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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Volume 48, Issue 27<br />
Roundhouse reenvisioned<br />
Koppel on cable Strand House remake Super blue blood moon
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 3
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong><br />
Volume 48, Issue 27<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Blue blood moon over the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
pier Roundhouse. Camera settings: f/5.6, 1<br />
sec exp at ISO 1600. Nikon 28-300 lens at<br />
68mm<br />
Photo by Bill Hood<br />
Michael Burstein is a probate and estate planning<br />
attorney. A graduate of the University of California,<br />
Hastings College of the Law in 1987, he is admitted<br />
to the California, Kansas and Oklahoma Bars and<br />
is a member of the Order of Distinguished Attorneys<br />
of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.<br />
As an estate and probate lawyer, Michael has prepared<br />
approximately 3,000 living trusts and more<br />
than 4,000 wills.<br />
An Estate Planning,<br />
Estate Administration,<br />
and Probate Attorney<br />
l Living Trusts<br />
l Wills<br />
l Powers of Attorney<br />
l Asset Protection<br />
l Veterans Benefits<br />
l Pet Trusts<br />
l Advance Health<br />
Care Directives<br />
l Insurance Trusts<br />
l Probate<br />
l Conservatorships<br />
l And Much More!<br />
Call us to schedule an appointment or for our<br />
FREE Guide:<br />
Selecting the Best Estate Planning Strategies<br />
111 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 250<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, California 90266<br />
310-545-7878<br />
BEACH PEOPLE<br />
8 Super blue blood moon over South Bay<br />
by Comon, Gaffney, Hood, Pagliaro and Lofgren<br />
Local photographers share their images of the Jan. 31 Super Blue Blood<br />
Moon, a rare astrological event that occurs when the moon is close to the<br />
earth and eclipsed by the earth passing between the moon and the sun.<br />
12 Koppel on cable news by Kevin Cody<br />
Former ABC war correspondent and Nightline anchor Ted Koppel calls for<br />
a return to the journalistic standards of Edward R. Murrow and<br />
Walter Cronkite.<br />
24 Roundhouse revitalized by Mark McDermott<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>’s historic Roundhouse Aquarium keeps its iconic exterior<br />
while inside, exhibits are updated by the nation’s leading aquarium design<br />
firm, through the efforts of the Harrison Greenberg Foundation.<br />
34 Music base by Bondo Wyszpolski<br />
World class, classical musicians perform weekly throughout the South Bay,<br />
thanks to the rarely recognized organizational efforts of music lover Jim<br />
Eninger.<br />
36 Great dining expectations by Richard Foss<br />
Strand House opened in 2011 with a spectacular Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> pier<br />
view and a celebrity chef. The chef has changed but the view and the dining<br />
experience are undiminished.<br />
BEACH LIFE<br />
STAFF<br />
PUBLISHER Kevin Cody, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Richard Budman, EDITORS Mark McDermott, Randy Angel, David<br />
Mendez, and Ryan McDonald, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Bondo Wyszpolski, DINING EDITOR Richard Foss,<br />
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Ray Vidal and Brad Jacobson, CALENDAR Judy Rae, DISPLAY SALES Tamar Gillotti and Amy<br />
Berg, CLASSIFIEDS Teri Marin, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Hermosawave.net, GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tim Teebken,<br />
DESIGN CONSULTANT Bob Staake, BobStaake.com, FRONT DESK Judy Rae<br />
EASY READER (ISSN 0194-6412) is published weekly by EASY READER, 2200 Pacific Cst. Hwy., #101, P.O. Box 427, Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254-0427. Yearly domestic mail subscription $150.00; foreign, $200.00 payable in advance. POSTMASTER: Send<br />
address changes to EASY READER, P.O. Box 427, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254. The entire contents of the EASY READER newspaper<br />
is Copyright <strong>2018</strong> by EASY READER, Inc. www.easyreadernews.com. The Easy Reader/Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Hometown News<br />
is a legally adjudicated newspaper and the official newspaper for the cities of Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> and Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>. Easy Reader<br />
/ Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Hometown News is also distributed to homes and on newsstands in Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, El Segundo, Torrance,<br />
and Palos Verdes.<br />
CONTACT<br />
10 Calendar<br />
14 South Bay Giving<br />
16 Hermosa Chamber<br />
Man, Woman of the Year<br />
18 HippyTree Instagram exhibit<br />
20 South Bay Chili Cook-off<br />
30 Easy Reader’s Hermosa:<br />
2000 - 2017, in photos<br />
31 Attorney profiles<br />
38 SBBC/RiderShack surf contest<br />
39 Redondo Women’s march<br />
39 Home services<br />
n Mailing Address P.O. Box 427, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254 Phone (310) 372-4611 Fax (424) 212-6780<br />
n Website www.easyreadernews.com Email news@easyreadernews.com<br />
n Classified Advertising see the Classified Ad Section. Phone 310.372.4611 x102. Email displayads@easyreadernews.com<br />
n Fictitious Name Statements (DBA's) can be filed at the office during regular business hours. Phone 310.372.4611 x101.<br />
6 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Super Blue Blood Moon:<br />
Early morning Wednesday,<br />
January 31, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Photos by<br />
(clockwise from top left)<br />
Steve Gaffney<br />
Mark Comon<br />
Dean Lofgren<br />
Steve Gaffney<br />
Ken Pagliaro<br />
Bill Hood<br />
8 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 9
S O U T H B AY<br />
CAL ENDAR<br />
Friday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 9<br />
Night at the Library<br />
Artist Chuck Hohng speaks<br />
about the meaning behind his<br />
signature bears featured in his<br />
exhibition, “Toyetic” on display<br />
at the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Art<br />
Center and Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Library. Light refreshments<br />
provided. 8-10 p.m. This event<br />
is free to the public. Toyetic exhibit<br />
runs through April 1. MB<br />
Library, 1320 Highland Ave.<br />
(310) 545-8595.<br />
Monday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 12<br />
Get on the bus<br />
Learn everything about<br />
using public transportation at<br />
the Metro’s Older Adult Transportation<br />
Pop-Up. Programming<br />
will include services<br />
geared to the older adult audience.<br />
10 a.m. - noon.<br />
Hawthorne Memorial Center,<br />
3901 W El Segundo Blvd.,<br />
Hawthorne. For more information<br />
or to RSVP, contact Jacob<br />
Lopez at (213) 922-1359 or<br />
lopezj12@metro.net. Event is<br />
accessible by Metro bus or<br />
rail. Plan your trip using<br />
Metro’s trip planner at<br />
metro.net or (323) 466-3876.<br />
Whale of a day<br />
Go to sea through mid-April<br />
in search of migrating Pacific<br />
gray whales and a host of<br />
other marine life including<br />
dolphins, seals and sea lions.<br />
Whalewatch naturalists,<br />
trained by Cabrillo Aquarium<br />
and American Cetacean Society,<br />
lead boat trips from various<br />
landings; fees vary. From<br />
Redondo, boats depart weekdays<br />
at 10 a.m.; weekends 10<br />
a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Call 310-<br />
372-2111. Groups can make<br />
reservations by calling Cabrillo<br />
Whalewatch at 310-548-7770<br />
Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30<br />
am to 1 p.m.<br />
Wednesday, <strong>Feb</strong>. 14<br />
Whale watching season continues through mid-April with<br />
daily boats leaving King Harbor in Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>. For<br />
more information contact the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium at<br />
310-548-7770 or CabrilloMarineAquarium.org.<br />
Ready to Read<br />
Storytime just for 3 & 4 year<br />
olds full of early literacy concepts,<br />
songs, rhymes, movement,<br />
and fun! Children are<br />
encouraged to attend independently,<br />
but caregivers are<br />
welcome, too. 12:30 p.m. but<br />
arrive a little early to check in<br />
at the Information Desk for<br />
name bear badge, go to the<br />
bathroom, and get a drink of<br />
water. Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Main<br />
Library, Children's Storytime<br />
Room, 1st Floor, 303 N. Pacific<br />
Coast Hwy. 310-318-0675 option<br />
6 for more info.<br />
Movie day<br />
Hermosa Five-0 Senior Center<br />
screens Goodbye Christopher<br />
Robin, rated PG. Only<br />
$1, includes coffee, candy and<br />
popcorn. Noon. 710 Pier Ave.,<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>. (310) 318-<br />
0280. www.hermosabch. org.<br />
Thursday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 15<br />
Life Planning Series<br />
Today’s topic is elder care<br />
and residential choices presented<br />
by H.E.L.P. (Healthcare<br />
and Elder Law Programs) Corporation.<br />
10:30 a.m. Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Main Library, 303 N.<br />
Pacific Coast Hwy. (310) 533-<br />
1996 or www.Help4Srs.org.<br />
Author event<br />
Pages bookstore presents the<br />
award-winning adventure<br />
writer and a longtime contributor<br />
to NPR and Bloomberg<br />
Businessweek, Peter Heller,<br />
New York Times bestselling<br />
author of Celine, The Dog<br />
Stars, and The Painter. $20 (includes<br />
book) $34 (includes<br />
book + healthy box lunch<br />
from Kale and Coconuts).<br />
Noon. 310-318-0900 or<br />
info@pagesabookstore.com.<br />
904 Manhattan Ave. Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
Water workshop<br />
Free two-part Rainwater/<br />
Greywater Class & Workshop<br />
hosted by West Basin Municipal<br />
Water District. The workshops<br />
will teach District<br />
residents how to harvest rainwater<br />
with rain barrels and<br />
cisterns for outdoor irrigation,<br />
as well as how to safely and<br />
legally reuse greywater from<br />
clothes washing machines.<br />
Each event series consists of<br />
one class followed by an additional<br />
workshop at a later date<br />
in the month. Attendees qualify<br />
to receive a free “Greywater<br />
Green Landscape” book, a<br />
$100 discount on greywater<br />
parts, and one-hour in-home<br />
technical assistance for the installation<br />
of greywater systems.<br />
6 - 8 p.m. Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Performing Arts<br />
Center,1935 Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Blvd., Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>. For<br />
more information and to register,<br />
visit: westbasin.org/greywater.<br />
Pen Show weekend<br />
Los Angeles International<br />
Pen Show is a 4 day event held<br />
today through <strong>Feb</strong>. 18 at the<br />
Westdrift Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Hotel. View writing products<br />
including new and vintage collectible<br />
pens, pencils, stationery,<br />
paper, ink and more.<br />
Vendors will be selling inks,<br />
new and vintage fountain<br />
pens, ballpoint pens and other<br />
types of writing instruments.<br />
Vintage writing instruments<br />
are also available for sale, and<br />
there will be experts on hand<br />
that to restore vintage pens.<br />
Have an old pen you would<br />
like to know more about?<br />
Bring it in! $7 entry fee at the<br />
door. Children under 12 are<br />
free with an adult. For questions<br />
and information (310)<br />
546-7511 or lainternationalpenshow.com.<br />
Friday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 16<br />
Hanna Somatic<br />
Cancer Support Community<br />
Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> (CSCRB) presents<br />
this introductory Hanna<br />
Somatic class. Led by instructor<br />
Ken Lew, participants learn<br />
the basics of Hanna Somatic<br />
movement to increase flexibility,<br />
help relieve chronic pain,<br />
joint stiffness, and address ineffective<br />
body movement patterns.<br />
Advance registration<br />
required. 3 - 4:30 p.m. 109<br />
West Torrance Blvd., Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>. Call (310) 376-3550 or<br />
visit the website at cancersupportredondobeach.org.<br />
Saturday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 17<br />
Quilt show weekend<br />
The South Bay Quilters<br />
Guild presents the 38th South<br />
Bay Quilters Guild Quilt Show.<br />
Featured quilter, Sue Glass<br />
will be in the house in addition<br />
to over 150 beautiful quilts on<br />
display alongside many new<br />
quilting supplies. A quilt auction<br />
will take place on Sunday<br />
at 1 p.m. as well as a drawing<br />
for themed raffle baskets. Saturday<br />
and Sunday 10 a.m. - 4<br />
p.m. Torrance Cultural Arts<br />
Center, 3330 Civic Center<br />
Drive, Torrance. Tickets are<br />
$10$9. Children under 10 are<br />
free. For advance tickets contact<br />
Julie Limbach Jones at<br />
(310) 413-4316. Southbayquiltersguild.org.<br />
Across Generations<br />
The Palos Verdes Library<br />
District, in partnership with<br />
the American Association of<br />
University Women Palos<br />
Verdes Peninsula (AAUW<br />
PVP), presents Judy Milestone,<br />
Smith College alumna, UCLA<br />
Lecturer, and former Senior<br />
Vice President of CNN, in<br />
leading a conversation about<br />
how women’s lives have<br />
changed across the generations<br />
with Hanna Meghi Chandoo.<br />
Hanna is an associate with the<br />
law firm Stris & Maher LLP<br />
and is also a graduate of Smith<br />
College. Like many women of<br />
her generation, Hanna wears<br />
many hats and fills many roles.<br />
In addition to being an attorney,<br />
she is a daughter, a wife,<br />
an activist and the eldest of<br />
three sisters. 1 p.m. Peninsula<br />
Center Library community<br />
room, 701 Silver Spur Road<br />
Rolling Hills Estates. This program<br />
is free and open to the<br />
public. For more information<br />
contact Leti Polizzi, Adult Services<br />
Department Manager<br />
(310) 377-9584.<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Ball<br />
The <strong>Beach</strong> Ball is Leadership<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>’s annual<br />
fundraising event that brings<br />
local leaders together for an<br />
enjoyable night of socializing<br />
and celebrating. Hosted by<br />
Jared Young with live music by<br />
Hit Me 90s. Emerging Leader<br />
awards are given to an Adult,<br />
Business/Non Profit and a<br />
Youth who have provided service<br />
and civic leadership in the<br />
community. Appetizers and<br />
drink specials will be provided!<br />
Proceeds benefit future<br />
Leadership Hermosa projects<br />
that benefit the local community.<br />
6 -10 p.m. at The Standing<br />
Room, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
Tickets ($40-50) available at:<br />
www.eventbrite.com/e/beachb<br />
a l l - 2 0 1 8 - t i c k e t s -<br />
41983547922?aff=efbeventtix.<br />
Tuesday, <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 20<br />
Democratic Club<br />
Stay current with what is<br />
happening in local politics and<br />
government and in our nation.<br />
Free. Guest speakers and refreshments.<br />
6 - 6:30 p.m. meet<br />
and greet, 6:30 - 8 p.m. meeting.<br />
El Segundo Library, 111<br />
W. Mariposa Ave., El Segundo.<br />
The meeting are energetic and<br />
interactive. For questions call<br />
(310) 497-3013. B<br />
Artist Chuck Hohng speaks about his exhibition, “Toyetic”<br />
Friday, <strong>Feb</strong> 9, 8-10 p.m. at the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Library.<br />
Toyetic exhibit runs through April 1 at Manhattan Creative<br />
Arts Center and at the Library. Photo by Bondo Wyszpolski<br />
10 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Considering A Major Remodeling Project?<br />
FREE - DESIGN & REMODELING SEMINAR<br />
Join us on<br />
Saturday <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 10 th<br />
at 10:00 am<br />
R e s e r v e Yo u r S e a t s<br />
LEARN ABOUT THE DESIGN / BUILD PROCESS<br />
AND SEE AN INSPIRING ARRAY OF IDEAS<br />
FOR YOUR HOME
people<br />
Koppel<br />
on the<br />
cable cabal<br />
by Kevin Cody<br />
[Cable news] is to journalism<br />
what Bernie Madoff was to investment:<br />
He told his customers<br />
what they wanted to hear...<br />
Former ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel addresses Distinguished Speaker Series<br />
subscribers at the Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Performing Arts Center. Photo by Deidre Davidson<br />
In the late 1990s ABC Nightline anchor Ted Koppel received<br />
a phone call from ABC World News Tonight<br />
anchor Peter Jennings.<br />
“Peter asked if the bean counters had been in touch with<br />
me. I said I had just gotten off the phone with them. They<br />
wanted to know how many times this year we used a<br />
story from our Moscow bureau,” Koppel told Jennings.<br />
The former Vietnam reporter and recipient of just about<br />
every major journalism award recounted the conversation<br />
last month during his talk to Distinguished Speaker Series<br />
subscribers at the Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Performing Art Center.<br />
ABC’s accounting department subsequently determined<br />
that ABC was using approximately one story a week from<br />
its Moscow bureau, which cost the network $2 million annually.<br />
That worked out to about $40,000 a story.<br />
Shortly after the phone calls from accounting, the<br />
Moscow bureau was closed, along with the Paris, Rome<br />
and Bonn bureaus. The number of ABC foreign correspondents<br />
was cut from roughly 35 to 5.<br />
“A panel of yahoos is cheaper,” Koppel explained, referring<br />
to the commentators who have largely replaced reporters<br />
on broadcast and cable news.<br />
Koppel proposed a strategy for keeping informed by<br />
asking the audience for a show of hands of people who<br />
listen to right wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.<br />
“I think you’re doing the right thing,” he said of the 10<br />
people in the 1,300 seat auditorium who raised their<br />
hands. “I wish more of you listened to Rush Limbaugh<br />
and Fox News’ Sean Hannity, because you need to know<br />
what your fellow Americans are thinking.<br />
“Over 20 million people listen to Rush Limbaugh every<br />
week and the rest of you don’t have a clue what he is<br />
telling people.<br />
“A Stanford study found that interracial marriages are<br />
more common than marriages between a Democrat and<br />
a Republican.”<br />
The audience laughed until Koppel silenced them with<br />
a quote from the 1930s cowboy philosopher Will Rogers.<br />
“Will Rogers, the John Stewart of the 1930s, said, ‘We’re<br />
all ignorant, just about different things.’ It was his way of<br />
saying, don’t reject your fellow Americans just because<br />
they have different points of view.<br />
“That’s what we are doing these days. As soon as someone<br />
hears you are for or against Trump you are pegged.<br />
“I worry that in a system like ours,” Koppel continued,<br />
“if we don’t find a way to communicate with people with<br />
different political opinions that we won’t be able to deal<br />
with crises. Bad things will happen.”<br />
“How do we undo the damage?” he asked. “I think we<br />
need universal service for 18 year olds. Two years in the<br />
military, Vista, the Peace Corp. Any social program where<br />
people from different parts of the country focus on a common<br />
task.”<br />
Over 80 percent of the audience raised their hands<br />
when he asked if they agreed with him on universal service.<br />
Koppel traced the decline in journalism standards not<br />
to President Donald Trump calling respected news<br />
sources “fake news,” but to the Federal Communication<br />
Commission’s 1987 decision to abandon the television and<br />
radio Fairness Doctrine.<br />
“Under the Fairness Doctrine, a left wing guest had to<br />
be balanced with a right wing guest,” Koppel said. “In<br />
1987 resident Ronald Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine.<br />
That was also the year Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting.<br />
“Ten years later Rupert Murdoch saw Limbaugh’s success<br />
and created Fox News.<br />
“Within a few years Fox was making $1 billion a year.<br />
MSNBC looked at Fox and said, if they can do it on the<br />
12 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
ight, we can do it on the left. So they did.<br />
“Ted Turner is a brilliant man. When he founded Cable News Network<br />
(CNN) in 1979, his idea was to offer in-depth news 24 hours a day. Viewers<br />
could watch the news when it was convenient for them, not when it was<br />
convenient for the TV stations. It hasn’t worked out that way,” Koppel said.<br />
“Cable owner have concluded that rather than giving you news journalists<br />
think you ought to have, they will give you news you want to have,” he<br />
said.<br />
Koppel has been a prophet in the desert lamenting journalism’s decline<br />
on both the right and the left, since he left Nightline in 2005.<br />
Two years ago, on the Bill O’Reilly Show, Koppel told the conservative<br />
Fox News commentator, “You have changed the television landscape over<br />
the past 20 years. You took it from being objective and dull to subjective<br />
and entertaining.”<br />
Koppel was even more direct in his criticism of Fox News commentator<br />
Sean Hannity last March during a CBS Good Morning America program<br />
on partisan news.<br />
“You think I’m bad for America?” Hannity asked Koppel.<br />
“Yeah, in the long term,” Koppel answered, “because you’re very good<br />
at what you do... and you have attracted people who are determined that<br />
ideology is more important than facts.”<br />
In a 2010 Washington Post column, Koppel wrote, “The commercial success<br />
of both Fox News and MSNBC is a source of nonpartisan sadness for<br />
me. While I can appreciate the financial logic of drowning television viewers<br />
in a flood of opinions designed to confirm their own biases, the trend<br />
is not good for the republic.”<br />
“Beginning, perhaps, from the reasonable perspective that absolute objectivity<br />
is unattainable, Fox News and MSNBC no longer even attempt it.<br />
They show us the world not as it is, but as partisans (and loyal viewers) at<br />
either end of the political spectrum would like it to be. This is to journalism<br />
what Bernie Madoff was to investment: He told his customers what they<br />
wanted to hear, and by the time they learned the truth, their money was<br />
gone.”<br />
Today, Koppel told his Distinguished Speakers audience, news organizations<br />
on both the right and left are convinced the news people want is<br />
about the Trump presidency.<br />
“The president of CNN and the chair of CBS both said Trump is great<br />
for business. The news and Trump have a symbiotic relationship. Imagine<br />
if we have a Pence presidency. Oh God, how boring.”<br />
“I once asked a New York Times reporter to appear on Nightline. He<br />
went to his executive editor Abe Rosenthal to ask for his approval. Rosenthal<br />
said, ‘Sure. Just don’t come back to the New York Times.’<br />
“The premise was if you are a reporter for the Times, you can’t be expressing<br />
opinions on Nightline.”<br />
“It’s fun to appear on television and yell and scream. But that’s not reporting.”<br />
Koppel said the separation between news reporting and opinion has<br />
eroded not only on cable and news, but in newspapers, including the New<br />
York Times and Washington Post.<br />
“I genuinely believe journalists need to be reminded we are dealing with<br />
factual reporting and to leave opinions to the opinion page. We need to restore<br />
the old standards and exercise more discipline.<br />
“The purpose of journalism is to lay out the facts and let readers make<br />
their own decisions,” he said.<br />
Ironically, Koppel’s Distinguished Speakers talk exemplified the dangers<br />
of mixing news and entertainment.<br />
Despite the seriousness of his talk, the conversation in the theater lobby<br />
following his talk was all about penises.<br />
Koppel had spiced up his talk with five penis jokes. One about John<br />
Wayne, one about Bill Clinton, one about Henry Kissinger, one about<br />
Charles de Gaulle’s wife Yvonne and one about Winston Churchill.<br />
The only funny one was about Churchill.<br />
“During the 1940s, the men’s room in the House of Commons was in<br />
the basement. Instead of individual urinals, there was one long trough,”<br />
Koppel recounted. “One day, when Labor Party leader Clement Attlee unzipped<br />
his trousers next to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Churchill<br />
shuffled away. At the sink, when they were washing hands, Attlee asked<br />
Churchill if he had done something to offend him. ‘Not at all,’ Churchill<br />
answered. ‘It’s just that whenever you see anything big you want to nationalize<br />
it.’” B<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 13
Places to Volunteer and Donate<br />
Over 600 volunteers assist the <strong>Beach</strong> Cities Health District with programs<br />
ranging from alzheimer’s support to school garden programs. For information<br />
visit BCHD.org.<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Cities Health District<br />
bchd.org<br />
One of the largest preventative<br />
health agencies in the nation<br />
serving Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> and Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> since 1975.<br />
514 Prospect Ave.<br />
Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>, Ca. 90278<br />
(310) 374-3426<br />
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los<br />
Angeles Harbor<br />
bgclaharbor.org<br />
The largest provider of premiere<br />
after-school activities in the<br />
South Bay with facilities from<br />
San Pedro to Wilmington.<br />
1200 S. Cabrillo Ave.<br />
San Pedro, CA 90731<br />
310-833-1366<br />
El Camino College Foundation<br />
elcaminocollegefoundation.org<br />
Develops community relationships<br />
and raises funds to support<br />
El Camino College students’ success<br />
in education and life.<br />
16007 Crenshaw Blvd.<br />
Torrance, CA 90506<br />
310-660-6040<br />
Jimmy Miller<br />
Memorial Foundation<br />
Jimmymillerfoundation.org<br />
Provides an ocean therapy/surfing<br />
program to Wounded Warriors,<br />
Veterans and at-risk youth.<br />
2711 Sepulveda Blvd. #331<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, CA. 90266<br />
Habitat for Humanity of<br />
Greater Los Angeles ReStores<br />
DonateToHabitat.com<br />
The LA ReStores are nonprofit,<br />
home improvement thrift stores<br />
and donation centers. Schedule<br />
a pick-up today.<br />
18600 Crenshaw Blvd.<br />
Torrance, CA 90504<br />
8739 Artesia Blvd.<br />
Bellflower, CA 90706<br />
Torrance Memorial Foundation<br />
TMLegacy.org<br />
Supports Torrance Memorial<br />
Medical Center through donations<br />
that help grow its health<br />
care programs, expand services,<br />
and build facilities. A Legacy of Care.<br />
3330 Lomita Blvd.<br />
Torrance CA 90505<br />
(310) 325-9110<br />
Waterfront Education<br />
waterfronteducation.org<br />
Programs that Enthuse and Inspire<br />
Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>/King Harbor<br />
(310) 684-3577 or text (818)<br />
268-4740<br />
#WEgoH2O<br />
South Bay<br />
Giving<br />
14 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Waterfront Education, founded by avid sailboat racers<br />
Julie Coll and Mark Hansen, brings youngsters handson<br />
learning experiences out on the ocean. From its<br />
vast tidal reaches teeming with life forms, to its smallest chemical<br />
elements, our local marine waters blend discovery excitement<br />
and learning adventure that has this young organization<br />
growing by leaps and bounds.<br />
Kids, parents and teachers are flocking to Waterfront Education<br />
for their unique ocean based excursions led by scientists,<br />
researchers and naturalists. Their popular Coastal Survivor<br />
course teaches knife and fire skills along with food foraging and<br />
shelter building.<br />
From its Marine Innovation Hub inside the SEA Lab at King Harbor,<br />
this non-profit helps teams of kids build aquariums, underwater<br />
robots and even a solar powered boat which will be<br />
raced in the annual Solar Cup. The Pink Power Club offers girls<br />
a fun, educational experience with the STEM principles of science,<br />
technology, engineering and math.<br />
In addition to working with the SEA Lab, Waterfront Education<br />
partners with charter schools to bring kids down to the ocean,<br />
Waterfront Education:<br />
Kids flock to hands-on ocean programs<br />
onto the shore, and into the lab for an aquatic education<br />
that’s hard to match in a classroom.<br />
“Experiential hands-on learning is so much more impactful<br />
out in nature,” said Coll, the organization’s executive director.<br />
“We’re building a pier between classrooms and the ocean.”<br />
Initially formed to help facilitate two big community events -<br />
the Holiday Boat Parade and Sea Fair, Waterfront Education<br />
started adding enrichment programs three years ago, growing<br />
from 50 kids initially, to about 500 kids served in 2017.<br />
Coll loves seeing kids “build their confidence when they are<br />
out interacting with the ever-changing ocean conditions.”<br />
“Students gain an appreciation for the ocean and all the animals<br />
who call it home. They begin to understand our human<br />
impact and why it is so important to take care of our oceans,”<br />
she said.<br />
“Waterfront Education is doing a great job,” said Lisa Ragle,<br />
whose 12-year-old son James paddles, kayaks, explores the<br />
ocean, and practices outdoor survival skills.<br />
Ragle added that Coastal Survivor instructor Cody Martin is<br />
a “super cool role model” for kids.<br />
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
For more information see waterfronteducation.org<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 15
each people<br />
1 2 3<br />
HOFFMAN, LEWIS<br />
HONORED<br />
by Hermosa Chamber<br />
P<br />
ete Hoffman and Maureen Lewis<br />
were recognized as the Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Man and Woman of the<br />
Year at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual<br />
awards and officers’ installation<br />
dinner last month. Hoffman is a member<br />
of the planning commission and<br />
chair of the Department of Urban and<br />
Environmental Studies at Loyola Marymount<br />
University. Lewis is a member of<br />
Hermosa’s Parks and Recreation Commission<br />
and recently retired as director<br />
of e-commerce at Belkin International.<br />
PHOTOS BY<br />
KEVIN CODY<br />
4 5<br />
6 7<br />
MATTUCCI<br />
Plumbing<br />
Since 1990 • License # 770059, C-36 C-34 C-42<br />
D E P E N D A B L E • P R O F E S S I O N A L • A F F O R D A B L E<br />
w w w . m a t t u c c i p l u m b i n g . c o m<br />
WINTER SPECIALS<br />
$ 9 8 0<br />
Residential Water Heater<br />
40 gal. installed! ($1080 - 50 gal. also available)<br />
Includes hot & cold water supply lines<br />
Expires April 30, <strong>2018</strong><br />
FULL SERVICE PLUMBING<br />
SEWER VIDEO INSPECTION<br />
ROOTER SERVICE<br />
COPPER REPIPES<br />
$ 7 5<br />
Rooter Service - Main Line<br />
Must have clean-out access. Some restrictions may apply.<br />
Expires April 30, <strong>2018</strong><br />
F R E E<br />
E S T I M A T E S<br />
M e n t i o n t h i s a d w h e n<br />
s e t t i n g u p a p p o i n t m e n t .<br />
3 1 0 . 5 4 3 . 2 0 0 1<br />
Thank You<br />
For Your<br />
Vote!<br />
2013<br />
ON CALL<br />
24 HOURS<br />
7 DAYS<br />
1. Thelma Greenwald, a chamber<br />
member for over five decades, and<br />
daughter Roberta Greenwald-Perkins.<br />
2. Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> <strong>2018</strong> Woman of<br />
the year Maureen Lewis with 2017<br />
Woman of the Year Jackie Flaherty.<br />
3. Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> <strong>2018</strong> Man of the<br />
Year Pete Hoffman with 2017 Man of<br />
the Year Ryan Nowicki.<br />
4. Mayor Jeff Duclos swears in new<br />
chamber board members (from left)<br />
resident Robert Jones, <strong>Beach</strong> House<br />
general manager Marje Bennett,<br />
builder Rick Koenig, and former<br />
council members Carolyn Petty and<br />
Kathy Dunbabin.<br />
5. Maureen Lewis expresses her<br />
appreciation. Looking on are 2017<br />
Woman of the Year Jackie Flaherty<br />
and Chamber CEO Maureen<br />
Ferguson.<br />
6. Mayor Jeff Duclos congratulates<br />
Man and Woman of the Year Pete<br />
Hoffman and Maureen Lewis (second<br />
and third from left). Looking on (from<br />
left) are Council Member Stacey<br />
Armato, Chamber CEO Maureen<br />
Ferguson and Council Member Hany<br />
Fangary.<br />
7. Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> Women of the<br />
Year Kathy Dunbabin (2002), Alice<br />
Villalobos (2016), Maureen Lewis<br />
(<strong>2018</strong>) and Janice Brittain (2015).<br />
16 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
each art<br />
#52WEEKSOFNATURE<br />
from HippyTree<br />
H<br />
ippyTree, a “surf and stone” apparel company<br />
founded in 2004 in Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, hosted a<br />
year-long #52weeksofnature Instagram photo<br />
competition in 2017. Each week a winner was selected<br />
from what would total over 30,000 entries. On<br />
Jan. 13 the new Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> gallery Shockboxx,<br />
hosted an exhibition of the 52 weekly winners.<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1. Shockboxx Gallery. Photo by Chris Van Berkom<br />
2. Josh Sweeney, Brooke Basse and Andrew Sarnecki.<br />
Photo by Chris Van Berkom<br />
3. Andrew Sarnecki announces the winners.<br />
Photo by Chris Van Berkom<br />
4. Award winners, (left to right) Aim Lorejas (Staff<br />
pick), Pablo Martinez (People’s choice), Hayden<br />
Flores (Pro’s choice runner-up) and Ian Zamora<br />
(Pro’s choice). Photo by Chris Van Berkom<br />
5. Musicians Matt Robinson and Hudson Ritchie.<br />
Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
6. Justin Wagner, Brad Jacobson, Kevin Sousa,<br />
Jason Napolitano, and Ricky Lesser. Photo by<br />
Kevin Cody<br />
7. Diane and Tony Cole. Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
8. Brian Miller, Nicky Tenpas, Eileen Bugnitz, and<br />
Jason Leeds. Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
9. Chelsea Bower, Sarah Foley and Samantha<br />
Haddad. Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
10. Steve O’Brien and friend. Photo by Kevin<br />
Cody<br />
11. Matt Parker and Jason Napolitano. Photo by<br />
Kevin Cody<br />
12. Mike Siordia and ‘Big Mike.’ Photo by Kevin<br />
Cody<br />
13. Josh Sweeney, Justin Thirsk and Aaron<br />
Osten. Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
3 4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
10 11 12 13<br />
18 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 19
each charity<br />
SOUTH BAY CHILI COOK-OFF<br />
spices up charity<br />
T<br />
he annual South Bay Chili Cook-off on January 27 pitted nine local restaurants<br />
in a throwdown over the best chili. Community members gathered at Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Fire House No. 1, sampled the offerings, and bid on silent auction<br />
items. In a close contest, the 900 Club’s white bean chili took home first prize, while<br />
the spicy offering from Baran’s 2239 was deemed the “Fireman’s Favorite.” The<br />
event, organized by the Neptunian Woman’s Club, raises money for the Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Firefighters Burn Foundation.<br />
1. Team Love & Salt, of Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
2. Team 900 Club, of Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
3. Team Sausal, of El Segundo.<br />
4. Team Nick’s, of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
5. Team Baran’s 2239, of Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
PHOTOS BY RYAN MCDONALD<br />
6. Team Zinc Lounge at Shade, of<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
7. Team Darren’s, of Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
8. Team Hop Saint, of Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
9. Manny Serrano, vice president of<br />
sponsor Pacific Premier Bank, with<br />
wife Bree, serve for Team Brew Co., of<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
1<br />
2 3<br />
4 5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
20 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 21
T<br />
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor<br />
Giving a helping hand where it is needed most<br />
he Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor (BGCLAH) might<br />
be 80 years old, but they are pulsing with contemporary vitality. In<br />
addition to providing safe places for youth in an area struggling<br />
with crime and poverty, BGCLAH is energetically helping at-risk kids<br />
succeed in school, go to college, and explore a wide range of opportunities<br />
in the arts and the working world.<br />
BGCLAH emphasizes a “Triple A” approach to their services, augmenting<br />
the Clubs’ traditional Athletics with Academics and the Arts.<br />
The national Boys & Girls Clubs have undertaken similar expansions,<br />
but BGCLAH programs have especially excelled. They have partnered<br />
with corporate donors to provide science and technology labs with<br />
3D printers and a laser cutter, taught budding musicians chart reading<br />
and music theory, and helped 96 percent of the kids in their “College<br />
Bound” program graduate from high school.<br />
“We are one of the few nonprofit organizations fully dedicated to<br />
youth – first of all to the youth who need us most – with comprehensive<br />
programming and services they need for a future life of quality,” said<br />
Executive Director Mike Lansing.<br />
“Rather than a hand-out, this requires giving them a hand up,” he<br />
said. “We provide daily and year-round services and facilities, and a<br />
commitment to service the growth of the youth, and to aid their ability<br />
to break out of poverty and become contributing members of our society.”<br />
Indeed, BGCLAH is the largest private daily service provider in the<br />
Harbor/South Bay area for youth who are “at risk” through economic<br />
hardship, family challenges, or various other reasons such as learning<br />
or physical disabilities.<br />
The services are vital. Among the area’s 37,000 youth, some 13,000<br />
live in households below the poverty level. The Los Angeles Police Department<br />
classifies the area’s crime rate as medium to high.<br />
BGCLAH has grown to operate three traditional clubhouses and 10<br />
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF LA HARBOR | 1200 S. Cabrillo Ave., San Pedro | 310-833-1366 | bgclaharbor.org<br />
sites at elementary, middle and high schools in the Harbor area. The<br />
Clubs serve more than 2,200 youth a day, providing daily transportation<br />
for more than 500 of them, and serving 1,100 daily snacks and suppers.<br />
Growing together<br />
As executive director, Lansing has spearheaded BGCLAH’s growth.<br />
As a kid, he played ball at the club in San Pedro. He went on to work<br />
as an educator, teaching, coaching and administrating at the middle<br />
school and high school levels, and served as a youth-oriented volunteer.<br />
He was asked to join the board of directors of what was then the<br />
Boys & Girls Club of San Pedro, and later applied for executive director,<br />
approaching the board with a bold plan for the future of the club.<br />
“I came in with a mindset that we could do more to help children<br />
who need us,” Lansing said. He pitched a “Triple A” emphasis, and<br />
pushed to expand offerings for teens.<br />
The board said yes, and committed to sweeping new initiatives,<br />
greater staffing, and vigorous shakings of the donor tree. Corporate<br />
partners obliged, and the Clubs’ annual budget grew from $250,000<br />
to $7.2 million.<br />
Facing the future<br />
BGCLAH is preparing a campaign for an additional $9 million for capital<br />
improvements, sustained program offerings, and additions to an<br />
endowment fund for the future.<br />
“We want to support and sustain the impact we’ve had, for the next<br />
80 years,” Lansing said, “and keep building the leaders for our community<br />
and beyond.”<br />
For more information see bgclaharbor.org<br />
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
22 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
ROUNDHOUSE BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT:<br />
HOW TO HELP<br />
(See related story on following pages.)<br />
The Roundhouse Beautification<br />
Project is projected to<br />
cost approximately $4 million.<br />
The Harrison Greenberg Foundation<br />
has donated $1.25 million,<br />
the city has allocated $250,000 towards<br />
the pier renovation, and another<br />
quarter million has been<br />
fundraised thus far.<br />
Michael Greenberg said that beyond<br />
the $4 million cost of the project<br />
itself, the hope is to start an<br />
endowment, so that the facility<br />
never falls into disrepair again.<br />
“Aquariums require maintenance,”<br />
Greenberg said. “The<br />
Roundhouse especially so, because<br />
it sits on top of the Pacific Ocean, a<br />
corrosive environment. What we<br />
hope is to keep it looking beautiful.<br />
Sustainability is the key word.”<br />
“This is a gift we are bringing to<br />
the people of the South Bay,”<br />
Greenberg said. “But for people to<br />
enjoy it, it should continue to shine,<br />
and not become dilapidated. It<br />
needs constant love. I am asking for<br />
help as much as I can. I am grateful<br />
for the gifts from a lot of very generous<br />
people we’ve received so far.”<br />
To learn more about the project and<br />
how to contribute, see Roundhouse-<br />
Beautification.com.<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 23
each charity<br />
Michael Greenberg speaks at the groundbreaking for the Roundhouse Beautification Project, which he has spearheaded in honor of his son, Harrison.<br />
Photo by Jessie Lee Cederblom<br />
The boy and the pier<br />
Second of two parts<br />
How Michael Greenberg transformed the loss of his son<br />
into a gift for the place that made him<br />
by Mark McDermott<br />
Harrison Greenberg was still a toddler when his mother, Wendy,<br />
made an unusual discovery. He was a hyperactive little boy, bouncy<br />
and playful, all go, go, go. He had boundless curiosity; everything<br />
he encountered was subject to inspection, but his mind was restless, always<br />
moving to the next thing. Early on, while taking her son on early morning<br />
strolls, Wendy Greenberg found a place where Harrison’s attention focused<br />
to an utter calm: the Roundhouse Aquarium at the end of the Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Pier.<br />
As Harrison would demonstrate for the rest of his life, he was nothing if<br />
not hands-on. At the aquarium, he found a rare place in the adult world<br />
where his curiosity could run free. He especially loved the touch tanks,<br />
where he could put his hands on ocean wildlife, such as sea stars, urchins<br />
and snails.<br />
“He was a very curious guy at an early age, so going to the Roundhouse<br />
was an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to engage,” Wendy recalled.<br />
“He was able to sit there and take in what was told to him. He could touch<br />
and learn, which inspired us to go more frequently, with different friends<br />
and on different outings.”<br />
Such was Harrison’s enthusiasm for the Aquarium that for his second<br />
birthday Wendy brought some of his marine friends to him. She was in the<br />
late stages of pregnancy and confined to bed rest, so the family had staff<br />
from the Oceanographic Teaching Station – the non-profit which operates<br />
the Roundhouse Aquarium – come to their home in Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
“What better thing could we do on his birthday?” she said. “He was jumping<br />
around and happy. It was definitely a birthday party for him. He was<br />
fascinated with the animals in the tanks.”<br />
Even the field trips to the Roundhouse with his classmates from Robinson<br />
Elementary were special days for Harrison.<br />
“He was one of the lucky few who was able to kiss the sea cucumber,”<br />
Wendy remembered. “He was fine with the idea. A lot of the kids would<br />
cringe; they thought it was too slimy. He was fine because he’d touched<br />
the animal so many times before.”<br />
Harrison’s father, Michael Greenberg, is the co-founder and president of<br />
Skechers, the popular, global shoe company based in Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>. Although<br />
Harrison grew up in affluence, his childhood had its difficulties. He<br />
was unruly, and often in trouble. And until he filled out in his teen years,<br />
he tended to be pudgy, for which he was mercilessly bullied.<br />
24 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
A rendering of the renovated Roundhouse Aquarium, which will be open by this summer. Courtesy Cambridge Seven Associates<br />
Through all those years, the<br />
Roundhouse was his respite, the<br />
place where he would find the<br />
peace of wild things and the seemingly<br />
endless possibility of life<br />
upon this earth.<br />
“I remember after having his little<br />
brother and sister, bringing the<br />
little ones along with him, and he<br />
would be fully engaged,” his<br />
mother said. “He was quite a handful.<br />
He would act out and get into<br />
trouble constantly. But in that environment<br />
he could be happy, and<br />
hang out for a long time. You had<br />
his full attention if it was something<br />
he was interested in.”<br />
As he grew into a young man,<br />
that spirit of exploration Harrison<br />
found at the Roundhouse served as<br />
a runway, a launching pad for all<br />
points west. He first fell in love<br />
with Catalina Island, exploring its<br />
surrounding waters, fishing, often<br />
alone in the family’s powerboat.<br />
Then his attention turned to Asia,<br />
where he traveled more than a half<br />
dozen times, sometimes alone, a<br />
teenager with a cell phone translator<br />
and an unbridled sense of wonder.<br />
It was in Thailand, on April 7,<br />
2015, that Harrison lost his life,<br />
choking to death on a late night<br />
meal alone in his hotel room while<br />
in the midst of a four month internship<br />
in China and Southeast Asia.<br />
He was 19 years old.<br />
His father rushed back from England,<br />
where he had been on business.<br />
His first impulse was to go to<br />
Thailand, but there was nothing to<br />
be done there; he returned instead<br />
to Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, to tend to Harrison’s<br />
mother and his little brother<br />
and sister, Chance and Mackenna.<br />
They gathered to try and absorb<br />
this unthinkable loss, together.<br />
Even as Greenberg was on his<br />
flight across the Atlantic, his mind<br />
turned to the question, “What<br />
now?” His beloved first born son<br />
was gone. He was utterly powerless<br />
to do anything about this. His job,<br />
he realized, was to help his family<br />
learn to live with this new reality,<br />
to keep on loving life.<br />
Never is the power of community<br />
more apparent than in times of<br />
tragedy. He’d barely arrived back in<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> when donations<br />
started flowing in — a quarter of a<br />
million dollars, entirely unsolicited.<br />
The Harrison Greenberg Foundation<br />
was established immediately.<br />
It often isn’t until the end of a life<br />
that we can see the full narrative<br />
arc of the loved one who has<br />
passed, as if it were a book that had<br />
been lived, not written. The story of<br />
Harrison was of this ebullient,<br />
ruddy-faced little boy leaping in the<br />
water, seemingly blossoming<br />
overnight into into a square-jawed,<br />
handsome and determined young<br />
man who’d left middle-aged businessmen<br />
at dinner parties slackjawed<br />
with amazement at his<br />
quickness of mind, his capacity<br />
both for dreaming big and immersing<br />
himself in practical details of an<br />
idea. He was a third generation entrepreneur;<br />
he’d been named after<br />
his great grandfather, Harry, a green<br />
grocer who’d established a family<br />
business in Boston in the 1930s,<br />
Belle’s Market, named after his<br />
wife. His grandfather, Robert, inherited<br />
this entrepreneurial streak,<br />
and would start a half dozen businesses<br />
before moving to California<br />
and founding LA Gear, out of the<br />
ashes of which would emerge<br />
Skechers. Harrison was a link in the<br />
chain, the heir apparent to the family<br />
business, which had grown into<br />
a billion dollar global enterprise.<br />
But as both Michael and Wendy<br />
began the process of remembering,<br />
somehow the Roundhouse at the<br />
end of the pier was always in the<br />
background. The red-tiled building<br />
at the end of the pier was more<br />
than an aquarium; it represented<br />
the gift Harrison had experienced<br />
growing up in Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>,<br />
“this enchanted village,” as<br />
Michael thought of it.<br />
Four days after his son’s death,<br />
Michael met with OTS officials. He<br />
wanted to give back to the community<br />
that had given his son such a<br />
beautiful life. He knew no better<br />
way than to go to the Roundhouse.<br />
“It was just about Harrison,<br />
about what we could do,” Greenberg<br />
said. “We were later focused<br />
on Harrison, what we could do on<br />
his behalf to memorialize him.”<br />
The pier<br />
Few towns have as enduring or<br />
distinct a symbol as the Roundhouse<br />
at the end of the Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> pier.<br />
Legend has it a pier was built,<br />
before the city existed, by a mysterious<br />
figure named Colonel Blanton<br />
Duncan. According to lore<br />
mined by city historian Jan Dennis,<br />
Duncan arrived here from Kentucky<br />
during the Civil War. Some<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 25
MasterCard®<br />
®<br />
AMERICAN EXPRESS ®<br />
SM<br />
old tales indicate he arrived with<br />
both slaves and profits from the<br />
cotton plantation he’d operated<br />
down South; one of the town’s<br />
early histories claims he built a<br />
small pier in order to smuggle<br />
opium from China.<br />
What is factual, according to<br />
Dennis, is Duncan did indeed<br />
build the first house in what was<br />
to become Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>. As<br />
nearby Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> and Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> formed in the late<br />
1800s, the sandy area to the north,<br />
all dust and dunes, was considered<br />
undesirable – after all, who would<br />
want to live amidst all that sand?<br />
Duncan paid $1,000 in gold to the<br />
Redondo Land Company for 87<br />
and one quarter acres and in 1895<br />
built a mansion on the hill overlooking<br />
the scraggly settlement<br />
originally known as Potencia. The<br />
following year, for $680, he bought<br />
another 100 acres that stretched<br />
down to the water. It’s clear he<br />
built an oceanside structure of<br />
some sort, Dennis reports, though<br />
it’s unclear if he built a pier.<br />
The city’s first known pier, built<br />
around the turn of the 20th century,<br />
was a somewhat ramshackle<br />
affair, in keeping with the fledgling<br />
town itself. It was dubbed “the Old<br />
Iron Pier” and fashioned out of railroad<br />
ties and timbers affixed with a<br />
900 ft. wooden platform for fishermen.<br />
“Back then Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> was<br />
just sort of a little village,” Dennis<br />
said. “People couldn’t get here because<br />
of the dunes...Nobody came<br />
here. So they decided, well, we’ll<br />
build a fishing pier. That is what it<br />
was for — when the Red Car came<br />
down from LA, they’d come here to<br />
fish.”<br />
But as Dennis notes in her book,<br />
“A Walk Beside the Sea: A History<br />
of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>,” the odd little<br />
pier quickly became a focal point<br />
for many of the town’s activities.<br />
Then, in 1913, storms wiped the<br />
pier out, and city fathers decided to<br />
float a public bond to build a more<br />
permanent structure. A proposed<br />
$75,000 bond failed in 1914, 168<br />
votes to 170, largely due to a contingent<br />
of “Northenders” who<br />
wanted it located at the end of Marine<br />
Street. In 1916, a compromise<br />
was passed overwhelmingly, one<br />
that included $70,000 for a pier at<br />
the foot of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Boulevard<br />
(then Center Street) and<br />
$20,000 for a pavillion at Marine.<br />
Engineer A.L. Harris had the idea<br />
for the Roundhouse. “Now in regard<br />
to a round end, it is a feature<br />
that hasn’t been, as yet, brought out<br />
on any other pier along the coast<br />
that I know of...another reason for<br />
having the circular end is that it is<br />
much stronger against the action of<br />
the waves,” Harris said at a meeting<br />
of the city’s board of trustees.<br />
Material shortages due to WWI<br />
delayed its construction but finally<br />
the pier and a Roundhouse that<br />
looks almost identical to today’s facility<br />
were constructed in 1920.<br />
The pier would remain largely<br />
unchanged until the 1980s, when<br />
Judge Richard L. Fruin established<br />
OTS, and the Roundhouse took on<br />
a new function as a marine science<br />
teaching station. But the pier itself<br />
was falling apart; there was a proposal<br />
to destroy the entire structure<br />
and rebuild. An activist group<br />
called Pier Pressure, led by Keith<br />
Robinson and Julia Tedesco, fought<br />
for its preservation. A 3-2 council<br />
vote in 1986 favored restoring the<br />
pier rather than replacing it, and in<br />
1991 a $2.39 million project to rehabilitate<br />
the pier got underway.<br />
By the time Michael Greenberg<br />
met with OTS staff immediately<br />
after his son’s passing in 2015, the<br />
pier was in most ways flourishing.<br />
More than 300,000 people visited it<br />
annually, including 15,000 kids<br />
who participate in programs at the<br />
Roundhouse Aquarium. But beneath<br />
the surface, the pier was in<br />
a state of deterioration, and the<br />
Aquarium’s facilities were being<br />
held together largely by the inventiveness<br />
of its co-directors, Eric<br />
Martin and Val Hill.<br />
“It’s been over 15 years since our<br />
last renovation, and things have<br />
started to go downhill,” said John<br />
Roberts, the chair of the OTS board<br />
of directors. “In a marine environment,<br />
things don’t last too long.”<br />
Greenberg’s initial notion was<br />
possibly to refurbish a tank or two<br />
at the Aquarium. But a Greenberg<br />
family trait appears to be a certain<br />
boundlessness, and as he considered<br />
the facility’s needs a bigger<br />
idea began to emerge.<br />
“I'm thinking to myself, it's so dilapidated,<br />
it’s so old,” he recalled.<br />
“And something triggered the<br />
thought, ‘Well, why don't we put<br />
in an entirely new aquarium, and<br />
reimagine this aquarium?”<br />
He pledged a million dollars on<br />
the spot, in addition to the quarter<br />
million already contributed to Harrison’s<br />
Foundation. The city, it<br />
turned out, already had plans to<br />
retrofit the pier itself, and thus a<br />
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plan was born.<br />
The project<br />
Two remarkable things happened<br />
in the 34 months since the<br />
inception of the Harrison Greenberg<br />
Foundation Roundhouse<br />
Aquarium Beautification Project.<br />
First, it was fast tracked with almost<br />
unprecedented alacrity. Six<br />
different governmental bodies, including<br />
the U.S. Army Corps of<br />
Engineers and the California<br />
Coastal Commission, signed off on<br />
the project in short order; one<br />
coastal commissioner actually<br />
cried as he voted for the project.<br />
The other unusual aspect is that<br />
Cambridge Seven Associates, one<br />
of the most prominent aquarium<br />
design firms in the world, signed<br />
on to do the 2,000 ft. project.<br />
It was unlikely that such a firm<br />
would even be interested in so<br />
small a project, but after they responded<br />
to the Request for Proposals<br />
and were selected as finalists,<br />
Michael Greenberg had an uncanny<br />
feeling as lead architect<br />
Peter Sollogub presented Cambridge’s<br />
ideas for the Roundhouse<br />
Aquarium last January.<br />
Sollogub is a lively, ebullient<br />
man, short in stature but large in<br />
The Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Pier in 1930, a little less than a decade after its construction.<br />
Photo courtesy Jan Dennis<br />
wonder and imagination. He looks<br />
a bit like an American Pablo Picasso.<br />
But what struck Greenberg<br />
that day was both Sollogub’s passion<br />
for this project and his resemblance<br />
to someone else – his<br />
grandfather, Harry, for whom Harrison<br />
was named.<br />
“The passion Peter showed, and<br />
knowing Cambridge Seven were<br />
the architects for the New England<br />
Aquarium and are one of the most<br />
world-renowned architects for<br />
aquariums around the globe...Yet<br />
he said this would be the most important<br />
project he would work on<br />
because of the nature of how it<br />
came to be,” Greenberg recalled.<br />
“And you know, there was a connection,<br />
because I am from New<br />
England, and as he is presenting,<br />
he reminded me of my grandfather,<br />
Harry… I’m thinking, ‘My<br />
god, this is meant to be.’”<br />
Michael spent the early part of<br />
his childhood in Boston, and was<br />
pulled into the family business as<br />
a young boy. He has vivid memories<br />
of getting up at 4 a.m. to go to<br />
the produce markets with Harry,<br />
an indefatigable man who made<br />
these pre-dawn runs five days a<br />
week and operated his greengrocer's<br />
market seven days a week.<br />
“He was a big part of my growing<br />
up,” Greenberg said. “And I felt<br />
this deep connection with Peter.<br />
Sort of like being guided. It was an<br />
easy decision for me.”<br />
Sollogub said it’s the smallest<br />
project he’s ever worked on, but<br />
also the one that means the most<br />
to him, personally.<br />
“Some tanks on other projects<br />
are bigger than the entire aquarium<br />
in the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> project,”<br />
said Sollogub. “Some of our<br />
projects are a hundred times bigger,<br />
and almost all are many, many<br />
<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 27
times bigger than this project. But<br />
this has every last speck of what<br />
they have in its little container.”<br />
Cambridge’s other projects include<br />
the National Aquarium in<br />
Baltimore, Maryland, the Carolina<br />
SciQuarium, the Acquario di Genova<br />
in Italy and the Ring of Fire<br />
Aquarium in Osaka, Japan. But<br />
what the Roundhouse Aquarium<br />
has that few other facilities do is<br />
the immersive quality of being suspended<br />
over the Pacific Ocean.<br />
Cambridge Seven’s design plays off<br />
this quality. The experience of the<br />
new aquarium is intended to be<br />
akin to walking into the bright blue<br />
of the ocean.<br />
A new east-facing entrance will<br />
allow visitors to enter a widening<br />
corridor that opens up gradually to<br />
the Pacific. A rocky reef tank, a<br />
sandy bottom tank and a larger<br />
version of the popular kids’ touch<br />
tank line the left side, and a large<br />
shark tank is on the right. The<br />
west-facing walls will retain the<br />
Roundhouse’s distinct arched windows,<br />
so the Pacific is always visible.<br />
Above, an updated and<br />
enlarged mezzanine will include a<br />
goldfish tank, an exhibit space, and<br />
a discovery “nook” for small children.<br />
“The impact of this is really in<br />
the heart,” Sollogub said. “When<br />
we came down for our interview<br />
and went to the aquarium, it really<br />
spoke to us. We felt more excitement<br />
than many, many projects<br />
I’ve had the pleasure of working<br />
on over 40 years. There’s something<br />
about it. You are out there in<br />
this tiny little place, the ocean is<br />
coming in from the windows, and<br />
the sand, and the tanks all over the<br />
place, and the life support systems<br />
are in dire need — they are put together,<br />
but they need a little help.<br />
And the tanks themselves, the animals<br />
are being taken care of but<br />
could also use a little<br />
refreshing...It’s all grown in a little<br />
bit of a haphazard way, yet it all<br />
works. It’s somehow all cobbled together<br />
and you somehow feel,<br />
when you are in this special place,<br />
this personal touch. And then you<br />
remember why this project is happening,<br />
and what it is going to be.”<br />
Hill, the aquarium’s co-director,<br />
estimated that the facility at some<br />
points had been home to as many<br />
as 100 species of marine wildlife<br />
and, if you count the smaller life<br />
forms, as many as a million actual<br />
animals. “I’m a plankton person,”<br />
she said. “[Co-director] Eric is a<br />
whale person. We respect each<br />
other’s choices. You can’t have one<br />
without the other.”<br />
This interconnection is the overarching<br />
lesson of the entire aquarium.<br />
“One of the highlights is the<br />
touch tanks,” Hill said. “Kids get to<br />
interact with the animals, and with<br />
the ocean, really. It gives them a<br />
real connection with the animals,<br />
and that helps carry on when we<br />
bring a message about ocean pollution<br />
and pollution prevention and<br />
how we all have this connection<br />
with something that lives in the<br />
ocean.”<br />
“It fosters awareness and love for<br />
the ocean, and from that awareness<br />
and love people take measures<br />
to consider things and not<br />
pollute,” John Roberts said. “We’ve<br />
done some surveys — some kids<br />
who visit live 10 or 15 miles away<br />
and have never before seen the<br />
ocean. It’s startling but it’s true.<br />
How can you protect what you<br />
don’t know?”<br />
The rebuilt upstairs of the aquarium<br />
will feature an education center<br />
as well as photos and videos by<br />
Martin, who is a marine photographer,<br />
so visitors can experience<br />
nearby wildlife too large for the little<br />
facility — such as orcas and fin<br />
whales and Great White sharks.<br />
28 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Kids enjoy the touch tank at the Roundhouse Aquarium. Photo courtesy the<br />
Roundhouse Aquarium<br />
The project is expected to be completed<br />
by Memorial Day weekend.<br />
Everyone involved in the project<br />
has been struck by Greenberg’s unrelenting<br />
positivity.<br />
“His heart? As big as the aquarium<br />
he is leading the way to renovate<br />
into a free world class<br />
oceanographic teaching center,”<br />
said Councilperson Richard Montgomery.<br />
“Michael, even through his<br />
personal tragedy, has led the way to<br />
show us all how to help others less<br />
fortunate.”<br />
Dennis, the city historian, expressed<br />
gratitude for the Greenberg<br />
family’s contribution. But she was<br />
also emphatic that people understand<br />
that the pier belongs to no<br />
single family, but rather is a symbol<br />
for the entire city. In a video promoting<br />
the Roundhouse beautification<br />
project, Dennis tears up as she<br />
describes what the Roundhouse<br />
means to her when she has been<br />
away from Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> and<br />
returns. “When I see that pier, I am<br />
home,” Dennis said. “And I’ve been<br />
here 56 years — not as long as some<br />
of our natives, but it’s home to me,<br />
and the pier is a symbol of it.”<br />
At a groundbreaking ceremony in<br />
November, Mayor Amy Howorth<br />
said the Roundhouse renovation is<br />
also symbolic of the city’s sense of<br />
community.<br />
“It really struck me that this<br />
speaks to who we are here in Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>,” said Howarth. “This<br />
is what community does. We come<br />
and gather to celebrate the good,<br />
and we also stand by each other<br />
through the dark times.”<br />
Sollogub said that though the impetus<br />
for the project was born from<br />
unspeakable loss, the feeling that<br />
has presided throughout is one of<br />
boundless possibility.<br />
“It’s never been a feeling of<br />
tragedy in the room, but really<br />
about the joy and wonder of growing<br />
up, being young, being wideeyed<br />
looking for new adventure —<br />
and at the same time being able to<br />
share that experience by taking care<br />
of this place, and extending that<br />
care and exposure to wonder to that<br />
experience of underwater life….You<br />
leave with more open eyes, and<br />
joy,” he said. “I think that is what<br />
this project is about. Wide-eyed<br />
wonder.”<br />
Wendy Greenberg knows a little<br />
bit about wide-eyed wonder, from<br />
the boy she misses so much. The<br />
Roundhouse at the end of the pier<br />
never fails to remind her of Harrison.<br />
“As much as I try to get away<br />
from the problem of losing our son,<br />
it’s where I look when I take a dog<br />
on a walk — the Roundhouse at the<br />
end of the pier,” she said. “When<br />
I’m flying on a airplane leaving, I<br />
see it. Where I do yoga, there’s a<br />
picture of the Roundhouse….It’s<br />
the heart of this town.”<br />
The Roundhouse Aquarium remains<br />
open in a temporary location in<br />
the south pier parking lot. See RoundhouseAquarium.org<br />
for more information.<br />
For more information on the<br />
pier’s history or to order “Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Pier History” or “A Walk Beside<br />
the Sea,” Jan Dennis can be<br />
reached at 310-372-8520. To contribute<br />
to the Roundhouse renovation<br />
see story on page 23. B<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 29
each art<br />
EASY READER’S HERMOSA<br />
in photos 2000 – 2017<br />
A<br />
n opening for an exhibit of photos by Easy<br />
Reader staff and contributing photographers<br />
was held Friday, January 26 at the Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Historical Society. The show is hosted by the<br />
Hermosa Historical Society and curated by museum<br />
manager and curator Bradley Peacock. The exhibit<br />
will continue through the spring. Sponsors include<br />
La Playita, King Harbor Brewery and Paul’s Photo.<br />
The Hermosa Historical Museum is located at 710<br />
Pier Avenue, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>. Hours: Saturday and<br />
Sunday 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m. to noon. And<br />
by appointment. For more information call (310) 318-<br />
9421.<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1. Exhibit photographers<br />
Ken Pagliaro,<br />
Brad Jacobson, John<br />
Post, Chris Miller, Robi<br />
Hutas, Ray Vidal and<br />
Kevin Cody. Photo by<br />
Beverly Baird<br />
2. Casey, Jeff Atkinson,<br />
Corey Newton<br />
and Annie Seawright-<br />
Newton. Photo by<br />
Kevin Cody<br />
3. Hermosa Historical<br />
Museum curator<br />
Bradley Peacock and<br />
musicians Mark Fitchett<br />
and Brian Sisson.<br />
Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
4. Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>/La<br />
County firefighters.<br />
Photo by Brad Jacobson<br />
5. Hermosa Historical<br />
Society President<br />
Norm Rosen and wife<br />
Lorna. Photo by Brad<br />
Jacobson<br />
6. Peter DeAvilla,<br />
Nicole Seyle, Phil<br />
Oglesby, Marcella Villa,<br />
and Marion DeSanto.<br />
Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
7. Sarah and Eddie<br />
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Jani and Denyse Lange<br />
with Kruz and Talyn.<br />
Photo by Kevin Cody<br />
8. Marcella Villa and<br />
Chris Miller. Photo by<br />
Brad Jacobson<br />
9. Derek Levy and<br />
Becca Rosen.<br />
10. Easy Reader<br />
editor Mark McDermott<br />
and reporter Ryan Mc-<br />
Donald.<br />
11. Greg McNally and<br />
John Wayne Miller.<br />
12. Dency Nelson and<br />
Carol Reznichek.<br />
3 4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
10 11<br />
30 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Lisa Houlé<br />
MADE TO ORDER FOR THE DEFENSE<br />
If TV producers were creating the perfect defense attorney,<br />
they might envision a dynamic and determined trial lawyer, a<br />
former prosecutor who knows in advance all that her client<br />
might face, and enjoys the respect of the law enforcement and<br />
legal communities.<br />
In other words, they might imagine Lisa Houlé.<br />
Houlé (pronounced Hoo-LAY) spent 15 years as a deputy district<br />
attorney for Los Angeles County, prosecuting violent crimes<br />
from homicide and rape to stalking. Despite her success, she<br />
was ready for a change in 2015, and “jumped to the other<br />
side,” continuing to specialize in sex crimes and domestic violence.<br />
Houlé said a good defense attorney must pick apart the prosecution’s<br />
case for errors or inconsistencies to prevail in court, or<br />
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Among her clients was a young man who found himself accused<br />
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“The police did not vet that claim as we would hope they<br />
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Houlé said that the woman testified that her trust in others had<br />
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showing quite the<br />
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“We were not trying to ‘dirty her up,’ as claimed by the prosecution,<br />
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Houlé’s holistic approach to her work includes getting to know<br />
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“It’s not my job to be a mill, to push cases and clients through,<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 31
BB&L team photo by David LeBon<br />
B<br />
The Law Offices of Baker, Burton & Lundy, P.C.<br />
Expanding to Serve the Legal Needs of the South Bay<br />
aker, Burton & Lundy, the local law firm with a nationwide reputation<br />
and billions of dollars won for its clients, continues to expand<br />
both its practice and its physical presence in the heart of<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
The firm has won more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements. The<br />
attorneys have argued twice before the U.S. Supreme Court and have<br />
won an unanimous opinion in the California Supreme Court making<br />
new law that encourages resolution and helps reduce litigation.<br />
Never content to stand still, BB&L has been growing its probate and<br />
employment law divisions, while energetically maintaining its core<br />
practices that include business, real estate, estate planning and personal<br />
injury.<br />
People walking and driving down Pier Avenue will see changes taking<br />
place. To house the growing practice, the 42-year-old firm is making<br />
its third expansion along Hermosa’s iconic Pier Avenue, adding new<br />
offices and a “lifeguard tower-esque” roof deck to its storefront. The<br />
shape is symbolic to the firm – just as local lifeguards keep beach-goers<br />
safe, BB&L seeks to help safeguard the legal rights of their clients and<br />
stands by to help when injuries of all kind occur.<br />
Employment Law – Advising Employers and Employees<br />
BB&L offers employment law services to a variety of clients in Southern<br />
California from small start-up businesses to Fortune 500 companies.<br />
Understanding the rights of both sides, BB&L represents both employers<br />
and employees in discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination<br />
cases. They also are experts in analyzing wage and hour issues and<br />
employment and employee requirements under the current California<br />
laws, which are technical and difficult to comply with.<br />
Navigating Probate Litigation<br />
The area of probate litigation has been growing as the Baby Boomer<br />
generation ages. When conflicts arise concerning questionable documents<br />
or how money and estate assets are being managed and/or<br />
distributed, people find themselves needing an expert attorney. The<br />
BB&L probate litigation team helps clients navigate through the complex<br />
probate court system and reach equitable resolutions.<br />
Protecting Sexual Harassment Victims<br />
BB&L has been actively defending the rights of women long before<br />
the #MeToo movement started. The firm spearheaded prosecution of<br />
a doctor who, like Larry Nassar, was using his position and authority to<br />
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32 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
W<br />
Nigel Villanueva<br />
Excellence in defense<br />
ith more than 50 jury trials and arbitration hearings under his<br />
belt, accomplished defense attorney Nigel Villanueva approaches<br />
so-called minor cases with the same dedication<br />
with which he defends a homicide suspect, the owner of an NBA team,<br />
or in some cases, other attorneys.<br />
“I have the same zeal for a drunk-in-public defense as I do for a client<br />
facing a charge of first-degree murder. I have a great belief in criminal<br />
defense. People are counting on you to protect their rights,” said Villanueva,<br />
who is currently in preparation for an upcoming homicide<br />
trial.<br />
Villanueva represents clients in a wide range of violent crimes, drug<br />
crimes, sex crimes and driving offenses. On the civil law side, he runs a<br />
small but successful personal injury practice, recovering more than $1<br />
million for clients, most of whom were injured in vehicle, motorcycle or<br />
bicycle accidents.<br />
Villanueva’s excellence in preparing a case, and arguing it before<br />
a judge and jury, were exemplified in an eight-day domestic violence<br />
trial in Lancaster.<br />
“One of the deciding factors in the case was that his wife had made<br />
allegations that he was in a rage, and he had punched multiple holes<br />
throughout the house, that he shattered windows, broke tables,” Villanueva<br />
said. “We were able to catch her in a lie. We found witnesses<br />
who had been told by her that she caused some of holes, and some<br />
of the damage was caused by roommates.”<br />
“We used two investigators and started speaking with people she<br />
knew, did searches on Facebook, it was just a lot of good investigation,”<br />
he said. “The jury acquitted our client in under an hour.”<br />
Villanueva’s successes have prompted other attorneys to turn to him<br />
when they are in trouble, including a prosecutor who found himself<br />
under criminal investigation. Villanueva dug into the matter, with the<br />
result that no charges were ultimately filed.<br />
“I felt real pride that some of our colleagues, when they have had<br />
legal issues, have allowed me to defend them,” Villanueva said.<br />
The case of the pro basketball team owner was another one that Villanueva<br />
stopped in its tracks before it could go to trial. He declined to<br />
identify the owner because the matter did not come to the public’s<br />
attention.<br />
“There are many criminal lawyers who advertise as criminal trial attorneys,<br />
but their experience might be limited. The prosecutors are<br />
aware of this, and it affects how they make pre-trial offers,” Villanueva<br />
said.<br />
Another of Villanueva’s clients, a 52-year-old man, was charged with<br />
elder abuse in the case of an injured 70-year-old man. Prosecutors<br />
claimed that the defendant caused a large hematoma to the skull of<br />
the older man and gave him two black eyes.<br />
At the preliminary hearing, the magistrate ruled that the older man<br />
was the catalyst in the incident, and had forced Villanueva’s client to<br />
respond in self-defense.<br />
“In many similar cases dealing with fighting and aggressive behavior,<br />
the parties can have vastly different stories,” Villanueva said. “Many<br />
times, it can be law enforcement or prosecutors who determine the<br />
victim based on sympathy, or political correctness, and not the facts.”<br />
Villanueva’s careful attention to changes in law proved decisive in<br />
his successful representation of a schoolteacher who was trying to get<br />
her criminal record expunged of felony drunk driving, assaulting a police<br />
officer and driving with a suspended license.<br />
“She had applied for expungement, and it had been denied. She<br />
hired our office to re-litigate the matter,” Villanueva said.<br />
He won the case by finding a then-recent change in expungement<br />
law that had been overlooked in the previous proceedings.<br />
“She would have lost her job,” Villanueva said.<br />
It is also important to Villanueva to make himself fully available to<br />
each client.<br />
“I try to be as open to my clients as possible,” he said. “I run an opendoor<br />
policy. I am happy to meet my clients in late hours, or on weekends.<br />
I want my clients to be able to simply walk into my office any<br />
time. They will always find that my door is open.”<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 33
y Bondo Wyszpolski<br />
Jim Eninger. Photo by Bondo Wyszpolski<br />
Aesthetics, not bodies in seats is what matters to classical music enthusiast Jim Eninger<br />
This past October, Jim Eninger was among the recipients of the Excellence<br />
in Arts Awards, an annual event presented by the City of Torrance<br />
Cultural Art Commission. If the name doesn’t ring the bells of<br />
familiarity that’s because Eninger is perfectly content to remain in the background.<br />
That isn’t to say he doesn’t have admirers and champions. The late<br />
John Bogart of the Daily Breeze referred to Eninger as “the smartest, besteducated<br />
publicist in the South Bay and -- who knows -- maybe the entire<br />
world.”<br />
Many people who follow classical music would agree.<br />
Adams and Adès to Zimmer and Zorn<br />
From Jim Eninger’s Torrance home you can throw a stone into Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>. He’s a retired engineer who graduated from Stanford and worked<br />
at TRW. Along the way, his interest in classical music grew by leaps and<br />
bounds. While he himself may not play an instrument, his wife and daughters<br />
are musically inclined.<br />
In the late 1970s, long before all the gadgetry came along that now pins<br />
us to our phones and computers, Eninger became involved with the South<br />
Bay Chamber Music Society. Then, when the internet became viable, and<br />
being somewhat computer savvy, Eninger began sending out concert reminders<br />
as well as the evening’s program notes: “And people would show<br />
up at the concerts, (having) printed out the programs on their dot matrix<br />
printers.”<br />
These emails boosted attendance, to the point where a Sunday afternoon<br />
encore performance was initiated to supplement the one on Friday. The visiting<br />
musicians liked this as well, since if they were preparing for one concert<br />
it was nice to be able to present it again, the same material and all, just<br />
two days later.<br />
The format continues to this day, Fridays at Harbor College in Wilmington<br />
and Sundays at the Pacific Unitarian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes.<br />
Having been on the board, as well as serving as the group’s president,<br />
Eninger left the South Bay Music Society in 1999, and that’s when he began<br />
his newsletter, now referred to as the Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter<br />
from the South Bay.<br />
“During the season, from September through June,” he says, “they go out<br />
weekly because there’s so much classical music. And then when things<br />
slow down during the summer sometimes they go out every two weeks or<br />
maybe every three weeks if I want to schedule a vacation.”<br />
For all that, they’re sent out regularly, the most recent issue (as of this<br />
writing) is number 781, and there are in excess of 5,700 people who subscribe<br />
to it.<br />
Also, and most importantly, the newsletter is thoroughly comprehensive,<br />
giving the date and time, the names of the artists, and the locations of<br />
dozens upon dozens of classical music events coming up throughout the<br />
greater Los Angeles area.<br />
It’s a formidable undertaking, and yes there are volunteers who serve as<br />
proofreaders and fact-checkers.<br />
Eninger is in his early 70s, but he doesn’t seem to mind the trek to venues<br />
near and far. On the day we met, he was headed over to Zipper Hall in<br />
downtown Los Angeles.<br />
“There’s a group of friends that I see at concerts all over the city,” he says.<br />
“The distance to go to a concert is a secondary consideration.<br />
“And one thing about attending classical music concerts, you really get to<br />
know your city. Going to Pasadena, Westwood, downtown. It really makes<br />
you feel connected.”<br />
That’s a good lesson for those of us who automatically cite traffic as an<br />
excuse to not venture out of the area.<br />
But let’s say we don’t (or won’t) leave the South Bay in pursuit of classical<br />
music. That’s okay, too, because Eninger says there’s quite a bit of it locally,<br />
and a glance through his newsletter gives plenty of proof that this is so.<br />
To mention a few, apart from the South Bay Chamber Music Society, we<br />
have Classical Crossroads in Torrance, plus occasional concerts at El<br />
34 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
Camino College, numerous churches, and one shouldn’t forget Alexey<br />
Steele’s Classical Underground in Carson.<br />
There are also many notable classical musicians who live in the area or<br />
who play here frequently. Most people know of David Benoit and the Asia<br />
America Symphony. Eninger also singles out two other fine pianists, Robert<br />
Thies and Steven Vanhauwaert. Thies was recently named the artistic director<br />
of the South Bay Chamber Music Society, and Vanhauwaert, originally<br />
from Belgium, resides in Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
Music is a journey<br />
Eninger says that when he began listening to music he wanted to keep<br />
an open mind and so he listened to many genres. This is how we discover<br />
what it is that appeals to us most directly. In Eninger’s case, he seems to<br />
prefer the Germanic tradition, Bach to Brahms, and then into the 20th century<br />
with predominantly tonal music. But he emphasizes that he enjoys a<br />
wide range of music, his criteria being that the artists are exceptionally talented<br />
and the music is well-played.<br />
“I like to expand my horizons,” he notes, pointing out that at the moment<br />
he’s carefully, slowly, reading “The Rest is Noise,” by Alex Ross. “If you<br />
want to understand music in the 20th century, that’s an essential book to<br />
read.” In addition, Eninger says, “I’ve been reading biographies of the great<br />
composers -- Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Prokofiev, Brahms… because<br />
these biographies reflect on the history of the time. It’s a great way<br />
to learn about history.”<br />
These days, at least, Eninger prefers chamber music over symphonies,<br />
because with chamber music there’s a drawing room intimacy that can’t<br />
be achieved with a Mahler-sized orchestra.<br />
“What I’m really getting interested in now is American Contemporary<br />
Ballet; it’s almost like chamber ballet. When you attend one of their performances<br />
(located in a highrise on Flower Street in downtown L.A.) you’re<br />
only at most three rows from the dance floor.”<br />
The dances are accompanied by live music, “most of the musicians<br />
drawn from the USC Thornton School.” Eninger is hoping to bring this<br />
mixture of dance and chamber music to the South Bay.<br />
One of the questions that people ask about classical music of all types,<br />
including large-scale opera, is what happens after the audience becomes<br />
too feeble to attend and, ahem, dies off? Because, if one goes to see “Così<br />
fan tutte” or even “Rigoletto,” most of the seats seem occupied by those in<br />
or nearing their sunset years.<br />
“Well, there’s always new people coming in,” Eninger explains. In other<br />
words, while some folks go out one door, others are coming in from another.<br />
And actually, Eninger thinks this is a good time for classical music<br />
attendance because the baby boom generation is reaching that point in<br />
their lives where, presumably, they have more leisure time and, furthermore,<br />
Led Zeppelin now seems a little outdated.<br />
As for luring a younger audience, Eninger often sees students who were<br />
sent by the teachers of their music appreciation classes. “I love to see how<br />
they get drawn into it,” he says, “because they don’t have high expectations<br />
for this [kind of music], and then they really like it.”<br />
While Eninger is pleased to see students in the audience, he doesn’t think<br />
the concerts should kowtow to them.<br />
“There are some organizations that are trying to chase younger people<br />
by making their presentations more hip or including things that kids like.<br />
I don’t believe in that.” He also feels that sometimes a group or presenting<br />
organization needs to put aside the notion of just trying to draw in as many<br />
people as possible. An art song recital, for example, Eninger says, “where<br />
you know your audience is going to fall by 30 or 40 percent, but you do it<br />
anyway.”<br />
That’s conviction, and integrity, even if it’s going against the grain of filling<br />
seats at all cost. But it’s also admirable, that openness to finding and<br />
presenting true gems in music and by doing so to offer a unique and one<br />
hopes exceptional experience.<br />
“When you come to a concert that’s played by talented musicians who<br />
give an inspired performance of great music by great composers, then<br />
something magical happens,” Eninger says. “The entire focus should be on<br />
the artistic quality, and the audience will come.”<br />
Revelations await us in the realm of live classical music, and Jim Eninger<br />
is our guide and travel companion. His clickable newsletter is just that, a<br />
click away. Email a request to JEninger@yahoo.com or go to<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 35
food<br />
The infinity view at Strand House. Photos courtesy of Strand House<br />
Evolution of a dining destination<br />
Dinner at the Strand House in downtown Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> is typically expensive,<br />
36 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong><br />
but the experience is anything but typical<br />
by Richard Foss<br />
Strand House opened in 2011 to the very highest of expectations. The<br />
former dance club had been renovated by an internationally known<br />
design team, and founding chef Travis Lorton collaborated on the<br />
menu with Neal Fraser, one of LA’s top chefs. The menu was easily the<br />
most ambitious in the South Bay, featuring unusual heirloom vegetables,<br />
arcane seasoning combinations, and housemade cured and smoked meats.<br />
Crowds showed up to see if this was going to set the standard for fine dining<br />
in the South Bay or be the biggest flop ever.<br />
Seven years later the Strand House still has a crowd most nights and is<br />
still leading the pack in adventurous dining. That said, there have been subtle<br />
changes in style that show a refined focus. In the early days an exuberant<br />
kitchen team decided they could do everything in-house. They made their<br />
own bacon and performed other time and labor intensive tasks. As the<br />
restaurant’s chef-partner Greg Hozinsky observed, when he took over they<br />
were doing some things just because they could, not because the result was<br />
a superior product.<br />
Hozinsky made some changes when he took the reins, and new Executive<br />
Chef Austin Cobb has added his own signature to the eclectic mix of items<br />
here. The flavors are still complex but more reliant on the natural flavors<br />
of seasonal produce, and there is a an American sensibility rather than the<br />
Italian focus of earlier days.<br />
Some items from days past are still on the menu, such as the hand-torn<br />
pasta with housemade lamb sausage, roasted fennel, blistered tomatoes,<br />
pine nuts, and chili. Since this involves using several cooking methods before<br />
combining them, you can see that the tendency toward complexity is<br />
alive and well. Those different methods give each bite bursts of flavors<br />
that are complementary rather than unified so that you’re still finding new<br />
harmonies of flavor in the last bite.<br />
Another small plate shows Cobb’s gift with simpler but still inventive<br />
combinations. I never would have thought of roasting cauliflower with bits<br />
of pineapple and adding pickled onions. This was served over coconut<br />
cream with faint notes of chili and curry, and the combination of tropical<br />
flavors with a winter vegetable was brilliant. Another starter offers comfort<br />
food for the modern crowd, Spanish octopus in a Peruvian-influenced style.<br />
The crispy corn kernels, confit potato, and yellow chili and garlic sauce are<br />
traditional pairings, and thanks to fine technique there were many textures<br />
and flavors to savor. This showed a restraint that is rare in the industry, because<br />
a creative chef knew when to just leave a winning combination alone.<br />
The same was true of a main course of a grilled Kurobuta pork chop,<br />
which was served with braised purple cabbage, crispy spaetzle, and apple<br />
chutney. This is soul food if you’re from Germany or places in the U.S. that<br />
have a large German population. If your grandmother is visiting from Wisconsin<br />
and wonders if she can find anything to eat here the answer is yes.<br />
Grandma may find the décor a bit modern and the sound level a bit high<br />
for her taste, but the hearty flavors will win her over.<br />
Other items are more multicultural, such as the Ora king salmon that is<br />
topped with a mix of sliced radishes, pickles, and roasted tomato in a Japanese<br />
yuzu sauce and served over a French-style pesto. The mix of citrus and
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vinegar in the vegetables made a superb complement to the rich, crispskinned<br />
fish. I ignored the pesto at first because I was so entranced by the<br />
other flavors but found that adding a dab to alternating bites enhanced the<br />
experience. Ora King is a New Zealand sustainably farmed fish with a flavor<br />
that rivals the best of the wild fish. If you haven’t tried it this is the<br />
place to do so.<br />
When I scanned the menu to see if I could deduce Chef Austin’s culinary<br />
signature I found an easy clue: an item called “Chef Austin’s saltimbocca<br />
pizza.” I probably would have ordered that even if it wasn’t his signature<br />
item, because I was curious about the name. Saltimbocca is traditionally a<br />
preparation of veal stuffed with prosciutto and sage, occasionally with<br />
cheese. The item here was a pizza stuffed with housemade porchetta,<br />
fontina cheese, a dash of fresno chili, and pesto. This was served as a sandwich<br />
in a folded and cut, freshly baked flatbread. I can’t say that it reminds<br />
me much of the traditional favorite, but it was exceptionally good.<br />
To pair with these items the Strand House offers a dizzying variety of<br />
wine by the glass as well as craft cocktails. I strongly recommend the Clyde<br />
Barrow, a new drink in the classic style made with Chivas Regal, Cointreau,<br />
ginger liqueur, blood orange juice, and chocolate bitters. This was a<br />
drink worth a long slow savor, the most outstanding of several I’ve tried<br />
there.<br />
For dessert we tried a housemade doughnut sampler and a warm brown<br />
sugar cake. We would have tried more but we were dining late and the<br />
kitchen had run out of a few items. My wife ordered the doughnuts because<br />
she has a weakness for them that I don’t share because they’re generally<br />
too sweet. These weren’t, and though I liked the chocolate crunch<br />
and vanilla bean glazed versions I particularly enjoyed the caramel fleur<br />
de sel version. A glass of Sandeman port was suggested as an accompaniment,<br />
and it finished the meal with a flourish.<br />
Dinner at the Strand House is not cheap – you may expect to pay between<br />
$75 and $100 per person with a glass of wine and a cocktail each,<br />
and more if you explore the high side of the wine menu. But that’s about<br />
typical in downtown Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> now, and this experience is anything<br />
but typical. The cooking here is assured and inventive, the service<br />
impeccable, and I suppose I should mention that they have a great view<br />
because every review has to mention that. It’s pretty, but the least of the<br />
attractions.<br />
The Strand House is at 117 Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Boulevard in Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>. Open for lunch Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Brunch Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.<br />
– 3 p.m. Dinner daily 5 p.m. – close. Pay lot adjacent, elevator to upper floor<br />
but steep sidewalk outside. Full bar, corkage $30 but waived with bottle purchase.<br />
Menu at TheStrandHousemb.com. (310)-545-7470. B<br />
Cupids countdown has begun...<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 37
each sports<br />
SBBC/RIDERSHACK CONTEST<br />
scores great conditions<br />
T<br />
he South Bay Boardrider/RiderShack surf contest<br />
on Sunday, Jan. 21 in El Porto enjoyed near<br />
perfect conditions with double-overhead outside<br />
sets feeding inside reforms that ran the length of<br />
the contest zones. The outside sets were generally<br />
closing out, but inside the waves provided plenty of<br />
workable faces.<br />
1<br />
2<br />
PHOTOS BY STEVE GAFFNEY<br />
1. Early morning setup.<br />
2. Beck Adler, second place juniors (18 and<br />
under).<br />
3. Chad Parks, third place juniors (18 and under).<br />
4. Kai Kushner, fourth place groms (under 12).<br />
5. Bethany Zelasko, first place open women.<br />
6. Roi Kanazawa, first place juniors (under 18).<br />
7. Greg McEwan, first place legends and open<br />
longboard.<br />
8. Parker Browning, second place open men.<br />
9. Groms loving the ocean.<br />
10. Joey Samuelian, fifth place juniors (18 and<br />
under)<br />
11. Eddie Lester, first place open men.<br />
12. Miles Gaffney, third place junior longboard<br />
(18 and under).<br />
13. Adele Bouvet, first place assisted groms.<br />
3 4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
10<br />
11 12<br />
13<br />
38 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong>
each activism<br />
WOMEN MARCH IN REDONDO BEACH<br />
joining others across the country<br />
N<br />
early 1,000 men, women and children marched from Seaside Lagoon to Veterans<br />
Park on Jan. 20, in solidarity with Women’s Marches across the country.<br />
The Redondo March was organized by the Progressive Parents of the South<br />
Bay and had a family-friendly focus.<br />
Cliff Leicht, of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, was at the corner of Catalina and Pacific avenues,<br />
with his daughters Hudson and Dylan. “To drill these ideas, that they’re equal<br />
to men, into their minds at an early age is incredibly important,” Leicht said.<br />
Half a mile away, at the Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Veterans Memorial, Linda Falcone stood,<br />
craning her neck to find the friends she’d separated from. “I marched with Cesar<br />
Chavez, in the ‘60s, I protested with Vietnam vets against the war,” Falcone, 70, said.<br />
“I hope things like the marches here, can get things turned around, and maybe Trump<br />
will open his eyes and understand the things he’s doing are hurting people — not<br />
just me, as a senior, but our children.”<br />
Her 93-year-old friend Fay Ferraioli said, “I’m here for women’s rights and for<br />
good government. I don’t know whether I like this government or not, but we’re<br />
working on it.”<br />
1. Cliff, Dylan and Hudson Leicht<br />
share their views at the corner of<br />
Catalina and Pacific avenues.<br />
2. Linda Falcone, 70, Deloris Gantner,<br />
Laura Oczachowski and Fay Ferraioli,<br />
93.<br />
PHOTOS BY DAVID MENDEZ<br />
3. “This is all about the women in our<br />
lives – our wives, our daughters, our<br />
mothers,” State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi<br />
said from the steps of the Redondo’s<br />
Historic Library.<br />
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<strong>Feb</strong>ruary 8, <strong>2018</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 39