Page 2145 – Palisadian Post

Telling It from the Mountain

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August 21, 2008

Using spectacular old and new footage, To the Third Pole, a documentary about a famous mountaineering family, gives viewers a thrill ride.

To the Third Pole features dramatic re-enactments shot in the Swiss Alps. The documentary spotlights the Dyhrenfurths, a famous mountaineering and filmmaking family.
Courtesy of Jürgen Czwienk
” src=”https://palipost.com/story_photos/everest1.JPG” width=”199″ /> To the Third Pole features dramatic re-enactments shot in the Swiss Alps. The documentary spotlights the Dyhrenfurths, a famous mountaineering and filmmaking family.
Courtesy of Jürgen Czwienk

The opening sequence of To the Third Pole features dizzying aerial photography of shimmering mountaintops and jagged peaks. This rapturous perspective tells of the ageless allure of mountaineering, an extreme pursuit with rewards that are as much spiritual as physical.
It’s an apt beginning to a film about a family with an intense calling to reach the world’s highest peaks. In the 1930s, Günter Dyhrenfurth, a geologist and filmmaker, and his wife, Hettie, led numerous pioneering expeditions to the Himalayas. Thirty-three years later, their son Norman forged the first successful American trek to Mount Everest.
Norman Dyhrenfurth, now an energetic 90-year-old residing in Austria, lived in Pacific Palisades in the 1950s. He will make a return visit on Wednesday evening, August 27 when a special screening of To the Third Pole, the award-winning documentary about his family’s legacy, takes place at Villa Aurora. Jürgen Czwienk, the film’s director, will also be present.
Early on in the film, climbing legend Reinhold Messner weighs in on the significance of the Dyhrenfurths’ heroic achievements: “That Günter Dyhrenfurth organized these international expeditions at the highest level, and decades later, his son again led expeditions to Mount Everest in the same spirit, that is pretty exceptional. I don’t know of any parallel.”
“Family tradition is at the heart of the film,” says director Czwienk. “What interested me was how passion is transferred from one generation to another.”
Czwienk studied the family’s vast archives, including letters, diaries and photographs. However, the biggest prize, only recently rediscovered in Switzerland, was exclusive access to “lost footage” of expeditions in the 1930s, the first moving pictures at high altitude.
Norman was only 12 when his parents first hit the headlines. In 1930, they led an expedition to Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, the third highest peak on earth. The images they brought back would shape his adventurous life.
While the elaborate climbing party never reached the top of Kangchenjunga, two members did reach Jonsong’s pinnacle, at the time the highest mountain (7,483 meters/23,693 feet) yet scaled by man (Mount Everest is 29,198 feet). Hettie Dyhrenfurth, responsible for the expedition’s logistics, earned her own accolade, becoming the highest climbing woman on earth after reaching 6,120 meters.
In a world where climbing has become commercialized, seeing firsthand the daring of these original explorers is all the more enthralling. The early films have many light-hearted moments, too, chronicling the group traveling through Egypt to Bombay and en route from Nepal to Sikkim.
Along the way, they scale the pyramids, are the guests of a high lama and attend an exotic Mani Rimdu ceremony, during which monks don masks and perform ritual dances. Later, when they reach base camp, they play records on a gramophone, much to the delight of the accompanying sherpas.
German-born, the Dyhrenfurths moved to Switzerland and became Swiss citizens in 1931. The film highlights how they stood up to their Nazi rivals’ state-sponsored expeditions, beating them in setting many world climbing records. In fact, the two were awarded gold medals for alpinism at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
The following year, Hettie, a tennis champion from a prominent family of Jewish industrialists, emigrated to the U.S. with her three children, while Günter stayed behind. Before he leaves, 19-year-old Norman climbs Mont Blanc with his father, a passing-of-the-torch-type experience vividly captured through re-enactment in the documentary.
Norman, who inherited the twin passions of mountaineering and filmmaking from his father, initially worked in the United States as a ski instructor, mountain guide and filmmaker. In World War II, he served as an officer in the U.S. army. When the war ended, he came to Los Angeles to become head of the film department at UCLA.
During a recent telephone conversation, Norman fondly recalled his years living on Latimer Road in Rustic Canyon, where he was a member of a group known as the “happy hour boys” who got together regularly for tennis, golf or a day at the races.
“The depressing thing is, when I returned in 1991, only one of the 30 guys was still alive,” he says. “The same is true of my Everest team. Of the 20 members, only eight are still living.”
Norman is referring to the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, his “little war against a big mountain” and major life achievement. Leading 19 Americans, 32 sherpas and 909 porters carrying 27 tons of gear, Dyhrenfurth launched the ascent placing the first Americans atop the mountain while pioneering a new route to the summit. He also produced the first motion pictures taken from the top of Everest. It all culminated in a visit to the White House, where President Kennedy awarded Dyhrenfurth and his team the prestigious Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society.
Dyhrenfurth spent three years on the organization and fundraising for his privately conceived adventure. “Norman is an old-style guy,” says director Czwienk. “He’s a true gentleman and natural leader. He worked hard to make others famous.”
Norman set out on his first Himalayan expedition in 1952, joining the Swiss Mount Everest Expedition as a documentary filmmaker. “It changed my whole outlook on life,” Dyhrenfurth recalls. “I realized the ivory tower job at UCLA was not for me and I quit.”
In total, Norman led seven major Himalaya trips. He also collaborated on two Hollywood feature films set in mountain terrain: Five Days One Summer with Sean Connery and The Eiger Sanction, a 1975 film starring Clint Eastwood.
“I really wanted to reconstruct the majesty of these first expeditions,” says Czwienk. “They were revolutionary not only as conquests, but also in terms of scientific exploration and filmmaking.”
Czwienk and Dyhrenfurth will appear together for the first time at a screening when the film is shown at Villa Aurora in Paseo Miramar. “It’s so wonderful that the protagonist of my story lives,” says Czwienk. “When you meet someone who can provide firsthand accounts of history, it’s a charmed experience.”
To the Third Pole will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27. Seating is limited and reservations are required: call (310) 573-3603. Admission is $10; free for Villa Aurora members. A shuttle service begins at 6:30 p.m. on Los Liones Drive off Sunset Boulevard.

Work to Resume on Derelict Building

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August 20, 2008

The building located at 17351 W. Sunset Blvd. near Pacific Coast Highway has been vacant for almost a year, due to a 2007 plane crash that killed developer Adam Pasori. Renovations are set to resume within 90 days of September 1.
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The building located at 17351 W. Sunset Blvd. near Pacific Coast Highway has been vacant for almost a year, due to a 2007 plane crash that killed developer Adam Pasori. Renovations are set to resume within 90 days of September 1.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

The five-story building located at 17351 W. Sunset Blvd. near Pacific Coast Highway, which has been vacant for more than a year, is slated to become high-end residential condominiums.
The new owners, MKA Capital Group Advisors, plan to continue renovations on the 47,802-sq.-ft. building beginning as early as September. “We’re trying to get rid of the eyesore that it currently is,” said Executive Portfolio Vice President George Baker. “That’s what happens when a building sits for a year.”
Residents complained to the Palisadian-Post and to Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office about the current state of the building, which is within walking distance of Gladstone’s restaurant and the beach.
“Large and torn plastic sheets covering windows and skylights flap in the ocean breezes, as do a few pathetically tattered leasing agent’s flags,” wrote Highlands resident Barbara Marinacci. “It was clearly abandoned. The once nicely landscaped beds out in front contain rampant weeds, dead and dying plants and trees, animal and human excrement, and most notably mounds of miscellaneous trash that spill over or are blown out on the sidewalk.”
Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety Chief Inspector Frank Bush went to the site on August 14 in response to a complaint that the building was vacant and open to unauthorized entry. He agreed with the complaint and an abate order was issued August 22, with a compliance date of September 2.
When City officials were contacted on Wednesday morning, they were unaware of the complicated story of the 1983 building that involves a sale, a death, a court fight and a foreclosure.
The 47,802-sq.-ft. building was sold to 51-year-old Adam Pasori for $17 million in June 2006 (MKA, a lending and developing company, held the second trust deed on the property for $5 million). Pasori, chief executive officer for Santa Monica-based officer for Santa Monica-based Cedar Signature Homes, began work on the condominium units that occupied the top three stories of the building.
A little over a year later, Pasori was killed, along with five family members, when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Sierra Foothills near the Kern Valley Airport. In addition to Pasori, Pasori’s wife Sibel, his younger brother David, his sister Mila Kuygusuz, and her two young daughters—2-year-old Meriem and 5-month-old Nasrin––all perished.
The sensational September 2007 crash was reported not only in the Santa Monica papers where Pasori lived, but also in the Los Angeles Times. Articles described him as a Kurdish immigrant who came to the United States as an exchange student in the 1970s, and returned later to Penn State University, where he received his master’s degree in mechanical and civil engineering.
Pasori began residential and real estate development in 1988. In addition to the Palisades property, the company had two in Santa Monica––“Ocean View” homes at 417 Ocean Park Blvd., and “Tides,” at 125 Pacific St., which was also under construction at the time of the crash.
After his death, the courts stepped in. Some contractors filed for payment of services, including one that posted his company’s plight on the Internet. “We performed a small tile labor/material project in the amount of $5,502.17 back in April of 2007 and, as of today, we have been given the run around on payment. To my surprise, I am not the only contractor out of pocket. It seems that Cedar Signature Homes owes many other contractors.”
In the meantime, MKA was also left in limbo as lawyers worked through the ramifications of the Pasori estate. If the buyer, Cedar Signature Homes (Pasori) defaults on the payments, as a second trust deed holder, MKA could continue to make the mortgage payments, while initiating foreclosure proceedings.
“It was tied up in court for a year. We’re a little frustrated with the whole process,” Baker said. “We foreclosed at the end of July.”
To date, MKA has invested $24 million in hard capital and interest reserve—but that doesn’t include legal fees.
Baker estimates that about 70 percent of the renovations that Pasori’s company started are completed. Portions of the building need to be retrofitted and brought up to current standards. Plans are to finish construction in nine months to a year. “Hopefully it will be faster, but when retrofitting older buildings it sometimes takes longer than you expect,” Baker said.
Originally, the bottom two floors were offices and commercial, but MKA might turn those into residential units as well because, as Baker noted, “the retail and offices were never successful.”
Even as Marinacci described its derelict state, she also noted the building’s possibilities. “The building has an unusual and compelling architectural appearance, which would be enhanced by a subtly-colored stucco exterior and planters with trees, shrubs and flowers installed on the large terraces.”
With high-end residential condominiums, which would include a doorman and a concierge, the once-neglected building could thrive, bringing a certain glamour back to that block of Sunset.

Beglaris Seek Variance for Brooktree Addition

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August 20, 2008

Homeowners Vickey and Mehr Beglari filed paperwork last month with the Los Angeles Zoning Administration asking for a variance to maintain the 14-foot setback on their home at 864 Brooktree Rd. in lieu of the required prevailing setback.
Jenny Kim, a lawyer with Luna & Glushon filing the zoning appeal, declined to talk to the Palisadian-Post and referred the request to Rob Glushon, who did not return the Post’s phone call.
In the Superior Court October 2007 decision, the Beglaris were ordered to bring their 8,550-sq.-ft. house into “compliance with city municipal code,” which would require them to remove 14 feet—the equivalent of as much as 2,000 sq. ft— from their three-story house’s street front. The building permit and the certificate of occupancy were revoked.
Given the difficult situation the Beglaris find themselves—not able live in it, sell it or refinance it––a variance is the last thing they can do, said John Rosenfeld, one of the five plaintiffs in the case, who successfully won the Superior Court judgment that revoked the Building and Safety Department 2001 approval of a 6,550-sq.-ft. addition to their existing 2,000-sq.- ft. ranch-style house.
“In granting a variance, the city has to be able to make findings, supported by evidence, that something is unique to the property and that to enforce the judgment would be unfair,” Rosenfeld said. “This doesn’t offer Beglari much succor. If we don’t agree that it’s a valid basis, we have the right to take the case back to the same judge [Superior Court Judge David Velasquez, who invalidated the decision of the city’s department building and safety] and let him decide.
“If Beglari establishes this in a way that is lawful, then so be it. We will rely on the immutable laws of economics.”

Noises Off, The Boyfriend Sweep Theatre Palisades Awards

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August 20, 2008

Winners of the Theater Palisades Awards. Front row, left to right: Joanne Reich, Dennis Owens, Monica Gilsanz, Drew Fitzsimmons, Amy Coles. Back row, left to right: Manfred Hofer, Sherman Wayne, Martha Hunter, Andrew Frew, Meredith Sweeney, Matt Landig.
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Winners of the Theater Palisades Awards. Front row, left to right: Joanne Reich, Dennis Owens, Monica Gilsanz, Drew Fitzsimmons, Amy Coles. Back row, left to right: Manfred Hofer, Sherman Wayne, Martha Hunter, Andrew Frew, Meredith Sweeney, Matt Landig.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

Call it our Tonys, only a tad smaller and with much more agreeable weather.
About 65 members of the town’s theater community attended the Theatre Palisades Annual Meeting and Awards Show on a pristine August 17 evening, when Noises Off proved to be the big winner.
Noises Off won for Best Play, Best Director and Best Set Design, with Noises Off director Sherman Wayne accepting in all categories. The Boyfriend charmed most of the major acting awards. Manfred Hofer, a graphic artist at the Palisadian-Post, won the award for his design work on the poster for The Boyfriend.
In-between the award presentations, Theatre Palisades history was celebrated, from actress and producer Cindie Wright-Banks, the current member with the longest history at Theatre Palisades, to the Theatre’s trips to Berlin (where they staged a production of On Golden Pond), and a church tour. Wright-Banks explained the Theatre Palisades venue history, from its start at the local Jewish Community Center to the Rustic Canyon Recreation Center to its current location at the Pierson Playhouse. Oft-evoked was former Theatre Palisades property mistress Teresa Trout, whose satirical, inside joke-laced rhymes were read throughout the evening.
Presenting the awards were Julia Whitcombe, Story Cunningham, Mary Dryden, Kimshelley Garner, Monica Gilsanz, Carol Ketay, Shirley Churgin and Mike Macready. Also at the dais was Sherry Coon, who directed Theatre Palisades’ very first play (at the Pierson) and also helmed recent productions, such as A Few Good Men.
Troubadour Doug Green, who in years past directed several Theatre Palisades plays, entertained the crowd with his acoustic guitar ditties sending up the Theatre’s nominated plays. Along the way, he parodied Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and poked at current affairs (“Listenin’ to John and Barack talk and talk . . . [long beat] . . . and talk!”).
Robin Shelby and Sean Spence acted out a scene from the Theatre’s most recent production, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Also gracing the stage was Miss Theatre Palisades, a.k.a. Wright-Banks’ daughter, Alexandra Wright-Banks.
Gamely hosted by Gail Matthius, the awards event was produced by Hunter, Wayne and Matthius.
Dana McElwain accompanied the evening’s program on piano.
The awards ceremony followed a cocktail hour and a catered dinner (from chicken kabobs to ice cream sundaes) held picnic-style on the grassy Founder’s Oak Island in front of the Pierson, as well as the annual meeting, during which treasurer Dieter Holberg broke down Theatre Palisades’ revenue and expenses and, in summation, reported the good news that Theatre Palisades is in the black.
Theatre Palisades’ upcoming fall and winter season will include productions of Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar & Grille by Bruce Graham (Sept. 5 through Oct. 12) and You Can’t Take It With You by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart (Nov. 7 through Dec. 14). Audition info for the latter is posted at www.theatrepalisades.org.

Cat Beheaded on Las Casas

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August 20, 2008

A cat’s severed head was found tucked in an empty fast-food container on the Las Casas Avenue parkway about eight doors from the feline’s home Thursday morning.
Jackson, a six-year-old British short hair, belonged to the Tatum Family. “He was an indoor cat that occasionally hung out on our porch,” father Mike Tatum said. “Someone took my cat off the porch and cut the head off.”
Tatum had gone out with friends at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, returning at 12:15 a.m. The family suspects that an act of animal cruelty occurred during that four-hour window of time. The police were contacted.
Fox 11 News carried the story on the 10 p.m. news Thursday night and again Friday morning.
The West L.A. Animal Cruelty Task Force was contacted because a request was made to see whether the head had been cut off or whether it had been ripped off by a coyote. At press time the Task Force had still not received the report from LAPD.
“In all likelihood it was a coyote; that’s why we beg people to keep their cats indoors,” said Task Force Officer Smith. When asked if it was common for coyotes to leave body parts, Smith said it depends on how hungry the coyote is. Often they go for the highest-calorie parts, which include the heart, liver and kidneys, leaving what they didn’t eat.
Tatum wasn’t buying that explanation. “No way it was a coyote. The head was put in an empty fast-food container, it looked like a Jack in the Box drink container,” he said. “It was perfectly placed. There was nothing around it: no fur, no blood, nothing.”
On Tuesday, Las Casas resident Dale Whiting said she had lost her cat two months ago to a coyote and explained the most likely scenario of what happened to Jackson. “I came out that morning [Thursday] and it looked like someone had emptied a pillow on my lawn. When I went to rake it up I saw it was cut fur, sort of a blondy, apricot color,” Whiting said. “A little later I was walking my dog and I saw this lady with her dog in the middle of the street. She told me that she had seen the cat head being eaten by crows, so she found a little box and put it in it.”
“She reasoned that someone sadly looking for their cat would know what happened to it, because the face was recognizable,” Whiting said.
Earlier reports in the Palisadian-Post had neighbors worried that more than coyotes were stalking domestic pets.
A May 8 Post story reported that a mutilated cat, Gracie, was found dead on the street near Carthage and Haverford and that her “eyes were taken out and skull crushed. Her hind legs and tail had been blown away with a firecracker.”
The following week, resident and president of the Civic League Carl Mellinger wrote, “Research has shown that crimes like this lead to worse offenses like child abuse and molestation, and studies have also shown that serial killers and sociopaths have abused animals when young. After mentioning this to a friend, we decided to offer a $2,500 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the person(s) responsible for this.”
That same week, a second reader reported finding a dismembered cat in the same area where Gracie was found.
In a Two Cents call to the Post a third cat was reported tortured: “Our cat was found tortured on Alma Real, and then about a month later we found a cat’s head and the front paws in our yard. I spoke with two policemen and they said there was nothing they could do but to call animal control. I did and they said that unless I saw the person doing it there was nothing they could do.”
Barbara Marinacci wrote, “It’s highly probable that the cat body parts people have recently reported . . . .are leftovers from coyote meals. The incident of the horribly maimed cat reported several weeks ago, though, was obviously the work of one or more mentally disturbed human sadists —truly meriting police attention and neighborhood concern.”
The reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual has now climbed to $7,030, with 18 people making contributions. Those wishing to contribute to the reward fund should call Mellinger at (310) 454-2033.
If you have any information, please contact Senior LAPD Lead Officer Michael Moore at 310-444-0737 or Officer Smith at (213) 847-1417.

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Using spectacular old and new footage, To the Third Pole, a documentary about a famous mountaineering family, gives viewers a thrill ride.

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