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Palisades-News-September-16-2015
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Vol. 1, No. 22 • September 16, 2015 Uniting the Community with News, Features and Commentary Circulation: 14,500 • $1.00<br />
MOJADA:<br />
A MEDEA<br />
FOR OUR<br />
TIME<br />
See Page 20<br />
Can a Fix Slow the Asilomar Slide?<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
Stopping a landslide from moving is an<br />
expensive proposition, and experts<br />
acknowledge that there is no stopping<br />
Mother Nature—but they believe movement<br />
can be slowed significantly on Asilomar<br />
Boulevard.<br />
The street, abutting El Medio and Almar<br />
Avenues, is built on a hillside that has two<br />
landslides. One starts 90 feet below the surface,<br />
extends into the Pacific Ocean, and<br />
is considered inactive. The other, 35 feet<br />
down, is continually moving.<br />
The City of Los Angeles installed inclinometers<br />
to measure ground movement<br />
on Asilomar in 2000.<br />
Five years later the movement of the<br />
hill had sheared off the top of one of the<br />
inclinometers. A year later a measurement<br />
showed that the ground had moved more<br />
than a foot vertically.<br />
The street below Asilomar, Puerto del<br />
Mar, has disappeared, all but for the<br />
cracked asphalt and dirt that marks where<br />
it once existed.<br />
A 2008 geotechnical report prepared by<br />
Ninyo and Moore estimated that the cost to<br />
remove the landslide and repair the hillside<br />
would run about $26 million.<br />
With the impending threat of an El Niño<br />
and its heavy rains, there is worry about the<br />
bluff and hillside above two mobile home<br />
Pacific Palisades Community Council President Chris Spitz welcomes Councilman<br />
Mike Bonin to last Thursday’s meeting.<br />
Photo: Shelby Pascoe<br />
Presorted Standard<br />
U.S. Postage<br />
PAID<br />
Pasadena, CA<br />
Permit #422<br />
Puerto del Mar, a street below Asilomar Boulevard, was destroyed by the movement of a landslide located in the hill.<br />
Postal Customer<br />
**************ECRWSSEDDM*************<br />
parks, Tahitian Terrace (156 spaces) and<br />
Palisades Bowl (176 spaces), that are located<br />
on Pacific Coast Highway just north of<br />
Temescal Canyon Road.<br />
The problem is complicated because the<br />
hillside is owned by three different entities:<br />
L.A. City, Eddie Biggs (Palisades Bowl) and<br />
(Continued on Page 9)<br />
Bonin Addresses Concerns at<br />
Community Council Meeting<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
Questions ranging from backyard<br />
beekeeping and Archer School expansion<br />
to a pedestrian overcrossing<br />
that would connect Potrero Canyon<br />
Park with Will Rogers Beach were presented<br />
to City Councilman Mike Bonin at<br />
the September 10 Pacific Palisades Community<br />
Council meeting.<br />
In an opening statement to the packed<br />
room, Bonin addressed four topics: homelessness,<br />
hosting the Olympics, sidewalk repairs<br />
and police/firefighter recruitment.<br />
“For too long we have allowed the homeless<br />
problem to fester,” Bonin said, noting<br />
Photo: Shelby Pascoe<br />
the City’s ongoing battle against lawsuits<br />
and court rulings. “Our [the City’s] policy<br />
has become ‘sidewalks first’ rather than<br />
‘housing first.’”<br />
Bonin said there are 17,000 to 19,000<br />
people who sleep outside every night in Los<br />
Angeles and that he is fighting to get resources<br />
so there is a “menu of resources between<br />
sidewalks and permanent housing.”<br />
He also praised the Pacific Palisades Homeless<br />
Task Force for its civic leadership.<br />
“A lot of folks are excited about hosting<br />
the Olympics,” Bonin said. “[But] I’m concerned<br />
that L.A. would be on the hook for<br />
any overruns,” if indeed it is selected as the<br />
host city for 2024. He noted that the City has<br />
(Continued on Page 9)<br />
Friends of Library Pop-Up Book Sale<br />
Hundreds of nearly-new fiction and nonfiction,<br />
art, cookbooks, coffee table books,<br />
DVDs and CDs will be sold 8:30 a.m. to 1:30<br />
p.m., Saturday, September 19 at the Palisades<br />
Branch Library parking lot, 861 Alma Real.<br />
As an added convenience, credit cards,<br />
as well as cash and checks, will now be <strong>accepted</strong><br />
for payment. In case of inclement<br />
weather, book sale will be postponed until<br />
the following Saturday.<br />
Proceeds help purchase books, research<br />
material and other items the branch would<br />
not otherwise be able to offer.<br />
Visit: friendsofpalilibrary.org.
Page 2 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
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September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 3<br />
California Incline Construction Update<br />
Due to slope stabilization, the pedestrian overcrossing above the Incline may now be<br />
replaced during Incline construction. Initially it was going to be place one to two years later<br />
and require another Incline closure of four to six months. Photo courtesy of City of Santa Monica<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
Many people who have moved to<br />
the Palisades in recent years<br />
may not know about the 1978<br />
October fire that destroyed 16 homes and<br />
St. Matthew’s Church sanctuary as it roared<br />
through the Santa Monica Mountains just<br />
north of town.<br />
According to Los Angeles firefighters, the<br />
fire season, which typically begins in October,<br />
is ahead of normal this year because of<br />
the drought and persistent heat.<br />
Hillside residents received notices asking<br />
them to water plants and vegetation, while<br />
still following water restrictions. L.A.<br />
County Fire Chief Daryl Osby wrote in an<br />
August 21 letter: “The four-year drought<br />
has forced us all to cut back on water usage;<br />
however, we would like to encourage those<br />
residents in the wildland-urban interface<br />
to continue to judiciously water plants and<br />
ornamental vegetation in accordance with<br />
your local water restriction ordinance.”<br />
Additionally, all Palisades residents<br />
should make sure brush clearance is properly<br />
done.<br />
Observe Red Flag days. In 2006, LAFD<br />
was asked to identify areas such as very narrow<br />
roads, hairpin turns, tight curves and<br />
key intersections that, if not cleared of vehicles,<br />
would create a choke point during<br />
a fire. People need to be able to evacuate<br />
fire areas and firefighters need to be able to<br />
access these areas. Vehicles illegally parked<br />
will be ticketed and towed.<br />
If a fire is close to your property, evacuate.<br />
Leave early to avoid being caught in<br />
fire, smoke or road congestion. Don’t wait<br />
to be told by authorities. If it is an intense<br />
wildfire, they may not have time to knock<br />
on every door.<br />
“When the wind comes up, all bets are<br />
off,” retired Fire Station 69 Captain Mike<br />
Ketailly told the News.<br />
If you have an elderly neighbor, make<br />
sure they get out, too. The evacuation center<br />
for Pacific Palisades is Palisades High<br />
School. For those who have large animals,<br />
such as horses, the evacuation center is Paul<br />
Revere Middle School.<br />
Remember: You can replace property,<br />
but not lives.<br />
Be prepared. LAFD reminds residents to<br />
keep a pair of shoes and a flashlight ready<br />
in the event of a night evacuation and to<br />
have the six “P’s” ready: 1.) people and pets;<br />
2.) papers, phone numbers and important<br />
documents; 3.) prescriptions, vitamins and<br />
eyeglasses; 4.) pictures and irreplaceable<br />
The California Incline bridge, which<br />
closed in mid-April for reconstruction,<br />
is on target for completion by<br />
May 2016.<br />
“It is 30 percent complete,” said Santa<br />
Monica City Engineer Lee Swain at the<br />
PCH Task Force meeting held in Malibu on<br />
September 2. “All the piles have been completed<br />
and 450 soil nails have been put into<br />
the bluffs.”<br />
Swain explained that the nails extend 20<br />
to 75 feet into the bluffs and then are surrounded<br />
by concrete, which stabilizes the<br />
slope. One of the requirements of MCM<br />
Construction, in addition to the bridge replacement,<br />
was slope stabilization.<br />
The Incline Replacement Project has<br />
been in the planning stages since 2009,<br />
when the 1930s-built bridge was deemed<br />
seismically unsafe.<br />
“By December, two of the three bridge<br />
decks will be laid,” Swain said.<br />
Although there were dire predictions of<br />
traffic problems along Pacific Coast High-<br />
Be Prepared for a Possible Wildfire<br />
Photo taken on October 23, 1978, above Temescal Canyon. The fire destroyed 16 homes<br />
in Pacific Palisades and St. Matthew’s Church sanctuary.<br />
Photo: Jim Kenney<br />
memorabilia 5.) personal computers (information<br />
on hard drive and disks) and<br />
6.) plastic (credit and ATM cards) and cash.<br />
Before leaving your house: close all windows<br />
and doors to prevent sparks from blowing<br />
inside; close all doors inside your house<br />
to slow the spread of fire; turn on the lights<br />
in every room, the porch and yard, to make<br />
your house more visible through the smoke<br />
or darkness; and move furniture away from<br />
windows and sliding glass doors to avoid<br />
ignition from the radiant heat of the fire.<br />
Help firefighters by making sure all combustible<br />
yard furniture is away from your<br />
home; attach garden hoses to faucets and<br />
place them so they are accessible; place a<br />
ladder against the house on the opposite<br />
side of the approaching fire for access to<br />
the roof; and shut off butane/propane or<br />
natural gas valves.<br />
way because of the closure, traffic is flowing<br />
smoothly, except for evening and weekend<br />
traffic jams at the PCH/Pier exit.<br />
The stoplight at the Incline, which is almost<br />
permanently green, has led to complaints<br />
about the short timing of the light<br />
at Chautauqua and PCH, and the resulting<br />
backup of cars turning onto PCH and West<br />
Channel Road. At the meeting, Caltrans officials<br />
said they would check the timing.<br />
Additionally, Santa Monica police asked<br />
if the light at the Incline could be programmed<br />
to turn red, in order to allow cars<br />
attempting to make a left into beach parking<br />
just north of the McClure Tunnel the<br />
opportunity to do so safely.<br />
On September 9, Construction Manager<br />
Curtis Castle reported on the pedestrian<br />
overcrossing (POC) that goes directly above<br />
the Incline.<br />
“The City originally planned to replace<br />
the POC one to two years after the Incline<br />
project. This would have required another<br />
closure of about four to six months of the<br />
Incline,” Castle said. “However, due to condition<br />
of the current POC and the desire to<br />
take advantage of the current closure and<br />
avoid a second closure of the Incline, the<br />
City is planning to demolish and replace<br />
the structure as part of a change order to<br />
the Incline contract.”<br />
The City of Santa Monica is working<br />
with the contractor to determine cost before<br />
proceeding.<br />
Marquez School<br />
Hosts Food Truck<br />
Festival Sunday<br />
The seventh annual back-to-school<br />
Food Truck Festival will be held from<br />
4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 20<br />
at the Marquez Elementary School<br />
lower yard.<br />
A portion of the proceeds will benefit<br />
Marquez.<br />
Co-chairs Amanda Keston and<br />
Laura Marie Salinas said, “Everyone is<br />
welcome and we look forward to seeing<br />
you there! It’s going to be a really<br />
fun day of food and fun at Marquez.”<br />
Food trucks will include Baby’s<br />
Badass Burgers, Joe’s Pizza, The Green<br />
Truck, Border Grill and Martin’s Ice<br />
Cream Truck.<br />
The Palisades High School awardwinning<br />
marching band and the PaliHi<br />
dance team will perform. Cheer<br />
Mania will teach cheers and lead<br />
other activities.<br />
Marquez spirit clothing will be on<br />
sale. Parents working with Marquez<br />
Adopt A Book will be on site to allow<br />
parents and friends to purchase a book<br />
to celebrate a child’s birthday or honor<br />
a teacher (or make a cash donation).
Page 4 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Councilman’s Aide Has Roots Here<br />
By LAUREL BUSBY<br />
Staff Writer<br />
THE HOPE RANCH<br />
82 ACRES<br />
1172 Encinal Canyon Rd, Malibu<br />
OFFERED AT $5,990,000<br />
Agreat-grandchild of the founder of<br />
Pacific Palisades has returned to<br />
the area to help residents with<br />
their problems.<br />
Sharon Shapiro is the newest field dep -<br />
uty for L.A. City Councilmember Mike<br />
Bonin, who represents the 11th District,<br />
which includes the Palisades, Brentwood,<br />
Marina del Rey, West LA, Venice, Playa del<br />
Rey, Mar Vista and Westchester. Shapiro<br />
works with him in Brentwood and the Pal -<br />
isades to address both broad issues like<br />
homelessness and more personal issues,<br />
such as helping with an individual resident’s<br />
trash collection problems.<br />
“Anything and everything,” said Shapiro,<br />
29, who started working for Bonin in July.<br />
“It ranges from day to day—that’s what<br />
makes this job so interesting.”<br />
Shapiro’s great-grandfather is Rev.<br />
Charles Scott, who founded the Palisades<br />
with the Southern California Episcopal<br />
Methodist Church in 1922. She grew up<br />
in Los Feliz, where she still lives, and for<br />
the previous eight years, she worked with<br />
Councilman Tom LaBonge as his Hollywood<br />
area director. However, with LaBonge’s<br />
term ending in June and former Bonin field<br />
deputy Norm Kulla retiring, an opportu-<br />
Sharon Shapiro is Councilman Mike<br />
Bonin’s field deputy for Pacific Palisades.<br />
nity emerged to join Bonin’s team.<br />
“Working for him has been one of the<br />
best things I’ve been able to do in my eightyear<br />
career,” said Shapiro, who graduated<br />
from Whittier College in 2007 with a degree<br />
in political science. He’s “incredibly bright.<br />
It’s amazing and humbling to work for<br />
someone who is so smart.”<br />
The job also came with the perk of<br />
spending time in an area that holds a special<br />
appeal due to her family history. “I<br />
thought it would be a nice stepping stone<br />
to a community that I felt personally connected<br />
to.” Shapiro’s grandmother Martha<br />
was Scott’s daughter.<br />
Shapiro has found both similarities to<br />
and differences from her previous Hollywood<br />
post. Homelessness is also an issue<br />
there, and she was one of the founding participants<br />
in Hollywood 4wrd (four walls, a<br />
roof and a door), which worked to address<br />
homelessness in the area. Bonin also has<br />
focused recently on homelessness, and in<br />
July, his editorial advocating a continuum<br />
of safe havens for the homeless was printed<br />
in the L.A. Daily News.<br />
She has also found that both quality of<br />
life concerns and preservation of open<br />
space are common interests of Hollywood<br />
and the Palisades. However, Hollywood also<br />
has its busy nightlife aspects and issues surrounding<br />
the Hollywood sign, while the<br />
Palisades has a different style, with an involved<br />
citizenry and “small town neighborhood<br />
feel to it.” She noted, “It’s great to have<br />
a sense of community, and I feel that the<br />
Palisades really has that.”<br />
There are new issues too. Because the ocean<br />
lies on one side of the Palisades, the Coastal<br />
Commission has become part of her work.<br />
Shapiro has also started attending Pacific<br />
Palisades Community Council meet ings to<br />
learn more about local concerns and report<br />
back to Bonin. “I think he takes that to heart.”<br />
DAN URBACH PRESENTS<br />
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OFFERED AT $5,890,000<br />
In addition, Shapiro has begun reaching<br />
out to local leadership groups, such as the<br />
American Legion Post 283 and the Tem es -<br />
cal Canyon Association, to learn as much<br />
as she can about the area, from its history<br />
to current concerns.<br />
Her goal is to serve “as a bridge and a<br />
conduit,” Shapiro said. “It’s difficult to navigate<br />
city departments . . . Sometimes you<br />
need a little bit of personal attention.”<br />
To contact Shapiro, call (310) 575-8461<br />
or email her at sharon.shapiro@lacity.org.<br />
Blood Drive Will<br />
Be Held Sept. 20<br />
Dr. Mike Martini is organizing a community<br />
blood drive, sponsored by Pacific<br />
Palisades Optimist Club, from 9 a.m. to 3<br />
p.m. on Sunday, September 20, at the Amer -<br />
ican Legion Hall at 15427 La Cruz Dr. For<br />
an appointment, call (310) 454-0527 or<br />
visit redcrossblood.org and mention sponsor<br />
code Post 283. Walks-in are welcome.<br />
Donors are reminded to eat a nutritious<br />
meal beforehand, drink plenty of fluids<br />
and bring a photo identification. Donors<br />
will receive a coupon for free admission to<br />
Madam Tussaud’s Hollywood (regular admission<br />
is $29.95) and admission for two<br />
to the Laugh Factory Comedy Club.<br />
MAGNIFICENT<br />
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Breathtaking 5bd/7.5ba ocn view Med estate on<br />
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Magnificent 4bd/3ba Craftsman w/ dramatic ocn & mtn<br />
vus. Custom craftsmanship & vintage details meld<br />
seamlessly w/ all modern conveniences. Huge private<br />
backyard. Great end of cul-de-sac location.<br />
www.965Chattanooga.com<br />
Dan was recently congratulated by John Closson, Vice President and Regional Manager of Berkshire Hathaway<br />
HomeServices, for being the “Top Producing” agent in the Pacific Palisades office for 2014, as well as one of<br />
the “Top Ten” agents nationwide out of more than 35,000 Berkshire Hathaway sales professionals.<br />
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Pacific Palisades, CA 90272<br />
S PECIALIZING IN P ACIFIC P ALISADES, MALIBU, SANTA M ONICA<br />
Dan Urbach<br />
Luxury Property<br />
Specialist
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 5<br />
PCH Is a Jurisdiction Nightmare;<br />
Uber/Lyft Lowering DUI Arrests<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
In just 10 miles along Pacific Coast Highway,<br />
from the McClure Tunnel to the<br />
Malibu Pier, it would be possible to receive<br />
a traffic ticket from four different law<br />
enforcement entities: the California Highway<br />
Patrol (CHP) West Valley; Los Angeles<br />
County Sheriff’s Malibu-Lost Hills Station;<br />
Los Angeles Police Department West L.A.;<br />
and Santa Monica Police Department.<br />
At the PCH Taskforce meeting on September<br />
2, each group reported on traffic<br />
accidents on the portion of the road they<br />
patrol.<br />
CHP’s Leland Tang, whose jurisdiction<br />
is from Coastline to Malibu city limits, reported<br />
that through August there had been<br />
seven collisions: three involved injuries and<br />
four had property damage. By comparison,<br />
there were nine collisions in 2014. “The primary<br />
factor [for the accidents] was speed,”<br />
Tang said.<br />
Lt. James Royal with the sheriff’s department,<br />
whose jurisdiction extends from<br />
Malibu (where CHP’s jurisdiction ends) to<br />
Leo Carrillo Beach, said there were 191 accidents<br />
this year compared to 200 in 2014,<br />
through the end of July.<br />
Last year there were four fatalities, compared<br />
to five at the time of the PCH meeting.<br />
In February, Bruce Jenner’s Cadillac Escalade<br />
slammed into two other cars and a<br />
woman was killed. According to Reuters, the<br />
investigation showed speed was a factor—<br />
considering the existing traffic conditions.<br />
The second fatality was in March. Mela -<br />
nie Quinonez, who had pulled over to the<br />
side of the road, was hit while standing next<br />
to her vehicle in the early morning hours.<br />
The hit and run resulted in the arrest of a<br />
25-year-old.<br />
Deputies say PCH can be dangerous for<br />
pedestrians, joggers and even motorists who<br />
pull over, and warn, “When you’re on PCH,<br />
please be aware of your surroundings. Be<br />
careful when you exit your car and when<br />
you’re walking on PCH.”<br />
The third victim was a hiker from Scotland<br />
who attempted to cross PCH. Also in June,<br />
Dwayne Coleman, known as MC Su preme,<br />
died when a truck slammed into Coleman’s<br />
vehicle, which was parked along PCH.<br />
In August, a transient on a bike attempt -<br />
ed to cross PCH, near Zuma, at 8:30 p.m.<br />
“He didn’t have any lights,” Royal said. The<br />
man was airlifted to Ronald Reagan UCLA<br />
Hospital, and died four hours later.<br />
“Hit and runs are also up significantly,”<br />
Royal said. There were 43 this year through<br />
July as compared to 27 last year. Also DUIs<br />
were up: 74 this year and 57 last year.<br />
That DUI rise was different than the<br />
other three law enforcement agencies,<br />
which saw a decline.<br />
“It is absolutely noticeable how many<br />
“But in more affluent<br />
areas people are taking<br />
Uber and Lyft. It’s taking<br />
more drunks off the road.”<br />
— Nyamweci Samuel, LAPD<br />
drunks are taking Uber,” said LAPD’s<br />
Nyamweci Samuel, who said he observed at<br />
the last DUI checkpoint that at one point—<br />
of six cars, five were Uber drivers taking<br />
inebriated people home.<br />
Samuel’s area on PCH extends from<br />
Chautauqua Boulevard to Coastline Drive.<br />
“I cover such a small area,” he said, noting<br />
that accidents were up slightly, but there<br />
have been no fatalities in 2015.<br />
“In less affluent areas, people drink and<br />
then roll the dice and drive,” Samuel said.<br />
“But in more affluent areas people are taking<br />
Uber and Lyft. It’s taking more drunks<br />
off the road.”<br />
Other enforcement officials agreed that<br />
DUIs were down and Tang added, “State -<br />
wide DUI arrests are going down.”<br />
Samuel said that more of the DUIs now<br />
appear to be drug-related, rather than alcohol-related.<br />
He also said that at DUI checkpoints, officers<br />
look for unlicensed drivers because<br />
“Those drivers are five times more likely<br />
to get in a fatal accident.”<br />
Santa Monica Police officials reported<br />
there have been 21 collisions (10 involving<br />
injuries) through August from McClure<br />
Tunnel to Entrada. The highest frequency<br />
of accidents is on Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m.<br />
and the major reason is speed.<br />
Samuel, Tang and McDonnel said that<br />
there is an attempt to do more education,<br />
warnings and less ticketing. “If we give you<br />
a ticket it’s for education, not because we’re<br />
mean,” Samuel said.<br />
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Page 6 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Heard<br />
About Town<br />
Upset by Jewelry Store Letter<br />
We have received another letter addressed<br />
simply to “Resident,” this time from<br />
a Westwood jewelry store. They claim they<br />
were most upset to hear about a wellknown<br />
Palisades jeweler and his troubled<br />
business and claim, “At Sarah Leonard Fine<br />
Jewelers, we are known for quality and<br />
ethics, something Pacific Palisades could<br />
use right now.” Sarah Leonard is probably<br />
not known for compassion, something else<br />
the Palisades could use right now. No, owners<br />
of Sarah Leonard, after receiving this<br />
letter, I would rather go to a pawn shop or<br />
flea market before I set foot in your store.<br />
Alcohol Tasting in Stores<br />
I read in the Community Council minutes<br />
that Gelson’s and Ralphs are applying<br />
to be able to have alcohol tasting tables in<br />
their liquor aisles. This really doesn’t seem<br />
appropriate in such family-oriented environments,<br />
with kids walking past the<br />
tables and observing. This also sounds<br />
dangerous, sending people out the door<br />
with a buzz as they try to remember<br />
where they parked their car.<br />
(Editor’s note: It is a tasting and the area<br />
will be “fenced off” from children. Stores<br />
are restricted to one vendor and one alcohol<br />
choice per day. The most one person will<br />
receive in a day is 8 oz. of beer or 3 oz. of<br />
wine—half a cup is 4 oz.)<br />
DWP Working on Sunset<br />
DWP have been working Sunset between<br />
Marquez and Temescal. We understand<br />
from the workers that they are<br />
laying more electrical lines from Brentwood.<br />
Has the DWP given up on the controversial<br />
new Distribution Station?<br />
(Editor’s note: According to DWP spokes -<br />
person Carol Tucker, there has been no<br />
movement on a site selection for DS 104.<br />
The project you observed is to upgrade the<br />
existing electrical line that goes underground<br />
from Kenter Canyon to the ocean.<br />
The purpose is to provide greater power reliability<br />
in this high-voltage transmission<br />
line, and is not related to the new DS.)<br />
Hot Days and Burned Paws<br />
Our sidewalks are awfully hot during<br />
these heat waves. Please be careful not to<br />
walk your dog on any surface you wouldn’t<br />
want to walk barefoot on yourself.<br />
———————<br />
If you’d like to share something you’ve<br />
“heard about town,” please email it to<br />
spascoe@palisadesnews.com<br />
Oops!<br />
In the “Stop Thief!! Residents Give<br />
Chase” story in the September 2 issue,<br />
Bentons Sports Shop was identified as<br />
Benton’s. Bentons has been a staple on<br />
the Westside and a retail mainstay on<br />
North Swarthmore for the past 33<br />
years and we apologize for the error.<br />
ANN CLEAVES<br />
VIEWPOINT<br />
The Beauty of Diversity<br />
By RABBI ZUSHE CUNIN<br />
Executive Director,<br />
Chabad Jewish Community Campus<br />
The weekly Swarthmore farmers’ market is<br />
a colorful and vibrant place with many<br />
enticing and diverse fruits, vegetables<br />
and products to buy.<br />
Strolling through the open market, I also<br />
enjoy bumping into old friends, and making<br />
new ones. On a recent visit, I saw more than<br />
30 friends and acquaintances of all ages,<br />
backgrounds and occupations. I enjoyed<br />
conversing with them all.<br />
One sports coach shared with me his<br />
philosophy about success, saying “The difference<br />
between a successful person and an unsuccessful<br />
one is the successful person tried just one time<br />
more than the other.”<br />
A real estate investor I encountered told me<br />
his greatest life lesson: “No matter how much<br />
you make, only what is shared with family,<br />
friends and the needy really counts.”<br />
These “chance” meetings at the farmers’ market<br />
got me thinking about diversity and beauty.<br />
What is beauty? Is there a theme or rule for<br />
what is beautiful? Why does one person find<br />
something beautiful while another finds it<br />
unattractive or plain?<br />
Psychologists say symmetry plays a role. We<br />
tend to find symmetrical faces attractive as a<br />
sign of health. Familiarity with something also<br />
makes it beautiful in our eyes; while new and<br />
unfamiliar views can take our breath away.<br />
The Bible refers to the “etrog,” a citrus fruit used<br />
during the upcoming Sukkot holiday or Feast of<br />
Tabernacles, as beautiful or “hadar” in Hebrew.<br />
Its beauty is explained from the fact it “lives”<br />
(“dar”) on the tree for four seasons, therefore<br />
uniting each unique season within this final<br />
fruity product.<br />
Jewish mystical teachings of Kabbalah explain<br />
another word for beauty in Hebrew: “tiferet,”<br />
which also means “to weave.” This implies that<br />
beauty comes from weaving together various<br />
elements into a unified whole, as in sewing<br />
pieces of fabric into a garment.<br />
We see this in nature, too. A rainbow has bands<br />
of color, each beautiful in its own right. But the<br />
unique combination creates magnificence greater<br />
than the sum of its parts. Diversity is nature’s<br />
secret to not only beauty, but also survival.<br />
If we define beauty this way, then Pacific<br />
Palisades would be a prime example. Our<br />
hometown harmonizes various landscapes—<br />
mountains, ocean, lowlands and highlands—<br />
into one natural paradise. Each has its own<br />
unique beauty, but viewed as a whole, its collective<br />
beauty surpasses it all.<br />
Nature and her creator are teaching us an<br />
important lesson. Diversity is beauty; diversity<br />
is a blessing. As a community leader, I interact<br />
with people of varied ideological, educational<br />
and social backgrounds. I have learned from<br />
every one of them. I am not above anyone,<br />
nor is anyone above me.<br />
Together, we are a community of many colors<br />
and variations. Each of us is important. No, it’s<br />
more—each of us is crucial and irreplaceable.<br />
You offer something to the world that cannot<br />
be fulfilled by someone else.<br />
We can use this understanding to accept and<br />
tolerate where we differ. We can also go a step<br />
further—to see those different from us as<br />
completing us. We can appreciate how the other<br />
person’s differences serve our community, and<br />
actually make us all better, more complete<br />
and beautiful.<br />
Wishing you a healthy, sweet and beautiful<br />
New Year!<br />
Thought to Ponder<br />
“Life’s like a play: it’s not<br />
the length, but the<br />
excellence of the acting<br />
that matters.”<br />
― Lucius Annaeus Seneca<br />
Founded November 5, 2014<br />
———————<br />
15332 Antioch Street #169<br />
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272<br />
(310) 401-7690<br />
www.PalisadesNews.com<br />
———————<br />
Publisher<br />
Scott Wagenseller<br />
swag@palisadesnews.com<br />
Editor<br />
Sue Pascoe<br />
spascoe@palisadesnews.com<br />
Features<br />
Laurie Rosenthal<br />
LRosenthal@palisadesnews.com<br />
Graphics Director<br />
Manfred Hofer<br />
Digital Content and Technology<br />
Kurt Park<br />
Advertising<br />
Jeff Ridgway<br />
jeffridgway@palisadesnews.com<br />
Grace Hiney<br />
gracehiney@palisadesnews.com<br />
Jeff Parr<br />
jparr@palisadesnews.com<br />
Advisor<br />
Bill Bruns<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
Laura Abruscato, Laurel Busby,<br />
Libby Motika, Logan Taylor<br />
Contributing Photographers<br />
Bart Bartholomew, Shelby Pascoe<br />
———————<br />
A bi-monthly newspaper mailed on the<br />
first and third Wednesday of each month.<br />
14,500 circulation includes zip code 90272<br />
and Sullivan, Mandeville and Santa Mon -<br />
ica Canyons.All content printed herein,<br />
and in our digital editions, is copyrighted.<br />
Online:<br />
palisadesnews.com
Palisades News<br />
September 16, 2015 A forum for open discussion of community issues<br />
Page 7<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
Kill the MRCA’s Stop-Sign Cameras<br />
Astory in the Daily News (“WAZE App Blamed for<br />
Traffic in Parks,” September 7) explained that<br />
heavy traffic in local mountain parks, such as<br />
Temescal Canyon, is the result of people using the trafficnavigating<br />
app.<br />
“Traffic apps such as WAZE advertise routes through<br />
parks like Franklin Canyon Park,” said Fernando Gomez,<br />
chief ranger for the Mountains Recreation Conservatory<br />
Authority (MRCA). “This has resulted in a substantial<br />
increase in traffic and created a huge hazard for park users.”<br />
Later in the story, Gomez concludes: “The park access<br />
roads in most of our parks, such as Franklin Canyon<br />
Park, or Temescal Gateway Park in Pacific Palisades, were<br />
never intended to support the kind of volume that they<br />
now do.”<br />
Those of us who live in Pacific Palisades know the road<br />
into Temescal soon deadends and that WAZE would not<br />
send a driver there.<br />
In the story, Gomez was not questioned about whether<br />
the increase in people could be the result of hiking apps<br />
or social media.<br />
Palisades resident Warren Cereghino described a visit<br />
to Temescal Gateway Park on August 27. “On the driveway<br />
heading up into the park, about 20 yards north of the<br />
marked crosswalk/entrance to the lower parking lot,<br />
there are four traffic-counting cables stretched across the<br />
Money May Not Be the Answer<br />
I have been following the discussion of the homeless<br />
in the Palisades and have personally communicated<br />
with Officer Moore and written to Mayor Garcetti and<br />
Councilman Bonin.<br />
As a licensed psychologist, I worked in community<br />
mental health for a number of years and am discouraged<br />
that we seem a long way from effective solutions. Los<br />
Angeles has a shameful and degrading problem with<br />
homelessness, and our representatives need to learn from<br />
other places that have been more successful.<br />
Mr. Maceri presents a rather incomplete explanation of<br />
the causes of and solutions to the problem of homeless<br />
people living in public places (Palisades News, “Money<br />
Sought for Homeless Solution,” September 2). His<br />
advocacy that money would be well spent on hiring two<br />
of his social workers is likely a poor investment.<br />
The mantra “homelessness is not a crime” is off point<br />
and leads to the failed conclusion that we all must accept<br />
that people are free to live in very degraded conditions<br />
and behave as they wish in the community. Mr. Maceri<br />
would have us believe that the best we can do is cajole the<br />
chronically homeless, who often have chronic substance<br />
abuse and serious mental/behavior problems, into<br />
accepting help of their choice.<br />
A very important factor he did not mention is the<br />
change in laws that coincided with the closing of mental<br />
hospitals and other residential facilities.<br />
Thanks to the misguided notion of “civil liberties,”<br />
we are now very limited in getting anyone to accept<br />
shelter and needed medical and psychiatric treatment.<br />
roadway and anchored by some kind of nails and tape,<br />
with the terminal part looped around a tree on the left<br />
side. I thought to myself, ‘Oh, they’re counting traffic.<br />
Hmm, I wonder why?’<br />
“When I got up to the camera-enforced stop sign I<br />
saw a metal pole extending about 15 to 20 feet into the<br />
air with some kind of device on top. I surmise that it is a<br />
signal receiver for the tire-counting cables I noted above.<br />
The pole is connected to the stop-sign post and a metal<br />
box is chained to the post and the pole at the bottom.”<br />
A few days later, our editor visited the park and found<br />
the devices gone.<br />
Why? And why MRCA’s sudden interest in counting<br />
cars? The Daily News story concluded: “The warning<br />
comes as senators in Sacramento plan to discuss in<br />
January if the nine cameras installed at stop signs<br />
overseen by the conservation authority are justified.”<br />
Ah ha! The Daily News story was not about WAZE or<br />
increased car traffic, it was about stop-sign cameras.<br />
MRCA operates photo-enforced stop sign cameras,<br />
which generate $1.5 million annually in gross revenue.<br />
Tickets ($100 for the first offense) are mailed to the<br />
registered owner of the vehicle as identified from a<br />
photo of the rear license plate. The tickets are<br />
administrative citations, which don’t count against an<br />
individual driving record, but are turned over to a<br />
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR<br />
After the investment of considerable police and professional<br />
time, a disturbed or disabled person can be<br />
placed on a 72-hour hold if they are gravely disabled or<br />
present an imminent danger to themselves or others.<br />
After 72 hours a court hearing is required to hold<br />
someone for up to two weeks.<br />
This is very costly as well as ineffective with chronic<br />
populations. Even two weeks is too short a time to begin<br />
to help someone with multiple problems, so people are<br />
back on the street in the same condition. As a result, the<br />
trend has been to virtually give up on taking even the<br />
most grievously disabled or disruptive people in for an<br />
evaluation. What’s the point?<br />
Another factor has been the loss of will to enforce laws<br />
and regulations pertaining to public behavior and the<br />
use of public facilities. Not all cities tolerate skid row,<br />
encampments on hillsides, public intoxication, disturbing<br />
the peace, etc. Right now Los Angeles turns a blind eye<br />
to what used to be and should be unacceptable.<br />
Case in point is the man who appears to be both<br />
physically and psychiatrically gravely disabled who spends<br />
his whole day lying on the concrete sidewalks of the<br />
Palisades. He appears in very compromised physical<br />
health, is often barely clothed, and almost always surrounded<br />
by trash. He is easily agitated, rants, and<br />
threatens people.<br />
I find his condition as well as his impact on the<br />
community to be dreadful. Officer Moore told me that<br />
when asked, this man says he doesn’t want help, and<br />
therefore nothing can be done. After recently threatening<br />
a resident, he was finally taken in for what I assume was<br />
collection agency if not paid.<br />
When the cameras first appeared in Temescal in 2007,<br />
former Beverly Hills attorney, local activist and resident<br />
Jack Allen contended that the park deliberately ignored<br />
state law and national standards to raise revenue: The<br />
state Vehicle Code authorizes using automated traffic<br />
enforcement at stop signals, not stop signs.<br />
Many agree with his analysis, and last May Senate<br />
Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) introduced<br />
a bill to kill the cameras.<br />
Pacific Palisades Community Council reached out to<br />
State Senators Fran Pavley, Huff and Ben Allen, asking<br />
them to support SB 218 to end stop-sign photo enforcement.<br />
The PPCC wrote: “The two photo enforcement<br />
machines MRCA placed in Pacific Palisades’ Temescal<br />
Canyon Gateway Park are at intersections with no history<br />
of accidents or injury and very little traffic. As a result,<br />
PPCC has received numerous complaints about erroneous<br />
enforcement by these machines.”<br />
Senate Natural Resources Committee Chair Pavley<br />
blocked the bill in May in order to curb speeding in the<br />
parks and save stop-sign revenue. In January 2016, SB<br />
218 will return to the committee for a second time.<br />
The News agrees with Huff, Allen and the PPCC, and<br />
thinks it is time for MRCA to retire stop-sign cameras.<br />
a 72-hour evaluation and then released with absolutely<br />
no improvement in either his condition or behavior.<br />
In sum, three things need to be changed. First, commitment<br />
laws need to be such that people in need of<br />
intervention can be held for a longer period so evaluation<br />
and meaningful treatment become possible.<br />
Can anyone really argue that our current approach<br />
is compassionate to let chronically psychotic people lie<br />
on the sidewalk all day, because they are able to say,<br />
“I’m fine and can take of myself?”<br />
Second, some of our taxes should be directed to provide<br />
sufficient low-cost facilities that will house people quickly.<br />
This will entail simplifying the many regulations associated<br />
with putting a roof over someone’s head.<br />
Finally, our representatives need to be serious about<br />
not letting people live in public spaces, disturb the rest<br />
of the community, and break laws. I suggest we spend<br />
our money on a campaign to get Mayor Garcetti and<br />
other representatives to very actively get going on<br />
changing the paradigm and making this a priority.<br />
Linda R. Friar, Ph.D.<br />
Caruso’s Liquor License Plans<br />
Thank you so much for the article on the Caruso plan<br />
for liquor licenses (September 2). It sounds like he wants<br />
to open a movie theater and surround it with a food<br />
(Continued on Page 8)<br />
Palisades News welcomes all letters, which may be mailed to<br />
spascoe@palisadesnews.com. Please include a name, address<br />
and telephone number so we may reach you. Letters do not<br />
necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Palisades News.
Page 8 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Letters<br />
(Continued from Page 7)<br />
court full of bars, and he won’t guarantee<br />
reasonable closing and delivery hours as<br />
evidenced with his fight over the liquor<br />
license at the Oak Room.<br />
I live in the Alphabet Streets, the<br />
neighborhood most affected by Caruso<br />
traffic. I don’t want 10 venues with liquor<br />
licenses. I don’t want restaurants that<br />
stay open until 2 a.m. so that Caruso can<br />
make some more money off the bars. I<br />
don’t want a one-way street that will<br />
drive traffic into the Alphabet Streets.<br />
Our neighborhood is already overrun<br />
with cars from the village. Our streets<br />
are less than 24 feet wide. It’s already a<br />
dangerous situation because of the<br />
crowded conditions. Our local fire station<br />
wants us to have parking on one side of<br />
the street because they can’t get their<br />
truck through the street, but the city<br />
won’t grant it. Now we have to deal with<br />
drunks and workers going home after 2<br />
a.m.? It’s not safe.<br />
I went through Jonathan Gold’s list of<br />
101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles.<br />
Only one stayed open until 2 a.m. The<br />
rest closed at 10 or 10:30 p.m. and stayed<br />
open a little later on weekends. It doesn’t<br />
sound like Caruso is looking for quality,<br />
just quantity. We have to fight this. We<br />
don’t need 10 venues with liquor licenses<br />
and we have to restrict the house of<br />
operation and delivery.<br />
Neighbors, please write to our City<br />
Council represen tative Mike Bonin<br />
(councilmember.bonin@lacity.org) and<br />
Debbie Dyner-Harris (Debbie.dynerharris<br />
@lacity. org) in Bonin’s office. Tell them<br />
not to approve this plan. Also write to<br />
Mustafa Blorfroshan (zaki.mustafa<br />
@lacity. org) at DOT and Nazario Sauceda<br />
(bss.bass@lacity.org), Director-City of<br />
L.A. Bureau of Street Services, about the<br />
one-way street. If we can’t use Swarthmore<br />
from the Alphabet Streets, this will force<br />
more cars onto Monument and Via de la<br />
Paz. Thank you.<br />
Patrice Dobrowitsky<br />
Women’s Self-Defense Class<br />
Our Women’s Self-Defense Course was<br />
a smashing success. We had five women<br />
sign up. The first hour we spent going<br />
over a PowerPoint Presentation and<br />
discussed how to recognize and avoid<br />
potentially dangerous situations. The ladies<br />
learned about anatomy and physiology,<br />
how to use pressure points, how to<br />
punch and kick, escape from a hold, etc.<br />
Then we spent three hours at the park,<br />
where we practiced various techniques.<br />
Everyone had a good time and learned<br />
a lot. We’re going to set up another class<br />
on September 19. Hopefully, we can get<br />
more people interested. Thanks for putting<br />
a story in the paper (August 19).<br />
Bill Shuttic<br />
Ultimate Health<br />
BUSINESS NOTES<br />
OPENINGS<br />
Sweet Rose Creamery, an artisanal ice<br />
cream shop owned by Palisadians Josh Loeb<br />
and Zoe Nathan, opened in August. Located<br />
next to Palisades Hi-Tech on Monument<br />
Street (at Sunset). Visit: sweetrosecreamery.com<br />
or call: (310) 260-2663.<br />
Roast: The deli-style eatery, which opened<br />
its first location in Brentwood in 2012,<br />
opened in the Highlands Village (former site<br />
of Chez Mimi restaurant) over Labor Day.<br />
Chef Whitney Werner describes Roast as a<br />
new-style deli that includes organic meats<br />
and roasted vegetables ($12.95 to $16.95<br />
for sandwiches and entrées with sides) that<br />
can be eaten in the restaurant or delivered<br />
for a home-cooked-style meal. Call (310)<br />
230-6000 or visit: roastdelimarket.com.<br />
CLOSINGS<br />
The QT Fitness studio, which opened in<br />
2013 in the Highlands Village by the Beach,<br />
as a woman’s-only fitness center offering<br />
spin, barre and yoga classes, closed in August.<br />
Owner was Danielle Robinson.<br />
The heavily utilized Goodwill Center<br />
closed September 1.<br />
ANNIVERSARIES<br />
ATAM (Academy of Technology, Art<br />
and Music) celebrated its third anniversary<br />
in August. Founded by Anthony Wamble<br />
in 2012, this is a center for students, young<br />
and old, to learn coding, create computer<br />
games and stay abreast of the most modern<br />
technology. Located at 881 Alma Real Dr.<br />
Visit: atampalisades.com or call (310)<br />
573-0012 or e-mail techandmusicteacher<br />
@gmail.com.<br />
UPGRADES<br />
Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce<br />
has a new website that includes a<br />
member directory, an event calendar listing<br />
of community resources and event photos.<br />
Visit: palisadeschamber.com.<br />
SPACE AVAILABLE<br />
Retail store-front space available at 835,<br />
843 and 859 Via de la Paz.<br />
(Editor’s note: For business announcements,<br />
send an email to spascoe@palisadesnews.com.)<br />
Atria Offers Programs<br />
Atria Senior Living, at 15441 Sunset<br />
Blvd. (across from Gelson’s), offers its programs<br />
free to Palisades residents. Please<br />
RSVP to (310) 573-9545.<br />
Rosh Hashana will be celebrated 10:30<br />
a.m. on Thursday, September 17 with Ter<br />
Liberstein. That afternoon at 3:30 p.m.<br />
Frank Sinatra impersonator Jimmy Brewster<br />
will perform.<br />
Opera singer Francesca Sola performs<br />
on Thursday, September 24 at 3:30 p.m.<br />
ELLEN MCCORMICK<br />
FEATURED LISTINGS<br />
JUST SOLD<br />
JUST SOLD<br />
615 Baylor St. | 3 BR, 2 BA<br />
Offered at $1,425,000 | www.615Baylor.com<br />
1177 Embury St. | 5 BD, 5 BA<br />
Newer construction custom home<br />
ELLEN MCCORMICK<br />
Distinguished representation of the<br />
Westside since 1984.<br />
ellenmccormick.com<br />
(310) 230-3707 | ellen@ellenmccormick.com<br />
CalBRE# 00872518<br />
©2015 An Independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC.
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 9<br />
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Bonin<br />
(Continued from Page 1)<br />
been told that security costs would be covered<br />
by the national government—but wants<br />
assurance that this will still be true in 2024.<br />
A $1.4 billion lawsuit, filed by disabled<br />
residents, requires the City to spend $31<br />
million a year for 30 years to repair business<br />
and residential sidewalks. Once they are<br />
fixed, maintenance will revert to property<br />
owners. Bonin pointed out that in most<br />
cities, sidewalks are the property owners’<br />
responsibility. What has yet to be decided<br />
is which streets will be fixed first.<br />
Bonin is also pushing for more police<br />
and firefighters. “The last 10 years LAFD<br />
has been decimated,” he said, noting he<br />
fought to get five recruiting classes this year,<br />
but with the number of retirees, it won’t<br />
mean an overall gain in firefighters. He also<br />
promised he is fighting to restore Station<br />
69’s Engine Company (Sunset at Carey).<br />
“It’s high on the list for restoration.”<br />
Council President Chris Spitz then allowed<br />
audience members to ask questions,<br />
but specified that once a question was asked<br />
about a subject, a different topic had to be<br />
addressed.<br />
One resident objected to the beekeeping<br />
ordinance because he said it was not properly<br />
vetted. Lawmakers tentatively approved<br />
it on September 2 and asked City lawyers<br />
to finalize the wording before giving it a<br />
final approval.<br />
“Testimony in my district is nine to one<br />
in favor of the ordinance,” Bonin said. “It<br />
is modeled after other cities, including<br />
Santa Monica.”<br />
A resident pressed Bonin about the 17000<br />
Sunset apartment project (just west of Marquez<br />
Avenue), which is scheduled to go before<br />
the West L.A. Planning Commission on<br />
December 2. Developer Arman Gabay initially<br />
sought 49 units and some residents objected<br />
to the size of the project. PPCC asked<br />
that prior to an issuance of a Coastal Devel-<br />
opment Permit, a Focused EIR be prepared.<br />
“I am monitoring the 17000 Sunset project<br />
closely, and I have heard the concerns<br />
about slope instability and traffic impacts,”<br />
Bonin said. “I understand the developer is<br />
reworking the proposal, and will be reducing<br />
by half the number of units, which<br />
could reduce some of the traffic impacts.<br />
I will be eager to hear what the community<br />
things about the revised proposal.”<br />
The developer is not expected to present<br />
revised plans to the PPCC.<br />
Another question concerned the possibility<br />
of a pedestrian bridge over PCH at<br />
Potrero Canyon, which would allow hikers,<br />
bikers and beach-goers to access the beach<br />
without detouring to Temescal Canyon<br />
Road. Bonin said it was being considered,<br />
but there’s currently no funding available.<br />
A Riviera resident said, “I’m concerned<br />
about overdevelopment, specifically the<br />
Archer School and Caruso projects, and<br />
the overlapping construction.”<br />
Bonin said that a traffic impact study for<br />
Caruso Affiliated’s Palisades Village project<br />
had not yet been submitted to the City. He<br />
praised Archer for its proposed traffic plan,<br />
which will require 70 percent of all students<br />
to use a carpool (three or more) or buses.<br />
“There will be less traffic than there is now,”<br />
Bonin said, noting that he wants collaboration<br />
between all the schools along that stretch<br />
of Sunset to see who could have the fewest<br />
number of cars coming to campus daily.<br />
“A lot of residents came to me and want -<br />
ed a three-year window for [Archer] construction,”<br />
said Bonin, who believes the<br />
biggest traffic impact will be hauling, which<br />
is scheduled to be done in the summer<br />
when schools are closed.<br />
“When will Palisades Drive be repaved?”<br />
a Highlands resident asked.<br />
“It is a really, really long road [more than<br />
three miles],” Bonin said. “If I were to re -<br />
pave the street, it would be my District’s entire<br />
budget for a year.” But then he gave the<br />
good news that it will be repaved in segments<br />
over the next three to four years.<br />
Asilomar<br />
(Continued from Page 1)<br />
John McDonald (Tahitian Terrace).<br />
Although the City has reached out to<br />
both owners, neither are obligated to work<br />
with the City, because mobile home parks<br />
are under the jurisdiction of the state.<br />
Bureau of Engineering (BOE) geologist<br />
Robert Hancock has spearheaded a plan<br />
that includes dewatering wells and a massive<br />
wall that will support vertically 65 feet<br />
of soil.<br />
“It won’t stop the hillside from sliding,<br />
but it will help,” Hancock said at a meeting<br />
at the Palisades Library on September 2.<br />
The meeting was held to discuss environmental<br />
concerns before the project first<br />
goes through the City departments and<br />
then the Coastal Commission for approval.<br />
BOE Environmental Specialist James<br />
Tebbetts explained that three dewatering<br />
wells will be added to the two that are already<br />
located under Asilomar.<br />
When the water reaches a certain point<br />
in a well, it will trigger a pump that takes<br />
the water to the Asilomar drain, then to Las<br />
Pulgas Canyon stormwater drain and on to<br />
the Hyperion.<br />
Nearly all of the water on the El Medio<br />
mesa drains downward to Asilomar.<br />
Although this is considered an emergency<br />
project and a safety issue, the earliest construction<br />
will likely start on the dewatering<br />
wells is February. After the environmental<br />
review passes the City, the project must be<br />
approved by the Coastal Commission. “We<br />
can’t put a spade into the ground until we<br />
have the state permit,” Tebbetts said.<br />
Once construction starts, it will take<br />
about six months.<br />
“We’ve been watching [this landslide] for<br />
years. It keeps moving slowly,” Hancock<br />
said. “We’ve been trying to find the money.”<br />
Three million dollars have been raised<br />
through the City and will be used for the<br />
wells and the design of the wall.
Page 10 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Investigation of Student Petition Addressed<br />
By LAUREL BUSBY<br />
Staff Writer<br />
The effects of last spring’s student petition<br />
to oust Palisades Charter High<br />
School Principal Pam Magee continued<br />
to be addressed at the August 18 board<br />
meeting with a new focus on whether any<br />
teachers may have been involved.<br />
Social studies teacher John Rauschuber<br />
spoke during public comment about the<br />
issue. He described first hearing about the<br />
petition when student Isabel Kelly came to<br />
his classroom during a break to ask for permission<br />
to gather signatures. More than<br />
1,200 students eventually signed the document.<br />
Kelly, a senior, chose not to comment<br />
on the issue to the Palisades News.<br />
Rauschuber said he allowed her presentation,<br />
and said she “began an impassioned<br />
speech,” which he let extend into about a<br />
minute of class time. He said she “personified<br />
raw courage” and “should be celebrated<br />
for what she saw as an injustice.” He also said<br />
that as a social studies teacher, he felt that<br />
this issue was not inappropriate to discuss<br />
in class since the department “emphasizes<br />
empowerment,” and last school year his class<br />
discussed varied events, whether they occurred<br />
at PaliHi or were of national interest.<br />
During the 2014-15 school year, the administration<br />
and the faculty had been involved<br />
in an at-times contentious contract<br />
negotiations and bell schedule discussions<br />
that had eventually required mediation to<br />
resolve.<br />
In the spring, the student petition was<br />
presented to the board in the midst of the<br />
evaluation process for Magee, who came<br />
to PaliHi in 2011. The board consequently<br />
hired an investigator to assess how much<br />
weight to give the petition in Magee’s evaluation,<br />
and this investigator more recently<br />
began working to assess whether there was<br />
any teacher misconduct involved. The results<br />
of both investigations are confidential<br />
due to their focus on personnel matters.<br />
The portion of the board members who<br />
are not faculty, staff or students, spent about<br />
an hour in closed session discussing the<br />
agenda item “Public Employee Discipline/<br />
Dismissal/Release,” and the issue was also<br />
addressed during the open meeting more<br />
vaguely.<br />
Spanish teacher and new board member<br />
Alex Shuhgalter said he would like to discuss<br />
ways to create a better climate on campus<br />
by starting afresh after a difficult previous<br />
school year. “Do we really want peace or a<br />
cool climate on campus?” he said.<br />
Magee, in a phone interview with the<br />
News, said that she is seeking to create a new<br />
positive focus for the school year. However,<br />
both board members and parents had contacted<br />
the administration with concerns<br />
about potential “misuse of instructional<br />
time or indoctrination of students.”<br />
Last spring, the News also received two<br />
letters from parents complaining about<br />
these issues.<br />
Magee added that the investigation is<br />
not restricted to the petition, but includes<br />
broader concerns. The idea is to develop a<br />
“better understanding” of what occurred<br />
and to make sure that all instructional<br />
“time is being used appropriately.”<br />
She said the administration is “doing our<br />
due diligence” to ensure “that kids are getting<br />
an education and not getting involved<br />
in adult issues—not becoming negotiators<br />
for the adults.”<br />
Currently, she said the investigation is<br />
simply gathering information, and at this<br />
point, she did not think that its findings<br />
would end with any teacher dismissals.<br />
Magee also said she is working to address<br />
the petition’s complaints. During registration,<br />
time was set aside to teach students<br />
about existing school ways to handle issues<br />
during a presentation that also included<br />
members of the Student Diversity Task Force.<br />
Another part of the effort includes creating<br />
a student bill of rights. About 70 students<br />
have thus far indicated an interest in<br />
the project, which will include researching<br />
their current rights and creating an action<br />
plan that will also address changes they envision.<br />
She said Kelly, a senior stopped by<br />
her office to talk recently and indicated an<br />
interest in working with the group.<br />
“We are working hard to let all students<br />
know that they matter and that their voices<br />
are heard,” Magee said. “If there are a large<br />
group of students that feel like their issues<br />
aren’t being heard, then I want them to be<br />
heard. I think it’s important that their issues<br />
are addressed.”<br />
In a related issue, the L.A. District Attorney’s<br />
office had contacted the board to address<br />
whether a previous closed meeting to<br />
discuss how the petition affected Magee’s<br />
evaluation should have instead proceeded<br />
in an open format. According to the board,<br />
the DA’s office, after an inquiry, sent a letter<br />
to the school stating, “After review of the<br />
matter, we believe no violation occurred.”<br />
Music Class For Children<br />
Woman’s Club member Ingrid Vinje teaches a music class for children two to<br />
four years old from 10 to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, at the Club, 901<br />
Haverford Ave. A parent or caregiver is required and one adult per child, please.<br />
The class is free for Club members and their guests.<br />
Broker Associate<br />
Fine Home Specialist<br />
30+ Years Experience<br />
KATY<br />
KREITLER
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 11<br />
Water-Wise<br />
Workshop Set<br />
For Sept. 20<br />
Awater-wise workshop will be held<br />
from 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, September<br />
20, at the Woman’s Club,<br />
901 Haverford Ave.<br />
The event is sponsored by Palisades<br />
Beautiful, the Pacific Palisades Garden Club,<br />
Mia Lehrer + Associates, Tree People, Rain<br />
Barrels International, Surfrider Foundation,<br />
Theodore Payne Foundation, World<br />
Wide Exotics and LADWP. There will be<br />
presentations, discussions and refreshments.<br />
Admission is free, but RSVP to<br />
surveymonkey.com/r/XGN82HB.<br />
Included in the presentation will be an<br />
overview of the climatic microenvironment<br />
and climate reality, a landscape overview<br />
(including plant material and trees), lawn<br />
removal and rainwater harvesting.<br />
After presentations, there will be a Q&A<br />
with the experts. Closing will include a raffle<br />
drawing for a rain barrel and a gift card<br />
from Anawalt Lumber.<br />
For those who preorder rain barrels, pick<br />
up will be from 3:30 to 5:30 at Regal Cleaners<br />
(rebates are available). The barrel has a<br />
grass spigot for garden-hose attachment, a<br />
screen to prevent mosquitoes from accessing<br />
water and a side brass overflow. Cost<br />
is $85. To order: RainBarrelsIntl.com.<br />
Chamber Hosts Annual Polo Tournament<br />
If you do not know what a chukker is,<br />
then head to the 23rd Annual Chamber<br />
of Commerce Polo Tournament from<br />
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 4, at<br />
Will Rogers State Historic Park.<br />
Admission is free and there will be pony<br />
rides for children. There is a $12 per-car<br />
parking fee at the park.<br />
Eight riders, atop galloping horses, hold<br />
on with their left hand as they swing mallets<br />
with the right hand at speeds of up to<br />
35 miles per hour.<br />
A chukker is a seven-and-half-minute<br />
period of play, and there are six chukkers<br />
in a match. Between matches enjoy divot<br />
stomping: spectators come on the field<br />
and stomp down torn-up turf.<br />
Will Rogers was an avid polo player.<br />
About the sport he wrote in his syndicated<br />
column May 29, 1932: “After seeing kids<br />
play polo against big guys, it only shows<br />
that horses are the greatest equalizer in the<br />
world. No matter what you weigh, the little<br />
fellow is your equal on a horse.”<br />
There will also be tours of the Will<br />
Rogers’ home at 11 a.m., 1 and 2 p.m. Food<br />
trucks will be available or bring a picnic.<br />
This year’s major sponsor is Wells Fargo<br />
The Private Bank. Sponsoring teams are<br />
defending champion Amafi Estates; PerennialFinancial<br />
Services; Pacific Palisades<br />
Lions Club; RLB Architecture;Technology<br />
for You!; and Wells Fargo.<br />
Throwing in the ball before each match<br />
will be Chamber President Adam Glazer;<br />
Steve Ghysels (Wells Fargo); and Mr. and<br />
Dealey to Speak September 24<br />
Palisades Presbyterian Church will resume<br />
its “Food for Thought” speaker series<br />
on September 24 at 11:30 a.m. in Janes Hall,<br />
off El Medio at Sunset. Reservations are<br />
necessary. Call (310) 454-0366 to reserve<br />
your seat and complimentary lunch (donation<br />
only).<br />
The guest speaker will be Dave Dealey,<br />
the son of Commander Samuel David<br />
Dealey USN, who was the first and only<br />
commanding officer of the submarine<br />
USS Harder. He will speak about his father’s<br />
naval career and the famous Harder.<br />
Dealey will speak about the many coincidental<br />
events and ironies which led up to<br />
the tragic loss of the Harder, with all servicemen<br />
aboard, on its sixth and final patrol<br />
in August 1944.<br />
A graduate of Santa Monica High School<br />
and UC Berkeley, Dealey is a retired attorney.<br />
He is a longtime active member of the<br />
Pacific Palisades Optimist Club, American<br />
Legion Post 283 and served on the Community<br />
Council.<br />
Miss Palisades Daniel Gottesman and<br />
Danika Masi.<br />
Al Epstein will be the play-by-play announcer.<br />
Members of the Chamber organizing<br />
committee are Ramis Sadrieh,<br />
Technology for You!; Felice Densa of the Will<br />
Rogers Polo Club and Chamber of Commerce<br />
Executive Director Arnie Wishnick.<br />
Call (310) 459-7963 or visit: palisadeschamber.com.<br />
Art Association Speaker<br />
To Discuss Buddhist Art<br />
The Palisades Art Association will feature<br />
Jason Hopper, who will lead a discussion<br />
on the influences of Buddhism on<br />
contemporary artists in the Himalaya region.<br />
He will speak at 7 p.m. on Tuesday,<br />
September 22, at the Palisades Woman’s<br />
Club, 901 Haverford Ave.<br />
Starting 2,500 years ago with the advent<br />
of Buddhism in India, the sophisticated<br />
symbolism of Buddhist art will be<br />
explored. Then the discussion will skip<br />
forward to look at how and why contemporary<br />
artists in the Himalayas are using<br />
Buddhist imagery in their artworks.<br />
Throughout the conversation, participants<br />
will examine images of some of the<br />
most beautiful and exotic art from the<br />
roof of the world.<br />
Excellence in Real Estate<br />
Celebrating 12 Years!<br />
From my family to yours,<br />
THANK YOU for your continued support.<br />
PE<br />
PEKAR/ELLIS<br />
R E A L E S T A T E G R O U P<br />
310.496.5955 | www.pekarellis.com<br />
<br />
Ramis Sadrieh, MBA • Personal Technology Consultant<br />
Chamber President 2009-2010 • PAPA President 2011, 2012<br />
Technology<br />
for You! ®<br />
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Setup Wireless/Wired Networks and Home-Theater Systems<br />
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Page 12 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
NO ONE SELLS<br />
MORE<br />
HOMES<br />
IN<br />
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA<br />
THAN COLDWELL ®<br />
BANKER<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
FEATURED PROPERTIES<br />
1<br />
P ACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
New Contempora<br />
ary w/ /Q Queens Necklace Views<br />
Ali Rassekhi sekhi (310) 359-5695<br />
$7,875,000<br />
2<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$5,995,000<br />
Remodeled Traditional in Huntington 6+5<br />
Amy Hollingsworth orth & Jamie Leff (310) 230-2483<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
3<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
5+5 Home Ocean Vus Also Lease $15,950/ /mo<br />
Ali Rassekhi sekhi (310) 359-5695<br />
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4<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$4,259,000<br />
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Craig Natvig (310) 573-7721<br />
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Michael Edlen (310) 230-7373<br />
$4,195,000<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
6<br />
7<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
Designer home in El Medio Bluffs. 5 + 3<br />
Lexie Brew | Liz Keenan (310) 463-6323<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$3,499,000<br />
$3,495,000<br />
New-Just Completed 5+4½ www.858Fiske.com<br />
Craig Natvig (310) 573-7721<br />
8<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
Over 3,000 sq ft. w/<br />
/some ocean views.<br />
Michael Edlen (310) 230-7373<br />
$2,640,000<br />
10<br />
11<br />
12<br />
9<br />
MALIBU<br />
$2,425,000<br />
Immaculate, bright & open Contemporary.<br />
Michael Edlen (310) 230-7373<br />
10 PACIFIC PALISADES<br />
ADES<br />
$1,999,000<br />
3+2. GRT. VU www.16655MarquezTerr<br />
errace.com<br />
Aberle/Convey (310) 230-2452<br />
11<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$1,475,000<br />
Open floor plan. Light & airy. Pvt yard.<br />
Michael Edlen (310) 230-7373<br />
13<br />
14<br />
15<br />
12<br />
13<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$1,399,000<br />
First Time On The Market in Over 55 Yrs<br />
Sharon Hays (310) 922-8090<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$1,200,000<br />
2+2.5 Contemporary 1592MichaelLane.com<br />
Aberle/Convey (310) 230-2452<br />
14<br />
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$995,000<br />
Gorgeous modern 3-level unit w/ /mtn views<br />
Michael Edlen (310) 230-7373<br />
15<br />
PACIFIC PALISADESADES<br />
$825,000<br />
2+2 Elegent remodeled w/<br />
/privacy & views<br />
Nicolas Beauvy (310) 691-9595<br />
PACIFIC PALISADES<br />
15101 W SUNSET BLVD (310) 454-1111<br />
facebook.com/ColdwellBankerPacificPalisades<br />
PALISADES HIGHLANDS<br />
1515 PALISADES DRIVE<br />
(310) 459-7511<br />
facebook.com/ColdwellBankerPalisadesHighlands<br />
Connect With Us<br />
VIEW MORE LISTINGS AT<br />
CALIFORNIAMOVES.COM<br />
®<br />
©2015 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved.<br />
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<br />
service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.<br />
Broker does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage,<br />
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and the buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that<br />
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* Based on information total sales volume from California Real Estate Te echnology Services, Santa Barbara Association of REALTORS,<br />
SANDICOR, Inc. for the period 1/1/2013 through 12/31/2013 in Los Angeles, Orange,<br />
Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego,<br />
Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. Due to MLS reporting methods and allowable reporting policy,<br />
this data is only informational and may not be completely accurate.<br />
Therefore,<br />
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<br />
September 16, 2015 Page 13<br />
Highlands Village<br />
Undergoes Changes<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
In September 2013, PH Village Partners,<br />
LLC purchased the former Highlands<br />
Plaza (located at Sunset and Palisades<br />
Drive) and renamed it Highlands Village by<br />
the Beach.<br />
According to Christian Irwin, VP, Commercial<br />
Property, the locally-based owners<br />
vowed to make the mini-mall “more neighborhood<br />
friendly and become a center for<br />
residents where they could have their dayto-day<br />
needs met.”<br />
Two years later, the transformation from<br />
a strip-mall look and feel to a vibrant business<br />
center is well underway.<br />
The Village is about 25,000 sq. ft. and has<br />
15 storefronts that offer a wide variety of<br />
services: pharmacy, dry cleaner, nail salon,<br />
bank, pet store, dance studio, mailbox store,<br />
clothing store (happy L.A.), Starbucks and<br />
three restaurants (Taste, Moku and Roast).<br />
The original stark white frontage was repainted<br />
in muted multi-tones. “We wanted<br />
to make it look more ‘beach chic,’” said<br />
Irwin, noting that new landscaping includ -<br />
ed planting 19 palm trees. Teak benches<br />
were added along several storefronts to<br />
make the center more pedestrian-friendly.<br />
Parking issues were also addressed. Although<br />
there were 109 spaces, many were<br />
used by store employees, and “we also had<br />
a lot of carpools of golfers, hikers and bike<br />
riders,” said Irwin, who grew up in Pacific<br />
Palisades. “People would park for the entire<br />
day, which left fewer spaces for shoppers.”<br />
Now employees park on the street and<br />
people are reminded if they are not shopping<br />
or dining in the center, to park elsewhere.<br />
One of the first store additions was a<br />
Starbucks, which anchors the southernmost<br />
space. A small playground and an<br />
outside patio with shaded tables were<br />
built so parents could enjoy a cup of coffee<br />
while visiting with friends or watching<br />
their children play.<br />
Two tenants, QT Fitness and Goodwill<br />
Industries, have recently left, but Irwin<br />
emphasized that it was not the landlord’s<br />
choice.<br />
“Danielle Robinson [owner of QT] was<br />
a valued tenant and we were sorry to see her<br />
go,” Irwin said, noting she left to deal with<br />
personal issues. Since PH Village Partners<br />
believes a fitness studio is important to the<br />
center, they are seeking a similar business<br />
in that space.<br />
“We’re still talking with Goodwill,”<br />
Irwin said.<br />
Irwin, the father of a two-year-old boy,<br />
pointed to Ballet Conservatory West. “This<br />
is one of my favorite places,” he said. “There<br />
are 130 ballerinas who come here. Now<br />
while their moms wait they can walk to<br />
PH Village Partners’ Christian Irwin (right) welcomes new tenant Whitney Werner,<br />
who owns Roast, to the Highlands Village by the Beach.<br />
Photo: Wendy Price Anderson<br />
Starbucks and have coffee.”<br />
Moku, which specializes in sushi and<br />
Thai food, opened recently and Roast debuted<br />
over Labor Day weekend. A delistyle<br />
eatery, Roast has organic meats and<br />
Key Factors in Evaluating Palisades Properties<br />
By MICHAEL EDLEN<br />
Special to the Palisades News<br />
Home sellers need to determine an<br />
asking price, and buyers need to<br />
assess how much to offer and ultimately<br />
what to pay for their new home.<br />
Many rely on a professional realtor to help<br />
with their decision, while others prefer to<br />
do research online, and then rely on sites<br />
such as Zillow for guidance.<br />
It may help to understand some of the<br />
nuances that an experienced realtor takes<br />
into consideration when doing a comprehensive<br />
evaluation of a Palisades home.<br />
For example, certain neighborhoods are<br />
generally more desirable than others, such<br />
as the Huntington and others close to the<br />
Village area. Similarly, homes on a heavily<br />
trafficked street will logically be less desirable<br />
than those on quieter locations.<br />
Value is affected by whether a house has<br />
a view or not, and how unobstructed and<br />
from which rooms the view can be enjoyed.<br />
Lots impacted by geological challenges or<br />
other environmental issues will be of a<br />
lesser value. How much of the property is<br />
relatively useful, as compared with hillside<br />
locations that may substantially limit the<br />
usable yard, is another factor.<br />
The legal tract a property is in can make<br />
a significant difference in value, depending<br />
on restrictions that may exist regarding the<br />
height or size of a house. For example,<br />
more than a third of the Palisades is located<br />
in Tract 9300, which has a unique set of<br />
conditions, covenants, and restrictions<br />
(CC&R’s) enforced by the Civic League.<br />
Many of the tracts in Marquez Knolls,<br />
much of the area between El Medio and<br />
Bien veneda, Castellammare, Pacific View<br />
Estates and Sunset Mesa have restrictions<br />
protecting views. CC&R’s obviously help to<br />
preserve property values in some ways,<br />
while imposing some limitations that to a<br />
degree also may limit a site’s potential value.<br />
Reliance on online evaluations systems<br />
may be useful in many other communities<br />
where far fewer variations exist between<br />
and even within neighborhoods like the<br />
Palisades.<br />
As has been noted, Zillow and other similar<br />
systems do not take into consideration<br />
whether a house is on a 5,200 or 6,500<br />
square foot lot in the Alphabet Streets.<br />
They also have no way to factor in the<br />
presence or quality of views that may exist,<br />
nor anything about the condition of the<br />
home or property. Moreover, those online<br />
systems can vary as much as 10 to 20 percent<br />
from each other on the same property.<br />
Michael Edlen has been ranked in the top<br />
1 percent of all agents in the country with<br />
nearly $2 billion in sales. He has tracked<br />
Pacific Palisades sales since 1987. Michael<br />
can be reached at (310) 230-7373 or<br />
michael@michaeledlen.com.<br />
roasted vegetables that can be eaten at the<br />
restaurant or as takeout.<br />
Taste, which recently received a full-liq -<br />
uor license, will undergo renovations short -<br />
ly as one of the conditions of lease renewal.<br />
“This whole center is a project of passion,”<br />
said Irwin, who recently appeared before<br />
the Palisades Community Council to<br />
seek support for an upscale convenience<br />
store that would carry wine, cheese and<br />
other small groceries in the 950-sq.-ft. space<br />
next to Roast. “It would be a high-end market<br />
and hours would follow those at the site,<br />
9 a.m. to 10 p.m.”<br />
Irwin, whose mother Michelle operates<br />
the Michelle International beauty salon on<br />
Swarthmore and whose uncle, Martin<br />
McCrory, runs the beauty supply store on<br />
the same street, said he has 15 relatives that<br />
live or work in the Palisades. Even his wife<br />
Alexana’s sister now lives near them.<br />
“When my company bought the center,<br />
my eyes lit up,” said the Syracuse University<br />
graduate. “The partners who own the<br />
property are local and care about the<br />
community.”<br />
The last Family Fun Day of the summer<br />
will be held this Saturday, September 19<br />
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free to<br />
residents and includes music, pony rides,<br />
a petting zoo, face painter and magician.<br />
Visit: HighlandsVillageByTheBeach.com
Page 14 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
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September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 15<br />
Hosting Jimmy Carter’s Book Tour<br />
By BOB VICKREY<br />
Palisades News Contributor<br />
While watching former President<br />
Jimmy Carter describe the details<br />
of his recent cancer diagnosis<br />
during a televised news conference, it<br />
occurred to me that anyone who had ever<br />
met him in person was not surprised by the<br />
gracious manner in which he was now confronting<br />
his own mortality. That congenial<br />
style has long been his trademark.<br />
His tireless energy has been on display<br />
since he left the White House 35 years ago—<br />
even now at the age of 90. His commitment<br />
to international humanitarian work has<br />
been well documented, particularly for his<br />
beloved project, Habitat for Humanity.<br />
The familiar smile he flashed often during<br />
the press conference took me back to March<br />
1985, when I stood on the steps of the Beverly<br />
Wilshire Hotel anxiously awaiting his arrival.<br />
I was to escort him during his Southern<br />
California stop on his national book tour.<br />
The publishing house for which I worked<br />
had just released his most recent book, The<br />
Blood of Abraham, a history of the ongoing<br />
Middle East conflict in which he had become<br />
deeply involved during his presidency.<br />
Our company’s publicity depart ment<br />
had planned a national tour for the book,<br />
including major media appearances, as well<br />
as bookstore events, which is where I came<br />
into the picture.<br />
As the local company rep, my job was to<br />
select bookstores which would host events<br />
and to accompany authors while they were<br />
in town on their promotional tours. This<br />
particular occasion seemed to have taken<br />
on an even greater significance and created<br />
quite a buzz for those in the bookselling<br />
community. Hosting a former President<br />
was considered quite an honor for most<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Palisades resident Bob Vickrey and President Jimmy Carter during a 1985 book tour.<br />
booksellers, no matter what their political<br />
persuasion happened to be.<br />
When Jimmy Carter’s limo arrived in the<br />
Beverly Wilshire driveway under the breezeway<br />
awning, I was almost certain that I<br />
heard the faint sound of my knees knocking,<br />
but remained adamant that I could<br />
conceal my imploding anxiety.<br />
Sure enough, when he stepped out of the<br />
car flashing that famous grin, he said, “You<br />
must be Bob. Are you ready to have a little<br />
fun tomorrow?” I quickly relaxed and regained<br />
steady footing as we retreated to<br />
make our plans for the following day.<br />
What I immediately observed about the<br />
man with the well-known laid-back image,<br />
was the noticeable urgency in his walk, as<br />
well as his spirited manner—not exactly the<br />
passive, sweater-wearing figure we’d seen<br />
portrayed in his fireside chats during the<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
energy crisis in the late 1970s. I tried to keep<br />
up with his pace as we approached his room<br />
in the Presidential Suite, but I couldn’t help<br />
but wonder why he had been unsuccessful<br />
in conveying this contagious energy to the<br />
nation while he was in office.<br />
Despite the criticism he has received regarding<br />
his perceived shortcomings during<br />
his one-term administration, I’ve noticed<br />
that even his harshest critics are usually<br />
quick to acknowledge his charitable work<br />
at home and abroad after he left office, a<br />
concession ex-presidents rarely receive<br />
from their adversaries.<br />
I sat across from him in the luxurious<br />
living room of the hotel suite and he asked,<br />
“So, what’s on the docket for tomorrow,<br />
and what do you need me to do?” I explained<br />
the morning format I’d planned<br />
with an informal breakfast for various local<br />
booksellers that I’d invited to the downstairs<br />
drawing room.<br />
Carter revealed his admiration for those<br />
who work in bookstores. He got quite a<br />
chuckle when I told him of author Pat Conroy’s<br />
opening line when once addressing a<br />
breakfast gathering of booksellers, “Good<br />
morning to all of you in the book business<br />
who have taken the sacred vow of poverty.”<br />
As we convened for our breakfast meeting<br />
the following morning, he leaned toward<br />
me and asked if I had brought my camera<br />
along. He whispered, “People love to have<br />
their picture taken with the President.”<br />
By the time I returned with the camera,<br />
he had already met every bookseller in the<br />
room and was busily engaging each with<br />
stories that would likely last a lifetime for<br />
most of them. After breakfast, I took a snapshot<br />
of each bookseller—every one of them<br />
in virtually the same pose—with the President’s<br />
arm draped around their shoulder.<br />
When I took the last picture, he winked and<br />
said, “I told you so.”<br />
Before we adjourned, the President said,<br />
“I think we need one more. I’d like one<br />
taken of me with our host.”<br />
Not surprisingly, that particular picture<br />
still prominently resides on my bookshelf<br />
to this very day. And I can almost hear him<br />
say, “I told you so.”<br />
Bob Vickrey is longtime Palisadian. His<br />
columns appear in several Southwestern<br />
newspapers including the Houston Chronicle.<br />
This article was reprinted by permission<br />
of the Waco Tribune-Herald.<br />
Jong at Diesel<br />
Erica Jong, who revolutionized the way<br />
we look at love, marriage and sex in her<br />
1973 bestseller Fear of Flying, will appear at<br />
6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 25 at Diesel<br />
Bookstore in the Brentwood Country Mart<br />
to discuss her latest novel, Fear of Dying.<br />
In the book, main character Vanessa<br />
Wonderman watches her parents age, attends<br />
doctor appointments with her pregnant<br />
daughter, and sits by the hospital bed<br />
of her husband, Asher, 15 years her senior.<br />
With her best years as an actress behind<br />
her, she’s discovering that beginnings are<br />
easy, but endings can be hard.<br />
Jong is also the author of seven awardwinning<br />
collections of poetry and has written<br />
several nonfiction books. She lives in<br />
New York City and Connecticut.<br />
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spascoe@palisadesnews.com<br />
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Contact Jeff: (310) 573-0150 • jeffridgway@palisadesnews.com<br />
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Please patronize them, and tell them<br />
you saw their ad in the News!
Page 16 Palisades News September 16, 2015
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 17<br />
Republican Speaker Series<br />
Features Pete Peterson<br />
Pete Peterson will lead a discussion<br />
in the Pacific Palisades Republican<br />
Club’s 2015 Speaker Series at 7:30<br />
p.m. on Thursday, October 1, in the meeting<br />
room at the Palisades Lutheran Church,<br />
15905 Sunset Blvd. Residents are invited<br />
and there is free parking off El Medio.<br />
He will speak and lead a discussion titled<br />
“‘Too Bad You’re a Republican’: Lessons<br />
from the Trail and a Look at 2016.”<br />
Peterson is Pepperdine’s School of Public<br />
Policy interim dean and executive director<br />
for the Davenport Institute. The Republican<br />
candidate for California Secretary of State<br />
in 2014, Peterson writes widely on public<br />
engagement for a variety of major news<br />
outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Los<br />
Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.<br />
Peterson is a leading national speaker on<br />
issues related to civic participation and the<br />
use of technology to make government<br />
more responsive and transparent. He has<br />
been a public affairs fellow at The Hoover<br />
Institute, and he serves on the Leadership<br />
Councils of the Public Policy Institute of<br />
California and California Forward.<br />
Call (310) 454-4345 or visit Pali sades<br />
Republicans.com.<br />
(Disclaimer: Palisades Lutheran Church<br />
gives space for community groups to meet,<br />
which does not imply an affiliation.)<br />
Student Success Conference Oct. 17<br />
Prominent L.A. independent school educators<br />
will address “What Are the Proven<br />
Keys to Student Success, Both in the School<br />
and the Future?” from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.<br />
on Saturday, October 17, at the Luxe<br />
Hotel, 11461 Sunset Blvd.<br />
The fee is $179 per person and space is<br />
limited. Call (818) 864-6725.<br />
“This is going to be an extraordinary event<br />
for parents,” said Sue Slotnick, the CEO and<br />
co-founder of Educational Test Prep and<br />
director of advancement at Village School.<br />
Keynote speaker is Dr. Rob Evans, the<br />
author of three books, including Family<br />
Matters: How Schools Can Cope with the<br />
Crisis in Childrearing. He will outline key<br />
dilemmas in raising children and adolescents<br />
today and offer concrete suggestions<br />
for successful coping at home and school.<br />
Following his presentation, parents can<br />
attend different workshops, hosted by 10<br />
experts on various topics.<br />
PASSINGS<br />
Donny ‘Conn’ Claps;<br />
Entertainer, Speaker<br />
Donny Conn Claps, 85, passed<br />
away September 2. He was a musician,<br />
comedian, speaker and<br />
creative spirit who entertained and enriched<br />
the lives of family and friends.<br />
He was born on January 3, 1930 in Waterbury,<br />
Connecticut, where he attended<br />
school and learned to play drums.<br />
Claps graduated from the University of<br />
Connecticut and was one of the founders<br />
of Beta Sigma Gamma, the first intercultural<br />
fraternity in New England.<br />
After college in 1952, he toured the Unit -<br />
ed States and Canada, with The Playmates,<br />
pianist Chic Hetti and vocalist Morey Carr,<br />
who were also from Waterbury.<br />
The group’s song “Beep Beep,” the story<br />
of a Nash Rambler and a Cadillac, was on<br />
the Billboard Top 40 charts for 12 weeks. It<br />
sold over one million copies and was award -<br />
ed a gold disc. At the height of the song’s<br />
popularity, the Playmates appeared on the<br />
Milton Berle Show, December 3, 1958.<br />
That same year, the group signed with<br />
Roulette Records as the label’s first vocal<br />
group.<br />
The Playmates followed up with a<br />
chart-listing single in 1959, “What Is<br />
Love,” and then again in 1960 with “Wait<br />
for Me.” They recorded four albums for<br />
Roulette before the group, which was<br />
known for its between-song comedy and<br />
banter, broke up in 1965.<br />
Claps reinvented himself first as a<br />
stand-up comedian, then as a professional<br />
speaker. He later turned to comedy writing,<br />
which opened his eyes to a career in<br />
Donny “Conn” Claps<br />
public speaking.<br />
When that career took off in 1980,<br />
Claps delivered more than 100 speeches a<br />
year to all types of groups.<br />
After he spoke, clients would ask him to<br />
recommend keynote speakers for upcoming<br />
conventions. Claps built a roster of qualified<br />
speakers and shortly after founded Convention<br />
Connection Speakers Bureau, one<br />
of the first speaker bureaus to book lecturers<br />
for conventions and business meetings.<br />
Claps moved to Pacific Palisades in 1972.<br />
He is survived by his wife of 58 years,<br />
Joanne, and his children Kiela, Steven and<br />
Koby and grandchildren Amanda and Kelly.<br />
A memorial service will be held in October.<br />
In lieu of flowers, donations can be<br />
made to: HOLA (Hearts of Los Angeles<br />
Youth), 2701 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100, Los<br />
Angeles, CA 90057 or visit: heartofla.org/<br />
ways-to-give/donate.<br />
NOTICE TO READERS<br />
The Palisades News welcomes submissions of obituary notices<br />
for Palisadians, past and present. Notices must be 400 words or<br />
less. A photo may be sent for possible inclusion. There is no charge<br />
for the notice, nor the photo. For questions, or to submit, please<br />
e-mail editor@palisadesnews.com. The desired deadline for submissions<br />
is Thursday before the intended publication date (the<br />
first and third Wednesday of the month).<br />
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Palisades News<br />
Page 18 September 16, 2015<br />
Girls Volleyball Wants a Shot at State<br />
By LOGAN TAYLOR<br />
Sports Writer<br />
Under the guidance of head coach<br />
Carlos Gray, the Palisades High<br />
School girls volleyball team opened<br />
its season on September 10 by defeating<br />
defending Division II City champion Taft<br />
High School.<br />
The Dolphins opened Western League<br />
play by hosting LACES yesterday, and will<br />
remain home to play perennial City rival<br />
Granada Hills today at 4 p.m.<br />
Returning for his third season at PaliHi,<br />
Gray is optimistic after having won his first<br />
City title last year, and the 29th title overall<br />
for the girls volleyball program.<br />
“The expectation for this season is to<br />
reach our full potential,” Gray told the Pali -<br />
sades News. “This team’s ceiling is higher<br />
than last year’s team. I really think that this<br />
group could be special, but it will take a<br />
long time and it is a long road to get there.”<br />
Last year the Dophins beat Granada Hills<br />
in four sets in the Division I City Championships,<br />
but lost its first-round game in<br />
the State playoffs.<br />
The team began practicing the second<br />
week of August, focusing on hitting drills,<br />
passing and ball control, as well as holding<br />
scrimmages.<br />
Gray is joined by assistant coach Anthony<br />
Elizondo, who owns his own club team,<br />
the Santa Monica Volleyball Club, and has<br />
coached the Dolphins in previous years.<br />
Key players to watch this season are returning<br />
opposite Isabel Kelly, outside hitter<br />
Sadie Gray, middle blocker Angel Echipue,<br />
Setting ball for a teammate is co-captain Lucky Drageset.<br />
outside hitter Bella Edwards, and the “glue”<br />
of the team, libero Olivia Zelon.<br />
Zelon, only a junior, has already committed<br />
to play at the University of Texas in<br />
Golf Tournament Winners<br />
The L.A. Golf Academy hosted a<br />
youth tournament on August 23 at<br />
the Heroes Golf Course, a 9-hole,<br />
3-par course locate on the grounds of the<br />
West Los Angeles VA north campus.<br />
Winners in the 5-to-7-year-old category<br />
were Justin Tun, first, and Misha Zutler,<br />
second. In the 8-to-10-year old category,<br />
Peter Jen took first and Charlie Hayton<br />
took second. In the 11-to-14-year-old<br />
group, Gavin Loughran took first and<br />
Rowan Jen was second.<br />
For those who want to learn to play, a<br />
golf development program is held for juniors,<br />
ages 7 to 16, Monday through Thursday<br />
from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and on Friday from<br />
4 to 5:30 p.m. The co-ed program allows<br />
students to come on a daily basis.<br />
A special day of golf is planned for<br />
Wednesday, September 23. Youth can<br />
choose half day (9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.<br />
or 1 to 3:30 p.m.) or full day (9:30 a.m. to<br />
3:30 p.m.).<br />
Private lessons are available for youth<br />
and adult, and all levels are welcome.<br />
The Academy caters to Brentwood, Santa<br />
Monica, Pacific Palisades, Westwood and<br />
Beverly Hills.<br />
All lessons are taught by PGA Teaching<br />
Professional Carlos Rodriquez, who has<br />
more than 20 years of experience. He previously<br />
worked as an assistant golf pro at<br />
Indian Spring County Club in Silver<br />
Spring, Maryland.<br />
Rodriquez’s philosophy centers on harmony<br />
between the mental and physical<br />
aspects of the golf game. He also insists all<br />
youth learn proper golfing etiquette. A<br />
U.S. Marine, Rodriquez is also a highlyrespected<br />
Aikido practitioner.<br />
Email: lagolfacademy@gmail.com or call<br />
(310) 230-2052 or visit: lagolfacademy.com.<br />
Photo: Logan Taylor<br />
2017. She will be coached by previous Pali -<br />
sades High star volleyballer Jerritt Elliott.<br />
“Olivia is the best defensive player that<br />
I have ever coached in all of my 26 years<br />
of coaching,” Gray said.<br />
With these key players as well as returning<br />
co-captains and setters Lucky Drageset<br />
and Delaney Arth, the Dolphins look as<br />
though they will be competing at an even<br />
Co-captain Isabel Kelly prepares to spike against an opponent.<br />
Photo: Logan Taylor<br />
higher level of play than last year’s team.<br />
When asked how this season will compare<br />
to last season, Gray replied, “I hope<br />
similar. Last year we were City champions.<br />
We lost some key pieces, but for the most<br />
part all of the main people are here. It is primarily<br />
realizing our potential and understanding<br />
that regardless of how good we<br />
are on paper, we have to work.”<br />
Y Fall Sports and Events<br />
Early bird pricing is still available<br />
through Friday, September 18 for the<br />
Palisades-Malibu YMCA’s fall sports<br />
at Simon Meadow that run through Saturday,<br />
November 21.<br />
A Punt, Pass and Kick competition for<br />
boys and girls ages 6-13 will take place at<br />
Simon Meadow on Saturday, September<br />
19 from 9 a.m. to noon and will include<br />
prizes and scrimmage games.<br />
An 8-week cross-country clinic will have<br />
youth ages 6 to 12 running through Tem -<br />
escal Canyon and improving their endur -<br />
ance on Sundays from September 27 to<br />
November 15.<br />
On October 3, the Palisades-Malibu<br />
YMCA’s Simon Meadow will be filled with<br />
the sounds of children playing flag football<br />
and soccer as well as the bright orange colors<br />
of the annual pumpkin patch.<br />
Flag football is offered for ages 6 to 8 and<br />
ages 9 to 11. The co-ed league practices<br />
weekly and has games on Saturdays.<br />
YMCA soccer has three co-ed divisions—ages<br />
1.5 to almost 3, 3-4 and 5-6.<br />
All the age groups play on Saturdays and<br />
the 5-6 year olds have an additional practice<br />
during the week.<br />
Contact YMCA Sports Coordinator<br />
Rashad Rhodes (310) 454-5591 or rashad -<br />
rhodes@ymcala.org.<br />
—LAURA ABRUSCATO
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 19<br />
Kelly ‘Malibu’ Hayes Doesn’t Miss a Play<br />
Former Palisades High School wide receiver<br />
Kelly “Malibu” Hayes was sitting<br />
next to announcer Al Michaels during<br />
NBC’s coverage of the NFL’s season opener<br />
between the New England Patriots and the<br />
Pittsburgh Steelers on September 10.<br />
Hayes, who has been Michaels’ spotter for<br />
every football game since 1978, listened as<br />
Michaels reported that Steeler coaches were<br />
hearing the Patriots’ radio broadcast in their<br />
headsets, but Hayes’ eyes were focused on<br />
the field. The “eargate” problem persisted<br />
most of the first half before it was fixed<br />
(and the Patriots came out on top, 28-21).<br />
According to a feature by L.A. Times<br />
columnist Chris Erskine, Hayes has been<br />
working behind the scenes for 30 NFL seasons<br />
(and 11 Super Bowls) with Michaels.<br />
He has been responsible for making sure<br />
that Michaels has the right name and number<br />
for the players making the play.<br />
It was reported that during the football<br />
season, Hayes spends about 10 hours a week<br />
on his board, organizing stats and notes. He<br />
serves as a second set of eyes in a darkened<br />
booth, where Michaels is bombarded with<br />
Watch Palisades NFL Players<br />
If you follow the NFL Giants, Browns,<br />
Buccaneers or Redskins this season,<br />
chances are you’ll see a player from<br />
Pacific Palisades in action.<br />
Brothers Geoff and Mitchell Schwartz<br />
are former PaliHi standouts. Geoff graduated<br />
in 2004, before going to the University<br />
of Oregon. The 6-6, 340-pound offensive<br />
guard was drafted in 2008 and played for<br />
the Panthers, Vikings and Chiefs before he<br />
was traded to the Giants in 2014.<br />
Mitchell graduated in 2007 and attended<br />
UC Berkeley. The 6-5, 320-pound offensive<br />
tackle was first-team All-Pac 12 his senior<br />
year. He was drafted in the second round in<br />
2012 by the Cleveland Browns.<br />
Fellow Berkeley Bear Chris Conte, who<br />
grew up in the El Medio Bluffs area, graduated<br />
from Loyola High in 2007. The 6-2,<br />
203-pound safety was drafted in the third<br />
round in 2011 by the Chicago Bears. He<br />
signed a one-year contract with Tampa<br />
Bay last March.<br />
Kai Forbath, who grew up in the Highlands,<br />
played for Notre Dame High before<br />
attending UCLA. Although he was projected<br />
as the second-best kicker in the 2011<br />
draft, the 5-9, 197-pound kicker was not<br />
selected. He later signed with the Dallas<br />
Cowboys as a rookie free agent. He played<br />
for Tampa Bay and then joined the Washington<br />
Redskins in 2012.<br />
television distractions: reading promotions<br />
and hearing countdown to ads. Within seconds,<br />
for example, Hayes gives Michaels<br />
the name of the intended receiver and the<br />
defender who knocked the ball away.<br />
Hayes grew up in Malibu and played Pop<br />
Warner in Venice before playing at PaliHi<br />
against future NFL stars like Warren Moon<br />
and Wendell Tyler. After graduating PaliHi<br />
in 1974, he attended Boston University.<br />
During his senior year there in 1978 he went<br />
to golf’s U.S. Open to research his thesis on<br />
how networks covered the event. This led to<br />
a position as a “gofer” for ABC, which is how<br />
he heard Michaels was looking for a spotter.<br />
Hayes called him and said he could do it.<br />
In Erskine’s story (September 10), Hayes remembers:<br />
“I showed up in Lincoln. Game<br />
was Penn State versus Nebraska . . . I remember<br />
being scared to death.”<br />
At the beginning of his career, Hayes had<br />
other jobs, including selling ads for magazines<br />
(Penthouse) and then starting his own sports<br />
production company. But on weekends, he<br />
traveled to join Michaels in the booth.<br />
Hayes acquired his “Malibu” nickname<br />
from Michaels, but has since traded his<br />
surfboard for skis and swapped the beach<br />
lifestyle for Aspen, Colorado.<br />
According to the Times, Hayes jogs every<br />
day, including pregame runs around stadiums,<br />
and pens a wine column for the Aspen<br />
Times. Not a bad life for a PaliHi Dolphin.<br />
—SUE PASCOE<br />
Copa De Dillon Tourney This Sunday<br />
The second annual soccer tournament, Copa de Dillon, will be held at Palisades<br />
High School at 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 20. A minimum donation of $350<br />
per team is sought and will be used to raise money for scholarships for the Dillon<br />
Henry Foundation.<br />
Henry, who played AYSO, high school and club soccer, died in a car accident<br />
in June 2007. The idea for the tourney came from Dillon’s good friends David<br />
Lau, Gabe Lister and Elliot Wainman to honor his birthday on September 24.<br />
Last year’s event had eight teams and raised almost $10,000. This year there<br />
will be 12 teams that will play in a single-elimination format.<br />
Admission is free, and food will be offered by Café Vida, Noah’s Bagels, Tivoli Café,<br />
Yogurt Shoppe, Juice Crafters, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Ralphs and Pearl Dragon.<br />
For more information or to sponsor/donate, contact: harriet@dillonslist.org.<br />
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Page 20 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Medea: A Tale of Displacement<br />
By LIBBY MOTIKA<br />
Palisades News Contributor<br />
The flight from persecution propels<br />
immigrants to take extraordinary<br />
risks. The successful ones celebrate<br />
the end of unspeakable hardships and<br />
fear. But this is only the beginning chapter<br />
for refugees; what follow are the challenges<br />
of starting a new life in a foreign<br />
place, away from family and isolated in<br />
cultural unknowns.<br />
Playwright Luis Alfaro takes up this second<br />
chapter in Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles,<br />
a re-imagining of Euripides’ tragedy<br />
that focuses on a Mexican family who have<br />
fled Michoacán to the barrio of East L.A.<br />
Staged at the Getty Villa, the 90-minute<br />
drama artfully and sensitively demonstrates<br />
how the family copes with displacement<br />
leaving Mexico with no sign, no welcome<br />
in that “other America.”<br />
Medea and Hason (Jason for those more<br />
familiar with Medea), their son Acan and<br />
Tita, a servant with healing powers, are<br />
finding their footing. Medea, a brilliant<br />
seamstress in Mexico, now sews men’s collars<br />
for humiliating wages.<br />
Hason has found promising work in<br />
construction in the employ of Armida, a<br />
successful Mexican developer, who intends<br />
to make Hason part of her business. Acan<br />
Sabina Zuniga Varela portrays Medea in<br />
Luis Alfaro’s adaptation. Photo: Craig Schwartz<br />
is a boy, eagerly molting into an American,<br />
ditching his huaraches for tennies, Papa<br />
for Dad.<br />
Subtly, director Jessica Kubzansky<br />
guides us toward the widening chasm between<br />
Medea and Hason: Medea clings to<br />
the traditions and values of Mexico;<br />
Hason sees his path to success in America<br />
by allying himself with Armida, compromising<br />
his relationship to Medea. “For<br />
me, she is a door, she’s given us a chance,<br />
I want more,” he says.<br />
The triangle tightens as Armida gnaws<br />
at the nontraditional bond between Hason<br />
and Medea by sealing her “business” pact<br />
with Hason in marriage, and mocking<br />
Medea for “thinking like an immigrant.”<br />
Being childless, Armida convulses Medea<br />
with the deepest cut a mother can imagine.<br />
She will adopt Acan, promising that he will<br />
inherit all she has.<br />
“Yes, she has me by the balls,” Hason<br />
says in pleading with Medea to accept his<br />
alliance with Armida. “Let her flirt, let her<br />
fall in love, it’s a small price to pay. We’ve<br />
worked too hard for this.”<br />
This being Medea, the inevitable tragedy<br />
that Euripides set in motion in the 5th century<br />
winds its way to the inexorable end.<br />
In looking for a way to bring this classical<br />
drama to a contemporary audience,<br />
Alfaro says he is just a chronicler and lets<br />
the classics talk to us. Choosing to frame<br />
this Medea within an immigrant story, Alfaro<br />
is turning this into a family story, a<br />
story about love.<br />
“Luis’ Medea lets me understand all the<br />
participants,” says Kubzansky, who is codirector<br />
of The Theatre @ Boston Court<br />
in Pasadena.<br />
“This is a painful, familiar love story<br />
about people navigating a new world when<br />
they don’t understand the rules.”<br />
The Getty production beautifully comprehends<br />
what is Mexican. “Underneath<br />
us is Azlan, our spiritual land,” Alfaro says,<br />
adding that the cast is an all-professional<br />
Latino team.<br />
Tita invites us into this deep, rich history<br />
as she enters the stage at the outset holding<br />
two large palm fronds. Waving them like<br />
bird wings, she invokes the past—the calls<br />
of the Michoacán bird—and the present—the<br />
helicopters patrolling overhead.<br />
In the end, Alfaro’s Medea is intimate,<br />
not grand, which brings its tragic end<br />
even closer to us.<br />
Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles continues<br />
at the Getty Villa at 8 p.m. Thursdays<br />
through Saturdays through October 3.<br />
For tickets ($40-$45), call (310) 440-7300.<br />
On Thursdays, light hors d’oeuvres and<br />
cocktails will be served on the Villa’s<br />
South Balcony ($40). On Fridays and Saturdays,<br />
a prix-fixe dinner with wine pairings<br />
will be offered in the private dining<br />
room ($70, $90 with wine). Reservations:<br />
(310) 440-6033.<br />
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September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 21<br />
The Object Lesson Chronicles Our Past<br />
By LIBBY MOTIKA<br />
Palisades News Contributor<br />
There used to be a popular fundraiser<br />
at my brother’s school. For a dollar,<br />
you could pick a shipping box, contents<br />
unknown. You’d hope to hit the jackpot,<br />
but were willing to part with a buck<br />
just to see what was inside.<br />
Curiosity, the very human drive to discover,<br />
is at the heart of Geoff Sobelle’s latest<br />
work, The Object Lesson, directed by David<br />
Neumann and at the Kirk Douglas Theatre<br />
through October 4.<br />
Sobelle, who grew up in the Palisades,<br />
has pursued his curiosity through performance,<br />
which he thinks of as a metaphor for<br />
human experience.<br />
This experiment explodes to the full in<br />
The Object Lesson. The Douglas auditorium<br />
is overwhelmed with boxes, stacked to the<br />
rafters all around. Over 3,000 shipping boxes<br />
contain treasures from Everyman’s attic,<br />
lovingly wrapped in paper and labeled. As<br />
the doors open to the performance space,<br />
audience members are free to roam, open<br />
boxes, examine the contents and find a<br />
perch on a box to watch the drama unfold.<br />
Sobelle walks in and around the boxes,<br />
mingling with the crowd as they satisfy<br />
Las Doradas Will<br />
Hold Garden Party<br />
The annual Las Doradas luncheon, fund -<br />
raiser and fashion show will be held at 11:30<br />
a.m. on Saturday, September 26 in Brentwood.<br />
In addition to the catered lunch, there will<br />
be a silent auction and raffle drawings. The<br />
grand prize is a Hawaiian vacation for two.<br />
The deadline to RSVP is September 19. Contact<br />
Cheryel Kanan: clkanan@verizon.net.<br />
their curiosity.<br />
In past performances, Sobelle amped the<br />
proceedings with his own magic and clowning<br />
(he studied physical theatre, such as buffoonery<br />
and Commedia dell’arte clowning<br />
at the L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre<br />
Jacques Lecoq), but this piece is paced in<br />
reverie. As he inventories the contents of<br />
various boxes, he, and we, resurrect our own<br />
memories. Many are familiar—the Christmas<br />
decorations, the stuffed animals, love<br />
letters, rotary phone, birthday party decorations.<br />
But Sobelle is not content with the<br />
expected, pulling out sublimely ridiculous<br />
items: a toothbrush and toothpaste, which<br />
he proceeds to use; miles and miles of electric<br />
cord or tree roots; a head of lettuce, carrots<br />
and tomatoes, which he chops into a<br />
salad—while tap dancing on ice skates!<br />
“I choose the stuff, I’ve collected all of it,”<br />
Sobelle told the Palisades News in an interview.<br />
And while some of it is personal to<br />
him, Sobelle says it’s up to the audience to<br />
draw their own conclusions. “I am not here<br />
to help with the meaning. Some things are<br />
valuable, some are crap. I was laughing about<br />
the idea of an archeological excavation. We<br />
go to Pompeii trying to find antiquities, but<br />
what we’re really doing is rooting around<br />
in somebody’s garbage, 2000 years old.”<br />
As Sobelle moves around the space, uncovering<br />
fragments of his past, he is uncovering<br />
our past. “I see the piece as more about<br />
the audience than about me,” he says. “I<br />
think the project works empathetically and<br />
experientially.”<br />
While the pace is deliberately slow, meditative<br />
even, Sobelle feels the point of it is to<br />
quiet everything. “Some people can’t handle<br />
it and they walk out.” But these moments<br />
of pause and reflection, he says, are for us.<br />
We keep our eye on Sobelle, remembering<br />
that he is an entertainer, who believes comedy<br />
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Geoff Sobelle performs his culinary task on ice skates.<br />
is the highest order of art. “Laughter allows<br />
an audience to open, become vulnerable and<br />
experience the full realm of human emotion<br />
to discover a new plane of experience.”<br />
And he doesn’t disappoint us. The bits<br />
with audience participation are killing. In<br />
choosing his “victims,” he says he looks for<br />
several things, gauging chemistry and how<br />
much fun they’re having. Certainly the 10-<br />
minute dinner date tops the evening. Choosing<br />
a woman from the audience, he escorts<br />
her to dinner, which he prepares with the<br />
right amount of atmosphere and élan.<br />
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Sobelle credits his first Cirque du Soleil for<br />
his life’s passion. “I loved that first cirque<br />
under the tent on the Santa Monica Pier. My<br />
dream as a boy was to join the Cirque, so later<br />
when I found the Lecoq School, I was still<br />
bitten. I was excited by all those clowns. I was<br />
interested in this inventive spectacle, really<br />
live. It made me laugh and made me think.”<br />
The Object Lesson makes us laugh and<br />
makes us think too.<br />
Performances continue Wednesdays<br />
through Sundays at the Kirk Douglas Theatre<br />
in Culver City. For tickets, call (213)<br />
628-2772 or visit centertheatregroup.org.<br />
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Palisades News<br />
Page 22 September 16, 2015<br />
Soboroff Collects Famous Typewriters<br />
Story and photos by LAURIE ROSENTHAL<br />
Staff Writer<br />
Steve Soboroff’s entry into collecting typewriters<br />
occurred solely by happenstance. In 2005, with<br />
five kids in private school, the longtime Palisadian<br />
decided to sell his Sandy Koufax glove at a Sotheby’s<br />
auction in New York. The next item up at the auction<br />
was columnist Jim Murray’s typewriter.<br />
“The Dodgers were bidding on it. The Los Angeles<br />
Times was bidding on it,” Soboroff said. “Murray won<br />
the Sportswriter of the Year Award 14 times. Nobody<br />
else has won it twice.”<br />
Soboroff paid $18,000 for the typewrit er—a Remington<br />
Model J—and an expensive new hobby was born.<br />
Since that time, the Soboroff Typewriter Collection<br />
has grown to 33 typewriters, all owned by prominent<br />
people from a variety of fields, including entertainment,<br />
literature and science.<br />
Currently, the collection can be seen at the Paley<br />
Center for Media in Beverly Hills. Each typewriter is<br />
surrounded by ephem era, including magazines, letters,<br />
books, photographs and even a Plastic Ono Band 45<br />
(“Give Peace a Chance”).<br />
Soboroff wrote all the text that is featured in the<br />
exhibit on the old Royal typewriter that sits on his<br />
desk, which is two serial numbers off from the Ernest<br />
Hemingway typewriter that Soboroff owns. His<br />
Jerry Siegel created Superman on this Royal Portable Quiet<br />
DeLuxe.<br />
Photo: Michael Bulbenko<br />
Steve Soboroff’s Royal typewriter, similar to Ernest Hemingway’s, has a place of prominence in his memorabilia-filled office.<br />
typewriter can be found for $250, while he was offered<br />
$250,000 for Hemingway’s. It is one of seven that the<br />
author owned (Soboroff owns another one), and is<br />
the last one he wrote on before killing himself in<br />
1961. Soboroff doesn’t let anyone touch it.<br />
“My populist rule of thumb is if they were on<br />
the cover of Time, Newsweek or Sports Illustrated,<br />
I’m generally interested,” Soboroff said. This<br />
includes a diverse group, from Dr. Maya Angelou to<br />
Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber.<br />
His typewriter was taken by the FBI when he was<br />
captured, and eventually sold via a government auction,<br />
where Soboroff picked it up.<br />
When he met fellow Palisadian Tom Hanks, who<br />
is also a typewriter collector and represented in<br />
the collection with a Hermes 3000, Soboroff<br />
told him, “I’d take your typewriter.” It was<br />
delivered the next day, along with two Time<br />
magazine covers featuring the actor.<br />
There is a major difference between the two men’s<br />
collections. “He collects typewriters for the typewriter.<br />
I collect typewriters for who used them,” Soboroff said.<br />
Each typewriter in Soboroff’s collection has its own<br />
tale. Some of the greatest art and historical documents<br />
of the 20th century were created on them.<br />
Scientist Samuel T. Cohen’s typewriter was used<br />
when he worked on the Manhattan Project, the<br />
famed atom-bomb program of the 1940s.<br />
Orson Welles’ typewriter was his constant<br />
companion when he visited Paris. “He would lie on<br />
his back and he’d put the typewriter on his stomach<br />
and type,” Soboroff said.<br />
Jerry Siegel created Superman on his Royal Portable<br />
Quiet DeLuxe typewriter. His daughter, Laura Siegel<br />
Larson, sold it to Soboroff because she wanted to<br />
celebrate what would have been her father’s<br />
100th birthday in 2014.<br />
Other typewriters he has bought from family<br />
members and/or estates include those owned by<br />
John Cheever, Marlene Diet rich, Joe DiMaggio<br />
and Harold Robbins. The heirs are “entrusting me to<br />
celebrate the legacy of who owned the typewriter,”<br />
Soboroff said.<br />
Other featured typewriters include the one that<br />
George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion on, the one that<br />
Andy Rooney had for 60 years and was featured on<br />
a segment on 60 Minutes and the one that John<br />
Len non wrote songs on before Beatlemania.<br />
The Smithsonian contacted Soboroff about<br />
donating one of his two Shirley Temple<br />
typewriters. “If I can donate to the Smithsonian, the<br />
finest museum in the world, it validates my collection.<br />
I gave them one.”<br />
He enthusiastically explains the history of the screen<br />
legend’s typewriter that is on view at the Paley Center.<br />
“That typewriter is 80 years old and prob ably used<br />
for about an hour. That’s like getting a Corvette<br />
from 1953 that somebody sealed hermetically.<br />
Her typewriter is in incredible condition.”<br />
Unlike today’s computers, which offer endless<br />
distractions, typewriters encouraged users to be<br />
extremely focused when they sat down to write.<br />
“Like an athlete, people got in a zone with these<br />
(Continued on Page 23)
September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 23<br />
Palisadian Tom Hanks is represented with his Hermes<br />
3000 and personally typed letter to Steve Soboroff.<br />
Soboroff<br />
(Continued from Page 22)<br />
things, and these machines were their partners in those<br />
zones,” said Soboroff, who relishes the fact that so<br />
many masterpieces were created on typewriters in his<br />
collection.<br />
He spends a lot of effort hiring people to prove that<br />
the typewriters’ lineage is correct. “No two typewriters<br />
type exactly alike,” Soboroff said, and he uses forensics<br />
and copies of original manuscripts to confirm that all<br />
his typewriters are authentic. It usually takes around<br />
six months for the entire process.<br />
Always looking to add to his collection, Soboroff would<br />
love to get a typewriter that was owned by a president.<br />
Thanks to the Paley exhibit, the Soboroff Typewriter<br />
Collection has grown, and now includes typewriters<br />
that belonged to Bing Crosby and Rudolph Valentino.<br />
This is the last typewriter Ernest Hemingway used before<br />
his suicide.<br />
“People would come and say, ‘This is the right place for<br />
me to put this typewriter instead of keeping it at home.’”<br />
Soboroff originally envisioned that the exhibit would<br />
be up for about two months— it’s now been nine. Unlike<br />
most museum exhibits, nothing is protected, or placed<br />
behind glass. Everything is close enough to touch, but<br />
there are polite signs throughout the room reminding<br />
people to look only.<br />
The collection was previously shown at Northeastern<br />
University’s new museum in Boston.<br />
Soboroff loans out his typewriters to different<br />
organizations, donating all of that income to the Jim<br />
Murray Memorial Foun dation’s journalism scholarship<br />
program.<br />
Every other year, he helps out the John Updike Society<br />
by lending the organization the author’s typewriter.<br />
And Siegel’s typewriter, on which Superman came to<br />
life, will travel to New York where it will be on view for<br />
five months at the “Superheroes in Gotham” exhibit<br />
Andrea Bocelli has written poems and more on his Standard<br />
Perkins Brailler.<br />
Photo courtesy Steve Soboroff<br />
starting October 9 at the New York Historical Society.<br />
Soboroff has lived in the Palisades with his wife,<br />
Patti, since they married in 1983. Their five children—<br />
Jacob, Miles, Molly, Hannah and Leah—range in age<br />
from 22 to 32. He has been president of the Los Angeles<br />
Police Commission for two years, helped guide the Playa<br />
Vista development, ran for mayor in 2001 and is involved<br />
in many civic and business activities throughout Los<br />
Angeles and beyond.<br />
When asked which typewriter is his favorite, Soboroff<br />
explains: “We have five kids. I tell every kid every time<br />
we’re alone that they’re my favorite. Every one of those<br />
typewriters is my favorite, for a different reason.<br />
“The typewriters tell a story. Provenance and other<br />
things tell a beautiful story. That’s what I wanted to tell<br />
about each one, because they’re really important pieces<br />
of American history.”<br />
Contact: paleycenter.org/p-soboroff-typewritercollection<br />
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www.joansather.com<br />
joan@joansather.com<br />
310.740.0302<br />
CalBRE #00575771
Page 24 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
Broadway Bound Opens at Pierson<br />
By SUE PASCOE<br />
Editor<br />
Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, which<br />
opened on September 4 at Pierson<br />
Playhouse and runs through October<br />
11, is good, but with a few adjustments<br />
could be a truly memorable evening.<br />
This play, which debuted on Broadway<br />
in late 1986 and ran for almost two years, is<br />
the final chapter of Simon’s “Eugene Trilogy.”<br />
The first two, Brighton Beach Memoirs<br />
and Biloxi Blues, dealt with the adolescent<br />
Eugene Jerome growing up in Brooklyn<br />
and then his stint in the Army during<br />
World War II.<br />
The final play, which was nominated for<br />
a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is set in 1949.<br />
Eugene and his older brother Stanley still<br />
live at home and are trying to break into<br />
comedy writing. Their grandfather, a socialist,<br />
lives with them and refuses to move<br />
south to Florida with his wife. Even as the<br />
two brothers’ careers take off, their father<br />
and mother’s marriage is crumbling—and<br />
the tension is palpable.<br />
When critic Frank Rich reviewed the play<br />
for the New York Times, he wrote: “Broadway<br />
Bound contains some of its author’s<br />
most accomplished writing to date—passages<br />
that dramatize the timeless, unresolvable<br />
bloodlettings of familial existence as<br />
Brothers Eugene (DL Corrigan) and Stanley (David Tracq) are excited after hearing<br />
their comedy sketch on the radio.<br />
Photo: Joy Daunis<br />
well as the humorous conflicts one expects.<br />
But the seamless merging of laughter, character<br />
and emotion that ignited Biloxi Blues<br />
is only intermittently achieved here. There<br />
are stretches, especially in Act I, when<br />
Broadway Bound isn’t funny or moving but<br />
just reportorial and expository.”<br />
This is drama, and the attempt to force<br />
laughs in a story that needs to be told simply,<br />
is strained. This play doesn’t need<br />
opening and closing doors like a bawdy<br />
English farce. The play doesn’t need actors<br />
mugging. The play doesn’t need the constant<br />
shuffling of a chair just to create<br />
busywork for actors. Occasional silence or<br />
absence of motion can be just as powerful<br />
on stage as constant movement.<br />
Having seen the show on Broadway with<br />
Linda Lavin, who played the mother (and<br />
won the 1987 Tony Award for her performance),<br />
I remember sitting in the audience<br />
trying not to cry as it became apparent she<br />
would soon be alone in the house: a place<br />
where she had devoted her life to her family.<br />
It was a nuanced, magical performance.<br />
As much as Broadway Bound is a semiautobiographical<br />
play about Neil Simon<br />
(Eugene) and his home in Brighton Beach,<br />
Brooklyn, the fulcrum in this show is the<br />
mother. The audience has to feel sorry for<br />
her: it is crucial.<br />
One would urge another examination<br />
from the actress Georgan George (mother)<br />
and director Sherry Coon about that role.<br />
As the mother’s sister, Caroline Westheimer<br />
(Blanche) is lovely. Kenneth Steven<br />
Bernfield (Jack), who plays the dad, is nicely<br />
restrained and the audience feels sorry for<br />
him, even though he is blamed for breaking<br />
up the home. The two brothers, DL Corrigan<br />
(Eugene) and David Tracq (Stanley),<br />
are fine in their excitement of landing a<br />
career in radio/television. As the play progresses,<br />
Tracq seems to find his rhythm—<br />
and the asides, done for comedy and play<br />
progression, start to flow smoothly.<br />
The play is produced by Martha Hunter<br />
and Maria O’Connor. Show times are 8<br />
p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; Sundays at 2<br />
p.m. Adults are $20 and seniors/students<br />
are $18. Free parking. Call (310) 454-1970.<br />
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September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 25<br />
FALL EDITION<br />
Special Section—<br />
October 21, 2015<br />
Place Your Ads NOW in the<br />
Full-Color Pages, Full-Color Ads<br />
Distribution to the entire 90272 Palisades<br />
Community (by US Mail to 13,300 addresses<br />
& 1,200 distribution around town)<br />
Special Section Pricing<br />
(Call for details)<br />
Make your Ad Reservation Today!<br />
Ad Space Reservation Deadline: October 9<br />
Camera-ready Ad Artwork Deadline: October 12<br />
(Ads must be supplied by advertiser)<br />
Contact for Information:<br />
Jeff Ridgway at (310) 401-7692<br />
jridgway@palisadesnews.com<br />
Grace Hiney at (310) 401-7694<br />
gghiney@verizon.net<br />
Jeff Parr at (310) 401-7690<br />
jparr@palisadesnews.com<br />
Left to right, Kristi Temple, Kayla Anne Temple, Amy Lynn Bailey, Madelyn Ann Bailey,<br />
Coronet Debutante Ball President Candy Beaver, Catherine Ann Bigelow, Jacqueline<br />
Ann Bigelow, Nile Ruth Pierre and Lily Fae Pierre.<br />
Photo courtesy Candy Beaver<br />
Coronet Ball Board<br />
Names 2015 Debs<br />
By LAURIE ROSENTHAL<br />
Staff Writer<br />
The Coronet Debutante Ball board<br />
announced its newest debutantes at<br />
an August luncheon at the Bel-Air<br />
Country Club.<br />
Amy Lynn Bailey, Catherine Ann Bige -<br />
low, Nile Ruth Pierre and Kayla Anne<br />
Temple will be presented at the 66th Ball,<br />
which will be held at The Beverly Hilton<br />
on November 28.<br />
The four women were invited to debut<br />
based on their community service involvement.<br />
They have all worked as volunteers<br />
in the community for at least six years.<br />
“The girls are all accomplished high<br />
school seniors busy with a full fall schedule,<br />
who find the time to pursue philanthropic<br />
activities to better the community,” said<br />
Candy Beaver, current Coronet Debutante<br />
Ball president. “I am confident they will<br />
continue to inspire through their volunteer<br />
work for the rest of their lives.”<br />
Bailey and Pierre attend Palisades Charter,<br />
while Temple attends New Roads School.<br />
Bigelow lives in Northern California.<br />
The three local women all volunteer at<br />
Timeless Treasure Thrift Shop in Culver<br />
City and St. Anne’s in Santa Monica. In addition,<br />
Temple cooks for and feeds homeless<br />
women at OPCC in Santa Monica.<br />
Bigelow volunteers up north.<br />
Volunteerism is a basic tenet of the<br />
Coronet Debutante organization, and the<br />
women who spend time helping in the<br />
community are known as Ticktockers.<br />
Fifteen hundred and nine women were<br />
presented as Coronet Debutantes between<br />
1949 and 2014.<br />
Bigelow is a second-generation Coronet<br />
Debutante, whose mother, former Palisadian<br />
Jacqueline Ann Bigelow, was presented<br />
in 1976, and served as a Ball president.Her<br />
grandmother, Juanita Kamm, is a 70-year<br />
resident of Pacific Palisades and a former<br />
National Charity League (NCL) president.<br />
Bailey is also a legacy Coronet Debutante.<br />
Her mother, Madelyn Koll Bailey, debuted<br />
in 1975, and is also a past president of the<br />
NCL’s Los Angeles chapter. Amy’s sisters,<br />
Laura Bailey Mossler (2008) and Kristin Ann<br />
Bailey (2012), were also presented, along<br />
with her grandmother and great-aunt.
Page 26 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
DINING WITH GRACE<br />
THE NOOK<br />
11628 Santa Monica Blvd. (at Barry St.), West Los Angeles • (310) 207-5160<br />
This amazing restaurant has been a<br />
“find” for 10 years. Located at the<br />
back of the Plaza West (a minimall),<br />
look for the large NOOK sign.<br />
The restaurant has an amazing variety<br />
of top-quality foods and there is an exceptional<br />
list of cocktails, beers of various<br />
styles, as well as a consortium of ales, and<br />
a number of wines along with a variety of<br />
bourbons, rye, scotch, tequila and rum.<br />
The setting is simple with an open<br />
ceiling featuring rafters and aluminum<br />
pipes. There is a middle table for 14<br />
diners, along with a few booths and<br />
banquette seating on one wall. Large<br />
wooden framed mirrors decorate the walls. Tables are of<br />
simple wood but with all of the proper knives, forks and<br />
large white linen napkins found in first-rate establishments.<br />
Not many restaurants start their small menu with a<br />
mac and cheese, followed by shitake and gruyere bread<br />
pudding, or roasted cauliflower with a salsa verde aioli<br />
(each for $9). Ending this list of 10 small offerings is a<br />
Nook dinner salad of mixed greens with a rosemarybeet<br />
vinaigrette, dried cranberries, brandy pecans and<br />
goat cheese.<br />
My friend and I were torn between the crab cake with<br />
macaque choux and Tabasco vinaigrette ($15), or the<br />
roasted cauliflower.The latter proved to be excellent with<br />
its green and garlic-flavored salsa as a perfect accent to<br />
the roasted cauliflower. The shared dinner<br />
salad was also a delight.<br />
We had always enjoyed the Nook<br />
Burger before a film at the Royal Theater<br />
just down the street, but decided we<br />
wanted something different this time.<br />
Spicy Gulf shrimp caught my eye<br />
while my friend was intrigued by the<br />
chicken paillard. The spicy Gulf shrimp<br />
were perfect—tasty and succulent but<br />
not overwhelmingly spicy. The zesty<br />
flavor was a great accent to the Fall’s<br />
Mill stone-ground grits and slices of<br />
andouille sausage ($20).<br />
The chicken paillard composed of<br />
organic chicken breast pounded flat with garlic-smashed<br />
potatoes and sautéed rapini (brocoli raab), all with a<br />
marvelous lemon caper pan sauce, was equally delicious<br />
($19). The portions were generous and we took home<br />
leftovers.<br />
Keep the Nook burger in mind, because it comes<br />
with gruyere cheese, red onion jam and baby arugula<br />
on grilled rustic bread. It is served with fries or mixed<br />
greens and a homemade pickle ($14).<br />
For steak lovers there is steak frites with a hanger<br />
steak, shallot and mustard butter ($22), and for veggie<br />
lovers the squash and chickpea stew ($13) sounds tasty,<br />
as does the sautéed brown-rice bowl ($13). The menu<br />
is updated frequently.<br />
The chocolate and banana bread pudding with brandy<br />
caramel sauce and whipped cream ($7) sounded enticing<br />
for our shared dessert. It was as delightful as it sounded.<br />
A treat on the dessert menu for those who enjoy<br />
after-dinner drinks includes Irish coffee ($9), Cognac<br />
($12), special bourbons, rye and scotch. Also listed are<br />
a quintet of loose teas.<br />
Hours are from 5:30 to 10 p.m. daily except on Friday<br />
and Saturday when they remain open until 10:30 p.m.<br />
The bar’s Happy Hour is from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday<br />
through Friday.<br />
Parking in the Plaza West lot is free. As I said, Nook<br />
is a “find.”<br />
— GRACE HINEY<br />
310.230.7377<br />
hollydavis@coldwellbanker.com<br />
www.hollydavis.com<br />
BRE #00646387<br />
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September 16, 2015 Palisades News Page 27
Page 28 Palisades News September 16, 2015<br />
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