Larchmont Chronicle
presort standard u.s. postage
paid
south gate ca. permit no. 294
JULY 2010
vol. 47, no. 7 • delivered to the 76,439 readers in hancock park • windsor square • fremont place • park labrea • larchmont village • miracle mile
SECTION ONE Senior Outlook Larchmont chronicLe
LARCHMONT'S senior statesman Jerry Cottone.
HELPING caregivers. 16
IN NEW home.
JuLY 2010
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Photo by Andrew Taylor - taopro.com
GETTING IN shape.
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ANNUAL section. 15-26 FINGERS crossed for L.A. High. 5 MIDTOWN Crossing via Rimpau? 7 MRS. CALIFORNIA ... here she is. 9 EBELL elects new president. 12 ART WALK in Miracle Mile. 11 MUSIC and song at Leeza's Place. 16 MOVIES SCREEN at Las Palmas. 23 SOUTH PACIFIC Theater Review 35
SECTION TWO Real Estate Home & Garden
Mozza parking addressed at CUP hearing
Parking garage exempt from privatization
parking aid on hold
innovative 1987 plan
By Suzan Filipek While customers might rave about the pizza crust, fennel sausage and lasagna, it’s the parking that neighbors of Mozza 2 Go are most passionate about. Area residents argue the parking problem has spread from Melrose and Highland avenues to residential streets, including McCadden Pl. “It’s very annoying,” Chickie Byrne, a member of the Hancock Park Homeowners Assoc., said at a meeting last month. The six-month review for the site, at 6610 Melrose Ave., was to cover Mozza 2 Go's conditional use permit. But parking took a front seat at the meeting. Residents claim its employees are parking on neighboring streets. But restaurant officials said residential parking woes could be traced to other recently opened restaurants. And to Osteria Mozza. Opened in 2008, this Mozza has a 110-person capacity, a lot of employees and zero parking, resulting from being “grandfathered in” from former restaurants on the site, before CUPs were required. The city has offered to expand a preferential parking district to protect neighborhood streets from patron parking, however, there is a waiting list, according to Renee Weitzer, chief of land use planning for Councilman See Mozza 2 Go p. 6
ON HaNd FOR the installation of the neighborhood watch signs were, from left, Stu Melvin, Amy Vangsgard, Annie Chow holding daughter Olivia and Officer Joseph Pelayo.
Criminals beware: Village residents are watching you 'Signs let people know neighbors are watching' By Laura Eversz Inspired by a meeting organized by residents on Gower St. following a rash of thefts and break-ins, N. Beachwood Drive neighbors from Beverly Blvd. to Melrose Ave. joined to-
Women of Larchmont Our annual section salutes area women who make a difference. Advertising deadline is Tues., July 13. Call 323-4622241, ext. 11.
BEVERLY CINEMA saved by director movie-buff. 3 ROSSMORE named after Ida Hancock's second husband. 2 BASEBALL'S L.A. roots told in book. 7 MEET New Neighbors.
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For Information on Advertising Rates, Please Call Pam Rudy 323-462-2241, x 11
COUNCiLMaN TOM LaBONGE proclaimed June 10 "Frances Blend School Day." More photos on page 8
gether to form a Neighborhood Watch group. They, along with LAPD Olympic Division Senior Lead Officer Joe Pelayo, gathered at Annie Chow’s home in February. “The Neighborhood Watch meeting at Annie’s was a great success, with about 20 to 30 people in attendance,” said Officer Pelayo. “Annie took the lead and ran with it. I wish I had more block captains like her.” Chow says her role as coblock captain for the 300 and 400 blocks of Beachwood Dr., along with Stuart Melvin and Caroline Chiles, is to facilitate awareness and communication. They work as a team with Amy Vangsgard and Bianca le Mouel, who head up the Watch on the 500 and 600 blocks. “The group’s main purpose is to make our neighborhood safer,” said Chow. “At the meeting, Officer Pelayo’s emphasis was on communication with neighbors. We took his advice to heart, and held a block party in April in order to familiarize ourselves with each other.” Other ways of communicating include door-to-door greetings, e-mails, flyers and block meetings with the seSee Neighborhood Watch p. 7
Larchmont Blvd.’s threelevel underground parking lot has been exempted from a plan to privatize parking lots. Councilman Tom LaBonge said he was successful in removing the 163-space lot at 228 N. Larchmont Blvd. from the city’s efforts to raise money. Concerned residents feared a private company operator would mean a serious increase in parking fees. Current price for 30 minutes is 75 cents, compared to the higher fee a private firm might charge. When developer Ron Simms purchased the property in 1985, which included a Safeway store and parking lot, he was offered the opportunity to build a three-level garage with city-provided the funds. The precedent-setting public-private development with the city occurred following a meeting with LaBonge (John Ferraro’s deputy at the time) and Tom Conner, an engineer in the city Bureau of Parking Management. Simms built the parking garage, and the city paid for the costs in exchange for operating the facility.
On the Boulevard Glimpses by Jane The beautiful weather is bringing out families with their youngsters and dogs in tow. And, we are pleased to report, no skateboards. *** Bill Cutter was ordering a sandwich at Larchmont Larder when we ran into him. He was in the midst of moving to Orange Drive after being a longtime Windsor Square resident. *** Judy Schwartz and her daughter Danielle were having lunch at Le Pain Quotidien when we stopped to talk. Danielle, a student at Michigan See BLVD., p. 27
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