The magical tradition of Santa’s arrival is fast approaching as the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce organizes the town’s 59th Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho! on Friday, December 4.   Festivities will begin on north Swarthmore at 5 p.m., just before Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on the Station 69 fire truck. The rosy-cheeked couple will then sit on their bright red sled, greeting each child and listening to their wishes. Elves will be on hand to deliver a toy, compliments of the Chamber.   Please note that Santa and his bride must leave promptly at 8 p.m. in order to fulfill another engagement in Wasilla, Alaska.   In the spirit of the holiday season, adult attendees are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys (for all ages) and deposit them in the Toys for Tots bin.   The town’s very own OomPaPa band will entertain with holiday music, Amy the Face Painter will delight the children with her unique designs, and free popcorn and movies will be available. Continuing Mort’s longtime tradition, The Village Pantry and The Oak Room will provide free hot chocolate.   Additionally, the Palisades-Malibu YMCA will, once again, provide beautiful Christmas trees to be decorated by the elves. The Y will also sell its trees during the event at a discount price.’ Those interested may pick up their tree at 8 p.m.   A Rental Connection is the Chamber’s choice for party rentals, Chrysalis will provide cleanup, and Bel-Air/ADT Patrol will assist with security.’   Sponsors include Santa (Tim & Lisa Marschall); Mrs. Claus (American Legion Post 283); Popcorn Cart (Festa Insurance Agency and Tumbleweed Day Camp); Face Painter (Michael Edlen of Coldwell Banker); Balloon Lady (Roberta Smith, M.D., Alison Garb, M.D. and Home Instead Senior Care); Toys (Botham Plumbing & Heating, Inc.); Movie (A Rental Connection & Movies in the Park-Pacific Palisades, Inc.); Decorations (Ron Dean, attorney and Hi-Lites Hair Studio).’   Organizing committee members are co-chairs Sam Lagana (Pepperdine University) and David Williams (personal chef), plus Roberta Donohue (publisher, Palisadian-Post), Andy Frew, Ph.D. (Theatre Palisades), Tim Marschall (TMC General Contractors, Inc.), and Brad Lusk, (Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine). Tim Marschall, CEO of TMC General Contractors (founded in 1990), built and painted the bright-red wooden sled for Santa and Mrs. Claus 12 years ago, so that they wouldn’t have to simply sit in chairs as they visited with the children.   He stores the 15 sections of the sled all year, keeps them refurbished, and then re-assembles them with his crew on Swarthmore, once the street is closed down for Ho!Ho!Ho! Assembly takes about an hour. One year, when it started raining, the crew had to move fast to set up a scaled-down version of the sled inside Mort’s Deli, so that no child missed talking to Santa.   As a member of the Ho!Ho!Ho! committee every year, Marschall also helps move barricades into place on Swarthmore, checks out the electrical supply, and helps with the tear-down and other tasks.   ’Tim is a dedicated ‘local guy’ who loves serving the community by contributing his time and energy to making sure that Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho! is successful,’ said the Chamber’s Marilyn Crawford. ‘He and his wife Lisa are also sponsoring Santa once again this year.’   Said Marschall, who was born and raised in the Palisades and graduated from PaliHi in 1983: ‘This is a nice opportunity for me to give back to the community.’ Married since 1989, he and Lisa live in town and have two daughters, Heather, age 7, and Brittney, age 4.

Palisadian Chuck Caldwell looked up to the sky, saying ‘I know Corwin is here today,’ as he stood on a patio that he helped his son build to honor the late Corwin Davis, a longtime supporter of the Palisades-Malibu YMCA.   Caldwell and a group of about 40 community members gathered at the Y’s Simon Meadow on Sunday, November 8, to celebrate the completion of the patio, which will be used for Y events, and to remember Davis, who served on the Y board for 10 years and as president for two years.   Davis, who died of cancer in 2004 at age 54, was instrumental in helping the Y purchase Simon Meadow from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said Caldwell, who was on the Y board with Davis. The Y had been trying to purchase the four-acre parcel at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road for more than 30 years and was finally able to do so in fall 2007.   ’Corwin kept saying ‘I refuse to quit,” Caldwell said. ‘He did refuse to quit and that’s why we’re standing here now.’   Caldwell’s son, Tyler, led the effort to build the patio to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Tyler, a member of Boy Scout Troop 223, said it took him seven weekends from April to June to complete the 12-ft. by 30-ft. pavilion.   ’It was backbreaking work,’ said Tyler, who received help from his family, fellow Boy Scouts, local landscape architect David Card and local architect Rich Wilken.   Along with his helpers, Tyler, a sophomore at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, leveled the ground and built a wooden frame. They shoveled tons of gravel and sand into the frame and hand-set the stones.   ’I was proud of myself,’ the 15-year-old said, noting he learned how to be a leader. ‘It taught me perseverance.’   Local families provided the funding for the materials to construct the patio. The lead donors were Tyler’s parents, Chuck and Sue, and Corwin’s widow, Janet Davis.   Janet, who attended the November 8 celebration with her three children, told the Palisadian-Post that ‘Corwin would have been so excited [about the patio]; he was a huge cheerleader for the YMCA.’   In addition to serving on the Y board, Corwin led the organization’s Princesses and Guide Program for two years. He was also involved in Boy Scouts, serving as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 223 when his son, Michael, was a member.   Michael, 23, is now employed at Brown & Riding Insurance in downtown Los Angeles. His sister Christine, 30, works as a budget analyst for USC and sister Elizabeth, 29, as a supervisor at Advanced Medical Reviews in West Los Angeles.   During the celebration, Y Executive Director Carol Pfannkuche also acknowledged five other Boy Scouts who helped to improve Simon Meadow with their Eagle Scout projects.   Carter Grasmick, with Troop 117 in Brentwood, worked closely with Card to spruce up the front of the property along Sunset Boulevard, which is also the entrance to Temescal Gateway Park.   ’David Card was a big help,’ said Grasmick, a senior at Palisades Charter High School. ‘He stood by me; he gave me ideas of where to get the mulch and the fencing; he donated his equipment.’   Along with his 37 family members, friends and fellow scouts, Grasmick pulled weeds, laid mulch and built a fence from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 25. The materials were paid for with donations from family, friends and the YMCA.   Grasmick said he learned that a project like this requires a lot of planning and coordinating.   ’Organizing events is tough,’ he said, adding that it was also a challenge to keep people on task. In the end, Grasmick said he is glad he could help the Y.   ’This fence is a nice added touch,’ he said.   To help the Y with its summer day camp, Troop 23 Scout Jake Doran built three planter boxes for a learning garden. The garden is named the Ford Family Garden after Doran’s great-grandfather, Leland Ford, Jr., who died in August 1999. Ford, who was the son of Congressman Leland M. Ford, was a longtime Pacific Palisades resident and Y supporter.   Fellow scout Mason Burdick constructed tables and chairs for a garden workstation. Scouts Charlie Stigler built tables and benches, and Joey Casalenuovo constructed benches and refurbished existing benches.   ’These wonderful projects are just the beginning of Corwin’s dream,’ said Pfannkuche, noting that more beautification efforts at Simon Meadow will follow in 2010.

With yet another small community bank (Cal National) being subsumed by a bigger bank (U.S. Bank), the prospects for a group of investors who have been working towards opening a bank in Pacific Palisades for the last two years may seem dismal.   Yet, according to Brad McCoy, the president and CEO of the future Pacific Palisades Bank, things are actually looking up. While the goal has always remained clear, the road to achieving the branch is more circuitous, particularly following the industry meltdown that reached a crippling crescendo late last year.   ’It has been tough to form a bank,’ McCoy admits, adding that his group of investors has given up the idea of starting a bank, in lieu of acquiring an existing institution.   ’Regulators have made it difficult,’ he says. ‘We were essentially told by the FDIC, not in so many words, that they aren’t approving new ones and that the strategy we should pursue is to acquire a small, clean institution. Surprisingly, the list is longer than you can imagine of banks that are clean with small capitalization’that makes them good candidates to take over.’   McCoy, who was formerly the head of small banking at First Federal Bank of California, has been acting as a consultant along with CFO Dan Rood to the organizing group until the bank is actually formed.   In the spring of 2007, the organizing committee of 23 individuals, including Palisades residents Jim Wadsworth, Bob Klein, Bill Mortensen, Bill Fritzsche, Brad Favre, Michael Wojciechowski and Sterling Lanier, filed their charter application with the FDIC and the Office of Thrift Supervision.   The group, which has held together and continued with monthly board meetings, is now hopeful that they will reach an agreement with one of the banks they are studying by the end of the year.   ’All our prospects are profitable,’ McCoy says. ‘The economic equation will be better because things are less expensive than they were two years ago.’   Again, following the advice from the FDIC, McCoy’s group is looking to buy something small, consistent with their strategy. ‘That way, if you make mistakes, you make small mistakes. Our business is community banking: people services, small business loans, core savings accounts, no investment management,’ he emphasizes.   Pacific Palisades Bank is looking at existing banks with no more than five branches. They would keep the existing management in place, while headquartering in the Palisades. While not at liberty to offer any specific hints at what candidates might be in the running, McCoy does say the group is looking at a bank in San Diego.   In encouraging the group to buy something small, regulators advised the investors to preserve the founders’ capital, so that when the time came to add a branch they’d be in a better position.   While the FDIC can’t help the group enter the market, they can help with opening a branch in Pacific Palisades, the ultimate goal.   There are now at least two potential building locations in town. One is the Wells Fargo branch, assuming they move into Wachovia’s space on Sunset (Wells acquired Wachovia a year ago). The second is Cal National at the corner of Swarthmore and Sunset or U.S. Bank on Sunset, depending on how U.S. Bank consolidates its acquisition.   Earlier this year, McCoy’s group tried to negotiate a lease for the long-vacant Office Supplier store on Sunset, which is owned by Palisades Partners.   ’After all the machinations with Palisades Partners, we now have other locations up for grabs, independent of Palisades Partners leasing us space, and we would avoid spending $1 million to renovate,’ McCoy says.

One lucky Pacific Palisades shopper will win $3,000 simply by patronizing local businesses that are participating in the Red Ticket Raffle, today through December 23 at 5 p.m. The Pacific Palisades Merchant Committee has organized this new promotion to encourage local shopping this holiday season.   For every $25 spent with a participating business, shoppers will receive a raffle ticket that they can enter in a drawing for $3,000. Tickets are deposited in the red box at the participating store, and will later be combined for a drawing at the Chamber of Commerce office on December 24 at 10 a.m.   Employees of a business may participate only when making purchases at other stores, not at the place that they’re employed.   Customers should look for the contest poster in the front window of participating stores, said Susan Carroll, owner of Gift Garden Antiques on Antioch Street and chairperson of the holiday promotion. She explained that tickets will be numbered and a set group will be assigned to every store, to ensure that rules are followed.   ’We are the face of the Palisades business community to residents,’ Carroll told merchants at a November 11 committee meeting, and she urged them to consider other ways of enticing shoppers in addition to the Red Ticket Raffle.   Several merchants suggested having one night a week when participating businesses stay open later. Another storeowner suggested patterning Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, which has a party-like atmosphere the first Friday of every month, with stores staying open later.   Given the time constraints to organize an event in December, participants agreed that the spring would be a good time to host an evening event.   Carroll noted that she has adopted a new closing policy that ignores her store’s stated closing time: ‘If people are in the store, we don’t close.’   For more information, call the Chamber at (310) 459-7963.