‘Hitchcock’s Blondes’ explores the director’s films with Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, more

• October 10, 2023

As biographer Laurence Leamer settled in front of the television to research the films of Alfred Hitchcock, he realized he had a problem.

“I started watching this as an author writing the book and trying to get material,” Leamer says on a recent call. “And after five minutes, his stuff is so fascinating I forget that and just watch it because I’m enjoying it so much.

“That’s how good he is,” he says. “That’s how he involves you. He knows just what he’s doing.”

Leamer persevered and “Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession” arrived on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

In it, Leamer explores the work of Hitchcock and eight actresses with whom he worked, from June Howard-Tripp in 1925’s “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” to Tippi Hedren in “The Birds” and “Marnie” in 1963 and ’64.

In between, Leamer explores Hitchcock’s work with Madeleine Carroll (“The 39 Steps,” “Secret Agent”), Ingrid Bergman (“Spellbound,” “Notorious,” “Under Capricorn”), Grace Kelly (“Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “To Catch a Thief”), Kim Novak (“Vertigo”), Eva Marie Saint (“North by Northwest”), and Janet Leigh (“Psycho“).

Hitchcock’s life and career has been examined in numerous books from before and after his death at 80 in 1980. His infatuation with his leading ladies, particularly the blondes and his odd, sometimes cruel manner with them are well known.

But Leamer is the first biographer to shift the focus from Hitchcock in the foreground to zoom in on the women with whom the director achieved some of his greatest works.

“Hitchcock’s Blondes” is the second in a planned trilogy about male creative geniuses and their female friends, colleagues and confidants. Leamer, 81, is currently working on a book about artist Andy Warhol and his many muses.

The first book in his series, “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era” arrived in 2021. Its story of writer Truman Capote and the New York City circle of women in which he moved arrives as the second chapter of producer Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology series “Feud” in 2024.

Q: Do you remember when you first became aware of Alfred Hitchcock?

A: He’s so much a part of our culture, I don’t even know. You know, if you go on Amazon Prime and plug in Hitchcock, there are over 40 of his films you can watch today. That’s the magnitude of that guy’s accomplishments.

Q: How did you arrive at the framework of the book, focusing on these eight women?

A: Well, chronology is God’s gift to a writer. You’d better have a damn good reason to do away with it. So the chronology is his life and the blondes are pretty obviously the candidates for telling it.

When I write a book, I always write the ending in my head and then I try to write the book that would justify that ending. And that’s what I did here. I wanted the ending to be that AFI tribute (in March 1979). I wanted the audience at that point, the readers, to appreciate his greatness, and also the dark part of it as well. And to appreciate the actresses as well.

Q: Three of the actresses are still living. Tippi Hedren doesn’t do interviews but you were able to talk with Eva Marie Saint from ‘North by Northwest’ and Kim Novak from ‘Vertigo.’ What was that like?

A: Eva Marie Saint was fabulous. You know, she’s 99 years old now, living by herself in her apartment. She wants to have her own life. I think that’s incredible.

Q: From her chapter in the book, she seems to be one of the most grounded of the Hitchcock actresses.

A: She was grounded, but she is calculating. And I don’t say that as a criticism, just the opposite. She knew the life she wanted early on. She had some success in television. Got a little apartment. She was lonely, she wanted to marry. She didn’t want to marry an actor. She married this producer. And they had the most wonderful marriage.

Then in her career, she loved her children. She liked to act, but when they were growing up, she’d do just one movie a year. She put her Academy Award statuette for ‘On The Waterfront’ in the closet and just forgot it. She really has immense character as far as I’m concerned.

Q: A lot of the stories of Hitchcock and the actresses are well known. I’m curious what your conversation with her provided that you didn’t already have?

A: She had some tidbits, but she’s told these stories many times. I found a few new things. It was just as much to get a real feeling of her emotionally. I think I wrote a much better chapter because I knew her in that way.

Q: Kim Novak, from your chapter on her, seems like perhaps the actress Hitchcock treated the worst. What was she like?

A: It’s inexplicable to me (how she was treated). He brings her up to luncheon and shows her his paintings, which he knows she won’t appreciate the way he appreciates them, and the vintage wine, which she doesn’t understand. Just to put her down. And the first day in the studio there’s this dead chicken attached to her mirror and Hitch and the other men standing around laughing at her.

She said she didn’t know what that was about. I don’t know what it’s about. It just didn’t make any sense to me. But it’s not a great thing to do to this vulnerable, insecure actress on the first day.

And then when she finished it, I think she deserved an Academy Award nomination because I think she’s magnificent. It’s a very difficult role. But Hitch put her down. Even when that putting down probably diminished the number of people wanting to see the movie.

Q: Was she candid and open about her treatment by him?

A: She really appreciated Hitchcock. She has nothing negative to say about it. It’s the best thing she did in her whole life, and she puts it in perspective.

Q: In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion about how to appreciate art made by men with problematic histories. Might this book change Hitchcock’s reputation?

A: If the things about Woody Allen are true – and I don’t know if they are, but if they are, well, I wouldn’t want to watch his films, right? This stuff about Hitchcock isn’t at that magnitude, in my opinion. In the #MeToo times, people are just too easily dismissed, and I don’t think it’s fair to him.

There was a biographer of him, Donald Spoto, who just focused on the darkness, and that had a big impact on Hitchcock’s reputation. I don’t think that’s fair.

Q: Of the Hitchcock films you watched featuring these women, do you have a favorite you go back to?

A: It depends on what you want. I mean, ‘To Catch a Thief’ is just pure fun. You can’t beat that. ‘Marnie,’ the dark brilliance of that is irresistible. And ‘Psycho,’ I mean, there’s nothing like ‘Psycho,’ right?

Laurence Leamer book event

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12

Where: Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

For more: Vromansbookstore.com/Laurence-Leamer-discusses-Hitchcocks-Blondes

​ Orange County Register 

Brian Levin, Cal State San Bernardino expert on extremism and hate, retires

• October 10, 2023

After nearly a quarter century of leading Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, founding director Brian Levin decided it was time to step down.

“Right now, things are very upsetting, which is how I knew it was time to go,” he said.

He’s been studying extremism for years, and the tide of hatred and intolerance keeps rising.

“What’s frustrating now is how mainstream bigotry has become,” he said. “Now the hate is an a la carte system. You don’t have to belong to a big hate group or even a hate group at all. The number of hate groups, according to the (Southern Poverty Law Center) actually went down, because people are freelancing.”

In August, the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism released the final report supervised by Levin, showing large increases in reported hate crimes against the LGBTQ community in 42 major American cities. Hate crimes jumped 10% in 2022 in the cities surveyed and by 17% in an analysis of 16 states. In the largest 10 cities, hate crimes went up an average of 22% in 2022, the second record year in a row, the report showed.

According to the survey, the largest increases in hate crimes were targeted against those of “other race/ethnicity,” which was up 94%; followed by anti-LGBTQ hatred, which was up 52%; anti-gender non-conforming people (including those in drag), which was up 47%; anti-Jewish hate, which was up 29%; and anti-transgender hate, which was up 28%.

Following his ‘north star’

Levin took a roundabout path to becoming one of the nation’s foremost experts on hate and extremism.

“There was no playbook to having a career doing this,” he said.

Levin grew up in New York City.

His father was a Jewish Army medic who survived almost a year in a Nazi prison camp during World War II before going on to become New York City’s chief veterinarian. His mother was an NYPD officer.

Between the two of them, they gave Levin what he calls his “north star:” “Go help where you can help,” Levin said.

Levin became an NYPD police officer himself. As a law school student at Stanford, he created what became the first-ever hate crimes training material for the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which sets the standards for police training in California.

Months after leaving law school, Levin wrote his first legal brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case. His brief, in Wisconsin v. Mitchell, argued that that courts have the legal right to punish more harshly those criminals who selected their victims based on criteria such as race, backing up his argument that hate crimes cause greater harm to both societies and their victims. The court’s 1993 decision became the basis for most of today’s hate crime laws.

Levin then monitored extremist groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center before landing at CSUSB, where he taught criminal justice and helped create the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in 1999.

“I always thought I was adhering to my north star,” Levin said.

Neither police officer nor doctor, as his father had wanted him to be, Levin said he believes he still stayed in the family business.

“Different box, but same cereal,” he said. “Public service.”

Over the years, CSUSB’s center has produced detailed reports that help policymakers, law enforcement agencies, the media and others understand the nature and scope of hate and extremism.

In 2016, he famously shielded Ku Klux Klan members from being badly beaten and assaulted by counter-protestors at an anti-immigration rally in Anaheim.

“I get a lot of questions about saving the Klan guy. I’d do it again in a second,” Levin said. Reversing the growing waves of hate and violence is critical, he said.

“America is such a gift to the world that if we don’t turn this around, we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves.”

‘A gem of a human being’

Those who know or have worked with Levin have great praise for him.

“Brian’s been such a thoughtful advocate at the center, always leading with ideas and policies that keep the Inland Empire safe and have an eye toward our country,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino. “We’re going to miss him locally, but I’m hoping that I can continue to rely on him personally for advice along the way.”

Cal State San Bernardino president Tomas Morales praised Levin’s contributions to the scholarly understanding of prejudice, hate and extremism.

“His research through the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism translated to practical policy for lawmakers to understand and attack extremism,” Morales wrote in an emailed statement. “And he also used that knowledge to be a voice to call out bigotry against individuals and communities who have been marginalized.”

Mike German, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice who previously infiltrated hate groups as an undercover FBI agent, said “it seems like I’ve known Brian for my entire professional career.”

“He’s known for the research and advocacy work he’s done at the Southern Poverty Law Center, but he comes at it from a law enforcement perspective, coming from an NYPD background,” German said. “And he’s a gem of a human being.”

According to Ann Noel, president of the California Association of Human Rights Organizations, Levin’s shoes will be tough to fill.

“I’ve always found his knowledge about the issue and sense of how big of a problem it is, and where the problem is, and who can fight the problem to be extraordinary,” she said. “He comes with a lot of experience and a lot of credibility, and I think that’s going to be very hard to replicate.”

‘Fine without me’

But after 24 years leading the center, and 38 years in public service, Levin said he’s in a “different place now” and that it is time to go.

“I’m much more personally affected now,” he said. “We’re not going to solve this violent, vile bigotry on my watch.”

And the accumulation of studying hate and extremism on a daily basis has beaten him down, Levin said.

“It’s eroded me to a point where I can’t teach and do this stuff,” he said.

Although Levin has retired from teaching and his work at the center, he will continue to serve on the California Commission on the State of Hate, which Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to last year.

And he’s confident the center is in good hands.

“This place is going to be just fine without me,” Levin said. “They’ve got a knockout international team. … That’s what gives me a lot of hope.”

Steven Merrall is the new director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. (Photo by Beau Yarbrough, San Bernardino Sun/SCNG)

The center’s new British-born director is Steven Merrall, who also teaches criminal law and policy classes at CSUSB. He hopes to make the center’s data even more accessible.

“The way I know how to provide support (to hate crime victims) is through research, it’s through analysis,” he said. “If we don’t have the numbers, and if we don’t have the interpretation of those numbers that’s made available to a wide range of people, then this stuff disappears.”

Levin has been the “episodic” target of hate mail and other threats due to his work combatting hate speech and Merrall has seen the dangers of intolerance close to home. He lives in Cedar Glen and his family knew Lauri Carleton, the shop owner who was shot and killed in August during a confrontation over the LGBTQ pride flag she had hanging outside her store.

“I’m not going to be bullied,” Merrall said. “So yes, it’s a concern, because it is a reality, unfortunately, and extremism by its nature, is dangerous.”

And the work is not getting any less important.

“We’ve been in an interesting sort of political period, to be diplomatic,” Merrall said. “We’ve seen marginalized sorts of communities vilified for political purposes. And it’s not new. This is as old as the hills — thousands of years, thousands of years of this. But we’ve seen a significant sort of increase in the type of language that is designed to be inflammatory. It is designed to identify and blame, which is extremely problematic.”

He expects the center’s work to be even more important as the 2024 presidential election approaches.

“In the presidential election years, since ’92 onwards, where we’ve had the data, every presidential election year there’s an increase in hate crimes,” Merrall said. “We’ve seen marginalized groups identified, vilified and used to divide. And I don’t know that anything is going to be any different (next) year.”

Handing off the baton

One success Levin sees in the fight against hatred and extremism: The center he founded is no longer the only or even main resource taking the study of extremism seriously.

“Now when something terrible happens, I’m glad when (policymakers and journalists) also call other people,” he said.

He hopes to see more such centers opening around the United States.

“When you’re a young person, you want to drive the car,” Levin said. “Now, I want to give out the keys to 1,000 cars.”

More about hate and extremism

San Bernardino mass shooters: Why did they do it?
Hate crimes in major U.S. cities increased 9% in 2018, new report shows
FBI arrests Boogaloo extremist group member in Pomona after gun sales meeting in Murrieta
Newsom makes appointments to new anti-hate crime commission
Killing of business owner over pride flag shocks LGBTQ community, Cedar Glen residents

​ Orange County Register 

Niles: Say no to No-Boo; Knott’s Scary Farm should be scary

• October 10, 2023

Innovation does not happen unless someone takes a chance. But whenever you try something new, you create the possibility for failure as well as success.

Like many theme park fans, I want to see parks trying new things from time to time, so I won’t roast Knott’s Berry Farm too hard for trying something new at its Knott’s Scary Farm event this year. I just hope that the park’s management sees its attempted innovation as a failure and does not bring it back again next year.

More from Robert Niles

Disney’s tale of two cities, and their hotels
After 50 years, Knott’s still leads the industry with Scary Farm
What is driving Disney’s theme park expansion plans?
Different choices drive creativity at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights
Disneyland’s New Orleans Square deserves more New Orleans flavor

This year, Knott’s has been selling a “No-Boo Necklace” to Scary Farm visitors who did not want to be scared when walking through the park’s many scare zones. One fan online compared buying and wearing that necklace to bringing a poncho to a water park. If you don’t want to be scared, what’s the point of going to a haunt?

Knott’s has to have known that the No-Boo Necklace was going to be controversial, and the park actually has leaned into the controversy. When Knott’s announced the item during its after-hours preview event for Knott’s Scary Farm, the devoted fans there greeted the news with a chorus of boos. Knott’s even wrote the No-Boo Necklace into the return of “The Hanging,” giving it as close to a starring role as anything else lampooned in that show.

Halloween haunts have grown into massive events for theme parks around the world, so of course parks are going want to continue expanding them. So long as those expansions do not dilute the nature of the event, that’s great. I have loved seeing parks’ creative teams work with non-traditional genres — from science fiction to the roaring ‘20s — when designing attractions for haunt events.

But seeing other people get scared at a haunt is as much a part of the attraction as getting scared yourself. That camaraderie — that shared belief that we are all fair game for the monsters — is one of the qualities that makes haunts so beloved among fans.

I understand that there may be circumstances in which people need an accommodation for scare zones. Those should be handled through guest services like any other necessary accommodation in the park. They should not be sold as a consumer product, like the $15 No-Boo Necklace. That just makes it feel like the park is trying to expand the haunt by marketing it to people who don’t want the core experience that the haunt was designed to provide.

Would Legoland feel as accommodating to families with young children if it started building huge looping coasters with severe height requirements? No. That would be an expansion that changed the nature of the place, much like adding No-Boo Necklaces to the mix at a haunt.

If Knott’s sells enough No-Boo Necklaces to make the product a financial success, it runs the risk of changing a core element of Scary Farm to the point where devoted fans won’t enjoy the event as much anymore. Knott’s has great family Halloween event with its daytime Spooky Farm. Let the fans who don’t want scares go there. Let Scary Farm continue to be scary for the rest.

​ Orange County Register 

Salvation Army unveils ‘Center of Hope’ housing shelter in Anaheim

• October 10, 2023

Salvation Army officials and government dignitaries on Monday, Oct. 9, unveiled 72 new units of permanent supportive housing in Anaheim, part of a “Center of Hope” created to help people who have experienced homelessness navigate forward in their lives.

“That miracle of bringing hope, restoring hope to lives of people,” said Doug Riley, who oversees the western territories for the Salvation Army, “that’s what we are doing here.”

The $38 million building, which the Salvation Army will manage, is located next to the Christian nonprofit’s adult rehab center and 325-bed emergency shelter near Ball Road and Lewis Street. The permanent supportive housing units will allow people who are emerging from homelessness to receive rental subsidies and access other services.

The housing project broke ground in January 2022. Ben Hurst, the Salvation Army’s director of operations in Orange County, said Monday it is the largest permanent supportive housing project in the county.

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said the emergency shelter next door, which opened in 2019, has served more than 1,300 people. This new addition will give people a new chance at life and bring stability and purpose, she said.

“We can no longer just offer a roof and four walls to solve homelessness,” Aitken said. “We need mental health support. We need life skills, and we need all the other services that keep people housed, stable and successful. Center of Hope will deliver on all of these, and it will change people’s lives in miraculous ways.”

The Center of Hope will eventually also include the Salvation Army’s Center for Applied Research and Innovation, which will look for best practices and new ideas to help people coming off the streets.

Riley said the catalyst for the project was Judge David Carter asking local officials five years ago to “do something” to combat homelessness in Orange County. He said they quickly emerged with the idea for the building that debuted on Monday.

The project received funding from federal, state and local governments, as well as from philanthropic fundraising.

The units will come with furniture, a kitchen and accessible showers, and there is a fitness center in the building.

Rep. Lou Correa said homelessness is the symptom of many problems, and he called housing with wraparound services such as this one a good solution.

“This is just the beginning,” Correa said. “We are gonna get busy and do more.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Dodgers’ hitters succumbing to the pressure again

• October 10, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Hey, batter, batter, batter!! Swing, batter, batter!!!

Oh, sorry. Should we keep it down over here? Is that old sandlot refrain too much for this Dodgers ballclub, allergic as it apparently is to pressure?

The Dodgers’ bullpen – especially the way Manager Dave Roberts pulled the levers in Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3 of their National League Division Series – has come through as well as anyone could have hoped.

And their starting pitching has fallen as flat as anyone might have feared – Clayton Kershaw and Bobby Miller can claim a flabbergasting 40.50 ERA and a grand total of six outs.

But their hitting …

The Dodgers’ offense – allegedly their strong suit, their superpower – has no-showed, legit stood up every one of their fans who watched the first two games of this series. It’s setting up the second consecutive epic playoff fail, following last season’s 3-1 NLDS loss to the San Diego Padres – which featured the same sad theme: a lifeless offense.

The same team that scored 906 runs this season has managed just two runs in each of their two playoff games against Arizona. The Dodgers are hitting a collectively putrid .159.

Their two best players, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, a pair of NL MVP candidates, are 0 for 7 and 1 for 6 through two games, respectively.

What, you thought you’d get more from guys who this season became the first 1-2 hitters in big-league history to both have at least 25 home runs and an OPS over .975?

What, you expect the Dodgers will need those two to get going if they’re going to find a way to keep their season alive?

“Yeah, I mean, they’re our two best players,” Roberts said. “I think that they know that, so it’s pretty much … the last thing I want to do, though, is be redundant in the sense of, ‘we need these guys.’ When you start getting into that kind of mindset, it’s just – in baseball and hitting, in particular – it’s just not helpful.”

Betts echoed that refrain: “Can’t add more pressure; that makes it harder, it’s still the same game, have to go play and let the game dictate what goes on.”

In other words, don’t play the ball, let the ball play you? Got it.

You know all those cliches about pressure? How it’s diamond-making stuff, and how it can be a privilege – especially if you’re earning hundreds of millions of dollars for the trouble?

You can’t pretend the pressure away. You can’t run from it, can’t hide.

It’s always been there: Last year in the NLDS meltdown against the Padres, when a Dodgers team led again by Betts and Freeman, along with Trea Turner atop the lineup, scored just seven runs over the final three games on their way to a shockingly early exit for a club that had won 111 regular-season games.

Especially because it was against an opponent that finished 22 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West standings, and because of how poorly Betts performed in that four-game series, going 2 for 14 with one RBI.

And the pressure hasn’t gone away now, as they try to avoid a sweep against the Diamondbacks, who finished 16 games behind the Dodgers.

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The Diamondbacks might not be the better team, but they’re playing better, as the adage goes. Their hitters have shown impressive discipline at the plate, a real commitment to their gameplan, unwilling to swing at bad pitches.

The Dodgers have been so much less focused. Betts and Will Smith jumped at first pitches. Freeman spectated as strike three flew past him with runners on the corners in the fifth inning. Max Muncy waved at a third strike out of the zone in the eighth after having gone ahead in the count 3-and-0. And so on …

The pressure isn’t dissipating, but the shock of it is. The Dodgers have won the NL West 10 of the past 11 seasons and have only the short-season 2020 championship to show for it, so I can forgive their fans for feeling numb about the Dodgers’ current predicament.

We’ve seen this movie before, after all, and so we know, if there’s one thing these Dodgers know how to do is come up with a good story. It’s the endings they struggle with.

Too much pressure.

Dodgers star Mookie Betts watches from the dugout during the eighth inning of Game 2 of their National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Betts and the Dodgers’ hitters are struggling mightily and are one of the reasons the team finds itself at the brink of elimination in the best-of-five series. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

​ Orange County Register 

Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey launches bid for US Senate

• October 10, 2023

Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey made his foray into the crowded U.S. Senate race official Tuesday morning, launching a bid as a Republican.

For Garvey, who played 14 seasons with the Dodgers before he finished with the San Diego Padres for five seasons, a move into the political arena isn’t much of a curveball. He’s advocated for fitness-related bills in Washington and considered a political career right after his retirement from baseball in 1987, though he was sidetracked by issues in his personal life for a while.

But Garvey says it’s the increased animosity in politics, “the bickering back and forth” among politicians, that made him finally take the plunge.

“All through these years, I’ve had this wonderful life, but I’ve always been interested in politics,” Garvey, 74, said in an interview ahead of the announcement.

“The last few years, I’ve been more and more concerned about what’s happening in our society and the quality of our life and the dysfunction of Washington,” said Garvey. “I’ve got to stand up if there’s a way to actually run and be heard, and I think there is.”

So he’s running, Garvey said, to bring “a fresh voice with fresh ideas” to represent California.

Former major league baseball infielder Steve Garvey speaks during the annual Lifepath banquet at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Upper Macungie Twp. on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, Garvey played in 1,727 games over 14 seasons. He is jumping into the U.S. Senate race in California for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat. (Harry Fisher / The Morning Call)

Garvey helped lead the Dodgers to the World Series four times and was one of the stars of their 1981 championship; he also led the Padres to their first World Series appearance in 1984. He was part of a Dodgers infield that remained together for a record 8 1/2 seasons, was a 10-time All-Star and was selected as the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1974.

During his career, especially his time with the Dodgers, few would’ve been shocked if he eventually ran for office. But the immaculate image he maintained for much of his career was shattered by revelations of multiple affairs, children he fathered, a rather public divorce and strained-at-best relationships with his first two children. He receded from the spotlight for a long time after seemingly living in it for much of the 1970s and ’80s.

Much of the attention to that part of his life has faded, though, and he’s mainly remembered as a Southern California baseball great.

And after Sen. Dianne Feinstein — who died in late September — said early this year she wouldn’t run for re-election in 2024, Garvey started talking with consultants about a possible run and acknowledged that in June.

Since Feinstein’s announcement — and even a bit before — several candidates clamored early to announce bids for the seat.

On the Democratic side, that includes Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Burbank as well as former tech executive Lexi Reese.

It’s not yet clear if Sen. Laphonza Butler, a former union leader who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newson and sworn into the Senate following Feinstein’s death, plans to run as well.

Related links

Could a Republican, maybe even Steve Garvey, win California’s Senate seat in 2024?
What would a Senate candidate representative of California look like?
Laphonza Butler sworn in as 3rd Black female senator in US history to replace Dianne Feinstein
With Dianne Feinstein’s death, Alex Padilla becomes California’s senior senator overnight

On the Republican side, which includes Garvey, there’s attorney Eric Early, who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general in 2018 and 2022, as well as a few other contenders with no statewide name ID.

Name ID is not the biggest problem for Garvey — albeit, one of the first items on Garvey’s campaign to-do list is reintroducing himself, he said — and he’s drawing heavily on his baseball background in the race. His launch video juxtaposes coverage of his athletic career with his campaign message: “It’s time to get off the bench. It’s time to put the uniform on. It’s time to get back in the game,” he says in the spot.

Still, his entrance into the race begs the question: Can a Republican win in a California where Democrats hold every statewide office and dominate the legislative and congressional delegations? Could a baseball star running on the GOP ticket be successful in a state where Republicans, who are outnumbered about 2-to-1 by Democratic voters, have struggled for years to find candidates for top offices?

“If Garvey is going to duplicate his success, his chances get much better if he runs the same type of campaign that (former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) did,” Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant who teaches about political messaging at UC Berkeley and USC, has said.

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“Part of what made (Schwarzenegger) different is that he was extremely well-known,” Schnur said. “The other thing that made him different was his ability to combine a conservative economic message with a more centrist approach on social issues.”

The most recent time a Republican was elected to the U.S. Senate was 1988 when Pete Wilson won re-election to what would be his final term before becoming California’s governor.

And in the past two U.S. Senate races, Democrats outperformed Republicans by such a great margin that it was only the Democrats who advanced past the primary to make it into the November election.

Garvey says he’s not running with the party label in mind. He plans to focus on consensus building — like rebuilding a team, he said. When pressed on what issues drive his campaign, he said it’s “quality of life” concerns like the economy, public safety and education.

“Yes, I’ve got an ‘R’ next to my name, but in order to run for all the people, people have to know I care about all of them,” Garvey said. “Somebody needs to bring people together.”

“Sure, I’ll be a rookie,” he said, “but I’d like to think I’ll be a well-prepared rookie who has had life experiences who can represent the people of California and the people of this country.”

​ Orange County Register 

Eastbound 91 Freeway to close overnight in Corona three nights a week

• October 10, 2023

Beginning next week and continuing through November, the eastbound 91 Freeway in Corona will be shut down overnight, three days a week, for work on an interchange improvement project.

The nighttime closures are set to get underway Monday, Oct. 16, with all eastbound 91 lanes out of service from Green River Road to Serfas Club Drive, on the west end of Corona.

The lane closures will be in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The same closures will be implemented again on Tuesday, Oct. 17, and Wednesday, Oct. 18, according to the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

The agency said that the Monday-to-Wednesday schedule will be maintained, weather-permitting, until Nov. 30.

In addition to the general-purpose lanes, the two toll lanes on the eastbound 91 will be shut down at the same time.

The closures are required for the 71/91 Interchange Project, which entails replacing the current single-lane connector from the eastbound 91 to the 71 Freeway with a two-lane connector loop, which will facilitate a larger volume of vehicles at one time, reducing congestion.

The $137 million project began in February.

A commission statement said the nighttime closures will “allow crews to safely construct support structures for the new connector.”

The Green River Road on-ramp to the eastbound 91 will also have to be shut down for traffic safety during the work.

Commission officials recommend that motorists avoid the eastbound 91 during the overnight hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, starting next week, and instead use the 60 Freeway to the north as an alternate. Otherwise, traffic will be crammed into a single lane, taken off the freeway at Green River Road and funneled through the city to downtown, where drivers can rejoin the eastbound 91.

Along with expanding the connector itself, the project will also involve adding an eastbound auxiliary lane to the 91 and realigning the Green River Road on-ramp. The expressway, too, will be realigned to create space for the new connector.

Officials said that a wildlife crossing will be one of the other features of the reconfigured interchange.

The project is expected to conclude in 2025.

More than one-third of the project funding — $58.1 million — is being provided by the California Road Repair & Accountability Act of 2017, which hiked gasoline taxes to pay for infrastructure and other projects. The county’s Measure A revenue, which is generated by a half-cent sales tax, is also covering a share of the expense, while federal and other sources make up the difference.

Project information: www.rctc.org/71-91interchange

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers’ bullpen shines in NLDS Game 2 loss to Diamondbacks

• October 10, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― After the Dodgers lost Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Manager Dave Roberts vowed to “manage Game 2 like it’s Game 7. And I’m going to do the same thing for Game 3.”

Monday, the Dodgers’ elimination-game strategy was revealed before an announced crowd of 51,449. The chorus of boos that greeted nearly every pitching change – there were four, beginning with starter Bobby Miller’s second-inning exit – combined bass notes of disappointment with a falsetto of incredulity.

But Roberts had no designs on winning a popularity contest, only a baseball game. Even that was just a tad out of reach in the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, the do-or-die nature of Game 3 is not a matter of choice for the Dodgers.

For a night at least, the “bullpen game” approach looked like the right one. The three runs Miller allowed in 1⅔ innings represented the difference between a win and a loss. And the four high-leverage relievers Roberts tasked with the final 7⅓ innings – Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Evan Phillips – allowed four hits, only one run, and struck out nine.

“The bullpen was fantastic,” Roberts said. “Those guys gave us a chance to stay in the ballgame and to win. I can’t say enough about what they did. The series sets up well in terms of off-days, so they’ll all be available for Game 3.”

If Roberts’ own words were not enough to suggest a short leash was in store for Miller in Game 2, there was this: no bullpen in baseball had a lower ERA after the All-Star break than the Dodgers (2.26). Graterol (0.32), Brasier (0.31), Kelly (1.74) and Phillips (1.38) were among the best individual relievers during that stretch. They represented the strongest links in the strongest unit on the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

Miller fared slightly better than Game 1 starter Clayton Kershaw, completing the first inning on 32 pitches. But the Diamondbacks began the second inning with the hardest hit allowed by any pitcher in Game 2, a 110-mph single off the bat of Evan Longoria.

By the time Tommy Pham was announced prior to his second plate appearance of the game, the Diamondbacks had runners on first and second base with two outs. Graterol was warm. Roberts decided Miller had faced his final batter.

“He wasn’t sharp for me,” Roberts said of Miller. “I thought he was getting behind (in counts). Those guys saw a lot of pitches. … Being down 3-0 in the first inning. … The second inning, recalling the at-bat Pham had on him (a line-drive single). The guy behind him, (Christian) Walker, really squared the ball up in his first at-bat. At that time we couldn’t go down 4-0. I wanted to give our team a chance to extend the game.”

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The bullpen answered the call. Graterol retired Pham on one pitch, getting him to ground out on a 100-mph sinker. From there on out, the game was a fairly even match.

The Diamondbacks’ fourth and final run came on a solo home run by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. against Brasier in the sixth inning – and even that pitch was no beach ball. The down-and-away slider that landed in the left field bleachers yielded a .087 slugging percentage when thrown with two strikes in 2023, according to Inside Edge.

The Diamondbacks had runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings but could not score. All three of their hits with runners in scoring position came against Miller.

Although the Dodgers are facing elimination after throwing “bullpen games” in Games 1 and 2, their relief pitchers have done little to dissuade Roberts from using the same strategy in Game 3.

​ Orange County Register