For information on advertising in the paper, please call Pam Rudy 323-462-2241, x 11
Mailing permit:
Larchmont
By Casey Russell
The 59th Larchmont Family Fair comes to the Boulevard this Sun., Oct. 27, from noon to 5 p.m. Gather the family together, bring a friend or simply stroll along with other locals at this fun fall event.
Activities will include bounce houses, rides, slides, bungee swings, a rock wall, a children’s costume contest and a small train parents can ride with their kids and that will keep the young crowd happy. Adults and children can enjoy some classic carnival games as well as musical entertainment by The Eight One Eights, soul singer Mijan Owens and the Black Canyon Band. Keeping in line with the fair’s last two years, a beer garden will open at noon featuring the beers of Downtown Los Angeles brewery Audio Graph Beer Co. Boulevard closed to traffic
Local studio, Sophie Dance, will be performing, and nonprofit booths will replace cars on the street, as Larchmont Boulevard will be closed to traffic from Beverly Boule-
See Larchmont Fair, P 33
Windsor Square annual meeting
n Mayor Bass attending town hall on Nov. 14
By John Welborne
This year’s Windsor Square Association (WSA) annual meeting, held at The Ebell, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd., will start earlier than usual. The meeting begins at 5 p.m.
Among the guests participating in the “Town Hall“ meeting will be the resident of Windsor Square’s Getty House, Mayor Karen Bass. Getty House
The WSA dates back to 1925. Among the association’s historic land use battles
See Windsor Square, P 26
Holidays and Museums
Light up your holidays with the Larchmont Chronicle’s special section featured in the December issue. Advertising deadline is Mon., Nov. 11. For more information, contact Pam Rudy, 323462-2241, ext. 11.
Fair
is coming to town ELECTION Candidates, 19 propositions are on ballot
FAIRGOERS strolled the Boulevard during 2023’s Larchmont Family Fair.
Family festival at ‘Collide’
n PST ART to come to LACMA, La Brea Tar Pits
By Suzan Filipek
Explore the intersection between art and science at several programs offered this and the next several months in what is among the largest art events in the world, PST ART: Art + Science Collide. LACMA
A two-channel film and sculptural installation, “American Artist: The Monophobic Response,” recreates a pivotal 1936 rocket engine test that initiated the United States’ ventures into space. The piece is on view from
Fri., Nov. 1, to Mon., Nov. 4, at BCAM at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LAC-
See Art, Science, P 9
By John Welborne and Nona Sue Friedman
Ever since the 2024 homeless count was conducted in the Greater Wilshire community on the evening of Jan.
See Homeless count, P 28
By Suzan Filipek
For local readers, the most interesting and contentious runoff election races probably are two — the U.S. Congress 30th District seat long held by U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (now running for U.S. Senate) and the Los Angeles County District Attorney race, where Nathan Hochman is challenging incumbent George Gascón. Some Larchmont Chronicle readers also get to vote for a city councilmember for Council District 10.
Significantly, there also are 19 ballot propositions (county, city, school district and state) asking local voters for permission to enact numerous new laws and, in some cases, taxes.
And, of course, there is a U.S. President election.
See our full election coverage on Pages 6 and 7.
Vote on or before Tues., Nov. 5
Veteran officer, executive named chief
n Jim McDonnell to take helm at LAPD, pending vote by City Council
By Suzan Filipek
A seasoned policeman and former Long Beach police chief and Los Angeles County sheriff, Jim McDonnell, has been selected to be the new chief of police for the City of Los Angeles.
Mayor Karen Bass selected McDonnell, 65, last month after a monthslong search. His appointment requires confirmation by the Los Angeles City Council.
In a press conference announcing her decision, Bass said she was guided in her choice by her resolution to make the city a safer place and to be prepared for challenges ahead, notably the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games.
McDonnell will be the 59th chief of the Los Angeles Police Department upon confirmation.
He already has the support of Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, Council District 5. Yaroslavsky wrote in her recent newsletter: “With more than 40 years of experience in public safety… his track record of reducing crime and improving police-community
MAYOR KAREN BASS with her pick for Los Angeles police chief, Jim McDonnell, and Beverly Pink-Wolfe at the legendary Pink’s hot dog stand.
See Jim McDonnell, P 33
Editorial
By John Welborne
Ballot measures to increase taxes
Last month, we listed the six (should have been five for our region) of Nov. 5th’s 19 ballot measures that are seeking significant tax increases from our local residents. We noted, regarding all 19 measures, that many of the other 14 are not focused on raising tax revenue but relate to issues like redistricting or crime or increasing the number of elected officials in various jurisdictions. We correctly stated then that, even those ballot measures, if adopted, will have some fiscal impacts. But they are not the big, taxing measures.
Our editorial emphasis last month, and now, is highlighting five ballot measures that specifically create new taxes or increase existing taxes — whether those taxes be on income, property or sales. The five measures below and at right include significant tax increases. If you favor the specific tax or increase and the cause it will fund, you may vote “yes.” If you oppose that tax or increase or cause, you may vote “no.”
LA County Measure A (50% + 1 to pass)
• A YES vote is to increase sales tax by 1/2 percent indefinitely. (In 2017, Measure H made a 1/4 percent increase — for ten years until 2027 — to support homelessness services, afford-
DEDICATED TO THE PRESERVATION OF HANCOCK PARK
•
HANCOCK PARK HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION ASSOC I ATION
Est. 1948
137 N. LARCHMONT BLVD. LOS ANGELES 90004 www.HancockPark.org
A New Year Starts for Hancock Park Tree Planting
The year for tree planting begins in late October and goes through the early spring. Now is the time that the HPHOA Tree Committee will be planning and planting new parkway trees. If you have an empty spot, you may be a candidate for a new tree. The Association uses our members’ dues and money contributed by filming companies to remove stumps and to buy and plant trees. These trees support clean air and cooler temperatures, provide homes for birds and make our neighborhood beautiful.
The Tree Committee also supports and encourages the Council Office to provide tree-trimming services to keep our trees healthy and safe. By taking care of our trees, our healthy trees can last almost 100 years. If you want a tree, contact the Tree Committee on our website and put the process in motion.
Thanks to everyone who attended the HPHOA Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting provided an opportunity to hear from our Council Member Katy Yaroslavsky, from Hancock Park LAPD Senior Lead Officer Tyler Shuck and updates from the Association’s Committees.
Also thanks to the Block Captains who attended the Block Captains’ Dinner at Marino Ristorante on Melrose Avenue. Our Block Captains are the foundation of community safety and organization. They’re all volunteers and donate their time and energy to keep Hancock Park a vibrant and cohesive community. If you don’t know who is your Block Captain, contact the Association, and volunteer if your block needs a Captain.
And don’t forget Hancock Park is located in an HPOZ (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone). If you’re thinking of making any modifications to your home including any changes to the street-visible front or side façade, demolition of historic garages or porte-cocheres, removal of landscaping or replacement of hardscape, you must contact our HPOZ City Planner, Suki Gershenhorn (Suki.Gershenhorn@lacity. org) and set up an appointment to review your plans with her. Any unapproved changes or unpermitted work within the HPOZ is subject to Stop Work orders and hefty fines from the city.
Don’t forget to visit our website for volunteer opportunities and news — hancockparkhomeownersassociation.org.
Calendar
Sun., Oct. 27 — Larchmont Family Fair.
Thurs., Oct. 31 — Halloween.
Sun., Nov. 3 — Daylight Savings Time ends.
Tues., Nov. 5 — Election Day.
Mon., Nov. 11 — Veterans Day.
Tues., Nov. 12 — Mid City West Neighborhood Council board meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Pan Pacific Park Senior Center, 7600 Beverly Blvd., midcitywest.org.
Wed., Nov. 13 — Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council board meeting via Zoom at
6:30 p.m., greaterwilshire.org.
Thurs., Nov. 28 — Thanksgiving Day and delivery of the December issue of the Larchmont Chronicle
able housing and rental assistance.) This Measure A will double the tax and make it permanent.
City of Los Angeles Measure US (55% to pass)
• A YES vote will allow the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to sell $9 billion of bonds for LAUSD school improvements. Property taxes would rise about $273/year for a median priced home of $1 million.
State Proposition 2 (50% + 1 to pass)
• A YES vote will allow the state to sell $10 billion of bonds to improve K-12 public schools, community colleges and technical schools. This would cost the state $500 million each year for the next 35 years.
State Proposition 4 (50% + 1 to pass)
• A YES vote will allow the state to sell $10 billion of bonds to fund various programs promoted as addressing climate risks. This would cost the state $400 million per year for the next 40 years.
State Proposition 5 (50% + 1 to pass)
• A YES vote will make it easier to approve future local bonds that will increase property taxes.
(As an additional voting resource to Larchmont Chronicle readers, we include — on Page 7 of this issue — endorsements of candidates and ballot measures from our two large daily newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News.)
Miracle Mile Residential Association seeks board members
The Miracle Mile Residential Association (MMRA) annual elections for its board of di-
Larchmont Chronicle
Founded in 1963 by Jane Gilman and Dawne P. Goodwin
Publisher and Editor
John H. Welborne
Managing Editor
Suzan Filipek
Assistant Editor
Casey Russell
Contributing Editor Jane Gilman
Staff Writers
Talia Abrahamson
Helene Seifer
Advertising Director
Pam Rudy
Art Director
Tom Hofer
Circulation Manager
Nona Sue Friedman
Accounting Irene Janas
606 N. Larchmont Blvd., #103
Los Angeles, CA 90004
323-462-2241
larchmontchronicle.com
Thanksgiving is this month. ‘For what are you grateful?’
That’s the question inquiring photographer Casey Russell asked locals.
“I am most grateful for my friends and family. I’m really lucky to have such supportive loved ones in my life. I’m the only one in Los Angeles. They are all in Colorado. But they venture out here whenever they can.”
Hana Mathe with Sweetie Larchmont Village
rectors will be held in November. There are several openings, and MMRA welcomes and encourages nominations (including self-nominations) of residents within the association boundaries. Nominations must be made by Nov. 15. Learn more: tinyurl. com/2s4ceepu.
CORRECTIONS
• The number of people killed at the Sobibor extermination camp during World War II was incorrectly reported in our October 2024 story, “An app among honorees at HMLA’s gala,” The number was more than 170,000 people.
• Susan and Stephen Matloff’s children are Isabelle, Daniel and Edie, not Evie, as reported in “Jewish New Year marks 5,785 years of tradition,” October 2024.
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 are grateful for loving family and friends. And, today, we are grateful for sweater weather!”
“I am grateful for the love of my family and my dog. We’ve had him since 2016.”
Kara Klein and David Hurwitz Citrus Square
Rick Reed and Huxley Wilshire Park
Block party, wedding toasts, CHLA beach party, arts summit, more
Several years ago, the Brookside Homeowners Association decided that, with the summer weather being increasingly hot, it would be better to move the annual Brookside Block Party from July to late September. That gamble paid off again this year, as hundreds of Brooksiders gathered on the 900 block of South Hudson Avenue on Sept. 22 to celebrate their neighborhood and community under perfectly sunny skies and not-too-hot-to-potluck temperatures.
The 42nd annual block party, one of the longest running block parties in Los Angeles (slightly disrupted by the COVID-19 years, of course), pulled out all the stops as neighbors came to play during the 2 to 6 p.m. street event. A bounce house, water slide, face painting, music, watermelon and pie eating contest, dessert competition and pet parade
all brought neighbors young and old together to embrace the fun and games. Pinches Tacos and Mateo’s Paletas were served to those who had paid their annual dues. The deliciousness included street tacos, guacamole, salsa, chips, corn and ice-cold ice cream and sorbet treats. Neighbors were also asked to bring their favorite homemade items for the potluck, arranged by block. Some streets were asked to bring a main dish, while others were assigned the side dishes, desserts and appetizers. Guests were also treated to a raffle featuring
pie-eating contestants were ready for their challenge. The ultimate winner was William Provinziano.
prizes from Bellacures, Met Her At A Bar, Pinches Tacos, Rhodes School of Music, Louis the Loafer, and many more local establishments.
The Brookside Block Par-
ty is an annual tradition that brings together families, neighbors, friends and even politicians (then newly elected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attended back in 2005). Some
of the new residents in the neighborhood couldn’t believe their eyes. Overheard this year while weaving through the various groups of revelers: “I
BROOKSIDE
BLOCK PARTY participants enjoy the closed streets, food varieties and merriment at the 42nd annual Brookside event.
Around the Town
(Continued from Page 3) had no idea there was anything like this in Los Angeles! I’m so glad we’ve moved into this area. This is the cutest thing ever!”
• • •
Chef Joshua Skenes’ new Leopardo restaurant, which opened recently in the old La Brea Bakery space at Sixth Street and La Brea Avenue, has been slowly rolling out its menus and extending its hours since its first day in May. On Sept. 21, the day before the Brookside Block Party, the restaurant tested out its breakfast and lunch offerings and invited locals to try the lunch and brunch options for free.
the block as eager patrons waited to try the award-winning chef’s culinary take on casual daytime fare. The free meals included Big Griddle Waffles, Sausage Big Muffin, and several sandwiches made on the restaurant’s famous machete bread, including Oh Banh A Mia!, Crackling Chicken, and Garden Vegetables. Manager Tracy Terrill was thrilled with the turnout, telling me, “We’re excited to, sometime soon, share breakfast and lunch. It’s a great area, and was an easy spot to open. We think we’ll have the best sandwiches in Los Angeles!” If you haven’t tried them yet, you’re in for a real treat!
A line quickly formed around
•
Also on Sept. 21, HODG (Hang Out Do Good, a group founded by and including a number of local residents) closed the stub end of Clinton Street, east of June Street and backing up to the Wilshire Country Club, for a big family-oriented political rally featuring seven statewide Democratic candidates for Congress.
• • •
The end of September saw a migration of quite a few Windsor Square residents from there to Park City, Utah. That was the site for the wedding of Dr. Kira Skaggs and Rahul Mitra on Sept. 28. Among the Windsor Square residents traveling to Park City for the Friday night welcome reception and Saturday’s wedding at the River Bottoms Ranch in Midway, Utah, were the bride’s Plymouth Boulevard parents, Dr. Valerie Ulene and Dr. David Skaggs, and their neighbors from the block, Ernie John-
ston and Bernie Cummings with their three daughters, Ellie, Caelan and Emma Cummings Johnston, as well as Martha and John Welborne. From around the corner were Gill and John Wagner and from a bit further west, Kimiko and Brad Fox. At the wedding reception, there even was a cocktail (a variation on an Old Fashioned) named “The Bernie” in honor of its namesake, Mr. Cummings, who was quite surprised when he first saw it. At the previous evening’s welcome party at Firewood (Please turn to Page 8)
BERNIE Cummings was taken by surprise when he first saw his namesake cocktail, “The Bernie.” Sharing the moment behind him are Kimiko and Brad Fox.
AT LEOPARDO, locals waited in line at the grand opening event for breakfast and lunch service.
SKAGGS FAMILY and friends gathered in Park City, where sister and maid of honor Jamie Skaggs (left) toasted groom Rahul Mitra, standing, and his bride, Dr. Kira Skaggs, sitting in front of her parents Dr. Valerie Ulene and Dr. David Skaggs. Windsor Square neighbors Gill and John Wagner are in the foreground.
FROM PLYMOUTH BOULEVARD, Skaggs next-door neighbors (from left) Ernie Johnston, Ellie Cummings Johnston, Caelan Cummings Johnston, Bernie Cummings, and Emmie Cummings Johnston showed up to fête the bride and groom.
SOPHIE DANCE STUDIO PERFORMANCE SOPHIE DANCE STUDIO PERFORMANCE
COSTUME CONTEST COSTUME CONTEST
MIJAN OWENS SOUL SINGER MIJAN OWENS SOUL SINGER
ENTERTAINMENT & SPONSOR THANK YOU’S & SPONSOR YOU’S
818'S BAND 818'S BAND BLACK CANYON BAND BLACK CANYON BAND OCTOBER 27 OCTOBER 27 12PM-5PM 12PM-5PM
LARCHMONT AT BEVERLY & 1ST
County, city, school and state measures are on the ballot
Candidates for Office
Senate
Steve Garvey (R)
Adam Schiff (D)
U.S. Rep. 30th District
Laura Friedman (D)
Dr. Alex Balekian (R)
U.S. Rep. 34th District
Jimmy Gomez (D)
David Kim (D)
U.S. Rep. 37th District
Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)
Juan Rey (no party preference)
State Assembly District 51
Rick Chavez-Zbur (D)
Stephan Hohil (R)
State Assembly District 54
Mark Gonzalez (D)
John K. Yi (D)
State Assembly District 55
Isaac G. Bryan (D)
Keith G. Cascio (R)
Council District 10
Heather Hutt
Grace Yoo
Los Angeles County District Attorney
George Gascón
Nathan Hochman
Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees
Seat 1
Baltazar Fedalizo
Andra Hoffman
Peter V. Manghera
Cheyenne Sims
Seat 3
Nancy Pearlman
David Vela
Louis Anthony Shapiro
Seat 5
Nichelle M. Henderson
Elaine Alaniz
Jason R. Aula Seat 7
Kelsey Iino
Robert Payne
Los Angeles Superior Court Judges
Office No. 39
George A. Turner Jr.
Steve Napolitano Office No. 48
Renee Rose
Ericka J. Wiley Office No. 97
La Shae Henderson
Sharon Ransom
Office No. 135
Georgia Huerta
Steven Yee Mac Office No. 137
Luz E. Herrera
Tracey M. Blount
Richard T. Chung, DDS
Cosmetic, Implant & General Dentistry
By Suzan Filipek
The following are the 19 ballot propositions on local Nov. 5 ballots. They are listed here in the following order: Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District and State of California.
Los Angeles County Measures
There are two Los Angeles County Measures on local ballots. Each requires a majority vote of 50 percent+1.
Measure G would amend the Los Angeles County Charter to create a County Executive person to be elected at-large throughout the county. It also would create an independent Ethics Commission to restrict lobbying and investigate misconduct. Further, Measure G would increase the Board of Supervisors from five elected members to nine elected members and make other changes. Opponents include Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Kathryn Barger, the LA County Firefighters & Sheriffs and the Community Coalition.
Measure A: Named the Homelessness Services and Affordable Housing Ordinance, this county measure is intended to create affordable housing, support home ownership and provide rental assistance as well as increase mental health and addiction treatment, among other services. If approved, it would replace the existing quarter-cent sales tax, under Measure H, which expires in 2027, with a new half-cent sales tax indefinitely. It would raise an estimated $1.1 billion yearly. Supporters include Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles and Women’s & Children’s Crisis Shelter. Opponents include Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, former County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Jack Humphreville.
City of Los Angeles Measures
Five Los Angeles City and two LAUSD measures are on the ballot, and all but one require a majority vote of 50 percent+1 to pass. The $9 billion school bond, Measure US, requires a 55 percent majority to pass.
Measure DD would create an independent redistricting commission to redraw the City Council district lines every 10 years. California Common Cause is among
supporters; no opposition was submitted.
Measure HH would amend the City Charter to require that commission appointees file financial disclosures, clarify the Controller’s auditing authority and expand the City Attorney’s subpoena power, among other changes. Councilmember Paul Krekorian supports; no opposition was submitted.
Measure II would amend the City Charter to clarify that El Pueblo Monument and the Los Angeles Zoo are park property, include gender identity in non-discrimination rules, clarify the Airport Commission’s authority to establish fees and make other changes. Councilmember Paul Krekorian supports; no opposition was submitted.
Measure ER would amend the City Charter to establish a minimum annual budget for the City Ethics Commission and increase its authority over spending decisions and hiring. It would also require the City Council to hold a public hearing on Commission proposals and increase penalties for violations of City laws. Councilmember Paul Krekorian supports; no opposition was submitted.
Measure FF would amend the City Charter to allow peace officers employed by the Police, Airport, Harbor and Recreation and Parks Departments to transfer membership and service to the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Plan. Mayor Karen Bass is among supporters. No opposition was submitted.
Learn more about city Measures DD through FF at tinyurl.com/yc7pnh2k.
Los Angeles Unified School District Measures
Measure LL would amend the City Charter to establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw Board of Education district lines every 10 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Common Cause and LAUSD Board President Jackie Goldberg support. No opposition was submitted.
Measure US would authorize $9 billion in bonds to update school facilities. US requires 55 percent of the votes to pass.
This is the largest bond put on the ballot by the
Los Angeles Unified School District. Property taxes would rise about $273 a year for a median-priced ($1 million) home within the school district, according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which opposes, along with former County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Jack Humphreville. Supporters include Families in Schools.
Learn more at tinyurl. com/3xjw3t4v.
State of California Measures
Prop. 2 would authorize $10 billion in bonds to repair, upgrade and construct new facilities at K-12 public schools, community colleges and career technical education programs. California Teachers Association is among the proponents, while the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes.
Prop. 3 would amend the state Constitution to recognize the right to marry, regardless of sex or race.
Prop. 4 authorizes $10 billion in bonds to fund various programs promoted as addressing climate risks. Clean Water Action supports; Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes.
Prop. 5 would lower voter-approval requirements for local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure including road and transit expansions, parks and more. The measure proposes 55 percent voter approval, rather than the current two-thirds approval required by the state’s Constitution. League of Women Voters of Calif. supports; California Taxpayers Association opposes.
Prop. 6 removes a state Constitutional provision that allows incarcerated persons to be forced to work. If passed, prisoners could voluntarily accept work assignments in exchange for credit to reduce their sentences.
Prop. 32: If passed, all workers would make at least $18 an hour by 2026. The measure reads: “For employers with 26 or more employees, to $17 immediately, $18 on Jan. 1, 2025. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, to $17 on Jan. 1, 2025, $18 on January 1, 2026.” California Chamber of Commerce and others oppose. (Please turn to Page 7)
Races are on for five judges for Los Angeles Superior Court benches
By John Welborne
Five seats for Los Angeles Superior Court judges are on the November ballot.
Steve Napolitano and George A. Turner Jr. are vying for Office No. 39. Napolitano represents prisoners at parole hearings, is an administrative law judge and has his own practice. Turner is a deputy public defender. The Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) rates both “Qualified.”
Renee Rose faces Ericka J. Wiley for Office No. 48. Rose is a prosecutor. Wiley is a criminal defense attorney. LACBA rates Rose “Well Qualified” and Wiley “Qualified.”
La Shae Henderson and Sharon Ransom seek the seat for Office No. 97. Henderson is a former deputy public defender rated “Qualified” by LACBA. Ransom is a deputy district attorney who LACBA rates “Well Qualified.”
325 N. Larchmont Boulevard, #158 Los Angeles, California 90004 windsorsquare.org
157 N. Larchmont Boulevard
“The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine they tell of.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Annual Meeting: The WSA is looking to award its “Squeaky Wheel Award” at the annual meeting on November 14. If you know of a Windsor Square resident, or residents, whose recent persistence in addressing an issue of community concern has protected or improved the quality of life in Windsor Square, let us know by November 7. Contact wsinfo@windsorsquare.org.
Housing Ordinance: The Windsor Square Association has been closely following the progression of the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) ordinance. The WSA supports the current draft without the inclusions of any “options” offered by City Planning staff in its report. These “options” would allow for the construction of multifamily buildings in single-family zones, which we oppose. Contact your City Council Office today to support the Planning Commission-adopted draft with no “options.”
HPOZ Enforcement: Neighbors have been working together with the owner of a badly maintained house on South Irving Boulevard to ensure compliance with local HPOZ rules following the unfortunate removal of all mature foliage from the property. Refer all ongoing concerns to the city’s HPOZ staff member, Damian Gatto, at: damian.gatto@lacity.org.
Street Cameras: The WSA is working with neighbors who would like to install license-plate-reading cameras on their blocks to prevent crime. To express interest or obtain further information, contact wsinfo@windsorsquare.org.
Emergency Preparedness: The WSA’s new one-page Disaster Preparedness Guide is now available, and you may clip and save the copy in this issue of the Larchmont Chronicle, on Page 8. Additional information is available through your Block Captain or on our website: windsorsquare.org/safetysecurity/emergency-preparedness.
o o o
WE NEED BLOCK CAPTAINS! Be the leader of your block and the point person for what’s going on in the neighborhood. WSA has numerous Block Captain positions open. It’s a great opportunity to engage with neighbors and community leaders. Contact blockcaptains@windsorsquare.org
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.
325 N. Larchmont Blvd., #158, Los Angeles, CA 90004, or windsorsquare.org.
Steven Yee Mac and Georgia Huerta seek the Office No. 135 seat. Mac is a deputy district attorney, as is Huerta. LACBA rates both “Well Qualified.”
Tracey M. Blount and Luz E. Herrera are vying for the Office No. 137 seat. Blount, rated “Well Qualified” by LACBA, represents Los Angeles County in dependency court. Herrera is an attorney and law professor who LACBA rates as “Qualified.”
Ballot measures
(Continued from Page 4)
Prop. 33 expands local government’s authority to enact rent control on residential property and would eliminate the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995, which allows landlords limited market-rate increases. AIDS Healthcare Foundation is sponsoring the measure; opponents in the real estate industry say it is anti-housing. Learn more at yeson33.org and NoOnProp33.com.
Prop. 34 restricts spending of prescription drug revenues by some healthcare providers, with the primary object being to deter the AIDS Healthcare Foundation from spending such revenues on ballot measure campaigns. The California Apartment Assoc. supports; the AIDS Healthcare Foundation opposes.
Prop. 35 provides permanent funding for Medi-Cal health care services set to expire in 2026. Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics is among supporters. No argument against was provided.
Prop. 36 allows felony charges for, and increases sentences for, certain drug and theft crimes under $950 — both currently chargeable only as misdemeanors — for criminals with prior convictions.
For arguments for and against the state propositions, visit the California Secretary of State Voter Information Guide at tinyurl.com/344763pt. Sources of voting recommendations include our town’s two major daily newspapers. Go to: dailynews.com/opinion/ endorsements and, for the Los Angeles Times, tinyurl. com/ytd4v9u4.
Others’ Endorsements
The City’s two major newspapers, The Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News *, have been busy making endorsements for Nov. 5 candidates and ballot measures. For the convenience of the readers of the Larchmont Chronicle , we share the most-local endorsements here. These are current as of Sun., Oct. 20.
These are listed in ballot order for the City of Los Angeles.
City / Local Los Angeles Community College District
Member of the Board of Trustees
Seat 1
Seat 3
Seat 5
Seat 7
California Assembly 51st District 54th District 55th District
United States Congress 30th District 34th District 37th District
City Measure DD City Measure HH City Measure II
City Measure ER City Measure FF
LAUSD Measure LL
LAUSD Measure US
Council District 10
Los Angeles County District Attorney Judges of the Superior Court Office No. 39
Office No. 48
Office No. 97
Office No. 135
Office No. 137
County Measure G County Measure A
State
State Measure 2
State Measure 3
State Measure 4
State Measure 5
State Measure 6
State Measure 32
State Measure 33
State Measure 34
State Measure 35
State Measure 36
National Election U.S. Senator - Full Term
U.S. Senator - Short Term (Unexpired Term Ending Jan. 3, 2025)
* Southern California News Group
Around the Town
(Continued from Page 4) restaurant, the bride’s sister and maid of honor, Jamie Skaggs, joined the multitudes toasting Kira and Rahul.
• • • Larchmont Boulevard is getting even more famous! Spotted recently at the new Delta Airlines terminal at LAX, as one exits toward baggage claim, was “Larchmont Jct.” This new retail feature clearly is not based on that town in New York. Further research at the LAX website discloses that “Larchmont Junction (Jct) carries a variety of high-end product brands such as Tom
Ford and Le Labo fragrances, Tumi Luggage and vintage luxury designer handbags. They also offer a one-stop shop of grab-and-go items such as books, medicine, snacks, beverages and more!” Well, kind of like the Boulevard.
• • • That wraps it up for Sep-
tember, but October started getting busy right from the get-go. And, if it’s October, it’s (usually) Dodgers playoff season! Spotted in the stands at Dodger Stadium were Larchmont Chronicle Managing Editor Suzan Filipek, her husband, Ludi Mora, and the paper’s founder, Jane Gil-
man. Sadly, they didn’t help the Dodgers beat the Padres that particular night! But the Dodgers are playing the Yankees in the World Series!
• • •
Children’s Chain of Children’s Hospital is a group of women who started supporting the hospital in 1958. Their members create individual fundraising events all around the town and throughout the year. (Local ladies Maureen Hawley, Alexandra Huddle, Ali Jack, Ann Keely and Natalie Stone have a Wreaths + Wine fundraiser scheduled for Sun., Nov. 10, in Hancock Park. Learn more by contacting nkolawa@gmail.com.)
The big Children’s Chain event of each year — where all members and their guests gather to celebrate and support the hospital — is the annual dinner dance. Held this year in Santa Monica at The Beach Club on Oct. 12, the festive extravaganza was titled “Palm Royale Beach Ball.” The event was coordinated by co-captains Cary Brady and Courtney Wyman, with the bright and sparkly (and highly pink and beach-y) décor organized by Alexandra
(Please turn to Page 9)
SUNSET COCKTAILS preceded the Palm Royale Beach Ball to benefit Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
CHILDREN’S CHAIN member Ann Keely shows earrings for sale at the silent auction.
CHAIR of Children’s Chain, Jackie Dunne (right) chats with member Carlotta Keely, from Hancock Park.
SPOUSE supporters at the Beach Ball dinner dance for CHLA included, from left, Bryan Dunne, Daniel Rainer, and Neal Flesner.
LARCHMONT JCT is a new shopping area in Delta’s Terminal 2 at LAX. Go figure!
DODGERS ROOTERS at a Padres playoff game included, from left, Larchmont Chronicle Managing Editor Suzan Filipek and her husband, Ludi Mora, and the newspaper’s founder, Jane Gilman.
Around the Town
(Continued from Page 8)
Clark, Jennifer Hasbrouck, Andrea Laks and Paige Pearce. Big contributors to the funds raised were the live and silent auctions arranged by Whitney Campeau, Sarah Dickerson and Denise Perlstein.
The whole flamingo fandango was overseen by Chain president Jackie Dunne. Her husband, Bryan, and his friends, Daniel Rainer and Neal Flesner, were among the hundreds of men and women having a very good time on the sunset-facing patio and inside for dinner. Spotted from our neighborhood were Carlotta Keely, Elizabeth LaBombard (husband John was at the Eric Clapton concert at the Hollywood Bowl), Ann Keely and Christina Won.
The Ebell was the site for a major, major gathering of Los Angeles arts producers and administrators on Oct. 16. Hundreds of people who are
Art, Science
(Continued from Page 1)
MA), 5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Inspired by Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower,” the work was filmed in the Mojave Desert in 2024 and eerily tells of Butler’s prescient visions and present troubling realities.
La Brea Tar Pits
Get the family involved in the PST ART: Art + Science Family Festival Sat., Nov. 9, through Mon., Nov. 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the La Brea Tar Pits, 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Hosted by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the event is a collaboration with Edinburgh Science.
Later that Saturday, “A Song on the Meadow is a Song in the City” will be performed by Quetzal and La Familia Gutiérrez at the Tar Pits. The ensembles of two musical families are part of the PST ART Quantum Vibrations offerings. Learn more at quantumvibrations.net/pst.
The Ebell
The Quantum Vibrations program also includes “A Day of Quantum Listening: Claire Chase + Special Guest Musicians” on Sun., Nov. 17, at 4 p.m. at The Ebell of Los Angeles. The event is free and family-friendly. Visit ebellofla.org.
Then, see pigeons with backpacks monitoring air pollution, a 12–hour experimental music festival and more at Griffith Observatory, LACMA and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at PST ART Weekend: Hollywood to Expo Park which takes place Sat., Nov. 16, and Sun., Nov. 17. Visit pst.art for more information and a full list of events and exhibits.
ARTS FOR LA sponsored an all-day program at The Ebell titled “State of the Arts Summit” that featured a prominent panel moderated by Hope Tschopik Schneider (above) that included, at right, from the left: Nora Halpern, Daniel Tarica and Kristin Sakoda.
thinking about programming for all of the arts in and around the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games gathered for a full day of panels, breakout sessions and conversations over lunch. Sponsored by Arts for LA (artsforla.org), which is the main cross-discipline arts advocacy organization in Los
Angeles County, the event appropriately was billed as the “State of the Arts Summit.” That was because the panelists and attendees were at the top of their organizations, that’s for sure. In the morning, welcoming remarks came from County Board of Supervisors Chair, Lindsey P. Horvath (in person) and Mayor Karen Bass (by video). The morning’s main panel, “Legacy of LA,” featured County
Director of Arts and Culture
Kristin Sakoda, City Department of Cultural Affairs
General Manager Daniel Tarica, and Nora Halpern, who is planning with, and advising, Maria Arena Bell, who was announced in June as chair of the LA 28 Cultural Olympiad.
The panel was moderated by the person probably most knowledgeable about the arts and the Olympics in Los Angeles, Hope Tschopik Schneider.
You are cordially invited to the
She was the associate director of the highly successful 1984 Olympics Arts Festival.
The day’s networking opportunities were substantial because the summit lasted until 3 p.m. All of Southern California will be looking to see what arts events will emanate over the next four years from all that connecting over at The Ebell.
And now you’re in the Larchmont know!
WINDSOR SQUARE ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL TOWN HALL MEETING
Thursday, November 14 at 5:00 p.m.
(Note: starts earlier than in years past.)
Ebell Club of Los Angeles
743 S. Lucerne Boulevard (at Wilshire) (parking lot entrance on Eighth Street)
The agenda will include:
• Review of WSA Activities in 2024
• Mayor Karen Bass, fellow Windsor Square resident
• Emergency Preparedness
(See also information on page at left.)
• Land Use Issues
• Block Captain Matters
• Other Community Concerns
• Squeaky Wheel Award
• 2024-2025 Directors
Refreshments will be served
Celebratory party at Exposition Park’s NHM Commons Nov.17
By Suzan Filipek
NHM Commons — the new wing and community hub at the Natural History Museum — will open on Sun., Nov. 17, with a celebratory block party, new exhibits and a film debut.
The block party will take place on opening day in the Commons’ indoor and outdoor spaces and will include live music, performances and food and drinks from South LA Café.
Visitors inside the public space, located on the southwest side of the museum
campus in Exposition Park, will be greeted by a long, green-hued dinosaur skeleton named Gnatalie … and also by artist Barbara Carrasco’s 80-foot mural “L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective.”
Merging science, nature and culture with many free experiences, the $75 million NHM Commons expansion and renovation project includes the 400-seat theater (where a new 3D T. rex film will debut), landscaped gardens and a community plaza.
Holocaust Museum gala
‘Shaping
the Future’ Dec. 3
By Suzan Filipek
Academy Award-winning founders of Magnopus Technology Studio will be honored at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles (HMLA) 16th annual gala, “Shaping the Future,” on Tues., Dec. 3.
Amy Conroy and Amanda Markowitz Wizenberg, who are first cousins and granddaughters of Holocaust survivors and who speak frequently at the museum, will also be honored at the event.
The gala will be at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd. It begins with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning of Magnopus collaborated with the museum to create an innovative augmented reality app that allows users worldwide to engage with the museum’s Sobibor exhibit.
Sobibor was a Nazi-built extermination camp in Poland where more than 170,000 people were killed. It was dismantled after the war, but the Magnopus three-dimensional map — created from memories of a survivor of that camp — allows app users to interact and get a feeling for what daily life at the camp may have been like.
The Dec. 3 gala also will feature a conversation between Jessica Yellin, founder of News Not Noise, and video game designer Luc Bernard, who created the virtual Voices of the Forgotten Holocaust Museum within the Fortnite platform in 2023.
Actor and comedian Ben Gleib will host the event.
Learn about the museum at 100 The Grove Dr. and obtain gala tickets at holocaustmuseumla.org.
NHM Commons was designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners architects, with landscape architecture by Studio-MLA and exhibitions designed by Studio Joseph.
The new addition is across from the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is expected to open in 2025 and is among several major improvements underway in Exposition Park in anticipation of the 2028 Olympics.
Learn more at nhm.org/ nhm-commons.
JLLA to celebrate Harvest Boutique Silver Jubilee
Celebrate with the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) at its 25th Harvest Boutique on Sun., Nov. 17, at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
The Silver Jubilee is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes a three-course lunch and hosted bar, a silent
auction, shopping and entertainment.
The mission of the JLLA all-women organization, founded in Los Angeles in 1926, is to advance leadership for community impact through volunteer action, collaboration and training. This fundraiser raises much-need-
Windsor homes on tour Nov. 2 with WSHPHS
Visit the Merry Homes of Windsor Boulevard on Sat., Nov. 2, from noon to 4 p.m. with the Windsor Square-Hancock Park Historical Society.
Three homes built 100 years ago and not previously shown on the WSHPHS’s annual home tour will be featured.
At press time, it was announced that a fourth home has been added — the former
Janss-Chandler home on Lorraine Boulevard.
The Windsor homes include a mansion frozen in time and filled with antiques and vintage items. Another home on the tour is the original carriage house belonging to the first home — until the large lot was subdivided in the 1950s. It is filled with paintings and objets d’art.
ed funds to improve the lives of women and children in the Los Angeles area.
The Spirit of Voluntarism Award and the Community Achievement Award will be given to individuals or organizations at the event.
Tickets are $200 each. Visit jlla.org.
skin deep
by Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald
It’s no surprise that collagen is the holy grail to all who seek youthful skin. What is a surprise is a treatment that promotes new collagen growth in a single treatment.
The third house on Windsor is a recently updated and beautifully decorated manse with a surprise basement. It is one of the original Janss homes featured in a Larchmont Chronicle story in our July 2015 issue.
The Janss family originally intended to build four abutting homes north of Fifth Street between Lorraine and Windsor boulevards. The fourth home on the tour is one of those — the house made famous by its longtime occupants, the late Norman and Dorothy Chandler.
The tour begins and ends at 355 S. Windsor Blvd. Food, raffle prizes and an early happy hour will be part of the tour. Tickets are $75 for members and $95 for non-members. Visit wshphs.com.
Sofwave ultrasound technology answers the call for non-invasive treatments that deliver noticeably smoother, tighter skin – and by skin we mean all skin types. By targeting tissue at 1.5 mm, the ideal depth of the mid-dermis to promote new collagen growth, Sofwave not only reduces lines and wrinkles, the penetrating beams also lift eyebrows and laxity on the neck and even upper arms. What is stunning doctors and patients alike is that the majority of recipients need only a single treatment for noticeably tighter, smoother skin. Think of what some of us do in front of the mirror on the sly and then having the results hold. And speaking of hold, results last up to an entire year.
The day of treatment numbing cream is applied to the face and neck for 30 minutes and the procedure takes approximately one hour. There is only minimal redness and mild swelling and can truly be considered a treatment with no downtime.
Contact our office today to schedule your Sofwave appointment and get ready for your own remarkable “after” photos. Adv.
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 from around the world to teach proper injection techniques for Radiesse, the volumizing filler. Dr. Fitzgerald is an assistant clinical professor at UCLA. Visit online at www.RebeccaFitzgeraldMD.com or call (323) 464-8046 to schedule an appointment.
NHM COMMONS as viewed from the under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that will open in 2025.
HOME for Dr. Edwin Janss at 434 S. Windsor Blvd. was well underway in 1912. This will be on the Nov 2. home tour.
Celebrate Third Street’s 100th Nov. 3 Tim Disney among Cape & Gown Gala honorees
By Casey Russell
Third Street School’s centennial block party will take place Sun., Nov. 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., west of the school campus on Las Palmas Avenue, which will be closed to traffic between Second and Third streets.
Open to the public, the block party will welcome attendees to celebrate the school’s 100-year milestone while gathering for a day of fun.
Friends of Third, the school’s nonprofit parent group that organized the
event, aimed to create a celebration that will bring the community and past and current students and families together. Ann Reiss Lane, who has lived across from the school on June Street for 60 years, plans to attend. Not only did Reiss Lane graduate from Third Street in 1941, her husband, children and two grandchildren also attended the school.
Entertainment will be provided by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Mista Cookie Jar and Third Street students and parents. Got
Game will provide sports activities, and STAR Eco will host a reptile encounter. Educational activities sponsored by the Natural History Museum, arts and crafts, carnival games, pet adoptions and food trucks will also be at the party.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky of City Council District 5 will present Principal Helen Lee with a certificate from the city.
For more information about Third Street’s centennial celebrations and history, visit friendsofthird.org/centennial.
By
Suzan Filipek Producer, philanthropist and one-time Larchmont business district denizen Tim Disney will be honored at Children’s Institute (CII) Cape & Gown Gala on Sun., Dec. 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Skirball Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Emmy-winning actress and comedian Loni Love will emcee the sixth-annual event.
Joining Disney in the awardee spotlight will be Erin Westerman, co-president of the Motion Picture Group at Lionsgate, and LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and her husband, former Deputy Chief Philip Tingirides. The couple led the LAPD effort to reimagine community policing.
“These local heroes have used their significant influ-
ence to make a profound impact on the lives of underserved children, families and communities,” said Martine Singer, CII president and CEO. CII’s Watts campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry. The Otis Booth campus on West Temple Street is the group’s headquarters.
For tickets and more information about the gala, visit childrensinstitute.org/gala.
Serving the best chili and comfort food in L.A.!
(plus beer, wine and cocktails ) open 8:00 am to 3:00 p.m. 7 days a week Breakfast and lunch • Dinner coming soon! 7233 Beverly Blvd, LA CA 90036 323 433-7573 • www.jinkyscafe.com
Tim Disney
2024 Dining and Entertainment Guide
Delicious Thanksgiving meals without the hassle of cooking
By Helene Seifer
When contemplating the Herculean task of cooking a Thanksgiving meal, some are filled with warm feelings, knowing they will be preparing a night of deliciousness for thankful loved ones. Others might collapse on the floor in anguish at the thought of all the work that one meal entails. There are ways to lighten the burden. Many restaurants and markets cook spectacular Thanksgiving feasts and à la carte dishes to replace or supplement the homecooked components of your turkey-day meal. In addition to the food preparations we associate with the Thanksgiving table, several places offer gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, making accommodating guests’ dietary needs simple.
Here is a sampling of prepared Thanksgiving foods available from restaurants and markets around our parts
of town:
Joan’s on Third has a full complement of savory and sweet Thanksgiving dinner options. As of this writing, Joan’s hasn’t set the pricing for their roasted whole turkeys and turkey breasts, but they expect their birds to serve 6-8 people. There is a wide variety of sides and starters, including creamy mashed potatoes ($28, serves 4); tur-
key gravy ($25 per quart); old-fashioned stuffing with bacon ($46, serves 8); maple brown sugar yams ($46, serves 6); butternut squash and pear soup ($18 per quart); vegan quinoa with arugula, persimmon, pomegranate and sliced almonds ($60, serves 6-8); roasted root vegetables ($36, serves 6) and corn pudding ($36, serves 6). Pie lovers can choose pumpkin or rustic apple ($42 each) and pecan pie ($45), plus autumn leaf cookies ($36 for 6). Note that prices are approximate until their menu is posted after Halloween.
Joan’s on Third, 8350 W. Third St., 323-655-2285, joansonthird.com.
Another great option for a prepared holiday meal is Superba Food + Bread. For a main course, they offer a 13-15 lb. rosemary and honey-brined whole roasted Mary’s young turkey, $195, or a glazed heritage ham
with honey glaze, $95, which serves 4-6. Sides come sized small for 4-6 people and large for 10-12 and include sausage stuffing, $38/$68; vegan mushroom and leek stuffing, $26/$63; roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon lardons and sherry, $37/$69; little gem and chicory salad with roasted vegetables, maple vinaigrette, candied walnuts and
seeds, $33/$60; gravy, $18/$30 and cranberry orange chutney, $19/$31. As their name implies, they make a variety of breads: two are cranberry walnut boules, $16, and cheddar chive biscuits, six for $23. End the meal with honey crisp apple pie, $54, pumpkin pie with pumpkin spiced whipped cream, $53, pecan pie, $53, (Please turn to Page 14)
TURKEY and all the trimmings are at Joan’s on Third.
PIES and breads and, of course, turkey, are at Superba Food + Bread.
Thanksgiving
(Continued from Page 13) or pear brown butter crumble, $52.
If a smoked or fried turkey with Southern-inflected side dishes is more to your taste, Bludso’s BBQ has your back, with three complete meal choices feeding 10-12: whole smoked or fried turkey ($255 with sides; $145 without), or smoked ham ($225 with sides; $115 without). Included sides are collard greens, sweet potato mash, cornbread stuffing and gravy. Macaroni and cheese and the other side
dishes can be purchased separately for $40 each. Pumpkin, sweet potato pecan and lime pies are available for $38 each.
Bludso’s BBQ, 609 N. La
Brea Ave., 323-931-2583, bludsosbbq.com.
For those who still miss the homey cooking of Larchmont’s late Italian
restaurant La Luna, chefs Robertino Giovannelli and Giuseppe Barravecchia operate a pick-up and delivery food service, La Luna on the Go They are offering a complete Thanksgiving dinner, serving 10-12, including baked turkey with gravy and all the expected sides, for $230. A la carte is also available.
La Luna on the Go, robertinocucina@yahoo.com or 323-353-3689 for information or to order.
A robust variety of vegan and gluten-free dishes makes it worth a trip to Echo Park’s Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery. Although they are no longer wholly a vegan restaurant, they continue to honor their meat-free beginnings.
They are still fine-tuning their menu, but expect to see a la
SOUTHERN-STYLE Thanksgiving choices are offered at Bludso’s BBQ.
SLICED FILIPINO porchetta and bone-in short ribs are available from Kuya Lord.
We are available to cater your holiday parties, weddings, showers and all types of events. We also have private dining rooms and areas for private events.
Ask about our private dining spaces & catering options!
Call us at 323.297.0070 ext 27 or e-mail catering@angeliniosteria.com
Providence chocolatier featured in ‘ChocoLAte’
By Suzan Filipek
Chef Mac Daniel Dimla, executive pastry chef at local Michelin two-starred restaurant Providence, on Melrose Avenue, is featured in a Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) online video series, “ChocoLAte: From Beans to Bliss.”
In his episode, “Crafting with Care; A Path to Sustainable Chocolate,” Dimla tells of his accidental journey to Los Angeles and becoming a pastry chef. The video is part of NHM’s third annual series “Being Los Angeles.”
In the video, Dimla, a Guam native, traces the emotional — and delicious — aspects of chocolate and how he strives for a zero-waste ethos.
“There’s no way this industry or even the actual plant itself can survive without us thinking about [sustainability],” Dimla says.
The video was posted in October and will be online through the end of the year.
The “Beans to Bliss” series kicked off in February, and showed chocolate’s many uses
over the centuries: as a dessert, a medicine, a currency and more.
Besides featuring Providence, which is also a Michelin Green Star restaurant, the nine-episode series includes “Oaxaca Unwrapped,” featuring Guelaguetza Restaurant on Olympic Boulevard, and other chocolate-based culinary shops and delights.
The final episode in the series spotlights native foods. Watch Dimla work his magic at nhm.org/stories/ providence.
Here is a sampling of the numerous dining options available in and around our neighborhood. The Original Farmers Market is located at 6333 W. Third St. The Grove is next door at 189 The Grove Dr.
If a favorite eatery of yours has been overlooked, please let us know at info@larchmontchronicle.com.
On the Boulevard
ASTROBURGER
5601 Melrose Ave.
323-469-1924
astroburger.com
Mon. to Sat. 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sun. 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
BACIO DI LATTE
141 1/2 N. Larchmont Blvd.
323-380-5503 baciodilatte.us
Daily 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
BOBA THE GREAT
142 N. Larchmont Blvd.
323-645-7086
Mon. to Fri. noon to 8 p.m.; Sat. 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sun. 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
BRICKS AND SCONES
403 N. Larchmont Blvd.
323-463-0811
bricksandscones.menufy.com
Mon. to Sat. 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sun. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
BURGER LOUNGE
217 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-462-2310 burgerlounge.com
Sun. to Thurs. 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri., Sat. 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
CAFÉ GRATITUDE
639 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-580-6383 cafegratitude.com
Mon. to Fri. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat, Sun. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
CHIPOTLE
301 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-978-2047 chipotle.com
Daily 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. CLARK STREET
139 1/2 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-498-0103
clarkstreetbakery.com
Daily 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. COOKBOOK CAFE & MARKET
310 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-686-9009 cookbookla.com
Cafe: Daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Market: Daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
ERIN MCKENNA’S BAKERY LA
236 N. Larchmont Blvd. 855-462-2292
erinmckennasbakery.com
Sun. to Thurs. 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fri, Sat. 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
GO GET EM TIGER
230 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-543-4321 gget.com
Mon. to Fri. 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat., Sun. 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
GOOD GOOSE CAFÉ
5210 Beverly Blvd.
323-378-5272
goodgoosecafe.com
Mon. 4:30 to 9 p.m.; Tues. to Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m, 4:30 to 9 p.m.
GREAT WHITE
244 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-745-5059
greatwhitevenice.com
Daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. GROUNDWORK
150 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-843-4920 groundworkcoffee.com
Daily 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
HOLEY GRAIL DONUTS
148 N. Larchmont Blvd. 213-598-9774 holeygraildonuts.com
Mon. to Wed. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thurs. to Sun. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
JENI’S ICE CREAM
123 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-745-0407 jenis.com
Mon. to Fri. 1 to 11 p.m.; Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
KALI RESTAURANT
5722 Melrose Ave.
323-871-4160 kalirestaurant.com
Wed. to Sun. 6 to 9:30 p.m. KIKU
246 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-464-1323
Daily 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
KREATION JUICE
121 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-848-4714 kreationjuice.com
Daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. LA BETTOLA DI TERRONI
225 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-990-0042 terroni.com
Daily 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
LARCHMONT VILLAGE WINE, SPIRITS & CHEESE
223 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-856-8699
larchmontvillagewine.com
Mon. to Sat. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN
113 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-461-7701 lepainquotidien.com
Daily 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
LEMONADE 626 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-464-0700 lemonadela.com
Daily 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
LEVAIN BAKERY
227 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-576-5895 levainbakery.com
Daily 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
LOUISE’S TRATTORIA
232 N. Larchmont Blvd. 323-962-9510 louises.com
Sun. to Thurs. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri, Sat. 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Mon. to Fri. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sat, Sun. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
MET HIM AT A BAR 801 S. La Brea Ave. 323-852-3321 methimatabar.com
Mon. to Thurs. 4 to 10 p.m.; Fri. 4 to 11 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. MUSSO AND FRANK GRILL 6667 Hollywood Blvd. 323-467-7788 mussoandfrank.com
Tues. to Sat. 5 to 11 p.m.; Sun. 4 to 10 p.m.
OPEN SESAME 7458 Beverly Blvd. 323-525-1698 opensesamegrill.com
Mon. to Thurs. 3 to 10 p.m; Fri. 3 to 11 p.m.; Sat. noon to 11 p.m.; Sun. noon to 10 p.m.
OSTERIA LA BUCA 5210 Melrose Ave. 323-462-1900 osterialabuca.com
Sun. to Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m, Nightly 5 to 10:30 p.m.
Tues. to Fri. 5:45 to 9:15 p.m.; Sat. 5:30 to 9:15 p.m.
RAMEN MELROSE 5784 Melrose Ave.
323-645-7766
ramenmelrose.com
Mon. to Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 3 a.m.; Sun. noon to 3 a.m. RÉPUBLIQUE
624 S. La Brea Ave. 310-362-6115
republiquela.com
Café: Daily 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Restaurant: Tues. to Fri. 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Sat. 5 to 10 p.m. ROCCO’S PIZZA 6335 Wilshire Blvd. 323-655-0058 roccospizza.la Daily noon to 9 p.m.
SAKE HOUSE MIRO
809 S. La Brea Ave. 323-939-7075 sakehousemiro.com
Nightly 5 p.m. to midnight. STAR OF INDIA 730 Vine St. 323-939-6815 starofindiala.com
Mon. to Fri. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, 5 to 10:30 p.m.; Sat. noon to 10:30 p.m.; Sun. 11:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.
SYCAMORE KITCHEN 143 S. La Brea Ave. 323-957-4682 thesycamorekitchen.com
Mon. to Fri. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sat., Sun. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. TATSU RAMEN 7111 Melrose Ave. 323-879-9332 tatsuramen.com
Sun. to Wed. 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Thurs. to Sat. 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. TAYLOR’S STEAKHOUSE 3361 W. Eighth St. 213-382-8449 taylorssteakhouse.com Tues. to Sun. 4 to 10 p.m. TEHRANRO GRILL 414 S. Western Ave. 213-529-4111 tehranro.com
Sun. to Thurs. 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Fri., Sat. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. TERE’S MEXICAN GRILL 5870 Melrose Ave. 323-468-9345 teresmexicangrill.com Mon. to Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. TERRONI 7605 Beverly Blvd. 323-954-0300 terroni.com
Mon. to Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sun. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. TSURI SUSHI 7015 Melrose Ave. 323-935-1517 tsurionmelrose.com
Mon. to Thurs. 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Fri. 5:30 to 11 p.m.; Sat. 4 to 11 p.m.; Sun. 4 to 10 p.m. WIRTSHAUS 345 N. La Brea Ave. 323-931-9291 wirtshausla.com
Mon. to Wed. 4 to 10:30 p.m.; Thurs. 4 to 11 p.m.; Fri., Sat. 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Nine O’Clock Players bring ‘Alice!’ to Assistance League stage
By Casey Russell
Join Alice as she adventures in Wonderland this November onstage at the Assistance League Theater. The Nine O’Clock Players will use their wit and talent to bring this whimsical story to life while putting their own spin on the classic tale.
Former Disney Imagineer Chris Runco, who designed the sets for the Nine O’Clock Players’ production of “Cinderella,” has again donated his time and elevated this show’s production values with his creativity and skills.
“I feel like a kid in a candy store,” said Runco of the opportunity to work with the Nine O’Clock Players. Runco has found the group’s prop and set shops to be full
of “great old things we can re-paint and re-purpose.” He has also been impressed with the theatrical technology the Assistance League Theater possesses.
During his time at Disney, Runco told us he learned to start each project with three things: “Research, research and research!” For the production design of “Alice!” Runco gathered every book of
“Alice in Wonderland” that he could find, watched the animated movie a few times and then worked to design everything with a small-theater budget in mind. “We aim to get the most ‘pixie dust,’ emotion and bang for the buck,” he said.
One of the things Runco loves is seeing young audiences enthusiastically enjoying the shows. “We know we are creating some magical memories for them and perhaps even encouraging some of them to do theater or other creative jobs when they grow up.” The retired Imagineer, who spent 46 years creating magic for Disney, has had a chance to watch some of the rehearsals. “There are going to be some terrific, magical moments for everyone,” he said.
“Alice!” opens at 1367 N. St. Andrews Pl., Sun., Nov. 3, with additional performances Sundays Nov. 10, 17 and 24 at 2 p.m. For tickets, visit: assistanceleaguela.org.
Puppet making workshop, costume contest
Bob Baker Marionette Theater (BBMT) is hosting its second annual Hallowe’en Costume Ball on Sat., Oct. 26. The festive evening starts at 8 p.m. with a showing of their production, “Hallowe’en Spooktacular,” at the BBMT building at 4949 York Blvd. in Highland Park. After the show, costumed guests will be judged by a panel for their chance to win a prize. After the contest, the theater will erupt into a dance party.
DIY puppet workshop Build goofy, giant puppets out of scavenged material at a one-day workshop on Mon., Nov. 4., at 6 p.m. with Freak Nature Puppets.
Tickets and additional information for both events is available at bobbakermarionettetheater.com.
CAST MEMBERS Kate Brennan (the Cheshire Cat), Sabrina Robin (Alice) and Leslie Kenyon (the Mad Hatter) on stage.
A YOUNG AUDIENCE awaits showtime at the Assistance League Theater.
SET DESIGNER and former Disney Imagineer, Chris Runco.
Available soon: Marat Daukayev ‘Nutcracker’ ballet tickets
By Casey Russell
The Marat Daukayev School of Ballet dancers are preparing for the Marat Daukayev Ballet Theatre’s annual Nutcracker performances, which will take place Sat., Dec. 7, and Sun., Dec. 8.
Established in 2001 by Windsor Square residents Marat and Pamela Daukayev, the ballet company has been entertaining Angelenos with
this classic tale for 22 years. The 105 Marat students who will be performing in this year’s show will be joined by guest dancer Grigorily Dobrygin. A Russian actor who recently starred in “A Quiet Life,” Dobrygin also is an experienced dancer. He has been studying with Marat since this summer to prepare himself to play the late dancer Alexander Godunov in an
upcoming film.
Audience members can expect to see highly trained young dancers at Marat’s Nutcracker performances.
Principal dancers from last year’s show are now dancing at Dutch National Academy, Munich Ballet Academy and Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Pamela Daukayev tells us.
Nutcracker performances
take place at the Luckman Theater, 5151 State University Dr.
fairy Grace Tankenson of Windsor Square danc-
Photo by Robert Litomisky
Thanksgiving
(Continued from Page 14)
carte vegan and gluten-free sides and family dinner packages for four, including a vegan and gluten-free meatloaf (made with legumes) and a vegan seitan turkey, each with four vegan sides, $140-$160. There will also be gluten-free gravy and brownies, and vegan and regular holiday muffins.
For a Filipino twist on the holiday feast, try Kuya Lord, whose chef, Lord Maynard Llera, won the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef, California. Prices haven’t been set yet, but some traditional alternatives include Filipino
porchetta (slow-roasted rolled duroc pork belly serving 5-20 people); bone-in short rib with Chinese long beans, eggplant and smoked shiitake; or almond wood-grilled Branzino with toyomansi, a dipping sauce of soy sauce and calamansi, a tart citrus fruit. Alongside your traditional Thanksgiving pies, consider a bright green calamansi pie, a Filipino take on key lime pie with whipped cream flavored with pandan, a tropical tree leaf extract that tastes of earthy vanilla.
Kuya Lord, 5003 Melrose Ave., kuyalord.com. The menu will be posted on Instagram @kuyalord_la and on Facebook @kuyalord, or email questions to hello@ kuyalord.com.
Most supermarkets offer complete turkey meals ready
for reheating, as well as an array of sides and pies. Gelson’s menu features a roasted turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing, creamed corn, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls, $200 for eight people; $290 serves 12. They also offer the same sides with a spiral glazed ham for two, $60; $170 for eight. To accommodate non-meat eaters, Gelson’s has a poached or spicy salmon dinner with sides to serve two people for $90 and an Impossible (vegan) meatloaf with sides to serve four for $70. Everything is also available a la carte. Their pumpkin pies are $21.99; apple or pecan pies are $27.99.
Gelson’s Hollywood, 5877 Franklin Ave., 323-464-7316, gelsons.com.
L.A. Grocery & Café, a new
market on Melrose Hill near Kuya Lord, has released a tentative Thanksgiving menu with estimated prices, which includes a 12-lb. Ferndale Farms pasture-raised rotisserie turkey for $175; a pescatarian entrée of slow-roasted Columbia River steelhead trout (serves 4), $40; various sides, including Bub & Grandma’s brioche and sourdough stuffing, $45; gluten-free mac & cheese, $50; and gluten-free and vegan kabocha squash with pepita pesto and pomegranate chutney, $50. They hope to have regular and gluten-free pies as well.
Whole Foods, Bristol Farms and Ralphs are expected to post their lists of prepared Thanksgiving meals on their
respective websites by the beginning of November.
For a sweet ending to your Thanksgiving feast that’s kosher and vegan, gluten-, dairy-, egg- and soy-free, Erin McKenna’s Bakery features classic pumpkin pie for $55 and Dutch apple pie, $60. Other baked goods to accompany the Thanksgiving feast are plain, vegan cheddar and vegan cheddar jalapeno biscuits ($5-$7 each, also sold in multiples of six or 12) and cornbread loaves, $35.
Erin McKenna’s Bakery, 236 N. Larchmont Blvd., 323-463-2023, erinmckennasbakery.com.
o o o
Note that a few places have posted their Thanksgiving menus on their websites already, but many do so just after Halloween. Be mindful that they all have deadlines for ordering; most have a November 22 cut-off. Scheduled pick-ups are usually for Wed., Nov. 27 (the day before the holiday), and Thanksgiving morning.
Los Angeles Opera: ‘Dracula’ in Spanish, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on stage
By John Welborne
Los Angeles Opera has a great Halloween surprise for Angelenos. The company tells us that we can relive Hollywood’s Golden Age with a rediscovered classic film at the historic United Theater (formerly United Artists, Rev. Gene Scott’s University Cathedral and The Ace) on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles.
Says the opera company: “While Bela Lugosi was vamping it up in front of the cameras by day, a night crew shot an alternate version of Dracula in Spanish — same sets, same story, new cast. This second incarnation of the classic, starring Carlos Villarías, was largely forgotten until a recent renaissance, and many now hail it as the superior version.” Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla has written a new score.
Los Angeles Opera resident conductor Lina González-Granados conducts. Performances are Fri., Oct. 25 and Sat., Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. and Sun., Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.
Opening night of Los Angeles Opera’s Romeo and Juliet is Sat., Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., and performances continue through Sat., Nov. 23.
For tickets and show times, visit laopera.org.
Local surgeon Dr. Gordon carves out a role in medical history
By Helene Seifer
Did you know that President James A. Garfield was shot in an assassination attempt in 1881, but he died because germs weren’t understood and doctors with unwashed hands removed the bullet? Or did you know that there was a clandestine medical school in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust? Decoy books were even made so the Nazis wouldn’t discover that the Jewish students were studying forbidden subjects.
Those are two of the many topics covered in lectures by local surgeon Dr. Leo A. Gordon as an affiliate faculty member in Cedars-Sinai’s History of Medicine Program, an initiative begun and directed by historian and philosopher of medicine and science Gideon Manning, who believes that studying medicine’s past can lead to a better future. Dr. Gordon’s presentations to the Cedars community and the interested public are part of that effort, along with other lectures and in-depth six-week courses. He and his colleagues in Cedars-Sinai’s program value the importance and broad appeal of medical history.
“Everybody is a patient,” Dr. Gordon explains. “It’s the
great common human bond. Whether you’re sleeping under the freeway or you’re the chairman of Citibank, everyone is a patient.”
And since Veterans Day, a day to honor all who served our country in the armed forces, is Nov. 11, this is a perfect time to talk with the Windsor Square resident about his work with the History of Medicine Program. As he discovered, the history of medicine and the history of warfare are often linked.
D-Day
One of Dr. Gordon’s popular lectures, “Miracles on the Beach — the Medicine of D-Day,” looks at how the medical establishment improved
battlefield care in World War II. Today we benefit from the new protocols and discoveries implemented then.
He took on the topic after an encounter with a medical student in the operating room. Dr. Gordon was assisting with a surgery, and as one of Cedars-Sinai’s educators, he quizzed the student about various aspects of the operation. The student nailed every answer until asked about the significance of that day’s date, June 6. The student’s wildly incorrect guesses led Dr. Gordon to think, “We need to weave the date into a program at Cedars.”
In his presentation, Dr. Gordon explains that D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was the beginning of the end of World War II. Some 350,000 Allied personnel were deployed. That day saw 9,000 casualties and 2,400 deaths, 1,200 in the first hour.
World War I medical personnel would never have been prepared for the enormity of those numbers, but many changes had been implemented since then. Dr. Gordon recounts in his lecture how the American College of Surgeons reviewed World War I procedures for handling the wounded and made ad-
justments. The timeline for medical school was altered to more quickly ready doctors for the battlefield. Similarly, in 1943, Congress approved the Bolton Act, which funded accelerated training for nurses and added classes in working at high altitude because flight nurses would accompany patients being flown for further medical treatment.
Another change that improved care on D-Day, explains Dr. Gordon, was the implementation of a chain of evacuation: a series of steps that created an order for delivery of medical treatment. The injured would proceed to a nearby triage tent, then a (Please turn to Page 26)
Dr. Leo A. Gordon Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Dr. Gordon
(Continued from Page 25) regional center and finally be flown to an established hospital for further care if necessary.
Patient survival was greatly increased by the widespread availability of penicillin. The antibiotic was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, but without the capacity to produce it in vast quantities, it had limited use. In 1943, a technique for mass-producing penicillin was found, leading to fewer deaths from infections, both on the battlefield and off.
Anatomy atlas
Another of his lecture subjects that links war with gained medical knowledge is the story of the “Pernkopf Anatomy Atlas.” Dr. Gordon inherited a friend’s library. There he found the atlas with beautifully detailed renderings of the layers within the human body. Dr. Gordon learned that an ethical controversy surrounds it. In his presentation, he discusses the moral quandary of whether or not to use what many consider an invaluable resource because the author, Austrian anatomy professor Eduard Pernkopf, was an avowed Nazi, and circumstantial evidence suggests that deceased Nazi victims in WWII were dissected and used as models for the illustrations.
Still a surgeon
When not giving lectures about war-related medical subjects or Presidential illnesses (his most popular lecture — who wouldn’t want to hear about George Washington’s abscessed tooth or William Howard Taft’s sleep apnea?), Dr. Gordon is a general surgeon with extensive expertise in breast and gastrointestinal surgery. He is a senior consultant in clinical surgery with the Surgery Group of Los Angeles.
Originally from Massachusetts, he met his wife, Jan, at Iowa Wesleyan University. After earning his medical degree from Northwestern University School of Medicine, he completed his surgical residency at Tufts New England Medical Center. In 1978 he moved with Jan and their first son to La Jolla for a fellowship at the Scripps Clinic. “I thought it was another planet!” says Dr. Gordon. “We moved from a basement apartment in Boston to a hill overlooking La Jolla.” Compared to the lush greenery surrounding their new place, he jokes about their Boston apartment. “It’s called a garden apartment because we had a window box with a daisy in it!”
After the fellowship, Dr. Gordon accepted a job at Cedars-Sinai. “We had friends on Muirfield Road who enthused about us living in the area.”
Windsor Square
(Continued from Page 1) was one against Getty Oil Company, which had proposed demolishing the entire block of homes between Irving and Lorraine boulevards north of Wilshire Boulevard to Sixth Street — to build a high-rise world headquarters for Getty Oil. The compromise was to Councilmember, candidate were at HPHOA meeting
The Gordons first lived in Hancock Park, where their second son was born, then settled in Windsor Square. Forty-five or so years later, they are well-ensconced in the neighborhood. His wife is involved in the local Daughters of the American Revolution and enjoys genealogy, and they both profess to be avid readers of the Larchmont Chronicle
Son Ari is a pharmacist at the Beverly Glen Pharmacy, and Jason is a physical therapist at Larchmont Physical Therapy.
Dr. Gordon has no plans to retire. He assists with surgeries, stays very involved with the History of Medicine Program and is dedicated to his hobby, writing. He wrote two medical-related books and is now working on “a lighthearted look over my career in surgery.” It’s sure to be irreverent. “At the end of every joke, somebody gets hurt,” Dr Gordon asserts. “That’s why it’s called a punch line.”
save most of the homes and build only the six-story office building on Wilshire, where Crenshaw ends. In 1975, Getty Oil offered to the City of Los Angeles the block’s two remaining residential parcels — to become the city’s official mayoral residence. Getty House was first occupied beginning in 1977 by Mayor
Tom Bradley and his family. Agenda
In addition to hearing from Mayor Bass, the Nov. 14 agenda will include a review of the WSA’s activities during 2024, discussions of matters such as emergency preparedness and land use, and presentation of the association’s 2024 Squeaky Wheel Award.
LVNA semiannual meeting is Nov. 12
City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and candidate for Los Angeles County District Attorney, Nathan Hochman, were among guest speakers expected at the annual meeting of the Hancock Park Homeowners Association (HPHOA) on Oct. 21. As of press time, the association had heard no response to its invitation to the current DA, George Gascón.
New permanent LAPD Wilshire Division Senior Lead Officer Tyler Shuck also was expected to attend the meeting held on Zoom after the Larchmont Chronicle went to press. HPHOA committees were to give reports, and the board election results were announced.
Visit hancockparkhomeownersassociation.org for updates.
The semiannual Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association community meeting will take place via Zoom on Tues., Nov. 12, at 7 p.m.
Guest speakers will include Wilshire Division LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO) Tyler Shuck and Olympic Division SLO Daniel Chavez.
Council District 13 Field Deputy Karla Martinez is also scheduled to attend.
Citywide and North Larchmont planning and land use matters are on the agenda. These include the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) ordinance Draft No. 3 and the current Executive Directive (ED1) polices, plus individual projects proposed for North Larchmont Boulevard. Interested Larchmont Village neighbors are invited to RSVP to lvna90004@gmail. com to receive the Zoom link.
Homelessness count
(Continued from Page 1)
25, 2024, the Larchmont Chronicle has been working to find out how our area fared. After many months of inquiring, we obtained the raw, point-in-time census data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). We overlaid the relevant census tracts on the geographic area where we distribute the paper each month. The distribution area boundaries are from Melrose Avenue and Beverly Boulevard to Olympic Boulevard and from Fairfax to Western avenues, approximately six square miles.
Within that area, the January 25 evening visual tally showed the number of unsheltered persons to be approximately 86. The data also revealed there were 36 tents plus 13 cars, 31 vans, 15 recreational vehicles (a total of 59 vehicles) and appearing to house people. Additionally, the surveyors recorded 10 other makeshift shelters. LAHSA representatives do not endeavor to enter any of these individual spaces.
Rather, LAHSA has created a multiplier of 1.7 people per space based upon careful research over the years. Utilizing that multiplier — with our area’s total of 105 tent, car, van, RV, and makeshift shelter spaces — results in an estimate of 179 occupants of those spaces. Add that to 86 individuals counted, and the Larchmont Chronicle distribution area appears to have had approximately 265 unsheltered homeless people the evening of Jan. 25, 2024. Within the Chronicle’s circulation area, the majority of the homeless individuals and tents and vehicles counted were in the census tracts that extended north across the Melrose Avenue boundary and west of La Brea Avenue.
HOMELESS COUNT CENSUS TRACTS from Jan. 25, 2024, with overlays of Larchmont Chronicle circulation area (blue line) and Greater Wilshire (green shading) and Mid City West (red shading) neighborhood councils. “Area A” had a total of approximately 51 percent of the unsheltered people in all these census tracts that evening, and “Area B” had approximately 17 percent.
Approximately 50 percent of the homeless people counted that night were in the area west of La Brea Avenue with about 44 percent of the tents and vehicles also being west of La Brea. Using the LAHSA
multiplier, approximately 135 of the 265 unsheltered people (51 percent) were in that area (“Area A” on the accompanying map).
Approximately nine percent of the counted people and 21 percent of the tents and vehicles were in our distribution area’s upper-right corner, north
of Beverly Boulevard and east of Wilton Place. Utilizing LAHSA’s multiplier, approximately 17 percent of the total counted were in that area (“Area B” on the accompanying map).
That leaves approximately 32 percent of the tallied and estimated unsheltered people that night in the area inside cen-
sus tract boundaries of, on the north, Willoughby Avenue, Seward Street, Melrose Avenue, then extending south and east on Wilton Place and Beverly Boulevard to Western Avenue, south to Country Club Drive and then east along Olympic Boulevard and north on La Brea Avenue to Willoughby.
That generally describes 14 of the 15 Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council communities: Melrose Neighborhood, Hancock Park, Larchmont Village Neighborhood, Windsor Square, Ridgewood Wilton, St. Andrews Square, We-Wil, Country Club Heights, Wilshire Park, Windsor Village, Fremont Place, Brookside, Sycamore Square and La Brea Hancock.
The LAHSA counts gathered in January were released on June 28. LAHSA conducts the biggest point-in-time survey in the United States.
LAHSA notes that the number of unhoused in the city dropped by 2.2 percent.
HMLA to reopen partially on Nov. 10
By Suzan Filipek
The original building at Holocaust Museum LA will reopen Sun., Nov. 10, offering exhibits and programming while construction continues on the museum expansion to the south, along the western rim of Pan Pacific Park.
The current building, at 100 The Grove Dr., closed in June because of construction work necessary to accommodate a heavy railroad boxcar to be placed upon the building’s roof.
The boxcar was found near the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland.
It is in transit and expected to arrive in early November, museum spokesperson Carla Schalman told us.
Since the original museum building is partially under-
ground, the boxcar will be level with the adjoining road. It eventually will be surrounded by a pavilion and include an exhibit. However, that part of the museum will not open until the full expansion is revealed.
Both the original portion and the expansion were designed by architect Hagy Belzberg. The expansion is expected to be complete in 2026, and it will nearly double the museum’s size from 28,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet.
At the Nov. 10 reopening, the museum will present a talk, “Kristallnacht: A Family History,” at 2 p.m.
Sunday Survivor Talk with Joe Alexander is Nov. 17; “Rise,” a new rock musical, tells of Jewish women resistance fighters and will screen Thurs., Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m., and “Building Bridges — Peace in Action” joins Palestinian and Jewish Israelis Tues., Dec. 10, at 6:30 p.m.
For a full listing, visit holocaustmuseumla.org.
AN ORIGINAL boxcar will be enclosed in a pavilion.
Fall has arrived, and local neighborhoods are in the spirit of the season. Here’s a sample of 2024’s decorated houses on the following streets: Wilcox Avenue, Cahuenga Boulevard, Lillian Way, Muirfield Road, Rimpau Boulevard, Hudson Place, Beachwood Drive, Irving Boulevard, Windsor Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue. Neighborhood homes are decorated and ready
By Casey Russell
It’s the season to buy pumpkins (and to smash pumpkins)
By Nona Sue Friedman
“The pumpkins are looking beautiful. I love coming out here,” is what Wendy Clifford, the Wilshire Rotarian in charge of the club’s annual pumpkin patch, said recently by telephone from the fields near Santa Paula where she was picking out pumpkins.
Clifford explained that the pumpkin patch on the Boulevard is staffed primarily by volunteers. The Interacters, a youth division of Wilshire Rotary from Larchmont Charter High School, sell many colorful kinds of squash. Clifford proclaimed to us, “Interacters are great!” — and extremely helpful. She noted that there is only one paid employee for the pumpkin sale.
The patch will be open through Wed., Oct. 30. Profits gained from the project provide funds to local nonprofit organizations. On Sat., Oct. 26, the patch will host trickor-treating from 2 to 3 p.m.
When the pumpkins are gone, Wilshire Rotary transforms the lot at 568 N. Larchmont Blvd. into a winter wonderland where you can purchase Christmas trees and accessories starting the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, Nov. 29, at 10 a.m.
Smash your pumpkins
“Smash it, don’t trash it” is the theme of the second annual Great Pumpkin Bash (GPB) taking place in Pan Pacific Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd. This free, family-friendly event
focuses on eco-friendly practices while making for a fun afternoon on Sun., Nov. 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Over one billion pounds of pumpkins end up in landfills in the U.S. every year, as opposed to being composted. This will help to correct that.
Bring your jack o’ lanterns to the pumpkin smash zone, where participants pulverize their squash with baseball bats.
Dodgers pitch
At the GPB, wannabe baseball players can pitch official Major League baseballs at pumpkins to receive Los Angeles Dodgers giveaways. A former Dodger will be on hand to encourage the pitchers and interact with everyone.
The kids’ fun zone will have bounce houses, face painting and arts and crafts.
Pumpkin flavored snacks
and refreshments will be given away, along with fruit and shade trees, compost and mulch. Organizers will raffle off rain barrels, compost bins and worm bins hourly. There will also be a raffle for higher value Dodger items.
The Natural History Museum, Homeboy Industries and Melrose Trading Company, along with others, will provide educational lectures about gardening and offer multicultural cooking demonstrations using pumpkins.
The goal of the event, sponsored by Council District 5, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and others, is to educate residents on sustainable practices, including using green compost bins at home in order to keep pumpkins and other produce out of the black trash bins.
‘Tis the season of ghosts and goblins and of Wilshire Park Association’s annual Halloween Haunt.
The 15th annual haunt will take place on Sat., Oct. 26, from 4 to 7 p.m., on Bronson Avenue between Wilshire Boulevard and Eighth Street.
Festivities include yard games, a fortune teller, a costume contest and a silent auction. A taco truck, Korean food and a bake sale will be on-site.
Members from LAFD Fire Station 29 are expected to drop by, as are Council District 5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and LAPD Olympic Division Senior Lead Officer Harry Cho.
For updates on the event, visit wilshirepark.org/halloween.
PUMPKINS and Halloween decorations conceal items for children to find in this year’s scavenger hunt.
FESTIVE décor and a blow-up maze add color and fun to the Wilshire Rotary Pumpkin Patch. Photos by Joe Russell
SENIOR LEAD OFFICERS Daniel Chavez and Eric Mollinedo with a cardboard cutout standing in for SLO Harry Cho of the LAPD Olympic Division.
LOCAL Larchmont Charter Selma students choose mini pumpkins to take home.
WILSHIRE PARK residents Felice Pappas and Deidra Hoye at last year’s haunt.
Larchmont Fair
(Continued from Page 1)
traffic from Beverly Boulevard to First Street all day.
Many local businesses will remain open, and the Larchmont Village Farmers’ Market will be in its usual spot in the city parking lot at the Wilshire Rotary clock tower.
Fairgoers also will be able to stop by participating stands and food trucks to enjoy foods from around the world, such as pupusas, Hawaiian chicken and hibachi.
The Larchmont Family Fair started in the 1960s as a small neighborhood event, but it has grown. Fair organizers estimate that last year’s fair was attended by more than 10,000 people. It is by far the Boulevard’s largest event of the year.
Produced by the Larchmont Boulevard Association (LBA), the fun-filled afternoon brings neighbors together while also serving as a fundraiser to aid the LBA in Boulevard upkeep, holiday décor and more.
Admission to the event is free, but rides and food will require payment.
Children of all ages who want to participate in the costume contests, which begin at 12:30, should check for their age group’s time at the stage area at 12:15.
Jim McDonnell
(Continued from Page 1)
relations speaks for itself.
“I had the opportunity to see Jim McDonnell’s leadership in action during my time as a deputy for Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. His commitment to building trust and accountability in law enforcement is clear, and his innovative approach to community policing has helped make our city a safer place.”
McDonnell, who began his career at the LAPD Academy 43 years ago, said his new post was a dream come true.
“I love this city — and I understand the modern-day challenges our officers face in working to protect it,” said Chief McDonnell. “It is a tremendous honor to lead the men and women of the LAPD. I will work hard to make sure their work to keep Angelenos safe is supported.”
Officer morale was at a low point, he added, largely due to a shortage of personnel, which is why he aims to strengthen the nearly 9,000-officer force through recruitment and retention efforts.
Since beginning his 29-year career with the LAPD, McDonnell held every rank up to first assistant chief of police. He worked a wide variety of assignments, including homi-
cide, gangs, organized crime, vice and patrol operations. He applied for the LAPD’s top job twice before, in 2002 and 2009. When not selected, he retired from the LAPD in 2010 to become chief of the Long Beach Police Department, where he served for almost five years.
In 2014, McDonnell was elected as the 32nd sheriff of Los Angeles County to lead the largest sheriff’s department in the U.S. with more than 18,000 employees. McDonnell took over an agency that had been shaken by scandal and, in his fouryear term, worked to restore public trust, institutionalize systems of accountability and work collaboratively and effectively with federal, state and local agencies to combat human trafficking and terrorism, among other regional challenges, Bass’ office said.
After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, the Boston native obtained a master’s degree in Public Administration from USC. He is also a graduate of the FBI’s National Executive Institute and has completed executive education programs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
New SLO assigned for area
By Nona Sue Friedman
After nearly two years of interim and acting Senior Lead Officers (SLO) for the Larchmont area, Wilshire Community Police Station has assigned a permanent SLO for Basic Car 7A17. Officer Tyler Shuck was announced last month as permanently taking the post.
He has been the acting SLO for the area for the past two months, and he has worked at the Wilshire Station for the last eight years. Shuck officially started his permanent SLO duties on Oct. 20 and can be reached via email at 40740@lapd. online and by telephone at 213-793-0650.
MAP shows Basic Car 7A17 coverage area in the Wilshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.
POLICE BEAT
Maserati occupant wields handgun on Highland; theft on Sixth
WILSHIRE DIVISION
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY:
A suspect in a white Maserati got out of the vehicle holding a handgun and demanded property from someone. The suspect fled the scene at Highland Avenue and First Street without any property and drove southbound on Highland on Oct. 5.
ROBBERY: A suspect came into a business and tried to leave without paying for merchandise. Security confronted the suspect who struck the security guard and fled the location on the 700 block of South La Brea Avenue on Oct. 9.
BURGLARIES: Suspects took a tool to break the glass door of a home, removed property and fled from the
5200 block of Rosewood Avenue on Oct. 3.
Suspects entered a victim’s locked apartment, ransacked the space and fled from the 400 block of South Detroit Street on Oct. 4.
Burglars entered an apartment and took property from the residence on the 300 block of South Cloverdale Avenue on Oct. 4.
Burglars entered a home through the backyard, pried open the rear door and ransacked a bedroom in the house on the 700 block of South Orange Drive on Oct. 10.
GRAND THEFT AUTO: A 2016 Toyota Corolla was stolen from the 5200 block of Wilshire Boulevard.
OLYMPIC DIVISION
THEFT: A victim returned
WILSHIRE DIVISION
Furnished by Senior Lead Officer
Tyler Shuck
213-712-3715
40740@lapd.online
Twitter: @lapdwilshire
to her home to find property missing from her driveway on the 100 block of South Norton Avenue on Oct. 8 at 1:40 p.m.
A suspect stole $5,000 in cash that a victim left in an Airbnb on the 3000 block of West Sixth Street on Oct. 11 at 11 a.m.
BURGLARIES: A suspect entered a victim’s residence in a multifamily dwelling through a rear bedroom window. Property was stolen from
By Nona Sue Friedman
Shawn Laval Smith, 34, a transient, was convicted of murdering Brianna Kupfer, 24, a UCLA graduate student. Smith was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Sept. 10.
Smith stabbed Kupfer 46 times while she worked alone in a boutique furniture store, Croft House, on the 300 block of North La Brea Avenue on Jan. 13, 2022. Los Ange-
OLYMPIC DIVISION
Furnished by Senior Lead Officer
Daniel Chavez
213-793-0709
36304@lapd.online
Instagram: @olympic_slo1
the building on the 400 block of Westminster Avenue on Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
A tool was used to open a window of a home, and a burglar entered and took property on the 100 block of South Norton Avenue on Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT:
A roommate argument occurred where one suspect approached the victim and used body weight to hold the
les County Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo said the defendant displayed such brutality in his attack that she would not consider any other sentence.
After the brutal murder, a digital audio device was found at the scene that recorded the entire encounter. A manhunt ensued, with a reward, and Smith was arrested in Pasadena one week later.
Kupfer’s family lives in Pacific Palisades, and she is
victim against the kitchen counter. The victim pushed the suspect away and pulled the assailant’s hair in the dispute in a building on the 500 block of North Bronson Avenue on Oct. 6 at 10:30 a.m.
GRAND THEFT AUTO: A car was stolen from the corner of Wilton Place and Wilshire Boulevard on Oct. 1 at 5 p.m.
Another car was stolen from the 300 block of South Van Ness Avenue on Oct. 7 at 9:30 p.m.
BURGLARY THEFT FROM AUTO: Property was taken from a car parked in a driveway on the 400 block of South Wilton Place on Oct. 2 at 10 p.m.
A burglar took tires from a vehicle on the 500 block of North Windsor Boulevard on Oct. 7 at 11 p.m.
student
survived by her parents, a sister and two brothers. The family created a charitable foundation in her memory, and readers may learn more about her at briannafoundation.org.
Looking for some pre-Halloween fun? Olympic Community Police Station is an answer. The station is hosting a three-day Halloween Carnival that starts Fri., Oct. 25. There will be a plethora of rides, games and activities at the family-friendly event. The festivities take place on Vermont Avenue between Olympic and Pico boulevards. Purchase discounted tickets in advance at qrco.de/bfRC2i or in person at the station; 10 ride tickets are $30. Tickets will be more expensive at the event. The carnival takes place Fri., Oct. 25, from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sat. and Sun., Oct. 26 and 27, from 2 to 11 p.m.
Add ‘Scarborough Fair Four’ and others to holiday dishes
On April 20, 1968, an unlikely contender rose to 11th place on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” reprised a medieval English ballad that spins the tale of an elfin knight who courts a young maiden. The knight poses a series of impossible tasks that she must complete in order to become his lover: “Tell her to make me a cambric shirt without no seams nor needlework.” “Tell her to find me an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strands.”
Many will remember the folk tune for its famous refrain: “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.” These lyrics have been interpreted variably as symbols of apotropaic magic or the ingredients of a love potion. Perhaps parsley offered strength, as its name comes from the Greek “petros,” meaning “stone.” Sage, from
the Latin “salvus,” meaning “healthy,” might have been used to maintain one’s vigor. Rosemary, from the Latin “rosmarinus,” meaning “dew of the sea,” was associated with remembrance. And while the origins of the name “thyme” are unknown, the ancient Greeks believed it was a source of courage.
Odes to other herbs
Commonly pulverized into pesto, the aromatic basil plant has long been treasured for its flavor. Its name evolved from the Greek word “basileus,” meaning “king,” as the leaves and buds of the plant were believed to have been used in making royal perfumes. Basil was also thought to deter a fearsome creature of a similar name — the “king of serpents” known as the basilisk.
Cilantro haters — here’s your vindication. Outside
Japanese Consul
General visits with Larchmont Charter students
By Nona Sue Friedman
Larchmont Charter High School (LCS) received a visit from the Consul General of Japan, Kenko Sone, and his wife, Mami Sone, on Sept. 19.
Word Café by
Mara Fisher
of the United States, the divisive herb is called “coriander,” from the Greek word “koriannon.” That term originates from “koris,” meaning “bedbug,” so named for the foul smell it was thought to produce. That being said, it appears that the herb has had a long lineage of admirers, as dried mericarps of coriander were discovered at the submerged archaeological site Atlit Yam off the coast of Israel, dating its use back at least 8,000 years.
The season of pumpkin-spiced everything
wouldn’t be so without the peppery warmth of cloves. These aromatic flower buds native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia (which were also the world’s sole source of nutmeg) receive their designation from their distinctive shape, evolving from the Latin “clavus,” meaning “nail.”
Cinnamon was so highly valued in the ancient world — Pliny the Elder tallied its cost at 15 times the price of silver — that it was often placed at the center of religious rituals and burial customs.
Herodotus wrote of the giant Arabian cinomolgus, or cinnamon bird, who used fruits of the cinnamon tree to build its nest in high canopies. Men seeking the cherished fruits would throw “weighted missiles” at the nests in order to obtain their prize.
In Rome, Emperor Nero is
said to have burned a year’s worth of the city’s supply of cinnamon at the funeral of his wife, Poppaea Sabina in AD 65 (perhaps to atone for his actions, as it’s widely believed that it was he who killed her).
Obtained from the inner bark of trees, the lauded ingredient is most often derived from a species of cassia plants, from the Hebrew “qatsa,” meaning “to strip off bark.” An embarrassment of flavorful riches If your November plans involve cooking — or simply indulging in — traditional Thanksgiving fare, consider expanding your herbal horizons beyond the “Scarborough Fair Four.” Pepper your salad with the fresh greenery of “royal” basil, and candy your yams with all the nail-like cloves in your toolbox. But if your guest list is long, skip the cilantro.
The consular residence is in Hancock Park, and the consul general saw an article in the August 2024 Larchmont Chronicle reporting on Larchmont Boulevard fundraising for a future trip students will take to Japan. He reached out to the school, saying he wanted to meet and talk about his home country to LCS students who went on a previous trip.
CONSUL GENERAL of Japan in Los Angeles Kenko Sone, (seated at left) with Mrs. Sone, center, and Vice Consul Miyabi Shimada, visited Larchmont Charter High School. Back row, left to right, are students Madeline Garcia and Kimberly Sayapan-Singh, teacher Stacey Mahony, student Gus Sepenuk and school principal Mike Kang.
A 1940 jewel, Clinton Manor is being considered for Monument status. Page 4
New Covenant Academy girls’ volleyball team heads to playoffs. Page 11
Neighborhood rallies for Save Beverly Fairfax at block party
By Helene Seifer
The 300 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue was abuzz on Sun., Oct. 13. Neighbors were chatting over free donuts; children were holding giant lollipops in one hand and balloon animals in the other; and dozens of dogs, big and small, were present. Giant balloon bouquets welcomed everyone to the Save Beverly Fairfax annual block party, where neighborhood conviviality was the order of the day.
There were plenty of activities to entertain the more than 200 in attendance, with a spin art station, a fill-yourbag-with-candy bar, a truck offering free coffee and donuts, a table of pale blue Beverly Fairfax caps for the taking, balloon animals made to order, a step-and-repeat banner for a colorful, balloon-trimmed photo op, a raffle with prizes donated by local restaurants and businesses and a dedicated space for pooches to quench their thirsts and chow down on doggie biscuits.
Dale Kendall, president of Save Beverly Fairfax, looking delighted with the turnout, had a few things on his mind. “I would like to see more safety in our area. To protect and
preserve our historic district and surrounding area — that’s our mission. But our new campaign is to have our historic streetlights restored. They were removed in the early 1970s. We have a petition here for people to sign.”
Community concerns
Residents of the Beverly Fairfax Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, told the Larchmont Chronicle about
their love for the community and their concerns. “We’ve lived 10 years in the neighborhood,” said Sam Azulay. “I like the diversity. I love the walkability to restaurants, parks and shopping, but I’m not enjoying the crime and homelessness.” When asked what she thought about the
planned Television City expansion, which is expected to impact the area, Azulay of-
fered, “I love that they’re developing the city, but the plan
(Please
Above: ALLIE MAYES and Chad Sullivan were on Sierra Bonita Avenue for the party with their son Wyatt Sullivan, 3, waving his elephant balloon.
Right: STEPHANIE RITTER displayed her spin art masterpiece.
SWEET CHOICES at the candy bar confronted Alfie and Ona Campbell.
AZULAY FAMILY, from left: Milan, 9, with parents Sam and Jon and dogs Olive (golden) and Enzo (white).
Katy Yaroslavsky and Dale Kendall, president of Save Beverly Fairfax, both spoke
Save Beverly Fairfax
(Continued from Page 2) that they have is disrespectful to the neighborhood. I have a lot of concerns.” Her husband Jon Azulay stated, “It’s good for employment.”
Cheryl Humphreys is worried about the expansion’s effect on traffic. “We are not looking forward to the through traffic that will clog up the streets.”
“I have been working with CBS [regarding the expansion] for many years,” Kendall stated. I still feel it’s too big for our residential area because of the size and the height, but
mostly the traffic. I feel that it’s irresponsible for the city to approve a project that size for our neighborhood, which is already in gridlock traffic.”
Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the Beverly Fairfax community as City Councilmember for District 5, spoke to the crowd, inviting people to contact her office if they wanted to talk about sidewalk repairs, fixing streetlights, trimming trees or public safety, explaining, “Our job is to make the city a more habitable, kinder, healthier, safer place for all of us.”
More on TVC
Addressing the issue of Television City’s plans, she
stated, “It has been there for a very long time. The current owners have come up with a plan to revitalize it. My job is to make sure that we’re supporting our local economy. The biggest driver of our local economy is the entertainment industry. I support that. My job is also to represent all of you and make sure the impact of the project is mitigated and the positives are accentuated.”
After noting that there was still an opportunity to weigh in before the project comes to the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, Yaroslavsky assured those in attendance, “We will have the best traffic mitigation plan in the city. It will be enforceable. We’re going to make sure that heights along Beverly and Fairfax are lowered, and we’re going to make sure that it’s safe and well-lit and provides a lot of jobs for Angelenos.”
Yaroslavsky also enumerated to the Chronicle some specific means to mitigate the expansion’s negative impacts on traffic: “Shuttles from the Metro, car sharing, bicycle lanes, transportation improvements in the neighborhood. For example, cars leaving CBS can’t go straight out of the gate into the neighborhood.”
New TVC appeals filed
By Suzan Filipek
By the Oct. 15 deadline, there were six appeals filed of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission’s recent approval of a major real estate development project proposed at the former CBS TV studio at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.
“The process has been opaque and poorly managed.
The project is out of scale and out of character with the neighborhood, the uses are poorly defined, and the zoning constitutes a blank check for future development,” Shelley Wagers, of Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development, one of the appellants, wrote in an email to the Chronicle
The group, representing a coalition of residents, businesses and community groups, will speak on behalf of the community at the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee hearing, the date for which had not been announced by press time.
The other appellants are A.F. Gilmore Co., Beverly Wilshire Homes Association, Mayer Beverly Park LP, Save Beverly Fairfax and The Grove.
Three Letters of Determination, which certified the TVC 2050 Project and denied nine
prior appeals, were issued Oct. 3 by the Planning Commission.
Next up: PLUM
The vesting tentative tract map, or subdivision for the project, is appealable to the Los Angeles City Council. Prior to review by the full council, the matter will be before the PLUM Committee.
On Sept. 12, near the end of the Planning Commission’s six-hour hybrid public hearing in City Hall and via Zoom, the size and scope of the proposed 1.75 million-squarefoot project were trimmed by the developer in response to requests made by City Council District 5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.
Her requests included prioritizing entertainment business-related uses for a controversial additional halfmillion square feet of new general office space at the site.
Appellants at that hearing were disappointed. “[Councilmember] Yaroslavsky had assured us that the proposed project would be significantly reduced in size and that studio uses would be baked in, not something to ‘prioritize.’ We are disappointed that she gave this her support,” Wagers told us.
COUNCILMEMBER
at the event.
Will Clinton Manor become Larchmont area’s newest monument?
On Oct. 16, the Cultural Heritage Commission took under consideration an application for Historic Cultural Monument (HCM) designation of the Clinton Manor Courtyard Apartments. This 1940 jewel of Colonial Revival is the oldest and largest courtyard apartment complex adjoining the Larchmont Village neighborhood and in Greater Wilshire. Long overlooked, perhaps due to its discreet façade on the south side of Clinton Street between Wilton Place and Van Ness Avenue, the complex is a surviving testament to our community’s connection to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
On Preservation by Brian Curran
The exceptional HCM application was written and submitted by Melissa Butts, on behalf of the Clinton Manor Coalition, a group formed by concerned residents, including Butts, initially in response to proposals for the demolition of the complex’s service areas and the construction of 23 “recre-
ational areas” — a tactic often used to create spaces to later be reclassified as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). At the time of writing, the ADU application had been withdrawn by the apartment project’s owner.
The Clinton Manor Apartments HCM nomination is a fascinating read, placing the apartments at the center of a story of competing visions of community and experiments in housing design. In the late 1930s, the diverse working-class neighborhoods surrounding the studios were often viewed with suspicion by developers and lenders. They labeled the neighborhoods north of Melrose as “low-rental workingman’s district” with cheap bungalows and run-down apartment buildings often “to be operated on a ‘bawdy house’ basis.” The area to the south, typified by moderately priced homes with “pride of ownership,” was seen by developers as being in decline, with blocks broken up with new apartment buildings and the “infiltration of subversive racial elements” from north of Melrose.
According to the nomination, the Aetna Building Company, proposed, for the area south of Melrose, on
Clinton, “a new rental community that would bring desirable qualities like green space, an orderly site plan, functional living arrangements, picturesque design, and modern amenities to apartment dwellers. The plan for Clinton Manor sought to balance competing visions of the neighborhood and to meet demands for new workforce housing near the studios. As some of its earliest tenants would attest, the rental rate proved to be a stretch, but the property nonetheless drew in working actors, production staff, salespersons, and service workers in addition to medical professionals and attorneys.”
Aetna engaged civil engineer Joseph J. Rees to oversee the design and construction
of the project. Rees is a fascinating character. A British trained immigrant from Poland, he would be responsible for more than 100 projects in greater Los Angeles, including the condemned Selma Las Palmas Courtyard Apartments, the Sycamore Chateau and the Fine Arts Theater. He even built his own home (now lost) three blocks west, on the northwest corner of Plymouth Boulevard, at 5455 Clinton Avenue. Aetna’s collaboration with Rees signaled the building company’s move into larger scale developments, resulting in Clinton Manor’s 72,000 square feet of residential space including 38 one-bedroom and 16 two-bedroom apartments.
The completed Clinton Manor is comprised of 4 residential structures and 11 service buildings and garages. The residential buildings form a grand landscaped courtyard with paths and hedgerows breaking up the expanse. Rees employed a Hollywood Regency spin on the Colonial Revival Style for Clinton Manor, which added theatrical and Streamline Moderne elements to the design. He further refined the ensemble with bay windows, awnings, delicate balustrades and other details. Interiors include kitchens with stainless steel countertops and porcelain sinks, living rooms with built in bookshelves and cabinetry, bedrooms equipped with closets with built-in shoe racks, and bathrooms that even had marble soap dishes.
Among the first to move in to Clinton Manor were Ruth and Elliot Handler, who — while working, respectively, as a studio stenographer and an industrial designer, started experimenting with plastics in their apartment and their garage on the property. The two would go on to found the industrial plastics and toymaking giant Mattel in 1945.
Perhaps it was there that Ruth, living among the palm trees and pink glamour of the Clinton Manor Apartments, first conceived her most famous creation, that she launched in 1959, Barbie! Letters of support for designation referencing CHC2024-6020-HCM can be sent to chc@lacity.org.
NORTH ELEVATION of one of the four Clinton Manor buildings (5184 Clinton St.) between Wilton Place and Van Ness Avenue.
AERIAL VIEW of Clinton Manor, the oldest and largest courtyard apartment complex adjoining the Larchmont Village neighborhood and in Greater Wilshire.
AIA/LA design awards event at new HQ
By Casey Russell
The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter (AIA/LA) will hold its annual Design Awards ceremony and celebration Wed., Oct 30, starting at 6 p.m.
The local architecture awards have been presented since 1927. But according to the Executive Director of AIA/ LA, Carlo Caccavale, who has organized the awards for the past 21 years, this year is extra
SOLD: This home at 435 S. Plymouth Blvd. in Windsor Square sold for $7,340,000 in September.
Real Estate Sales*
Single-family homes
434 S. Rimpau Ave.
435 S. Plymouth Blvd.
312 S.
$9,362,855
$7,340,000
$4,150,000
$3,951,072
$2,750,000
$2,725,000
$2,025,000
$1,900,000
$1,620,000
$1,600,000
$1,400,000
Condominiums
S. Gramercy Pl., #13
S. Manhattan Pl., #501
N. Rossmore Ave., #112
S. Gramercy Pl., #131
*Sale prices for September.
exciting. “We’ve always rented locations before. This will be the first time that our most important event of the year will take place in our ‘house,’” he said.
AIA/LA recently relocated its headquarters from The Wiltern building to a former bank building at 4450 W. Adams Blvd. The new building also serves as space for the nonprofit Architecture for Communities Los Angeles (ACLA). It is located on the southwest corner at Victoria Avenue, a block west of Crenshaw Avenue, in the historic West Adams neighborhood.
Though AIA/LA and ACLA are not completely moved in to the 1927 Neoclassical bank building, the new venue has already been host to conferences and exhibitions.
When the Center is fully operational, it will enable AIA/LA to expand its offerings and continue providing programming for advocacy, sustainability and professional development. It will also serve as a space for group
(Please turn to Page 8)
Heidi Duckler Dance performing in November
By Casey Russell
Heidi Duckler Dance, the Los Angeles-based site-specific dance company, performs “What Remains Un/Seen,” Sat., Nov. 2 at the Wende Museum and its garden in Culver City at 3 and at 6 p.m.
Marrying with the museum’s new exhibition, “Counter/Surveillance,” that continues to Oct. 2025, the performances include live music and soundscapes that echo throughout the garden.
Then, at the Bendix Building in DTLA on Sat., Nov. 16, the company will perform “Life Cycle of a Fever Dream,” at 4 and at 6 p.m., as part of the group’s “Truth or Consequences” series.
For tickets, visit heididuckler.org.
ORIGINALLY built in 1927 as a bank, the new AIA/LA and ACLA headquarters has been restored to become the AIA/LA and ACLA Center for Communities. Photos by Vittoria Zupicich
COURTYARD of the new AIA/LA headquarters is a venue for receptions and networking events.
The Benjamin Hollywood: a sumptuous restaurant with caveats
I was surprised when I first entered The Benjamin Hollywood, a new restaurant from Ben Shenassafar, one of the partners behind the popular streetwear brand The Hundreds. The stark white exterior appears to be an exclusive dance club, with a black-clad doorman checking reservations at the entrance, but the interior looks like a Golden Age of Hollywood supper club or old-school gentleman’s study. The restaurant is a stunning space with a large, 15-seat central bar, deco-style milk glass pendants hanging over the seating and seashell-shaped, sumptuous olive wool banquettes rimming the wood-paneled room. There are a few small, scattered tables and an outside patio, but the banquettes or the bar stools (where my husband and I sat) are the best places to enjoy the beautiful room and soak up the friendly atmosphere.
And that’s the biggest surprise of all — the friendliness of the place. Shenassafar and his business partners, Jared Meisler (from one of my favorite bars, The Roger Room, and The Moon Room, a bar located above The Benjamin) and Kate Burr (a culinary strategist with consulting
agency A La Mode), believe customer service is as important as the food. Despite its polished looks, we found The Benjamin Hollywood pleasantly casual. Everyone, from the person at the door, to the hostess, to servers and mixologists, is very welcoming.
Another good sign: the cocktails are spot on. I tried a “summer” martini with vodka instead of the recommended gin, dry vermouth, peach, bay leaf and lemon essence. Splendid! The whisper of peach and lemon turned my usual vodka martini into a cozy yet sophisticated drink. My husband, a mezcal-lover, ordered a martini with mezcal, orange curaçao, green chartreuse, lemon and pink Alaea sea salt (Hawaiian salt). It was smoky and delicious, and the long list of ingredients added interesting bright notes. They were each $22. Cocktails run $17 for a lemony yuzu and prosecco spritz to $40 for a Wolves single barrel whiskey Manhattan. If only the food lived up to the cocktails and atmosphere, which is not to say the food is bad. It’s not. Often it aims to match the impressive interior, with such menu items as onion dip with potato chips and caviar, $95, or Australian
On the Menu
by Helene Seifer
wagyu in cognac cream sauce, $79. Other times, it courts a bar food aesthetic with $26 sweet and sour chicken wings. Too often it could be much better, especially since Executive Chef Johnny Cirelle cooked at Bestia, Bavel and Spago. His crab beignets are delicious, for example. Four large crab balls, with a slightly crisp exterior, are served with a dollop of yuzu kosho aioli (yuzu kosho is a Japanese condiment made from chiles and yuzu, a sour lemony citrus fruit) and a dab of salmon roe, $28. The crab mixture is sweet and rich, and the crab taste shines through. However, the crispy/creamy ratio wasn’t completely satisfying. We craved more crunch.
Hamachi crudo was a pretty dish of thin-sliced hamachi with pieces of pluots swimming in a passionfruit jus, topped with Thai basil, $28. Light and refreshing, it lacked the tang that would keep our
interest. Next time we’ll try starting with the chicken liver pâté with blackberry agrodolce, an Italian sweet and sour sauce, $26.
Our favorite dish of the night was the chopped wedge, $25, a salad common on menus everywhere. This one, however, was wonderful. Hardy lettuce, ripe tomatoes, briny pickled onions and meaty bacon lardons are tossed with an assertive blue cheese vinaigrette for a flavor-packed dish.
One of the reasons we were eager to try The Benjamin Hollywood is because of its $32 hamburger’s reputation. Photos on Instagram show a rosy-in-the-middle burger with gorgeously melting
cheese that looks irresistible. Atop the meat are seared onions, pickles, hickory sauce and what is called New School American cheese. The cheese, an upscale American slice with improved taste and extreme meltability, was co-created by Chef Eric Greenspan, perhaps best known for his award-winning grilled cheese sandwiches, and it is remarkably smooth. Unfortunately, the rest of the hamburger was boring. The patty was under-seasoned, mushy and lacked a deep beefy flavor. Even the oozy cheese couldn’t compensate for that.
The Benjamin Hollywood, 7147 Melrose Ave., 323-8889000.
Chevalier’s kicks off quarterly series
By Suzan Filipek
Chevalier’s Books kicked off its new quarterly series, “One Block One Book,” with a month-long celebration of connection and conversation featuring one book, “Colored Television,” a satire of Hollywood, identity and more by a former Larchmont local. The community program culminates Mon., Oct. 28, with a conversation between the book’s author, Danzy Senna, and New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon at The
Ebell of Los Angeles, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd. The event is $10 or free with book purchase. The One Block One Book program held October events at Chevalier’s and other local venues. A live show featuring work inspired by the book, a book club discussion and a panel of speakers on Diversity in Hollywood were also part of the group read. Stay tuned for Chevalier’s next book pick in the quarterly series. Learn more at the store at 133 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Childress’ good ‘Trouble’ makes theatrical debut 75 years late
Alice Childress (1916-1994) should have been August Wilson. The actress, novelist and playwright would have been the first Black woman to write — and star in — a play for Broadway, in 1957. But Trouble in Mind (at the Actors’ Co-op through Nov. 10) had to wait nearly 75 years for its debut because Ms. Childress refused to make changes in the script (about Black actors putting on a play about Black life, written and directed by white men!) that her white producers wanted.
Ms. Childress, like Wilson, chronicled the Black experience over decades, but her plays went unproduced. A 1974 ABC TV production of “Wedding Band,” her play about miscegenation, was banned by stations in seven southern states. Fame came with her novel — and later film — “A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich” in 1978, and interest in her plays has, fortunately, steadily grown since.
The production at the Co-op is thoughtfully and lovingly produced and directed, and features a tight ensemble, especially Kimi Walker in Childress’ main role. The play creaks a bit structually, and the actors shy away from satire for fear of stereotypes, but “Trouble” advocates for the kind of “good trouble” the late John Lewis pushed for: justice and equality. What was unfortunately true in 1957 is, unfortunately, still true today. (323-462-8460;
actorsco-op.org.)
Like any senior citizen, I fear my memory is fading. So I went with interest to see Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting] at the Odyssey Theatre, devised by mime Daniel Passer and director Beth F. Milles, who developed it after being inspired by dementia care villages in the Netherlands. So far, so good.
Mr. Passer, in Bill Irwin-like mode, begins touchingly enough. Waiting at a bus stop, he keeps forgetting why he’s there and repeatedly misses his bus. “Have I been here before?” — the existential question Mr. Passer raises — is at the play’s heart. The point made, he spends the next hour taking his memories out of stacks of bankers’ boxes, ad nauseum, ad infinitum, until the show becomes a cloying, annoying string of mime bits. Marcel Marceau, the great French mime said, “mime…is the art of the essential.” “Heading Into Night,” sadly, sinks under an excess of the trivial. (Through Nov. 17; 310-477-2055; OdysseyTheatre.com.)
Finally, the Mark Taper Forum reopened on Oct. 2 with its revival of Green Day’s American Idiot, presented in collaboration with Deaf West Theater. (213-628-2772; centertheatregroup.org.)
Opening night was inclusive and welcoming, with staff signing as well as speaking to patrons, both deaf and hear-
Theater Review by
Louis Fantasia
ing. The feeling was more that of celebrating a new community center than a major regional theater, but perhaps that was the intent.
The production itself was a pretty straightforward revival of the 2009 musical, with head-banging choreography and eye-watering, bass-boosting sound and lights that would not have been out of place at SoFi Stadium or Sphere in Las Vegas. The band in the elevated pit was great, as were the (hearing) singers and (deaf) actors who belted out / signed Green Day’s rage-infused, Bush-era, Iraq War, life sucks lyrics. But any political or social relevance the show once had has clearly evaporated.
It was hard enough to discern a plot or character development in the Broadway original, but being forced to focus on two performers for every role, plus constantly reading Billie Joe Armstrong’s sophomoric projected lyrics, only added to the muddle. Most of the audience seemed happy enough to tune in and drop out; the lack of plot or character depth apparently not a problem. That the breakout star of the night,
What to watch for Shem Bitterman’s The Civil Twilight premieres at Broadwater Studios through Nov. 24. Ann Hearn Tobolowsky directs the tale of a once-in-a-century storm that shatters an American Dream. (818-761-8838; RoadTheatre.org.)
The Wisdom of Eve is Mary Caswell Orr’s 1946 classic that “All About Eve” and the musical “Applause” were based on; in a limited run through Nov. 23 at the Whitefire Theater. (818-687-8559; whitefiretheatre.com.)
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot comes to the Geffen Nov. 6 through Dec. 15. The production is a joint offering with Gare St Lazare Ireland, (310-208-2028; boxoffice@geffenplayhouse.org.)
Mars Storm Rucker, plays a love interest called “Whatshername” says it all. American Idiot plays through Nov. 16 and is on
track to become the Taper’s third-highest grossing show ever. Part of me couldn’t be happier; part of me couldn’t be more disappointed.
AIA/LA
(Continued from Page 5) members to make presentations to clients, work for a few hours or simply stop in for a relaxing break during the day. The actual presentation of awards will take place at RLA Church, 4409 W. Adams Blvd., across the street from the AIA/LA + ACLA Center for Communites building. At 7:30 p.m., attendees will return to the Center, where they will enjoy the organization’s
biggest party of the year.
“It’s a big networking event. Up to 600 people attend,” said Caccavale. There will be food, drinks, music and entertainment, a foosball table, a photo booth and a Scotch / whiskey tasting after dinner.
Prominent among this year’s awardees is 2024 Gold Medal winner Debra Gerod, FAIA, partner at Gruen Associates in Carthay Circle.
To learn more about AIA/LA or to purchase tickets for the event, visit aialosangeles.org.
THE MAIN HALL of the AIA/LA and ACLA Center for Communities hosted the 2024 2x8 students’ exhibition. Photo by Ryan Gobuty
Pope, Goebbels,
Conclave (9/10) : 120 minutes. PG. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the world’s greatest bureaucracies. But talk about inscrutable; the Church takes the cake. While its Pope is represented as God’s agent on earth (“Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church”), the way a Pope is chosen is not waiting for a bolt from heaven indicating the chosen one. It is an arcane, secretive procedure in which the College of Cardinals gets together sequestered to make a choice. And the choice is made by semi-secret ballot. So, it’s a purely human endeavor, but it is completely hidden from the public.
Now comes along author Robert Harris and his book “Conclave,” screenwriter Peter Straughan and director Edward Berger to present their idea of what it might be like when one Pope dies.
What they produce is a bunch of politically motivated men put in seclusion until they reach a two-thirds majority vote. This film is a brilliant imagining of one such convocation after a beloved Pope has died. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is the dean of the College of Cardinals and runs the election. This one is a contention between the liberals, led by Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), and the conservative, Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), who yearns for the old days, when the question “Is the Pope Catholic?” was rhetorical. But Tremblay is so manipulative he would make a slimy politician proud.
nursing homes and ‘Saturday Night’ in review
There’s not a dirty trick that is beneath him
The acting is superb, and the film’s first 115 minutes justifies a 10/10 rating. Unfortunately, it goes on for 120 minutes, and I rate that final 5 minutes 0/10, which averages out to my final 9/10. All I can say about the ending is to quote Moss Hart’s advice to budding playwrights: If you want to send a message, use Western Union.
Goebbels and the Führer (9/10): 135 minutes. NR. Without any peer, “Downfall” (2004) is the best movie ever made about Hitler. But this one comes a close second. It’s about Joseph Goebbels (Robert Stadlober), an unappealing little wart (at 5 feet, 5 inches) who was Hitler’s all-powerful Minister of Propaganda. This captures Hitler (Fritz Karl) as well as “Downfall” did, but it presents a view of the secretive Goebbels as a person and opens up unsuspected avenues of his personality. It’s a fascinating, not-to-be-missed movie. In German.
Stolen Time (8/10): 95 minutes. NR. This documentary reveals the tawdry story about for-profit nursing homes in Canada. Canadian attorney Melissa Miller has been suing some of the largest for-profit nursing homes in Canada since 2018.
Many knowledgeable people state their cases, like Brent Rigby, a private investigator who was hired to investigate systemic negligence by senior care companies Extendicare, Revera and Sienna Senior Living. He says, “There’s essentially no regulatory
At the Movies with Tony Medley
oversight and no repercussions at all for the complete systemic failure across all the companies while they bring in record profits.”
The stain of corruption is obvious. Mike Harris was Premier of Ontario from 1995-2002. He was responsible for privatizing long-term care in Ontario.
Now guess where he is. He is vice president of long-term care operations for Extendicare!
Ayesha Jabba, a social worker at one of the companies, says, “If there was an individual with responsive behaviors and causing trouble, I had a lot of pressure to harass the families to change the facility…try to get them out, try to get them elsewhere. Try to pressure the families to agree to get them elsewhere. Even though families may be living close by and it’s convenient for them. My role was to try to pressure them into going to another facility and make it as appealing as possible to leave our facility and go elsewhere. Which made me very uncomfortable.”
This is a must-see for anyone contemplating a nursing home.
Saturday Night (7/10): 109 minutes. R. This is alleged to be the story of produc-
er Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) in the 90 minutes leading up to the debut show of “Saturday Night Live” 50 years ago. That is, it is “based on” the story. Apparently, there was a lot of chaos, and the show almost didn’t make it to air. But what we see here on the screen is extremely hard to swallow.
Directed by Jason Reitman from a script by Reitman and Gil Kenan, it is populated by an ensemble cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys and J.K. Simmons in supporting roles. It is amusing and well acted, but it stretches credulity. For one thing, the timelines don’t make any sense. Lorne Michaels (LaBelle) leaves the studio 15 minutes before airtime, and what he does in those 15 minutes is simply impossible to perform in 15 minutes and get back in time for showtime.
There are some outstanding performances. J.K. Simmons presents Milton Berle in an exceedingly unfavorable light (maybe it’s accurate). Ella Hunt is a good Gilda Radner. Matthew Rhys is nothing like the George Carlin I knew. Privately he was nothing like his onstage character.
Similarly, Cooper Hoffman is not like the Dick Ebersol I knew. My only connection with television executive Ebersol was to interview him once for a Hollywood Reporter article I wrote. Then I ran into him again in an elevator 20 years later. I was with my friend, TV producer Bob Seizer, who had done some work for Dick. They said hello.
SUNDAY, NOV. 3RD, 11AM-3PM
Then Dick looked at me and said, “You’re Tony Medley.” I was stunned. We had only met for a one-hour interview two decades previously, and he remembered me and my name. I said, “Yes, boy you have a great memory.” I’ve always regretted not asking him how he could remember me after all those years and his many accomplishments.
The movie is interesting and humorous, but I don’t believe it. The night might have been chaotic, but what is presented here is hard to accept. As Robert DeNiro (as a character based on Irving Thalberg), said in “The Last Tycoon” (1976), “It’s the movies.”
FAIRFAX
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JOHN C. FREMONT 6121 Melrose Ave. 323-962-3521
MEMORIAL
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WILSHIRE
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HOURS
Mon. and Wed., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tues. and Thurs. noon to 8 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Libraries will be closed Mon., Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day.
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Upcoming season looks promising for Larchmont girls’ soccer
Know what the payout is for three oranges in a row in most Las Vegas slot machines? The bet times 100, which means if one dollar is fed into the slot and three oranges come up, the machine pays $100.
Larchmont Charter girls’ soccer coach David Brown must feel like he hit the jackpot with his present varsity team. Three exceptional players return from last season, and they hope to improve on a respectable 22-6 record.
Timberwolves
Larchmont Charter is one of Los Angeles’ smaller high schools. The enrollment in grades nine through 12 is just 518 students, which is impressive when considering that the girls’ varsity soccer team competes against schools with at least four times the number of students. During last season’s CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) City Section Girls’ Soccer Championships, the Larchmont Timberwolves defeated teams from Chatsworth, San Fernando and Garfield, all large public schools, before losing in the finals to Eagle Rock.
“Those schools’ coaches get to pick from 100-150 students who try out for soccer,” explained Brown. “Last year, I had 19 girls try out.”
The Timberwolves were the 2022 and 2023 Ocean League Champions, and they were the Division 4 City Champions in 2023. Brown was named Coach of the Year that season. This will be his fourth year as
Youth Sports by Jim Kalin
Larchmont Charter’s varsity soccer coach. His coaching record at Larchmont, including middle school, is 70-9-1.
Upperclassmen
Veronica Tuscano is a senior and has led the Timberwolves in scoring the past three years. She was the 2023 LA Offensive Player of the Year and will be attending Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) in 2025 on a full athletic scholarship to play women’s soccer.
“Veronica is a lion when it comes to scoring,” said Brown. “She has a high soccer IQ, is fast, has great footwork and knows how to find the net.”
Tuscano and teammate Harper Brown began their soccer careers together in AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) when they were 5 years old, and their first coach was Brown, who also happens to be Harper’s father.
“Now that I’m coaching them both … life is full circle.”
Brown is a junior and has been named to the CIF LA AllCity team twice. Last season she scored 26 goals and had 48 assists.
“Harper usually plays more in the back,” said teammate Tuscano. “She doesn’t let anyone get past her easily. She
has a strong drive to win, and her assists are truly great.”
Indeed. Brown was ranked No. 10 in the nation for assists. “Harper is tough as nails,” said her father.
Tuscano and Brown share many of the same interests and are more like sisters than teammates. They enjoy art and writing and, for both, soccer is the only sport they participate in.
Sophomore Sunny Wade is not like that.
Underclassman
“I run track, but mainly to help with my endurance and acceleration when I’m on the soccer field,” explained Wade. Last season, as a ninth grader, she scored 22 goals in 24 games.
“Sunny is incredibly fast and always tries to move forward,” said Tuscano. “We link really well together up top. She’s also great at listening
The Plymouth School
to advice and implementing it into the game.”
“Sunny will come into her own by this season,” said Coach Brown. “She’ll develop into her potential.”
Seems that Coach Brown has the key ingredients for another successful season, and maybe more.
“I’m excited to see what the upcoming season has in store,” said Harper Brown.
“I always tell the girls to embrace pressure,” said Coach Brown. “Pressure makes diamonds.”
Wonder what the payout is in Las Vegas for three diamonds in a row?
PILGRIM
By Allison Pak 11th Grade
Register soon for spring softball
Wilshire Wildcats fall softball season’s spring registration is expected to begin in mid-November. The teams practice once a week at the Lemon Grove Recreation Center, and interested girls, from age 6 through 12th grade, may register soon at wilshiresoftball. com.
LE LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE LOS ANGELES
By Aydin Hammoudeh
8th
Grade
At the beginning of the school year, Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles is always very busy.
It’s open house season and Pilgrim’s is on Nov. 2. If you have friends with children ages 18 months through 12th grade, please send them our way! Pilgrim prides itself on its focus on personal attention, joyful experiences and mastery.
The admissions application deadline is Dec. 22, 2024. Please reach out to Ms. Samantha Powell for more information about Pilgrim School at spowell@pilgrim-school.org
Outdoor Education is taking place on Oct. 24 for preschool through grade 8. The high school homecoming dance is on Oct. 25.
Pilgrim School, Hollywood Schoolhouse and Los Encinos School are also hosting Anxious Nation at Pilgrim. The producer and director will be here on a panel for a conversation.
In September, the elementary, middle and high schools held their Student Council and Student Representative Elections. We would like to congratulate the elected Student Council Board members and all the candidates. Everyone was excited for their first field trips. In October, the 6th graders went to the Getty Villa for their Latin and Greek classes, while the 8th graders and the high school went to see Euphrate, a French play at our school’s theater, Theatre Raymond Kabbaz. Our school also went on an overnight trip to Big Bear as an environmental and leadership experience.
For Halloween, students and parents have worked together to create fun games and several haunted houses.
The volleyball season has already started, and our high school team is two games away from the playoffs. Go Lions!
AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, Veronica Tuscano will play at CSUN. Photos by Todd Vitti and Sheryl Mathea
HARPER BROWN was ranked No. 10 in the country for assists. SOPHOMORE Sunny Wade played varsity as a freshman.
New Covenant girls’ volleyball takes first place in CIF Division 9
By Casey Russell
New Covenant Academy’s girls’ volleyball team — one of 22 teams in Division 9, California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section — has ranked first in the league. As a result, the team will be in the upcoming playoff games.
It is not the first time the team has accomplished this feat. NCA also claimed the spot in 2018 and 2019.
Three years ago, Abigail Johnston, also an English teacher at the school, took over as the team’s coach. According to the school’s media director, Charlie Lowery, who also works closely with NCA’s athletics department, Johnston has promoted a culture of positivity, skill, determination and winning.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard over the past three years leading up to this season, starting with basics such as passing, setting and hitting and leading up to using multiple offenses and different plays,” Johnston told us.
Coach Johnston sees this ranking as being the result of the team’s hard work. “They care deeply about the game, their teammates and the school they represent off the court,” she said.
Lowery believes the 16 play-
ers (four seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen) came into this season determined to make the playoffs because, last year, the team missed the chance by a hair.
NCA was tied with The Waverly School for a playoff spot in 2023. A simple coin toss determined which team was moved forward, and it was not NCA.
CIF takes the first and second place of the league’s 22 teams to the playoffs, and it is quite an accomplishment to head into the final games as a first-place team.
As of this printing, the date and location of the Division 9 CIF Southern Section playoffs have yet to be determined. Lowery predicts they will take place in the next couple of weeks.
Troop 145 holds court in person, honors awarded
Windsor Square residents and brothers Jacob and Bryan Kim, along with fellow Troop 145 Eagle Scout Sean Kim, were honored at an Eagle Court of Honor Sept. 28.
“This was the first time the troop was able to hold its Eagle Court of Honor since the pandemic, so it was an especially momentous occasion,” said Douglas Kim, assistant Scoutmaster and former Scoutmaster of Troop 145.
For his Eagle Scout project, Bryan, a junior at Larchmont Charter, built a little free library and a bench for Larchmont Charter School — Fairfax.
Jacob, a senior at Larch-
his Eagle Scout project.
Sean’s Eagle Scout project involved building an edible garden and painting a mural for St. Andrew Elementary School in Pasadena. He is a junior at Loyola High.
mont Charter, restored a footbridge located in the Fern Dell area of Griffith Park for
Troop 145, a boys’ troop sponsored by the St. Francis Xavier Chapel, was first chartered in 1925. In its 99-year history, the troop has remained at the same location in Little Tokyo, except during World War II when the troop operated out of the Manzanar War Relocation Camp. Today, the troop consists of boys from Windsor Square as well as Koreatown, Mid-Wilshire and Miracle Mile.
PLAYERS IN ACTION! Left to right: Sariah Johnson (#22), Hyemi Lee, Isabelle Lee and Venera Bersukova.
NEW COVENANT’S girls’ volleyball team getting pumped to play.
WINDSOR SQUARE residents Jacob and Bryan Kim (left and center), with Sean Kim, Hobart Boulevard (right).
Photo by Steve Kim
THE WILLOWS
By Wren Meltzer 7th Grade
fifth choices for each block.
LARCHMONT CHARTER
SELMA
October is always an exciting month at The Willows Community School. By October, students at The Willows have adjusted to their routines, sports are in full swing and electives have been chosen. There are a number of electives offered, including oil painting, survival skills, dance, robotics, debate, photography and more. Students are asked to rank their first, second, third, fourth and
The Willows also has all-school assemblies throughout the year. This year the cultural programming committee is focusing on dances from different cultures, and there will be a Day of the Dead dance performed by Grupo Folklorico Huitcillin.
Last but certainly not least, in this action-packed month is, obviously, Halloween. Halloween at The Willows is a Halloween like no other. Not only do students and teachers get dressed up, we also have a Halloween assembly, sing-along and a parade that is live streamed so that parents can watch us show off our costumes.
By Elsie Mohr 5th Grade
“It’s a great opportunity for students to learn leadership.”
Greetings from Larchmont Charter Selma! This month has been so much fun. Student council at Selma is holding elections for president, vice president and pack (class) senators. It’s a great way for kids to get involved, especially with the national election coming up! Everyone gets to vote and have his or her voice heard. Tria Russell, a 5th grade student, said,
Speaking of exciting stuff, kids have been talking lots about our one-week Thanksgiving break. Thanksgiving is all about, well, giving! So Larchmont gives back by donating Thanksgiving meals to families in need. Each pack donates food for several meals during November. Students decorate bags and make centerpieces that we donate to organizations to give to local families. It’s just a magical time. Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!
TURNING POINT
By Liam O’Brient 8th Grade
— the mayor’s official house. Students had opportunities to participate in fun activities such as mask making, face painting, a magic show, games, treats, free food and a lot more.
On Nov. 3, Third Street Elementary will have its Centennial Block Party Celebration, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Las Palmas Avenue. The community is invited to join in on the fun!
ST. JAMES’
By Madeline Cheng 6th Grade
In November, the Turning Point School community comes together for the annual SAVES drive. Running throughout November, this event supports Saint Augustine’s Volunteer Emergency Services (SAVES), a Culver City-based nonprofit dedicated to helping those in need.
The drive culminates in a special assembly where students gather to deliver the donated food. Older students assist the younger ones in carrying donations to the center of the assembly, symbolizing the school’s commitment to supporting each other. Then the 8th grade students visit the food bank and learn about its impact on our community.
We all love this annual event. “It feels great knowing that I could be changing someone’s life,” shared one student. “It’s not just about improving our school community, but also helping the entire city of Culver City.”
THIRD STREET SCHOOL
By Maya Johnson 5th Grade
Greetings!
Our 5th graders are busy learning, touring middle schools and going on fun educational field trips.
Some of the field trips have been: The Peterson Automotive Museum, “Hamilton,” (which we saw at the Pantages Theater) and the Marine Mammal Center.
This fall we’ve had many fun activities on campus. The animation artist Gary Baseman came to talk to students about his career and love for art. Fundraising continues with our annual giving program, which helps our school raise money for field trips, teacher’s assistants, art programs and other extracurricular activities. We also hosted a lemonade sale.
In late October, 30 Third Street students were invited to attend The Getty House Ghostly Halloween Party! This event took place at the Getty House
In early fall, we had our annual Latinx celebration to recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month. We had special foods, such as quesadillas, tacos, beans and horchata. Personally, it was my first time tasting the sweet cinnamon drink, and I thought it was delicious! In addition, there were dance performances to popular songs by Latinx artists, such as La Bamba by Richie Valens. You could feel the joy in the air!
We’re looking forward to one of our school’s favorite traditions: the long autumn weekend at El Capitan! For those unfamiliar, every year families from our school visit El Capitan for a weekend to spend time bonding. Favorite activities include biking, sleepovers, many visits to the candy shop and cookouts.
MELROSE ELEMENTARY
By Evelyn Cho and Isla Lacey 5th Grade
Melrose Elementary School is diving right into fall and has a lot planned. Our 4th grade is going to Ballona Wetlands. According to Mr Stern, a 4th grade teacher, “Ballona Wetlands will be an outdoor educational experience. It helps students learn about science, nature and the people that lived here before.”
Melrose is celebrating National Native American Heritage Month. We will be celebrating by making a “Did You Know?” museum as well as a school-wide art challenge. One way that 5th grade is recognizing Native American Heritage Month is by creating a question that they solve using research and then sharing the question with their class.
In November we will be having parent conferences. Fourth and 5th graders are rehearsing the musical “Into the Woods.” Storïwr theater company comes to Melrose and leads plays that each class can participate in.
Tips and tools for helping children learn and retain information
By Casey Russell
My sister, who holds a doctorate in child development, recently encouraged me to listen to a Huberman Lab podcast. I’m not someone who often listens to podcasts, but the subject of this one piqued my interest. It was titled “Optimal Protocols for Studying and Learning.”
Boy, do I wish my younger self had been gifted the information compiled by host Andrew Huberman, a tenured professor at Stanford School of Medicine’s neurobiology department. It would have changed the way I studied. And I bet my notes and textbooks would’ve soaked up way less sleep-induced drool.
The strategies Huberman shares can aid students of all ages in becoming more efficient at acquiring new knowledge. Parent to parent, I thought I’d pass on the top tools that I learned from Huberman about learning.
Sleep and attentiveness
Most of us know that getting a good night’s sleep is important for our children. It’s especially important when they are working to learn something new. Without adequate sleep, it is difficult to remain alert enough to pay
attention and stay focused. If our children are not getting enough time to recharge at night, they won’t be learning at their optimal levels during the day. But it turns out that the sleep children get following a day of lessons or studying is equally important because that is when the information they’ve learned is, as Huberman puts it, “consolidated.”
Focus through mindfulness
Clearly, sleep is key for a learner’s ability to focus. But our focus “muscles” can also be strengthened and improved. It turns out that silently telling ourselves, “This is important for me to remember,” before reading or learning something primes our brains. With a simple inner nudge like this, our brains perks up a bit and can, therefore, attend more fully.
We can also help our children build simple mindfulness practices into their lives. Studies show that even just five minutes of mindfulness practice daily can be beneficial to our ability to learn. This is because when we train our brains to come back to that which we are focusing on during our mindfulness practice, we are also
Tips on Parenting by
Casey Russell
strengthening our brain’s ability to focus outside of our mindfulness practice.
Watch, try, teach
We can’t control how our children’s teachers teach, but it’s good to keep in mind that people tend to learn best when they first watch someone do something, then try to do it themselves and finally, teach someone else to do it. By teaching another person how to do the thing they’ve just learned, our children will be solidifying the information in their own brains and/ or cueing their neurons into the weak points in their own knowledge.
Self-testing
One of the most useful tools Huberman talked about was the power of testing. That sounds scary. But he is not referring to testing for evaluation or grades. He is encouraging the use of self-testing as a mechanism for learning.
People who periodically pause to think about what they’ve just learned and try to recall or test themselves in some way are more likely to master the material. When our children, simply re-read textbooks and notes again and again, they may find that the information sounds familiar, but they will probably not master it.
Talking to our children about the value of self-testing can set them up for success. This type of learning and studying challenges learners’ brains. It makes them wake up and work instead of zoning out and, in my younger self’s case, falling asleep.
Distraction-free time
Huberman also talked about the importance of focused study time. In today’s distraction-filled world, it can be hard for our children to grasp the value of stepping away from their phones. It’s not surprising that learners who put themselves in an area without distractions and take the time to study on their own tend to retain information better than those who don’t.
Story and emotion
I have long known that the memories that stay with us most easily are the ones
accompanied by a story or a strong emotion. This, of course, can have negative effects. It can cause some of our decisions to be colored by fear. But, the fact that emotion helps us remember information can also be used as an asset for learning.
The more we can help our children bring story and emotion to the information they are acquiring, the more likely they will be to remember it. This tool is the sole reason that I still remember the steps of cell division.
My seventh grade science teacher talked about IPMAT day for a month. He got us all excited, wrote the date on the board and, on the big day, entered the classroom wearing a weird costume and ordering us all to sit cross-legged on our desks. In a celebratory, funny way, he then taught us all about mitosis (aka the process of cell division): Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telophase.
Our brains are amazing. By understanding a bit about how they work, we parents can help our children harness their brains’ natural strengths to make learning more efficient and, in some cases, more fun!
THE BUCKLEY SCHOOL
By Max Terr 11th Grade
As school gets further underway, the work continues to build at Buckley, and the rust of relaxation has come off from the time off. With Halloween approaching, our school is getting into a spooky mood, with everyone getting their best costumes ready for the fullschool costume show.
As lower school renovations are still getting finished, many classes are silent and the usual enjoyment the whole school knows from seeing the excitement of the lower schoolers has all but left.
Moving further ahead, the new seniors have started their preparations for colleges and the readying for applications has begun.
That’s all from The Buckley School.
CAMPBELL HALL
Claire “Cal” Lesher 12th Grade
The high school boys’ soccer team and the middle school fall sports began their tryouts. Also, auditions were held for our annual Nutcracker ballet and rehearsals began immediately. The CH girls’ tennis, volleyball and golf teams are in full swing with their season and doing very well! Go Teams!
We celebrated our Class of 2025 recently with performances and speeches and also celebrated Latinex Heritage month with amazing performances.
The annual 10th and 11th grade Experiential Education week took students to Moab and Montaña de Oro, while the 12th grade had their college week for college campus tours.
Most importantly, our annual Fall Faculty and Staff Appreciation Feast allowed us to show our deepest appreciation and gratitude to the people who keep Campbell Hall running. It’s nice that our campus is humming with the variety of fall activities.
CATHEDRAL CHAPEL
By Nina Norwood 8th Grade
afternoon, the categories were: humorous, dramatic and dual interpretive.
As we approach Oct. 31, everyone is chipping in to prepare for our Halloween festival. During our scary, school-wide party, kids will be dressed up and playing at the game booths designed, set-up and run by our very own PTO. There will be a costume parade, where children with the best Halloween- themed attire will be honored with candy and applause. Each class will adorn their doors with eerie decor, we will watch movies and will give out treats… or tricks.
THE CENTER FOR EARLY EDUCATION
By Rose Eisner 5th Grade
colors that could be included in the project.
Once the sheets were finished, Mackenzie and Ann collected them, and with the help of the Art Council, they decided which color patterns were right for the design.
This year, with the new Art Council members, they will begin painting and will unveil the Stairwell Project. We are excited to see the culmination of this community project at The CEE.
FAIRFAX HIGH
By
Hillary Tong 12th Grade
5th grade where most of my classmates have been together since preschool could have been challenging and even overwhelming. However, Hollywood Schoolhouse welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I belonged.
With the start of the school year, there are so many exciting events going on at CEE. One of the most current and spectacular events is the Stairwell Project.
This year has started to spin into focus. We had our annual Homecoming Carnival that featured a Ferris wheel, fun rides, carnival games and delicious food and drinks. Additionally, the elementary school will have its annual costume contest and parade on Halloween day!
The spooky season has started and we’re all getting ready to celebrate here at CCS. We had our Blessing of the Animals celebration earlier this month, where families brought all types of pets.
On Oct. 19, we hosted our first Speech tournament in years! The categories included storytelling, oratorical and creative duel in the morning. In the
Last year Mackenzie Schneider and Ann Romero de Cordoba, the art teachers, gathered a group of volunteer students, the Art Council. The group met every Friday morning before school to create an inspirational design that includes one of our core values, “Inclusion.”
The design will cover one of the school stairwells. Once the design was finished, the art teachers sent out coloring pages with the design to every class in the CEE community. Each class gave ideas about the different
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Fairfax High School has continued with celebrating their school spirit with a student-led, school-wide pep rally and week of festivities. Our school’s annual pep rally, which occurred on Oct. 8, consisted of a dance performance by the school’s award-winning dance company, a wonderful performance by the school’s marching band and a massive parade that consisted of student clubs and organizations, including the Computer Science Club, Film Club, Academic Decathlon and the Filipino Student Union, among others. In addition, the parade featured all fall sport athletes, including girls’ tennis, girls’ flag football, girls’ volleyball and boys’ football.
School spirit was exceptional, as Link Crew Mentors and Fairfax’s Associated Student Body hosted a tug of war between classes where seniors went against freshmen and sophomores competed against juniors.
The school also competed against Hamilton High School for the annual Homecoming football game and concluded the week of festivities with the annual Homecoming Dance on Oct. 12.
HOLLYWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE
By Alice Markus 6th Grade
Even though 6th Grade is all abuzz with talk of the future and middle school applications, I really want to savor my time here. I will be participating in, and trying to make the most out of, as many programs as I can. It helps that our school offers so many different activities, such as the HSH Festival, the 6th Grade Social and fun fundraising activities like a bracelet sale.
Two of the things I’m personally most excited about are our class trip to Catalina and our Maker’s Fair project. Thank you for reading my column. See you next issue!
IMMACULATE HEART
By Rosie Lay 11th Grade
Happy fall from Immaculate Heart!
As the days become shorter, students have settled into the rhythm of a new school year.
Immaculate Heart recently held one of its biggest events of the year, The WALK fundraiser. Students spent several weeks raising money for the school’s financial aid program, and also for campus improvements that benefit student life. The fundraising ended with a walk in Los Feliz, and afterward we gathered for a campus celebration with food and music.
I’m thrilled to be representing my school by writing this monthly column. I joined HSH a year and two months ago. Beginning a school in
Leipzig, Germany since 1853 Concert, Recording, Home Rentals Henle Editions Helga Kasimoff LA’s oldest family piano store kasimoffpianoslosangeles.com
During October, our fall sports teams honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month by hosting “Pink Out” games. Athletes donned pink attire to commemorate breast cancer survivors. Our new Panda Mascot and Cheer Squad brought their support during our Oct. 10 volleyball games. Also the Latinas Unidas club organized a festival on the quad in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Coming up, the school invites 7th and 8th graders to “Hangout with Heart!” on Nov. 16. The morning event will offer engaging academics and activities, as well as an opportunity for students to meet IH teachers. Those interested can register at immaculateheart.org/hangout.
LARCHMONT CHARTER WILSHIRE
By Emory Tom and Xavi Mason 3rd Grade
November holds meaningful observances such as Native American Heritage month and Thanksgiving.
Our class will be going on a field trip to study the Tongva Native American tribe at the Autry Museum during our next Social Studies unit on Los Angeles, then & now.
We asked Larchmont staff if they were doing anything special with their classes this month. Different teachers shared they are doing activities involving community building, stewardship and crafts. Our reading specialist, Ms. Amanda, explained what she would be doing with her reading groups: “With my reading groups, I will focus on books that talk about gratitude, as well as study the origin of the word.”
Speaking of gratitude, teachers expressed that they are grateful for the talented and caring people at LCS. They said this in many different ways, but it all boiled down to one thing: the supportive Larchmont community.
Teachers and students were also excited to share the Thanksgiving foods they love. Some common preferences are mashed potatoes, turkey and pie…but there was one surprising pick: white rice.
Enjoy getting ready for seeing family, cooking and even watching football on Thanksgiving!
ST. BRENDAN
By Alyssa Lee 8th Grade
We look forward to November. Scouts will lead a special presentation honoring SBS Veterans on Veterans’ Day and we will celebrate together at our Middle School Open House Mixer on Nov. 14. Let’s go Bears!
THE OAKS
By Hazel Iha 6th Grade
also added new courses to the Marlborough curriculum, including Advanced Topics in Hispanic Literature, Queer Literature, Presidential Elections and Creative Writing.
October will come to a close with the annual celebration of Pumpkin Day. Students will come to school dressed up in Halloween costumes for the holiday.
As you probably know, presidential voting is happening on November 5th. At The Oaks, there have been a variety of ways kids are getting to learn about democracy.
In 4th grade, students have been studying the voting process and the Electoral College. Grade five is focusing on learning about voting rights and restrictions. Our 6th grade class has been preparing for Election Day by learning about democracy and the governmental structure.
Here is a brief summary of what we have learned so far — there are three branches; the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. All of them have different roles. The Judicial branch interprets laws, the Legislative branch makes laws, and the Executive branch enforces laws.
This subject has even been incorporated into specialist classes. In Art, several grades, including mine, have been making posters to address issues such as pollution, women’s rights and climate change. These posters are meant to spread awareness about some of the struggles our country faces. It’s important we learn about how our nation works now so that we can be informed and enlightened for the future.
MARLBOROUGH
By Stella Seitz 12th Grade
Marlborough Head of School
PAGE ACADEMY
By Amanda Argiropoulos 8th Grade
October has just sped by! World Day of Bullying Prevention was Oct. 7, and we wore our blue shirts in support of this
excellent cause. On the 11th, we held our Annual Spaghetti Dinner & “Who’s Got Talent?” Show — there was dancing, singing (yours truly sang Mamma Mia!), comedy and even a short film screened by one of our 8th graders.
Our iJog Fundraiser on the 18th took place at our Costa Mesa Campus. (My legs still hurt!) And, on Oct. 27, Page Academy will be at the Larchmont Fair from 12 to 5 p.m.
Our Fall Festival is on the 31st, with spooky fall dec-
orations, a costume parade, a petting zoo, our famous haunted house hosted by the Student Council, games and fun prizes!
Our annual Mexican Dinner, Silent Basket Auction and Movie Night fundraiser are also coming up. We had some amazing baskets last year — can’t wait to see this year’s lineup!
Our Thanksgiving Potluck Feast, featuring an international array of foods from our students’ diverse ethnic backgrounds, will be on Nov. 22. We will be on academic break Thanksgiving week. For now, I leave you with this thought, “What if today we were just grateful for everything?” — Charlie Brown.
October went by in a flash. We had a walkto-school day and hosted our first ever Trivia Night. Special lunches were extra fun with the monthly In-N-Out and Hot Diggity Dog Days kicking off. Students will soon watch the 8th grade Halloween Play and Monster Mash, smile as the kindergarteners recite the annual 10 Little Pumpkins poem and proudly show off their costumes in the Halloween Parade.
Flag football, golf, track and girls’ volleyball had successful games and practices. Additionally, 8th graders started filling out high school admission forms and visiting potential schools. As part of the graduating class of 2025, we are especially grateful to all our middle school teachers for their help in making this process easier.
Jennifer Ciccarelli has chosen “Cultivate Purpose” as the core value for this year.
Ciccarelli hopes that this val ue will motivate students to focus more on what they are passionate about and find unique interests that make their aca demic journey at Marlborough more fulfilling, rather than succumbing to the pressure of outside influences.
Marlborough recently instituted a new Academic Integrity Council. In light of advancements in AI, the school has experienced an increase in academic dishonesty. To remedy the issue, a council of students from each grade, who were voted on by the student body, has been created. The council will help teachers decide consequences for violations of the honor code.
