Mayoral Inaugural for Eric Garcetti

LA welcomes it's 42nd Mayor, Eric Garcetti, today. In a short but fun ceremony, Moby performed an original song, "We Are All Made of Stars."
The oath was delivered by a LA Student in the eight grade, Kenia Castillo, who Garcetti met when she 4 years old at a rally for better working conditions for janitors.
The new members of the LA City Council were also swore in and had a group hug afterwards.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Our new Mayor.

Moby snapping photos.

Last Tweet as Mayor of LA.

LA Councilman Tom LaBonge and Gil Garcetti taking a photo.

City Hall.

Graham Patrick Martin and Raymond Cruz from "Major Crimes."

Same-Sex Marriages Resume in California

Jeff Zarillo and Paul Katami were married today at LA City Hall. They are the first same-sex couple in Los Angeles to be married since the Supreme Court ruled Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. Jeff and Paul were also plaintiffs in the lawsuit over same-sex marriages along with Kris Perry and Sandy Stier who were also married earlier today in San Francisco.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided over the wedding which was held on his last day as Mayor of LA.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Getting ready to take the vows.

Wedding bands.

Married.

All legal and signed by the Mayor.

Mayor Villaraigosa's Farewell Tour

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's farewell bus tour through the city. The tour made a quick stop at Pink's Hot Dog stand on La Brea where the Mayor made his iconic dog, "The Mayor's Dog."
Sunday is his last day as acting Mayor, when Eric Garcetti will take his oath in front of LA City Hall.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Big dogs for the Mayor.

Making "The Mayor's Dog."

Gloria Pink and Mayor Villaraigosa.

Mayor Villaraigosa and Nick Ut.

LAPD Manhunt in Mid-Wilshire LA (Updated)

A large butcher type of knife was found near the search scene of the two shooting suspects. Crime scene investigators worked the scene and removed the large knife to process it as possible evidence in the shooting this morning.

Traffic in the area is still highly jammed.

The LAPD conduct a large manhunt for at least two suspects who shot at LAPD detectives who were pulling in to the Wilshire LAPD station early this morning. The Detectives were hit by gun fire, and returned fire and the suspects left the scene.
A city wide tactical alert was called as LAPD continue to search for the suspects in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Venice Blvd. shut down.

La Brea and Washington shut down.

LAPD Motor Officers stand guard in the mid-city.

A large knife was found near the search scene.

LAPD SWAT search the mid-Wilshire area.

Washington Blvd. and Rimpau.

LAPD airship searches for suspects.

CicLAvia (Updated)

Golden Gods at Fairfax and Wilshire mark the western boundary of the latest CicLAvia.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Had all of lumpy Wilshire Blvd. to myself at 8:30am.

Golden Gods and their chariot.

Bruce Lee Statue in LA's Chinatown

A giant 7.5 tall bronze statue of Kung Fu innovator Bruce Lee makes it short debut in Los Angeles' Chinatown. 150 thousand more dollars is still needed to make the statue a permanent fixture in the Chinatown square. The statue was made in China back in 2008 and kept in storage at LAX airport till last week.
Bruce Lee died at age 32 and this is the 40th anniversary of his death. He also lived in Los Angeles and was born in San Francisco's Chinatown.
The statue is also the first of it's kind in the United States.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Front and center for now.

Master Lee.

New Chinatown, same as the old Chinatown.

Michael Hastings RIP

A make-shift memorial where Michael Hastings, a LA investigative journalist, died in a car crash on Highland Ave. in Los Angeles. Hastings' car ran in to a palm tree located on a median on Highland Ave at approximately 100mph in the early morning hours. The car burst in to flames and he could not be saved by local residents who attempted to put out the inferno.
 Hastings was most known for his 2010 piece in Rolling Stone that brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

A note left at the road-side memorial.

A friend of Michael.

Hope Erased

From my files.
A Shepard Fairey Obama "Hope" poster that was partially removed from a wall in Los Angeles.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2008

Hope gone.

Flag Day

Flag Day May Day style in LA.

Borobudur

The giant temple at Borobudur in central Java this morning.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2013

Buddha contemplating the sunrise near Mt. Mirapi.

Major Crimes

The hit TV show "Major Crimes" will be back on the air next week on TNT. Check out the amazing image on the interview room. There are several more of my images on the set too.

Guilty as charged.

Print Still Not Dead

My image of a defaced mural of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made it on to KNBC LA4 11pm broadcast. It is part of a LA Weekly cover feature on the outgoing mayor and was written by Patrick McDonald.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2013

KNBC LA 4 anchor Chuck Henry.

Eric Garcetti Wins Mayor's Race

Eric Garcetti celebrated his victory over Wendy Greuel for Mayor of Los Angeles. Mr. Garcetti was surrounded by his family and supporters on the stage at the Hollywood Palladium while he gave his victory speech at around 11:40pm.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Mayor elect Eric Garcetti.

Victory speech.

Mayor watchers.

Mayor elect Garcetti with supporters.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Votes

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa voted in Hancock Park today.
The Mayor did not disclose who he voted for in the race for the new Mayor.
Although he denied being sad leaving his job as mayor of Los Angeles, he looked and sounded so during an impromptu press conference held outside of the polling place. The Mayor also stated he was looking for a new place to live and still wasn't sure where yet.
The Mayor's final statement was a heartfelt thank you to the media photographers for their coverage of him and his office.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Mr. Mayor.

The Mayor with his ballot.

Eric Garcetti's Final Push

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti spent the afternoon campaigning in Boyle Heights. Several area politicians marched around the neighborhood with Mr. Garcetti, the march ended with ice cream served at near a neighborhood church.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Candidate Garcetti.

Walking through la barrio.

1st street.

Eric Garcetti and Our Lady Guadalupe.

Helping out the locals with car repair advice.

Umbrellagate

Found this gem in my files as well. Umbrellagate is getting out of hand.
Tea Party event held in Beverly Hills in September of 2010. Wasn't even raining either.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2010

Not a cloud in the sky.

Roger Ebert

Was searching through my photo archives and came across this image of Roger Ebert receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame back in June of 2005. 

He was very gracious about having his photo taken that day and gave me a "thumbs up."

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2005

Roger Ebert.

Operation Sudden Impact

Operation Sudden Impact solves six cold case murders, and leads to the arrest of forty gang members and associates who operated in Montebello, CA.
A large cache of assault weapons many modified to fire fully automatically, several hand guns, and a rocket launcher was also seized by the joint task force.
Operation Sudden Impact was a multi-agency effort of the ATF, Montebello PD, LA Co. Sheriff Dept, and the CA DOC, and was a two year long investigation.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2013

Seized hand gun.

Defendants.

Photo evidence.

Modified assault weapon.

ATF agent Christian Hoffman with seized assault weapon.