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In the end, to ski is to travel fast and free - free over untouched snow country. To be bound to one slope, even one mountain, by a lift may be convenient but it robs us of the greatest pleasure that skiing can give, that is to travel through the wide wintery country; to follow the lure of peaks which tempt on the horizon and to be alone for a few days or even hours in clear, mysterious surroundings. - Hans Gmoser
CAPTAIN POWDER
ISSUE 26 Feb. 2016 Cover photo: Dave Reddick
The Local Malibu began as a passion project in print to inform the Malibu community and has now expanded to include thelocalmalibu.com, in an effort to update and inform our local and global readers more frequently. Sign up for our free newsletter and enjoy more news and lifestyle content.
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NEWSWORTHY NEWSWIRE MALIBU CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY, JAN. 25TH Mayor Laura Rosenthal announced the results of a property owners vote that has committed the City of Malibu to building its downtown sewage plant. The project will cost 57.4 million dollars. Only commercial property owners got to vote. They are Phase 1 of the project. The City needed approval from 63.6 million dollars worth of commercial property in the Civic Center area. The property owners vote easily surpassed that. Then came the city council vote. Residential owners in Civic Center, condos along the beach and in Serra Estates are in Phase 2 of the project. Citywide taxpayers will pay 2.7 million dollars for the sewage plant because city hall and other city property in the downtown Malibu area must be connected to the plant. Citywide taxpayers will also pay an extra 1.8 million dollars to make sure the first phase of the sewage plant is big enough for phase 2 with the residential property owners paying that back to the rest of us, when and if they decide to comply with the state order. Only one person appeared last night to speak against the sewer plant, he says residents in the condominium area already have a sewage plant and don’t need to connect to a new one. But the State Water Board says the existing Winter Canyon sewage plant is outmoded and contributes to sewage pollution of the groundwater that feeds into the ocean. And the State Water Board says it will prohibit all property in the Malibu Creek area from discharging water thru septic tanks in a few years making the sewage plant mandatory.
On Jan 22, just when U2 guitarist David Evan ( known as the ‘Edge’ ) thought he had cleared the last big hurdle with a Coastal Commission approval to build a cluster of 5 mega mansions on a highly visible and ecologically sensitive ridge line, the equally high profile environmental group The Sierra Club filed suit. The Sierra Club, which has fought the project above the Malibu pier on Sweetwater Mesa area for years, officially filed a lawsuit asking that the commission be made to set aside its approval. A petition for a writ of mandate, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, contends that the commission violated state law in approving the project and went on saying that the commission also violated the California Coastal Act and did not follow the area’s local coastal plan when it allowed a non-essential private project of this kind to disrupt environmentally sensitive habitats. Project opponents along with L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, State Sen. Fran Pavley, and Heal the Bay, vocally objected to the Commission’s approval in December, argues the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act which specifically requires that a project’s impact be evaluated in its entirety, and not in a piecemeal fashion. The lawsuit also alleges that the impact of construction truck traffic on air quality violations was not calculated, that the houses would be in danger of burning in brushfires and the proposed mansions that vary up to 10,000 square-feet in size would induce more development. Even if the Commission’s decision is allowed to stand, the project still needs to seek approval from Los Angeles County, and the city of Malibu. Though the initial plans have been scaled down numerous opponents of the project have said that no amount of scaling down of the project is adequate, and that the properties should remain protected open space. The lawsuit comes at an interesting time for the commission, when members are trying to oust their conservation-minded executive director -a move that some characterize as part of a shift in favor of coastal development. Though Coastal Commissioners have not yet commented on the lawsuit, they had previously stated ,the houses would be on less than 1 percent of the total property, with the rest reserved as perpetual wilderness or recreational trails. A Los Angeles-based spokeswoman for Evans had no immediate comment, but said a statement from her client was pending.
With a $57 million price tag, the City will need as many property owners as possible in the Civic Center commercial zone to flush their money into the mandated sewage treatment facility. - Steve Woods
SIERRA CLUB
FILES IT’S EDGE BY STEVE WOODS
Local resident Frank Angel captures two precious landscapes under assault from developers, The Edge’s Sweetwater Ridgeline as seen from the Bluffs Park.
Contemporary Fine Art Gallery Love is in the air… Gallery Event Thursday February 11, 2016 7-10 pm 20 Extraordinary Artists Unveiling of Sculpture by Robert Reeves 29575 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, CA. 90265 786.296.5655 flowerandhewes.com
OPINION
CORRECTION RE:
CONFUSION SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT:
For those of you who read the print issue of The Local re: “City Council Confusion Causes Community Concern” please let it be known that the City DID NOT POST THE WRONG DATE Agenda for the Jan. 11, 2016 meeting, that was my confusion. We received an email from mayor Laura Zahn Rosenthal after the print issue was released correcting us. We appreciate her reaching out to The Local. HOWEVER, for those of you who googled the City’s next meeting date for Measure R before the Jan. 11th, 2016 meeting ( and a lot of you do since a good portion of us do not want to wade through the City website ), you probably came up with the same Agenda I did. Easily confusing because both Jan. meetings dealing with the Measure R lawsuit ( the dates of the meetings were within one day of each other, one year apart - See photos right ).
The City Council meeting Agenda that was posted on the City website.
Regardless, there was still a lot of confusion re: closed door meeting and whether the community could make public comment that night and I am sure if the community was properly informed of that there would have been a better turn out for Measure R supporters and they would have had the chance to be heard. All other facts are true and correct in the Opinion piece I wrote in the Jan. 2016 issue of The Local Malibu. – Cece Woods The City Council meeting Agenda for the 2015 meeting on Measure R that was closed to the public.
SAVE MALIBU UPDATE:
The presiding judge in the MEASURE R lawsuit has postponed the matter until March 24th “barring any surprises” ( from the Plaintiffs ) Michele Reiner told The Local Malibu on Friday
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LOCAL
The end is near for the aging Trancas PCH bridge that has far exceeded its life expectancy. Built in 1927 the end of an era has come for come for the nearly 90 year old bridge that was widened in 1938, but is now in danger of structural failure. At a meeting held Jan 27th at the Malibu West Beach Club, residents were invited to ask questions or comment after hearing Cal Trans officials, structural engineers and a Lagoon Restoration speaker revealed some alternatives plans being discussed and prepared for the replacement of the existing bridge as the geriatric concrete structure continues to buckle, crack and get scoured by the erosion of creek floods and the corrosive forces of the ocean. One engineer, who inspected the bridge just before the meeting was astonished that parts of the concrete support columns had sheer cracks and some of the concrete crumbled off in his hand. In some places rusted ribar was exposed but Cal Trans sensors installed beneath the over pass has not detected any major sagging like the Malibu Creek Bridge suffered after the Winter floods of 1994-95 which was quickly replaced by an emergency order by the Governor.
TRANCAS BRIDGE PROJECT DOVETAILS WITH LAGOON RESTORATION BY STEVE WOODS
Some residents were wondering if the bridge could be repaired in order avoid the plan B $5.72 million price tag for the 120 foot replacement bridge or the Plan C $8.65 million 240 foot long project, but Cal Trans made it very clear a new bridge was the safest and most economical way to go. The two bridge alternatives would be 6 feet wider to accommodate a safer bike lane, up to date railing with flexible design details and the possibility of a pedestrian under crossing, not only for beach visitors to get to the Trancas businesses but also to be able to connect into a trail systems that leads up the Trancas Canyon watershed to the Back Bone trail. Because the project is still in its early stages residents are being encouraged to comment or recommend any suggestions that would help enhance local use. Years ago as Cal Trans officials were starting to develop plans for the replacement of the bridge, the National Park Service was also moving forward with plans to restore the degraded Trancas Lagoon after the purchase of the Riders and Ropers property adjacent to the creek in order to improve wetlands habitat and Steelhead passage up into its native riparian watershed. Santa Monica Mountains senior conservation biologist Rosi Dagit has been instrumental in restoring watershed habits and spoke of the unique opportunity of how the Trancas Lagoon Restoration project could dove tail with the Bridge replacement. Rosi said that the small seasonal lagoon that is located at the mouth of the creek and immediately under the bridge could be improved with a longer bridge span to provide improved fish passage which could also include modifying the existing concrete flood control channels through the Trancas West Subdivsion that would increase floodwater capacity and provide a more natural bottom to the channels to allow for fish to travel upstream. According to Dagit, the Southern Steelhead trout, is endanger of extinction due to loss of spawning habitat and have been documented in Trancas creek as recently as the 1980s. Dagit said there is quality upstream Steelhead habitat, including many deep pools that could promote future spawning if the lower watershed and lagoon improvements allowed increased fish passage. Her recommendation was for the longer span bridge design that would improve the fish passage conditions that Steelhead need between the ocean and our upper watersheds. Cal Trans vows to fund the shorter bridge but the longer more expensive bridge would require outside funding that Rosi Dagit said could be found in grants from organizations and other agencies like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Though the audience was concerned about traffic delays and business impacts during construction, one home owner adjacent to the creek was assured that there would be erosion mitigation to protect his house. Cal trans was convincing and confident that a plan to replace the bridge soon was safer than waiting for a catastrophic failure which would severely impact HWY 1 through Malibu. Officials assured that during construction it will keep traffic flowing with at least lane in both directions as they complete one side of the bridge at a time. Although there was a spirited back and forth between Cal Trans officials, there was no significant protest or out burst which was generated during Malibu Lagoon Restoration and Enhancement project but one long time resident did storm out of the meeting as he vocalized negative sentiments towards the Cal Trans speakers. After scoping reports and final environmental reviews and a final design completed by September 2017, construction would begin June 2018 and end by August 2019.
SANDBAG
DEBACLE
Due to the ongoing beach erosion, residents continue to install sandbags along areas that are not protected by the rock revetment. These sandbags deteriorate over time and leave scraps both in the sand and in the water. Besides being an eyesore, this refuse, most of which is plastic, is an environmental nightmare. It should also be noted that this area is part of a Marine Protected Area and is directly in the path of whale migration. There is evidence of this debris all along Zuma Beach, and as far south as the eastern side of Point Dume. If these sandbags have been legally permitted then the people responsible for their placement should be required to maintain them to prevent this deterioration in the future and clean-up the mess that has already occurred. If, on the other hand, they are not legally approved, then those responsible should be required to remove them immediately and clean-up the remaining scraps along the beach, as well as paying whatever fines that may be applicable. - James Ledner
MORE PLASTIC THAN FISH? In the ocean, sunlight and waves cause floating plastics to break into increasingly smaller particles, but they never completely disappear or biodegrade. Plastic particles act as sponges for waterborne contaminants such as pesticides. At least 8 million tons of plastics - equivalent to one garbage truck every minute - leak into the ocean each year, according to the World Economic Forum. The best research currently available estimates that there are over 165 million tons of plastics in the ocean today. In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight).� In other words, in just 34 years, plastic trash in the ocean will outweigh all the fish in the sea. - Steve Woods
THE SUNSET RESTAURANT & BEACH BAR
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LOCAL After months of studying detailed resident surveys and public comments concerning the future of Bluffs Park, the City of Malibu will choose one of three options known as Plan A,B and C. Back in 2013, Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to exchange over 525 acres of the city-owned Charmlee Wilderness Park for approximately 83 acres of undeveloped coastal bluff next to the existing ball fields at Bluffs Park. This swap occurred after an earlier attempt in 2003,when the City offered Charmlee to State Parks in exchange for just six acres of Bluffs Park. The State declined the offer on the basis that Charmlee was too far away from other state properties to be adequately maintained and patrolled.
THE
A B C’s
BLUFFS PARK
HOW WILL THE THREE HIGH IMPACT CHOICES BE CONFIGURED? BY STEVE WOODS
Last June, the City of Malibu sent out a survey asking for residents input in order to design, plan and develop park amenities on its newly acquired land. Jeremy Franzini, spokesperson for Michael Baker International, the firm hired by the city to develop the Malibu Bluffs Parkland Master Plan said, “Those 83 acres could include pedestrian and bike trails, additional athletic fields, softball diamonds, rock climbing walls, an amphitheater, dog park, disc golf court, picnic areas, and, possibly, even a public pool”. The survey offered to residents yielded 616 responses and 1,077 individual comments. Walking and biking trails were the No. 1 use selected by questionnaire participants, who were asked to rank a range of park elements. Trails received 23 percent of the vote, followed by athletic fields, with 17 percent. Other recreational facilities, that included dog parks, adventure facilities and playground equipment, received 14 percent of the vote, while a pool, natural open space and community facilities each garnered 12 percent. The top three concerns were loss and disturbance of wildlife habitat, obstructing views and adequate parking. Almost 70 percent of respondents indicated they would like the park to retain a natural look, with 49 percent selecting nature for the design theme and 21 percent opting for ocean, while 31 percent preferred a sports-oriented design. At an October Parks and Recreation Meeting, it was clear that the majority of public comments were spoken from residents who wanted to preserve the natural character of one of the last remaining undeveloped coastal bluffs in Los Angeles County. Though the commissioners heard from little league, pony league, soft ball and soccer proponents, many resident parents and their children expressed their frustration about still not having a skate park available for the youth.
PLAN A
Even though a majority of the survey results showed a desire for a minimum of park development, three designs have been drawn up that maximizes every available square inch of Bluffs that can be developed without encroaching on Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area ( ESHA ) All 3 of the park plans have managed to jam every possible community request which was approved by City Council on Oct. 14, 2015 in Alternatives A, B, and C, that were formed using input from a community outreach that involved public meetings, workshops, focus groups and surveys and Malibu residents’ were given one last chance to give their input on the best new plan for Malibu Bluffs Park by taking an online survey that concluded Friday, Jan. 29. With survey results in, the three designs will be presented at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Feb. 19, and all community members are encouraged to attend. It has been noted by those who support a more passive hiking /biking natural parkland that all 3 plans are very similar in size and scope. All 3 plans maximize all of the allowable amount of habitat that can be disturbed but the Coastal Commission most likely will not approve all of the ambitious projects the the city will be asking for. The main puzzle pieces of the three plans are basically very similar except for the way the options are configured and placed on the Bluffs property. Although all 3 plans include, ball fields, roads and parking lots that will occupy what appears to be the flat level grassy areas,these areas are actually slopped with some rock out croppings and will require large amounts of grading to level the playing fields. Opponents have pointed out that these fields will also require large amounts of water and fertilizers that could possibly de-stabilize the bluff geology above Malibu Road residents and pollute the adjacent ESHA in runoff on its way into the ocean, but a complete geology report has not been performed. It could be 4-6 years after Parks and Rec planners go back and forth with the Coastal Commission to obtain the final permits to proceed in order to break ground. In the mean time ,the cities own demographic survey shows a population trend of the age group under 18 years old will continue to decline until at least 2025, so one has to question if all the ball fields will be needed in the future. The one thing Southern California is running out of is, undeveloped coastal bluffs which draws visitors and tourist from around the world. Perhaps the Coastal Commission will recognize this and require Malibu to scale back this ambitious plan to one that preserves one of the last remaining coastal habitats in Los Angeles County All community members are encouraged to attend Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Feb. 19.
PLAN B
PLAN C
Details of Bluffs Park Plans A, B, and C can be found at http://malibucity.org/BluffsParkland
ORTHOPEDIC SHOES. SADDLE. LEATHER JACKETS. TACK. WETSUITS. LUGGAGE. RIDING BOOTS. PURSES. COWBOY BOOTS. DYE.
3882 CROSS CREEK RD. MALIBU, CA. 90265 3 1 0 . 4 5 6 . 2 7 9 5
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LIFESTYLE
MALIBU LOCAL WINS AT SUNDANCE Malibu local Cameron Burnett, currently a freshmen at USC School of Cinematic Arts, directed the film “The Bench”, which recently won Outstanding Short Short at the Windrider International Student Film Festival at Sundance. Cameron comes from a talented gene pool - his father is mega producer Mark Burnett, his mother Dianne is an author and entrepeneur and his brother James, is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and founder of Burnett Music Group. Congrats to Cameron and we are looking forward to many more exciting things to come from this young talent! - Cece Woods
Cameron Burnett left, with his brother James accepting the award for Best Short Short at the Windrider International Film Festival.
NIKITA
NO MORE
After a year of being vacant, Larry Ellison’s former Nikita restaurant will take on a new tenant. High profile A-lister hangout, The Soho House, has taken over the oceanfront space next to Nobu as of last week when the liquor license was transferred into the new owners name for 22716 Pacific Coast Highway location. No word yet on when the exclusive members only location will be open for business. - Cece Woods
Photo by Tim Horton
Larry Ellison’s Nikita restaurant has a new tenant. The Soho House is opening a new location next to Nobu.
STELLAR TURNOUT AT SOULCYCLE FOR REMAX MALIBU CHARITY RIDE Local Malibu realtor Christine Hameline and the REMAX MALIBU office hosted a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital LA on Jan. 30th. Hameline thanked supporters on Instagram and Facebook : “Thank you to my REMAX MALIBU team...What a great ride Soulcycle ( Malibu ) for Children’s Hospital LA. We did it!... To our dear friend, cherished client and HUGE SUPPORTER, Guillaume Piront, thank you for being our partner in throwing this fundraising event...” A successful fundraising event for a great cause! Congrats REMAX MALIBU! - Cece Woods
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LATE NIGHT TACOS & DRINK SPECIALS
DEFENDERS OF WINTER
CAPTAIN
POWDER LIVES! BY ROB TAYLOR
“Hop in and the Captain will drive you to the Mountains!” Photo by: Gary Bigham Among the more treasured and admired characters in the world of mountain sports is that of Captain Powder, the mascot and inspirational leader of Powder Magazine, the alter ego the publication’s co-founder David Moe. Outfitted in the snow white uniform of the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division, Captain Powder consistently comes to the rescue on a mission of Peace and Love. When David and his brother Jake first started publishing Powder Magazine in the early 70’s they wanted to present a message of Art, Beauty, Soul and Humor. The fundamental reasons people go to the mountains. Their timeless slogan grew out of the 60’s war resisters call of “Power to the People” which for the Moe’s was more about POWDER to the People. The goal was to present a portfolio of “the other ski experience,” not the more commercial pitch of industry centric mags like Ski and Skiing, and this creed was clearly stated in the first issue’s message from the editors; “In our first issue of Powder we began a celebration of powder skiing which in our view is the finest variety of skiing there is. To us powder means freedom, with an emphasis, not on how you do it, just doing it more. It is finding yourself singing with a chill factor of minus 25 and you feel at home standing up, falling down, on any edge. You don’t just trust your skis you usually forget they are there at all. Powder is beyond equipment, forget all the do’s and don’ts of ski instruction. Perhaps most important Powder means getting away from the crowd to a place where there are no lines, no lift towers, not snow fences, no bodies in the way. Just snow. It’s another world. Well we could go on and on, Powder is our way of looking at a sport we love. It’s critical, it’s funny, it’s affectionate and we think it’s honest. Powder to the People!” -Jake and Dave Moe Since the early 80’s the elusive Captain has been spotted in ski areas around the world, and to this day he continues to play the vital role of spreading fun and good vibes wherever he goes, reminding us that the mountains are a place of refuge and rejuvenation. And as a timeless character spreading a message of positivity we would be wise to heed his call; “To all skiers, for the bright future of skiing, join the forces in proclaiming Global Chilling, not Global Warming. We must defend our winters however we can. Head for the Hills!” Photo by David Brownell
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE CAPTAIN: What’s crazy is that some of those Capt. Powder shots are 30 plus years old. Capt. Powder must be timeless. He can cover up his wrinkles go ‘til 90 or just show the way he once was. He’s off having a banner year in the deep, white sea, in spirit, but hopefully not for long. It’s softly calling, Get your Ski Gear On!! Get Out Here Where You Belong! Heaven is down. The Higher You Get the Higher You get. The higher we get the closer we are to God, the more spiritual the experience. Better equipment has made it easier for more people to find God in the mountains. . . . or something like that. More chills more thrills. One message I would especially like to make to the extreme skiers is to know your limits and retreat from them. ‘Ski to Die’ is no longer cool or macho. ‘Ski to Live and Laugh about it is the only way to go. We’ve been in panic mode for too long. It’s time to be grateful and celebrate skiing and lift you eyes to the snow covered mountains again. Flee from the lowlands to the refuge of the highlands. Seize the winter! Feel the vibes. The thrill is back. The Mountain Gods are waiting. Don’t let it pass you by. JUST DO IT!!
“The overwhelming magnitude, the quiet Solitude, and the endless powder, all Contribute to create an adventure that cannot be described but must be experienced.” - Unknown
“POWDER TO THE PEOPLE!”
DEFENDERS OF WINTER You may remember part time Malibu Local Lyon Farrell from the first Youth Movement feature in 90265 Magazine a while back. Well, since then bruddah Lyon has been on quite a mission and the hard work has been paying off. As a new member of U.S. Snowboarding’s Rookie Slopestyle Team he has been consistently training and competing around the world, New Zealand, Europe and currently up in Mammoth on call for the Big Air event in the Grand Prix of Snowboarding.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
LYON FARRELL
He started the season with the U.S. Team in Austria at the Stubai Glacier for Prime Park Sessions, right around Halloween. He says it’s the best way to start off the season with an 80 foot jump. This year he learned how to do a Backside Triple Cork 1440. The team then travelled to a camp in Breckenridge and worked on the rails and he learned the Cab Double Cork 1440. Focusing mainly on slopestyle and big air, he’s been spending less time in the half pipe saying he just gets more satisfaction from launching big air. Lyon is primarily focused right now on earning FIS and TTR points by competing in contests. FIS is more for Olympic qualification and TTR is for all the snowboarding events around the country. Currently the Canadians and Scandinavians are at the top of the list but the younger American riders are improving quickly. Most of the top guys are in their early 20’s while Lyon and the other rookies are around 17. After Mammoth Lyon is headed to the Fenway Big Air in Boston and the next day to Quebec City for the Stoneham Big Air. To get an idea of how big we’re talking check out www.airandstyle.com, the drop-in to the 65foot jump stands at 16 stories - that’s about 150 feet - and has a slope of about 38 degrees! And don’t forget the athletes need to climb the 16 flights of stairs each time they make another run.
Photos: Timothy Peare
The Big Air event is now an Olympic event as is Slopestyle so with his continued focus and hard work on the U.S. Snowboarding Team we’ll be looking for Lyon to continue to improve and advance in this rapidly evolving sport.
DO YOU KNOW ALL OF THE SCOTTISH NAMES FOR SNOW? shelling (a fall of snow on the back of a sheep), flother (a flake of snow), windcrust (a crust formed on the surface of soft snow by the wind) hap (a heavy fall of snow), besnow (to cover or whiten with snow), reek (a pile of snow), penitent (a spike or pinnacle of compact snow that has been sculpted by the elements), whited (covered with snow), blind-drift (a drift of heavy snow), mafting (drifting snow), balter (snow adhering to horses’ hooves), blunk (to snow lightly), snittering (the fall of snow), plodgy (of deep snow that’s not yet trodden down), oversnow (whiten over with snow), hogamadog (a huge ball of snow made by kids rolling a snowball over soft snow).
CLASSIC CALIFORNIA CRAFTSMAN
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DEFENDERS OF WINTER
MAMMOTH: SIERRA NEVADA RESORT & SPA
BY CLAUDIA TAYLOR
Winter 2015 into 2016 has been a banner year for our beloved Sierra Nevada range. Grateful thanks to the snow spirits and to the potential demise of our desperate drought!!! El Nino is delivering blessed substantial snowfall, with the early season opening before Thanksgiving. Now it seems, each week the gulf stream opens up the high pressure ridge and lets in the flow of bands of Pacific moisture. Let it snow! For those of use not fortunate to keep a ski house or cabin in Malibu’s unofficial sister city, Mammoth Lakes, that means searching out available options for housing when the clarion call for fresh powder or blue bird groomers is sounded. That can get hectic when it’s anywhere near a holiday weekend. Winter accommodations in Mammoth fall into three categories: Hotels, Motels or VRBO’s. Hotels are surprisingly scarce. There are literally only 15 in the immediate area. If you seek top shelf- your choices are even fewer. The LOCAL MALIBU is on a winter tour to alert our readers to off the radar finds- value, comfort, and convenience being our criteria. One that you may have driven by without noticing on your way to the Vons on Old Mammoth Road was once the legendary home of the Rat Pack, circa 1967: Sierra Nevada Resort and Spa. The street sign may mislead you to the comforts that lie within. As we all have heard“don’t judge a book by its cover.” From the road- it might be mistaken for a vintage roadhouse circa ‘70’s- but Sierra Nevada Resort and Spa was thoroughly refurbished in 2013. This spacious 6 acre property has 275 rustic chic rooms, comprised of King Fireplace Suites, Double Queens, and Chalets. Prices range from $199-$442 nightly. Upon entering the lobby, you find a spacious multi purpose room with wrap around fireplace and lounge, the fabled ‘DUKES’ bar, and a classic pool table and a warm mountain rustic vibe. The renovation was streamlined, effective and functional. The exterior footprint remains the same. The interior was refurbished to feel like a classic Sierra Nevada Lodge, lots of knotty pine trim, gas fireplaces in the rooms, leather club chairs, heated slate floors in the spacious bathrooms, and even heated toilet seats(!) We were impressed by the quality of the mattresses, pillows and linens- and also the essential amenities like a top of the line humidifier - which is essential to getting a good sleep for those of us who come from sea level. SNRS is the only hotel in Mammoth to offer a full service spa with a massive steam room and sauna, skilled massage that includes doTerra essential oil aroma therapy, facials with Epicurean products that are specifically designed to deal with high altitude; and body treatments like Cinnamon Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub. There is also a complete menu for waxing- men and women. Where else in Mammoth are you going to find this selection of treatments? We enjoyed a “couples massage” after our first full day of hard charging skiing. Two practitioners working on each of us laying side by side, their progressions synchronized as if choreographed- and both my husband and I left dually impressed by the quality of the massage. But the best effect was felt in our following day of skiing. All that attention to our feet, calves, ankles, arms shoulders and necks…improved our skiing the following day. No doubt. SNRS offers free lockers for ski storage, and has an on-site ski shop. The Black Tie Rental offers a concierge service so you can pre-order your skis, as well as get your own tuned. How convenient! The location of SNRS is central Old Mammoth- so there is a shuttle stop from the Main Lodge that stops in front of the hotel. SNRS also runs it’s own shuttle that takes you to Village or Eagle. Of the three restaurants on site-The Rafters, The Red Lantern, and Jimmy’s Taverna – we dined at two. We started our day with a great hot breakfast and a fresh fruit smoothie at the Rafters. But Rafters is truly known as a locals go-to après ski hot spot- with indoor and outdoor screens showing sports and a raging bar and live music scene. Jimmy’s Taverna is an impressive restaurant whether or not it is in Mammoth or the middle of LA or San Francisco. This rivals any of the finest Greek restaurants, ( I’m calling you out Taverna Tony ) ,with a 27 page extensive wine list featuring surprising offerings beyond Californian, French and Italian and Greek. We were impressed by the atmosphere in the dining room, the details in the hand-laid tile, and the lighting. The menu was smart and imaginative, offering wood grilled meats and sea-food with clean pureed sauces and not too fussy plating. It’s actually wonderful to be located right in town walking distance to restaurants, entertainment and services. We travelled with teens and had no worries about them needing to drive cars on black ice. They walked, took the shuttle and loved hanging out in the grand lobby playing pool or in the steam room and jacuzzi. Mammoth, of course is a year round playground. And winter, thankfully, is far from over. So we’ll be back in the shadow of the Minarets soon, and hope there’s a vacancy for us at Sierra Nevada Resort and Spa.
The newly renovated Sierra Nevada Resort & Spa is a cozy retreat perfect for your snow vacation with multiple lounge area, a great selection of restaurants, cozy rooms (and suites) and a full service spa.
DEFENDERS OF WINTER
DEEPIS BY ROB TAYLOR
DEEP
Porter Fox deftly handles both complex science and adventure prose in his 2015 book DEEP The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow. Both heartbreaking and exhilarating Fox intertwines detailed character sketches of a group of skiing legends as they gather for a fatal back country powder run in the Cascade mountains with hard climate science based on facts and numbers. This book is a must read for adventure nuts and science geeks alike, below are a few excerpts. On the thrill of skiing. The skiing cosmos is difficult to explain to anyone not immersed in it. The act of skiing differs from traditional sports in that unlike basketball, biking or football, it requires specific orographic and meteorological phenomena. Because skiers depend on planetary forces much larger than themselves— and, like surfers, must work in harmony with them— a kind of otherworldly euphoria overtakes them when they do it well. The sensation of giving yourself over to gravity catalyzes the addiction. Pushing off down a slope and feeling your body accelerate is mystical business, felt only by surfers, skydivers, bikers and anyone who practices a sport in which you go down. A century ago, the vectors involved in a ski turn were considered the bailiwick of gods or machines. In fact, the first American downhill racers— who hit speeds of more than 80 miles an hour during the 1860s in the Sierra Nevada— were the first humans to go that fast and live to tell about it. The sport cheats gravity and death and, in many senses, rationality, as skiers toe the line between control and chaos. To those who master it an epic run is a transcendent journey, until the grade evens out and you slide to a stop. Snow itself is classified as a mineral, because it is composed inorganically with an ordered atomic arrangement. Snowflakes form when water vapor freezes onto a dust particle in a cloud. From there, nature’s simplest hydrogen-bonded crystal takes shape as a prism with six sides, a top and a bottom. Because ice grows faster at the edges of the prism, a depression forms in each face and six branches grow from the corners. As the flake falls to the ground, more water vapor freezes to the surface of the crystal and it grows more. It takes a real powder hound to compare water content in snowfall around the world. But floating through “cold smoke” is a different sport than muscling through sun crust, sastrugi, boilerplate, death cookies, slush, corn, crud, graupel or even corduroy. A traditional ski turn on hardpack is initiated by angling, flexing and twisting. A powder turn is about balancing and leaning. It is not a battle with the hill; rather, it’s a synchronization of your movement with the mountain’s features— over and around rocks, through forests, down chutes and snowfields. Powder skiing is a different sport compared to what most eastern skiers know. It requires subtle shifts of weight instead of powerful angling and turning. Similar to waterskiing, if a powder skier slows down, he sinks. So you have to commit to the fall line and head straight downhill to gather speed before your first turn— a terrifying prospect for anyone who grew up on the icy, boilerplate runs of the Northeast. When carbon dioxide levels are high, the Earth is warm; when they’re low, it’s cooler. The gas is a kind of regulator for the world’s climate: adding a significant amount of it into the atmosphere has the same effect as cranking up the thermostat in your house. With 500 billion tons of human- created carbon released into the air over the last two and a half centuries— a quarter of the 55-million-year warming-event level— and that number projected to double in 40 years, scientists are saying the current warming trend could be like no other in history.
PHOTO BY KEITH CARLSEN
Relative to the history of temperature and sea level, carbon content in the atmosphere was already approaching a dangerous level. The last time it was as high as it is now, during the Pliocene epoch three million years ago, the oceans rose 30 to 60 feet— flooding the North American coastline up to 90 miles inland. If Greenland and Antarctica were to completely melt out— including the eastern Antarctic ice shelf— it would raise sea levels by 220 feet. Many find it laughable to call a lack of skiing a global crisis. In part, they are right. Skiing is a sport, a voluntary act practiced by those who can afford it. What’s more, the industry’s carbon footprint— including equipment manufacturing, resort operations and the travel it takes to get to the mountain— is sizeable. What has scientists, environmentalists and mountainfolk worried is not a lack of fresh tracks, though. It is a lack of snow itself— which is a vital component of the Earth’s water cycle and climate system. As people living in the Western U.S. have already seen, declining snow depth is the first domino in a long line that can set off a downward spiral of environmental catastrophes.
AUTHOR PORTER FOX
MALIBU’S ORIGINAL JUICE AND SMOOTHIE BAR Serving the community for over 20 years
HERBS VITAMINS SPORTS NUTRITION 23823 Malibu Rd., Ste. 600 Malibu, CA. 90265 310.317.4833
DEFENDERS OF WINTER
KEITH
CARLSEN
A natural-born – and trained – journalist, Keith Carlsen became the editor of Powder Magazine in 1999 at the age of 24, after joining the magazine as an intern three years earlier. In 2001, he carried forward his adventurous enthusiasm to his next role as Director of Marketing, Communications and Visual Media at the renowned production company Mountain Sports International. From there he continued his success as a freelancer, building his own company, Keith Carlsen Productions. With the love of capturing real-life action and stories at their finest, Keith is known for bringing his “hell-yes!” attitude to whatever the job is, whether on a freezing mountain peak in remote Russia or a high-pressure celebrity shoot at the Sundance Film Festival.
Photographer Keith Carlsen
Now 42 years old, Carlsen has spent the better part of the past 20 years centering his life around skiing as much powder snow as humanly possible. And he doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon. Although his love for surfing the waves of Malibu is catching up to his passion for skiing. Night jump: Julian Carr sends it into the night under the lift at Brighton, Utah.
A new contributor to The Local, he’s now based out of Los Angeles, California, where he’s focusing on more commercial portrait and fashion work. He lives in DTLA with his charming wife Sarah and adorable decker rat terrier, Penney Fox Mulder. An internationally published photographer, producer and writer, Keith Carlsen has the pleasure of working with clients such as Powder Magazine, Red Bull, Rolling Stone, Verizon, Bike Magazine, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Brain Farm Cinema. See all of Keith’s work on his website, www.keithcarlsen.com
Portrait: A freeskiing World Champion, Frenchman Julien Lopez gets casual in Girdwood, Alaska.
B+W ski action: Cody Barnhill making the switch-pow-turn look easy in Snowbird, Utah.
Sunrise action turn: Alex Taran slashing frozen ice crust into orange glitter atop Teton Pass, Wyoming.
DEFENDERS OF WINTER
Most people who surf prefer a custom shaped surfboard. The process of working with a shaper to develop your perfect design is a satisfying part of the sport. Determining length, width and thickness helps your one of a kind stick ride well in your favorite conditions. Snappy and hollow Zuma or the long walls of Sequit Point or Surfrider all need a special touch in the rocker, tip and tail to maximize speed or stability. When we head to the mountains the majority of skiers are happy with a set of boards off the rack. Mass produced by factories in Austria, Switzerland or China, the dimensions and design may work well for some but do they really work well for you and your style of shredding? Fret no more fellow ski bums, there is such a thing as affordable, durable CUSTOM skis! Community Skis has been designing and building amazing sets of skis for the past 15 years right here in Mammoth Lakes. They help determine what the best possible ski shape is for the client so they can keep developing, and keep pushing their abilities on the slopes. Let Community know what you want your skis to do and they will send you a design based on their expertise and experience. You are welcome to tweak it, add more rocker, little less camber, tighten up the sidecut and once the design is finalized it’s time to decide on graphics! A huge part of custom is the graphics and if you can imagine it we can design it to fit on your skis.
Michael Lish and Dan Genet in the factory. PHOTO BY ELLA TAYLOR Yes, that is the factory hooked to the back of the truck. Mobile workshop ready to roll.
Being on the right ski, custom designed for you makes a huge difference than buying off the rack. You’ll immediately feel more confidence, be able to ski at higher speeds with more control, and if you design your skis for specific performance criteria like bumps, heli skiing/deep powder, hard carving, etc., Community can tweak the design and lean the performance to your specifications. They are a lot like a custom surfer board shaper- You tell your shaper what they need to know, they get back to their shop shape that board and glass it. It’s like being in a super fun sports car, putting on a tailored suit, or riding a big wave on the right board. Community’s production capacity is about 10 sets of skis a week. Made by hand in the mobile production unit.
Kristin Broumas ready to shred Mammoth Mountain on her new Community Skis!
They also offer build your own ski workshops where you work side by side with the production theam and build your dream skis by hand. All they do is custom skis and have built over 2000 pairs unique to each individual. Thier most popular ski shapes are all mountain leaning towards powder. We range from 70mm underfoot all the way up to 140mm. Sidecut from 9meters to 28meters. Length 140cm to 212cm. www.communityskis.com
KAI LIGHTNER SENDS BUTTERMILK PROBLEMS WITH EASE 16 year old Kai Lightner is the climbing world’s latest phenom. Current national sport climbing champion, Kai has only recently begun to move from the gym to the great outdoors. This past Thanksgiving Kai and his mother went with our old pal John Long to Bishop Ca, one of the most iconic and well-traveled bouldering Meccas on earth. In short order, often on his first or second try (expert boulderers often spend weeks, even years on exacting boulder “problems) Kai ticked Buttermilker, Eviloution, and the legendary Mandala, one of the most sought-after short climbs in the world.
DEFENDERS OF WINTER
MELTDOWN BY JOHN LONG
It takes two days to fly from Los Angeles to Pangnirtung, near the southern toe of Baffin Island, and into the Canadian arctic. I pass much of this time slogging through Janet Fitch’s, “White Oleander,” smiling at the passage about “feeling the warmth that flowers feel when they boom through the snow, under the first concentrated rays of the sun.” Sounds romantic – except it’s mid-March, and even the Eskimos (Inuit) are shivering by the stove. I’m there to scout the mile high west face of Mt. Thor for a film project in July, a likely story that should allow me an arctic snowmobiling junket and plenty of time to take in a few snow flowers, and Baffin’s huge rock faces. Rarely seen, these granite monoliths have an almost mythical reputation, and the smattering of published photographs further the mystique. Pangnirtung has one small guesthouse, Peyton Lodge, and the manager gets hold of her brother, a burly young Inuit named Tommy Kilibuk, who agrees to round up two snowmobiles and join me on the recon. He suggests tossing off the remaining coffee and heading out straightaway. I haven’t slept in two days. Tommy said he hasn’t either. With perpetual light from the midnight sun, the impulse to nod never comes. You simply lay it down at some point and pass out. Maybe later. We pull on layers of silks and polypropylene, huge duvets and animal hides, then trudge out into minus twenty degree stillness. Tommy has wrangled the fastest snowmobiles in town, rumbling, 750cc monsters that blast us out over the vast and frozen fjord. Twenty minutes out we spot the Guardian’s bold profile, half a mile high and sheer as Gibraltar. Tommy says a French team scaled the lower face, but bailed at the headwall. Another project. I have a thousand. My original plan was to cruise and develop some feel for the terrain, which is impossible owing to the speed I must carry to hang with Tommy. The further we go the more granular the ice, like a snow cone, which makes for squirrelly going at sixty miles an hour. We enter Auyuittuq National Park, pierce the imaginary boundary of the Arctic Circle and motor into the melting, sloppy falls, now a frozen staircase of five-degree ice steps. After three hours we’ve hauled one 300-pound machine onto flat ice. Exhausted, we pitch a tent, slide into forty pounds of walrus hides, sip a short dog of Pappy Van Winkle I’d filched from the boss back at the office, and die for ten hours. Next morning we start laboring the other machine over the ice step. Tommy’s sealskin boots paddle on the surface while my spine bows, absorbing the three hundred pounder, unwieldy as a grand piano. Several times we lose it altogether, slipping and bouncing back to the start of the falls. It’s almost funny. Finally on level ground, we fire up the machines and glide toward Mt. Thor. Distances deceive. Thor swells, while never drawing closer. With the falls now five miles back, we gain the last passage.
We motor through a roofless ice tunnel. The frozen walls are gray. As the ice recedes, light floods in and the valley is revealed. The snowfield is uniform and stretches into the horizon. Out left, a ridge of rugged peaks jags north; to our right, Mt. Thor prevails. Backlit, its 6,000-foot shadow bisects the snow pack dead center. White and black. We pause at the shadow’s threshold. The sky is blinding blue. There is no wind, no sound. We idle along the shadow’s edge, skids straddling the line of light and darkness. Just left, melting snow glimmers. My right skid grates on the ice. Again we stop. Nothing moves; my ears hum. We pass the next two days among gray granite walls awesome and fantastically couched. Mt. Thor (or Thor Peak as the topographic map denotes) looms 5,700 feet above the glacier. We work north and leisurely circle Mt. Asgard, whose 3,000-foot east face hosted Rick Sylvester’s ski-parachute descent that opened the James Bond thriller “For Your Eyes Only.” From certain angles Asgard resembles a giant smokestack, its summit lathed flat by the ages. While Yosemite climbers rake over the same old cliffs, ferreting out a precious few feet of new ground, nearly everything we see is unclimbed. Asgard alone has potential enough to exhaust a thousand dreams. Another project. The weather holds. For hours, or seconds, or days - I can hardly tell which - we wander, putting about on impulse. The magnitude of our surroundings, coupled with penetrating stillness, is more easily imagined than described. Here in the frozen heart of the arctic, I ‘m party to the earth’s great age, and the great aloneness that carries us in and out of this world. We rarely eat or pause. A heat wave hits on the second day and we strip off a few layers, and only reluctantly head back when chilled by the midnight sun. Tommy guns it at the terminus of Thor Glacier and we rocket toward the falls where we slow and bang our way down. Then he dials on the speed and we blast across the white expanse. With Tommy bombing in the lead, we power-drift around an outcrop. Then he throws up a hand, locking his machine and skating sideways to the juncture of land pack and sea ice. Just beyond, the edge of the fjord is ringed in jumbled, icy blocks bobbing in a foot of slush. Glare ice looms half a mile out, but that too gleams with a veneer of melt water. With the rising tide, the whole mass moans and crunches from the ocean’s pulse. It hardly seems possible that eight or ten Tommy promises that a ways out, toward the center of the fjord, the ice is diamond hard and yards thick. However the perimeter, especially during breakup, often has treacherous bubbles. Puncture one and you’re into the brine - and frozen solid in minutes, says Tommy. Maybe a mile out over the sea pack we hear a thunderous cracking followed by a mammoth plume of sea water geysering up through the fracture. I wonder if it’s not better to ditch the machines, write off our losses and tromp a ridge forty miles to Pangnirtung. Unnecessary, says Tommy, revving his engine. Velocity is safety, translating to less time spent on marginal ground. At speeds beyond seventy-five, he claims, one can traverse on eggshells. There’s only one rule: “Never, ever stop.” Tommy’s eyes focus on that point of safe ice some ways out.
DEFENDERS OF WINTER Before and after this junket I got to know Tommy’s sister and a little about her family tree. The trunk was Inuit for sure, but with many branches, from American black to Scottish. But it would hardly matter, since the enormity and brute aspect of the Artic fashions everyone in its own image – stoic, contemplative, and hard as blue steel. “Remember,” said Tommy, “carry your speed. Full throttle.” Then like a thunderbolt, he’s off. I hate the cold. I was born in Coachella Valley, in Southern California, which is all desert all of the time. Aside from a few ice climbs early on – and I quit all that the moment my partner Gib Lewis nearly died from a fall in Lee Vining – I avoided mountain climbing, snow and ice, glaciers, all of it. I went to the North Pole once, it is true, and basically from the time we flew past Magnetic North I was counting the hours till I could beat it back down south and pull on some board shorts. Most everything about the cold, and all that snow, feels foreign and hateful, none so much as this melting fjord. Tommy’s brief instructions might have encouraged an expert but this is my first experience on a snowmobile. It sounded like a fine idea in Los Angeles. And Janet Fitches’ sweet passage now feels all wrong.
A throaty two-stroke shatters the arctic calm. A white rooster tail explodes behind, the belt chews in and all 750cc’s vault me onto no-man’s-land. The chunky surface means an seventy-five horsepower bull ride from hell, hard enough to just hang on. Gaining speed, the rig slips, slides, and crashes over floating blocks. As the surface slowly levels, it thins alarmingly. Meltwater settles in low spots, giving the illusion that the ice is paper thin. I vault past sixty MPH; firm ground is a mile behind. Thirty-nine to go. The surface is still bumpy, but shortly after hitting eighty miles per, I enter a half-mile stretch smooth as an ice rink. Instantly the machine is skating - sideways and unsteerable. The belt whines on the glare ice with no effect. Now backwards, at seventy, skimming like a hockey puck, I chatter onto a mottled section. The belt digs in and the effect is like dropping the clutch: the engine dies without a sputter. I slide to a full stop as the sound of breaking glass snaps off the ice. The belt carves an ever-deepening rut that quickly fills with water. And that snapping sound continues until my perimeter is as crack-laced as a Bingham vase. I furiously yank at the starter cord. And again. “Come on, you fuck!” Wafers of ice tilt in. I’m sinking. Every combination of throttle and choke brings no result. I get up on my toes to keep the water from pouring in my boots, fearing the rope will snap if I pull any harder or faster. Then I hear Tommy’s sloshing trot. Winded and soaked, he wastes no words, just flips up the engine housing and cups a gloveless hand over the carburetor. “Pull!” With the first yank, the ice groans and we sink another four inches. I yank again. The engine hacks - it’s flooded. Through gaping fissures belch the tide’s basso notes, silenced by intermittent water gushing from the depths. “Again!” The engine coughs, farts, then revs to a shrill din. Good thing, because I’ve just yanked the starter cord off the sprocket. Water and ice shoot from the speeding belt. Everything’s soaked. Our feet churn in deep slush and my hands are numb from heaving on the cord. I would have ditched it long ago, but now we’ve sunk so deep we need the machine’s velocity to pull us out. In a forty-foot circle, the ice has sagged, like a coin on loose sheets. Tommy’s barely feathering the throttle but the belt gnaws deep into the ice. The ocean groans then geysers, a plume of water spraying behind. We’ve chewed through. Backsliding, the nose rears. Tilted forty-five degrees, the belt catches on the hole’s edge and we lurch forward. Under quarter throttle, the machine claws up over fractured plates, dragging us out of the slush, only to backslide, then lurch forward once more. I’m clutching the seat with my feet dragging behind as Tommy fights the bars. A last backslide and we finally shoot out onto level ice. We both leap onto the seat and immediately enter another ice rink. As Tommy’s machine nears, he goes side-saddle, then he jumps off at speed, sliding for fifty feet on his sealskin boots till he jack-knives up onto his machine, left running, but half sunk. He dials on the throttle and we’re side by side, at fifty, sixty miles per hour. We rocket onto a five mile stretch of wafer-thin trash. Water flows beneath the marbled surface. After half a mile, we’ve ground eighteen inches into the fluted skin. Oddly, we can maintain the crazy velocity with the trailing rut, much like a slip stream, affording some little stability. I can’t tell if we are chewing further into this trash and it’s a torturous guessing game as to where that last layer lies. This seems a fine place for that bubble; I’m just hanging on at eighty per. In a mile we sail onto solid ice, the thrill of our escape fueling us well beyond. Only slowly do I realize our new and dire jam. I’m panting and my torso is frozen. Soaked and on a snowmobile at speed, I’m stone cold in no time. We are covered in so many layers of wool and hides that it is not so much frostbite as hypothermia that threatens. My hands are wooden, so the only way to steer is to drape equally wooden arms over the handlebar and pull the throttle lever with my shoulder. My rig is plowing a ragged course and each bump jolts out more warmth. My legs are senseless from mid-thigh down; my stomach is knotted, my face is cast in iron. I’m getting kind of woozy. With the lodge in view, we slip into stupors. Left on its own, my machine putts around in a drunken circle, then freezes to a stop. Tommy is hunched over, speechless. We’re sticks in the snow. I feel myself falling toward a dark blue sea. Spotted by some kids playing hockey, we are raced to the lodge where the girls take over. I’m stripped and thrust into a tub of tepid water. I have no feeling anywhere; my eyes roll and an all-powerful drowse is arrested only by the slapping, screaming girls, who won’t let me nod. As they bend my limbs, I’m force-fed hot liquids. Minutes, sounds, hands all flow together. Everything begins to recede, but life comes back with my first sensation, a remote titillation that grows into a writhing, electric jabbing, ten thousand hat pins punishing my flesh, know to ice climbers as the screaming barfies. As nerves slowly come alive, I am dragged from that dark sea back to here and now. Water churns from the tub as they rub and manipulate my arms and legs. When my eyes clear I discover a girl, fully clothed and waist deep in the tub, sitting on my chest and rubbing oils on my face. She smiles and I relax. Whack! She slaps me back awake. When the pain eases to a hot glow, they carry me to the polar bear rug and start kneading my flesh, palming blood into ever-warming limbs. Dreamless sleep. Tommy kicked me in the ribs and told me to put some clothes on. Several girls were still massaging my hands and arms. One, whose gorgeous round face might fill a hula-hoop, told me I’d been out for several hours and had talked all kinds of shit. I asked her what kind of shit and Tommy said to quit pestering his cousin. Another project. I felt a little worked, but otherwise okay, no marks even, nothing to suggest our recent beat down on a frozen sea, ephemeral as two tracks on a snowfield, evaporating from memory quickly as the mound of boots and jacket, piled by the stove.
LOCAL
POISON FREE MALIBU
AN UPDATE WITH LOCAL WILDLIFE ACTIVISTS KIAN AND JOEL SCHULMAN STORY AND PHOTOS BY JACKIE ROBBINS PART ONE In 2013, I did an interview with Kian Schulman for 90265 Magazine, a woman who has single-handedly convinced the City of Malibu to ban the use of anticoagulant rodenticide which are the poisons that supposedly control the rat and mice population that invade our human living spaces and wild habitats. Many in Malibu who became aware and conscious of the dangers were very pleased and excited to get rid of these unnecessary toxins. Sadly the poison also threatens everything in the food chain. When predators feed on the poisoned pests: hawks, owls, coyotes, bobcats, cougars and domestic cats in turn can affect our children and pollute our earth. Since 2013 other cities surrounding the Santa Monica Mountains along with Malibu have passed resolutions against rodenticide use: Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Moorpark, Ojai, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Whittier. We all value our wild areas, the native creatures and it’s ability to enrich our lives. Kian and her husband Joel Schulman have been instrumental in getting the word out through their grassroots organization Poison Free Malibu, (PoisonFreeMalibu.org) steadily marching forward hoping to someday see the entire Santa Monica Mountains and possibly even the entire State of California free of these deadly chemicals. Although the Malibu City Council had vote to obtain an approved Coastal Commission amendment for the ban over a year ago, everyone was waiting for it to go through the approval process from the Malibu City Planning Commission first. But for everyone involved, the big surprise was that the City Staff including the City Attorneys decided to strongly oppose the amendment saying that the County of LA and the Coastal Commission of the State of California are wrong for supporting the amendment. Kian and Joel immediately made calls asking questions at several agencies, gathered documentation and pulled supporters together on short notice to present their concerns of this outcome. At a City Planning Commission meeting which was held Tuesday night, January 19 the City Staff presented their report including the City Attorney’s recommendation at that time. Because Malibu is within the ‘Coastal Zone’ the process is different from other cities outside the zone. For those cities a law has been in effect since 1984 pertaining that a locality cannot regulate the use of pesticides.The pesticide industry leaders were able to get a law passed protecting them from being regulated. The ‘Coastal Zone’ is different because the law claims it will affect only ‘localities’ and it will not affect State Agencies. The Coastal Commission is a State organization and it is within their jurisdiction to protect the Coastal Zone. Erroneously our City of Malibu Attorneys were claiming that it is illegal for the Coastal Commission to sanction the ban on rodenticides and that the City of Malibu will leave itself open to future lawsuits. The Coastal Commission actually gives its cities within the coastal zone permission to create their own regulations for protecting the coastal zone as long as they approve it and it can enforce it. This is accomplished by the creation of an LCP (Local Coastal Program) and Malibu has a Coastal Commission approved LCP. Los Angeles County has already adopted a ban . It’s working and to date has not been sued. So why doesn’t the Coastal Commission make a decision on this for the entire Coastal Zone? Already the Coastal Commission only allows new permits on development in the Coastal Zone with a ban on usage of anti-coagulant rodenticides written as a clause in many of its permits. The Los Angeles County portion of the ‘Coastal Zone’ (most of the Santa Monica Mountains) has already adopted a ban on the anti-coagulants/rodenticides or anything else that can degrade the biology of local ecosystems. Malibu has its own LCP separate from LA County’s yet is still within the ‘Coastal Zone’. So even though Pepperdine University along with many individual homes and businesses no longer use poison to deal with pest problems , the pest management companies can still use them….. and they do.
How poison affects the wildllife food chain.
Letters were obtained from both the County of LA and the Coastal Commission legal advisers which maintain that the Malibu City Attorneys are wrong. It is up to the Planning Commissioners to overrule their lawyer’s recommendations and vote to amend the LCP in favor of the Ban. PART TWO It’s 6:30, the Planning Commission meeting has started, many individuals have shown up to support Poison Free Malibu, but we are pretty much placed in a holding pattern while the commissioners discuss other business first…finally about 3 hours later the rodenticide ban comes to the table, last item on the agenda; Item 5B-Local Coastal Program Amendment No. 14-001-Citywide PC160119 (view the full agenda here; http://www.malibucity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/2006?fileID=2373 ). The City’s Attorney states that “Local Jurisdiction prohibits a ban on Rodenticides” many Commissioners comment on this yet there is a prevailing sentiment that as a City we need to decide that a Ban is Malibu’s goal. Then the floor is opened to public comment. First we hear a soft and beautiful song sung and performed by Mike and Shannon of Malibu’s local band “The Karma Dealers”. It’s a sad rendering of how the animals feel about being poisoned and their need for protection…the crowd is roused and emotional, it sets the tone. Kian’s speech is full of passion as she reiterates her main points: her concerns reach much further than the poisons we are using in our yards, she says; “These billion dollar companies that make and sell pesticides, are selling us millions of tons of product just for our backyards, but the poison control centers in this country estimate that each individual person is carrying them in our bodies, pesticides we ingest from the food we eat to the water we drink to the air that we breathe. We see so many neurological and developmental problems in schools today, that we know we should never be using pesticides in any of our schools where children are present. Even domestic pets are in danger and getting ill.” She continues by pointing out that “Sanitation practices and rodent exclusion are the safe methods for controlling pests. Poisons are not needed. Other than that you leave the animals outside alone. When you put out bait boxes to kill mice and rats, they eat the poison and then go back out into the wild where all the other animals in the food chain then consume the poisoned rodents, which poisons them, and so on.”
Are these workers on the Oxnard being exposed to pesticides?
LOCAL
Red tail Hawks never know if their next meal is poisoned.
The TV program 60-Minutes just did a segment about the disappearing Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-meet-the-mountain-lions-of-los-angeles/. Kian explains that the black boxes are like open trashcans to the pests, who are powerless to resist them, and that anyone using them is actually attracting wildlife to the poisons. Joel is next and gives an articulate but edgy speech, with documentation, which clearly shows the Commissioners that the City’s Attorneys are mistaken and unjustified in their opposition to the Ban. Impassioned pleas continue from various citizen groups and local environmental organizations including individual activists who reside in the Malibu area. Then we hear the comments and questions of the Commissioners. It was not expected but Four of the five Commissioners were convinced and voted yes to adopt the amendment as part of the LCP and stressed that the language be the same as the County of LA has in their LCP, so that we are defensible as a unit. The Commissioners agree that, as per our vision statement, it is the ethical and moral responsibility of the People of Malibu to protect their wildlife and environment as a top priority. And that we must find a way to actively enforce the Ban as soon as possible. Even more impressive, these four Commissioners insisted that the strictest language be used for the Malibu LCP amendment with three goals in mind - 1.) Put it at the top of the list of LCP Amendment applications to be submitted to the Coastal Commission so that it will be considered as soon as possible, 2.) Make sure it applies throughout all of Malibu, and 3.) Insist that the ban apply generally on approval by the Coastal Commission, not just to new development. One commissioner votes no against the Ban. He says that because his career as a lawyer decisively informs him that a law which cannot be enforced is a bad law; yet he also agrees that the City of Malibu should do whatever it can to implement a change. Wow, this was truly exciting. We all left City Hall elated with the victory, confident that the City Council will be fully supportive. There is still much work to do for a Statewide ban but those of us who reside in the ‘Coastal Zone’ , this victory was one step in the right direction towards a healthier and safer coastal environment. By supporting the Poison Free Malibu movement with the banning of anticoagulant rodenticides locally and using safer non toxic alternatives to rodent control we can spread this momentum statewide and even nation wide. We are all the beneficiaries of our beautiful wild environment and the wonderful bio-diversity that thrives within it. Malibu residents who have supported Kian’s exhaustive quest can be proud of being part a positive movement that will benefit humans, wild life and domestic pets for many future generations to come. Keep Malibu Poison Free.
The Coast of Malibu is worth keeping poison free.
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BUSINESS
OBTAINING A MORTGAGE HOW TO OVERCOME MORTGAGE STRUGGLES IN 2016 BY KANDACE MURPHY
By now, many of you have heard about the exhausting experience in obtaining a mortgage loan for a purchase, or a refinance. It’s a completely different world, under the law, DODD-FRANK, signed into law by President Obama in 2010. Just as recent as October 2015, more new requirements were added. Common sense might tell you, to call the bank that currently holds your loan to refinance. Chances are, they didn’t originate your loan, and it was merely sold to them after you completed the application process and funding. They have now become your servicer, not originator. Calling a bank directly will just result in you being sent to a retail division of their bank, who essentially knows nothing about you, other than you have a loan there. This means your process starts over, no matter how long they have serviced your loan, your equity in your property, or your ongoing on time mortgage payments. Banks are very limited in their flexibility to obtain loan approval. Time to find a mortgage broker! The advantage in working with a mortgage broker in comparison to a bank is a very long list. Typically, your mortgage broker has more licensing requirements, and usually has more knowledge in the numerous additional loan possibilities than a bank has. While we mortgage brokers sell to banks, we aren’t limited to one specific bank’s guidelines, and have the ability to shop your loan and life scenario to fit your needs in the best possible way. Yes, the documentation is much more detailed now, than it was before, while stated and limited documentation loans have made their way back around. The absolute best advice in preparing for a loan, whether it be a purchase or refinance, is saving absolutely everything thing that has to do with your investments, purchases, income, or moving of funds. This will all need to be documented. If you’re a local, please feel free to email me for advice: kandace@priorityfinancial.net
“Kandace Murphy is a Mortgage Broker magician. As a first time buyer, as well as being self-employed, I was fully aware in this current financial climate, I represented every possible challenge and expected to not be approvable. I was beyond thrilled when she fast-tracked the final paper work for a jumbo mortgage and funded our dream property that six weeks earlier was a pie-in-the-sky. We are now living in an amazing new home.” Nicholas E. Copus Co-Executive Producer / Director SALEM / DAMIEN
Jennifer Lexon | Realtor | CA CalBRE #01383983
TruLine Realty 8644 Wilshire Blvd Suite 204 Beverly Hills, Ca 90211 (310) 228-0528 Mobile 888-470-3721 Fax
For All Your Real Estate Needs trulinerealty.com
WILL GLOSSY PRINT MAKE A COMEBACK? THE FUTURE LOOKS PROMISING
BY CECE WOODS
With the recent revelation of how our social media news feeds have been cut down to drastic new lows and how overwhelming the internet has become, the cycle is returning back to the true authorities, the glossy print magazines. Contributing to this comeback is fashion blogger overload and instagram influencer influenza - nevermind the fact that becoming a social media celebrity is just a little too easy - making it increasingly difficult to discern who really is a true trailblazer. Which is bringing us back to the days of the glossy. The OG go-tos like Vogue, New Yorker, Vanity Fair ( and so many more ) - the pioneers of print - the true authorities in their field. These are the people who fought to stay at the top, having to earn their place, proudly displayed on our coffee tables. They stand behind what they print, offer extensive knowledge and save us some serious time by wading through wannabes to bring us the winners - delivering consistent creative content. Remember how waiting for the new issue of our favorite magazine was like waiting for a new boyfriend to call? Well the boyfriend is back - just as exciting as ever. The break-up was temporary. The glossies have always been our faithful guide and may have been overlooked by the digital age temporarily - but they are here to stay ( the ones who nurture all platforms ) and will continue to lead us to the best of the best on the internet. They will streamline our Instagram feeds by navigating us to the real influencers and passing over the posers. I predict print will be back in full force. It is a natural, cyclical process to trim the fat of the fame seekers. In 2016 - print is the new black!
WELLNESS
SELF-INSPIRATION
& MOTIVATION
STOP LOOKING OUTSIDE, START LOOKING INSIDE, AND BE A LEADER. BY TED MC DONALD We often seek inspiration and motivation from outside sources. We look at leaders in the press, or in books and movies. We try to emulate their approach or their words. It is a fine course of action. In fact, I think it’s important to understand how successful people got to where they are in life. So many amazing people have paved the way for us and we have a lot to learn from them. But there comes a point in life when you must leave them behind, otherwise you’ll always be following. And right now, more than ever, our society needs people to stand up and lead. Lately, I’ve thought more and more about looking inside my own being, my own mind and taking the next right action that I know I will be proud of. I want to be a leader to myself. I want to take actions that I am inspired by. I want to hit the bed every night knowing that I did the best I could, that I took the extra effort, and know that I was a good example for those around me. There is a quote by Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Here are three things you can do right now to become self-inspired and make your own trail: Meditate. There is nothing better than sitting quietly and listening to the voices in your own head. Once the typical mind chatter begins to settle, the true inner voices present themselves. It’s these aha moments that we need to pay attention to. In your next meditation pay attention to the space between the thoughts and notice any new, creative, uncharacteristic ideas that are presented. Be counter intuitive. So many of us follow a path. We go to school, find the right job, blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before, but if you look back at history, it’s the outliers who push the boundaries. It is the inspired leaders who take risks that are expanding our horizons. The more we do this as individuals, the more our society changes as a whole. Take unexpected action. Now it’s time to put your counter intuitive-ness into action! Once you’re in touch with the inspired side of yourself and you feel connected to the greater source. You’re no longer following, you’re leading, that is the time to act. Act without apologies. You’ll find that when you take action that you’re proud of, that you’ve done because you’re inspired or motivated by your own actions, that you will move others to take action. I’ve watched this happen with some very close friends and I’ve done it myself. So, a huge dose of gratitude goes to those who’ve done it before us and now it’s time to step up our own game. Look inside, create your path, and do it unapologetically. I’m here if you need help along the way. @teddymcdonald
WELLNESS What we do for the brain now can have a huge impact on how it functions in the years to come. Keeping the brain healthy and well nourished is a task that should be high on our to-do list! The brain is a hungry organ, it’s cells requiring two times the amount of energy than that of other cells in the body. Eating for a healthy brain is like buying insurance. 12 Brain Foods 1. Oily Fish - A protein source linked to a great brain boost is fish. The main sources of oily fish include salmon, trout, mackerel, herring, and sardines. They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that are key for brain health. These healthy fats have amazing brain power. A diet with higher levels of omega-3’s have been linked to lower dementia, stroke risks and slower mental decline. In addition they may play a vital role in enhancing memory, especially as we get older. Deficiency in Omega-3’s can lead to fatigue, poor memory, and depression. Because your body can’t make these essential fatty acids, it’s important to get them from food. Other good sources include flaxseed oil, pumpkin seeds, and walnut oil. They are good for brain, heart, joints and general wellbeing.
BEAUTY
IS NOTHING WITHOUT
BRAINS
BY DIANA NICHOLSON
2. Avocados - Avocados provide your brain with a boost. Research shows high levels of fatty acids may help nerve cells in the brain. Each serving of avocado also has 20 different vitamins, including potassium, which studies suggest may help to control blood pressure, and lutein, which protects your eyes. A little bit of avocado can go a long way! 3. Curry - Turmeric, contains a chemical called curcumin. Numerous neurological studies have shown curcumin boosts memory, can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and stimulate neurogenesis, which is the process of creating new brain cells. 4. Celery - One intriguing study points to the plant compound luteolin with lower rates of age-related memory loss. Luteolin appears to calm inflammation in the brain, which experts now believe to be a primary cause of neurodegeneration. Celery is one of the richest sources of luteolin, other good sources include peppers and carrots. 5. Cauliflower and Broccoli - Researchers have been investigating the role of choline in brain development, looking at whether choline has the potential to spur the growth of new brain cells and neural connections. In adults, choline keeps neurotransmitters healthy, keeping you sharp and your memory strong. One cup of wheat germ has 202 mg of choline; beef liver is the best dietary source of choline with 473 mg in a five-ounce serving. However, it’s much easier to incorporate broccoli and cauliflower, with 182 and 177 mg. Broccoli is also high in vitamin K, studied for its effect in boosting cognition. 6. Walnuts - Studies indicate that high levels of omega-3 fatty acids provide the highest forms of memory and cognitive skills. Omega-3s are heart-healthy too, helping keep arteries clear and blood flow strong, and good circulation benefits the brain as well. Make walnuts a daily habit, sprinkling a handful on a salad or eating them as an afternoon snack. Walnuts also contain memory-protective vitamin B6. 7. Crab -You don’t see crab on many power food lists, but you should. One serving of crab has 1840 mg (more than your entire daily requirement) of phenylalanine, an amino acid needed to make the important neurotransmitter dopamine, as well as brain-stimulating adrenaline and noradrenaline and thyroid hormone. Many types of fish and seafood are rich in phenylalanine, but crab is less likely to be high in mercury, an issue with tuna and other popular fish. Research also suggests phenylalanine may be helpful in combating Parkinson’s disease. Crab is also one of the best dietary sources of vitamin B12. 8. Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)- Garbanzo beans contain 220 mg of magnesium in a one-cup serving. It’s not easy to find good sources of magnesium, a mineral that plays a key role in energy metabolism. Magnesium is highly beneficial for brain cell receptors, speeding message transmission. Magnesium also relaxes blood vessels, allowing blood to flow freely to feed the brain. Studies show that our American diet is magnesium poor, and most adults average only 66 percent of the recommended requirement of magnesium. Stress has been shown to leach magnesium from the body. 9. Buckwheat - A natural mood-calmer, buckwheat is high in relaxing tryptophan, providing 25 percent of your recommended allowance in a one-cup serving. Buckwheat is also a good source of magnesium, with 229 mg per serving. Technically a fruit seed, buckwheat is gluten-free and high in fiber, so it’s a great grain substitute. It’s great in soups, stews, or salads. You can even boil it up as a hot breakfast cereal, much like grits or cream of wheat. 10. Brewer’s Yeast - It’s one of the best food sources of thiamine (vitamin B1), and pyridoxine,(vitamin B6) both of which are linked with brain function in numerous ways. Thiamine deficiency is known to cause a form of dementia. Pyridoxine plays a role in neurotransmitter production, strengthening memory and cognition. Large amounts of thiamine and pyridoxine aren’t easy to find in any one food but some good sources are bananas, black beans, lentils, eggs, pork, and sunflower seeds, all of which have have good quantities of these B vitamins. 11. Blueberries - The health benefits of blueberries are numerous, faster learning, sharper thinking, and improved memory retention to name a few. Other studies have documented the antioxidant power of blueberries to clear free radicals and reduce neurodegenerative oxidative stress. 12. Pumpkin seeds - A handful of pumpkin seeds a day provides the recommended daily amount of zinc, vital for enhancing memory and thinking skills. Maintain your brain health a) Stay active, Physical activity helps prevent disease and maintain blood flow to the brain. You should include at least 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 times a week. Moderate activities include anything that gets your heart rate up, walking, hiking, running, and bicycling are all good options. To keep your brain strong and active, challenge yourself to learn something new. b) Use an “Essential Oil Diffuser” in your home or office to alleviate brain fog and stimulate mental clarity. Try the essential oils of rosemary, frankincense, lavender, peppermint, and black pepper. c) Herbal Brain Booster “Brain Chai Latte” is powerful! (By Simply Young at The Vitamin Barn). For more information at malibubeachpilates.com
Pilates instructor Diana Nicholson trained under Master Teacher, Marie Jose Blom Lawrence at “Long Beach Dance and C onditioning” She is a certified “Health Coach” from “The Institute for Integrative Nutrition” and a graduate of the California Healing Arts College”, as well as Yoga Certified through UnityOneYoga. Follow us @malibubeachpilates
MALIBU’S ONLINE RESOURCE FOR HEALTHY LIVING MALIBUESSENTIALWELLNESS.COM
FOOD VALENTINE’S WEEKEND SPECIAL RECIPE:
RASPBERRY-WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERMILK PANCAKES WITH RASPBERRY BUTTER BARN BUTTER BY CHEF LISA STALVEY, OWNER OF BUTTER BARN BUTTER
2 cups organic all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons organic baking powder 1 teaspoon organic baking soda 1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt 3 tablespoons organic cane sugar 2 large organic eggs, lightly beaten 3 cups organic buttermilk 4 tablespoons grass fed raspberry Butter Barn Butter melted, plus 1/2 teaspoon for pan 1 cup fresh organic raspberries, plus ½ cup for garnish 1 cup organic white chocolate chips Powdered sugar and mint leaves, garnish Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, berries and white chocolate chips and 4 tablespoons melted raspberry Butter Barn Butter; whisk but don’t over do it. The batter should have small lumps. Heat cast iron pan on medium to high heat and sprinkle a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off the pan, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry Butter Barn Butter. Wipe off excess. Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, flip them over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute. Place on heatproof dish and keep the pancakes warm while cooking the rest. If you don’t use all of the batter, you can save it up to 5 days in the fridge. Presentation- Place a slice of Butter Barn Butter on top of the pancakes and sprinkle powdered sugar through a fine sieve, add a few raspberries and mint leaves around the pancakes. You won’t need maple syrup for this it’s so good like this! If you don’t want to make the pancakes from scratch, use your favorite mix instead.
NEW VEGAN OPTIONS AT CASA ESCOBAR Photos by Tim Horton
Casa Escobar recently expanded their menu to include more options for vegans. As an aspiring vegan myself, I can personally tell you these dishes are not only rich and satisfying, they really make you feel like you are not missing meat or cheese - quite a feat when you are eating at a Mexican restaurant. The Quinoa-Portobello Mushroom Burrito and the Tofu Mexican Street Tacos are my go-tos for the richest ( and creamiest ) version of your Mexican food favorites ( the vegenaise aioli in both of these recipes is to die for ). There are many more options like the Carrot-Ginger soup, Butter Leaf Lettuce Taco with organic tofu, Butternut Squash Tacos on organic corn tortillas ( with sliced avocado, cabbage and micro greens ) and many more. Casa Escobar is on the cutting edge of where the restaurant industry is headed by continuing to expand their menu to include plant based options for a growing vegan movement. -Cece Woods
The Portobello Mushroom Fajitas
The Portobello-Quinoa Burrito
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ALL ADDED FLAVORS ARE MADE FROM THE BEST ORGANIC, NATURAL INGREDIENTS
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MALIBU,CA.
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BEAUTY I’m about to get personal here. Lets talk about desire and craving. Let’s talk about what turns you on. No. Lets not. This is a family magazine. Yet we all have cravings - be it for food, power, money, or sex. These can have negative impacts on our lives when out of balance. But the craving for intimacy is natural and healthy. It’s up there with breathing- something every human requires for basic survival and a healthy outlook on life. The mere mention of better sex is enough to get most peoples attention. A new venture by a local Malibu couple - THE APHRODISIAC DIET is doing just that. Just in time for Valentines Day, Meredith and Cody Shirk are launching a sexy product line that consists of a frisky Habanero and Mandarin Oil chocolate bar, a power-packed Maca and Goji berry energy bar and a snack mix made of Almonds and dried Pineapple all sensually stimulating ingredients.
SEXUAL
HEALING
THE APHRODISIAC DIET
Meredith Shirk’s recipes for Total Body Wellness BY CLAUDIA TAYLOR
Aphrodisiacs are a food, drink or drug that stimulates sexual desire, or anything that causes excitement. They are naturally found in certain foods that boost energy, sharpen focus, and help you stay trim. The Aphrodisiac Diet line is composed of foods Meredith naturally gravitated towards. When her husband Cody pointed out to her that her everyday go to food choices were literally all aphrodisiacs, the idea was born. That’s when the decision to develop a line of foods and a brand started, because they were not available anywhere else. She sourced fruits and ingredients that were GMO free, low in sugars and not chemically processed. AD founder Meredith is well known personal trainer in Malibu. Her SVELTETRAINING. com website is filled with approachable how-to videos that break down her core training methods. Filmed outdoors, usually on the beach, she uses a combo of high intensity intervals, TRX, kettle bells and body weight to achieve max results in a minimum of time. Fun, easy, and streamlined is her technique, as is her personal style and physique. Meredith’s passion for wellness began when she graduated college. She was a water-polo player, and spent countless hours in the gym where she developed her own training program that would keep her fit but let her spend more time outdoors in nature and near the water. Surprise - she’s an avid surfer as well. Cody and Meredith are a globe trotting young power couple with business interests around the world. We caught up with Meredith for her thoughts on food, eating, diets and sex. ON EATING: My personal diet is all about fresh veggies - fruits and lean, lean meats. I am a lover of all things coconut oil (and MCT oil) and put them into my coffee every morning (yes I am human and NEED caffeine!!). I am pretty strict about what I put into my body. Refined sugars and simple carbs (like bread -pasta and rice) are not even in my vocabulary. I eat anywhere from 3-5 meals a day depending on my activity level. I have never counted calories, BUT I am hyperaware of each food that goes in for sure Non-GMO, organic. I treat my body like a car. If I am driving a Ferrari I am not going to use cheapest grade fuel, it just wouldn’t run right and in fact it could really mess up the car. The same thing applies to my body. If I want to preform at the highest level, there is no way I am going to put low-grade fuel in it! My body is my temple, so I treat it accordingly... ON SEX: Hell, can you have ever have too much sex!?! Sex is a natural part of life that not only makes you feel great but gives you this unwavering connection with your partner - lover - husband. The fact that sex is so hush hush in the U.S. is just ridiculous. Our society has some weird association with sex and pleasure. To truly be “connected” you need to know yourself mentally - physically and sexually... And to be honest knowing yourself in all three of those respects will make you a much happier person!
HONEYDEW LINGERIE AND ROBES . COSABELLA LINGERIE . BLUE LIFE FITNESS AND SWIM KAMASUTRA . VOLUSPA CANDLES . BOOTY PARLOR LOTIONS AND POTIONS
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BEAUTY
SPIRITUAL
& SEXY
WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED ( PUN INTENDED ) THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
AFTERLIFE
Designer Andrea Emmerich breathes new life into recycled cashmere with her line of sexy soft panties and shorts called Afterlife. Each piece is individually designed from handpicked, 100% recycled, deeply cleaned and refreshed cashmere. afterlife-shop.com
PHOTO BY JONAS MOHR
LOVE TUNER
Co-created by local Malibu designer Sigmar Berg and his friend and soul-brother Tim Rohner, the Love Tuner is a small single note flute that can be worn as a necklace, calibrated to 528Hz, the “love frequency”. The Love Tuner has a profound effect on mind, body and spirit and is designed for all ages. Love Tuner, $58, available at lovetuner.com and locally at Ranch at the Pier located at the Malibu Pier, 310.456.3810
90265
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A
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I
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M A G A Z I N E
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LIFESTYLE
FENG SHUI FOR
LOVE
HAPPILY EVER AFTER BY MARIE KNOOS
Did you ever wonder what happened to Cinderella AFTER she went to the palace to live happily ever after? We can pretty much guess that she didn’t walk into a dark, dirty, ugly, and horrifying palace…that would certainly not have created a completely “happily ever after” scenario. It was most likely beautiful inside…reflecting the same beauty inside the palace as was inside of themselves. That being said…creating happiness is exactly that: CREATING happiness. As above, so below, as within, so without…and so on. How does Feng Shui work? Your intention, when coupled with your environment, has profound effects on your daily reality. The reason is for this is that our subconscious minds read and actually copy our environments.
Bedside table should placed on both sides of the bed creates balance.
In other words, everything is symbolically being read by our subconscious minds, and then mimicked. You do not have to believe in Feng Shui for it to work. All you have to do is implement its basic principles, and you will begin to see for yourself how it manifests in your life. In honor of Valentine’s Day, whether you are looking for a new relationship or want to rev up your existing one, here are some quick and easy tips to assist you in harmonizing your love and relationship areas of your space. Lets start with the most important area for love: THE BEDROOM. 1) Have two nightstands…this will create balance in your relationships and make sure that there is space to walk on both sides…and that each of you has room to enter the bed. 2) The bedroom is a place for relaxation and romance…so be sure to have nice, clean, and comfortable sheets and pillows, as well as a clutter-free room. Remove any dirty clothes, litter boxes, trash cans in view, etc. 3) Remove all pictures of family and children from the bedroom. This will help to keep the bedroom private. If you have religious images, make sure they are not facing the bed. 4) Make sure the bedroom is not designed too masculine or too feminine…the key is to have a space that is cozy, sensual, and balanced for both people. 5) Avoid having the following things in your bedroom as much as possible: mirrors, plants, fountains, electronics, video games, medicines, and sad or lonely artwork (such as desolate landscapes, stormy water, or lonely people). Keep work and fitness things out of the bedroom as well. If you must have any of these things there, make sure you have a place to put them away and out of your view when it is time for bed. 6) A TV directly across from the foot of the bed creates bickering in relationships. I recommend not centering the TV with the foot of the bed, or you can move it to a side of the room or at an angle. It is also recommended to cover the TV when it is not in use. 7) Get rid of everything from prior relationships, especially unhappy ones. You don’t want to start a new relationship with old, emotional baggage. Just keep the good memories and let everything else go. 8) Hang a dream catcher or mobile from any beams hanging over your bed…these are considered poison arrows and cause health issues, as well as relationship issues. Do not have a chandelier or a fan over your bed if at all possible. 9) In your far right corner or your room (as you are standing looking into the room) is where you need to have PAIRS of things…pairs of candles, pairs of pillows, pairs of lovebirds, pairs of crystals, pairs of chairs, etc…virtually any pairing of anything that represents happiness for you. 10) Bring light and air into your bedroom everyday. Do not keep the curtains/blinds closed all the time. This will refresh your bedroom daily and help to keep it clear and positive. 11) Rose quartz is the stone of love. Placing it on nightstands or anywhere in your bedroom will bring loving energy to your sanctuary. 12) Pink is the color of romance in Feng Shui. Add fresh cut pink flowers in the far right corner of your bedroom to symbolically have love blossom for you. You can also add accents of scarlet, red, crimson, or burgundy to activate a bit more fire and passion to your relationship.
Beautiful fresh pink flowers in the far right corner of your room symbolizes love “blossoming” for you.
What does love look like to you? Is it cluttered and dirty, with dark imagery? …or is it beautiful, light, and inspiring to your soul? You choose…then set the intention by affirming it in reality. Happy new year to you…may you live happily ever after! Xo www.devoceandesign.com E-mail:devoceandesign@aol.com Facebook: Devocean FengShui & Design
Rose quartz is the stone of love. Placing the stone anywhere in your room enhances love energy.