Los Angeles -- In the Works

The Vermont
22 and 28 stories – residential/retail

Under Construction

Cedars-Sinai's Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion - 11 story

Emerson College Extension
10 stories- Educational Campus
Hollywood

Century City Towers
50 stories - office, hotel, residential

proposed

 

Wilshire Gayley
29 stories - hotel/residential
Wilshire and Gayley

 

Wilshire Catalina
24 stories – Residential
Koreatown (Wilshire and Catalina) 

 

Koreatown Hotel
23-story - Hotel
Koreatown

Ametron Tower
?-story - Office
Hollywood

 

 

Pantages Theater
12 stories – office
Hollywood

 

The Dream Hotel
9 stories - Hotel
Hollywood

NoHo Art Wave

? stories – mixed

North Hollywood

Glass Tower
? stories - office
Jefferson and La Cienega

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=142650

 

 

 

 

Base-jumping at its best

Photo UgoJump

Hair-raising pictures show the world's top base jumpers throwing themselves off huge mountain as they attempt to become the 'world's fastest flying human being'

Jumping off the top of a mountain and hurtling as fast as you can to the bottom may not sound like everyone's cup of tea.

But as these incredible pictures show, there are plenty of daredevils who see it as a fun way to spend their free time.

These stomach-churning images were taken at the annual World Base Race in Norway, which attracts base jumpers from all four corners of the globe.

The event was won this weekend by brave British flying ace Tony Uragallo, 59.

Competitors wearing state-of-the-art wingsuits throw themselves off a platform 1,300 metres up a mountain cliff - with the winner being the fastest down.

They release their parachutes at an optimum point to glide safely to the finish line.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2171810/Hair-raising-pictures-worlds-base-jumpers-throwing-huge-mountain.html#ixzz2aUMR56JU

 

One GIANT Leap After Another

Nerves of steel were on display at the 2012  world cliff diving championship event as international thrill-seekers took it in turns to take one giant leap of faith.

Jumping from a dizzying height of 28 metres into a tiny blowhole below, competitors pulled out all the stops at the Red Bull competition, impressing crowds with a series of sensational dives.

Hundreds of spectators headed to Ireland’s Serpent’s Lair on the island of Inis Mor to witness the fourth round event

It was won by Russian Artem Silchenko, who received a standing ovation from his fellow divers for his efforts.

The 28-year-old was on top form, impressing judges with the difficult nature and perfect execution of his dives.

‘You know it’s a good dive only when you’re underwater,’ he explained after. ‘You’re travelling so fast it’s impossible to take it all in. Only after the entry can you say “yes, it’s a great dive”.’

http://metro.co.uk/2012/08/06/daredevil-cliff-divers-take-the-plunge-at-red-bull-event-525660/

Red Bull Flugtag Moscow 2011

Spectators in Moscow were treated to the site of humorously designed makeshift aircraft plunging into the Muskova River during the Red Bull Flugtag Moscow 2011 competition. 38 teams took part at the Flugtag – which means “flying day” – a competition in which teams in fancy dress attempt to pilot human-powered, home-made flying machines off a six-meter-high platform into water.

 

http://avaxnews.net/fact/Red_Bull_Flugtag_Moscow_2011.html

 

 

"designed around the exhaust"

The international racing community got its last look at the front end of Red Bull's new F1 car, the RB8, unveiled on video today. It's expected to be showing the rest of the field its exhausts for the rest of the season.

Red Bull dominated with a car literally "designed around the exhaust" during the 2011 season. Now that the FIA banned last year's killer app, the exhaust-blown diffuser, everyone is looking for the secret new trick on the RB8 that will outpace the competition.

Don't expect to find it on this dummy car, trotted out with generic wings and panels to trick rival teams' engineers. If we do see Red Bull walk away from the rest of the field at the season opener in Australia, you might want to look for some trick airflow management in the little mail slot at the back end of the RB8's duck bill.

http://jalopnik.com/5882758/2012-red-bull-f1-car-shows-competitors-its-nose-for-the-last-time 

"Alejo Muniz celebrates his win"

Brazilian surfer Alejo Muniz is hoisted off the sand as he celebrates his win at the Vans US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. 

 ( Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times / July 28, 2013 )

"Looking for gold"

Looking for gold. Soccer’s quest. The USA defeated Panama on Sunday to win the Gold Cup. A one goal nugget was enough, that rare element. What can the US take from their prize?

The Gold Cup team features some players not regularly picked for the national team in the more prestigious World Cup qualifying games. The good news for coach Jurgen Klinsmann – the pool is deep. The players execute Kinsmann’s tactical plan – a must. A cohesive spirit prevails. No surprise there. Patriotism blends with confidence – American traits.

Inclusion at the World Cup Finals in Brazil next year has still to be earned. The USA is currently top of the World Cup qualifying group. Crucial games lie ahead against Mexico and Costa Rica. The team can drink from the Gold Cup tonight but tomorrow it’s back to the mine to work. The bigger nugget is found in Brazil.


http://blog.sfgate.com/soccer/2013/07/28/usa-wins-gold-cup-and-more/

"He could make anybody (everybody) laugh"

Bob Hope was the wisecracker. Milton Berle was a clown. George Burns and Gracie Allen were farceurs of domestic life. And Jack Benny was the "Everyman" comedian.

For nearly half-a-century, Benny kept audiences in stitches with his alter-ego of a vain penny-pincher who was forever 39 and delusional about his skill at playing the violin. His catchphrases — "well" (with a long pause) and "now cut that out" — were part of the pop culture landscape for decades.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-jack-benny-classic-hollywood-20130722,0,1825339.story

"Outrage and Tragedy"

It was only last October that boxer Orlando Cruz, after 24 years as a professional fighter and with nine knockouts to his credit, announced, in an effort to be "true to myself," that he was gay. Like NBA player Jason Collins, who came out publicly in April, and Robbie Rogers, a former member of the U.S. national soccer team who did so in February, Cruz took what was seen as a brave step given the macho culture of professional sports. At the time of his announcement, The Times reported that Cruz was believed to be the first professional boxer to declare that he was gay.

It's a new world for gay athletes, and those who don't remember the old one need only read the obituaries in Wednesday's papers of Emile Griffith (above), a former welterweight and middleweight champion who died Tuesday in Hempstead, N.Y. Griffith struggled with his sexuality for many years and eventually acknowledged his attraction to men — but before that, a slur on his manhood may have led to a fatal fight at Madison Square Garden.

It happened at a nationally televised welterweight title bout against Benny Paret on March 24, 1962. At the weigh-in, Paret called Griffith — who had been rumored to be gay — a maricon, a nasty Spanish slur for homosexual. Griffith was furious. He was taken for a walk to cool off, but in the fight, he cornered Paret in the 12th round and began hammering him with uppercuts, an "unrelenting fusillade," according to Sports Illustrated, "as remorselessly as the clapper of a great dark bell." Paret died 10 days later.

Was Griffith punishing Paret for the slur? Who knows. Later, in his dressing room, he reportedly said, "I pray to God — I say from my heart — he's all right." Over the next few years, Griffith repeatedly won and lost the middleweight and welterweight championship titles. Eventually, he publicly acknowledged his attraction to men. In 1992, he was badly beaten outside a Times Square gay bar by five men wielding bats and chains.

There may be no lessons to draw from Griffith's life and death other than to remember the obvious: that gay men and lesbians have always existed in all parts of the world, in all social classes and professions, but that until very recently, they have often been forced to hide and deny who they were, sometimes at enormous cost to themselves and others. That Orlando Cruz received what he called "unconditional, 100% support" for his announcement last year, and that Jason Collins got a phone call of support from President Obama, are signs that while the road to justice and acceptance is a long one — with bumps and depressing detours — we are traveling in the right direction.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-emile-griffith-homosexuality-20130725,0,6815639.story

Scottish Rite Masonic Temple

The imposing marble-clad Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A., which has seen little use since 1994, will undergo a major renovation to house contemporary art collections. It will be operated for the most part as a private property, with occasional exhibitions open to the public. Above, a bicyclist is framed within the temple, conceived by Millard Sheets, one of Southern California’s best-known designers. (Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times / July 23, 2013)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-property-report-20130725,0,845153.story

"radically altering the Hollywood skyline"

The Los Angeles City Council approved a plan Wednesday that would radically alter the Hollywood skyline despite warnings from state officials that the project site may lie on a major earthquake fault line.

The 13-0 vote in favor of the Hollywood Millennium project allows New York-based developer Millennium Partners to build two skyscrapers and more than 1 million square feet of office, hotel and retail space on several vacant parking lots surrounding the iconic Capitol Records building. The towers would be 39 and 35 stories tall.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-millennium-vote-20130725,0,456526.story

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who championed new development in Hollywood for 12 years on the City Council, said he planned to sign the deal. Newly elected Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, who replaced Garcetti after he termed out this year, called the $664-million project a "game changer" that would create jobs and new tax revenue while bringing more life to Hollywood's eastern edge.

"first landing by a drone on a Navy carrier"

A X-47B Navy drone approaches the deck as it lands aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush off the Coast of Virginia on Wednesday, July 10. It is the first landing by a drone on a Navy carrier.

Steve Helber/AP

Monday's DEADLY RECORD ATTEMPT

 

 A motorcycle racer reached 287 mph before he veered off course and was launched into the air in front of 400 spectators.  Record holder Bill Warner died at the hospital.

Just before the crash, he said going 290 mph can be both "fun" and "scary."

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/p480x480/988240_10151546382696028_197849547_n.jpg

The Running (ROLLING) of the Bulls

PAMPLONA, SPAIN - JULY 12: A toy bull collides with a child during the Encierro Txiki (Little Bull Run) on the seventh day of the San Fermin Running Of The Bulls festival on July 12, 2013 in Pamplona, Spain. The annual Fiesta de San Fermin, made famous by the 1926 novel of US writer Ernest Hemmingway 'The Sun Also Rises', involves the running of the bulls through the historic heart of Pamplona, this year for nine days from July 6-14.

 (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/getty/article/ALeqM5ii7C4ZJeLtjcQjEXg9MGLTPU7I1g?docId=173338265

 Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez 'El Juli' performs with an El Pilar ranch fighting bull during a bullfight of the San Fermin festival, in Pamplona, Spain, Friday, July 12, 2013.

(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

HAUNTING IMAGES . . .

https://www.google.com/search?q=all+quiet+on+the+western+front&client=firefox-a&hs=5vJ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TrrYUaDLHuf0iQKO6oGgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=800&bih=461#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=7mIczoZ3MlFHiM%3A%3B7gbC7fjED2DaTM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F1.bp.blogspot.com%252F-vgNcazSCdqo%252FUUhQVgEPzAI%252FAAAAAAAAAJI%252FmkK0-vW0aEQ%252Fs400%252Fallquiet.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Frafbrynolf.blogspot.com%252F2013%252F03%252Fall-quiet-on-western-front-aftermath.html%3B353%3B500