"A Slice of Runyon" Closes Downtown, Hank's Bar Is Knocked Out

February 11, 1997

If Damon Runyon were alive and looking for a watering hole in downtown Los Angeles, five'll get you 10 he'd be hanging out at Hank's Bar.

Runyon would find plenty of colorful characters to write about in the New York-style saloon on Grand Avenue near 8th Street.

There's Racetrack Charlie, who won't talk to a reporter because he might be "a copper." There's Liquor Mary, who can put 'em away with the biggest drinkers. There're undercover cops, ex-showgirls and Playboy bunnies, lawyers and gamblers, Wall Streeters and office workers.

But first and foremost, there is the bar owner, Hank Holzer.

Holzer, a former prizefighter, approaches a customer sitting on a bar stool. He fakes a right hand to the customer's ribs, then brings an uppercut to within an inch of the man's jaw. It happens so quickly that the customer, an athletically built man in his 30s, cannot react. He only smiles and shakes his head at the speed of the impressive combination. Nothing unusual about an ex-boxer showing off his skill.

Except that Hank Holzer is 88.

"I still have the punch, but it's my reputation that gets me by," says Holzer in a New York accent as thick as the pastrami at Langer's Deli and decked out in his trademark captain's hat.

His mind is as sharp as his fists used to be. Once a sparring partner for Rocky Graziano, he tells you in vivid detail (including the weather) about the three legendary middleweight championship fights in the late '40s between Graziano and Tony Zale.

The narrow bar--a few booths and 14 stools--is attached to the 80-year-old Stillwell Hotel. The jukebox, full of Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane, Barbra Streisand, Smokey Robinson, Patsy Cline and Louis Armstrong, is almost always spinning.

Near the bottles of booze is a sign that old-timers say Holzer put up a decade before the hit TV show "Cheers": "Welcome to Hank's, where everyone knows your name, where everyone's glad you came."

"There are no racial barriers in this bar," says one of the youngest regulars, Greg Meyer, a 32-year-old stockbroker. "Everybody gets along good here."

Almost on cue, two customers out of earshot at the other end of the bar--one black, one white--start singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" along with Sinatra.

*

Holzer was born in Greenwich Village in 1909. By the time he was 16, he was fighting professionally as Steven Terry. ("Back then, you took on an Irish name because they were the most popular.") Though never a champion, he fought well enough as a welterweight to make a good living and marry a successful model. He earned several medals and commendations for bravery while serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

When his wife, Frances, became ill with diabetes, doctors advised Holzer to move from New York to California for the warmer climate. He opened Hank's Bar in 1959 and ran it for 14 years until Frances' illness forced him to quit to take care of her.

A decade later, in 1983, at her urging, he bought back the bar.

"She told me 'I'm getting well, go on back to the bar, you love it too,' so I did."

Shortly afterward, she died.

The vast majority of the regulars are friendly to strangers. Of course, this is a New York-style bar. Five-foot-one Fast Eddie Schrodeski, 76, balls his fist up at a reporter who asks about Hank.

"How do I know you're the real deal, maybe your some kinda agent?" says Schrodeski, who proceeds to cuss out the reporter from beneath a cap that hides his eyes. Holzer intervenes and vouches for the reporter. Schrodeski slowly acquiesces.

"Hank's kind of like an inspiration to us younger guys," he says.

"Hank is like the father I never had," says bar regular James Watson, 46.

Holzer looks healthy but says, "I'm pushing 90, I probably only got a couple years left. I don't like to dwell on past glories. I've had a good life. I was married 42 years to a beautiful woman. She gave me a good son. I have plenty of friends. I've known all types of people, from killers and shylocks to millionaires."

One millionaire who used to frequent Hank's Bar was the late philanthropist Ben Weingart, whose name now graces a large homeless center in Skid Row.

"Weingart used to look at these guys sleeping in the gutter and tell me, 'Hank, one of these days I'm going to do something for these people,' " Holzer recalls.

Inevitably, the conversation turns again to boxing. Holzer reels off his all-time favorites: Rocky Marciano ("If he fought Tyson, they have to indict the Rock with murder"), Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Zale and Harry "The Human Windmill" Greb, who had 294 bouts.

Behind the bar is a small box with markers of the few people who owe Holzer money. Holzer takes the box and pulls out a IOU slip.

"This one is from Henry Armstrong," a legendary champion of the '30s who died in 1988. "That guy still owes me 48 bucks."

"Fire Alarm Biscuit" of Nancy Silverton/Ruth Reichl Disqualified in International Competition

 A biscuit designed by Nancy Silverton and assembled by Ruth Reichl was disqualified Sunday at the prestigious World Biscuit Championship in Lyons, France by a panel of judges who ruled it had "Violated the spirit of friendly and fair competition."

The biscuit, dubbed the "Fire Alarm Biscuit" due to its propensity to set off alarms because of the copious amount of butter deployed in its assemblage, had taken an overwhelming lead in the competition when the Belgium team filed a formal complaint with the international judges. Brussels Biscuits United claimed the Nancy/Ruth biscuit was more butter than actual biscuit.

What also put the biscuit in the illegal zone was the after-baking addition of two inches of  Buerre de Baratte of Rudolphe Le Meunier. (See http://krikorianwrites.com/blog/2014/1/29/the-dangerous-french-butter-thats-despised-by-its-peers )

"This is a biscuit championship, so enter a biscuit," said Roger DeCoster, team leader of the Belgians. "There were more fire alarms going off in Lyons during the event than their were in the South Bronx in 1977."

The recipe for the biscuit is expected to be released to the public in Silverton's next cookbook.

Both Silverton and Reichl could not be reached for comment.

Squad 7 - The Nancy's Fancy Flavors

There are seven  flavors of Nancy's Fancy. Like the United States Navy's SEAL Team Six, they are an extremely elite unit;

So, with just a little further ado, Nancy Silverton is proud to announce “Squad 7”, the first flavors to qualify to be called Nancy’s Fancy. Five are classified gelato and two are sorbetto.

Before we reveal them, let it be known that Nancy’s Fancy is not intended to shock the world of gelati and sorbetti with joy-dropping flavor combinations. You will not find any overly-manipulated, complex flavor combinations that twist and yank ingredients out of their natural role. They’ll be no main course for your dessert. No fried chicken gelato.  

What you will get from a pint of Nancy’s Fancy - scheduled for release this spring in markets across the United States - is a refinement and enhancement of traditional flavors we’ve all enjoyed. The classics:  chocolate, coffee, peanut butter, coconut, butterscotch, banana, berries. All combined with components that turbocharge Squad 7 to an extraordinary level of concentrated taste. 

Here they are:

GELATO

Chunky Salted Peanut Butter/with Crunchy  Chocolate 

Butterscotch Budino / with  Salted Caramel Swirl  

Roasted Banana  / with Bourbon   & Pecan Praline 

Cold-Brewed Spiced Stumptown Coffee/ with Cracked  Cocoa nib

Fruitti Di Bosco /with Greek Yogurt & Mixed Berries

SORBETTO

Coconut Stracciatella  /with Bittersweet Chocolate Strands

Chocolate  Rum Fondente/  with  Dark Rum & Chocolate Chips     

These seven have an esprit de corps about them, a frozen swagger knowing that of the hundreds of flavor combinations that tried out, they were the ones selected by Nancy Silverton and her executive pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez to be Nancy’s Fancy.

They are a tight-knit group as well. Not only do they chill out together at the pastry kitchen of Mozza or the L.A. Creamery complex in Chatsworth, California where they develop, but at tasting parties and other gatherings. 

And like the Original Rat Pack, they are there for each other and, man, do they know how to have a good time.

For example, check out what happened at a gathering in January. Chocolate Rum Fondente with Dark Rum and Chocolate Chips had a few too many at a Southern California park and cracked wise to three local ice cream sandwiches. Soon, Fondente was surrounded by more than three dozen ice cream sandwiches, many of them frozen hard, frosty cold and steaming.

Suddenly, out of a Nancy’s Fancy Squad 7 freezer, two team members, Coconut Straciatella and Chunky Salted Peanut Butter rappelled down. It was now Fondy, Coco and Chunky, side by side. Talk about a combo. Never in recorded history have so many ice cream sandwiches melted so fast.

It is that closeness, that raffish bond they share, that makes the seven flavors of Nancy’s Fancy so deviously delectable to enjoy together

###.

Here’s a little info on some of the squad.

Chunky Salted Peanut Butter/with Crunchy Chocolate      

On a spring day in 2014, Nancy Silverton took a forkful of just-made micro-batch of peanut butter gelato and slowly savored its intense flavor in silence. Then the nods began. One, two, three, four and then, in the most rarified of reviews, Silverton nodded for a fifth time. The storied “Five Nods from Nancy” had been achieved.

It was salty. Almost too salty, but not. It was like the gelato itself had tip-toed up to the salt limit wall and set up camp. It was a gelato that brought instantaneous pleasure to the taste buds. The zero to 60 time on Chunky is the fastest of any production gelato or ice cream in the world. 

Since then, Since then, in the officina of  Dahlia and Nancy - the pastry kitchen of Mozza -  this salty peanut butter landmark has been given the zultra treatment. For crunch we fold in chocolate-dipped French cookie wafers that are enrobed in 70% bittersweet chocolate.

Let the nods begin.

Butterscotch Budino with Salted Caramel Swirl.

This Nancy’s Fancy is named after the most popular dessert in all of Mozza Land, Dahlia Narvaez’s fabled Butterscotch Budino, which is now copied all over America. Budino is the Italian word for pudding so the gelato is extremely smooth and delicious. And then, as Nancy and Dahlia love to do, it is taken to the zultra level by having salted caramel swirled throughout its lusciousness.

 ##

Fruitti Di Bosco with GreekYogurt & Mixed Berries

Inspired by the classic Greek breakfast of yogurt and berries, this gelato releases wave after wave of mouth-filling sweet tart flavors that invigorate the mouth, linger on the palate and bring a sense of contemplation. Although neither Aristotle, Socrates nor Plato were known to be particularly aggressive and violent, one has to wonder how the three giants of philosophy would react if they were together at a market and all that remained was a lone pint of Nancy’s Fancy Greek Yogurt with mixed Berries.

##

Cold-Brewed Spiced Stumptown Coffee/ with Cracked Cocoa nib

Take a Los Angeles base,blend in ingredients from Oregon, Zanzibar, Colombia, Indonesia, Madagascar and India and the result is this eye-opening member of Squad 7. 

We source our cold brew from Stumptown Roasters in Portland, Oregon and mix it with a quintet of Earth’s most beloved spices; cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla beans. Once the gelato is spun, Corderilla cocoa nibs, (unfermented cocoa beans) from Colombia join the festa. The result is a gelato that brings mind exotic faraway places and confirms coffee’s place in the pantheon of tasteful pleasures.

 ##

Chocolate Rum Fondente/ with  Dark Rum & Chocolate Chips   

Melted 70% bittersweet chocolate is brazenly, if not downright recklessly folded into a Nancy’s Fancy base with Colombian cocoa powder from Corderilla Chocolate for this insanely rich sorbetto fondly referred to above as “Fondy”

To make matters even more delicious, Meyers dark rum is poured in to give it a kick in the pint. The final blast of flavor and texture come from chocolate chips.

The Fondente family in Italy is planning a week long festa in the spring of 2015 to celebrate the official release of this intense sorbetto.

There will be more flavors that make it to Nancy’s Fancy, but Squad 7 will always be there for you to enjoy.

Squad Seven

Still to come profiles of Roasted Banana / with Bourbon & Pecan Praline and Coconut Strach, both of whom were available.

Chef Matt Molina Resigns From Mozza To Pursue Career As Race Car Driver, Silverton Calls Him the"George Washington of Mozza"

James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Molina stunned the Los Angeles restaurant world, his family and even his boss, Nancy Silverton, when he announced Saturday he was leaving his job as the Executive Chef of Mozza to chase his dream of becoming a professional race car driver.

"Matt is like the George Washington of the Mozza kitchen," said Silverton shortly after hearing Molina was moving one.  "I'm stunned he is leaving. Especially to race cars."

Within one hour of the news, Team  McLaren announced that Molina, who has been secretly testing road and race cars, had signed a seven-figure contract to be the chief test driver for the esteemed British automobile manufacturer.  McLaren founder Ron Dennis said it was "with profound relief I can finally let the world know it was Matt Molina behind the wheel when the McLaren P1 recently lapped the Nordschilfe at the Nurgurging in under seven minutes."

It had been assumed that McLaren test pilot Chis Goodwin had been driving the P1 during this stunning lap. Check out the video of Molina in the P1 at the Nordschilfe;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9IWiTpWeiM

Molina had been hinting he would leave to race cars for months. The San Gabriel Valley native  who won the James Bead Award for Outstanding Chef in the Pacific region in 2012 ( http://www.grubstreet.com/2012/05/matt-molina-james-beard-award-mozza.html) was often seen wearing a golf cap with the letter "M" on it, but most thought it meant for either "Matt" or "Molina", It is now known it symbolized McLaren.

It was a 2014 trip to Las Vegas to celebrate the birthday of his friend Adam Levine that really charged Molina when he got to drive an Aston Martin Vanquish S at a local track. "Matty was really happy when he came back from that racing weekend," said former Osteria Mozza sous chef Chris Feldmeier. ."If I'm not mistaken, I think he even asked me how my children were doing. I don't have any kids, but, still." 

News that Molina, who worked with Silverton at Campanile, was leaving stunned the Mozza family.

In New York City, Mario Batali, who gave Molina his nickname "Ponce" because of his uncanny ability to get lost in Italy, wished him well. 

"i have known Ponce for 20 years and have driven long on the golf course and slowly on the 405 with him and  he is truly great at both, but his true metier is in the saute pan,"

Batali added he expected Mclaren's arch rival to try to lure Molina away..

"i wish him the best of luck with the McLaren team, but do not be surprised if the Ferrari team comes knocking," Batali said. "Matt's heart, his palate and his engine are forged of steel and titanium near Modena in Emilia Romagna."

In Los Angeles, there was sadness.

"I am saddened and shocked," said Kate Green, Silverton's assistant. "Hey, let me ask you something. Do you know if I will still be able to get free food with Matty gone?"

Silverton had little to say.

"It's really sad Matty is leaving," said Silverton. "Like I mentioned, the strange thing to me is his new job, racing cars. Every time I've ever been in his car, he drove like an old lady."

Still, she praised her chef who opened Pizzeria Mozza in 2006 and Osteria Mozza months later. "Matty will always be part of the Mozza family."

Liz "Go Go" Hong, formerly the chef at Pizzeria Mozza will move over to the Osteria Mozza as executive chef.  

Molina has not ruled out a return to cooking and opening his own restaurant. 

"The race  season lasts only eight months," said Molina as he enjoyed a smoked short rib at Odysseus and Penelope on La Brea. "I'll have to do something during the other four." 

A sources close to Molina said he would either open a restaurant or join the PGA Tour. Another source said Molina has been offered a job as the private cook for the Tips For Jesus guy

AFter his farewell "lineup" talk, Matt Molina listens as Nancy Silverton toasts his mozza career. Pastry chef Dahlia Narvaez Looks on

*For the 2015 season McLaren has already signed Fernando Alonzo and Jenson Button as their Formula One drivers, however Molina is expected to replace either one if they falter 

2007 L.A. Weekly Article on the Mayor and LAPD's List of the City's Worst Gangs and a Reporter's Counter List

The Mayor's Fake "Worst Gangs"  L.A. Weekly  March 7, 2007

It's not unusual for a top-10 list to cause controversy. Top 10 movies of all time. Top 10
restaurants in the country. But recently the Los Angeles Police
Department and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced with great fanfare
a top-11 list of the worst and most violent gangs in the area. While
movie buffs and foodies might lightheartedly argue their cases in bars
and cafés, the LAPD list is being scorned and laughed at on gang
corners, in patrol cars and in squad rooms.

When asked about the top-11 list, one Los Angeles officer and expert
on gangs said, "It's laughable. There was pressure from the [brass] to
get out the list, but they didn't ask the right people. They didn't
ask or listen to the experts."

The lead homicide detective of LAPD's deadly Southeast Division found
the list odd. "I can't imagine that those are the worst gangs in the
city," said Detective Sal LaBarbera. "I think they were trying to
spread it out over the whole city, because we've got five gangs alone
in Southeast - the PJs, Grape Street, the Bounty Hunters, Hoover and
Main Street - that could be on that list."

Southeast Division and neighboring 77th Street Division suffered 136
homicides in 2006, representing more than 28 percent of all killings
in Los Angeles. Yet only two gangs from Southeast and 77th got onto
the apparently geographically and politically correct list - Grape
Street Crips and Rollin' 60s Crips.

The list does contain some truly dangerous gangs. But it also leaves
out very powerful gangs: the Hoover Street Criminals, East Coast
Crips, Bounty Hunters, Florencia 13 and Quarto Flats - the old-time
Boyle Heights gang with close ties to Mexican cartels.

"It's a bunch of bullshit," said Antony "Set Trip" Johnson, 17, a gang
member from Five Deuce Hoover, a subset of the notorious Hoover
Criminals. "We should be on that list. Fuck it. We the most hated gang
in Los Angeles."

Johnson, who was very familiar with the list, scoffed at some of the
gangs on it. "204th Street? That's bullshit. That ain't a rough
neighborhood. What they got, 10, 20 members? And Canoga Park Alabama?
You gotta be kidding me. That ain't a gang hood. La Mirada Locos?
Never in my life have I heard of them."

A few miles away, in Rollin' 60s turf on Brynhurst Avenue, a group of
Crips studied the list of top 11 gangs set out on the hood of a
battered dark blue Nissan Sentra. They had not yet heard about it
until shown the list by the L.A. Weekly.

"I never heard of some of these gangs," said Steven Smith, of the
Rollin' 60s. "This has got to be political. Where's the Bounty
Hunters? Where's the Eight Treys? Who the fuck is 204th Street?"

The politics of this strange list, announced by LAPD Chief William
Bratton and Villaraigosa as part of their crackdown on a purported
explosion in gang violence, shows itself most vividly when it comes to
204th Street - a predominately Latino gang that is not considered
among the city's worst.

That gang apparently made the list almost solely on the basis of the
racially motivated killing of black 14-year-old Cheryl Green, as a nod
to angry black community leaders and intense media interest. Green's
killing put the gang on the map, but its members have attacked several
black victims in recent years. However, the 204th is not active enough
to be seriously considered one of the worst in L.A.

On 204th Street turf near Western Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard, a gang
member who would not give his name seemed offended when it was
suggested that 204th Street is not one of the 11 worst gangs. "No,
cousin, there's a lot of stuff that goes on around here," he said as
he walked away.

Two young men who live nearby, however, said the area was "all right."
Said Herman Galvez, 17, "It's not that bad here." Jesse Ortega, 27,
his cousin, said, "Well, it's politics and 204 is on the list because
of that shooting of that little black girl. Now that was terrible."

In the sprawling San Fernando Valley, while attempting to research the
one Valley gang that made City Hall's list - the Canoga Park Alabama
(CPA) - I spent three hours driving and walking the streets. I was
curious to see how the CPAs felt being on a widely publicized list
with some of the nation's most infamous gangs.

I struck out, unable to track down even one member.

An office manager of a pest-control business on Alabama and Gault
streets in Canoga Park said he sees the gang often in the afternoon,
but never has had a problem with them. "I'm not here at night, but
they are cool to me," said Preston Foster. "When I heard five years
ago I was coming to work here, I thought it would be kinda dangerous,
but it's not like that at all."

In the parking lot of Mission Hills Bowl on Sepulveda Boulevard in
Mission Hills, a woman in a van was "shocked" to hear Canoga Park
Alabama had been named the worst Valley gang. "I'm very surprised to
hear that because it's worse in Mission Hills and Pacoima than it is
in Canoga Park," said Pamela Saldy. "I would have thought it would
have been the San Fers."

Turns out, she was right - City Hall was wrong. Lieutenant Gary Nanson
said that, when asked by LAPD brass to come up with a list of the
worst gangs in the Valley, he and all six LAPD gang details in the
Valley put the San Fers at No. 1.

The San Fers are a decades-old, 700-member gang based mainly in the
Valley's northern reaches - concentrated in Mission Hills and the
tiny, heavily Latino city of San Fernando, which is encircled by Los
Angeles.

Based on a combination of crime statistics, gang intelligence and the
level of community fear, Nanson and his detectives ranked the Valley's
top 10, starting with the worst, as: the San Fers, MS 13 Fulton,
Vineland Boyz, Canoga Park Alabama, 18th Street, Project Boyz, Barrio
Van Nuys, Langdon Street, Blythe Street and the Van Nuys Boyz.

>From 2005 to 2006, gang crime in the Mission Division, home to San
Fers, rose 165 percent, while the West Valley, home to Canoga Park
Alabama, saw a 55 percent rise. (The percentages sound huge. But the
number of actual crimes are fairly small because Valley gang activity
is modest compared to city-side gang crime.)

So Nanson, based in the northern Valley, was a bit surprised when the
announced top-11 list omitted the San Fers. On one hand, Nanson agrees
with naming the gangs, a departure from the previous LAPD policy,
saying, "I think it's a very positive step for law enforcement to come
out and name these gangs because they can no longer remain
anonymous."

"When we gave the list to Chief [Gary] Brennan, I noticed they pulled
out Canoga Park Alabama," said Nanson. "I was surprised, because the
San Fers were the Valley's most problematic gang. But I now believe I
know why they picked out CPA: It was because of the new racial twist
which makes it very topical."

The Canoga Park Alabama is a Latino gang. Nanson said that in the last
six months or so Canoga Park Alabama has been involved in racially
motivated attacks against blacks. Squashing attacks by Latinos on
blacks is a political priority right now.

Some think releasing the list could result in even more bloodshed. Jose
Ramon, a barber in Gardena, worried that the list could inspire gangs
to "go on a killing spree" just to get on the list. "I think the gangs
that weren't nominated might try to do something crazy so they can get
nominated next year," said Ramon, whose girlfriend lives near Jordan
Downs, domain of the "nominated" Grape Street Crips.

The executive director of the California Gang Investigators
Association is against publicizing the list, which he feels is flawed.
"No, these are not the 11 worst gangs in the city, but they had to
pick some from a variety of divisions," because of political pressure
to spread the list over a broad geography, said Wes McBride.

"If you are going to name the top 11 worst gangs, then name the 11
worst gangs. But my problem in naming the 11 worst gangs is that the
12th worst gang might get upset."

McBride said there is no definitive list of the top 10 or 11 worst Los
Angeles-area gangs. "It's like a top-10 restaurant," he said. "They
might be one of the best restaurants in the city, but then the chef
leaves and it's not the same. Same with the gangs. They might be very
active and then a couple of their shot callers [gang leaders] get
busted and the gang is put in shock."

Daude Sherrills, a former Grape Street Crip turned community activist,
agreed, saying, "I seen that funny-ass list, but it didn't amount to
nothing, just some more political rhetoric." Sherrills said his family
moved into the tough Jordan Downs housing project when it was new, in
1942. Today, he said, "They spend a billion dollars to arrest a
motherfucker, but they don't spend enough to educate a motherfucker."

Sherrills' brother, Aqeela Sherrills, said the list is a waste of
taxpayers' money. "It's ridiculous that they are making this top-11
list like they are taking on the Mafia," he said. "They are making it
like these gangs are centralized organizations. I wish they would just
go after the most violent individuals rather than put a whole
community down."

Former Grape Street gang member Kmond Day, 32, was in a parking lot
near Building 47 at Jordan Downs talking to older homies about the
list, which he found bizarre.

"I can understand why Grape [Street] is on the list, but what I don't
understand is why are we the only one around here on it," said Day,
who says he volunteers his time to stop gang activity.

Bow Wow, 28, another former gang member, said putting Grape Street on
the list won't make a bit of difference in Jordan Downs: "We already
got a gang injunction on us. They got helicopters flying over here all
the time. They got these million-dollar security cameras all over this
place. What else can they do?"

He suggested that Bratton and Villaraigosa, rather than issue a
meaningless list crafted with racial politics, geographic politics and
media coverage in mind, "get four, five respected individuals from
each project and have them run some good training programs. They got
the money to do it, but they sending it to the wrong people."

With so many complaints about the city's supposed worst 11, the L.A.
Weekly crafted its own Dirty Dozen list of worst gangs, based on crime
statistics and numerous interviews with LAPD gang experts, officers in
gang details, homicide investigators, gang members and community
leaders. The results:

Rollin' 60s Crips

Grape Street Crips

Florencia 13

Hoover Street Criminals

18th Street Westside

Family Swan Bloods

Quarto Flats

East Coast Crips

PJ Crips

Avenues

Main Street Crips

Mara Salvatrucha

Several sources said the Bounty Hunters, a Bloods gang from Nickerson
Gardens public-housing project in Watts, should be on the list.
However, crime is down substantially in Nickerson Gardens, with three
2006 homicides in the general area, as well as 45 robberies and 53
assaults. It's not a safe place. But it's a far cry from 1989, when
the area was racked by 11 homicides, 139 robberies and 162 assaults.
By 2003, the violence had dropped to six homicides, 52 robberies and
153 assaults.

Behind these stats are concerned Nickerson Gardens residents and
workers who volunteer their time reaching out to younger gang members
and youths who haven't yet joined gangs.

Respected community leader Donny Joubert, 46, said he was proud of
the work that "younger brothers have done to make things better in
Nickerson Gardens." Standing in front of the project's gym one recent
evening, he added, "We are not trying to say Nickerson Gardens does
not have problems, but we're trying to make it better, and we have had
some success in dealing with the gang members. I thank God we were not
on that list."

In the end, the top-11 list announced with great fanfare by
Villaraigosa and Bratton, and accepted largely without question by Los
Angeles media, has resulted in a curious outcome: gangs, antigang
activists and police say it's packed with politics. In a matter of
days, the Weekly crafted a more realistic list, sans politics,
according to the rank and file - not the brass, but the officers and
detectives who know the gangs and deal with them on the streets every
day and night.

Yosemite Search and Rescue Team Calls Off Hunt For Liz "Go Go" Hong's Sense of Wonder

Shortly after overhearing Mozza chef Liz "Go Go" Hong say "I don't want to go to Half Dome, but can we go to Whole Dome?", a Yosemite National Park employee notified her supervisor that the famed park may have, in her words "Another lost soul amongst us"

The supervisor, Janice Swerman, told Krikorian Writes that she at first dismissed the statement as "Just another smart aleck remark", but became alarmed when another employee came to her saying the same person, Go Go Hong, had just been shown a photo of El Capitan, asked "What's that?"  Then, after she was told it was El Capitan or simply "The Rock",  Hong seemed confused, then exacerbated the situation by asking  "The movie with Sean Connery or the actor? Wait, El Capitan. That's a movie theater on Hollywood Boulevard, right?""

Later, after reviewing security footage, Swerman determined that Hong had refused to get out of the  car she was traveling in to gaze out from Tunnel View when her group entered the Valley.  This was the very same person that walked a long, cold Bakersfield block to pose in front of Hells Angels headquarters. Taking no chances, Swerman notified the vaunted Yosemite Search and Rescue Team. 

"I told them I think we have a visitor without a Sense of Wonder," Janice said, adding that this condition is extremely rare in Yosemite. "I mean even blind people stop and stare in wonder at El Captian. I have hard core members of the Hells Angeles, Oakland Chapter, break down and cry at the stars over Half Dome. But, this one, she seemed clueless. She was far more fascinated with her peanut M & Ms."

The Search and Rescue team was called and went looking for Go Go's Sense of Wonder.

Shortly after noon Thursday, Search and Rescue squad leader Duke Feldmeier thought he had found it when he saw and heard Hong in the Ahwahnee Hotel Dining Room say "That would be amazing!" However, that proved to be simply a misguided statement as Hong was reacting to a waiter who told her "Maybe I can get you some extra jus on the side for your Philly cheese steak sandwich."

Not long after that, Feldmeier overheard Go Go saying that Persia and Venezuela were the same place. "To the best of my knowledge,  no one has ever said that before," Feldmeier said. "I knew this would be a difficult operation."

But, Hong, refusing to walk outside the hotel, never expressed on iota of interest in the park and the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team called off the hunt late Thursday night.

Still, there was a glimmer of hope Friday morning when Go Go, Nancy Silverton and Michael "Juan Fangio" Krikorian drove out of Yosemite Valley . The morning sun was shining on the "Dawn Wall" of El Capitan, the very route two lunatic climbers had scaled just two weeks ago. The magnificent rock was aglow in dawn's light.  

"Liz Hong, look at that," ordered Silverton, herself spellbound by the wonder

"Wow" said Go Go. She even took a photo.

It took the Rock and the Sun. but finally there was a smidgen of proof that Go Go has a Sense of Wonder. 

Liz Go Go Hong on 19th Street in Bakersfield

Team Silverton-Goin Goes Breaking Bad; Sets New Record For Slowest Drive To Yosemite, 9 Hours, 7 Minutes

Five hours into their record-setting slow drive from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park, Nancy Silverton and Suzanne Goin came to a stop sign in the methamphetamine-addled town of Traver, 27 miles south of Fresno.

"That guy from Yemen at the gas station said 'Don't turn right'," said Goin from the backseat of the works Honda..

"No,' said Mozza chef LIz "Go Go": Hong, also in the back seat. "He said 'What ever you do, don't turn right. He said even the sheriff's don't turn right."

I was driving. You know which way I turned   

Two blocks later, I passed a market that rang a bell. I had covered a homicide there 16 years ago for the Fresno Bee. Two more blocks and we came to Baker Drive. In all my travels - and I had traveled looking for methamphetamine hot spots, even to Apatzingan,Michoacan - I have never seen a more stereotypical crank street. This was Breaking Bad gone crazy.

Aptly named Baker Drive is line with rusted trailers, a RV so dilapidated it made us laugh, foil on most windows, tarps on others, weeds as high as Badger, milk crates for days, a scruffy white kid - who looked like that boy Jesse tried to help - running around in the backyard littered with a titling refrigerator and sideways washer machine .

"If David could see me now," Suzanne said, referring to her husband, chef David Lentz. 

"Oh, my fuckin' god," said Go Go.

Nancy just stared.

The street was short, So was our tour.

We - Nancy, Suzanne, Go Go, four boxes of food, four suitcases and myself - had left the back parking lot of Mozza at 11:30 bound for beauty; Yosemite and their Chefs' Holiday event at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Our first stop was in Bakersfield for lunch at the Basque restaurant Wool Growers. Food was solid and we'd all go there again if the timing was right. Oxtail stew, fried chicken, sausage sandwich, lamb chops. Very good fries.

Plus, a block down, across the street was a Hells Angel clubhouse.  Can't beat that for local color. . 

We got back on 99 North  and drove past, Tulare and the beloved B-17 of my youth, past the Visalia cut off and, when Nancy saw signs for Bravo Farms - known for their cheddar -  we pulled off in Traver. We were at the Bravo Farms um, complex, for at least an hour.

Suzanne bought a 3.5 cord for us to listen to a podcast, a sack of (allegedly) "fartless" bean soup, and climbed a 7-story treehouse. Go Go got ice cream. Nancy got coffee, shot a replica .45, and played slots. I got caramel marshmallow and three root beers from their impressive selection  Thirty pounds of un-attended tri tip grilled not far from a petting zoo.. This is not the normal cheese stop

All of us highly recommend the stop. 

But, when you head back to the freeway, don't turn right at the stop sign.      

Back on Highway 99 to Highway 41 and a Fresno rush hour traffic jam.  Then to Oakhurst for coffee. Suzanne, at Nancy's request. put on that podcast "Serial". Five people had raved to me of this podcast about a guy in a Maryland prison for 15 years for the killing of his ex-girlfriend 

We entered the Park late, so there was one at the entrance gate. Serial came on. It was boring the fuck out of me. The best part for all of us was about Mr. S, some streaker.  No, the best part was when Suzanne said she had only up loaded three episodes and couldn't get service to get more. Good. .

I took over telling them my own podcast; a story I had covered about the killing of three tourists outside of Yosemite by a motel handyman (Cary Stayner) who went on to kill another woman in Yosemite before he was captured and eventually sent to Death Row.  All, even Nancy, agreed my story was better. 

By the time my story was done, we were about to enter the tunnel  that leads to the magical Tunnel View. It was dark, but I exited the Honda and gazed at the stars and silhouette of El Capitan. You can have all the other views. 

Nine hours, seven minutes and 47 seconds*, after we left Mozza, I parked at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  . 

Heaven I'm in Heaven. 

***

* Note - The record is for driving in "good" weather conditions. Slower drives have been record, but in Tule fog conditions.

Website for the Bakersfield restaurant. http://woolgrowers.net/

Baker Drive, Traver. Technically, Traver is not even a town, but rather a "Census designated place" with a pop of 713. Two of the population were accused of beating that guy in the bathroom during a 49ers game last year.

New Nancy Silverton vs. Ruth Reichl Feud Erupts Over Secret Sauce

It was to be a simple Sunday night dinner among old friends. Hamburgers would star. But, when it was over last night, what lingered was the sweet taste - or bitter lack of - Secret Sauce.

Ruth Reichl, in warm Los Angeles with her husband Michael Singer for their annual "Escape from Cold New York" trip, had invited Nancy Silverton and four others over to try what she considered the best hamburger meat in the land, the aged ground beef of Debragga, a New York butcher.

Nancy brought along two bottles or red wine, a half-pound of Swiss Challerhocker cheese, a dozen buns and her own "secret sauce" which she had lovingly made in her kitchen two hours earlier. 

What a match this was to be.  The Nancy's secret sauce with Ruth's favorite hamburger meat.

But, as the group of seven sat to indulge, Reichl refused to apply the sauce to her burger. "This meat doesn't need anybody's secret sauce."

Silverton said nothing, but instead made a production of lavishing the sauce onto her patty. She then began chatting up her left-side dining table neighbor, film critic Robert Abele,  on the wonders of this sauce.  As Silverton raved on, she kicked her driver, Juan Fangio Krikorian, and nodded over at Ruth. "Miss Writer too good for secret sauce?"

Adding insult, Reichl refused to add the cheese Silverton had brought to her burger and then proclaimed the buns "a tad sweet'.

Tension rose and knots formed on  Silverton's upper back like muscles on Dr. Bruce Banner when he turns into the Hulk. Krikorian rubbed her back that was, by then, as soft as the Dawn Wall of El Capitan. 

Seeking to avoid an out-and-out confrontation at the dining table, Reichl's husband Singer sought to engage diners in table conversation that swerved like Nike Lauda at the Nurburgring: "The Grand Budapest Hotel";  Eric Snowden, Dante's Barbershop on 3rd Street ( two blocks east of Western), his cats, hospitals in New York, his love of Pizzeria Mozza and the chef there, Liz "Go Go" Hong.  

But, it was too late.  The feud, which began last year ( see; http://krikorianwrites.com/blog/2014/3/4/silverton-gets-tired-of-reichl-tells-her-to-leave-van-ness-palace ) was deep into percolation. Silverton resorted to one of her classic moves to lull an opponent; she feigned tiredness and closed her eyes, her version of Ali's Rope-a Dope. Reichl was more to the point. She told Krikorian "Take her home."

As Silverton was leaving, Reichl asked "Would you like to take your secret sauce back home?"

"No, Ruth," Silverton said as she walked out. "I made it for you."

By the next day, Go Go Hong was transferred out of the pizzeria.

##

To try the meat, check out - http://www.debragga.com/proddetail.asp?prod=dry-aged-ground-beef&cat=56

To try the secret sauce ask Ruth for the leftovers, though sources say she may have tossed it. Otherwise, wait for Nancy's next cookbook, tentatively titled "Mozza At Home". 

.To Secret Sauce or not to Secret Sauce

"He Poured Out His Love...And His Wine" - My Grand Wine Collection

Published in Fresno Bee, Nov. 3, 1999

I once had a grand collection of wine..

Mostly Bordeaux from the heralded 1982 vintage, a few bottles from the legendary 1961 crop, and one glorious bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc that I treated like a newborn, swaddling it in terry cloth towels when ever I moved it.  My temperature-controlled wine locked in West Los Angeles cooled the hottest of California Cabernet Sauvignon from the '84, '85, and '86 vintage. 

Then I met Carmen.. 

Carmen lived the high life. She had a town house in swanky Century City and an apartment on East 50th Street in Manhattan, two blocks from the famous French restaurant Lutece where she was a fixture in the dining room. 

She had dresses that cost more than my 1983 Ford Ranger.

We met four years ago (1995) when we sat next to each other at a luncheon featuring 1988 red burgundies at trendy Campanile in Los Angeles.  Though there were eight other people at the upstairs private dining room, we hardly noticed them

After the luncheon, we walked down the street, sat on a once-elegant - now tattered - old couch that a La Brea Avenue used furniture store had on sidewalk display and talked until the sun went down 

I called her the next day, but she was off to New York. When she came back to Los Angeles, we went to dinner. I brought along a Chateau Beaucastel, 1978.  The next morning, I brought her some blood orange juice. It did the trick better than the classic Rhone.

We had a great week and the she went back to New York for business.

Then I lost my job. I was a city hall reporter from the Los Angeles Times and was smacked in a huge layoff.

But, I didn't tell Carmen about the job loss. I mean, why tell someone 3,000 miles away you're unemployed? What good does that do?  Certainly wouldn't score me any points. Anyway, I figured I'd be back on the job soon.

But, work didn't come so easily. Freelancing was rough. 

Still, I was having fun. We talked every night. Like kids, sometimes for an hour. She had class and she knew white burgundies like no one I'd ever known. 

She would be back in LA. in a month and we'd have a swell time, she told me. 

But, at that time, my money, never a strong point, was hitting new depths. The checking account was dwindling faster than a bottle of Krug on New Year's Eve. My savings account, like the gas tank on a V-12 Ferrari Enzo after a drive from Sanger to Sonoma, was on empty. My credit cards were as useless as merlot from North Dakota. 

My only financial plus was my 401(k) account, but I knew if I went into it, I would be taxed and penalized 50%. The financial crisis had not yet reached that panicked stage. No, this was just run-of-the-mil desperation.

Plain and simple, I needed a lot of extra cash to lavish on a girl. Why else does one need extra cash anyway?

One July night, she called and said she was coming back to Los Angeles in three days. She couldn't wait to see me, she said softly.

I needed some romancing cash, I thought.

I did the unthinkable.

Now, I know any true wine lover reading this may find what follows deplorable But, this might be love. Or at least a romantic case of lust.

I started selling my wine collection.  

The first to go were the extras I had of first-growth Bordeaux from the '82 and '83 vintages.  Heck, some of them aren't drinkable for another decade, I reasoned to myself. What good are they doing me collecting dust in some freezing Westside warehouse, I rationalized. Anyway, I'd sell them, get back on my financial feet in a year or two and start buying them back, I planned. 

I walked into 20/20 Wine in Los Angeles like I was carrying letters of transit out of Casablanca. I sold an 1982 Cheval Blanc I had bought for $60  I got $150, $160 for it. A Latour, Margaux, a Mouton from 1982 and I had $700.

Then I took a few bottles out of my cellar to drink.

Carmen came to town and I was ready for her with a magnum of '85 Dom Perignon Rose at her townhouse and reservations at Valentino, my favorite Italian restaurant.

That was a grand week.

She went back to New York, wanting to know when I was going to come see her in Manhattan.  I sold more bottles, mostly California Cabernet, and soon boarded a midnight flight to New York City.  

We dined grandly thee: Lutece (Zind Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris); Lespinasse (Montrachet from Ramonet); Union Square Cafe (Screaming Eagle Cabernet with the best cheeseburgers). It was wonderful.

I flew back to LAX. My cousin Greg took me home. I borrowed five bucks to eat the next day.

This continued for six months. Carmen would come back. I'd go to New York. Soon, my wine locker looked like downtown Beirut during the civil war. Desolation reigned. Only a few bottles, like the survivors of the Battle of Stalingrad, remained. 

Then, over a  series of  painful phone calls, Carmen let me know that it was all over for us. She had met a rich man. I knew all along this wasn't gong to be a lasting relationship, but, still it kinda hurt.

However, no sooner did I get dumped, I got a new, better job back at the Times covering South Central Los Angeles and Watts. Within  a few months, I met a beautiful woman and forgot about Carmen.

Through that disaster, I managed to keep the 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc. But,  the '82 Bordeaux are gone. A few drunk, the majority sold.

I thought about that foolish period of my life - one of many - the other day when I saw a bottle of 1982 Cheval Blanc for $595.

But, hey, things are going better now. Maybe my irrational logic for selling them wasn't that far off. I have an even better job now at the Fresno Bee and maybe one day I will be able to buy them back. That would be nice.