“Living here was really the only time in my life I felt like a kid.” – Trang Heather Ho

A day before the South Vietnamese surrendered to North Vietnamese Communist forces in 1975, marking the end of the Vietnam War, Trang Heather Ho boarded a helicopter atop the American Embassy building. That day, eight-year-old Ho left her country and hometown of Saigon on a journey that would bring her to America and a new life in Pacific Palisades. ‘If I had not been at the embassy, my life would be in a different direction,’ said Ho, who now works at CalNational Bank on Sunset (corner of Swarthmore). Because South Vietnam was predicted to collapse, Ho’s parents packed their car with clothing and valuables a month beforehand. Her father, Cam, began carrying 10 ounces of gold hidden in a money belt underneath his clothing. On April 29, 1975, Cam heard the government’s fall was imminent. He ushered his wife, Lan, his four children and brother, Mit, to the car and drove a few blocks to the American Embassy, where he once worked as an administrator. As the family approached the embassy, Ho saw hundreds of panicked Vietnamese outside the gates. A U.S. government official recognized her father and let them inside. Forced to abandon the car, they were unable to bring their belongings. As they waited in line to climb the helicopter’s rope ladder, Ho had to use the bathroom. ‘I was afraid to lose my parents,’ Ho recalled. ‘My dad was stressed out and even if my mom went with me, we might have been separated, so I didn’t say anything, and I had an accident.’ Ho boarded the helicopter wearing a white blazer and no pants. Once inside the helicopter, Ho worried the pilot would fall out, since there were no doors. The family flew to a commercial ship anchored off South Vietnam, where they joined other refugees. Three nights and three days of travel brought them to the Philippines. Ho recalls sitting for hours on the deck with her siblings: Thuy, then 11; Huy, 9; and Hung, 3. Her mother, a midwife, helped a U.S. Marine doctor deliver five to six babies. From the Philippines, the family flew to Guam and then to Florida where they stayed in a refugee camp. Ho’s father had worked as an interpreter for American doctors in Vietnam, so he contacted them to ask for assistance and Dr. John McGonigle responded. Cam had interpreted for McGonigle, an orthopedic surgeon who lived in Pacific Palisades, at the Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon in 1963. John and his wife Virginia decided to buy the Ho family a house at 544 Via de la Paz. ‘I knew they needed it,’ said Virginia, who now lives in Santa Monica. ‘They didn’t have anyone else, really. They just lost everything. They couldn’t go back. It was bad over there and still is.’ The McGonigles invited the family to live with them and their 12 children, ages 11 and older, until the house could be purchased. Ho and her family stayed for about two weeks in the McGonigles’ eight-bedroom home at 200 Toyopa Dr. When they arrived, Ho and her siblings didn’t speak English. The McGonigle children played pool and pinball with them because that didn’t require much communication. ‘All the kids were friends,’ Virginia said. John gave Cam a job as a clerk at his practice in Santa Monica. ‘He was a really nice man ‘ I really thought of him as Santa Claus,’ Ho said. John, who died in 2004, was indeed a generous person, Virginia added. ‘He was always agreeable to help everyone.’ Cam offered John the gold he brought from Vietnam, but John refused. Trang Ho’s family also received local fame when the Palisadian-Post featured them in the July 24, 1975 issue in an article titled ‘Another World ‘Vietnamese Escape Their Homeland in Hope of Finding New Life.’ The McGonigles enrolled the children in nearby Corpus Christi School. ‘All the kids were very fast learners,’ Virginia said. ‘[Trang] would come home with straight A’s.’ She learned to speak the language from her father and by watching television. Cam bought a chalkboard and books, so he could teach his children English after school. Ho also befriended the only other foreigner in her third-grade class, Japanese student Chika Imai Kakinuma. ‘Trang and I could not speak English well ‘ so to me, she was a comrade and a rival at the same time,’ Kakinuma wrote to the Post from Saitama, Japan, where she now lives. ‘I think we improved (our English) together through friendly rivalry. She was a very sweet girl. When I was sick and could not go to school, she came to my house after school with candy. I was very moved by this.’ After school, Ho and Kakinuma would dig a hole and build a small fire to bake potatoes in aluminum foil at the Via bluffs. ‘We brought a bottle of water in case we needed to put the fire out,’ Ho said, laughing. Ho and Kakinuma are still friends and have visited each other in their respective countries. At 10 years old, Ho decided she wanted to help her struggling parents. ‘I kind of felt like a financial burden,’ Ho said, so she asked the neighbors for a job. ‘She came to my door with her little brother and said she wanted work,’ said Anne Skelton, who lived with her former husband Dr. Joseph Gambone on Via de la Paz. ‘I was completely taken aback. She was a tiny little thing. I remember asking what she could possibly do ‘ thinking she barely reached the doorknob ‘ and she said anything I wanted her to do. I was unbelievably impressed by her presence and can-do attitude that was way beyond her age and size.’ Skelton, who now lives in New Zealand, hired Ho to take care of her two children every night for two hours while she cooked dinner. That work led to other babysitting jobs. ‘We never got any toys,’ Ho said. ‘I was excited to come to work so that I could play with the toys. I discovered my favorite were Legos.’ Ho’s mother also babysat and worked at All-Pro Health Foods and Nutrition on Via de la Paz. She learned English while on the job. After working for McGonigle’s practice for two months, Cam became a social worker for Los Angeles County and helped build naval ships at Todd Shipyards. By 1978, he and Lan had earned enough money to purchase their own home in West Los Angeles. In 1982, they gained citizenship and adopted American names. Ho kept her first name, Trang, and changed her middle name to Heather after a girl she babysat. Cam changed his name to Bill, and Lan to Sophia. ‘They are very industrious and hardworking people,’ Virginia McGonigle said. Cam later owned his own pool construction and cleaning business, while Lan worked for McGonigle’s practice as a clerk. They now live in Fountain Valley, and Cam works part-time in real estate investment. ‘This is truly the land of opportunity. My father came over here and made something of himself,’ Ho said, adding he often worked overtime. ‘I have great appreciation for my father.’ Ho attended University High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in social psychology at UCLA. After working in various sales jobs around Los Angeles, Ho, 41 and in a relationship, took a position with CalNational three months ago. She consults prospective clients on loans and banking services. Her siblings Huy (Dan) and Hung (Ben) are college graduates and work for Isuzu Motors and Sprint Nextel, respectively. Thuy (Twee) is disabled but was a manicurist for many years. Ho, a Santa Monica resident, chose the CalNational job because she liked the company’s business philosophy and felt nostalgia for the Palisades. ‘Living here was really the only time in my life I felt like a kid,’ she said, noting she often drives by her old house, which is now totally remodeled. Since coming to the United States, Ho has returned to Vietnam only once, and she describes the experience as emotional. She traveled to the country alone for 10 days in 2001 and visited relatives she hadn’t seen since she left. She saw a lot of poverty ‘ including women selling wares on the street with their babies on their hips ‘ and thought that could be her. ‘It gave me a stronger appreciation for what I have here,’ she said.

Luis Castaneda had no restaurant-industry experience whatsoever when he and his two business partners opened Caf’ Vida on Antioch Street in 2002. ‘I threw away all my suits,’ says the Palisadian restaurateur, formerly a partner in the Venice-based Spanish-language advertising agency Enlace, which created TV spots for giant corporate clients such as Bank of America and Nissan. What Castaneda brought to the restaurant table was some good ol’ fashioned passion for good people and good food. Six years later, Vida is expanding its brand. Castaneda and his business partners, Francisco Cornejo and Marcello Marolla, have aligned themselves with the Spectrum Athletic Clubs chain, which will be opening Vida cafes at its facilities in what Castaneda calls ‘a controlled growth expansion.’ The first Spectrum Vida, at a San Antonio location, opened in December, with plans for more in the works. ‘It really works well for us,’ says Castaneda of the Spectrum synergy, which marries Vida’s health-conscious menu with exercise. ‘Fifty percent of what you do is what you put in your body.’ Meanwhile, the original inspiration for Caf’ Vida”Pure Energy Caf

By BETH BRETT While most honeymooners would be content to spend their first trip as husband and wife at a luxury island resort, my husband, Adam, and I had a different idea in mind. Three weeks. To us, that meant choosing a place of natural splendor far away from the world’s trouble spots, but with access to tennis courts. A trip to New Zealand was a no-brainer. Aptly named Aotearoa, ‘Land of the Long White Cloud,’ by the early Polynesian settlers, New Zealand is a country of mystifying beauty stretching nearly 1,000 miles from north to south and consisting of two large islands, a sprinkling of smaller ones, plus a few far-flung islands hundreds of miles away. A microcosm of all the world’s attractions, New Zealand allows you to trek on the slopes of active volcanoes or in remote rain forests or climb glaciers of blue ice that almost seem to touch the Tasman Sea. You can cruise on fjords, swim with bottlenose dolphins, watch whales, fish for rainbow trout in cold mountain streams and view fur seals frolicking in the surf. The adventurous can go bungee jumping, white-water rafting or snowboarding’a seemingly endless variety of activities. Fresh air, magnificent scenery, and outdoor activities drew us to the South Island. But, above all else, we were after our favorite cement oasis’the tennis court. Few would travel 10,000 miles to play a game of tennis. But then again, not many couples can claim to have met on court as we had in a Manhattan mixed-doubles league four years ago. It was a ‘love match’ at first sight. Later that year, Adam proved himself a keeper when he came to my rescue during the finals of a women’s tournament when I managed to pop all my racket strings. Adam valiantly strung one, returning with it just in time for me to win the third set. Strangely enough, ‘tennis courting’ runs in the family. My mother and father first eyed each other at the Central Park Tennis Center, and Adam’s parents met in similar fashion while students at American University. Going back another generation, both sets of grandparents met playing handball. So it should come as no surprise that on the first day of our honeymoon, we sat at the breakfast table poring over a map of Christchurch, searching for the courts. Lovingly, I marked the spot with a giant X and we set out for a walk through town that would end at Hagley Park’s public courts. I was well trained by my father, Harold German (who captained the tennis team at Princeton University in 1963 and played in the U.S. Open), in finding courts. Most of our family vacations included hunts for treasure’the local tennis court. Whether in Barcelona or Budapest, our visits to museums and churches were interspersed with games of tennis. When we arrived in Christchurch in mid-September, we expected the sky to be a symphony of gray. Instead, the sky was clear, the clouds white as chalk. It was springtime. I felt lucky to be in love. Luckier still to have a beautiful day for a game of tennis. Armed with our beloved rackets, we set out to explore the city by foot. En route to the city center, we walked past a bunch of ‘Nanavilles,’ the Kiwi way of describing Christchurch’s many antique shops that share a certain likeness to a grandmother’s attic. We danced past the daffodils that dotted the banks of the meandering Avon River as we practiced moves that we had executed during our first dance on our wedding day. We stopped at Cathedral Square, which was abuzz with street life. Then we headed west along Worcester Street to the Arts Centre, a weekend marketplace where you can find anything from jade jewelry to rich kauri wood furniture. It was mid-afternoon and the Botanic Gardens spread before us like an Impressionist painting. A canvas of pinks, yellows and greens, the garden was a perfect portrait of paradise. Cherry blossoms fell to the ground like snow and the azalea bushes blazed fiery hues of red and orange. Finally, the tennis courts were in reach. While for many couples, a romantic day in Christchurch would be punting along the Avon, our notion of romance involved smacking balls at each other until the sun set over Lake Victoria.

Council Honors Madnick for Role In Relay for Life

After losing both of her parents to cancer, Pacific Palisades resident Amy Madnick made it her personal mission to support cancer patients and their families. ‘Sickness happens to more than just the body; it affects people spiritually and emotionally,’ the 49-year-old said this week. In 2004, Madnick organized the Palisades Relay for Life, a nationwide fundraiser benefiting the American Cancer Society, where groups of people walk or run for 24 hours to raise money for cancer research and programs. The fourth annual Relay event here will begin on Saturday, April 5 at 9 a.m. with an opening ceremony at Paul Revere Middle School. In recognition of her work, the Pacific Palisades Community Council will present Madnick with a 2008 Golden Sparkplug Award at the Citizen of the Year dinner on April 24 at the American Legion Hall. The annual award honors citizens for projects they help launch that benefit the Palisades community. ‘Without Amy, this year’s big event would never have happened,’ wrote Community Council member Susan Nash when she recommended Madnick for the award. ‘Having this event on a regular basis has significantly and permanently made a difference in the quality of life we all enjoy in this community.’ Madnick, who graduated from Palisades High School in 1976, first heard about Relay for Life from her husband’s cousin. She spoke with women in the community and organized a volunteer group that included Sandi Merwitzer, Carolyn Haselkorn, Rita Singer, Bernadette Romano, Judee Colton, Lainie Sugarman, Courtney Zinszer, Dana Fein and Mary Jane Leonetti. Madnick’s two teenage children, David and Becca, and husband, Leo, also volunteered. ‘I don’t feel like it was me,’ Madnick said. ‘I feel like it was this great group of people.’ That first year, hundreds of people participated in the relay at Marquez Elementary School, and they raised $66,000. ‘It was amazing the outpouring of generosity,’ Madnick said. ‘A good portion of us stayed up all night’ It was the best thing I ever did.’ Madnick, a social worker at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, coordinated the event again the next two years, but she was too busy with work to arrange one in 2007. Kit Festa and Joy Festa Schroeder have now taken over the leadership role. Madnick is glad the relay will continue because it’s a great opportunity for people to bond. Her mother, Barbara Lewis, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1964. She survived that cancer, but in 1984, she died of melanoma, more than likely caused by the radiation treatments she received for Hodgkin’s. Madnick’s father, Leonard, an oncologist in Santa Monica, died of a brain tumor in 1976. In addition to Relay for Life, Madnick helps Spanish-speaking breast-cancer patients at the White Memorial Hospital in East Los Angeles, as part of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Since starting the relay, 15 of Madnick’s friends and family members have been diagnosed with cancer. ‘I just want [my grandchildren] to grow up in a world where this illness doesn’t exist,’ she said.

The Wachovia Corporation will open a 5,000-sq.-ft. financial center in Pacific Palisades this summer as it expands aggressively into the Southern California market. Occupying the former Coldwell Banker location (between Designers Rug Resource and the woman’s clothing store Margano), Wachovia will fill a space that has been empty since the summer of 2006. ‘Our targeted open date is July 29,’ said George Swygert, who provides executive leadership to Wachovia’s retail and small business banking operations in Southern California and Arizona. He and his wife relocated to Brentwood with their young daughter 18 months ago and have become active members at St. Matthew’s Church. ‘When I first came out to California,’ Swygert told the Palisadian-Post Tuesday, ‘I looked for a site in the Palisades but there wasn’t much commercial space available. We were fortunate to find a place near the Village Green, smack dab in the middle of town on the main street.’ Another advantage: 10 parking spaces behind the building. He said the long-vacant Office Supplier space across the street was too small. The Palisades branch is larger than most of Wachovia’s branches and will be comparable in size to the Bank of America branch. What about the presence of eight other established banks within two blocks? Doesn’t this worry Wachovia? ‘Coffee Bean is right across from Starbucks, right?’ Swygert said, laughing. ‘All of us offer special services, and with the affluent population here, there are plenty of dollars to go around for everybody.’ He added, ‘When we enter a market, our reputation for giving great service usually affects our peers. We hope we will add value to the citizens whether they decide to bank with us or not.’ Wachovia, the fourth largest U.S. bank behind Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, offers a full array of financial services through offices in 21 states and Washington, D.C. At year’s end it had 163 branches in California, including two in Brentwood and one in Malibu, with a new branch opening soon in Santa Monica. ‘Pacific Palisades fills out the Westside for us,’ said Swygert, 40, who has worked his entire career with Wachovia. ‘This is a very desirable market for us.’ He’s also enthusiastic about living so close to town and getting involved in the community. ‘This is like a small town in the Midwest or the South somewhere, especially on the Fourth of July, where you go out the night before and put chairs along the parade route,’ Swygert said. ‘We come over here for the farmers market every Sunday and we eat at places like Dante’s.’ Already aware of the non-chain sentiments among many Palisades residents, Swygert noted that Wachovia ‘is a very active player in the local communities where we operate. We have established what we call an employee involvement group in Century City, and they pick projects our employees want to get involved in as volunteers and with corporate support.’ A prime example: Wachovia supports employee volunteerism through its Time Away from Work for Community Service policy, giving all employees four hours per months’or six days per year’of paid time off to volunteer in local communities. _______