Retro Friday: You’re No Jack Kennedy

Ahhh yeah, Lloyd Bentsen puts the HURT on Dan Quayle in the most famous vice presidential exchange of the past few decades.

Thursday night’s debate? No similar moments. Palin’s phony aw-shucks, “doggoneit” persona notwithstanding.

Tonight’s Letterman Attack on McCain

Wow — David Letterman at his finest. Watch it now, before someone yanks it off YouTube.

Primetime — Sorta — For Villaraigosa At the Democratic Convention

A lot has been made of the fact that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa won’t have a major presence at this week’s Democratic Convention. (I suppose his whole separation and dalliance with ex-Telemundo reporter Mirthala Salinas wasn’t the kind of image they wanted to portray in primetime — particularly post-John Edwards.)

Still, da mayor got some primo primetime face time on Tuesday night thanks to his strategic seat — behind President Clinton, who seemed to be having a good time watching Hillary go attack McCain. (“No way, no how, no McCain.” Brilliant.)

Remembering Tim Russert

Spotted on Saturday outside the Colorado Wine Co, in Eagle Rock.

Signal Sync Arrives on Wilshire

The blue “signal sync” signs have started popping up on Wilshire (or at least I’ve finally noticed them), part of the LADOT’s $5.5 million plan to synchronize 256 traffic signals in Mid-City (specifically, between Wilshire and Hollywood, as well as La Cienega and Western).

Signs like the one above will be posted at more than 200 intersections around the city. LAist covered Mayor Villaraigosa’s press conference announcing the program in February:

Apparently, vehicles traveling on Wilshire Boulevard at a speed within 2 mph of the 35 mph speed limit will be greeted with green lights throughout the corridor. The downside of the bias in favor of Wilshire Blvd. vehicular traffic is that this plan will then have a negative impact on north/south vehicular traffic on streets such as Vermont, Western, La Brea, Fairfax, La Cienega, and Sepulveda.

Another detail that didn’t come up was the impact of a capacity increase, which critics claim will attract more single occupant vehicles resulting in the same gridlock that this plan purports to address…

Not only will motorists be treated to a ~35 mph ride down Wilshire but they will be also reminded of the wisdom of their route selection by the new “Signal Sync” signage!

Has my daily drive down Wilshire been smoother? Tough to tell; I usually leave the office after 7:30 p.m. (plus I head east, away from westside gridlock), so the boulevard is already clearer by then.

RFK Assassination: It Was 40 Years Ago Today

Sadly, the Ambassador Hotel, where Bobby Kennedy was shot in the early hours of June 5, 1968, no longer stands. And as Patt Morrison writes, that’s a shame:

Imagine studying American history within the very walls where Richard Nixon wrote the “Checkers” speech that saved his political bacon.

But the Kennedy family pretty much wanted the place razed and the ground sown with salt. Coupled with the LAUSD’s desperate need for classrooms, it was adios, Ambassador. The first of the three new schools on the property is supposed to open 15 months from now.

So where is the pantry now?

After the preservationists’ lawsuits and the environmental impact reports, the LAUSD agreed to pluck it out and maintain it intact. But the LAUSD’s senior project manager, John Kuprenas, told me that an engineer said no way. “Hold the bus,” is what Kuprenas told me the engineer said. “This plan looks kind of iffy.” The fear was that if the district “tried to take it out in a mass, it’d all completely crumble,” Kuprenas said.

So the pantry exists today not even as a kit to be eventually reassembled but in sample pieces — 2-foot-diameter cores of floor, walls and ceiling, along with doors, electrical panels and the biggest piece, the ice machine behind which Sirhan Sirhan stood, waiting to open fire. It’s all on 30 pallets, shrink-wrapped and stored in a secure, undisclosed location, waiting for a special commission and the school board to decide what historical institution might deserve them.

Except for some recycled steel, the rest of the pantry, along with most of the Ambassador Hotel, went to a landfill.

Morrison swings it to now, noting that the Universal fire got more press attention than the Ambassador pantry destruction.

Meanwhile, for an as-it-happened piece of history, check out the live coverage of the RFK shooting, archived from 1968. I first posted this a few months ago, and mentioned at the time how a YouTube user named JFK1963 has posted, in chronological order, nine videos from CBS News that chronicle the assassination of Bobby Kennedy on June 5, 1968. It’s chilling to watch the videos in order, as if you’re watching coverage of the event live — starting with RFK’s victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel, having just won the California primary.

Relive 2000′s Florida Voting Mess at the Grove

(Flickr pic by Moz1.)

To promote HBO Films’ telepic “Recount,” the pay channel has set up 12 actual Votomatic Florida voting machines — the ones used in the 2000 Presidential election — at the Grove today, starting at 10 a.m. According to the network, people can “re-enact the actual voting process and determine if they would have voted for their intended candidate and if their vote would have counted.”

I’m guessing the answer is yes, since you’ll be fully aware at this point of the confusing nature of the ballot. The point in 2000, of course, was that it was older folks who were confused, and whose votes — in the thousands, enough to tip the election to Al Gore — were miscounted. Eight years later, it’s still pretty upsetting to think about.

Relive 2000′s Florida Voting Mess at the Grove

(Flickr pic by Moz1.)

To promote HBO Films’ telepic “Recount,” the pay channel has set up 12 actual Votomatic Florida voting machines — the ones used in the 2000 Presidential election — at the Grove today, starting at 10 a.m. According to the network, people can “re-enact the actual voting process and determine if they would have voted for their intended candidate and if their vote would have counted.”

I’m guessing the answer is yes, since you’ll be fully aware at this point of the confusing nature of the ballot. The point in 2000, of course, was that it was older folks who were confused, and whose votes — in the thousands, enough to tip the election to Al Gore — were miscounted. Eight years later, it’s still pretty upsetting to think about.

Get to Know Los Angeles’ Old Time Mayors

You know Antonio Villaraigosa, remember Jim Hahn… sorta remember Richard Riordan, and Tom Bradley — that’s right, he was mayor for decades. There’s Sam Yorty and Frank Shaw… and after that, things get hazy.

I meant, but never got around to linking to this excellent piece by Robert Greene in the Los Angeles Times last month. Greene notes that formerly obscure ex-mayor Cristobal Aguilar re-entered our conciousness after Villaraigosa began running for mayor (countless news reports reminded us that Villaraigosa would be the first Latino mayor since Aguilar, in 1872).

Writes Greene:

But do you know any other Los Angeles mayors? Many L.A. residents would be able to name more mayors of New York (Bloomberg, Giuliani, Koch, Dinkins, Lindsay, LaGuardia — and no big deal if you forgot Abe Beame) or Chicago (Daley, Washington, uh, Daley) than of their own city.

Maybe that’s because Bradley was mayor for a generation and made us forget the relative short-termers who came before. In 1993, when Bradley opted against a sixth term, Los Angeles voters adopted term limits. But a good argument could be made that they weren’t needed, because before Bradley, voters tossed out one mayor after another. Who was the last pre-Bradley mayor to leave office voluntarily, without being defeated for reelection, recalled or otherwise trying to regain office?

It took Greene a while, but he digs up several contenders — and the final answer.

License Plate of the Day: Politically Confused

Apparently, he loves Limbaugh, she loves Dukakis. The result? “Limbakis.”