of public relations in the launch of a business and its products, we have been following the story of Blue Streak, a fictitious company launched by Tom Jones to manufacture and market blue, glow-in-the-dark widgets, dubbed Blue Str
Newsmaker
Robert Blagman is used to informing American consumers about a wide array of gizmos from electronic hair removers to potato chip makers.
Superman
The good news is that the amusement park has a big new ride to lure thrill-seekers over the spring break. Usually, amusement parks don't debut new rides until it's almost summer.
Digest
The movement of information, products and services from one location to another is integral to every business transaction we conduct. As we hurtle through the Information Age into the 21st Century, the speed and efficiency in which we transport our inform
Foreclosures
Mirroring statewide statistics, real estate foreclosures in Los Angeles County jumped nearly 20 percent last year, with the bulk of those foreclosures on homes, according to a study released last week.
IEC
No matter how savvy a dealmaker you may be, the auto dealer is probably more prepared than you are.
Sunday, March 23
list
The emerging information superhighway is providing a business bonanza for many of the firms on this year's List of the 25 biggest business telephone system vendors in L.A. County.
Monday, March 17
Ergonomics
It's Round Three on the ergonomics battlefront, with the state proposing a new rule that for the first time makes a connection between word processing jobs and repetitive motion injuries.
Queensway
Long Beach officials are close to choosing a developer to build a 225,000-square-foot retail and entertainment complex the centerpiece of a seaside project that officials hope will make people think of Long Beach as a resort, and not just a port.
NBC
The Burbank City Council last week voted its preliminary approval of a 1.9 million-square-foot expansion planned by NBC Studios, despite concerns from some residents that the project would create major traffic tie-ups in the city's Media District.
Simon
Market prices of companies have reached levels high enough to cause jitters among many investors, but William Simon Jr., West Coast managing partner for William E. Simon & Sons LLC, says there are opportunties aplenty for those careful about price and s
Edit
You've just been hired as chief executive of a major corporation. You sign a 5-year employment contract that clearly specifies that at the end of the term, both sides have the option of not renewing. Your management record at the company is decidedly mixe
Century
Mayor Richard Riordan and State Sen. Tom Hayden have gotten to know the block-long stretch of Nebraska Avenue in an industrial section of Santa Monica. So have senators, congressmen, presidential candidates just about any politician of significance.
Playa
The long-delayed Playa Vista development, which just a month ago seemed to be back on track, appeared on the verge of unraveling last week as mortgage banks initiated foreclosure after developer Rob Maguire refused to cede control of the troubled project.
Kilroy
Too hot for comfort, say some experts, who believe that investors are paying way too much to get on the REIT bandwagon.
Guitar
Pony-tailed rockers scan the hundreds of electric guitars that line the wall from floor to ceiling. A group of teens in baggy shorts and T-shirts wanders among the amps stacked in the vast showroom. A tattooed man from a local rock band sits behind one
Persif
The next O.J. Simpson court battle O.J.3 will be over whether the Browns and the Goldmans can collect any of the money they're owed. Even if the damages are reduced, O.J.'s assets appear to be pretty well squirreled away.
Disney
In a move that could help save the proposed Walt Disney Concert Hall from being shelved, Atlantic Richfield Co. last week announced it will donate $10 million to the $265 million downtown L.A. project.
Transamerica
Transamerica Corp. announced last week that it plans to sell substantially all of its consumer finance business, Transamerica Financial Services, which is headquartered in downtown Los Angeles.
Company Index
AdExchange Inc. 31
Nails
It's a list of some of the trendiest shades of nail polish and lipstick, all of which can be purchased at department store cosmetic counters in L.A. and across the country.
Computer Column
Eat your hearts out, gentle readers we've got our income-tax return finished already.
Wage
Rosa Lopez, a janitor at Los Angeles International Airport, was recently emptying a garbage can when she felt something sharp poke through the plastic and jab into her thigh.
Chrono
February 1989: Partnership headed by Maguire Thomas Partners secures $150 million in loans from a Chase Manhattan Bank-led lender group to finance acquisition of a controlling stake in the Playa Vista property below the Westchester bluffs. Longtime landow
Health Column
In what could be a boost for the Los Angeles job market, Prudential HealthCare plans to open a 1,400-employee national service center in the Los Angeles area some time in the next year.
DisneyB
disney box/LSP/mike1st
Digest
Pacific Enterprises of L.A. and Enova Corp. of San Diego announced the formation of a joint venture last week to develop and sell natural gas and electric products and services from their unregulated business lines.
RE Column
It seemed inevitable given the "upside-down" nature of so many underlying mortgages that at least one major, modern-era downtown L.A. highrise owner would eventually be forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Complistory
For Los Angeles computer retailers, 1996 proved there's more than one way to make money.
Forrecord
A story in the March 10 issue cited an incorrect amount of taxes CareAmerica would owe the City of Los Angeles if the health maintenance organization were fully taxed on all its premium revenue under the city's existing "gross receipts" tax structure. The
Listroy
Most top local architectural firms reported improved business in 1996, in what appears to be another sign that the building industry is gradually recovering from recession.
Marina
After years of criticism that Marina del Rey is an underperforming asset, Los Angeles County is looking at restructuring the leases in an effort to bring in more revenue for the prime waterfront property.
NFL
PALM DESERT NFL team owners meeting here last week remained unconvinced that plans to refurbish the L.A. Coliseum will succeed leaving Los Angeles sports fans with the $64 question: What's next?
Forum
L.A. is still in search of a National Football League franchise, and a place for that team to play. Last week in Palm Desert where some of the leaders of the effort pushed their plan for bringing a team to the Coliseum NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
Newsmaker
Connie Brown has spent 20 years climbing the corporate ladder, but with each step she continued to think about forming her own marketing firm.
Profile
In 1984, David Simon's life was consumed with throwing the largest sporting event in Los Angeles' history the Olympic games.
Market Column
A group of kids is hanging out on a sidewalk in Suburbia, watching a moving van across the street unload boxes for a new arrival in the neighborhood.
Reclaim
Unocal Corp. appears to be stockpiling government-issued airborne emissions credits, as the company prepares to sell its Southern California oil refinery facilities to Tosco Corp.
Letter Lombardo
A few observations are in order on your Feb. 24 article, "Federal judge to decide whether Burbank can halt airport growth."
Copshops
A report to be reviewed by the Los Angeles City Council's public safety committee this week finds that police substations, service centers and stop-in offices are underutilized and not needed in many of the communities in which they are located.
Letter Bryant
In regard to your article "Community groups pressure Ahmanson on inner-city lending" (March 3), allow me to further outline a few important points:
Union
Just one month after endorsing Mayor Richard Riordan for reelection, Los Angeles labor leaders voided that endorsement last week.
Smallbiz
To demonstrate the role of public relations in the launch of a company and its products, we have been following the story of Blue Streak, a fictitious business launched by Tom Jones to manufacture and market blue, glow-in-the-dark widgets.
WSW
With the S & P; 500 trading at 20 times earnings, and interest rates relatively low, it is no surprise that Los Angeles companies are bellying up to the securities bar, and hollering for debt or equity.
Warner
The new, lean era that Ted Turner is bringing to Time Warner Inc. is descending on Burbank.
Bristol Farms
The L.A. area is chock full of frazzled two-income families with more discretionary money than time.
Newsmakers
Joel Hochberg will join the Los Angeles-based firm of Asher/Gould Advertising as chief operating officer. Hochberg was most recently executive vice president of Foote Cone & Belding in Los Angeles. He replaces Bruce Silverman, who resigned to pursue other
Venture
Nine L.A. technology firms made their pitches for funding at last week's Los Angeles Technology Venture Forum, and owners of the fledgling ventures said just having an opportunity to address venture capitalists was welcome, considering the shortage of fin
Walsh OPED
Don't you miss doing or seeing "the wave" at one of our own professional football team's games? Los Angeles may be well into the 21st Century before we have another chance to do a wave unless we mobilize around the building of a new state-of-the-art sta
Fastrack
COMPTON Chet Pipkin: Just a college dropout from Hawthorne, who liked to tinker with auto engines, radios and televisions and such.
BTLs
It was billed as the 1997 Los Angeles Technology Venture Forum, a once-a-year chance for 20 or so local technology firms to show their stuff to a room full of well-heeled venture capitalists.
Monday, March 10
Pope
Ed Pope surrounds himself with photos of him standing besides Nobel laureates as well as Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich and Pete Wilson.
Leiweke
He would never say so himself, but the fate of downtown Los Angeles may be resting in the hands of Tim Leiweke.
Coleman
Victor Coleman looks back on his active shopping for commercial office buildings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and remembers how others in the industry thought he had a screw loose.
Listory
The largest venture capital firm in the greater Los Angeles area remains El Segundo-based Chase Capital Partners, the West Coast venture branch of mighty New York-based bank holding company Chase Manhattan Corp., according to The List.
Boberg
Jay Boberg, the president of MCA Records, knew he was on to something in 1981 when the seminal New Wave rock band The Go-Go's first album, "Beauty and the Beat," broke the million-sales mark.
DAVISRD
Kevin Davis has had a long climb up the ladder starting out as a box boy and working his way through the ranks to become head of Bristol Farms, the growing L.A.-area chain of upscale food stores with annual revenues of more than $90 million.
Hertzberg
When Robert Hertzberg was a child, he would hear about the causes that his father, a constitutional attorney, had taken on, including defending doctors who wanted to practice acupuncture in California and Native Americans who wanted to open gaming facilit
Company Index
Arkwright Insurance Co. 10
Profile
With a Dean Martin drawl and cool demeanor reminiscent of the flying aces who spawned his firm, Seymour Kahn has in 22 years grown Mercury Air Group Inc. from a $2 million a year operation to one with 1996 revenues of $225 million. Based at Los Angeles
Otani
It was the winter of 1993, and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 11, after years of disarray and dormancy, was looking to launch a new organizing drive at a major Los Angeles hotel.
Forrecord
A story in the Feb. 24 Special Report, "Top Brokers 1996," implied that Sean Deasy and Perky Apperson of CB Commercial Real Estate Group brokered the $30 million sale of the 700-unit Lakeside Apartments complex in Burbank. In fact, Craig Stevens, then of
KIM
With the Korean stock market diving 25 percent last year, investors had good reason to worry. But anyone who put their cash with Stewart M. Kim's Pacific Gemini Partners LLC took home a tidy 5 percent return.
Roster
roster/ms/1stjc
Wartzman
Having just finished his freshman year at Northwestern University, Wartzman landed an internship on the Baltimore News American, a Hearst-owned newspaper at the time teetering on closure.
Intro
It's easy to see the diversity of L.A.'s business community just browse through the Business Journal's list of 30 up-and-comers.
How
So you want to be an up-and-comer? While there's no sure-fire formula, certain traits are shared by men and women on the fast track.
Persfi
Backers of long-term-care (LTC) insurance hope that its time has finally come. A new federal law, effective this year, promotes it in four major ways.
Daily News
Citing a "growing demand for more local coverage" the Woodland Hills-based Daily News has launched a new "Los Angeles" edition offering expanded coverage of metropolitan news.
KooKoo
Koo Koo Roo Inc. agreed last week to buy the Hamburger Hamlet restaurant chain out of bankruptcy for $11.45 million.
RE Column
One of veteran local real estate entrepreneur David Hager's aggressive industrial property investment groups has just closed its latest acquisition a two-building R & D; complex at 9330/9350 DeSoto Ave. in Chatsworth.
DWP
L.A.'s Department of Water and Power will spend up to $600,000 to hire a high-level consultant for the next two years.
Letter Cohen
A minor, but important, point that was not mentioned in your excellent Feb. 24 article, "The last ride of Great Western," was a discussion on the feelings of former First Interstate Bank employees who were absorbed by Great Western following First Interst
Odonnell
As Mayor Richard Riordan's top budget expert, O'Donnell has to go through the city's spending plan with a fine-tooth comb. This year, he faces a particular challenge: An estimated $30-to-$100 million deficit in its $2.5 billion General Fund.
BTL
Attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who represented Fred Goldman in the O.J. civil trial, swore it would be business as usual after his highly publicized victory in the wrongful-death case. There would be no hosting of talk shows, book deals, or any of the other
Forum
Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams is seeking a second five-year term amid continued controversy over his performance. Mayor Richard Riordan has openly criticized Williams for not putting more officers on the street and not giving more authority
Mcdermott
As a young movie fan, Dan McDermott found himself captivated by the foreign intrigue and adventure that followed James Bond, agent 007.
Lesser
If Barbara Lesser wrote a book on succeeding in business, she might suggest that you travel around the country in an RV, go on safari in Africa and basically hang out for a year.
Computer Column
So, you have a nice notebook PC that works fine, didn't cost too much and even has a bright color screen. But now that you know your way around the World Wide Web, you miss being able to hear radio broadcasts and other sound the way you can on your deskto
Silva
As a youth growing up in Boyle Heights, the threat of gangs and drugs wasn't an abstraction it was something he confronted every day.
Foulad
David Foulad is just that and he's found success in his life after the Cold War.
Newsmaker
Karen Berk has worked with dozens of chief executive officers throughout Los Angeles County through her work at the March of Dimes.
Newsmakers
Southwest Airlines announced that John Thomas will be the new station manager for its operations at Los Angeles International Airport. Thomas joined Southwest in 1980, holding key management positions in Houston, Denver, St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles
Merrimac
You'd never know it looking at Merrimac Energy Group's sales figures, but owner Mary Hazelrigg says revenue growth isn't a top priority.
Wintrob
Jay Wintrob had a promising legal career at one of the most prestigious law firms in the nation when he decided to try his hand in the business world.
Scrap
LONG BEACH To most people, the mountains of engine blocks, steel coils and dented appliances at PacificCoast Recycling's new scrap yard at the Port of Long Beach would look like nothing more than a bunch of junk.
OPEDR
The announcement of the new financing arrangements for Playa Vista have been widely misconstrued. First, the impression purveyed by the "spin control" news release of developer Maguire Thomas was that this was a good development. In fact Maguire Thomas is
Arena
The Los Angeles area hasn't had a major new sports arena since the Great Western Forum was built in Inglewood 30 years ago. So if a new downtown arena is approved, developers are promising a futuristic facility that will make today's venues look like reli
Letter Hall
As the chief administrative officer for the City of Culver City, I would like to respond to the Feb. 10 article, "Why L.A. turns off businesses."
Oseary
As the chief talent scout for Madonna's Maverick Records, Oseary is the man responsible for finding and signing acts that will top the charts. His ascension to such an important post while still in his early 20s is a testament to the fact that ambition st
Great Western
In the midst of H.F. Ahmanson & Co.'s ongoing battle to acquire Great Western Financial Corp., analysts and thrift executives were warning that when the dust settles, L.A. might be left without either financial institution.
HMOs
Debate over an arcane bit of tax code that's had Los Angeles city and local HMO officials wrangling for close to a year is nearly resolved, participants in the discussions say.
Suissa
Landing the big account takes on new meaning when it literally doubles your business.
Redevelop
HOLLYWOOD In another effort to improve the business district here, Los Angeles officials are pushing forward a plan to top a planned subway station with a $145 million commercial development including a 12-screen multiplex next to the historic Mann's
Rubin
A. Stuart Rubin comes close to saying he was predestined to become a real estate developer.
Spencer
Mike Spencer's days as a roadie for such bands as Deep Purple and the Rolling Stones are a far cry from his intricate work of turning iron into reproductions of 1920s Hollywood lighting.
Sullivan
Three years ago, Mark Sullivan was thinking about quitting his job with the Los Angeles commercial realty firm Julien J. Studley Inc.
EDS
Global information services giant EDS has committed to retain its 450-employee facility in El Segundo for another five years.
Steele
Martin Steele launched his career as a picture frame maker in a small garage converted into a studio behind a friend's West Hollywood home.
Banks
No sooner did L.A. police detectives and FBI agents finish their work at the just-robbed North Hollywood branch of Bank of America on Feb. 28, than a much smaller team of trauma counselors came in to take over.
Fox2
Fox Sports Net, frustrated by the refusal of local cable companies to pick up its new Fox Sports West 2 channel, is accusing Walt Disney Co. of conspiring to keep its programming out of Southern California homes.
Postrel
When it comes to career objectives, they don't get much more specific than Virginia Postrel's.
Digest add
A former Los Angeles prosecutor last week became the first Justice Department official ever sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Market Column
H.F. Ahmanson & Co. has been sending some unusual letters to its fellow bankers at Great Western Financial Corp. recently. Most of us just use stationery, but Ahmanson prints its missives on the front section of the Los Angeles Times.
Dominguez
Just like Roman emperors of yore, Eddie Dominguez is a big believer in the power of bread and circuses. As station manager of KVEA-TV Channel 52, he's out to build ratings by giving viewers some free entertainment.
Kanoff
Corporate attorney Mary Ellen Kanoff has been a major player in the Las Vegas development boom.
Walgreens
A new retailing trend is hitting the streets of L.A. and drivers won't even have to leave their cars to experience it.
Game Works
UNIVERSAL CITY Behind the door to Stage 35 on the Universal Studios lot is a chaotic jumble of flashing video games and enough computer hardware to launch the Space Shuttle.
Smallbiz
Last week, we outlined the elements of a P.R. plan and created a fictional company, Blue Streak. Now we'll follow Blue Streak's progress to see how a plan is turned into reality.
Mcclenahan
There are those driven to excel in their field by a desire for fame or wealth, by personal demons, or by a devotion to their calling.
Sculley
As executive producer of "The Simpsons," Mike Sculley has one of the best jobs in television.
Beazley
Lisa Beazley made a decision early in life to become a lawyer but not for the usual reasons.
Economy
The sleepy L.A. mayor's race finally gathered some steam last week, with incumbent Richard Riordan and challenger Tom Hayden offering starkly different visions of the city's economy and what to do about it.
Flashback
The 40 rising stars spotlighted by the Business Journal last year are not getting older they're getting more successful.
England
John England, the former property management "golden boy" who was accused of bilking high-profile commercial property owners out of millions of dollars through an alleged "kickback" scheme, has been indicted on two federal income tax evasion charges.
Health Column
Los Angeles HMOs spend among the most and least in the state on medical care, according to the California Medical Association's annual survey of the industry.
WSW
The cast of players keeps changing at Beverly Hills brokerage Dabney/Resnick/Imperial LLP.
Overview
They're the overachievers, the natural leaders, the most-likely-to-succeeds. And while their pursuits are varied from health care to entertainment to law they share one characteristic:
Worthe
There's really no secret to cutting multi-million dollar real estate deals, says Jeffrey M. Worthe of M. David Paul & Associates LLP.
Edit
Too often in recent years, L.A.'s image has been clouded by crime and a perception, largely fueled by the national and local media, that Los Angeles is out of control.
Jobs
The county continues to bring up the rear in job growth, according to revised numbers recently released by the state Employment Development Department.
Digest
The Los Angeles Dodgers ended a 14-year relationship with Ticketmaster Group Inc. last week to sign a ticket distribution deal with a small, Costa Mesa company.
Monday, March 3
Ancillary
Consolidations and mergers have hit the banking industry with the force of an earthquake throwing people out of work, disrupting established business relationships and changing the course of local commerce.
Wilson
Citing the importance of the entertainment and multimedia industry to California's economy, Gov. Pete Wilson encouraged film executives last week to support the creation of $1.2 million in scholarships for students studying for careers in digital arts and
Smallbiz
What do businesses and movie stars share in common? Their need for a public relations strategy.
Headquarters
Is Los Angeles destined to become completely devoid of financial institution headquarters?
Food
U.S. supermarket sales of Mexican salsas and marinades hit $764.7 million last year, far eclipsing those of ketchup, which sold $431.3 million in 1996, according to Information Resources Inc., a market research firm in Chicago.
Rubens
In 1977, Barry Rubens founded Santa Monica-based California Research Corp. , a consulting firm for investors interested in starting their own banks or savings institutions.
Forum
Los Angeles has had the annual Grammy Awards in seven of the past 11 years, but it lost out to New York City's Madison Square Garden last week. Moreover, organizers say the event has outgrown the aging Shrine Auditorium and plan to hold it again in New Yo
Edit
After all the shouting had died down at Walt Disney Co.'s annual meeting last week about excess compensation and the misguided hiring of Michael Ovitz, company shareholders did the only logical thing: They voted for business as usual.
Great Western
Local community advocates have been approaching H.F. Ahmanson & Co. about its hostile takeover bid for Great Western Financial Corp. and what the $6.07 billion deal could mean for minorities and low-income families.
Cities
The 22 banks headquartered in San Francisco boast $311 billion in assets. By comparison, the 103 banks headquartered in Los Angeles County have just $33 billion in assets, according to the California Bankers Association.
Computer Column
It could be one of the longest-running soap operas in the world of personal computers one that the TV networks might call "As the Trackball Turns" or "Pursuit of a Pointer."
Letter McDonald
I am mortified at the preposterous logic used by Tom Lieser, associate director of the Anderson/UCLA Business Forecasting Project ("Good News: Business failures on the rise," Feb. 17) to proclaim that an 11 percent jump in business failures in Los Angeles
Disney
Long after most of the 12,000-or-so shareholders at last week's annual meeting had left to enjoy their free tickets to Disneyland, Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner abandoned his carefully scripted pep talk for a question-and-ans
Liststory
Most of the larger women-owned businesses in the Los Angeles area have at least one thing in common: revenue growth.
Imperial
It's a tale of two film finance groups, but it reads more like a "B" movie script.
Profile
Not everyone on the California real estate scene knows attorney Richard S. "Dick" Volpert.
Vestar
Burbank development officials are pressing Vestar Development Co. to provide more details about a project Vestar hopes to build on the 103-acre property that for decades served as Lockheed Corp.'s aerospace manufacturing site.
OPED 2
Whether or not you toil every day in the banking industry, you know that many consumers are fed up with the squeeze they feel from their financial institutions squeezed into longer lines at fewer branches, with fewer staff; squeezed by financial incenti
Subarman
Beverly Hills-based Giant Group Ltd., and its chairman Burt Sugarman have teamed up with the parent of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain to invest $20 million in Clearwater, Fla.-based Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc.
Newsmaker
A. Terrance Dickens is breaking ground as the new president and chief operating officer of Bixby Co., which develops and manages commercial real estate.
WSW
The power of institutional shareholders is increasingly making itself felt on local publicly traded companies.
Proxy
However the battle for control over Chatsworth-based thrift Great Western Financial Corp. turns out, Chairman James Montgomery and Chief Executive John Maher will be handsomely compensated.
Tellers
The answer is an unequivocal yes, although there always will be a place for entry-level, teller-like jobs in the consolidated banking industry of the 21st century.
Instore Banking
L.A.-area bankers are offering customers home loans and free checking accounts where they buy groceries, make photocopies and now, even where they fuel-up their cars.
Letter Rosenfeld
Last week we reported that Watson Land Co. has seen impressive demand from South Bay industrial property users.
OPED
The trend in the banking industry is consolidation, driven by a desire to improve internal efficiencies. Banks are generally moving away from the personalized mortar-and-steel branch banking on every corner to electronic processing services.
Property
The ongoing banking industry consolidation will continue to hamper the nascent recovery of L.A.'s commercial real estate market, according to real estate professionals who serve the banking industry.
Investor
With virtually every bank and thrift stock in California's improving economy considered in play, or at least playable, investors might want to seriously consider adding financial stocks to their portfolios, say experts.
Ralphs
Just take a two-square-mile area of L.A. that's bounded by La Cienega and La Brea boulevards on the east and west and Sunset and Wilshire boulevards on the north and south.
Letter Detwiler
Barbara O'Connors' guest opinion ("Public schools need technology," Feb. 17) stressed the need for telecommunications technology and trained teachers in our schools. But there is a practical solution to improving California's classroom technology that doe
Company Index
Alex. Brown Inc. 9
Consumer
Shortly after Wells Fargo Bank acquired First Interstate Bank, billboards went up all over town asking motorists how many Wells Fargo branches they had passed on their way to work.
Fasttrack
For seven years, Chris Speer worked out of a spare bedroom crammed with memory chips and mother boards.
Lockheed
When he was a boy, Mark Toshiro Hiraide would hear stories from his parents, both Japanese Americans, about their internment during World War II. Those accounts, says Hiraide, "gave me a perspective on justice and the power of the government."
Market Column
Sometimes when you want to find out what's going on in the local marketing scene, you have to ask the real estate brokers.
Overview
The big word in L.A.'s banking and finance community is consolidation, driven by market competition and the need for efficiency as well as shareholder demands for profit and share price appreciation.
BTLs
Was Michael Eisner testy during last week's contentious annual shareholder's meeting for the Walt Disney Co.?
Digest
Los Angeles International Airport's "master plan" has barely taxied out of the gate, but already the ambitious expansion proposal is encountering some turbulence.
Jobs
Demand for workers in Los Angeles County will rise to its highest second-quarter level of the 1990s, according to a report by Manpower Inc., the temporary employment agency.
Power
That's how local real estate veteran Harry Newman affectionately refers to his latest retail project a 760,000-square-foot U.S.-style power center he hopes to develop in Changping County about 15 miles north of downtown Beijing.
Survivors
Donna Longnaecker is a survivor in the incredible shrinking world of Southern California banking.
Blending
The long-discussed consolidation of the nation's banks and savings and loans into one industry is slated to move a step closer to reality next week.
Linda Gary
Four years ago, Linda Gary was faced with the greatest challenge of her life. Her husband, James R. Gary, died of a heart attack at age 51, leaving her in charge of the couple's Woodland Hills residential real estate company.
Cox OPED
If ever there was a need in 1997 to abandon the splintering partisanship spanning American politics, that time is now, during a period when federal and state lawmakers are earnestly searching for a way to alter the welfare reform overhaul to protect thems
Newsmakers
Prudential Securities announced the hiring of Robert Ellis as vice president of investments. Ellis will work out of the investment firm's Century City office. He previously worked as a vice president with Smith Barney.
Riordan
Richard J. Riordan ran for mayor four years ago on a two-plank platform to put more police officers on the street and to make Los Angeles City Hall more friendly to business.
Disneyside
Ten years ago, the world's very first Disney Store was launched at the Glendale Galleria.
Persfi
First it was IBM. Then it was AT & T.; Now another "safe" investment is about to come apart.