Despite its strong ties to the Pacific Rim, a pool of skilled industrial workers, and an enviable concentration of design, fashion and entertainment workers, Los Angeles is steadily losing jobs. How ironic that this city of four million has no governmental department dedicated to economic development, not even one person in charge of boosting local commerce. Los Angeles could certainly use the services of those booster geniuses who, at the turn of the century, shaped this great American city practically out of a lump of clay In his book, ‘Paradise Promoted: The Booster Campaign That Created Los Angeles–1870-1930′ (Angel City Press), Tom Zimmerman explains why a small group of leaders were determined to make Los Angeles a city of the first order’ and how they did it. Historian and photographer Zimmerman will elaborate on the growth of Los Angeles, which was assisted by natural resources and an inventive narrative, on Thursday, May 15, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. A native of Los Angeles who shares a birthday with the city, Zimmerman has established his bona fides as a true L.A. lover. He grew up in Westchester, where his father worked for Douglas Aircraft for 42 years. His interest in history started with ‘Ralph Story’s L. A.,’ where he learned about downtown Los Angeles, Angel’s Flight, and the Los Angeles River. In his works as a historical photographer, he has documented numerous buildings for the Historic American Building Survey that are destined for demolition. The Pueblo of Los Angeles, which began essentially as a small outpost to provide food for the seaside presidio of Santa Barbara, was a ‘pretty grim little place,’ Zimmerman says. It was only with the promise of owning their own land in the new town that 12 families left Mexico and came north to settle in the area of Olvera Street downtown. While this small settlement was enough to place the city on the map’Gov. Felipe de Neve designated the founding of Los Angeles on September 4, 1781, for the legal purpose of noting the distribution of land’it wasn’t enough to build a city. The vision of the leaders was to be fulfilled by creating a romantic narrative and skillfully marketing it. Boosterism was the vehicle that would lure Americans from the cold winters and cramped cities of the East and Midwest to head west and start a new life. While working on a Ph. D. in history, Zimmerman began his initial research on the promotion of L.A. by studying the archives of the Chamber of Commerce, which are now housed at USC. A promotional brochure published in 1873 by Charles Nordhoff encapsulates the ingredients, both God-given and negotiated, that would make Los Angeles a promised land: ‘Southern California, a region almost unknown, and just now opened to settlement by the completion of several lines of railroad; and which, by reason of its fine healthful climate, its rich soil and its remarkable varied products, deserves the attention of farmers looking for pleasant homes and cheap and fertile lands, combined with a climate the best, probably, in the United States.’ The hero of this story is the Chamber of Commerce, Zimmerman asserts, and the real architect of the promotional campaign was Frank Wiggins, the Chamber secretary. ‘Wiggins dreamed up endless ways of promoting Southern California, which were paid for by the County Board of Supervisors, and helped by the railroads,’ Zimmerman says. In the beginning, climate and agriculture were the lures. Wiggins set up exhibitions that traveled across the country to state fairs and trade expositions, selling the agricultural and industrial products of the area. Pamphlets and oil paintings accompanied the local manufacturing and agricultural products on display, and the perishable fruits and vegetables were restocked by daily rail shipments from home. Propaganda materials told prospective newcomers that they could come out to Los Angeles, buy four to five acres and settle. In one of his pamphlets, ‘A Few Nuts and How to Crack Them,’ Wiggins noted that acreage could be bought from $800 to $1,200, and brought to bearing for an additional $400 to $600 per acre. He discussed the type of land needed to grow walnuts, how much water was necessary and how to bring the trees to maturity. The promotion worked, and by 1915 Los Angeles was the leading agricultural county in California, but the boosters were not satisfied. They concluded that if Los Angeles were going to be serious and lure millions of people, it would have to establish an industrial base, By 1925, the Chamber had split its activities into two divisions, one for boosterism and the other for industrial development. The organization started promoting climate more as a means to a ‘contented’ labor force, and less as the ultimate source of ‘growing conditions to meet the requirements of any phase of agriculture.’ To fulfill the promise, the booster incentives depended on transportation, energy and water to provide an industrial base. The pieces fell into place: by 1913, the Owens Valley Aqueduct was completed, making it possible for Los Angeles to grow beyond 100,000 and with a surplus of electrical capacity; oil was discovered (although never mentioned in the promotional campaign, for it was thought too tough to present as the sort of ‘clean’ non-polluting industry favored by the boosters), and a deep-water harbor was established at San Pedro. Industry followed. Goodyear built a plant in a cauliflower field in what is now South Los Angeles, and automobile assembly plants soon followed. Another lure to draw industry was the promoters’ claim that the city was ‘the home of contented labor,’ which meant open, non-union shops. To further recommend Los Angeles’ modern, clean industry, the Chamber touted the city as the ‘first American city to be powered exclusively by electricity rather than soot-laden coal.’ In 50 years, from 1870 to 1920, Los Angeles had gone from being the beleaguered queen of the drought-ridden cow counties to the fifth most populous city in the United States. Wiggins summed it up best: ‘A generation ago we invited attention’now we command it.’

‘Women in Diaspora,’ the exhibition at Sharq gallery opening on May 17, features three painters with Middle East roots”Nuha Sinno from Lebanon; Doris Bittar from Palestine; and Lidia Shaddow, Israel. A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, May 17, from 3 to 7 p.m. It is open to the public. ‘This is my dream show, the kind of exhibition I have been working towards since opening Sharq (‘The East’) four years ago,’ says gallery director Nahid Massoud. ‘In the work of these three artists, you can see the beauty and complexity of cultural images that are produced in the world of Sharq. Their works speak across political lines to all of us today.’ Sharq is devoted to presenting the work of bicultural artists with roots in the Middle East. Since its opening, Sharq has presented artists with origins in Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Israel. The gallery has sponsored films by Afghan and Mauritanian directors. Sinno’s work pays tribute to her love of the language and the rich legacy of beauty and elegance of the Arabic alphabet. Her paintings consist of intricate lines and colors that coalesce into abstract renditions of Arabic words and their meanings. She feels that these rich constructions reflect and speak of her life as an Arab woman. Born in Beirut, Sinno graduated in 1980 from the Lebanese University of Fine Arts in Beirut and worked as an interior designer until she immigrated to the United States in 1984. Influenced by Islamic, Indian and Western abstract art, Shaddow manipulates and layers her canvases until the elements settle into harmony, much like the Eastern and Western cultures in which she grew up. Her recent paintings divine inspiration from the drive to her Santa Monica studio through Topanga Canyon and along Pacific Coast Highway. Born in Israel to a Tunisian mother and an Iraqi father and immigrated to the United States at 14, Shaddow trained as an illustrator and designer, and earned a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Bittar’s series, ‘Stripes and Stars,’ represents the American flag as it encounters the matrix of floral and calligraphic designs found in Islamic lands. September 11 created in her not only a deep sense of mourning and loss, but a feeling that American and Arabic cultures had jarringly merged within her. ‘Stripes and Stars’ probes intertwined concepts of loyalty, identity, nationalism and power. Bittar was born in Baghdad of Lebanese and Palestinian parents, who immigrated to the United States when she was a child. She received an MFA from UC San Diego and is active in Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups. She also lectures at UC San Diego, and has taught at the American University in Beirut. The exhibit continues through June 14. After the opening, Sharq may be visited by appointment. For directions, write sharqart@verizon.net or call (310) 454-6826.

By Sherry Angel Palisadian-Post Contributor Seven years ago, during a holiday break from college, my son wrote me a letter that was probably the greatest gift I will ever receive. It reads: Dear Mom, You asked me to give you a letter for Christmas. The moment you asked, I knew what I wanted to say. I want to be more emotionally open and straightforward with you. I want to be able to communicate with you to the fullest extent possible and not have any secrets. There’s a conversation that you’ve been trying to have with me for a long time. I’ve seen you try to start it and then I’ve shut you out and ended the conversation as quickly as possible. I’ve been a brick wall of silence. I’m sorry for that. Every time you’ve tried to start this conversation, I’ve been afraid to continue it. I don’t know why–it’s just a difficult conversation to begin. So here goes, I’m going to begin it now: I love you, I’m gay, let’s talk. Love, Erik I thought about the courage it took for Erik to break through that ‘brick wall of silence’ as I sat in a small theater in Hollywood recently and watched a world premier production of his latest play, ‘He Asked for It.’ At the age of 30, he is knocking down another brick wall in this brutally honest, darkly humorous work, which confronts the complacency of a generation that sees HIV as a chronic illness rather than a death sentence. As Erik explains: ‘I know a lot of people who feel invincible, who feel like, ‘It won’t happen to me,’ and I wanted to take on this lackadaisical attitude.’ In his play, Erik not only holds his peers accountable for their irresponsible actions, but also manages to capture something universal, as his characters search for love in an urban environment where it can be extremely difficult to form genuine connections. Isolation and desperation drive them to Internet chat rooms, but they find dishonesty rampant throughout the online dating world. ‘Modern technology is supposed to bring us closer together, but instead it creates great distance between people,’ Erik says. ‘When you’re not truly connected with someone, you don’t build the type of relationship where you want to protect them.’ My son is a very different person from the one who wrote me that letter seven years ago. From that tentative first step (it would take him another year to finish the process of coming out to his family), Erik has moved firmly into a strong sense of self that enables him to go public with a very tough message about high-risk behavior. At the same time, he reveals the pain and tragic consequences that can result from the homophobia and discrimination that our society (and even loved ones) inflict on members of the gay community. I could not be more proud of my son. His courageous writing tells me that he knows, and likes, who he is”and that has nothing to do with being gay. When Erik gave me that beautiful Christmas letter, I told him, ‘I’m so grateful that you were finally able to tell me who you are.’ He corrected me gently, with an insight that has now become part of his play: ‘No, Mom, being gay isn’t who I am, any more than being a heterosexual is who you are. It’s like having blue or brown eyes. It’s the way you’re born. It just is.’ ‘He Asked for It’ by Erik Patterson runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. through June 1 at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles. For information, go to www.theatreofnote.com or call (323)-856-8611.

By MERV HECHT Palisadian-Post Columnist (An article for those readers who want more than just local news) I don’t have a whole lot of experience on this issue. I don’t actually hobnob with the really rich all that often. But each year, when we’re at our home in France, and our friend, Reed Kaplan, comes over to join us, we take both families to Club 55 for lunch. Now you folks in California probably haven’t heard of Club 55, but in Europe, it’s quite famous. The kind of place that could be on the beach here, but isn’t. San Tropez’s sandy shores are quite different from our beaches in one important respect: they’re developed. Which means that there are restaurants and sporting activities renting part of the beachfront from the governmental agency that owns it. So along San Tropez’s beaches, there are a series of restaurants and boating-related enterprises. Each of the eateries is famous and each caters to a particular clientele. Some are like gay bars. Some are open very late. Some cater to the young energetic crowd that likes to dance on the tabletops until 4 a.m. Others are fast food spots. And at least two cater to the very wealthy. That’s where Club 55 comes in. Of course, I’m not rich enough to eat lunch at this one. The advantage of Club 55 is that you can pull up near the beach in your multi-million dollar yacht, drop anchor, and a club employee will come to get you in a small boat to take you to the pier, from which you can walk to the restaurant. On the way to the lunch area, you pass an outside shower and a bathing suit store. The restaurant itself is not much to look at. It resembles an old house with a large straw-covered patio. All of the tables are outside under a thatched roof cover, behind a small beach. Capacity stands at about 100 people. The top dishes served here include steamed artichokes, grilled corn on the cob, and a fresh fish or lobster selected from a tray brought around to the tables. There’s a menu, but few take the time to look at it. Perhaps that’s because everyone is looking at everyone else. The men are wearing swimming trunks and pullover shirts. The women are in very fancy swimsuits with see-through wraps around them. Everyone wears sunglasses. I’m sure that if the local plastic surgeon came in most of the women would know him/her. The people look really good, but it’s not a young crowd. With untouched grey hair and 25 pounds extra in my mid-section, I stand out as a non-local. And amidst all of the glamour emanating from multi-million dollar yachts swaying just past the beach, what wine would you expect the locals to order”$200 Burgundies? Well- aged Chablis? Perhaps a white Graves from the Bordeaux region? Absolutely not. Almost every table orders ros’. And cheap ros’ at that. A couple bottles of $10 ros’ with lunch are de rigeur just about everywhere in the south of France. After lunch, the staff provides mattresses on the beach with a sun umbrella so you can take a short nap. Salesgirls from the bikini shop walk by to show off their wares. Some of them have tops, some don’t. And if you express an interest in one they’re carrying, they might slip out of the one they are wearing and slip into the one that you’re interested in. Sales are brisk.

Catherine York Lynch, daughter of Connie and Terrence Lynch of Pacific Palisades, was married to Casey Dennis Adams on January 26. Adams is the son of Linda and David Adams of Hancock Park. The bridegroom is a senior vice president with Marcus Adams Properties, LCC, in Los Angeles. He graduated from Harvard-Westlake and USC, and earned an MBA from Loyola Marymount University. The bride attended St. Matthew’s School and graduated from Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire, and Lake Forest College in Chicago. Following a honeymoon in Tahiti, the couple will reside in Hancock Park. Reverend Joseph LaBrie officiated at St. Brendan Church in Hancock Park. A reception and dinner followed at the California Club.