Author: Shelby Grad

Southern California was rocked by another strong aftershock from the Mexicali earthquake.

The 5.3 earthquake struck about 32 miles south of Mexicali at about 9:44 a.m. It was one of hundreds of aftershocks that have occurred since Sunday’s temblor.

The quake was felt in Orange, San Diego and Los Angeles counties as well as the Inland Empire. No damage has been reported.

Most of the aftershocks have been minor — in the 3 magnitude or less.
But there have been a handful of aftershocks that registered more than 5.0, and
dozens in the 4 range, according
to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The death toll from Sunday’s quake stands at two. More
than 230 people were injured. The quake, centered about 30 miles south
of the border, caused 45 buildings in Baja California to collapse or
partly collapse, authorities said.

— Shelby Grad

Professional boxing will be allowed in Glendale under a plan approved by the City Council.



Boxing
was banned 62 years ago under the pretext that the matches would have
an “unwholesome” impact on the city. But local boxing promoter Kahren
Harutyunyan last year successfully lobbied the City Council for a test
run. His company, Art of Boxing Productions, hosted two events at the
Glendale Civic Auditorium, generating $19,342 for the venue.



Harutyunyan on Wednesday said he was glad he had the chance to demonstrate that boxing could be beneficial to the city.



“I am extremely satisfied, happy and proud with the entire process,” he said.

Other
pro fighting events, such as mixed-martial arts and kick-boxing, are still banned
under the revised ordinance, and officials made it clear that they
would continue to closely monitor planned matches.



Councilman
Frank Quintero said several measures, including physical examinations,
are taken to ensure the boxers are safe during their bouts.

“It’s sanctioned,” he said. “It’s licensed and it’s controlled. It’s not just a street fight.”

Read the full story here.

— Veronica Rocha in the Glendale News-Press

A California lawmaker is calling for the state attorney general to investigate the circumstances surrounding Sarah Palin’s upcoming appearance at a state university.

Palin is scheduled to appear at Cal State Stanislaus’ 50th anniversary gala on June 25 — a fundraiser that has stoked controversy.

State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) on Wednesday accused Cal State Stanislaus officials of violating the public trust by failing to disclose documents about the event. He has asked Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate.

Yee and the nonprofit group Californians Aware filed public-records requests with the university last week, seeking documents relating to Palin’s appearance, particularly how much she is being paid. 

A campus official said there were no such documents, but Yee’s office acquired a March 29 e-mail about the Palin appearance sent by a university vice president, which Yee said should have been disclosed. 

The university responded Wednesday that it did not provide the e-mail because it was circulated to faculty and staff and the public-records request excluded documents prepared for public release.

— Carla Rivera

Photo: Sarah Palin. Credit: Associated Press

Birthrates in California began to drop in 2008, in what experts say is a response to the recession. The downward trend of California’s birthrate mirrored that of many other states, experts found.

A Pew Research Center analysis released Wednesday found that the number of California babies born in 2008 dropped to 551,000, down from 566,000 babies born in the state in 2007.

This signified a 2.8% dip in the birthrate, the third largest decline of any state other than Arizona and Mississippi.
In the same time period, California’s per capita income decreased from $44,880 to $43,641, according to the study.

In the previous year, the state’s housing prices decreased by more than 2%, the largest drop in the country, researchers said.
Researchers found that the data is telling of a link between birthrates and the souring economy.

“We wanted to see whether there was some kind of link for the most recent recession,” said D’Vera Cohn, the study’s senior writer. “We looked at the decision to get pregnant and took a look at what is going on in the economy to affect that decision.”

Indeed, Arizona’s birthrate, which saw the largest decline in the country in 2008, reflected its weakened economic picture. The state had a decrease in income between 2006 and 2007, and housing prices that increased only 1.7% in the same time period.

Researchers cited an October 2009 Pew Research Center survey, which found that 14% of Americans ages 18 to 34, and 8% of those ages 35 to 44 say they postponed having a child because of the recession.
In the past, birthrates have roughly reflected the nation’s economic booms and busts, Cohn said.

— My-Thuan Tran

Photo: L.A. Times file

It’s not uncommon for motorists who use Orange County’s toll lanes without a Fastrak transponder to get a bill in the mail from the toll road agency.

But $26,000?

According to the agency, a top official for the Newport Beach Fire Department, Paul Matheis, racked up more than $26,000 in
fines and penalties over a two-year period by using toll roads.

The agency sent a
letter to Matheis and the city  notifying them about the fines, said the toll road agency’s spokeswoman, Lisa Telles.

Toll road violators are identified by cameras that take a
picture of the vehicle’s license plates, she said.





Matheis paid
the fines personally and the issue is resolved from the agency’s side,
said Newport Beach city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan. 

However, the city is now
investigating whether Matheis was using the Chevy Tahoe in compliance
with city policy, Finnigan told the Daily Pilot.

Matheis, the Fire
Department’s Training Division chief, had been using the toll roads to
commute in his city-issued vehicle, said Telles.

Read the full story here.

— Joseph Serna

Photo: Orange County toll road. L.A. Times file

Some Newport Beach fishermen claim the city’s efforts to keep the beach clean are killing off the grunion.

Verna Fath
and other anglers said the small, silvery fish aren’t plentiful as in year’s last. During the grunion spawning season in
spring and summer, they’ve seen the city’s tractor-like beach
cleaners plow through low-tide areas near Balboa Pier, churning up
fish eggs.

“I can understand wanting to make the beach look nice, but not at this cost,” Fath told the Daily Pilot.

City officials deny these claims and say they never
use the city’s heavy-duty beach-cleaning equipment in the wet sand,
where grunion wash up on the beach and lay their eggs at night during high tides.

Although it’s illegal for anglers to catch the
grunion with a line, it doesn’t stop the fish from nibbling on Fath’s
snag line, she said. She’s become adept over the years in knowing when
the grunion are biting and when they’re not.

Newport’s
General Services Director Mark Harmon said Tuesday that the city
consults with a marine biologist from Pepperdine University on when
grunion are spawning in the area. City workers are instructed never to use the
city’s beach cleaners in wet sand, where grunion might lay their eggs.

The
city uses large tractors that each have a plow-like device attached to
them that sifts and churns the sand to scoop up things such as cigarette
butts and shards of broken glass.

Read the full story here.

— Brianna Bailey

Photo: Daily Pilot

Prosecutors have filed a murder charge against a driver accused of striking down and killing a 13-year-old Malibu girl this weekend.

The driver, Sina Khankhanian, 26, was charged with one count of murder and an allegation that he used a deadly weapon, an
automobile.

Emily Rose Shane had just left a friend’s home about 5 p.m. Saturday
and was walking north on the right side of Pacific Coast Highway near
Kanan Dume Road when she was struck by a blue Mitsubishi Lancer, the
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The vehicle then ran into
an power pole and flipped over.

Khankhanian, of Winnetka, was detained at the scene and later booked
on the murder count at the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff’s station. Authorities
determined that Khankhanian may have deliberately crashed his vehicle.
They do not believe he intended to hit Emily.

Anyone
who saw the vehicle before the crash or saw the incident is asked to
call the Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500. 

–Corina Knoll

Authorities in Santa Barbara County aim to deflate Floatopia, a
mega-party set for Saturday that has exploded over the last few years
with the aid of social media websites.

Officials told county supervisors Tuesday that they plan to close
access points to popular beaches in Isla Vista, near UC Santa Barbara,
this weekend. Last year, as many as 12,000 revelers converged on the
narrow strip of sand in a day of what county parks director Dan
Hernandez called "unmitigated chaos."





Deputies handed out 78 citations for alcohol-related crimes and made 13
arrests, Sheriff Bill Brown said. Thirty-three participants required
hospital treatment for alcohol poisoning, heat exposure and cuts from
broken bottles. Two of them toppled off the bluffs that border the
beach.

Started about five years ago with several hundred people drinking just
offshore on rubber rafts and inner tubes, the celebration has been a
barely planned rite of spring, with no formal sponsor, security
measures or provisions for emergency aid. It has inspired similar
events, most notably in San Diego.

In Santa Barbara, the 2009 edition was bigger — and, to county
officials, more environmentally damaging — than before: "Without
restroom facilities, many attendees simply used the ocean, creating a
large concentration of human waste that threatened sea life," according
to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department.

Read the full story here.

–Steve Chawkins

Photo: Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department

A Ventura County firefighter underwent five hours of surgery at UCLA Medical Center after suffering a serious eye injury while fighting a house fire in Thousand Oaks.

Paul Torres, 36, was hurt when ammunition stored inside the home went off during the blaze. Doctors at UCLA worked to save the vision in Torres’ right eye, said Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Ron Oatman.

Doctors were guardedly optimistic that the operation was a success, but it’s too early to know the degree to which the injury will effect his vision, officials said.

Family, friends and Fire Department colleagues have been holding vigil at UCLA.

Torres was one of several firefighters to respond to a house fire the erupted Monday afternoon on Laurelwood Court. According to the Fire Department, the fire caused propane canisters and hundreds of rounds of ammunition to explode. Some of that material hit Torres.

–Shelby Grad

Photo: Ventura County Fire Department

.

The recent increase in the number of killings in Los Angeles continued last week.

Over the last several days, the city experienced 12 more homicides, raising the number of killings this year to 82, according to Los Angeles Police Department  figures. That is four more killings than during the same period last year, a 5% increase.

Deadly violence has been on the rise in recent weeks, steadily erasing the gains made during the relatively quiet start to 2010, when the LAPD posted double-digit declines in the homicide rate. More than a third of all the killings so far this year have occurred in the last three weeks, according to LAPD figures.

Although it is not uncommon for the homicide rate to spike at times, the dramatic increase has LAPD detectives beginning to wonder quietly if the recent numbers represent a temporary uptick or the beginning of a more prolonged rise. 

In his weekly crime update to the civilian board that oversees the department, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said the department was continuing to concentrate detectives and officers in the areas bearing the brunt of the violence. He said, however, that the city’s on-going budget crisis is making it increasingly  difficult for the department to handle such demands.

Because there is little money available to pay officers overtime, Beck has instituted a policy requiring cops instead to take time off as compensation. The result has been a significant decrease in the number of cops available for duty.

Overall violent crime in the city, including rapes and robberies, is down almost 10% compared to the same period last year, figures show. Property crimes, such as burglaries and auto thefts, are down a similar amount.

–Joel Rubin at LAPD headquarters

Photo: Police respond to restaurant shooting in Valley Village that left four people dead. KTLA News

Cardinal Roger Mahony on Tuesday introduced Los Angeles to his successor, San Antonio Archbishop Jose Gomez, saying Gomez would be an advocate for the city’s vast immigrant community as well as the less fortunate.

"Over the years he has been a most effective leader working with priests serving the Spanish-speaking communities across the country, and his leadership in proclaiming the dignity and rights of our immigrant peoples has helped motivate many people to advocate for our immigrants," Mahony said.

Gomez voiced his unequivocal support for immigration reform and said he
wholeheartedly supported Mahony’s advocacy for immigrant rights.

Gomez spoke of his joy of coming to Los Angeles, which he said “like no other city in the world, has the global face of the Catholic Church.”

He recalled how immediately after he was told about his new appointment, “the first thing I saw was a painting of our Lady of Guadalupe in the hallway.

“I felt her love and protection. To Mary of Guadalupe, I would like to entrust my new ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.”

He invited everyone to “thank God for our diversity and to commit ourselves to things that unite us,” which he explained were “our service to Jesus, the poor, the defense of the unborn child, the immigrant and the disabled.”

Gomez, who was warm and funny in his interaction with reporters, said he had not spent much time in Los Angeles.

“I need to learn about it,” he said. “I don’t know too much about it.”

Mahony, who spoke first, stressed to the pope about the importance of having a Hispanic archbishop. He noted that Los Angeles has the largest Spanish-speaking diocese in the U.S. and the fourth-largest in the world.

He said that is the real story today.

He said Gomez’s appointment sends a signal around the world that the church supports Spanish-speaking Catholics.

“I was so grateful to God for this gift of a Hispanic archbishop,” he said.

“I welcome Archbishop Gomez to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with enthusiasm and personal excitement,” Mahony said. “During the process to select a new Archbishop, I urged that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles deserved to have a Hispanic as the next Archbishop. Los Angeles is the largest Hispanic Diocese or Archdiocese in the United States.”

Gomez, 58, has risen rapidly through the Catholic church and earned a
national reputation.

In replacing Mahony, Gomez would instantly become
the most prominent Latino bishop in the U.S., leading an
archdiocese that by far is the nation’s largest and is dominated by
parishioners with roots in his native Mexico.

If his personal history is any guide, he also could be expected to guide
the Los Angeles church along a more traditional — some would say
conservative — path than Mahony, known as one of the most progressive
archbishops in the country and an impassioned fighter for immigrants’
rights.

Gomez is a
former member of Opus Dei, a conservative and controversial Catholic
organization (known to most Americans because of its unflattering role
in “The DaVinci Code,” which Opus Dei leaders denounced as misleading
and offensive).

Mahony addressed that issue in his statement Tuesday morning: “Some may conclude that since Archbishop Gomez was ordained a priest of Opus Dei he must be ‘conservative.’ In fact, these labels of ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ are really unhelpful in the life of the Church. We are all called to a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, and I can attest that both of us share a common commitment to Christ and to the Church, and that both of us are interested in promoting the teachings of the Church fully as well as bringing the words and example of Christ to today’s society and world. I consider ourselves to share an equal commitment to the continued growth of the Church here in Los Angeles.”

Gomez built a reputation in San Antonio as a staunch
traditionalist who reversed some of the more liberal-leaning
initiatives of his predecessor. According to local news reports, he
disbanded a Justice and Peace Commission whose members disagreed with
his support for a state constitutional amendment barring gay marriage,
and he once denounced a local Catholic college for hosting
then-presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, an advocate of abortion
rights.

Since taking over the San Antonio archdiocese in 2005, Gomez has pleased
some members of the community with his strong anti-abortion stance and
his insistence on traditional church doctrine, while alienating others
who favor a more progressive approach, according to the San Antonio
Express-News.

— Mitchell Landsberg and Jessica Garrison at Our Lady of Angels
Cathedral 

Photo: Archbishop-elect Jose H. Gomez in 2005. Credit: Eric Gay / Associated Press

RELATED

Times coverage on Jose Gomez

Share your thoughts on Gomez’s appointment: Will Mahony successor press for real priest abuse reform?

Richard Sipe, a retired Catholic priest living in La Jolla, had this to say at a gathering of Catholic clergy abuse victims in 1992:
“The current revelations of abuse are the tip of an iceberg; and if the problem is traced to its foundations the path will lead to the highest halls of the Vatican.”

That’s right, I said 1992.
Sipe told me on Monday that he felt pretty lonely out there, 18 years ago, when he began warning of the systemic molestation and cover-up scandal that would spread from parish to parish, country to country.

The latest news, of course, is that Pope Benedict XVI earlier in his career approved the transfer of an abusive priest in Germany and did not act to defrock a child-molesting priest in Wisconsin.

“We still don’t have the whole story out there. There will be more and more people, and more and more corruption,” said Sipe, who believes the church’s claims of reform are exaggerated, and that things might have to get worse before they get better.

Maybe, Sipe said, some bishops or cardinals will have to go to jail to rally the masses, and he believes some of them should. Sipe has been a fierce critic of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, whose archdiocese has been the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into the questionable handling of molestation by priests, including the transfer of abusive clergy on Mahony’s watch. 

Let’s hope Mahony’s successor, Jose Gomez, doesn’t make the same mistakes. Let’s hope Gomez — currently the archbishop of San Antonio — continues real reform and cares more about protecting children than his PR image. [Updated at 11:40 a.m.: Already, Gomez was questioned at his introductory press conference this morning about his handling of the abuse scandal.]

Sipe said he thinks reform of the greater church can happen if major donors stop bankrolling the Church, and if a few brave insiders speak out. Eventually, Sipe said, the Church will be forced to lift the ban on clergy celibacy, allow clergy to marry and women to be priests, and a true reformation will be under way.

Pardon me, but shouldn’t all that have happened long ago?

Readers have defensively argued in the past that the Church is defined by the faith of its people, not the misdeeds of its hierarchy.

That’s a rationalization.

When the hierarchy protects abusers rather than their underage victims, it’s time for the faithful to call the police, fight for change, or walk away.

If you’ve already left, tell me why. And if you haven’t, tell me why not.

Tell Steve Lopez what you think below. 

Times coverage:

Pope selects Latino bishop from Texas to succeed Mahony

Mexico-born archbishop to lead Los Angeles Catholics

Same-sex marriage got majority support in the latest Los Angeles Times/USC poll — much like a similar poll by the Public Policy Institute of California earlier this spring.

But does that mean that a measure to repeal Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state, would have smooth sailing?

Not necessarily.

First, the numbers: Registered voters surveyed in the latest poll said 52% to 40% that “same-sex couples should be allowed to become legally married in the state of California.” 

That’s the latest in a string of surveys that have found similar results. A PPIC poll released March 25 found respondents backing gay marriage 50% to 45%.  And a Times/USC poll last November found a 51% to 43% split on the issue.

As with the previous surveys, the latest Times/USC poll showed a sharp polarization by political party and ideology, with Democrats and liberals supporting same-sex marriage by large margins and Republicans and conservatives opposing it by equally lopsided margins.

The poll also showed a huge variation by age, with registered voters younger than 30 supporting same-sex marriage by roughly 3 to 1, while a majority of those 64 and older were opposed.

That age division, also seen in every other poll on the issue, suggests that over time, the state’s electorate probably will become even more supportive of same-sex marriage — unless today’s voters in their 20s become more socially conservative as they age. But the divide also poses a challenge for gay rights advocates: Older voters are substantially more likely to turn out to vote than younger voters.

That’s particularly true in non-presidential election years, when turnout in general tends to be lower.

So compared with 2008, the electorate in 2010 is likely to have a higher representation of the age groups most opposed to same-sex marriage.

And 2008, of course, was the election in which Proposition 8 passed. No surprise, then, that gay rights groups have decided to sit this election out.

The poll was conducted for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences by two polling firms, the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and the Republican firm American Viewpoint.

The margin of error for the survey, which included 1,515 registered voters, was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points for the overall sample and slightly larger for smaller breakdowns. Questioning took place March 23-30.

— David Lauter

Photo: Protesters in support of same-sex marriage march in downtown L.A. in 2009. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Jose Gomez, who has been tapped to take over the archdiocese of Los Angeles, has risen rapidly through the Catholic church and earned a national reputation.

In replacing Cardinal Roger Mahony, Gomez, 58, would instantly become the most prominent Latino bishop in the United States, leading an archdiocese that is by far the nation’s largest and is dominated by parishioners with roots in his native Mexico.

If his personal history is any guide, he also could be expected to guide the Los Angeles church along a more traditional — some would say conservative — path than Mahony, known as one of the most progressive archbishops in the country and an impassioned fighter for immigrants’ rights.

In 2005, Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential Latinos in the United States.

In a profile, the magazine wrote: "Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Gomez enjoys an excellent relationship with the powerful bishop of Mexico City and is a natural conversation partner for legislators toiling over immigration riddles. A long affiliation with the conservative teaching group Opus Dei guarantees him the Vatican’s doctrinal confidence and a support and information network leading high up in Rome. Yet despite his orthodoxy, Gomez is a natural conciliator admired for uniting rich and poor and Anglo and Hispanic Catholics behind Denver’s Centro Juan Diego, a hybrid Latino religious-instruction and social-services center hailed as a national model."

Mahony reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 for bishops next February. 

 “I welcome Archbishop Gomez to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with enthusiasm and personal excitement,” Mahony said in a statement. “The Auxiliary Bishops and I are looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months until he becomes the Archbishop early in 2011.”

The Catholic News Agency released the a brief biography of Gomez:

Archbishop Gomez was born in 1951 in Monterrey, Mexico to Dr. José H. Gomez and Esperanza Velasco, both who are now deceased.

The prelate earned bachelor’s degrees in accounting, philosophy and theology and was ordained an Opus Dei priest in 1978. In 1980, he obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Navarre’s Pamplona, Spain campus.

From 1987 to 1999, then-Father Gomez was in residence at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in San Antonio where he assisted with the parish’s pastoral work. It was during this time that he became a regional representative to the National Association of Hispanic Priests (ANSH). In 1995 he was named president, then took on the role of executive director in 1999.

Archbishop Gomez played a central role in establishing the Hispanic Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City which opened in 2000.

Then in 2001, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Denver, where he served in several areas, including outreach to the Hispanic community. He also organized the establishment of Denver’s Centro San Juan Diego for Family and Pastoral Care, a place for formation of lay leaders and a base to provide welcoming services to immigrants.

Gomez was named archbishop of San Antonio in 2005.

[Updated at 8:15 a.m.: Michael Barber, a professor of scripture and theology at John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego, wrote in The Sacred Page blog that Gomez “fits the template” of a typical appointment by Pope Benedict XVI: He is well-educated, with a doctoral degree in theology; he has worked in Rome, for the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; and he “has experience in priestly formation,” the training of young priests.

Gomez is a former member of Opus Dei, a conservative and controversial Catholic organization (known to most Americans because of its unflattering role in “The DaVinci Code,” which Opus Dei leaders denounced as misleading and offensive).

He built a reputation in San Antonio as a staunch traditionalist who reversed some of the more liberal-leaning initiatives of his predecessor. According to local press reports, he disbanded a Justice and Peace Commission whose members disagreed with his support for a state constitutional amendment barring gay marriage, and he once denounced a local Catholic college for hosting then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, an advocate of abortion rights.

Since taking over the San Antonio archdiocese in 2005, he has pleased some members of the community with his strong anti-abortion stance and his insistence on traditional church doctrine, while alienating others who favor a more progressive approach, according to the San Antonio Express-News.]

— Mitchell Landsberg and Shelby Grad

Photo: Eric Gay / Associated Press

Here are some tips for preparing yourself for an earthquake:

The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck near Mexicali on Sunday was actually significantly stronger than the 7.0 temblor that hit Haiti in January.

But effects in terms of damage and loss of life could not be more different.

The Haiti quake brought thousands of buildings to the ground and killed an estimated 200,000 people.

By contrast, the quake in Mexico left two dead and about 230 injured, none seriously. Authorities reported a total of 45 collapsed or partially collapsed
buildings in Baja California.

Why the difference?

Kate Hutton, a Caltech seismologist, said that the population near the epicenter of Sunday’s quake in Mexico was not nearly as dense as in Haiti, where the quake struck near a highly urban environment. 

She also noted that Haiti has no building codes or enforcement and that most buildings were substandard.

Hutton said the quake in Mexico probably occurred between five and 10 miles below the surface, whereas the Haiti quake occurred closer to the surface.

— Ching-Ching Ni in Pasadena

Photo: Above: In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a man stands in the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral
at the start of a three-day period of national mourning a
month after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated
200,000. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Side: A man surveys the damage to a building in Mexicali, Mexico, after Sunday’s quake.
(Sandy
Huffaker / Getty Images / April 5, 2010)

A gunman robbed the landmark Pink’s Hot Dogs early Monday, stealing a
tip jar when employees were unable to open a safe, Los Angeles police
said.

The thief, who was captured on surveillance video, walked up
to the restaurant at the intersection La Brea Ave. near Melrose Ave.
around 3:35 a.m. and demanded cash from a safe.

When employees
said they could not access the money, the man stole a tip jar from the
counter.

Pink’s, known for its chili dogs and long lines, was founded in 1939
opened it’s La Brea Avenue restaurant in 1946.

 Wilshire Division Robbery
detectives are handling the investigation. Anyone with information is
asked to call the station’s detective desk at (213) 922-8205

–Andrew
Blankstein 

Photo: Pinks Hot Dog stand in Hollywood. L.A. Times file

LAPD detectives were struggling with conflicting accounts and an undetermined motive in the killing of four people over the weekend at a Valley Village restaurant.

Law enforcement sources told The Times that detectives are skeptical about some of the accounts given by witnesses at the restaurant and are still not sure whether there was one or two gunmen.

Detectives aren’t sure how many people were at the restaurant at the time because some customers apparently fled before police arrived.
The sources, who spoke to The Times on the condition that they not be named because it was an ongoing investigation, said they believed the shooting was tied to Armenian or Eurosian organized crime but are unsure of the motive.

Investigators are hoping that shell casings recovered from the walls of the Hot Spot Cafe will provide a clearer account of exactly what happened Saturday afternoon.

LAPD Capt. Kevin McClure said the large number of gunshots fired during the attack suggest more than one gunman, but detectives aren’t sure.
“We are looking for anyone who knows about this shooting to come forward,” he said. A security video from the restaurant, McClure said, “did not provide the identity of the suspect or suspects because it didn’t show the inside.”

A spotty description of what happened at the Middle Eastern eatery emerged Monday. One or two gunmen entered the business about 4 p.m. and approached a table where at least six men were dining, opening fire. Three of the diners were killed almost instantly and another died at a hospital.

The dead men were identified as Hayk Yegnanyan, 25; Sarkis Karadjian, 26; Harut Baburyan, 28; and Vardan Tofalyan, 31.

— Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein

Photo: A crime scene cleaning response crew takes photographs of bullet holes
marking the wall of the Hot Spot Cafe in Valley Village, where a
shooting Saturday afternoon left four men dead and two in critical
condition.
(Francine
Orr / Los Angeles Times / April 4, 2010)