The Smithian

In the face of intense lobbying pressure, Ms. Waters voted on Tuesday to oppose several House bills that would water down Dodd-Frank, a move that one consumer advocate called “gutsy.”“Sometimes the advocates won’t like what I’m doing, and sometimes the industry won’t,” Ms. Waters said during the tour of her district in March. Then, raising her voice and striking a feistier tone, she added: “I’m not owned by anyone.”

more from a profile of Waters, here.

Easy is back, narrating a new novel, “Little Green”…that picks up where “Blonde Faith” left off. He is, if not entirely alive, then at least present, navigating a 1967 Los Angeles he barely recognizes in the wake of both the Watts riots and the Summer of Love.

more.

…the little known story of how Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African American mayor elected in a major U.S. city with an overwhelmingly white population, rose to power, changed Los Angeles through an extraordinary multi-racial coalition, and in the process, transformed American politics.

more.

[It’s the] 21st anniversary of the uprising in L.A…after the Rodney King trial verdict…“Sa-I-Gu,” Korean for April 29, opens a window on Korean American women in Los Angeles whose stores—and lives—were devastated during in the aftermath.

more.

Ten men and one woman hung themselves in San Diego County jails during the last six years. They used socks or sheets, stringing handmade nooses from sinks, doors and bunks.One inmate flung himself headfirst over the second tier of his unit. Two men intentionally overdosed on prescription medication. One drowned himself in a toilet…the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department recorded 16 inmate suicides between 2007 and 2012. Among California counties, only Los Angeles, whose jail system is roughly four times the size of San Diego’s, recorded more suicides—24—during that period.

more.

His name was Al Lucas and he played defensive tackle for the AFL’s L.A. Avengers. He died on the hard carpet of the Staples Center eight years ago this week, on April 10, 2005. He was 26 years old.

more.

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art: photo by Ron Haviv

Elian Herrera came to Arizona to work…He was born in the Dominican Republic. He has dark skin, and though he speaks English, he does so deliberately, in a way that reveals that his first language in Spanish. In Los Angeles, Herrera is a backup outfielder with the Dodgers. Here at spring training, he’s the type of guy who could arouse “reasonable suspicion.” A person who’s “reasonably suspicious,” according to Arizona’s immigration law, is one who looks like he or she might be in the United States illegally…The Arizona law, known as SB 1070, went into effect in September. Six months later, half the players in baseball have reported to the greater Phoenix area. More than one-quarter of those players are Latino…Talk to Latino players in Arizona and you find them constantly patting their pockets for licenses, green cards, passports. “I carry them all the time,” says Martin Prado, a Venezuelan-born third baseman with the Diamondbacks. “Just in case. You never know.”

more.

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art:

Elian Herrera…leaps over a sliding Shane Robinson…of the St. Louis Cardinals as he…completes a double play…May 2012, Los Angeles, California.

…Villaraigosa talked about working in private equity, and returning to run again for office not too long in the future—very possibly for governor. He would not say when that might be, but did not rule out running a primary against Jerry Brown, the Democratic incumbent with whom Mr. Villaraigosa has had an at-times frosty relationship. But for the time being, the mayor of Los Angeles, who was the chairman of President Obama’s Democratic convention…seems a bit at sea as he confronts his nonelected future.

more.

Spirit.

Hall of Famer Darryl Strawberry (second to last, middle row) was born on this day in 1962.

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art: photo of John F. Kennedy, at the Democratic National Convention (Los Angeles 1960), by Garry Winogrand