studio

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Noah Goldberg, giving you the latest on city and county government.

L.A. City Hall is not known for making things simple for real estate developers — especially those seeking approval of large, complicated projects.

Yet earlier this year, Westwood resident Zach Sokoloff navigated the city’s bureaucratic obstacle course, winning City Council approval of a $1-billion plan to redevelop Television City, the historic studio property on Beverly Boulevard.

Now, Sokoloff is hoping to make what some might view as a baffling career change, jumping from Hackman Capital Partners, where he is senior vice president for asset management, to a job as L.A.’s next elected city controller.

For that to happen, Sokoloff would need to defeat City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who is running for another four-year term in June. That’s a tall order, given Mejia’s social media savvy, his status as an incumbent and his deft use of graphics highlighting the minutiae of city government — sometimes featuring hat-wearing corgis.

In 2022, Mejia secured more votes than any other candidate in city history, as he and his team like to point out. Former state Sen. Isadore Hall, who is also running against Mejia, has his own track record of winning elections.

Sokoloff, by contrast, has never run for public office. He’s spent the past seven years at Hackman, which proposed the 25-acre Television City project and owns other studio properties.

A onetime grade school algebra teacher, Sokoloff promised to emphasize “leadership through listening” if he is elected, shining a light on areas where the city is struggling and working collaboratively to find solutions.

Sokoloff gave some credit to Mejia for seeking to make city government more transparent and understandable. But he argued that such efforts are only a starting point.

Mejia’s audits, he said, “just aren’t moving the needle.”

“He’s shown a preference for lobbing criticism after the fact, rather than getting involved early on to shape the outcome,” Sokoloff said in an interview.

Mejia spokesperson Jane Nguyen pushed back, saying Mejia has championed an array of policy changes, including the creation of a chief financial officer position and a move to “multi-year budgeting.”

In an email, Nguyen said public officials have been responding to Mejia’s audits by working to improve oversight of rents for affordable housing, purchases of military equipment by the Los Angeles Police Department and housing placements by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“Despite our small audit staff, this work is ‘moving the needle’ and making a difference in city policies and departments while improving the quality of life of Angelenos,” she said.

Nguyen said her boss has listened to thousands of constituents at community events and at his town hall meetings.

“All politicians ‘listen,’” she said. “The difference between Kenneth Mejia and our opponents is who we listen to. Our Office listens to the people of Los Angeles.”

If Mejia secures a majority of the vote in June, he will avoid a November 2026 runoff. Forcing Mejia into a round two will be a tough task for Hall and Sokoloff, said political science professor Fernando Guerra, who runs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

Because city controller is a relatively low-profile position and Mejia is an incumbent, voters will likely stick with him unless there’s serious “negative publicity,” Guerra said.

“While he’s quirky, there’s nothing there that’s in any way scandalous,” Guerra added.

Sokoloff is launching his campaign at an opportune time. Television City is the subject of several lawsuits, which have been filed not just by neighborhood groups but also The Grove, the shopping mall developed by businessman and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso. Those plaintiffs have asked a judge to overturn the council’s approval of the project, saying the city failed to comply with CEQA, the state’s environmental law.

Shelley Wagers, who lives nearby and has been fighting the project, said she was surprised by Sokoloff’s decision to run for citywide office. Asked whether he is in fact good at listening, she replied: “Not in my experience, no.”

Sokoloff defended his company’s handling of the TVC project, pointing to the unanimous votes cast by the planning commission and the council.

“We built a broad and diverse coalition of supporters,” he said. “Ultimately, the results of the [city’s] entitlement process speak for themselves.”

Sokoloff has already picked up one key endorsement: Laura Chick, who was perhaps the most confrontational city controller in recent history. Chick, who served in citywide office from 2001 to 2009, took on officials at the city’s harbor, its airport agency, the city attorney’s office and many others.

Chick, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, said L.A. needs a controller who will find strategies to make the city more efficient and effective.

“[Sokoloff] understands that L.A. needs an active problem solver as its chief auditor,” she said.

State of play

— CREATING A RECORD: Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and an assortment of elected officials, clergy and community activists went to a four-hour hearing this week that focused on the impact — and alleged abuses — of Trump’s immigration crackdown. “We want to establish a record, because when the political winds change, we want to hold those accountable,” Bass said.

— THANKSGIVING TEXTS: Caruso, the real estate developer now weighing a second run for mayor, offered his own message on the immigration raids this week, sending a text message blast asking for donations to help families whose lives have been upended by crackdown.

“As we get ready to sit down with family tomorrow, I’m thinking about the families across our city whose Thanksgiving will look a little different,” Caruso wrote on Wednesday. “Many are afraid to return to work after the recent workplace raids, leaving families short on food, rent, and basic necessities.”

— CONCEPT OF A PLAN: Mayoral candidate Austin Beutner said he supports “the concept” of hiking L.A.’s sales tax by a half-cent to pay for additional firefighters and fire stations. Beutner offered his take a few days after the firefighters union confirmed it is preparing ballot language for the tax, which would raise $9.8 billion by 2050. The union wants voters to take up the measure in November 2026.

— FIRE FUNDING: Even without the tax, Fire Chief Jaime Moore is asking for more than $1 billion for his department’s next annual budget, a 15% hike over the current year. Moore said the additional funds are needed to ensure the city is prepared for emergencies like the Palisades fire.

— DIALING 9-1-1: Sticking with the firefighting theme, Beutner posted an interactive graphic on his website showing how much paramedic response times have increased in most zip codes in the city. Beutner said firefighters are being asked to respond to too many non-emergency calls.

— DELAYED RESPONSE: Residents in neighborhoods near the Port of Los Angeles were not told to shelter in place until nearly six hours after a massive hazardous materials fire broke out aboard a cargo ship in the harbor. The handling of the alert, which urged residents to go inside immediately and shut their doors and windows, follows deep concerns about the region’s alert system and how it worked during the Eaton fire in January.

— KATZ OUT THE BAG: The five-member board that oversees the Department of Water and Power has lost its third commissioner in as many months. Richard Katz, a former state lawmaker and a Bass appointee, had his final meeting on Nov. 18. In his resignation letter, he said he’s stepping aside to focus on two upcoming surgeries.

— LACKING A QUORUM: Because the DWP board needs three members to hold a meeting, it won’t be able to conduct any business until the council confirms the mayor’s newest appointee: Benny Tran, who is slated to replace Mia Lehrer. Tran is a principal with Baobab Global Consulting, according to his nomination paperwork.

— IN HOT WATER: A high-ranking DWP employee has been accused of making staffers run personal errands for her on city time, including purchasing tickets to a Snoop Dogg concert, according to a filing lodged by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission’s director of enforcement. The employee’s lawyer said the claims were the product of a disgruntled subordinate.

— MONEY TROUBLES: L.A. County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing faces a $230-million financial gap in the upcoming budget year, setting the stage for cuts to key services. Officials are looking at scaling back an array of programs, including services to help homeless residents find apartments.

— BOLSTERING THE BUDGET: The council’s new Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, a five-member citizen panel looking at ways to strengthen the city’s finances, held its first meeting this week, selecting former City Controller Ron Galperin as its chairman. The committee plans to look at the city’s investment strategies, real estate portfolio, legal obligations and overall approach to annual budgets.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness did not launch new operations this week.
• On the docket next week: The Charter Reform Commission is set to hold an outdoor town hall Saturday at Echo Park Lake. The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will take place on the northeast lawn at Echo Park and Park avenues.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to [email protected]. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

“Can you just give me one of your leftover sharks?”

It was early in Jay Stein’s tenacious pursuit to turn a throwaway business into a sweet spot for Universal Studios, then owned by Lew Wasserman’s powerhouse entertainment firm MCA.

In 1975, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was a cultural sensation and Stein wanted to capitalize on the movie’s success. He asked his colleagues in film production for props so his crews could re-create the fictional Amity Island coastline in the studio’s hilly back lot miles from downtown L.A.

“He convinced them: ‘Can you just give me one of the leftover sharks and I’ll put it on the studio tour, and we’ll get some promotion out of that,’ ” author Sam Gennawey told The Times, recalling Stein’s brilliance and his pioneering use of intellectual property.

Jay Stein with his wife, Connie, in Oregon.

(Connie Stein)

Stein died Nov. 5 at his home in Bend, Ore., according to his wife, Connie Stein. He was 88 and had been suffering from complications related to Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer.

“He left a big hole — but he also left a wonderful legacy,” she said in an interview Sunday. “Not a lot of people have the opportunity to leave a legacy that touches generations. But he’s still making people smile every day.”

The tram tour’s shark attack, which terrified tourists when it debuted in 1976, has long been a staple. It was among Stein’s many theme park enhancements during his more than 30 years as a top MCA executive, which included Universal’s push into Florida to compete with Walt Disney Co.

The “Jaws” attraction helped cement Universal’s decades-long relationship with Spielberg, a span that would include such films as “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List” and “The Fabelmans.” It also spawned other movie-themed attractions that included a “Waterworld” live show and a “King Kong” ride.

Stein insisted that the ape would spew “banana breath,” his wife said.

Within Universal, such jolts and flourishes became known as “JayBangs,” which Gennawey used as the title for his 2016 book about Stein’s contributions to the industry, “JayBangs: How Jay Stein, MCA, & Universal Invented the Modern Theme Park and Beat Disney at Its Own Game.”

“Jay wanted to put you in the movie,” Gennawey said. “He wanted to grab you by the collar and shake you a bit.”

The “Runaway Train” attraction on the Universal Studios backlot tour, one of its many exhilarating “JayBangs.”

(NBCUniversal Archives & Collections)

Stein was born in New York City on June 17, 1937, to Samuel and Sylvia “Sunny” (Goldstein) Stein.

His father was a watch salesman who moved the family to Los Angeles when Stein was young. As a teenager, he occasionally skipped school to go to Hollywood Park Racetrack to bet on horses. He had finagled some blank report cards and used them to bring home self-inserted high marks.

But the scam was revealed when the family briefly moved back to New York and Stein was nearing the end of high school. His parents were summoned for a conference, where they learned Stein lacked the credits to graduate. Summer school remedied that.

The family returned to L.A. Stein attended UC Berkeley, majoring in political science, but he left about a semester shy of graduating.

He served in the Army National Guard and, near the end of his service, in 1959, began working in MCA’s mailroom. Initially he wanted to get into film production, but by the mid-1960s, he was steered into the fledgling tour unit.

The company had launched the tram tour in 1964 to make a little money from its ample real estate. But some executives viewed the endeavor as tacky. Its prospects looked dim.

“It started out as two trams and a Quonset hut on Lankershim Boulevard,” Stein told The Times in a 2023 interview. “Quite frankly, the tram was considered something that interfered with television production.”

“I worked for the production office and was given the task of trying to coordinate how close we could come on the backlot without interfering. Everyone I worked for said it was an annoyance and disruptive and will not ever be welcomed.”

Stein was able “to convince others of the benefits of having the studio tour,” Gennawey said. “That’s what saved it.”

Early signage advertising Universal Studios as a tourist attraction.

(NBCUniversal Archives & Collections)

Gennawey considers Stein a key pioneer of U.S. theme parks.

“He was remarkably competitive. He recognized that Disney had its thing — but Universal could create something different and complimentary, particularly in the early days,” Gennawey said.

Disneyland was, of course, a top draw.

“But if you are a Los Angeles resident and had relatives coming in town, you knew they [also] wanted to see Hollywood,” Gennawey said. “But Hollywood was kind of scary, so you took them to Universal Studios.”

Stein’s contributions have only recently been appreciated, according to Gennawey. That’s largely because Stein subscribed to Wasserman’s edict that the “stars were the stars,” and executives should blend into the background. Stein also retired early, leaving Universal by the mid-1990s, after Japanese electronics giant Matsushita bought MCA.

Visitors line up for the studio tour of Universal Studios.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Stein worried that Universal’s new owner (and a string of subsequent buyers) would fail to recognize the value of the theme parks, Gennawey said, an observation that proved correct.

That changed in 2011 when Comcast acquired NBCUniversal and began investing heavily.

The company opened its $7-billion theme park, Universal Epic Universe, near Orlando, Fla., to raves earlier this year.

The theme park unit — which includes destinations in Los Angeles, Florida, Japan and China — has become one of the most reliable profit engines for NBCUniversal. Last year, Universal theme parks produced $8.6 billion in revenue.

“Jay was the visionary behind Universal’s expansion from the Studio Tour in Hollywood to the creation of our world-class theme park destination at Universal Orlando and beyond,” Mark Woodbury, chairman and chief executive of Universal Destinations & Experiences, said in a statement.

“He had tremendous creative instincts and defined our style of immersive storytelling, making us the brand that brings great movies to life for generations to come,” Woodbury said.

Stein is survived by his wife, son Gary Stein, daughter Darolyn Bellemeur, and their spouses, children and grandchildren, his brother Ira Stein, a nephew, cousins as well as Connie Stein’s children and grandchildren.

Back in 2024, Universal conjured a pink and green tornado that swept pop culture.

From themed drinks at Starbucks and dolls of Elphaba and Glinda, to joint appearances by stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande at the Olympics and throughout a heavily-publicized press tour, “Wicked” was everywhere.

As the conclusion of the two-part film franchise heads to theaters at the end of the week, the marketing for “Wicked: For Good” has accelerated.

There are still themed Legos, but now also Gain laundry scent boosters, Swiffers and Pottery Barn bedding. There was a “Wicked” night on rival network ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and a “Wicked: One Wonderful Night” musical event broadcast on NBC.

The complete takeover of culture was all part of Universal’s plan to build one of its biggest and most important franchises, which has already brought in nearly $759 million in worldwide box office revenue for the first film, not to mention the haul from merchandise sales, theme park tie-ins and other categories.

Beyond the immediate revenue, “Wicked” also gives Universal a rare, female-focused franchise, an underserved audience, particularly as so many recent films have been geared toward men.

The success of the Broadway play, which has run for more than two decades, gave Universal the confidence in its potential for the big screen, said David O’Connor, president of franchise management and brand strategy at Universal Pictures. He’s also been a fan of the stage production almost from the beginning — he watched a table reading on the Universal lot, saw the musical additions to the script and finally, its run in San Francisco.

“For us, you had this potential to really take the fanship and really make ‘Wicked’ into a cultural imperative,” he said in a call from New York ahead of the film’s premiere. “When you think about the characters, the two leads, the themes of friendship, identity and empowerment, and how that resonates universally, and then, of course, the fantastical worlds of Oz and Shiz and Munchkinland, it just seemed like such a great opportunity for us.”

“Wicked” has proved to be a key boost to Universal’s lineup of blockbuster franchises.

Though the studio boasts series like “Jurassic Park,” “Despicable Me” and “Fast & Furious,” it has lacked the deep roster of intellectual property that rivals like Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. have, said Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at data firm Greenlight Analytics.

The series “has really emerged as a much-needed, fresh tentpole for Universal,” he said. “There’s such a waterfall of value that this two-part franchise creates that Universal will be banking out on this for years to come.”

The two films were shot back-to-back, with a combined production budget of $300 million, reportedly split evenly between the two.

So far, interest for the second film is high — as of Thursday, “Wicked: For Good” was the highest ticket pre-seller of the year, according to Fandango. It is also the highest PG-rated ticket pre-seller ever on the Fandango platform, passing 2017’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast,” 2019’s animated hit “Frozen 2” and the first “Wicked.”

The film is tracking to haul in $150 million to $160 million in its opening weekend, according to estimates from industry analysts.

And the film’s appeal to women is crucial, particularly in a year when there were few films geared toward female viewers. Despite the persistent debates about the dearth of female-focused films, there have been few big, recent hits, other than 2023’s “Barbie” and last year’s “Wicked.”

“Every three or four years, female audiences are rediscovered with some hit,” said Alisa Perren, professor in the department of radio-television-film at the University of Texas at Austin’s college of communication. “It’s kind of striking how little mainstream female [films] have been released.”

To court all audiences, including those who were familiar with the play as well as those new to the story, Universal leaned into its so-called Symphony program to leverage all arms of the company to promote a film.

The program has been used previously for films like “Despicable Me” and has become a critical part of the marketing campaign, O’Connor said.

One new strategy the company used for supporting this franchise was building a “Wicked” fair, which was held on set in 2023 in London and allowed more than 200 partners to get a feel for the story, see the filmmakers and actors and meet heads of departments, like costumes and props. The studio has done set visits in the past, but nothing like this.

That open house was pivotal in driving partnership agreements and started to fuel the franchise’s success, O’Connor said. One of those was Lego, which signed on with “Wicked” after the fair and has been a partner on both films with product lines and an episode of “Lego Masters.”

Because not all geographic markets had the same built-in awareness of the Broadway play, getting corporate brands on-board was key to increasing knowledge of “Wicked” around the globe, he said.

Though “Wicked: For Good” marks the conclusion to the two-film series, O’Connor was coy about what’s next for the franchise.

“Our focus remains on building experiences that will deepen that connection to ‘Wicked,’” he said. “And all I can say is, we are very committed to ‘Wicked,’ but it’s probably too early to share much more than that.”

There’s no shortage of bands commemorating their glory days as decade anniversaries of albums fly by. Yet few landmark releases feel not only fresh but forward-thinking 20 years after they were recorded. My Morning Jacket stumbled onto this kind of brilliance in October 2004 when it released its fourth studio album “Z.” Across 10 tracks of lush, euphoria-driven rock ‘n’ roll, the band captured a notable tone shift in its sound that melded Southern rock, haunting folk, psychedelic soul laced with jam band energy. It’s a set of songs that still make up a huge chunk of the bands live show. In September the band performed the album in its entirety to a sold-out Hollywood Palladium for its 20th anniversary.

“We still play these songs all the time,” said frontman and principal songwriter Jim James in a recent conversation. “So it’s not like we broke up after we released ‘Z’ and then we got back together 20 years later to play these songs, and it’s such a trip. We’ve been playing them nonstop for 20 years.”

Shortly after the release of its 10th studio album “is,” the band put out a deluxe reissue of “Z” that includes four B-sides and a whole album’s worth of demo versions of songs like “Wordless Chorus,” “Off the Record” and Dodante. Recently James spoke to The Times about the enduring power of “Z” and the joy of going back to the beginning of the album’s origins to give himself and his fans a new appreciation for the groundbreaking sound the band created.

The rerelease of “Z” was prefaced earlier this year with a full-album show at the Palladium. What was it like revisiting the album on stage first before it came out (again) on vinyl and streaming?

This is our fourth album now to hit the 20-year mark. So we’ve got some experience now doing these album shows. And it’s funny because some of the earlier albums we don’t play all the songs from them so we had to go back and relearn a lot of songs. But the songs from “Z” we pretty much play all the songs all the time. So it’s pretty hilarious how it involved no effort. It just involved playing them in that order of the sequence of the album. But we kind of laughed about that. We’re like, man, we don’t really even have to do any research or anything. We were all kind of reflecting just on how grateful we are that we like playing all the songs still. It’s such a great feeling to play songs for 20 years and never really get tired of them. People still want to hear them and there’s still excitement there, and they still feel fresh. It’s really a beautiful thing.

This was your first album using an outside producer. What was that like for you as the songwriter to step in the studio with John Leckie to help you realize your vision with “Z”?

It was so great, because I really needed somebody who could work with me and not let our egos clash too much. John was just really great about coming in and respecting what I wanted to do, but also voicing his opinion and what he liked and what he didn’t like and when he thought we could do better. And it was just really so refreshing and so good for us to have him there. I mean, his track record speaks for itself, he’s somebody who you can trust right off the bat, just because of all the things they’ve done in the past. He’s such a soft-spoken gentleman but he also has this hilarious, brutal honesty about him, which was always really great.

Your lineup had also changed between the previous album “It Still Moves” and “Z” — adding keyboard player Bo Koster and guitarist Carl Broemel who are still in the band today. So was that like stepping in the studio with the “new guys” for the first time?

It was really nerve-racking and really exciting all at once. We had some touring experience under our belt with Bo and Carl, so we kind of knew that it was working out on that level, but we’d never really recorded before, so it was a real test for all of us. And I think we all knew that. So everybody brought their A game to the session and we took it really seriously, but we also had a lot of fun and just really kind of got to know each other. That was good to do that out in the middle of nowhere, out there in the Catskills, up at the studio. It gave us some time to really bond without a lot of the real-world stuff coming in or other people coming in. So I think that was really important, that we did it that way.

Do you remember what song came out of the sessions first?

“It Beats 4 U” was the first one, because that was one we had already played live before we started recording. So I think that was the first song that we started messing with. But I think they all were kind of coming to life around the same time. So by the time we got in there to start unpacking them, I had already written them and kind of made the demos of them and stuff.

It’s great that you included so many demo versions of your songs on this rerelease. What was the process like of locating these, sifting through and sequencing which ones you wanted to put on the album?

Well, I love demos for a lot of my favorite bands — I love it when I get to hear the demos from the albums. So I’m always saving all that stuff; with my own stuff I’m always compiling all the demos, because that’s half the fun to me. Because sometimes you get this just like a beautiful glimpse into the song. Quite often, I end up liking the demo more than I like the actual album, song because you get a whole, whole new view of it. It’s also interesting when you’re sequencing for vinyl, because you don’t have unlimited time so you kind of got to pick and choose, and that kind of forces you to just choose the best. There’s a whole other round of band demos and then there were my demos, so there were a lot of things to choose from. But it kind of helps me to look at it in vinyl format. There’s still something about the vinyl time limit that helps with quality control. Just kind of pick the ones that I feel are most effective and then try and make a fun sequence so that hopefully, if somebody’s into them, it’s kind of like you get a bonus album that you can listen to.

We had four true songs, B-sides, that we really love too, that weren’t demos. So that was really nice to finally get those out, because those had been on different soundtracks. And then one wasn’t even released. So I don’t think that those weren’t even on streaming or anything for years and years. So it’s really cool to have those out kind of everywhere now, because I’ve always liked all those songs and been proud of those songs too. And I think most bands know the feeling of you know when you make a record. Sometimes songs just don’t fit the record, even if you still love the songs.

MMJ during the “Z” era.

(Sam Erickson)

Were you playing any of those live at the point where you released the album the first round, or did you shelve them for later?

We’ve always played “Where to Begin” live — off and on. We’ve also tried “Chills” a couple times, and I think we did “How Could I Know” a couple times. We’ve never played “The Devil’s Peanut Butter,” we kinda forgot that one existed until this whole [album rerelease] process started, and I found that song again. So we’ll probably play that one somewhere out on the next leg.

Was this process something that you enjoy doing, like, in terms of your how to, sort of like, reexamine an album?

I really love it because I just feel so grateful that anybody even gives a s–, you know? I mean, so there’s that part of me that’s just so grateful to even still be in the game, talking about this. But beyond that, it’s really cool for me because it’s like jumping in a time machine and going back and looking at that point in my life and getting perspective on where I am now, and seeing how I’ve grown and asking “where have I changed? Where have I not changed?” I look back and with all of these albums as they come up to this 20-year mark, and I see I’ve always been really mean and hard on myself, on Jim, but I know that Jim was doing the best he could at each time. That’s the one thing I’ve always kind of been able to see, to get myself through, to not be too hard on myself. I know I was giving it everything I had, so whether I would change things about it as I am today or not — we all look back on the past, and maybe there’s things we’d do differently, but it gives me a lot of comfort to know that I was trying as hard as I could, and all the guys in the band were trying as hard as they could. It really makes me feel proud of us for just putting in the time and effort.