LC 07 2021

Larchmont Chronicle

VOL. 59, NO. 7

• DELIVERED TO 76,439 READERS IN HANCOCK PARK • WINDSOR SQUARE • FREMONT PLACE • MIRACLE MILE • PARK LA BREA • LARCHMONT •

IN THIS ISSUE

JULY 2021

Clubs celebrate with fireworks, barbecue n Local sites to re-open with joyful events

PETS OF LARCHMONT.

CAPITAL trip.

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By Helene Seifer Dazzling bursts of color will once again light the sky above the Wilshire Country Club on July 4th. After skipping the Independence Day tradition in 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, members will be able to celebrate the holiday at the club, and the rest of the community will no doubt gather in backyards and on street corners to view the joyful display.

General manager Daniel Enzler emphasizes that golf was an activity that was alSee Clubs celebrate, p 8

Larchmont 2021: residents to study future use

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n Public Zoom conversations to provide background from experts

CHILDHOOD magic.

22 MARK PEEL and wife Daphne Brogdon were among the 300 area residents attending the Larchmont Chronicle’s 50th anniversary party at The Ebell of Los Angeles in 2013.

PRESERVER of California history. 2-2 For Information on Advertising Rates, Please Call Pam Rudy 323-462-2241, x 11 Mailing permit:

WILSHIRE COUNTRY CLUB FIREWORKS viewable throughout Hancock Park return for July 4 this year.

Mark Peel, 66, put California cuisine on map

n Resided for decades in our neighborhoods

By Suzan Filipek During his illustrious career, Chef Mark Peel would nourish diners and impress palates around the globe. But he also made time to judge See Mark Peel, p 22

Women of Larchmont

Our annual section, which has honored local women since 1965, will be published in the August issue. of the Larchmont Chronicle. Advertising deadline is Mon., Aug. 16. For more information contact Pam Rudy, 323-462-2241, ext. 11.

By Billy Taylor There has been a lot of change on Larchmont Boulevard over the past couple of years, in particular because of the sale of the historic Lipson Building to Larry Taylor’s Christina Development from Malibu. In response, a group of local residents and stakeholders have begun the pro-

cess to discuss the future of the Larchmont Village shopping district — and they’re seeking your input!

As reported in the Larchmont Chronicle in April, the Larchmont Boulevard Association is spearheading the effort through its “Larchmont 2021” Committee, headed by LBA board member Patty Lombard.

Community was left out of Raman’s housing plan

n Motion considers affordable housing in parking lot president of the Greater MirBy Suzan Filipek A narrow Miracle Mile park- acle Mile Chamber of Coming lot has been suggested as merce (GMMCC).

He first heard of the proa possible location for some posal a few weeks form of affordable earlier and was not housing by Councontacted by the cilmember Nithya council office.

Raman. The propos“I understand the al has drawn contensions between cern from a nearby housing and parkschool, residents ing and other uses, and the business and they are all community. valid, but the parkRaman filed a ing in the whole motion last month Miracle Mile area to redevelop the 41-car city parking PARKING LOT on is appalling,” added lot at 728 Cochran Cochran is last city Kramer.

The Miracle Mile Avenue for per- parking in the Mile. was built with huge manent affordable housing and/or 100 percent department stores on Wilshire Boulevard with parking in the affordable housing.

“It’s hard to understand how rear, but those parcels are all she brought forth the motion apartments now, Kramer said.

While Kramer is a fan and a without talking to the local See Cochran, p 9 folks,” says Stephen Kramer,

The historic Lipson Building, which previously housed 13 ground-floor storefronts, was sold and boarded up by Christina, which now has a highend renovation underway.

Then the pandemic hit, which caused the closure of a number of other beloved stores, including Pickett Fences, as well as a proliferation of outdoor restaurant seating areas taking up metered parking spaces.

What kind of future do local residents and stakeholders want for Larchmont Boulevard, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year? That See Larchmont 2021, p 4

On the BOulevard

Larchmont Centennial event October 24 n Association’s plans evolving

By John Welborne After careful evaluation of the options at the beginning of June, and again in the middle of that month, the board of directors of the Larchmont Boulevard Association (LBA) settled upon an exciting combination approach for celebrating the Boulevard’s Centennial in October.

See On the Blvd., p 23

www.larchmontchronicle.com ~ Entire Issue Online!

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Editorial

Calendar

By John Welborne

Legislators should focus on SCA 2, not on SB 9, SB 10 and their like I agree with our columnist Marilyn Wells (The NIMBY Diaries, Page 10 of Section 2) that affordable housing needs to be built.

However, the many current, developer-backed bills in Sacramento (such as SB 9 and SB 10) absolutely do not achieve that.

Those and most other “housing” bills in the legislature are written by, and for, real estate developers ... to allow them to continue squeezing in as much expensive housing as the market will bear. But definitely not “affordable” housing.

The only way that I can see to get affordable housing built is for Sacramento politicians to allocate billions of our tax dollars to experienced affordable housing developers to construct exclusively affordable housing — for a broad range of lower-income occupants. To do that, however, it first seems necessary to amend a racist 1950s-era impediment that is in our California Constitution.

To that, not the developer’s favored bills like SB 9 and 10, is where our Sacramento legislators should be devoting their attention. They should be working to get Senate Constitutional Amendment 2 (SCA 2, whose sponsors include local state Sen. Ben Allen) on the November 2022 ballot. We need to eliminate an impediment to actually building affordable public housing.

We Have News!

Keeping our Hancock Park residents and surrounding neighbors updated and sharing important information on local, city and statewide issues — especially those that impact our neighborhood and quality of life — is very important to the Hancock Park Homeowners Association.

We feel strongly that our ability to communicate with you and share timely fact-based information is crucial! Equally important is being able to respond to our residents’ questions and concerns in a timely manner.

We’re Expanding Our Reach and Want to Hear From You

We are adding a number of new ways to reach you as well as expanding our existing networks. Here are some of the ways you can find us, hear from us and communicate with us: • In the Larchmont Buzz - Home - Larchmont Buzz - Hancock Park News – on a regular basis • In the Beverly Press - https://beverlypress.com/ - Local news since 1946 News/ Beverly Press • On our website www.HancockPark.org • Join our email list. We send important information notifications so you’ll know what’s going on in our neighborhood. Join our email list by using the form on our website at https://hancockparkhomeownersassociation.org/ Contact or contact Jennifer DeVore at jendevore@gmail. com or Cindy Chvatal-Keane at snorekel@gmail.com.

Planning a remodel on your Hancock Park home?

If you’re planning to make any changes to the streetvisible portion of your house, hardscaping and windows, check with our HPOZ Planner Suki Gershenhorn (suki. gershenhorn@lacity.org) before starting. The HPOZ Preservation Plan, which regulates our HPOZ, can be found at preservation.lacity.org/hpoz/la/hancock-park.

There is also an online form available - preservation. lacity.org/hpoz/initial.screening.checklist. Report graffiti sightings by calling 311 or at the City’s Anti-Graffiti Request System: laocb.org/programs/graffiti-abatement and by calling Hollywood Beautification, 323-463-5180.

Adv.

Sun., July 4 — Independence Day. Mon., July 5 — Independence Day observed.

Wed., July 14 — Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council board meeting. Check greaterwilshire.org for details.

Thurs., July 29 — Delivery of the August issue of the Larchmont Chronicle.

‘How did you meet your pup?’

That’s the question inquiring photographer Caroline Tracy asked locals along Larchmont Blvd.

Letters to the Editor Hancock Park, LADOT

Thanks to Suzan Filipek for the excellent article [June 2021, p. 4] on whether Fourth Street needs additional traffic lights (at Highland and at Rossmore). I ride through frequently, both weekdays and weekends, and I feel the clear answer is no. You don’t have to wait that long to have plenty of time to transit, with long red lights one block north at Third and one block south at Sixth. A signal light would often hold up 2-3 cars, when the pedestrian or cyclist could just wait a few seconds for the cars to pass before proceeding.

A light is even less needed on Highland, where one can walk half way to the median.

It sounds old-fashioned, but we haven’t had a light there, and we don’t suddenly need one now, from my perspective as a regular user of Fourth Street.

Bruce Quinn Hancock Park

Rossmore apartments

Since I was quoted in the article [“GWNC Land Use considers historic Rossmore apartment project,” May 2021 issue], I must reply to your p.r. piece. 1) This project has

Larchmont Chronicle Founded in 1963 by Jane Gilman and Dawne P. Goodwin .

.

Publisher and Editor John H. Welborne Managing Editor Suzan Filipek Associate Editor Billy Taylor Contributing Editor Jane Gilman Staff Writers Talia Abrahamson Helene Seifer Advertising Director Pam Rudy Advertising Sales Caroline Tracy Art Director Tom Hofer Classified and Circulation Manager Rachel Olivier Accounting Jill Miyamoto 606 N. Larchmont Blvd., #103

Los Angeles, CA 90004 323-462-2241 larchmontchronicle.com

52 parking spaces for 225 proposed residents. 2) The bedroom stalls are about 119 square feet and will rent for 1850 to 2000 a month. 3) The redevelopment replaces 78 RSO units and reframes the building to market value. 4) Nobody in the neighborhood wants this. 5) No one was mean to the developers, just stating their thoughts. 6) It is not just a renovation, it is adding 5 floors and two wings and will take years to complete. 7) Not listening to the community and telling them to get out of the way is disgraceful.

Cinzia Zanetti Hancock Park This is a travesty for that neighborhood. This isn’t a restoration, but a price gouging development of nonaffordable housing. The tiny square footage creates a transient clientele, which removes any sense of neighborhood.

The price is ridiculous and displaces long term tenants.

The ruination of that classic building is heartbreaking as well. Inadequate parking adds to the chaos of not enough street parking. How is that getting passed by the City? In such a historical and classic neighborhood in Los Angeles, I ask where is the Historical Society in this? Where is the protection of our historic buildings? Who the heck wants to live in a tiny box, or bedroom slot? Is this the unkind answer to the unaffordable housing crisis facing this entire country, to have people living in box-sized bedrooms? Who does this aim at for $1800-$2000 per month?

Rude developers telling residents of the area to “get out of the way” of their project are just a sign of the inhumane times to come in a city where developers can run amok.

We should all write to our City Council reps and decry this gross and out of scale development.

Suzanne England Hollywood Write us at letters@larchmontchronicle.com. Include your name, contact information and where you live. We reserve the right to edit for space and grammar.

“We met Foxy when she was four months old. We had been promising Aria a dog, and our neighbor had just rescued him from an abandoned house in Laurel Canyon. We said we’d take him for a week, and after just two days we were smitten and said we’d keep him.”

Susie Landau (left) and her daughter, Aria Finch, with “Foxy”

“My husband works at Children’s Hospital, and he found Mauby behind a dumpster near there. We had been thinking of getting a dog, so we took him in. When we took him to the vet they suspected he was about six months old and had probably been on the streets for most of that time.

He’s a little survivor. My friend was actually so inspired by him that she named her clothing line after him, MAUBY. He’s named Mauby because he was found on Maubert Ave.” Hannah and “Mauby” Kwon

“I rescued Tedi from a shelter the day he was set to be put down. I told them I wanted the worst dog, the dog nobody wanted … and he was the one. He had bit someone because the person approached him quickly and, because he was neglected for so long, he didn’t know how to be around people or how to be touched.

He was also half deaf and fully blind. Tedi is now with his fur-ever family and is a loving, happy pup.”

Jen Friel and Theodore “Tedi” Manford (Please turn to page 22)

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Children’s Hospital ranked fifth in U.S. and top in the West Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has again been ranked the top children’s hospital in California, the topranked children’s hospital in the Pacific region of the United States and the No. 5 children’s hospital in the country, according to “U.S. News & World Report’s” annual Best Children’s Hospitals list.

The June 15 announcement was the third straight year CHLA has achieved a top5 national ranking on “U.S. News’” Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals. CHLA also was the top-ranked children’s hospital in “U.S. News’” new Pacific region, which encompasses Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.

“I am grateful to ‘U.S. News & World Report’ for once again affirming that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles provides the highest quality care from the most qualified specialists in the Pacific region,” says Paul S. Viviano, CHLA President and Chief Executive Officer of the hospital at 4650 Sunset Blvd.

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YOUTH SPORTS.

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SCHOOL NEWS ENTERTAINMENT On the Menu Theater Movies

13 18 19 20

SECTION TWO VIEW:

Real Estate Libraries, Museums Home & Garden

DYNAMIC FORESTERS. 6 HOME GROUND 4 ON PRESERVATION 8 REAL ESTATE SALES 10 THE NIMBY DIARIES 10 LIBRARIES 12 MUSEUMS 12 POLICE BEAT 14 POKER FOR ALL 15 BEEZWAX 15 CLASSIFIED ADS 15

THE HOSPITAL ON SUNSET BOULEVARD is ranked as the top children’s hospital in the Pacific region of the United States.

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Larchmont Chronicle

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Larchmont 2021

view of the “Q” Conditions from John Kaliski, a Windsor (Continued from page 1) Village resident and architect is the question that Larch- and urban planner. The “Q” mont 2021 participants seek conditions are special zoning to study through a series of code regulations that govern community conversations. business uses on Larchmont Conversation series Boulevard. Real estate consulThe first conversation, tant Rob York was then to join titled “Main Street Retail” was Kaliski for a facilitated converannounced after press time sation about retail planning for last month’s issue of the and market analysis. Andrew Larchmont Chronicle, and it Thomas, with the Westwood was scheduled to take place Village Improvement AssociaJune 28, after the Chronicle’s tion, was expected to participress time for this month’s pate on the 28th as well.

YEAR issue. According to Lombard, Second session: July 12 YOU! this online study session was The second conversation, to discuss a short review of titled “Main Street Placing,” the history of with… the shopping scheduled the holiday stresses SPA, spin,isDMH , manifor pedJuly 12 at 7 street, followed by an over- p.m., also to be held online.

LARCHMONT IS BACK IN BUSINESS! Come visit us

©LC0721

or Go Online: larchmont.com

At this meeting, experts in placemaking strategies will present to the group. Speakers include Howard Blackson, an urban designer with a background in neighborhood development and advocacy, and Lindsey Wallace, Director of Strategic Projects and Design Services for the Main Street America Institute, part of the National Trust for His-

toric Preservation.

Third session: July 26 A third conversation, a “Community Listening Session,” is scheduled for July 26 at 7 p.m., again to be held online. Building off the two previous sessions, key neighborhood stakeholders will participate in a facilitated conversation.

All three sessions are open

to the public and are to have been — in the case of the first session — and will be recorded. Lombard says that the committee will share a report on the working consensus derived at the sessions including recommendations for next steps at Larchmont2021. com, where you now can get updates and register to attend the conversation series.

Project Angel Food delivers hope, love, meals

By Suzan Filipek The pandemic pushed Project Angel Food to ramp up and cook more meals than ever before — a whopping million were prepared and delivered last year, twice the number from the year before.

The increase brought a total of 14 million meals served since the nonprofit opened its doors four decades ago.

Project Angel Food founder Marianne Williamson presented the 14-millionth meal at a celebration last month at the group’s headquarters at 922 Vine Street.

Richard E., a client living with HIV, accepted the packaged meal and thanked the group for its “unconditional” support all these years.

“We feed the sick, the hungry and the alone,” Richard Ayoub, executive director of Project Angel Food, told us before the outdoor ceremony.

But “we have never forgotten our roots,” he added.

Founded in 1989 as a response to the AIDS epidemic, Project Angel Food has expanded since its beginnings to prepare and deliver medically

CELEBRATING were Richard Ayoub, TV host Sandra Lee and Marianne Williamson.

tailored meals for anyone with critical health issues.

Today, kitchen staff and volunteers prep and deliver 2,306 meals a day to people throughout Los Angeles County.

Following a performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Grammy Awardwinning singer Rufus Wain-

Locals to be feted

by LANTL July 15

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT) will honor Julie and Winston Stromberg, of Brookside, at its annual Garden Party on July 15 at 6 p.m.

The Strombergs have devoted much time aiding LANLT in its mission of creating more green space in underserved areas. The event will take place over Zoom and feature a “live” cocktail toast. To register visit lanlt.org.

wright, Williamson took the microphone and recounted the history of Project Angel Food’s founding.

Telethon July 17 Williamson announced that Project Angel Food’s next Telethon, “Lead With Love 2021: As Long As It Takes,” will air on Sat., July 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. on KTLA 5 with performances by Gloria Estefan, Vanessa Williams and others.

“You’re not just delivering food, particularly in the early days when people who had AIDS were treated like pariahs,” said Williamson.

“Every moment we are called upon to be decent and conscious,” Williamson said.

To learn more, visit angelfood.org.

GWNC committee opposes request to sell hard liquor The Land Use Committee of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, on June 22, voted to recommend that the full GWNC board oppose the application by new restaurant “Great White” for a liquor license to sell a full line of alcoholic beverages until midnight in the former Prado and Café Parisien space. The other nine Larchmont restaurants selling alcohol only are permitted to sell beer and wine, and generally only until about 10 p.m.

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Rediscover La Brea Tar Pits Come see science in action outdoors and indoors in the world’s only urban Ice Age excavation site right here in the heart of L.A. New discoveries happening daily!

Buy your tickets today TARPITS.ORG Members visit for free.

Join today!

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Push to make informal dog park in Robert L. Burns Park official

By Billy Taylor Several months ago, Larchmont Village resident Michael Knowles and his family adopted a rescue puppy named Tuesday.

And like most good dog owners, Knowles wanted to locate a local dog park for Tuesday to enjoy. He didn’t find much.

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks lists 12 dog parks spread across the city, but none is located near Larchmont. The two closest dog parks are in Runyon Canyon and Silver Lake.

Having lived in the neighborhood for the past nine years,

the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Beverly Boulevard.

“It seems like the back area of the park has been used as a dog area for years. I used to bring my son when he was a SOME NEIGHBORS are hoping to open a dog baby, and we’d park in Robert L. Burns Park. watch the dogs Knowles could recall residents play,” Knowles told the Chronregularly playing with their icle last month.

After chatting with some dogs in Robert L. Burns Park, located in Windsor Square on other dog owners at the park,

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Knowles learned that many residents have used the park as a de facto dog park for years.

“Why not add a fence to a small section of the park and make it official?” wondered Knowles.

To start the process, Knowles took to social media site Nextdoor to gauge the community’s support. Within days, more than 50 comments were posted.

“I’d love to see that happen. There is nothing like that around here,” said Windsor Square resident Kathleen Losey. “This would be fab… would add so much to the area,” said Windsor Square resident Cheryl Faber.

Encouraged by the support, Knowles set up a petition and asked the community to sign.

“This is a win-win for everyone in the neighborhood,” read the petition, which has so far received 84 signatures.

Knowles says that he took the idea, and petition, to Councilmember Raman’s office. “I finally got in touch with the field deputy, Su In Lee, and we traded a few emails, but I could tell it was not a high priority,” said Knowles. First, Raman’s office told him to petition the Parks Department with the idea, which Knowles did. But then Raman’s office told him he would need to prove community support, and they advised him to contact Gary Gilbert, who represents Windsor Square on the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. The two men talked, but there were more questions than answers. That was in March.

The Chronicle followed up with Gilbert last month on the issue. Gilbert told us that he thought the idea was interesting, noting how he also has witnessed the park’s current use as a de facto dog park, but he was sober about the prospects. “I can remember that this idea was proposed by a resident not that long ago, and when it was discussed at a meeting, everyone that showed up was against it. So I felt like some research was needed to find out why there was opposition,” said Gilbert. At that point he could take the idea to the Windsor Square Association, of which he is a board member.

Following our conversation, Gilbert contacted Councilmember Raman’s office to renew the discussion and request how to get information from the Department of Recreation and Parks.

(323) 466-0066 578 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004 • www.awespawellness.com

©LC0621

Blood drive July 1, 2 at Farmers Market The Cedars-Sinai Bloodmobile Bus will be parked at the Original Farmers Market, 6333 W. Third St., at the Clock Tower, Thurs., July 1 and Fri., July 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Walkups are encouraged.

Your thoughts?

If you support — or oppose — the idea, residents are invited to contact Raman staffer Su In Lee at 213-473-7004 or suin.lee@lacity.org “I think the only way there’s going to be any action, is if hundreds of residents contact Councilmember Raman’s office,” said Knowles.

skin

deep

by Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald Q: I know sunscreen is the best way to protect my skin from aging. How can I make sure I’m getting the maximum benefits?

A: I can’t tell you how often I hear patients say, ‘I’m never in the sun.’

Even if you don’t lay out by a pool or on the beach, if you live on the planet Earth, especially in the city of Los Angeles, you’re getting sun.

I see the effects of underestimated sun accumulation on people’s faces every day.

Here are the most common mistakes people tend to make when it comes to using sunscreen: #1. Relying on the SPF in your makeup or moisturizer. There often simply is not enough sun protection in these products to do the job. #2. Not applying enough sunscreen. That dollop intended for your face should be at least the size of a quarter. #3. Habitually skipping certain areas such as your chest, neck - front and sides, your ears, and the backs of your hands. #4. Forgetting to reapply. This is easy enough to correct - simply smooth on more sunscreen at lunch.

But if ruining your makeup is preventing you from reapplying, clear mineral powders with SPF, such as Colorescience Sunforgettable BrushOn Powder Sunscreen, use the portable brush to dust lightweight powder over your skin (makeup and all).

Choose your sunscreen wisely. As a reminder, chemical sunscreens work like a sponge to absorb those rays, while mineral (also called physical) sunscreens use minerals as their active ingredient to provide a physical barrier between you and the sun. We find patients will all skin types, even sensitive, tolerate mineral sunscreen the best.

Some of our favorites include: SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion, Skinbetter TONE SMART, Skin Medica Total Defense + Repair, Alastin HydraTint Pro Mineral, Tizo Mineral SPF, and Isdin Eryfotana Actinica.

Either way you go, choose broad spectrum with a high SPF (60 or greater if you plan to be outside).

Pssst…from bucket to floppy, a fabulous variety of hat silhouettes are back!

Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald is a Board Certified Dermatologist located in Larchmont Village with a special focus on anti-aging technology. She is a member of the Botox Cosmetic National Education Faculty and is an international Training Physician for Dermik, the makers of the injectable Sculptra. She is also among a select group of physicians chosen to teach proper injection techniques for Radiesse, the volumizing filler, around the world. Dr. Fitzgerald is an assistant clinical professor at UCLA. Visit online at www.RebeccaFitzgeraldMD.com or call (323) 464-8046 to schedule an appointment. Adv.

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Larchmont Chronicle

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Clubs celebrate (Continued from page 1)

100-YEAR-OLD Los Angeles Tennis Club is back in operation.

POST-PANDEMIC BARBECUE is planned by The Ebell of Los Angeles in August. Above, the event in 2019.

afloat by renting to film companies and providing members with numerous programs over Zoom every week, the club is tiptoeing into in-person programming with a Caribbeanthemed barbecue for members and their guests in the clubhouse courtyard August 8.

Ebell president Patty Lombard is eager to introduce The Ebell’s new executive chef, Tommy Bellissimo, at the barbecue

Ebell installs new board, officers

325 N. Larchmont Boulevard, #158 Los Angeles, California 90004 www.windsorsquare.org 157 N. Larchmont Boulevard

Speed Kills

The horrific automobile accident that occurred last month at the northwest corner of Rimpau Boulevard and Third Street, killing the car’s driver and causing major fire damage to a house, serves as a sobering reminder of the dangers posed by unsafe driving in our residential community. The young driver in this incident seems to have lost control while racing eastbound on Third at very high speed. While this is an extreme example, there is no doubt that many of our streets feel less safe as more motorists use them as quick shortcuts, with little regard for speed limits, stops signs or turn restrictions.

Third Street has always been a hazardous thoroughfare, especially at the intersection of Larchmont Blvd. Drivers can gain speed heading west in the long stretch between traffic lights from Norton to Larchmont, endangering other cars and the many pedestrians entering from or crossing at Larchmont. The addition of restricted turn signs at Plymouth and Windsor is one recent effort to help prevent collisions and traffic tie-ups.

Sadly, many people simply ignore these signs, just as they ignore the “STOP” signs throughout Windsor Square.

Fourth Street, for example, is particularly susceptible to speeders trying to beat traffic, who ignore the boulevard stop signs.

What can we do? Most importantly, don’t contribute to the problem by driving inconsiderately ourselves. (Police report that many people ticketed for ignoring the restricted turn signs at Plymouth and Windsor have been local residents!) Don’t create hazards by parking illegally, such as in the middle of Larchmont Blvd. Ensure that family members of all ages understand such basics as looking both ways before crossing a street, only crossing busy streets at traffic lights, and riding bikes and scooters safely and legally.

©LC0721

Additionally, send your ideas on how to improve traffic safety in the neighborhood (such as installing traffic lights or speed bumps on a busy street) to us at wsinfo@ windsorsquare.org, or contact Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office. With enough neighborhood support, maybe we can make Windsor Square a safer place to live.

The Windsor Square Association, an all-volunteer group of residents from 1100 households between Beverly and Wilshire and Van Ness and Arden, works to preserve and enhance our beautiful neighborhood. Join with us! Drop us a line at 325 N. Larchmont Blvd., #158, Los Angeles, CA 90004, or visit our website at windsorsquare.org.

ADV.

dinner. Bellissimo developed his culinary chops at The Ebell, having started as a kitchen utility worker in 2011, working his way up under the guidance of the club’s previous chefs.

Lombard adds, “We also want to thank our members for their steadfast support and celebrate getting back into the building!”

The public will be invited back to The Ebell in October for the start of the traditional programming year.

The Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC) is operating closer to business as usual since the dropping of County health restrictions mid-June.

Board president Michelle Weiss cautions that they closely monitor county and California OSHA guidelines which could change based on infection statistics, and they are also cognizant of people’s hesitancy regarding returning to what used to be considered normal.

OSHA has declared that all who are vaccinated can go maskless, but, as of this writing, LATC is still evaluating its own policy.

Only members with reser-

By Helene Seifer New officers of the board of directors of The Ebell of Los Angeles were installed last month. Fremont Place resident Patty Lombard, who started her first year as Ebell president on July 1, 2020, mid-pandemic, continues as president for her second and final year.

Christy McAvoy, the newly elected director of house, theatre and grounds, brings enormous expertise to the task of helping maintain the club’s 94-year-old historic building. A past president of the Los Angeles Conservancy and an advisor of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, she co-founded Historic Resources Group in Hollywood (and she was a columnist for the Larchmont Chronicle for many years!).

New board member Denise Parga is director of collections and will oversee The Ebell’s extensive holdings of paintings, furniture, silver, antique clocks and a costume collection of more than 800 pieces, some dating back to the mid-1800s.

To oversee grants to organizations that help women and children, Stephanie Kaiser is director of the Rest Cottage Association (RCA). Hancock Park resident Anne Lynch is the new director of scholarship.

Liza Ameen is director of public relations and marketing, and Elizabeth Yeo is board secretary. Two local residents were elected to serve second two-year terms: Lizzie Blatt, of Windsor Square, continues as director of publications, and Madelyn Murray, of Brookside, continues as director of finance.

Other continuing board members are: mid-Wilshire

resident Laurie Schechter, vice president; Windsor Square resident Donna Russell, treasurer; Phyllis Hansen, programs; Aretha Green, membership; Janis Barquist, governance; and Lorraine Spector, development.

vations had been allowed to access the club during the pandemic, but now guests are allowed. Exercise equipment, which had been moved outside for safer use, is back in the gym, and doubles tennis has been reinstated. “Usually we have a buffet afterwards,” says Weiss. “During this time, food was ordered, not grabbed.”

The Los Angeles Tennis Club’s 100th anniversary fell during the black hole of the pandemic in 2020 and was marked only by a members’ Zoom commemoration. Weiss reports that they are now planning a large in-person milestone celebration.

Reflecting the excitement felt throughout the city and beyond, LATC president Weiss is relieved that the club’s social activities can resume, including a Fourth of July barbecue for members and their guests.

She sighs, “We definitely turned a corner.”

Gia Marakas

Classically trained

Certified Pilates Instructor ©LC1020

lowed during most of the pandemic, so the country club remained busy during the months when so many businesses shut down completely.

Now, he says, the club can add more dining tables and welcome more members and their guests.

“The biggest issue is labor,” Enzler states, echoing the sentiment so many in the service sector are finding. Serving and maintenance jobs are remaining unfilled, which affects how many people the club can accommodate.

“We usually have 1,500 people here for July 4th. This year, we’ll allow 700.” Enzler explains further that, in the past, members sometimes brought up to 30 guests. This year, they’ll each be limited to six.

Another local club facing post-pandemic opening decisions is The Ebell of Los Angeles. After a year of keeping

COVID-friendly one-on-one instruction Longtime Hancock Park resident

info@giamarakas.com

323-697-0048

Larchmont Chronicle

Cochran

(Continued from page 1) rider of public transportation, the city is not poised to let go of cars just yet, he added.

The Cochran Avenue public parking lot is the last public lot he knows of in the area.

“This is the only game in town in the Miracle Mile.”

“This is not a good idea for the neighborhood, and it is very close to the school,” said Tina Kipp, principal of Cathedral Chapel School.

Besides safety for the school’s children and for nuns at a retirement home, both directly across Cochran from the lot, Kipp said the project is poised for a hyper-swift movement forward, as developers might be recruited to review the site in 45 days. “That’s a huge concern. They said they would have subterranean parking. We’re not really sure what they will do,” said Kipp.

The lot serves as the sole parking option for the K-8 elementary school (established in 1930) as well as for patrons of Wilshire Boulevard businesses and area residents.

“Parking is an issue. All the street parking is restricted.

But more than that, it’s the safety, and that we were not consulted,” said Kipp.

Kipp actually had asked Raman at a Greater Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce meeting in May about the proposed project.

According to an article in the June issue of the Larchmont Chronicle, “During the Q&A portion [of the GMMCC meeting], concerns arose about a rumored homeless shelter site on a city public parking lot across from Cathedral Chapel School on S. Cochran.

“Raman explained that no such project had been approved yet, but promised to look into the matter and work together with any business affected by future site locations.”

According to Kipp, the councilmember said at the chamber meeting that she would get back to her, but never did.

Raman did eventually meet with school and church officials on June 15, but the motion had already been filed that morning, said Kipp.

Raman said she would forward a fact sheet to the school about the project, but that too has not been received as of press time.

Residents “Ms. Raman has spoken about co-governance and transparency, but she did not reach out to the neighborhood to, at a minimum, explore the pros and cons of her proposal,” says Greg Goldin, president of the Miracle Mile Residential Association (MMRA).

“The MMRA,” he added, “in no way opposes 100 percent

JULY 2021

affordable housing or supportive housing. We just want to be sure that there is community input from the onset. …

How can the City conduct a feasibility study without community input? Isn’t the community voice part of what makes a project feasible?

“In addition, we are very concerned that the Cathedral Chapel School is almost directly across the street from the site Ms. Raman wishes to consider, and we very much want the school to have its concerns fully addressed in any feasibility study that might be conducted. We are also aware that nearby businesses and residents depend on this parking lot, and we would want their needs addressed.”

The school lost a parking lot behind Kinko’s due to development already, Kipp said, “so we don’t have any other choices for parking except the street, which has so many restrictions.

“There has been no con-

SECTION ONE

CATHEDRAL CHAPEL SCHOOL is directly across the street from the proposed narrow housing site.

sultation on the part of the councilwoman’s office with the school community, the Guadalupana Sisters who live in the retirement facility next to the school on 8th Street, the neighbors on Cochran Avenue, or the Miracle Mile Residential Association. This is a grave concern that our voices have not been heard at this point. This motion should not go forward until she has

heard the concerns from her constituents,” Kipp said.

Raman’s motion Raman’s motion directs city staff to study the feasibility of redeveloping the Cochran site and one at 1905 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood with affordable housing.

These sites would include built-in supportive services and be for people experiencing homelessness or for affordable

9

housing. Depending on the findings, the City Administrative Officer will begin the process of initiating a request for proposals.

Concurrently, Raman has also introduced a motion which, if adopted, would direct the Planning Department, Housing Department and Department of Building and Safety to develop a plan to streamline the approval of 100 percent affordable housing projects citywide. She suggests five strategies for speeding approval times, including modifying site plan review thresholds (which are currently imposed on projects with 50 or more residential units or 50,000 square feet of floor area) and shortening appeal periods.

“We’ve seen over and over the real barriers affordable housing developers face in this city,” said Raman in a Tweet.

“If we want more affordable housing, we must make it easier and faster to build.”

10

Larchmont Chronicle

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Our pets enjoy kisses, walks on Larchmont and dressing up

By Suzan Filipek We asked neighbors to send photos of their best furry friends for our annual Pets of Larchmont issue. And they did not disappoint!

There’s Cowboy, a friendly Aussie-koolie, who’s “as cute as he is handsome,” and Rita, who is enjoying the good life after living on the streets of Mexico.

Sally, a yellow 1-year-old Labrador, likes to kiss her new Windsor Square neighbor, Holly, a ginger mini-goldendoodle who turns 2 this month.

So Laura Juncker, a painter and owner of the goldendoodle, got an idea.

“We moved in a few months ago … and I made a Charlie Brown-style kissing booth with Finest quality meats and sausages

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SALLY, “THE KISSER,” is in, top and next to her namesake; Holly is resting below the wall at her Windsor Square home.

Mulligan.

Reggie, of S. Norton Avenue, enjoys looking for squirrels at Robert L. Burns Park, Andrea Romero tells us. However, “Larchmont is his favorite block to walk on because of potentially dropped snacks!!”

Another dog who likes to stroll the Boulevard is Willie.

“He has many friends there, and we walk it every day — sometimes twice!” says Michael Soriano, who lives on Van Ness Avenue and Clinton Street.

“Willie loves to sit out in front of Groundwork and watch all the dogs and people walk by.” His favorite

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store, though, is the newly opened Tailwaggers. “The people that work there are so nice and give him treats. The owner, Todd Warner, will always fall to his knees so Willie can lick his face. It’s quite a sight.”

(Please turn to page 11)

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some of our leftover cardboard from the move and painted this for Sally, who is named after the classic Peanuts character,” explains Laura.

“Both Holly and Sally like to peek over and play when they can. Both girls love kisses and treats,” she adds.

And, at 5 cents each, who resist “Sensational Kisses,” as the sign reads.

In Windsor Square, Bruno is a devoted reader of the Chronicle, Andy Goodman and Carolyn Ramsay tell us.

The pug lives with his human companions on Norton Avenue “and, as you can see by the look on his face, all he wants to know is when you’re going to play with him,” Goodman adds.

“Oreo is 15, believe it or not!” say Matt and Lia Young of their youthful looking blackand-white feline. “Her favorite thing to do is smell flowers, but playing video games is a close second,” adds Matt, who lives near Harold Henry Park.

Alistair, an orange-colored cat, is a talkative and energetic three-year-old rescue from Best Friends with “one eye, zero problems,” Corey Barger, Rossmore Avenue, tells us.

Stanley and Stella enjoy each other’s company at home on Beachwood in Windsor Square, say Ron and Melanie

STANLEY & STELLA on Beachwood.

REGGIE is a regular at Robert Burns Park.

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

BUDDY AND CHARLIE live on Rossmore Avenue.

Pets

(Continued from page 10) Jon Dubrick lives with his wife Phoebe and two dogs on Rossmore. “The black dog is Charlie, and I can never pick just one [photo] of Buddy,” says John.

“We’re in Larchmont every week,” says Matt Tenggren, who is pictured with Max, his 10 year-old dog, trying out their new inflatable stand-up paddle board in Marina del Rey. When not on Larchmont or the Marina, they are at home in Miracle Mile.

“Sofia got hit by a car in December near her home on Beverly and Gower (where we live) but has fully recovered and is better than ever,” Paul Nankivell tells us. She enjoys walks with Paul and Candice in Han-

cock Park and walking up and down Larchmont Boulevard.

“Where has the time gone?” asks Susie Goodman. “We are on Quarantine Day 450.

Our gorgeous Puppy Sophie is now 20 months old and enjoys being the center of attention all day every day.

“As you know, most of Puppy Sophie’s life has been spent in

WILLIE is a regular on Larchmont.

quarantine at home, but she has continued to enjoy walking around our neighborhood adhering to social distancing guidelines and meeting local humans and hounds.

“Puppy Sophie makes everyday wonderful and eventful,” adds Goodman, of S. Plymouth Boulevard for 48 years.

When Beau, a 13-year-old Havanese of Windsor Square, isn’t walking with his best buddies in the hood, Puppy Sophie and Baguette, he is walking along Larchmont Boulevard, Adrienne and Stephen Cole on Beachwood Drive tell us. “His new favorite spot is Tailwaggers pet store where he gets treats, great toys, leashes and more.

He loves to hang out with his parents at Peet’s Coffee so he can sniff out new friends.”

Brian Choynake and Jeff Bryan take turns walking their dogs Shady and Rudy early mornings and late afternoons in their Beachwood Drive neighborhood of eight years. “We have met numerous other pets and their owners,” Brian tells us.

Robin Jameson says her two Dobermans, Sonny, 1-1/2 years, and Josie, 11 years young, and Blink, 12, “the boss

SECTION ONE

WHEN not on the Boulevard, Matt and Max head to the Marina.

cat … thankfully, get along.”

They live on South Lucerne Boulevard.

Rita, short for Señorita, was rescued recently from

the streets of Mexico and now enjoys Larchmont on her daily walks, says Grace Suh of First and Wilton.

(Please turn to page 12)

SOFIA has had a full recovery.

PUPPY SOPHIE enjoys life on Plymouth Boulevard.

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Pets

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION ONE

Cheeks, a one-year-old brownpatched torbie Maine coon, (Continued from page 11) enjoys playing in running water, tipping over her water Sully, a black satin cat, plays bowl and splashing in the toiwith Lamb Chop, a toy Patrick let, Julia Dalton tells us.

“Maine coons are an active breed,” she explains. “Rosie keeps the Daltons constantly entertained with her playful antics!”

At 15, George is a “superchill tabby mix,” with a sense of humor and a love of dressup, Allex Macormick Marx and daughter Charli tell us.

Cowboy, his brother in animal spirit, “is as sweet as he is handsome!”

The 3½-year-old Cowboy is an Aussie-koolie mix. (“German immigrants to Australia pronounced collie ‘koolie,’ and so it came to be,” says Macormick.)

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Marks of N. Rossmore Avenue picked up for her recently at Tailwaggers.

Max is a French bulldog extraordinaire, say Anne

McAlllister and daughter Carina, who is a Third Street Elementary Student. They live in Miracle Mile North.

In Fremont Place, Miss Rosie

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DOBERMANS Sonny, left, and Josie with Blink, the “boss cat,” on Lucerne Boulevard.

RITA hails from the streets of Mexico.

MAX lives on Detroit Street.

SULLY, is playing here with her new toy, Lamb Chop.

GEORGE has a love of dressing up.

COWBOY gulps “puppachinos” on Larchmont.

MISS ROSIE CHEEKS keeps her family entertained.

EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF LOS ANGELES

By Hank Bauer 11th Grade

Now that the 2020-21 school year at the Episcopal School of Los Angeles has ended, students have been attending several ceremonies, the first and most commonly attended of which is Baccalaureate, which functions primarily as a chapel service, including songs and a sermon, that conclusively ends the school year. It also serves to formally swear in the members of next year’s Councils and the winner of our year-long team competition.

Unfortunately, the White Team won by 16 points. The entire community is allowed to attend Baccalaureate, either over Zoom

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or in person, and students are expected to wear ESLA’s formal uniform, although the coronavirus has dramatically loosened restrictions this year.

The other year-ending event is Senior Dinner. Unlike Baccalaureate, Senior Dinner is a feast exclusively for graduating seniors

and their families for reflection on their time at ESLA. Over delicious ESLA food, the faculty gives toasts to the members of the graduating class, reminding students of treasured memories one final time in order to send them off on the highest note possible during graduation.

CITIZENS OF THE WORLD CHARTER

we received news of a positive test. The school immediately did contact tracing, and those in contact with the infected person were then tested again and quarantined out of precaution.

The campus was cleaned twice for four hours, and nobody else had a positive test. Others who attended in-person school were back the next week, and there has not been a positive test since.

The school staff couldn’t have handled it better. This gave the students an idea of what would happen in the future if there is another positive test. With kids receiving the vaccine, I’m confident schools will have a great 2021-2022 school year.

By Roxy Thornton 6th Grade

In April, CWC (Citizens of the World) Silverlake Middle School reopened! The grades have been split into two cohorts. Cohort A attends in-person school on Monday and Tuesday, and Cohort B attends on Thursdays and Fridays. We have been in session for six weeks.

COVID tests took place on Mondays and Thursdays every week.

During the fourth week of school,

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K-8 Elementary and Middle School

Saint Brendan School 238 S. Manhattan Place Los Angeles, CA 90004 (213) 382-7401

TIMOTHY BURSCHINGER is a Fairfield University student.

Burschinger on dean’s list

Fairfield University, in Fairfield, Connecticut, has announced that local resident Timothy Burschinger was placed on the Spring 2021 Dean’s List. Burschinger, son of Michaela and Joseph Burschinger of Brookside, is a 2019 graduate of Loyola High School. There and at Fairfield, Burschinger has been a cross-country runner. At Loyola, he was senior crosscountry captain and also was vice president of the student council.

At Fairfield, in order to be placed on the Dean’s List, students must have completed a minimum of 12 credit hours in a semester, have no outstanding or incomplete grades for that semester, and have attained a semester grade point average of 3.50 or better.

Burschinger finished his sophomore year and is studying economics.

More furry friends on Windsor Blvd.

Fifteen-year-old black-andwhite cat Tux and his sister, marmalade cat Piggly Wiggly, live with and look after Catharine Clark, who has lived at her grandmother’s home on Windsor for 60 years.

office@stbrendanschoolLA.org www.stbrendanschoolla.org

In the heart of Los Angeles, just east of Hancock Park, is a jewel of a multi-cultural parochial school that has endured for over one hundred years.

St. Brendan School (SBS), named for the Irish navigator who braved the seas to found faith-based communities, is an accredited Catholic institution embracing the development of Gospel values and the living of Christian principles. Here students and families know one another well and reach out in times of joy and need.

The word “community” cannot be overemphasized; a hallmark of SBS is the big buddy system. The middle school students pair with the lower grades to navigated them through monthly Mass at St. Brendan Church, singing and art classes, and to offer delightful surprises at milestones throughout the school year.

Please call the office to schedule a campus tour.

Children applying for kindergarten must be 5 years old by September 1.

Applications can be obtained from our office or website.

13

©LC0321

Larchmont Chronicle

Now accepting applications for the 2021-2022 school year.

St. Brendan offers affordable tuition and an extensive variety of special programs and after school activities. From art to volleyball, student leadership to community service, SBS aims to shape well-rounded and happy children.

Our graduates matriculate to some of the best high schools in the country including: Loyola, Notre Dame, Harvard Westlake, Marymount, Marlborough, and Immaculate Heart.

We hope you join our wonderful community!

14

NEW COVENANT ACADEMY

By Dale Lee 10th Grade

The spring semester is finally over for the Huskies, but that does not mean the learning is.

NCA has fully reopened and is offering a summer enrichment program that began June 1 and runs until July 23, including

Larchmont Chronicle

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many different courses and extracurricular activities available for every grade level.

Middle-schoolers and under will take classes preparing them for the fall semester, and will also be able to join a vari-

ety of electives of their choosing. I’m excited to announce that NCA staff, student council, and past graduates have prepared a variety of clubs for students to join, adding to last year’s list. Clubs include chess, ping-pong, film, volleyball, soccer and many others.

High school students will also participate in the program but

will instead take an asynchronous course of their choosing which will add to their official transcripts. All students will complete 10 credits worth of coursework during the two months and have the option to join online Zoom meetings with teachers for assistance. Courses include accounting, chemistry, biology, trigonometry, psychology, journalism, pre-calculus, statistics, criminal investigation, and many others.

In addition, students are required to take a college essay course preparing them for the Common App Essay prompts and the UC personal insight questions. All of the summer courses are built to help Huskies with college preparation. Although no electives or

clubs are offered for high school students, they are free to join and help coordinate younger classes as volunteers.

Students will also be preparing for the newly implemented IB’s Primary Years Program and Middle Years Program. NCA had always used the IB Diploma Program for Juniors and Seniors but it will also now apply to younger grades. The courses teach Huskies to develop more critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and selfmanagement. New projects will help students explore big ideas that matter and develop skills for research. Hopefully, all of our students can use these new tools to their advantage!

WHITE HOUSE serves as a backdrop for St. Brendan students in Washington, D.C.

St. Brendan students visit nation’s capital highlights

IMMACULATE HEART

A Catholic, Independent, College Preparatory School For Girls Grades 6-12

By Billy Taylor A group of St. Brendan School students boarded an airplane in June and travelled to the nation’s capital to spend four days visiting monuments, museums and other cultural landmarks.

“It was an incredible experience,” 4th grade teacher Chelsea Calleja told us last month, days after the group returned to Los Angeles. “The students have been learning about many of the places that we visited, so it was really impactful to be able to show them where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech, and where Presidents stand during an inauguration.”

After departing LAX, the 16 students had a bumpy start to their adventure when, two hours into the flight, the pilot announced that the plane would return to Los Angeles due to a malfunction.

After a short delay, the group reboarded and set off again,

but didn’t arrive at their hotel until nearly 1 a.m.

The first morning, students were bussed to Williamsburg and Jamestown, where they toured the Governor’s Palace and explored the settlements.

“They were so exhausted from the flight that I don’t think they were taking in the significance of it all until we got to Jamestown, and they were able to visualize what it was like from the perspective of native Americans as well as the Europeans arriving in ships and how it all blended into the history that we know today,” said Calleja.

The next day, students walked the National Mall where they snapped photos of the White House, Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, to name a few.

“The students loved the chance to be able to walk up and down the National Mall, although the humidity and (Please turn to page 16)

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Larchmont Chronicle

SECTION ONE

JULY 2021

15

SOCIALLY DISTANT Immaculate Heart High School graduating seniors stood out around the Hollywood Bowl. Photo courtesy of Tyler Powell

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, the GALA class of 2021.

Photo courtesy of Carlos R. Hernandez

Graduation festivities continue into June

Graduation ceremonies continued into mid-June with many triumphant and jubilant seniors from neighborhood schools, such as Immaculate Heart and Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA), accepting diplomas. Graduates were socially distant and masked, but ceremonies were held in person.

Tyra Banks was the guest speaker at Immaculate Heart School’s 115th commencement at the Hollywood Bowl.

Danielle Sanchez was the student speaker.

This year was GALA’s second

AWARDS AND DIPLOMAS were presented at Loyola High School’s outdoor commencement.

TORA HOAR-VEA strides to the stage to get her GALA diploma.

Photos courtesy of Carlos R. Hernandez

G.A.L.A. CLASS of 2021 graduate Ashley Jung cheers after accepting her diploma.

class to graduate from the local academy, at an outdoor ceremony. Diplomas were presented to students by principal, Elizabeth Hicks.

At Loyola High School, the school’s 152nd commencement took place in an outdoor ceremony, passing out awards to graduating seniors.

LOYOLA GRADUATING SENIORS toss their caps at graduation.

IMMACULATE HEART High School seniors stride across the Hollywood Bowl stage to accept their diplomas.

Photo courtesy of Callie Webb

Larchmont Village

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Larchmont Chronicle

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Warriors end season with championships

WARRIORS PICTURED are the teams 7U Orange (above), 8U Blue (below), and 7U Blue (right).

Wilshire Warriors played their championship baseball games June 12 and 13 after winding down their spring season.

More than 500 kids between the ages of five and 14 participated this past season. Games and practices have been taking place at Pan Pacific Park, said Wilshire Warriors president emeritus, Tom Eisenhauer.

The 2021-22 club baseball season, which has a limited number of teams and runs September to August, will hold tryouts in August, President Luke Schugren said.

The 2022 spring recreational season — which runs March to June — will likely open registration at the beginning of December.

For more information, visit wilshirewarriors.com.

Have a Happy Summer!

St. Brendan

rain didn’t help,” admits Calleja, who says that the students were eager to push on.

Day three included a trip to Mount Vernon and a tour of the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. But it was day four that provided the “highlight” of the trip, according to Calleja, when the group was able to witness the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

“It was pouring rain, but the students understood the significance, and they showed so much respect — I was so proud of them,” says Calleja.

The days were long, starting with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and going until 9 p.m. most nights, and included a lot of walking.

“At times it was exhausting and a lot for the students to take in, but I think now they will be less likely to take what they learn in the classroom for granted. Also, being away from their parents required them to be responsible and take care of their things — I think that was a big lesson, too. But appreciating history by visiting the nation’s capital has a huge impact on them at this age,” says Calleja.

St. Brendan aims to repeat the trip every four or five years to allow each student a chance to visit if they want.

This year’s trip was expected to include 40 students, but many dropped out due to uncertainties regarding pandemic-related issues. Travel company WorldStrides Educational Travel was tapped to coordinate the itinerary and transportation for the trip.

MLK MEMORIAL, which stands 30-feet-high, was a highlight for students.

BAD WEATHER is not enough to stop the determined group of students, who wore masks and ponchos for protection while exploring the National Mall.

(Continued from page 14)

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AYSO readies for kickoff Sept. 1; sign up, volunteer

The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) fall soccer season starts Sept. 11 for Region 78, which covers Hollywood, Larchmont and Wilshire.

Registration is open now for kids ages 4 to 18, and names will go to a waitlist after Aug. 1 (for 7U Divisions and up), said Kurt Muller, regional commissioner.

“Last fall, we kept things going for boys and girls with our weekly skills clinics. While this was great at keeping players engaged with soccer and was also a much needed respite from their virtual day-today, they all really missed the games and excitement of the soccer season,” Muller said.

“Now we are really excited about our return this fall to a full season of games and playoffs.”

Coach and referee training is also in August “Of course, to make it all happen, we are counting on the same volunteer support that we’ve had for over 45 years,” Muller said. “We encourage all parents when they register to consider volunteering as a coach or referee. Aside from just being super fun, it’s a great way to reconnect within the community.”

The playing fields are still to be determined, but possibly Fairfax High and other locals fields.

For more information, email ayso78registrar@gmail. com or visit ayso78.info.

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

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17

Pinewood Derby spotlights craftsmanship as well as racing

LISTON SPEEDWAY, Larchmont — Despite a strong surge from Jace Kim’s yellow Spiderman car, Jaden De Guzman’s blue and red Streak held the lead in the final race to remain undefeated the entire day in Cub Scout Pack 16’s Bear and Wolf combined-dens Pinewood Derby at Liston Speedway in the heart of Larchmont on May 15.

What a day! With temperatures in the mid-70s, parent-spectators unfolded beach chairs on Cubmaster Alex Liston’s front lawn. The 32-footlong racetrack was laid out on her driveway, and the cub scouts sat on the cement closest to the action.

Ok, I get it — the Pinewood Derby isn’t really athletic, but it is sport. Consider activities like drag racing, darts and poker. The NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) season is featured on FOX Sports.

Premier League Darts can be seen on ESPN3, and of course World Series of Poker belongs to CBS Sports Network.

So, bring on the Blue and Gold’s Pinewood Derby!

In the pits Preparation for the races began early that Saturday.

With help from neighbor Gary Shaffer, den leaders — and dads — Andy Fiedler and Jan Huybrechs assembled the

Youth Sports by

Jim Kalin track in Liston’s driveway.

“Gary was super-helpful,” said Fiedler. “With the three of us, we got it done in about an hour.”

The real preparation for most of the racers began long before race day. Each scout received an official BSA (Boy Scouts of America) Pinewood Derby car kit, which consisted of four plastic tires, a small page of number decals, four axles (nails), and a rectangular pine block measuring 7” long and 2 ¾” wide.

Constructing a car is a personal project, though parents assist (hopefully) in the sawing and shaping of the body.

Tutorial videos on YouTube are helpful, offering hints to maximize performance. The car cannot weigh more than five ounces, so one site suggested baking the wood block in the oven two hours at 250 degrees to remove moisture and bring down the weight. This enables the scout to modify his car later by drilling a hole on the underside just before the rear axles

Bronfman Fellowship taps local student as cohort

Marlborough School student Beverly Cohen was selected last month as a cohort for the 2021 Bronfman Fellowship year.

Cohen is one of 26 fellows, chosen from 177 applicants, to participate in a transformative Fellowship-year experience of study and conversation centered around pluralism, social responsibility and Jewish text.

The 2021 program will begin with an immersive summer at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in the Berkshire Mountains of Connecticut.

The Marlborough junior was tapped for the honor, in part, because of her activities and qualifications. She volunteers in her free time at Teen Line, where she has been a hotline responder for three years. She is a member of Marlborough’s Ensemble Theater and a Stu-

BEVERLY COHEN

dent Council representative at the school. Cohen has participated in vocal competition in past years, and she travelled to the Iowa Caucuses as a student journalist.

The Bronfman Fellowship was founded in 1987 by Edgar M. Bronfman, who died in 2013. The Fellowship promotes study of Jewish texts, traditions, history and culture as a way for Fellows to engage with each other and the world.

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SCOUTS Henry Fiedler and Sawyer Jenkins study the completed race cars.

and adding weight there (lead ball fishing sinkers was one suggestion.) Apparently this weight placement makes a car faster. Sanding the body was recommended, and lubricating with graphite powder where the wheels touch the axles.

The green flag Is there anything more glorious than race day? Den leaders Fiedler and Huybrechs directed the opening proceedings. There was no stirring rendition of “Back Home in Indiana,” but the scouts recited the Pledge of Allegiance, then the Scout Oath. God is mentioned in both, still.

The pandemic caused 2020’s Pinewood Derby to be cancelled. Traditionally, the race takes place in St. Brendan’s gymnasium, but COVID-19 precautions forced other options to be considered. This 2021 race fielded fewer com-

PACK 16 Scouts at Liston Speedway, Larchmont.

petitors than any previous Pinewood Derby for Pack 16.

“Both Webelo groups and a new Tiger den did not sign up because of COVID,” explained Liston.

The racing was still competitive, and fun. A double-elimination bracket was used, so every scout’s car was guaranteed at least two races. Jaden De Guzman and Jace Kim took the top two trophies, and Che Tang was third.

In keeping with Scouting

PINEWOOD DERBY cars at the starting line.

spirit, additional awards were presented after the final race: Henry Fiedler — Most Creative Car, Sawyer Jenkins — Coolest Car, Lucas Huybrechs — Mad Max Award, Koa Deomampo — Scout Spirit Award and Van Liston — Rush Hour Award.

Huh? Rush Hour Award?

“It’s because it took me less than a half hour to build my car,” spouted Bear scout Van proudly.

Checkered flag, please.

WINNERS included Jaden De Guzman (left) in first place, and Che Tang (right) in third place.

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Larchmont Chronicle

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SECTION ONE

Patio pizza, slabs of barbecue for satisfying summer supping Owners Jocelyn Bulow and Alessandro Iacobelli came to the southland from San Franciso’s acclaimed food scene to bring us pinsa, a pressed dough pizza made from a blend of rice, soy and wheat flours.

They claim this grain cocktail makes it lower in sugar, fat and calories than the usual wheat crust. Do we care? Only if the taste holds its own, and Oste’s free-form crispy oval discs are

very, very good.

There are a dozen different pinsas, $17-$25 a pie, including patate with roasted potatoes, raclette cheese and rosemary and an earthy carbonara smothered with guanciale and bacon and topped with a fried egg. The funghi pinsa was covered in salty scamorza cheese and shaved parmesan, garlic, a tangle of mushrooms and drizzled with truffle oil. We added

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Even though Los Angeles is ostensibly back to normal, and the city is allowing indoor dining at maximum capacity, outdoor eating is still my preference. The front patio of Oste, with its gold gates and wall of plants, is a lovely space for an al fresco repast. The simple Roman-style café, whose name is short for osteria, was born during the pandemic in the former Little Next Door spot.

(323) 933-8446 • (323) 933-8447 Bakery line Frances@dupars-psr.com In the Original Farmers Market • 3rd & Fairfax Open for Take Out & Delivery

a ball of burrata for $6 because who can resist the offer of burrata? The pie was delicious, the crust just chewy enough and the toppings garlicky with that great forest flavor mushrooms and truffle bring.

We tried to resist overloading on carbs, but the call of pasta was too strong, and $16 cacio e pepe ended up on our table. This was a very creamy version, but lacked the bite that the very best versions display. Perhaps next time I’ll try the $22 casarecce (short twists of pasta) with bone marrow and mushroom sauce.

Oste offers three differently-brothed steamed mussels, featuring tomatoes and olives, garlic and white wine or bacon and shallots, $20-21. Be sure to get extra bread to soak up the savory broths.

One of my favorite bites was the $11 fried risotto ball, three to an order, with cheese, black truffles and truffle oil. Oozy inside, crunchy outside, heady with truffles, this might be my favorite appetizer ever.

A $14 beet and goat cheese plate was presented as separate piles of the cubed root on dollops of creamy cheese in aged balsamic. Excellent. A simple $14 arugula and cherry tomato salad in white balsamic vinaigrette was unexpectedly satisfying, and it made us feel as though we had a healthy, balanced meal after all.

Oste, 8142 W. 3rd St., 323413-2372.

• • • Although Bludso’s Bar & Que has quality ’cue, I’ve always found it too smoky for my taste — therefore I’m always interested in trying other

On the Menu by

Helene Seifer joints around town.

Recently when a hankering for ribs hit, we headed to Oste’s neighbor, Slab, a small dark restaurant with very limited outdoor seating. Their menu is much scanter than Bludso’s.

Beef ribs are only available on Saturday and Sunday, for example, and they lack a vegetarian option or cocktails (they do carry beer), but barbecue basics are covered.

They were out of baby back ribs when we went, but the pork ribs satisfied. Tender, but with some bite, slathered with a mild tomato-vinegar sauce, I enjoyed my $17 half rack.

My husband is more of a brisket guy, so he opted for “The Ooh,” a self-proclaimed amazing roll stuffed with sliced brisket, coleslaw, molten cheese and pickled onions, $16. This smaller-than-expected sandwich was tasty, but did not elicit the expected oohs and aahs.

Sides, which ran $5-$8 for the small size, were good.

Collard greens were delicious and not too vinegary, an issue with many barbecue restaurants. Coleslaw provided crunch without being drowned in mayonnaise. Potato salad looked like lumpy mashed spuds, but brought the cool, pickle-tinged taste (Please turn to page 22)

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION ONE

19

Theater brings back the magic at popular outdoor venues

One of the great joys of summer is the ability to grab a picnic and go to the Hollywood Bowl (reopening July 3) or any of the other outdoor venues that dot our city. Of particular pleasure are the several outdoor spaces dedicated to Shakespeare: Shakespeare-by-the-Sea in San Pedro; the Kingsmen Shakespeare in Thousand Oaks; and, while the Anteus Company (Glendale) and A Noise Within (Pasadena) don’t have outdoor venues, they deserve credit for their work.

Two stalwarts — the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, and the Independent Shakespeare Company in Griffith Park — have been successfully drawing audiences for many years. After months of lockdown, cancelled performances and classes, lost income, etc., I asked, via email, Botanicum Producing Artistic Director Ellen Geer, and Independent Shakespeare Company (ISC) co-founder and Managing Director David Melville, how they and their theaters were getting along as they plan the return of their summer seasons.

Both acknowledged the challenges: “It’s definitely been a tough year,” Melville wrote back. “As artists, our role is to provide solace and escape during hard times...” He and his company faced “trying to envision a way to continue to serve our audiences without actually doing the one thing they want from us — live performance.”

Ellen Geer took the long perspective in her response: “Knowing theater throughout the ages continues, no matter what [gave us the most hope].

It is an expression of humanity and human stories. These will continue, as long as human beings continue... Watching the changes in our political world, [we knew] theater must come back and tell stories.” Geer continued, “We are coming back carefully. As the plague erupts and fades, and possibly, with variants, surges again… We are all learning how to keep safe for ourselves and others.”

A shortened “Caesar” And going forward? There were some positives, as both companies noted, such as skillfully and creatively learning to use the Internet to expand audience and donor bases, as well as workshop offerings and class content. The Botanicum will keep this summer’s “Julius Caesar” to 80 minutes without an intermission, and the cast for the Independent Shakespeare’s upcoming “Tempest” will be reduced to seven or eight actors, playing out of a trunk. As Melville noted, “that is how we presented many of our first productions.”

This summer’s “Tempest” will be more site specific, too, using the remains of the riverbed that flowed through the old Griffith Park Zoo, rather

Theater Review by

Louis Fantasia than ISC’s usual temporary stage. The City has, after a decade of discussions, finally broken ground on a new amphitheater in Griffith Park.

The late Tom LaBonge was a pioneering advocate for a permanent home for the ISC, and his efforts on behalf of Los Angeles arts should be acknowledged.

Magical Shakespeare Open-air summer Shakespeare is coming back across the U.S., from New York and Boston, to Ashland and Utah, and all points in between, great and small. There is something magical about seeing Shakespeare under the stars (even

TITUS ANDRONICUS on stage in 2018 by the Independent Shakespeare Company in Griffith Park.

Photo by Grettel Cortes

when the productions themselves are less than stellar).

It is no surprise (and probably no coincidence) that the pulse of the iambic pentameter rhythm that drives Shakespeare’s verse echoes the beating of the human heart.

Finally, I asked both artists how their work had changed since George Floyd’s death.

David thought that the events of last year “lead to a long over-

due conversation about race and white privilege in the theater. But conversations are cheap and we have been looking at what actions we could take to support artists in other ways...” “Shakespeare lived in his time,” said Ellen. “As a theater performing his works, we have always included all races of actors who seek work.

[Shakespeare’s] humanity is reflected in his plays.”

Not only Shakespeare’s humanity, but our own.

The Theatricum Botanicum returns with three plays (including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Julius Caesar”) July 10 through Nov. 7. For information contact: or 310-455-3723.

For information about this summer’s ISC “The Tempest” in Griffith Park, see: iscla.org/ summer-festival-2021.

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Larchmont Chronicle

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SECTION ONE

Wolfgang’s rise to top; Cruella is a treat; Rebel strikes home Wolfgang (10/10): 78 minutes. NR. Wolfgang Puck tells the story of his rise from impoverished youth to the most famous chef in the world, and it is a fascinating tale, indeed.

He was inspired throughout his life by his hatred of his adoptive father and a desire to prove him wrong. Puck is not only brilliant and hardworking, but he is also loaded with charisma with a captivating personality which comes through in the film loud and clear, and is certainly a key to his success. Disney+.

Cruella (9/10): 122 min-

utes. PG-13. I have no idea what the budget is for this film, but half of it was probably spent on Emma Stone’s makeup. The delights of this movie are the over-the-top performances of Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. It’s a treat to watch each of them try to be more eccentric than the other. They both overact with a vengeance that it seems both enjoy. The sets are beautiful, and the costumes outlandish. Adding to the joy of this film is the music comprised of a lot of old songs, like Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots

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At the Movies with

Tony Medley are Made for Walkin’” (which was a hit in 1966), Tony Martin’s “I Get Ideas” (which was a hit in 1951; from a 1927 tango cancion called “Adios Muchachos”), the Beatles’ “Come Together” sung by Ike & Tina Turner, and many more. I, frankly, had not the slightest interest in seeing this, but since Disney sent me a link, I watched it and am glad I did.

Even though it’s long, this comedy is a treat. In theaters.

Rebel Hearts (9/10): 99 minutes. NR. This strikes close to home because I received my excellent K-8 education from the Immaculate Heart nuns at Cathedral Chapel School at 8th and Cochran. Most of the girls in my class went to Immaculate Heart High School (IHHS). And the villain of the piece, Cardinal McIntyre, was my family’s next-door neighbor and a close friend. Even so, I appreciated the spunk of the nuns who took him on (and unlike IHHS grad Mary Tyler Moore’s TV boss Lou Grant, I love spunk!). This is a rewarding story of a bunch of Davids taking on a Catholic Goliath in the 1960s that literally shook the world, and it is extremely well done. In theaters and Discovery+.

Lansky (8/10): 119 minutes. R. Heretofore, Meyer Lansky (Harvey Keitel and John Magaro as the younger Lansky), the money man who was right-hand man for Lucky Luciano (Shane McRae) in ruling the Mafia in the ’30s, has been shown as a mild-mannered man who really cared only about business and didn’t get his hands dirtied in the killing and hurting of people.

This film puts the lie to that, although it stretches the truth to the breaking point.

It shows Lansky present when Bugsy Siegel (David Cade) murders a man in his office by talking nicely to him and then shooting him in the head. Lansky just sits and watches and then walks out with Bugsy as if nothing untoward happened. I don’t know if this is true, but it does show that while Lansky might not have pulled any triggers, he was certainly on board with the brutal business of the Mafia.

It also shows that Bugsy was one of the killers of Sal Maranzano when he wasn’t and that Lansky was present when he wasn’t. There are other blatant inaccuracies that detract from the verisimilitude of the film which is otherwise compelling. Written and directed by Eytan Rockaway, the film presents sterling per-

formances by Keitel and Sam Worthington as David Stone, a journalist who is interviewing Lansky to write his biography.

Also sparkling is Anna Sophia Robb as the woman who spots Lansky early on and marries him, to her regret.

Despite the questionable and unnecessary Hollywood embellishments, this is an entertaining and interesting movie, and it does capture the cold-hearted evil that was present in this apparently mild-mannered man. In theaters.

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (5/10): This is a film about a talented woman, made by Norman Lear, who went out of his way to pepper it with his woke ideology. One nauseating segment is how Moreno gushes about having an abortion, killing a child impregnated in her by Marlon Brando, saying, “I feel very firmly that a woman should have the right to an abortion if she needs it.”

This, after she admits that she was trying to have a baby, but Brando didn’t want her to have it, so she’s thrilled that she could kill it without a trace of remorse. She “needed” an abortion?

Lear also puts in one of the phoniest scenes ever inserted into a documentary. It shows (Please turn to page 22)

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Larchmont Chronicle

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SECTION ONE

Snooknuk has closed, but its kids’ upbeat show goes on

By Suzan Filipek The pandemic closed the kid-friendly arts and music café Snooknuk after eight years of joy and song at 506 N. Larchmont Blvd.

But its founder Cheri Jacobs is still in the neighborhood and around town, taking her music-and-puppet show to parks, libraries and neighbors’ backyards and online.

You can also hear a recording of hers on a new album, “All One Tribe,” where she is among 24 Black artists featured from around the country.

Released on Juneteenth, the 1 Tribe Collectives album cel-

Mark Peel

(Continued from page 1) the Larchmont Family Fair pie contest, raise funds for Larchmont Charter School and St. Vincent Meals on Wheels and man the grill at his Longwood neighborhood block parties.

“Acts of service was Mark’s love language,” his widow Daphne Brogdon told us. “Not only for friends and family, but for people he didn’t know. I had to ask him to do fewer charity events because it was taking away from family time.

It was hard for him to say no.”

Last month, Peel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of germ cell cancer and died nine days later, on June 20.

He was 66.

Among the friends and family who came to pay their last respects was fellow culinary pioneer Wolfgang Puck.

“He was never one of these crazy guys who threw pans,”

ALBUM, “All One Tribe,” was released on Juneteenth.

ebrates the culture and diversity of Black voices through family music.

Jacobs’ three-minute track, “We’re All the Same,” tells Puck said of the kind and wellbalanced Peel.

Peel was among the crème de la crème of revolutionary chefs who cooked with the freshest ingredients served in a casual atmosphere that put California cuisine on the world map.

He opened his signature restaurant, Campanile, and the legendary La Brea Bakery next door on La Brea Avenue in 1989 with local resident Nancy Silverton, his wife at the time, and Manfred Krankl.

Peel, a fourth generation Angeleno, had grown up with a single mom who was a terrible cook, and so he took on the task.

He supported himself through school working as a dishwasher and fry cook, including at a Denny’s-style truck stop coffee shop in El Monte. (Although he quit school to work full time, he later was granted a degree from Cal Poly Pomona in 2010.)

When he called the owner of Ma Maison, a top Los Ange-

PAWS/LA celebrates 30 years of pets’ ‘unconditional love’

Pets and people, they’re better together, says the nonprofit PAWS/LA (Pets Are Wonderful Support). The group celebrates 30 years of keeping low-income people with life-threatening illnesses, plus seniors and veterans, with their beloved companion pets.

“The need remains so great, and the value of pets to the quality of a person’s life is inestimable,” said PAWS/LA development consultant Jonathan Weedman.

The program, which provides pet food, veterinary care, grooming and more, is free to clients. “We believe that the unconditional love of a companion animal is a precious gift to a senior living in isolation or an individual debilitated by a life-threatening illness.”

One man featured on the group’s website tells of his cat.

“She would not let me be alone.

“I’d gone through a lot of loss, … family, and then the AIDS crisis hit. Almost everyone I knew died. …

“One night I hear this hor-

rible, horrible cat cry, and I go outside and I see this little tiny thing above the garage. I picked her up and cleaned her, gave her a good flea bath, and said, ‘I’ll take care of you until I can find a home for you.’

“That night she crawled onto my chest and purred me back to sleep, and from that moment forward, for the next 21 years, she was the light in my life … she kept me from suicide many, many times.”

Hearing her purr and seeing her precious soul, “It’s like she was telling me someone loves you.”

The organization was founded in 1989 in response to the HIV/ AIDS crisis when well-intended friends and family members often removed pets from a patient’s household at a time when they were needed most.

A social media fundraising campaign is being launched this month to help ease the challenges of caring for a companion animal. To learn more visit pawsla.org, or call 213-741-1950.

of “our differences as people but also how we are all alike in many ways. We can make the planet better by working together. …

“It’s a fantastic message for everyone,” Jacobs told us.

Her three children inspired the mom — who has a pop music background and created jingles for TV and commercials — into channeling her talents toward young children. She named Snooknuk after a term of endearment for her own children.

“My mission has always been about kids’ life lessons and mindfulness … about

NEIGHBORHOOD CHEF Mark Peel often made his famous grilled cheeses at Longwood Area Neighborhood Association block parties. He is shown here with daughter Vivien.

les restaurant at the time, he was hired over the phone, and he soon found himself working under Puck, who ran the kitchen. Peel later co-opened Michael’s in Santa Monica before leaving for Chez Panisse in Berkeley, from which he returned to become opening chef at Puck’s celebrated Spago.

Married for a few years to artist Reine River before he met Silverton, Peel met

‘How did you meet your pup?’

(Continued from page 2)

“We had another dog, Sadie, before Bella. When my fatherin-law passed away, we gave Sadie to my mother-in-law to keep her company. Before we even got home from dropping her off, we located Bella and brought her home so the kids wouldn’t miss their dog.

We’ve had her since she was four months old and now she’s nine years old and my kids are completely grown.”

Todd and “Bella” Harris

promoting positivity” and the basics, such as hygiene. Her audience includes toddlers up to early school grades, and she has performed and taught at local schools including Page and Larchmont Charter and with the Bob Baker Marionettes.

Every childhood should be magical, she says.

To find out more about the album, visit 1tribecollective. com.

To keep track of Snooknuk’s performances and to arrange a visit, contact Jacobs at 323498-5258 and snooknukplay@ gmail.com.

PERFORMANCES ENTERTAIN before and after the pandemic. Above, Cheri “Snooknuk” Jacobs with the Bob Baker Marionettes.

Brogdon in 2004 at Campanile, his and Silverton’s restaurant housed in the airy building built by Charlie Chaplin on La Brea Avenue in 1928.

“We had a whirlwind romance,” Brogdon tells us.

“We quickly knew we would be together. But, the two things that were very clear to Mark, he had to be within a mile of his son Oliver, then 10, and Campanile. So the Hancock Park area was the center of his universe.”

Another story she tells is about a single mom with two children who, every school day, took two buses to get to Larchmont Charter School.

“I knew they transferred at Third and Rossmore. That bus is always late. I asked her to let me take her son, who was in class with our son, Rex, to school. She demurred. I didn’t push it. I told Mark. He said, ‘oh, no,’ and he told her, ‘I’m picking your son up every morning at Third and Rossmore.’ He did so for a year until they were able to get a car. He also took our son and this boy on the boy’s first-ever camping trip.”

As probably is well-known in finance circles as well as the world of fine cuisine, the chef and his wife were forced to sell their home on Lucerne Boulevard “because we were unwittingly invested with Bernie Madoff,” says Brogdon.

But fortune smiled again, and the couple and their children resettled in the Longwood Highlands neighborhood, adjoining Brookside.

“It was so similar to the home we had to sell we thought it a corrective emotional experience,” Brogdon says.

What set the new home apart was a long, deep back yard with an enormous pine tree with a tire swing that Peel hung. “That swing has made many people happy over the 10-plus years in this home,” said Brogdon, who is president of the Longwood Area Neighborhood Association.

“We joked that he was the First Gentleman of Longwood Highlands. He made his famous grilled cheeses at our block parties, or just made hot dogs on his Webers.”

(Please turn to page 23)

Movies

deceased husband that any caring person would keep private, which says a lot about her character. This film diminished my previous positive opinion of Moreno. In theaters.

12 Mighty Orphans (5/10): 117 minutes. PG-13. I wanted to like this movie. But aside from it being 30 minutes too long, the true story is ruined by a lot of Hollywood folderol that has no basis in fact. In theaters.

(Continued from page 20) Moreno eating dinner in her home while watching Christine Blasey Ford spewing her venomous unsubstantiated accusations against Brett Kavanaugh that were denied not only

by Kavanaugh, but by everyone who knew anything about the party where Ford alleges the attack occurred. Lear would have you believe that Rita had cameras filming her as she watched this live. Why would cameras be in Rita Moreno’s home to film her watching a Senate hearing in 2019? And what does this have to do with the story of Rita Moreno? The point of all this is to just reinforce the political POV of Lear, Moreno, and all of Hollywood.

It’s irrelevant and dishonest if not worse, and it greatly detracts from the film. The scenes reek of manipulation.

Moreno also says extremely unflattering things about her

On the Menu

(Continued from page 18) of the typical side-dish. Mac ‘n’ cheese was a surprise hit. The super-creamy cheesiness was a cut above the usual macaroni afterthought. Beans were the biggest disappointment.

Not quite sweet enough, not quite soft enough, I wanted to substitute that old standby, a can of Bush’s beans.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

Mark Peel

(Continued from page 22) They hosted holiday parties and wakes for neighbors.

“He has a great, deep singing voice, and his quiche was always asked for at these gatherings.”

Every year, the couple auctioned off seats at an intimate dinner made by Mark to benefit Larchmont Charter School, hosted in a private home. He single-handedly raised over $6,000 that purchased a drinking fountain on the Hollygrove campus, among other things.

Peel opened Prawn Coastal (originally Bomba) inside Grand Central Market, had a ground-breaking cocktail bar, Tar Pit on La Brea, and “we

On the Blvd.

(Continued from page 1) In addition to marking the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Larchmont Shopping District, this year also will be the 56th year of holding an annual community gathering on the street. The first Larchmont Family Fair was in 1966.

For the first time in memory, the Fair was cancelled in 2020 because of COVID-19 mandates.

2021 Event The concept for this year’s event — to be held as usual on a Sunday with the Boulevard closed to traffic — is to utilize the event not only as a community gathering and Centennial ceremony, but also to focus on everything that local merchants have to offer in their stores and restaurants.

Sunday, October 24 To take place on the usual Sunday preceding Halloween, this year’s event will be on Sunday, Oct. 24, between noon and 5:30 p.m. In addition to having the traditional booths showcasing schools and other local nonprofit organizations, there will be the traditional costume parade and “Larchmont’s Got Talent” competition. Special additions being discussed for the Centennial include a possible pancake breakfast, maybe

Yvonne Auerbach, 89, president WSHPHS

Yvonne Auerbach died of natural causes on June 17.

She was 89.

A native of Minnesota, she was predeceased by her husband Aaron.

A longtime resident of Hancock Park, she served as president of the Windsor SquareHancock Park Historical Society. She formerly was the bookkeeper at the Larchmont Chronicle.

THE POPULAR CHEF’S last night at Campanile in 2012, where he was hoisted high by his staff.

Photo courtesy of Daphne Brogdon

did a series of pop-ups, at Rascal, 3-Twenty Wine Bar, among others,” adds Brogdon.

“The people of the Larchmont area showed up in support of these dinners, and he enjoyed being back in the a pet parade, and a memorable concert with professional musicians. Also being studied is having a one-day beer garden to draw locals to the Boulevard to greet friends and neighbors — in person — in celebration of this 100-year milestone and our great community.

Longtime Family Fair organizer Betsy Malloy, of Coldwell Banker, is chairing this year’s modified-in-scope event.

Other leaders of the event are LBA president John Winther of Coldwell Banker, Vivian Gueler of Pacific Trust Group and Patty Lombard of the “Larchmont Buzz,” with support from Coldwell Banker’s Anne Loveland and former Village Catering Company owner Daryl Trainor Twerdahl, along with a host of others from the community.

Booths Anne Loveland is the person for nonprofit organizations to contact now for more information about having a booth.

Call her at 323-460-7606.

Honorary Committee If you would like to join the Larchmont 100 Honorary Centennial Committee as a way to salute the Boulevard in its Centennial year, contact Daryl Twerdahl at 323-6971438 prior to July 15.

Elaine Gaddy, office manager, Larchmont Animal Clinic Elaine J. Gaddy, Hancock Park, has died. She was a registered veterinarian technician and office manager at Larchmont Animal Clinic, employed there for more than 40 years. Dr. Jan Ciganek, owner of the clinic, said, “she was mother of all the staff” and will be greatly missed. She is survived by husband Bill Gaddy, of B. Gaddy Electric, daughter Rachel and son Jesse and granddaughter Penelope.

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back and front of the house.”

Unfortunately, the marriage

SECTION ONE

did not survive, and the couple separated in 2019. “But ours has not been a conventional path, and after rancor, we had a good bond. We nested often, the kids stayed in the house, and the parents moved in and out, and we were united for birthdays and other events.”

Three weeks before his diagnosis, Peel was having painful backaches. He had had disc surgery last year and thought maybe it was related. However, his cancer had advanced so quickly that he was in stage 4 when he was diagnosed.

“You almost had to get a reservation by his bed at the

23

end — as all who loved him and worked with him came to say goodbye, including his celebrated chef colleagues Wolfgang Puck, Suzanne Goin and Suzanne Tracht.

“I’m pleased for my children to read of his culinary accomplishments, but it’s not brunch or a flattened chicken we will miss. The man whose love language was acts of service is gone,” Brogdon said.

He is survived by his children Vanessa, Benjamin and Oliver Silverton Peel, and his children with Brogdon: Vivien and Rex Peel, and two grandchildren.

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SECTION ONE

JULY 2021

Larchmont Chronicle

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CM

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Your favorite brands. Incredible food. Unforgettable events.

Five-star concierge. Oceanside getaways.

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T H E G R OV E • T H E A M E R I C A N A AT B R A N D • PA L I S A D E S V I L L AG E T H E C O M M O N S AT C A L A B A S A S • T H E L A K E S AT T H O U S A N D OA K S WAT E R S I D E AT M A R I N A D E L R E Y • T H E P R O M E N A D E AT W E S T L A K E V I L L AG E AT M O O R PA R K • E N C I N O M A R K E T P L AC E R O S E WO O D M I R A M A R B E AC H

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HOME GROUND

MODERN ART

MINI-FOREST

Ancient Japanese house is under construction at the Huntingon Library.

LACMA Collection moved into its new home on the top level at BCAM.

Micro-forest planted in Griffith Park with help from Hancock Park Garden Club.

Page 4

Page 12

Page 6

Real estate MuseuMs, Libraries HoMe & Garden

VIEW

Section 2

LARCHMONT CHRONICLE

JULY 2021

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

Catherine Coffin Phillips preserved California history

By Helene Seifer In the January 2021 issue of the Larchmont Chronicle, columnist Paula Panich introduced readers to Steve Inskeep’s book “Imperfect Union,” about Jessie and John Frémont, a powerhouse couple in California development in the last decades of the 19th century. A small insert in the article noted an earlier biography of the female half of the imperfect union, Jessie Benton Frémont: a remarkable 1935 first edition by fine press publisher John Henry Nash, written by another extraordinary woman, Catherine Coffin Phillips, whose writings about California history are foundational to our understanding of the people and investments that shaped our state.

The fact that her Frémont book is still in print is a testament to the historical significance of both the subject and the author.

Catherine Louise Coffin was born in Oakland, Illinois, in 1872, into a prominent family whose American roots and resources began in 1642 when ancestor Tristram Sanborn Coffin sailed from England to New England, eventually purchasing the island of Nantucket.

A woman ahead of her time, Catherine Coffin sought higher education well before most women had access, earning a

operations in the San Joaquin Delta, where he oversaw the conversion of 100,000 acres of bog into productive farmland.

To prepare for the reclamation of the swamp, Phillips studied the dikes in the Netherlands and formed nine companies to handle all aspects of the complex undertaking. He and his family moved to Sacramento from 1902 to 1907 to closely supervise the project.

(Daughter Katharine was born there.) Phillips even built an upscale hotel in Sacramento so potential investors wouldn’t have to bunk overnight on the train when they visited.

The endeavor was an enormous success. To this day, twothirds of the state’s potatoes are grown there. The hotel still stands. After a stint as part of the Biltmore chain, it has now been renovated and reopened as an apartment building.

Back in the southland, Lee Allen Phillips built a “country” home on 300 acres in Beverly Hills with that city’s first swimming pool.

The family, including his live-in mother-in-law, Susan Jane Winkler Coffin, escaped the city there until Douglas Fairbanks bought it in 1918.

After Fairbanks married Mary Pickford in 1920, it was dubbed “Pickfair.”

CATHERINE COFFIN PHILLIPS’ 1935 biography of Jessie Benton Frémont.

Bachelor of Arts from Southwestern College in Kansas in 1893 and a Master of Arts in 1895 from Indiana’s DePauw University, where she was also awarded an honorary doctorate in literature in 1937.

Her dedication to books and learning was a lifelong obsession. Lucky for us, after Catherine’s death in 1942, and after her daughter Lucile’s death in 1991, a Phillips grandson, Keith Morrison, created an eponymous research library in Tiburon, California, for her and her husband’s books, collections and papers. This was most fitting for a woman whose own home library purportedly had been described in a Los Angeles newspaper as “… one of the finest libraries in the city — a library distinctive in that her books are not for decora-

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tion but have been read over and over again.” That quote and many of the details in this article were found in pamphlets written for the Catherine Coffin Phillips Library, where her legacy also lives on through a yearly writing program for local high school students.

In 1895 Catherine Coffin married fellow Illinoisan and DePauw University alumnus Lee Allen Phillips, and they moved to Los Angeles, where they had their first daughter, Lucile, who became a writer known for her children’s books.

Financial dynamo Phillips was an attorney and insurance executive. Early in his career, he was responsible for some of the largest and most important land redevelopment projects in 20th century California, including extensive

THE INDOMITABLE Catherine Coffin Phillips.

Berkeley Square In the meantime, Phillips built a home at #4 Berkeley Square on land purchased in 1905. Behind ornate gates, the one-block-long enclave of the wealthy proudly stood in West Adams between Gramercy Place and Western Avenue, north of Adams Boulevard.

Phillips also invested in property across the street from his first house and, in 1913, built his dream home there, the largest house in Los Angeles at the time, reported in various newspapers as having anywhere from 22 to 85 rooms. In an historically confusing move, this 26,000 square foot home was also numbered #4. The home was designed by archi(Please turn to page 3)

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

Coffin Phillips (Continued from page 2)

tects Sumner Hunt and Silas Burns. Hunt was also responsible for The Ebell of Los Angeles, the Bradbury Building and the Doheny Mansion.

The Phillips family lived in #4 until Mr. Phillips’ death in 1938, and Mrs. Phillips moved to South Ardmore Avenue.

Well past the Phillips residency, Berkeley Square fell out of favor when the more modern, and less gargantuan, homes of Hancock Park and Windsor Square became prized, spurring a decline in the once coveted neighborhood. Any hope for recovery died when the Santa Monica Freeway builders took over all of Berkeley Square in the 1960s. None of the grand mansions in Berkeley Square remains today.

Biltmore Hotel The Berkeley Square years were fruitful ones for Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. It was here that Catherine Phillips became a force in Los Angeles society and where she began her writing career. Likewise, Phillips continued his trajectory in remaking the California landscape. He was the financier behind the construction of the then-largest hotel west of Chicago, the Los Angeles Biltmore (now named the Millennium Biltmore). According

LEE ALLEN PHILLIPS married an extraordinary woman.

to great-grandson Chris Morrison, the hotel opened in 1923, 18 months ahead of schedule, because “Phillips was there cracking the whip!” The hotel’s opulent ballroom was the site of eight Academy Awards ceremonies in the 1930s.

Phillips also had projects in Arizona and New Mexico. Over the years he organized, advised or was president or director of over two dozen companies, including Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, Consolidated Steel Corporation, Pacific Finance Corporation and Philco Securities. Although his endeavors favored him with wealth, Morrison clarifies that “[Phillips] was not interested in money. His partners made a fortune, but he was interested in power.”

Phillips also financed his newlywed daughter Lucile’s “start-

er home” in Windsor Square, probably as a wedding present when she married Dr. Wayland A. Morrison. The Milwaukee Building Company designed the home (and many others nearby), and Lucile was expanding it continually over the years, each time she had another child (ultimately five). Coincidentally, the Morrison home is now the residence of Larchmont Chronicle publisher John H. Welborne and his wife, Martha.

Lee Allen Phillips’ renown as a successful entrepreneur, as well as his personal financial success, earned him the moniker “The Human Dynamo of Constructive Finance.”

The other dynamo Catherine Coffin Phillips was a human dynamo of a different sort, embracing the expectations of Los Angeles high society by joining clubs, boards, and charitable endeavors, all while dressing impeccably and acting the gracious hostess and brilliant dinner guest.

A cursory look at her involvements indicates that she was on the boards of directors of Childrens Hospital, the Historical Society of Southern California and Scripps College. Phillips was a sponsor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Women’s University Club, the Women’s Athletic Club, The

SECTION TWO

3

THE PHILLIPS’ HOME in Berkeley Square.

Photo: Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library

Ebell of Los Angeles and Kappa Alpha Theta and Phi Beta Kappa sororities. And, oh yes, she also wrote five acclaimed and meticulously researched books on California history.

Hollywood Her first tome was completed in 1929. “Cornelius Cole, California Pioneer and U.S. Senator” recounted our state’s development through the telling of Senator Cole’s many involvements over his 102-year lifespan. Of particular interest was his establishing the community of Colegrove, named for his wife Olive Colegrove Cole, on land deeded to him by Henry Hancock. The settlement near what is now the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street was the precursor to Hollywood.

Northern California Two of Catherine Coffin Phillip’s books focused on San Francisco — 1932’s “Portsmouth

Plaza, The Cradle of San Francisco” and “Through the Golden Gate, San Francisco 1769-1937,” published in 1938. She tackled the Gold Rush in her last work, “Coulterville Chronicle, The Annals of a Mother Lode Mining Town.” Phillips had just seen the first copies of “Coulterville Chronicle” roll off the presses when she succumbed to liver cancer in 1942.

Jessie Benton Frémont The Catherine Coffin Phillips book with the most lasting impact, however, and the one most closely tied to Southern California, is “Jessie Benton Frémont, A Woman Who Made History.”

One reason the book resonates so strongly even today is that the author and Frémont were friends and neighbors, resulting in Phillips gaining unlimited access to Frémont’s papers and unlimited time to (Please turn to page 5)

4

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

A dignified, ancient house for Huntington’s Japanese Garden An exquisite piece of ancient wooden Japanese architecture is under reconstruction on a site north of the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. Its anticipated opening date is Fall, 2022.

The Magistrate’s House, built in 1695, was painstakingly disassembled, in 2019, from its site in Marugame, Kagawa Prefecture, 340 miles southwest of Tokyo.

The house was donated to the Huntington by Yohko and Akira Yokoi in 2016; Akira Yokoi is the 19th-generation descendant of the Yokoi family and, according to the Huntington’s Lisa Blackburn,

Home Ground by

Paula Panich

“preserving a part of his heritage has been a motivating factor” in the donation of his ancestral home to this treasured Southern California cultural institution.

The male Yokoi ancestors were successive magistrates in the village near where the city of Marugame (founded 1899) now stands. The “shoya’’ residence of the village was where the magistrate, or headman,

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lived with his family.

Edo: simple, beautiful And now I fall into a rabbit hole of trying to express my love for the architecture of the Edo period of Japanese history. The houses of the Edo (1615-1868) are, I think, what springs to mind with the idea of traditional Japanese vernacular architecture — simple, beautiful, and dignified.

These houses were made of wood, without nails; their frames fit together like perfectly-made, interlocking puzzle pieces; their elongated, curving roofs with wide eaves are focal points; their “engawa” (verandas), always look cool and protecting; inside, shoji dividers and “fusuma”

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ARTIST’S RENDERING of the reconstruction with the original shoya residence in the center, two kura storehouses at the rear and re-creations of the gatehouse and interior garden.

Image courtesy of GPM Design Studio

(gliding doors) organize space; and tatami mats dictate the size of rooms.

This fascination has deep roots, but with my first trip to Japan, some 30 years ago, the sharp awareness of traditional architecture came to the fore. I read, during this trip, “In Praise of Shadows,” by the novelist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. This is a nonfiction book about notions of Japanese beauty and aesthetics.

Even in 1933, when the book was first published in two magazine articles, Tanizaki despairs of building a traditional Japanese house.

How to hide electric wiring?

And the “snarl and bulk” of an electric fan? The problem of lighting vexed him; he searched old shops for lamps, then electrified them.

Heating was a problem. He built a large sunken hearth, as in an old farmhouse, and installed an electric brazier.

Whether his family’s gathering round it in winter was sufficient for the right mood, he doesn’t say.

Will they use nails?

But revisiting Tanizaki only whets my appetite for understanding the reconstruction — and what is behind it — of a 320-year-old house in San Marino. Artisans from Japan have joined the construction (Please turn to page 6)

OFFERING OF FRUITS. Atsushi Fujimaki (left) and Koji Nakamura of the Shinto faithbased Shumei America make offerings to the spirits at a roofraising ceremony.

Photo by John Diefenbach

Larchmont Chronicle

(Continued from page 3)

listen to her stories.

In fact, Chris Morrison states, their proximity was no accident. “[Jessie’s husband] John Frémont made millions on this sweetheart gold mine deal up in Mariposa, about $100-$200 million,” explains Morrison.

“He bet his earnings on another mine and lost everything, leaving them penniless. They even lost their house.”

That’s when Catherine and Lee Phillips stepped in, says Morrison. “You don’t want to let somebody of that historical significance sit in a rooming house and die.” In the late 1890’s, a committee of ladies, including Catherine, presented to Frémont a house built for her on Hoover Street.

Morrison was born after his great-grandmother died, so his stories about her are from his father, Keith, Lucile’s and Wayland’s fourth son. Chris Morrison was told his great-grandmother was elegant, formal, beautiful and incredible. He also knows she enjoyed a good cocktail. “My dad used to mix drinks for her.

She’d say, ‘Son, go over there and make me a martini and make one for yourself.’” Morrison pauses and laughs. “He was 11! Back then it was okay.”

Both Catherine and Lee Phillips are buried not far from Berkeley Square — in Rosedale Cemetery, in what is probably the most prominent family plot in the cemetery, a large oval of grass at the top of the entrance road.

It is a sad testament to the times that, in spite of her

enormous accomplishments, the January 9, 1938 “New York Times” obituary of her husband referred to Mrs. Phillips

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er mentions her given name.

The headline declares, “Mrs. Lee Allen Phillips, Writer on California, Dies.”

HISTORICAL SOCIETY

sociation of America. He was in conversation with Daniel Weiss, co-founder of Angeleno Group, on Glickman’s book “Laughing at Myself: My Education in Congress, on the Farm, and at the Movies.”

There are more live events waiting in the wings for July and August. Check in with Chevalier’s Books at chevaliersbooks.com for more information.

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only as “his widow.” Similarly, her 1942 “Los Angeles Times” obituary, although listing her numerous achievements, nev-

WINDSOR SQUARE - HANCOCK PARK

Chevalier’s holds first live event since early 2020

Last month, summer solstice (June 21) signalled more than the beginning of summer. It was also the beginning of Chevalier’s Books starting up its live events again — following the pandemic shutdowns in 2020.

The first event of the “live” season was a talk by Dan Glickman, former representative for the 4th congressional district of Kansas and former chairman of the Motion Picture As-

SECTION TWO

Sold | Represented Buyers Franklin Village Condo 1 Bed I 1 Bath I 669 Sq Ft | $510,000

Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate.

Coffin Phillips

JULY 2021

6

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

As in Paris, a micro-forest sprouts in Griffith Park

By Helene Seifer There is a Chinese proverb that posits, “When is the best time to plant a tree?” And it answers, “20 years ago. Or today.”

Volunteers with the Los Angeles Parks Foundation and the conservation committee of the Los Angeles Zoo took

the proverb to heart on June 19, planting 145 indigenous trees and shrubs to establish a micro-forest in Griffith Park, the plan for which was first reported in the June issue of the Larchmont Chronicle.

The 1,000-square-foot circular future forest, planted in

the dense Miyawaki Method that encourages rapid growth, is located in the Bette Davis Picnic Area of the park. After two years of care, the forest should be self-sustaining.

A number of factors planted the seed for the micro-forest project, and it took three

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dynamic women to sprout the idea. They are: Carolyn Ramsay, executive director of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation (and a Windsor Square resident), Michaela Burschinger, then-vice president, now president, of the Hancock Park Garden Club (HPGC) (and a Brookside resident), and Katherine Pakradouni, the project and program manager of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.

As in Paris Carolyn Ramsay started the process. She had read an article about officials in the City of Paris planting trees along sidewalks and anywhere else

they could fit a copse — in order to fight climate change. She thought, “We can do that here!”

Then an architect friend told Ramsay about the Miyawaki Method of forest planting, and she was hooked on the idea.

Coincidentally, the HPGC was expanding the mission of the club beyond the neighborhood.

Understanding the importance of greenery, HPGC members committed to supporting tree planting elsewhere in Los Angeles, especially in underserved communities. They planted 14 trees in the Watts (Please turn to page 7)

Home Ground

the State?

These are just the beginning of my questions about this marvelous house-inprogress. The site will also include two “kura,” storehouses; a new gatehouse, based on the original; and a compact, interior garden mirroring the former garden in Japan.

I aim to find answers to these questions, and more. I’ll be back on this subject.

(Continued from page 4)

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HEIDI B DAVIS

team, working for American contractors. Will they stay for the duration of construction?

Are they using nails? How are joints, once bound by rope in Japan, now joined in 21st century California? How are the ancient elements of post and beam construction stored on site? What are the earthquake protocols required by

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Larchmont Chronicle

DYNAMIC WOMEN leading the forest project are, L-R: Carolyn Ramsay, Michaela Burschinger and Katherine Pakradouni.

Miyawaki

(Continued from page 6) Unity Garden and other neighborhoods that lacked green spaces. They also published the booklet “Your Next Front Yard,” available for free at Chevalier’s, about droughttolerant planting.

Member Burschinger reached out for help with the new club initiatives to fellow member Ramsay, who told Burschinger about the microforest approach to building a better forest and her desire to plant one in Griffith Park. Immediately, Burschinger was intrigued.

During this time, Pakradouni began working for the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, and she was tasked with collecting and growing seeds plucked from Griffith Park for use

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

PLANTING A COAST LIVE OAK for the forest canopy project at the Bette Davis Picnic Area.

Photo by John Hughes

throughout the park system.

A native plant horticulturist, Pakradouni previously had worked for the Theodore Payne Foundation, a California native plant nonprofit nursery.

Taking on the tiny forest was a natural for her. “It was totally up my alley,” Pakradouni states. “I already knew what kinds of plants would work.”

“Katherine sent a super detailed funding proposal” to the HPGC, Burschinger enthuses.

“The club thought it was such an exciting new thing, with such potential.” The HPGC embraced the micro-forest idea and pledged to fund the project. “$15,000 will take care of maintenance, watering, preparing the site, and paying Katherine to oversee it,” explains Burschinger.

Pakradouni decided on appropriate indigenous plant species and chose the small circle format.

“It’s an easy design to start with. I’d seen similar designs, and they were nice and inviting. I didn’t want it to be overwhelming,” the horticulturalist explains. “I want to demonstrate how much of an impact can be made in such a small space.” There is a curving 40foot path through the middle of the forest, which Pakradouni says will “encourage people to walk through it. A participatory quality will be a part of it.”

Griffith Park itself was the source of nearly all the seeds Pakradouni collected and grew for the forest project. Seeds were started in October 2020 in preparation for the late

spring planting on June 19.

The 13 species she selected include Mexican elderberry, lemonade berry, California wild rose, mugwort, and coastal live oak, which were started earlier and donated. Several of the elderberries were donated by the California Botanic Garden, a native plant nonprofit in Claremont, California.

Haphazard, two feet apart The morning of the great planting, Pakradouni placed the seedlings two feet apart, mindful of the Miyawaki Method of not putting the same species or height tree next to another and avoiding the regimentation of neat rows. This seemingly haphazard arrangement will encourage healthy competition among the plants, speed up the growing process, and increase biodiversity.

LITTLE HANDS can plant big forests.

Then the volunteers started digging, mulching and turning a dry patch of dirt into a home for little seedlings. Two hours later, the circle was planted and, if one squints, one can believe a real forest will soon appear.

Updates on the forest’s progress will also be posted at hancockparkgardenclub.com.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

410 N. Rossmore and the design of additions to historic buildings

For a few months now, I have been watching with some interest the saga of 410 N. Rossmore Ave., the sturdy art deco stump which sits between the stately dowagers, the El Royale and Country Club Manor, just north of Beverly Boulevard. The proposed project has given rise to multiple news articles, acrimonious review committee meetings and enflamed community passions. It is one of those cases where multiple interests, and multiple issues, collide in a pitched battle over the future of an historic building.

Some people side with the remaining tenants and neighborhood opponents — who extol the historic pedigree of the building, decry the loss of rent stabilized units, fear increased traffic and construction woes and the potential of a troublesome coterie of coliving co-eds — while others join with the developer Domos in heralding a new life for the historic apartment block, a future that promises not only preservation and expansion but also transformation to meet the needs of 21st century urban living while addressing the city’s need for more affordable housing.

What is fascinating from

On Preservation by

Brian Curran

a preservation standpoint is that 410 N. Rossmore is an unrealized building. Max Maltzman’s original French Chateauesque design existed only on paper, and Gilbert Stanley Underwood’s Art Deco high-rise barely made it off the ground. Its current truncated form, a handsome yet austere deco design, was completed by the Army Corp of Engineers during WWII. The building is not an Historic Cultural Monument, nor is it in an HPOZ. It only has been recognized as an historic resource by Survey LA. Developer Domos has chosen Lorcan O’Herlihy to be the final architect of 410 N. Rossmore, in an attempt to succeed where so many others’ ambitions have failed.

O’Herlihy has produced a design that approaches the building with the dignity and respect it deserves, crowning it not as a chateau like its neighbors, but today’s equivalent, a Hollywood modern-

ist castle, its multiple towers and ramparts of varying scale capped not with turrets and statuary but sundecks and swimming pools.

The developer and the architect have both said that their design is intended to follow the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, the federal principles and guidelines suggested for the preservation of historic buildings, including additions. Did they succeed? My predecessor at this column, Christy McAvoy, while complimentary of the design, told me she was troubled by the scale of the addition and the potential loss of character-defining features with the reworking of the existing interiors.

In my humble opinion, architect O’Herlihy does succeed, creating a new and exciting addition, considerate of its historic surroundings, compatible with, yet differentiated from, the historic original, set back from the original façade so the addition is obscured at street level, and keeping its extensions to the rear of the building. I too have concerns about the loss of historic materials and interior characterdefining features, which I hope have been recorded and, if possible, retained.

ORIGINAL RENDERING for the apartment building proposed for 410 N. Rossmore Ave., between Country Club Manor and El Royale Apartments.

Future landmark?

Ultimately, however, it would be for the Office of Historic Resources and the Cultural Heritage Commission to make the call by answering this question: Would 410 N. Rossmore be eligible for designation as an Historic Cultural Monument if this design is fully executed? Regardless of the an-

swer, there is nothing that prevents the project from going forward as it is by-right, and the city wants more housing.

The question is just tantalizing to those of us who care about such things: Will we have an embellished old monument — or an O’Herlihy-designed landmark — in our midst in perhaps 30 years time?

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

9

Wilshire Vista West ‘saved’ and is now officially historic

By Jane Galbraith Angelenos can celebrate another unique Los Angeles neighborhood being moved into the “saved” column with the listing of Wilshire Vista West on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources.

This mid-city neighborhood is bounded by Orange Grove Avenue to the west, San Vicente Boulevard to the north, Genesee Avenue to the east and Packard Street to the south. It’s in a prime location that had been targeted by developers to replace existing low-density housing in favor of multi-story buildings because of its proximity to transit, allowing for denser building under the city’s Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) regulations. But this area was specifically noted to be historically significant by SurveyLA, similar in architectural scale and significance to the multi-family Beverly Fairfax neighborhood that earlier earned its National Register of Historic Places designation.

Threat noted in 2018 Preservation efforts for this area actually began in 2018 when a Wilshire Vista resident noticed that two build-

WILSHIRE VISTA WEST duplex apartments on Ogden Avenue.

ings on Genesee Avenue — one an Art Deco four-plex and the other a Spanish duplex next door — were vacant and apparently slated for demolition. Neighborhood opposition to the potential loss of these two structures was fierce, and applications for both properties to be granted City of Los Angeles HistoricCultural Monument (HCM) designation were submitted with strong neighborhood support. The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission, whose members toured the properties, not only recommended the designations in early 2019, but also urged the community to find a way to save additional historic homes in the immediate area.

Grassroots committee A grassroots committee, Save Wilshire Vista West,

was formed in May 2019 and began to gather support and funding to retain the professional services of Architectural Resources Group to prepare the documentation needed to secure the protective designation on the National Register of Historic Places. A summer afternoon backyard launch was followed by putting up a website, going door to door speaking to owners and tenants alike, distributing flyers and sending letters to every property owner, and securing a grant from the P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council.

Even during the shutdown of many public agencies due to COVID-19, the volunteers behind the Save Wilshire Vista West campaign continued to work on the project. The final review of the district applications took place via a Zoom

call with officials in Sacramento last October. The goal was to secure the historic designation for 113 multi-family buildings — a majority dating to the 1920s and ’30s — 96 percent of which are still in their original condition.

“We were determined to see our National Register application go through, even when many of our stakeholders were in lockdown mode due to the pandemic,” said Barbara Kroll, co-chairperson of Save Wilshire Vista West. “I hope that our success in saving the beauty and history of our little enclave will inspire others in historic pockets of Los Angeles to work towards similar goals,” Kroll added.

Wilshire Vista West’s his-

toric status has been brought into being through the hard work of an enthusiastic and committed team and strong community support. All that remains, now that most City staff members have returned to work following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, is to secure the production and installation of Historic District signage by the City of Los Angeles. The request is currently with the Office of Council District 10, represented

by Mark Ridley-Thomas. The community is eager to celebrate the sign postings with a street party, now that such gatherings are permitted.

Jane Galbraith co-chairs Save Wilshire Vista West with Barbara Kroll.

WSHPHS hosts Bernstein talk on preservation Principal city planner Ken Bernstein and photographer Stephen Shafer speak on their book, “Preserving Los Angeles: How Historic Places Can Transform America’s Cities” on Wed., July 7 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

The talk, hosted by the Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society, focuses on City of Los Angeles historical

preservation programs and the citywide survey of local historical resources and monuments.

Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for non-members, or $66 including an autographed copy of the book for members and $71 for nonmembers.

For more information, visit windsorsquarehancockpark. com.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

Homes end homelessness — we need to say ‘yes’ to new housing

Recent polling found 66% of California voters (54% of whom were Republicans) approve of a bill to amend the California Constitution to establish a fundamental human right to housing.

So, how is California doing — housing our residents?

Sadly, Los Angeles allowed the population of the unhoused to escalate to crisis levels before taking action. Those working in the field to provide care and find adequate shelter were not prepared for a crisis of this scale. As the growing number of unhoused people languished on the streets, the trauma they experienced there compounded their inability to help themselves or to receive help. As a result, the unhoused population continues to grow more chronic and intransigent.

Once homelessness became visible to the wider community, outrage toward public officials grew. Officials directed government funds to quick fixes such as building shelters, sweeping encampments, and

The NIMBY Diaries by

Marilyn Wells arresting “loiterers.”

Newer efforts are working.

Programs and new housing options have been developed during the past few years, allowing us to house 207 of the unhoused each day. But, each day, 227 more people fall into homelessness. So, why?

The causes are numerous and unmanageable, the amalgamation of which thwarts success. I will argue that NOTHING will change until adequate (500,000) affordable units are built, but we also can no longer overlook the effects of a broken mental health system, poverty and racism (next month’s column).

Our homeless crisis is our housing crisis Successful cities in oth-

er countries build housing based on the economic needs of their population. The lack of available affordable housing in our city has created a high-priced housing rental and ownership market that effectively forces people out of their homes and onto the street. Our unhoused population is increasingly made up of families and individuals who simply can no longer afford a place to live.

Our elected officials are well aware that Los Angeles has not built the necessary housing to support our population.

But influential developers and investors have been allowed to take advantage of lax ordi-

Nithya Raman recall is afoot in Council District 4

A recall effort is underway to unseat Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman.

The Fourth District Councilmember, who has been in office barely six months, was served June 9 with a Notice of Intent to Recall, according to the group CD4 for CD4.

The group argues that Raman is a novice, unresponsive and politically radical.

According to a report in the “Los Angeles Times,” Raman responded to the recall effort by saying that that she is focused on a “broad progressive agenda” that helps renters, small business owners and people experiencing homelessness.

“I love the people and the neighborhoods of this district.

That’s why I ran to represent it,” she said. “I invite the organizers of this recall to work with me on making it an even better place to live, work and raise our children.”

Raman has 21 days to reply to the notice, if she chooses.

Meanwhile, a petition for signatures to support the recall can begin circulating on July 7 — 28 days after the Notice of Intent was served.

The petition needs 27,000 valid signatures by early November to get the recall on a ballot for the 4th Council District.

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Meanwhile, the difficulty of building affordable housing in Los Angeles remains one of

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Real Estate Sales

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Single family homes 440 S. June St. 542 N. Poinsettia Pl. 232 S. June St. 320 S. Irving Blvd.

315 S. Mansfield Ave. 5651 Clinton St. 808 S. Dunsmuir Ave. 200 S. Alta Vista Blvd.

434 N. Citrus Ave. 116 S. Vista St. 510 N. Bronson Ave. 309 N. Bronson Ave. 358 S. Sycamore Ave. 748 S. Cloverdale Ave. 410 N. Martel Ave. 906 S. Sierra Bonita Ave. 409 N. Plymouth Blvd.

854 S. Ridgeley Dr. 946 S. Victoria Ave. 527 N. Windsor Blvd.

612 S. Citrus Ave. 317 N. Norton Ave. 895 S. Bronson Ave. 960 4th Ave. 122 N. Wilton Pl. 4091 W. 8th St. 621 N. Windsor Blvd.

5017 Elmwood Ave. 646 N. Cahuenga Blvd.

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Condominiums 308 N. Sycamore Ave., #402 120 S. Sycamore Ave., #120 871 Crenshaw Blvd., #302 350 S. Norton Ave., #4 109 N. Sycamore Ave., #505 333 Westminster Ave., #404 5037 Rosewood Ave., #201 5132 Maplewood Ave., #207 4407 Francis Ave., #105 837 S. Windsor Blvd., #2 4407 Francis Ave., #110 152 S. Gramercy Pl., #11 152 S. Gramercy Pl., #12 645 Wilcox Ave., #3D 620 S. Gramercy Pl., #133

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

NIMBY Diaries (Continued from page 10)

being built in their communities. Even though 77% of voters approved bond measures Prop HHH and H, local communities still come out in force to protest low income, supportive and bridge housing in their neighborhoods. We’re happy to support the bonds to build necessary housing, but we seem unwilling to have that housing built near us.

Our classic “not-in-my-backyard” response.

There is little room to build Los Angeles lacks the available land to build the housing we actually need. With 80% of the city’s land zoned for single-family homes, the amount of land available for multi-family zoning is inadequate. Our many slow-growth policies, (enacted over the last 50 years), have created a system that can’t keep up with demand. During each of the last five years, we’ve built less housing than the previous year. According to a study released by the National Association of Realtors, people want to live in urban environments, but zoning and density restrictions put affordable housing out of reach for many.

We need to fix our zoning.

Scarcity of land creates competitive pricing, higher building costs and rental prices.

Tens of thousands of people have lost their housing as rents have climbed and incomes haven’t kept up. This is particularly true of the incomes of our “essential workers” who will continue to fall into homelessness in record numbers as long as their jobs don’t pay them enough to afford our high rents. As long as the costs of land and construction remain prohibitive for building affordable housing, we will be pushing more and more people into homelessness, and

zoning restrictions drive these trends.

Stopping this cycle requires a willingness for all of us to compromise and realize that the only real solution is for affordable housing to be built

SECTION TWO

in ALL parts of the city. Near us, down the block from us, next door to us.

We simply need to say YES to ALL housing being built in our neighborhoods. “Yes” to fewer parking requirements

for new buildings. “Yes” to more density along transit corridors so people can get around without a car. “Yes” to taller buildings with rents that shop owners at street level and working people in

11

apartment units above can afford. Say: “Yes, we want MORE affordable units in ALL NEW housing developments.”

No loopholes or buyout provisions. We need to say YES and say it loudly.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

Modern Art Collection has modern touches in its new home

By Suzan Filipek An audio tour that tells of a Picasso lover in his youth, and a 1920s ragtime piece, are both just a smartphone click away in the new home of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s permanent Modern Art Collection.

Walk past touchless doors to enter the light-filled, thoroughly modern galleries filled with 250 works of art on the top (third) level of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at LACMA. The exhibit, which opened June 13, is a sweeping historical tour beginning before World War 1.

Works by 200 artists are represented in the Frank Gehrydesigned exhibit space. The works range from Matisse’s painting, “Tea” (1919), to bold mid-century pieces by Rothko and Pollock. One room is dedicated to paintings and sculp-

FRANK GEHRY designed the new exhibit space located on the top floor in BCAM.

tures by Picasso.

“It’s the largest exhibit of Picasso west of Manhattan,” senior curator and LACMA Department Head of Modern Art Stephanie Barron says on the audio tour — one of six thematic audio tours in the exhibit. Post-war women art-

LIPSON

ists and stories of migration and displacement are among other themes.

The Picasso tour, activated via your phone app by a QR code on the gallery walls, tells of Picasso’s life and work, including his subjects, in describing many of the 21 works in the room dedicated to the Spanish-born artist.

Music soundtracks can also be heard throughout the

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exhibit via your smart phone.

In the German Expressionist gallery, a composition by Schoenberg accompanies a painting by Wassily Kandinsky. Marlene Dietrich singing “Wenn die beste Freundin” takes you back to a swinging Berlin cabaret posted at a lithograph by Jeanne Mammen.

A section named Made in France features works mostly from Paris — the epicenter of the Avant-Garde from 1880 to 1930, Barron tells us on a brief walk through the exhibit.

San Francisco-based artist Miki Hayakawa’s “Portrait of Negro” (1924), is accompanied by a ragtime piece that was popular at the time. The artist was a Japanese emigrant and at the onset of World War II spent time in an internment camp, we learn.

Surrealism and North and Latin American galleries include works by Georgia O’Keeffe and Diego Rivera, as well as Magritte’s “This is Not a Pipe” — “one of our most well known works,” Barron says.

Abstract Expressionists in the collection include Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Ruth Asawa; Pop Art and Southern California

Assemblage styles are represented by Roy Lichtenstein, Judy Chicago and Kienholz, among others.

(Please turn to page 13)

LIBRARIES FAIRFAX 161 S. Gardner St. 323-936-6191 JOHN C. FREMONT 6121 Melrose Ave. 323-962-3521 MEMORIAL 4625 W. Olympic Blvd.

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WOMAN WITH GROCERIES

by Jacob Lawrence, 1942.

TEA BY HENRI MATISSE reflects the artist’s interest in African art, depicted in the mask-like face of his daughter, Marguerite, right.

LACMA

“This is years in the making,” Barron said of the exhibit.

In 2018, the collection was removed from its former home in the Ahmanson Building, which was demolished to

(Continued from page 12)

WORKS BY Picasso fill one entire room in the new gallery.

SECTION TWO

Swing a door to enter “Central Meridian,” also known by its other name, “The Garage,” 1981, which is after the Modern era, but an interesting journey. Crickets chirp in this immersive recreation of a garage complete with a parked car and a moose head.

Each of the galleries includes new interpretive wall texts with recent scholarship information and engagement issues of provenance, colonialism and sociopolitical topics.

AUDIO TOURS and music soundtracks are available on your smart phone in the galleries.

prepare for a new museum at LACMA being constructed beyond the plaza east of BCAM. Purchase advance, timed tickets at lacma.org. LACMA is at 5905 Wilshire Blvd.

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Local teenagers attacked leaving Wilton Place party

POLICE BEAT

Keep doors and windows locked

213-793-0650 31646@lapd.lacity.org Twitter: @lapdwilshire

213-793-0709 31762@lapd.lacity.org Twitter: @lapdolympic

An elderly man was robbed of his watch and money while walking near the corner of June Street and Oakwood Avenue after two suspects approached him brandishing a handgun on June 10 at 6:20 p.m.

BURGLARY: Credit cards,

keys and money were stolen from inside a home on the 100 block of S. June St. between June 8 at 9 p.m. and June 9 at 8:30 a.m. after a suspect forced open a locked door, stole items and fled, all while the elderly homeowner was upstairs asleep.

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white van.

“The van stopped, people got out and attacked about four-five kids. I don’t know if it was gang, robbery or what.

SSA [a private security company] came relatively quickly.

The police did not come until the third call was placed to them. The van got away, and no one was able to get the license plate, though there is a picture of the van,” read Schwartz’s post, which asked residents for any additional information or footage of the incident.

The post, at the Chronicle’s press time, had garnered more than 156 comments.

©0618

WILSHIRE DIVISION ASSAULT: A man sustained serious injuries after being assaulted by a man while walking near the corner of Highland and Melrose avenues on June 7 at 4:30 a.m.

ROBBERIES: A Larchmont Village “party house” used for short term rentals on the 300 block of N. Lucerne Blvd. was the scene of a gun-related robbery after suspects used a gas propane tank to smash a window and gain entry while four victims were inside. The suspects demanded jewelry and money from the victims before fleeing on June 6 at 2:10 a.m.

By Billy Taylor Former mayoral candidate and Windsor Square resident Mitchell Schwartz took to social media site Nextdoor last month to share a disturbing incident that left his teenage son with a fractured orbital bone after a Saturday night out with friends.

Schwartz said that his son and “a few of his friends” were attacked on June 19 shortly after midnight while walking home from a house party on Wilton Place, “where there was a small get-together of neighborhood kids.” Schwartz described the attackers as “eight people/ kids” who jumped out of a large

Lic.#386172

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2021

SECTION TWO

15

Be careful when looking to move into the lead; Chasing is costly

In poker, “chasing” a hand means that you are likely behind your opponent (an “underdog”) and are looking to hit a card that will move you into the lead.

New and unskilled hold’em players often make a common mistake by chasing hands. It takes real skill to know when the odds dictate staying in the hand, and when they strongly suggest throwing your hole cards into the muck. A player who chases is seeking one of a few cards to make his hand — one that could well be the winning hand.

When the odds against making such a hand — his card odds — are higher than the pot odds (the number of chips already in the pot divided by the cost to call the last bet) —

he has a negative expectation (-EV). He would be chasing if he continued to call his opponents’ bets (or raises) and is destined to be a loser.

Starting-hand selection Starting-hand selection may well be your most important decision when peeking at your hole cards. This is when you are about to make your first investment in that hand. Very tight players have their top 10 starting hands — made hands and premium drawing hands.

But, if they play only those best possible hands, they are bound to be losers as their opponents soon realize this and are prone to fold against them. So the hands they win will have small pots — not big enough to make up for the cost-to-play. Most chasers are likely to play medi-

Family-Run

Poker for All by

George Epstein um or mediocre starting hands.

A typical example: Quite often you will see an opponent playing any Ace in the hole. It could be an Ace-deuce, even non-suited. In a $4-$8 limit game, Chaser is in a middle position, holding Ad-2c. The under-the-gun (UTG) opens the betting. Only Chaser and Small Blind call. The flop is 2s-Jd-8s. Chaser now has a pair of deuces with an Ace kicker.

UTG, a loose-aggressive

player, opens the betting on the flop. With his fingers crossed, Chaser calls, hoping for a third deuce or an Ace on the turn. His chances are poor. In all, he has only five outs — two deuces and three Aces. Nevertheless, he calls UTG’s $4 bet to see the turn.

It is a blank. UTG again open bets — now doubled to $8.

Chaser should have asked himself: With just five outs, what are my card odds against connecting with one of them?

Answer: Using a readily available outs chart or the 4-2 Rule, and with two cards to come, multiply the 5 outs by 4 (5 x 4 = 20). Chaser has approximately 20 percent chance of connecting, so his card odds are 4-to-1 against him. With $20 in the

pot, the pot odds ($20 ÷ $8) are less than 3-to-1; so Chaser has a -EV, suggesting he muck his hand and save those 8 chips. He is a long-shot. In the long run, underdogs are losers. Avoid chasing. Save money.

George “The Engineer” Epstein, a long-time local resident, is the author of three poker books, including “The Art of Bluffing” and “Hold’em or Fold’em – An Algorithm for Making the Key Decision.”

Life/Poker quote of the month “Personal perfection is impossible, but it is possible to aim for genuineness, honesty, consistency, and moral purity, and to frankly acknowledge it when we fail.

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Larchmont Chronicle