Adam Gropman

Henri Ford

Henri Ford: Doctor Sans Frontieres

Adam Gropman
One of the minor consolations of a tragedy is the opportunity to witness altruism and benevolence in action. Among the profound images that came out of the devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti was that of Haitian-American physician Henri Ford — alongside CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta — removing a......
Jane Junn

Jane Junn: Poll Dancer

Adam Gropman
Jane Junn enjoyed a sublime "told you so" moment last fall. The USC political science professor had run a public opinion poll that was the first to detect the shift among voters that determined the race for governor. Voters were turning away from Meg Whitman and toward Jerry Brown. Junn's......
Victor Felix

Victor Felix: Eastside Stories

Adam Gropman
Click here to see all our Best of L.A. People 2011 profiles. And click here for more photographs of the Best of L.A. People 2011. If the soul of Los Angeles is Latino, then the heart of that soul is, arguably, East L.A. — the neighborhoods just across the Los......
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Dressing for an Earthquake

Adam Gropman
It's late afternoon at Lucy's El Adobe Café, the well-known entertainment-industry hangout on Melrose. The cavernous place is quiet, but out in back, a light hubbub brews on a pleasant walled-in patio. Stanley and Cheryl Boone Isaacs, longtime show-business professionals and friends of the restaurant's owners, are hosting a gathering......

Guns on Wilshire

Adam Gropman
Location: Chase Bank on Wilshire, just west of Crenshaw, a couple days before Christmas. Koreatown is to the east, Hancock Park to the north and the Miracle Mile to the west. It's a nondescript stretch of Wilshire, with decades-old office buildings, a historic church, an imposing Masonic edifice, the odd......

Later, L.A.

Adam Gropman
"I LOVE YOU L.A., I'M JUST NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU," reads the billboard on Lincoln Boulevard, just south of Washington. The letters are mustard-yellow, all caps, a sans-serif font with classic-retro "distressing" and a 3-D shadow effect. The background simulates the texture of brown burlap, making the whole thing......
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Crashing at Your Place

Adam Gropman
Natalia Lusinski is a willowy freelance TV script coordinator and producer's/writer's assistant who has worked on a handful of TV series, including Desperate Housewives, Without a Trace and Hung. Since February, the Chicago native with the wild grin has been crashing on friends' couches, claiming no permanent address. She has......

Friend Finder

Adam Gropman
The flier on the utility pole outside Echo Park's Chango Café looks like lots of fliers on lots of utility poles, except instead of hawking furniture or renting out a room, the thick, black headline implores: "Looking for friends to hang out with." At the bottom are the customary pretorn......

Universal Appeal

Adam Gropman
"The Happiest Place on Earth" seems an apt nickname, but it's already taken. Perhaps "The Cleanest Place on Earth," or "The Most Controlled Place on Earth," or "The Corporate-iest Place on Earth." The place? Universal City, just outside the perimeter of CityWalk. It's a bright, sunny, uplifting day, on the......

Emperor of the Air

Adam Gropman
Justin Caplicki has long, dark hair, a beard with Sgt. Pepper–like walrus mustache, and a regal paunch. (Think Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.) Caplicki's day job is on the lot at Fox Sports, but his passion in life is another thing entirely. Caplicki, 35, recently played air guitar to......