Jorge Casuso

Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov On a cool night in early June, before a standing-room crowd of more than 300 cheering supporters, a group of Santa Monica restaurant and hotel workers and their backers unveiled an unprecedented proposal. In the name of fairness, the union workers said, Santa Monica should become......

Photo by Virginia Lee Hunter In 1989, shortly after he was charged with helping to pump life into the newly designated Third Street Promenade, Jeff Mathieu, Santa Monica’s economic-development manager, visited the outdoor mall to catch an evening movie. Mathieu entered the old Criterion, a cavernous 1,000-seat theater, sat down......

Debra DiPaolo When it comes to Playa Vista, it seems there’s almost nothing Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter won’t do to make sure the project moves forward. Even if it means making a complete political about-face. Less than two weeks before the City Council is scheduled to vote on......

Photo by Debra DiPaolo On the morning of his daughter’s death, Edward Geoghegan had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss. The 14-year-old Shevawn had certainly had her problems — she’d run away from home several times, and she still affected a goth style, with green strands of hair......