The iconic Los Angeles Times Globe Lobby will reopen to the public and host a monthly lunchtime tour series called “Thursdays @ The Globe.”

The free tours, which kicks off on Nov. 17 from noon to 1 p.m., include an opportunity to meet with LAT reporters, columnists, photojournalists, editors or executives.

The first tour will include a chat on the history of the Los Angeles Times headquarters led by architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne.

At the second tour on Dec. 8, LAT photographer Mark Boster will sign copies of his new book, Four Seasons in Yosemite.

Tempest in a 9/11 teapot? LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne definitely seems to think so.

Over the weekend, Huffington Post contributor and Magnify.net CEO Steve Rosenbaum took issue with the way Hawthorne described New York City’s Ground Zero memorial in an August 12 review. He argued that the mention in the fourth paragraph of a “sliver” of a museum opening in the fall of 2012 was inaccurate, since that sliver is actually the tip of a gigantic, underground structure. Writes Rosenbaum:

As a documentarian who’s spent the past five years at the site, and stood inside the massive, cavernous, powerful museum space–I know firsthand that Hawthorne simply misunderstood the project.

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Euphemisms: The award for Best Way Around Calling Someone A Tantrum-Throwing Diva award goes to reporter Christopher Hawthorne, who says of Frank Gehry:

“Far from a creative genius producing idiosyncratic forms in isolation, as he is sometimes portrayed, Gehry is an architect who thrives on drama and even brinksmanship. This project, from the beginning, has had no shortage of those elements; where they have been lacking, Gehry has sometimes worked to create them.”

Former Fox 11 News Reporter Acquitted: A federal jury cleared Roderick “Rod” Bernsen of two counts of sexual abuse that had been brought against him when boys on a cruise ship said he spanked them and touched one of their penises with his toe.

Familiar Ground: Investigative medical reporter Charlie Ornstein revisits Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, detailing all the ways in which the abysmal facility should have been shut down years ago. There are the failed inspections, the citations. Not to mention the fact that Charlie won his Pulitzer detailing these horrors years ago. Is this a follow up story or a public search for affected change?

Two finalists from the LA Times for the Pulitzer Prize in the critical writing category–art critic Christopher Knight and classical music critic Mark Swed–nominated themselves. The LAT submitted music critic Ann Powers, architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, and media writer Tim Rutten but they weren’t selected as finalists.

So, what does this say about the LA Times? That the editors don’t know good writing when they read it? That nominating writers is cheaper than giving them a raise? Or that writers who can afford their own submission fee are paid too much?