Economist.com Cities Guide: Los Angeles Briefing - October 2005

News this month

Make a plan

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath reminded Angelenos that they too live in a disaster-prone area—“Make a plan now”, urged the headline of an editorial in the Los Angeles Times. In 1994, an earthquake in Northridge killed 57 people and laid waste much of the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and Santa Monica. But today only 25-30% of Californians have a disaster plan.

Are the city authorities similarly ill-prepared? Much seismic retrofitting has been done, but 239 buildings in the Los Angeles Unified School District would suffer in an earthquake, and only two facilities of the LA Police Department meet the highest standards. Perhaps more worrying is the possibility that LA’s water supply could be cut. About 60% of Southern California’s water comes from aqueducts that cross the infamous San Andreas fault, and the Southern California Earthquake Centre reckons that there is an 80-90% chance of a earthquake of seven or higher on the Richter scale before 2024.

Trouble at the museum

The Getty Center, one of LA's leading museums, is making headlines for more than just its exhibitions. Marion True, curator of antiquities, has been charged with buying illegally excavated Italian objects. She will face a court case in Rome in November. Meanwhile, the J. Paul Getty Trust, which funds the museum, has been accused of withholding from the Italian authorities documents that could prove incriminating. Both Ms True and the trust deny any wrongdoing.

They are not the only ones to have come under fire. Barry Munitz, the trust's chief executive, has been criticised in the press for his lavish expense account and a succession of high-level departures from his staff. The latest, due to take place by the end of the year, is of his chief of staff, Jill Murphy.

A game city

If a city can succeed once, why not a second time? And if a second time, why not a third? In other words, why not let Los Angeles, which hosted the Olympic Games in 1932 and again in 1984, host them in 2016? One reason, of course, is that there will be plenty of rival candidates from all around the world, including from within the United States (bids are thought possible from Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC).

But Los Angeles has much in its favour, including good weather, several airports and plenty of hotels. It also has a record of success. The 1984 Olympics, though criticised for their commercialism, were the first to make a profit. Barry Sanders, chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, promises to “pursue this with an Olympic determination to succeed.” The US Olympic Committee will choose an American candidate in 2007. The overall winner will be chosen by the International Olympic Committee in 2009.

Sky high

Economists agree that LA’s housing bubble is likely to deflate. But in the meantime, house-buyers are borrowing up to the hilt. A report from the LA-based California Association of Realtors noted that in July 2005, “housing affordability” fell to its lowest level ever, with the median price of a home in LA County reaching $543,890—an amount affordable for only 16% of households. This “affordability” is based on the assumption that a home-buyer can deposit 20% of the property price and can afford to borrow at a rate of 5.73%. Calculate the figures another way, and a buyer needs a household income of $125,670 to qualify for a loan (compared with the national figure of just $50,650). This will surely stretch the resources of actors hoping for success in Hollywood: the median price in Studio City, the favourite location for aspiring stars, is over $1m.

Congestion hell

Bad news for those thousands of drivers who have to drive north every day on I-405 (reputedly the nation’s busiest freeway) into the San Fernando Valley: before embarking on their four-month break, California’s legislators in Sacramento failed to pass a bill that would have allowed the construction of a car-pool lane on the I-405 between the Santa Monica and Ventura freeways.

The reason? One suspicion is that the Democratic majority wants the lane to be built by Caltrans, a state-owned company, rather than by a private firm. But Antonio Villaraigosa, LA's mayor, claims the private-sector solution would save time and money. The mayor has promised to lobby lawmakers who, he claims, are fully aware that if construction does not begin before 2009, LA will lose $130m in federal funds.

Catch if you can

October 2005

An Assortment of Beauties: Japanese Woodblock Prints Collected by Frank Lloyd Wright

Until January 9th 2006

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is always worth the trip from Los Angeles, especially if you are a fan of Asian art, the museum’s main strength. One jewel not to be missed is this group of mainly 18th-century Japanese woodblocks collected by Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect. The woodblocks depict Japanese women in gorgeously coloured robes. One such beauty, her woodblock made in the early 19th century, is Kitagawa Shikimaro’s “The Courtesan Hanaogi”, made with remarkable craftsmanship. These woodblock prints are the products of an art movement known as ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world”—a hedonistic environment inhabited by geisha, courtesans and Kabuki actors, illustrated by artists throughout Japan’s Edo period (1600-1868).

Norton Simon Museum of Art, 411 W. Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena 91105. Tel: +1 (626) 449-6840. Open: every day except Tues, noon-6pm (Fri 9pm). Entry: $8. See the museum website for details.

More from the Los Angeles cultural calendar