Rotary Club Reunites at Bel-Air Bay Club

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The Rotary Club of Pacific Palisades had its first official meeting in town since the Palisades fire, gathering for dinner on Wednesday, August 13, at the lower Bel-Air Bay Club.

A Rotarian for almost 40 years, Perry Akins is beginning his third go-around as president. He reported there were 15 members before the fire and eight active members after, although that number grew that evening, as five new members were inducted.

Moving forward, the club will meet on the second Wednesday every month. The fiscal year started July 5.

Akins spoke on the history of the club, which started in 1952 and, over the decades, has had as many as 75 members. Meetings used to be held at Riviera Country Club, then Mort’s Deli, then Gladstones and, for a year prior to its closing, at Modo Mio.

“It’s not just a club you join,” he said. “It’s a commitment you make.”

Happy Birthday was sung to native Palisadian Andrew Cereghino, chair of membership development, after which Sam Schwartz, a junior at Palisades Charter High School and member of the school’s Ambassador program, thanked the club for its $10,000 donation to Virtual Enterprises, DECA and the Dolphins’ basketball team, then shared how he was affected by the fire.

“I know many of you here had a similar experience to mine—which was a feeling of pure panic,” said Schwartz, who was at Disneyland with his family on the morning of January 7. “This kind of makes it not the happiest place on earth for me anymore. I had no idea of the magnitude of what was going on and it felt like the world was swallowing me up as Mickey Mouse was taking pictures with little kids. It was an incredibly difficult situation.”

Schwartz, who was recognized as Ambassador of the Month in July, concluded: “I can say for sure that my choices led me to the right place—and that place is here, the community I grew up in. Despite our new school being a place where many teachers bought washing machines, it feels like a school now … Everything shows us that Pali is not a place … it’s the people that make Pali, Pali. The community’s been through so much but as my chemistry teacher said, we’ll rise again like a phoenix, stronger and better than ever.”

Also in attendance were the District 5280 Governor Alex Parajon and Assistant Governor LeeAnn Robinson (5280 covers the Greater Los Angeles Area and has 62 clubs, including Burbank, Beverly Hills, Calabasas and Santa Clarita).

Then it was time to induct the five new members—Jeff Lemen, Rene Rodman, Ryan Akins, Tamar Springer and Ali Ossayran—with Cereghino awarding each a framed certificate and a wood plaque. Parajon gave each a “superhero” pin, and Akins congratulated them.

“Some of the best friends I have in the Palisades I met through the Rotary Club,” Akins told the new members. “We don’t just welcome you, we celebrate you.”   

Then, past President Hagop Tchakerian, whose one-year term ended June 30, shared that his former next door neighbor, Joel Ruben, had recognized him when he recently visited the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club (where Ruben is now a member), so Tchakerian invited him to the August 13 meeting. Ruben resided in Marquez Knolls from 1986 to 96.

“I went there because they wanted to donate money, but I told them that right now I cannot accept it because we’re scattered,” said Tchakerian, who is now living in Glendale after his house on Jacon Way (where he had lived for 42 years with his wife Marilynn) burned down.

According to Parajon, Rotarians have donated $1.2 million for fire aid worldwide, and the district’s Fire Relief Committee is discussing how remaining funds could be applied to the Palisades, like rental assistance and small business and workforce reactivation programs, working in collaboration with nonprofit organizations.

The meeting ended with Lemen, who was born and raised in the Palisades and has been a Realtor in the area for 25 years, sharing data about market statistics before and after the fire.

“Now would be a good time to get a drink,” he told his attentive audience. “This is sobering information I’m going to share.”

He reported that as of that date, 209 lots were on the market in Pacific Palisades, 134 lots had sold since January 7 and there were 28 pending lot sales. Of the 59 standing homes in the Palisades active on the market at that time, most were in Riviera, Rustic Canyon or the Highlands. Approximately 6,000 homes were destroyed, another 1,000 severely damaged.

“As of today, 106 applications have been filed for new builds and 16 have been approved,” Lemen said. “The average right now is 46 days to issue a permit.”

“Most of the destruction was in the Alphabets, Marquez Knolls and the Via Bluffs,” he continued. “The silver lining is that once areas become rebuilt, it will come back bigger than ever.”

The next Rotary meeting will be held in a bigger room at Bel-Air Bay Club on September 10, when Hagop is roasted in the Club’s traditional “demotion” party to honor the 2024-25 president.