Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

Sixto Escobar


Sixto Escobar vs Harry Jeffra

[Rick Farris]

The Burbank Boxing Club . . .

In an attempt to stay busy while the actors and producers negotiate a new contract, I stopped by my friend Steve Harpst's Burbank Boxing Club last night, and brought with a young heavyweight prospect.

Harpst, a successful bronze artist who creates the WBHOF's Inductee award, "The Fighter", a foot tall bronze sculpture, has spent more than a dozen years bringing boxing to a town that had nothing of it's kind when I was a kid growing up there, in the sixties. At the moment, Harpst has a complete boxing gym at the Burbank YMCA, and the only requirement for joining is YMCA membership.

The Y's of today have everything you'll find at Balley's Fitness, etc. and in Burbank, they also have boxing. For roughly $50. a month there is full gym membership and boxing on mon-wed-fri from 7-9pm. Steve Harpst is a great coach and shares his experience as an amateur boxing champ who fought out of Arizona. Today, Steve is well known bronze sculptor and sits on the Board of Directors of the WBHOF.

Last night, I visited Steve and his boxers, those who fight for the Burbank Boxing Club. I wanted to see how a boxing coach can successfully teach 40 young boxers at the same time.

I grew up in an "old school" gym, everything was one-on-one with a variety of teachers, who worked with my main trainer. You were exposed to a variety of styles and ideas. We had verteran pros to share their experience, an element that is missing from many contemporary "boxing clubs", however, this isn't true at the Burbank Boxing Club. Steve Harpst knows how to get the most from his boxers, as well as those he enlists to help, always seasoned professional boxing figures including a number of current and former world champions, trainers, cut men, referees and judges, historians, etc.

Steve is friendly with the legends of boxing past, as well as those who rule the ring today, and his friends are only too happy to share a little encouragement and experience with his young boxers.

Steve is a "trainer's trainer" in the area of physical conditioning, and this is one guaranteed benefit of training with the Burbank Boxing Club- If you follow the program, you will reach the best condition of your life. However, If you can box, more important, if your willing to fight, the Burbank Boxing Club is a great place to start your boxing career. Steve takes his hot young talent to all the local boxing shows, as well as nationally and internationally. Recently, his team traveled to Canada to compete against the Candian team.

I've learned from Steve Harpst that it "is" possible to teach a class of forty. There is as much one-on-one attention as one would have with other coaches, who also train other boxers. The proof for me was watching the kids gloved up and boxing. Those who had been with the program a few months had solid skills, skill to win themselves amateur titles, should they take them into the ring. This "old school" guy was impressed.

Steve started from nothing more than a dozen years ago and the built his club up to one of the finest places to learn boxing in town. The boxing gym is currently being moved upstairs to a large fully equipped facility complete with a ring, heavy bags, speed bags, and a state-of-the-art floor for injury-free jumping rope. The features of the Burbank YMCA gym, pool, sauna-steam baths is an added bonus.

I dragged my 57-year-old butt onto the floor and worked out with the kids. I'm glad I never stopped doing this for more than a few months at a time, thruout the years I always did a boxer's workout. I rarely box today, unless working with somebody I'm teaching, but I love a boxing workout, and working with young boxers starting out. I do the workout, hold the pads. Aside from the arthritus in my left hand, boxing is a pain-free activity for me today. I'll let the kids get hit in the face. They're young, it's good for them, teaches them what not to do.

The thing I like about the Burbank Boxing Club is how it radiates everything that is "good & right" about boxing. It's the flip side of the coin. For this I would like to personally thank my friend, Steve Harpst, for doing something I never believed would happen. In reality, Steve is resurrecting a connection to the Golden Age of boxing, a time when Burbank played host to one of the most successful amateur boxing venues in history, the "Jim Jeffries Barn".

The City of Burbank was the adopted home of one of the greatest World Heavyweight Champs, James J. Jeffries, who owned property at the intersection of Buena Vista St. & Victory Blvd. Today, where a "Ralph's Market" now sits, was the spot where Jeffries Barn served as both a boxing arena and gymnasium. In the late 30's and early 40's, Art and Babe Martell successfully sold out their amateur boxing shows in the barn every friday night. The seats were filled with top film personalities, who lived in the San Fernando Valley to be close to both Burbank and Hollywood Studios. Historically speaking, never has amateur boxing in Southern California been more successful than what came out of Burbank's "Jeffries Barn" back in the day.

Perhaps with Steve Harpst reviving boxing in the City of Burbank, the city's rich boxing history will resurface. I have a good feeling that it will. And when that day comes, maybe the city will recognize and honor their greatest boxing legend . . . James J. Jeffries.

I'd like to give credit where it is due, and much credit for the success of the Burbank Boxing Club goes to Steve Harpst's girlfriend, Michele Chong. Everybody familiar with boxing in Southern Cal knows her name, she is hands down the premier L.A. boxing scribe of today, covering every bout, promotion, pro & amateur, every Hall of Fame event from the WBHOF, California HOF and Golden State Boxers Assoc. Michele's incredible energy, and great personality are not only a positive factor in the success of the Burbank Boxing Club, but a gift to all who follow West Coast boxing.



-Rick Farris

[dagosd2000]

La Mascota Bakery: a Boyle Heights tradition


Jenn Garbee / For The Times
TO GO: A customer is all smiles with a bag full of pastry from Boyle Heights' La Mascota.
The family-run store has been serving up bolillos, tamales and other Mexican classics for more than 50 years.

By Jenn Garbee

As the early Wednesday morning rush ends for champurrado, the cinnamon-scented hot Mexican chocolate thickened with masa harina, Rosina Valencia slips behind the semicircular enclave that conceals her desk. She readjusts her fuchsia snap-front work shirt and settles in to confirm wholesale bolillo orders from neighboring restaurants as an employee transfers dozens of the palm-sized loaves, still warm from the oven, to the display case.

"Two bolillos and just one croissant this time -- I'm on a diet -- one of those big chocolate chip cookies too," says 55-year-old Richard Vasquez, a La Moscata customer for as long as he can remember.

Lucy Garcia, a veteran employee of the Boyle Heights bakery, hands over a white paper sack already freckled with opaque butter stains from the pastries inside. Vasquez fishes around and pulls out a crusty bolillo, the Mexican equivalent of a baguette, only chubbier and with a chewier, pleasantly salty crust, and tears off a bite.

"We try to keep things the way Papá wanted them," says Rosina Valencia, co-owner of La Mascota Bakery, from her raised perch.

Papá, Ygnacio Salcedo, opened La Mascota Bakery on a sleepy little street in Boyle Heights in 1952. Seven years later, he moved the bakery to its current location, where it has stood for the last 50 years, a few doors down on the same street that today is the bustling thoroughfare of Whittier Boulevard.


"There were no bakeries nearby, so Papá thought he'd give it a try," Valencia says as another customer helps himself to a generous slice of golden-brown sour cream coffee cake sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds called quesadilla Salvadoreña. He pauses mid-bite, trying to place the flavor.

"It's Parmesan, not too much, not too much sugar -- the way they make it in El Salvador," Valencia explains as the customer polishes off the last bite.

Papá Salcedo grew up in Mascota, a small town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He apprenticed in a bakery as a young boy and by 17 owned his own panadería.

But his hometown career would be short-lived. In 1927, shortly after a series of Catholic counterrevolutions against the Mexican government escalated into the Cristero War, rebels stormed the bakery and killed several of Salcedo's bakers and customers. He fled to Los Angeles the following year.

Generations

"Cuatro cincuenta," Garcia says, looking up from the calculator covered in plastic wrap. An elderly woman hands over $4.50 and takes the sack of guava libros ("books" of strudel-like pastry filled with jam) and delicate sugar-dusted cuellos ("collars" of glazed flaky pastry) to one of the wobbly iron patio tables in the corner. She nibbles the cuello slowly, from the outside in.

"Many of our customers we've known for generations," says Rose Salcedo, Valencia's sister-in-law, who also works the front counter. When Papá died in 2002, ownership of the bakery passed to Valencia and her brothers Edward, Ygnacio Jr. (Rose's husband) and Victor.

Ygnacio Jr. and his brother Edward work the night shift making the bolillos and dozens of assorted pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads), pastries and cookies. Neomi Salcedo, the 39-year-old daughter of Ygnacio Jr. and Rose, is the resident birthday and quinceañera cake decorator; their son Ygnacio III is also a staff baker. Valencia and her younger brother Victor arrive in the morning, the air still sweet with fermenting yeast, to manage business operations and supervise the day staff.

"The tamales were Mamá's contribution," Valencia says, nodding toward an enclosed kitchen opposite the front door where three women are spooning spicy red chile and pork filling onto masa-lined corn husks.

Old standards

In 2000, the siblings purchased a small retail shop next to the bakery to house the larger tamale kitchen and expand the bakery's offerings beyond traditional Mexican pastries. Neomi, a culinary school graduate, added candied apples drenched in caramel sauce and vanilla-scented cupcakes crowned with buttercream to the menu; Ignacio III introduced the rustic fruit and chocolate swirled poundcakes. But the family still considers their father and grandfather's bolillos the bakery's calling card.

Before opening the bakery, Ygnacio Salcedo worked as a dishwasher at the Ambassador, the landmark Mid-Wilshire hotel that was recently demolished. When a French guest bemoaned the quality of the bread, Salcedo offered to make the Mexican rolls.

"They were always Papá's specialty," Valencia says, inspecting the stack of plastic-wrapped tortas, the traditional Mexican bolillo sandwiches stuffed with sliced meats, carne asada (grilled flank steak) or spicy chorizo sausage, waiting for the lunch crowd.

A couple of teenagers in low-slung jeans and white sneakers have dropped by for an after-school snack. "Those free?" asks one of the boys, nodding toward discounted bags of day-old pastries piled on a rolling metal cart. They lean against the glass counter, taking in the dozens of galletas (cookies), and finally settle on a half-dozen rainbow-colored pressed butter cookies shaped like wreaths and four-leaf clovers.

"The hardest part is seeing the neighborhood kids grow up so fast," Rose says.

"And finding time off to spend with the family," her sister-in-law adds from her perch. The bakery is open daily, save for a handful of holidays and two weeks in August.

"Papá always liked to say, 'The sun rises for everyone, you just have to work hard to make it happen," Valencia continues. "And you do have to get along with all the in-laws and out-laws to work here, that's for sure."

[email protected]

I LIKE THE YELLOW ONES

You can say what you want,but American bakeries are more or less franchise donut shops. If you find a good one,you can bet that the owners learned English as a second lnguage. The Mexican food in TJ is good If you eat off the stands and the carts the flavors and the aromas are rich and tasty. The bakeries are just as good.

I remember about 30 years ago a Frenchman opened up a Parisean bakery on the boulevard called La Baguette. Very good. They baked the baguettes(french loaves) in brick ovens . Me and the wife would buy a score of hot baguettes and then make sandwiches with cuts of ham and beef loaded inside. La Baguette was a trendy place. Very good,but trendy.

Just about on every other block in Tijuana is a bakery,called panaderias.My favorite is a bakery across from thr jail called La Espiga De Oro. No franchise joint.A family mom and pop establishment.Handed down through the family. If you know when the hot bolillos(Mexican rolls) are dumped in the bin,you're in for a treat. Usually this occurance is every two hours. Water and salt are part of the ingrediants. Slapping cuts of ham and beef inside a hot bolillo is as good as a sandwich( torta)can get.

But there are more little delicacies that come out of those brick ovens. Cookies and cakes. Fruit filled pastries. Some with custard inside. Powdered sugar adorns much of the sweet breads. My favorite are the yellow cookies. The pink ones are tasty too,but if they held a gun to my head,I'd opt for the yellow ones. You might think they have a lemon flavor,but they don't. It's just a good rich cookie sprinkled with sugar. Set two or three on a plate along side a cold glass of milk. Makes Winchells seem like something cheap and sugary. Just like their advertising.

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8-RLIuroLo

Yo Soy Puro Mexicano

Pedro Vargas




Francisco "Pancho" Villa

The Centaur Of The North

[Rick Farris]

La Mascota Bakery: a Boyle Heights tradition


Jenn Garbee / For The Times
TO GO: A customer is all smiles with a bag full of pastry from Boyle Heights' La Mascota.
The family-run store has been serving up bolillos, tamales and other Mexican classics for more than 50 years.

By Jenn Garbee

As the early Wednesday morning rush ends for champurrado, the cinnamon-scented hot Mexican chocolate thickened with masa harina, Rosina Valencia slips behind the semicircular enclave that conceals her desk. She readjusts her fuchsia snap-front work shirt and settles in to confirm wholesale bolillo orders from neighboring restaurants as an employee transfers dozens of the palm-sized loaves, still warm from the oven, to the display case.

"Two bolillos and just one croissant this time -- I'm on a diet -- one of those big chocolate chip cookies too," says 55-year-old Richard Vasquez, a La Moscata customer for as long as he can remember.

Lucy Garcia, a veteran employee of the Boyle Heights bakery, hands over a white paper sack already freckled with opaque butter stains from the pastries inside. Vasquez fishes around and pulls out a crusty bolillo, the Mexican equivalent of a baguette, only chubbier and with a chewier, pleasantly salty crust, and tears off a bite.

"We try to keep things the way Papá wanted them," says Rosina Valencia, co-owner of La Mascota Bakery, from her raised perch.

Papá, Ygnacio Salcedo, opened La Mascota Bakery on a sleepy little street in Boyle Heights in 1952. Seven years later, he moved the bakery to its current location, where it has stood for the last 50 years, a few doors down on the same street that today is the bustling thoroughfare of Whittier Boulevard.


"There were no bakeries nearby, so Papá thought he'd give it a try," Valencia says as another customer helps himself to a generous slice of golden-brown sour cream coffee cake sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds called quesadilla Salvadoreña. He pauses mid-bite, trying to place the flavor.

"It's Parmesan, not too much, not too much sugar -- the way they make it in El Salvador," Valencia explains as the customer polishes off the last bite.

Papá Salcedo grew up in Mascota, a small town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He apprenticed in a bakery as a young boy and by 17 owned his own panadería.

But his hometown career would be short-lived. In 1927, shortly after a series of Catholic counterrevolutions against the Mexican government escalated into the Cristero War, rebels stormed the bakery and killed several of Salcedo's bakers and customers. He fled to Los Angeles the following year.

Generations

"Cuatro cincuenta," Garcia says, looking up from the calculator covered in plastic wrap. An elderly woman hands over $4.50 and takes the sack of guava libros ("books" of strudel-like pastry filled with jam) and delicate sugar-dusted cuellos ("collars" of glazed flaky pastry) to one of the wobbly iron patio tables in the corner. She nibbles the cuello slowly, from the outside in.

"Many of our customers we've known for generations," says Rose Salcedo, Valencia's sister-in-law, who also works the front counter. When Papá died in 2002, ownership of the bakery passed to Valencia and her brothers Edward, Ygnacio Jr. (Rose's husband) and Victor.

Ygnacio Jr. and his brother Edward work the night shift making the bolillos and dozens of assorted pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads), pastries and cookies. Neomi Salcedo, the 39-year-old daughter of Ygnacio Jr. and Rose, is the resident birthday and quinceañera cake decorator; their son Ygnacio III is also a staff baker. Valencia and her younger brother Victor arrive in the morning, the air still sweet with fermenting yeast, to manage business operations and supervise the day staff.

"The tamales were Mamá's contribution," Valencia says, nodding toward an enclosed kitchen opposite the front door where three women are spooning spicy red chile and pork filling onto masa-lined corn husks.

Old standards

In 2000, the siblings purchased a small retail shop next to the bakery to house the larger tamale kitchen and expand the bakery's offerings beyond traditional Mexican pastries. Neomi, a culinary school graduate, added candied apples drenched in caramel sauce and vanilla-scented cupcakes crowned with buttercream to the menu; Ignacio III introduced the rustic fruit and chocolate swirled poundcakes. But the family still considers their father and grandfather's bolillos the bakery's calling card.

Before opening the bakery, Ygnacio Salcedo worked as a dishwasher at the Ambassador, the landmark Mid-Wilshire hotel that was recently demolished. When a French guest bemoaned the quality of the bread, Salcedo offered to make the Mexican rolls.

"They were always Papá's specialty," Valencia says, inspecting the stack of plastic-wrapped tortas, the traditional Mexican bolillo sandwiches stuffed with sliced meats, carne asada (grilled flank steak) or spicy chorizo sausage, waiting for the lunch crowd.

A couple of teenagers in low-slung jeans and white sneakers have dropped by for an after-school snack. "Those free?" asks one of the boys, nodding toward discounted bags of day-old pastries piled on a rolling metal cart. They lean against the glass counter, taking in the dozens of galletas (cookies), and finally settle on a half-dozen rainbow-colored pressed butter cookies shaped like wreaths and four-leaf clovers.

"The hardest part is seeing the neighborhood kids grow up so fast," Rose says.

"And finding time off to spend with the family," her sister-in-law adds from her perch. The bakery is open daily, save for a handful of holidays and two weeks in August.

"Papá always liked to say, 'The sun rises for everyone, you just have to work hard to make it happen," Valencia continues. "And you do have to get along with all the in-laws and out-laws to work here, that's for sure."

[email protected]

I LIKE THE YELLOW ONES

You can say what you want,but American bakeries are more or less franchise donut shops. If you find a good one,you can bet that the owners learned English as a second lnguage. The Mexican food in TJ is good If you eat off the stands and the carts the flavors and the aromas are rich and tasty. The bakeries are just as good.

I remember about 30 years ago a Frenchman opened up a Parisean bakery on the boulevard called La Baguette. Very good. They baked the baguettes(french loaves) in brick ovens . Me and the wife would buy a score of hot baguettes and then make sandwiches with cuts of ham and beef loaded inside. La Baguette was a trendy place. Very good,but trendy.

Just about on every other block in Tijuana is a bakery,called panaderias.My favorite is a bakery across from thr jail called La Espiga De Oro. No franchise joint.A family mom and pop establishment.Handed down through the family. If you know when the hot bolillos(Mexican rolls) are dumped in the bin,you're in for a treat. Usually this occurance is every two hours. Water and salt are part of the ingrediants. Slapping cuts of ham and beef inside a hot bolillo is as good as a sandwich( torta)can get.

But there are more little delicacies that come out of those brick ovens. Cookies and cakes. Fruit filled pastries. Some with custard inside. Powdered sugar adorns much of the sweet breads. My favorite are the yellow cookies. The pink ones are tasty too,but if they held a gun to my head,I'd opt for the yellow ones. You might think they have a lemon flavor,but they don't. It's just a good rich cookie sprinkled with sugar. Set two or three on a plate along side a cold glass of milk. Makes Winchells seem like something cheap and sugary. Just like their advertising.

Roger, one day in the future I'd like to visit TJ again, and I know Monica would appreciate going with you and Maria, as we discussed awhile back.
I'll try a "yellow one" myself. Working in the business I do, I'm used to cheap and sugary. My kind of, uh . . . cookie.

-Rick

[kikibalt]

La Mascota Bakery: a Boyle Heights tradition


Jenn Garbee / For The Times
TO GO: A customer is all smiles with a bag full of pastry from Boyle Heights' La Mascota.
The family-run store has been serving up bolillos, tamales and other Mexican classics for more than 50 years.

By Jenn Garbee

As the early Wednesday morning rush ends for champurrado, the cinnamon-scented hot Mexican chocolate thickened with masa harina, Rosina Valencia slips behind the semicircular enclave that conceals her desk. She readjusts her fuchsia snap-front work shirt and settles in to confirm wholesale bolillo orders from neighboring restaurants as an employee transfers dozens of the palm-sized loaves, still warm from the oven, to the display case.

"Two bolillos and just one croissant this time -- I'm on a diet -- one of those big chocolate chip cookies too," says 55-year-old Richard Vasquez, a La Moscata customer for as long as he can remember.

Lucy Garcia, a veteran employee of the Boyle Heights bakery, hands over a white paper sack already freckled with opaque butter stains from the pastries inside. Vasquez fishes around and pulls out a crusty bolillo, the Mexican equivalent of a baguette, only chubbier and with a chewier, pleasantly salty crust, and tears off a bite.

"We try to keep things the way Papá wanted them," says Rosina Valencia, co-owner of La Mascota Bakery, from her raised perch.

Papá, Ygnacio Salcedo, opened La Mascota Bakery on a sleepy little street in Boyle Heights in 1952. Seven years later, he moved the bakery to its current location, where it has stood for the last 50 years, a few doors down on the same street that today is the bustling thoroughfare of Whittier Boulevard.


"There were no bakeries nearby, so Papá thought he'd give it a try," Valencia says as another customer helps himself to a generous slice of golden-brown sour cream coffee cake sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds called quesadilla Salvadoreña. He pauses mid-bite, trying to place the flavor.

"It's Parmesan, not too much, not too much sugar -- the way they make it in El Salvador," Valencia explains as the customer polishes off the last bite.

Papá Salcedo grew up in Mascota, a small town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He apprenticed in a bakery as a young boy and by 17 owned his own panadería.

But his hometown career would be short-lived. In 1927, shortly after a series of Catholic counterrevolutions against the Mexican government escalated into the Cristero War, rebels stormed the bakery and killed several of Salcedo's bakers and customers. He fled to Los Angeles the following year.

Generations

"Cuatro cincuenta," Garcia says, looking up from the calculator covered in plastic wrap. An elderly woman hands over $4.50 and takes the sack of guava libros ("books" of strudel-like pastry filled with jam) and delicate sugar-dusted cuellos ("collars" of glazed flaky pastry) to one of the wobbly iron patio tables in the corner. She nibbles the cuello slowly, from the outside in.

"Many of our customers we've known for generations," says Rose Salcedo, Valencia's sister-in-law, who also works the front counter. When Papá died in 2002, ownership of the bakery passed to Valencia and her brothers Edward, Ygnacio Jr. (Rose's husband) and Victor.

Ygnacio Jr. and his brother Edward work the night shift making the bolillos and dozens of assorted pan dulce (Mexican sweet breads), pastries and cookies. Neomi Salcedo, the 39-year-old daughter of Ygnacio Jr. and Rose, is the resident birthday and quinceañera cake decorator; their son Ygnacio III is also a staff baker. Valencia and her younger brother Victor arrive in the morning, the air still sweet with fermenting yeast, to manage business operations and supervise the day staff.

"The tamales were Mamá's contribution," Valencia says, nodding toward an enclosed kitchen opposite the front door where three women are spooning spicy red chile and pork filling onto masa-lined corn husks.

Old standards

In 2000, the siblings purchased a small retail shop next to the bakery to house the larger tamale kitchen and expand the bakery's offerings beyond traditional Mexican pastries. Neomi, a culinary school graduate, added candied apples drenched in caramel sauce and vanilla-scented cupcakes crowned with buttercream to the menu; Ignacio III introduced the rustic fruit and chocolate swirled poundcakes. But the family still considers their father and grandfather's bolillos the bakery's calling card.

Before opening the bakery, Ygnacio Salcedo worked as a dishwasher at the Ambassador, the landmark Mid-Wilshire hotel that was recently demolished. When a French guest bemoaned the quality of the bread, Salcedo offered to make the Mexican rolls.

"They were always Papá's specialty," Valencia says, inspecting the stack of plastic-wrapped tortas, the traditional Mexican bolillo sandwiches stuffed with sliced meats, carne asada (grilled flank steak) or spicy chorizo sausage, waiting for the lunch crowd.

A couple of teenagers in low-slung jeans and white sneakers have dropped by for an after-school snack. "Those free?" asks one of the boys, nodding toward discounted bags of day-old pastries piled on a rolling metal cart. They lean against the glass counter, taking in the dozens of galletas (cookies), and finally settle on a half-dozen rainbow-colored pressed butter cookies shaped like wreaths and four-leaf clovers.

"The hardest part is seeing the neighborhood kids grow up so fast," Rose says.

"And finding time off to spend with the family," her sister-in-law adds from her perch. The bakery is open daily, save for a handful of holidays and two weeks in August.

"Papá always liked to say, 'The sun rises for everyone, you just have to work hard to make it happen," Valencia continues. "And you do have to get along with all the in-laws and out-laws to work here, that's for sure."

[email protected]

I LIKE THE YELLOW ONES

You can say what you want,but American bakeries are more or less franchise donut shops. If you find a good one,you can bet that the owners learned English as a second lnguage. The Mexican food in TJ is good If you eat off the stands and the carts the flavors and the aromas are rich and tasty. The bakeries are just as good.

I remember about 30 years ago a Frenchman opened up a Parisean bakery on the boulevard called La Baguette. Very good. They baked the baguettes(french loaves) in brick ovens . Me and the wife would buy a score of hot baguettes and then make sandwiches with cuts of ham and beef loaded inside. La Baguette was a trendy place. Very good,but trendy.

Just about on every other block in Tijuana is a bakery,called panaderias.My favorite is a bakery across from thr jail called La Espiga De Oro. No franchise joint.A family mom and pop establishment.Handed down through the family. If you know when the hot bolillos(Mexican rolls) are dumped in the bin,you're in for a treat. Usually this occurance is every two hours. Water and salt are part of the ingrediants. Slapping cuts of ham and beef inside a hot bolillo is as good as a sandwich( torta)can get.

But there are more little delicacies that come out of those brick ovens. Cookies and cakes. Fruit filled pastries. Some with custard inside. Powdered sugar adorns much of the sweet breads. My favorite are the yellow cookies. The pink ones are tasty too,but if they held a gun to my head,I'd opt for the yellow ones. You might think they have a lemon flavor,but they don't. It's just a good rich cookie sprinkled with sugar. Set two or three on a plate along side a cold glass of milk. Makes Winchells seem like something cheap and sugary. Just like their advertising.

Roger, one day in the future I'd like to visit TJ again, and I know Monica would appreciate going with you and Maria, as we discussed awhile back.
I'll try a "yellow one" myself. Working in the business I do, I'm used to cheap and sugary. My kind of, uh . . . cookie.

-Rick

Just don't drink the water.....

[kikibalt]

Susi Kentikian Defends her Titles in Germany Tonight
By Roger T. Tubajiki-March 20, 2009

Tonight in Hamburg, in what is expected to be an attractive female showdown between two top fighters in female flyweight division, Susi Kentikian, 23-0, 16 KO’s, the female WBA/ WIBF Flyweight Champion, is set to defend her titles against the American former WIBA Flyweight Champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 19-4-6, 5 KO’s.
On December 7, 2007, Susi Kentikian, who first won the female WBA Flyweight Title on February 16, 2007, captured the WIBF Flyweight Title vacated by Regina Halmich with a 10-round UD over Nadia Hokmi.

In Germany, Elena Reid is known by many for challenging twice the now retired former champion Regina Halmich for Regina’s WIBF flyweight title. In their first match, both Elena Reid and Regina Halmich battled to a draw. It was on September 11, 2004, in Regina’s hometown of Karlsruhe. In rematch of their draw that took place on December 3, 2005, in Magdeburg, Regina Halmich won a hard-fought-ten-round UD over Elena Reid. In those two bouts, Elena Reid put in a gutsy performance, but was disappointed both times in the scoring of those bouts.

Although Susi knew critical moments in her fights such as against Carolina Alvarez, Nadia Hokmi, Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer, she showed great determination as she was able to handle the pressure and overcome those crucial moments in those fights.
With 16 KO’s in her record, Susi Kentikian shows that she is not only a talented and exciting fighter, but also possesses speed and power in her both hands. Other talented fighters such Maria Jose Nunez, the dangerous Shane Martin of England, Sarah Goodson and the experienced Maria Ortega were frustrated by Susi’s ability to constantly throw combinations and were not able to handle Susi’s pressure and speed as they were knocked down by Susi in the opening rounds.

For Susi, this fight will be a tough one for both of them since Elena Reid is an experienced opponent.

In 2006, with a 10-round UD over Maria Ortega, Elena Reid captured the WIBA Flyweight Title and in 2007, with a 10-Ud over Shin-Hee Shoi, she added the IFBA Flyweight Title on her record. In 2008, Elena Reid lost her WIBA flyweight title to Eileen Olszweski, who won that bout via a ten-round UD, and battled to a draw with Eva knight.

In the co-main event, WBO Intercontinental middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik will be challenged by a former world title challenger in Ruben Varon, 31-4, 15 KO’s. In 2003 Ruben Varon lost to 3-Times World Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm, the current WBA Middleweight Champion, for Felix Sturm’s WBO Middleweight Title. Sebastian Zbik is WBO #1, WBA # 2 and WBC #3 in the middleweight rankings.

Also on the card, unbeaten heavyweight Sebastian Köber will face Jean Claude Bikoi, 15-10-1, 8 KO’s. Köber is coming off a spectacular 11-round TKO over Dieter Roth.

[Rick Farris]

Susi Kentikian Defends her Titles in Germany Tonight
By Roger T. Tubajiki-March 20, 2009

Tonight in Hamburg, in what is expected to be an attractive female showdown between two top fighters in female flyweight division, Susi Kentikian, 23-0, 16 KO’s, the female WBA/ WIBF Flyweight Champion, is set to defend her titles against the American former WIBA Flyweight Champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 19-4-6, 5 KO’s.
On December 7, 2007, Susi Kentikian, who first won the female WBA Flyweight Title on February 16, 2007, captured the WIBF Flyweight Title vacated by Regina Halmich with a 10-round UD over Nadia Hokmi.

In Germany, Elena Reid is known by many for challenging twice the now retired former champion Regina Halmich for Regina’s WIBF flyweight title. In their first match, both Elena Reid and Regina Halmich battled to a draw. It was on September 11, 2004, in Regina’s hometown of Karlsruhe. In rematch of their draw that took place on December 3, 2005, in Magdeburg, Regina Halmich won a hard-fought-ten-round UD over Elena Reid. In those two bouts, Elena Reid put in a gutsy performance, but was disappointed both times in the scoring of those bouts.

Although Susi knew critical moments in her fights such as against Carolina Alvarez, Nadia Hokmi, Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer, she showed great determination as she was able to handle the pressure and overcome those crucial moments in those fights.
With 16 KO’s in her record, Susi Kentikian shows that she is not only a talented and exciting fighter, but also possesses speed and power in her both hands. Other talented fighters such Maria Jose Nunez, the dangerous Shane Martin of England, Sarah Goodson and the experienced Maria Ortega were frustrated by Susi’s ability to constantly throw combinations and were not able to handle Susi’s pressure and speed as they were knocked down by Susi in the opening rounds.

For Susi, this fight will be a tough one for both of them since Elena Reid is an experienced opponent.

In 2006, with a 10-round UD over Maria Ortega, Elena Reid captured the WIBA Flyweight Title and in 2007, with a 10-Ud over Shin-Hee Shoi, she added the IFBA Flyweight Title on her record. In 2008, Elena Reid lost her WIBA flyweight title to Eileen Olszweski, who won that bout via a ten-round UD, and battled to a draw with Eva knight.

In the co-main event, WBO Intercontinental middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik will be challenged by a former world title challenger in Ruben Varon, 31-4, 15 KO’s. In 2003 Ruben Varon lost to 3-Times World Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm, the current WBA Middleweight Champion, for Felix Sturm’s WBO Middleweight Title. Sebastian Zbik is WBO #1, WBA # 2 and WBC #3 in the middleweight rankings.

Also on the card, unbeaten heavyweight Sebastian Köber will face Jean Claude Bikoi, 15-10-1, 8 KO’s. Köber is coming off a spectacular 11-round TKO over Dieter Roth.

I'd like to see this fight, the women, that is. I know the guys can't fight much. The girls? Maybe so?

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Susi Kentikian Defends her Titles in Germany Tonight
By Roger T. Tubajiki-March 20, 2009

Tonight in Hamburg, in what is expected to be an attractive female showdown between two top fighters in female flyweight division, Susi Kentikian, 23-0, 16 KO’s, the female WBA/ WIBF Flyweight Champion, is set to defend her titles against the American former WIBA Flyweight Champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 19-4-6, 5 KO’s.
On December 7, 2007, Susi Kentikian, who first won the female WBA Flyweight Title on February 16, 2007, captured the WIBF Flyweight Title vacated by Regina Halmich with a 10-round UD over Nadia Hokmi.

In Germany, Elena Reid is known by many for challenging twice the now retired former champion Regina Halmich for Regina’s WIBF flyweight title. In their first match, both Elena Reid and Regina Halmich battled to a draw. It was on September 11, 2004, in Regina’s hometown of Karlsruhe. In rematch of their draw that took place on December 3, 2005, in Magdeburg, Regina Halmich won a hard-fought-ten-round UD over Elena Reid. In those two bouts, Elena Reid put in a gutsy performance, but was disappointed both times in the scoring of those bouts.

Although Susi knew critical moments in her fights such as against Carolina Alvarez, Nadia Hokmi, Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer, she showed great determination as she was able to handle the pressure and overcome those crucial moments in those fights.
With 16 KO’s in her record, Susi Kentikian shows that she is not only a talented and exciting fighter, but also possesses speed and power in her both hands. Other talented fighters such Maria Jose Nunez, the dangerous Shane Martin of England, Sarah Goodson and the experienced Maria Ortega were frustrated by Susi’s ability to constantly throw combinations and were not able to handle Susi’s pressure and speed as they were knocked down by Susi in the opening rounds.

For Susi, this fight will be a tough one for both of them since Elena Reid is an experienced opponent.

In 2006, with a 10-round UD over Maria Ortega, Elena Reid captured the WIBA Flyweight Title and in 2007, with a 10-Ud over Shin-Hee Shoi, she added the IFBA Flyweight Title on her record. In 2008, Elena Reid lost her WIBA flyweight title to Eileen Olszweski, who won that bout via a ten-round UD, and battled to a draw with Eva knight.

In the co-main event, WBO Intercontinental middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik will be challenged by a former world title challenger in Ruben Varon, 31-4, 15 KO’s. In 2003 Ruben Varon lost to 3-Times World Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm, the current WBA Middleweight Champion, for Felix Sturm’s WBO Middleweight Title. Sebastian Zbik is WBO #1, WBA # 2 and WBC #3 in the middleweight rankings.

Also on the card, unbeaten heavyweight Sebastian Köber will face Jean Claude Bikoi, 15-10-1, 8 KO’s. Köber is coming off a spectacular 11-round TKO over Dieter Roth.

I'd like to see this fight, the women, that is. I know the guys can't fight much. The girls? Maybe so?

-Rick

Rick, Susi K. can fight and punch, I seen her fight a few times.

[Rick Farris]

Susi Kentikian Defends her Titles in Germany Tonight
By Roger T. Tubajiki-March 20, 2009

Tonight in Hamburg, in what is expected to be an attractive female showdown between two top fighters in female flyweight division, Susi Kentikian, 23-0, 16 KO’s, the female WBA/ WIBF Flyweight Champion, is set to defend her titles against the American former WIBA Flyweight Champion Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 19-4-6, 5 KO’s.
On December 7, 2007, Susi Kentikian, who first won the female WBA Flyweight Title on February 16, 2007, captured the WIBF Flyweight Title vacated by Regina Halmich with a 10-round UD over Nadia Hokmi.

In Germany, Elena Reid is known by many for challenging twice the now retired former champion Regina Halmich for Regina’s WIBF flyweight title. In their first match, both Elena Reid and Regina Halmich battled to a draw. It was on September 11, 2004, in Regina’s hometown of Karlsruhe. In rematch of their draw that took place on December 3, 2005, in Magdeburg, Regina Halmich won a hard-fought-ten-round UD over Elena Reid. In those two bouts, Elena Reid put in a gutsy performance, but was disappointed both times in the scoring of those bouts.

Although Susi knew critical moments in her fights such as against Carolina Alvarez, Nadia Hokmi, Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer, she showed great determination as she was able to handle the pressure and overcome those crucial moments in those fights.
With 16 KO’s in her record, Susi Kentikian shows that she is not only a talented and exciting fighter, but also possesses speed and power in her both hands. Other talented fighters such Maria Jose Nunez, the dangerous Shane Martin of England, Sarah Goodson and the experienced Maria Ortega were frustrated by Susi’s ability to constantly throw combinations and were not able to handle Susi’s pressure and speed as they were knocked down by Susi in the opening rounds.

For Susi, this fight will be a tough one for both of them since Elena Reid is an experienced opponent.

In 2006, with a 10-round UD over Maria Ortega, Elena Reid captured the WIBA Flyweight Title and in 2007, with a 10-Ud over Shin-Hee Shoi, she added the IFBA Flyweight Title on her record. In 2008, Elena Reid lost her WIBA flyweight title to Eileen Olszweski, who won that bout via a ten-round UD, and battled to a draw with Eva knight.

In the co-main event, WBO Intercontinental middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik will be challenged by a former world title challenger in Ruben Varon, 31-4, 15 KO’s. In 2003 Ruben Varon lost to 3-Times World Middleweight Champion Felix Sturm, the current WBA Middleweight Champion, for Felix Sturm’s WBO Middleweight Title. Sebastian Zbik is WBO #1, WBA # 2 and WBC #3 in the middleweight rankings.

Also on the card, unbeaten heavyweight Sebastian Köber will face Jean Claude Bikoi, 15-10-1, 8 KO’s. Köber is coming off a spectacular 11-round TKO over Dieter Roth.

I'd like to see this fight, the women, that is. I know the guys can't fight much. The girls? Maybe so?

-Rick

Rick, Susi K. can fight and punch, I seen her fight a few times.

Good to know, Frank. The WBHOF is going to have a second annual Women's event this year, and I want to be up on all the hot women fighters. I'll keep an eye out for this one.

-Rick

[kikibalt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwCLZq7ztI
Susi Kentikian vs Shanee Martin

[Rick Farris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwCLZq7ztI
Susi Kentikian vs Shanee Martin

WOW! I just watched Susi Kentikian for the first time. I like her better than Pac Man.
Damn, that woman can fight! She can box, punch.

I'm impressed!


-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwCLZq7ztI
Susi Kentikian vs Shanee Martin

WOW! I just watched Susi Kentikian for the first time. I like her better than Pac Man.
Damn, that woman can fight! She can box, punch.

I'm impressed!


-Rick Farris

That was a great right hand to end the fight, huh, Rick?

[Rick Farris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUwCLZq7ztI
Susi Kentikian vs Shanee Martin

WOW! I just watched Susi Kentikian for the first time. I like her better than Pac Man.
Damn, that woman can fight! She can box, punch.

I'm impressed!


-Rick Farris

That was a great right hand to end the, huh, Rick?

Oh yeah! She's got a fan here.

-Rick

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz75r4TyIRo

La Boheme by Puccini

FANCIULLA

[bennie]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

[kikibalt]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

What's wrong Bennie?

[dagosd2000]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

What's wrong Bennie?

Bennie
Do an Old Winnie and come through it. My thoughts and prayers sre with you. Rog

[scartissue]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

Consider it done, Bennie. Concentrate on the important things first. Good health, dude.

Scartissue

[kikibalt]

In Tijuana, opera offers a refuge from violence

On the streets, drug gangs are fighting a war. But inside a modest cafe, the drama is make-believe and accompanied by sweet music.

By Sam Quinones
March 20, 2009

Reporting from Tijuana -- When Zully Martinez began to sing, it sounded like a love song and felt like an exorcism.

Bathed in dim candlelight, 50 opera lovers waited silently before her in a cafe in Colonia Libertad, a banged-up neighborhood famous for boxers, smugglers and gangs that slouches into the steel wall separating Mexico from the United States.

She opened her palms and began "Pur Dicesti, O Bocca Bella" ("Beautiful Mouth, at Last You Have Spoken").

Outside, a motorcycle growled by; a car alarm babbled in reply.

Never has opera seemed more welcome and more appropriate for Tijuana than these days, when city streets have run with blood and vengeance.

One of Tijuana's leading sopranos, Martinez was here to offer her antidote, a caress to the sweeter part of her city that the world rarely notices.

Like resisters to some totalitarian regime, her audience huddled in the small space. They were teachers, office workers and merchants from Tijuana's middle class -- one of the largest of any city in Mexico -- who have wanted more for their children than the strip clubs and velvet painting the city is known for.

They sat attentively, some hunched as if in prayer for a little more than an hour, listening to Neapolitan love songs, to Verdi, to Puccini and to the plaintive bolero "Besame Mucho": "Kiss me, kiss me a lot, as if tonight were the last night . . . because I fear to lose you, to lose you again."

A medieval violence has overwhelmed this ragged but normally optimistic border town. Two factions of a drug cartel fight daily for street primacy, leaving a trail of shootouts, decapitations and kidnappings. In January, police arrested a man known as "El Pozolero" ("The Soup Maker"), who allegedly admitted to dissolving about 300 bodies in lye over the years, paid by a drug kingpin, "El Teo," who has stalked people's nightmares for months.

From their streets of madness, Tijuanans have sought refuge indoors.

"The only good thing is that these kinds of cultural events have grown like never before, perhaps because people are looking for some kind of harmony," said Suzy Fuentes, whose brother, Enrique, opened the Cafe de la Opera, where Martinez performed.

Tijuana's love affair with opera and classical music began in 1991. An 18-member professional Russian chamber orchestra left the remains of the Soviet Union and moved to Tijuana at the behest of a local music promoter.

In a town that had mostly valued music by how well it backed the gyrations of strippers or matadors, the Russians implanted classical music instruction and bel canto technique, and opened Tijuana's first music conservatory.

They spoke little Spanish and the children spoke no Russian. They used signs and kept to the language they had in common: music. Most of the Russians have left for San Diego, Los Angeles or elsewhere. But they stayed long enough to foster a generation of young musicians and singers.

Many of their students, like Martinez, honed their talents in the Cafe de la Opera.

In 2002, Enrique Fuentes, an opera fanatic and San Diego teacher's aide, opened the cafe with thrift store furniture and his own savings, modeling it after the salons in Vienna and Milan, Italy, where fans gather for coffee, pastries and the serenades of opera singers.

"This place, in the middle of the Libertad, you wouldn't expect it," said Laura Fernandez, a homemaker and a resident of the neighborhood for many years, as she sat waiting for Martinez to begin.

In 2005, Fuentes organized the first Opera in the Street Festival in front of his cafe on 5th Street, a couple of hundred yards from the steel wall. It attracts thousands of people every July and has become one of the city's most important cultural events, put on largely without government help.

Fuentes closed the cafe in 2007, but still holds occasional events there. He and the landlord, a construction worker named Eugenio Romero, keep it appointed, ready for the moment when Tijuana might support their strange idea a little more. Until that happens, a dancer teaches salsa there each Friday night.

"It's what people need: a refuge, a little place to hide, a little corner in the Libertad," Fuentes said.

Today the legacy of the Russians and Fuentes' cafe is hundreds of youths studying classical music, and dozens learning Puccini and Verdi, hoping for an opera career like that of Martinez.

Martinez, 31, is a Tijuana native with the city's innate entrepreneurial gift. She sang boleros and Mexican rancheras as a girl. Then she dropped it for a while. But at 19, she heard of the Russians' conservatory and enrolled.

She took lessons from Elena Vostriakova, a Moscow native who was one of the conservatory's premier voice coaches and who died in an auto accident in 2000.

Martinez first sang in Fuentes' cafe at 25. Now, she produces her own concerts around town to supplement her income and, twice a year, a recital for her 33 voice students. The one this particular evening she put on herself, charging $3.50.

The audience "was once just our families. Then it expanded to our aunts and uncles," she said. "Now, it's people you don't know but they know you."

It was 9:30 p.m., late and time to leave.

Before the crowd dispersed into a brisk Tijuana sea breeze, Martinez sang a final song.

"Te Quiero, Dijiste" ("I Love You, You Said") is the lament of a mother whose child died in her arms:

Sometimes I hear a divine echo

That borne on the breeze

Seems to say

I love you so

So, so, so much.

[email protected]

[Randyman]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

We will keep you in our prayers Bennie. You do your part and take care of your self. Keep your spirits up. You have friends here that care about you.

Randy

[kikibalt]

A Mormon was seated next to an Irishman on a flight from London. After
the plane was airborne, drink orders were taken.
The Irishman asked for a whiskey, which was promptly brought and placed
before him.
The flight attendant then asked the Mormon if he would like a drink.
He replied in disgust, "I'd rather be savagely raped by a dozen whores
than let liquor touch my lips."
The Irishman then handed his drink back to the attendant and said, "Me,
too, I didn't know we had a choice........"

[Rick Farris]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, chaps. I am in poor health at the moment.
Pray for me, my friends.

Of course, Bennie. Hope you feel better, my friend.

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Susie, is one hot lookin' babe.



An her opponent is not bad either


Susi Kentikian (R) vs Sarah Goddson

[Dongee]

Kiki:

To follow up on the Quinones article: The song he mentions is a beautiful composition written by Maria Grever, and like so many of her tunes, it has been translated and recorded in English. That one is entitled "Munequita linda" and in English it was given the title of :Magic is the Moonlight. It becane a part of "The Three Tenors" repertoire some years ago. Grever has never gotten due credit for other tunes, such as Cuando Vuelva a tu lado (What a Difference a day Made) and the lilting Tippi-tippi-Tin.

hap navarro