Breaking: Bomb Scare Near SAG, Variety, E! Buildings
Reports are pouring in about a bomb scare stopping traffic over on Wilshire Blvd, close to the headquarters of SAG and across the street from Variety and E! [Ed.note—Has anyone checked to make sure that Seacrest is safe?] A sampling of our nearby operatives' descriptions of the situation apparently created off by a mysterious briefcase left in front of Organic to Go:
· It appears that there is a bomb threat at the SAG building or one of its connected restaurants. Wilshire has been blocked off by LAPD patrol cars from Curson to Hauser and there is police tape across sidewalks leading from Wilshire Courtyard/E! Building to SAG, across the street. The restaurants along the row have been evacuated, but there seems to be some guy on the roof of one of them sitting in a lounge chair reading a book. He's either a really relaxed bomber, or the evacuation hasn't made it past the first floor. Either way, you'd think the helicopters would have tipped him off. Happy traffic, Wilshire drivers!
· Police have taped off Wilshire around SAG and Variety offices on Wilshire near Masselin. We first heard that there was a bomb threat to the Ralphs, but now it seems that a brief case left at Organic To-Go is the culprit. People are milling outside the Variety and SAG offices as the cops cover everything with reused yellow caution tape. LAPD doesn't have the funds for new tape?
· Apparently someone may have a grudge against SAG or the organic food place right next door... or maybe it's just another ill-conceived Adult Swim marketing stunt? Our office pool is betting that it's a rasher of bacon left outside the Organic cafe to stun the normally militant raw foodies into submission.
Var's The Knife blog confirms the shoddiness of recycled police tape, and has a photo from a safe distance. Developing, as local authorities and news crews try to determine the likelihood that the potential bomber was in some way trying to protest Paris Hilton's early release from prison.
(What, you thought we were going to get out of this without a Hilton mention?)
UPDATE 2: The Knife again reports from within the Var office:
UPDATE (2:32 pm) We've got two cops in our newsroom, telling us to stay 30 feet away from all windows. Our film reporters are paying no attention.
UPDATE (2:36 pm) OK, now they are.
To the best of our knowledge, nothing has yet exploded.
UPDATE 3: All clear, says internal e-mail from within the affected area:
Dear Tenants,
Wilshire Blvd. has re-opened! All of the caution tape has been removed and
we can now resume back to business as usual.