SoCal Grocery Stores Reach Deal with United Food and Commercial Workers

At LAT, "Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, union reach labor deal, avert strike."

Apparently, both sides realized a strike would be devastating, as this earlier LAT report indicated, "In the event of a walkout, the chains' competition would be the big winners":

Today, Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have fewer stores in Southern California, and fewer employees. Albertsons has closed 67 locations since the 2003-04 strike and worker lockout. Ralphs has closed 48 stores, and Vons and Pavilions are down 47.

The competition is filling the gap. Unified Grocers, which represents at least 526 stores owned by independent chains, controls 12.1% of the grocery market in Southern California and Las Vegas, according to research by the Shelby Report, a grocery industry publication.

Trader Joe's, with 106 stores, has 5.4% of the market. Smart & Final, Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Whole Foods combined control another 5.4%, according to the report.

Although these companies all target different consumers, they have one thing in common: They are, for the most part, non-union shops. And like the airline and auto industries, the three big unionized retailers all have legacy health, pension and payroll costs that put them at an economic disadvantage.

Smaller chains can also tailor individual stores to the tastes of the neighborhood.

For independent grocer Jax Markets in Anaheim, that means packaging meat in smaller containers and wooing customers with personalized service. The four-store chain caters to predominantly Latino shoppers. A number of its customers don't have cars, so the grocer offers a free shuttle service for anyone who lives within a five-mile radius of a store and is willing to spend a minimum of $30 in their trip to the grocery store.

"When the gas prices were going up, I wondered, 'Is it really worth it?' But it is," said W. Bill MacAloney, chief executive of Jax Markets. "People are shopping around, and that gives us an opportunity. So we need to do what we can to help our customers."

Serving ethnic shoppers can go beyond carrying brands they like. A number of economic factors persuaded Vons to close one of its locations in a working-class Latino neighborhood of Long Beach. Superior Grocers snapped up the outlet in 2003, before the strike, and transformed it into a mid-size store with bargain-priced produce and fast-moving register lines.

On a recent Monday afternoon, a mostly Latino crowd jammed the produce section, plucking up bags of mangoes the size of softballs for 99 cents each. Customers reached for fresh tortillas made in the store, freshly baked French rolls and loaves of Mexican sweet bread. Flat-panel TVs played Spanish-language news clips. On the overhead speakers, daily specials rang out in English and Spanish.

Four miles to the southeast, in the upscale Belmont Shore neighborhood, Vons operates one of its smaller specialty stores, known as the Market by Vons. Sparkling clean and quiet as a library, the store features a bounty of wine and a limited produce selection. Mangoes there cost $1 more than at Superior Grocers and were half the size.

"I love this Vons, but I don't shop here all the time," said Patty Barnett, 38, an artist who lives in downtown Long Beach. "I shop where there are sales."

At Philippe's

I visited Pajamas Media Editor David Swindle yesterday in Los Angeles. Here we are out across the street from Philippe's, where we enjoyed a wonderful meal. David moved over to Pajamas Media after NewsReal Blog closed down at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He's got some exciting plans for Pajamas. David's encouraging me to start publishing my work there again.

The last time I was at Philippe's was April, 2010, when I spent a day at the Los Angeles County Museum of art.

FYF Festival

Off! is playing.



See L.A. Weekly, "FYF Preview: Keith Morris of OFF! Speaks on Friends and Foes."

And at LAT, "FYF addresses last year's problems so it can focus on the music."

'Don't You (Forget About Me)'

Listened to Simple Minds during yesterday's drive time, on The Sound LA:

8:25 - Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac



8:29 - Don't Stop Believin' by Journey



8:33 - Don't Take Me Alive by Steely Dan



8:44 - Don't Tell Me You Love Me by Night Ranger



8:48 - Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds



8:53 - Don't You Worry 'bout A Thing by Stevie Wonder

I'll have more blogging tonight:

Nude Video: Free Clothes in Santa Monica

Really.



At LA Weekly, "Nude Pandemonium on Streets of Santa Monica For Desigual Clothing Giveaway."

More video at the link.



Also at LAist, "Undies-Clad Shoppers Line Up for Free Clothing Event in Santa Monica."

'For All We Know'

If you clicked through at the Sheri Donovan interview the other day, recall she confesses that she's got The Carpenters on her iPod, but "don't worry, I won't play them on The Sound."



Actually, I wouldn't mind hearing The Carpenters once in a while. I had a crush on Karen Carpenter when I was a kid:

'A Million Miles Away'

From Sheri Donovan, at The Sound LA, "Sheri's iPod Pick o' The Day":

And previously, from May 2009: "And There Was Nothing Left to Bring Me Back..."



RELATED: At OC Register, "A ‘Sound’ move: Sheri Donovan joins Larry Morgan on 100.3."

Pianist Yuja Wang's Sexy Dress Rocks the Hollywood Bowl

Except she wasn't there to rock the house.



At LAT, "Classical gasp: Yuja Wang's dress at the Bowl causes a crescendo":

Pianist Yuja Wang struck a chord at the Hollywood Bowl this month and not just with her performance of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. The 24-year-old Chinese soloist had necks craning, tongues wagging and flashbulbs popping when she walked on wearing an orange, thigh-grazing, body-hugging dress atop sparkly gold strappy stiletto sandals.



In particular, Wang's outfit was a hot topic at the concert and continued after Times music critic Mark Swed's review appeared in print and online. While Swed praised her delicacy, speed and grace at the piano, his fashion comments — including the observation: "Her dress Tuesday was so short and tight that had there been any less of it, the Bowl might have been forced to restrict admission to any music lover under 18 not accompanied by an adult" — have touched off a spirited debate among music critics and bloggers about what constitutes appropriate concert attire and conversely, whether a critique of a performer's clothes has any place in a music review.



It should be noted that while the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a very specific dress code for members of its orchestra (several ones, actually, depending on the time of day and season), it does not apply to soloists. They, according to an L.A. Phil representative, are informed what the orchestra will be wearing and can choose whatever they feel is most appropriate. "For women that's traditionally an evening gown," the rep said, "but that's not always the case."

God, that staid. Bunch of poofters.



More pics at the link. (And Cameron Carpenter's cool.)

'The Tea Party Can Go Straight to Hell'

Rep. Maxine Waters announces her post-civility tour:

Northrop Grumman Bails Out of Los Angeles, Ending Headquartered Relationship Dating From 1939

At Los Angeles Times, "Northrop execs bail out of L.A., but the firm is still grounded in the region":

Northrop Grumman Corp., the last big-name aerospace company headquartered in Southern California, is headed out of town this week.



The nation's second-largest military contractor, founded in 1939 by visionary aircraft designer Jack Northrop, is officially moving its main office to Falls Church, Va., on Monday. It is a milestone for the corporation that along the way absorbed big names like TRW Inc., Litton Industries Inc., Westinghouse Electronic Systems and Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical.



Today, the company is an industry giant with about $35 billion in annual sales, building such things as sophisticated satellites, high-flying spy drones and the ghostly B-2 stealth bomber. While 300 members of its corporate staff departs, it still will have about 30,000 jobs in the Southland and remain one of the region's largest private employers.





The company joins an exodus of military companies — including Lockheed Martin Corp., Science Applications International Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. — that have abandoned the Southland since the mid-1990s in favor of headquarters nestled nearer to decision makers in Washington.



"This is an important move for the company, and it's one that we believe will improve the effectiveness in serving the nation and our customers," said Northrop Chief Executive Wesley G. Bush in announcing the decision to move the company back in January 2010. "The proximity to Washington enables us to be a more integrated part of the federal process."

More at that top link.

London Riots Make Front Page at Los Angeles Times

Yesterday's cover at the Los Angeles Times was a register of global social breakdown. At the left-hand side, "London Looks Inward, Lashes Out":

Facing a storm of criticism for remaining on vacation while his city burned, London Mayor Boris Johnson returned Tuesday to tour Clapham, a well-off south London neighborhood that was one of many stunned by three nights of hopscotching riots that left one man dead and littered the urban landscape with hundreds of damaged businesses and residences.



The shaggy-haired conservative was greeted by crowds of furious store owners asking where police were as their livelihoods were destroyed.



"I felt ashamed," he said after viewing the damage, "that people could feel such disdain for their neighborhoods."



Community leaders, sociologists, police and lawmakers were left groping for a meaning for the worst social unrest to hit London in a generation. The riots laid bare a phenomenon that has stirred deep unease in Britain in recent years: "yobbery," the anti-social behavior of a generation believed to be so alienated from the norms of civilized society that pockets of some cities live in fear.

Also at the paper, upper right, "Divided Fed Has Surprise for Markets." And then below that, "Angst on Main Street Threatens Recovery."



And at bottom is a story about long-shot GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger, "No Illusions, Just a Message for Gays":

Karger finally came out to his parents in 1991, after nursing a friend who died of AIDS. They accepted him, Karger says, but never seemed entirely comfortable. So he kept closeted, which was also better for business. Although he told his business partners — "it wasn't a surprise, and didn't change who or what he was," says one, Lee Stitzenberger — maintaining his secret kept Karger's sexuality from becoming a campaign issue.



When his parents died and he retired, Karger finally came out publicly. It was 2006 and he was 56 years old.



There was no grand announcement. He simply took a lead role in the unsuccessful campaign to save a Laguna Beach gay bar, the Boom Boom Room. Three years later, he founded Californians Against Hate to oppose Proposition 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage, and used his expertise to expose secret funding of the measure by the Mormon Church.



To some extent, his presidential campaign is an extension of that effort. By nudging Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner and a prominent Mormon — preferably on stage, in front of a national TV audience — Karger would like to stop the church crusade against same-sex marriage. In his view, Romney could make that happen with a phone call.



Romney's feelings are unknown. His campaign declined to comment.

Karger might be a nice guy personally, but he's aligning himself with the progressive hate industry. And the Times is wrong on Mitt Romney. Romney recently "came out" and signed onto the pledge from the National Organization for Marriage to oppose gay marriage.



And last but not least, the one piece of front-page news that reflects the flip side of social decay, "Outlines of Downtown Stadium Deal Approved." There's a cool little graphic as well. We were just down there for X-Games and I was really impressed with the upbeat climate around Staples Center. That graphic looks like the stadium would be kinda crammed in there tight, although I'd have to spend more time downtown and get familiar with the area. The main thing though is that it would likely bring NFL football back to L.A., and needed jobs and civic vitality to go with it. That's the reverse of the social breakdown that seems to be breaking out everywhere these days.

VIDEO Flashback: Armed Korean Grocers Defend Property During 1992 Los Angeles Riots

Via Legal Insurrection, "London Rioters Ran Rampant Over Disarmed Populace."



Click here to go straight to the video.



That's Crenshaw Boulevard and 59th Street, which was the epicenter of the rioting. And checking Wikipedia's entry:

Koreatown experienced the hardest crime and destruction of the ordeal. Hundreds of Korean owned businesses were looted, damaged or burnt down and an unknown number of Koreans physically attacked. By the second day of rioting, the LAPD and County Sheriff had been overpowered by the number of rioters forcing the departments to pull all units from patrol. As violent rioters next turned its attention to firefighters, the LAFD also recalled their teams. This left unchecked crime and fires which quickly expanded. The Korean American community, seeing the police force's abandonment of Koreatown, organized gun-wielding groups to protect businesses and area residents. Open gun battles were televised live as shopkeepers defended their business from the crowds of violent looters.

Commenters at my blog and elsewhere have stressed the absence of citizens' gun rights in Britain. And the National Post reports now that Londoners are looking to self-defense after the police proved worthless in defending life and property: "Groups of Londoners vow to take law into their own hands." Check that essay. British authorities are worried that "vigilante" violence could get out of control. Right. That's after half the city burned down. An armed society is a polite society. See also, "The government’s duty is to protect law and order, not rioters."

Red Hot Chili Peppers Are Back

At Los Angeles Times, "A new beginning for the Chili Peppers: After a rough patch, the veteran L.A. band is back with a new guitarist and a new album due out this month."