Julie Dresner can take a little credit for bringing back the era when men carried pocket watches and every little girl wore a locket. The Palisadian jewelry maker has been incorporating gold watch chains, T-bars, swivels and fobs into her bead necklaces as part of her vintage line since she started designing jewelry seven years ago. And for women, Dresner often uses old-fashioned lavaliers, pendants that hang from a necklace, in much the same way they were worn by Duchess de La Valliere herself in the18th century. An inveterate flea market habitue, Dresner has always been interested in vintage treasures. When she was a young girl in New York, she would take period clothes and update them into something more contemporary. In college she studied fine arts, and later narrowed her interest to fashion design, which she studied at the San Francisco School of Fashion Design. Her career centered on the movie industry, where she worked as a costumer. Dresner retired from the intensely stressful job for health reasons and to stay home with her daughter, a decision that serendipitously ricocheted her into making jewelry. “When I left costume design, I had collected odd bits and pieces of jewelry, buttons, chains and pins that nobody else wanted,” Dresner says. “I kept them, and then started incorporating them into what I was developing as my own look.” Dresner’s signature designs celebrate precious and semiprecious gems and pearls, fabricated into necklaces and earrings. A selection of her vintage and contemporary lines will be for sale at a one-day trunk show on Saturday, October 29 from noon to 6 p.m. at Boca, a woman’s clothing store at 1024 Swarthmore. A Pacific Palisades resident since 1992, Dresner learned jewelry-making techniques such as soldering, silver- and goldsmithing, wire-wrapping and fabrication, at Rustic Canyon Recreation Center. She uses other artists to cast some vintage pieces and to help her fabricate certain components which give her jewelry a handcrafted look. Dresner’s necklaces are distinctive for their long strands and nature-colored stones’topazes, rubies, and different-colored sapphires. For her vintage pieces, she no longer prowls antique stores, but instead has developed relationships with certain dealers who bring her a selection from which she chooses. “I used to buy on eBay, but now that has become too competitive, so I rely on my contacts I developed from attending various antique shows around town,” Dresner says. While she stays clear of copying other designers, she stays up with trends, even leading the vanguard on the current popularity of lockets and chandelier earrings. “A few years ago, I couldn’t give the chandelier earrings away, now they’re hot.” Julie Starr Dresner Jewelry is sold all over the United States in about 33 different boutiques. She also sells her jewelry to studios, outfitting the women on such television shows as “Medium,” “Will and Grace” and “Love Inc.” “I love working with the studios because I know what they’re looking for,” Dresner says. She also works with Denise Martinez, the co-owner of Boca. “Every season I sit down with Denise and she tells me what colors and styles she will be showing so I can bring her a compatible selection of jewelry.” Although Dresner says that she misses the interaction with people, she finds that she looks forward to the work. “Everything chills when I go into my studio space. In the beginning I worried that I might be consumed by this, but I have been able to find a nice balance with interruptions to meet friends for coffee and do my exercise.” Dresner and her husband Paul Maibaum, currently director of photography for “Related” on the WB network, have a 19-year-old daughter, Shanna, who is a sophomore at San Diego State. Contact: 459-7259.

Editorial

The nightmare that we all imagine could happen one day, that Sunset would harden into one solid parking lot, became reality last Thursday evening and Friday morning, causing residents from Beverly Hills to Pacific Palisades to react with consternation and ire. President Bush was scheduled to come to a private home in Bel-Air for a fundraiser Thursday night to be followed by an overnight stay in Brentwood and a visit to the Reagan Presidential Library Friday, but the federal government failed to inform city officials as to the exact arrival time and destinations off Sunset. “We got the word 24 hours before, but we didn’t know where or when the president was going to be in my district,” Councilman Bill Rosendahl told the Palisadian-Post this week. “We weren’t even clear if the mayor or I should greet him, but then we found out it was a quick hit for money.” Rosendahl said that closing Sunset from the 405 freeway to Allenford caused between 12 and 20 hours of disruption. His office phones were ringing off the hook with constituent complaints. One Paul Revere parent called the Post Friday morning and said that Sunset traffic eastbound was backed up all the way to Capri, which resulted in large groups kids piling out of cars and walking down the hill to get to their classes on time. The co-owner of the Palisadian-Post, Tom Small, even weighed in and encouraged our paper to make an exception to our usual local focus to comment on a national issue. As a Brentwood resident, he reported being a prisoner in his own neighborhood north of Sunset for hours at a time for two days. “Not only was it causing ill will towards Republicans,” Small said, “but the more important issue was that if there had been an emergency, people couldn’t get to the airport, schools, jobs and doctor’s appointments.” Brentwood Senior Lead Officer Dennis Hinman reminded us that this is standard procedure whenever a high-level dignitary comes to town, but that the motorcade route is predetermined by the Secret Service. Councilman Rosendahl didn’t buy the standard procedure. He said that he was outraged by the lack of coordination and cooperation with local authorities. “It was another colossal example of our president not working with the local community.” We understand that security is important, but this was overkill. We propose that if politicians’Republicans and Democrats alike’want to come to our fair city and steal our money for fundraising, they should all be required to hold their parties within five miles of the Palmdale Airport, where there is plenty of open land and little traffic congestion. They have a Ramada Inn, a Super 8 Motel and a Motel 6 up there that would graciously welcome any presidential or politician’s entourage. We also think that the City of L.A. should receive 20 percent of all fundraising proceeds before politicians are allowed to leave town. And for good measure, the proceeds should be invested in easing our traffic congestion.

A white male transient gained entry to classroom 23 at Marquez Elementary Charter School on Tuesday evening, October 18, setting off a chain of events that was finally resolved on Tuesday this week. Third grade teacher Amy Halliburton came to school early Wednesday morning, October 19, in order to prepare for back-to-school night that evening. She found books strewn outside the classroom and noticed that the cabinet outside the classroom was open. Halliburton unlocked the door to the classroom and had trouble getting the door open because there was debris in front of it. When she finally pushed into the classroom it looked as if the place had been turned upside down. “I thought an earthquake had happened,” Halliburton told the Palisadian-Post. “It was back-to-school night and all I could think about was having to clean up the mess.” According to Halliburton, a white male who looked as if he could have been from the neighborhood was suddenly standing in front of her. “I asked him, ‘Who are you?'” Halliburton said, and he mumbled, ‘I was sleeping.'” She looked into his eyes and realized something wasn’t right and turned around and went to the school office. The police were called. As the transient walked off campus, he stopped an aide and asked, “Where’s the Santa Monica Airport?” Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale said that the man, in addition to ransacking the classroom, had eaten the hamster food and vomited on the carpet. According to Halliburton, the transient had not gone into the refrigerator in the classroom, nor had he touched the children’s desks. It appears that the man had jumped a fence to gain entry. He had defecated on the other side of the fence and left his backpack, including ID, opposite where police think he gained entry to the yard. The police believed he gained entry to the class through an unlocked window. The carpet and the beanbag chairs were destroyed. The children were moved to a different classroom for the day, and that evening, parents who had children in that classroom met in the library. The transiet who had caused the damage was not located until this past Monday. A concerned neighbor in the 100 block of Entrada in Santa Monica Canyon called the police because two white males had set up a mattress in a parking lot used by an area restaurant for valet parking. The area is clearly marked “No Trespassing.” Ragsdale responded to the call at 5:30 p.m. When he arrived, he found the two males with a bottle of whiskey, clearly violating the posted sign. He detained the two trespassers. One was cooperative, one was not. As the uncooperative male became combative, Ragsdale called in an additional unit. The use of force was required to make the arrest. Once the officers gained the man’s identity, they confirmed that he was the transient who had been involved in the Marquez School incident. Ragsdale said the transient frequented the Venice and Santa Monica areas as well as Pacific Palisades. Whether it was a drug issue or a mental health issue, Ragsdale couldn’t confirm. “What I’ve experienced,” Ragsdale said, “is that often mental health issues usually follow some sort of drug experimentation.” Teacher Halliburton said everyone at the school, from the teachers to the parents, to the staff were extremely supportive during the incident’s aftermath.

Pumpkin carving is a large but thrilling task for the Johnson family, whose giant homegrown pumpkin this year weighs 660 pounds. Their El Medio bluffs neighbors will finally be able to put a face to the enormous squash come Halloween, when it will be on display in the Johnsons’ front yard. Craig Johnson became interested in growing monster pumpkins more than 10 years ago and challenged himself to grow bigger ones each year. This year’s king of the patch is “tied with last year’s,” Johnson told the Palisadian-Post yesterday. “It was a great seed, a very strong pumpkin, but it slowed down a bit early.” At its peak, the pumpkin was gaining about 20 to 25 pounds a day, until its growth rate slowed down around the first week of September. “We were on vacation,” said Johnson, who suggested that lack of fertilizer during that time might be one reason why the pumpkin failed to reach its full potential, which he said could have been about 700 pounds. Johnson purchases his seeds on an Internet site for Howard Dill Enterprises in Canada, and uses only organic fertilizer. “This year, I was more aggressive,” he said. “I increased the amount [of fertilizer] and the frequency of application. I didn’t put as much fertilizer on the leaves, so I didn’t have any leaf stress this year.” Leaf stress, Johnson explains, occurs when growers spray the leaves generously with fertilizer, which causes them to become brittle. Johnson weighs his pumpkin using what’s called the “over the top” method, which he explains as “three measurements that put you within a couple pounds [of the pumpkin’s actual weight].” He measures the pumpkin from side to side and front to back, as well as the circumference; the total number of inches is then applied to a chart that translates to pounds. On either Saturday or Sunday, Johnson will move his pumpkin into the front yard, using a pumpkin-lifting tarp made by the Amish. Moving the pumpkin requires the help of five or six guys. “I’m a pumpkin artist,” said Johnson, who will begin sculpting his creation on Sunday, using tools purchased at a modeling store that sells art equipment. “I really don’t start focusing on [the design] until a day or two before.” The carving and sculpting process takes about a day. A trick to preserving the pumpkin for three or four days, Johnson says, is spraying cheap hairspray over the surface of the carved pumpkin. “It’s fun for the neighborhood, mostly the younger kids,” said Johnson, whose children, Beck, Teal and Tait, are ages 18, 16 and 13. The three of them will have their own 100- to 200-pound pumpkins to carve. Craig and his wife, Kelly, also donated a 400-pound pumpkin to be auctioned off at Calvary Christian School, and they delivered the pumpkin to the Yeh family in the Marquez area about a week ago.