California Department of Transportation began construction to create a second northbound lane on Pacific Coast Highway at Porto Marina Way on Tuesday night, May 28, the department reported earlier that day.
The right lane of PCH has been closed following the Tramonto Slide that occurred in February, later saturated by a series of storms in March, according to Caltrans.
Construction was anticipated to take place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night, May 28 through Thursday, May 30. At least one lane in each direction of Pacific Coast Highway from Sunset Boulevard to Coastline Drive would remain open.
“By Friday morning, May 31, PCH will be realigned to have two lanes open in each direction at Porta Marina Way near the Tramonto Slide,” Caltrans said. “Construction will include removing the existing curb along the southbound shoulder; removing existing pavement delineation, markers, and markings; realigning lanes around the slide area; grinding; repaving; restriping; and placing k-rail at the toe of the slide.”
Caltrans recently stated the department would not clear the landslide debris from PCH “unless and until the city stabilizes the Tramonto Slide above the roadway,” according to Pacific Palisades Community Council.
“The existing northbound right lane must remain closed due to the instability of the slide,” Caltrans reported. “There is no additional space in the median to create another lane. All northbound and southbound lanes will be realigned toward the shoreline to create space for a second northbound travel lane that allows the safe and smooth flow of traffic.”
PPCC hosted a special meeting on May 20 to discuss the landslide and proposed construction in Castellammare. Full coverage of the meeting can be found in the May 23 edition of the Palisadian-Post, as well as online.
A previous Summer Writing Contest awards ceremony Photo by Rich Schmitt
By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor
The Pacific Palisades Library Association Summer Creative Writing Contest is now underway with the theme “A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To … ”
Open to grades one through 12, student writers have the opportunity to win prizes and be a part of an awards ceremony in the fall. There are five age categories: Scribblers (grades one and two); Jotters (three and four); Scrawlers (five and six); Scribes (seven and eight); and Authors (nine through 12).
“Entries should be family friendly and relate to this year’s theme,” PPLA, also known as The Friends of the Palisades Library, wrote on the contest website.
Entries can be in any literary style, and contestants are limited to one entry, not to exceed two double-spaced pages. This page length is shorter than previous years, PPLA noted on the website.
Contestants may not copy anybody else’s work or use “any form of [artificial intelligence],” and contestants may not submit entries that have won prizes in other contests.
Contestants must reside or attend school in the city of Los Angeles. Entries may be submitted online or in person at Palisades Branch Library, located at 861 Alma Real Drive. The contest is open through September 3.
“The charm of many entries is in the creative mistakes of a beginning writer,” PPLA wrote. “Good luck, we look forward to reading your work.”
“The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” by John Bishop is set to open its five-weekend run at Pierson Playhouse, beginning Friday, May 31, at 8 p.m.
“A backer’s audition in a mansion in Chappaqua, New York, gathers together a team of successful Broadway show folk, and it turns out one of them is the infamous ‘Stage Door Slasher’—but who?” read a synopsis provided by Theatre Palisades. “The snow falls, the jokes fly, the bodies drop and the power keeps going out as the group tries to find the killer in this hilarious farce.”
The Theatre Palisades iteration is directed by Lee Costello, and produced by Martha Hunter and Hahnah Jackson. The cast features Josh Farrell, Susan Stangl, Michele Schultz, Brendan Serapiglia, Joshua Farrell, Steven Frankenfield, Cara Kluver, Ian Riegler, Hunter, Richard R. Rosales and Mari King.
The audience will be “treated to a sidesplitting good time and generous serving of the author’s biting, satiric and refreshingly irreverent wit,” read the Theatre Palisades website.
Pacific Palisades Democratic Club will host a visit to Skirball Cultural Center to have a guided tour of the “Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak” exhibit on Sunday, June 2, at 2 p.m.
“‘Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak’ celebrates the work of Jewish American artist Maurice Sendak, creator of the acclaimed children’s books ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ (1963), ‘In the Night Kitchen’ (1970) and ‘Outside Over There’ (1980),” read a description on the Skirball website. “Organized by The Columbus Museum of Art, where it premiered in October 2022, it is the first major Sendak retrospective since his death in 2012, and the largest and most complete exhibition of his work to date.”
The exhibit features more than 150 sketches, storyboards and paintings that are part of The Maurice Sendak Foundation. It will be on display through September 1.
“This groundbreaking exhibition also adds new depth to audiences’ understanding of Sendak’s life—as a child of Jewish immigrants, a lover of music, someone with close personal relationships—and how it dovetailed with his creative work, which drew inspiration from writers ranging from William Shakespeare to Herman Melville,” the description concluded. “From portraits that he made of loved ones to archival photographs of family members to toys he designed as a young adult, the exhibition brings Sendak and his work to life in three dimensions.”
Tickets for admission to the PPDC event include everything at Skirball (located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard) apart from the Noah’s Ark exhibit. They are available for $15 for under 18 years old or full-time student; $20 for adult PPDC members; and $22 for adult non-members.
For more information, including a link to purchase tickets, visit the PPDC website.
Teen Cancer America, a national nonprofit organization founded by rock musicians Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend from The Who, will host Rock ‘n Polo V at Will Rogers State Historic Park on Saturday, June 15, at 12:30 p.m. and tickets are on sale now.
The event raises funds and awareness for the TCA mission, which develops specialized facilities and services for teens and young adults fighting cancer.
“Don your sun dresses, hats and dapper bow ties, and join Teen Cancer America for an afternoon polo match, family activities, live music, and a gourmet lunch and desserts,” according to the organization.
The event is set to feature music by Ryan Ellis and iHeart DJ Von Bellows. Children are invited to participate in the Kids Stick Pony Race, as well as an Activity Meadow, complete with henna hand painting, a visit from puppies of A Purposeful Rescue, a silent auction and raffle, and more.
“The charity works to bring young people with cancer together to show them that there’s support and people that care,” Michelle Aland, director of development and partnerships for TCA, said of the event in 2022. “The event is to raise funds for the charity … and then to also raise awareness.”
The event takes place at Will Rogers Polo Club at the park.
“It’s a really lovely event where parents can go and have a great day, and watch polo and have a nice glass of wine, and then the young people have a safe place to play and enjoy the day,” Aland continued.
All ages are welcome. Tickets are $10 for children ages 2 to 5; $20 for ages 6 to 18; and $120 for adults. VIP tickets, with VIP table seating, are available for $700.
Palisades Studio Performing Arts & Fitness will present its spring concert, “Barbie: Get Your Sparkle On,” Sunday, June 2, beginning at 3:30 p.m.
The performance will take place at Palisades Charter High School, located at 15777 Bowdoin Street, in Mercer Hall.
Tickets are available at the Palisades Studio website for $20.
Palisades Studio, which is located in The Highlands at 522 Palisades Drive, is offering a range of programming in 2024, including Hip Hop, Ballet, Acrobatics/Tumbling, Contemporary, Aerial Silks/Acro and more. Private lessons are also available.
The studio’s dance camps, which take place in June and July, are available for campers ages 3 to 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sessions will include Aerial Silks, Hip Hop, Ballet, Tumbling, Art and more.
Ready to Succeed—founded and operated by Palisadians Romi Lassally and Pat McCabe—hosted its fourth annual Graduation Celebration on May 16 at Chief Clubhouse, where 74 foster youth and first-generation college were honored.
“Ready to Succeed is a career and personal development nonprofit that empowers foster youth and first-generation college students to graduate, launch successful careers, and reach their full potential,” read a statement. “Only 4% of foster youth will graduate from a four-year university and be positioned for career-track jobs. RTS has developed a program—founded on a Fortune 500 CEO training curriculum—to meet the needs of these underrepresented youth holistically.”
Change Reaction awarded $2,000 to each graduating Ready to Succeed Scholar to “launch the organization’s graduates into life after college.”
The event, emceed by “dedicated RTS volunteer” Jess Cagle (former editor-in-chief of People Magazine and host of The Jess Cagle Podcast), featured keynote speaker Andrew Bridge (best-selling author of “Hope’s Boy” and a former foster youth).
Photo courtesy of Ready to Succeed/Jeff Lewis
Bridge spent 11 years in foster care in Los Angeles County, according to RTS. He earned a scholarship to Wesleyan University and graduated from Harvard Law School—and is now a “sought-after expert in his field,” having advised senior federal and state officials on reforming the foster care system to “meet the needs of families.”
“I always say that for many of our Scholars, graduation day is the best day of their life and the worst day of their lives,” McCabe said in a statement. “While it’s the day they celebrate this tremendous accomplishment, they also lose their housing, meal plan, social circle and support system all in one day. The transition into a career and the next phase of their lives can be really hard and very scary.”
The RTS program is designed to help Scholars “have more confidence, tangible experience and professional networks” that will “provide a solid foundation for their futures.”
There’s nothing funny about the benefits of laughter yoga.
Those who want to give it a go are encouraged to attend a Laughter Yoga session at Palisades Branch Library on Friday, May 31, beginning at 2 p.m.
“Laughter yoga is the Indian practice of experiencing laughter as a physical exercise rather than just a response,” read a synopsis on the library’s website. “You will be led through various laughter exercises and receive education on laughter yoga practice, play exercises, and breath and meditative work.”
The workshop is designed for teens and adults.
“Laughter yoga is a comfortable and fun way to get in touch with your body and emotions,” the description concluded, “and it helps build resilience and joy to meet the stresses of your everyday life.”
Palisades Branch Library is located at 861 Alma Real Drive in Pacific Palisades.
After leading the Palisades Charter High School boys volleyball squad to the City Section Open Division semifinals, senior outside hitter Pierce Bergstein and sophomore setter and opposite hitter Kyle McKnight have made the All-City First Team.
Palisades finished 27-10, went undefeated in the Western League and upset No. 4 Granada Hills in the first round of the playoffs before losing to eventual-champion Chatsworth in four sets in the semifinals.
Two more Dolphins were selected to the Second Team: senior middle blocker Josh Lande and sophomore setter Landon Zappaterrino.
Chatsworth senior setter Nate Kim and Eagle Rock senior outside hitter Tom Altankhuyag were named Co-Players of the Year, and Eagle Rock’s Michelle Hancock was voted Coach of the Year after piloting the Eagles into the finals at Cal State Northridge, where they lost to defending champion Chatsworth in four sets.
Pacific Palisades Community Council hosted a special meeting on Monday evening, May 20, regarding the Tramonto landslide and proposed “largescale development” of four homes in Castellammare, ultimately voting in support of urging the city of Los Angeles to require an environmental impact report for the project.
The PPCC Board reported in a background summary that in April 2023, it learned about the proposed construction of four homes over 12 existing lots along the 17500 blocks of Tramonto and Revello drives at the top of the Tramonto landslide, ranging from 2,619 square feet to 7,695 square feet (each with 2,428 to 6,292 square feet of basement space).
PPCC also reported that it learned at the time Castellammare Mesa Home Owners filed an appeal with the West LA Area Planning Commission of the planning director’s approval of Coastal Development Permits and a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project.
“An MND is a determination under the California Environmental Quality Act that mitigation measures can be implemented for a particular project to reduce potential impacts to less than significant levels, without requiring an environmental impact report,” according to PPCC.
At the time, the PPCC Board was informed of concerns related to the “scale of the project” and the “unstable geology of the underlying slide at the foot of the property to be developed.” The board passed a motion in 2023 calling for the EIR, as well as urging the city to “ensure the preservations of the public’s safety throughout construction and mitigating any construction impact on local roadways.” The PPCC Executive Committee sent a supplemental letter in October 2023.
A five-hour appeal hearing of the proposed project took place in November 2023, with the WLA-APC adopting an MND for the project and approving CDPs for the proposed homes, with conditions. The Castellammare Mesa Home Owners has appealed the adoption of the MND.
A landslide that occurred in February of this year has blocked the right lane of Pacific Coast Highway at the base of the Tramonto landslide, reported PPCC Area 1 Representative Murray Levy, raising “urgent and immediate concerns about the planned construction.”
While Caltrans plans to restripe the area to create an additional lane and help alleviate traffic concerns, the agency has reported it will not clear debris from the lane, “as that action would cause further slope destabilization and slippage,” according to PPCC’s summary. “The city must stabilize the slope above before the lane can be restored to use.”
All of the sites of the proposed development project, Tony Russo of Crest Real Estate—speaking on behalf of the applicant, Springhouse Hamilton Park LLC—explained at the November hearing, are located within the Tramonto landslide. The city requires the project “must remediate the landslide per code to ensure the safety of the development in the area.”
Photo courtesy of Demos Development
In the late 1960s, Russo continued, Tramonto was restored to its pre-landslide condition through the construction of a bulkhead, which was later reinforced in 1981. In February 2021, city engineers concluded the bulkhead and tie-back system appear “structurally sound,” according to Russo.
“Ultimately, the project proposes the four residences on piles that will stabilize the landslide and achieve the required factors of safety,” Russo said at the time.
During the nearly two-and-a-half-hour special meeting on May 20, presentations were made by Council District 11 Planning Deputy Jeff Khau on behalf of Councilmember Traci Park; developers Greg Demos of Demos Development and Russo; and Kim Feder along with many residents of the area and members of Castellammare Mesa Home Owners.
Khau explained that the council office, which has previously spoke in favor of the project, is in a state of gathering updated information, especially in light of recent landslides.
“Right now, we’re really looking at a CEQA appeal for the Mitigated Negative Declaration,” Khau described. “We have the opportunity right now to consider an EIR for this project—[consider] whether or not an environmental impact report is an appropriate environmental clearance for this project, given the complexities, given the controversy around this project.”
The location of the landslides and where the remediation needs to occur, Khau described, is on private property, with plans for additional city-owned lots in the area to be sold, possibly to the developer, through a bidding process in the future.
In a report in 2010, Khau said, it was determined there was an active landslide in the area that would cost $25 million to fix, but the city was unable to remediate it at the time, due to lack of funds and staff. This is why, Khau continued, the council office originally felt this proposed project, which would take over responsibility for the landslide remediation on the relevant lots, was beneficial.
The developers spoke next, with Russo saying he hoped “the takeaway from this presentation is that the project, although large in scale, is a net benefit of this community and stakeholders:” “It’s in no one’s interest to do nothing here,” he quoted a planning commissioner as stating.
The scope of the project, Russo described, includes the export and removal of approximately 30,000 cubic yards of landslide debris, which amounts to approximately 70,000 million pounds of “mass that will not be a driving force on landslide materials to the south.”
“The development will be visually compatible with other homes in the area that are large, multi-story, estate-size homes,” Russo continued.
“Key project benefits,” according to the presentation, include is addresses orders to comply, installs pile supported retaining wall along bulkhead, new voluntary sidewalk and cross gutter, a turnaround on Revello for fire and life safety, repair any potential damage along Revello, construction sequencing commitments, and voluntary construction conditions.
Russo ended his presentation by touching on why the project has an MND instead of an EIR, which, he explained, was determined by LA City Planning.
“They are the lead agency making the final decisions and determinations,” Russo explained. “Planning does, however, require the applicant to analyze many different categories of environmental impacts, such as air quality, geology, traffic, biology, etc., to determine if the project has a significant impact on the environment … the documents ultimately concluded that there is simply no unmitigable impact.”
Demos spoke next, explaining that he originally bought two lots in the area in 2015. After finding out that he would need to remediate the landslide in order to develop on the lots, he began to speak with 40-plus residents in the area over the course of several months to attempt to coordinate an effort to remediate it.
He learned that a “project of this scale would be impossible, given the number of people that would need to rely on each other with conflicting views and uncertain financial means.” So, he said, he began to strategically acquire other lots in the area to develop and remediate through a proposed project.
Feder then spoke, acknowledging that the Castellammare Mesa Home Owners had “some reservations” about the proposed development, but are not opposed to it overall.
“What we are opposed to is unsafe, risky and non-compliant development that has not been through a complete due diligence process,” Feder continued. “We are asking PPCC for your support in requiring a full and independent EIR be required to move forward.”
Feder, as well as other residents and members of the HOA, presented on a number of topics related to the “intricate mitigation issues,” ranging from biological (monarch butterflies located in the area) to noise and vibrations during construction and putting responsibility for mitigating the landslide in the hands of the developer versus the city of LA.
“If this project is allowed to move forward without an EIR,” Feder said, “a dangerous precedent will be set for all communities.”
The presentation included transportation and fire risk, the amount of excavation proposed and concerns about hydrology.
“The tagline that I’ve seen a lot is ‘taking action is better than nothing,’” Feder concluded. “It isn’t, it isn’t better than nothing. It’s going to create more problems, and it doesn’t solve a problem either.”
Following the presentations, Russo and Demos were given a chance to respond, followed by additional response by Castellammare Mesa Home Owners and residents. Then, a motion was proposed.
“PPCC supports the appeal of Castellammare Mesa [Home Owners] with adoption of an independent and full EIR, and urges City Council to require this environmental impact report,” read a motion by PPCC President Maryam Zar that was unanimously approved to support by board members. “It is essential that this report be prepared by an independent, neutral and experienced expert focusing on the geological instability in the area in order to examine and ultimately determine whether or not the Tramonto project will further stabilize the hillside resulting in continuing slide activity or otherwise compromised public safety.”
The hearing of the MND appeal, set to take place before the City Council Planning & Land Use Management Committee, has been continued from May 21 to July 31 at the earliest. The project would also need California Coastal Commission approval.
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