Another Day, Another Downtown $245 Million Project

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Developer Sonny Astani has had his ups and downs in Downtown. A low point was when he lost the Concerto, a high-rise he developed in South Park, during the depths of the recession after his lender got into financial trouble. Another owner took over and the property eventually opened as the Apex.
Now, there’s another high point. Astani last week announced that his Astani Enterprises and parking company L&R Group have sold a lot at 12th Street and Grand Avenue for $45 million; they spent $29 million to acquire the property last November.
The three-acre site has been sold to the Scottsdale, Arizona-based private equity firm Wolff Company. Astani had previously revealed to Los Angeles Downtown News that he would develop the site as a project dubbed G12. Astani now plans to partner on the $245 million project with Wolff Company.
“I am thrilled to have a chance to work with the buyer to develop the last open acreage in the South Park area of Downtown,” Astani said in a prepared statement. “G12 will be an incredible live/work neighborhood that is also close to USC.”
Plans call for the complex to break ground in January and be completed within two years. The development will have 640 units along with 40,000 square feet of retail space, a screening room and two pools. Plans also call for having 740 bike parking spaces, and just 595 slots for cars.
Copyright 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News

Classic Video Arcade and Full Bar Coming to Arts District

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Start saving your quarters and get ready to answer that question from the golden age of the arcade: What’s your high score?
EightyTwo, a bar and old-school video arcade, is expected to open in the Arts District in January 2014. The venue at 718 E. Third St. will offer more than 40 fully restored arcade games and pinball machines from the 1960s to the ’90s.

Founded by native Angelenos Scott Davids, 33, and Noah Sutcliffe, 32, EightyTwo will offer the arcade, full bar and pinball machines in two rooms spanning 4,000 square feet. The project will also have a 1,700-square-foot patio. Architect Darin Johnstone will design a modern edifice from the 1980 storefront in an effort to showcase the machines as playable objects of art.
Davids and Sutcliffe said they have been playing video games since they were toddlers.
“The arcade culture changed the world and then, with a blink of an eye, arcades were replaced by more modern technology and home computing. It’s an era that should not be forgotten,” said Davids, whose first games were Pong and Space Invaders (with his dad).
Sutcliffe's inaugural play happened before he could reach the controller.
"I remember my grandparents trying to find me a box to stand on so I could play Battlezone at the L.A. County Fair when I was 3," he said.
Some of the games patrons will find at EightyTwo include Space Invaders, Centipede, Donkey Kong, Pac Man and his bow-wearing counter part, Dig Dug and Streetfighter II. In addition to gaming competitions, EightyTwo plans to host special events and art shows. For a full list of games, please click here.
As in 1982, games will cost two bits a pop. Larger sit-down games and pinball machines will be 50 cents a play.
donna@downtownnews.com

Meet The Woman Who Says She's The Voice Of Siri

Siri might frustrate you less once you meet the woman who voiced it.
On Friday, CNN revealed that voice actor Susan Bennett is the voice behind Siri, Apple's personal assistant on iPhones and iPads.
"I'm the actor who provided the voice for Siri," she told CNN.
Bennett said she didn't know she voiced Siri until Apple integrated it into the iPhone in 2011. "A colleague e-mailed me [about Siri] and said, 'Hey, we've been playing around with this new Apple phone. Isn't this you?'" she said. Once Bennett heard Siri's voice, she knew it was.
Bennett is an accomplished voice actor, and has done work for companies like AT&T, Delta, Coca Cola, McDonalds and more. When Bennett signed the contract for the job in 2005, she didn't know what the recordings would be used for. But the gig had her working four hours a day for a month recording the phrases that would be baked into iOS.
However, Apple, being the secretive company that it is, wouldn't confirm Bennett was behind the robot assistant.
To make its case, CNN got the professional opinion of an audio forensics expert, and had him analyze Bennett's voice against Siri's. The expert, Ed Primeau, studied the two voices and said, "They are identical -- a 100% match." The CEO of the voiceover company Bennet worked confirm she is Siri as well.
If Siri sounds sassy, it might be because Bennett got bored at the end of these sessions, she said.
There has been a lot of speculation about who was behind the now famous voice. Just last month, The Verge posted a video about Siri that caused some to incorrectly believe that Siri was played by a woman named Allison Duffy. Duffy was forced to write a blog post saying that she was not Siri.
Though Siri is now a feature of Apple phones, it was originally created by a company of the same name. As the Huffington Post previously reported, Apple overhauled Siri when it purchased it, arguably for the worse by stripping it of its attitude and many of its best features.
For example, when asked restaurant suggestions, the original Siri would search multiple sites like Yelp, AllMenus and Google Maps for results. Today's Siri isn't nearly that advanced.
With iOS 7, Apple's latest operating system, Apple introduced a male voice option for U.S. customers. In some countries, like France and the UK, Siri was introduced with a male voice.

Gulf Coast Braces for Tropical Storm Karen Mississippi and Louisiana governors declare states of emergency

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - From a tiny, vulnerable island off the Louisiana coast to the beaches of the Florida Panhandle, Gulf Coast residents prepared Thursday for a possible hit from Tropical Storm Karen, which threatened to become the first named tropical system to menace the United States this year.

Karen was forecast to lash the northern Gulf Coast over the weekend as a weak hurricane or tropical storm. A hurricane watch was in effect from Grand Isle, La., to west of Destin, Fla. A tropical storm warning was issued for the Louisiana coast from Grand Isle to the mouth of the Pearl River, including the New Orleans area.

In Alabama, safety workers hoisted double red flags at Gulf Shores because of treacherous rip currents ahead of the storm.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, urging residents to prepare. State Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham said local schools will decide whether to play football games. He said the southern part of the state could have tropical storm-force winds by late Friday.

Idella Carey, Capitol Chase Suspect's Mother, Says Daughter Was Depressed

NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of a Connecticut woman who was shot to death by police after trying to breach a barrier at the White House said her daughter was suffering from post-partum depression.
Authorities said the woman set off a high-speed car chase that put the Capitol on lockdown Thursday and caused a fresh panic the city where a gunman killed 12 people two weeks ago.
Two law enforcement officials identified the driver as 34-year-old Miriam Carey, of Stamford, Conn. She was traveling with a 1-year-old girl who avoided serious injury and was taken into protective custody. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Carey's mother, Idella Carey, told ABC News Thursday night that her daughter began suffering from post-partum depression after giving birth to her daughter, Erica, last August.
"She had post-partum depression after having the baby" she said. She added, "A few months later, she got sick. She was depressed. ... She was hospitalized."
Idella Carey said her daughter had "no history of violence" and she didn't know why she was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. She said she thought Carey was taking Erica to a doctor's appointment in Connecticut.
ABC News reported that Miriam Carey was a dental hygienist. Her boss, Dr. Steven Oken, described Carey as a person who was "always happy."
I would never in a million years believe that she would do something like this," he said. "It's the furthest thing from anything I would think she would do, especially with her child in the car. I am floored that it would be her."