Beach Nov 2016

November 10, 2016 

Volume 47, Issue 14

Considering A Major Remodeling Project? 

Architectural Design & Remodeling Seminar 

This informative seminar will help you learn: 

• Functioning designs to make the best of your living space. 

• Choosing a contractor: What to look for and how to hire. 

• Exploration of materials, from granite to quartz to more! 

Join us on 

Saturday 

November12 th 

at 10:00 am

November 10, 2016 

Volume 47, Issue 14 

BEACH PEOPLE 

18 Blood and treasure by Kevin Cody 

Former Commander of U.S. Middle East Forces General David Petraeus 

gets tough questions from his Beach City audience during his 

Distinguished Speaker Series talk. 

26 A couple of longboarders by Mike Purpus 

His turns are fluid and on rail like Nat Young’s cutback, circa 1966. 

She has an equally graceful style, but with a feminine touch. 

Together, Kris Hall and Taylor stone are arguably the South Bay’s best 

longboard couple. 

28 Il canto Italiani by Richard Foss 

Chef Michaelangelo Aliaga’s pastas and sausages and co-owner 

Lou Giovanetti’s voice make Primo Italia worthy of its name. 

30 Love and loss by Mark McDermott 

The Bisignano family lost their 22 year old son Jonathan in April. In the 

six months since, Jonathan’s life, the family’s faith and the community’s 

embrace have given the family lessons in the persistence of love. 

36 Hitting her stride by Randy Angel 

Mira Costa’s Elizabeth Melia Chittenden proves ballet and running fast 

are transferable skills. 

8 Calendar 

14 Best of Manhattan Beach 

16 Drunk health 

22 PTN Halloween gala at Depot 

24 Beach Gift Guide 

BEACH LIFE 

ON THE COVER 

Jonathan Bisignano. 

Photo courtesy of the 

Bisignano family 

40 Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk 

42 Girls night out 

44 Spyder Scare and Tear 

46 Gudmundsson paddleout 

47 Home Services 

STAFF 

PUBLISHER Kevin Cody, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Richard Budman, EDITORS Mark McDermott, Randy Angel, David Mendez, 

and Ryan McDonald, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Bondo Wyszpolski, DINING EDITOR Richard Foss, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Ray Vidal and Brad Jacobson, CALENDAR Judy Rae, DISPLAY SALES Adrienne Slaughter, Tamar Gillotti, Amy Berg, and Shelley 

Crawford, CLASSIFIEDS Teri Marin, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Hermosawave.net, GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tim Teebken, 

FRONT DESK Judy Rae 

EASY READER (ISSN 0194-6412) is published weekly by EASY READER, 2200 Pacific Cst. Hwy., #101, P.O. Box 427, Hermosa 

Beach, CA 90254-0427. Yearly domestic mail subscription $50.00; foreign, $75.00 payable in advance. POSTMASTER: Send 

address changes to EASY READER, P.O. Box 427, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. The entire contents of the EASY READER newspaper 

is Copyright 2015 by EASY READER, Inc. www.easyreadernews.com. The Easy Reader/Redondo Beach Hometown News 

is a legally adjudicated newspaper and the official newspaper for the city of Hermosa Beach. Easy Reader / Redondo Beach 

Hometown News is also distributed to homes and on newsstands in Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Torrance, and Palos Verdes. 

n Mailing Address P.O. Box 427, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 Phone (310) 372-4611 Fax (424) 212-6780 

n Website www.easyreadernews.com Email news@easyreadernews.com 

n Classified Advertising see the Classified Ad Section. Phone 310.372.4611 x102. Email displayads@easyreadernews.com 

n Fictitious Name Statements (DBA's) can be filed at the office during regular business hours. Phone 310.372.4611 x101. 

6 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • November 10, 2016

S O U T H B AY 

CAL ENDAR 

Friday, November 11 

Toast to our Vets 

South Bay Customs host the 8th Annual Toast Our Vets benefit concert, featuring 

Mara and the Big Rockstars, Less Than 6, and the return of Jared Young. $35. 

8 p.m. Proceeds benefit Team RWB and the Vet Hunters Project, combating veteran 

homelessness. 115 Penn St., El Segundo. For more info visit 

universe.com/toastour vets2016. 

Hermosa Vet candle ceremony 

The 22nd Annual Hermosa Beach Veteran’s Day Commemoration and Candlelight 

Ceremony will be held at the Veterans Sundial at 5 p.m. Hermosa Beach 

Community Center. Pier Ave., and Pacific Coast Hwy. For more info call 

(310)318.0280. 

Redondo Veterans Memorial ceremony 

Members of the United States Armed Forces will be honored at the Veteran’s 

Memorial at City Hall. 1 p.m. 415 Diamond St, Redondo Beach. 

Manhattan Beach Veterans ceremony 

The 19th Annual Manhattan Beach Veterans Day Multi-Generation ceremony 

will be held at the Veteran’s Monument. 11 a.m. Valley Drive and 15th Street. 

For more information call (310) 802-5448 

Hold’em or Fold’em 

The 2nd Annual Texas Hold ’em Tournament will benefit the PEF and The 

PVPAR Scholarship fund. Taco truck, blackjack tables, casino lounge, lots of raffle 

prizes, music and bar. 5 - 10 p.m. South Coast Botanic Gardens, 26300 Crenshaw 

Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula. Reserve: call (310) 377-4873 or email 

heather@pvpar.com. 

Nantucket Crossing 

Your ONE-STOP SHOP For All YOUR 

GIFT GIVING AND STATIONERY NEEDS 

Saturday, November 12 

Studio (902)54 

The 2nd Annual Hermosa 

Beach Historical Society Dancing 

through the Decades Fundraiser 

moves to the ‘70s. Studio (902)54 

is theme. 7 - 11 p.m. Hermosa 

Beach Museum, 710 Pier Ave. For 

tickets call (310) 318-9421 or visit 

hermosabeachhistoricalsociety. 

org 

Art of Adult 

Coloring Books 

Cancer Support Community 

Redondo Beach offers a stress reduction 

workshop led by cancer 

survivor Lynde Hartman. Participants 

will relate back to a childhood 

pastime and discover the 

many benefits of coloring books. Health advantages include exercising fine motor 

skills and training the brain to focus and center the mind. Supplies will be provided. 

Advance registration required by calling (310) 376-3550 or visit the website 

at cancersupportredondobeach.org. 

Hocus pocus 

The Hermosa Beach Second Story Theatre presents “Hollywood Stars of 

Magic.” It's a cast of performers like no other. All ages. Different show every 

month. Every 2nd Saturday. 2 p.m. 710 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach. For tickets information 

call (310) 971-5335 or (323) 761-9473. Email: info@hollywoodstarsofmagic.com. 

Sunday, November 13 

Benoit up close 

David Benoit performs an intimate 

concert at the Asia 

America Symphony Association 

dinner, to be held at the Palos 

Verdes Golf Club. Cocktails 5 

p.m. Dinner and Performance 6 

p.m. 3301 Via Campesina, 

Palos Verdes Estates. For tickets 

or for more information 

AASymphony.org or call (310) 

377-8977. 

Growing up digital 

Girl Scout Troop 3645 hosts a 

free screening of the acclaimed 

documentary, "Screenagers: 

Growing Up in the Digital Age". 3 - 5 p.m. O'Donnell Hall, American Martyrs 

Calendar cont. on page 12 

MEN’S 

OLUKAI 

MOVA GLOBES 

WOMEN’S 

OLUKAI 

867 Silver Spur Road (next to Bristol Farms), 

Rolling Hills Estates 

310.377.7201 www.nantucketcrossing.com 


CRYSTAL BED THERAPY 

Many people who have had Crystal Bed Sessions report the following: 

• Feeling more energized 

• Clearer thoughts and better focus 

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Closed on Sunday 

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• Balance of the chakras 

• Feeling less stressed 

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Church, 624 15th Street, Manhattan 

Beach. The screening is open to all members 

of the community, but especially middle 

schoolers and up (age 11+). Register 

for the screening at screenagersmovie. 

com/find-a-screening/. 

Monday, November 14 

Manhattan’s Stonehenge 

Light Gate is a laminated glass sculpture 

that will creates rich and varied light effects 

tonight at precisely 4:45 p.m. when 

the sun aligns with the gate’s keyhole. 

This only happens on January 27 and November 

14. For more information contact 

the Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation 

Department at (310) 802-5448. 

ci.manhattan-beach.ca.us/home. 

FEATURED PROPERTIES by Bill Ruane 310.877.2374 

Wednesday, November 16 

Econ conference 

Shade owner Michael Zislis, Terranea president Teri 

Haack, Realtor Rick Edler and Manhattan Beach 

Community Development Director Marisa Lundstedt 

will be among the speakers at the Manhattan Chamber’s 

annual South Bay Economic Forum. $50. 7:30 to 

10 a.m. 1601 N. Valley Dr, Manhattan Beach. For tickets 

visit ManhattanBeachChamber.com. 

A day at the Getty 

Woman’s Club of Hermosa Beach presents a day at 

the Getty Center fundraiser. Proceeds benefit the 

club’s philanthropic community services. The bus will 

board between 9:15 - 9:50 a.m. at the Hermosa Beach 

Community Center, 715 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach. 

Bus departs at 10 a.m. and returns at 5 p.m. For tickets contact Leslie at (310) 

798-4961 or email: msljs@aol.com. Womansclubofhermosabeach.org. 

Friday, November 18 

Volleyball hits 

1996 Olympic silver medalist Mike Dodd and his 

longtime domestic tour partner Tim Dodd will be honored 

at the California Beach Volleyball Association induction 

ceremony. This year’s inductees are 

2000 

Olympic 

gold 

Photo by Brad Jacobson 

Photo by Bo Bridges 

(BoBridges.com) 

medalist 

Dain 

Blanton 

and fellow 

beach 

greats 

Elaine 

Youngs, Fred 

Zuelich and 

John Featherstone. 

7 p.m. $10. Available at Boccato’s 

Groceries, Spyder Surf and at 

the door. Hermosa Beach Theatre, 

710 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach. 

$1,599,000 

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El Segundo 

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12 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • November 10, 2016 

$1,499,000 

414 W. Walnut Avenue 

El Segundo 

• 4 Beds 

• 4 Baths 

• 2,943 Square Feet 

• 1,000 sf Second Story Private Deck 

Saturday, November 19 

Kings rink at King Harbor 

The LA Kings outdoor ice skating 

rink opens today in King Harbor. Private 

parties available, through January 

8. For more details call (877) 

234-8425 or visit LAKings.com/HolidayIce. 

239 N. Harbor Drive, Redondo 

Beach. Bt

each charity 

SPERBER MEMORY HONORED WITH 

Meistrell Local Legend Award 

S 

hortly after acquiring Manhattan Beach Toyota and moving to 

Manhattan Beach from Newport Beach in 2008, Darrell Sperber 

became such a familiar face around town that Manhattan Beach 

Councilman Richard Montgomery began to call Sperber the “Mayor of 

Manhattan.” “He joined Rotary and Manhattan Beach Leadership. He 

helped with the fireworks show and the Beach Cities Toy drive,” Montgomery 

recalled at the Best of Manhattan Beach awards dinner last 

month at the Manhattan Beach Marriott. Sperber died in January, 2015, 

at age 68, just a few months after being diagnosed with leukemia. 

Sperber was honored posthumously at the dinner with the 2016 Bob 

Meistrell Local Legend Award. The award was accepted by his son 

Bradley. The annual Best of Manhattan Awards were established by 

the Chamber of Commerce three years ago to recognize businesses that 

have made exceptional contributions to the community. 

1. Small and Mighty awardees Barry and 

Kathy Fisher of Grow Produce. 

2. Richard Foss, MB Post affiliate, emcee 

Mary Beth McDade and Michael Simms. 

3. Richard Montgomery, Bradley Sperber 

and Mary Beth McDade. Sperber accepted 

the Bob Meistrell Local Legend award on behalf 

of his father Darrell. 

4. Nicole Fitzgerald, Manny Serrano and 

wife Bree Noble. 

5. Home Sweet Home awardee Susan 

Kaminski with 2015 recipient David Currie 

and Mary Beth McDade. 

PHOTOS BY KEVIN CODY 

6. Neptunian Woman's Club members with 

the Enhancing Manhattan Beach Award. 

7. Beach Cities Health District's Lauren 

Nakano, Tiana Rideout, Jacqueline Sun and 

Cristan Higa. 

8. Idris Al-Oboudi with Pete Moffett and 

wife Gwen. 

9. Accepting the Best of Manhattan Beach 

Award is Skechers president Michael Greenberg 

(center), with Robin Curren and Jennifer 

Clay of Skechers, evening chair Jill Brunkhardt 

and KTLA anchor and evening emcee 

Mary Beth McDade. 

1 

2 3 

4 5 

6 

7 

8 

9 


each health 

“PINTS FOR PROSTATES” 

a needed buzz kill 

P 

ints for Prostates” was like the Comedy Channel hit “Drunk History,” except that the speakers 

were sober. But the the guests may have had a slight buzz on thanks to the craft beer from King 

Harbor Brewing, Hop Saint and Strand Brewing. In exchange for the free beer, the 200 graying 

guests, endured buzz killing talks about prostate cancer. The evening was part of the Miracle of Living 

series hosted by Torrance Memorial and the newly opened Redondo Beach Shade Hotel. 

According to Torrance Memorial urologist Tim Lesser, one in six men will be diagnosed with 

prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. One 

man in 39 will die of prostate cancer. Contrary to headlines of a few years ago, treatment versus non 

treatment is not a six of one, half dozen of the other proposition. Those headlines were based on 

flawed studies, Lesser said. More stringent studies have found that treatment reduces deaths from 

prostate cancer by 40 percent. 

To further encourage men to get tested, South Bay Mo Bros founder Sandy Goodman asked guest 

to grow a mustache during Movember. “When people ask why you grew a mustache, you tell them, 

‘It’s to raise prostate cancer awareness,’” he said. His seven year old group was the nation’s top Movember 

fundraiser last year. For more about his group, visit southbaymobros.com. 

PHOTOS BY 

DEIDRE DAVIDSON/TORRANCE MEMORIAL 

1. Curtis Mann, Strand Brewing’s Rich Marcello, Dr. David 

Wallace and Norm Mann. 

2. Louie LeRoy, King Harbor Brewing’s Tom Dunbabin and 

Torrance Memorial’s Ann O’Brien 

3. Hop Saint’s Johnny “Spoons” Dice. 

4. Dr. Tim Lesser, Sandy Duncan, Dr. David Wallace, Jackie 

Glass, Dr. Wade Nishimoto and Scott Donnelly. 

5. Sandy Duncan (center) and team South Bay Mo Bro. 

6. Don Shaw, Tom Dunbabin and Jett Wilson. 

1 

2 

3 4 

5 

6 


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Former U.S. Middle East Commander 

David Petraeus 

expresses optimism for Iraq in an 

otherwise cautionary talk 

During a reception for General David Petraeus, 

hosted by Torrance Memorial 

Medical Center in the Manhattan Beach 

Shade Hotel patio on October 25, Milo Basic 

asked the general, “Why did we go into the Middle 

East after 9-11? Think of all the suffering 

there now. In your opinion, would we be better 

off if we hadn’t.” 

Basic is the Croatian-born father-in-law of 

Shade Hotel owner Michael Zislis. 

Petraeus broke the uncomfortable silence that 

followed the bold question by acknowledging, 

“That’s a legitimate question.” 

He prefaced his answer first by observing, 

“The question presumes we had a choice.” 

Then he recounted the events of the Arab 

Spring that destabilized Muslim countries, from 

Africa to the Middle East. 

“If Egyptian President Mubarak had been able 

to stick around, we might have been less hasty 

in declaring his time was over. But there were 

not thousands, but millions demonstrating for his 

overthrow in Tahrir Square in Cairo.” 

“Mubarak was a mentor and father figure to 

me when I was a major stationed in the Middle 

East, 25 years earlier. One day he put his hand 

on my knee and said, ‘General, listen to the Arab 

Street. Never forget the Arab Street.’” 

Petraeus said he wished Mubarak had followed 

his own advice. 

“In Tunisia, there was no saving President Ben 

Ali [after a fruit vendor set himself on fire, triggering 

the Tunisian revolution]. In Libya, we 

helped the opposition take down Gaddafi. And 

certainly, our invasion of Iraq took out Saddam 

Hussein. But he was the personification of a 

kleptocrat and I don’t think he would have lasted 

much longer.” 

Finally, Petraeus responded to Basic’s question. 

“In all honesty, I don’t second guess the decision. 

The worst thing for a military leader, especially 

one who has written more letters than I 

care to remember to mothers and fathers, would 

be to give an opinion, one way or another. I think 

it would be inappropriate. Our focus now should 

be on how to make the future as good as possible.” 

Petraeus was less reticent in discussing President 

Barack Obama’s controversial decision to 

withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2011. Petraeus 

had been named Commander of U.S. 

Forces in the Middle East by President George 

W. Bush in 2007 and served in that post until 

being named Director of the CIA by President 

Obama in 2011. 

The subject came up when Vietnam veteran 

and former Manhattan Beach councilman Bob 

Holmes asked Petraeus what lessons he had 

learned from Vietnam. Petraeus’ doctoral dissertation 

was on Vietnam. 

Petraeus answered, “I took from that experience 

how a military commander should give advice 

to a president. In my view, the advice 

Blood 

and 

treasure 

in the 

Middle 

East 

by Kevin Cody 

Photos by Deidre Davidson/Torrance Memorial Medical Center 

General David Petraeus addresses guests at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center reception 

prior to his Distinguished Speaker Series talk. 


Joe Hohm, Bob Holmes, General Petraeus, Russ Lesser and Rich Lucy. 

General David Petraeus and Milo Basic. 

should be based on facts on the ground, but informed 

by the issues a president has to deal with. 

I’m focused on the Middle East, he’s focused on 

the whole world. Coalition politics, domestic politics, 

Congressional politics, budgetary constraints 

– these issues may not be material to war 

decisions, but can’t be divorced from it.” 

“During the final [2011] meeting on the drawdown 

of forces in Afghanistan, the president 

went around the room and elicited support from 

everyone, until he came to me. I said, ‘Mr. President, 

with all due respect (not always the most 

sincere words, Petraeus interjected, eliciting 

laughter from his listeners), I said a year ago, and 

again last week, based on the facts on the ground, 

and informed by the issues you have to deal with, 

I think the drawdown is too aggressive. The facts 

have not changed in the last week, so my recommendation 

remains the same.’” 

“If you ever want to feel the oxygen go out of 

the situation room in the West Wing, try that,” he 

said. 

Petraeus was peppered with ‘What if’ questions 

both during the reception and the talk he gave 

later that evening to Distinguished Speaker subscribers 

at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts 

Center. 

(He deflected questions about his extramarital 

affair and mishandling of classified information, 

which led to a misdemeanor plea and his dismissal 

as CIA director, by saying, “I won’t address 

painful, personal topics, such as Why Army 

can’t beat Navy,” again eliciting laughter. 

(He also declined to discuss the current presidential 

election, except to dismiss, without naming 

Trump, “the suggestion in the presidential 

campaign that [our intervention in Iraq] is a grab 

for oil.” “The oil is in the south, not in the northern 

area controlled by the Islamic State,” he said. 

He added, “We could have bought 100 years of 

oil with what we’ve spent in Iraq.”) 

Former Manhattan Beach councilman Russ 

Lesser asked Petraeus at the reception, “Had we 

kept 10,000 troops in Iraq, would ISIS be there 

now?” 

“That’s a fantastic question,” Petraeus said. “As 

then director of the CIA, I thought keeping 

10,000 troops there would have been the correct 

course of action. But the answer is not as clear as 

you might think, given how Iraqi Prime Minister 

Maliki upended everything we had done.” 

During his Distinguished Speaker address, Petraeus 

expanded on his answer. 

He described Maliki’s arrest of Sunnis in his 

administration and Maliki’s use of force against 

protesters as “predictable, but a tragic undoing of 

what we sacrificed for.” 

The U.S sacrifice he referred to was the 2007 

“surge,” which he led. 

“When Ambassador Crocker and I arrived in 

Baghdad, we were summoned by Maliki’s national 

security advisor. Just 45 days earlier, President 

Bush and Maliki had agreed to a strategy 

that was 180 degrees different from mine. They 

wanted U.S. military out of the cities. We were 

going back into the cities. They wanted detainees 

released. We weren’t going to release detainees 

because there was no rehabilitation program. 

They wanted to dial back nighttime activities. We 

were going to double them. There was nothing in 

their program about reconciliation. 

“I told the national security advisor to tell Maliki 

that if he disagreed with my policies, he could 

tell that to our president the next day on the 

scheduled teleconference. But if he did, I’d be on 

the next plane back to Washington D.C. 

“The next day Maliki didn’t mention it. I had 

25,000 U.S. troops, 250 helicopters and the authority 

of an occupying commander and was not 

reticent to exercise that authority. We drove down 

violence by 85 percent. 

“Some three and a half years later, after our 

withdrawal, Maliki went after Sunni leaders because 

he was worried about his Shiite base in the 

upcoming election. The Sunni area then became 

fertile grounds for extremism. 

“Before we went to Iraq [in 2003], I’d been in 

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Bosnia, Haiti and Kuwait and had a sense of the magnitude of the undertaking. 

I meekly asked my superiors for details on what would happen 

after we took down the [Hussein] regime. I was told, ‘Dave. You get us to 

Baghdad, we’ll take it from there.’ When we liberated Najaf, the Shiites’ 

holiest city, without putting a bullet in a single mosque, I called my bosses 

and said, ‘The good news is we own Najaf. The bad news is we own Najaf. 

What do we do with it?’” 

“I was told, ‘We’re still getting organized.’” 

Petraeus’ own grim and controversial assessment at the time was disclosed 

by Washington Post reporter Rick Atkinson. 

“I made the mistake of having a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter 

in the back of my Humvee,” Petraeus confessed to the Distinguished 

Speaker audience. 

Petraeus asked Atkinson, just six days into the battle for Baghdad “Tell 

me how this ends?” And then he answered his own question, “Eight years 

and eight divisions.” He was quoting what General Matthew Ridgway told 

President Dwight Eisenhower when asked what it would take to win a war 

in Vietnam. 

Petraeus said he foresees a similar problem in the current effort to push 

ISIS out of Mosul. He called it the “battle after the battle.” 

“Mosul was my home for four years. It was a city of two million people. 

Now it has one and a half million. The campaign for Mosul is a textbook 

design on how to circle a city and take it down. 

“ISIS are dead men walking and they know it. They are deserting and 

they execute their deserters. The Iraqi government needs to clear every 

building and leave people in them or the enemy will fill in from behind.” 

“But the real battle is not defeating the ISIS. That will happen. The real 

battle will be the battle after the battle – the struggle for power and resources 

between the area’s Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis, the Turkmen Shiites 

and Sunnis, the Christians, the Kurds and the tribes.” 

“My advice is endless patience, fierce determination and an occasional 

demonstration of the full range of emotions,” Petraeus said in a rare expression 

of his own emotions. 

“I’m not one in favor of breaking up Iraq into Sunnistan, Shiitestan, Kurdistan… 

Look at Syria,” he said. 

Instead, he offered a surprisingly hopeful outcome. 

“Iraq is developing in a heartening way. It needs to make the most of its 

extraordinary blessings. It has one of the world’s three or four largest oil 

reserves. With its two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, it is the only 

Arab country with water. South of Baghdad is very fertile.” 

Petraeus summed up his Distinguished Speakers talk by relating five lessons 

he learned in his nearly two decades in the Middle East. 

“These are points I would have loved to see debated by the candidates 

in the current presidential campaign,” he noted. 

“One, the ungoverned spaces in the Middle East and Africa will be exploited 

by Islamic extremists.” 

“Two, Las Vegas rules don’t apply. What happens doesn’t stay there. It 

creates a spewing of violence and instability and a tsunami of refugees. 

The Chernobyl meltdown that is Syria has displaced half of its 20 million 

people.” 

“Third, the U.S. has to lead. We have five times the assets of all of our 

allies, aggregated. But that doesn’t mean we go it alone. Churchill said the 

only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting against them. 

“We need Islamic allies. Muslim hate speech is absolutely counterproductive 

in this effort.” 

“Fourth, we must craft a comprehensive campaign. We can’t drone fight, 

or Delta Force fight our way out of this problem.” 

In another allusion to the presidential campaign, he said, to applause 

from the audience, “I’m hugely in favor of carpet bombing if the enemy 

arrays itself as a carpet in the desert, away from civilian populations, in 

which case, bring in the B52s.” 

The fifth and final lesson reflected his belief in “facts on the ground” assessments. 

“We are engaged in a generational struggle, not one of a few years or 

even decades. Even if we put a stake through the heart of ISIS in Mosul, 

we will not put a stake through the heart of the ideologists, who will continue 

the combat in cyberspace. We must contest the activities that go on 

there as well” 

“How do we measure a sustainable strategy?” the general asked. 

“The two measures are blood and treasure.” B 


Phil Pavesi, Michael Zislis, Jerome Unatin, M.D., Mike Philbin and Van Honeycutt. 

Barbara and Mark Lurie, M.D. and Dave and Song Klein. 

Nina Wratschko, Sally Eberhard, Shintia Lynch, Marshall Varon, 

David Petraeus, Mary Jo Unatin and Jerome Unatin, M.D. 

Charlotte, Greg and Russ Lesser 

with General Petraeus. 

November 10, 2016 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 21

each charity 

HALLOWEEN BALL FOR 

PEDIATRIC THERAPY 

For the 21st year, the Depot’s Michael Shafer hosted the Pediatric 

Therapy Network’s Halloween Ball. The benefit was cochaired 

by Suzanne Hadley and Toyota’s Tracy Underwood. In 

addition to dinner from Chef Shafer, the afternoon included a 

silent auction, raffle prizes and a live auction. “For the past 20 

years, Pediatric Therapy Network has been helping children with 

special needs exceed expectations and reach their greatest potential,” 

Underwood said 

For more information visit PediatricTherapyNetwork.org. 

PHOTOS BY ADRIENNE SLAUGHTER 

1. Dorothy Yost with volunteers Nicole Conant, 

Sabrina Price and Phaedra Pruett. 

2. Client and former Junior Ambassador 

Brandon Tanioka with PTN’s Ryan Sakaguchi. 

3. Cecilia Geronimo with Torrance City 

Councilmember Mike Griffiths. 

4. Easy Reader’s Adrienne Slaughter with 

Jason D’eath and Cassidy Francis. 

5. Pediatric Therapy Network’s Board members 

Tom Gosney, Christian Maeder, David 

Lim and Aidy Maeder. 

6. Michael Limas, Linda James, Shauna with 

son, PTN client Paul, and Dan Valenzuela. 

7. Assemblyman David Hadley and wife 

Suzanne with Lomita Mayor Pro-tem Mark 

Waronek. 

8. Dain and Noelle Kirkpatrick with Ashley 

Springer and Grant Sellers. 

9. Charlene Nishimura with PTN CEO and 

founding director Terri Nishimura with Shirley 

Pe and Leslie Cortez 

10. Julie Knabe, Steve Napolitano, Terri 

Nishimura, Supervisor Don Knabe, The 

Depot’s Michael Shafer and Penny Wirsing. 

11. RamFunkshus members, Tim Kobzo, 

Sean Wiggins, Vinnie Suzuki, David Page, 

Trent Stroh and Barry Reynolds, entertained 

the guests. 

1 

2 3 4 5 

6 7 

8 

9 10 

11 


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A couple of LONGBOARDERS 

by Mike Purpus 

Local surf photographer 

Anthony Renna and Hall 

are both young and 

feed off each other. 

Renna has 

captured many 

epic shots of Hall. 

Photo by Anthony Renna 

Kris Hall and Taylor Stone sync in and out of the water 

El Segundo High senior Taylor Stone started surfing just two years ago, 

out of necessity. “Kris spends so much time in the water it was the 

only way to have fun with him,” Stone said of her boyfriend Kris Hall. 

Hall began surfing when he was two, on a Boogie Board at Pine Trees on 

the Big Island of Hawaii. 

“My dad was over there teaching special education for three years. It was 

the perfect place to learn,” Hall said. “My dad is still a special ed teacher 

in Compton.” 

Today Stone and Hall are arguably the best longboard couple in the South 

Bay. His surf style combines elements of Phil Edwards jazzy gestures and 

local longboarder Shawn O’Brien’s precision noseriding. His turns are fluid 

and on rail like Nat Young’s cutback, circa 1966. 

She has an equally graceful style, but with a feminine touch. Her first 

two steps to the nose are as pretty as they come. 

Stone is one of the El Segundo High surf team’s top surfers. She finished 

third in the International Surf Festival contest this past summer. 

Hall was a standout on the Redondo High surf team and last winter finished 

second twice, behind Dave Schaefer, in South Bay Boardriders Club 

contests. 

“My dad is my major surfing influence. His idols were ‘60s icons like Phil 

Edwards,” Hall said. “I used to ride his old longboards and got teased by 

the shortboarders out in the line-up.” 

When Hall was 16, he couldn’t afford a new short board, so he shaped 

and glassed one, with help from Redondo surf coach Frank Payne. 

“I still ride that board when the waves are fun,” Hall said. “The second 

board I shaped was a 9-foot-2 that I made for Taylor. I call the shape ‘My 

Scarlet Begonia.” 

Today, when not attending El Camino or working at ET Surf, Hall shapes, 

under his label Flower Surfboards, at Mangiagli Manufacturing (the South 

Bay’s oldest surfboard manufacturer) in the old Rick Surfboards booth. 

“I’m constantly inspired by South Bay surfboard manufacturers like Bing 

Copeland, Hap Jacobs and Rick Stoner, who put Hermosa Beach on the 

map,” he said, “I also dig the shapes Phil Edwards did for Hobie Surfboards. 

And I admire Dan Cobley (Danc Surfboards) for his versatility and work 

ethic, Robin Kegel (Gato Heroi, Creme Surfboards) for his outside of the 

box designs and Gene Cooper (Cooperfish) for his craftsmanship.” 

“I get the pleasure of having a bay right next to Kris,” Cobley said. “It’s 

been a thrill watching his shapes progress.” Flower Surfboards have become 

particularly popular among young, local longboarders. 

Hall and Stone call the Hermosa Pier their home break but love surfing 

all the South Bay beach and reef breaks on big swells. Malibu is their favorite 

surf spot because the wave offers long nose rides to the pier. 

“We hate the crowds but still manage to get a few good ones to ourselves 

every time we surf Malibu,” Stone said. 

“One Malibu morning, we got a perfect session in six-foot waves with 

only 10 other surfers out,” Hall said. 

They also love Mexico’s K-38 and always have fun sharing the playful 

waves at San Onofre. Earlier this year, Hall was supposed to leave his lady’s 

side for a few months to chase waves up to Canada. But that plan was 

halted when he found an original, two-owner ‘62 Ford Econoline. Trip 

money became car money. 

“It was my dream car as a kid,” Hall said. “Now, I get to restore it the 

way I imagined it.” 

With his ability on the front half of his surfboard, it is easy to assume 

Hall strictly loves nose antics. But he said he prefers a meaty tube over anything 

and considers barrel dodging a mortal sin. 

“It’s the hardest thing to do on a longboard,” he said. “Switching stance 

in the middle of a cutback is a close second.” 

Hall and Stone are sponsored by Birdwell Beach Britches and Nine Plus 

Wetsuits. For more about Flower Surfboards visit flowersurfboards.com or 

@flowersurfboards. B 


Kris Hall in his favorite 

place on the wave. 


Taylor Stone and Kris Hall share a wave at the Hermosa pier. 

Photo by Pegi Stone 

Kris Hall at work. 



Il 

canto 

Italiani 

by Richard Foss 

Primo Italia chef Michaelangelo Aliaga. Photo by Brad Jacobson 

Chef Aliaga’s in-house pastas and sausages and co-owner Lou Giovanetti’s voice make for magical meals 

Almost every restaurant would like to be an “everyday “ place, somewhere 

you might go on a whim when nothing in the refrigerator 

calls to you. Not all can manage this, of course. Some have too high 

a price point or too formal an atmosphere, and others feature a cuisine so 

arcane or confrontational that you may appreciate it occasionally. 

The cuisine that is right there at the top when it comes to impulse dining 

is Italian. Think of how much money you’d have if you had one penny for 

every time anyone in the world said, “I don’t feel like cooking, let’s go out 

for pizza.” It’s comfort food even if you didn’t grow up with it, but restaurants 

still make a statement about whether they’re special occasion only 

with their decisions about ambiance and price point. 

The new Primo Italia made an interesting choice in this regard. It looks 

like a high-ticket restaurant, complete with a bar full of exotic bottles and 

a grand piano in the corner. But just about every entree is below twenty 

bucks. We had a large party to celebrate a birthday, so had a chance to order 

an array of starters and entrees from across the spectrum. 

The cooking by chef Michaelangelo Aliaga is authentic, rustic Italian with 

pastas and sausages made in-house. So among our starters, we selected 

grilled sausage with roasted bell peppers. I don’t usually order this because 

I can make it at home, but that fresh sausage makes a heap of difference. 

The texture is lighter, the garlic flavor fresher because it hasn’t oxidized 

over time, and it is in every way superior. The sausage had been grilled and 

sliced into eight thick coins rather than being sautéed with the peppers, so 

there were different flavors to savor. 

Our other starters were mussels in broth, grilled octopus, bruschetta, and 

an arcane pasta called testaroli with pesto sauce. Testaroli is rarely seen in 

restaurants because it is time-consuming to make. A thin batter is poured 

into a very hot pan, then another pan is put on top of it very briefly. The 

resulting pancake of pasta is then slashed into pieces and briefly boiled and 

the result has a slightly rubbery exterior and spongy crepe-like interior. If 

you expect standard pasta you may find this texture weird, but give it a 

chance – it’s like nothing else and it grows on you. The pesto sauce was on 

the light side rather than a basil and garlic bomb, so you still taste the good 

olive oil and wheat flavor. 

The octopus was tasty but very misleadingly described. If you expect just 

the usual tentacles on a plate with a little garnish, you will think the wrong 


item was delivered. The octopus here is one element of a dish that includes 

potatoes, olives, and vegetables, served atop thick slices of red and green 

heirloom tomatoes. It’s a well composed salad of hot and cold vegetables 

with a fine balance of robust flavors, but people who would like it might 

not order it and some people who order it won’t like it. I could have enjoyed 

it as an entrée, because there were enough flavors that I could have 

just kept eating. 

There was nothing conceptually unusual about the bruschetta, though 

the fact that they used housemade fresh bread elevated it a few notches. 

One slice was topped with tomato slices and herbs, the others with musky 

wild mushrooms and a garlicky artichoke heart mix. The mussels were 

also exactly what they were supposed to be, a healthy amount of shellfish 

in a broth that had some bell pepper and spice, with some more of that 

good grilled bread. 

We ordered two salads as an intermezzo, a fennel and orange with greens 

and red onion and a peach and burrata with balsamic vinegar and olive 

oil. Crisp raw fennel is delightful in salads and the orange brought out the 

gentle anise-like sharpness. My only quibble is that I would have liked the 

fennel pieces a little thinner or smaller so it would be easier to get a mix 

of flavors. The peach and burrata salad was polarizing, with some people 

at our table liking it as it was and others wishing the balsamic had been 

on the side so they could have the exquisitely fresh, creamy cheese and 

fruit by themselves. While I was in the former camp I understand the sentiment. 

During the brief wait between courses, we enjoyed music by the very 

good pianist, who was joined on Broadway standards by crooning co-owner 

Lou Giovanetti. Lou is a constant presence and table-hops to say hello to 

friends and be sure the service is working, and though his singing is superb 

not all staff members have their act together, yet. At both our table and a 

neighboring booth silverware was cleared with one course and not brought 

with the next one, and the timing on refilling waters and other details was 

not well synchronized. It’s a new operation so things will probably smooth 

out soon, but for now there is room for improvement. 

For entrees, we ordered lasagna, spaghetti carbonara, pappardelle with 

wild boar, and veal saltimbocca with sage. Saltimbocca is Italian for “jump 

in your mouth,” one of the most poetic food names ever, and this dish delivered. 

It’s simple, thinly sliced meat rolled around sage leaves, wrapped 

with prosciutto, fried and topped with white wine sauce, but when done 

right the salty meats, lemon, and herb is superb. It was served with mashed 

potatoes and broccolini, and despite my early fears about petite entrees it 

was a fine full meal. 

The three pastas all hit the spot, too.The lasagna was a particularly big 

hit with everyone who tried it. It’s not the usual heavy, starchy brick of 

carbs drenched in sauce. The noodles are thin and the delicate béchamel 

sauce and cheese are used moderately. Let your expectations go and enjoy 

this, because it’s a winner. 

This brings me to the only place where Primo Italia is out of balance: 

the wine list. All the pastas we ordered were under $20, and the saltimbocca 

is one of the most expensive items at $28, which makes it odd that 

the wine list has no bottles under $38 and escalates steadily from there. 

Those bottles are superb quality, but there are some very good Italian, Argentine, 

and Californian wines that would go well with this food and could 

be sold for less. If Primo Italia aspires to be an everyday joy, they might 

want to add a few more modest bottles to the list. 

We had filled up on our appetizers and mains but had to try some 

desserts around the table in honor of the birthday. We tried the tiramisu, 

cannoli, bread pudding, and cheesecake. All were good but the cheesecake 

was the standout, made with a rich and flavorful cheese rather than the 

usual bland stuff. The topping of sliced, toasted almonds and strawberry 

sauce with fresh berries made this a must-try item, and whetted my appetite 

to sample more. 

So, is Primo Italia the restaurant that you can stop into on a whim? It’s 

still a work in progress, but the outline is clear. They deliver high end food 

at medium prices in a classy environment. You wouldn’t feel right there 

in shorts and a T-shirt (though I presume they’d serve you), but if you want 

to treat yourself just a bit, it’s worth the drive to Hillside Village. 

Primo Italia is at 24590 Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance. Open daily 5 

p.m., close 10 p.m. Mon-Thur; midnight Fri-Sun. Full bar, parking in lot, some 

vegetarian items. Food menu at eatprimo.com, phone 310-378-4288. B 


JJonathan Bisignano during his days at Palos Verdes High School. Photo courtesy the Bisignano family 

onathan Bisignano was two years old and ready to see the world. 

His family was living in South Redondo at the time, and 

Jonathan was playing by himself in the backyard. Then he wasn’t. 

His mother Angela Bisignano looked outside and her son was 

nowhere to be found. Panic set in. He’d found a way to climb the 

backyard fence. 

“He decided he was going to go someplace, exploring,” Angela 

recalled. “I could not find that boy.” 

He figured out how to climb through a neighbor’s gate, as well. 

Nearly an hour later, his mother found Jonathan calmly playing 

on a backyard swingset a half block away. 

In coming years, Gerard and Angela Bisignano would come to 

admire, occasionally fear, and generally expect the unending surprises 

that came with their first child’s blithely bold disposition. 

“My wife was concerned he had a bone problem because he 

kept breaking bones,” Gerard said. “It was skateboarding, soccer, 

snowboarding...jumping off a slide when he was three. When he 

was four he broke a collarbone.” 

“By the time he was 16, he’d broken seven or eight bones. Because 

he was charging.” 

Even as a fourth grade Boy Scout, or Webelo, he managed to 

push to the very edge. 

“We were in the Santa Monica Mountains, and there was this 

How faith and community helped the Bisignano family survive the loss of their son Jonathan, 

and the lessons in love his life imparted 

30 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • November 10, 2016 

one huge mountain,” Angela said. “He ran to the top of it, and 

there was a 500-foot drop. He runs to it; he's the first one up there. 

I'm shaking down below. ‘What are you doing? Stop! That is what 

he would do.’” 

Jonathan charged through his childhood, an electric presence 

wherever he went. Hunter Riley, who would become one of his 

closest friends, remembers when Jonathan arrived at Palos Verdes 

Intermediate School. They were both in eighth grade. The Bisignanos 

had just moved from Redondo to Palos Verdes and nobody 

at school knew the new kid. But few failed to notice him. He was 

almost impossible to miss, with his long black skater boy hair, 

wolf-like, piercing blue eyes and buoyant, mischievous presence. 

“The first thing me and my buddies, we didn’t like this good 

looking guy getting all the attention from the girls,” Riley said, 

laughing. “Our first reaction was to punk him a little bit. We tried 

to hate him, but we couldn’t. He became a part of our friends circle.” 

Another member of that circle, Arian Savar, recalled how the 

girls were curious about Jonathan while the guys kept a cool distance. 

“I’ve always been a direct, straightforward person, so I just 

walked right over to him and introduced myself,” Savar said. “I 

wanted to know, ‘Is he one of us?’ To be honest, it turned out he

The Bisignano family, from left, Jonathan, Angela, Gerard, and David. 

Photo courtesy the Bisignano family 

was something quite more. He looked me in the 

eye and shook my hand.” 

Thus began a friendship that would have all the 

usual “shenanigans,” as Savar said, that teenage 

boys get up to together — the sports, misadventures, 

girl chasing, and epic hangouts of the 

bumpy, exuberant years of high school. 

But comradery with Jonathan had another 

level. He was somebody who found deeper ways 

to connect, both with friends and family and the 

world at large. 

“We would talk about God, family, our community, 

our country, what it all means, and what our 

place is in it,” Savar said. 

“We’d have conversations about metaphysics 

and the newest information on consciousness research 

all the way, basically, to what happens 

after you die,” Riley said. “That was something 

he researched, especially after high school. He 

was always exploring.” 

He played some football early in high school, 

but then grabbed hold of the idea that the school 

needed a rugby team. So he put one together with 

his friends. 

“He didn't just play football, he had to play 

rugby, with no pads,” his mother, Angela, said. 

“He couldn't just run and do hurdles, no, he had 

to be the pole vaulter — like he would always be 

going for the thing that would make me be on my 

knees praying, ‘Oh Lord what is he doing now?’” 

Jonathan also had an ability to learn on the fly, 

and to do so with an almost maddening ease. 

“He picked up rugby really quickly,” Riley said. 

“He was a smaller guy, but he was tough. He really 

got into rugby. He was 5’7’’, a buck thirty, 

maybe forty. But he was an animal.” 

“He was very hands on,” Riley said. “Back 

when we met, it was skateboarding, then he got 

into the surfing thing, playing piano, playing guitar. 

He didn’t even let a lot of people know he 

played piano, I think he was a little embarrassed...And 

he was weirdly good at everything 

he tried.” 

Jonathan was an exceptional student. He 

dreamt of going to USC, and lived that dream. In 

college, he met the girl of his dreams, a beautiful 

doe-eyed journalism student named Casey 

Tamkin, with whom he began to plan a life beyond 

college. Last spring, he was preparing to 

graduate with a degree in international relations 

and economics and pursue a career in investment 

banking. With typical, methodical avidness, he’d 

applied with 100 firms, and was advancing in the 

multilevel hiring process that the highest level financial 

firms require. Instead of doing the usual 

fraternity brother spring break to Cabo, he flew 

with a friend to Japan simply to better know how 

that corner of the world worked. 

His parents noticed that after his return he was 

experiencing unusual weariness, beyond normal 

jet lag. But he kept charging: a weekend in Vegas 

with his fraternity brothers, then a weekend in 

the desert with his girlfriend at the Coachella 

music festival. The couple drove back together 

Monday morning, April 18, and made plans to 

meet for dinner that night. 

He then went to his apartment and took a nap 

from which he never woke up. 

At the time of his passing, at the age of 22, the 

circumstances — a college kid who’d been at a 

music festival — led to a widespread assumption 

he’d experienced an overdose. The USC Daily 

Trojan reported “accidental overdose” as the 

likely cause of death. Initially, due to the news 

report, his father accepted the assumption, despite 

the fact that it seemed entirely out of character 

for Jonathan and no drugs were found near 

his son. 

“He went to Coachella, it ended on Sunday and 

he partied all night long like kids do, into the next 

days, probably took something somewhere along 

the way he shouldn't have, he wasn't sure how 

powerful it was, whatever, and then finally made 

it home after maybe 48 hours up and just faded,” 

Gerard said. “That was the assumption.” 

But the truth was he'd done nothing of the 

kind. He and Casey left the festival’s final show 

and grabbed some food. Far from partying, he’d 

dutifully waited an hour-and-a-half in line with 

her just so she could have the noodles she 

wanted. Afterwards, they went back to their 

condo rental for a good night's sleep. 

The next night, his heart simply gave out. 

“There is just a moment,” his father said later, 

“where the number of beats that God has allowed 

to you comes to an end.” 

His family had a history of congenital heart failure. 

Angela’s father experienced four heart attacks 

and died of the final one, at the age of 54. 

But those who knew Jonathan best saw something 

beyond a genetic condition. They saw a 

young man who lived as if each day could be his 

last, a friend, son, and brother gone far too soon, 

but one who left behind lessons in love and living 

for those left in the wake of the startlingly beautiful 

and bold swath he cut on his way through 

this life. 

“Jon, you were taken from us far too soon,” his 

girlfriend, Casey, said at his memorial, standing 

near his casket. “But you taught me that life isn’t 

measured by the the breaths we take. It is measured 

by what we do with the moments we are 

given. In just 22 years, you lived a fuller life than 

someone who could have lived to be 100.” 

Life love 

Jonathan Chase Bisignano was born May 24, 

1993. 

“Twenty-five hours of labor,” Angela said. 

“Jonathan took his sweet time coming out the 

birth canal. In hindsight, it was probably a prelude 

for coming attractions. Jonathan was determined 

to do things his way.” 

Jon cont. on page 32 


Jon cont. from page 31 

“The first time I saw him I fell in 

love, deep, deep love,” she said. “He 

became in that moment my beautiful 

boy. Honestly, the most beautiful 

baby I had ever seen. It wasn’t 

for another four years that I would 

know my second beautiful boy.” 

Angela, a clinical psychologist, 

put her career on hold to give as 

much attention as possible to her 

two boys. This was indicative of the 

approach the Bisignanos took with 

their family. They lived deliberately. 

Gerard, a successful real estate 

agent, was elected to the Redondo 

Beach City Council when Jonathan 

was four. 

“I thought, ‘I want to show my 

family that being involved, getting 

out there, is an important part of 

life,” he said. “If we didn’t have children 

at the time, I never would 

have run.” 

Pastor Dan Bradford of Kings 

Harbor Church, who baptized 

Jonathan at Seaside Lagoon and officiated 

at his funeral at Green Hills 

Memorial Park, said he admired the 

intentionality with which Bisignanos 

conducted their lives. 

“I can tell you, both are movers 

and shakers, but not for sake of 

being movers and shakers,” Bradford 

said. “They are genuinely invested 

in everything they put their 

hands and hearts to.” 

The fact the boys were given Old 

Testament names, the youngest as 

the man who would be king and 

the oldest as his deepest friend and 

protector, was likewise a considered 

decision. 

“Jonathan's name means gift 

from God,” Angela said. “When we 

were trying to figure out a second 

name for our youngest, there is a 

story in the Bible that talks about 

how the souls of Jonathan and 

David were knit together. We loved 

the idea that the souls of our boys 

would be knit together. And they 

were so close. It was precious.” 

As the family looked through 

photographs after Jonathan’s passing, 

they noticed something striking 

about the photos that contained 

both brothers. 

“There are literally no photos of 

my brother where he doesn’t have 

his arm around me,” said David. “I 

look at those photos and I realize 

how much he loved me. So that’s 

pretty cool.” 

“I don’t recall Jonathan ever saying 

anything mean spirited about 

his brother, he loved him so much,” 

Angela said. “I was really proud 

that I raised a son who cared so 

much about his brother; that really 

warmed my heart.” 

Growing up, David said, his 

brother was larger than life. Everyone 

seemed to know him. 

“It was strange for me,” David 

said. “I don’t know why, but it’s like 

my brother was famous. I felt like I 

was the brother of a celebrity. He 

just had a huge impact.” 

“I was always the kid who had 

the coolest big bro,” he said. “Everything 

my brother did was the 

coolest, that’s just how it was, and 

every story I told was about my 

brother. ‘Well, my brother…’ Now 

it’s awkward. I can’t use those stories.” 

Early on, their age difference 

meant that Jonathan rarely hung 

out with David. But David, who is 

now 18, remembers the exact moment 

that changed. He was 11 or 

12. He and his brother were supposed 

to be going to church. 

Jonathan drove. 

“You know what? Let’s go do 

something fun,” he told his little 

brother. 

They went and got burritos at 

Phanny’s in Redondo Beach. 

“In my mind, I’m 11, doing something 

against the rules — it’s not really 

what I did yet,” David recalled. 

“That was kind of the breaking of 

the barrier.” 

After Jonathan went away to college, 

he didn’t come home often. 

But once, when he was in high 

school, David got a call from 

Jonathan. He was coming to pick 

Jonathan and his girlfriend, Casey Tamkins, whom he met at USC in 2014. His 

family believe he’d found the love of his life. Photo courtesy Casey Tamkins 

him up from school. 

“Man,” David said. “It’s 10:30.” 

“He said, ‘I’m comg to pick you 

up.’ I just left class, and that was it.” 

Jonathan had a gift for brotherhood 

beyond his family. Throughout 

his life, other boys congregated 

around him. 

“He was a gatherer,” Gerard said. 

“We would wake up on Saturday 

mornings and there would be five 

or six kids here sleeping on the 

floor.” 

Savar was one of those kids. He 

recalled “a rough patch” when he 

stayed for a while at the Bisignano 

house. 

“Jon provided a safe haven in so 

many ways, not just words, wisdom, 

comradery, and hugs, but he 

sheltered me at times when I 

needed it,” he said. “The family was 

amazing. They’d see me on the 

couch, ‘Okay, good morning.’ Three 

days go by, the weekend passes, I 

wake up on the couch and they 

never gave me a hard time. They 

just made sure my head was in the 

right place, that I knew hard times 

come and go.” 

Once when he was staying with 

the Bisignanos, the family had plans 

to go to Palm Springs to celebrate 

Jonathan’s and his grandfather 

Flavio’s birthdays. Jonathan asked 

Savar to come along; Savar declined, 

telling his friend he didn’t 

want his heavy mood to dampen 

the occasion. 

“No,” Jonathan said. “You are 

going with me.” 

The Bisignanos, realizing their 

son needed a vehicle large enough 

to haul his constant crew, had purchased 

a GMC Denali. It would become 

an iconic car among his high 

school friends. Jonathan and Savar 

drove through the desert in the Denali. 

“Jon was one of those people you 

could be in a car with for hours and 

you are constantly entertained, 

never a moment of boredom,” Savar 

said. “If there is a quiet point, it’s 

because you are contemplating 

something you just talked about. 

Car rides always went fast.” 

Savar didn’t want to talk about 

what was bothering him. 

“After we get back, dude,” he 

said. “Not now.” 

“We are not going anywhere with 

something weighing on your mind,” 

Jonathan replied. “Dude, you know 

me. You better tell me.” 

And so they talked. And laughed. 

And sat and thought, staring out at 

the stark landscape, Savar’s troubles 

dissipating with each passing 

mile. 

“We pull into Palm Springs, get 

out of the car smiling and laughing,” 

Savar said. “All worries were 

completely wiped out, gone — not 

dormant, but resolved.” 

They arrived to Flavio Bisignano 

holding court over drinks at the 

pool patio, regaling the boys with 

tales from his 90 years of living. 

Hours later, as they made their way 

to their hotel room, Savar paused 

and nearly broke down. 

“There’s so much suffering and 

conflict in my life,” he told 

Jonathan. “I just can’t see going on 

90 years, another 70 years of life. 


It’s just too much.” 

Jonathan looked his friend in the 

eye. “You have to, man,” he said. “If 

we are old men, telling stories to 

our kids and grandkids, we are 

going to look back and be grateful 

we got to live this long life. You 

aren’t going anywhere without me.” 

Riley said there was a dark time 

during his high school years that 

he’s not sure he would have made 

it through had it not been for 

Jonathan’s relentlessly caring presence. 

Unlike most of his other 

friends, Riley wasn’t a partier. 

Jonathan, with his ebullient conviviality, 

was extremely social. Yet 

he would make sure he and Riley 

also had quiet time together. 

“He was the only person I could 

talk to about some things,” Riley 

said. “At that age, most people, even 

friends, are very surface level. We’d 

something wrong with you.” 

He had a perpetual smile on his 

face, a distinctive high-pitched 

laugh that his friends loved to 

mimic, and an ability to never take 

himself too seriously. 

“That was one of the things I took 

away from Jon the most: his ability 

to not care about other people’s 

judgement,” Riley said. “That was 

the biggest thing. He was goofy, 

such a dork, he could be so embarrassing, 

but he just wouldn’t care.” 

His penchant for helping those 

around him rings a bell for friends 

of Angela. 

“She’s always lived with purpose 

and intention, and she’s a great help 

to other women, helping them discover 

their gifts and live life to the 

fullest,” said friend Carol Anderson 

Junara. “She’s a great communicator 

of love.” 

Jonathan and David Bisignano. Photo courtesy the Bisignano family 

have these strong, deep, meaningful 

conversations….No matter what his 

situation was, he was always able to 

be positive, always able to give you 

his full attention.” 

As Jonathan once told Riley, if 

one of his buddies was going 

through a hard time, then he was, 

too. He also had an extremely unusual 

characteristic for a teenager: 

he didn’t particularly care what 

anyone thought of him. 

“It’s hard to explain, but there 

was no problem with him,” Savar 

said. “He never let anything stick to 

him, or define him, or ruin his day. 

That was something that left a mark 

on me, in so many ways. He was 

like a pillar. If somebody was angry, 

he’d be like, ‘Screw it. Let that guy 

be angry. You can be better than 

that. Let’s skate, go bomb the hill, 

go get a milkshake.’ Always that 

positive influence.” 

“He was just such a good guy, no 

bullshit, so straightforward. If you 

didn’t like Jon, there was probably 

On Mother’s Day this year, three 

weeks after Jonathan’s passing, another 

of his friends left a note for 

Angela. Handwritten, on pink stationery, 

the writer shared with Angela 

that his relationship with his 

own mother had gotten better “just 

by hearing Jon talk about your relationship 

with him.” 

“It’s so rare for a mother to be so 

close to their children, and the example 

Jon’s shown has made me 

strive to be a better son,” he wrote. 

“You’ve raised him to be someone 

I’ve trusted more than anyone else 

in my life….Although you are not 

my own mother, I appreciate you as 

if you were because of the impact 

you’ve had on my life through Jon.” 

Love life 

It was Tuesday night, March 12, 

2014, in the dormitories at USC. 

Freshman Casey Tamkin was 

Jon cont. on page 34 


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Jonathan Bisignano abroad in the Greek Isles. An avid traveler, he traversed Europe, 

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courtesy the Bisignano family 

Jon cont. from page 33 

bored. She called her friend at the 

Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity to see 

if there was anything going on. 

They were playing beer pong, he 

said. Come on over. 

She and another girl walked to 

the fraternity. When she arrived 

and found her friend, she saw a 

blue-eyed boy sitting watchfully on 

the steps of the house’s atrium. 

“Eyes so blue they just stop you,” 

Tamkin later recalled. “They are the 

first thing you see when you walk 

into a room.” 

She asked her friend who the boy 

was, and he told her Jonathan was 

his big brother at the fraternity. 

“You didn’t tell me you had a really 

cute big brother,” she told him. 

“Thanks.” 

She and Jonathan ended up talking, 

and then taking a walk together 

to a campus bar to have a drink. He 

told her she had the most beautiful 

eyes. Though flattered, she scoffed 

at him. 

“Are you okay? My eyes are 

brown,” she said. 

He gave her his phone number 

but she later realized it was missing 

a digit. She assumed it was on purpose 

and she’d never talk to him 

again. But weeks later, in Cabo for 

spring break, she ran into him on 

the beach. They ended up hanging 

out for the next four days. When 

she got back to USC, she thought, 

“You know what, I’m just going to 

text him.” He came over that night 

to do homework with her, and they 

worked and talked, the beginning of 

a conversation that would be ongoing 

until the day he died a little 

more than two years later. They fell 

seamlessly and deeply into love. 

Her first impression had been 

that Jonathan, with his good looks 

and cool swagger, puffed out chest 

and perfect posture, was “such a 

frat boy.” But he turned out to be 

anything but. He was broadly curious, 

unconventional in how he 

thought and the intensity with 

which he lived. He was absolutely 

full of love, both for the world and 

for the people he shared his life 

with, and completely unafraid to 

show it. 

“Being in college, the guys are all, 

‘Yeah, hook up with a hot girl,’” 

Tamkin said. “Jon was so different, 

so kind, so unlike anyone I ever 

met. He just wanted to hang out 

and talk and get to know you. We 

just hit it off the moment we met.” 

“What was so special is he really 

lived every day like it was his last,” 

she said. “That is something I take 

away as a lesson from him. He was 

so full of life. The last weekend we 

spent together, he was dancing in 

the desert, having the time of his 

life, nonstop, go, go, go.” 

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Hitting 

her 

Stride 

by Randy Angel 

Mira Costa’s Melia Chittenden, center in yellow jersey, maintains her focus on the grueling Palos Verdes cross country course. Photo by Ray Vidal 

Mira Costa distance runner Elizabeth Melia Chittenden has her sights set on reaching the podium twice at State meets 

One might find it difficult to relate ballet to distance running, but the 

correlation has worked for Mira Costa senior Elizabeth Melia Chittenden. 

Chittenden, who goes by Melia, has become the latest in a long list of 

standout distance runners produced at Mira Costa. 

The defending Bay League 3200-meter champion and favorite to win the 

cross country crown attributes her success to her ability to focus, a trait she 

feels comes from her 10 years as a ballet dancer. 

“I began ballet when I was five years old,” Chittenden said. “In ballet, 

every little thing has to be perfect. I remember staring in the mirror while 

standing on my toes willing myself not to fall. I use that same focus in racing, 

fixing my eyes on the shoulder of the girl ahead of me.” 

Mira Costa’s girls cross country coach Renee Williams-Smith has seen 

many accomplished runners throughout her career that included the former 

Mustang being named the Brooks 2014 Inspiring Coach of the Year. Yet she 

sees something special in Chittenden. 

“She has a laser-like focus when she is racing,” Williams-Smith said. ”She 

is able to be ‘in the zone’ like no other athlete that I have coached while 

racing.” 

Having only run in the Grandview 5K as a kid, Chittenden officially became 

a runner during her first year of high school. 

“After 10 years of ballet, I wanted to try different things that Mira Costa 

had to offer,” Chittenden recalled “I went out for track my freshman year 

as a high jumper. We had break for a week before finals and I was looking 

for something to do so I asked my biology teacher Roberto Calderon, who 

is the track and cross country coach, if I could work out with the girls cross 

country team. I soon fell in love with the sport.” 

Mira Costa’s girls cross country team is ranked No. 5 in CIF-Southern 

Section Division 2 and will begin its quest for a CIF title and qualification 

for the State Championship Meet at the CIF Prelims on Saturday, November 

12 at Riverside Golf Club. Finals will be held the following Saturday at the 

same venue. 

“Our cross country team finished 9th in State last year and we want to 

improve on that,” said Chittenden, who placed 11th with a time of 18 minutes, 

1 second. “I’d like to place in the top five and am hoping to run a 17:30 

this year.” 

On a 3-mile course, Chittenden owns the state’s 15th fastest time for girls 

this season at 16:56.77 with her 2nd-place finish at the Cool Breeze Invitational 

on September 3. 

The following week, Mira Costa won the Division 2 senior team championship 

at the Laguna Hills Invitational. 

Chittenden’s strategy is not to take an early lead, saving her energy to 

pass runners in the last mile or so. 

Winning a Bay League individual championship (finals were held November 

3) is among the goals set by Chittenden this season after placing 

second to Palos Verdes senior Jacquelyn Smith in 2015. 

“Winning the Bay League title would be incredible,” Chittenden said. “I 

learned a lot racing against Jacquelyn. This is my senior year and I’ve 

worked so hard that a league championship would validate my efforts.” 

Her coach is confident in her ability to do so. 


“While Melia is naturally talented, 

she has an amazing work 

ethic,” Williams-Smith said. “She 

challenges herself everyday on 

every workout. I think the girls on 

the team see this and aspire to it. 

She really doesn’t take her talent for 

granted and has decided to get the 

most out of running. She is a very 

driven person. She is driven in her 

academics and everything else that 

she does.” 

Mira Costa’s cross country season 

“unofficially” began in August, 

when the programs from Mira 

Costa and Palos Verdes high schools 

train for a week in Mammoth. 

“The Mammoth Camp is a highlight 

of every summer,” Chittenden 

said. “Although I enjoy family vacations, 

I always look forward to 

going to Mammoth. The altitude 

and strenuous runs make for great 

training. You learn mental toughness 

you don’t know you had. The 

bonding aspect is tremendous. Our 

team is really close by the time the 

season starts.” 

It was during this year’s trip to 

Mammoth that the high school runners 

had the opportunity to meet 

Meb Keflezighi, who was preparing 

for his final training run before 

heading to Rio de Janeiro for the 

Olympic Games. 

“Meb told us to focus on setting 

goals we know we can reach then 

increase them,” Chittenden said. 

“He started with the goal of being 

the fastest on his team, then fastest 

in the league, then state, region and 

so on. He later became an Olympic 

medalist and was an inspiration to 

listen to.” 

Chittenden said she doesn’t know 

where she gets her athletic genes 

from although her parents, David 

and Camille, and younger siblings 

also run. 

“My mother began running 

marathons but not until she was in 

her mid-to-late 30s,” Melia said. 

“I’m happy that (siblings) Cara and 

Cy are running at Mira Costa and 

even Anna, who is in 6th grade, 

runs for Manhattan Beach Middle 

School.” 

Williams-Smith said it is a rarity 

to have three kids from the same 

family on varsity at the same time. 

“Cara is the only freshman on our 

varsity squad and has been a varsity 

scorer since her second race of the 

season,” Williams-Smith said. ”Cy is 

one of our super sophomore boys 

Chittenden cont. on page 38 

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Chittenden cont. from page 37 

and is also on the varsity squad.” 

Melia feels cross country has 

made her a better distance runner 

during the spring track and field 

season. 

“Cross country translates well to 

the track season,” Chittenden said. 

“It’s a combination of physical and 

mental toughness. It builds a strong 

foundation for endurance. We average 

running 40-50 miles per week, 

much less than 

in track. Mentally, 

in cross 

country you 

could be competing 

with a 

field of 100-200 

runners while 

on the track, 

there is a much 

smaller number 

of competitors.” 

As much as 

Chittenden enjoys 

cross country, 

it was on 

the track where 

she has experienced 

her most 

memorable moments 

as a runner. 

At the CIF-SS 

Masters Meet 

on May 27 

Chittenden was 

competing in 

the 3200-meter 

race needing a 

time of 10:35 to 

qualify for the 

State Championships. 

“During the 

last lap, I knew 

it would be 

tough to make 

the time,” Chittenden 

said. “At 

the 200m mark 

I had 40 seconds 

to make it 

then a thought 

entered my 

mind. I said to 

myself ‘Oh well, 

the prom is the 

same day as State so it won’t be so 

bad.’ Suddenly, I sprinted the fastest 

I ever have in my life. I looked at 

the clock and saw my time was 

10:32. I started crying.” 

A few weeks earlier at the Bay 

League championships, Chittenden 

experience a magical moment with 

teammate Alexis Johnson. 

Senior Melia Chittenden won the first 

Bay League cross country meet outdistancing 

the nearest runner by more 

than 11 seconds. Photo by Ray Vidal 

“Alexis was trying to break 11 

minutes and we were pushing each 

other throughout the race,” Chittenden 

recalled. “She finished second 

at 10:59 just behind my 10:57.” 

Chittenden said Williams-Smith 

has been a major influence on her, 

not just on the track but in life. 

“Coach Renee is the best coach 

I’ve ever had,” Chittenden said. 

“She is such an inspiration being the 

first girl to run 

cross country 

at Mira Costa 

and then run at 

Kansas State. 

She teaches 

you to run for 

yourself and 

for her. I hate 

to let her 

down. I’m almost 

afraid to 

run for another 

coach when I 

get to college. 

It will be so 

different. 

“Also, when I 

was a sophomore, 

I admired 

Natasha 

Brunstein, She 

wasn’t our 

fastest runner 

but was a very 

intense, determined 

person 

who is now 

running for 

New York University. 

She 

helped shape 

who I am 

today.” 

Chittenden 

plans to compete 

in college 

but has yet to 

decide on a 

school, weighing 

her many 

options. 

She has visited 

Princeton 

and Northwestern 

and has offers 

to visit the 

University of Pennsylvania and UC 

Berkeley. 

“I plan to run in college but the 

school has to have a top academic 

program and a program where I 

can study abroad,” Chittenden explained. 

“I want to experience 

everything I can in college.” 

Boasting a weighted GPA of 4.2, 


Chittenden plans to study International 

Relations and possibly Political 

Science. 

“I want to travel and I look forward 

to interacting with and helping 

people,” she added. 

Chittenden has been preparing 

for her college career for years. She 

has been involved with the Model 

United Nations program at Mira 

Costa since she was a freshman 

and every Wednesday, she volunteers 

at the Shared Bread program 

at First United Methodist Church 

in Redondo Beach. 

“We feed the homeless and I get 

to talk to many interesting people,” 

Chittenden said. “Whether you’re 

doing dishes, serving the food or 

getting a chance to eat with those 

less fortunate, it’s a very rewarding 

experience.” 

While her life off the race course 

seems equally as fast-paced, Chittenden 

still finds time to sit down 

and play the piano, something she 

has done since she was seven years 

old. But she is happiest when her 

legs are moving. 

“I really enjoy running,” Chittenden 

said. “I like to be outside and 

whether it’s on the Green Belt, 

Strand or a hill in Palos Verdes, I 

get the feeling of being free.” B 

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Also providing services: Steven E. Gammer, M.D. and Geover Fernandez, M.D. 

www.beachcitiesderm.com 

BEACH CITIES DERMATOLOGY MEDICAL CENTER 

CERTIFIED, AMERICAN BOARD OF DERMATOLOGY 

Also Providing 

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• Glycolic and Salicylic 

Chemical Resurfacing Peels 

• Microdermabrasion 

Erika La Ponza • Progressive Acne Treatments 

Hamaguchi 

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Redondo Beach – 520 N Prospect Avenue, Suite 302 

Culver City – 3831 Hughes Avenue, Suite 504 B 

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William J. Wickwire, M.D. 

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Large Arcade 

with Tickets & Prizes 

TV’s 

Delicious Pizzas 

Tasty Beer & Wine 

We Cater! 

Family Owned & Operated Since 1993 

2701 PCH 

Hermosa Beach 

310-379-9277 


each surf 

SCARE AND TEAR 

at haunted pier 

T 

he Scare and Tear was founded in 2005 by 

Charlie Ninegar to honor Mira Costa High 

schoolmate Adam Frand, who died from 

cardiac arrest. Spyder Surf has continued the contest, 

which awards points for costumes and performance. 

“It’s the most photogenic surf contest 

of the year,” said Spyder Surf’s Master of Horror 

Richard “The Ripper” O’Reilly. 

1. Elsa from Frozen (Tamara Lentz). Photo by 

Mike Balzer 

2. Scary Clown (Scott Rusher). Photo by Steve 

Gaffney 

3. Gladiator (Dave Schaefer). Photo by Steve 

Gaffney 

4. Batman (Myles Gaffney). Photo by Steve 

Gaffney 

5. Flash Gordon (Joey Samuelian) battles 

Spiderman (Chris Mosley). Photo by Steve 

Gaffney 

6. Not a crook. Photo by Mike Balzer 

7. The Crazy Chicken (Cash Cherry). Photo 

by Brad Jacobson 

8. Skeleton (Kyle Gaffney). Photo by Brad 

Jacobson 

9. The Black Swan (Kyra Williams). Photo by 

Brad Jacobson 

10. Where’s Waldo (Shane Balzer). Photo by 

Mike Balzer 

11. Spider Woman (Olivia Lusby). Photo by 

Steve Gaffney 

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Michael Burstein is a probate and estate planning 

attorney. A graduate of the University of California, 

Hastings College of the Law in 1987, he is admitted 

to the California, Kansas and Oklahoma Bars and 

is a member of the Order of Distinguished Attorneys 

of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. 

Brian 

Estes 

Vice President of Investments 

Multifamily Specialist 

www.sbapts.com 

DRE#013394559 

Helping clients create wealth 

by capitalizing on South Bay 

investment property opportunities 

Why work with Brian: 

• Successful 12yr+ track 

record of specializing 

exclusively in the sale 

and acquisition of 

South Bay apartment 

investments. 

• Maximum exposure to 

listings for sellers and 

access to exclusive 

inventory for buyers. 

• Unsurpassed 

knowledge of multifamily 

investments 

including historical 

trends, real time rent 

and sales data, and 

long term relationships 

with active principals 

and brokers. 

Direct: 310 802 2525 I bestes@remaxcir.com 

23001 Hawthorne Bl., Suite 205, Torrance, CA 90505 

As an estate and probate lawyer, Michael has prepared 

approximately 3,000 living trusts and more 

than 4,000 wills. 

An Estate Planning, 

Estate Administration, 

and Probate Attorney 

l Living Trusts 

l Wills 

l Powers of Attorney 

l Asset Protection 

l Veterans Benefits 

l Pet Trusts 

l Advance Health 

Care Directives 

l Insurance Trusts 

l Probate 

l Conservatorships 

l And Much More! 

Call us to schedule an appointment or for our 

FREE Guide: 

Selecting the Best Estate Planning Strategies 

111 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 250 

Manhattan Beach, California 90266 

310-545-7878 


each people 

LIFEGUARDS REMEMBER 

Paul Gudmundsson 

Fellow lifeguards remembered Paul Gudmundsson with a 

beach memorial and paddleout on November 2 in Hermosa 

Beach, where he grew up and raised his family. Gudmundsson 

became a Los Angeles County Lifeguard in 1972. He subsequently 

became a pharmacist, but remained a recurrent (part time) 

lifeguard. In 1974, 1976 and 1980 he paddled for the winning Taplin 

Bell team and in 1976 his name was added to the bell as a doryman. 

His son Shaun and daughter Alexandra both joined him as lifeguards. 

He lifeguarded through the past summer and was thought to be 

in good health when he died suddenly on October 9. He was 62. 

“The weekend before he passed away, Paul went for a beach run, 

talked about surfing with me, went for a couple dips in the ocean, 

had a bodysurfing competition with Marilyn (his wife) after splashing 

her, and searched for sand crabs and made drip castles for his 

granddaughter,” his son Shaun said. 

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations be sent to 

the Junior Lifeguard Trust Fund at LACOLA Trust, 524 Garnet 

Street, #B, Redondo Beach, CA. 90277. 

1. LAFD Chief Deputy Anthony Whittle comforts Gudmundsson’s 

wife Marilyn after presenting her with the American Flag. Photo by 

Cameron Chacker 

2. Susie Cunningham. Photo by Joel Gitelson 

3. Mourners throw water following the 

scattering of ashes. Photo by Cameron 

Chacker 

4. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Olsby 

with the memorial American Flag. Photo by 

Cameron Chacker 

5. Lifeguard Association president John 

Greger presents the traditional Bronze Savage 

statue to Gudmundsson’s wife Marilyn. Photo 

by Joel Gitelson 

6. Son Shaun Gudmundsson. Photo by Joel 

Gitelson 

7. Remebering Paul. Photo by Cameron 3 

Chacker 

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MAUREEN GIANCANELLI 

Keller Williams Palos Verdes Realty 

Mobile: 310-809-9277 

Office: 310-544-7563 

pvshow@aol.com 

Successfully represent multi-million dollar sales transactions with extensive contacts throughout the world! 

Classifieds 

Handyman 

Services… 

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First Time 

We like small jobs 

/ Free estimates 

What we do… 

Plumbing, Electrical, 

Drywall, Painting 

& more. 

424.269.2830 

Pub Date: December 8, 2016 Deadline Date: December 1, 2016 

HANDYMAN 

Valente Marin 

310-748-8249 

Unlic. 

GARDENING 

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• Affordable • Dependable 

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Enrique 

310-997-6911 

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• Marble polishing 

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honing & polishing 

• Tile & Grout 

cleaning & sealing 

Free Advice 

& Estimates 

Call George 

310-545-8750 

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Lic. #1005861 

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TILE 

Simply Tiles Design Center 

Fine Ceramics, Natural Stone, Hardwoods, Cabinetry, Faucetry. 

Kitchen & Bathrooms Specialist. 

3968 Pacific Coast Hwy., Torrance • (310) 373-7781 • www.simplytiles.com

Beach Nov 2016

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