An LAPD manhunt in Hollywood continues this morning to snarl traffic as police search for a man who was shot at by an off-duty officer during an altercation.
Traffic has slowed to a crawl in the area of Hollywood Boulevard, Gower Street and Franklin and Van Ness avenues as K-9 units and SWAT officers search for the man.
Pop superstar Prince, widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive and influential musicians of his era with hits including "Little Red Corvette," ''Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry," was found dead at his home on Thursday in suburban Minneapolis, according to his publicist. He was 57.
His publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Associated Press that the music icon died at his home in Chanhassen. No details were immediately released.
The singer, songwriter, arranger and instrumentalist broke through in the late 1970s with the hits "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover," and soared over the following decade with such albums as "1999" and "Purple Rain." The title song from "1999" includes one of the most widely quoted refrains of popular culture: "Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999."
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The Minneapolis native, born Prince Rogers Nelson, stood just 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and seemed to summon the most original and compelling sounds at will, whether playing guitar in a flamboyant style that openly drew upon Jimi Hendrix, switching his vocals from a nasally scream to an erotic falsetto or turning out album after album of stunningly original material. Among his other notable releases: "Sign O' the Times," ''Graffiti Bridge" and "The Black Album."
He was also fiercely protective of his independence, battling his record company over control of his material and even his name. Prince once wrote "slave" on his face in protest of not owning his work and famously battled and then departed his label, Warner Bros., before returning a few years ago.
"What's happening now is the position that I've always wanted to be in," Prince told the AP in 2014. "I was just trying to get here."
In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which hailed him as a musical and social trailblazer.
"He rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge music in the Eighties," reads the Hall's dedication. "Prince made dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative."
Rarely lacking in confidence, Price effortlessly absorbed the music of others and made it sound like Prince, whether the James Brown guitar riff on "Kiss" or the Beatle-esque, psychedelic pop of "Raspberry Beret."
He also proved a source of hits for others, from Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" to Cyndi Lauper's "When You Were Mine." He also wrote "Manic Monday" for the Bangles
Prince had been touring and recording right up until his death, releasing four albums in the last 18 months, including two on the Tidal streaming service last year. He performed in Atlanta last week as part of his "Piano and a Microphone" tour, a stripped down show that has featured a mix of his hits like "Purple Rain" or "Little Red Corvette" and some B-sides from his extensive library.
Prince debuted the intimate format at his Paisley Park studios in January, treating fans to a performance that was personal and was both playful and emotional at times.
The musician had seemed to be shedding his reclusive reputation. He hosted several late-night jam sessions where he serenaded Madonna, celebrated the Minnesota Lynx's WNBA championship and showcased his latest protege, singer Judith Hill.
Ever surprising, he announced on stage in New York City last month that he was writing his memoir. "The Beautiful Ones" was expected to be released in the fall of 2017 by publishing house Spiegel & Grau. The publishing house has not yet commented on status of book, but a press release about the memoir says: "Prince will take readers on an unconventional and poetic journey through his life and creative work." It says the book will include stories about Prince's music and "the family that shaped him and the people, places, and ideas that fired his creative imagination."
A small group of fans quickly gathered in the rain Thursday outside his music studio, Paisley Park, where Prince's gold records are on the walls and the purple motorcycle he rode in his 1984 breakout movie, "Purple Rain," is on display. The white building surrounded by a fence is about 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
Steven Scott, 32, of Eden Prairie, said he was at Paisley Park last Saturday for Prince's dance party. He called Prince "a beautiful person" whose message was that people should love one another.
"He brought people together for the right reasons," Scott said.
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Fred Hayman, a serial entrepreneur whose eye for trends, nose for fragrances and hospitality-driven approach to retail helped shape the luxury landscape of Beverly Hills, has died. He was 90.
According to longtime friend and spokesperson Katy Sweet, Hayman died Thursday at his Malibu home after a long illness.
The man who would eventually be known as “the godfather of Rodeo Drive” was born Fred Pollag in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on May 29, 1925, to Richard Pollag and Irma Levy. He came to the U.S. at 16, beginning his career in hospitality at the Waldorf-Astoria. He came west in 1954 — at the behest of Conrad Hilton — to helm the banquet facilities at the new Beverly Hilton.
Hayman’s foray into luxury retail started in 1961. He and two partners bought the original Giorgio boutique in 1961 when the shop was known for Italian fashion.
By the late ‘60s he had bought out his partners, and from his landmark store at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Dayton Way spent the next three decades cultivating relationships with designers and celebrities, setting new standards for fashion parties and helping promote Los Angeles as an international style center.
Using the tricks of the hospitality trade, Hayman pampered customers with a fully stocked bar, espresso machine, pool table and pub. He would have a vintage Rolls-Royce chauffeur clients to the store.
“He’s really a pioneer in retail-tainment — which is really how we have come to see the retail landscape in the last couple of decades,” said Rose Apodaca, fashion journalist and author of “Fred Hayman The Extraordinary Difference: The Story of Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Glamour and the Showman Who Sold It All,” which was published in 2011. “He had the idea that you go into a store for more than just buying something — you’re there to be entertained, you’re there for it to be a scene and a hangout.”
Hayman stoked the store's Hollywood aura with an endless supply of celebrity name dropping. Asked about his clientele, he might mention Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers and Lynda Carter in the same breath. Television personality Merv Griffin wore Giorgio menswear on his show.
The store captured international attention when novelist Judith Krantz used it as a setting for “Scruples,” her 1978 novel about shopping, sex and social climbing in Beverly Hills. The book was a bestseller.
Los Angeles could set the stage for a political showdown, with the city seeking information from the companies in order to track down illegal rentals.
The plan would empower Los Angeles to fine the online platforms—and the hosts —if they advertised rentals that defied restrictions on where and how often rooms or entire homes could be used for short stays.
The websites also could be fined if they failed to hand over addresses and other information to the city. Airbnb and other companies have been reluctant to share data, including how long travelers had stayed and the price they paid, arguing that doing so would trample on hosts' privacy rights.
The proposed law "takes a step backward, putting consumer privacy at great risk by requiring online platforms to give the government unfettered access to confidential user data without any idea of how that information would be used," Airbnb spokeswoman Alison Schumer said in a statement.
But critics contend that requiring the websites to help find and halt illegal rentals is a crucial step in stopping scofflaws. City Councilman Mike Bonin said that if the companies don't hand over information, "we're shooting blind."
FILE- In this June 5, 2013, file photo, Leslie Van Houten appears during her parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Calif. The youngest of Charles Manson’s followers to take part in one of the nation’s most notorious killings is trying again for parole. Van Houten is scheduled for her 21st hearing before a parole board panel Thursday, April 14, 2016, at a women’s prison in Corona, Calif. Nick Ut, FileAP Photo
By MATT HAMILTONLos Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES - A California review board recommended parole Thursday for former Charles Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted of murder in the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
The decision was issued after a hearing earlier in the day at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Van Houten had previously been denied parole 19 times since she was convicted of killing the wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his second wife at their Los Feliz home.
After the ruling is reviewed by the parole board's legal team, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who could decide to block Van Houten's release.
The youngest of Manson's followers, Van Houten, 66, has been considered the least blameworthy member of the group, portrayed by supporters as a misguided teen under the influence of LSD on the night of the killings.
A former homecoming queen from Monrovia, Van Houten did not join in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of Sharon Tate, the wife of Roman Polanski, and four others at the Benedict Canyon home Tate was renting.
But the following day, then-19-year-old Van Houten joined the random killing of the LaBiancas.
Van Houten and another woman held down Rosemary LaBianca as Charles "Tex" Watson stabbed Leno LaBianca. After Watson stabbed Rosemary LaBianca, he handed Van Houten a knife. She testified to stabbing Rosemary at least 14 more times.
The blood of the victims was used to scrawl messages on the walls, as had been done at the Benedict Canyon home.
In prior bids for parole, Van Houten's attorneys have characterized her as a model inmate who has obtained a college degree behind bars and been active in self-help groups.
At a 2002 parole board hearing, Van Houten said she was "deeply ashamed" of what she had done, adding, "I take very seriously not just the murders but what made me make myself available to someone like Manson."
Van Houten's attorney Richard Pfeiffer told The Associated Press that the murder was the sole crime she committed in her life.
"She is just not a public safety risk, and when you are not a public safety risk, the law says you shall be released," Pfeiffer said.
Last summer, a parole board recommended parole for Manson associate Bruce Davis, who was convicted in the 1969 killings of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea. But in January, Brown rejected parole for the 73-year-old, stating that "Davis' own actions demonstrate that he had fully bought into the depraved Manson family beliefs." Davis was not involved in the killings of the LaBiancas, Tate and four others.
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