KCET just confirmed that they are selling their production facility on Sunset between Los Feliz and Silver Lake to the Church of Scientology for “an undisclosed amount” that undoubtedly has many, many 0′s.  According to the LA Times’ article about potential deal, the Church now gets to add around 4.5 acres of property to its march towards taking over the world, one stress test at a time.

According to KCET’s official statement, the now-independently owned public television station plans to expand their programmingblahblah and currently are looking to relocate to other facilities.  After KCET officially vacates the premises, up to a year from now, will the Church repaint the buildings to movie set blue, like the giant building on Hollywood (above)?  Will you be asked if you would like to be outfitted with contraptions that look like they were pulled out of the The Twilight Zone‘s circa-1960s prop department in a box labelled “Space-y Looking Things” every time you try to go to Rudy’s for a haircut or to Tiki Bar for a tiki drink?  My answers: hopefully yes, and hopefully no.  In that order.

Update:  Thanks to the comments below for pointing me to the Church of Scientology’s news release on this.  They say the KCET facility ” is a perfect fit, in both size and location, for the expansion of the Church of Scientology’s production of religious and social betterment audiovisual properties, and we welcomed the unexpected opportunity to acquire it.”

Photo courtesy jasmined and used under a Creative Commons license.

In the winter of 2000, I was working as an art teacher in Sherman Oaks when a co-worker asked me if I wanted to attend a meeting with her at a pirate radio station. “They’re giving away radio shows,” she said, and when I demurred that I didn’t know how to DJ, she told me they’d teach me how. I thought for a second, and despite the fact that I’m pretty shy & tend to not throw myself into work situations with strangers, I decided to give it a shot. It was an uncharacteristic decision.

It changed the course of my entire life.

Joining killradio.org, an online radio station with a sometimes-pirate terrestrial broadcast, brought me into contact with people I never would have met in a million years: anarchists, eco-punks, jazz poets, Bollywood-music geeks, Black Bloc-ers, traveling minstrels, bike messengers, indie DJs, Food Not Bombs chefs, radicals and militant members of movements that prioritized the democratization of media outlets. It was the first move that sparked a series of cascading events in my life that… Read the rest of this entry →

Found this over at the wonderful LA.Streetsblog and felt that it’s a fascinating chance for those of us who commute to work by alternative means to have our methods given some attention.

(Note: I am not a douchey “I HATE ALL CARS” commuter and I also don’t think this project should exclude those who drive to work. By all means, everyone should participate!)

KCET’s “SoCal Connected” division is doing a piece on commuting in the large and lovely city of Los Angeles. They’re asking people to either submit photos or a video of your commute method, the distance, and the length of time it takes for you to get there.

Read the rest of this entry →