January 18, 2018
Volume 48, Issue 24
Roundhouse revivalist
Michael Greenberg
Film activist Fitzgerald Rockefeller rocked Yoga in the round
Ralph Moore, Priscilla Hunt and Craig Leach
Our Heartfelt Appreciation
Ralph Scriba
Torrance Memorial Medical Center wishes to thank the following sponsors for their generous support of the 34th Annual Holiday Festival which
raised millions for the medical center's Donald and Priscilla Hunt Tower.
Emmanuel and Ofelia David
Jack Baker, Craig Leach, Richard Lundquist and Mark
Lurie, M.D.
Lisa Hansen and Barbara Demming Lurie
Julie and Jackson Yang
$100,000+
Billee and John Gogian
Donald and Priscilla Hunt
Major and Cathy Lin
Joelene and Bill Mertz
Loraine and Ralph Scriba
Jackson Yang Family
$50,000+
Sam and Rose Feng
Melanie and Richard Lundquist
Oarsmen Foundation
$25,000+
Ayne and Jack Baker
Emmanuel and Ofelia David
Michael Greenberg
Sunrider International - Drs. Tei-Fu
and Oi-Lin Chen
Ellen and Patrick Theodora
Torrance Memorial Medical Staff
Patricia and Gerald Turpanjian -
TF Education Foundation
$15,000+
Cindy and Paul Campbell
COR HealthCare
The Graziadio Family
Keenan HealthCare
Warren Lichtenstein and Steel Partners
Marina and Roman Litwinski, MD
Nixon Peabody LLP
Sodexo
$10,000+
Diana Cutler
Bryce Fukunaga, MD and Jenny Luo, MD
Shirley and Chih-Ming Ho, MD
Carole Hoffman
Marilyn and Ian MacLeod
Roxanne and Ramin Mirhashemi, MD
Laura and James Rosenwald
Rick Rounsavelle, DDS and
Kirsten Wagner, DDS
Alfredo and Beatrice Sheng
Kay and Sam Sheth
Timur and Janice Tecimer
Marshall Varon
Cathy and Michael Wyman, MD
Roy Young and Teri Kane
$5,000 - $9,999
Sandra and Tim Armour
Association of South Bay Surgeons
Jennifer and Brad Baker
Cindy and Paul Campbell
Eric and Anna Mellor, MD
Morrow Meadows
Murray Company
Owens & Minor
Pacific National Group
Tiffany Rogers, MD and Karen Seymour
Laura and Marc Schenasi
The Teague Family
Torrance Emergency Physicians
Torrance Memorial Radiology Group
Torrance Pathology Group
Sara and Keri Zickuhr, MD
$1,000 - $4,999
2H Construction
Betty and John Abe, MD
Christy and Jay Abraham
Nicholas Acosta
AD/S Companies
Anesthesia Medical Group
Jeanne and Fikret Atamdede, MD
Lori and David Baldwin
BCM Construction
Peggy and Cliff Berwald
Nadine and Ty Bobit
Marcia and Ken Boehling
Pam and Larry Branam
Brigante, Cameron, Watters &
Strong LLP
Trudy Brown
Ann and David Buxton
Linda and Zan Calhoun
The Cam Family (Vinh, Judy, Wilson
and Melody)
Joan Caras and Family
Bryan Chang, MD
William and Ellen Cheng
Ron Cloud
Sandra and Thomas Cobb
Francine and Phillip Cook
Kate Crane and Honorable Milan Smith
Pam Crane
Randy and Luke Dauchot
Digestive Care Consultants
Beth Dorn, MD
Sally and Mike Eberhard
EMCOR
Thyra Endicott, MD and Jonathan Chute
Regina and Dan Finnegan
Deanna and Lenny Fodemski
Food Fetish
Robert Gaudenti
Gelbart & Associates
Teresa Gordon
Marnie and Dan Gruen
Laurie Inadomi-Halvorsen and
Greg Halvorsen
Lisa and Steve Hansen
Harbor Post Acute
Cindy and Richard Harvey
Teresa and Saffar Hassanally
Heritage Rehabilitation Center
Eve and Rick Higgins
Mary Hoffman and Bob Habel
Terry and Joe Hohm
Daniel Hovenstine, MD
HUB International
Karen and Chris Hutchison
James & Gamble Insurance
Kathy Kellogg-Johnson and
Brian Johnson
Judy and Parnelli Jones
Vince Kelly
Heather and Rick Kline
kpff Consulting Engineers
Sherry and Ian Kramer, MD
Judy and Craig Leach
Patti and Thomas LeGrelius, MD
Jacquie and Joe Leimbach
Charlotte and Russ Lesser
Linda and David Lillington
Tracy and Amy Livian
Lomita Post-Acute Care Center
Pat and Rich Lucy
Barbara Demming Lurie and
Mark Lurie, MD
Kristy and Eric Maniaci
Allison and Rick Mayer
McCarthy Building Services
Jimmy McDonald
Kak and David McKinnie
Drs. Lisa Humphreys and
John McNamara
Medline Industries
Brian Miura, MD
Keith and Amanda Murphy, MD
Sheila and Ben Naghi, MD
Lisa and Eric Nakkim, MD
Jeff Neu
John and Serena Ngan
Diana and Steve Nuccion, MD
Corinne and Randolph O'Hara, MD
Jacinto Orozco
Maureen and Mario Palladini
Payden & Rygel
Michele and Robert Poletti
Adriana and Greg Popovich
Leslie and Todd Powley
Department of Radiation Oncology
Kelly and Chris Rogers
Nancy and Michael Rouse
Marge Schugt
James Scriba
Connie Senner
Alex Shen, MD Family
Monica and Sam Sim
Laura and Tom Simko, MD
Debra and Gerald Soldner
South Bay Gastroenterology
South Bay Orthopaedic
South Bay Plastic Surgeons
Spierer Woodward Corbalis & Goldberg
Rose Straub
Helen and Pasquale Theodora
TMPN Cancer Care
Yuki and Jeff Tom
Torrance Health IPA (THIPA)
Torrance Memorial Neonatology Group
Torrance Orthopaedic Sports
Torrance Pathology Group
Voya Financial
Susan and Bill Weintraub
Cynthia Williams, MD
Mary and Steve Wright
MAJOR IN-KIND
BENEFACTORS
Choura Events
G.S. Gaudenti Brothers
Morrow Meadows
Redondo Van & Storage
Rolling Hills Flower Mart Studio
The Zislis Group
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Thank you to all our donors.
3330 Lomita Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505
310-517-4703 - www.TorranceMemorial.org
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 3
January 18, 2018
Volume 48, Issue 24
BEACH PEOPLE
ON THE COVER
Skechers President
Michael Greenberg.
Photo by
Jessie Lee Cederblom
10 Trapeze artists by Ralph Doyle
Redondo Union High sailors Micky Munns and Michael Fineman are
campaigning their spinnaker flying, trapeze hanging I420 sailboat for a
spot on the U.S. Sailing Team.
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.
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
12 Roundhouse resurrection by Mark McDermott
Skechers president Michael Greenberg recalls the son who motivated him
to mobilizes a $4.5 million community effort to transform the Manhattan
Pier Roundhouse Aquarium into a world class marine education
destination.
18 Yoga in the round by Ryan McDonald
Yoga practitioner and entrepreneur Evanna Shaffer rounds the edges off
yoga mats.
20 Documentaries for change by Bondo Wyszpolski
Documentary maker Jon Fitzgerald writes about and teaches “Filmmaking
for Change.”
24 Rockefeller reinvented by Richard Foss
What began as an upscale burgers and beer joint bring in celebrity chef to
reinvent it’s menu.
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 Tamar Gillotti and Amy Berg, CLASSIFIEDS Teri Marin, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Hermosawave.net,
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tim Teebken, DESIGN CONSULTANT Bob Staake, BobStaake.com, 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 $150.00; foreign, $200.00 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 2018 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 cities of Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach. Easy Reader
/ Redondo Beach Hometown News is also distributed to homes and on newsstands in Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Torrance,
and Palos Verdes.
CONTACT
BEACH LIFE
6 Calendar
8 Beach Cities Toy Drive
22 Trump-inspired art at Shock Boxx
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.
4 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
B E A C H
CAL ENDAR
Photos by over 20 Easy Reader staff and contributing photographers will be on
exhibit at the Hermosa Beach Historical Museum through June. Opening reception
Friday Jan. 26, 6 p.m. 710 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach. Pictured above:
Pier Plaza arrest, July 13, 2008 by Patrick Fallon.
January 19-21
MB Sidewalk sale
Downtown Manhattan Beach Sidewalk
Sale. For more information visit
DowntownManhattan Beach.com
Saturday, January 20
Hermosa book sale
The Hermosa Beach Friends of the
Library Book Sale is 9 a.m. - noon.
1181 Bard Ave., Hermosa Beach, behind
Stars Antiques. For information
call (310) 379-8475 or visit hbfol.org.
Underwater Parks Day
Learn about Marine Protected
Areas (MPAs) in Southern California
that went into effect January 2012.
These areas help protect fish and kelp
forests. Speakers, presentations, interactive
activities and handouts. 11 a.m.
- 3 p.m. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium,
3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San
Pedro. For information call (310) 548-
7562 or visit cabrillomarineaquarium.org.
Rock the garden
The South Coast Botanic Garden
offer live and recorded music
throughout the 87-acre gardens and
hiking paths. Heather Hero Roberts
performs Jan. 20 and The Skinny Ties
perform Jan. 27 from 11 a.m. to 3
p.m. in the Rose Garden. Adults $9,
seniors $6, children $4. For more information
visit southcoastbotanicgarden.org
Adios Richard
Cannery Row Studios presents
Richard Stephens’ closing reception at
the Loft. 1 - 5 p.m. 401 South Mesa
Street, San Pedro. (310) 291-5316.
Water and Wood
Nearly 100 local artists and photographers
will exhibit their work at the
Hermosa Beach Artists Collective
tonight through Jan. 27. Tonight’s
opening reception begins at 4 p.m.
618 Cypress Ave., Hermosa Beach.
For more information visit HBArtist-
6 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
collective.org
Magical Soiree
Woman’s Club of Redondo Beach,
Outback Steakhouse and Balboa
Wealth Partners present Magical
Soiree, an evening of music, magic
and dancing benefitting RUHS Student
Scholarships. 6 - 10 p.m.
Woman’s Club of Redondo Beach, 400
S. Broadway, Redondo Beach. $65. To
purchase, call (310) 713-4063.
Sunday, January 21
Yo-Yo classic
Professional yo-yo artists show off
their tricks at the annual Bill
Liebowitz Yo-Yo Classic. Free. 3 - 9
p.m. George Nakano Theatre, 3330
Civic Center Drive, Torrance. For
more info: Mr.skim888@gmail.com or
check out their Facebook page: Bill
Liebowitz Classic Yo-Yo contest.
Thomas Fire benefit
Saint Rocke hosts a benefit concert
for Thomas Fire victims featuring
Jason Ferg and Awdiv Band. $10/$15.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets available
at SaintRocke.com. 142 Pacific Coast
Highway, Hermosa Beach
Monday, January 22
Beginning drawing
Manhattan Beach artist Ray Patrick
offers a beginning drawing class for
teens and adults. Free. 6 - 8 p.m. Manhattan
Beach Library, 1320 Highland
Ave., Manhattan Beach. Contact
Melissa McCollum at (310) 545-8595
or mmccollum@library.lacounty.gov.
STEAM: e-Gloves
Ever wondered how your smartphone
senses your touch through your
new gloves? Make your own gloves
compatible with the cold and touch
screen devices. Ages: 18+. Free. 5:30
- 6:30 p.m. Hermosa Beach Library,
550 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach. Call
Kathleen Sullivan for questions at
(310) 379-8475.
BCHD parent group
Families Connected Parent Chat,
presented through a partnership between
South Bay Families Connected
and Beach Cities Health District, is a
free support group open to all parents.
The session will be led by a licensed
professional from the Thelma
McMillen Center at Torrance Memorial
Medical Center and provides an
opportunity to discuss shared parenting
challenges. 10 - 11 a.m. Beach
Cities Health District, 514 N. Prospect
Ave., #102, Redondo Beach. Visit
bchd.org/familiesconnected for more
information.
Tuesday, January 23
Your blood is needed
January is National Blood Donor
Month and the American Red Cross
has an urgent need for blood and
platelet donors of all blood types.
Please donate. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Manhattan
Beach Farmers Market, 326
13th Street, Manhattan Beach. For
questions and information call 1-(800)-
733-2767 or visit redcrossblood.org.
Wednesday, January 24
Bingo in Hermosa
Join in for a free night of Bingo with
special needs young adults of the
Friendship Foundation. Make new
friends and lasting bonds while playing
Bingo and enjoying dinner. 4:30 -
6 p.m. Hermosa Five-O Senior Activity
Center, 710 Pier Ave., Hermosa
Beach. For questions call (310) 318-
0280 or visit Hermosabch.org.
Friday, January 26
Easy Reader exhibit
The Hermosa Beach Historical Society
hosts an exhibit featuring photos
by over 20 Easy Reader staff and contributing
photographers, from 2000 to
2017. 6 p.m. Hermosa Beach Historical
Museum, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa
Beach. Exhibit continues
through June. For more information
call the museum at (310) 318-9421 or
Easy Reader at (310) 372-4611.
Saturday, January 27
Community Garage Sale
Over 100 homes are expected to
participate in the Hermosa Beach citywide
garage sale. 7 a.m. - noon.
throughout town. Garage sale kits
$10, available at Easy Reader. For
more information or to register your
sale: local.nixle.com/alert/6311557,
Georgia Moe at gmoe@hermosapolice.org,
or Leeanne Singleton at lsingleton@hermosabch.org.
South Bay Chili Cook-off
The Manhattan Beach Fire Department
hosts its annual chili cook-off
featuring offerings from dozens of the
area’s top restaurant and personal
chefs. $25. Under 8 free. Tickets at
Eventbrite.com.
Light Gate Sunset
Twice a year the sunset aligns perfectly
through the Light Gate keyhole
in front of the Manhattan Beach library.
5:20 to 6 p.m. 14th Street and
Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach.
Sunday, January 28
Whale Fiesta
Marking the start of Pacific gray
whale annual migration to Mexico.
Over 20 marine life organizations provide
information to bring awareness
and protection to these animals. Highlight
is the “Great Duct Tape Whale
Contest,” where model whales are
created by all ages. Other activities include
face painting, music, and marine
mammal-related arts and craft
projects, puppet show and passport
contest for fabulous prizes. 10 a.m. - 3
p.m. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 3720
Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro.
Free. (310) 548-7562 or cabrillomarineaquarium.org.
Blood for life
One pint of blood can save up to
three lives. Donate from 12 - 6 p.m. at
the Clark Building, 861 Valley Dr.,
Hermosa Beach. Incentives included
a choice of a Starbucks gift card,
coupon for a pint of Baskin & Robbins
Ice Cream or a T-shirt. (310) 406-5907.
Wild & Scenic Film Fest
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land
Conservancy host adventurous and inspirational
films about nature. Film
selections provide an encouraging
look at the worldwide interest in land
conservation. 4 p.m. Hermosa Beach
Community Theater, 710 Pier Ave.,
Hermosa Beach. Purchase tickets by
calling (310) 541-7613, at the door for
$15, and online at pvplc.org for $10.
Saturday, Feb 3
Health and Fitness Expo
Get ready for tomorrow’s Redondo
Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K/5K by
visiting the booths of hundreds of athletic
vendors in the Redondo Beach
Seaside Lagoon. Free. 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. and Sunday 6 to 11 a.m. 200 Harbor
Drive, Redondo Beach.
redondo10k.com/expo.
Sunday, Feb. 4
Super Bowl 10k/5K
One of the nation’s largest, longest
running 10Ks features elite runners
chased by baby buggies and runners
in costume, followed by the Michelob
Ultra Post Race hospitality area (read
beer garden). Presented by King Harbor
Association. Custom awards presented
to the top three male and
female finishers in each category. $30
(5K), $35 (10K) and $10 (Kids Run). To
register visit Redondo10K.com. B
Considering A Major Remodeling Project?
FREE - DESIGN & REMODELING SEMINAR
Join us on
Saturday January 27 th
at 10:00 am
R e s e r v e Yo u r S e a t s
LEARN ABOUT THE DESIGN / BUILD PROCESS
AND SEE AN INSPIRING ARRAY OF IDEAS
FOR YOUR HOME
each charity
25TH ANNUAL BEACH
CITIES TOY DRIVE
caps off season of giving
T
housands of toys were met by hundreds of
eager hands last month for the annual 25th
Annual Beach Cities Hermosa’s basketball
gym was packed with wrappers of all ages. Local
restaurateur Ron Newman provided lunch for the
event, which began in the morning and stretched
into the afternoon. Co-organizer Pete Tucker said
that local fire stations and police departments,
which served as donation points for the toys,
seemed to fill up with gifts as fast he could take
them away.
PHOTOS BY RYAN MCDONALD
1
2
1. Genevieve Filmardirossian and Maria Rojas,
of the South Central Family Health Center, one
of the charities accepting gifts from the toy
drive, help Janice Brittain wrap gifts.
2. Firefighters Christian McArthur and Peter
Heck wrap up a book.
3. City of Manhattan Beach employees try to
make a dent in the pile of toys.
4. Jamie Uou and Rosin Gross show off their
work.
5. Zeta Tau Alpha sorority alumni helped
package toys.
6. Members of the Manhattan Beach
Community Emergency Response Team make
their way through hundreds of stuffed animals.
7. Karen Clink, Katie Welac, Natalie Collicut
and Andrea Collicut man a table.
8. Manhattan Beach Firefighters bring more
loot to be wrapped.
9. Former Manhattan Beach Fire Chief Robert
Espinoza, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi,
Hermosa Beach Mayor Jeff Duclos, Manhattan
City Council members Nancy Hersman and
David Lesser, and former Manhattan
councilmember Wayne Powell get in the
holiday spirit.
10. Musician Jeremy Buck and local news
anchor Vera Jimenez take a break from
wrapping.
3 4
5
6
7
8
9
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8 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
each sports
Micky Munns and Michael Fineman looking for speed in their International 420 off of Palos Verdes.
Photo courtesy of the Munns family
high
by Ralph Doyle
Redondo Union High School sailors Micky Munns, 17, and
Michael Fineman, 16, have embarked on a challenging
campaign to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Sailing team. In
November, Munns and Fineman placed fourth in the International
420 West Coast Sailing Championships in San Diego.
Last month, their efforts received a boost when they trained
with San Diego Yacht Club head sailing coach Maru Urban,
coach of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in Rio De Janeiro.
The 12-foot I420 is a technically demanding boat that requires
its two-person crew to lean out on a trapeze
while managing a spinnaker, as well as jib and
main sails.
In January, Munns and Fineman will travel
to Miami Beach to compete in the North
American I420 Championships. The following
month, they will return to Miami for the I420
Midwinter Championships. Their goal is to
qualify for the I420 World Championships in
Newport, Rhode Island, in August. A strong
finish in Newport will enhance their chances
for joining the U.S. Sailing Team.
Munns and Fineman both compete for Redondo
Union High in a league hosted by the
King Harbor Yacht Club. Other local teams include
Mira Costa, Rolling Hills Prep and Torrance.
Munns, a Redondo Beach native, began sailing
US Sabots and Optimist Dinghies when he
was 7. He joined the King Harbor Youth Foundation
FJ (Flying Junior) Race Team at 13. The
following year he and fellow Youth Foundation
sailor Alex Shapiro won a decisive victory over
a fleet of 30 in the FJ Area J Junior Olympics
in San Diego.
Last year, Munns enlisted Fineman, who
also raced with the King Harbor Youth Foundation.
Like Munns, Fineman began sailing US
Sabots and Optimists Dinghies when he was 7
and at 13 joined the KHYF FJ race team. Last
fall, as a Sea Hawk freshman, he a became a
skipper on the school’s FJ racing team.
Munns and Fineman are enlisting support
for their sailing campaign at
GoFundMe.Com/I420Campaign.B
Micky Munns and Michael Fineman have embarked on an uphill campaign
to join the U.S.’s best sailors
• Serving the South
Bay for over 35 years
• Full Service Contractor
• Complete Installation
• New Construction
• Remodeling
• Second Floors
• Additions
• Cabinets
4203 Spencer St., Torrance, CA 90503 (310)214-5049 • www.pevelers.com
Appointments Are Recommended
Showroom Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10-5 • Friday 9-3 • Monday by Appointment
Closed Saturday and Sunday • License #381992
Visit Our
Kitchen &
Bath
Showroom
Barney’s Beanery
Here at Barney’s we've got our full newspaper-sized menu available as well as 40 beers
on draft. Daily and weekend specials and a great Happy Hour Mon - Fri, 4pm to 7pm.
ALL DAY Happy Hour on Monday! We offer free wifi and always have the TV's tuned
to numerous sporting events, in case you want to settle in for a long lunch or dinner.
Either way, we are here for you so come on in and enjoy!
100 Fisherman’s Wharf, Suite H, on the Redondo Beach Pier.
(424) 275-4820 www.barneysbeanery.com
10 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
each
Harrison Greenberg's senior photo. Photo courtesy the Greenberg family
The boy and the pier
First of two parts
A rendering of the "reimagined" Roundhouse Aquarium, expected to open
by Memorial Day. Courtesy Cambridge Seven Associates
How Michael Greenberg transformed the loss of his son into a gift for the place that made him
by Mark McDermott
Michael Greenberg was in England on
business when the call came that every
parent fears most.
It was April 7, 2015. His oldest son, 19-year-old
Harrison Greenberg, was on the other side of the
world. Harrison, heir to the family business,
Skechers, was 90 days into a four month internship
in China. He was traveling with his cousin
Colton, and they’d taken a six day break to visit
Thailand while en route to a work assignment in
Vietnam.
The call was from Michael’s brother, and
Colton’s father, Scott Greenberg. Hotel workers
had found Harrison dead in his room. He and
Colton had come back to the hotel together that
night, and Harrison had ordered room service as
Colton went to his own room to go to bed. Harrison
apparently choked to death while eating his
room service meal. Michael would later watch
the hotel’s video surveillance footage to catch a
last glimpse of his son alive, buoyantly getting off
the elevator with his cousin, eager, as always, to
keep on going.
Harrison had always been an unusual kid. He
wasn’t a conventionally good student; he was diagnosed
with ADD and was willfully independent
to a sometimes maddening degree, his father
would later recall. But he was extraordinarily
good at self-educating, possessed a quick mind
and broad curiosity, and had a nose for business,
technology, and travel. He’d started learning on
computers at the age of three, enthusiastically attended
business conferences with his father
throughout his boyhood, manufactured bitcoin at
home while still in high school, and traveled extensively
in Asia during his teenage years.
“One thing I'll say about Harrison is that even
though he passed early in life, he did a tremendous
amount in a compressed amount of time,”
his father recalled. “He traveled to Asia at least a
half dozen times -- China, Korea, all over… He'd
go anywhere. He had a plane ticket, he had apps
on language translations. ‘How are you going
to..?’ ‘I got it dad.’”
On an Instagram post from the Guangzhou
Baiyun International Airport in China two weeks
before he died, Harrison combined two quotes
generally attributed, separately, to Saint Augustine
and the prophet Mohammed: “Don’t tell me
how educated you are, tell me how much you
traveled. Because the World is a book, and those
who do not travel read only a page.”
Michael immediately got on a plane to return
from London. His other two kids, Chase, who
was 16 at the time, and Mackenna, who was 13,
were on spring break with their mother Wendy
in the Cayman Islands.
“I had a long flight home to reflect on what was
going on,” Greenberg said. “I was in shock. I
think if I had to say what concerned me the most,
it was worrying about his mother, and his siblings.
Because he's gone, so he's pain free, but if
you step back, you can imagine all the pain that
was going to happen. I was 35,000 feet up in the
sky knowing what I was going to encounter at
home.”
Home was Manhattan Beach, the town Greenberg
had adopted as his hometown 25 years earlier
— before he had kids, before Skechers
became the third largest shoe company in America,
when he was 25 years old and just beginning
to make his mark on the world. He’d moved
around as a kid, from Boston to Florida and finally
to the Valley to join his own father, Robert,
with whom he helped build the shoe company
LA Gear, and then Skechers out its ashes.
Robert, a joyously imaginative serial entrepreneur
who’d launched a chain of hair salons, a wig
company, and a roller skate company before entering
the shoe industry, had always referred to
Skechers as “a nice family business,” even as it
became a billion dollar, international enterprise.
He and most of his six kids lived in the Valley.
Michael woke up one morning in his home in
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 13
MasterCard®
®
AMERICAN EXPRESS ®
SM
Woodland Hills and decided to
move to the beach. A week later, to
his family’s shock, he was living in
Manhattan Beach. He became completely
in thrall with the little town.
Soon he headquartered the company
there. He had an office on the
200 block of Manhattan Beach
Boulevard with a view of the pier
and the Roundhouse.
“I always refer to it as this enchanted
village. It's how I felt when
I moved here,” Greenberg said. “It's
like I'm always on vacation. It's a
special town….I feel really blessed
to be able to be here. All those times
I packed up my bags and moved —
I have no intention of ever moving.
I found it. I have lived over half my
life here now, and it gave me everything.
It gave me the life I have
today. My kids were born and raised
here; it was the only place they
know. I knew so many places, from
moving around. But who gets to live
near the beach?”
What was more unusual was that
even as Skechers grew into a $2 billion
a year business, selling 200 million
pairs of shoes worldwide
annually, Greenberg chose to keep
the company in Manhattan Beach.
“Setting up this company in a city
that is two miles by two miles —
who would do that? There is no
Michael and Harrison Greenberg. Photo Courtesy of the Greenberg family
land,” he said. “They are not producing
more Manhattan Beach. So,
it took a lot of planning to keep a
company that was growing, that
needed space, inside of Manhattan
Beach. It's full; the houses are on
top of one another. There is no
farmland. There is no acreage. But
it’s where I wanted to be.”
He’d always marvelled when
coming home from business trips,
as he came over the crest of the hill
and looked down on the the red tile
roof Roundhouse at the end of the
pier. “This is where I get to live,” he
thought.
But on that day in early April
three years ago, Greenberg arrived
bewildered. His first instinct was to
immediately book another flight, to
Thailand.
“I started to make flights to Thailand,
because that is where he was,”
he remembered. “But I was thinking,
why am I going to Thailand?
I've got to be with the kids and Harrison's
mother. There was a lot of
support here.”
There is a confusingly beautiful
thing that often happens at a time of
such devastating loss — an unreal
and terrifying sense of absence is accompanied
by profound feelings of
love. It’s hard to fully grasp the
enormity of a love a father has for a
son, or a sibling for a sibling, until
that person’s passing throws the
feeling into sharp relief, creating a
hole in a heart the size of this unfathomably
large love. We often
don’t know just how much we are
capable of feeling until loss forces it
upon us. That capacity is reflected
back upon us as we rest in the love
of those remaining.
The outpouring of love from the
community floored Greenberg. And
from around the world, donations
quickly arrived. The Harrison
Greenberg Foundation was immediately
established; within days, a
quarter million dollars had been donated
to the Foundation.
Robin Curren, the executive director
of the non-profit Skechers Foun-
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dation and a close family friend
who’d known Harrison all his life,
had an idea. Harrison had been a
quintessential child of Manhattan
Beach, sun-drenched with sand always
on his feet. Perhaps his greatest
passion had been for the ocean.
What better way to honor his
memory than by donating to the
Roundhouse Aquarium, which
was both an enduring symbol of
Manhattan Beach and a working
facility where generations of children
had been taught about marine
life?
Greenberg had arrived back on a
Tuesday. By Saturday, he and Curren
met with Lynn Gross, a board
member for Oceanographic Teaching
Stations, which operated the
Roundhouse Aquarium.
“Knowing his love for the sea, for
Catalina Island, for always being
on the water or in the water, visiting
the Roundhouse Aquarium all
the time… it was a natural fit,”
Greenberg said. “It was a beautiful
idea.”
The boy
Harrison Greenberg grew up
never far from the water. As a little
boy, he was preternaturally drawn
to the Pacific Ocean and all its
Harrison Greenberg on Catalina Island. Photo courtesy the Greenberg
family
teeming life.
His family moved a few times in
his childhood, but always within
Manhattan Beach, always within a
quick march to the beach. In the
thousands of photos that documented
his early life, most have an
ocean backdrop, a tussle-haired
tanned boy building sandcastles,
bodysurfing, fishing; the closer he
was to the water, the bigger his
mischievous smile.
He tooled down the pier a thousand
times, ecstatic to run above
the slap of the ocean, more alive
than ever in the salt water air. He
especially loved the Roundhouse,
where he’d touch the animals in
the touch tanks and gaze in wonder
at the sharks in the big tanks.
Sometimes the ocean would
come to him. One photo shows a
party at his house when he was
two years old.The OTS crew from
the Roundhouse Aquarium
brought some of their animals to
the Greenbergs’ home. Harrison
looks like he’s being reunited with
old friends.
The first time he dove, on a family
vacation to Hawaii, he hugged
an octopus. For the rest of his short
life he’d keep the habit he was
taught on that first dive, holding
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 15
his nose as he went under.
He was a boisterous kid, even
bold, curious about the world, unafraid
to go beyond his own limits
and especially those others set for
him. It was a trait that kept growing
all his life.
“He was a lot of work,” said
Michael Greenberg. “What I realized
later was why — a lot of it was
because he was so creative, and determined.
It took me a while to understand
that he wanted to do things
that a young boy his age just didn't
do. He wanted to travel, he wanted
to work.”
Because Harrison grew up in affluence
didn’t mean he was immune
to the difficulties that beset
childhood. He was chubby when he
was young; as a grade schooler at
Robinson Elementary, he was bullied
for it. Rather than cower, however,
the experience seemed to
make him even more resolute, and
it may have drawn him closer to the
ocean — on the water, all creatures
are equally small relative to the immensity
of the Pacific.
His father recalls his early penchant
for voyaging. The family visited
Catalina Island perhaps a dozen
times a year, sometimes for a day, a
weekend, or a few weeks at at time.
They favored the Isthmus, which is
simple and rustic, with a single
hotel and restaurant, rather than the
more touristy Avalon. By the time
he was a teenager, Harrison would
take the family fishing boat out
alone.
“He was an avid fisherman,”
Michael Greenberg said. “This kid
would fish for hours. We have a
Grady White. he'd take it out and I
wouldn't see him for nine hours.
He'd go on the backside of the island.
And I was a little worried because
they didn't get reception; the
radio on the boats, the antennas --
there's got to be line of sight.”
By this time he’d learned to trust
his son, who each year seemed to
grow more defined, physically and
otherwise.
“He really started to understand
who he was and have confidence,”
Greenberg said. “He figured out
who he was supposed to be.”
He’d always taken an interest in
the family business. He’d grown up
Skechers, as had all the kids; his
brother, Chase, famously had his diapers
changed by his mother on the
boardroom table at the New York
Stock Exchange the morning Skechers
went public.
“I remember saying, ‘You can’t,
we don’t have time,’ and she said, ‘I
am changing him,’” Michael Greenberg
said. “There is no telling a
mother. She puts him on this iconic,
world leaders’ conference table that
is longer than my office; many dignitaries
have sat around this. We are
in this grand room and she plops
him on that table. And the head of
the exchange, [Richard] Grasso, he's
looking and he says, ‘Well, that's
never happened.’”
When Harrison was four, his father,
playing the role of “shoe-ologist”
by doing a little market
research on his child, asked him if
he liked the Skechers he was wearing.
“Yes, Daddy, I like them,” the boy
said.
“Do you like Nike or Adidas?” his
father asked.
“What is that?” Harrison replied.
He had no idea other shoes existed.
Nearly every trip the family
took they’d stop at at least one
Skechers store to check things out,
and thus by means of osmosis the
family business was being transferred
to the next generation. As
Harrison grew older, he formed
strong opinions on the Skechers line
— he’d tell his dad what was cool,
what wasn’t, and what was missing.
“The kids are all very opinionated,”
Greenberg said. “They are not
shy, and they are critics. Children
are their parents’ biggest critics. You
know, we are not cool. They forget
I was 19 and I know all the shit you
are doing. Maybe I invented some
of the shit you are doing.”
Harrison had become a magnetic
personality as he grew into a young
man. He’d always been as comfortable
speaking with adults as with
kids; his eclectic circle of friends included
the entrepreneur Rob
Gough, a 32-year-old cancer survivor
who’d launched a half dozen
successful businesses, including
Coupon.com and the DOPE apparel
line.
“He was incredible,” Gough said.
“He was a curious soul who loved to
learn. To be honest, he would have
been a monster in the business
world. You could put him anywhere
and he would survive and come out
better than anyone else. He just had
a talent for figuring things out and
making things happen, but he also
had just a massive heart for everyone.”
“He had gotten into bitcoins years
ago,” Gough added. “I mean, he just
had an innate understanding of how
things worked. He was definitely a
16 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
Harrison Greenberg was an avid fisherman. Photo courtesy the Greenberg
family
visionary.”
Several of his friends were
equally ambitious, but in different
ways — such as future UCLA quarterback
Josh Rosen, and University
of Washington basketball player K.J.
Garrett, who grew up with Harrison
in Manhattan Beach.
“We surround ourselves with likeminded
friends,” Garrett said. “We
were all very ambitious. I mean,
one of our friends is going to be a
top pick in the NFL draft this year.
We all loved where we grew up and
wanted to stay in that community,
and that’s not easy.”
But even among his friends,
something about Harrison stood
out.
“His ambition and passion just radiated,”
Garrett said. “When you
were around him, he had this energy
— I don’t know how to describe
it, but people just wanted to
be around him at all times, like a
magnet. Anything he wanted, he’d
just put his mind to it...He had
skills, with technology and business,
that I never had. It was admirable.
And he just had so much
love for me, I could never understand
why. He’d just make me feel
at home whenever I was with him.”
And so it was a natural progression
when, at 19, he ventured out
into the world. He enrolled at Loyola
Marymount, but he had little
patience for academic life and took
the spring semester off to do a four
month internship across the Pacific.
“He wanted to take over Skechers,”
Robin Curren said. “He
wanted to learn as much as he
could and please his mom, his dad,
and his grandfather. He really
wanted to go far.”
His father tries not dwell on what
could have been. But sometimes he
can’t help himself.
“He was a very, very bright young
man and had lots of ideas,” he said.
“I don't want to get emotional, but
I will. You know, I think about what
he could have done…”
But if the world is a book, as Harrison
wrote on his last voyage, then
he left behind a bookmark. Some
day in the not very distant future a
school bus is going to pull up at the
foot of the Manhattan Beach pier. A
group of kids, maybe from LA, or
Compton, or Palos Verdes, will pour
out and run to the Roundhouse at
the end of the pier. Their voyage
will have just begun.
Next month: the pier, history and
future. For more information on the
project, and to donate, see harrisongreenbergmemorialfund.mydagsit
e.com/home. B
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 17
each
business
Round peg
in a
square hole
Evanna Shaffer
tries to upend
the yoga world
with circle-themed
Chakya
Evanna Shaffer’s Chakya Go is equal parts meditation cushion, towel, blanket and backpack. Photos by Brad Jacobson (CivicCouch.com)
18 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
by Ryan McDonald
Evanna Shaffer was in the midst of a “lifequake.”
After the onset of the recession,
Shaffer had formed a business with her
then-husband focused on finding jobs for people
in the tech industry. But two weeks after the business
launched, her husband said he no longer
wanted to be with her.
Shaffer dealt with the blow by developing a
deep yoga practice, and engaging in daily meditation
at the end of the Hermosa Beach Pier.
Around that time, she also began having dreams
with circles as a recurring motif.
Drawing from her art school background, she
set out to make something. She began tinkering
with designs, feeling her way through as she
measured and folded various materials. She
worked entirely out of local coffee shops. People
would pass through and gawk in curiosity. Interest
in her and her creation began building without
her even being aware of it.
The result is Chakya, a line of circular yoga and
lifestyle products linked by their round shape.
Shaffer’s goal is that the circular Chakya can
soften the edges of how people view yoga — to
upend the increasingly popular perception that it
is a set of poses to hold with militant rigidity.
“And that’s when I had this epiphany,” she said.
“Not everybody can do all of the poses, but everyone
can be inspired by that feeling you get.”
Those who have worked with Shaffer describe
her as a tireless worker, and she does not shy
away from her entrepreneurial ambition in conversation.
But at a time when even the basest of
Silicon Valley startups gild their efforts with the
language of making the world a better place,
Shaffer comes across as a true believer.
Her first product, the Chakya Go, is a combination
meditation cushion, towel, mat, blanket
and backpack. Folded up, it resembles a small pillow,
but it’s pliable enough to hold a laptop or a
volleyball. Shaffer is fond of taking it with her on
airplanes, preferring its microfibers to the typical
“cootie blanket.” She recently concluded an IndieGogo
campaign for the product, and is tirelessly
pitching it in the area, while working with
residents of the South Bay for every aspect of the
business. It’s the start, she hopes, of something
much bigger.
“Hermosa has so many fitness and yoga lovers.
I want to launch a whole new movement, and I
want to do it from right here,” she said. “
Life moves in a circle
Shaffer grew up on a farm in upstate New
York. She lovingly describes her parents as
“artists and hippies.”
“There were no sweets. And everything mom
cooked came from our ground,” she said.
She left home to attend to art school outside
Philadelphia, then decided to head to school in
London. She didn’t have enough money for tuition
when she left but, in a manner that reveals
much about her world view, assumed things
would work out. On arriving, she got a call from
her mom, informing her that she had won a longshot
scholarship she had applied for; a $10,000
check was sitting in the mail. She had always
dreamed of ending up by the Pacific Ocean, and
an apprenticeship with a Malibu-based artist
brought her to Southern California
“There’s a certain amount of research and planning,
but sometimes you just have to go for it,”
she said.
Her sentinel-like presence on the Hermosa Pier
helped her get her project off the ground. In the
project’s early days, she reached out to manufacturing
firms to see who could meet her demands
for a uniquely designed, responsibly sourced
product. Among those she contacted was Sean
Saberi, who runs FabFad, a customized textile
printer in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles.
As the two started talking, Shaffer said,
Saberi revealed that he was a Hermosa resident,
and recalled seeing her meditating on the pier.
Saberi, who also runs a company called C
Print, said his businesses can handle everything
needed for manufacturing, from patent advice to
marketing, leaving their clients free to focus their
creative energies on design. Combined with its
made-in-the-U.S.A labor practices and willingness
to use sustainable materials, Shaffer was
sold.
Although Saberi said the firm has large accounts
such as Under Armor, he estimated that
50 to 60 percent of his clients are startups. His
business has worked with major yoga brands, including
the El Segundo-based Manduka.
Shaffer’s vision demanded a lot of back-andforth;
he estimated the current Chakya Go is the
Evanna Shaffer with the round yoga mat at the Hermosa Beach pier, where
she was inspired to launch her company.
result of eight production cycles.
All the time that Shafer spent
meditating by the ocean seems to
have sunk in. Saberi makes some of
Shaffer’s products from a polymer
derived from refuse, like plastic
water bottles and fishing nets, that
wash up on shore. The two plan on
rolling out more products in the
coming year, including a line of
yoga pants.
Shaffer, Saberi said, manages to
combine the creativity of a designer
with the focus of an entrepreneur.
“She’s a great artist, and very high
energy, but she’s also definitely on
top of stuff all the time,” he said.
The vision
Roughly translated from Sanskrit,
“Chakya” translates as “to awaken
from within.”
The next product in the line is a
circular yoga mat. Almost all yoga
mats on the market are rectangular,
something Shaffer muses may be
related to fiting as many people as
possible into a yoga studio.
“When I’m on a linear mat I feel
like I’m a little soldier,” she said.
Her circular, color-wheel mat is
based around the chakras, an idea
in the yogic tradition that posits
there are seven different energy
centers in the body. Each chakra is
linked with a color, a part of the
body, and an aspect of the soul. For
example, the fifth chakra, located in
the throat, is blue, and signifies
communication.
Shaffer’s circular mat is split up
into six colored segments, and a
white circle, for the seventh
“crown” chakra, in the center. The
colors are arranged to provide reminders
for practice, she said, that
may elude someone on a traditional
mat. For example, based on the way
the colors are arranged, if she is
overdoing core work, associated
with the yellow chakra, it will be
difficult to occupy the purple part
of the mat, that signaling the chakra
responsible for intuition.
“The chakras are always displayed
in a linear fashion,” Shaffer
said. “But it makes so much more
sense to me this way. Doing it in a
circle unlocked so many mysteries.”
Among the idea’s proponents is
David Romero, a prominent local
yoga teacher who also leads regular
sound baths. Shaffer assisted
Romero when he gave a TEDx
demonstration on sound healing,
and often shows up to offer the
Chakya Gos as cushions at his regular
offerings.
“I’m a huge believer in it. I look
at things from the perspective that
the human body is one big vibrating
piece of material made of earth elements
of different densities. She
sees things through color, which is
also a vibration. It’s just further up
the spectrum of light,” Romero said.
The goal, Shaffer said, is ultimately
to use the mats as part of
specialized classes she has designed.
The energy flow would resemble
a traditional yoga class, with
a gentle beginning, a peak in vigor
near the middle, and gradual comedown.
But Shaffer describes the experience
as something closer to a
Disneyland ride, concluding people
softening into the bliss of meditation.
She’s currently looking for a
space in the area to launch the effort,
and is also pitching existing
studios to let her try it as a workshop.
Shaffer knows that getting people
to see new things in a discipline that
is thousands of years old will be difficult.
But her attitude lifts her high
enough that she can see it becoming
reality.
“By the time we finish, you
should be feeling as though you are
above the clouds,” she said. B
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 19
each people
Lights!
Camera!
Change!
Jon Fitzgerald and social impact cinema
Jon Fitzgerald. Photo by Bondo Wyszpolski
by Bondo Wyszpolski
Movies can simply amuse us or they can jolt up awake and leave
us considering things from a new, unexplored perspective. Speaking
with Jon Fitzgerald, it’s clear from the start which sort of motion
picture he prefers, and why.
“In the last decade or so I’ve gravitated to what I would call social impact
films. Films that have something to say.” The title of his book, recently
published in a second edition, doesn’t mince words: “Filmmaking for
Change: Make Films that Transform the World.”
But who is Jon Fitzgerald, what’s his background or experience, and why
should we care?
So let’s go back to the mid-’90s, shall we?
Film student to festival director
Jon Fitzgerald was born and raised in Redondo Beach (his parents attended
Redondo Union High School), but then went to UC Santa Barbara
and earned a degree in Film Studies.
“After making an independent film that didn’t get into the Sundance Film
Festival,” he says, “me and a couple of other guys started the Slamdance
Film Festival, more as an opportunity for us to promote our films. And,
for whatever combination of reasons, it really struck a chord with the community,
with the industry, and with journalists. It became a bit of a Cinderella
story.
“That was 1995, over 20 years ago now, and it’s still going strong. I was
the festival director for the next two years, and then AFI (the American
Film Institute) brought me in to be their festival director.”
He ran that much-heralded film festival from 1997 to 1999.
“So I’ve had an opportunity to see literally thousands of films over the
years.”
This is where Fitzgerald’s resume begins branching into several directions
at once.
Periodically he’s been called in to direct film festivals, regional and national,
as well as international. Abu Dhabi is an example of the latter. And,
along the way, he’s also helped launch new film festivals in places like Orlando
and the Bahamas. “When I started Slamdance,” he says, “there were
less than 500 film festivals. Now there’s over 5,000.”
To attend them all, we’d need to take in several each day, but cab fare
would be prohibitive.
While serving as the executive director of the Santa Barbara International
Film Festival in 2003 something big crossed his mind. “It dawned on me
that I was talking to a lot of independent filmmakers and advising them
about how to play the festival circuit. And then there were festival directors
launching in random places all over the country.” They’d heard about Slamdance
and how it got started, and so they said to their buddies: “If these
guys can start this thing out of their garage, then why can’t we? We’ve got
a theater, let’s start a festival.”
Well, yes and no. How many Cinderella stories can we have, after all?
But Fitzgerald had been to the ball and danced with the prince, and instead
of merely being on the ropes he’d climbed them to the top.
“So I started a business called Right Angle Studios,” he says. It was a consulting
firm that assisted filmmakers, helping them with marketing and
distribution strategies and getting their work to film festivals. Because, if
you aren’t being seen, who’s going to know if you’re the next Jim Jarmusch
or Guillermo del Toro?
Of course, nudging others into the public eye isn’t quite the same as making
and financing your own pictures. And Fitzgerald wanted to transition
back to that.
“In 2010, my first documentary came out. It’s called ‘The Back Nine,’
and it was about seeing if it’s possible to become a professional athlete
after turning 40. And it’s about golf.”
He then went on to direct and/or produce a few other documentaries,
including “The Highest Pass” (mountains and motorcycles, not football),
“The Milky Way” (breastfeeding, not stargazing), “Woman One,” and
“Dance of Liberation.” For some budding filmmakers he became advisor,
mentor, guru, because everyone just starting out needs a little help.
A guide for the journey
“It was around that time that I had a panel discussion with book publisher
Michael Wiese. His company has always been the leader in film-related
books for film schools.” So Fitzgerald said to Wiese, “Have you ever
done a book about the development of social impact movies, filmmaking
for change?” “No,” said Wiese, “but that’s a good idea. Why don’t you write
a table of contents and a first chapter, and let’s see what it could be about.”
20 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
“Within a few weeks I had a book deal,” Fitzgerald says. To a certain extent,
his concept for the book drew from Joseph Campbell’s seminal “The
Hero with a Thousand Faces,” a book that examines the mythic-heroic archetype
down through the ages, and describes, in a dozen stages or so, just
what it is the hero has to encounter as he, or she, combats obstacles before
finally reaching the goal, be it the Golden Fleece or a Golden Globe award.
I think it’s common knowledge that George Lucas honed in on Campbell’s
book as well for his initial vision of “Star Wars,” although the recent “Star
Wars” films are only slightly more appealing than the Black Plague.
So Fitzgerald condensed the heart and soul of Campbell’s book (for the
hero’s quest it’s largely faith and guts) “and applied it to the social impact
space and into documentaries. In the last ten years documentaries have
evolved. There’s a more interesting flavor and different styles and personalities
now, whereas before it was a lot of talking heads, a lot of static camera.”
Among the films he cites that meet this criteria, Fitzgerald mentions “An
Inconvenient Truth,” “The Cove,” “Super Size Me,” and “The Fog of War.”
“Filmmaking for Change” is in some ways a how-to book, although the
author states early on that while “Social impact films are made with a goal
in mind,” he later adds that “One of the best things about the film business
is this: There are no rules.”
It sounds like we’re in Zen country now, but not really. The last part of
Fitzgerald’s book is weighted with case studies or resources, and during
our conversation he singles out “Warrior One,” which is about underprivileged
girls living in Florida trailer parks later finding themselves trekking
up the Andes to Machu Picchu. It’s a film about building leadership and
confidence, in this case for youngsters who certainly weren’t born with
silver spoons in their mouths.
“I don’t want the book to just be for people in film school,” Fitzgerald
says. “It should be for the average Joe who wants to pick up a camera and
tell a story that could make a difference. You don’t need to have worked
Fitzgerald cont. on page 27
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January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 21
each art
TRUMP-INSPIRED ART
at ShockBoxx
S
hockBoxx on Cypress Avenue in Hermosa
Beach hosted the opening night of
“Enough!,” a politically themed art show on
Jan. 6. The show featured paintings, photography,
sculpture, mixed-media and assemblage from
local artists and some from as far away as
Chicago. Most of the works dealt with the tumultuous
first year of the Trump Administration. The
exhibit runs through Jan. 24.
PHOTOS BY RYAN MCDONALD
1
2
1. Blandine Saint-Oyant.
2. Claudia Berman.
3. Maria Cracknell.
4. William Kieffer.
5. Tammie Valer.
6. Sharon Lee Rosenbaum.
7. Daniel Molina.
8. Michelle Victoria.
9. Lisa Pedersen.
10. ShockBoxx co-owner Michael Collins.
3 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
22 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 23
each dining
Revolution at The Rockefeller
by Richard Foss
The Rockefeller’s Chris Bredesen with his American Prime Burger and Sweet Potato Bomb. Photos by Brad Jacobson
What started out as a burger-and-a-beer spot unveils a new menu by Primo Italia chef Michelangelo Aliarga
Building a brand is more than a matter of a
catchy name and an interesting logo. Those
things are helpful but have to represent
something, some theme that makes the business
itself stand out from the crowd. Once you have
that, so a marketer would say, you should build
on it but never change the ideas that are at the
core.
The people who run The Rockefeller evidently
don’t believe in this logic, because the restaurant
has undergone a slow but almost complete transformation.
The place that started out as a gourmet-burger-and-a-beer
spot still serves burgers
and beers, and a few of the sandwiches and tacos
that were on the menu when they opened, but
the energy is elsewhere. They’ve become more
upscale and eclectic. A winter menu crafted by
consulting chef Michelangelo Aliarga of Primo
Italia has taken the menu to a new heights in subtlety
and style.
The new menu is served at both outposts of
The Rockefeller. I experienced it at the Manhattan
Beach location because I happen to like the
more low-key style there. The one in Hermosa is
more the showplace thanks to mosaic pillars and
other fancy architecture, but Manhattan Beach is
more cozy. The feel is slightly like a rustic cabin,
a comfortable place to settle in for some appetizers
and a glass of wine before dinner.
Appetizers include the new octopus lollipop
and also the Rockefeller Mess, which has been
on the menu for a while. The name of that latter
item is as accurate as it is amusing, because the
pile of fries topped by pickled fresno chiles and
onions, guacamole, and allagash queso sauce is a
sloppy joy. The flavors go together surprisingly
well and there’s an interesting mix of hot and
cold items and different textures. I wish they
used cottage fries or waffle cut chips because it
would make this so much easier to eat with a
fork, and there’s no other way to do this without
wearing some of it.
The octopus lollipop was a daintier portion, a
skewered and grilled chunk of the thick part of
the tentacle over a slice of griddled potato, served
with both a kalamata olive aioli and a dab of Peruvian
green sauce. The green and purple sauces
looked lurid but tasted great. I could have easily
eaten a full plate of this as a main course.
Another relatively new item is actually a twist
on an idea a century old. Stuffing an avocado
with lobster meat seems to have occurred to
someone around 1920, when the California Avocado
Society published a recipe. In that one the
seafood was simply mixed with mayonnaise and
garnished with parsley, but the one served by The
Rockefeller reflects modern tastes. The shellfish
is mixed with chopped green onion and tomato,
then ladled into the avocado, topped with breadcrumbs,
and run under the broiler. It’s necessarily
a small portion because avocados aren’t very
big, but it’s completed with a green salad and
toast and is satisfying.
During a recent visit, I verified that the burgers
here are still quite good, but the most exciting entrée
was from the new menu. It’s braised pork
cheeks and polenta in a tomato and vegetable
sauce that contains chimichurri and cilantro.
While this item was created by an Italian chef
and includes tomato sauce with olive oil and garlic,
it’s not Italian – the herbs are the French
mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery. The flavors
are almost Southern U.S. thanks to the similarity
between polenta and properly made grits,
but the sprinkling of cilantro gives it a dash of
South America. It’s a luxurious companion to the
meat, and since pork cheeks have a rich character
and cook to disintegrating softness the meat
has the character of a perfect pot roast. It’s a fantastic
winter dish and as far as I can tell the standout
on the menu. (I say as far as I can tell because
24 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
I have tried to order another item,
the sea bass in chermoula sauce,
but they were sold out of it twice.
If it is more popular than the
braised pork cheeks, it must be
amazing.)
The Rockefeller doesn’t serve
liquor but has a good selection of
beers and wines, some from unusual
producers. They briefly offered
a wine from Idaho that was
worthwhile for the novelty value,
but I preferred the Ripper
Grenache from Booker, near Paso
Robles. The selection changes and
sometimes they offer by-the-glass
items that aren’t on the regular
menu, so it’s always worth asking
if there’s something new.
The Rockefeller has matured in
a way that is unpredictable and interesting,
and I hope they continue
in this vein. Their success may
confound some of the usual rules
of marketing, and is all the more
admirable for it.
There are two locations: 1209
Highland, Manhattan Beach and
422 Pier in Hermosa Beach. (A
third location is planned for Redondo
Riviera Village.) Open daily
at 5 p.m., close 10:30 p.m. Sun. -
Wed, 11 p.m. Thurs. - Sat.,
Street parking, full bar,
wheelchair access okay. Some vegetarian
items. Menu at EatRockefeller.com.
B
The Rockefeller American Prime
Burger.
January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 25
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*1.5 mL syringe, Expires 1/31/18
26 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • January 18, 2018
Fitzgerald cont. from page 21
on ten movies.” Apart from a
sound idea or vision, perhaps all
that’s necessary is some software
and a used camera. “For less than
five grand you can have all the
tools you need to go make a
movie.”
Of course, for a more polished
look one might hire or consult with
a director of photography or try
and coax Daniel Day-Lewis out of
retirement. Maybe also you’ll want
to see James Franco’s “The Disaster
Artist,” which is an original and
curious look at how amateur entrepreneur
Tommy Wiseau created
“The Room,” which critics and
fans like to dub the worst movie
ever made. Well, worst or not,
everybody now knows about it,
right?
“The point is,” Fitzgerald says,
“there are people turning to film as
a tool of mass communication to
create change in the world. With
politics and education and the environment
and social issues and
gender issues there are so many issues
now, and people are looking
to film to get some answers.”
A couple of points I would interject,
one being that a filmmaker
doesn’t necessarily have to show
all sides of an issue, but people
might shy away from out-and-out
propaganda, and of course no one
likes to be preached to, except perhaps
the choir.
Regarding point of view, is any
film ever wholly objective? Some
filmmakers don’t try, “This is my
spin,” they’ll say. “Take it or leave
it.” And that’s fine. “But there are
filmmakers,” Fitzgerald notes, “that
do want to show both stories,” so
that we, the audience, can draw
our own conclusions. “But I also
think it depends on the goal: What
is the goal for that particular
movie?”
It should also be pointed out that
“cause cinema” or “social impact
films” do not need to be documentaries
but can be fictional or narrative
films. Fitzgerald mentions
“Moonlight” and “Mudbound,”
“Schindler’s List” and “El Norte,”
which no one would call documentaries
even if they are rubbing
shoulders with socially relevant topics.
And then there’s someone like
Werner Herzog who espouses the
ecstatic or poetic truth as opposed
to the accountant’s truth, the result
being that his documentaries have a
fictive element. But then, he’s
Werner Herzog, and you’re… Who
are you again?
A bigger concern for the unenlightened
public is this: What do I
watch? It’s a celluloid jungle out
there.
“At the same time I was writing
the book,” Fitzgerald says, “I started
a company called Cause Cinema,
and my intention is to bring more
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awareness to a lot of these social impact
movies that the big studios
don’t release. You’re on Netflix and
Amazon and HBO, and you’re looking
through all these carousels,
through hundreds of movies. (There
are) between 100 and 200 at any
given time in the documentary
carousels, so how do you know
which ones to watch?
“With Cause Cinema, I want to
guide people to the best of these
movies. So, I started a podcast and
I’m going to do a blog, all of that
with ‘Filmmaking for Change.’”
Start early, stay late
All of which leads us to VistaMar,
the private high school in El Segundo
with less than 300 students,
which has put up new buildings and
created an exploratory arts program,
part of what is being called
the Creative Commons. Now they
have state-of-the-art film, music,
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and theater rooms, plus the latest
equipment and gear.
“I taught ‘Filmmaking for
Change’ in the fall,” Fitzgerald says,
and as part of the initial exploratory
arts program had 15 students in his
class.
They’re about to move from the
theoretical to the practical.
“I’m doing a filmmaking course,
where kids are actually going to be
able to put their hands on a camera
and make a short film by the end of
the semester.”
Hollywood, watch out, you may
soon have competition.
Jon Fitzgerald will be talking
about “Filmmaking for Change” on
Saturday, Jan. 27, from 11 a.m. to
noon, at the Redondo Beach Main
Library. For more information about
Fitzgerald, his efforts and
accomplishments, go to
CausePictures.com or filmmakingforchange.com.
B
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January 18, 2018 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 27
Hermosa Beach
2000 to 2010 in photos
Featuring the work of over 20 Easy Reader staff and contributing
photographers. Presented by the Hermosa Beach Historical Society
Opening reception: Friday, January 26, 6 p.m.
Hermosa Beach Historical Museum, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach
For more information call the museum at (310) 318-9421 or Easy Reader at (310) 372-4611.
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