LC Real Estate 08 2023

DECOR

Custom design, antiques and reproductions with a modern-vintage mix.

HE LOVED LA New project keeps the late councilman’s love of community alive. Page 6

GO CARFREE!

Bike, walk or skate when CicLAvia comes to this part of town on Sun., Aug. 20. Page 7

See Los Angeles history through the ‘windshield of the car’

By Suzan Filipek

Diane Isaacs was among the first to sign up to be a docent at the Petersen Automotive Museum after it opened its doors at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in June 1994.

“My interest was not so much in cars, but rather the history of Los Angeles through the windshield of the car — which was how I interpreted the mission of the museum,” Isaacs told us.

She’s been a volunteer at the museum ever since.

Is it fun being a docent?

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t fun,” said the retired contract administrator for Sony.

The museum has about 175 volunteers, which include seasoned and trained docents, like the multi-award-winning docent Isaacs.

Tourgoers see up close a wide array of vehicles, fromPorsches, the Batmobile and other movie cars to early 20th-century models.

Gone are the dark rooms and historic Los Angeles dioramas once in the museum.

“This museum is nothing like that,” Isaacs says.

The Petersen was reopened in December 2015 after an extensive remodel. Its flashy

red-and-silver race car exterior jazzes up the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax. The new site also has expanded exhibit space. Following the remodel, the basement “Vault” of some 250 prized vehicles was opened to the public.

“The best part for me about touring,” Isaacs told us, “is when visitors see the connections as we discuss everything from history to physics, and they learn to appreciate what we offer at the museum — even if they came in dragging their feet because they thought all they were going to hear about was cars.”

Her efforts do not go unnoticed. She received the annual Award for Excellence at three of the past four volunteer

awards dinners (2020’s was cancelled due to COVID-19 and she did not win in 2022 because she won a Volunteer of the Year Award).

Docent Dr. Martin Landau’s interest in cars began when he was 3 years old, during a drive with his parents from Buffalo, New York, to Los Angeles in a new 1960 Mercury Comet coupe.

Later, as he acquired cars of his own, he held on to them.

“Somehow I bond with the girls I’ve driven. Starting with the ’67 Buick Skylark — my first love.”

He also fell in love with the museum upon his first visit.

He remembers when the museum building was the home of Ohrbach’s Department Store, with the May Company (now the Academy Museum) across the street.

As a docent, besides “being surrounded by some of the most beautiful and unique cars on the planet,” he enjoys “working alongside staff who are amongst the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure to meet and know, and I am in awe of their wealth of automotive knowledge…”

He also gets pleasure in “sharing what I know of cars with guests and seeing their expressions when they learn

something they never knew before — eyes widening, mouths agape!

“It surprises me I didn’t wind up in the automotive world as a career. I guess I caught the biology / science bug that overtook my automotive bug! Diagnosing people vs cars.” (His longtime private practice in the treatment of varicose veins is just a block west on Wilshire.)

Key ambassadors

The volunteer program is one of the most important programs of the museum, Petersen Volunteer Manager Max Tufeld tells us.

“Our volunteers are the proud face of the museum and have been key ambassadors sharing information

about our institution and its collection.”

Here is a varied list of roles which volunteers can fill: Gallery Interpreter: Volunteers in this position learn about the various cars and motorcycles on display at the museum. These are the volunteers who most visitors will get to meet during their Petersen visits.

Discovery Center Attendant: Volunteers in the Discovery Center assist with an interactive Lego station, a story time program and others. “Anyone interested in working with kids, this is the position for you!” Tufeld tells us.

Highlight Tour Guide: They lead tours for a wide variety of (Please turn to page 3)

Service. Exceptional Results. For Lease

TRIO in the museum’s “Vault” are (left to right) volunteer Chuck Sax, docent Dr. Martin Landau and volunteer Jerry Hirsch.

VOLUNTEER DOCENT Diane Isaacs receives a Petersen Automotive Museum annual Award for Excellence.

WSHPHS presents its 2023 Landmark Awards to homes, barn

For decades, the local Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society has presented Landmark Awards to residences and historic properties in recognition of their architectural and historical significance to the communities within the historic Rancho La Brea. This year, the awards will be presented at the Society’s annual meeting on Sat., July 29. This year’s recipients are two Windsor Square residences and the Lasky DeMille Barn — better known as the Hollywood Heritage Museum — located as 2100 N. Highland Ave. (The residences are located at 500 S. Norton Ave. and 354 S. Windsor Blvd., and both were included on this year’s WSHPHS Garden Tour.)

500 S. Norton Ave.

This home on the corner of Norton Avenue and Fifth Street shows remarkable design and sophistication, the work of an unknown architect. The residence was built for Myrtle Elizabeth Allen, a LAUSD school teacher from Denver, Colorado, who must have known what she wanted and had the funds to pay for it, as the cost of the construction was listed as $6,300 in 1936. For a teacher with LAUSD for more than 20 years, this would have been a significant sum.

The house was designed in a fashionable and then contemporary French Norman / Hollywood Regency style complete with a tower and turret. The exterior of the house is adorned with a mix of brick and stucco and has rounded dormers, an elegant entryway and a steeply pitched roof. The interior, well preserved today, contains a curved staircase that climbs the home’s fairytale tower and is opposite a bright reception room. The kitchen also maintains an exceptional tiled “tented” ceiling.

Allen retired from teaching in the late 1940s and, in 1946, sold the Norton house and retired to San Bernadino before her death in 1955. The current owners purchased the

Petersen

(Continued from page 2) in-depth Petersen Museum experiences.

School Visits Educator: Here volunteers can help to inspire the next generation of automotive enthusiasts with the Petersen’s school tours. The program brings in thousands of students every year.

Special Event Support: These volunteers become a part of a wide variety of worldclass events at the Petersen, ranging from car shows to educational outreach events.

Volunteers also can help out by documenting events

by Brian Curran

home in 2019 and extensively relandscaped, installing a lush front garden and, in the rear, a new swimming pool and patio.

354 S. Windsor Blvd.

The stately Colonial Revival house at 354 S. Windsor Blvd. tells a Los Angeles tale that connects historic families, land and architecture in a way few houses can. It was built by Kate Van Nuys Page, the distinguished daughter of Isaac Newton “I.N.” Van Nuys, who was the owner of the southern half of the San Fernando Valley. His friend Harry Chandler later named the town of Van Nuys after him. Kate’s mother, Susanna Lankershim, was herself from San Fernando Valley landed gentry. Upon her marriage, Kate became Mrs. James Rathwell Page. Mr. Page, banker and businessman, was also chairman of Caltech, where the Page Dormitory was named after him.

In 1913, Kate and her brother, J. Benton Van Nuys, purchased several adjacent lots on Windsor and Lorriane boulevards. Benton and his wife, Emily, then moved the Victorian I.N. Van Nuys family mansion in 1915 from 1445 West 6th St. in Westlake to 357 S. Lorriane Blvd. That same year, Kate commissioned the august firm of Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns, later architects of the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Ebell of Los Angeles, to build her home on Windsor directly behind the family mansion — now her brother’s — with which the Page house shared gardens and a tennis court.

For the Pages, Hunt and Burns produced an elegant design in the Colonial Reviv-

and tours by taking photos. The museum is host to an annual volunteer Holiday Party and Appreciation Dinner. Volunteers take part in monthly meetings and go on a variety of volunteer field trips. Additional volunteer benefits include free parking in the museum’s parking structure and guest passes for friends and family.

In return, volunteers are asked to commit to a minimum of eight hours per month. To join the Petersen team, apply at petersen.org/ volunteer.

To arrange a docent tour, visit petersen.org/group-tours.

al style, with white clapboard siding, a shake roof and a recessed Palladian entrance, more reminiscent of New England than Southern California. Its only nod to the Mediterranean climate was a set of four French doors with arched transoms flanking the

entrance. In 1930, a large library was added to the north of the house designed by architect Robert D. Farquhar, architect of the Owlwood Estate in Holmby Hills, The California Club and the Canfield-Moreno (today Paramour) Estate in Silver Lake.

Lasky-De Mille Barn:

The Hollywood Heritage Museum

Built in 1901, The Lasky-DeMille Barn is the oldest extant movie studio building in Hollywood. “The Squaw Man,” which was directed by Cecil

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Participate in a Summer Soiree on Anderson Munger YMCA rooftop

By Suzan Filipek

Enjoy dinner and a fundraiser for a very good cause at the Anderson Munger Family YMCA on Fri., Aug. 18, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The Summer Soiree will take place on the rooftop at the YMCA, 4301 W. Third St.

“It has a great view of the city,” YMCA Board Member Patricia Carroll told us.

The event celebrates the ninth anniversary of the site and is a test run for a celebration of the 10th, Carroll added. Jane Gilman, Larchmont Chronicle

co-founder, is an honoree.

“We’re honoring people who had originally been involved in the capital campaign. Jane Gilman contributed so much through the Chronicle in the beginning,” said Carroll, who is also a board member of the Larchmont Boulevard Association.

Philanthropist Michael Pak, owner of the Koreatown Run Club, also is an honoree.

The money raised will support the Y’s Youth and Government Program, summer and winter camps and food programs, among other programs, Y Executive Director Rae Jin told us.

“Especially during the pandemic and after, the Y really stepped up as a pillar of the Korean and Greater Wilshire communities,” Carroll said.

Homeboy Industries, founded by Windsor Square native Father Greg Boyle, will cater the event. For tickets, visit ymcala.org/summersoiree.

On Preservation

(Continued from page 4)

B. DeMille and was the first feature-length film produced in Hollywood, was shot in and around the barn in 1913. Considered by historians as the birthplace of Paramount Studios, the barn began its studio career as the Burns-Revier Studio in 1912, and it became the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913.  The Lasky Company merged with Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players in 1916, becoming Famous Players-Lasky and merging with Paramount Distributing Company, finally becoming Paramount

Pictures Corporation.

Originally located at the corner of Selma Avenue and Vine Street in central Hollywood, the barn was relocated in 1926 to the new Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue, where it was located in the “western” part of the back lot and featured in movies such as “The Rainmaker” (1956) and the television series “Bonanza.”

On Dec. 27, 1956, the Lasky-DeMille Barn was designated California State Historic Landmark No. 554, recognizing the significant role the building played in the birth of the Hollywood motion picture industry.

In 1979, Paramount donat-

ed the barn to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s Hollywood Historic Trust and moved the Barn to the parking area of The Hollywood Palace theater (today the Avalon) where it remained until 1983, when the barn was donated to Hollywood Heritage and moved to Highland Avenue across from the Hollywood Bowl, opening as the Hollywood Studio Museum in 1985. Since then, Hollywood Heritage has funded the preservation, restoration and maintenance of the barn. In 2014, the Lasky-DeMille Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

And, now it is a WSHPHS Landmark as well!

NEW MURALS grace the rooftop at the Anderson Munger Family YMCA in time for the Summer Soiree. They were painted by teens from the community and completed with YMCA partner Off The Wall Graffiti.

HONOREE Jane Gilman.

Randy Esada opens a second shop for Prospr-ous business

By Suzan Filpek

Business is booming at Randy Esada’s antique and custom-furniture-with-a-modern-twist enterprise. It’s doing so well that he’s opened a second store, Prospr, at 158 N. La Brea Ave. It’s around the corner from his smaller decorative arts shop, Thrive, at 7407 Beverly Blvd.

The Windsor Square resident’s grand opening for the new 4,500-square-foot space was June 20.

“I’m not your typical antique store where everything is beige and peeling,” notes Esada in the new space, large enough to accommodate a 9-foot gilt mirror and a pair of grand Italianate chandeliers.

Many pieces here are reproductions by known designers. Some are Esada’s own creations done after originals. And then there are the actual antiques from all over the world. “I can buy English antiques for a good price,” says the Chicago native with a Midwestern and East Coast sensibility that his customers appreciate.

He stays away from Victorian and trendy designs as the self-taught Esada prefers the clean, simple lines of Regency and Biedermeier pieces.

“The beauty is mixing the

different styles,” he said.

He notes that his prices are fair, which is why his business continues to flourish while other design shops around him have closed.

“I deal now more in furniture than ever before,” he adds. Many of his pieces were stored at a facility adjoining the Original Farmers Market, which is why he sorely needed room to grow.

In-person and online

Esada’s customers are from around the country. They search online at Chairish. com and other online sites.

Some buy right off the internet, while other buyers

enjoy walking in the store and breathing in the candle scene (created for the new store), trying out the furniture and viewing the art, including works by Esada’s husband, artist Dave Wilcox.

Many of his customers are for life, notes Esada. They call him when they are downsizing, as was the case of one celebrity, which is how the 9-foot gilt mirror landed in his showroom, near a tall 18th-century secretary, a reproduction by Richard Mulligan. A Rose Tarlow four-poster bed is another sought-after prize for a price at a fraction of a new one.

“I can offer prices we mere

mortals can afford,” he says. “To the novice, it may seem high-priced, but everything here is pedigree.”

Esada explains that his custom line is also top-notch. It includes chandeliers, chairs and tables made with Esada’s team of Los Angeles-based carvers, gilders and electricians. A Louis XVI-style chair was designed after an original but with a narrower seat. The originals’ wide seats were to accommodate the puffy dresses of the day.

“I’ll add a little something or elongate the leg, or modernize it so it’s not so wide,” he says of his designs.

Many of the craftsmen here have migrated from Europe in recent years, where prices on exports have skyrocketed, and which helped make Los Angeles a mecca for furniture design and fabrication.

Esada had worked in the “soulless” world of corporate management before venturing into the antique business, originally based in his Windsor Square home. As his business grew, he brushed up on his knowledge of design and opened his first store in 1988 on Larchmont Boulevard, Phileas Fogg & Co.

He’s also had a shop in Palm Springs and flipped homes

with his husband until the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We went from our worst year [the pandemic] to our best year. There’s more to be said for perseverance than for talent. I felt like Forrest Gump after the storm. My prices were right.” (In the movie, Gump’s business prospered after a hurricane eliminated much of his competition.)

“There will always be a market for timeless decorating that uses antiques and reproduction pieces,” Esada concludes.

To see his ever-revolving merchandise, visit Esada’s stores in person or on his website, prosprco.com.

PAINTING of “Sock Monkey” by Dave Wilcox is next to an antique Buddha and Louis XVI-style chair.

ANTIQUE DEALER and designer Randy Esada at his new store on La Brea Avenue.

LaBonge Civic Project is established

By Casey Russell Brigid LaBonge,

widow of former Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, will serve as executive director of the newly established Tom Labonge Civic Project. She will be joined in managing the new nonprofit by the couple’s children, Mary-Cate and Charles LaBonge.

Tom LaBonge was well known for his love of his city. His philosophy for community service, volunteerism and advocating for the highest quality of life in Los Angeles will be kept alive through the

Tom LaBonge Civic Project.

The organization will focus on social and environmental entrepreneurship. Many programs are already scheduled.

With Hikes for Health, the group will take Los Angeles’ fifth graders up to the Tom LaBonge Panorama at the summit of Mount Hollywood. Adopt a Gutter will encourage residents and businesses to keep litter out of gutters and storm drains.

Community members can help keep Los Angeles clean by participating in the Civic Project’s annual citywide day of service, scheduled for the first week of October.

Details will continue to be unveiled at tomlabongecivicproject.org.

Condominiums

WEBSITE features a Los Angeles icon: a manhole cover.

Gnostica Gnostic Christian Church

SOLD: This home at 607 N. Las Palmas Ave. in Hancock Park sold for $3,470,000 in

CicLAvia comes to town August 20

By Iona Lee

You can jog, walk or ride a bike at CicLAvia Koreatown Meets Hollywood Sun., Aug. 20. The car-free event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The route will affect our neighborhoods because it closes portions of boundary streets Western and Melrose avenues.

The event closes streets starting at Hollywood Boule-

vard, then heading south on Vine Street to Melrose, then turns east to Western, then south to Wilshire Boulevard, then east again to its Vermont Avenue terminus.

Hubs and closures

There are several hubs along the route that serve as refreshment areas and rest stops and where cyclists can get minor bike repairs.

Music plays on at Farmers Market

Roads will be closed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Many intersections will be open for cars.

CicLAvia’s mission is to encourage active transportation for health benefits to the community and air pollution reduction.

Iona Lee will be a senior at Harvard-Westlake School and is an intern at the Larchmont Chronicle.

The Original Farmers Market will serenade patrons with free performances from a variety of musical groups every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. through Aug. 31.

Emerging artists will be featured this month, such as Meekoh, a folk fusion group. They will perform Aug. 3. On Aug. 10, Astral Mixtape will

share its classical crossover / fusion music. Music by San Miguel will get things shaking on Aug. 17 with salsa / tropical vibes. On Aug. 24, Tia P. will perform her new generation hip-hop and Aug. 31 will feature pop artist Tara Macri. Beer gardens and food pop-ups will accompany the concerts.

“How did you go bankrupt?” Hemingway wrote that — although the quote is sometimes attributed to Fitzgerald — the answer was: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

Theaters fail the same way.

As reported in the Los An-

geles Times (6/20/23) and elsewhere, the Mark Taper Forum is “pausing” production due to financial difficulties.

The Taper’s executives point to a variety of reasons: COVID-19 shutdown, inflation, subscribers’ failures to return and competition from other me-

dia, especially streaming.

An inconvenient truth at the on-pause Mark Taper Forum Theater Review by

Let me offer another inconvenient possibility: during Artistic Director Michael Ritchie’s 16-year tenure (which ended in 2021), the Taper slid slowly into irrelevance.

Founding director Gordon Davidson was known for plays

that were provocative, political and liberal — so-called “Taper plays” such as “Zoot Suit,” “The Kentucky Cycle” and “Angels in America.” Does any play resonate that strongly from Mr. Ritchie’s tenure, or, worse, from the last three years, when the Taper tried to make up for shortcomings in diversity, equity and inclusion with plays that were more politically correct than dramatically compelling?

If you want to rebut me by pointing to the Taper’s awards, nominations and premieres, etc., during that period, I would counter that what you are pointing at is the diminished state of American theater in the 21st century.

The upside to this slippage is that other theaters have taken up the slack. The Tony award-winning Pasadena Playhouse’s Sondheim season was first-rate. The Geffen substantially upped its game with “The Inheritance,” its two-part gay epic. If the Geffen’s recent premiere of Ramiz Monsef’s “The Ants” (about the clash between the homeless and privileged) was less than successful, it was at least home-grown in the Geffen’s playwright development program. The Ahmanson brings in significant Broadway plays, including the recent “Into the Woods” by Sondheim, which featured perhaps the best cast in a musical I have seen in Los Angeles. The new Gloria Molina Auditorium at Casa 0101 in Boyle Heights debuted in June with a powerful revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of A Salesman” with a Latino acting ensemble.

One of the most significant theaters filling the Taper’s vacuum is the Fountain, now running its 40th anniversary production of Jane Chambers’ lesbian dramedy, “Last Sum-

Louis Fantasia

mer at Bluefish Cove” (through August 27; 323-663-1525; boxoffice@fountaintheatre.com).

The Fountain’s founding producer, Deborah Lawler (who passed away recently), chose a space in the then decidedly untrendy East Hollywood to plant her flag. In 1983, she produced “Bluefish Cove,” and it ran for an astonishing two years, putting her theater on the map. The nine women who make up the current ensemble (especially lead Ann Sonneville) do a first-rate job trying to breathe life into a frankly dated play: the newly divorced straight girl lands in a lesbian summer enclave, falls in love only to find that the woman she loves is dying of cancer.

In an era where everything from “Killing Eve” to daytime soaps has a lesbian story line, it might have been best, dramaturgically, to let this pioneering play rest. I say “dramaturgically,” not “politically.” LGBTQ+ rights are under increasing attack, as are our gay, lesbian, and trans brothers and sisters themselves. Much has changed in 40 years, except bigotry and hate.

The Taper opened in 1967 at one of America’s most socially divisive periods. It took a stand politically, but won audiences by doing plays of depth and merit in a world-class manner. It was the quality of the work that counted then and has counted since the day Aeschylus brought a tragedian before

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French flair in a former warehouse

It’s almost magical the way a formerly unheralded street in Hollywood — that block-by-block had balanced single-family homes with small apartment buildings and entertainment industry warehouses — suddenly has become a sleek upscale shopping and dining destination. The street in question is Sycamore Avenue north of Melrose Avenue. Over the past few years it has gone from sleepy to stylish. The 900 north block is completely transformed; other nearby blocks on Sycamore and surrounding streets are slowly following suit.

We easily found street parking, then walked past high-end clothing boutiques such as Just One Eye, bakery/ cafe Tartine and Mr. T — a French street food restaurant transplanted from the Marais district in Paris — on our way to the beautiful Gigi’s, with its French flair and old New York sensibility.

Restaurateurs Alex Wilmot and Samantha Ressler opened Gigi’s, named after Ressler’s grandmother, during the height of the pandemic in 2020, and diners therefore ate outside at sidewalk tables and in fenced street-side seating. Those still exist and are popular in balmy weather, but patrons who venture inside are treated to a beautiful room with a large center bar, tables along the perimeter, and wood-paneled walls topped with a spectacular wraparound mural by local artist Andie Dinkin depicting tuxedoed waiters, sophisticated diners and gardens in warm tones of gold and orange. I’m sure I’ve sipped cocktails at vintage bars in New York that looked just like this. Executive Chef Matthew Bollinger, formerly of Jean Georges and Trois Familia, created the bistro menu.

My husband and I opted to sit at the bar and happened to perch next to Chef de Cuisine Julio Juarez, who happily parsed the menu and told us

Theater

(Continued from page 8) the Athenian public, and it’s what should count now.

The day before I sat down to write this column, nine robots held a UN-sponsored press conference on the future of AI (CNN, 7/8/23). They promised not to rebel or replace us. Maybe we can get them to do Shakespeare or even Sondheim.

Or maybe our major theater can recover and redefine itself by declaring what makes us human and return to produce that with passion, commitment and, above all, excellence.

I’d buy a ticket to that.

On

the Menu

by Helene Seifer

exactly which dishes he had added since joining the team. We ordered $18 drinks (vodka martini for me, lemon drop for my sweet-toothed husband) while contemplating our choices. Both were excellent.

Juarez shared that most things on the menu were grown or ranched in California, but we started with a half dozen sweet, small oysters from the east coast of Canada, $24, which somehow suited the decor and our vodka drinks. Gigi’s also offers three seafood towers, from the $65 petit tower with oysters, shrimp and hamachi crudo up to the $180 grand

tower, which ups the ante to a dozen oysters and adds mussels escabeche (a form of pickling) and caviar dip. Tempting, but we wanted to leave room for other dishes. Juarez surprised us with his zucchini fritters. They were crispy yet pleasantly doughy and delicious dipped into the accompanying piquillo pepper aioli, $15. The $26 steak tartare was served with a large hunk of warm crisped baguette. Juarez described how the beef is hand-cut into a tiny dice and gently mixed with gribiche, a boiled egg mayonnaise. The disc of tartare was finished with dollops of mustard and sprinkles of pickled mustard seeds. Biting into the warm bread slathered with tartare, we might as well have been at Les Deux Magots Café in Paris (where steak tartare currently costs $32), only instead of discussing existentialism with the ghost of

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Hello LOS FELIZ!

SEE YOU JULY 29TH AT THE CORNER OF WESTERN & FRANKLIN

We can’t wait to meet you! We’re Lazy Acres Natural Market, your new neighborhood natural and organic grocer. Not onl y are we dedicated to fresh, organic food but also deeply rooted in our commitments to the community. Whether it’s the 10 cents we donate when you shop with a reusable bag or sourcing organic ingredients straight from local farmers, when we work together, our whole community will thrive.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO:

• Ready-to-enjoy food venues including Mediterranean, California BBQ, Poke & Sushi, and Fish Tacos

• Farm fresh organic produce delivered to our stores daily

• Made-to-order juices, smoothies, & functional coffees

• Sustainably sourced meat & seafood from trusted partners

• Expertly curated Natural Living department

• Community giving programs & our Community Classroom

To celebrate, we are offering 6 weeks of freebies just for our Los Feliz store. Yes, you read that right! From housemade desserts to organic meat, produce, & more, get these exclusive offers sent to your inbox.

JUST

Tom Cruise amazes over and over; confusing ‘Oppenheimer’

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (10/10): 163 minutes. PG-13. Just looking at the runtime, this would be a good choice of a film to avoid. But that would be wrong. This is 163 minutes of a good film with a good script. But most of all, it is filled with amazing, death-defying stunts. And they were all done by Tom Cruise, as usual.

Cruise is known for doing his own stunts, ones that generally throw caution to the wind. But he tops himself in this one. When I saw the film at Paramount, I was disbelieving. But then I watched the short films documenting the stunts and that made me a believer.

I’m not going to describe the stunts because that might act as a spoiler, but when you see the film, just realize that that really is Tom Cruise doing all these things, and there generally is no green screen or anything else that creates Hollywood Magic.

I don’t know where Cruise gets all his energy, but what’s amazing is that he didn’t just do these stunts once, he did them over and over, again and again, until they got it right.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a script by him and Erik Jendresen, the story follows the same MI theme

developed by Bruce Geller for his television series, a dangerous mission to save the world. But this is not just the same movie done many times with different McGuffins. It is unique enough to stand on its own. As the title indicates, though, there is more to come.

I’m not going to waste your time by writing thousands of words about it. I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this.

The Miracle Club (8/10): 91 minutes. PG-13. In development for almost 20 years, elegantly directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan from a fine script by Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager and Jimmy Smallhome, this is a delicate study of four women (well-acted by Kathy Bates, Laura Linney, Maggie Smith and Agnes O’Casey) in 1960s Ireland with physical and psychological problems who go to Lourdes in hopes of miracles to cure physical diseases. As their long-suppressed feelings flood to the surface, the satori they get is not what they expected.

The Beanie Bubble (7/10): 110 minutes. R. If you think that the tulip mania of the 16th-century Dutch (told well in 1841’s extraordinary “Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” by Charles MacKay) was incomprehensible

At the Movies with Tony Medley

madness, how do you explain the gullible dreamers of the 1990s who put thousands of dollars into investing in stuffed animals? This movie doesn’t even try to explain the Beanie Bubble craze, instead concentrating on trying to prove that the stunning success of founder Ty Warner (Zach Galifianakis) was the result of his manipulation of three women (excellently played by Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan), who were really the powers behind the throne. While the film is diminished by confusing time warps that jump back and forth willy-nilly, it’s a feel-good tale of revenge directed by Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash, based on the 2015 book by Zac Bissonnette who has a screenwriting credit with Gore. Whether it’s faithful to the facts or not, this is an entertaining sit.

Oppenheimer (5/10): 3 hours. R. When I learned that

Christopher Nolan had written and directed a film about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) that lasted three hours, John McEnroe’s immortal words flooded my mind, “You cannot be serious!” Alas, it’s true. But in order to present a sympathetic picture of this highly controversial left-leaning scientist who led the team at Los Alamos in developing the atomic bomb, Nolan has flooded the torturous first two hours of the film with confusing flashbacks and flash forwards (some in black and white), enough to make the viewer dizzy as well as perplexed. (Can’t modern filmmakers make a linear film anymore?)

Nolan’s preconception forces him to present President Truman (Gary Oldman) and Special Counsel Roger Robb

(Jason Clarke) as heavies. An example is when Robb confronts Oppenheimer with indisputable evidence that he lied; Nolan manipulates the scene so that the viewer sympathizes with Oppenheimer.

Why talented Emily Blunt is listed as a co-star is puzzling because, as Oppenheimer’s wife, she rarely appears and is in only one meaningful scene at the tail end.

The left is gonna love this film so it probably will be up for multitudes of awards, but I found it slow, confusing, disjointed and more predispositional than objective. It picks up speed, however, during the last hour, when Oppenheimer is questioned by Robb during a hearing challenging his security clearance.

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B Gaddy

Fourth of July sparkles for Lillian Way’s 25th annual festivities

By Jordanna Brown

This year’s Lillian Way block party was the 25th annual (minus a couple of COVID-19 years) Fourth of July get-together that neighbors living in the  Lillian / Cahuenga / Wilcox corridor have celebrated.

However, the tradition predates this iteration — there has been some type of July 4th party on the 500 block of Lillian for close to 40 years.

This year, our festivities featured four bounce houses, from a tiny toddler-sized one to a 20-foot set of slides. We had our favorite taco truck come and serve tacos and quesadillas to all. We also had a shaved ice truck for desserts!

We ran the usual games, starting with the festive bike parade and continuing with a three-legged race and musical chairs. Prizes were awarded to winners, and all participants got a little something to take home.

And of course, we all capped off the evening by watching the triumphant return of

the Wilshire Country Club’s fireworks show. It wasn’t the same without it last year!

On the Menu

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philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, we discussed the merits of the Cuban cuisine of our barmate’s youth.

We were tempted by the $42 roasted half chicken, the $38 steelhead trout on celery root purée and the $65 steak frites

au poivre, but opted instead for the fresh morel mushroom and pea pasta, $36. Juarez made the cavatelli pasta from scratch, and the dense, rolled shell-shaped pasta was a satisfyingly chewy base for the scrumptious earthy morels and sweet peas. The peas, we were informed, are from Tutti Frutti Farms. I’m usually

disappointed in fresh peas, finding them too starchy, but these were perfect — not hard, not mushy, just tender. How much is the legume’s quality and how much is the expertise of the chef I don’t know, but probably a combination of both. For those wanting to try cooking with them, Tutti Frutti Farms doesn’t sell at the Larchmont Farmers’ Market, unfortunately; but the vendor can be found at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market on Sundays. Another tip that can translate to home cooking: The pasta sauce was made from a broth of simmered cremini and shiitake and dried porcini mushrooms. We decided we could happily eat our way through Gigi’s menu over many visits, but

At the Movies

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Oppenheimer was a complicated character. This film doesn’t uncomplicate anything, but Nolan could have used a strong editor with sharp scissors to make this more entertaining.

the dessert menu is a little thin: $4 chocolate chip cookie, ice cream or sorbet for $5, $15 for sticky toffee pudding or caramel flan. My husband was interested in the pudding, but Juarez recommended the unusual flan, which is made with cream cheese and based on his great-grandmother’s Cuban recipe. The slice is closer to cheesecake, denser and creamier than a typical flan. Excellent flavor, but not as refreshing as flan tends to be. I’d love to see crème brûlée or tarte tatin added to the menu to end the meal on a quintessentially French note. Gigi’s, 904 N. Sycamore Ave., 323-819-7703.

National Night Out is August 1

Olympic Community Police Station is hosting National Night Out (NNO) at its station at 1130 S. Vermont Ave. on Tues., Aug. 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. The free event will feature inflatable bouncers for kids, food, drink and games.

THREE-LEGGED RACE and other games were party highlights.

GOOD TIMES were had by Mai Perez, left, and Charleigh Didlock.

NEIGHBORS (left to right) Avery Brettschneider, Ren Stoppani Brown and Blythe Brown enjoy a basketball bounce house.

Jordanna Brown and Evan Corday were co-planners of the block party.

“Experience does make a difference.

Monico finishes her second year at Wilshire Division, LAPD

By Nona Sue Friedman

Wilshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department

(LAPD) Capt. Sonia Monico celebrated 30 years of LAPD service this past April. Based on the enthusiasm she shows toward her job, you would never know she’s been doing it so long. As she says, “I love coming to work every day.”

As a Captain III, she oversees the entire Wilshire division, whose station house is located at 4861 Venice Blvd. She supervises 235 sworn officers and detectives.

Capt. Monico has been at Wilshire two years as of this month. She says there is a lot of community involvement and collaboration and tells us, “The community support and assistance has been incredible.” She continues, “We can’t do our jobs without folks who work with us on a regular basis. It’s a team effort.”

She meets regularly with the division’s Community-Police Advisory Board, neighborhood organizations and homeowner groups. She and her division have helped forge numerous partnerships with local businesses, the local City Council offices and their field deputies and the local neighborhood prosecutor from the office of

CELEBRATING three decades as a sworn police officer is Capt. Sonia Monico.

the city attorney.

The Commanding Officer of the Wilshire Community Police Station encourages all residents: “If you see something, say something. Report suspicious activity.” She and her department are here to help and to make its residents feel safe and taken care of, she reminds us.

During her tenure in LAPD, she has moved around the force and held numerous positions including patrol officer, senior lead officer and area training coordinator, to name just a few. “I’ve enjoyed every single assignment over the years,” says Monico.

She received both a Bachelor of Science and a master’s

degree, which has enabled her to test within the force and move up the ranks over time.

She was selected to participate in the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy’s 10-week program with police officers selected from around the country and the world. The academy is in Quantico, Virginia. During the program, participants receive special training, take leadership courses and meet officers from many police agencies.

Monico’s introduction to LAPD started when she was in middle school. She and

her sister were encouraged by their local senior lead officer to join the Cadets, which is a program hosted by LAPD for kids to develop life skills while working with LAPD. Participants visit the Police Academy, take classes, focus on physical fitness and work actual assignments with officers. For Monico, this included patrolling her local mall in the Valley. She was in the Cadets for about a year, and she told us, “It was life-changing.”

Fast-forward some years. Monico is married and has a

baby girl. Her sister saw an advertisement that LAPD was looking for candidates. She and her sister reminisced about their time in the Cadets, and they both decided to take the entrance exam to enroll in the Police Academy. Only Monico passed. She remembers her sister saying, “Now you need to follow through on your own.” Well, she did it in spades.

“I am so grateful for what I do on a daily basis. If anyone is interested in recruitment, please reach out to me directly at 213-473-0558.” Or visit lapdonline.com.

Minors are chased by homeless woman; burglaries continue

WILSHIRE DIVISION

ROBBERY: A male and female minor were chased by a homeless woman who was demanding money from them on July 3 at 3:45 p.m. near Highland Avenue and Third Street.

BURGLARIES: A suspect broke the rear glass door of an apartment on the 5200 block of Wilshire Boulevard. The suspect stole property and fled through the front door on July 2 at 3 p.m.

Two disguised suspects entered a home’s garage on July 6 at 8 a.m. The suspects stole property and fled the location.

A home on the 600 block of North Citrus Avenue was ransacked and had property stolen on July 6 between

7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. The suspect smashed the rear window door to gain access to the property.

BURGLARY FROM VEHICLE: A suspect smashed the rear window of a silver Hyundai between 7 p.m. on July 4 and 6 a.m. on July 5 and stole an audio device and money from the vehicle parked near Orange Drive and First Street.

GRAND THEFTS AUTO:

A white Ford van was stolen from the 500 block of North Sycamore Avenue on July 8 between 10 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.

A white Kia was stolen from the 100 block of South Orange Drive between 7 p.m. on July 7 and 7 a.m. on July 9.

THEFT: Packages and tools were taken from the porch of a home on the 100 block of South Las Palmas

Avenue between 3:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on July 2. A suspect jumped the driveway gate of a home on the 300 block of South Sycamore Avenue and stole a wall-mounted EV charger between 2 p.m. on July 5 and 10 a.m. on July 6.

OLYMPIC DIVISION

BURGLARY: Three suspects forced entry into the second floor balcony of a residence in a multi-unit building on July 10 at 2:45 p.m. They stole various items

and fled the location

BURGLARY FROM VEHICLE: A male suspect broke the passenger window of a vehicle on the 400 block of North Wilton Place at 1:45 p.m. on July 10. The suspect took property from the vehicle and fled westbound on Elmwood Avenue.

GRAND THEFT AUTO: A white Hyundai Tucson was stolen from the 4000 block of 8th Street between July 9 and 10 from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Make candy kiss roses, meet a local illustrator

FAIRFAX LIBRARY

Adults

Walk-in tutoring: Every Wednesday, at 4:30 p.m. come for help with searching the internet, job resumes, applications and filling out forms.

All ages

Book Sale: Browse used books every Wednesday, from noon to 4 p.m. All sales support the library branch.

FREMONT LIBRARY

Babies & Toddlers

Story time: Listen to stories Wednesdays, Aug. 2, 9 and 16, at 10:30 a.m.

MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Toddlers

Story time in the park: Listen to stories and sing songs in Memorial Park each Wednesday in August at 10:30 a.m. Preschool painters: Visit the library for potentially messy painting on Mon., Aug. 28, at 11 a.m.

Kids & Teens

Drop-in tutoring with Steve: Need a refresher on some academics? Stop by every Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. for one-on-one assistance

with any subject.

Teens

Painting: Create a masterpiece for the last summer teen program on Thurs., Aug. 3, at 4 p.m.

Adults

B.Y.O. needle arts: Work

(Please turn to page 15)

161 S. Gardner St. 323-936-6191

JOHN C. FREMONT 6121 Melrose Ave. 323-962-3521

MEMORIAL

4625 W. Olympic Blvd. 323-938-2732 WILSHIRE

N. St. Andrews Pl. 323-957-4550 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.

‘Bear’-ing witness to nature’s fearsome

Many of us possess a roster — however brief — of names that incite a feeling of dread. From a momentary wince to a full-blown nostalgia trip, the mere utterance of the name of a megalomaniacal former employer or a romantic interest turned foe becomes an incantation that feels as though it can summon their spirit. The name may be perceived as more injurious than the person it represents; through selective memory, it can flatten years of living, breathing experiences into a single repellent syllable.

The name that tormented proto-Germanic hunters was that of a huge, ferocious creature that stalked the nearby forests. Swift on both land and water despite its immense size, this predator could annihilate a human almost instantly using its sharp claws and tremendous strength. So spine-chilling was the creature that tribes began to avoid using its proper name for fear that speaking it into existence would invoke the beast. Instead, they called it bero — “the brown one” — after the chestnut-colored fur that covered its frame, thus forming what some have claimed to be the earliest known euphemism. Bero gave way to the Old English bera, which provided the basis for the Modern English “bear.”

It’s not fear but deep reverence that inspired the Cheyenne custom of abstaining from speaking the bear’s name aloud. In Cheyenne tradition, the grizzly is a sacred figure believed to be the spiritual ancestor to modern-day humans. Folktales describe the bear as a nis’simoo, or spirit helper, and there are various narratives of grizzlies helping lost or wounded travelers. This

typification of the bear as caretaker is further elucidated in its naming: nahkohe, the Cheyenne word for bear, is a near homonym of náhko’e, a term used only when addressing one’s mother.

Just as the bear giveth, she taketh away. The brown bears that roamed Ancient Greece were called arktos, from the Proto-Indo-European root rkto, which is believed to have come from the word for “destruction.” The Greek arktos evolved into arktikos, meaning “of the north,” due to the Great Bear constellation’s positioning in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is from the northerly arktikos that we inherit the name for the Arctic, the polar region located at the northernmost part of the globe. The more common name for the Great

Libraries

(Continued from page 14) on needlecrafts while sitting with others every Monday this month at 1 p.m.

Art class: Color or paint with peers on Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m.

Book club: Meet on Fri., Aug. 4, at 1 p.m. to discuss “Clytemnestra” by Costanza Casati.

All ages

Chess club: Play chess or learn how each Friday in August from 3 to 5 p.m.

Book sale: Buy your next favorite read every Tuesday this month from 12:30 to 5 p.m. and every Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. All proceeds support the library.

WILSHIRE LIBRARY

Kids & Teens

Summer reading challenge: Meet local illustrator Noor Sofi as she discusses the picture book “Brown is Beautiful” on Tues., Aug. 1, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Candy kiss roses: Make a beautiful, edible bouquet of candy kisses that look like roses on Thurs., Aug. 3, from 4 to 5 p.m.

Bear constellation, Ursa Major, comes from the Latin word for bear — ursus. Some linguists have noted the similarity between the Latin ursus and another word in the language — orsus, meaning “begun.” A history of the word orsus from the 12th-century Latin bestiary “The Book of Beasts” mirrors the Cheyenne bear-as-originator trope: “Ursus the bear...is said to get her name because she sculptures her brood with her mouth. For they say that these creatures produce a

formless foetus, giving birth to something like a bit of a pulp, and this mother-bear arranges into the proper legs and arms by licking it.” Just as the female bear shapes her young in this mythic description, so too does her post-natal practice — “using her own mouth,” or ore sua in Latin — forge the antecedent for orsus Despite the prevalence of maternalistic allegories involving bears, the word’s homonym in English — the verb “to bear,” meaning “to give birth to” — is in fact etymologically unrelated to the animal.

Slavic languages’ bear nomenclature zeroes in on the animal’s taste for honey (though a bit of digging reveals it’s the fat- and protein-rich bee larvae they’re especially keen to find when diving snout-first into a bee-

hive). The words for “bear” in this language group — which include the Russian medved, Croatian medvjed and Czech medvěd — are rough translations of “honey-eater,” based in the Proto-Indo-European root medhu, meaning “honey.” Some may note the link between this root and “mead,” the name of an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey.

With mead in mind I propose a toast to the shades of our past, their names being the piercing echoes that make our blood run cold. Like those who feared bears before us, perhaps we’ll sub in a euphemism every now and then for our own personal bogeymen — “the emotionally unavailable one,” “open mouth-eater” or simply “youknow-who.”

Word Café by Mara Fisher

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