Metro riders who wait outside Palisades Charter High School at Temescal Canyon Road and Bowdoin Street got an unexpected gift last week: a shelter with a three-person bench. But it’s the shelter’s new neighbor that has some locals fuming: a self-standing, 10-ft.-tall, two-faced billboard. ‘I’m not upset. I’m outraged!’ Mary RedClay, a longtime teacher and board member at Palisades High, says of the new billboard. ‘We need a place where teenagers are protected from people trying to put their hands in kids’ pockets.’ RedClay isn’t alone, says PaliHi Executive Director Amy Held. ‘There are several stakeholders who are very concerned about it,’ Held said. ‘They feel that there should be one kind of safe zone from commercialism.’ Held says that the new billboard and bench will muddy the site the 2,700-student school’s future aquatics center. Not so fast, says Francois Nion, co-managing director of CBS/Decaux, which owns and manages the shelter and ad kiosk. ‘I think the students requested it,’ said Nion, referring to the bus shelter, not the ads. Besides, Nion argues, kids wear ads on their t-shirts to school. And buses that pass the school are covered with ads. Still, he says, the company is ‘mindful’ about what ads it will place in front of the school. ‘If people complain and find an ad objectionable, we can take it down and replace it with another.’ Although the bench was installed last week, city approval began several years ago when CBS/Decaux won a lucrative bid to build ad kiosks in exchange for installing and maintaining bus shelters. CBS/Decaux had planned to install more than two dozen other ad kiosks in Pacific Palisades until last August. That was when the local beautification group PRIDE successfully lobbied City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to reject the companies’ plans. But the Temescal-Bowdoin bench was not part of that agreement. Rosendahl Deputy Andrea Epstein said that approval for that bench was made by then-Councilwoman Cindy Miscicowski, not Rosendahl. Currently, the kiosk is running public service announcements from the LAPD and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But that will change within one month when CBS/Decaux begins selling ads there, says Nion. ‘Most of the time [there] will be movie ads, and [ads] for car dealers and telephone and fashion [companies],’ he says. But to its opponents, any ads adjacent to the school are unacceptable. And they want them removed from the busy corner. ‘It’s visual blight,’ says Peter Scolney, who as PRIDE president fought against the benches. ‘And it’s assaultive advertising.’ Rick Mills, chair of the Palisades Design Review Board, which oversees commercial development, wants Rosendahl to have the kiosk removed. ‘He would get a lot of community points if he could work out a place for that [kiosk] to get relocated,’ Mills says. ‘Everything is possible,’ Nion says. ‘I cannot decide to [remove] it myself. That has to come through the city. And we would have to move it somewhere else. But once in a while we relocate for various reasons.’ If the ads are removed, CBS/Decaux would also remove the bench and shelter. An adjacent three-person bus bench at the same stop would not be moved. —– To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.

By BILL BRANCH Special to the Palisadian-Post Riviera Masonic Lodge 780 celebrated 50 years in Pacific Palisades with an honest-to-goodness sock hop–poodle skirts and all–at the American Legion Hall last Saturday evening. Partygoers wore their ’50’s attire, danced to tunes on the jukebox, enjoyed a buffet dinner, and later visited the in-house ’31 Flavors’ ice cream bar to enjoy a root beer float, shake or sundae, doused with ‘sparkles.’ In the mid-1950s, Riviera Lodge was born out of the devotion of two dedicated Palisades Brothers, Mark R. Throssel and Alfred W. Stelle. They were convinced that a Masonic Lodge, with its fellowship, brotherhood and many charitable functions should, and could, be established in Pacific Palisades. In early 1956, a group of Pacific Palisades Masons from 15 states began ‘supper club’ meetings, organized as a Square and Compass Club at the Santa Ynez Inn. Chief organizers Throssel and Stelle were counseled by UCLA track coach Elvin Drake, and past Masters Richard Kennedy and Thomas McKimson in Masonic principles, teaching and ritual fundamentals. The counselors emphasized the tenets that individual Masons are expected to work at the duties of citizenship, and making themelves available for service to his community, state and nation. To eliminate controversy from within Lodges, discussion of political issues and candidates, as well as religious issues, are not encouraged. After several meetings, a decision was made to inform the California Grand Lodge, the supreme Masonic authority within the State of California, of the Club’s desire to form the Riviera Masonic Lodge. A primary focus for the Lodge has always been public education, which the Masons consider to be the cornerstone of our freedom and an important community activity. An early example of Riviera Lodge community activity related to public education was the Dedication and Cornerstone Ceremony of Palisades High School on November 19, 1961. Since 1997, the Masons have awarded over $300,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors of Palisades Charter High School and have made substantial grants to all three Palisades elementary schools to fund special projects. On Washington’s birthday in 2003, the Masons provide an introductory ceremony7 and a time capsule installation for the Palisades Branch Library dedication. Four of the 50 original founding members, while unable to attend last Saturday’s event, spoke about the early days of the Lodge in a video that was shown during the celebration. Founders Joe Hulderman of Tucson and Ken Jones of Los Altos were unable to participate on the video due to health reasons, but Bill Fremont of Los Angeles and Bob Strasser of Sun Lakes, Arizona, recalled the founding years. In fact, producer Eric Hatfield, who also served as celebration chairman, and Brendan Davis drove through 118-degree heat to Sun Lakes to interview Strasser. The original founders were also honored in the introductions at the beginning of the evening by charter members or their widows. Palisadian Marcella Jennings, widow of Brother Leo Jennings, was on hand throughout the evening, often ‘twisting’ the night away on the dance floor. Freemasonry began in 1717 in England and was brought to the United States by the early settlers. The first Lodges in California were organized in the late 1840s during the Gold Rush days and multiplied rapidly thereafter. Many world leaders have been Masons, including George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Mark Twain, Irving Berlin, Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford. Famous members of Riviera Lodge have included Brother Leland M. Ford, Sr., a member of the U.S. House of Representatives; actor Glenn Ford; TV personality Michael Richards; and Emil Sandmeier, an aide and personal friend of the late Will Rogers, who himself was a member of a Claremore, Oklahoma Masonic Lodge.

The opening of a $300,000 quad at Paul Revere Middle School intended to coincide with the first day of school on September 5, was delayed because of vandalism caused by skate boarders over Labor Day weekend. Trespassers put heavy wax on unsealed cement benches that were recently poured, as well as grinding on them. Paint residue from skateboards was found in several spots. When parents who spearheaded the project arrived on campus September 4, they were disheartened to learn that the new benches now needed to be cleaned with a commercial grade hot water steam cleaner, which meant delaying the opening of the area designated for eighth graders’ nutrition and lunch. Skate deterrents were ordered and installed last weekend to prevent future damage. Funding for the quad, designed by award winning architect Eva Sobesky, came from parents and charitable organizations. ‘They knowingly destroyed something that was created for our students,’ said parent Nancy Babcock, who has been a driving force in renovating the school’s 51-year-old interior courtyard that had become rutted with potholes. ‘It is something beautiful and we want to keep it that way.’ ‘It is disheartening,’ said parent Lori Vogel, who helped oversee the project, which includes concrete benches, tiles and landscaping. ‘We’re taking measures to prevent it from happening again,’ Revere Principal Art Copper said. Meetings with Palisades Patrol about the possibility of surveillance at the school have been planned. Skateboarders climbing the fence at Revere in order to ride is a common occurrence, but what upsets Babcock is irresponsible parents who drive their children there, thus allowing them to break the law by riding on campus after it is closed. ‘They even put benches on roofs of buildings to skate,’ Babcock said, referring to other skateboarders who have been caught. Copper remembers when he was an Assistant Principal an independent film crew was caught filming skateboarders performing stunts at Revere. Babcock is upset about the total disregard of the school and it’s property. ‘Even adults come here to skateboard,’ she said. Babcock recently caught some getting out of a car with their skateboards, as the smell of marijuana floated after them. Vogel pointed out that Revere is listed on skateboard Web sites as a place to ride. Within five minutes of surfing the Internet, one site, www.50-50.com, described Revere as follows: ‘This school is the classic So. Cal school. It was featured in ‘Dogtown’ & ‘Z-Boyz. Great for soul surfers and fence drops for Kale. But it also has ledges and Daewon Tables all over the place. It must have been a Gravity BBQ or something this day, cause there were like 30 people there skating all over the place,’ the Web site reported. The site also warned that undercover police officers wait for skaters to set foot on these grounds. Unfortunately, those officers were not at the school on Labor Day weekend or the quad would have opened as scheduled.

The gate entering Potrero Canyon was finally opened this week–but not to the public. The cast and crew of Eddie Murphy’s new movie ‘Nowhereland’ were allowed in the upper canyon on Monday for a two-day shoot. Although the actual filming took place on the outdoor basketball court at the Palisades Recreation Center, more than 40 vehicles, including semis and trailers, pickups and cars, and a large circus-style tent were parked in the canyon. Judith Collas, who lives nearby, described the scene as ‘Inceville comes to Potrero Canyon. The flat area below the playing fields is filled with enough trucks to transport the Cirque du Soleil.’ Although many residents, like Potrero Canyon Citizen Advisory Committee member Rob Weber, support the city’s general policy to encourage film production, this situation was different. ‘It is a little offensive to me that the public cannot use that space, but that a ‘small army’ was allowed to go in there,’ Weber said. Wallace Leifer, who lives directly above the film’s parking lot, was incredulous. ‘The area is restricted to residents,’ he said. ‘You can’t even walk there, but these people can drive and park vehicles.’ After City Attorney Mark Brown closed Potrero to residents in April 2006, the Palisadian-Post reported that ‘Patricia Robideau, maintenance supervisor for the Department of Recreation and Parks indicated that ‘No Trespassing’ signs had been posted in Potrero Canyon because it is still technically a construction site, and it poses a potential liability to the city should there be an incident in the park.’ In order to obtain a filming permit, most production companies go first to FilmLA, a private nonprofit company that helps them navigate permits, street closures, city agencies and other filming issues. FilmLA helped coordinate between Paramount, the production company for ‘Nowhereland,’ and the L.A. City Recreation and Parks’ film office. That office then contacted Robideau and Palisades Recreation Supervisor Betsy Spinea. Once both had given permission, the permit was granted. Asked to explain why the film company was allowed in Potrero, Robideau had not responded by press time. FilmLA President Steve MacDonald said he didn’t feel it was a contradiction to allowing the film company on a site closed to the public. ‘They [Rec and Parks] know the public doesn’t carry general liability insurance,’ MacDonald said. One of the caveats for obtaining a film permit is that a company must submit insurance information showing it carries commercial general liability of $1 million. MacDonald said there is a great deal of coordination between the production company, his office and Rec and Parks. ‘They felt comfortable that the film activity for a limited time was safe and that they [the film company] carry the proper insurance.’ Other Palisadians wanted to know if the Coastal Commission approved the parking in the Canyon, but according to Coastal Program Analyst Gabriel Burr, approval wasn’t necessary. ‘The Coastal Commission provides guidelines that allow for temporary events to occur within the coastal zone and that could include filming,’ Buhr said. Some residents wanted to know if the money earned from the shoot could be used towards finishing the construction in Potrero. The fee for motion picture filming at a city park is $450 a day. Crew parking (for more than 16 vehicles) is $300 a day. The money is split between two funds, with 60 percent going to the film coordination surcharge account and 40 percent to Rec and Parks general fund. MacDonald explained that California and most other states don’t even charge a fee for facility use. ‘Thirty-five states are actively luring feature film production,’ he said. ‘Los Angeles is losing jobs and revenue. It is important that we all suffer a little inconvenience in order to keep the film industry here.’