The Palisades Junior Women’s Club Returns with the 24th Annual Home Tour

The Pacific Palisades Junior Women’s Club (PPJWC) will showcase three distinct private homes at its 24th annual Home Tour on Sunday, November 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Local florists and designers have decorated all three homes’each highlighting a different theme. One home is turned out for a holiday celebration, another is decorated for a children’s birthday party, and the third home, on Pampas Ricas, is a combination of past and present and incorporates both the rich history of the Palisades with present-day priorities such as going green.   The Holiday Boutique, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Palisades Recreation Center, 851 Alma Real, will feature a wide variety of gifts and treasures from more than 35 artisans and craftsmen. Shoppers will find something for everyone on holiday shopping lists: toys, housewares, clothing, artwork, gadgets, hostess gifts, and more.   Food, provided by Pinocchio in Cucina and Mogan’s Caf’, will be for sale at the cafe in the small gym.   All the proceeds from the PPJWC’s signature event are awarded to local nonprofit groups in the Palisades. Over the past five years, PPJWC donated over $500,000 to local public schools, the recreation center, the branch library and the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, among others.   For tickets ($40 per person; $25 for seniors over 60) visit www.PPJWC.com or the day of the event at any of the homes, or at the Holiday Boutique. Admission to the boutique is free.   For more information, visit www.ppjwc.com or call 310-285-3218. 14800 Pampas Ricas Boulevard   Cross over the threshold of this home and transport yourself to a time when the Huntington Palisades was first formed.   The Spanish-style home began its life on May 27, 1927 as the Santa Monica Land and Water Company’s headquarters. For an estimated 35 years, the building served as the planning and permitting department for the area and was the sales office for future homes in the Huntington neighborhood.   This home was designed by architect Harry Haydon and built for $3,000.   Because this was a ‘model’ home, it was outfitted with the best that local artisans had to offer. The soaring rotunda in the foyer highlights the hand-carved beams and decorative tiles handcrafted by Davies & McDonald, a highly desirable look in the 1920s. Ironwork on the doors, windows and wall sconces by Forge Craft and hardwood floors made to look like wide-plank beams are period features that can also be found in the historic Adamson House in Malibu.   While history is alive in every corner of this house, it is no museum; it is a warm, welcoming family home. Original decor has been combined with green elements such as solar panels, a water filtration system, and a saltwater pool. 622 Frontera Drive   As visitors enter the home designed by architect Jon Brouse, the cheerfully lighted atrium and foyer lead to the warmth and comfort of the living and dining rooms. Throughout the house, visitors see a mixture of rich stonework, ranging from Spanish gold and Napoleon mouchette marble to verde borgogna and fossil stone.   The kitchen displays countertops crafted of Caesar stone with a tumbled travertine backsplash. It also houses a built-in, 275-bottle redwood wine bar.   The outdoor entertaining area with a coffered walnut ceiling and Tommy Bahama grasscloth complement an elegantly landscaped yard and pool, with an assortment of children’s party themes in full swing.   Upstairs includes the master suite, complete with a dressing area and coffee bar. The office offers 360-degree views. 821 Toyopa Drive   Walk through this house and embark on a journey around the world. At every turn, one can see the owners’ exotic collection of artifacts amassed from travels to numerous countries.   The proportions and details of the home’s architecture are striking: tall ceilings lined with weathered Pennsylvania farm beams coordinate with the rich alder cabinetry and woodwork found throughout the home. Ethnic textiles, whimsical embroidered pillows and contemporary modern rugs enhance the architecture, as do the clean and simple lines of modern furniture gathered from around the world.   The tour continues downstairs into the entertainment room, while outside there is a freeform pool. Upstairs visitors will find the children’s bedrooms and master bedroom quarters.

Theater Review

Filmmaker Henry Jaglom has long been a polarizing figure. Critics either appreciate his rambling, heavily improvised dramedies, or they see him as something of a trust-fund baby with a camera: self-indulgent and amateurish. For others still, including this writer, he’s both at once, making his work something of a guilty pleasure. Now comes word that the veteran independent filmmaker behind such movies as ‘Eating’ and ‘Irene in Time’ has scripted a play ‘Just 45 Minutes From Broadway,’ now playing at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica. So how does his style translate to the stage? Quite well, actually. Directed by Gary Imhoff and produced by Alexandria Guarnieri, ‘Just 45 Minutes’ centers on the Isaacs family, an extended Jewish family of actors experiencing tough economic times. The house quickly fills up with grown children coming home, including uptight older daughter Betsy (Julie Davis) and free spirit Pandora, a.k.a. Panda (Tanna Frederick). Betsy, unlike Panda, has disconnected from her childhood spirit as an adult. She’s the ‘civilian’ (non-actor) in the family, six years older than Panda, who does not consider herself unemployed as much as ‘I’m at liberty right now.’ An emotional firecracker just coming out of a four-year relationship, Panda is a raw nerve, a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. ‘Being real is the final deal breaker,’ Panda says, bursting into tears. Betsy focuses much of her ire on her idealistic sister (‘I had six wonderful years before you were born’) but she also resents the quirkiness of her family, which includes the parents (played by Diane Salinger and Jack Heller). ‘You can’t have everyone running around emotionally naked,’ Betsy shouts at them, lambasting their self-indulgence and eccentricities. ‘I have tried to escape this my whole life.’ The tension thickens as Panda’s emotional honesty”as well as that of the entire family”becomes attractive to Betsy’s WASP-y fianc’, Jimmy (David Garver), who grew up in a non-communicative home. At one point, Jimmy literally sides with the family, sharing his time (and their side of the stage) rather than with Betsy, isolated on the opposite side of the house (set and lighting beautifully designed by Joel Daavid). ‘Just 45 Minutes’ follows familiar stage-play formula, pitting an uptight family member against a clan of eccentrics/neurotics. Recent examples include ‘House of Blue Leaves’ downtown and two Theatre Palisades productions, ‘Lost in Yonkers’ and ‘You Can’t Take It With You.’ Likewise, viewers will find Jaglom-movie tropes, such as opinionated female characters offering soliloquies ripe with observations on life and love, and the pretentious inclusion of Charles Tr’net’s ‘La Mer’ on the soundtrack. But this is not a major criticism of the play, which feels tighter and more structured than the average Jaglom film. And the production is well cast. Garver is outstanding as Jimmy. Davis shines as the serious Betsy. Heller, as patriarch George, comically quotes De Gaulle and parses the effectiveness of Ambien (‘The Ambien won’t work if it’s buried in eggs!’). He pores over the obits in Variety, deems Skype a ‘horrible, intrusive futuristic invention,’ and believes there was an actual Fric and Frac (‘They’re Swiss!’). As George’s rival, brother-in-law Larry, David Proval provides much comedy relief and delivers a poignant moment in which he notes that the actors he came up with, Bobby DeNiro and Dusty Hoffman, have surpassed him career-wise. ‘The cards just weren’t dealt to me,’ he reflects ruefully. ‘I morphed into this character actor.’ The play relies on the audience’s intelligence to understand the references, whether it’s Boris Thomashefsky or when Larry talks about portraying Benny Southstreet in ‘Guys and Dolls’ and wrings a laugh trying to convince others that ‘It’s a key part. The play sort of revolves around him.’ But the family dynamics receive their biggest jolt when some secrets come out into the fore. ‘They fall in love with you, then they want to kill you!’ George says of civilians. Likewise, if you’ve fallen for Jaglom’s body of work rather than wanting to kill him for it, this play will not disappoint. The play runs through December 20, except Thanksgiving weekend. Edgemar Center is located at 2437 Main St. Tickets: $25. Contact: 310-392-7327 or visit www.edgemarcenter.org.

Music at St. Matthew’s presents pianist Andrew von Oeyen in a solo recital of music by Liszt, Schubert and Mozart on Friday, November 13 at 8 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda. Since his debut at age 16 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, von Oeyen has performed to critical acclaim around the world. A former Malibu resident, von Oeyen performed at St. Matthew’s as a teenager and has returned to Music at St. Matthew’s to perform throughout the years. During the 2009-10 season, he will tour Japan twice, performing the Beethoven ‘Emperor’ Concerto with the Berliner Symphoniker Orchestra, and later in recital. He will also appear in recital with violinist Sarah Chang throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. The St. Matthew’s program will include Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23; Liszt’s Selections from ‘Ann’e de P’rlerinage,’ Liszt-Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’ Paraphrase, and Berg’s Sonata for Piano, Op. 1. The virtuoso pianist was recently lauded by Washington Post critic Tim Page for his participation in the Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center. ‘I would go as far as to say that von Oeyen played the finest all-around performance of Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Monor that I have heard in many years.’ For tickets and information, call 310-573-7422 or visit www.musicguildonline.org. Admission at the door is $35.

Recall that last year Alan Eisenstock co-authored a book with comedian Robert Schimmel on his cancer survival experience (see ‘Comic/Author Robert Schimmel, Author Eisenstock to Talk,’ March 12, 2008, at the PalisadesPost.com archives). This time, the theme is race, politics and culture in 21st-century America as the Palisadian helps comedian David Alan Grier translate his sharp, opinionated wit to book form. Eisenstock will discuss and sign ‘Barack Like Me: The Chocolate Covered Truth’ on Friday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m., at Village Books on Swarthmore. Eisenstock describes the Grier book to the Palisadian-Post as ‘a narrative made up of two journeys’the journey he took from late in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, through the election, to his attempt to attend the Inauguration. ‘In ‘Barack Like Me,” he continues, ‘Grier tells the story of watching the primary election returns while holding his baby daughter and realizing, incredibly, that Obama could actually win the presidency. At that moment, he knows that his daughter’s world will be much different from the world he grew up in and far, far different from the one his parents and grandparents knew. Grier started sobbing as he recalled the story. He cried a lot, actually, as he told me stories from his life.’ The second journey in ‘Barack’ is Grier’s personal story, from his Detroit beginnings to his work on ‘In Living Color’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ to his latest project, the new David Mamet play, ‘Race,’ which debuts on Broadway this month. Eisenstock, who has lived in the Alphabet Streets for a decade, insists ‘readers will be moved, and I’m certain they’ll laugh. ‘The book is fueled by Grier’s humor, sensitivity, and intelligence,’ continues Eisenstock, who enjoyed collaborating with the African-American comedian. ‘David was an absolute pleasure to work with. The project was very intensive, it had to be done in six weeks. We met several times a week at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. We had lunch and usually spent all afternoon working. He almost always picked up the check!’ Contact Village Books at (310) 454-4063. Visit alaneisenstock.com.