Our Condolences To The Families Of Lee Iacocca & Tyler Skaggs
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME: LV
NUMBER 27
$145 PER YEAR - $3.00 PER COPY
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www.bhcourier.com
SINCE 1965
July 5, 2019
SUMMER OF FASHION — Louis Vuitton X opened to rave reviews on Rodeo Drive with a major bash last week that included celebrity visitors like actor Orlando Bloom (pictured inset). For more on the Louis Vuitton X opening, see page 12. Pictured: John Mirisch at the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
THIS ISSUE
Mirisch Talks Tobacco Ban, Local Control At U.S. Conference Of Mayors 4
Meet Pearl, this issue’s Adoptable Pet.
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Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills has sold its youth center building. 13 •Health & Wellness •Birthdays •Letters to the Editor
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George Christy, Page 6 Dessert-a-holics Will Be Captivated By The Tastes At Louká In Beverly Hills. Do Try The Bougatsa, The Loukoumades, The Ravani. And For Those Baklava Fans, There’s A Fine Homemade Version.
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
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ROAMING ROME — The Beverly Vista choir just returned from a week in Rome, where they staged several performances at iconic venues. Pictured above are members of the choir outside St. Peter's Basilica: Cameron Asher, Rachel Asher, Liv Berg, Nava Bonyadi, Hayley Chechel, Isabelle Corona, Alyssa Galen, Justin Goldstein, Kayla Granitz, Olivia Green, Tyler Janssen, Suhh Yeon Kim, Eunice Kim, Kaylee Kwok, Avery Lo, Arielle Margolin, Edden Mizrahi, Mariah Nicholson, Kate Schirmer, Sophia Schirmer, Ariella Shaoulian, Elise Soufer, and Anna Valsky.
Beverly Vista Choir Returns From Performances In Rome By Matt Lopez Late last year, Beverly Vista choir director Judith Chan received an email that she almost couldn’t believe. It was an invitation to perform in the prestigious Rome International Choral Festival at St. Peter’s Basilica. “At first, I thought it was a joke,” Chan said. But it was no joke, and after months of fervent fundraising, the over 40-student choir just returned from a trip that Chan called “life changing.” The festival ran from June 2027, and invitations largely go out to university choirs and other established ensembles, which made the inclusion of Beverly Vista’s middle school choir all the more surprising. Two years earlier, the choir had performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Shortly after receiving the invitation, Chan said that she knew a trip like that would be fairly expensive. A strong fundraising push began, including an article in the December 7, 2018 edition of the Courier. Chan said that the day after that article was published, a member of the community showed up to the campus with a $2,000 check. “The community support was really overwhelming,” Chan said. The choir packed in six performances at various legendary venues around Italy, including mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, a festival concert with the Honolulu Choral and Orange Lutheran High School Choir, under the direction of Dr. Randall Stroope, at Basilica Di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Other performances took place at The Sistine Chapel, Santa (see ‘BEVERLY VISTA CHOIR’ page 17)
By Matt Lopez One month after helping spearhead the City of Beverly Hills’ landmark decision to ban tobacco sales, Mayor John Mirisch discussed the tobacco ban this week at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Honolulu, Hawaii. Last month, by a unanimous vote from the City Council, Beverly Hills became the first city in the United States to ban the sale of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars and all other tobacco products. The ban covers grocery stories, gas stations, pharmacies and convenience stores. Under the ban, hotels will still be allowed to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to registered hotel guests. In his speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mirisch
said he went into detail on the process the City went through to come to a tobacco ban, and said he received positive feedback on it from other mayors around the country. “There was a lot of interest in our tobacco sales ban,” Mirisch told the Courier. “I discussed our City’s history of leadership in anti-smoking policy and how our recent ordinance was a natural progression.” As part of the four-day event, Mirisch also authored a resolution on local control that passed. Mirisch’s resolution, “In Support of Local Control and Authority,” seeks to push back against federal and state governments attempting to infringe on the authority of local (see ‘MAYORS CONFERENCE’ page 17)
Elgart Aster
Lee Iacocca died on Tuesday in his Bel-Air home.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION — “We were patient and waited for the right location to open our Estiatoria Louká;” says owner Vasili Kotsiovos about his new dining room on North Canon Drive, which has become the Restaurant Row of Beverly Hills. No expense was spared in the creation of this classy dining room serving good Greek food. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.