With fall 2005 fast approaching and Proposition K renovations at Rustic Canyon Park remaining incomplete for the third year, members of the local volunteer neighborhood oversight committee (LVNOC) will meet tonight with the project manager to get things back on track. Although the men’s and women’s bathrooms have been retrofitted to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the park’s handicapped ramp, originally scheduled to be completed by the beginning of summer camp’June 29’remains unfinished, owing to a subcontractor’s error. According to Neil Drucker, project manager for recreational and cultural facilities with the Bureau of Engineering, “There is a mistake in one of the concrete landings that has been corrected by the subcontractor at his own cost. It will not be a cost to the City or Prop. K.” The ramp, which descends from the porch on the north side of the main building to the children’s play area, remains off limits to the public pending repairs. According to Nelson Willis, LVNOC chairman, the committee signed off on the overall plan a year ago with the promise from then project manager Alice Gong that they would be presented with a revised list of projects so they would have an opportunity to set priorities. “In addition, Gong promised to supply the committee with a revised list of costs to date and firm numbers on the cost of each of the items approved by the committee.” The list includes an automatic irrigation system, repairs to the entry courtyard, and replacement of inside patio doors with French doors. Inside upgrades include removing all acoustical tiles, resurfacing the basketball/volleyball court and adding fencing where appropriate. The VNOC was formed as a result of the controversy surrounding a previous plan that was developed by the previous VNOC and the Department of Recreation and Parks, but without input from the broader Rustic Canyon community. Opponents of the plan argued that the public had not been notified with sufficient time of VNOC meetings, and had been deprived of an opportunity for input. “We make every effort to accommodate the needs and wishes of the LVNOC when possible,” Drucker said, “but ultimately the City, not the LVNOC, must make the final decision on design’the LVNOC is an advisory body.” The project was previously designed and bids had been awarded by Recreation and Parks prior to being turned over to the Bureau of Engineering, which caused a delay in the construction schedule and reduced the amount of money available for construction. Of the original Prop K allotment $500,00, about $150,000 remains to complete most of the items on the LVNOC list. “The project was delayed due to delays in transferring the funds from Prop. K to the General Services Department (GSD), beyond the control of the Bureau of Engineering, which pushed the construction into a time period where it is competing with a number of other GSD- constructed projects,” Drucker said. In addition, Drucker said the department stopped work during the summer so the work would not interfere with the park’s summer camp activities. He anticipates that the entire project will be completed by February 6, 2006. The LVNOC will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Rustic Canyon Park, 601 Latimer Rd. The public is invited.
Frank Sawyer Is New School Minister at St. Matthew’s
By JACK KUHLENSCHMIDT Special to the Palisadian-Post Students and parents at St. Matthew’s Parish School will see a new face on campus this fall. Rev. Frank Sawyer has been hired as the new school minister for grades K-8. So just who is this Frank Sawyer? I was curious to find out, so I sat down with him for a few minutes during lunch. First of all, Frank is a Canadian (he emphasizes that he is an English Canadian and not a French Canadian) and says “aboot” and “oot” instead of “about” and “out.” He says that he is determined to make school chapel more compelling and exciting by relating everything to stuff that we (the students) can understand. He might relate a lesson to a current event or something that we as a congregation can all relate to. Oh, so you want to know more about Frank Sawyer? Okay, here goes. Frank grew up in Ontario, Canada, and at the age of 15 received a sense that he was “called to serve God.” He says that the feeling was “kind of weird” and that he “didn’t tell anybody for two years” because he did not know what to think of this gut feeling. Still, Frank pursued his calling and was soon an ordained minister and teaching at Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco. But don’t worry, Dodger fans, because Frank never had anything to do with the dreaded San Francisco Cheaters… I mean Giants. He worked at Cathedral from 1999 to 2004, and moved here at the end of June with his wife, Ginnelle, to take the job at St. Matthew’s. Frank has been married for nearly seven years. When he first met Ginnelle, she thought that it was “kind of strange” that he was studying to become a priest, but they overcame that minor setback and now live happily in the Palisades. The couple had a little girl, Maggie, this Monday. Frank would like you to know some of his hobbies. He likes “nature sports” such as kayaking, hiking, swimming and sailing. He also has two dogs (bichons, which are very small white dogs) that he walks with his wife. Frank likes to run and has participated in three marathons. Another interesting fact about his life is that he spent one summer in the Canadian Army as an officer in the artillery. He did it because his grandfather was in the army, his father was in the army, and he wanted to continue this tradition. I hope you know that Frank is not your typical school minister. This gives him an advantage over others, because he is almost a kid himself. He does not teach the standard way; he seeks to teach the way that is most effective. So Frank would like to invite his students to please come to class with an open mind because he wants to be their teacher and friend. (Palisadian Jack Kuhlenschmidt, an eighth grader at St. Matthew’s, also has a story in this week’s sports section.)
Mike Deasy and George Penner Open Boutique Real Estate Firm
A bold concept of teamwork inspired Mike Deasy and George Penner to create their new real estate firm, Deasy/Penner & Partners on Main Street in Venice. They envisioned a company in which the agents would be partners in the firm, actively involved in multiple aspects of the business, and would accrue equity in the company based on their individual productivity. “All agents participate in both profit and equity,” says Palisadian Deasy, formerly of Mossler Deasy & Doe, a trailblazer in the industry of architecturally significant homes. “Most of our agents are as adept at creating ads as doing finance and administration.” Deasy/Penner & Partners was born in June and currently has 15 agents, including Frank Langen, a Santa Monica Canyon resident and co-creator of inthecanyon.com. The firm hopes to have a team of 30 within six months. Penner, an advertising executive who was chief operating officer at MDD, has even created a logo that can be personalized by incorporating the name of each partner. In this way, Penner says, they’re “rewarding and incentivizing each agent” and simultaneously “developing a firm that’s a unified front in the eyes of the consumer. “We’re allowing our new brand to be everybody’s brand,” he says. Penner resigned from MDD May 31 and Deasy followed shortly thereafter. Both are well versed in the specialized market of architectural homes, and Deasy bought his current home’the Entenza house designed by Modernist architect Harwell Hamilton Harris’from Penner in 1998. The two share a passion for the “home as art” and a mission to help clients translate their aesthetic preferences into a living environment that will complement their lifestyles and tastes. “We want to be experts on how people live in the house,” Penner says, explaining that the name of the architect who designed a house and the year it was built are less important than how the house interacts with the emotions of the buyer. “Think of the home as a piece of artwork but not as a museum that you can’t live in.” Deasy adds that their philosophy is “not having the art impose itself on you.” The firm’s reach will extend from Malibu to Palm Springs, and incorporate diverse architectural styles. Currently, their most significant listings in terms of design include three Brentwood homes: the Binstock residence, a bluffside estate on Richwood; a restored Spanish-style home on Medio, with gardens designed by Pamela Burton; and a New England traditional home on Carmelina. They have two listings on Amalfi in Santa Monica Canyon. One is an original concrete house that was renovated and wood-clad in the 1960s by Doug Rucker, and expanded two decades later by architect Sam Tolkin. French doors open to the verdant canyon, which stretches around the home. “We’re very passionate about our vision,” Penner says, emphasizing that their firm’s scope “goes well beyond the focus on mid-century architecture, which MDD did so well. There’s so much more design and ‘home as art’ in Southern California.” Deasy says that currently, one of the most popular designs is the Nantucket beach style’white and open, with hardwood floors. Penner adds that mid-century modern is still “in” but “I think it’s evolving. People are looking at contemporary designs with a mid-century attitude.” Whatever the trend, Penner says there’s “a sense of need to be more diverse and create a market that breaks through the generality.” Deasy and Penner believe they’ve created that market and a new real estate model with their boutique firm. For more information, visit www.deasypenner.com or call 275-1000.
‘Radio Golf’: Dream or Conflict Deferred?
Theater Review
Pursuing a dream often involves some sort of conflict’moral, political or social. And in theater, part of what makes the evolution (or dissolution) of that dream interesting to watch is seeing a character struggle with this conflict. August Wilson’s “Radio Golf,” playing at the Mark Taper Forum, is a play built on the conflict of whether history can be preserved and integrated into the present and future. The final drama in Wilson’s 10-play cycle chronicling African American life in the 20th century (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson”) “Radio Golf,” is set in the 1990s in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. The main character, Harmond Wilks (Rocky Carroll), is a gentle and optimistic real estate developer working on an urban renewal project in the city. He imagines great potential for the dilapidated Hill District and wants to lead the citizens to success in more ways than one; he plans to run for mayor. Wilks sets up shop in an abandoned, warehouse-like building and makes time for the neighborhood personalities who come in off the street looking for work or someone to listen, in part because he is just that kind of guy but also because he’s genuinely interested in the history of the area. He gets excited about his idea to name the pharmacy in the mixed-use housing and retail complex after the city’s first African American registered nurse. Less enthused about preserving a piece of history or instilling meaning in the building project are his practical, campaign-manager wife Mame Wilks (Denise Burse) and his business partner Roosevelt Hicks (James A. Williams). Both are on the fast path to success, and Hicks is most concerned with how he can make the most money off the project. Perhaps the only thing that Wilks and Hicks really have in common is a passion for golf, but where Hicks reveres Tiger Woods, Wilks is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Ultimately, Hicks lands a deal with a shady business man, to host a radio show about golf, which symbolically separates him further from his black history. Hicks succeeds in presenting a conflict for Wilks because the friends have such opposing values and goals, but Mame Wilks has less purpose. Perhaps this is why Burse’s stage presence is not heavily felt. Two of the most dynamic characters in the play are Elder Joseph Barlow (Anthony Chisholm) and Sterling Johnson (John Earl Jelks), two Hill District natives and the real heart and soul of the neighborhood. They aren’t about to see their community pulled out from under their feet, even though they don’t have the money or resources to fight it. Barlow comes to Wilks with a story to tell and ends up telling several before revealing that he is more than just a lonely old man who carries memories of the past proudly on his shoulders; he claims to own one of the old homes scheduled to be demolished in the redevelopment project. Chisholm, who has performed in several other Wilson plays, brings a good balance of mystery, wisdom and humor to this character, though at times his lines are lost in his well-crafted but raspy and often fast-paced storytelling voice. The real star of the show is Jelks as the friendly but bold Johnson, who seeks construction work but has more than that to give. “You livin’ in a world where life don’t matter,” Johnson tells Wilks when he pathetically tries to give Barlow money for the house. Jelks delivers the “What you got?” speech against Hicks in a particularly powerful and moving way, reminding us that the voice of the little man is sometimes the bigger one. Ultimately, both Johnson and Barlow are there to teach Wilks not only about what kind of mayor he wants to be but, more importantly, about what kind of man and American he wants to be. The only problem is that Wilks gets the message too fast, or rather, it seems like he never struggles between what is right and what is wrong. The conflict is there but he knows all along what he will do and never really falls off the moral path; even his gesture to pay Barlow for the home seems like a false, temporary solution until he can pick up the phone to call off the demolition. The production’s elaborate set with golden lighting and intricately designed abandoned shops that hang in the darkness of the wings forms an identity of its own (scenic design by David Gallo), with walls that reverberate with the past after the last word is spoken. August Wilson’s “Radio Golf,” directed by Kenny Leon, runs through September 18 at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 Grand Ave. Tickets are $34 to $52. Contact: (213) 628-2772.
Jos
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
It may have been a whim, or providence, that landed Jos’-Luis Orozco a job with the Berkeley public schools over 30 years ago. The young Mexican immigrant didn’t have a degree, or money, but possessed the voice of a lark, and ambition. ”Realizing that Orozco was a gifted musician with a treasure of Mexican songs in his heart, the Berkeley school district hired Orozco to teach music in the classroom. ””There was a lot of money for bilingual education in California back in the 1970s, and scholarship money for college,” says Orozco, who went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1974 and later earned his master’s degree in multicultural education, which set him on his life’s path. ”The award-winning educator, performer, songwriter and author of numerous books for children is now living in Los Angeles to be closer to his target Latino population. ”When Orozco was 10 years old, he was accepted into Mexico City Children’s Choir, which conveyed him around the world for three years. “We traveled to the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America and performed for five different heads of state, including Prince Rainier of Monaco, ” says Orozco, adding, “It was the opportunity of our lives.” ”Just as music has been the key to Orozco’s life, and success, he believes music to be the most important, non-threatening tool for teaching. ””People learn more by playing and singing,” he says, and has developed a comprehensive curriculum based on this principle. ”Whether he is inviting us to sing along with joyous and colorful songs that celebrate Latin-American culture, or working with parents and teachers to promote literacy, Orozco is reinforcing the values conveyed through the oral tradition. ”In his books, Orozco illustrates universal themes. In his latest, “Rin, Rin, Rin’Do Re Mi,” (Scholastic), he depicts how everyday family activities such as cooking, singing and storytelling prepare children for reading and life. “Los Pollitos”(the chicks) is about affection and “Diez Deditos, Ten Little Fingers” teaches counting and parts of the body all wrapped into finger rhymes and action songs. The entire selection are available at www.joseluisorozco.com. ”One of his primary aims now that he is in Los Angeles is to work with the large Latino population in improving literacy. Toward that end, he is targeting children between the ages of two and nine, many of whom are not exposed to reading at home. ””Many of these families are just focusing on survival, which doesn’t allow them to remember how happy they were in their own childhood back home. We try to give them the love of education and books, and encourage parents to take the time to sing and play games with them because it is very important.” ”Many parents indeed carry their native culture inside in remembered songs and nursery rhymes. “If they sing to their children all the time, it will help them keep the oral tradition alive and help with reading,” Orozco believes. ”Two songs in particular, “Paz y Libertad” and “Viva Mi Barrio,” which Orozco wrote in the early 1980s, recognize the hundreds of refugees from the political conflicts in Central America, and encourage self-esteem and high expectations. ”Orozco and his wife, Julie Castro Orozco, who is a bilingual teacher currently teaching fourth grade at Marvin Elementary School at Fairfax and Washington, moved to Pacific Palisades a year ago with their youngest son, Pablo, 14. ”Encouraged by the leadership of Antonio Villaraigosa, Orozco says that the new mayor was already familiar with his music through his wife Connie, who is a teacher in Montebello. ””When I met Villaraigosa at the family book fair in East L. A., he started singing “Chocolate” (uno, dos, tres, ‘ch’, uno, dos, tres ‘co’, uno, dos, tres ‘la”),” Orozco says, convinced Los Angeles is the place to be if he wants to record more and reach the large population of children, who are failing in school, dropping out, and becoming more and more handicapped in the workplace. ”Orozco started his company, Arcoiris children’s records, in 1984, disappointed with the lack of materials in so many of the public schools. Over the years, schools and libraries have used his books and CDs. “De Colores” and “Diez Deditos” have been adopted by the state of Texas. ”Beyond his consultant work, performance and speaking engagements, Orozco is working with La Raza, Scholastic and Verizon on a national literacy campaign. He will attend the national book festival in Washington, D. C. in late September to launch this campaign, which targets the Spanish-speaking communities around the country. ”While many of the songs Orozco includes in his collections he learned from his mother and grandmother in Mexico City, others he picked up while traveling in Latin America and Spain, and others are his own creations. ””I have also translated many familiar songs in English, such as “Magic Penny,” “This Land is Your Land,” and “The Wheels on the Bus” he says. ”Sixty percent of the songs native to Latin American were brought by the Catholic Church, certainly all the lullabies, which always refer to the baby Jesus, says Orozco. He finds that he can easily change the gender of the baby to make the song suitable for all small children, Christian and non-Christian. ”But whatever the song, Orozco relies on the catchy tune to incorporate the tools for teaching reading. ””Reading is very political,” Orozco says. “Everything I do is political’education, teaching and reading. But politics are important because this is what gives people an opportunity to make a better life and a better world.” ”In 1978, Orozco produced a CD of freedom songs called “Corridos Mexicanos y Chicanos,” which traces the history of freedom fighters, from Don Miguel Hildalgo, the father of Mexico’s independence, to Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, co-founders of the United Farm Workers’ Union. ”Orozco has sung for the migrant children in the Coachella Valley, and just last week he participated in the peace vigil on the Village Green, playing his guitar while he led the way with his clear, lyrical tenor in “America The Beautiful, “This Land is Your Land,” and others in the folk genre of freedom songs. ”Orozco will be performing at the Getty Museum at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28.
What’s in a Label?
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Be it at a coffee shop, spa, real estate office or, perhaps, the local gym, private label water is popping up everywhere. It’s commonplace. In fact, private-label water and juice are reaping the benefits of the health movement as well as the marketing awareness that characterizes the current consumer climate. Sales are up and, in most cases, growth has spilled over into double digits, outpacing national brands. There’s no doubt that private label bottled water has proven to be a lucrative venture with, according to Information Resources Inc., a 14.6 percent sales increase over branded bottled water’s 13.1-percent increase. That’s music to Derek Reineman, whose 10-year-old Chameleon Beverage Company produces approximately 3,000 private labels for such clients as Kraft Foods, Souplantation, Bebe, Splash, Kelley Services, St. Regis Hotel at Monarch Bay and its newest account, Starbucks, whose brand, Ethos, helps children around the world receive clean water. Five cents of every $1.70 1/2 liter bottle sold goes to the clean-water effort. The bottles are walking billboards. Reineman’s concept for a private-label water company began while he was studying for his master’s degree at the University of Michigan. ””Our New Venture Development class won the school’s Pryer award for the best business plan’a competition that was judged by venture capitalists and bankers,” explains, Reineman, 38, who grew up in Pacific Palisades, and who with wife Tanya has sons Adian, 5, and Jackson, 3. ””We went on to a national competition and were chosen one of three finalists. The other plan we considered was for ostrich farming, but thankfully, I got into private-label beverages.” ”For the first two years, Chameleon had only three employees’definitely a bootstrap effort. In fact, Reineman figures that he probably hand-labeled about two million bottles himself. “I thought I was the only one who could put a label on straight,” he says, with a laugh. The company now boasts over 100 employees who work out of a 100,000-sq.-ft. complex in the City of Commerce. In the beginning, the company’s water was bought from bottlers, the labels from a printer. Four years ago, Reineman bought a printing company. And as Chameleon’s growth continued to explode, it had problems getting enough water from its bottlers. The next leap was to invest in a state-of-the-art bottling facility, which fundamentally changed the size and the scope of the business. “We went from a cottage-boutique business to $2 million in sales and are now doing close to $20 million, based upon a higher volume-type customer,” Reineman says. “Across the board, you’ll see our products in such places as Whole Foods, Albertsons, Costco and Wal-Mart. But we will always have allegiances to our small to medium-size customer and will never move away from that type of business. In fact, we may be the only bottler in the country that prints its own labels, bottles the water and then does the distribution. We’re very vertically integrated and focused. And we think that is probably what sets us apart as much as anything else.” The company distributes spring water that comes from underground wells, and tap water that goes through a reverse osmosis process to take out the sediment. Both types of water are purified through a UV process. Additionally, Chameleon creates flavored as well as enhanced waters in which the structure and chemistry of the water are manipulated without changing the water itself. “We may not be the first in the country to do private labeling,” Reineman says, “but we may be the first one to do it in a cost-effective way. “For instance, in the past, if a restaurant wanted to do something with its own label, they would have to go to a printing company and they would have to buy, say, 10,000 labels. Then they would have to find a bottler that was going to put the labels on the bottle. What started out as a ‘cute’ idea suddenly became a very expensive, unrealistic concept. So by charging only $75 for the digital printing set-up, and with a 10-case minimum, we really brought the threshold of customization down to an affordable level. We have no contracts or commitments beyond the first order. And we deliver free in the Los Angeles area. “The ease with which somebody can do this,” Reineman continues, “is probably one of the most attractive things for our customer. And the private labels area is a great marketing tool for events such as trade shows and fundraisers. People even order them for private parties.” According to Reineman, when a business gets to about $2 million in sales, it reaches a threshold where either the entrepreneur will get through that level or will kill the business. “Although someone has created the vision that grows the content of the company,” explains Reineman, “he must learn how to delegate and set up systems or else the very things that made the company great are the very things that work against it. So either one works through that and recognizes the need to fundamentally transition or a company dies.” Luckily, Reineman has heeded his own advice. Right now the company is running every day of the year, 24 hours a day. However, although its employee list has grown, Chameleon still has a friendly, “family-owned” feel. In fact, Reineman and his retired father, Bill, who has worked with the company without pay for the past eight years, have a daily lunch date except for the day when Bill meets with his Palisades Rotarian group. “My dad is the chief consultant and ‘lunch-provider for the president,'” Derek quips. Advice from a parent can keep one grounded, too.
Rita E. Cowsill, 87, Lived for Her Family
Former Palisadian Rita Eleanor Cowsill passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 13, with her family surrounding her at the home of her son Jon Cowsill in Camarillo. She was 87. ”Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 11, 1918, Rita attended college at the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduating she became a career woman traveling nationally for dental companies. Although her career was exciting, she longed for a family life of her own. ”In 1954, Rita married Raymond Cowsill and moved from Rhode Island to Pacific Palisades, following her younger sister Bobbie. She had a longstanding career at the UCLA School of Dentistry, where she was invaluable to the doctors she assisted. Most important to her was life with her husband, her children, her extended family and many friends. Rita was a member of Las Doradas, a philanthropic organization, and a member of the Community United Methodist Church. ”In 1988, upon her retirement, she and Ray moved to Port Hueneme, where she enjoyed the beach, the pool, playing golf, and spending time with her four grandchildren. She was a selfless, loving person who lived for her family. ”Rita is survived by her children, Cindy Fernandez (husband Michael) of Mar Vista and Jon (wife Anne) of Camarillo; grandchildren Tyler and Caitlin Fernandez and Vanessa and Jackson Cowsill; her sister Bobbie Johnson, and nieces and nephews. ”A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 27, at 12:30 p.m. at Camarillo Christian Church, 1777 Arneill Rd., in Camarillo.
What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?
By SUSAN MONAHAN Special to the Palisadian-Post At 6:05 p.m. the ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel was still empty’and chilly. Blue and silver balloons floated above the tables. The reunion committee expected 250, plus walk-ins’the highest attendance this group had seen. Clinks cut the silence as bartenders stocked up on glasses. ”Two collages flanked the entrance. The first was a standard high school reunion bit, with black-and-white snapshots of the seniors’ last football game, and boys with their Chevys in the parking lot. But the other evidenced why the Palisades High Class of 1965 is extraordinary: the nation’s press has kept an eye on this group for 40 years. ””Yes, I remember Time magazine coming,” said Padre Clayton (who went by Greg in high school), the first alumnus to arrive. ”During their senior year, Time devoted a cover story to the newly built high school’s group of affluent students, writing about their social and scholastic habits as 500 models of “Today’s Teenagers.” The article deemed them graduates “on the fringe of a golden era.” ”Beyond the social order at Palisades High was a world in flux. These teens experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis during their first month in high school; then came the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The number of men drafted into the Vietnam War climbed as the students marched through graduation. ”Ten years later, the Time article left questions in the minds of two Palisades High ’65 alumni: David Wallace (later Wallechinsky) and Michael Medved. From a late-night reminiscing session came the shared idea to write a book about whether or not their classmates, Time’s “leaders of tomorrow,” really “changed the world.” Medved, voted Most Intellectual by his class, and Wallechinsky, son of famous author Irving Wallace, tracked down and interviewed nearly 50 classmates. The compilation book “What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?” was published in 1976. Its chapters had titles like “The Cheerleader” and “The Joiner,” and contrasted the students’ high school images with their candid accounts of moral and sexual experimentation and how they discovered’or avoided’adult responsibilities. Almost all interviewees claimed drugs influenced their lives. ”The press and public were again intrigued. Were these classmates still prototypes of the era? The Daily Californian reviewed the book as “gossip, melodrama and cultural history.” It became a national best-seller. The Los Angeles Times covered the class’s 20-year reunion to follow up. But the classmates’ opinions on the book were as varied as the directions their lives had taken. On this night 30 years later, many of them have watched children of their own graduate into adulthood. What conclusions have they drawn now? The Quarterback’s Record ””You still look just like Paul Newman,” a classmate said as she shuffled out of the ballroom past Mark Holmes. In the book’s first chapter, “The Quarterback,” Medved and Wallechinsky cite other classmates’ memories about the attractive young man, whom they voted Most Likely to Succeed. The authors continue: ””For 10 years we heard nothing of Mark Holmes until we ran into him in the men’s room following a ‘Cosmic Mass Celebration”he was organizing the annual ‘Conference of Grace’ for the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.” ”These days Mark has moved back to Los Angeles after spending time in Panama, where he continued to practice the Asian medicine he’d spoken of in the book. Holmes ran a medical practice in Beverly Hills, has been married, and is now engaged again. Saying he did not want to be negative about the situation, Holmes pointed out he didn’t feel accurately portrayed in the book. ””I was the first chapter. Then there I was in the New York Times, and they misrepresented the religion.” He has a strong presence and conveys opinions largely with his eyes. “It wasn’t the story of the class. You can’t generalize about a group of people, as being from Palisades, or being that age. We all have our own biological individuality. It’s like the dinner they’re serving. Everyone in the room can eat the same thing, but we’re all going to react differently to it.” ”Wallechinsky arrived at the reunion, dressed in an eggshell-colored suit jacket. He flew in from France, but makes his home in Los Angeles. A published author many times since “What Really Happened…,” he hasn’t heard many complaints from the interviewees recently. ””It’s people you know. I haven’t written a bad word about someone I know since. I didn’t like that part of it. I’ve heard what Mark thinks and I’m sorry he feels that way. All the interviews were transcribed from tapes, of course. But I still don’t agree with the religious movement he was involved in.” The Beauty ””Suzanne!” A woman called her name over the noise of the registration table and soon a small group of women circled the champagne blond, sun-tanned and gracious Suzanne Thomas. ”Wallechinsky and Medved entitled her chapter “The Beauty.” They wrote about the girl voted Most Natural: ””We got Suzanne’s number from her parents, but hesitated for several days before making the call. There was no logical basis for our nervousness, but old-time insecurities die hard. In high school, a call to Suzanne Thomas would have been unthinkable; she was too desirable, too mature, too far above us in the rigid social hierarchy.” ”From the interview she gave at the time of the book, she was waitressing in Marina del Rey and enjoying free time at the beach. This surprised her classmate Harvey Bookstein, who was quoted in the book saying he assumed she would be married and a mother. Thomas’s quote in the book explains her indecision: ””In high school, everything was more organized. I knew what I was doing and where I was going. Now it’s kind of helter-skelter. I don’t really like the way things are going’I think people are a little too free.” ”At the reunion Thomas smiled warmly at her classmates and seemed comfortable to talk in groups of just two or three, stationing herself outside the perimeter of the ballroom floor. She spoke in a soft but optimistic voice. ” “I live in San Diego now, and I do landscape design,” she said, adding that she didn’t have children. After reading her personal feelings in the book about hoping to find a Prince Charming and wanting a family, it’s almost too severe to pose the typical reunion inquisition, Well, why aren’t you married? ””I don’t know if she ever was married. She’s pretty quiet about that stuff,” classmate Jeff Stolper said, whose chapter in the book was titled “The Surfer.” “She still looks beautiful,” Stolper said of the woman dressed in a nautical-blue jacket and skirt. ”Wallechinsky said people developed an instant bond to those profiled in the book: “The comment I usually get on the book is people saying, ‘My class (in whatever state) had the same cast of characters.’ Which is what we were trying to accomplish, but had no idea how successful we would be.” ” However, some feel that Medved and Wallechinsky’s book was not the right sampling. ””I wasn’t interviewed for the book. My life was very normal,” said William Kaplan, a classmate who now has a dental practice in the Palisades. ””They basically got their friends involved,” Mark Mathews, a classmate whose band used to play at Sports Night dances at Palisades High. “We would have made an interesting story’the Vietnam War eventually broke up our band.” ”Wallechinsky explained his and Medved’s selection method: “We tried to get a cross-section of the class; to identify ‘classic’ types.” ”Tom Betts, the reunion committee member credited with the giant Internet outreach for this 40-year event, cited Google.com as his tool. “This is a special group of people,” he said. “We have a Nobel Prize winner, Richard Gelinas. It’s a very diverse class politically. That book mentioned only one guy affected by Vietnam, but I’ve found over 30 classmates involved in the military, like myself.” ”Gelinas was a member of a research team awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1993, recognizing their discovery of split genes. He currently works at the University of Washington’s Department of Pathology. ””This is my first Pali reunion.” he said. “The committee used modern technology to locate us, and old-fashioned emotional persuasion to get us here.” ”Gelinas was not interviewed for the book. “I was too busy studying to be noticed.” But Medved and Wallechinsky did donate a chapter to one bookworm. He was “The Idealist.” Who Didn’t Show? ”Conversation about classmates who weren’t at the 40-year reunion erupted as the DJ lured couples onto the dance floor to the beat of Otis Redding. ””Did you hear about Kelso?”‘ a classmate asked Wallechinsky. ””Tom found out from Google,” Wallechinsky replied. He said Kelso was the reunion no-show who surprised him most. ”Jamie Kelso’s chapter, “The Idealist,” began with Kelso’s declaration: ””I think probably a lot of people remember my lecture on Sartre in Advanced Placement English. Inside my own head, I was in a crisis. Existentialism is, of course, a fraud. Jean-Paul Sartre is an imbecile. I’m quite aware of that now. When I got up in front of the class I was so torn up inside that I couldn’t see.” ”During an Internet search, Betts came across several articles naming Kelso as a member of the National Alliance under former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke. ”When Kelso was interviewed for the book, he was a member of The Church of Scientology and living south of Kansas City. ””He was always a joiner,” said Betts. “We were friends. But I’ve lost touch with him now. In fact, he’s the reason I called Michael [Medved]. Michael said he was up-in-the-air about coming tonight.” ”Medved did not attend. He lives with his wife and three children in Seattle, where he hosts a conservative talk radio show. “I had the invitation on my desk and couldn’t decide. Eventually the date came and went, so I guess that was the answer,” said Medved, who also skipped the 20- and 30-year reunions. “Saturday at 6 p.m. is the heart of the Sabbath. It just didn’t seem like the right thing to do, and I didn’t want to spend the weekend away from home and my kids.” ”Medved published the book “Right Turns” this year, which he considers a kind follow-up to “What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?” “One of the things that’s very striking is the political prominence of this particular graduating year’Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush were the high school classes of ’64 and ’65.” Medved attended college at Yale with these same leaders. ”Did Medved find the answer to Time magazine’s expectations of his classmates? “It wasn’t that expectations changed. But [teens] went from general expectations of success to having no idea of the right thing to do. In the ’60s there was a strong prejudice against careerism. We were self-indulgent and self-destructive.” Couples’Did Any Last? ”The book dedicates one chapter each to Anita Champion, who declared her goal was to be “a good wife and mother,” and Ron Conti, entitled “Big Bad Ron.” ”The pair married a few years after college. Ron worked for Douglas Aircraft after high school, then began to attend Santa Monica City College and began “bumming around” with an older, rowdy group. He is further quoted in the book as saying: ””All I remember about Anita [in high school] is her hair piled up on her head and sticking straight up in the air, with about three cans of hairspray to keep it up there.” ”Anita’s memories were recorded in the book as follows: ””I was going out with a guy fairly seriously for awhile, but he got drafted into Vietnam’then I got together with Ron. He was very gentle and he always smelled good.” ”Chris Wolfenden Woods, a classmate and reunion committee member, said the Contis would not be attending. They are no longer together. After coming across so many classmates on their second marriage, were there any sweethearts from the class of ’65 who made it to the 40-year reunion together? ””The Doerners are still married,” said Woods, referring to actor Karl Malden’s daughter Mila and Tom Doerner. “But they didn’t get together until college.” ”Stolper has a Palisades love story that culminated in late July. He married Janice Hayes, a Palisades Elementary classmate who moved to Palo Alto. They hadn’t seen each other in 46 years, but preparations for this reunion brought them in touch again. In his 1975 book interview, Stolper was working as a speech therapist back at Palisades High’where the surfer had nearly been expelled for not cutting his hair. Now his hair is short and combed smoothly to frame his head.” ”Woods, who wasn’t interviewed for the book, called many of the stories in it rebellious. “I didn’t go through my rebellion until about 40, after my divorce. I was 22 when I got married,” she said. “Someone told me I was a ‘goody-two-shoes’ in high school. I think I’ve changed a lot. My parents were wondering when I would settle down and marry again. But I was getting to travel often with my new job. You look at this group tonight, all the different things we’ve done, and you realize it’s never too late to create your dreams.” Retiring the Image ”Possibly the most sensational chapter in Medved and Wallechinsky’s book was “The Bad Girl” about Lisa Menzies: ””In school I was always getting into trouble. I’d smoke in the bathroom. I’d ditch class’I actually counted how many men I went to bed with, and then I stopped counting.” ”The chapter catches up on her 10-year story of experimentation with drugs, travels with different men, the birth of two children, and the loss of her baby’s father to lung cancer. ”Classmate Lany Tyler moved into a house in Venice near Menzies and offered this comment for the book: “We didn’t see each other often, but I remember being struck by the amount of pain she seems to have lived through in the years since high school.” ””I was happy to see [the book] out there,” Lisa Menzies Corletts said at the reunion, with a direct and assured tone. “I think it says a lot about the human outlook on personal development, if only to be able to expose others to our stories.” ”Medved said, “The subjects in the book were the most surprised it became a best-seller. But a few, like Lisa Menzies, really reveled in the attention. She went on a few talk shows.” ”Corletts now has three children and three grandchildren, and recently retired from a career in special education. What does exposing Corletts’ story do for future high school students? ””Some people don’t progress; some are just frozen in time,” Medved said. “But to look at our generation, we hope that from the leaps and bounds we made, in transgressing our differences, future generations will be able to build from how far we’ve come.” ”Medved describes 1965 as “when the bottom fell out. After we graduated, dress codes disappeared. Drugs, other than beer, were totally unknown to us at Palisades. We were the last class of the optimistic and functional period.” ”Holmes said the conditions the class of ’65 graduated in were not as tough as those currently. “Back then it wasn’t as frenetic. Now there’s more of a breakdown’of family, of young people unsure what it means to be American. I am appreciative of the opportunity we got to live in a place like the Palisades.” One Successful Night ””This is my first reunion,” Kevin Goff said over his salmon dinner, admitting he hadn’t kept up with classmates. He sat talking with Holmes. “I feel like now we’re all moving up a notch in life. Now it’s time to tie loose ends.” ”Holmes agreed. “My mother just passed away, and my father died some time ago. I no longer have those roots in L.A. That’s why it’s nice to come back to something like this.” ”Betts hopes that this reunion in particular will reconnect classmates. The Web site (www.palihiclassof65.com) is an instant conduit to catch up on what peers are doing. ”The turnout was about 275, even after a last minute change-of-venue from the Sofitel Hotel to the Fairmont. “It’s nice here, closer to the beach, and our roots,” said Woods, who sent one of her three children to Palisades High.”The school changed a lot. If you look around the room, almost all of these people are Caucasian. The district began to bus kids in from all over L.A. So then unfortunately, many families left the school system because of that.” ”Medved did not send any of his children to public school when he still lived in Los Angeles. “I was very involved in religion when I lived (near Venice).” His oldest daughter recently graduated from a private Jewish high school. “Shana is a stronger and sensible girl, much more committed than I was at that age. She’s very religious-minded,” he said. ”Although Medved considers the current high school graduating classes “more competitive,” he pointed out, “our standards are still the ones to beat. Look at our music’The Rolling Stones are still selling out stadiums. And politicians, we’ll sway many elections to come. Our generation still has the power.” (Susan Monahan is a freelance writer who lives in Brentwood. She has written for the Beverly Hills Weekly and several Kansas City business publications, as she’s a transplant from the Midwest. This summer she has been learning to surf.)
‘Date Night’ at Chefmakers Offers Teamwork in Tuscany
Going on a date in Los Angeles can mean having to make a lot of choices. Thanks to the range of excellent restaurants, you might spend hours trying to decide what kind of ethnic food you’re in the mood for only to conclude that you’d love to just hit the trattoria down the street if only the dining atmosphere were a little more…hip and off-beat. Before you furiously scour the Zagat guide, consider this: an Italian chef at your service, ready to guide you and your date in preparing a savory Tuscan feast. Work for food? You might ask. But don’t be mistaken. Date Night at Chefmakers Cooking Academy in Pacific Palisades is an example of what founder and CEO Richard Klein calls “edutainment”‘part interactive cooking instruction, part entertainment and social interaction. And together, those ingredients make a distinct and enjoyable evening. At this particular Date Night (there are a variety to choose from depending on the type of cuisine you prefer), Chef Valerio Castellano greets guests as they enter the kitchen following a pre-dinner champagne at 6:30 p.m. He wears a pink hankerchief around his neck and sarcastically jokes about everything but cooking. Originally from Rome, Castellano says his family had a beach house on the Tuscan coast, so “I had to spend 30 summers there.” He’s one of Chefmakers’ popular instructors and also a private chef. The menu for this Friday evening event, appropriately called “My Love for Tuscany,” includes two kinds of bruschetta; an original bread salad recipe from Siena; spaghetti with a zucchini sauce; chicken cacciatore, and a Florentine version of panna cotta for dessert. Red and white wine are served throughout the evening, though many of the couples bring their own bottles to enjoy. Most of the people who have turned out for this particular Date Night are married, including newlyweds. One couple recently returned from Tuscany, where they learned to make bruschetta, so they thought they’d pursue their interest in Italian cooking. Another couple was there as part of a birthday gift, and for the sake of doing something “grown up.” And a group of friends decided that this was a great alternative to their usual night out on the town. Castellano tells the group of 24 (the maximum number of people for these events) that his goal is to have them complete the menu, or follow through with the recipes to the end. How much or little each person participates is up to the individual. “We have to make our own salads?” one woman asks as she sets down her glass of wine and joins the group gathered around the kitchen island. Others roll up their sleeves and survey the countertop, which is divided into two work stations, each with bowls of pre-prepared and measured ingredients. Hands-on participation is encouraged, but it’s not mandatory. You might have to pass a ramekin of dark chocolate shavings to someone across the table, but you won’t have to squeeze the vinegar-water out of the bread with your own two hands unless you want to. After all, some like to be in the driver’s seat and others prefer to observe and enjoy the ride, asking a few questions here and there. What kind of bread should we use for the bruschetta? How long should we marinate the cherry tomatoes? Why does the milk need to boil before we add it to the egg-yolk mixture? Castellano is as comfortable answering everybody’s questions as the participants are snacking on the fresh ingredients. While some find comfort in reading out loud the recipes conveniently printed on large notecards, others prefer to take orders’pouring, stirring and mixing under Castellano’s watchful eye. Taking additional notes on the cards might be helpful for those who plan to try out these recipes in their own kitchens. Castellano encourages them to follow the recipes, but adds that the recipes are only a guideline; preparing the ingredients correctly and following the order of putting them in is key. Tips like this, or Castellano’s advice to use chunks of garlic instead of chopped garlic to flavor olive oil, are helpful, especially to the non-cooks. When the participants realize that the spaghetti forte dei Marmi and the pollo alla cacciatora di Montalcino require time to saut’ and cook, some voluntarily see these dishes through while others return to their elegantly dressed tables to chat with friends’new and old. Two participants (one man, one woman) who have assumed control of the cooking appear completely relaxed and even a bit daring as they stir and taste the simmering sauces and continually check the pieces of chicken for doneness. Their spouses seem content watching from a distance. When the food is ready to be served, the rest of the group instantly forms a well-organized assembly line, not unlike kids at camp who know the mess-hall routine. Castellano and his sous chefs are at the end to implement the final gourmet touches, adding a basil leaf to the spaghetti or wiping sauce stains off the gleaming white plates for presentation. “Buon appetito,” says Castellano. The next Date Night is Caribbean Fever, September 16. Contact: 459-9444, www.chefmakers.com or stop in at Chefmakers, 872 Via de la Paz.
Huarte Goes from Heisman to Hall
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
If any player has enjoyed life after football, it’s John Huarte. These days, the Pacific Palisades resident is too busy with other endeavors to reminisce much about the past. In fact, he is still surprised at the attention he gets from having won the Heisman Trophy 41 years ago. In May, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame named Huarte one of 11 players to be elected to the shrine in South Bend, Indiana, next August and no one was more tickled than the former Notre Dame quarterback. “I was just as surprised by that as I was when I won the Heisman,” Huarte says. “It’s a great honor and it’s nice to know that even so many years later people still remember what I did in football.” After winning the Heisman, Huarte signed with the New York Jets of the American Football League along with fellow rookie Joe Namath. In his six seasons in the AFL/NFL, Huarte played in only 24 games, completing 19 of 48 passes for 230 yards and one touchdown. Huarte was a backup to Len Dawson when the Kansas City Chiefs’ won the Super Bowl in 1970–a team that featured current USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett, who won the Heisman the year after Huarte. A two-year stint as the starting quarterback for the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League followed, but the league folded following the 1975 season. “Being part of a Super Bowl championship team was a great experience, but winning the Heisman was definitely the high point of my career,” Huarte admits. “Nothing can top that.” Huarte is perhaps the most improbable Heisman winner in the 70-year history of the award, beating out the likes of Tulsa’s Jerry Rhome, Illinois’ Dick Butkus, California’s Craig Morton, Alabama’s Namath and Kansas’ Gale Sayers to become the sixth Fighting Irish player to join college football’s elite fraternity. Long before the hit movie “Rudy” and 10 years before the subject of the story, Daniel Ruettiger, ever stepped foot on Notre Dame’s campus, Huarte’s cinderella season of 1964 played out like a Hollywood script. “Ara [Parseghian] used to joke that the whole ‘Rudy’ story could’ve been made about me,” Huarte says, laughing. “Because that was Ara’s first season, we’d gone 2-7 the year before and I barely had any experience. So no one expected much of me or the team.” To say Huarte’s first three seasons at Notre Dame were uneventful is an understatement. He played a grand total of 50 minutes and attempted only 50 passes. He didn’t even play enough his junior year to earn a monogram. Then, as a senior, he earned the starting job and passed for 2,062 yards and 16 touchdowns, setting 12 school records in the process. The Irish finished 9-1 and were declared national champions in several polls. “Our only loss was in the last game at USC,” Huarte recalls. “We were up 17-0 at halftime but they came back and beat us, 20-17. And it cost us, too, because back then Notre Dame didn’t go to bowl games.” What made Huarte’s dream season even more unlikely, however, was the fact that he almost missed his senior year entirely and would have had it not been for Parseghian’s prescience. “I separated my shoulder in practice and the three team doctors all agreed that I needed to have surgery,” Huarte says, reflecting back on a decision that ultimately altered his future for the better. “Ara was skeptical, so he sent me to a specialist in Chicago who told me to just leave it alone and the soreness will go away. I took his advice and it never bothered me again.” Ironically, that doctor’s son, Rich Cronin, now lives right across the street from Huarte’s home in the Huntington Palisades. “He apparently found out I was living here, came over and knocked on my door,” Huarte says. “When he introduced himself I couldn’t believe it. Small world, huh?” Huarte enjoys attending the Heisman dinner every year and was thrilled to see Matt Leinart win in 2004 because he has something in common with the Trojans’ quarterback: both graduated from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana. Huarte says he voted Leinart No. 1 on his ballot. “How many high schools can say they’ve had two Heisman Trophy winners?” Huarte asks. “That’s pretty special.” Even more special was Huarte’s decision to donate his trophy to his high school alma mater in hopes that it will inspire future generations of kids to achieve their goals. “I just thought that’s where it [the trophy] should be,” Huarte acknowledges. “Besides, I have so many kids [five] that I wouldn’t know which one to bequeath it to.” Though he still loves to watch football and marvels at how complex the game has become since he played, he is saddened by what he sees as more of a “me” than “we” attitude in today’s game. For instance, when Huarte won the Heisman, he was not sitting amongst his fellow finalists, in a crowded room in front of a nationwide television audience, waiting with bated breath as his name was read to thunderous applause. No, his experience was far different. “I was shaving in my dorm room at Walsh Hall,” Huarte remembers. “The closest phone was at the end of the hallway and one of my roommates, George Keenan, heard it ringing and went to answer it. Next thing I know, he’s shouting ‘Hey John–you got it!'” Winning the most prestigious individual award in American sports changed Huarte’s life, but it didn’t change who he is. He and his wife, Eileen, moved to the Palisades in 1993 and love the community feeling that exists. “It’s a great neighborhood,” Huarte sayd. “It’s close to the ocean, close to the airport and yet it’s small enough where you can still walk around town and meet lots of folks you know.” After retiring from football, Huarte started his own business, Arizona Tile, which now has 22 branches throughout the Western United States and even imports granite from foreign countries like Brazil, China, Mexico and the Czech Republic. When he is not busy running the company, Huarte is an active parishioner at Corpus Christi Church and enjoys spending time with his five children and eight grandchildren. One daughter, Monica, lives nearby in the Huntington while another, Mariah, lives in the Alphabet streets. His youngest daughter, Bridget, is an A-level paddle tennis player at the Jonathan Club. His two sons, Matt and Mark, both live in Orange County. “We’re all just one big happy family,” says Huarte, whose front yard is frequently littered with children’s toys. “What’s neat about the Palisades is that everyone around town knows you. One time I took my three-year-old grandson to Mort’s and he got a bottle and started cleaning the windows. One of the employees teased him, ‘You’re going to steal my job!'”
