THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

$.50 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER 88 pageS © 2008 oc † † latimes.com

INQUIRY
TO FOCUS Crisis deepens amid fear
ON WORK
SCHEDULE
of continued stock dive
Back to the future
Wall St. tumbles again
Experts say engineers’ Stocks are back to 2005 levels Southland home prices, back to 2003 Savings interest rates, back to 2005
as global credit freezes
The S&P 500*, monthly closes and latest Median prices Rates for money-market bank accounts**
split shifts, long days (Scale in thousands)
up and more faltering
$600 5%
can lead to fatigue that 1,600
firms seek saviors.
affects rail safety.
April ’05: Martin Zimmerman,
1,300 500 4
Ned Parker 1,156.85 Maura Reynolds
Wednesday: and Tom Petruno
Federal investigators are 1,156.39 400 Aug. ’05:
trying to determine whether 1,000 3 The global financial crisis
down 57.21 Nov. ’03: 2.79%
back-to-back, split-shift work- $330,000 Jan. ’02: deepened Wednesday as stock
days that began before dawn Aug. ’08: 2.24% prices cratered and credit
and ended at 9 p.m. played a Jan. ’02: $330,000 Wednesday: markets seized up, teetering
700 300 2
role in a Metrolink engineer’s 1,130.20 2.72% financial institutions sought
failure to heed warning lights Jan. ’02: salvation in buyouts and gov-
in last week’s crash that left 25 $232,500 ernment officials scrambled to
people dead. 400 200 1 find a way out of the mess.
Engineer Robert M. San- ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 Investors awaited the open-
chez’s regular five-day work- Sources: Bloomberg News, MDA DataQuick, Bankrate.com. G r a p h i c b y R o b e r t B u r n s a n d W i l R a m i r e z Los Angeles Times ing of trading on Wall Street this
week was spread over nearly *An index fund tied to the S&P 500 is an investment option in many 401(k) funds. **For deposits of $10,000 and over morning with trepidation, fear-
53 hours, according to authori- ing a repeat of the landslide of
ties. He would have been near selling that sent the Dow Jones
the end of that schedule Friday industrial average tumbling
afternoon when his train sped nearly 450 points to its lowest
through a red light and collided level in almost three years.
head-on with a Union Pacific “It’s a hurricane blowing
freight train. File name: fi-wallstreet18 through” is how strategist
National Transportation Headline: back to the future Peter Boockvar at New York
Safety Board member Kitty Section: FI brokerage Miller Tabak & Co.
Higgins told The Times that Run date: 9/18/08 described the mood on Wall
she was “very concerned” about Artist: r. burns X73488 Street. “Close your windows
Sanchez’s schedule, saying a Size: 4 x and lock your doors, and don’t
“human performance team” stick your head out until the
will pursue evidence that might Proof #: ___________ storm passes.”
shed light on the possible ef- Time: _____________ Markets around the world
fects of Sanchez’s shift. © Los Angeles Times have been struggling to cope
“It’s a long day,” she said. ? with the fallout from the col-
Typically, Sanchez worked lapse of the U.S. housing mar-
five days of identical shifts: He ket, a slow-motion disaster that
began his day just before 6 a.m., began almost two years ago and
worked until almost 9:30 a.m. has claimed a growing roster of
and took a 4?1/2?-hour break victims. The mountain of bad
before beginning a seven-hour mortgages — and securities de-
shift at 2 p.m., according to the rived from those soured loans
NTSB. The crash occurred Fri- — has caused chaos in financial
[See Inquiry, Page A29] markets, affecting everything
from the health of huge finan-
cial houses to the ability of con-
sumers to get an auto loan.

Taliban’s Late Wednesday, word came

that two more financial giants
facing doubts about their ability

cunning
to remain independent — New
York-based investment bank
Morgan Stanley and Seattle-
based savings and loan Wash-

surprises Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times

ington Mutual Inc. — might
soon be acquired.
The latest plunge in stock

the West
Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times prices was especially unnerv-
last time my husband came back: Widow last time my husband came back: Widow ing because many analysts had
Michelle Lintner talks about the ill-fated train rides Kim Michelle Lintner talks about the ill-fated train rides Kim [See Crisis, Page A29]

Martin Zimmerman,
Maura Reynolds
and Tom Petruno
A summer of heavy fighting
during which Western military
leaders had hoped to seize the
initiative from Islamic mili-
tants has instead revealed an
insurgency capable of employ-
ing complex new tactics and
fighting across a broad swath
of Afghanistan.
Over the last three months,
insurgents have exacted the
most punishing casualty tolls
on Western forces since the Af-
ghan war began nearly seven
years ago. Numbers of foreign
troops killed have exceeded
U.S. military deaths in Iraq.
As Washington prepares
to increase troop levels and
Defense Secretary Robert M.
Gates paid a visit, militants
have created a palpable sense
of encirclement in Kabul with a
series of small but highly sym-
[See Taliban, Page A29]
Nearly half of sales
now foreclosures
And with lenders eager
to unload, Southland
prices will keep sliding.
Peter Hong
So many foreclosed homes
are for sale in Southern Califor-
nia that these distressed prop-
erties will soon dominate the
market, forcing prices down
even further.
About half of the homes
sold in the region in August
had been repossessed, fore-
closed, according ?to figures
data released Wednesday by
the real estate tracking ser-
vice, MDA DataQuick, driving
pushing prices down 34% over
the previous year to a median
of $330,000.
That brought out in the bar-
gain hunters, who pushed sales
up for the second month in a
row in August.
But with thousands of ad-
ditional homes being repos-
sessed by banks each week, it
won’t be long before foreclo-
sures will comprise the major-
ity of most properties sold are
foreclosures, experts said.
“We’ll certainly see more
than 50% foreclosures,” said ?
Sean O’Toole, chief executive
CEO of ForeclosureRadar, a
seller of default data.
O’Toole said repossessed
properties should make up the
[See Foreclosures, Page A29]
Monday’s
Market
developments
Stock prices plunged across
the globe, with the Dow
Jones tumbling 504 points,
the most since right after
the Sept. 11 attacks.
Shares of Bank of America
dropped 21% after news that
it would buy Merrill Lynch
& Co.
American International
Group stock fell 61% as
the world’s largest insurer
scrambled to find as much
as $75 billion in capital to
stay afloat.
The price of oil fell sharply
to close below $100 — a
first since early March — in
the wake of storms along the
Gulf Coast and the turmoil
on Wall Street.
McCain can’t find
economic footing
Peter Hong
With the economy in turmoil
and the country’s second-larg-
est insurer faltering, John Mc-
Cain was unequivocal Tuesday:
“We cannot have the taxpayers
bail out AIG or anybody else.”
By Wednesday, he had
changed his mind.
The rapid about-face fol-
lowed another quick retreat
by the Republican presiden-
tial nominee earlier this week
when he insisted that “the fun-
damentals of our economy are
strong” even as one brokerage
house filed for bankruptcy, an-
other nearly went under and
the Dow Jones industrial aver-
age dropped 504 points.
McCain’s reversals under-
scored the difficulty he has had
in finding the right response
to the deteriorating economy,
the issue voters say is most
important. The reversals also
high? light the contradiction
between McCain’s oft-repeated
campaign message — that the
federal government should
largely stay out of the economy
— and his new promises to help
voters whose jobs, houses and
retirement accounts are disap-
pearing.
In a matter of days, Mc-
Cain shifted from invoking
small-government icon Ronald
Reagan to quoting Franklin D.
Roosevelt, the architect of the
modern regulatory state.
[See McCain, Page A29]

Column one
Chilling message
is sent in Mexico
After deadly attack,
citizens worry anyone
GOP joke, but an all-American job
could be a victim in drug 6,500-square-foot lot in Win- to know that?
wars. world A3
Community organizers netka with two dogs. Aside He chronicled his obses-
from the tomato plants — 34 sion. Each morning of the
Hit Mowtown have deep roots in
songwriter dies WAY American democracy.
last year — there’s some grass,
a few trees, a few dozen rose
tomato season he collected
the ripe fruit and spread them
Norman Whitfield won
two Grammy Awards
TOO bushes. But as you approach
their house, there’s no mistak-
out on his kitchen counter. He
organized them by variety and
and was a famous. He THIN Mary MacVeaner ing what’s at the top of this entered the totals onto index

L
food chain. The frontyard is cards stored in a cookie jar,

>>>
was 67. california
Weather Page...........B12
Complete Index..........A2
TODAY’S SECTIONS
California, Business,
Sports, Calendar, Home
Printed with soy inks on
ast year Bill Ander- full of tomatoes: along the side- for later transfer onto spread-
son grew 10,990 to- walk, in an area Anderson calls sheets. And he ate tomatoes
matoes, not counting the koi pond, in pots by the — for snacks, in salads and
Young stars the ones consumed front door. A small sign with a sauces. He and Griego They
are part of the by Buster the Man- painting of a tomato hangs on gave them away, they fed them
skeletalization
of American
CALL COSTS chester terrier. He picked the
first two on May 2, and the last
the front door.
The backyard is ringed with
to their friends. They froze
tomatoes. Lots of them toma-
television. CHARGERS 11 on Oct. 4. Five months later,
he planted the first of this
tomato plants, some in the
bright Valley sun much of the
toes; in February, they still had
frozen tomatoes to give away.

>>>
Calendar
partially recycled paper Official’s fumble year’s seedlings. day, others shaded by the a As the 2008 season began,
hands Denver Anderson and his wife, huge Ponderosa pine. Anderson figured he was on
last-second victory over Christine Griego, don’t have Still. Ten thousand nine ? track to harvest around 15,000
San Diego. sports a back 40. They live with two hundreds ninety tomatoes? tomatoes from 52 plants. That
dogs in a small house on a How did Anderson even begin [See Organizers, Page A29]
 $1.50 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER 128 pageS © 2008 oc † †
Gallery of loss: Passengers on the Metrolink
are forever connected by fate. california
Bailout: $700,000,000,000
destruction: A truck bomb, which authorities said was packed with more than a ton of explosives, left a huge crater and destroyed the Marriott.
ALASKANS
UNHAPPY
PALIN IS
ABSENT
Queries are directed
through the McCain
campaign machine.
Her political capital
at home is eroding.
By Kim Murphy
reporting from anchorage
Jerry McCutcheon went to
Gov. Sarah Palin’s office here
last week to request informa-
tion about the firing of former
p Public s Safety c Commis-
sioner Walt Monegan, the scan-
dal that for weeks has threat-
ened to overshadow eclipse the
governor’s role nomination as
Republican presidential can-
didate John McCain’s running
mate.
McCutcheon was given a
phone number in Virginia to
call: the national headquarters
of the McCain-Palin campaign.
Why, he wanted to know, did
he have to call a campaign of-
fice 4,300 miles away to find out
what was going on in Alaska
the Alaskan government? The
longtime civic activist phoned
his local state representative,
legislator, Les Gara, who quick-
ly filed a protest.
These days, many such
queries about Monegan — or
anything else involving Palin’s
record as governor — get di-
verted to McCain staffers. A
former Justice Department
prosecutor from New York
flew in recently to advise the
governor’s lawyer and field re-
[See Alaskans, Page A29]
Pakistan shaken by deadly blast
At least 40 are dead;
many trapped in the
ruined luxury hotel.
Robert J. Lopez,
Garrett Therolf
reporting from islamabad,
pakistan
Scott Gold
reporting washington
As Pakistan reeled from one
of the deadliest terrorist at-
tacks in its history, rescuers to-
A CLASSIC
SENSE OF
STYLE
Kiera Knightley drives
street fashion. She is
somehow not impressed.
IMAGE
Hotels going
pet-friendly
travel
TODAY’S SECTIONS
California, Business,
Sports, Calendar, Image,
Arts&Books, Travel,
Comics I & Comics II
Printed with soy inks on
partially recycled paper
SEPTEMBER 21, 2008
day (sun) continued the search
for victims of a suicide truck
bombing that leveled a five-star
hotel frequented by foreign dip-
lomats and the nation’s elite.
At least 40 people were
killed and 250 others wounded
when a truck full of explosives
was rammed into the gates of
the Marriott Hotel.
The thunderous blast in the
heart of the Pakistani capital
reverberated for miles, carving
out a crater 30 feet deep and
setting off a fire that continued
to burn into the early hours of
today(Sun). Dozens of people
THE
RACE
IS ON
>>>
The TV
awards tell us
about what we
value more:
change or
expierence.
Calendar
Arizona hammers UCLA: Bruins overmatched
in 31-10 home loss to Wildcats. sports
were believed trapped inside.
With dozens still believed
trapped inside, authorities
continued to search early today
for victims of a massive suicide
bombing attack on a five-star
hotel in Islamabad frequented
by foreign diplomats and the
Pakistani elite.
At least 40 people were
killed and 250 others wounded
when a truck full of explosives
was rammed into the gates of
the Marriott Hotel, one of the
deadliest terrorist attacks in
the history of this politically
shaky Muslim nation.
Humble berry now
a global superfood
But some worry that
acai’s new popularity
could spell trouble for
the rain forest.
Mary Dickenson
reporting from belem,
brazil
A frenzy overtakes the
teeming harbor here as a wood-
en-hulled riverboat chugs into
port.
“It’s here!” cries an expect-
ant buyer, one of many shoving
his way toward the craft in a
sweaty mercantile crush. “The
gold! The purple gold!”
The cargo is acai (pro-
nounced ah-sigh-EE), the un-
assuming fruit of a jungle palm
that has gone from Amazonian
staple to global wonder-berry:
a much-hyped ingredient in
smoothies, sorbets, nutrition
bars and countless trendy
treats from L.A. to London to
Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times
The thunderous blast in the
heart of nation’s capital rever-
berated for miles, carved out a
crater 30-feet deep and set off a
fire that continued to burn into
the early hours of today(Sun).
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for the
attack, which came hours after
Pakistan’s new president, Asif
Ali Zardari, delivered his first
maiden speech to lawmakers.
Islamic militants have vowed
to destabilize Zardari’s gov-
ernment, which is faced with
deepening economic gloom
[See Blast, Page 5]
Stephen Osman Los Angeles Times
A truck bomb , which text
authorities said was packed
with more and more.
Tokyo.
Acai’s cachet derives not
only from the berry’s antioxi-
dant traits and supposed Vi-
agra-like powers of vitality, but
from its green pedigree: It has
been acclaimed as a renew-
able resource that provides a
sustainable livelihood for tens
of thousands of subsistence ?
harvesters without damaging
the expanses of the Amazon.
Because of acai, the jungle is
more valuable standing than
felled.
With acai a global sensation,
however, some fear the berry’s
[See Superfood, Page 5]
latimes.com
The Treasury
secretary would have
unchecked power to
buy ailing mortgage-
backed securities.
Robert J. Lopez,
Garrett Therolf
and Scott Gold
reporting from washington
Unveiling its plan to rescue
the nation’s financial system
from near-paralysis, the Bush
administration is asking Con-
gress for the authority to spend
$700?billion and for powers to
intervene in the economy so
sweeping that they have virtu-
ally no precedent in U.S. his-
tory.
The proposal, set out in a
spare 2?1/2?-page document
sent to congressional leaders
Saturday, would in effect allow
the Treasury secretary to set up
a government investment bank
to buy up the billions of dollars
of the mortgage-backed securi-
ties now clogging the arteries of
the global financial system.
The dollar figure alone is
remarkable, amounting to 5%
of the nation’s gross domestic
product. But the most distinc-
tive — and potentially most
controversial — element of
the plan is the extent to which
it would allow Treasury to act
unilaterally: Its decisions could
not be reviewed by any court or
administrative body and, once
the emergency legislation was
approved, the administration
could raise the $700?billion
through government borrow-
ing and would not be subject to
Congress’ traditional power of
the purse.
“Nothing quite of this scale
has happened since the early
years of the country when Al-
exander Hamilton wrote the
Treasury act to give him the
[See Bailout, Page 5]
Golden
years may
have lost
their glow
With home values
down, costs up and
their 401(k)s declining,
some seniors have had
to rethink retirement.
Mary Dickenson
Decades of saving and hard
work as a teacher earned Bev-
erly Welsh what she thought
would be a comfortable retire-
ment.
She bought a townhouse
in Las Vegas to be near her
mother, but the longtime
South Pasadena resident con-
tinued to spend time in her be-
loved Southern California. She
spoiled her five cats. She took
acting classes, landing small
parts in a few low-budget films.
Then the bottom fell out
of the real estate market and
stocks cratered, wiping out a
third of her $750,000 net worth
over the last two years. Tight
on cash, the 76-year-old retiree
says she may seek work as a
substitute teacher to supple-
ment her dwindling investment
income.
“It’s unbelievable how quick-
[See Retire, Page 5]
User: mwhitley Time: 10-21-2008 13:57 Product: LAFI PubDate: 10-21-2008 Zone: LA Edition: 1 Page: FI_COVER Color: C
K
Y
M

CC / SF / VN / OC

DOW 9,265.43 ▲ 413.21

BuSINESS
S&P 500 985.40 ▲ 44.85
T U E S D AY , O C T O B E R 2 1 , 2 0 0 8 :: L A T I M E S . C O M / B U S I N E S S

NASDAQ 1,770.03 ▲ 58.74 GOLD $787.60 ▲ 2.50 OIL $74.25 ▲ 2.40 EURO $1.332 ▼ 0.012 U.S. T-BILL (6-mo.) 1.80% ▲ 0.58 U.S. T-NOTE (10-yr.) 3.88% ▼ 0.05

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REAL ESTATE
THE WORK OF PLAY
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For homes,
no letup in
price slide
The Southland median
is 33% less than a year
ago. Foreclosures are
half September’s sales.
Peter Y. Hong
Don’t count on that housing
recovery any time soon.
Southland home prices
tumbled again in September,
according to data released
Monday, continuing a trend
that began 14 months ago
and bringing median values
down 39% below their peak last
year.
Annie Wells Los Angeles Times
What’s more, the Septem-
BOYS CLUB: Kathy Vrabeck, president of Electronic Arts Inc.’s casual games division, makes a presentation at ber sales figures reflect many
the company’s offices in Playa Vista. Less than 20% of workers in the video game industry are women. homes that went into escrow in
July or August — before the fi-
nancial crisis rattled nerves,
depleted the investment sav-
so there’s the risk they’ll lose
their income and not be able to
make their payments.”
The median Southern Cali-
fornia home sale price was
$308,500 in September, down
7% from August and 33% from
a year ago, according to real es-
tate research firm MDA Data-
Quick.
More homes were trading
hands, with last month’s sales
total 65% higher than a year
ago. But MDA DataQuick
President John Walsh noted
that the figures were recorded
“before the dramatic worsen-
ing of the nation’s economic cri-
sis in recent weeks.”
“Over the next few weeks
our sales data will begin
to show how the meltdown
in financial markets this fall
has impacted housing de-
mand,” Walsh said in a state-
ment.
The increase in sales activ-

Women left on sidelines ings of millions of Americans

and cast fresh doubts about
the economy’s strength.
“Buying a home is a big deci-
sion, and it’s not one you want
ity is being driven by bargain
hunters scooping up distressed
properties. Fully half the
homes sold in Southern Cali-
fornia last month were fore-

of video game revolution

to make when you’re not sure
where prices are headed,” said
UC Berkeley economist Thom-
as Davidoff. “Now a lot of peo-
ple are facing unemployment,
closures, MDA DataQuick
said.
Before the financial crisis
hit full force last month, some
[See Homes, Page C5]

The glass ceiling shows cracks, but it’s still a man’s virtual world MARKETS
ALEX PHAM
THIRD OF THREE PARTS >>> As a top executive at one of the world’s biggest video game
publishers, Kathy Vrabeck often completes an entire workday without meeting with an-
Stocks surge on
other woman. And her employer, Electronic Arts Inc., is less of a boys club than many of
its peers. ¶ The video game industry is flourishing, especially in California, as sales con-
credit thaw hopes
tinue to climb despite a faltering economy. But the hiring has largely bypassed women.
Interest rates signal Rates edge down
They comprise fewer than 1 in 5 workers in the business, according to a 2007 survey by
Game Developer Magazine. Among game programmers, the number is a paltry 3%. ¶ that fears are easing. The London interbank-offered
rate for one month dollar loans,
Those who do land game-related jobs make less money on average than their male Energy majors lead the a key banking benchmark

counterparts. Women at all levels of the field earned an average of $64,643 last year, while Dow’s 4.7% advance. 5%

men earned $74,459, according to the survey. ¶ “Historically, the people who play video Martin Zimmerman

games have tended to be more male,” said Vrabeck, president of [See Games, Page C9] 4
Further signs that global Monday:
credit markets are loosening up 3.75%
gave Wall Street a boost Mon-
Gender gap day, driving the Dow Jones in-
3
Few women work in the game industry. Those who do make less than their male counterparts, on average. Here’s a comparison: dustrial average up more than
400 points.
Percentage of women in Average U.S. annual salary in game industry, by position Investors were also cheered
the industry, by job by hints from Federal Reserve
$120,000 2
Male Men: $105,600 Chairman Ben S. Bernanke
Producer 18% that more help may be on the 9/1 9/15 10/1 10/20
100,000 Average $ Source: Bloomberg News
Executive/ way for the embattled U.S.
Los Angeles Times
marketing 17 Female economy.
80,000
Game designer 8 “By no means are we back to
Women: $73,600 normal, but there are early which gained on higher oil
Artist or animator 8 60,000
signs that credit markets are prices. Crude futures climbed
Sound designer 8 Men: $39,300 beginning to thaw,” said Nick $2.40 to $74.25 a barrel.
40,000
Game tester 6 Sargen, chief investment officer And in a rare achievement
Women: $34,400 of Fort Washington Investment after weeks of volatile trading,
Programmer 3 20,000
Advisors in Cincinnati. the Dow never fell below Fri-
Game Game Artist or Sound Producer Programmer Executive/
The Dow industrials surged day’s close of 8,852.22.
Average tester designer animator designer $78,700 $83,400 marketing
413.21 points, or 4.7%, to Broader indexes also rose
salary $39,100 $63,600 $66,600 $73,400 $101,800
9,265.43. All 30 stocks in the in- sharply. The Standard & Poor’s
Source: Game Developer Magazine dex rose, led by energy giants 500 jumped 44.85 points, or
Lorena Iñiguez Los Angeles Times Exxon Mobil and Chevron, [See Markets, Page C5]

TRADE AVIATION
Pump prices
China takes a breather, continue slide
Drivers in some parts
of the U.S. are paying
Arrival of giant A380 buoys LAX
and global firms gasp less than $3 a gallon.
California’s average
falls to $3.355. C3
Fanfare greets the first
more than five years. passenger flight of
As its growth rate sags, China’s economy expanded Icahn doubles Qantas’ huge jet.
the Asian giant can’t
by 11.9% in all of 2007. But weak- Lions Gate stake
ening demand for Chinese fac-
tory goods from U.S. consum- The move raises Peter Pae
prop up the global ers and the slumping Chinese questions about his
economy all by itself. property market have taken a underlying motives for The world’s largest airliner
toll on exports and investments the studio. C3 landed at Los Angeles Interna-
Don Lee — two big engines of China’s tional Airport on Monday with
reporting from shanghai economy. Service offers about 450 people aboard, kick-
“China’s latest economic 10-cent songs ing off Southern California’s
China’s powerful economic numbers will be disheartening first A380 passenger service
machine is losing steam, raising for observers who hoped that
Starting today you can and providing a welcome eco-
significant concerns for many China’s growth would substi- download songs from nomic boost for the slumping Ken Hively Los Angeles Times
businesses that are counting on tute for slowing demand from reinvented Lala Media airport. EYEING A GIANT: Qantas’ A380 from Melbourne, Aus-
the Asian nation to help them developed countries,” said Jing for a dime apiece, but Qantas Flight 93 from Mel- tralia, sits at LAX, which has suffered a falloff in flights.
ride out the global financial cri- Ulrich, managing director of there’s a catch. C3 bourne, Australia, landed at
sis. China equities for JPMorgan 7:26 a.m. and was greeted by flight to Australia late Monday. toms and retrieving their bags.
Box Office ...................C2
The Chinese government Chase & Co. in Hong Kong. public officials and Hollywood Passengers, most of them “I’m surprised. I’m stunned,
said Monday that economic Analysts said the pace of Market Roundup.....C4 celebrities including actor John Australians, described the actually,” said Phillip Prender-
growth in the third quarter slowing was worse than they Earnings ......................C5 Travolta and singer Olivia New- flight as very quiet and smooth. gast, who flew with his wife,
slowed sharply from a year ear- had expected and would prob- Money&Co. ................C5 ton-John. The jetliner was They also said they had little Carmen. “The customs agents
lier to 9%, the lowest level in [See China, Page C8] scheduled to make its return problem getting through cus- [See Jet, Page C7]
 E

calendar we d nes day, se p tember 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l atimes . com /c a l en da r

CRITIC’S
NOTEBOOK

Don’t
shield
us from
unease
Banned Books Week
has rarely seemed
more timely, but the
issue remains thorny.
By David L. Ulin

I’m ambivalent about

Banned Books Week, which
runs through Saturday. On the
one hand, we clearly still need
such a public affirmation, as the
recent tumult over Sarah Palin
and her “rhetorical” inquiries
to the Wasilla, Alaska, public
library show.
On the other, Banned
Books Week offers up the
sort of toothless, feel-good
spectacle that makes us
less likely to consider the
actual ramifications of free
expression.
The basic message here
is one of astonishment: Why
would anyone ban books when
literature is such a positive and Alexander Joe AFP/Getty Images
ennobling force? Yet while I On side: Backers of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe rally at the site in Harare where he and the opposition signed the power-sharing
agree with that, I also believe deal. There were clases between his supportes, who had the upper hand, and opponents untl police broke them up.
that some books truly are
dangerous, and to ignore that retrospective

A style of Newman’s own

is simply disingenuous.
Lest this make me seem an
apologist for the book banners,
nothing could be further from
the truth. In fact, I’m against
restricting anything other
than material that graphically
portrays certain illegal acts.
Yet it’s foolish, self-defeating
[See Banned, Page A29] The actor’s work left an indelible imprint across Hollywood and the world of film.

P
aul Newman, who passed away Friday at 83 after a long battle with cancer, was a humanitarian, a loving
MUSIC REVIEW
husband and a race car driver, but most of all, he was an actor of perceptive intelligence, power and even

Mixing simplicity. ¶ In his review of Newman’s 1994 film “Nobody’s Fool,” critic Roger Ebert stated that Newman
“is an exact contemporary of Marlon Brando, who is said to have invented modern film acting. Yes, and

it up he probably did, stripping it of the mannerisms of the past and creating a hypercharged realism. Like
Brando, Newman studied the Method. Like Brando, Newman looked good in an undershirt. Unlike Brando, Newman

with old went on to study life.” ¶ Newman transformed himself from a man who would be Brando to a superstar in his own
right over his 54-year film career, creating indelible characters that will forever be remembered and treasured.

friends Susan King takes a critical look at notable work from Newman’s stellar acting career. Page 9

Mark Swed
Music Critic

As some 40-year-olds find

out, you can go home again, but
sticking around may not be so
easy. The Los Angeles Cham-
ber Orchestra was founded
in 1968 by British conductor
Neville Marriner (although its
first concert wasn’t until 1969),
and Saturday night it began its
40th anniversary season with a
special gala led by Marriner at
the Ambassador Auditorium,
where it once performed. But
the concert was a one-time
thing. Alexander Joe AFP/Getty Images Alexander Joe AFP/Getty Images Alexander Joe AFP/Getty Images
Marriner, who led LACO un- The color of money: Backers of Zimbabwean nobody’s fool: The butch cassidy and the sundance kid:
til 1978, is 84. Ambassador, the President Robert Mugabe rally at the site in Harare where Backers of Zimbabwean Backers of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
finest of LACO’s many homes
over the years, opened in 1974
and barely escaped the wreck-
er’s ball after it went out of the
concert business in 1995. Now THEATER REVIEW
owned by the Harvest Rock
Church, it is, on occasion, rent-
ed out to student and Pasadena
orchestras.
Nimble handling of
‘Dead’ at SCR
The very good news is that
both conductor and hall are in
remarkably good shape. Still
sprightly and active, Marriner
[See LACO, Page A29]
Charles McNulty profoundly moving by the lyri-
Theater Critic cal end. “Eurydice,” her retell-
ing of the Orpheus myth, which
Sarah Ruhl is a playwright was given a sparely wondrous
whose whimsy divides audienc- production by Circle X Theatre
es. If you resist her capricious Co. in 2006, delicately ventured
gambits, you wind up an un- into the fraught subject of fa-
happy — possibly angry — the- ther-daughter eroticism. A few
atrical camper. “Dead Man’s dismissed it as quasi-feminist
Cell Phone,” her latest play, fluff, but the vehemence of the
which opened Friday at South reaction (mostly male) was
Coast Repertory, will test even telling. Charmingly sprightly as
her most faithful followers. But Ruhl can be, she hits nerves.
there’s just enough tantalizing I once felt compelled to de-
substance to rescue its quirki- fend Ruhl against a visiting
msnbc’s ness from all-out preciousness. New York theater critic who was
new liberal The daffy magical realism trashing her meteoric rise over
of “The Clean House,” an ear- an otherwise civilized lunch.
spark plug, lier Ruhl offering (produced by “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” how-
rachel SCR in 2005), made me want to ever, fills me with a few second
maddow throw in the towel during the thoughts. When I first saw the Alexander Joe AFP/Getty Images
first act. But the work accrued play off-Broadway at Play- On side: Backers of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe rally at the site in Harare
page 8
an emotional heft that became [See Ruhl, Page A29] where he and the opposition signed the power-sharing deal. There were clases between
 E

calendar S u n day, se p t e m b er 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m es . c o m /c a l e n da r

Flying blind: Taking a famous book to the big screen can be perilous. 12
letters 2 :: sunday c o nversatio n 3 : : home theater 1 2 : : m ovable bu ffet 13 :: the gu ide 16 :: tv listing s 24-25

Jay L. Clendenin Los Angeles Times

STILL learning
In ‘Body of Lies,’ Leonardo DiCaprio’s CIA agent character battles scores of
terrorists. But Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott presented a challenge too.
By Chris Lee >>> Leonardo DiCcaprio didn’t realize he was in over his head until it was too late. “I was constantly
fuelled with adrenaline,” DiCaprio remembers of filming his new espionage thriller, “Body of Lies.” “There were
certainly moments of sheer anxiety.” ¶ He wasn’t talking about the physical hardships he endured for director
Ridley Scott’s homage to such ’70s political potboilers as “The Parallax View” and “Three Days of the Condor”
— although endure plenty the 33-year-old Los Feliz native did endure plenty did. ¶ DiCaprio’s character, undercover
CIA operative Roger Ferris, is treated like a human piñata. He narrowly outruns terrorist bombs, gets torn up by
shrapnel in a helicopter missile strike and attacked by a rabid dog while on a covert mission to take down a Middle
Eastern terrorist cell. In addition, his character Ferris must navigate the treacherous shoals of his own government’s
convoluted agenda in the region, his progress undercut at every step by a ruthless Aagency station chief played by
Russell Crowe. ¶ Worse, in actuality, DiCaprio was stricken by a respiratory illness [See Leo, Page A29]

It’s safe for her to smile again LosE Friends,

FIND SUCCESS
tion for a guest role as a mental-
Elizabeth Reaser’s ly unstable, disfigured Seattle

searing role on ‘Grey’s

Anatomy’ leads to
laughs (and drama) on
new hit ‘The Ex List.’
Maria Elena Fernandez
Friday’s disastrous collision
that took the lives of at least 25
people might could have been
prevented if Metrolink and the
region’
‘That girl from ‘Grey’s Anat-
omy’ has a name -- and soon
Annie Wells Los Angeles Times many people will know it. The
EERIE: Reaser plays a young woman perplexed by a name is Elizabeth Reaser, and
psychic’s premonition about her future husband on ‘The a year after her Emmy nomina-
Grace patient, she’s starring in
“The Ex List” for CBS.
Somehow it
The 33-year-old actress works for
couldn’t have foreseen these
events. A seven-episode stint Toby Young.
on the highly popular “Grey’s”
-- during which she managed Page 8
to develop a playful chemistry
with Justin Chambers’ Alex
despite her character being, at
first, a horribly maimed amne-
siac -- evolved into a 17-episode
run as Alex’s on-again/off-again,
and finally insane, girlfriend.
That led to Reaser being cast as
the lead in “The Ex List,” a co-
medic drama about a woman’s
search for love. It sounds easy,
but it comes after many years of
[See Reaser, Page A29]

california
RETURNING RIDERS: Gloria Hoshiko, left, and Patricia Whitlock, both of Moorpark, embrace Monday aboard a
Metrolink bus, which will take them to the Chatsworth train station. Train service over the crash site could resume
Officials say warning signals
were working before crash
As wary commuters get
back on trains, federal
investigators sum up
early findings in the
fatal crash.
Robert Lopez and
Jennifer Oldham
Three signals that should
have warned a Metrolink en-
gineer to stop before hitting
a freight train appear to have
been working and visible prior
to last week’s catastrophic col-
lision, federal safety investiga-
tors said Monday, hours after
some anxious commuters re-
turned to their usual trains.
“There were no obstructions
to viewing any of the signals,”
National Transportation Safe-
ty Board member Kitty Higgins
told reporters as she summed
up the early stages of what
promises to be a lengthy in-
vestigation into the crash that
killed 25 people in Chatsworth
on Friday.
Higgins said the Metrolink
train ran through a red signal
instead of stopping to allow
the southbound Union Pacific
metrolink collision
Out of a job:
Denise Tyrell, Metrolink
spokeswoman feels she
did the right thing by
the public when she
acknowledged that a
preliminary report
showed the Metrolink
engineer ran a red light
before the crash. Page 8
latimes.com
/california
Victim profiles
Find vignettes of of all 25
victims in the metrolink
collision .
w e d n e s day, s e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m /c a l i f o r n i a
Me t rolink collision
freight train to pull onto a sid-
ing to allow the commuter
train to pass. It then crossed
a switching mechanism on the
main track at 42 mph, so fast
that it bent a switch, which had
been closed to guide the freight
train onto the siding.
Higgins said the safety
board had subpoenaed cell-
phone records from Verizon
Wireless to determine whether
the engineer of the commuter
train had been text messaging
in the moments leading up to
the head-on collision.
‘HAPPY TO BE ALIVE’: Richard Myles’ friend and daughter visit him at Kaiser
Hospital in L.A. He was hurt in Friday’s Metrolink crash and in the 2005 crash in
Two-time crash survivor
recalculates his luck
steve lopez
He limped away
from the deadly
2005 train wreck
in Glendale that
killed 11 people.
Then he
survived
Friday’s even
deadlier train
wreck in Chatsworth.
I’m standing over Richard
Myles as he lies flat on his
back at Kaiser Hospital on
Sunset near Vermont, and I’m
wondering if the ceiling will fall
or the Big One will hit.
Is he unbelievably lucky
to have survived two horrible
crashes?
Or horribly unlucky to have
been on those trains at all?
Metrolink’s chief spokes-
woman, Denise Tyrrell, re-
signed Monday after she was
intensely criticized by superi-
ors who said she had spoken
prematurely in saying the crash
was caused by the Metrolink
engineer’s mistake.
The coroner’s office iden-
tified the engineer as Robert
Martin Sanchez, 46, of La Cres-
centa, who was described by
neighbors as a man who cher-
ished his privacy but spoke lov-
ingly about trains.
A man at Sanchez’s home
It’s too soon to know how
to answer, the 58-year-old Los
Angeles Bureau of Sanitation
manager told me, wearing
a rigid brace after having
his broken neck surgically
repaired.
“I’m happy to be alive,” said
Myles, who was on his way
home to Moorpark on Friday
afternoon when Metrolink
train 111 and a Union Pacific
freight train plowed head-
on into each other, killing 25
people and injuring 135.
Myles wasn’t the only
passenger involved in both
accidents. At least one of those
who died Friday had survived
the Glendale disaster, as my
colleagues Ari Bloomekatz,
Victoria Kim and Hector
Becerra report today. That
Al Seib Los Angeles Times
declined to give his name but
said he was the engineer’s older
brother.
“My brother loved trains all
his life,” he said. “He died doing
what he loved. You don’t have
any idea what we’re feeling
right now. We feel awful for the
victims. I’m thinking about my
little brother.”
In addition to the 25 dead,
135 passengers were injured
in the crash. Twenty-four re-
mained hospitalized Monday,
including four in critical condi-
[See Metrolink, Page 5]
Brian Vander Brug Los Angeles Times
crash was caused by an SUV
driver who stopped on the
tracks in a suicide attempt.
Last week’s crash is still
being investigated. Did the
Metrolink driver miss a signal?
Was there some technical
malfunction?
Whatever happened, it
now seems morbidly absurd
that trains going in opposite
directions share the same
stretch of track, with no fail-
safe system to avert this kind
of collision.
“It’s economics,” Myles
said. “You know the dollar
drives everything.”
What’s so unsettling in
these catastrophes is how
quickly everything changes.
At 4:22 Friday, Myles was just
[See Survivor, Page 5]
Lawmakers
begin vote
on budget
Governor threatens
to veto the proposal
unless it contains
further restraints on
future spending.
Evan Halper and
Jordan Rau
reporting from sacramento
Lawmakers appeared
poised to pass a budget late
Monday, even as it remained
unclear whether Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger would sign it
into law.
As they began voting on
the bills that make up their
bipartisan budget package,
Schwarzenegger was threaten-
ing a veto. He said the spending
restraints in the proposal were
too weak, creating a rainy day
fund that could too easily be
raided.
Schwarzeneggerspokesman
Matt David said the reserve that
the plan would create is “noth-
ing more than a slush fund that
can be raided at any point and
up to any amount.”
Lawmakers were also bro-
kering last minute-deals among
themselves. Some demanded
legislation involving issues as
varied as tax credits for movie
companies, relaxation of labor
laws and approval of a new pow-
er plant before they would vote
for the budget.
In a deal forged by legisla-
tive leaders last weekend, law-
makers had agreed to a plan
that would avoid tax increases
and deep cuts in services by
pushing the state’s financial
problems into the future.
As of today, the state has
gone a record 78 days without
a spending plan, leaving thou-
sands of healthcare clinics,
schools, day-care centers, nurs-
ing homes and other providers
of government services without
billions of dollars in state pay-
ments. Some have had to close.
Others have asked their em-
ployees to work without pay.
Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas
(D-Los Angeles) said service
providers “were pleading with
us to end the pain and suffer-
ing. . . . To continue holding out
became untenable. Once these
places start shutting down and
collapsing, getting them open
again is very difficult.”
The plan before the Legisla-
ture would modestly increase
spending for education and
social services over last year,
but not enough to avoid scal-
ing back scores of programs.
It would borrow against future
lottery proceeds and would in-
clude limited restraints on fu-
ture state spending.
The proposal is held togeth-
er by financial maneuvers that
in coming months would give
the state more than $6.5 billion
in cash that normally would not
flow into Sacramento until the
next fiscal year.
Some businesses and indi-
viduals would have to pay their
taxes sooner, and some would
have to pay more than they owe
and would get the extra back
later. State taxes withheld at
Inmate death
rates decline
Monitor says it shows
his oversight of health
care led to fewer deaths
and more here for
another line. Page 3
Cabbies happy
about hybrids
Burbank cabbies are
pleasantly surprised
by the new vehicles’
performance. Page 2
O.C. murder trial
wraps up
Final arguments are
made in brutal 2006
murder case. Page 2
Lottery........................... B3
Obituaries..................... B8
B
State budget
delay: Day 78
California has been unable to
pay its bills since the fiscal
year began July 1.
Monday: Lawmakers vote on
a spending plan.
the workplace would jump 10%
for everyone.
“They are stop-gap mea-
sures,” said Jean Ross, execu-
tive director of the California
Budget Project, a nonprofit
group that advocates for low-
income Californians.
“They are accounting gim-
micks that will simply kick the
can — kick a whole six-pack of
cans — down the road without
[See Budget, Page 6]
Husband
allegedly
plotted
slaying
Authorities say James
Fayed paid his ranch
manager to help
arrange wife’s death.
Scott Glover and
Richard Winton
A Ventura County business-
man was charged Monday with
masterminding a murder-for-
hire plot that culminated in the
stabbing death of his estranged
wife in the parking garage of a
Century City high-rise in July,
authorities said.
James Fayed is charged
with capital murder for alleg-
edly paying the manager of
his Moorpark ranch $25,000 to
help arrange the slaying of his
estranged wife, Pamela, with
whom he was involved in bitter
divorce proceedings, authori-
ties said.
Neither Fayed nor the man-
ager, Jose Luis Moya, are be-
lieved to have actually wielded
the knife in the July 28 attack,
according to law enforcement
sources familiar with the case.
The actual killer is believed to
be a gang member whom Moya
knows and recruited to com-
mit the attack, according to the
sources who asked not to be
named because they were not
authorized to speak publicly
about the case.
Investigators “anticipate the
arrests of additional suspects,”
LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie
Beck said at a news conference
Monday evening.
Fayed, 45, and Moya, 47, are
accused of lying in wait and com-
mitting a murder for financial
[See Fayed, Page 6]
Richard Wright
The Pink Floyd founding
member and keyboardist
was 65. Page 9
 B

california we d nes d ay, septem b er 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: latimes . com /cali f ornia

L.A. Then and Now: Edward Roybal’s name is School assists missing boys’ mom: Teachers
on so many L.A. buildings for good reason. 3 rally around her after the two disappear. 4
lo ttery 4 :: how t o reach us 4 : : briefs 8 : : obituaries 1 2 -13 :: military deat hs 13 :: weath er 15

I think METROLINK CRAS H : W H AT W E L O S T

b
I see
Russia!
No, wait
ST E V E L O P E Z
from nome, alaska

Nome, Alaska Yes,

Nome Why not?
I wanted to see
the real Alaska,
and I was told
that would re-
quire me to get
beyond Anchor-
age, which is some-
times derided as Los Anchor-
age because of its enormous
population (279,000280,000)
and sprawling suburbs.
Nome is way, way, way out
west on the Bering Sea, reach-
able only by plane, boat or by
sled dog sled. And as vice pres-
idential candidate and Alaska
governor Gov. Sarah Palin
said, in trying to put voters at
ease about her foreign affairs
credentials, you can see Russia
from this part of the state.
So I landed on this edge-
of-nowhere burg (pop. 3,000
3,600, give or take a few Eski-
mos) and headed into town
expecting to find lots of Palin
supporters and perhaps even
a few potential foreign policy
advisors in the event of a John
McCain-Sarah Palin adminis-
tration.
It turns out lots of people
here have seen Russia, but
none of them felt qualified to
be vice president or take on a
Cabinet position. I borrowed
some binoculars and got excit-
ed when I zoomed in on a large
land mass just to the west.
“That’s not Russia,” said
Norbert Thomas, an Inupiat
Eskimo who was carving a
piece of driftwood near the
beach on a balmy and sunny,
50-degree day. “It’s Sledge Is-
land.”
I tried to talk politics, but
Thomas said he wasn’t inter-
ested. Besides, he said, “If I
don’t carve, I don’t eat.”
My first big surprise came
when I dropped by the Nome
Nugget?, which calls itself
Alaska’s oldest newspaper.
“Rural Alaska is mostly Twenty-five people were killed in the Sept. 12 collision of two trains. Top row, from left: Christopher Aiken, Dennis Arnold, Dean Brower, Alan Buckley
Democratic,” said editor and and Yi Chao. Second row, from left: Spree DeSha, Walter Fuller, Ron Grace, Michael Hammersley and Jacob Hefter. Third row, from left: Chen-Wyuan
publisher Nancy McGuire?. Kari Hsieh, Ernest “Pete” Kish, Gregory Lintner, Paul Long and Manuel Macias. Fourth row, from left: Aida Magdaleno, Beverly Mosley, Charles Peck,
I wondered, then, how Howard Pompel and Donna Lynn Remata. Bottom row, from left: Robert M. Sanchez, Doyle Souser, Roger Spacey, Maria Elena Villalobos and Atul Vyas.
Palin’s approval ratings as

25 linked by fate
governor were as high as
80%. ? That’s an easy one,
said McGuire said. The state
population is concentrated in
and around Anchorage and
Wasilla, where she’s the home-
town girl.
“Shows what they know,”
said McGuire, a sassy old salt
whose shack of an office sits By J oe M ozingo >>> Coasting out of Chatsworth at 4:22 p.m., Doyle Souser had caught an early train home
on Front Street, a saloon-stud-
ded strip that was teeming from work to cook his family a nice tri-tip for dinner. Charles Peck had just wrapped up an interview for a
with gold-rush prospectors 100 job he hoped would land him in Southern California so he could marry his fiancee. Aida Magdaleno, a farm-
years ago.
Sure, McGuire said, on worker’s daughter studying at Cal State Northridge, was on her way home to attend her nephew’s baptism.
a crystal-clear day from the
nearby village of Wales or from ¶ They didn’t know one another each other. Their only connection came when they boarded the first car
one of the islands, you can see
Big Diomede Island in Rus-
of Metrolink 111 that afternoon. ¶ But a minute later, the far-flung threads of their lives would be forever
sia or maybe even the distant tied off in a knot in the wreckage of Southern California’s worst train accident in modern history. ¶ In that
cloud cover on the Russian
mainland. But it’s not like you instant, the cold rules of physics, or the mystery of fate, claimed a variegated slice of humanity as perhaps
can smell the Smirnoff or wave
to Vladimir Putin.
only a disaster can could do, and left a scattershot pattern of emotional wounds far and wide. ¶ Students
When McGuire told me and faculty at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale grappled with the loss [ See Victims, Page 8]
that she once flew near Big
Diomede for a college class
and that her plane was chased
away by a Russian MIG, I sug-

150,000 State’s financial trauma just beginning

gested she might be in line to
become secretary of State.
“I’ll go for president,” she
said, noting that she has more
Russia experience than Palin.
“I’ve seen it closer.”
To be honest, I hadn’t ex-
pected to find a member of
the liberal media elite in the
town that serves as terminus
for the Iditarod? mush trail.
McGuire’s views are not local
gospel, though.
Mary Knodel, who runs
the Arctic Trading Post, is a
Palin fan, and not just because
she’s selling the hot biography,
“Sarah: How a Hockey Mom
Turned Alaska’s Political Es-
tablishment on Its Ear Upside
Down.”
“She’s a breath of fresh air,”
said Knodel, calling Palin un-
[See Lopez, Page 6]
Region snapshot
Number of flu shots
given in Southern
California in 2007.
30,000
Reported cases of flu
in Southern California
so far in 2008.
18%
Percentage of people in
the U.S. who will catch
the flu in 2008.
Discord over budgets
will almost certainly
worsen as economy
slows and voters are
asked to weigh in.
Evan Halper
There was spaghetti on the
stove at Fire Station 96 when
the loudspeaker crackled.
Right before dinner. Typical.
“Possible physical rescue,”
the dispatcher said. In firefight-
er-speak, it was a run-of-the-
mill call that gets the emergen-
cy response rolling, but usually
translates into little more than
a car wreck. The voice was cold,
detached — numb from the job,
perhaps, but also trained to
keep emotion at bay.
Los Angeles Fire Capt. Alan
Barrios, a brawny, soft-spoken
man and a father of three who
has been in the business for 32
of his 54 years, climbed aboard
his rig with two firefighters and
an engineer, his entire engine
company. Among Between the
four of them, they’d been on the
line for 77 years.
Four minutes after the call,
just before 4:30 p.m. Friday, they
pulled up to the Chatsworth
house where a resident had
called 911, at the end of Heather
Lee Lane. Barrios could see the
smoke now. He sprinted to the
back of the house and stared
through a chain-link fence. This
was no car wreck.
“We are on scene,” Barrios
barked into his radio. “We have
a train collision.”
The rescue effort that would
unfold from that moment would
involve hundreds of firefighters,
law enforcement officers and
others, and would shock the
senses of even the most hard-
ened veterans.
By Saturday, as the death
toll rose to 25, two parallel nar-
ratives had emerged from the
mangled cars.
There had been moments
of astonishing heroism. An
off-duty Los Angeles County
sheriff ’s deputy who himself
survived the crash helped nu-
merous victims get out, despite
a broken collar bone, a col-
lapsed lung, a puncture wound
in his thigh and a broken hand.
Deputy John Ebert, 54, a court
bailiff, was in critical but stable
condition Saturday evening.
There had been moments
of heartbreaking reality, too
— when rescue workers trying
[See Budget, Page 5]
 F

food
w e d n e s day, s e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / ta s t e

COOKBOOK WATCH

Time for
honey
and
holidays
to flow
Punctuate a Rosh
Hashana dinner with
intriguing dishes from
modern Israel.
Laurel Delp

Maybe the evolution of the

Israeli food scene over the last
25 years isn’t the first thing
that crosses your mind when
you think about contemporary
Israel. Maybe you’re not even
sure what Israeli cuisine is. But
if it piques your interest, espe-
cially in this week before Rosh
Hashana, the Jewish New Year,
there’s a new coffee-table-wor-
thy cookbook.
Janna Gur, founder and edi-
tor of a prestigious Israeli food
and wine magazine, Al Hashul-
chan Gastronomic Monthly,
has put together “The Book of
New Israeli Food,” a beautiful,
informative collection of pho-
tographs of Israeli life and food
along with recipes and a series
of essays by prominent Israeli
food writers on such topics as
cheese, wine, tahini, olive oil and
the rise of Israel’s fish-farming
industry in the wake of the col-
lapse of the eastern Mediterra-
nean’s fisheries. The book also Joshua Roberts For The Times
has sections on Israel’s Jewish ‘MADE IN SPAIN’ STAR: Jose Andres’ innovations include, top from left, shrimp cocktail, steamed buns with caviar, foie gras cotton candy.
and Islamic religious holidays

Tapas and high tech

and includes recipes for dishes
related to each.
Thanks to the diverse cul-
tures that have contributed to
Israel’s population, including
[See Cookbook, Page A29]

Chef Jose Andres, culinary conquistador, brings his vision to L.A.

By Betty Hallock >>> Jose Andres, always charming, is the life of the party at a soiree in the Hollywood Hills,
and guests are circling around him next to the infinity pool. Chef Andres is scooping caviar onto slices of jamon
iberico (ham from the black-footed pigs of Spain), rolling it up and placing it directly into their mouths. ¶ “I’m
feeding you one bite at a time,” Andres tells the small crowd. It’s a line he uses often. Who knew he meant it
literally? ¶ Andres, bright-blue-eyed and often dressed in an untucked button-down shirt and khakis or jeans,
has, with his restaurants, TV show and cookbooks, helped bring a Spanish culinary ¶ revolution to the U.S. in
the last 15 years — and he’s busier than ever feeding people. Says Sam Nazarian, the host of the party and chief
Joshua Roberts For The Times
executive of SBE, the company behind Andres’ coming L.A. restaurant: “I’ve had a harder time chasing Jose
Jose Andres’ innovations than chasing women.” ¶ Already chef-partner of seven restaurants in and around Washington, D.C., Andres has
include, top from left,
shrimp cocktail, steamed recently returned from the Canary Islands, where he taped the final episode of the second season of his PBS-aired
cooking show, “Made in Spain.” His third book, “Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen,” hits
the shelves in November, the month his L.A. restaurant — the Bazaar at the new SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills — is
Inspired expected to open. It’s an exuberant experiment in dining, located in the public space of the 11,500-square-foot
hotel lobby, with several whimsical dining areas: a cocktail bar and raw bar, a space featuring his tapas as well as
by a world cured meats and cheeses, a “patisserie” with a display kitchen and a roving “street food” cart. “Who needs one
more chef in one more building with four walls and a kitchen?” Andres asks. [See Andres, page 4]
of food
By going where the
flavors lead them,
L.A.’s storefront
innovators can really
mix things up.
C. Thi Nguyen

There are two kinds of fu-

sion cooking. The first kind is
self-conscious about its fusion;
it exists in order to cross bound-
aries. It loudly proclaims its
own eclecticism with emblem-
atic ingredients — you know,
like tuna sashimi tacos with
pomegranate-tahini sauce. It’s
theatrical fusion.
But in Southern Califor-
nia, there’s another kind of
fusion cooking. It’s happen-
ing in homes when someone
dips a tortilla chip into some
hummus, and it’s happening
in small neighborhood restau-
rants and cafes. It’s bringing
us mole made with pistachios, Shrimp Cocktail steamed buns with caviar foie gras cotton candy
soy milk infused with yerba Jose Andres’ innovations Jose Andres’ innovations Jose Andres’ innovations
mate, passion fruit-lavender
ice cream and samosas stuffed include, top from left, shrimp include, top from left, shrimp include, top from left, shrimp
with mozzarella.
This unselfconscious fusion
cocktail, steamed buns cocktail, steamed buns cocktail, steamed buns
[See Fusion, Page A29] with caviar, foie gras. with caviar, foie gras. with caviar, foie gras.
 F

health
w e d n e s day, s e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / h e a lt h

IN PRACTICE

A cardiac
arrest, a
career
altered
James Channing Shaw

Every day, in the course of

medical training, we are ex-
posed to situations that influ-
ence the way we turn out as doc-
tors. One profound interaction
with a patient, family or doctor
can be life-changing. This is the
story of one such experience
that made me a better doctor.
It begins with a cardiac arrest:
As senior medicine resi-
dent on call for the night, I was
responsible for two interns,
new admissions and all car-
diac arrests. The interns and I
each carried a little red pager
that went off with a sound of
screeching tires when a “code”
was called. There was no mis-
taking that sound.
It was 11 o’clock when the
beeper went off. I had been
examining a man on 4-South
whose kidneys had shut down.
It had been a busy night, and
many patients were still wait-
ing to be seen by the interns.
I looked at the extension
on the pager: 6-North. Surgery
floor. Some medical screw-up
by the surgeons, I thought at
first. I ran down the long corri-
dor to the north stairwell and
up two flights.
A cardinal rule when run-
ning to a “code” is: Slow down
and walk the final 50 yards,
catch your breath, clear your
head. As I passed the nurses’
station, the unit secretary
pointed to the patient’s room. I
asked about the patient’s code
[See Practice, Page F5]

With flu season

nearly here, the
push is on to curtail
outbreaks — and the
spread of disease.
The best place to
start appears to be
schoolchildren. Ken Hively Los Angeles Times
Interval training can be
worked into virtually any

Target: Kids
routine.

ASK A TRAINER

Pump the
heart rate
up, then

T
Shari Roan
he upcoming flu season could be the start of something big.
Not “big” as in the severity of flu. By all accounts, this year’s
Over 65? The
benefits of
down, up,
influenza vaccine should be more successful than last year’s only
partly effective one. And it’s too early to tell whether the flu this
vaccination
may be
down . . .
season will be especially widespread. less than By Jeannine Stein

We mean “big” in terms of a grand, new experiment in the na- advertised The words “interval train-
ing” can strike fear in the hearts
tion’s approach to preventing flu outbreaks — a push to vaccinate A dose of pneumococcal of even the most athletic men
vaccine may be a better and women. Alternating pe-
children, who are not only hospitalized at high rates because of the flu but appear to way to protect seniors riods of high-intensity work
with recovery may sound sim-
be efficient disease carriers as well. at risk of suffering ple enough, but those intense
Over the last decade, public health officials have been expanding the recommen- complications of flu bouts can leave the exerciser
Page 5
gasping for air.
dations on which age groups of children should get the flu shot. This year marks the It’s that intensity that ul-
timately reaps great benefits,
first time in history that flu vaccination is recommended for everyone age 18 and including strengthening the
younger, with the exception of infants 6 months old and younger. Still bugs to heart and improving the car-
diovascular system, which is
The main question is: Will parents go for it? work out why personal trainers tend to
Many parents distrust favor interval training. Higher
Although most adults have been included in flu vaccine recommendations for years exercise levels can be achieved
vaccination, and the
— and still are — the emphasis on stopping the spread of flu has clearly shifted from by upping the speed or the re-
chance of them getting sistance — think walking faster
reducing deaths in the elderly to stopping the spread of flu among kids. their kids immunized on a treadmill, increasing the
incline, or both.
Physicians hope that vaccinating kids en masse will not only spare thousands against the flu is slim.
Intervals can be done on car-
Then there is the dio equipment such as station-
of them from the aches and pains of flu, missed school days and hospitalizations,
inconvenience factor. ary bikes and elliptical trainers,
but also will hinder the spread of illness throughout the rest of society — parents, Page 5
and runners can toggle between
slower speeds and sprints.
grandparents, baby-sitters, neighbors, teachers, coaches, office workers, healthcare Strength-training circuit work-
personnel, bus drivers, and on and on. outs can even incorporate them
by adding full-body exercises.
“This is the concept of herd immunity,” [See Flu, Page F5] [See Trainer, Page F4]
 F

home
w e d n e s day, s e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / h o m e

Hot Property
Ann Brenoff

She’s up
for a new
address
G
oogling “Britney
Spears” just now
yielded 98,600,000
hits; googling
“President Bush,”
44,600,000. Makes you wonder
what’s wrong with this planet,
doesn’t it?
Nevertheless, here’s one
more contribution to Google:
Britney Spears — pop princess
or pop pariah — has listed her
Beverly Hills Post Office home
for $7.9 million.
The house is in a gated com-
munity and has six bedrooms
and 6 1/2 bathrooms in about
7,500 square feet. There’s a wet
bar, a library, a den, high cei-
lings and stone and mosaic tile
floors. The master bedroom
has a fireplace and a loggia.
Then there’s the pool, spa and
arbor.
It is being offered for sale
partly furnished and decora-
ted.
This is the house that
Spears was wrenched from in
January as part of a well-exe-
cuted LAPD plan to skirt the
Rocker’s
playground
Ringo H.W. Chiu Los Angeles Times

Dan Kitwood Getty Images

Britney Spears

paparazzi and have the singer

involuntarily committed to a
psychiatric ward at UCLA Me-
dical Center.
Neighbors are unlikely to
forget that winter night with
helicopters buzzing overhead
and more than 100 paparazzi,
who chase Spears for a living,
hovering at the gates.
Spears, whose every move
has been dutifully recorded
by paparazzi, the courts, her
fans and her detesters, was last
seen looking for a new place to
live in the Hidden Hills and Ca-
labasas areas. Definitely gated.
The midriff-baring 26-year-
old singer is planning a tour
— or so says her mother. May- Glam-girl urban
be her new neighbors won’t
have the same headaches that
parlor refuge
[See Property, Page F10] Anne Cusack Los Angeles Times Anne Cusack Los Angeles Times

LOFTY IDEAS
THE REALIST
IDEALIST

A clear
vision
for gray
water
New column looks
at sustainable home
improvement through
the eyes of a budget-
minded consumer.
Susan Carpenter
I was never more excited to
do laundry, and it wasn’t be-
cause my son and I were run-
ning out of clean underwear.
I had just installed a system
to divert gray water from my
washing machine to my xeri-
scaped frontyard, and I was
anxious about whether the $312
and two days I’d spent install-
ing it would pay off.
Considering all the money
and political squabbling that
goes into getting water to this
desert metropolis, it seems silly
not to recycle water once it’s
here. Especially now. Gov. Ar-
nold Schwarzenegger and L.A.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are
telling us to conserve, which I
do. I was still using 253 gallons
at my home each day, accord-
ing to my latest Department
of Water and Power bill. I just
wanted to use less, and recy-
[See Idealist, Page F9]
Virtually identical spaces, three different expressions of style
By Audry Davidow >>>It’s hardly the vision of classic loft living. No funky freight
elevators, no heroic climbs. No industrial neighbors and no industrial-strength ro-
dents. The Broadway Hollywood, a 1927 department store tower revamped into 96
loft-style condominiums, has taken the concept and given it some L.A. sparkle. ¶
Call it loft-living lite: fitness center, valet, even cabanas for lounging by the rooftop
pool. The black-and-white checkerboard floor in the lobby seems primed for Fred
and Ginger. The views are cinematic too — the Capital Records building, the Hol-
lywood sign and, oh, yes, that 15-story W Hotel and condominium complex being
built next door (a bit of the new Hollywood). ¶ For most residents, the location — on
the landmark corner of Hollywood and Vine — is a big part of the appeal. You can
stumble home from Geisha House without having to call a cab, and the packed sushi
joint Katsuya is downstairs. The prospect of daily toro binges can pose a hazard to
the waistline. ¶ “You know you’re in trouble when all of the waiters know you by Ken Hively Los Angeles Times
TOP: Dave Navarro’s red-light
name,” says voice-over actor Jonathan Cooke, who lives in the building. ¶ Trouble
district includes a platform bed
can come in less appetizing forms. In July, some Broadway owners filed a lawsuit in upholstered in a white vinyl
Los Angeles County Superior Court accusing the nearby nightclub S Bar of oper- called Spank.
Bottom left: Ivana
ating in an “unreasonably and unacceptably disruptive manner.” ¶ But others who
Milicevic went with playful
want loft-lite living seem willing to endure the nuisances and pay handsomely. One rugs, classic furniture covered
of the two-story, 2,000-square-foot penthouses was recently listed at nearly $1.8 in contemporary fabrics, and
accent pieces with Hollywood
million. Actors Danny Masterson and Charlize Theron own units in the building. sparkle.
The Broadway also has become home to Hollywood hopefuls, young residents bank- Bottom right: Jennifer
ing on this building to play a role in the comeback of the [ See Loft, page 8] Culp’s bedroom is a bohemian
chic sanctuary with John
Robshaw batik pillows,
coordinating ottomans and a
LOFTY DETAILS: Learn how Dave Navarro, Jennifer Culp and Ivan vintage lantern painted blue.
Milicevic, created personal, unique environments of their lofts. Page 8
 F

image
S u n day, s e p t e m b e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / i m a g e

Spring collections: Timeless elegance shines in Milan. 7

sty le p ro file 2 : : b e aut y 3 : : b est f o ot f orward 4 :: sh opping 8

SPLIT
ENDS
When superstar hairdresser Sally Hershberger
opened a new salon steps from the one where
she made her name, the stage was set for a
scissors-to-scissors battle for the town’s most
demanding clientele. Then the fur began to fly.

Photo Illustration by Ricardo DeAratanha Los Angeles Times


bcs-busted again
Trojans’ loss to Pac-10 underdog Beavers puts a dent in national aspirations
d e f l e c t e d g l o ry: Oregon State wide receiver James Rodgers gathers in a pass that had been tipped by USC cornerback Kevin Thomas in the
end zone with four seconds left in the first half. The three-yard touchdown gave the Beavers a 21-0 lead. Trojans safety Kevin Ellison trails the play.
Dodgers’ working title: best in the West
‘Relieved and ecstatic’ after clinching division despite
7-5 loss to Padres, the team knows job is far from done.
Dylan Hernandez
on the dodgers
Manny Ramirez walked
onto the field and took a mi-
crophone in his hand. Looking
up at the screaming crowd that
remained at Dodger Stadium,
he shouted, “What’s up, L.A.?
Mannywood!”
The way the Dodgers se-
cured their third postseason
berth in five years Thursday
was certainly unconventional,
but they didn’t let that take
away from their celebration.
That they lost their final
home game of the regular sea-
son to the San Diego Padres,
7-5, was inconsequential. They
were the champions of the Na-
T.J. Simers: Torre finally shows some emotion Page D2 | Sparks: Leslie scores 22 as Sparks take 2-0 lead Page D2
Sports
f r i d ay, s e p t e m b e r 2 6 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / s p o r t s
ore gon state 27, no . 1 u s c 2 1
tional League West.
Ramirez, who poured cham-
pagne on the fans in the box
seats behind the backstop, re-
treated to the clubhouse with
his uniform pants soaked in
red, remnants of a bucket of
Gatorade dumped on him by
Takashi Saito.
Casey Blake had an entire
chest of ice deposited on his
head. Clayton Kershaw, the
Dodgers’ 20-year-old left-hand-
er, was doubled over laughing,
covered in sparkling wine spit
onto his face by Hiroki Kuroda.
The party was moved to
the site of the final series of the
regular season, San Francisco,
with the rookies traveling in
costumes handed to them as
part of the club’s hazing ritual.
The Dodgers knew they were
postseason-bound long before
they took the field in front of the
sell-out crowd of 52,569 fans.
The division title was of-
ficially theirs by 2:32 p.m. Pa-
cific time, when the St. Louis
Cardinals completed their 12-3
thumping of the second-place
Arizona Diamondbacks to elim-
inate them from contention.
About half of the Dodgers
were already in the clubhouse
for the final out of the Diamond-
backs’ game, but their celebra-
[See Dodgers, Page D4]
latimes.com
/dodgers
Photo gallery of the division-
clinching celebration.
D
Gary Klein
reporting from corvallis, ore.
So much for the greatest
USC team ever.
Likewise for the best team of
the Pete Carroll era.
Top-ranked USC looked
anything but the part Thurs-
day night, falling behind Ore-
gon State by three touchdowns
in the first half then rallying
before falling short in a 27-21
defeat that put a serious crimp
in the Trojans’ national cham-
pionship plans.
A delirious crowd of 42,839
at Reser Stadium and a nation-
al television audience watched
Oregon State upset the Tro-
jans here for the second time in
three years.
“We weren’t ready to do what
we needed to do,” USC Coach
Pete Carroll said. “We felt like
we had great preparation, we
thought we did everything like
we needed to and then when
we’re out there it just didn’t feel
like it.”
USC (2-1) was thought to
have a mostly clear path to the
Bowl Championship Series
title game after dispatching
Virginia and Ohio State. Pa-
[See USC, Page D8]
USC can’t
figure what
happened
bi l l p l a s ch k e
from corvallis, ore.
Two years ago
USC could
blame a failed
two-point con-
version pass
attempt for its
confounding
and confusing
loss here to Or-
egon State.
On Thursday, there was no
single moment it could point
to as the reeling Trojans tried
to sort through the whys and
wherefores of their stunning
27-21 loss to the Beavers at
Reser Stadium, now affirmed
as their personal house of hor-
rors.
“I’ve been here before,” USC
quarterback Mark Sanchez
said, forcing a smile. “This
state ain’t too good to us.”
As fans ran through the
stands and onto the dewy
grass, ignoring the public ad-
dress announcer’s emotional
Carlos Chavez Los Angeles Times pleas to not “make fools of
yourselves on the national
[See Plaschke, Page D8]
Helene Elliott:
Dodgers’ clinching
is quiet, but there’s
plenty of noise later,
and maybe more to
come. A1
Bill Shaikin:
Laugh all you want
about the Dodgers
lucking into the
playoffs. They could
have the last laugh. 3
Angels 6, Seattle 4:
Guerrero’s two home
runs lift Angels to
99th win and closer
Carlos Chavez Los Angeles Times
b r e a k o u t t h e b u b b ly: Casey Blake and others cel- to clinching best
ebrate the Dodgers’ clinching of the NL West championship. record. 5
 D

Sports S u n d ay, j u ly 6 , 2 0 0 8 :: lat i m e s . c o m / spo r t s

Helene Elliott: Why Torre Ervin Santana: At 6-0, the

is loving life out West. 3 ace is looking way ahead. 7
lett e rs 2 : : n ba 3 : : n hl 4 : : day in sp o rts 6 : : auto racing 7 :: hor se racing 8

N B A P L AY O F F S
second round
Game 2: Utah at Lakers,
7:30 p.m. Wednesday (TNT)
Lakers lead best-of-seven series 1-0
Another
setback
Merrier May
A year ago, Bryant and the Lakers seemed headed for divorce.
for horse
racing
Today, he’s the MVP and they are title condenders once again. bi ll plasc h k e
from belmont, n.y.

On the Monday after,

mark heisler
when it should have
on the nba
been just the opposite,
from salt lake city
the sport of horse rac-
ing was riding low in
Bringing it all back home ... home? the saddle.
It’s almost 12 years since Kobe Bryant Saturday, at the
became a Laker and he’s been ours all grotto of the sport,
that time. a star named Big
Ours to dazzle, ours to try with his Brown was born into
youthful exuberance, ours to horrify public consciousness
as we watched his fall, ours to shock by storming down the homestretch,
as he threw the Lakers’ organization under the twin spires of Churchill
under the bus. Downs, and winning the Kentucky
Mostly he was ours to amaze as he Derby in dominating fashion.
lurched from crises of his own inven- It was what racing wanted, need-
tion to triumphs no one could have ed, lusts after. There hasn’t been a
imagined months before. Triple Crown winner since Affirmed
Of course, being Bryant, it would in 1978, and the projection of such a
be on to the next crisis, which even he star seems to be the sport’s perceived
looked like he couldn’t get out of this trampoline to growth.
time. . . . Big Brown started in the 20th hole,
Like this piece de resistance, going so far from the rail and from access
from last May’s days of rage to this to the shortest trip around the 1 1/4
Wednesday in May when Commis- -mile route that, despite obviously su-
sioner David Stern or one of his lieu- perior talents, many experts figured
tenants will hand him his first MVP a win was unlikely. When he powered
trophy. past the field to finish nearly five
How many of the fans who’ll be lengths in front, racing stood on top
chanting “MVP!” booed Bryant on of the mountain and shook its fists
opening night last fall? in joy.
However many there were, they Less than a minute later, the fists
will have been entitled in both cases. unclenched and the joy drained.
Given Bryant’s greatness and ded- Once again, at a key moment, in a
ication, this starry night is the way it high-profile race, a horse had broken
should have been all along . . . and the down. The story wasn’t victory and
way it still could be. glory now. It was death.
He was just emerging from Sha- Eight Belles, a filly who had run
quille O’Neal’s shadow when Shaq against 19 boys and beat all but one
was traded. Bryant got the blame, of them, collapsed about a quarter
although it was entirely mutual with of a mile past the finish line. She was
each ready to leave the other. almost at full stop when both ankles
As Bryant later acknowledged, suddenly fractured, one break pierc-
he thought he was going, too, to the ing the skin and opening up to the
Clippers. For years it looked as if likely contamination that brings the
[See Heisler, Page D10] decision to put the horse down. Which
is what happened.
By Monday, racing was sitting on
latimes.com a folding chair in a windowless room
/lakers with flood lights glaring down. In-
See how Kobe Bryant’s recent season stead of celebration, it got inquisition.
compares with years past. The questions came fast and furi-
ous, anyway. The answers are more
elusive.

Lakers seek
What’s wrong with thoroughbred
breeding that so many great ones
break down? Barbaro did so two years
ago in the Preakness, then George

way to hop Washington in last year’s Breeders’

Cup. And who can forget, no matter
the passage of time, the agony of Ruf-

on boards
fian and Go For Wand, limbs dangling
grotesquely?
Should fillies be allowed to race
against colts? Is there a gender-re-
lated physical flaw?
Is the pressure of a Triple Crown,
Rebounding and defending with the three most important races
of their lives spread over only five
remain issues against Utah weeks, simply too much physically for
despite Game 1 win. a 3-year-old to handle?
And what about jockeys whipping
horses down the stretch?
Mike Bresnahan Nicole Matthews, a spokeswoman
on the lakers for PETA, the animal rights group,
reporting from salt lake city [See Dwyre, Page D7]

The questions bounced around the

practice facility as if the Lakers actu-
ally lost Game 1 against Utah.
Why can’t they rebound? Are they
physical enough to win a best-of-seven
series against Utah? Will Kobe Bryant
need to get to the line 20 times every
game to keep his team in the series?
So many questions a day after the
Lakers’ 109-98 series-opening victory,
some of them valid after the Lak-
ers lost most of a 19-point lead and
were thoroughly overwhelmed on the
boards, 58-41.
“We definitely have to match that
physicality,” Pau Gasol said. “They
can’t feel that they can overpower us
or take advantage of us on the offen-
sive boards.”
Utah wasn’t a great rebounding
team during the regular season, fin-
ishing 24th in the league, but the Jazz
looked like a team of Dennis Rodmans Carlos Chavez Los Angeles Times
against the Lakers. Carlos Chavez Los Angeles Times An animal rights group is calling for
Well, sort of. is everybody happy? Kobe Bryant critized the Lakers after an early playoff exit last May and de- the suspension of Gabriel Saez, who
[See Lakers, Page D10] manded a trade. Wednesday he’ll receive his first league MVP award. rode ill-fated Eight Belles, behind
winner Big Brown, at the Derby.

Game 2: Five keys to the Lakers taking a commanding 2-0 series lead against Utah. 8
latimes.com
Hornets: New Orleans takes 2-0 series lead with 118-105 win against San Antonio. 9 /horseracing
Big Brown photo gallery with com-
Pistons: Detroit cruises, takes 2-0 series lead with 100-93 win against Orlando. 10 ments from jockeys and trainers.

business
Real Estate: Hollywood condos for the young and hip. 12
l e tt ers 2 :: personal finance 3 : : m o n e y ta l k 3 : : m a r k et roun dup 5 :: mortgage rate s 6 :: s outhland home p rice s 14
Fair is fair,
but exec
perks aren’t
david lazarus
Popularity often is the
kiss of death for an
investment. When too
much money chases
the same thing, that
thing usually is on a
fast track to becoming
overvalued and, ulti-
mately, a lousy invest-
ment.
Yet some of the nation’s largest
mutual funds have generated great
returns for their investors in recent
years even as a massive wave of fresh
cash has poured in.
These funds, managed by firms
including American Funds, Dodge
& Cox, Fidelity Investments and
Davis Funds, have gone from big to
much bigger, while still in many cases
outperforming smaller funds that in
theory ought to be more nimble. Case
in point: Growth Fund of America,
part of the Los Angeles-based Ameri-
can Funds group, has swelled from
$36 billion in assets in 2002 to about
$160 billion now, becoming by far the
largest stock fund.
Despite that torrent of new money,
Growth Fund last year earned a total
return of 10.9%, 4 percentage points
better than the average fund that
focuses on large-company growth
stocks, according to research firm
Morningstar Inc.
Over the last five years, Growth
Fund’s average annualized return was
8%, compared with 2.9% for the typi-
cal fund in its category. It also beat
the blue-chip Standard & Poor’s 500
index, which was up 6.2% a year.
[See Lazarus, Page C4]
C
S u n day, s e p t e mb e r 2 5 , 2 0 0 8 :: l at i m e s . c o m / b u s i n e s s
Jon Krause For The Times
exe cutive pay r e p o rt
reversal
The biggest losers
These chief executives suffered the
sharpest cuts in total pay last year
among the leaders of California’s 100
largest firsm. Pay is the sum of salary
of Fortune
and bonus plus the value of stock, op-
tions and perks. Figures in millions:
Angelo
Mozillo
Countrywide
For the first time in decades, executive paychecks
Financial
got smaller in 2007. Not small, mind you, but a 10 percent 2006: $48.1
average cut — a trend that was mirrored nationwide, 2007: $10.8 -77.5%
thanks to increasing investor activism. Ronald
Havner Jr.
T
Kathy Kristof
Public
Storage
he year was a financial triumph for the U.S. hotel business,
marking a full recovery from the deep economic pain that 2006: $7.7
wracked the industry after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist at- 2007: $2.5 -68.8%
tacks. ¶ With cash-flush business and leisure travelers back
on the road in great numbers, hotel operators have been able
to upgrade their properties and raise their nightly rates. In-
Michael
Perry
vestors were eager to get in on the actiy has long reflected its
market. ¶ But very few of the buyers are people of colors. Indeed, the indus- Indy Mac
Bancorp
try has long reflected its Coy has long reflected its Con ntinental roots, with
most upscale propst le French word “hotelier.” ¶ With cash-flush business 2006: $4.0
and leisure travelers back on the road in great numbers, hotel operators have 2007: $1.4 -64.8%
been able to upgrade their properties and raise their nightly rates. Investors
were eager to get in on the actiy has long reflected its market. ¶ But very
R. Chad
fewpscale propst le French woistor ically it’s been very [See Pay, Page C3]
Dreier
The top 100 The perks Face off Ryland
Group
Text in here to mondo Text in here to mondo Text in here to mondo
chart inside, maybe listing chart inside, maybe listing chart inside, maybe listing 2006: $31.4
the top one or two overall the top one or two overall the top one or two overall
right in hme here. CXX right in ome here. CXX right in heme here. CXX 2007: $14.3 -54.6%