December 2016

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA 

December 2016 

HOME FOR THE 

HOLIDAYS 

Seasonal decorating tips from 

HBO’s Top 

Event Designer 

NASA’s 

HOTWIRE TO 

HOLLYWOOD 

Warren Betts helps bring 

Science Fact to 

Science Fiction 

STUDIO JEWELRY 

GETS ITS 

FIRST SHOW 

AT LACMA 

HOLIDAY 

GIFT AND 

EVENT 

GUIDES

Lic.653340 Photo by Meghan Beierle-O’Brien 

Design Art. 

Build Art. 

A love for art and people is what started this company. 

Thirty years later, nothing is as important to us as the incredible friendships 

that have come from creating beautiful spaces together with our clients. 

Let us show you how our finely tuned design/build process minimizes the 

stress involved with home remodeling and custom home building. 

626.486.0510 HartmanBaldwin.com

arroyo 

VOLUME 12 | NUMBER 12 | DECEMBER 2016 

19 

13 47 

PHOTOS: (Top) Courtesy of Billy Butchkavitz; (bottom left) © Museum Associates / LACMA 

ENTERTAINMENT & ENTERTAINING 

13 RING-A-DING-BLING! 

Lois Boardman’s unusual jewelry collection is on view at LACMA. 

—By SCARLET CHENG 

19 COLOR MASTER 

HBO event designer Billy Butchkavitz designs parties that are among 

Hollywood’s hottest. 

—By NOELA HUESO 

41 NASA’S HOTWIRE TO HOLLYWOOD 

Publicist Warren Betts says science truth is stranger (and better) than 

science fi ction. 

—By BETTIJANE LEVINE 

47 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 

—By DENISE ABBOTT 

DEPARTMENTS 

08 FESTIVITIES Five Acres celebrates adoption, College Access Plan turns 10. 

09 LÉON BING A Christmas Memory 

37 ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX 

50 KITCHEN CONFESSIONS Cook, Eat, Death Metal 

52 THE LIST A Christmas Carol around town, holiday lights at Descanso and the 

L.A. Zoo and more 

ABOUT THE COVER: Billy Butchkavitz’s design for holidays at home, photo by Gabor Ekecs 

12.16 ARROYO | 5

EDITOR’S NOTE 

In our December Entertainment & 

Entertaining issue, we like to bring you 

stories about your neighbors in The 

(seemingly ubiquitous) Industry. That 

has mostly meant profi les of actors, 

producers, writers and directors, 

natch, but this year, Arroyo turns its 

lens on Arroyoland folk whose role in 

Hollywood is important — but largely 

invisible. 

People like Pasadena-based 

publicist Warren Betts, a self-described 

science geek who created a 

fascinating niche for himself — liaising 

between science-and-tech experts 

like Stephen Hawking and sci-fi 

fi lmmakers hoping to inject as much 

reality into their projects as possible – and with good reason. As Bettijane 

Levine learned in reporting Betts’ story, with technology advances zooming 

ahead, science fact can be infi nitely more interesting than science fi ction. 

And, of course, Pasadena is ground zero for bridging the two. 

Noela Hueso talks to Billy Butchkavitz, the talented Pasadena-based 

event designer whose spectacular HBO parties are among Hollywood’s 

hottest. Hueso fi nds out how he does it and how you can do it too, on a 

much smaller scale, with his tips on decorating your home for the holidays. 

Another Arroyoland resident with a sharp eye for design is South 

Pasadena art lover Lois Boardman, whose collecting habits break new 

ground, at least as far as museums are concerned. Scarlet Cheng reports 

on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s current exhibition of her 

dazzling “studio jewelry” collection — handcrafted pieces that qualify as 

artworks themselves. 

—Irene Lacher 

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher 

ART DIRECTOR Carla Cortez 

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Torres 

PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Rochelle Bassarear, 

Richard Garcia 

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Bettijane Levine 

COPY EDITOR John Seeley 

CONTRIBUTORS Denise Abbott, Leslie Bilderback, 

Léon Bing, Martin Booe, James Carbone, Michael 

Cervin, Scarlet Cheng, Richard Cunningham, 

Carole Dixon, Kathleen Kelleher, Rebecca Kuzins, 

Brenda Rees, John Sollenberger 

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon 

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lisa Chase, 

Brenda Clarke, Leslie Lamm 

ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 

Bruce Haring 

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker 

PAYROLL Linda Lam 

CONTROLLER Kacie Cobian 

ACCOUNTING Sharon Huie, Teni Keshishian 

OFFICE MANAGER Ann Turrietta 

PUBLISHER Jon Guynn 

arroyo 

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA 

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING 

V.P. OF OPERATIONS David Comden 

PRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin 

CONTACT US 

ADVERTISING 

dinas@pasadenaweekly.com 

EDITORIAL 

editor@arroyomonthly.com 

PHONE 

(626) 584-1500 

FAX 

(626) 795-0149 

MAILING ADDRESS 

50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, 

Pasadena, CA 91105 

ArroyoMonthly.com 

©2016 Southland Publishing, Inc. 

All rights reserved. 

6 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 7

FESTIVITIES 

Kim Kenne, CAP honoree Jacqueline Snell and Charles Heaton 

Vivian Chan and Rebecca Haussling 

Christine Davis and Jillian Lauren 

Natasha Mahone and Mo Hyman 

Melanie Goodyear and Lisa Wilson 

Amy Elaine Wakeland and Chanel Boutakidis 

Peter Gallagher 

Jason O’Mara Pooja Batra Sandra Tsing Loh with Ruby and Frier McCollister 

8 | ARROYO | 12.16 

The Altadena-based child welfare agency Five Acres celebrated 

National Adoption Awareness Month Oct. 26 by kicking off its third 

annual Permanency Campaign with a cocktail reception at Noor 

where adoptive moms — First Lady of Los Angeles Amy Elaine 

Wakeland and Jillian Lauren — discussed the need for more foster 

and adoptive families…More than 100 supporters and supportees 

of College Access Plan toasted its 10th anniversary Nov. 12 at a 

“Blast from the Past Homecoming Dance,” which raised more than 

$15,000 for the Pasadena-based college counseling organization… 

Actors Peter Gallagher, Pasadena’s Sandra Tsing Loh, Jason 

O’Mara and Pooja Batra turned out for the Nov. 16 opening of the 

Mark Taper Forum’s revival of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s 

The Beauty Queen of Leenane…Upstage Design Home Staging 

Services donated its event-design services to the Pasadena 

Ronald McDonald House’s 2016 “Share in the Magic Gala” at the 

Langham Huntington, Pasadena. The Nov. 5 event raised funds for 

the charity’s mission to house families of sick children treated at 

nearby hospitals. 

Yvonne Martinez, Linda Costa, Ronald McDonald, 

Stacey Miller and Robyn Navarro 

PHOTOS:Tim Johnson (College Access Plan) ; Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging (The Beauty Queen of Leenane)

LÉON BING 

A CHRISTMAS 

MEMORY 

Christmas was quite the big deal at our house when I was a kid. I lived with my 

mother’s parents — Nonnie and Pampy (as I called them) and Nonnie’s two 

unmarried siblings, my great-aunt “Hotten,” and my great-uncle Henry. There 

was always a lap for me to sit on, always a cuddle and a kiss when I reached out for one. 

Nonnie, Hotten and I went to Temple Sinai synagogue in Oakland for services every 

Saturday morning and we celebrated all the Jewish holidays, like Rosh Hashana and the 

very serious Yom Kippur. I attended Sunday school as well, but my mother, who was on her 

second marriage by the time I was 4, came to temple only on the High Holidays. Pampy 

was a lapsed Roman Catholic who visited Christian Science reading rooms every month or 

so. Uncle Henry seemed indifferent wto religion of any stripe. 

But we all loved Christmas. 

Our tree didn’t come into the house until the day before Christmas Eve. It was always 

a fat, perfectly shaped little fir with thick needles that permeated the air with the bracing 

aroma of balsam. My grandfather’s Steinway took over the space at the bay window in 

the living room, so the tree was placed in a corner of the dining room atop a shallow 

container of water. This was covered by a snowy velvet cloth dappled with tiny silver 

stars. Tree-trimming would begin after dinner and I was so excited I could barely sit 

through the meal. Uncle Henry and Pampy were in charge of threading the small 

colored light bulbs through the tree’s branches, and when they were 

lighted, the dining room glowed like a shattered rainbow. Next came 

the tinsel, which was placed, strand by strand, along the branches. 

That was Hotten’s job and she made sure each silvery strip had the 

appearance of a single icicle. I was her helper, lifting one piece at a 

time from the box and handing it to her on the tip of one index 

finger. Then it was time for the ornaments, none of them new, 

all of them left to us by my great-grandmother Mary Morris. 

There were fragile colored balls laced with an overlay of 

snowflake designs, twisted silver icicles, colored birds with a 

spray of artificial tail feathers and squat Santa figures. By the 

midpoint of the ornament hanging I was trying to swallow 

my yawns, so Nonnie took me upstairs to bed with the 

promise that a plate of cookies and a glass of milk would be 

left out for Santa Claus. 

I nearly woke up at the sound of clumping reindeer 

hooves (my grandfather’s shoe banging on the floor, I would 

learn later) and a thrill shimmered through me at the sight 

of the half-finished glass of milk and the plate of cookies 

with a large bite taken out of the biggest one. I’d followed 

a red satin ribbon tied to my bed that led me into the hall 

and down the stairs to the dining room where a panoply of 

fancifully wrapped presents lay spread out under the tree. 

Most of them were for me and I could tell by the big, flat 

rectangular shapes that many of them were books, the things 

I treasured most. After all the gifts had been opened and 

–continued on page 10 

12.16 | ARROYO | 9

LÉON BING 

AND ON THE EVENING OF THE 31ST 

OF DECEMBER, THE MISTER AND I 

ALWAYS TOAST EACH OTHER AND THE 

COMING YEAR WITH A GLASS OF 

CHAMPAGNE... 

–continued from page 09 

exclaimed over, my grandfather went to the piano and played traditional Christmas carols. 

My mother would arrive mid-morning, and it always took two trips to her car to carry in 

the presents she brought for everyone in the family. 

The details of one particular Christmas afternoon are etched in my memory. My father, 

whom I saw less and less of because the divorce had been my mother’s idea, appeared 

carrying two wrapped boxes, one large, one slightly smaller. Like most kids, I tore first 

into the bigger of the two packages. It contained a miniature set of tableware in a blue 

willow pattern identical to the dishes in our pantry. This small set consisted of six complete 

settings for a dinner party, including covered vegetable and soup tureens, a teapot, a cream 

pitcher and a sugar bowl. It was better than any tea set I’d seen in any toy department and 

I couldn’t imagine that whatever was inside the smaller box could delight me as much. I 

was wrong. When I pulled off the colorful wrapping paper I found a surprise that made 

me take in a breath: at least two dozen tiny, individually wrapped objects tightly packed 

next to and on top of each other — all of them were toy banquet food for the dish set. 

There was a turkey on a platter with servings of cranberry sauce and dressing surrounding 

a well-browned bird. There were little soup bowls filled with something that looked like 

oyster stew. A tureen of peas was topped with a miniscule strip of bacon. Another platter 

held eight or nine biscuits and two serving dishes, one filled with mashed potatoes, the 

other with yams. There were two desserts: a cherry pie with a latticed crust and a fancifully 

frosted cake. The table was completed with amber-colored goblets and six sets of inchlong 

silverware. 

I’d never seen anything like it, and even my grandparents and Hotten leaned in to see 

the marvel that had taken my breath away. It was a marvel and it is the only present I’ve 

ever received that I remember in full detail. I kept everything together in their original 

boxes but pieces were lost as I grew older and was sent to boarding school and then 

university. I managed to keep one of the tiny amber-colored goblets until a few years ago 

when it was broken during a move. 

I love everything about the holidays, from Halloween straight through New Year’s 

Eve, even though we rarely leave the house on that night or, now that I think of it, any of 

the others. My daughter, Lisa, usually comes over, carrying small and wonderful presents, 

on Christmas. And on the evening of December 31st, the Mister and I always toast each 

other and the coming year with a glass of champagne and we say a small prayer for the 

months that lie ahead of us, our loved ones and our country. But every year, on the 25th of 

December, my mind goes back to that Christmas when I was still a single-digit age and my 

father came to see me with just about the best presents (aside from the glorious and unusual 

pieces of jewelry given to me by my beloved Mister) I’ve ever received. And then I can very 

nearly smell those beautifully ornamented little fir trees in my grandparents’ dining room. |||| 

10 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 11

12 | ARROYO | 12.16

Ring-a- 

Ding-Bling! 

Lois Boardman’s unusual jewelry collection 

forms an unusual show at LACMA. 

BY SCARLET CHENG 

PHOTO: © Wayne Shimabukuro 

Lois Boardman sporting Nancy 

Worden’s Gilding the Past 

IT’S VERY UNUSUAL FOR THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY 

MUSEUM OF ART TO FEATURE A JEWELRY COLLECTION, 

BUT THIS IS NO USUAL COLLECTION. AS THE 

EXHIBITION TITLE SUGGESTS, BEYOND BLING: 

JEWELRY FROM THE LOIS BOARDMAN COLLECTION 

(THROUGH FEB. 5, 2017) TAKES US INTO ANOTHER 

DIMENSION OF JEWELRY: IT’S STILL WEARABLE 

BODY DECORATION — YOU CAN PUT IT ON 

YOUR FINGER OR AROUND YOUR NECK — BUT 

THE 50 PIECES HERE VEER INTO THE REALMS OF 

SCULPTURE AND CONCEPTUAL ART, AND ARE 

TESTAMENT TO THE CONTINUING INGENUITY 

OF ARTISTS. THEY ARE PART OF A GIFT OF 300 

PIECES OF STUDIO JEWELRY TO THE MUSEUM BY 

LOIS BOARDMAN, A LONGTIME RESIDENT OF SOUTH 

PASADENA AND A DEDICATED PATRON OF THE ARTS 

IN SOCAL. 

12.16 | ARROYO | 13


Nancy Worden, Armed and 

Dangerous necklace, 1998 

Nancy Worden, 

The Leash necklace, 2003 

Three years ago Boardman contacted LACMA’s Decorative Arts and Design 

Department, saying she was interested in donating her collection. Rosie Chambers 

Mills and Bobbye Tigerman, associate curators in the department, came to 

visit her. “We were sitting in her kitchen, and she brought out 20 or 30 pieces,” 

Tigerman recalls. “We were blown away. These were large and bold and not 

what you think about when you think about jewelry. They often have a personal 

or political message through the use of the material.” 

Boardman and her husband, Bob, have lived in an old Spanish-style house 

in a quiet residential neighborhood for over half a century. It’s a house full of 

art — much of it colorful and whimsical. There are pieces of American folk art 

and contemporary ceramics by such well-known artists as Ralph Bacerra, Peter 

Shire and John Mason. During night classes at Chouinard Art Institute (long 

since merged into CalArts), Boardman studied ceramics under the charismatic 

Bacerra and even had her own studio behind the house. She also served as a 

member of LACMA’s Decorative Arts Council (now the Decorative Arts and 

Design Council). 

Boardman says her jewelry habit was sparked by her friendship with gallerist 

Helen Drutt. In the early 1980s, they were both part of the National Task Force 

in the Crafts, a project initiated by the late Eudorah Moore (a longtime curator 

of the Pasadena Arts Museum — now the Norton Simon) on behalf of the National 

Endowment for the Arts. Boardman and Drutt, owner of an eponymous 

crafts and jewelry gallery in Philadelphia, traveled together on fact-finding trips 

for the task force. “She kept wearing all this stuff, all this jewelry,” Boardman 

recalls, sitting at the kitchen table. Her pieces were one-of-a-kind, and Boardman 

became so intrigued she began buying pieces from the Helen Drutt Gallery 

(since closed) and meeting the artists who made them. “I just thought it was 


WHERE TO BUY 

STUDIO JEWELRY 

Philip Sajet, 

Cactus Quadruple ring, 2003 

14 | ARROYO | 12.16 

Mirjam Hiller, 

Loperenias brooch, 2012 

Craft and Folk Art Museum 

5814 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 

Visit cafamshop.org. 

Freehand 

8413 W. 3rd St., L.A. 

Call (323) 655-2607 or visit 

freehand.com. 

Gold Bug 

22 E. Union St., Pasadena 

Call (626) 744-9963 or visit 

goldbugpasadena.com. 

LACMA Gift Shop 

5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 

Visit thelacmastore.org. 

PHOTOS: © Museum Associates / LACMA

12.16 | ARROYO | 15


emiko oye, Maharajah’s 6th necklace, 2008 

Gerd Rothmann, Die Goldene Nase nosepiece, 1988 

fun,” says Boardman off handedly. “I got into it, this was studio jewelry. Helen 

guided me for a long period of time.” 

“Studio jewelry” is the term coined to describe original jewelry handcrafted 

by an artist in his/her workshop. According to Mills and Tigerman, writing in 

the exhibition catalog, contemporary studio jewelry emerged in the 1960s and 

1970s, in several locations — mainly the U. S., the Netherlands, Germany and 

Britain, all represented in the show. The exhibition title uses the catchy term 

“bling,” which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “ostentatious jewellery.” 

The selection is certainly eye-catching. 

Beyond Bling, in a gallery off the upper entrance to the Ahmanson Building, 

has proved unexpectedly popular with audiences of all ages. The rings and 

brooches are, of course, on the small side and must be examined at close range. 

Other pieces are large and bold and in your face — the very definition of “bling.” 

Many seem to carry a larger message than decoration — social, cultural and 

political transgression being one of the hallmarks of contemporary art. Take 

Nancy Worden’s Gilding the Past: it’s a necklace made up of gilded bone shapes 

(based on a chicken bone, says Tigerman) and looks rather like a necklace for a 

witch doctor. Closer examination, however, reveals medallions of the peace sign 

and the smiley face — carved from Kennedy half-dollar coins — interspersed 

between the bones. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Worden was active in antiwar 

protests during the Vietnam era. The piece questions wars (the bones being a 

stark reminder of death) and the “gilded” sheen we put on them. 

Other unexpected materials in these display cases include plastics, textiles 

and feathers. One highlight is a necklace made with Lego pieces — emiko oye’s 

Maharajah’s 6th is white, black and acid green — a series of white Lego bricks 

with black end pieces and a large multicolored medallion that drapes in the 

front. “When people look at it, it reminds them of outer space, the future,” says 

Tigerman, “but in reality, she was trying to replicate this 1928 piece made by 

Boucheron for a maharaja.” Quite a few children come into this exhibition and 

hover around this piece, probably wondering what they could do with their own 

Lego sets — if they are lucky enough to have one. 

A tour de force of craftsmanship is Gesine Hackenberg’s Delft Blue ‘Plooischotel’, 

made from a blue-and-white Royal Delft platter. (Fear not, it’s not antique 

— it was made in 1943.) Round pieces of varying sizes have been meticulously 

cut out of the rim and the base, and then strung together to make a necklace. 

The necklace is shown with the platter, illustrating how the pieces could fit back 

in. Boardman admits she didn’t set out with an agenda or checklist when she 

started collecting, but rather relied on her own taste. “The idea of it was terrific,” 

she replies, as to why she bought the Hackenberg piece. 

One piece breaks the rules on the body part it adorns: Die Goldene Nase Nosepiece 

by Gerd Rothmann was commissioned by Boardman in 1988. It is taken 

from a mold of her own nose and is worn atop the nose, like a prosthesis. The 

piece is also a bit of a visual pun, a play on the German phrase “to earn a golden 

nose,” which means “to make a fortune.” Did she ever actually wear it in public? 

“I did, a few times,” says Boardman with a chuckle. “Though it’s interesting, a 

lot of people would avert their eyes when they saw me. You know, they thought I 

might be missing a real nose or something.” |||| 

Beyond Bling: The Lois Boardman Collection runs through Feb. 4, 2017 at the 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Museum hours 

are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 

and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Museum admission costs 

$15, $10 for seniors and students; free for members and youth 17 and under. 

Visit lacma.org. 

PHOTOS: © Museum Associates / LACMA 

16 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 17

18 | ARROYO | 12.16

HBO’s 2016 Emmy party 

COLOR 

MASTER 

Event designer Billy Butchkavitz creates 

extraordinary environments for HBO’s 

biggest celebrations. 

BY NOELA HUESO 

BOLD. VIBRANT. EXOTIC. The lavish, elegant and over-the-top creations that event 

designer Billy Butchkavitz creates for HBO’s annual Emmy Awards and Golden Globes 

celebrations are legendary in Hollywood, making them the hottest party tickets in town. His 

rich and opulent style — often inspired by strong Asian, North African and Spanish cultures 

he encounters in extensive travels around the world in search of treasures to fulfill his vision 

— first caught the eye of HBO executives in Hawaii in 1994. Since that time the Pasadena 

resident has been the cable giant’s exclusive party planner, creating not only awards season 

bashes but every grand event HBO decides to throw, from series-premiere celebrations to 

high-end executive retreats. 

The Emmy extravaganza is Butchkavitz’s biggest annual soirée. Held in a massive custombuilt 

tent on the fountain plaza of West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center for the 14th consecutive 

year, the 2016 gala used water as the design inspiration. He started choosing patterns 

and developing a color palette for the September gala in February — seven shades of blue, 

from the palest aqua to the darkest navy. By May, large-scale décor elements were finalized, 

original furniture designs were being made into prototypes for approval and the design of the 

custom-made, rippling water–patterned carpeting (all 59,000 square feet of it) was fine-tuned. 

Butchkavitz says the eight days leading up to the Emmy bash are always intense: That’s 

when the tent goes up and the venue is built. “I have to do everything from meeting with 

electrical inspectors and the fire marshal for the permits to dealing with the fact that HBO has 

added more people to the guest list at the last minute, which means you have to build a bigger 

kitchen and order more restroom trailers,” he says. 

Then there are those things that are beyond anyone’s control. Last year, a torrential downpour 

delayed the delivery of the Emmy party’s carpeting. “The trucks were coming in from 

Georgia,” he recalls. “It was like a river on San Vicente, so we had to cancel everything for a 

day and find someplace for the trucks to park.” 

Over time, he has learned to roll with the punches — and anticipate disaster, even if it 

never comes. “If the party is on the 10th, I tell my vendors it’s on the first,” he says, “because a 

lot of my material coming from overseas can sometimes get caught up in Customs. I overorder 

a lot, too, because I always have a backup plan if something doesn’t get here in time.” 

On the night of September’s fete, which celebrated HBO’s six Emmy wins including Best 

Drama Series (Game of Thrones) and Best Comedy Series (Veep), a water-themed collage — 

created by Butchkavitz’s longtime event photographer, Gabor Ekecs, based on Butchkavitz’s 

designs — served as a backdrop for the 150-foot press line. Revelers then walked through (or 

relaxed in) a 105-footlong lounge, built around a huge rectangular fountain, which stretched 

from the entrance to the VIP dining pavilion. Twenty-five-foot-high decorative perimeter 

walls constructed to enclose and enhance the space were covered with two-tone metallic 

jacquard punctuated with 25-foot-high blue metallic columns. Guests feasted on Wolfgang 

Puck’s cuisine at tables topped by hand-blown aqua pedestal bowls with floating “dinnerplate” 

dahlias, creating the effect of tabletop water gardens. A 24-foot-tall cascading fountain 

sculpture held court in the multicolored dining pavilion, while the lighting, a crucial element 

in all of Butchkavitz’s dramatic designs, created the impression of being underwater. 

“Lighting is everything,” he says. “It helps to set the mood, enhances the environment and 

defines the energy of the event. Since 90 percent of my events take place at night, I depend on 

the lighting to convey my design message and to showcase my work.” 

12.16 | ARROYO | 19

Billy Butchkavitz 

Workers assemble HBO’s 2016 Emmy party décor. 


Not surprisingly, Butchkavitz says the secret to pulling off celebrations of this magnitude 

is to be organized. Knowing how, where and when to spend money is crucial, too. Though 

his parties look like a million bucks, during his international travels with his brother, Brian, 

Butchkavitz is always on the lookout for skilled artisans and quality materials at the lowest 

prices. (Butchkavitz runs day-to-day company operations with a team of four: Brian; their 

sister, Peggy, who does the bookkeeping from her New Jersey home; and Butchkavitz’s best 

friend, JR.) “We just go on our adventures and find weavers and textile factories,” he says. 

“When I go to Chiang Mai [in northern Thailand], China or Rajasthan, India, I can draw a 

picture of what I want — whether it be a vase, a chandelier, furniture, textiles or costumes — 

and they will make a prototype for me to approve before it goes into mass production. I don’t 

go to the wholesaler. I go to the place where the wholesalers buy. I get more bang for the buck 

that way and HBO appreciates that.” 

They also appreciate his distinctive designs. “Billy’s creativity and ingenuity are limitless,” 

says HBO Vice President Lauren McMahon. “Each event is an amazing realization of so 

many ideas, all flawlessly executed. There’s no mistaking a Billy premiere — it’s always visually 

and experientially unique and seriously great fun.” 

Butchkavitz has carte blanche in selecting awards season celebration themes, but when 

planning premiere parties, he works with HBO executives to develop a game plan, generating 

ideas by watching advance screenings and picking out elements unique to the show. 

For the September premiere of one of the cable network’s most recent hits, the futuristic 

Old West–themed Westworld, held at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre and the nearby 

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Butchkavitz recreated the show’s homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s 

iconic Vitruvian Man, devising a 13-foot-tall Styrofoam replica of a white skeleton-like figure 

standing inside a giant circle with arms and legs outstretched. In the series, the circle serves 

as a device that creates very human-like robots, known as “hosts,” which help “guests” play 

out their darkest desires at an Old Western fantasy playground. Butchkavitz also created a 

“laboratory” in the hotel lobby, with metal sculptures representing the initial stages of the 

manufactured “hosts” and a second Vitruvian Man holding court in the center of the room. In 

the hotel’s ballroom, partygoers dined against a Westworld town backdrop, while other venues 

in the hotel became show-inspired settings: a brothel, a casino and an underground storage 

facility for discarded “hosts.” Outside, yet another, larger Vitruvian Man rotated on the hotel’s 

facade — a convincing projection, created by master projection designer Bart Kresa, with 

whom Butchkavitz routinely works to create an otherworldly, immersive experience. 

20 | ARROYO | 12.16 

By his own admission, Butchkavitz was a colorful kid. (“In school, I was the one who 

decorated the classroom [for the holidays],” he recalls, “and at home would tell my mom which 

drapery we should get.”) So it comes as no surprise that he ended up in the line of work he 

did. Even so, he didn’t set out to be a designer. In fact, he was on track to pursue a career in 

broadcast journalism before a bit of serendipity changed all that. 

The Philadelphia native’s serendipitous moment came after he graduated from Temple 

University in 1985 and moved to Hawaii to intern at a local TV station. Butchkavitz also 

began working for a catering company as a waiter/decorating assistant, and as a lifeguard for 

an exclusive, privately owned home that was featured on the TV series Magnum P.I. and often 

rented out for special affairs. “The two women who owned the catering company were also 

into flowers and they taught me all about their treatment, care and design,” he says. “After 

working for them for about a year, they asked me if I wanted to do the décor for a party they 

couldn’t take on because they were going out of town.” 

It turned out to be a high-end affair at Honolulu’s Bishop Museum for the National Audubon 

Society and Britain’s Prince Philip, for which Butchkavitz created a vibrant luau-themed 

event. That celebration’s success sparked a stream of calls from other aspiring clients. For the 

next eight years, Butchkavitz designed private parties for wealthy Japanese families in Hawaii 

and produced celebrations for a number of hotel openings. He met HBO executives at the 

opening of Oahu’s Ihilani Resort & Spa in 1994 (now the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko 

Olina), and they liked what they saw. Once Butchkavitz started working with them, HBO’s 

party strategy evolved from hotel dinners to spectacular events in enormous tents — sometimes 

requiring street closures in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills — including a memorable 

Moroccan-themed Golden Globe bash in 2005. “I have never been to Morocco, actually, 

but I buy so much stuff from there through my importers,” he says. “A lot of the design, 

particularly the inlay, is very similar to that found in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.” It’s one of the 

few countries he hasn’t visited yet. He’s also had textiles made in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, 

Turkey and Europe. 

When shopping overseas, Butchkavitz has learned to ask a lot of questions — and with 

good reason. “I once saw these really beautiful urns when I was preparing for one of my first 

parties in Thailand, at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok. Some were done in metalwork 

and some were painted porcelain,” Butchkavitz recalls. “I decided to use a number of 

pagoda-shaped ones as vases. I found out after the fact that the little pagodas were actually 

funeral urns.” 


PHOTO: (Top left) Gabor Ekecs

12.16 | ARROYO | 21


When he started working with HBO in 1994, Butchkavitz left Hawaii and moved to 

downtown Los Angeles, where still he has a 10,000-square-foot warehouse. That’s where 

he stores exotic props and treasures he can’t bear to give up, plus all the shipments for 

upcoming celebrations. You won’t find a lot of furniture from past parties there, however, 

since Butchkavitz isn’t in the habit of reusing things. Instead, he gives many reusable furniture 

items to one of his vendors, Town & Country Event Rentals. “You’ll very rarely see 

me reuse something,” he says. “If I do, it might be a very generic urn — like the ones I had 

made in the ’90s for a Sopranos premiere in New York; they look very Tuscan but they’re 

just very neutral and really tall. I still use those.” 

Three-and-a-half years ago, he moved to Pasadena. “I love Pasadena. When I lived in 

downtown L.A., there was nothing down there; there were homeless people everywhere, 

hardly any restaurants…so I would come to Pasadena to go to Trader Joe’s or the movies,” 

he says. 

He walks around town as much as possible and, more than once, he’s been inspired by 

strolls through the majestic botanical gardens of The Huntington Library, Art Collections 

and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. “I was totally inspired by the Huntington’s water 

lilies for a party I recently did for Bizbash,” he says, adding that the silhouette of water lilies 

adorned the carpet, tabletops and walls. 

Since the Emmy celebration wrapped, Butchkavitz has been hard at work preparing for 

January’s Golden Globes, the details of which, at press time, were still top secret. Inspired 

by the late legendary Hollywood designer Tony Duquette, who worked on movie sets, in 

jewelry and in interior design until he passed away at the age of 85, Butchkavitz is thinking 

about branching out into other areas. He says he’s been approached about doing reality 

shows but has turned down the offers because he’s afraid the overexposure would cheapen 

his product. “I’ve also been approached to do a line of vases and china but I’m not ready 

to do that yet. I’d definitely like to do a movie set, though,” he adds. “I’m in it for the long 

haul. I want to keep doing this until I’m in my 80s.” |||| 

BILLY’S HOLIDAY DECORATING TIPS 

While Billy Butchkavitz has decorated many hotels, resorts and private residences 

with gorgeous over-the-top designs for the holidays, when it comes to decorating 

his own home, he prefers to keep things a little simpler. Here are six of his 

decorating tips for a more personal touch. 

22 | ARROYO | 12.16 

1. KEEP IT BASIC 

Make sure that whatever decoration you’re putting up isn’t too difficult to install 

and is equally easy to take down. “Once the holiday season is over, I don’t want to 

waste a lot of time packing and storing holiday décor,” Butchkavitz says. “That’s 

why I tend to use a lot of live holiday greens and flowers that can be thrown away 

once they are past their glory.” 

2. USE WHAT YOU HAVE 

Butchkavitz likes to use containers he already owns to display things. “I’m not a 

big fan of tree stands,” he says. “I much prefer placing trees in decorative urns or 

planters.” 

3. MIX IT UP 

Butchkavitz suggests incorporating layers, assorted textures and mixed patterns 

in his holiday presentations. If you’ve got some figurines or other small decorative 

pieces, blend them into your display of presents under the tree to add some depth, 

whimsy and texture. “If you choose wrapping paper, boxes and ribbons that work 

with your design palette, that’s an extra bonus,” he says. 

4. CHOOSE COLOR WISELY 

“Since my place is already overloaded with color, I tend to stick with white lights, 

white candles, Christmas greens, red ornaments and red and gold ribbons,” he 

says. For darker interiors, he suggests using lots of silver and/or gold. Got a neutral 

colored space? “Use assorted festive holiday colors and go to town!” 

5. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE 

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on holiday décor, “a few wreaths and 

holiday greens, decorative ribbons, some bowls and vases filled with colorful 

ornaments and lots of white or ivory candles” will go a long way toward capturing 

the holiday spirit, he says. 

6. KEEP IT CLEAN 

“The cleaner, neater and tidier an environment is, the better the holiday decor will 

look.” 

— NH 

PHOTO: Gabor Ekecs

12.16 | ARROYO | 23

Holiday 

giving 

24 | ARROYO | 12.16

from 

A Z 

to 

12.16 | ARROYO | 25

26 | ARROYO | 12.16

ARROYO 

HOME & DESIGN 

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT 

PHOTO: Courtesy of Fortress Seating 

HOME 

THEATRE IS 

A TRENDY 

BUSINESS 

Better, cheaper and more functional 

are the watchwords in home 

theatre/game room design… 

BY BRUCE HARING 

TRENDS COME AND TRENDS GO. REMEMBER THE PET ROCK? HOW 

ABOUT THE BETAMAX? OR THE SONY MINIDISC? 

Keep all of those bygone trends in mind when planning your 

new home theatre and/or dedicated game room. That’s because 

technology trends come and go, passing in and out of fancy 

in short order and winding up in that mysterious room where 

outdated styles goes to die, sometimes before you fi nish paying off 

your investment. 

That’s why the latest gizmo or trend should not be your focus 

when planning a home theatre/game room operation. Instead, 

focus on the classic comforts – good seating, great sound, sharp 

pictures and connectivity. You won’t go wrong by using that 

measuring stick to determine what you should invest in when 

planning your ultimate entertainment space. 

Here are a few of the current trends in home theatre and game 

room design that you should parse when making your investment. 

Most are timeless in nature. 


1216|ARROYO|27 

12.16 | 27

LAW OFFICES OF 

DONALD P. SCHWEITZER 

A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 

progressive. proactive. caring. 

representing a difference.

NO ONE EVER WANTS 

TO HIRE A DIVORCE ATTORNEY. 

But our clients are glad they hired us. 

As Pasadena’s premier family law firm, we combine unmatched legal resources with a responsive, 

personalized approach to give clients peace of mind as we move quickly toward an optimal resolution. 

FAMILY LAW | ESTATE PLANNING 

626.683.8113 www.pasadenalawoffice.com 

201 South Lake Avenue 

Ste. 800 Pasadena, CA 91101

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT— 


MULTIPLE SCREENS – This a hot, hot trend that’s emerged in the last 

year. They range from a set-up where several screens are in use at 

the same time, to versatile layouts where there are different sized 

screens used for movies and sports, and smaller ones for things like 

daytime viewing. You can also split your screen so that you can keep 

one side on for watching and the other available for scouring the 

web for information. The range of options available is appealing to 

the multi-tasker in us all, but it’s not inexpensive. Depending on what 

you choose, you can spend up to $20,000 or more on screens alone. 

There’s also the issue of navigation. It sounds good to be able to 

coordinate multiple screens, but it’s not something the easily confused 

will immediately embrace. But the ability to split your viewing options 

may be priceless for families that want to spend time together, but 

have different interests. 

HIDDEN FEATURES – Most home theatre rooms are used with the 

lights off. So having a backlit LCD or other blinking lights can be a 

distraction. That’s why many are opting for equipment that can be 

hidden, such as in-wall speakers and drop-down projection screens. 

Some screens can be hidden behind wall panels when not in use. It 

makes the room more aesthetically pleasing when the equipment is 

not in use. 

SEATING: It’s the most dominant presence in the home theatre and 

should be considered early in your planning. Gabi Wolper, the Vice 

President of Fortress Seating in La Verne, California, reminds planners 

that people are going to be seated for several hours at a time, so they 

need to be comfortable at the end of the movie as they are at the 

beginning. Also a factor: the number of seats could affect the screen 

size, projection equipment and room layout. “Waiting to the end of 


30 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 31

32 | ARROYO | 12.16



the project to decide upon the seating often leads to compromises,” 

says Wolper. “Platforms often are not deep enough or aisles start to 

shrink.” Seating is not just about comfort, either. There are tray tables, 

reading lights, adjustable controls that govern height and recline, and 

sectionals and loungers. “Seating for multi-purpose rooms has become 

almost as popular as theatre seating is for dedicated theatres,” says 

Wolper. “Comfort and easy viewing are still the critical issues.” 

MULTIPLE USES, DIFFERENT STYLES – Many pool tables now come with 

hidden storage features that allow both form and function. Nine out 

of ten buyers have opted for a storage drawer to serve as the place 

where they can put their pool table equipment when not in use, taking 

the place of the traditional wall racks. In a world where clutter kills 

the vibe, it’s a must-have feature. Table style changes are also part 

of the new wave. Black lacquer pool tables have overtaken natural 

wood fi nishes as the preferred style in contemporary homes. Their 

natural clean lines come in blacks and greys, fi tting in with the clean 

aesthetics of your up-to-date home. 

EVERYTHING IS WIRED – In today’s home, everything is connected to 

the Internet, and that goes for your home theatre operation as well. 

There are many online-only shows that you can only get with a Net 

connection, and there is an endless library of movies, TV shows and 

other content available online. The Internet enabled universe includes 


12.16 | ARROYO | 33

34 | ARROYO | 12.16



televisions, receivers and gaming consoles, Blu-ray disc players, 

and the Wii, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Don’t have a gaming 

console? Get a media extender, a box that will stream Internet 

content to your entertainment devices. You can also hook up a hard 

drive that will help you save and store your personal fi les in music, 

video and more. 

CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT – Thanks to the innovations of 

wireless technology, you can manage just about any device in 

your home while you are away from home. Use your mobile apps to 

communicate with your home automation control system. This will 

allow you to check your security system; lower the thermostat to save 

energy and lower your bills when no one is at home, bumping it up 

shortly before your return; and record a favorite movie for watching 

when you get home from work. You can also turn off the lights in your 

home without leaving your cozy seats in your home theatre. 

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? – The trend in sound is toward compact 

and wireless systems that have dropped signifi cantly in price over the 

last few years. Sound bars are a hot new trend. This replaces the seven 

speakers that are scattered around your room by projecting sound 

through tiny speakers. You can get a surround-sound like experience 

without the clutter that multi-speakers systems generate and won’t 

create a bulky presence like the traditional speakers. The good news 

is that they serve multiple functions, including converting video from 

lo-res to HD, charging iPods and other devices, and hooking up to 

satellite devices to bring the full range of services into your theatre or 

gaming room. 

The best news about all the new, new, new features is their price. A 

good-quality projector is now half the price it was two years ago, and 

other components have experienced similar price drops. The trend is 

smaller, cheaper, better. Which means that if you buy something and 

then technology comes along with the better solution shortly after 

your purchase, you won’t be stuck in the sunk costs dilemma and can 

upgrade without a hefty new investment. 

So, sit back, relax and enjoy your home theatre or gaming room. The 

way things are trending, you may not want to ever leave your house. |||| 

12.16 | ARROYO | 35

36 | ARROYO | 12.16

arroyo 

~HOME SALES INDEX~ 

HOME SALES 

-3.75% 

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT. 

10.37% 

oct. 

2015 

400HOMES 

SOLD 

ALHAMBRA OCT. ’15 OCT.’16 

Homes Sold 21 38 

Median Price $520,000 $605,000 

Median Sq. Ft. 1342 1558 

ALTADENA OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $689,500 $705,000 


ARCADIA OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $894,000 $999,000 


EAGLE ROCK OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $675,000 $811,000 


GLENDALE OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $623,000 $712,500 


LA CAÑADA OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $1,428,250 $1,505,000 


PASADENA OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $635,000 $696,000 


SAN MARINO OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $2,300,000 $2,000,000 


SIERRA MADRE OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $745,000 $908,250 


SOUTH PASADENA OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Median Price $715,000 $840,000 


TOTAL OCT. ’15 OCT. ’16 


Avg Price/Sq. Ft. $492 $543 

oct. 

2016 

385HOMES 

SOLD 

 

HOMESALESABOVE 

RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE PASADENA WEEKLY FOOTPRINT 

source: CalREsource 

ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD 

ALHAMBRA 

321 North Monterey Street #A 10/31/16 $1,235,000 5 3818 1968 $475,000 03/01/2002 

1518 South Garfi eld Ave. 10/07/16 $1,200,000 8 3633 1978 $430,000 08/12/1988 

429 North Palm Ave. 10/14/16 $1,150,000 8 4126 1947 

411 South Monterey Street #A 10/13/16 $1,018,000 4 2840 1985 $270,000 04/23/1997 

817 North Garfi eld Ave. 10/28/16 $1,000,000 6 3019 2006 $133,000 06/19/1997 

224 Palmetto Drive 10/07/16 $960,000 6 2612 1924 $377,000 09/19/1989 

206 North Granada Ave. 10/26/16 $950,000 4 2562 1999 $187,000 04/09/1997 

201 South Bushnell Ave. 10/11/16 $944,500 6 3125 1951 

514 North Vega Street 10/31/16 $930,000 3 1979 1941 $750,000 07/15/2014 

421 South 5th Street 10/20/16 $905,000 4 1952 1923 $500,000 05/06/2016 

ALTADENA 

1810 East Mendocino Street 10/31/16 $2,290,000 3 1961 1948 $800,000 08/14/2014 

2120 Pinecrest Drive 10/12/16 $1,400,000 5 3003 1953 $1,320,000 09/19/2014 

2017 East Altadena Drive 10/03/16 $1,225,000 2 1799 1922 $1,118,000 03/05/2010 

1701 Coolidge Ave. 10/31/16 $925,000 3 1798 1939 $710,000 05/30/2008 

222 Highlawn Place 10/13/16 $867,000 3 1745 1962 $675,000 03/17/2016 

2805 Highview Ave. 10/27/16 $856,000 3 1344 1947 $515,000 12/29/2010 

ARCADIA 

931 Hampton Road 10/31/16 $8,300,000 8 12436 1991 $2,380,000 04/30/2003 

1421 North Baldwin Ave. 10/12/16 $4,200,000 4 2820 1954 $1,850,000 08/14/2015 

164 Elkins Place 10/03/16 $3,050,000 4 4483 2015 $1,400,000 01/15/2014 

1408 South 3rd Ave. 10/25/16 $2,900,000 5 5854 2015 $1,298,000 11/15/2013 

2032 South 7th Ave. 10/27/16 $1,820,000 2 840 1950 $760,000 06/19/2013 

53 East Orange Grove Ave. 10/27/16 $1,810,000 4 3611 1966 $715,000 09/30/1998 

318 East Haven Ave. 10/31/16 $1,618,000 4 3578 2007 $1,338,000 01/15/2008 

1626 Rodeo Road 10/18/16 $1,400,000 2 1756 1948 

336 Genoa Street 10/27/16 $1,385,000 5 2740 $1,400,000 06/08/2016 

1631 Oakwood Ave. 10/14/16 $1,350,000 3 2486 1951 $430,000 02/03/2000 

1038 Oakdale Ave. 10/25/16 $1,233,000 6 3700 1966 

1312 South 4th Ave. 10/18/16 $1,200,000 4 1700 1918 $1,150,000 07/20/2015 

568 South 2nd Ave. 10/27/16 $1,190,000 3 2120 2015 

2415 El Capitan Ave. 10/31/16 $1,140,000 3 1646 1951 $385,000 05/15/2001 

2219 South 5th Ave. 10/06/16 $1,130,000 4 1850 1950 $718,000 10/18/2005 

1427 South 5th Ave. 10/18/16 $1,070,000 3 1815 1955 

1217 Mayfl ower Ave. 10/25/16 $1,050,000 3 988 1923 $700,000 04/23/2014 

2514 El Capitan Ave. 10/14/16 $1,040,000 3 1132 1950 $915,000 04/15/2015 

1018 English Oaks Drive 10/11/16 $999,000 3 2385 1980 $800,000 02/12/2013 

1033 South 9th Ave. 10/14/16 $908,000 3 1819 1959 $705,000 09/26/2008 

119 Eldorado Street #B 10/14/16 $852,000 3 2285 1999 $355,000 01/21/2000 

EAGLE ROCK 

1857 Campus Road 10/25/16 $1,550,000 3 3355 1937 $1,149,000 04/26/2005 

1380 Hill Drive 10/14/16 $1,259,000 2 1146 1925 

5169 North Maywood Ave. 10/25/16 $1,113,000 3 1786 1922 $837,000 01/19/2006 

1558 North Ave. #46 10/19/16 $900,000 4 2814 1927 $400,000 06/13/2008 

1217 Linda Rosa Ave. 10/20/16 $865,000 4 2800 1938 $260,000 04/30/1998 

4651 Castle Crest Drive 10/28/16 $850,000 2 1429 1949 $695,000 05/20/2015 

G L E N DA L E 

720 West Kenneth Road 10/20/16 $2,350,000 4 3041 1937 $2,224,545 05/15/2015 

1545 Virginia Ave. 10/20/16 $2,320,000 4 4353 1930 

1202 Rossmoyne Ave. 10/21/16 $1,829,000 4 3781 1926 $695,000 08/20/1999 

855 Moorside Drive 10/20/16 $1,420,000 4 3126 1979 $480,000 01/18/1996 

330 Brockmont Drive 10/24/16 $1,399,000 3 3904 1987 $850,000 02/03/2004 

1684 Cielito Drive 10/25/16 $1,350,000 3 2639 1959 

928 Highline Road 10/04/16 $1,260,000 3 3517 2008 $1,200,000 08/28/2013 

3514 Emerald Isle Drive 10/28/16 $1,155,000 3 2386 1970 

918 Hillcroft Road 10/11/16 $1,075,000 3 2217 1948 $370,000 02/13/1987 

1628 Thurber Place 10/21/16 $1,060,000 2 2180 1932 $465,000 11/25/1998 

1844 West Kenneth Road 10/07/16 $1,055,000 3 1803 1926 $540,000 04/16/2010 

2338 Florencita Ave. 10/03/16 $1,025,000 3 1526 1930 $562,000 12/15/2014 

1626 Idlewood Road 10/19/16 $1,020,000 3 1942 1925 $629,500 10/24/2012 

3525 El Lado Drive 10/20/16 $1,000,000 5 2219 1954 

775 Luton Drive 10/11/16 $994,000 2 1449 1954 $670,000 01/15/2015 

415 South Adams Street #A/C 10/25/16 $990,000 4 2211 1921 $561,000 01/09/2014 

1444 El Miradero Ave. 10/31/16 $980,000 3 1896 1927 $810,000 08/10/2006 

1045 Camann Street 10/26/16 $970,000 4 2168 1954 $825,000 05/10/2005 

1221 North Isabel Street 10/03/16 $963,000 3 1682 1927 $710,000 10/29/2004 


The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (including Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre, 

Arcadia and Alhambra. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2016. Complete home sales listings appear each week in Pasadena Weekly. 

12.16 ARROYO | 37


ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD 

G L E N DA L E 

252 West Kenneth Road 10/13/16 $950,000 4 2195 1961 

663 Corwin Ave. 10/28/16 $950,000 5 3225 1925 $550,000 12/30/2002 

3906 Oakgrove Court 10/26/16 $945,000 3 2236 1981 $215,000 06/17/1983 

2257 Waltonia Drive 10/26/16 $925,000 3 2181 1980 

3205 Linda Vista Road 10/12/16 $925,000 4 2670 1952 $672,000 07/15/2013 

812 East Glenoaks Blvd. 10/17/16 $900,000 3 1921 1925 $625,000 07/22/2014 

910 Glenvista Drive 10/25/16 $899,000 2 2001 1949 

655 Corwin Ave. 10/21/16 $890,000 3 2675 1966 $621,000 12/05/2012 

3852 Vista Court 10/31/16 $885,000 3 1786 1937 $680,000 05/23/2008 

452 Caruso Ave. 10/24/16 $884,000 2 1381 2008 $593,500 06/03/2013 

1112 North Columbus Ave. 10/31/16 $880,000 3 1893 1941 $689,000 07/11/2014 

1000 Ethel Street 10/07/16 $858,000 4 2137 1924 

1001 North Isabel Street 10/19/16 $855,000 3 2007 1925 

LA CAÑADA 

742 Greenridge Drive 10/20/16 $3,700,000 4 7475 1996 $3,650,000 11/13/2015 

5364 Alta Canyada Road 10/14/16 $3,225,000 5 5279 2000 $635,000 10/30/1998 

4229 Oakwood Ave. 10/28/16 $2,735,000 6 5130 1941 

4612 Vineta Ave. 10/31/16 $2,350,000 4 3066 1949 $675,000 02/11/1992 

975 Regent Park Drive 10/04/16 $2,255,000 5 4698 1955 $2,390,000 08/18/2004 

2001 Tondolea Lane 10/18/16 $2,149,000 4 2614 1931 $1,999,000 05/19/2015 

841 Milmada Drive 10/04/16 $1,621,000 4 2905 1950 $450,000 12/18/2002 

1025 Olive Lane 10/24/16 $1,505,000 3 2202 1937 

5145 Redwillow Lane 10/19/16 $1,456,500 3 2058 1956 $267,000 09/02/1983 

5000 Palm Drive 10/05/16 $1,250,000 3 1452 1930 $960,000 06/16/2015 

4621 Indiana Ave. 10/26/16 $1,200,000 2 2328 1936 

4848 Commonwealth Ave. 10/14/16 $1,158,000 3 1613 1961 $726,000 02/03/2004 

2134 Tondolea Lane 10/18/16 $1,095,000 3 2176 1962 $675,500 03/18/2004 

2077 Ahlin Drive 10/19/16 $968,500 2 1578 1961 

4434 Rockland Place 10/27/16 $940,000 3 2146 2012 

PASADENA 

1178 Arden Road 10/14/16 $4,000,000 4 5060 1989 $550,000 07/29/1988 

1585 Lombardy Road 10/07/16 $3,650,000 5 3242 1923 $2,375,000 08/13/2013 

990 South San Rafael Ave. 10/04/16 $3,455,000 2 1025 1933 

588 East Glenarm Street 10/26/16 $2,550,000 5 4673 1920 $3,200,000 07/07/2014 

1145 Linda Glen Drive 10/14/16 $2,500,000 4 4332 1999 $1,100,000 04/23/1999 

1994 San Pasqual Street 10/25/16 $2,465,000 5 3399 1929 $720,000 06/11/1997 

587 Prospect Blvd. 10/21/16 $2,400,000 4 3296 1922 $285,000 03/04/1985 

487 West California Blvd. 10/31/16 $2,286,000 4 3664 1910 $1,880,000 05/10/2011 

3400 Yorkshire Road 10/04/16 $2,211,000 2 2007 1940 

1473 Rutherford Drive 10/17/16 $2,175,000 4 3226 1987 $1,512,500 06/10/2011 

112 South Orange Grove Blvd. #210 10/28/16 $1,800,000 0 0 

381 California Terrace 10/20/16 $1,700,000 3 2314 1926 $700,000 09/21/1992 

1266 South Los Robles Ave. 10/18/16 $1,699,000 3 2280 1954 

3844 East California Blvd. 10/05/16 $1,568,000 3 2385 1948 $677,000 08/24/2001 

1440 Chamberlain Road 10/12/16 $1,560,000 2 2652 1947 $1,175,000 09/28/2015 

85 Glen Summer Road 10/03/16 $1,512,000 4 2301 1947 $1,395,000 01/22/2016 

1770 San Pasqual Street 10/13/16 $1,500,000 3 2056 1951 $191,500 09/10/1986 

3785 Greenhill Road 10/19/16 $1,500,000 4 3079 1951 $655,000 09/14/2000 

130 Kenworthy Drive 10/04/16 $1,340,000 2 2287 1978 

1632 North Arroyo Blvd. 10/26/16 $1,330,000 4 2442 1964 

23 South Grand Ave. 10/21/16 $1,325,000 1 2090 1920 $1,250,000 04/19/2007 

3263 Orlando Road 10/28/16 $1,280,000 3 2319 1946 

1597 La Loma Road 10/07/16 $1,265,500 3 2471 1947 $875,000 01/23/2014 

3785 Fairmeade Road 10/21/16 $1,250,000 3 2131 1954 $950,000 06/27/2006 

482 South Arroyo Parkway #503 10/18/16 $1,240,000 0 0 

2709 San Marcos Drive 10/07/16 $1,189,000 4 3045 1999 $795,000 06/03/2005 

1590 La Loma Road 10/03/16 $1,180,000 2 1862 1932 $728,500 02/22/2008 

1954 Windover Road 10/06/16 $1,150,000 2 2547 1957 

236 Arroyo Terrace 10/14/16 $1,130,000 3 2182 1979 $845,000 03/05/2004 

1550 North Lake Ave. 10/24/16 $1,100,000 3 3022 1924 

355 Sequoia Drive 10/20/16 $1,050,000 2 1450 1956 $890,000 04/07/2006 

700 South Euclid Ave. 10/28/16 $1,030,000 4 1592 1923 

464 Northcliff Road 10/27/16 $990,000 4 2512 1957 $730,000 08/13/2008 

1211 Armada Drive 10/24/16 $979,000 3 1710 2016 $250,000 01/05/2012 

3275 New York Drive 10/27/16 $960,000 4 2501 1962 $680,000 08/21/2015 

1058 Linda Vista Ave. 10/18/16 $950,000 3 2016 1965 

2295 East Woodlyn Road 10/07/16 $950,000 3 1365 1948 $540,000 07/02/2003 

1008 North Marengo Ave. 10/18/16 $935,000 5 2238 1905 $609,000 10/03/2013 

110 Linda Vista Ave. 10/28/16 $910,000 2 1260 1947 

141 South Hudson Ave. #104 10/26/16 $903,000 2 2005 2006 $790,000 04/11/2013 

305 Arlington Drive 10/25/16 $889,500 2 1647 1969 $875,000 04/30/2008 

159 West Green Street #203A 10/28/16 $889,000 3 1470 2006 $699,000 10/06/2006 

1125 Riviera Drive 10/24/16 $870,000 3 2046 1954 $500,000 12/24/2014 

SAN MARINO 

1541 Charlton Road 10/17/16 $4,090,000 5 3152 1951 $3,750,000 03/02/2015 

615 South Allen Ave. 10/24/16 $3,989,000 4 4857 1926 $2,875,000 11/15/2007 

1705 Banning Way 10/25/16 $2,498,000 6 3087 1926 $1,275,000 01/15/2004 

792 Winston Ave. 10/26/16 $2,320,000 2 2522 1941 

2735 Canterbury Road 10/12/16 $2,150,000 3 1992 1948 $705,000 10/11/2001 

2240 Lorain Road 10/11/16 $2,000,000 2 1981 1938 $538,000 08/23/1999 

1460 Rubio Drive 10/13/16 $1,800,000 3 2026 1925 

1519 Wilson Ave. 10/13/16 $1,795,000 3 1856 1931 $1,450,000 09/20/2012 

2600 East California Blvd. 10/19/16 $1,720,000 2 2163 1955 $560,000 08/04/1999 

1325 Winston Ave. 10/12/16 $1,520,000 3 2187 1931 $1,490,000 08/18/2014 

2998 Somerset Place 10/31/16 $1,338,000 3 2821 1952 

SIERRA MADRE 

209 Ramona Ave. 10/27/16 $1,225,000 3 3337 1978 $482,500 01/21/1992 

400 West Montecito Ave. 10/18/16 $1,188,000 3 1971 1946 $693,000 11/10/2011 

360 Ramona Ave. 10/13/16 $1,075,000 3 2236 1949 $455,000 12/21/2001 

333 North Sunnyside Ave. 10/31/16 $926,500 5 2690 1951 

118 West Bonita Ave. 10/24/16 $890,000 2 984 1909 $590,000 08/17/2012 

SOUTH PASADENA 

1619 Camden Parkway 10/18/16 $2,165,000 4 2698 1936 $1,650,000 08/03/2007 

1116 Hope Street 10/18/16 $1,650,000 8 3290 1923 $1,055,000 05/10/2012 

820 Mission Street #301 10/28/16 $1,625,000 0 0 

533 Floral Park Terrace 10/12/16 $1,297,500 4 2570 1930 $850,000 02/23/2006 

1300 Indiana Ave. 10/20/16 $1,200,000 3 1754 1947 

38 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 39

40 | ARROYO | 12.16

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence 

in 

NASA’S 

HOTWIRE TO 

HOLLYWOOD 

Publicist Warren Betts 

says science truth is 

stranger (and better) 

than science fiction. 

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE 

PHOTO: © 2016 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. 

ARROYOLAND HAS KEPT ITSELF GLORIOUSLY FREE OF 

HOLLYWOOD HIJINKS INVOLVING PAPPARAZZI WHO SWARM 

THE STREETS FOR A GLIMPSE OF A-LIST STARS AND MAITRE D’S 

WHO DOLE OUT TABLES ACCORDING TO THE DINER’S BOX 

OFFICE RANKING. YET RIGHT HERE, ON FAIR OAKS AVENUE IN 

PASADENA, WE HAVE ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL 

AND SOUGHT-AFTER HOLLYWOOD PUBLICITY AND MARKETING 

FIRMS. IT’S HEADED BY WARREN BETTS, A GUY WITH A PHYSICS 

DEGREE, A PASSION FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND 

A CLIENT LIST THAT INCLUDES SONY AND TRISTAR, WARNER 

BROS., UNIVERSAL, COLUMBIA, UNITED ARTISTS, WALT DISNEY 

AND VIRGIN RECORDS, AMONG OTHERS. 

His firm, Warren Betts Communications (WBC), connects Hollywood’s top studios 

and high-concept filmmakers with the world’s scientific geniuses and innovators (think 

Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk), whom Betts recruits to advise on technical issues. 

Let’s say you’re about to view this month’s potential blockbuster, Passengers, to be released December 

21. It’s about a luxury spaceship with 5,000 souls on board, all traveling in suspended 

animation to eventually arrive and live on a distant planet. They’re still asleep in pods when the 

ship malfunctions, and two voyagers (Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt) awaken to find that 

they and the rest of the travelers are in dire peril. 

Science fiction? Yes — but not totally. In fact, there’s as much science as fiction in the current 

genre, Betts says, and it’s often the real stuff that’s more fascinating than the imaginary. 

In the case of Passengers, Betts called in experts from NASA (and others he can’t name, due to 

a nondisclosure agreement) to help director Morten Tyldum and the rest of the crew make the 

ship, the characters and the storyline as realistic as possible. And if the plot doesn’t strike you 

as realistic, consider this: Elon Musk (founder of Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX) is already testing 

equipment designed to come and go from Mars, which Musk — age 45 and worth $11.2 billion 

— hopes to colonize and where he has repeatedly said he plans to be buried. 

Betts, 57, lives in Sierra Madre and travels the world to consult with filmmakers before, 

during and after production (when he helps promote the films), and with experts he recruits 

to help those filmmakers get details right in the increasingly nonfictional aspects of sci-fi. 

Betts has relationships with NASA, the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Department of 

Homeland Security and research institutions such as MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge 

and CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland. 

He calls on these agencies and institutions to find the right advisors for all kinds of 

films, from animation (Angry Birds) to Imax (A Beautiful Planet) and a wide range of dramas, 

comedies and sci-fi epics that require expertise otherwise unavailable. 

Betts says he has worked with Hawking on a few films, including Star Trek and the 

theoretical physicist’s biopic, The Theory of Everything. For the National Geographic Channel’s 

Mars series, which debuted last month, “we brought in experts from NASA. Also featured 

are [science celebrities] Elon Musk and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson,” director of New 

York’s Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. 

12.16 | ARROYO | 41


NASA International Space Station astronaut 

Cady Coleman and Warren Betts at the 

junket of (Warner Bros.) 

For Inferno, Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code sequel released last month, Betts recruited 

Caltech bioterrorism and biology Professor Alexei Aravin to advise filmmakers and media 

on viruses that could actually be released by lunatic despots trying to control the world. 

For spy movies, such as the James Bond series, Betts says he has worked with the Department 

of Defense to recruit KGB defectors as expert advisors in the high-tech worlds 

of annihilation and espionage. Another project, the Angelina Jolie film Salt, utilized the 

expertise of Tom Ridge, the nation’s first director of Homeland Security, thanks to Betts. 

Although most expert advisors are paid for their work, Betts says, “I don’t think Ridge 

asked for a fee. He only asked for a favor. He wanted to meet Angelina Jolie.” 

He adds that highly placed government types and world-famous academics are eager 

participants in entertainment. “Oh, they love Hollywood,” he says. “And they’re just 

excited that filmmakers are seeking their technical and scientific expertise.” Money isn’t an 

issue for most of them, he says, “but of course the Hollywood people don’t like to take their 

time and expertise without compensating them, so we always want to do that.” 

Betts isn’t your typical voluble publicist. He is soft-spoken, charming and understated. 

In fact, getting him to talk about his connections with the high and mighty in Hollywood, 

government and academia is like prying the sweet flesh from an extremely unmanageable 

crab leg. He’s been doing this work for about 30 years, has been involved with many (if not 

most) of the blockbuster films involving science, has recruited so many dozens of experts 

world-renowned in their fields and traveled so extensively that he seems at a loss when 

asked to select high points in his exotic career. After a few moments of thoughtful silence, 

he says, “Well, I’ve been up on the ‘Vomit Comet.’ We took director James Cameron on it 

when we were working on the first Avatar film.” What’s the “Vomit Comet”? “It’s that airplane 

they take the astronauts in to train them for zero gravity. It’s at the Van Nuys airport 

and a lot of people get sick on it. It was fun, but I was nervous at first. It goes up very high 

very fast and then does a nose dive. That’s when you lose gravity.” 

Some of Betts’ tech contacts do double duty as his publicity and marketing clients, including 

NASA, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Lockheed Martin and SpaceX. What does he 

do for them? “Many different things. A good example might be the ‘NASA 101’ conferences 

we hold, where we bring NASA experts from all over the place and have them interface 

with filmmakers, writers, producers, even actors. It’s so they can exchange information 

and learn how NASA might be useful to filmmakers” and vice versa, he says. “For Apple 

and Microsoft we work on themes that might have to do with technology for computers, or 

airlines or for prolonging life. We also do product placement for them in films,” he says. 

Betts was born in Houston, Texas. His father, a NASA engineer during the Apollo and 

space-shuttle eras, was transferred to a space-flight center in Alabama, where Betts grew 

up. He attended two Alabama schools — the University of Alabama and the University 


PHOTOS: (Top) © 2016 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.; (bottom) courtesy of NASA 

42 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 43

Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Warren 

Betts at the Beverly Hills junket of the movie 

(TriStar Pictures) 


of Montevallo, where he received a masters degree in physics, he says. “I never thought I’d 

work in Hollywood. I wanted to be an astronomer, but it all just happened right out of the 

blue. An older fraternity brother took a job at 20th Century Fox, and George Lucas asked 

him if he knew of a young scientific person who’d be good at marketing and publicity. 

My friend knew what a geek I was and said, ‘Warren Betts. He’ll be graduating soon.’” 

So right out of college Betts had a summer internship with George Lucas; the filmmaker 

liked Betts’ work and wanted to inject science into publicity for his films. He hired Betts 

for a year, and then extended it for two more years. “By that time I was hooked,” Betts 

says. “And by then George had an office on the Fox lot in Century City because all his 

movies were produced through Fox. George thought the Fox people should hire me to do 

all their science movies, which they did. Fox and Lucas decided to hire me indefinitely and 

share my talents.” Then, Betts says, “I was working on Apollo 13 with Ron Howard, who 

encouraged me to start my own company. He thought Hollywood filmmakers needed an 

agency with my expertise.” So in 1993 he took Howard’s advice and started Warren Betts 

Communications on Lake Avenue. 

Why did you locate your business in Pasadena, since it’s not a Hollywood-oriented 

town? “Yes, but it’s Hollywood’s brain trust, isn’t it?” Betts says. “You’ve got the California 

Institute of Technology and you’ve got JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory], you’ve got such a 

lot of people here working in the business of science and technology. So it’s a great place to 

be. In fact, it’s the place to be.” 

So is science and technology, for a growing number of filmmakers. Betts says the 

number of films that deal with both has climbed prodigiously through the years. “Back 

when I worked with Ron Howard on Apollo 13, NASA was reluctant to work with any 

of the studios because they thought all they did was make up the science and it wasn’t 

anything they could endorse. But I’ve seen not only a growing amount of movies themed 

to science and technology, I’ve seen filmmakers coming to me with a larger interest in 

acquiring the scientific knowledge to make the movies more authentic and make the 

science and technology more believable to the public. Of course, all the scientific institutions 

we work with have come to really appreciate that,” says Betts. 

And their science expertise can be very entertaining. “The truth is that real science is 

much more interesting than science fiction,” he adds. “It’s often weirder and stranger than 

science fiction. And a lot of filmmakers are starting to agree with that philosophy.” |||| 

PHOTO: Courtesy of NASA 

44 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 45

46 | ARROYO | 12.16

HOLIDAY 

GIFT GUIDE 

BY DENISE ABBOTT 

FOR 

WOMEN 

GLOBAL GLAMOR 

Artisans from Portugal to Rhode Island and 

New York lent their talents to this mouthblown 

swirled-glass bowl on an intricate metal 

base adorned with enamel and 1,400 Swarovski 

crystals and amethyst crystal stones. 

Jay Strongwater Charlotte peacock 

feather glass bowl, $4,500, 

davidorgell.com, (310) 273-6660 

IN THE BAG 

She won’t see herself coming and going in this 

timeless Dries Van Noten calf-hair shoulder 

bag with a leopard and snakeskin motif. 

$1,230, barneys.com 

PRIMARY COLORS 

Farrow & Ball, a go-to British paint and wallpaper 

company for designers, celebrates its 70th 

anniversary with a lavishly illustrated coffeetable 

book for do-it-yourselfers: How to Decorate by 

color experts Joa Studholme and Charlotte Cosby 

(Mitchell Beazley). 

$25.46, amazon.com 

IN THE RED 

Make a statement with David 

Yurman’s thick red-resin 

sculpted cable cuff bracelet 

accented by 18-karat yellowgold 

vermeil. Also in turquoise, 

black and white. 

$850, Davidyurman.com, 

(888) 398-7626 

12.16 | ARROYO | 47

FOR 

MEN 

FOR 

KIDS 

DUFFEL OFF TO BUFFALO 

Real men carry bags when they’re as 

sleek as Serapian’s burgundy leather 

duffel, with polished goldtone hardware, 

a leather luggage tag and leather-bound 

padlock. 

$2,000, barneys.com, 

(888) 222-7639 

HOME RUN 

Treat your budding Realtor to a furnished 

dollhouse with such up-to-the-minute amenities 

as a solar-paneled roof, moveable stairs and 

a reversible winter/summer theme. Even better, 

imaginary role-playing with friends will teach 

your child collaboration and cooperation, while 

sharpening her language development and 

communication skills. 

All-Season House – Furnished, $179.99, 

Playopolis Toys, 667 W. California Blvd., 

Pasadena, playopolistoys.com, (626) 

792-2380 

BOYS’ LIFE 

This might be a good time to remind the 

nostalgic men in your life of their feisty 

youth with this rare first edition of J.D. 

Salinger’s 1951 adolescent-angst classic, 

The Catcher in the Rye. 

$39,500, baumanrarebooks. 

com, (212) 751-0011 

DINO-MITE 

Gently nudge your child away from his iPad Mini and introduce him 

to the joys of play in the 3D (not virtual) world with Lego’s Jurassic 

World T. Rex Tracker. The 520-piece set, including mini troopers, a 

motorbike and a “flaming” torch, will enable your fledgling dinosaur 

hunter to catch his prey and store it in a special dino cage. 

$82.99, Toys “R” Us, 2500 W. Commonwealth Ave., 

Alhambra, toysrus.com, (626) 284-8909 

A ZOOM OF ONE’S OWN 

He’ll never have to fork out $500 

for Hamilton orchestra seats with 

these 100X Ultrazoom Binoculars 

that are military grade yet 

lightweight and boast a 68mm 

objective lens for visual clarity. 

$169.99, sharperimage.com, 

(877) 206-7862 

TOP SECRET 

If we ever needed a secret spy, it’s now. Equip 

yours with a black trench and fedora, rear-view 

sunglasses, a secret coded message card and 

more. 

$29.99, San Marino Toy and Book, 2424 

Huntington Dr., San Marino, toysandbooks.com, 

(626) 309-0222. 

48 | ARROYO | 12.16

FOR 

PETS 

HIBERNATE HERE 

The ultimate in creature comfort, this 

shaggy dog bed has a memory-spring 

polyfiberfill insert that maintains its loft 

over time. Comes in a variety of colors, 

cover zips off for machine washing. 

“Bear Hug” plush dog bed by Animal 

Matters, $129–$239, inthecompanyofdogs.com, 

(800) 544-4595 

GIVING 

BACK 

YOU GO, GIRL! 

Honor friends and family by donating 

$75 to Save the Children for 

educating girls in poor countries 

around the world. FLOTUSapproved. 

Johnson & Johnson is 

doubling the impact this year by 

matching donations up to $450,000. 

Gift.savethechildren.org 

FLY THE FURRY SKIES 

You can’t keep a good cat down, especially 

when she boards her nifty cardboard airplane, 

which gives her a place to hide and a chance to 

let her imagination soar. 

Plane Cat Playhouse by Suck U.K., 

$26.99, petflow.com, (888) 316-PAWS 

GIMME SHELTER 

You love her like family, so house her like 

family in Hammacher Schlemmer’s outdoor 

cat shelter, which boasts an integrated heater 

that keeps felines up to 25 pounds warm and 

comfy in cool temperatures. (Even better, 

share your shelter with her and keep her 

indoors.) 

$129.95, hammacher.com, 

(800) 321-1484 

WEARING HER HEART ON HER SLEEVE 

Saks Fifth Avenue has a long and lovely tradition 

of commissioning top designers each year 

to produce a limited-edition T-shirt to benefit 

Stand Up to Cancer. This year it’s Christian 

Laboutin, who came up with a tee adorned 

with a drawing of a pink stiletto (natch) and 

a necklace of keys — Keys to the Cure, that is. 

$35, Saks Fifth Ave Beverly Hills, 9600 

Beverly Blvd., (310) 275-4211 

B ORIGINAL 

Interested in immortalizing your fur baby in 

an acrylic painting as unique as your beloved? 

SoCal artist B, who lives in Malibu with his 

dogs, Howard and Steve, specializes in puppy 

and kitty portrait paintings, working from 

photos he shoots himself. 

$700–$1,000, artbyb.net 

TRUE BLUE 

Alex & Ani donates a portion of proceeds 

from sales of its elegant Living Water Charm 

Bangle sales to Living Water International, 

which brings clean water projects to poor 

communities around the world. Handmade 

in Rhode Island with recycled materials, the 

bright blue, pear-shaped drop — a symbol of 

compassion and healing — was created for 

daily reflection. 

$28, alexandani.com 

12.16 | ARROYO | 49

KITCHEN 

CONFESSIONS 

COOK, 

EAT, 

DEATH 

METAL 

EVEN WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH, LOVE 

(AND FOOD) WILL FIND A WAY. 

BY LESLIE BILDERBACK 

If there is one thing I love more than cooking, it’s music. And I don’t discriminate. 

I like it all. In fact, I have been known to pick up an instrument or two myself. 

(Practicing was never my thing, though, which explains why I am a chef and not a 

rock star.) But the only music I routinely battle the ticketbots for is rock ’n’ roll. I love 

going to live shows. At concerts, I am the one down on the floor shoving my way to 

the railing. I’m the one dancing when no one else in my section is. I’m the one with 

50 concert T-shirts, and on the way home, that’s my stereo you hear three cars back at 

the stoplight. 

My love of live music started early. In high school my best friend, Mike, had his 

finger on the pulse of modern music, and he would drive us to shows all over the 

Bay Area in his parents’ ’69 Ford Country Squire (with hidden headlamps). I can’t 

believe our parents allowed all those trips to the city, and to so many clubs up and 

down the bay. That was in the early ’80s, when we didn’t need fake IDs to get into 

bars (although we had ’em). We saw so many bands — the Knack, the B-52’s, The 

Tazmanian Devils, Greg Kihn, Dead Kennedys, Tommy Tutone, The Tubes, Rubber 

City Rebels — we even caught an early tour of Grand Master Flash and the Furious 

Five with the Sugar Hill Gang and Kool Moe Dee (I remember we were not 100 

percent welcomed by the other fans and kinda hid in the back of the venue — but it 

was awesome). In college I continued my concertgoing and was attracted to my future 

husband by, among other virtues, his volunteer usher gig for Bill Graham Presents — 

which meant free shows every week! 

I’m telling you all this to explain the importance of my attendance at a concert last 

September. It was the Eagles of Death Metal. (Their name is ironic — the sound is 

more bouncy rock ’n’ roll/rockabilly than any kind of metal.) They played at the Teragram 

Ballroom in downtown L.A. It’s a small venue, and everyone there was a real 

fan, including me. I think it was my fifth or sixth time seeing this band. The mood 

was electric, and I danced so hard and got so sweaty that by the end I looked like I 

had been through a car wash. It was a great night. 

Fast forward a few weeks. As I drove into work a news bulletin broke through with 

reports of a mass shooting by terrorists at an Eagles of Death Metal concert at the 

Bataclan in Paris. I was stunned. Those were my people. When I got home I jumped 

on the Facebook fan sites. Everyone was freaking out in the worst possible way. I was 

glued to the news for a couple of days, like everyone else. I don’t typically get emotionally 

wrapped up in world events, and I didn’t personally know anyone affected by the 

incident. But in a way, I knew them all. They were just like me — dancing so hard and 

having so much fun. I can’t remember ever being so depressed by something that hap- 

PHOTO: Teri Lyn Fisher 

50 | ARROYO | 12.16

pened to strangers a world away. 

To bring myself out of that state, 

I decided to try and cheer up other 

fans the only way I knew how. I 

wrote a goofy recipe based on one 

of the band’s song titles and posted 

it on the Facebook fan page. It was 

super-corny and a little bit dirty. 

The response was huge. 

Hundreds of Facebook “likes” 

and comments. “Thanks for cheering 

me up!” “This is just what I 

needed!” “So Funny! It’s nice to 

laugh again!” I started posting one 

recipe each day based on the songs. 

It was very cathartic. 

Then, after about a week of this, 

I was contacted by a record company. 

Would I do a cookbook like this 

for charity? Damn straight I would! And that’s where I am today. The book is called 

Cook, Eat, Death Metal (Dog Ear Publishing), and it was released November 13, the 

one-year anniversary of the incident. All the proceeds go directly to aid survivors of 

the Bataclan, and the families of those who were lost. You can get it on Amazon, at 

dissentionrecords.com and at several places around L.A., including Wacko on Sunset 

Boulevard. 

The book is not sad at all. In fact, it is hilarious (if I do say so myself). The recipes 

are real and delicious. I hope you will buy one for yourself, or for the rock ’n’ roller in 

your life. It’s the kind of gift that gives back, and it will make you seem way cooler 

than you really are. |||| 

Wasabi in L.A. 

(“Wannabe in L.A.,” from the album Heart On, 2008) 

Cover Art: Shannon O'Sullivan 

Wasabe Guacamole with Wonton Chips is a particularly eyeball-rolling example of 

stereotypical Southern Californian cuisine. The rest of the world assumes we Angelenos 

eat avocados every day. They’re right! In fact, the state constitution mandates that 

California citizens each consume 12 kilos of avocados annually. It’s a burden, but this 

recipe makes it bearable. 

INGREDIENTS 

½ purple onion, diced 

1 to 2 teaspoons wasabi powder, 

paste or freshly grated root 

1 teaspoon water (if using wasabi 

powder) 

3 ripe avocados 

Grated zest and juice of 2 limes 

1 tablespoon pickled ginger, minced 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

¼ cup cilantro leaves, minced 

1 package square wonton wrapper 

Frying oil 

METHOD 

1. Cover the diced onion in cold water and set aside. This removes offending oils that cause your breath 

to stink. (The world appreciates this.) Stir together wasabi powder and water, and set aside for 15 

minutes. 

2. Halve and pit the avocados, scoop their meat into a large bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in lime 

zest, juice and pickled ginger. Add the salt and wasabi and mix. Fold in onions and cilantro. Adjust 

seasoning, then cover with a sheet of plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface, which will prevent 

discoloration. Set aside at room temperature while you fry the chips. 

3. Heat about 2 inches of oil in a heavy skillet to 375°. When it reaches that temperature, drop in 4 or 5 

wonton skins (don’t crowd them) and cook until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove 

to a paper towel–lined tray, then sprinkle with salt. Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers. Serve 

guac with wontons and rice crackers. Now you are very hip. 

Leslie Bilderback is a certifi ed master baker, chef and cookbook author. She lives in 

South Pasadena and teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com. 

12.16 | ARROYO | 51

THE LIST 

A SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS 

COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER 

A Christmas 

Classic at 

A Noise Within 

Dec. 2 through 23 — 

A Noise Within stages 

the Christmas classic A Christmas Carol, 

adapted by Geoff Elliott, at 8 p.m. Dec. 

2, continuing through Dec. 23. The play 

captures Charles Dickens’ tale of Ebenezer 

Scrooge, greed and redemption, 

and how the power of love can change 

even the bitterest soul. Ticket prices start 

at $39. 

A Noise Within is located at 3352 E. Foothill 

Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 356-3100 

or visit anoisewithin.org. 

Space, Songs, 

Stones at 

Huntington 

Dec. 2 — The Music 

Center’s educational 

touring ensemble, 

Will & Company, performs its interactive 

production of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol 

from 7 to 8 p.m. A preshow singalong of 

holiday songs is included. Tickets cost 

$15 ($10 for Huntington members). Visit 

huntington.org/calendar for tickets. 

Dec. 13 — A panel discusses “Aerospace 

in Southern California” at 7:30 p.m., tracing 

the history of the local aerospace 

industry and its intersections with 

contemporary culture. Panelists include 

Peter Westwick, aerospace historian; William 

Deverell, director of the Huntington- 

USC Institute on California and the West; 

and Daniel Lewis, Dibner Senior Curator 

of the History of Science and Technology 

at the Huntington. Admission is free; visit 

huntington.org/calendar for reservations. 

Dec. 19 — The women’s vocal ensemble 

Vox Feminae, dressed in elaborate 

costumes, performs sacred and secular 

holiday music from the medieval and 

Renaissance eras on period instruments 

at 1 p.m. Admission is free; no tickets or 

reservations required. 

Dec. 26 through 30 — The Huntington’s 

annual post-Christmas Viewing Stones 

Show spotlights outstanding examples 

of the ancient Japanese art of suiseki 

— natural rocks transformed by water, 

wind and time into shapes resembling 

landscapes, animals or other forms. Viewing 

hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Free 

with regular Huntington admission of 

$23, $19 for seniors and students and $10 

CHRISTMAS CASTLE 

TOURS 

Dec. 4 — Pasadena’s 1898-vintage Castle Green once again opens its doors 

to the public for self-guided tours of the historic hotel, including 25 private 

apartments not typically open to the public, music and treats from 1 to 5 p.m. 

Tickets cost $30 in advance on the website, $35 at the gate. 

Castle Green is located at 99 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Visit castlegreen.com/tour. 

for youth 4 to 11; children under 4 and 

members are admitted free. 

The Huntington Library, Art Collections 

and Botanical Gardens is located at 

1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626) 

405-2100 or visit huntington.org. 

Children’s Chorus 

Offers Bach, Bel 

Canto, Berlin 

Dec. 4 and 11 — The 

Los Angeles Children’s 

Chorus, known for its angelic bel canto 

work, presents its annual winter concert 

on two nights at the Pasadena Presbyterian 

Church. The program includes 

holiday and classical music by Bach, 

Irving Berlin, Ko Matsushito and Holst. Both 

concerts start at 7 p.m. Tickets range 

from $26 to $44 (half-price for students 17 

and younger). 

The Pasadena Presbyterian Church 

is located at 585 E. Colorado Blvd., 

Pasadena. Call (626) 793-4231 or visit 

lachildrenschorus.org. 

Cinderella 

Christmas With 

Dance, Magic 

Dec. 8 through Jan. 

8 — Lythgoe Family 

Productions’ annual Panto at the 

Playhouse returns to Pasadena with A 

Cinderella Christmas, opening Dec. 8 

and continuing through Jan. 8 (dark 

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). The 

holiday spectacular offers an interactive 

spectacle of magic, comedy, dancers 

from Fox TV’s So You Think You Can 

Dance and pop music, from Taylor Swift 

to the Bee Gees. The show stars Lauren 

Taylor, Alex Newell, Matthew Patrick 

Davis, Josh Adamson and Ben Giroux. 

Tickets cost $25 to $125, plus $75 for 

Golden Ticket add-ons for guests 12 and 

younger, providing an onstage singalong 

and gift bags. 

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 

39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 

356-7529 or visit pasadenaplayhouse.org. 

Bedroom Door 

Opened at Simon 

Dec. 9 through March 

6 — Van Gogh’s 

Bedroom comes 

to the Norton Simon Museum, on loan 

from the Art Institute of Chicago, through 

March 6. The famous painting serves as a 

meditation on friendship, hope and crushing 

disappointment, a sort of self-portrait, 

symbolic of Van Gogh’s wandering 

existence and elusive search for a sense 

of purpose. The artist, afflicted with mental 

maladies, painted the work in 1889 while at 

an asylum in France. The painting will hang 

beside the museum’s other works by the 

tortured but brilliant artist. 

Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 

W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 

449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org. 

Coral Reefs, Celtic 

Christmas at 

Caltech 

Dec. 10 — The Blue 

Planet documentary 

Seas of Life: Coral Seas, exploring life on 

and around coral reefs which are ecosystems 

built by millions of individual animals, 

screens at 4 p.m. Graduate student 

Annelise Thompson leads a discussion after 

the film. Admission costs $10. 

Dec. 17 — An Irish Christmas at 8 p.m. 

celebrates Celtic Christmas traditions with 

storytelling, traditional Irish musicians and 

dancers from the Kerry Dance Troupe 

featuring principal dancer Kevin Horton, 

formerly of Riverdance and Lord of the 

Dance. Tickets cost $10 to $40. 

Both events take place in Caltech’s Beckman 

Auditorium, Michigan Avenue south 

of Del Mar Boulevard, Pasadena. Call 

(626) 395-4652 or visit events.caltech.edu. 

Dine with Santa at 

Light-Enchanted 

Descanso 

Ongoing through 

Jan. 8 — Descanso’s 

Enchanted Forest of Light, designed 

by theatrical lighting artists, illuminates 

a one-mile route through the gardens. 

Some displays are interactive, inviting 

52 | ARROYO | 12.16

guests to manipulate the sights and 

sounds. Showtimes are 5 to 10 p.m. daily, 

except Christmas Eve and Christmas 

Day. Timed tickets must be purchased 

in advance and cost $28, $24 for seniors 

and children 3 to 17; children 2 and 

younger are admitted free and members 

receive a 15 percent discount. 

Dec. 10 and 11 — Learn to make a 

holiday wreath using natural materials with 

expert help from Descanso staff at 10 a.m. 

Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The cost is $40. 

Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18 — Patina serves a 

Dinner with Santa buffet at 7 p.m. each 

day. The reservation deadline is Dec. 6. 

Call for pricing. 

Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso 

Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Call (818) 

949-4200 or visit descansogardens.org. 

Insane Fun at 

Brookside Golf 

Course 

Dec. 10 — The Insane 

Infl atable 5K fun run 

features a 3.1-mile course of 11 infl atable 

obstacles, accessible to everyone 

from track stars to armchair athletes. 

A portion of the proceeds goes to the 

American Cancer Society Relay for Life. 

The midway area also includes games, 

food and beverages, merchandise and 

swag. Children must be at least 42 inches 

tall to participate. The first wave starts 

at 8:30 a.m., and additional waves run 

until approximately 1 p.m. Registration 

costs $49 in advance, $75 for same-day 

registration. 

The Brookside Golf Course is located 

at 1133 Rosemont Ave., Pasadena. Visit 

insaneinfl atable5k.com. 

Library Halls Are 

Decked With 

Dickens 

Dec. 15 — The Pasadena 

Public Library’s 

Central Branch is the scene of Unbound 

Productions’ free staged reading at 

7 p.m. of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, 

adapted by Paul Millet. 

Dec. 22 — Unbound Productions presents 

free staged readings of three rarely 

performed Dickens holiday-themed 

works — "A Christmas Tree," "Prince Bull" 

and "The Child’s Story," adapted by 

Jonathan Josephson, starting at 7 p.m. 

at the library. 

The Pasadena Public Library’s Central 

Branch is located at 285 E. Walnut St., 

Pasadena. Visit unboundproductions.org 

for reservations. 

Pasadena 

Symphony 

Candlelight 

Concert 

Dec. 17 — The Pasadena 

Symphony lights up Pasadena’s 

All Saints Church with its annual Holiday 

Candlelight concert — a feast of seasonal 

classics. The orchestra is joined by 

Tony-nominated vocalist Valarie Pettiford, 

along with the Donald Brinegar Singers, 

the L.A. Children’s Chorus and the L.A. 

Bronze Handbell Ensemble. Grant Cooper 

conducts. Concerts start at 4 and 

7 p.m. Ticket prices start at $20. 

All Saints Church is located at 132 N. Euclid 

Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 793-7172 

or visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org. 

A Multiculti 

County Christmas 

Gala 

Dec. 24 — Celebrate 

Christmas Eve at 

downtown L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 

where the 57th annual L.A. County 

Holiday Celebration gathers music 

ensembles, choirs and dance companies 

from numerous neighborhoods and 

cultures. Returning favorites include the 

Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company, 

the Harmonic Bronze Handbell 

Ensemble, the Palmdale High School 

Choral Union and Sunday Night Singers, 

and the Southern California Brass Consortium. 

Newcomers include Dixielandblues 

and early-swing band California 

Feetwarmers, Cuba L.A. performing Latin 

jazz renditions of holiday standards and 

Filipino dance company Kayamanan Ng 

Lahi. Entertainment begins at 12:30 p.m. 

outside on the Music Center Plaza; doors 

open at 2:30 p.m.and the main show 

runs from 3 to 6 p.m. The free show will be 

broadcast live by PBS SoCal KOCE and 

rebroadcast at 9 p.m. and noon Christmas 

Day, 3 and 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Christmas 

Day and 11 a.m. Dec. 26 on PBS SoCal Plus. 

It is also streamed live on pbssocal.org. 

The Music Center is located at 135 N. 

Grand Ave., L.A. Call (213) 972-3099 or visit 

holidaycelebration.org. 


12.16 | ARROYO | 53

THE LIST 


Rose Parade 

Float Decoration 

Viewing 

Dec. 29 through 

31 — See Rose 

Parade fl oats being 

decorated from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. 

Tickets cost $10, available at the door or 

through Sharp Seating; children 5 and 

younger are admitted free. Locations 

are Rosemont Pavilion, Brookside Pavilion 

and the Rose Palace. 

Rosemont Pavilion is located at 700 

Seco St., Pasadena. Brookside Pavilion is 

located at Lot I, south side of Rose Bowl 

Stadium, 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena. 

The Rose Palace is located at 835 S. 

Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Call Sharp 

Seating at (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseating.com. 

Visit tournamentofroses. 

com/events for information. 

Early Peeks at 

Parade Marching 

Bands 

Dec. 30 and 31 — 

Get an early look at 

the bands slated to march in the parade 

during Bandfest at Robinson Stadium, Pasadena 

City College. Bandfest I starts at 

1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bandfest II starts at 

9:30 a.m. Thursday and Bandfest III starts 

at 2 p.m. Thursday. Tickets to each session 

are $15, free for children 5 and younger, 

available through Sharp Seating. 

Pasadena City College is located at 

1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call 

Sharp Seating at (626) 795-4171 or visit 

sharpseating.com. Visit tournament 

ofroses.com/events for information. 

Equestfest 

Previews Four- 

Legged Paraders 

Dec. 30 — Equestfest 

offers a preview of 

Rose Parade equestrian units as they 

perform drills and dances, trick riding and 

roping at the L.A. Equestrian Center. Tour 

the stables, meet the riders and learn 

about the riding equipment and horse 

breeds involved. Live music is included, 

and food and beverages are available 

for purchase. Gates open at 10 a.m. Tickets, 

sold at the venue or through Sharp 

Seating, cost $15 or $40 for reserved 

seating and a souvenir seat cushion; 

children 5 and younger are admitted 

free. 

The L.A. Equestrian Center is located 

at 480 Riverside Dr., Burbank. Call Sharp 

Seating at (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseating.com. 

Visit tournamentofroses. 

com/events for information. 

Ring in the New 

Year in Grand 

Style 

Dec. 31 — Revelers 

converge on Grand 

Park to celebrate New Year’s Eve as 

N.Y.E.L.A. rocks downtown L.A. The free 

event features live music, dancing, 

large-scale art installations and a New 

Year’s countdown with a light show and 

3D digital mapping on the side of the 

historic City Hall. The party runs from 

8 p.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday. 

Grand Park is located between the Music 

Center on Grand Avenue to the west 

and L.A. City Hall on Spring Street to the 

east. Visit grandparkla.org. 

Dazzling Zoo 

Lights Plus Rudolph’s 

Relatives 

Ongoing through 

Jan. 8 — The annual 

L.A. Zoo Lights display is a dazzling, illuminated 

spectacle with thousands of LED 

lights, fl urries of illuminated snowfl akes, 

3D animated projections, a musical 

light-and-water show and glittering light 

tunnels from 6 to 10 p.m. nightly, except 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Ticket 

prices at lazoolights.org start at $9. Photos 

with Santa are available on select 

dates for an added fee. During the day, 

guests can visit a reindeer family at the 

annual Reindeer Romp, from 10 a.m. to 

4 p.m. daily, except Christmas Day. Weekends 

also offer holiday crafts for kids and 

other fun. The Reindeer Romp is included 

in regular admission of $20 for visitors 13 

to 61, $17 for those 62 and older and $15 

for children 2 to 12; children under 2 are 

admitted free. 

The L.A. Zoo is located at 5333 Zoo Dr., 

Griffi th Park. Call (323) 644-6001 or visit 

lazoo.org. |||| 

54 | ARROYO | 12.16

12.16 | ARROYO | 55

December 2016

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?