Since the grocery strike, which affected some 800 Southern California stores, ended just over a week ago it is back to business as usual at Ralphs on Sunset, for both the customers and the workers. Early yesterday morning Jay Lopez could be found taking a detailed inventory of the produce department. As a produce clerk, it is his job to see that there is enough broccoli and ripe bananas on hand for the expected increase in customers over the weekend. He said he welcomes the familiar routine after being locked out for five months. ‘The strike was very hard on many of the workers here,’ said Lopez, who has worked at Ralphs for 14 years, four of them in the Palisades Sunset store. ‘Fortunately, I was able to live on some savings I had put aside to buy a house, as well as the money I was paid for standing in the picket line.’ Lopez, a father of three, said he walked the picket line for the whole five months and has had to put off buying a house ‘for now.’ While he had no comment on the settlement that was finally reached, which calls for a two-tier system which clearly favors veteran workers like him over new hires, his main concern all along was to ‘keep our current health benefits,’ which he basically has. Under the new three-year contract, veteran employees won’t have to pay for their medical coverage in the first two years, but they will now have some co-payments. Also glad to be back at work is Luis Zelaya, who has worked as a produce clerk at the Ralphs store in the Palisades since 1999. As he stocked the shelves on Wednesday morning he said that his family survived the strike by living on credit cards and the weekly stipend ($240 a week for the highest-paid workers) he received while on the picket line. ‘Now I have to work hard to pay all that off,’ said the father of three. Asked what he thought of the new contract, in which new workers will receive substantially less in pay and benefits, he said that although he saw it as a compromise, ‘everyone got something.’ Zelaya and Lopez are among the highest-paid clerks at Ralphs, both earning $17.90 an hour. The first grocery strike in California in 25 years, which started October 11, affected some 70,000 workers from San Diego to Santa Barbara. After union members of the United Food and Commercial Workers at Vons and Pavilions stores went on strike, employees of Albertsons and Ralphs were locked out in a show of union solidarity, as they share the same contract. During the strike Ralphs reduced store hours and hired thousands of replacement workers to man its stores. Locally, some 80 workers were affected by the lockout at Ralphs. Approximately 30 of them found work at Gelson’s, ‘helping out during the Thanksgiving and Christmas rush,’ said store manager Ray Stockton. ‘We’ve now hired five of those Ralph workers on a permanent basis.’

On Monday afternoon a tragic and inexplicable accident took the life of Palisadian Jeff Taylor, 36, and his 2-1/2-year- old daughter, Bayden. They died when the SUV Jeff was driving caught fire after becoming embedded inside a garage located across the alley behind the Methodist Church/preschool at Bowdoin and Via de la Paz. Taylor had gone to the school to bring an umbrella to his wife Colette, who was participating in a cooking class with their son Preston, 4-1/2. After Jeff and Bayden left the school they returned to the car which was parked in the Methodist parking lot. For reasons unknown, the car, instead of backing up to exit the lot, lurched forward and rammed through the back stucco wall of the garage, where it came to a crashing halt and burst into flames. Trapped inside the white 2002 Acura MDX 4 with no way to escape, the father and his daughter probably died instantly, firefighters told the Palisadian-Post. ‘It was definitely a flash fire,’ said LAFD Captain Will Alderson of Station 69. ‘Originally we thought that it might have been caused by an erupted gas tank, but it was later found to be intact. Now we think the fire might have started in the front of the car. We do know the fire was gas-driven and spread quickly in such a narrow space.’ Alderson said seven firetrucks and 25 firefighters responded to the 911 call shortly after 2 p.m. When they arrived on the scene, the SUV, which had come to rest in the middle of the one-car garage, was already on fire, billowing black smoke, its license plate clearly visible from the parking lot. Not knowing yet if there were people trapped in the vehicle, firemen broke open the front door of the garage. Flames immediately burst out, threatening the one-bedroom apartment above the garage as well as the two garages on either side, which were also being used for storage. Within minutes the fire was out. Firemen worked quickly to unload the stored items which had fallen on the hood of the vehicle, including a chair, a chandelier and some winter clothes. Unable to determine through the blackened windshield if there were passengers in the car, firemen went around to the back of the garage and entered the vehicle through the rear window, which is when they discovered Taylor’s body in the front seat. It was not until the car was pulled out of the garage some three hours later that they also discovered the child. Just before the fire first broke out, Colette Taylor and her son Preston, one of 85 children enrolled in the Methodist preschool, were participating in an after-school cooking class in a classroom overlooking the parking lot. The children had just been presented with their cooking certificates and chef’s hats with their names on them when the teacher, seeing smoke, quickly called for the room to be evacuated. The chocolate marshmallows and sugar cookies the children had made for their parents would have to wait. One of the mothers, seeing flames, called 911. Evacuated to the front of the church on Via de la Paz at about 2:25 p.m., Colette and Preston stood in the rain with the other parents, students and teachers while firefighters battled the blaze. After about 30 minutes they were told they could leave. Apparently Colette and her son walked home, just a half-a-block away. By this time helicopters were overhead and several television news crews had arrived. One mother, who wished not to be identified, told the Post that it was only when firemen allowed her to retrieve her car in the parking lot, which was parked some 100 feet from the accident, that she realized there was a burnt vehicle involved. She said it never occurred to her that it might belong to a family from the school ‘because it was in the garage.’ Methodist school and church officials had no inkling either until a detective from the LAPD asked ‘Are all of your families accounted for?’ recalls Joy Detmer, the Methodist church office administrator. ‘We told him ‘yes,’ as far as we knew.’ Preschool director Jan Gentry said that when she left the school around 4 p.m. she was not aware there were people in the car. It was only after watching ‘the 5 or 6 o’clock news’ at home that she heard about the two fatalities, ‘involving a man and a child.’ She immediately rushed back to school and went through her parent list, trying to determine what family it could be. Around 7 p.m. ‘a detective came in and gave me the names,’ Detmer said. ‘I was devastated.’ A little over an hour later Gentry and Reverend Nancy Wilson paid a visit to Colette. ‘We prayed with her,’ Wilson said. Colette Taylor was home making dinner when three policeman came to her door around 6 p.m. They apparently asked if the family Acura had been stolen. She told them that as far as she knew it was in her husband’s possession and that he was still out in it with their daughter. According to the LAPD, there were no witnesses to the accident, although within minutes the tenant who occupies the apartment above the garage was on the scene. ‘I heard a big crash and then tires spinning,’ said Carla Testa, who has lived in the building for 11 years. ‘Immediately I smelled smoke and ran to the garage but couldn’t get the front door open. It was only when I ran around to the back that I saw a car had gone through the wall.’ Why the car went forward instead of reverse, and how it could have gained enough momentum to crash through a six-inch lathe and plaster wall is not known. What is known is that Jeff Taylor had suffered a seizure ‘about a year ago,’ his best friend Phil Pecsok told the Post. The Methodist preschool reopened yesterday and is providing grief counseling. Preston arrived shortly after 9 a.m. with his mother, who briefly visited the accident scene, now bordered up, with a friend. A few minutes later she picked up some flowers and a note that had been left there and went into the church sanctuary. ‘The best thing parents can do is to tell their children the truth,’ advises Gentry.’ That there was an accident, that the father and daughter passed away and that we believe they are happy in heaven.’ Services for Jeff and Bayden Taylor are set for Friday at 2 p.m. at the Methodist church.

The Palisades Junior Women’s Club awarded more than $90,000 to 36 local organizations at a reception preceding its general meeting Tuesday night at the Woman’s Club. Recreation, public schools and community beautification groups topped the list of major award recipients this year. ‘The Junior Women’s Club is proud to be awarding a record amount of money to the greatest number of recipients ever,’ said president Nancy Smith. ‘Projects we’re especially enthusiastic to fund are two family-oriented summer series to be enjoyed at the Recreation Center, one featuring music, another showing movies under the stars.’ For the past 18 years, the club has donated the proceeds from its annual Holiday Home Tour and Boutique to deserving nonprofit organizations serving the Palisades community. ‘The continued success of the annual Home Tour is largely due to an incredibly supportive Palisades community,’ Smith said. ‘Everybody wins by participating in this event.’ The Palisades Field of Dreams received this year’s largest award, with a donation of $20,000 for the community-driven renovation and expansion of the playing fields at the Palisades Recreation Center. The Club also awarded $7,000 to the Recreation Center for implementation of a Summer Family Concert Series in the park. Continuing its commitment to public education, the Club earmarked a total of $20,000 to five Palisades schools’Palisades, Canyon and Marquez Elementary schools, Paul Revere Middle School and Palisades High. The Palisades Charter Schools Foundation, which represents the seven schools in the Palisades Charter Schools Complex, was given $1,000 to help support the upcoming charter renewal process. Significant amounts also awarded will help support Palisades Beautiful ($5,000 for the planting of new trees); Street Works Program by Chrysalis ($4,000 towards cleaning the streets and sidewalks in the Village, a Chamber of Commerce project); Meals on Wheels ($3,655); and Palisades P.R.I.D.E. ($3,000 to complete the historical Clearwater mural on the exterior of Sav-on). Other 2004 grant recipients included: ”Palisades Malibu/YMCA ”Palisades Americanism Parade Association (PAPA) ”Heal The Bay ”P.A.R.C.S. (Palisades for a Respectful, Clean and Safe Park) ”Palisades Garden Club ”Fire Station 69 ”Fire Station 23 ”Friends of Film ”Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club ”Palisades Graffiti Busters ”Palisades Village Green Committee ”Library Foundation of Los Angeles’Palisades Branch ”Oom PaPa Band ”Sisters of St. Louis League/Corpus Christi Church ”Theatre Palisades ”Pacific Palisades Disaster Preparedness ”Palisades Hunger Walk ”Sheriff’s Posse’Palisades Chamber of Commerce ”Santa Monica Baykeeper ”Palisades Symphony Orchestra ”The Nature of Wildworks ”Palisades Community Center’Palisades Skatepark Fund ”Chamber Music Palisades ”Pacific Palisades Art Association The Junior Women’s Club was established over 60 years ago as a way to bring dedicated young women together to enhance and preserve the unique qualities of the Palisades community.

With the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger last October, state Republicans seem to have been encouraged in their bid to gain more representation in the state legislature, despite being the minority party in California. The incumbent Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, and State Senator Sheila Kuehl are being challenged in November by newcomer Republicans Heather Peters and Leonard Lanzi. Both are moderate Republicans and disagree with the incumbents on fiscal policy. Pavley’s 41st District stretches from Oxnard to Santa Monica and includes valley communities from Agoura Hills to Tarzana. Kuehl’s 23rd District runs from Agoura Hills to Santa Monica, and over to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Peters, 38, came to politics in an unusual fashion. ‘I always thought I would like to run for office someday,’ said the Santa Monica resident who made a test drive by running on the recall ballot against former Governor Gray Davis. ‘I spoke to Republican groups all over the area, got out there and told them what my positions were. It was an amazingly warm reception. People were supportive of my moderate positions.’ Ultimately, Peters withdrew from the recall race and supported Schwarzenegger, but she pulled her papers to run for assembly. ‘Basically, I am a centrist Republican: pro choice, pro environment and pro-gay rights in terms of gay couples’ property rights, hospital visitation rights, and adoptions,’ she told the Palisadian-Post. ‘I differ from Fran on fiscal issues. For example, she sat on the budget committee that produced the current $38 billion deficit, and I also take issue with her co-authoring Assembly bill 1690 that would have imposed a county income tax of up to 10 percent of the state income tax. I think we need to get our fiscal house together in Sacramento and not force that burden back on the localities.’ Peters spent 10 years as a litigation attorney until she got tired ‘of never feeling like celebrating anything. I never felt that I was doing anything for society.’ She now runs a private mediation practice in Los Angeles where she mediates civil matters from business dissolutions to personal injury. ‘Anything but family law,’ she insists. Married to Jeff Bonhach, Peters says that she will continue to talk to as many local groups as she can. ‘I think there is a time and a place for moderates. People are looking for elected officials who are working together, and certainly in this district, that’s where you need to be.’ o o o Leonard Michael Lanzi, 41, acknowledges that 23rd Senate District race is not one that is winnable for a Republican, given the fact that 58 percent of the district is Democratic, but he does point to several factors that may play in his favor. ‘This is Arnold’s home district, which may not mean a whole lot, but if it looks like there may be a crack in the armor, maybe he’ll weigh in. ‘I am also a gay Republican running against a lesbian, so that puts the sexual orientation issue to rest. ‘I was recruited to hold our opponent to task,’ Lanzi told the Palisadian-Post. ‘Kuehl has a record she has to defend; I would like to raise enough money to put her record out there so voters can judge for themselves. ‘I think that there are other ways of doing things and you can’t be singly focused when you represent such a large number of constituents. When it comes to fiscal issues, I disagree with Kuehl. We have to create an environment where small businesses can survive. Her SB 2 was an anti-small business bill requiring small business to provide health care for their employees. You can’t drive them away with excessive workers’ comp. I think that as moderate Republican, I can work with both parties.’ Lanzi and his partner of 14 years, Russell Nelson, have lived in Topanga Canyon for the past three years. Currently employed as director of development for Junior Achievement, Lanzi was the executive director of the Santa Barbara County Boy Scouts for 10 years before he was let go for being gay. He sued and settled out of court. Last summer while he was unemployed, Lanzi began thinking about running for public office. ‘I started to look at the recall race and thought maybe it’s time to try a shot at public service. I have a background working in a collaborative way and working with many groups in the community, I know and understand government. I had already made overtures with the party, and soon the Republicans came to me and asked me to run for the senate and even paid my filing fees, even though they know I’m a pro-choice Republican.’ Lanzi says that he will continue to hold Kuehl’s record out for people to see and at the same time introduce himself to people as a viable candidate for this or future elections. A frequent shopper at the Palisades Farmers Market, Lanzi says that he is looking forward to talking to Palisadians, and holds hope for strong support in certain portions of the district. ‘I think that I’ll have a chance, particularly in the western part of the district, including Calabasas, Oxnard, and even Topanga, where he says,’there are a lot of independent-minded people, not all necessarily Democrats.’ Other Election Results: The two education measures on the ballot’State Proposition 55, and local Measure R’passed on Tuesday, bringing more money for new schools, school infrastructure, maintenance. Proposition 55 provides $2.3 billion to fund necessary education facilities to relieve overcrowding, repair older schools and upgrade and build new classrooms in the state’s community colleges and universities. Measure R provides the Los Angeles Unified School District $3.87 billion for additional classroom seats, a full-day kindergarten, adult and early childhood education facilities, library books, repairs and remodeling, and sites for charter schools. For Palisades Charter High School principal Linda Hosford, the passage of both bonds was optimistic news. ‘We qualify as an independent charter for all these bonds,’ she told the Palisadian-Post Wednesday. Our facilities are part of LAUSD, so this money will be used for construction and deferred maintenance.’ Hosford said that the school had already made a list of priorities for Bond K, which was passed two years ago and provided $2.7 million for Palisades Charter. Palisades’ wish list included an upgraded security system and outdoor lighting. ‘We are still waiting for the timeline on those projects,’ said Hosford. ‘It is difficult to access what would be on the R lists, especially since the primary goal for the district is to build new schools. ‘As for the state measure, now that we are directly funded by the state, this is good news.’

Who would have thought that actress Nanette Fabray has been moonlighting all these years as a real estate entrepreneur? Yes, the award-winning former Broadway and television star, who has won three Tonys and three Emmys, has been buying, fixing and flipping property in the Palisades for more than 40 years. We found her sweeping sawdust off the floor of her latest project, a 3,100-sq.-ft. house two blocks from the village. ‘This house is for when I’m no longer able to get around easily,’ says the 83-year-old star, who last week was supervising the installation of the hardwood floors (oak) and the kitchen cabinets (natural maple). ‘There’s everything I need right here on the main floor, including a bedroom and a bathroom, which is wheelchair-accessible, in case there’s ever a need for that.’ Fabray, a former honorary mayor of the Palisades (1967-69), started her stage career at age 3 at the old Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Her greatest success came in the 1960s when she worked on “Your Show of Shows” starring Sid Caesar, which was broadcast live. ‘Those were wonderful, magical years working with Sid and writers like Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Mike Nichols, and Woody Allen,’ she says, ‘One thing I learned from them is you can’t learn funny. You either are or you aren’t.’ Not so funny was Fabray discovering in her 20s that she had a genetic ear defect, which led to her involvement in the passing of the American Disabilities Act. She also worked to bring sign language and captioning to television and in the last year has made dozens of appearances on behalf of the disabled. These days, however, Fabray is busy completing the two-story contemporary home on Swarthmore that is being built to her exact specifications, right down to where her pool table will go in the open living/dining/kitchen area, which features a fireplace that opens to the back patio. The house, located at the corner of Hampton, is environmentally friendly, with skylights, retractable screens, and solar panels that will eventually provide 60 to 70 percent of the house’s electricity needs. There is also a fire sprinkler system indoors. ‘This house is ‘beyond’ code,’ jokes Fabray, who bought the lot two years ago, tore down the existing structure and has been involved in every aspect of construction. ‘Seriously, this being a corner lot it did present some challenges. For example, the entry to the two-car garage, which was on Hampton, is now on Swarthmore, which requires a new curb cut. It all takes time.’ While the project is taking longer than expected to complete (occupancy is now projected for June) and ‘cost at least a third over the original estimate,’ Fabray is pleased with the results, from the custom-made stained-glass front entry doors featuring a leaf-and-vine motif, to the wrap-around balcony on three sides of the second floor, to the extra storage space in the attic. ‘Nanette is very hands-on,’ says her contractor Danny Giagni, owner of Distinctive Builders. ‘She is always making lists and walks around with a measuring tape in her hand. We have a tough time keeping her off the scaffolding!’ Six years ago Giagni and Fabray tackled a property on Northfield, which presented an even bigger challenge. It was only after tearing down the existing house on the irregularly shaped lot that the foundation was found to be unstable. ‘It was a huge lot with such beautiful trees, but then I had to spend $80,000 just to shore it up before we could even think of building,’ Fabray says. When the house was complete ‘I had the good fortune of renting it out to the German Embassy for four years before selling it last April. It was an excellent investment.’ Fabray says she became involved in developing real estate after her husband, screenwriter Randy MacDougall (‘Mildred Pierce,’ ‘Cleopatra’), passed away in 1973 and she was left to raise their young son Jamie, who was 14 at the time. The couple had bought their first house together in 1952 in Beverly Hills, which was part of the former Mary Pickford estate. When they needed more space they bought Dinah Shore’s house, also in Beverly Hills, which they renovated extensively. Then, in 1963, on a Sunday afternoon drive along Sunset, they discovered an old ranch house sitting on half an acre on the edge of Rustic Canyon. ‘It was once a real working ranch, so it had a great iron stove and a drying room for the workers’ clothes,’ recalls Fabray, who promptly renovated the dilapidated house, adding on an Art Deco-style bathroom worthy of a star. ‘My idea for this bathroom started when I found this gorgeous Persian marble somewhere in downtown L.A. I purchased all they had, which wasn’t much, and then had the bathroom built around that.’ In the ’90s, Fabray subdivided the lot, selling off the main house and keeping the guest quarters for herself. By this time her son had moved to Manhattan Beach, and wanting to see him and his growing family more, she purchased a derelict three-story beach house, a block from the Strand. ‘It needed a lot of work. Not only was it ugly and smelly, but there was a fireplace blocking the ocean view. Now it’s stunning. Because the living area is on the top floor, I added a small elevator which is very convenient.’ Fabray then went to work looking for a suitable commercial property with enough parking for her son’s growing dermatology practice. She found exactly what she was looking for on Manhattan Beach Boulevard. ‘I just walked in and made a deal directly with the owner. He even agreed to carry back the mortgage!’ Fabray had the one-story building torn down and a new facility built to Jamie’s specifications. The actress currently divides her time between the Rustic Lane property and Manhattan Beach, where she enjoys visiting with her two grandchildren, Kylie, 8, and Ryan, 5. Asked when she plans to move into the Swarthmore house, she says she doesn’t know. ‘My plan right now is to rent it out for a while and get some income. It’s definitely not for sale.’ Fabray says there is no secret to her real estate success. ‘Really, it’s location, location, location. I guess I have a good eye and I’m willing to pay a fair price. In fact, I can’t understood people losing a property over a few thousand dollars, which is exactly how I came to own Swarthmore. The owner was tired of haggling with another buyer, who had already made an offer, so he sold it to me instead.’ Asked what her next real estate purchase will be, Fabray says she’s not sure. “But I’m always looking. Let me know if you hear of anything.’