By MICHAEL MATLOF | Intern

Known as “the greatest day of the year” in Pacific Palisades, Fourth of July traditions had to be amended—but the community found ways to gather, from Venice to Santa Monica and Paul Revere Charter Middle School.

The day began with an early start at the Palisades Will Rogers 5K Run in Venice, as well as the Kids’ Fun Run. (Full coverage can be found in the Sports section, beginning on Page 6.)

Instead of the traditional parade through the Village area, this year, there was a Palisades contingent invited to participate in the Santa Monica 4th of July Parade, which began at 9:30 a.m. along Main Street and included Palisadian announcer Sam Laganá.

Participating Palisadians included Pacific Palisades Community Council, with its 2024 award winners: Citizen of the Year Cindi Young, Golden Sparkplugs Carlos Rodriguez and Leslie Campbell, and Pride of the Palisades Thomas Hathaway.

“This year’s parade was particularly meaningful on so many levels,” Campbell, who received a Golden Sparkplug for her work on bringing a forthcoming Palisades dog park to fruition, said to the Palisadian-Post. “I was organizing my Tahitian Terrace community to march in the parade when I got the call to ride with the PPCC. If ever I needed a clone, it was on this 4th of July. It was an honor, however, to ride alongside Carlos Rodriguez as the [most recent] Golden Sparkplug recipients and represent all things good about the Palisades.”

Also participating was Community United Methodist Church of Pacific Palisades, Resilient Palisades, Pali Strong, Palisades Recovery Coalition, Palisades-Malibu YMCA, Oom Pa Pa band, American Legion Ronald Reagan – Palisades Post 283, and Pacific Palisades Pony League champions: Pinto Cardinals, Mustang Orioles and Bronco Orioles.

In the evening time, hundreds of Palisadians, friends, community leaders and beyond gathered starting at 5 p.m. for the annual Palisades Americanism Parade Association celebration, which took place at Paul Revere this year. Attendees were invited to enjoy various food trucks, games, live music on the field and a drone show by Pyro Spectaculars to cap off the night.

Palisadian Laura Traister, who lost her home during the Palisades fire, reflected on what she saw among fellow residents during the event.

“It’s this weird thing where out of tragedy comes camaraderie and community,” Traister said. “It’s this shared experience that has actually brought us together.”

On the main field, Laganá returned to emcee the event alongside Kimi Petrick throughout the evening on a large stage with a LED screen. Music groups performed songs throughout the night, including singer Matty Gottesman, Vinyl Jam, the Palisades Charter High School band and Chantal Trent.

The evening also featured the inauguration of co-Honorary Mayors of the Palisades, Gigi Rice and Ted McGinley, who were sworn in on a copy of “Growing Up in Pacific Palisades,” by Stewart Slavin.

“We have experienced what the Palisades was,” the honorary mayors said in a statement to the Post. “We have made lifetime friends and educated our kids, while they thrived at the park in sports throughout the years. We want that for the new families coming into the Palisades and the ones who have shared this precious neighborhood with us all these many years. We don’t know what it will become, but we want to encourage a positive spirit and strength to overcome the hardship and loss left behind from the fire. We are in this together.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appeared earlier during the celebration, speaking and taking photos with student volunteers from Pali High and members of the community.

Bass spoke with Post about the importance of having the celebration, despite the devastation of the fires.

“It’s one thing to lose your home, but it’s so much more than a structure, you lose all your memories, but you also lose community,” Bass said. “An event like this, it’s an opportunity for that community to come back.”

Pali High student Justin Reimman, who met with Bass, remarked on the positive vibe at the occasion, despite its changed setting.

“Being here is just amazing,” Reimman said. “It’s got the same energy as years past.”

He and other student volunteers assisted in scanning tickets, delivering the drone show and managing the overall event.

Councilmember Traci Park appeared at the event, both in a CD 11 booth and on stage. Members of her staff handed out free merchandise and engaged with attendees.

Palisades Forever, a nonprofit dedicated to funding and empowering fire recovery, hosted its own stand adjacent to Park. Volunteers sold merchandise, including hats and shirts, that would help fund recovery initiatives. Crayon Collection, founded by Palisadian Sheila Morovati, had a booth with arts and crafts options.

Food trucks included Gracias Señor, Smile Hotdog, Travelin‘ Tom’s Coffee, Poutine Brothers, Dina’s Dumpling, Cousins Maine Lobster, Buddy’z, Sunset Smash and Richeeze Melts. Sweets were also sold at Kona Ice, a shaved ice food truck, and Afters Ice Cream.

“I believe that this event is going to bring us even more hope of rebuilding, because we have so many more experiences to look forward to as a community,” said Cantor Chayim Frenkel of Kehillat Israel while observing the celebration. He said he was thankful for the ability to celebrate, even if it wasn’t the typical festivities.

Additional activities on the field included bouncy houses and a magician. Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters and uniformed members of Los Angeles Police Department could be seen mingling with residents throughout the night.

Beginning shortly after 9 p.m., following a thank you message from PAPA’s Matthew Rodman and Daphne Gronich, who spearheaded planning this year’s event, the evening concluded with a drone show with 250 drones above the stage, displaying words and phrases like “Pacific Palisades,” “Raise Pali,” “Community,” “Hope,” “Resilience” and more.

Sarah Shmerling and Lily Tinoco contributed to this report.

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Council District 11 hosted a virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, July 2, where Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was invited to present plans for undergrounding power, upgrading water lines and provide an update on the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

Councilmember Traci Park began the town hall by sharing that she has attended regular meetings with LADWP over the past several months, and there have been “many” conversations about infrastructure upgrades and planning for the future of the Palisades.

“I look forward to having DWP here with us this evening to share some of those big ticket items that they are working on,” Park said.

Park then handed the meeting over to Senior Assistant General Manager of the Water System for LADWP Anselmo Collins to break down the agency’s efforts to “restore, recover and rebuild” in the Palisades.

Collins presented pictures of the Santa Ynez Reservoir in the Highlands, reporting that it returned to service on June 25. Collins explained that the Santa Ynez Reservoir is a drinking water reservoir, and is used to serve water to its customers for drinking purposes and to use around their homes. It can also provide water to the fire hydrants that are connected to the distribution system.

Collins spoke on short- and long-term plans.

“We have the floating cover fixed now, but our goal is to replace this cover with another floating cover as a short-term solution,” Collins said. “We recognize that this cover obviously has been patched up quite a bit. We want to make sure that we can continue to have the resiliency that we need in our system, so we’re working to expedite the replacement of this floating cover with a brand new one.”

Collins said the long-term solution involves finding a different type of replacement cover. There are four options they are currently considering—one option involves replacing the floating cover with a fixed cover, with either an aluminum roof or a concrete slab that is placed on top of the reservoir.

Lastly, Collins said they are considering a treatment plan that would allow LADWP to remove the floating cover, and as water leaves or exits the reservoir, it would be treated before entering the system.

“Now all these alternatives that I just described, we consider them long term,” Collins said. “Meaning that it would take us probably eight to 10 years to implement. That’s the reason why having a short-term solution makes sense, to ensure that we can have reliable water supply.”

Collins then presented mainline infrastructure plans for the Palisades. Collins said there are approximately 95 miles of pipe, and some of the pipe is aging. A plan has been devised to replace roughly 13 miles of pipe—some are being replaced due to age and wear, and others will be replaced with “earthquake-resilient pipe.”

“We actually … already have dedicated three mainline crews that are going to be exclusively working in the Pacific Palisades area to accomplish these projects,” Collins explained.

LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager of the Power System David Hanson then joined the meeting to discuss power distribution recovery and a rebuilding plan.

Hanson said Emergency Recovery was completed toward the end of March, with power being restored to all standing structures by March 21. Then LADWP shifted into a Temporary Rebuild, which is also complete as of July 1.

“We set the last pole and have completely rebuilt the power system back to its original design,” Hanson said. “Where it was underground, it’s still underground. Where it was overhead, it’s back overhead. Essentially we can’t come in and set temporary poles when we rebuild our system … So we refer to it as a [temporary] restoration but in actuality, it will look very similar to permanent construction because it has to be built that way.”

The next phase is a Permanent Rebuild, which is in progress and under development. This phase involves undergrounding, which Hanson said—at the time of the meeting—was being worked on along Sunset Boulevard.

“That work was already in the budget to be done in a few years,” Hanson explained. “We’re just taking advantage of the schedule now to accelerate that and start building.”

Hanson said there are plans to bring in a new distribution level voltage that was originally going to be piloted in the Valley, but LADWP has decided to roll out to the Palisades.

Hanson also said there are plans to underground all the residential circuits.

“Our goal is 100% underground, and anything that keeps us from doing that would be … terrain or some sort of complications out there,” Hanson said.

Hanson said the team will be going neighborhood by neighborhood to configure design and sequencing for the load-out of the project.

Hanson said the team will be “very transparent” with the community about where above-ground equipment will go and will actively work with the community.

In an update sent July 5, Park confirmed that a proposed distribution station near Marquez Charter Elementary School is no longer being considered by LADWP.

“After more than a decade of community advocacy, I’m pleased to share that the proposed Distribution Station 104 next to Marquez Elementary is not moving forward,” Park wrote. “We heard the update directly from LADWP during our town hall this week. Thank you to the parents, neighbors and residents—your persistence made all the difference.”

Park said CD11 plans to continue engaging with the community through ongoing meetings and discussions focused on infrastructure projects in the community.

A link to the recording of the July 2 Town Hall is available at pacpalicc.org.

The Palisadian-Post is seeking fall interns who will assist with reporting, proofreading, covering events and more for the paper.

Those who are interested in an internship are encouraged to send a resume and brief background (including interest in journalism and ties to the Palisades), as well as two or three writing samples, ideally non-fiction, to mypost@palipost.com.

Luxe Homecare—which provides in-home care services for seniors—has opened a new office in Brentwood at 11726 San Vicente Boulevard in Suite 240 after the Palisades fire destroyed its previous office building on Alma Real Drive.

“While our hearts remain deeply connected to the Palisades, a community that embraced us for so long, our new Brentwood location is a natural extension to provide care for our beloved clients who are displaced in the surrounding Westside areas,” Luxe Founder Fay Vahdani, a resident of the Highlands, said.

Luxe offers “comprehensive and personalized” care solutions for aging adults, with “dedicated and highly trained caregivers” who are able to provide 24/7 care. This includes assistance with daily living activities, home health, senior transportation and hospice care when needed.

For more information, visit luxehomecare.com or call 424-260-5150.

USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy will host a wildfire community listening session on July 19 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“Share your stories with high school reporters for an archive with the Los Angeles Public Library and USC podcasts and online media,” read a flyer. “Bring your memories, hopes and lessons learned from the fires, and tell us what you have lost—and found—in the last six months.”

The program is part of the Wildfire Youth Media Initiative, which includes 18 high school reporters from Pacific Palisades and greater Altadena.

The Palisades fire session will take place at KCRW, located at 1660 Stewart Street in Santa Monica. There will also be a listening session for the Eaton fire on July 26 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena.

“Anyone who was impacted is welcome: survivors, neighbors, friends, students, journalists, volunteers, community organizers and more,” according to the program.

RSVP to the Wildfire Community Listening Sessions at communicationleadership.usc.edu/wildfire-community-listening-sessions.