1. education
2. school

PALIHI
SWIMMERS
FOCUS ON
FINALS
Vol. 1, No. 13 • May 6, 2015
Uniting the Community with News, Features and Commentary
See Page 18
Circulation: 14,500 • $1.00
Oceanaires Entertain at Spring Concert Parklet Under
Review, Again
By SUE PASCOE
Editor
A
lthough a recent article in the Palisadian-Post was headlined “Construction on Parklet to Begin This
Summer,” the project is still in limbo. But,
the vitriol engendered by this project,
which was announced last July, makes it
one of the most controversial issues in recent town history.
A parklet, defined as an expansion of the
sidewalk in one or more street spaces to create people-oriented places, is one of the
many pet projects of Mayor Eric Garcetti,
who is striving to make Los Angeles more
pedestrian friendly. Visit: peoplest.lacity.org.
The selected site is adjacent to Palisades
Café, 15231 La Cruz Dr., where that street
intersects with Alma Real Drive.
Although resident anecdotal accounts
would make this the most deadly intersecThe Santa Monica Oceanaires, a men’s a cappella chorus, performed “Radio Days Goes West” at the group’s spring concert, held at the Paul tion in Los Angeles, the L.A. Department
Revere Middle School Auditorium on April 25. Special guests included the Revere School Madrigals and the Palisades High Barbershop of Transportation determined the site met
Photo: Tom Hofer
Club. On May 9, the Oceanaires will compete in the Barbershop Harmony Society district and division contest.
(Continued on Page 4)
Chamber of Commerce Annual EXPO Is May 17
T
he annual Community Expo, sponsored by the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, will provide
entertainment, information and classic cars
on Sunday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This family-friendly event will take place
on Via de la Paz, Antioch and Swarthmore
(below Sunset).
Residents are invited to visit more than
40 merchant and nonprofit booths on
Antioch, where various health, education,
financial, technology and home and garden
businesses, plus community organizations,
will pass out free information.
Over on Via, an exotic Aston Martin
will be on display along with dozens of
luxury, vintage and classic autos.
Live music will be provided by Amazing
Music and the one-man band, Michael
Cladis. Watch for on-street demonstrations
by students from Fancy Feet Dance Studio
and Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts studio.
Areté Prepartory Academy in West L.A. is
a deliberately small (45 students) high school
focused on critical thinking and philosophy,
is once again the major sponsor this year
([310] 478-9900 or visit: areteprep.org).
O’Gara Coach Company is the automobile sponsor (visit: ogaracoach.com). O’Gara,
located on Olympic Boulevard in Beverly
Hills, is an award-winning retailer for new
and pre-owned Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce automobiles. The Expo merchant sponsor is
U.S. Bank. The Amazing Music sponsor is
Optimus Properties (860 Via de la Paz
building), and Rodeo Realty is sponsoring
the slot-car racetrack.
Additional sponsors include Vahn Alexander/Berkshire Hathaway Home Services;
European Skin & Massage Studio; Rod Aragon/Teles Properties; and RLB Architecture.
The popcorn cart will be sponsored by
Gelson’s, resident member Jackie Maduff
and RLB Architecture. Large chocolate-chip
cookies baked by Chamber board member
Susan Payne (former owner of Scarlett’s
Cupcakes) will be sold.
The Chamber Expo committee includes
Joyce Brunelle (Suntricity); Roberta Donohue (Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club);
Ramis Sadrieh (Technology For You!); Fay
Vahdani (Luxe Home Care); Marc Lasky
(Lasky Coachworks); Vahn Alexander (Berkshire Hathaway); Bill Shuttic (Ultimate
Health & Wellness); Holly Davis (Coldwell
Banker Preview); Ed Lowe (lowegrfx/
graphic design); Tim Marschall (TMC General Contractors); David Williams (Movies
in the Park); Richard Blumenberg (RLB Architecture); Mazi Aghalapour (Village OneHour Photo); Mike Ball (ADT Security);
and Les Sumpter (A Rental Connection).
Palisades News is the media sponsor. The
Chamber phone is (310) 459-7963. Visit:
palisadeschamber.com.
Enforcement Signs Will Be
Installed at Recreation Center
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
P
arking issues and unexpected Quimby funds were two of the topics discussed at the Pacific Palisades Park
Advisory Board meeting on April 22 in the
small gym at the Recreation Center.
The proposed parking changes, which
will drop the Alma Real lot from fourhours to two-hours of parking between 8
a.m. to 3 p.m. while the lower Frontera Avenue lot becomes a four-hour parking lot,
received heated complaints from three tennis players who regularly park for more
than two hours for their tennis play.
One of the players, Sharon Hays, a Coldwell Banker realtor, said in an email the
next day that the eight courts regularly accommodate up to 44 people each morning
playing a combination of live ball on the
upper four courts and league or casual play
on the lower four courts.
However, there are only 22 parking spaces in the lower lot to accommodate the play(Continued on Page 4)
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Page 2
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
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Page 3
Palisades News
Park Hoops
Need To Be
Stabilized
LIBRARY EVENTS
YMCA-Optimist
Track Meet
Monthly Matinee May 9
The Palisades Branch Library will continue its
monthly matinee series at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 9,
with a true story of war hero Louis “Louis” Zamperini.
The movie, directed by Angelina Jolie, is adapted from
Laura Hillenbrand’s popular book Unbroken: A World
War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
The movie shows the harrowing story of how Zamperini
and other crewman survived on a raft for 47 days after a
near-fatal plane crash in WWII, only to be captured by
the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
T
he six basketball backboards/goals in the main
gym at the Pacific Palisades Recreation Center
do not have safety straps to secure them in
the event of an accident, Senior Director Erich Haas
reported to the Park Advisory Board on April 22.
Safety straps were not installed when the gym
was built in the late 1990s, Haas noted. When the
goals are raised up and out of use, such straps
would provide an extra layer of safety to prevent
their accidental release.
For example, if people were sitting on the bleachers
while the backboards were raised out of the way
during a game, an earthquake could cause them to
release to their down position, hitting spectators.
Board members were immediately alarmed by this
news and recommended that Haas not pull up the
backboards until the situation is remedied. Haas
provided an estimate of $4,744 from BSN Sports to
do the needed work, after the meeting, he said he
would start the purchase-order process for the straps.
Haas also said he would find out whether the city
could do the repairs from straps they have on hand. If
not, he would ask if the Rec Center could purchase the
straps from BSN, which would reduce the repair cost.
In the meantime, as long as the backboards are
down, where they can be used to play basketball,
instead of pulled up and out of the way, then they
are safe, Haas said. He promised to leave the goals
down until the repairs were completed.
—LAUREL BUSBY
Mysterious Book Club May 19
The 43rd annual track meet was held at the Palisades
High School Stadium. For results and the story, see p.
29. Noah Wexler jumped to first place for 11-12 boys.
Photo: Shelby Pascoe
The Palisades Branch Library’s Mysterious Book Club
will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, to discuss
The Art Forger, by Barbara Shapiro.
All mystery aficionados are invited to read the New
York Times bestseller and join the discussion. Shapiro’s
story revolves around the real-life theft of 13 artworks
from a Boston museum. Eager young artist Claire Roth
supports herself by making reproductions of classic
paintings. She is promised a one-woman show if she agrees
to forge a painting that turns out to be a stolen work.
Discover Secrets Of Longevity
Fourth of July Race
Registration Is Open
Registration for the Will Rogers 5/10K and Kids Fun
Run is now open. There are two ways to register: online
(palisades10k.org) or via an app (Palisades 10K). The app
will also allow one to track a run and set up training goals.
Early entry fees are $50 for the 5/10K race and $25 for the
Kids Fun Run. The online and app registration deadline is
midnight, Monday, June 29.
Seniors Helping Seniors will present “The Secrets of
Longevity” at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 8 in the Palisades
Branch Library community room.
There will be informative findings and tips for living
longer and healthier based on research conducted by
Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones project. The event is
free and the public invited.
The library is located at 861 Alma Real Dr.
Call (310) 459-2754.
St. Matthew’s Town Fair Set for May 16
T
The St. Matthew’s Town Fair offers carnival rides and booths.
Photo: Bart Bartholomew
he 63rd annual St. Matthew’s Town
Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. on Saturday, May 16. This is a
fun-filled day and the entire Pacific Palisades
community is invited. The Fair has been
a St. Matthew’s tradition since the church
moved to the Bienveneda campus in 1952.
The Town Fair is a conventional fair featuring a wide variety of food to enjoy at the
event and homemade treats to purchase for
later. There will be a chili contest plus and
carnival-style rides games for children of
all ages. For those who enjoy shopping for
great bargains, the Sprague marketplace
will host local merchants selling their latest and greatest merchandise.
The Fair is also a fundraiser for the
school, helping to support programs at St.
Matthew’s and to fund a teacher’s salary for
a year at St. Paul’s School in Carocal, Haiti.
Courtesy shuttles will be provided at
three locations: Methodist Church at 801
Via de la Paz; Marquez Elementary School;
and upper Bienveneda. The shuttles will
run continuously to and from the St. Matthew’s parking lot.
To purchase tickets and spirit wear,
visit: stmatthewsschool.com.
Page 4
Parking
(Continued from Page 1)
ers, who often play for two or more hours.
Due to the tennis player complaints,
board members suggested placards might
be used for people who require more time
to park, such as tennis players or people who
take recreation center classes for two hours
or more. The placards could be placed on
cars, so that when the parking restrictions
are enforced, these cars will not get ticketed.
“We have no interest in issuing tickets to
people who are legitimately using the park,”
Board Chair Mike Skinner said.
Instead, the tickets are designed to deter
employees of nearby businesses who may
use the free parking at the recreation center
to park for eight hours or more, and thus
reduce available spots for park users.
Board Member Bob Harter did three spot
checks (December 12, 2013 between 3:14
and 4:20 p.m.; January 15, 2014 between 4:21
and 5:31 p.m.; and January 17, 2014 between
10:25 and 10:55 p.m.) surveying the lot and
found that an average of 33 cars parked illegally during the hours of his survey period.
“If people aren’t using it as an all-day
parking space, we have to come up with
another solution,” Bob Harter said the following day in a phone call. “We’re trying to
come up with something that will help and
not hurt.” He noted that anyone parking
after 1 p.m. or on the weekends will not face
parking limitations while using the park.
Captain Albert Torres, a park ranger, attended the meeting to update the board on
the progress of installing new signs and enforcing the new regulations. He said stan-
Parklet
(Continued from Page 1)
the criteria, including safety.
The parklet would occupy one parking
space by a Stop sign, the street speed limit is
25 mph and in the last 12 years of data, there
has been one non-injury crash (a motor vehicle involved with a fixed object) at that site.
The City has already installed three plazas
and four parklets, but Pacific Palisades is
the only community to raise opposition.
Last September, at a Pacific Palisades
Community Council meeting, David Peterson, president of the Huntington Homeowners Association, said he had conducted
a Facebook poll and 176 residents were
against and two were for the project.
At that same meeting, a spokesperson for
Palisades P.R.I.D.E., a nonprofit established
in 1992 to support beautification projects in
the Palisades, reported they had done a survey and found 146 people for and 19 against.
After the September meeting and to further address residents’ concerns, City engineers created a street improvement plan,
which includes an additional crosswalk. If
the parklet does not go forward, street improvements will not be done. If the parklet
is implemented, it will be for a 12-month
trial period.
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
dard parking tickets are $68, and about 12
new signs will be installed.
A parking pass system will be set up after
the signs are installed, Rec Center Director
Erich Haas said by phone. People who use
the park for classes or league play, where it
would not be practical to leave the class or
game to move one’s car, will be provided
some type of pass. To avoid a ticket, others
who may casually be spending more than
two hours enjoying the park during the restricted times will need to move their cars
to a new stall when their two hours elapse.
A surprise announcement at the meeting
occurred when Haas mentioned that Recreation and Parks employee Brenda Aguirre,
who had to cancel her appearance at the
meeting a couple of hours before, had told
him that the park had about $180,000 in
Quimby funds—money set aside by residential development projects for parks. He noted that she had been very responsive in using
the money to address Rec Center problems.
“She’s getting stuff done left and right,”
Haas noted. He said she asked him whether
he’d like to use the money to repave and
restripe the parking lots. He told her to go
ahead on the lower lot, but hold off for
now on the upper lot.
Board Member Jennifer Malaret responded that she was surprised to hear a
figure for these Quimby funds, and Haas
offered to connect Aguirre with Malaret
to get the current amount available.
Aguirre declined to talk about the Quimby funds when called by the Palisades News.
She instead referred calls to the City Councilmember Mike Bonin’s office, who by
press time had not yet responded with any
information.
A meeting to discuss the proposed Palisades parklet was held at the site, at 3 p.m.,
on April 23, and included City officials
Valerie Watson, Councilman Mike Bonin’s
senior counsel Norman Kulla, P.R.I.D.E.
members Don Scott, Geoff Shelden and
Bruce Schwartz, PPCC representatives Patti
Post and Jennifer Malaret, HAA President
Sue Jameson and neighborhood members
David Peterson, Richard Waltzer and Dick
Littlestone.
According to Kulla, if the Huntington
Homeowners Association supports the
parklet then P.R.I.D.E./LADOT will present
it to Pacific Palisades Community Council
for its reconsideration.
Kulla was asked why the Huntington
Homeowner’s Association will have such a
crucial voice on whether the project goes
forward. He replied in an April 28 e-mail:
“Huntington weighed in with the most
vigor and it is an adjacent community, so
we’re responding to their constructive input
first,” he said. “They made the effort to be
very specific in identifying what needed to
be addressed.”
The site is a popular after-school hangout for Palisades High, Paul Revere, Corpus
Christi, Seven Arrows and Village School
students and their parents. During morning hours, retired citizens are often seen
drinking coffee at the outdoor tables.
The Fourth of July Parade
will soon be marching
through Pacific Palisades.
GET INVOLVED!
The Palisades Americanism Parade Association
(PAPA) organizes and pays for the day through
community support, donations—and now—
contributions from advertisements.
This year the program will be printed by the
Palisades News, and advertising proceeds
will go directly to PAPA. Save your space
in the Official Parade Program. Not only will
thousands see your ad, but your company
will be giving back to the parade.
The annual event is one of the
biggest days in the Palisades.
Play your part in supporting
this tradition.
Contact:
Jeff Ridgway, Parade Program Ads Volunteer
(310) 573-0150
Daphne Gronich, PAPA President
(310) 779-4456
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
Page 5
PaliHi Teacher Contracts Stalled
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
T
he faculty and administration of
Palisades Charter High School have
reached an impasse in their efforts
to negotiate a new teacher contract, and
the school and its faculty union disagree as
to whether a mediator or an impartial observer could best assist in solving the issue.
In an April 22 letter to PaliHi stakeholders (faculty, staff, administrators, parents
‘Murder in
The Palisades’
The Pacific Palisades Historical Society presents a special program, “Murder in the Palisades,” at 7 p.m. on
Monday, May 18 in Pierson Playhouse,
941 Temescal Canyon Rd.
Investigators Roger McGrath and
Randy Young will preside over cases
such as the death of Thelma Todd. Was
it suicide, murder, or ? The historians
will examine this community’s most
notorious cases of mystery and mayhem. Admission is free and parking is
available. Refreshments follow the program. Visit: pacificpalisadeshistory.org.
and students), Principal Pam Magee described a negotiation process featuring 10
meetings over seven months that had focused on “teacher compensation and the
study and possible implementation of a new
bell schedule” (see associated article on page
15). After the most recent union contract
proposal, the Board of Trustees (minus the
faculty and classified staff members) decided that the meetings were at an impasse.
Thus, PaliHi sent a request to the Public
Employment Relations Board for the appointment of a mediator. “We believe the
best interests of students, employees, and
the community are served by involving a
neutral mediator to facilitate an agreement
on these two issues,” Magee wrote.
Instead of a mediator, the faculty union
has requested an impartial observer to assist
in the negotiation process. “Since Pali became a charter school in 1993, on-site negotiations have never been this contentious,”
said English teacher Stephen Klima, one of
the union representatives. “This is the first
time we’ve ever gone to impasse.”
Last week on Bowdoin and Temescal,
members of the union (United Teachers
Los Angeles—Palisades Charter High
School) began disseminating flyers to parents and students cataloguing their viewpoints on the issues. They also protested
with signs and more flyers on the morn-
ing of April 29. This protest coincided
with a tour for incoming parents and students, and estimates of gathered teachers
ranged from 20 to 60 faculty, depending
on whether the administration or the
union were asked about the figures. Another protest was planned for May 5, after
the Palisades News has gone to press.
The impasse began after the board received the most recent contract proposal
from the union. Among other recommendations, the proposal advocated increasing
salaries by 6.5 percent retroactive to July 1,
2014, while PaliHi had offered a 4 percent
retroactive increase.
Currently, an entry-level teacher at PaliHi earns $50,828. The maximum annual
pay is $87,883, while the median salary is
$70,798, according to Brad Daley, executive
assistant to Magee.
In addition to the salary issue, the union
proposal recommended a bell schedule
committee comprised of administrators,
parents and students, whose recommendations would then be presented before a
committee of teachers. This committee
would reach consensus on proposed bell
schedules before submitting them to a vote
of the entire faculty.
Both the union and administration have
since reached out directly to parents, students and faculty in an effort to explain
their viewpoints.
After the initial board request for a mediator, Klima and Dave Suarez, the other
faculty union representative, sent an email
letter to their colleagues citing intense frustrations with the negotiation process thus
far and the administration in particular.
The letter cites a number of issues, including a differing viewpoint on potential funds
available for the salary increase. Magee
briefly disputed some of its contents in a
short email letter to stakeholders.
Last week, the union began distributing
flyers about its position to parents and students. The flyers included a website link
for parents and students to visit in order
to join the union’s mailing list.
One flyer stated that the school received
an 11.2 percent increase in funding this
year, which translates into about $2.5 million. A one percent teacher salary increase
costs about $110,000, the flyer added.
Magee responded in an email to school
stakeholders: “While it is technically correct
that there was an 11.2 percent increase in
funding, this does not mean that funds are
available for an 11.2 percent increase in pay.”
She goes on to say that part of the increase
went to hiring 4.5 new teachers to reduce
class size in certain courses, and the school
can only provide a 4 percent retroactive
salary increase without running a deficit.
Page 6
Palisades News
Heard
About Town
May 6, 2015
ANN CLEAVES
Bees Belong Here
Bees should be in our community.
Cities throughout the United States including New York and San Francisco have
successfully and without significant problems allowed beekeeping by residents.
Helping bees is essential as they are facing
serious colony collapse, which will affect
our food supply. We in the Palisades claim
to care for the environment and this is a
wonderful, fun and meaningful way to enhance our gardens and the environment.
No Left Turn on Mabery
There is no left turn from the Ocean
Avenue Extension onto Mabery. Violations are subject to a $240 fine and, because the ticket pertains to a moving
violation, will add points on your license
and can increase your auto insurance premiums. The intersection is under 24-hour
video and clips will be shared with LAPD.
Veteran Hard Luck Story
I just heard that the veteran Shane Parrish (in the story, April 30 “Veteran Told
to Leave the VA”), whose trailer at the golf
course was seized by the West L.A. VA
police, found out his trailer had been
moved from the golf course to a site next
to the Jackie Robinson ball park. He immediately went and claimed some of his
belongings, but when he went back on
April 27 to retrieve the rest of his personal items, the tow company had sold
trailer and it was gone. Someone really
needs to find out what’s going on at the
V.A. Doesn’t sound good to me.
No Paper Delivery
I look forward to receiving your paper,
but it didn’t come on April 15, instead
it came out on Friday, April 17.
(Editor’s note: We’re sorry that it was delayed coming to your mailbox. Since the
paper is not delivered first class, the Post office can decide if they want to hold it a few
days before delivering. Hard copies are always available the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Palisades Library,
Chamber of Commerce Office, Patrick’s
Road House, Ronny’s Market, Pharmaca
and 15 other locations around town. The
complete edition is also available online at
palisadesnews.com.)
Tree-Trimming Thank You
We appreciate that the City had a large
tree-trimming crew working in the Alphabet streets this week (April 27 onward).
They pruned some tall trees that really
needed work, and they identified several
dead trees that will be removed. I hope
the City can afford to send the crew to
every neighborhood in the Palisades.
———————
If you’d like to share something you’ve
“heard about town,” please email it to
[email protected]
VIEWPOINT
Helping Children with Consequences
By BARBARA RUTH WILLIAMS
Special to the Palisades News
P
If you call the teacher to explain that they
didn’t do their homework because their soccer
game went late, they learn they do not need to
organize their time nor take responsibility for
talking with the teacher about how to make up
the work. But if you don’t bail them out, they
learn to accept responsibility and problem
solve with the teacher.
If your first response to anyone who says your
child did something rude, mean or inappropriate
is to offer a “reason”—he was tired, that child
has always given him a hard time, etc.—your
child learns she is not responsible for her actions.
But a reason is not an excuse: Do you want an
adult who believes other people make him
mad and therefore it is their fault if he yells,
hits or throws things?
Successful people recognize that they cannot
control how other people behave but they can
always choose how they react to others.
We learn about life and how to behave by
making wrong choices and learning what we
would rather do from the consequences of our
choices. Don’t fix everything that goes wrong
for your children and thus prevent them from
learning these lessons when the consequences
are small, or they will surely have to learn
them when the consequences are enormous.
Founded November 5, 2014
———————
15332 Antioch Street #169
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
(310) 401-7690
www.PalisadesNews.com
———————
Publisher
Scott Wagenseller
[email protected]
Editor
Sue Pascoe
[email protected]
Sports Editor
Tyler Keckeisen
[email protected]
Features
Laurie Rosenthal
[email protected]
Graphics Director
Manfred Hofer
Digital Content and Technology
Kurt Park
Advertising
Jeff Ridgway
[email protected]
Grace Hiney
[email protected]
Advisor
Bill Bruns
Contributing Writers
Laura Abruscato, Laurel Busby,
Libby Motika
Contributing Photographers
Bart Bartholomew, Shelby Pascoe
arents today are much more involved in
their children’s lives than were parents a
generation or two ago. The good news
about this is that parents know more about
their children, spend more time with them
and give more thought to how they treat
them. The bad news is that many children
today are unable to pick themselves up when
they fall—both literally and figuratively.
No one will go through life never making a
mistake, always getting the job they want and
having everyone they like, like them back. But
if the lesson they learn when they are young is
that it is never their fault when something
goes wrong, that mom or dad will “fix” things
if they get the “wrong” teacher or someone is
mean to them, then they will have no skills to
deal with adult issues like losing a job or having
their heart broken.
Some of how your children will deal with
life is genetic—they are more optimistic or
———————
pessimistic by nature, they approach new
A bi-monthly newspaper mailed on the
first and third Wednesday of each
things with timidity or abandon depending on
month. 14,500 circulation includes zip
the cards they were dealt. But you make a big
code 90272 and Sullivan, Mandeville and
Santa Monica Canyons.
difference in how they ultimately respond to
Online: palisadesnews.com
disappointment. There are so many things your
All content printed herein, and in our digchildren learn when things go wrong, but if you
(Editor’s note: Barbara Ruth Williams is
ital editions, is copyrighted.
fix it, they learn an entirely different lesson
assistant head of school and director of parent
from the ones they might learn if you don’t.
education at Village School on Swarthmore. She
If you replace the clothes and toys that are
is also a certified parent education instructor.)
lost or broken, your children learn they do not
have to take care of their belongings. But if they
Thought to Ponder
must wear something old or unfashionable or
“I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency,
not get to play with a favored toy, they learn
even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.” ― Pres. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
to be more careful with their things.
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Page 7
A forum for open discussion of community issues
EDITORIAL
Parade Fundraising Needs YOU!
P
lease, may I have some money? I want to throw a
big parade, have a concert and show some great
fireworks.”
“How much will you need?”
“About $145,000. That was the cost last year.”
Basically, that’s the challenge faced by the Palisades
Americanism Parade Association as it once again prepares
to organize and fund the Fourth of July parade and the
evening’s fireworks concert at Palisades High.
We’re always surprised (disconcerted, actually) at how
so many people in Pacific Palisades take the Fourth of
July festivities for granted and don’t understand the cost,
or the amount of time it takes volunteers to throw the
biggest party of the year in our town.
Thousands of residents participate in the Will Rogers
5K/10K, then gather along the parade route, and eventually make their way to the evening concert and fireworks
show. It is truly a glorious day! But this all costs a lot of
money, and most residents never contribute to the party.
The Palisades News is asking every household to send
$5, $25, $100 or more to PAPA (check payable to PAPA
to P.O. Box 1776, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 or go online
palisadesparade.com.), to supplement the generous
support provided by the town’s merchants and nonprofit organizations. Your contribution is tax-deductible.
We all savor what the parade and the fireworks
mean to our community’s small-town-in-a-big-city
tradition, but this means pitching in.
One person has suggested that if each resident (we have
about 27,000) would give just $5 instead of having a
grande latte, this would almost cover the cost of the parade
itself. The motto could be: Donate a “latte” to the parade.
The Palisades News, which is the official parade sponsor,
is donating the net proceeds from advertisements in
the Fourth of July program to PAPA, an all-volunteer,
nonprofit committee.
Then there are people like Charli Firestone who, as a
five-year-old, and with help from buddy Gavin Alexander,
held a lemonade stand in 2012 and sent the $46 earned to
PAPA to help pay for the skydivers, the marching bands,
insurance and permits, rentals (such as the grandstands),
extra police and various City fees. (For the past four years,
Charli has supported the parade with a lemonade stand.)
The Statue of Liberty, designed by French Sculptor
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and paid for by France, was
gifted to the United States at a ceremony in Paris on
July 4, 1884.
But our government was unable to raise the entire
$250,000 (about $6.3 million today) for the pedestal,
falling about $100,000 short. When Congress failed to
pass a bill to appropriate this final amount, newspaper
publisher Joseph Pulitzer announced a drive to raise
$100,000 ($2.3 million). He pledged to print the name
of every contributor, no matter how small the amount,
in his paper, the New York World.
Pulitzer also used his newspaper to criticize both the
rich who had failed to finance the pedestal construction
and the middle class, which seemed content to rely upon
the wealthy to provide the funds.
Soon, the donations flooded in. “A young girl alone in
the world” donated 60 cents. Another donor gave “five
cents as a poor office boy’s mite toward the Pedestal
Fund.” A group of children sent a dollar as “the money
we saved to go to the circus with.” Residents of a home
for alcoholics in Brooklyn donated $15; other drinkers
helped out through donation boxes in bars and saloons.
A kindergarten class in Davenport, Iowa, sent $1.35.
Ultimately, more than three-quarters of the donations
amounted to less than a dollar.
If Palisades residents have suggestions how money
can be raised to support the Fourth of July events here,
we will print them.
Granted, our Fourth isn’t the Statue of Liberty, but a
day of celebration of freedom is worthy of the community’s support.
Remember Thomas Jefferson’s words: “The democracy
will cease to exist when you take away from those who
are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Parklet Discussion
Story Facts Clarified
(Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to the Palisadian-Post, which elected not to run it because the editor felt the reporter had been fair in writing the story in
question. The letter was also shared with the News.)
For years the Palisadian-Post has been the glue holding our growing community together with fair and
honest reporting, particularly when it came to community-wide events. With that memory in mind I was
surprised and disappointed when I read the story
“Construction on Parklet to Begin this Summer” because of several misquotes and change of facts.
The headline implies that the parklet as proposed is
a done deal and a time for completion has been set.
Neither is true. What I said was that the Department of
Transportation along with the council office has been a
great partner and is working on a plan to make the entire
intersection safer and we would have an announcement
when the details have been worked out. I also said PRIDE
was sensitive to the wishes of the community and
would not proceed if we did not have public support.
Parklets are growing in popularity throughout the
country. San Francisco now has 44 of them in a variety
of locations. Long Beach has 11 and tiny Ukiah has
three. So if they have been so warmly accepted in other
parts of the world why not here? That is a good question. In search of an answer I did say perhaps the community is afraid of change. Concerned instead of afraid
would have been a better choice of words so I apologize if I offended anyone.
The city reviewed many parklet proposals and selected
ours over others, so we must be on to something. Yes,
this is a busy intersection, at least by local standards.
Yes, there are a number of schools in the immediate
area and Garden Cafe is a hangout for teens. Yes, teens
can be a handful as those of us who were involved with
CAPPY can attest, but the teen center is gone and they
do need a place to socialize. These are all the more reason to make the intersection more pedestrian-friendly.
Los Angeles was built with the automobile in mind.
Intersections are curved to enhance throughput to the
point where very few of us stop at the sign. Sunset
Boulevard is a designated highway, but does it really need
to be so wide that pedestrians of all ages have a hard time
getting from one side to the other in the allotted time?
Some say the parklet would be better in another location, but I have not been able to find one. Others say
why have one at all? I hope the Palisades will see what
others have seen and support our efforts to bring this
gift to the community.
Parklets are a work in progress for the city but they
have already won national awards for their program.
Please give us your support so we can make it work here.
If we are, after all, like others I suspect the parklet will
be in place long after the 12-month trial has ended and
we will all look back and ask what was the big deal?
Don Scott
Palisades P.R.I.D.E.
Palisades News welcomes all letters, which may be mailed to [email protected]. Please include a name, address
and telephone number so we may reach you. Letters do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Palisades News.
Parking Needs to
Be Thought Out
Rick Caruso has announced that he intends to build
a two-level underground garage where the current parking
lot is behind the stores on the east side of Swarthmore.
That construction will take many months, maybe a
year or more. The lot typically has more than 100 cars
parked on weekdays, and since some people will come
early and leave while others will come later, I expect
that the lot serves 150 or more on a typical weekday.
Where will people park when the lot is under
construction? Other public lots—Sunset below Via de
la Paz and on Sunset west of Monument are generally
full. The Recreation Center lot is the subject of concern
regarding its use by people not going to the park.
Similarly, both Ralphs and Gelson’s lots are generally
pretty full, as are the neighborhood streets near the
Village. If someone doesn’t come up with a plan, the
effect on our local stores will be devastating.
Two thoughts on possible solutions: 1.) Temescal
Gateway Park’s lot is generally empty on weekdays.
Maybe Caruso makes a deal with Joe Edmiston and
runs a shuttle bus along Sunset. 2.) The lots at the
churches in town are generally fairly empty on weekdays.
Maybe make a deal with them to allow public parking
on weekdays.
I’d hate to see what’s left of the Village go down the
tubes because there’s no place to park nearby. I believe
there are other Palisadians who share my view. I urge
the News to examine this issue and inform the public.
Stephen Carroll
Page 8
EXPO
COMMUNITY
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
PACIFIC PALISADES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 7TH ANNUAL
& EXOTIC/CLASSIC AUTO SHOW
Sun., May 17, 2015
10 am – 2 pm
On the Streets of Via de la Paz,
Antioch & Swarthmore Avenue
Event Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Auto Show Sponsor
Merchant Booth Sponsor
Health • Education • Camps • Financial
Home & Garden • Technology
Environmental • Community Organizations
LIVE MUSIC
The Amazing Music Band
Michael Cladis - A One Man Band
PACIFIC PALISADES
Chamber of Commerce
For more information, call 310.459.7963
May 6, 2015
Page 9
Palisades News
90-Year-Olds Feted
By Woman’s Club
PASSINGS
Linda Hosford, Former
Principal at PaliHi
L
inda Joyce Hosford passed away on
Saturday, April 18, following a long
illness and while in hospice care at
her home in Westlake Village. She was 72.
Linda was both an effective teacher and
dedicated administrator with the LAUSD
for 40 years. She started at Palisades High
School as assistant principal in 1990 and
became principal in 2001 until her retirement in 2004.
As principal of Palisades Charter High
School, Linda led the successful effort to
take the affiliated charter school to full independence from the LAUSD. As both assistant principal and principal she insisted
on making decisions in the interest of students above all else. Her colleagues appreciated the fact that her intelligence was
complemented by a good sense of humor.
Prior to her tenure at Pali, Linda served
as a teacher or administrator at Monroe
High School, Hale Middle School and Olive
Vista Middle School. Following her retirement, she continued to contribute to the
educational process as a Student Teacher
Supervisor at Pepperdine College, managed
and administered the LAUSD Teacher Testing Program at El Camino High School, and
consulted at Granada Hills High School.
Linda graduated from UCLA, and
throughout her life she considered herself
the number-one fan of the UCLA basketball program. She was a lifelong “dyed-inthe-wool” Bruin. Her hobbies included
collecting Disney and sports memorabilia,
dolls and teddy bears. She also enjoyed
solving crossword puzzles.
Linda Joyce Miller Hosford was born in
St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 9, 1942. An
only child, she grew up with her parents in
Cheviot Hills. She attended Palms Middle
School and graduated from Hamilton High
School. She leaves behind no living relatives, but a multitude of friends and colleagues who will always remember her as
a strong woman, leader and friend and
who will miss her greatly.
Donations may be made in honor of
Linda to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cancer Fund, in Honor of Edward Wolin,
M.D., 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 2416, Los
Angeles 90048.
The Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club will
host its annual luncheon honoring Palisadians 90 years and older on Saturday, June
6, from 12 to 2:30 p.m. at the clubhouse,
901 Haverford.
This free celebration will include lunch
and entertainment, including a visit by the
Santa Monica Oceanaires, a popular barbershop chorus. Longtime resident Bill
Bruns, an adviser with the Palisades News,
will be guest speaker.
Honorees (who are invited to bring a
guest) are asked to RSVP by May 25 to Fay
Vahdani at (310) 699-5885. Residents who
have turned 90 in the past year should call
Fay and provide their address so that she
can send a formal invitation.
Linda Hosford
Kindergarten Visitation Day at
Palisades Elementary May 15
Palisades Elementary Charter School will
host a Kindergarten Visiting Day from 2
to 3 p.m. on Friday, May 15 on the kindergarten yard.
All registered kindergarters for the upcoming 2015-2016 school year are invited
to attend with a parent or guardian (one
adult per child, please). This is a chance to
meet kindergarten teachers, play with fu-
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program. PaliWear will be available for sale.
Call: (310) 454-3700 or visit:palielementary.org.
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May 6, 2015
Palisades News
Needed
Tap Water Day Is a Milestone Singer
For Race Start
By SUE PASCOE
Editor
L
os Angeles will celebrate the nation’s
first Tap Water Day on May 7 and a
Palisadian, Evelyn Wendell, is largely
responsible.
The program will take place 9:30 to 10:30
a.m. at the Balboa Sports Center, 17015
Burbank Blvd. Wendell will be among the
dignitaries making a brief speech.
When Wendell’s children were at Palisades Elementary more than six years ago,
she noticed the disdain that most children
had about drinking water from a fountain
or the tap.
Since that generation of kids had grown
up with water bottles, they took them for
granted, not realizing the environmental
issues with single-use plastic bottles.
“Every year, we had to educate the kids
to trust the tap water,” said Wendell, who
worked on the school’s environmental
team.
When she took her children to City parks,
water fountains were hard to find and
“many were broken,” she said. “There were
bathrooms, but no fountains.” There were
fountains along Temescal Canyon Road,
but none of them worked.
In 2009, Wendell formed the nonprofit
WeTap, which advocates ending depend-
Evelyn Wendell
ence on single-use bottles. Wendell started
a crusade to inform people about the environmental cost of bottled water, which includes manufacturing plastic bottles (most
are not recycled) and transporting the
water (either by boat or truck, which uses
fossil fuels) to grocery stores.
“WeTap is all about regaining our access
to public water,” Wendell told the Palisades
News. “We have to work to protect that. We
also have to educate the public.”
At Palisades High School, Wendell was
responsible for the installation of a hydration station, a drinking fountain equipped
to refill reusable bottles.
She went to LAUSD and urged them to
add hydration stations at all City schools.
Currently, “About a third of the fountains
are capped, another third are broken,” she
said. “I feel like I’m just getting started.”
Next, Wendell took her tap-water campaign to L.A. City leaders, advocating for
working water fountains/hydration stations
in City parks. Mayor Garcetti, LADWP, the
State Water Board and the L.A. County Department of Public Health came aboard.
Now, Tap Water Day will serve to promote the installation of hydration stations
across California.
After the May 7 ceremony, California
Recreation and Parks will unveil four waterbottle filling stations at Balboa Sports Center, one of its heavily-used centers for sports
activities, jogging, exercises and family activities. Water will be promoted as a healthy
alternative to sugary drinks.
Wendell, who has also generated interest
in getting fountains installed in Griffith
Park, is hopeful. “Maybe it will spread
throughout the City—maybe even Temescal,” she said.
Visit: wetap.org.
Are you a professional singer or want to
be a professional singer? If so, the Will Rogers 5/10K race organizers are looking for
someone to sing the National Anthem before the annual run starts on July 4 at 8 a.m.
Please send your name and information
to Bob Benton at [email protected].
Additionally, if you know someone you
think is tremendous singer, please email a
name and relevant information. For the
first time in the race’s 38-year history, auditions will be held.
Design Review
Board to Meet
The Pacific Palisades Design Review
Board will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday,
May 13, at the Chamber of Commerce office, 15330 Antioch St.
There will be a public hearing for a final
design review for the installation of two illuminated, channel-letter wall signs on the
881 Alma Read building. Old business may
include the DRB Website, Pacific Palisades
Village Design Guidelines and the upcoming Rick Caruso Project.
Board members are Barbara Kohn, David
Hibbert, Kelly Comras, Paul Darrall, Sarah
Griffin, Stuart Muller and Donna Vaccarino.
New Listing!
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May 6, 2015
Page 11
Palisades News
Rodeo Hosts Mixer
By BILL BRUNS
Palisades News Adviser
I
Caltrans workers clear out garbage and debris left by homeless encampments along Pacific
Photo: Sharon Kilbride
Coast Highway, north of Chautauqua.
Debris Removed from Encampments
April 20 not only marked the closing of
the California Incline, but the closing of
one lane of Pacific Coast Highway between
Chautauqua Boulevard and Potrero Canyon.
The closure was necessary so that Caltrans workers could go behind the retaining
wall nearest the slope and remove garbage
and debris left by homeless encampments.
Previously, as required by law, a 72-hour
notice about the impending cleanup was
given to transients illegally encroaching on
Caltrans property. Santa Monica Canyon
residents George Wolfberg and Sharon
Kilbride reported that “tons of debris and
detritus were removed.”
Caltrans representative David Sedacca
told the Palisades News: “We removed
about 50 square yards of debris and trash
[equivalent to about 1-1/4 dumpsters]. It
was unknown how many encampments
there were.”
Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore told
Kilbride that Caltrans removed everything
illegally placed on the land owned by the
state, which is generally within 10 feet uphill of the highway. Encampments higher
up would need to be taken care of by Corona del Mar property owners.
n a business district where two stories
is as high as you can build, the Pacific
Palisades Chamber of Commerce held
a mixer on April 23 on the rooftop terrace
of Rodeo Realty, 839 Via de la Paz.
Chamber President Adam Glazer (Liberty Mutual Insurance) welcomed everyone
and praised Rodeo’s founder and CEO Syd
Leibovitch for overseeing “a magnificent
transformation” of the former PalisadianPost building.
Leibovitch acquired the 1940s building
in 2013 and, this past January, received the
Chamber’s annual Beautification Award
for his two-story renovation that created
offices and open working areas for up to
75 agents. He currently has 21 agents in
the Palisades (more than 1,200 altogether
in his 12 offices) and has built the second
largest residential brokerage firm in L.A.
County, after Coldwell Banker).
Glazer introduced Immediate Past President Joyce Brunelle (Suntricity), chairman
of the Chamber’s Community Expo on
Sunday, May 17, who talked up the event’s
classic car show on Via and the 40-plus
merchant booths on Antioch—“a great way
to promote your business in the Palisades.”
Executive board member Roberta Don-
ohue (Woman’s Club administrator) announced a new Chamber/Woman’s Club
fundraiser—a Bite Nite Party and Foodie
Fest from 4 to 7 p.m. on June 13 in the
Woman’s Club, featuring favorite bite-sized
samples from local restaurants and foodrelated wares from specialty shops.
Three new Chamber members were
given a chance to briefly describe their business: Matthew Kinzelberg of Kinzelberg
Consulting, specializing in business solutions and computer consulting ([310]
383-2471); Allen Mueller, a realtor with
Coldwell Banker on Sunset; and Brian Panosian of Comfort Massage ([310] 339-8285).
Panosian, a distance runner at USC in
the late 1980s, has served 16 years as the
assistant running coach for Track Club L.A.,
which meets Tuesday nights at Santa Monica
College. “I specialize in sports massage work
and soon will add lymphatic massage,” said
the Palisades resident. “I also do deep tissue,
traditional circulatory and shiatsu massage.”
Hors d’oevres and beverages were catered
by Kim Vu of Vucacious Catering, and the
following businesses and organizations donated gift certificates and merchandise for
the drawing: Café Vida, El Cholo Santa
Monica, Vivian’s Boutique, Theatre Palisades,
Palisades Garden Café, The Yogurt Shoppe,
Home Instead Senior Care, Kay ‘n’ Dave’s
Cantina, Rodeo Realty and the Chamber.
NEW LISTING
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Page 12
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
NO O
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On private cul-de-sac with vus
Holly Davis (310) 230-7377
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BRENTWOOD
4+3 1 level Modern Condo built in 2012
Adam Katz (310) 625-3443
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PACIFIC P
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©2015 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office is owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker® and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered
service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Broker does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage, lot size or other information concerning the condition or features of property provided by seller or obtained from public records or other sources, and the buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that
information through personal inspection and with appropriate professionals. * Based on information total sales volume from California Real Estate Teechnology Services, Santa Barbara Association of REALLTORS,
TORS, SANDICOR, Inc. for the period 1/1/2013 through 12/31/2013 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego,
Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Due to MLS reporting methods and allowable reporting policy, this data is only informational and may not be completely accurate. Therefore, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage does not guarantee the data accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS’s may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Page 13
YogaWorks Will Close This Month
By TYLER KECKEISEN
Sports Editor
T
Palisades YogaWorks, at 15327 Sunset Blvd., will close on May 30.
Photo: Bart Bartholomew
Bel-Air Bay Club/Las Casas
Loop Neighborhoods
By MICHAEL EDLEN
Special to the Palisades News
T
he Bel-Air Bay Club area was started
in 1928 on 31 acres of mostly hillside property. It was developed by
Alphonzo Bell as a beachfront setting to
complement the facilities offered by the
Bel-Air Country Club several miles to the
east. Bell was also the originator of BelAir and the Riviera section of Pacific Palisades, and influenced the Castellammare
development.
The Club opened in 1930 and one large
Mediterranean home, designed by renowned
architect Paul Williams, was built above it
on Aderno. The clubhouse and grounds
occupied seven acres, with private beach
access through a tunnel under the highway.
Due to the Depression, the remaining 67
lots on the newly paved streets stayed vacant until after World War II. Nearly every
site had some ocean and/or mountain
view, and most of the enclave is fairly close
to the beach. There are underground utilities, and deed restrictions were in place,
until recent years, that prevented structures
from blocking views of other sites.
Only a few undeveloped sites remain in
the area. These are generally challenged by
geological and topographical issues. Several
large homes have been built in recent years
that replaced the original lower-profile
ranch or cottage-style houses, and most
prices today might range from $2 to $5 million, with a few special outliers able to
fetch $8 to $15 million.
A small neighborhood originally known
as “The Western Tract” was laid out in 1923,
immediately west of the Bel-Air Bay neighborhood. Most of the homes are along Las
Casas south of Sunset, which makes a loop
that connects to Grenola in the southernmost block.
Like several other bluff-oriented sections, the curved streets matched the terrain. Originally, the tract was intended to
connect directly with Pintoresca, before
the planned roadway disappeared due to
slope failures behind Grenola.
A loose-knit association evolved many
years ago along the Las Casas “loop” area,
with annual closed-street celebrations and
shared contact lists among the owners. One
novel aspect of the neighborhood is a public-access parklet overlooking the ocean,
which was created by local fundraising
when the architect/owner of the lot agreed
to sell it rather than build on the site.
Recent sale prices have ranged from $1.5
million to $3.65 million, with a current
median sale price of $1.9 million.
Michael Edlen is ranked was #52 of all
agents in the country in 2014 with nearly
$1.5 billion in sales and more than 1,200
transactions. He has tracked Pacific Palisades
sales since 1987. Call: (310) 230-7373 or
[email protected].
he numbers did not “pencil out” at
the Palisades YogaWorks, and the studio, at 15327 Sunset Blvd., will close
on May 30. The studio opened in 2006 replacing Jiva Yoga, which had opened in 2004.
Those who practiced yoga at the studio
were told, “YogaWorks is very sad to be
leaving Pacific Palisades . . . We would like
to publicly thank our loyal members who
have been incredibly supportive of our
teaching and our staff. We are touched by
the support and the relationships that have
been formed through the common love of
yoga . . . Unfortunately, there were not more
people like you and we haven’t been able to
make the numbers pencil out. So, when the
lease came up for renewal, we made the
difficult decision not to renew.”
Students with monthly memberships
will receive a complimentary upgrade to a
regional membership in Southern California and be able to practice at studios on
Montana and on Main Street in Santa
Monica and at a new studio in Brentwood.
Many Palisadians raved about the studio’s teachers and the local community
atmosphere.
“With the small amount of people at this
location, it felt we were all family,” said Sheri
Weinick, a member and part-time employee. “You can’t say the same thing about
other studios like the one on Montana as
it tends to have more foot traffic in a much
bigger studio setting.”
“When I go to the Montana studio, I feel
I am always in a stressful environment,” said
Barbara Edelman, who has been a member
of the Sunset studio since it opened. “There
was just not as much room and I had to
constantly worry about having a foot or
elbow in my face.
“At the Palisades location, it was also
peaceful being in an environment with the
same members every week,” she said.
A spokesperson from YogaWorks told
the Palisades News they had received high
reviews from Palisades customers. “The
truth is that we did not want to close our
beloved Pacific Palisades studio and have
worked for years to build a community.”
In addition to smaller volume than other
Southern California locations, the Sunset
studio was not designed for large crowds.
The bigger room could hold about 30 people and the smaller room 10. This is about
half the size of a California studio, which
typically holds between 50 to 80 devotees.
A spokesman for the building’s management company, who does not wish to be
identified, said that the owner is looking for
a new tenant, but the process has been slow.
“We have not yet formally advertised the
space but I am in discussions with a few parties who have expressed interest,” he said.
Arthritis Foundation
Offers Free
Exercise Classes
The Arthritis Foundation is offering a
free, low-impact physical-activity program
Wednesdays and Fridays from 12:30 to 1:30
p.m. from April 29 through June 5 at the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford.
Exercise will keep joints flexible and
muscles strong, promote better sleep and
increase energy. The routines include gentle range-of-motion exercises. Call Danny
Vasquez, (818) 984-1380 Ext. 108.
Shuttic Guides Clients to Health
B
ill Shuttic opened his Ultimate
Health business in Pacific Palisades
last summer at ZFIT Studio, 827 Via
de la Paz. A certified herbalist, nutritionist,
massage therapist and personal trainer,
Shuttic’s perfect client would be an individual who wants to work out twice a week,
have a massage once a week and seek guidance for a healthy diet.
“I want to combine different health
modalities to create a holistic system: a single wellness program,” said Shuttic, who
grew up in Ohio and Texas.
He graduated from the University of
Texas at Austin with a degree in marketing.
After receiving a master’s degree in international business from Thunderbird School
of Global Management, Shuttic moved to
Los Angeles in 1989 to work for a Japanese
import/export company. In the mid-90s,
his job took him to Osaka, Japan, where he
lived for five years.
“My life has always been a dual path of
work and health and fitness, but I always
did the fitness for fun,” Shuttic said. “In
1997, I ditched the corporate world and
went strictly into health and wellness.”
In addition to making presentations at
Atria and offering a 5-week Women’s SelfDefense Course, Shuttic joined the Pacific
Palisades Chamber of Commerce, where
he’s on the board of directors and the
Foodie Fest committee. Stop by his booth
at the Chamber Expo on May 17.
Visit: ulti-health.com or call (310)
413-0514 or email [email protected].
Page 14
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
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May 6, 2015
Page 15
Palisades News
PaliHi Bell Schedule Changes Proposed
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
P
alisades Charter High School’s bell
schedule has been a central administration focus in the teacher contract negotiations this year (see associated
article on page 5).
The administration’s goal has been to
look at the alternating class schedule, which
was put into effect 17 years ago, and potentially implement changes for the 2016-17
school year, Principal Pam Magee said in
an interview prior to the current impasse.
“Over 17 years, a lot of things have
changed, and it seems logical that the
schedule might not meet student needs,”
Magee said. She suggested looking at the
issue with several questions in mind. “What
are the options? What are the core needs of
students? What can we do to address them?
Where can we shift some things to address
those needs?”
Magee suggests at least four areas where
changes could be beneficial: 1) the creation
of student advisory periods; 2) weekly
teacher meeting times; 3) increased college
coursework options; and 4) more frequent
math and foreign language instruction. A
stable schedule that doesn’t rotate each
week is also a recommendation to help facilitate some of these goals.
The administration has singled out these
areas for varied reasons, Magee said. Student advisories could provide varied enrichment, such as SAT preparation, college
counseling, psychological counseling, and
deeper instruction in AP subjects. Weekly
teacher meetings would allow time for
professional development and also time
for departments to meet and coordinate
their efforts to address student needs.
In addition, the administration would
like to improve the availability of college
courses for students, Magee said. One way
would be through stabilizing the schedule
to a non-rotating one, which would increase
opportunities to partner with community
colleges. Currently most PaliHi classes alternate from Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays one week to Tuesdays and Thursday
the next, so coordinating programs with
community colleges is a challenge.
Math and foreign language instruction
also could potentially be improved by increasing the number of meeting times each
week, Magee said. Currently, a higher percentage of PaliHi math students are receiving Ds and Fs as compared to other
subject areas.
Previous efforts at considering bell schedule changes have been after school via the
school’s Long-term Strategic Planning committee. These meetings are attended by a
Michael C. Solum
, Principal
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relatively small percentage of teachers, according to both faculty and administration.
This school year, Magee tied the schedule
discussion to teacher salary negotiations to
ensure that the matter is given a thorough
vetting. “We think it’s so important that
we’re going to link it to contracts,” Magee
said. “This sparked teacher interest—be it
pro or con—to be part of a really serious
conversation.”
Changes to the bell schedule, which now
consists of six alternating classes that are
a little over 100 minutes long and one 55minute daily class, require a faculty vote
of support unless the schedule reverts to
a typical six classes per day schedule, although such a schedule is not the administration’s recommendation.
Instead, administrators seek an exploration to find the best option for students,
Magee said. Any schedule change also requires financial changes as most are not
cost-neutral, so the monetary aspect is another consideration.
Emotions have been intense in some
teachers as they consider this issue, particularly because it is tied to contract negotiations, according to Stephen Klima, an English
teacher and union representative. Currently, the majority of faculty support the
existing bell schedule, he said in an interview before the recent impasse declaration.
A faculty survey found that 72 percent
of responding teachers approved of the
[current] bell schedule, almost 16 percent
wanted more information before deciding
about a new schedule and 9 percent supported changes. Klima added that “we’ve
never discussed it as a faculty.”
A revised bell schedule was proposed to
teachers in January. They voted it down 108
to 2, Klima said. That schedule had two
days with advisories, and it didn’t change
each week.
Klima recommended polling students
and parents to find out their views about
bell schedule adjustments. The union also
sought votes by not only faculty, but also
parents and students, before approving a
new schedule in order to ensure that all
groups support any modification. He said
that it’s important that the school doesn’t
introduce “change for change’s sake.”
He added that the existing bell schedule
might be able to accommodate needed
changes, such as splitting an approximately
100-minute course into two halves divided
between math and English in order to offer
daily math instruction for students who
need it. He supports considering options
that retain the current schedule, but he is
also open to new ideas.
“If you show us something better, we’ll
buy into it,” Klima said. “If it’s good for
students and good for education, then it’ll
sell itself.”
In a separate interview, Magee agreed
that the faculty seeks the best option for its
students. “The teachers at Palisades Charter
High School are really focused on students’
needs. We’ll have many more discussions.
We need a little more time to look at the
data and look at the research. What are
the possibilities?”
Health teacher Susan Ackerman said in a
phone interview that although many teachers were not happy about the January bell
schedule proposal and the discussion link to
contract negotiations, she’s optimistic that
the process will benefit the school and might
offer helpful adjustments to the schedule.
“It’s a real hot-button issue, because it
affects the whole school,” said Ackerman,
who enjoys the current schedule, but is
open to change. “Let’s see what we can get
out of this. Let’s make it a win-win and not
a right-wrong . . . It will be fascinating to
see how this unravels.”
Community Yoga
At Woman’s Club
HOLLY DAVIS
Certified yoga instructor Alison Burmeister, co-owner of The Yogurt Shoppe, teaches
community yoga classes (all levels) Mondays at 9:45-11 a.m. at the Woman’s Club,
901 Haverford. Beginners are welcome. The
class is donation based ($15 suggested). Participants should bring a mat, water, towel
and a smile. Visit: alisonburmeister.com.
Come See Me at The COMMUNITY EXPO on Sunday, May 17th!
NEXT ISSUE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 20
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[email protected]
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Contact Jeff, (310) 573-0150 or [email protected]
or Grace at [email protected]
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Page 16
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Tennis, Tech, Coffee and Current
Events: A Recipe for Friendship
By LAURA ABRUSCATO
Staff Writer
W
hen 97-year-old Leonard Wolfe
needs help with his iPad, he
doesn’t have to look far. Just
across the table at Gelson’s that his morning
coffee group is gathered around is his friend
and tennis buddy Gino Tanasescu, 72, who
helps his coffee-group friends with their
technology—what he calls “geezer geeking.”
This is just one way the coffee group,
consisting of current and former Palisadians, support one another. For example,
Tanasescu showed Wolfe how to download apps that allow him to watch live
tennis tournaments.
The group also includes Gil Dembo,
whom they fondly call their “town crier,”
and Eric Valentine, who slips into the store
to shop for bananas, then comes back to
distribute them among his friends.
Dembo, the Temescal Canyon Association president, gets the conversation going
as soon as he pops by after his workout.
After listening to the news he brings topics
of interest back to the group.
“We’re going to discuss today beekeeping
then asks if they knew that boxer Manny
Pacquiao’s trainer has Parkinson’s disease,
which leads to a conversation about others
they know with the condition.
Dembo, who works in commercial real
estate, is the only non-tennis player in the
group. “I came for coffee a couple of years
ago and I behaved,” he says with a laugh. A
Palisadian since 1967, he describes the group
as “friendship, support, stimulus, news and
tennis.” His wife of 55 years, Barbara, sometimes joins the group after her walk.
If exercise and socializing help longevity,
Wolfe is a good example. He comes for
coffee from the tennis courts a couple of
times a week, where he hits against a ball
machine, or with his friend Tanasescu, is
a good example.
“I’m going to do it till I do it right,” jokes
Wolfe about tennis, which he began playing
at age 13. He moved to the Palisades in 1955
with Marion, his late wife, but his roots in
the community go farther back. He recalls
Friends (clockwise from top left) Gil Dembo, Gino Tanasescu, Eric Valentine and Leonard drives out to visit his girlfriend in the PaliPhoto: Lesly Hall
Wolfe enjoy their daily morning coffee get-together outside Gelson’s.
sades as a teen in the 1930s. Wolfe, one of
in your backyard. Should you be allowed to Council,” Dembo begins on a recent morn- four siblings, moved to Westwood from
have three beehives in your backyard? This ing, asking each their opinion.
Brooklyn in 1931, riding in a rumble seat
is going to be coming up at Community
After gathering a range of answers, he
(Continued on Page 17)
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
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Page 17
An Afternoon of
Poetry and Jazz
A
uthor and historian Robert A.
Rosenstone will read from his first
collection of poetry, Do People Look
Up at the Moon Anymore?, at a gathering in
Pacific Palisades on Saturday, May 16, from
3 to 6 p.m.
Two accomplished jazz artists, guitarist
Peter Curtis and pianist Joel Paat, will join
Rosenstone at Sharq, a nonprofit art space
at 537 Arbramar Ave. that was founded by
his wife, Nahid, in 2004.
The music will begin at 3:30 p.m., followed by a reading and book signing. Admission ($15 individuals, $20 for couples)
includes a signed copy of the book (cash or
check). Please RSVP to [email protected].
Phone: (310) 459-6041.
Rosenstone, professor emeritus of history at Caltech, has published 15 books, including works of biography (John Reed),
history (History on Film/Film on History),
criticism and fiction (Red Star, Crescent
Moon: A Muslim-Jewish Love Story).
In his new book (the first publication of
Sharq Press), Rosenstone views life on the
eve of retirement with pathos, wonder and
humor. Laments for what has vanished and
taken its place, critiques of the self and the
world, questions about history in a culture
that rushes to erase the past, the mysteries
of aging, and celebrations of unexpected
love—all mark his debut volume of poems.
(Visit: rosenstone.com/.)
Guitarist and composer Curtis, who
holds a Ph.D. in music from Indiana University, has played with many famous jazz
musicians such as James Carter, Freddy
Friends
NOTICE TO READERS
The Palisades News welcomes submissions of obituary notices
for Palisadians, past and present. Notices must be 400 words or
less. A photo may be sent for possible inclusion. There is no charge
for the notice, nor the photo. For questions, or to submit, please
e-mail [email protected]. The desired deadline for submissions is Thursday before the intended publication date (the
first and third Wednesday of the month).
(Continued from Page 16)
in his father’s Oldsmobile. He attended
University High and recalls the 1933 Long
Beach earthquake that damaged the school.
During World War II, Wolfe served in
India, where he became ill with tuberculosis. Later, he graduated from UCLA and
worked for many years as an auditor for
the Franchise Tax Board.
At Gelsons, he shows pictures that Tanasescu helped him load on his iPad, such as
famous tennis players he played with as a
youngster as well as humorous pictures that
Tanasescu creates in Photoshop.
Tanasescu is a movie director, web designer and tennis pro who was on the tennis
team at UCLA with Arthur Ashe. For 20
years, he has been meeting for coffee in the
mornings after working out, although the
location and group members have varied
over the years. He joined this group after
meeting Wolfe on the courts eight years ago.
A former Palisadian who now lives in
Cole, Taj Mahal, Barbra Morrison and
James Moody. He has performed in clubs
across the U.S. and Europe, and his album,
Swing State, can be found at cdbaby.com
and on Amazon and iTunes.
Pianist Paat, who has performed at various jazz festivals and music venues in the
U.S. and Europe, has played with the likes
of Tom Scott, Bobby McFerrin, Brandon
Fields, Danny Reyes and Vinnie Colaiuta.
He teaches jazz piano and jazz combos at
Riverside City College.
Guests on May 16 can also enjoy Nahid
Massoud’s stunning new succulent garden.
Santa Monica, Tanasescu has also helped
the others with their desktop computers
and cell phones.
Valentine and Wolfe also met on the
tennis courts and have been part of a coffee group for almost 20 years. Valentine, a
retired print-shop owner, has lived in the
Palisades since the ‘60s, and met his wife
Debbie, a preschool teacher at Village
School, while playing tennis. He picks up
items from Costco for Wolfe including the
chocolate to which Wolfe attributes his
longevity.
Over the years, the four men, who all
happened to attend UCLA, have become
friends with other groups who meet for
coffee in the morning such as Saturday’s
“pickle boys” whose nickname refers to the
pickles they bring from the San Fernando
Valley to share.
They are also friendly with Andy and
Daniela, who work at Viktor Benes; and with
Gelson’s employee Nancy, who brings cushions out for them to soften the metal chairs.
“It’s a very friendly atmosphere,” says
Dembo. “We look out for each other.”
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Page 18
Pali Swim Teams Focus on City Finals
By TYLER KECKEISEN
Sports Editor
Photos: Bart Bartholomew
I
f you have one of the top swimming
programs in the City Section, the next
plateau is success at the state level. The
Palisades High Dolphins hope to achieve
that when the first-ever state swimming
and diving championships are held May
22-23 in Fresno.
Over the past 10 years, the PaliHi girls
team has earned nine City titles and the
boys have won three.
According to Pali assistant coach and
alum Peter Fishler, the girls have never
placed below third in an individual event
since 2002. The boys have been a little more
inconsistent, but more recently have placed
in the top three in individual events, too.
“No City team can compare to our team
for depth,” said Fishler, who joined the staff
in 2011, after graduating from Franklin &
Marshal College, where he was a 12-time
Centennial Conference champion. “Our
third and fourth swimmer in an event
would easily swim number one or two for
many teams in the Western League.”
Over the years, Head Coach Maggie
Nance and Fishler have emphasized a
basic competitive mantra: Strive to be
more than average.
“We have hammered home the ‘tried
and true method’ in practice to prepare the
kids to swim smart,” Fishler said. “You have
to pace yourself by saving your energy and
then being able to swim your fastest at a
meet. We set a high standard for the kids.”
The coaches also focus on the tiny details
that can shave hundredths of a second off a
performance and, perhaps ultimately, make
the difference between first and second.
“We have not steered away from things
that have brought success,” Fishler said.
“But we also refine. There is no use doing
100 flip turns if you are doing them wrong.
Change, then practice them right. It is muscle-memory.”
Since most of the Western League teams
present few challenges in dual meets, Nance
sought competitive opportunities out of
the area. “Most of the Southern Section
schools have great swim programs,” said
Nance, who arranged a dual meet with
Mira Costa in March.
Not only did the Dolphins win many of
the individual events, they accumulated
enough points to win the meet.
“We were missing 30 percent of our
lineup, and still had great results,” Fishler
said. “But, it was the experience more
than winning that mattered to us.”
Base on prior year placing at City finals,
PaliHi could likely field a large squad at State.
Nance said that senior Mardell Ramirez,
who was a top water polo player, has placed
in the top five in many meets, and will
likely place at City in the 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter freestyle. “She is
an amazing talent who brings leadership to
our team,” Nance said. “Everyone goes to
her: she is integral.”
Ramirez and senior Rachel Martin are
captains for the girls team and juniors
Zack Senator and Mitchell Kim lead the
boys squad.
Nance added, “Senior Avery Botansky,
who competes in the one-meter diving, also
has a real shot to compete at State. She was
recruited by Emery College.”
Kian Brouwer, who won the City 100meter butterfly title last season, has accounted for many points this spring, and
Fishler has been impressed by his progress
since freshman year.
“He has improved by being more disci-
PaliHi Dolphins take flight at a dual meet held at the Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center.
plined, which accesses his raw talent,” Fishler said, noting that this year Brouwer is
competing in the 200-freestyle and 100-butterfly. “A more mature approach, combined
with talent, results in a fast swimmer.”
Fishler added, “Kian is crucial for any
relays that qualify for State. He is poised
to break many school and city records.”
The assistant coach also praised sophomore Leah Timmerman, who races in
the 100-breaststroke and 200-individual
medley.
“She is one of our better athletes,” Fishler said. “Last year she won City and broke
the school record for breaststroke. She has
improved steadily since I started coaching
her—even before she entered high school.”
Both Fishler and Nance are optimistic
that 15 of their athletes from both squads
are capable of qualifying for State.
“Instead of using best times, California
is taking the top winners from each division
of the Section finals,” Fishler said. “If our
swimmers finish first or second in City,
they automatically qualify.”
Western League swim-offs were held
May 5 at PaliHi. City diving finals are May
13 at East Valley High School and the
swimming finals are May 15 at East Los
Angeles College.
Setting a new best time in the 100-meter backstroke was PaliHi girls captain Rachel Martin. Griffin Prechter shows perfect form with his breaststroke.
May 6, 2015
Page 19
Palisades News
Spikers Look to Playoffs
By TYLER KECKEISEN
Sports Editor
T
Hunter Price (11) sets up the ball for Shane Stoklos.
Photo: Bart Bartholomew
Follo
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Faceb
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Prou the
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Ray Church, owner
INCORPORATED — CA Lic. #385995
he Palisades High boys volleyball
team, with a record of 17-6-1 and
10-0, has all the potential to win the
Western League and go deep into the City
Section playoffs.
However, one thing could hold them
back, according to their head coach, Carlos Gray.
“Our kids are not pushing hard enough,”
Gray said. “It’s scary because you cannot
just flip a switch. You don’t walk onto a
court and just change your intensity right
away, it has to be practiced and reinforced.
So, I’m hoping we continue to push ourselves in practice.”
At stake is favorable seeding for the playoffs. Granada Hills and Carson are considered PaliHi’s toughest competitors. To
avoid playing them in the semifinals, Pali
will need to earn the number-one seed.
“Nothing against the number four seed,
but they would not be nearly as tough for
us,” the second-year head coach said. “I’m
not saying we don’t have the talent to beat
Granada or Carson, it’s just I like our
chances playing that number 4 seed instead
of the number 2 or 3 [in the semi-finals].”
Gray said the team first needs to clean
up a few things. “This season has had its
ups and downs. We’re lacking consistency.
We need to focus on the little things, like
defensive positioning, blocking, communication. We are big and athletic, but we
need to out-execute our opponents instead
APT FOR RENT
of just being better athletes.”
Opposite hitter Shane Stoklos is confident the Dolphins are improving. “Right
now the team is doing well with kills,” the
senior said. “Defensives schemes and positioning on defense is one thing we need to
improve on, though. Also, both blocking
and off-blocking are crucial to improve on.
If the ball is tipped, we need to do a better
job being on our toes to dig those balls.”
When everything is in sync, PaliHi’s offense is unstoppable, especially coming
from its middle hitters.
“Our middles have been very effective,
and that will be the key for us going forward,” said Gray, who previously coached
at Malibu High School. “We need our opponents to be terrified of them so we can
put our hitters in a better position to get a
kill against the block and not on an island
against the double block.”
“He [Stoklos] is the vocal point of our
offense,” Gray said. “He has been one of our
more consistent players this season as he is
a great athlete who jumps real well. That is
why he leads the team in kills.”
Stoklos is hardly PaliHi’s only weapon.
Two freshmen twins have played significant roles. “Scott Stewart, our outside hitter, and his brother Jeff, our libero, have
both come in right away and performed
well under the spotlight,” Gray said. He
added that Riley Biaten, Pali’s starting setter, is another freshman making major
contributions.
PaliHi’s last home game was April 29,
with the Dolphins defeating Fairfax.
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Page 20
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
Dawuni Branches Out with New Album
By LAURIE ROSENTHAL
Staff Writer
I
n a world filled with darkness, Palisadian Rocky Dawuni brings the light.
The Ghanaian world music/African
reggae/Afro-Beat musician brims with enthusiasm about life, and believes in smiling
at all people. His latest album, Branches of
the Same Tree, is Dawuni’s contribution
towards making the world a better place.
“Everybody wants peace, everybody
wants fairness, everybody wants justice,”
he says.
Dawuni’s love of music began at around
the age of five. As a child, he was exposed
to a mixture of local traditional music, reggae legend Bob Marley, Nigerian icon Fela
Kuti and Western pop music, including
Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons, Earth, Wind
& Fire, Kool & the Gang, the Bee Gees and
Elton John.
His late father, Koytau, was a cook in the
army (and was in Israel and Egypt during
the 1973 Yom Kippur War), and Dawuni
looked forward to when the soldiers would
return to base from abroad, bringing
American popular music that wasn’t
readily available locally.
“I knew all the soldiers who had the
best record collections,” he says. “I would
go to their homes on the weekends and
just chill behind their windows, hang out
and hear them play their records.” This
musical education gave Dawuni a broad
worldview, which helped inform his own
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Rocky Dawuni’s latest album, Branches of
the Same Tree, merges the sounds of New
Orleans, the Caribbean and Africa.
Photo: Robert Kozek
musical style later on.
Though Dawuni did not come from a
particularly musical household, his innate
musical gifts were evident from a young
age. “I was attracted to melodies,” he says,
and to this day has a natural ability to figure out the structure of songs. He took
pleasure in making up his own songs and
singing them to his friends, including his
first one, “Children in the Streets,” which
was never recorded.
Dawuni admits he always has a melody
in his head, and when he writes songs he
begins with the melody and builds from
there. “Ultimately, life’s inspiration is the
underlying force that really helps me with
my songwriting,” Dawuni says. Everything
inspires him, including people, experiences
and nature, and he hears everything in life
in a musical way. “Everything around us
moves to a beat.”
He plays guitar, but jokes that he leaves
the music to musicians who really know
what they are doing.
The Afro-Roots feel of Branches merges
the varied sounds of Africa, New Orleans
and the Caribbean. From the opening notes
of “Shine a Light,” the music and lyrics are
captivating. The album title comes from the
tune “Children of Abraham,” Dawuni’s
plea for peace in the Middle East.
There are also two Bob Marley songs:
the well-known “Get Up, Stand Up,” and
the never-released “Butterfly,” an unfinished love song that Dawuni completed.
Branches has a timeless feel, in the same
vein as many Marley songs, which sound
contemporary today even though they were
written and recorded decades ago. The
album “pretty much encapsulates the concept of global citizenry,” Dawuni says, and
focuses on love and empowerment.
Palisadian Bernie Grundman, who also
mastered Michael Jackson’s Thriller and
Carole King’s Tapestry, did the mastering.
Dawuni attempts to uplift humanity
through his music, and is cognizant about
the many challenging issues people around
the world face. He believes that when individuals help in their local communities, a
positive effect will spread around the globe.
“This album is my personal statement
of trying to ignite that passion in people,”
he says.
Like Marley before him, Dawuni is passionate about activism, philosophy and
spirituality. He clearly loves people and is
sympathetic to their struggles, whether they
are first-world issues or those of the developing world. “My music is for everybody
and to be of service,” he says. Justice and
equality are important to him, and he is content to be a voice for those without one, and
to be a bridge between differing viewpoints.
Dawuni continues to lend his support
to many causes, including women’s issues,
Rwandan peace initiatives and refugee
camps, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves started by Hillary Clinton and water
initiatives in his native Ghana. He would like
to see women everywhere more involved in
positions of power. “We need a balanced
perspective,” he says, adding, “I’m using my
(Continued on Page 21)
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Page 21
Palisades News
Dawuni
(Continued from Page 20)
music to shed a lot more light on that.”
Dawuni is humble, simply believing
“that whatever gifts we are given become
much bigger if we use them for the service
of others.” In April, he performed at the
benefit “Concert for Social Justice,” with
many like-minded artists, including Jackson Browne, Melissa Etheridge, David
Crosby and Graham Nash.
Dawuni, who has toured extensively,
finds that audiences everywhere react similarly to his music, which he believes “transcends culture, space and time, language
and politics.” He wants to bring people together, and gets true joy in watching con-
Volunteers Needed
For Fourth of July
The next volunteer meeting for PAPA
(Palisades Americanism Parade Association) will be held at 6:30 on May 11 at the
American Legion. All are invited to attend.
Fourth of July in Pacific Palisades features the 5/10K Will Rogers Run, a parade,
a concert and fireworks, and is made possible by volunteers and community donations. If you would like to volunteer or
donate, and are unable to attend the meeting, visit: palisadesparade.org.
certgoers dance and enjoy themselves. His
favorite part of performing is when the
crowd sings along, creating harmony and
oneness between all in attendance.
Though his father is from a royal family,
Dawuni downplays his heritage. His brother is now chief, like their father was, yet
Dawuni is known more in Ghana for his
music than his lineage. And, like his father,
Dawuni enjoys cooking, and sharing his
offerings with friends and family.
Equally at home in the Palisades and
Ghana, where he cannot walk down the
street without being recognized, Dawuni exudes love. He has lived here for over 15 years
with his wife, Cary Sullivan, whom he met
at the University of Ghana in the late 1990s
(she grew up in the Palisades). Their daughter, Safiya, is in sixth grade at a local school.
On a street corner near the Village Green,
a friend driving by yells excitedly when he
sees Dawuni, and talks about getting together. And with that, the internationally
renowned musician breaks into a bigger
smile than the one he was already wearing.
“It’s been a beautiful journey in a
sense,” Dawuni says. “I just keep learning
and learning.”
Dawuni will be performing at California
Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, August 1 as part of the Grand Performances series. For more information on
Branches of the Same Tree visit rockydawuni.com or cumbancha.com. Branches
is also available on iTunes, Amazon and at
Whole Foods stores.
Village School Summer Camp
Specializes in Fun, Learning
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n the morning, a camper can take a
Duct Tape Art or a Rock Camp class.
In the afternoon he or she can go in
an entirely different direction with Jedi
Knight Training or creating, building and
playing Minecraft.
Or maybe select Waterpalooza, Sushi
Making, Summer Zoo, Science Academy,
Cheerleading, American Girl Camp or Explosive Sports or Winged Creatures: Fairies
& Dragons.
Village School on Swarthmore allows
campers to choose from more than 50 selections during its five-week session: June
22 through July 24. Camp is open to all
first through sixth-grade students; you do
not have to be a Village student to attend.
Parents can choose between half- and
full-day camp options and the number of
weeks of participation. In addition to unique
camp options, there is also an academic
booster camp, which allows students who
might need more confidence in a subject the
opportunity to hone skills. Additionally,
Village offers a wide array of sports camps.
The fun starts with the annual Summer
Kick Off Camp. Adventures range from
Trick or Treating in July to a Hawaiianstyle afternoon to water games and an 18ft. double waterslide.
Village School Summer Camp is an ac-
credited member of the American Camp
Association (ACA) and the only schoolbased day camp in the Pacific Palisades,
Brentwood, Santa Monica, and Malibu
area to receive this accreditation.
Visit: village-school.org or contact Gricelda Gamboa: [email protected].
Shop to Support
Woman’s Club
Anyone shopping at Carly K from 5 to
7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, not only may
find a great gift for mom for Mother’s
Day, but will also support the Palisades
Woman’s Club.
Twenty percent of all proceeds from the
event will go towards the renovation of
the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club building on Haverford.
Carly K and Carly K Kids, located at
15237 Sunset Blvd., carries an array of
clothing for kids, tweens and adults. Call:
(310) 454-1086.
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S P E C I A L I Z I N G I N P A C I F I C P A L I S A D E S , M A L I B U , S A N TA M O N I C A
Page 22
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
John Nordstrom
Wins Emmy
By LAURIE ROSENTHAL
Staff Writer
W
hen Palisadian John Nordstrom
won an Emmy Award recently,
a colleague nominated in the
same category congratulated Nordstrom
and admitted that he voted for Nordstrom
over himself.
Nordstrom won Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama for
his work on The Bold and the Beautiful. It
was his first Emmy nomination, although
he has previously won three ASCAP awards.
He didn’t even tell many people he was
nominated. Though he never expected to
win, he wanted to. “I loved being nominated,” he says.
“People were completely freaking out”
that he won. Two tables of producers and
actors stood up cheering for him, and his
nerves were eased when the announcer said
one of the producer’s names instead of
Nordstrom’s. “My goal was to tell everybody
who I was,” Nordstrom says. “When I said
that, people laughed. I wasn’t nervous at all.”
After more than two decades in the business, Nordstrom considers himself lucky
to be able to work in a field he loves.
USC Professor Richard McIlvery, who
still teaches at Thornton School, helped
Nordstrom get his first job, on Storytime, in
1991. That experience allowed Nordstrom
to compose scores that matched myriad
situations, from Eskimos to skateboarding
kids in New York. He did 110 episodes over
eight years on the show that started locally
on KCET before going national.
Two years ago, Nordstrom was brought
in to The Bold and the Beautiful to update
the show’s sound. Executive producer, head
writer and old friend Brad Bell liked Nordstrom’s work on shows such as Las Vegas
and One Tree Hill. To date, he has composed about 350 themes for Bold.
“Most scenes are two people talking in
a room,” Nordstrom says, telling the story
simply with a guitar, light strings and a keyboard. He keeps the “bigger sound palette”
for when the show goes on location.
For special episodes shot in Dubai and
Abu Dubai, Nordstrom had fun creating
more exotic sounds. “I wrote music with Arabic and Middle Eastern flavors, with more
percussive instruments,” and sounds indigenous to the region. He scored the music
to the picture, unlike a typical score, which
is not always written for a specific scene.
He plays piano, guitar and bass, and brings
professional musicians to his home studio
when it’s time to record. “It’s just big enough
to work with all my equipment. The recording booth is just big enough for drums.”
If the name Nordstrom sounds familiar,
you are correct. Nordstrom hails from Seat-
HOMES &
GARDENS
John Nordstrom proudly displays his Emmy.
tle, where the family business is the wellknown department store, founded by Nordstrom’s great-grandfather, John Nordstrom.
His dad, John, worked his way up from
the stockroom to co-chairman, and was
“responsible for the most expansion and
growth in company history,” he says, noting
that three cousins now run the company.
Nordstrom has a strong work ethic,
which may have begun when he worked at
the Bellevue, Washington store for seven
summers. “I started in the stockroom, then
children’s shoes, then young ladies shoes.
I loved it. It’s a great company.” He came
to USC to “follow my dream.”
Though he certainly could have had a career at Nordstrom, “My dad and mom were
completely behind me going for it, even
though entertainment was foreign to them.”
Nordstrom’s success has come from putting his best effort into every project he
works on. “When I started out, I did the
same exact job whether I was getting paid
$500 or $20,000. I tell my kids, ‘Do your
best every time.’”
Currently, he’s working on a TBS comedy, Your Family or Mine, starring Richard
Dreyfuss, and The Fighting Season, a documentary series created by Rick Schroeder
about the Special Operations Forces in
Afghanistan, which will debut May 19 on
DirectTV.
Nordstrom has lived in the Palisades
with his wife, Jennifer, since 1992. They
have four children, Riley, 21, Claire, 18,
Jack, 15, and Will, 12.
“After you’ve been doing it for a long
time, you realize what’s important,” Nordstrom says. “I look back and see that I’ve
done really good work, no matter what was
happening behind the scenes. It all seems
to work out in the end.”
Special Section—
May 20, 2015
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Full-Color Pages, Full-Color Ads
Distribution to the entire 90272 Palisades
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Ad Space Reservation Deadline: May 8
Camera-ready Ad Artwork Deadline: May 12
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Contact for Information:
Jeff Ridgway at (310) 573-0150
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Jeff Parr at (310) 454-7741
May 6, 2015
Page 23
Palisades News
Chamber Music Program
Concludes Concert Season
C
hamber Music Palisades will present its 2014-15 season finale with
featured star musicians from the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach
Symphony and Los Angeles Opera at 8
p.m. on Tuesday, May 12 at St. Matthew’s
Church, 1031 Bienvenda Ave.
The program will include music by
Beethoven, Brahams, Britten, Ewazen and
Telemann.
Among those performing are Australianborn Andrew Bain, who has earned critical
acclaim as the principal horn player of the
L.A. Philharmonic, the Queensland Symphony, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony.
“Andrew Bain’s rich and nuanced horn
solos became a highlight,” Mark Swed
wrote in the L.A. Times. Bain has also performed with the Münchner Symphoniker
in Germany and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra.
A native of Southern California, violinist
Roger Wilkie has been concertmaster of
the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra for
25 years.
When he was 21, Wilkie joined the Los
Andrew Bain
Angeles Chamber Orchestra and eventually
became principal second violin. He returned to LACO later to be guest concertmaster, a title he has also held with the Los
Angeles Opera, the Round Top Festival
Orchestra of Texas, the Music Academy of
the West in Santa Barbara and the Real
Philharmonia de Galicia in Spain.
Wilkie was a founding member of the
Angeles String Quartet, solo violinist with
Santa Barbara’s Camerata Pacifica and is
currently a member of the Pacific Trio.
Also performing is tenor Arnold Livingston Geis, a member of the Los Angeles
Opera chorus since 2013. He has appeared
on the Music Center stage in favorites such
as Carmen, La Traviata and Billy Budd.
Geis also sings with the Los Angeles Master
Chorale, and has soloed at the Walt Disney
Concert Hall in Handel’s “Messiah,” Bach’s
“St. Matthew Passion” and Beethoven’s
“Missa Solemnis.”
Chamber Music Palisades is completing
its 18th season under the leadership of cofounders and co-artistic directors flutist
Susan Greenberg and pianist Delores
Stevens. A popular feature of each concert
has been the informative commentary by
KUSC’s on-air host Alan Chapman.
Call (310) 463-4388 or visit cmpalisades.org. Tickets are $30 at the door and
students with ID are admitted free.
GriefHaven Offers
Spring Boutique
Friends of griefHaven will host a Mother’s Day boutique from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, at the Palisades Woman’s
Club, 901 Haverford Ave.
Twenty percent of all sales will go to
griefHaven, which provides support, education and resources to parents whose children
have died, the siblings and family members.
Vendors include: Coobie Bra and Accessories; Gourmet Blends, Hostess Gift to
Go; Spoken Glass (engraved water bottles);
Susan Jewelry; Amanda Jordan Jewelry;
Elle+Cie Jewelry; Classy Bag Lady; Montalvo Spirits (tequila); Pali Wine; Geries Secret Closet; Stationery; Strut-This (athletic
wear) and Dale Michele (clothing).
Phone (310) 459-1789 or visit griefHaven.org or e-mail [email protected].
SM Canyon Assoc. to
Hold Annual Meeting
The Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association will hold its annual meeting at 7
p.m. on Tuesday, May 12 at Rustic Canyon
Park. Invited speakers include District 11
Councilman Mike Bonin, Santa Monica
City Incline project director Curtis Castle
and a speaker from the DWP water reclamation project.
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Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Page 24
Skateboarding’s Palisades Roots
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of Don Burgess
F
ifty years ago, skateboarding rolled
into the life of Don Burgess and the
town of Pacific Palisades.
At the time, skateboarding was a new
sport that developed quickly in Los Angeles
in large part because of its similarity to surfing. In the 1960s, skateboarding was sometimes called sidewalk surfing.
Kids rode skateboards the same way they
rode surfboards, but skateboarding didn’t
require a parent to drive them to the beach.
Instead, Burgess and other neighborhood
kids could walk somewhere like Palisades
High School. The school had opened in
1961 with a freshly paved, multi-level, hillside parking lot that was ideal for skating.
“It was just the perfect asphalt wave,” says
Burgess in his new documentary, Skateboarding’s First Wave. Burgess, an acclaimed
cinematographer, made the movie to highlight the sport’s local roots and its rise and
fall in the mid-’60s.
The 21-minute piece centers on the Palisades Skateboard Team, comprising a group
of kids who lived and skateboarded near
PaliHi. “It was the center of our lives at that
time,” Burgess said in a recent interview.
Skateboarding’s First Wave was recently
shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival,
the Palisades Optimist Club and the Sarasota Film Festival. The movie highlights a
different time where kids roamed free and
had fun playing with speed and gravity on
their clay-wheeled skateboards.
Burgess, the cinematographer of dozens
of movies, including Forrest Gump and
Spider-Man, reunited 10 of the original
team members at PaliHi last year to skateboard together one more time and also to
complete interviews for the documentary.
“Surprisingly, everyone could still skateboard pretty well,” said Burgess, whose son
Michael, a camera operator, shot the current footage. “When you spend that much
time doing something when you’re young,
it doesn’t ever leave you. Everyone still had
their same style and technique.”
That style and technique, which Burgess’
father originally captured on 16mm film
in the ‘60s, is the life-blood of the movie.
Sometimes barefoot and always without
helmets and pads, the kids obviously relished coursing down the PaliHi hill in
groups. They practiced tricks to add to the
challenge and the fun, like riding in a handstand, jumping over a rod or putting a big
metal trash can on top of a board before
riding downhill.
Several girls joined the effort, as it was
Members of the 1960s Palisades skateboarding club included (left) Peter Burg, (middle) Barry (Blenkhorn) Williams of Brady Bunch
fame and (right) Chris Picciolo. Burg, who now lives in Colorado, provided the music for Skateboarding’s First Wave.
one of the few sports they could participate
in at the time. Little League baseball and
Pop Warner football were off limits.
“Anyone who could do a handstand from
the top to the bottom was in,” Burgess said.
“It didn’t matter if you were a boy or a girl.”
The team captain and oldest team member, Tim Keller, now a writer, photographer
and teacher in New Mexico, was the inspiration for the film in more ways than one.
He wrote an article about the team for the
Palisadian-Post in 2013. Burgess read the
piece, which prompted him to dig out his
father’s home movies and re-watch them.
“When I looked at the footage, it brought
all those memories back from 50 years ago,”
Burgess said. “I wanted to go back and find
out what happened to all these people.
What are they doing? How had skateboarding affected their lives?”
Burgess set to work finding his old pals—
most of whom he hadn’t seen in 50 years.
Keller helped locate many, although not
everyone was still alive. Burgess brought the
documentary idea to Red Digital Cinema,
which stepped in to fund it.
The result traces the roots of the team.
One significant event occurred when the
13-year-old Keller asked Burgess’ dad if his
company, Don Burgess Pools, would sponsor them. Burgess senior readily assented.
He bought team jackets for the kids and
even designed skateboards that used a material that reduces slipping in pools to help
the kids stay on their boards.
Burgess’ mother, Pat, designed the logo
and even joined them sometimes on a
Fifty years later, members of the Palisades Skateboard Team including: Don Burgess (front), skateboard. Skateboard competitions enWendy (Bearer) Bull, Peter Burg (right) and in back Suzie Rowland Levin, Donna Cash sued, and the kids did well against two
Harris, Tim Keller, Terry Keller and Tod Burton revisited the Palisades High School campus.
(Continued on Page 25)
May 6, 2015
Page 25
Palisades News
another skateboard to get the shot.
“It just kept coming back into my life,”
said Burgess, who used his skateboard expertise to shoot the hoverboard chase in
Back to the Future Part II.
“My ability to skateboard introduced me
to people that I ended up working with
professionally,” he said. “It turned out that
all those hours I spent on a skateboard as
a kid paid off.”
Burgess and his wife, Bonnie, still live
near PaliHi, where they raised three children, Lindsay, Michael and Brittany. They
also have four grandchildren—three of
whom appear in his documentary.
Skateboarding
(Continued from Page 24)
teams with far more money, Makaha Skateboards and Hobie.
The entire experience was transformative for Burgess—not only through the joys
of competing and winning trophies, but
also the difficulties of falling and persisting
to learn a new trick.
“It shapes you. You learn how important
it is to struggle and fall. The lesson is to get
back up and do it again.”
That lesson is illustrated in the movie
as the kids repeatedly try to master a
trick—falling and falling until they succeed. Also spicing up the piece is archival
footage, including a scene from the ‘60s
game show What’s My Line? and a clip
from the variety show Shindig!, featuring
team member Wendy (Bearer) Bull, who
was later inducted into the Skateboarding
Hall of Fame.
Burgess also includes a skateboarding
Hormel hotdog ad featuring himself, his
brother Ric, plus team members Peter Burg
and Barry (Blenkhorn) Williams, who
eventually starred as Greg Brady on The
Brady Bunch.
Aside from these opportunities, the kids
also got a chance to compete and place
highly in the 1965 International Skateboard
Championships in Anaheim, which was
covered by ABC’s Wide World of Sports. But
just two years later, the new sport suffered
a temporary death across the country. The
Allied Artists Host
Paint-Out May 9
Suzanne (Rowland) Levin on a trash can, placed on top of a skateboard, steers her way
in the Palisades High School parking lot.
local kids moved onto other ventures, and
the momentarily hot sport became cold
until polyurethane wheels were invented
in the ‘70s.
But in some ways, skateboarding’s first
wave never ended. Skateboarding holds a
dear place in the memories of the Palisades
Skateboard Team, and it taught them tenac-
ity. Team member Colleen (Boyd) Turner
said in the documentary, “Competing in
skateboarding changed me forever.”
For Burgess, the actual skill of skateboarding has been surprisingly helpful in his
career. His big break in filmmaking stemmed
from a job he earned as an action cameraman where he followed a skateboarder on
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Page 26
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
Fay Lyons: A ‘Survivor’ Story of Gratitude
By SUE PASCOE
Editor
D
iscovery. Fear. Diagnosis. Treatment. Survivor. Palisadian Fay
Lyons was at a Girl Scout camp at
Big Bear in 2012 with her 12-year-old
daughter, Barbra. Instead of using a washcloth per her usual routine in showering,
Lyons only had soap and it was then she
discovered a lump in her breast.
“There was no family history of any type
of cancer,” she said. “It was also the first
time our family was without insurance
because my husband had recently become
self-employed.”
Earlier that year, her daughter’s Girl Scout
troop had donated a percentage of their
cookie money to the Susan Love Foundation, and at the Love Walk, Dr. Thomas
Lomis, a Palisadian, was passing out flyers
for the Valley Breast Care & Women’s
Health Center and she took one.
Lomis also happened to be Lyons’ Highlands neighbor. When she came back from
Big Bear, she saw the flyer on her desk and
knocked on his door.
“He took full charge,” Lyons told the Palisades News. “He took me to his office and
arranged for a mammogram, an ultrasound
and a biopsy. All were free because they were
paid for by Every Woman Counts California Breast Cancer Treatment Foundation.”
Within a day, Lyons had a diagnosis:
Stage 3 ductal carcinoma. Lyons had no
way to pay for treatment because she
couldn’t get health care now, thanks to a
pre-existing condition: cancer.
“Breast cancer is not something you
can wait with until you have insurance,”
Lyons said.
A week later, after a PET and CAT scan to
determine whether the cancer had spread,
Dr. Lomis had operated on Lyons and removed a tumor and lymph nodes. Once it
was determined that the nodes had not yet
been affected, her diagnosis dropped to
Stage 2B.
“In addition to getting excellent care,”
Lyons said, “Dr. Tom and his wife Debbie
took the time to help my child understand
the diagnosis and what was going to be
done. I don’t know if I could have gotten
through it without them.”
After the operation, Lyons learned that
she had triple negative breast cancer. In
many breast cancers, hormonal treatments
are used that target progesterone, estrogen
or HER2 receptors in one’s body to prevent
recurrence of the cancer. In Lyons’ case, she
learned she fell into the 10- to 20-percent
category and did not have those receptors,
which meant a different route for treatment.
While in chemotherapy, she developed a
micro embolism, digestive issues, gastroenteritis and cracked ribs (because of steroids).
“I was hospitalized many times,” Lyons
said. “I had 37 radiation treatments.”
A year later, during another PET scan, a
cyst was discovered on an ovary and both
ovaries and her fallopian tubes had to be
removed, followed by six more weeks of
chemotherapy.
Today, two years later, Lyons is a survivor.
“I am one of the lucky ones. I attribute
where I am to the assistance and guidance
of Dr. Tom,” she said.
Lyons has also discovered support groups
for her daughter and husband. One is Walk
with Sally, a group that provided a mentor,
who had gone through a similar situation,
for her daughter.
At UCLA there’s a camp for kids who
have parents suffering from cancer. “They
have camp activities during the day, but
at night they have cabin chats,” Lyons said.
“There are professional therapists to help
the kids.”
The Benjamin Cancer Support Center
in West L.A. provides lectures, meditation,
yoga and support to all who have a loved
one dealing with cancer. “No cancer patient
[or family] has to go through this alone,”
Lyons said. “Especially if they have limited
‘Walk With Love’ On May 17
The annual 5K Walk/Run to support a cure for breast cancer, “Walk With Love,”
will take place 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 17. Registration and a family fun festival
will begin at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $35 for adults and $25 for ages 5 to 16. Children
under four are free. Dog owners and their dogs are also invited to join the walk.
To call attention to the need for more research, Dr. Ian Taras has wrapped his
Tesla Model S in matte pink and dubbed it “BreastCar.” He seeks donations
from people who want to sign his car or take a photo with the car.
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resources. There is so much good out there.
“I was touched by how many people
reached out to us. They gave us rides,
brought meals,” she said, recalling that her
daughter was starting Paul Revere Middle
School as she was undergoing surgery and
treatment.
“The Revere counselor said Barbra could
come and see him anytime,” Lyons said.
“My daughter had [Stephen] Carnine and
[Carlos] Hernandez for teachers; they
emailed me and kept me in the loop. They
were a dream team.”
Lyons, who grew up in New York City,
graduated from Hofstra and worked in
contracts at Simon and Shuster. After marrying husband Barry, they moved to California in 1995 and to the Palisades in 2000.
Lyons was a typical mom volunteer who
went beyond the usual tasks: when Palisades Elementary lost its librarian, she took
over, scheduling parents and working there
three years to keep it open. Now, she plans
to look for work.
But first, her gratitude goes to Dr.
Thomas Lomis. “He has helped so many
people. I was fortunate to be one of them.
He could easily have had an illustrious career at any major hospital, but instead he
chose to work with this clinic that helps
those that don’t have alternatives.”
Visit: valleybreastcare.org.
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Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
May 6, 2015
Palisades News
Page 27
Palisadian Larry Newman conducted the 17th annual All Schools Elementary Honor Orchestra Concert on May 2.
Newman Conducts Elementary Orchestra
A
citywide student orchestra of more
than 140 of the area’s brightest
students from two dozen schools
performed at the 17th annual All Schools
Elementary Honor Orchestra Concert in
UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on May 2.
Conducted by Pacific Palisades resident
Larry Newman, the program featured the
orchestra, a jazz ensemble, a string ensemble and guest student vocalists. Selections
included: “Radetzky March” (Strauss),
“Pastoral Symphony” (Beethoven), “African
Marching Song” (Folk Song), “Peer Gynt
Suite Selections” (Grieg) and “Happy”
(Pharrell Williams).
Each participating child is selected by
his/her school music teacher. Student ages
range from 7 to 12; 10 is the average age.
Nineteen local students were selected.
Palisades Elementary students included
Layla Adeli, Elsa O’Donnell and Marc Venturini (violin), Naya Ramaswami, Grace
Vander Veen and Sophia von der Ohe
(flute), Brooke Pierpoint and Elena
Rosenmayr (clarinet) and Nicolas Charbonneau (trumpet).
Calvary musicians were Maddy Attar (violin), C.J. Iino (clarinet) and Megan Outcalt
AG Adriano Goldshmied
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(flute). Marquez Elementary was represented by Annalisa Hurd and Samantha Kissane
(violin) and Calvin Jacobs (trumpet).
Carlthorp student Ryan Moon (alto
saxophone), UCLA Lab students Olivia
Baer and Skyler Chang (violin) and Paul
Revere’s Shelby McLain (violin) were also
selected to perform.
“The honors orchestra is a diverse
group of children that come together to
play beautiful music in a professional
concert setting,” said Newman, who noted
that the students are exceptionally talented. “It is a shining example of the im-
portance of music in our local schools.”
The orchestra’s annual broadcast performances from Schoenberg Hall have garnered three Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards
(2007, 2008 and 2009) in the Children/Youth
Programming category and were nominated in the same category in 2010 and 2012.
The orchestra was also recently honored by
the City Council at Los Angeles City Hall.
Children’s Music Workshop, founded by
Newman more than 28 years ago, provides
instrumental music instruction to schools
throughout Los Angeles, including Topanga,
Canyon, Marquez, Kenter and Palisades.
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
Page 28
Amazing Music: First Stop for Lessons
M
ost Pacific Palisades parents
know Amazing Music because
when a youth is ready for lessons in guitar, ukulele, piano, bass, drums,
harmonica or banjo, the store at 867
Swarthmore is a first stop.
“We love to teach,” said owner Patrick
Hildebrand, Sr. “We’ve taught thousands
and thousands of people. We love to give
them a good positive musical experience.
That’s basically what we’re all about.”
Hildebrand has been teaching in Pacific
Palisades since 1973, and opened Amazing
Music in 1980. “We’ve been doing it for a
long, long time,” he said.
Many professional musicians got their
start in the colorful surfer-dude atmosphere of Amazing Music.
Marie Digby, who learned to play guitar,
has just signed with Disney’s Hollywood
Records. Group Love lead singer Andrew
Wesson honed his guitar skills at the school.
Skyler Fiske (Sissy Spacek’s daughter),
Debby Holland of Animal Logic with Stanley Clarke and Stewart Copeland, and Eric
Lynn, who plays with Jackson Browne and
is the head engineer of Shangri La Studios
in Malibu, are Amazing Music alumni.
The store is not strictly for the young, but
also for those who are retired and never had
the chance to strum the strings on a guitar.
“All ages are welcome,” Hildebrand said.
“The emphasis is always on having fun.”
When the novelty of playing an instrument wears off and students realize that
practice is necessary to improve, it’s the
fun that Amazing Music provides that
keeps kids going. Taking lessons should
not be drudgery.
“We’re doing great with the guitars and
the ukulele and the drums and the piano,”
Hildebrand said. “We’re just having a
great time.”
Amazing Music is nestled behind the
shops at the corner of Swarthmore and
Antioch. It has four studios and a selection of guitars and ukuleles of various
sizes that can be rented or purchased.
Instructors include Patrick Hildebrand
Jr., who is a member of the Ooks of Hazzard, a band that consists of seven ukuleles,
an accordion and a box. “Many people have
an image of Tiny Tim, singing in falsetto,
strumming the tiny instrument,” he said,
noting that after the band recorded a live
video cover of MGMT’s “Kids” in April
2010, the video went viral and continues to
get many views on YouTube.
In addition to the father/son teaching
team, other instructors include Michael
“Beans” Benigno (“an awesome percussionist”); Diana Nile who trains people on
piano and bass; Justin Citron, who teaches
guitar and bass and just launched a band
called Trick Pistol.
“Travis Powers, who used to teach here,
does all the sound effects for The Simpsons,”
Hildebrand, Sr. said.
If you want to see students in action, go
to YouTube and type “Patrick Hildebrand”
in the search engine and you’ll see a variety
of girls and boys playing songs with their
patient instructor.
“We’re just jamming out,” said the elder
Hildebrand, who also has a daughter, Tracy,
and five grandchildren.
Hildebrand gives back to his hometown.
In the 1970s, he and his friends jammed at
the Arts in Action festival held at the Palisades Recreation Center. He and his students played at the Chamber-sponsored
Midnight Madness shows in the 1980s and
Patrick Hildebrand, Sr. is the owner of Amazing Music.
continue to play at Chamber events.
On May 17, the Amazing Music band
will play for the fourth time at the Chamber’s Community Expo on Antioch.
Call: (310) 454-4669.
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May 6, 2015
Page 29
Palisades News
YMCA/Optimist Track Meet Held
By TYLER KECKEISEN
Sports Editor
T
he 43rd annual YMCA-Optimist
Track Meet was held at the Palisades
High School stadium on April 26.
More than 150 kids, ages three to 15
years old, competed in running and field
events. Optimist Club members served as
timers and starters and ran the shot put,
long jump and high jump events.
“This is one of the best events in the Palisades each year,” said Stephen Hale, Palisades-Malibu YMCA athletic director. “It’s
filled with a lot of positive energy and each
kid leaves the event feeling good about
themselves. Everyone had fun today.”
Fewer older kids seem to be participating
than in previous years. “This event does take
place during track season so older kids might
be part of track clubs and actually competing at other meets, but it would be fun to
have more kids in the older categories competing,” Hale said. “But I love seeing the little ones experience track for the first time.”
Hale said the meet is a good way to motivate kids to stay active and have fun at the
same time.
“It’s a healthy kids day,” said Hale, who
has been at the YMCA for eight years. “We
advocate for a positive and energetic environment when kids play competitive sports.”
First Place Results:
LONG JUMP
7-8 girls: Saskia Santos; 7 feet, three inches
7-8 boys: Milo Muller; 7 feet, one inch
9-10 girls: Julia Anderson; 9 feet, 3 inches
9-10 boys: James Rockwell; 11 feet,10 inches
11-12 girls: Oona Fitzmaurice; 11 feet, 8
inches
11-12 boys: Noah Wexler; 10 feet, 11 inches
SHOT PUT
9-10 girls: Sage Pendergraft; 12 feet, three
inches
9-10 boys: James Rockwell; 24 feet, nine
inches
11-12 girls: Oona Fitzmaurice; 23 feet, Topanga Elementary student Oona Fitzmaurice took first place in the 11-12 girls high
nine inches
Photo: Shelby Pascoe
jump, clearing 3 feet, 7 inches.
HIGH JUMP
9-10 girls: Sage Pendergraft; 3 feet, 3 inches
9-10 boys: Tie between Gage Grimes and
James Rockwell; 3 feet, 11 inches
11-12 girls: Oona Fitzmuarice; 3 feet, 7
inches
25 METER RUN
3-4 girls: Whitney Baker (5.53 seconds.
New record. Old record 2011 Tess Hubbard, 5.8 seconds.)
3-4 boys: JoJo Rhodes (5.53 seconds)
5-6 girls: Mary Scheeringa (5.62 seconds)
5-6 boys: Colin O’Donnel (4.64 seconds)
50 METER RUN
3-4 girls: Benton Chiate (11.35 seconds)
3-4 boys: JoJo Rhodes (10.89 seconds)
5-6 girls: Mae Durkin (9.53 seconds)
5-6 boys: Theo Radford (9.13 seconds)
7-8 girls: Saskia Santos (7.83 seconds)
7-8 boys: Kai Campos (7.39 seconds)
5-6 boys: Theo Radford (39.22 seconds.
New record. First year for event.)
7-8 girls: Fayre McKenzie (35.82 seconds.
New record. First year for event.)
7-8 boys: Finn Evans (35.38 seconds. New
record. First year for event.)
9-10 girls: Julia Anderson (35.75 seconds)
9-10 boys: Evan Stokdyk (33.28 seconds)
100 METER RUN
11-12 girls: Carys McKenzie (32.28 seconds)
3-4 girls: Benton Chiate (26.18 seconds) 11-12 boys: Jules Craft (30.53)
3-4 boys: JoJo Rhodes (20.22 Seconds. 13-15 girls: Elizabeth Rene (30.59 seconds)
New record. Old record 2011 Braun Levi,
22.8 seconds.)
400 METER RUN
5-6 girls: Min-Jee Gales (18.97 seconds) 7-8 girls: Fayre McKenzie (1:38 seconds.
5-6 boys: Theo Radford (19.12)
New record. First year for event.)
7-8 girls: Fayre McKeznie (17.25 seconds) 7-8 boys: Nikolas Koudsi (1:32 seconds.
7-8 boys: Kai Campos (16.53 seconds)
New record. First year for event.)
9-10 girls: Maddy Silberman (16.81 seconds) 9-10 boys: James Rockwell (1:14. New rec9-10 boy: James Rockwell (14.75 seconds) ord. Old record 2009 Flip Bastien, 1:15.66.)
11-12 girls: Carys McKenzie (15.47 seconds) 9-10 girls: Julia Anderson (1:23 seconds)
11-12 boys: Jules Craft (14.78)
11-12 girls: Carys McKenzie (1:19)
11-12 boys: David Tobin (1:16)
200 METER RUN
13-15 girls: Elizabeth Rene (1:01. New
5-6 girls: Min-Jee Gales (39.4 seconds. record. Old record 2008 Camille Chapus,
New record. First year for event)
1:18.47.)
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DINING WITH GRACE
Page 30
Palisades News
May 6, 2015
THE WATER GRILL
1401 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica • (310) 394-5669
I
have always enjoyed the Water
Grill downtown and looked forward to trying the Water Grill in
Santa Monica. With a terrific ocean
view, the restaurant has an absorbing, exuberant feeling as soon as you
enter. There is a busy bar to the right
and another to the left amidst tables
filled with happy, chatty diners.
The restaurant, formerly Ocean
Avenue Seafood, reopened as the
Water Grill in 2013. Naturally the
menu features seafood, but for beef
lovers there are four steaks listed
along with a charcoal-grilled organic
chicken.
And if, like our neighboring diner,
you must have a bacon cheddar cheeseburger and
French fries—there is also one of those for $15. It
looked so large that I did not know how he could eat it!
In any case, the seafood is what you want here.
Everything sounded delicious and a decision was hard
to make.
Appetizers of wild Spanish octopus or farmed Whales
Cove black mussels or a jumbo lump blue-crab cake are
just a few of the listings.
My friend and I decided to share the Atlantic cod fish
tacos ($12). These two soft tacos with beer-battered cod
in soft tortillas had a tasty coleslaw, pineapple and lime
wedges to accent the flavors, and
made a fine beginning. Also listed are
a number of salads and sandwiches
such as a big-eye tuna burger with
crispy onion rings ($18).
In addition to the dozen seafood
entrees, another menu lists four
specials of the day, such as farmed
Greek black bream ($32 per pound)
and shellfish such as live wild North
American hard-shell lobster ($25 per
pound). We ordered from the
regular menu.
My friend had the Wild Costa
Rican Mahi Mahi ($34), and I chose
the Wild Ross Sea Chilean Sea Bass
($39). Both were excellent. The tender
and tasty Mahi Mahi came with baby beets and carrots
with a delicious celery root puree, flavored with a savory
sherry gastrique.
My pan-sautéed Chilean sea bass was equally tasty.
Perfectly cooked, tender and delicious it came with
succulent herbed-ricotta gnudi balls and brown butter.
Each portion was more than enough, so we each took a
little home for the next day.
If you are interested in raw seafood, then ask for the
Raw Bar menu which features offerings from the Eastern
Coast and the Pacific. There is also a selection of chilled
shellfish and even iced shellfish platters—all of which
Healthy California Cuisine
Enjoy a unique blend of flavors that
come from freshly made food prepared
with wholesome, natural ingredients.
Salud!
E AT W E L L , L I V E W E L L
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Daily
15317 Antioch St., Pacific Palisades • 310.573.1335
come in a variety of sizes.
And, in case you take your little ones, there is a Kids’
Menu with grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries
($7), fish and chips ($10) and grilled Atlantic salmon
with vegetables ($12).
Of course, we had to share a dessert recommended
by our waiter Nick: an excellent bread pudding with
caramel ice cream that was so tasty that my friend and
I almost ate the entire dessert (which we usually do not).
The Water Grill opens at 11:30 a.m. every day and
closes at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on
Sunday. On Friday and Saturday the restaurant stays
open until midnight.
— GRACE HINEY
May 6, 2015
Page 31
Palisades News
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