Six renowned chamber artists illuminate the passion of Beethoven, the variations of Martinu, the impressionistic flare of Gaubert, and the neo-classical strains of Ravel at the penultimate concert of Chamber Music Palisades (CMP) on Tuesday, March 17 at 8 p.m., at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda. The featured artists are soloists Ida Levin, violin; Rob Brophy, viola; Ronald Leonard, who served as principal cellist with Los Angeles Philharmonic for 25 years until his retirement in 2000; Maria Casale, harp; and CMP co-founders and co-artistic directors Delores Stevens on piano and Susan Greenberg on flute. Works by two French contemporaries open the program. ‘Sonatine en Trio for flute, viola and harp,’ a neo-classical gem by Maurice Ravel, showcases the composer’s powerful command of harmonics. ‘Trois aquarelles’ (Three Watercolors) by Gaubert, one of the most prominent musicians and conductors of the era, translates into sound the visual impact of watercolor painting technique in which colors can simultaneously blend and stand independently, subtly revealing the texture of paper beneath them. Also featured is Beethoven’s ‘Trio in D Major’ (‘Ghost’) op. 70, #1, written after he was completely deaf. Hinting at his own internal struggle is the dark second movement that inspired the ‘Ghost’ title. It is sandwiched between movements rich with warm lyrical melodies that give no hint of the composer’s profound hearing loss. The program’s final piece is the ‘Piano Quartet’ Martinu, a prolific chamber music composer who was born in the Bohemian village of Policka and moved to Paris in 1923, becoming a younger contemporary of Ravel and Gaubert. In 1941, he fled the advancing German army for the United States, where, shortly after his arrival, he wrote ‘Piano Quartet,’ which is punctuated by syncopated melodies and tinges of melancholy. For tickets ($25; students with ID are free), call 310-459-2070 or visit www.cmpalisades.org.
Photo Exhibit Explores Santa Monica Pier History
In connection with the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation’s year-long celebration of the Pier’s centennial, the Los Angeles League of Photographers (LALOP) will share their vision of the Pier with an exhibition opening Friday, March 20, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the historic carousel. Founded in 2002 and modeled after the renowned New York Photo League, the mission of LALOP is to expose the wider public to photography’s essential social, political, and aesthetic values. Palisadian Sara Jane Boyers, who is exhibiting several of her photographs, most recently co-curated two LALOP exhibitions in support of community efforts to restore water recreation to two of Los Angeles downtown parks. Also, on hand will be Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation’s community venue liaison and pier historian, James Harris, signing copies of his new book, ‘Santa Monica: A Century on the Last Great Pleasure Pier.’ The exhibit will continue until April 1 during carousel operating hours.
Mixing Home, Kids, and Business
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Sarah Robarts is a Pacific Palisades loyalist. ‘I love Ivy Greene,’ she says softly with a charming English accent, beaming, as her youngest, son Jamie, 5, runs around in a ‘Transformers’ shirt she bought for him there. She champions other local spots, listing the Village Pantry, Beech Street Cafe, Taj Palace and Vittorio’s (‘the garlic balls!’) among her favorites, and like many a Palisadian, she’s made many business connections via her kids at their Palisades schools (Seven Arrows and Marquez Elementary). Last year, when Robarts moved her business, Ballantines Public Relations, out of two offices she occupied at the Spectrum building on Sunset at PCH, she and her boyfriend decided to relocate from her Highlands address to a Paseo Miramar mansion which serves the dual purpose of home and work. You see, her house serves a key role in drumming up business, and Pacific Palisades is a big part of the branding for Robarts’ PR firm. She also relies on Palisadian Bruce Hulse, the Cornell-educated male supermodel who works with Robarts in a freelance capacity, using his deep fashion-industry connections to expand Ballantines PR’s clientele fold. So when the Palisadian-Post caught up with Robarts on a recent weekday afternoon, the company president was in her living room, seated next to Hulse, impeccably dressed in a dark blue pin-stripe suit, and her casually attired boyfriend, Matt Grant, a fellow Brit who starred in last year’s ‘The Bachelor’ on ABC. Essentially, the attractive English blond Robarts is flanked by a de-facto American James Bond and the British ‘Bachelor’ (some nifty self-marketing right there). Robarts’ business space transcends the typical home office. With her 20-something team”Cara, Erika, Jeremy, Michelle, Virginia”Robarts has turned her lower-level space into something of a war room, with a lengthy client roster taking up a chart on the far wall amid rows of desks. Her accounts are impressive. They include Interiors on high-end trendy Robertson Boulevard, the Palisades-based charity Everychild Foundation, Z-Coil footwear, Africa Safari Camps, and the state of New Mexico’s tourism department. In fact, Ballantines is handling the city of Santa Fe’s 400th anniversary. The firm just tackled Twestival, a February 12 charity event in partnership with the social media network site Twitter that blended music, comics and celebrities to raise money for CharityWater; and Rock Paper Scissors, a February 28 art exhibition at Bergamot Station’s Robert Berman Gallery, which featured the works of Raymond Pittibon, Daniel Johnston and members of avant-garde rockers Sonic Youth with guest DJ Shephard Fairey (President Obama’s official pop artist). Also in Santa Monica, Ballantines is working on the current exhibit of late photographer Dan Eldon’s work at the Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery. Robarts’ 18-member staff is also preparing for the reboot of the refurbished Shangri-La Hotel on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. The April re-opening promises to feature a who’s who from the fashion world, overseen by Hulse. Not bad for a PR company that literally fell into Robarts’ lap. ‘I started my business six years ago on my laptop in my bedroom,’ she says, adding that she had to juggle growing her firm and making business trips to New Mexico to handle PR for the Galisteo Inn with breastfeeding and changing diapers. Robarts derived her moniker from the Ballantines Hotel in Palm Springs, owned by her hotel-magnate ex-husband, whom she split from a couple of years ago. She lived in Palm Springs before moving to the Highlands with her former husband in 2003. But Robarts, who turns 40 in April, grew up in Kenya, East Africa. Her parents, she says, ‘were Baha’i pioneers/missionaries to Uganda and then Kenya.’ She moved to Kingston, Canada, to attend Queens College, and then received her MFA in painting at Nice University in the South of France before relocating to London. An avid painter, Robarts found work at a PR firm. When a principal of the firm went on maternity leave, Robarts took over. ‘There was no turning back,’ she says, although, truth be told, she still paints, her large abstracts occupying the high walls of her Ray Schlick-designed home on Paseo Miramar. In fact, that multi-tiered Modernist mansion”with its balcony decks and expansive gallery-space living room”comes equipped with high ceilings and ample windows, which frame a killer view of the Pacific Ocean. The home has become a key weapon in her PR arsenal; the perfect place to hold dinner parties, cocktails and special events conducive to Robarts’ all-important networking. Last year, she hosted a reception for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. While living in Palm Springs, Robarts worked on PR for (and helped manage) one of her husband’s hotels. Post-divorce, she saw her home business swell. Parent-to-parent networking at her children’s schools (her daughter Daisy, 6, attends Marquez) helped grow Ballantines. ‘I’ve learned so much from the parents on the PR committee at Seven Arrows,’ she says. Today, she manages publicity accounts nationwide, in China and England, the latter with the help of her boyfriend Grant, who a year ago was seen gallivanting with assorted women weekly on network television. ‘I’ve been around a lot of PR people,’ says Hulse (see ‘Model Citizen,’ September 11, 2008, at the PalisadesPost.com archives). ‘Sarah’s a pleasure to be around. She understands literature, art, travel. It’s very fun to be her associate.’ Grant also speaks from personal experience. ‘Everything that is good in my career has come through her introductions,’ he says. ‘She sees all the connections between books, movies.’ Some of those good things include a political-satire cable program he has in the works with columnist Joel Stein, another reality show opportunity, and other talk-show variety projects that the ‘season 12 ‘Bachelor” is pursuing. ‘It’s her ability to network, her vision,’ Grant says. ‘I’ve watched other PR people work and it makes me realize how good Sarah is.’ He adds that her affable socializing approach is not forced, but natural. Moving her business to Paseo Miramar was a savvy move, Grant adds: ‘It was a real revelation to consolidate the office and the abode here. Of course, Sarah loves having her children nearby.’ ‘I wanted to be somewhere where I can work and be with family and be ‘green’,’ Robarts says, enthusiastically. And no amount of marketing can out-hype the attributes of that. Contact: (310) 454-3080; email bpr@ballantinespr.com. Visit www.ballantinespr.com
Rhena Schweitzer Miller, Daughter of Nobel Winner
Rhena Schweitzer Miller, the only child of Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who carried on his medical missionary work in the West African country of Gabon, died on February 22 at home in Pacific Palisades. She was 90. Schweitzer-Miller was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1919, her father’s only child. She studied in Germany, France and Switzerland. After marrying and raising four children, she became a laboratory technologist, working for her father, and took charge of the laboratory at his hospital in Lambar’n’, Gabon, after he died in 1965. During the Nigerian-Biafran conflict of the late 1960s, Rhena brought a group of Ibo refugee children to Lambar’n’, and cared for them until the war ended in 1970. She then took them back to Nigeria and was able to reunite many of them with relatives. She informally adopted one of the children and paid for his entire education, said her daughter Dr. Christiane Engel, a medical doctor and classical pianist. At that time, Rhena worked with Dr. David Miller of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, who was also in Nigeria as the chief medical advisor to the Nigerian Red Cross. After their work together in Nigeria, Rhena and David were married and lived in Georgia. They worked together on nutritional surveys in India, Bangladesh, South Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt and Haiti. From 1979 to 1983, they worked in the Yemen Arab Republic on projects of primary health care, and in 1984-85, in Pakistan for refugees from Afghanistan. After David died in 1997, Rhena moved to the Palisades to be close to Christiane and her family. The Engels built an ocean-view apartment for Rhena in the front of their home along Paseo Miramar. She loved nature and the wild things that she observed in her new home: a family of skunks, squirrels and birds. In addition, she was accompanied by her beloved cat, Kitty, who was there on her bed when she passed away. ‘Rhena was an extraordinary woman in her own right, embodying fully her father’s ethic of reverence for life and his insistence that ‘my life is my argument,” said Dr. Lachlan Forrow, president of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Christiane will take her mother’s ashes back to Lamb’ren’ to be buried alongside her parents’ graves. In addition to Christiane, Rhena is survived by her three other children, Monique Egli, Philippe Eckert and Catherine Eckert; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Contributions may be made to the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, 330 Brookline Ave. (BR), Boston, MA 02215.
Jeanne Ziering, 95; A Palisades Loyalist
Jeanne Ann Ziering, a former longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away on March 6 in Santa Monica. She was 95. A third-generation woman college graduate and a second-generation attorney, Jeanne was educated in New York City and was a part of New York’s then fabled public school ‘genius’ program. She entered Barnard College in 1929 at age 15 and Columbia University for her master’s degree at age 20. She also studied French, her undergraduate major and passion, at the Sorbonne. In 1965, at the age of 51, she graduated from the UCLA School of Law with a juris doctor degree. Arriving in Los Angeles in the late 1940s with her husband, Jonas Ziering, who became a familiar figure on horseback in some of the Palisades Americanism parades, Jeanne left her New York careers in magazine editing and creating crosswords (before computers) and actively worked with the Palisades chapter of the League of Women Voters and charitable organizations, often creating much of the illustration and writing for various media/news purposes. Former members of the Brentwood Country Club, Jeanne and Jonas were avid golfers, bridge players and active supporters of the arts. After Jonas died in 1977, Jeanne left her Palisades home on Ravoli Drive, but only for the corner of Ocean Avenue and San Vicente, where she could still enjoy her beloved canyon, mountain and ocean views. She continued to be involved with the Palisades for over 20 years thereafter as a commercial property owner and enthusiastic supporter of the village. Her children, Sara Jane and William, attended Canyon Elementary, Paul Revere Middle School and were in the first classes (’63 and ’65, respectively) graduating from Palisades High School. Jeanne is survived by her daughter, Sara Jane (whose husband Steve is a former chairman of the Pacific Palisades Community Council); son William of Rancho Santa Fe; and two grandchildren, Morgan Boyers and Lily (‘Kate’) Boyers. Following a private funeral service, Jeanne was buried next to her long-missed husband.
Mary Daubenberger, Former Active Member of the Woman’s Club
Mary Louise Kreider Daubenberger, a former longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away February 18, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 90. Born in Detroit, Mary moved to California when she was a young girl. She married Charles Daubenberger in 1935, and they settled in the Palisades in 1940. She was an active member of the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the L.A. County Museum and various Westside charities. Predeceased by her husband in 1993, Mary is survived by her son, Charles (wife Sharon) of Tulsa; her daughter, Mary Fournier (husband Lawrence) of Tucson, Arizona; seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Graveside services were held on March 9 at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.
Riordan to Toss First Pitch
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan will throw out the ceremonial first pitch to open the 2009 Palisades Pony Baseball Association season Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Palisades Recreation Center’s Field of Dreams. At 78 years young, Riordan has been enjoying himself on the ski slopes in Sun Valley, Idaho, but will return in time to test the strike zone for one of the town’s longest-running traditions. Riordan credits his childhood passion for keeping him mentally and physically strong despite the stress of his career. “I’ve been skiing since my kids were young,” he said. “I race and used to say I was the oldest racer until some guy who was 86 beat me by a hundred yards.” Riordan, who served as mayor from 1993 to 2001, grew up in Queens and then in New Rochelle, New York, but he has plenty of ties to Pacific Palisades. His family owns Village Pantry (and the Oak Room) and Gladstone’s and his daughter Trish Torrey lives here with her husband Dana and their two children. “As kids all we did was play sports, but it wasn’t organized sports,” he said, recalling how he and his friends played stickball in the streets because they couldn’t afford bats and then, in the fall, switching to tackle football on the cement. They would also crawl under or climb over high fences to get onto a field to play. “There isn’t a sport we didn’t play as a child,” Riordan added. One of his fondest childhood memories is playing hockey in the winter and going home with red, cold hands that he put under the cold-water faucet because it made the hands feel warmer. The youngest of nine children, he said he was lucky that his mother let him have freedom after school to play. “Or maybe she just lost all interest,” Riordan joked. He has never thrown out the first pitch at a major league stadium, but Riordan would rather do the honors here. He distinctly remembers a Little League game when his son’s team was behind 15-1 with one inning left. “The other team walked 16 batters in a row and my son’s team won.” Riordan also remembers a baseball story that President Ronald Reagan told about when he was working as a sports announcer. This was before modern technology, when games were described via a tape that would have baseball terminology on it (like “K” for a strikeout, “5-3” (the third baseman throws to the first baseman for an out) and Reagan would translate the shorthand into his play-by-play commentary. Once, in the middle of a game, the tape broke and Reagan had no idea what was happening, so he started improvising: the batter got a foul tip, then a foul ball behind first base, then a foul ball down the third base line. “Before the tape was fixed, the batter had 18 foul balls,” Riordan said. Currently reading Philip Howard’s new book, “Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans From Too Much Law,” Riordan bemoans the fact that, because the fear of injury lawsuits is so high, today’s kids are not free to have the carefree childhood he enjoyed. “You have to let kids go out there, if they get hurt, they get hurt,” he said. In high school, Riordan was a jack of all sports trades, playing football, hockey, baseball and basketball. When it came to baseball, he preferred either catcher or third base because, as he said “You don’t have time to choke. Second base is the worst.” Riordan went to Santa Clara University on a football scholarship, but wasn’t good enough and soon transferred to Princeton University, where he played rugby. “It’s a fun sport and less dangerous than football because you don’t get blocked,” Riordan said. During his army years in Korea, Riordan played in organized touch football leagues and while in law school at the University of Michigan, he participated in intramural sports. A spirited hockey game, in fact, led to the completion of Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles in 2003. “When I was playing with [architect] Frank Gehry, we both ended up on the ice, each claiming we had illegally checked the other,” Riordan recalled. “It was then that Gehry looked at me and said “Riordan, you and I are going to make Disney Hall happen.'” When he’s in town, Riordan still takes two 40-minute bike rides a week, from his home in Brentwood to Playa del Rey. “I have breakfast, then I come back,” he said. “We, as adults, have to be leaders to get more kids interested in sports.” The pancake breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. Tickets can be purchased now from Pinto (ages 7-9), Mustang (9-10), Bronco (11-12) or Pony (13-14) players. All proceeds go to the Field of Dreams Fund to help pay for maintenance.
Tennis Takes Down Taft
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
It took less than a week for the Palisades High boys’ tennis team to get a measure of revenge against the school it lost to in the City finals last May. The Dolphins began the season determined to beat Taft and regain the section championship. Palisades defeated Taft 5-1 last weekend in the Division II finals of the California High School Classic in Fresno, and even though the City title wasn’t on the line it was a significant and satisfying victory nonetheless. “We went up there to find out where we were at as a team,” Dolphins’ senior captain Jeremy Shore said. “Playing Taft gave us a little added motivation. We also know we can beat them now so that will help when we play them again.” The Toreadors were without No. 1 player Josh Tchan but Palisades was also missing one of its singles players and it is unlikely Taft would have prevailed even with the defending City Individual champion in the lineup. “It’s a great tournament because the team gets a chance to establish an identity,” Pali Coach Bud Kling said. “The kids are together for two and a half days and they get to play good tennis against some really formidable teams.” In the championship match, Taft’s only point came at No. 1 singles, where David Engelberg beat Justin Atlan. All of the other matches were lopsided wins for Palisades. Kyung Choi won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles, Max Licona won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3 and Spencer Pekar prevailed 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4. In doubles, Che Borja and Kramer Waltke won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 and Shore paired with Spencer Lewin to win 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2. Taft dropped two of its singles players down in an attempt to steal the doubles points but the gamble backfired. “We definitely made a strong case for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs,” Kling said. “We also have a tough nonleague schedule so hopefully we’ll stay sharp.” Palisades’ toughest match was in pool play on Friday when it tied Clovis West 3-3 in matches, 7-7 in sets and 76-76 in games. The Dolphins won because the fourth tiebreaker is No. 1 singles, where Atlan prevailed, 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Palisades then beat El Diamante, Clovis North, Stockdale and Bullard to reach the finals. Having won Division II twice in a row, Kling said Palisades will move up to Division I next year. Last week, Palisades defeated a strong Santa Monica squad, 12-6, and on Monday the Dolphins opened the Western League with a 7-0 win over Venice. Atlan won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, Choi won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2, Licona won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 and Brandon Clark won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4. Borja and Pekar won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles, Shore and Waltke won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 and Lewin and Kenneth Choi won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3.
Spikers Get Wake-Up Call
In what could be a preview of the City Section finals, the Palisades High boys’ volleyball team saw its bid for a second straight undefeated season go up in smoke Friday in a shocking 29-31, 25-23, 25-21, 25-13 defeat at the hands of Sylmar. The loss ended the Dolphins’ 20-match winning streak and served notice that it may be harder to defend their championship than it was to win it in May. “We know everyone we play is going to be gunning for us so we have to be ready,” said outside hitter Jordan Cohen, who had three kills and 13 digs. “I give that team credit but hopefully we’ll play them again down the road because I know we can beat them.” Sylmar was upset in the semifinals last season and Coach Soheil Mashhoud said the loss strengthened his team’s resolve. “If we’re going to go all the way this is the year,” he said. “We knew this was going to be our toughest match and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them again [in the playoffs]. The first game our serving was awful but after that the offense started clicking.” The first game was every bit as close as the score would indicate, each team having numerous chances to win it before Kene Izuchukwu finally did with a cross-court kill. However, it was merely a temporary setback for the Spartans, who gradually took control of the match behind 6′ 9′ senior outside hitter Tyler Honeycutt. He would finish with 25 kills. “Defensively, we didn’t execute the things we worked on in practice,” Pali Coach Chris Forrest said. “It was almost like everything was working against us in this match. The streak wasn’t going to last forever. We have guys playing varsity for the first time and adjusting to new positions. If we keep improving, we’ll be fine by the end of the season.” Matt Hanley had 22 kills and 22 digs and Izuchukwu added 15 kills and 30 digs for the Dolphins (2-1), who opened the season with a three-game sweep of Carson. “I really think the tide turned when I hit out to end the second game,” Izuchukwu said. “That seemed to deflate us and pump them up.” Palisades bounced back from its first defeat by ousting rival Venice 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 26-24 on Monday in the Western League opener for both schools. Izuchukwu had 19 kills and Hanley added 18 kills and five aces for the Dolphins, who play in the Best of the West tournament this weekend.
Loyola Sticks to Plan
It didn’t take long for Palisades High goalie Turner Hanley to get into last Friday night’s varsity lacrosse game against Loyola. He made several point-blank saves in the opening minutes and eventually the Cubs’ sustained attack wore down the Dolphins’ defense in a 12-5 Loyola victory at Stadium by the Sea. “We have to work harder on knowing where the men are,” Hanley said. “Our offense is good, we just need to make more shots. We need to bring on as much intensity as we can and play with mental focus.” Palisades scored on midfielder Shane Centkowski’s goal with Loyola down a player because of a penalty. The lead was short-lived, however, because Loyola senior Andy Kurstin intercepted a pass and scored on a breakaway–the first of five goals for the Santa Monica Canyon resident. Kurstin is one of nine Palisadians on Loyola’s roster. The others are Nick McCormack, Justin Tabit, Corey Rasmussen, DB Henney, John and Luke Mullan, Alex Kutsukos and Cameron Lancey. Palisades’ senior captain Jack Satz grew up playing the sport with many of the Loyola players. “We knew what we needed to do, but our offense is young,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get a rematch later in the season.” After Hanley made three more saves teammate Charlie Bailey scored to put the Dolphins ahead 2-1 after the first quarter. Loyola seized control of the game in the next six minutes. Kurstin scored, then Max Lightbourn tallied the first of his three goals. Centowski’s goal pulled Palisades within 6-3 at halftime. “They had a controlled defense and a lot of experience,” Centkowski said. “Our starting offense is sophomores, which is a lot of promise for us.” In the second half, Max Groel assisted on goals by Tyler Wenker and Satz but that was all the offense Palisades could muster. Despite a valiant effort by Hanley, the Cubs scored six more times and spent the majority of the final two quarters on the opponents’ side of the field. Despite the loss, Palisades Coach Scott Hylen was proud of his team’s effort, especially praising his goalie. ‘It would’ve been 22-5 without Turner [Hanley],’ he said. ‘He’s one of the best athletes on the field. The loss dropped Palisades to 1-1 on the season but Hylen knows it’s a long season: “We’re 75 percent sophomores across the board [JV and varsity] so we’re looking good for the future. All in all, we’re happy with the way we played and we’re only going to get better.” 10B Loyola’s Andy Kurstin (left) avoids a check from Palisades midfielder Ben Malisoff during the Dolphins’ 12-5 loss Friday night at Stadium by the Sea. Photo: Kevin Crane
