Palisades-News-May-6-2015-

Page 16 Palisades News May 6, 2015Tennis, Tech, Coffee and CurrentEvents: A Recipe for FriendshipBy LAURA ABRUSCATOStaff WriterWhen 97-year-old Leonard Wolfeneeds help with his iPad, hedoesn’t have to look far. Justacross the table at Gelson’s that his morningcoffee group is gathered around is his friendand tennis buddy Gino Tanasescu, 72, whohelps his coffee-group friends with theirtechnology—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 downloadapps that allow him to watch livetennis tournaments.The group also includes Gil Dembo,whom they fondly call their “town crier,”and Eric Valentine, who slips into the storeto shop for bananas, then comes back todistribute them among his friends.Dembo, the Temescal Canyon Associationpresident, gets the conversation goingas soon as he pops by after his workout.After listening to the news he brings topicsof interest back to the group.“We’re going to discuss today beekeepingFriends (clockwise from top left) Gil Dembo, Gino Tanasescu, Eric Valentine and LeonardWolfe enjoy their daily morning coffee get-together outside Gelson’s. Photo: Lesly Hallin your backyard. Should you be allowed tohave three beehives in your backyard? Thisis going to be coming up at CommunityCouncil,” Dembo begins on a recent morning,asking each their opinion.After gathering a range of answers, hethen asks if they knew that boxer MannyPacquiao’s trainer has Parkinson’s disease,which leads to a conversation about othersthey know with the condition.Dembo, who works in commercial realestate, is the only non-tennis player in thegroup. “I came for coffee a couple of yearsago and I behaved,” he says with a laugh. APalisadian since 1967, he describes the groupas “friendship, support, stimulus, news andtennis.” His wife of 55 years, Barbara, sometimesjoins the group after her walk.If exercise and socializing help longevity,Wolfe is a good example. He comes forcoffee from the tennis courts a couple oftimes a week, where he hits against a ballmachine, or with his friend Tanasescu, isa good example.“I’m going to do it till I do it right,” jokesWolfe about tennis, which he began playingat age 13. He moved to the Palisades in 1955with Marion, his late wife, but his roots inthe community go farther back. He recallsdrives out to visit his girlfriend in the Pali -sades as a teen in the 1930s. Wolfe, one offour siblings, moved to Westwood fromBrooklyn in 1931, riding in a rumble seat(Continued on Page 17)