Arroyo Monthly January 2010

F IE N LE I VL II NV G I N IG N I TN H TE H GE R SE A TN E G L E VN AA L LA ER YE A F I N R A PB AR SI AE D

JANUARY 2010

DANCING WITH A STAR AT ROSE CITY BALLROOM

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4 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

ARROYO VOLUME 6 ~ NUMBER 1

M O N T H LY

8 HEALTH AND WELLNESS ISSUE 8 DANCING WITH A STAR TV’s Christian Perry is teaching stylish waltz — and waist-whittling — moves at Rose City Ballroom, his recently opened Pasadena studio.

–By Noela Hueso

12 GOING STRAIGHT Drug and alcohol abusers find no-frills help and hope at Pasadena’s Impact Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center.

–By Michael Burr

16 RAISING THE BAR ON STRENGTH The Bar Method Pasadena borrows dancers’ secrets for sculpting fierce muscles.

–By Ilsa Setziol

34 WHEN STROKE STRIKES Huntington Memorial Hospital’s new advanced stroke unit increases the odds of patients’ full recovery.

–By B.J. Lorenzo

36 FOLLOW THE LEADER Mayor Bill Bogaard gets Pasadenans off the couch and on their feet in monthly fitness walks around the Rose Bowl.

–By Noela Hueso

DEPARTMENTS 7 FESTIVITIES USC’s Thornton School of Music, California Art Club and more

40 THE LIST The 2010 Rose Parade, Eva Fenyes at the Pasadena Museum of History, Pacific Serenades salutes youth

42 KITCHEN CONFESSIONS Arroyo’s columnist communicates in kitchenese at a U.S. naval base in Sicily.

ABOUT THE COVER: Illustration by Tim Furey

ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 5

Marilyn A. Mehlmauer, M.D.F.A.A.D.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Sogol Saghari, M.D. VOTED BEST DERMATOLOGIST Pasadena Weekly 2009 Diplomate, American Board of Dermatology

AH, JANUARY. THE MONTH BRINGS NIGHTMARES OF groaning buffet tables receding into mere specks in the

SERVICES: ADULT & PEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY SKIN CANCER DETECTION & TREATMENT

distance. You’ve had your fun; now it’s time to pay the piper.

But fear not: There’s a different kind of fun to be had, now that you’re back taking care of body business. For one thing, there are endorphins, my personal drug of choice. I’ve been getting fairly regular hits of them ever since I grew up in New York, hiking to the theater district after school for dance classes.

Of course, dance is the spectator sport du jour, with competition shows on virtually

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every channel. Pasadena dancer/choreographer Christian Perry is a veteran of two —

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ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and TLC’s Ballroom Boot Camp — as well as the force he showed Noela Hueso how he helps people dance their way into looking good in those sparkly, spangly outfits. Another recent dance-inspired entry on Pasadena’s fitness scene is the Bar Method Pasadena, which sprang out of modern dancer Lotte Berk’s strength-building technique. Ilsa Setziol tried out the butt-blasting program and reports from the front.

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Eventually even the most dedicated athletes face health problems, such as strokes.

But as B.J. Lorenzo discovered, Huntington Memorial Hospital has harnessed the latest technology at its newly certified Primary Stroke Center. Lorenzo tells you why you’re more likely than ever to recover fully from a stroke if you’re in Huntington’s footprint.

Speaking of footprints, everyone is invited to put on his or her running shoes and walk with Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard on his monthly fitness hikes around the Rose Bowl, as Hueso did for this issue.

SURGICAL SERVICES: LIPOSUCTION

Finally, Michael Burr talks to a local hero in the health field, Jim Stilwell, the legendary executive director of Pasadena’s Impact Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center, and some of his intrepid graduates, who are still fighting the good fight, many years into their recovery.

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CONTACT US ADVERTISING dinas@pasadenaweekly.com EDITORIAL editor@arroyomonthly.com PHONE (626) 584-1500 FAX (626) 795-0149 MAILING ADDRESS 50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, Pasadena, CA 91105

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FESTIVITIES

1

(from left) Paul Sunshine, president of Domineum; Paul Jan Zdunek, CEO of Pasadena Symphony and POPS; and Rachael Worby, musical director of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS

2

Vornado Realty Trust toasted the holidays and its newly opened Granite Park Place development with a cocktail party for 250 on Dec. 5. Broadway star Valarie Pettiford and Pasadena Symphony and POPS musicians serenaded the crowd. Vornado has donated $15,000 to the Pasadena orchestra.

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4

The weather outside was frightful, but downtown L.A.’s Millennium Biltmore Hotel was so delightful, as nearly 400 guests gathered on Dec. 11 for a holiday tradition — USC Thornton School of Music’s annual Charles Dickens Dinner. As the school marked its 125th anniversary with the Victorian-themed event, it honored alumna and opera star Marilyn Horne and outgoing USC President Steven B. Sample and his wife, Kathryn Sample, of San Marino, who received their award from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Emceeing was Dean Robert Cutietta of Pasadena.

Optimist Youth Homes & Family Services raised $45,000 for treatment and education programs for at-risk youth at its

1. Flora L. Thornton and Marilyn Horne

57th annual Festival of Trees at the Pasadena Hilton. The

2. USC President Steven B. Sample, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kathryn Sample with the Samples’ daughter, Elizabeth

Dec. 6 event was chaired by Dee Gadbury, president of the

3. Marybeth and Robert Cutietta, Thornton’s dean

Santa Clarita Valley Optimist Club.

4. Thornton Board of Advisors member Carol Henry of Pasadena and benefactor Flora L. Thornton

California Art Club members gathered at their headquarters overlooking the Arroyo Seco — an inspiration for plein air painters — to celebrate the group’s centennial with birthday cake on Dec. 10. Centennial celebrations continue on March 27 with a black-tie dinner

1

Jose Lopez

PHOTOS: USC photos by Steve Cohn

at the California Club.

Jose Lopez, a Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center patient care associate and Glendale res1. California Art Club Director Keith Renken and President Peter Adams

ident, was honored as the L.A. northwest region Hospital Hero at the National Health Foundation Annual Awards

2. California Art Club Executive Director Elaine Adams with President Peter Adams

luncheon on Nov. 13.

2 ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 7

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Dancing With a Star TV’S CHRISTIAN PERRY IS TEACHING STYLISH WALTZ – AND WAIST-WHITTLING – MOVES AT ROSE CITY BALLROOM, HIS RECENTLY OPENED STUDIO IN PASADENA.

BY NOELA HUESO PHOTOS BY ARMEN POGHOSYAN

(This page) Instructor Chris Hughes and student Maria Yu (Opposite left) Instructor Nicole McDonald (Opposite right) McDonald and fellow instructor Daniel Coffman

8 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

WHEN CALTECH GRAD STUDENT LESLIE LAMBERSON WALKED INTO PASADENA’S ROSE CITY BALLROOM LAST SPRING, SHE HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS ABOUT TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A NEW DANCE STYLE. ON A DARE, THE CLASSICALLY TRAINED BALLET DANCER HAD AUDITIONED IN LOS ANGELES FOR THE FOX REALITY SHOW SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AND, MUCH TO HER DELIGHT, SHE’D PASSED THE FIRST ROUND. That qualified Lamberson to join the 200 contestants from around the country who would head to Las Vegas for the next stage of the competition. At “Vegas Week,” contestants would be expected to perform a variety of dance styles. The problem was that Lamberson had never danced ballroom a day in her life. So she turned to the Rose City Ballroom, a 9-month-old studio founded by the charismatic Christian Perry, a national swing dance champion and international Latin dance finalist who choreographs for and performs on another show, ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.

In just four weeks, Perry’s team gave Lamberson, 28, a crash course in ballroom’s smooth staples — waltz, Viennese waltz, fox trot, quickstep and tango — as well as Latin dances — cha-cha, rumba, samba and jive. By the time she left for Las Vegas, Lamberson had a whole new set of dance skills to show off as she vied for a spot as one of the 20 who would ultimately compete on the show.

As things turned out, Lamberson was cut from the competition just shy of the final round. But she had garnered a consolation prize — appreciation for the siren call of the waltz and the caliber of teaching at RCB. She eagerly returned for more.

“When I first came to Rose City, I just needed to know how to get through an audition in all the styles. It was a different focus,” says Lamberson, a self-professed “high-energy person” who also dances professionally with the Pasadena Dance Theatre. “When I came back, they said, ‘Okay, do you want to learn the nitty-gritty [technique]?’ And I said, ‘Yes, even though I don’t have time for this, I want to really get good at it.’

“As a dancer, you can tell when you’re being taught good technique, even if it’s not your style. They’re great about tailoring the lesson to what you want and need to get better. They give you the freedom to explore the art but also give you the technique to be able to accomplish it.”

That personal attention, whether in a group or private lesson, is quickly making RCB the go-to destination for competitive dancers, would-be hoofers and those just looking for a fun and effective workout. There are day and evening classes seven days a week, with group sessions going for $15 a pop (or $130 for 10).

Walk into the studio at 915 South Fair Oaks Ave. — a former storage facility — on any given day and the atmosphere is dynamic. Instructors and students glide across the wood floor, twirling, dipping and stepping to the rhythmic sounds filling the room. A series of mirrors captures every move while a row of soft couches provides seating for onlookers and dancers needing a break.

One of RCB’s most popular classes isn’t even a traditional dance class.

“Ballroom Burn,” a weekday class offered at midday and in the late afternoon, is a combination ballroom-and-aerobic workout that, according to the website, “makes it fun and exciting to exercise without the boredom of going to the gym.”

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 9

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Student Norma Gomez

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

“We’re growing fairly quickly compared to other studios in the area,” Perry says matter-of-factly. “I’m even outsourced by other local schools to help them raise the caliber of their classes. The caliber is already high here — and you get me with your lessons.” Perry’s not being boastful, at least not without good reason. His ballroom expertise has taken him all over the world — from England to China — both as a competitive dancer and instructor. Though he doesn’t teach individual classes, Perry observes them all and offers coaching and choreography to augment his instructors’ moves.

“Learning how to dance really depends on your teacher,” adds Perry, who takes great pride in his team. “You really need to find one that fits your style best.”

RCB instructor Daniel Coffman was a good fit for software designer Ken Garen and his fiancée, Christine Sisley, executive director of the Fletcher Jones Foundation. With a January wedding on the horizon, the novice dancers came to RCB in October for a series of private lessons to prep for their first waltz as husband and wife. Enthusiastic and knowledgeable, Coffman has been “just about perfect in teaching us stuff that we can learn and be good at,” says Garen, who acknowledges that dancing has never been his forté. “I’ve never been someone who enjoys dancing. So, the fact that I’m enjoying it now is my ‘aha’ moment.”

Thanks to the popularity of So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars, young people are also catching the ballroom bug. Perry is reaching out to kids and teens by expanding his youth program, and he has already identified some rising stars. One of them is Angelise Slifkin, 14, who placed first in five Latin dances at the November Hollywood Dancesport Championships in Woodland Hills, one of the local competitions in which Perry’s competitive students participate. And that was after only five months of RCB lessons. “It’s really fun,” says Slifkin, a former gymnast who turned to ballroom when she was sidelined by an ankle injury. “The teachers are young and friendly and have a really cool style of teaching. The music isn’t classical; it’s like what you hear on the radio, which is exciting because it works for the different dances.”

Perry insists that anyone can learn to dance and his studio is there to help.

“If you have a heartbeat, you have rhythm,” he says. “It’s just a matter of being comfortable and finding it.” Even those who can’t make it to the studio can catch Perry on the Pasadena Public Network (Channel 56) every Friday and Saturday, on Dancing with Christian Perry, a half-hour show that teaches basic ballroom steps.

As for Lamberson, her love affair with ballroom continues to grow. “Dancing is a natural high,” she says. “You feel full of energy, like you can do anything. It’s the best feeling in the world.” AM Rose City Ballroom is located at 915 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-9347 or visit rosecityballroom.com.

10 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

CHRISTIAN PERRY If you want proof of Christian Perry’s claim that anyone can learn to dance, look no further than Perry himself. His own journey in movement began when he was a 20-year-old student at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

An ardent snowboarder, skateboarder and volleyball player, Perry, now 34, got hooked on swing after visiting a dance club with friends.

With its hops, jumps and lifts, the high-energy dance style appealed to his athletic nature. “I discovered I had a little knack for it,” Perry says with dry understatement.

Soon he was frequenting swing clubs all over Los Angeles and Orange County, perfecting his moves and impressing fellow dancers with his lively routines. “We’d dance at the Derby in Los Angeles, Alpine Village in Torrance,” he recalls. “We’d go dance with all the oldtimers, the ones that actually did [the dances] back in the day, and take little tips from them.”

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, serendipity nudged Perry farther along his path. Pierce College was damaged in the quake, forcing its temporary closure, and Perry turned to working full time, discovering “the wonderful world of salsa” in the process. In 1996, he became an instructor for Arthur Murray. It was there that he discovered the joys of other ballroom styles as well.

As dance took over his life, Perry’s focus shifted. In the space of nine years, he got an agent and danced in the highly successful Gap Khaki Swing commercial. That “put me on the map” and led to other film and TV work, he says. Perry went on to take part in dance competitions around the world, move to New York, earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and teach dance in China. His father’s passing brought him back to California in 2004. During that return visit, he auditioned for TLC’s Ballroom Boot Camp and Dancing With the Stars — and nailed both gigs.

In 2008, Perry’s girlfriend and professional dance partner, Annette Nicole, saw her company move from Studio City to Pasadena, so she and Perry decided to move here as well. “We discovered how beautiful Pasadena is and didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Perry says. “I always say it’s the East Coast on the West Coast — the architecture, the old trees, the culture, the art. We said it’s time to set down roots.”

And so they did. In April, Nicole was appointed to the Northwest Commission by the Pasadena City Council. And Perry opened the doors

Christian Perry

of the Rose City Ballroom. — Noela Hueso

Inset: Christian Perry and Annette Nicole ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 11

HEALTH AND FITNESS

For thousands of former drug addicts, the road to recovery began on a quiet block of Fair Oaks Avenue in Northwest Pasadena, where Impact Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center has been helping even some of the most hardened users for more than three decades. Since 1969, the nonprofit Impact — which also offers sober living homes off-site — has treated more than 30,000 people from all walks of life.

“We’ve had attorneys, judges, doctors, airline pilots, soccer moms,” says Executive Director Jim Stilwell, who came to Impact 36 years ago to kick his own heroin addiction.

While celebrities — including James Caan and Robert Downey Jr. — have also been treated here, the 130-bed facility stands a world apart from the luxurious treatment centers of Malibu. There are no swimming pools or fivestar chefs at the 2.5-acre campus. What the 12-step-based center does offer is a highly structured program of daily chores, individual counseling and group meetings designed to teach self-discipline, self-worth and strategies to stay sober in the real world. “This is like a microcosm of life here,” says Stilwell, 62. “Everybody has a job. You have to perform just like an employer would expect you to do.”

Most of the staff are alumni of Impact, which is accredited by the nonprofit Joint Commission. Indeed, the philosophy of addicts helping other addicts is a cornerstone of the program’s success. “You start learning how to apply some of the principles that we’re trying to teach you while you’re

GOIN GSTR AIGHT

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSERS FIND NO-FRILLS HELP AND HOPE AT PASADENA’S IMPACT REHAB CENTER.

BY MICHAEL BURR ILLUSTRATION BY TIM FUREY

12 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 13

HEALTH AND FITNESS

“THIS IS LIKE A MICROCOSM OF LIFE HERE. EVERYBODY HAS A JOB. YOU HAVE TO PERFORM JUST LIKE AN EMPLOYER WOULD EXPECT YOU TO DO.” – JIM STILWELL

percent, it could be 25 percent. I think that with Impact we were hitting 40 and 50 percent at the end of a five-year looking-back period. And that’s pretty good.”

Adds Michael, a retired TV producer who sent his heroin-addicted son to half a dozen rehab centers before trying Impact 11 years ago, “I think Impact is an extraordinary place. My son has been clean for 10 years. That’s a miracle.”

Here some graduates come clean about their sometimes rocky paths to recovery at Impact. (Last names were withheld at their request to protect their privacy.)

KASEY At 35, Kasey is now a veritable pillar of the community — the director of operations for an oil company and proud mother of 4½-year-old twins. Kasey found her piece of the American dream even though she began using drugs when she was just a child. She had her first alcoholic drink at age 6, and by 12, she was “dipping into the medicine cabinet to see what I could find,” she says. She started smoking marijuana in her early teens and was using meth and cocaine by the time she was 16.

After high school, Kasey moved to Long Beach to study fashion design and merchandising, in the hope that a new environment would provide a distraction from her drug problem. “That was kind of a joke,” she says. “I was in a new city and within two days I knew where all the drugs were.” At Long Beach 14 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

State University, she started experimenting with heroin and, before long, she was shooting speedballs — a potent mixture of heroin and cocaine.

Kasey dropped out after one semester and began selling drugs to pay the bills. At 21, she moved to North Hollywood to enter a drug treatment program — one of eight she would attend in her early 20s. Over the next few years, she moved from hotel to hotel, working sporadically and shoplifting to support her habit.

Then in 1998, Kasey was arrested for being under the influence of heroin and ordered to complete six months of treatment at Impact. She lasted there for only three months. But another eight months of heroin abuse was the final straw: That December, Kasey begged Impact’s intake staff to take her back. They agreed on the condition that she first complete treatment at a medical detox facility. “I said ‘I’ll go after Christmas,’” Kasey recalls. “And they told me, ‘Either go into detox tomorrow or don’t ever come here again.’”

Despite overdosing at the detox center on Christmas Eve after sneaking in drugs to get high “one last time,” Kasey entered Impact on Dec. 26 and stayed in treatment for the next 14 months. She says she bucked the system at first, before learning to “trust the process.” She eventually joined the staff training program and became a counselor, eventually moving up to a managerial position. In the end, Kasey gained not only self-esteem there but true love: That’s where she met her husband of 7½ years, Don, an Impact staffer.

Kasey no longer works at Impact, but she says her life has changed “tenfold” since her arrival there. “My husband and I love each other unconditionally, I have two beautiful children, and, for the most part, I’m at peace with myself,” she says. “I don’t have any desire to ever go back to that lifestyle.”

RYAN Ryan, 32, moved to Pasadena three years ago to break free from the cycle of drugs and violence that landed him behind bars for nearly half his adult life. His childhood in Illinois was turbulent. By the time he was 12, his mother was “out of the picture.”

The next year, his father went to prison on drug charges, so he was sent to live with his grandmother. “She was older and didn’t really want the hassle of raising another child,” Ryan says. “I was her responsibility as far as legal decisions, but as far as anything else, I was pretty much on my own.”

At 13, Ryan had little adult supervision and was abusing alcohol “to the point of blacking out.” He started selling pot at 16, dropped out of school a year later and began using meth and cocaine. He worked part-time jobs but also sold cocaine “just to pay for my own habit.” At 18, Ryan was arrested for assaulting a police officer and damaging a cruiser during a drinking binge.

Nine months in prison did nothing to prod him off his destructive course and, shortly after he got out, he began cooking meth. He set his apartment on fire and was sent to federal prison to serve a five-year term for manufacturing drugs. Within nine months of his release, Ryan failed a drug test while on probation and was back behind bars for another 18 months.

In prison, Ryan finally decided that if he was ever going to turn his life around, he had to leave Illinois. He wrote to his aunt in Pasadena and asked if he could live with her after his release. She consented and he landed a local job as a warehouse manager, steering clear of drugs but continuing to drink heavily. After testing positive for alcohol use — another violation of his parole — he had two choices: Either go to Impact for treatment or face more jail time. “By the time I got to Impact, I was so sick of the cycle that I was in

PHOTO: Jim Stilwell by Aimee Candelaria

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

watching other people and hearing how they’ve applied the principles to stay clean,” Stilwell says.

While he notes that it’s difficult to pin down hard numbers measuring the long-term effectiveness of any drug rehabilitation program, some of Impact’s success stories provide evidence that the treatment appears to be working. L.A. Municipal Court Judge Stephen Marcus, who sentenced numerous offenders to rehab at Impact when he presided over drug cases from 1993 to 2001, says the center delivers on its promises. “I think the program is very effective,” he says, noting that Impact has had considerable success in producing graduates who remain clean five years after recovery. “In the drug treatment area the actual number of people who succeed and become fully clean is not a huge number. It could be 20

Get the Look You’ll Love for the New Year — getting into trouble, getting out — that I was willing to abide by whatever rules to get through the program,” he says.

Ryan credits the strict program of daily chores, counseling and group meetings with instilling in him the discipline he needed to face his problems without resorting to drugs. “Impact, through its wise ways, has figured out the thing that we need most is to learn to do the things that we don’t want to do and to deal with the things we don’t want to deal with.”

Since completing treatment, Ryan has returned to his job as a warehouse manager. Continuing to strive for a better life, Ryan seems to be well on his way: Six months ago, he started his own online business, and he’s engaged to be married next year.

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JANET Janet had a drug problem so severe that she actually slept through one of the worst disasters in U.S. history — Hurricane Katrina. “From corner office to crack-pipe whore,” the 42-year-old says now, describing her descent into drug abuse.

As an ambitious and attractive younger woman, Janet worked her way up to a branch manager position at a telecommunications company in Dallas, despite her steady use of alcohol and cocaine. But after a company merger, she was laid off. Around the same time, she and her boyfriend of three years broke up. Janet secured a sales management job at another company but lost it after her drug use escalated. “I was demoted and later asked to resign or I was going to be fired. So I resigned,” she says. “It was all due to my addiction.”

Janet retreated to her parents’ home on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast for nine months before taking a sales job in New Orleans. She had stopped using cocaine, but she replaced it with binge drinking. “I wouldn’t say I was drinking 24/7, but it was pretty close,” she says. After losing another job, Janet turned back to cocaine, and in the course of trying to score some powder, she met a man who introduced her to crack. She was quickly addicted and resorted to working as a prostitute — offering her services as an escort on Craigslist — to support her habit. “My life revolved around getting it, using and finding ways and means to get more,” she says.

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Janet again fled New Orleans for her parents’ home. And even though the Gulf Coast was also devastated, she slept through the storm — she’d been up for five days straight. She then moved to Atlanta for a brief stay with a cousin before disappearing completely.

Warrants had been issued for her arrest after she failed to appear in court on charges of DUI and escorting without a license. A private investigator hired by her relatives found her hiding in a hotel. Her family begged her to get help.

Janet’s sister in California learned about Impact though a chance encounter, and her family flew her to L.A. in March 2006. During the 10 months she spent at the center, Janet confronted her lifelong feelings of guilt and low self-esteem, drawing inspiration from others who had conquered their own addictions. “I was finally hearing thoughts from people that were the same thoughts that I’d had my entire life,” she recalls.

Now living in North Hollywood, Janet works as a successful corporate account executive and continues to lend a hand at Impact. She sponsors three recovering addicts and is helping to put together an upcoming convention for the center. Applying the same principles that she used to quit drugs, she has even lost 42 pounds. “I still have a lot of work to do, but I don’t walk around with that shame and guilt anymore,” Janet says. “Ninety percent of the time, I’m at pure peace. I’ve never been happier — I’ve never been more grateful.” AM

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ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 15

HEALTH AND FITNESS

RAISING THE BAR ON STRENGTH THE BAR METHOD BORROWS DANCERS’ SECRETS FOR SCULPTING FIERCE MUSCLES.

FOR FIVE YEARS, PASADENAN KATE KUO AND ELIZABETH GAYED OF SOUTH PASADENA COMMUTED TO THE WESTSIDE FOUR DAYS A WEEK — AND THAT WAS JUST TO GET A WORKOUT. THE 28-YEAR-OLDS TOOK ON TWO FREEWAYS BECAUSE WEST L.A. HAD THE ONLY BAR METHOD STUDIO IN THE AREA. POPULAR WITH CELEBRITIES SUCH AS DREW BARRYMORE AND KYRA SEDGWICK, THE RIGOROUS EXERCISE REGIME IS KNOWN FOR PRODUCING LEAN, CHISELED BODIES WITH DERRIÈRES SO DEFINED THAT PRACTITIONERS BRAG ABOUT THEIR “BAR BUTTS.” Bar Method Pasadena owners Elizabeth Gayed and Kate Kuo

The two friends obtained training as instructors from Bar Method founder Burr Leonard at her sister Mimi Fleischman’s studio in West L.A. And —CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

16 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

PHOTOS: Isla Setziol (top) and Natalie Murray-Garay

BY ILSA SETZIOL

ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 17

ARROYO

HOME&DESIGN ARCHITECTS

JAMES COANE & ASSOCIATES Since 1994, James V. Coane, Architects in Pasadena has specialized in: custom residences, estates, historic renovations and expansions, residential and apartment interiors, multi-family residential, corporate interiors, retail and small commercial building design. Primarily working in Pasadena and West LA , their projects stretch to Santa Barbara, Newport Beach, Aspen, and Beijing. American Institute of Architects award winners, and named Best Architect

by Pasadena Weekly, their projects have been in Architectural Digest and other magazines and used as locations for filming and fashion shoots. Well-versed in historical and modern architecture and design and known for attention to detail on all projects. Visit jvca.com or call (626) 584-6922.

MARK HOUSTON ASSOCIATES, INC. Mark Houston Associates Inc. provides residential planning and design services in San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles and surrounding areas. With Mark Houston Associates Inc. you are an integral part of the design process. We work with you to create a residential environment that expresses your personality, values and vision. This collaboration begins with discerning your needs and flows through to the completion of construction. (626) 357-7858

NOTT & ASSOCIATES

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The “Design/Build” team of Tom and Jeffrey Nott specializes in custom homes in Pasadena. Tom Nott received his Bachelor of Architecture at USC, and has worked for decades on major projects. His work includes projects including for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the L.A.Subway and countless commercial parks. Jeff began in the field at age 12, attended UCLA and UCSB and has built custom homes with distinguished designers in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. Together they have completed over 130 projects in South Pasadena alone. Nott and Associates provides complete design through construction services, fulfilling your vision and appreciating your budget. Visit NOTTASSOCIATES.com or call (626) 403-0844.

Pacific Home Design Studio is a small fullservice design firm dedicated to providing quality custom home and commercial design in the Los Angeles area. With over 10 years of experience, our staff will create a design that meets your needs, lifestyle and budget, without compromising quality and attention to detail. We have the knowledge and experience to design your dream home or commercial project in whatever style you wish. At PHDS, we take pride in excellence and strive to achieve perfection in each and every project, no matter the size. Call (818) 230-2364 or visit PacificHDS.net.

ARCHITECTS

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Our goal is to welcome everything that we are given: program, budget, site specifics, concerns and constraints. In thinking outside the box, we won’t stop design at the four walls and roof – we create total environments, both interior and exterior, which are places in which to work and live. Ultimately, the solutions must be a functional, specific and inspiring fit for the needs initially expressed. Current trends see homeowners working in tandem with nature, creating natural breezeways throughout the home, and utilizing a design approach that best expresses a unique architecture complementing the terrain and climate of their home and lifestyle. (818) 279-8236

Akeena helps customers realize lower energy bills with clean, renewable solar power.

Akeena Solar is a trusted solar installer, with thousands of satisfied customers. Our mission is to help our customers reduce or eliminate their electric bills with the awardwinning Andalay system — the most reliable solar power system on the market today. The Andalay system is sleek and beautiful, with a rock-solid installation that eliminates the flaws of ordinary solar systems. We are committed to our customers every step of the way, designing custom project specifications and managing all paperwork for permitting, hookup, rebates, and incentives. Call (888) 253-3628 or visit akeena.com.

With a philosophy of “good design resulting in the creation of harmony in one’s environment,” Carol’s work has been published in Designers West, Better Homes and Gardens, Window and Wall Ideas and F. Schumacher’s Classic Directions. She has participated in several showcase houses, the Los Angeles Assistance League Design House, the Venice Family Clinic Design House and Little Company of Mary Design House in Palos Verdes. Carol is also a winner of the coveted First Place Award of the L.A. Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. Call (626) 441-6052.

Cynthia Bennett and Associates has been a celebrated design and build firm in the San Gabriel Valley for almost 30 years. They specialize in innovative kitchen and bath design, general construction, historical renovation, project management and interior design. With all areas of residential design and construction being taken care of by Cynthia Bennett and Associates, Inc., each detail will be thought of and coordinated.

They take on projects as small as bathroom remodels, as well as large additions, whole house remodels and new construction. Call for a consultation at (626) 799-9701.

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

18 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

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DESIGN AND BUILD WITH PEOPLE IN MIND —CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

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Day of Design With Terri Julio “My mission is to offer more people an opportunity to consult with a professional designer and afford them a service that fits into their budget.” Those words capture Terri Julio¹s practical and thoughtful approach to her profession. A full day of design consultation (six hours for one flat fee) is a great way to begin any project. The job will run smoothly and most importantly Terri will help you avoid costly mistakes. Terri’s philosophy also extends to “putting the client¹s wants first.” She simply guides those desires to a beautiful conclusion. Call (626) 447-5370.

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

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—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

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Stepping into Maude Woods: Artful Living, shoppers may feel they’ve entered someone’s beautiful home. Owner Carrie Davich mixes new upscale furnishings with vintage and renovated second-hand treasures. Within this “home” shoppers can find a unique hostess gift for $25, a $5,000 table and a variety of beautiful items in between. 55 E. Holly St., Pasadena CA 91103. 626-577-3400. maudewoods.com

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

24 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

INTERIOR SPACES

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Modern Lighting has been serving Southern California's lighting needs since 1946. With all types of fixtures in every price range, and many manufacturer lines and a HUGE showroom, you’ll find what yiu want; if not we do, custom design. Our resources also enable us to make you custom designed fixtures. We also have stocks of light bulbs to compliment the fixture. We continually watch the marketplace for the best buys and while keeping quality consistent. We are able to keep prices low. Our staff has decades of lighting experience.. Feel free to contact us if our service is what you are looking for. Call us at (626) 286-3262

The Patsy Grant Team at Wells Fargo Home Financing meets your needs.

Because your home is one of your biggest investments, it's important to ensure that your mortgage fits you. This is our specialty — helping you find mortgage solutions that meet your current situation while complementing your long-term financial goals.

We will help you determine what mortgage options work for you, guide you through the loan process and answer your questions.

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Specializing in landscaping, nurseries and pools, Garden View Inc. can take you from a design idea or concept to a fully finished, detail-oriented garden. Garden View & their clientele are recipients of 60 awards from the California Landscape Contractors Association. They offer complete and integrated outdoor construction, nursery and maintenance. The intent of the company is to provide high-quality interrelated outdoor services. The synergy between having their own designer/project managers, in-house crews, their own large nursery, and being a licensed pool builder — coupled with Mark’s almost daily job visits — provides for efficiency, competitive pricing, quality and schedule control. Call (626) 303-4043.

Our skilled staff is ready to evaluate and address all of your stone- and concreterelated needs — floor leveling (slippage removal), scratch and stain removal, crack repair, grout restoration, polishing, sealing, color enhancing (exterior and interior). We offer concrete polishing, acid stain and polishing, acid stain and sealing,and have extensive experience with all types of natural and man-made stone: marble, granite, terrazzo, travertine, limestone, onyx, sandstone, concrete, Mexican tiles, agglomerate, slate, terra cotta, flagstone, brownstone, brick, ceramic and more.

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—CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

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ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 25

From Inception to Complete Design —CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

HISTORICAL TO MODERN

REAL ESTATE LIN VLACICH-SOTHEBY’S Lin Vlacich of Sotheby’s, a 25-year veteran in the real estate profession, is known for her reputation and success as a leader in the San Gabriel Valley brokerage community, as well as for high professional ethics, superior negotiating skills, innovative marketing plans and extensive knowledge of real estate sales. Committed to excellence in representing buyers and sellers throughout Pasadena, San Marino, South Pasadena and the surrounding communities. Call (626) 688-6464 or (626) 396-3975 or email vlacichs@aol.com. ■

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ART, ANTIQUES &JEWELRY Arnold’s Fine Jewelry Arnold’s Fine Jewelry is celebrating 120 years of serving Pasadena area families. From stunning engagement rings, engraved sterling baby gifts, watches for grads to spectacular evening baubles, Arnold’s is a destination for those seeking the very finest. Bruce Arnold’s personal joy is to suggest designs that respectfully restyle your cherished heirlooms. Thirdgeneration jeweler Arnold invites you to bring jewelry for repair or cleaning. Professionalism, trust and friendliness are why Arnold’s will be the choice for generations to come. 350 S. Lake Ave., suite 110, Pasadena. Call (626) 795-8647 or visit arnoldsfinejewelry.com Fancy That!

Fancy That’s! tribute to the movie “A Christmas Story” and the fabulous Winter Wonderland display made for an exciting, one-of-a-kind holiday shopping experience. Owners Paula and Jim English have more surprises planned for 2010 so be sure to stop by often as they work their magic – for gifts, home accents and unique seasonal décor this is the shopping destination. Fancy That! 2575 Mission St. San Marino 626 403 2577 – Monday–Friday 10 ‘til 6 and Saturday 10 ‘til 5 fancythat.us.com

28 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

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Wishing you all things wonderful in the John Moran Auctioneers A full-service auction house for over 40 years, John Moran Auctioneers is internationally recognized as a leader in sales of exceptional antiques, fine art, jewelry and eclectic estate items. In addition to monthly Estate Auctions, Moran’s conducts tri-annual California and American Art auctions featuring top 19th and 20th century Impressionist and Western artists. Clients value Moran’s for expertise and dedication to top-quality personalized service. For information about consigning, purchasing at auction, estate services, appraisals, and free walk-in Valuation Days, please call (626) 793-1833 or visit johnmoran.com.

Single Stone Single Stone on Mission Street offers fine vintage and contemporary jewelry in a jewel box setting. Blending old-time glamour and modern sophistication, Single Stone carries a wonderful array of rings, eternity bands, earrings and pendants featuring diamonds and semi-precious stones. Custom design is available to create your own signature piece. 2527 Mission St., San Marino,(626) 799-3109; singlestone.com ■

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ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 29

HEALTH AND FITNESS

“INTERVAL TRAINING CREATES AN INTENSITY IN WHICH YOU’RE AT THE END OF YOUR BODY’S ABILITY TO PERFORM AN ACTION. THE ISOMETRIC WORK ENABLES MUSCLES TO KEEP WORKING EVEN AFTER THEY’RE FATIGUED. TOGETHER, YOU GET A MORE PROFOUND RESHAPING EFFECT.” – BURR LEONARD in August, Kuo and Gayed launched the Bar Method Pasadena in a remodeled brick building across the alley from Old Pasadena’s Burke Williams spa.

“Opening our own studio was just to save gas,” jokes Kuo. A former escrow officer, Kuo says becoming a fitness instructor was an unlikely career path for her. “I hate exercise, basically, except for Bar Method. Before this, I was 40 pounds heavier. I dreaded [going to class] because it was so hard. I’d pray we’d hit traffic and wouldn’t make it in time. But it’s addictive. Once I got started, I couldn’t stop.”

Gayed and Kuo met in college — when they were only 13 years old (both were admitted into an early-entry program at Cal State Los Angeles). Now Gayed is a licensed clinical psychologist who teaches early-morning Bar Method classes before heading off to her other job as a student counselor for the Claremont Colleges. “Often, if people are not huge cardio fans, they really like this kind of exercise,” Gayed says. “It gives some cardio benefit, but you’re not out of breath all the time.”

The Bar Method delivers a potent combination of interval training and isometric exercises. It’s an offshoot of modern dancer Lotte Berk’s intense exercise program, which focused on building strength from the body’s “core.”

Leonard, 62, taught the Lotte Berk Method in Connecticut before she launched the Bar Method in 2000. The course takes its name from the ballet barre used for support and resistance by practitioners performing tiny, precise repetitions that fatigue their muscles until they “burn” and shake.

Interval training relies on short bursts of high-intensity activity — just about any exercise performed full bore — that alternate with short breaks. In 2005, researchers in Norway concluded that interval training was more effective for improving fitness than more sustained, less intense workouts. One reason: Such vigorous activity prompts the body to build new muscle fibers.

The program also uses isometrics — a kind of resistance training in which muscles are contracted and held in place or moved in resistance to the weight of the body or a stationary object.

Leonard says the Bar Method is one of the few exercise programs to combine the two techniques. “Interval training creates an intensity in which you’re at the end of your body’s ability to perform an action,” she says. “The isometric work enables muscles to keep working even after they’re fatigued.

Together, you get a more profound reshaping effect.”

30 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

Bar Method classes generally start with arm and other upper-body repetitions using free weights, then progress to isolations that work the thighs and gluteals, mostly at the bar. A signature move has students poised on the balls of their feet, squatting slightly, and pulsing up and down until their legs shake. In another exercise, students sit beneath the bar, gripping it overhead, and repeatedly swing their legs apart and together, an inch off the floor — if they can (beginners keep their feet on the floor). Killer abdominal curls round out the fast-paced classes.

Ballet and yoga-inspired stretches provide breathers between the highintensity sets. “At the end of class, because there’s so much stretching throughout, people feel extremely relaxed,” Gayed says. “I think it’s a great stress reliever.”

Some aspects of the Bar Method are similar to Pilates — the focus on strengthening core muscles, for example. But Leonard’s program emphasizes large muscles on the back of the body. “These muscles play the greatest role in posture, control and balance,” she says. “They’re important to look good and move well. They tend to be larger — the triceps is the longest in the arm — and tend to make you look narrower when they sit up off the bone.”

Despite the intensity, Leonard says the Bar Method is a safe, no-impact workout. “It hits the muscles, not the joints,” she explains. Still, Kuo says she strives to make the hourlong classes as seamless as possible. “It’s very stressful to be in class,” she says. “We keep it moving so you never have time to stop and think about how painful it is, or how much your thighs are burning.” Pasadena Bar Method students — mostly women under 40 — say they appreciate the workout’s potential for transforming bodies fairly quickly. Kara Matchie says it took only three months of classes four times a week to achieve the sculpted look she was going for. “I’m shocked — I’ve never been this toned in my life,” says Matchie, a 28-year-old executive assistant. “This is the first workout I’ve been so consistent with. I love yoga for the relaxation, but it just does not tone or produce the results Bar Method does. I make all my friends feel my stomach.”

Her stomach must have been convincing — three of those friends were sufficiently impressed to become Bar Method devotees themselves. AM Single classes cost $20; a discount applies to multiple class packages. DVDs are also available on the website. The Bar Method Pasadena is located at 32 Mills Pl., Pasadena. Call (626) 844-7888 or visit barmethod.com/Pasadena.

PHOTO: Ilsa Setzol

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16

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High Point Academy High Point Academy in Pasadena, a kindergarten through eighth grade school established in 1965, continues to improve their campus. A very traditional school, High Point offers a strong academic program. Enrichment is an integral part of the program with classes in art, languages, music, computers, speech, health, and physical education. There is an afterschool sports program for both boys and girls, other after-school options include Chess Club, Science Adventures, ballet, woodworking, as well as an extended care program until 6:00 pm. For more information about the school, call (626) 798-8989.

Huntington Learning Center The Huntington Learning Center is a nationally recognized leader in the field of improving a child’s basic study skills through remediation and enrichment programs. Students are given individual attention by certified teachers using personalized programs tailored to improve skills in a child’s trouble areas. Huntington offers individual testing and tutoring in reading, math, study skills, writing and SAT/ACT preparation to students of all ages.

Parents who would like additional information, or who are concerned about a specific aspect of their child’s academic performance, are encouraged to contact the Huntington Learning Center in Arcadia at (626) 294-0700 or in Pasadena at(626) 798-5900.

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Upstage Upstage is a part-time theatre arts school in South Pasadena that runs an afterschool program during the school year and a summer camp in July and August. Today, more than ever, theatre skills are vital for a young person’s development. At Upstage students learn how to speak more clearly, move more easily, act more naturally and become self-aware. Call (626) 310-0447, visit upstageschools.com or email adrian@upstageschools.com.

Westminster Academy Christian Day School The overall purpose of our Christian school is to provide a means by which a child can grow and become inspired to live the Christian life. We provide an atmosphere and work that not only build academic skills but good character as well. Open house for prospective students will be Saturday, November 14, at 9 a.m. Tours of the campus are available upon request.

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ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 33

HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL’S NEWLY CERTIFIED STROKE UNIT USES ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND SPECIALLY TRAINED STAFF TO INCREASE THE ODDS OF PATIENTS’ FULL RECOVERY.

BY B.J. LORENZO PHOTOS BY JAMES CARBONE

ARROYANS, REJOICE! YOU MAY NEVER NEED THE IMPRESSIVE NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART STROKE CENTER AT HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, BUT JUST HAVING IT HERE ENHANCES THE COMMUNITY’S QUALITY OF LIFE. THE SOBERING REALITY IS THIS: YOU MAY THINK YOU’RE IMMUNE TO STROKE BECAUSE YOU’RE HEALTHY, YOUNG, ATHLETIC — OR ALL THE ABOVE. BUT STROKE CAN STRIKE ANYONE AT ANY AGE, FROM CHILDHOOD ON. ONE IN EVERY SIX AMERICANS WILL EXPERIENCE ONE; IT’S THE COUNTRY’S LEADING CAUSE OF DISABILITY AND THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH, SAYS DR. ARBI OHANIAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF HUNTINGTON’S NEW STROKE PROGRAM. 34 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

Ohanian, 37, is one of only a few neurologists in the nation who is board-certified and fellowship-trained specifically in the treatment of stroke.

It’s an emerging medical subspecialty for an ailment that, until five years ago, had no known treatment or cure. Doctors could do nothing but wait until the crisis passed, then prescribe physical therapy to help mitigate the stroke’s debilitating after-effects.

All that has changed, Ohanian says. Recent advances in technology, treatment and the standard of care can now make strokes survivable and prevent their most devastating consequences. These cutting-edge advances are in place at Huntington, the only hospital in the San Gabriel Valley to win the Joint Commission’s designation as a Primary Stroke Center; the Illinois-based nonprofit awarded the Pasadena hospital its Gold Seal of Approval last month.

(Until two years ago, there was only one Primary Stroke Center in the Los Angeles area; now there are nine.)

When stroke strikes, the first responders are often local paramedics, who have been trained to recognize symptoms and take patients to a Primary Stroke Center if it is less than 30 minutes away. If they’re in the greater Pasadena area, they alert Huntington as soon as possible to let the hospital know they’re on their way. That’s because speed is crucial in treating stroke.

“From the instant a stroke starts, you lose 2 million brain cells a minute — every minute,” Ohanian says.

Many fitness buffs think they’re invulnerable to a stroke, but that’s a dangerous assumption, he says. A recent patient is a 33-year-old certified scuba diver, skydiver and professional movie stuntwoman. Now back at work, she arrived at Huntington in a condition that would have been fatal or severely disabling if she’d done what many young or athletic people tend

to do: “They wait to see if the symptoms subside,” Ohanian says. “Then they drive to an urgent-care facility or nearby hospital emergency room, where they fill out papers and wait their turn to be seen. They almost always wait to get a CAT scan, because other patients are scheduled ahead of them. A neurologist may not be available for hours.” When stroke is finally diagnosed, which could be the next day, the patient is often transferred to another facility where better stroke care can be offered. Outcomes in such cases are far less than optimal, the doctor says.

The Primary Stroke Center designation came about to prevent such needless loss of time and life. “In recent years, the stroke community recognized that we need a more standardized way to ensure more timely and efficient care,” he adds. Although not all of L.A.’s Primary Stroke Centers have the exact same equipment and procedures in place, all have demonstrated that within 60 minutes of patient arrival, they can provide clot-busting medication and meet all national stroke care guidelines. At Huntington, procedures and care far exceed those mandated guidelines, Ohanian says. One example: A new 10-bed neurosciences stroke unit which opened in May, 2009, staffed by nurses who specialize in stroke management.

When a stroke victim arrives at Huntington, not a moment is lost. A “code stroke” is immediately activated, and a diverse team of specialists convenes. “When a code stroke is called, my pager goes off, the CAT scanners’ pager goes off, the phlebotomist’s pager goes off,” explains Ohanian. “The phlebotomist quickly draws the patient’s blood. The stroke neurologist provides a consultation within five minutes. If there’s another patient on the scanner, they’re immediately taken off to make room for the stroke patient.

The neuroradiologist immediately reviews the images.”

Huntington’s scanner — the most advanced currently available — sets the hospital apart in the region. “No other hospital in L.A. has one, and I believe we’re the only one on the West Coast with one of these,” says Ohanian, adding that it just became operational in July. To put the new technology in perspective, he adds, “scanners at most medical centers are 64 slices. Ours is 320 slices. The more slices, or detectors, you have, the better resolution you get.

Scanners tell us the tissue status; they detect what tissue has died off and —CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 35

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Follow MAYOR BILL BOGAARD GETS PASADENANS OFF THE COUCH AND ON THEIR FEET IN MONTHLY FITNESS WALKS AROUND THE ROSE BOWL.

(From left) Tom Purcell, owner, Pasadena Cyclery; Dennis J. Downs, Pasadena Fire Chief; Mayor Bill Bogaard; Jerram Swartz, owner, Old Town Cooking School

36 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

BY NOELA HUESO

w the Leader PHOTO: Rose Bowl courtesy of the Tournament of Roses Archives; Background photo by Noela Hueso

IT’S A BRIGHT, CRISP OCTOBER MORNING AT THE ROSE BOWL AND PASADENA MAYOR BILL BOGAARD IS READY TO TAKE A WALK. And why not? He has plenty of company — about 30 constituents who have come out to get some exercise as well as a little bit of face time with Pasadena’s No. 1 citizen.

The occasion? A monthly event dubbed Walk With the Mayor, organized by Up & Moving Pasadena, a nonprofit dedicated to getting citizens off their duff and on the road.

Some special guests are on hand as well. During a recent mayor’s walk — held the first Wednesday of the month — they are Pasadena Fire Chief Dennis J. Downs and Pasadena Forward’s executive director, Israel Estrada, the force behind the Pasadena Marathon. Everyone is there to support Up & Moving’s 3-year-old mission to encourage Pasadenans to grab a friend and put on their walking shoes.

After a few opening remarks by the mayor, his guests and Kristen Farley, one of Up & Moving’s two program coordinators and a key player behind the organization’s success, the group heads counterclockwise around the Bowl. It’s exactly 7:45 a.m. Along the way, joggers do double takes and golfers stop mid-swing to wave at the mayor and his throng striding by.

Jerram Swartz, co-owner of the Old Town Cooking School, has been attending the monthly walks around the 3.1-mile loop for the past five months or so. He views them as a great networking opportunity for local business owners. “It’s a perfect intersection of community and exercise — touching base with people and feeling good that I’m able to do it without collapsing,” he says with a laugh.

“But I never bring business cards; I should always bring business cards.”

Swartz adds that Bogaard is the main draw. “The mayor is truly an inspiration to us,” he says. “He’s a really personable guy.” Farley agrees that the mayor’s participation over the past year has been invaluable. “It has sent the message that hey, the mayor’s a busy guy, but he can find an hour to walk.” Up & Moving’s most high-profile venture is also helping it lure people who need to work out but find exercise alone an insufficient incentive to get off the couch. “More often [we’re] getting people who just think it’s a great opportunity to have a community event experience,” Farley says. “It’s been hard to figure out how to change lifestyle habits with the ones who need it most.” Up & Moving is the brainchild of Peggy Phelps, a Pasadena arts philanthropist on the board of the Armory Center of the Arts and patron of an eponymous gallery at Claremont Graduate School. It was Phelps’ concern about childhood obesity that led her to create Up & Moving with the help of influential friends. “I came up with the idea that the city, the schools, the health department – somebody – should take on the problem,” Phelps says.

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 37

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Her interest was spurred by a more personal concern: an overweight grandson who gained weight not as a child, but as an adult. A conversation with her friend Larry Wilson, the public editor of the Pasadena Star-News, led to a meeting with Karen Aydelott, the executive director of the YMCA; Mary Donnelly Crocker, the former executive director at local nonprofit Young and Healthy; and Pasadena school and public health administrators. An anonymous donor helped seed the program’s launch.

Along the way, Up & Moving’s original emphasis on childhood obesity expanded into an effort to reach the entire community. “We just wanted to create a positive community-based program — to get people out doing something,” Farley says. “But we’ve never forgotten the foundation was an interest in childhood obesity. By trying to create a community of fitness — a well community — we were hoping to have an impact on that kind of problem.”

The plan was simple enough and, with the mayor’s help, the impact has been positive but not as widespread as organizers had hoped. Coordinators discovered that the people they’re trying to reach — those who most need to walk — are often unmotivated without a push. In the past, Up & Moving employed walkers to get groups going. But when paid walkers were no longer involved, the groups faded away.

Similarly, getting walking groups started in the schools has been a challenge. “It’s been statistically proven that when youngsters start in an activity program that’s fun — not necessarily competitive and stressful — they learn to enjoy moving and have a good time,” Aydelott says. “However it comes about, it’s much more likely that they will maintain it throughout their lifetime.”

But these days things are looking up, organizers say. In October, Up & Moving came under the umbrella of Pasadena Forward, a community-service nonprofit funded mainly by the Pasadena Marathon. As a result, kids who participate will now have a goal to strive for: the marathon’s companion 5K event in February. In concert with the YMCA’s after-school programs, Up & Moving is sponsoring 125 kids (and one family member each) in the race.

Farley is optimistic that the event will attract young bodies to the cause, but she’s quick to point out that Up & Moving walking programs are not competitive. “I don’t ever see Up & Moving shifting toward being a training program to compete,” she says. “We really want to remember that the initial focus was walking for fitness and walking as a convenient, cheap way to accomplish that.”

Creating or getting involved in an Up & Moving walking program is as simple as going to the website, upandmoving.org, and signing up. A group leader gets a T-shirt, pedometer and logging cards for each participant. Walkers set their own goals for a three-month time frame and, on reaching them, receive T-shirts in recognition.

The mayor, who says he’s eager for the program to continue into the foreseeable future, has committed to leading monthly walks again this year. “At all levels, people should exercise more than they do,” says Bogaard, an avid cyclist as well. “Young or old, people can have more fun in their lives if they include exercise as a regular part of their day.” AM Up & Moving Pasadena’s Walk With the Mayor meets at 7:30 a.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at the Rose Bowl Main Gate (Gate A), 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena. Call (626) 797-7238 or visit upandmoving.org.

38 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35

us the tissue status; they detect what tissue has died off and what is still at risk. They tell us where the actual vessel blockage is. This new machine gives much faster and far better information than older scanners — and it also emits less radiation.”

Next, the stroke specialty team collaborates to decide the course of treatment. “Ischemic strokes are caused by blood clots to the brain. Hemorrhagic strokes are caused by bleeding into the brain,” Ohanian explains. Available treatments are extremely time-sensitive. “A clot-busting medication, given through the vein, must be delivered by doctors who know enough to give it, and to give it in time.”

Huntington also differs from other some other medical centers, he says, in offering the newest interventional treatments available. “These procedures must be done by a neurosurgeon and neuroradiologist who go in with a catheter through an artery in the leg and navigate from there up into the blood vessels of the brain. They accomplish this with very recently developed devices.”

One of these is MERCI, a corkscrew device that enters the blood clot in the brain and tries to retrieve it. The Penumbra is also used for clot removal, but it uses suction. “You have to bear in mind that these blood vessels from which the clot is being removed are tiny, less than 3 millimeters in diameter,” Ohanian explains. “And these are extremely specialized procedures with high potential risks, so they require a comprehensive, highly specialized team approach.” In other words, it takes a village of diverse and skilled specialists to diagnose and treat a stroke patient using these methods within a very short period of time.

With all its cutting-edge elements, Huntington’s program gives stroke patients a greatly increased chance of complete recovery. One such fortunate patient is A. Franklin Turner, president of Arcadia Radiology. Turner’s wife had heard about Huntington’s stroke program and attended a lecture by Dr. Ohanian. “I told her not to bother with that lecture,” Turner recalls with a chuckle. “I’d had heart attacks, but never a stroke. She said, ‘We’re both 80 and should know the signs and how to help ourselves and our friends.’”

She was right. On June 9, Turner awoke paralyzed on one side. His wife dialed 911 and told the dispatcher she thought he’d had a stroke. “The stroke team met me at the door, ready for action. They were unbelievably well coordinated and organized. I am still astounded by the speed and efficiency of all that happened. The first week I was on the acute floor, in the special stroke section.

The second week you get vigorous therapy. All sorts of specialists see you from day one and every day after.

“They asked me what my goal for recovery was. I said I want to be back at work in one month. They said that’s a bit overly optimistic, that seven months was usual in a case like mine. But they said if one month was what I wanted, they’d work with me to try to achieve it. And they did. I was back at work one day short of a month.”

These days, Turner likes to spread the word about Huntington. “I tell people there’s no place like it. If you feel sick, don’t let them take you anywhere else.” AM

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ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 39

A HIGHLY SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS

THE

LIST

COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER

Jan. 3 — More than 75 musicians, dancers and singers form the cast of Salute to Vienna. In the style of that city’s annual New Year concert, or neujahrskonzert, they will perform waltzes, operetta excerpts, polkas and marches. The cast includes Hungarian conductor Imre Kollár, Czech Republic soprano Luisa Albrechtová, Austrian tenor Joachim Moser and members of the contemporary dance troupe Kiev-Aniko Ballet of Ukraine. The performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets, which range from $42 to $125, are available at ticketmaster.com.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Call (213) 365-3500 or visit salutetovienna.com.

ROSE PARADE DOINGS AND VIEWINGS LAUNCH NEW YEAR IN STYLE

Jan. 1, 2 and 3 — Pasadena’s signature parade takes off from the corner of Ellis Street and Orange Grove Boulevard at 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day in grand style, with dozens of floats, riders on horseback and bands from around the country. The 121st Rose Parade is themed 2010: A Cut Above the Rest. This year’s Rose Queen is Natalie Innocenzi of Arcadia, a senior at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. The grand marshal is celebrated U.S. Airways pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.

Reserved parking is available by calling Sharp Seating Co. at (626) 795-4171.

Overnight parking on local streets starts at noon Dec. 31, for that night only. General admission float viewing after the two-hour parade runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 1 and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 2 and 3 at the end of the route, on Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards. Viewing for seniors and disabled viewers goes from 7 to 9 a.m. Jan. 2 and 3. Tickets cost $7; admission is free for children ages 5 and under. Call Sharp Seating for advance tickets. Ticket sales end at 3 p.m.

Post-parade park-and-ride locations are Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.; Community Education Center, 3035 E. Foothill Blvd.; and Rose Bowl Stadium (Jan. 2 and 3 only), 1001 Rose Bowl Dr. Park-and-ride shuttles cost $3 round-trip and are free for children 5 and under. Visitors can download on iTunes an audio tour produced by the Tournament of Roses.

Call (626) 449-ROSE or visit tournamentofroses.com.

40 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

COMING UP ROSES, OBSERVING THE HEAVENS AT HUNTINGTON Here are some highlights of January events at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens: Jan. 14 — Rose Garden curator Clair Martin offers a virtual tour of important English rose gardens at 2:30 p.m.

The program will feature collections of hybridizers David Austin and Peter Beales and the gardens of Mottisfont Abbey, Hidcote Manor and the Royal National Rose Society’s Gardens of the Rose. A plant sale follows. Admission is free.

Jan. 23 and 24 — A weekend of activities surrounds Sunday’s Great Rosarians of the World annual lecture. Ticketholders may attend a hands-on rose propagation workshop on Saturday from 1 to 3:30 p.m. as well as both days’ displays of fine art photography of roses, oils and fragrances used in rose perfumery and rare rose books from the Huntington’s collections. Tickets for the entire weekend cost $40. An optional buffet dinner Saturday honoring David Austin, this year’s Great Rosarians of the World honoree, is available at additional cost with advance reservations.

On Sunday, honoree Austin will speak at 2 p.m. about his 50-year career as an amateur rose breeder. He is famous for his English roses, combining the form and fragrance of old roses with the repeat-blooming characteristics of modern blooms.

A panel discussion exploring The Best Roses for Southern California Gardens starts at 10:30 a.m. Another panel, Developing a Home Rose Library, starts at 12:45 p.m.

Seating at a luncheon honoring Austin is also available at additional cost with advance reservations. For details and tickets, call (626) 405-3507 or visit greatrosarians.com.

Jan. 29 — James Breckinridge, optical scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, speaks at 5 p.m. on California: Window to the Universe, about California’s leading role in advancing telescope technology during the past 130 years. Admission is free.

Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens is at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino.

Call (626) 405-2100.

THE WAIT IS OVER Jan. 16 — The classical repertory theater company A Noise Within stages the Samuel Beckett classic Waiting for Godot, starting today at 2 and 8 p.m. and continuing with 10 performances through Jan. 24. The wicked yet witty treatise on the nature of human existence is directed by Andrew Traister.

A Noise Within is located at 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Call (818) 240-0910 or visit anoisewithin.org.

PHOTOS: Rose Parade photos courtesy of the Tournament of Roses Archives; Waiting for Godot photo by Craig Schwartz; Rose Garden photo courtesy of The Huntington Botanical Gardens; Comtesse photo by Michael Bodycomb; Rembrandt photo courtesy of Norton Simon Museum; Zane Grey Estate photo courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History

A SALUTE TO VIENNA AT DISNEY

THE WRITE STUFF Jan. 23 — Join journalist, fiction writer and teacher Paula Panich for a writing workshop from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

The session offers tips on writing with clarity about your passion, whether it’s gardening, food, cooking, wine or travel. The cost is $65 ($60 for Arboretum members).

The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens is located at 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Call (626) 821-4623 to register. For information, visit arboretum.org.

ELLIOT ENGEL RETURNS TO CELEBRITY SERIES Jan. 24 — Elliot Engel opens the 42nd season of the San Marino Celebrity Series at Santa Anita Church in Arcadia.

The former North Carolina State English Professor and winner of the UCLA Outstanding Teacher Award will deliver a humorous and thought-provoking lecture on The History and Mystery of Wine at 4 p.m., tracing the ancient origins of wine and exploring ways that competitive drinks and religious prohibitions almost destroyed the drink’s popularity. The Celebrity Series, sponsored by the San Marino Guild of Huntington Hospital, raises funds for the pediatric section of the hospital’s Trauma and Emergency Center. Series tickets cost $75; single-event tickets are $30.

Santa Anita Church is located at 226 Colorado Pl., Arcadia. Call (626) 584-1512 or (626) 441-1465 or email to smccelebrityseries@gmail.com.

HISTORY COMES ALIVE The Pasadena Museum of History offers insights into the roots of Pasadena and the West in a pair of January events.

Jan. 28 — Tour the Altadena estate of author Zane Grey, whose romanticized tales of the rugged Old West made him one of the 20th century’s first millionaire writers. The Wild, Wild West: Fact and Fiction features a discussion by Nat B. Read, author of Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor — 1841-1878, about the pioneering adventurer of his book. The event, from 6 to 10 p.m., includes musical entertainment and a supper catered by The Press Restaurant. Proceeds benefit Oriental carpet restoration at the museum’s Fenyes Mansion. Tickets cost $50. Call (626) 577-1660, ext. 10.

Jan. 30 — The exhibition Eva Fenyes, Collector Extraordinaire opens with a reception from noon to 5 p.m. in the museum’s History Center Galleries. In the era of turn-of-thecentury opulence, Fenyes acquired the finest furniture, textiles, china, silver, jewels and art then available, filling the mansion with heirloom-quality items she and her husband, Dr. Adelbert Fenyes, purchased during their world travels. The exhibition continues through August.

The Pasadena Museum of History is located at 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena. Call (626) 577-1660 or visit pasadenahistory.org.

PACIFIC SERENADES OPENS SEASON Jan. 31 — Pacific Serenades opens its season with To Youth! To Wisdom! The 4 p.m. performance at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena includes the world premiere of Quintessence by composer Jeff Kryka, 25, the youngest composer commissioned in the chamber ensemble’s 24-year history. The work is written for a quintet of two vio-

NORTON SIMON BIDS ADIEU TO

THE COMTESSE Jan. 23 — On the eve of the Jan. 25 return of Ingres’ 1845 portrait, Comtesse d’Haussonville, to The Frick Collection in New York, Colin B. Bailey, the Frick’s associate director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, presents a lecture at 4 p.m. on The Man Who Never Saw the Comtesse: An Introduction to Henry Clay Frick and His Collection. Bailey will offer a brief history of how Frick formed his stunning collection of Old Master paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, with special attention to the building of Frick’s Fifth Avenue mansion. The lecture is free with museum admission.

Through March 22 — Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn is well known for his paintings, but less familiar is his collection of etched prints, which provided him an outlet for expression and experimentation. Continuing through March 22 is the exhibition The Familiar Face: Portrait Prints by Rembrandt, illustrating the artist’s observational skills and gift for drama and humor.

The Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena.

Call (626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.

lins, two violas and cello. Kryka won first prize in the 2006 Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition. The program also includes String Quartet #1 in F Major by Johannes Brahms and Bela Bartok’s 44 Duos for Two Violins. General admission tickets cost $32 and are available at pacser.org; tickets for full-time students with ID cost $5 and can be purchased only at the door.

The Neighborhood Church is located at 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena. Call (213) 534-3434 or visit pacser.org. AM

ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 41

KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Fork Quest: Sicily MUSIC? PAH! COOKING IS THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE AT U.S. NAVAL BASES ABROAD.

BY LESLIE BILDERBACK | PHOTOS BY TERI LYN FISHER

A couple of times each year I volunteer with the U.S. Navy Adopt-a-Chef program, which sends civilian culinary instructors to various galleys around the world to provide hands-on training.

This time they sent me to Sicily, and before you get jealous, please understand that I am sent by the U.S. Government, which means the trip over took 25 hours and had four legs — LAX to Denver to Washington, D.C., to Rome to Catania, Sicily.

(No, there were no substantial layovers in which I had anything resembling fun.) Sure, when I arrived at Naval Air Station Sigonella, they put me up in the admiral’s suite. But then again, I was alone, had no car and was a good 20 miles from anything but sheep herds and olive orchards. There was no mistaking this trip for a vacation.

As with all my Navy trips, my mission was to raise the food quality to a level

could not cook with the region’s delicious fresh produce, incredible seafood, heavenly cheeses, olive oil, coffee or wine. Ingredients are procured months in advance, and while some perishables are obtained locally, most are shipped from contracted commissaries back home. (The Navy has not heard of the “locovore” movement.)

that would elicit enjoyment, rather than dread, from the sailors and airmen. This

The system makes sense when you consider that they are supplying a global fleet,

trip had an added layer of suspense, in that the galley was due for an inspection

but in the microcosm of this small Sicilian kitchen, it seemed pretty silly.

that could conceivably qualify it for the Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Award for excellence in food service, the Navy's equivalent to a Michelin star.

At sea, a galley is manned by sailors, known as Culinary Specialists. But on

The restrictions had those seasoned cooks stymied. They needed a fresh set of eyes and a new strategy for success. I was a little afraid that they would ignore my input, given that I am neither Sicilian, nor Navy, nor male. But, as it turned out,

land, the cooks are locals. Oversight is provided by Navy personnel, but at the

they were happy that someone was paying attention to their work for a change.

heart of this operation were a dozen well-aged Sicilian men. It was a second job

Sure, they had Navy supervision, but those guys were usually bogged down with

for most of them, who spent the rest of their time operating restaurants, bakeries,

other more pressing tasks (like bailing sailors out of a Sicilian jail at 3 a.m.).

orchards and wineries. It was hard for me to imagine that there was anything I

I do not speak Italian, and very few of them spoke English. I do, however,

could teach this group of seasoned professionals. After all, they were natives of

speak kitchen, cook and baker, which are international languages. We communicat-

one of the world’s great epicurean meccas. I felt a little like a T-ball coach coming

ed easily about their work and figured out what was good, what was bad and what

in to replace the Dodgers’ Joe Torre.

they needed to do their job well. (Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly understand every

Then I ate the food.

nuance of their frequent and deafening arguments à la Chico Marx.) We cooked

Suddenly, there was much to be done. Although these Italian gastronomers

side by side, working on recipes and organizational strategies. I taught them

were expert at all things Sicilian, they knew next to nothing about American food.

American techniques and they taught me Sicilian ones. I also got lots of free marital

They couldn't tell a jam from a jambalaya. They were trying to follow the Navy recipe

advice. Apparently, next to food, sex is the preferred topic of conversation in Sicily.

cards, but without understanding the American palate, they had little chance of suc-

My efforts were rewarded with lots of double-cheek kisses and tours of the

cess. Even recipes in which they excelled, like pizza, got a chilly reception because

area. The closest city, Catania, is on the coast of the Ionian Sea, in the shadow of

Americans are not accustomed to ham and hard-boiled eggs with their pepperoni.

an active volcano, and it made me feel as though I’d slipped through a rip in the

And there was another problem.

space-time continuum. Roman, Greek and Arabic influences intermingle, as do

Like all bureaucracies, the Navy has rules that must be followed. Recipes must

baroque and neo-classic architecture, all marred by a terrible graffiti and vandal-

be from the Navy file, and they must be made with Navy ingredients. This means

ism problem. Much of the city is built of black lava stone from Mount Etna, which

that even though we were sitting in the breadbasket of the Mediterranean, they

gives the city an eerie, gothic feel. Coupled with the oppressive poverty and

42 ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ ARROYO

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LUNCH

PERUVIANES H SANDWIC

PASTE DI MANDORLA This is a recipe taught to me by Carmelo, the head baker at NAS Sigonella. (Isn't Carmelo a perfect name for a baker?) The recipe we made used almonds (mandorla in Italian), but it is frequently made with pistachios too. You can purchase nut flour, but it is not as good as grinding whole nuts in a food processor.

Ingredients 1 pound almonds, ground to a fine flour 1 pound powdered sugar Grated zest of one large, really good lemon

1 tablespoon Amaretto (or vanilla) 2 tablespoons honey 4 egg whites, whipped stiff

Method 1. Using a paddle, stir together ground almonds, sugar, zest, Amaretto and honey in a mixer. Slowly add egg whites, which will bind the dough together. (You may need more or less egg white, depending on the grind of your almonds.) Beat on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes. The dough will come together and should be sticky but easy to handle and roll.

2. Turn dough out onto a work surface dusted with powdered sugar. Roll into inch-thick ropes, and cut into 2- or 3-inch pieces. Roll in powdered sugar, then pinch the short rope into a poochy “S” shape. You may also roll dough into balls and decorate with candied fruit.

3. Bake at 350˚ until just barely brown. Cool completely before trying to eat it. The outer crust will be crisp, but the inside will be soft and chewy.

headless statues (which, I was told, occasionally bear the actual head of an unlucky Mafioso), the city seems a bit menacing. But guided by my new best friends, we navigated the labyrinth of Vespa-clogged streets and found the highend storefronts and cafés that you’d expect in Italy.

I was forced to try all the local specialties, including my new favorite breakfast,

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Join us at 3PM for Lazy Sunday Dodgeball (no bullies please). Games are open CO-ED and FREE to anyone 21 and over who is interested in meeting new people, drinking some beer, and partaking in some community do-gooding.

See our website for more info, event dates/times and photos. Or e-mail us at hello@eryc.la. Hope to see you Sunday - the skipper.

espresso granita with almond cream. We lunched in typical Catanian fashion with arancini, crispy fried cone-shaped rice balls stuffed with meat or tomato ragu and cheese. Cannoli and marzipan were everywhere, as was the local specialty cassata,

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a ricotta-filled cake covered in sugar and candied fruit. And of course, I indulged in brioche con gelato, a literal ice cream sandwich. Buttery-rich brioche buns are sliced in two and slathered with any number of gelato flavors, my favorite being pistachio.

The combination is sublime, and I made it my dinner on more than one occasion.

In addition to the culinary sights, I toured Greek and Roman ruins, the church in Forza d’Agro (where Michael Corleone was married) and the cliff-top tourist mecca Taormina. I even rented a Smart car, drove to Mount Etna and hiked to the top. (Travelers’ warning: Just because you can drive in L.A. does not mean you should attempt it in Sicily.)

In the end, it was hard to leave my big fat Sicilian kitchen family, who, I have since discovered, are now finalists for the Ney Award. The winners will be announced in February. Maybe they'll invite me back to celebrate. AM Leslie Bilderback is a certified master chef and baker, a cookbook author and a former executive chef of Pasadena’s School of Culinary Arts. A South Pasadena resident, Bilderback teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com.

ARROYO ~ JANUARY 2010 ~ 43

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