SPECIAL SECTION • MAY 20, 2015

SPECIAL SECTION • MAY 20, 2015
HOMES
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Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
May 20, 2015
Grow Less Common Vegetables
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
T
omatoes, green beans and squash
are easy-to-grow vegetables that are
quickly rewarding for the home gardener. However, more unusual vegetables
like artichokes, chard, arugula and tomatillos can be just as easy and rewarding.
Arugula and chard are both simple leafy
green vegetables that can be grown either
from seeds or small seedlings. Like many
leafy green vegetables, these plants allow
a chef to simply pick off the desired leaves
for a particular meal while the plant continues growing.
They also liven up a garden with their
good looks. Chard can be found in several
colors, including red, yellow, orange, purple
and white. The ribbed stems resemble celery in size and shape, but the colorful varieties can be used not only as a vegetable
to eat, but also as an ornamental addition
to a garden. The stems and leaves are typically eaten cooked, and are tasty simply
sautéed together, allowing the stems to
start the cooking process a few minutes
before adding the leaves.
Arugula, which has a spicy tang that is enjoyable both cooked and raw, will eventually
two the following year. Individual artichokes
can also return each year. Simply cut the stalk
a few inches about the ground, and the plant
can re-grow, sometimes twice in one year
in mild climates like Southern California.
A last unusual plant is the tomatillo, the
key ingredient in salsa verde, a green sauce
made with tomatillos as the base instead
of tomatoes.
Tomatillos, a native Mexican plant that
was enjoyed by the Aztecs, grow in a similar
manner to tomatoes. They are sprawling
plants that bear a large amount of fruit
and can reach 3-4 feet tall and also spread
3-4 feet wide.
The mature, round fruits are about the
size of small slicing tomatoes, but they look
substantially different. They are covered in
papery husks. These husks must be peeled
back to uncover the young green fruit,
Chard is an easy but less common vegetable to grow in a home garden.
which becomes a pale yellow at maturity.
“bolt,” which means it will develop a flower and they are unlike any other typical garden Tomatillos can be picked when both green
stalk (up to 3 feet tall) with small four-petal vegetable. The leaves are large, arching and and yellow, although the earlier green fruit
white flowers that transform into seed pods. deeply lobed.
are less seedy and have the acid tang that
If allowed to completely develop, these
Since more than a dozen artichokes can people identify with green salsa.
seeds will spread and beget many volunteer grow from one plant, it’s important to keep
seedlings that will liven up any garden.
the soil moist, so that the picked vegetables
Artichokes also flourish quite easily and aren’t dry and unpleasant to eat.
This magnificent property on Amalfi
offer a unique addition to a garden. Just one
Each artichoke is a flower bud. If allowed
Drive was one of the stops on the
plant can grow 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide, to flower, these buds become spiky purple
2015 Pacific Palisades Garden Tour.
flowers that can also have seeds that float
Photo: Tom Hofer
about, perhaps sending up a volunteer or
On the Cover
Artichoke plants can grow four feet tall and four feet wide, and grow easily in a home garden.
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Page 3
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
After more than a dozen years living in Castellammare, Laurie Rosenthal traded the spectacular views of Santa Monica Bay for easy walking to stores on Montana.
A Tale of Two Cities by the Bay
By LAURIE ROSENTHAL
Staff Writer
W
hen the jacaranda trees are in
full purple bloom and the smell
of jasmine wafts through the
streets, it is certain—spring is here, with
its luscious colors and magnificent scents.
When I lived in the Palisades, I didn’t have
to look farther than my own yard to know
that the days were getting longer: the hydrangeas, the azaleas (for a short six weeks),
the Matilija poppies and the roses were but
a few of the specimens that would add dazzling colors to the garden.
Two years ago, after more than a dozen
years living in Castellammare, I took the
plunge and moved back to Santa Monica.
Not a big deal, you may be thinking, not
a drastic change at all. Or, you may wonder
why would anyone leave Pacific Palisades, a
legitimate question to be sure, but there is not
enough space in this column to answer it.
It is different here north of Montana,
though most of my Palisadian friends go
to Montana for something—restaurants,
spinning, yoga, shopping, etc. Yes, it’s a nice
area. But, my old neighborhood on the
Mesa was a small, friendly place, where oldtimers and toddlers all lived in harmony.
I always joke that I met half the neighborhood when I pushed my son, Dylan, in his
stroller, and the other half when my corgi,
Chloe, was a baby and I walked her around.
Castellammare was, and is, a special place
with no sidewalks, no streetlights and virtually no stop signs.
How do you compare an ocean view (the
Queen’s Necklace at night, no less) to living
in the middle of a block with electricity
poles in the alley? It was a hard transition. I
loved my view, and was always aware of the
time of year by watching the sunrise. The
sky was often ablaze with stunning pink,
purple and orange colors after sunset in the
fall. We could see the Santa Monica Pier’s
Ferris wheel lights at night, and fireworks
down the coast on the 4th of July. We
watched planes taking off from LAX, except
following 9/11, when the skies were eerily
empty. When Dylan was in second grade at
Marquez, he could actually see our house
from his classroom, making the town seem
even smaller than it is.
But then, I remember the trips up and
down Tramonto, sometimes five or six
times a day when Dylan was little. Up,
down, up, down. If it was five o’clock and
I was missing something for dinner, forget
it, I wasn’t going down the hill again. Instead, I’d order from Vittorio’s. I called so
often that I even knew the number by heart.
Now, I walk everywhere. I know that
people who live in the Alphabet streets, the
bluffs or the Huntington can walk to the
market, but up in Castellammare I couldn’t.
Now, I’m a few blocks away from Montana,
and combine exercise walks with errands
(bank, groceries). If I need one small thing,
or food for dinner, it’s easy to walk down
the street—no car necessary.
There are some spectacular houses and
gardens north of Montana, where the average size of a home is bigger than Castellammare, though that seems to be changing
every time an old house is torn down. The
Castellammare homes are getting larger,
while the North of Montana homes are getting bigger too, with three stories slowly
becoming the norm. It’s certainly beautiful,
with many lush trees that change colors in
the fall, something that doesn’t happen on
the Mesa. Carlyle is a magnificent street,
one of the few where fall, and its glorious
barrage of color, is really evident. The trees
are lush and green this time of year.
More than the view, more than the solitude, more than the ocean breeze, I miss the
sense of community I had on the Mesa, developed over time. I miss the place where
some of the most joyous moments in my
life occurred. Most of all, I miss a time that
no longer exists, and people who are no
longer with us. I miss what was, but am
perfectly happy with what is. And what is
for me is Santa Monica.
It was easy to tell the season by the plants, such as the Matilija poppies blooming in
Photo: Credit
Laurie Rosenthal’s back yard.
Page 4
May 20, 2015
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
These photos show a local garage before and after the L.A. Organizer treatment.
Declutter Your Environment
By NANCY DROBNIS
Special to the Palisades News
I
f you want to be able to tidy up your
home quickly and find what you need
without spending time searching, consider these eight suggestions.
1. Reorganize Bookshelves: Donate
books you no longer need or want to your
local library to make your bookshelves more
manageable. Then arrange the remaining
books by author, genre or height. Choose
a system that is easy for you to recognize.
2. Refrigerator Bins: Use clear plastic
bins to separate cheese from condiments
and other food items. When you are having
a cheese course, just grab the cheese bin
instead of digging through the refrigerator.
Bins can be found online and at the Container Store.
3. Counter Canisters: Store dried beans,
rice and lentils in airtight stainless-steel
containers, preferably with a view window.
One quick check in your cupboard and you
will know exactly what you have on hand.
4. Reconfigure Your Junk Drawer: Take
pencils, tape, paper clips, batteries, etc. and
stack them in labeled, clear plastic containers of varying sizes inside a cabinet. This
makes it much easier to see what you have
than rummaging through a jammedpacked junk drawer.
5. Clean Out Closets: Take everything
out, from the top shelf to the floor. Switch
out all of the hangers, using only one type.
Go through every item and keep only what
you need and wear. If you plan on losing
weight, consider buying new clothes when
this happens. In the meantime, if you don’t
wear the clothes, donate them.
6. Cleaning Toys: Put toys in a netted bag
and put them in the washing machine or
the dishwasher. This method even works
with Legos.
7. Revamp Your Linen Closet: Fold the
fitted sheet, top sheet and pillowcase and
store them inside the pillowcase of the same
set. You never have to look for the missing
item from the sheet set again.
8. Storage Containers: Use only one brand
of food storage containers so they stack eas(Continued on Page 5)
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May 20, 2015
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
Declutter
Page 5
Teach Your Children
To Love Gardening
(Continued from Page 4)
ily and tops are uniform. This will reduce
the accumulated clutter of containers.
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
Nancy Drobnis is a 17-year Palisades resident and the owner of The L.A. Organizer,
which she founded in 2008. She helps declutter
and organize closets, garages and extra storage
rooms for a wide array of clients including
busy professionals, compulsive buyers, the
chronically disorganized, those with ADD and
those who have hoarding disorders. Speaking
at local clubs, Drobnis offers tips and strategies to declutter and maintain an organized
life. She has two boys and a rescue dog. Call:
(310) 963-3909 or visit: thelaorganizer.com.
Y
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oung children tend to love plants,
flowers, dirt and the outdoors. Yet,
the work of gardening is not necessarily so inviting to them. However, with
a little effort, parents can help children find
their place in a home garden. The initial work
of tilling the soil may not be that inspiring
to kids. Still, if they have a shovel that is small
and sturdy enough for them to wield, they
can enjoy digging and working at it a little bit.
Once the dirt is exposed—mainly
through a parent’s efforts—it can provide
a wondrous play space. Kids can easily dig
in the now-soft earth, uncover earthworms,
build mountains of dirt, bring in sticks and
leaves to create towns and cities, and generally let their imaginations roam free. Allowing some time for kids to simply play
in the newly exposed earth can make gardening an exciting venture for them.
Eventually, seeds or seedlings will be
planted, and children often enjoy a bit of
this process. Some seeds can be particularly
inspiring. For example, both corn and sunflower seeds can be sown in a rectangle encasing a few feet of empty space to create a
private space once the plants have grown.
Since both plants grow so tall, the plants
can create the illusion of a special hideaway
that can be floored with straw for a little
garden “house” that children can play in.
Flowers also may entice a child to enjoy
gardening. One particularly easy flower is
the nasturtium. These flowers can proliferate
if a gardener isn’t careful, but they also create
big seeds that children can harvest and replant. Nasturtiums are also hardy and tolerant of very little care. If children are given a
small patch of garden to plant and water, the
plant can make them feel that their efforts,
no matter how small, have been rewarded.
Another way to make gardening enjoyable
is a trip to the garden store. Kids can pick out
a six-pack or two of flowers to plant in their
freshly tilled patch of earth. A few vegetable
seedlings also might offer a different sort
of addition to their space. Some bricks or
pavers can provide a design element. Then
a child can imagine how she or he would like
a part of the garden to look and experiment
with planting flowers, laying some bricks
and seeing the results as the plants grow.
The eventual harvest offers more opportunities for engagement with the garden.
Together, parents and children can check
on the flowers as they change to small fruits
and eventually grow big enough to eat. In
an organic garden, the vegetables can even
be picked and sampled right in the garden.
Strawberries and blueberries can be enticing, but so can green beans and tomatoes.
Vegetables that have never before been
eaten can become appealing, simply because a child has planted them, watered
them and watched them grow.
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The first phase of the Marquez School Native American Garden was dedicated
on May 7. The garden was prepared and planted by Marquez Elementary fourth
grade classes, under the direction of master gardener and school volunteer
Marie Steckmest.
Located off Marquez Avenue, the garden contains plants native to the area that
were used by the Chumash and Tongva tribes in their daily lives. The
complementary design was done by Ryan Drnek of Sodder Studios.
At the dedication, students spoke about the plants and gave tours to
representatives of the Pacific Palisades Garden Club and the California Native
Plant Society.
Page 6
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
May 20, 2015
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Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
Page 7
Drought Tolerance: The Proof Is in the Plantings
By MICHAEL TERRY
Special to the Palisades News
T
he Native/Environmental/Xeriscape/
Temescal/Garden (N/E/X/T/Garden),
on Temescal Canyon Road below
Bowdoin Street is more than a sustainability demonstration garden—it is also an
experimental proving ground for the establishment of drought tolerance in plant
varieties suited to our local climate.
Each time volunteers install a one-gallon
plant during planting season (OctoberMay), we give it about one gallon of water
every single day for the first week, every two
days for the next two weeks, every three
days for the next three weeks and so on up
to the final target of 14-day watering intervals, reached about two years later.
The sycamores require and receive a bit
more water because they are riparian
species, but we still use only about 20 percent of the water that is traditionally applied to the lawn at the nearby park.
The frequent initial waterings create a
deep reserve of soil moisture below each new
plant that it can then tap into by growing
its roots downward, more and more, as the
upper layers of the soil dry out during the
lengthening intervals between waterings.
Under this strict and limited watering regime, those few plant varieties that don’t happen to thrive are replaced (eventually) with
The N/E/X/T/Garden on Temescal Canyon Road features drough-tolerant plants.
species that are more likely to become established as truly drought-tolerant in the conditions that prevail at the N/E/X/T/Garden.
Over the course of the last four planting
seasons at the garden, we’ve found that
reputable references generally have been
accurate in identifying plant varieties that
should be drought-tolerant in our climate,
but there have been a few exceptions.
For example, the buckwheat varieties—
ashyleaf, saffron, red island, Wright’s and
Wright’s toothed—have done quite well, but
we’ve had mixed results with buenaventura
buckwheat. Similarly, mountain pride nightshade has generally thrived, even propagat-
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ing itself, while several others, such as spring
frost nightshade, have struggled and faltered.
Some varieties are so beautiful when
they thrive that we do try to keep at least
some of them alive, even when several of
their compatriots have died; we count
among these the island bush snapdragon,
the southern sticky monkeyflower and the
margarita BOP foothill penstemon.
It’s worth noting that many species of large
shrubs and trees lived and grew without any
supplemental watering after being abandoned and neglected for more than a decade
after they were planted in the 1988 original
21,000-sq.-ft. Temescal Canyon Pacific Pal-
isades Native Plant Garden and Xeriscape.
Five years ago, Barbara Marinacci and I
started a volunteer effort to revive the garden, calling it the N/E/X/T/Garden and expanding it to almost 33,000-sq.-ft.
These drought-tolerant survivors include toyon, fernleaf ironwood, Catalina
cherry, coast live oak and valley oak.
We have taken to watering these survivors
indirectly, as we water their new underplantings, or directly during this recent drought.
In addition to being an experiment-inprogress, the N/E/X/T/Garden is also intended to show visitors how beautiful
drought-tolerant species can be in their
own local gardens.
Established plantings in the N/E/X/T/
Garden, which are watered judiciously every
14 days, require only about 10 percent of
the water used to keep the adjacent park
lawn green.
In return for this small portion of water,
we get many shades of green in the foliage
and a whole rainbow of color in the flowers
of these drought-tolerant native plants,
which attract colorful wildlife as well.
(Editor’s note: Palisadians Michael Terry
and Barbara Marinacci lead volunteers in
planting, weeding and watering in the garden
on the last Saturday of each month from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. Terry is a garden designer for
Metamorphosis Garden Design located at
1112 Montana Ave. in Santa Monica.)
Page 8
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
May 20, 2015
Dumbarton Oaks Bursts into Spring
By LIBBY MOTIKA
concepts that take in the unique characterPalisades News Contributor
istics of each area. These include making a
Photos by Libby Motika and Stephen Motika plan that fits the ground, not twisting the
ground to fit the plan; creating anticipation
s the dark cloud of drought presses and a sense of flow by framing views; and
on, landscape designers and cura- choosing trees and plants that complement
tors of public gardens are beginning one another and that thrive in their specific
to consider ideas that fit more comfortably climate and soil.
with our semi-desert conditions, and to reDumbarton Oaks was created by Mildiscover the vast catalogue of native Cali- dred and Robert Woods Bliss, who looked
fornia plants. Non-plant elements, too, upon it not only as their country house, but
such as rocks and pebble pavements, will also a home for their specialized collection
offer contrast; textured walls and garden of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art.
ornaments will give focus; and seasonal
Robert enjoyed a distinguished career
changes in color and texture will promise as an officer and diplomat in the Foreign
a dynamic environment.
Service.
In a twist of irony, these intrinsic design
Dumbarton Oaks is remembered in hisconcepts are not new and have guided some tory for the 1944 conference where repreof the most beautiful gardens in the world. sentatives of China, the Soviet Union, the
While most of us probably will not be United States and the United Kingdom forable to enjoy many of National Geographic’s mulated proposals for a world organization
top 10 gardens, scattered from Versailles to that became the basis for the United Nations.
Vancouver Island’s Butchart Gardens, we
Mildred inherited a fortune from her
can find the majesty of one of these gems family’s investment in the patent medicine
here in the United States: Dumbarton Oaks. Fletcher’s Castoria (castor oil).
Designed in 1921 by Beatrix Farrand,
Sharing a taste in the art of little known
the 53-acre home and gardens stand on the cultures, the Blisses envisioned Dumbarhighest point of Georgetown in Washing- ton Oaks as “a Home of the Humanities,”
ton, D.C.
and a place of natural serenity and intelAware that Washington, D.C.’s climate lectual adventure.
and soil share little with Southern CaliforIn taking on the development of the gar- Flowers border this grass walk; tulips in spring, perennials and annuals in summer and
(Continued on Page 9) chrysanthemums in fall.
Photo: Credit
nia, we can still identify consistent design
A
May 20, 2015
Page 9
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
Dumbarton
(Continued from Page 8)
dens, Landscape Gardener Farrand planned
the extensive area to include a series of
garden rooms, terraces, fountains, a swimming pool, and beyond the north border,
a naturalistic landscape of stream, woodland and meadow.
Known primarily for her East Coast
commissions, including gardens for the
White House and the J. Pierpont Morgan
Library, Farrand is also remembered for
her projects in Southern California, where
she and her husband relocated when he
became the first director of the Huntington Library, from 1927-1941.
Farrand had trouble building a clientele
in California; her few projects came via
friends, such as the Bliss winter and retirement estate, Casa Dorinda, in Montecito,
California and the patronage of Mildred
Bliss’s mother, Anna Blakely Bliss, for the
nearby Santa Barbara Botanic Garden project. In the Los Angeles area, she had several
commissions each with astronomer George
Ellery Hale and architect Myron Hunt.
With the latter, she worked on projects at
Occidental College and Caltech.
For almost 30 years (1922-1940), Mildred Bliss and Farrand continued close
collaboration on every aspect of the Dumbarton Oaks garden design. Although
separated from each other and from the
gardens, they communicated through let-
The Pebble Garden was designed by Ruth Havey in the 1960s. The Bliss family crest and motto are incorporated into the design.
ters, photographs and drawings.
In the 1930s, after Farrand moved to California, a member of her staff, Ruth Havey,
became increasingly involved in the design
process. Working with Mildred, Havey resolved several of Farrand’s earlier schemes,
while also developing modifications that
reflected Mildred’s evolving tastes and the
R
LB
architecture
changing role of Dumbarton Oaks.
In 1940, the Blisses gave the upper 16
acres to Harvard University in the creation
of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library
and Collection. They gave the lower, more
naturalistic 27 acres to the United States
to be made into a public park. An additional 10 acres was sold to build the Dan-
ish Embassy.
In 1941, anticipating the inevitable
changes that would accompany the gardens’
different function, Farrand began to write a
Plant Book, to define her design intentions
and suggest appropriate maintenance practices. Her suggestions for stewardship still
prove useful today, more than 60 years later.
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Page 10
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
May 20, 2015
Students Learn About
Uses of Native Plants
By SUE PASCOE
Editor
W
hen you want to buy bacon,
where do you go?” Ernesto
Marquez asked Canyon School
fourth graders on May 5 as they stood in
front of the cemetery on San Lorenzo.
“The store,” they replied.
“When you want to buy coffee?”
“Starbucks.”
“How about medicine?” he asked.
“CVS.”
“Back when my great-grandfather lived
on the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, they
didn’t have stores,” he explained. “So they
made the stuff they needed.”
The students were on a field trip to the
La Senora Hacienda and then the nearby
cemetery.
Marquez showed them different plants
growing in and around the burial grounds,
and explained how natives had used the
plants. For example, a green pointy bush,
called the California grey rush (juncus patens), which grows against the outer cemetery wall, is a California native and was
used in broom making.
The monkey’s face plant, near the en-
trance of the cemetery, has an orange flower
and was given that name because it seemed
to resemble a monkey’s face. “The people
living here would grind up the plant and
use it in cooking because it has a lot of salt
in it,” Marquez said.
Next he pointed to the California lilac
plant. “This grows with almost no water,”
he said. “It is a main food for deer, and the
Native Americans used it in basket making.” He added that natives also ground up
the leaves and used it as a type of tea.
The prickly pear was also a multi-use
plant. The natives ate the fruit, used the
thorns to make needles and scraped the
skin of the cactus to use on burns.
Marquez passed around a yellow flower
for everyone to smell. “This is the copper
canyon daisy, and it was used for tea,” he said.
The students next examined white sage
(salvia apiana). “This was dried and burned
and used in religious ceremonies. It was also
used as a spice to flavor food,” he explained.
The toyon plant—heteromeles arbutifolia—is all over the Santa Monica Mountains and its leaves look like holly. “Some say
that’s how Hollywood got its name,” Mar- Ernest Marquez, Sharon Kilbride and Canyon fourth grader Graham Coven participated
quez said, noting that the bush can grow 20 in a question and answer period at the La Senora Research Institute in the Jose Mojica
(Continued on Page 11) Hacienda on Dryad Road in Santa Monica Canyon.
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May 20, 2015
Page 11
Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
Marquez
(Continued from Page 10)
feet tall and was once used in weapon making. The fruit was mashed and used as a tea.
The Catalina cherry, he warned, is something not to eat raw, but the natives used it
to make alcoholic beverages.
“The Baja fairy duster grows wild with
little or no water and had no useful purpose
for people. But this is a favorite plant for
hummingbirds,” Marquez said, explaining
it was native to Baja California, but not
originally to California.
After examining the plants, the students
went into the cemetery proper. Earlier that
afternoon, historian Eric Dugdale had explained to students that developers had
wanted to build on top of the cemetery,
which was established in the late 1840s by
Francisco Marquez, the Mexican co-holder
of the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica land
when there were no other houses close by.
The cemetery contains the remains of Pascual, Marquez’s youngest son, and perhaps
30 other family members and friends—including 13 people who died in 1909 of botulism after eating home-canned peaches
at a New Year’s Eve party.
Ernest Marquez, 91, grandson of Pascual,
spent several years in court battling neighbors for the right to maintain the cemetery.
In 2005, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge
decided in Marquez’s favor, allowing him
Fourth graders gathered around Ernest Marquez’s son, Ernesto, as he explained the uses for native plants.
to use the easement to enter the cemetery.
Dugdale, president of the Pacific Palisades Historical Society, said that groundpenetrating radar imaging equipment had
been used to find where bodies were buried,
and told students that there was another
burial ground. “The Bel-Air Bay Club is
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“Kit Carson, who was a frontiersman,
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in this cemetery.” He also told students that
specially trained dogs from the Institute for
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and “went right to the site where we think
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As part of the field trip, students were
also able to query Ernest Marquez about
his days at Canyon Elementary.
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Palisades News Special Section — Homes & Gardens
May 20, 2015
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