A number of Pacific Palisades residents say they are tired of being awakened by motorcycle groups speeding down Sunset Boulevard late at night from the Riviera to Pacific Coast Highway. Hoping to address the problem, a group of 21 residents have sent petitions to the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and the Pacific Palisades Community Council, asking that the police increase enforcement of the existing speed and noise limits at night, especially Wednesdays from 10 p.m. to midnight. They also asked that a program to reduce speed and control noise at night be developed and implemented. They suggested that the speed limit on Sunset be reduced during certain times in the evening and that ordinances be enacted to prevent noise-polluting groups of motorcycles from circulating in the area. They gave Rosendahl and the West Traffic Division Captain Nancy Lauer copies of two videos that show motorcyclists ‘popping wheelies’ on Sunset late at night. One video has footage from three separate nights over the past two years, and the other was taken on July 7.   Community Council member Amy Kalp, who lives on Sunset, told the Palisadian-Post on July 14 that the residents would not be upset if motorcycle groups obeyed the traffic laws and rode along Sunset during the day. The residents, however, find the current situation disruptive and dangerous.   Kalp explained that the motorcycle groups come mostly on Wednesday nights, but drive through other nights as well. When residents complained about the motorcyclists two years ago, Lauer increased enforcement. [The Post reported on the issue: ‘Residents Upset by Loud Motorcyclists,’ October 30, 2008.]   According to Kalp, the issue never fully went away and the problem tends to escalate in the summer.   ’I know what the residents are talking about, and I sympathize,’ Kalp said.   Lauer said her department plans to increase deployment from now through Labor Day weekend to Sunset as well as Palisades Drive, where several fatal automobile accidents have occurred in recent years.   Lauer told the Post she is working closely with LAPD Captain Evangelyn Nathan of the West Los Angeles Community Police Station to address a number of traffic-safety issues in the Palisades, including disruptive motorcyclists.   LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore said that whenever possible, reserve officers (who volunteer their time) will patrol Sunset at night. He admits it is difficult to catch the motorcyclists breaking traffic laws.   ’They often send a scout ahead, so they behave whenever the police car is out there,’ he told the Post.   For example, on July 14, Moore sent out reserve officers who worked until 11 p.m. Forty-five minutes later, Moore received calls from residents that motorcyclists were speeding past them.   ’It is a difficult issue to handle because it requires dedicated personnel to the area, and personnel is what we’re short of,’ Moore said, noting that nonetheless LAPD plans to saturate the area with officers on certain nights.   Moore encouraged residents concerned about traffic safety on Sunset to receive training to become reserve officers, who perform the same functions as regular full-time police officers.   ’There is nothing better than taking action to solve a problem,’ Moore said.   In regards to the noise, motorcycles tend to sound loud when traveling in packs. Moore explained that the legal limit is 90 decibels for each bike. The police do not carry instrumentation to determine the noise level, but they can pull a motorcyclist over if they think the bike sounds too loud and check for a modified muffler.   ’Palisadians should be pleased that Captain Lauer has designated resources to help us with the motorcyclist problem, especially in light of the fact’that the division’s resources are so strapped and need to cover’the’entire Westside,’ Council Chair Janet Turner said.’ ‘ For community complaints about this, or any traffic-related issues, residents should call Sgt. Kunz at the Community Traffic Services Unit (213) 473-0215. For information on becoming a reserve officer, contact LAPD at (213) 486-4730.
Pali Students Win Big at Teen Film Festival
‘Batman Starts,’ a film directed by Palisades High students Max Groel and Harry Keenan, was just one of 33 entries selected from 180 submissions for the Fifth Annual Santa Monica Teen Film Festival.   The triumph came when their film took three of the top honors, including Best of the Fest (overall winner), best live action and the Saturday Audience Choice award. For their efforts, they received three trophies and $400 at the awards ceremony in the Santa Monica Library auditorium on June 20. According to PaliHi film instructor Kerry Feltham, the six boys involved with the movie are still trying to figure out how to divide the prizes. The nine-minute film, which can be viewed on YouTube under ‘Wangypong The Movie,’ was an assignment for their Film 2 class under Feltham, who in addition to being an accredited high school teacher is also a Directors Guild of America director.   ’Any technique we covered [in the last two years], they used and used successfully,’ said Feltham, a Pacific Palisades resident.   ’Batman Starts’ begins as a tongue-in-cheek look at crime in Pacific Palisades, which Batman, played with great aplomb by PaliHi senior Dane Majors (son of actor Lee Majors), keeps in check.   As the film progresses, the actors get into a fight and Groel and Keenan are left trying to salvage their movie after an actor takes his camera and the Batman cape he has loaned to the production and goes home.   Junior John Frohman provides a brilliant take as the ‘Joker’ and Shane Ciacci is a natural as an actor who comes to audition as a replacement. Zeus Lehel rounds out the cast with his assertive opinions.   Unlike a studio film, no one was paid, and props, like the rubber shovel, were borrowed. But like many studio films, ‘Batman Starts’ faced a screening deadline and needed to be completed by PaliHi finals week (June 21-24). With all of the cast in almost every scene, scheduling a shoot became a nightmare because someone always had another commitment.   As finals week approached, studying for other courses became a priority. Groel and Keenan wanted to reshoot a different ending (‘another minute of something that made more sense,’ Groel said) but there wasn’t time.   Keenan edited all seven scenes, each of which required about two hours a day for three to four days.   Feltham, who worked at MGM, Warner Brothers and Paramount (associate producer of ‘Shogun’), and won the 1983 Cannes Jury Prize for his short film, teaches students ‘the basics and the grammar of film’ in his first-year film class. Students make a music video, a two-to-three-minute action short, a documentary and a six-minute drama.   In Film 2, which Groel and Keenan completed in June, Feltham teaches additional techniques. ‘I give them the nuts and bolts and basic stuff and let them go,’ he said of his second-year students.   Once Feltham saw their completed film, he entered it in the Santa Monica Festival and the Mill Valley Film Festival.   Groel and Keenan, who began their film careers by making videos of skateboarders, started collaborating in eighth grade at Paul Revere under the name Wangypong.   ’We wanted a name for our productions,’ Groel said, ‘so I asked my dad for an idea and he gave me a slang dictionary.’ After finding the name wangy (which means smelly) and pong (cane), he combined them together and got Keenan’s approval.   Now a senior, Keenan recently attended a performing arts camp at UCLA with Majors, and is attending a similar camp at Pepperdine with Groel and Frohman through the end of July.   ’I don’t want to do general academics in college,’ Keenan said. ‘Cal Arts Film School is my first choice.’ His parents are Liz and Peter (a producer with Backyard Productions).   Groel, whose parents are Palisadians Penny and Rick (a television writer), is a senior and hopes to attend a liberal arts college back East. ‘I want the opportunity to try a lot of different things before I decide my career and focus,’ he said.   Majors moved from Detroit to the Palisades three years ago with his parents, Karen Velez and Lee Majors. He learned to surf and is a member of the PaliHi surf team. ‘I’m thinking of film and acting, but I am just going to see,’ he said.   Lehel, a senior, plays lacrosse and is on the surf team. He moved to the Palisades from London three years ago with his director/cinematographer father Jason and mom Cassy.   ’I’m thinking about Cal State Humboldt; they have a good film department,’ Lehel said. ‘I see what my dad does for a living and it’s kind of fun.’ Frohman, who lives in West Los Angeles, would like to go straight into show business, but his father Clayton, a screenwriter, wants him to go to college before making that decision. His mother is Andrea. And Feltham? He wishes he could offer Film 3 at PaliHi.
‘I Remember You! You’re the Dentist
Memories of Pacific Palisades, Circa 1952-1970
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By TINA MOLLIS Special to the Palisadian-Post I recently became reacquainted with five of my grammar school girlfriends from Marquez Elementary (yep, Facebook). We had all attended Marquez, Paul Revere Junior High and Palisades High School (winter class of 1970), and for the most part, we hadn’t seen much of each other since graduation.   Our upcoming 40th high school reunion provided the impetus for a ‘pre-reunion,’ so we found a time where we could fly in and meet up for what turned out to be a glorious weekend. For three days we reminisced, laughed, caught up, walked around town (in the ‘village’), had a group professional photo taken, took drives, dined, laughed and yes’even cried a bit. We talked about how we all ended up there vis-‘-vis our parents.   In my case, my East-Coast parents moved from Coronado in 1952 when I was barely a year old. My father opened a dental practice at 859 Via de la Paz (later at 875 Via) and for most of my life we lived on Alcima near El Medio. When we took our reunion photo, the Palisadian-Post photographer asked me: What is different about the Palisades then and the Palisades now? Great question and one that gave me pause, as there are differences.   I had two immediate responses to his question: First, as kids, we felt very safe. From age seven and up, we could (and did) walk, roller skate, skateboard or bike to the village. We could go unsupervised all day long and play outside, go to the park, the Hobby Shop, the library or ice cream parlors. There were no nannies and our parents did not worry about our safety (even my strict Greek parents). On Halloween, we could go trick-or-treating all night (on those balmy Santa Ana evenings) without supervision. Groups of kids would collect grocery-sized bags of candy and walk into different neighborhoods for more loot.   In junior high and high school there were fun things to do during the day and at night. We would walk to the beach through the canyons and spend the entire day. At night we could meet up at the Bay Theater where there were hordes of kids out front. After the movies we could go to the Hot Dog Show, Will Wright’s Ice Cream or other locales. Some other favorite places were John’s Bakery, Leo’s Bicycle Shop, Buddy Ebsen’s Dance Studio, Anita Jeans and Dilly’s Ice Cream. The world was a safer place back then and, in this beach community, we could have lots of unsupervised, outdoor fun.   Second, Pacific Palisades was definitely a more affordable place to live and was home to people of all economic classes. Homes did not start in the millions of dollars. Yes ‘ we lived among celebrities/movie stars/industry elite (we saw and conversed with them in our markets and local stores; we went to school with their kids), but everyone was always friendly and pretty unfazed about it all. (I suspect they felt safer too ‘ I don’t remember any paparazzi.) You could own a home in the Palisades whether you were a mechanic, medical professional, gaffer, insurance salesperson, writer, actor, shop owner, musician, dancer or pilot. It was possible to live here as a homeowner or renter because it was affordable to more economic classes of people.   What I noticed now (and have been told by friends) is that homes get sold, torn down, and in their place stand huge mega-homes. It appears that the Palisades is unaffordable now to most people, but back then, we all lived here and enjoyed the small-town beach community feel within a large city.   During our ‘Marquez ‘reunion this spring, we did a lot of walking around town. One day, we went into a dress shop and while there, I was introduced to a woman whose name I recognized (I believed she had lived a few doors down from my old house). She was much older than me so I wasn’t certain, but when we started talking and I introduced myself as a possible old neighbor of hers she said, ‘Oh yes, I remember you ‘ you’re the dentist’s daughter.’ It’s funny how that comment meant so much to me. I couldn’t get it out of my head and have pondered why it resonated. I have concluded that it’s because I was quickly transported back to a time where people knew who you were and sort of kept track of you ‘ not in a meddling kind of way, but in a community kind of way. I thoroughly enjoyed this brief interlude with this woman who I barely knew then, but yet we knew of each other. There is a funny comfort in that and I wonder, does it even exist much anymore in our busy world?   Time has of course marched on and much has changed ‘ the Palisades along with it. Those in my generation are now middle-aged (how I hate that term). Some of us are parents, some grandparents, and our own parents are either quite old or have passed on. While I know intellectually that change is the one constant we can count on in life and that change is good, I cherish my memories of the ‘Old’ Palisades. When my father died in 1999, I went to the Post so they could put an obituary in the paper. I was met with the loving open arms of Roberta and a staff of professionals who wrote an entire article about my father and his life. That meant so much to me, and in fact I received cards from his old friends whom I had lost touch with. To be honest, when I graduated from PaliHi to start my life, I couldn’t wait to leave the Palisades. I was ready for adventure and returned only periodically to visit my father. I have since lived all over the United States and know I have had a great journey. I am married with a teenage daughter and have enjoyed bringing her back here for visits. I realize now that I took some things for granted back then and that I lived in the Palisades during a great time. As a child I faced much adversity (my mom died from cancer when I was 11). There were many people who helped me, and I don’t think I recognized that’How I lived in a community that was safe, that I could depend on, that knew who I was ‘ I was the dentist’s daughter. I am grateful that I grew up here when I did. Thanks, mom and dad, for moving here and to all the people in the community who made this a really great place to grow up. Tina Mollis lives in Seattle with her husband, Robert, and their daughter, Chloe.
Hal Boren, Jr., 85; Worked at Rand and Northrup
Harold Eugene Boren, Jr., a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, died peacefully on June 28 at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. Hal, as he was affectionately known, was 85.’ Born in Springfield, Missouri, on January 26, 1925, Hal was the only child born to Harold and Gladys (Hickman) Boren. He enjoyed math and science as a young boy, and frequently challenged the neighborhood firemen to board games such as chess and checkers. When he was a senior in high school, Pearl Harbor was bombed, leading to his decision to sign up for the Navy V-12 training program.’He enrolled at Purdue University, where he studied electrical engineering and obtained his master’s degree in physics.’ ‘ When the war ended, Hal was assigned to the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C.’ Here he met his future bride, Anne Herkalo, a secretary from Freeland, Pennsylvania. After a short courtship, they were married on February 27, 1954.’They made their home in Silver Spring, Maryland, and had three children, Patricia, Pam and Dave.’After leaving the Navy, Hal worked at Applied Physics Laboratory.’ Seeking milder winters and year-round sunshine, Hal recalled a visit to Long Beach during his Navy days and how nice California was.’The family ventured west on a cross-country road trip to California in 1961 and found paradise in Pacific Palisades.’Hal worked a few years at Operations Research Institute as a technical editor before being hired by The Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, where he was employed for 15 years.’Hal’s strong mathematical abilities and interests were well-suited for this job.’He worked on cost analysis and long-range planning, utilizing learning curve applications. ‘ Rand’s close proximity to his home allowed Hal to be an involved father and a baseball coach for his son at the Recreation Center in the 1960s. Hal was a baseball enthusiast throughout his life, and loved taking his family to the California Angels games in Anaheim and watching pitcher Nolan Ryan on the mound. In addition, Hal was a staunch UCLA Bruins fan, and especially admired and supported John Wooden and his basketball teams and program. A highlight of Hal’s life was having John Wooden accept his invitation to join his family for lunch.’ In 1976, Hal was offered a job at Northrop Corporation in Hawthorne, where he worked until his retirement in 1990.’During this time, he wrote a technical book entitled ‘Mathematical Principles of the Integral Learning Curve’ to help with manufacturing cost analysis.’ ‘ Upon his retirement, Hal and Anne bought a vacation condo in Lake Tahoe, where they enjoyed frequent visits from their children and grandchildren.’ Throughout his life, Hal enjoyed learning interesting science facts and figures.’He amazed his family and friends with his ability to remember these facts relating to astronomy, geography and other areas of science.’He could tell you the depth of Lake Tahoe or the circumference of the earth without missing a beat. He also enjoyed researching and collecting turn-of-the-century American pendulum clocks.’ ‘ Hal will be remembered for his gentle, kind, easygoing personality.’He loved talking to people, and enjoyed his daily Starbucks coffee visits, making new friends, and sharing his wealth of knowledge with others.’He was a sweet, loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend to all.’ Predeceased by his wife in 2008, Hal is survived by his aunt, Nora (Hickman) Caplan of Maryland; his three children, Patricia of Pacific Palisades, Pam (husband Rob Sharman) of Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Dave (wife Lianne Richelieu) of Redding; and five grandchildren, Paul, Lizzy and Sarah Sharman and Sean and Kaiya Boren.’ A memorial service and celebration of Hal’s life will be held at Our Lady of Malibu on Saturday, August 21 at 11 a.m. He will be interred next to his wife at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.’ The family appreciates the kindness shown to him by the nurses and staff at Saint John’s Hospital and Berkeley East Convalescent Center.
Edward Imhoff, 92, Longtime Palisadian
Edward Imhoff, a 60-year resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away on July 15 at the age of 92.’ Born and raised in Bakersfield, Edward enjoyed a long career in the aerospace industry working for Douglas and the Hughes Aircraft Company. He was an avid hobbyist of cars, woodworking, painting and gardening.’He was known for his welcoming smile and a willingness to lend a helping hand to his fellow neighbor.’ Edward leaves behind his wife, Elain Imhoff; daughter Marian Foster; granddaughters Bridget Foster, Lisa Schofield and Wendy Litke; and great-granddaughter Marilyn Schumway.’ A celebration of Edward’s life will take place at Gates, Kingsley and Gates in Santa Monica at 11 a.m. on July 24. Donations in his name can be made to TreePeople.org.
Boyers’ Photos Are Taking Flight
The lifelong Palisadian, a former music industry executive and children’s book author, boldly takes on photography as her third act.
Sara Jane Boyers’ latest project, documenting the construction of a hilltop home in Malibu made of 747 airplane remnants, mirrors her own dramatic ascension to the ranks of serious photography. ‘I think with most photographers, their work is very much a reflection of themselves,’ she said during an interview in the Rustic Canyon home she and her husband, Steven, have shared for nearly 35 years. ‘I tend to have a certain reserve; it’s one of the reasons I don’t photograph people too often.’ Indeed, her work’particularly her decade-long pursuit photographing Chinatowns’exudes a sense of solitude and detachment, a provocative sort of emptiness. ‘I like the quiet moment,’ Boyers says. ‘A lot of my work is about peering in on a scene.’ The Chinatown series began in San Francisco 10 years ago when she was visiting colleges with her son, Morgan. She ventured into Chinatown early one morning armed with her camera and came away with some surprisingly rich images. ‘All of sudden, I had a focus,’ she recalls. Forty-five Chinatowns later, from a strip mall in Las Vegas to a cemetery in El Paso and an archeological dig of a once-populous Chinese community in Evanston, Wyoming, Boyers has a smartly honed body of work that will be featured in a show at Craig Krull Gallery next year. ‘I’m not looking for the exotic,’ says Boyers, who fondly remembers visits to L.A.’s Chinatown as a regular part of her childhood. ‘I view it as another part of American history; another aspect of the neighborhood.’ Boyers is well versed in the history of the Chinese and their immigration patterns in North America. Despite this, her meanderings through old and new Chinatowns are unstructured and all about chance: ‘What I know is different from what I photograph.’ Seattle stands out as an especially memorable shoot. After visiting a modern noodle factory filled with gleaming appliances, Boyers later stumbled upon Mr. Louie’s, a soulful storefront where inside an elderly man was making noodles by hand. ‘There was an ancient stove, some simple utensils and not much else,’ she says. ‘The scene had such emotional resonance.’ Boyers captured this ethereal moment in ‘Mr. Louie’s Kitchen,’ a photograph that has become a signature image in the series, along with ‘Mr. Louie’s Window,’ a shot of the exterior, where Chinese characters on a faded orange ‘paper sign animate an otherwise dreary, rain-soaked window. The latter is among the photographs in ‘Summer Mix: Images by Members of LACMA’s Photographic Council,’ an exhibition co-curated by Boyers that opened last weekend at the Creative Photography Workshops/Gallery on Wilshire across from LACMA. There’s a crispness and economy to Boyers’ visuals, qualities that come from years as a writer. ‘I’m so glad as a photographer that I was an editor first,’ says the author of several youth-oriented books including the award-winning ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,’ a volume that pairs poetry by Maya Angelou with paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Boyers wrote these books in the 1990s when her children, Morgan and Kate, now in their 20s, were teenagers. Inspired by them, she wanted to raise awareness about the art world among young people during a time when art curricula were the first to be cut from schools with strained budgets. ‘Whether as a follower, creator or collector, art is one of the most fulfilling pursuits,’ Boyers says. ‘It demands good critical thinking and is filled with intrigue and challenge.’ Her own exposure to art, particularly photography, came early to this member of the first graduating class at Palisades High School. Her father owned a photo lab in downtown L.A. After earning a bachelor’s degree in art history from UCLA, Boyers studied law at USC and went on to spend 20 years in the music industry as an attorney and personal manager of performers. Yet she never strayed too far from the art world. ‘I wrote a major paper about artists’ rights in law school,’ she says. Even the land she and her husband purchased back in the 1970s to build their current home boasts an art connection. It was sold to them by fellow Palisadians Charles and Ray Eames, the visionary husband-and-wife design duo. Despite her stated reserved, Boyers likes to laugh, often at herself, especially as it relates to ‘Gridlock,’ another current project that requires spending serious time on L.A.’s most congested freeways. ‘I’ll be listening to the news and realize ‘Oh, there’s traffic’ and become very excited,’ she says. Off she goes to find it, the slower moving the better to allow time to click and shoot from her car using a small Leica, a camera particularly associated with street photography. ‘All the while, I’m destroying my clutch,’ she says about the added challenge of driving a stick-shift car in the process. It’s the debris on the side of the road’a single high-heeled shoe, an abandoned surfboard. a crumpled newspaper’that catches her eye most often. Just as with the Chinatown series, she’s attracted to the abstracted details amid the chaos. Though the home in Malibu, one constructed from the salvaged and deconstructed parts of a 747 airplane, is much more of a spectacle to photograph, Boyers’ aesthetic approach remains much the same. ‘I’m interested in showing the wings and their interrelationships, both what’s intended and not intended.’
Rene Magritte Letters Enhance the Getty
The Getty Research Institute has acquired an important group of letters and postcards from the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. The group of over 40 autographed letters and postcards to the Belgian surrealist poet Paul Colinet documents Magritte’s life and career from 1934, about the time the two surrealists met, to 1957, when Colinet passed away. They number about 50 pages, and also include a telegram, a typescript copy of a letter, and eight letters and postcards from Colinet, all contained in a brown morocco binder. The collection of letters adds to the already impressive archival holdings on Magritte at the GRI, and offers a valuable glimpse of Magritte within the context of both his personal life and career and surrealism’s spread into Belgium and beyond. Magritte was born Ren’-Fran’ois Ghislain Magritte in 1898, in Lessines, Belgium. In the fall of 1916, he enrolled at the Acad’mie Royale des Beaux-Arts, but also began working as a commercial artist, an endeavor that intermittently afforded him financial stability for the next few decades. By 1920, Magritte had made contact with Marinetti and the futurists, and become fully involved in the Belgian avant-garde. In 1922, he married Georgette Berger, and the following year he saw a reproduction of Giorgio de Chirico’s painting Le Chant d’Amour (1914), which triggered Magritte’s shift away from cubism, though his first full-blown surrealist paintings did not appear before 1925. Magritte’s first one-person show took place in 1927, and he would achieve countless other solo and group exhibitions. His exhibition at LACMA, ‘Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images,’ featured illustrated letters from the GRI Special Collections, and encouraged a reconsideration of Magritte’s legacy by highlighting his importance to later artists.
Thursday, July 22 – Thursday, July 29
THURSDAY, JULY 22
Story-craft time, 4 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Suggested for ages 4 and up. Campfire and marshmallow roast, 7 p.m. in Temescal Gateway Park, north of Sunset, and continuing on Thursday evenings this summer. The programs, complete with an interpretive nature program, campfire songs and activities, are free. Parking is $7.
FRIDAY, JULY 23
Palisades Beautiful holds its quarterly meeting, 3 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Topics include the upcoming November tree planting and an update on the work of two summer interns. The public is invited to attend. Contact: palisadesbeautiful@earthlink.net and palisadesbeautiful.org.’ Humor columnist W. Bruce Cameron (‘8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter’) reads ‘A Dog’s Purpose,’ a first novel that follows the spiritual journey of a dog through four incarnations. Ten percent of the cover price of pre-sales only will go to Animal Alliance, a Los Angeles that rescues animals and helps low-income individuals keep their pets. ‘Lost in Radioland,’ a 1940’s comedy presented by Theatre Palisades, plays tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd. For tickets and information, call (310) 454-1970.
MONDAY, JULY 26
Monthly meeting of the Pacific Palisades Civic League, 7:30 p.m. in Tauxe Hall at the Methodist Church, 801 Via de la Paz. There are three homes on the agenda as new business: 1214 Chautauqua (new two-story residence), 1118 Iliff (second-story addition), and 916 Kagawa (new two-story residence). ‘ Jacqueline Bridgeman, a former features writer at the Palisadian-Post, signs and discusses ‘The Lonely Sky: The Personal Story of a Record-Breaking Experimental Test Pilot,’ a recently re-issued book she wrote in 1955 with Bill Bridgeman, America’s foremost experimental test pilot, 7:30 p.m. at Village Books. (See story, page 12.)
TUESDAY, JULY 27
Pajama storytime for children of all ages (parents and teddy bears welcome), 7 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Temescal Canyon Association hikers will take the Backbone Trail from Will Rogers State Historic Park to Chicken Ridge. The public is invited to join. Meet at 6 p.m. in the front parking lot at Temescal Gateway Park for carpooling. Contact: (310) 459-5931 or visit temcanyon.org.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28
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. RSVP: the front desk (310) 573-9545.
THURSDAY, JULY 29
Story-craft time, 4 p.m. at the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Suggested for ages 4 and up. Lisa Brackmann reads and signs ‘Rock Paper Tiger,’ a novel that takes readers on a wild ride through the world of online gaming, artists and international espionage in contemporary China. The author, who lives in Venice, has lived and traveled extensively in China.
Surf Spike Gold at Jr. Nationals
Palisadians Power Manhattan Beach Club to Volleyball Title
When the chips were down at the USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships, Manhattan Beach Surf Coach John Beckwith knew he could turn to Steven Irvin and Robert Feathers–and the Pacific Palisades pair responded, leading their squad to the 18 Open Division championship July 5 in Austin, Texas. Beckwith, Irvin and Feathers all went to Corpus Christi back in the day. Now, they are taking their prep and club programs to unprecedented heights. Surf rallied from early deficits in the first and third sets to upset top-seeded Outrigger of Hawaii, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13, in the gold medal match and Irvin was selected Most Valuable Player of the tournament. “Without a doubt it helped having John [Beckwith] coaching us because I’m already so familiar with his style and I know exactly what he expects,” said Irvin, an outside hitter headed for Stanford. “We joked around with him when we fell behind, saying that it was our strategy.” The victory served as a measure of revenge for Surf players and their coach, for Beckwith was an assistant at Loyola High in the spring when the Cubs won their second consecutive CIF Southern Section Division I and state regional championships. Early in the season, however, Loyola had lost at the Best of the West Tournament to Punahou of Hawaii, which also defeated CIF finalist Mira Costa to supplant Loyola as the No. 1 ranked team in the country according to ESPN Rise. Since most of Surf’s squad consisted of players from Loyola and Mira Costa, and the Outrigger team was made up primarily of Punahou players, the significance of the rematch in Texas was clear: national bragging rights. “It was a huge deal for everyone on our team–not just those of us from Loyola but the Mira Costa players, too,” said Feathers, a middle blocker who is undecided on college but is considering USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego. “There was definitely a motivation to get those [Hawaii] guys back because they had beaten both of our teams. When we got to Austin we really came together and felt we were the best despite not being the top-ranked team on paper.” The championship was just as satisfying to Beckwith as it was to his players because he experienced the same thrill when he was their age. Beckwith, who grew up in the Alphabet Streets, was a middle blocker at Loyola and played alongside fellow Palisadian Curt Toppel on the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s 18 Open team that won the gold medal at the Junior Olympics in New Orleans. “It’s great to see Robert [Feathers] and Steven [Irvin] doing so well because I took the same track as them,” Beckwith said. Outrigger led 19-16 in the first set, but Surf came back to win it on a block by Kevin Donohue. In the third set, the Surf took its first lead, 13-12, on a kill by Vaun Lennon. Then, on match point, Christopher Heppell and Bryce Miller combined for a block… and the celebration began. “We only had 11 guys on our roster, which is very rare because most teams have 14 or 15,” Beckwith said. “Maybe that’s why we became so close-knit. Every player had an important role and felt like the team was counting on him when his number was called.” Joining Irvin on the all-tournament team were Feathers, Donohue and Miller. UCLA-bound Kene Izuchukwu, fresh off winning the Post Cup Award as the outstanding senior athlete at Palisades High, amazed both the crowd and his teammates with his 41-inch vertical leap and his array of thunderous spikes. “Kene made some plays that were just crazy,” Irvin said. “We’d be like ‘Did he really just do that?'” The Manhattan Beach club beat Envol Elite of Puerto Rico, 25-21, 25-21, in the quarterfinals and beat Pittsburgh Volleyball Club of Keystone, 25-13, 25-22, in the semifinals. “Kene [Izuchukwu] and I came over from the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club,” Feathers said. “We were on different teams last year, but we made the switch to play with Steven this year for Manhattan Beach and it worked out.” Feathers, who lives minutes away from Irvin in the Highlands, has enjoyed quite a run over the last five club seasons (four with PPVBC and one with Manhattan Beach), claiming two golds, one silver and two bronze medals. Irvin, meanwhile, grew up in a volleyball family (his older sister Kelly and younger sister Christine both play indoor and beach and his father played on two national championship teams at UCLA). He played for PPVBC in ninth grade and joined the Southern California Volleyball Club as a sophomore before switching to Manhattan Beach. “There’s something special about winning for your school and in front of a huge crowd, but this is just as big because it’s a higher level,” said Irvin, who was named 2010 CIF Division I Player of the Year. “It’s pretty hard to imagine having a better year than this.” Two other Palisadians, Tommy Stoeckinger and Kyle Houge, were also on Loyola’s 2010 championship squad and both played significant roles for their clubs in Texas. Stoeckinger, who will be a senior at Loyola in the fall, led SCVC Quiksilver to the bronze medal in the 17 Open Division, defeating Piterres of Puerto Rico in the third-place match, 25-16, 22-25, 15-13. Houge led Pali Black 18 Kaepa to fourth place in the 18 Club Division, the division right below Open. The team posted a 7-6 record, falling to High Line of Southern California in a marathon semifinal, 25-23, 19-25, 18-16, then being edged by Spectrum 18s of Southern California, 20-25, 25-14, 15-11, in the bronze medal match. Another Palisadian who left Texas with a gold medal around his neck was Jackson Bantle, an outside hitter for the SCVC Quiksilver 15 Open team, which swept Southern California 949 Black in the final, avenging a 25-18, 26-24 loss earlier in the tournament. SCVC trailed 8-4 in the second set of the championship match, but Bantle served an ace to tie the score 10-10 and Quiksilver never trailed again.
Hill Cycles Through New Stage
He may be 50 years old, but Tom Hill is hardly slowing down. The Pacific Palisades cyclist participated in the L’ Etape du Tour bike race–one of the stages of this year’s Tour de France–last Sunday and took the silver medal in his age group on the 113-mile route from the town of Pau to the summit of the famous Tourmalet. “This was my third time doing it and definitely the most difficult because we climbed 14,600 feet and previous years have been closer to 12,000 feet. The 98-degree heat was also a big challenge,” said Hill, who did the race in the Pyrenees in 2005 and in the Alps the following year. “After the last time (2006) I promised myself that it was too painful and I wouldn’t come back. However, this is also Lance Armstrong’s last Tour de France, so I wanted to be here for that.” The pros in the Tour de France will be riding the same course today, which is the 17th out of 20 stages in this year’s Tour. “Actually, our race was a bit longer since we took a different route before reaching the first climb,” Hill said. Hill was in a field of about 10,000 cyclists from 49 countries. His starting number was 3,941, so it took him three minutes of pedaling just to reach the starting line. The race is chip timed so you know your exact time at the finish. There were have check points along the way to make sure no one could take a shorter route. Only 6,888 riders finished because there were time limits set on the course and riders who failed to reach them in time were pulled out of the race. “I cramped up at Mile 70 and had to take a few minutes to stretch before continuing up the Soulor,” said Hill, who, along with his wife, got special Presidential passes to watch the final stage and finish in Paris on Sunday. “All three climbs had their own challenges. Marie Blanque was six miles long with an average grade of 7.6 percent with the final 2.5 miles at 13 percent, which really takes a lot out of you since it requires standing up a lot to pedal. The Soulor is 8 miles long with an average grade of 7.8 percent and seemed to go on forever. Then the final and most difficult climb is the Col du Tourmalet which is one of the most famous climbs in France. It’s 12 miles long with an average grade of 7.5 percent. We are climbing for 11 miles prior to reaching the base of this monster so it’s a long haul!” Hill finished the course in 8 hours and 15 minutes and admitted all of his pre-race training paid dividends. The fastest time in the L’ Etape was 5 hours and 59 minutes and the pros are expected to take five hours to finish. “I was very happy about getting second place in my age group,” he said. “I had trained hard prior to arriving in France, having competed in seven events that were 100 or more miles in California–including the King of the Mountain Challenge, which consists of three timed races, each of which is 100 miles long and climbs about 12,000 feet.” Like in the Tour de France itself, there were some accidents. Hill witnessed some bad crashes during the high-speed descents on the technical terrain of the narrow Pyranees roads. In the end, though, the satisfaction of finishing was worth the sweat. “Thankfully, the fans cheering all along the course keeps you motivated,” Hill said. “There are also hundreds of spectators on the Tourmalet that pour ice cold spring water on your head and back, which helps keep your body temperature in check and helps eliminate fatigue and cramping.” The Tour de France–including the same route Hill rode–is televised on Versus early in the morning and again in the evenings in the United States. “As of right now I can say I probably won’t do this event again just because it is so hard on the body,” Hill confessed. “The suffering on the climbs in the high heat is really difficult.” However, when it comes to competitive cycling, Hill has learned never to say never.
