Home Blog Page 1960

Thursday, October 14 – Thursday, October 21

By
dev
-

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14

  Storytime for children ages 3 and up, 4 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real.   Monthly Chamber of Commerce mixer, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., hosted by the historic Aldersgate Retreat and Cultural Center, 925 Haverford. Chamber members are admitted free; nonmembers are $25.   Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, 7 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real.   Former District Attorney Gil Garcetti, now an accomplished photographer, discusses his latest book, ‘Paris Women and Bicycles,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Dressed with a quintessential French flair, Parisian women of all ages commute to work, run errands, meet friends for coffee, catch a movie, or go to the theater. Through snow, rain, and summer heat they eschew cars, doing their part to clear the air in the city of light.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15

  Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical ‘Oklahoma,’ starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae, screens at 1 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Free admission.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16

  The Fall of Ai Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Alexander Tseitlin, inaugurates its first concert season, 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Church, 701 Palisades Dr. Admission is free, but reservations are required at fallofai.org. (See story, page 11.)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17

  The Village Green Committee holds athank-you party for the community, 2-3 p.m. on the Village Green, the pocket park between Sunset, Antioch and Swarthmore. Enjoy cookies and lemonade along with music by the town’s OomPaPa Band. Everyone is invited.   In memory of his mother and co-author Betty Lou Young, local historian and photographer Randy Young will present a slide show, 6 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Betty Lou, a longtime resident of Rustic Canyon who wrote books about the history of Pacific Palisades and campaigned to save the Santa Monica Mountains and other open spaces from development, died July 1 at the age of 91. Her book with Randy, ‘Pacific Palisades: From the Mountains to the Sea,’ has sold more copies than any other book at Village Books.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18

  Pacific Palisades resident John Sharer reads and signs his novel, ‘Honor Knows No Borders,’ which paints a vivid picture of life, intrigue, danger and death in 1941 wartime England and North Africa, 5 to 8 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19

  Season opening concert by Chamber Music Palisades features music by Ginastera, Barber and Schumann, 8 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda. Admission at the door: $30; students with ID are free. One evening highlight is the world premiere of Palisadian Peter Golub’s Quintet for Oboe, String Trio and Piano will be performed. (See stories, page 14.)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20

  Magician Tony Daniels provides an entertaining Read-to-Me L.A. program for children ages 3 and up, 4 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21

  Bo Caldwell, author of ‘Distant Land of My Father,’ returns to Village Books to discuss and sign her new novel, ‘City of Tranquil Light,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Having felt a call from God, Will Kiehn travels to the vast North China Plain in the early 20th-century, where he weds a fellow missionary, Katherine. Will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them as the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P’ing Ch’eng?   Methodist Church Country Bazaar today from 7 to 9 p.m. and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 801 Via de la Paz. (See story for details, page 16.)

Perennial Power

By
dev
-

Senior Managing Directors Chris Nowakowski (left) and John Petrick of Perennial Financial Services hold their championship trophy. Petrick is the current Chamber of Commerce president. Photo: Rich Wilken
Senior Managing Directors Chris Nowakowski (left) and John Petrick of Perennial Financial Services hold their championship trophy. Petrick is the current Chamber of Commerce president. Photo: Rich Wilken

The team sponsored by Perennial Financial Services edged Wells Fargo Bank, 10-9, to win the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce Polo Tournament for the second year in a row last Sunday at Will Rogers State Historic Park.

Democrats Honor Huerta and Weinstein

By
dev
-

Dolores Huerta, left, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, with County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who presented Huerta with the Bob Berke Award for Human Rights. Photo: Margaret Molloy
Dolores Huerta, left, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, with County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who presented Huerta with the Bob Berke Award for Human Rights. Photo: Margaret Molloy

The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club honored three individuals at its expanded Froehlich/Berke Awards luncheon on Sunday at the Sheraton Delfina Hotel in Santa Monica.   Presented annually since 2006 (except for 2009), the Anne Froehlich Award for Political Courage went to Mikey Weinstein for his ‘unflagging and selfless work as founder and head of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Military Religious Freedom Foundation.’ His organization’s work is reflected by the title of his 2006 book: ‘With God on Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military.’   Weinstein was introduced by his friend, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who received the Froehlich award in 2007 with his wife, Valerie Plame. The movie about Wilson and Plame’s battle with the Bush Administration, entitled ‘Fair Game’ and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, will be released November 5.   Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, was the first recipient of the Democratic Club’s Bob Berke Human Rights Award. The award was created in honor of Berke’s ‘groundbreaking legal advocacy on behalf of the dispossessed and [his] inspirational leadership’ of the club for two years, before his sudden passing last November.   Huerta, an unflagging 80-year-old, has been traveling across the country, speaking at college campuses and organizational forums and campaigning for various Democratic candidates. She received her Berke award from Gloria Molina, who in 1991 became the first Latina ever elected to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Prefacing a tribute video about Bob Berke, actor and human rights activist Mike Farrell spoke eloquently about his late friend.   Max Busselle, a jet aircraft broker, is the new Democratic Club president. The luncheon co-chairs were advertising executive Gary Bettman, real estate agent Josie Tong and Adam Wolman, who provides creative consulting services to companies and individuals developing content for broadcast, cable and digital media outlets.

Council Negotiates Riviera Cell Tower

By
dev
-

Another wireless telecommunication company intends to install a cell tower in the Riviera neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.   During the Pacific Palisades Community Council’s meeting on September 23, Rob Searcy, a planning and leasing project manager who represents Verizon Wireless, presented a proposal to place a cell tower on Sunset Boulevard near the southwest corner of Capri Drive (next to the bus stop).   Riviera resident Andrew Starrels has already filed an appeal opposing Verizon’s proposal.   ’The tower is a safety hazard,’ said Starrels, whose home would be next to the proposed tower. ‘It would be right next to a bus stop on a street with a lot of traffic. It would be a visual impairment [to drivers].’   This spring Starrels, along with residents Jack Allen, Chris Spitz and Barbara Kohn (all Community Council members), met with Verizon and city representatives for a pre-appeal hearing in front of the Board of Public Works Commissioner Andrea Alarcon. She will make a recommendation to the five-member board.   The Council told Searcy that it would prefer the cell tower be placed on the east side of Sunset next to the existing Sprint tower and be concealed from public view.   ’The Riviera residents have indicated that they would rather have two poles in that section of Sunset where there are no homes,’ Council Chair Janet Turner told the Palisadian-Post.   In response, Searcy said ‘I think that is an option that we can pursue.’   He explained that installing a separate tower next to the Sprint tower is a more viable option than sharing the same one with Sprint. If shared, the pole would have to be much more massive and taller, which would not be aesthetically pleasing. Verizon also wants to install the cell tower soon and working with Sprint would draw out the process.   Searcy will look into installing a 35- to 45-ft. pole in a muted brown color and landscape around it to reduce visibility.   This is the second cell company to have approached the Council about a location in the Riviera neighborhood. For the past eight months, the Council has been negotiating with AT&T to limit the number of new poles on Sunset, which is designated as a scenic highway.   At an August 12 meeting, John Delavigne, a Technology Associates real estate specialist representing AT&T, agreed to replace an existing streetlight standard on the corner of Napoli Drive and Sunset with a new, taller pole that will serve as a streetlight and cell tower. The cell antennas would be hidden inside a canister so they are not visible.   Chairwoman Turner explained that a similar option could not work for Verizon because ‘there is only one light pole close to Capri and Sunset that is acceptable to the city and the carrier.’   The location is also better for AT&T than Verizon because each new cell tower must be in the line of sight of another one of the company’s towers to work properly.   Both companies will return to a future Council meeting to present finalized plans.

Local Legion Supports Veteran

By
dev
-

The American Legion family of Pacific Palisades, which includes Legion Post 283, the Women’s Auxiliary and the Sons of the American Legion (SALS), is helping veterans through the Ride 2 Recovery program on Saturday, October 9. This seven-day bicycle ride down Highway 1 from San Francisco to the Santa Monica Pier brings injured veterans together to help each other reach their goals and aid in their mental and physical recovery.   On Saturday, riders will leave Ventura at 9 a.m. and arrive at Ocean Avenue and San Vicente at 1:30 p.m. for the final half-hour leg to the Santa Monica Pier, where they will enjoy a delicious lunch served by the Palisades Auxiliary. The public is invited to attend the party and lunch at the pier ($20) and/or sponsor lunch for a rider. The Palisades SALS are organizing Boy Scouts to line Ocean Avenue with flags; the Legion will make flags available to anybody who wants to join in cheering on the vets at 1:30 p.m. Legion Post 283 sponsored a successful dinner/dance on September 25 that raised money to help R2R pay for hotel accommodations and meals for the riders. The money also benefited many veterans who are amputees and must ride adapted bikes that can cost thousands of dollars. Donation checks (made payable to Ride 2 Recovery with ‘California Challenge’ noted in the memo section) can be mailed to: R2R, 23679 Calabasas Rd., #420, Calabasas, CA 91302.

Thursday, October 7 – Thursday, October 14

By
dev
-

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8

  Jake Fuchs discusses and signs his novel, ‘Conrad in Beverly Hills,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.’   Theatre Palisades presents ‘The Haunting of Hill House,’ Shirley Jackson’s novel adapted for the stage, 8 p.m. at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd. The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through October 10. For tickets, call (310) 454-1971.   The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s presents Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 and Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in G minor, featuring organist Thomas Foster, 8 p.m. at the church, 1031 Bienveneda. Admission at the door: $35.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9

  Patricia Olson reads ‘Frumpy the Pumpkin Who Missed Halloween,’ 2 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.   German photographer Jens Haukenfrers exhibits his photographs of Los Angeles at g169, 169 W. Channel Rd. in Santa Monica Canyon. Artist’s reception is set from 5 to 8 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10

  Paul McHugh discusses and signs his novel, ‘Dead Lines: A Novel of Murder, Conspiracy and the Media,’ 12 to 3 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. (See story, page 5.)   Villa Aurora and the Odyssey Theatre host a fundraiser previewing the Odyssey’s upcoming production of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Tales from Hollywood,’ 2 to 5 p.m. at Villa Aurora in Paseo Miramar. Admission is $100. Reservations: (310) 454-4231. (See story, page 14.)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 11

Sunrise Assisted Living hosts a free Alzheimer’s support group on the second Monday and fourth Wednesday of each month, 6:30 p.m. at 15441 Sunset. Please RSVP by calling the front desk at (310) 573-9545.   Moonday, a monthly Westside poetry reading, features Cathryn Andresen and Radomir Luza, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.   The Woman’s Club presents a free concert by Una Voz y Un Violin Sobre El Teclado, a trio with keyboard, violin and vocals, 11 a.m. at the clubhouse, 901 Haverford. The program features classical music and Broadway show tunes. Lunch ($10) follows the program. For reservations, call Judy Grosh at (310) 454-7144.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12

  Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association board meeting, 7 p.m. at the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center. The public is invited.   Orchid specialist Cindy Coty presents a PowerPoint program on ”’‘What Judges Look for When Judging Orchids’ to Malibu Orchid Society members and guests, 7 p.m. at the Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13

  Monthly meeting of the Palisades AARP chapter, 2 p.m. at the Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. The public is invited. Refreshments are served.   Former Palisadian Holly Kearl discusses and signs ‘Stop Street Harassment: Making Public Places Safe and Welcoming for Women,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. (See story, page 12”.)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14

  Storytime for children ages 3 and up, 4 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real.    Monthly Chamber of Commerce mixer, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Aldersgate Retreat and Cultural Center, 925 Haverford. Chamber members are admitted free; non-members are $25.   Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, 7 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Former District Attorney Gil Garcetti, now a professional photographer, discusses his latest book, ‘Paris Women & Bicycles,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Dressed with a quintessential French flair, Parisian women of all ages commute to work, run errands, meet friends for coffee, catch a movie, or go to the theater. Through snow, rain, and summer heat they eschew cars, doing their part to clear the air in the city of light.

Helen Kamins, 81; Active Resident of the Palisades

By
dev
-

Helen Stone Kamins, a longtime Pacific Palisades resident, died September 25 at Sunrise Assisted Living, where she had been a resident. The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 81.   Helen and her husband, Milton Kamins, moved to the Palisades with their two sons, David and Philip, in 1972 when Milton worked as an engineer with the Rand Corporation.   From the time the family settled here, Helen was an active member of the community. She volunteered as a Cub Scout leader in the 1960s and remained active in Scouts for close to 20 years. She also volunteered at the Hadassah organization in West L.A. for more than 50 years.   Helen was a member of the Palisades Garden Club and the Historical Society as well as the Los Angeles Westside Genealogical Society. She enjoyed researching her family tree through databases and excursions to the East Coast, where she and her husband had roots.   She often attended local Chamber of Commerce mixers and enjoyed chatting with friends while sharing photos of her family or her most recent cruise vacation.   Born Helen Alma Stone on November 13, 1928, in Cambridge Massachusetts, she graduated from Boston University with a degree in English in 1949. She later worked as a secretary at M.I.T. and was a member of the M.I.T. sailing club.   In 1955, Helen moved to Los Angeles and worked at Ramo-Wooldridge which later became TRW. Her secretarial position there required that she hold ‘top secret’ clearance from the Atomic Energy Commission.   She met Milton Kamins, a Boston native, in Los Angeles. They married in 1958 and lived in Mar Vista before relocating to the Palisades. Milton died in 1996.   Helen Kamins is survived by her two sons, daughter-in-law Julie, and grandchildren Joshua and Alana Rose. Services were held at Hillside Memorial Park on October 3. Donations can be made in Helen’s memory to the American Cancer Society.

Mary Leech, 84; Real Estate Agent, 50-Year Palisadian

By
dev
-

Mary Leech, a 50-resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away in her home on Saturday, October 2. She died peacefully, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She was 84.’   Born April 18, 1926, in Pennsylvania, Mary was a graduate of University High School.’She began her career in real estate in Pacific Palisades 30 years ago, working for Billie Henry.’   Mary was’preceded in death by her husband Charles Leech and her first husband, John Holmes, the father of her children.   She is survived by her three children, John Holmes of Hawthorne, Robin Tripp (husband John) of Danville and Leslie Whitmore (husband Daniel) of Mammoth Lakes, and five grandchildren, Matthew and Dylan Whitmore, Jessica Holmes and Ryan and Colleen Tripp.   An open-house celebration of Mary’s life will be held at her home, 561 Swarthmore, on Saturday, October 16, between 1 and 4 p.m. Please contact Robin Tripp at (925) 708-3650 or Leslie Whitmore at (760) 914-1971 if you have any questions concerning the open house.’   In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, Tennessee 38148. Tribute #26682719.’

Mona Holliday, 99; Pianist, Teacher

By
dev
-

Mona Holliday, a former Pacific Palisades resident, peacefully passed away on September 22 at the Ocean House in Santa Monica, where she had lived the past six years. She was 99.   Born on April 21, 1911, Mona grew up in a small town in Minnesota, where her father was the only doctor for the town and surrounding countryside and her mother ran her father’s medical practice and helped him attend to patients. Mona began studying music at an early age and was a gifted musician. She continued to play the piano (including jazz by ear) well into her 90s. She was also an avid reader and an excellent student, graduating from high school at the age of 16. She majored in music at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and upon graduating in 1931, was one of the few young graduates able to get a job during the Depression years, teaching music to children in Minnesota.   In 1933, Mona met Peter Holliday, her future husband and the love of her life. He was a talented young singer, and after he and Mona were married a year later, they moved to New York, where Peter studied opera and performed with a quartet in several Broadway shows. Mona often accompanied Peter on the piano, but also sold jewelry at Bergdorf Goodman. The years Mona and Peter spent in New York were some of the happiest of their lives, and Mona loved telling stories of their adventures there.   After Pearl Harbor in 1941, Peter gave up his musical career and began working as an electrical engineer at a munitions plant. He and Mona moved to the Midwest, where their two daughters, Judith and Susan, were born. In her mid-40s, Mona acquired an expanded credential and began teaching history and social studies to junior high and high school students.   In 1966, with both their daughters grown, Mona and Peter started a new adventure. They moved to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where Peter managed a Lockheed plant and Mona learned enough Spanish to navigate the markets and make some new friends. After two years, they moved to Los Angeles. During the ’70s, they lived in Pacific Palisades before moving to Vista. When Peter died in 1993, Mona moved back to the Palisades to be near her daughter, Susan, a 20-year resident.   At 82, Mona began a new life, joining the Palisades Presbyterian Church and various local groups, while making new friends. She loved her condo in the Highlands, the beautiful scenery and climate of the Palisades and, most of all, the many wonderful people she met here. She was saddened to have to move out when she was 93, but a bad fall and broken pelvis required more assistance and care, which Ocean House was able to provide her. Up through her final days, Mona was blessed by the loving care of her aide and companion, Monet Jose.   Mona is survived by her daughters, Susan Holliday and Judith Rothman (husband Mike); her granddaughter Natalia Lincoln and grandson Tony Lincoln (wife Denise); her twin great-granddaughters Sophia and Madeleine; and her nephew John Watson (wife Gail). A memorial service will be held on October 16 at 2:30 p.m. at the Palisades Presbyterian Church, 15821 Sunset Blvd. Friends and neighbors are welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the church.

Eric Moss Rattles Architectural Conventions

By
dev
-

Moss’s “Samitaur Tower” on National Blvd. overlooks the path of the light-rail Expo Line planned to run from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City.

The new and tipsy-looking Samitaur Tower on National Boulevard in Culver City begs the question; what is it for? Unless you know before you see it that the architect is Eric Owen Moss. Count on him to rattle expectations of what a building can be. Five-stories of bent steel, partly wrapped in semi-sheer acrylic, the tower overlooks a stop on the light-rail Expo Line planned to extend from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. This latest construction by Moss is at the corner of Hayden and National and can only be viewed from the outside, for now. It opens to the public in early 2011, a year or more before the Expo Line is expected to roll through the area. It would be easy to mistake the tower for a traffic-control center with an open-air staircase cutting through the middle. The fact is, the building is a mixed-use structure with two amphitheaters, five open-air platforms that suggest observation decks, and indoor spaces for restaurants and displays. The acrylic wrapper allows light to shine through it. Passers-by might see a sculpture exhibit silhouetted on one level and a cocktail party on the next. In his office a few blocks from the site, Moss sits at his cluttered desk with a sculpture of a knight in armor at one end and a copy of ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s exploration of self-mastery, at the other. Moss seems to like answering questions about his industrial-looking construction. He is a teacher and the director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in downtown Los Angeles. His office is filled with photographs and models of projects that make perfect sense, once he describes them. One prize winner is a proposal by Moss and his team to revitalize part of downtown Los Angeles by, among other things, turning the concrete-bedded L.A. River into parkland. (See the Palisadian-Post feature, ‘Building Like It’s 2106′ February 1, 2007).   ’It’s O.K. to ask whether or not it’s a building,’ Moss says of the Samitaur Tower. ‘It doesn’t follow conventional formulas for commercial or residential structures. You could call it an urban park.’ The developers, Frederick and Laurie Samitaur-Smith, see the tower as a prototype and hope to build others like it along the train line. ‘They experiment with questions, like, ‘What is a contemporary building? How is it used?” Moss says of his clients, who have been redeveloping the area near the tower for more than 20 years. ‘They are interested in architecture that shows a progressive point of view.’ Moss, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his architect wife, Emily Kovner, and their two sons, isn’t predicting a break with convention for his own town where single-family dwellings and low-rise condominiums prevail. Samitaur Tower is part of a plan for other lifestyle options. ‘The idea is to use architecture strategically, to create a certain kind of neighborhood,’ Moss says. In this case, one designed with a light-rail transportation system included. ‘There will be a good transportation system,’ Moss says, without a doubt. ‘Over time, it will improve.’ If it takes longer to complete than anyone thinks it should, ‘it’s not all that dire,’ he says. ‘L.A. is at the beginning of its history. It’s an adolescent.’ For a creative thinker, to design buildings for a young city has its advantages. ‘Where things are not working, there are venues for re-imagining and trying unusual things,’ he says. ‘Samitaur Tower is an example of it.’ Other structures in the works are also a response to the Expo Line, he says. One is a high-rise condominium at the corner of Jefferson and La Cienega, with ramps leading from street level down to the train stop. The proposed building rises 200 feet above ground in a neighborhood where most structures are not more than 45-feet high. ‘L.A. has expanded laterally,’ says Moss, who was born and raised in Los Angeles. ‘Higher density construction allows people more options for the way they live. If it comes with a reinterpretation of freeways and trains, we might have a very different kind of city.’ Downtown Los Angeles is a step in that direction, but Moss has other ideas. He thinks about high-rise schools with five athletic fields ‘stacked’ on top of one another. He is working on a plan for a high-rise urban farm.   ’Why truck food from Fresno?’ he wonders. ‘People could buy organic vegetables, grown in their neighborhood.’ Where others see train tracks, Moss sees a city of the future.

1...1,9591,9601,961...2,525Page 1,960 of 2,525
© Pacific Palisades Post, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272