A few lunchtime news items related to changes of ownership:
- The Fabulous Forum is changing owners. Once the home to major sporting events (Lakers, Kings) as well as major concerts, the Forum in Inglewood has been quiet in recent years. It’s current owners, the Faithful Central Bible Church, have intended to rent it out but have never been successful. It’s new owners will be Madison Square Garden, who have a record of successful promotion of events. This is a good thing: not only will it revitalize the facility, it will bring income and jobs to an area that sorely needs it, and bring additional concerts and entertainment options to the LA area.
- New Jew is moving to the JCC. “New Jew” refers to the New Community Jewish School, a relatively new Jewish high school in the valley that started perhaps 5 years ago. It looks like they will be moving from the campus of Shomrei Torah to the Bernard Milken JCC. The JCC building was once the showpiece of the valley JCCs, but as the JCC fell on hard times, its programming had been decimated. The JCC operations at the facility will remain (presumably as a rental tenant), so this is actually win-win for the community.
- El Camino is moving to a Charter. El Camino Real High School, the winners of the Academic Decathalon for a long time, look to be transitioning to a charter campus. This continues the trend we’ve been seeing in the valley, where first Granada Hills HS and then Birmingham HS moved to be charters associated with LAUSD… and GHCHS is moving to operating the new Valley High School #4 (“Hospital High” a/k/a “Bo Diddley High”). I’ll also note that my alma mater, Pacific Palisades High School, has also gone charter. I personally think this is a good trend: it localizes the academic aspects to the school, while still retaining the buying and logistical power of the larger school district.
