By KAREN LEIGH Palisadian-Post Contributor Let it be known that Shelley Greenwald is the unofficial mayor of the Loop. But unlike other heads-of-city, she presides’voluntarily’over Las Casas, Marquette, Grenola, and Baylor, the streets that comprise the community-within-a-community located just off Sunset in the El Medio bluffs area. It is here that Greenwald and her friends Rebekah Fleishman, Patti Fair, and Cyndy Ufkes have created the Loop Ya-Yas, a network of 39 neighborhood mothers who socialize, oversee kids’ playgroups, and keep an eye on each other. According to Ufkes’s husband, the Ya-Yas’ district has become “Mayberry U.S.A.” After first moving to the Loop in 2003, Greenwald, Fair, and Ufkes bonded with Fleishman. When the quartet decided that female neighbors needed to have a little fun, an evening of gaming was organized. But just six guests attended, and they seemed more interested in… socializing. The friends put their heads together and redesigned the event, which soon became neighborhood tradition’an eat-and-socialize, girls-only cocktail night. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Since then, the four’mothers all’have spearheaded such Loop events as a kids’ playtime and holiday potluck dinner, in addition to their monthly Ladies’ Nights. Fleishman, for one, knew that the Las Casas area had once been a hotbed of activity’from back-to-school ice cream socials to moms’ networks’and she wanted to restart the tradition. Says Greenwald, “there are lots of young kids on this street’at least 20 under the age of five.” Inspired by the novel “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” she and Rebekah coined the name “Loop Yas-Yas,” a fitting title for a group of women’today numbering 39’who, Fair jokes, “know each other as baby-sitters and friends.” Adds Ufkes, “A neighbor once came and asked me if I had a daycare center in my front yard.” But while the Ya-Ya network is a tremendous benefit for children and their busy moms, Fair is quick to point out that “lots of women come to Ladies’ Nights who don’t have young kids.” Attending other Las Casas gatherings was the local fire department, which sent a truck to last month’s First Annual Loop Holiday Party. “We had families bring unwrapped gifts” to the soiree, says Greenwald, “and we filled three huge barrels. The fire truck came to take them back to the station for a toy drive.” The event’s younger guests were thrilled by the big engine’a major benefit, it was deemed, of being a Loop kid. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ One of the Ya-Yas’ biggest weapons in recruiting new members is an e-mail distribution list by which they keep Loopers posted with neighborhood goings-on and upcoming events. Greenwald, her friends say, is the group’s biggest promoter, and the unofficial welcome wagon for new residents. Says Shelley herself, “we get people on the distribution list while they’re in escrow,” and another newbie receives Loop e-mails even though her just-purchased Las Casas home is still under construction. “We also use it to share resources,” Greenwald says of her creation. “One mom had twins, and she sent out an e-mail asking for supplies. People will even write with suggestions for good house painters.” In September, when Fleishman held a Labor Day barbecue, she mailed an invitation to those on the list. Proving its power, says Ufkes dryly, “Rebekah ended up needing valet parking.” ‘ ‘ ‘ The four founding Ya-Yas have two main themes for the group’friendship, and children’s safety. As regards the latter, they hosted a Neighborhood Watch meeting at Ufkes’s house, and a goal for the new year is to wrangle guest speakers like LAPD Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale and others who can help keep Loop kids free from harm. “Safety is key,” says Fair, “especially watching each others’ children. Our kids know whose house to run to if there’s trouble.” The distribution list is a big help, Greenwald explains, in that “we can send out an e-mail and reach 70 percent of the street.” Implementing a concrete Neighborhood Watch program, Fair adds, is the Ya-Yas’ chief goal for 2006. When they’re not organizing Loop events, the four founders are hard at work. Greenwald is a management consultant for Accenture, Fair is an account executive for Apple computer, Ufkes caters and tests recipes for cooking magazines, and Fleishman is a mortgage broker. All are parents to children under age 5 (Fleishman also has a 16-year-old, Rachael, a baby-sitter whom the other three fight over on Ladies’ Nights), and the young kids socialize when their mothers are at the office. Says Ufkes, “Our nannies all knew each other before we did, because my rule is that my kids don’t hang out at another house unless I know the parents. So there’s a nanny network here, too.” The charter members have also created a Mommy-and-Me class, and a group for newborn babies and their mothers and nannies is next on the agenda. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Greenwald and the founders have discovered that when it comes to these support networks’moms, baby-sitters, children, even fathers'”people are really grateful, because most of us on the street had just moved here and weren’t originally from the Palisades.” Shelley herself hails from South Africa, Cyndy from Nebraska, Patti from Manhattan Beach, and Rebekah from Orange County. When asked the biggest benefit of being a Ya-Ya, the answer is unanimous'”friendship!” Adds Greenwald, “My husband tells me it takes two hours to walk around the neighborhood because I stop and talk to everyone.” This friendly nature has earned her a reputation as the unofficial mayor of the Las Casas Loop, a claim she denies but the other women swear is true. She will, however, say that “I never thought I’d live in a community in Los Angeles where neighbors would come over to borrow detergent.” Of Shelley, Rebekah, and Cyndy, Fair says, “Our husbands have become very good friends, too. We’re a close-knit social group.” It’s not just talk’on the day of this interview, Fleishman is on vacation, and the other three refuse to take part in a photo shoot without their missing link. Next month, Ladies’ Night will fall near Valentine’s Day, and for the occasion, the founders have organized a “progressive” meal, in which each course will be served at a different Loop house. “They did this type of dinner for nine years on Las Casas, but it’s been stopped for the past three,” Greenwald explains. Progressive food isn’t the only tradition the Loop Ya-Yas are reviving. “I think what we’re describing here,” Fair says, “is community.”
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