Richard Holbrooke, Sparky Anderson, Elaine Kaufman... many notable figures died this year. With them, a number of others left us - the creator of Gumby, Teddy Pendergrass, and Lady Bird Johnson's speechwriter Liz Carpenter. Plus, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates. Steve Proffitt looks back on the deaths of lesser-known figures from 2010. Who will you miss most?
How to get your children to stop complaining and start entertaining themselves? Author Betsy Brown Braun says overscheduling is the scourge of parenting. Rushing to a slew of activities prevents kids from having contemplative time. Activities are great, but children must also learn to make choices.
Between lugging bags from terminal to terminal and the long security line - not to mention new enhanced screening techniques - who has anything good to say about airports? Author Alain de Botton, for one. He loves airports so much he ripped a page out of the script of the 2004 film The Terminal and spent a week living in London's Heathrow Airport.
Take a stroll down LA's avenue of architecture with Charles Phoenix, the self-proclaimed Ambassador of Americana. From a former garment factory that's been converted into loft spaces to an abandoned bank lobby dripping with bronze and marble and big enough to house a roller rink, Steve Proffitt wanders through Downtown history.
Thirty years ago the paths of James Ventrillo and Nancy Rigg literally crossed at the Los Angeles River. Neither would be the same again.
It was 1980. Nancy and her fiancé, Earl Higgins, were taking a walk across a footbridge that spanned the river. It had been the first clear day after a series of violent rain storms. The river was high and moving fast – a rare sight in L.A. They stopped to look at the water and saw – to their horror – a young boy had just fallen in. Earl ran to the water’s edge and tried to save him. He did, but was pulled in, too. Earl wasn’t able to save himself. No one else could, either.
