Open Space… Is There Any Left?
Yes there is. Small as it is, there is about 2.5 acres in the heart of downtown waiting to be designed as a public park/plaza. Well, maybe. Our city has designed and approved a Downtown […]
Column: Can we Solve Westside Traffic with more Housing Development?
About the author: Avi Sinai is the principal of HM Capital, a Los Angeles company specializes in hard money real estate loan and private lending. To contact HM Capital you can call (530) 436-5630, or […]
No Excuses: Stop the Crime Wave
My mother turned 91 last Saturday. Happy Birthday, Mom! She has walked the streets of Santa Monica her whole life and almost always lived in our Mid-City Neighborhood, between Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards. She’s […]
SMa.r.t. Column: Gridlocked Best Intentions
On any given evening (and especially weekends) pay a visit to north-bound 2nd Street between Broadway Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, and you’ll encounter a world-class clusterpuck. A cast-in-cement gridlock that often extends back along […]
Column: Adapting to Westside Vacancies
By Avi Sinai We all see the vacant storefronts around the Westside and it begs the question – why are they empty for so long? Despite a sizzling real estate market on the westside we […]
Is Santa Monica’s Heart for Sale?
Note from SMa.r.t.: This article, in a longer form, was originally published four years ago but is still as pertinent as ever. The Plaza at Santa Monica asks a simple question: Is our downtown the […]
AI in the Year 2020… Almost
By Nektar Baziotis In 1966 Gene Rodenberry’s “Star Trek” made its television debut on NBC. Audiences young and old were captivated by the show, particularly by its imagination of the space, the future, and the incredible […]
Beausoleil: First Parole Test for Newsom
Not many Californians under 60 can recall just who is the 71-year-old Bobby Beausoleil and what evils he did back in his youth. But the onetime Charles Manson “Family” member will now provide a first […]
The Myth of “Public” Art in Santa Monica
Over the past few years, the Stanton MacDonald Wright murals at the entrance to Santa Monica City Hall have stirred up a controversy. They were a Works Progress Administration project funded during America’s Great Depression. […]
We’ll Find Out if Prop. 13 is Still a Sacred Cow
It’s been almost 41 years since Proposition 13 passed in 1978, lowering property taxes for every home, apartment building, commercial structure, farm and parking lot in California. Through almost all that time, the initiative sponsored […]
The first protest at René Redzepi’s Noma pop-up at the Paramour Estate (Video)
The protest was organized by Jason Ignacio White and One Fair Wage after the owner and chef of Noma, René...
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Film Review: Oscars Landscape 2026
My Oscar choices and predictions. The 98th Academy Awards, Sunday, March 15th at 4:00 PM, on ABC, and streaming on...
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