Peter F. Hartz

Photo by Kathleen ClarkLUNCHTIME, FRIDAY. I AM STANDING IN THE GLEAMING lobby of a 31-story marble-and-glass office building at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Although the real address is 624 S. Grand Ave., the '60s-modern edifice has always been known as One......

Photo by Debra DiPaoloIT SEEMED LIKE SUCH A SMART IDEA. AT ZERO COST to the taxpayers, Los Angeles' Information Technology Agency (ITA) sought to partner with a private carrier to create an advanced citywide fiber-optic network that would free the city from the escalating cost of data services and serve......

Photo by Virginia Lee HunterBOB BLACKMER MEETS ME IN THE HALLWAY OF THE C. Erwin Piper Technical Center on Ramirez Street, at the crumbling edge of downtown Los Angeles. The center is the massive concrete building of the city's Department of Transportation warehouse, as well as various other technical departments......