LC real estate 12 2021

HOME GROUND

Add a dash of custom, culture and tradition to your favorite holiday sweets.

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Real Estate Museums, Libraries Home & Garden

LARCHMONT

Locals partake in ceremonial watering of a new tree on the Boulevard.

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VIEW

MICRO-FOREST “Miyawaki” garden in Griffth Park may help fight climate change.

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LARCHMONT CHRONICLE

DECEMBER 2021

HANCOCK PARK • WINDSOR SQUARE • FREMONT PLACE • GREATER WILSHIRE • MIRACLE MILE • PARK LA BREA • LARCHMONT

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

Now bring us a figgy pudding: The sweetness of a holiday My Serbian grandmothers made, at Christmas, a cake called chesnica. It was layered phyllo dough (my grandmothers called it strudel dough) with butter, drenched in honey syrup when hot, and served in diamond-shaped pieces. Most notably, for a child, was that someone was to find in a piece of chesnica a shining silver dollar, a guarantee of good luck.

I don’t remember if I ever found the prize. But I can recall the snow outside, presents under the tree, and the crunch and honey syrup of the cake.

Christmas cakes, sweet breads and sweetmeats, many with origins centuries old, are found in every Christian enclave and culture throughout the world. Sugar, once a costly element in the apothecary’s quiver against colds, became more available during the Middle Ages in Europe, and that sweetened the holiday. (Candy canes are a remnant of sugar’s medicinal use — twists of sugar with oil of wintergreen were eaten centuries ago.)

What makes a Christmas cake a Christmas cake? My grandmothers would not have made chesnica for any other day. I think the constant here is that these treats are special

Home Ground by

Paula Panich

— not just any dessert — and their baking and serving are dictated by custom, culture and family tradition.

But the evolution of some Christmas treats reaches back further than the holiday. Take the Christmas pudding, for example. I was delighted to read, in Alan Davidson’s brilliant and comprehensive work “The Oxford Companion to Food,” the following: “Even before Christmas pudding had attained its modern form, its consumption on Christmas Day had been banned by Oliver Cromwell.

“This was not simply a sign of his Puritan attitudes. The Christian Church everywhere was conscious that Christmas was merely a veneer of the old Celtic winter solstice fire festival celebrating the ‘rebirth’ of the sun after the shortest day, 21 or 22 December.”

(Cromwell, you may remember, steered Britain during

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anyway. (Guilty as charged!)

I’ve never tried making a figgy pudding, but think of me on December 8, because I am planning to bake bolo de mel. When I looked up a recipe online, I found a version on the site jeremiahbakes.com.

Bolo de mel has been made for 600 MADEIRA’S indulgent honey cake, bolo years, which is just in my line. And Jerde mel, dates back centuries.

Photo: jeremiahbakes.com emiah, I promise to eat the cake in the traditional way, as you suggest and they are the butt of jokes about door stops and the old — breaking off bits with my people who still send them fingers. Hope I don’t eat it all.

most of the Commonwealth Period, from 1649 until the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy. Talk about politicization of food! Remember Freedom Fries?)

But back to the sweetness of cakes and breads. English mince pies, Scandinavian ginger biscuits, and German lebkuchen are eaten throughout the Christmas season; whereas on St. Nicholas Day (December 6), bakers in Norway make Father Christmases and dough men to give to children. Santa Lucia, in Sweden, (St. Lucy’s Day, December 13), is a day of saffronflavored buns.

Then there is the rich, wonderful and complicated büche de Noël, a roll of sponge cake covered in chocolate and buttercream textured to look like bark. It’s a glory of French culinary engineering.

On Madeira Island, on December 8 (the Day of the Immaculate Conception), bakers make bolo de mel, a kind of fruitcake made with molasses, which is saved to be eaten on Christmas Day. Fruitcakes, of course, are traditional in the U.S., England and parts of Western Europe; they arrive on the doorstep in heavy boxes with a tin-full of rich cake inside,

Dickens revisited in ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Ahmanson Theatre

Performances of the fivetime Tony Award-winning production of “A Christmas Carol” will continue at the Ahmanson Theatre through Jan. 1, 2022.

Led by Emmy Award-winning actor Bradley Whitford (Ebenezer Scrooge), Kate Burton (Ghost of Christmas Past) and Alex Newell (Ghost of Christmas Present / Mrs. Fezziwig), this magical new interpretation of Charles

Dickens’ timeless story was adapted by Tony Award winner Jack Thorne.

Tickets are on sale at Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre and start at $40.

Call 213-972-4400, or purchase in person at the Center Theatre Group Box Office at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles. Learn more at centertheatregroup.org.

Happy Holidays!

May Peace, Happiness, Health & Prosperity be yours during this holiday and throughout the New Year

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

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Will an historic ranch house on Plymouth Blvd. finally be reborn?

It seems that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the forlorn one-story house on the southeast corner of Third Street and Plymouth Boulevard. At the Nov. 17 board meeting of the Windsor Square HPOZ, the proposed plans for the restoration and expansion of 304 S. Plymouth Blvd. were approved, and the project was granted a Certificate of Appropriateness. You could almost hear a sigh of relief from neighbors as this decision clears the way for work to begin on the abandoned house in the coming year.

If the sad saga of 304 S. Plymouth has finally come to an end, it is thanks to Benjamin Donel of Sunset Equity — a lawyer, broker and real estate investor whose Forbes Councils bio claims that he has “single-handedly flipped over one-thousand homes,” noting that he focuses “especially on distressed assets, foreclosures and note purchases.”

His 2020 acquisition of the property ended the twodecade negligent and dodgy proprietorship of Kim Kwang Tae, during which the house became vacant, decayed and a magnet for vagrants.

The architects of the new project, Jane Keener and Matt Steele of Architecture JHK,

On Preservation by

Brian Curran

were tasked with a challenge: to modernize, restore and expand the house all while respecting its humble ranch-style design.

In recent years, requests had been made to demolish and replace the low-slung ranchstyle house designed in 1949 by architect Y. W. Nibecker of Huntington Park for Mr. Harry Carian Sr., an Armenian immigrant and prominent grape grower of the Coachella Valley. Due to its status as a contributor to the Windsor Square HPOZ, those proposals were rejected. The successful new design retains the Plymouth and Third Street façades. Additions have been deemed sympathetic to the original.

Ranch houses such as 304 S. Plymouth are a truly American creation. The style originated in the 1920s and ’30s from a fusion of prairie and rancher lifestyle with modernist design heavily influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Open plans, sliding glass doors and a new emphasis on private patios and

RENDERING SHOWS the approved proposal for the Plymouth Boulevard home. View is looking northeast.

gardens defined these houses made for indoor-outdoor living.

The style’s popularity as postwar middle-class housing made the ranch house perfect for the vast new developments being built in the San Fernando Valley and beyond. By the 1950s, nine out of every 10 houses in California was a ranch house.

The custom-built ranch houses in Windsor Square are included in the HPOZ as they show the continuum of residential taste through the postwar decades.

Consulting with the HPOZ Board and the Office of Historic Resources, architects Keener and Steele set to work on an exhaustive analysis of the property, the street and the HPOZ. They studied the exemplary work on two other

expanded and restored ranch houses, at 103 N. Norton Ave. and 267 S. Windsor Blvd. To ensure the project’s success, the architects met three times (which is out of the ordinary) with the HPOZ Board, whose members helped tailor the design, resulting in a proposal that restores the majority of the original ranch house, while adding an unobtrusive second story which — due to its ample set back — allows the original form of the historic house to read clearly.

I attended the final hearing on the project before the HPOZ Board and was surprised and impressed with the thoroughness of the review, the level of detail involved in the process and the firm but

fair judgment of the board members in attendance: John LaBombard, Shana Barghouti and Louis Polidori. While I initially was inclined not to like the new design (full disclosure, I’m a neighbor), I was brought ’round to appreciate the time and care the architects invested to produce a design that not only elevates the historic property in scale but in stature.

Where once the house sank back into its landscape, it will step forward to take its humbler place among the grand dames of the boulevard. Now I wholeheartedly share the sentiments of my other neighbors, who — when asked by the architects their opinions of the project — loudly responded, “JUST GET IT DONE!”

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DECEMBER 2021

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Larchmont Chronicle

New tree on Larchmont, but how did it get here?

By Nona Sue Friedman The Larchmont Boulevard sidewalk canopy coverage that trees provide is wonderful, but do you ever think about what it takes to get that tree into the ground?

Because one recently was placed on the Boulevard for the 100th anniversary of the original Larchmont shopping district, we thought we’d tell you how it happened.

Resident gardener and horticulturist Helen Hartung of Windsor Square, also a board member of the Windsor Square Association (WSA), scouted for a city-approved African Fern Pine (Afrocarpus falcatus) at a nursery, tagged it and arranged for its delivery. Urban Forestry Division (a part of the Bureau of Street Services of the city’s Public Works Department), the agency that oversees street tree installation, had been contacted about this project by local resident Heather Duffy Boylston, who also acts as co-director of the Larchmont landlord group, the Larchmont Village Business Improvement District. Urban Forestry’s Stephen DuPrey said the city was unable to provide a tree as substantial as the one sourced by Hartung, so DuPrey said the city was happy to accept WSA’s generous donation.

Placement of the tree at 141 N. Larchmont Blvd., near Tailwaggers, required a lot of ground preparation. Four workers from Urban Forestry arrived at 7:30 a.m. on Wed., Oct. 20. Checking out the dry, hard soil where a previous tree had languished and

STREET SERVICE crew digs hole for the newest tree on Larchmont Boulevard.

Photos by Nona Sue Friedman

had been removed, the workers realized this was going to be a difficult endeavor. They needed a very big hole.

The crew attacked the dirt.

Each worker took his turn with a different instrument.

There were shovels, pick axes and digging bars, coupled with sweat and grunts.

The tree arrived and waited patiently on the side in its wooden box.

After hours of digging and shoveling, the workers measured the hole. It wasn’t big

enough. Because the dirt was so compacted, the workers determined that they needed to fill the hole with water.

A Bureau of Street Services truck that accompanied the team was equipped to do just that. The crew waited a few hours for the water to be absorbed. This made the soil softer and easier to remove.

Again, digging, pick-axing and shoveling began, and it continued for another couple of hours. Measuring the hole (Please turn to page 6)

TREE BASE MEASURED for a final time before lowering the tree into the ground.

MEASURING THE AREA to make sure the hole is big enough.

WATER TRUCK fills the hole to make digging deeper possible.

ALL FOUR WORKERS are needed to lift the tree into place.

Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

REPRESENTED THE THE BUYER BUYER REPRESENTED 326 3 26 S SOUTH OUTH W WINDSOR INDSOR B BLVD. BLV LVD D.

801 SOUTH TREMAINE AV AVENUE VENUE CO-LIST CO-LISTED TED WITH SANDY Y BOECK

165 NORTH LAS PALMAS AVE.

146 NORT NORTH RTH RT MCCADDEN PLACE CO-LISTED CO-LIST TED WITH KA KATHY AT ATHY AT GLESS

208 NORTH BEACHWOOD DRIVE

160 NORTH MCCADDEN PLACE

REPRESENTED THE BUYER BUYE

REPRESENTED THE BUYER BUYER & SELLER

238 SO SOUTH NORTO NORTON O O ON AV AVENUE VENUE

201 SOUTH PLYMOUTH BLVD.

527 NORTH CHEROKEE AVENUE

103 SOUTH ARDEN BLVD. BLV LVD LVD

REPRESENTED THE TENNANT TENNANT

REPRESENTED THE TENNANT TENNANT 335 SOUTH ORANGE DRIVE

525 N. MANSFIELD AVENUE

160 SOUTH WINDSOR BLVD B BLVD.

145 SOUTH HUDSON AVENUE

191 SOUTH HUDSON AV AVENUE V VENU E

REPRESENTED THE TENNANT TENNANT 251 SOUTH CITRUS AVENUE

829 SOUTH TREMAINE AVENUE

316 N N.. ROSSMORE AV AVE AVE.. #202 # 2 #20

523 NORTH GOWER STREET

5885 CLINTON STREET

316 N. ROSSMORE AVE. #303

645 WILCOX AVENUE #3D

122 SOUTH KINGSLEY DRIVE

255 SOUTH GRAMERCY PLACE

611 NORTH BRONSON AVE., #7

4957 WEST MELROSE HILL

2220 AVE. OF THE STARS #1502

3308 LARISSA DRIVE

8726 SHOREHAM DRIVE #B

922 1/2 SOUTH SERRANO AVE.

REPRESENTED THE BUYER BUYE

REPRESENTED THE BUYER BUYE

REPRESENTED THE TENNANT TENNANT

REPRESENTED THE TENN TENNANT ANT

3330 NORTH NORT R H KNOLL DRIV RT DRIVE VE VE

750 S S.. SPAULDING AVE AVE.. #201 #201 #2 2

848 MILLWOOD AVEN AVENUE NUE NUE

406 NORTH 4 NORT R H PALM DRIVE #102 RT #10 02 02

1826 N. HARVARD BLVD. SOLD UNITS #1, #16, #22

(C) 323-810-0828 (O) 323-460-7617 rllanos@coldwellbanker.com @RickLlanosLA CalRE#01123101

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DECEMBER 2021

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New tree

(Continued from page 4) a second time yielded success.

The hole was big enough.

Using the strength of all four men, the tree’s root ball was eased down into the hole.

They shimmied the tree until it was centered.

Back to the shovels, they filled the hole with the old dirt, then new dirt with nutrients.

Voilà! A new tree on Larchmont, ready for its official dedication four days later.

Enjoy its shade.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Though a challenging year for all, I have much love and gratitude for my family, friends and clients.

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249 N. Larchmont Blvd.

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Larchmont Chronicle

TREE IS STANDING pretty in its new home on Larchmont.

Photo by Nona Sue Friedman

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TREE ADVOCATES Helen Hartung, Windsor Square, and Stephen DuPrey, Urban Forestry Division, give the new tree a ceremonial drink.

Photo by Gary Leonard

Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

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DECEMBER 2021

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Larchmont Chronicle

Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association hears CD4 office for last time at semi-annual meeting

By Billy Taylor City Council District Four Field Deputy Kevin Sanchez-Morales said goodbye on behalf of Councilmember Nithya Raman to the Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association (LVNA) at its Nov. 9 semi-annual meeting.

“Unfortunately, redistricting is happening right now and, as it stands, Council District Four will look a little different than it does now,” said Sanchez-Morales, who declined to address the LVNA with his camera on during the Zoom videoconference, not-

ing that he was “under the weather.”

“I know Councilmember Raman loves this area and wanted to keep it as whole as possible. Unfortunately, like I said, as it stands now, we will lose this area. On Friday, there was an Ad Hoc Committee

who met and ultimately decided that our district would have 40 percent new constituents, and, today, as a matter of fact, the City Council approved a draft set of political boundaries,” explained SanchezMorales.

Councilmembers Raman and Paul Krekorian had seconded Council President Nury Martinez’s Oct. 26 motion to form the new City Council Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee.

The new Committee decided to replace the draft redistricting map proposed by the independent Citizen Redistricting Commission. The committee’s replacement map featured new boundaries negotiated by seven City Council members.

Sanchez-Morales told LVNA members that the City Council will vote on an ordinance on Dec. 1 “to put the changes into effect, with districts being established as early as Jan. 1.”

In other news, LVNA board member Vincent Cox asked Sanchez-Morales about a request, which residents have been working on for more than two years, to expand the preferential parking district on Arden and Lucerne boulevards: “We have all the approvals,

but we’re waiting for a City Council resolution to finalize the request,” said Cox. “I am not familiar with that request,” admitted SanchezMorales, who serves as the field deputy for the neighborhood. He said that he would contact the city’s Dept. of Transportation to learn more.

Police report Olympic Division Senior Lead Officer Joe Pelayo warned residents about an increase in violent street robberies citywide, and in particular, around the Melrose Avenue corridor.

Police are witnessing a criminal trend of “follow-home robberies,” said Pelayo, in (Please turn to page 9)

From our Families to Yours:

Wishing Your 2022 to be Filled with Great Health, Happiness, and Success!

Hancock Park’s

Martin Beck

Major Properties Cell: 323.314.7729

Martin@MajorProperties.com CalRE #01778125

Special Team

Betsy Malloy

Coldwell Banker Realty Cell: 323.806.0203

betsy@betsymalloy.com CalRE #0129318

Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

LVNA meeting (Continued from page 8)

which suspects target victims wearing jewelry or expensive bags, or driving flashy cars, only to follow them home to commit the robberies.

“I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Pelayo, a 26-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

Because of LAPD boundaries established in 2009, the LVNA area is split in half, into two police divisions.

Wilshire Division Commanding Officer Capt. Sonia Monico updated residents on officer response times, which are suffering due to issues related to the pandemic and defunding.

Monico said emergency 911 calls are averaging a 6.7-minute response time, while nonemergency calls in Wilshire now have a response time of more than an hour long.

Pelayo also updated residents on a notable increase in cases where “working women” of Western Avenue bring their clients to park in the Ridgewood-Wilton area for illegal activity. The police are aware of the situation and are currently organizing a response from the Vice Squad, explained Pelayo.

Development threats LVNA board member Sam Uretsky updated residents on the ongoing state and local legislative actions that will have potentially significant consequences for the LVNA and surrounding neighborhoods within the area of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.

Uretsky touched on how the City Council redistricting battle, the recently passed State housing bills (SB 9, SB 10 and SB 478), and the city’s Transit Oriented Communities

(TOC) program will all have an impact on future development of the Larchmont area.

Find holiday gifts Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 at Craft Contemporary Marketplace

Craft Contemporary’s annual Holiday Marketplace is Sat., Dec. 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun., Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. A holiday brunch is on Saturday at 10 a.m. to 11:30.

The sale and fundraiser, featuring community artists and designers, is at the museum,

SECTION TWO

5814 Wilshire Blvd.

Visitors will enjoy music and complimentary refreshments while they shop and mingle among curated vendors.

Admission on Saturday is $9 and free for members. Pay what you can on Sunday. The brunch is $40, and $35 for members.

Visit craftcontemporary.org.

“We need to be very careful for whom we vote, and about what they vote,” Uretsky said,

urging residents to consider such issues when next at the ballot box.

MANDATORY WATER CONSERVATION IN EFFECT. LIMIT OUTDOOR WATERING TO 3 DAYS

Sun

Mon

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Sat

Addresses End in

ODD Addresses End in

EVEN

WATER YOUR LAWN 3 DAYS A WEEK.

8 minutes per station, before 9 am or af ter 4 pm

ladwp.com/conservationsquad

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juneahn21@gmail.com www.juneahn.com CalRE #01188513

Hancock Park | 251 N. Larchmont Blvd. | Los Angeles, CA 90004 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Affiliated real estate agents are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2021 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. CalRE #00616212

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SECTION TWO

DECEMBER 2021

Larchmont Chronicle

Redistricting efforts, both city and state, moving toward a close

EXISTING COUNCIL DISTRICTS map shows portions of CDs 4, 5, 10 and 13.

By John Welborne As noted on page 11 at right, this area’s two City Council districts will look different starting in 2022.

In the past, the distribution area of the Larchmont Chronicle has been primarily in Council Districts 4 and 5. Although the areas receiving the paper will not change, the city’s council district numbers associated with this geography will change.

After more than 70 years, Council District 4 is no more (at least, in these parts of town). Our local portions of the former CD 4 will become the most eastern part of CD 5 and the southernmost part of CD 13.

The proposed changes are pending final approval by the City Council of the overall new map of the city’s 15 City Council districts, an approval expected after the December Chronicle goes to press.

If the draft maps shown here are approved, CD 5 will include the following Greater Wilshire areas that previously were in CD 4: Hancock Park, La Brea Hancock, Sycamore Square and Brookside, plus an eastern expansion between Wilshire and Olympic boulevards containing Fremont Place, Windsor Village, Wilshire Park and Country Club Heights.

CD 5 also picks up Miracle Mile, Park La Brea, the Original Farmers Market and areas east of Park La Brea and south of Third Street. The new Fifth District will extend west to Westwood and Bel Air. The following parts of Greater Wilshire will now become the southern end of CD 13, essentially the “Hollywood” district of Los Angeles: Windsor Square, Larchmont Village, We-Wil, Ridgewood-Wilton, St. Andrews Square, and the Oakwood / Maplewood / St. Andrews neighborhood.

Initially, the City Council Redistricting Commission listened to the entreaties of residents of Greater Wilshire. The Commission recommended that almost all of the neighborhood council communities of interest be united in one district — CD 5. However, an Ad Hoc Committee of seven members of the Los Angeles City Council subsequently rejected the Commission recommendation and proceeded to split up Greater Wilshire as described above and as shown in the accompanying map.

State redistricting Unlike with the city, Greater Wilshire residents’ requests to the truly independent state commission — that deals with Congressional, State Senate and Assembly districts — were heeded. The draft maps released last month by the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission keep Greater Wilshire united.

In the proposed new Assembly District (“North

PROPOSED NEW COUNCIL DISTRICTS split Greater Wilshire neighborhoods.

of 10”), Greater Wilshire is together with the other northern portions of that new district.

For the State Senate District (“NELA – Northeast LA”), Greater Wilshire is at the western edge, along with Hollywood and West Hollywood.

For Congress, the Commission’s map is named “10 CORR” – or “10 Corridor”), and Greater Wilshire is the northernmost part of the district, north of the 10 freeway.

By the beginning of 2022, the final boundaries should be known.

STATE MAPS BELOW show proposed new Assembly, State Senate and Congressional districts. The shaded area is the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and the star is set at approximately Larchmont and Beverly boulevards.

Real Estate Sales

SOLD: This home at 411 N. Irving Blvd. in Larchmont Village was sold in October for $1,137,500.

Single family homes

401 S. Lucerne Blvd.

114 S. Norton Ave. 425 N. Martel Ave. 625 N. Highland Ave. 635 N. McCadden Pl. 250 S. Citrus Ave. 334 S. Sycamore Ave. 321 N. Highland Ave. 110 N. Citrus Ave. 451 N. Highland Ave. 359 S. Orange Dr. 837 Hauser Blvd.

342 N. Irving Blvd.

535 N. Formosa Ave. 166 N. Gardner St. 156 N. Vista St. 603 N. Martel Ave. 836 3rd Ave. 107 S. Gramercy Pl. 812 S. Curson Ave. 629 N. Windsor Blvd.

664 N. Gramercy Pl. 411 N. Irving Blvd.

Condominiums

610 S. Van Ness Ave. #6 611 N. Bronson Ave. #5 531 N. Rossmore Ave. #404 750 S. Spaulding Ave. #203 750 S. Spaulding Ave. #201 860 S. Lucerne Blvd. #104 4813 Oakwood Ave. #102 620 S. Gramercy Pl. #325 525 N. Sycamore Ave. #220 525 N. Sycamore Ave. #317 525 N. Sycamore Ave. #226 620 S. Gramercy Pl. #311

$5,750,000 $3,970,000 $3,915,000 $3,400,000 $2,900,000 $2,630,000 $2,550,000 $2,440,000 $2,430,000 $2,345,000 $2,280,000 $2,223,000 $2,200,000 $2,000,000 $1,870,000 $1,808,500 $1,712,684 $1,692,000 $1,600,000 $1,500,000 $1,435,000 $1,212,500 $1,137,500 $1,650,000 $1,100,000 $910,000 $810,000 $789,000 $760,000 $734,000 $620,000 $510,000 $495,000 $475,000 $390,000

DECEMBER 2021

By Suzan Filipek Our Los Angeles City Council Districts will look very different in the New Year.

Councilmen Mitch O’Farrell’s 13th District and Paul Koretz’s Fifth District will absorb portions of the city that have been in the Fourth District for more than 70 years. The new Fourth District will be primarily in the Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Valley.

The changes, which take effect January 1, result from Redistricting Commission recommendations, as revised by an Ad Hoc Committee of the City Council and the full City Council.

The City Council was scheduled to make a final vote Dec. 1.

Paul Koretz Koretz, who will be termed out at the end of 2022, following three terms Councilman Paul Koretz, on the CD 5 Council, is running for City Controller.

As councilman, he served on the Budget & Finance Committee for 10 years, chaired the Audits and Government Efficiency Committee, and currently chairs the Personnel, Audits and Animal Welfare Committee.

In 1984, Koretz helped incorporate the City of West Hollywood, and he served

on the West Hollywood City Council from 1988-2000. He also represented California’s California 42nd Assembly District before being elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

He hails from the San Fernando Valley and attended Hamilton High and UCLA. Mitch O’Farrell O’Farrell will seek a third term in the June 7, 2022 prim a r y election (and, if a runoff is nece s s a r y, the Nov. 7 general election). He Councilman b e g a n Mitch O’Farrell, his pubCD 13 lic service as a field deputy, district director and senior advisor to then Councilmember Eric Garcetti before succeeding Garcetti in the “Hollywood” District of the Council.

On the City Council, O’Farrell chairs the Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice and River Committee, and he is chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics. He also is a committee member of the Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19 Recovery and Neighborhood Investment; Immigrant, Civil Rights and Equity Committee; Public Works Committee; and Board of Referred Powers.

An Oklahoma native, he moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

11

HEIDI B DAVIS

Your Neighborhood Realtor

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110 S Martel Avenue*

COMING IN 2022

Listed

930 N Wetherly Drive #304

Stunning Estate Property w/Guest House &pied-à-terre Pool in the

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Hollywood Hills

Wishing everyone a peaceful and healthy Be well, holiday season, and an inspiring year ahead!

HeidiBDavis

Heidi BDavis

HeidiDavis5@gmail.com // 213.819.1289 HeidiDavis5@gmail.com / / 213.819.1289 www.simplyheididavis.com // dre# 01831924

©LC1221

In 2022, CD 13 to join area as 4th district moves away

SECTION TWO

www.simplyheididavis.com / / dre# 01831924

Sincerest thanks and warmest wishes to those who have shown their friendship and support throughout the years.

Whenever you are in need of real estate assistance, please remember me.

Happy Holidays!

Ginger Lincoln 323-252-6612 • Gingerlincoln@gmail.com

Clint Lohr

Just Sold

Realtor®, GRI, CNE, SRES 818-730-8635 rholcwl@pacbell.net clintlohr.kw.com

Sold for $1,137,500

©LC1221

Larchmont Chronicle

Donating clothes for the homeless? Please call or e-mail me!

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

Nuanced French take on 24-hour news; tribute to tennis great France (8/10): 130 Minutes.

NR. France de Meurs (Léa Seydoux) is a superstar TV personality / journalist on a 24-hour news channel who is gorgeous and unflappable. Unlike the phonies we see on some U.S. shows who lied about being under fire from weapons, de Meurs actually goes to war zones, puts herself in the line of fire and records it. As a result, she is a darling of the French populace,

known and loved by all.

When she causes an accident on the road, however, her life changes. She begins to question her fame and her job. This isn’t a comic book movie like 1976’s “Network” (“I’m mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!”). It is far deeper, more nuanced, realistic, and meaningful.

Seydoux gives a mesmerizing performance. This is

At the Movies with

Tony Medley a good, insightful movie. In French. Opens Dec. 10.

Citizen Ashe (8/10): 95 minutes. NR. Perhaps one of the

saddest deaths resulting from the AIDs epidemic (and all of them are sad) is UCLA alum Arthur Ashe, a married heterosexual who won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, was ranked #1 by Harry Hopman in 1968, and got HIV from a blood transfusion — dying in 1993 of pneumonia caused by AIDs. Ashe was a calm, mentally strong athlete who grew up in the wildly racist and biased South. Lynchings were common, and segregation was rife. Directors Rex Miller and Sam Pollard tell Ashe’s story with lots of interviews with him and others involved in the Civil Rights movement. Unfortunately, there are very few clips of Ashe’s matches, as this is not about sports.

Instead of the lunatics who yell “racist” about everything and everybody with whom they disagree, Ashe said, “I’m African American, make no bones about it, but I’m more than that. If you want me to act like someone who is a stereotypical African American, who is supposed to say this and do this, do that, act this way, you’ve got the wrong person.” He fought for equal treatment in his own way.

Interviewed are John McEnroe, who played Davis Cup under Ashe’s coaching, Billy Jean King, Harry Edwards, Donald Dell (who was a classmate of mine at University of Virginia Law School and became one of the most powerful men in tennis), and Ashe’s beautiful and articulate wife Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, a professional photographer. This is a moving film, leaving one mourning the loss of a fine, strong, reasonable, and commonsensical man.

But it does capture the man; we need more like him today.

Red Notice (4/10): 117 minutes. PG-13. I guess this is intended as a buddy comedy. But the buddies, Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as The Rock, and Ryan Reynolds have little chemistry, and the lines they are given to utter are fey, at

best; certainly not very funny.

It is so full of plotholes they would overflow a community swimming pool. The word “frivolous” doesn’t give this justice. Reynolds tries his best to put some oomph into the film, and he can get an “A” for effort, but Johnson and Gal Gadot just seem to be punching a clock, and who could blame them, with this script?

Hide and Seek (1/10): 83 minutes. R. Jonathan RhysMeyers plays a man who goes looking for his reclusive brother after his wealthy father dies. It leads him to a run-down building (I think it was owned by his father, but I wasn’t sure) habituated by wanderers and others who seem to be squatters, but there is a person who seems to be a manager. While this is advertised as a thriller, it’s really a neo-horror film; such a convoluted movie that one never knows what’s going on and does not discover what was going on when the movie ends. What’s the point? Who cares?

Walter Williams: Suffer No Fools (10/10): 54 Minutes.

I first met 6’-7” Walter Williams when we both played pickup basketball at UCLA in the early ‘70s (at 6’-3”, I had to guard him). Since then, Walter became a superstar in economics and a professor at George Mason University, on a par with Thomas Sowell. Walter, who recently passed away suddenly, was a brilliant, eloquent thinker and writer with a great sense of humor. This is a short, captivating documentary that you probably will not find anywhere else, so I’m providing the link for you to meet an extraordinary man; his story as a Black man brought up by a single mother with little money is inspirational and his thoughts stimulating. https:// vimeo.com/87869924

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

13

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

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ASK A LIBRARIAN 213-228-7272 infonow@lapl.org SERVICES Book bundles to-go, browse and borrow, public computers, Wi-Fi, wireless printing and online programming.

HOURS Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Closed Fri., Dec. 24, Sat., Dec. 25, Fri., Dec. 31 and Sat. Jan. 1.

MICRO-FOREST FLOURISHES: Planted in June 2021 utilizing the dense Miyawaki method of planting to encourage rapid growth (two-day-old forest, above right, as reported in the July Larchmont Chronicle), the 13 indigenous species are thriving five months later, with some plants reaching over four feet in height (above). The forest, funded by the Hancock Park Garden Club and overseen by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, is expected to become self-sustaining within two years, helping fight climate change and contributing to biodiversity. For more information, go to hancockparkgardenclub.com and laparksfoundation.org.

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

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It’s a new month, so we’ve got a new, small, teacup-Yorkiesized challenge to readers of the Larchmont Chronicle. A tiny challenge to make our community just a scootch better.

This month’s challenge: Donate a book to a Little Free Library.

You’ve probably heard of these: They’re cute boxes in people’s front yards that are filled with books that anyone in the community can borrow and enjoy.

But with literary borrowing comes literary responsibility. People gotta fork over the books, y’know? You can be that hero.

If you’re like me, you have

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mobile phone, wallet, credit cards and cash to the suspect, who fled on Nov. 6 at 2:30 a.m.

GRAND THEFTS AUTO: A 2015 Hyundai Sonata was stolen while parked near the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Beverly Boulevard between Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. and Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.

A 2018 Hyundai Tucson was

stolen while parked near the corner of S. Bronson and W. Fifth Street between Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 7 a.m.

A 2006 Chevy Silverado was stolen while parked in the alley adjoining a home on the 600 block of S. Van Ness Ave. between Nov. 7 at 10 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 5:30 a.m.

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Pick a book right now. Walk over to your bookshelf, coffee table or stack-of-bedstandhardcovers-that-might-falland-kill-you-in-an-earthquake (Please turn to page 15)

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OLYMPIC DIVISION ROBBERIES: A female victim was walking to her Bible study when a suspect approached and grabbed her purse at 932 S. Bronson Ave. During the struggle, the male suspect used a hard object to hit the victim’s head, causing her to black out. When she regained consciousness, on Nov. 1 at 8:21 p.m., her mobile phone and credit cards were gone.

A couple was walking near the corner of Western Avenue and Third Street when a suspect approached riding an e-scooter. “Give me your stuff,” the suspect yelled at the victims, who surrendered a purse,

Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

15

Seven-card stud vs. Texas hold’em; one gives a hand up Texas hold’em and sevencard stud are the two most popular poker games. When I was a teenager playing for pennies, it was draw poker.

By the time I was in the Navy during WWII, we played sevencard stud on board ship. About 20 years ago, Texas hold’em became the most popular, and I switched over. But now I am thinking of returning to stud, convinced that I can win much more often. Care to join me?

A game of partial information The two games are similar in most respects. The basic rules are the same. The strategies and tactics are alike. And the same skills are important.

Where they differ substantially is in the information-gath-

ering department.

The mechanics Starting out, each player is dealt two cards face-down (his hole cards). In hold’em, this is all the information he gets before the betting begins.

Whereas, in stud, each player is also dealt a third card faceup — the “door card.” Thus, the stud player enjoys onethird more information before the first round of betting. Suppose he started with a small pair in the hole. Playing stud, he gets to see the next card before he must invest to stay in the hand. It could be the same rank as his pocket-pair, giving him a set — a made hand! Now, building the pot becomes his goal. And it didn’t

Tiny Challenge

as a black market library.

Yeah, a bad-ass secret network of underground ne’erdo-wells just slingin’ books.

Yeah, that’s way better, and now you’re a cool person for participating.

So whatever your attitude, visit littlefreelibrary.org, find a location around the corner from you, and drop off your copy of “Hunger Games: Mockingjay.” Because if you’re gonna revisit that series, be honest, you’re gonna watch the movies.

(Continued from page 14)

and find a book you’re okay getting rid of.

But also don’t just send out your junk books. It’s the Little Free Library, not the Little Free Dumpster. So go ahead and put that moldy box-set of National Geographics straight into the recycling bin.

If the concept of a Little Free Library is too sappy of an idea for you, maybe it’ll help to instead think of it

Poker for All by

George Epstein cost him a single chip — sort of a bonus for stud players.

More important In hold’em, after the initial round of betting, the dealer places three cards face-up — the flop, followed by a round of betting. These “community” cards are shared by all players.

Then the turn is also dealt faceup on the board. After a third round of betting, the river card is also dealt face-up, followed by the final betting round.

In contrast, in seven-card stud, after the two hole cards and door card, followed by a round of betting, each player receives a second card face-up.

Then, after another round of betting, a third card is dealt face-up to each player. Like-

wise for the fourth card dealt face-up, followed by a round of betting. The final card (the river) is dealt face-down to each player still in the hand, followed by the last round of betting before the showdown.

In all, four face-up cards are visible to all players. If there are six players in the stud game (eight is the maximum allowed), that amounts to 24 cards — almost one-half of the deck — virtually a ton of useful information.

Note: In hold’em, after the first round of betting, a total of five community cards are dealt face-up, shared by all players — no matter how many remain in the pot. That is a fraction of the face-up (visible to all) cards in stud, provided two or more players remain in the pot.

Stud players gain Suppose you hold an openended draw to a straight. With so many face-up cards exposed, you have a much better chance of observing when some of your outs “disappear” among

opponents’ face-up cards, helping you decide whether to muck your hand, saving lots of chips. On the contrary, if none of your outs is dealt out, your chance of connecting is that much greater.

And, if you hold out to several possible strong hands — let’s say, 15 good outs in all, with none of them among the face-up cards, you have a good chance to connect. You might even decide to semi-bluff.

Summary Stud permits you to see considerably more face-up cards than hold’em — incredibly useful information.

Life/poker quote of the month “No one ever lost his job by listening too much.”

Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States George “The Engineer” Epstein, a long-time local resident, is the author of three books including “The Art of Bluffing” and “Hold’em or Fold’em – An Algorithm for Making the Key Decision.”

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Wishing You A Happy Holiday Season &A Merry New Year! we do not take

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Larchmont Chronicle

DECEMBER 2021

SECTION TWO

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Much Improved New Year!

Portrait of architect Gerard Colcord’s 1939 Barnett House by Jonathan Myles-Lea.

Bret Parsons Founder & Executive Director, Architectural Division

Aaron Montelongo Estates Director

310.497.5832 bret@bretparsons.com DRE 01418010

310.600.0288 aaronmontelongo@gmail.com DRE 01298036

Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. DRE 01866771. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate.