title: Xylocopa sonorina

abstract: Xylocopa sonorina, the valley carpenter bee or Hawaiian carpenter bee, is a species of carpenter bee found from western Texas to northern California, and the eastern Pacific islands. Females are black while males are golden-brown with green eyes.

text:
# Xylocopa sonorina

***Xylocopa sonorina***, the **valley carpenter bee** or **Hawaiian carpenter bee**, is a species of carpenter bee found from western Texas to northern California, and the eastern Pacific islands. Females are black while males are golden-brown with green eyes.

## Taxonomy

*X. sonorina* is one of three southwestern US species in the genus *Xylocopa*, which has 31 subgenera and 500 species worldwide. Frederick Smith, Assistant in the Zoological Department of the British Museum and member of the council of the Entomological Society of London, first described *X. sonorina* in 1874 from specimens collected in Hawaii. Until 1956, it was thought that *X. sonorina* came from the Sunda Islands, but in a paper published that year, M. A. Lieftinck showed that Smith's interpretation of the original specimen labels was in error: Smith had mistakenly read the label of *X. sonorina* as meaning the Sunda Islands instead of the Sandwich Islands.

In 1899, R. C. L. Perkins described the same species as *Xylocopa aeneipennis*, and in 1922, P. H. Timberlake claimed that the Hawaiian *Xylocopa* was the same as the mainland *X. varipuncta*, that had been named in 1879, and Roy Snelling predicted in 2003 that *X. varipuncta* would eventually be reclassified as a synonym of *X. sonorina*. This was confirmed in 2020 using DNA analysis, and as the name *sonorina* has seniority, this is the valid species name.

## Description and identification

They are among the largest bees found in California and Hawaii, growing to around 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length. Smith's original description was:

> Female.Black; head and thorax closely and moderately punctured; the mesothorax smooth, impunctate and shining on the disk; metathorax rounded behind; abdomen shining rather finely punctured, most closely so at the sides above; the pubescence entirely black, except that on the anterior tarsi beneath, which is ferruginous; the claws of the tarsi ferruginous; wings fusco-hyaline, with a darker cloud beyond the enclosed cells, and adorned with a bright purple and coppery iridescence.

Like most native bees, females are not aggressive, and will normally sting only when provoked, while the males do not have stingers. Males possess a large thoracic gland that produce pheromones to attract females.

## Distribution and habitat

This species is primarily found in the southwestern part of the United States (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Utah) and adjacent parts of Mexico. The primary habitats of mainland *X. sonorina* are valleys and foothills with deciduous trees dominated by oaks. The species is also one of 11 non-native bees in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Humans are thought to have helped the species colonize Pacific archipelagoes. It is not known when *X. sonorina* was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands, but it occurred prior to 1874, when British entomologist Frederick Smith originally named the species, and *X. sonorina* is currently found on all of the main Hawaiian Islands and in the Mariana Islands. In tropical agriculture, *X. sonorina* has been used as a pollinator of *Passiflora edulis*, a species of passion fruit.

Located in the Pacific Ocean, more than 2,000 mi (3,219 km) away from the closest landfall in North America, Hawaii's great distance from the Americas is thought to have been too large for natural biological dispersal to succeed, and it has been suggested that it is likely humans aided *X. sonorina* in its arrival to Hawaii. Following the colonization of Hawaii, *X. sonorina* was introduced into the Marianas Islands, China, and Japan, but these introductions were not successful. The species has also been anecdotally reported in Midway Atoll, Java, New Guinea, and the Philippines, but only the records from Midway have any specimens recorded that serve to confirm the report.

Only two other species in the genus *Xylocopa* have successfully colonized Pacific archipelagoes east of the Americas through natural biological dispersal or with human help; This is out of a total of more than 150 identified species in North and South America, 70 of which can be found in Brazil alone. The two species are *Xylocopa darwini*, found in the Galápagos Islands, 604 mi (972 km) west of South America, with the mainland of Ecuador as the closest land mass; and *Xylocopa clarionensis*, found on Clarión Island in the Revillagigedo Islands, 700 mi (1,127 km) from the coast of Mexico. *X. clarionensis* is thought to be most closely related to *Xylocopa sonorina*.

## Life cycle

In the spring, females mate with males and then may disperse and start new nests, or clean out and enlarge the old tunnels used during the winter, adding brood cells. Each cell a female provisions contains a substance called "bee bread", which is a mixture of pollen and nectar used as food for the larvae. An egg is deposited on the pollen mass and each cell is sealed off with a partition of sawdust. Young adult male and female bees hibernate in the tunnels during the winter.

## Behavior

### Female behavior

Virgin females may make exploratory foraging flights and be attracted to visual and olfactory signals. Female mate-searching behavior might involve waiting for the male at the flower on which she discovers his markings or a directed flight toward a marked spot from a distance.

#### Nesting

All nesting cycles for all species of *Xylocopa* show common features. The bees have a period of reproductive dormancy even in the presence of the other sex that occurs during the dry seasons. Or, they may enter into a non-reproductive phase during the cooler months. The second characteristic of nesting cycles is that the dormant females are unmated. Additionally, mating occurs after territorial flights by the males and before nest establishment.

The name "carpenter" comes from the fact that these bees excavate nests inside a variety of woods, and the species' common name refers to the Californian Central Valley in which they are commonly found. Like its relative, *Xylocopa virginica*, *X. sonorina* like to nest in fence posts, telephone poles. and structural timbers. The bees will tunnel through wood with their mandibles, although they do not ingest the wood in the process, and they avoid painted or stained wood. The tunnels average 6 to 10 in (15 to 25 cm) in length and consist of a linear series of partitioned brood cells. The adult bees spend the winter in the tunnels. Most nests of *X. sonorina* contain a single female and her brood.

Because *Xylocopa* species are not aggressive, defense is primarily carried out by building well constructed cell partitions, blocking the nest entrance in various ways, covering the cell partitions with liquid substances, or sacrificing all the brood of a nest that has been compromised by a parasite.

Entomologist Julian R. Yates III of the University of Hawaii at Manoa describes the life cycle of *X. sonorina* in Hawaii:

> Having located a suitable piece of wood, the female bee begins to excavate a single tunnel in preparation for egg laying. Because of our tropical climate, egg laying by female carpenter bees occurs year-round although it may decline during the winter months, when the weather is worse. Before laying eggs, the female collects pollen and deposits it, in the form of a ball, in the tunnel at a point furthest from the entrance. She lays a single egg on the pollen ball and seals both in a chamber with wood shavings. She may lay several eggs, each on its own pollen ball and inside its own sealed chamber, in a series within the tunnel. The eggs hatch in two to three days. The larvae develop in approximately two weeks. The prepupal (nonfeeding larvae) and pupal stages take about three to four weeks to reach adulthood. Teneral (adult shortly after emergence, when it is not entirely hardened or not of the mature color) females are fed by the mother. They are capable of buzzing in about a week, and of flight in approximately two to three weeks. A single female in a tunnel may be joined later by her offspring or other bees. Only one female will collect pollen, prepare cells, and lay eggs, however. Other females perform guard and nest-cleaning duties.

#### Pollination

Flowers are the sole source of food and water for these bees, which have a pattern of visiting certain plants at various times throughout the day, and provide pollen for the females to feed their brood. To collect pollen from most flowers, females gather pollen on their hindlegs through contact with the exposed anthers, but in flowers such as Solanaceae with closed anthers, they can use buzz pollination, by which the pollen is released from anther following vibration of the indirect flight muscles of the bee.

The foraging behavior of *X. sonorina* involves a quick series of movements between flowers. In a 1996 study using *Asystasia gangetica* (Chinese violet), *X. sonorina* visited 16 flowers per minute and spent an average of 1.5 seconds at each flower, usually flying towards the flower from the front, landing on the petals, and moving to the bottom of the corolla. Another study found that *X. sonorina* was a primary and secondary nectar "robber" of *A. gangetica* since it "took nectar through perforations and did not contact stigmas in doing so." Floral robbery occurs when the carpenter bee makes perforations near the base of the tubular corolla of the flower to obtain nectar, but does not pollinate the flower in return, when visiting flowers that are so deep they cannot reach the nectar with their tongues.

Some flowers protect themselves from robbery with adaptive structures such as strong plant walls or by producing extrafloral nectar which is visited by ants that inhibit the bees from robbing the nectar, though ant guards are only effective against certain bee species (not *Xylocopa*).

In Hawaii and Niue Island, *X. sonorina* has been used in tropical agriculture as a pollinator of *Passiflora edulis*, a species of passion fruit. Although valued for their pollination, carpenter bee nesting behavior often results in their classification as pests; The bees prefer to burrow into wood to create nest galleries. Due to this problem, in 1934, a blister beetle (*Cissites auriculata*) was brought to Hawaii in an attempt to decrease the number of *X. sonorina*; there is no evidence that *C. auriculata* became established.

### Male behavior

Males of *X. sonorina* appear to optimize their mate-locating activity, following the predictions of the ideal free distribution theory. This theory states that the most fit individuals will seek to occupy the most resource rich territory and those that are less fit will have to occupy a resource lacking territory until both territories are filled. For species such as *X. sonorina*, there are patches of different quality arising from "the continuous but variable input of mate-searching females over afternoons and flight seasons". Males may rely on environmental cues rather than on food availability when choosing their territories.

#### Attractive pheromone

The large mesosomal gland of male *X. sonorina* produces volatile components, called pheromones, which are attractive to females. These pheromones are long-range attractants and are used as male advertisements. The gland is seasonally active and overwintering males have no detectable attractant. *X. sonorina* mark the central area of their territories with the pheromones. Three observations were made that helped form this conclusion:

1. Flying bees occasionally brush against leaves or twigs towards the center
2. The "land and walk" behavior occurs at the focal area involving the application of the pheromone chemical
3. Females fly to and pause on non-flowering plants that had been the focal area of the male where the attractant was placed.

#### Territoriality and site fidelity

Non-resource-based territoriality evolved from food source territoriality as a response to a low density of bees. The probability of a single male encountering females is very low, and the production of attractants by the male would be advantageous to both sexes. The attractants may be signals such as loud buzzing by the male and the addition of an odor to the flowers. The males may use these signals when patrolling along extended paths or hovering at a specific site. "At this point real male dominance polygyny begins, for males may produce quantitatively or qualitatively individual pheromonal signals that may reflect their fitness, and the female could react correspondingly by selecting among the males". The use of pheromonal signals allows males to relocate their territories from resource sites to prominent sites such as hilltops, various protrusions, or trees. At this point, pheromones may direct the female into the territory founded by males. Short-range marking of the signal by the female bee attracts them to male territory just before copulation will occur. Competition among males for non resource sites may lead to adaptations that continue to evolve until one male has an advantage over the other.

There are various factors that affect *X. sonorina* fidelity rates. First, high mortality rates of resident males is significantly correlated with frequent turnover rates and decreased site fidelity. Second, male density affects site fidelity. As the ratio of rivals to suitable territories rises, competition for territorial control increases, which leads to frequent turnover. In contrast, if there are few replacements for territory owners, there will be evidence of increasing site fidelity. For *X. sonorina*, the prevalence of days of very low territorial occupation and a few days of high male density in "lek" conditions resulted in decreasing fidelity. Another aspect of the environment that affects site fidelity is the quality of territorial sites. Finally, fluctuating or declining territory value should reduce the extent of site fidelity. The extent to which female territorial preferences remain constant throughout the mating season will be very important in territory value. Males are expected to abandon territories at times when they no longer have the potential to produce offspring. It is also conceivable that in *X. sonorina*, the quality of the male's sex pheromone may be a key feature determining his sexual attractiveness. Most males of *X. sonorina* did not exhibit site fidelity, while few males exhibited strong attachment to their original sites.

### Thermoregulation

An unusual characteristic of *X. sonorina* is their ability to thermoregulate at temperatures beyond the range of other bee species that have been tested; they can fly at very high temperatures without overheating and at low temperatures without freezing. By modifying their foraging patterns and flying between different altitudes depending upon temperature, the valley carpenter bee is able to adapt to very different environments. *Xylocopa sonorina* maintain thoracic temperatures of 33.0 to 46.5 °C while traveling through environments with 12.0 to 40.0 °C. Since the thoracic temperature is not constant the bees are thermoregulating. There is physiological transfer of large amounts of heat to the abdomen and to the head during pre-flight warming and thoracic heating. The temperature increase of the head is due to passive conduction, while the abdomen is due to physiological heat transfer throughout the body. *Xylocopa* have circulatory anatomy like honeybees and bumblebees. Like bumblebees, they have an aortic loop through the flight muscles that acts as a cooling coil allowing heat transfer to the blood, head, and abdomen.

Carpenter bees have large heads, which present a larger surface area for convective cooling. The abdomen is also "well-suited for rapid convective heat loss because it is flattened dorso-ventral, and uninsulated". Physiological heat transfer to head or abdomen would not be apparent from body temperatures due to the rapid convective cooling, especially at high air temperatures when flight speed increases; thermoregulation involves a strong reliance on forced convection as a result of changes in flight speed, with active heat transfer to the abdomen and evaporative heat loss from the head at high temperatures.

## Further reading

## InfoBox

| Valley carpenter bee | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Female *Xylocopa sonorina* | |
| Conservation status | |
|
Secure  (NatureServe) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | *Xylocopa* |
| Species: | ***X. sonorina*** |
| Binomial name | |
| ***Xylocopa sonorina***
Smith, 1874 | |
|
| Synonyms | |
| *Xylocopa varipuncta* Patton, 1879
*Xylocopa aeneipennis* Perkins, 1899 | |


title: Zidell Yards

abstract: Zidell Yards is a former industrial waterfront in Portland, Oregon's South Portland neighborhood, notable for being one of the only large undeveloped plots of land in or near Downtown. It is owned by Zidell family.

text:
# Zidell Yards

**Zidell Yards** is a former industrial waterfront in Portland, Oregon's South Portland neighborhood, notable for being one of the only large undeveloped plots of land in or near Downtown. It is owned by Zidell family.

## The Lot at Zidell Yards

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zidell Yards was leased by Fuller Events LLC as a temporary event venue they called The Lot at Zidell Yards. It hosted multiple events including drive-in drag performances featuring Darcelle XV and the Waterfront Blues Festival.

At the end of the year, it was announced that Fuller Events would not renew the lease and would instead focus on other events in Downtown.

## Proposed Baseball Stadium

On September 23, 2024, the Portland Diamond Project, a group seeking to bring Major League Baseball to Portland, announced that they had signed a letter of intent to purchase the property in order to build a ballpark.

## InfoBox

| Zidell Yards | |
| --- | --- |
| Area | 33 acres (13.3 ha) |
| Owner | Zidell family |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Address | 3030 S Moody Ave<br>Portland, OR 97201 |
| Zidell Yards | |
| Coordinates: 45°30′6″N 122°40′9″W / 45.50167°N 122.66917°W / 45.50167; -122.66917 | |


title: Presbyterian Church (Beaver, Oklahoma)

abstract: The Presbyterian Church building in Beaver, Oklahoma, is a historic church building built in 1887. It was one of the earliest permanent religious buildings built in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The church is a wood-frame structure with a front gable roof and small bell tower over the front entrance. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 1974, for architectural significance and association with settlement of the area. It is located at 3rd St. and Ave. E in Beaver.

text:
# Presbyterian Church (Beaver, Oklahoma)

The **Presbyterian Church** building in Beaver, Oklahoma, is a historic church building built in 1887. It was one of the earliest permanent religious buildings built in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The church is a wood-frame structure with a front gable roof and small bell tower over the front entrance. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 1974, for architectural significance and association with settlement of the area.

It is located at 3rd St. and Ave. E in Beaver.

Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office

## InfoBox

|  | |
| --- | --- |
| Presbyterian Church | |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
|  | |
|  | |
|  | |
| Location | 3rd St. and Ave. E, Beaver City, Oklahoma |
| Coordinates | 36°48′50.98″N 100°31′13.01″W / 36.8141611°N 100.5202806°W / 36.8141611; -100.5202806 |
| Built | 1887 |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001655 |
| Added to NRHP | May 16, 1974 |


title: Visigothic coinage

abstract: The coinage of the Visigoths was minted in Gaul and Hispania during the early Middle Ages, between the fifth century and approximately 710. The principal denominations were the solidus and the tremissis, gold coins issued in the late imperial era by both Western and Eastern emperors. The earliest coinage is from Gaul, where the Visigoths settled at the beginning of the fifth century, and was followed by coinage from Hispania in the beginning of the sixth century, which became the centre of Visigothic rule after they lost the majority of their territory in Gaul to the Franks. The first coins, commonly known as the pseudo-imperial series, imitate contemporary Roman and Byzantine coinage, with copied legends. After 580 coins were issued in the name of the Visigothic kings. This royal coinage continued until the second decade of the eighth century, when Visigothic rule was ended by the Islamic conquest of Iberia.

text:
# Visigothic coinage

| Chindasuinth: *tremissis* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| +CN•SVINLVS PX, facing bust | +ISPALI PIVS, facing bust. |
| AV Tremissis (1.56 g, 6h). Hispalis (modern-day Seville) mint. MEC 255. | |

The **coinage of the Visigoths** was minted in Gaul and Hispania during the early Middle Ages, between the fifth century and approximately 710.

The principal denominations were the solidus and the tremissis, gold coins issued in the late imperial era by both Western and Eastern emperors. The earliest coinage is from Gaul, where the Visigoths settled at the beginning of the fifth century, and was followed by coinage from Hispania in the beginning of the sixth century, which became the centre of Visigothic rule after they lost the majority of their territory in Gaul to the Franks.

The first coins, commonly known as the pseudo-imperial series, imitate contemporary Roman and Byzantine coinage, with copied legends. After 580 coins were issued in the name of the Visigothic kings. This royal coinage continued until the second decade of the eighth century, when Visigothic rule was ended by the Islamic conquest of Iberia.

## Cataloging

The most recent work on the Visigothic coinage is the first volume of the series *Medieval European Coinage* (MEC), published by Philip Grierson and Mark Blackburn in 2007. Visigothic coins can be found between the catalogue numbers 166 and 277. Another important catalogue is George Carpenter's study, published in 1952 by the American Numismatic Society, which covers the period between 580 and 713.

The only study which covers the entirety of the coinage is that of Reinhart, with separate works on the Gallic and Hispanic series.

The pseudo-imperial coinage imitating Western archetypes is catalogued by Henry Cohen, in *Description Historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain* Archived 2008-05-11 at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 8, and in *Roman Imperial Coinage*, Vol. 10. Imitations of Byzantine coins are covered by the catalogue of the collection of Dumbarton Oaks (DOC) and *Moneta Imperii Byzantini* (MIB).

## Historical context

The history of the Visigoths can be divided into three important periods:

* a migratory period, which started in 376 and ended with the Visigothic settlement of south-west Gaul in 418.
* a Gallic period which ended in 507 with the battle of Vouillé, after which Clovis I, King of the Franks, conquered most of the Visigothic territories of Gaul.
* an Iberian period, which was ended by the Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula in 714.

The Visigoths migrated to the Western Roman Empire in the 370s and became significantly romanized. In 418 they were recognised as *foederati*, and were granted Aquitane by Honorius. This was the first centre of the Visigothic Kingdom, which over the course of the fifth century extended over the Pyrenees, including a significant portion of Hispania. In the first half of the seventh century, after the fall of the Kingdom of the Suebi (in c. 585) and the final abandonment of continental Spain by the Byzantine Empire, the Visigoths became sovereign rulers of most of the Iberian peninsula. The resulting state survived until the Islamic invasion of 711.

In the study of the coinage of the Visigoths a different periodisation is applied. The coinage of the migratory and Gallic periods are not distinguishable, both consisting of pseudo-Imperial issues. The third period coinage can be divided into two phases, the first which continues the imitation of Imperial coinage, and the latter in which the coins are issued in the names of the Visigothic Kings.

## Gallic coinage

| Imitation of Honorius: *siliqua* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| D N HONORI-VS \[P F\] AVG, bust of Honorius facing right, with pearl diadem, mantle, and armour. | VICTOR\[I-\]A AVGGG, armoured Roma seated facing left , holding Victory on a globe with her right hand and a sword in her left hand. |
| AR siliqua, 1,37g, minted in Gaul before 415. Unpublished. | |

South-central Gaul was the heart of the Visigothic Kingdom from 418 to 507. The pseudo-imperial coinage of this period consists mainly of solidi and tremisses. Siliquae are also known. All denominations are very similar to their Roman archetypes, faithfully copying legends and designs, albeit crudely. The tremissis was worth a third of a solidus, and the siliqua an eighth of a tremissis. The coins do not bear any identifying marks to distinguish them from Roman issues; they are identified by style and archaeological context. The dating is hence approximate.

The most probable mint for these issues is Toulouse, in South Gaul, the royal capital. It is thought that there was also a mint at Narbonne, where in 414 Ataulf married Galla Placidia, sister of Honorius. This hypothesis arises from a solidus, now lost, but published in the 18th century, minted in the name of Priscus Attalus, a puppet emperor supported by Ataulf. This coin bears the mintmark "NB", which may indicate Narbonne. A mint at Narbonne is also referenced in a poem of Sidonius Apollinaris (carmen 23) of 460, but under imperial control - as no issues from such a mint are known this may be poetic license. Narbonne definitely had a mint during the reign of Liuvigild in the late 6th century, but minting likely already started in 507, when the city became the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom.

The Visigothic coinage in Gaul were initially imitations of Western Roman coinage, which ended in around 481. After 509, imitations of Byzantine coinage follow, starting with those of Anastasius I Dicorus.

### Imitations of Honorius

The first coins of the Visigoths, struck approximately between 420 and 440, imitate those minted in Ravenna by Honorius (393-423). The most common type has an obverse type with the legend D N HONORI – VS P F AVG and the bust of the emperor facing right, wearing a diadem and armour. On the reverse the legend reads VICTORI – A AVGGG and the emperor is depicted on foot, holding a labarum with his right hand, and a globe bearing a Victory in his left hand. His left foot rests on a prostrate captive. On the side of the emperor the letters R – V indicate the mint of Ravenna, and the exergue bears the inscription COMOB.

The coinage of the Visigoths can be distinguished from the imperial prototypes by the style. The engraving is generally more crude, and small figures have disproportionately large heads with respect to their bodies. The letters of the inscriptions also vary; the vertical bars of the "G" are short whereas in the originals they are particularly long.

### Imitations of Valentinian III

| Imitation of Valentinian III: *tremissis* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| D N PLA VALENTINIANVS P G, bust of emperor facing right, with pearl-diadem, armour and drapery. | COMOB, cross within a laurel wreath. |
| AV tremissis, 1,44 g, minted c. 471-507. MEC 171. | |

From c. 450 the Visigoths produced imitations of the coins of Valentinian III (425-455). One type of solidus and two types of tremissis were issued under his name. The solidus is catalogued as MEC 167-9, and copies a coin of the same value, Cohen VIII 212, 19. The obverse shows a portrait of the emperor facing right, with diadem, mantle and armour. On the reverse the emperor stands with a foot on a serpent with a human head. In his right hand he holds a cross, and in his left a globe supporting a Victory.

The first tremissis (MEC 171-172) depicts on the reverse a cross encircled by a laurel wreath, and imitates a tremissis struck in various mints (Cohen VIII 216, 49), while the second (MEC 173) imitates a solidus (Cohen VIII 212, 17). On the reverse of this issue, Victory is depicted facing, holding a cross and with a star in the field to the right.

#### Imitation of Libius Severus

Various solidi in the name of Libius Severus (461-5) exist (Cohen VIII, 227.8). The most common type is the same as that of the solidi of Valentinian III, with the emperor standing on a human-headed snake.

| Imitation of Libius Severus: *solidus* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| D N HBIVS SEVE-RVS P F AVG, bust of emperor facing right. | VICTORIA AUGGG, standing emperor, feet on a human-headed serpent, with a cross and Victory. R-A//COMOB. |
| AV solidus, 4.38 g, c. 461-466. MEC 175 | |

## Hispanic coinage

In 507 the Battle of Vouillé was fought between the Franks commanded by King Clovis I and the Visigoths led by Alaric II. Alaric was killed in the battle, and the Visigothic army suffered a crushing defeat, which led to Clovis' conquest of Toulouse and the large part of the Visigothic possessions in Gaul. The Visigoths only succeeded in defending Septimania, between the mouth of the Rhône and the Pyrenees.

The centre of the Visigothic state was then in the old Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis, then in the central Iberian Peninsula, where their kingdom prospered until the Islamic invasion of 711.

### Pseudo-imperial coinage (509-580)

| Imitation of Justinian I: *tremissis* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| C N IVSTIИIINVS IPVC, bust of emperor facing right. | VICTOΛ VIΛ IIVSTOИVI, Victory facing right, holding a palm and a crown; COИOB. |
| AV, tremissis, 15mm, 1,42 g. Mint of Narbonne or Barcelona. c. AD 527-565. Not in MEC. | |

The coinage of this period consist exclusively of solidi and tremisses. A copper coin was historically considered part of this issue. Bearing the monogram AMR, it was associated with a tremissis of this period bearing the same letters. In the past this coin (MEC 341) was attributed to Amalaric (502-531), but modern scholarship attributes it to the Burgundian King Godomar (524-534).

The solidi minted in this period bear the names of the Byzantine emperors Anastasius I (491-518), Justin I (518-527) and Justinian I (527-565). They are distinguished from imperial issues by style, and other imitations by being exclusively found in the Iberian peninsula. The most common reverse types are: with a standing Victory holding a cross, above a letter rho, and a type with a Victory facing right, holding a palm, and raising a crown with her other hand.

### Royal coinage (580-710)

From the 580s, the Visigothic kings began to strike coins in their own names. This last phase of the Visigothic coinage lasted a hundred and thirty years: coins beyond 710 are unknown, as the Visigothic kingdom was overthrown by the Umayyad invasion.

Only tremisses were minted in this period, and the purity of the gold used diminished over time. The coins bear the name of the king and also the name of the mint where they were struck. Unlike Frankish or later Anglo-Saxon coins, the name of the moneyer is not given.

#### From Liuvigild to Chindasuinth

| Liuvigild: *tremissis* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| King facing right, with a cross superimposed on his tunic. Blundered legend. | Victory advancing with palm and crown, crescent on the line of the exeurge; ILOON. |
| AV (1,39 g, 6h), c. 580-583. MEC 209. | |

The first of the royal coinage was issued during the reign of Liuvigild (567-586). For a short period coins imitating Byzantine issues, but with the name of Visigothic king were struck - an example is MEC 210. This tremissis of Liuvigild was minted in Barcelona. The obverse shows a stylised bust of the king facing left, with the legend "XIVVIGILDVS"; on the reverse, a cross on steps, with the legend "REX VARCINONA", identifying the mint. Another type, MEC 209, shows the king facing right on the obverse, and Victory with a palm and crown on the reverse.

Issues of Liuvigild with a facing bust on both the obverse and the reverse are known. According to Grierson, this new type, characteristic of Visigothic coinage, was started between 579 and 586, in the last years of Liuvigild's reign, when his brother Liuva I, who had earlier reigned with him, had already died. Grierson further argues that the introduction of the royal coinage, featuring the names of the Visigothic kings in the place of those of the Byzantine Emperors, was connected with the eldest son of Liuvigild, Saint Hermenegild, who was named co-regnant in 573, and married his wife Ingund in 579. His wife was a Frankish princess, and therefore was not an Arian but rather a Chalcedonian Christian. Following his marriage, Hermenegild abandoned Arianism, rebelling against his father and assuming the title of king, in a widespread revolt which was only subdued in 584. Hermenegild died in the following year, and his death allowed his brother Reccared I to become king. The struggle between Liuvigild and Hermenegild is thought to have resulted in the striking of coinage bearing the names of the two claimants to the crown.

From approximately 584 to 649, the most common type was that with a facing bust on either side, with one side bearing the name of the king, and the other that of the mint. This type was only minted after the defeat of Hermenegild by Liuvigild; it is thought that the innovation might have been to indicate the new status of Reccared as co-regnant. Coins were minted in this style for over sixty years, until the end of the reign of Chindasuinth (641-652).

The bust types of the coins vary between mints and across reigns. It is notable that the monarchs are shown uncrowned, despite the fact that according to Saint Isidore of Seville, Liuvigild introduced this symbol of kingship to the Visigoths. Instead, at least one of the busts is shown with shoulder-length hair, a symbol of regal authority among the ancient Germanic peoples.

#### From Recceswinth to Wittiza

Around 649 a new type was introduced, with the reverse bearing the name of Recceswinth, now associated with the throne of his father Chindasuinth. The reverse features a monogram of the mint's name in place of the usual facing portrait of Chindasuinth, and instead the obverse bears a bust in profile. After the death of Chindasuinth, the mints would not have had instructions regarding the style or designs of the new issues, and consequently made different choices: some returned to the type bearing two busts, one on each side, for example Cordova and Toledo, others, including Seville continued with the new design featuring a monogram and a profile bust. Some others, including Girona, used a profile bust, but a cross on the reverse.

| Tremissis of Erwig (680-687) | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| +ID IN M N ERVIGIVS RX, facing bust of Christ with a cross behind his head | +EMERITΛ PIVS, cross over three steps. |
| (1,43 g). mint of Emerita (Mérida). Miles 415a; MEC 267 | |

For the rest of the reign of Recceswinth, all the mints issued a type with a profile bust, and a cross mounted on a set of steps on the reverse. Different bust types are known; in some cases the bust is shown helmeted, in other cases with a bare head. The king is generally shown with a beard, in contrast with the busts on previous issues, which were stylised in accordance with Byzantine prototypes. In the following reigns, the same type was issued; only during the joint reign of Egica and Wittiza was another type introduced, which featured two facing busts separated by a sceptre surmounted by a cross.

Another distinct issue is the tremissis coined under Erwig, with a facing bust of Christ (MEC 267) in place of the king, and on the reverse a cross mounting a set of steps. The first tremisses with this type seemed to have been coined at the mint of Mérida, Spain. Over the years, the quality of the engraving of the dies deteriorated, and on some coins the arms of the cross behind Christ's head resemble ears. This type preceded a similar, albeit finer, issue of Justinian II, which was issued in around 692. The coinage of Justinian featured a bust of Christ with a cross superimposed on his halo. Grierson hypothesises that these issues reflect the important theological issues of the day, in particular the condemnation of Monothelitism by a synod in Rome in 679, and by the Third Council of Constantinople in 680 to 681.

No legitimate issues are known after the reign of Wittiza, which ended in 710. However, forgeries of a coinage of Roderic are recorded (MEC 1471).

## Legends and epigraphy

The legend normally gives the name of the king in Latin, followed by REX, sometimes abbreviated as a monogram as shown to the left.

During the joint reign of Egica and Wittiza, the titles given were *reges*, abbreviated as RGS, RG or similar. Only under Liuvigild and Ermenegild does one find the name of the king in the genitive, rather than the nominative, and preceded by D N, an abbreviation for *dominus*. Under Chindasuinth, the mint of Toledo introduced the legend INDN, abbreviating *In nomine Domini* (in the name of the Lord), which became common until the reign of Wamba, with various other abbreviations known, such as INDNM, INDIMN. The coinage of Egica also sometimes bear the legend N + P N•M•, an abbreviation of *In Xristi Nomine* (in the name of Christ).

The names of the kings were written in various ways, for example Suintila is found as SVINTHVLΛ, SINTILΛ, SVINTH:L:, SVINTIIV among others, Liuva as LEOVΛ, LIVVΛ and similar. The number of variants increases notably with more complicated names such as Chindasuinth and Recceswinth, in which some letters commonly end up being combined as a ligature or monogram.

The reverse bears the name of the mint, also in Latin. TOLETO, CORDODΛ (CORΛOBΛ, CORDOBΛ, CORΔOBΛ), ELLIBERI (IIBERI), ISPΛLI, ELVORΛ (ERBO:RΛ) indicate Toledo, Cordoba, Eliberi or Illiberis (modern-day Granada), Ispalis (Seville), and Elvorra (Évora) respectively. In some cases the mint is indicated only by a monogram.

The epigraphy of the Visigothic coinage is characteristic. The letter "A" is normally written without a bar - Λ. The letter D is commonly replaced with a Greek delta (Δ). Likewise the group *th* is often written using a Greek theta (Θ). The letter "L" is often rendered simply as a cross, +, for example +IVVIGI+DVS for Liuvigild, and sometimes the letter "D" is used in place of a "B". Ligatures of up to five letters are known. Sometimes dots are substituted for letters, especially vowels, normally two as a colon, but sometimes one or three, an example being SVINTH:L: for Suintila.

The name of the mint on the reverse is typically followed by a royal epithet. The most common is PIVS, but IVSTUS is also commonly found. FELIX and VICTOR are also known.

## Mints

Miles identifies 79 mints. A few others have subsequently come to light, and therefore the total currently known is a little over 80.

The majority of mints were of relatively little importance and are known only thanks to a few extent examples, in some cases not more than one or two.

Around half of the 3500 coins conserved originated from four mints: the capital *Toleto* (Toledo) and three southern centres: *Emerita* (Mérida), *Ispalis* (Siviglia) and *Cordoba* (Cordova). Other important centres of production, with a hundred to two hundred coins known for each, were *Eliberis*, close to modern day Granada, and three more northerly mints: *Cesaracosta* (Zaragoza), *Tarraco* (Tarragona) and *Narbona* (Narbonne). *Narbona* was the last mint under Visigothic control north of the Pyrenees after the Battle of Vouillé.

Other minor mints were found in *Gallaecia* (roughly modern day Galicia), where there had been important mines from Roman times.

We do not have any documentation of the mints and little is known of their organisation or the relationship between the mints and the Visigothic state, beyond what can be inferred from the changes in the coinage over time.

## Hoards

Several major hoards of Visigothic coins are known, the most important recent discovery being that of Zorita de los Canes, unearthed by archaeologists in 1945.

A hoard of coins of Reccared I and various other monarchs was found in Garrovillas de Alconétar, in 1731. The exact composition of the hoard is unknown, but a large part of it was acquired by the Real Academia de la Historia, where it remains to the present day. A hoard found in Bordeaux in 1803 included 38 Visigothic tremisses from the reign of Liuvigild to Wamba, although at least three were forgeries. In 1816, a hoard of over 800 coins was found in La Grassa, near Constantí, but it was scattered soon after its discovery.

The hoard of La Capilla, discovered in 1891, likely included between 800 and 1000 coins, is one of the most important. Although the coins were dispersed soon after their discovery, over a third of the extent specimens are now found in the collection of the Hispanic Society of America. In 1932, 110 Visigothic coins were found in Abusejo, and deposited at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain and the Instituto Valencia of Don Juan.

The hoard of Zorita de los Canes, found at the site of the Christian basilica in the Visigothic city of Reccopolis, in 1945, includes 90 tremisses, the latest being issues of Livuigild I, which, while not bearing the names of the mint, were presumably produced locally.

## Further reading

* Cabré Aguiló, Juan *El Tesorillo visigodo de Trientes de las excavaciones del plan nacional de 1944-45 en Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara)*, Madrid : Ministerio de Educación Nacional, 1946. Informes y memorias (Spain. Comisaría General de Excavaciones Arqueológicas), no. 10.
* Grierson, Philip and Mark Blackburn, *Medieval European Coinage* (MEC) - Volume 1, *The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries)*, Cambridge, 2007. p. 39-54 ISBN 978-0-521-03177-6
* Kent, J.P. *Un monnayage irrégulier du début du Ve siècle de notre ère*, BCEN (Bulletin trimestriel du Cercle d'Études Numismatiques) 11 (1974), p. 23-28
* Kurt, Andrew. "Visigothic currency and its making and moovement: a varying state of circumstances", *Visigothic Symposia* 3 (2018-2019): 165-97.
* Martínez Jiménez, Javier; Isaac Sastre de Diego; Carlos Tejerizo García. (2018) *The Iberian Peninsula between 300 and 850. An Archaeological Perspective*. Late Antique and Early Medieval Iberia 6. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 9789089647771
* Miles, George Carpenter (1952) *The Coinage of the Visigoths in Spain: Leovigild to Achila II*, New York, American Numismatic Society.
* Pliego Vázquez, Ruth, (2009) *La moneda visigoda*, 2 vols. Seville: Universidad de Sevilla.

## Footnotes


title: Uncorporation

abstract: An uncorporation is an unorthodox form of large business organization. The term appears to embrace any unincorporated business.

text:
# Uncorporation

An **uncorporation** is an unorthodox form of large business organization. The term appears to embrace any unincorporated business.

## Description

An uncorporation may be formed in an effort to align managers' and owners' interests more closely than in a typical corporation, or may donate most of its profits to charity, or may pursue social responsibility goals that conflict with traditional corporate shareholder primacy. Equally, it escapes the regulatory supervision, checks and balances to which corporations are subject. Large firms structured as partnerships are sometimes regarded as uncorporations.

The rise of uncorporations resulted partly from costly corporate monitoring devices such as independent directors, owner voting, and fiduciary duties being often ineffective.

## Types

Publicly traded partnerships, real estate investment trusts, hedge funds and venture capital funds are other types of uncorporations. A business trust is another type of uncorporation that has long been a competition of corporation as a form of business organization.


title: Troy (game)

abstract: Troy is a board wargame published by Chaosium in 1977 that simulates various sieges of Troy through the ages.

text:
# Troy (game)

***Troy*** is a board wargame published by Chaosium in 1977 that simulates various sieges of Troy through the ages.

## Background

Troy was founded around 3600 BCE. Over the next 4000 years, Troy was repeatedly attacked, destroyed and rebuilt, leaving a tell with at least nine archaeological layers. One of these was supposedly the Greek siege described in Homer's *Iliad*, although the exact relationship between myth and reality remains unclear and there is no definitive evidence for a Greek attack on the city.

## Contents

*Troy* is a 2-player board wargame in which one player defends the city of Troy, and the other player controls the forces besieging the city. The game system uses a basic "I Go, You Go" system of alternating turns, where one player moves and attacks, followed by the second player.

A series of five scenarios gradually introduce new rules to add complexity to the game, and are keyed to various archaeological layers at Troy, representing various historical sieges:

* Troy I c.2600 BCE: Basic rules
* Troy II, c.2300 BCE: Rules for medium infantry, voluntary retreats, supplies and looting.
* Troy III–V, c. 1900 BCE: Rules for chariots, cavalry and individual heroes.
* Troy VI, c. 1300 BCE: Rules for heavy infantry, personal combat between heroes
* Troy VIIa, non-historical scenario that recreates the Trojan War. Rules for supplies, special counters representing weapons of the gods. In the case of a draw, the game can be decided by the Trojan Horse optional rule.

## Publication history

In 1977, Chaosium was only two years old, and had only published a fantasy board game, *White Bear and Red Moon*, and a fantasy role-playing game, *Elric*. The company decided to enter the board wargame market with two publications: *Nomad Gods*, and *Troy*. The latter was designed and illustrated by Donald Dupont and was published in 1977 as a ziplock bag game that contained a sheet of die-cut counters, a rulebook, a cardstock sheet of cut-apart cards and a laminated hex grid map. The game was overshadowed by its contemporary rival, *Iliad: The Siege of Troy* (Conflict Games, 1978).

## Reception

In the 1980 book *The Complete Book of Wargames*, game designer Jon Freeman noted that this game was outshone by its rival, *Iliad*, and put that down to unattractive graphics: "*Troy*'s map ... and counters are unattractively rendered in bizarre and unappealing pastel shades that makes the game painful to contemplate. Freeman also believed the game rules were too simple for experienced wargames." Freeman concluded by giving the game an Overall Evaluation of "Fair", saying, "*Troy* illustrates the difference between input and output: what came out was not worthy of the information and affection that went into it."

In *The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training*, Martin Campion noted that "The game is lovingly crafted and is one of the most attractive around." Campion concluded with thoughts about the final non-historical scenario based on the *Iliad*, saying, "Although it is not strictly historical, it is certainly based on a historically important document and reflects what was probably a real event."


title: Wholesale District, Los Angeles

abstract: The Wholesale District or Warehouse District in Downtown Los Angeles, California, has no exact boundaries, but at present it lies along the BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad lines, which run parallel with Alameda Street and the Los Angeles River. Except for some ancillary commercial uses, its cityscape is mostly occupied by warehouses and refrigerated storage facilities. This area is known as Central City North in the Los Angeles city zoning map. In early days, Los Angeles Street, to the west, was considered the "heart" of the Wholesale District, which over the years expanded southerly along the same thoroughfare, and, to a lesser extent, northward. Warehouse buildings were also constructed on Alameda Street, and plans were made for a new center at First and Alameda, but it was never brought to fruition. Warehouses were built on San Pedro Street and on Central Avenue. Eventually the district spread farther on the east side of Downtown, and by 1990 it was described as being bounded by San Pedro Street, the Los Angeles River, First Street and the Santa Monica Freeway. Crime and prostitution were reported rampant in the District. Structure fires, some caused by electrical shorts or by arson, were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

text:
# Wholesale District, Los Angeles

The **Wholesale District** or **Warehouse District** in Downtown Los Angeles, California, has no exact boundaries, but at present it lies along the BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad lines, which run parallel with Alameda Street and the Los Angeles River. Except for some ancillary commercial uses, its cityscape is mostly occupied by warehouses and refrigerated storage facilities. This area is known as **Central City North** in the Los Angeles city zoning map.

In early days, Los Angeles Street, to the west, was considered the "heart" of the Wholesale District, which over the years expanded southerly along the same thoroughfare, and, to a lesser extent, northward. Warehouse buildings were also constructed on Alameda Street, and plans were made for a new center at First and Alameda, but it was never brought to fruition. Warehouses were built on San Pedro Street and on Central Avenue. Eventually the district spread farther on the east side of Downtown, and by 1990 it was described as being bounded by San Pedro Street, the Los Angeles River, First Street and the Santa Monica Freeway .

Crime and prostitution were reported rampant in the District. Structure fires, some caused by electrical shorts or by arson, were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

## The traditional center

**1898–1902.** The "wholesale business quarter" of Los Angeles was centered on Los Angeles Street around First and Second streets, New buildings were constructed in the existing Wholesale District over the next years, including one at 147-149 North Los Angeles Street for the Davenport Company, dealer in agricultural implements and heavy hardware; the American Notion building at 131–133; the E.P. Bosbyshell building at 125–129, occupied by S.J. Smith and his pumps and pumping machinery; and a building on the west side of the street for two wholesale houses, one of which was to be the Zellerbach & Son paper company. A three-story building was constructed between Second and Third streets for the Standard Woodenware Company and John Wigmore and Sons Company — said to be "one of the best equipped wholesale buildings in Southern California."

**1910-11.** Construction included the six-story W.H. Perry Building on the southeast corner of Second and Los Angeles street and the H.W Hellman building on Second Street in 1910. It was said then that the District would naturally be extended to the east, and indeed in 1911 plans were announced to build a $100,000 building on the northeast corner of East Fourth and Wall streets, strictly for the printing and publishing businesses. In 1911 notice was made of new buildings for the P.H. Mathews Paint Company, the Pioneer Roll Paper Company, the Klein-Norton Company, the Golden State Shoe Company, the Stewart-Dawes Shoe Company, all moving into new buildings of their own, and all on Los Angeles Street.

Plans were announced in September 1911 for the construction of a five-story building on the northwest corner of Second and Alameda streets, to be occupied by Haas-Baruch and Company in "one of the largest and most modern wholesale grocery companies in the West. Architects were Morgan, Walls & Morgan.

**1912.** Warehouse District structures had spread farther south on Los Angeles Street. One of the largest leases ever concluded in the District, up to then, was for a fireproof seven-story-plus-basement building on the east side of Los Angeles between Seventh and Eighth streets. The *Los Angeles Times* opined: "The project marks another link in the chain of modern fireproof buildings erected on Los Angeles Street in the past two years."

**1913.** Landowner David Hewes of Orange, California, announced plans to expand the District to the entire block from Los Angeles Street, where he contracted with the Willard-Slater Company to build twelve stores, to Santee Street between Eighth Street and Ninth Street, where he was planning six more. He said that increased traffic to Los Angeles through the newly opened Panama Canal was one of the reasons he predicted success for his venture. Hr had already placed Hewes Market at Ninth and Los Angeles, where it became one of the busiest corners in the city.

It was noted that dozens of auto repair garages and machine shops lined Los Angeles Street between First and Tenth.

**1917.** Los Angeles Street between Seventh and Eighth streets was regarded as "the center of the wholesale dry goods and apparel business in this city, as well as for light manufacturing of those and kindred lines." At that time it was announced that "The biggest structural enterprise yet launched in the wholesale and jobbing district" would go ahead with two ten-floor fireproof loft buildings to be erected by M.J. Connell at the corner of Seventh and Santee.

**1992.** The Warehouse District was described as "a realm of cinder block and sheet metal, a bleak landscape" that lay from San Pedro Street on the west to the Los Angeles River on the east and from First Street on the north to the Santa Monica Freeway on the south.

## Expansion

### First and Alameda

**1898–99.** In 1898 an entrepreneur named A.E. Weeks had gathered enough properties from some thirty to forty owners to announce his plans to build a new wholesale center of four blocks on the west side of Alameda Street and the west side of Vine Street between First and Jackson streets and on the north and south sides of Jackson between Alameda and Wilmington streets. The purchase price was "well up toward a million dollars," and the sale was made to P.M. Daniel of the Pacific Crockery and Tinware Company, president of the Los Angeles Board of Trade, who was presumed to be representing other investors as well as himself. Buildings on the site were to be leveled, and "fine business blocks adapted to the need of wholesale houses" would be constructed in such a way that the Southern Pacific Railroad would have access to the Alameda frontage for easy loading and unloading of goods. The idea for such a district was taken from a similar project in St. Louis, Missouri, and its backers stressed the advantage for Los Angeles merchants in competing with San Francisco in Northern California. It was said also that the new center would "enable the Southern Pacific Railroad to place its cars at the very doors of the various wholesale houses, and the saving to the trade of this city will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as a result of dispensing with drayage." The destruction of some sixty cottages and tenement houses was envisioned. A lumber yard had to be removed from First and Alameda to a new location near the La Grande depot

A *Los Angeles Times* opinion article on January 6, 1899, however, argued against completion of the project, which would redound to the advantage of the Southern Pacific as opposed to its rival Santa Fe Railroad. The *Times* stated that the "proper place" for a new wholesale district would be between the Southern Pacific's Arcade Depot and the Santa Fe depot in the Palmetto Street-Santa Fe Avenue area because "The tracks of the two companies are only about 1700 feet apart there, so that switches could easily be made into warehouses."

The plan envisioned freight cars being brought from the Southern Pacific line on Alameda Street into the new center, where "a force of clerks" would work in a station office named *Daniel,* in honor of P.M. Daniel, the author of the enterprise. This center was to be shared by both the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe railroads. Nevertheless, the plan unraveled, and by July 1899 the scheme had apparently been abandoned because Daniel "found it impossible to capitalize the project."

**1905.** An increase in the cost of Los Angeles Street property was said to be the impetus for the expansion of the Wholesale District in 1905 along East First and Alameda streets, helped by a decision of the Santa Fe Company to build a switch track on Banning Street.

### San Pedro Street

**1904.** The "congested condition of traffic on Los Angeles street, in the wholesale districts, and the fact that this class of business cannot well move westward on Main street" impelled the City Council in December 1904, by a vote of 4 to 3, to order the reconstruction, straightening and widening of San Pedro Street (a portion of which had historically been known as Wilmington Street) to eighty feet across in order to provide new opportunities for business growth. The job also provided for an entirely new "highway" from Fifth Street to Aliso Street.

> They would have to take out my dead body before getting possession of this place . ... Have a street run through \[it\]? Never! Why they'd have to chop my head off before I would cease to protest.

The plan was opposed by some longtime property owners, in part because two landmarks were marked for destruction — a two-story residence owned by Mrs. M.A. Woodworth on San Pedro "where for more than a quarter century the hospitality of old Spanish families has been dispensed, and which for many years was the center of much of the social activity of the city." A contemporary account noted that "Around the Woodworth home there are beautiful grounds, and a really refreshing oasis in the desert of brick walls, dingy store fronts and shabby buildings in the neighborhood. One of the most prized features of the grounds is a noble magnolia tree, notable for the profusion of its waxy flowers, and flanked to the eastward with a row of stately fan palms. These all must go down before the march of commercial supremacy." Also to be sacrificed was a 100-year-old adobe house that had been occupied by the Spanish and Mexican pioneer Lugo family, which for three generations had been maintained as a "typical Spanish-American home." It had been built by Mrs. Woodworth's grandfather, Don Antonio Manuel Lugo.

**1925.** San Pedro Street was noted as the "principal north and south artery" of the wholesale district when a six-story building was completed at East Sixth Street for the City Towel Supply Corporation, with a portion to be leased to wholesale and manufacturing companies.

### Central Avenue

**1905.** "The greatest wholesale and jobbing plant ever undertaken in the Southwest — a whole city block devoted to one firm's building and trackage" was promised in May 1905 for the Los Angeles Wholesale District in an area bounded by East First Street, Jackson Street, North Central Avenue and Alameda Street. The property had a frontage of 700 feet on Alameda Street, where the Southern Pacific tracks lay. Architects Morgan & Walls promised two four-story brick buildings with plate glass for the first story and a main entrance of polished marble and oak. Ancillary buildings were also planned for the Union Hardware and Metal Company.

**1905.** In August 1905, the *Los Angeles Herald* reported that the Wholesale District had expanded beyond the confines of Los Angeles Street, particularly with the completion of a two-story building on the west side of Central Avenue between Second and Third streets, which was to be occupied by Simon Levi, produce and grocery dealer, and the California Door and Sash Company. The structure indicated the "high class of permanent structures" being raised near the Central Market, the newspaper said.

**1936.** A Coca-Cola bottling plant, shaped like an ocean liner, was built at 1334 South Central Avenue in 1936.

### Third Street area

**1912.** In April 1912 the definition of the Wholesale District spread farther east when plans were announced for the construction of a fireproof warehouse, the largest in the city, by F.W. Braun on Avery Street between Third Street and Stephenson Avenue.

## Police and crime

### Police

The District is patrolled by the Central Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

### Crime

Criminal activity has been the topic of public interest.

**1889–1902.** The area was categorized as a "sink of iniquity" because of asserted prostitution as well as the existence of "dives which are allowed to flourish in the center of the wholesale district on Los Angeles Street."

> The Manhattan Club, just across the way from the Republican Club, is the same sort of dive, with the exception that it is given to the cultivation of pugilism rather than politics . ... Both places are provided with bars, for which they pay no taxes to the city. Both are sinks of iniquity, where the dregs of society of both sexes and all colors congregate nightly to indulge in unbridled vice. Occasionally the police arrest some of the women who frequent these dives, but no serious effort has ever been made to prevent the orgies, which are of nightly occurrence.

The Manhattan Club was described as a place where "negroes, tough whites, white and colored prostitutes assembled, caroused, drank, gambled and worse until even the merchants on that street, who are never there at night, demanded that it be closed, and it was closed. . . . A uniformed officer was stationed at the door, and no matter who entered, his or her name was taken. Tough as were the patrons of the place they did not like the idea of the police keeping tab on them and the result was that" the business was ruined and the club was closed.

**1992.** In November 1992 the *Los Angeles Times* published a lengthy article whose headline described the Warehouse District as "the underbelly" of Los Angeles, a "concrete jungle" that was "rife with transients who pillage businesses on eerie nighttime raids." Reporter David Farrell wrote that "burglars clamber from one building to the next in search of air vents, attic doors, any place they can break in. There are petty bonanzas to reap: stereos, shoes, tomatoes and oranges by the crate--anything they can sell for crack cocaine." He called the District a "realm of cinder block and sheet metal, a landscape hard by the concrete shore of the Los Angeles River." Prostitution was rampant, both male and female, and residents lived through theft and by doing odd jobs for little pay. Business owners reported spending thousands of dollars for protection like security guards, video cameras, iron fences and concertina wire, only to have them soon circumvented by thieves, who quickly offered stolen goods for sale on the sidewalks or elsewhere in the District.

## Fires

The history of the Wholesale District was marked by a number of notable fires, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

**1898.** The Germain Building, which housed the wholesale department store of Crandall, Aylsworth & Haskell at 218-224 North Los Angeles Street, was gutted and the store of the Pacific Crockery and Tinware Co. at No. 228 was "almost totally ruined" in a fierce blaze on May 28, 1898, when the fire department had to sound a general alarm, "calling every company in the department to the scene" for the first time in more than a year. The fire began in a pile of excelsior used in packing goods. Workers attempted to quench the blaze with a hose, but in vain, so an alarm was sent from a fire alarm call box on Requena Street. A contemporary account reported:

> ... the heat was so great that it was not possible for the firemen to enter the building \[so\] ... lines of hose were stretched to the tops of adjacent buildings, and wherever there was an opening through which water could be directed, a stream was poured into the burning structure. ... The large Babcock truck was placed directly in front of the building, and the aerial ladder was raised. On this two streams were placed, and they poured water into the two upper floors of the building, ... \[and yet\] the fire spread through the building until the whole interior was like a furnace ... Half an hour after the fire started\[,\] the part of the south wall which extended over the top of the building ... fell. Among the thousands of persons who blocked the streets in front of the building, the cry went up that there was a fire company caught under that wall. Instantly there was a rush made of other firemen and scores of citizens in the place eager to render any assistance possible. The alarm was groundless, however, for the men who were working under the wall had seen it swaying and had stepped back just in time to escape being crushed under the falling mass of bricks.

The owner of the Pacific Crockery and Tinware Company next to the burning building refused to allow firemen to fight the blaze from the interior of his store, so the men had to retire. Then the north wall of the building collapsed and smashed through the roof of the Crockery and Tinware Company's store, "setting it on fire in fifty places." The wholesale wool house of S. Phillips caught ablaze, but the flames were extinguished. The stock of the crockery store was destroyed as the fire fighters were forced to combat the flames leaping up in huge piles of packing cases filled with straw. The financial losses to the merchants were heavy.

**1904.** George Stoll & Company, a large wholesale business dealing in coffee, tea and spices at 447-449 Los Angeles Street, escaped destruction on February 2, 1904, when either sparks from a roaster or a "lighted cigar stump" ignited a pile of packing cases but the flames were extinguished by firefighters, "some of them crawling along the floor with a line of hose" to the rear of the building. At the same time, another fire broke out in the coffee departrment of the R.L. Craig Co. on Los Angeles Street near First Street, also in the Wholesale District. That one was caused by an overheated coffee roaster, and it was quickly extinguished.

**1906.** Arsonists were suspected in a blaze that broke out in a new two-story addition at the rear of Standard Woodenware at 230-234 Los Angeles Street on February 18, 1906. The firebox alarm was pulled by a passing police officer, but help was slow to arrive because most of the nearby engine companies were fighting another fire at Fifth and Main streets. Two men, reportedly night watchmen, were sleeping inside. and were discovered only after firemen began tearing off a grating at the rear of the building. Nearby businesses that were briefly endangered were the Club Stables, with 50 horses, Hawley & King farm-implement house, the Cohn-Goldwater machine house and the S.J. Smith manufactory. Police officers were brought in from other areas, and a dragnet was made of "suspects and all characters" who could not "explain their movements." and they were brought in "for explanation."

**1906.** A two-story brick building occupied by the Holbrook, Merrill and Stetson Hardware Company, which took up nearly half the south side of the 200 block of Los Angeles Street, was severely damaged in a three-alarm fire in the early-morning hours of June 20, 1906. A newspaper account reported that "The female inmates of places nearby had a big scare. They took to the streets in their light attire and refused to re-enter their rooms for a long time. . . . Five companies responded . . . and two more as soon as they could make the run to the wholesale district."

**1906.** Ladderman Adolph Hermanson was killed on December 29, 1906, while he was fighting a massive fire in the Cohn, Goldsmith & Co. building at 210-222 South Los Angeles Street. He was hurled from a fifth-floor window when a jet of water struck him. "Wooden goods and haberdashery comprised the building's stock," the *Los Angeles Times* reported. "The structure itself was far from fireproof. The \[fire\] department was faced with the same proposition a man would have who must extinguish a bolt of burning wool with a tin dipper." The building was gutted. Damaged businesses in nearby buildings were S. J. Smith Machinery Manufacturing Company, B.F. Kieruiff Company electric switchboard manufacturer, Pacific Wire and Steel Company and Fullerton Iron Works.

**1907.** A fire almost gutted a building at 256-260 South Los Angeles Street, occupied by the P.H. Mathews Paint Company and the Wholesale Drug Company, but a water tower on the block saved the other buildings on the block from damage. The flames started on a lower floor but shot up an elevator shaft to the upper floors. The fire was first reported by a patrolman of the Merchants' Fire Dispatch, who sent an alarm over a private telephone line connected directly to Fire Department headquarters, from whence Chief \[Walter\] Lips led a team toward the incident. Seeing the extent of the flames before even arriving on scene, he stopped the horses and sent in a second and third alarm from a fire-alarm box; this precaution brought more men to the site to battle the blaze and saved the other buildings on the block. It was noted that during the preceding five years the block, "in the very heart of the wholesale district," had been struck by four very serious fires.

**1908.** On June 4, 1908, flames began on the top floor of the three-story Phillips Printing Company at 354 South Los Angeles Street, on the corner of Boyd Street, apparently from crossed electrical wires, and by the time firemen arrived, the conflagration was so hot the men had to work in relays. All the contents of the building seemed to be lost, including, it was feared, the manuscript of the forthcoming Los Angeles City Directory. The quarters and stock of the Pacific Garment Company, in the same building, were ravaged.

**1909.** Driven by high winds from the mountains, a blaze in the headquarters of the Zellerbach Paper Company at 115-23 North Los Angeles Street threatened to spread to adjoining buildings on April 6, 1909, and "the heart of the great wholesale district was in danger." The damage to the Zellerbach building was lessened by the presence of a large fire wall running between the east and west walls of the building, but "everything on the south half was ruined," a contemporary account read. "Within twenty minutes . . . A crowd of 15,000 had collected. East First Street was packed with humanity. Los Angeles street toward the north was a swaying, jostling mass. Ropes were brought and a squad of police detailed to keep back the spectators. The race-track \[street\]cars were stalled and the hundreds of passengers watched the fire until notified that cars had been stationed at Los Angeles and Commercial streets."

> Five firemen had a narrow escape ... Chief Lips and four assistants were playing a hose through the broken window when the flames took a new tack and swept over them. The Chief and three men escaped down the ladder. Oscar Jones of Company No. 6 wa driven to a corner of the platform, and cut off from the ladder by a sheet of flame. He jumped to a near-by line of hose which had been carried to the roof and escaped by sliding to the ground. He was singed about the head and face. The immense crowd cheered him as he lowered himself by means of the hose.

**1921.** A spectacular fire on the evening of March 17 sent "a mighty shaft of flame" into the sky and destroyed a warehouse belonging to the Pacific Wood and Coal Company on Seventh Street at the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. Carloads of coal, coke, wood, hay, grain, poultry supplies and distillate went up in smoke, as did six "automobile trucks." Firefighters escaped serious injuries in the general-alarm fire when a burning wall collapsed upon them, but they "quickly extricated themselves uninjured from the mass of debris and continued with their work." The company, which had offices in Los Angeles and San Diego, was one of the largest firms of its kind in Southern California.

**1967.** Three fires within four nights broke out in December 1966 and January 1967 in an 11-block area in the Mission Road district. Losses were suffered by Charles Weinreich Ltd, packer and exporter of rags and used clothing at 310 Souith Mission Road, by the Empire Bag and Carton Company at 1491 East Fourth Street and by the Wilbur-Ellis chemical fertilizer company building at 453 North Mission Road, which was destroyed. Arson was suspected.

## Explosion

**1997.** Four workers were killed and at least 25 others injured when a machine exploded with a powerful blast at the Imperial Toy Corporation factory at East 7th Street and Santa Fe Avenue and blew a hole through the roof of a building that had been built in 1913 by Henry Ford to be his first California auto plant.

**2020.** On May 16, a fire at a smoke shop warehouse on so-called "bong row" (300 block of Boyd St.) turned into an explosion when "excessive quantities" of improperly stored butane and nitrous oxide ignited. The explosion injured 12 firefighter, several of them "severely." Criminal charges were brought against the two business owners, but were dropped after they pled guilty. Their company was found guilty of four municipal code violations. LAFD revealed they had never inspected the building. If inspected, the inflammable materials would likely have been removed according to Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas.

* Los Angeles Downtown Industrial District Business Improvement District


title: Teatro 8

abstract: Teatro 8 is a theater venue located in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida.

text:
# Teatro 8

**Teatro 8** is a theater venue located in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida.

## History

Teatro 8, which opened in 2000, was originally operated by the Hispanic Theater Guild, a Miami-based theater organization founded in 1989 with the involvement of Cuban American actor-director Marcos Casanova. Teatro 8 hosts frequent Spanish-language theater premiers, as well as productions of standards in the Hispanic theater repertoire. As of July 1, 2014, the venue will be managed by the Argentine group "Cirko Teatro," created by Jessica Alvarez Dieguez and Alejandro Vales.

Teatro 8 lies in the center of the action on Miami's bustling Calle Ocho, a cultural hotspot for Cuban-American shops, restaurants, and museums. At its conception in 2000, Teatro 8 provided the only sit-down entertainment on Calle Ocho, bringing in crowds from all over the world to Little Havana for a small taste of Cuban culture. Since then, the theater has put on more than 250 productions for audiences of all ages, nationalities, religions, and socioeconomic statuses. Teatro 8 prides itself in being able to offer low-cost tickets in order to make Latinx theatre accessible to all who want to enjoy it. Ticket prices range from $10, $15, $35, and, at most, $80.

```
The theater features Spanish-language productions spanning all genres, from musicals to comedies to ballets and dance performances. Although they put on all kinds of productions, the recent spike in interest for their comedies has led to it being their most often performed genre and their most lucrative.
```

The venue offers several acting courses for aspiring actors of all ages, making it a popular Summer camp site for Latinx children and young adults interested in the arts. Teatro 8's busiest time of year is Winter, where they can put up to 16 productions per week.

## Notes and references

* The Hispanic Theater Guild records are available at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. This archival collection contains records relating to the Teatro 8 theater venue in Miami, Florida, run by the Hispanic Theater Guild organization. Items include theater ephemera and posters, audiovisual materials of performances, awards and certificates, financial records, clippings, scripts, scrapbooks, and promotional materials.
* Venue page for Teatro 8 in the Cuban Theater Digital Archive.

## Production history

Teatro 8 has put on many successful productions since its conception in the year 2000. Their most notable have been:

“Cien Veces No Debo” A comedy written by Ricardo Talesnik

“Esperando la Carroza” An Argentine-Uruguayan classic written by Jacobo Lagsner

“Deliciosa Provocacion” A story written by Santiago Escalante

“Las Novias de Travolta” A comedy written by Andres Tulipano

“Bajo Terapia” A comedy written by Matias Del Frederico

“El Principio de Arquimedes” A controversial history lesson written by Josep Maria Miro

“TOC TOC” A comedy written by Laurent Baffie

## InfoBox

Teatro 8
|  | |
| --- | --- |
| Address | 2101 Southwest 8th Street
Miami, Florida
United States |
| Coordinates | 25°45′58″N 80°13′46″W / 25.766134°N 80.229408°W / 25.766134; -80.229408 |
| Opened | 2000 |
| Website | |
| teatro8.com | |


title: Xylocopa strandi

abstract: Xylocopa strandi is a species of carpenter bee in the family Apidae. It is found in Central America and North America.

text:
# Xylocopa strandi

***Xylocopa strandi*** is a species of carpenter bee in the family Apidae. It is found in Central America and North America.

## InfoBox

| *Xylocopa strandi* | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | *Xylocopa* |
| Species: | ***X. strandi*** |
| Binomial name | |
| ***Xylocopa strandi***<br>Dusmet & Alonso, 1924 | |
|


title: Musée Rude

abstract: The Musée Rude is an art museum dedicated to the French sculptor François Rude (1784–1855). It has the "Musée de France" label and has been housed since 1947, in a part of the former Église Saint-Étienne of Dijon, built during the 11th century. The museum displays life-size plaster casts acquired by the Dijon municipality between 1887 and 1910, which are major works by the artist exhibited in other museums in France. The museum also displays archaeological crypt of the 11th century, and the former St. Stephen's Gate of the Dijon castrum of the 3rd century on which the church is built. Open from 9:30 am to 6 pm from 1 June to 30 September, the museum is free. Labeled Museum of France since February 1, 2003, it is attached to the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts, which manages it.

text:
# Musée Rude

The **Musée Rude** is an art museum dedicated to the French sculptor François Rude (1784–1855). It has the "Musée de France" label and has been housed since 1947, in a part of the former Église Saint-Étienne of Dijon, built during the 11th century. The museum displays life-size plaster casts acquired by the Dijon municipality between 1887 and 1910, which are major works by the artist exhibited in other museums in France (including the Louvre in Paris). The museum also displays archaeological crypt of the 11th century, and the former St. Stephen's Gate of the Dijon castrum of the 3rd century on which the church is built. Open from 9:30 am to 6 pm from 1 June to 30 September, the museum is free. Labeled Museum of France since February 1, 2003, it is attached to the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts, which manages it.

## Works

## InfoBox

Musée Rude
| Musée François Rude in the transept and the choir of the Église Saint-Étienne of Dijon | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Established | 1947 |
| Location | 8 Rue Vaillant<br>21000 Dijon, France |
| Coordinates | 47°19′15″N 5°02′39″E / 47.320896°N 5.044091°E / 47.320896; 5.044091 |
| Type | Art museum |


title: YWCA-Rolling Bay Route

abstract: The YWCA-Rolling Bay route was a shipping route that originated from Seattle, Washington. The route included stops on the east side of Bainbridge Island, Washington at the YWCA summer camp and at Rolling Bay. As of January 1, 1917, the Kitsap County Transportation Company was operating steamboats on the route.

text:
# YWCA-Rolling Bay Route

The **YWCA-Rolling Bay route** was a shipping route that originated from Seattle, Washington. The route included stops on the east side of Bainbridge Island, Washington at the YWCA summer camp (a Boy Scout camp and a riding camp were also located nearby) and at Rolling Bay.

As of January 1, 1917, the Kitsap County Transportation Company was operating steamboats on the route.

## InfoBox

YWCA-Rolling Bay route
| Waterway | Puget Sound |
| --- | --- |
| Transit type | Steamboat and motor vessel |
| Operator | Kitsap County Transportation Company |


title: Yatarō Kurokawa

abstract: Yatarō Kurokawa Yatarō Kurokawa was a Japanese film actor.

text:
# Yatarō Kurokawa

**Yatarō Kurokawa** (黒川 弥太郎, *Kurokawa Yatarō*) (15 November 1910  23 June 1984) was a Japanese film actor.

## Filmography

The filmography of Yatarō Kurokawa includes 228 films from 1935 to 1971:

## InfoBox

| Yatarō Kurokawa | |
| --- | --- |
| Chūshingura 1958 studio still | |
| Born | (1910-11-15)15 November 1910<br>Yokohama, Japan |
| Died | 23 June 1984(1984-06-23) (aged 73) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1935-1971 |


title: Yam Island Airport

abstract: Yam Island Airport is an airport in Yam Island, Queensland, Australia.

text:
# Yam Island Airport

**Yam Island Airport** (IATA: **XMY**, ICAO: **YYMI**) is an airport in Yam Island, Queensland, Australia.

## Airlines and destinations

| Airlines | Destinations |
| --- | --- |
| Hinterland Aviation | Coconut Island, Horn Island, Warraber Island, Yorke Island |
| Skytrans Airlines | Coconut Island, Horn Island, Warraber Island, Yorke Island |

## InfoBox

| Yam Island Airport | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Summary | |
| Airport type | Private |
| Operator | Torres Strait Island Regional Council |
| Location | Yam Island, Queensland |
| Elevation AMSL | 15 ft / 5 m |
| Coordinates | 9°53′57″S 142°46′28″E / 9.8993°S 142.7745°E / -9.8993; 142.7745 (Yam Island Airport) |
| Map | |
| YYMILocation in Queensland | |
| Runways | |
| Direction Length Surface  m ft  11/29 795 2,608 Paved | |
| Sources: Australian AIP and Great Circle Mapper | |


title: Yam Islands

abstract: The Yam Islands, Yamsky Islands or Yamskiye Islands, is a small island group located close to the coast in the northern Sea of Okhotsk. Administratively the Yam Islands belong to the Magadan Oblast of the Russian Federation.

text:
# Yam Islands

The **Yam Islands**, **Yamsky Islands** or **Yamskiye Islands** (Ямские острова; Yamskiye Ostrova), is a small island group located close to the coast in the northern Sea of Okhotsk. Administratively the Yam Islands belong to the Magadan Oblast of the Russian Federation.

## Geography

The Yam island group lies about 250 km east of Magadan, only 10 km from the shores of the Pyagin Peninsula (Poluostrov P'yagina).

### Islands

The main island is **Matykil Island** (Остров Матыкиль). It is 6 km long and has a width of 2.2 km. All the other islands are much smaller. The highest point in Matykil is 700 m.

The other islands of the group are: **Atykan** (Остров Атыкан), **Baran** (Остров Баран), **Khatemalyu** (Остров Хатемалью) and **Kokontse** (Остров Коконце).

## History

Between 1852 and 1874, American whaleships cruised around the islands for bowhead whales.

## Fauna

Steller sea lions occur on the islands, while in the spring and summer millions of seabirds nest on the islands, including roughly six million least auklet (possibly the largest colony in the world), over 900,000 northern fulmar, and tens of thousands of parakeet auklet; crested auklet also nest on the islands.

These islands are part of the Magandskiy Zapovednik or protected bioregion of the Magadan area.

## InfoBox

| Yam Islands Ямские острова | |
| --- | --- |
| Island group | |
| Khatemalyu Island. | |
| Yam Islands | |
| Coordinates: 59°15′N 155°29′E / 59.250°N 155.483°E / 59.250; 155.483 | |
| Country | Russian Federation |
| Federal subject | Far Eastern Federal District |
| Oblast | Magadan Oblast |
| Elevation | 700 m (2,300 ft) |


title: Yang Bing-yi

abstract: Yang Bing-Yi was a Taiwanese restauranteur. He was the founder of the restaurant chain Din Tai Fung.

text:
# Yang Bing-yi

**Yang Bing-Yi** (Chinese: 楊秉彝; 23 March 1927 – 25 March 2023) was a Taiwanese restauranteur. He was the founder of the restaurant chain Din Tai Fung.

## Early life

Yang Bing-Yi was born in Yuanping in China's northern Shanxi province in 1927 and immigrated by himself to Taiwan at the age of 20 during the civil war in 1948. He took a job to make oil deliveries. When he was 13 years old, Japan occupied his city during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Shortly after the Japanese surrendered in 1945, he went to the county seat to further his education. With the assistance of a matchmaker, he got married at 19 years old to his first wife. After the Chinese Civil War began, Yang feared for his safety. At 21 years old, he took leave from the army, moved to Taiwan under the pretense of studying there, and sought to meet up with his uncle who was living there.

Yang traveled by Hualien Ferry (Chinese: 花蓮輪) to the Port of Keelung in the summer of 1948. After walking through mountains and rivers, he met up with his uncle. His uncle's Shanghai wife connected him to the Shanghai owner of the oil company, Heng Tai Fung (Chinese: 恆泰豐). Surnamed Wang, the owner put him to work on delivering oil during the day. At night, Yang helped Wang's brother, an importer, deliver Shaoxing wine. After two years of working at the oil company, he received a promotion to work at the counter. He dated Lai Penmei (Chinese: 賴盆妹), a woman who took care of the Wang's children. They dated around three or four years before getting married when he was 28 years old. The Wangs officiated their wedding. The newly married couple worked for the Wangs for another three to four years.

## Business career

Yang opened a small shop in Taipei with his wife in 1958 and named the store Din Tai Fung Oil Retail. The store had two namesakes: Heng Tai Fung, the company the couple had been employed at, and Din Mei Oils, the company that supplied their oil. They sold cooking oil and steamed Chinese soup dumplings called *xiaolongbao.* The oil business started to have difficulties with the invention of salad oils in metal tins in 1972, and they decided to devote more of their storefront to dumplings. The dumplings soon became extremely popular and they changed the name to just Din Tai Fung and started to focus on the dumplings and noodles.

The original restaurant was in Taipei's Yongkang shopping district and was named one of the best restaurants in the world by the New York Times in 1993. Franchises expanded his brand to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Singapore. As of 2023, there are more than 170 locations in 13 territories.

## Personal life

Yang was an early riser. In his seventies, he typically spent an hour in the morning walking followed by an hour of doing *Qigong*.


title: Mykolaiv strikes (2022–present)

text:
# Mykolaiv strikes (2022–present)

The Russian Armed Forces have launched several rocket attacks on Mykolaiv, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

## 2022 strikes

### February 2022

Mykolaiv was shelled in the evening of 26 February 2022. Explosions were heard in several parts of the city, and a shell landed between high-rise buildings in the city's northern micro-district.

### March 2022

On 7 March, Mykolaiv was shelled by Smerch rocket launchers starting at 5:15. The shelling resulted in the death of one man in the city's Ternivka district. Residential buildings, a pharmacy, the Specialized Seaport Olvia, and the city zoo were affected; an unexploded shell landed near the tigers and polar bears, but no animals were hurt. Gas pipelines were damaged, and part of the city lost its heat supply. Firefighters extinguished fires throughout Mykolaiv. It was later reported that among the targets of the Russian shelling were the barracks of the 79th Air Assault Brigade, where ten Ukrainian soldiers were killed and dozens of others were injured.

On 8 March, Russian forces attacked the military quarters of the 137th Independent Marine Batalion and the 36th Marine Brigade in the northern suburbs of Mykolaiv killing at least 80 soldiers.

#### Mykolaiv cluster bombing

On 13 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian Armed Forces bombed Mykolaiv with cluster munitions, killing 9 civilians and injuring 13.

#### Government building missile strike

On 29 March 2022, Russian forces carried out a missile strike (supposedly using Kalibr missile) on the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration's headquarters during the battle of Mykolaiv. It resulted in at least 37 deaths and 34 injuries.

### June 2022

On 28 June, shelling damaged Central City Stadium and an abandoned military base. On 29 June, a Russian rocket strike hit a five-storey residential building, killing at least 8 people and injuring 6.

### July 2022

On 15 July, the city's two largest universities were struck by missiles: Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding and Mykolaiv National University.

On 29 July, five people were killed and seven were injured at a bus stop in Mykolaiv after Russians shelled the city. Another strike on 30 July killed Oleksiy Vadaturskyi, the owner of Ukrainian agricultural company Nibulon, along with his wife.

### August 2022

On 17 August, two missiles hit Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University. Two days later, it was shelled again with two S-300 missiles.

### October 2022

On 16 October, Russian kamikaze drones struck two tanks with sunflower oil for export (about 7.5 thousand tons each) in Mykolaiv. The tanks caught fire and the oil flowed through the streets.

### November 2022

On 1 November, new shelling partially destroyed a historic gymnasium (1892), a polytechnic college and damaged neighboring residential buildings. One person was reported to be killed.

On 11 November, shelling of the city collapsed part of a five-story residential building, killing 9 people.

## 2023 strikes

### May 2023

On 7 May 2023, a new attack was carried out with three rockets.

On 16 May 2023, an attack was carried by Russia on Mykolaiv shopping mall, with one man injured.

### July 2023

On 20 July 2023, Mykolaiv was struck as part of a series of Russian air strikes on the southern Ukrainian port cities.

They were seen as retaliatory strikes by Russia, following its withdrawal from a deal that allowed Ukrainian Black Sea grain shipments. Russia accused Ukraine of being behind explosions on a bridge used for transporting Russian military supplies.

The strikes involved the launch of 19 missiles and 19 drones by Russian forces. Ukrainian military reported that they managed to shoot down five of the missiles and 13 of the drones. The attacks resulted in significant damage to several residential buildings and caused a large fire in the city of Mykolaiv.

A married couple was killed as a result of the strikes. The Kyiv Independent reported that the strike against Mykolaiv resulted in 19 people being injured, including at least five children. Eight people sought medical help, and two, including a child, were hospitalized.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks, stating that "Russian terrorists continue their attempts to destroy the life of our country."


title: Myrcia pentagona

abstract: Myrcia pentagona is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to Peru.

text:
# Myrcia pentagona

***Myrcia pentagona*** is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to Peru.

## InfoBox

| *Myrcia pentagona* | |
| --- | --- |
| Conservation status | |
|
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| *Clade*: | Tracheophytes |
| *Clade*: | Angiosperms |
| *Clade*: | Eudicots |
| *Clade*: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | *Myrcia* |
| Species: | ***M. pentagona*** |
| Binomial name | |
| ***Myrcia pentagona***
McVaugh | |
|