Arroyo Monthly December 2009 by Southland Publishing

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

DECEMBER 2009

HOLIDAY GIFT AND EVENT GUIDES

STARS OVER METRO PASADENA NUMB3RS BY THE NUMBERS ON LOCATION IN ARROYOLAND

LÉON BING A MODEL’S MEMOIR

ARROYO VOLUME 5 ~ NUMBER 12

M O N T H LY

39 STARS OVER PASADENA ISSUE 8 NUMB3RS BY THE NUMBERS How did a Pasadena couple create hit entertainment from intellectual spinach? –By Michael Burr

11 THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME — EXCEPT INDIA, AFRICA AND JAPAN The Pasadena area doubles for distant locales when Hollywood comes to town. –By Michael Burr

16 ELLEN NAOMI A former model and acclaimed Pasadena author recalls her friendship with the late Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas. –By Léon Bing

35 HEAVENLY STARS Forest Lawn is the final go-to place for the famously gone. –By Nancy Spiller

DEPARTMENTS 7 FESTIVITIES The Breeders’ Cup, the Red Hen Press and the Heritage Square Museum

39 OBJECTS OF DESIRE Sweet and sparkly gifts for the holidays 42 THE LIST Messiah madness, Rose Parade prep and pan dulce for the holidays at the Southwest Museum

46 KITCHEN CONFESSIONS Holiday fruitcakes can be delicious. No, really.

48 DÉJÀ VU San Marino’s Fancy That! borrows some espirit from the 1983 film classic A Christmas Story for its holiday windows. ABOUT THE COVER: Photo of Léon Bing by Gabriel Goldberg

ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 5

EDITOR’S NOTE

ONE OF ARROYOLAND’S MANY CHARMS IS ITS DISTANCE from Hollywood, not just in miles but in sensibility. The arts still reign here, and most denizens are not overly concerned with what Britney had for breakfast. And yet, as we approach the holidays, we at Arroyo Monthly wanted to gift our readers with a little entertainment. And after all, what’s more entertaining than entertainment? So we bring you our Stars Over Pasadena issue, leading off with longtime resident Lèon Bing’s account of her close friendship with the late Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas. Bing met Mama Cass (who hated her sobriquet) during her first career as a top model for daring pop designer Rudi Gernreich. Bing is now a prominent journalist and author, and this piece is excerpted from her new memoir, Swans and Pistols: Modeling, Motherhood and Making it in the Me Generation. Of course, Arroyoland is close enough to Hollywood to make it fair game for location scouts, who have seen in its striking architecture and rolling lawns stand-ins for places as remote as India and as close as Beverly Hills. Indeed, as Michael Burr discovered in reporting a story about movies and TV shot around town, some parts of Pasadena look more like Beverly Hills than Beverly Hills does — at least in the minds of audiences. Burr also went behind the scenes of CBS’ wonky hit series Numb3rs, a crime drama using, well, you know. It was created by a Pasadena couple who are fascinated by mathematicians and inspired by Caltech. The result? A highly unusual smarty-pants crime procedural that has kept viewers coming back for more. Celebrities in the news may congregate in Malibu and Beverly Hills, but when they pass on to their mansions in the sky, they’re more likely to end up in Glendale’s Forest Lawn than anywhere else. Nancy Spiller investigated their new digs and came back with her own fanciful take on stars who’ve gone on to their final life achievement rewards. — Irene Lacher

ARROYO MONTHLY Altadena, Arcadia, Eagle Rock, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, Sierra Madre, Pasadena, San Marino and South Pasadena

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher PRODUCTION MANAGER Yvonne Guerrero ART DIRECTOR Joel Vendette JUNIOR DESIGNER Evelyn Duenas WEB DESIGNER Carla Marroquin PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Taylor Shaw COPY EDITOR John Seeley CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Bilderback, Michael Burr, Michael Cervin, André Coleman, Mandalit del Barco, Patt Diroll, Gary Dretzka, Jenn Garbee, Lynne Heffley, Katie Klapper, Ilsa Setziol, Kirk Silsbee, John Sollenberger, Nancy Spiller, Bradley Tuck PHOTOGRAPHERS Johnny Buzzerio, Teri Lyn Fisher, Gabriel Goldberg, C.M. Hardt, Melissa Valladares ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Fred Bankston, Dana Bonner, Carolyn Johansen, Lauren Kirshner, Leslie Lamm, Alison Standish ADVERTISING DESIGNER Carla Marroquin VP OF FINANCE Michael Nagami HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker

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

BUSINESS MANAGER Angela Wang ACCOUNTING Alysia Chavez, Monica MacCree OFFICE ASSISTANT Emma Rodriguez Luna PUBLISHER Jon Guynn

6 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

FESTIVITIES

Brian Sheridan, Saline Davies and Jessica Maria Alicea-Covarrubias

Supporters Justin Gershuny, Natalie Meyer and Nancy Rhinehart were honored by the Heritage Square Museum on Nov. 7 for helping the institution dedicated to preserving Southern California history reach its 40th anniversary milestone this year. The benefit lunch at the San Antonio Winery, which was emceed by former L.A. Dodger pitcher Al Downing and L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes, raised more than $15,000.

The Breeders’ Cup World Championships marked their 1

return to Santa Anita Park in Arcadia with a gala celebration at

PHOTOS: AP Images (Breeders’ Cup); Richard Beban (Red Hen Press)

L.A. Live’s ESPN Zone on Nov. 5.

The Red Hen Press, a notable literary publisher

The Breeders’ Cup Winners

based in Granada Hills, celebrated its 15th

Circle event was serenaded by

anniversary at a champagne awards brunch on

Band From TV, which included

Nov. 1 on the eve of its move to Pasadena. The

James Denton, Michael

event at the Luxe Hotel Sunset Boulevard hon-

Chiklis, Greg Grunberg, Jesse

ored novelist Jim Moore and poets Chloe Joan

Spencer and Bob Guiney. Eliza

Lopez and Rachel Contreni Flynn and drew

Dushku, Kristin Cavallari,

such literary lights as Eloise Klein Healy,

Steve Ward and Rick Fox were

Jamaica Kincaid, Mark Doty and Carolyn and

among the revelers.

Lisa See. The benefit raised $20,000, which should help

1. Lisa Krueger and Robert Wyman

1. Jamie Lynn Sigler 2. Chelsea Handler

2. Phoebe Wall and Mark Doty with a fan

3. Dennis Hopper 4. Elizabeth Banks 5. Vivica A. Fox 6. Jerry O’Connell Above: Eliza Dushku and Rick Fox

buy plenty of packing tape for the publisher’s winter move to 70 N. El Molino Ave., the site of a former dentist’s office next to Vroman’s

3. Larry Wilson

Bookstore. Says Kate Gale, Red Hen’s co-

4. Bob Faggan, Jamaica Kincaid and Alison Graham

founder and managing editor: “We were thinking, where could the press put down roots in a community that loves art and music and literature? And Pasadena was it.” ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 7

STARS OVER PASADENA

TEACHERS USUALLY COUNSEL THEIR CHARGES TO TURN THE TV OFF. BUT SOME HAVE STARTED TO DOING PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE: MATH TEACHERS AROUND THE COUNTRY ARE ASSIGNING STUDENTS TO WATCH A POPULAR TELEVISION SHOW — A CRIME DRAMA, NO LESS — AND GEARING THEIR LESSON PLANS AROUND IT.

HOW DID A PASADENA COUPLE CREATE HIT ENTERTAINMENT FROM INTELLECTUAL SPINACH? IT'S ELEMENTARY.

1. Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) and Tim King (Chris Bruno) trying to save a hijacked bus of Hollywood tourists. 2. Charlie Eppes (David Krumholz) and the team take down an inner-city meth lab. 3. The disappearance of an undercover agent leads Granger/Bruno and Alice Kim (Kelly Hu) deep into Chinatown’s black market. 4. Shepard Crater (Gary Cole) hunts down a political activist Granger/Bruno and David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard) are charged with protecting. 5. Granger/Bruno, Sinclair/Ballard, Charlie Eppes/Krumholz and Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) 6. Don Eppes/Morrow and Ian Edgerton (Lou Diamond Phillips) search for the killers of two rock climbers. 7. Don Eppes/Morrow (center), Granger/Bruno and King/Bruno (left)

8 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

BY MICHAEL BURR

(Clockwise from left)

Sound like an unusual concept? So is the premise of CBS’ sleeper hit, Numb3rs: Each week, a genius math professor (David Krumholtz) at the fictional Cal Sci (California Institute of Science) devises complex equations and theories to help his FBI brother Don (Rob Morrow) solve some of the Bureau’s most perplexing cases. A show revolving around algorithms and equations may have seemed an unlikely eyeball magnet in a medium filled with sex-starved housewives and forensic scientists with corpses. Yet against the odds, Numb3rs — now in its sixth season—attracts more than 10 million viewers a week, making it one of Friday night’s top-rated programs. That’s because the show—which is partly filmed at Cal Sci’s real-life counterpart, Caltech — manages to make math interesting and sexy. Not that Numb3rs’ creators, husband-and-wife team Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci of Pasadena, set out to use math as a gimmick to cash in on the craze for TV crime shows. The couple had long been fascinated with mathematicians and physicists like Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan and James Burke, and they wanted to create a drama that would showcase their perspective on the world. “All those people who were trying to interpret science for the general public were big inspirations for the show,” says Heuton, who credits Bill Nye, TV’s “The Science Guy,” with sparking the idea of a mathematician as a central character. The science educator has since made a guest appearance on the show. “He was actually the guy who taught me—this was back in 1994—the need to build enthusiasm for math in the general public so that more people, more kids will feel excited about that as a career.” Still, the veteran writing duo—who had been making a good living penning unproduced feature films for the studios—believed that if their number-crunching hero was ever to make it to the airwaves, he would need a commercially viable vehicle. “We realized that if we were going to do it in today’s TV marketplace, it would probably have to be a mathematician who solves crimes,” says Falacci. And the idea of mathematicians doing police work made perfect sense, they say.

“They’re relentlessly logical,” says Heuton. “They think about things in such a direct logical way that they make even police detectives look emotional.” The pilot episode, for example, was based on the work of Ken Rossmo, a Canadian mathematician and homicide detective who used geographic profiling to help Louisiana police track down a serial rapist. Using a sprinkler’s action as an analogy, the show’s central character, Charlie Eppes, reasoned that if one knew where several drops of water splashed, one could write an equation showing where the sprinkler was. Likewise, if one knew where a rapist had struck, one could eventually determine where he lived. Heuton and Falacci originally planned to set the show at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They’d been told there were too many shows set in L.A. already on the air and, since Falacci hails from Boston, the couple were confident they could write about that locale with authenticity. But the Massachusetts school wasn’t interested. “We weren’t getting any cooperation from MIT,” says Heuton. “They said ‘We’re not in the filmmaking business.’” Then there were the high cost and complicated logistics of working on the other coast. After filming a pilot in Boston, “we realized that this was going to be pretty harrowing,” Heuton says. “It’s expensive and it’s cold. And then the other decision was, you have one of the best institutes for math and science right under your nose in L.A., so why not just use that?” Heuton and Falacci say they received a much warmer reception at Caltech. After being approved by then-President David Baltimore, the couple recruited Gary Lorden—then head of the math department—as a consultant. Lorden provides the mathematical background for stories and reads every script for accuracy. In 2007, he co-authored with Stanford professor Keith Devlin The Numbers Behind Numb3rs: Solving Crimes With Mathematics (Plume), which showcases mathematical techniques actually used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The writers weren’t the only ones who needed math tutoring. Lorden and others at Caltech have been an invaluable resource for Krumholtz, whose character, Charlie Eppes, is loosely based on the late Caltech physicist Richard Feynman. “When I was a kid, I was terrible at math,” says Krumholtz. “It was an actual problem for me in school. I ended up squirreling my way out of taking calculus. I knew I was going to fail.” —CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 9

STARS OVER PASADENA

HOW DID A PASADENA COUPLE CREATE HIT ENTERTAINMENT FROM INTELLECTUAL SPINACH? IT'S ELEMENTARY.

8 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

BY MICHAEL BURR

(Clockwise from left)

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STARS OVER PASADENA

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—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

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The 31-year-old actor says the role was extremely challenging, especially since he had to deliver lengthy monologues about complex theories and equations. “In the beginning, I was terribly frightened—just the pressure of playing a genius was a terrific burden on me,” Krumholtz says. “But over time, I’ve come to embrace it.” Although he credits Lorden with helping him better understand his character, Krumholtz also spent time observing mathematicians at work and “just soaking up as much of the Caltech vibe as I could.” He says he was determined to hone in on the minute details and mannerisms of real mathematicians. “Before shooting the pilot, I spent a lot of time skulking around the Caltech campus, peeking my head into math classes to see how mathematicians held their chalk and wrote on a chalkboard.” Heuton and Falacci decided to put their Caltech portrayal to the test: How would students respond to a show based not only on their rarefied discipline, but on their elite institution? Before Numb3rs’ debut in 2005, the couple decided to find out by screening the pilot at the school’s Beckman Auditorium. “We were definitely sweating bullets,” recalls Falacci. He remembers that a few lines of dialogue drew unexpected laughter from the crowd, but by the end of the screening, the show had won them over. “We later found out that they were laughing because they couldn’t believe someone was making a show about them,” he says. Later that year, CBS partnered with Texas Instruments and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics to create the “We All Use Math Every Day” program, which provided teachers with classroom activities and lesson plans based on concepts presented in that week’s episode. More than 43,000 teachers signed up for weekly kits to instruct an estimated 4 million students on math concepts used in the show. In 2007, Heuton and Falacci went to the State Department in Washington, D.C., to accept a National Science Board Public Service Award for their contributions to scientific and mathematical literacy. “In many ways, that means more to us than having a successful TV show — to feel like you’ve contributed in a beneficial way to society,” Falacci says. In the end, Numb3ers’ ability to challenge viewers may be its ace in the hole. Judd Hirsch, who plays Charlie’s father, Alan Eppes, believes that’s what draws so many viewers. “I don’t think anybody across America understands any of the math that we have here,” says Hirsch, who has a degree in physics from City College of New York. “It’s really beyond everybody. But that’s exactly why they like it. Because they don’t understand it, they say to themselves ‘This is really about something. This is really about how mathematics matters.’” AM

STARS OVER PASADENA

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

— EXCEPT INDIA, AFRICA AND JAPAN THE PASADENA AREA DOUBLES FOR DISTANT LOCALES WHEN HOLLYWOOD COMES TO TOWN WITH CAMERAS IN TOW. BY MICHAEL BURR

CONSIDERING ITS BEAUTY AND VERSATILITY, THE PASADENA AREA COULD JUST BE THE MERYL STREEP OF FILM LOCATIONS. IN COUNTLESS MOVIES AND TV SERIES, THE FOOTHILLS LOCALE HAS PORTRAYED CITIES RANGING FROM BOSTON TO BERLIN. IT HAS DOUBLED FOR SUCH FAR-FLUNG DESTINATIONS AS INDIA, AFRICA AND JAPAN. IT EVEN, SAYS PASADENA FILMING AND SPECIAL EVENTS MANAGER ARIEL PENN, PLAYS BEVERLY HILLS — BETTER THAN BEVERLY HILLS PLAYS BEVERLY HILLS. Pasadena has had a starring role in the movies dating back to 1912, when legendary director D.W. Griffith used the Fenyes Estate (now the Pasadena Museum of History) as the location for When Kings Were the Law. These days, the city hosts an average of 500 film, television and commercial productions per year, thanks to its proximity to Hollywood studios as well as its diverse landscape and architecture. —CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 11

STARS OVER PASADENA

In November alone, more than a dozen film and television projects shot in the area, including Fox’s Bones, CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds and The Mentalist, as well as director Christopher Nolan’s Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Dinner for Schmucks starring Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd and the Showtime comedy pilot The C-word, directed by Oscar winner Bill Condon and starring Laura Linney as a housewife who manages to keep her sense of humor after being diagnosed with cancer. Filmmakers have long been attracted to Pasadena and surrounding areas because of the multitude of architectural styles which equip it to stand in for any location from the East Coast to the Midwest. The homegrown English, Colonial, Tudor, Craftsman, Mission and Mediterranean houses have filled in for such fictitious residences as Wayne Manor in the ’60s TV series Batman, the Carrington family’s Denver estate in Dynasty, the family home in 1991’s Father of the Bride and Doc Brown’s place in Back to the Future, which is actually the historic Gamble House. In AMC’s Mad Men, Don Draper’s sprawling home in Ossining in Westchester County, New York, is actually in Pasadena. The series has also filmed at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, the Altadena Town & Country Club, the Huntington Gardens in San Marino — whose Munger Library stood in for a town hall — and South Pasadena’s San Pascual Stables, where wife Betty Draper pursues her riding hobby. The Kennedyesque home of the Walker family matriarch played by Sally Field in ABC’s Brothers & Sisters was initially in Brentwood, but producers moved her digs to Pasadena after legal issues arose with the original homeowner. A member of the production’s staff says the move was also a matter of logistics, since it’s easier to find parking for crews in Pasadena than Brentwood. Pasadena’s grand architecture and immaculate landscape also lure some filmmakers with stories set in Beverly Hills. “Pasadena looks more like Beverly Hills than Beverly Hills does in the general public’s mind,” says Penn. Beverly Hills has “amazing homes, but they’re usually on very small acreage. Pasadena has grand homes, but we also have grand yards — and that, in people’s minds, reads Beverly Hills.” Pasadena has filled in for that luxe locale in dozens of film and TV series, including the original Beverly Hills 90210, 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop, 1993’s The Beverly Hillbillies and the upcoming Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. And Christmas in Beverly Hills filmed there in October. Numerous public landmarks in Arroyoland have also made frequent appearances on the big and small screens. Pasadena City Hall made its film debut as Hinkle’s palace in Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 film The Great Dictator, but contemporary audiences will also recognize the building as Beverly Hills City Hall in Beverly Hills Cop. Most recently, City Hall was featured in the dark political comedy The Informant and as the city hall of fictional Pawnee, Indiana, in NBC’s Parks and Recreation. With its Moorish, Spanish and Victorian influences, Castle Green is one of Pasadena’s most versatile and exotic locations. Built in 1898 as part of a lavish hotel resort, the building is now an upscale condominium complex which director Tim Burton once called home. It portrayed the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in 1991’s Bugsy as well as an elegant hotel in China and a Rome apartment in the spy series Alias. NBC’s Heroes even used Castle Green as a stand-in for such faraway locations as India and Russia. And in The Last Samurai, the Turkish room served as Katsumoto’s temple. In 2006’s Bobby —which takes place on the eve of Sen. Robert Kennedy’s 1968 assassination —the property’s lush gardens filled in for the grounds of L.A.’s Ambassador Hotel, which was undergoing demolition when the film was being shot. 12 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

PHOTOS: © Columbia Tristar (Anaconda); © Walt Disney Pictures (National Treasure); © Universal Pictures (Intolerable Cruelty, Couples Retreat); © Sony Pictures Entertainment (Memoirs of a Geisha); Carin Baer/AMC (Mad Men); Richard Foreman/Warner Bros. (The Mentalist); ABC/Eric McCandless (Brothers & Sisters); Vivian Zink/ABC Studios (Criminal Minds); Sonja Flemming/CBS (CSI); Mitchell Haaseth/NBC Photo (Parks and Recreation)

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

The secluded Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge has also played its share of faraway places. In the 2005 period film Memoirs of a Geisha, the Japanese Garden and Tea House were transformed into Okinawa’s tranquil hot springs; to pull that off, the production team diverted a stream containing koi fish so they could NA create a pool in the empty ASADSEMORE LIKE P “ creek bed. Visitors might recK LOOE HILLS Y L R ognize the greenhouse where V BE N BEVERLY Tom Cruise’s character is THA S DOES IN attacked by poisonous plants HILL GENERAL .” in 2002’s Minority Report, as THE LIC’S MIND well as the Boddy House as N PAURB IEL PEN a backdrop in this year’s – Couples Retreat. Sharing screen time in Memoirs of a Geisha were the Japanese gardens at the Huntington, where a 30-foot-tall artificial flowering cherry tree was constructed for a scene at the baron’s estate. The Huntington’s grounds have also filled in for such diverse locales as Louisiana in HBO’s True Blood and post–World War II Germany in 2006’s The Good German. While the Huntington Gallery is norLeft film strip (from top): mally off limits for filming because Anaconda, National Treasure: of the priceless works of art housed Book of Secrets, Intolerable Cruelty and Memoirs of there, filmmakers transformed the a Gesiha drawing room, dining room and Right film strip: main hallway into a German manMad Men, The Mentalist, sion while the gallery was being ren- Brothers and Sisters, Parks and Recreation, ovated. The Huntington has also Criminal Minds, CSI frequently portrayed stately locations and Couples Retreat in Washington, D.C., in such films as National Treasure: Book of Secrets and the television series The West Wing. And considering the garden’s romantic ambiance, it’s no surprise that numerous weddings have been shot there in such films as 1997’s My Best Friend’s Wedding and 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty. The L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia has been a Hollywood staple ever since Johnny Weissmuller made his debut there as Tarzan in 1932. The site has been featured in more than 100 film and television shows, including 1940’s Road to Singapore and 1951’s The African Queen. More

recently, filmmakers have used the Arboretum’s Jungle and Prehistoric Gardens as a backdrop for the first two Jurassic Park films and as the Amazon basin in 1997’s Anaconda. In 2004’s Meet the Fockers, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand’s Florida house is actually the property’s 1885 Queen Anne Cottage, which was also home to Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island. TV audiences will likely recognize Caltech as the fictional CalSci on the hit series Numb3rs, but it has also stood in for such real-life educational institutions as Berkeley in The O.C. and the fictitious CULA in 2001’s Legally Blonde. Caltech has hosted productions as varied as HBO’s Entourage, Ugly Betty and The X-Files. And its dining club, the Mediterraneanstyle Athenaeum, has proven versatile enough to portray an Italian Embassy in the television series The West Wing. One of Pasadena’s most recognizable landmarks, the Colorado Street Bridge, can be seen in both Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 film The Kid and 1999’s Being John Malkovich. CBS’ The Mentalist filmed there this past summer, and Jim Carrey — not a stunt double — bungee jumped from the 150-foot-high span in 2008’s Yes Man. After starring in thousands of film and television series, will filmmakers ever grow weary of Pasadena? “Absolutely not,” says Penn. “Pasadena’s been shot consistently since 1912, so they haven’t tired of us yet.” AM ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 13

STARS OVER PASADENA

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

EDUCATION&ENRICHMENT Flintridge Preparatory School Flintridge Preparatory School is a network of intimate connections. Here, strong bonds are forged — between student and student, student and teacher, books and dreams. We nurture critical thinking and intellectual curiosity to prepare each student to embrace lifelong learning. Students past and present consistently point to the faculty as the school's signature strength. Our small class sizes encourage dynamic conversation and personal attention from teachers. We seek to prepare our students well for what Joseph Campbell has called the “hero's journey” — that universal life saga in which we leave the comforts of home to perform great deeds, suffer defeats, and gather the strength and courage to rise and begin again. 4543 Crown Ave., La Cañada Flintridge. Call (818) 790-1178 or visit flintridgeprep.org.

PASADENA

900 Valley View Ave. #4, Pasadena, Ca 91107 (626) 510-MATH (626) 510-6284

SOUTH PASADENA

1109 Fair Oaks Ave. South Pasadena, CA 91030 (626) 53-A- PLUS (626) 532-7587

C A L L Y O U R L O C A L C E N T E R T O D AY !

Highpoint 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 after-school 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

THE WAVERLY SCHOOL A progressive education that spans young kindergarten through 12th grade

WHERE CHILDREN LEARN TO QUESTION, REASON, CREATE, AND EXPLORE WASC accredited

Please visit our website for more information. www.thewaverlyschool.org 67 West Bellevue Drive, Pasadena, CA | 626.792.5940 14 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

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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. Japanese American National Museum Come and explore at the Japanese American National Museum! Join us for Target Free Family Saturdays and celebrate shared AsianAmerican traditions with fun, theme-filled activities for kids of all ages. Admission is FREE all day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is a great way for families to learn, play, and grow together. Your visit will inspire you to discover your own cultural heritage. Located in historic downtown LA’s Little Tokyo, the National Museum is dedicated to promoting a better understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity. Visit janm.org for more information, or call (213) 625-0414. Mathnasium Mathnasium is a highly specialized learning center where kids go year-round to improve their math skills. Students as often as they like - for as long as they like. The goal is to enhance your child’s math skills, understanding of math concepts and overall school performance. At the same time,

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easily, act more naturally and become self-aware. Call (626) 310-0447, visit upstageschools.com or email adrian@upstageschools.com. The Waverly School The Waverly School is the only progressive school in the San Gabriel Valley that spans young kindergarten through twelfth grade. Waverly’s educational philosophy asserts that students learn best when they are actively involved in their education, when they become responsible for their growth as students, when they are expected to work at the highest level of which they are capable, and when their learning is based on life experiences. 67 W. Bellevue Drive, Pasadena; call(626) 792-5940 or visit thewaverlyschool.org. ■

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Sunday, December 6, 2009, between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm, Prep will hold its Open House, allowing your family to meet Prep’s students, faculty and coaches as you visit our campus. The Headmaster will speak and answer questions in the auditorium at 1:15 pm and 2:15 pm. Reservations are not required. With an average Upper School class size of 14 to a room, Flintridge Prep offers one of the most intimate academic settings in Southern California. Flintridge Prep is equally committed to a school experience that values the human development of the adolescent in an increasingly complex and competitive world.

ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 15

STARS OVER PASADENA

16 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

ELLEN NAOMI BY LÉON BING | PHOTOS BY GABRIEL GOLDBERG

PHOTO: Cass Elliot by Lee Baker Johnson

Pasadena resident Léon Bing has surfed the zeitgeist all her life, going wherever it has taken her. In the 1960s and ’70s, it took her down catwalks in New York and Los Angeles, where she became the main model for iconoclastic designer Rudi Gernreich, a gig that landed her on the cover of Time. In the mid’80s, Bing launched a second career as a journalist and author of several books, including Do or Die, her acclaimed 1992 account of L.A. gangs. In her new memoir, Swans and Pistols: Modeling, Motherhood and Making it in the Me Generation, Bing writes about rubbing high-profile elbows with people in the entertainment industry. Here is an excerpt about her friendship with Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas:

met Cass Elliot in 1968 at Cher’s baby shower. She was still Cher Bono at the time and we became part-time friends after meeting backstage at a charity fashion show where Cher was one of the celebrity models. We enjoyed the random lunch together, strolled Rodeo Drive to look in shop windows and had our nails done by the same manicurist. I visited the Bonos once, at the Bel Air estate they’d bought from actor Tony Curtis. It was imposing, but there was a raddled, stopped-clock look about the place. A sweep of lawn was bearded with yellow and the tiled floors inside were uninterrupted by furnishings. Sonny and Cher were happily camped out in three rooms that dwarfed the stuff from their old house. They weren’t worried about buying furniture; they wanted a child. Now, a year or so later, I pulled into the long drive leading up to the Beverly Hills Hotel behind a black Cadillac convertible with a personalized license plate that spelled out “ISIS.” A parking attendant sprang to open the door and Cass Elliot stepped out from behind the wheel. She was wearing a full-length sable coat over one of the flowing caftans that had become her signature look on and off-stage. Another attendant took my car and I followed the parade that was Mama Cass as she waved and smiled her way along the porte-cochère that led to the lobby. She was carrying a large package wrapped in pale blue and pink. I trailed her through the lobby and into one of the hotel’s banquet rooms where a crowd of women milled around looking for their place cards at tables set up in front of a dais where Cher sat, radiantly pregnant and surrounded by piles of fancifully wrapped gifts… Cass’ place card was next to mine. She settled into her chair and shrugged out of her coat. Then she turned to face me, introduced herself and said she’d admired a fashion layout I’d done for the L.A. Times. I said how much I liked her first solo album and the hit single, Dream a Little Dream of Me. The food arrived and, as we ate shrimp salad, Cass described a dinner party where the hostess passed around joints rolled in papers printed with the Louis Vuitton logo. I told —CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 17

STARS OVER PASADENA

PHOTO: Cass Elliot by Henry Diltz

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

her about the Rivers, a rich-hippie couple I’d heard about who, without a trace of irony, named their baby Moon. At some point, we exchanged phone numbers, but I didn’t really expect to hear from her. Two days later, she called to invite me to bring [my daughter] Lisa to her house for lunch and a swim. Cass and her daughter, Owen, lived in a two-story house located near the end of an unpaved private road off Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Cass bought it from Natalie Wood and turned it into a mix of conservative family home and luxurious, incensescented hippie pad. Silken banners billowed from windows and a big leather hippopotamus guarded a reading chair in the book-lined study. The wall around the fireplace in the living room had been given over to in-house graffiti. There were scrawled messages from Eric Clapton, Ryan O’Neal, Michelle Phillips, Don Johnson, David Crosby, Keith Allison, David Pearl, Graham Nash and anyone else who wanted to leave their mark. Somebody (possibly Cass herself) had written, “The party don’t start ’til Chuck Barris gets here” as a joke. The framed gold single of Monday, Monday from The Mamas and Papas’ debut album was displayed on another, unmarked wall. Soon after we met, Cass traded it to Bruce Johnston for his gold single of Good Vibrations. Johnston, who played keyboard, had taken Brian Wilson’s place on tour and was doing studio work with The Beach Boys. Cass longed for romance in her life and she had a terrific crush on Keith Allison, the Paul McCartney look-alike who played bass with Paul Revere and the Raiders. Keith is an exceptionally smart guy with a pitchperfect sense of the absurd. He was living in West Hollywood back in the late ’60s, but the way he tells it now, he was “still reekin’ of green from Texas.” He drove a faded blue VW van outfitted with a Porsche engine and Pirelli tires (“Me and Ringo would cruise Hollywood Boulevard lookin’ for girls in that old van”), and his uniform offstage consisted of a pair of beat-up 501’s, a long black velvet Johnny Cash–style coat, scuffed Lucchese boots and a well-turned Stetson. Whenever he needed to make a late-night food run, Keith would strap a flashlight to the brim of the hat and ride his skateboard along Kings Road to the Mayfair supermarket. And despite the frightening match-up of cowboy boots and skateboard, he never fell: “Not even once, not even when I was stoned outta my mind.” ✴✴✴ Cass enjoyed bringing people together. She introduced me to a galaxy of musicians — including Keith — at the Troubadour, the legendary club where on any given night you might see Janis Joplin leaning in to talk to Harry

Dean Stanton at the bar and Clint Eastwood or Dennis Hopper in the VIP section of the big room watching Steve Martin, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Carole King, James Taylor, Steppenwolf, David Steinberg and other musicians and comedians (some famous, some knocking on the door) perform. I saw an entire audience turn on Jim Morrison when he shouted drunken obscenities during the debut performance of Blood, Sweat and Tears in the big room. Saw rock legends and movie stars sniff cocaine from the mandarinlength fingernail on the pinky of an actor in John Cassavetes’ stable of regulars. I did the same, every time I saw the guy. For young Hollywood, the Troubadour was Rick’s Café in Casablanca: Everybody went there and when they did, they became Bogart, Bergman or Dooley Wilson singing As Time Goes By… “If I wasn’t here with someone, we’d be in the upstairs bathroom right now with the door locked and your panties down.” Warren Beatty’s voice was cashmere soft. Cass had introduced me to him as her “best friend” before she drifted to the other side of the living room where Jack Nicholson and Michelle Phillips sat talking to Julie Christie. Christie was the “someone” Beatty brought with him to Cass’ party that night and she was his longstanding girlfriend. They had recently co-starred in McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I don’t remember what I said to Beatty — he was too impossibly beautiful, too dangerous. He was like a leopard stretched out along a low-lying tree limb, lazily ready to reach down for anything that took his fancy. We soldiered on with listless party chat for a while, then he grinned and excused himself. A few minutes later I saw him amble out of the kitchen with a bottle of beer and head for a group that included John Phillips and Roman Polanski. Cass and I formed a close friendship. We’d drive to the beach and she would urge me to sing along with her: Jeepers Creepers and I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter. She loved the old stuff, and singing with her was like having a choir in the back seat. I introduced her to my mother, notoriously cool with new people. Cass broke through the ice and within minutes they were laughing at some politician’s gaffe they’d both seen on TV. Sometimes Cass would put on a pair of oversized dark glasses, pull down a straw gardening hat until it rode at eyebrow level and we’d take Lisa and Owen to a kids’ amusement park in Hollywood. I brought [artist-boyfriend] Ed Ruscha up to Cass’ house one steamy August night, and he and I made love in the shallow end of her darkened pool. Cass liked Ed and she admired his work. On her birthday one year, he gave her a drawing that spelled out her name in colored dots. Sometimes she’d hear about a recording session; we’d show up and scarf down cold fast—CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 19

ARROYO

HOME&DESIGN ARCHITECTS

BUILDERS & REMODELERS

JAMES COANE & ASSOCIATES

PACIFIC HOME DESIGN

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

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.

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From architecture to engineering, they’ve got you covered. Residential and commercial services range from tenant improvement work to remodeling and everything in between. Call today for an appointment. Call (818) 566-8302 or visit macmarinc.com.

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.

Your home should be more than just a place to hang your hat. It should be a perfect place where vivid dreams and cherished hopes surround you. It should exude panache, glamour and inspire you to live your most extraordinary life. HDA’s portfolio includes stellar Spanish bungalows, ultra-modern estates and everything in between. Contact HDA Interiors today and let us help you create a space that truly is a reflection of you. Call (626) 584-0742 or visit hdesignassociates.com.

Dolores Kroop has worked as a designer for over 20 years. When designing interiors, exteriors and events, she brings to her work a background in art and design, with experiences and exposures garnered through years of growing up abroad in South America, Europe and the Middle East. Ms. Kroop’s work has appeared on HGTV, in Elle, Pasadena showcases, the Assistance League Design House and Schiffer Books’ “Designer Showcase: Interior Design at its Best.” 2650 Mission St., San Marino. Call (626) 441-5061.

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

BADE CONSTRUCTION, INC. Bade Construction Co., Inc., family-owned and operated, has been in business since 1965. Over the years, the company has built hundreds of single family homes, as well as several apartment buildings, condominiums and office and industrial buildings. It also has extensive experience working with city and county planning & building departments in processing architectural plan. Bade Construction is recognized as one of the premier home builders in the San Gabriel Valley. 77 Las Tunas Drive, Suite 202, Arcadia; call (626) 5747354; badeconstruction.com

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20 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

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ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 21

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Kitchen Tune-Up is one-stop shopping if you’re looking to change your kitchen. A Tune-Up is a process in which existing wood cabinets are made to look as close to new as possible. We also offer refacing, custom cabinets, bathroom vanities and cabinets as well as home entertainment centers and closets. We have a wide selection of popular countertops, including Livingstone, Corian, Caesarstone and Silestone. We can add pullout drawers, spice cabinets, even that island you’ve been dreaming about and we have inhouse designers who can help transform your vision into reality. We are Steve and Megan Morelock. Please call for a complimentary consultation at (626) 533-4402

—CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

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ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 23

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24 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

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—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

INTERIOR SPACES

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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

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

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MORTGAGE LENDERS

OUTDOOR LIVING

WELLS FARGO 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. Patsy: (626) 577-3721; Jim: (626) 577-3703

GARDEN VIEW LANDSCAPE 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.

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OUTDOOR LIVING GAROCCO, INC. Garocco, Inc. is known for their outstanding pools. From outdoor kitchens, pools and garden design to water features, Gar Sewell, CEO and lead designer, can fulfill all your landscape needs. Gar’s Monthly Tip: Investing in your property: In today’s market, many answers about where to invest your money can be risky and confusing. Keeping your money in-house by investing in home improvement will always have positive long-term results. This way, you can actually enjoy your money while it grows. If you have any questions or concerns you can visit Gar personally at Garocco, Inc.’s new Design Center. 656 E. Green St., Pasadena; call (626) 398-5050; garocco.com —CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

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Now Open —CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

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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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626.357.7858 28 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

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HEALTH & BEAUTY Dr. Vasken Bilemjian Making a good impression starts with a fabulous smile! For business or personal situations, with today’s techniques there is no reason not to have one! We brighten dull teeth, close spaces, repair chips and even fill cavities to look like natural teeth. Our office uses the latest equipment, including ultrasonic cleaning, and our goal is to provide our patients with the highest quality care in a friendly and comfortable environment. Call (626) 792-6131. Dr. Levi Harrison, M.D. A center of excellence. Orthopedic surgeon and hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder specialist, Dr. Harrison is a skilled and compassionate physician dedicated to the well-being of each and every patient. You will find that his staff is also dedicated to excellence in patient care. Dr. Harrison’s training includes: Fellowship (Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery) from the prestigious Indiana Hand Center of Indianapolis and Medical Degree from University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. Call (818) 240-8001. Dr. Marilyn Mehlmauer Having smooth, youthful skin is the first step to feeling great about your appear-

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ance. Dr. Marilyn Mehlmauer offers a wide variety of solutions for any problem areas on your face. Whether you have lines, wrinkles or acne, we have a remedy to restore the elasticity and refine the appearance of your skin. Visit us and explore our facial rejuvenation treatment options. Call and schedule your consultation today, (626) 585-9474. Pasadena Weight Loss Clinic A Shocking Discovery: Losing weight quickly by going against conventional “wisdom”! A Pasadena doctor helps his overweight patients eat more and exercise less to lose weight! This program simply activates built-in mechanisms your body already has that cause the fast weight loss. Simple as that. Your first step is a FREE indepth consultation with Dr. Matar to determine eligibility for the program. “Dr. Matar’s knowledge is the ‘missing link’ that I was looking for,” says Linda Gray, award-winning actress. “I know what it takes for my body to perform at its optimal potential. Implementing Dr. Matar’s recommendations into my life has helped me achieve that goal,” says Dwight Hicks, two-time Super Bowl champion, San Francisco 49ers. Contact Dr. Matar at (626) 844-4686 or at ditchyourdiet.com. ■

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Dr. Harrison provides care for a diverse patient population that include; Professional and Collegiate athletes, Artists, Professional Musicians, Teachers, Celebrities, Police Officers, Veterans, Firefighters, Clerical Staff and Construction Workers. Dr. Harrison is a Workers’ Compensation provider, as well as an Orthopedic Expert Witness for several legal firms.

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Dr. V. Bilemjian ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 29

SAN MARINO

4 Performances Only Feb, 5-6-7, 2010 Glendale Community College Theatre brownpapertickets.com • 800.838.3006

Inspired by and utilizing the marine mural art of Wyland, this multimedia show unfolds in an exquisite but turbulent oceanic world.

Fancy That! Mrs. Claus has decorated Fancy That! for the holidays with whimsy, style and grace. Whether you are creating a contemporary look or revisiting the ’50s, you are sure to find just the right pieces for your home. And you have to experience the storefront windows that range from a tribute to Ralphie and The Christmas Story, to a winter ice cave and a ’50s Retro Christmas. Complementary gift wrap & sales tax is only 8.25%. 2575 Mission St., San Marino; call (626) 403-2577 Lemmon Hill Lemmon Hill is making Modern History in San Marino by introducing a lovely collection of unique gifts, eclectic decorative accents, divine furnishings and vintage treasures. Heirloom pieces, glassware, and eye-catching furniture come together to create an aweinspiring shopping experience. Find that perfect gift for that special someone, that gorgeous centerpiece, home accent, or perhaps little something for yourself! 2511 Mission St., San Marino. Open Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mylittlebebe Mylittlebebe was created in 2006 as a babies’ and children’s furniture boutique offering selective high-quality, exquisitely designed products that bring a sense of style and an appreciation for design into nurseries and children’s rooms. mylittlebebe offers interior design and custom furniture services to help you create a unique space for your children. We also offer a full range of unique and beautiful accessories, decorations, gift baskets, and gift wrapping, as well as delivery to local areas. Located at 956 Huntington Drive; call (626) 588-2810 or visit mylittlebebe.com

THE EAGLE ROCK YACHT CLUB PRESENTS:

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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.

EVERY SUNDAY 3PM @ GLASSELL REC CENTER – WWW.EAGLEROCKYACHTCLUB.COM –

At present rate of infection AIDS will orphan 20 million African children by 2010 !!

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The Shepherds Home Children’s Sanctuary in Nairobi Kenya provides education, food, housing and love to children whose parents have died in the HIV/AIDS crisis. www.theshepherdshome.org 30 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

Please send your tax deductible donations to: Discover The World, Inc., Shepherd's Home, 3255 E. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107

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Simply Fresh Unusual gifts and fashion accessories from around the world abound in this hip and charming wonderland with a very friendly staff. Famous for their edgy fun jewelry, purses, hair accessories and extensive collection of cards and notes, Paris Chic décor and European bath items. You will find the gift for that special someone and one or two more for you. Save time and gas by discovering Westside shopping albeit convenient. Recognized as being one of the ‘Best boutiques’ 2005 – 2009. 2628 Mission St.,San Marino. Call (626) 441-7250. 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 Starr House The Salon A favorite of local residents, this European style salon’s extensive menu of services include hair styling, highlights and color, nail care, hair extensions, chemical-free Brazilian straightening, waxing, eyebrow sculpting and professional makeup consultations. They offer chic and affordable services that you’d otherwise have to drive all the way to the Westside to find. Now, that’s “Starr” quality to smile about! 2636 Mission St., San Marino. Call (626) 799-0828. starrhouse.com. ■

Jingle all the way…

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ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 31

32 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

STARS OVER PASADENA

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

food burgers and smoke weed in the control booth. We’d go to movies and be waved in because the guy selling tickets recognized Mama Cass. She would hire a limo and invite Keith, if he was around, and me to concerts where we hung out backstage, and whoever was on the bill would pay reverential court. I enjoyed those evenings with Cass. I relished the preferential treatment and I liked being flirted with by rock musicians who sometimes recognized me from fashion photographs they’d seen. The thing was, nobody ever flirted seriously with Cass. She was always cast as the good buddy who could be counted on for a sympathetic listen, a place to crash, advice on how to jumpstart a career. She told me she hated being called Mama Cass, and we began to refer to each other by our given names: Hers was Ellen Naomi. We talked about books and guys and her unrequited love for Denny Doherty, whose tenor voice had balanced Cass’ soaring contralto on The Mamas and the Papas albums. I didn’t ask about Owen’s father, not from lack of curiosity but because there always seems to be an implied distance between stars and their friends, no matter how close the relationship… “I’m going to be a Baroness!” Cass sounded like an excited kid. She was about to be married, and would I be her maid of honor? Her future husband was a young American journalist she’d met in London: Donald von Wiedenman. Baron Donald von Wiedenman. He came to her hotel for an interview, Cass liked what she saw and things rocketed from there. I met the baron when Cass invited me up to the house shortly before the wedding. I didn’t like him, didn’t like his servile attentiveness to Cass. He reminded me of Dickens’ Uriah Heep: the snarl behind the smile. I was only one of the friends who tried to convince Cass to wait before leaping into marriage. Michelle Phillips spoke to her. Keith Allison. Donny Wayne. She wouldn’t listen to anything that sounded like “wait and see how it goes.” So I stood next to her at the brief civil ceremony in her living room. The only other people there were Cass’ mother, Bess; Cass’ sister, Leah; and von Wiedenman’s parents. Cass wore a black dress from Biba in London, a gift from the groom, Elvis-resplendent in blinding white leather. The full-scale Nazi banner von Wiedenman had hung on one wall (he was a feverish collector of Third Reich memorabilia), the one I’d kicked up such a fuss about, was gone. It took a year for Cass to lose the baron…

PHOTO: Léon Bing by Dennis Hopper

✴✴✴ I was cruising along Sunset headed for Malibu to visit a friend. The car radio was tuned to KRLAAM (870), and when the DJ announced the death of a major pop star in London, I wondered idly about which of a dozen likely candidates had overdosed. Then I heard the opening bars of Dream a Little Dream of Me. I turned off the radio

and drove on for two or three blocks before I pulled over and let the car idle. I didn’t cry, didn’t yell. I didn’t do anything. My hands were still on the steering wheel, I was still mildly thirsty for a drink of water. Everything was exactly the same as it had been a few seconds ago. Only now, in the space of a breath, Cass was gone. Her heart had given out after a sold-out concert at The Palladium. She was 32 years old. ✴✴✴ The velvet rope outside the chapel at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery held back a mob of shouting fans and tourists. I was with one of Cass’ friends, a tough agent who used his shoulders to push our way inside. We sat silently as Cass’ mother, sister and brother were ushered to a screened-off section reserved, according to Jewish tradition, for family members. Everyone seated on the benches turned their heads to spot each new arrival: Jack Nicholson. Peter Lawford. Helen Reddy. Cher and Sonny Bono. The Bonos were seated in the front row and Sonny turned to wave, pointing emphatically to an empty space next to them. Carol Burnett found a place on the aisle of the row where we were seated. John Phillips and Michelle arrived together with Denny Doherty in tow. John’s and Denny’s eyelids looked as if they were badly sunburned. Michelle’s eyes were masked by dark glasses. Flowers banked the walls of the chapel and plunged forward to surround Cass’ closed casket. A rabbi appeared and the insect-buzz of whispers faded away. He began the eulogy by admitting he had never met Cass Elliot. His remarks referenced her great talent and outsized generosity. After the final prayer, the rabbi suggested we remain seated to allow people from the roped-off section outside the chapel to file past the coffin. Then any of us who wanted to move through to an enclosed area in back could do so without interruption. There was no way to avoid the interruption. An elderly woman with pastel-tinted hair and a camera dangling from a strap around her neck spotted Carol Burnett. The woman halted mid-step, turned, and in a vocal pattern reminiscent of shows like Hee Haw, spoke: “Oh, Carol honey, I am so happy to see you here today and I just want you to know I watch your show ever’ single week.” She paused and smiled archly, unveiling a full set of blue-white dentures. “Don’t you die now!” Ellen Naomi Cohen would have loved it. AM Reprinted with the publisher’s permission from Swans and Pistols: Modeling, Motherhood and Making it in the Me Generation by Léon Bing (Bloomsbury USA: Oct. 2009)

ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 33

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38 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE HERE ARE SOME SWEET AND SPARKLY SUGGESTIONS FOR UNDER THE TREE OR MENORAH. BY IRENE LACHER

Making Time Flüd’s hipper-thanthou watches are riding the crest of

Dishy St. Nick

urban fashion,

Vietri’s “Old St. Nick” hand-

enabling wearers to

painted dinnerware fea-

sport their leisure

tures various Santa images

activity of choice, if not on their

to add a spicy bit of

sleeve, then on their wrist.

asymmetry to the combi-

Score a Timeout ($80) for your

nation of plaids and win-

favorite basketball fan: It has

terberries that give the

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8618 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Call (310) 652-0311. —CONTINUED ON PAGE 40 ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 39

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

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THE

LIST

A HIGHLY SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS

COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER

Dec. 5 and 6 — Four distinctive homes in the Linda Vista, South Arroyo and Madison Heights areas open their doors for the annual Holiday Look In home tour, benefiting the Pasadena Symphony. The homes are decorated for the holidays by some of Pasadena’s top floral designers, and live music is performed at each stop. In conjunction with the tour, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both days, a holiday boutique at the Pasadena Convention Center is open during the same hours. Tour stops are provided with ticket purchase. Tickets cost $30 advance, $35 at the door. Boutique admission is free. The Pasadena Convention Center is located at 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Visit pasadenaholidaylookin.org or call (626) 793-7172, ext. 11.

SOUTHWEST MUSEUM MENU MELDS MEDIA, ARTS, CULTURES Dec. 5 and 6 — Guests at the Happy Holiday Weekend Event can enjoy festive music and holiday treats from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free, and no reservations are required. Dec. 12 — NELAart Second Saturday Gallery Night hosts the opening of a new collection of multimedia works, A New Earth by Sandra Horse, from 7 to 10 p.m. The exhibition continues through Jan. 3. Dec. 13 — Southwest’s popular holiday event, Las Posadas, runs from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Casa de Adobe, 4605 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, near the museum. Guests can break a piñata, sip champurrado and sample pan dulce. The event is free, but space is limited; for reservations, call (323) 667-2000, ext. 336. The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is located at 234 Museum Dr., Los Angeles. Call (323) 221-2164 or visit autrynationalcenter.org.

SEASONAL SONGFEST: CAROLS IN MANY TONGUES Dec. 6 — The Arroyo Singers women’s chorale presents Here We Come A-Caroling, featuring Christmas songs from England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Ukraine as well as traditional and modern Chanukah music. The concert at Oneonta Congregational Church starts at 4 p.m.; holiday treats are served after the performance. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. Admission is free for children under 10. Oneonta Congregational Church is located at 1515 Garfield Ave., South Pasadena. Call (626) 755-5792 or (323) 256-5332 for more information

HERITAGE SQUARE’S HOLIDAY HISTORY TOUR Dec. 5 and 6 — The 15th annual Holiday Lamplight Celebration offers tours of the museum’s historic residences every 20 minutes from 4 to 9 p.m. Costumed actors will perform in vignettes, including an 1890s ball at the Perry Residence where the Rose Parade’s first grand marshal discusses events of the day, and a screen test by silent-film director D.W. Griffith at the Hale House. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $10 for children age 10 and under. Reservations are required. The Heritage Square Museum is located at 3800 Homer St., Los Angeles. Call (323) 225-2700 or visit heritagesquare.org.

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE SINGS HOLIDAY PRAISES The Chorale, conducted by Grant Gershon, presents three December programs at Walt Disney Concert Hall: Dec. 5 — Holiday Wonders features favorite carols, including O Come All Ye Faithful, Angels We Have Heard On High, O Holy Night and Deck the Halls, accompanied by organist John West. Also included are audience sing-alongs and a performance by the Voices Within Children’s Choir, composed of L.A.–area students who have participated in the artist-in-residency program; they perform original choral works written by fifth and sixth graders. The performance starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets range from $78 to $24; tickets for children ages 6 to 12 are half-price. 42 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

SEASONAL BLING, WINE TASTING AND MORE AT DESCANSO Dec. 3 — Descanso Gardens kicks off the season with a holiday wine tasting at 5:30 p.m. at the Boddy House. Patina Catering will serve festive hors d’oeuvres. The per person cost is $54 ($49 for members). Call (818) 790-3663 to register. Dec. 5 — Beautify your home for the holidays with tips from Rachel Young’s wreathmaking workshop. The cost is $35 ($30 for members). Dec. 6 — The Red Rabbit Holiday Arts & Crafts Market runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., featuring glass, ceramics, jewelry, clothing, fiber arts, painting, prints and mixed media by more than 30 artists and artisans. Call (818) 243-7326 or visit redrabbitworkshop.com. Dec. 12 and 13 — Patina Catering presents a holiday storytime brunch for the entire family, with seatings at 9:30 and 11 a.m. both days. The event includes a gourmet breakfast, cookie decorating, storytelling and rides on the Enchanted Railroad. The cost is $45 for adults, $37 for members and $15 for children ages 4 to 10. Admission is free for children 3 and under. Call (818) 790-3663 for reservations. Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Call (818) 949-4200 or visit descansogardens.org.

Dec. 12 and 20 — The Chorale celebrates the 29th anniversary of its Messiah SingAlong of Handel’s classic. The Dec. 12 concert starts at 2 p.m. and the Dec. 20 performance is at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $68 to $24. Dec. 13 — The Chorale’s annual Rejoice! concert features Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Conrad Susa’s Christmas Garland. Ariel Quintana conducts Ariel Ramirez’s Navidad Nuestra, with guest ensemble Huayucaltia, starting at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $124 to $19. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Call (213) 972-7282 or visit lamc.org.

FIVE ACRES OPEN HOUSE WELCOMES COMMUNITY Dec. 8 — Five Acres, which provides support for families dealing with child abuse, presents an annual holiday open house at its Altadena campus. The free event begins at 6 p.m. with hot drinks and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a musical performance by resident children and an appearance by the Henson puppets. A wine reception follows, with campus tours starting at 8 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring an unwrapped gift for resident children. Five Acres is located at 760 W. Mountain View St., Altadena. For reservations, call (626) 798-6793, ext. 224, or email mmorici@5acres.org. For information, visit fiveacres.org.

HOLIDAY VOICES RISE IN CONCERT Dec. 12 — The L.A.-based women’s choral ensemble Vox Femina presents its Holiday Voices concert at 8 p.m., featuring carols and lullabies in English and Spanish as well as music by Benjamin Britten, Conrad Susa, Z. Randall Stroope, Roger Bourland, Paul Carey and Mack Wilberg. A new work commissioned by Vox Femina and a vocal rendition of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy will also be performed. Tickets for the concert at Pasadena’s First Congregational Church cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. The First Congregational Church is located at 464 E. Walnut St., Pasadena. Call (310) 922-0025 or visit voxfeminala.org. —CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

PHOTOS: Jewelry photo courtesy of Southwest Museum

HOME (TOUR) FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Celebrating our 50th Anniversary! Family Owned Since 1959

THE

LIST

A HIGHLY SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS

—CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42

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Dec. 12 — As part of the Nadine Carson Forum Series at the Autry National Center, New York University historian Linda Gordon, author of the new book Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, will discuss the purpose of art, particularly women’s art, during hard times at 2 p.m. The lecture is free with museum admission. The Autry National Center is located at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. For reservations, call (323) 6672000, ext. 250, by Dec. 7. For information, visit autrynationalcenter.org.

ANGELES CHORALE PERFORMS HANDEL CLASSIC Dec. 12 — The Angeles Chorale performs Handel’s Messiah at 8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena. Donald Neuen, one of the world’s top scholars on the work, will conduct a full baroque orchestra in a historically authentic production. Soloists include soprano Joanna Foote, alto Cynthia Jansen, tenor Todd Strange and baritone Abdiel Gonzalez. Tickets cost $25. The First United Methodist Church is located at 500 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (818) 591-1735 or visit angeleschorale.org.

A NEW WORK, CLASSIC MASTERPIECES BY LACO Dec. 12 — The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra presents Bel Canto, featuring works by Mozart, Copland and R. Strauss and the West Coast premiere of A Shout, A Whisper and a Trace by Derek Bermel. The concert starts at 8 p.m. at Glendale’s Alex Theatre, with Jeffrey Kahane conducting. Tickets cost $100 to $18. The concert repeats at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The Alex Theatre is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Call (213) 622-7001, ext. 215, or visit laco.org.

PARADE PREP OFFERS SNEAK PEEKS Here’s a look at some of the events leading up to Pasadena’s world-famous festivities on New Year’s Day: Dec. 28 through 31 — Visitors can watch grand floats being decorated for the 2010 Rose Parade at three Pasadena locations: Rosemont Pavilion, Brookside Pavilion and the Rose Palace. Public viewings are held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday. Admission costs $7 for any two visits; admission is free for children 3 and under. Rosemont Pavilion is located at 700 Seco St., Pasadena; Brookside Pavilion is located in Lot I, on the south side of the Rose Bowl, 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena; the Rose Palace is located at 835 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. For tickets, call Sharp Seating at (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseating.com. For information, visit tournamentofrosesa.com/events. Dec. 29 — Watch horses and riders (some heading for the Rose Parade) perform drills, dances, trick riding and roping in the annual Equestfest at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank. Demonstrations and exhibits take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets cost $12; admission is free for children 5 and under. Parking costs $5 per car. Food and beverages are available for purchase. The Los Angeles Equestrian Center is located at 480 Riverside Dr., Burbank. Call (626) 7954171 or visit sharpseating.com. Dec. 29 and 30 — Bandfest at Pasadena City College’s Robinson Stadium showcases the prize-winning bands that will participate in the parade, in three shows over two days. Performances start at 2 p.m. Tuesday and at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets cost $12. Pasadena City College is located at 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseating.com. Dec. 31 — The Rose Bowl Game Kickoff Luncheon, presented by Trader Joe’s, starts at noon in the Kickoff Luncheon Pavilion Tent at Rose Bowl Stadium. The Rose Queen and her court and the 2009 Rose Bowl Game Hall of Fame inductees will be on hand. Tickets cost $85, and advance purchase is required through Ticketmaster or participating universities and alumni travel organizations. Rose Bowl Stadium is located at 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena.

PHOTOS: Laura Claycomb photo by Laurence Mullenders

One Stop Shopping and Dining with Your Well Being in Mind

KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Have a Holly Jolly Solstice IT’S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE INTO THINKING THOSE RED-AND-GREEN CANDIED THINGS IN HOLIDAY FRUITCAKES ARE HER HANDIWORK. BY LESLIE BILDERBACK | PHOTOS BY TERI LYN FISHER

As I get older, I find that I have less tolerance for the holiday hubbub. (It’s only a matter of time before I am screaming at the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn.) I can totally see why Charlie Brown was annoyed with his snotty little sister and that beagle. As I wait in line to pay for my $80 six-foot spruce tree with one wonky side, I imagine the Magi looking down on us, pounding their crowns against the walls of heaven as we engage in our annual ritualized retail frenzy. “Oh, Melchior, what have we started?”

perhaps with some sort of decorative log. Who knows? We might be visited by an old

“Relax, Balthazar. As long as everyone goes to Best Buy, humanity will survive.”

man with a white beard, like Odin, the ruler of Asgard; Saturnus, the Roman god of

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love the tree, I love the food, I love having

seeds; Kronos, the Greek “father time”; or Thor who, not unlike Santa, rides across the

the family gathered around my bosom in a lifelike display of affection. But I could do

sky in a chariot drawn by flying…goats. After the fire we can feast on preserved fruits

without the crowds, the inflatable reindeer and the Bob Dylan Christmas album. Plus, I

and nuts doused in fermented mead, suspended in some sort of cakey batter. Wow!

can only assume that my non-Christian friends must think our display is more than a

I think I am really on to something.

little tacky. I’m Christian and I think it’s tacky. I don’t see them flaunting their High Holy

You shouldn’t be surprised that the pagan traditions bear a striking resemblance

Days this way. There are no “Elijah…Stop here” lawn signs during Passover. No

to our own. After all, that’s what Americans do — we take something perfectly pleasant

Rankin/Bass animated Ramadan family classics with cute animals singing and dancing

and make it bigger and cheaper. We did it with cars. We did it with home mortgages.

about the night the Koran was revealed to Muhammad.

And of course, we did it with food.

Class — that’s what’s missing from Christmas. Yes, I know the true meaning of Christmas. But the point of the festivities is cer-

Take the much-bemoaned fruitcake, for example. How could such a delicious idea go so horribly wrong? Fruit plus cake? Brilliant! The guy who invented it was clear-

tainly well hidden behind that Frosty the Snowman crewneck sweater. It’s enough to

ly a genius. And it caught on fast, because throughout the world there are spectacular

make me seriously consider going pagan. After all, this time of year marks the winter

examples of delicious, beautiful, fruity cake: Italian panettone, German stollen, Mexican

solstice — you know, the phenomenon celebrated since the dawn of man, so named

rosca de reyes, Russian kulich, Jewish lekach and English plum pudding. Each began

because that is when they noticed the dawn arrived a little earlier each day. I can hear

in the same way. Years of intensive study in druidic culinary traditions and careful deci-

my ancient Norse ancestors now:

phering of ancient pagan manuscripts have uncovered the history of fruitcake, and it

“Look, Jörgina! Soon there will be no more huddling around a frozen hunk of reindeer spleen in the dark. Any day now the tundra will thaw and we can plant more delicious spelt. Let’s party.”

goes something like this: “Hey guys!” said Baal. “Let’s save up our precious, hard-to-obtain ingredients for one great gastronomical orgy.”

No, I am not suggesting that we ban Christmas. (Nor do I want to come out

“Good idea,” said his eldest son, Gwyane. “Shall we eat it next Tuesday?”

against banning Christmas. Don’t label me, man.) I just think Christmas could be cele-

“No!” shouted his brother Tristram. “We must wait for a special occasion.”

brated with a little more tact. Do we really need to celebrate our beliefs with musical earrings and blinking neckties? Celebrating the solstice sounds fantastic to me right now. We can dress in the druidic colors of red and green, and decorate our homes like the pagans did, with holly and pine boughs. We can hang mistletoe for peace and fertility and erect a solstice

And behold, fruitcake was born. But then Americans tried to make it bigger and cheaper, until it became a tired joke. Instead of being a luscious package of all we hold dear, it is a Johnny Carson punchline. Even kids who have never seen a fruitcake know that they are not meant to be eaten, but rather used as festive chock blocks. I do not blame Johnny or your Aunt Ethel (who sends you a fruitcake every year,

tree, decorated with pagan symbols. (I wonder if the 2009 Hallmark Star Trek ornament

encased in a collectible Currier & Ives tin) or Manitou Springs, Colorado, and its annual

qualifies as pagan.) Then we can gather around a ritual hearth fire to celebrate the yule,

Fruitcake Toss. I blame good ol’ American ingenuity. It was some little go-getter who

46 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

. N NOOWLDOTPOEWN

DELICIOUS FRUITCAKE (NOT AN OXYMORON)

The fruit is a vital element in this recipe. For best results, choose high-quality dried fruits in large pieces, then chop them yourself. The best dried fruits are still moist, tender and not at all leathery. My favorite new source is Figueroa Produce, 6312 N. Figueroa St., at York Blvd. I have found the quality at larger chain markets to be inconsistent. Ingredients ¼ cup dried apricots, diced ¼ cup dates, diced ¼ cup figs, diced ¼ cup golden raisins ¼ cup dried pineapple, diced 1½ cups rum 4 to 5 strands saffron 2/3 cup sugar 2 cups milk 3½ teaspoons (2 packages) active dry yeast 2 eggs

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter Grated zest and juice of 2 oranges 2 ounces almond paste 1 teaspoon ground cardamom ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ cup candied ginger, chopped ½ cup skin-on almonds, chopped, toasted and cooled 6 to 8 cups bread flour 2 cups powdered sugar ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

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Method 1. Stir together apricots, dates, figs, raisins, pineapple and rum. Then set aside to plump overnight. 2. Combine saffron and ½ teaspoon sugar in a mortar and grind to a fine powder. Combine the saffron sugar with milk in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool down to room temperature. Add yeast, stir to dissolve and let stand 10 minutes, until foamy. 3. Add to the yeast mixture the rum-plumped fruits and liquid, 1 egg, butter, zest (reserve juice), almond paste, cardamom, salt, ginger, almonds and enough bread flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Add flour only as needed to reduce stickiness. Return to bowl, dust with flour, cover with plastic and allow to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. 4. Coat four 9x13-inch loaf pans with pan spray and line with a strip of parchment paper on all sides. Turn out risen dough onto a floured surface, and divide into four equal portions. Form each into an oblong loaf and place in prepared pan, seam-side down. Cover loosely with plastic and let rise again for 45 to 60 minutes, until doubled again. Preheat oven to 325˚. 5. Whisk together remaining egg, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of water, and brush gently onto the top of the risen loaf. Bake until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped, about 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack. 6. Slowly whisk reserved orange juice into powdered sugar. Add vanilla and a pinch of salt, and beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or water as needed to create a spreadable icing. Drizzle over cooled loaves before serving.

thought of candying all the leftover cherries after pie season. Then his girlfriend suggested dying them bright red and green. The guy at the pineapple upside-down cake factory heard about it and soon, fruits from sea to shining sea were losing all nutritional value, but gaining holiday cred. Yep, paganism is where it’s at. I think we should all take a minute, put on our sandals and gauze peasant shirts, form a circle and celebrate the spirit of Mother Earth. Then give a little, be nice to someone and hope for peace. Just a thought. AM

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ARROYO ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ 47

DÉJÀ VU

A CHRISTMAS MEMORY THE NOSTALGIC FILM CLASSIC A CHRISTMAS STORY HAS A SECOND COMING IN THE HOLIDAY WINDOWS OF SAN MARINO’S FANCY THAT!

When is a San Marino gift shop window not a San Marino gift shop window? When it turns into the fictional Higbee’s Department Store window famously depicted in 1983’s holiday film classic, A Christmas Story. Fancy That! owner Jim English is taking visitors back in time this year, capping off a nearly yearlong hunt for vintage toys and other items to outfit an “Original, Traditional, 100 percent, Red-blooded, Two-fisted, All-American Christmas,” as the movie’s tagline would have it. English’s search for circa 1940 objects led him to one of the four Little Orphan Annie decoder rings still in existence, which he scored on eBay. In another nod to the film, he constructed three leg lamps, using mannequin gams. “I also found an old-fashioned crank phone of the kind that Ralphie’s friend’s mom uses to rat on him for using the F word,” he says. “Someone rigged it for rotary service over the years and it’s fully functioning.” English also scored Red Rider BB guns and a double-sided cartoon poster depicting Ralphie in Red Rider gear reciting his speech from the movie. Best of all are Department 56’s model replicas of the film’s most famous buildings — from Ralphie’s house to Higbee’s to the Chinese restaurant and bowling alley purchase them for their own holiday celebrations. Says English, a former cable TV executive who opened the store with his wife, Paula, two years ago: “You can’t think about A Christmas Story without smiling.” — Carl Kozlowski

48 ~ DECEMBER 2009 ~ ARROYO

PHOTOS: Lucky Smith

where the family finally shares dinner. Visitors can enjoy his finds from afar or

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AM-5002