At the starting line of the 25th LA Marathon at Dodgers Stadium yesterday, the crowd of roughly 25,000 runners gathered waiting for the horn that would be echoing through the all the adjacent neighborhoods as far off as Mt. Washington. The emcee announced Councilman Tom LaBonge and Councilman Ed Reyes and the crowd cheered. He announced the “celebrity” runners, The Bachelor Andy Baldwin and Hell’s Kitchen’s Gordon Ramsay to an enthusiastic reaction. Then the emcee announced the Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa and there was a deafening silence broken with a slight and quick “boo.”

A girl standing next to us remarked to her friend,”Yeah, nobody likes him.”

Pictured Mayor Villaraigosa and marathon owner Frank McCourt with winners Wesley Korir and Edna Kiplagat. Photo by Rich Cruse.